Fireteam Viper: Prologue

Katherine has to be on her way back to where we were attacked by the vulture. She didn't even look at you when you spoke to her afterwards. What is she thinking? Thought Nikola as he stood on the perimeter. Well, cheers, Captain, hope you find what you're looking for.

Emma frowned, remaining in her position, waiting at this point. She still had no idea what was going on, and being snapped at didn't exactly make her feel very good about the whole issue. She looked back at Juliet, smiling as she depolarised her visor.

"It's okay, Julie. Just give it a moment. I'm sure everything's fine..."

Emma looked back down her scope, gulping, before her crosshairs rested on Eliza. It'd be a simple shot, really. One pull of the trigger, turn around and stab the wounded Juliet in the neck, turn back around and take out Marcus, Nicholas and the Captain...

Enough of that Emma. Christ.

"They've got bloody air... Support! Everything isn't going to be fine!" She spluttered gasping for breath. Juliet kept her visor polarised only because it hid the pained expression on her face. "Just give me... A minute it hurts to breath." She crouched down behind the cover of a fallen tree, watching the skies nervously, uncertain if they would come under attack from above again.

Trekking back through the jungle was tough, especially considering I wasn't exactly in the best physical or mental condition. Passing through the trees was oddly soothing, the dark shadows hiding me almost perfectly. I had my VISR on, so I could see everything, and my ears were straining to pick up any sound.
"This is a suicide mission," I told myself, "Eliza's right. You should come back with an invasion force." No, it'd be gone by then. It could be gone by now, but I couldn't just leave. Not with so many lives in danger.

Dammit Katherine. Nikola slowly moved from the perimeter and deeper into the forest. Lone wolves never survive the winter. When Nikola was out of sight of the group, he started into a spring towards Katherine Winter's location. He wasn't going to let her do this alone. Torturing herself over what happened won't help anyone.

"Good luck Niko." Marcus said to no one as he watched Nik run into the forest unaware he was watching. Turning he looked into the forest while complementing on weather to tell Eli or let her figure it out herself and he decided on the latter. "Probably yell at me to get off comms" he said to himself as he got into a better position on his tree.

(OOC: There were some problems so, I dunno, this is just me signifying where Emma is)

Emma looked at the team, and at the SPARTAN. She was already at the LZ with Juliet.

It hurt to breath, Juliet knew they should keep moving but at the pace she would travel at they wouldn't get far. She shook her head. "No... You go I'll stay behind... I'll just slow you down." Juliet hoped that Emma would not argue with her and just go, she needed to regroup with the team.

Eliza watched Nikolas IFF Tag move away and commed him.

"Get the fuck back in formation or I swear to god, I will have you in front of a war council for desertion when we get back."

Nikola ignored Eliza. He'd suffer the consequences of his actions, but first: Katherine.

I paused under a tree, my back against the thick trunk, to catch my breath. I had been staying off of the paths, which were mostly just trodden down undergrowth, just in case, but I'd kept them to my right, so that I wouldn't end up too far off course. I needed to move again now, but I needed to check the area first. I scanned the area a few times, seeing nothing. I paused though, just before I set out, a dim, orange light catching my eye. I crouched down, picking it up. A cigarette, still lit.
"None of my men smoke on Ops..."  I thought to myself, and the only logical explanation was somebody had dropped it recently.
"Eliza," I radioed in, "Get everyone ready for an ambush. There might be Innies on their way."

Eliza opened comm to the remainder of the squad.

"Get in the trees. Everyone. In the trees right now and stay silent. Marcus, help me cover Juliet."

I helped her into a comfortable sitting position and began piling bracken across her to help cover her up. Her injury clearly meant she couldn't climb into a tree.

As Eliza covered Juliet, an Insurrectionist patrol spotted Nikola. With orders being shouted at them and rifles being raised, they took aim at him. Automatic fire tore through the trees, along with periodic shots from a Semi-automatic sniper rifle. One of these shots missed Nikola's head by a hair's width, if it had found its mark, his helmet would've done nothing.

Nikola dropped to the ground and didn't move. The shots surprised him, but his training held true. He could lie still, and play dead, or just crawl along the ground until they give up trying to find him. For the moment he held his breath, hoping they thought him dead. He readied his assault rifle just in case.

Juliet would normally have protested but she was uncharacteristically silent, she let her comrades in arms camouflage her. A quick check of her vital signs anyone would have seen that Juliet needed to leave the field of battle. She kept her visor polarised so they couldn't see how pale her skin had turned.

"Alright Julie, stay quiet, stay alive you got me." Marcus said as he put the finishing touches on her camo, hearing the gunshots, they came from where Niko ran off. Turning back to Julie. "I'll be close so just stay quiet and wait for me to kill anything that gets close." As he said this he didn't wait for an response and took to a tree with enough cover to keep him alive but close enough to keep Juliet out of harms way.

Eliza clambered up her own tree after they'd finished covering Juliet. The gunshots were probably Nikola being killed. Served him right really, she considered. You don't break formation on a hostile planet.

Emma sighed, looking in the other direction to everyone else. The sounds of bullets from the jungle didn't shock her too much, certainly not after a Vulture had just come through and blown everything in its vicinity to Dantes final level. She was sure the others would be handle whatever came that way, right now she just wanted to get the Hell out of here.

Marcus opened his comms to Eli as he didn't see any innies yet. "Hey should we open fire on site or employ ambush tactics." he said as he thought up of something else. "Or we can go staby, staby and quietly take out as many as we can, up to you Sarge" He thought about apologizing for earlier but saved it for latter.

I hadn't heard any gunshots yet, so there was still the hope that the innie patrol hadn't found my team, but it was unlikely; I was probably just too far away. I was at the top of the slope above the base now, and it was completely different than when we'd left it. The corpses of the Spartans had been piled up, along with the two ODSTs, with around twenty men armed with assault rifles. I opened my mission info tab on my VISR, the Spartan having sent me her map of the base, complete with Viper team's mission data. The building this intel was in was still standing, thankfully, though a hole had been blown through the wall. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what was coming.

I slid down the slope, making as little noise as I could, and stopped at our entrance under the gate. It seemed clear, so I slipped through. My heart was in my throat as I checked the area that Viper team had once passed through. There were a couple of innies there, but they had their backs to me. I took that as a chance and crept past them, my pistol trained on the pair as I went. Then I was back in cover, this time closer to my objective. The building I was headed to had two doors leading into it from this side, but they were closed, so I went in through the wall. There was a lone man in here, rifle on the table next to him as he tapped away on a computer terminal. I holstered my pistol and drew my knife, edging closer and as soon as I was in range, I darted forwards.

It was over in a couple of seconds. I covered his mouth with my hand and opened his throat with my knife, pulling his body close to mine as he convulsed and struggled. I lowered his body and looked at what he had been doing.

Code:

Confirm Deletion of documents #001XBZ - #004XBA - #00FC19

He was deleting data. I quickly clicked the 'No' box, and sorted through the folders he was trying to delete. They referred to other documents, which I couldn't find. I'd lost some of the data, but I did have information on where they were getting their bio-weapon from. A list of names implicating several anti-UNSC groups, and even high ranking ONI personnel. I started the download to my VISR, when I heard a 'click' behind me.
"Turn around and drop your weapons." A gruff voice said. I complied, raising my hands above my head and turning to face him. A scar passed down his left eye, and most of his face was covered by a dark grey beard. He was wearing a grey combat uniform, a ballistic plate covering his chest, though he wasn't wearing a helmet.
"Okay, okay," I said softly, "I'm reaching for my pistol. I'll kick it over to you, alright?"
"Hurry the fuck up before I shoot you," He ordered, his rifle trained on me, "Try anything and you die." I slowly reached down for my pistol, took it from the holster, and placed it on the ground. I stood back up, my arms above my head, and kicked it over.

I glanced at the rifle on the table, an M392 DMR. Unsilenced, but if I could stall long enough for the download to finish, I might be able to outrun the innies. As my captor bent down to take my pistol,  I spoke up again.
"I have a knife and two frags."
"Well hand 'em over." He said. I slowly complied, watching the download progress on my HUD nearing 100%. I unhooked my first frag and rolled it over.
"100%" I told myself as he reached for it, taking his eyes off of me for a second. That was all I needed. The DMR was in my hands before he had a chance to react properly. "We can talk," He said, raising his own hands. Apparently he didn't want to die.
"Face down, on the ground." I said. My heart was pounding, this really was life or death. I stepped over, rifle trained on his head. I took back my pistol, holding the DMR in one hand. At this range, I probably wouldn't miss.

Nikola closed his eyes for a moment. A few minutes went by and nothing happened. No additional reports of gunfire. No footsteps coming his way. There was only silence. On his belly, he crawled in the direction of his captain. He Crept beneath bushes and while staying flat, adapted the earthen camouflage that Lt. Eliza had earlier. Placing dirt and brush on his armor to make him less conspicuous. But he had to move at a snails pace. He couldn't risk making any noise for fear of alerting the insurgents. Yet time was of the essence.

Eliza sat in her tree, watching with bated breath. There was no movement from any of her squad. Marcus had asked her a question, but she ignored it. No time to talk now. Her radar pinged. 5. 10. No, wait. 8.

Eight wasn't too bad, she surmised. There were 4 of them. As she chewed her lip, they slowly entered the clearing. One of them began picking through the misc supplies scattered around that we'd left

"I sent Johnson and Ire to check if the one we saw earlier was dead."

"Check that bush."

"Where've they gone?"

"Can't be far. Injured and shell-shocked, I'd say."

Eliza listened to the snippets of conversation, waiting for the right moment.

And there it was.

The group had all turned around to look at something that one of them were holding aloft. Praying that her team were paying attention, she clicked the safety off of her assault rifle and opened fire into the group.

Marcus had waited while they talked but watched every one of Eliza moves as poking his head out would futher increase their chances of being seen, seeing her open fire made him cling onto a vine, lean out and aim with his pistol. They were too far to drop on so he just aimed and fired hitting one while Elizas burst had hit another effectivly killing but Marcus was not to sure about his target so he kept firing into the group as they tried to run or fire back.

Nikola heard them before he saw them. Footsteps crushing forest debris. Dried leaves crunching, twigs snapping. Each step increased his anticipation, his fear of discovery, and his want to pull the trigger letting loose a spray of bullets. He grew as still as death when he first heard their footsteps and recognized that they were not friendlies. He hoped his makeshift camouflage would be enough for them to glance over and not recognize. If they were going to where he was shot, they would find nothing. Oh! Except for the trail he might invariably be leaving behind him as he drags his body through the earth. He slowly turns to look behind him. Did they have the skill to see these kinds of things? These tracks in the dirt? He didn't know, but he was going to find out.

(Posting because it seems to be really quiet down here.)

Marcus kept firing until he heard the click that signaled an empty mag. He pulled himself up and reloaded before thinking of a plan. "Hey Eli, suppressing fire for me ey." he said as he jumped from his tree and landed into a few bushes not waiting for a reply. He was going to try and flank them with his shotgun so he started to move through the bushes slowly. It was a tactic he was all too familiar with.

I was shaking as I shifted my grip on the DMR, favouring my pistol over it. I pulled the trigger once, executing my prisoner with a single head shot. I felt sick, but it was my only option. Moving back out was without incident, taking the same route and back out and-
Alarm. The alarm was sounded as I ducked under the fence and everyone started swarming around. One of them caught a glimpse of me, called it out, and then started firing, joined by the others as they became aware. I ran, bullets pinging around me as I scrambled up the hill.

Emma frowned, as the gun fire grew nearer. She walked over to the other side of the LZ, seeing bullets flying past her teammates. She laid down and crawled over the hill, before spotting the rebels down near the line of the forest. They were spraying; they were accurately spraying, but still spraying.
Emma leant up over the hills edge, her rifle aimed down at the tree line, as she took a deep breath, and let off the first shot that rang through the area.

The bullet ripped straight through the bark and thin outerwood of the tree, before tearing the armour and flesh off of the first of the rebels, sending him to the ground in pain. In a second shot, he was silenced.

The rebels began to spray in her direction, and quickly Emma moved back, calling out to her team.

"Cover me guys! Come on!"

The ODST in front of Eliza dropped quickly and a shout came up from Emma's position. The other rebels had turned their attention towards her now, so Eliza took a second to reload her AR before opening fire into the back of one of the rebels, downing him instantly.

Marcus raised his head slightly. eight on radar, two sent after Nick while four tangos here were taken down. "Where are the other two." Marcus spoke into his comms before hearing a ring of fire and a sharp pain in his right shoulder that sent him into the ground. He quickly rolled away from his area hoping that the density of the bush would hide him.

Throughout the engagement Juliet barely moved, it hurt to breath and her limbs felt unbelievably heavy. Her vision swam before her eyes as she struggled to remain awake and focus on her surroundings. Occasionally, she blacked out only to reawaken a few moments later. She listened weakly to the sounds of battle, wishing that she possessed the strength to move and assist her friends.

As I scrambled through the cover of the treeline, I could only pray that my team were safe. Once I reached flat ground, I straightened up and started to sprint, throwing the DMR to the ground. I zigzagged between the trees, hoping to make it difficult for a marksman to pin me down. Ahead of me was the clearing, and outside of it, I saw movement. By the time I'd realised it was Nikola, I'd raised my pistol, ready to shoot.
"Ohno!" I shouted, "Get your arse up!"

"Tango's are nearby Captain, a group of five or more headed to the LZ, two came this way but..." Ohno got up from his position, moving a body he'd been partially under. "On your six, Winter." He said, looking around.

Eliza had finished off bursting down the other two rebels in the group when Marcus called out. The gunfire burst around her and she dived her head down.

She dropped her clip and reloaded another The fire stopped and she took the moment to dive for better cover

As we moved towards the clearing, a sharp crack whipped through the air. I turned, crouching and saw the trail of a sniper round entering Nikola's leg. I caught him before he fell, and fired at where the round had come from, moving backwards as best I could. I stole a glance at the corporal's leg. The wound didn't look serious, the high velocity of the round causing it to fly straight out the other side, but he definitely wasn't going to be walking without treatment. When the sniper fired no follow-up shot, I adjusted my position, acting as a crutch for him as we moved into the clearing.

"AGH," Nikola fell into Wintry arms. Breathing heavily, "Straight through? Lucked out on that one. Must've just seen movement otherwise..." He grew silent and let the his obvious near death be unspoken. The sniper could've been killed from the volley that Winters fired, or he could've been grazed, or missed completely and now waiting for the perfect line-up. His leg hurt. Warmth, slowly drained from his damaged limb. He must be losing blood, fast.

I fired eight shots at the two remaining rebels, two of them hit the first rebel in the chest and head, and the other took two in the chest and one in the throat.
"Eliza!" I shouted, dragging Nikola into the clearing, "Signal the evac ship!" As soon as I was nearer my squad and it seemed safe, I went over Nikola's wound. No bone damage, no damaged arteries. "You're a lucky man." I told him as I bandaged the wound as best I could. He wouldn't be walking, but he wasn't going to bleed to death.

Eliza jumped up from the ground and pulled the canister from her pack. She popped the catch and tossed it to the ground. The blue smoke began pouring out and upwards. She opened a wide comm.

"Smoke popped. We need evac immediately. We have three wounded."

"Luck? Maybe that's just some precognitive skill I have, you never know. Thanks." Nikola couldn't wait to get back to the ship. He all but whispered his thanks to the Captain. This had been too much for one day.

The pelican came into view within a few minutes, circling once before hovering in the clearing, a pair of marines covering us from the ramp. I hoisted Nikola back up, guiding him towards the pelican, struggling under his weight from exhaustion. I saw a faint light in the trees, and threw Nikola to the ground.
Crack.
Pain.
I staggered forwards, the round flying through my side. Everything seemed to slow down. My pistol fell slowly from my hand. My vision swayed, and I fell face-first, the world going dark around me.

"Oh for fucks sake."

Eliza cursed and shouted orders aloud to the marines, who jumped to obey.

They dragged the wounded aboard whilst Eliza, Emma and another marine kept up covering fire on the snipers position.

The marine backed off first, followed by Emma and eventually Eliza. She banged on the side of the pelican and they raised up, the bay door shutting behind them.

"What a fucking disaster."

Code:

Primary Mission Objective: Complete

Casualties:
CPT Katherine Winters - One 14.5x114mm round through torso. Status: IN SURGERY.
CPL Ryan Jackson - Confirmed KIA.
LCPL Aaron O'Reilly - MIA, Suspected KIA
CPL Nikola Ohno - 1 7.62x51mm through calf. Status: Treated
LCPL Juliet Gallois -  Impaled by spike trap. Infected wound. Status: CRITICAL.
PVT Marcus Weston - 1 7.62x51mm through upper arm. Status: Treated

<REDACTED> MIA
<REDACTED> MIA
<REDACTED> MIA
<REDACTED> MIA
<REDACTED> Multiple lacerations. Multiple burns. Status: CRITICAL

Because of her infection, Juliet Gallois will be kept on extended medical leave.

Because of his minor insubordination, Marcus Weston will be sent back to marine boot camp. He must also go through ODST selection and boot camp, should he wish to rejoin the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.

Because of him disobeying a direct order, Nikola Ohno was almost discharged from the Marine Core. A short inquiry found that he had been attempting to aid his commanding officer, and was subsequently demoted to private and sent to a reconditioning centre for three months.

Gunnery Sergeant Eliza Thorn was promoted to First Sergeant.

Corporal Emma Rose was promoted to Sergeant.