Amaranth

~ Halo: Oman ~

I should have a post up soon (tomorrow-ish), and if a Co-GM is still needed I can do it.

~ Halo: Oman ~

Good luck! If you ever need help with anything, I'm here :)

Warhammer 40k: The Eternal Fight for Freedom - Penal Legion RP (Looking for cannon fodder!)

Octavia peaked out from the doorway of the bunker and made visual confirmation that the two or three remaining enemies from the closest squad were still pinned down, which they were. Seeing what she needed to, the Mute Guardswoman glanced to her side to make certain that the rest of her squad were making it into the bunker in good time. She noted that quite a few of them seemed shaken, the pale doctor in particular seemed unnerved. She didn't blame him. What they all needed to realise, however, was that here, even against fellow humans, they killed with the righteousness of the Emperor Himself. As long as they stayed the course of faith, surely they would prevail. Octavia leaned out of the doorway and cracked off a few more shots to hold the other squad down as the last few members of her squad scrambled into their temporary stronghold. One enemy fired wildly over the top of the wall he was using. Sloppy.

The footfalls of the fellow legionnaires entering the bunker distracted the Guardswoman momentarily, however, enough that she did not notice the enemy legionnaire priming a grenade to toss into the building. Unfortunately for the enemy soldier, her attention was not grabbed for long. Reacting quickly, Octavia snapped her weapon up and fired off three quick shots. The first scarlet beam severed the enemy penal legionnaire's throwing arm, sending the grenade (and the arm) bouncing into a pile of debris. The second beam punched a clean hole through his chest and sent the effective-corpse into the ground. The third beam missed entirely and singed a piece of metal further beyond the other squad. A few moments later the grenade detonated, sending the mutilated body skittering across the ground before it came to rest on a rusted hulk of metal. Satisfied for the moment, Legionnaire Westerlund let her weapon fall at ease for the moment.

Keenly aware of the two remaining enemy who were firmly entrenched outside the bunker, she began to think of a way to flush them out. Looking over the other members of the squad, Octavia noticed that the one called Tigranes seemed to be fairing well compared to the others. He would serve for the next step of her plan. Taking her right hand off the trigger of her las-carbine she gestured at him with a "follow me" motion followed by a point at the grenades which hung around his belt and a quick jerk of her head towards the incoming lasfire which scorched the stone of the bunker. Mostly confident that he understood her (and semi-lamenting her inability to take direct command of the squad) she set her carbine against the wall and took a grenade in her left hand, splaying her hand out in front of her as a makeshift timer.

Folding her thumb into her palm first she counted mentally.

Five.

Her pointer finger was next.

Four. She flicked the pin off of the explosive, careful to press the handle down tightly.

Index.

Three.

Ring.

Two.

Small.

One.

She let the handle propel itself off before lobbing the device out of the bunker door and (if He is kind) into the waiting arms of the enemy. Ducking quickly back behind the safety of the stone structure, the Mute Legionnaire waited for the telltale blasts and subsequent ringing that followed.

Warhammer 40k: The Eternal Fight for Freedom - Penal Legion RP (Looking for cannon fodder!)

I should have a post up soon!

~ Halo: Oman ~

Shorter post :P

~ Halo: Oman ~

---

Jinxie stared at the squad of ODSTs she had just startled. She had to admit, it was a bit unnerving staring at their polarised visors. Regardless, she could understand their jumpiness. Pfc. Chéreau shouldered her rifle and walked closer to the makeshift meeting area.

"I came from about a klick in that direction," Srin offered, gesturing over her shoulder, "incidentally, that is also where my squad is. They uh..." She paused, the memory still fresh and painful. "They didn't make it. As far as I know I'm the only survivor, although one member was missing. I didn't think the Covenant took prisoners?" Srin shook the tangent out of her head. "Either way, that same Chariot contacted me and told me to make it to them double-time, so that's where I've been headed but I'd be glad to join your squad and assist you with whatever you need."

Jinxie put her hand on her neck, feeling guilty about losing yet another squad. It was just like Fumirole all over again. Maybe she really was jinxed. She patted her bag of grenades reassuringly. At least she had decent luck with explosives, right?

One of the ODSTs asked her something about OP Sierra. Sierra.... The name rang a bell but Srin couldn't place where she had heard it. The Army Trooper tapped her chin thoughtfully. "OH! OP Sierra. Yeah we were supposed to meet some Marines and maybe some ODSTs there to help establish a base of some kind. I'm a combat engineer, from the 147th Engineer Corps." Pfc. Chéreau smiles sheepishly at the last remark, "Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about building. I'm more of an demolition type of girl." Jinxie gestures to the demo charges strapped to her kit and laughs her distinctive laugh.

Finally, hearing one of the helmeted figures inquire as to who she was Jinxie gave her most enthusiastic salute and smile, practically jumping to attention. "Private First Class Srin Chéreau reporting for duty! But most people call me erm-" She cut herself off, hesitating at perpetuating a nickname she wasn't particularly fond of but realising she had almost certainly locked herself into saying it by getting this far before cutting herself off. "-most people just call me Jinxie." She smiled again and looked at herself at the laconic visors of the ODSTs.

@Starlance

Warhammer 40k: The Eternal Fight for Freedom - Penal Legion RP (Looking for cannon fodder!)

Alright I can do that.

Room Number 405

I'm still interested!

~ Halo: Oman ~

---

Srin pushed herself through the treeline as carefully as possible, trying not to make any extra noise as shoved through sticks and leaves and various other obstacles. Though some parts of her mind wanted to panic, to stay still, to throw all her explosives in every direction, her training and more rational thought-centres told her to move towards the objective blinking on her eyepiece as quickly and as quietly as possible. If one squad of those alien bastards could wipe out her whole squad, even a single enemy contact could spell death for the lone Army trooper. After 45 minutes of slightly-panicked-but-kinda-calm hiking, Jinxie pushed herself into a clearing and leaned against a tree to catch her breath and steady her breathing. She took off her helmet and wiped a gloved hand across her forehead. She was sweating more than usual. Nervousness? Exertion? The damnable climate? Who thought it was a good idea to wear all this gear in a temperate forest? Checking all her gear, she brushed a hand through her messy hair and put her helmet back on just in time to catch the start of a radio transmission.

"Fireteam 2, Bravo 9, I want you to make your way towards my location fast. Double time, little exceptions. Out of the three closest to me, you are the furthest, but don't bring a horde of Covenant forces with you."

Okay, orders. Let's unpack this.

Whoever this 'Chariot' was, they seemed to be generally in command of things, which is good. Linking up with other units is also good. "Out of the three..." so there are at least four other units out here nearby. Good sign. "...Don't bring a horde of Covenant with you..." Was there a horde of Covenant that she wasn't aware of? That could be bad.

Pfc. Chéreau shouldered her rifle, satisfied, and prepared to respond.

"Chariot this is 2 Bravo 9, I read you and I'm Oscar Mike, over."

Well it sounded better in her head, but it seemed official enough. Maybe she should have paid more attention when they were going over radio etiquette. She suppressed a laugh at the absurd thought and then set off with renewed vigour. More trees. More rocks. More sticks at EXACTLY head height. More dirt. More leaves. More gunfire. Wait what? Jinxie stopped and looked around, listening. Maybe it was an animal? No it was definitely gunfire. Sounded fairly close. A battle rifle? The Trooper picked up her pace, almost tripping several times on dead Covenant. There was DEFINITELY a squad around here, but where? It couldn't be Chariot, they were miles away still. It had to be another squad, maybe one of the ones that Chariot had mentioned. Jinxie bit her lip and stared at a dead Jackal as she tried to plan her next move. Following the bodies seemed like the best course of action. Worst case scenario? She runs into the rear of a Covenant patrol tailing this squad and gets killed by 1. The Covenant or 2. Friendly fire. Srin shrugged. Probably beats being lost and alone in a dense forest. Giving the ex-jackal one last tap with her foot, she set out again, slightly more aware of where her feet were landing.

Fifteen or more minutes of light jogging later and Srin began to hear talking. Human talking? Yes. Maybe she shouldn't be so quick to trust. Okay, so it's a definitive maybe. She planted herself firmly next to a solid-looking tree and really listened. It turned out to be 100% unmistakably human. So maybe she shouldn't be so paranoid and just trust her gut. Something to think about. Task at hand, right. She peeked out from behind the tree. It looked like they were talking to someone who had just arrived. Maybe she was following someone who was following them. Trailing a trail?

"Hey!" She called out, slightly unsure if they could hear her, "You guys are UNSC right?"

~ Halo: Oman ~

---

"Hey Jinxie, try not to doom this mission with your powers." Corporal Jast Vjun teased as he passed by Srin's bunk. She scowled an unconvincing scowl.

"I already told you not to call me that!"

"You like the nickname."

Srin sighed and went back to fiddling with an inert grenade. At least she insisted it was inert. No matter how many times Sgt. Penlan had yelled at her and given her extra duties, Srin kept bringing explosives into the Barracks. Vjun thought it was hilarious, but Li was noticeably on edge when Chéreau was in possession of explosives. The older of the two squadmates seemed to totally believe in the 'curse' surrounding Srin and it slightly ticked her off when he voiced his concerns. She had trained to blow stuff up for just as long as he had trained to beat stuff with his rifle or whatever it is they teach the normal ground-pounders. Oh well. Some things could not be helped. In the long run it didn't matter what Li or Vjun thought, so long as they got through the mission. She deftly slipped the explosive core back into the shell and screwed the top back on before tossing it in her rucksack with the rest of the specially marked grenades and flopping back in her bunk.

After what seemed like only minutes came the soft hiss of the automatic door opening and a voice like thunder. Srin's eyes shot open and she jolted up in bed, nearly smacking herself on the top bunk.

"All Bravo Company fireteams report to the briefing room in five minutes! You have five minutes or you'll be riding a Warthog down to the surface!"

The last remark elicited a few laughs from the room, including Jinxie's recognisable laugh, which was somewhere between a giggle and hysterical meltdown. The Explosives Expert swung her feet off of the bunk and brushed her messy hair with her hand halfheartedly before grabbing her vest and boots and joining the rest of Bravo Company in suiting up. Vjun walked up and grabbed one of her boots before she could put it on.

"Damn Jinxie, you have some tiny feet, you sure you're old enough to serve in the illustrious UNSC's Army?"

The sarcasm placed on illustrious made it all too clear how Vjun thought of the UNSC.

"Give me that back you-" Srin snatched the boot back and stuck it on her foot. She had 'borrowed' some extra armour and attached it to her boots. They were a little heavier but they'd also protect her feet better. A worthy tradeoff when dealing with explosives.

Vjun repeated her protest back to her, mocking her accent. Chéreau retorted with a swift punch to his shoulder and wondered if he ever got tired of being an ass. Slinging her rucksack and putting her helmet loosely on her head, Private First Class Chéreau made her way to assembly room with the rest of the stragglers. Li was already there, looking as dour as ever. Vjun was there too, chatting up the Specialist next to him. Penlan slid up next to him and elbowed him hard enough to make him whince and rub his side. The Sergeant wasn't much for words but made her points plenty clear. The lights dimmed and a holo projector of the surface of the alien construct flickered to life. The Captain began to outline the objectives of the mission and all the other details. To be honest, he had a habit of droning on and on and that gave Srin the habit of dozing off. Briefings were so terribly boring...

"... and I know you will deliver! Dismissed!"

Jinxie shook herself out of her daydream and followed the crowd into the armoury to finish suiting up. Technically she was only supposed to be issued three frag grenades, which she did take. But if you added the ones she had modified and stored in her rucksack previously you got closer to nine. Srin laughed to herself as she grabbed her MA37 and a few magazines, which she slung across her back and stuffed into the pouches on her vest, respectively. Last up was the M6C. Some guys claimed it was way weaker than the other M6 models but Srin did not notice or care enough to request a different one. A slight pressure on her back caused her to turn around and catch Vjun, red handed, in the process of writing something on her armour.

"What did you write on my back, Vjun?"

"The truth." came the smug response from the Corporal, who capped his blue pen and walked away.

Srin shrugged and walked into the hangar.

The Pelican bay door closed with a clicking noise and the eight soldiers housed within were bathed in darkness for a few moments before the overhead lights kicked in and illuminated the room once again. Srin blew some hair out of her face and looked around. She only recognised a few faces from the other fireteam. Vjun was the first to cut the relative silence, as always.

"Hey pilot, you better be careful. One of the soldiers down here is bad luck!"

The pilot chuckled and responded in good humour, "I don't care, I make my own luck."

"Wait, are we with Jinxie's team?"

"Yeah didn't you see the giant 'JINXED' written on her back?"

"THAT'S what you wrote on my back?"

Vjun erupted into laughter.

Srin threw a mock pout at the other soldier, "You're trying to get the Covenant to kill me!"

"Can it, all of you." Sgt. Penlan decreed forcefully, "And Vjun, you're gonna clean that off of Chéreau's armour once we hit the ground. That's defacing UNSC property."

---

The past three hours had been rough to say the least.

They landed without incident, and Vjun had even offered to clean the graffiti off of her armour but Srin shrugged. It made him happy and she didn't care much. Li had scowled at Vjun but said nothing. The Sergeant was too busy trying to organise the other squad and get everyone's bearings to intervene. They had figured out the general direction of the Marines and ODST squads that they were supposed to attach to and started walking. Thank goodness their helmets had intricate navigation systems; the forest was extremely dense and Jinxie had no doubt she would become hopelessly lost without the nav beacon on her eyepiece.

After an hour or so of walking, the eight man unit ran smack into a Covenant patrol, neither of which had seen the other coming due to the heavy foliage. Two Brutes, a Jackal and three Grunts versus eight UNSC Army troopers at melee distance. One of the Brutes roared in surprised and gored the unfortunate pointman from the other fireteam on his spike rifle. Immediately all 7 remaining troopers opened up with small arms fire. The furry monster died in a bloody heap, the pointman still impaled and gurgling on the weapon. The second brute dove behind a tree to avoid a similar fate. Jinxie dashed behind a rock and wildly sprayed the general area of the enemy with her rifle. A Grunt's panicked cries told her she hit something. As a satisfying end to the opening statement, Srin tossed a grenade over the rock, which detonated with a satisfying thump and snap as a tree buckled from the blast.

For the next three or so minutes Pfc. Chéreau peeked from her rock to periodically pepper the vague area of hostiles with gunfire. Eventually she peered over the stone to see Penlan eat a plasma blob to the chest and die stoically firing her rifle 'til it clicked. Vjun avenged the fallen Sergeant by turning the killer Grunt into a blue-green mess of gore. The Jackal screeched as it planted a bolt from it's purple carbine through another soldier's chest. Srin unloaded a burst at it but only one bullet hit the hideous bird-thing in the arm, causing it to recoil in pain and leap for cover.

"JINXIE! LOOK OU-"

Srin wheeled around in time to see Vjun point at something behind her. Something that promptly fired a trio of foot long spikes into his chest, (hopefully) killing him instantly. Jinxie swiveled again in time to see the brute raise his spike rifle for a death blow. However this gave her enough time to raise her rifle to block the blow. The blades chopped into the weapon and rendered it harmless and the monster wielding it pulled the spiker away and with it, the MA37. Srin fumbled for her pistol and managed to crack off two shots before the Brute gut punched her with it's free hand. The blunt force of the blow knocked the soldier back several feet and into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw being Li engaging the would-be killer with his rifle.

---

Srin Chéreau awoke an hour(?) later to silence, save for the sounds of the forest. Her chest ached in pain and she suddenly remembered the events of the last hour or two. She sat up from the damp forest floor with a groan. Dead troopers lay everywhere, it was obvious who had lost this engagement. Although the alien patrol had taken near total casualties as well, the Brute who had incapacitated Jinxie and killed Vjun was nowhere to be seen. That's when she remembered. Vjun!

She ran over to his body. Sure enough, he had died nearly instantly as far as Srin could tell. She tried in vain to yank the spikes out of his cold body but gave up after a couple tries. She wiped tears or maybe sweat off of her face and grabbed his tags and rifle before standing up. None of the other soldiers she checked were alive. She played the grim duty of tag collector as she took the fallen's ID tags and stuffed them in her pocket. The only one missing was Li. She found his helmet but there was no blood or trace of his body. Drag marks or maybe heavy footsteps lead off the site of the battle but she lost them in the soft forest ground. The Nav beacon blinked softly in her eyepiece, reminding Srin of her former goal. Current goal? She took a deep breath and started off in the direction of the beacon.

After a few minutes of walking the radio crackled to life, informing all available callsigns that there would be a ping for a short time at this 'Chariot 9-' whatever's location.

"Chariot, this is what's left of Army Fireteam 2 Bravo 9, I'm on my way to your location, over." The HUD on her eyepiece confirmed the ping had been received and saved locally so she had something to track.

Hey, better than nothing.