As always, thanks to Sniper Fodder for proof-reading this chapter. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter LXXVI: Also Known As…
September 3, 2542 (UNSC Calendar)/
New Barbados Marshlands, New Barbados, Emerald Cove, Caribe System
It wasn't nearly as crowded as I would've expected. In fact, other than the occasional banshee screaming in the distance, the place was eerily quiet. I opened my hatch door in the non-explosive way, I was surprised when it didn't slam down on the floor, instead, it splashed down on the water. I groaned as water from outside flowed in, reaching all the way to my knees. The water was right around my pod was boiling and sizzling from the heat.
I heard two loud splashes indicating that another two pods had landed. Moments later I felt the water hitting me. They must've been pretty close to me, but the four meter tall reeds that grew in the marsh didn't allow me to see them.
"Water, fucking great," I told myself as I hoped down the pod. Here, the water went almost to my waist. I could feel it against my clothes, but the undersuit didn't allow it to come in contact with me. Luckily, I had decided to go in fully armored. Sparing me from getting wet. "A-ok?" I asked through the team channel.
"Lamberti fine."
"Grass is green."
"Ha, clever," Pavel said. "I'm good."
"Snark good."
"Konstantinov is set."
"Shee-it, you have a long last name. Sutton good."
"We're going to need call signs now," I said. "We don't sound nearly as badass as I would like."
"Sarge?" Sutton asked. "Are you taking a shot at our last names?"
"Yes, yes I am."
"Oh, that's cool… I guess."
"Sutton, Snark, scout ahead and tell me if there's any solid land nearby. Agnarsson, your call name is Bumblebee. Everyone else, regroup on me."
"Bumblebee?" the Scott asked. "I guess it could be worse. How's that phrase go?"
"Floats like a butterfly?" Grass asked him.
"Aye, that one," Agnarsson (Bumblebee) told her with a happy voice. "Stings like a bee. A bee with HEAT rounds at that," he added.
"It's because of your armor dumbass," Pavel helped.
Bumblebee chuckled. "Like I didn't know that."
Within a couple of seconds I could hear regular splashing as my team walked from their pods towards my position. Four black figures appeared at about the same time from four different directions. I hopped back on my pod to avoid all the water and waited for them to stand up in front of me.
"Well as you all know we're going to be spearheading the counter-attack," I said.
"How do we go about that?"
"Simple," I replied. "We walk in that direction and shoot everything that moves."
"Short, and easy to remember" Lamberti said. "I like it."
"Are you serious?" Grass asked, evidently surprised.
"Yes, why?" I asked her, pretending ignorance.
"Well, the strategy is rather… lacking," she complained.
"Sometimes less is more darling," I told her. I hopped down from my pod back in the water. "Sut-"
Two loud bangs interrupted me.
"That was one helluva shot," Sutton said through the radio.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Two less jackals to worry about," Sutton reported with a calm voice.
"Nice job Snark," I complimented. "Now, everyone move in tight formation, five meter spread, Lamberti, you're point, Grass you cover our asses."
"Yes sir!" the female soldier said.
"You said that with way to much enthusiasm," Konstantinov noted.
"I don't blame her," Agnarsson said. "I've got an ass worth covering." Having said that he noisily spanked himself. The team all laughed at that while we got into our positions. As soon as we were good we all went quiet. A joke here and there might be good and well, but this was combat, and we had to be careful.
For several minutes the only sound that I could hear in the near vicinity was the sound that our feet made as we treaded across the marshes. Occasionally some of us would go over a hole and splash down all the way down to their shoulders, eliciting glares from the rest of the squad. What really bugged me though, was our motion sensors. The marshes were full of large birds and fish that moved through the water and hid in the reeds. I couldn't see more than ten feet ahead at any given time and I was sick of jumping at a trout showing up on my sensor.
"Halt," Lamberti whispered. He didn't need to say it so quietly, but the habit was hard to break. "Unusual movement, ten contacts, moving in standard Covenant patrol formation, thirty meters out."
"Pavel, Konstantinov, move towards him. Lamberti, fall back ten meters."
Pavel and Konstantinov left formation and moved slowly ahead while raising their respective weapons. I ordered the team to activate their VISRs and was reassured when I could see the outline of Lamberti, Pavel and Konstantinov moving through the reeds. The contacts hadn't yet entered my radar, but if Lamberti said they were there, they were there. Otherwise Pavel would've said something about it.
"I could really use some Armadillos right about now," I muttered.
"Oorah," grass agreed.
"Contact, contact!"
As soon as Lamberti cried the warning I heard the familiar snaps that Pavel's shotgun made roaring. Konstantinov's carbine made a distinct noise as well and I was all too familiar with the noise of Lamberti's SAW, even if it was a downsized version. Their helmets picked up the enemy positions and several grunts and jackals showed up in my HUD as red silhouettes. Within seconds the barrage of lead and depleted uranium had brought down all of the enemy silhouettes.
"Clear," Pavel called out. "Wait." There was a gunshot. "Clear."
"We better get going, someone must've heard that," Grass said.
"I'm surprised you didn't say that after we came crashing in from lower atmosphere," Snark noted with a deadpan tone.
"Burn," Konstantinov said.
"Lady's gotta point," I said. "Let's get moving."
Lamberti started moving forward again and Pavel waited for us along with Grigori. As soon as we caught up with them we resumed our formation. It was slow progress since we were waist deep in the water and the reeds made it difficult to walk in a straight line.
I found an elite's body floating upside down , its foot stuck on some reeds. There was blood leaking from several holes in its chest and back. The color of the water went from murky brown to dark purple around him. It wasn't nearly as macabre as it would've been if the body had been a human instead of an alien. I had to move two grunt bodies out of the way before going through the battlefield.
"Having more guns is helpful," I said, addressing Pavel.
"Well no shit Frank," he replied. "That's some groundbreaking thinking right there."
"Next time I make a comment it will be on your mom's promiscuousness."
Pavel chuckled. "Why am I not surprised?"
The next couple of minutes went quietly, we could now hear some plasma fire, probably the covvies coming in contact with UNSC aircraft or Nezarian's rangers. Soon enough, enemy fliers were screaming over our heads. We weren't that easy to spot though, with black armor and tall reeds all around us, the banshees never even spotted us. Of course, that was bound to change soon enough.
"Shit, dropship," Lamberti said.
Told you it would change.
"Fuck," I replied. Those things could hover above us and their gunners seemed to have a knack for finding you, no matter how well you were hiding. "Where's it headed?"
"Looks like it's stopping," the Italian man said. "Yep, it's stopping, perhaps eighty meters ahead of me."
"I can barely hear it," Mutton said.
"Bad news," Pavel said.
"That I can't hear it?" the tall black man asked my friend, confused.
"No, that it's stopping."
"It's dropping off troops," I explained. I was momentarily irritated at having to explain such a simple concept to my squadmate, but I had to keep in mind that no matter how talented Sutton or any other member of my team was, they didn't have nearly as much experience as Pavel and me.
"It's getting worse, another Phantom is coming."
"Damn it."
"I'm getting contacts!" Lamberti warned. "Lots of contact."
Now we ha roughly forty enemy footmobiles headed in our direction and only tall reeds for cover. They were good hiding, but I doubt they would do much against a stray plasma bolt. The only advantage that we had (other than raw skill) was that we had the element of surprise.
"Snark, you see anything?" I asked.
"Well, the reeds kind of mess with my vision," he snarked in reply.
"Oh, then I guess you broke your thermal scope?"
"No…"
"Then?"
"On it."
There was a moment of silence as Lamberti slowly made his way toward us and Snark used his potent Oracle scope to scan the area for any heat signatures. The only noise was the humming that the phantom dropships made and the small waves that hit our armors and the reeds.
"Bad news," the sniper said finally. "I count forty four enemy signatures. Two hunters."
"Bumblebee, load up your SPANKr, Sutton, have your grenade launcher ready. Everyone, sink down in the water and wait."
"What?"
"Go to the bottom of the water and wait."
"Wha-"
"It's not that hard corporal," I told Konstantinov.
"Ok, then, let's go for a dive."
The team followed my command and slowly sunk themselves in the marsh trying to make as little noise as possible. As soon as my helmet went underneath the water level I could taste the different oxygen going up my lungs. The water was so murky that I could barely see more than three feet from my eyes. It felt weird being underwater and still so dry. As I hit the bottom I raised a little bit if dirt from the ground, forming a cloud that made everything even harder to see.
"Everyone down?" I asked.
"Affirmative."
"Now we wait," I said.
It was two minutes before my sensor detected anything other than a trout. A large group of red dots was slowly headed in my direction, getting closer and closer with every passing second. Two of those dots were particularly large, no doubt that they were the hunters.
"Bumblebee, tag them," I ordered.
"Already done sarge."
"Good."
I waited some more and within seconds the red dots were all around my squad. I felt like a fucking submarine in the twentieth century, staying deadly quiet, hoping that I wouldn't make a false move and be spotted and annihilated with extreme prejudice. Several dots came awfully close to me, and I could even spot some of the dirt they raised swirling around. I didn't get a real scare until a large foot that could only belong to a hunter slammed down on the floor less than an inch from my visor.
"Shiiiiit," I said.
"A grunt stepped on me," Grass said.
"Shhh!" Pavel said. It was a good thing that we were underwater right now, we couldn't really move our arms as a way of body language, had we been simply hiding in the reeds, our flailing arms would've certainly given us away.
"I think that's the last of them," Snark said. "Yeah, we're clear."
"Grass, can you use that big knife of yours?" I asked.
"Sure can Sarge."
"Bumblebee, be ready to nail the hunters on my mark."
The man took his time before he answered, no doubt he was wondering why we would even bother fighting this group when we had already avoided them. "Sure thing Staff Sergeant." He waited some more. "I'll nail those suckers."
"Good, Grass, on me."
I slowly raised myself until only the top half of my helmet was above water. I could spot a grunt and an elite being swallowed up by the marsh plants. I motioned to Grass to take down the grunt while I pulled out the knife from my back. I twisted it twice so that that the edge was facing towards me and the point faced upwards. Grass drew her machete and gripped it like… well, a machete.
Both of us slowly made our way towards the rear of the enemy group. I pushed a reed out of the way and went deadly quiet when I was less than a meter away from the elite. I opened my free hand and held it outside so that Grass could see it. As soon as she was in a comfortable position I made my hand into a fist and went for the kill.
I climbed into the elite's back and used one hand to push its jaws inward, closing them and preventing any loud noises such as screams from exiting its ugly mouth. I brought my knife around and pressed it against the elite's throat. I pushed deeply and drew a long line across the beast's neck. There was a spurt of air as its trachea was severed and then blood started gushing out, no doubt coming from one of the arteries that I had surely severed.
I jumped back down, making as little noise as possible and slowly placed the elite's body on the water. Grass, having a bigger knife, didn't really worry about finesse as much as I did. She simply brought her huge machete down from above her head. The military-grade blade, sharpened with laser and made out of top notch titanium. There was a quiet whoosh as the blade sliced through the air and then a dull thunk as it cleaved through the grunt's skull. Death was instant for the little alien, and she let it fall down to the water before she carefully pulled out her knife from the grunt's skull. Brains, skull bits, and blood flew in an arc as she did so.
"Reaper squad, cover our asses, Grass, take out as many as you can stealthily. Bumblebee, you take out the ogres as soon as we are spotted."
There were only green lights in response, no one wanted to talk right now, things were too tense.
My next target was a jackal, the thing was slouching and obviously not very happy to be where it was. I looked around and spotted two other jackals nearby. I grabbed my target's beak and pushed it closed with my hand. The thing tried to scratch me but quickly stopped on its tracks as my knife went through its spinal cord, leaving it completely unable to move, or talk. I placed the beast face down in the water, where it would face death by drowning.
The two other jackals were dealt with two quick cuts to their necks. The second one was almost decapitated as it turned in surprise at seeing its friend killed so violently. Unfortunately, its shock prevented it from calling an alarm. Well, unfortunate for the next alien that would feel the cold steel of my knife crawling inside its flesh.
Don't I sound like a serial killer?
Next up was yet another elite. I groaned. Those things were hard to kill as it is, having to shove knives through armor was pretty difficult too. This one was quickly dispatched in an extremely brutal way. I jumped on its back, pushed myself up with one hand and brought my knife crashing down on the top of its skull. The fact that the blade went all the way through was a testament of the quality and build of the knife. I seriously had to compliment someone on building these things.
The body made a splash, but it wasn't loud enough to attract any unwarranted attention. In fact, the only covvie that turned was a lone grunt that was probably wondering why its superior had made so much noise. My knife gave two quick spins and hit the dog-like alien in its throat. The blade went through the hoses that supplied methane to the alien and through its trachea as well. The grunt was left to choke, not being able to pull down methane even as it tried to desperately. Unfortunately, the thrashing that the grunt made when it died did attract some attention. I barely had time to pull out my backup knife and go underwater when two elite minors appeared through the reeds.
I didn't waste any time though, I pushed myself towards the closest elite and shoved my knife in its knee joint, bringing it down. As the alien pushed its legs away from me, my knife was twisted from my grip. I did my best to wrestle with the alien, but it was way more strong than I was and quickly had me underwater. Luckily for me, I still had oxygen in my helmet tanks. I allowed it to think it was drowning me while I reached for my sidearm. I shot three times at its injured leg.
The rounds, being fired underwater, didn't go through the elite's shield, but they were enough to force it backwards and let go of me. I jumped up and fired the remainder of my guns cartridge into the elite. The last round went through its shield and made a nice hole in the armor above its right eye.
"Behind you," Schitzo warned.
I turned and brought my hands up to protect myself from the second elite. It had already brought its gun to bear and was aiming right at me. I would get shot, no doubt about that. Still, it was better to get shot in the arm than to get shot in the face.
Just like that, the elite's head flew sideways and made a neat spin before it landed on the water, the body splashing down in short order. Where the elite had been standing less than a second ago, was Grass with her machete.
"Thanks," I said quickly. "Well, fire the damn rockets asshole!"
There was a loud explosion followed by another loud explosion. I jumped towards the elite that I had shot and wrenched my knife away from its leg, sliding it in its sheath. I heard a loud roar of pain, anger, and pure wrath as the other hunter realized its brother was dead. I took advantage of the enemy's confusion to get my other knife from the dead grunt.
"Grass, watch my back," I ordered as I drew my BR55 from my back and scanned the area directly in front of me.
There was already lots of plasma and gunfire flying around, but it was all background noise to me as I focused on shooting anything that bled any color that wasn't red. A grunt quickly met the specifications and received three rounds to the chest for its trouble. I caught movement and once I confirmed that none of my squad mates was in that area let out five shots. A wail of pain confirmed that I hit something, most likely a jackal.
I heard the familiar snap that an MA5 made at my back as Grass started emptying her assault rifle at everything that dared come close enough to her. I ignored her and took a step backwards as I saw an elite's silhouette outlined in red. Another squad mate had spotted the alien and my helmet had quickly picked up its location. I fired three bursts at its chest and was able to squeeze a fourth one just in time, hitting the red-clad elite in the neck less than ten feet away from me. Its hand reached towards its throat as if it could not believe that it was dying and then I put another round through its skull to help it understand what was going on.
I slammed into something hard and almost turned around before I realized that it was Grass I was leaning against. "Back to back, eh?" I said jokingly. "Pavel's good at this, let's see how you measure up," I challenged.
An elite lunged towards me and was stopped dead in its tracks by an EMR round flying through its skull, the one behind it wasn't so easily cowed and had to be put down with the remaining rounds in my magazine. It still wasn't enough to kill it.
"Help," I called out. I crouched as Grass turned her gun around and fired at least ten rounds into the unshielded elite's face. By the time the body hit the water, there was a fresh magazine already loaded in my battle rifle.
As soon as I stood up a green carbine round slammed into my chest. The sheer force of the impact pushed me backwards and forced me to rely on Grass for support, but the armor did its job properly and absorbed all of the lethal force that the radioactive projectile carried. I shot eight rounds in the direction of the carbine. I must've hit something because no other green rounds came flying in my direction after that.
"Help," Grass called out.
I pivoted on one foot and brought my battle rifle around in her direction one handed. A grunt wildly firing a needler got a round right above its gas mask and collapsed, its arms and legs jerked wildly for a few instants before its brain finally registered that it was dead.
"Show off," Grass complained.
I smiled. "Someone should've taken a picture of that."
All of a sudden, everything went quiet. Snark fired three times from his rifle and I heard the same number of splashes, but everything stopped moving. My rifle jerked from one point to another as I tried to spot any covvies while Grass did the same. We slowly started moving towards the bulk of our squad. The lack of any noise when just seconds ago there had been a fucking battle going on unnerved me beyond comprehension. That and Schitzo showing up.
"Three o-clock Francisco," the hallucination said.
I jerked my head to my right and my eyes went wide as a hunter appeared from behind a cluster of reeds and replaced my hallucination.
"Motherfuck-," was all Grass could managed before we rolled in opposite directions as the hunter slammed its gigantic shield into the place we had just been standing in.
"Shoot it, shoot the bastard," I said even as I brought my rifle to bear.
"Well no shit Sarge!" Grass complained. It was really surprising how much her demeanor changed once in combat.
I fired at the armor joints of the hunter and forced it to take cover behind its huge shield. Two loud booms were heard and the hunter's body jerked slightly, but other than that it didn't give any sign that it felt the EMR rounds slamming into its uncovered back. Instead, it brought up its cannon arm and aimed directly at me. I waited until the last possible second to jump out of the way, a green stream of superheated plasma almost burning my arm off. Grass was already peppering the alien with her assault rifle to no visible effect.
"Frag out!" Konstantinov warned us.
I jumped backwards into the water (which was now boiling, by the way) and felt the shockwave of the explosive travel through the water. The shockwave felt a lot stronger than usual, but that was just the water doing its job. I found my footing and jumped up while aiming at the place where the hunter had last been in. It was still there, only now it was missing its cannon arm completely and half its right side was leaking orange blood, or body matter. Whatever, those worms freak me out.
"That was one hell of a toss," I complimented.
"Yeah," Grass agreed. "Never seen one of those so banged up."
The hunter jerked violently and for a moment it appeared to try to stand up.
"Whoa!" I yelled in surprised. My gun was fired automatically in reflex and five rounds ended the hunter's pathetic existence for sure this time.
"And it still wasn't dead after that," Grass pointed out. "If only those things were on our side," she mused.
"We just killed two of them," I reminded them.
"Oh, I know, but we could certainly use their shock value."
"Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, lady," Sutton reminded her. "We have plenty of shock value as well."
"Yeah," Pavel joined in, "hostile meteorites are scary as fuck."
"Clear?" I asked.
"Right," Bumblebee muttered.
There were a few extra bursts of gunfire. The plasma return fire was weak at best, and within fifteen seconds the call of clear was given.
"Nice job," Pavel said.
"Yeah, but a platoon gone missing is something people tend to notice," Konstantinov said.
"Yes," I agreed. "Better get moving."
"Hey, maybe you can actually trust this guy after all," Schitzo suggested.
Maybe I can.
"I don't see any reason why you shouldn't," he added. "He's here to spy on you, in order to do that he needs you alive, doesn't he?"
You make a- no, wait. I make a fine point.
"Doesn't it annoy you that you need a mental projection of your subconscious to reach that conclusion?" I was asked.
Fuck off.
"What was that?" Pavel asked me.
"What?"
"What?"
"Nothing," I said.
"Alrighty then."
"Hey, whatever happened to my call sign?" Konstantinov asked.
"Agreed," Lamberti said.
"Right now?" I asked.
"That would be most… optimal," Sutton helped out.
"Well, I was thinking about Kilo for you," I told the huge man.
"Kilo as in kilometer? Ha-ha, very original."
"No, Kilo as in kilogram," I corrected.
"Fat ass," Snark added.
"But Kilo is in the alphabet, so I can't really do that," I shrugged.
"Lamberti, I was going with Archangel for you, but that is way too awesome for your pay grade," I informed him.
The Italian man's shoulders went up as he puffed his chest in anticipation and glee and then slouched down as I brought his hopes crashing.
"I think Angel might be a decent call sign," Pavel said. "Makes fun of your last name and not as bad as it sounds."
"Also, it really shows your beautiful face," Konstantinov added.
"Done," I decreed. "Angel it is. Now, about you two-"
"Banshee!"
Everyone crouched until only the top of our helmets remained above ground. The banshee flew right above us and we all relaxed a little bit. Then it turned around and aligned itself for a strafing run. I was only just opening my mouth to order Bumblebee to shoot his SPANKr when an orange ball flew past my ear and impacted the aircraft head on, blowing it up completely. You had to give it to the man, he had nice reflexes.
"Sutton…" I wondered. "It's hard enough to come up with call names as it is, being in combat doesn't improve my thinking," I said.
"Oh, but it does," Schitzo affirmed. The man was moving silently though the water beside me. He didn't make ripples in the water and it seemed to be as if he was simply floating forward.
"Sutton, you intimidate the shit out of everyone. Scarecrow."
"I like it," he said.
"You what?" Pavel asked him.
"I mean, I hate it so much," the man said in an overly fake tone.
"That's what I thought," I added.
"Konstantinov," I said. "Did you know that you were the last man I picked to be in this squad?"
"No," he said. " I wasn't aware of that."
"You know what a train is?" I asked.
"Sure."
"No, I mean like a train train, the original train."
"Oh, it's some sort of very large subway car. Used to be used for transport in the nineteen hundreds. I think."
"Mostly right," I complimented. "You know how they called the last cart in a train?"
"No…" I could almost see the man narrowing his eyes as I started treading the unfamiliar territory.
"Caboose," I said almost triumphantly.
"Ouch," Grass said. "At least I have an ass worth braggin about."
"Sarge…" Konstantinov begged.
"Ok, ok, you can choose." I said and paused for the briefest of instants. "Do you want it to start with a k or with a c?"
The man sighed reluctantly. He knew that if he complained he would end up with the callsign Pony. "With a c, starting it with a k is just ridiculous."
"It's settled then," I said almost happily. "Shit, I almost forgot you Pavel."
"Love you to Frank."
"Awww, that's so nice of you," I cooed. "Just because of that you get to choose your own callsign."
"Don't be a douchebag about it," Snark said. In fact, he almost begged.
"Maverick?" Pavel suggested.
"He, how about Iceman?" Bumblebee said with a chuckle.
"What? Why?"
"You never saw Top Gun?" the Scottish man asked with an evident tone of surprise in his voice.
"What the hell is Top Gun?" Snark asked.
"Are you talking about the flight school in the United States, back when they were still a country?" Grass asked.
"No, I'm talking about a movie made about that."
"Right," I said. "No, I don't like Maverick. It's hypocritical."
"All right, what do you think about PK?"
"Your initials?" I asked. Sarcastically I added, "How original."
"Bruiser?" Pavel suggested. "No, just Bruise."
"Hmmm," I pondered. "I like it. You're the one who packs the most firepower."
"Hey!" the newly christened Angel complained.
"Firepower when it pertains to ammunition."
"That's more like it," Angel asserted happily.
"Bruise it is then," Pavel said.
"You'll always be Pavel to me," I warned. "Everyone else, you can call him Bruise."
"Yes Staff Sergeant," they all answered in dull and bored voices.
"How come I get the only crappy call sign?" Grass complained.
"I think Caboose would digress," Scarecrow noted.
"Fine…"
"What about you Sarge?" Caboose asked me.
"Me, I'm Sarge. You can call me Sarge," I explained. "Pavel can call me Frank or Frankie if he wants."
"Oh, c'mon, you're really getting out of gettin' a call sign with that excuse?" Bumblebee asked. "You can't simply-"
"Reaper squad come in, do you copy?" the radio crackled through the interference.
"This is Reaper Actual, who is this?"
"This is Green Two, Ranger unit."
"You with Nezarian?" I asked.
"That would be Ranger Actual," the man said through the radio.
"Just patch him through," I snapped.
"Yes, sir."
After a few seconds the familiar voice bleeped through me helmet. "Castillo, how's it going, we heard an unhealthy amount of gunfire coming from our west, you all right?"
"We're fine Yevgeny," I informed him. "How's your platoon?"
"One imbecile managed to get himself shot in the stomach, we're working on an airlift. He seems to be bonding with our squad medic, she's a pretty one that one." I could almost see the injured man blushing as bright as the medic probably had despite the probable loss of blood that he was suffering. "Everyone else is fine, we've encountered several patrols, nothing we can't handle."
"Any targets of value?"
"So far we've only managed to encounter enemy infantry and a couple of- hole on a sec."
I held on for five seconds before Nezarian returned to the channel. "Seems like a couple of my scouts found an improvised headquarters in an island. Large portion of solid ground. Should be-" Yevgeny was interrupted by a burst of static. Our helmets were communicating directly and not through the use of drones or satellites to bounce of the radio waves, but the covvie interference still messed up with the signal.
"Come again, I didn't catch that last part."
"The island should be about five hundred meters north of our position, about six hundred for you."
I scrolled through the map that Eliza had uploaded into my helmet until I found the "island" that the Ranger scouts had found. "I see it, want me to set a waypoint towards it?"
"Nah, I'll send two men to your position, don't shoot them," he told me.
"I'll try not to," I chuckled softly. "See you in a few."
"Ranger Actual out," Nezarian said formally before cutting off the conversation.
"I assume you all heard that?" I asked my team. I received a reply in the shape of seven simultaneous nods at the same time. "Great."
It wasn't more than three minutes before I heard a click. It sounded almost like the sound a rabbit would make, but I knew better. It was a device that made that particular noise as an alternative to UV light winks on. In this situation, it honestly helped a lot. I guess sometimes less is more.
"You already said that," Schitzo noted.
For a moment there, I almost forgot you were here.
"Just come out," I called out rather loudly.
"Fine, might want to launch a flare while you're at it," one of the ranger's said. The man still had his jetpack on, although the small wings and the thrusters were folded up so that the entire device was smaller in size than the usual ODST rucksack. Looked quite cool in fact.
Note to self, learn to fly those things properly.
"Follow me," the other ranger said.
We followed the ranger.
Two minutes later I was shaking Nezarian's hand and butting helmets with him in the improvised camp that the Rangers had set up. It wasn't really a camp as much as it was an area filled with soldiers and two heavy machine guns facing in opposite directions. There were small patches of solid ground here and there, but all except one were unoccupied to avoid detection by air. The only small island that had someone on it was occupied by a marine that looked deathly pale and had a large red splotch on his stomach. A pretty medic was holding his hand and muttering something to the wounded man.
"I see you weren't lying," I noted as I pointed at the scene.
"He'll be fine, just a scratch."
"That's what passes for a scratch?" Bumblebee asked.
"On the Inconvenience?" the Ranger lieutenant laughed. He raised an eyebrow and spread his arms. "On this ship that thing is pretty much requisite." He turned towards me. "Nice to finally meet the new team," he said.
"Yeah," I chuckled. "Let's hope this time they last."
"Last?" Snark exploded. "What the he-" Luckily, he was cut mid-sentence by a sharp blow to the back of his helmet, courtesy of Pavel.
"You know Pavel," I said. "Obviously. You've got Grass, Snark, Bumblebee, Angel, Scarecrow, and Caboose." Each Helljumper depolarized their faceplate in turn as I said their names as a way of introducing themselves.
I depolarized my own faceplate and went straight to business. "What's the plan?" I asked.
"Plan? You?"
I shrugged.
"Alright," Nezarian conceded. "We're breaking up into three ten-man teams which will be divided into two five-man fire teams. Your team will function as an additional…team."
"Uh-huh," I nodded while picturing the numbers in my head.
"Then we make our way towards the Covenant base camp and start making a little noise. Once we've got their full attention we fall back in order and haul ass outside of the jammers range, then you can call your pretty girlfriend and tell her to bring some pilot friends to get us the hell out. Or maybe I could see about some Armadillos. Dunno, I'll improvise."
"You're starting to sound like you've been in this ship all your life lieutenant," Pavel joked.
"Seems like it's been longer than that," the UNSC Army Ranger replied with a hearty laugh.
"Hooah," I said, calling out the traditional Army battle cry.
"Oorah," Nezarian said. "We'll attack from here, here, here, and your team will go here. We don't expect anything particularly heavy save for some plasma turret emplacements, perhaps some ghosts. There are bound to be a few wraiths and specters, but we're probably not going to meet any," Lieutenant Nezarian said, pointing at four different spots on an old-fashioned paper map he produced from some pocket or other.
"Ok then," I said, "you heard the man, let's get moving."
"Rangers, move out!"
"Let's get ready to kick some ass," Schitzo said, cracking his knuckles as he walked next to me.