EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

“I just want to be done with fighting, that’s all.” Kaleeth replied, turning her head away. “Learning to fight was all I wanted, growing up. To be the kind of hunter that would make my father proud, but…it feels like it’s been a lifetime of fighting for me. I’m glad it can be over now.” Kaleeth was quick to change the subject. For whatever reason, she did not seem too keen on talking about her injury. Instead, she looked over again to Janius and took his hand. “I think Julan will be glad it’s over too. Maybe…we’ll have time now to go visit some of those places he has wanted to see?”

If Kaleeth was not intent on dwelling on what she had lost, Ahnasha supposed she could move on from it at the moment as well. Perhaps at the moment, it was best to focus on what was ahead of them, rather than what had already come to pass. While Kaleeth seemed content to simply rest and spend time with Janius, Ahnasha nudged Fendros to leave with her and give them their space. “I know there’s more we’re going to need to do. Like Saras said, our people are going to need their Champion. They’re going to need you. We…well we did win. The battle, the war, everything. We stripped Vile of all the power he stole, and he won’t be able to threaten Mundus for centuries. And we all lost a lot in the process. I’m sure nearly every single one of them out there did, just like us. And they’re going to want to hear all of this from you so…I hope you’re ready to give speeches.” Ahnasha grinned, though it was fleeting, only to be replaced with a frown. “Do you think we should go talk to Sabine now, though? I wish we didn’t have to put that on her so soon. I know she’s going to be taking Meesei’s death hard, probably more than any of us. But…if we don’t tell her about Do’rhajul, she’ll just end up learning about it from someone else. Or figuring it out on her own.”

The Cradle

The attack came quickly, but even those few moments were well-within Nirann’s ability to use. To a normal organic, his perception would be like looking on in slow-motion. The emergence of the droids through the doorway required immediate action. Just a quick visual scan identified the droids as an industrial model. They were certainly armed, though they were not military models. They had likely been reprogrammed and repurposed for this attack. Given that they were not classified military equipment, Nirann could easily access their model specifications through public networks. He could learn how they were constructed as well as the layout of their components. The cannon was one he could identify in his scans. It was a heavier weapon of Human make, though he was well-aware of its energy output. It was a fairly simple calculation to judge exactly how much damage his own defenses could handle.

Nirann had no shortage of reasons to act. The members of the science team were critical mission assets, even moreso than himself. He had no intention of dying, but as much as Marae would hate him even thinking it, he was still “just” a copy. However, the motivation that pushed him above all others was the one he would not log officially. Marae was here, and she was in danger. The mission was supposed to come first, but Marae was who he would protect. All others were secondary.

Before Skopec had even hit the ground, Nirann had angled his shield strength towards the front and started off in a forward sprint. Nirann had not brought weapons with him, but he was still in the frame of a Rothian war droid. It was a military machine, and it had its own integrated armaments for him to use. For such close quarters, its plasma blade was perfectly suitable. His arm opened up to expose the energy projector before the bright red blade ignited. As the energy cannon charged to full power, Nirann was already dashing forward. The droid was aimed right at him, but that was perfectly fine to him. A shot aimed at him was one not aimed at her. He took the first shot directly to his shields, but he did not intend to allow a second. They had been close to start, and it just took a moment to close the gap. He slashed his blade for the droid’s arms to disarm it and remove its threat, then intended to follow through by thrusting it into the processor directly.

Rhia made her analysis as quickly as Nirann, though it took a moment longer for Vreta to be able to react to it. He was not armed, but there was still an opening for them to help. Nirann was handling one of the droids, but the other was occupied with Skopec. It was uncertain if they would be able to save him, but they had a chance to try. Rhia directed Vreta to rush forward as well and run up from behind the droid. These droids seemed to currently lack any remote network connections that might open them up to remote hacking, but manual hacking was still an option. If Vreta could jack in and establish a connection physically, Rhia had prepped a virus to attempt to disable its motor functions, then perhaps do more from there.

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai

---

Vael, in this case, did not pay as much attention to Grikgar’s attitude as he did the plan itself. The Unggoy, it seemed, had taken some of his own initiative. Vael kept firing, and kept up pressure, until his carbine’s magazine was empty. Without missing a beat, he drew the plasma rifle and continued to lay down suppressive fire over the area until the detonation finally came.

The secondary explosive was a shaped charge, intended to cut through the platform from below. It was more limited in area of effect than an explosive on the platform would have been, but it had been placed well. Evidently, Grikgar had observed the area and correctly guessed where many of those on the platform would flee to. The blast tore through the platform, killing some Kig-Yar and a few Sangheili immediately, while sending out a shockwave that knocked several others around them off their feet. From where he was, Vael could see several shields flare, and a few break, around the explosion. Hostiles had stopped coming out from inside the structure, so there were likely few remaining inside.

The explosion had created some cover on the platform, by virtue of the warped metal plating from the floor, but it had also created an opportunity. Many of the remaining hostile Sangheili now had weakened or depleted shielding, though that advantage would not last long, if they were allowed to recover.

Vael ejected the magazine from his carbine and slotted in a new one in one quick motion. ”The enemy is weakened, push the advantage!” He ordered before jumping down onto the platform below.

Given that he had to go below the platform to plant his charges, Grikgar was separated from the rest of the team. It would take some time to climb back up to the others, but in the wake of the explosion, there was something else he may have spotted out of the corner of his eye. Movement in the rain, and a silhouette just at the base of the hill. It was a Sangheili, currently in active camouflage, who must have dropped down from the platform above in the chaos, and now had his sights on Grikgar.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth lowered her head. “I remember seeing what was happening, at the end. I fought off the ones that tried to overwhelm me, and the rest ahead of me were trying to chase you down. I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t move my leg, I…couldn’t keep up. I saw Do’rhajul. He was surrounded, he was…hurt, but he still threw you his shield.”

“He knew what had to be done.” Lorag’s voice sounded out behind them. He still stood at the entrance of the tent, arms crossed, occasionally glancing outside. “Just like the Alpha. They saw what had to be done, and they did it. No hesitation. Couldn’t have done it without them. We killed a god, and they deserve the glory of that kill in their memory as much as any of us.”

The Cradle

Regardless of the source of the symptoms she felt, Freyr would find she did not experience them for long. The drones her body was hooked to provided constant analysis and treatment for any deviation from ideal homeostasis. The heat from outside, however, they could not address. The whole of the building seemed to shake from the explosion, and once again, most of those around her stumbled and staggered. Fortunately, the blast doors kept back the flames, but it seemed their closest exit was now blocked.

Nirann needed only to double-check the building’s blueprints for a moment to feel dubious about their plan for escape. The hangar was a fair distance away, and he could only guess at the current stability of the structure with the limited information he had available. Based on the estimated yield of the explosion, plus previous impacts, it was possible they could make it down in time, but there was quite a bit of a margin of error in those estimates. An alternative would be preferable. He signaled to the Rothian transports outside, informing them of their current position and situation.

“I can call a transport to this floor.” Nirann informed Skopec. “We just need to get to the building’s outer walls and one of them can cut through and extract us. Preferably on a side that isn’t on fire.”

Already, the dropships were surrounding the building and scanning for safe locations to cut through the exterior, then marking the options for Nirann and the others.

The Cradle

From Freyr’s perspective, the impact to the tower block would seem to shake the whole world, except for herself. The deafening sound would send her ears ringing as those around her stumbled in the hallway, but the drones guiding her on her anti-grav stretcher adjusted quickly and seamlessly to the point that Freyr herself did not feel a thing. She did have her senses returned to her; she could see, hear, and feel everything apart from the pain a targeted sedative was keeping from her. As a safety measure, however, the drones were temporarily suppressing her motor functions to prevent her from accidentally bringing harm to herself in a panic.

The Rothian-like droid stood over her, speaking in an artificially calm tone. “Please do not panic from any sensation of paralysis you may be experiencing. You are being treated for a concussion, and minor injuries to your species’ olfactory organs. Any other symptoms are merely a temporary side-effect of treatment, so you may rest calmly knowing you will make a full recovery.”

Evidently, the programming governing the droid’s bedside manner did not account for the very real dangers around them. The medic had been shaken off her feet, but scrambled back up as quickly as she could. With her neural link, she connected to her ship outside to make sure it was still active and ready for takeoff. “My transport is ready on the pad just outside. It can get us out of here the quickest.”

Vreta’s return to awareness was something less of a shock compared to Freyr. Rhia had been managing his body, and though there were a multitude of questions that would need to be answered out of this, their more immediate concerns were much more pressing. Rhia helped him catch up quickly to what had been happening. She had been in contact with Rareth, and the Datius had certainly not been sitting by idly. The Outreman military had instructed her to evacuate her people as well, and she had no problem complying with that request. Two squadrons of Rothian fighter drones and multiple military transports had been deployed from the cruiser above.

Had the group been outside, they would have been able to see the fireballs in the sky as the shielded craft pierced through the atmosphere at breakneck speeds. The transports were there as a contingency in case their VIPs could not reach their own ship, while the fighters provided protection. Given that the unidentified vessels were currently attacking both Rothian and Outreman citizens, they were absolutely valid targets. The squadrons of fighters came in fast from above, only to lose over half of their velocity in an instant to match speed alongside the hostile craft. Unlike Human ships, Rothian vessels did not use thrusters at all. Their propulsion came from sophisticated gravity engines which could provide “thrust” in any direction, equally. As such, the fighters looked as if they were orbiting the hostile ship in a swarm, with weapons facing their targets at all times. They fired concentrated particle beams like scalpels to cut through the hull and precisely target critical systems. Meanwhile, some of the fighters maneuvered below the vessel to attach to the underside of its hull. Using their powerful engines like tug ships, they would try to push the ship away from any crash course with important targets on the ground.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth groaned, letting her head rest back on her pillow. “Um, well…sore, I think. Sore all over.”

Ahnasha grinned lightly. She did not want to crowd Kaleeth nor Janius, but she did find a spot in the tent to stand that was a bit closer. Depite everything, Kaleeth’s attitude seemed relieved, and that did spread to her, to an extent. “I really can’t say I’m surprised, with how fiercely you fought that whole battle. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do the things you did.”

Kaleeth nodded, smiling a bit herself. “I just remember how much I wanted it all to be over. That whole time in the valley, I would keep looking up at that tower and keep thinking ‘That’s the end. Just need to get to the tower.’ My beast spirit wanted it too, I could feel it. All it’s anger at Vile; I could feel it just wanted to get up to that tower and rip him to pieces. I didn’t feel all the hits I took. All the pain, I think my beast spirit took it for me so I could keep pressing on.”

Laughing briefly, Kaleeth again groaned. “I feel it all now, though. But Sabine said I would get better. I remember that. How is…everyone else? Is anyone else hurt?”

The Cradle

The change for Vreta was sudden, and he did not understand it. It was like he was in another place, yet at the same time he was not. He could still see the room he was in, but it was like this other scene was laid on top of it in his vision. It was blurry, like he was looking through ocean waters. He likely would have collapsed, were it not for the fact that Rhia could recognize that something was happening. She took control of some of his motor functions to keep him stable, while also monitoring his mind to make sense of what was happening.

“Freyr…what is going on right now? You need to wake up.” He asked.

---

Obviously, the report the medic received was a cause for immediate concern. “This is no concussion…” She muttered as she sorted through the various screens crossing her view. With just a thought, she ordered her droids to start giving more comprehensive treatment. One of the floating drones hovered over her torso and opened up the bottom of its chassis, revealing an array of specialized instruments. A dozen small tubes snaked across her body and pierced through her skin at different points to connect nearly every organ system she had with the drone. Combined with nanite injections, it could perform nearly any kind of medical treatment required, from simple medication to full surgery. It could even pump her blood manually, if her heart failed to do so. Meanwhile, the Rothian-like droid removed from its storage compartment what looked like a rolled-up, plastic sheet. It was a stretcher, and once it was unrolled on the floor beside Freyr, it went completely rigid. The small, anti-grav thrusters on its corners allowed it to float in the air, and given that it was sized for a Rothian, Freyr could easily fit on it.

The droids moved Freyr onto the stretcher, which lifted up into the air right away. “Clear the way! I’m taking her back to the infirmary.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai

---

As the charge was planted, Vael took up a position prone, obscuring himself as best as he could on the edge of the ridge. He braced his carbine between two rocks and set his sights through his scope on one of the doorways. There were just a few chokepoints that the enemy would be funneled through once the fighting started, so they would want to maximize the damage they could deal in that time.

The detonation sounded out like thunder, though the roar of the storm still overtook it. After a moment, the whole platform in front of them started to list to one side, but Vael adjusted his aim to keep it trained on the doorway. The moment he saw movement, he opened fire. The green glow of the projectile lit up the area around it in the rain, though it cut through the air in the blink of an eye. The first one hit was an Unggoy trying to rush out the door. The carbine shot pierced his torso armor, followed by another, and another. Plasma and bullets joined in pelting the doorways. Unggoy that tried running outside at first were cut down in the doorways or shortly outside, but the better-shielded Kig-Yar and Sangheili could make it farther. The team on the closer ridge could not keep the doors suppressed indefinitely as they started to need to reload or let their weapons cool, but the marksman team on the other ridge would find the targets scattering across the platform had been softened.

The Cradle

Masgard did not have much opportunity to get close to Freyr before one of the medical droids stepped in front of him. It was the one with the frame resembling a Rothian. Unlike Nirann, it did not have that noticeable “liveliness” to its movement. Its motion seemed more like a moving statue. “Do not interfere with the delivery of medical treatment. Step back, citizen.” It ordered.

Masgard would feel the slight pressure of a metal finger as Nirann lightly tapped his shoulder. “The medical drones are pretty protective of their patients. I’d just step back and let them work. Trust me, this medical team is equipped to give better care in the field than she could receive at Outremer’s most advanced medical facilities. She’ll be fine. The short version of what happened is that she hit her head. Slightly longer version is that we were at a concert after meeting with Wallace and things got a bit chaotic. There were a few orbital strikes, and somewhere along the way, she hit her head on a barrier. It looks like she might have broken her nose, but that’s minor compared to a head injury. The medics are making sure there is going to be no lasting damage, so again, just let them work. We can get her comfortable and cleaned up once we’re sure she’s out of danger.”

The Rothian medic herself paid little attention to what the others around her said. Nirann had sent his full report before the medics even arrived, so she could focus her full attention on managing the diagnosis and treatment. She moved little from where she was as the droids worked, but if one looked close enough into her eyes, they might see the lights of holographic screens dancing across her vision under her iris. She had a direct neural link to her droids, allowing her to benefit from their processing and analysis capability, as well as her own training and expertise. The droids were drawing up a toxicology report, as well as neural and body scans, to tailor their treatment as closely as possible to her specifically.