D081 peered through the telescopic lens of his S2-AM, "Sniper's Rifle". He'd set the adjustable zoom to his preferred, field-rigged setting; times seven. Through it, he watched the Innies below go about their rounds, rotating shifts in their base of operations. Emotionless behind his visor, he waited for the night watch to leave and the dawn shift to take over.

After one minute and thirty-seven seconds of the next shift being present in their positions, he signaled the third and final phase of Operation: TURMOIL by utilizing the red, amber, and, finally, green lights on his and the other members of his squad's HUD's.

Laying prone atop the slag-hill, he looked the rebel base over one last time as his two squad-mates acknowledged the order.

The base was rectangular in shape; a thick, tall instacrete wall guarded the perimeter. Barbed-wire was run across it's top. Placed periodically inside it were twelve twenty-foot tall watch-towers, each housing two men. The northeast corner of the base was a motor pool; inside were three standard Warthogs, an ancient Rhino tank, and two Hornets. The northwest corner housed a pair of barracks; the night guards were proceeding sleepily towards them. The rest of the base was relatively empty, except for a low-lying command post in the center not far from the gate.

Perfect.

Taking careful aim at a metal pole nearest him, D081 lined up his shot. It was going to be quite difficult; he'd have to angle it just right. Once sure of himself, he fired.

The 14.5x114mm armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding-sabot round erupted from the end of the barrel in a cloud of flame of and smog. It soared through the air at a rate of hundreds of feet per second, until it found his target; the metal support beam of a watch-tower. The high-velocity round rebounded from the steel rod and crossed the courtyard, nailing a guard in the chest and going straight through his body.

The guards began shouting and pointing in the direction the round had travelled to, following the smoke trail. Heavy machine guns mounted on the closer towers bathed the hilltop in tracer rounds as men hurried to the motor pool. Floodlights filled the outside of the base as men on foot tried to hunt down the sniper.

But they were all heading the wrong direction.

Having taken advantage of the gun's notorious smoke trail, D081 had tricked them into throwing their forces into the wrong direction. A costly mistake.

Sighting off to the south, he noticed D485 getting into position with the heavy weapons. The already big Marine was a behemoth in their MJORNIR Mark VII Powered Assault Armor. It had numerous advancements over the Mark VI armor; most notably the adjustable zoom feature on the visor, the replacement of the motion detector on the HUD by a seismograph, and multiple camouflaging plates on key positions all over the body. It was also suitable for non-SPARTANs to wear thanks to several handicaps.

While thinking this, he was a little surprised when D485 blew the gate.

The instacrete wall was shattered into a million spinning fragments, sending debris soaring through the air, away from the immense ball of hellfire. Once the smoke cleared, D485 fired with his second rocket; it struck the Rhino tank dead on and detonated, the explosion taking a dozen of the Innies with it. Reloading, D458 stepped inside and fired again, this time into the command tower. The lower levels exploded, sending pieces of masonry and shards of glass spurting from all sides as the building fell down to collapse in on top of itself. Firing once more into the base of a tower, D485 paused to reload once more.

Realizing that he was dry for the moment, a squad of the Innies charged him, spraying their MA5Cs on full auto towards him. The majority of the rounds missed, but those that made contact were merely repulsed by D485's shields. The Mark VII had some powerful shielding.

Doing his job, D081 began to mechanically take out the remaining guards in the towers with headshots from his rifle. D485 threw his rocket launcher to the side and hurled a grenade in the same motion, also reaching behind him to retrieve his CQ44 - the Close Quarters Rifle. It held a forty-four round clip, and could fire either semi-automatically or in bursts with the switch of a dial. D485 began to mop up the Innie resistance, the 'clack-clack' of the rifle thundering across the morning air.

The last guard felled, D081 called up D223 with the COM. "D223, you're clear to proceed." A green acknowledgment light answered him, and D081 saw a figure vault over the instacrete wall and into the burning motor pool. It sprinted to one of the 'Hogs and manned into the turret, then turned it one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to spray tracer rounds over the courtyard. D223 laughed over the COM, saying something about fish in a barrel.

Sighing, D081 turned his attention to the bunker. Standing, he picked up his M66 Grenade Launcher and fired off a pair of rounds. He watched them soar through the air, into the base, and land nearby the barracks. They promptly exploded, tearing the metal siding apart and warping it. Inside, voices cried out faintly over the roar of the flames.

Several seconds later, it grew quiet. Setting the M66 down next to his rifle, D081 surveyed the arena with the infrared option on his visor, combined with the zoom feature. It was pretty easy to see that all hostiles had been eliminated. He called out to D223 and D485 over the COM, "You two grab a 'Hog and any survivors. I'll catch you on your way out." They both answered back green.

Attaching the rifle to a magnetic clip on his back, D081 reached down and did the same with the M66. Standing, he stretched and watched the sun rise.

It was a good day to be a Helljumper.