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Shifty snapped his rifle up into his shoulder, finger feather against the trigger, looking for the shadow as Mendez blazed a few rounds of hot lead at the supposed 'alien' in front of them.

The burst of gunfire from Mendez on point, resonated through his helmet, shattering the eerie silence that inhabited the strange and alien complex they were searching through.
Reacting to the situation, He quickly dropped to one knee and raised his BR55 upto his shoulder, taking a quick aim down the corridor where Mendez's shots had been directed in case the 'shadow' decided to charge at them.

((hey guys, sorry its so long. i just really got into it. But i think if you read the whole thing, you'll like it for a first RP post ^_^))

A lone pelican soared down through the atmosphere, the desert landscape below growing ever larger in the frontal viewport. In the aft section, the cargo and transport section, sat a small group of marines. Among them was a marine that had just recently been returned to the safety of the Titan. He had been stranded in a covenant controlled jungle for three weeks and was finally picked up by a search and rescue team only days before. He had been in bad shape when he returned. He had passed out in his bed and been asleep for a full thirty six hours before he was awakened by a messenger holding a box and clipboard, that told him he was to be sent planetside.
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The messenger began filling the marine, 2nd Leiutenant Roger Wilco, in on what was going on as he groggily rose from his bed and stumbled to the washroom. He started to use the bathroom, but he left the door open so that he could hear what the messenger had to say.

"Well, sir," the marine said uneasily, unsure about this awkward position. "It seems as though the ground unit entered the abandoned colony without too much trouble, but they came accross a few mutilated bodies. It sounds like they had been torn apart and... devoured..."

The messenger heard a flushing sound as Roger finished using the latrine, who then proceded to wash his hands and apply shaving cream to his overgrown beard.

And? He said, as he began to shear away the strands of hair with an antique straightrazor that he had inherited from his father, who inherited it from his and so on.

"Well," the messenger continued. "They thought it was curious at first of course, but put it on the backburner as just another event that led to the fall of the colony."

At this point, Roger walked out of the latrine with a clean face, wiping the last of the shaving cream off his chin with a white towel.

Is that my package son? he asked pointing at the box that the messenger was carying.

"Oh, yes sir," the messenger said, looking down at the box and then handing it to Roger.

Thank God, Roger said opening the end of the box and tipping the contents on to the nearest crate. Out of the box fell a carton of cigarettes and a handfull of disposable lighters. Both items that were technically banned onboard cruisers.

"I didnt think those were allowed on cruisers, sir," the messenger said. "How in the world did you get them delivered here?"

Let's just say i know a few people, son. Roger said, as he took out one of the cigarettes and lit it. So why do they need me on that dustball again?

"Right, so, the last transmission we recieved from the surface was slightly incoherent, but it sounds as though they have made contact with some sort of hostile alien species that is neither covenant nor flood. Unfortunately, it sounds as though at least two marines are have been KIA from contact with these bastards. We haven't had any contact since, because of interferrence, so we've decided to send in another squad for backup, and the brass wants you in it," the messenger finished.

Roger mulled this information over in his mind as he took a long drag from his cigarette. Then, letting it hang from his mouth, he reached over and grabbed his rifle from beside his bunk, slammed in a magazine and said..

Well then, let's roll
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So here he sat in the back of the next pelican to head planetside. After they had entered the atmosphere, Roger let out a long series of harsh caughs that he knew had nothing to do with his years of smoking. The planets air was extremely hot and filled with dust. As the aircraft slowly lowered and closed in on the position of the L.Z., though, he slowly began to get used to the atmosphere.

Five minutes later, the pelicans landing gear deployed, and the craft touched down on the dusty, windswept surface. The rear ramp lowered, and as Roger stepped off the craft, he lit another cigarette and walked to the nearest marine he could find.

Jesus Christ son, its hot as hell out here. Whats going on down here? Where am i most usefull? he asked the marine, who was apparently a relatively new marine who was one of the many left to guard the L.Z.

"Sir, yes sir. It's unbearable" the marine said, striking a solute. One that Roger returned promptly awaiting answeres to his questions. "Well, we got here okay, but then we found some de..."

Roger waved his hand to silence the boy saying Yes, yes. I've heard all that already. Whats happened recently?

"Well, sir," the marine continued, a little offended by this gesture, but he knew he was in no place to argue. "There was an enourmous sandstorm earlier that ******** our L.Z. and armory pretty good. It also carried off one of our C.O.'s, Michael, with it. It's been said that he was knocked off his feet by an unidentified alien who was carried off with him."

Roger raised an eyebrow at the recruit but told him to continue.

"We've received short com chatter from him and determined his location as somewhere out there." He gestured at the large ring structure that was clearly visible from the L.Z. "A rescue team has been sent for him, but we havent received any communication from either him nor the rescue team in a while"

Roger nodded and asked Ok, well what about the colony? The structure you guys were sent here for in the first place?

"Well, sir," he said, "There's a squad in there that have definately made contact with the aggressive alien species. There are two KIA's, but they're giving a hell of a fight and they've been either eliminating or rendering the species immobile, and some of the higher-ups are inspecting them so that we'll know what we're dealing with."

Well, where do you think I'd be most usefull? Roger asked as he scanned the horizon, looking first at the ring structure in the distance, then to the colony structure much closer.

"Well, sir," the recruit said, "Although i have no authority to give you orders, my personal opinion is that you would be of more use in the colony structure. Since they already have KIA's and heavy enemy contact, I think they could use the most backup. That and the fact that there aren't any more warthogs left at base and it would take a hell of a long time to hoof it all the way out there."

Sounds good to me, son. Roger said nodding at the marine. He looked back at the rest of his squad that had finished deploying from the pelican and were looking around expectantly. Ok everyone, report to this marine for briefing and orders. he said walking past the marine and patting him on the shoulder. The recruit smiled ear-to-ear, turned and gave Roger a sharp solute.

Roger trotted towards the colony structure and threw his finished cigarette on the ground as he entered the opened front doors. The air was only a few degrees cooler inside the structure, as it was sheltered from the sun, but it wasnt enough to make much of a difference in how uncomfortable it was.

It was deafanignly quiet inside. The only sounds were Rogers heavy boots making contact with the metal floor. It seemed like an eternity he walked through the dark empty halls, although it was only a matter of mere minutes, before he finally saw friendlies on his radar. He picked up his pace in their direction, but stopped suddenly as he saw two unidentified dots on his motion detector displayed on his H.U.D.

He looked in their direction, but there were too many halls, too many corners. They were rapidly approaching his position, much faster than any human or covenant he had ever seen before. Roger backed himself against a wall and readied himself for their arrival. He pulled back the bolt on his rifle and clicked off the safety.

Then, moments later, two blurs of fur and teeth rounded the corner in front of him, and raced to his location. Roger turned his rifle to them and opened fire in short bursts. The creature in front stopped dead in his tracks, but the second leaped at Roger and knocked him on his back. Roger got his forearm under what he thought was the creatures neck and held him back. While only inches away from Rogers face, the creature snaped its small razor sharp teeth at him, and wriggled fiercely trying to break Rogers grip on him.

With his free hand, Roger grabbed his combat knife and swung it upwards at the creature, shoving it to the hilt into its jaw. If it could be called a jaw. Roger couldn't distinguish any characteristics to the creature that could be compared to a human, or any other mammal for that matter.

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Back at the marine HQ, ODST Matsuo Yutrzenika yelled "INCOMING!" back to the rest of the marines that were inside the room of the door he was guarding. One of the creatures flew threw the door and into the room, but instead of attacking anyone, it simply fell to floor with a dull thud and slid a few feet before coming to a rest. A quick glance revealed that it was already dead.

I heard you guys wanted some of these things intact? came a voice from outside the doors. In walked Roger, carrying the second creature that was still skewered with his combat knife.

He set it down on the nearest available surface and made a salute.
2nd Leiutenant Roger Wilco reporting. Who's in charge here?

Static reupted in Michael's headset as he gazed down his rifles sight. The screams of the other aliens were bearly audible over the white noise. He kept his arm steady for a moment and then two aliens this time, popped out. Michael fired his gun again, this time getting the first alien in the chest with his bullets, but the second one avoided the bullets, using its buddy as a shield. His alien friend next to him took him and pulled his weapons trigger. A blue flash erupted and Michael had to squint his eyes just to see, even through his visor. A large hole apeared in the first alien and the one behind it, ripped into pieces. His alien friend, Prophet, grunted as they both took aim again. Not to far beyond the barrier, Michael reckoned, were UNSC troops on their way.