"Cargo Hold"

Trandoshan Slave Ship Bone Crusher

14:55 Standard UNSC Military Time

Ashoka and her cell mates reeled in shock when the door at the end of the small room suddenly burst open. Four armored beings rushed through the door, weapons raised as they ran headlong into the Trandoshan brute.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" One of the warriors yelled in alarm as he spotted the brute. He and his comrades opened fire on the monster Trandoshan, solid rounds pinging off the thick plates strapped to its body.

Slug throwers?! Who uses slug throwers? Ashoka shouted in her mind as the armored figures' weapons barked and roared.

"Keep firing!" another of the armored figures shouted, his armor sporting red accents. The brute staggered back as the firing intensified, but when a series of clicks sounded from the unknown soldiers' weapons, the brute immediately charged forward with a roar. "Look out!" the red accented soldier shouted as they dived out of the way. One of them with a red symbol on its helmet yanked a magazine from a patch in its vest and slammed it into a port another magazine had fallen from. A soldier carrying the largest weapon was two slow and the brute grabbed him by the collar and threw him into the bulkhead. The snapping of bones was heard and he screamed in pain. Moyla screamed in horror, shutting her eyes as the sisters clung to each other. Faline tucked herself into a ball and shook with fear. Ahsoka ran to the cell door and shook it vigourisly. The door didn't budge and she growled in frustration.

"Come on you kriffing door, move!" Ashoka yelled, instinctevly reaching out to the force. The collars activated and the four prisioners collapsed in a symphony of screams.

"Cargo Hold"

Trandoshan Slave Ship Bone Crusher

14:57 Standard UNSC Military Time.

As Dominguez fell limp against the wall, Freely let out a curse as he shoved a new magazine into his SMG. The monster lizard charged at him again and he dived out of the way, Cummings pouring rounds into the giant's back. Again the rounds simply bounced off the pitted plates with a clatter. "Our weapons ain't doing shit!" Freely yelled to Buck as the monster charged at Cummings. The medic ducked a swipe and darted around the hulking lizard, retreating out of melee range. Buck pumped another shell into the chamber of his shotgun and fired again. The buck shot plowed into the shoulder plate of the beast and it flinched back. Buck fired again as the monster closed. Loud screams were suddenly heard and the ODSTs reflexively searched for a source. Taking advantage of Buck's distraction the monster grabbed him by the neck. Buck gasped for breath as his shotgun tumbled from his grip, hands now locking onto the lizard's wrist. Cummings raced forward, and slammed the butt of his rifle onto the back of the beasts neck. The improvised club glanced off the thick hide and Cummings was thrown back by a vicious backhand. Freely tossed his SMG away, yanked out his combat knife and leapt onto the monsters back.

He rammed his knife into the monster's unprotected neck, green blood gushing from the wound. Dropping the barely conscious Buck the monster lizard frantically tried to yank Freely off of him. Freely unhooked his sidearm from the side and emptied the clip into the back of the monster's head. Blood and gray matter splashed onto Freely's armor as the beast suddenly went limp, crashing to its knees before collapsing in a heap. Freely leapt ff the dead lizard's back and raced to Buck, who was struggling to stand.

"You alright captain?" he asked as he steadied his fellow soldier.

"Fine… fine. Get… Dominguez… now." Buck croaked as he took deep breaths. Freely looked for his buddy when he already saw Cummings checking the gunner's pulse, having yanked off Dominguez's helmet. The gunner coughed, blood sputtering from his lips.

"He's hurt pretty bad Captain, broken ribs, puncture lung, spine is pretty fucked up too."Cummings opened his medic bag and yanked out a canister of Biofoam and sharpette of Morphine. Plunging the Morphine needle into Dominguez's neck, the gunner relaxed, still laboring to breathe. Ripping off Dominguez's chest plate, he saw bloody holes where his rips had poked through the skin. Jamming the nozzle of the canister into a wound, pressed down the trigger. White antiseptic foam filled his chest cavity, stopping the bleeding. "He needs a surgeon fast!"

"I'm on it, Jack, search this place for any stragglers and put them down!" He clicked on his helmet mike. "Control this is Mace, we need medical EVAC ASAP, hangar bay is secured but you'll have to cut through the hull over!"

"Copy Mace, boarding parties are on the way, ETA damn quick, hold on and good luck."

Armory

Unknown Vessel Redemption

15:03 Standard UNSC Military Time

"It's official, military intelligence is a contradictory term!" Swift muttered as he surveyed the large room. Meverston found himself in agreement as they swept the room with their rifles.

"Looks like some kind of armory Sarge." Meverston noted, glancing at the slots in the walls, some holding the large black rifles the clones carried. The abundance of bodies showed how vigourously the clones had tried to defend this place. Swift picked up a small pistol like device from a table and pushed the trigger down experimentally. The weapon barked and a blue bolt of light flew out of the end and impacted a wall, scorching it black.

"Holy shit!" Swift yelled dropping the device.

"What the fuck were you trying to do?!" Harkston roared, yanking the marine away from the weapons.

"That explains why they picked up so much energy, probably powered by batteries." Meverston noted, examining a large box shaped device that was covered in glowing lights. He pulled on one and a small clip came out in his hands.

"Stop touching shit!" Harkston ordered, annoyed. "There should still be a terminal here that link into the ship, let's find it and get out of here!" Meverston put the clip on a table and began looking around. Meverston pointed towards a door leading to a countered kiosk. It was locked if the red lights indicated correctly. "Worth a shot, stack up for breach." The marines quietly placed their backs against the wall. Harkston placed his hacking box on the pad and counted down. "Three, two, one, breach!" He jammed down the box's only button and the door slid open, sending a clone body toppling down on Harkston. Weighed down the marine fell backwards as the Swift rushed in. Meverston yanked the body back and the two marines scrambled away from it, fearing a trap.

"Clear!" Swift yelled from inside the kiosk, looking through the window at his companions. "You guys ok?"

Harkston glanced down at his chest plate fearing acid, but was relieved to only find blood.

"We're good Swift, any terminals in there?" Meverston asked, glancing at the body, the armor having blue highlights. "This guy died fo-." A ragged breath suddenly came from the clone, cutting of Meverston.

"Holy shit, he's alive!" Swift exclaimed and he went for the door.

"Terminal, Swift, the terminal!" Harkston reminded the marine. "Mev, help me get some foam in him, get that armor off!" Meverston knelt down and grabbed the pitted, blackened chest plate of the armor. With a swift tug something snapped and the plate was wrenched free. A holed black body suit was revealed, and blood slowly oozed from a chest wound. Harkston dove his hand into the medpack secured on his lower back and grasped the familiar medal casing. Shoving the canister into a hole, he depressed the trigger. With a splurting sound the foam filled the cavity, sterilizing the wounds and stopping further bleeding. The clone took a less pained breath as the foam haphazardly patched his lung. Meverston jammed a morphine sharpette into the clone's chest and the wounded soldier relaxed.

" We're in business Sarge!" Swift notified, delighted this trip hadn't been for nought. Harkston tossed him a small cylinder. The other marine caught it and plunged in into the table. A row of status lights slowly lit up until a solid green bar indicated successful data extraction and duplication. "Good to go!" Swift told the others as he slotted the device into an empty ammo pouch on his vest.

"Good, help Mev get this guy ready to move." Harkston clicked on his helmet mike. "Alpha, this is Omega, data secured and have located clone survivor. Is heavily wounded and will require medical attention." Meverston stood from where he had scribbled notes on the clone's helmet indicating what field treatment had been given.

"Excelent work Omega, return to boarding craft for immediate transport to the Paton, medical teams are on standby, try to keep the clone alive."

"Understood, Omega out." Harkston replied.

"This is Charlie, all hostiles neutralized, the ship is secured."

"Alpha copies all."

"Cargo Hold"

Trandoshan Slave Ship Bone Crusher

15:06 Standard UNSC Military Time

Fuck this fucking tub, Freely muttered in his mind as he carefully searched yet another dark corner. Rows upon rows of empty cages greeted him until he finally reached the end. Then he stopped short. The hell is that? Slowly walking forward he noticed for figures prone on the ground. These fuckers are slavers, good riddance! Two were aliens, there matching blue skin and head tails a dead giveaway despite their surprisingly human, feminine forms. Another alien was younger, whose head tails were white with blue stripes that contrasted greatly with its orange skin. It had some form of tribal markings in white on its face. Unlike the rags the other two wore, this one was wearing a tube top and skirt. Probably a whore. The fourth figure made him do a double take. All occupants were anatomically female, but this one was human. Human, how the fuck can that be?! "Captain, we have a situation!" Freely called through the squad's communication channel.

"Go ahead corporal."

"We got slaves sir, three aliens, one human. Better get the doc up here quick!" Freely reported, staring hard at the woman. She was barely over twenty, with red hair and a scarred face.

"Say again Jack, human?"

"Yes sir, human." Freely heard heavy footfalls as Cummings raced towards him, large medpack at the ready.

"Get this door open!" Cummings ordered. Freely put a bullet through the lock. The lock fell with a clang and the orange alien girl eye's snapped open. She leapt to her feet, facing the ODSTs with a determined look on her face. Cumming tried to step forward but she lashed out with frightening speed, catching him by the helmet with a booted foot. He recoiled back and held his hands up plantetively. Freely snapped his SMG up as the girl put herself between the troopers and her cellmates, who were beginning to stir. "Easy now, I'm just trying to help." She didn't looked convinced, tightening her stance. The two blue alines gasped and clung to each other, the woman backed up in fear. Fuck, it's like Tribute all over again.

"Who are you?" the girl asked, stern and commanding. Freely and Cummings started as the girl spoke in English.

"You speak English?" Freely asked, an uneasy feeling rising in his stomach. Impossible.

The girl looked at him in confusion. "You mean Basic, right?" Freely was about to correct her when Cummings cut him off.

"Yes, we meant Basic. We're ODSTs, I'm a medic, and I want to make sure you're not gonna die on us." He said matter-of-factly, pointing to the red cross on his helmet for emphasis.

"We're fine, and I've never heard of 'ODSTs' before." The girl said, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Get them prepped for transport Doc, evac is cutting through now." Buck's voice sounded over their helmet comms. A slight sizzling was heard and the girl's eyes looked frantically for the source.

"It's a boarding craft, one of ours, we're getting you off of this bucket." Freely said, growing exasperated with the whole mess. I just wanna get this over with so I can sort this out.

"We leaving, really?" one of the blue aliens asked, incredulous. Jack nearly slapped his face in frustration. Fucking civilians, fucking ALIEN civilians.

"For fuck's sake yes, now let the doc take a look to see if you'll live!" Freely practically yelled, close to losing his patience, the flashback of the slaughter on Tribute not helping. The girl finally nodded and Cummings went to work, quickly and methodically cleaning wounds, cursing every time he found a lash from a whip or a brand. With a clatter a boarding ship broke through the shielded hangar door and a squad of marines stormed out and formed a semi-circle around the opening. Buck joined the other men as corspmen carried Dominguez onto the boarding craft.

"Mount up, we're getting outta here, get these civies on board, the captain of the Patton wants a word with you." The girl, her brow furrowed in confusion and suspicion, nodded and lead her group to the craft, earning odd looks from the marines.

This is one huge cluster fuck.