M5: Rumble in the Jungle

[MrKill]

Colonel Killinger
Oblivion One-One crash site
Confused as shit...

"Okay, what the fuck is going on!" Killinger yelled atop the clattering assault rifles as the Marines scattered lines opened fire at an apparent Brute Chieftan, another brute and some Marines just plainly into the smoke, blind rounds. John knew the pelicans, unlike him however, had thermal imaging and would probably see through the smoke a lot easier than the Colonel could - despite the fires that had begun to rage around. One thing was clear - getting out of there was a good idea. It had become to cramped and by god there was an Imperial Admiral they needed to capture and with a reinforcement fleet already in orbit it was becoming to late. The Marines needed to get their ass in gear, for fuck sakes.

"Gamma Four-One this is Killinger. Open the ramp and deploy the platoon snipers!" Killinger ordered, temporarily forgetting about this cigar - which landed on some dirt and was quickly put out by John's boot. By the time he realized he hadn't bit down on the cigar it was to late. Stomped, out and flattened. Great. It mattered little, he had a job to do.

"Tighten those lines of fire, Marines! My grandma can shoot better than you and shes six fuckin' feet under!" Killinger screamed. He realized that through the smoke it was harder to see the target but no-one could mistake the outline of the big brute coming towards them and at an alarming rate. The Colonel swore and switched to a stance crouch, shouldering the BR55-HB that had been freely dangling a moment ago.

He's line of site wasn't entirely clean and he couldn't risk firing. Cuu had opened fire and unfortunately killed a Marine the other Brute was bargaining away for another trade. What the fuck is this? A trading card game? Killinger thought - but fortunately Marines had ignored the ransom. It was unfortunate that a Marine had just died and he'd probably yell at Cuu later but at the moment the Private First Class had the right idea.

"You, you and you!" The Colonel said, standing again. He selected two Privates and a Lance Corporal. "Get the rest of the wounded and dead into the pelican by the nose of this one. I wanted that done five minutes ago!" He spat, infuriated with how the situation had begun to steadily decline. This was supposed to be a simple rescue operation for the downed pelican's crew but apparently it was the center of the universe now.

"Lieutenant McVenner - move your men to the right and provide suppressing fire for the Marines loading the casualties! Lieutenant Sorelson! Tie up those Jackals and we'll bring 'em with us, probe them for information and figure out of they are Covenant or not. Move it, Marines!" The Colonel ordered, spinning around to face the Jackals. As suspected a few Marines, despite a fire-fight now erupting from behind the veteran officer, still had their weapons pointed at the Jackals.

"Gamma Four-One, Venom Five and Venom Six lower to allow Marines to board - we're pulling out! Prepare to disengage and head back to the forward operating base - until then focus your 70 MM chainguns on the two brutes if you can!" Killinger commented, sweat dripping down from his brow now. The heat would become lethal here. The human body, at least, shut down when it overheated and the Marines were in armor that made the heat worse, not better.

The noise of the pelican engines throttling down was satisfying. Hopefully now everything was back on track.

[Ward, J.]

Ward found himself very annoyed when Private Knight did not come to him as ordered. Though, considering everything that was going on (in such a very short time span), he was at least considering the possibility that perhaps he simply hadn't heard him. Jon sighed and was about to call out to the boot Marine when the familiar voice of PFC Cuu rang out, announcing there was a Brute, and of all things, that the whole situation with the Jackal fire team showing up was part of some elaborate trap.

This guy is more paranoid than Stone is, Ward thought. He looked down at the semi-conscious Sergeant and tapped the man on the cheek. "I'll be right back, Sergeant. Sit tight."

Ward gripped his rifle and moved to the front of the group, preparing to engage the Brute if it decided to return fire. What it chose to do instead shocked him. The forty mike-mike Cuu fired went wide and the Brute emerged from its concealment... with a human being pulled in front of it by a leash. I swear this is all kinds of fucked up, he thought as he began to lower his weapon a hair.

Then Cuu did something that made his blood boil. He openerd fire again, completely disregarding the Marine in the Brute's clutches. When he saw nobody else reacting, he did the only thing that came to his mind.

He rushed Cuu.

His adrenaline pumping, he dropped his rifle and charged full tilt into Cuu, tackling him to the ground. Before the likely surprised Cuu could react, Ward wrenched the PFC's weapon from his grasp and tossed it to the side. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Marine?! That's one of our own over there and you still opened fire?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

As his adrenaline started to wear off, Jon noticed the murderous expression on Cuu's face. He probably just seriously pissed this man off and if his actions were any indication, he was totally unpredictable. Hope I'm ready to take a hit...

[BetaWülf]

Jiralhanae Captain Garatus

When the fire ripped towards him from the hostile human he expected to get a gut wound, then he heard the gurgling cough below his chin. He looked down in shock as the human slid down his chest into the dirt leaving a bloody smear down his chest plate, even he thought it was halfcocked of the Marine. The whole group of marines opened fire on him as he leapt into the shrubbery, luckily the smoke was making it hard for them to aim properly unfortunately it was doing the same to for him.

He kept hearing humans saying chieftain but he hadn't seen one, but the smoke was thick enough that he might have missed him or perhaps he was mistaken for one. What ever the case he needed to fight back at least, the heat was intense but not altogether unpleasant, it actually reminded him of home somewhat. He fired several bursts towards where the Marines were when he could see, he heard a groan so he might have hit some one, which reminded him of the Human who killed the hostage. He knew enough about humans to know that they would consider that unacceptable and he found it very annoying.

"Captive killing Idiot!" he yelled in the Human tongue when a small gust of wind blew the smoke enough for him to see the one who shot his prisoner, he threw his last plasma grenade towards him in hopes of multiple kills but he particularly wanted see chucks of the aggressive one fly through the air. He fired another spiker round before ducking down again.

[Ward, J.]

Just as Ward was expecting Cuu to retaliate, all hell broke loose. In his anger at watching the PFC murder a fellow Marine, he hadn't noticed that the Brute that had been holding the prisoner hadn't been hit. Before he could react, he felt something slam into his leg.

Jon groaned in pain and rolled off Cuu, clutching at his leg. When he looked down he noticed a particularly large metallic spike jutting out of his left leg, his camouflage trousers stained with blood. "I'm hit!" Ward exclaimed before gritting his teeth in pain. To make matters worse, Jon caught sight of something soaring in the air before landing with a dull thump. He looked in the direction of the noise and his eyes met with a plasma grenade about fifteen feet away.

"Grenade!" Ward bellowed and rolled himself back onto Cuu. Despite his opinion of the young Marine and the fact he did not at all agree with his actions, the man was still a Marine. Jon used his body to protect the PFC and covered his head.

A moment later the grenade detonated. Even though it was a good distance away, he still felt some of the residual heat of the explosion. Groaning in pain from the wound to his leg, he again rolled off of Cuu and clutched at his wound. He then looked at Cuu. If the man intended to harm him in retaliation for what he did, now would be the perfect time. Ward was very vulnerable at the moment.

This day is just getting better and better.

[MrKill]

Colonel Killinger
Oblivion One-One Crash

"What!" Killinger snapped at a Marine who was asking a question. The Private looked like he had just seen a ghost when he turned. Killinger immediately knew that it was this Marines first time on the battlefield. The Marine was standing out of position from his fire-team and, on top of that, was interfering with Marines line of sights behind him. In other words he was literally pulling a blank.

"Get him back to the pelicans," Someone shouted. "He's lost it!"

Killinger growled angrily. There was nothing more he could do at the moment but that's when someone yelled out they were hit. He immediately recognized the voice and it was just off to his right. Corporal Ward had been hit. Killinger, being the second closest Marine and the closest currently not engaging the approaching Chieftan decided to take matters into his own hands.

He walked over and grasped the Corporal's armor on his back with a grip that turned his knuckles white in the heat. With a slight heave the 6'5, 240 LB muscular Colonel had started pulling the Corporal away, towards an area that wasn't so hot. A casualty collection point had been set up while the Marines had been engaging the two brutes. It was temporary, but apparently no one had heard the Colonel or the pelican at the front had gotten too hot for Marines to risk putting wounded in the hovering dropship.

It didn't matter. The Colonel had faith that the Marines would win the engagement with the Brute Cheiftan, potentially. He had heard stories about the Chieftan being more than deadly to human forces. A single chieftan had obliterated a platoon before, just like a elite could - especially those with the gold armor configuration.

"All personnel by crashed pelican 'Oblivion One-One', this is Colonel Killinger. Fire and move towards the pelicans, we're pulling out. This was meant to be a rescue operation not a fire-fight where we get more dead. We've already suffered one wounded and I don't expect anyone else to suffer a similar fate. That's an order!" Killinger said into the communications channel. Everyone with a microphone had heard him, hopefully.

A few marines at least did as they begun to move towards the pelican Killinger came in on.

Good.

"You all right, Corporal?" The Colonel asked, checking the man over and accessing his health information VIA the veteran officers HUD. The leg wound was easily fixable but getting the spike out, however, was a different story. They needed a Corpsman and Killinger wasn't going to begin to pretend he was one. Pulling back was the best option at the moment. They had recovered the crew of Oblivion One-One and their job was done. The apparent 'trade' just extended things further and was now risking a lot of friendly casualties.

[Ward, J.]

Still in pain, Ward had barely noticed something tugging against his armor until he realized he was moving - and not of his own free will. He glanced up at the figure dragging him and recognized him as the Colonel. I really owe this guy now, the Corporal mused.

Finally the Colonel stopped dragging him, allowing Ward to gather his bearings. He'd been moved to what appeared to be a CCP by the evac Pelicans. Ignoring the pain in his leg for a moment, he checked himself for his rifle. When he realized it was missing, he cursed under his breath and shook his head. He'd dropped it when he tackled Cuu and it was left out there.

"Are you alright, Corporal?" Colonel Killinger asked.

Despite the pain, Ward managed to curl his lips in a half-smirk. "Never better, sir," he said, the sarcasm obvious in his voice. "I'll be fine, sir."

He thought about mentioning that he'd lost his rifle and that it was somewhere near where the Colonel had found him, but decided against it. There were more important matters at hand to worry about than his assault rifle. He could always get another one once they were back at the FOB, so it wasn't entirely a big deal. Though, he still felt somewhat bad about. The Rifleman's Creed playing in the back of his mind.

Jon glanced down and noticed that the bleeding seemed to of stopped for the moment. That was good news, as far as he was concerned. A thought occurred to him and he looked back at the Colonel. "Sir, Sergeant Pain is still over there. He's in serious condition and'll need to be dragged over here too. I was gonna carry him over here with the help of Private Knight but... that didn't happen..."

[MrKill]

Colonel Killinger
Oblivion One-One Crash

The Colonel sighed as the Corporal spoke to him. He understood the concern and mumbled to himself, "Pain isn't going to be the only Marines still 'over there' if we don't hurry the fuck up." He said half angered, but also half concerned as he felt his own eyebrows leave the V shape on his head for the first time since touching down. He sniffed and nodded.

"I'll be back," Killinger said with a grunt as he stood up. He was getting old and his knee was starting to act up slightly; an old injury that had occurred when he was a kid was still bothering him now. Hopefully it didn't lock up. John could live with it giving away for a moment but not locking up, not in this heat. It wasn't painful... well, not painful enough to keep the Colonel down.

He spotted PAIN's IFF tag, as well as four other solders moving towards Gamma Four-One. The pelican had lowered to allow, like the other two, Marines to get in. However they never did. Instead they took defensive positions around the bird. It was nice to see common sense for a change. You never left the troop bay of a pelican open to attack - that's another reason it was called the 'blood tray'. Someone always had to be out, guarding it, before the pelican dusted off with a load of UNSC personnel.

John sprinted over to Pain. It only took him maybe ten seconds at full speed but he didn't want to get caught in the open with two brutes in bound, already firing shots. It frustrated him that through the rat-tat-tat of Assault Rifle fire they had yet to hit the two brutes... or maybe they did. The 70 MM's distinct sounds never came which means the guns weren't in a position to engage.

"How far is the Chieftan?"

"Four hundred meters out and closing!" A Marine responded with gritted teeth, slamming a fresh magazine home.

"And the other?"

"Maybe two hundred or less."

"Oh for f-" Killinger replied, but stopped.

Pain needed his help. The Colonel repeated what he did with Ward, dragging him back towards the casualty collection point as carefully as he could. The man may have had severe injuries but at this point and with the chieftan closing in quickly they weren't going to make it to the pelican's in time. The Colonel swore. Time had ran out for the Marines. Four hundred meters wasn't a lot.

As he reached Ward with Pain he activated his comm to the Gamma Four-One, who still had Marines embarked within. "Gamma Four-One deploy the marines as a security detail. They are to make sure the pelicans do not get hit while we make our retreat!" Killinger ordered. He planed on shoring up the defense and effectively shifting the line back towards the pelican rather then roughly one hundred meters away from it.

Killinger sighed. Something was bugging communications, or at least that's what it seemed like.

[BetaWülf]

Jiralhanae Captain Garatus

He fired a burst from his spiker, missing a Marine by inches. He heard a growling sound nearby which must have been the Chieftain he heard the Marines mention before, he fired again but missed as a bullet thunked into his upper left leg. He roared furiously at the pain and fired again having to reload, the metal spikes embedded in the plating of one of the pelicans but did no real damage.

"Die Humans, Die!" He roared in their tongue, a deep reverberating sound that all nearby heard. He fired again this time the spikes hit, they knocked the weapon from the Marines hands, not exactly what he was hoping for but it worked for him. He spotted the Colonel at a distance, He lifted his hand when the Colonel looked his way, erecting his middle finger as he knew Humans did as an insult which he had received man times himself, he deeply laughing as he did so.

[Cabel]

[51st Marine Assault Regiment: Alpha Platoon, Alpha Company, First Lieutenant Mark Seamus “Spade” Sorelson: Tropical Planet: Southwestern Column and Flank: Currently: Ground-side: Downed Oblivion One-One Pelican Crash-Site]

“Marines fallback to the Pelicans, and form a perimeter. Leapfrog, covering each other until the last marine is aboard either of those birds. Grab the injured, and hightail it,” Mark shouted, certain he’d heard the order from the Colonel to fall back to the Pelicans over the din of the firefight. With the rifle at chest level aimed at the trees, he’d turned his focus to the Jackals and Big Bird. He’d convey the orders to fall back to the Pelican, to climb inside the blood-tray in their language or at least that’s what he’d hoped. Squeezing the trigger, he’d squeeze off a few rounds in controlled bursts towards the tree-line to cover the marines falling back towards the transports the marines viewed as good omens in the field. “Come on, Big Bird, get the lead out,”

He hadn’t been certain of what the orders had been more from the helmet-radio spewed out static, though while the marines fell back to the transports he’d released the grip on the MA5C before having reached for a second grenade clipped to his belt. Casting his arm to the side, he’d pull the pin and lobbed it towards the two Brutes before counting down the moments before the pineapple exploded. The grenade had only detonated showering the area nearby in shrapnel before something slammed into the front of his helmet knocking him off his feet, and the view of seeing the smoke filled sky above him hadn’t been one he’d been too particular of. Slowly sitting up, his ribs cried out in protest again and carefully he’d reached up with his right hand to find a spike a foot long had partially embedded itself in the armor of the helmet only to be stopped by the reinforced layers.

Remembering the majority of marines that had been fortunate enough not to have had their heads taken clean off by an enemy ordinance had removed their helmets to marvel at their luck, Mark had opted to keep his in place. Gripping the spike with his good hand firmly, Spade gritted his teeth before pulling the foot-long ivory spike from the helmet and realized it had actually penetrated half the depth of the armor. Screw the Rabbit Hole, I’m getting my butt out of here. Scrambling to his feet, he’d kept the spike in hand with his assigned rifle still slung around his shoulder. Tucking the spike into a pants pocket, he’d squeeze off a few more rounds in tight controlled bursts covering the other marines. Realizing his dislocated shoulder had rendered his left arm useless, the aging Marine hadn’t been able to help drag or carry their wounded or dead back to the Pelicans leaving his only option to cover the marines with suppressive fire.

When the marines ahead of him had rushed passed him, the aging Lieutenant turned on a heel to follow the rest of the marines back to the safety of the transports. He’d only managed to make it roughly halfway when something reached up to bite him in the backside forcing the ground to rise up quickly to greet him. He’d lost count how many times he’d been hit, injured, and burned during the little outing to rescue the lives on the Oblivion-One-One crash-site, and had been sent into a roll. Do I have a bright red target painted on my back I don’t know about? Releasing the grip on the stock of the bullpup MA5C with his good hand, he’d reach back to feel a spike had slammed into his right calf and unfortunately had punched through the bone.

[Faclan]

Bep, Jackal Prisoner Hopeful Fool
Trying to make the best of a deadly situation.

By now Bep had pretty much accepted that for better or for worse he was going to be taking a flight with the humans. There were too many around them, in his eyes, for them to attempt a escape. He just had to pray that the Helpful Human could stop all those stories of torture and death from coming true.

Nodding a little as he accepted this he looked back at Nek and frowned a little as the humans engaged with the brute. "You also saved mine...but I wouldn't try to run comrade - the Jiralhanae is a nice distraction but they still have all their guns ready and we have none. They could easily gun us all down." He patted Neks shoulder as he tried to smile a little. "Good luck if you decide too, and if things go wrong I'll see you on the Great Journey." Bep may be being a big negative Nancy, but to him it was over. He just wanted to go somewhere where there wasn't any more shooting. So in a bold move he stood back up and decided to try and make a good impression to try and improve his chances with the humans.

Unaware that the Helpful Human had been ordered to capture himself and his fellows Bep looked back to where the wounded humans were and started to jog over to them, ducking down low as more explosions and gunfire erupted around him. But just after he had started running the Helpful Human collapsed in front of him with a needle sticking out of his lower leg. Nodding a bit he quickly ran to the Humans side and slipped his arms under The Helpful Humans arms and started to drag him back toward their transport - trying to get him out of the firefight. He squawked at the humans looking over his fellows and pointed at some of the original humans that had first survived the pelican crash, trying to get them to go over and help get them to safety as well. Though without looking to see if they listened or were currently lining up sighs on them Bep looked back down and got to work dragging The Helpful Human to their transport.

It would probably surprise a few marines that weren't engaged in combat with the Jiralhanae but Bep just tried to focus on getting the human to his fellows, not trying to look at The Determined One of his Loud One friend. He was certain that if any of them were killed by being just left there it would really anger the Human Leader, and if he was angry he could easily just order the Kig-Yar to be executed. Besides, The Helpful Human had saved him for eating a bullet several times, he could at least try to help him now.

(So Beps about halfway to the Pelican trying to get Mark to safety, possibly in the line of fire if the Brute(s) thought he was for some reason a bigger target. Also a chance Steelius that some of the marines watching your Lance may go and try to help the wounded, maybe can run while they go.)

[BasedGoody]

Barry Barrington

Barry gripped his Assault Rifle as screaming and bullets flew by before turning back to the Private, who asked him a question. Barry squinted at the ground for a second before rubbing his hand on his forehead and looking back up.

"We captured a bird, uh, shit, I really just got here." He said before spinning around to see most marines had stared pulling back to group around the pelican. "Damn! Come on!" He yelled and pushed the Marine forward towards the perimeter. He began running but tripped on a root. He fell face first in a puddle of mud along with a failed attempt at using his hands to keep himself steady. 

"F- Are you sh- God- Rrrg!" He rambled before pushing himself up to his knees. 

Suddenly a sharp pain shot up his legand his other hand flew to it. A long golden spike protruded from his upper legand blood spurted out in streams. He screamed from shock and felt abnormally cold. His good hand scrambled to his knife and he took it out. Barry attempted to hack the spike in two but it was in too deep and his knife was too weak.

"Ack! Jesus Almighty!" He yelped, putting his knife away. Funny thing was, he couldn't even feel any pain. His arm was just, numb. And cold. But then again he was all a little bit cold. 

[Arbiter124]

Private Hunter Knight

Apparently a Medic

Hunter staggered forward as the other Private's arms pushed him along. He got into a sprinting pace quickly, racing towards the pelican, when he heard a splat against the ground through the gunfire, faintly. The noise was followed by a series of curses that were shouted so fast that they practically interropted each other. Hunter twirled around, and aimed his weapon - which he still had no clue how to use - to see the other Private laying on the ground hacking at a huge spike in his calf. 

What did that?

Hunter's head snapped up to the sight of a hulking beast in the brush. He just got a glimpse, but he saw enough. Bigger than a shark, hairy, and muscular. How was he supposed to make a name making fun on that thing?

"... Got it! Big Boys!" He yelled to himself, smiling. A spike flying by his face brought him back to reality, and he jogged over to the Private, shoving the plasma rifle into his chest.

"Shoot it!" Hunter snarled. He gripped onto both of Barry's arms and pulled him backward, through the mud. He was slow dragging the extra weight through the dirt, but he was not going to let this guy die just because no one else was going to risk their lives for him. The huge spikes launched by him, one skimming his right shoulder.

"Agh!" The Private snarled, falling onto one knee. He gasped in breaths, and grasped his shoulder. 

"Oh, fuck me..." Hunter gasped. He forced himself to let go of the wound, but it still stung. It had only ripped off a bit of skin and flesh, but it hurt like a bitch. He pulled himself back to his haunches and continued pulling the wounded soldier through the mud and brush. So many thoughts were rushing through his head, mostly the idea of getting shot and killed out here, but the adrenaline pushed him onward. He wasn't going to let this man die, and if it meant possibly die himself, so be it.

Hunter bumped against something metal. He craned his neck to see the crashed pelican. Perfect. Mustering up the rest of his strength, Hunter pulled the Private around one of the wings, leaning the wounded man against the pelican's side. Hunter himself fell onto one knee, before looking towards the Private, and smiling slightly.

"You owe me man..." He laughed.

[Deleted]

Mog and Gek
Sniper pair
Holding the last ring of defense
Watching what goes on in the far distance

Waiting began to get rather boring again rather quickly. The phantoms had safely landed, and there was little to be interested about as the last of our forces retreated. It was a long time before any humans arrived, either. He had heard all kinds of stuff over the comms lately, but no battle plans, nothing of importance. 

In the distance many fires raged, of all different colors. The crashed Pelican that exploded still had the most smoke coming from it. A giant column of black rose from the area, and Mog just hoped whoever was in it had either charred to a crisp by now or was going to die a slow, painful death from their injuries. There was a smaller fire, with a trail of fine steel metalic coming from it, with wisps of blue and purple mixed  in. This was the fire from the crashed phantom, shot down by the longsword, and it had been burning for quite a while.

Though neither Gek nor Mog realized it, that ship was about to blow. It's fires were dangerously close to its main fuel comparment, and all that fuel was about to light up faster than a Jiralhanae Chieftain can swing it's hammer. When it did light, there would be barely enough warning for anyone in the vicinity to know. It would spontaneously bloom, bloom like the flowers in the orchards of Harvest. Then Mog and Gek would see the burst of superheated fuel reach out of the treetops, high into the air. The explosion would fry the surrounding trees, and create the same amount of damage as the Pelican did, only it isn't in as large of a clearing, and fires would be fine blues and deep purples instead of the blood red colors created by the Pelican's fuel.

[BasedGoody]

Barry Barrington

"I'll buy you a... Soda." Barry mumbled as he leaned against the Pelican. He pulled out his Assault Rifle from his sling and surveyed the area. It seemed like Hell, everything was up in flames or shooting something else. The Marines were forming a perimeter around the downed Pelican. He picked up the Alien Weapon given to him and handed off to the younger soldier.

"I'm Barry, Private First Class. I'm sorry, did I catch your name?" He asked while grasping his leg, looking for some piece of cloth. Finally he quit looking and unsheathed his knife again, cutting a piece of his BDU's off and wrapping it around the middle of his left knee.

The blood slowly stopped spurting and resulted in a small dripping ooze.

His Assault Rifle was at full ammunition and seemed to be working fine, so he took aim and looked around for the Covvie who shot him. Must have been an Ape, spikes are their 'bullets'.

[Arbiter124]

Private Hunter Knight
And here comes the boom

Hunter gave a nod to Barry before speaking. "Name's Hunter Knight. I'm a Private too." He told Barry, before getting his plasma rifle back. He looked at the weapon, still examining it for a trigger. There had to be something. Is it touch activated? Maybe he just had to clutch the handle. He tapped the weapon's topside a few times, before waving it around.

"Yo, Hunter!"

Hunter twirled around to see Andre with his SAW, smiling with one tooth missing. Hunter wanted to tell him about the missing tooth issue, but he decided it might be better to just let him figure it out on his own.

"Sup' Andre! This is Barry. He's low on the food chain too, a grunt like us."

"PFC?"

"Private."

"Ha, nice!" Andre smiled towards the older soldier. Hunter nodded, and then nudged Andre.

"Where's the rest of the fireteam?" He questioned.

"Other side of the pelican. James sent me to go and get you. We should move now, there's not a shit load of shots going on like there was before."

"Cool. See ya around, Barry!" Hunter smiled, waving towards the other Private before trotting off with Andre. They made it around the crashed dropship easily, moving around the back to not risk getting hit with a bolt of plasma or a spike.

"Sup' err'body." Hunter smiled, walking over to James, Riley, and Chaz, who were in cover behind one of the wings. James fired off a volley with his assault rifle towards the trees. Hunter couldn't see over the wing of the vehicle, but he doubted it hit anything.

"Sup', Hunter. I'm proud of you, kid. Helping another soldier and risking your own life. Takes balls." James gave the halfhearted complimented. Hunter did a theatrical 'Oh, me?' gesture, and ended it with an arrogant smile.

"Had to do what I had to do, I guess." He smiled, before lifting up the alien weapon with both hands, and looking towards the rest of his fireteam.

"Anybody know how to work this thing?"

[Huka]

Major Q’ai ‘Muramee
Last Stand of the Corvette Defense

Behind the makeshift barricade-originally roadblocks used by the Covenant to slow human vehicles-Q’ai aimed his carbine between the blocks and shot a human clear across the field, watching a puff of crimson flare from the back of its head as its body collapsed dead. Making a quick scan over the field while his fellow soldiers fired plasma and radioactive projectiles against the humans and their roaring vehicles, the stomach-turning smell of fire, burning flesh and metal, and death took the air like a thousand incenses, Q’ai certainly missed the clean air of a Covenant ship right about, and put his frustration through three other humans.

Labus took control of a nearby Shade turret a while ago, chuckling deeply as he rained azure fire upon the enemy vehicles while Jhao and Pim watched his back with their own marksman weapons, keeping a sharp eye on rocketeers. “One would think they would retreat by now!” The bloodthirsty Sangheili roared out over the firepower. Jhao was about to retort his lance-brother when a sudden pillar of smoke sliced along the side of his helmet, leaving a nice groove along the metal as his energy shields popped but the force made him nearly slam against Labus’ shade. Roaring out in a rare spat of Tilam-specific curses in his dialect, the normally calm marksman fired a few mad shots at the quickly vanishing strip of smoke before seeing movement.

With shaking hands, he aimed for a breathing moment, before firing and a quick movement of the responsible human rolling. He knew at least the round hit it somewhere that didn’t immediately kill it, but the radiation certainly will. Suddenly feeling fatigued from that blow to his head and the drawn out battle, Jhao slowly leaned behind one of the barricade’s thick block to protect himself and give a short rest while Pim continued firing, “Don’t give in to mortal woes, Excellency. We are so close to salvation!”

Blinking and practically amused by the Kig-yar’s religious rant, a Kig-yar of a things trying to perk up a Sangheili hunter. This age is full of surprises. “And…why do you say that, Pim?” He asked with short breathes and Pim fired one more before ducking behind cover to switch his weapon’s cartilage. “Look to Heavens and the saviors shall come.” He answered.

Taking the time to amuse the devotee, he did look up and do his upmost surprise; he certainly did see a savior. Lumbering seemingly slowly through the darkening clouds as the planet was slowly drifting to night, a RPV-class light Destroyer. Narrowing his dark-adapted eyes, he could smaller ships buzzing around it like flies to a fresh carcass, and from the minor explosions and the flares of the ship’s pulse turrets; it was in the middle of a battle with a pursuing force.

“It seems we do have a chance, Pim.” He said, looking to the energized Kig-yar, his plume flared out and changing to vivid colors. “Let us win this battle to tell it to our younglings.” Jhao suggested and his subordinate nodded before they both sprang right back into the fight, firing flares of radioactive bolts at humans.

Nearby, the lance’s Unggoy were put into grenadier duties. Widil directed his younger comrades with orders and examples of his own skill with a crate of plasma grenades near them while other Unggoy from other lances were do the same, nearly evolving this fight for survival as a game to see which lance was better, started by an Unggoy Ultra-led unit. “Throw like you do with hunting rock!” He cried out before tossing his plasma grenade through the air and watched it land near a rolling vehicle, sending it spiraling in flames. Fizaz cheered before looking around for a target, a file of humans using one of the abandoned trenches for cover.

Priming his grenade, Fizaz bounced back on one foot for a tick before tossing it through the air. The globe of sizzling ionized gas soared for a while and landing just right infront of the trench, when a couple humans sprung up to fire their rifles, the grenade exploded, and from the sounds of wounded and horrified soldiers as they watched their comrades blow apart, he knew he scored some for the lance.

“Your turn, recruit!” He shouted with excitement to Makdap.

***

Shipmaster 'Ikaporamee of the Sailing Blade (NPC)
En route to Recovery of the Sect of Lamenting Consecration 

The Sailing Blade shook in succession from a rear attack from the enemies' odd arsenal, prompting a growl from the Shipmaster's jaws. "Bothersome creatures! Sensors, triangulate the origin of that attack!" One of the several operations officers quickly did as commanded, "It came from the enemies' guardian corvettes, Shipmaster. They are trying to disable our engines." He reported, voice vibrating under his helmet. "They will not have my ship without a bloody fight." 'Ikaporamee hissed, standing up from his seat as his golden combat armor glistened. Once a general of a fine sect until he received a crippling wound that have made him unsuited for ground operations, but he still had enough pride to accept his new role with the same ruthless ambition. 

 "Aim six of our pulse lasers to our rear and prepare to fire three on either corvette with enough power to cripple them." He ordered, while he would love to crush the enemy under his boot due to the sheer fact that Kig-yar ships aren't much for open combat. Comparing to Covenant warships, they were collected scraps of metal with rocket-propelled arsenals loathingly similar to the Humans, the only ones he could think of that could worse his time was the more stronger-built Destroyers...but his objective is the rescue of the grounded forces below. 

 "Shipmaster..." The Weapons Officer called out, breaking his train of thought, "Turrets aimed and ready." "Fire at will." He commanded and the moment the Destroyer's shields were momentarily down, bursts of hot purple plasma shot out at the stalking corvette ships. Their hulls burning and flicking off like molting skin before they wisely started to maneuver, one more damaged than the other, much to the Shipmaster's personal delight, "Return shields to 75% capacity and prepare to use our energy projector before they start throwing rocks at us." 

 While the Shipmaster and his crew try to outrun and get their pursuers ready for a cunning trap, the Destroyer's choirs battled the devious pirates' starfighters with skills honed from the Covenant military and experience, explosions of plasma and fire left and right. Deaths were certain but it was returned two-fold, a proper trade with Sangheili behind the controls while keeping a somewhat secure path for a handful of Phantom gunships to head to the crashed corvette below.

[iamsteelius]

Kig-Yar Minor Nak
Surrounded by about 4 Marines, finding a way out

    Nak saw what Bep did and immediately understood. He walked up to one of the marines around him and pointed to two injured  marines talking, near the drop ship. Nak then ran up to them, with the somewhat startled human in tow. He sae what one was shot in the leg, the other one had their shoulder grazed. The human approached the more injured one while Nak approached the grazed one. He appeared to be struggling with a Plasma Rifle normally wielded Sangheili. He looked at the rifle and him then darted back.

    Nak ran to the pile of weaponry next to his file. Nak looked at his file and said, "When the time is right, get out of here.Maj, with me." He picked up his Needler Rifle and presented it to the nearest human. He grabbed it unsure of what was going on. Nak then grabbed a Needler and a Plasma Pistol and walked back to the human with the Plasma Rifle. The human, thankfully, followed with the rifle, as did Maj.

    When Nak reached him, he pointed the plasma pistol the floor and fired once, as with the Needler. Nak dropped those weapons to the floor. He turned and plucked the Needle Rifle from the human's hands and again fired at the ground. He tossed it down and stuck his handout to take the Plasma Rifle. Maj picked up the pistol and Needler and took them back to the file. Nak hoped the human understood that Nak was trying to show him how to fire it.

    Nak looked back to his file to see their was only one guard left, as the other had left for reasons unknown to Nak. His file seemed to be stirring, as if they were about to make their move. The guns were closer to them and there wasn't many focusing on them. He also looked around to see where Bep was. He saw him, assisting the old helpful human. Nak hoped that Bep would be fine. Finally, he turned back to the human with the Plasma Rifle, wondering if he was ever going hand it to Nak. He knew there wasn't any possible way the human would figure it out. Or maybe there was, stranger things have happened recently.

[Soulstep]

2nd Lt. Geoff Alexander Blake Mkvenner

Tornado-Four-Actual
In the middle of the Oblivion-One-One clusterfuck.

When the hostage was shot, the first thing Geoff noticed was the poor shot placement. The PFC had failed to strike a non-vital region of the hostage, and while he may have hit the Brute in the process, (it was hard to tell from this distance,) he had killed the hostage. The second thing he noticed was how COLD it felt to notice that first. What was he thinking?!?

"Lieutenant Mkvenner - move your men to the right and provide suppressing fire for the Marines loading the casualties!"

Good, orders to focus on.

"Yes sir!" He shouted, breaking into a roadie run to the right, firing off a few snapshots for suppression. "Tornado Four, flank right! Cover the wounded and prisoners!" He yelled into the platoon COM over the din of gunfire. First squad remained to provide cover for the flankers, as the remaining twenty-four Marines (and Geoff) began circling around. A hail of bullets raced to busy the two Brutes. From this distance, the most the majority of the squad could do was harass the enemy, but the few with BR55s had more of a chance. However, the heat in the area made concentrating enough to accurately shoot difficult, so even they went wide.

Geoff focused on the Brute with the Spiker, trying to time his shots as to keep the Bravo Kilo ducking for as long as he could. The rain of lead from Tornado Four eventually wore down as one by one they changed magazines. Checking back at the Pelicans, Geoff was treated to the unusual sight of a Jackal carrying Lt. Sorelson towards one of the waiting dropships. Catching the drift, Geoff opened his COM again. "Tornado Four, we're bugging out! First squad, cover us, everyone else, double time!"

The platoon ceased fire and high-tailed it back to the Pelicans, Braeburn and her squad squeezing shots off to continue the suppression as they slowly walked backwards. Geoff, while obviously concerned and confused about the seemingly turncoat Jackal, figured the alien could use a hand with the Marine officer. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, he took Sorelson's right arm over his shoulders and helped bear the burden, giving the bird a nervous, but well-meaning smile. Whether the expression was interpreted as such or as the Covenant equivalent of 'I will slit your throat and shit down it", (an insult he had once been on the receiving end of during basic,) he was even less clear about than his new friend's motivations.

[Deleted]

Makdap, Grunt Minor
Assisting the last stand

Makdap heard it was his turn to toss some grenades. He got excited and grabbed a couple plasma grenades. Holding one on hand, he activated it, and gave it a good throw with his might. He watched the grenade soar. A small green, 2 seater vehicle was driving along, carrying a passenger in the back which was firing. Makdap's grenade stuck to the side of the vehicles back tire, rotating rapidly with the tires rotation like a light show. The resulting explosion blew the 2 humans off the vehicle and parts flew everywhere. The ejected passenger's lower body was separated from that explosion, making him a flying legless ragdoll. Makdap cheered for joy as the explosion caused panic among the humans due to sharp, heavy chunks of vehicle flying everywhere. Makdap actually heard a marine screaming in pain as some chunk must have hit, or worse, stabbed the guy. "that was AWESOME!" Makdap shouted excitedly. He then activated another sticky and gave a good chuck, landing right in front of a human before the explosion sending some of the human there and another piece somewhere else. Makdap then cheered even more from another good throw and gave his throwing arm a rest.

[Huka]

Major Q'ai 'Muramee

  Shooting one of the warthogs' turret gunners off their station, Q'ai blinked as the flash of lights over him. Quickly getting into cover and looked up, the Sangheili beheld the battle in the sky between a light destroyer and a small warband of Kig-yar ships. The two forces traded blows until the the Kig-yar destroyer-reminding Q'ai of a wide-headed shark by the Muram coast-unleashed a sudden and loud explosion of plasma, sounding like a loud clap of thunder as a flying slug crashed into the back of the Covenant destroyer. The power from its attack made the starship jerk violently and its energy shields overloaded. Staring up for a moment, the Major's hearts sang as the belly of the ship flared before unleashing a streaming lance of azure plasma. The energy projector sliced through the starboard of the assaulting counterpart, making a piece of its hardened armor fall from the heavens, and bisected the less damaged corvette in half while damaging one of the frigate behind it. 

  Several other soldiers noticed and roared out in pride before fighting harder. They were all close of finishing this mission and returning to their goals. Q'ai inhaled deeply, ignoring the festering pain in his side before prompting himself up and fired his entire load of bolts at the somewhat distracted humans. In his newly-risen spirits, he saw a pair of plasma grenades destroy one of the humans' two-seated vehicles and obliterate a lone soldier with a stick to the face. 

 By the Unggoy, they cheered to the recruit's fine throws. "One of the finest throws in the lance yet!" Widil exclaimed and patted Makdap's shoulder, "That certainly earned you some extra food nipple!" The others agreed full-heartedly even if they did want that prize too. Difaz grabbed his couple of grenades and started to toss them, missing his marks abit but they did their job to distract the humans before the Kig-yar and Sangheili shot them down. 

 Field Master Til Je'at Ra'ha 'Muramai

 Watching the battle outside and the overhead Destroyer single-handedly battle the Kig-yar's warband, cutting its effectiveness by half, Til leaned on the table and trilled before jerking his head at the ecstatic War Priest, "Gods be praised! Salvation have come!" Keeping in a disgusted groan, Til looked down at the map again, "Indeed, Holy One. The dropships are coming in soon. We should get our wounded first before evacuating the sect out, our esteemed leader can take care of the Imperial Admiral." He said, looking to R'ha for confirmation before staring at the spreading forest fire. They need to get off soon or they might be suffocating from the smoke and flames. 

 Tapping the controls to the engine rooms, Til was reminded of something and twitched his mandibles. "Weapon Master." He called out and after a moment, a female's voice answered, "Yes, Field Master?" "Prepare to overload the plasma coils to the engines, and the moment it is done, pass the command codes to me. This derelict ship will not be the humans' prize as much as the Supercarrier isn't the Kig-yar." He instructed. 

 There was a moment of silence before the Weapon Master answered, "As you command, Holy Scholar." Nodding, he ended transmission for now and prepared his helmet's advanced systems to take control of the engine's detonation on their leave, or final blow to their enemy.

[Deleted]

Makdap, Unggoy Minor

Makdap feels happy for all the unggoy cheering him on. By now his throwing arm is ready for more grenade chucking. He picks up another sticky and searches for another target. He spots a bigger green vehicle with a turret on the back firing at cover driving around. He activates and gives another good chuck of the grenade. Makdap's timing succeeds again as the grenade sticks to the warthog's front tire. Although the explosion doesn't destroy the vehicle, it flips over forwards and lands upside down, forcing the humans off of it, only to get shot at in the open by other covenant. "WOHOO" Makdap shouts again. If he keeps this up, he might get the attention of his superiors.

[Deleted]

Mog and Gek
Sniper pair
Atop the last ring

Mog's heart leapt as he saw the first of the human forces begin to invade. It was all vehicles. "Excellent!" Mog thought, as it was more satisfying to hit a moving opponent, especially one moving so fast. Gek began to fire his Beam Rifle, knocking a gunner out of his turret with a square shot to the chest, and then another shot hitting the ammo belt of a hog, superheating the bullets and causing them to explode and fly everywhere.

Mog took aim, taking a deep breath as he fired at one of the two-man vehicle, hitting the soldier driving it in the arm, he fell on it, causing the vehicle to swerve left, right in the path of a Warthog. The two collided, killing the two in the smaller vehicle, and causing the jeep to come to slow down enough for a well-placed fuel rod round to blow it to smithereens.

All of a sudden the sound of battle was heard above, and Gek looked up to see a full-fledged fight between a destroyer and a Kig-Yar ship taking place. Mog could care less. He was killing, and he was happy. He took a deep breath, finding his sights on the skull of a human leaning up against a tree, he fired. His kill was confirmed by the splattering of red upon the tree, and a little hole in the bark and wood as the soldier sunk to his knees.

Gek looked down in time to see a burst of fire fly up and hit his beak, a bullet smashing a hole right where his nose slits used to be. Mog glanced over and noticed this quickly running over, trying to find what he could do to help his sniper partner. However, realizing he has nothing, he takes Gek's hand and has him cover the wound, hoping he can get him to safety soon.

Mog stands back up, and begins to fire again. He takes aim at the front of another two-man vehicles and fires at the front tires, causing it to flip forward and eject both of its passengers. The one on the back flies right into the front lines, where a Sengheili caught him on his sword. He glances over to see a plasma grenade land directly in front of a trench, killing several solders. Mog took aim and fired another particularly nasty shot, as it had, as Mog first thought, missed. However, it hit a grenade in one of the ammo belts of one of the men, and the resulting explosion threw the upper torso of his carcass up in the air, while also frying or maiming anyone in the trench. Despite all these loses on their side, one thing was for certain, the humans were pushing, and this last ring of defense won't last much longer.

[BetaWülf]

Jiralhanae Captain Garatus

He fired more rounds from his spiker towards the Pelican as he slowly advanced towards his tiny simian foes. As he got slightly closer he realized that some of the Kig-yar were arming the Human scum with Covenant weapons, this was completely and thoroughly disgusting. He roared loudly in outrage, he fired again this time aiming for the kig-yar traitors. As he fired a barrage from the Humans came his way, he gritted his teeth as three bullets sank into his hide causing redish-purple blood to spurt out of the wounds.

He ducked down as a Marine fired vigorously towards him forcing Garatus to stay down, he was becoming increasingly agitated and was getting close to his boiling point which wasn't very pretty, or at least the cleanup wasn't he'd actually been complimented on his berserker savagery before but that was while back. He fired over his cover and subsequently ducked as a bullet bounced off his helm.

[Deleted]

Captain (O-6) Brad McCauley
Temporary Commanding Officer, UNSCS Kong
UNSCS Kong, bridge

"Captain, you are needed on the bridge" Sounded the sweet voice of the female Lieutenant he had assigned as his executive officer for as long as he was in command. What is is Brad thought, after waking up and quickly dressing himself in a fresh uniform. He hadn't the time to pack a bag with uniforms, so it was his luck that the previous captain, a commander that was about 6 years older than him, was a bit larger than Brad was. After putting on the silver watch his father had given to him almost twenty years ago when he just graduated the academy, he exited the captain's quarters and headed towards the elevator to the bridge.

A couple of minutes later, as Brad entered the bridge, a marine shouted "Captain on deck", and in an instand all the officers and other personnel stood still and saluted before continueing with their duties. As Brad sat down in the command chair, he asked the executive officer "Report".

The young lieutenant said "Sir, we have seventeen Covenant ships, one of them being a CCS. It also appears that a Kig-Yar fleet has jumped in. I count forty-five ships, sir."

Brad thought for a while, and though he said "Alright, thank you lieutenant.", he was more busy with hoping that they would make it home again. Then he said "Sound general quarters, prepare the ship for a rough fight." And with that, over the speakers the executive officer said  "General quarters, general quarters! All hands man your battle stations, this is not a drill!"

Then Brad turned to the communications officer, and said "Comms, open a channel with the Kiliminjaro." A few moments later, the man nodded as to say that the channel was open. "Admiral, this is McCauley of the Kong. We are awaiting further orders." said Brad before standing up and walking to the holotable in the middle of the bridge.

[MrKill]

Colonel Johnathon B'Sheau Killinger
Oblivion One-One Crash Site
Pulling Back

"Okay, Corporal," The Colonel said, gripping the youngsters back armor again. Gamma Four-One was deploying the ground troops, thus had lowered enough to allow the Colonel to move the casualty collection point actually in the pelican. Killinger dragged the Corporal back into the troop bay. It was slightly longer because of the troop deployment pod the pelican was equipped with, but it worked and served the specific purpose.

"Sorelsons hit!" Someone reported.

What? Killinger thought. He returned out-side and looked for the Lieutenant. He noticed another officer, Lieutenant Mcvenner, helping the wounded veteran officer... as well as a Jackal. Things were really starting to become fucked up, really. what was this, anyways? It almost seemed like a dream.

He cringed at the thought of the Jackal deciding at that specific moment to shoot both officers. It was an opportune moment for anyone, really. If you managed to kill the two officers you'd effectively eliminate the leadership other than Killinger. He dropped the thoughts. Spade was too good of a friend to think negatively too.

"Mcvenner," Killinger stated. "Get him on the nearest pelican as fast as you can."

"Chieftan's down!" A Marine reported. The assault rifle fire decreased drastically after that. A few rattles still sounded - probably Marines firing at the second brute, but the primary target had been neutralized. The brute chieftan had died, apparently - and Killinger missed the party. He didn't even get a shot off at the thing.

"Move to the pelicans, double-time!" Killinger ordered. Almost immediately Gamma Four-One begun to fill up with the platoon that had deployed to protect the drop ship but with the chieftan going down had significantly evened the battlefield out. A few Marines could hold off a brute until they boarded a pelican and they'd be gone, heading back towards the forward operating base.

John returned for Pain and placed him carefully next to Ward.

"Such a simple rescue mission and we suffer wounded..." The Colonel mused, scratching at his goatee - which was just barely regulation size. Apparently, five hundred years ago, people couldn't have facial hair in the Military. Well, Killinger was glad that was five hundred years ago...

(( OOC: For those who are wondering facial hair IS allowed in the UNSC. Look up Marcus Pete Stacker on halopedia or halo wiki, your choice, but he has facial hair... ))

[Cabel]

[51st Marine Assault Regiment: Alpha Platoon, Alpha Company, First Lieutenant Mark Seamus “Spade” Sorelson: Tropical Planet: Southwestern Column and Flank: Currently: Ground-side: Aboard Pelican Gamma-Four]

The fact both the Jackal Big Bird and a marine, 2nd Lieutenant Mkvenner of Fourth Platoon according to the IFF Tag roughly produced by his HUD had carried him to the bloodtray of one of the waiting Pelicans though when his right knee struck the corner of the ramp the spike shifted forcing him to shout in pain which had been rather unusual for him. “Watch the leg. What do I look like, a pin-cushion…I take that back. I am a pin-cushion,” Mark shouted not at either of the two that had risked their lives to help him. Thirty years of service in the Corps and he hadn’t been shot once and while Spade had accepted the reality he’d eventually be shot the presence of an ivory brute spike sticking through his right lower leg hadn’t been something he’d expected even in his worst nightmares, but Mark knew even the luckiest marine found their number had run out. He’d been lucky this time, but it hadn’t been an experienced he’d wish to repeat. Being sat down against the bulkhead inside the extended bloodtray which he’d soon found had been a troop-deployment pod, the spike shifted again forcing him to sit with his leg straight rather than bent. “Get me some biofoam…I’m not out of it yet. I’ll go out there and shove this spike up that brute’s ass,”

“Big Bird, thanks for your help,” he’d say, or tried to say in the Jackal’s language. He’d turn his attention towards the marine, the 2nd Lieutenant that had helped him and spoke in English. “Lieutenant, thanks for the assist. Don’t let…don’t let Big Bird be poked for information. Keep him alive. He helped us in saving the boys from Oblivion One-One, and Colonel…Colonel…” His vision began to swim, the drab colors merging with the crimson of blood as the sheer exhaustion placed on his body to the third degree plasma burns on his neck and shoulders and the mild concussion sustained from being slammed against the ground when the pelican Oblivion One-One had exploded had taken its toll. His brief aerial assault on the back of the giant grasshopper, and the following rough landing hadn't exactly helped either. His breathing hadn’t changed, but he’d lose consciousness as the world around him and the din of war evaded him. The MA5C he’d been carrying with its shoulder strap slung over his right shoulder which he’d rarely have allowed to fall slipped to the deck at his side as the muscles throughout his body loosened, and while his vitals had remained above the red line his body had decided it had taken too much punishment. A Corpsman or nearby marine that had some medical training had rushed to Mark's side, but while he'd been at least tending to Lieutenant's more visible injuries as best as possible the aging Lieutenant had lost consciousness.

(OOC: I had to assume Bep had made it into the Pelican, but if he hadn't then I can alter the post accordingly.)

[Faclan]

Bep, Jackal Prisoner with a good word
Counting his lucky stars and thinking he may have saved his skin.

Looking to his side as another human came to help he actually returned the smile that was offered. He was glad that some of the humans were getting the wounded out, that made it more likely that the commander would be pleased. He looked up to check and see if the other wounded humans had been grabbed and was pleased to see some of the guards that were looking over his fellows had moved to get them back. He kept looking up, a recently fired spike heading right for his head, as he could see that Nek had stayed and was trying to arm some of the marines while the rest of his lance looked like they were about to run. He hoped they had done enough to be allowed to leave or at least not die. But a sharp pain in his ribs caused him to ack in pain and lower his head, the high velocity spike taking out the middle third of his short spines.

Quickly running a hand through his 'hair' he took a deep breath and thanked all the gods he had ever been taught about that it wasn't a inch lower, or he would have a spike through his entire head. Shutting his eyes as his ribs started to pain again he hisses quietly in pain and kept dragging the helpful human back. Eventually his butt hit something metal and other humans reached over to get the Lt. inside.

Bep took a glance back at the forest and the fires and slowly shook his head. Taking a quick breath he hoped up into the pelican as well and sat down near the Helpful human, holding his ribs as the last of the painkillers wore off. Certain death awaited him back at the covenant forces at the forest itself. He would rather take a 1% chance than a zero.

Looking over as The Helpful Human spoke Bep waved and smiled a little before going back to sitting. He watched the last few humans clambered into the transport and looked around to see if any of his brothers were on or were dragged on but the amount of human bodies in the way made it so he couldn't see either way. Looking back at The Helpful One as he passed out Bep tried to take deep breaths to stop his nerves racing and his ribs hurting.

There was nothing he could do now, for better or worse he was heading for the Human base and maybe a ship...funny, he had always wanted to see one since he had been told they were like his peoples ships. Taking out his Marine Green bandana he held it tightly with his side, praying he had made the right choice.

[Soulstep]

2nd Lt. Geoff Alexander Blake Mkvenner

Tornado-Four-Actual
Receiving cause to change his 'all aliens are utter bastards' mindset

“Lieutenant, thanks for the assist. Don’t let…don’t let Big Bird be poked for information. Keep him alive. He helped us in saving the boys from Oblivion One-One, and Colonel…Colonel…”


"Yes sir..." Geoff said quietly as his CO passed out. It was unlikely the wound would kill the Lieutenant, from what Geoff could tell, but he still felt his voice soften.

Turning his attention to the Jackal referred to as 'Big Bird', he figured that if he was to look after the alien, he should probably learn its name first of all. Pointing to himself, he said, making sure his voice was clear, "Mkvenner." He then pointed to the Jackal, hoping it would understand him.

Behind him, Alvarez rolled his eyes and glared at Geoff and the Jackal, clearly not fond of either of them. Braeburn was on another dropship, and Becker was glaring at Alvarez. Each had their own private thoughts on the matter, with Becker's being the most outlandish, as befitted her.

As the last Marine boarded that particular Pelican, the crew chief gave the pilot the all clear to lift off. One of Becker's boys held on from the side rail and fired off a few more rounds at the Brute one-handed before ducking back inside. Now clear, the ramp and hatch closed, the Pelican swiveled around to face the Brute, nose cannon moving to get a bead on the, to quote the co-pilot, 'assmonkey'.

((OOC: I'm assuming that this particular Pelican would be fully loaded by now, hence the takeoff. The other two, unless I'm mistaken, are still on the ground. And the autocannon has yet to open fire, just to clarify.))

[Frazer]

UNSCS Preston - Virtue-Class Attack Carrier
Captain Frazer York

The bridge crew of the Preston sat there in silence as they awaited orders from the UNSCS Kiliminjaro, Frazer stood over looking the Holo table and thought to himself how could the UNSC defeat Covenant on this one. He knew the Kig-Yar had appeared in the system so this meant there were three different civilizations all with different ideology's and meanings fighting for one planet. Frazer looked up and spoke. "All bridge officers report to the holo table, its time we mapped out the enemies next move whilst we wait for orders." And as Frazer said that all the bridge officers, Tony, Trayner, Jack and the rest of the officers surrounded the holo table. "Tony what do reckon? What are we dealing with here?" 

"Well the Covenant as we know are most likely going to make the first move, they will start from here." Tony pointed to where the Covenant fleet was and then dragged his finger to where UNSC Fleet was. "Then they will finish here and start to engage us from the front. Sir they have a considerable amount of ships so what ever the Admiral is planning its needs to be good and allows us bigger ships to take the brunt of the fire as the frigates come in from the side and attack." 

"I agree with that analysis Commander." Tiffany came up on the A.I Pedestal as she said that. "Captain I suggest putting the ship on red alert now, that way we are ready for when we need to react to any orders given."

"Alright, Tiff put the ship on red alert have longswords primed and ready to react when need be." Tiffany nodded and came off the A.I pedestal. "Right all bridge officers back to your posts you all know what we are dealing with out there so remember to do you job and we should all make it home. Tony good job on that analysis I want you to report to the marine and ODST officers down below and give a briefing and what to expect with the Covenant attack and inform them they might need to protect the ship from boarding parties." Frazer walked over to the captains chair, the crew went back to their seats and Tony left the bridge. "Dean report when the Admiral has given us our orders." Dean nodded and the red alert siren sounded around the ship.

[iamsteelius]

Kig-Yar Minor Nak
Outside of a pelican, trying to help a Marine

    Nak grunted at the human, realizing that he wasn't going to hand him the weapon. Nak stepped back and picked up his Needler Rifle and looked around. He saw Bep inside a drop ship, helping an injured human. Nak saw that the humans started to be alright with Bep helping. Nak looked around to see that part of his file actually seemed to be ready to leave. Nak turned to them, realizing the File and Bep finally had a chance he turned as he just heard a Spiker fire off. Nak saw a spiker round flash right in front of him, then felt another go into his shoulder. It chewed through his armor and knocked him over.

    The metal spike sent flashes of pain through Nak's arm. Nak gave a squawk of pain from the floor. He struggled to stand up but couldn't move from the pain. He looked to see his arm practically pinned to his torso, with 8 centimeters sticking out. He chirped out quietly and positioned himself to his knees, with his good arm under him. He lifted himself and stood bent over, heaving. Nak raised his head and looked toward the smoke. He wanted to be furious with the Jirilhanae, but knew he was simply doing what he saw was right. Nak took a step forward, already planning his next move.

    He reached for his rifle, took in his hand and began to advance. Since the Captain (Nak could now see his armor through the smoke) already shot him, perhaps the humans would think the Kig-Yar weren't with Covenant. If they believed that, there'd be less executions and more negotiations. So he planed to sell the idea that the Captian and the Minor were fighting. He planned to move to the front lines and make a show of fighting the Jirilhanae, knowing he probably was going to get gunned down by the Captain first. Nak didn't think it mattered for his life wasn't worth his file's and Bep's.

    As he sifted through the soldiers, he felt a hand grab him and throw him down. He squawked in pain, looking up to see Top. Before Nak could say a word, Top chirped, "Sorry, it's just a little necessary." He than grabbed Nak by the back of his armor and slammed him down, Nak's head striking the ground. Nak, now completely dazed, felt himself being dragged. Nak wanted to scream, No, you must be saved! But Nak couldn't speak, or even formulate a continuous thought. He could barely stay conscious, holding on to the fact that they had to get out of there.

    Nak could feel himself stop and look around. He saw his file, all clamoring either at Top or at Nak. He grunted, hoping that Top or Bep had an idea, because he was blacking out. Nak grunted once more, thinking, If someone doesn't do something than we might all die. Nak blinked. I need to stay awake. I need... to stay... I need... Nak went unconscious in the midst of his file, on the worst day of his life.