HRP reboot - Chapter 2: On the Run

"Well I have operational knowledge of what the UNSC is up to out here... The Admiral of the battlegroup well he hit on me and careless talk happens when someone tries to make you fall for them" She told the Spartan. "I am... Certain I am a officer of the UNSC I owe you all my lives so I will aid you as best as I can but... As an officer of the UNSC my duty is to them even if I am abandoned so please escort me to the brig or cabin whatever you prefer"

Becky was grateful for the help. "I would prefer armour... I find civilian clothing reminds me of my shitty homeworld"

Michael nodded. "Please turn around and put her hands behind your back then."

Saoirse sighed. "I guess we can find some fatigues or something more comfortable Becks. Or would a nice dress be better? I'm sure a dress would make you look great and not remind you of home."

"Very well please inform your commanding officer or any of the Spartans if they wish to know anything more to come talk to me I will not however speak to any one else of this" Lindsey turned around and put her hands behind her back.

Becky was horrified at the idea of wearing a dress. "No, I am happy in marine armour" She looked down at it. "Well training armour"

Michael nodded, putting Riot Cuffs on Lindsey and started to gently, but firmly, push her along.
"As you wish, Lindsey. You'll be treated fine, I promise."

Saoirse laughed. "You can't wear armor forever." She said.

"Hey you could just direct me Spartan I'm not going to run or try anything" She told him, not knowing his name.

"True but when I'm not it's just a black t-shirt and green combat trousers" Becky told her. "So are you going to take me to your room then?"

"Hey, if you're gonna follow protocol,so will I." he said. "And it's Michael."

Saoirse nodded. "Follow me then."

"Well Michael if I was following protocol I would not have told you what I knew" She said with a chuckle. "Look my hands are held behind my back, I'm unarmed and my guard is an armoured super human" Lindsey laughed. "I would have to be an idiot to try and escape... So Michael what else do you wish to know?"

Becky grinned. "Hey... Where will you be putting Dmitry?"

"Well, why you're doing this. I know the UNSC threw you out, but still...it took a lot for us to really leave." He stopped at a cabin, keying it open. "what's your angle?"

"In his own cabin. We have plenty." Saoirse said. "He'll be treated ok, I promise. We're trying to live...not hurt anyone."

She and turned to face the Spartan. "Well I owe you a personal debt you could have just destroyed the ship or even left me on the Nevada I don't like owing people anything besides what the UNSC had planned I don't think it's wrong I know it is" Lindsey stared at Michael desperately trying to will him to understand. "They are trapping rogue Spartans and killing them, not capturing they are wiping them out! Wasting hundreds of soldiers and naval crews to kill a few... Would you not try to save everyone? Even people who you don't know? Even people who you have good reason to hate?"

Becky nodded, relieved. "If he causes trouble just remind him his brother was part an Innie so was my father but... He was an idiot and a fool"

Saoirse moved closer, hugging Becks to her chest (area above the breasts). "Alright."
She let go, keying a door open. "Make yourself at home. But if I come back and you're naked on that bed, I will faint."
Leaving her with that joke, she left Becks to finally relax and headed for the bridge.

Michael tilted his head. "We saved UNSC forces and civilians. We know. And we lost a friend doing it."

"Then you'll understand... I grieve for your losses but chances were my entire crew would have been lost to the enemy ONI had planned I don't know what is in there exactly but if you need my help I'll give you all I know" Lindsey felt herself smiling and then start laughing. "I thought the first time I'd risk everything would be for someone I loved and not for a life debt"

Lindsey hugged her back and watched her go with a smile. She stayed standing looking at the fancy room, she felt so unclean in comparison, she was afraid to touch anything in it.

"Maybe you have someone you love, and you're doing everything you can to get back to them?" Michael offered, cutting the riot cuffs and stepping out of the room. "I'll see about getting you some water soon."

Saoirse smiled, and headed for the Bridge.
"Report."
"I told some UNSC to go fuck themselves." Requiem said calmly.

"No he died... I have no one but" She flexed her wrists when they released. "Listen if you want to talk more come back and see me"

Becky made her way to the bathroom and began to try and clean it.

"Will do." He nodded. Michael then left for the hangar.

Lindsey sat down and rested her head in her hands, burying it.

The Garuda was headed for Waltari, a mining colony on the fringes of the Inner Colonies. The planet was covered in snow and ice, blizzards a common issue. Last anyone had heard, Covie scouting forces had discovered the world and deployed ground forces down to the surface, and the planetary defense forces on the ground managed to get them bogged down in skirmishes, but it wasn't looking good. So the Garuda, along with a few frigates, were being sent to deploy extra forces. At least, that was the plan. But when the ship exited slip-space, she and her group found themselves in a dire situation: they exited on top of a Covie battle group, composed of frigates, and a few battlecruisers. The captains maneuvered their ships, in order to complete their orders and buy some time. The ODST's were deployed, as were any pelican and albatross dropships. While they all went for the surface, the group of ships attempted to hold off the Covenant, managing to destroy one of the frigates before they themselves were destroyed. In a final move, the Garuda overloaded her reactor, the crew jettisoning out on escape pods as the ship was sent crashing into the battlecruiser. The destroyer, with dozens of tiny explosions triggering all along her hull, was consumed in a flash of expanding light. When it faded, she was gone, and the battlecruiser itself was severely damaged.

As that all happened, the survivors flew through the void down to the planet. Dragon squad, falling together, paid no attention to the battle save for one comment from Chris. "Man," she said. "We are bad luck for ships."

Fairweather Thunder faired slightly better than Garuda, but had taken a tremendous beating. Thunder launched her ODST's just in time, a plasma torpedo hitting the port side of the battered cruiser. But like a bloodied boxer, Thunder went back into the fight.

Wolf looked up at the battle with detached interest, falling together wordlessly toward Waltari's surface. Mitchell broke the silence with one comment that summed up the squad's thoughts: "Man...our duty stations suck."

While the dropships managed to get to the surface grouped together, there were complications for the drop pods. A blizzard was already in motion, and it was a bad one. It was bad enough that it fouled up their navigation equipment, and they had no idea just what they were dropping into. At least, until they saw an incoming ridge line for a mountain in their path. "Fuck! Dragon squad, engage emergency boosters!" Daniel shouted over the com, and his own pod fired a burst from the boosters placed below his pod. The others followed suit, and they managed to push themselves up just enough to graze the ridge. While they survived, the brush was enough to send them all off course, and scatter them. Several of the other pods either faced the same fate.....or weren't so lucky, impacting at full speed into the side of the mountain.

As her pod was sent tumbling, Lin, fired her braking boosters and deployed the chute, slowing the pod down until it hit the ground with bone shattering force and tumbled over the ground. As she waited for the tumbling to end, she whispered a name so quietly that it was lost in the din.

Wolf Squad ran into similar issues, the navigation equipment in their pods going to shit in a hurry. And a few moments later, a massive mountain ridge line came rushing up to meet Wolf the hard way. Marcus shouted over the, "Shit. Wolf Squad, deploy boosters, now!", and a second later, his pod's boosters responded in kind. The rest of Wolf followed suit, just grazing the ridge line.

Even though the squad barely survived, they were scattered like stones on a pond. Marcus' pod was sent pinwheeling for a few moments; having been through shit drops like this one, he'd braced himself as he tumbled in his pod.

Achilles squad got the firetrucks ladder up, Doc went as fast as he could, getting Gerry out of the situation. After it was said and done, they carefully placed him in the back seats, "Alright, we need to get those men out of there, soon. We don't know what is going on or if anyone has even gone in to help them. And we sure as hell need to get them out."

The squad nodded to him, all of them reloaded and ready to get some Marines back, "We gotta be careful though Sarge, we got wounded on board. Remember that." Doc looked at John for a few, with a concerned look, "And who knows, we could have more wounded, so we gotta be extra careful."

As they all piled into the truck, Major Henderson got the ships 'message'. "Who the fuck do they think they are? God damn, fucking Spartans, going rogue, and think they own the whole god damned universe." He called up to Captain Yang once more, "Captain, it's Henderson, I want to board the December, and take back the hostages."

Cpt. Yang- "Negative, Major. No one is to even get on that ship. You get on it, you might as well put yourself in handcuffs and put yourself into Military Jail. We keep pursuit of the ship until reinforcements arrive. Understood? We're just here to keep a watchful eye."

Henderson was fed up with the bullshit, he sighed, "Yes sir." As he cut the link between him and the Captain, he motioned 1 platoon (88 men & women), to his position. (Also remember, he brought half of a battalion with him). He then motioned 6 Pelicans, out of the 24 that were there, to take the men to the landing bay of the December. He was also going with them to command them. He left his XO, Lt. Major Farren, to lead the evacuation. As Henderson got aboard the Pelican, they took off. Major Henderson was becoming a hot headed. His XO tried to talk sense into him, but knew there was no way he was going to get through his thick skull.

The Pelicans flew over the city, Henderson, beat red, was the only one who wanted his 'revenge' from some stupid ass, rogue Spartans, who, in his opinion, didn't think their shit didn't stink. Though, the Marines knew it was total opposite, for the situation at hand. Major Henderson grabbed a SAW from one of the Marines. If was going out, he was going out big.

Alas, Henderson violated orders in vain. Not only did Requiem detect their approached, he forwarded the signals, the numbers, and all NueralNet IDs he hacked into through the Pelican's biosign systems.
Then, as a final "Fuck you" he flew over the sea and descended.
The secretly psycopathic AI had one thing to say to Henderson.
"Follow this."

The Long and Dark December kissed the waves...then slid under the water, out of reach of the Pelicans.

With a gasp of air, Lin woke up, still inside her pod. The crash landing had knocked her out for a few minutes, and as she looked around inside the pod she realized she was in some trouble. Through the glass she could tell that the blizzard was still blowing hard, and it was cold inside her pod, the seals breached and ice and snow already creeping inside. She needed to get out, and so she unstrapped herself from the chair, and hit the explosive releases for the door. It blew clean off, and flew through the air before it landed in the snow. Climbing out, she checked her suit integrity. Everything looked green, even the seals so she'd stay warm. Battery pack was good, and so were her weapons. Then she tried contacting her squad.

"Dragon squad this is Lin do you read over?" There was nothing but static. She checked her radio, but found it was working properly. "Dragon squad, this is Lin do you read me over?" Again, nothing. The blizzard. It had to have been the blizzard, blocking all radio contact. Well, shit.

=gets close to the planet and begins the descent torwards a location on the east cost of the continent=

might get bumpy dan

Lin grabbed her weapons, and stashed her ammo, grenades, and survival gear in either the pockets of her suit, or in the pack on her back. Then......she began moving. According to the GPS, or at least the last updated version of the map she had in her VISR, the rally point the dropships were headed for two klicks west of her position. In a blizzard though, that might as well have been two thousand or more. But she didn't have much choice, trudging through the ankle high snow, her vision obscured by the snow.

Daniel was already out of his pod, and he already tried using the radio. It had the same result as Lin's attempt, which was nothing. So he also started moving for the rally point. As did the rest of the squad.

Marcus slowly got up in his pod, the impact knocking him out for a couple of minutes. As soon as he got up, he tried the radio, hoping that it would be able to cut through the blizzard. "Wolf Squad, this is Marcus....Wolf Squad, do you copy...?", the answer he got back was nothing but white noise, the blizzard having reduced all comms to zero. Well...this op's gone to shit in a hurry. Let's hope my squad can hack it out here.

Marcus, still thinking on his feet, unstrapped himself from the harness and hit the explosive release on the door, the lid of his pod flying through the air before hitting the snow. He then grabbed his weapons, and stashed his ammo, grenades and survival gear in either the pockets that were on his suit, or the pack on his back that he carried on this op out of caution. He check his VISR map, highlighting the squad rally point. He then headed west towards the rally point, the ankle deep snow making his progress slow.

The rest of Wolf Squad went through similar problems on the drop. And every one of them started to head for the rally point, the wind howling in their helmets.

"WHOO! Yeah!" Emma yelled as her rocket turned the ghost into a ball of blue fire, the wreckage collided into a pair of grunts and a jackal crushing them. "Burn you alien scum!" She tossed the spent launcher aside, drawing her magnum pistol as she advanced on the wreckage. Emma Watkins felt herself grin, a jackal crawled forward it's legs broken leaving a blood trail behind it.
Emma holstered her pistol and drew a long serrated steel knife that she had found, it sparkled against the snow. She wore ODST armour however it contained several differences, for one this suit looked older, the second was the riot cuffs that dangled round her wrists, the broken linking chain glinted in the fires from the wrecked ghost, the third and final difference was that her chest plate was prison orange stencilled on the plate in black paint where four numbers 1327. It was a long and boring story as to how she arrived to be on such a miserable, freezing rock. The Jackal squawked  fearfully seeing her, the look in it's evil eyes seemed to say what are you going to do with me? As if to answer it's question Emma chuckled. "I take my time" With that she plunged her knife into it, repeatedly, deliberately hitting areas that would not be lethal before finally forcing the blade through it's skull. Emma wrenched the knife free and shook the gore off of the weapon, she was covered in Jackal blood. "That was for my best friend" She muttered as she slowly walked away.

Jaryd walked around aimlessly, before shrugging and going to the messhall, looking for food.

The storm was bad. Not the worst one this region had ever had, but it was still a bad blizzard, and being lost in any blizzard was a death sentence. Lin knew that as she kept moving, stumbling through the snow. Trying to wait it out was suicide, since most blizzards could last for hours or more. Dammit, she thought to herself. What I wouldn't give for a pelican right now. Or a hot chocolate and a warm bed with Siri. Maybe it was the thought of the hot chocolate, or maybe it was the thought of Siri (she was inclined to think the hot chocolate) but she was able to keep going, faster in fact.

Emma battled through the blizzard and almost walked into a small building, the snow had rendered visibility to almost nothing. She stumbled forward and forced opened the door and pulled herself inside the door screeching shut behind her. She lights flickered on weakly and revealed an abandoned store, it looked looted yet it appeared deserted.
She advanced cautiously, knife raised. Turning down an isle she stopped seeing the torn remains of what was once a UNSC soldier. "Ah... Shit" She whispered however Emma did not bother to check for vital signs, it was clearly a dead either way, the tattered lumps of flesh hiding whatever gender the soldier had once be. When searching for dogtags she noticed that they where gone. That might have been a good sign unless the Covenant where taking them for trophies. The fallen soldier though looking more like something you would expect to see in a butcher's shop had a grenade launcher. A weapon which Emma eagerly recovered. "Thank you for the weapon" She found that it was still loaded and found several more grenade rounds for it. No doubt this would all come in handy later. Emma Watkins sheathed her knife, holding the blood splattered grenade launcher in both her hands. She would wreak havoc with this. Part of her knew she should try and find other UNSC personnel but most of her... Just wanted to fight and stay away from brigs, cells, jails and stockades for as long as possible.

The fire truck began to haul, John turned the sirens on for some fun, "Here we go!" As the siren was going, Henderson's Pelicans flew by, landing in a courtyard.

The surprise from Achilles squad was shocking to the Covenant, especially after smashing several elites, and some jackals. The Grunts went running, and tried to hid from the ODSTs. Barnes was the first one out, taking out an Elite with a shotgun he had found on his way to the Firetruck. Kyle got out second, climbing to the top of the truck, and going prone. Trying to take out major leaders, and snipers on the upper floors.

Doc stayed in the truck with Gerry, keeping an eye on him. Watching the doors around him, he nodded to John, then he nodded back jumping out, shooting at the Grunts, while making their way to the Marines.

Spacing out for awhile, I finally snapped out of my day dreaming, hearing Marik's voice. I grabbed onto a handle above my head.

"I'm holding my breath."

yeah well while you've been spacing out we got covies on the ground

=alters the ships course which smooths out the descent=

so you ever find any hidden programs,i mean it is ONI after all

Meanwhile, down at the rally point, the dropships were all grouped together, if spaced apart enough for a safe take off. The blizzard made flying by eye an impossibility, and last they had heard most of their forces were scattered, the nearest objective having been lost. So for now, the deployed albatrosses served as a poor-man's command center, as they tried to get communications up despite the gusting winds and blinding snow.

Kyle went into the area the Marines were put in. One was dead, beaten to death. The other two had wounds that needed to be seen by an actual Medical Officer. "Barnes! Get me some help! We have one KIA and the other two are badly injured!"

Barnes ran inside, seeing the other Marine lying on the ground made him sick. Just seeing his mangled body was harsh enough. "Alright, let's get them in the truck!" The two picked them up. They were coughing, and had been crying out of fear and pain. Doc opened the door so they could be put inside, Barnes gave Kyle the Marine he had been carrying, John was near the driver seat. He pressed on the gas pedal, and it came alive once more. As the second soldier was being put inside the truck, Barnes hoped into the Passenger seat, and began to shoot his SMG out the window. Kyle jumped into the back seat with Doc, helping take care of the wounded. The 4 were headed towards the last known location of the LZ where Major Henderson, and his unit was. To their surprise, the only ones there was 3/4's of his men, and his XO.

Emma saw the image of a way point appear weakly on her hud, she recognised the symbol as that of a rallying point. Other UNSC soldiers should be there, perhaps ODSTs... But that would mean returning to the combat, the frozen world outside the structure. Something she was eager to do, return to combat.
She opened the door and battled through the snow, making her way towards the rallying point. That was where the war was going to be. So... It made sense to head there. That was where the fight was at. Emma checked her grenade launcher, making that it was loaded and ready to fire should any aliens decide to want to get blown up. She tried her radio. "This is ODST Private Watkins is anyone receiving this transmission?" All she got was static, the snow... The blizzard was disrupting the communications, something she had only just discovered.

Becky now armour cleaned and tidy left the confines of the room she was in. She walked with an obvious limp down corridors and soon became lost, the ship was like a maze... She stopped just before a corner in a corridor leaning against a wall catching her breath.

Jaryd turned the corner of the hallway, his helmet off and hooked onto his side by his arm. A blink and a sharp intake of breath later and he and another person collided. An ODST, he guessed, just from the sound of armor on armor, but it was before he opened his eyes so he wasn't sure. After his blink he looked down. "Oh, sorry."

Becky let out a cry as she was knocked over. She hit the deck with a dull thump stunned, staring up at the armoured mountain of a Spartan. She blinked several times, it felt almost like she had been run over by a warthog or hit by a sniper rifle round.

Jaryd bent over and stuck his hand out to help Becky up. "Hey now, sorry about that. Not sued to so many people not in armor."

She accepted the hand and slowly pulled herself up. "It's okay... I'm in one piece I think guess the UNSC should make more of you guys" Becky ached from taking that hit from the Spartan, at least she had something to boast about now, that she had taken a hit from a Spartan and got back up. "I... Listen sorry for the way I froze up... I got scared.." She sighed and took a deep breath. "Sorry"

Jaryd shrugged. "It happens. Everybody gets scared now and then. I know I do. I think. Is shaking and yelling at the hinge-head in front of you scared or just mad?"

She listened to the Spartan, surprised that they could feel fear. "I... Was scared, they had murdered my friends and my instructors... I... How could I stop them?"

"Stop what, the aliens? Probably couldn't. If you did anything to try and stop them you would've been killed as well. And then where would that have gotten ya? Smart move not trying to stop them, or...at least running away in time."

The December now safely underwater after a jolt, they were one hour away from ATLANTICA. Saoirse was rubbing her forehead, running calculation after calculation. They might make it...Hornet wouldn't be able to reach them at least...
She rechecked. ATLANTICA had been charged with the creation of an underwater Pelican, and almost completed the prototype before they stole the frigate.

Athera was not random.
They chose it.
"The civilians are settled in the innermost storage room. I rechecked the manifest; we have two stock warthogs, a Guass 'Hog, and three Missile 'Hogs. We also managed to steal a transport Warthog. Unfortunately we didn't steal a tank, but going over assets, there was a Grizzly squad assigned to Camp Jaffery with a Wolverine team. If we are lucky, Jaryd might be able to slap togetg er a Grizzly and Wolverine. Also, civians are requesting informatioj on why we are underwater."
"Tell them ONI has a mission and will hand them over to the UNSC main fleet as soon as possible."
"As you wish."

After Henderson's XO told Achilles squad what had happened, and after getting the wounded aboard the ship. John wondered why the Captain didn't take the Commander from the Spartans. Maybe the Spartans had good reasons for leaving, but they could've done it a lot better in the long run. He knew it wasn't their fault he had almost lost a man, and he wasn't going give them shit since they left. Everyone has reasons, sometimes reasons are better then others. Whatever theirs was, let's hope it was worth something to them.

The only thing John could really think of was punching Yang in the face. Getting kicked out the UNSC for hitting a superior. He didn't care, all he knew was that leaving the Commmander, and the Marines behind was a stupid move on the Captain. Why would he listen to an ONI offcier anyhow?m and an Admiral. It wasn't the right choice, and he knew it. This whole chase felt wrong. It didn't settle right in his gut, he needed answers. He needed to know why the UNSC didn't take the Commander...

Becky found herself agreeing with the Spartan. "I... Your right Jaryd I just wish that I had been able to do something" She forced herself to smile, perhaps she might be able to save others in the future, protect those who could not protect themselves.

"Everybody wishes for that. Why do you think a lot of ancient stories involve magic and otherworldy powers that help them?" Jaryd said, smiling lightly. "Everyone wants more power, for better or for worse. You just have to learn to do what you can with what you have. Maximize your efforts and do the best you can do. All you can do, really."

John circled his men up, they needed to find more survivors, and kill as many of the Covenant as they could. As he got his men around him, some explosions turned up from the right flank. It killed 4-7 men, and as the smoke cleared an infiltration squad came walking into the LZ. No one knowing of their presence until it was to late.

Kyle lifted his Sniper, and turned on his neural interface, and spotted for the other troopers and his own squad. "We've got hostiles coming, Sarge! Through the smoke!"

"Copy Graham! Give these split-jaws hell boys! Hoorah!" John pointed to where Kyle was spotting, the bullet casings falling on the ground, bullets whizzing by their heads. It was all one big tide of death, and destruction. When the smoke cleared, all that remained were bits and pieces of the Infiltration group. Chunks of wall had been ripped from the buildings that were nearby. Then, it got quiet... Too quiet. Not even a bird was chirping, not a single voice was heard giving orders. No gun shots, or explosions. Just... Quietness.

Becky nodded wearily, agreeing with the Spartan. He spoke at lot of sense. "Well I shall try that... I'll look forward to working with you and helping end this war" She glanced at her injured leg it had not started bleeding again. Which was good since Jaryd had run into her.

Saoirse turned a corner, looking up from her tracking program. Ah. Becks. She'd need to get a tracker on her too.
"Okay. Jaryd! Good news! You're getting some new toys. Submirsable pelican and we're gonna hop over to a UNSC Camp and grab some firepower " she looked at Becks. "And when we do that, you stay in bed." She went all Mom mode. "No leaving the ship with that leg."

Lin was in trouble. Technically, so was every other ODST in her situation, but the light was on her. Being in the blizzard for so long, frost was starting to gather on her suit. If she let it get as far as ice, she'd be weighed down, maybe to the point that she would become quite literally a "Linsicle." Though she had a feeling Siri would enjoy that, having to lick her girlfriend free and all. But this was no laughing matter, and Lin could already feel the cold creep through the layers of her suit. She shivered from the sensation, and realized she needed to stop moving, and try and make some kind of shelter.

Stopping where she stood, she got on her knees and began shoveling snow with her hands, digging her way into the snowdrift as she began to make a hole. It wasn't very deep, but then again it didn't need to be. It just needed to be enough for her to curl up inside and out of the blizzard. She shoveled snow out, clearing space inside. Then she used her knife to carve a trench at the rear of the tiny cave, a spot for the cold air to sink into. Using the ice and snow she moved around, she pressed and shaped them together into large, tightly packed snowballs that she moved from inside the cave to the mouth of her refuge, forming a wall. Then she curled up in the back, and waited for the storm to either pass.....or at least get better so she could leave.

As she sat there, huddled in the ice hole, she removed from her pocket the picture Siri gave her. Smiling as she saw her face again, she couldn't help but speak to.....well, no one really. The picture maybe. "What I wouldn't give for you to be here right now Siri. That or at least have a freaking cup of hot coffee." She paused to snider her surroundings. "Oh I know you would suggest drinking iced coffee about now."