Legacy of the Dragon's Teeth

Continued from: Chapter 9: TBD page 23

(Jason)
=As Alpha Team left Sierra, I decided to call Miri from the observation room. I figured I might as well inform her of what was going to happen soon. She answered five seconds after I made the call=

(Miranda)
Jason, what's up?

(Jason)
Miri, I'm sorry but I'm leaving on the Hyperion to oversee Alpha's first mission.

(Miranda)
Well that's fine, but why would you be sorr--
=My mind immediately figured out what he was saying=

You're joining them, aren't you? On the mission.

(Jason)
Yeah. I've just been getting stir crazy, sitting around for a month playing politician. Stupid reason, I know. But we have no idea what we'll find there, and I figured they could use some extra help.

(Miranda)
Yeah, that is a stupid reason.....but I can relate. On the bright side, it's not like I have to tell you to be careful or anything.

(Jason)
=I placed a hand over my heart in mock pain=
Miri, I'm hurt. When have I ever not been careful?

(Miranda)
Do you want me to go alphabetically or chronologically?

(Jason)
=I couldn't help but chuckle=
Yeah yeah, I get it. Take care Miri. Love you.

(Miranda)
I'm not the one that needs to be told "take care.' And I love you too.
=With that, I ended the call=

(Conner)
=The team and I made it to Camp Valhalla, and from there we took one a transport to Alpha Base. We could have taken this one all the way to the Hyperion, but apparently the transport we were meant for was specifically for us. I don't know why, except that was what the orders read. When we arrived at the airfields for Alpha Base, I saw the transport and had a feeling I knew why we were meant for this one in particular=

(Chris)
=When I saw the transport, I let out a low whistle=
Damn, this is ours?

(Conner)
=Her surprise was understandable. The transport was a Trident class dropship. Tridents were our long range dropships, and they were faster and more maneuverable than the standard Silverdogs. What was surprising though, was the amount of armor on this Trident, and the colorization. Tridents were moderately armored, to allow for greater performance, but this ship had extra armor plating on it. Not enough to hide the fact that it was a Trident, or even enough to significantly diminish it's performance. But it was certainly noticeable. As for the coloring, the whole thing was coated in black stealth paint=
I guess. I don't see any other transport here.

=Someone standing next to the Trident saw us, and walked over. She wore flight gear, and a small cap that was in a stalemate with her red hair, which was poking out here and there from beneath the edges of her cap=

*Samantha*
Flight Lieutenant Samantha Cole. I'm guessing you're Lieutenant James Conner of Alpha team?

(Conner)
Yes ma'm. This your bird?

*Samantha*
Yes sir. The name they gave her seems rather appropriate. Blacklight. Anyway, my job is to be your personal chauffeur on missions. I guess that makes me a member of the team?

(Conner)
We'll see about that Flight Lieutenant. For now, I'm guessing we're going up?

*Samantha*
Yeah, just waiting on one more person.
=I took the cap off, mostly because it was getting hot underneath, and also because the damn thing itched like hell=

(Conner)
One more person? How many were you expecting?

*Samantha*
Five people, other than myself.

(Conner)
Then who's the fifth?





((I in no way take any credit for the artwork displayed in the link. The credit goes to the artist))

*Ten minutes ago*

(Jason)
=After making my way out of Sierra, I took a teleporter pad that was located outside the executive entance. Okay, by executive, I basically mean that little entrance that leads right up to the observation room. You know, the one only high ranking officers know about. Anyway, I took the teleporter to Alpha Base. I didn't need to worry about getting my Combat skin seeing as how it was already aboard the Hyperion. What? I liked to plan ahead. Anyway, I had made it to Alpha Base and soon arrived at the airfields. Alpha Team was already there, talking with Samantha, the pilot of the Blacklight. I couldn't help but pause for a moment as I remembered the name. It was the original name of my ship before the refits. Pushing my thoughts to the side, I continued forward. When I heard Conner ask who was the fifth, i couldn't help but speak up=
That would be me Lieutenant.

=Everyone turned to face the new arrival, and upon seeing who it was, they stood straighter and snapped off a salute=
At ease.

(Conner)
Sir, you're coming along?

(Jason)
Of course. I'm debriefing you guys, as well as joining you.

(Chris)
=I blinked=
What? Joining us on the mission?

(Jason)
Yeah. Don't worry, I've got more experience than any of you guys, so if you're worried about babysitting duty, you'll be happy to know that won't be the case. As for the chain of command, you still report to Conner, and he reports to me.

(Jason)
=It was odd, seeing the way the rest of Alpha relaxed when they heard that. I guess they enjoyed taking their orders from Conner. Good, that meant they trusted him=
Alright people, let's hop on. Samantha, you know where we're going I take it?

*Samantha*
Yes sir. And for the record, to everyone here, it's Sam from now on.....if no one minds.

(Chris)
=Walking up to her, i clapped her on the shoulder=
Oh, you and I are going to get along just fine.

=Everyone climbed into the Trident, and I grabbed a seat. The rest of Alpha, and the Admiral, grabbed seats of their own while Sam kept moving towards the cockpit=
Hey, don't you need a co-pilot?

*Samantha*
Pfft, nah I'm good. I may not have the skills of a fighter pilot, but I've got enough skill to pilot this bird solo.
=I strapped on my helmet, sliding down the visor=

Everyone secure?
=In answer, they all yelled back 'yeah'=

Alright. Dusting off now.
=Once I made sure the airlock was closed, I started up the Blacklight up, and lifted us into the air. I guided her up into the atmosphere, breaking away from Haven's gravity, and soon out of it's atmosphere. Then, I saw it through the canopy: the Hyperion, the flagship of Haven's fleet. Requesting clearance to dock in their hangar was easy, since I flew with the Admiral's approval. Flying through the barely visible energy shield I guided us to our landing zone, and once we landed I opened the doors=

(Jason)
=Unstrapping from my seat, I was the first off the dropship. The hangar was huge, though in all honesty, I had been inside bigger hangars. Memories of the Trophaeum, and the Obsidian Wolf began to fill my head, but I quickly pushed them to the side. I needed to focus=
Alright Alpha Team, follow me. Sam, that goes for you too.

(Conner)
You heard the man. Let's move.
=I followed the Admiral, the rest of Alpha falling in behind me=

*Sam*
Got it, let me just lock up.
=I pressed a button in the cockpit, and the ship went into lockdown. Now it would only unlock if i input my code. Once that was done, I joined the group=

(Jason)
=I guided the group out of the hangar and through a few hallways, until we reached one of the debriefing rooms=
Take a seat please. This will take some time.

(Conner)
=The debriefing room was moderate in size, with a few rows of long tables, all arranged in a semi-circle. Alpha Team and I took seats in the front row, and Sam joined us=

(Jason)
=Taking position at the front of the room, I took a data crystal out of my pocket and plugged it into a podium that was at the front of the room. Overhead, holo-projectors warmed and projected an image of the Milky Way, hovering in the center of the room=
Around 48 hours ago, one of scouting groups chanced upon a blip originating from within the region of space we believe the Rebel's have fled to, known as the "Haystack." The blip was an encrypted communication signal, and while they were unable to crack the code, or find out the signal's destination, they were close enough to determine the point of origin for the signal.

=The image of the Milky Way began to zoom in on one of the arms, outside UNSC and Covenant territory. Stars sped by, until finally a single, small solar system was shown=
According to the Forerunner star charts in the Archives, this is the Achernar system. The star, Achernar, is a standard main sequence star, and the system is home to 4 planets. Of those 4, there is only one within the Habitable Zone.

=Once more, the image shrank until only one planet was shown=
This is Waltari. Waltari is a garden world, lush in vegetation , liquid water oceans. It's one of those rare, Earth-like planets the UNSC delights in finding. The scouting group was able to pin-point the origin of the signal to a location on the surface of the planet. While not exact, they estimate it is within a 10 kilometer radius of here.

=A dot appeared on one of the continents, near the planets equator=

(Jason)
Our mission, is to investigate the signal and determine the level of any rebel presence here on Waltari. If possible, we are to gather intelligence and neutralize the presence.

(Conner)
Uh, how are we going to be inserted? If they have a ship with sensors, or established a base there with scanners, the Hyperion is going to set off one hell of a signal when it exits slip-space.

(Jason)
That is where our new dropship, and the skills of her pilot, will come into play. Our insertion tactic is inspired by Operation: FIRST STRIKE. We only know of this Operation courtesy of the ONI files. I won't bore you with the details, but if you want to know feel free to look it up when we get back to Haven.

*Sam*
So, what's the insertion method?

(Jason)
=I paused for a moment, searching for the right words=
As you all saw, our dropship, Blacklight, has some extra armor plating on it, and is coated in stealth paint. What you are not aware of, is the type of armor plating: it's radiation shielding. While the Hyperion passes through the Achernar system in slip-space, the Blackilight will exit the ships hangar and the ships slip-space field. If our estimates our right, we will exit slip-space about 20,000 kilometers outside of Waltari's atmosphere. We'll enter atmo here, 100 kilometers to the East of their position. Thankfully, according to the Archives records of this world show that during it's Autumn season, the region where the signal originated from is covered in dense fog. Visibility will be very low, so chances of us getting seen are slim, but flying will be a hazard for us as well.

*Sam*
Not a problem. I'm just as good with my sensors as I am with my eyes. I am worried about the drop out of slip-space though. Have we tested this?

(Jason)
Realistically? No. However, Silver Light, Haven's monitor, ran several trillion simulations. They were all successful. Though I guess we won't know until we actually do this.

*Sam*
You can count on me sir. I'll get you guys there no problem.

(Jason)
Good to hear Flight Lieutenant. Now, I won't lie to you guys, there's a lot of unknowns here. We have no idea what the size of our opposition is, or how strong they are. We don't even know what the size of their base of operations is, or if there even is one.

(Conner)
No backup?

(Jason)
=I shook my head=
Unfortunately, the rest of the brass did not want to commit too many resources on a mission with this many unknowns. Hell, we're not even getting the Hyperion as support. We are however getting a panic button. If it all hits the fan, we press the button and the Hyperion is cleared to come in guns blazing. Other than that, we have no backup.

(Chris)
Oh this just gets better and better.

(Jason)
I know this doesn't look pretty, but tough luck. These are the jobs you're assigned, and you're assigned them for a reason. Because there is no one else that can do the job, no one with that same kind of training. You are Alpha Team, and you are the best Haven has to offer. So time to show it.
=They were silent for a moment, stunned at the praise I had given them. It wasn't much praise to be honest, but if they wanted to take it that way, then it was fine by me=

(Conner)
We'll get it done sir.

(Wierzbowski)
Hell yeah. You can count on us.

(Jason)
Alright. The Hyperion will enter slip-space in a few minutes, and our ETA is going to be maybe a half hour. I want you all prepped and in the dropship within the next 25 minutes. I'll see you there. Dismissed.

(Jason)
=As they all filed out, I took a moment to look at the image of Waltari. I had no idea what was going to be on that planet, or if Alpha Team would be ready for whatever was there. I just had to hope we'd be ready, or else this could all go very badly=
And then I could add this to the list of reckless stunts.

=Walking out of the debriefing room, I made my way to my quarters. Despite the size of the ship, it wasn't a long walk, since my quarters were near the debriefing room. When the doors opened, I was relieved to find that a crate was waiting for me, containing my personal Combat Skin. My skin was unique compared to the standard skins every other soldier was using on Haven. It was a class 3.5, above the standard issue, and came equipped with features exclusive to it alone. Getting it on was easy enough, having practiced donning it in my spare time, and by now I was able to get the suit on in under ten minutes. Once that was done, I headed for the armory. To be honest, there were three armories on the Hyperion. One by each of the two hangars, so that troops going out on dropships could load up, and one in a central area of the ship, in the event that we were ever boarded and needed weapons and armor=

(Conner)
=Alpha Team and I headed for the armory by Hangar 1, where our dropship was housed. Sam decided to join us, at least so she could pick out some weapons for herself while she remained on the dropship. We reached the armory, and found ourselves in a large room filled with racks of weapons, crates of grenades, and tables that had all kinds of equipment=
Alright guys, considering the number of unknowns on this mission, and the possible level of visibility, we're going to go with close to mid-range weapons. Trevor, that means you'll need a carbine class weapon.

(Wierzbowski)
No problem Lieutenant.

(Conner)
Chris, take an SMG class, and a shotgun class weapon. Also, since you're the team medic, you might as well take a medkit along for the ride, and I suggest you make it a big one. And take a data-pad, we might need to do some hacking while we're there.

(Chris)
Understood sir.

(Conner)
Crowe, take one of the LMG class weapons. We might also need a few things blown up, so get a few satchels worth of explosives. As for standard gear, everyone take extra power cores for your weapons, and some extra grenades.

(All)
Got it.

(Sam)
=While everyone else was busy getting their assigned gear, I settled with grabbing an SMG class weapon, and a pistol. The SMG was probably a bit much, but in all fairness, if I was being left alone on the dropship, I wanted to make sure I could defend myself if anything came my way=

(Jason)
=Walking into the armory, I found Alpha Team and Sam there, getting their gear together. They nodded in acknowledgement, which was a first considering the usual salute. In a way, I welcomed the nod instead of the salute. I walked over to one rack of weapons, and picked out an assault rifle class weapon, gun metal gray in color. My combat skin had no real pockets to speak of, so I had to settle for wearing a tactical vest that had pockets all over the lower front. To go along with that, I strapped a holster to my right leg for my pistol, and attached a strap to the assault rifle, slinging it over my shoulder. I must have resembled a 21st Century U.S. Marine, only thinner. Once the vest was secured, I pocketed several power cores for the weapons, and a few grenades. I ran a check on the Combat Skins shield systems, to make sure my extra gear didn't interfere. Thankfully, it didn't=

(Conner)
=15 minutes later, we were all seated inside the Trident, and strapped in tightly. There was about two minutes left on the clock, and Sam already had us hovering inside the hangar=

(Sam)
=I could see through the glass of the canopy outside the hangar. It was nothing but pitch black outside, and it got a helluva lot darker when the armor plating slid into place over the canopy=
Alright boys and girls, I hope you're all strapped tightly into those harness. Because this is going to be a descent elevator into hell.

=I edged us closer to the energy field, until the nose of the dropship was a foot away=

(Jason)
=Looking in the corner of my visor, I saw the timer for our drop off. It was rapidly getting smaller=
At least we didn't eat anything, right?

(Crowe)
Uhh, actual--
=The words were torn out of my mouth as Sam yelled over the com=

(Sam)
LOCK 'N LOAD MOTHER FUCKERS, WE'RE GOING IN!!
=I gunned the engines, and we shot out of the hangar and into the pitch black void=

(Jason)
=To say it was a bumpy ride, was a gross understatement. While there may not have been any real atmosphere in space or slip-space, it felt like we were flying through turbulence reserved for monster storms. Inside the ship, despite being strapped to our seats, everyone was shaking, jumping up and down, while boxes that were secured overhead rattled against the ceiling=

(Chris)
=I tried to speak, but the turbulence was so bad that my words were probably going to be shaken to hell. Didn't stop me from trying=
Tested a trillion times, and not a single fucking flaw?

(Jason)
Nothing life threatening!

(Chris)
=I barely understood that=
Oh that makes all the difference in the fucking world!

(Conner)
Just find a happy place Vasquez!

(Chris)
How bout I take my happy place and shove it up your ass maldito idiota!

(Crowe)
Wow, kinky. I had no idea you two were dating.

(Conner/Chris)
We're not dating!

(Jason)
=The whole thing made me cackle like a mad man=

(Sam)
Brace yourselves people, we're exiting slip-space now!
=Seconds later, the turbulence came to a sudden halt. With the armor plating still covering the canopy, I couldn't see a thing until I pressed the control button, and the panels slid away=

Whoa....Admiral, you may want to get up here.

(Jason)
=Unstrapping myself from the harness, I walked over to the cockpit, thankful for the artificial gravity generator installed on the dropship. Gotta hand it to the Forerunners-- they knew how to make small artificial gravity generators as effective as the large scale versions=
What is it Sam?

(Sam)
I think we found Waltari.
=I pointed towards outside the canopy. Outside, a massive planet dominated the view=

(Jason)
Wow. Looks better in person. Alright, you have the coordinates, take us there.

(Sam)
Will do sir.

(Sam)
=I steered the nose of the dropship downwards, and angled the bottom towards the surface. Then I set the engines for a burn and we sped off towards the planet's atmosphere=
Alright, I'll set the scanner to look for any signals in the area that we're headed for.

(Jason)
Good. Once we get close, go nice and slow. The stealth paint should be enough to keep us invisible on their radar.
=Turning back, I walked back into the troop bay, where Alpha was already unstrapping themselves from their seats and standing. They all began checking their gear, making sure it had survived the little roller-coaster of an insertion we survived=

(Conner)
Okay, so what's the plan?

(Jason)
=I shrugged=
Figured I'd leave that up to you Lieutenant. This is you're squad.

(Conner)
Alright then. We wait for Sam to finish scanning. When she finds what we're looking for, we land a klick away, and make our way to the location. We'll scope the location, and plan our next move.

(Crowe)
Sounds good Lt.
=I got the explosives together, safely tucked in the pack=

(Sam)
=As we got lower into the atmosphere, we passed through thick clouds, water condensing on the outside of the canopy. After we got through them, I checked the monitor linked to ventral camera on the bottom of the ship. Below us was the surface, but it was difficult to really see it as that. Dense fog covered the surface, and here and there pieces of land poked through, small hills. Larger mountains simply jutted out of the fog. My attention was diverted when I heard the scanner beep. It had found something=
I got something. Scans are showing an energy signature coming from our 2 o'clock, about 20 klicks away.

(Jason)
=Walking back into the cockpit, I checked her findings=
Alright, head for the blip. Get low, until we're skimming the fog. Find us a safe place to land a kilometer away.

(Sam)
Got it sir.
=I lowered the ship low over the fog. We got closer, until we were about a kilometer away from the energy reading, by which time it had increased exponentially. We stopped, hovering over the fog, which was rapidly being cleared away by the thrusters, revealing a clearing of grass and shrubbery=

Got enough room to land and drop the ramp.

(Jason)
Do it.

(Conner)
Alright Alpha Team, get ready to move!.
=I stood at the head of the group, in front of the door/ramp=

(Sam)
=I lowered the ship until we were a foot off the ground, and the grass was flattened by the thusters=
Opening the door now. Good luck Alpha.

(Jason)
Sam, once we're all out, I want you to get in the air, and stay there until we call you. Provide some recon if you can, but remain out of sight.

(Sam)
Understood.

(Conner)
=Once the door opened, Alpha Team and I got off the ship, the Admiral close behind. Once he stepped off, and we were some feet away, the dropship rose back into the sky, and the fog rushed to fill the empty void her thrusters had created=
Okay, the energy reading is coming from that direction, so let's get moving. Set your visors to thermal, this fog is too damn thick.

(Chris)
=With the rest of Alpha, I broke into a jog behind Conner. Truth be told, a jog in these suits was more like a run considering how fast they made us=
So, what if we run into an enemy patrol?

(Conner)
Then we neutralize them if necessary.

(Jason)
=It was all so....for lack of better term, creepy, our jog towards the energy signature. The fog was so thick we could only see a few feet in front of us, and we had entered a forest. Trees and shrubbery surrounded us, and the odd bird-call sounded along our path. It was almost like something out of a horror film, and I was briefly thankful that the records of Waltari stated that there was no large, hostile organisms......at least in this region anyway=

(Conner)
=We had reached the edge of the forest, and we came to a stop. Beyond the edge, was a large clearing, and I mean large. The fog had started to clear up at this point, and through the thermal imaging I could make out what looked like a massive complex, the size of a UNSC Destroyer=
Whoa....I think we found our rebel presence.

(Jason)
=Making my way to the edge of the group, I stood next to Conner, using my visor to zoom in on the complex=
Yeah, looks like it. I'm not seeing any guards though, or defenses.

(Conner)
Hard to believe they built something this size in a month.

(Jason)
Yeah well, they've got a large number of resources on their side, most of it Forerunner.
=Taking another look, I found what looked like an entrance, again with no guards posted=

Hmm, this has got to be a military station of some sort. It's too close to Haven for their civilians.

(Conner)
Yeah, but like you said, no guards. So what were they doing here?

(Jason)
No idea, but that does nothing to alter our mission. Let's move in.

(Conner)
Alpha, move up, nice and easy. Trevor, stay at the rear, and keep your rifle trained on that complex. If anything so much as twitches in our direction, shoot it.

(Wierzbowski)
Got it.
=I unslung my carbine, and aimed it at the complex, above the heads of everyone else. We all started walking forward at a steady pace=

(Chris)
=I opened a private channel to Conner as we walked=
Okay, something's not right here. Where are the guards, or personnel?

(Conner)
I don't know. Maybe they never expected anyone to locate this place or something. Whatever the reason, keep your guard up.
=Walking past the walls and open gate, we arrived in a fairly spacious courtyard. Here, we found our first sign of another presence=

Hold up. We've got a dropship.
=Everyone immediately raised their weapon as the tension we were feeling quadrupled. It was a Trident, like our ship except this was grey in color. The boarding ramp was lowered, and when I turned the corner, I found that it was empty=

It's empty.

(Chris)
=Boarding the ship, I walked towards the cockpit. There was an empty chair=
No pilot. What the hell is going on here?

(Conner)
Hell if I know Corporal. Okay, we have a possible enemy presence here. Chances are they're inside the complex. Motive unknown right now.
=I walked away from the ship, towards the entrance=

Alright, here's what we're going to do: it's too dangerous to split up and search this place, considering the fact we have no idea how many enemies are here. So we're going to move as a group. If we have to split up, we go in teams of two. Our priority is to gather any intelligence we can from here, so we're going to have to find a data terminal once inside, maybe even a map of the complex.

(Wierzbowski)
What about Sam? if there's a dropship here, chances are there's something heavier in the system. She needs some warning.

(Conner)
Good point.
=I tried raising Sam over the com, but suddenly all I could here was static. White noise=

Sam? Sam, can you hear me?

(Chris)
=I was still inside the dropship, fiddling with the communication device. Oddly, I couldn't get a thing except static on all channels=
Conner, I think we've got some kind of signal jammer. All I'm getting on the dropships radio is static.

(Conner)
Dammit, the base must have a scrambler. Alright, adding to the list of things to do, we're going to have to disable the signal jammer. Chances are the panic button for the Hyperion won't work here.

(Jason)
Then what are we doing standing around? Let's get moving.

(Conner)
Chris--
=I pointed at the door to the base=

Open that door.

(Chris)
Got it.
=Moving towards the door, I took out my data-pad. There was an electronic lock on the door, but hacking it was a piece of cake thanks to the little data-pad. The doors opened, sliding away from each other. Light poured inside the open entrance, though it's not like it was needed. Inside was a well lit hallway, with anther door at the end=

(Conner)
Weapons ready. Chris, open that door, we'll cover you.
=To reinforce that statement, I took position behind her, rifle raised. I heard the others group up behind me, and we followed Chris as she moved forward down the hallway. Turns out though we didn't need her to open the next door, as it opened on it's own when she was a foot away=

(Chris)
That's not ominous at all....
=Pocketing the data-pad, I un-slung my SMG, aiming it now at the empty room we were in=

(Jason)
=As we moved forward, I noted a few things: the room we were in had a large central desk, circular in shape with several terminals active. Also, there were three separate doors, one for each wall of this square room, not including the door behind us. When she saw the terminals, Chris moved forward and plugged her data-pad into one of them, hacking their systems=

(Chris)
=About a minute later=
Okay, I've got a map of the place. It's not much though, and some of the locations have vague names.

=I sent copies of the map to the team's suits=

(Jason)
What's this? "GESTR Production facility?"

(Chris)
No idea, but nearly all the corridors are leading there. I can't find a thing in here though about anything called "GESTER," except for that part of the complex.

(Conner)
Alright, let's go there. Chances are we'll find some more information there. Chris, can you open a route to that location?

(Chris)
=Typing in a few more commands, I nodded my head in the affirmative, and got up from the terminal=
The doors leading there should be open now. But something's not right-- it was too easy, opening the doors. There was some encryption, but it barely stopped me.

(Jason)
Noted. Keep your eyes peeled Alpha Team.
=We all moved toward the middle door, which opened for us, and from there it was a slow walk into the complex=

(Jason)
=It was quiet, walking through those corridors. Here and there we came across a room, for personnel usage. There was a small cafeteria, living quarters, and several offices. But out of all that, we did not find a single living soul=
Why do I feel like we just walked into a horror film?

(Chris)
Because you watch too much T.V.? I dunno.

(Conner)
Stay focused, we're almost there.

(Conner)
=We finally reached the door for the Production Facility, and like all the others it opened for us. Inside, it was dark, except for a single source of light: another terminal=

(Chris)
=I didn't even need to be told. I just moved for the terminal, and accessed what I could=
Okay, this terminal has got info on whatever the hell GESTR is.

(Jason)
Anything specific?

(Chris)
One sec. The wall in front of me is a glass display unit, I can bring the data up on there.
=What was on the terminal's screen was soon shown on the glass screen in front of me. The image was enlarged to around five feet across, and the word GESTR was displayed=

G.E.S.T.R. is short for Genetically Engineered Shock Troopers. They're based off of something called, "Dragon's Teeth."

(Jason)
What!
=My sudden outburst caught everyone by surprise. No one other than the crew of the Serenity knew of my origins in Dragon's Teeth=

(Chris)
That's what it says. Dragon's Teeth was experimental cloning technology that the Office of Naval Intelligence developed. The rebels gained that tech when they attacked an ONI storage facility a month ago, and stole prototype versions of the cloning pods. They've been working on them ever since, incorporating Forerunner tech and science into the designs.
=I opened a few more files=

They're goal is to make an army of expendable troops, that have all the strength and speed of UNSC Spartans.

(Jason)
Fuck....an army?

(Chris)
They created a batch a few days ago, and other than a few flaws that were anticipated and worked around, they functioned flawlessly.

(Jason)
What were the flaws?
=I stood next to her, reading the reports=

(Chris)
One sec....
=Opening the file, I continued reading=

Because of the accelerated cloning procedure, the GESTR's have a shortened life-span. They can only live for six months before they suffer cellular degeneration and die. They would have been born with no real memories, and would had to have been trained except for another piece of Dragon's Teeth tech. They flash transferred training and battlefield tactics into their minds. However, they lack independent thoughts, so they can't make the choice to act on those tactics. They have handlers giving them orders on the battlefield. One of the most critical flaws though is that their accelerated growth caused a mutation very similar to CIPA. It prevented them from growing nerves that are responsible for transmitting signals of pain. Basically, these guys feel no pain, no matter how much you shoot them, and they will keep coming.
=I suddenly found one of the scarier pieces of info=

This isn't the only facil--
=My words were cut off however, when lights turned on from the other side of the glass, and massive room was revealed, as large as a small hangar bay=

(Jason)
=Walking forward, I placed a hand on the glass, leaning against it, and whispered=
My God.....it's deja vu.

=Outside the glass, were rows upon rows of cloning pods, with filled with fluids, and all occupied. The GESTR, without armor, was vaguely human like, but it had a face shaped more like a skull, with white skin that was so pale, it was almost transparent. It looked nothing less than a fetus that was grown to the size of an adult=

(Jason)
=I turned back to face Vasquez=
Corporal, you were saying?

(Chris)
Uh, I was about to say this isn't the only facility.
=I suddenly felt all attention on me=

They have several more, but the logs don't say where. They're not even on this planet. All I know is that they're bigger, that this was just a test facility and now that they know they can make these....things, on a massive scale, they're going to begin production. Soon.

(Jason)
How soon?

*Voice*
Sooner than you think, Admiral.

(Jason)
=I whirled, weapon ready. Everyone else already had their guns out, and pointed in the direction of the voice: the glass screen. The data that had been shown on it was replaced with an image of someone I recognized from the list of defectors=
Colonel Harris.

=A man entering his forties, Harris still looked like he was in his prime, with a little gray in his hair, and some grizzle on his face. He had dark eyes, cold and calculating, and from what I read of his personnel dossier, he was ruthless, but efficient=

*Harris*
I must say, I am very surprised. Hans knew that letting out that signal would bring an investigating force, but I'm sure he never expected the Admiral himself to show up.

(Chris)
See? I knew this was too easy.
=I aimed my gun at Harris' head. Pointless, sure, but it made me feel better=

Why don't you come out traitor? Let me put one right between your eyes.....

*Harris*
=He chuckled=
Oh no, I don't think I will show myself. See, I'm just here to watch the show.

(Jason)
What show?

*Harris*
See for yourself.
=At his words, doors opened at our sides, and two squads walked out. They were tall, and clad in some strange armor. There were four of them per squad, the fifth man, the handler staying at the rear=

You see, we proved they can be mass produced, and they're quite obedient when it comes to orders. But we needed to field test them, in real combat.

(Chris)
Oh infierno de mierda.

(Jason)
You said it sister. Fuck.....

(Jason)
=Each GESTR hefted a heavy looking weapon, that was probably a plasma 'machine gun.' They were spreading out into a semi-circle in front of us, blocking the exit. There was no time to plan out the next move; while we made a plan, the GESTR's would shoot us. So I did the only thing I could: I acted=
Cover me!

=The rest of Alpha opened fire, while I twisted around so that I was facing the glass window. I shot with my weapon, and shattered the glass. Through the team cameras, I saw the GESTR's fire in response, though their weapons seemed less accurate then I thought. What shots did impact on us though were absorbed by the shields=
Move move move!

=I wanted to run through the exit, but these were my people. Conner may have been in charge, but Alpha Team was made of my soldiers. Moving back to the head of the group, I activated the one piece of tech on my suit that made it stand apart from all others: the hard light barrier. A small wall of energy popped up between me, my squad, and the incoming fire, though I couldn't hold something that size for very long=

(Conner)
=Watching all this unfold, I was stunned for the briefest of moments. Then I came to my senses, and shouted=
Let's move Alpha! The Admiral will cover us.

=Still facing the GESTR's, I fired off a few more shots while moving backwards. Plasma fire from their weapons still came at us, though my shields were able to deflect some of it away. The rest of Alpha made a break for the shattered window though, and when they were all out I yelled=
Admiral, let's move!

(Jason)
Go, I'll be right behind you!

(Conner)
=Without a word, I followed the order, and ran through the hole, leaving him to face the GESTR's=

(Jason)
=Dropping the shield may have been suicidal, but I had a plan. The moment my shield dropped, I activated the cloaking feature of my armor. Hey, it was one of the features that made this Combat Skin special. However, my energy was low from holding the barrier up, so I couldn't stay cloaked for longer than a few seconds. So I turned and ran out of the hole, tossing a grenade behind me for good measure. Running through the rows of cloning pods, I found Alpha Team on the other side of the room, waiting by a door=

(Conner)
Let's move. We need to put some distance between us and those things.
=That said, I ran towards the door which promptly opened. On my HUD, I saw the rest of Alpha Team follow, along with the Admiral=

Okay, so how the hell are we supposed to deal with these....monsters?

(Jason)
Treat them as you would any other opponent. We need to find their weakness, and exploit it.
=We turned right, and ended up in what looked like a medical lab=

(Chris)
A weakness? They have no weakness! Hell, they can't even feel pain.
=I slammed a fist onto an examination table=

(Jason)
That is a weakness. If they feel no pain, then their survival instinct is probably nonexistent. They won't try and shield themselves from attacks.
=I checked the door to the med-lab=

We should keep moving. I wouldn't be surprised if they were following us.

(Conner)
Agreed. Our first priority is to disable that jammer. We do that, we can use the panic button and get the Hyperion here with some back-up. As for these GESTR things, the Admiral is right. We need to treat them as any other opponent. That said, aim for the head. If there's one place that's likely to take them down, it's there.

(Crowe)
=Walking over to the door we came in, I took out one of the small explosives from my pack=

(Conner)
What are you doing private?

(Crowe)
If they're following us, might as well leave them a little gift.
=Once the charge was set, I activated the motion sensor beam, setting it parallel to the entrance=

(Conner)
Okay, good job private. Now, Vasquez gave us all copies of the facilities layout. So right now it's just a matter of finding the jammer.

(Chris)
=While he spoke, I opened the map on my HUD, scrolling through the blueprints=
Found it. It's North of the med-labs, through that door over there. It won't be a straight route though.

(Jason)
Any chance this base has sensors we can tap into? Something that shows us where the GESTR's are?

(Chris)
=I shook my head=
There is, but by the time I manage to hack in and link us up, the GESTR's would find us. Best bet, keep moving. I can still hack in through my helmet, but it'll take longer without the data-pad.

(Conner)
Try that. We'll keep heading for the jammer in the meantime. Let's move Alpha.
=We then began moving, as one group, North, toward the jammer=

(Jason)
=As we kept moving, the silence in the hallway was suddenly broken. Not by anyone speaking, but by a loud boom that shook the hall, and made the lights flicker for the briefest of moments=

(Crowe)
Looks like they found my little present. Heh heh.

(Chris)
Nice one Crowe.
=The moment had distracted me from my current hacking attempt. My weapon was hanging from a strap over my shoulder, while I was busy wirelessly hacking into the security system with my data-pad, which was difficult enough even if I had the thing directly plugged into the system=

(Conner)
That probably bought us some time, and neutralized a few of them. But stay focused, there's bound to be more.

(Crowe)
Thanks for killing the mood Lt.
=The moment the words left my mouth though, a doorway up ahead opened up, and an armor clad GESTR walked out. The moment he saw the Lieutenant, not three feet from him, he charged=

=The GESTR moved almost as fast as a Spartan, grabbing hold of Conner's torso, and lifting him up, slamming him into a wall. With one hand pinning Conner, the GESTR raised it's other in a closed fist=

(Conner)
=It all happened so fast, I barely registered it. One moment, I was standing up, staring down one of the freaks. The next, said freak had me pinned to a wall, getting ready to punch a hole through my head. That was until Chris opened fire into the things torso. Plasma bolts melted its armor, and the slag began to eat it's way into the body, but it wasn't fazed, not even noticing. It's fist came at me, and I moved my head to the side just enough to dodge it=

AIM FOR THE FUCKING HEAD!

(Jason)
=I ran forward, almost a blur. With a thought, I activated the energy blade on my right arm, and the moment I was behind the GESTR, I sliced off the things head. The body collapsed, the head following it by centimeters=

(Chris)
What the fuck? What the fuck man?
=I kept my gun pointed at the decapitated corpse=

I melted it's armor.....melted a hole in it's side and he wouldn't let up.

(Jason)
=Deactivating my blade, I knelt down to examine the body=
They don't feel pain, remember? Chances are they wouldn't pass out from shock.

(Crowe)
So what, we have to shoot these things in the head, period?
=I was shuffling around, nervously, keeping my weapon trained on the hallway behind us=

(Conner)
=I gently massaged my chest, dull aches spreading from where the GESTR's hand had me pinned=
No. Enough trauma to vital organs, or severe damage to their nervous system should still be able to kill them. But God dammit.....these fuckers are going to be hard to kill. I'm starting to see the appeal of using them as Shock Troops.

(Jason)
=From within, I heard the voice of Starfilled. He sounded angry=

*Starfilled*
Such wretched perversion! To create such abominations, and use them as fodder for battle? A violation of the Mantle, and all it's teachings.

(Jason)
Hey, take it easy. Bear in mind that I'm more or less the same as that thing.

*Starfilled*
Oh please, you are far superior to that thing. You may have been meant to serve as a tool for war, but at least you have freedom. You feel, you think. You're more alive, than that creature before you put it out of its misery.

(Jason)
=Through that mental conversation, I was dimly aware that someone was shaking my arm- Conner=

(Conner)
Admiral? Are you okay?

(Jason)
Yeah, yeah I'm good. Just got lost in thought for a moment.

(Conner)
=Looking from the Admiral and back to the body for a brief moment, I knelt down to up my fallen weapon. Then I walked to the door the GESTR had come out, weapon aimed and ready. The room was empty, though a door was at the opposite end, and by the looks of it, it seemed to run back towards where we last encountered the GESTR's=
Must have been a scout or something.....I thought they needed a handler for orders?

(Chris)
=It took me a second to calm down, and pull myself together=
They need a handler for squad based orders and tactics, but they still know enough to follow orders like "Search and Destroy."

(Wierzbowski)
=Speaking for the first time since we arrived here, I pointed out an idea that occurred to me=
So, that means they're spread out? If so, they won't be that big a threat, not in terms of numbers anyway.

(Jason)
He's got a point. If they've split up to look for us, chances are we can turn that against them.

(Conner)
=Closing the door, I turned to face the group=
We still have no idea where they are though....

(Chris)
Maybe not. I just had a really disgusting idea....
=Kneeling down, I grabbed the severed head of the GESTR. The bottom of it, where the head connected to the neck, was a black mix of melted alloy and and charred tissue. I was very glad that I was wearing gloves for this next bit=

(Conner)
Oh man, you're not going to do what i think you're going to.....

(Chris)
Yup.
=Poking my fingers between the helmets metal, and the burned meat of the head, I tried to scoop the head out of the helmet=

(Crowe)
Oh man, I think I might puke.....
=I turned around, making sure I wasn't facing Chris and her little....toy. There was still a squishing sound=

(Chris)
=My fingers moved past the burned flesh, and found the softer tissue. Besides the bone, it was almost like sticking my fingers in jello. I still couldn't get a good enough grip on the helmet to pull the head out, so I sat down, lifting my boots an inch off the floor, and gripped the helmet between my feet, using both hands now to get a firm grip on the head=

(Conner)
=The little tableau before me almost made me chuckle. Here was a woman who was sitting down on the ground, legs raised a little in the air, cradling something between her feet, that was making squishing sounds=
You know Vasquez, to the wrong kinda person, this little scene here could be kinda erotic.

(Chris)
=With a grunt, I gave the head a strong tug=
Vete a la mierda, bastardo enfermo.

(Conner)
You realize I don't speak a word of Spanish, right?

(Chris)
=The head came out of the helmet, with a disgusting little pop=
That's why I said it in Spanish. Ecch, one way to get a head in life.

=I tossed the head aside, not really caring where it landed, though I thought I heard someone shuffle out of the way, with a small whimper of fear accompanying the movement, though I paid it no mind.Grabbing the helmet from between my feet, I stood back up, taking out my data-pad with one hand, the helmet clasped firmly in the other=
Okay, I think I might be able to access their security system through this helmet. Might have an easier time doing so too.

=There was a tiny, short wire that could extend from the data-pad, by maybe a few inches. I managed to find a spot in the helmet's circuitry that worked with the wire, and soon I had access to the helmets navigation software=
Damn, not much. The helmet took some damage from the energy blade.....wait....got it. I've got access, but it's not much. Just a series of security cameras, no life sensors we can use to pinpoint their locations.

(Jason)
Can you use the cameras to find them though?

(Chris)
I can try. Maybe I can activate the cameras along our previous route, see if they're around.
=No longer needing the helmet, I threw it away like the head. Tapping a few commands into the data-pad, I brought up several cameras on my visor=

Oh, there's a few. One group of them died in the med-labs from Crowes' bomb, but the other group split up. I count only three others though....and two of them are guarding the handler, and one is just searching. I guess we killed the other.

(Conner)
You're certain there aren't any more?

(Chris)
Not really. I'm just looking at the cameras along our route, and that's roughly six cameras. There are 260 cameras spread throughout this base.

(Crowe)
Damn, hell of a security system.

(Conner)
So we're back to we're we started: unknown number of enemy hostiles, save for four. And we still need to take out that jammer.