Halo:Insurrection Chapter Two Last night's skirmish left Wolf Team in a bad mood. Geo seemed to be more upset about the events then the other two. Killing the enemy was his job. And he was given a stickt no prisoner policy. So why should he care? But none the less, he collected his thoughts and pushed them to the back of his mind. "Kona, why are we so far away from our objective. The pre-op said we woud be dropped about a click from Short's position and we don't seem to be any where near him." Geo had been wondering that from the moment they arrived on Hail. The AI filled his speakers, "I wont lie lieutenant. I have no idea. Iv'e been checking our position via satellites, seems our drop put us a three day march from where we want to be." The news didn't sit well with Wolf Team. But there was no second chances with the drop, they were going to have to do this on foot. Geo looked out on the flat plain in front of them. The sun had rose high into the sky, illuminating mountains, trees, rivers, and even local wild life. Flocks of exotic birds flew about. On an off day the young soldier would call this beautiful. "Kona, any chatter on the Inny com links?" He was hopping that his team could get in and out unnoticed, but it was only a good dream now. "They know the UNSC has sent us, but from what I'm getting they don't know there dealing with SPARTANS. If we keep our heads down, this mission should go off with out any more problems." Thats what he was expecting. They knew they were there, but one more thing was bothering him. "Any idea why they have alien weapons or how they got them?" The AI was quick to answer. "After the war, the UNSC took what weapons they could find. We wanted to know about the technology, so perhaps our traitor managed to sneak out with some." He was happy with that answer. The group was approaching some woods. "Okay, activate your camouflage and spread out. I want hand signals only, no com." Geo's HUD showed two green lights, then activated his camo. He got low and took his time entering the woods. With his BR55 tucked tightly in his shoulder, he krept through the woods silently. No one made a sound as they carefully snuck through the dense bushes and clumps of evergreens. Geo made no sound on the leafs or fallen twigs in his quarter ton armor. He he stayed that way for nearly an hour as he and his team came up to the tree line on the other side of the woods. The woods ended on a steep hill that lead down into a canyon. Jake had his rifle up, peering through the scope. A small out post was constructed directly in the middle of the canyon to avoid being flanked. Though the insurrectionists had been wise to build it in such a manner, it was hardly worth being put there. He brought the scope up to the walls of the canyon, and searched for a nice elevated position where he could get a clean line of fire. A text popped up on his HUD. It read, "Jake, take the left side of the canyon wall, stay high and hidden. I'll take Jill on the right, meet you on the other side". Jake minimized the text and blinked his acknowledgement light once. The SPARTAN silently, but quickly, took the left flank. As he ascended the steep and rocky slope, he positioned himself so he could walk along the steep canyon wall and have his rifle ready to fire. Jill was following Geo, who took the lead. She had him identified on her HUD, as well as Jake. Both of them were invisible to the naked eye, but each had a bright green upside down triangle above their head's. Though she managed to maneuver silently, her JackHammer rocket launcher was giving her a hard time. The extra wight and bulk was almost unnoticeable on a flat surface, and even on a hilly plain. But on these steep, rocky walls they where proving difficult and unwieldy. She silently cursed herself for being an explosive expert. She looked to te other side of the wall, looking for Jake. He was high up on the wall. Infront of her Geo was leading the way through a very dense patch of ruble. Geo held up his M6D pistol. If he needed a weapon he would have it, and the rifles had been causing problems with the terrain. All he could think about was getting to the other side of this canyon and away from this outpost. Perhaps the insurrectionists had been wise to put a small base here. Though it was hardly a base, a tall chain link fence topped with razor wire guarded the perimeter. Inside a single story building, erected from polycrete sat. It was topped with three machine gun nests and in the back sat a small shed like construction which housed a few Warthog LRVs. He could tell that two well positioned rockets would bring the structure down on its self. But the unwanted attention could compromise the mission. At this point it didn't matter, they were half way there. Kona was silent in Geo's helment. She just kept monitoring the enemy com systems. Nothing about UNSC soldiers, SPARTANS, or the recent combat activity. However, the conversations were quite interesting. Talk of "packages" and "suport" was buzzing about. It could have ment anything from standard supply lines to reinforcements. Or it could have been something more, maybe the insurrection had stolen something from the UNSC. She had read up on Cpt. Short's military life. He had been with the ODSTs and later in his life made the switch the Navy ops. How he came to be part of ONI was classified information, but rumors about him having vital intel on the Brutes may have something to do with it. But at least the SPARTANs could be ready for a hostile encounter if it ever came to that. Captain Short was in his office, toying with a small com pad. He was expecting a shipment of weapons. Brute shots, plasma grenades, spikers, and some human weaponry as well. He could only hope that some flash bangs would be in the shipment, but if not he knew full well that a plasma grenade's EMP burst could suffice. Any moment now, his troops would be brandishing brand new toys. He was, however, upset that his scouts that had been equipped with some of the alien technology had been killed. He had the weapons policed and returned, but there went 3 of his trained soldiers. He began to suspect and believe that the UNSC had over estimated him, but no matter. He was confident in his ability to crush the threat. His com came to life with a short burst of static. He keyed it once. A deep hoars voice filled the speaker, with a few high pitched chirps in the back, "your shipment is almost to you base, captain, I hope our deal is still in affect." "Don't worry. Everything is on track, with the exception of a minor problem. But, I believe in your ability to take care of that." He waited a few moments for a reply. "What kind of problem?" the gruff voice finally broke through the silence. He knew right away that his ally wouldn't like the news, but some pay back for past misfortune to his race could brighten his day. "SPARTANS", Short said with a slight grin. A loud bark sounded through the speaker, "of course we can take care of that! I'm on my way, save them for us." The com went dead. He loved having a couple hundred rouge Brutes on his side. It had been easy to persuade them to join the Insurrection. But he knew that as soon as the UNSC was gone, the Brute's were bound to turn on them. They hated humanity for the humiliation that was caused when an old Arbiter joined the humans and stopped the Chieftain from activating the Halo Array. But, the SPARTANS were the main embarrassment, which kept them in line for now. Of course they had discovered the Great Journey was a lie, and all in all how humanity saved them. But now they were poor, politicly unstable, and in need of help. He would have to turn on them as soon as the UNSC was out of the way. Fortunately this wouldn't turn into another major war, just a skirmish. He did his research, this was a small brute pack, of about 500. They commanded a full fleet of 7 ships, and had food and supply lines from the Kig'yar, or jackals. That was the other thing. The Kig'yar were notorious for piracy. Find the right deal, and they would do just about anything. He used their greed for material items to his advantage. Several small frigates, LRVs, and weapons bought their trust. In total he had around 1200 alien soldiers at his disposal. Not much considering the UNSC had political power, money and the entire surviving inner colonies on his side. But the last thing ONI or the UNSC would expect would be a fleet of ships to make an insystem jump to Earth, and come out guns blazing right above the spinal chord of the UNSC. He was planning on cutting off his the enemies head. And with his "large scale" attack in the Eridnus system, that would open a hole in their defenses. He was planning to take out the UNSC in one single attack. But it had to be flawless. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his office door. "Yes?", he was crossing his fingers in hope. From the other side a young male's voice rang, "the package has arrived." Short kicked his chair back and sprung from his desk. In two big strides he closed the distance between himself and the door, flung it open and nearly knocked the young man over on his way out. He made a half jog though the concrete halls to the main hanger. A large purple crate surrounded by a dozen Brutes was floating in the center, held aloft by an anti gravity panel. He walked briskly to a tall Brute clad in gold armor. Two spike rifles had been clipped to his armor, and a gravity hammer was slung low on his back. As he approached the massive beast he felt a large knot form in his gut. But he ignored it. He stopped infront of the Brute, "mind if I take a look?" The brute turned his head to a Jackal, and nodded. The Kig'yar opened the crate. It was a missive container, and inside sat enough weapons to arm the entire Insurrectionist force within this facility. Short reached in a grabbed a brute shot, hefting it up and running his hand along the length of the curved blade, he grinned. "And every one gets one of these." Short looked to the gold clad Brute, "take care of our guests please" With a gruff the massive alien and a 3 other brutes left the hanger. Jake was the first one to the other side of the canyon. He had his friends marked on his HUD, and his rifle aimed down at the out post. A sound rumbled in the distance, so he brought his rifle up and looked through the scope. 4 huge gorilla like aliens were heading toward the canyon riding missive one wheeled machines. They had one large blade like wheel in the front and it seemed like the back end was just floating. They held a loose formation. 3 of them had on bright red armor but tufts of fur were exposed all over, and the other one had bright shining gold armor that covered nearly his entire body. He quickly winked his red com light once and marked the targets through his scope so Geo could find them. Geo saw his red com light wink once next to Jake's name, almost half a second 4 red dots popped up on his HUD. His right hand holstered his M6D, and his left grabbed his BR55. The SPARTAN was almost scarred to look through the scope, no UNSC vehicle sounded like this. But, he looked through the scope and saw 4 brutes quickly approaching their position. He was going to have to break the com silence, but if any one was monitoring the canyon walls from the small base below him, they would still have the active camouflage to protect them. "Jake, those Brutes aren't on our side take out the leader, Jill use the seeker rockets, i'll cover us." Jake didn't even acknowledge the order, but he knew Geo could trust him. He magnified the scope the 10x and put the cross hairs on the Brute's head. He squeezed the trigger and a massive lead slug shot forward. The round impacted directly in the center of his target's head, but a blue shimmering shield flared. The shot only knocked him off the chopper it was riding. The brute stood and sprited in a zig zag path to avoid another hit has his energy shields recharged. He wanted to take another shot, but bullets began to impact all around him. He threw himself to the ground and looked down at the outpost, all 3 machine gun nests were being occupied. "Geo, i'm pinned and can't get the shot, and those Brutes have pretty strong energy shields." Geo acknowledged him. Geo patted Jill on the shoulder, "as soon as you take those shots we need to relocate so be ready to move!" He stood and threw a fragmentation grenade down toward the machine gun nests. The grenade bounced a bit and came to a rest near the nest closest to him and Jill. It detonated with a dull thump taking out 2 of the gunners, but the last one was still sweeping the rocky walls with streams of bullets. Jill had her JackHammer rocket launcher ready to go, as soon as she heard the grenade's explosion, she clicked the safety off. She put one of the choppers in her sights and held the trigger, and waited for it to lock onto the target. The sight turned red, and a small beeping alarm went off, she released the trigger and the rocket left the barrel with a large smokey plume. The rocket impacted the chopper, reducing it to charred scrap metal. Jill ran forward to position herself for another shot as Geo laid down cover fire with his BR55. Jake crawled backwards through the steep, rocky wall. He found a good spot to set up and tucked the stock of his rifle tightly into his left shoulder. The bullets from his weapon were massive, so as long it struck his enemy he wouldn't have to worry much. The elevation provided the perfect shot, he squeezed the trigger and watched through the scope as the gunner fell to the ground. Jill had another chopper locked in her sights, she took her finger off the trigger and the last rocket shot forward. With easy she popped up the latch on her JackHammer and tossed out the used tube, sliding her last 2 rockets into the launcher. She closed the latch just in time to see another chopper explode violently. "Geo, these are my last rockets." He looked over his shoulder, "save them! We may need them." He opened his com link, "Jake can you take the rest out?" The answer came in the form of a gun shot. The loud crack of the rifle echoed off the canyon walls. Jake had one more shot in this clip, so he needed to make it count. The gold armored Brute looked at his fallen comrades as he ran. Jake tried again, putting the aliens massive head in the cross hairs. On his exhale he pulled the trigger. Another round punched into the energy shield, but it only had the force to knock the Brute back a bit. Jake pressed the mag release, and reached for a fresh one. He slid and new clip into the gun with a satisfying clack. He pulled the bolt back and cycled another round into the chamber, but by the time he had the brute back in his scope, he was riding away on his chopper. "He's retreating." Geo came over the come, "okay we need to get out of this canyon ASAP." Jake winked his acknowledgement light. They regrouped on the other side of the canyon. Geo was quick to make orders, "no sense in policing the bodies, they were we are. And any son of a bitch alive in that out post is either going to come out shooting, or he has alerted any other inny. We need to move out now." Wolf Team sprinted away from the canyon toward another section of dense forest.