HRP reboot - Chapter 3: Freedom's Bell

“Initiate the congregation.”
The sound of tapping and whirring rang out through the bridge, as the Shipmaster stood at the helm, a ring of light flashed into life, and from the holographic plinths embedded in the surface, the forms of numerous Sangheili and San ’Shyuum flickered into existence. Set and Dosze were forced to stand by Rha’, as the Ultra took his place in the circle, his own holographic image appearing within the numerous other ships of the fleet.

“We are gathered here in this moment of harmony to appreciate the future of the Great Journey. It is time we hear of your many duties, and the fates of your Journeys.”
The High Prophet of Truth, one of the greatest leaders of all the Covenant, spoke with principle and grandeur, and by his sides the High Prophet of Regret and the High Prophet of Mercy, visually broadcasted to all Shipmasters in the fleet all the way from High Charity, three blue images of pure leadership. And opposite of them was the Prophet of Exaction, the San ‘Shyuum who held authority over this fleet in particular.

Rha’ looked around at the other Sangheili Shipmasters, many not wishing to present themselves just yet; with Cesaro still burning both on land and space, no one was too pleased with what the fleet was doing.

“Hierarchs.”

All eyes turned to Rha’, who stepped into the centre of the ring of holograms, and fell to one knee, looking down from the leaders. He fell silent, taking a deep breath; all those around him were Generals, Zealots, some of the finest in the navy, and he was merely an Ultra. Almost all of these figures commanded scores of Sangheili both equal to and above the rank Rha’ held, and that made him more nervous than anything.

“I have gathered information from a human – the location of a planet. And an artefact.”

A murmur ran through the gathering, as Sangheili and San ‘Shyuum silently debated with themselves, and each other, what this meant. The Covenant had a strict code to not take prisoners, rather to execute any and all humans that they encountered.
But, they had gathered key information on the location of an Ancient artefact, and of a human world. As the Zealots and Generals began to calm down, the Prophet of Exaction raised his arms – it was his decision, after all, as commander of this fleet. The Hierarchs were here simply as peace keepers.

“Ultra Rha’ Taydumee… Yes. A new comer to this fleet, if I recall.”
The High Prophet of Truth nodded to the words of the Prophet of Exaction, his gaze fixed on the Ultra.

“You were not stationed aboard your ship, when the humans arrived at Cesaro. You were onboard the Exoneration.”
The room fell silent, as everyone looked around and finally noticed that Juva ‘Zamittaree was not present. The Prophet of Exaction looked down to Rha’, still. He did not need to ask.

“General Juva ‘Zamittaree died defending his frigate. He gave his life for his principle, and for his people. He died with honour and with pride.”
Of course, Rha’ did not say what he really thought. An honourable death for a silly reason was still an honourable death to Juva.

The High Prophet of Mercy spoke with a calmness, yet a fury, much like that of his brothers.
“Do you believe the life of this human, and the information it harbours, was worth the loss of the Exoneration, Taydumee? We have already received word of the human infiltration of the ship, and of what happened over that planet.”

The High Prophet of Regret spoke up, angry as he tended to be.
“That you allowed the humans onto that ship is abominable. Why was the frigate not destroyed as soon as that filth infected it?”

“The life of that human has ensured I will be able to fulfil the task that the Hierarchs set me. The reclamation of the Ancients artefact from the hands of the humans is worth the loss of a single ship.”

Their was murmuring yet again, and as the Prophet of Exaction raised his arms over, the High Prophet of Truth interrupted him, causing even the silence to take a pause.
“Ultra Rha’ Taydumee, Shipmaster of the Prevailing Conviction, and taskmaster of the Fleet of Divine Mediation, I give you consent to hunt down this artefact, and reclaim it in the name of the Covenant.”

All heads turned to the Hierarch – even those of his partners. The Prophet of Exaction looked furious, while Rha’ looked simply confused.
“But you will get no chances. If this is a ruse, or a trap by this human, you will die. Be it by the hands of the humans, or by our own.”

There was no chance for debate, as the High Prophet of Truth removed Rha’ from the congregation, leaving the Ultra kneeling there, eyes shut, disappointed in himself, but thankful he was who he was.
Any other Sangheili would have received worse than death. But not Rha’. The High Prophet of Truth new what his weakness was, and he did not hesitate to abuse it.

KEY:

--Undisclosed Region of Space/Aboard the UNSC Destroyer Double or Nothing--

In the two weeks since the Battle of Cesaro, Dragon Squad had been split up. Daniel went to take charge of his new platoon, Helix, while Lin took control of Dragon. Granted, she was hardly anyone's idea of fit for duty, but the war had pushed the UNSC to the point that it needed everyone it had available. Anyway, Daniel took a walk through the locker room assigned to his platoon, appraising each of his men as they went about their business, be it trading idle chit chat or seeing to their equipment. There was Markov Pasternak, a colony kid from Reach but with one of the best service records in Helix, handy with a gun and Daniel's second in command, busy disassembling and then reassembling his MA5B. Elizabeth Williams, the tech specialist, sat on a bench organizing her equipment, everything from her data-pad to her helmet, as she worked to fine tune some of the VISR's hardware. According to her service record, she had once given a squad-member a black eye after he tried calling her "Ew." She preferred Liz, and Daniel couldn't help but find it amusingly similar to Chris and her name preference.

There were a dozen others, ranging from the heavy weapons expert Trevor, to the demolitions specialist Randall. They even had a CQC specialist, Samantha Cole (no relation to Admiral Cole) who also had experience as a pilot. Daniel had his reservations at first, about sending Helix out so soon after it was formed without any real time to train and work on unit cohesion.....but despite a few flaws, their service records spoke volumes on their competency, and flexibility. Perhaps that was why command organized Helix with these members, he couldn't say. What was clear though, was that they were up for whatever was coming. At least, he hoped they were. All he knew about the upcoming mission was that it was important, and that only Helix was being sent in.

Helix had been called to a meeting room aboard the destroyer, one of the larger ones to account for the size. The captain was there, along with an ONI operative in a not so inconspicuous suit. "Soldiers," the captain said, "please be seated." Helix sat down, and the lights dimmed slightly as the ONI officer stepped forward. The holo-projectors warmed and an AI appeared next to him, a collection of blocks that slowly shifted around, like a floating rubix cube where ever block moved independently of the other. "Troopers I'll be brief," the officer said, a man of pale skin from too much time indoors and dark hair. He looked almost like a ghost, which seemed fitting for the 'Spook.' "We've sent lone prowlers out beyond the colonies lately, in hopes of finding signs of Covenant activity. Their own worlds or installations, and a month ago we found something." An image appeared, floating in mid-air as a holographic screen. It showed a star system, with a few gas giants orbiting it from afar and smaller terrestrial worlds in orbit. There was one that was in the goldilocks zone, though from the readings shown it had never formed any water and was little more than a barren rock. There was however, a blip on it.

"According to the prowler, they discovered what looks to be a Covenant outpost on this rock, listed as LV-362. They maintained radio silence for a few hours and monitored the place, and from what they could tell the place is actually something of a guard post for Covie territory. The prowler picked up a bunch of traffic coming into the system, communications mainly. Either this place serves as a relay station for the Covie's operating over the line, or it's on par with our scanning outposts. Either way, the prowler stayed in system for a week to monitor the outpost, and managed to make a rough timetable of their activities. Mainly, when they'd have the least amount of security."

Siri shivered but said not a word. The rags at least kept her modesty, but she shivered in fear more then cold. Three elites were around her, and she was restrained ridiculously. Arms behind her back, cuffs on her ankles...she barely could walk without problem. She kept her head low.
Siri watched a few tears fall.
"Lin..."

"Sir," Daniel said, "does that mean we're being sent in to attack the facility?" The ONI spook gave Daniel a glance, and said "Yes, but we're not just sending you there to hold the facility; we're going to wipe it out, after purging their data-banks. We have an opportunity here to acquire some badly needed intelligence on the Covenant, and we believe this outpost may hold some of what we need."

--111 Tauri System--

In the two weeks since Cesaro, Lin had become......broken, wasn't the right word. Diminished maybe, though a stranger wouldn't know it by looking at her. Chris saw it though, the light in her eyes slowly dimming. They're failure to rescue Siri had caused Lin to slowly shrivel like a raisin in the sun as the life and will to live left her. All that was keeping her together, was anger. And hatred. She hated the Covenant now more than ever......and she hated her squad as well. Daniel more than anyone, since the argument they had after she woke up and he told her the truth.

-had spent the last 2 weeks hiding on the planetoid monitoring the covenent fleet-

=brings up the ships comms=

dan can you and serah meet me in the makeshift kitchen?

=closes the com=

Serah formerly Anna had begun to develop her memories as part of the Spartan team. According to them she was one and since she possessed no knowledge to disagree with this. Serah softly loaded her shotgun, calmly slotting a fresh shell in before pumping it with a clack. Tearing herself away from the wall that she had been leaning against she made her way towards the makeshift kitchen.

--Double or Nothing--

"What do we know about enemy ground forces and defenses?" Daniel asked. The image of the planet zoomed in, turning into a thermal map showing one central hotspot which had too much uniform structure to be a natural occurrence. "By the looks of it," the Spook said, "the base itself is roughly the size of one of our frigates. For defenses, it has four plasma cannons, Tyrant class that we assume work with patrols out on the surface. But we can't know for sure since that risks moving our prowler closer and alerting the base."

"Extraction options?" Markov asked. That was where the captain stepped in and said "Assuming the mission is a success, extraction will be the destroyer in orbit launching some pelicans to pick you up. If it it hits the fan, we have a contingency." Another hologram appeared, this time of a D77-TC Pelican outfitted with a troop deployment pod. However, the resolution of the image revealed several differences, soon addressed by the Spook. "This is a prototype pelican, built for stealth and long range insertions. It's very much like the Long Range SOEIV's you'll be using. It has no slip-space drive, but again like your pods it can be dropped from the ship while in slip-space and then out of it. You will all, to the best of our estimates, exit out here," he indicated a spot on the system map close to the barren moon, which showed an asteroid field that was close by. "Where you'll become part of an meteor shower and land on the planet--we've used this tactic to great effect before on Heian--and from where you land, you will head for the base."

Dan was staring at the ceiling in his bunk, with his helmet off, when he heard Marik's voice break through to the speaker in Dan's helmet.  The room was quiet enough that he was able to make out what Marik said.  He sat up and slid the helmet over his head, blinking a green light to Marik's HUD, before moving to the cargo hold, converted to a mess hall.

=sees them arrive=

since we've had nothing interesting going on past 2 weeks i figured i'd make us some decent breakfast

=moves over to show a small table big enough to seat 4 filled with a variety of breakfast items=

grant is was just small storage room used to hold miscilleanous things but think it'll work out

Dan pulled up a seat before removing his helmet, setting it to the side.

"You know, Marik, not a lot of people can make a bunch of MREs on plates look half-way decent. But you're one of the few that can actually make them passable as food."

Rha’ stood at the helmt of the bridge, letting out a soft breath to himself as he tried to regain his composure after what had just happened. He had been given command of a ’taskforce’, to quote the Hierarch, but none were yet designated within the fleet. Most had been taken apart after the Battle of Thule, to prepare for a new battle, which was perhaps why the Battle of Cesaro had gone so poorly. Rha’ nodded, and began to calculate the ships and Shipmasters he’d need in his own taskforce.

The Ultra pressed a few keys on the forward control panel, bringing up seven names, all of Shipmasters. Within a moment, his crew connected those Shipmasters with him, through the ships communication relays.

“Shipmasters Tuhil ‘Samamee, Padira ‘Gajatee, Asudo ‘Turomee, Noga ‘Sumtamee, Xyrrta ‘Falee, Jijah ‘Karadee, and Dehl ‘Mdamaee. I am Shipmaster Rha’ Taydumee, and on the words of the Hierarchs I have assembled you as my taskforce. You will aid me and in turn the whole of the Covenant in the hunt for the artefacts of the Ancients. We will proceed to pass through the void as soon as time allows us. Ensure you are all prepared for military operations.”

The communications shut down, and Rha’ hung his head, running a hand over it holding his helmet under his arm.
“They will not be pleased by that news, but they are the only ones that could aid me in such small numbers.”
Thanks to the word of the Heirarchs, they wouldn’t be able to debate the decision either.

The Ultra turned, looking over at the T’vaoan Commando behind him.

“Make sure the Kig-Yar and T’vaoan are prepared for combat. They will be our strike force once we arrive.”

He then turned his attention to the Sangheili Special Operations Officer, standing nearby.

“Ensure the Special Warfare Group is prepared for combat. They will be the assault force.”

Finally, a duo of Huragok floated over to their Shipmaster blissfully, given commands directly from the High Council to take every word their Shipmaster spoke, and obey him without question, as he gave them their commands.

“Get the coordinates from that human.”

thanks i appreciate it

=pulls out chair for serah then goes to sit on his=

by the way the hanful of weapons are in thet small closet behind just incase we need them

"I don't see what is wrong with the food it seems fine to me" Serah commented sitting down on the chair that had been pulled out for her. She placed the shotgun she had brought with her under her chair with the safety on of course.

"This sounds a lot like we're going to be making it up as we go along here," Markov said, a statement which was returned with a grumble of approval by the rest of Helix. The Spook shrugged, looking uncomfortable and said "This is really all we have to go on. But command wouldn't be trusting this mission to you, if they didn't already believe you could pull it off."

--111 Tauri System--

Dragon squad, along with two other ODST squads, were gathered in the pod bay of the frigate Fast and Hard, awaiting deployment. They had gained a new member, a guy by the name of Phillip Smith. He was friendly enough off duty, and his record stated he was a competent soldier who had survived four years of the war. For now, he was silent in his pod, like the rest of the squad. Their mission was.....well, surprising. As it turned out, they were not in fact attacking a Covenant target, but an Insurrectionist target; the colony of Victoria was once home to a rebel base some twenty years ago. UNSC forces had removed them, but it appeared they were back again. Clearly they liked the place.

As it was, the orders of the ODST squads were to be dropped down several clicks south of what intel found to be a new rebel base, move in and neutralize them. They were to gather any intelligence they could find.

Serah looked confused by his answer but made no further comment.

--Double or Nothing--

The flattery did little to improve anyone's confidence in the mission. They had all seen too much of the war, lived too much in its hell, for there to be any confidence left at all. Still, many in Helix did acknowledge one thing: what this mission offered, was a chance to learn more about their enemy, and find out where they could hurt them.

Which was why, less than an hour after the meeting, Helix platoon was assembled in the HEV bay, all of them outfitted and ready in their SOIEV's. The Pelican was in the hangar, prepped to be dropped, as the ship traveled through slip-space.

With his orders received Dosze nodded, and left Rha to gather his Special Operations Sangheili for the coming battle. He looked forward to it, perhaps there would be a worthy challenge in the assault, but regardless of the challenge, they were going to succeed.

---

Skye was in full gear, standing in a wooded training ground used by Army forces. There was a strike team of ODSTs hunting her, all equipped with Stun rounds. Skye herself was to remain undetected, and hunt down the ODSTs without being 'killed', and with her being outnumbered, the fight was quite even. It had lasted almost four days, with two of the six ODSTs 'dead'. The first two days had been spent hiding and watching the ODSTs, learning anything she could.

She'd quickly identified which of them would be the easiest to remove, the sniper and the heavy weapons specialist, and removed them. It was a challenge that she was enjoying, being stationed on the Iris had made her resent the ODSTs, mainly for their arrogance. She watched calmly as two of them passed by her, camouflage activated and hidden in the foliage. She waited several minutes, and when no others arrived, she slipped out and tracked them down, a burst of stun rounds taking down the patrol. A patrol, however, meant that they had established a base nearby. She smirked under her helmet, there would only be two of them left, which meant if she found that camp, she could end this.

Rha’ looked up through the forward screen, at the force assembling before him. The first, and yet furthest away, was the DAV-class light corvette Rigid Splendor, commanded by the young but intelligent Padira ‘Gajatee. By it formed the beginning of a row of three DAV-class light corvettes, which continued with the Expected Providence and Peripheral Kindle, commanded by Asudo ‘Turomee and Jijah ‘Karadee respectively. Alone, those ships were nothing to be feared really – strike ships, if anything.

Coming in above them, however, in the form of a reverse parabola, were three deadly, and terrifying, CAR-class frigates. At the closest was Sacrament, commanded by the Shipmaster Xyrrta ‘Falee, while next to and above it was the Prudence, and below it hung the Entreaty, each commanded by Tuhil ‘Samamee and Noga ‘Sumtamee.

And final, between both lines, it moved into position. The fist of this force. The RPV-class light destroyer Repentance of Iniquity, commanded by General Dehl ‘Mdamaee.

Rha’ nodded as the taskforce took position, now simply awaiting it’s spearhead, the SDV-class heavy corvette Prevailing Conviction. To most of these Shipmasters, being ordered around by one as low as Rha’ was a true insult – but they could not question the Hierarchs.
As the ship moved into position, a conference of voices picked up over the communication nodes, and Rha’ waited for them to silence, as General Dehl ‘Mdamaee spoke first, as he had wanted.

“If you mislead us, Taydumee, you will be burned for it. Understand this.”

And then silence, as each Shipmaster awaited the command of their ‘figurehead’. Rha’ took a deep breath, and with a very faint noise, the void tore open for them, and the taskforce, in an instant, vanished.

“To Paradiso.”


A cigarette fell to the ground, before being silently stomped out by a boot. This boot was pretty dirty. Two days of dirt and muck stained it, all over. It's twin was equally stained. Thankfully, the man wearing them, was not.

"Call this a training ground. For the Rain Forest Wars perhaps."

He scratched his neck, leaning against a tree, listening. He hadn't moved for days. He'd figured out where the strike team had set up shop, and where the S-III was. Given the lay of the land, she had to walk through hear eventually. Considering the patrol hadn't come by yet, he could tell she was already closing in.

He'd come down as a sort of surprise. The Covenant had their stealth teams, their special forces, their background workers. He was basically that. The best non-SPARTAN on the ship, and possibly the whole star system, it wasn't exactly like they had any other choice. He was wearing the same camouflage garbs he'd worn during the Zanzibar Uprising, way back in 2548. He was surprised it fit.
Unlike the ODSTs, or the SPARTAN, though, he was using live ammo. He had a little stun SOCOM, just in case, but the feeling of bullets actually hitting around you made your adrenaline pump more than anything else.

He picked his BR55HB SR Battle Rifle up from the ground, as he lit a second cigarette, grumbling. He had to give the S-III credit - she had longevity.

Skye found the camp, following the way the patrol had come. She watched the remaining ODSTs as they kept an eye out for her. There didn't seem to be any traps, although, it was possible they had some. She could take them out from here, she knew, but her vision was obstructed. They were the last two, however, and Skye opened fire. The first burst flattened one of the ODSTs, while the other managed to react, taking cover and returning fire.

Skye ducked, camouflage activating. She moved to a better position, effectively flanking the ODST, who was scanning the entire 360 degrees around himself. Skye almost felt bad ending the training in such a slaughter, the ODSTs hadn't even managed to detect her. A single burst when the ODST turned signaled his elimination.

"And three, two, one, bang."

He pulled the trigger, pinging the ground a few feet away from the S-III, causing dust and dirt and grass to fling into the air. Single-fire, in Davids opinion, outdid burst shots by miles.
He turned patiently, back behind his new tree, silent, not moving, waiting.

He looked a few meters away, smiling. He'd stuck one of his lit cigarettes into the side of the tree. A small trail of smoke could be seen wafting up from it. The same thing had proved useful before as a distraction, why would it not do so again?

He closed his eyes, one hand on his SOCOM. Waiting.

Rha' wrote:

Bridge, Prevailing Conviction, Ceophix System
10th May 2551 by the human calendar

The Ultra turned, looking over at the T’vaoan Commando behind him.

“Make sure the Kig-Yar and T’vaoan are prepared for combat. They will be our strike force once we arrive.”

He then turned his attention to the Sangheili Special Operations Officer, standing nearby.

“Ensure the Special Warfare Group is prepared for combat. They will be the assault force.”

"As you command." Set responded. He left the bridge, heading towards his T'voaon underlings. Speeding through the ship on scaly feet. He arrived before a few, and readied them. Telling them of their duty, their Covenant. The word spread among the T'voaon under Set, and the Skirmisher commandos, the elite fighters began to gather their armor, their weapons, and ready themselves for battle.

Saoirse woke to find....
"OH FUCK NO, THIS IS NOT AN ANIME." She tried to get up, but the Engineers held her down. One put it's tentacle on her forehead, and she was about to bite it...but it merely held it there, as if trying to calm her. The touching was...
Well, it wasn't rape. it was like...studying. Almost like measuring.
"...I've seen too much anime." She muttered. But nothing ever touched her as such, so she just...laid there.

=finished eating and gone to the bridge shortly after when he noticed several covenent ships were preparing to enter slipspace so begins starting up the ships engines and heads to the covie ships making sure stealth wasn't compromised  and opens comm to the others=

guys we got action so get up here fast

=had piloted the ship close when noticed the destroyers shields were down=

I.R.I.S  can you  confirm if the shields are down on that ship or not

Code:

 i can confirm the shields are down

then lets hope this idea works

=maneuvers the ship into place and attaches it to the bottom hull of the destroyer just in time before it hade the jump with the other ships=

The Shipmaster heard the familiar high pitched rumbling behind him, as a Huragok floated into his view. Rha' turned on his heel, looking down at the human grimly. He knew exactly what to do with her to ensure nothing went wrong. Now of all times would be bad to have things go wrong.

"Human. You will be in my quarters, to ensure that you do not try anything... sly."

For every human he respected, there were five who deserved not even a lick of it. Cowards, tricksters, all craftier than the last. If he kept his own eye on her though, he'd be able to make sure she didn't try anything foolish. And with the Huragok examining her form, there'd be two extra sets of heads keeping their watch on her.

The Shipmaster said nothing more as he led them to his room. It took a short walk from the bridge to his quarters, but all the same it was silent. As they entered, Rha' sealed the door behind him, and frowned. This was going to be a long trip, he could already tell.



<< Admiral... I'm picking up a slipspace anomaly... >>

Dan heard Marik's message and began moving to the bridge from the cargo hold, when all the sudden he could feel the ship moving.  What the hell is Marik up to?  Dan finally made it to the bridge just before the jump.  Out of the cockpit window he saw a Covenant destroyer engulfing his vision.

"What's happening?"

"Alright Helix," the Captain said over the comm. "We've reached the drop-off point, and you know what that means. Good luck....and godspeed." The bay doors opened below the pods, showing the void that was slip-space below. At the same time, the hangar doors opened for the pelican, the pilot firing up the engines and prepping to take off. The cockpit had been outfitted to be extra cushy, since reports stated that anything smaller than a ship going into slip-space tended to get jarred around a lot.

The countdown went by, and everyone was dropped into the void.

Siri didn't respond, and instead let herself be dragged in. The Huragoks took her inside, and soon was holding her gently in a corner. They continued their measuring, ignoring Rha.

Then they took Siri, laid her on the bed, and left. They just fucking left without giving Rha a second glance or giving a flying fuck about putting her on his bed.
They just floated out.

Being dropped into a planet's atmosphere was generally rocky, but by the standards of the ODST's it was bearable. Which was why Daniel, for the first time in all his drops since his very first one, actually said a prayer as he plummeted through the void of slipspace. Every member of Helix did in fact, as this was a whole new level of bumpy.

What felt like hours, lasted all of a minute as the collection of pods and one dropship exited the sub-dimension. They were in the system, among the asteroids set to head straight down to the planet.

Skye dropped, the bullet's ping startling her. She considered the possibility that whoever had fired was not UNSC, and that she may have to use lethal force, but that didn't seem likely; they were on an Army base. She checked that her camouflage was enabled and moved out from her cover, staying low and moving slowly as she circled around the edge of the camp. It would probably be for the best if she knew whether lethal force was the right decision before she made the choice.

No one in Helix dared risk opening a comm channel to sound off. This close to a sensor outpost, there was no telling if the Covies would be able to trace them or not. So, they maintained radio silence, and proceeded with the assumption that the mission was still good, everyone was alive......and that they weren't about to get screwed.

--111 Tauri System; Victoria--

The Fast and Hard had deployed the SOEIVS's from long-range, though not from the same.....distance, as Helix. Swinging over the planet in high orbit, the frigate dropped the ODST's down two clicks from the objective before pulling back, towards one of Victoria's moons.

Plummeting towards the surface, the occupants of the pods shook in their seats as they entered the atmosphere. Their target, or landing zone at least, was in the middle of a jungle on one of Victoria's continents, the rebel base not too far from it. Chutes deployed to slow down the pods, bottom thrusters firing to decrease speed before they all crashed into the ground.

The hatch on Lin's pod unsealed, and exploded outward as it opened. It spun in the air, end over end as it flew before crashing into a thick tree trunk. She jumped out, sniper rifle in hand and DMR slung over her shoulder. "Dragon squad, sound off," she said. "Alvarez here," Chris said, her pod having crashed through a tree and snapping it in half a dozen meters away from Lin. "Smith here," Phillip said.

The Shipmaster checked a few of the screens and panels within his quarter, ensuring his crew was working at it's best ability. And, as always, it was. Huragok floated about always dealing with the smallest issues to the biggest, Kig-Yar and Sangheili ran tests over the weapons and vehicles, Unggoy transported anything important, and in the hangar... still those Jiralhanae sat, smugly.

Rha' turned his attention away, looking for his Second and the ships Special Operations Officer. It seemed both were preparing their troops for the upcoming assault. Good.
The Sangheili was about to broadcast to the hangar, before seeing Major Thul 'Undanee heading down, revoking a few of the weapons that the troops had reached for. It was good to see the young Major knew not to allow them to take with them such a large amount of the ships more powerful weapons; thanks to the lack of trust much of the Council had for Rha', the ship tended to only get the bare bones of the newer, stronger weapons introduced.

Finally, the Sangheili typed out a short message on the nearest panel. In a flash it was received, and Rha' knew its content would come to fruition. He was going to make sure he kept his word, even if it went against the word of his superiors.

For the whole journey, not even once did the Shipmaster look back at the human. He listened to her, and watched her on his rooms observer, but not once did he dare look at her. A prisoner aware of it's captor was hardly a prisoner at all.



David lay for a moment, aiming directly at his target. He nudged himself and missed perfectly, the bullet whizzing past her head, before he rolled away and stood up again behind yet another tree, his lit cigarette still sitting where it was before. By now he'd fired from two different spots, and had a distraction at a third, while he himself was now in a fourth spot.

And suddenly, his radio buzzed into life.

"Snake, this is Admiral Zio Marx of the Advanced Sciences Facility F04A. Your Artificial Intelligence, Meryl, has reported a slipspace anomaly extremely close to the colony. She has requested that we begin to purge the facilities banks now and make a retreat. I wanted to ask you about this first."

David swore under his breath, silent as he tried to respond.

"If it's just a slipspace anomaly it's nothing to worry about. If she'd picked up mass vanishing, that'd be a problem."

He heard the long moment of silence through the comm channel, and dropped his weapon as he realised that was exactly what she'd done. God damned experimental AI.

"Shit..."

=continues going over controls while they travelled with the covenant destroyer to some unknown location=

so far everythings going fine on my end dan and gotta say glad serah's been teaching us past 2 weeks so looks like it's paying off

--Covenant Outpost World--

Daniel could see through the viewport of his pod as the planet came into view, the sun peeking up over the horizon. The light shined on the metal of the other drop pods, and he saw the rest of Helix. Some of them anyway. And not just drop pods--there were rocks. Some as large as the SOEIV's, others even larger. They rocketed towards the surface, and a warm glow began to spread as they started to enter the atmosphere.

Set prepared with his Kig-Yar and T'voaon brothers. Talking about weapons' effectiveness, and strategy in regards to positions of the weapons. They could position themselves in the tree tops near the human base, with their beam rifles, scout their patrols, and take out soldiers silently with orchestrated shooting patterns. They would have to jam communications on the ground first though, so that the disappearance of the patrols would go unnoticed. Relatively unnoticed. the shots would have to be angled so that no one coming from the base would see them. Any security measures would also have to be taken out, if they had camera's away from the base, they'd have to be avoided, or destroyed. Destruction meant possible loss of the element of surprise. Some of the T'voaon favored this option, not guns blazing, but destroying the cameras upon approach, and others disagreed, saying that if they took the base, they could use the cameras against any possible human retaliation. Most of his brothers in arms liked the idea of taking to the tree tops as soon as possible. Humans had selective eyes, they would blend in with the canopy. They could, alternatively go in only using their cutlasses, and butchering the humans, but this was too risky, up close and personal attacks would give the humans the chance to retreat and they would be discovered. Many options were brought up, and many had flaws in them revealed almost before the speaker was finished. Many strategies were brought up.

Set thought about the ideas, and a way to make everyone happy while also making a flawless attack plan.

The Huragok had their materials. As they went to work, they pilenof materials slowly dwindled.

Siri sat up slowly, groaning. "...where am I?"

--Victoria--

"Lindsey, you there?" Lin asked. "Check your mike."

--Covenant Outpost World--

The SOIEV roared through the atmosphere, along with the other drop pods and rocks. Through the viewport, Daniel could see the ground coming up fast as his pods chute deployed and he slowed down, before crashing into the ground.

There was a moment of pause before Lindsey replied. "Affirmative" Her voice sounded distorted and crackled. Her door flew off with a loud bang, she clambered out, grabbing her smg and grenade launchers. She jumped off of her pod, finding herself hip dip in swamp water.

Serah aka Anna did not like their current situation, nor their plan. She disliked how her partners seemed to use her knowledge so readily when she herself did not even know where it had come from. To her it was blindingly obvious... Yet the others seemed to be happy to plunder her hidden knowledge however they seemed to be reluctant to tell her about herself.

--Victoria--

"Okay Dragon, rally on me," Lin said. "Track my IFF and get here asap." Chris didn't have that problem, already close to Lin as she walked over. Phillip had some trouble, since his pod.....well, it crashed through two trees, then got lodged into a really thick tree, twenty feet off the ground. "Going to be a bit there ma'am," he said as the door popped open. "Kinda.....stuck up a tree."

"Say again? Your breaking up?" Lindsey asked, hitting her helmet twice with her open palm. The radio seemed to be distorted by static, she sighed and decided to make her way towards Lin's IFF instead. Making her way towards her squad as best as she could through the thick swamp.

--Victoria--

Lin responded to Lindsey, her voice coming through clear on Lin's comm. "Say again, make your way to my position. And Smith, suck it up man. You're a Helljumper, so get down from that tree and get the hell over here." Phillip sighed, wondering why he had to get the ice queen for a squad leader. Doing his best not to slip, he climbed down the branches until he felt comfortable, and jumped down from the tree......only to land in the water of the swamp and sink into the mud. "Oh come on," he groaned, trying to pull his legs out. The mud had excellent suction, but he managed to get one leg out with a loud, slurping sound.

--Outpost World--

Popping the door of his pod, Daniel emerged from the SOEIV, assault rifle at the read. He had landed in an outcropping of rock, much of it shattered or pulverized by his entrance. "Helix platoon, sound off." There was silence for a few seconds, until a dozen responses came in. Everyone in the platoon responded, even the pilot of the pelican and that gave Daniel some relief. At least no one had died just yet.

Lindsey did not hear the reply, her comm clicking off with a sad pop. Sighing she made her way over to the squad, pushing her way through some thick bushes she made it too Lin's location.

--Victoria--

Chris saw Lindsey and walked over. "Hey, is your radio alright?" she asked. Phillip, in the meantime managed to get out of the mud and managed to get over to the small clearing where the rest of Dragon was located.

Lindsey shook her head. "No... I think it is busted cannot hear anything on it" She did not remove her helmet so that Chris could have a look. This was a combat drop, the last thing she wanted was to lose her head from a bullet because she had been dumb enough to take her helmet off.

"Crap," Chris said. "We'll need to find a safe spot to fix it, and that's definitely not here. Lin, small problem: Lindsey's got a busted helmet." Muttering a silent curse, Lin trudged over to them and said "Alright, then Lindsey sticks close. You've got a grenade launcher, so you'll be our mini-artillery."

"No problem you tell me what to blow up and when if anyone gets hurt on our side I can fix them up to" Lindsey said seemingly in a good mood, though she was inwardly rather foul over her busted helmet.

"Good to hear," Lin said, glad that she didn't have a liability on her hand. That may have been unfair in a way, but if she couldn't properly communicate to her teammate in the heat of battle, then that same person wouldn't know who to shoot....or when to retreat. She got a hail from the other squads, a green light that they were all good to move out. "Alright Dragon squad, let's move; we've got a mission to do here."

Lindsey refused to let the issue effect her combat effectiveness, it was something she would not allow. In the past, before advanced technology soldiers would of had to have communicated by signals or at short ranges where they could talk to one another. If they could do that then Lindsey could clearly cope with it now in the future.