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It had been about another half hour, and area could start to see a large complex, with buildings, and in some areas he saw fellow UNSC soldiers, he was relieved to have finally made it to Fox Hole 2, after the long tiring journey, but he knew that rest probably wasn't in store for him and his men, and as they drew closer, Ari could smell a horrible stench, the entire place wreaked of it, 2 of his men gouged with a small whiff of it.

Finally the vehicle came to a stop, right in a small open area, and then Ari thanked, and said his goodbye to the 2 men that helped him get here, and they both parted to different areas.I sure do hope I see that man again Ari thought to himself, even though he knew the chances of them seeing each other again, were slim, considering the present situation...

As Ari approached an entrance with his men, 1 out of 5 guards at the gate asked for name, and rank, and Ari replied, and after the man checked the ID, Ari and his men were let in. Ari wasn't sure where to go, so he turned around, and asked where food was, because he knew he was hungry, and that meant his men, definetley were hungry. 1 guard gave them simple directions, and as Ari and his men walked down the corridors of solid brick, they could see so many men, some preparing for battle, some wounded, some just sitting, wanting to be left to their own thoughts, quite possibly their last, some writing their last letters to family, and friends....

The Pelican jutted off from the ground, leaving the marines. "Copy that Major. Coming around on approch, be advised, friendlies on approch from due south 56Lat 82Long. Hostiles have been spotted North of your position. Alright sir,here is the game plan, you and your boys gear up and hold at your position untill the team arrives. From the head West to an open spot in the cliffs, That'll be the LZ. From the LZ, we'll take care of the rest. Gunship is ready for airsupport, all guns locked and loaded. Call the word, Lima Nine-Nine-Three out."

The pelican Bank dived to the port side, lowering itself to the position of Lipton, passing by the plume of smoke. He couldn't get to the Major, there were too many damned trees.

"Ground team Lima, please be advised, NAV marker placed on Location of the major. Get him out and to NAV Bravo due west of your position. Hurry up boys, Covies inbound."

Anthony loaded 35mm's into the chaingun and readied the trigger. This was gonna be fun.

"Lima Team Alpha, be advised, the Brutes have your scent and are inbound on your position. Get moving now. Repeat, MOVE NOW! Gunship loading and locking on to their position; but no guarantees..."

As TI heard Karr's words about the Brutes, his heart jumped. Finally some action, he thought as he began moving back to the rear guards. He looked at the surviving passengers. Thank Omnipotent god for saving the major he thought.

The 30mm slugs rained death upon the encroaching Covenant ground forces. The plume of fire that shot up from the destroyed AA wraith set fire to a number of the Brutes clustered about it. It was a beautiful sight.

"Copy that Lima 993."

Lipton jogged ahead of the column of Marines, just because he was brass didn't mean he was useless. He was armed only with his service sidearm, but that was alright for the time being. The most important bit of equipment on his person (aside from the video chips) were two colored smoke grenades. One red and one Green. He reached a short drop and hurried towards a clearing in the trees.

"Lima 993 requesting evac now! LZ marked by Red smoke, repeat LZ marked by Red smoke."

He took out his red smoke grenade, primed it and hurled it into the center of the clearing as hard as he could. There was a brief pause before red smoke shot out the end, filling the clearing and rising above. The clearing looked too small from above, but there was more than enough room for a Pelican to land. Hell, they could probably fit an Albatross lander in the clearing with a little elbow-grease and some WD40.

Lipton nodded and watched with a certain amount of glee as the tree-line exploded, shredding the Covenant bodies around them. However his attention was diverted by a small chunk of purplish metal that had burned itself through a large tree-trunk and managed to imbed itself in a large rock. His awareness of the combat seemed to leave him entirely and he crouched to inspect the piece of debris. It had fallen off the rear section of the Covenant ship that crashed in Voi. And it had that puke-colored stuff on it. In fact, that puke-stuff seemed to be spreading. He pinged the location on SQUADCOM and opened his pack, looking for something he could use to sample it.

He had a small plastic baggy, which would have to do. He used his glove to scoop up a small sample of the stuff. It felt fleshy. A shiver ran down his spine as he did placed his hand on it. He placed the sample in the bag and sealed it, wiping his glove on the dirt. To his amazement the small sample he had taken from the ground had reappeared. It was as if the thing was growing. Small blisters began to appear on its surface as it slowly grew larger. He took a step back and glanced at one of the Marines.

"Jansen! Give me your incendiary grenade."

The Marine paused and tossed the unarmed grenade to the major.
He took apart the outer shell and placed the phosphorus all around the puke-substance. He removed the arming switch and activated it, then moved back a few feet as the entire thing went up in smoke. There was no major explosion, just enough heat to burn through two inches of titanium-A battleplate. Of course that heat only lasted for a few seconds, but it did the job. The only remnant of that s**t was in the plastic bag he had in his pack. Brutes were no longer moving about in the jungle. Something was wrong, but he wasn't going to question providence.

"Lima 993 get that bird down here Now! We need evac. This package needs to reach command!"

Winter sadly was in the tree line, as it started to explode the black ODST ran through the woods as his rear guard charged with him as the tree line exploded into nothing less then a roaring fire ball. Flaming trees, the quick burn of their wood crackling, the heat, it was a bit much for his fellow marines who had run for cover, Winter stayed. One present deployed, their were more.

Suddenly, for Anthony he saw the fireworks. In the rain of terror the warrior like brutes decided something, something stupid. The pelican, downed but in shambles made a sort of cover. Moving through the woods they grunted to each other unaware of the silent beeping of a bomb. A very powerful bomb.

"Hello Covenant bastards." Shelly voice rang true, and loud. They turned their heads, sniffing at the air, spiker's sweeping the area. Where was this voice coming from? "A word of advice, don't mess with the corps. Now go to whatever heathen god you wish to burn in hell. Good day."

Boom.

The pelican disapeared into a tower of smoke, black plumes rolling into the sky as a ball of fire consumed the forest floor. Brutes flying through the air, running as metal chunks flew through the air and fire licked their heals. It was a wonderful site from above.

"Funeral taken care of," Winter explained over the COM to Anthony. Plumes of smoke still rising from the once pelican. Now nothing more then a pile of rubble. "I think most of the enemy are.. Not with us sir. It seems our many presents, including the last has left them disoriented. We need evac before they can regroup but give me another twenty seconds and they'll be more presents for these bastards."

The black figure had once stood in the field, now he was in the flame. Sometimes, or always he loved the black armor. In the heat of flame he was fine, unlike the other marines he had armor that was made to enter the atmosphere at degrees that the human body couldn't stand. He switched his air filter on.

A black pack, it fell to the ground with a heavy thud, black objects started to fly out one by one. Winter grabbed them and dropped them, single flashing red blips as they armed. "Shelly, tell these bombs not to explode for our marines." She replied with a moments appearance of her ghostly figure. It had to do with the feet, marines feet would not trigger the heavy explosive only those of any other creature that may have the chance to walk over the high tensity napalm explosives. He didn't feel at all bad.

"This is Fire Team Le-" The bird came from the sky, it landed as its engines hummed and spewed trails of exhaust, right on time. Turning he ran as soldiers piled into the cabin. He was last, one last look into the woods before he jumped on board. No KIA's, all in one piece. Perfect. Make do with what you have, the mission had been a success.

"Mind if I?" It wasn't really a question, but manners. As he flung himself into the co-pilots chair. A quick view of the instruments, it all seemed green. The bird hadn't gotten a beating, hopefully she wouldn't. "Present left sir, the fireworks show will continue."