The Rise RP: Mission Three

I pull up a photograph of the outpost, and make a few quick sketches on it. I then transmit if to every member of Beta, Alpha and Echo squad and also send out an open wave transmission to them.

This will be the defensive set up. I want everyone in position in the next hour.











KEY:
Red crosses=Mine Emplacements
Green Circles= Sparrow and Wielder's Sniper positions.
Blue Circle=Hawk with the Spartan Laser.
Blue Lines=Beta, Alpha and Echo emplacements.
Black Lines=Vehicles.

=Aegir feels a tremor shake the the earth.=

the data showed experiments with scorpions, and the size measurements seemed uncanny.

"Sparrow, We'll need to buy enough time for the base to enter orbit and land, so this defensive better last."
(totally not a foreshadowing)

It's the best we can set up with limited numbers. If we try to save as many explosives as we can, we should be clear. If not the fall back point will be the armoury. We'd be able to hold them off in there for days and the walls would stand through as much C4 as they could through at it.

Shelby wrote:

It's the best we can set up with limited numbers. If we try to save as many explosives as we can, we should be clear. If not the fall back point will be the armoury. We'd be able to hold them off in there for days and the walls would stand through as much C4 as they could through at it.

"except we'd be completely surrounded. and they'd easily blow up the building. We'll improvise when the time comes, if it does, to fall back."

=The ground trembles yet again, stronger than before.=

=i find a crate of explosives and suppress the urge to bounce like a schoolgirl. I do get a message from Sparrow, a map for the defense. I reply with an affirmative and a message to everyone=

I got explosives in here. Looks like...10 AT mines and maybe...15 AP mines. I'm also seeing room for 10 and 5 more, respectively.

Have you been in that armoury yet? That thing is solid. They'd have a job getting through it and it goes down a little bit underground, where it turns into a maze of corridors. We could hold them under there.

=I shake my head and chuckle=

Remember to restrain yourself here Rubble.

=I look back towards the nukes=

Because I would like to stay alive, please.

=on comms=
First crate I opened, ma'am. and Hawk? Don't remind me. This place is looking like one hell of a candy shop for this kid.

=i grab the crate and carry it out into the middle of the base=
Anyone want to help?

Shelby wrote:

At some point during my sitting down, i fell asleep. The tiredness of the last few missions had finally gotten to me. I had had little sleep on board the Athena and i really couldn't have picked a worse moment. I wake up about 40 minutes later and quickly shoot up, taking glances all around me. Everything seemed fine. I could see Rubble setting the mines around the gate and most of the teams were already in their positions along the walltops. Hawk was lounging around on the roof of the barracks with his laser and it looked like Wielder had drifted off too by the way his head was nodding in the distance. I relax back into my chair, grimacing at the meagre pile of ammunition we had managed to gather up in the time. We would have to be real careful with it. I could spot one rocket launcher on each wall-top. Four in total and no spare ammo for any of them. If the GTC came in force, we might be in really big trouble. I begin scanning the horizon again as i ask for a status report from all Spartans.

=I collect myself and check the skyline=

I've got nothing on visual, ma'am.

=I continue to spot, watching for trouble=

looked everywhere and found as much ammo as i could not much as exptected tho

=gets into position along one of the walltops=

=I line up along the south side of the outpost. I arrange myself and check ammo, and magazines for my gun=

Four clips.

=I take the launcher off my back, and look at it=

That piece of shit is heavy.

=I look around, waiting for Rubble to get to the south side with me. I decide to make a comm, getting impatient=

"Rubble, where the hell are you? My grandmother can lay those mines faster than you!"

=I laugh at my own joke, and wait. I tinker with my assault rifle a little bit, and feel a shake in the ground=

What the hell?

=I wait it out, and then go back to tinkering my assault rifle. I sit down, and wait=

God damn, how many mines is he laying?

=I look toward the front gate, waiting. I decide to pick up a small rock, and throw it over there=

"Hurry the hell up..."

=I pull up the map again, and study it=

Hmmp. Got it. I think I am ready...

Aegir had met up with Rán, to catch up. They talked about missions they had been on, the people they had met. After a while it boiled down to family matters, and how Hymir was doing.

Rán: "Aegir, why were you assigned to the Athena's Province?"

Aegir: "Disciplinary action. I disobeyed a direct order, and the mission turned out for the better."

Rán: "You disobeyed a direct order. What did you do?"

Aegir: "I killed my squad leader."

Rán: "..."

Aegir: "I know how that sounds."

Rán: "..."

Aegir: "Why was Beta transferred to the Athena's Province?"

Rán: "I requested it."

Aegir: "Why would you request to be transferred to the Athena's Province, you know as well as I that it's where all the misfit spartans are assigned."

Rán: "Aegir, the Athena's province has a Spartan mortality rate of one hundred percent."

Aegir: "..."

Rán: "Why did you kill your commanding squad leader?"

Aegir: "Sparrow."

Rán: "Alpha squads leader?"

Aegir: "Yes."

Rán: "What does.."
=interrupting=
Aegir: "I went in to save the prisoners aboard the Covenant vessel, he wanted to destroyed the ship and leave."

Rán: "You knew she was on the ship."

Aegir: "I did."

Rán: "How did you know?" She said this like she gave a command.

Aegir: "Mimir."

Rán: "The Athena Province's AI?"

Aegir: "Not back then. He was mine. He was reassigned after that mission."

Rán: "Why her?"

Aegir: "Do you know who she looks like?"

Rán: "Oh." She was surprised.

Aegir was silent.

Rán knew whom Aegir was talking about.

Rán: "Does she..?"

Aegir: "No."

Rán: "Have.."

Aegir: "No."

It's Rán's turn to be silent.

=They move to one of the towers, to better snipe any GTC that come down the road.=

Aegir: "How tall is he?"

Rán: "Eight and a half."

Aegir whistles. "He's the biggest spartan I've seen."

Rán: "I heard it runs in his family."

Aegir: "Gymir is quiet."

Rán: "He's cold."

Aegir: "Colder than the sea?"

Rán: "Colder than the blood of Loki."

Aegir: "Still have the ravens' colours."

Rán: "Still one of the ravens."

Aegir: "How much do you see now?"

Rán: "All of it."

Aegir: "We'll have to talk about that later."

Rán: "We will. The Mission comes first."

Aegir: "The mission always comes first."

They set up and check the ammo in their long range weapons of choice.

Aegir takes the wall and Rán takes the tower.

=i reply to Neon after placing down an AP mine, setting the trigger range and prepping it for remote arming=
Hey, you wanna do this? Feel free. This is delicate work.

=i pick up the AP mine, a small circular device that would pop up into the air at a set height and send shrapnel in a 360 degree arc. I was varying the height, so it wasn't possible to avoid them, as well as mixing them with the AT mines; these were also circular devices, but more directed. They channeled some metal into a white-hot jet of molten fury, piercing most armor and just obliterating the operators. Both of them only reacted to objects the approximate size of their respective targets, so unless manually set off, there was no way for an AT mine to try and kill a person, or an AP mine to try and disable a vehicle. Just for some minor payback, I took an armed AT mine and tossed it up to Neon=
Think fast!

=I catch the AT mine, and throw it immediately back at him=

"Watch it!"

=i catch the mine and spin it on my finger like a pizza in an old pizzeria=
What? It's harmless to people. Unless it goes off.

=i laugh and bury it back in the sand, disarming, and then rearming it. I grab the last At and AP mines, and went to work, selecting the proper spot then burying and prepping it. While the mines wouldn't go off to the improper target, they needed to be armed after they were set, so they could adjust to the surroundings. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to detect the targets and thus would be useless. I set them so a comm on a certain frequency would arm them. The message didn't matter, just that a signal was broadcasted on that frequency. The frequency chose was one that was only accessible through Spartan equipment, and the mines, obviously. The model of the mines were a universal one, so the equipment was there, as opposed to a homemade one. Once done I went inside through the gate and up onto the wall and sent a comm to everyone=
Okay, everyone inside?

(Bunda Darma)
I finished patching him up with the best of my abilities. He was still in no condition to fight.
I sigh as he stands in pain and grabs his weaponry. A plasma rifle. And limps towards the outpost in camouflage, along with me and Golen.

(Wielder)
I assumed I was dreaming about the past.
Enjoying the warm sun, the silence of everything. Dad's smile and his jokes about his previous odd jobs. Oh so very peaceful.
But until the drugs, the attack. I guess dad was overburdened? Or something, did he hate me? Why take up drugs?
The dream ended nightmarishly, with dad dying and I couldn't do anything. Just standing there as they took him away.

I flung up from my slumber, my sniper falling from my hands unto the ground, otherwise making a loud clanging noise.
My throat burning like hell, I was coughing horribly. Tearing apart my throat or really, it felt like it. Instinctively my hands gripped my neck.
Slamming to my knees to the ground, I frantically looked for my biofoam, coughing my lungs up. Thankfully I found it quickly but... how will it help?
Seeing red now, lungs drier then this damned desert and no breathing. I'm a Spartan though, I can't die... which proves itself when I finally stop coughing. Luckily and unbelievably.

I quickly jumped back up, hiding my panic poorly. I desperately looked around only to find everyone in their... positions. Right. Still at war.
Just a barren desert around us and a clear blue sky above us. Some vehicles hang around inside this little fort. Sparrow at my height in the other tower, several other below us at the wall's level and... Rubble? Other there with Neon.. playing catch? I laughed a sly laugh at the sight.
My adrenalin stopped having effect and I became calm again, casually grabbing my sniper rifle.

Everyones good Rubble. Shut that gate. Did you set enough mines at the weak spot in the wall too?

I see Wielder flounder about in the distance but i leave it alone, judging it to be him falling over after waking up. After looking around, everyone was so chilled out. Mostly relaxing on the wall-top. Hawk had even lay down on the rooftop. I noticed Ran had taken the South-Eastern tower too, leaving Aegir on the East wall by himself.

=in reply to Sparrow=
Yes, ma'am. AP and AT. No one is getting through that wall easily.

=to everyone else=
Please keep all arms and legs inside the base at all times. IF you have need to use the restroom and/or go on a scenic tour with your girlfriend, please, hold it and get her a gift card from our nearby souvenir shop. Thank you.

=i switch over to the frequency to arm the mines and for my own personal amusement say a phrase that came to mind=
Someone's gonna get it.

=i said it in a sing-song fashion, just so I could laugh a bit and relax myself for the coming fight and then switched over to the all-comm=
Mines armed. We're set.

Meanwhile:

I unsheathed my DMR from my back and ran behind some cover by the tech armor that held some supplies. I peek around the corner at random intervals and see Shroud peeking out from the ledge he was on firing his gun off at them in distraction. I use this time to search for some clay.

Found it!

I found about two pounds of c4 in the supply caches. I look around the corner and see one of the mechs near my position trying to get a better shot at Shroud while the other headed in Novak's.

Shit.

-over comms-

Novak you got on of the mechs behind you, be ready.

I turn my attention to the one that was in my sight.

Shroud

Fenrir hurry up with the explosives this ledge is coming apart.


I am surprised it held this long from the constant attack.

I crouch down and sneak behind the mech. I grab all of the c4 and stick it to the mech. My eyes suddenly caught attention to the metal fist that was swing backwards to my face.

Shit!

I duck under the swing, it barely scratching the paint off of my armor.

That was a close call, don't let it happen again.

Yeah I know. Now get out of the blast radius.

I see as Shroud enters one of the doors to the base. I quickly run backwards heading to a hole in the wall, which was made by the mech that was going after Novak. When I thought I was far enough I took out the detonator and pressed the button with enough force that it smashed it. The sound of the explosion reached me a split second after I felt the supersonic push of the blast from the c4. The force started to send my on a crash course into a wall. I initiated armor lock as fast as I could but my armor was still badly damaged. I paid no attention to my dislocated shoulder and tried to get a lock on the mech and see what happened.

-over comms-

The mech is still functioning, albeit highly damaged it is still on the move and combat able.

The mech was moving closer to me by the second. As soon as it was in the room with me a small hatch opened in its shoulder to reveal a small case of missiles. Two rows of three, I knew this was a good time to take it down. I tried to reach for my sidearm but failed to realise the extent of my shoulder. I looked at my arm that wasn't moving for a moment and cursed. I had to be quick and ....I heard the click of the rockets reading to be fired. I used my other arm to grab the pistol, my sub-conscience knew that I wouldn't make it but I couldn't give up. Pkkouw! The sound of a rifle ringed in my ears, then another, and another. I looked up and saw Shroud behind the mech firing round into the hole in the mechs back. My attention turned to the mech which was starting to fall over and then smashed into the ground. Shroud started to walk over to me.

Having fun on the ground?

He held out his hand and helped me up. I grabbed my arm with my other hand and snapped it back into place. I turned my attention to Shroud.

Thanks. I owe you.

He nods at me.

How is the arm.

I make a couple of rotations with my arm.

Working condition. I'll be fine.

Good, we need to get to Novak's position A.S.A.P. Follow.

Yeah, On your six.

Shroud an me head further into the base in search of Novak.

Garth wrote:

=in reply to Sparrow=
Yes, ma'am. AP and AT. No one is getting through that wall easily.

=to everyone else=
Please keep all arms and legs inside the base at all times. IF you have need to use the restroom and/or go on a scenic tour with your girlfriend, please, hold it and get her a gift card from our nearby souvenir shop. Thank you.

=i switch over to the frequency to arm the mines and for my own personal amusement say a phrase that came to mind=
Someone's gonna get it.

=i said it in a sing-song fashion, just so I could laugh a bit and relax myself for the coming fight and then switched over to the all-comm=
Mines armed. We're set.

Roger that, Rubble.

=I chuckle=

=I then switch to all-comm=

We're officially on lockdown, people

=I then assume a southern drawl for humor=

So, if y'all need a piss call, please do keep it on the preeemises or use the dern outhouse. Otherwise, hold yer bowels please. Good day.

=I then shut down the comm to laugh=

He moved forward crouching slowly, moving forward ever so slowly, trying not to make any sounds. They had gotten considerably closer; nearing the Outpost. They started to separate, moving into said positions.

"Move out, let your blades light the way!"

It was spoken in the loudest whisper possible, sounding only to them. He drew his sword, and moved forward.

I stretch a little. I know it's bad of us to be so relaxed. Right now we should be on high alert, but there's something very tranquil about being out here. Aside from the occasional helicopter patrol anyway. I climb down from my tower and begin sorting through the ammo pile.

Hey Rubble. Give me a hand down here.

I call up to him, with him not being too far from me before carrying on sorting it into smaller piles.

Yes, ma'am.

=i drop down from the wall top and go over to the ammo pile, dropping the enemy rifle onto my back and starting to go through the ammo, sorting it alongside Sparrow=
Anything to keep focused?

Actually i was sorting this into equal piles so we can distribute it between us all as evenly as we can.

I shuffle through a small clump and find about 5 unused mortar shells. I pick them up and offer them to Rubble.

Here. A present to keep you company on that wall.

=i take the mortar shells and hook them onto my armor=
Aww, ma'am, you shouldn't have. I didn't get anything for you though.

=i make the smile gesture=

I gesture at one of the piles while i begin to load another piles worth of munitions as i can carry. As we begin to walk towards the North wall in the heat, i chatter to him

See. My bet's that if they're going to hit us, they'll make sure to send more than we have ammo for. We're hugely outnumbered and out gunned here.

=i grab a pile and walk with Sparrow=
My thinking as well. Might hit us with mortars and artillery as well. Soften us up first.

Possibly, but in this desert i reckon it'd be too open for that. They know we have snipers at least and we could probably distance further than the mortars could. Hawk's got the air covered in case they try hitting us from the air.

I reach the top of the steps to the North wall and wait for Rubble to unload his pile to Whisper and Eldir.

=i go and drop my pile over by Whisper, nodding to them as I do so and then head back for more ammo=
Hmm, maybe. But if they have any serious hardware, howitzers and such, then we'd be in trouble.

Probably. I'm dreading Scorpions myself. They take rockets for fun and we haven't exactly got the explosives for them.

I walk back with him, waiting until he picks up his load. The sand here is a tinted yellow-orange and is quite firm underneath our feet. Another small rumble rocks the ground.

Seems to be a lot of seismic activity round these parts.

Bah, they'd probably just get bogged down in the sand. And none of these guys have UNSC hardware, save for those mines, it seems, why have Scorpions?

=i pick up another pile of ammo and walk with her to the walls=

I doubt it. Scorpions roll across the sand for fun.

I shrug as we set off towards the east wall, kicking up a little bit of sand with my feet

Maybe they've got upgraded variants.

I doubt it. I highly, highly doubt it. Scorpions are one of the best vehicles known to mankind, why mess with perfection?

=i shrug as I follow sparrow=

Is that you being honest, or do you just get excited over the explosions.

I laugh as we reach the top of the east wall and i unload my pile to Aegir. We head back down the stone steps and i could hear the change in tone as we met the sand

=i chuckle=
Would you believe me if I said honest?

=i unload my pile and head back to the ammo piles=

Not a chance.

We reach the ammo piles again and pick up for the last trip. This time we headed towards the West wall, where Sync, Hymir and Sigurd were positioned.

=i chuckle again=
Well, you'd be wrong, ma'am. Well, partly wrong. The Scorpion is one of the greatest vehicles, the first is the Wolverine. I may have lied when I said the Scorpion was perfect.

Anything with explosives.

I sigh loudly as we unload the ammunition next to Sync before heading back. Rubble stays quiet this time until we get to the now diminished stockpile. I leave him to take whats left upto his own walltop, only stopping to grab all the spare Sniper ammo and heading on over to Wielders tower. As i climb the steps up, a breeze hits and the canopy above the towers sways comfortably, leaving pale gleams of sunlight flickering lazily

(Bunda Darma)
We reached a point not far from the outpost and began to plan.
After awhile of discussing it we decided we're going close, kill them quick and get out before Jovac bleeds to death.
Soon everyone's camo is back up then we set out towards a wall, climbing it after our swords engage.
Helping each other as we ascend, a guard notices we blurs and turns around for the alarm.
I pull up myself up along with Jovac. But I had also noticed the running man and swiftly caught up and ended him.
But not without someone noticing, his partner on the other side of the wall. Impressingly Jovac shot him straight through the head. I turned to him and nodded. As if saying Helluva shot. Not that he could see it, camo and everything.

(Wielder)
I coughed some more making my throat burn badly. I tried to sigh but ended up failing.
I cocked my head to the side, seeing sand fly up from the wind. I heard foot steps from the stairs near me and aimed directly at... Sparrow. I ease the gun.
"Sorry. I'm uh.. little tense."

Yeah. You don't say. We're not even seen anything yet, so cool it.

I lean against the wall, dropping half of the rounds onto the floor.

I brought you some spare clips. For when the time comes.

=Via Private comms=
Rán: "Ægir, what data did you find here?"

Ægir: "Biological Data mostly. The only thing I recognized was that the data mentioned earth-like scorpions."

Rán: "And?"

Ægir: "And Mimir went over the rest of the data. According to him they are studying the native scorpions."

Rán: "This doesn't look like a science outpost."

Ægir: "I know."

Rán: "The outposts are built defensively. Easily defendable."

Ægir: "You don't think they were expecting human resistance, or combatants."

Rán: "Maybe it has something to do with the Scorpions."

bzzzt..

Ægir: "hold on."

=switches channels=

Ægir: "What do you have?"

"Seismic activity is increasing in your area."

Ægir: "You don't sound sure."

"It's irregular, it's not caused by shifting plates, or vault lines."

Ægir: "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, it's an unknown."

Ægir: "..."

"Satellite imaging shows troop movement in your AO, headed straight to your position."

Ægir: "Where?"

"The road."

Ægir: "Roger that, be more specific in the future."

"Well, we just lost contact with the satellite, but before it went dark I saw more enemy troops, I wasn't able to see if you were surrounded or not though."

Ægir: "I'll keep that in mind."

"Of course you will."

Ægir: "..."

channel drops

=Switches channel=

Rán: "Troop movement?"

Ægir: "Affirmative."

Rán: "Well, it's just like sniper training then."

Ægir: "Ha. Keep your guard up, can't have you getting sentimental on us now."

Rán looks at Ægir.

Ægir: "I'll take that glare as a 'no'."

Rán: "Focus on the mission."

Ægir: "Ha. Yes Ma'am."

(Wielder)
"Of course. Thank you."
I looked down at the clips then moved them closer to me, up on the railings of stone.
"Soo.. why are we staying here? I mean... that force that they'll be bringing will destroy us. Not unless we have some sort of anti matter.."
My voice trailed off towards the end.

(Bunda Darma)
Immediantly we moved the bodies over the wall before they began to bleed everywhere. Nobody saw us, we're trained in this type of thing. Yet we don't have our forth member and the rest of us are badly wounded. Why the frick are we doing this? Its our mission. We must complete it. Always.

We finished pulling up Golen and ran off before people began to question this wall. We went up stairs up into a sniper tower and very silently, we assassinated the men up here. We went down the other side of the tower's stairs unto another wall top. Instead of killing this men we climbed down the stairs to our left and headed into a building.

Orders.

I lean my own rifle against the wall and take my helmet off, running my hand through my hair, letting it flow down my back. It's slightly wet with the heat.

Besides. Here's better than out there with the warheads.

Rán: "..."

Ægir: "What is it?"

Rán: "Beta has GUNGNIR armor, or Modified GUNGNIR armor systems."

Ægir: "And?"

Rán: "Your Armor is smaller, but I don't recognize it."

Ægir: "Experimental. Based off of the original design. Oewelcherspire designed. Or so I'm told."

Rán: "..."

Ægir: "I know."

=A few moments pass.=

Ægir: "Wait, Not all of Beta has GUNGNIR."

Rán: "Only.."

Ægir: "Gymir."
=They both turn to look a Gymir for a second.=

Reference Pic:

Spoiler:

=i sit down with my back to the wall and take off the mortars, I grab one at random and start tossing it into the air and catching it. Bouncing it back and forth, really just to keep kyself occupied=

(Wielder)
"I know right? being near those things is frightning."
I watched as her helmet came off. Her hair sparkling from sweat... hm. Only now have I realized this is the first time I saw her face.
"Well now. You're awfully comfortable."

(Bunda Darma)
A soldier was walking out the door as we tried to also, surprisingly, he hadn't noticed us. We silently slipped to the right. Unfortunatly he noticed the blurs move so we had to cut him down and very slowly, carefully brought him back inside. A couple other soldier were inside. Jovac shot a couple needles into one, I cut into another and Golen plasma burned the last.

I let my helmet hang low in my hand at my side and flash him a grin, half of my face turning into a weird grimace from the scars that lie there.

It's good to stay relaxed before a fight. Helps with morale and keeps you focused.

I reach for my canteen with my other hand and bring it up to my lips, taking a small drink. I offer it out to Wielder.

(Wielder)
I shrugged as I took it in my hand.
"Not something I usually do. Being relaxed. But what the hell, right?"
I slouched back again a stone railing while taking my helmet off.
"Did I mention I hate the heat?"
I smiled slyly then took a swing.. of water.. I laughed finding out it was water.

(Bunda Darma)
That slaughter had attracted other soldiers. We had to get out fast before we're caught. Doing so by taking a another door leading us deeper inside the structure.

Be relaxed more. It's better. Thats the reason we're all here anyway right. All the problem Spartans, shoved together into one group.

I take the canteen back and mull things over, my eyes clouded in thought.

So what did you do to get transferred here?