Post by Durant, M. on Dec 4, 2013 12:20:41 GMT -5
The Plot
"When I die please bury me deep,
place an MA5 down by my feet!
Don't cry for me, don't shed no tear;
just pack my box with PT gear!
'Cuz one early morning 'bout zero five,
the ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky!
Don't you worry, don't come undone!
It's just my ghost on a PT run!"
place an MA5 down by my feet!
Don't cry for me, don't shed no tear;
just pack my box with PT gear!
'Cuz one early morning 'bout zero five,
the ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky!
Don't you worry, don't come undone!
It's just my ghost on a PT run!"
Halo: Oscar Company RPG is centered around a company of Marines (more specifically focused on a single platoon) and their story during the bloodiest years of the Human-Covenant War. These are the unsung heroes participating in the battles, some small and some large, that eventually lead up to Reach and Halo. It's a story based on the characters - one of camaraderie, bravery, and loss.
Our story began in 2542 on the UNSC Vengeance, a Marathon-class Heavy Guided Missile Cruiser and the place of residence for Oscar Company on their long voyage away from home.
Operation: LOST TEMPLAR
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The Vengeance had been on its way to the colony of Sigma Octanus IV for retrofit and repair when it received a priority transmission from UNSC HIGHCOM. A UNSC Halcyon-class Cruiser, the Templar, fell off the grid and suddenly suddenly reappeared and was transmitting an emergency distress beacon from somewhere in deep space.
The Vengeance was ordered to investigate. It rerouted and headed for the Templar's last known location. The Marines of Second Platoon, Oscar Company, whom had been in cryogenic storage for the long trip to Sigma Octanus were awakened and tasked with boarding the rogue ship and investigating the cause of the distress signal and its disappearance. Ferried over to the ship via Pelicans, the platoon boarded the vessel and found the majority of its crew dead; seemingly due to foul play.
The truth was far worse than anyone could have anticipated.
Not long after the platoon discovered that the NAV database, which had been supposedly purged of all data per Cole Protocol, had been accessed and the purge interrupted just before it could be finished. The whereabouts of one of humanity's colonies on the border between the Core Worlds, Phoenix III, had been compromised.
Shortly after making the discovery, the platoon came under ambush by Covenant Spec Op's troops. The Marines barely managed to repel the Covenant from the ship, after suffering staggering losses and eliciting the aid of a pair of ONI-sanctioned ODSTs. The Covenant retreated to a waiting Stealth Corvette and jumped into slipspace, but not before opening fire on the Templar in order to destroy it. The Marines managed to escape by the skin of their teeth, and returned to the Vengeance to report their findings.
Operation: FROST DRAGON
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The Vengeance arrived at Sigma Octanus a few weeks later and reported their findings to UNSC High Command. During their stay in orbit, the ship received the necessary repairs and retrofits and Oscar Company welcomed new blood into its ranks. Second Platoon received a mixed batch of battle-tested Marines and greenhorns, and the 27th MEU was given its marching orders.
The plan was simple: reinforce the Outer Colony of Phoenix III in preparation for a possible Covenant invasion. But as to be expected, that plan went out the window when the Vengeance and its accompanying battlegroup arrived in the Alpha Phoenicis system to find the Covenant had beaten them to the punch. With little time to prepare, the Marines of Oscar Company suited up and deployed groundside to face the Covenant head on.
Oscar Company made landfall on the western side of the river. Under UNSC control, the Marines of Second Platoon moved virtually uncontested to the 51st Street Bridge, where a platoon of Army soldiers had been holding the line against consistent Covenant assaults over a three-day timespan. Second Platoon immediately came under fire as they moved to relieve the Army platoon.
The Marines managed to repel the enemy assault and held the bridge until nightfall. Phase II of Operation: FROST DRAGON was hastily put into effect. A combined task force comprised of the 27th MEU and its assets and the Army pushed east into Covenant-controlled territory. The plan had Mike Company moving to seize the Tallusa Spaceport whilst November Company captured the Governor's Plaza and Oscar Company seized the central subway terminal of the Tallusa transit system.
Second Platoon maneuvered through the streets of Tallusa, engaging in tense street-to-street fighting to reach the subway terminal. Hours after Phase II began, the platoon gained control of the terminal after half an hour of pitched combat. With the terminal under UNSC control, the platoon awaited further orders.
An hour after the battle to secure the terminal, the order came to move out. Oscar Company was to advance through the labyrinth of subterranean tunnels to the spaceport in an attempt to aid Mike Company in their assault. The company advanced, meeting stiff resistance along the way, before being re-tasked to capture and/or destroy the city's custodial AI, buried deep beneath the Governor's Plaza.
Second Platoon was given the job, and they proceeded through the tunnels to the entrance to the AI Core. There, the platoon fought against a determined Covenant strike force for four hours before finally deciding to destroy the AI and continue on with their original mission. Joining the fight at the spaceport late, Second Platoon, alongside the rest of their unit, were the needed reinforcements Mike Company needed to win the day.
The remainder of the battle for Phoenix III was spent driving the Covenant out of the city. Early in the morning on the third day since the 27th MEU arrived, the Marines learned that a fleet of Covenant reinforcements arrived, and had beaten the Navy in space. What remaining ships there were retreated behind the moon and ordered all UNSC ground forces to evacuate before the Covenant could move into position to glass the planet.
All of the 27th MEU, alongside the garrison Army forces, managed to evacuate in time. While Phoenix III was lost to the Covenant, the Marines' mission was heralded as a success. The civilian populace of Phoenix III had been successfully evacuated the day prior, and all of the MEU's objectives had been completed.
Operation: HUMP
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The Vengeance and her accompanying battlegroup returned to UNSC-controlled space. While the machinations of the human war machine were at work in the background, the Marines of Oscar Company spent the well-deserved downtime doing what bored warriors do best: causing mayhem. Corporal Evan Davis became the mastermind in a plan to hijack one of the many simulation rooms aboard the Vengeance, used explicitly for training and keeping Marines combat skills sharp, to throw a massive party for the MEU's junior enlisted.
As all plans go when alcohol and junior Marines are involved, what was intended to be a party to blow off steam turned into a riot as the Marines of Oscar Company engaged their decades-old rivals of November in an all-out brawl. The Navy's police, known as MAs, were dispatched en masse to quell the riot and restore order. However, as Marines fled the scene by the dozens, Davis and his fire team made a final stand against the MAs within the simulator, managing to incapacitate a sizeable number of their pursuers before finally being apprehended.
As a result of the illegal gathering of junior enlisted, and the company-on-company mayhem, Oscar Company were forced into the freezers until the time came that they were needed once more.
And that time came quicker than expected.
News of an insurrectionist uprising on the distant Outer Colony of Melfa reached the brass of the UNSC. A former Marine turned Insurrectionist orchestrated the hostile takeover of the planet's capital, and murdered its governor publically to send a message to the government they felt oppressed them: the Innies were in control, and would fight to maintain it. In response, UNSC High Command dispatched the Twenty-Seventh MEU to the war stricken world to support the local planetary forces in recapturing the capital and restoring order.
Oscar Company, along with its sister units, landed fifty kilometers from the capital city at a Forward Operating Base erected by the Army. For the next three weeks the Marines pushed their way through hundreds of guerilla forces occupying the jungles between the FOB and the capital. The fighting was fierce, and many casualties were suffered on both sides. When First Battalion arrived in the city, Oscar Company spearheaded the push to retake the capital.
For over a week the Marines of Oscar Company endured grizzly firefights against competent and trained rebel forces whom proved unwilling to go down without a fight. Street-to-street, house-to-house, Oscar Company led the fight against an entrenched and determined enemy. Second Platoon fought through droves of Insurrectionists to capture the Government Plaza. Constant combat saw many a good Marine fall to enemy fire.
Operation: WHITE SCORPION
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After several months of respite from the harsh realities of the war on the planet Reach, the Marines of Oscar Company boarded the UNSC Vengeance once more to embark on yet another deployment. Rumors of their next mission were abound, as some indicated that they would be acting as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) to Covenant threats across human space, while others correctly assumed they would be taking the fight to the enemy in an desperate attempt to raise morale across the Colonies and score a much needed victory for the UNSC. Whilst in transit, the Marines were officially made aware of their next mission: a siege upon a formerly human controlled star system that had been conquered by the Covenant. The Atlas System would be their next target, and likely to be the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting yet.
While some are excited, others remain apprehensive. In no uncertain terms, Operation: WHITE SCORPION could be a resounding success... or the end for all of them.
Time will tell...