The Tables have turned. (Open)

[Faclan]

Basic Plot: The sudden and closing stages of combat between UNSC and Covenant forces. The time will be the evening, closing in on nighttime. The battle was pretty much at a stalemate as each side tried to take hold of the city of Lemarcha on the planet of Muater (Just a random location). The want to hold the city was to get its civilian population out. For the UNSC at least, the Covenant just interested in some slaughter and also taking out the Human vehicle plant on the far side of the city where the UNSC were advancing from. But an enterprising UNSC Marine found that the sewers under the city were free of Covenant and so the evacuation was able to be completed in record time. The Covenant unaware of this sneaky maneuver and so were very confused when all the Human forces suddenly fell back completely and took cover. Shortly after this was spotted by the front line of aliens the city was bombed. Danger Close to be sure for the Humans but with modern guidance systems there were no Human causalities due to a well timed retreat. The Covenant forces were completely decimated and now the UNSC command has ordered the still very strong UNSC forces back into the city. To secure it from the bastards. Kill, torture, capture - it would all be up to the individual soldiers and fireteam leaders but victory had already been established. Now it was just a matter of cleaning up the mess, gathering spoils, and disposing of the trash.

If you are using a new character give a little about your character like;
Name: Teo Poq
Species: Kig-Yar, T'vaoan sub species
Rank: Murmillo

Basic equipment: Banged up and scratched Murmillo armor, helmet missing, one still active Point Defense Gauntlet Variant (other broken). Armed with a Needle Rifle (4 canisters (1 loaded 3 carried on chest armor), Plasma Pistol, one Plasma Grenade, and Serrated Kig-Yar combat knife.

Troops: 2 Ruuthian Minors, 1 Injured T'vaoan Major, 1 Sangheili Minor, 2 Unggoy Minors.

Or link your profile if using an already made character.

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Teo Poq - T'vaoan Murmillo.
Mostly ruined city of Lemarcha.
Going to be a long dangerous night.

It would be blackness and dull shouts from around him as Teo slowly started to regain consciousness. Seeing just rubble in front of him before blacking out again. The next wake up would be feeling himself be moved, seeing his helmet on the ground with a large dent and an eyepeice shattered and then his feet as he was dragged toward somthing. And another black out. Finally able to growl quietly as he woke up once again Teo found himself looking up at the beak of Laz, one of his forces Minors who was trying to get him awake. Laz smiling when he saw the Murmillo stay awake this time as he sat back to give him some space to sit up. Teo taking it slow as he slowly pushed himself up to see that he was in what looked like the remains of a room. The smell of burning and death was all around here...and there were a few Unggoy in here. With a Sangheili and a few T'vaoan too. Holding his quietly ringing left ear hole Teo frowned as best he could with a beak and cheeped out for a sitrep.

"Bad, the Humans dropped something on top of us, at least it was only a bomb and not fire or anything like that. But they must 'ave gotten their people out or they finally stopped caring about them. Nearly everyone is dead or buried...I thought you were too boss when a flying brick beaned you in the head. Thankfully your helmet saved you. Comms are down and those that could still move after the blast all ran for the deployment zone...But I'm sure the Humans have sent aircraft there too. I think we're on our own Boss..."

Teo just nodded as he rubbed his face, turning his beak to face one of the Unggoy who squeaked out that they should surrender. Teo was silent for a few seconds as he considered that. It seemed like one of the best options at the moment. The force had been destroyed and routed and Humans were likely approaching from all angles. Despite the Sangheili being in the room he was the highest ranked troop leader here. It would be up to him to make the call if they tried to give up or not. But after removing his hand and seeing that all the troops in here were still armed and only the Major seemed badly injured he took a deep breath before shaking his head.

"No, not yet. There may still be a chance for our forces to regroup. Post up near windows and the stairs and keep watch. Do not. Repeat do not fire upon Humans if you see them. We need to wait and see what this new situation is."

All of them, even the Sangheili nodded as they moved to post up beside windows and the stairs leading down to the first level of their small building. None of them directly poking out their heads but all watching and listening as best they could. The Major staying where he was as he held his Carbine in his hands and tried to just keep breathing so as not to scream from his damaged leg.

"And put your rations in the middle of the floor, we may be here awhile..."


The small lance would then go quiet and wait. The sun starting to dip over the remains of the city but the fires would still provide a lot of light as they waited. The distant screams, moans, and occasional clatter of automatic fire letting them know the Humans were in deed approaching.

(The type of building the little lance is in from Battlefield 3 and 4's map Gulf of Oman; Link (left hand side of the picture) and Link . Most of them will have damage and scorch marks but the only mostly still intact buildings are one or two stories tall. Thee would also be aliens still out in the street either dead, injured, unconscious, or still trying to fight. Those that could move likely attempted to get into a building and wait.)

[Davis, E.]

Davis shook the cobwebs from his returning vision and immediately pulled up his fireteam vitals in his HUD. Everyone was still alive, though it was tough to tell if any of them were injured simply by the heartbeat line he saw. He was unaffected, though his ears still rang with the roar of heavy ordnance and he was coated in a heavy layer of dust and ash. He had never been danger close to an airstrike of that magnitude before. A bit of ill timed radio static and feedback had left he and his team on the very edge of blast radius. Thankfully the building they were in had held together just enough, buying them cover some protection from the concussion.

“First Team,” he croaked into his radio, forcing his voice to work. “Sound off. LACE report. I need to give 1-1 a SITREP, over.”

Sliding himself out from the lumber pile that had miraculously fallen around him, He checked himself for injuries. Nothing worse than a few bruises and a small cut on his face. The blood had already dried and while he was sure it looked horrid, it was minor at worst. He shook a little, forcing a cloud of dust from his gear and moved towards the middle of the room, giving the rest of his team something to rally to.

-------
(Will link profile later. Sorry for the small post. Just getting the ball rolling.)

[Faclan]

(Thanks for joining Davis, E. )

Teo Poq - T'vaoan Murmillo
Most ruined City of Lemarcha
Trying to help...

Checking the map he had been issued on his wrist computer the Sangheili confirmed for the second story holdouts that they were actually decently near what used to be the front line. One of the reasons why most of them were probably still alive. The Minor also infuriated that his file wasn't here. The Unggoy must have all ran for the hills after the bomb dropped and left him in the rubble! The T'vaoan major shushing him and trying to comfort him by saying that this was his team now. Well team member as Teo had command of this. But he needed to be quiet so they wern't found out and slaughtered. The Murmillo nodding back at the Majors words as he waved a hand for silence so he could listen...Besides the general distant sounds and gun/plasma fire he could hear voices and Unggoy wailing near him. Laz confirming it as he pointed at two Unggoy in the middle of the street. Climbing out of a slightly damage Human vehical they had the foresight to cower in before the explosion happened. Bright blue on them showed that they were injured too but they looked alright beside.

"Should we go and get them boss?"

"...Not yet, I could have sworn I heard Human voices too. But we will be going to get them if nothing happens." They whispered back and fourth as Laz nodded and held his pistol ready. "But we will be going out for them...we don't want to be shouting at each other now." Laz nodded and waited.

A good minute passed and the Unggoy were still there, making lots of noise and haddn't been shot yet. Teo licking his beak a bit as he turned to look back at Laz, before the Sangheili interrupted him.

"Going to wait more at you T'vaoan?! Always not yet?" The minor growled out. Teo looked back to respond before he stopped. The Sangheili was right, he had put off any real decision up till now. It was time to act. Nodding at Laz the Mumrillo and Minor carefully stepped over the Major watching the stairs and headed down them.

"Stay here, your in charge Bep." Teo quuietly said as they were soon on the first level and then out in the street...The fire, rubble, and body filled street.

"We get equipment from the bodies on the way back, check for life now."

"Aye boss."

The mostly Covenant bodies they found were dead, either from heat or the blast or a few bullets. And the Humans had been killed before the bomd dropped. The Covenant held this street before the Humans had played their trump card.

The two soon arrived at the car the Unggoy were next two and once closer could see that one of them was stuck under the seat. The one that was free squeaking that two T'vaoan had arrived and started to squeal about his stuck friend before Teo grabbed his head and shushed him!

"Quiet! We don't want the Humans to descend upon us!"

The Unggoy just nodded as Teo handed his rifle off to Laz so he had somthing beside his Plasma pistol as Teo went to work with the Unggoy trying to free the other one.

His bright orange armor, even without a helmet, likely very easy to see against the dull light of the fires.

(Could be exposed near your peeps Davis, E. if ya wanted.)

[Winters, R.]

Name: Raven Winters
Species: Human
Rank: Private



Basic equipment: body armor, helmet, rations,  radio, shotgun, rifle with several clips, a few grenades. 

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Raven Winters was not a stainger to pain and dangerous situations of any sort, but being at the very edge of a Danger Close air strike, was damn pushing the luck of everybody. Earlier Raven suggested using the sewers to evacuate the rest of the civilians out of the area She had volonterred to scout a section of the sewers and finding it, totally free of Convenant forces, she reported back to her unit.
It was been some time since then and now, finally snapping back into reality, she looked around at the room that she was in, laying on the floor. She slowly sat up but her ears and eyes where still blurred. She had a fairly hard time breathing as the room has suffered heavy damage. She was covered in fine dust and small debris. She slowly got up, and looked over herself as best she could, using one of her hands to gently feel different parts of her body, to see if it was injured of broken. Feeling only several bumps and bruises, and a moderate headache to go with it. She listened if there where anybody else around her and also checked her own HUD.

She heard softy male voice from a distance, and instantly her own radio also sounded, making Raven jump slightly in surprise. "The hell!... the idiot will give our position away with all the yelling! " Raven muttered angrily before reaching for her own radio and turning it on. Even if it was far from yelling, it was still easy to pickup even from a longer distance. "This is Private Winters... I am still in one piece. Over. " She said dryly. She then used her hand to try to clear her visor off, as best as she could to actually see something over then a gray blurry wall. 

She silently made her way into the location that the mutter originally came from, and only cleared her throat as she entered the room. This was done to alert the team of her presence. She was, however already thinking of a next step but currently had no actual idea. She may have been  just a Private as a Marine, but she was not new to dangers and fighting and such. 


(there... my first post... even if it is unofficial. Btw... i hope it is alright? ) 

[Furby, J.]

Furby groaned underneath a pile of rubble. His head felt like it was about to explode from the immense pressure trapped inside, his ears ringing uncontrollably. He stirred, shaking his head, and pushed against a particularly heavy piece of concrete that lay half against his body. Jayson moved to get up off the floor only to wince as pain shot up from the side the block had been laying against.

He gasped and carefully inspected his ribs with his fingers, running them across the bones to make sure they weren't broken. To his relief they were not, though he assumed that he had bruised them. Not exactly something he wanted to put up with when in a combat zone where he would be moving around a lot, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

He heard the voice of Corporal Davis, both over the radio and from what sounded like feet away. He shook his head groggily and sighed. "Ugh, five more minutes," he said like a child being roused from sleep.

"Rise and shine, buttercup," said Lance Corporal Avery from somewhere to his left. Jayson grinned. It would seem the whole team had made it through what had been an air strike he was certain they were all in agreement had been far too close for comfort. "Danger close" did not accurately describe it. The air strike had practically fallen on their heads.

"Fuckin' officers," he mumbled underneath his breath. "Trigger happy sons of bitches."

He heard Avery laugh. "Always gotta find a reason to bitch."

"You're reason enough," he retorted, the smile apparent in his voice. No one had to ask him if he was okay. The fact that he was able to complain at all was enough of an indicator to the team that he was fine. Bruised, battered, and a little sore; but still capable of putting up a fight should the need arise.

"Where's Fox?" Avery inquired with a hint of concern.

The hairs on the back of Furby's neck shot erect. One of their own had not yet announced himself, which could mean a number of things, few of which were particularly good. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself off the floor, groaning in pain. Standing up, he glanced around the room, spotting Avery kneeling with his machine gun to his left, and found Corporal Davis standing off to his right.

Private Ward was no where to be seen.

"Jonny?" he called, concerned.

"Fox!" Avery exclaimed, a little too loud for the marksman's liking.

Furby stepped over a large slab of debris and moved deeper into the half-demolished room, searching for any sign of his missing friend. A million thoughts buzzed around his head as he searched for a sign that his comrade was alright. He tried to remember if Ward had entered the building first before the bomb fell, or if he had been behind him. Jayson looked out the door that led out onto the city streets, finding no trace of Ward near or beyond the doorway.

The radio burst to life with static. Almost immediately it was replaced by the familiar voice of Private Jonathan Ward. "Echo One Whiskey here, I'm up. Over."

[Faclan]

(Trying not to be a massive stick in the mud but the UNSC pulled their forces back before dropping the bombs. It would have been loud and perhaps shaky but there wouldn't have been as many this close to what used to be the front line. Unless your people didn't fall back when ordered.)

[Ward, J.]

Private Jonathan Ward shook his head, a chunk of rubble falling from the top of his helmet, as he opened his eyes. He found himself leaned up against the burned-out husk of a Genet, his rifle on the ground a few feet away from him. The last thing he remembered was being ordered to fall back by Corporal Davis due to some type of air strike on the way. He'd thought that the team had time to make it beyond the blast range.

Davis had been wrong. Jon wasn't quite sure what had happened exactly, but the team had had maybe a couple of minutes before the air strike arrived and a massive bomb was dropped on the city. The Corporal and the rest of the team broke for a building that had been to their right as they ran down the street, but Ward never had the opportunity to get inside. The shockwave from the blast had catapulted him through the air, landing him in his present position up against the vehicle.

Looking down, he checked himself for wounds. His armor and camouflage utilities covered the majority of his body, and there didn't seem to be much damage from what he could tell. The armor plating was scratched up and dented a bit, and he noticed a cut on his ungloved left hand, but otherwise, he appeared to be fine. Sighing in relief, he slowly made his way up onto his feet, moving forward to scoop his assault rifle off the ground.

Jon inspected the weapon closely, and was pleased to find that it was still in working order. It was scratched up a little, but otherwise undamaged. Tearing his eyes from the weapon, he looked around. He was in the middle of an open street with spare cover spread out intermittently all around. Most of the nearby defilade was abandoned vehicles and the crumbled chunks of walls from the buildings on either side of the street. There didn't appear to be any Covenant roaming around.

Perhaps yet another blessing to be had was that he could hear the concerned cries of his fire team from somewhere south of him. The voices were faint, but he could hear them. Jon adjusted his helmet upon his head and checked to see if his COMMs gear was functional. It was. He smiled, finding that fortune seemed to be with him, and keyed his PTT on the TEAMCOM freq.

"Echo One Whiskey here, I'm up. Over."

The voice of Lance Corporal Avery warbled in his ear. "You alright, bro?"

"Affirm," he said. "A little banged up, but nothing serious, over."

He was about to start walking in the direction from which he heard the voices originate when something caught his attention down range to the north. He squinted his eyes in the harsh sunlight in order to see off in the distance. Though too far to be distinguishable from where he stood, he could see movement up ahead near an abandoned vehicle. He counted two figures huddled by it, but was unsure if it were human or not.

"Echo Four Delta," he called to his team leader over the radio, "I have possible contact to the north about... four hundred meters out, over."

[Faclan]

(Nice posts all, sorry I wasn't aware you were all part of the same team. Looking forward to the meet up ;D.)

Teo Poq - T'vaoan Murmillo
Mostly ruined city of Lemarcha, in the open on a road.
(Noisy) Rescue Rangers.

It soon became very apparent why the Unggoy hadn't be able to be freed before Teo and Laz arrived. From leaning through the mangled car door and looking at the seat it looked as if it had collapsed completly. Pinning the Unggoy's arm under the metal and fabric and now it looked pretty well bolted on...One thing at a time. Door first.

"Pistol Unggoy, we need to get the door off."

The outside Unggoy nodded and handed over the what seemed to be half filled pistol as Teo shielded his eyes and aimed at the side of the door where its bolts would be. But he froze a bit when he looked around. Anyone would hear this. But there was little choice now. The Unggoy would wail up a storm if the T'vaoan left them and they were already out in the open. Screw it - firing a few times at the door before setting the pistol on top of the car Teo nodded at the Unggoy as they both grabbed the opposite side of the door. It was hot, but not unbearably so as they had fired at the far side.

"Three, two, one...Pull!" Both aliens grunted and strained before the door was pulled off with a groan and snapping of its half melted bolts. Teo finding himself on top of the Unggoy with the door on top of him. Well that was one issue gone. Letting it clatter to the ground next to him he helped the Unggoy up before taking another look at the chair. There had to be bolts or something holding it down they could remove or melt through. And after some scanning he found them. Scooping up the pistol again and covering his eyes the broken seat legs were soon melting well. The smell of melting metal and pops now quite apparent.

"Go to the other side and do the same, lifting up the entire seat would be easiest." Teo handed over the pistol and directed the Unggoy as he looked over at Laz. "Anything Laz?"

"Nothing yet boss...I can hear their guns in the distance, its...scary."

Reaching up to pat the Minors shoulder Teo did his best to smile but it came out incredibly forced.

"I know Mate - I think we are all scared. Its a terrible situation we have found ourselves in now. And I won't lie and say the outlook looks good. But we will stay together and make it through. One way or another."

The minor nodded and gripped the Needle rifle with slightly renewed vigor as the Unggoy started to slowly blast away at the other bolts for the broken car chair. The trapped Unggoy showing a lot of strength to not be making a fuss. But his thick carapace seemed to be helping a lot.

[Davis, E.]

Davis pulled up a quick overhead map on his HUD, pulling down his team's location. The fact that Winters was still in the close was a surprise, but her ID tag showed her only slightly further out from the blast center than his team had been. The nearest other marines were several klicks out, and while they were coming to help with the cleanup it was still going to be a while. He knew the higher ups would be expecting him and his team to be battle ready at a minimum. 

First team never did the minimum.

"One-One Whiskey, hold your position and start a recon. If you hit contact, disengage and wait for help," Davis called over the TEAMCOM, ensuring to link Winters into their team sub frequency. "We should be there ASAP. Two three Whiskey. Link up with us at the following coordinates."

Davis pushed a waypoint ping to Winters across the neural network, giving her a link up waypoint. He nodded to Avery and Furby to move out, putting his SDM on point. It wasn't prime, but Ward wasn't going anywhere, and other than the dangers of a bombed out building, they were safe enough for now. With any luck they would at least have some targets prioritised for the cleanup crew. Davis had to imagine the bomb had done most of their work for them.

"Watch your step and move quick," he said softly to his two team members in earshot. "I'm not keen on leaving Fox by himself out there and I don't want to look like we were slacking out here. If Ward does his job right, we'll have a target rich environment when we hit the scene. With Winters joining us we'll have plenty of firepower to hold our own against nearly anything the Covenant have left to throw at us."

[Winters, R.]

(umm...i only know a few things about the military so bare with me.  Um... so is Raven in the same house or in another house a bit further out? O.o)

As Raven got the Fire Team leaders instructions over her radio, she just sent 3 short bursts of simple radio static back, signalling that she got the message. She however also wanted to verbally reply but waited. She looked at her HUD, that was actually always in her light of sight in one way or another. and smirked as she got her visual instructions. She studied the map for a few seconds and frowned. It was not such a long way to get to where she needed to go, but from what the map also showed, it was full of wrecked and half destroyed houses and a lot of rubble. This kind of terrain was perfect for ambush spots and sniper positions. She glanced around for a few seconds, in the distance, looking for anything that was off.
She had a feeling that there would be hostiles in the area. Raven then reached to her radio and spoke into it. "Copy that. Holding position, beginning recon. I have a bad feeling about this, sir... expect hostiles in the area, Winters over. " She said and also advised her superior to try to stay safe. She know it was not her job, but she valued human life and would hit her if anybody would get KIA. She glanced around once more, before finally deciding to move out.
She started her recon of the area but if would take quite some time before, she would manage to pass the mountains of rubble and ruins that where all around her. 
Oh, yes, an urban ruined place like this, was the perfect place for ambushes. Raven then looked around, and all of a sudden, she realized that she was totally alone. She grew very lonely and pretty sad at this. She bent down and near carelessly picked up a half burned piece of brick that could fit into her free hand and hung onto it. She did this to simulate that somebody else was also there with her, to not feel so alone. 

(I hope this is not a terrible post?.) 

[Faclan]

(People can feel free to interact with the aliens - probably having just got the other Unggoy out of the wreck. The plasma pistol shots probably easily heard as well as their talking. You can even fire on them if you'd like just don't headshot Teo please ^.^ .)

[Ward, J.]

Ward nestled into position behind the burned out husk of a Capri, his rifle trained on the Covenant Grunts that struggled to free themselves from a vehicle up ahead. He watched silently as the aliens struggled helplessly to be free of the vehicle, barking in panicked tones to one another. Jon grinned. He had a perfect shot lined up on them. If it weren't for the fact that he was alone and woefully unfamiliar with the lay of the land, he would have taken it.

Suddenly, more aliens showed up, likely drawn to the commotion. His grin grew exponentially wider as his brown eyes landed upon a couple of Jackals coming to the rescue of their cannon fodder brethren. One of the Jackals rounded the vehicle and began firing into the door, trying to melt through the steel hinges to dislodge it from the car.

"Echo Four Delta, Echo One Whiskey, company showed up," he announced over the TEAMCOM. "We got a couple Jackals trying to rescue a pair of Grunts from a scrapped vehicle. No other hostiles in sight. I'm holding."

He released the push-to-talk and brought his hand back to the front of the rifle, steadying it in case he needed to use it. The Covenant appeared to be so far unaware of his presence. Until the rest of the linked up with him, he preferred to keep it that way. If the Covenant discovered him, he had little chance of surviving. Jackals were crack shots with a rifle, and could overwhelm him quickly if he wasn't careful.

Jon ducked behind the vehicle one of the Jackals turned its head in his direction. Swearing under his breath, he prayed it had not seen him. Quietly, he listened and waited. There was a chance that he had ducked in time, but there was no guarantee. If the Jackal had seen him, he was most certainly a goner. "Hurry up, guys," he murmured nervously to himself.

[Furby, J.]

Furby shouldered his rifle and peeked out the door into the street beyond its threshold. All around he spotted evidence of the airstrike that nearly claimed his life and the lives of his team. There were scorch marks, half-demolished buildings, and the charred, twisted metal of vehicles caught in the blast. Jayson grinned. Maybe those gods Durant always spoke of had been looking out for First Team.

"Clear, Corporal," he said, lowering his rifle to the "low ready" position. "And might I just add that this is bullshit. Fox is totally gettin' my boot up his ass for splittin' off from us."

Avery chuckled and shook his head. "Bro, just don't get shot."

The Lance Corporal turned his head to glance over his shoulder at the machine gunner. "If I do, I'm shootin' you next."

Lance Corporal Avery patted the top of the feed of his '247, still grinning. "Sally here would fuck you up."

Jayson laughed and stepped out the door, bringing his rifle to bear. The street appeared totally devoid of life, and the Lance Corporal couldn't help but feel he had stepped into some kind of twisted, post-apocalyptic movie, sans the undead. He moved cautiously and scanned all around, silently praying that there weren't any freaks around to use him as target practice. He'd always hated being on point.

The job of the point man was generally a double-edged sword. Primarily the point man, on paper, was supposed to lead the team forward under the direction and supervision of the fire team leader and act as it's forward scout. However, what the field manuals and instructors never told the potential pointmen was that they were also the first Marine the enemy would see, and thus they became the first person the enemy shot at. The billet of the team's point man had been given to Ward, and while he didn't want to see his friend shot, he really didn't like the idea of being the one in his shoes.

Jayson came up on an intersection. He crept up to the corner of the building and used it as cover while he leaned out to scope out the path ahead. According to his HUD, Ward was another block away down the road on their right. He checked the street first and was relieved to find it empty and lifeless, then inspected the windows and doors of the buildings on either side of the road.

He saw no sign of hostile contact, and thus decided it was safe to move forward. Just ahead was a large mail dispenser, roughly fifteen meters down the road, made of a thick, sense metal. It wasn't exactly the optimal choice for defilade, but it would have to do. He ducked behind the corner and looked back at Corporal Davis. "Around the corner about fifteen meters is a mail dispenser. I'm gonna move to it... Try not to let me get shot, Corporal."

He drew a deep breath and exhaled heavily. This was the part of a point man's job that he despised. There were hundreds of possible points down the road where they could be engaged from, and he would be the first target of opportunity for a trigger happy alien. "Fuck this bullshit," he mumbled, then turned the corner and burst down the road.

Within seconds he was upon the dispenser. At the last second he dropped to the ground and slid into cover, breathing heavily as he hugged his rifle to his chest. He listened quietly for a moment and heard nothing. No gunfire, no alien warbles of alarm, just the whistle of the wind and the sound of hundreds of fires burning uncontrollably. Jayson signed in relief, wiping away a bead of sweat from his forehead. He winked at the acknowledgment icon on his HUD, letting his team know through the neural lace that he was fine and that the coast was clear.

Furby stood up and, with his rifle readied, scanned the path ahead for a second. The road was just as empty as it had been two minutes ago, much to his relief. Nodding to himself, he stepped out from behind the dispenser and made his way down the street to the corner. The NAV marked indicated Ward was twenty meters to his left. He leaned out and spotted him crouched down behind an SUV.

The Lance Corporal dropped to a crouch and leaned out from around the corner with his rifle, bringing the scope up in front of his eye. With the 2x zoom of the rifle optic he had an up-close perspective on the Covenant troops huddled around a small, damaged vehicle. Jayson chuckled. It appeared they were oblivious to the fact that just a couple dozen meters down the road there were humans watching them.

"Corporal, I just glassed two Jackals and a pair of Grunts by a vehicle, just like Jonny said," he informed his team leader. "I got a beautiful headshot on one of the birds. Lemme light 'em up."

[Wilkas, G.]

Wilkas let out a quiet groan, her ears rang sharply almost drowning out the sound of battle. The initial blast knocked the RTO out cold. She forced her eyes to open wincing at the bright light which flooded eagerly into her retinas. She shielded her eyes with her hand as she attempted to push herself up off of the ground. Grace's helmet was missing, her left cheek smeared with crimson blood. She watched the battle unfold through distant eyes, her rifle lying in the dirt nearby, her helmet lying half in, half out of a puddle.
She crawled over to the remains of an battered wall, propping herself up against it. The red headed radio operator felt distinctly unwell, dizzy and rather sick. Somewhere in the back of her mind a voice screamed at her to make a move, grab a weapon and find her fellow marines. However for the moment the young marine lacked the strength or will to do so. With shaking hands she reached for her canteen, managing despite some difficult to remove the lid. Grace poured several swigs of cool water down her dry throat. She flinched at a nearby explosion but struggled to find the strength or will to rejoin the fight.

[Durant, M.]

The situation on the ground had almost deteriorated beyond comprehension. Michael thought this as he stared out into the battle stricken landscape before him. The concrete jungle that had once been home to thousands of people was now a barren, war-torn hellhole, and the city center was ground zero for a powerful airstrike ordered by UNSC CENTCOM.

Three battalions of Marines, alongside Militia and Army forces, had gone toe-to-toe with a battle-hardened legion of Covenant warriors and numerous supporting elements. It had been a pitched fight towards the end of the initial phase, as the UNSC and the Covenant carried on a dangerous game of give and take. Grim was the atmosphere that surrounded the platoon throughout the last hour before the airstrike had been ordered.

Human forces had been given the minimum in time to egress before the strike commenced. Second Platoon had been the forward most unit in the area of operation assigned to Oscar Company, and had encountered some of the stiffest resistance in the fight to secure the western swath of the sprawling metropolis. Michael had ordered his platoon to retreat and, for the most part, all personnel were accounted for.

All except First Team.

The Lieutenant glanced at Sergeant Stone. Curiously, the grizzled veteran seemed calm and collected, when Durant imagined that -- were he occupying his shoes -- he would be stricken by worry and fear. Four Marines missing in the aftermath of such a devastating event was a grim reality for any squad leader. That was literally one-third of the southerner's squad unaccounted for in formerly Covenant controlled territory.

Reports from the MEU's reconnaissance elements suggested that the tides had turned in the favor of humanity. Dozens of Covenant remains had been found on the same streets that had seen some of the fiercest engagements between the opposing sides. Entire city blocks had been leveled in the airstrike, and many Covenant units had likely been wiped out as a result. Michael almost grinned.

Despite all the good news that had come down the pipeline, there was still no word on the status of First Team, and just as he was about to ask for a status from Sergeant Stone, the voice of Corporal Rio warbled in his ear. "Two Actual, Two-Two has one MIA."

Michael pulled up the platoon roster on his HUD. Private Winters' name was highlighted in yellow on the list of personnel for Second Squad, indicating that she was indeed not present or accounted for. He sighed as his eyes skimmed back to the top of the list, where PFC Wilkas' name was also highlighted in the same color. Somewhere along the way, he had lost track of her.

He shook his head, feeling personally responsible. The platoon had been under heavy fire as it retreated, and as a consequence, he had not been paying much attention to the whereabouts of his radio operator. He should have been paying more attention. Situational awareness was a critical trait of a platoon commander, and it was a concept that had been hammered into his brain during his time in OCS and The Basic School.

"Omen Two Actual to Omen," Durant hailed over the radio.

"Omen Two, X-Ray, send it," the company's executive officer responded.

"Be advised: Omen Two has presently six possible MIA, break," he paused, surveying the burning city before him. "interrogative: can I get a BDA? Over.

There was a short pause that Durant took as meaning Matheson was searching for the requested information. Michael took the brief reprieve to bring up a map of their AO, preparing to mark areas with waypoints for future patrol. "Omen Two, BDA is as follows, break. Heavy ordinance expended on Covenant strongpoints across city center. All ordinance on target. Remarks: Covenant forces appear crippled and in retreat. Ground recon recommended to confirm target suppression. Over."

Durant nodded. "Solid copy. Two out."

The squad leaders all converged on him as he released his grip on the push-to-talk. They must have all been listening to the company net. Sergeant Weatherby seemed concerned. "What're our orders, sah?"

Michael considered the question for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "We're going to move back into the AO and commence search and rescue of our missing Marines. Right now, the Covenant are in disarray. Those heathens hadn't expected to death to rain from the heavens, but their shock will not last forever. If we are to have any hope of recovering our own, dead... or alive, we have to move quickly."

Weatherby nodded, seemingly satisfied. Sergeant Stone was the epitome of stoic, showing no emotion across his rigid features whatsoever. "Alrigh', sir. I'll git Firs' Squad a'movin'."