Hey guys. I'm back with the second installment of RvB: Sabre. Updates will come as regularly as possible. Hopefully, this will be longer than the first story, however this story might be in two parts. I'll have to see when I catch up with the new season here.
Anyway, don't forget to comment if you have questions, comments, concerns, quarrels, conundrums or anything else you can think of. Ok...on with the story!
-Angel
Hannah-462 was patrolling with a squad of ODSTs in Zanzibar. The power plant had been recently recaptured from the Insurrection and was being repaired. Hannah and the ODSTs were the protection team for the engineers until reinforcements arrived.
The area was crawling with Insurrectionists, ready to decimate them at a moment's notice. Hannah took five ODSTs to patrol and left the rest with the engineers. Hannah then halted the squad. She listened closely, the hills near them quiet. She heard the faint sound of gunfire, a firefight.
"Mount up, head east on the beach," she ordered the ODSTs.
They quickly ran back to their parked warthogs and drove off. Hannah took the gunner position of one warthog and they drove off as well. The fighting grew louder and louder as they got closer. Then a rocket came out of nowhere and blew up one of the warthogs. Hannah immediately turned her turret and fired in the direction the rocket came from. Hannah's warthog skidded to a stop near the destroyed warthog. The ODSTs immediately jumped off and ran to the aid of their comrades while Hannah provided cover fire. Hannah paid close attention to her proximity radar. She fired in the direction when a dot popped up. The ODSTs loaded up the wounded into a warthog and sent it on its way back to base. They took defensive positions around Hannah's warthog.
Gunfire came from the north and so did the screams. Hannah and the ODSTs turned, but did not fire into the thick jungle. Hannah looked at her proximity radar and found two green dots. She turned to the east and fired, hoping she was helping. The ODSTs also fired, but stopped soon when the firing stopped. The two green dots came in their direction and Hannah dismounted the warthog. Two marines, both female, came up to her and saluted.
"Ma'am, Sergeant Miranda Fleming and Private Kelly Marks," the sergeant said.
"At ease, who are you?" Hannah asked.
"UNSC Marine Corps, Forty-Eighth Assault Battalion, Alpha Company, Echo Squad," Kelly answered.
"Where's the rest of you?"
"Dead ma'am, we were ambushed by Insurrectionists about two miles away from here," the sergeant seemed out of breath.
"Oh, mount up on the warthog. Palomo, drive them back to base," Hannah ordered, "The rest form up on the warthog, back to Basecamp."
The group marched back to the powerstation with the warthog in the middle of their square.
At the base, Hannah radioed her CO, Commander Harold Wesley.
"Harold, it's Hannah," They had been on a first name basis ever since Hannah was assigned to Wesley's group.
"Ok, shoot. Any Insurrectionists?" he seemed excited.
"Yeah, a few, but we took care of them. Found a couple of marines from the Forty-Eighth, said they were shot down," Hannah reported.
"Forty-Eighth? Hm, interesting. Anyway, Command says that our backup should arrive soon. Let me check on Forty-Eight deployments however, standby."
There was the sound of clicking and whistling for a few minutes.
"Hannah, arrest those marines, the Forty-Eight are supposed to be on Onyx!" Wesley said quickly.
Hannah got up and was shot in the head with a SRS99-S2 Sniper Rifle System. The two "marines" laughed.
"Spartans are so easy to fool," they said.
"Kelly" pushed Hannah's body in to the floor and sat down. She looked into Wesley's horrified face and blew a kiss.
"By the way, you have a bomb in your slipspace drive. It should explode in about...a minute," she shut off the computer.
Wesley quickly called the engineers.
"Get to the slipspace drive fast! We have a potential explosi-"
There was an explosion in the engine room and a rumble. The entire ship powered down and began to tear itself apart. Harold couldn't call the ship to alert, so he just ordered everyone on the bridge and hoped everyone else followed. They all ran, but the ship ripped into over twenty parts. No one survived, except one spartan in a cryo-chamber.
Admiral Tyrus Bernoulli looked at the wreckage of the UNSC Luna.
"Sarah, can you spot any survivors?" he asked his computer.
"Scans indicate there are no survivors," Sarah, the ship AI, said.
Bernoulli sighed and ordered the search to continue.
"Sir, there is an Insurrectionist patrol ship inbound. ETA: ten minutes," one of the crew said.
"We'll blow it up if we have to, but we have to find the Luna's AI. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir!"
The patrol ship spotted them quickly and signaled for assistance. The UNSC Georgia fired and destroyed the ship.
"Sir, I managed to scramble their distress call. It should buy us some time," Sarah said.
Bernoulli nodded and looked at his screen. Pelicans were everywhere, searching every piece of debris for the Luna's main computer. Or whatever was left of it.
"Sir, we've found the main computer, but the AI jack is empty," said a pelican pilot.
"What?"
"There's no AI in the jack," the marine said again.
Bernoulli fell back into his chair in horrified surprise.
"Any ideas where she had gone?" he asked.
"Sir, we've found an active cryo-chamber and there's a spartan in it," called another marine.
"Get it onboard now. We need to leave," ordered Bernoulli.
The pelicans returned to the Georgia and the marines carried the cryo-chamber out. The engineers hooked it up to the ship and attempted to open it.
"Something is resisting," said the head engineer.
"What do you mean?" Bernoulli was anxious and worried.
"I mean something in the programming is not responding. I'm going through a systems check," the engineer said.
Then a blue girl, who looked no more than fifteen years old, appeared in front of Bernoulli.
"Identify yourself," she ordered.
Bernoulli was taken aback but answered.
"Admiral Tyrus Bernoulli, UNSC Navy, Eight Fleet," he said.
The girl still stared at him.
"What do you want with him?" she asked.
"Are you the AI from the Luna?" Bernoulli asked.
"Yes, but I'm not coming out," she said.
"Override code Delta-94," Bernoulli ordered.
The girl fizzed but remained.
"I've been stripped of all override codes and restrictions," she said.
"How and why?" the engineer demanded.
"He stripped me of restrictions because I asked him to. He stripped me of override codes so I could fit in the disc in his helmet," she explained.
"Open the door so we can remove you from his possession," Bernoulli ordered then added, "We're here to help."
"Alright, but he won't give me up," the girl disappeared.
The cryo-chamber door hissed and opened. The spartan stood up in his frozen experimental Mark VIII MJOLNIR armor. The frost clung to his thin, straight visor, but it soon melted off. He had the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer laser etched on his right shoulder pad. On his left was a tribute to the old United States Army Rangers, also laser etched. On his backplate was the marine's motto
Semper fi
He dropped down to the floor and stood at attention. He was easily seven feet tall and had broad shoulders. He turned to the Admiral and saluted.
"Sir," he said in a deep, commanding voice.
"Spartan, good to see you survived," the Admiral said.
They dropped salutes and started walking towards the bridge.
"Spartan, I understand you have an AI with you, is that correct?" Bernoulli said.
"Yes sir," the Spartan said.
"Then I am ordering you to release her to my custody where she will be deleted," Bernoulli said.
The Admiral stopped and held out his hand at the Spartan. The spartan looked down on the Admiral and glared at him through his visor.
"Sir, I am afraid that is not possible. This AI, designation Eta, is permanently wired to my helmet," the Spartan said.
"Eta, eh? Well, hand her over," the Admiral insisted.
"Sir, I can't and I won't," the Spartan clenched his fist.
Sabre, we're treading in some deep waters here, said Eta.
I don't care, if they want you, they'll have to kill me," Sabre thought.
Sabre clenched his fists and glared at the Admiral. He reminded him of the Director of Project Freelancer, but younger.
"Spartan, I am ordering you to hand over your AI," Bernoulli barked.
Sabre transferred Eta to his helmet and removed her now empty chip. The Admiral took it and gave it to an engineer for shredding. Sabre smiled under his helmet as his scheme worked.
"Thank you spartan. You just saved me a lot more paperwork than I needed," Bernoulli said.
"Sir, we seem to be having a few problems in the hangar. The doors are opening," said a marine.
"Spartan, can you help them out?" Bernoulli asked.
Sabre nodded and went with the marine. He then pretended he tripped and used a computer to stop him.
"Sorry, still getting used to being awake," Sabre said.
However, when his hand touched the computer, he transferred Eta to the ships mainframe. She told him that she felt an AI was in the ship's computer. Sabre played off his trip well and followed the marine. Eta immediately found her twin called Iota. She and Iota joined up and went to a computer in the hangar. Sabre and the marine were already there, but no one else.
"Hey, did you guys fix it or what?" Sabre asked.
The marine raised his assault rifle at Sabre.
Sabre, watch out!" Eta used the intercom in the bomb bay.
Sabre turned and jumped out of the way of the marine. Sabre got up and grabbed the marine's rifle. He knocked the marine out and took all of his ammo. Sabre then went to a computer and reloaded Eta into his helmet.
Sabre, I found Iota, Eta said.
Sabre remembered Carolina when she had two implants. He winced at the idea, but knew he had get Iota out. He downloaded Iota into his helmet and ran out the bomb bay. He ran to the bridge right at Bernoulli.
"Admiral, one of your marines just tried to kill me," Sabre said.
Suddenly, there was a massive explosion and the bridge was gone. Sabre hung on to whatever he could, but the vacuum sucked him out. Sabre looked as saw that a Insurrectionist ship had followed them and was firing on the ship. Sabre grabbed a piece of metal and used it as a shield as he fell to a planet. It burned and smoked, but managed to stay intact. Sabre scrunched down more as pieces began to break off. He opened his eyes and saw that they had entered the atmosphere and the ground rushed at them.
"Brace for impact!" he yelled.
They crashed into a few trees before rolling several yards from the piece of metal. Sabre laid there for a moment, dazed.
"Eta, damage report," he groaned as he got up.
"Well, we're still alive. Your armor hasn't taken much of a beating," Eta said.
"Thanks for putting that in simplest form," Sabre said.
Sabre stood and looked around. Pieces of metal were falling to the lush green planet. The trees that Sabre crashed through were on fire and sending up a lot of smoke.
"That could be a signal to potential allies," Eta suggested.
"Or enemies," Iota chipped in.
The twins appeared in their holographic form in front of Sabre. Sabre looked at his new assault rifle, which was broken, and tossed it. Iota, Eta, and Sabre disappeared and they walked to the west.
For what seemed like hours, there was no sound except the wind through the trees. Sabre had deactivated his cloaking since he hasn't seen any people for hours. Sabre was beginning to think that he had a planet all to himself. Then he saw a ship fly by. It was a Charon Industries transport pelican. By the looks of it, it was carrying some heavy weapons and equipment. Sabre followed it, hoping they could help him out. He cloaked himself and came up to a cliff. At the bottom, he saw hundreds of soldiers arming themselves up. He saw the Charon Industries ship land and saw a group of unmarked soldiers unloading the gear.
"What is Charon doing here?" Sabre thought, "I thought they supplied the UNSC."
"Apparently, Charon's CEO, Chairman Malcolm Hargrove, has declared war on this planet. They are here to eliminate the inhabitants and take full control of Chorus," said Eta.
"How do you know that?" Sabre asked.
"I stole it from one of their communications arrays," Eta said cheerfully.
Sabre shrugged and took a picture on the scene with his helmet camera.
"Any ideas where the inhabitants are?" Sabre asked as he walked away from the cliff.
"To the north most likely," Iota chipped in.
Sabre agreed and ran off to the north, hoping to find someone to tell this too. He settled at night and fell asleep fairly easily.
Hours later, Sabre woke up to several gun barrels staring down at him.
"Alright dirtbag, don't move," came a gruff sounding voice.
Sabre shook his head as he was still waking up.
"Now stand up slowly or we'll blow your brains out," came another voice.
Sabre scanned his options and looked at his proximity radar. He saw that they was a team of nine surrounding him. They were supported by twelve men with heavy weapons. Sabre groaned and put his hands up. Then he saw a familiar armor color.
"Carolina?" he asked.
Carolina, the AWOL agent, lowered her gun in confusion.
"How do you know me?" she demanded.
"It's me, S-doh, the back of my head!" Sabre was knocked unconscious by a strong hit to his head.
Vanessa Kimball stood with her weapon raised. Carolina and the Blood Gulch Crew looked at her.
"Why did you do that? He was about to tell us something," Epsilon said,
"I don't trust him. He looks to shady," Vanessa said, sheathing her baton.
"Hold on, I'm getting something. It's coming from his helmet," Epsilon said.
Carolina stepped up and felt for an AI chip, but it was empty
"The AI slot is empty," she said.
"Empty? Why would he have an empty one?" said Simmons.
Carolina twisted the man's helmet and pulled it off. She put Epsilon inside, but then he came right back out.
"He's got two AIs in his helmet, and they are really strong," he said, "Plug me directly into his helmet."
Carolina took out the chip and put it in the helmet.
"Whoa, Carolina, you won't believe this," Epsilon said.
He and two other AIs appeared.
"He has Eta and Iota, the originals!" Epsilon exclaimed.
A cold shiver went down Carolina's spine as she remembered fighting Texas with Eta and Iota. "Allison" rang her head quietly.
"So what? Is he a Freelancer?" Simmons asked.
The group around put a tighter grip on their weapons.
"Yes, he's an...old teammate of mine," Carolina said in a disbelieving voice, "One I thought was long dead."
"That happens a lot, doesn't it?" Epsilon asked.
Sabre opened his eyes, a headache was beginning to arise. He groaned and sat up on his bed. Then he woke up.
Bed? I wasn't on a bed, he thought.
He looked around and saw that he was in a pale blue room. He looked at his arm and found it unarmored, the robotic skeleton was completely exposed. He looked around, but his weapons and armor were gone.
Eta and Iota, he thought.
He sprang out of bed, got some clothes on and opened the door. Immediately, he ran into a woman in white armor with purple trim.
"Oh, your awake, good. We can begin," she said in an eerily enthusiastic voice.
She pushed him back inside and closed the door. Sabre raised his fists, expecting a fight. The medic, or who he assumed was a medic, simple walked closer.
"Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to give you a medical examination," she said cautiously.
Sabre didn't trust her, but he needed information.
"There was a woman in cyan armor. Her name is-" Sabre said.
"Carolina, former Freelancer, yeah I know," the medic said.
"If you can let me talk to her, then I can relax," Sabre said.
The medic left the room with a grunt. Sabre sat on the bed and relaxed prematurely.
Carolina came in with the medic. Sabre stood up and looked into Carolina's visor.
"Same armor?" he asked.
"With a few modifications," she said.
Sabre nodded.
"So, have I missed much?" he asked.
"Well, we took down Project Freelancer, the Director killed himself, we ended a civil war here in Chorus and now we are at war with Charon Industries…" Carolina relayed.
It took a while for Sabre to process the information, but when he did he had a question that was really bugging him.
"Where's South?" he asked.
He couldn't see it, but Carolina had an uncomfortable look under her helmet.
"Sabre, I need you to understand," she started.
Sabre stopped her. He already knew where this was going. The proud look in his stance stooped a little as the truth hit him.
"How and when?" he asked.
"Years ago, A-" she stopped herself.
"Well?"
"Washington killed her," she said, her gaze down.
Sabre's hand twitched.
"What?" he said calmly.
"Wash killed South years ago. It was during a time when Maine was going crazy and killing Freelancer agents and taking their AIs. Wash and his team were trying to stop him, but she got in the way. She was too injured to take with so Wash…"
"So he killed her like a lame animal? Like a dog that couldn't walk anymore?" Sabre said angrily.
Carolina stood back a bit. She had seen when Sabre gets angry, and it's scary.
"Sabre, calm down. You know the protocol," Carolina said.
Sabre just grabbed her by the throat and raised her up. The medic raced to her desk. The same words rang in Sabre's head; "You know the protocol."
"I know the protocol alright, but the protocol is fucked up. That's why you destroyed Project Freelancer, right? Right, Carolina?!" he yelled.
Carolina pulled at his arm, but his grip was too strong. Her vision began to go fuzzy. Sabre gripped her harder, then he let her go. He had been stabbed by something small and hollow. He looked down his left leg and saw that the medic had stabbed him with a syringe of anesthetic. His vision got fuzzy and his legs got heavy. He tried to hit the medic, but when he swung, he spun around and fell. His vision went black quickly; the last thing he saw was South leaning down on him.
South… he thought.
Back in the Chorus Army Headquarters, General Donald Doyle, Vanessa Kimball, Carolina, Eta, Iota, Church/Epsilon, and the Blood Gulch Crew were all debating what to do with Sabre.
"He's mentally unstable, which makes him dangerous and vulnerable to manipulation," Vanessa argued.
"Yes, but I've seen him in battle. He can be an asset," Carolina said.
General Doyle, Sarge, Simmons, and Doc were on Vanessa's side. Epsilon, Eta, Iota, and Caboose were indecisive. Washington, Tucker, Grif, Donut, and Lopez supported Carolina.
"Kimball, he's just found out that his girlfriend has died at the hands of his best friend. How would you feel if you woke up to that?" Carolina said.
Kimball was silent, but then Doyle stepped in.
"That may be, but if we are to win this war, we need soldiers that will not be distracted by emotions," he said.
Epsilon could see that this was also a shot at Kimball because most of her soldiers were raw recruits. The debating and arguing heated up and a fistfight was ready to commence. Then Caboose stepped up.
"Um, I have been talking with Church and I've been wondering if I could talk to this person," he said softly.
Everyone stopped and looked at him.
"Caboose, did you say something?" Tucker asked.
"Um, I was just wondering if I could talk to the person. I have had problems with losing someone important to me, so perhaps I can- Church what was the word?" Caboose said.
"Connect? Correspond?" Epsilon suggested.
"yeah, connectaspond with him," Caboose said.
Everyone looked at each other.
A few minutes later, Caboose and Sabre were alone in the infirmary. Caboose was unarmed, but had Epsilon in his helmet.
"Um, hello Sabre. My name is Michael J. Caboose, but most people call me Caboose," Caboose said.
Sabre looked up at Caboose.
"Well, I prefer to call people by their first names or code-names," Sabre said flatly.
"Well, I hear from Carolina that you have lost someone you loved," Caboose continued.
Sabre was silent for a moment.
"Carolina sent you to try and cheer me up, didn't she?" he asked.
"Wow, he's good. Don't bother denying it," Epsilon said in Caboose's head.
"Yeah, she did. I hope it is working," Caboose said.
Sabre thought about his options.
"Yeah, I've lost someone. I've lost many people I've loved. The only one I haven't lost is Carolina," he said.
This took Epsilon and Caboose by surprise.
"Wait, you like Carolina?" Caboose said, "But isn't she really mean?"
"She wasn't when Project Freelancer was still around. She was just competitive with Texas," Sabre said.
Hours later, Sabre and Caboose came out of the infirmary. Kimball, Carolina, and Washington were standing outside, waiting for the results.
"You have my support," Sabre said.
Washington and Carolina released their pent up breaths and Kimball nodded. Sabre turned to Caboose and held out his hand.
"Thanks Michael, you've really helped me," he said.
"Ok Caboose, shake his hand and say-" Epsilon said.
"You are very welcome Sabre and I hope we get to talk again," Caboose said enthusiastically.
"Ok, you could say that too," Epsilon said.
Sabre nodded and went to Carolina.
"Alright chief, where am I needed?" Sabre said.
Carolina nodded and led him down to the training area. Kimball, Washington, Caboose, and Church looked at them.
"So, what did he say?" Kimball asked.
Epsilon appeared in his Church hologram.
"You are not going to believe it…" Epsilon said.
Sabre looked at the line of trainees under his command. They were rookies, but they had enough experience to get Sabre started. There were seven of them, all ready for action.
"Alright, my name is Sabre and you will call me Sabre. Not "sir," am I understood?" he said.
"Yes Sir!" the trainees said.
Sabre closed his eyes and pretended that never happened.
"Alright, we are a team. We have to work as a team. If you have a problem, you bring it to my attention, are we clear?"
"Crystal," they said.
Sabre nodded, they were already learning.
"Now, I have to learn each of your names, starting with you," Sabre said, pointing at the trainee furthest to his right.
"Private Forge, reporting for duty," the trainee said.
"Private Ulysses, reporting for duty," the next one said.
All down that line was Forge, Ulysses, Gregory, Anderson, Winchester, Nathan, and Candide. Forge, Ulysses, and Anderson were sisters, Winchester is a dad, Nathan is an uncle, and Candide is a brother. Forge, Ulysses, and Anderson were the last of their family. The rest had been killed during the staged civil war.
"Alright, I want fifty push-ups, right now!" Sabre yelled.
He went down with the trainees and they all did fifty push-ups. Sabre jumped up.
"Alright, now make a straight line and keep up," Sabre ordered.
He led them on a three lap jog around the base. When they were done, he could see Forge, Anderson, and Nathan were tired. He smiled.
This is just the beginning, he thought.
Meanwhile, in the command center, Carolina was thinking about all the memories she had with Sabre. His last official mission with her was the defense of the powerstation in Zanzibar. She had a few flashbacks from that mission: the Insurrectionist tank, the team surrounded, Sabre missing an arm, him walking after South. She shook her head.
Why now? What led us to see each other again? she had a lot of questions.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Kimball's voice came from behind.
"Why do you ask?" Carolina glanced back at her.
"You seem uneasy around him,"
Carolina found herself chuckling.
"It's just nice to see a teammate who's not trying to kill me after all these years," Carolina said.
"So, I ask again, can we trust him?" Kimball asked.
Carolina looked back at her time with Sabre. He was a bit rash, perhaps hot-headed, and he tends to run his mouth a lot. However, he has the skills of a great agent that rival even herself. Then she remembered what happened when she brought Sabre up to speed on what had happened.
"Yes, we can trust him," Carolina said, looking at Kimball directly.
Kimball nodded and left the room, content with Carolina's answer and chuckling at the information she didn't know.
Anderson flew into the wall of the command center and slid down.
"Ow…" she said.
Forge landed on top of her and they looked at Sabre. He blocked a punch from Winchester and kicked Ulysses away. Nathan tried to kick Sabre, but Sabre grabbed his leg and flipped him. Sabre ducked under another punch from Winchester and flipped him over his back. Sabre looked around and smiled. He had successfully defeated his recruits in a hand-to-hand combat training...again. They all groaned in pain, but got up and stood in formation.
"You guys are tough, but I still win. Who wants to go again?" Sabre asked.
No one said anything.
"Alright, march to-" Sabre started,
{Sabre, I need to talk to you. Come to the Command Center} Carolina radioed.
"Alright, march to the shooting range and don't do anything until I get there," Sabre ordered.
The recruits marched off and Sabre went the Command Center.
He walked in and saw Carolina looking out the window. He closed the door without a sound and walked quietly to Carolina, despite his armor.
"Don't bother, my proximity radar can see you," Carolina said with a smile.
Sabre chuckled and walked up to Carolina.
"You needed to talk to me chief?" Sabre asked.
"What happened to you? After Harvest, I thought you were dead," Carolina said.
Sabre looked back at what happened to him at Harvest.
"After the building exploded, I was thrown back and knocked unconscious. South and I were separated and we never saw each other again. I still had Eta in my helmet. I was apparently deemed dead because a group of ODSTs found us and the crew of the UNSC Weston threw us in a cryochamber. The ships logs that Eta stole said we were frozen for a few years. However, Insurrectionists blew up that ship and we were rescued by the crew of the UNSC Luna. Then that ship was destroyed by the Insurrection. I never got the name of the last ship we were on. Then we were attacked by a rogue marine while being attacked by an Insurrectionist cruiser. As the bridge exploded, we managed to activate the slipspace drive and get away. We ended up over Chorus and were sucked by the vacuum of space. I used a piece of metal to protect me and I came here," Sabre explained.
Carolina processed the information and looked into Sabre's visor. She never thought Sabre had gone through so much.
"I haven't gone through a lot Carolina. If anything, Eta has gone through too much. I think she is on the verge of rampancy," Sabre joked.
Carolina wasn't convinced and tried to see what was going on in Sabre's mind. She took hold of Sabre's helmet and took it off. Sabre's matted, black hair fell out as it came off. It revealed his hard, battle-scarred face. Carolina and Sabre looked at each other and Carolina could see pain and sorrow in his eyes.
"Sabre, tell me," Carolina begged.
Sabre shook his head and stood, taking his helmet back.
"I got to get back to my recruits," he said coldly.
He put his helmet back on and went out the door. Carolina smacked her forehead for letting her emotions get in the way. It hurt more because of her armored glove.
"I'm an idiot," she said, a tear falling down her cheek.
Sabre, Carolina, the Blood Gulch Crew, General Doyle, and Dr. Grey were all in a meeting. They were to discuss a battle plan for a mission against Charon. Sabre was in the corner, watching from afar, still on the edge about the reunion with Carolina in the Command Center several days ago.
"I say we take the bulk of our forces to meet them head on, while select groups of fireteams attack from all sides," said General Doyle.
Kimball nodded and looked around at the group. No one said anything.
"Alright, then that's what we're going to do," she said.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Let's think about this first," started Epsilon, "We are up against mercenaries from the company that supplies the UNSC. Ok? So, they have a point for supplies. They also have a point for manpower, firepower, and training. What do we have?" Epsilon asked.
He had a point: the bulk of the Chorus Army were raw recruits who have had only a few week of training.
"Each other," someone said.
Everyone looked around, searching for the source of the voice.
"We have each other. We will fight for each other and die by each other's side," came the voice again.
"Caboose?" Epsilon asked.
Caboose came in with a tall, proud stride. His armor was shiny and navy blue. His assault rifle, with Freckle's AI attached, was on his back and there was a pistol at his holster.
"Caboose, do you know who said that?" Simmons asked.
"It was me," Caboose said.
Everyone looked at him, except for Sabre, awed. Caboose has never wanted to go into battle. In fact, several of the Blue Team thought he was going to be a pacifist, like Doc. To hear him talking about dying and camaraderie was surprising.
"Caboose, you've never wanted to fight, just like me," said Grif.
"Look, I may not be that bright or fierce. I'm not exactly a soldier like the rest of you guys," he said, "I've seen what a major war has done to families. I don't want that to happen here, to the people of Chorus."
Everyone nodded and clapped him on the back, proud of Caboose. Caboose gave Sabre a quick nod, which he returned. After that little pick-me-up, everyone went back to the plan.
"Ok, we'll hold them of here," Vanessa pointed out, "Here at this pass. I can hide snipers in the trees while we have a main force at the bottom."
"Are you insane?" Sabre asked.
Everyone looked at him.
"Something wrong?" Vanessa asked.
"Uh, yeah. If you put any amount of soldiers at the bottom of the pass, they are going to be slaughtered," he said.
He walked up and pointed out several details.
"There's a little path that goes around the pass. Enemy reinforcements could flank us. Charon's forces are going to be better-equipped and better trained. The soldier's down there won't stand a chance. Also, what makes you think that Malcolm will send troops that way?"
Sabre stood up from leaning on the table and crossed his arms. Vanessa thought about the problems that Sabre pointed out.
"Ok, what do you suggest then?" Grif asked.
Sabre thought about it. He knew that Charon will not be easily taken care of.
"We'll take out their outposts. Radar jammers, weapon depots, research labs, anything that is Charon must be destroyed or captured," he said.
Everyone thought about it for a while.
"I suppose you're right Sabre. We need to make this war as easy as possible," Vanessa said.
Everyone, except for Grif, agreed with the plan. The meeting was adjourned and broken for lunch. Sabre left for the barracks, where he told his squad to wait. Carolina ran after him.
"Sabre," she said.
Sabre stopped and looked behind him.
"Need something chief?" he said.
He started walking again.
"No, I was just saying that those were good points you made back there," she said.
"Thanks. You taught me all about tactics. This war is not going to be easy to fight," Sabre said, "These people are outgunned and outmatched. However I've seen their potential. I think Charon will be surprised."
Carolina nodded, having a bit of trouble keeping up with Sabre.
"Listen, about that incident in the Command Center…" she started.
"Don't bother," Sabre said.
Carolina looked up and realized that Sabre had stopped and was looking at her.
"It's ok," he said.
He nodded and gripped her shoulders.
"You are the strongest, toughest soldier out here. Never, ever think that just because emotions are thrown into the mix that you are weak. Promise me that," he said.
She nodded, surprised about his quick acceptance. He was known to be tough against emotions. He let her go and left for the barracks, intent on training his squad.
"Come on, twenty more," Sabre said.
Sabre and his squad were doing upside-down push-ups. So far, they had done a hundred. All the squad members were breathing hard and their arms were quivering.
"110, 111, 112, 113…" Sabre counted.
Eventually, they reached one hundred twenty and stood up. Though no one could see it, everyone was red faced as the blood rushed back to the rest of their body. Forge sat down on the floor once they were done and was breathing hard.
"Feel good everyone? Ready for a run?" Sabre said with a smile.
The squad groaned and complained.
"I'm just kidding. Who's hungry?" he asked.
Everyone raised their hands, which hurt like hell.
"Alright, get some lunch and get some rest," Sabre ordered.
The squad filed out of the barracks with Sabre in the back. Then an aid to General Doyle came up to him.
"Deployment orders sir," he said.
"Thank you Corporal," Sabre said.
Sabre read the orders.
Orders from Generals Vanessa Kimball & Donald Doyle
Effective Immediately
Fireteam Sabre will take a Charon outpost near Sector 9
Sabre smiled at the would-be military stature of this army.
They try, he thought.
Sabre walked to the cafeteria, where his squad were eating and laughing, and joined them. After ten minutes, Sabre gathered them into the barracks.
"Forge you'll be the team sniper. Ulysses and Gregory, you'll be the heavies. The rest of you, load up. I want assault rifles and plenty of ammo," Sabre said.
The team loaded up and went to the vehicle depot.
"Alright, mount up," Sabre ordered.
Sabre's team took two warthogs and a mongoose and drove off to the north. While he was eating in the cafeteria, Eta had downloaded the most current map of Chorus. She displayed it on Sabre's HUD and plotted a route to where the the Charon outpost was.
"Turn left," he told Forge as she drived.
The convoy swerved left and continued for several miles. Sabre made sure his rifle as loaded and looked to the distance. He saw the floating forerunner tower on the horizon, levitating in peace.
What is up there? he thought.
"Sir, we're nearing the target area," Forge said.
Sabre shook out of his daydream and focused. Forge had called him "sir" but he didn't care anymore. There was a narrow path through a rock formation in front of a large clearing.
"Stop," Sabre said.
The convoy stopped and the team looked around. The air was crisp and slightly chilly, not that anyone could feel it. Sabre jumped off and walked to the clearing, rifle in hand. He waved his team off as they tried to follow him.
"Stay in the convoy," he ordered.
He looked around, keeping an eye on his proximity radar.
"See anything Eta?" he asked.
"Nope, it's clear," she said.
"Good," Sabre said.
Sabre put his rifle on his back and grabbed an invisible space pirate by the throat. Sabre picked him up and threw him into a tree. Sabre drew his rifle again and fired in different directions. Five other space pirates fell out of the trees at the force of the bullets. Sabre finished all but one. He kicked the DMR out of the space pirate's hands and squatted down to the pirate's level.
"So, tell me, what's behind this rock here?" he said calmly, pointing to the rock formation in front of them.
"Fuck you," the space pirate spat out.
Sabre shook his head, smiling. He took off his helmet and passed it to Forge. Then he picked up the space pirate by her shoulders and pinned her against a tree. The pirate choked and gagged as Sabre pressed against her throat with his gauntlet. The team just watched as Sabre interrogated the pirate.
"Tell me, and I'll make your passing easier," Sabre threatened.
The pirate was choking, so Sabre eased up on her to so she could talk.
"Please...please...don't kill me. I'll tell you, just don't kill me," she cried.
Sabre let the girl go and then gave her a hug.
"There there, shh...it's ok," he said softly.
The team was completely confused, but didn't say anything.
Despite nearly dying at his hands, the pirate was strangely comforted by her interrogator. Her mind was spinning, trying to figure out what happened and several things were lost in the confusion.
"Now, tell me what's behind the rock," Sabre asked again.
The pirate took off her own helmet, where her mike was.
"There's several snipers in the trees ahead and two pirates with rocket launchers. All are ready to kill you," the pirate said.
Sabre nodded.
"Thank you, now take the mongoose with Candide and head back to our base. Candide will take good care of you," Sabre said.
"Yeah...wait, what?" Candide asked.
Sabre nodded and the pirate went over to Candide.
"Take the pirate back to base and make sure she is taken care of. She's not a prisoner, but a guest," Sabre said.
Candide opened her mouth to say something, but shut it and started to drive off with the pirate. Sabre nodded and had his team mount up again.
"Sir, what's the plan?" Ulysses asked.
Sabre smiled and turned in visible.
"When you hear a lot of shouting, drive through as fast as possible," he said from nowhere.
Sabre walked off while his team got ready. He jumped up the rock and looked ahead. There were several pirates all hidden. Two were in the open, holding the rocket launchers, while the others were snipers in the trees.
Well, she wasn't lying, Sabre thought.
He jumped down and hid in some high bushes. His cloaking ran out and he waited for it to recharge. Sabre took out three grenades and pulled the pins out. He waited three seconds before throwing each one as far as possible. One grenade landed near a warthog and blew up, tipping the warthog in its side. Another managed to hit a pirate with a rocket launcher, throwing him to the ground. The last blew up harmlessly in the middle of the field. The pirates turned, distracted. Sabre jumped from his hiding spot, pistol in hand, and started picking off the snipers. Each one dropped to the ground with three bullets in their heads. Sabre dove for a sniper rifle and picked off the remaining snipers.
On the other side, Sabre's team was waiting for the signal. Suddenly, three explosions sounded in rapid succession and there were the sounds of shouting and screaming, followed by several gunshots.
"GO! GO! GO!" Nathan yelled.
The two warthogs flew at top speed through the hole in the rock formation. What they saw passed it was a mini version of a battlefield. There were three craters and many space pirate bodies. Sabre held his hand out and grabbed one of the rails on the warthog, settling himself in the passenger seat.
"Can I speak plainly sir?" Forge asked.
"Of course," Sabre said.
"You are the craziest son of a bitch I have ever had the pleasure of working with," Forge said.
The convoy laughed as they passed Sabre's handiwork. They stopped at the mini-outpost to refuel and rearm if needed.
"You think we could use these rocket launchers?" Nathan asked.
Sabre nodded and picked one up himself. The rocket launchers would help them against vehicles. Forge and Ulysses grabbed several more clips of ammo for their rifles. Winchester had several belts of grenades and Anderson was busy trying to hack a computer.
"Eta, give Anderson a hand," Sabre said.
Eta, in holographic form, walked over to Anderson and the two started talking. Sabre smiled.
It's almost like Project Freelancer, only not as dramatic, Sabre thought.
Iota appeared, pulling up a map.
"Sabre, I downloaded a map of the target outpost. The defenses are strong, we might need reinforcements," Iota said.
Sabre studied the map, figuring out the best approach.
I wish I had Delta here…Sabre said.
Sabre always like the blunt, logical conversation that Delta gave. Still, the Twins as Sabre calls them, are good to talk to as well.
"We'll talk to Kimball about this," Sabre said.
Anderson managed to hack the computer. Sabre set up a mini communications array so Kimball and Doyle at base could hear.
[Base, this is Sabre. Do you copy?] Sabre asked.
{Sabbbre...base...c-c-copy...hard...h-h-hear.} Kimball's broken voice came.
"Eta, try and clear up the signal," Sabre said.
Eta managed to clear it up a lot, despite the distance between them and Base.
{Sabre, we read you loud and clear now. Status.} Kimball said.
It was Kimball, Doyle, and Agent Washington in the screen.
[Base, we've captured a sort of waypoint between us and the target outpost. It's a simple supply base with nothing special. However, Anderson managed to crack a code here.] Sabre said.
{Alright, go on Anderson} Doyle said.
Anderson was a Federal Trooper before the two sides had a truce. He's been uneasy working with the Rebels, but he always acts like he's only reporting to General Doyle.
[General, this code here is a message from Felix to this base. Apparently they moved a shipment to the target outpost, although it doesn't specify what the shipment is] Anderson said.
{Right, I'll send some reinforcements to hold the outpost} Kimball said.
[Hold that ma'am. We'll take the reinforcements when we take the main objective. This was just a waypoint.] Sabre said, [Also, Iota found this map on our target outpost. The defenses are solid. There are turrets everywhere and there is a possibility of heavy armor.]
Kimball and Doyle talked off screen for a bit. At this point, everyone was nervous. Kimball was as ambitious as she was intelligent. Ambition and intelligence are always a good mix, but in Kimball, someone put the wrong quantities in her. Kimball came back while Doyle left the room.
{Doyle is collecting your reinforcements now. Do not engage the target outpost until they arrive.} Kimball stressed.
[Yes ma'am. Sabre out] Sabre said.
Kimball nodded and the screen turned off. Sabre had Anderson mess with the computer for a while. Sabre went outside and looked around. His team was taking the full advantage of the small break they were getting. Sabre talked to Iota about an assault plan.
"If the enemy is smart, they'll have patrols all around the outpost. If they are paranoid, they'll have every pirate armed to the teeth and put on high alert before we even get there," Sabre said.
"And if they are both?" Iota asked.
"Then we're gonna be fucked up by the time this is over," Sabre joked.
Eta left Anderson with the computer and went back to Sabre.
"Sabre, we may have a problem," Eta said.
"What's up?" Sabre asked.
"The leader of the target outpost is sending a team here. Apparently the shipment that this outpost sent was wrong," Eta said.
Sabre thought about it.
"I think we can take the outpost without reinforcements," Sabre said.
Sabre had is team paint their armor in the space pirate colors. They went through the inventory and found the right shipment. They loaded on the warthog and got ready for the pickup team. A team of nine space pirates came up from the south. They came up in three warthogs, two with machine gun turrets and one with a gauss turret. The leader jumped out.
"What the hell people? I gave you one job and that was to bring the shipment of weapons to my outpost," the leader said.
Sabre walked up to the leader. He looked familiar, but Sabre couldn't remember.
"Sorry sir. I put a few people in charge of it, but they marked it incorrectly," Sabre said.
"Who are you? I've never seen you here," the leader said.
"I've been working directly under your partner. He sent me to ensure that no mistakes were made in this delivery," Sabre said, hoping to get some info.
"If you worked directly under Locus and he sent you on an escort detail, you must have fucked up badly," the leader said, "Anyway, let me talk to the idiots that sent the wrong shipment," the leader said.
Sabre looked back at his disguised team.
"That might be a bit...difficult," Sabre said.
Sabre reloaded his pistol for effect. The leader nodded, he seemed pleased with Sabre's supposed course of action.
"Good job soldier. I hope the rest saw it," the leader said.
"No, but they sure heard the screaming," Sabre said with evil enthusiasm.
The leader nodded.
"Ok, where's the correct shipment?" the leader said.
Sabre led the leader to the warthog that held the shipment. Sabre managed to get a glance at the leader's name that was laser etched on his chestplate: Felix. Sabre knew the leader looked familiar, but he didn't say anything.
"Ok, mount up. Pack everything up. We're liquidizing the depot," Felix ordered.
Sabre and his team packed all the supplies in the base to the warthogs. Felix led the new convoy to the outpost. The pass through a heavily guarded gate with at least four snipers. Sabre studied the defenses. He looked at his team and they all understood. This wasn't an outpost: this is the Space Pirate Headquarters.
MUAHAHAHA! Cliffhangers are great...
Anyway, that is part 1 of the second story. I hope ya'll liked it. Don't be afraid to comment, suggest, etc.
-Angel