Elster had narrowly made it past a patrolling Phantom and into what seemed to be a box canyon with only one exit. A mass of rock stood dead ahead of her, top positions obscured by the trees. The escape pod had come down close to the creek and exit and she could faintly make out the bodies of a pair of Marines that hadn't survived the crash, alongside ammunition.
Two Platoons of Covenant also stood just upstream of her, led by a trio of Elites. The faint flicker of a friendly IFF on top of the rocks past them told the Replika that the Crew and Marines here had made it at least mostly in one piece. She radioed, whispering, "Chief, Echo Four-Nineteen, be advised, about to make contact with hostile units in my area, but can confirm friendlies are alive. Foe Hammer, hope you're on standby."
"Roger, Sarge. I'll be on you like a tick on a dog the moment you give me the green light. Just make sure the LZ's clear. Don't wanna take any unnecessary fire with the old girl," The heavy accent of the woman's voice filtered through the radio. Elster gave two taps of her com system to confirm Foe Hammer's request, then slinked forward, parallel to the water, until she was well within the canyon.
She then peeled to the right, toward the crashed pod, rifle in hand. Slowly marching toward it, she noted another two Covenant platoons, bringing the total up to maybe sixty aliens in the AO. Though, thankfully, she could also see up the slope now, noting the markers of the UNSC crews on her HUD. She quickly grabbed extra ammo for both her pistol and rifle, sneaked past one of the patrols and climbed up to the top of the rock outcropping.
A Marine lay hidden beneath one of the bushes covering the top, his sniper rifle pointed at the platoons of Elites and Grunts at the mouth of the canyon. She soon also noticed the rearguard, a pair of Marines and a crewman, the former two armed with rifles, while the crewman carried a Magnum. She whistled to the rearguard, causing them to swivel about and aim their rifles at her before she decloaked.
One of the Marines, a woman, let out a sigh of relief and murmured, "Christ, Sarge. Give a girl a heart attack, why don't'cha...?" as she straightened up.
"This it?" Elster inquired as she saw Lilith sitting beside the Sniper. She paused as four more IFF tags appeared behind a rock, watching as two more Marines and crew poked their heads out. They were injured, though thankfully walking injured. She told the Marines, "Pack whatever you can and be ready. We're gonna be hauling it the moment I clear an LZ for our pilot."
"Looking forward to getting out of the shit, ma'am," Replied the other walking Marine. He crawled over to the sniper, patted him on the back and motioned toward Elster, who gave him a nod. Stoic and calm, the Sniper replied with a nod back. He was FORCE RECON per the tags, meaning some of the elite Marine scouts and snipers. Good, she needed people she could rely on to hit a shot.
The Marine female asked, "Whadda we do, ma'am? There's a dozen of'em for each one of us."
"You hold back and don't fire until I give the signal," She replied, making sure she was broadcasting on short range so all the other Marines around her could hear. Noting the confusion in her wards' eyes, she told them, "You'll know the signal..." before drawing her machete. She activated her suit's stealth systems and started down the hill while the Marines prepared a base of fire, with one of them and the crewmen standing by to cover her.
The Sniper murmured, "For a mech, she's got balls..."
"All I care about is if she manages to get us outta here, man," The female Marine beside him replied as she checked her ammunition counter and the magazines, making sure she still had plenty. She spoke, "You think the ODSTs are alright? Heard com say they managed to set up a FOB somewhere on the Ring. Before we got cut off, y'know...?" as she racked the bolt.
The Sniper nodded, zeroing on one of the farthest Elites while watching for the flickers of active camouflage from their newfound Sergeant. He saw a flicker, then two fragmentation grenades appear out of thin air, primed. They landed in the group of Elites and Grunts at the mouth of the canyon's entrance, surprising all of them. Two thumps and bright flashes of light filled the air, followed by smoke, several dead Grunts and disoriented Elites with weakened shields.
"Guess that's our green..." The Sniper murmured, slowing his breath and heartbeat and waiting for that precious moment between them. He squeezed the trigger and the rifle, set up on its bipod against the rock, kicked back into his shoulder, the 14,5mm round screaming through the air and taking the helmet off of one of the Elites. The man refocused his aim, shouldered the rifle and zeroed in on the second Elite, then snapped off a shot.
Elster advanced, uncloaking and bringing her Machete about on the last Elite, severing his spine at the mid section and pinning it to the floor by using all her weight. She reversed the blade in her hand, cocked it back and hit through the back of the Elite's skull, out through its open mouth as it was screaming in pain. The blade was stuck for the moment, so she left it. Drawing her pistol, she engaged the second platoon as the Marines started raining hell on them with their MA5s
The rounds punctured the grunts' thinner armor, causing several of the survivors to scramble for cover despite their Elite commander's orders. Elster pushed forward and primed a plasma grenade that she long-armed toward the leader as bolts of plasma sizzled past her. She narrowly missed, the Elite dodging out of the way and now focusing on her. It let out a roar, powering its right-hand energy dagger and firing its plasma rifle with its left hand as it charged Elster.
The girl scrambled to try and withdraw her blade from its dead sibling's spine, barely managing to do so in order to hit the Elite's plasma rifle hand. It brought its dagger down on her and punctured her shoulder plate through the shield, which overloaded. The girl scoffed, pulled her knees back and then splayed her legs outward, delivering a double-kick to the Elite's chest before scrambling to her feet and drawing her pistol.
She put several slugs into its body, then aimed for the head once the shields were weakened. The Marine rearguard charged down the hill in the meanwhile, gunning down the grunts, considering the audible screams of the little guys. She fired and fired her pistol until the last bullet in the magazine punched through the shield and took the right mandibles right off.
The Alien, alive, but wounded, roared into the sky, angry, then charged and grabbed Elster by the throat, cocking back its fist and delivering an armored punch to her gut. He threw her like she was a ragdoll, then turned to try and engage the Marines, but found its head was suddenly missing thanks to the Marine Sniper in his perch. Elster coughed, took her helmet out, then threw up the contents of her synthetic stomach into the stream.
That rat bastard had had a mean right hook, she thought to herself. The female Marine ran up to her, throwing her rifle onto her back and helping her to her feet. She said, "Nice moves, Sarge. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" only for Elster to look toward the River as Lilith sat on the other side, giving the girl a thumbs up. Elster looked to the Marine, who, in turn, said, "Yeah, nevermind, boss," with a smirk.
The Replika lifted her helmet off the floor, slid it back on and spoke, "Foe Hammer, this is BLUE 4... Confirming, Marines are-" and she paused and drew her pistol as she saw a figure flash ahead of her. The figure was, in fact, a Spartan in Mark V. Linda-058 from the identifying markings. Behind her was a squad of Marines that had been trailing her, rifles at the ready. The two nodded to one-another, then Elster continued transmitting, "Marines on my POS are safe. Requesting EVAC..."
"Roger, Blue Four. En-route with a comfy seat for you and them." Foe Hammer replied.
"Nice work," Linda complimented, though her voice was a deadpan, "We were watching you work your way through here."
"Just two platoons. Had the backup of Marines," Elster downplayed it. She really hadn't done much. In fact, she'd nearly gotten mulched by that last Elite. Linda, however, seemed to appreciate the honesty. She radioed, "Chief, I rendezvoused with Petty Officer Linda. Did you find PO2 James?" as she watched the Pelican swing in for landing. Chief's reply was the sound of assault weapon fire as a confirmation. Elster smiled at that and said, "Roger that, sir. We're on our way to you..." then climbed aboard the Pelican.
She walked up to the cockpit as the Marines and Linda set themselves up and told her, "We're gonna go find the Chief! Orbit around them 'till they manage to clear the LZ, give us a site to EVAC them from!" and she got a thumbs up from Foe Hammer. Carol Rawley, Elster soon recalled. She'd given some though to reading about Carol and her work and the woman was a decently good pilot. Had been with the Autumn's airwing for a while.
The Sergeant sat herself down at the edge of the Blood Tray, face-to-face with Linda, who was setting up her Sniper Rifle to provide support to the Chief. As the Pelican skimmed the tree and canyon tops, Elster reloaded her rifle and pistol and knelt, holding onto a railing as their Pelican swung in just above a cliff face on the Ring's supposed eastern side. Another one of those towers sat there, firing blasts of energy into the sky.
Plasma and tracers were being exchanged in the building ahead. Carol reported, "Everyone, hang on tight! We got Banshees on approach!"
"I have them," Linda replied as she lifted her sniper. When the first Banshee angled toward them, charging its plasma cannons, her Sniper thundered, nailing the aircraft throuh one of the cannards and in the engine on the same side. It veered off to the left and careened down into the valley below, exploding in the water maybe five hundred meters below them. Its sibling tried to engage, but found itself destroyed in much the same way.
Linda hadn't even broken a sweat. Elster admired that. Lilith did, too, considering she appeared beside Elster and gave a thumbs up. The girl then spoke, "Interesting outing so far..." as she peered over the edge. Linda started sniping Covenant troops on the ground as the Spirit Dropships around them began veering away, then paused as a Status Light winked green below.
Cortana radioed, "We're all good to go down here, Foe Hammer."
The Pilot let out a short laugh and swung in for landing, touching down just in front of the Chief and the others, right at the edge of the cliff. Chief and James boarded the transport with the Marines. Both Spartans gave Elster a nod of greeting to which she replied, while Johnson bumped his fist against her damaged armor shoulder and said, "Thanks for the ride, kids..." before sitting himself down and breathing a sigh, "Damn..."
Carol spoke, "We got a base set up by Major Silva and his ODST battalion! That's where we'll be headed!" as she swiveled the bird around. Elster took her helmet off her head and rubbed her eyes as the Pelican flew, wondering to herself just how big the mess on this ring was gonna get. She looked to Johnson, Chief, James and Linda and all saw just how tired the woman was. They even saw new injuries and plasma scoring on her armor.
Time to rest and recuperate before the next job, then...
Halo Installation-04
Forward Operations Base 'Alpha'
Situated on a butte above the valleys they'd been fighting in, Alpha Base was a makeshift camp by all means. Prefab structures that had been erected mere hours ago, being patrolled by hundreds of surviving UNSC personnel including Marines and the crew of the Cruiser that now lay crashed somewhere on the massive ring installation. Upon landing, Elster's first instinct was to go grab something to eat, despite not exactly needing it.
Breathing a sigh, she looked over the base, watching Marines and ODSTs set up at various points across the base and also noted some entry points to the underground Forerunner facility below. Descending from the landing pad with the Chief and the others, she looked to Johnson. The man looked back at her and took a drag of his cigar, then blew the smoke away from her. He said, "Helluva day, eh?"
"Only easy day was yesterday, Sarge," She shot back. The man let out a laugh and nodded approvingly.
As the groups of soldier separated, Chief stopped Elster and said to her, "Get some rest. We might have another job up soon..." as Cortana started trasnmitting data to everyone. Elster nodded and snapped a quick salute Chief's way. She then watched the three Spartans head for the base's makeshift command post, a larger prefab building, colored the standard Marine OD Green.
Entering the barracks, the woman sat herself down on the farthest cot and put her helmet down beside her. Leaning her head on her hands, she breathed a shivering sigh. Lilith sat down beside her and said, "I don't envy the situation you're in, just as an FYI..." before adding, "I know you got this, though. Yes, it might sound completely outta left field coming from me, but I doubt I'd be doing as well as you with all the shit being thrown our way..."
The Replika straightened up and looked at Lilith. She noted new injuries appearing on her face. Scars, scratches on which makeshift bandages were set. Her armor was scratched and scarred and her rifle was banged up. To both of them ,it must've been like staring in a mirror, though. Lilith gave the girl a light smile and said, "Me and Alina faced tough shit on Vineta... You probably still have the memories in there..."
"Yeah," Elster replied in a whisper, "I do..."
Lilith snorted, then laughed, "Remember that one time the Imps decided to fuck with us during the Ascension Feast Day? Their big, weird, Christmas-like holiday... Dropped mortars filled with confetti on top of our heads as a bit of a mockery and a greeting. Y'know, to piss off the political staff keeping tabs on us in those flooded fucking trenches, just after Luna was blown to bits..."
"I don't think we fired a single shot on that day," Elster whispered, peering into her helmet's visor, looking at her reflection. Her injuries, the scratches on her synth-skin and face, matched those on Lilith's. She chuckled a little, sad, "Even when the Commissars were shoving their boots into our asses to 'return fire, for they insult the Revolutionary and her Daughter'! Hehe..."
Lilith giggled as she leaned back against the bunk, "That was a fun day. Alina made us a beef goulash. The pot was emptied the moment our Platoon caught wind of it... Hell, I'm sure we sent some over to the Imps, too, more as a joke than anything. Don't think it ever got to them, though..." then she sighed, smiling. She looked over to Elster as the same memory presumably flashed in their heads, "... Of course, there were bad days... The 23rd of the 6th month..."
"Rat bastards dropped monofilament bombs on us..." Whispered the Replika as she gripped her helmet tightly, nearly bending the metal, "Bisected Elise and Rebecca on the spot... Ng was bleeding from so many cuts and poor Klaus... I never fucking thought I'd see what was supposed to be mining and construction equipment being used like an antipersonnel bomb with such gross accuracy..." and she rubbed her shoulder. Lilith looked over to the black armor she wore and noted the chipping from the hit. They'd been through so much on Vineta...
"We shot chemical bombs at them before," Lilith replied, "I still remember my nose stinging from the combo we dropped. What was it, VX and mustard gas? We were pretty fucked too..." then she straightened up as Elster scoffed. She looked over behind her and disappeared, before the Replika turned around and saw the Marine female she'd rescued with the others approaching.
"Sorry to bother ya, Sarge, but Major Silva said he wants to speak to you. He just finished debriefing Chief and his team and I think he wants to know your stance on the next op we're about to undertake..." She told her. "Capt'n Keyes was nabbed alongside a few of our troops, per Cortana's analysis of the Covvie BattleNet," the girl then told Elster as she stood up.
Elster nodded, "Got it... Thank you, Corporal Wu."
"My pleasure, ma'am..." The girl replied, smiling. The Replika was about to leave, but decided to do one more thing...
"... Can I call you Alexandra?" Elster asked, turning to face her, "Because I have a feeling we'll be operating together for a while."
"Sure thing, ma'am," Alexandra replied, then smiled.
The Replika nodded, "Then call me Elster," and she extended her hand. The Marine gripped and shook firmly, smiling at the Sergeant still, before the two gave each-other a nod. Elster then stepped outside, where she saw James and Linda sat on some boxes, cleaning out their weapons and reloading rounds into their magazines respectively. Both Spartans turned their heads toward Elster, acknowledging her just by looks. She raised a hand in greeting, then marched over to the command tent.
Stepping into the CP, the girl was greeted by a man with greying hair and black eyes staring at her. He was clad in the standard ODST BDU, colored jet-black, and his wide-visored helmet lay beside him. She usually thought highly of ODSTs, courtesy of having met Buck beforehand, but something about Silva smelled wrong. She snapped a crisp salute as she entered and said, "Sir, Sergeant Five-Twelve, reporting as asked..."
The Major nodded, "At ease, Sergeant... I'll be damned."
"Sir?" Elster raised a brow as she settled down. She noted Silva's executive officer, one Lieutenant McKay, was sat on the sidelines, watching this.
Silva stood to his feet and approached Elster, stating, "Never thought I'd see the day they deployed actual androids, much less sent them to fight beside us," then he sized her up, looking from the top of her head to her armored toes and asking, "From what some of the Marines here say, you're good with both a gun and a wrench, right? Helped fix things aboard the Autumn before everything went down crap creek without a paddle..."
"Sir, yessir," Elster replied.
"Alright, then, Sergeant," He told her, "I don't know your type like I know those freaks out there," and he tilted his head to the Spartans, which caused a little anger to bubble in Elster's chest. She kept it down, however, as the man told her, "So I'm hoping you won't do anything to dissuade me from trusting you. I need your ass in gear and checking every piece of equipment our raiding parties bring from the Autumn. If we're gonna be deploying to rescue the Captain soon, I want our gear squared away. Understood?"
She could feel the passive aggressiveness oozing from this man, but he was her superior. Not all superiors were good people, much less anywhere near smart enough to understand what they had under their command. Without looking him in the eye and carrying a flat tone to her voice, she replied, "Five by five, sir. Show me what needs fixing and checking..."
"What a fucking asshole..." Lilith murmured in the back of her mind.
He patted her on the cheek and said, "Alright. Lieutenant McKay, get robot-girl over here to her station. Dismissed," before walking back to the table to start preparing a plan. McKay sighed and saluted, then walked over to Elster and tilted her head. Walking out of the tent, Lilith started swearing up a storm in Elster's noggin, while Elster herself narrowed her lips, a few inches short of saying something that might get her court-martialed to the Lieutenant.
Instead, she decided to quip, "Man doesn't seem to like me much..."
"Major Silva doesn't like anyone much," Joked Lieutenant McKay, "You're lucky he didn't tear into you the same way he went after the Chief and his Spartans. I don't get his problem, but I'm not going to question a Superior... Not when we're in the middle of one of the strangest and possibly most pivotal events in human history..."
"Aye, ma'am," She replied.
McKay gave Elster a nod back, then smiled and sighed, "Glad to have an engineer aboard, Sergeant."
The two entered the motorpool and the Lieutenant let Elster to her own. The girl walked over to the first vehicle she could see, a Warthog with a lot of carbon burns on its sides, and started tending to it. A few hours passed before she heard the thundering footsteps of a MJOLNIR-clad individual. Looking back, she saw the Chief had entered the room. The man stepped up to her, then said, "We're moving out. I convinced major Silva we'll need you for the raid on the Truth and Reconcilliation."
"Stealth mission, sir?" She asked jokingly, but he nodded. Elster replied, "Roger. I'll be your forward eyes and ears..."
Sliding her helmet onto her head, she followed Chief toward the Pelican. The Spartan turned toward her and asked, "Are you at one hundred percent, Elster?" with a calm tone. Though, either she hallucinated it, or she actually heard it, but the Replika could swear the Chief's voice actually betrayed a slight concern for the Replika. And that meant for her, not for the fact she'd be a liability to the mission.
"Aye, sir," She replied without hesitation. Chief nodded back to her, then handed her extra ammunition, an MRE and some supplies before leading her toward the Pelican. A squad of ODSTs and one of Marines, that was the complement they were taking into battle. Linda was also sat at the rear of the bird, checking her rifle before takeoff. As she sat herself down, Elster whispered a short prayer to herself... One she hoped Ariane would hear back on Reach, if she was still alive.
Linda finished the checks on her rifle, slid it on the rigging on top, then watched as Chief gave FoeHammer the go-ahead to launch with the sun setting on this side of the Ring. Another job, another mission, another rescue. All of those aboard prayed to whomsoever they followed, or didn't pray at all, but hoped they would make it home. They trusted the Spartans would get them home, though. They were Spartans, after all.
Humanity's heroes wouldn't fail now...