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The ONI Chronicles by Jaywhit and JediKnight114
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The ONI Chronicals Part 1
Date: 10 December 2003, 5:07 AM
Jaywhit and I (JediKnight114)both have not posted anyhting as of late, however we decided to co-write a new series The ONI Chronicals, this makes referenses to our older stories which you can view via author search. Jaywhit's works include the "Hell Of War Throughthe Eyes Of A Marine", "Titan" and the "ONI Black Operations." I myself wrote Unexpected Surprises, yet to be finished, however references are from that as well, my author name is JediKnight114. We hope you enjoy our new little creation, because we are definitly pleased.
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"Urgent all UNSC battle ready ships please jump to these coordinates-
Romeo one, one, even by Zulu twelve, Damèon three is under heavy assault, I repeat Heavy assault Covenant forces are ready to- Static ended the frantic distress signal that was reached by several ships near by. The only ships, battle ready where three destroyers Thessalian, Atlas, Acristius, a carrier Devil's Messenger, and two frigates Hylas, and Tiresias. The Tiresias, being the closest responded,
"Damèon three this is the Tiresias we've got your relief on the approach our ETA is, five minutes" said Mitchell, whom was the Captain of the Tiresias. He looked up at the battle screen situated behind the helm. With a plain face he watched the stats scroll across the screen. However plain was definitely not the term you'd use to describe a sinking feeling induced by the limits in which one's duty pushes him to. Mitchell rolled his head to the left, then right, cracking his neck as he made ready to send his ship into a seemingly fruitless battle.
"Plotowski, take us to mark Romeo one, one, seven, by Zulu twelve. All ahead flank speed" said Mitchell. He held his head in his hand and sighed deeply, but instantly brought his head up, eyes wide and on the brink of a smile he turned to the holopad "Darren" he shouted. Immediately after that the ships AI came into view,
"Sir?" he replied looking a bit cheerful. Darren was a tactical AI not a smart AI, meaning he is less prone to arrogance.
"Thaw our cargo we'll be needing them-
"Sir if I may inquire about the retribution that could possibly be the result of you're decision" Darren said as he interrupted Mitchell.
"I'm aware of it, just DO IT!" retorted Mitchell
In the cryo chambers of the Tiresias the engineers were clambering over their messy work stations and getting to where they needed to be, under urgent orders from the captain. "cryo bay four, tubes six through ten are to be ..unpacked.. lets go boys we need to get on it double time" said the ensign in charge of the thawing"
"Roger that, commencing retrieval now, tubes thawing in 1 minute, stand by for orientation and calibration. More crew poured into the cryo bay with equipment and five separate carts of MJOLINIR armor. The five tubes where beginning to leak a bit of steam, and then popped open. Two men came to either side of each tube and helped the five Spartans out. John, Fred, Kelly, James, and Linda all climbed out as the cryo team assessed them.
"All clear, tubes hot 'n open we're good, to move on" said the leader of the cryo team. John looked around to get his bearings and quickly did so; the rest of the Spartans moved over to the carts and started to put their armor on. John then joined he squad mates when a young engineer asked,
"Sleep alright there Chief? I know it's a bit of a hassle but there has been a change of plans, we're moving to assist the colony on Damèon three, so we need you guys do what you do best." John looked to the rest of the Spartans and offered a quizzical look. A slew of responses came from them,
"Sure" said Kelly beating Fred to the first in volunteering.
"I'm in" said Fred
"I'm good" said James
"Where's my sniper" chimed Linda
"Alright Spartans I want you all ready 10 minutes ago, get moving secure all your gear, lets head to the hanger" John said. The Spartans exited still dressing in armor and continued down to the armory. James walked over to the heavy weapons locker and eased it open, he scanned up then as he was half way down he grabbed a new looking assault rifle the MA5C. He didn't even notice too much of a difference and pouched several magazines. Fred and Kelly went through and split ammo for M6Ds and the standard MA5B rifles. Linda was busy assembling her custom sniper with a carbon fiber barrel and a modified stock with recoil suppressing pads. Her custom rifle fired a slightly more powerful 17mm x 12mm rounds and had a dampening curve of rifling at the tip of the barrel along with slits to allow the muzzle flash to dissipate slightly and at the same time to maintain proper foot pounds the round carries.
In Orbit Around Dameon 3, onboard ONI Prowler Black Death attached to the hull of the UNSC Destroyer Atlas
Lieutenant Commander J.D. Andrews, appropriately call signed "Ghost", stared at his reports in his quarters on board the ONI Prowler Black Death. The information he had wasn't the kind you would tell your kids about. Preliminary data from the battle above Dameon 3 had been promising at first, but the destruction of the UNSC forces prior to this task force's arrival was concerning. The figures were displayed on a monitor near him. Multiple ships down, numerous spatial debris, hundreds of marines and civilians dead, the figures were concerning for him.
Unconsciously he touched the scars of a not too long ago operation that grafted new skin onto his burned body, cloned organs, and another nasty piece of metal reinforcing his fragile bones. A jolt ran through out the hull, which had knocked over the helmet of his PSCS onto the floor. The PSCS, otherwise known as the Personal Stealth Combat Shield, is built like the MJOLINIR shielding but it is smaller and less powerful. The fusion energy pack is reduced to give the solider less weight to carry, the PSCS has a Personal Camouflage unit, unlike the Covenant versions that effectively die out after a period, the PSCS is never depleted unless turned off by the user or it is knocked out. The PSCS gives the solider a small shield around him to aid in his protection but it is limited. Two to Three Plasma bolts will overload it and either shut it down or fry it completely. The PSCS is also complete with a more concentrated armor and a thicker helmet. The helmets included a polarized plastasteel darkened visor, this in a sense was new technology but it had been put to use so far hadn't produced morally promising thoughts.
Ghost sighed, he went over his data again and the mission parameters. A warbling tone sounded and he pressed a button on the console.
"1st squad rise and shine, I want you at the Pelican geared up in five minutes" He un-ceremoniously moaned and rose up the seat, moving off towards the weapon bays.
The Lt. Commander stood at the base of the Pelican's ramp; he had a holopad with the squad's roster on it. Standing at attention were also eleven men and woman, they weren't filled up to the appropriate fifteen yet but it would do. They were all clad in the same PSCS armor as Ghost was but there was one difference, they had a new type of rifle. This rifle was named the CP-01, it was new like the PSCS and they were testing them out. The CP-01 was a slug thrower at heart, it had an experimental power source created by an energy pack inserted into the butt of the rifle, and it fired the same shells as the MA6B but at a greater velocity.
He looked down at the names, "Squad, board the craft as I name you. Sgt. Smith, Sgt. Taylor, Sgt. Ortega, Lt. Addison, Cpl. Carlyle, Cpl. O'Connor, Sgt. Bryant, Cpl. Greer, Cpl. Hasakan, Cpl. Howard, Cpl. Lowe, and . . . Sgt. Peterson. You are new to this squad aren't you Peterson?"
Lt. Commander "Ghost" looked down at the female officer standing in front of him, she carried an SRS99C-S2 Sniper Rifle. She replied "Sir, yes sir. Interesting outfit, glad to be in it" She strolled off into the ship where the rest of the team had already boarded.
He glanced around, he noticed the two other Pelicans being loaded with ODSTs, it was the commands' little way of keeping an eye on him. He turned and walked on board the awaiting Pelican and locked the hatch down. Soon after the hatches sealed down, the launch bay decompressed and the outer door opened up on the Prowler, the smaller craft exited the ONI ship and into space. He sighed and said out loud "I hate space travel", the ship accelerated towards the planet's surface.
ARRIVING IN ORBIT OVER DAMEON 3 THE UNSC TIRESIAS
As the Tiresias entered orbit over Damèon Mitchell saw he was a little late as the destroyers all made it there before him. The space around Dameon was busy and full of traffic as Pelicans made their frantic runs in tandem with Longsword fighters patrolling. The Atlas hailed Mitchell as soon as he was noticed. "Captain Mitchell if you'd be so kind as to get your boys planet side and help us here"
"Sure thing Sir, we'll get to it" responded Mitchell. He turned and walked over and stood over the shoulder of his tactical officer and asked "anything on our scanners?"
"Sir, inbound Covenant ships, I have identified four ships sir, all covenant cruisers. ETA 47 minutes sir."
Mitchell closed his eyes and shook his head, his hands were cold, a nervous feeling was upon him, he shook his head and cleared his mind of the thought and said loudly over the ships PA, "Combat teams golf through November saddle up your to assist in any way possible the evac of civilians and provide relief for any pinned UNSC forces, move out!" Marines were running throughout the docking areas driving warthogs to their designated Pelicans. Gear was being acquired through weapon racks, causing a clatter among the footsteps of several Marines jogging to their Pelicans. LT. Collins was the commander of the marines and was standing in the middle of the entrance with his rifle slung over his should and yelling,
"Lets go you monkeys my grandmother could move faster then you boys lets go go go!" he flailed his arms and almost dropped his rifle with the amount of emphasis he was putting into his motions. In the middle of the massing of marines in the hanger the Spartans made their way to a Pelican which was moving slightly and ready to go at a moments notice.
"Alright you heard the Captain our objectives are to secure any civilians on site and if possible relieve any marines, there is also a secondary objective which is an ONI base, a group of ODST are securing it and may need help , we'll split into teams for this one- the Master Chief was cut short by the sudden acceleration of the Pelican, but continued "James your with me on red team, Fred you Kelly and Linda are blue team, your blue lead Fred, secure the primary objective" the acknowledgement lights winked and nothing was said from the on.
On the Surface Of Dameon 3, approaching the LZ at ONI Installation 3317
The Pelican rocked and shuddered as it flew through the atmosphere, bursts of flak from the Covenant exploded in the distance. Longswords flew past, they were on strafing and bombing runs, all while Plasma Mortars erupted from the Forest. No one seemed to notice a trio of black painted Pelicans flying through the clouds. The Lieutenant Commander's COM buzzed in his ear "Sir, ETA to target three minutes, LZ is hot" It abruptly shut off.
The Lt. Commander stood up, holding on the hull of the Pelican. He turned on his COM onto the frequency predetermined for the Black Ops units. "We'll be landing shortly at the installation, our mission profile is to infiltrate and secure the data inside the facility. The remaining defenders are being decimated, ODST squads will proceed to the entrances and hold them, Black Ops we'll infiltrate the base and secure the data. I want a fast drop, the Pelicans do not touch down completely, we disembark and the Pelicans give us cover from above. Do not let anyone inside the base, human or covenant, fire at you're discretion, any questions?" He paused, the COM channel was clear "Good, prepare for combat, Black Ops PSCSs online"
He toggled a set of controls and closed his visor, a slight humming emanated from his suit. The air around him turned a blue shade, the rest of his squad activated their suits and they all shown on his visor's HUD with the same aura around them. The Pelican began to decelerate as it reached the LZ. The rear ramp opened and Ghost heard the firing of the Pelican's chain gun. As soon as the Pelican stopped and hovered, he shouldered his MA6B and climbed out along with the squad. The Pelican quickly accelerated, lifting off while strafing the Covenant ground forces. The ODSTs had opened fire and gained the attention of the Covenant, his squad moved.
Ghost moved forward, his rifle firing off three round bursts at any Covenant he encountered as he proceeded towards the building. Grunts and Jackals fell before them; they approached the facility and noticed squads of Covenant pulling back into it. They moved closer towards the large opening of the building, stepping over Covenant and Human corpses. The ODST squads headed to their appropriate destinations and began to fortify them. The Lt. Commander leaned against the entryway; two other soldiers reached the other side, Hasakan and Greer, he told them with hand signals to clear the corridor. They leaned around the sides and took positions, Greer and Ghost at one end while Hasakan had the center, and they fired. Their CP-01's chattered along with Ghost's MA6B, the unsuspecting Elites and Grunts were mowed down before they knew what had befallen them. An unlucky shot from a dying Grunt though, set the stage for hell as it connected with Hasakan, his shield flared.
The Lt. Commander pulled back to reload his rifle with a clip full of EX rounds when the Covenant fired on Hasakan. Hasakan's shields flared and gave out and he screamed as he was hit with multiple plasma shots, he died were he had stood. Ghost cursed under his breath and opened his COM "Fuck this, Black Ops rush the corridor". The squad converged and rushed into the walk way, straight into a fire storm. Their rifles chattered as they moved up the hallway, shields flared and died and some of the squad was revealed. Greer tossed a block of C-12 towards the end of the corridor while under the cover of supporting fire; it detonated vaporizing any unlucky covenant in close proximity. Ghost checked and saw nothing moving up ahead, he glanced at his HUD noting the charging shield and the two absent names of his squad's roster in the corner of it, Hasakan and Lowe.
He flipped on his COM "Form up, Carlyle take point, move towards the Command Center" He glanced back at the smoldering forms of his fallen comrades and moved on.
Cpl. Carlyle peered around the corner of the corridor leading towards the command center then he leaned back while priming a fragmentation grenade. He rolled it down the corridor and took cover. The explosion lit up the walls and the over pressure wave blew smoke and dust down the corridor. They approached and came around the bend, weapons shouldered. There standing among the dead Grunts and Elites were a pair of Hunters along with a single Elite and two Special Ops. Grunts with wielding torches, Black Ops opened fire. The Grunts screamed and began to run away just after the Elite had fallen. The Lt. Commander and two other soldiers fired on them as they ran, they crumpled as the bullets hit them. The Hunters yelled and aimed their Fuel Rod Cannons at the squad, Sgt. Bryant's PSCS was dead and she was visible. Sgt. Peterson, in her crouch, fired her Sniper rifle and hit one of the two Hunters in the orange flesh beneath its helmet; it died spewing orange fluids from its neck, while the other Hunter fired. The green bolt of energy flew towards Sgt. Bryant just as the squad opened fire. The bolt never got to her as it connected with Cpl. Howard who was still cloaked, he screamed and pieces of him blew everywhere in a red mist and flash of light. The Hunter, who had just fallen under the combined fire, it's shriek however drowned out that of Cpl. Howard's.
The Lt. Commander glanced around at the area and shut off his PSCS, as did all the remaining members of the squad. There was a loud grunt of disgust as Peterson tossed the remains of Howard's arm off of her back. Sgt. Smith walked over to the door of the command center, shouldering his rifle and opened it, whirling around the corner he determined no one was in there. Then Addison joined him in command center to begin the data retrieval and wipe. Ghost turned around and shook his head at the sight of the bloodied corridor.
He flipped on his COM "Bryant, Peterson, Greer take the main entrance and guard it. Ortega covers the east corridor leading towards here, Taylor you have the west. O'Connor your with me, Addison and Smith keep doing your thing" He shut it off and his COM blared "ODST 1, we have minimal casualties and fortified our position. It looks like the Covenant are coming back Sir" "ODST 2 here, Sir my squad took seven casualties, but we can still hold". Ghost sighed; relief flooded his mind but the chatter on his COM had just broken it. "#### . . . Bogies, This is Pelican Black 2, I repeat inbound Bogies. There are Seraphs and Banshees inbound, along with multiple Covenant armored ground units. Shit!, I am taking fire, going into evasive maneuvers, all Pelicans retreat towards Marine lines, I will distract them as long as I can . . . INCOMING ####### AHHHHHHHHH". There was an explosion in the background and then silence; soon a distress beacon went off highlighting a NAV point on his HUD. "Sir, this is ODST 2. Black 2 just went down, I see the covenant though, and it looks like their ground forces are holding back. Wait . . . what is that? . . . Sir, marine units inbound and it looks like the main body is heading towards the installation. The Longswords are providing cover for something, wait . . . we have Pelicans inbound! Sir, we are going to have some friendly company very soon". Ghost shut off the COM and loaded his rifle. He took a position in the corridor with O'Connor. He toggled his COM and loaded his rifle "Flash Traffic, all units this is Ghost, hold positions and defend your positions against any threat, don't let anything get by you unless I specifically say to. Squad leaders, give updated information every few minutes, Ghost out" He closed the channel and read his sensors, knowing fully that hell was well on its way.
ORBIT OVER DAMEON ABOARD PELICAN DROPSHIPS
As the Pelicans entered the atmosphere they were rocked, jarred, and shook violently until they reached the lower altitudes, Longswords kept serphs and other covenant fighters busy enough that the entrance went undetected, or no one cared.
LT. Collins and his men where deployed not far from a city under assault. The marines were dropped in a small clearing with trees and rocks outlaying the edge of the clearing. As they exited their Pelicans the marines were greeted with heavy fire, grunts appeared out of no where and commenced a vicious attack, four men where killed as the plasma burned away their fragile bodies
The marines returned fire, forming a troop square where the first rank of soldiers where kneeling or crouching and the next rank standing. The group of grunts was obliterated by a volley of grenades and suppressing fire by the marines. No one let their guard down as they began to sweep the area, then; an Elite charged from behind a rock and ran straight at a marine on the outside corner of one of the troop squares and bashed the marine, crushing his skull. But the Elite was brought down very quickly by a spray of automatic fire. Everyone waited, nothing, sensing the area was clear the LT made a transmit ion,
"This is Collins we've secured the LZ and are proceeding to rendezvous with ODST squads one and two". Meanwhile the Pelican carrying the Master Chief and his team touched down in a meadow with grass about chest high. The Master Chief signaled for James to advance via hand signals. Fred motioned his team to link with the marines enroute to the ODST. The Master Chief and James advanced to the tree line and entered the forest. They were no further then 50m when contacts showed on the motion tracker;
"Jackals" said James. The Master Chief knelt and took his pistol to aim and fired a single round into the jackal's head, James followed suit, and moved on. Both of them slipped through in the shadows and then stopped 150m from the ONI base.
"We should be within visual range soon" John said. Within a few minutes of cautious approach they spotted the base accompanied with large gathering of covenant on the perimeter headed by a group of Elites.
"Take the left flank I'll sit here and draw their fire" John said as he signaled James to his left. James moved up sporting a prototype MA5C rifle which has a twenty round magazine and fires armored piercing 7.62 magnum rounds and had an air compression chamber in the front of the breech jus before the barrel to increase velocity while reducing the report the weapon gave off. The Master Chief sat still only after pushing a fresh clip into his pistol and waited until the highest ranked Elite was in the open and fired three perfect heads shots. The Elite staggered and fell to its knees before eating dirt, as the rest of the covenant returned fire. The Master Chief's shields drained a little as he took cover behind a boulder. James' MA5C sprang to life spitting out suppressing fire which tore up an Elite running for cover. Grunts threw their arms up and ran in panic from a now continuous onslaught of bullets. After the last grunt fell, both stopped firing. "Motion tracker not showing any more contacts, proceed with caution"
ON THE SURFACE OF DAMEON 3 AT ONI INSTALATION 3317
Ghost's COM blared in his ear, the first of the information to arrive. "ODST 1, Heavy Covenant advances towards our position . . . FIRE THAT JACKHAMMER . . ." The COM from the squad ended abruptly as another went on "ODST 2 here Sir, we have transient contacts all over the place on our motion trackers, my sniper keeps picking them out of the foliage . . . I'll get back to you". Ghost nodded his head and his motion tracker blared, a pair of Fuel Rod Cannon armed Grunts rounded the corner, his MA6B blared as it was fired in a full auto fusillade.
The EX rounds tore through the grunts and killed them rather messily. His COM blared again "Sir, Peterson, We have friendlies approaching. Sir, they are Spartans . . . I repeat they are Spartans" Ghost stood there dumbfounded and didn't reply, "Spartans, here? How?" He thought to himself. He took a deep breath and hit his COM "All Squads, this is Ghost, hold the Covenant off as long as you can, do not fire on friendlies no matter what the mission parameters given down to us by Command states. Peterson and the rest of you there do not fire on the Spartans. Just let them come Sergeant, Ghost out" He shut off his COM. He turned and yelled up the corridor. "SMITH HURRY YOUR ASS UP, WE GOT COMPANY!" Ghost crouched and aimed his rifle, waiting for anything to come.
The ONI Chronicles Part 2
Date: 22 December 2003, 7:05 AM
ONI Installation 3317,
Dameon 3
The Lt. Commander looked around; the building was quiet except for the occasional chatter on the COM. He couldn't help but wonder why, why the Spartans were here, why were they even here.
He looked over at O'Connor, who had perspiration visibly forming on his forehead "O'Connor, you doing alright?" O'Connor looked up at him "Sir, I'm fine but seeing people die so fast, it's just so un-natural" Ghost nodded, "I understand but-"The COM chirped to life "Lt. Commander, this is Peterson. Looks like our Spartan pals are knocking on the door, your orders sir?"
Ghost pondered the mission parameters inside his head; he went over them and his own morals. "Let them in and activate your PSCS. I'll greet them here; do not fire on them what so ever."
Bryant chimed in "Sir, that goes against our mission parameters the brass and ONI set up for us, no one is to enter, that's it".
Ghost was visibly annoyed now; it tinged in his voice "Bryant, do not disobey my orders. This mission is under my command and I give the god damn orders, is that clear?" He sighed and stood up, stretching his legs, satisfied that he kept this problem under control.
The pair of Spartans moved to the tree line and peered to the left, then right. Once John decided it was all clear he stood, slowly. James stood as well and gave John a thumb's up as he slammed a new clip home. John signaled to stack up and move in a train formation along the perimeter of the base. He took point while James turned his back to John and promptly began to backpedal as he covered their six. They soon reached a section of the perimeter that had been breeched, and they stepped over the fallen bits of reinforced concrete. They both held tightly together in their formation and continued to the main complex. John slowed his pace and came to the edge of the main entrance. James whom compensated for the change of pace had stopped and knelt, rifle at the ready. John opened a COM channel and spoke,
"Take a position on the opposite side of me, get ready to enter and clear"
James did as he was told and moved slowly, silently, to the opposite side John was on. John holstered his pistol and brought his rifle up against his chest, barrel pointing up. He leaned and looked out of the corner of his eye and then slid back to an upright position, he gave the (on me) symbol, which are two fingers pointed at the eyes. Then he signaled for them to move in, both rolled to their sides and hugged the walls in a stagger formation. James was exactly one meter behind John and moved with squared shoulders, letting his rifle be his eyes. They reached the end of the hallway leading into the heart of the complex. John raised his arm parallel with the ground, bent at the elbow with his hand in a fist, and James stopped. John then pushed his hand down as if he were easing an object into place. Spotting the sudden movement James crouched low.
"What is it Chief?" James said. John widened his stance so he could crouch lower and slowly scanned the room. In the room there was a large computer mainframe with brightly light screens, but what seemed to be aloof to John was the odd placement of items such as chairs and tables, or what was left of them. The room was littered with bodies, both covenant and human, even more out of place were the bullet shells at his feet. They were larger then the standard issue MA5B which fires 7.62 rounds.
John said quietly "The room... it's not ... well, look!"
He picked a round up from the floor and James looked at it. John did not turn to face him in case any trouble sprang up. "Notice anything about it?"
James thought for a moment. "Its not standard issue and it doesn't have the burn marks of ball powder," he answered.
"Looks like we aren't alone in here" whispered John. James turned to check their six; he glanced at his motion tracker
Bryant moved up towards the entrance, her PSCS active and working fine. Ghost's COM crackled again, it wasn't anyone from his squad. "Bryant, this is ODST 1, follow the mission parameters and stop the Spartans from entering. Ghost might have command, but we need you to stick to ONI's primary directive on this mission. He has compromised the mission; do not listen to his orders." Ghost activated his COM "Go fuck off ODST 1! If I catch you I am going to rip your head off and use it as a fucking ashtray! . . . Bryant . . . respond and hold your position!"
There was no response on the COM channel. "Peterson... Greer. Anyone respond, what's going on?" The COM channel was dead. Ghost glanced up at his team's biosigns. Greer and Peterson were alive, but he assumed them to be unconscious; while Bryant was awake which meant one thing, trouble. He hit his COM. "Ortega, Taylor, Carlyle return to the Command Center and hold from there. O'Connor you're with me"
Peterson's biosign went green. "Peterson, stop Bryant before she does something stupid, she must be heading towards the main entrance. STOP HER!" He made sure to put emphasis on the last two words.
He and O'Connor began to run, his COM blared one last time "ODST 1 under heavy fire, pulling back farther into our building. Lost contact with ODST 2, we are in deep shit".
"There movement!" said James. He leaned backwards and used the wall as a brace to roll around and aim into the room before him. John adjusted his stance to get a more solid posture and clicked on his helmet's speaker and threw a challenge
Bryant leveled her CP-01 at the intruders and without giving a second thought, opened fire on the Spartans. A round ricocheted off the floor mere inches from John. James opened fire at their invisible foe and choked out,
"Contacts... cloaked Elites!" At this point John switched to IR viewing, and almost fired. He stopped for a fraction of a second, only because a lucky round from James' rifle caught their mystery assailant in the chest, and shields flared.
"It's a human! ...Not an Elite!" yelled John. But it was in vain, James already centered on the chest of the still invisible person, before they could return fire. Bryant's arms raced to the large wound on her chest, her eyes widened with the stare of a thousand miles. The only people alive who knew this look is battle hardened Marines. She began to fall back, but subconsciously stepped to keep her balance. This attempt failed and she hit the wall with a definitive thud and slumped leaving a frothy thick and blotted trail of blood as her body reached the floor. "Check fire, check fire, triggers on lock!" shouted John once more.
James had already spent his magazine and was reaching for a fresh one but stopped on command. He nodded to John and then rose up and scanned the room. "Left is clear," said James
"Right is clear," said John as he moved next to James whom at this point was inserting a full magazine into the stock of his rifle.
O'Connor pulled ahead of Ghost, just ever so slightly as the sound of a rifle discharged. They both knew what had happened but didn't say a word. They toggled their PSCSs and stopped at the corner of the corridor connected to main entryway. Ghost, with his rifle shouldered, peered around the corner and took in the sight. There were two Spartans at the end of the hall, looking down at the body of Bryant who in turn had a large hole in her chest.
Ghost hit his COM and set it Peterson's private COM "Peterson, shut off your PSCS. We'll come around the corner and show ourselves too."
He looked at O'Connor and shut off his PSCS, his body once more being visible to the naked eye. Soon after O'Connor was visible also, they both raised shouldered their rifles and went around the corner into the complete view of the Spartans. Peterson appeared on the other side, crouching against the corner with her Sniper Rifle raised and aimed. Ghost lowered his rifle and walked alone towards the Spartans, raising his visor in the process.
"Lower your weapons, we are not here to kill you. We are ONI, just on a mission. What happened a minute ago was uneventful but I did not order it, I regret what I did have to order though." He stared towards the faceless visors on the Spartans, wondering what was going through their heads.
The Master Chief knew all well that there had to be more, so the sudden appearance of the two soldiers was of no surprise. He merely stood there with a calm finger on the trigger of his rifle. James who was not to take any chances waited for it to be as quiet as possible before he loudly clicked the safety off.
John opened a COM with him "Safety that weapon, I gave you an order"
James winced at the sharpness in John's voice, and reluctantly clicked the safety on. He lowered his rifle very slowly; it was obvious he was uncomfortable.
"What is going on here" demanded John as he nearly yelled through his speakers.
Ghost winced at the sound of the safety being clicked off. He couldn't tell what it was but, didn't damn dare show it. Peterson was the only Ace in the draw, she could take out one of them is anything went wrong. If the situation went sour Ghost knew he would be the first to die.
"We are here on a classified mission, what just happened was a conflict between morals and mission designated parameters. She... was for the mission." said Ghost, with a cool and calm tone.
John glanced down at the dead Sgt. though he did not crane his neck, he just moved his eyes. As John brought his eyes up he met Ghost's stare dead on and he had a feeling Ghost knew just where to look. He gathered his thoughts and spoke.
"We really don't have time to stand here and chat away our mission; we will help you to the extraction zone. Till then get you're sniper off us and we will hold the main entrance. Our com channel is D band."
Ghost nodded and looked toward Peterson, "You and O'Connor drag Greer back to the command center" He paused for a brief second before raising Smith. "Smith how is that file extraction and deletion coming along?" He waited, and then his COM crackled
"Sir, there is a bitchy A.I. in the system... hold on..." There was a sound of weapons discharge over the COM. "Correction sir... there was a bitchy A.I. in the system. Give me ten more minutes, if I can't finish it, then I'll activate the self destruct" He gritted his teeth at the sound of that idea.
"Understood Smith. Taylor, Ortega go recon, find out what in the hell happened to those damned ODST squads. Carlyle get ready to treat Greer, we are bringing him in. said Ghost. He paused making sure to say the next few words loud and clear, "Give me updates on all accounts, I don't want to keep the Spartans waiting too long. We've got ten minutes, and then we'll bug out" Ghost shut his COM off as Peterson and O'Connor passed him.
John and James melted into the shadows of the room on opposite sides. They angled each other as to not take friendly fire, the one main hazard while flanking an enemy. Suddenly their COM crackled to life,
"Red Team, this is Blue leader . . . we *phhshhh* ing heavy fire . . . maintained severe *pphhshshhh* falling back on your location" Fred's transmition barely got through. It was enough to complicate things however; John thought for a moment and then opened a COM on all freq.
"ONI you have five minutes I repeat, only five minutes, Blue team is falling back and they are hot with contacts, advise we begin to move out" John gave a series of hand signals to James, whom nodded and disappeared out of the room and headed out the main entrance.
Ghost turned and jogged up the hall, moving past his two subordinates and headed towards the Command Center. As he approached, everyone except for Smith had taken a position outside the Command Center facing the opposite way as him. Immediately his Motion Tracker blared with hundreds of contacts, the base was crawling with the Covenant.
He approached his men and kneeled down near them and spoke loudly enough for them to hear "What's the situation, where did the Covenant come from?"
Taylor replied without even showing any notice towards his CO "Sir, it looks like as when ODST 1 and 2 were overran that the motion tracker began to blare. I'd say that they are slowly making their way here, even though there are fewer contacts in the general area of ODST1's position."
Suddenly as if on cue, there were weapon reports down one of the halls. Three ODST ran out into their field of view, stopping and firing at something down the hall. One of them took a plasma bolt to the face and dropped, it was the remnants of ODST 1. The others ran towards the Black Ops squad, Ghost and his men leveled their rifles.
The first to round the corner was an Elite. Ghost, Taylor, Addison, and Ortega fired, their rifles spitting forth death at their foe. The Elite's shields flared and died, the rounds tearing through its armored hide as if it was paper. Behind him, Carlyle met up with Peterson and O'Connor as they carried the unconscious Greer between them. A pair of Grunts wandered into Ghost's sights also, soon shredded by the squad's combined fire. Then all hell broke lose as a quartet of Elites along with at least ten Grunts rounded the corner, weapons blaring.
The Black Ops's shields flared and held as the plasma connected or skimmed by them, they returned the fire with their rifles firing in a full auto fusillade. Grunts screamed and fell; some fired and hid behind other's corpses. One of the Elites immediately went down and the others continuously fired. Peterson and O'Connor soon joined in the fray; white contrails soon filled the air along with the plasma and rifle rounds.
Ghost took a couple of hits, his shields flared and died. Another plasma bolt from one of the Covenant's plasma weapons connected with his armor plating, sizzling as it melted through the hardened layer. Ghost grunted as even another plasma bolt burned through the armor on his chest and into the flesh beneath. His MA6B, the newer Marine standard weapon now, spat forth EX rounds and quickly ate through a Grunt's armor. Exploding as each round connected, killing the Grunt rather messily. Soon the small skirmish had ended; the Covenant's corpses lay strewn across the corridor. Bullet and Plasma scoring pocket marked the corridor, but no human's had fallen. Some of Ghost's team was hurt as he was, but miraculously no one was dead.
He hit his COM "Black Ops, hold this corridor till Smith has completed what he is doing. ODSTs, set up defensive positions along the Black Ops and hold this position along with them. Smith, hurry your ass up, I don't want to get shot too many times more" He shut off the COM and reloaded his rifle, wondering how the Spartans were doing.
This currently deemed fair by the now complete Spartan outfit, Fred, Kelly, and Linda. They all made their way to the compound safely. What surprised John was he saw eight marines left from Kilo Squad, Collins included.
The eight marines were in a line abreast formation, as they fell back the last marine would stand and run to the man behind him and tap his shoulder. This signaled for that marine to stand and repeat the process as the man who tapped him knelt and fired. It was the standard tactical retreat pattern.
John searched and found a damaged Warthog; he salvaged a chain gun from that very wreckage and was promptly using it quite liberally. Grunts and their Elite commanders fell as he provided cover fire for the marines.
Linda found herself a perch between to massive tree trunks. The tree covered her with its dense foliage but switched to IR viewing and had begun to pick away at the Covenant ranks. Fred and Kelly had drawn the fire away from the marines. The help wasn't very necessary, they were doing well without any help, but the Marines had appreciated it though.
"There is a breech here in the perimeter we can bottle neck these bastards if we move now!" shouted Fred as he tagged the map with a NAV point.
John began a slow lumber that which you could equate to a hunter, never pausing as he kept moving, just as Covenant fell from weapons fire left and right. Then four Elites came from nowhere jumping the walls. John saw them just in time as he threw the chain gun down and ran for cover. Plasma bolts scorched the spot where he had once stood, melting the strewn chain gun in the intense heat. The Elites fired on John and plasma bolts hit him a couple times, flaring and dissipating across his shields, but his shields had only drained a little. He didn't look back; he knew if he could circle the Elites around, Linda would surely see them. After another five seconds of running he realized there was no more Plasma chasing him.
Linda chimed in over the COM "You can say good bye to your bug problem Chief"
"That was close," he thought, when he realized that he was meters away from the NAV point that Fred had set up. John fell forward with outstretched arms as if he were doing a push up. He caught himself and then lowered more till he was laying prone on the hard earth. He unclipped the last two-frag grenades from his belt and laid them on the ground in front of him. His motion tracker was alive and pulsing almost completely red. Plasma fire became more concentrated towards the breeched section of the perimeter as Fred, Kelly, and all eight marines ran through.
Without breaking stride Fred and Kelly angled away from the center of the breach by 45 degrees, spun about and took up firing positions.
Smith tapped furiously on the keyboard, watching the numbers and symbols scroll by. His face showed signs on stress, sweat beaded his face, but he never took his eyes off the monitor in front of him. A sparking computer console near him showed the masterpiece of his deactivation of the A.I. His rifle lay propped against the table at which he sat. The COM chattered and sputtered static, he could hear the sounds of the battle outside and knew time was short.
He spent part of his time trying to get around all the firewalls and security protocols that were set up before the base had fallen. Computer code scrolled across the screen, another monitor showed the progress of a program running. He toggled a control on the holographic pad near him and warning symbols and signs appeared, he continued forward with his task. The pad flashed and changed, it showed a count down from 00:15:00. He closed the pad and stood up, locking his gauntlets on his armor.
He hit his COM "Sir, I couldn't get all the files. We have fifteen minutes and then this whole base goes" He shut it off and picked up his rifle, he activated his PSCS.
(I hope you enjoyed this part, please post comments after you read this. We spent time thinking and correcting, so I hope it was worth it. Thanks)
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