Halo: What was left behind.

[augercorn]

Duke instantly knew how many enemies were behind the barricade, based on gunfire and a few glances.

he was able to "imagine" where the bullets would go based on the position of the weapons and the direction of the gunners head

 

duke landed on the ground and slid staying low and then ran thru a section of baricade as if it were nothing 

 

duke did not use his weapon, instead he acted to maim and incapacitate. 

Breaking the the barrier he grabbed a chunk of wood from the table and threw it, into the eye socket of one of his foes. He turned his head getting a full scan of the situation now that the minigun couldn't swivel that far.

duke ran forward and very gently swept his leg kicking an innies ankle. Duke hit it with just enough force and in the right spot so that all his body weight would pull on his Achilles' tendon. The man painfully gasped and fell writhing on the floor in pain unable to stand. Duke then ran up to the soldier who's eye he has stabbed with the barricad's woodchip and lifted his hands under his arms throwing him at his allies. With just enough calculated force to cause we internal ruptures. Taking them out of the fight 

 

duke sprinted to the turret's gunner next and grabbed his the innies helmet. Using his wrist he made a twisting motion, the humans head spun fast making him pass out on the spot 

 

duke fired a burst from his smg, purposefully missing, just some suppressive fire to keep them from shooting him and springs forward grabbing peices of the punishing wall making chis of cement fly at limbs and legs.

 

finally the gunner with the assault rifle took out a chunk of his shield. He had a couple of noneleathal options.

duke pointed smg and fired. A burst which shot into the gunner's hips. He aimed for a special tenden called the pupis, it helped bridge the hip bones and allows you to walk. The gunner shrieked in pain and fell over.

duke ran up and grabbed the assault rifle crushing in in his hands. He gave the innie a Med pack

 

"enough to staunch the bleeding and keep your comrades alive. Get out here!"

 

he signled to his odst team to follow thru. The innies were alive. But broken and crippled for the rest of there lives. Duke contemplated the idea of mercy. Surely they were better off with there lives and hope, but what option did that leave them? 

 

Duke looked to ignite "don't shoot them, it's against the unsc code of conduct to harm them when there this wounded, even if they get up and try to fight there no threat to you. ... unless your really weak?"

[RainbowDaringDash]

Sky watched as blimp after blimp disappeared from his radar, the ODST making quick work of tons of them, and he knew he needed to move. She was going to be fine. He cracked his neck inside his helmet, his HUD showing his DMR loaded with AP rounds. He went to the back of the room, then sprinted full force, shoulder first. This place was going to go skyhigh anyway, and it was compromised. As he was charging at the wall, his DMR was set up, short stock to make it able to be pressed aganst his stomach easier. He started shooting at the wall, the innies on the other side dropping as AP rounds pierced through the wall. He used the positions from his Motion Sensor to know where to aim, and after three shots he hit the wall full force, breaking the entire thing down as he charged through. There was only one left in that room, and he was right in the Spartan's path. The innie screamed as he got charged into a wall, and Sky had no idea if he was alive or not. But the impact broke though a second office wall, he was making progress. 

 

He quickly put his DMR on his back, ducking as a volley of bullets went past him, the rounds shredding the innies, friendly fire. He grabbed a grenade from his belt, throwing it into a office, the one where the shots had come from, and the explosion cleared the office with ease, the shrapnel damaging everything. Drawing both pistols, he sprinted down the hall, moving office to office in a straight path towards the Data, breaking down wall by wall as he moved down the corridor.

[Shadowbolt0]

Trent couldn’t believe his eyes. This Spartan had, single-handedly, taken out an entire barricade of Innies who had the superior position, as well as firepower. Yet, he made it look so, hell, easy. As soon as the Spartan hit the Innie line, the ODST moved up the corridor rifle raised. Thankfully, they were so focused on the Spartan they had no idea of the single reinforcement until it was too late.

Seeing that the Spartan had, crippled them, the ODST ensured his rifle was loaded before taking aim. The Captain had been very clear. A full-sweep. No one left alive. He had been about to pull the trigger when the Spartan spoke up. The ODST shook his head, refusing to take his rifles aim away from the crippled Innie.

“Sir, with all due respect. The orders given by the captain were perfectly clear. We’re to commit a full sweep of the base. We can’t afford to leave anyone alive, they could ambush the force set to replace us” The ODST, like the rest of his team, had no idea about the order to nuke the base, and were under the illusion the base would be recommissioned by a UNSC marine force. Trent took a deep breath, it was the job he signed up for. The Captain and the team were his family now, he had to follow orders. But for, some reason, he found himself pausing and looked at the Spartan, as if daring him to stop him.

 

 

Lucifer, the ODST who was covering Sky, started laughing in their private COMs. Laughter of a child amused, and gripped by insanity. As he moved forwards, he could see the Innie ID’s vanishing quickly as Lucy ‘Lucifer’ Star followed her orders. Full-Sweep, no survivors. No Mercy.

Upon reaching the data room, Sky would be met by gunfire. Mostly from M7 Caseless SMGS’ and M6 handguns. Not lethal, but an annoyance as a team of nearly half a dozen Innies were operating on the supercomputer in the middle of the room. They open fired, while one of them fled the room itself. Bolting out the emergency exit door. This individual was male, easily the biggest of all Innies in the room, standing at a 6’5, which was tall…for a non-spartan.

[augercorn]

Despite the processing power of the computer in his brain. Duke struggled with the moral dilema before him

when the odst looked at him he walked up and looked down. 

He poked him gently turning off his coms, then turned off his own

 

"ok ... so acording to article 689.5 J. It states that classified info can be shared if it means keeping it out of covenant hands, and since you know ... there could be cloaked elites in here I think I should tell you this for the mission sake"

duke looked around the room pretending to be looking for cloacked enemies.

"but uhhh well, your going to know soon anyway, can't keep a nuke a secret after it goes off" he nods 

 

"there's a nuclear failsafe, they want me and my partner in height to detonate it. Clean sweep of the whole area. I tryed telling everyone earlier but they were kind of being jerks. That said, let's give little ms.no legs here a chance to have her friends carry her out"

 

duke takes the helmet off the wounded insurgent revealing it was a beautiful young girl. Couldn't be any older than 20.

she sweating and in too much pain to do anything.

 

duke crushed her helmet in his hands

"ooops.... .... ok do what you will, I'm going to respect your choice and hope you respect mine"

[RainbowDaringDash]

 

Sky charged in, and of couse as he expected he was met by a hail of gunfire from three guys with SMG's, two with handguns. The other six turned upon him entering the room, three armed with M7 Caseless SMG's, two with magnums.... But the last one dashed off. He was bloody HUGE! He was nearly as tall as him, and just legged it. Sky didn't know why, but judging by the fact he had been at the computer.... He had some intel he didn't want to get out. He had a room full of people to deal with. While moving, he quickly yelled over the radio towards Lock-On, who was still outside.

 

"A large Innie is escapting through the emergency exit from the objective, will pursue after dealing with current engagement. Take him out" He calls, quickly speeding up in a short burst, moving into CQC range of all of them. They all raised there guns, pointing at him though he was quick to disarm. As the two in front of him tried to to shoot he punched them both in the face, knocking them back, alive... Maybe. There was two to his left, in a line, and with a well placed side kick he sent them both into the wall, groaning. The two to his right got off some shots, the bullets hitting his shields and disolving. He turns and grabs them both, pulling them in front of him right as a volly came from the remaining five who hadn't been knocked down. Sky felt every impact, the bullets smacking into the bodies, which shook them. After thirty seconds, in which the gunfire stopped, he threw the bodies, one hand each, into the five, knocking all but one down. He quickly sprinted, leaping into the air and before the Innie could reload, he landed on him feet first, crushing his lungs. He noticed movement behind him on his motion sensor, so he quickly used his agility to flip to the side, landing on his back, and raised both his magnuims, and proceeded to put a bullet into all but one of the innies in the room. The one who was pinned to the wall by the kick Sky ran over, grabbed him by the neck and lifting him up, pressing one of his handguns into the innies stomach. 

 

"What were you here for, and who was that who ran. If you value your life you will tell me"

[Shadowbolt0]

Trent frowned at the Spartan. What was he talking about? Cloaked Covies? They were ages away from the front line, this was a simple in and out mission. His mind paused completely when the word ‘Nuke’ came up. The Spartans had orders, to use a failsafe nuke?! While that, of itself, wasn’t a shocker to the ODST, what made him scared was the knowledge both Butler and Midnight grew up on his planet and had spent time in this area. The captains tolerance of Spartans was already limited…

“I…” Trent hesitated as the helmet revealed the girl. Dammit! Innies were not people, they were a problem! Yet, he found his trigger finger not working. Dammit this was so much easier when the Captain was speaking to him about how they weren’t people, just targets. Just objects. So much easier to shoot.

“Dammit!” Trent shakes his head, but walks away “Ok fine, you made your point. We let them go…” The ODST wasn’t pleased about the entire situation. But, now he had an issue. Did he keep the nuke to himself, or tell the Captain….If she found out, it would be bloody…

 

 

Isabella ‘Lock-On’ Dylandy hadn’t expected anything. The girl had simply been sitting on the roof, bored. She had dismantaled and remade her sniper purely out of bordem. That’s when she heard the Spartan in her ear. Her reply was cold, a simple “Roger”. The second the Innie poked his head outside, it exploded. A single sniper shot found its mark.

“Target eliminated” was the girls answer before going radio silent.

 

The Innie that Sky had hostage simply grinned up at the Spartan. He spat blood onto the Spartans visor “I won’t talk to you” he said simply , before swallowing something that was within his mouth and he began to laugh “We win this round, you damn machine” before the cyanide from the pill killed the Innie soldier

[augercorn]

Duke walked along and pointed at a sighn reading it

it was just a directory placard but now he knew where the bomb was.

he casually walked ready for an ambush. 

 

He checked the radios, everything was going well

 

but he was suspicious, something seemed wrong

 

on the radio he asked Trent 

"hey umm? Would you mind stayin close? I got a bad feeling."

 

duke wa used to knowing everything! Every potential outcome, and what would lead to it. Every angle he calculated and every item he scanned

 

but for the first time in his new life he felt worried out of pure emotion. A sense dread and fear 

[RainbowDaringDash]

 

Sky heard Lock-On respond, the target was down. That was good... It meant that the body was no longer running with intel, possibly. He just shurgged when the innie offed itself, wondering what it meant by they win. They were all dead....He went over to the computer, and started to download the data. He really didn't want the Innies escaping with this.... and he definitely didn't want ODST's learning about this stuff. It was very... well bad and confidential. He downloaded all the files, deleting the original copies as he went, and once every file was done he walked out the emergency exit, heading to check the corpse that Lock-On had just produced.

 

"Nice shot" He says to her, giving a thumbs up, before checking its corpse.

[Shadowbolt0]

 Trent frowned. He wasn’t much when it came to knowledge, he had been a peoples person. Or at least, that was what he assumed. He had lost his memory, and found knocked out in a UNSC Pelican many months back. He had ODST dogtags, so command threw him in with specialists expecting him to die.

But he knew people. Knew how to read them as if they were mere books, a gift he had. So he could almost smell the fear the Spartan had. It was the tinest of things in his voice that made alarms go off in his head. The ODST nodded, and stuck close.

 

The route to the nuke was clear, until the nuke switch itself. The device was part of a console system that kept the bases major operations under control. Power, heating. In that very room was a problem. Consisting of Covernment forces. There were 6 Sangheili, better known by UNSC forces as the feared ‘Elites’. From their armour alone, Duke would be able to access UNSC records and link them with the Spec-Ops Elites. White armour, slanted helmet and, as he records showed. All of these guys had invisibility devices equipped. However, there were two oddities that did NOT fit the MO of Covernment infiltration teams. The first was the presense of Skirmishers, or the ‘Kig-Yar’. Simply names ‘Jackles’.

 And the second was an odd and rare creature. Offical UNSC records name it the Huragok. Nicknamed the Engineer, the only thing known of these creatures was they were non-combatants and had been reports of them repairing UNSC equipment. Puffy and half-mechanical, the opinion on shooting them was mixed.

The consoles were down a narrow corridor. Meaning they’d be spotted a mile away, and with little options for cover. The ODST didn’t like the odds of a heads on assault. Innies were one thing, but covies?! The ODST loaded his rifle, and went silent for a few moments before looking over at the Spartan “Sir. We’ve secured the hanger and a Pelican is prepped for launch” he informed the Spartan, relying information back and forth to his team, giving the Spartan time to come up with how to attack the current problem.

 

 

Lock-On frowned as the Spartan gave her a thumbs up. Why would he do that? ODSTs and Spartans were rivals, despite being on the same side. But, she opted to not think about it. She had her orders, and would follow them out. Keeping an eye on the distance.

The corpose of the Innie was nothing special. The only unique thing about him was his size. No enhancements, no special orders. As if everything he needed to know had simply been memorised before being deployed.

 

In the distance, the battle raged on between UNSC forces and the Coverment. However, a UNSC distress call came out. One every soldier hated to hear from the UNSC Navy.

‘All Forces, this is UNSC Minotaur. Be aware the Covies have brought in reinforcements and UNSC Navy has been forced back. We have confirmation that several Covenant Destroyers are headed groundside, along with one Reverence-Class Cruiser. They will begin to overrun the ground, hold your positions”

[augercorn]

Under his helmet duke mouthed "what the fuuuu?" He held the hand signal to pause. 

Duke used his suite to connect to the intercom. Using a standard emergency code

he would try to talk to these elietes 

 

he took deep breath And was about to say something, whether signal for reinforcements came in

....

this whole thing wasn't making sense!

 

after mustering his thoughts he spoke

his voce projecting into the nuke room.

 

"attention covenant" his voice echoed 

"this is Spartan a231, we are under orders to destroy this base. Lay down your weapons. We have no intention of combat."

with a mighty toss he chucked his smg down the hall. It slid into the room

 

"I'm willing to negotiate a truth. I don't care who you are or what you have done. Let's be smart about this."

 

he disconected and and looked to Trent "I'm going to go out there unarmed" he checked his knife and slid it back in to sheath. 

"Stay in cover, don't shoot till I give you the signal."

he punched the air on his side, the generic hand symbol for hasty ambush.

 

he took another deep breath "here goes something stupid" he said walking out slowly and calmly 

[RainbowDaringDash]

Sky looked at the body, seeing nothing at all. It was just some over sized innie. He looked in the sky upon seeing the distress Beacon. He knew they had to leave... Now. He swore loudly before storming back inside, seeing on of the innies getting up and lunging at him. Without any care in the world, Sky grabbed his arm, pulling it out of the socket before kicking his leg, breaking every single bone in it. He held him there for a few seconds, letting him scream before he threw him down the hallway, the body probably smashing into a wall near Lucifer, the rest of his bones shattering, and if he was still alive, he would be dead within seconds. Sky walked up, and kicked him through the wall before opening his tac pad, he had all the info they needed.

 

"Sitrep, hows extraction. We need to leave" He said on an open group, starting to walk towards the hanger. Then on a private channel to Duke "You better have that nuke armed, covie incoming"

[Shadowbolt0]

The reaction, of Dukes attempted communication with the Covenant Strike Force. It was not one with any idea of peace. The action made by the force was instant. The team of Skirmishers scattered within an instant, escaping through a sewerage gate that surely was how they infiltrated the base in the first place.

The reaction from the elites was much more professional. As to be expected from the best the covenant had to offer. The ‘lower’ ranks moved forwards, Plasma Rifles and Repeaters aimed at the Spartan, but they didn’t fire. An elite at the back, who wore Blood Red Armour, let out a loud noise. An Order. The Elites didn’t fire, but it was clear from their movements alone. There was to be only bloodshed.

 

 

Trent saw the Order given by Duke, and ensured his weapon was loaded, and grabbed two grenades into his hands. This Spartan was insane, but because of it, they hadn’t spotted him yet. He took aim, but waited. This Spartan was no Captain, but, there was something Trent couldn’t deny himself. This Spartan was someone worth fighting with.

 

 

 

Lucy ‘Lucifer’ Star had dispatched majority of the Innies after the Spartan left. With the tin-can no longer staring at her, the girl disregarded every single rule the UNSC had about combat. The bodies around her were broken and it was clear she had taken her time. Her helmet was off, throw into the floor as the girls face turned to face the Spartan.

In an odd way, she was beautiful. Long straight hair that glowed like early morning sunlight. Her eyes, crimson like the blood that strained her white, but tanned skin. She looked like a beautiful young girl barely out of her teens. Of course, not all of them would be in ODST armour and surrounded by dead Innies.

“Took you long enough” she said, picking up her helmet from the ground and clipped it onto her belt. She already knew she’d cop it from the Captain for taking the helmet off, how would the Spartan react, damn machines. “The Captains got the pelican working in the Hanger. Trent said your Spartan friend hit some sorta issue, might wanna go make sure he hasn’t blown a fuse or somethin’” she said lazily as she began a walk towards the Hanger. She didn’t know what the Spartan intended to do, and honestly, she didn’t care. Spartans were just weird freaks of nature to Lucy, and buzzkills who hated her having fun.

[augercorn]

Duke watched as the humans ran way. He cursed under his breath, but knew that there was not much he could do to stop them.  He walked out and wanted to smack himself in the face seeing how he covenant were about to use him s. Shooting gallery.

 

this was going to be tough for him. But it wa. Good tactical position. He he'd his hands up ms walked forward. The other team was ready and they didn't have much time!

 

"hi! Just sying there's an easy solution to all this!" He let his hand up ready to signal and calculated 

 

he got close enogh to pounce on the eliete closest to the council. He would grabble with him into a spot of cover. Give the signal, hope he could kill it hand to hand. Activate the council and run!

 

he got in position "you do know this place is going to blow soon, take your men nod leave while you can!"

 

duke as scared as he was didn't have it in him to make the first blow. If he killed it would be to defend his team.

[RainbowDaringDash]

 

He entered to a scene he hadn't fully expected... Though remained unfazed. The ODST was crazy, and honestly had broken a fair few laws about fighting. This was just intense, there was no need to actually kill this many of them... in this way. He didn't want to bring it up though, mainly due to the fact it was done, and nothing was going to stop that, or going to deny the fact she is a good soldier, one they needed in this war....

 

He nodded to her, before walking off, heading to the stairs to go down levels. He waited for a response... Getting nothing. Something must be wrong. Sky drew his DMR off his back, it connecting with his HUD once he picked it up, the ammo count showing empty. He quickly reloaded it, before bolting full speed towards where the Nuke would be... And hopefully where Duke and the others would be.

 

"Duke, i'm enroute to your location"

@augercorn

[Shadowbolt0]

The elites reacted to Dukes aggression, well, just like it was to be expected. The minors of the squad moved forwards and open fired, hot plasma licking the walls, ground and the Spartans shields. He had moved too close, and they were taking no chances. The major in the backline backed away, giving Duke an opening to hit the button, albeit one where Plasma fire would hit him without covering fire.

However, the cover fire came from Trent. But he wasn’t firing his rifle, rather, he grabbed the LMG that had been in the previous fight and hauled it over to his cover. He couldn’t move it a ton, but he jammed down the trigger and the weapon started firing hard. 450-550 712.7x99mm rounds came flying out at the elites. One didn’t react in time, their shields being torn down and their chest riddled open. Trent let out a loud battle yell as the elites split their fire onto the ODST. Duke had seconds, if that, of an opening.

 

In the hanger, all members of ODST team Jinx, minus Trent, had rallied up and had locked down the hanger. Dead Innies littered the hanger, ones that had been cleanly dispatched. The team were chatting in their private coms, and it was far from pleasant discussion as they looked at the back of the Pelican.

“We’ll never reach the ship with this bird…”

“Well, it’s the only one that is air-worthy”

“If that’s the case, we’ll fly to a unsc base and take a ride back up”

The voice was final, and filled with a cold anger. Alisea ‘Midnight’ was not pleased. They were nuking their home, and her team hasn’t been informed about it. When those Spartans got here, they had answering to do…A lot of it.

[augercorn]

(Next time I slip on posts just tell me in skype or something)

 

duke took a few hits. His sheilds  held but the plasma burned and made him feel painfully hot underneath. In one moment he knew what to do.

 

he leaped forward and slammed the self destruct sequence on the computer. Before even finishing he tossed all the plasma grenades at the front line. Two small explosions wouldn't likely kill even the smaller covies. But it would make them seek cover or break there firing.

 

then in a dead sprint he ran forward, rolling on the ground and picking up his smg. He ran and held his weapon up blasting on where he estimated they would be. Rapid bursts meant to held them off. His shield was almost down when he jumped forward grabbing Trent and getting them back in the tunnel

 

he didn't want to leave the big gun there. But he would be killed if he stayed longer.

"go! There already dead!" He shouted to the small odst as he set him down "reconnoiter with your team! I'll make sure they don't catch up!" The ringing of the alarm for broken shields blasted his ears. He took a deep breath and ran down the hall reloading the smg.

 

it wasnt smooth, or safe. But they hit the sequence. The base would be vapor in a few moments.

"go!" He shouted to Trent!

then quickly switching to the universal channel he shouted "base is going to blow! Get air evac ready asap! We're coming your way!" 

 

The Spartan dove behind cover and and and opened up some vents on his armor. Letting the heat escape. His body and shield needed a few moments. He blind fired over the cover so Trent would have a clean escape 

 

duke questioned his principles. If he came in guns blazing Trent would be safer, and he was foolish. His "morality" endangered his men and the mission. 

[RainbowDaringDash]

Sky was bolting full force, nearing Duke's position when he heard the universal call. The nuke was armed... That was good, but the fact he said it on universal was only trouble. This part of there mission was TOP secret... They weren't meant to tell the ODST! The fact he had, either meant something bad had happened.... Or he had disobeyed orders. He didn't have time to decide which though, because right as he was about to, he saw Duke venting his armor? 

 

Before he even could take another step down, a plasma bolt flew through the air into his armor. Sky quickly reacted after the first bolt hit him, diving diagonally into cover on the other side of the doorway, managing to only take another shot on his foot. His shields were stable. He looked over to Duke, who was blind firing, and Trent, who seemed to be a little stunned after having been grabbed by the huge spartan. Sky quickly turned around the corner, aiming his DMR quickly, firing three shots, one of the armor piercing rounds clipping through a bit of the cover an Elite was behind, the bullet hitting it hand, and piercing through its shields, but not doing much to it other than that. Be quickly pulled his body back, avoiding a hail of plasma fire.

"Evacuate, we will deal with this" He said to the ODST, before blind firing the rest of his clip out into the Covies.

[augercorn]

Duke had his disagreements with his partner. A fellow Spartan. But boy was he glad he was here. Even if he hadn't screwed up, it would be dangerous battle. He closes his vents and yelled

 

"thanks! The explosion is immanent! We should just lay down fire and move back!" He suggested. He energy shield stopped beeping andthe most delightful sound came in as it reved back up to full!

 

he pops out of cover taking a few inevitable hits and fires a clean spray down the halls

"move and shoot! Move and shoot!" He suggests 

[RainbowDaringDash]

(sorry, school got hectic)

Sky listened to the spartan, he had primed the nuke... That was good, and he had a sound plan for escaping, well, at least as sound as it could be. Move and shoot, one covers while the other moves. He knew he could take them all out, but that wasn't his objective, not if he wanted to live the explosion and not take a few shots while charging through them. 

"Roger that" He replies simply, before watching him take a few shots. The covies, thinking that they had a few moments, came out from cover, putting shots down at them, Sky quickly popping around the corner, hitting a jackal in the head, before continuing to empty his clip, a few rounds managing to penentrate the cover. Whiling emptying his clip out, keeping them pinned down as he started walking back out the hallway.