Red vs. Blue
Sabre
Planet Sidewinder
Thursday, January 1, 2554
0100hrs
All around the snowy, lifeless landscape, Sabre can hear the faint sound of gunfire. He looked in the direction of the sound, his breath visible even in the dark. He looked back at his small campfire, it was dying.
Time to move out, he thought.
He stood up and put his helmet back on.
"Sabre, aren't you still tired?" Delta's glowing green figure came up.
"Just a bit, not enough to be concerned about," Sabre said.
"Agent, I would advise you to sleep two hour, twenty-nine minutes, and eight seconds more," Delta calculated.
"Tell me that again when I'm done," Sabre said.
Delta nodded and disappeared.
He's right of course, I'm still pretty tired, he thought.
Sabre took his sniper rifle and placed it on his back. He holstered his pistols and took his battle rifle in hand.
"Let's get this over with," he mumbled to himself.
After a short walk, he came up on a hill overlooking the battlefield. The Insurrection had reached Sidewinder and got caught up in the Red versus Blue simulations; it was a mess. Red, Blue, and Insurrectionist bodies littered the ground. The Blues were holding at their base, the Reds were to the West and the Insurrection to the North.
Speaking of North, he thought.
He turned on his radio.
[North, you in position?]
{Yeah, I can see you and the battlefield.}
[Good, await my signal, Sabre out.]
Sabre took his own sniper rifle and got set up.
No direct engagement, you must not be discovered, said the Director.
"Picking off Insurrectionist officers seems pretty direct," Sabre mumbled.
Sabre looked through his scope at the Insurrectionists. They were the Cold Battalion, one of their more successful groups. They had a fair defensive strategy, but Sabre and North Dakota were going to make sure it crumbled.
[Pick a target, fire on my shot.]
{Roger.}
Sabre put the crosshairs on the Insurrectionist lieutenant. He squeezed the trigger and the bullet flew in the air. Sabre saw it hit its mark and waited for the steam trail to fade. Soon after, another officer fell, his head exploding.
[Now that was brutal]
{Thank you}
Sabre chuckled and continued his work.
After several cold hours of slaughtering Insurrectionists, Sabre studied the battlefield. The Insurrectionists were retreating and the Reds and Blues called their battle a draw. Sabre and North packed up and followed the retreating Insurrectionists back to their "base."
[Director, we've found the Insurrectionists base on Sidewinder. Prepare the assault team]
{Negative Agent, laze the target and we'll launch an orbital strike}
[Yes sir]
Sabre pressed a button on his helmet and a laser was pointed at the base.
{Target locked, firing}
A MAC round fell from the sky and utterly destroyed the base. Sabre checked to make sure no one was still alive and activated his tracking beacon. He called his ride and went back to Project Freelancer's command ship. When he docked, he was greeted by his team, Carolina, Texas, South Dakota, and Washington.
"Hey guys, miss me?" Sabre joked.
"Ha, you wish. We were waiting for North," Wash said.
Sabre gave a fake laugh and got off his pelican. North came out after him and his sister South gave him a fist bump. Sabre just walked out of the hangar to the armory. He put his sniper rifle away and went to the bridge to give his mission report. Then he radioed North Dakota.
[Hey North, I have a better kill count than you]
{Yeah right, I took out like twenty guys}
[Twenty-seven to be exact, I've got the numbers on my HUD right now]
{Oh yeah? Well, how did you do?}
[Thirty-two]
{Shut up}
Sabre chuckled and walked into the bridge.
"Attention, Agent deck," said someone.
Everyone stood rigid.
"At ease, where's Director Church?" Sabre asked.
"He will be with you soon," said the Counselor
Sabre waited for a few minutes.
"Attention, Director on deck," the same person said.
"At ease," the Director said.
Sabre brought up a map of Sidewinder.
"Report Agent," the Director was quick to get to the point.
"Mission success sir. We have eliminated the Insurrectionist threat in this quadrant of planet Sidewinder," Sabre said.
"How many where there?"
"Delta?" Sabre asked.
"By my calculations, there was at least two companies from the Cold Battalion," Delta said.
"And they are all eliminated?" the Director inquired.
"Yes sir," Sabre assured.
"Dismissed then."
Sabre left the bridge and went to the barracks. There, Wash, Maine, Carolina, the Dakotas, and York were there laughing about something.
"Did I miss a good joke?" Sabre asked.
"York was just telling a story about him and Carolina earlier in their Freelancer career," said Wash.
"So I did miss a good joke," Sabre said again.
A chorus of "oohs" came from the team as Carolina and York glared at Sabre.
"Careful newbie, you haven't even been here year," Carolina said.
"Is that a challenge?" Sabre leaned on the table.
Carolina stood and stared right into Sabre's visor.
"That's enough," came a voice.
Everyone turned to see Texas walking into the room.
"Save it for the enemy," she said.
"Come on Texas, I bet I could take both of you on," Sabre said recklessly.
The room was silent as they waited for Texas's answer.
"Fine then, training floor," Texas said.
Sabre got up and followed Texas and Carolina. He was thinking of what he was going to "train" on. He decided hand-to-hand combat. He quietly broke away from the other two and went to a computer. He hacked through some basic firewall and looked into the AI storage facility. He looked through the AIs remaining in the storage facility. He picked Sigma and uploaded him into his helmet.
"How may I be of assistance?" Sigma asked.
"I need you to keep an eye on both Texas and Carolina during my fight. Warn me when one of them is attacking," Sabre said.
"Of course," Sigma said.
Sabre smiled and went to the training room.
The heavy door opened slowly and the trio walked in. They picked a corner and waited for the AI Fillus to start the match.
"Training session between Sabre and Team 1: Agent Carolina and Agent Texas," she started, "Removing any unauthorized enhancements."
Sabre was taken by surprise and Sigma was ripped from his helmet. Sabre glared at the two.
"Smart," he said in a low voice.
"Begin," F.I.L.L.U.S. said.
Sabre ran at Texas, hoping to eliminate the toughest of the Agents. He threw a punch at Texas, but she simply grabbed it and threw him to Carolina. Carolina caught Sabre and slammed him in the ground. Then she picked him up and threw him back into his wall. Sabre slumped against it, but got up. He gritted his teeth.
Enough play, he thought.
Sabre charged Carolina and landed an uppercut to her stomach. He kneed her helmet and threw her into Texas. Texas caught Carolina and they both looked at Sabre. They charged at Sabre at the same time. Texas threw the first punch and Sabre blocked it. Carolina punched Sabre in the helmet and started to pound his armor.
After a while, Carolina stopped punching and kicked Sabre back into the wall.
"Match finished, Team 1 wins," Fillus said.
Sabre got up slowly, hurting and embarrassed.
Me and my big mouth...he thought.
His armor was dented is several places and he could feel it crushing his chest. He got up and stumbled out the door.
"Talk to us again when you can actually fight rookie," Texas said after him.
Sabre went to the medic and had him help remove his armor. After being released, Sabre talked to the medic about augmentations.
"I don't know Sabre, I think you just need time," the Medic admitted.
"Ok, let's make a deal then: If, after two years, I lose another fight, then you have to get me augmented," Sabre said.
The Medic accepted; he's been in this position before. Agents always get better in combat. Even Carolina was in Sabre's position; she still is. Sabre left the infirmary with his removed armor. He went to the armory and had the ship dispose of his ruined armor. He then locked the armory and used the miniaturized communications array in it.
"Hey, has anyone seen Sabre? I haven't since the fight," said South
"Maybe he's still crying in the bathroom," said Texas, chuckling.
"I'm going to go look for him."
South left the cafeteria and went to Sabre's quarters. She knocked on the door and it opened a crack.
"Hey South, did I miss something?" Sabre said in a somber tone.
"No, Texas is just gloating about her win," South said,
"Is that the reason you came to see me?"
"No, I just was wondering if you weren't taking this too badly,"
"No, I'm fine. I just talk too much and don't know when to shut up," Sabre joked.
South gave a chuckle, then her radio came on.
{South, you there?}
It was North
[Yeah, what's up?]
{Director is calling all of us for a meeting, bring Sabre.}
[Roger, over and out]
"Come on, the Director is calling a meeting. He wants everyone,"
Sabre came out and South realized that he wasn't in his armor.
"Where's your armor?" she asked as then jogged.
"Carolina gave it some major damage, I'll need a new one," Sabre said.
South wondered how the Director would take this. They went to the bridge, everyone was already there.
"Took you two long enough, where were you?" Texas demanded.
Wash joked with Carolina and made a few kissing noises. Everyone chuckled.
"Well, I know what Wash and Carolina were doing," Sabre said aloud.
Everyone was quiet and York glared at Sabre. The bridge doors open and the group walked in. The Director and the Counselor were standing behind a map of a city.
"Agents, we have an Insurrection threat here in Zanzibar," said the Direction.
The power station showed a large amount of stolen Scorpion Tanks and Gauss Warthogs.
"Any idea where they got the equipment?" Carolina asked.
"We have an idea, but we'll need more evidence," the Director said.
"What's the game plan?" Sabre asked.
The Director looked at Sabre and noticed he didn't have an armor on.
"Don't worry sir, I'll be combat ready soon," Sabre reassured.
"I hope so…" he said aside, "The plan is a direct assault. They seem to be unloading a special, possibly stolen weapon."
"Wouldn't be the first time," York remarked.
" Wave one will consist of Agents Carolina, York, Maine, Washington, and North Dakota," the Director said, "Wave two will have South Dakota, Sabre, Florida, Texas, and Georgia."
Sabre nodded and turned to leave the room. He needed a new set of armor and fast.
"Agent Sabre," said the Director.
"Yes sir?"
"Next time, keep your mouth shut," he said.
The team cracked up and laughed as Sabre left.
Yes sir…he thought.
Planet Earth
January 3, 2554
0954 hrs
Sabre shifted in his drop pod, trying to get everything online.
"How do ODSTs do it?" he said.
His new armor was perfect for the assault they were about to do. It had slightly thicker plates for taking hits. He also had a tracking beacon for a loadout he would need as soon as he landed.
"All systems are green, drop us," came Carolina's voice in the comm.
The locks around him released and the first wave fell. He had to wait until they landed before giving the order to drop. He kept his comm on for when Carolina gave the "ok." After a few minutes, she gave it.
"Systems check, release locks," he said.
The locks released and the earth rushed towards him. He fell and had his tracker ready. He landed hard and released the door. The sound of gunfire got immediately louder as it flew off. He threw the tracker out and grabbed his assault rifle.
"Tracker online, dropping Ordinance Pod 5273," said Eta.
Sabre told his team to support Carolina until he was ready. They left and Sabre waited. A pod soon landed near him and opened. He smiled and got suited up.
Carolina and the rest were pinned down at the cliffs near the powerstation.
{Sabre, where the fuck are you? We need help!}
Suddenly, a new sounded entered the orchestra of destruction and several Insurrectionists soldiers fell. Carolina looked to her left and saw Sabre with a backpack and a belt-fed chaingun. He was gunning down Insurrectionists by the dozens and the rest of the assault joined him. The Insurrectionist defense crumbled under their firepower and they cleared out the powerstation. Carolina radioed the Director.
[Sir, the powerstation is clear of Insurrectionist activity. Ready for extraction]
{Negative, scans indicate that the Insurrection is attempting to retake the powerstation. ETA: three minutes, defend it at all cost.}
[Roger that. They'll regret coming back. Carolina out]
"Alright, get in defensive positions. We have about three minutes," she ordered the group.
Sabre carried his chaingun upstairs to a destroyed turret mount.
"Hey Maine, can you get me some tools? Screwdriver, some screws, and some scrap pieces of metal," Sabre asked.
"Sure," said Maine in his deep voice.
Sabre started taking the mount apart and trying to attach his chaingun. Maine brought what he could find and Sabre managed to make a strong enough mount. He swiveled and tested his new turret.
"This should last a little while," he thought out loud
He nodded at Maine and Maine told Carolina that they were ready. Maine positioned himself on the opposite side of Sabre with his grenade launcher and rocket launcher.
They waited for several minutes, almost thirty.
[Carolina, you sure they're coming?]
{That's what Command said,}
[And Command is always right?]
{Just be ready, Carolina out.}
Sabre shook his head and looked at the entrance to the powerstation.
"I've got this easily covered, no infantry unit is getting in," he said proudly.
Then he heard a low rumble and saw a Scorpion tank come into his field of view.
"You're kidding me, right?" Sabre complained.
[Carolina, enemy armor inbound. Permission to engage?]
{Granted}
"Maine, get started on that tank," Sabre said.
Maine grunted and jumped off his platform. He started shooting at the tank. The infantry around the tank started shooting at Maine, but Sabre kept them pinned. The tank swiveled its cannon to Sabre and fired a round. It missed and made a hole in the wall behind him.
"Shit!" Sabre kept firing.
It fired again, but still missed. Sabre had already killed about thirty infantry units, but they kept coming. Then the tank blew up Sabre's chaingun turret and made him fly back into the hole. He fell in front of Carolina and her team. He lifted his head and looked at Carolina through a cracked visor.
"Hey Carolina, what's up?" he joked.
"You ok?" Carolina asked.
"Sure, just go the wind knocked out of me," Sabre got up.
His chestplate was melted in the front, but Sabre showed no signs of pain.
"Where's my rifle?" he asked.
York tossed his assault rifle and Sabre caught it.
"Ok, I'm ready," Sabre said.
Maine came in through the door with his empty launchers. He closed the door and threw his launchers on the ground.
"Tank down," Maine said.
"Ok, defend the station at all costs. Sabre, how many soldiers were out there?" Carolina asked.
Then the door exploded and three chaingunners came in. Then a flood of main infantry came in and completely surrounded the group of Freelancers. They were also on the railings above the team. The leader and a girl came in front of the team.
"That many," Sabre finally said.
"Give up Freelancers, we have you completely surrounded," the leader said.
To give emphasis, the chaingunners warmed up their guns, but did not fire.
"Eta," Sabre whispered.
"Yes?" the AI came on.
"Power up, now please?" Sabre asked.
"You got it!" Eta said cheerfully.
Sabre walked up to the leader.
"What are you doing?" Carolina demanded.
"Giving up?" the leader mocked.
Sabre smiled behind his cracked visor and grabbed the leader by his chestplate. He picked him up and threw him into the chaingunners. He kicked the girl away and drew his assault rifle.
"Freelancers never give up," he said.
He started firing at the soldiers on the railings as he ran through the infantry on the floor. It took the other Freelancers a few seconds to catch up, but then they attacked as well. Sabre dropped his empty, smoking rifle and ran at the chaingunners. One of the gunners got up and warmed up his gun, but Sabre started punching his armor in. He crushed his skull through his helmet and started on the other gunners.
The team were easily cutting through the infantry on the ground and South started on the remaining soldiers on the rails. The leader got up, but Sabre grabbed him and threw him head first into the last gunner. The leader's neck snapped and the gunner fell. Sabre jumped up and landed on the gunner's head, snapping his neck under his weight. He took a chaingun and started gunning down the remaining Insurrectionist soldiers. When all was done, there were dead Insurrectionists all around the team. Sabre dropped the chaingun and smiled.
"That could have been a disaster," he joked.
Then a grappling claw grabbed his backplate and pulled him. Sabre crashed into three walls before being released. He rolled on the floor to a stop and looked up. The girl he kicked away looked down on him with two swords in her hands.
"Uh oh," Sabre said.
He pushed himself away before the girl decapitated him. Sabre flipped and kicked the girl as she charged him. Sabre looked around him and drew his two tactical knives.
"This is going to be messy," he said.
The girl charged him again and Sabre blocked her first strike. Sabre swung at her head and stomach, but she would be too fast and slash his arms. Eventually, Sabre's right arm was cut off at the elbow. Sabre looked at the decapitated arm and back at her.
"That was my strong arm," he said.
She kicked him down and planted her foot on his chestplate. He tried to stand, but the girl kept him down. The rest of the team finally caught up, but the girl held a sword tip at sabre's throat.
"Come on, who wants to take the risk for their teammate?" the girl threatened.
Carolina and the team held their guns up, but did not risk firing. Sabre's vision was going fuzzy from blood loss and he knew he needed to get her off. He grabbed one of his pistols and shot the girl in the leg. He rolled away and just laid there. Carolina put three rounds in the girl's head to make sure she was dead and rushed to Sabre.
"Get a med team here now!" she ordered.
South, who usually doesn't follow orders, turned on her mike and radioed Command.
[Command, Insurrectionist threat neutralized. Requesting immediate medical team on my coordinates]
{Roger that South, sit tight, med team on the way}
The team rushed to keep Sabre alive as they waited for the medical team. He was completely still, but Wash's bio scans stated that he was still alive. Carolina took off Sabre's helmet and looked into his still face.
"Sabre? Sabre, stay with me," she said.
Sabre's eyelids opened very slowly. When they were open, his eyes looked distance and dazed. The pupils dilated to the light and he blinked a few times. Then he groaned.
"Ugh, so that's what it feels like to be stabbed," he groaned.
Sabre didn't move much, but asked for the location of his removed limb.
"I'd like to make sure I have all my parts when I get healed," he joked.
"How can you make jokes at a time like this?" South Dakota frowned.
"Oh shut up South," Sabre shot at her, "I'm trying to keep my mind off of what just happened to me!"
South and the team was surprised at Sabre bark. South shook her head in frustration and walked off to the beach. Sabre watched her walk away and suddenly regretted what he said.
"Help me up," Sabre said.
The team supported Sabre as he stood up. He thanked them and shuffled after South.
Sabre found South under the wall of the powerstation. She was sitting there with her helmet off. Sabre walked up to her, holding a mess of bandages from Washington.
"Hey," he said.
South turned her back to him slightly. Sabre sat down next to her and started wrapping his stump.
"Hey, I'm sorry I barked at you. I wasn't really thinking about what I said," Sabre said.
The bandage fell off his stump again and he cursed. South straightened herself and helped Sabre bandage himself.
"Thanks. I'm still getting used to one arm," Sabre joked.
South laughed and finished tying off his bandage. Sabre shifted his weight and tried to get a bit more comfortable.
"You ok?" South asked.
"Yeah, I gave myself some painkillers so I'll be fine," Sabre said.
Sabre leaned against the cliff and looked out to the ocean.
"This wouldn't be a bad place to live," he said.
South followed his gaze to the horizon and nodded.
"Yeah, it's pretty."
Sabre looked at South with a surprised look.
"Did I just hear South Dakota use the word "pretty?" he joked.
South laughed and nudged him with her arm. Sabre looked up at the sky when he heard a pelican.
"Help me up. Our ride is here," she said.
South helped Sabre up and they both walked to the pelican. The med team took Sabre and put him on a strong gurney. They put a mask on him and started putting him under. He looked up at South's pale blue eyes.
"See you soon," he said under the mask.
"See you," South repeated.
Sabre closed his eyes and he went to sleep.
South Dakota leaned on the bar, looking out to the void beyond. She had been noticing that she had been thinking of Sabre a lot since their talk on the beach. She shook her head and called herself soft.
"He's just a teammate," she told herself in a low voice.
"If you keep telling yourself that, you're going to be alone most of your life," came a voice.
South jumped a bit, but relaxed when she saw it was her brother, North Dakota.
"I like to be alone," South said.
North chuckled and stood next to her.
"But I don't want you to be alone," he said.
South wouldn't look at him because she knew where he was going with this.
"South, you don't have to go through life like a robot or a rock," North said.
South turned her head away from him, trying to keep from giving in.
"Remember South, you are still a human being. Project Freelancer can't change that," North said before leaving.
He left the observation deck and South was alone again. South held back tears as the cold truth kept hitting her.
Sabre opened his eyes to a slightly blue room. He sat up and immediately felt a coldness on his right arm. He looked down at it and saw that there was a metal skeleton in place of his usual fleshy arm. It was most of the forearm and his hand. It moved just like a regular hand. Sabre sat up and swung his new half arm around. The doctor came through the door.
"Hello Agent Sabre, how do you feel?" he asked.
"Fine, getting used to my new arm," Sabre said.
The doctor nodded and wrote something down. The door opened and South came in.
"Hey Sabre, we have a new mission. The Director wants to know if you are ready to go," she asked.
"Toss me your pistol," Sabre said.
South tossed her pistol and Sabre caught it smoothly with his robotic arm. He tossed it back.
"Yeah, I'm ready," he said.
Planet Onyx
January 7, 2554
0500hrs.
Seven hours later, Sabre was in ANOTHER set of armor that he intended to keep. It was black with a light blue under armor. It folded onto his body. He had two foot blades hidden in his gauntlets. He carried two pistols, an assault rifle, and a sniper rifle in a case. The soldiers in the armory called Sabre, "the single most expensive agent this project has ever had." Sabre chuckled and his helmet folded onto his head. His visor got darker, like an ODST helmet.
"Thirty seconds till dropzone," said the pilot.
"Alright, now our target is a former UNSC Admiral, Richard Freedman," Texas started, "He's been known to supply the Insurrection with advanced, military grade weapons. We have a kill/capture order on him by the Director with permission from the UNSC chairman."
The team this time was Texas, Sabre, York, Wyoming, and South. Texas would lead York and Wyoming through the front door while Sabre and South provided sniper fire. They were the distraction and by Delta's calculations, they had a 0.0000000000000000000001 percent chance of surviving. Sabre and South knew that they were the expendable agents in the project, but they were also ready to prove the Director wrong.
The pelican landed on Onyx's terraformed land three miles from Camp Currahee. According to intelligence sources, Freedman was inside the command center. Sabre and South raced each other to their positions while Texas led the rest of the team to the command center. Sabre set up his sniper rifle system on a hill and radioed South.
[South, I'm in position. So you owe me two hundred credits]
{Shut up, I'm not specialized in using the sniper. Why didn't they have Wyoming as your partner?}
[I don't know. Ask Texas when we're done]
Sabre's customized sniper rifle system had a x10 magnification scope, .50 calibre anti-personnel rounds, and a bipod. Somehow, the UNSC managed to make it silenced. Sabre made a mental note to thank the makers of this rifle. He hooked up the scope to his helmet and scanned the command center. His helmet would allow him to identify the target by facial recognition software.
Sabre found Freedman on the second floor, in the conference room. He radioed Texas.
[Tex, I found the target. Second floor, conference room.]
{Roger, hold position. Pick a secondary target and fire on my command. Texas out.}
Sabre loaded his first clip in and pulled the bold back. He centered the crosshairs on a guard closest to the door. Then he noticed the guard was talking on his radio. Sabre activated his radio jack and hacked into the radio line.
[...in position.]
{Good, execute counter operation}
[Yes sir]
Sabre's mind put two and two together and he radioed Texas.
[Tex, do you copy?]
{What? You nearly blew our cover}
[We're already compromised. Get out of there!]
{What?}
A sniper round glanced off of Sabre's shoulder and he followed the vapor trail to its shooter. He killed the sniper, but now the entire camp was on red alert.
[South, you there?]
{static}
Sabre looked at South's position and saw her rifle was alone. She raised a hand and gave Sabre a signal that she had been hit. Sabre cursed and packed up. He put his sniper on his back and pulled out a DMR. He pinned the other snipers down and ran to South's position. When he got there, he understood why she was picked for sniper. She was completely exposed, especially in her armor.
South's wounds weren't critical: she had been shot with a full clip, but only two hit her. Both went into her shoulders and out her back. Sabre noticed that her sniper's barrel and body were broken. Sabre picked up South and shot at the snipers with one hand.
[Tex, South has been hit. We need assistance]
{Roger, re-}
Texas had been cut off.
"Tex? Texas? Damn," Sabre thought.
Sabre carried South to where they first landed in hopes that the pelican was still there. It was, but it was surrounded by Insurrectionists. Sabre hid South in the underbrush and cleared the area of Insurrectionists. Then he forced the back door to open and strapped South in. Then he got in the pilot's seat and radioed Texas.
[Texas, I'm in our entry pelican. Move in to my coordinates]
Sabre punched in the coordinates and sent them to Texas. Little did he know, Texas and her team were already on the Freelancer ship.
"Sir, we have the coordinates," Texas reported.
"Good, fire," the Director ordered.
The Mother of Invention targeted the pelican. F.I.L.L.U.S fully charged the MAC round.
Sabre saw a flashing light labeled "Targeted." He knew there wasn't enough time to jumpstart the pelican, so he ran to the still unconscious South Dakota, pulled her out of the seat, and ran as fast as he could away from the pelican.
"Firing main cannon," F.I.L.L.U.S said.
The Mother of Invention fired and the MAC exploded from the cannon at top speed. Sabre as already a half mile away before the round hit, but the resulting shockwave launched him and South another thirty or so yards. Sabre and South crashed through many trees and landed heavily. Sabre groaned and stood up slowly.
Holy crap I'm alive! he thought.
Sabre's visor was cracked, but his helmet could still fold.. He looked at South, who was still unconscious. He propped her up against a tree and made sure she was ok. He looked around and found a button on her back. He pressed it and South's armor fell off. Sabre found that she had three ribs broken and a dislocated femur. He frowned. All the equipment needed for a job like this was destroyed with the pelican. Sabre went through his field kit. He knew he had to set her femur if they were going to move, and they had to move since they were enemies of the Insurrection and rejects of Project Freelancer. He took a deep breath and popped South's femur back in place. South woke up immediately and screamed in pain. Sabre put his hand over her mouth to try and keep it quiet. South screamed for a good minute, then cried in Sabre's shoulder.
I guess even the toughest can't stand pain very long, he thought.
After South had gone through her pain, Sabre explained everything that happened from the time she passed out to now. South smashed her fist against a tree, making a dent in it.
"I knew it. It only makes sense to separate the weak from the strong," South said.
Sabre shook his head and looked up to the darkening sky.
Thanks a lot Carolina, I thought you valued your team, he thought.
In fact, Carolina was raging in the briefing room.
"WHY IN HELL WOULD YOU KILL OFF YOUR TEAMMATES?!" she screamed.
Texas, York, Wyoming, and the Director stood defiant around the table.
"You know the drill Carolina, the two lowest on the list are booted out," York said.
"But that doesn't mean you try and obliterate them with a fully charged MAC round!" Carolina protested.
The argument went on and on, but soon, Carolina was detained and restricted from any further operations. They stripped her of her armor, rank, and clearance and locked her in her room. Carolina beat on the door.
They're treating me like a child, she thought.
Eventually, Carolina scanned her room and smiled. She had long since wanted to kill the Director, so she had kept a few things in her walls…
Sabre and South walked to Camp Currahee silently. Sabre gave South his DMR, pistol, and ammo for both guns while he took her sniper ammo. He put his back up against the wall and peeked through the open door. There were seven Insurrectionists in the room, checking out their new shipment of weapons and ammo. Sabre nodded at South and she snuck in. Sabre waited one minute, then walked in. All seven were dead and South was checking out their new weapons.
"Assault rifles, DMRs, rocket launchers marked UNSC, did these guys steal all of this?" South asked.
"No, these were delivered. The're all newly made," Sabre said.
They thought about what they were going to do and re-equipped themselves appropriately. Sabre and South hid their original weapons in a crate. Sabre took two pistols, an assault rifle, and a few grenades. South took a shotgun, a pistol, a few grenades, and an assault rifle. They nodded to each other and started their way up the command center.
On the Mother of Invention, the Director followed Sabre's and South's movements on the screen. He had tracking chips in their helmets. he clenched his teeth and gripped the railing.
"Councilor, ready the team. We're going back," the Director ordered.
The councilor put the orders through. Two hours later, Texas, York, Maine, and Wyoming were in the briefing room, discussing.
"They are some of the toughest, most stubborn agents I have ever seen," said York.
"Well, now we get to kill them. This should be easy," Wyoming said.
"Speak for yourself. Sabre will be a difficult fight. He hits hard," Texas chipped in.
Maine, like usual, was quiet, but he seemed excited to participate. The Director walked in.
"Here's the plan," he started.
Sabre threw a grenade into the room and hid behind the door. It exploded and the duo went in, guns blazing. Soon, the room of thirty Insurrections were dead. Sabre and South refilled their ammo from the dead Insurrectionists and continued up the stairs. After a few more rooms of shooting, they reached the command center. South knocked on the door and waited. The Insurrectionists opened the door and Sabre rushed through. They cleared the guards quickly and glared at the former admiral.
"Please, please, don't hurt me!" he said.
Sabre and South looked at each other and grabbed him.
Texas, Maine, York, and Wyoming hid behind the wall. They saw the door was open.
"They must have gone inside, but why?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? They have joined the Insurrection!" Wyoming said.
The group thought about it, then Richard Freedman fell right in front of them. He was cut up from glass. Then the targets landed on top of him, crushing him. Texas and the rest stood in shock. Sabre and South high-fived and started to walk off. Texas raised her gun.
"Freeze," she said.
They froze, but Sabre turned.
"Texas, nice of you to drop by. We took care of the op, so you guys can leave us again," Sabre said.
South kept her gun up and aimed at Texas's head.
"Sabre, you know the protocol. Lowest agents have to be eliminated," Texas said.
Sabre shrugged and started walking away. Texas's hands were shaking as she gripped the gun tighter.
"Sabre, stop!" she yelled.
Sabre kept walking, expecting Texas to fire. Instead, York was the first to fire, and the first to go down. He fired his assault rifle, but South then shot him in the arm. The bullets ricocheted off Sabre's armor and he stopped. He turned to Texas.
"So that is how it is going to be?" he said.
He drew the blades in his gauntlets and charged.
He slashed, but Wyoming blocked with his combat knife and started shooting. Sabre rolled out of the way and drew his pistol, shooting Wyoming's hands. South charged Wyoming and they engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Sabre charged Texas again, adrenalin pumping through his veins. Texas threw a punch at Sabre, but Sabre grabbed her fist and broke her arm. Then he saw that wires appeared out of her arm. He pinned her to the wall and ripped off the robotic arm. He tossed it, glaring at Tex. Texas started short circuiting due to power fluctuations and shock. The AI that was Tex was scared and shocked, she didn't know what to do. So, she shut off her robotic armor and sent out a distress call. The robot shut off and fell and South kicked Wyoming through the wall.
Maine and York charged Sabre and South, but York was immediately knocked out by South. Maine grabbed South and threw her into the wall, knocking her unconscious. Sabre slashed at him with his gauntlet blades. Maine broke them, so Sabre just started punching him. Sabre flipped, kicking Maine into the wall, then continued to pound Maine's armor. He went faster and faster and before long, Maine's armor was crushed. Maine just slumped against the wall, not able to move. Sabre walked over to South and checked her pulse. It was steady, so he wasn't worried. He helped her up and carried her off to the distance, hoping to find a way off planet.
Freelancer reinforcements came soon and helped the agents. They carted off the Tex-bot first, then flew Maine and York to the Mother of Invention. The Director personally watched over the robot's repairs, making sure everything was just right. Afterwards, the AI that was Texas, Beta, was memory wiped and started anew. The Director retrained her, making sure there were no faults. He wasn't happy...not one bit.
Sabre and South trudged across the plains until they reached Gregor Canyon. They set up camp a few yards away from the edge and discussed their next plan of action.
"We need a way off planet, but there are no other UNSC bases here," South said.
Sabre kept thinking, but nothing came up in his memory. He remembered studying Onyx, or Trevelyan, but nothing came up. He looked off to the distance, back in the direction of Camp Currahee.
"We'll have to go back," Sabre said.
South followed his gaze and sighed.
"You're probably right," South said.
They killed the fire and fell into an uncomfortable sleep.
The next morning, Sabre woke up first and checked their weaponry and equipment. Sabre knew that Project Freelancer will have to have locked Camp Currahee down, so he made sure their weapons worked and they had plenty of ammo. South woke up and saw Sabre cleaning his sniper rifle.
"How long have you been up?" she asked.
"About an hour," Sabre said flatly.
South nodded and got up. They loaded all their guns and looked at Camp Currahee in the distance.
"Let's get off this place," South said.
Sabre nodded and they jogged off back to Camp Currahee.
Planet Trevelyan
Camp Currahee
January 9, 2554
0800 hrs
Agent Carolina stood on the roof of the command center, looking into the distance. Behind her were York, Maine, Texas, and North.
"They're coming. Get into position," Carolina said.
The group dispersed and Carolina activated her active camo. She jumped off and stood next to the doorway. Everyone waited for a long time. Suddenly, there was the sound of a pelican starting up. Everyone ran to to the pad to see South hanging on to the side of the carbo bay of the escaping pelican. She was giving Carolina the middle finger. Carolina clenched her fist.
South was laughing as they went to space.
"We sure showed them!" South said.
"Yeah, I pretty sure we're on the UNSC's most wanted list now," Sabre pointed out.
"Oh come on, don't be such a grump," South leaned back in the co-pilot's chair, "We're finally free from Project Freelancer."
Sabre thought about it.
Yeah, I guess…he thought.
They flew off away from the Mother of Invention, which was trying to target them. Sabre set a course for the next nearest planet and turned on the autopilot. He turned around in his chair and faced South.
"South, we're going to the AI containment facility and we're going to try and free the AIs from Project Freelancer," Sabre said.
Suddenly, South took a great interest in her feet.
"Sabre, I know you were scheduled for AI implantation, but that doesn't mean you have to try and do a suicide mission," she said.
"I'm not sore because I was canceled. With those AIs, Project Freelancer still hold a lot of power," Sabre turned back and assumed control of the pelican.
"Besides, I still have Eta," he said.
"He sure does," Eta said from the pelican computer.
South knew he meant well, but she could feel the hurt and anger in his voice. They flew for several hours, despite the fact that the pelican wasn't made for space travel. The vacuum of space pulled at the pelican: metal groaned and hydraulics slowed and Sabre was ready to take on all of Project Freelancer.
After a few hours of tense flying, they came upon the planet that the Project Freelancer AI Containment Facility. Sabre landed as best as he could, but it still ended like a crash. They both knew that this would raise alarms in the facility and they vacated the pelican quickly. He took Eta and they hid in the surrounding hills. Then they snuck into one of the outposts and killed the guards quietly. They used the outpost as a base.
"So, what's the plan?" South asked.
Sabre looked around. There were plenty of ammo and weapons and Project Freelancer taught him to use any assets he had available.
"How about we kick the Hornet's nest?" he asked with an evil smile.
His tone unnerved South, but she agreed.
Tony and Fred were on guard duty to the main building of the AI Containment Facility on this planet.
"Hey," said Tony.
"What?" asked Fred.
"You ever wonder why we're here?" Tony asked.
"Hm...yeah, I wondered a few times," Fred said.
Suddenly, Tony's head exploded in front of him and Fred got shot in the chest.
"Ow! GOD!" he said as he fell.
Two Agents walked up to him.
"You alright? What happened?" the dark blue one asked.
"I think we're under attack!" Fred said.
"You are...by us," said the purple one.
"What?"
The purple one took a shotgun and shot him in the chest. Fred laid there dead. Sabre and South took their clearance cards and opened the door. They walked in, guns drawn and heads down. Several Freelancer soldiers gave them a nod, but that was it. Apparently, word of their escape had not reached this place. Sabre chuckled and dropped a live grenade.
"Grenade!" someone yelled.
Sabre kicked it at a door and destroyed the door while killing a few soldiers. South and Sabre shot up the place and killed any Freelancer that moved. They continued walking to the elevator down, alarms blaring. Sabre pushed the button that said "-7." The doors closed and they went down. South reloaded her shotgun while Sabre reloaded his assault rifle.
"You know, this is fun," Sabre said.
"Really?" South asked, putting the last shell in her shotgun.
"Yeah," Sabre confirmed.
The doors opened to a barricade of Freelancer soldiers.
"Attention assholes, drop your weapons and stand down," said the leader.
Sabre and South glanced at each other and threw grenades. Sabre closed the doors and waited for the explosions. There were several and a few screams. Sabre opened the doors again and all the soldiers were dead or dying. Sabre and South walked into the archive room.
"I-Its empty," said a dying soldier.
'He's right, it is," Eta said.
Sabre frowned and shot the dying soldier in the head.
"ok then...they can hide the AIs for now," Sabre said.
The elevator sounded and a team led by Texas came in.
"Sabre, South, stand down," Texas said.
Maine, York, Georgia, and North stood next to her.
"Sis, please, don't do this," North said.
South didn't say anything, so Sabre did.
"Come now people, just let us go and we'll be out of your hair."
Texas raised her gun and shot Sabre in the shoulder.
"I don't think so," she said.
Sabre smiled and drew his pistol.
"Fine then," he said.
He started to shoot at Texas and ran forward. South drew her pistol and did the same. Texas jumped out of the way while Maine and York charged. North sighed and rested his sniper rifle on his arm. He aimed at Sabre first, but then the scope broke. A bullet skimmed past his visor, scratching it, and he fell back. Sabre and South slid past the team and took the elevator up. Sabre waved as the door closed, but Texas managed to keep it from closing. She pushed against the doors and Sabre shook his head.
"Goodbye Agent Texas," he said in a perfect imitation of the Director.
Texas stopped and got a boot to her face. Sabre kicked her away and the elevator continued.
"Wow, I didn't know you could do imitations," South said.
"I do in my free time," he said.
The elevator opened and they walked out of the containment facility to the vehicle depot. They took a pelican to a UNSC cruiser and convinced the crew fly them away.
Planet Harvest
January 10, 2554
1254 hrs
Sabre kicked open a door and aimed his gun inside. Finding no threat, he called South and they walked inside. The manor was dark and gloomy. Many people they ran into said that the house was haunted by the ghost of a former militia captain. Sabre would just chuckle and thank them for the info. South came in just as it started to rain.
"You know we're going to need to repair the door, right?" she said.
Sabre picked up the door and slammed it into place.
"Fixed," he said in a gruff voice.
South sat down on the couch, but then broke it. Sabre helped her up.
"You need to be more careful," he joked.
South stuck her tongue at him and punched him in the shoulder. She took off her helmet and put it on the kitchen counter. Her bleached hair with a pink streak came down, but some of it stood up. She smoothed out her hair and Sabre chuckled.
"So, now what?" he asked.
South stopped messing with her hair, it still stood at some points, and looked into his visor.
"I don't know," she said.
Sabre took of his helmet and set it down next to hers. His own short black hair was a bit mangled, but easy to smooth. He propped his weapon on the broken couch and he looked out the window.
"We can't stay here, we put Harvest in the line of fire," he said.
South walked up and put a hand to his shoulder.
"And where are we supposed to go? We have no allies anymore," South said.
Sabre lowered his gaze to the wet grass.
"Then we find new ones," he said.
He got up and grabbed his helmet and assault rifle. He put his helmet on and put his assault rifle on his back. He opened the door, ripping it off again. He groaned and walked outside.
"Where are you going?" South asked.
"There is still Insurrectionist activity here on Harvest, I think I can find some allies on the battlefield,"
Sabre walked out into the heavy rain on a mission to ensure their safety. South followed him with her eyes until he disappeared through the mist. A tear started to form in her eyes and she let herself cry. This would be the last time she saw Sabre.
Well, that's the end of Story one. Instead of this being one story, I decided it would be a collection. However, if it doesn't really work, or you readers don't like it, then I will change it. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story. :D
-Angel