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1stSgt Mitchell, Scott P.
> >>ERR.UEG_1707.TIMESTAMP ANOMALY<<
>> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>> Unknown Stellar Coordinates

The Pelican honed in on the NAV beacon like a moth to a flame. The dropship spun in the air and came to rest in the clearing indicated by Sergeant Kumar. Mitchell hopped down into the clearing and walked forward, more or less at ease. He knew that if anything could get him now, he would already have been dead. The Covenant weren’t exactly the kind to wait.
”Guys, your ride’s here! Double time it let’s go! We gotta go fish a swabbie out of the Sunrise!”
The Sergeant had an odd rush of déjà-vu. It was as if he’d done this a thousand times before. Odd considering that this was his first combat mission with ANY of these Marines. His squad had been destroyed during the fighting on Reach. And now he was here with these ODSTs. Some of whom had just graduated from boot before the planet fell. It was odd how life had a habit of turning out that way. Mitchell wasn’t some green ODST, he’d been a Marine longer than some of these kids had been alive. So in a sense, he had been through this situation before. Sure the location and some of the players changed, but the overall script was the same.
Well, not everything was the same. The last time that Mitchell had been in an evacuation like this, he’d been a buck Sergeant following the orders of a Lieutenant who’d been in the service longer than Mitchell wanted to think about. He kept his M7S in a position where he could bring it to bear quickly should the need arise. Fortunately, it didn’t look like that would be necessary.

((Just a quick post. Let's try to pick up some momentum. We need to evac Poole and regroup with the others.))

Kumar, Whitney // E-5
> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>> Evac to Sunrise.

"Alright we're coming out of cover from the trees, do not shoot us!" Whitney jogged out about halfway to the pelican, letting the others pass her. She had to make sure it was safe, and it was for now. But its better to be safe then sorry at all times. When Liengod ran past, she ran after them, tapping Mitchell on the shoulder on the way to indicate that was all of them. She jumped up into the pelican and was happy to finally have a rest, even if it was brief. The landing in the pod was not right, so this was the time to get properly checked out. "Kio, check me out, do you little examination." Then she realized how stupid that sound, and it was properly because there was some screw loose.

"Don't get any ideas."

>Staff Sergeant Morre, Legix
>> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>>> Location: Unknown: Wet, Wooded Fields

Legix moved slowly, his squad in a circle-based formation around him. Their progress through the tall, healthy grass was slow. This, mainly was because of the bogged terrain beneath him. Suddenly, the shuffled steps in front of him ceased, soon stopping himself. The whole squad soon followed, everyone listening. In the helmet's COM, he could hear the man in front whispering, "Enemy Squad, fourty yards up, tree basin." Raising his head slightly, he peered just over the top of the grass, looking toward the tree location. Brutes, about six of them, stood there and, obviously, were on the alert, sniffing the air for the scent of the marines. Lowering back down, he checked his MA5C, reading the blue-shaded "32." Slowly, trying to keep himself from moving too much, he alerted his squad, "Alright boys...on three, engage. Throw frags first." He knew this could be what killed them, due to the squad being not fully fitted for combat.

"Three...two..."

Pulling the frag from his belt, he rested his AR in the soft earth, pulling the pin with his now free hand, throwing it far above the grass level. From his angle, he saw two frags pass overhead. Suddenly, a cry from one of the Brutes sprung out, the others soon screaming in a confused state. Picking up his rifle, he stood up, readying his gun, calling out as his squad began rising moments later, "Open up on them, boys!" In a split second, the entire squad's armory of equipped weapons began exchanging fire with the stunned brutes, dropping two almost instantly, the others only surviving from sheer luck and dodging, drawing their own weaponry of spikers and plasma rifles.

Mid-fight, he ducked into the grass, the firing just at the right level for him to hear the call of Anderson, lifting his hand to his helmet, "Richard, this is Staff Sergeant Legix Morre, where is your location? My boys and I can rally with you!" His message would hold more static, since he was using a helmet's communication strength, which was far weaker than the radio, but he hoped the fellow sergeant could hear him.

>Staff Sergeant Morre, Legix
>> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>>> Location: Unknown: Wet, Wooded Fields

Legix heard the message, about to respond as he heard a private scream as a plasma shot finally hit him, the young marine unlucky as it hit his face, kicking him back in a terrible, burned way of death. Quickly, he pulled himself to his feet, rushing towards the last two brutes, the other having been dropped in the dragged firefight. His legs, built for running, threw him great distances over the soft terrain. Nearing one of the two Brutes, he picked up a sticky grenade from one of the fallen aliens, leaping over the corpse. The Brute, enraged at the sight of its attacker, at least at this close-range scenario, drew his Spiker back, swinging the blade downward. The Sergeant dodged by an inch, the blade slapping the side of his helmet, where Legix let it pass under his right arm, clicking the grenade to life as he drew closer, tagging the Brute and bolting into the woods. Behind him, he could hear the enraged alien, hearing its steps as it chased him. Throwing himself forward, he yelled, "Sh-!" The grenade blew up only feet away, throwing him into a quick roll, the marine bouncing, missing trees by only inches.

After a minute, he groaned, hearing the last Brute's grunt as it was shot by one of his men. For a moment, he simply remained on his back, picking himself up in a pained groan. Nothing broken, but he sure didn't feel too hot after that "sticky" situation. Puns. Over the com, he could hear, "Sir, we lost Avery and Riggs." For a moment, the Sergeant thought, head down at his failure to keep his full squad alive. Finally, he answered back, "Get the others and haul a** over to me...I'm about ten yards in the forest line. We're going to wait it out for a fellow marine. Plus, I need the rest." Moments later, about two minutes later, his men emerged from nearby trees. Falling to the ground, the Sergeant rested his back against a tree, leaning his head back, removing his helmet. Two dead men already, when they had been apart from the other squads only for a day. Looking to his rifle, he saw only three bullets left. Shaking his head, he pulled the clip out, tossing it away as he loaded another. The corporal sat down beside him resting a hand on Legix's shoulder, "Sir, they fought proud, the only thing we can do is to move on...we got work to do."

"Yeah...move on. After, of course, we regroup with the Sergeant."

> Staff Sergeant Morre, Legix
>> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>>> Location: Unknown: Wooded area

Legix turned to the sound, slowly getting up, calling out to the fellow marine, "Another glorious day in the Marines! That you, Richard?" His squad had been reloading, chatting, and taking a break. But, at the sound of the other sergeant, they got up, stopped talking, and paid attention.

> Staff Sergeant Morre, Legix
>> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>>>Location: Unknown: Wooded Area

Legix rested his MA5C on his shoulder, "No clue, not that I'm aware of, and I have a faint idea." Turning, he motioned to his squad, "I know that you had to have had a good radio to reach me. I think it would be wise to head back to it...from there, we may be able to contact someone, if anyone, and get regroup in a bigger force. More of us, the safer my squad is. Besides, we need to find some type of shelter. A good place to barricade for a while."

Maybe, if they got lucky, they could find a Helljumper or two. If not, even a normal marine or a few would work. In the small group they were in, consisting of mostly rookies, it put them in a bad spot. The corporal spoke up, "Sir, we need to get moving...Cov's will send a group to check on the missing Brutes..." Shrugging, Legix simply said, "Let them...as long as we can foritify an area near that radio."

> Staff Sergeant Morre, Legix
>> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>>> Location: Unknown: Pod Crash Site

Legix followed quickly, his the men needing to reload doing so before jogging after them. In a short run, they all had rallied at the crash site. Some of the rookies were complaining. Slowly, he approached the radio set, knocking on it. Quickly, he sat down, popping off the front of the radio. Examining it for a minute, laughing, "Well, well, well...you got lucky Richard. Damn lucky. This thing is barely running. Broadcasting system is running at half capacity. Go grab one of the flashlight batteries from one of the dead boys and bring it here..." Turning, he pointed to the corporal, "Yates, you know what to do. Get the greenhorns and have them set up a small perimeter. I want this place all set for a defense twenty minutes ago."

"Yes sir!

For a moment, he pulled some units out, laying the numberpad for specific typing to the side, then laying the dial beside it, both on top of the plate he had just removed. With luck, he may be able to boost the strength some more. Slowly and carefully, he removed the electrical source of the radio, keeping the wire ends a safe distance from the parts and himself. The live charge may still be there, so it wouldn't be side to touch anything.

Gunnery Sergeant Compton, Nathaniel
> >>ERR.UEG_1707.TIMESTAMP ANOMALY<<
>> UNSC Iron Sunrise
>> Unknown Stellar Coordinates

Pelican rides were as unforgiving as a ride down from orbit, minus the chute failures, which is why as the massive dropship flew in towards Compton and Mitchell the Gunnery Sergeant's stomach twisted a bit. He hated those massive floating buckets of tungsten and steel even more than he hated floating around space on a carrier. On second thought, maybe not that much, but he certainly hated it. The dropship slowly descended for just a moment before the pair of sergeants climbed aboard and the Pelican took off once again with reckless abandon. " Zulu 214, Zulu 214 " Compton repeated in his head, hanging onto the supporting rail between his seat and the next trying to force himself to remember the call sign of the b*****d he would have to kill. The pilot was a little more than gutsy in his ascent, his maneuvers were harsh and extremely high gee for a simple ascent from an LZ, hot or not. The Pelican leveled out at around 1500 feet and Compton's stomach returned to him, at least in a drop pod he had a little bit of control, on this junk he was simply along for the ride.

" Take it easy up there! " he yelled towards the pressure door separating the cabin from the drop bay. Compton looked back towards Mitchell and rolled his eyes, " Rookies. " Not a second later his ear piece cracked to life with static before a voice broke through over the roar of the engines, " Hey, I ain't no rookie, " the pilot called over the comm, " Don't forget I can still hear you, Gunny. "

After just a few short moments Mitchell was standing and staring out onto the alien terrains and cuing his mic, "Echo team, if you can hear this activate your NAV beacon, we’ll extract you. I say again, if you can hear this activate your NAV beacon and we’ll pick you up. " His orders were simple and yet the purpose they served that was much more complex. Once Echo was up and on the move there would be no hesitation. The orders would be quick and concise and the team would be more than able to get things done once collected and debriefed, Compton would make sure of that. If Mitchell wasn't up to the challenge, which Compton doubted that he wasn't, then he would be more than happy to step in and make sure things went smoothly. First thing was first though, get Echo together and get ready to roll out.

Once everyone was together things could start to go down, Compton knew exactly what he wanted to do and hopefully Mitchell was on the same page. They had to return to the Iron Sunrise if they wanted to even make any sort of headway, thankfully that was where their ride was headed after a short stop. The NAV markers that popped up on the horizon were a friendly reminder that there was a reason that Compton decided to step up to be an ODST. So many other men and women, Marines included, would never have survived what they had just gone through but thanks to their impossible training and years of experience there was still quite a few men left. It just went to show that ODSTs were more than just soldiers, they were survivors.

The Pelican arced off in another high gee turn as it corrected it's flight path to the nearest cluster of NAV points. A short few minutes later and the Pelican was dropping out of the sky towards the clearing that the ODSTs had established. Mitchell stepped out confidently and faced his men while Compton stepped not to the ground beneath him but to the cockpit. He knocked twice on the pressure door before sliding it open and stepping into the cockpit. Zulu 214 was flipping switches and managing a few cool down keys while Compton stepped in. He didn't have to keep the bird aloft as the landing gear was holding them on the ground thankfully.

" How was the flight? " Zulu was more than arrogant, his words were tinged with sarcasm and playfulness, something anyone in their right mind would not voice to a superior officer. The kid certainly had balls. " Rough around the edges to say the least, " Compton was harsh with his words, trying not to establish authority but trying to make sure the kid wouldn't pull ridiculous moves for no reason and stress both the ship and his stomach, " Try not to pull such high gee maneuvers next time, I nearly lost my lunch in the bay back there, and I would not want to dirty this bird for no reason, you understand me? "

Zulu simply nodded in response, " Good. " Compton said, awe stricken that the younger soldier didn't try to justify his actions, at least he was a smart pilot. Compton turned tail and left the room, the pressure door locking shut and hissing behind him. When he looked out of the bay he could see a few of his comrades all stepping towards the back of the Pelican, Mitchell in the midst of the lot of them. " Looks like we can finally get the party started! "