The two Falcons carrying Noble Team and accompanying Elite flew past a rocky cliffside. It had been a mostly quiet trip despite the occasional grumble from Nick. Carter began to explain what they were doing this mission. ''Listen up, Noble Team.'' he started, getting everyone's attention, even Nick. ''We're looking at a downed relay outpost fifty clicks from Visegrad. We're gonna introduce ourselves to whoever took it out,'' He looked over to the other Falcon, towards Kat. ''and then Kat's gonna get it back online.'' Shade nodded to herself. Sounded like a good plan to her.
''Just get me under the hood, Commander.'' Kat replied.
''Sir, why would rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of the Colonies?'' Jorge asked. Nick seemed ready to answer but Carter got there first.
''You got a chance, maybe you can ask 'em, Jorge.'' the Commander responded with a light shrug. Shade couldn't help but grin under her helmet at that. At least the mood was kept light.
Suddenly, Kat spoke up with a small announcement. ''Commander, we just lost our signal with HQ.''
It went back and forth between them. ''Backup channels?''
''Searching... Nada. Can't say what's jamming us.'' It was as though everyone let out a collective sigh.
''You heard her, dead zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company this trip.'' Carter added after, and Shade sighed to herself. Things might get a bit complicated.
''I'm lonely already.'' came Emile's reply to the situation. It wasn't clear to Shade if that was sarcasm or not.
''He's not alone.'' Nick grumbled. He really didn't seem or sound too happy. Either way, the mission was clear.
As the flight was coming to it's end, Carter began talking again, but Shade ignored it. As long he wasn't talking to her, she was fine with not listening. In the distance, there was some kind of structure. ''There's the communications outpost.'' Jorge commented.
''Picking up a distress beacon.'' Kat added, but that was much closer. Shade thought for a moment. A distress signal must mean something.
''Could be the missing troopers. Let's check it out.'' Carter replied, before looking for a place to land. ''Put us down on the bluff.'' Both Falcons followed that order and went in that direction. ''Jun, I want your eyes in the sky.''
The team sniper gave a brief nod. ''Sir.'' The Falcons came down to land but didn't, hovering close to the ground.
''Let's go, Six, Elite.'' Carter said as he jumped off. Nick got up a jumped off after, followed by Shade.
''Finally, some time to move.'' Nick remarked. Shade had to agree, she had been sitting a lot today. It wasn't too comfortable.
''Alright Noble Team, spread out. Watch the approach.'' Carter once again instructed. Shade and her Sangheili accomplice kept together, mainly because Nick wanted to. They both made there way behind the group. The beacon was close, so they kept an eye out. Of course, neither knew what it looked like. Emile came up to a small pile of broken wood and he had spotted something. He moved a piece of wood covering the object, and soon identified it.
''Found the beacon.'' he said, tossing it to Kat.
''No ID, but it's military.'' she stated, dropping it.
''So, where are the troopers?'' Shade voiced everyone's thought.
''Obviously not here.'' Nick answered in return. ''So we move on. Maybe we can find something else around here.'' Shade nodded her agreement and they walked off. They circled west to look at the smoke coming from the next structure. They quickly made their way through a small building that had nothing in it. Shade took this moment to ask her new ally something.
''So, you said you had a name you left behind.'' she started, and Nick looked at her boredly. ''What was it?''
''You'll have to find out. I'm not going to tell you.'' was his reply as he looked away from her. ''Such names we adopt are trouble to remember.'' Shade shrugged. Worth a try. But it seemed like Nick didn't exactly want to talk about it. Or anything for that matter. The two had been distracted enough to miss that the others had stopped to confront some humans.
''Six, over here.'' Jorge called to her to get her attention. She looked back to see what was going on. Nick snarled at the sight of the humans inside the buildings. He tried to just walk away but Shade's gauntlet hand stopped him. He gave her a stern glare and had to resist the urge to retaliate. Jorge had gone over to Emile, who was waving his shotgun at the farmers. ''They're not rebels, they're farmers. Look at them.'' he stated. He began to ask them what they were doing where they are. All the while Nick was desperate to get away. Shade sighed and walked off slowly with him, hoping Noble wouldn't notice. Carter did give them a curious look, but didn't go after them. He stopped when a transmission came over.
''Commander, I'm reading heat sigs in the structure directly east of your position.'' presumably Jun said.
''Copy that.'' Carter replied. ''Get them back inside.'' He lead the team off in the direction of the heat signatures. Shade and Nick followed, now with Magnum and Needler in hand respectively. They came across a small room that had two men inside. Despite the armor looking odd to Nick, even he knew they were dead. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out by the fact that there was blood all over.
''Two of the missing troopers.'' Shade guessed.
Carter nodded, looking closer. ''Looks like they were interrogated. It's...messy.'' he replied. As they moved into the next hallway, there was a noise of sorts. ''Movement, check your motion trackers.'' Carter said to the team. Shade glanced down at the radar in the corner of her HUD and sure enough, something was moving away from them. They kept moving forward, now knowing something was here. Suddenly a transmission from Jun came through.
''Boss, I see movement outside your structure!'' he exclaimed. Shade came to a window, and outside definitely didn't look too inviting.
''Covenant!'' Jorge exclaimed from just behind Nick.
''I was beginning to wonder when you would figure that out.'' the Spec Ops snapped back.
Jorge was about to reply but Shade gave him a friendly reminder. ''Not the time to start chatting, Jorge. We got hostiles to take care of.'' That did the trick as Jorge went over to stairs to put the large machine gun he was hauling around to use.
Nick took a moment to identify the Covenant attackers. ''Just Ungoy soldiers and-'' He was cut off by Shade as she fired a couple of shots from her sidearm at a Jackel.
''Save the specification for later and shoot.'' she said, killing off a few Grunts. Nick growled at her befor throwing a Plasma Grenade at a small group of Grunts, eliminating them. It didn't take long at all for the small area to be cleared and for the team to move forward toward a bridge across a small river. ''Nice to be using a gun for once.'' Shade commented with a small laugh. More Covenant came, but were taken care of just as easily.
''Stand down Noble, stand down. Contacts neutralized.'' Carter said as the last enemy met it's end at Shade's powerful melee punch.
''Contact?'' Jorge replied, sounding a bit agitated. ''It's the damn Covenant.''
''Cheer up, big man.'' Emile said, obviously as a joke. But he got serious for a moment. ''This whole valley got turned into a free fire zone.'' Shade just kept going. She and Nick were just glad to be fighting.
''Kat, we need to warn Holland. I need you at that relay outpost now.'' Carter commanded.
''Boss, I'm seeing more activity to the east!'' Jun announced. Shade and Nick were faster then Carter to get to the activity which was more Covenant. This time, other Elites were there. Nick growled to himself, hurling a Plasma at an Elite and killing it outright. That left two. Shade took one and Nick faced the other. A couple punches later and both were dead on the ground, beaten to death.
''That was brutal Six. Might want to clean off your armor after this.''Jorge commented and Shade laughed in return. ''You too, Elite. Fine work, both of you.'' Nick was actually surprised to hear the respect in the big guys voice.
''Your compliment is flatering, Demon. That is what shocks me the most.'' Nick replied. Jorge was much nicer then the Elite had assumed before. None the less deadly though.
In their side conversation, they missed Jun saying there was more hostile activity to the east. But they did catch what Carter said. ''Emile, you're with Kat. Six, Jorge, the Elite and I will run interference on the ground. Meet you at the outpost.'' he explained. The three went after him towards a vehicle while Kat requested her airlift. Shade took the driver seat of the truck there with Carter next to her and Jorge behind with Nick. She set it in metion and went in the direction Carter was directing her. Nick, meanwhile, wasn't used to being told what to do by someone else. He was in wonder how Shade wasn't reacting to her orders with ferocity. None the less, they made it to the heat signatures and set about striking down the Covenant located there. Shade managed to get behind an Elite and proceeded to break it's neck from behind.
After a while, the area was cleared out of aliens bar Nick. ''Looks like we're clear here, Lieutenant.'' Carter said. ''Good work. Let's get moving.'' Everyone piled back into the truck and set off again. ''That's not all though. Jun got a distress signal.''
''Another one? How much distress are going on?'' Shade replied.
''Save the remarks, Six. It's the troopers. We have to find the source of the distress call.'' Carter told her. Instead of complaining more, Shade got back to driving. Eventually they drove in just the right direction and found the troopers under attack. ''Noble Three, we found the troopers. Request immediate evac, my co-ordinates.'' The four dismounted the truck and set about clearing the few Grunts there. More of the Covenant were on the way and evac waa forced to keep distance. ''Noble Six, hold position and clear LZ.'' Carter commanded. Another few moments of killing and it was done. Evac arrived and the rest of Noble Team boareded the Falcon Jun was on. Luckily there was enough seats for them. They made their way over to Kat's location to rejoin her.
They got theee fairly quickly after being informed over comms by Kat that the door was locked and she needed a bit to be able to shut them. All the while Covenant were attacking. It took longer then normal for Kat to crack the controls, so the rest of Noble fought off the aliens and provided enough time for Kat before retreating inside and letting the door lock. They were safe.
''If this is where we need to be, let's go. That was a good battle, but tiring too.'' Nick said, heading for an inner door. It led into a hallway that wasn't anything big, but clearly important. Around a few corners sat the main relay controls and a corpse.
''Six, search that body for ID.'' Kat instructed to Shade. Carter went over to a live trooper leaning against a wall, clearly injured. Kat was looking at the main relay controls, and Nick was with Shade.
''Poor soul...'' Nick commented, kneeling next to Shade. She nodded her agreement, trying to turn the body over. When she did, an odd device fell to the ground. Nick picked it up out of interest. ''What might this be?''
Before he could do much though, Kat stopped inspecting the plasma damaged console and looked at him. She snatched it right out of his hand. ''I'll take that. Not your domain.'' she said. Nick growled fiercely at her and Shade held him back.
''I've got a live one over here!'' Jorge called. A girl was in his grasp, struggling against him, saying all sorts of things Shade and Nick didn't understand. ''Come on. Out you come.'' Jorge was being as gentle as he could as he spoke, but the girl kept struggling, seeming to be afraid. ''It's alright, we're not gonna hurt you.''
''Jorge.'' Carter said, but Jorge knew what he was doing.
''I got her...'' Jorge replied, putting down his gun and facing the girl. ''Keep still and I'll release you.'' That seemed to do the trick and the girled calmed. She had enough time to say something in Hungarian before and Elite came out of nowhere and attempted to strike Jorge with an Energy Sword. He ducked just in time to dodge. Changing target, It charged Kat and tried to attack her, but Carter got her out of the way. Nick jumped back while Shade fired her Assault Rifle full blast at the Elite. It noticed and charged her, knocking her down and the gun out of her hands. One of it's backup Elites took the opportunity to try and kill her there and then, but it only got so far with some kind of Energy Knife. It was nowhere near enough to hurt much. Shade gave it a solid punch and it roared in her faceplate, but it was enough of a distraction to allow Nick to kick it firmly off. This along with fire from Carter was enough to send the Elite scuttling backwards. Nick kicked Shade her rifle and helped her up. In all the chaos, the trooper Carter was previously talking to had been grabbed and taken. One of the Elites growled deeply at Nick before it said something that Nick translated for the others. ''This is for every one of your acts of heresy, Tavu 'Nacam. We will hunt you down later for everything!''
Shade gave a side look of confusion at Nick. He growled in response to the Elites before they went off into the tunnel. ''You cowards!'' Nick called after them in anger.
Carter started issuing orders. ''Five, Six, Elite, clear the hole.'' Jorge, Shade and Nick all made their way after the Elites just gone, and Jorge closed the door behind them.