HRP reboot - Chapter 3: Freedom's Bell

"Dammit, we need to stop that boat!" Chris shouted. They were at a small standstill however, as the gunfire from the turrets forced them to bunker down behind a corner. That was when a new sound joined the cacophony of the firefight: jet engines. A pelican came swooping over the trees, the same one that was meant for evac, and its chaingun fired at the boat, the targeting computer aiming at the turrets on the deck. "Dragon this is Eagle Nine," the pilot said. "We caught your message, and figured you could use some support. Targeting their engines, get to the boat now!"

The chainguns raked the boats, the gunners turned into bits of meaty mush, unrecognisable as humans. One of the Rebels on board kicked open the door and jumped into the water with a splash swimming for the other side of the river. He did not make it. A native predatory fish swam up and the man disappeared with an agonised scream under the water.
"Oh shit man! We're fucked!"
The two remaining soldiers kept firing from their windows, not daring to rush out to the deck to try and re-man the turrets. Meanwhile in the village a civilian working for the enemy, appeared out of a building carrying a rocket launcher. They loaded the weapon in the open before raising it to their shoulder to track the Pelican.

//

Serah frowned observing the Covenant fleet her eyes impassive. She had entered with a shotgun slung over her right shoulder and pistol in her left holster. She had been silent, normal for her really.
Suddenly she spoke and asked her friends. "What kind of weapon systems does our ship have?" Serah believed her plan might be some use, especially with the right weapons to back it up. Of course. Those weapons would need to be powerful and by extension nuclear.

Alarms blared within the cockpit of the pelican as it detected a rocket launcher locking onto them. They pulled back, before firing several missiles at every building not located near the the ODST's IFF's. Flames erupted from the impact points as the missiles exploded, destroying buildings and killing more of the enemy. With the chain-guns dealt with, Chris, Phillip and the rest of Shark charged towards the boat. It was too far to jump and too dangerous to swim, but there was a smaller patrol boat nearby that was empy, and they hopped aboard, gunning the engine as they headed for the boat.

"Don't let those ODSTs get any closer!"
"Are you nuts lets surrender they'll kill us!!"
"Oh and they will keep us alive if they take us prisoner?" Without waiting for an answer the Innie closed the door locking it. He did not want to be captured by the UNSC, he wasn't about to let them rescue their comrade either.

As the boat pulled up alongside, Chris, Phillip and one other got out of the boat and onto the other, boarding and moving up. "Lindsey!" Chris shouted out, sweeping for enemies. They came to a locked door, and were unsure if it was the right one. Phillip snaked his camera under neath, and saw at the very least saw some Innies on the other side. "Hostiles," he said.

"Shit there here oh man! Fuck it I surrender" One of the Innies threw his weapon down, the other held his LMG tighter, firing several rounds through the door.
"Get off the boat! One more step and I'll blow her, your's and anyone else's heads off" Lindsey recognised the voice as one of her squad members. They came for her!!!

Phillip had not been fast enough, and took several rounds through the chest. "Phillip!" Chris screamed, and in a rage she used her shotgun to blow the lock off the door, and it swung open. She and Shark moved in, guns aimed at the Innies. She saw Lindsey, but her eyes were on the one with the LMG. "Put your weapons down now!" she barked.

The one who had already dropped his gun backed up hands raised. "Don't shoot I don't want to die" The other one, the one with the machine gun held onto his weapon. "Drop your weapon pig I ain't going to no prison!" His finger tightened on the trigger, suddenly he screamed and collapsed to the floor. Lindsey had kicked him in the side of the knee, breaking his leg.
"You talk to much" She muttered quietly.

Chris and the rest of Shark sprang into motion, securing the one waving the white flag along with his hostile buddy, while Chris untied Lindsey. "Congratulations there Lindsey," she said. "You get to be the damsel in distress."

"we have a nonlinear pulse cannon some moray and hornet mines other then that we got a seraph why do you ask?"

"Perhaps we could load the Seraph with mines and remotely fly it onto one of the enemy ships before detonating it" Serah suggested with a slim grin. "It might provide the UNSC with a boost"

//

The hostile one snapped at the ODSTs with his jaws, trying to sink his teeth into them. The other one did not resist at all. "Please don't kill me I have a wife and seven children! I will tell you anything! Anything at all!"
Lindsey rubbed her sore wrist. "Thanks... Thanks for the rescue I... I owe you all one"

One of Shark squad's members kicked the biter square in the teeth, and broke a few of their tiny bones while knocking a few more out, leaving them bleeding and looking almost comical. Chris helped Lindsey up to stand, and making sure she wouldn't fall down, check on Phillip.....he was dead. "Dammit...." she cursed.

"not sure it'd get close before they realized something wasn't right"

=turns around to face her=

"maybe we could plant some on this small asteroid to redirect it towards the fleet and hope it takes one of them out?"

"I'm not sure either that or we waste the whole lot with nuclear weapons" She sat down on a chair, pointing in the direction of the alien ships. Serah leaned back and put her feet up. "Whatever call you make I will be here... Looking..." She frowned thinking of a suitable word. "Dangerous"

"i think we should broadcast an emergency signal via the black widow satellite and try and warn them"

While Chris went back to help Lindsey, Shark picked up Phillip's body and carried him out. The pelican had picked up Lin and the rest of Shark, and hovered at the rear of the boat, gangplank lowered and waiting. They got aboard, and when Lin saw Phillip's body she slammed her fist down into the bulkhead of the ship as it began to fly away. It was a little cramped in there, but they bared the close proximity as they headed back for the frigate. "Lindsey," Lin said. "What's your condition?"

--Outpost World--

While Daniel and Squad One waited, second squad was on it's way through the halls. They were delayed however, as one of the doors ahead opened and a Grunt patrol lumbered through. Spotting them, the lead jumped up a little and barked in surprise, before raising a plasma pistol to fire. The shot missed, and one of the ODST's fired and killed the alien, though the rest of the patrol returned fire with plasma and needle rounds. The squad split and ducked, stuck in the hall as they took cover.

"Your the boss man I am just here for my good looks" Serah replied.

--Victoria--

Lin walked over to Lindsey and gently shook her. "You okay? Lindsey what's your condition?"

--Outpost World--

An ODST threw a grenade down the hall, the weapon exploding and spraying the grunts with shrapnel that tore them apart. Free to move, the squad continued down the hall and made another turn before finding Daniel's group, along with the Engineer. "Oh.....this is the VIP," one of them grumbled.

"I'm okay... Besides the bullets in my chest thanks for the rescue" She forced herself to smile despite the exhaustion, the agony and well everything. "Man am I glad to see all of you"

--Victoria--

"We don't leave people behind," Lin said. "Even when command would rather blast an area in lieu of rescue."

=laughs=

"whatever you say"

"Well I am glad that you chose to save my bacon rather than let command or the Rebels cook it" She almost collapsed against Lin. "But now... Can we get out of here now Ma'am? Please?"

//

"You disagree?" Serah inquired looking at him. "Well there goes that reason for me being part of the crew but I understand"

--Covenant Outpost World--

"Yeah, that's him," Daniel said as he jerked a thumb to the Engineer. It took notice of the humans, and was at first afraid when it saw the aliens and their weapons. However, it began to relax and drifted over to Daniel, a tentacle brushing over the battery-pack on his back. Liz raised her gun and it backed off, though Daniel held her at bay. "Easy, he's just curious."

--Victoria--

Holding Lindsey up, Lin nodded and said "Sure thing soldier. Fast and Hard, ready a medical team. We have wounded. And get a detention detail in order, we've got plenty of prisoners."

"Wounded? It is but a scratch" Lindsey joked wearily, secretly glad for Lin's support.

"Well, this is a novel idea," Paula said as she took her position in the pilot's seat of the Pelican dropship. The ship had been short on pilots, and so she would be going nose first instead of feet first this time. The D77 Pelican had proven itself a most versatile and invaluable asset to the UNSC despite its appearance to the contrary, it was a relatively agile craft--relatively. She still flew like a brick shit-house, but a shit-house with an ungodly amount of armor plate coupled with overpowered engines. In fact, unless the Innies were fielding Longswords, she did not have to worry too much about ground fire, but yet she did. Always respect the enemy, she warned herself.

"You boys tucked away back there," Paula called out to the occupants in the back. She was going down with the dustoff and assessment team which was a collection of medics, soldiers and 'civilian observers' to deal with the clean-up operations planet-side. In spite of being the pilot on this mission, Paula was still kitted out in her ODST gear; her trusty M6C/SOCOM strapped to her hip and her M7S secured beside her seat. Lessons of the past learned.

Receiving the affirmative, she left the ship and headed down to the surface, watching the scanners as she approached. "UNSC ground forces, this is Pelican Bravo two-one-seven. We are en-route and waiting for your nav beacon....unless you would rather sit with your new friends and talk about your feelings?"

--Victoria--

The pelican reached the frigate Fast and Hard, landing in the docking bay. As expected a med-team was standing by, taking Lindsey off Lin's hands as they wheeled her to the med-bay. Lin was a bit curious of as to why the ship wasn't moving yet, the sound of the engines running.....absent.

--Covenant Outpost World--

The Engineer looked each of the humans over, before becoming satisfied they were not going to kill it. Daniel had squad two remain with the Engineer, mostly to guard it. In the meantime he and the rest of Helix went through the base, heading for what they hoped was the center of operations. There were several more Covie squads, Grunts and Jackals mostly with no sign of an Elite. Coming to one door, Daniel opened it and found him and his squad standing at the entrance to a large room, screens everywhere with consoles beneath the majority of them, holographic displays showing the planet. And there was the Elite, the same one from outside, standing there at the center of the room. He had his sword out, and jaws parted in a snarl of fury. Daniel and Liz raised their weapons and fired, however the Elite's shields managed to deflect the rounds, and it charged the group. Daniel and Liz both began moving to the side, splitting apart as they kept up weapons fire. Mark ducked to the side, while the last remaining member of the squad, Matt, took their shotgun and pumped two rounds right at the Elites head. The scattered rounds of buckshot impacted the shield and brought it down, but not before the sword came and hacked off Matt's arm at the shoulder, and he screamed in pain. Daniel ran towards the Elite, ditching the gun and grabbing his knife as he jumped onto its back and started stabbing at the neck. He opened arteries and purple blood poured out of the wound, the Elite screaming in pain. It fell to the ground as the loss of blood to its death.

Standing up, Daniel went to Matt, still writhing on the ground.

goes over the data on the screen in front of him "well it's transmitting the warning tho i'm not sure if anyone is able to hear it down there or not"

Rha' looked around himself, grinning. There he stood, in the center of some human stronghold, his blades fizzing and sparking, the hand guard on the older one splattered with blood. Kig-Yar and Sangheili were around him, ensuring the human bodies scattered around were in fact corpses.

Slowly, the Commandos circled around him, prepared for the second stage of the siege, and the hunt for the artefact. A bullet pinged off of Rha's shield, and as he looked at the upper levels of the facility, a fe T'vaoan moved forward and proceeded to fire at their prey, hiding and stuck, no escape left.
It was, in a mystical way, quite tragic.

"The Kig-Yar will form two parties. One will remain here with the T'vaoan to ensure reinforcements do not arrive. The others will join my Commandos and prepare to breach the nearest blast door."

As the respective parties made way to their stations, Rha' gave the courtyard one last glance. A few humans were brought forward on their knees. Once the artefact was reclaimed, he would interrogate any and all survivors. Surely, there was more to this.

--Covenant Outpost World--

While Matt screamed on the ground, the rest of Daniel's squad managed to get him restrained, painkillers injected to help with the pain. There was a problem though: his suit was essentially ruptured, and the atmosphere outside was practically a vacuum. Unless the place had a hanger they could land a pelican in, Matt was stuck here. But, the base seemed clear, so while Liz saw to Matt, Daniel and Mark went about investigating the displays. "Squad two," Daniel said over the comm-line. "Bring the Engineer to my location, we're going to need its help trying to figure this shit out."

--Victoria, Orbit--

There was a reason the frigate Fast and Hard had yet to move. It was facing down three other ships in her way, one frigate of an older generation and the rest were cargo ships, refitted with weapons.

Advanced Sciences Facility F04A, Eridu Province, Paradiso: over run

Violet was alone, she had upper ground in the facility and she was at the top avoiding looks from the Jackals and she was sure that the solider or marine that attacked the lead was dead or at the very least soon.She set her tripod down and looked around hearing only little, she looked towards the leader of the group as all the Sangheili were around him. "Huh, kill the leader all the rest will fall" she said to herself aiming towards the lead Sangheili with her sniper. "No hard feelings mate but next time, knock on the door and maybe we will let you in" she chuckled to herself, taking the shot.

As the bullet thudded into the dirt behind him, Rha' turned his head up at the tower, frowning. That shot hadn't hit, but it had been damn close. He narrowed his glare, before shrugging it off. There were a few humans left in the tower, but for now, he was sure it'd be fine.

“Do not hesitate to put down any who oppose you.”

The Sangheili Ultra looked back at the Kig-Yar, T’vaoan and Sangheili gathered in the large open courtyard of the human outpost. Numerous bodies lay around them, almost all humans. Those few who had chosen life were on their knees, down on the floor, weeping as the occasional bullet hit the floor of the area, only for a bolt of plasma or fuel to shoot out in response and take out any soldiers upon the upper levels.

The chuckling Sangheili looked down at their new prey as the T’vaoan made off to ensure the exterior of the base was properly cleared out – if it was not, as the Covenant had learnt, things could go terribly wrong terribly fast.

“Special Operations Officer Dosze ‘Taydumee and Commando Set, present yourselves.”

While a trio of Sangheili backed by numerous Kig-Yar attempted to smash through the first blast door, their commanders came forward as they had been commanded too. The Ultra looked them over, glad neither was wounded.

“You both know your duties. Ensure there are no personnel within the facility, and make certain that there are no human forces heading to support them.”

It wasn’t going to be a real issue, the more Rha’ thought about it. Even if there were human forces coming to support the facility, they would need to come in the thousands to stop this assault force he’d composed, and given that the satellite and communications were, hopefully, disabled, there wasn’t much any survivors were able to do anyway.

And then, with a respectable blast, the door came right off of its hinges. A spray of bullets welcomed the invaders, but against the shields of the Kig-Yar the ballistics simply bounced off, a wave of plasma responding as the defenders fell with ease.
As the forces stopped and occupied the first hallway, Rha’ looked at his confidantes, nodding once, before making way to join the Commandos.

“Sangheili. Bring any who surrender out into the courtyard. Any who fight, die with honour.”

The ten Commandos moved on in silence, bright blue swords igniting in their hands, lighting the way for them, as they began their hunt.

"Shit" she missed guessing the bullet decided to fall instead of hitting her target, she backed up as the T'vaoan moved towards her area. She let her sniper rest on a pillar and moved to a corner, She had been just moved here and and found the place in hell. Pulling out her combat knife from her chest sheath and her second one from her back sheath, she couched and waited for whatever foot steps she heard, hearing the T'vaoan was close she waited until he got closer before turning into him kneeing his chin surprising it before swiftly rising her blade to it's chin and her second to his forehead. ending its life, she removed the blades and carried it to the ledge and threw him over almost landing on one of the Sangheili. "Hey Ultra send something a little harder and I may surrender, heck tell me what your looking for and I may even help, as long as it doesn't end in my death or an advantage to you dimwits finding a way to kill a lot of humans." she yelled towards the Ultra her arms spread wide before taking cover. "Great, get asked by one of the most annoying people in the universe to help guard the facility and the next day, boom this place is getting attack with almost no luck in winning, might as well just join the bastard to survive" she said to herself, grabbing her sniper rifle and about to change to a new location.

--Covenant Outpost World--

Turns out the Engineer was more than willing to help. Either that, or it didn't care who was giving the order so long as it was instructed to do something relating to its purpose. End of the day, Daniel didn't care, as it was already at work turning the Covenant script, into English. The rest of Helix was spread out in the station, securing the place and killing any other hostile a. Reports from two separate squads stated that they found another Engineer a piece, which was definitely good news: even if there were no coordinates here, three engineers would be a coup for ONI. Once it was clear there were no threats on the planet, Daniel activated the beacon for the Double or Nothing, giving the ship the all clear. While they waited, there was a sound from one of the consoles, and Daniel went to look it over. Easier to read now that it was in English, he saw it was a sensory station monitoring slip-space traffic. At least, that was what the labels said, though the wording was.......flowery. Like he was reading out of a bible or something.

But if he was reading it correctly......then he was looking at a very large group of ships in slip-space. He was amazed at first, that the covenant could detect individual objects in the slipstream but then again, they were way more advanced in technology, as evidenced by their slip-space capabilities in the war. The group of ships was going to pass by the system, though where he wasn't sure yet. He had to get the engineer over too the station to determine that, but all that resulted in was showing the group moving into human space. But not which colony.

--Victoria, Orbit--

The lead frigate hailed the Fast and Hard, demanding for a surrender and release of the POWs. All they got back was silence, as the UNSC ship readied its weapons.