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(alright seems like all the UNSC characters are on a flying thing of some sort.)

As the young ODST pressed the button the ONI building exploded into a massive orange red explosing, like some sort of catastrophically violent form of plant. "All UNSC focres accounted for." The flying convoy pushed on towards the fire base.

On the way back one of the Falcons managed to pry out some shaky civilian from a post office. He refused to speak anything but strange rhymes.

Conrad was suprised at how fast they had managed to put on his prosthetic arm. He sat in a tent admiring the sawbones handiwork. He saw that all the UNSC forces had gotten back mostly intact. We had drove them back... For now.

Conrad looked over at the stand next to his cot. He saw a slip of paper labeled "ORDERS" in big red letters. He read over the slip of paper and sighed. Great. Instead of being moved to another squad of Marines he was going to fill in as a replacement for a dead hell jumper. Conrad had been trained to drop down in a drop pod and maintain the armor ODSTs used. But he knew that the ODST sqaud wasent going to be happy with his arrival. Oh well...

(Just if I wasent clear Im linking up with noobomb's character.)

Frak, ignore.

"Good to hear ya, sarge. Position is currently fifteen minutes south of the rally point. No guarantees of getting over there outside of a body bag, though."
He heard an explosion not too far off. According to a map he and his squad were to memorize, it probably was the ONI recording archives.
"I'll notify you when I get there."

Bane walked over to the Zealot and bowed down. " Forgive me, my mind has been clouded by the blood spilt. It would be an honor to serve under you" He thought for a second ", but that will not be possible unless you find medical help, soon you will be unable to fight." Bane watched as the ONI building collapsed, but knew it was humans who did it. "Pilot, take me to the Armory, I need something stronger, my sword is almost depleted"

"I will have no dishonarble medic dare attempt to blight my Honor, the humans have taken the route of a coward and destroyed their base. Go to the armoury if you must, I will continue my role here."

Icewolf watched the pelican come in as he and his piot touched down. He saw the Unsc spread out and begin setting up lines of cover.
He did not however see the falcon.
"Falcon this is Icewolf please respond"

Falcon downs two grunts talking near his escape route. He got the stuff from the weapons locker and was now rappeling out of the window. He saw the Pelicans flying away and felt his heart drop. "Well, Spartans never die, they go missing in action applies this time I suppose." he muttered. Falcon heard his name on the fuzzy and damaged radio but didn't want to possibly give away his position. Falcon turned off his voice bead and begin to sneak back to UNSC lines.

-------

Icewolf tries to hail the falcon a second time but when he doesnt even ge a connection he heads over to the tech tent and gets them to run a frequency topographical scan. He spots a Spartan signature moving through the rubble, it doesnt look to be in too much dangr so he simply has the eed transfer to his helmet to keep an eye on the Falcon as he continues to get ready, more topographical maps are scanned to show Icewolf thepositioning of enemy forces. Fortunatley for Lucian the covenant hadn't istalled jammer's yet. Still... there was no way they could know he was getting this intel. He looked around. But this building is built with a sold frame and concrete floors that would make a frequency scan, or an infra scan for that matter, almost impossible.

Confident with thier location Icewolf began laying out documents for the briefing.

Conrad was eager to know what exactly they were going to do next. He was looking forward to actually seeing how his prosthetic preformed in combat... He watched silently as the Spartan began his briefing.

Icewolf looked at the assembled marines and ODST troopers, as the only Spartan, The Falcon not present, Icewolf felt mildly out of place. But he had the intel that was required for these men and women. It was his responsibility to dish it out. Moreso it was his responsibility to make sure these brave men and women made it off reach in one piece.

He loaded a holographic map of the planet, along with a street map alongside. he pointed first to the street map.
"This is the ONI headquaters building, which one of our esteemed ODST boys just blew to hell. We have lost the weapons locker there, which is a setback, but the upside is that with the destruction of the building the archives were decimated. We are now here" He points to a different spot on the map "About half a klick from the old ONI building, we have enough food to last about three days, we need more. But that isnt our real problem"
He glances at his watch briefly before carrying on.
"As of 1350 this afternoon UNSC forces were engaged by and pushed back a general class, and zealot class elites, with their respective armed covenant forces. The presence of a Zealot class elite means only one thing, something on Reach has the covenant interested, it also means that they will do anything in thier power to conquer Reach. The destruction of ONI Headquaters is a boon, it means that whatever the Zealot was looking for has just been reduced to so much ash and rubble. Score one for humanity. We have slowed him down.

The bad news to all this is that with the presence of the covenant on Reach and the destruction of ONI headquaters on the planet. The winter contingency has been recognised. This means that in less than seven days this planet will be covered by either the covenant or a neuclear dustcloud. I dont think i need to tell you just how much of a problem this is gonna be for us. We are cut off from any drydocks and our forces are scattered. We are a low on ammunition, supplies and medical reserves. Pretty soon moral is gonna start to drop. My body might be able to go on until I take a covenant weapon to the head, but yours will start to weaken unless we can get ourselves ready for the trip to the ONI support headquaters here." He points to anouther settlement on the world map, on the other side of the continent "That headquaters is the only settlement with an drydock large enough and well defended enough to get us off Reach in the current circumstances, it happens to also be the only other place that the covenant can find the full ONI archives, whcih means that they are going to be following us all the way. The UNSC forces surrounding the planet are capable of getting us offworld if we can get there. That means that in seven days we are going to have to get from the middle of New Alexandria, to the coast on the other side of the main continent here on Reach. And if that wasnt hard enough we have the covenant to deal with. And a Spartan MIA. As of right now" He checks his watch again "We have one hundred and forty nine hours and twenty seven minues to travel eight hundred kilometres under fire."

He shuts the maps down and plants his hands on the table infront of him looking at the three dozen or so men and women in the room.
"I wont lie to you all. Not all of you are going to make it out of here alive. Some of you wont get back to your homeworlds, some of you will die here on Reach on your homeworld. But I can promise you that until that Zealot jams his sword through my gut, or I get hit by a covenant corvette energy beam, there is no way in hell that I'm going to let these... aliens, kill you for thier own sick pleasure. This place is gonna have to be our haven for a dy while we get ready, then we have to move."

He turned the street map back on
"I need the ODST troopers to split the Marines into appropriatly sized groups and lead them in four groups , Alpha group will be in charge of locating all the remaining ordanance within a klick of this building and claiming it in the name of Earth." Icewolf points to the ODST who engaged the Zealot and lost his arm "You will command that group, he points to the ODST who he met in the tower "You have Beta group, your goal is to stop the covenant finding out we are here, take the sniper weapons and active camoflauge and stop them in their tracks." He points to the recently arrived ODST squad leader "I need you here with Gamma group holding down the fort and prepping our supplies for travel. If anything breaks through the comms net and the snipers I need you to have it dealt with. I will take Theta group personally to launch a recovery mission for our missing Spartan."

He shuts the maps off and turns around
"Any questions?"

Syrath sat in the bridge of the Ravager, a light Covenant Corvette which hung in space like a bat from a tree, he reached forward as the hologram of the planet bellow began to flash red. The last location they had been in had been left too the humans, foolish General and troops, he'd rather that his Spec-Ops team with him. Most troops he found on this planet where cowards, and his team had been held back in reserves but he had a mission to attend to;

"Prepare a strike team."

There were no questions after the Spartan had finished his briefing. Pretty straight forward. Find ammo, get to the dry dock, or die trying. Conrad was either going to get off the planet or lose his life.

Before they headed out, conrad tested out his new arm. He had sharpened the fingers, bringing them all to serrated points. The next time he saw that elite he would leave his mark.

Conrad was remembering back to his speacial Marine training, as he and the ODSTs slunk through the abandoned ruins. They were all draped in hot, stuffy, red and grey urban cammoflauge. He had everyone roll in the dirt so that they would blend in with the dreary enviorment. He remembered how his instructor beat the idea of good cammo into their thick, weary skulls. "Never doubt the usefullness of good cammo." His DI's voice echoed in his head. "How can the covies shoot what they cant see?"

"Nothing in here sir." And ODST said. "Just more dead civies... Damn." "Dont lose focus." Conrad knew what he was thinking. "Find some ammo and we'll have plenty of power to get back at them."

Conrad found a strange looking building he readied his Assault-Machine gun and walked over to the chained garage door that made up over half of the building. He put his gun in his left hand and snapped the chain like twigs with his robotic arm and then lifted up the door. He peered into the dark garage. He was amazed at what he saw. Guns. Guns and ammo everywhere. All kinds of weapons lined the walls. Some of them were military issue. Others were ancient models. He picked up an strange rifile that was sitting on top of an ammo crate. He remembered his childhood friend having one of these. It was an AK-47. Old but reliable. The top wassent even the half of it. There was a basement that was filled to the brim with ammo. He had found a now abandoned rebel HQ.

He eagerly radioed in his discovery and called over his troops. Everyone was stuffing there packs with ammo and guns. Some were taking old models as trophies. Conrad took the AK-47. "Alright. Take five." Everyone had sat down and was now eating or drinking from their canteen.

Conrad heard something... It sounded like an insect of some sort... It was getting louder though... Then it dawned on him. "A covvie drop ship!" He put away his canteen and reached for his Assault Gun. "Everybody dig in. Let HQ know about our situation. We CANT let the covvies take this building!" An ODST grabbed a rocket launcher. Conrad peered out of the garage just in time to see a group of elites drop out of the grav chute. "ooh rah." He slammed a fresh clip into his weapon.

Syrath dropped down, several Black armoured Spec Ops commandos quickly activated their cloaks while Syrath remained visible. He looked around, drawing his Needle Rifle and scanning the area for targets;

"Come out little humans, come out and play, come out and play little humans."

Conrad heard the elites hit the ground. He turned on his translating software... He was taunting him. Conrad was angry. It was the same one that took his arm. He knew he couldent get angry though. He told his ODST in the garage to get the mobiel shield generator ready. "Dont turn it on until We start shooting."

The elite continued to taunt him. He couldent be alone There were obviously more that were camoflauged. Conrad had predicted this. He had set up a perimeter of claymores on predicted flanking routes to compensate for this. Only a matter of time, Conrad thought.

BOOM! Off to the Marine's right a claymore exploded,sending 500 metal flechettes into the elite. His cammo malfunctioned as they ripped through his flesh and armor. A pool of purple blood formed on the ground. Conrad popped out of his cover and lobbed a round into the lead elite. He staggered but it had obviously ricocheted off his shield. "Come get some!"

Raising its Needle Rifle, the Zealot smiled as it fired several shots at the human, a single spike going into his right arm while the Elite was pushed back by its primitive weapon, though it was becoming painful. Dropping his Needle Rifle, Syrath drew his Energy Sword.

The needle flew from the rifle and slammed into Conrads prosthetic making him reel back from the impact. The needle shattered leaving a small crater in the metal. The elite was charging him. Conrad dropped his gun and drew his combat blade with his left hand and readied his right.

(Fighting an elite with a knife AND a robot arm. Whos epic now? xD)

The elite was nearly on him now. Conrad looked him in the eye. He saw that he was armed with an energy sword but stood his ground. The Elite took the first swing. Conrad ducked under it, but it had anticipated this and kneed Conrad in the chest knocking him to the ground. He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being disemboweled by the sword. Conrad jumped up in one smooth motion to the right of the elite and gave it a solid punch with his prosthetic. The elite took the blow and it broke its shields, but didnt reel back and replyed with his own right hook. Conrad ducked under it and then swept his right arm up in a slashing motion. It just missed its skull but it slashed across its face, sending a spray of bright purple blood in a neat arc flying through the air.

Conrad was about to finish off the alien until he heard a thundering noise behind him. He turned and saw a pelican pull over the warehouse, firing its auto cannon. Conrad turned back around but the elite was gone.

Icewolf had collected his crew and taken to the streets when he heard the Marine's excited exclamation. Icewolf smiled grimly under his helmet, that would draw the Zealot's eye and keep him awa from the base, perfect. Icewolf broke into a sprint heading for the last known location of The Falcon.

Bane looked over his sword and Fuel rod gun, he was ready to blow away some spartans. The grunts and jackals all began to do the same. They saw a pelican hovering over a building, firing its gun,
"Pilot, take that pelican down, troops, full assault forward.Don't retreat a step or face execution!" With that the doors slowly opened and the troops jumped out. Bane fired his fuel rod gun at the pelican, the green orb arced and then accelerated into the front of the pelican, leaving a plasma mark near the cock pit and stunning the pilot.

The concussion cannon blew part of the pelicans gun off, but it didn't stop it. A bold move and the pelican pilot started firing at the phantom, and let the ground troops advance. Bane stood with the Jackals as they slowly advanced and fired at the building, meanwhile the grunts ran ahead, only to be mowed down as the humans realized it was a double sided assault.

"Grunts, throw grenades!" with that the living grunts chucked about a dozen grenades close to the building, and the humans could not stop the advance of spec ops, and the squad.

Conrad was shooting at everything that moved. The covvies were advancing a sheer wall of infantry at them. The claymores were going off sporadically and on both sides. Each explosion killing and maiming squads of grunts. Conrad's veins were filled with sheer adrenaline as he emptied his assault gun into a advancing group of Jackals. His ODSTs were dying and everything was going to hell fast. The crippled pelican had landed behind the building and its crew were loading as much ammo as possible onto the bird. "Dont worry." The pilot said over the radio, "we'll leave enough room for your men.

Conrad knew the decision he was about to make was going to anger his new subordinates. But this was bigger than a squad of men. "No. Get a full load of ammo and weapons. We'll find our own way out of this mess." "Are you insane!?" "What the hell!?" Scared and angry voices screamed over the radio. "I said we'll find our own way out of this. Turn on that shield generator and look for a vehicle."

The group of six had now fallen back to the garage as the Pelican blasted off into the distance. An ODST had just finished filling a civilian vehicle up with fuel. The vehicle had been modified prior with armor plating. "Check those charges." The inside of the building was plastered with plastic explosives. The soldiers jumped into the vehicle. Conrad jumped into the back and fed a fresh clip into his assault gun. "Gun it!" The vehicle took of into a hellstorm of plasma fire. There were moments when they all thought they were going to die, but they made it through. "Drive back to the camp." Conrad took out the detonator and quickly explained his actions before squeezing the small plastic device.

((That explosion would have killed all NPC's in about a 4 block radius....))
The explosion of the building created a shockwave that knocked Icewolf, was was three blocks away, bodily into a building across the street, most of his marines were killed by the blast. He hated to think how powerful the explosion would have been up close. Nearby a building collapsed that was beside the one that blew. Icewolf had no idea how the building was destoryed, but anything there would have been wiped out. He prayed there were no UNSC personell in the blast, he took a moment to mourn the fallen marines. They all ended up dying, a car had detonated nearby and killed the survivors, it was Icewolf on his own now. He staggerd to his feet and chcked his weapons, Loaded and ready, he took the ammunition that he could carry from the 5 dead marines and took a pistol as well, He stocked his belt with a full five grenades, and two plasma's that he had picked up before hand. He checked his blade and then moved back into the cover of the buildings as the sun started to go down.

Bane was thrown 50 feet by the blast, he hated to think of what happened to Syrath. Bane picked up a needle rifle and a few grenades (Let's be honest, most of us could hold more than two weapons.) He walked over and saw a jackel stirring about. It was only what had been protected by the shield, its legs and right arm were torn off. He dug through the ruins and saw that the basement had survived, but just barely. Bane watched the humans drive away in the vehicle, cowards. He saw that his armor was singed and that he was cut all over, while no major wound were inflicted.

Bane climbed to the top of a slightly destroyed building and grabbed his needle rifle, he made a small camp, his stuff all within reaching distance, and his sword at his belt. He had about 7 plasma grenade, 4 at his belt, the others sitting near his feet. He scanned the area when he saw two ODST troopers moving about, one limping, and searching the area. He slapped in a clip of needles and aimed at the firsts head.

"Sam do you know what the feth that was?"
"Nope, you?"
"Not a damn idea, let's just find some survivors"
"Whatever that was, I have a feeling it wasn't good"
"it felt like an ex-" Jack was cut off as a needle round tore through his skull. Sam let out a startled yell and dove for cover, but two rounds hit home in his shoulder, and one in his stomach. The needles shattered in the wound and Sam dropped his DMR and cringed in pain, but he pulled out a magnum and stood up to fire a round in warning to others, but his hand was torn to pieces by a round, and then a round hit him between the eyes, ending him instantly.

" I love killing those fool" Bane muttered to himself "always trying to be heroes" Bane continued to scan the streets, and off to another one he saw a warthog full of Marines. He was glad he had brought a fuel rod gun. Ban leaned the rifle against the roof tops wall and grabbed the large weapon. He aimed the golden fue lrod gun and let two round fly, slamming into the wart hog like bolts from the heavens. Bane continued to scan when he saw a spartan moving through a building. The one he had fought a the ONI building. He took a breath and let a few needles fly, the 3 or so needles hit the spartan, but the others missed. He slapped a new clip into his gun and gathered his materials , ready to move.

(Syrath was not kiled. Damn. I thought I was the only UNSC element in the area. You guys just want to undo that? It was my fault.)

Conrad was listening in on the radio chatter. He knew in order to save the building and his men he had to destroy it. Was it the right thing to do? He knew others had been killed in the last. He was scanning the ruins for survivors and stopped so his medic could administer care to wounded. Most of it lived. Most of them.

The young Marine could only feel regret for what he had done. He knew that he had taken out plenty of covvies but he also knew he had killed fellow marines. All his squad members were telling him he did the right thing. And so were the people on the radio. It was war. Things like this happened. He swore... Somehow he would make it up in some form. No matter what.

Conrad talked through his radio. "Icewolf. What are our orders?"

Falcon felt the heat as a plasma bolt hit his chest playe. Falcon dove to cover instictively. Falcon (Now re-codenamed Eagle) peered over the car to see who fired. 2 elites split from the middle of the street.

Eagle swept through the building amd punched through 2 walls and appeared in the next one, coming face-to-face with an elite. The Elite raised his plasma repeater and shouted at the Spartan. Eagle pulled his knife and pistol and rushed he eilte in the blink of an eye. The Elite kicked he spartan and he tripped but rolled back up gracefully. Eagle put two shots into the elite's head. The shield sparkled and Eagle delievered a solid punch into it's face. One of the beast's jaws broke and blood squirted from it's mouth. Eagle dropped low and cut the hamstring of he Elite and it fell straight to the ground in agony. Eagle jumped on it's back and sent the knife into a soft spot in it's neck. The Elite shrieked and died and the other Elite ran in the door of the building.

The Elite pulled out an energy sword and seemed to smile. Eagle lifted himself to his feet slowly and prepared for the coming fight. The Elite chaged at Eagle and he dove to the side and popped up firing his pistol at he Elite's back. Rounds pinged off the shield helplessly and the Elite turned around. Eagle flung his pistol at him and charged catching he Elite's sword arm with his left and pulling the plasma pistol with his right. Eagle held he firing rune until there was a deep green glow coming from the edge of the pistol. Eagle pointed the gun at the Elite and let loose as a bolt disingtegrated the Elite's face.

(Ignore that part about bane shooting at Ice WolfBane)

Bane had picked a good spot for a snipers nest, and had killed 6 more humans with his rifle, but he needed reinforcements, and his head set and been shattered by the blast. Grabbing all of his gear he moved down the building, but not before a 10 man squad of Marines, militia like almost, turned the corner. He could see some of them shaking, and the looked broken. He puleld his sword hilt and a grenade out, but waited until they were passing the broken building, not knowing that Bane was hiding in the shadows.
"Dave, go check that building"
"
Yes sir" The poor man walked into the building unknowing of his doom. Holding a simple SMG, not even at ready level he walked in. The rest of the squad turned their backs on the building. "Any survivors in here? I am with the UNSC marines, is there any body in here? Any body alive?" With that he stepped into grabbing range of Bane, whom the shadows had concealed.

Bane had tucked his sword into his belt, and grabbed the man by the neck, his giant fingers crushing his wind pipe as Bane lifted the man up. Just before he through the poor soul out of the window into his squad he stuck a present to the man. The blue light and explosion hid the sound of banes energy sword flickering to life as Bane jumped into the confused squad. 3 had caught the man, only to be blown to dust. 4 down. One marine didn't even have time to raise his rifle before the massive elite chopped him from collar bone to hip. 5 down. The next victim had fired his rifle, but did not hit the nimble elite, the last thing he felt was an energy sword ripping into his stomach, and exiting upwards through his rib cage. 6 down.

The other four had begun to shoot at, and a few shots hit Bane, but his shield was not broken. Bane lunged at one man and sliced at both of his thighs, cutting each femoral to pieces. Bane shot to the next man like lighting, sending the sword through his heart, then using him as a bullet shield. 8 down. Number 9 pulled out a grenade, but Bane wouldn't let the man die a martyrs death, and gave him the same treat meant as number 5. The last man was sprinting away from the blood bath, but Bane found that unacceptable. He put a few needle rounds in the mans legs, and walked over. The man was praying for mercy, saying he had a kid. If the covenants progress kept up, than he wouldn't have one for long. Bane went for a simple round to the head.

Jackpot. Bane had found a radio on one of the soldiers and began to get onto the covenant frequency. He would have this city over run in no time.

Conrad could see immediately that his decision had effected the covenant. The ones that were left were scattered and confused. So were the Marines. Conrad and his ODSTs were riding around the ruins in the civilian vehicle. Icewolf had not responded to Conrad's radio transmissions so COnrad had taken it upon himself to regroup the chunk of remaining UNSC forces in the area. The vehicle was now spearheading a sizable group of Marines who were picking off Covenant in isolated firefights.

All was going smoothly with minimal casualties. "Conrad, look!" A Marine was pointing to the sky. Conrad looked up. "Holy..."

Icewolf saw the wreckage of the building and started to limp towards it. His armou servo's were still recovering from ther forced intimacy with the wall fo the building he had hit. His body was fine however.

Upon sifting through some of the rubble he realised that most of the covenant had been wiped out. Icewolf heard a strangled moan and shoved a boulder of rubble aside to see a mostly shattered marine, who was only alive though sheer stubbornness.
"How did this happen trooper?"
The marine tries to focus on Icewolf but struggles, eventually reaching out what is left of his onyl remaining arm to touch Icewolf's helmet, as if checking to see he was real.
"I'm sorry colonel sir... Conrad blew the building cough... cough" Blood misted on the marine's visor "The covies took the blast though, serves them right. Conrad left east..."
Icewolf saw the man's eyes glas over and took the man's helmet off, closing them gently. He stood up with his DMR held loosely by his side,
"This is Colonel Blackwood, calling Petty officer Conrad. You are immediatly recalled to homebase under charges of suspect..." Icewolf stopped as the radio was blasted out of his hand by a needle round. He sun around to see an elite rapidly descending through the rubble Needle rifle in one hand energy sword in the other, it was the general from the ONI building.

Icewolf spun around and brought up his DMR taking several shots at the Elite, several sparked off the elite's shield but one managed to stagger the general with a shoulder blow. The elite's shield was clearly suffering from the after effects of the blast, with Icewolf's armour weakness it meant that the fight would be somewhat even. The DMR clicked dry and Icewolf dropepd it into his grav harness drawing his combat blade and pistol. Ready for the elite

Pete loaded his assault rifle and grabbed his combat blade. Aiming at the elite the Spartan was going to fight. He wouldn't let the spartan get killed, he hoped.
He pulled the trigger.

Syrath was angry, he grabbed Conrad from behind and threw him too the ground, he tried to shrug off the pain but his face was on fire. He dragged his Energy Sword down the marines back and then dragged him up the marines right eye before throwing him down and roaring in rage;

"KILL THEM ALL! BURN THESE HERETICS AND DRIVE THEM BACK!"