A/N: Not much to say, other than more OCs and vote in the poll.
Thanks to BrokenArrow 411 for Betaing.
CH. 6 Mindoir Incident
Shield World Mindoir, 9 years later
Alex Shepard threw her backpack on the ground before turning the corner and plopping herself on the couch. She could hear her brother in the kitchen chopping up a bell pepper for fajitas for dinner later that night. Alex decided to turn on the T.V. and watch some cartoons. The T.V. crackled to life on the Orion News Network that her brother always watched.
"Today's opening attack on Cipritine marks the break in tension between the Batarians and the Citadel Council. Reports indicate that the violence seems to have resulted from Batarian resentment of the Council's revocation of their embassy seat a little over three years ago. Today the Batarian Hegemony declared themselves a separate nation from both the Citadel and Orion Council," the beautiful announcer said before Alex changed the channel.
"Hey Alex how was school?" Brad called from the kitchen.
"It was good. Got a test for Mom to sign. How was your biotics class?" Alex asked.
"Went well. I can now hold a spoon in the air for three-seconds!" Brad sarcastically retorted.
Like all Terrans both Brad and Alex were biotics. In high school instructors teach basic moves and controlling techniques for biotics. Alex was a year younger than her brother and thus wasn't in high school yet. Today marked their third week in school.
"Ah don't worry Brad. You'll become better than you know it soon enough," Alex said.
"Yeah I know. I saw some more Arisen in school today," Brad said.
"They did build the planet Brad," Alex sighed.
Alex turned back to the cartoons on the TV. The show was some old Earth-born show about shape shifting robots. Alex didn't really care as the show was entertaining enough to capture her thoughts. Her mindless gaze was stopped short as static filled the screen.
"Brad did you mess up your overload again!?" Alex yelled.
"No, the stove and the lights are off. I think we had a power outage. I'm going to go outside and check the fuel cores," Brad called out.
"Be careful Professor Geek," Alex said.
Brad popped around the corner and gave Alex the one finger salute, the fluorescent orange of his toolbox peaking out the edge. Brad retreated outside while Alex sat down with a huff. She quickly got bored and stood up to look around the room. That's when the lack of light from the door caught Alex's eyes. Never, in the nine years she had lived in that house, had that light gone out. When she asked about it in school she was told all the doors had their own power supply, so that when the power went out old people could still get out without having to move the heavy door.
Alex walked up to the door, the comforting cobalt light gone from the door. Alex remembered something from the bazillion war documentaries her dad watches. Something about an EMP and how it messes up electronics. Alex ran out the back door to inform her brother of the revelation.
Just as she enters the backyard she gathers a breath to yell out his name. Just as she opened her mouth a hand clasped down over it and dragged her thrashing body into the shadows. Alex tried to hit the person that had her captured, think it was another guy from school that didn't get the hint.
"Shh," Brad hissed, "Batarians. Probably slavers."
Brad released his grip on his sister. "You scared the shit out of me Brad," she whispered.
Brad just shrugged and ripped a panel off the wall. He started to fumble with some wires while Alex peaked around the corner. There was a team of Batarians clearing the street. He watched as they kicked down the door to Mrs. Matherson's house across the street.
"Brad they're in the Matherson's house," Alex whispered.
"Good, let's move," Brad .
"Good? They are going to drag her away or rape and kill her," Alex almost yelled.
Brad and Alex hopped out from the nook they were hiding in and ran to the door. The light was green now and they both ran inside. Brad grabbed the kitchen knife as he ran by and ran up the set of stairs to the bedrooms.
Alex threw on her pair of shoes as Brad came running down with Dad's hunting rifle. Brad was expertly feeding rounds into the receiver before slamming the bolt shut. Brad looked at his sister with grim determination.
"We need to find Mom and Dad. That means we have to run through town," Brad said with a sad chuckle while looking at the rifle in his hands, "I guess it was a good thing Dad dragged me to those hunting trips of his."
"Brad, let's go," Alex said with a bit of a waiver in her voice.
Brad gave a nod and manually opened the door with a grunt. He peaked outside and didn't see anyone.
"Come on."
Brad somehow walked calmly down the sides of the streets with Alex in tow. Alex glanced around nervously, her heart in her throat. Every side street she passed she expected to see slavers, every house to have an angry mob, yet the farther they walked into town the more it looked like a ghost town. The siblings finally made it to the police station where Dad worked. Brad pushed open the glass doors.
"Dad!" Brad called out, "Dad you here!?"
The inside of the station was a wreck. The receptionist desk was littered with bullet holes and falling apart. The lobby was filled with the metallic husks of Sentinels, either blown apart with explosives or riddled with weapon's fire. Brad pushed his way farther in. He started to lose hope as he saw the police men inside. Most were wearing their black and silver liveries and were seeping blood onto the hard polished marble floor. They passed more than a couple of family friends and several well known officers.
Bard kept pushing forward though. He passed the common work areas and to the holding cells. Inside was evidence of a struggle as the low time petty criminals fought for their lives. Not even they deserved the fate the Batarians had planned for them. However the holding cells lacked the answer Brad was looking for, so he pushed on. Brad walked out and found his sister staring blankly at the floor with a soda in her hand.
"Hey sis we gotta move. Dad isn't here."
Alex just nodded and stood up. "Where are the Arisen when you need them?" she asked.
Installation 00
Asmodeus swerved the steering wheel of the Warthog while slamming on the brakes, tires squealing in protest as the Major forced the one ton vehicle into a drift. Asmodeus and his team were tasked with the job of hunting down an insurrectionist cell on the smaller Ark. The hard light machine gun rotated to follow the armored truck as it charged forward. Currently they were chasing a splinter group that robbed a bank. Intel also suggested the work of Thin Men, aliens disguised as humans.
"Your driving is going to kill us all!" Cronos yelled over the comm.
"Shut up and hit the tires!" Hemera yelled back.
"They took a left at the intersection of fourth and sixth," Ares called calmly from the circling Warhawk.
"Copy that," Asmodeus said.
Asmodeus slammed on the emergency brake and once again pulled the Warthog into a less than legal maneuver across two lanes, cutting off traffic, which frantically arched around the swerving vehicle. He could hear Cronos praying loudly from the gunner's position in the back while he introduced the accelerator to the floor. He looked around in vain to try and find the armoured van that they were chasing.
"I've lost visual. Raptor Two tell me you have eyes on him," Asmodeus called over the comm.
"Negative on visual Raptor Actual…the truck is on I-67 heading north," Ares said.
"Positive copy Raptor Two."
"Aw shit. More of your driving," Cronos groaned, his armour had its smooth finish scratched and dented from the close encounters of a few walls and cars.
"Suck it up Cronos," Hemera snapped.
"Hemera prepare an IR strobe. I'm not losing this bastard again," Asmodeus growled.
Hemera opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by Asmodeus stomping on the accelerator. He took a wild turn up a ramp and jumped the Warthog into traffic. The comm was accented by the colorful litany of Cronos screaming that this was never one of the ways he thought he would go and an assortment of undermining names at Asmoedus. Cars swerved around Asmodeus as he drove the Hog up the off ramp.
Hemera joined Cronos in the screaming over comms as Asmodeus played chicken with a semi before swerving out of the way at the last second, while Raptor Actual circled overhead. The highway converged at the end and Asmodeus crossed over lanes into the correct side of the road.
"Hemera you have the IR strobe ready?" Asmodeus asked.
"Yes sir."
"Good you drive," Asmodeus said while jumping over to the passenger seat. Hemera slid into the driver's seat and resumed the reign of terror while Asmodeus stood up in the passenger seat and readied his throwing arm.
"This is insane and breaks so many regulations!" Cronos yelled.
"Well now I can plead insanity at the court martial!" Asmodeus jabbed back.
"You better just hope she doesn't decide to swerve or make sudden turns," Cronos retorted.
"Amen brother," Ares butted in.
"Everyone shut up. I was never a good pitcher," Asmodeus said.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Cronos groaned.
Asmodeus drowned out the droning of Cronos' voice and focused on the hazardous truck. With a heave he sent the fist sized sticky strobe flying into the rear of the truck. He slumped back into the seat with a sigh and looked over at Hemera.
"Mission complete. Call it in, it's ONI's job now."
Mindoir, Agricultural Center
Brad looked at the giant greenhouse that his mom worked in. The greenhouse was massive. It was just like a regular warehouse except the roof was arched and made entirely of glass. A fight was still happening inside. The gold beams of the Sentinels and the chaotic blue tinted fire of mass effect weapons pronounced such. Brad peered through the high powered scope to try and find his parents.
"I don't see them," Brad said.
"We're going to have to go in there," Alex said with a quaver in her voice.
"No I'm going in there. You will stay here," Brad said firmly while handing her the kitchen knife.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back," Brad said with a reassuring smile.
Brad grabbed the hunting rifle and stood up. He saw his sister curl up into the fetal position in the corner as he took the steps down the apartment building. The purely mechanical clocks on the wall showed it had only been about twenty minutes since the power went out, though it felt like hours to Brad. As he crept along the streets in broad daylight he struggled to calm his shaking hands. Truth is if it wasn't for his determination to find his parents he would have collapsed with his sister or back at the house. However he had to keep calm and put on a brave face for both of them.
Brad entered through a melted hole in the wall that appeared to be the entrance point for the numerous slavers. Not feeling heroic or suicidal he sneaked around the large plants to try and find his parents. The glass of the building reflected the cacophony of the gunfire and amplified it to almost unbearable levels. The stress was getting to Brad and his paranoia picked up seven fold. All around him Batarians and the people of Mindoir fought a battle of attrition. Thankfully the large rows of plants and metal girders blocked Brad from view of anyone below or to the side.
Brad's hyperactive mind was juiced up even more by the constant feed of adrenaline, causing calculations and observations to whirr by as he crept up on the bundle of survivors in the middle of the greenhouse; by this point the seemingly endless supply of Batarians have ground the Sentinels to scrap metal and the remaining police force to almost nothing. Brad moved from the ground to the overhead watering system as he readied the hunting rifle.
Aiming down the high powered scope Brad knew he knew next to nothing on shooting besides what his father showed him hunting but he had to try, his family might be on the line. He lined up the fine crosshairs over an alien head and pulled the trigger. The Batarian stumbled as the force and size of the round punched through his shields and bounced off his chest armour. With a curse Brad racked the bolt unsteadily and aimed again, correcting his shot from his last. Foreign brains soon splattered over the ground, top soil and wheat.
The Batarians stopped their assault on the group of survivors for a moment as they searched for the mysterious sniper. The remaining police force took advantage of the slavers' confusion and cut down several of the Batarians with hypervelocity slugs and superheated plasma. Brad smiled as he saw his dad stand up with an old Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle. He dropped down from the watering system and walked up to his dad.
"Hey Pa," Brad said with a lopsided grin.
"Hey boy. I guess we have you to thank for the sniper fire," Brad's dad said while pointing to the hunting rifle.
"Yeah, good thing you dragged me on those hunting trips."
"Yeah. Where is your sister?" Dad asked
"I left her across the street. Thought it would be better if she didn't come in here. What about Mom?"
"I think…" Dad tried to say before his head disappeared in a red mist that coated Brad's face.
A cop pulled Brad to the ground at gunfire lanced overhead. The powerful Sangheili roared in anger and laid down an inferno of plasma. However no matter how strong the race, concentrated fire always wins. Brad watched numbly as the remaining police were shot down like dogs. He watched numbly as the slavers ripped the rifle from his hands and dragged him to a five foot by five foot cage inside a ship, his dad's blood sticky as it dried on his face.
Sur'Kesh STG base
"Have you made progress yet?" The Councilors asked.
"Of course Councilors. It has taken us a while to just get the case open but we have been able to examine the interior parts. The alloy itself is a complex mixture of elements to make a nickel based superior alloy. Most of the parts and their functions go far above our understanding even after nine years of research. However we do have something to show of it," the STG doctor Xerxes Kerahen said before picking up a regular looking omnitool.
"It looks just like an omnitool," Tevos said.
"Yes it does but the internal workings are completely different. With the use of the Alloy X from the plasma sword we have been able to create a lighter stronger omnitool with more computing power. Observe," Xerxes said.
Kerahen slapped the omnitool around his wrist and turned towards the dummies. Raising the omnitool he activated a program. The microforge in the omnitool created and ignited a gel. The gel stuck to the target as it burned. Switching dummies the second program ran, flash freezing the target. Finally the doctor activated the third runtime and a silicon carbide blade formed, glowing orange from the flaming gel around it. The blade sliced through the hard suit with ease and left a burning trail of gel behind.
Xerxes turned back to the Councilors with a smile. "As you can see the usefulness of the omnitool has been greatly improved. Unfortunately we cannot recreate Alloy X because of the complexity of it. However we have enough Alloy X to make about a hundred more omnitool upgrades. I suggest you give them to Spectres as well as upgrade all military hardsuits and ships with new silicon carbide material based on Alloy X."
"We will consider that Kerahen. Your contribution to galactic peace is greatly appreciated," Valern said before leaving.
As soon as the Council left Kerahen went back to his calculations. His calculations weren't good, it would take at least a century before the society could work itself out of the technological rut that they found themselves in. Kerahen sighed and ran the calculations once more.
Arisen Super Dreadnought Unyielding Death, Captain's Chambers
John looked through the reports of the attack on Mindoir. He barely shook his head and crushed the hard light panel. He looked up at Black team and the Terran. John quickly set up a new screen, this one with Major Baker of the 666th infantry.
"I assume you have heard the news," John said.
"No sir, do you mind filling me in?"
"The Batarians have separated from the Citadel Council and launched a full blown slaver operation against Shield World Mindoir about 13 hours ago. Somehow they bypassed the orbital defense grid, the lack of a relay, and the fleet and landed on the planet. While I'm directing the Metarchy and ONI to find clues and gearing up the 9th cruiser group I need an operational plan to ensure something like this never reoccurs," John said.
"What kind of operation," Black-One asked.
"Unconventional deniable operations against terrorist and military groups," the Terran said.
"That would be correct, this Mr. Harper, who be going by the moniker 'The Illusive Man' for this operation, which will be known as Cerberus.", John said.
"Where do we fit in?" Asmodeus asked.
"Team Black is already their own group but I have some more operatives that need a CO. That's where you come in Asmodeus, you'll lead team Oxide. Their callsigns are Pyre, Nightfall, and Cobalt. Oxide two through four respectively," John said.
"Send me the dossiers," Asmodeus said.
"Report to these coordinates in three days in unmarked ships. I assume you all know how to get one," John said.
"Reason we can't use ONI?" Black-One asked.
"Deniability," John said simply, "I trust you all understand?"
Everyone confirmed and left, either by disconnecting the call or leaving the room, leaving John alone. John picked up the latest ONI report and scanned through it. The contents were relatively tame in comparison to the current crisis however something caught his eye.
The Citadel Council reportedly recently conducted a secret meeting on the Salarian homeworld Sur'Kesh. The events in the meeting are unknown though the meeting apparently took around three hours to complete. Officially it was a campaign rally to help moral however when the agents when looking deeper nothing was scheduled with press or hotels that day and three hours was a long time to go off surveillance when you're the busiest people on that side of the galaxy.
Fleet records show a gradual increase of Dreadnought construction throughout Citadel Space in violation of their Treaty of Farixen. The newer Dreadnoughts are far more efficient then the old versions leading ONI to believe that they have successfully incorporated parts of more advanced technology, whether from an old Prothean cache or a crash R&D program they didn't know.
The new ships showed an increase barrier strength and armor resilience. ONI reported that they had managed to steal or buy several pieces of the new technology, which they returned to Arisen space for testing. The new shields and alloy armor show minor diffusion of plasma and laser fire; however, they show no appreciable effectiveness against hard light projectiles, energy/sound beams, or electromagnetic pulse weaponry.
"Helen get me the reports of one Jonathan Charlie, Earth-born," John ordered.
Mindoir
Alex waited for the medic to finish checking on her, while around her the handful of Mindoir survivors were being checked out. Alex had seen that her dad was dead and that both her mom and Brad were taken. The Earth-born tried to sooth her but during her time crying while he worked something snapped. A rage that burned hotter than plasma and its target…the Batarians.
The helmet of the Earth-born merged around his face as he received an audio transmission. Alex waited for his face to reappear. When it did he had a smile on his face.
"We know where your Mum and Brother are," he said.
"Good, show me where they hide," Alex hissed.
"Whoa you're not going anywhere little lady. You've got a few more years to grow yet."
"You try and stop me," Alex growled while flashing azure. She quickly stalked off before the medic could catch up to her. She had left Brad once and she wasn't going to do it again just because of some age regulation.
Unknown Station, Unmarked ship
Asmodeus looked out at the space station orbiting VY Canis Majoris. The red M type supergiant illuminated the near black 900-meter in diameter station. That station itself looked like a ring. It was a thick hoop around a small open space that was a microforge, allowing for the production of anything necessary for Cerberus' operations while the Stratosentinels mined the area for resources.
The vessel pulled into a docking arm as the airlock sealed over the entrance. Asmodeus, dressed in a formal business suit with a boltshot in the thigh holster and a carbon nanotube ballistic vest, waited as the airlock cycled open to reveal The Illusive Man.
"Oxide-One, welcome to Orion Station and the Cerberus initiative."
"Happy to be here Illusive Man," Asmodeus said.
"Our station AI, EDI, is on call at all times so if you need anything just ask. The war room is in section Z-35 and the barracks are in F-17," The Illusive Man said.
"Copy that," Oxide Actual replied.
Oxide-One walked down the hallways towards F-17. Along the way he passed several research laboratories and the medical bay. The wide hallways allowed for the passing of raw materials and large groups of people. Along the way the subtle indentations in the wall signified data storage projectors with readymade turrets in the rare case of a boarding action or sabotage.
Asmodeus finally got to the barracks labeled Oxide with four combined amorphous circles at the bottom. Each of them had a Roman numeral and a callsign attached to them. The door read his biometrics and slid open to reveal the rest of the team. Each member was dressed in white, gold livery with a different number and color of circles on the breast.
Oxide-Two, Pyre, was a massive black man with plasma burns on the right side of his face. A red implant replaced his burnt-out eye, which provided the man with a demonic look. He had two red connected circles along with the word Pyre written in flames.
Oxide-Three, Nightfall, was an impossibly skinny pale woman that looked as if she never left the GEN 10 PAA. She had close cropped curly red hair and a soft face with vibrant green eyes. On her left arm were the long green lines and swirls of a Celtic knot tattoo. She was twirling a combat knife with one hand while staring into the distance. She had three gray overlaping circles and Nightfall written in smoking bullet holes.
Oxide-Four, Cobalt, was what most people saw as a generic man. He was lightly tanned with raven black hair and smoky grey eyes, a rarity after SPARTAN augmentations. He had a strong jaw and thin pursed lips with a god awful soul patch. He had four cobalt circles and Cobalt written in white wisps.
"First order is for Cobalt to shave that shit off his face," Asmodeus ordered while gleaning a chuckle from Pyre and a grumble from Cobalt as he walked to the bathroom.
"Now does anyone know where our armory is?" Asmodeus asked.
"Straight back, sir. Our individual armories are keyed to our biometrics," Nightfall whispered, her voice barely heard.
Asmodeus nodded and walked past the four cots welded to the deck. To the right Four walked out with a clean shaven face. A single palm pad stuck out of the wall. Asmodeus palmed the pad and a hard light screen of his stuff appeared. He stripped out of his business attire and watch as it atomized and the battle dress uniform of Cerberus appeared. It was white and gold ultralight plates with one red orange circle and Asmodeus engraved on a black sword with barbs on the blade stuck in burnt earth. He quickly donned the BDU and holstered a boltshot.
The intercom blared to life as Asmodeus turned around. "Teams Black, Oxide, Lithium, and Razor report to stealth corvette Winter Solstice for combat deployment."
"You heard the man, ain't no rest for the wicked let's go," Asmodeus yelled.
Stealth Corvette Winter Solstice, Drop Bay
Oxide-One eyed his armour with a cautious glance. It was the newest GEN 11 Powered Assault Armour. The plates of the GEN 11 looked too small to prevent any damage but he trusted the nerds at R&D. Apparently the new alloy is better in every way when compared to Forerunner alloy. It's lighter, tougher, and stronger while easily conducting heat down prefabricated fault lines. The new visor was made of reinforced palladium glass that could polarize to hide to face of the user. The armour itself was bone white plates with gold trim with the jet black SMF. On the breast were the familiar circles to signify position in the squad.
One thing Asmodeus didn't like was the weapons of Cerberus; it was like they reversed in technology. In his hand was the Cerberus Harrier. The Harrier fired carved shards from a Covenant alloy block in the back of the bullpup designed weapon. The shards where then coated in thermite that was ignited as it left the barrel at hypervelocity speeds. The result was a weapon that could chew through shields, burn through armour, and shred flesh with ease. When tested on the new stolen cyclonic barriers of the Citadel Council militaries the Harrier's impressive rate of fire depleted them in three seconds flat as well as the thermite burned through the relatively thin ablative armour with malicious intent.
That still didn't mean Asmodeus liked it. It was more of a change in what he always used rather the weapon. Current day hard light munitions systems were just as reliable as mechanical guns of the old and packed way more of a punch. That and the reflective white finish glinted unnecessarily and in a stealth operation he would have to order different weapons or at least a paint job. At least Nightfall was able to keep her sniper rifle.
The Corvette was small by Arisen standards, sitting at 300 meters and clad in the latest armor alloys and active camouflage. It ran off the new powerful zero point energy reactors and gravity manipulation system. This allowed the Corvette to glide through space on a bubble of affected space. All the weapons on the Corvette are contained in the massive data storage banks that took up the most space on the ship.
Asmodeus stepped into his Human Entry Vehicle and clipped the Harrier into its respective holster and crossed his arms over his chest. The door sealed shut over the front and the ground kicked out as the HEV was launched towards an unknown planet. The palladium glass tinted at the pod entered the atmosphere and the comm kicked in showing an Australian woman holding a data pad while brushing a brunette lock out of her eyes.
"The aliens your about to engage have been off the radar for nine years and were first discovered in a hostile raid. They appear to worship the Flood so be cautious. Your mission is to acquire additional intelligence about the Ethereals and assist the native forces. We are in unknown space so be prepared for anything and don't expect too much support from the fleet," The aussie accented voice said like she was reading the weather.
The pod impacted concrete and the door hinges detonated, blowing the door clear. Asmodeus ripped the Harrier out of its slot and charged out of the entry vehicle. To his left Pyre and Cobalt ran into the thick of emerald green plasma fire while to his right Nightfall charged up the side of a building using her jump jets and laid down fire using her XMS-34. The contrails of the rounds burned as the XMS shot its rods fast enough to cause oxygen to ignite around the rounds for a fraction of a second.
Asmodeus ran up and crouched behind the concrete base of a potted plant. He heard the concrete sizzle and pop as it melted under the intense heat of the plasma. He popped around the corner and spotted an enemy. A cool blue circle popped around the selected alien as information scrolled along the side giving every know fact about that race, which wasn't much. The xeno was identified as a Muton as Asmodeus sent a stream of shards through its head. Gore sprayed everywhere as the Muton's uncovered head exploded.
Red beams scythed across the group of Mutons, Sectoids, and Cyberdisks as the natives took advantage of the pause in the firing. Pyre opened a Rift using his psionics, engulfing the rest of the invaders in the slipspace rupture. The last Cyberdisk fell as Nighfall drilled a neat hole in its exoskeleton.
Oxide reloaded as a unit. The Harrier's impressive rate of fire depleted the alloy block quickly and the XMS only carried ten shots. Asmodeus walked up to the natives as he slung his Harrier. The first thing he recognized was the faces, more specifically human faces. He walked up to what he assumed to be the leader of the five person group. The leader was a stoic male with a beam weapon, same as the three others, in the back stood a 3 meter tall suit of bastardized Powered Assault Armour.
Being 2 and a half meters tall Asmodeus towered over the vanilla humans. His helmet expanded before dissolving to reveal his face. The others eyes widened at the discovery that the giants with massive weapons were in fact human in the most advanced armor ever seen.
"Squad leader?" Asmodeus asked and got a nod from the male in response, "I'm Oxide-Actual, leader of team Oxide. We are here to help you repel the invaders."
The leader nodded and cycled the clip in the rifle. "If that's true we got six more blocks to clear. You want to help then be my guest."
Asmodeus' helmet reappeared in thin air before clamping back down on his head. "In that case we're right behind you sir."
Joannasburg, Earth
Sergeant Clair "Top Shot" Redson eyed the four lumbering giants. They walked with a steady fluid grace that belayed their size. If one was to not know that there was a person in the suit of armor she would have assumed it was a SHIV from Shen's factory. The only reason they didn't fire upon them was because of their destructive capabilities and the fact they helped take down a pesky group of aliens.
She clutched her laser sniper a little harder when they stopped suddenly and crouched with a raised fist. The Colonel motioned for everyone to spread out as the giants crossed the street in full view. Emerald blots of plasma shot across and impacted the white, gold, and black suits. Clair thought they were dead; no one could survive a volley of concentrated plasma fire.
Shockingly, Clair and the rest of the squad were proved wrong. In full view the giants stood defiantly with red hexagonal shields floating in mid air, protecting them from the onslaught of torrential heat. As soon as the plasma fire ended the giants moved in at a supernatural speed that even those with ocular gene mods found it hard to track their movement.
One rolled out of the bubbling asphalt while pulling a cylinder out of nowhere. At the end of the roll the cylinder went flying as the enemy forces recovered from the fact someone survived that barrage. The cylinder detonated on impact, drenching the Floaters in corrosive flames.
Another lifted straight into the air in casual defiance of all known physics with its long rifle roaring as trails of fire left its barrel and smashed into the enemy with deadly precision. Heads exploded into mist and tank shell sized holes appeared in Mutons.
The next one laid down an accurate stream of metal flechettes that burned through anything it touched. The coin sized holes quickly built up as the giant ripped off limbs and pulverized cover with its accurate fire.
The last one hefted a massive box and swept it from one side of the building to the other, utterly removing a floor from the layout. Within twenty seconds the four man team had turned a deadly ambush into a slaughtering ground for the aliens. The giants nonchalantly ejected their clips before ramming new ones home.
"What are you guys?" Clair asked.
"We're SPARTANs," the leader said.
Codex
Rapid Light Infantry Vehicle "Warthog"
The Warthog is a long lived and versatile vehicle. The RLIV is the newest edition to the series. The RLIV is the largest Warthog of the series with a powerful antimatter engine and three passenger seats and a gunner position. The RLIV gun can be switched with many other types such as a hard light machine gun, energy/sound cannon, hard light cannon, and a missile rack via the data storage system.
Warhawk
The current VTOL ships are based on the Falcon and Hornet. The Warhawk is described as a tank on wings. The Warhawk as duel synced hard light machine guns, eight racks of plasma missiles, a crew bay with three hard light cannons, a data storage armory, and a rappel rope for rapid exit. This design allows multiple exits from the gunship, in the back and both sides. New gravity manipulation systems on the tips of the wings allows for near silent flight.
Office of Naval Intelligence: Special Operation Group
ONISOG is ONI's personal black ops group. The group is composed of only the most hardened veterans in the Orion Military. ONISOG has the best and latest equipment from Arisen RnD. The training that every operative has to go through is known as the rise from hell. Every agent is systematically pushed beyond the point of breaking in every way possible. Only after this training is the agent considered ready for deployment. ONISOG agents usually work in pairs or small groups of four. Although the group is known to exist there is no hard evidence to prove this fact.
GEN 11 Powered Assault Armour
GEN 11 is the new evolution of Powered Assault Armour. The GEN 11 is a multi layered system of components each with a specific function. The GEN 11 is EMP hardened to prevent system failures.
Ballistics Gel/Neural Physics Network – The first layer of the GEN 11 weave. The ballistics gel is a non-Newtonian fluid that hardens upon contact. This allows for the absorption of force from falls and ballistic weaponry. The gel also heats and cools two separate layers, one inside to keep the user comfortable and one outside that changes to adapt to the environment. This reduces the user's thermal footprint on the battlefield. The Neural Physics Network is meshed between the two ballistic gel layers. The NPN works on the newfound research from Doctor Halsey that allows for the molecular bonding to neurons in the human brain with the help of the Neural Physics Implant. This caused unforeseen side effects inside the mind. The NPN reordered the thoughts of implanted people causing complete control over ones emotions as well as activation perfect memory. Along with this previously hidden mind powers, dubbed psionics because of our encounter with the hostile alien race Ethereals, was discovered along with varying levels of power. See addendum for more information on psionics. The NPN can store the mental activity of a contender class SI with ease.
Synthetic Muscle Fiber/Antimatter Fusion Reactor – The Synthetic Muscle Fiber layer is the work layer of the suit. The SMF reacts to electrical impulses sent by the NPN and muscular movements. Because of the new research from Doctor Halsey's team the new version of SMF is improved. Synthetic Muscle Fibers new boost the wearer's strength and agility by a factor of ten as well as filtering out biological toxins and dispersing heat. Upon impact the muscle fibers constrict to absorb the kinetic damage and the fiber's structure allows for the travel of heat along it with ease but makes penetrating deeper extremely hard. SMF also has the benefit of absorbing almost all forms of radiation, making detection The Antimatter Fusion Reactor sits on the back of the user about two layers deep in the SMF and protrudes out to the Reclamation alloy layer. The AFR smashed hydrogen and antihydrogen to produce energy. The energy is then dispersed along silver conduits to power the suit's shielding system, heads up display, synthetic muscle fiber, neural physics network, motion sensor, enhanced virtual reality visor, and other nondescript systems.
Reclaimer Alloy – The Reclaimer alloy is the strength and durability of the armor. The Reclaimer alloy is stronger, lighter, and tougher than Forerunner alloy. Ten centimeters of the alloy can survive four swings from an energy sword before failing and up to ten direct shots from a HEAP machine gun module with a concentrated hard light catalyst. This durability makes the GEN 11 able to survive almost anything short of tank fire, heavy weapons, and orbital bombardment for an impressive amount of time. The Reclaimer alloy covers all the body with the joints shrouded in articulated joints of thin alloy and the chest and back covered in thirty centimeters of alloy. The alloy also has the same tendency of synthetic muscle fibers and absorbs most radiation and makes detection nigh impossible.
Tri-Shield Protection System – The Tri-Shield Protection System is the latest in personal protection. The shield is composed of an outer hard light shell and two energy barriers. The outer hard light shell flairs upon detection of a projectile and forms a hexagonal shield of red hard light. When that fails or an objects moves too slow to be registered it hits the always activated energy barrier. When one energy barrier fails or is shorted out the other one kick in and allows the other one to recharge; this allows for near constant coverage of the user.
Psionics
Psionics are the newfound property of the human mind that is activated by the Neural Physics Network and the Neural Physics Implant. Their classes are set by the power of the person's psionics.
Psionic Operative – The weaker class of psionic users. This class of psionics can cast a crippling power that causes crippling hallucinations and pain. They can also inspire troops to fight and make enemies panic. They can also make a wall of deflecting energy that reflects all forms of attack. This makes these troopers excellent support soldiers with the ability to rally the men and devastate enemy moral.
Psionic Specialist – The stronger class of psionic users. This class has all the aforementioned abilities as well at the ability to control another being's mind. Along with this they can throw pure bolts of psychic energy and even cause a slipspace rip in a limited area. These troopers are immensely powerful and can easily destroy an entire armored column with only the power of their mind.