Wreck on Requiem (IC)

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

OOC: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=283979

September, 2553
Vice Admiral Trudeau walked into his quiet ONI office earlier than usual, yet his secretary was already at work.
"Morning Cheryl," the Vice Admiral said. They have worked with each other long enough, and Trudeau saw no issue calling her by name.
"Good morning Vic," she said, smiling back.

Trudeau shut his office doors, and, once he knew the room was secure, he contacted Admiral James Acuma.
"Admiral Acuma, good morning!" Vic said to a hologram.
"Hey Trudeau. I see you got my message." the Admiral said.
Vic nodded. “Yes. I see ONI is still worrying over Infinity since the Insurrectionist attack.”
Admiral Acuma nodded.

“Yes, and with so many personnel needed to join Infinity, ONI wants to make sure all personnel are safe. Especially the Spartans.”

Vic’s curiosity piqued.
"What do you mean?” he asked.
Admiral Acuma frowned a bit.
“You know the reports, Vic. Psychological issues with veteran Spartans. PTSD, Sociopathic disorders… ONI wants Section Three to oversee the Spartan program on Infinity, so I’m asking you to get some personnel together to watch them on the ground and on Infinity.”
Vic began to go through some of his tagged files.
“I have some good ones here, James. For instance, a Sergeant Major Michael T. Ashdown. . Any specific operative you want?”
His hologram nodded.
“Yes, a Commander Adam O’Neill.”



**********************

UNSC Business End- Marathon-Class Heavy Cruiser January, 2554

Giovanni ran outside into a deep snowy landscape. Fireteam Apex was close to getting the objective.
The observatory was under a surprise attack, but Fireteam Apex was able to beat them back.
Running to the back of the enemy's camp, he waited for them to blindly run out of their base.
And, as usual, it worked perfectly.

He grabbed a Spartan by the neck and quickly plunged his knife into them, quietly taking them down.
He crept over to the other side, witnessing a firefight between his squad and the enemy, Fireteam Rhino.
Setting several plasma grenades, he threw them behind Rhinos' cover.

Without any hostiles left, Apex was able to successfully win another War Game.

"That's another one Apex. Great job," he said as he congratulated his squad.
As Fireteam Apex emerged victorious from the virtual room, Fireteam Zenith also was triumphant is their War Game.
“Hey Zenith!” Giovanni yelled, “If you train more and get some experience, you maybe, one day, might almost be as good as us!”
Apex member Duke slouched over. Ever since he was reassigned from Zenith to Apex, he avoided their rivalry.

[Joshulia]

Spartan-A078 Rookie, stepped out of the virtual room, SR Battle Rifle hung loosely at his side with he glanced around the slowly filling room. His stature was slight, for a Spartan that is, standing at five foot eleven he was generally among the fastest of his class.

He pulled the red helmet from his head, interrupting the color scheme that included his entire armor set, and jogged his way up past the other members of Apex, falling into sync with Giovanni. He thought knew that name from somewhere......perhaps an old video game on Earth?.....Never mind that, "Uh, sir," Rookie asked, propping the rifle he held up on his shoulder, "permission to speak freely?"

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

Giovanni led his men into a Spartan Bay.
"Permission granted Rookie," he said.
"What's up?"

[Jedoria]

Cpl. McKenzie rolled out of his cot, stretched his arms and yawned. What time is it?, he thought. Standing upward, he made his way to the washroom and splashed water on his face. That did the trick. Dressing himself in his fatigues, he strapped himself into the standard dress uniform of a UNSC Marine. He observed himself in the mirror, making sure everything was in place. The Olive Drab standard was one he had worn for a while now fit well.

Satisfied with his appearance, he left his quarters and made his way around the ship. The grayish interiors of the cruiser were not particularly thought provoking, but that’s not what warships were really made for.

McKenzie was sure to give at least a polite nod to any crewman or fellow personnel he came across as he walked through the ship’s corridor. He had been walking for nearly 20 minutes before he realized he had no idea where he was going. Frankly, he wasn’t quite sure what he was supposed to do.

Finally, he decided to head to the firing range and and clock up some experience with the DMR.

[Ubaria]

2nd LT Gage Harkness - UNSC Business End, Hangar Bay

Gage leaned idly on the nose of his pelican, one arm sprawled back keeping him upright, the other holding a paper cup of luke warm coffee. Not the best coffee he had tasted, it was more of a hand warmer at this point to keep the chill of the hangar from claiming his fingers. The Hangar, even at this early hour was bustling with life, people were rushing about, shouting and communicating with one another, the din of engines, motors and machinery was audible as it echoed around the vast expanse of the room.

The pelican Gage was leaning on was his own personal aircraft, miraculously not shot down. It was one of the older models, pre-reach infact, it had been upgraded and re-fitted multiple times to keep up with the evolving technology, especially since the end of the war, reverse engineered forerunner technology was being implemented into almost all military hardware. Under the front canopy were the words '2nd LT Gage 'Gambler' Harkness. Gambler was his nickname, normally due to his audacious but lucky choices in combat. His gut feeling had not failed him thus far, and was probably the only thing keeping him from being blown out of the sky. Under this were phantom drawings with crosses through them. 20 of them infact, this is how many Phantoms he had taken out in combat with this pelican alone. Then under this were numerous banshee kill tallies.

The Pelican iteslf was a pre-reach model, D77-TC model, its pale green frame was slightly different from the newer TCI models, though all the internals had been stripped and replaced over the course of its service. Under its nose was a mounted M370 Auto cannon, under each wing were a set of ANVIL-II missile pods, the rear loading ramp had an Automatic grenade launcher mounted to it to protect disembarking troops. This Pelican had served him well, and hopefully it would continue to do so.

[Phalnia]

Sergeant Natalya Detevsky
UNSC Business End
January 2554
Sergeant Detevsky, sat on a metal stool in her quarters. She held her head in her hands as it throbbed. She had been nursing this headache for the past hour. Finally, it had started to go down. Standing up Natalya strapped on her boots and tucked in her fatigues, before stepping out into the hallway. Taking a few moments to decide were to go, Natalya made a left and headed to the mess.

She stuck her head into the mess hall. The smell and herd of people were enough to turn her away. She continued down the hall eventually she found that she had walked in a circle arriving back in the mess hall. With a deep sigh she headed in and grabbed a cup of coffee and a muffin. She sat down at one of the long metal tables and began to eat.

[Joshulia]

Giovanni led his men into a Spartan Bay.
"Permission granted Rookie," he said.
"What's up?"

"Well," The Spartan said, eyes darting around the ship's interior, "is there any ETA on a deployment? We've been on the ship for two weeks now and all we've done play war games." He hadn't be in real combat yet, save a few breach and clear maneuvers in the outer colonies, so he was anxious to get out in the world and do something.

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

Giovanni led his men into a Spartan Bay.
"Permission granted Rookie," he said.
"What's up?"

"Well," The Spartan said, eyes darting around the ship's interior, "is there any ETA on a deployment? We've been on the ship for two weeks now and all we've done play war games." He hadn't be in real combat yet, save a few breach and clear maneuvers in the outer colonies, so he was anxious to get out in the world and do something.

Giovanni adjusted his undersuit, walking to the mess hall.
"Not that I've heard. And I don't plan on having one soon."
Almost immediately, a Spartan officer called up Apex Team and Zenith Team.
Giovanni leered at the young Spartan.
"You got your wish."

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

An officious looking Spartan officer greeted them.
“Hello, I’m Commander Macarthur, your new Commander.
The two squads saluted.
“At ease.”
Giovanni relaxed his muscles as the commander laid out their new mission.
“The ‘Business End’ is stopping by the 111 Tauri System. We’re refuelling there and picking up a science team.”
He brought up a barren landscape and pointed to the unit commanders.
“We have several reports of rebel attacks, and we want you to get rid of them,” he stated.
“They’ve been hitting the Noviac Research Station. Find them, take them out. Simple search and destroy.”
They saluted again and left the office.
“Simple wetwork, Brooks. You happy?” Giovanni said with humor as he returned to practicing his combat skills.

[Joshulia]

"Yeah," Rookie said sarcastically, as he checked the ammo count on his battle rifle, ejected the clip, and inserted a fresh one, locking in the safety while doing so, "We get to kill some farmers with rifles." He continued on to the mess hall where he piled his plate sky high with fried items, and fell into one of the metal benches that took the Spartan's girth.

[Noahmerica]

2nd Lieutenant Andrew Thompson
UNSC Business End

Thompson woke up from the same dream, families screaming in horror just as the covenant started glassing reach. "Huh, ah fuck not again." He slurred in his almost zombie like status.

He then got up, put on a T-shirt and his fatigue pants and did two laps around the ship, as he would do every ordinary morning. Except not everyone seemed normal when he was running past. They seemed, anxious, jittery, as if they knew something was going to happen. He didn't worry about it too much.

As he finished his lap he headed to the mess hall. Grabbed some food, and sat at his normal table, in the corner of the room. He looked over and saw some spartans discussing something. Particularly, he didn't have a strong opinion about Spartans, did they kill some ODST's in training exercises? Not all of them did, just a single one. Most of his comrades would kill him if he ever said that out loud.

He got offered to be a Spartan IV but declined. He just loved the feeling of dropping feet first with nothing but his rifle, and ODST armor. Then he took the final sip of his terrible coffee and got ready to meet his squad near the armory.

[Illan]

Gunnery Sergeant "Gunny" David Harper
UNSC Business End
Morning

David sat in his quarters, looking around the room, examining, thinking. He was just waking up from his dreamless slumber, the kind of sleep he usually had. It was either that or nightmares, and David preferred the former. He glanced to the space that should contain his left arm, and, not to his surprise, it was found missing. David sighed, the emptiness on the left side of his body a testament to his failure. He shrugged this thought away, and walked over to a small case not far from his bed. Upon opening it, it revealed a life-size mechanical arm, obviously tailored towards David's body. Grabbing it, and after a few moments of fiddling with it, he locked it in, regaining control of his left arm. With a wave of the metal fingers, he walked over to the nearby dresser, donning a pair of pants and a long sleeve black shirt, adorned with the "Helljumper" emblem on the left shoulder. Afterwards, he walked to the doorway of his closet, where a pull-up bar waited. He took a few minutes to exercise, focusing on his right arm so he could equalize the strength in both of his arms. His mechanical arm was quite the powerful one, and it was obviously more powerful than his.....human one.

Afterwards, David worked his way to the mess hall, grabbing a plate of varying foods. He eyed a Spartan taking a seat on the metal bench in the corner, and turned his gaze away. He sat down at a simple table, laying his arms on it and sighing with relaxation.

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

Business End

Duke sat himself next to the Rookie.
"Look man, Giovanni's a hard-nosed guy. Bit rough around the edges," he stated as he downed a big chunk of meat.
"Don't worry about it..." he said as he saw a nearby ODST look away from the Rookie.

He called out to him, "Hey buddy, we don't bite!"
Duke waved at the lonely ODST to sit with them.

[Noahmerica]

(Ignore this box, my apologies)

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

"Get that lonely one armed ODST over here trooper, I feel a bit bad for him since he's all alone!" he said, smiling.

[Illan]

"Get that lonely one armed ODST over here trooper, I feel a bit bad for him since he's all alone!" he said, smiling.

David looked over to the Spartan hailing him. He had to have been addressing him, after all, he was pretty sure there weren't any other one-armed ODSTs sitting around the mess hall. With a slight smile, he walked over to the small congregation of the heavily-armored men.

"Morning Spartan, you need something? And I'm not lonely, just doing my morning routine is all." David remarked, about to hold out his cold, metallic hand for a shake before drawing it back, sometimes forgetting about its presence. He instead held out his right hand, thinking that people were slightly creeped out by the mechanical arm.

[Joshulia]

Spartan-A078 Corporal Daryl "Rookie" Brooks
UNSC Business End

The Corporal raised an eyebrow at the superior officer's antics of calling troops over to the table and generally being loud, but he held his tongue. He glanced over to other tables, taking in all the faces he hadn't seen before: gruff ODST operators chatting above war stories, a female hell jumper sitting alone, a whole shit load of marines, and the occasional SPARTAN like him. He reached down to the table and idly took a swig of coffee, and nodded to the new coming ODST.

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

"Nothing man, you just seemed down on your luck, that's all," he said.
He shook the ODST's hand.
"Sure you get this all the time, but how'd you lose it?" he asked.
As he asked, he lightly bumped the Rookie to make sure he wasn't drifting.

[Jedoria]

McKenzie was nearly to his destination before a thought clicked in his head.

Oh shit, breakfast!

Of course he would forget it. “Next thing ya know I’ll forget how to breathe.” He said to himself. Retracing his path, he made his way back through a number of passage ways before he finally found himself standing outside the mess hall.

McKenzie had been on a few ships before, and one thing he took note of was how the food tasted. Sometime it was pretty good, lots of flavor and such. Other times he would’ve preferred to gargle dirt.
He got in line and before long had snagged a few muffins and some cereal. The breakfast of heroes if he knew any better.

The place was pretty crowded, and a few things stood out, including but not limited to: a one armed ODST, a lonely helljumper, several Spartans, some more ODSTs, and a whole lot of Marines and crewmen. What a contingent.

McKenzie eventually found his way to a small table with a few other grunts who’s faces he somewhat recognized.

[Illan]

"Nothing man, you just seemed down on your luck, that's all," he said.
He shook the ODST's hand.
"Sure you get this all the time, but how'd you lose it?" he asked.
As he asked, he lightly bumped the Rookie to make sure he wasn't drifting.

David sighed, he didn't entirely like talking about this kind of thing, but he respected Spartans. He figured he might as well tell them, entertain them slightly.

"You want the long story or the short story?" He asked, taking a drink from the small cup of hot tea in his human hand.

[Ubaria]

2nd LT Gage Harkness - UNSC Business End, Hangar Bay

Gage was in the hangar bay for no specific reason, he liked to come down here and idly watch as the workers went about their daily tasks, it was kind of therapeutic strangely enough, it had become routine for him. Gage propped himself up into a more stable position and bought his arm up to stare at his chronometer, he squinted and downed the last of his coffee before heading over to a flight technician who was half engulfed in an engine bank. "Hey Duke, if you see Riya tell her i've gone to the mess hall, i need another coffee" Gage yelled behind Duke, Duke jumped and whacked his head on the top of the engine back, and emerged with a scowl, rubbing the back of his head. "Will do Lieutenant." He mumbled, checking his hand.

Gage lobbed the paper cup in a nearby recycle chute and headed off briskly to the mess hall, wondering where Riya was, probably in the Gym. Riya was Gage's co-pilot, had been since the Battle of Reach. She reminded Gage of a younger, male version of himself, always willing to go into harms way for a little bit of action, and she was Russian, which added to her likeability.

2nd LT Gage Harkness - UNSC Business End, Mess Hall

Gage strode into the mess hall, grubby coveralls and all and walked over to a coffee dispenser. Milky and with lots of sugar, thats how he liked it, though he was pretty sure they used an artificial sweetener rather than actual sugar...not that he could taste the difference. He leant over the coffee machine, staring at it intently until it had finished, the moment it had he whisked the cup away and took a large gulp and exhaled. "Caffeine" Gage mumbled. Caffeine had also became a staple part of his routine, he would probably cease to function without it, which was pretty unhealthy really. Fitness Evaluation forms had noted his 'addiction' to caffeine and had recommended he stay off it, he smirked to himself at the thought and looked around the hall. Spartans, ODSTs, Marines and Officers were all bustling around the place.

[Mercenaries Without Borders]

"Nothing man, you just seemed down on your luck, that's all," he said.
He shook the ODST's hand.
"Sure you get this all the time, but how'd you lose it?" he asked.
As he asked, he lightly bumped the Rookie to make sure he wasn't drifting.

David sighed, he didn't entirely like talking about this kind of thing, but he respected Spartans. He figured he might as well tell them, entertain them slightly.

"You want the long story or the short story?" He asked, taking a drink from the small cup of hot tea in his human hand.

"Hell, I'd take any story!" he said. He finished his meal and leaned in to this ODST's story.

Looking over his shoulder for a quick moment he saw a familiar face.
"Hey, Gage, right? Your our new pilot! Get over here."

[Noahmerica]

Thompson got up and headed to the Armory. As he walked out he saw a one armed ODST walking towards two Spartans. Great just what we need. Another fight. He thought to himself. He figured he should stick around and back him up in case it went south. But he was more the guy to leave so he could deny ever seeing the event.

When he got to the armory no one in his squad was there. Right I forgot, no one else is here. He moved to the Marksman weapons rack and grabbed his SRS99C, The "intervention" as he liked to call it. He always thought that was an interesting name for a rifle when he found out about the rifle from the early 21st century. Thompson grabbed a couple of magazines and went to the range for some target practice, not that he needed it.

He shot the same target Elites, Brutes, and Grunts. Personally he preferred to shoot the grunts as he had remembered how many times he had shot one and the tank on it's back exploding into a jet of methane and launching the little bugger. The thought made him chuckle to himself.

Eventually Thompson got up and started firing other weapons that interested him. Particularly the M739 which he never got to fire before. He had seen them but payed them no attention. So he picked up an unclaimed one and started firing full auto into the Grunt target.

He missed all but twenty-five rounds of the 72 round drum. But he loved the damned thing. He knew he would never use it in battle as it was almost a death sentence. But he thought it was a cool little gun.

[Illan]

David sighed, he didn't entirely like talking about this kind of thing, but he respected Spartans. He figured he might as well tell them, entertain them slightly.

"You want the long story or the short story?" He asked, taking a drink from the small cup of hot tea in his human hand.

"Hell, I'd take any story!" he said. He finished his meal and leaned in to this ODST's story.

Looking over his shoulder for a quick moment he saw a familiar face.
"Hey, Gage, right? Your our new pilot! Get over here."

David glanced over to the pilot that the Spartan had beckoned over. He didn't exactly enjoy an open audience, but hey, what the hell. Might as well get it out of the way so people don't ask later.

"Alright, I'll give you the long story. This dates back to the Battle of New Mombasa, where I was assigned to lead a squad of ODSTs who were assigned to defend the city at all costs. Everything was alright at first; well, as alright as things could be. Me and my team were boots on the ground from the pods without any injuries, and we set up near the Police Headquarters. We fended off the Covies fairly well for some time, another squad of ODSTs passed by us, Gunnery Sergeant Buck and a few others with him. Anyway, the Covenant regrouped, and they came at us in force. My team and I backed into the Police HQ, and we were cornered....." David said, stopping to take a sip of his drink.

"Should I continue or am I boring you?"

[Ubaria]

David sighed, he didn't entirely like talking about this kind of thing, but he respected Spartans. He figured he might as well tell them, entertain them slightly.

"You want the long story or the short story?" He asked, taking a drink from the small cup of hot tea in his human hand.

"Hell, I'd take any story!" he said. He finished his meal and leaned in to this ODST's story.

Looking over his shoulder for a quick moment he saw a familiar face.
"Hey, Gage, right? Your our new pilot! Get over here."

"That's right" Gage replied and wandered over to the table, pausing as the group seemed to be conversing about something. Silently, Gage pulled up a chair next to the table and leaned in to listen to this particular ODST's story.