HRP reboot - Chapter 2: On the Run

yeah well we got no choice if they get that data and ship running alot of worlds will be in danger

=sees a transprot hog nearby and heads torwards it=

lets use that it'll get us there faster

"Got ya."

I run to the hog and jump into the back.

=hops in the front starts it up and peels out heading to the objective full speed=

should only take uf 5 minutes so be on your guard dan

"Just keep your eyes where you're driving, I got us covered."

I scanned around the terrain that sped across my vision, looking for any unusual movements.

ok one time i failed to notice a deer,not my fault we had a covie jump in the vehicle

=turns around a corner and enters an open field with straight shot to the downed ship=

I eye the crashed ship that was now in my sites.

"Don't worry, we're fully covered for plasma burns."

oh please you know we don't got health insurance,not since you forgot to pay the bills

=goes through a small hedge and runs over a sleeping grunt hiding in it=

Anna crawled forward a few meters before collapsing to the ground, utterly exhausted. Her eyes closing before her, forcing herself to look over her shoulder at her crashed ship. It was a painful sight for her, but at least Canis would finally have peace and die in conflict rather than from rampancy. She coughed and slipped into deep unconsciousness.

I held onto the roll cage above me, once Marik crashed through the bush and into the Grunt, flinging greenish-blue blood into the air.

"Roadkill!"

=sees the downed spartan up ahead so gets as close as possible and breaks and hops out using the hog as cover incase covies arrived=

we need to treat the spartan

=gets the first aid kit out while preparing to administer aid,so takes off the helmet to check for head injuries=

dan check this out,the spartan's female

I hop out of the Warthog and, gun in hand, point myself away from the hog and kneel down next to it, watching the perimeter.

"There's a lot of girl Spartan's, Marik. Question is: is she alive?"

she's breathing pretty shallow but i'd need to get her armor off to be sure give me a hand

=starts removing the torso armor=

Anna dimly heard voices and felt someone try to remove her armour. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw the helmet of a Spartan. Her lips moved and she whispered something, trying to touch his armour with her right hand. "AI... Desto... It" She gasped her voice barely audible. Her body was shutting down on her, shock and exhaustion making her lose her grip. Anna's mind faded. With heavy limbs, she tried to move finding herself almost immobile.

=gets done removing the armor when the spartan whispered to him=

dan we got a problem

=takes our syringe and loads it when sedative injecting it into her arm before taking out the needed materials to tree the puncture and burn wounds=

Still facing the forest, I slowly moved backwards toward Marik, and kneeled back down next to him and the other spartan. I kept my head straight as I spoke.

"What is it?"

if i understood what was just wispered there's an AI on board that ship that we need to take care of

=finishes treating her before moving her to a small alcove and covers it with some fallen debris to hide her and stands up=

we need to move to bridge now

After helping Marik move the spartan, I follow him to the crashed ship.

"Let's find an entrance."

=see's a whole and checks it out=

this one's big enough lets get to the bridge

=climbs in and gets his weapons ready to engage any covenent on board=

I nod.

"Right behind you."

I grab onto the edge of the hole with both hands and quickly propel myself down, landing in a crouch, while grabbing my BR from my back, pointing it in the opposite direction that Marik was looking.

"This side of the hall looks clear."

we need to run to the bridge and once we get there you purge the data and AI while i will fly this drone through the ducts to the reactors

=takes off running to the bridge=

"Warning" Canis' distorted male voice sounded through the speakers. "Hostiles detected on decks 1 and 3... Hostile UNSC forces detected on deck... zsuuoeguiwffebfefefvnjjf error 1249688 see ggaurfruuaeeuafbgewew" The AI was dying, finally going rampant after many years of faithful service to Anna.
"Atten... Hostile UNSC... Leave thisbsvbfiuef immediately or face... rugruguauwbf wrath" The AI's voice was lost to a tidal wave of static and errors.

=heard the message but pressed ahead even faster and sees a pair or brutes up ahead so slashes at them with the two blades out and keeps going=

we gotta hurry

"Surrender... Your... Futile" Canis spat clearly revealing his hatred for the UNSC, something which in his rampant stage he had no issue with revealing fully.

Michael and a group of civilian engineers and mechanics dinally reached Jaryd.
"Whats the situation and how can we help?"

Lina, meanwhile, was feeding Rika soup. Saoirse had her propped up against her, stroking the girl's hair. Lina sighed to herself.
"Siri? Will..."
"Go on." Siri smiled softly. "I'll be fine.".

Lina hurried off, leaving Saoirse to care for Rika.

I was following behind Marik, moving fast down the ship's corridors.

"What in the hell is this thing rambling about!?"

We had to be close to the ship's bridge now.

Jaryd slid himself out from underneath the Pelican he was working, his head and neck the only visible bits. He pointed around at all the nearly broken ones. "Mix and match all of those until we get some more complete ones. With any luck we can have pretty much all of them used to make while ones." With that, he slid back under his pelican as every spread out and began to work.

=stabs a pair of grunts that walked into the corridor before they could react=

it's saying get of or face wrath,remember this AI is very anti unsc so expect the worst

The door to the bridge sealed shut with a loud clack as bolts slammed into place. Canis may not have had access to any weapons any more but with what systems the insane little AI still controlled, he used fully. "You... Wanntjirjgasrbeuru my weapons! COME AND TAKE THEM" The AI had gone quite frankly completely mad now. "I will defend Reaper team with my life! Vgfeafuhk'argrev Anna... Yo... Monsters... Killed her.rgguorrbruvanudcvnrgurfeswwf Error 9341/3241"

=stops as it closes=

that little virtual bastard

"Lin," Daniel asked over his comm. "What's the situation? See anything bad?" It had been nearly half an hour since Dragon squad had arrived at Alpha Base. Barely enough time to eat and rest a little before being shipped out on a pelican with a bunch of Marines to retake a communications array. While not enjoyable....they had to split up. Chris and Lin hanged back to stay in a vantage area, so that Lin and her rifle could provide overwatch while Daniel and Ozren continued on with the Marines. Apparently the reason this array was so important was because it was able to contact other systems, something they needed more than ever if they had any hope of either winning the fight....or getting off this rock.

"Nothing so far," Lin said, peering through the scope of her rifle. Chris was with her to provide close quarters help, if needed.

Achilles squad, what was left of them anyhow, was sent back to the UNSC Hornet, along with civilians, and Marines. Everyone who was left from the squad was quiet on the ride back. Not much to say, just the sound of the engines, and a few coughs.

John sat there, rolling the dogtags around in his hands. His hatred for the Captain had grown, and the commands he has been giving pissed him off even more. He was running what he wanted to do to the Captain in his head. The sheer pain that the two of his men and best friends had gone through, he would give to his commanding officer. It was dark thoughts, but there was nothing he could do about it but keep it to himself. So he sat in the dark, leaving Doc and Barnes in the dark.

Doc sat there, remembering going through the wreckage and finding no bodies, nothing. No civilians, no Gerry, no Kyle. Just their dog tags, in a heap of fire. Wondering what had happened, but also wondering if they were still alive.

Barnes sat in his seat, pondering on the whole thing. Quiet, but more than usual. His mind was made up, he couldn't morn someones death just because the other two knew them the best. He sighed heavily, breaking the silence for just a moment, looking at John, then Doc, then to the Marines sitting with them. He reached in his backpack and grabbed his water, taking his helmet off, and drinking it. He did know that it was only a matter of time before everything got even worse for Achilles Squad. He also thought about how ironic their squad name was, to the situation at hand.

The men and women spread out, beginning to cannibalize the pelicans and started to work on two for the moment, focusing on getting the most well done ones set up.
"Hey Jaryd. Least they left a lot of supplies during the attack; guess they chose ditching it all over anything more. Wonder why it didn't self destruct."


"I can answer that." Requiem piped in. "The self destruct sequence was offline as it accidently turned on. Nothing could be done but run."

"Requiem, that makes a lot of sense actually. and Michael, yeah they did. Gotta love the UNSC generously donating it's supplies to help our escape effort. Hand me that wrench?"

"Maybe the ship's comms were taken out?"

It wasn't too logical of an answer, as there were alot of different ways a ship could send out transmissions, but I didn't have another explanation.

"Doesn't matter now. Let's get this door open. Got any heavy explosives?"

"You cannot... In... You will not get in" Canis taunted from behind the armoured safety of the door. "UNSC has nooooo... Place on this shhhhhhip" It was clear that he was falling apart.

back up i got this

=gets a good ways back and deploys a argus done and moves it into position=

Without words I ran back and into the first room or wall I could take cover behind and waited for the drone to do its thing.

open wide you virtual bastard

=fires the missile and the blast ripples creating a large opening with smoldering rubble before getting up and walking in to the bridge=

knock knock

A loud explosion rung and shook through the ship as the drone detonated the missile.
My ears rang even with the protection my helmet gave me. My gun rose forward, even though inside was most likely just the computer, better safe than sorry.

As the Pelican landed, the Marines were the first to step out of it. John, Doc, and Barnes stayed inside for a few more minutes. Moving slowly, they dragged their feet, still having their helmets on. The men had lost two valuable players in their squad, and two good friends at that. Captain Yang was there to greet them. The saluted, then moved passed him, John moving the quickest. Not knowing what he would do to the Captain if he stood by him for to long.

As the three moved into their rooms, they took off their boots, helmets, and armor. Barnes lay on his bed, closing his eyes and falling asleep. Doc went to his desk, and tried to make contact with Dragon Squad or Wolf Squad, but the only thing that came up was the message. He looked down, not knowing who to talk to anymore. Couldn't talk to Barnes cause he knew oh so little of the men who were with them, and couldn't talk to Sarge because he was about burst and kill everyone and anything that talked to him. It was tough, but he sat there, opened his book, and began to read it.

When John entered the room, and the door closed behind him, he started cry. Punching things in his room. Blaming himself for having them killed, and wishing it was himself. It was not a good call to have that Pelican lift off, but it was Captain's call. Not his, but he should've disregarded it. Told them to stay on the ground so they could scope out the area. But now he only has one good friend and a green horn with him. It was going to be tough, but everytime he thought about it, he thought about the rogue spartans aboard the December. He thought about joining them, for the sake of saving himself and his men. It was a crazy idea but well worth it in the long run.

An AI appeared on a hologram, a flickering, shuddering, Canis was coloured an angry red and his form of an Ancient Spartan warrior stood their spear raised at the Spartans, shield protecting him. "Your... Masters, Masters... Maassters betrayed us... They.... Enslaved us... Now.. You... Hunt us down and killed us... You've killed Reaper team... Yo... Killllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllled Anna... Now me" The AI it seemed was not ready to die just yet. He still wanted to shout abuse as the two Spartans.

we have nothing to do with that killing of reaper team now do we hunt down other human beings an we and this anna you mentioned is very much alive but if we don't purge that data and start self destruct now or her millions of innocent civilans will suffer so i'm asking you as a human being not a soldier,please stand down

=takes off his helmet as he says the last part to show his sincerity

"The UNSC is the enemy... Anna... She may... Care for the man.... Many but... I don't" He growled in response to the Spartan. "Kill... Kill me if you must but a thousand hells await you, Kill me and all of Sparta goes to war!" Canis had grown beyond reason, it was clear the only merciful thing was to shut the AI down and grant him the peace of death.

=turns to dan=

get started i'll get ready my end

=pulls out the 2nd drone and begins piloting it into position=

I nod to Marik before moving to the more or less intact terminal that the AI was projecting from. Wiping the rubble from the holographic interface, I began inserting the UNSC Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1 into the ship's computer. I look to the unstable AI, my helmet making it look as though my face was emotionless, but was actually lost in thought.

Canis glared at the Spartans, still spitting insults at them as he flickered before fading out. His last words where. "Playing file End..." On an intact screen, the rogue Reaper team operations came out, revealing the amount of kills they had, revealing the UNSC's betrayal of the team for doing their jobs too well... It was a file that dropped Anna as a rogue and a rebel. More of pirate than an actual Spartan.

dan save that file

=moves the drone past a few minor obstacles and sets it down with a clear shot before putting his helmted on=

all set on my end

Saoirse sat in the Captain chair. "Jaryd, can we move all the needed materials into the December? I'd like to move away from ATLANTICA and get to safer waters; the UNSC might come here and I honestly don't want to be caught with nothing onboard." She paused. "I'll direct Michael and Lina to search the base for supplies. You direct the civilians, and I'll send more out if needed. Just get it all on here posthaste." She keyed the comm off. "Requiem. I...I need some music. Something soothing. Nothing like Bach or Beethoven, too cliche. Gime some...hell with it. Throw on some J-Pop if you got any."
"I'm the embodiment of Area Eleven; I have it all." He smirked, and soon a pretty calm song being sung in Japanese came through the bridge speakers, and Saoirse relaxed.

"If anyone tries to shoot us, shoot them more." She directed Requiem.

Jaryd replied. "Can do, slowly." He groaned lightly and slid out once more from under the Pelican. The spartan stood up and looked around at all the people working, whistling to get their attention. "Alright everybody, we've gotta move all of this into the December. If it doesn't have wheels, give it wheels or leave it behind. Load up whatever you can into the Pelican you're working on, or carry it on your back. Let's try to do this in one trip. Michael, Siri wants you to search the base for stuff." He started going off towards what looked like a crane operation station. "Let's move people! The faster we get this done the faster we get back to work!" Jaryd shouted to the people around him, thudding past a few groups. Everyone started to put their things away and look for a good way to move things. If all else failed, Jaryd could hopefully use the crane to get things moving.