The trek through the rain filled forest was not an easy one. They spent a majority of the hills they climbed skidding and sliding back down the muddy slope. They took a break around noon the following day.
Cassy and Ryker were looking at the map again while the rest of them checked their gear and rested. Mark moved his sore arm around. "Stupid cat thingy." He grumbled under his breath. He looked back up as Cassy got their attention. "We are about 2 clicks away from the target. From now on minimal use of the com and hand signals." They all nodded in agreement.
As the drew closer they moved with extra caution and had their weapons in a ready position. Hawk, who was scouting ahead, came jogging back. " There are about 10 guards outside the structure. About 6 grunts, a sniper in an alcove at the top and 3 brutes. " Cassy nodded and turned to Ryker. "Think you can take care of the apes?" Ryker tilted his head for a second and nodded before standing up with the other two spartans and disappeared into the forest. She looked back at the squad . " Take the twins and get rid of the grunts and sniper. " She said pointing to Hawk. The three of them nodded before disappearing into the forest.
The brute captain walked by the entrance for what seemed like the billionth time today. He heard a sound and stopped. He sniffed the air. In the blink of an eye he spun around and slammed his fist into Vapor, who was sneaking up behind him, sending him flying into a wall. Before the brute could finish Vapor off, it was knocked to the ground by a charging Spartan. The spartan had the brute in a headlock and with a violent jerk Ranger snapped the brutes neck. He stood up and walked over to Vapor who was slowly getting back to his feet. "Are you good?" He asked Vapor. Vapor nodded, " Just got the air knocked out of me. " He wheezed.
With the outside guards eliminated they slowly went inside the ruins. Cassy took the lead with Keith right next to her. The group stopped when they came to room with multiple halls. Cassy looked at Ryker. " Kalis, any idea which hall to choose? " He asked the A.I. There was a pause. "With seismic scan I retrieved from Vapors collision with the building, the hall that leads deeper into the ruins is the one in your right." He stated. Ryker motioned to the door that Kalis had pointed out. They moved slowly and carefully through the maze of tunnels.
After coming across a patrol or two they reached the entrance to a large room. Ranger took out fiber optic camera and slid it under the door. He saw what looked like thirty to fifty brutes and a scattering of jackels and grunts gathered around a raised platform where a larger brute stood. Ranger withdrew the camera. "Target is inside along with at least 40 troops." He reported.
Cassy frowned, " We need to secure the engineers first. " She stated. " I managed to hack into their comms and find the location of the engineers. " Kalis pipped in. Cassy nodded. " Good, but I have no doubt that as soon as we grab them we are going to need a quick get away plan. " She stated while she walked over to Pyro. " let's rig the door as a little present from us to buy us more time. "
In a few minutes the door was set to blow with a hearty around of explosives to vaporize anyone that opened it. They quietly retreated and made their way to the objective.
They made it to another large room with little to no resistance. Slightly glancing into the room and seeing only a few brutes and jackels milling about seemed like a stroke of luck. Cassy ordered the group to advance quietly and silently. When Ryker was close to the brute captain when he struck. The brute fell to the ground with a gurgle as it died. The jackels raised their weapons but were quickly gunned down by the rest of the team. They proceeded to the door on the other side of the room and as the door opened they shot the lone sentry guarding the Huragok.
The five Huragok bunched up and were making small frightened sounds. Cassy gestured towards them. "Do your thing Mark." He nodded and approached the aliens slowly. While Mark calmed them down the rest of the squad policed any grenades and ammo from the dead. Mark called back to Cassy " Alright they are good and we need to get out of here. " He started walking away but stopped when he realised that the engineers were not behind him. " Are you kidding me? " He said as he reached in his bag. He walked back up to them and held up a scrambled rubix cube. The engineers suddenly swarmed Mark trying to get the cube. He leaped away yelling , "Nooooo!"
Cassy just smiled and turned to the team. "It will not be long until they notice that their prize has gone missing. We need to book it to the LZ before that happens. We still have stealth on our side so that gives us the advantage. She nodded to Ryker. "Divide your squad into recon and rear security." He have a slight nod in acknowledgement. Within A few minutes they were ready to bug out.