Welcome to Gaia! ::

"A Helljumper? What the hell? This day keeps getting better and better." Saffire said under her breath, hoping that no one could hear her. She stared at the man, then at the Sarge, then at Jason. One nearly left behind, one nearly dead, and one is dead, and her close friend to boot. This was not her day.

As the pelican began to lift off of the ground, Corpral Briar Cole stoud at the edge of the pelican. He watched as many of the drones were taken down or gave up chase and flew behind the buildings for cover. Afew moments passed and just as he began to think a moment of peace was at hand, He heard a strang sound comeing from the side of the ship. He grasp hold of the side of the ship and looked over toward the thrusters, and there were three drones planted around it. Briar took off his helment and threw it on the seat. " Contacts! Lots of contacts " He called to everyone on the ship. " They are targeting the thrusters "

3 rounds of automatic rifle fire sounded through the dense east African jungle in the surroundings of New Mombasa, followed by the guttural whimper of an elite whose organs were no longer held in place by skin or bone. The jungle floor was littered with organic waste and plant matter, and even though human and covenant forces had been engaged for the better part of the day nature seemed to swallow up the sounds and cries of soldiers in conflict as if nothing had ever happened. Snapping twigs and the crunch of soil underfoot was enough reason for someone to immediately seek cover, and the distant staccato rumblings of machine gun and plasma fire was an omnipresent reminder that death could be right behind the corner.

Stepping over the corpse of a bullet-riddled grunt, Captain Robert LeDuc of the 105th ODST division scanned the area for further threats, waving at the rest of the squad once he was sure the small ridge they had been fighting for was secure. A ragtag group of men and women scuttled forwards to join the crouching shock trooper, their unit patches telling the grim truth of the human military’s situation. A few marines of the 501st, 405th, and 106th infantry divisions had been lumped together for what LeDuc considered to be a mission with a low chance of yielding results. His rank as and ODST and ex-marine officer should have been reason enough for him to be given more time to plan and more manpower, but sadly the few volunteers he had scrounged up had been the most he could do and time was not available. Now, eight men and women were under his command, just short of two firing squads’ worth of troops, and hopefully that number would increase rather than dwindle.
A branch moved with a rustle, and five rifles were instantly trained on the grunt that crawled there, a purplish-blue trail of it’s blood almost completely hidden by the jungle floor. Frantically, the creature screamed: “Don’t shoot! Don’t kill!”. The mechanical tones of Robert’s helmet-integrated translator were drowned out by a single pistol disharge. The empty cartridge landed in the mossy soil, silent but steaming with it’s guilt. It had ended a life, and so had every one of the men and women following him, at some point during the course of that day.
The words went unspoken, but everyone knew what the marine that had fired was thinking.
Eat it, b**ch.

For nearly an hour, LeDuc’s squad had prowled through the jungle surrounding the underground base they referred to as the Crow’s Nest. The mission’s first phase was over, and thankfully the marines had suffered no casualties on the way to their destination. The chances of this staying true on the way back were not in their favor. Maintaining radio silence, the captain crawled forwards through the underbrush to peek at the war-torn landscape that had been New Mombasa. The sight was both breathtaking and terrible, the city seeming aflame with plasma fire and muzzle flashes. What had once been buildings was now pools of slagged concrete, fields of dangerously cracking rubble, and blood-stained gravestones. And trapped therein, the rest of the men and women he had set out to rescue.
He took off his helmet, showing for a moment the long red scar running lengthwise under his chin, and put it next to him. Keeping his voice low, he still spoke loud enough for the rest of the volunteers to hear him over the now pounding sounds of war.
“Alright people, listen up.
You all know why we’re here. Stay low, keep your heads down and your ears peeled.
A bunch of our buddies are trapped in the frying pan, it’s our job to make sure they don’t land in the fire.
Split up and find as many survivors as you can. Two people per team, one team of three, and we all meet here in two hours.
In case of trouble, shoot up a red signal flare. We’ll try to get to your position ASAP. Yellow flare, and we all bug out.
Got it? Good. Move out.”
Snapping his helmet back into position, he motioned for two of the marines in the group to follow him. His group would be the only one with a stretcher, in case they found anyone WIA. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to use it.

Captain LeDuc had been buidling-hopping with the two marines still with him, slowly crossing the wasteland that was now New Mombasa checking for survivors and wounded. So far, they had only met with one other marine, a young lieutenant whose squad had been decimated by a scarab. The lines etched into the kid's face seemed imprinted on all of them, his unnatural tiredness sending a shiver through them. HIs condition a liability, Robert had sent the kid to the meetup point, to make sure everything was clear before everyone regrouped.
Sweeping the street with his assault rifle, he was immensely surprised when a puff of dust raised above a nearby wall, which had been preceded by a dark, olive-green blur. Now hopeful, he motioned for one of the two privates to take point, giving the hand signal for possible friendlies ahead.
As they neared the edge of the wall separating them from the origin of the puff, LeDuc thumbed his helmet speaker and shouted the archaic code phrase used since humanity's first world war.
"Flash!"

As the word rang out in the streets of New Mombasa, LeDuc and his two marines swept into the small clearing. As they rounded the corner, it was all they could do not to pause and gape as the Spartan-II stood in the middle of the clearing. Quickly regaining his composure, LeDuc indicated two positions and sent the marines ahead. Extending his arm, he offered a handshake to the imposing figure, carefully supressing the urge to salute in a combat zone.
"Never thought I'd see one of your kind today, but lord am I not going to complain. I'm Captain Robert LeDuc, 105th ODST."

{short post... bleah for dialogue postage}

This was not Jaimi's day. Her footsteps echoed against the earth's hard surface. She'd been dropped way off course, and she'd had to hike to where she was supposed to be. She was also trying to be as sneaky as possible. Even then, she was't sure she was going in the right direction. Crap! She was never good with maps and directions..

The young woman had been dropped much earlier in the skirmish, and gotten seperated from her group. So she was basically all alone in an unknown enviroment. She'd heard some comm chatter though that implied there was a small group around the area somewhere. She kept her MA6K at her shoulder, aimed slightly towards the ground. No need to hurt any friendlies.

She slid behind some debris, taking a breather. She checked her Twelve, formerly her Six. nothing. Clear area. She leaned up, checking back over the debris. She could see at least two figures, was that..

Though you couldn't see it, the look of shock on her face was amazing. It Is! A Spartan! Here?! She quickly slid her weapon onto her back. She definitely didn't want to surprise anyone..

She stood up, moving from behind the Debris. She held her hands up, showing that she contained nothing in them. "Hello. Friend or Foe? I'm..seperated from my group. Looking for friends."

Jaimi trotted over, post haste. Mentally, she was pretty irritated with herself. she'd never done well with Protocol. She was good at action, not talking. That's where all her good marks were. All her bad ones were in protocol, organization, and all that boring stuff. "Sorry, sir. Won't happen again. I got seperated from my group. Glad you have room for one more."

((Crow's Nest is actually a mountain base. You can see it on the levels Tsavo Highway and The Storm in Halo 3. It's the smoking mountain. You're in it during the level called Crow's Nest.))

Taylor payed close attention to the Captain's plan. It was sound. But then again, no plan survived contact with the enemy. The chances of finding survivors with nine men were very, very low. The Crow's Nest was no longer secret. It had been established as one of the rally points for the retreating Marine forces. It was highly likely that the different units within the city had taken the bulk of their wounded with them, so they would have to search for the smaller units. The Olympic Stadium didn't feel right. As far as he knew, there had been no significant action there. As the Captain detailed their plans, Kane brought up a map of the city and digitally overlayed it on the paper map. He highlighted the sewers and rail tunnels. A slightly fuzzy satellite image of the Olympic Stadium came in to view. Kane scanned the image multiple times and searched for anything resembling a human body. His scan came up with nothing.

There is a strong chance the surviving Marines took shelter in the rail tunnels. Most of the trains are no longer operational.

The Spartan stared at the map then looked at the Captain. Kane accessed his armor's exterior speakers and spoke up.

"Captain, this is UNSCDF Artificial Intelligence code name 'Kane'. I have been assigned to Spartan One Zero Three for the duration of this operation. I have imagery from the UNSC Dunkelste, and I cannot discern any human bodies among the wreckage of the stadium. I have reason to believe that any survivors went underground. There are three Pelicans in the area, I can reroute one of them to transport us to the Crow's Nest facility if we find any survivors."

Spartan 103 regarded the map once more then looked at the four Marines around him. His eyes focused on the METROrail lines that eventually linked up to the base of the former Space Tether. Although the Tether itself had been destroyed, much of the base was still intact. The METROrail computer hub was beneath it. That was where he needed to go.

"Sir, I think Kane is right. We don't stand a chance if we stay above ground. The Marines in the city would know that. I suggest that we search the rail tunnels. If I can get Kane to an access terminal in the city's METROrail hub, he can use the sensors in each tunnel to give us a good idea as to which tunnels have living things in them."