--GREY TEAM--

After I finished placing the last few parts of my suit, I reach up and hooked my fingers under the rim of my helmet. I scooped it up off of the rack and held it loosely at my side. A thought finally ran back across my mind. The new team member. I looked up to her after inspecting to make sure my armor was ready. Instantly noticing her already wearing her newly fashioned head gear. A playful chuckle left my mouth -'She's ready to go, huh?'- before I made my way to her, addressing her at the same time. "So I'm guessing you don't remember me either, Fletcher?" I ask, an eyebrow rising and crinkling my brow. I shook my head inwardly. I wasn't sure if I, myself had such a great memory or if it was from augmentation.

"Well you two. You heard the Admiral. Looks like I'm squad leader, so I say we move out and head to requistions for our weapons and gear. From there, we will make our way to the docking bay for departure." I nodded to them both in the same motion and tucked my helmet under my arm as I opened the door and began down the hallway. Swift in step, but calm in nature.

Why did she wear such an aggressive stand-offish looking helmet? The reason was really quite simple. Her helmet was the main thing that other Spartans saw whenever she was in the field or walking around the forward bases between missions. She was the silent sniper that stared through the eyes of a skull.
Her personality was the complete opposite of what her helmet displayed, which was why she wore it. So that she wouldn't be underestimated.
That and she had gotten the helmet from someone she had looked up to while she was being trained.

Now she carried the helmet by the rim at the front and turned to look at the squad leader as he addressed the squad's engineer, Fletcher. Emilia liked the new squad member already. Mainly because their personalities seemed quite similar.
Though the fact that she lacked combat experience was a little bit worrying. It would all work out in the end. What truly mattered was the objective and capturing their target.
"Sounds good to me." Emilia replied to Samuel's words, moving to follow behind him. Walking along side the other two she felt something very close to pride.

Mia looked up and grinned inside her helmet. Then stopped when she realized that no one could see her expression. Griffin was right, she didn't recognize him. Was she meant to?
"Yes, Sir." She said, nodding and followed him. She looked around at the other female and jumped, gasping slightly as a skull faced her. Then she realized that this was just her team mate's helmet. Quite intimidating for a sniper so secretive, but this girl must have her reasons. Mia coughed embarrassed and proceeded to walk, hoping that the others didn't notice her startle, but she couldn't tell.

Mia was partly nervous to receive her weapons, but very excited to handle something to compatibly sound, and she knew she was about to possess some of the most technologically advanced software and trinkets the military had to offer. If only she could take them apart to obverse them, but she needed them intact to do her duty to the team.

The walk to requisitions was long. Only because it was oddly quiet. I had assumed this was normal for a new squad, everyone being awkward or nervous. I glanced back quickly, "Not the talkative bunch are we?" I returned my gaze ahead, before rounding the corner to the now openly visible office. Marines, ODST, and various Spartans checking and cleaning weapons. Working on vehicles and dissecting various equipment. It was too busy here in my opinion.

I led the group to the front desk. I knocked on the window and quite the scrawny looking marine greeted me with a salute. "What do you need sir?" He asked in a somewhat worried tone. I'm sure our group looked intimidating together. "Grey Team, checking in for requisitions."

The marine stopped in his tracks and looked back at me through the side of his orange tinted sunglasses. "Follow me." He responded simply, as he opened the door for us. I looked back to Noon and Fletcher, raising both eyebrows in anticipation as he led us to a dark back room. The lights flickered on and we were joined by three men dressed in the earlier black combat suit from earlier. Each one walked to meet one of us to induvidually hand out gear.

"Your helmet." He spoke firmly, but not aggressively. It was a weird feeling, dealing with these shady men. I handed over my helmet and watched as he placed an AI stabilizer in my helmet. I assumed so that we could each summon Alto indiviually. Next, he placed some sort of transit module that connected with a pack that was now on my back. -'Comms station?'-

He motioned me to follow him and we entered a room literally filled with guns. He made his way through and handed me a silenced pistol that I had seen some of the Spec Ops ODST use before. As well as a silenced smg that resembled theirs also. I clipped these to the outside of either thigh as I waited for my favorite weapon of all. My baby: The Assult Rifle. Or AR for short. I smiled as he handed it over and I examined it thoroughly. "For if things get....loud." He added. On the way out, I grabbed a belt of grenades and spare, random ammo packs. It also happened to also have a machete laced under it all. Seems handy enough. I wrapped it diagonally across my body and clipped my AR into my slot on my back, as I stood and waited for the other two silently.

The walk to the requisitions are was long and silent but that fit the Captain quite nicely. She didn't mind the silence that had fallen between them. It wasn't surprising that they weren't conversing as much as a normal squad would. Not only were they the elite of their class but they were also practically complete strangers for the most part.
It was going to be a little while before they became acquainted with one another.
In the mean time though they headed into the requisitions office to receive their gear.

Emilia followed the man that came to her and guided her to the weapons that were going to be hers. Her load-out wasn't very complicated. She was handed her combat blade which she placed on a clip on the side of her thigh plate, where a person usually placed another secondary weapon. Next she was given her sidearm. The same that she usually carried however this one seemed to have been modified to fit the needs of someone trapped in a sticky situation. Finally she was given the weapon she had learned to both respect and fear; an SRS99C-S2 AMB Sniper Rifle specially outfitted with an advanced optic scope and a hybrid suppressed compensator.
"The best that the military has to offer." the man said to which Noon nodded her head slightly.

Her rifle was heavy but it was the nice kind of heavy. The kind of heavy that let a person know that they were carrying stopping-power in their hands. She slung the weapon over her shoulder, grabbed a bandolier of ammunition for both her sidearm and her rifle, and then proceeded to take two fragmentation grenades and three smoke grenades.
Now that she was fully outfitted Emilia placed her helmet over her head and double-checked all of the settings of her HUD.
She was ready.
She moved to join the others quietly.

Yes, she was a quiet girl, but Mia was also somewhat shy and barely knew the others. She hoped that this fact would one day change and she could feel more comfortable around them, but she doubted it would be her to start a friendship, especially as she hadn't made the greatest first impression with her tardiness.

Finally reaching the equipment, Mia was handed a pistol and a small knife, in addition to a shotgun that she decided to decline after some thought. Thankfully, the others couldn't read her mind. 'pistol' and 'knife' were not generally words that were used in the military, at least not to her knowledge. She had heard descriptions for such objects like 278B-86F Firebird, a term she made up on the spot, but to her, these weapons were no more than a gun and a blade, and she cared very little for their official titles. If told, she'd probably forget them minutes after, anyway. Most soldiers she had heard of had great passions for their weapons and could often identify the packaging number of any weapon held several feet from them at first glance, but if Mia came into contact with such a thing in any situation excluding her current one, she wouldn't attempt to identify the weapon. She would more than likely panic that she was staring down the barrel of a 'gun'. Never-the-less, she strapped the two objects to her belt gingerly. If she had a choice, she hoped she would never have to use them for their designed purposes.

Next were the gadgets. Now these were more of her style. A WCG handheld gleamed as though smiling up at her and she smiled to herself under her helmet. During moments like this, she understood a passion for weapons and being able to name them with little to no difficulty, for her life lay in directly in front of her, held onto what gun enthusiasts would probably call a 'mini computer'.

Mia caressed the device in her palm before pocketing it and turning to a small case designed to be attached to the back of her armour. It resembled a small box or tool kit, and this was precisely what it was. She ran her gloved hands over the casing before opening it up to see what treasures it held within. It was beautiful. Drivers and pliers, wires and pumps, spanners and screws, all of varying sizes and styles. Any mechanic would dream of owning these in such an organized fashion, and there she was, the team's technical engineer, and these were all at her disposal. She felt much better in sight of these than she had moments before while handling her weapons. The others could deal with serious combat. Her job was to make sure that the tools they needed actually worked. That an infiltrating computational devices.

Who was she kidding, she knew she had to pull the trigger one day.

She closed the tool kit and attached it to her back before turning to the other two and standing to attention. She was as ready as she would ever be to get this mission started, but judging by the enthusiastic stances of the others, she might not be as ready as they were. Perhaps they had previous experience in the field of combat, she didn't know. But there was always a first time for everything, she just had to stop being reminded that not everything had to be tried.

After everyone had gathered, giving me the impression we were all ready, I turned and waved my hand over my shoulder. "Let's move out!" I undid my ponytail and held my bangs back before sliding my helmet on. Once everything connected and I double checked my HUD; I set my visor to clear. That way, my squadmates could see me better and so I could see better also. All the lights on my suit turned a cool blue at the moment that everything was connected.

I'm sure were quite the site as we were walking together, as I had notcied getting quite a few looks. Even from Spartans. I smiled to myself while glancing about, seeing all the technical things going on. I am glad we actually have Fletcher now, I would be completely lost if we had anything wrong with a vehical or equipment.

After going through a small corridor, it opened up into an even larger room. The largest to be exact. This was the hanger. Pelicans, Hornets, and even Longswords. A marine jogged up to me and waved me to a pelican that was already running and ready to lift off. I took this as a sign to pick up step. So I proceeded to go into a fast jog, getting to the vehicle rather quickly. However, once I got to the back, I noticed we were not alone. There were four of the largest Spartans I have ever seen. They were all suited in full black regulation armor. Save for one shoulder on each. They all had one shoulder piece that was different from reg and even also different from eachother. The different shoulder was red, matching all their lighting.

I was even intimidated by these guys. Nevertheless, I hopped into the back of the pelican and took a seat next to one of them on my left. I tried to be a slight bit friendly by giving a, "Hey man." He simply looked at me for a moment before looking back straight ahead. -'Uhh alrighty then'-

The pelican lifted off and I began receiving a transmission. It was from Cole. His voice came over my comm, "You will be working a joint operation with Black Team today. The mission will have you rendevous with them later." I simply responded with a, "Understood, sir." The channel went blank and we left the hanger of the Orion's Blade space cruiser, going into a phase of zero gravity until the rear door closed. Which allows for an artifical gravity terminal to turn on and repressurize the cargo bay.

I made an attempt to get a bit of information from these guys and asked, "So. Black Team right? Do you guys have an idea of where we are going at least?" They all looked at me this time, it was kind of creepy actually, none answered. The bay was filled with silence yet again, until I heard a rough voice speak up. He sounded as if he had some sort of british or austrailian accent when he spoke. "We are headed to the planet Epsilion. We have a hidden comand base there." He paused. "I suggest for you and your...friends here to stay out of our way. Or you'll regret it. Now shut up. I would like to enjoy the rest of my flight without you rookies bothering me."

All I could do was sit there; in dumbfound astonishment. Was this guy serious? He must have woken up with a grunt in his ass. I shook my head to myself before leaning it back, closing my eyes for the rest of the flight.

All I was trying to do was take initiative and run my squad the best I could. So I could show Noon and Fletcher they had a reason to respect me. To show the higher ups that I deserved this title. All I really was managing to show was how I was a weak, wanna be to everyone by now I'm sure.

--UNSC--


Pelican:

Spoiler:

Hornet:

Spoiler:

Warthog:

Spoiler:

Mongoose:

Spoiler:

Scorpion tank:

Spoiler:

-Covenant-

Phantom:

Spoiler:

Wraith Tank:

Spoiler:

Banshee:

Spoiler:

Ghost:

Spoiler:

Mia continued to follow Griffin though large doors. What was held beyond them, she did not know, and this scared her slightly. If she was afraid of the simple act of finding out what was on the other side of those doors, how would she respond during combat? Mia wasn't a fighter, she was a fixer, although she had known to be a hacker. In fact, that title had been the reason she had been chosen to join these Spartans. While most others had spent their years in military training, Mia had been cooped up in a government official office in London as a hacker to the British correspondent. There wasn't a firewall out there that could hold her back, and she had even proceeded to invent her own, which obviously forced the US military to take an interest in her. However, it wasn't until her confession of her love of mechanics that the interviews really started. Engineering had simply been a hobby, and who would ever take a young adult English girl seriously under the hood of a German tank, but until she had proved to be worthy, without even intending to apply for a new job over seas, this hobby had been no more than fun entertainment for her. Before she knew it, she was on a private yet, and a pretty one at that, to the United States to serve in their special ops military. Earning the title of sergeant had been a struggle for her, but she had come this far and surprisingly loved her job, despite the fact that she was now about to enter through these unknown doors to whatever dangers were held within. Up until now, her life had been moderately uneventful, and she never had to fear for her life like this mission would. This was the biggest test yet.

Taking a deep breath, she entered through the doors and gasped. It was like stepping into a mechanical heaven. Hornets, Pelicans, Scorpions, and warthogs stood proudly before her in the large aircraft hanger. It was a site to behold. The Grey Team walked towards a particularly large Pelican that she recognized as the D77H-TCI Dropship. Her mind temporarily floated back to her amateur naming of the guns and she couldn't help but smile to herself. She had so little knowledge when it came to weapons, but this ship represented her heart. She reached out and ran her hand over the metallic armour that plated the cockpit. "She's beautiful!" She whispered. "An original from 2552." She longed to take a look inside, but alas, doubted she would have that luxury while they were on such a tight schedule.

Resiting the urge to gaze at her exterior for any longer, Mia pulled herself inside and settled herself on one side of Griffin. On the other were large Spartans, black, red, and intimidating. They didn't look as though they were interested in chatting, although Mia admired Griffin's attempts. At least she knew that he wasn't stone cold and glad to feel that he was somewhat approachable. Noon had a hard exterior, but after the friendly gesture to her upon her first discipline that morning, Mia was glad to conclude that she, too, wasn't as terrifying as the strangers that sat beside them.

Trying to avoid eye-contact with them from under her helmet, Mia turned her head to face the front and what she saw gave her a slight surprise. From her seat she could view the control panel that the pilot would soon be conducting, however, as she experimented by turning her head slightly from side to side, up and down, a small screen had appeared on the visor of her helmet. Graphs and calculated figures glowed on the inside of her visor and it took her a few moments to adjust to the new depth perception of her vision. "Woah." There was so much potential in that machine and for a moment, she was envious that she was not the pilot. She had flown simple aircrafts and driven in various machines, but she had to remind herself that she was not cut out to be the driver in any situation. Nevertheless, she was dying for a closer look at the controls. As she turned her head to the main throttle, and small radar appeared in the top right of her visor, a tiny hand spinning on its circular surface. She was definitely going to have fun with this! Why was it that in the military, the excitement of something fun always came with the expected fear and adrenaline of danger?

OOC: Ignore everything I just said. I can't be bothered to edit it because other than it being wrong, I kinda liked that post.

A) Mia is English, or at least has a Northern London accent.
B) Mia trained as both a mechanic and a computer hacker
C) Mia loves the Pelican
D) Mia is scared of the Black team
E) Mia's helmet does cool things.

Emilia had never been one for the machines of war. Hornets, Pelicans, and all of the machines that flew through the air. As strange as it may have sounded she hated flying. Something about the way that she was in a vulnerable position that could take fire from all directions without her being able to do anything to return fire. Short of climbing up on top of the thing to fire back. It was a bit of a scary thought.
She was used to relying on herself and herself alone. That was the way a sniper functioned. They were a one man firing squad with deadly precision and the ability to live on nothing for weeks.
Either way she wasn't looking forward to the flight ahead as they walked into the hangar.

The Captain noticed Mia take a particular liking to the exterior of the Pelican they were going to be flying in but she didn't stay behind to admire the thing. She just wanted to get in it and get out of it again. A sigh passed her lips as she stepped into the transport bay of the ship.
The thing that grabbed her attention the most were the group of large Spartans who were sat in the corner of the bay. They were grouped together and bigger than any Spartans she had ever seen before. Not the ones you wanted to get into a fight with.
Griffin tried to talk to them but the reply he got was an aggressive and almost insulting reply. Emilia immediately hated the arrogance of these soldiers.

She opened a private channel with Mia and Samuel, taking a second to glance at the other Spartans before turning her attention back to the other members of the team.
"I can hit a toothpick at 1 mile without my scope. What I'd give to give these guys a run for their money." she said in a quiet voice with a small smirk on her lips. Being underestimated was what she was something that she was very good at.
Every time someone underestimated her she was quick to prove them wrong with just one of her shots. No-one expected a Spartan as small as her to have such an exceptional shot. Even to marksman standards her effective range was a good 35% further than the others in her group.

Instead of allowing herself to think about the other Spartans, she turned her focus to her weapon. She began to disassemble the bolt and top-cover to make sure that it was perfectly clean. Nothing could mess up a long-distance shot like a dirty weapon. She was at times even a little bit obsessive over how clean she kept her rifle. At times she would catch herself double-cleaning the barrel and adjusting the sights just for the sake of making sure she had done it right.

Hey, can just get a quick update as to what's happening? It seems like a lot has happened! I'll also join as The Scout. Bio in a sec.

I'll PM you Danny

Detailed look at my helmet and weapons.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Same as Brandon. Detail on weapons and helmet.

Design of helmet

Spoiler:

SRS99C-S2 AMB Sniper Rifle

Spoiler:

M6G Pistol

Spoiler:

Combat Blade

Spoiler:

Halo.

Hmmm... Do the characters have to be Spartans? Bred to be warriors are nice, but elite mercenaries are more my style. Yes, I won't be 6'10 like most Spartans, but honestly, banana-sized bullets tear shit up all the same.

If that's too much a stretch, I could write up a Spartan.

Wait, we're using roles? There goes the sniper position.

Hmm... I could work out a team medic role. But that would leave me sitting out of the action more often. Everybody knows you hit a cross and you end up killing the entire platoon in a firefight.

The next thing I know, Noon's voice comes over comm. I glanced at the "badasses" to see if they reacted, but they didn't. This let me know she was on the private channel. I opened it from my end and chuckled. I then responded, not caring if the guy next to me heard me or not. He wouldn't know what I was talking about anyway. "Yea, no kidding. I'd definately pay top dollar to see the look on thier faces."

The big guy next to me simply looks at me again, but returns his gaze forward.

Next, I hear the pilot call out, "Entering the planets atmosphere in T-minus 10 seconds." Sure enough, shortly afterwards, the pelican began to shudder and bounce. The seat and wall were heating up quite a bit, so I had to reposition myself. I hated having anything to do with the navy. It always involved atmospheres and space and too much time without your feet on stable ground. I could tell that Black Team wasn't TOO bothered by it. -'So suprising...'-

Finally though, the turbulance stopped and it was smooth traveling to the surface. The flying beast of machinary was large, yet somehow very nimble. I never could figure out how they pulled it off.

The rear gate now slowly opens, sucking the hanger air out and quickly replacing it with fresh, natural air. The planet was actually very pretty. The earth was a blueish purple color and any vegitation seemed to be white or silver. Whereas the trunks of the trees were bright red. A very colorful planet I must say.

I noticed a few outposts that we flew over, even some patrols, before finally passing over the walls into our base. The pelican finally slowed it's foreward progess and began to descend. When it touched down the buckles snapped off and I stood immediately, grabbing my AR as I jumped out. I cleared the LZ of the pelican as soon as possible and headed over to where there was a couple ODST standing near what looked like a fresh vehicle supply.

The reply from the Lieutenant Colonel made a slight smile spread across Emilia's lips. She was beginning to like their squad leader. Both because he seemed like he knew what he was doing, though that was yet to be proven, and because he had a sense of humor. There had been a couple times where her squad leader had been too cold to enjoy the humor she tended to throw into the fray. Those were the kinds of Spartans she didn't really like being around. They were too much like machines for her preference.
As she sat there and mused over the reply she had gotten she reassembled her weapon. It was clean and ready to fire.

When the pilot announced their entry into the planet's atmosphere she set her weapon down and leaned back against the seat. This was the part that she hated most. The shuddering, shaking, and heating up of the walls all made her feel uneasy. She hated the fact that she hated it but there was really little that she could do.
She grit her teeth and rode out the rough turbulence until it came to an end and she knew that the ship would be landing soon enough.

Once the Pelican landed and the door came down Emilia promptly stood up and stepped off the ship. She was greeted by a very colorful planet around her. It had been a while since she last saw a planet with these colors. The thought of what her active camouflage was going to look like made her want to laugh out loud.
Though she kept that thought in her head and instead moved to follow Samuel who was approaching a pair of ODST. She just followed along without saying anything. It was his role to do the talking. Her role was to take up the over-watch and make sure nothing hit them from behind, above, or without them knowing where the enemy was.

Name: Johan (Pronounced “Yo-Han”) Arnasson.
Sex: Male
Age: 25
Rank: Warrant Officer, although at the beginning of the
Role-play he is acting CO for his squad.
Ethnicity: A mixture of races ranging from Canadian mixed blooded peoples, to
Icelandic refugees, who both colonized his home planet. As such he is the
mixture of Canadian Natives and French-Icelandic unions. He is fluent in
Icelandic and French.
Skin color: White, with slight tan.
Height: 5’11” (Short compared to the giant Spartans, because
he’s an unaugmented human.)
Build: An average line of muscle, but not too imposing, nothing compared to the
Spartans.
Weight: 160 pounds.
Hair: Short and thick, a mixture of hat head and general mess. It's a dark brown, from his father and mother's darker haired family lines.
Facial Hair: 5 o’clock shadow, (mostly because he can’t find
a razor manly enough to curb the awesome)
Eyes: Plain green, from his mother’s Icelandic-Native line.

About Character -
Sexuality: Straight, but despite his colony’s views on homosexuality, he’s
perfectly okay with homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgendered people.
Personality: Older beyond his years. He joined the military
in his youth, both because of his wanderlust, and because he wanted to get off
his homeworld. After a few years of fighting human factions and hearing reports
of bizarre aliens, he’s getting a bit tired. Since he was picked out at the
firing range and slotted in ODST training at an early age, he’s become one of
the elite, but this hasn’t gone to his head.

He still retains the fieriness of his youth, and hasn’t let
military life change him much. He’ll speak his mind, even if it gets him
flogged (and it has). He’s very protective of friends, and even more so of
lovers.

His youthful wanderlust may have faded because of the blood
his seen and spilled, but he still enjoys the traveling of ODST units.

Speech: A distinctly Canadian accent while speaking English,
with slight Icelandic pronunciations of J’s and W’s coming through
occasionally.

Background: Born on a small colony, he was farm kid,
learning to shoot with his brothers, and avoiding his father. His father was a
Canadian citizen, but the man left when he was mesmerized by the possibility of
beginning again on a colony somewhere far from Earth’s rigorous class warfare
and failing economy. Johan’s mother was the product of Icelandic refugees
fleeing to Canada, and falling for the dying out Native population. She was
more Icelandic than Native however, as she lived on the colony before she met
Johan’s father. As a boy, he grew up shooting and farming, frequently running
away to the large cities, just because he loved to see new sights. When he
joined the military, (Mostly to escape the boring life of a farmer, and because
he hated his drunken father) he was picked out early on as a fine marksman.
This led a series of quick squad movements until he was ODST, and from there he
spent the next six years with them.

Starting weapons: A Designated Marksmanship rifle, standard for the marksmen of
a squad, along with a standard Magnum pistol. On his shoulderplate it a knife,
which doesn’t get used very often, but is always kept sharp “Just in case”.

Starting gear: The standard armor units for ODST, but
modified (illegally, but his old CO allowed it to be done) to be lighter and
less restricting. Their ODST squad is colored grey-black, for "Psychological Warfare"
Essentially, the uniform has been modified to look like
this.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ezXfXwVkn3k/TTCm1It9HJI/AAAAAAAAAB4/xdae_tr_nGI/s1600/ih_ODST_01.jpg
The others have similar outfits, but with heavier armor plates and grey faceplates. On his right shoulder a Icelandic rune symbolizing glory, is scratched upon a painted on red skull's forehead.


Secondary Squadmates:


Name: Jarnosson called “Jarno” with a Scandinavian
pronunciation of J’s once again.
Sex: Male
Age: 27
Rank: First Sergeant

History: He’s one of Johan’s old friends from their
homeworld, they both joined up, after Jarno was fired from his job and lost his
girlfriend in a car accident. Without much to live for, Jarno joined up with
the impassioned Johan and they both made ODST together. He’s a field engineer
for the squad.
He has a similar skull-rune scratched on his armor.

Second secondary character (likely a toss away)


Name: Geoffrey Williams
Sex: Male
Age: 20
Rank: Corporal

Ooc: Welcome.

"You heard them!" Jarno whispered harshly. I nodded, indeed I had heard
what the men had said. They had called us Spartans, and then fired. Why
in Hell would they be expecting the newest Elite toys to be out here? I
fiddled with my communication link, tuning into frequencies for our
Major, who had sent us out here to 'Keep an eye on the countryside'.
ODST, patrolling in the middle of nowhere?

Another voice piped up in the background, "Shit!" He called out. I
looked to my left, to see Geoffry haul himself over the side of the dirt
road, landing awkwardly on the muddy ground next to us. I moved towards
him, he pulled himself up raising his rifle to the ready while sitting behind the little trench.

There was little sound from the forest, the sounds of nature had died away, and it was deathly quiet. The slight groaning of our CO was heard through our comms. Jarno looked over the top of the dirt path, a good thirty feet ahead, two men lay dead, alongside our CO, gurgling out his lifeblood.

"They're baiting us!" He spat.

"He's already dead!" I whispered back, harshly. I knew it was true, the sounds of gurgling were simply the sounds of a quickly dying man. I had seen the helmet plate splinter from the bullet. It ripped clean into his head. Even if we could haul him out, he'd be infirmed for the rest of his life.

Jarno cursed under his breath, raising his assault rifle to the ready. On my other side, Geoffry did similar.

"Too fuckin' quiet." the younger man cursed, his head swivelling around to scan the foliage around the sixty foot clearing. Scans had shown nothing here, a rehashed blank space, (one reason why we were sent to patrol the place), but it was painfully clear from the vehicle tracks that there was a habitation of some kind near here.

"The way they conduct themselves, I say more goddamn rebels." Jarno said again, once more hiding under cover.

"We don't know that for sure." I said quickly, trying to break the comm silence with command.

"What if it's the Aliens?" Geoffry asked bobbing on the balls of his feet, worried by his own wild speculation. Before I could dismiss it, the hot tempered Jarno cut me off.

"Are you fucking kidding? Covenant boil you with plasma, not use bullets."

I looked over the top of the mound once more. I seen nothing but the now twitching CO Erikur, red blood mixing with the light brown mud surrounding his head.

Finally I heard the crackle of a receiving channel.

"Trooper?" A man's voice asked.

""Requesting immediate assitance, we are attacked by an unknown force. Captain Erikur Sveni is counted among the casualties, along with Sergeants John Miller and Eric Matthews." I reported quickly, hiding under cover, while my two surviving squadmates kept lookout. The man on the other end replied that he understood.

The comm quickly switched, I recognized the major's voice.

"Warrant Officer, where in Christ's name are you? You're blued out on our scans."

"Sir, we don't know sir. We travelled south along the dirt road, following tracks, but our driver was shot dead inside the Warthog, and we three scarecly made it to cover.

"Hold tight." The comm ended. I raised my hand to my head.

"He said "Hold Tight"," I repeated with scorn, hoisting my rifle up.

"Those are our orders, sir?" The Corporal asked. In the background I could hear Jarno's "For fucksakes" comments and his constant tapping on his comm link.

"So it would seem." I grunted in reply, as I kept scanning the foliage around the opening, where the bloodied warthog and the bodies of our squad, our comrades lay in the cold muck, drowning in a reddish brown pool of blood and dirt..

The gurgling had ceased, and Erikur's brained head had stopped leaking onto the ground. Jarno was just dragging him towards the Warthog when we heard it. A soft "pwiff". Then the hard "TANG" of the round smashing into the Warthog rang in my ears. Jarno pulled himself in, leaving the CO's body half hidden by the Warthog, a trail of blood from us to where Erikur was originally laying.

"Silenced?" Jarno asked, as we sat next to the Warthog. I was already scanning the trees for something. Still, nothing.

"Remember that time on Reach? Listen for the echo, even suppressed they give them off." I said, crouching behind the plating we pulled out. Judging from the fact none of us had been hit, the sniper was on even ground with us. But that could change in minutes. If he was a DM, he'd move, for a better vantage point. But he was likely a sniper, and he'd wait for us to move.

I scooped a handful of mud and rocks from the ground below me, Geoffrey rooted though the rucksacks next to the Warthog for something of use. I tossed the rocks up and over my back, over the Warthog into the trees. A frightful shot rang out. A different caliber from the silenced rifle the sniper had, and the weapon sounded like a DMR. I did the math in my head. He was maybe ten-twenty feet in the treeline behind us.

I announced this to the others.

"Where's the sniper then?" asked Jarno turning to look at me. As if I knew.

"Grenades." whispered Geoffrey, tossing Jarno and I two each. I grimly snapped them onto my harness.

"What do we do now?" The younger man asked, resuming his ready position, leaning against the heavy metal of the Warthog.

"Hold tight." Jarno muttered for me, ire in his voice.

Daniel McKarthy

Basic-
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Rank: Major
Ethnic: Irish and Italian background
Skin color: Slight tan
Tattoo/Piercing: Danny has an industrial on his left ear and his right eyebrow pierced. He also has a tattoo running up his left arm that moves onto his chest.

Spoiler:

Height: 6'7"
Build: Slim compared to the other men in the program, but still well build and strong. He's stronger than he looks.
Weight: 250lbs
Hair (color/style): Danny has light brown eyes. It's fairly short as to not get in his vision. When he does style it, Danny likes to push his hair up in a partial spike look.
Eyes: Bright Green. A Spartan's eyes become either a bright blue, gold, or green as an indication that the augmentation was complete.

About Character -
Sexuality: Straight
Personality: Danny is strongly emotional. Being The Scout member of the team, you'd think he'd be quiet, but Danny is one to talk a lot, sometimes about nothing. He takes things very hard on himself, and can get outwardly aggressive with inward frustration. Often very happy and carefree, Danny loves the feeling of protection, especially helping other. So when he got the chance to be the Scout, he jumped at the chance.

Starting weapons: Two silenced pistol and a highly durable katana.
Starting gear: A belt that runs across his waist. It hold both his pistol and ammo for his guns. It also hold two stun grenades, but only used sparingly. The obi (stealth like sash) runs across his torso with the sword held on his back.

Armor:
It is similar to most other pieces of armor, but being a scout, his armor is darker than the others for better stealth. It can also, however, change colours (not drastically) to deep greens, browns, and other landscapes.

Spoiler:

Weapons:
Basic yet useful weapons.
Pistols:

Spoiler:

Katana:
The obi is attached to the armor.

Spoiler:

Ooc: Welcome!

Danny was awake before most others. 0400. Every morning. He would get ready by himself, occasionally with another Spartan or two, but his mornings were always dull. 0430. Ready for training. His room mate, Wesley, snored his two hours of slept left away. Danny choose to get up this early for himself, it wasn't mandatory for Spartans to do this. Every morning Danny would debate bothering Wesley awake, but he usually decided against it. Usually.

Danny entered the gym in just shorts and runners and dealt with mostly hand to hand combat. Being a Scout, this would be more important to him. Of course he wasn't completely useless with a gun, but he was far from a sniper. So he trained, like every morning and each morning would alternate between melee weapon and hands. Of course every morning, Danny would leave the gym covered in sweat. Yet it was the physicality of this position that Danny enjoyed. The control of the situation he could have based on the movements he decided to use. It was different from a gunmen. His trainings would also deal with stealth and his abilities to think on the spot. "The brain had to be just as sharp as the sword," as Danny likes to think.

0600. Showers. Back to the showers he went to clean himself up for the day. With his initial training session out of the way, Danny was ready for the day; most of the time.

In the mess hall, Danny was as loud as could be. He would sit with a bunch of other guys and they would talk about the most pointless things and laugh about the stupidest things. Some would call him a social butterfly, but Danny just had an issue with talk and his inability to shut up. He was only halfway done his food when a voice rang out in the mess hall. With all the chatter, Danny only managed to eat half of his food. When the voice finished, everyone immediately felt for their pockets to see their positions. Danny smirked and ate a couple more mouthfuls of food before checking out his card. "Grey. Room 963. Sounds like a blast," Danny chuckled and he tucked the card back into his breast pocket and headed for the room.

Like the many others, Danny stood from his table to head over to his new assignment. Danny scratched the back of his head as he walked, the last few remnants of sleep leaving him for the next few hours. The corridors at this base were all the same (like every other base). Easy to get lost or confused, but easy to navigate once you got the hang of it. Most everyone could make it around the base like they've been there for years. When Danny got to the door that lead to room 963, he was surprised to two men outside the door. Danny stood straight and saluted the two. "Name," they asked in a sort of monotone voice. "Daniel McKarthy."

"Come with us Major," they spoke as they walked past Danny. "Follow you? Sir, I was told to report to this room, sir," Danny spoke more out of curiosity that disrespect. "And we have orders to bring you to a docking station. You will be debriefed on your way to your first mission." Danny starred at them for a moment before following close behind them. "Sir, yes, sir," he smiled.

Danny sat on the Pelican silently. In front of Danny was a holographic message addressed to him. "Congratulations Major. You've been selected to join a dedicated and powerful team. As you already know, you are part of team Grey and your position is 'The Scout'. You may be wondering where your team is. They are on a separate flight to the same planet, getting a similar debrief. We wanted you to get to this planet first and assets the evinorment for the mission you've all received. It is your job as a scout. ..."

The message went on to explain the flight, the base he'll be residing in, and what to expect from his team. Team Leader: Samuel Griffin. Team Sniper: Emilia Noon. Team Engineer: Mia Fletcher. None of these name rang a bell to Danny. With the help of a face, Danny might know them, but he currently didn't. Just another thing for Danny to look forward to.

Danny got off the ship in full armor save his helmet, which he had tucked under his left arm. "Major McKarthy." Danny fixed his eyes on a higher ranking solider. Danny saluted him. "Sir!"

"At ease Major. You've arrived right on schedule. Your team shall be arriving shortly. It appears that they are a tad ahead of schedule. No matter. Come, into the briefing room. There is an urgent task that needs to be handled with quickly," he spoke. The two walked into the base. "I'm afraid we can't wait for your team to start this briefing. You start now." Danny smiled. " Of course it does," Danny thought to himself.