HALO: A shot in the dark

[Gladiator0161]

Gladiator smirked at Hunter's joviality as they reached the tank. Gladiator knelt down and cupped his hands so that Hunter could use him as a step of sorts. A moment later sounds of battle from around a nearby corner drew Gladiator's attention for a moment. He looked up to Hunter with a grin on his face "sounds like Patric's keeping them busy, let's move."

After the injured Spartan was safely in the gunner's seat, Gladiator jumped aboard the Wraith and down into the pilot's compartment. He looked around briefly getting his bearings before throttling the purple beetle-like machine forward into the intersection and turned the thing to face the coming soldiers of the Covenant. There were about thirty infantry warriors in all made up of Elites, Grunts and Brutes in front of them, and they all stopped somewhere between shock and surprise when the Wraith Tank appeared before them. "Suprise!" Gladiator shouted from his hole as he pushed the firing stud that activated the plasma launcher on the top of the vehicle. Blue white plasma streaked towards the confounded group of aliens and detonated in the middle of them, throwing those farthest away from the blast point out in every direction. Only five picked themselves up from the groung after the blast.

"Patric. Hunter and I are safely in the commandeered Wraith. Grab yourself a vehicle of some sort and form up on us. We're done running!" Gladiator said switching over to the Team's frequency.

[Hunter Phoenix]

"Take this you mother...."

The rest of Hunters war cry was drowned out as he let loose with his plasma turret, spweing white hot plasma down onto the grunts, brutes and the rest of the enemy team, frying them. He ducked with surprise when Gladiator let loose with the main weapon but then laughed as elites and grunts and brutes went flying in all directions. He let loose once more with the turret, cutting down any enemy he spotted, giving Patric some cover while he found his own vehicle to comandeer.

Hunter spun around, looking for more covenant to kill when he spied some ghosts other by a building. He opened the comm on the tank and spoke to Gladiator.

"There are some Ghosts over on the right, let Patric know, my comms were damaged and I can't tell him myself"

He then resumed checking the area in front of him for more enemies to take down.

[Gladiator0161]

"Copy that Hunter, nice shooting by the way" Gladiator said with a grin as he switched over to Patric's frequency "Patric, this is Gladiator. Hunter spotted some unused Ghosts close to our position. Might wanna take one if you want to keep up. We're heading deeper into the city." He gassed the accelerator and moved to where Patric would easily be able to spot the alien vehicles. Suddenly though the Wraith's radar pinged off, alerting him to friendlies incoming on a strafing run. He switched to Hunter's frequency "Banshees incoming!" He rotated the Wraith Tank around so he could get a shot off but, by then plasma bolts were raining around them and the Banshees had banked sharply and out of range.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter saw the Banshee's before he heard the crackle of the comms. He fired off round after round of plasma at the flyers, taking one down which crashed and exploded in a brilliant light of white and blue flames. The other Banshee was smart and kept dodging his shots and soon it had flown out of his guns range as well.

"So much for Banshee support, pieces of crap"

He spoke to himself, he really needed to get a comm link upgrade when he got back to base.

[Vengurd]

Lowering himself and moving forward as the Elite charged, Patric let the alien attempt to grapple him. At the last moment he turned, his left side in front, his right in back, lodging his shoulder into the alien whom began to attack with powerful arms. Before he could be hit more than once his right arm shot forward as his left distracted the alien. The fist slammed into the Elite's chest with enough force to send him staggering back, cough and drop to his knees. Not one to lie down in a fight the Elite began to force himself up before Patric's boot slammed into the back of his head, sending the Elite's face into the destroyed road. Applying more pressure Patric smashed the Elite's head into a bloody pulp.

"Patric, this is Gladiator. Hunter spotted some unused Ghosts close to our position. Might wanna take one if you want to keep up. We're heading deeper into the city."

Turning to the indicated area Patric quickly spotted the ghosts and jogged over, the rest of the covenant forces either dealt with or focused on the wraith. Jumping into one of the ghosts and powering it up, Patric turned it toward the wraith and sped forward, hitting a way-ward jackal in the way, sending it's body flying a few feet.
"Providing covering fire."

[Gladiator0161]

As one Banshee was pelted with turret fire, it exploded in a gout of blue and purple flame and twisted metal. Gladiator "hoorahed" over the coms as the pilot's compartment shattered on the pavement to the right of the hijacked Wraith Tank. The other Banshee though didn't take the hint and barrel rolled upwards to gain altitude, after circling around to line up a shot, dive bombed the Wraith Tank. At the last second it pulled up and rolled, evading the fire from Patric's commandeered Ghost. "Thanks for the cover fire Patric" Gladiator said as he punched holographic alien script on the controls of the Wraith in a specific sequence, pulling up the wraiths radar onto his HUD. Even though he'd survived Reach and taken over a number of Wraith Tanks since those early days, he still didn't understand all of the script of the alien's language. He knew enough to get him what he needed but, not enough to fully comprehend the direct translations. Managing to enhance the radar's radius through the controls of his own HUD, he tracked the Banshee as it flew around the block and tried to catch the team off guard by flying to their unprotected rear. Gladiator turned the tank around and waited for the flyer to approach. Seconds later the purple craft flew around the corner, lined up his shot and fired it's missile. Gladiator took hold of the firing controls, doing the math in his head and eyeing the distance between the tank and their assailant.

Gladiator pressed the firing stud after adjusting the angle of the cannon and the blue white plasma ejected from the plasma coils. The blue white plasma arched through the air towards the nimble Banshee. The Banshee was already moving to gain more altitude but, it had dived too low too quickly, and the plasma ball detonated against the side of the craft. A glancing blow but, one that was lethal. The Banshee lost altitude and tumbled through the air, looking like a flailing bird that had just lost it's wing, and crashed into a nearby building, smashing against the side and exploding into a million pieces. "Alright, let's get the hell out of here and hope we don't run into anymore problems" Gladiator said gunning the Wraith around and heading deeper into the city.

After an hour and half of driving and running over a scouting party that was getting a little too nosey, they were tired and mentally exhausted but, fortunately they didn't run into anymore problems. The sun was settling on the horizon now and they still were no closer to finding out what the Covenant were interested in. After guiding the tank into an underground parking garage that had seen better days, Gladiator killed the engine and dismounted "Alright guys dismount, we're setting up camp here. Let's try to find something to eat and settle in for the night. We can come up with a plan while we're eating" he said helping Hunter from the battered alien tank.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter watched silently as the banshee burned and then before he knew it he was being helped out of the tank by Gladiator, pain wracking his body to the point of him feeling like he was going to pass out again. He managed to hold on though and he was soon seated on the ground, propped up against the wall he dared to take his helmet off, revealing a battered and scarred face that had stubble across the chin and upper lip, short cropped black hair and blue eyes.

"That was one hell of a long day, one of the longest I've had for a while"

He coughed and grimaced as his body was wracked with spasms and he was engulfed in agony once again.

"Ow"

He was seeing stars but he held onto consciousness as much as possible.

"I think it could be the medical bay for me when we get back to base, I aren't fighting fit that is for sure"

He looked over to Gladiator and Patric

"What is the plan for the morning? We don't have a clue what the hell we are here for other than the jammers, why would the Covenant jump inside a city like NYC and leave some guys behind?"

[ashia starstreak]

It was apparent to Jacobs that his platoon was full of fresh meat. The marines in all had a decent shot, but the Sergeant could tell by the way they held themselves that they had little to no experience on the battle field and it was a bit discouraging. He had wanted to use the third squad, but knew Shana would think his intentions to be too obvious. After seeing each squad take their turn at the set up, it was no longer a want. It was a necessity and that made Jacobs feel a bit awkward about the decision.

Sighing, Sergeant Jacobs glanced at the wall toward a clock as he thought about the mission ahead. It had involved a few Spartans which told him that there was going to be difficult journey ahead. With too many inexperienced marines under his command Jacobs knew Shana was his only hope for his platoons survival rate.

His blue eyes returned to his platoon and scanned them as they stood to attention awaiting his orders. Forcing himself away from the wall, Jacobs walked silently to the front of his platoon to give them his evaluation. "As you all know, the covenant are a great threat. The mission ahead is not easy. There have been reports of several Spartans being involved and that is why it is of the utmost importance in deciding which squad I am to take with me this round. Some of you may not like my decision, but I need you all to acknowledge that my main concern is the safety of my platoon."

He took a moment to look over the marines once more before finishing his speech. "Third Squad fall out into the Armory to prepare your weapons for the mission. When you are finished you may do what you wish until we've received further orders. Platoon, fall out!" he said and watched the marines do as they were told.

The woman looked to the Sergeant as the members of her platoon began to shuffle their way out of the rifle range. She said nothing, her eyes only stared coldly at the younger man. Sighing silently to herself, Shana fell out and followed the group out of the room and down the hall toward the Armory.

She wasn't sure what Jacobs thought he would be able to get out of her, but knew that it was not going to help him in the least. The woman didn't need to state much and with her past classified, there wasn't much Jacobs could do other than wonder. She most certainly was not proud of what she had done, but it was times like this that she was glad it was highly classified.

A hidden smile displayed upon her face as she placed her rifle upon the counter in the Armory. She gave it a quick inspection before reloading it with a full clip of ammo. The squad didn't need much time considering the prep they all did before practice shooting. Placing her rifle gently in its place, the marine backed off and walked out of the armory leaving the squad to foolishly talk highly of being the chosen one for the first mission of the new platoon.

There wasn't much else to do, but wait so the woman decided it would be best to take a rest. She didn't know how long this mission was to last and now was as good as any to catch up on some much needed rest until that time came though the woman wasn't sure if her mind would settle once she got to her room.

The woman walked down the hall and rode the elevator up to the floor where the dormitories and lavatories would be found. Perhaps she was spoiled, perhaps she just didn't do well with others. Whatever the real reason, Shana was one lucky private to be privileged with her own room. Not that it was glamorous by any means nor was it large. It was just big enough to fit her twin bed and desk; even those two items were rather cramped in her space.

Typing in her keypad beside her door, she entered her seven digit code and entered her room. Cords and exposed wiring greeted her as she cautiously came in. Her desk held a computer that seemed almost hidden beneath the tangle of cords. It didn't make much sense to her, but had become used to the mess. Sitting on the bed, the marine leaned her back against the pillow and wall, her hands finding the familiar patched wires. With these she placed on various spots upon her body. Some went to her head, others up her shirt to her chest. She then reached for a metal object with a cord on the end, this she placed into a nasty scar on her her stomach near her belly button, when it clicked into place, Shana reached over to the computer and pushed a single button. It made an irritating hum as it came to life. The wires leading from her body to the computer began to send messages stating how the woman's body was doing. A generic computer voice came through the computer's speakers to give percentages of the body functions. "Preform..ing body analysis. Please wa..it .........BW...A..lpha 14. HR...86...RBC..4.576 m..illion... WBC....6,890...BF...12%.... rem..aining power...83%... Analysis com...plete...Total Status...fine. W..ould you like to know m..ore?"

The woman stared at the ceiling and answered the computer with a simple, "No." as the computer shut itself off, the marine freed herself from the tangle of wires and pushed them aside. The computer always seemed to get stuck on certain words and though it slightly agitated her, she had grown used to it. The computer was old after all, but it still did what it was meant to do and the woman couldn't complain. Turning onto her side Shana closed her eyes, but her thoughts couldn't help but wander.

Sergeant Jacobs was sitting at a table in the cafeteria when the Echo's Company Commander had stood behind him. Jacobs would have noticed if his mind had not been setting heavy in his stomach. There was just too much on his plate today and he wasn't sure if he could digest any of it. He couldn't even work his fork properly as he watched as it raked the mashed potatoes upon his plate.

"Sergeant Jacobs.." the older man's voice sounded startling the platoon sergeant into reality. Jacobs dropped his fork and moved to stand up, but a firm hand upon his shoulder guided him back down.

"At ease soldier." The commander said and sat down beside Jacobs. The older man studied the sergeant for a moment before speaking his mind. "I realize you must have a lot on your mind right now and it would be best for you to get some sleep, however, it seems my thoughts aren't exactly at ease either. I want you to take your squad out and look for the spartans we sent out earlier today. There's a pelican waiting now."

Sergeant Jacobs looked to the commander and began, "Sir, we haven't heard from them yet and the--"

The commander interupted him with a quirked eyebrow, "Are you questioning my orders, Sergeant?"

"No sir." Sergeant Jacobs said. He wanted to help after all. He stood up from his seat at the table and saluted the commander. The older man offered a small smile and salute to the sergeant and said, "Then go."

Jacobs lowered his hand and picked up his plate to discard it in the proper place before gathering up his troops.

******

"Waait! It's a trap!" the woman hollared and reached for the marine beside her. Her hand went through the young man as though she was a hologram and kept running into the dark passage of a strange building, his combat boots clomping as he ran along the metal floor. Shana stared at her hand in disbelief, but quickly became distracted by the flickering light above her. Soon her surroundings faded to black and she was welcomed by darkness. The sound of a door creeked open behind her as she peeled her eyes away from the light above her she heard a distant voice call her name. The door opened painstakingly slow, a bright light emitting from the other side. She heard her name again, but slightly louder.

Waking up, the marine sat straight up, her green eyes immediately staring at the comm line by her door. Static came through the speaker and then she heard the voice. "Shhaana, report. Are you there? Shhana.."

The woman pushed herself off the bed and manuvered her way over the computer cords to her speaker next to the door. Pushing down on the button below the speaker she said, "Echo Private 1068689 here."

There was a long pause and the woman realized just who was on the other end of the comm. Finally the voice came back, "Shana prepare for immediate evac and report to the pelican deck. Jacobs out."

The marine shook her head softly as she smiled. It must be difficult for him to accept her position just as it was for her. The woman patted herself down and looked around the room to make sure she remembered everything. There was nothing for her to grab though so she pulled her shirt down tight and secured her armor before leaving her room. She jogged to the elevator and took it back down to the weapons floor to recieve her weapons from the armory. The woman snagged a few ammo packs and a couple of gernades before heading back out the armory when she nearly ran right into the company's commander.

Placing her riffle onto her back she gave the old man a salute and waited for his response.

He gave her a weary smile and handed her two vials filled with a red dye. The man didn't need to say anything, Shana took them and placed them carefully in her chest pockets before sliding past him and rushing toward the pelican deck.

Regardless of her rank now, the woman was never late to anything and blamed her sleep on that now. She stood in front of Jacobs and saluted him, her eyes glancing to the rest of the squad that sat rather comfortably in the pelican. The Sergeant gave his salute and placed a gentle hand behind the woman to guide her into the pelican. She chose the seat closest to the door and watched Jacobs make his way to the cockpit to inform the pilot. The woman counted six members of the squad excluding Jacobs. As the door began to shut the Sergeant found a spot across from Shana and told the squad, "Here we go." as the pelican began to exit the mother ship. The marine was slightly curious about the details of what was to happen and had happened prior to her awakening, but she kept quiet instead.


As if he had read her mind, Jacobs looked to his squad and said, "Our mission is a search and rescue. We are to find the Spartans, bring them back to base, and report what we saw. It's a simple mission and I expect everyone to stick together. Clear?"

In unison the squad replied, "Yes Sergeant."

For the most part, the ride had been fairly smooth with the exception of a few bumps. Shana held onto a handle bar near the exit for extra support, but thought that it might have been a bad idea after listening to two privates converse quietly back and forth.

A tall and lanky fellow, PVT 5898689 read his name tag, though she overheard his name to be O'brian, whispered in a shorter soldiers ear, "Look how short she is..we're going to rescue Spartans..those guys won't even see her.."

The shorter soldier glanced to Shana, making it a bit obvious that they were talking about her. He turned back to O'brian and brought his palms together as he replied, "Meeep squish.."

The privates stifled their laughter at their immature ideas to such a thing. Shana's grip tightened upon the cool steel, but her face remained motionless. Behind her shaded piece the the helmet gear gave, her green eyes rolled.

Sergeant Jacobs stood up from his seat and began his walk to the cockpit, one of his boots lightly kicking O'brians. "That's enough." he said, in a polite way of stopping the privates from moving their conversation further.

"Yes Sergeant." O'brian said and shut his mouth from further discussion to his fellow private. Jacobs entered the cockpit and sat next to the lone pilot to converse a good landing point as well as pick up.

A female private adjacent from Shana scooted herself to sit in front of the older woman. "I wouldn't pay much mind to them. I think it's kinda cool that an older woman joined the ranks..better late than never right?"

Shana allowed her head to tilt back with a light thud against the wall. She just wanted this ride to be over. Closing her eyes she held her breath for a moment before slowly releasing it. She knew the younger girl was just trying to be friendly, but she didn't help the situation by any means.

The woman thanked the heavens when the pelican finally landed and the doors began to open up to the darkness outside. Though she had sat up and had indeed intended to go first as was the order, the other marines filed out before her. O'brain looked to Shana and then pointed to her assault rifle. "Hey, that gun IS old you know? How come you didn't grab a new one back at the armory?"

When Shana didn't reply to him, he then realized she was the same soldier from the armory earlier. He shut his mouth and hurried outside before the woman could blow up on him again.

"Dude.." O'brians friend said as he followed him out, shaking his head.

As Shana finally stood up, Jacobs came up beside her. She stopped, assuming he was going to push past her as well, but he knew better and waved her to move on.  The woman placed the rifle upon her back and headed out of the pelican to fall into her squad.

Sergeant Jacobs grabbed a flare gun and checked the chamber before heading out himself. Placing the gun on his side, he waited until the pelican took off before addressing his squad. "As luck would have it, we have the blanket of the night to help keep us hidden. I want everyone to keep quiet and STAY TOGETHER. The less we make ourselves known the better our chances will be. Now Shaa..er...Private 106 is a great tracker, so we'll follow and listen to her. Don't forget about your night vision. All of your helmets are equipped with one, you all should know how to turn it on, if you do not know how to turn it on then you need to go back to training." he told the squad and looked at Shana.

The many eyes upon her suddenly made Shana feel very uneasy. The mumbled voices around her told her that the squad was confused and had questions about her. None of that mattered though. The private took a slow breath and and turned on her helmet's night vision.

She ignored Jacobs attention and looked around the ruined city. Buildings and concrete alike were thrashed. Everything told its own story, but she was looking for one or two in particular. Shana wasn't informed about much and could only make her own conclusions including the number of Spartans that came here. Her eyes stared at a fallen grunt, a small frown upon her face as she remembered O'brains comment on her height. The smallest of the covenant was around her size. Kneeling down she traced a hand over a strange crater. Standing back up Shana walked to a car that was rendered completely useless. The hood was smashed in, the windshield cracked in so many places, it was mind boggling as to how it remained intact. She rested her hands upon it and inspected the dent. "Someone landed here, someone big."

"Something big...that can be anything compared to her." O'brian whispered into his friend's ear.

"Did he fall out of something flying, or a building?" Jacobs asked looking around and staring at the craters, but the craters were not from something other than a pod, and Shana knew this, but did not make the connection as to why the pod was not where it should have been.

"No. He or she was flung..do you see the windshield. This person was coming at this vehicle in an angle at a high speed." shana followed the crater marks on the road  until she found a drag mark that led into a building. She stared at the useless SOEIV pod and looked in it, but found nothing. She didn't understand why someone would go through the trouble of dragging it. The busted door she could see was used as a shield, but that didn't make much sense to the woman when many other things around could just as easily be used as protection.

"How do we know a Scarab didn't come by here?" O'brian asked staring at the craters around the ground.

"Where'd he go?" Jacobs asked Shana, forcing her away from her curiousity. He ignored O'brians quesion, Jacobs didn't believe a Scarab had come through here to leave so little damage behind knowing full well it was capable of much more. The sergeant didn't much like the idea of a Scarab being involved at all, but he didn't want to throw the possibilty out for later either.

"He wasn't alone.." the woman said and looked around. She spotted another pod not too far away, but did not bother to look at it, already knowing no one was inside. "There was a lot of things going on here." she commented and kneeled beside a few dead bodies. The woman was not afraid to stick her hand right in the wounds and inspect the thickness of ooze that followed her hand out of the gaping holes in the bodies. "Some of these are fresh..others...old."

Wiping her hand on a clean spot on a fallen covenant, she stood back up and followed the scattered bodies. The woman stopped at a dead hunter corpse before staring at a building before her. She read the faint title of the building. TechCo Research and Development Center

Sergeant Jacobs looked at the building. Stepping over a grunt he began his way inside. "They go in here?" he asked, but already assumed it was true. Shana said nothing, her attention going to the streets around them. It was too quiet for her liking and it began to set in as paranoia. With Jacobs now leading the squad, Shana was the last to enter the building with her back first. She pulled forth her assault rifle and held it close. The light above her flickered as it struggled to recieved electricity, buzzing lightly. Before the woman could be hypnotized, she felt for the light switch and turned it off.

As the rest of the squad quietly crept up the stairs, Shana stayed behind and crouched down low, leaning her back against the wall. She had already known there was no one in this building. The prints she was tracking led out, but she did not want to bother telling the squad for her mind was focused on something else. Pulling out a small mirror from one of her chest pockets she angled it out the door so she could see out behind herself. At first she saw nothing in the street, but then a faint glow appeared in a building across the way. It was barely noticable until that small glow passed a window and stopped at the open door. Very slowly, Shana took her mirrror away from the door and placed it back in her pocket. Though the night vision did not tell her any true colors, she knew that glow was from a shield a jackel was so fond of carrying. The private looked up at the staircase. Her squad was too far for her to signal to them and the jackel was just too close that she couldn't use her comm to inform them.

Shana picked up two pebbles from the ground and dared to peek out the door with her own eyes. She saw no other movement nearby so she tossed the pebbles one after the other down the street from where her squad had come to get the jackel's attention. As she thought the critter noticed the sounds, and mumbled in response but did not move. The woman did not give up though, she attempted it again with two more pebbles. With luck on her side, the jackel finally gave in and walked out of the building to inspect the area from which the noise had come. Shana slid her knife from her left thigh and snuck her way behind the jackel. She looked around one more time before embedding her blade into the soft spot of the jackel's neck, killing him nearly instant. Though she strugggled, Shana gently laid the creature down onto the ground careful not to make a sound. The woman nearly jumped right out of her armor upon hearing one of her squad members declair, "Here she is! I found her!"

Startled and pissed off, Shana whirled around to find out who announced to anything near of the whole squad's presence. Part of her was not surprised in the least to see it was that tall and lanky private.

Sergeant Jacobs appeared besides O'brian and looked over to Shana. "Shana, I told the squad to stick to--" he began but was interupted by an elite's surprised comment to so much noise outside. At least her squad was not the only foolish beings to give their location away.

Shana raised an arm toward the building across the street from her, but when her squad stood dumbfounded she shouted, "Covenant, Cover!" and rolled to her side to hide behind a large piece of rubble from the road. The woman wiped her blade on her pants then placed it back in its place on her left thigh. Propping her assault riffle on the ledge of the rubble she waited for the covenant to exit their building and enter the fight with her squad.

Echo members hurried back into their building, pulling out their weapons as the did so, gunfire immediately following. Several grunts rushed out the door to fall just as fast. Plasma finding it's way to the side of the building toward the marines, Shana unloaded a clip on an elite that was just a little too slow to realize even though he was out of view from her team, he was not out of view from her own gun. A growl full of rage emitted from another elite as the woman was found. Shana began loading a new clip, but failed, the elite had rushed her too fast with a sword and she had to move out of the way before getting hit. Her clip falling to her previous position as Shana darted her way down the street, the giant following close behind.

Cursing at herself for not being able to load the clip fast enough, Shana put the rifle on her back and pulled the pin out of a frag gernade. The elite was too close and she knew in order to get the gernade to denonate and kill the elite she had to damn near commit suicide. She counted inside her head as she ran as fast as her legs would take her toward the ruined car. three....two...she let the frag gernade drop out of her hands onto the ground and turned her body slightly to catch the front bumper of the car with her foot. The energy sent her back just as quick and barely missed hitting the elite head on as she came back. The elite stopped and slid into the car, but before he could create any other motion the gernade near his feet ran out of time and blew up. The wave sent Shana into a rolling fit causing her to skid against the ground. If it had not been for her helmet she might have gotten more than the scratches on her armor. The elite however was not so lucky and was taken of his life, his limp body left smoldering from the blast.

Before she could lift herself up, her hand automatically reached for her pistol and aimed for anything in front of her. Her squad managed to take the rest of the small group of covenant out and stood back near the entrance of the office building waiting for her. Pulling herself to her feet, Shana put her handgun away back on her calf and brought her assault rifle back out. Bending over, the private picked up the clip she left behind and put it in her rifle to load.

All their eyes made her feel uncomfortable. She didn't like people watching her..judging her. Placing herself ahead of the squad she said, "This way.."

Sergeant Jacobs was not going to let that fly and he was going to let her know it. "I don't know what you call that, but that is unacceptable. You can't drop a gernade and expect it to denonate when you want. That was foolish..you could have gotten yourself killed if not seriously injured..Shana...Private 106!..do I make myself clear!?" He had trouble saying as Shana's lack for attention made him all the more upset even if it was more of a concern for her actions than actual anger for what she had done.

He made her feel like a young child and that agitated the woman very much so. Though she mumbled it, she did say it through grinding teeth, "Don't tell me what I can't do.." pausing in her footsteps she took a deep breath and forcefully let it out slowly. She dare not face the sergeant, but she replied to him clearly, "Yes, sir!"

"Meeeep Squish!" she heard a voice in the background, whirling around Shana walked right to the six foot four private and stared up at him.

"Do you have a problem with me? Maybe we should handle this now.." Shana snapped at O'brian. He blinked at the five foot even woman and then gave her a face before pointing to a pod a few feet away from them. She looked over to it and then to the the grunts and a brute beneath the pod. She calmed slightly and let it go.

Jacobs felt a loss for words. He didn't feel right being the discipliner, but he didn't like to be ignored either. Apart of him wanted to stay out of it altogether, Shana was afterall his first lieutenant not that long ago. Against his desires, however, Sergeant Jacobs had to say something once more. "Private 589 and Private 106 you will be serving clean up duties when we get back and possible demerits if this charade continues."

O'brian made a face of disbelief and slight anger, but no noise came from his mouth.

Shana recounted how many pods she had spotted thus far and then crouched to the ground to figure out how many tracks there were. A part of her wished to ask the true number, but she refused to say anything. The woman should have never spoken a single word at all...and though a part of her even thought Jacobs was a different person from when she was in command, she knew that he did not change much and he was not someone that should be in charge. Not that he did not have potential, just that he was too nice.

Standing back up she began walking down the street. "From the looks of it they must have found something worth chasing down." She said and led the squad toward a graveyard of tanks and more bodies. There were shards of what remained of a banshee. Part of it stuck obnoxiously in the side of a building. A large pile of rubble laid out of place among the buildings, but a closer look revealed that that had once been a building in itself. "A tank..." the woman spoke aloud to no one in particular this time.

Shana looked around the area, but saw no movement other than her own squad so she traveled into a building to study a couple of hunter corpses. Nearly hidden from view, she almost did not spot an empty biofoam canister laying upon the ground if she had not kicked it by mistake. Picking it up she smelled it then eyed the rubble beneath a large hole in the ceiling. The woman tossed the can aside and  climbed atop of the debris. Her hands felt around the space that had held someone a few hours earlier. Looking back to the sergeant, Shana reported, "Someone is injured. I think they might have taken a vehicle after this had happened."

"What kind of vehicle?" Jacobs asked and looked around the night area. Shana cautiously made her way down the rubble and out the building to look around for any more signs, before she could make a clear judgement a private had a different report to give to the sergeant.

"I've spoted a trail down the way a few blocks away. I wasn't sure what it was, but there's a few covenant remains. I think it leads to a base of some sort..might be worth a look right?" the female private reported.

The mission was to locate the spartans and bring them back. If one of them was injured, that should be the first priorty, but the young marine had a point. If there was a base nearby, there might be surviving marines and the more firepower they gained the higher chance of survival they had. "Alright, let's check it out." Jacobs said, not bothering to look back for approval from Shana. Not that he needed to, but a part of him knew that Shana was the only one that really knew anything about tracking.

Private 106 was not going to object, not anymore. She had enough trouble for one mission and didn't have it in her to show Jacobs his place. Besides, it might be better if he'd learn for himself anyways. Double checking her assault rifle, Shana followed behind the squad to back track their progress.

As they followed the road, they passed several dead covenant and a disabled wraith. Shana took note of the structure and wondered why this one did not take the vehicle instead of destroying it. Her thoughts did not wander far when she passed a few near fully charged swords. The woman was tempted to pick one up, but was never fond of carrying more than two main weapons and two knives. Her squad was getting a bit far ahead of her and she wished they'd slow down. Rushing into things was never something Shana was fond of doing and she had good reason behind it.

"I don't like this. You should slow down." she said into her comms at her squad.

Jacobs gave a short whistle to his team to signal them to slow down. He thought Shana simply could not keep up, maybe she really was getting old on him. No sooner had the squad slowed down than they sped right back up to the noise of an unknown human's scream. "Hey!" Jacobs hollared at the squad, but they did not pay any attention and kept running. The sergeant waited for Shana to catch up and together they hurried to catch up with the rest of the team.

The dead of silence came to life the familar sound of gunfire.

"Whaat!?" an elite growled.
"Cover me!"
"Contact!"
"Covering!"
"Grraaaaaugh!"

The night was filled with a mix of both sides, When Jacobs and Shana reached the scene, they were in sight of a large group of covenant forces. The woman pulled forth a frag gernade and tossed it in the mix without much thought. The squad was not close enough to it to really matter. Several grunts learned to fly while elites were intelligent enough to jump out of the way in time.

Sergeant Jacobs crept his way to one fallen member of the squad to double check their status, but they were no longer among the living. Standing up he pulled out a battle rifle and fired at a jackel that had been retreating further away, killing it quite easily with its back open for business.

Shana fired a clip at an elite with her rifle, its shield finally depleted, a member of her squad took it out with their gun as the woman allowed the clip to fall out of her gun and put a new one in its place.

"I'm not afraid of you!" she could hear O'brian's squeeky voice ring over the cries of battle.

Private 106 placed her rifle on her back and pulled forth her handgun once more to shoot the top of a grunt's triangle like back. Hitting just the right spot sent the grunt spinning into his fellow comrades followed by their death with a mix of gunfire. Shana almost paid no attention to O'brian's obnoxious voice until she realized just what was going on. That idiot...she thought angerly as O'brian tossed aside his battle rifle and pulled forth his knife, taunting an elite.

Even if the elite was injured, it was still strong enough to kill the private in a single blow. Growling at the marine, it began to rush toward him. If Shana had been thinking, she would have let it happen..that would have been smart..but no, the woman pulled forth her knife from her right breast plate and ran toward the two in an attempt to catch the elite off gaurd. Keeping her blade close to the ground she impaled the elite in the ankle. Angry, the Elite stopped and turned his attention to her. "Shoot him!" she yelled at O'brian, but he was frozen and did not budge. Shana reached for her knife, but the elite was moving his body to face her. Reaching for her knife on her left thigh with her right hand she swung her arm up in a slanting motion. She missed the elite's neck, the woman was just too short, the tip of her blade slicing into the elites lower left jaw piece. 

The elite raised his arm and swung at Shana. He missed her by a hair and as he lowered his body she shoved her secondary knife up through the roof of his mouth into his head. Using gravity she pulled the elite over her and used his limp body as a shield to protect herself from plasma shots coming from the remaining covenant, O'brian got hit in the shoulder and fell to his back. Pulling out her pistol, Shana shot at a jackel, her angle was no good and only pierced its shield.

Coming from behind the Jackel appeared Jacobs. He used his rifle to kill it off and the remaining squad took out the last of the covenant in the area.

Shana tried pushing the elite off her back, but he was too heavy. She could feel his blood ooze down her armor, some sliming its way past it into her shirt. Jacobs kicked the body off Shana and helped her to her feet. Her hand immediately reaching for her neck to feel the warm goo.

O'brian began to lift himself off the ground, one hand on his shoulder where the plasma had hit. "Hey thanks Squish." He said without paying much attention.

Shana turned to O'brian and rushed him, "What were you thinking you ignorant whelp!" she hollared and pushed him back down to the ground. "You really think you can just go head on with an elite!?"

O'brian didn't have much to say, he shrugged. "I guess I wasn't, you killed him though no big deal." He gripped his shoulder once more.

"No big deal!?". The private pulled her knives out of the elite's body and stomped her way into what everyone assumed was a small base. She was shocked as to how little teamwork the squad was willing to perform. Shana looked around the abandoned place passing a young female as she went. Stoping only momentarily, Shana sneered, "And where were you?"

The young private went to explain, but Shana didn't wanna hear her excusses and continued down the hall angerly.

Attending to O'brians wound, Jacobs was just as surprised and angry to see the young private come out of the building as Shana. Standing up, the sergeant looked her over and demanded, "In the midst of battle where were you? Do you believe yourself a marine or a coward? I have one man dead and another injured. What do you have to say for yourself?"

She stopped and looked to the side somewhat ashamed. There was nothing she could say to make anything better. The young private had never been in a battle before and was scared the moment she saw the group of enemies so she had ran to the base to hide. Her eyes watered, and Jacobs felt slightly bad knowing that this was most likely everyone's first mission out of training, but that was no excuss. "Tend Private 589's wound." he ordered her and walked past to look for Shana.

He walked down the corridor and into several rooms. One marked armory had been emptied. That didn't make Jacobs feel any better seeing that, but that wasn't his immediate concern. When he came across a locked door, he assumed the woman was in it so he knocked. "Shana..are you in there?"

He was right, the woman was in that room. She sat on a metal table, her helmet in her hands, the tinted eye cover staring back at her. After a minute she spoke, "Your team sucks. You picked the wrong squad you realize this?"

"...Shana will you let me in? I could really use your help." Jacobs said in response to her remark.

Her green eyes glanced to a mirror near by and just could not stand the sight of her own reflection at the moment and in her rage, she broke it with her fist. Standing up, she went to the door and unlocked it then moved back to the metal table to sit down again.

Jacobs entered and shut the door behind himself. He chose to sit beside Shana and he too removed his helmet. Staring at it he spoke, "I dunno what to do..I picked your squad because you had the most experience and I thought if I chose this squad we'd all be most likely to survive."

"You act like this is your first time in command." she remarked. When Jacobs gave no response, Shana had to quirk an eyebrow and look away. "Oh.."

"They make it look easy. Am I just not meant for this?" he asked.

"You think it's easy? In time you'll learn." Shana said and didn't feel like giving anymore advise. It wasn't her place to tell someone of higher rank what to do. The idea was awkward and made her dislike being where she was all the more. "Armory is empty, no survivors, we have one man dead, another injured, and we're going in the opposite direction of where we need to be." she stated.

It was not meant to be stamped as fail, but it certainly felt that way, especially with one man dead and one injured. His next plan was to go back and hit the trail again before he found out the possibly injured Spartan was dead. Jacobs didn't want that on his head too. It made him think of Shana for a brief second and to that he felt he had to ask even if he already knew he would not recieve an answer. "Shana..last I saw you...you were trying to be a Spartan...what happened to that?"

Shana touched her stomach at the question as she was reminded of her downfall. Putting her helmet back on she said, "I don't wanna talk about it." She moved to the door and headed out into the hallway to retreat back to the squad.

When she returned to the squad however, she had forgotten where she stood. Seeing a private work on another private just wasn't about to slide past Shana. Stopping behind the young female she interrogated, "Private, are you specialized to work on anothers wounds? Did you recieve training on how to dress specific ones? By whom were you trained?"

The coward looked to Shana and then went back to wrapping O'brian's shoulder. "106 I don't need to answer to you. I'm a marine and I'm here to help out...Sergeant Jacobs asked me to."

"...right." Shana said softly and walked away feeling slightly dumb. It wasn't easy being a private nor would Shana soon get used to it. The woman scanned a total of five members of the squad including herself. They seemed a bit shooken up, but were not about to admitt it to anyone. Kneeling down to their fallen comrade, the private closed his eyes for eternal sleep and took a moment to study just how young he was. Just a baby..she thought.

"Listen up squad. Tonight has been a mess. The lack of teamwork has given us a dead man. You're marines and I expect you all to fill those shoes! No one said it was easy but if you're going to survive you better start acting like a team. Reload and pack up any extra. Let's move!" Sergeant Jacobs said to the squad and reloaded his battle rifle.

"Uh..Sarg..my gun is out of bullets." O'brian commented lifting up his assault rifle.

Jacobs bent over and picked up a plasma pistol, tossing it to the private, he placed his rifle on his back and began his walk back to the tank graveyard.

O'brian picked up the plasma pistol and stood up, leaving his assault rifle behind. He inspected the gun and then put it away on his left thigh holter.

Shana stood up and as she walked to follow the sergeant, she purposely bumped into O'brian making a comment before leaving him behind, "You have a pistol..."

She was still upset at his actions during the elite knife attack and wanted to remind O'brian that he was not unarmed during that battle. Jogging the rest of the way to Jacobs, Private 106 spoke low for only he could hear, "No one is authorized to do bandage work, but you. If you want to keep your position, you'll make sure their health is in your care. If someone isn't bandaged correctly and there's a chance that someone gets worse because of it..that's on you."

She didn't wait for his reaction to her words, something catching her eye as they walked up the street. Trailing away from the squad she walked to the object, only when she got close enough did she realize just what she was staring at. For a brief moment she turned off her night vision and stared at the corpse of a spartan. There was nothing unquie in his colors and that's what took her off gaurd. Stepping over the green giant she sat on his chest and carefully removed the helmet. She allowed the helmet to fall with a thud and checked for a pulse even though it seemed quite apparent that the Spartan was indeed gone.

Shana didn't recognize this Spartan which in a way, pleased her, but she was curious about his last moments so she took off her helmet and put on his to see just what had happened. Maybe there was another Spartan with this one.

The inner speakers came to life as she gave it orders to replace the last moments. Gunfire and screams. Growls of rage. The screen turned on and revealed the area in smoke and fire. City people ran away from the screen in a panic. The owner of the helmet waves more people away as he jogs further into the city.

"We gotta leave base it's too dangerous!" a marine tells the Spartan and tries to move faster. Stopping the marine pulls forth his assault rifle and begins firing at incoming covenant from within the City. "The city is being overthrown, we need to move."

The spartan looks back to the base and stops, The helmets movements make Shana a bit dizzy, but she continues to watch anyways. The green giant is searching for something or someone in particular, but he did not see what he was searching for and turned back to face the marine, pulling forth his battle rifle and aiming at an elite. "Are they done with Patric? Where is he?" The spartan asked as the elite fell limp to the ground.

The marine looked back up at the Spartan and says, "They'll take care of them the best they can, but we really need to g--" blood sprayed the Spartan's helmet screen and the marine fell down a hole in his head.  Wiping the liquid from the screen, the helmet beeped at him warning him of no shield protection. The green giant pulls a pin from a frag gernade and goes to toss it into the crowd of covenent but something had caught his attention and he turned around to face the base.

Shana thought it was damn near impossible for a brute to sneak up on anyone with their heavy body and big hammers, but as the screen moved to look toward the base, there one was lifting his hammer up to attack. The screen blacked out and Shana was left to guess whether the brute had killed the Spartan or if the gernade had done the job first.

As Shana pulled the helmet off her head, O'brian stood near her a stupid grin upon his face. "Greetings Lord Helmet to Earth we welcome you HmMm" he commented in a yoda-like voice.

Shana didn't catch the Space Balls reference or the Star wars voice. She ignored the kid, put her helmet back on and then hurried to the front of the squad once again to inform Sergeant Jacobs of her findings. "We need to be on the look out for snipers in the area." she told him as she slowed down into a walk. Private 106 didn't mention the name the Spartan had mentioned in the video, she didn't think it was that important. There was no one in the base after all which meant this 'Patric' was somewhere else if not one of the marines that litered the ground.

Jacobs nodded his head and looked back at the marines behind him. He could hear O'brian explaining to another marine the significance of what he had told Shana, but the marine just thought the movie references were way too old for many people to remember. "Hey...we're not here to chit chat. Keep quiet before any more covenant detect our pressence." The sergeant said and everyone grew quiet in their walk once more.

Before too long they were back at the demolished wraiths. Quickly, Shana picked up the main trail once more. Even a rookie could tell where one particular Wraith was heading, a clean path down the road making it clear as day. Leading the group down the road, she kept a watchful eye on the surrounding area. The squad, shockingly kept quiet and followed close behind. The marines boots were all that could be heard with the exception of the occational buzz from an electrical outlet in the buildings. Private 106 didn't like it, and could sense the same from her squad. She prayed they would have her back in the next fight, but mentally prepared herself as she patted her pockets to count how many clips she had left just in case she was alone again.

It was a long walk even if Shana hadn't checked the occational corpse for age, but finally the marines had gotten closer to their destination. Slowing down, Private 106 gave the signal to stop and kneeled down in front of the entrance to a parking garage. She looked around, but saw no other life forms. Being cautious, Shana readied her assault rifle none the less and checked to be sure she was loaded before sneaking her way into the garage. The squad stood in silence as she drew further away.

When Shana had gotten a few yards ahead and nearly out of site within the rubble and dented cars, Sergeant Jacobs turned to the rest of the squad and gave his orders. "I want a perimeter set up. Private 589 and Private 687 I want you two to go into the building behind you and keep watch. Private 754 and Private 920 I want you to come with me."

Silently O'brian and his friend went into the building as directed. The coward and another male followed Jacobs into the Garage near the enterance. They settled near a burnt and tipped over pick up truck and kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Leaning his back against the concrete wall, Jacobs turned to the female and said, "I know this must be unsettling being your first mission out of training, but if you cannot be a part of this squad I will send you back to training myself and have you replaced."

*****

Shana walked silently by herself, her footsteps light. Seeing a purple wraith, she came to a stop and crouched down. Setting her rifle on her back Private 106 whispered, "Alright you're up Jacobs." When no one responded back, the woman looked around herself with a quirked eye. She cursed beneath her breath for not catching onto silence earlier. Her squad was not improving in their footsteps, they were simply not there.

Shana didn't want to confront her objective. She didn't like Spartans. It wasn't her job to do so either, but the woman was not given any time to complain. The marine should have been thankful, being able to have some command for the time being, but she wasn't. Standing up she made herself known to the group located on the otherside of the wraith. "Marine approaching." she said loudly and walked around the tank to stand at attention to the two spartans. The closest to her was one in blue and gold. Unaware of who was in control she held her hand in a strong salute and kept it there until someone saluted her back. "Sir, Echo Private 1068689 Reporting. Objective: Locate Spartans, Complete. Awaiting next orders, sir."

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter was looking out from his position in the tank turret in case there were any more Covenant in the area when all of a sudden he heard someone shout out

"Marine approaching"

Spinning the turret around to face the direction of the voice, he was about to let loose some fire when he stopped, wincing from the pain in his bound ribs. A small marine was stood in front of Gladiator, she couldn't be more than 5 foot maximum.

"At ease marine, good to finally have some backup, what brings you all the way down here? And you don't have to call me Sir, I don't stand on ceremony out here, call me Hunter"

He tried to get out of the turret so that he could stand with his partner for a while, but as soon as he applied pressure to his arms to lift himself out, his chest screamed in agony and he collapsed back into the seat, breathing heavily and sweating inside his suit.

"Think I'm going to just sit here for a few minutes, Gladiator can bring you up to speed on the situation"

With that Hunter went back to looking out for anyone trying to sneak up on their position.

[Gladiator0161]

Sounds of battle drifted through his helmets audio receptors, men and aliens vying for each others blood. Gladiator looked at his blue and gold gauntleted hand, it was covered in thick green blood. He looked up again and he was on a rock surrounded by an ocean of blood, human blood. He looked closer and saw that there were bodies floating in that grisly ocean. The sounds of battle continued. The world around him was foreign to him but, there were aspects of it that he recognized, then suddenly the ground underneath him rocked and he stumbled. Regaining his balance quickly, he looked up again, the ocean of blood remained, as did the bodies, but, now, there were grave markers. The terrain was different also. He recognized it instantly. Reach. "Marine approaching!"

At first the Spartan was confused what the-? Oh, right, a dream. Another memory. Duty calls. Time to wake up now Gladiator thought as his subconscious drifted away and his consciousness took over. He snapped awake in an instant, his Battle Rifle aimed and ready to fire. He took a sweep of the area with his eyes alone. A Marine stood near their commandeered Wraith Tank saluting stiffly, she was very short for a Marine, she couldn't be more than five feet tall. Gladiator lowered his weapon and looked down at the floor, he was tired and his body was sore all over from all the fighting throughout the day. He quirked his head and realized that the ration bar that he'd gotten out of his pack, just before he fell asleep, was still in his lap. Gladiator looked up again to find that Hunter was in the Wraith Tank turret and talking to the Marine.

"Think I'm going to just sit here for a few minutes, Gladiator, can you bring her up to speed on the situation?" Hunter asked. Gladiator got up "Yeah, sure" he answered, his deep rumbling voice echoing off the concrete of the garage, with a bit of a grunt he walked over to the small Marine. Saluting her easily he said "Sorry for the rough welcome private. We've been fighting all day ever since we crashed down here. You look like you've seen some action yourself" he said moving his hand toward her in an attempt to shake her hand "I'm Spartan zero one six one, my call sign is Gladiator". After shaking her hand he delved right into their mission objectives.

"The situation is this, the Covenant Cruiser we were sent to breach, went into Slipspace early and we weren't able to retrieve the information we were sent after. Namely, communication info, language info, supply routes, army movement. The whole shebang. Now, we're in a blackout zone and communications are cut off from command. Only close range comms are working. Our current objective is finding and locating the com jammers and destroying them. After that, we contact command and get our orders"

Gladiator got onto one knee, lowering his huge bulk of a body and looking into her eyes directly through his helmet's faceplate "that is unless you guys were sent to give us a mission update" looking around he returned his gaze back to the little woman in front of him "that is assuming you know what the update is. Where's your squad?"

[ashia starstreak]

Without moving her head, the woman glanced up to the black and red spartan that sat in the Wraith. The loose rubble from a building she had inspected earlier flooded into her thoughts. Her eyes trailed Hunter as she tried to make the connection before they flashed back to the Spartan before her.

Lowering her hand she listened to Gladiator's words and though she did hesitate, 106 extended her other hand and gripped tight onto the blue and gold Spartan's hand. Almost in a challenge for strength, she shook it, but released quickly in an attempt to brush off the notion. As the Spartan began to explain to her the situation they were in, she almost dared to smile. She was a private, and so much information was not meant for the lowest ranks. Though she filled with pride at the thought, that just as quickly emptied as she reminded herself of her ranking. As Gladiator peered into her eyes, Shana forced herself to look away and take a step back. 106 did not want the Spartan to see just how much experience she truely had, her ranking was down right embarassing.

"I get my orders from my Sergeant...Objective: Find Spartans. Objective: Complete. My squad is not far from here." Shana stated simply, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Reaching a hand to rub the back of her neck, she remembered her incident with the elite and made a face as she felt the crusted blood upon her neck. Looking up toward Hunter, her expression went back to neutral and she spoke out of turn, "You're the injured one aren't you?...the ceiling collapsed on you...?"

Looking back to Gladiator, 106 asked, "How many of you are there?" The many footprints she recalled didn't quite add up at this moment and she was curious as to why.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter span the turret back round to talk to the Private.

"Indeed I am, I have several broken ribs and a broken legs, plus some bruises and sore limbs, I got lucky really, if it weren't for the fact that Gladiator came along, I would be dead right about now. A Hunter got the better of me"

Remembering the fallen, he sighed. Then he remembered that she mentioned the room she had been in to recall such details.

"You are one fine tracker, for a Private, what sort of training have you had?"

[Gladiator0161]

"I get my orders from my Sergeant...Objective: Find Spartans. Objective: Complete. My squad is not far from here. How many of you are there?"

Gladiator sighed, it seemed she and her squad were simply sent to find out what had happened to his team, which was reassuring in a way. It meant Command knew that something was up, probably mostly due to the sudden disappearance of the Covenant Cruiser they were after, and then having no response from their Spartans was another clue. The blue and gold armored Spartan's face fell to grief as Hunter listed his injuries. He remembered his fallen comrades then, and bowed his head in respect and grief. Gunnery Sergeant Desmond "Sling" Rockwell. Lance. Siren. Raven. All good men. They'd lost three Spartans and a hell of an ODST in one foul swoop. All it took was two Covenant Wraith Tanks. It all came rushing back in that moment. Memory of their passing flooded his senses and brought tears to his eyes but, he couldn't allow himself to give into his grief just yet. First they had to survive tonight and then accomplish the mission, whatever that was now, and they still had the Communication Jammers to destroy. With some effort he pushed the memory away. It wasn't easy in the least, not this time. He remembered every Spartan he'd ever fought beside, a staggering number of which were killed in action. Now, he had more to add to that list. When you witnessed something like that, the memory just didn't fade. Not for him anyway. The pain faded...eventually but, never the memory.

Gathering his wits Gladiator finally looked up at the small tracker "There were seven of us originally, six Spartans and a ODST. We lost four members of our party, the ODST included. Now there's just me and Hunter. Our third member is missing, we don't know his condition, or his situation" he said simply, his voice taking on a cold edge, the grief was obviously still there but, he was obviously trying to suppress it and move on. It was harder than it sounded. Just then he looked up at Hunter, wondering just how he'd gotten himself back into the Wraith Tank in his condition. "Hunter, how the hell did you get back into that thing in your condition? Didn't I carry you out so you could rest?" Gladiator said genuinely curious and changing the subject. He hoped this change of subject would lighten the mood, for everyone's sake.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter listened to Gladiator talking about the other members of the team, the ones that had passed in combat. He felt side but he pushed it aside. They still had a big job to do and it wasn't going to help bumbling over fallen comrades in the field when they could do it back on the ship.

He shrugged at Gladiators question.

"I don't know really. I just dragged myself over and pushed myself up the tank, ribs are killing me at the moment though and I'm pretty sure I won't be walking any time soon so sitting here made more sense. At least I can offer some sort of defence from this seat than down on the ground where I can see next to nothing"

He looked back at the Private.

"Sorry for all the questions, however, time is of the essence, what is your squad going to do now that we have been found? We can't really afford to leave these jammers around as more Covenant could arrive and we wouldn't even know it"

[ashia starstreak]

Shana clearly heard Hunter's question about her training, but acted as though she did not. The woman could have told the Spartan of her experience as a lone scout in her early years as a marine, perhaps even proudly stated her previous achievments, but she didn't in fear of Hunter recognizing any information that could lead to further knowledgement about her past. Instead she thought a bit on Gladiator's words and though  she silently praised herself for knowing there were more than the two of them, she showed no signs of joy. Placing a hand up in the motion of 'stop', she turned around and looked in the direction from which she came and answered Hunter, "My Sergeant can give you details. Due to my ranking, I am not privilaged to hold such information."

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter nodded at the words of the Private.

"Then go and fetch this Sergeant of yours so that we can find out what is happening, we need to make a move soon to take these jammers out, the longer we wait, the more likely it is that the Covenant are moving more troops here to stabilize and move in and we all know that we do not want that to happen"

Hunter heard a noise behind him and swivelled the turret around so quickly that he heard another of his ribs crack and he cried out in pain. Looking through watery eyes he saw nothing coming towards them.

[Vengurd]

This right fist banged against the side of the ghost, denting the material slightly. Soon after the last banshee had been taken out he'd been separated from the others and then lost all contact with them since. Patric didn't really mind being alone or leaving the other Spartans on their own, no what he did mind was the mission and the fact that one was injured, gravely injured even. Now he'd driven the ghost through much of the area he'd last seen the others in but a low battery on the ghost had forced him to slow his search, which left him open to an ambush. Admittedly it was small and poorly executed and he had been able to deal with the small force, several Jackals with a score of Grunts. He was able to come out of the small engagement with a fully charged shield and no further damage, but the ghost was knocking on death's front door; And it had just hit empty leaving him alone and on foot.

Turning from the unpowered machine he looked at his surroundings, ignoring the faint itch of his right hand. The phantom itch he couldn't scratch. The mechanical replacement for his left eye proved useful as it aided the visor, zooming in, changing the light level. It was near dark, he had heard some fighting in the distance, back the way he had come. He had considered turning back but had decided against it. There was no reason for the others to return there, not for him. He may be one of them but he wasn't vital to the mission. Whoever was behind him was either sent in as a follow up due to the lack of communication or, just as likely, survivors from the original attack meeting the covenant. Whichever it was Patric didn't have the time nor the consideration to help them. He did however have the time to do a little reconniasance while he was looking for Gladiator and Hunter and what he had found was important. He'd discovered the location of at least one jammer and had a tentative on another.

Since he couldn't find the others Patric would have to enter the fight on his own. The jammer, just ahead and around the third bend in the road was lightly guarded, which made some sense- it was in the completely opposite direction of where he and the others were going when they'd been separated. They'd been tricked into thinking the jammers were ahead and the covenant had lightened their guard, likely devoting most of that freed up power to the ambush, leaving several Brutes and a handful of lesser species. Grunts mostly, a few jackals to buffer. Nothing more. All were armed with standard weapons, plasma pistols, carbines for the Brutes, a needler.

Crouched, Patric crept his way forward. They didn't even have an advanced guard, they were truly undermanned! He stopped just within sight of the jammer, the Brutes had flipped the nearest vehicles on their sides and moved them- bottom facing the outside to form barriers against any attack, which gave Patric a clear shot at the fuel tanks.  Raising the MG6 he had left, Patric took careful aim, both hands holding perfectly still as he waited. The Brutes were all patrolling the inner most area around the jammer, the Grunts were all sleeping and the Jackals were standing idly by. They didn't expect much.

BOOOOM!

The Brutes crossed paths just by Patric's target, the fuel tank of the nearest car, the resulting explosion engulfed two of the Brutes and sent flaming shrapnel out, pieces shredding Grunts to ribbons and slamming into the nearby vehicles. Several of the poor little creatures exploded as the burning metal cut through methane tanks, igniting the highly flamable gasses, sending bits of alien and flaming balls in many directions. Another car went up in flames. The Jackals had no time to react as they were cut down, bodies torn and burned. Another car. Another. The first five went up almost simultaneously, the deaths of all but one Brute taking less than three seconds. It was more than Patric had even considered happening. None the less Patric was already up and running forward, toward the only surviving hostile left, whom was too bewildered and in a state of complete surprise when Patric's right fist slammed into his face, staggering him. Now focused on the Spartan the Brute let out a deep bellow of pain and loathing. He was pissed off. Pistol in hand Patric didn't waste any time as he slammed the pistol into the Brute's mouth as he jumped forward, pulling the trigger while shoving the weapon into the beast's maw, cutting off the bellow and causing the beast to suffocate as his other hand repeatedly pumped into the side of the Brute's head at full strength.

He usually wasn't a man of such brutality but he had to act fast and he had to end it quickly and a pistol alone was no match for a Brute. Thankfully a pistol backed by the savage beating Patric laid out on the poor thing was as it finally died, the thought to bite the offending arm in it's mouth only half formed. Yanking his arm from the maw of the Brute Patric turned to the jammer and did the one thing he came to do; placed four fragmentation grenades on the jammer and pull the pin on one then ran. The resulting explosion did the trick as he began to pick up...less static. It wasn't much but he managed to at least weaken the blockage.

Running from the jammer and any nearby patrols was Patric's main concern as he rounded the corner of a building and hurdled into another and into the basement before taking a deep breath. He'd managed to do it. Just one step of the mission complete and-
The fierce, blinding pain doubled Patric over and onto his knees and forced him to gasp for air, barely managing to pull the helmet off and let it roll away as he let whatever he had last eaten forcefully exit his mouth in a most inglorified fashion. The acid burned the back of his throat and nostrils as he left it all out, barely able to breath. When he finally regained consciousness, he found himself huddled around his helmet in the darkest corner of the basement, away from the vomit. From the noise and light, he estimated only a few minutes had passed. Uncurling was a painful exercise as his muscled had locked up. He needed water in his body soon or he'd die. Slowly, painfully he worked his muscles to cooperation and managed to stand and slowly walk up the stairs and drag his feet across the floor to the kitchen.

It was all he could do not to just drop and let himself die, but he persisted, his coloration a pale, sickly yellow. Finally reaching the sink, Patric reached out with one finger and pushed the dial for water pressure and smiled as a slow trickle began to sluice from the faucet. Leaning forward he stuck his mouth under the stream and relished the feel on his lips, licked at the water. Then froze as the water stopped. The smile died as he stood and glared at the faucet. He pushed the pressure to full yet nothing came out. He moved the faucet and not so much as a drip came out. In frustrated hopelessness Patric's face contorted into a face of baleful anger before he placed his helmet in place. Glaring at the faucet wouldn't do anything. Nothing could come from staring at that...that thing! Slamming his fists onto the surface, the counter tops shattered and fell and Patric stumbled forward, his hands reaching up and grabbing the faucet like he meant to strangle the metal, instead only managing to stop any possible flow of water more permanently as his weight tore through the sink, counters, plumbing and wall, all the while Patric screamed silently in his mind at the water and the cruelty of earth. Why? WHY!? Why couldn't he have gotten even a small drink?

If anything could be said for Patric in his last moments of consciousness, he always goes down fighting and there would be no trace of the faucet whenever he might be found. His only real hope now was that his suit would crack a seal and it rained on him.

[Gladiator0161]

Gladiator nodded as he said "Right, well, we best--" he looked up abruptly as five explosions sounded off in the distance, cutting off his words. The explosions sounded off one after the other. Gladiator looked to Shana and Hunter then, it was unwise to just leave them behind to hold down the fort but, his gut told him that those explosions were caused by a friendly and that they were in trouble most likely. Turning on his night vision he looked up into the sky and could barely make out the smoke that was slowly rising into the sky.

Looking to Shana "That may be Patric out there, I'm going to have a look. If it's him, I'll bring him here. I'll be fine on my own, I've done this kind of thing many times but, it is imperative that you, Shana, stay with Hunter since he's injured. Do not follow me, that's a direct order, you got it?" he waited just long enough for her to get the message that he was serious, before he gathered up his sniper rifle and his DMR rifle before getting up and jogging off in the direction of the smoke. Before he got too far ahead, he stopped and crouched down beside some parked cars and took a moment to see what was around him. For now, the street he, Hunter and Shana were on was clear of activity but, that could change at any second, and it'd do no one any good if he got himself killed like a first year cadet. He moved down the block at a half crouch, going as fast as he could. His stomach rumbled in protest and his body ached at the abuse it was forced to take but, he ignored all of it. Patric was depending on him, and if he could help it, he wasn't going to lose another Spartan tonight. One block melded into two, and two into three. The going was slow but, steady as he took time to recon the streets with the aid of the night vision and his sniper rifle, before moving onto a new block. He took special care to keep to any particularly dark shadows that were around. Soon he found himself at five cars that were still burning. He was still a half block away and the anticipation was killing him. He wanted to bolt to the cars and follow the path of wreckage but, he had to be careful especially now. If he spotted the smoke, the Covenant definitely would, and their patrols would be out in force, tracking the cause of the disruption by smell most likely.

It was then that he noticed that the static that usually played over the comms had lightened a hair, he smacked himself lightly on the head, why hadn't he noticed that before? Oh, right, he'd been caught up worrying about a comrade. Clicking the comm on he took a moment to calm himself "Sierra three three four, Patric, you there buddy?"

He crept closer to the destroyed cars, carefully walking in a circle to make sure the street was clear and nothing was trying to ambush him. "Sierra three three four, this is sierra zero one six one. Repeat, friendly. Patric, are you there?" Gladiator said into the TEAMCOM as he braced himself upon the first car which had been flipped on it's side. Raising himself to his full height slowly, he switched to his DMR rifle and brought it up over the edge of the car. Looking out, he spotted the remains of a com jammer, and a group of Grunts, Jackals and a few crispy Brutes. Hopefully he was close and Patric wasn't too beat up. Suddenly, Gladiator heard some rubble shift behind him, making him whirl around and stare into the stomach of a particularly big Brute in heavy armor, wielding a Gravity Hammer. Gladiator looked up as the alien snorted and smirked at him, preparing to bring the heavy weapon down on him.

The blue and gold Spartan was able to jump sideways in time, avoiding the messy death that had awaited him. He heard the metal frame and skin of the car crumble beneath the impact of the Gravity Hammer. Not bothering to get up he laid flat on his back and un-slung the sniper rifle and took aim. Just as the behemoth got his weapon dislodged from the car, the crosshairs of the long range weapon centered on the back of the beast's head. Gladiator didn't hesitate. A second later, a shot rang out. The sound echoed across the permacrete canyon walls of the city. The Brute Chieftain roared in fury as it's decorative helm went flying off it's massive gray head. "Oh shi-!" Gladiator's curse was lost in a hail of gunfire from his DMR rifle. The Brute drew closer and closer, it's massive and thickly muscled legs carrying it easily in long loping strides, bullets pinged off it's armor and tore into it's shoulders but, it still kept coming. It's mouth opened wide as it lept into the air, hammer raised. Gladiator's trigger finger tensed again and another shot fired, this one hitting it's mark right between the eyes, killing it instantly in mid-air. The Gravity Hammer slipped through the Brute's dead fingers and bounced off the ground, barely missing the Spartan's head. The body however, landed right atop Gladiator with a crunch as reinforced metal plates met reinforced metal plates. The air was pushed from his lungs hard as the Brute's body crashed down on him. After a couple of heaving coughs, he finally managed to get his breath back. The Spartan groaned and just layed there for a moment, looking at his radar to see if anything else was moving around him.

When he was sure that he was out of danger for the time being, he wiggled his arms underneath the Brute's chest and pushed with all his might. The body barely moved, despite the Spartan putting all his strength into getting the thing off of him but, eventually he was able to wriggle out from beneath the things torso. With the arm of the big ape-like alien still draped over his chest, Gladiator took a moment and regained his strength, then with more then a bit of frustration flung the Brute's arm away from him. Sitting up he got onto his knees and pushed the thing over again to retrieve his weapons. Getting to his feet he shook his head "I'm getting too old for this shit" he said with a huff as he trotted over to the building, taking cover behind the cars once again until he got to the entrance. Stepping inside, he followed the trail of battle past the wrecked and still flaming com jammer, to the kitchen, where he found Patric lying prone on the floor. He looked briefly past his body and realized that a sink had been torn out of the wall, and bits of rubble and debris lay strewn around his comrade. Gladiator's head hung on his chest as he approached Patric, not sure if his friend was alive or dead.

Taking a knee beside Patric, Gladiator touched the man's shoulder lightly "please don't be dead" he muttered as he went to remove his friend's helmet, and check for any signs of life. He facepalmed himself a moment later, he'd totally forgotten about the bio metric scanner in his helmet. He flicked it on with a quick flick of his eye and read the information it spit out. His eyes widened as he read that his friend was simply unconscious from lack of hydration "You've gotta be kidding me" he said in disbelief. He reached back to where his canteen was usually stored on his belt but, looked up in surprise when he couldn't find it. He must have dropped it somewhere during one of the battles. Taking Patric by the armpits, he dragged his friend over to where they had more cover, in case the Covenant decided to get nosey. Arriving in what probably had been either a lobby or a living room, it was hard to tell in the dim light that his nightvision gave him. Finding a empty water bottle after overturning a scorched couch, he spotted a bathroom not too far away and went to it. The sink failed to produce any water but, the toilet bowl was filled with water, and it looked clear but, that didn't mean anything. Grimacing, he dipped the water bottle into the toilet and filled the bottle with it. Now, all he had to do was boil the water.

Going over to the kitchen and turned the gas stove on, no flame lighted on the stove but, he could hear the hiss of the gas. Taking his DMR rifle in hand, he aimed at the wall and fired. The spark from the gun firing lighted the gas but, unfortunately, the fire exploded in his face, knocking him backwards into the counter. Kitchen utensils, plaster and drywall went flying everywhere. Breathing heavy from his breath being knocked from him, he saw that a small flame was still alive, feeding on the gas that was coming from the stove. He set the water bottle on the counter and went to look for a hangar or a piece of wire to suspend the bottle over the fire. After a thorough search of a nearby closet, he found just what he was looking for. Forming the hangar into a single strand of wire, he wrapped one end around the top of the bottle and made a hook with the other. After making a hole in the counter above the stove via his trusty DMR, he suspended the bottle over the live flame and waited for the water to boil.

After what seemed like an eternity, the water finally boiled and was thus safe to drink. Tacking the slightly scorched water bottle off of the hangar, he turned the stove off and went back over to Patric. Sitting down, Gladiator gently removed his comrades helmet, using his legs to support Patric's head. After letting the water cool to a drinkable temperature, gently, he opened his friend's mouth and poured a little bit of water inside his palate. The water was warm but, it was drinkable.

[ashia starstreak]

"Man...it's too quiet." Private 589 commented to his friend beside him as they sat upon the floor in the building across the way of the garage. Pushing himself off of the wall, O'brian got to his feet and peeked out the window. "Not even a cricket out there."

"Private 589 get back into cover." a voice within O'brian's helmet told him. His eyes looked immediately toward the garage and sighed. Hesitantly, he obeyed the orders of his Sergeant and went to sit back down when he saw something coming from out of the garage. Standing back up, O'brian narrowed his eyes and watched as the movement from within came clear within his line of vision. Hitting his partner in the arm beside him, Private 589 said, "Dude, Spartan. Dude..."

The shorter male looked up to O'brian and then stood up to look out the window as well. They gawked as the gold and blue Spartan walked out of the garage and head away from the group. "What's he doin'?" Private 687 asked.

O'brian shrugged his shoulders and leaned out of the broken window. Bringing his hands up to cup around his mouth he was about to hollar after the Spartan when Jacobs's voice rang over his comms again in more urgency, "Get down...now!"

Backing up, O'brian held onto his ear piece and tripped over a loose piece of the ceiling upon the floor.

Turning around to face his fallen comrade, Private 687 walked toward O'brian. As he held out his hand to him, the assault rifle on the other arm dropped to the ground.

O'brian picked up the weapon and looked up to his partner, the smart smirk upon his face quickly faded as Private 687 dropped to his knees then fell beside O'brian face down, a hole in the back of his head. "Oh shii.." Private 589 began and got to his knees to hover over his friend for a moment before pushing a button for his comm. "Ryan's...Ryan is dead...those bastards got Ryan.."

Jacobs' voice came into his helmet. "Private 589, we know there are snipers in the area. You need to stay clear."

"Didn't you hear me!? They got Ryan! My friend is dead!" O'brian snapped back at his Sergeant.

Jacobs sighed to himself as he leaned against the wall. He wished he could give the private some better sympathy. Instead, he called for Shana.

*****

Shana watched Gladiator as he hurried away from her and Hunter. Looking over her assault rifle she openned her mouth to make conversation to the black and red Spartan when her comm came to life.

"Shana, report. Where are you? We need your eyes."

Pressing onto her helmet she said, "This is private 1068689. I've made contact with spartans and have been given orders to keep post. There is an injured Spartan here that requires your assistance."

There was a pause before she recieved a reply. "Negative, I have another dead man and one other in a location I can't get to. Sniper is confirmed in the area. I need you to get rid of that sniper."

Biting her lower lip Shana looked to Hunter and asked, "How far do your comms go? Can you reach the other Spartan? Maybe he can take out that sniper."

[Hunter Phoenix]

(It's cool about the double post)

Hunter looked down to Shana from his position in the tank and shook his head.

"My suits comms were taken out in my fight with a Hunter, if you can fix them then by all mean be my guest, but I can't get in touch with anyone at the moment"

Hunter braced himself and pushed himself through the pain in his chest that reared as he raised himself up and out of the gunner position in the Wraith. He slowly slid down the outside of the vehicle and sat on the ground.

"That smarts"

Then he hit his head with rememberance.

"There is a comms unit inside the tank, but only in the drivers position, if you climb up in it, it should already be programmed to our signal from when Gladiator was driving it earlier, you should get into contact with him with that. I wish I could be of more help to you"

Hunter was finding it a little hard to breathe so he unclasped his helmet and took it off so that he could get a breath of fresh air. As he took a deep breath he coughed, turned and spat blood onto the floor.

[ashia starstreak]

Shana looked to the black and red Spartan and studied him a moment. His physical appearance was just a minor thought as her brain sent her signals of just how bad this giant's state was. Raising a brow from beneath her shaded helmet, her green eyes moved to the wraith behind him. Placing her hands upon her hips she sighed silently to herself and thought ...as if I'm not short enough...Just climb right up in there...ya...right... The private took a quick survey of her surroundings before putting her rifle upon the floor and walking to the wraith. Placing her hands upon the purple paint job, Shana looked about the tank in an effort to find anything that could aid her up without requesting any sort of help.

...this is ridiculous...she thought and looked over to Hunter as he coughed. Appearing by his side, Shana knelt down and inspected the substance he had spit out. Standing back up, the woman pulled forth a vail that was no more than a centimeter in thickness from her chest pocket. She looked at it unsure. Pulling up her right sleeve she checked a device on her wrist. It showed only a simple color of greenish yellow. Covering it back up, Shana placed the vial back in her pocket and pulled forth an empty one. The private held it to the light to inspect it then casually walked to a nearby fire. The flame danced within a tire happily and didn't much notice as the woman tempted it with her vial.

As the fire heated the clear pipe, private 106 looked back to Hunter. "One of your ribs has most likely punctured one of your lungs. That explains your tough breathing and the blood..." Walking back to Hunter the woman took no thought in placing one of her feet between his legs as he sat before her. Taking off her helmet, Shana tossed it aside and leaned in close to the Spartan for a closer look. Her breath lightly caressed his cheek as she spoke, a hand running along his chest. "Your lung will slowly fill with blood and you will drown. I'm going to release some of the pressure and drain it."

Backing her head away from Hunter's Shana brought two fingers up and pointed them to her eyes. "Eyes on me Spartan.." she said and waited for him to obey. Deep within her mind she regreted having had taken off her helmet..regreted giving this giant the oppurtunity of seeing her eyes..seeing her experiences...but maybe he could not, eyes were after all..just eyes, right?

Placing a hand gently upon his chest once more, the woman took no wasted time and jabbed the pipe into the weak spot. Puncturing his lung, Shana let go to back up and away from the black and red Spartan. "That will help you breath, but it is not a permanent fix." she told him and taking a running start, she jumped onto the wraith and scrambled her way up into the top. Holding onto the enterance of the driver's seat she shook her head. ...Ridiculous... she thought again and crawled in to begin her search of the comm's wires.

She could have just tried to contact the other Spartan, but Shana just had too much pride to use the enemy's lines, plus there was no telling who could be listening on the wraith's comms, but for a teammate not to have a functioning comm was out of the question. Shana unsheathed her blade on her shoulder and pried open the comm compartment. With the aid of a foot she managed, but nearly flung back in her effort. Placing her knife back in its place, Shana took apart the wiring and crawled back out of the wraith. Sliding down the smooth metal, the woman landed roughly on her feet and bent over to pick up Hunter's helmet. Without asking for permission, she took it and plopped herself down in front of the giant to inspect it. The woman did not wish to face the man's eyes another time without her helmet placed firmly upon her head.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter kept his eyes on the private like she instructed and gasped a little as he felt something puncture him. He wasn't complaining though as he could now breathe a little easier and he no longer wanted to cough. He nodded.

"That feels much better, definitely a better alternative to drowning in my own blood that is for sure"

He had studied the Privates eyes when she had studied him but he cared not to mention to her that she had the eyes of a partially altered human. Almost like she had almost become a Spartan herself. He would keep that conversation for another time.

When she leapt up onto the Wraith with little effort he was surprised by her agility and strength, he knew it wasn't easy for humans to climb on tanks like this one, especially with a small size like she had.

She had backed away and was now sat in front of him studying his helmet, almost like it held some sort of hidden secret that she may uncover, it was against protocol as well to take a Spartans helmet but he didn't mind, he was just glad that for the time being he was going to be alive because of her.

"Finding anything interesting in there?"

Hunters thoughts soon drifted off and he wondered if Gladiator was alright, and Patric, he didn't want to be the only Spartan left on the mission, especially since there had been a team of them all together. And he was badly battered and wouldn't be of any help on the rest of this mission. He turned back to Shana.

"Wouldn't happen to have a quick fix for my leg as well would you?" He asked half jokingly.

[Vengurd]

He coughed. Then winced and groaned, then winced some more as the blinding, pounding pain exploded into his head. His eyes felt dry and scratchy, his skin a bit too tight and oily as his body protested the abuse he had recently put it through. Fighting against the shakes he sat up, snatching the bottle of boiled water from the armored hand above his face and drank with a faster pace, though making sure to only sip as training kicked in- too much water too fast could be as fatal as too little water too late. "Thanks," he rasped to no one in particular as he stopped long enough to breath and think. Luckily he wasn't so far gone as to forget and then remember in a flood of images, sensations and the like. Though he was darned near.

"I don't want to know where you had to get this water from. Like as not I'll need a thorough sanitation hour after this." The aches in his body were screaming at him but he was able to ignore them for the most part as most of the muscles had already stopped their complaints as they were rehydrated. Finally looking to over to the person who had held the water Patric spied a sight he hadn't thought to see for some time. "Gladiator..." His free hand instinctively rose to his face, in the age old symbol for a smile.

"Thanks for the cool down. My report is the usual story in this case, was separated, attempted to regroup and stumbled on one of the objectives, I assume that is how you found me." As he had talked the water had seemingly vanished from the bottle as he had continually sipped it until none remained. Dropping the container he replaced his helmet atop his head where it belonged and stood.

[Gladiator0161]

Those last couple of minutes before Patric sat up and coughed were the hairiest Gladiator had experienced in a long time. He breathed a sigh of relief when his comrade grabbed the bottle and began chugging water. A couple of seconds afterward, he slowed his drinking speed and began to sip at it. The big blue and gold armored Spartan laughed as his friend commented that he didn't want to know where the water had come from. Still grinning, Gladiator returned the smile gesture and patted his friend on the back "That's probably for the best for now, and you're welcome."

Gladiator got to his feet and made some room as Patric began to stand and give his report "Yeah, that explosion might have been a clue" he said wryly, a grin beneath his golden face plate "before we move, we need to gather as many containers as possible that can carry water. I heard something over the comms as I was preparing the water for you. I think it was Shana and her squad. Look around for some type of container while I try to reestablish contact, after that, we head back, and find water as we go."

Gladiator took a glance over at the ruined window and door, nothing stirred but, it wouldn't stay that way for long. That he was absolutely sure of. He brought the comms display up on his HUD, and studied the signal in front of him. It was still crammed with static but, it looked like it had lightened quite a bit in their immediate area. Microwaves, gamma waves and radio waves, as well as other types he couldn't identify, all separated in front of his eyes as he focused on increasing his comms bandwidth and strength. Finally, after a few minutes, he found a combination that seemed to do the trick.

The radio waves coalesced into one single strand that jumped and twitched but, it held. He whistled a tune that he knew his fellow Spartans would know, an easy four tone tune that had been around for years that they used to determine if the channel, and the team, was in the clear. "Olly Olly oxen free! We're all free!" he gently sang into the mic.

He waited a couple minutes, giving his team the chance to respond "This is Gladiator zero one six one. I've found Sierra three three four. Repeat, I've found Patric. He's alive, and we're making our way back. Shana, Hunter, sitrep. I hear something about snipers? Over."

[ashia starstreak]

The woman glanced up at the Spartan and peered at his broken leg before pulling forth the knife on her right shoulder. Focusing back upon the helmet in her lap she stabbed at the inside of the helmet. Shana pulled out a few wires out of it and inspected further before ripping it free from the helmet to toss aside.

"I can rig a redneck mobile for you, but I can't fix your legt." she told Hunter as she took the wiring from the wraith and inserted it into the Spartan's helmet. Jerking her hand away quickly, she placed the tip of her index finger to her mouth and cursed beneath her breath as the wiring had given her a shock. Shana's helmet hummed to life as someone attempted to make contact, but the woman was not going to retrieve her helmet and though she wanted to throw the Spartan's helmet for shocking her, she restrained herself. Grumbling, Shana dug around in the helmet a moment longer before putting her knife back in its place upon her shoulder armor.

*****

"We've got hostiles coming closer from down the street." the male Private reported to the Sergeant as they leaned against the concrete wall of the garage.

Jacobs heard him, but eyed the female and wondered if she'd flee again. Checking his battle rifle he replied, "Damn...that sniper must have spilled the beans. I had hoped we had the advantage here..."

As the Sergeant dared to peek around the bend, his comms came to life. Before the man could get a good view of the enemy coming their way, Jacobs got back into cover and leaned his back against the wall. Bringing a hand up to his ear piece, Jacobs responded, "This is Sergeant Jacobs confirming: Snipers are in the area. I repeat, snipers are in the area. I have two men down and more hostiles are on the waa-Private 589 get your damn head down! If I have to repeat my order one more time I will kill you myself!...Jacobs out."