Operation: GUILLOTINE (a Halo RP, accepting sheets)

[-Kvasir-]

"We're about halfway there, Rapier 4."

The hum of the Xerxes engines slowly dropped in pitch, then went silent. The lights flickered for a moment, then went dark permanently. Alec smiled - they would be a lot harder to spot in the darkness.

Then, the intercom flickered to life, running on secondary power generators.

"Intruders in the engine room!" a thick, booming voice announced. "Capture them at once!"

Alec recognized it immediately - it was that of Colonel Belmonte, a high ranking Insurrectionist leader.

"That voice... It's Colonel Belmonte. We have to find him."

 

[Smagmuck_]

B102 just smiled to himself. Since it was pitch black, he would be very hard to spot. He and B203 had the advantage, still. He hauled himself up onto the framework after resetting the password on the second console. He switched to thermal on his visor, and waited.

 

[The Hairminator]

Sammy didn't wait around, but hurled herself up towards the framework after Rapier-3. She hated being trapped like this, but she still felt confident that these people still had no idea who they were dealing with. She also activated her thermal vision, as well as her suit's stealth system.

The door breached, and a handful of gas grenades were tossed into the room. Her suit detected the gas as teargas, and immediately sealed and switched over to suit respiratory system. Down below heavily armed and equipped troops started pouring into the large room. She looked over to her fellow spartan. Showtime.

 

[Smagmuck_]

B102 formed his palms into fists and nodded back at B203. He unslung his DMR from his back and sighted one of the Innies. He didn't fire immediately as he usually would. He waited for his prey to get comfortable... And then he would pounce.
B102 to B203: Wait for the prey to settle in...

 

[ultrachicken]

Oliver's visor adjusted to the darkness, and the thin green lines dotting his vision thickened and intensified. He spotted a small red dot approaching the two yellow dots on his radar. A rebel was approaching, and Rapier 1 would most likely kill the lone soul. Not if Oliver could help it. He holstered his pistol.

He sprang forward with furious speed and around a corner, standing face to face with his foe. He snatched the rebel's weapon, a .30 caliber LMG (Nicknamed the "confetti maker"), and grabbed him by the neck with strength only a Spartan could match. The insurgent didn't even have time to scream. Oliver spun him around, kicked his knees out from under him, and squeezed on his windpipe until the feeble resistance ended. He was temporarily unconscious. Oliver took the man's helmet and radio, and stuffed the unconscious body into a storage closet. He used his hacking module to lock the control panel, and then set down the weapon and helmet softly on the floor.

He was happy to have saved another life. He turned towards Alec and motioned for him to lead the way.

 

[Smagmuck_]

B102 waited until the Innies had finally settled down, one of them had begun to hack back into the terminal, he had B102's sights on him. B102 settled his fingers on the trigger and waited... He pressed the trigger and the Innies' head exploded into a fleshy goo.
Shit had hit the fan.

 

[-Kvasir-]

Alec watched as Oliver skillfully disarmed and subdued the rebel, all without harming the man in the slightest. Always the moralist, Oliver disliked taking lives, and preferred to use words instead of weapons, and was a brilliant negotiator.

Silver tongue, that guy.

Alec had never been able to talk his way out of a confrontation - he was usually the one who escalated things, who threw the first punch or fired the first shot. While Alec's approach to things worked on most operations, some required a more delicate touch; that was where Oliver fit in - he could diffuse almost any situation.

Oliver waved him forward, and Alec took point, scanning the hallway ahead with his pistol. Then, something on his HUD changed. B203 and B102 both showed a sudden spike in heart rate and blood pressure, indicative of a combat situation. Curious, Alec brought up the feed from B102's helmet cam, just in time to see him take down a hostile with his DMR. In retaliation, a dozen or so heavily armed Insurrectionists opened fire, spraying wildly with 'Confetti Makers' and stolen MA37s and DMRs. B102 took several shots, and his shields dropped slightly.

"Rapier-2 and Rapier-3, regroup with me and Rapier-4 at the large cafeteria on C-deck. " Alec ordered as he switched off the video feed and holstered his pistol. He reached back and unclipped his shotgun from its magnetic holder, switching off the safety with a click.

"Go loud, we've been compromised."

 

[Smagmuck_]

B12 to A227: Oorah!
B102 dropped four other insurrectionists before he held his fire and jumped into another support column, completely disappearing from their view. He decided to go in stealthy for the rest of them. He highlighted the higher priority targets in red, lesser ones in yellow. He dropped from the rafters quiet as a cat.

 

[ultrachicken]

Oliver tensed up; his heart rate rose visibly. He still wanted to avoid killing, but he had received a direct order, and it was either his team or the rebels at this point. He gave a frustrated sigh as he brandished his MA37 assault rifle. It silently fell from the magnetic holster on his back, and into his hands. The familiar weight of his weapon was unsettling. He only used it when directly ordered to take a life, and had associated the weapon with nothing but death. He flipped the safety and pulled out the magazine, inspecting it. Once he was satisfied that it was filled to the brim with lethal rounds, he tucked it back into the rifle with a quiet clank.

He bent his knees and scanned the hallway, keeping an eye on his motion sensor. No movement. He once again attempted to open his blueprint, and was met with another

"access denied"

error message.

ONI needs to get its head out of its ass.

Not sure how to proceed without access to his map, he waited for Alec to lead, and then followed.

 

[Smagmuck_]

B102 to B014: Gimme a second...
The blueprints for the Xerxes suddenly unlocked.
B102 to B014: It should be could to go.
B102 sprang into action, he snapped one mans' neck and simultaneously punched a man in the chest, destroying his rib-cage. He drew his M7S and dropped two more Innies' with three round bursts to the chest.
I could get used to this...

 

[-Kvasir-]

Stealth was no longer an option. It was a over a thousand Insurrectionists - a veritable legion - versus a handful of SPARTAN-IIIs, in the tight confines of a UNSC cruiser.

Alec was in his element.

He sprinted to the end of the hallway and punched the control panel, bursting through the door into the lobby beyond. It was a large room, the center occupied by a large, rectangular garden, complete with several trees that stretched to the ceiling. Several benches were scattered around the area, some scarred and broken by explosions and gunfire. Several dead bodies, those of UNSC crewmen, littered the floor. The blood beneath them had coagulated - they had been there for at least a day.

None of these details were at the forefront of Alec's mind, however - that spot was reserved for the five gun toting Insurrectionists that stood a mere ten meters away. Instinctively, Alec charged, raising his shotgun and firing off two shots as he did. The man all the way to the dropped like a stone as buckshot tore through his chest, and the man immediately next to him toppled to the floor as his jaw was obliterated.

The men were only now starting to realize what was happening, but it was far too late. Alec was already on top of them, and grabbed the largest one by the throat, spinning the two hundred thirty pound man around with one hand and using him as a human shield.

One of the two remaining men fired reflexively, and bullets from his stolen MA37 tore into his comrade's midsection. Alec threw the man forward with stunning force, and both the dead rebel and his friend tumbled to the ground. The other man stood frozen in shock, his face blank, and his weapon pointed uselessly at the ground. Without hesitation, the SPARTAN-III caved in the Insurrectionist's skull with the butt of his shotgun.

The other man, pinned under the weight of his dead squad mate, had begun to draw a pistol. Alec kicked the weapon out of his hand, and it went flying out of sight. The man screamed in terror, but only briefly, as the half-ton super soldier brought an armored foot down on his throat.

From the large walkways up above, several other hostiles opened fire.

 

[Smagmuck_]

B102 finished with the Innies in the engine room, most of them were little more then a pile of red mush. He got an alert of A227's heart rate. He looked over at Sammy and pointed at the vents. Caring very little for any stealth now, he shimmied up the columns of engine blocks and support struts and then punched his way into one of the larger vents. It was go time for him, he made a brisk pace down the vents towards where A227 was. He came within ten meters of where A227 was. He didn't take the cliche 'kick in the vent and drop down'. No, he kicked a ragged hole through the vent itself and landed on one of the Rebels. He turned around and cocked his fist back. The Innie got in a good burst before B102 quiet literally punched a hole in his head. He removed his fist and shook it as if there was some form of pain. He looked down at A227 and gave an impromptu salute.
B102 to A227: You're welcome.
He tagged the Emote at the end for a sick sarcastic joke.

 

[ultrachicken]

Oliver popped out from his cover behind a door frame, scanning the area for more hostiles. Fortunately, his teammates had already taken care of all of the obvious threats. He didn't relax his stance, however. Such carelessness would be fatal.

Out of the corner of his eye, B014 spotted a hostile banging on a door, desperately trying to get out of the cafeteria. He wasn't a threat at the moment, but he could easily return once he regrouped with a squad. Oliver couldn't let that happen. He took careful aim and fired a precise three round burst into the side of the poor man's head. The man dropped to the ground instantly. Oliver had made it a point to shoot his foe through the head in the path of least resistance, to minimize the pain before death.

"Ignosce, et requiescamus in pace," he whispered. It was a Latin phrase which he had learned as a child, living as an orphan in a church. One of the nuns had taught him the phrase. He had taken to using it to clear his conscience after each kill.

 

[-Kvasir-]

Alec turned just in time to see Oliver put a neat burst into his target's head. The man went limp and dropped unceremoniously, his eyes wide.

"Nice shot," the Spartan quipped, thumbing several shells into his shotgun. He scanned the room for a moment, relaxing slightly when he didn't see any obvious threats.

"So, here's the plan," A227 announced, turning to the rest of the squad. "Colonel Belmonte is somewhere on this ship. We have to find him and capture him, or failing that, kill the bastard. No matter what, he does not leave this ship."

The squad nodded in understanding, reloading their rifles and readying themselves for battle.

"We have to lock down this entire cruiser from the bridge - disable all the airlocks, life-pods, and landing bay doors, and seal the bridge so it can't be reversed. That way, we can ensure that nobody can escape unless they have a pressurized suit and a shit-ton of explosives. That's all yours, Rapier-2 and Rapier-4. " the Spartan continued, pacing back and forth.

"Simultaneously, Rapier-3 and myself will fight our way to the armory and set the two Shiva nuclear missiles to detonate on command. After we do that, we'll seal the armory doors shut to prevent any efforts to disarm them." Alec went on, the plan materializing in his head.

"That should buy us some time to tap into their communications, interrogate some of their men, and find out where Belmonte is. After we find him, we'll knock him out with some polypseudomorphine, get him into a pressurized suit, and blow an exit through the nearest airlock. Understood?"

 

[ultrachicken]

Oliver slowly melted into a normal stance, his knees only very slightly bent, and his MA37 assault rifle pointed at the ground, held in one hand. He flipped his status to "green," meaning "acknowledged." Then he turned to Sammy and nodded.

He accessed his now unlocked blueprint, a series of teal blocks representing rooms and corridors. He accessed the interface and set a course for the life pod control room.

"Ready, Sammy?" he asked, with a barely traceable hint of enthusiasm in his voice. He was happy to be away from Alec; not that he didn't like his commander, but Oliver wasn't too fond of his over-aggressiveness.

 

[Smagmuck_]

"Oorah!" B102 jeered. He hopped over the railing and down onto the lower deck, bending the grated floor below him slightly. He scanned the immediate area before slowly relaxing. He checked the DMR he held in his hands for any deficiencies, by which he slowly opened the bolt, a little too far, and an unspent round went flying into the air, he caught it and put it back before closing the bolt.

 

[The Hairminator]

Sammy saw Oliver's already plotted out course on the mission map. He's crafty. Although his sometimes irritating compassion with the enemy clearly was a weakness, she figured Rapier-4's relative cool would be a nice change from Rapier-3's hotheaded fury.

"Ready and able, Four."

She made a few quick adjustments to his route, mainly to avoid crowded corridors, but also to reinforce her command. "I'll take point."

 

[ultrachicken]

Oliver noticed that Sammy had revised the route, but hadn't noticed the deeper meaning in the action. Instead, he lightly pushed the indicated door open and waited for Sammy to head on through. He once again checked his magazine, glancing at the bright yellow bullets inside, and then he slid it back inside his assault rifle with a click. There was no need for him to check his ammunition again; he simply had a habit of checking after each firefight.

As Sammy entered through the doorway, Oliver said to Rapier 1 and 3, "Good luck."

Oliver filed in the doorway behind Sammy like a ghost, his footsteps barely audible.

 

[-Kvasir-]

*reserved*