Squad 1: Rex & Odessa

Strike Team 1

The year is 2527. It has been years since the first Spartan warriors were born, trained, and sent into battle against an enemy that brought humanity to the brink of extinction. With superior technology and numbers they tore through regular human infantry and ships with no problem. Humanity knew they needed something stronger than just a normal human. So they resorted to genetically engineering beings solely for the purpose of fighting against this enemy.
They were called Spartans.
Split into teams they proved themselves to be a very effective weapon against the Covenant. However they soon hit a block.

It was decided that although teams were usually made up of 8 to 12 Spartans, a smaller team was needed for rapid deployment. The final decision was that teams of two would be formed after a number of tests. Two Spartans who could work together like clockwork and premeditate the moves of each other before they make it. Two Spartans working together as one to accomplish whatever mission is required of them.
The matches were initially made by rank, experience, personality traits, and specialization. Often more experienced members were matched with less experienced ranks within moderation. So long as the two appeared as though they would match in all other categories.

Of course with every new idea there needed to be a pair of guinea pigs. The first pair were a Male and Female Spartan Team. It was unknown whether the experiment would be a success or a complete failure but it all came down to how well the two could work together. Their first meeting was scheduled to take place on a ship headed for the planet where they would begin their training.

Start: The two Spartans are due to be briefed together for the first time. The ship they are on is coursed for a human controlled planet, where they are due to train together as a team, however another ship is headed straight for them. Details will unfold within.

Squad Members:
- Odessa (Dream)
- Rex (Brandon)

ERICSSON LANGLEY A.K.A. - REX

Basic-
Age: 24.
Gender: Male.
Rank: Major.
Ethnic: Australian.
Skin color: Natural tan.
Tattoo: A roaring tiger on his left pectoral and tribal tiger stripes under his right eye.
Height: 7'2"
Build: A slight bit larger than most, in size, but still in extreme shape from the program.
Weight: 260lbs
Hair (color/style): Rex has medium length, brown hair. It is filled with placements of random black streaks throughout. He usually keeps it spiked up.
Eyes: Bright gold. 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: Rex tends to be quiet and exclusive. Preferring not to get in anybody's business, since he wouldn't want someone in his. Many see him as dangerous, a loose cannon. If they realize who he is, they usually will give him space. Only because he is known to flip at a moments notice, but not without a little pestering trust me. He doesn't just see red and attack everything in sight. Instead, he gets his reputation for his reaction to when someone won't leave him alone. If they push him past his limit, he will push back. Violently. He once beat a guy so bad, he ended up forgetting his own name. Blood was everywhere, and he loved it. The scary thing is, that was done with only his fists.

The main reason he has actually become so deadly is because of his intense dedication to becoming the top SPARTAN. He uses all of his pain from his childhood and turns it into rage and intensity for his training. His trainer, repeatedly, praising his skill in hand to hand. He himself has become quite feared of sparring with him, let alone, sending any other soldiers to. So, Rex tends to spend his hand-to-hand and close range weapon training days alone. He trains, on these days, with the dummies and the simulators. Which, again, creates a social gap and making him a loaner.


Armor: Picture it in gray with a bunch of red lines and black designs. He paints it himself.

-Helmet-

Spoiler:

-Body-

Spoiler:

Starting weapons:

BR55HB SR Battle Rifle

Spoiler:

M7 Caseless Machine Gun [Dual Wielding]

Spoiler:

Multi-Purpose Combat Knife

Spoiler:

Starting gear: A bandoleer of miscellaneous ammo. Frag, smoke, and experimental EMP grenades. He also keeps back up Covenant batteries for scavenging enemy weapons.

Name: Odessa Cherevin
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Rank: Colonel
Ethnic: Caucasian with a slight Russian heritage.
Skin color: Only somewhat pale as she will spend time outside of her armor, while on base.
Tattoo: A serial number tattooed to the back of her neck that reads 1225-720-EVA
Height: 7'0"
Build: She's more or less the same size as most Spartans, only with feminine curves of course. However with her armor on other Spartans are often surprised when they find out she's a woman.
Weight: 220lbs
Hair (color/style): Her hair is shoulder-length and a deep shade of black. She ties it back when she is not wearing her helmet and otherwise she leaves it loose.
Eyes: Instead of the standard colors her eyes turned to a dark violet color that made her stand out even more.
Appearance: She is surprisingly pretty for a Spartan. Bright eyes and a bright smile make her stand out among the others.

About Character -
Sexuality: She has no preference.
Personality: Odessa was born as a natural leader. She is a quick thinker and from a very early age showed herself to be intelligent. Both logically and when thinking outside of the box. She excelled during training and came out on top above many other Spartans. Her rank was gained both from her performance and her acts while in combat.

However she is quite a kind person in nature. When she is not in the middle of combat she speaks in a gentle voice with a kind smile. She can take a joke and return one of the same nature.
Her weakness is that now she cares just a little too much. She has to struggle to suppress these emotions within her.

Important History: Two years ago Odessa and her squad were deployed on a planet to flush out a group of rogue humans. They were somehow surrounded and decimated by pure numbers. There was one Spartan who fought back the attack though. The squad leader at the time, Odessa, was the only member who survived and even she barely survived her injuries.
She is considered a hero for what she did on that planet.
That is not to say that she isn't struggling with the loss of her men.
This incident was the main reason that she decided to join the program. She feels that watching over one person will be much more easy than watching over a team of 8.

Starting weapons: Standard Battle Rifle, M6G sidearm, and a custom combat blade.
Starting gear: She primarily carries ammunition for her weapon on the belt at her waist, communications link on her shoulder, an upgraded HUD system in her helmet, and strength enhancers built into her suit.

[Armor]

Spoiler:

[Weapon]

Spoiler:

[Combat Blade]

Spoiler:

Sweat dripped from his face as his body shifted, switching foot postion, and bobbing his head. -1, 2. 1. 1,2. 1,2,3. Knee.- A quick and audible breath escaped Rex's slightly parted lips as he released a fury of jabs and hooks on the training dummy. Throwing in a knee to edit the fighting style. Swapping into Muay Tai. He was always taught to be unexepected by his enemy. Switching fighting styles in the middle of a fight was just one example.

Rex continued training on the the mock human for about an hour and a half more. The weight and training room was strangely empty, except for him of course. Sure, he and one other were the only Spartans on the ship, but no one? Not even the ODST were there to watch or attempt to make fun of him. All those little smartasses ever had to say was that we were unnatural or test tube babies. Freaks. He chuckled to himself at the thought of their jealousy. It echoed throughout the barren room. Thinking of the jealousy that came with the ODST actually made him wish that some were here. So they could try and talk shit while blood spewed from their faces.

Speaking of that other Spartan. Rex wondered why of all the other soldiers, especially ones with a better reputation than his, was he chosen. They were pairing him with a war hero. Well. Supposed war hero. Yes, she ended up defeating the threat, but at what cost? The loss of her entire unit? That sounded like careless leadership in his book. Not anything worth a Medal of Honor.

He shook his head to himself as he made his way back to his bag which was sitting on the far wall. Sweat flying from his face and hair again, like a wet dog. He probably smelled like one too. His sleveless blue and grey training shirt was soaked. His navy blue shorts had suffered the same fate.

Once he made it to his bag, he pulled out a towel and a jump rope. Rex proceeded to dry off as much as possible before starting his cool down excersises. After drying, he tossed his towel to his bag; missing, it went flying into the white wall next to it before falling to the ground. He was now turned and walked out into the open space near the middle of the gym. He started a rotation of jump rope exersices with ab work-outs and various push-up styles.

Odessa stared down at the papers in her hand, reading over the Unit Description she had been given of her partner. Sure the only thing she had to go off was a piece of paper and a picture of his face but she wasn't sure of how she felt about being paired with a Spartan known for being overly aggressive. The leader within her knew that there were advantages to the type of soldier that he was. He would not let her down in combat. He, just like her, would fight until the every enemy was little more than a limp body on the floor.

She folded the paper and returned it to the General who had given it to her, nodding her head slightly.
"Don't worry about me, General. I should be fine. So long as he doesn't attempt to attack me." she said with a small chuckle.
The General smiled and saluted her briefly before turning to head off in the other direction.
"Good. You are scheduled to be briefed in an hour. Major Langley should be in the training room, if you wish to seek him out to tell him" the older man said as he walked away.

As the Colonel moved through the hallways towards the training rooms she passed a good number of ODST units. Although it was quite a big ship she and her partner were the only Spartans present upon it.
They all looked up at her with a mix of expressions. She could see surprise, admiration, and one or two faces of disgust. The ODST were still getting used to seeing Spartans among them.
However it was different with her because they had all heard of her feats. The fact that she was a war hero made it easier for them to respect her the way they would an ODST war hero.

She didn't allow that status to get to her head though. She knew many of the Spartans didn't know what had happened on that planet and as such they considered her as a failed leader. If they had known, though, they would have respected her more than many of the superiors above her.
Odessa brushed her hair back over her shoulders and took a slow breath as she slipped into the training room.
In the middle of the room was the Spartan she had only seen in a picture. He was much larger in person.

"Major Langley, I assume?" she spoke while leaning against the door frame, her arms across over her chest. She wore only the leg sections of her armor, the top of her body covered by her black jumpsuit.

Rex was interupted during his cool-downs by a smooth, female voice. It seemed to have some sort of northern European accent. Russian perhaps? He was in mid push-up and was luckily able to stop easily. Had he been in the middle of a more complicated work-out, he would have been slightly more annoyed. Rex hung his head to look between the gap made by his left armpit and the floor. She looked to be wearing Spartan leg armor. Great.

He now finished his set of push-ups, doing another 15 before going to one knee and standing. Rex turned to face the visitor with a cocky grin. "Well. If it isn't the ships personal little war hero..." A hint of sarcsm in his voice. He then proceeded to turn and walk to his bag. Rolling his eyes as he went. His gait was a bit loose and his arms swung without restraint.

Once Rex had made it to his bag, he leaned down and picked up everything. After finishing the short action of gathering his things, he made a very improper about face. Facing the direction of the showers. He spoke to the woman again, "Well, Ma'm. What have you come to do? Watch me while I bathe?" He said this in steady stride on a beeline to the showers. He had no intention to stop and have a formal chat with this Spartan that he didn't know. Nor respect.

He finally made it to the door to the showers and opened it roughly, leaving his bag at the door. He went ahead and undressed there like usual, save his underwear, which he removed after entering the doorway. Dropping them on the pile of the rest of his clothing, by simply reaching his arm out. Rex then, turned on the water and waited for it to get warm.

His attitude was one that she had come across before. He, like many other Spartans, had heard about what she had done and found that there was nothing for him to respect. It was something that she had gotten somewhat used to over the last two years. Her superiors respected her whereas her fellow Spartans often turned away from her like she had some kind of the plague. She hated it but she didn't allow it to come through in her attitude. If she did, she wouldn't be much of a leader now would she?

When he spoke she watched him for a few moments and then brought her hands down to rest on her waist. He didn't even have the respect to salute her. It was quite insulting really.
"You don't respect me, like all of the others. I get that. But you're going to need to work with me whether you like it or not. Hopefully by the end you'll come around."
She spoke as she turned and let out a sigh. That was the extent of the emotion she let come through.

"We're scheduled to be briefed in half an hour. Be there, please." Odessa said before she moved out of the room and began down the hallway. If she hadn't grown used to this kind of treatment she would have had the Major court-martialed for disrespect of his superior. However she knew that that would do him no good and it would do her reputation no good. All she could do at this point was hope that things would get better between her and her partner. They were in this together one way or another.

Instead of worrying about the lack of respect from her partner, she made her way towards the briefing room instead. At least there she would be able to sit down and truly think over whether going into this program was a good idea or not.
In a way she knew it was the best option for her. As much as it hurt to know that she was once a respected Spartan, she was going to do her best to work with this male.

The water had finally warmed up and Rex took a good bit longer than usual to shower this time. He knew that since they were going to be in the field for however long in the upcoming days, there wouldn't be any time for long showers. If even short ones. The shower lasted for about 10 minutes.

After he had finished his luxerious shower, he pulled out his change of clothes from his bag. A black t-shirt that had a golden UNSC emblem embroidered into the upper right of the shirt. It didn't fit him perfect. It was a little tighter than his other shirts, but he wore it anyway. Next, he put on a pair of matching black sweatpants. The gold emblem returning to the same place on the pants. The leg wear also had a gold stripe down each side to the seam.

Now at a comfortable temperature because of his shower, Rex groaned at the thought of stepping into the freezing cold briefing room. Pushing open the gym door with his free hand, Rex immediately saw a large gathering of ODST in work-out attire. Some sitting, some talking. They just about all looked up to him with slightly frightened faces. A few brave placed scrowls across their faces. Rex marked them lucky he was on his way somewhere. In response, he tipped his head back shortly with an audible scoff leaving his mouth. Rex dispised both the fearful ones and the jealous ones. Anyone that failed to nod to or salute him with respect, judged him, or even verbally underestimated him usually was a reciever of his wrath.

Rex had made it a good way through the ship and had finally found the briefing room. He opened the door and stopped to salute his superior officers in the room with his free hand, including the woman from earlier. Rex then walked to the only other seat next to her and sat, placing his bag under the table.

When she reached the briefing room she was greeted by a number of high-ranking UNSC commanders. A good number of Generals and Brigadier Generals and to top it off the Supreme Commander himself was sat among those who outranked the Colonel.
She saluted them all with all the respect she could muster and moved to sit down in her seat. One of two seats that were situated on the opposite side of the line of superiors. Whatever this project was, it was definitely of extreme importance to the UNSC. The fact that all of these men were here surprised and frightened her just slightly. What were they going to have them do?

It was only a few minutes before the other Spartan entered the room and saluted all of the officers as well as her. She returned the salute with a slight nod of her head and then turned her attention to the officers. Now that he was here they could reveal the true nature behind why they had been put together as a two-Spartan team. In the place of a conventional 8-man team.
She was curious and weary of finding out the answer to her question.

The Supreme Commander cleared his throat and moved to stand in front of them, looking across the table at the two Spartans.
"Major Ericsson Langley, Colonel Odessa Cherevin, thank you both for coming. You have both been given the very basics of the nature of your team. However there is much more to it than what you were given in your reports."
He placed a dossier down on the table in front of them.
"As Spartans you both know the very reason for which you were trained. To destroy the threat of the Covenant. Recently we have been having huge success with the SPARTAN Program however we have come upon a snag. The Covenant are learning to attack with full force all at once as opposed to attacking over time. They are decimating our ODST forces before we even have a chance of deploying any Spartan units." he took a breath.
"For this reason we have decided to form a two-man strike force that will specialize in orbital drops and ship combat. You will be the first ones in and the last ones out whenever there is an immediate threat from the Covenant. A rapid-deployment team if you will." his eyes softened slightly.
"The missions you will be sent on will be both dangerous and delicate. You will be outnumbered and ordered to take on an enemy ten times more advanced than yourselves. However you both have proven yourselves to be the best of the best. I trust that you will not let us down."

Odessa nodded her head firmly and looked across at her fellow Spartan for a few moments before she turned her attention back to the Supreme Commander.
"When will our training begin, sir?"
The older man smiled.
"As soon as we arrive at our destination. Planet Ecos. A human in-habited world where we currently train a large portion of our ODST troops. It is there that you both will begin your training. Is that understood.?"
He looked between the two of them before he nodded his head again.
"Good. Both of you report to the Armory for equipping. We are not too far away from our destination now."

The commander was not coy when it came to getting to the point. He briefed them fairly quickly, but hey, they were going to to be a fast operational team. Team. That would was tough to think about. The Spartan he know knew as Odessa happened to have just glanced at him as if she knew what he was thinking. Creepy. Rex nodded and she turned back, his left eyebrow raising in curiosity. Her purple eyes were distracting him from feeling bad about teaming up with Odessa. They were calming. He didn't know exactly why.

Shaking these thoughts away, the Commander saluted and Rex stood to return the favor. Holding it until all of his commanding officers had left the room. He dropped his salute to his now, new teammate. "Don't think I'm any bit more warmed up to you than before. You'll find I'm not much for emotions. Even towards my unit. If you are a good fighter and watch my, or anyone elses back. I'll respect you." He paused as he turned to the door. "Until then. Don't expect something you haven't earned in my eyes." His Australian accent poked through more often on his speech than he would like. Rex didn't think is sounded formal. However, in the presense[sp?] of his, as he could see it, equal in all except for hand-to-hand combat. He wasn't too worried about formalities. Rex proceeded to open the door and reaching to grab his bag. It wasn't there. Apparently they had taken his bag with him. He sighed. Those had been his favorite pair of shoes.

Changing his train of thouht though, he began to think of dropping from orbit into combat. The rush was just so exilerating to him.

Odessa saluted smartly as the Supreme Commander headed out of the door and excited the room they had been briefed in followed by the other officers who had been there solely to act as witnesses to the first attempt at forming a two-Spartan team.
Once the Commander was gone she heard the voice and the Australian accent of the male Spartan opposite her. Again he spoke in a tone that held nothing but disrespect and what could almost be called a certain dislike for her.
She found it strange that he was judging her like this without even having given her a chance to speak to him. It frustrated and annoyed her. However she kept her expression calm.

"I don't expect anything that I don't earn. You should expect the same from me, Major." Her response was short and quiet as she stood up from where she had been stood. There were a thousand other things she wanted to say but she held herself back. There was a reason that she was a Colonel and he was only a Major. She could keep herself composed without stooping so low as to insult another.
This man was going to be more of a problem than she had first thought.

Without another thought she turned her attention to making her way to the Armory as she had been ordered. Her armor was there waiting for her, or rather, the rest of it was there waiting for her. She already had the leg sections on her legs and all she needed was the torso and arm plates.
Whatever they were going to be assigned to do she was going to do without question. Whether Rex liked it or not things were going to be done her way.

A quiet sigh passed Odessa's lips as she walked. She was letting her thoughts carry her away too much. She needed to focus on the fact that she was going to be fighting incredibly difficult battles. Much like the one that had occurred two years ago. Though she hoped that history wasn't going to repeat itself for her.
The last thing she needed was another dead Spartan in her name.

One thing Rex noticed about this chick, so far, was her extreme tolerance to his personality. Most attempt to set him straight; and fail. Miserably. However, her "short and sweet" responses are keeping everything at a fairly low level. He was starting to think he wasn't getting to her. Which was disturbing. Either she was even more insane than he, or just really good at hiding her emotions. The latter was a more comfortable thought to him. Rex planned to watch her expressions more carefully, until he figured out how she ticked.

They had finally made it to the armory. The rest of their trip remaining silent. As he followed her in, he immediately spotted his personally customized armor standing freely next to a rack filled with his choice weapons. He moved to his suit and brushed past his, now, CO to get to his suit. He began to undress, stripping down to his underwear. Rex glanced at his partner before stating, "Don't look." The seriousness in his voice was slightly under-toned by playfulness. Whichever she picked up on would still yield an interesting reaction in either way. In all honesty, he didn't really care if she looked or not.

Rex quickly, while still keeping composure, slipped into his combat bodysuit and zipped it up. He now, started placing on his leg armor. After a mere four or five minutes he had everything on correctly except for his helmet, which he placed on the bench next to him. He left his gloves were left off as well; so he could disassemble, check, and reassemble his weapons. Everything seemed to be in check.

Taking his combat knife and pressing the blade to his thumb, he slowy ran it across, testing the sharpness. It was almost instant. The slight sting and the leaking of his thick red blood was apparent. Rex placed his thumb in his mouth to clean the blood and proceeded to slip on his gloves. Once they were on, he clipped all of his guns on and slid his knife into the sheathe on his chest; opposite the bandolier. When all was finished, Rex turned to face his partner as he waited.

Odessa had been known for having an incredible amount of tolerance and composure in the face of adversity. It was one of the things that made her such an exceptional leader. She could think straight and logically even when she was faced with the most impossible of situations. As she had when she was the last surviving member of her squad.
Even some of her superiors had noticed how good she was at this. It was one of the reasons that they deiced she would be a good match with Rex.

As they reached the Armory her partner noticed his suit waiting for him in a case. He moved towards it as she moved towards hers.
"Don't worry, that's not something I'd want to see anyway." she replied with a slight smile on her lips as she turned towards her own suit. She could take humor. It was quite interesting really. How she could go between being a hardened veteran and leader to being just like any other Spartan in her nature. Of course, that was mostly seen if she was surrounded by men that she liked. Still, she wasn't going to not allow herself at least a moment of playfulness.

For her putting on her armor was much more straightforward. She merely had to put on her breast-plate and the arm-plating that covered the rest of her. It took her only a few minutes and when she was done she rolled her shoulders to get the armor fully adjusted. It felt good to be in her shell again. She felt invincible though she knew she really wasn't.
Next she moved to her weapons, picking up her combat blade of choice. She picked up the blade and attached the holster to where it snapped onto her armor on her left shoulder plate, as she was right handed.

Her attention then moved to her other weapons. Her custom battle rifle had been modified to fire larger caliber rounds at a higher rate of fire than the standard issue rifle. It was something that she had put an order in for personally.
She pulled back the bolt and let it snap back into place with a satisfying metallic 'clack'. Her weapon was clean as it always was.
The Colonel slid her rifle into the slot on her back and placed her sidearm on the holster in her thigh plate. She was fully ready for combat now. Aside from the bandolier that she was adjusting around her waist.

Almost as soon as she had finished a voice came over the ships intercom system.
"Spartans, report to the main bridge."
She glanced up towards the speaker for a moment before she looked back at her partner.
"I guess that's us. Let's move out." she said while turning to head towards the door. On her way to the bridge as ordered.

A chuckle accidentally escaped his lips when Rex heard her response. He was half expecting her to be a hard ass again, but the change of reaction caught him off guard. Rex attempted to hide his laugh in a series of coughs. "Let's move out." She said, causing him to roll his eyes. So damn professional she is. She must not have realized that they are Spartans and, especially now that they were in their suits, nothing on this ship could touch them for anything as small as informality infractions. Rex just saw it as unnessicary unless he needed to get something done or get information. Simply the only reason he saluted earlier.

Rex turned, grabbing his helmet, and decided to go ahead and leave first. Heading out into the hallway towards the direction of the bridge; he could see groups of ODST and random marines heading in the same direction. "Any idea what's going on Hero?" Rex asked his partner, glancing back quickly before refocusing his sight ahead.

As they moved through the hallways towards the bridge he heard her partners voice and glanced up at him for a moment. She shook her head.
"I wish I knew. It doesn't sound good though." She replied as she turned her head to look at all of the ODST who were running back and forth. Some were moving towards the bridge just the way they were while others were busily running to the other sections of the ship. They didn't exactly look very happy.
If anything a lot of them looked panicked and worried. It was almost enough to make her hurry up her pace a little bit.

When they reached the bridge it was a mess of activity. There were bridge officers moving back and forth as the technicians spoke amongst each other quietly from their positions at the different monitors. It was a hectic picture of chaos. In the middle of the room was the ship's captain who waved them over as soon as he noticed their looming figures enter the bridge.
"We got a transmission from a UNSC vessel about ten minutes ago. I thought it was something that you needed to see."

He pressed a button and a small screen appeared in front of where the man was standing. It was the grainy image of another bridge with a man standing in the center of the screen. Clearly it was the captain of another ship.
"This is an mayday broadcast to any and all ships in the area. We were attacked by the Covenant and have suffered heavy damage to our engine room. Hell, our whole ship is screwed. We got away but we know that they're on our tail. Requesting any and all available ships to provide support. General Christopher Kerr, out."
The image faded away and the superior before them turned to look at them.

"We aren't sure what exactly happened but we are on course to meet with them as we speak. It should only be a few minutes. Be ready for anything, Team 1. You may see action before we get to the planet Ecos." he said in a serious voice before turning back to bark orders at the men who were receive them.
Odessa looked at her partner for a moment before she shifted her gaze towards the bridge windows.
A Covenant ship huh? This was going to be interesting.

Soon after Rex noticed the hustling of the marines onboard, he felt Odessa push past him in a hurry to get to our destination. That didn't look good. If the calm, cool, level headed leader was feeling nervous; he himself began to get butterflies in his stomach. A military class frigate didn't get this intense over an Insurrectionists Pirate ship.

Once they reached the bridge Rex, sadly, found out he was right. A literal concern appeared on his face after the Captain said they might have to fight Covenant. Right now. He was hoping to get training first. Rex has never experianced a fight with the alien race and was slightly intimidated by this. A feeling that was a first for him. He didn't let anyone see his face, masking it quickly with a smirk once he was looked at. However, after the Captain was finished speaking, he pulled his partner to the side; well out of the range for regular humans to hear. He didn't trust any of them with signs of weakness. Whereas with Odessa....well at least she was a Spartan.

"I don't think I'm ready for this..." Concern was showing in his voice, "I personally have never been trained on how to deal with Convenant. I've never even seen one in person!" His last sentence was a little louder than he had wanted and brought his voice level back down.

He holds out his hands to her, palms down, "Look at me. I'm fucking shaking here. I don't want to say I'm afraid...but I'm getting a good bit nervous. I don't know how to fight them. Some say they have units twice OUR size and even twice our strength! I've even heard stories of them appearing out of thin air to stab you with an electric sword! How do we fight shit that we can even see?!" Rex had began to breathe heavily, his hands still paralyzed where he had held them out earlier.

Odessa was your stereotypical Spartan Colonel. Calm, composed, and level-headed no matter the situation. She had gotten that reputation in the very early years of her service. The superiors saw this and promoted her quickly as she continued to show them her ability to lead others.
However at this point a lot of those traits seemed to disappear. She was not scared of the possibility of going up against the Covenant but she was intimidated and nervous. She had fought them once before and..well..many of the rumors that had gone around were true.

As the Captain finished speaking she felt someone tug at her arm. Rex was bringing her aside so that he could speak to her. When she looked at him she saw something very different from the arrogant and disrespectful expression she had seen before. His expression now showed something that looked almost like fear but was not quite fear.
The thought of fighting an enemy superior to them in almost every aspect intimidated him just as much as it intimidated her.
He even held his hands out to show her the way that they were shaking.

A moment passed before she could react. She did so by reaching out to take one of his hands in hers, bringing her gaze up to his.
"Rex, look at me." she said in a quiet voice. Her eyes had always been something that seemed to calm others. Something to do with the deep purple color and how it seemed to go on forever.
"Listen. What you've heard and what is reality are two different things. We were selected to be a team because we're the best of the best that there is. It doesn't matter if we have training or not. So long as we watch each other's backs we'll be fine. Nothing can survive two magazines from our rifles, Covenant or not. I'd like to see one of those invisible ones try to jump you with that sword."
She smiled just slightly.
"We don't even know if we'll have to fight them yet. Let's hope we don't." the Colonel turned her gaze towards the Captain and gave her partner a pat on the shoulder. It was not her being patronizing but rather her trying to give her partner some reassurance. If he couldn't see the nervousness in her eyes then she was doing a damn good job of hiding it.

The Colonel. Odessa. Her response to Rex's unexpected reaction suprised him even more so. The feeling of being nervous was a new feeling sure, but something even more strange to him was the feeling of touch. The kind of touch that was a sincere showing of feeling. The kind you only see in the movies. Rex has only ever experianced the type of touch that was expressed through aggression. The life of a Spartan. He only now wished that they hadn't been wearing gloves, so the feeling would have been more real.

Another thing. Her eyes caught his attention yet again, the deep purple tint of her eyes were dark in color, but bright in appearance. They almost had an endless depth in them. Rex caught himself though, soon noticing that it was probably awkward now. He snatched his hand from hers and nodded slightly before his eyes squinted. His overall demeanor changed in an instant. Rex became serious, almost looking angry. As he previously stated. He wasn't much for feelings after all. "Let's give 'em hell, mate."

As she spoke to him and she took his gloved hand in her own she saw a change move over his expression. It went from being nervous and intimidated to being strong and determined, though there was a small second of surprise when she first touched him. It was to be expected. It was not often that a Spartan, much less a Colonel, showed any kind of affection. Really it was the same kind of motion as when two men joined hands before going into battle together. However with a feminine twist.
She knew that it was exactly what he needed to snap out of the trance he had been in. What was he worried about? They were Spartans.
"We'll give them a trip to hell and back." she said with a nod of her head in agreement with his words.

She turned her attention back towards the bridge and the Captain who was nervously watching the space in front of the ship for any signs of the other ship that had sent out the mayday call. A minute or two passed before he started a little and pointed in a direction.
"There! There they are!"
At first the ship was just a shape but as it came closer it began to take the form of a UNSC ship. At least, what was left of one.
As it came to almost passing right by it became apparent that the ship had taken heavy damage. Entire sections were blown away and there were gaps in the hull that looked like they had been melted away like a hot knife through butter.

"Battle stations men! We've got an incoming enemy ship on the radar!" the Captain cried as he looked down at the screen in front of him. An alarm rang through the ship and people began to rush back and forth. Many would be manning guns as well as preparing for any damages that might be sustained during the spacial exchange of fire.
Though seeing as this ship was the same class as the one that was fleeing, there was probably little that could be done against the enemy.
Odessa grit her teeth. For now her and her partner could do nothing but sit back and wait.

Odessa had agreed fully with Rex as he was cleansed of his weak thoughts and he had returned fully to his normal self. He then walked with her, back to the main of the bridge. Watching the space ahead intently. The Captain was first to spot the ship. It was in a heavy retreat as it popped out of slip space. It's speed was well above our own, but since their engines were down it would seem they are only carried by momentum. Which would mean they were already in retreat. Rex didn't want to know what could put an Omega-class 3 UNSC Navy battleship in full retreat. Either a massive amount of smaller ships or just one....huge....one.

Rex's thoughts became heavily distracted after what came next. The covenant ship responsible, hot on it's tail through slip space. Only the first half of the silver ship had shown itself so far and it was already larger than ours. It's guns were still firing on the fleeing ship. I heard a silence pass over the bridge. An erie, complete and utter silence. Before the captain was first to yell out, "Battlestations, men! You don't get paid to just sit on your ass all day!"

I slip on my helmet in response before speaking to my partner. "Well. What are gunna do? Board it? I'd rather die trying to do something than sitting on a ship that I can't control!" Explosions began as our guns fired and the alien guns returned. Sure I was scared, but this is what we were going to be doing anyway... I'm a Spartan. I already have my training.

The entire ship shook as it opened fire on the enemy vessel. It was a strange sight. Never before had Odessa actually seen a Covenant ship. Merely their foot soldiers. Never anything the size of one of their battle ships. All she or anyone else could do was hope that their ship could at least do some damage to the enemy.
However by the looks of things that was not going to happen. Every round that was fired at the other vessel was blocked by some kind of transparent shield that only appeared when it was struck by an incoming projectile. Yet whenever it returned fire there was nothing to stop the bright beam of plasma.

The Captain grit his teeth and began to bark more orders to the members of his bridge team.
"Concentrate the fire on one point! See if we can get through the shield if we focus on one area." he commanded in a firm voice. He had not broken yet.
The guns shifted their attention to one single area and every round struck the same point of the enemies shield.

Odessa heard her partner's voice beside her and she nodded her head slightly in agreement. She felt the same. Useless. Spartans were meant to be on the ground so they could fight the enemy face to face. They couldn't do anything while they were stuck on a ship. Though she also knew that there was no certainty behind them being able to get onto the enemy ship.
"There's nothing we can do right now. Even if we did get aboard that ship we wouldn't have any idea how to disable it."
As she spoke she turned her attention towards what was going on.

Ooc: Sorry for the short post? Lol there wasn't much else to say. xD

Bic:
Watching the ship fire upon this alien vessel only to have it's attempts shimmer away into it's shields discouraged me a bit. He thought about what the Colonel had said for a moment before glancing around. Eventually his eyes fell to his bandolier. The EMP grenades. Yea, they were still in the experimental phase, but the only way to find out if they worked would be to test them in the field. "Colonel. I think I have an idea as to how we can breech the shield wall long enough for us to board it." Rex paused and detached one of the three grenades and handed it to Odessa. "It disables all electronics in an effective radius of one hundred feet. I have three." He made an attempt to create eye contact with the next part. "And as far as knowing how to disable the ship.... We could always just... Blow up the controls..." Rex spoke these last few words with a slight grin. The thought of blowing things up was exciting to him. However, this was the
only plan Rex could think up.

Odessa had been busy watching the saddening spectacle before her when she heard the voice of Rex next to her. When he spoke of having a possible plan her ears perked up and she listened closely to what he had to say. EMP grenades? Where had he gotten his hands on those? She had only heard rumors of such things being created.
Her hand grasped the one he held out for her to take and she nodded her head. It was crazy but then again they were Spartans. They were meant to do things that normal humans simply couldn't.
She grinned with him. "Let's do it."

"Captain, we're going to need a Pelican." she said to the Captain who turned to look at her with a surprised expression on his face. However he nodded his head and turned to one of the men.
"Radio to the ship bay. Tell them to prep a Pelican for flight. Immediately!"
Now that she had practically gotten the authorization to carry out a forward attack she smiled eagerly. This was going to be fun even if it did result in the death of both these Spartans.
"Let's get going Major. Do what you can to cover us, Captain."
As she turned to move into the hallways she put her helmet on over her head and secured it tightly.

Rex clipped the experimental device onto his belt and nodded with her as his partner agreed with his plan. Rex heard her ask for a pelican and followed her out into the hallway as they headed towards the hanger. Passing all sorts of worried marine faces. Most of them were too hurried to even notice where we were going. If they cared.

Finally, after what had seemed to have been an eternity, they had made it to the hanger. Pushing open the door instantly made him feel like he was passing through a portal into a world of chaos. The soliders looked like ants as they scattered. His gaze shifted excitedly as Rex looked for a ride. He spotted one off to their right, hidden behind a large vehicle carrying ammunition. Rex smiled under his visor after seeing the bird. It was an attack pelican. So much luck that they happened to have one of these.

They got closer and he called a few ODST to follow us to it. A basic marine hopped in to pilot it. Rex appreciated his eagerness. He just hoped it didn't get him killed. Two of the three ODST pulled themselves onto the edited pelicans back cargo area. There were now two turrets mounted on the sides. They were shielded with a military grade plastic-glass mix of material that was near unbreakable. And since the surface was curved, the plasma usually just rolled off. The third ran to the cockpit to control the top gun and the front mounted missles. Rex looked to Odessa as he was stepping into the back. "See if you can find us an escort of Longsword pilots. We are gunna need more protection once we are closer, something the battlecruiser can't provide."

Odessa walked alongside her teammate until they got to the ship bay where all of the smaller attack and transport vessels were kept aboard the battlecruiser. At first it didn't seem like any of the ships were being prepped for launch until they spotted one behind an ammunition truck. Both of the Spartans seemed to let out the same breath of relief when they saw that it was an Attack Pelican. A ship meant for offensive action against enemy ships and units.
A very powerful weapon so long as it had support.
Rex realized this and told the Colonel to get them an escort. She nodded.

"You and you, pilots, get into your Longswords and escort us to the Covenant ship." At first the pilots she pointed at hesitated but then they realized that she not only outranked them tenfold but they had comrades who were aiding her as well. So they felt obligated both by rank and by comradeship between them and their fellow pilots.
They swiftly nodded their heads and moved to get into their flight gear, preparing themselves as quickly as possible.
"I've got us an escort." she announced as she moved back into the armed Pelican. She climbed her way to the front where the pilot was sat and she tapped his shoulder.
"Get us as close to it as possible. Don't worry about the shield. We'll deal with that."