--GREY TEAM--

Emilia glanced down for a moment at her weapon and pulled back the bolt, briefly counting how many rounds she had left in her magazine. She had fired four so she let the bolt slide back knowing she had six more rounds left. No reason to go through the trouble of reloading. So instead she readjusted herself and returned her aim to the area surrounding the stranded ODST units.
His voice came into her ear and she nodded her head.

"Aye. If anything moves I'll drop it before it can get a shot off. My squad leader will be there shortly." she told the man she was speaking to as she scanned over the tree line and the bushes therein. Now was the most important time for her to be vigilant. Now that the men were moving they were much more vulnerable and open to sniper fire or otherwise.

All she could do was watch them and hope that Samuel and Mia were getting through the forest alright. The ODST units were going to be glad to see them. At least she hoped so.
For now she was stuck in her position until she knew that nothing else was posing a threat to her team or the men. Four out of four wasn't too bad a ratio she mused as she adjusted her magnification for better area coverage.

"Deep within enemy territory," Danny spoke back. His movements were gentle and smooth. "There are men stranded on the outermost area of the base, but I am currently around the area of the entrance of the base, or even a building. I've yet to see one..." he trailed off as he continued to walk.

Suddenly, there were three shots, a smoke grenade, and a fourth shot. Sniper. "Nice work," Danny smiled under him helmet. He moved towards the commotion and saw two things. An area where the enemy soldiers appeared to be coming from, and the targets of the mission. Targets first. Danny ran towards the group of men, picking off individual enemy soldiers with his pistol.

"Major McKarthy, Grey Team of the Spartan units, soldiers," Danny spoke to them, finally reaching them. He was in a very vulnerable place, but he trusted his sniper and he needed the possible information theses men might have. "Our leader should be here soon, but until then, I need you men to tell me what you know. Why you came here, how you got in this mess, anything you can tell me about the enemy."

"Sir!" Geoffrey said, jumping up raising his hand in salute. I rolled my eyes under my helmet.

"Officer of Warrant, Johan Arnasson," I said introducing myself. From my kneeling position I gave a half-hearted salute. Jarno stiff-armed the same movement, "That there is... Well, just call him First Sergeant Jarnossan, Jarno is name."

"Geoffery sir."

"The green one is he." I said, again rolling my eyes. I couldn't figure out if he was awe-inspired by the living legend, or if the young man just wanted to look good for promotion.

"We're ODST, sir." Jarno said off to the side.

I struck my faceplate with my left fist in salute.

"Feet first into Hell!" I growled, followed by a similar salute from the other men.

Jarno explained: "They called us our for Spartans, and opened fire. We were sent here to check out a blip on the satellite images, routine work for UNSC ground, but they're limited. And given the trouble with Rebels..."

"They decided to send the best." I said, turning my head to watch the surrounding trees, "And, ja, to answer your question, I've no idea who's out here, all we know is they've got vehicles to make tracks, and damn good weaponry and training."

"Now, if I may speak freely, Major McKarthy," I said quickly, not waiting for a reply, "Why in God's name are Spartan II's on patrol?"

"Done!" Mis said and grinned. She had no way of knowing whether or not Noon had spoken into their communications system while she was at work. In Mia's mind, she hooped Noon hadn't, otherwise, the opposition would have heard.

Looking up, she saw that less of a crowd gathered ahead and she assumed that Noon had caused it. From what Mia had heard, noon was an excellent sniper. Mis was just glad that she didn't have to pull the trigger, herself.

When the Sergeant had stated her last statement, "Done." I nodded to her and replied before moving, "Good work Buzzbox!" A slight smile filled my visor just before it faded to black. I made a 180 and headed back in the original direction. I had earlier heard a succession of shots fired, so I assumed Noon had cleared the ODST we were on route to.

Speaking of which. I clicked the team comm back on before speaking. An audible breath pressing into the mic as I vaulted over a downed tree. I landed almost still in perfect stride. "Fletcher. Can we contact Noon now?" I asked, as the group around the warthog was becoming more apparent.

"Affirmative, Sir. The lines should be clear and secure." Mia replied. She was rather happy with herself that she managed to complete this task, and was desperate to make Griffin proud, as he was her superior. She felt she didn't quite fit into their team, so any pride or acceptance encouraged her.

"Your orders now, Sir?"

As we finally got close enough to the troopers for me to go into a fast walk, I responded to Mia's question.

"The orders are the same. We just have to run a sub-mission and make sure these soldiers are stable." After speaking, my visor shifted to clear and I slid my helmet off. My powery white hair was pressed to my head with sweat, so I shook my head in an attempt to loosen them.

I was a good hundred feet away when I decided to break the treeline and step onto the road. As I was making my way to them, I tucked my helmet under my left arm. Immediately noticing another Spartan, I knew this was the other team member they were refferring to. I finally had reached the group when I took a deep breath before stating, "I need a sitrep. Who's in charge here?"

I slipped my helmet off, revealing my appearance to the Spartans, a gesture of respect.

"Ja, I am. Erikur over there was the leader for our little recon team," I said pointing to the bloody heap Jarno was currently hauling out of the muck, against my orders to keep our eyes opened for more soldiers. I looked back to the Spartan II, craning my neck up, annoyed by everyone's persistent questioning, my blood raging for revenge, "But he isn't doing so well." I could hear Jarno's grim chortle as he flipped Erikur's body over, the grey of his ODST armor stained with mud and blood.

"Thanks solider. And we're not on patrol, we're on a mission. Security should be here shortly to help your defenses. You've done a good job soldier," Danny said genuinely. The concern for team members where always true. Before he could continue, Danny was interrupted by another. A superior.

"Sir!" Danny spoke loud and proud. He saluted the leader before standing beside him as he spoke to the targets. Danny watched as his squad leader spoke to Arnasson and his team. "If I may, sir, I would like to continue my job. You and Arnasson can disscuss but I would like to uncover and explore the base, sir." Danny waited for a response and starred at the two men.

"You've done a good job." Jarno sneered over our personal comms. I glared at him. He shrugged a silent 'what?' before finishing his original though, "Fuckin' test tubes."

"General security? The Hell they are, what are you doing here Spartans? Why did three of us die out here?" I growled, fully aware that I was far out of my place to dare speak so directly to a Lieutenant Colonel, (indeed, a Spartan II as well).

I noted the highest ranking ODST removing his helmet also. I followed his gaze to his squadmate pulling his apparent previous CO out of the mud. Pausing, I slowly looked back to this marine in front of me. "I'm sorry. But if he's still alive... It won't be for much longer. I would suggest a proper and respectful burial after the mission is complete." Without waiting to get to the point, I continued, "It will also seem that we might need you and your units help in completing this mission." I continued to look down to him for a moment before glancing at the new Spartan amongst us as he spoke. "Spartan. I'm assuming you are our scout.... Permission granted." I gave him the code for Grey Teams personal channel and nodded to him. "Report back everything. Understand?"

As I an afterthought I glanced to the side for a moment, pressing my right index and middle fingers against my ear. "Noon. What can you see from there? Anymore guards? A base? If nothing, either look for higher ground or rendevous as soon as possible." I slowly returned my line of sight to the group. A thought running across my mind -Hopefully they haven't caused to much of a commotion than nessicary. I don't want to have to burn through a wall of guards just to find our target had escaped...-

The ODST I adressed earlier decided to be a brave one and ask questions. I returned my gaze to him and stepped closer, as to give a further impression of my weight and size over him. Not even to mention my rank. "Soldier." My voice becoming quite stern compared to earlier, "I order you to stand down. That information hasn't been shared with you for a reason. Don't say anything that will end up getting you court marshalled..."

"Fuckin' test tubes." Jarno complained into his comm.

I slipped my helmet back on, careful to keep from dislodging the ear piece Jarno was currently complaining into.

"Wouldn't be the first time," I said with a stale tone, my helmet's silvery visor reflecting the steel gaze of the man leaning over me. I directed my fiery anger towards my gut. It wouldn't be the first time at all, if it wasn't for my previous commendations I'd have been discharged years ago. It is also why I remained a Warrant Officer. Command and I never did get along.

"Sir!" Danny shouted before saluting the leader. He was right to assume I was the scout, of course it didn't take a man with a high IQ to figure that out. Danny then ran from his currently place and headed towards the area of enemy soldiers he saw earlier. Entering the pass code, Danny spoke on the network. "I have yet to see a single building in any off the near vicinity. I assume, then, that the base in under ground. Exact location is currently unknown, but I'll keep my eyes peeled."

From where she was laid she could see the other Spartans of her team move to make contact with the ODST units. With their arrival came a small rush of relief. She was glad that she was no longer the only thing keeping the ODST safe per say. The Captain knew that they could hold their own but so long as they were pinned down there was little they could do against an unseen enemy in a better position.
Now though the other Spartans had arrived and could engage any further enemies together from close range.

Suddenly the voice of Samuel came over her radio and she brought her eye away from the scope just long enough to reply to his question.
"Nothing on my end, sir. I'll keep scanning the area for another three minutes and then I'll move to a higher position. I can't promise anything though. These rogues are keeping their base well-hidden."
Suddenly there was motion in the distance and she returned her eye to the scope.
"Hang on. Movement." she quickly reported as she moved her crosshairs over the shape.

It looked like a scout. He was running away from where his allies had been. It looked like he had been there the whole time only he had been waiting for them to be distracted before making a break for it. Big mistake.
Noon opened fire and sent a round straight through the man's leg. The poor figure stumbled and fell to the ground with a scream, grabbing at the stump that had once been his leg.
"Sir, you might want to grab him before he bleeds out." She said into her microphone as she moved to stand up and find higher ground.

The new Spartan's voice came over the comm and I went ahead and slid my helmet on before responding. "Underground base. Got it." Damnit. An underground base makes this job a bit more difficult, but nothing we couldn't handle. We would just have to basically clear off all the surrounding guards. All of them. Which was annoying in my opinion, but that's what it takes to get the job done.

The echo of another sniper shot, followed with Noon telling me to pick up the guy she just shot. Hmm... A prisoner? I wonder how badly she injured this guy. With a rilfe that had that caliber, I'd be suprised if he had whatever limb she happened to hit.

I guessed absolutely correct in terms of loss of limbs. He left a trail of blood behind us as I dragged him through the woods and now, onto the road. Leaning him against the warthog, I looked to Mia. "Fletcher. See if you can't fashion a make-shift tracking device from his weapon and gear. It has to be small and it has to stick." I looked to the ODST I had spoken to earlier. "Now. Choose one of your men to stay here and guard my Spartan while she works. You, and the other will come with me." I paused before looking into the woods, "We... Are going to clear the grounds of enemies. Are you ready for some action?" My visor faded to black as I switched to the team comm channel. "Scout. Start working your way from the farthest point away from us and begin clearing out the guards. Don't get yourself hurt. Noon. Keep everyone covered. Once all guards are down, get down here as fast as possible. You won't need your rifle. Oh, and bring Fletcher and the ODST with you."

I waved the cocky ODST along with me as I started a steady jog into the woods. Taking cover on a large red tree as I waited.

I pointed to Jarno. Jarno, in typical fashion pointed a gloved thumb to his chest. He shook his head - he wanted to fight.

"Our very own Jarnossan will stay with whoever Fletcher." I said, I waved along Geoffrey, who was all to happy to be in the company of Spartans, the living legends of the UNSC.

The two of us kept pace with the Spartan, who's jog seemed a near sprint to us. Longer legs and all those drugs pumping through their hormones. I'd have called it an unfair advantage, but moving at his speed would mean he'd get shot at first. Better than us.

As he took cover behind a thick tree (his broad armor pauldrons almost poking out 'round the tree), I slid to a kneel beside a downed log of rotting wood, covered in moss and surronded by undergrowth. Geoffrey likewise squatted down beside me.

I gave my equipment a brief check, sliding back the bolt of the DMR. Soon I whispered to myself.

Jarno's voice crackled over the headset.

"You ever seen female Spartans? Are they even female anymore?" I cracked a smile.

"Them not being female hasn't ever stopped you before," I whispered back recalling a party back in our teens.

"Awwh, fuck you Sir."

Danny's movements were swift and graceful and he darted between trees and other vegetation. "Alright a head of you sir," Danny smirked. As fast as he was moving, covering the total area would take a while. Danny hoped that by some fate, he would discover the entrance. What worried him more than the entrance was the base itself. It didn't know how deep or wide it ran. Judging by the amount of enemy soldiers he had seen so far, Danny would guess that it wasn't a large base. "Sir, I have yet to discover the base, but I-" Danny was interrupted by a bullet passing by his head. Danny turned around and saw three enemy soldiers on his tail. "Where the hell did they come from?!" Danny thought to himself.

He turned the corner hiding behind the tree. Two soldiers ran past. The third didn't make it as he fell dead on the ground. Danny ran behind the two as he kept his gun out. Fire, dead. Two down. The last kept running. "This is too easy," Danny chuckled. The enemy soldier stop and face Danny. Danny slide to a stop. "This is too easy," Danny repeated to himself, this time not as happy. Fire. Danny hit, but the last soldier was only hit in the shoulder, blood trailing down this arm and on the ground. Almost simultaneously, five soldiers appeared from trees and stood like a wall in front of Danny. "Sir," Danny spoke into his intercom. "I might need to-" again Danny was cut off by the shot of another human weapon. They didn't appear to originally be their's. "Jesus Christ! Can I get through a sentence with yo-". Another bullet. This time it hit Danny in the left bicep, his armor taking most of the damage. "Apparently not," he sighed to himself.

Danny ran towards the soldiers, taking them by surprise. Taking out his sword, Danny swiped at the middle soldier, cutting off his head. The initial surprise was what Danny needed as he moved onto the next guy, stabbing him in the gun as he shot the head of the soldier behind him. With three dead, Danny took cover behind a tree, occasionally peering over and shooting to keep them at bay. "Fucking test tube soldier," Danny quoted Arnasson.

Ooc: Little lost thanks to not being online during work but I'll see if I can catch up with you guys.

Ic: "Yes, Sir." Mia stated and set herself to work. She wasn't too keen on dead bodies, but the man that lay dead against the Warthog had himself fairly covered by his armour and helmet. She unhooked his belt and pulled off the devices that were slung across. There was a computerized compass, a separate navigation system, a communicator, and a pistol. Removing the pack from her own belt, she pulled out a Swiss Army knife and unscrewed the compass. Removing the RAM, she placed in on the ground and disassembled the pistol, taking the spring for herself and discarding the rest. With the navigation system, she removed the backing to take a look inside. It was a reasonably complicated device but she could simplify things by combining several components together.

Taking the microchip out of one side, she prodded and poked at it, reconnecting it to the base signal used by the blocker on their coms. The system light blinked red. A good sign. Using the spring from the pistol, she connected the RAM from the compass to the inside of the navigator and connected several choice wires. Tiny sparks emitted from within, but thankfully, Mia was wearing gloves. Once the sparks had died down, she held the communicator in her other hand and wirelessly linked them and set up a beta for the link to be undetectable. Replacing the backing to the navigation system, she ripped off te casing and attached a gum-like substance to the frame. It was solid for now, but easily attachable like a sticky to any other object.

She slipped the new make-shift tracking device into one pocket of her belt and took out her own personal communicator. Linking it together with the dead guard's, she then pocketed it and opened up a line to Griffin. "Sir, the tracking device is ready and linked to your personal communicator."

Noon had been climbing her way up into the sturdiest tree she could find as she listened to the orders of her squad leader. When she finally reached the branch she had planned on using as a perch she set down her weapon and took a deep breath.
"Roger that sir, I'll keep everyone covered so long as I can see what I'm shooting at." She said with a grin as she picked up her rifle and took up a position to provide full fire support at any given moment. This position may have been slightly more out in the open but the height was worth the tradeoff. Besides the active camouflage was more than enough to keep her from being seen.

When the contact was made she turned her scope in the direction of the fire and began to open fire from where she was positioned. It was a fair distance away but nothing for her. The rounds would have struck her targets before they would have gotten the chance to hear the shot go off.
Emilia did her best to cover the new arrival to the squad, a Major she thought she had heard.
Those enemies that were foolish enough to expose themselves exploded into a shower of blood as the anti-material rounds made contact with their bodies.

When she hit her sixth target she realized she needed to reload and did so swiftly, pressing a fresh magazine into her weapon. With a pull back on the bolt she was back in action and returned to providing what support she could. Though the men were getting wise and staying behind cover.
Noon had already added 10 more to her list of confirmed kills.

Jarno:

Jarno seen the young woman thrashing together scrap. His curiosity got the better of his innate dislike of the Spartans, viewing them as being little more than propaganda toys and fools, so brainwashed they weren't human. He walked up beside the young woman he was told to stay beside. Her armor was slimmer than the male uniform, and less up-armored. She seemed to look at least female. Her visual disgust of dealing with the dead men struck him as odd. She was green. Vulnerable. Jarno rolled his eyes, 'Thought they were supposed to be the best of the best'. He shrugged; indeed such Green made her seem at least a bit more human.

"Where'd you learn to that? Spartan school?" Jarno asked innocently, oblivious to his surroundings, intent on the young woman currently radioing in to her CO. He walked up beside her, trying to get her attention, but due to her damned helmet, he couldn't see her.

Johan and Geoffrey:

"You," I whispered, with Griffin listening in on communications from the rest of his team, I thought it the best time to figure out exactly what we were doing here, "Stay with the good Lieutenant."

"But he told us to wait for his command!" He said back, directly to my comm. He was right of course, but I never did like command.

"You wait for it then. I'm going to find out why we're being shot at. Don't... Move a muscle. He asks where I vent," I stopped in my thought, grunting at my old accent breaking through strongly, "Where I went, be honest. That you don't know."

"That's insubordination."

"Ja." I answered back quickly, turning my head to the engrosses Spartan before slipping up to a crouch and moving away from the group.

I heard Noon confirm in my ear, a few moments before echoed shots rang out. I was eager to get into this fight. However, being team leader meant I needed to be coordinator first, soldier second. That was what I was always told by my instructor anyway. He always told me that I was the one of the brightest, so he liked to give random bits of information like that to me.

I next heard Fletcher report in that she was finished, so I pulled my assult rifle off of my back before replying. "Good job. Now wait for Noon before you go ahead." I clicked off my comm as I looked back to the two ODST so I could let them know I was ready. Ok....one ODST. I called out to the younger marine before pulling off of my tree and scanning for enemies. "Hey. Where did your squadmate go?!" His response had a mixed tone of fear and excitment. He must not have seen much combat. "Uhmm... I don't really know, sir. He just kind of...ran off, sir." His voice was getting shakey and his last comment was rushed. "I'm sorry, sir!"

A grunt was all I gave as a response to his apology. I can't believe I have to babysit these soldiers. I need to get paid more to deal with this crap. "Don't get yourself killed kid...." I mumbled, before I moved forward. "Move out!" He seemed like he was frozen behind his downed tree until I said that. His movements ridgid and frightened. Oh lord. I kept the lead, he probably won't respond to combat very well.

I had only encountered four guards by now, easily dropping them. They seemed like they were distracted by something. I guess the sheer random placement of our group had them extremely disoriented. The soldier I was partnered with stumbled and fell. I pulled a 180 quickly, hearing him lose his balence from the start. "I...I think I found something sir!" He called out. I was making my way to him, watching my original direction to make sure nothing could flank us. The next thing I heard was disturbing. A muffled noise and a sliding of a metal door. I spun back to see my marine gone. As almost into thin air.

I stepped carefully as I walked to the last place I saw the man. Soon finding what looked like a metal door. Shit. I assumed the worst. He had probably been taken hostage. But why wouldn't they jusy have killed him? Slowly I bent to slide the metal door open while keeping my rifle aimed with my right hand. I decided to just go for it and ripped the door open, seeing the young soldier being held by a guard. He seemed to be a higher rank. He was wearing more armor than the others.

"Drop your weapon!"

I hesitated, thinking out the posibilites here.

"Do it! Or I'll kill him damnit!" Geoffrey's face became one of immediate concern as the submachine gun was pressed to his temple.

I slowly set down my rifle, holding my handa out.

"All of your weapons. Now!"

I sighed with the roll of my eyes before detaching and dropping my smg. I decided to speak to buy some time and distract him. "Really? You're going to take a hostage? How about we do this one on one." I smiled and removed my helmet. It stifled my vision. "Man. To. Man."

He grunted and raised his head back quickly in disgust. "Yea right. I've heard anout you guys! You're just freaks! Do you really think I'm stupid enough to fight you?!"

The smile remained, "No. But you were stupid enough to forget about my pistol." My smile faded instantly as I watched his eyes move to my hip, widened in fear. I snatched the gun from its clip and aimed it easily. First shot. It hits the ODST in the leg, causing him to fall slightly. The guard loses his balance and his attempt to end the boys life failed. Second shot. I edited my aim just slightly to fire into the, now exposed, guards face. The muffled shot from the pistol was almost erie.

The feeling of acomplishment was soon wiped off my face as the adreneline left my body and my ear refocused on the screaming male. I stepped to him and kneeled, pulling out a stem of biofoam, I pressed it into his wound and the white, shaving cream looking serum filled the bullet hole quickly. His screams now became hisses as he breathed through his teeth.

I opened up my comm and stood to go gather my helmet and weapons. "Spartans. I have found the entrance. Rendevous asap. Killing any further guards will be unnessicary. Scout. Look for an ODST. He should be somewhere out with you. Noon, get the tracker from Fletcher when you come down, since it's linked to the comm pack, you can keep track of it. Griffin, out." I closed my end as I began to gather my gear.

"Yes, Sir." Mia said. She was quite happy with her work. Her mind was slightly distracted by the worry of the survival of her teammates and the ODST.

"No, Sir." Mia responded to her guard. She wasn't sure if he was pleased or not to be assigned to stay with her. He wanted to fight, but did she put him off somehow? "I just... know, Sir." This answer was weak and she knew it. But how else was she supposed to explain to him that this strange nature was her passion? She contemplated removing her helmet, but feared she would reveil her identity unnecessarily. She didn't know protocol too well and had not met this man before the field, unlike Griffin and Noon. They also got the luxury of witnessing her embarrassment previously that morning.

Two shots and the firing stopped. Danny waited for a moment before looking around the tree to see the remaining men dead on the ground. "Thanks Sniper," Danny smiled under his mask. The emerged from cover and scanned the area. Cleared, Danny put his weapons back and continued his search. He covered a lot of ground before he heard the next voice. "An ODST, sir? Roger." Not only had our team leader found found the base, but an ODST went rouge. Brilliant.

Danny switched his focus from the entrance to the ODST. He was most likely in the area of the base still. Danny had doubted that he would leave his remaining teammates for a chance at safety. They were now with the Spartans after all. Something caught his attention. Most likely the ODST. If it was an enemy, they would of just opened fire on Danny. "Hey!" Danny called out as he ran towards him. Before he could make it very far however, something caught Danny's leg. A hatch in the middle of the forest? Danny looked around before opening the metallic door. Danny took out his pistol and jumped into the opening. "Uh, sir... I think I found the opening too. This is either an escape route, or just another set of doors. Either way, the opening you found is not the only opening. Orders, sir?"

Johan:
I knew I had seen the, pointing towards our position, radioing something in. I gritted my teeth, knowing I was taking a big risk in following them.

"Geoffrey!" I yelled out, spinning on my heel. He had been shot. More grunting, followed by muffled shots. Hell breaking loose. I ducked my head on instinct, looking right.

Ahead, two men, calling out my location I had guessed. They were dressed in cheaper armor than ours, armed with basic militia weapons. The armor was designed for intimidation, with glowing lights and black paint. Thinking I'd caused Geoffrey's death, I grunted stooping to my knee, swinging my rifle out from under it's sling, into my ready right hand, bracing the stock against my shoulder.

I fired one shot, than a another, followed by one more in rapid succession. The men ahead jumped, one from two of the three bullets striking him, and the other jumping in fear, lifting his assault rifle. I didn't flinch. My mind raced, my blood roared with raw adrenaline, but a controlled burn, as I was taught.

I pulled the trigger four more times, not readjusting my aim after each shot. The man pulled back, firing his rifle in one hand, strafing right into the underbrush.

I hauled myself up, jogging right, keeping my rifle at the ready.

From my new position I could see the man, nursing a wound in his shoulder. His friend was squriming in the underbrush, though I could only see the movements of the brush around him.

The man behind the tree seen me, raising his rifle and firing. I threw myself in the brush, hearing bullets smacking in the leaves and trees behind me. I rolled a bit to the right, crawling towards the gunfire. No use pulling back I thought to myself. A suicidal charge would be my only real chance.

"Sir!" Geoffrey's voice I realized. I propped myself to my knees, keeping under a fallen log. It was deathly silent. I scooped up my rifle from the mud, quickly checked the bolt and counter on the side of the gun. Eight shots left it read, my instincts proved correct.

I popped up from cover, the soldier hit in the shoulder walking towards his friend. My turn, I mouthed, remembering they're plan to leave Erikur in the open.

I took aim carefully, steadied my breathing. He was maybe thirty feet, through the underbrush. I fired one shot. It was all I needed. The man dropped like a stiff log, sparks and blood flying out from the side of helmet.

The other man screamed and hauled himself up, hands raised.

I hopped over the log, right hand with my rifle aiming at him, and jogged up. He didn't move.

"Who are you?"

No response.

"WHO?" I yelled. No response. I shrugged my shoulder, stepped forward and smashed the stock of the rifle across his head in one quick movement. He hit the ground, without so much as a yelp. Unconcious, or faking, either way he couldn't fire any shots, his right arm was hit and he was bleeding from his collarbone.

I stooped low, scooping his Guerrilla styled-comm link, pocketing it in the tactical hardcase below my medical satchel on my left leg.

I turned to look back where the Spartan CO was.

"Now to get towards Geoffrey." I mouthed, starting in a sprint.

It took a few seconds, of running to get a clear sight of the man. I picked up the rendezvous orders.. I ran towards him.

I gave him a wave.

"Ja, Found a bunch of them, a good twenty feet away from us." I said quickly, explaining why I did leave. I had seen them, I had heard them. My natural instinct is to move out on my own, in previous jobs my CO had me moving Recon or Overwatch, I just did as I would have done in any other situation. He wouldn't have been happy though, "Just protecting the flanks." I answered with a shrug, walking to Geoffrey, looking at me, his helmet blank, from his breathing, I could tell he was furious. Fair enough.

Jarno:

"Sir?", Jarno said, lightly mocking her, "Relax, I'm not a hardass like these men. Just breaking the ice. Kind of sick of standing around here though." Jarno answered, his tone warm. Then he heard the gargled yelp. Geoffrey? Followed by several other shots, from both Johan and the kid. Jarno knew his orders to stay with the women, but damned them. He lifted his rifle.

"So. You want to go find the CO now?" He asked hurriedly, his tone hardening.

Mia heard the chaos, too, and turned to look in the Southern direction. She was fearful, but perhaps they needed her help and it was her duty to support her team. This man looked strong, ready, and capable, and she was hoping that he would serve as her protector, but she didn't want to ask him outright and sound like a coward. Her hand twitched towards her pistol but she didn't take it off her belt. "I'm ready. I'll follow." Mia replied, glad to leave the dead man by the Warthog.