The Rise: A Post Covenant War Story: Mission Two

I lead the way through the rooms until we find the squad.

I follow the new kid until we get close.

Alpha coming out. Hold fire.

=I nod=

Roger that, Echo copies loud and clear.

=I look back, just in case=

=i turn around=
Roger that. Welcome to the party.

I join them.

For the record. You're all stupid for carrying on with this.

=we continue walking=
Would you rather we leave and never know what was happening here?

I'd rather we didn't all walk into an ambush and return with a bigger force.

I agree with sparrow but don't openly say anything about it. I stay quiet unless spoken to, I walk with the group

This is why we scout, Sparrow. So that the bigger force knows what to do. Otherwise, they go in blind and get killed. Which is better. a few deaths, or many?

We're Spartans. We don't just throw our lives away. We're more valuable than any other ground asset they've got.

=I sit in the back of the Pelican silently. Waiting for us to get to the Province=
=I felt my head begin to droop. The loss of blood was starting to get to me=

Stay awake

=I lift my head up, my vision goes blurry=

And we are to follow orders, remember? The best of the best? We aren't throwing away our lives, we're helping others.

F'alas fired his Jiralhanae Plasma Rifle at full blast. He looked over his shoulder and saw Paarthurnax with a knife in his chest. He ran over yelling, "Brother, Brother!"

=Contemplating his next actions, taking data into consideration, a thought strikes him=

"You've never been through something like this before, have you Hawk?"

Northern Star wrote:

"You've never been through something like this before, have you Hawk?"

=I shake my head=

I have been through stuff like this, and I don't have fond memories, sir.

Scorch wrote:

Northern Star wrote:

"You've never been through something like this before, have you Hawk?"

=I shake my head=

I have been through stuff like this, and I don't have fond memories, sir.

"You remind me of when I was a green recruit."

I calmly break the silence "But the real question is, what have you found?"

A bunch of sewer tunnels Wielder. Obviously.

I grin at the kid without letting the others see

=I smile under my helmet also=
"I meant anything of interest" keeping my voice in control

A couple of dead corpses and a bad smell.

I flash another grin.

=without turning around=
A tripwire, some bodies, a sniper, several contacts on motion trackers, soldiers and military grade hardware in supposedly a civilian only area. What have you found?

Intel on pretty much all their movement for the next few months. Not to mention an entire underground system which their operating directly out of. Basically. I'd say it was the HQ.

=Laughs a bit=
"Anything we don't see every........" my voice trails off when Rubble speaks.
-oh, thats what they found, interesting-

Interesting. Hopefully this way leads to their supply room, or something similar. And you were saying, new kid? You kinda trailed off there.

"Something we don't see everyday or anything they have created. Anything of interest"

G-man wrote:

You were saying, new kid? You kinda trailed off there.

=I grin under my helmet when Rubble speaks up=

=I then snicker a bit under my helmet, failing to suppress the urge to laugh=

I give one of the bodies a nudge with my foot

Great decoration for a supply room. Very hygienic.

=i chuckle=
I know, right? Very clean. You know anything that could do this?

=they arrive near the province=

-comms-

this is whisper of alpha squad requesting med teams to be standing by we have a spartan onboard severe wounds masssive blood loss and i can't tell much else

Bullets.

I roll my eyes in Wielders view

I highly doubt bullets would remove all the flesh and not break the bones.

Incendiary Rounds.

"That is what I was talking about"
-was that so hard?-

And not burn the bones?

G-man wrote:

I highly doubt bullets would remove all the flesh and not break the bones.

=I nod in assent=

Yeah. Whatever did this was much cleaner and surgical with the kills.

"Really? What gave it away? Could it have been a chemical agent?"

Funny, I have a feeling that there isn't anything chemical about this.

Could be lasers. They'd burn flesh to the bone.

And burn the bones.

"Lasers would leave pretty obvious signs."

You're thinking more of plasma Rubble. And Aegir. Yeah. Like burning the flesh awa....Oh wait.

"There is no evidence of burning. This is no scorch mark."

Save the loss of flesh.

You wouldn't see a burn mark because all the flesh has gone. And it's also too dark in here to see the walls for evidence of scorches.

"Well, there is a complete lack of flesh. There would also be organic residue if flesh was burnt. Trident could tell you that."

-I'm learning more stuff everyday, but what caused it I wonder"

Well someone had to fly the pelican back to the Athena, and Whisper isn't the best pilot in the world.

=We had landed inside of the Province. I hobbled out and am taken away by medical officials. Meanwhile the Pelican lifts and blasts out again for secondary pick-up=

=I almost fall a few times, but keep my composure=
=Once we get to the medbay, they take away my armour and place me on the bed=
=Everything after that is a blur=

Rainbow Dash wrote:

Well someone had to fly the pelican back to the Athena, and Whisper isn't the best pilot in the world.

"What? Oh I wondered where he was."

S bi looked and Paarthurnaax was in a bad way.

"Paarthurnax...Paarthurnax!"

S bi looked around once again and saw F'alas charge on over.

"This is a broadcast to all open friendly channels. We need pickup over, we have casualties and no means of escape!"

S bi saw the Zealot and his team rush on over.

"Form a perimeter, F'alas and S bi, stay with Paarthurnax. We have planted the Charges, the CCS has its own problems! We need to hold out as long as we can!"

He nodded, he was holding Paarthurnax tight. A lot of blood had come out. Insurgents were pouring from everywhere. The Zealot looked to S bi, and shook his head.

"Commander Aegir, this is Zealot Zuka. We...damn! We're not going to make it out! We are pinned down and have too many wounded, I myself included. The intelli...-"

Torix and Quna ran over to the Zealot. He was okay, just a little clipped. Piles and piles of ammo lay upon the floor.

"Last magazine!"

"-...The Intelligence we have recovered from our operations is unprecedented, unimaginable. Unfortunately we cannot get to you-...From the west, look out!"

S bi equipped Paarthurnax' Beam Rifle carefully, making sure not to hurt him. He attempted to fire at them, whilst holding Paarthurnax. Torix was using his Plasma Repeater and was spraying the enemies down. Whilst Quna was taking cover, bleeding.

"I'm out, give me a magazine!"

"Here, last magazine!"

"Thanks!"

He looked down, seeing that the Beam Rifle was empty. He carefully placed it back on his back. He equipped his Plasma Pistol and started using it. Luckily they had cover, what was left of it. He looked down to Paarthurnax.

"Paarthurnax...Paarthurnax, stay with me!"

The Zealot looked back and again shook his head before pulling out of cover and firing some more.

"We cannot move, everyone is wounded, moving would be suicide!" Shouted Torix

"Thank you...For stating the obvious!"

S bi grabbed some medical equipment and gave it to Paarthurnax, some medicine. This would ease the pain, and hopefully keep him alive. Quna got back up out of cover, despite his injury, and fired at the everlasting waves of Insurgents. As did everyone else, not knowing whether they would live or die.