Halo: The Ohana Rebels
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		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Light =&gt; Light: Exotic Small Groups =&gt; Topic started by: ashia starstreak on 19-02-2014, 01:11:42</h2>
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				Title: <strong>Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>19-02-2014, 01:11:42</strong>
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				<div class="spoiler_container"><div onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button" class="spoiler_header">Prologue</div><div class="spoiler_body">&nbsp; <br>"In the case of Echo Private 5898689 Ryan O'brian, we find Echo Private 1068689 Shana Wasser of Eridanus II in the Eridanus System, guilty of all charges. You are here by sentenced to the Penal colonies where they will decide your fate."<br><br>The words echoed within Jacobs' (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o180/ashia_starstreak/Jacobsprofile.png) head as he took his once beloved hero by her arm and led her down the aisle. As they passed the rows of empty chairs, he couldn't help but feel a sting in his heart. He knew he had done the right thing, but even now still believed Shana was not a bad person. Cold blooded, she shot and killed her teammate on the field. The single shot rang true and clear and even with a silencer, to Jacobs, it couldn't have resonated more.<br><br>He&nbsp; didn't understand why she would have done such a thing. Jacobs could barely swallow as he urged the petite traitor out of the cold room. He could feel the generals eyes upon them as they walked out and began their way down the hall toward the freighter that would transport them to the Soell system. The Sergeant wanted to talk to Shana, but was afraid his mix emotions would magnify into something potentially worse. <br><br>Approaching the attached gateway onto the freighter, they were met by Echo Corporal 9028685 Colby. He stood firm and straight, his usual happy nature seemed depressed and serious. With a nod of his head, he turned his back and lead the way into the freighter. No words were spoken, none were needed.<br><br>*****<br><br>Flashing Red lights swirled, sirens screamed. The freighter rumbled and ship jerked and swayed. The haul creaked and complained and there stood Shana in the midst of it all, blood splashed upon her face and clothing. Standing at first wobbly, she held her footing in the middle of the hall. Her eyes fiery, her posture became strong. She starred back at Jacobs as she backed toward an escape pod to hold tightly the door's frames on each side. As he approached her with uneasy stomps of his boots, she&nbsp; moved her way into the escape pod, but when he did not follow, she looked back once more in question. <br><br>"Why?" was all she asked.<br><br>With an honest answer, Jacobs took a deep breath and swallowed before he answered, "Because I owe you...Next time we meet...I'll kill you myself." and with the hurt stuck in his throat and his heart stuck in his gut, Jacobs pressed the release button and ejected Shana's pod from the ship. His eyes watered, his emotions of anger and sadness swelled. How could one person so small, weigh so much on him? His hero, his sister.. mentor.. have all now turned into thing; his enemy.<br><br><br></div></div><br>Her first impression of the colony was hot and humid. The buildings looked old but updated with walnut being the normal style of roofing. The street gutters cluttered with dirt and bits of trash. The towns people of this particular part of Falaknuma dressed in faded colors. They dragged their feet and kept their head down, and though looking as if they could use a little extra cR, none seemed interested in walking up to the booth set up for the Ohana recruitment.<br><br>Ressaw crossed her arms and looked behind her booth at a simple training course complete with walls, ropes, and a tire obstacle course. The time was still early, but already the heat against her camouflage jacket became uncomfortable. Pulling herself free of it, revealed a olive transparent&nbsp; tank top. Ressaw aimlessly tossed it upon the table top of her booth and looked over to her dark skinned assistant as he approached with broad proud shoulders. She eyed a couple setting up another booth beside her own before looking back to her partner. "Is everything set?"<br><br>"Oh yeah, we are ready to go!" he replied enthusiastically with a big smile upon his face. When the commander did not share his excitement, he gave the petite woman a reassuring pat on her back and added, "We need a crew for that big ship.."<br><br>She said nothing and looked out toward the main road waiting for anyone to show up. Recruiting was always unpredictable, and though that was part of the excitement, it wasn't something Ressaw was particularly interested in.<br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebel</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>19-02-2014, 03:25:28</strong>
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				<div class="spoiler_container"><div onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button" class="spoiler_header">Prologue</div><div class="spoiler_body"> "They don't <em>die</em>. Everybody knows that. Spartan Kain-295 is just...missing in action." He'd been sent down planet side to a settlement called New Falujah; a place on a remote planet that humanity had really just gotten around to colonizing. Overseeing the military construction were a few high level VIP's, so when the Covenant found them, it was all hands on deck. The fighting was horrible as always, but the UNSC had the advantage of terrain knowledge as well as the numbers advantage. But the Covenant were always damn hard to fight. <br><br>That's why they sent him in. He'd been in a training simulation when the orders came down. "Lieutenant, your orders are to travel to colony designation "New Falujah", rednezvous with our ground troops, and evacuate the high level personnel on the planet. At any cost. Do you understand?" He looked down at his commanding officer and nodded his head. "Affirmative."<br><br>&nbsp;The entire flight to the planet was silent, right up until they broke through the atmosphere and immediately into heavy combat on their way to the rendezvous point. "Sir, the LZ is too hot! We can't land! We'll get blown to shit if we go any lower, and we'll sure as hell get blown to shit if we stay here!! Orders?!" Standing up, he walked to the bay doors and opened them. "Strafing run. Low and fast. Let me out on the way and I'll help clear things out. As soon as I'm out of these doors and your last salvo is away, you hit the afterburners and find somewhere safe. I'll radio you once it's okay. And then you get back here ASAP so we can get the VIP's out. Understood?" <br><br>He got salutes from all his men in the Pelican, then braced himself against the portal between himself and open air. He waited for his pilot, then he heard, "Beginning attack run." The guns began spitting gigantic slugs of hot lead and the missile bays opened, launching hellfire down on the Covenant. The Pilot kept the bird steady until they were about twenty feet above ground. Then Kain jumped from the aircraft, flailing his arms and legs in a controlled fashion to manipulate his descent. He hit the ground and rolled, not even pausing as he stood up and brought his rifle to bear. <br><br><em>BRRAT-BRRAT-BRRAT</em> A three round burst dropped a Jackal advancing on a downed soldier with three neat holes in his back and carnage out the front. After helping the soldier up, Kain joined the battle in earnest. Several hours later they'd turned the tide and earned some rest before the next wave. He stood in the command room above all the others as they spoke back and forth. Finally they looked at him and asked what to do. "Command wants you all gone and safe.<br><br>&nbsp;I don't know if they consider this planet lost, but you four are the reason I'm here. You're getting ex-filled as soon as we have a clear window of opportunity. I've got a gunship on standby a few klicks away. As soon as I give the word, they'll be here, and then they'll leave with you on them." It sounded so easy when he said it, and he said it that way to make them feel safe. If any of these men or women had been soldiers once, they were desk jockeys now and forgot what real combat was life. The next few hours would be hell.<br><br>Three Hours Later the entire op was FUBAR. The Covenant had gotten reinforcements and were overrunning everything they had. It wouldn't be long before they got into the main base and killed everyone inside. Rushing in covered in blood of both enemies and friends, he contacted his pilot. "Jefferson, get here <em>now</em>. I'll be on the base's main gun and I'll provide cover, but get up to the roof, and get the VIP's out. The base is lost, but losing them is not an option."<br><br>&nbsp;Hustling the VIP's into the cargo elevator that led to the roof, he went about destroying the consoles so no valuable information would fall into Covenant Remnant hands, but when he found the communications log, for some reason he looked at it. He nearly dropped his rifle when he realized the Brass had knowledge of New Falujah being unsafe for long term habitation due to CR presence in the area. And they knew that if they attacked, they'd attack in force. Their troops wouldn't stand a chance. And finally, the last part, the part about him. He played the audio log and stood in silence as he listened and the battle raged outside. <br><br>"Admiral, the Covenant Remnant are here! Now! What's going to happen to us?!"<br><br>&nbsp;"You're going to get rescued." <br><br>"With all due respect sir, how?! No one can get through this!!" <br><br>"A Spartan can, and a Spartan will."<br><br>"Is your Spartan good enough to pull this off?"<br><br>"Any Spartan is good enough. That's why they're Spartans."<br><br>"Can one Spartan turn the tide of this battle? Can they stop the Covenant."<br><br>"No, but they can get you to safety. And that's what they'll do."<br><br>"What about the personnel here?"<br><br>"You know the answer to that; they're expendable...you aren't."<br><br>"And the Spartan? Against these numbers there's no way he would survive the fighting."<br><br>"That's the point. He's going to give you the chance to escape."<br><br>"But sir...he'll die."<br><br>"Spartans...they don't die. They're just missing in action."<br><br>-Communication Terminated-<br><br>"They knew?! They knew I wasn't coming back from this?!" For one of the few times in his life, Kain felt angry and while he wanted to leave the entire base as scrap, he still had a job to do, and if he was going to die in the process...well, an old saying came to him. "So others may live." That day he fought. And he fought and he fought and he fought. He fought like a Demon possessed, and that's what the Covenant called him. Up until the VIP's were away; up until he was the last man standing. Up until he signaled the base's self destruct. But that's the thing about Spartans. They don't die...at least that's what people say.<br><br></div></div><br>Those words still echoed in his mind, and they always would. He'd known them before he even went into active duty, but to experience that treatment first hand...it hurt. He and his brothers and sisters; they'd known this, but still to fully realize it was a shock that was nearly impossible to overcome. That entire day was forever burned into his memory, and sometimes he'd wake up in a cold sweat, panting hard, just like he was now. Getting some water, he looked at his small apartment. <br><br>One bedroom, one bath, a living room if you could call it that. He made enough money for more but he liked it here. He liked the people near the port. They were hard working and most were honest. But he wouldn't stay here forever. Looking outside, he figured he couldn't stay in all day so he threw on a black tanktop, a skullcap to hide the scars on the back of his neck, cargo pants and boots. As well as his favorite fingerless gloves. No work today so he'd have to find something to entertain himself, but that wouldn't be much of a problem. Before he left, he checked the secret compartment he'd built that housed his armor.<br><br>&nbsp;Still locked, still primed to go off if anyone tampered with it. Satisfied, he slid a knife onto the small of his back and went outside into the weather he'd become accustomed to in these long months here. To this day he still couldn't believe that a scrap collector had stopped by New Falujah after the Covenant had left. But any Spartan who survived basic...they were damn lucky, so maybe he still had some to spare. The main road through town had shops and kiosks set up all along it, but none really caught his eye today. He got a bit of food, but aside from that he was just wandering. Until finally he found a booth that was recruiting for a ship. It wasn't for the UNSC, so his rank as Lt. meant nothing, and he was glad for that. He'd been gone for a while, and he wasn't honestly sure how the Brass would react to finding one of their invincible throwaway weapons alive and well. But he was restless here; maybe it was time for a change.&nbsp; Walking up with no hesitation, he stopped in front of the booth and looked at the man and woman on the other side. "So just how is this supposed to work?"
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebel</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>19-02-2014, 17:53:22</strong>
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				Ressaw looked up at the visitor that approached the booth. Resting her hands upon the table top she slid a copy of the advertised recruitment paper and talked him through it. "Set up is simple, if requirements are met.&nbsp; This is what will qualify you, only after passing our simple training course and exam will you be welcome aboard. "<br><br>Standing up straight, Ressaw tapped the piece of paper and looked back to the simple course behind her. When her eyes gazed into this stranger's she immediately saw an odd familiarity.&nbsp; It made her question in her mind about just who this person was and why his eyes had the same war stained gaze as an experienced soldier. Because in the end it didn't matter, she didn't bring it up, but she made a mental note to do a background check upon this individual later. It was not so much his past she was concerned about, but the possibility of being a double agent that had her alerted.<br><br>When Colby noticed the eyebrow flicker on Ressaw's face, he intervened and took over. He knew the little lady was sizing up their first visitor and he wanted to butt in before they scared the stranger away.&nbsp; With a light smile, Colby extended his hand out to the man across from the table and greeted him, "Hey how's it going? I'm Tyrese Colby. What we have here is a job application.&nbsp; Ressaw is the commander for the ship, Ohana. What we're looking for is a new crew. We specialize in cargo transportation and lost individuals across space. Big ticket items means dangerous trips so we just need to make sure our potentially new members are physically and mentally able to take care of these situations. If you're interested we will have you sign up and run the course. Any questions?"
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>20-02-2014, 00:44:57</strong>
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				He took the paper and quickly read it over while listening to the recruiter walk him through the basics. They had n obstacle course set up, and it brought up memories of his training. Triple that length and who knew how many more obstacles, along with live interference and weapons fire. They showed no mercy during Spartan training, so that meant hopefully that that he could run in his sleep. The physical and mental exam...those ones might have been problems, but plenty of cyborgs&nbsp; and augmented humans roamed the universe, and Spartan implants and enhancements were so complex and off the record that he could makeup pretty much any excuse and they'd have to take his word for it.<br><br>&nbsp;It wasn't like they could just go down to a UNSC office and ask about anything unusual they found. He nodded to her and read all the way through it, then looked back at her and locked eyes. She might not have noticed it, but Ressaw and he looked at each other in a tense silence for a good while until Tyrese broke it up. He'd seen something in her too, and he knew she was searching for something inside him. The question was, would she find what she was looking for? He still held the recruitment sheet in one hand, and smiled back at Tyrese and shook with his other. "Kain...Austin. And it's goin' pretty good. But you eventually get board of construction and dock work; this seems like a decent opportunity." After letting his hand go and looking around, he looked down at the paper and signed his name. When he asked if there were any questions, he handed him the paper back and glanced at Ressaw again. "When do we start?"
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Yukina</strong> on <strong>20-02-2014, 02:06:51</strong>
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				Things hadn't exactly been going the greatest for Mariko Sumaragi as usual. The meek girl had moved near the port a year previous in order to escape her stressful life back home, though she seemed to have just jumped from the frying pan and into the fire. While the Falaknuma colony wasn't as socially stressful as Osaka, economically it was a different matter. While she had a promising resume of decent degrees, she wasn't very fit for the life of a dock worker. Mariko usually worked on broken equipment, but (un)fortunately, they didn't happen often enough. The meek girl suddenly stumbled upon a recruitment booth for some sort of ship. She was about to ask about how to join, though she kept quiet as the woman who appeared to be in charge was speaking to someone. Of the many things Mariko could do, having a great presence wasn't one of them.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>20-02-2014, 04:45:57</strong>
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				Colby's smile never faded as he interacted with Kain. He felt confident that this individual could be a good asset for the Ohana rebels, but it wouldn't be until Kain passed the exam and training run that Tyrese could make a better judgment. Carefully Colby took the paper from Kain to inspect it. As he looked it over he said, " I can assure you Ohana is anything but the same old everyday routine. Ressaw will take over from here man, I'll see you on the other side."<br><br>Colby offered one more hand shake to Kain before turning his attention to a new visitor that had approached a moment earlier.&nbsp; His smile widened as he maneuvered his way around the booth to get closer to the woman. Right away he thought she was shy, but he was confident that he could open her up if not at least get her to smile. "Hey there baby doll, I noticed you eyeballing the booth over here. My name's Tyrese Colby and I'm a member of Ohana looking&nbsp; to help get a new crew for my boss." he extended a hand out for her to shake. "I was wondering if you might be a little curious as to what we have to offer. Would you like to come closer to the booth?"<br><br>Ressaw watched Colby leave her to Kain to approach a woman that had appeared. Turning her attention to Kain she reached for something beneath the booth. "First we are going to run you through this simple course. You'll be based on care of handling, speed, accuracy, and endurance. Start from your current position. You'll run to the first wall, hop that, run over the tires making sure to hit the ground between each one, climb the taller wall and grab the rope, swing down to the ground and run back here."<br><br>The woman looked back to the course to check it over one more time before she retrieved the item from under the table. Placing the box atop the booth's counter, she pulled out an old orange painted 12 gauge shotgun with yellow markings. She checked the barrels before handing Kain the empty box. Ressaw locked the rounds in place and looked up to the new applicant. "This is a modified shot gun specifically designed to shoot flexible&nbsp; baton rounds. The bean bag rounds will help me determine how you react to the unexpected and will show me your speed and or endurance. That box represents a package you may in the future be required to carry. Take the box on your run and keep it undamaged. Your testing begins now."<br><br>{Because I do not god mod I will ask that when running the course you pick out when the two shots will be fired at your character and how your character reacts, either if they get nailed by the bean bag, or dodge it. Keep the box in mind when dodging or taking on damage.}
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>20-02-2014, 07:02:25</strong>
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				He could sense that Colby was a nice guy, and he seemed like an honest sort. If...when, he got this job, he had a feeling they'd get along just fine. Ressaw was still a question mark though. They'd barely said two words to each other aside from the hello and her small explanation. But time would tell how things would go between them. "Good. I look forward to the experience." He shook Colby's hand one last time and nodded to him, then turned slightly to glance at the girl who'd come up after him, but hadn't seemed to find her voice yet. <br><br>But he wasn't thinking about her now; Ressaw was running his test, so he focused on her. He listened with as much attention as he did back when he was Sierra-295, and he had to resist standing at attention or clasping his hands behind his back at ease. He was a civilian now, and he had to remind himself to act like one. So his arms once again found themselves crossed over his chest and he nodded along with the explanation. <em>Heh, simple is right,</em> he said in his head as he looked out over the course again. She finished telling him what to do and he looked back to her. "Got it. Seems easy enough." <br><br>She pulled a box from under the booth, followed by a brightly painted&nbsp; training shotgun which he <em>almost</em> yanked from her and turned it on her. Sometimes his battle reflexes almost made him reveal who...what he really was. He'd worked hard to act normal, and instead he rolled his shoulders and neck like he was limbering up for the exercise. "I see. A little extra challenge to go along with the course? I like it." Taking the box, he weighed it in his hands to see what he could do with it.<br><br>&nbsp;It wasn't the sturdiest thing in the world, but it was tough enough to take a bit of a beating and he didn't have to treat it like a robin egg or something like that. He could get a bit creative in the course if he needed to. Before he started, he had a decision to make. He could complete this course in times that no ordinary person could, which would definitely get him hired, but that would also draw attention to him, but holding back was so hard. Not just because his body was literally built in such a way that his movements were more powerful, but because it had been drilled into his head since he was a kid. <br><br>He'd figure it out on the fly, because right now he had to run an obstacle course. Going to the starting point, he got into a ready position then took off. The first wall he hurdled and bent both legs as he sailed over the top. He hit the ground running and kept the box cradled against his chest like a football and he high stepped through each tire. Then he heard the bang. He turned and saw the bean bag hurtling toward him in slow motion. Without thinking, he tossed the box into the air and paused just long enough for the projectile to hurtle past. He kept going and caught the box as he cleared the last tire. When he got to the second wall, he jumped and planted a foot, then another higher up to propel himself toward the top and grab it with his free hand.<br><br>&nbsp;<em>BANG!!</em><br><br>&nbsp;Again, he saw the bean bag, but at the same time he was telling himself to make it look believable. He could have dodged, he could have done any number of things, but he didn't want to raise too much suspicion. But from his position he couldn't dodge without totally blowing his cover, and he wasn't sure if taking a hit would reflect negatively on him. Reaching his free hand out, he quickly snapped out and palmed the beanbag as it got close. <br><br>He nearly gripped it, but he let it fall to make it look like he just got lucky. When he got to the top, he snuck a quick look at Ressaw and shook his hand like it had hurt, then gripped the rope and jumped.&nbsp; When he came back up in his swing arc, he pushed off and let go of the rope, giving himself some extra distance. <br><br>He hit the ground and executed a perfect combat roll, then came up and sprinted toward the end. Had he done too much? Had he done too little? It was so hard to <em>not</em> be a Spartan in a situation like this, but maybe, just maybe they bought it. Placing the box back down on the booth, he looked and realized he'd accidentally squeezed it a little too hard.<br><br>&nbsp;A piece had broken off in his hand and he'd further crushed it in his grip; he couldn't help but look down at the pieces that he'd destroyed. <em>"Shit"</em>, he said in a hushed whisper that he hoped she hadn't caught. "Sorry 'bout that. All that adrenaline, guess I don't know my own strength. Been doing heavy liftin' so long I guess I gotta get used to light work again." He wiped his hands off and looked down at Ressaw, not even aware that he wasn't dripping a single bead of sweat or even breathing out of the ordinary. "Well? How'd I do?"
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Yukina</strong> on <strong>20-02-2014, 14:23:46</strong>
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				Mariko continued to watch over to the intreging booth, waiting until the recruit and the woman walked of behind the booth. The meek soon jumped a bit as she suddenly heard a voice next to her, looking up and turning her head to see a tall man inquiring about her recent interest in the booth. She then lightly shook his hand in response, her grip seeming a bit shaky. "Y-Yes, that would b-be fine. I need to f-find some work which w-would put my d-degrees to use." Mariko meekly replied, her natural stutter filling her words.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>20-02-2014, 23:47:16</strong>
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				Ressaw watched Kain run his course and fired her two shots at him, she studied his reflexes, his focus, and determination. He moved smoothly and reacted quickly to the attempts she made to throw him off.&nbsp; Not once did he miss or mess up a tire, nor did he drop or damage the box during his run. It was obvious to her that this individual was indeed determined to get what was required back to where it needed to be and kept that as a priority.<br><br>As she set the training gun atop the counter, the petite woman took the box from Kain and inspected it in silence before placing that too on the table top.&nbsp; On a digital tablet she entered a few notes on what she observed about the new recruit.&nbsp; Ressaw pulled out a pen that was commonly used for diabetic blood samples and turned to face Kain full on. "I've observed focus and determination to get the job done. You did it well and fast. I will only ask this once based on my observations: Are you currently involved in any sort of UNSC military or allied forces? If not prick your finger on this needle so I can download you into the data base. If no illnesses pop up you will then be apart of the Ohana Rebels."<br><br>Though the woman had her suspicions about the man already, she was not interested in his past only his present. Afterall, if she flabbed about her past, she might not have come this far into the present. Ressaw believed one could not be judged by their past, only molded because of it and molds were always capable of morphing into something else. Before Kain could answer her question she then added, "If you lie about your current status and I find out.. and, I will find out.. your contract will immediately be terminated and I will dispose of you by any means I deem appropriate."<br><br>She didn't mean for it come out as nasty as she thought it had. Her intentions were merely to get the point across. There was a good reason she didn't want to be near any UNSC operatives or the war itself in that matter. Ressaw was not going to take lightly to any sneaks aboard her craft neither and greatly felt she had to express that feeling aloud to the man that stood in front of her. His eyes shared similarities with Ressaw, his actions further proved it.<br><br>Tyrese found the idea of an educated woman rather sexy, but more importantly it intrigued him for the possibility of further growth for the Ohana Rebels.&nbsp; Since the birth of the company, Colby had never encountered anyone that went to into deep study that had wanted to join their cause. Not wanting to loose this opportunity, Colby placed a hand at the top of Mariko's back and gently guided her closer to the booth. "Alright I'll be interested to hear what kind of degrees you earned and tell you if we could use any of those skills you've required. First though.." he paused in his steps toward the booth and looked to the woman. " I gotta know your name. "<br>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>21-02-2014, 01:57:22</strong>
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				Ressaw didn't say anything to him at first. In fact after he got back, she seemed to wholly ignore him as she placed the gun down, looked at the box, and put it back where it had been at the start. She continued to busy herself and took out a digital notepad, then began to type things in and still had not looked at or said anything to Kain. He was patient though, used to commanders, captains, and admirals yelling for extended periods of time on this or another. Drill sergeants doing the same, and most recently the foreman yelling at him on what to move next. <br><br>She finally looked back at him with a blood pen in her hand. She explained that she wanted him on record, and he had the job if no illnesses were present. Well at least he didn't have to worry about that second part. He didn't get sick. None of them did. It made skipping work damn hard, but the pros far outweighed the cons. On the subject of his DNA, did he even exist? He knew what the military did to get their hands on the II's, so would he even show up? <br><br>Did it matter? He didn't care. He could always come up with something. He'd been doing it for a while now and was pretty confident in his ability to think something up on the fly. She asked if he had any <em>current</em> ties to the UNSC, and before he could answer, she told him if she found out he was lying, he'd be fired and killed? He wasn't quite sure how to interpret the last part, and wasn't sure if she was either, but he let it pass. "No," he said calmly. "Nothing to do with UNSC or any allied forces. I doubt I'm even on their radar." Taking the pen, he tapped his finger and let it take it's sample, then he handed it back. Holding his index finger up, he wiped the bead of blood off and watched the tiny incision close up. Even up close he doubted Ressaw could see, but he kept it away from her just in case. Laughing lightly, he looked over to Colby and the new girl. "He's smooth," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Yukina</strong> on <strong>21-02-2014, 02:09:41</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Suddenly, Mariko felt a hand placed on her back, feeling a chill go down her spine as it led her closer to the recruitment booth. After she had been asked about her degrees and skills, the meek girl reached into the satchel hanging from her shoulder and set on the booth. She hadn't really gotten an official home in the port, she had usually carried her belongs around with her. Mariko's resume detailed about her degrees in engineering, physics, and chemistry and a minor in literature, showing that by her age, she had somehow managed to triple major in college. "M-My name is Mariko Sumaragi...." She meekly replied. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>21-02-2014, 05:28:25</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Ressaw took the pen from Kain and tapped it onto her tablet to shake the bit of blood onto the digital screening. Once the computer locked onto the sample, the petite woman ejected the needle into the empty box the man had used in his training run.&nbsp; Nucleotide by nucleotide the tablet composed a ballet of Kain's DNA. Though it took a couple of pauses in its process, it completed the DNA structure. Ressaw bypassed the strands and looked into genetics and prone illnesses.&nbsp; She could not find anything, but did notice a more malleable, robust DNA structure and repair enzymes that the commander took as a good immune system. A screen popped up with details of molecules that appeared abnormal to the original DNA of Kain, but Ressaw moved the file away to add the new recruit as a member of the Ohana Rebels. After sending the new information to the computer on board Flood 89, Ressaw looked Kain and addressed him, "The computer found no known illness, you are now logged into the program which will soon be recorded onto the mother ship.&nbsp; Congratulations, Kain Austin, you are now a Ohana Rebel. Report back tomorrow for further instructions on your new postion."<br><br>To this she extended her hand out to Kain for the first time to complete a firm handshake.<br><br>Colby heard Kain's remark and knew it was meant for him and though he wanted to play along, he felt it was not the right moment so he returned his attention back to Mariko and took a look at what she pulled forth from her bag. His brown eyes scanned over her resume and eyed her degrees. He looked back to her blue eyes. He couldn't believe how young she looked on top of having accomplished so much. "With all this going on, what's a girl like you doing on boring colony such as this? You got down Engineering, physics, chemistry, you got it all. Any power company would be on top of that. Ressaw check this out."<br><br>He looked to the commander a moment and waited for her attention to reach what he was investing in. Picking up one of them, Ressaw looked the degree over for any flaws or signs of an imposter. Setting it back on the table she looked to the woman and leaned on her hands. "Impressive, we have a mechanic, but the size of Ohana and her damages..we could use another. If you can run the course and pass that and the physical I have a spot for you on my crew."<br><br>"Pretty easy Mariko. Just gotta run the course and we'll get ya set up. Our current mechanic is an interesting little guy, you'll like him." Colby reassured her. "First though I gotta get you to sign this stating that everything here is correct." Tyrese pushed the sign up sheet toward the woman. "If whatever reason you came here isn't something you're looking for I'm sure Ohana has it, if not, we can provide you with the knowledge that it won't be boring and we can put your skills to use."<br>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>22-02-2014, 01:53:07</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				She told him the computer found no illnesses or sickness in his system. Unsurprising considering what he was. But he didn't say that or show it, he just said, "Good. I try to keep healthy." She told him the good news, that he was no officially a rebel, and to report back tomorrow to get started. She also extended out her hand, which he never thought would have happened with how she was acting before. Maybe she was just like that with potential recruits and now that he was a Rebel like her, she'd be a little nicer. <br><br>He shook her hand and gripped it, smiled a bit and turned on his heel. He had to be sure to make it lazy, otherwise it would reek of military training. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said and waved behind him. Walking by Colby, he nodded to him and the new girl. "See you tomorrow, Colby. Hope you pass the test new girl." Offering them both a brief smile, he kept on his way. He got some food on the way home and spread it out on the table, then he went over to the weight bench and got in a quick, three hour workout before dinner. After that he packed his weapons, armor, and the rest of his gear and left them by the door. Then he watched tv until he felt tired enough to sleep. Tomorrow was a new day and a new start.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Yukina</strong> on <strong>22-02-2014, 02:31:23</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Mariko was relieved to see that the tall man was by her unique resume, listening to his questioning comment about her over-qualifications. "Per-Personal reasons.." The meek girl replied, briefly cringing as the memories came up about her life on Earth. In the sports-obsessed town of bigoted jerks she had lived in, she really hadn't been liked by anyone; not even her own family. It wasn't Mariko's fault that she would never be a major athlete. The meek girl was also relieved to find that the woman in charged was impressed as well. She then cringed once more as she looked at the course, signing the sheet. Despite the other recruit's words, she doubted she would pass. Mariko's worries were sadly correct as she was nailed by the first shot before she could even get past the wall.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>26-02-2014, 00:13:38</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Ressaw watched Kain leave before she took full attention at Mariko, but felt only dissapointment when the girl did her test run.&nbsp; Her reflexes were slow&nbsp; and her timing was awful. Ressaw began to think she wasn't fit enough for the team and as Mariko finished up her run, Ressaw confirmed it. At first she wasn't sure what to say. Ohana was in dire need of new members, but so much lack of skill would put it in more danger than good. Sure her resume looked promising, but Ressaw thought it was not enough to keep her well being safe. Shaking her head she informed the girl of her findings, "I'm sorry. Being an Ohana Rebel is a dangerous job. Your skills are good, but your phasic suggests you could easily be killed in the line of duty. I can not afford the responsibility of your death knowing this ahead of time."<br><br>Colby cringed at the sight of Mariko running her lap. With a fist placed to his lips, he knew it wasn't going to be a good turn out after she was hit by the first bean bag. When Ressaw rejected the girl as a recruit, Tyrese felt that he should stand up for Mariko.&nbsp; "Now wait a second boss, this girl has a lot going on for her. We could really use her. So she can't be up front, but she can be in the background. Let me work with her. If I can't get her better fit, then we can drop her. You said yourself not that long ago that everyone can be molded into something different. "<br><br>The little lady stared up at Colby for a few moments before finally deciding. "She will be your responsibility." turning to face Mariko once more, Ressaw said, "Upon&nbsp; Colby's suggestion, Mariko Sumaragi, you will here by be known as an Ohana Rebel. You will need to work on your fitness and speed. Colby will be your trainer and guide. Report back tomorrow for your first instructions."<br><br>Though at first she was hesitant, Ressaw did extend her hand to shake Mariko's before turning to her digital tablet. The woman wrote in Mariko's status and notes, before taking her leave of the booth. The sun was already setting on them and Ressaw had enough for one day. <br><br>Colby offered Mariko a smile and a gentle pat upon her shoulder. "It'll be alright, can only go up from here.&nbsp; Tomorrow we'll get your DNA sample. Congratulations Mariko! Rest good tonight, I'm sure we'll be busy later. I'm gonna close shop for now then get lost myself."<br><br>Walking along the space ship dock, Ressaw noticed a ship that should not have been there. Rather small, it belonged to the UNSC. Upon further investigations she took note of the supplies that were being taken off the ship and the men that were doing it.&nbsp; Lower ranks (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xonMK7PVg7g/T9qhvH1fZ-I/AAAAAAAAH3o/zm2gAEMz0HI/s640/ScreenHunter_663+Jun.+14+22.42.jpg), and sleazy by the looks. Ressaw backed off before they took notice of her and headed a ways down to Flood 89. Stepping onto the elevator she called the A.I. on board to let her up. Lifting her right hand to her cheek she spoke into her wrist. "Let me up."<br><br>There was no response,&nbsp; but the platform beneath her shifted and began raising her up and toward the entrance of the ship. As the heavy doors opened above, a robotic orb floated down to greet her. "Greetings commander, I've obtained some interesting information you may want to look into."<br><br>As it invaded her personal bubble, Ressaw swatted him away and walked into the ship toward the stairs. "Did you know there's a UNSC ship a few ships down?" she asked the robot ignoring his comment.<br><br>"A medical supplier." Dexter confirmed. Following the woman up the stairs. Ressaw paused in her step and looked into the pink orb radiating from the A.I. he was quite a nosy robot and it didn't surprise her that he had already indeed knew about it.&nbsp; Reaching the top of the stairs, she walked past the bar and through the kitchen into her personal quarters. "I thought I told you to stay in the ship.."<br><br>"I have not left the ship." Dexter stated and moved past Ressaw toward the computer in her bedroom.&nbsp; "I had gotten access to security computers. It is how I found this." and with that said he urged the computer in the room to turn on and show the woman his findings. Crossing her arms, the woman walked into the room and looked at the computer. A large cargo ship displayed before her. Parts of it rusted and caked with grim and debris. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the picture more closely. "Is that...Chubs (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pennck/grabs/salsmall.gif)' ship?"<br><br>"Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask why is he early and not late?" Dexter asked curiously and floated in front of Ressaw to get a better angle of her. She backed up and swatted at him again as he attempted to invade her bubble.<br><br>*****<br><br>At first light, Ressaw awoke and sat herself on the couch in her quarters. She loaded her handgun before setting off to put her camouflage pants on. Wasting no time, she slid past Dexter and ignored his attempts at light conversation to head back to her booth. As the elevator out began its descent, she placed her gun behind her back and hid it from view. Colby jumped down beside her and together they made their way back to the set up. She pondered on if anyone else would be interested in recruiting today, but that was brushed aside by the information she found last night. As it filled her thoughts she decided on what she wanted the new members to do today. Colby fixed up the training course, taking note that it had been played with after he had left for the night. Ressaw stood behind the table and wrote down notes in her tablet.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>26-02-2014, 02:37:43</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				He woke up before dawn like he usually did, and a quick peek outside his window showed him that aside from the unsavory people who liked to hang around and a few early birds who were working or on their way to work, he was the only one awake. Dressing for his morning jog, he locked his heavy steel door and took off. He did 20 miles there and back, and when he went back to his room, the sun was out and he still wasn't finished with his workout. Going into the spare room, he got down on the weight bench and started his reps. <br><br>The weights were so heavy the bar was bent in the middle, but it was the only way he could actually get some decent exercise. When he finished, he showered up and got all his things. His weapons were disassembled and neatly packed away aside from a concealed pistol and his knife. You could never be too careful at the docks. He loaded everything up and left his apartment for what would probably be the forseeable future. Everything of value he'd taken; the rest was there when he'd gotten the place, so he had no problem leaving it. The weight of his pack was impossible for a normal person to even lift, but he carried it easily all the way back to the Ohana's recruitment booth. He nodded to both Ressaw and Colby as he arrived, then dropped his metal pack in the dirt. "Reporting for duty and all that," he said as he looked at both of them.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Yukina</strong> on <strong>26-02-2014, 02:52:00</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				After her failure on the training course, Mariko walked back to the recruitment booth with a very sad look on her face. The saddened girl felt she was doomed from a great as job opportunity as she heard Ressaw's words of dismissal. She was suddenly surprised as she heard the large male stick up for and the fact that the woman in charge was actually conceding to him. "Th-Thank you so much!" Mariko blurted out to the two of them, properly standing at attention as she spoke. "Tha-Thank you, Colby." The meek girl said before walking away. She then started setting up her tent a block away from the booth, not having money for the inn. The next day, Mariko was attentively arrived at dawn at the booth, not wanting to be late. "M-Mariko Miyazaki, re-reporting for duty, Ma'am." She meekly said to Ressaw.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>27-02-2014, 04:37:34</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Mariko's appearance was early. Ressaw had just begun writing on her tablet when the young lady appeared. Looking up at her, the commander stood up straight and placed the digital pad on top of the table so she could look over the woman before her. Mariko seemed focused and ready today, though her voice suggested she wasn't ready for anything too demanding . Regardless of what she had observed, the commander thought the duty she had in mind for the young lady would be suitable for her quiet and shy behavior. "Morning Mariko." she said pulling out her DNA pen from a back pocket.&nbsp; Extending it toward the woman in front of her, Ressaw acknowledged Austin's approach but looked back to Mariko and said, "I'll need that sample now and then we'll discuss your tasks for the day."<br><br>Colby had been preoccupied with fixing up the tires when Mariko had arrived that he hadn't the chance to greet her before Ressaw immediately&nbsp; took charge of her. He did however finish organizing the obstacle course when Kain Austin strolled up to the booth so he walked back to the table to meet up with him. First he glanced at the baggage he had arrived with, the man seemed he was fully prepared to leave the Falaknuma colony behind. The new member looked pumped up and ready to go. With a big pearly smile, Tyrese offered a handshake to Kain. "Hey man how's it going? Ready for today? Ressaw spent a good amount last night scooping out details of what will be happening today, should be interesting."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>28-02-2014, 06:59:42</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Ressaw was handling the new girl from yesterday that Colby seemed intent on getting to acknowledge him beyond simply a recruiter, which caused him to smile a bit when the man himself walked over and offered a handshake.&nbsp; He took the greeting and gripped Colby's hand. He squeezed a bit playfully of course and shook before letting go. He asked how things were going and if he was ready, to which Kain nodded his head.<br><br>&nbsp;"Goin good, and more ready than a HellJumper goin' over the edge of his ship." He'd served with the ODST's, he'd dropped with them. But Colby didn't need to know that. He looked over to Ressaw, then back to Colby. "So she's already got somethin' cooked up for my first day on the job? Well bring it on, I can't wait. Because I'll be honest, at this point anything is more exciting than labor work at the docks."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Yukina</strong> on <strong>28-02-2014, 14:07:25</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Mariko watched as the woman in charge wrote on her tablet, still a bit nervous about her new job that'd be assigned to her. "G-Good morning, Ma'am.." The meek girl replied, still not having actually learned the leader's actual name. She then watched as the woman in charge held out a pen that she pulled from her pocket, soon recognizing what it was. "Y-Yes, Ma'am." Mariko replied, slightly cringing as she pressed her finger on the pen to draw a DNA sample for the tablet.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Gladiator0161</strong> on <strong>01-03-2014, 05:45:03</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="spoiler_container"><div onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button" class="spoiler_header">prologue</div><div class="spoiler_body"><br><strong><em>A couple days ago...<br><br>Location: The Pentagon.<br>Arlington County, Virginia, United States.<br>Earth, Sol System.</em></strong><br><br>The helmet's visor seemed to bore into his soul, and with it's intense gaze came a myriad of violent and bloody memories. Memories he didn't want. He felt the shift in time as the years passed. He felt it like a hammer being struck against his back. The general mood of everyone was getting darker in the UNSC, not that he could really blame them. First off, Humans had trouble getting along with each other, then added to that, the governments were run by imperfect people, some of which could care less about others, whether they lived in the core worlds, the inner colonies, or the further out outer colonies, and cared more about their own personal power. Then the Covenant came and threatened everything, forcing humanity to band together to fight them off by whatever means possible. Then the Flood. Now, here it was some forty years later, and it was the Prometheans doing the same thing, forcing humanity to fight to survive while it still fought off Covenant Remnants, Insurrectionists, and the Flood where ever they cropped up. Still, even through those troublesome, violent years, there was a edge of hope in the atmosphere. That the issues could be solved, and the enemies dogging humanity defeated.<br><br>These days though, were growing darker in Davek Ironwall's eyes. It wasn't just the Covenant Remnant, or the Prometheans, or the still active Insurrectionist groups, or the daily grind of everyone being on edge, just waiting for the next threat to raise it's ugly head. No, it wasn't just those things, it was something else. Something that didn't have a name...yet. Something that the Spartan just couldn't put his finger on. <br><br>"Spartan Ironwall?"<br><br>Gladiator looked up at the girl that was addressing him, her slightly curious, slightly irritated tone finally getting his attention. She must have been calling to him a couple times while he'd been thinking. He didn't say anything to her, just looked up at her with his blue eyes and raised his black eyebrows to tell her that he had heard her.<br><br>"Admiral Stanforth will see you now" she said politely.<br><br>"Thanks" the Spartan said, standing to his full height in one smooth motion, his new helmet tucked in the crux of his arm. The new armor and especially the helmet bothered him for some reason. The new armor was lighter, which was good because it allowed for more maneuverability in the field, but, it didn't feel like it would be able to take the punishment his old armor could, heavy as it was. Davek pushed the thoughts out of his mind as he neared the admiral's office door. He took a steadying breath, then gently turned the knob to open the door. Despite the fact that Gladiator towered most everyone in the building, and could probably over power the military personnel with his combat experience and his strength alone, didn't make him any less nervous as he opened the door but, the fact that the admiral preferred a polished mahogany wooden door with a bulletproof glass window, and an actual door knob was not lost upon him, and calmed his racing heart.&nbsp; Most doors now were automatic and made of sterilized metal, usually Titanium A in military buildings, or VIP assets. Upon entering the room, he found himself face to face with a man that wore his age very well. He had that war worn look that almost everyone in the UNSC had now, his shocking white hair was kept trimmed short in a crew cut, and his salt and pepper beard was likewise kept trimmed neatly. All in all, the man looked like he should have been in a old British painting, not sitting behind a desk issuing orders, and he certainly didn't look like anyone that should have made a Spartan feel like he was being sent to the principal's office.<br><br>"Admiral Stanforth sir!" Gladiator said, his already stiff back getting even more rigid as he stepped to and saluted his superior "Sierra zero one six one reporting, sir! As ordered," his deep toned voice seemed to make the very air waver. Davek didn't know why he was here. He'd just received orders to meet Admiral Stanforth in his office yesterday, no explanation, no other words to give any kind of clue. He'd been stationed in New Mombasa, Africa at the time and had taken the first Pelican going out that way. He'd arrived two hours ago and hadn't slept a wink during the flight, and unfortunately for him, it showed. He'd been too nervous. He always was when it came to meeting admirals and generals, and especially when he'd received cryptic orders to do so. Davek had heard the latest scuttlebutt from Echo team, that Private Shana Wasser had murdered a fellow soldier, Private Ryan O'Brian. He figured that his summons probably had something to do with that, since he'd worked with her and Private O'Brian only a few short years ago. In truth, he expected for an ONI operative to be in the room as well, and to conduct an interrogation. However, he didn't see anyone else in the room.<br><br>Stanforth snapped a crisp salute back to him and ordered him to close the door and to take a seat in front of his desk. The Spartan lowered his hand and did as he was ordered, making sure to make his movements measured, so as not to damage anything. Now that he was only a foot away from the admiral, he could tell that the man was tired. Probably as tired as he was.<br><br>"It takes a toll, doesn't it?" Stanforth said after a moment of taking measure of the Spartan in front of him, who continued to stare straight ahead, not meeting the man's gaze. <br><br>The man's question confused Davek for a moment, and finally, the Spartan's eyes met the admiral's "Sir?"<br><br>"The wars, the battles, the killing," Stanforth explained.<br><br>"Uh, yes sir. It does. They don't tell you that during training," the Spartan replied simply, still wondering why he'd been summoned.<br><br>Stanforth simply nodded, then took a breath and rubbed his forehead "they don't tell you what a pain in the ass being an admiral can be either. Dealing with politicians, supply complaints, and ungrateful civilians."<br><br>Gladiator nodded but, cut the admiral short as it seemed like he was about to go on "excuse me sir but, you didn't call me here to discuss the challenges of duty. I'd be very appreciative if you got to the point."<br><br>The admiral could have slapped him with a court marshal for interrupting him, and could have probably taken his rank as well but, the man just smiled, as if the Spartan's interruption was funny "very well, straight to the point," he said standing up and straightening his uniform. The admiral walked around his desk and towards the Spartan "how well did you know Private Wasser?"<br><br>The Spartan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms "not very well. I fought with her and a lot of others in New York when the Covenant tried to take advantage of the majority of the fleet's attention being on New Mombasa."<br><br>The admiral nodded "I remember the survivor reports of that mission. You didn't..get close with her over the time you were there?"<br><br>"No sir, not romantically at least. We exchanged some life stories but, that was it," Gladiator said simply "Sir, what's this about?"<br><br>Stanforth sighed rubbing his forehead "she killed Private O'Brian, there were witnesses. She's been tried and sentenced to a penal colony."<br><br>Gladiator was beginning to get a little irritated but, he tried not to show it. He'd known that Shana had killed O'Brian, it was a popular subject to discuss when people had a spare moment to do so "I know that sir. Has something happened to her during transport?"<br><br>The admiral nodded "we got word a few hours ago that the ship carrying her, the Hannibal, went down in orbit somewhere over Reach's northern pole. However, we've also heard rumors out of the Falaknuma colony in the 18 Scorpii system, that there's a ship that looks a lot like the Hannibal, and a woman, that looks like our Shana Wasser. We want you to go to Reach first, see if there's any debris from the Hannibal. See if it did indeed go down. Then go to Falaknuma and track down this person, see if it's Wasser."<br><br>Gladiator looked at the admiral, he couldn't blame the man for being cautious, the UNSC didn't have anything concrete yet, just rumors <br>"Sir, wouldn't it make more sense to go directly to Falaknuma? Rather than wasting time going to Reach? Then we would know faster whether the rumors are true," Spartan Davek offered.<br><br>"Normally, I'd agree with you but, this is all hear say, and sending a Spartan on this kind of thing doesn't sit well with a lot of people already" Stanforth explained "we need concrete proof before we put any more resources into this, which we're short on already."<br><br>"Sir, I understand. What do I do if it is Wasser, and it is the Hannibal?"<br><br>"Find out what she's up to."<br><br>"And then?"<br><br>There was a long moment before the admiral spoke, and a sickening feeling in the pit of the Spartan's stomach. He knew what the reply would be before the admiral even spoke.<br><br>"...kill her."<br></div></div><br><em><strong>A few hours later...</strong></em><br><strong>Location: On board the Olympian. <br>Epsilon Eridani System, Reach.</strong><br><br>Gladiator had tried to argue against his orders but, the admiral had made it clear on the UNSC's stance on the subject of Shana Wasser. She knew too much about the UNSC, and she'd stepped on a lot of toes to begin with, which didn't help her case. Then there was the fact that she murdered a fellow soldier in cold blood. Davek was still trying to wrap his head around that one. Part of him just couldn't believe that she had killed O'Brian on purpose, that it had to have been an accident of some sort. He'd known that Shana and O'Brian hadn't gotten along, everyone did but, to kill him because they didn't like each other? Because of a conflict in personalities? Or a bad history? It sounded ridiculous to him. In truth though, he didn't really know Shana that well, and he'd purposefully tried to steer clear of that subject when he'd fought beside her in New York. As long as she followed orders, and did her job, that was all that really mattered to him back then. He started to question whether he'd made the right decision at the time, to keep everyone at an arms length. Then he had to remind himself that Shana was an adult, and had known full well what the consequences would be if she hadn't put her feelings aside in New York. He'd tried to sleep after his little internal debate but, the fact that they were on course to Reach made him restless. Memories of his childhood flooded his thoughts, and he felt that old anger flare up again. Instead of trying to hide it though, he put in an hour on the training deck, using the targets that the room provided to vent his anger upon. It helped a little bit, like always. After a few rounds of target practice, he headed back to his room.<br><br>Again he was lost in thought when the com in his assigned quarters buzzed, and the COM's officer on the bridge told him that they had arrived. He thanked the man, gathered his gear, and headed to the armory. The first window he came to on his way to the armory made him pause. The sight of Reach, once a beautiful planet full of greens and blues, was now a wasteland of rock and dirt. A flood of memories came back to him upon the sight one particular side of the planet, as the continent that Castle Base used to be on came into view.<br><br>He traveled back 40 years into the past in the blink of an eye. He remembered every detail about his first day on Reach. The stoic look on Catherine Halsey's face as she addressed the kids that she'd kidnapped.<br><br><em>"As per Naval code 45812, you are hereby conscripted into the UNSC project code-named; Spartan 2."</em><br><br>His mind flashed to him lying on a laboratory bed, while scientists injected him with experimental compounds, steroids, and chemicals. He'd screamed in excruciating pain for what seemed like hours as the mixture did it's work, changing his body, his bone density, everything. He remembered his bones feeling like they were being injected with shards of glass, and his body being on fire as his temperature sky rocketed.<br><br>Again came Halsey's placid voice <em>"You have been called upon to serve,"</em> and again his mind went to more memories. Saluting Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez on the day of their "graduation." Then the battles that he'd been ordered into, or volunteered for, sprang to mind. Memories of varying colors of blood. Men, women, and children screaming in terror as the world around them exploded in fire and a hail of plasma and bullets. Elites, Brutes, Hunters, and Jackals roaring in their battle cries as they fired at him and his men, the ground exploding near his feet. The crazed look of waves and waves of Grunts as they lit plasma grenades in their hands and ran toward whatever human was closest.<br><br><em>"You will be trained..and you will become the best that we can make of you,"</em> his memory flashed to the barbed wire trenches they were made to army crawl through as the rain poured down on them, and the marines fired live rounds over their heads, or near their bodies. He remembered the cries of pain that accompanied those bursts of fire as live round either crazed them, or accidentally hit an extremity, and the lightning cold snap of the marine voices that replied to those cries. <br><br><em>"You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies."</em><br><br>He remembered the glassing of Harvest. How the Utgard Mall bubbled outwards before exploding, how the highway melted into slag. How Mimir River simply evaporated as the plasma beams touched it's surface, and how the column of steam that arose blocked the sight of the sun. Then the memories of Reach's glassing began. How they had hope of repelling the Covenant. Word of Noble team's find on the location of a signal pylon that was hiding the Covenant's invading army on the surface. The sight of the UNSC frigate Grafton going down only a kilometer or so away from the Falcon he'd been in at the time, after having set a charge on a different spire. How the concussion wave from Grafton's destruction had crashed the Falcon he was in, and how he was thrown clear of the craft as they hit the ground. Then he remembered how one of the propellers had speared the meat of his leg, pinning him to the ground, then looking up to see the other propeller stuck in the side of a nearby cliff, then curling into a ball as much as possible after charging his shields to full, as debris from the Falcon rained down on him. How he'd had to break that propeller blade himself, and then pull himself off of it to survive, and then try to patch himself up on top of it all, with only a half a can of biofoam available to him. Then having to fight the Covenant off from a mining facility.<br><br>Davek's gaze shifted from the planet to his own reflection, and he was again struck at how different he looked now compared to back then. He barely recognized himself when he looked in the mirror anymore. The war worn look in his eyes, combined with the bags under his eyes that he had quite often was unsettling. Perhaps most disturbing to him though, was the gray that was slowly seeping into his once midnight black hair. <br>His life flashed by his eyes in only a few minutes and he wondered for the first time, as he recalled admiral Stanforth's orders to kill Shana when he was done with his investigation, what exactly was he fighting for. He'd told himself that he was fighting for the survival of the human race, and fooled himself for years with the answer but, now it was starting to sound hollow. This wasn't the first time he'd been ordered to kill a fellow soldier, a brother or sister. He'd been ordered to kill deserters before, and he had at the time done it without questioning the decision much. Now he was starting to question everything he'd once believed so fiercely in.<br><br>He remembered Halsey's tired look as he'd been one of the ones to be brought into her office after having escaped the defense perimeter around Castle Base. More importantly, he remembered the conversation he'd had with her, and it only made him question everything that much more. Davek started walking towards the bridge once again, and forced the "traitorous" thoughts from his mind.<br><br>An hour later they were on their way to a mining facility near the 18 Scorpii system. From there, he was to catch a civilian transport to the Falaknuma colony. While at Reach, their scanners had picked up debris matching the configuration of the Hannibal in space, and when Gladiator followed the debris' trail, he found another clue. It was an impact trail from what he assumed was the Hannibal, along with a drag trail that scarred the barren ground. There was only one problem. There was no ship from where the drag trail stopped. That meant someone had picked it up and towed it possibly somewhere else, or they had managed to get it up off the ground again after whatever had happened. Being on Reach's surface again was hard for him. A lot of good and bad memories resided on that planet, and he was partially thankful when they left the system. <br><br>When he reached the Falaknuma colony, he was dressed in a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans and a pair of steel toed boots. He'd also been provided a small ear bud for reporting in, already encrypted and linked to a secure channel. The duffel bag he carried contained his armor, in a false bottom pocket, some basic electronics, some mementos that he carried with him wherever he went that were from his home, and of course, extra clothing. The brief case he carried contained his two favorite weapons, both of which were disassembled in another false bottom. If anyone wanted to check either item, they had to know where to look in order to find his armor and weapons. Both the duffel bag and brief case were laced with a miniature chip inside the false bottoms that would block image scanners and x-rays, and any security devices they might have, making everything look like normal. The clothing felt foreign to him but, he shrugged the feelings away. The area that this "Ressaw" had taken up shop in, reminded him of pictures of India back on Earth that he'd seen on the internet. From the air, he could see that some parts of it were nice and green with a lake here and a river there but, for the most part it was a bunch of rock and sand. A "dust bowl" as some of the marines and ODSTs would say.&nbsp; <br><br>Davek spotted what must have been Ressaw's booth almost immediately as he walked along the space dock, he had a feeling that the walls, ropes, and tire courses weren't something that every booth recruiting for a ship's crew sported. He spotted the woman herself a few moments later, as she talked to a male recruit and sent him through the obstacle course. Davek kept himself out of sight as much as possible, using alleyways between buildings and hiding behind large dumpsters to do his recon. The way the man moved through the obstacle course made him a dead giveaway for a Spartan, though he did well in trying to remain convincing that he wasn't. The man's moves though were precisely calculated and something only a fellow Spartan, or those that had worked closely with them for long periods of time, would notice. <br><br>Purposefully getting hit with bean bags, and almost catching one but, letting it graze your hand at the last second was mere child's play for a Spartan. <br><br>Davek spent the night in a nearby Inn. It was more of a slum than anything but, it was a new change of scenery for him. The mattress was poor quality but, it was better than nothing. After reporting in, he spent the night on the floor, and hoped for a restful sleep. The next morning he awoke early, packed his things, changed his clothes, and went straight to that alley again. He arrived just in time to see that same woman he'd seen yesterday talking to Ressaw prick her finger on a pen that was provided to her, as Ressaw's shipmate talked to the Spartan he'd spotted earlier that same day. He didn't see how he was going to be able to play a normal citizen, so he opted for the deserter approach in his mind. After all, there was no way anyone was going to buy that he was from a mining colony looking for work, the cover story his UNSC superiors had come up with. Idiots. He was too big and too tall. <br><br>Davek spotted another woman approaching the booth but, waited until Ressaw left, and her shipmate turned his back before he came out into the open and leaned against the building, arms crossed, and one of his hands rubbing his jaw, as if we was considering applying to their crew. He hoped that his sheer size would get him noticed by the man but, not by Ressaw. His gut told him that from what he'd been able to see of her so far, that this "Ressaw" was indeed Private Shana Wessar, which wasn't much a leap to him. Spelling your last name backwards to hide your identity was a civilian's classic move. The Innie's even did it back in the day.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>He hoped that the crew bought his story. Otherwise, this mission would end before it even began. As he waited for the two crew members and their recruits to go about their business, he began to wonder if he really would take this chance to desert the UNSC. He'd thought about it several times throughout his life, and now, this was, literally, his golden, once in a lifetime, opportunity. To simply disappear into the universe. <br><br>After all, Spartans never died, they were only "missing in action".
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				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Ambie</strong> on <strong>04-03-2014, 03:40:01</strong>
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				Amber was walking around in the mart near the port...she had left a note on the table for her mother and brother. If they knew she was planning this they would have chained her to the flood. She had been almost obsessed since her father had disappeared. She was in the USNC too but in its top pilot training program. Most in her school thought that she was only there because of her father until they saw how good she was. Top of her glass in all marks except hand to hand combat. <br><br>Her father was a high level field commander leading a skirmish on New Falujah when he just disappeared...she dug as far as she could get access to trying to find out more. She knew something had gone wrong. His communications just suddenly stopped. It was as if someone had backed the information up and cut it off early...reading it up to that made it seem as though he had happened upon something when he encountered the VIPs. They hadn't recovered his body or secured information about him from the VIP's when he got into their room. <br><br>Months later, USNC came out and said that he had betrayed them without any official cause or proof. Amber, being always wary of the council since her father disappeared fought them as they came to remove her family from the base housing. They also removed her from the school and shipped her family off to Falaknuma...a poor...pretty wasted and dirty planet as it had been used heavily for mining. <br><br>Amber had heard about a ex USNC ship in orbit from some locals. She thought to herself that this was the perfect chance to get onboard and hack into the systems to see if it had any information...and to get back at the USNC. <br><br>Amber approached the table she has been directed to...a few gathered nearby, obviously not a official crew...dirty...ragtag...Amber didn't care...she was now on a mission. <br><br>"Hi...hear you are looking for a few good hands..." her blonde hair in a pony tail...wearing obvious but dirty fatigues that fit loosely...not giving much idea of her body shape. A friendly smile on her face...in her life she had never met a stranger...<br><br>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>04-03-2014, 18:53:31</strong>
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				Colby liked strength challenges from his fellow crew mates, being a body builder himself he took pride in showing off. The strength he felt from Kain's handshake suggested he may need to offer a few games when they got back to Ohana. Sometimes missions took awhile and distractions until one popped up always helped the time go by quicker. Though of course, Tyrese hadn't a clue that there was no chance against a Spartan. In fact, Colby had never seen one himself, only heard about them from others. He heard about the height difference and the strength compared to a normal human, but Colby had run into many different people and covenant alike that all came in different shapes and sizes.&nbsp; The idea of having a giant aboard the ship made Colby laugh. The ceilings in Ohana and the Flood 89 were high enough, but the sheer thought of little midget commander strutting around barking orders up at something much bigger than her was a vision Tyrese could only imagine as humorous. He always made sure not to mention the idea to her of course, knowing she had more strength than she appeared to have.<br><br>Focusing back onto what was happening before him, Colby rubbed his palms together glancing to Ressaw before looking back to Kain. " Oh yeah, times can be slow with Ohana, but once Ressaw has something that catches her interest, she'll keep at it until she has what she wants or dies trying. I know the basics, but something tells me there's more to it than what she's revealed."<br><br>Her green eyes flashed to the duo of men at the booth before returning her attention back to the woman in front of her. Ressaw took back her pen and tapped it onto her tablet. As it ran it's process, the commander said, "Mariko, the Ohana Rebels is not affiliated with UNSC, therefore the word, ma'am, is not required. You can refer to me as any of the following: Ressaw, Commander, Captain, or boss. The only ranking here is concerning the level of difficulty and challenges that I issue out to crew members.&nbsp; Based on what I've observed of you yesterday I am giving you a low profile mission. It's quite simple: Stay hidden and out of view. Retrieve for me a small case. Inside this case you will find vials, what's in the vials aren't important. They should be filled with a lime-green liquid. This case will be on a small medical supply ship, the people guarding it are slow morons, but they won't just let you walk on board the ship."<br><br>The commander then turned to Kain, but was stopped as a new woman approached her booth. As the blond greeted the table of people, Ressaw waved Colby to take control of her. As Tyrese removed himself from Kain's direct presence, he offered out a hand to Amber. Ressaw then gave Kain his instructions. "Kain, I also have a task for you. Based on what I've observed from you yesterday, you will be given an open profile mission. Seemingly easy. Your mission will be to retrieve a package I have ordered from an individual named Chubs. You will not speak to anyone else but this individual, you will not tell anyone outside of the mission what you are doing. What's in the package doesn't concern you, just bring it back here without strange eyes following you."<br><br>"Hey beautiful, how are you today? You heard right, we are looking for a few new members to join our cause. My name is Colby I'll be happy to tell you all about it. Right there is the commander. What's your name?" Tyrese said to Amber, a pearly smile upon his chocolate face. He noticed her attire, and tried to guess in his mind what Amber may have been looking for with the booth that was set up. Her clothes suggested she needed the cR, but her friendly attitude suggested she was looking for something new and exciting.<br><br>Ressaw looked to the both of the new members of her crew and said, "Do you both confirm? Any questions?"<br><br><div align="center">*****</div><br>It was just another day, another pay for Chubs. He was scheduled to arrive at the Falaknuma colony a week from now, but an offering of a bigger payout caused him to come early. He could almost hear the credits piling up in his account as he leaned against his chair and scrolled through the list of supplies he had on board his ship. From simple supplies for companies, to smuggled weaponry and even a few live beings displayed across his computer screen.&nbsp; The list had illegal written all over it, but Chubs was good at making that hidden from the checkpoints.&nbsp; As he opened a security camera located at his cargo docking deck, an email popped up. Normally he would have expected it to be another client asking about something for him to scam or bring in, but what he read made him sit up in his chair and inch closer to his screen. Within the pages of the email, Chubs found something quite extraordinary. It was a counter offer for a couple of crates that had already been bought. The overweight man looked into the security camera and eyed the two biggest packages he had stored in the room. This new client was offering triple what had been paid for them.&nbsp; The only problem was, Chubs wasn't sure who this client was and how he/she knew about the crates.<br><br>Rubbing his whiskered chin, Chubs decided that the trouble he went through to get those particular crates, might have been worth the unknown and accept the offer.&nbsp; Chubs rolled his chair over a couple of feet to the commlines to announce, "Roger O'Hare I need crate Z and S removed from block 3 and placed in block 4."<br><br>Chubs coughed hoarsely after his announcement and lit a cigarette. Rolling back to his computer screen he waited for the two big crates on his screen to be moved before he wrote an email back to the new client. He didn't much like the new member of his ship, he seemed nose deep in Chubs business, but he owed a friend so he kept Roger on board. The younger guy seemed like a hard worker and though Chubs couldn't quite place it, there was just something that made him weary of his presence.<br>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>06-03-2014, 01:46:29</strong>
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				He looked over to the Captain from Colby, then back to the medic after he told him about the woman's tendencies. "I've known a few people like that. Hell, I think everyone's been that person at one time or another. I got no problem followin' an order that a higher up doesn't wanna fill me in on...to an extent. I'm not gonna go around haulin' unstable nukes or something like that," he said with a sarcastic grin. <br><br>His senses were sharp; much more so than a normal humans, and even if Ressaw had been trying to hide it, which she wasn't, he easily heard her conversation with Mariko. It seemed the Ohana Rebels weren't 100% legal or legit...but he'd done many things a lot more horrible than theft. So he had no right to judge. He was more worried about Mariko getting caught than the ethical ramifications of her assignment. She was a sweet and fragile little thing; he didn't know her yet, but he'd hate to see her get hurt or worse because she couldn't handle herself. <br><br>He playfully slapped Colby on the shoulder as he walked off to handle the newest arrival. He already found himself liking the man, because he felt they were similar in a lot of ways. You didn't find much of that here. Looking at Ressaw, he nodded his head along with the explanation of what his mission was. She was a hardass, which made him laugh when he thought back to Gunny and all his superiors who were just as bad if not worse. "Talk to Chubs, get the package, get back here without picking up a tail or raisin' eyebrows. Consider it done." She asked if there were any questions and he shrugged his shoulders. "Just need to know where this guy is, boss."
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Yukina</strong> on <strong>06-03-2014, 01:57:51</strong>
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				Mariko continued pot stand at full attention near the booth, making sure to listen whenever one of the members spoke. The meek girl then foster her attention on Ressaw as she spoke, finding out that "Ma'am" wasn't a necessary term in the group. "Un-Understood, Commander. I will re-retrieve the vail immediately." She responded, seeming to still feel that she need to address the leader in formal, orderly terms. Mariko then silently made her way to the port. This would actually be quite an easy job for the meek girl due to her past. While the reason was unfortunate, she had become quite the wallflower through her life and was good at keeping silent and hidden.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Gladiator0161</strong> on <strong>08-03-2014, 03:11:44</strong>
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				<br>Davek watched for a little bit as the new woman, a blonde, approached the table and got the two crewmate's attention. As he saw Ressaw start to turn around to talk to the girl that was already there, he hunched his shoulders and bent his back a little in an effort to make himself look smaller.&nbsp; A slow movement normally wasn't noticed but, a fast one was. It was basic animal instinct really, and Humans, like every other kind of life, shared that instinct. A rapid movement he knew, would draw attention to himself, as it might have indicated a threat, so he walked slowly, and made his way back to the alleyway he'd come from. <br><br>The seconds ticked by painfully slow. <br><br>Davek knew that his Spartan enhanced physiology gave him the strength, speed, sight, hearing, smell, and reflexes beyond a normal Humans. Maybe even some of the newer Spartan 3's and 4's that the UNSC was making now, though he couldn't be sure about that as he'd met very few Spartan 3's and even fewer 4's, and could have made the alleyway with little more than a rustle of dirt left in his wake to indicate that he'd ever been there but, he kept his walk slow and unassuming, his back against the wall so he wouldn't catch their eyes. If he turned his side to them and started walking with his shoulders hunched, he'd undoubtedly catch their attention. It might have looked odd to anyone near by in the market that did happen to see him but, he wasn't concerned about the civilians, only Ressaw. He hoped that at the distance he was from them that he'd look like any other person in the back drop behind their now three perspective 'greenhorn' crew mates. Just as Ressaw looked up at the girl she was addressing, and nodded to what he assumed was her second in command, then towards the blonde woman that was approaching the booth, he made the alley and slipped into the shadows. He crouched low, behind the boxes, trash, and dumpster he'd hidden behind before and waited. <br><br>He sighed, a little frustrated that Ressaw hadn't left yet. He wanted this mission over and done with as fast as possible. The longer he stayed here, the dirtier he felt. He might have been forced into the mission but, he didn't have to like it. Luckily, his favorite weapon was the SRS99 Anti Material, gas powered, sniper rifle, and he'd spent half of his military career using one. It took skill, awareness of your surroundings, math, and lots and lots of patience to use, unlike the more popularly used iconic Assault Rifles. Even with the new feature of the newer models being semi automatic, it was too easy to "spray and pray". <br><br>He returned his attention to the booth, peaking between the cracks spaced between the piled boxes to follow what was going on. So far, it looked like she was handing out assignments, and what pieces of conversation he did hear confirmed his guess. He briefly wondered what kind of test assignment he'd receive, should he be accepted into the fold. For now though, all he could do was wait until Ressaw left. He hoped that this Ressaw wasn't Shana Wessar, that this tiny woman was just someone that looked a lot like her. He didn't like the thought of killing a fellow Human, was repulsed by it down to his core. Even now, there was a hard knot in the pit of his stomach. In his mind, the UNSC should have been trying to talk with the insurrectionist parties, and work things out. He knew that not everyone on either side would agree to something like that there were too many hurt feelings on both sides. There was simply too much history and too much blood, for those on both sides to simply ignore but, he knew that somehow, given the chance, they could come to a middle ground that everyone found acceptable, so that Humanity could be truly united against the Covenant Remnant and the Prometheans. <br><br>Right now the Human race was slowly dying. It wasn't dying from the Prometheans at the moment, or even by the Covenant Remnant. It was dying due to the divisions in it. It was only a matter of time before The Flood got involved again. He wasn't stupid enough to think that mankind had annihilated that alien race or virus, whatever it was. It was simply too powerful. If mankind was to truly live, and survive when it came back, both UNSC and Innie forces would have to put their differences aside permanently. That was easier said than done though.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Ambie</strong> on <strong>10-03-2014, 02:44:27</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Amber smiled seeing that they at least seemed pretty friendly...<br><br>The man that the woman nodded to began to speak...a female in charge? Rare indeed...this made her feel better about this group though. His words then confirmed it...interesting...<br><br>The background she had gathered on the names she was able to get didn't bring back any dirt, but they definitely didn't "seem" like trouble...just that they had a belief and a mission. Amber had to quickly decide if she could trust these people with her life or not. So far so good...she was usually a good judge of character.<br><br>"I'm Amber...Amber Valentine..." SHOOT...Amber thought to herself...you used your last name...IDIOT...she quickly thought again, well, maybe no one will immediately recognize the name all the way out here. It happened a year or more ago, but was such a big deal back around the USNC bases. "Just looking to get off of this rock! My dad had showed me how to use some rifles back when he was around. I also am OK with some flight vehicles and computers...So I have some value I hope..." She smiled...that story was something that she JUST came up with on the fly. Sounded horrible...doesn't help that she had horrible lying abilities. Her face always gave her away...darting her eyes around. Amber did her best to cover up her nervousness with her smile and eyes...almost giving off a flirt vibe. He was cute...TALL...very in shape...she began to wonder if he was ex-military himself.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Fabjuth</strong> on <strong>10-03-2014, 04:02:44</strong>
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				<div class="spoiler_container"><div onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button" class="spoiler_header">Prologue</div><div class="spoiler_body"><em>A little over 2 weeks ago...</em><br><br>The alert that popped up on his terminal caught his attention immediately. It was meant to, being colored an unmistakeable shade of purple. With a slinking feeling he tapped the alert and read the details of his operation, details that analyst shouldn’t have. Which could only mean that Oni had pulled that analyst in to fact check and assist in operational planning to end his operation and take him into custody. Unfortunate the analyst hadn’t been pulled in sooner, and odd that so <em>much</em> of his operation had been uncovered before <em>any</em> of his suborned analysts had been pulled in. That was bad, but it also boded well because while a lot of the operation was here, it all seemed to be local to the Infinity. Nothing from before his stationing on board a few scant weeks ago, nothing about his channels of distribution… All of which suggested whatever tipped ONI off had to have happened right around the time he’d joined Infinity on it’s search for Forerunner artifacts… The same search that had ended up at Requiem with all the chaos that had entailed.<br><br>Time to analyze later. A triple check to make sure none of his failsafe accounts and plans were on the list, and then a few coded messages and it was done. He was officially out of the black market arms distribution, his latest shipments cancelled and the payments refunded. Said shipments would now be on a particular freighter within an hour, and with all the ships coming and going in preparation for the mission to chase John 117 to Halo Installation 003, it’s departure from earth orbit should go unnoticed. Another message to trigger a payment to the ONI analyst that tipped him off, and another to cancel the debts the others owed him with a small payment for all the information they had provided, and he was almost out. He looked around his cabin wistfully, but the only things he could reasonably carry were things like his personal sidearm, the depleted Type 1 Energy Weapon hilt that had come oh so close to killing him all those years before, and a few other personal mementos that could fit in his pockets, and his personal data pad were all he could take. Then down to the Pelican bay.<br><br>The pilots were all used to seeing him. He’d established the routine when he first came aboard, of checking almost every shipment personally. That meant a lot of being ferried back and forth between UNSC Infinity and the various freighters and frigates that were his logistical assignment. The fact he was usually willing to wait until a pelican was headed in that general direction with some bit or piece for a delivery usually helped, and that he’d managed to divert a few choice shipments of fermented beverages to the pilots off duty areas meant by now all the pilots were more than happy to have him as an off the records passenger, sometimes even arranging a special off the books flight just for him when a particularly problematic shipment issue came up. Since 3 crates of his contraband were still on Infinity, and now had orders to be transferred to the Miser’s Misfortune for out-system delivery there wouldn’t need to be any special arrangements. Just show up, ask the pilots if anything was going the right way, then hop aboard the right pelican as an unofficial passenger. No electronic trace, he’d just disappear off the Infinity.<br><br>It was a shame they hadn’t waited three weeks to catch him. He had a week long Pelican flight certification coming up and had arranged for one of the Huragok-modified slip-space pelicans to go 'missing' for his personal use. A shame, but that’s just how the chips fall sometimes.<br><br>Then his data pad chirped again. One of his now-former clients, in appreciation for fleeing ahead of the ONI investigation before she would get caught too, had an end distributor she was unsure of, and wanted checked on. He shot off a quick reply, and a few minutes later received a data packet with information on one ‘Chubs’ and what operations he <em>should</em> be conducting, his ports of call, and even that Chubs had let Ashley Bates’s local factor know he would be hiring some new crew members soon…</div></div><br>He should never have agreed to do this favor for Ms Bates.. Sure she now owed him a favor, and sure Chubs had let him sign on, and sure he’d even managed to keep Chubs's greasy paws off the 'junk' that made up his special inventory, but the man was greasy swine, and a poor business man to boot. Overweight and obnoxious, he regularly lied to his crew and his customers, and often cheated both out of their right dues. Fortunately the override codes Ashley had given him as he was leaving Earth were good, so Roger had the run of the ships systems. He watched on one of the ships cameras as Chubs cheated another client. Which would be his undoing in this case… Not that Chubs had any clue that the ‘client’ that sent him the most recent message didn’t exist, really all that mattered was exactly how predictable Chubs was.<br><br>As the com beeped with Chubs’s incoming message Roger was compiling the initial deal with these ‘Ohana Rebels’ and the fake counter-proposal into a message and sent it off to Ashley’s local factor, along with details on how Chubs would come to be stranded on Falaknuma colony. While the lost inventory, both Ms Bates’s and his own, would be a setback but not an impossible loss. Once the message was off to Ms Bates’s factor he beamed an acknowledgement back to Chubs, and went in search of a forklift.<br><br>An hour or so later the two crates had been moved to block 4, which courtesy of some creative re-shuffling of inventory contained a couple of two tone hunks of metal, some (suitably shielded) spare fuel rods, a couple of strategically placed explosives, and all 4 cases of Roger’s special inventory. After getting the second one placed just right he leaned up against one of the crates he'd just moved, and seemingly talking to himself said "Not long now. Maybe 48 earth hours tops. I hope these folks are what we’re looking for, but the mess that’s going to be made isn’t going to leave us much in the way of choices. Oh yeah...” Roger then wandered over to one of his crates of ‘special inventory’, and producing a backlight proceeded to rummage around for a few minutes tossing seemingly random little blocky odds and ends around the bay. With a murmured "Aha!” he pulled a stumpy, almost cylindrical item out of the crate and stuck it in one of his pockets, leaving the bits and pieces where they fell and re-sealing his crate before returning to his cabin to continue monitoring the ship.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>King Serperior</strong> on <strong>11-03-2014, 18:33:04</strong>
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				<strong>Name:</strong> Zakara Sanu Makuu &amp; Serisno Sanu Helko<br><strong>Species:</strong>&nbsp; Mgalekgolo<br><strong>Arms/Equipment:</strong> N/A<br><strong>Time:</strong>&nbsp; August 19Th, 2557; 9am <br><strong>Location:</strong>&nbsp; Storage Hold<br><strong>Tagging:</strong> Open<br><hr><div class="spoiler_container"><div onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button" class="spoiler_header">Prologue</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Location:</strong>&nbsp; Kig-Yar raider:&nbsp; <em>Everlasting Truth</em>;&nbsp; Zerawl System<br><strong>Time:</strong>&nbsp; Jan19th, 2557 8pm<br><br>Zakara Sanu Makuu and Serisno Sanu Helko walked behind Kig-Yar Shipmistress, Chur'R-Gop, on her capital ship, the <em>Everlasting Truth</em>.&nbsp; They had pledged themselves to her when she killed their previous leader, the Sangheili Shipmaster, Zeka Matomee, in a daring attack upon the warship.&nbsp; It was a daring attack as her fleet of fighters, outnumbering the Shangheili nearly 15-to-1, came out of slipspace and attacked from all sides.&nbsp; Chur'R-Gop entered the Frigate herself and killed the Shipmaster.&nbsp; The body didn't even hit the ground when the Bonded Pair turned their cannons on the Shangheili warriors that streamed in through the door.&nbsp; If this creature was strong enough to kill their old Shipmaster, then she was worthy of protection.&nbsp; With the Mgalekgolo on the attackers' side, the defenders quickly were destroyed.&nbsp; <br><br>Over the next month, the Kig-Yar salvaged as much as they deemed valuable from the wreckage.&nbsp; Many a human would pay much for an "Elite" head.&nbsp; Plasma weapons could be sold to human mercenaries at stacked prices.&nbsp; Plasma Swords could be sold for extremely high prices.&nbsp; Zakara and Serisno, however, didn't care for such things, only the defense of their Shipmistress.&nbsp; However, things changed when there was a surprise attack by an unknown vessel.&nbsp; The attack killed Chur'R-Gop in the first volley.&nbsp; With the ship depressurized, the Mgalekgolo pair activated the advanced sealing systems inside their armor, preventing their colonies from being killed by the vacuum.&nbsp; Soon, the colonies entered into a hibernation-like stage until it was safe to return.<br><br>***********************************************<br><br>Two weeks later, Zakara awoke from it's hibernation to find itself chained inside a box.&nbsp; It tried to fire it's cannon, but something appeared to be wrong.&nbsp; The crushing claw at the end began to clasp, but there was no way it could reach to cut the bonds.&nbsp; Zakara "looked" around with it's senses and discovered it's bond brother, Serisno in the same position.&nbsp; Using low frequency vibrations, it spoke to it's brother, &lt;Brother, what cycle is this?&gt;&nbsp; Serisno moved it's "head" to "look" at Zakara, &lt;I know not, brother.&nbsp; We appear to be captured.&gt;<br><br>Less than an hour later, a door opened and a human walked in.&nbsp; The round human nearly defecated itself in panic as it watched the "dead" hulks move before it's eyes.&nbsp; The human, known as Chubs, ran out and locked the hold.&nbsp; After taking an hour or two to calm down, a plan formed in his head to sell these two creatures to someone who he knew would pay more than they were worth and also not powerful enough to kill them, that Resshaw woman.&nbsp; He sent in an aide to "speak" to the beasts, to tell them that they were being recruited by the Shipmistress who destroyed the capital ship where they were kept.&nbsp; In all honesty, he had no clue who destroyed the ship, but he was going to profit from it immensely.<br></div></div><br>For many cycles, Zakara and Serisno re-entered a state of hibernation until a sudden change in pressure caused them to awaken yet again.&nbsp; There was movement as the metal hold they were in vibrated.&nbsp; Unbeknownst to them, the metal box that held them was being transported to a hanger alongside a smaller box holding their shields and many weapons.&nbsp; They remained there for several hours until they sensed a creature, a human most likely, moving around the hanger.&nbsp; Their senses picked up vibrations, <strong>"Not long now. Maybe 48 earth hours tops. I hope these folks are what we’re looking for, but the mess that’s going to be made isn’t going to leave us much in the way of choices. Oh yeah...”</strong>&nbsp; <br><br>The two exchanged rapid, low frequency bursts of vibrations, wondering what was happening.&nbsp; They both "voiced" their frustrations at not having working cannons.&nbsp; They didn't even know where their shields were.&nbsp; Both wanted to know who and where this shipmistress they were promised was and both wanted to battle.&nbsp; Zakara started to slowly tap the metal with one of the large, crushing claws on it's cannon arm with as much force as it could.&nbsp; In about a minute, a depression started to appear as the loud, clanking sound was likely heard by anyone close.&nbsp; However, the human appeared to have left before they could be heard.&nbsp; 
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>12-03-2014, 02:52:20</strong>
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				Ressaw watched as Mariko left the group to start her mission. She was walking in the right direction and though the commander had a notion to tell her further direction she assumed Mariko had enough brains to figure it out all on her own. It was something that Ressaw kept in mind, feeling the new recruit was intelligent enough that she need not have to explain things as she would normally do with other members. The commander wasn't as patient in her growing age as she had once been and felt relief with one less thing to think about. <br><br>A slight movement within a nearby alley way caught Shana's attention. She couldn't figure out what she saw, squinting her eyes didn't help either. Passing it off as a stray animal atop of rubbish, Ressaw looked to her tablet to tell the time as a reference for Mariko's mission and then turned her attention back to Kain to answer his question, "Chubs owns a frigate at the end of the docking bay. It's dirty and splattered with bits of rust and space debris. I can't guarantee he will in fact be inside, but I can assure you the man is lazy and will most likely be there if not close by it. That's a hotspot for security cameras and UNSC patrols. Chubs' reputation will surely attract their attention so be attentive."<br><br>"Oh yeah? Your pops sounds like a military man." Colby said after listening to Amber. He noticed her fidgety behavior and gave her an easy rub upon her shoulder.&nbsp; His grip upon her firm , but gentle and reassuring with his light massage. Tyrese didn't know the reason behind it, but brushed it off as nervousness. "Hey it's alright girl. What ever you got going on, it's all good. Ohana isn't concerned with where ya came from, how you got here. As long as you meet all the requirements we ask, we got you." Colby released the girl and pushed the application paper to her. He pointed down the requirements and explained them, "No current affiliation with military, able to follow simple directions.. oh wait a second..must be at least 18 years of age.. hmm, I dunno." He looked back to Amber and winked at her in a flirty fashion. He raised a brow and asked, "Are you at least 18 years old?"<br><br><div align="center">*****</div><br>Once Chubs felt the crates he had requested were safely placed in their new zones, he went about making calls to current clients located on the current colony.&nbsp; Ashes from his lit cigarette fell onto his stained shirt as he argued with one. He didn't bother to flick it off, instead taking a new drag from the cancer stick before continuing his heated discussion. Just as he was about to boil over, he spotted a visitor inch their way toward his direction. Before this stranger could snoop around his crates, Chubs ended his call.<br><br>Dropping the cigarette on the floor, the overweight man stomped it out beneath a muddy boot and walked toward the man in uniform. "Can I help yous?" he asked lifting his arms up slightly. Chubs didn't like anyone looking around his inventory, especially ones in military uniforms. <br><br>"I'm with the dock security checking, just here to insure all is well." the man said to Chubs, his eyes continued to look at the various crates.<br><br>Chubs didn't approve of this behavior and it rather ignited his anger and shortened his patience.&nbsp; Not only did the stranger not bother to look him in the eye, he made up an excuse to keep himself from leaving abruptly. Closing in on the soldier, the heavy set man made sure he was in the man's line of vision before talking to him once more. "I'm already on the list and have requested contact with only the officer in charge. I can see you're just a low ranker so why don't yous head on out of heres before I do something you'll regret. Yous got a problem with my business yous can just shove off and get your superior. I didn't come here to be harassed by the likes of yous." he had come on strong and mean, though he wanted to literally shove the stranger out, he instead guided him toward the exit.<br><br>The soldier wasn't sure what to say, he could only agree with Chubs as he backed up. He didn't have authority and had every intention of telling his superiors of what he had witnessed. As the man walked back out onto the docking deck, he eyed the filthy man and straightened up his uniform before taking his full leave back to base. He kept his mouth shut and glanced once back to Chubs, whom seemed content on waiting until the soldier left his full sight. Chubs even lit another cancer stick and took a slow drag.<br><br><div align="center">*****</div><br>On the opposite side of the docking bay, a small medical supply ship sat silent, until a couple of private rank soldiers walked toward it and opened up the back hatch. Both appeared lanky and almost sickly. It was apparent the UNSC was hurting for new recruits, the sight of these two lowlifes would only confirm that. One of the men shuffled behind the other as he operated a hover dolly. It supported a big enough platform to unload various crates and boxes. Stopping in front of the open door, they stared blankly at the boxes and crates before them. "Alright... ready to do this?" one asked the other.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>16-03-2014, 14:19:44</strong>
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				(So sorry about the delay guys. Had a really busy week/weekend that involved a&nbsp; great job opportunity, a video game convention/tournament(Final Round if you're a big gamer), driving to and from said convention/tournament, and a rave that blew my mind. So without further ado...I'm back in the game babeh.&nbsp; 8-)&nbsp; )<br><br><br>Mariko was so determined to get started, she didn't even take a full mission briefing. He could respect that kind of enthusiasm, but too much enthusiasm and not enough planning were a dangerous combo. Even though her mission was a lot less hands on than his, he hoped her jumping the gun didn't get her into any trouble. He hadn't been looking at the alley, but as soon as Ressaw's attention shifted, his eyes turned to follow hers. He saw nothing, but he had that weird feeling. Nothing he could do about it now, but he'd definitely be keeping his eyes out for anything strange. <br><br>She quickly told him his destination though, and an eyebrow raised while his mouth turned upward in a smile. "You mean the flying junk heap that looks like it shouldn't even be able to leave the ground much less achieve space travel? The guy in charge of that piece of shit is Chubs? Well his stomach sticks out so far I bet he hasn't seen his feet in a few decades. Name makes sense now that I put a face to it." Taking a few steps backwards, he turned on his heel and started heading for Chubs' ship. "Be back in a bit, Captain. Package in tow."<br><br>&nbsp;Waving over his back, he kept going, knowing for a fact his weapons ready to be used if necessary, and so was he if some heads needed to be busted. His pace to the frigate was measured. Not that much over a brisk walk so people didn't think he was doing anything but that, but fast enough to notice if someone was bothering to try and keep up with him as he let his eyes roam. Soon he made it to the piece of shit that Chubs called a ship. It looked so rickety he was sure a good punch would shake it apart...even without his armor. <br><br>He'd dropped cargo off for Chubs and picked it up from him during his times as a dock worker. The guy was so lazy and concerned with personal matters he probably never even noticed Kain before, but it seemed fate wanted them to meet finally. He looked around a bit until he found the fat man, then walked over to him. He made one last look around before talking to him. "Chubs. I'm here for a pickup. Captain Ressaw sent me."<br>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Ambie</strong> on <strong>09-04-2014, 01:16:41</strong>
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				Amber smiled sweetly at Colby....she listened to him run down the requirements...good thing she had recently turned 18, otherwise, she met the items with flying colors...She looked at the sheet as he paused... Seeing his wink she smiled almost blushing...playing along like a pro. She needed to get on this ship in orbit...at any cost that she could afford. She especially needed to get off of the planet before her brother and mother discovered the note she had left. She had a few hours.&nbsp; <br><br>"I am 18! It just happens that my birthday was only a few weeks ago!" She replied lightly falling toward him...her should softly hitting his as she laughed. She looked at the two of them..."so whats next?" she said lightly letting the bag she was carrying softly go to the ground.<br><br>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Fabjuth</strong> on <strong>15-04-2014, 15:11:14</strong>
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				The alert he’d set up pinged. Chubs had just entered one of the forward holds. Checking the camera feeds Roger saw that the Ohana courier had arrived, and man wasn't he large.<br><br>Chubs was a fool. The Ohana rebels had a UNSC Frigate at their disposal. Even if it wasn’t at full compliment, as it’s not likely the ships full marine contingent would have just left the UNSC, they still likely had enough troops to drop a world of hurt on poor Chubs, even without Roger’s careful planning. Also something about this courier’s posture reminded Roger of the Spartan-IV’s on the Infinity, but that was ridiculous as he was clearly older than any Spartan Roger had seen.<br><br>Either way, Chubs had sealed his fate. Courtesy of his regular stock and all it’s explosive components the ship was now rigged with explosives set to disable key systems… Engines, Slipstream, Weapons. All of the armories had been rigged to blow up too, and a black market smuggler sure had a lot of those, as well as all the 'special cargo' cages Chubs had on board (all of which those were only set to blow open, not turn into slag). With the press of one button Chubs’s ship would be disabled, and what inventory of Chubs’s wasn’t destroyed would be running loose. Now to send a message and put the final pieces into play.<br><br><em>encryped transmission</em><br><span class="bbc_u">Source: Decrepit Freighter</span><br><em>Decryption successful - Message follows<br><span class="bbc_u">ATTN: Ressaw, Ohana Rebels</span></em><br><strong>Chubs will be going out of business shortly at the behest of his employer. Delivery of your package can be guaranteed by returning, ensuring you make it to the second port side bay where package currently is stored no earlier than an hour from receipt of message, and using the phrase “You greasy monkey.” on return and confrontation with said monkey. Be prepared for fireworks, and bring sufficient lift capacity for package, passenger, and 4 crates of personal effects.</strong><br><em>Message Ends</em><br><br>With that Roger looped several camera feeds through the ship and headed off to engineering where he’d made sure a hazardous materials suit of the right type was stored, then back to block 4. As he donned the suit right near the 2 massive crates and the various bits and pieces around them he stated "Hello, I know I only spoke briefly to you last time to let you know something was afoot. As it happens I know that a warrior in charge of a ship will be coming around very shortly. If you can delay a breakout until her arrival, and will agree that when you leave you'll be carrying some items for me, I can replace your fuel rods. The items I need you to carry are much smaller than the shields they're currently strapped to the inside of, located between both your crates.”.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Delta 8O8</strong> on <strong>27-04-2014, 23:23:29</strong>
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				<div class="spoiler_container"><div onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button" class="spoiler_header">Prologue</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Name:</strong> Jonathan Gates<br><strong>Rank:</strong> Petty Officer Second Class<br><strong>Branch:</strong> UNSC Special Operations - Spartan<br><strong>Location:</strong> UNSC Infinity<br><em>"You ain't nothin but a Hound Dog"</em><br><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/c0/Vasili_Avatar.jpg)</div><br>Spartan Gates.<br>Had a nice ring to it, however his pride for the Corps was much. The first day he had gotten his armor he had taken the left shoulder piece to a Custom Shop on Earth and gotten the ODST insignia etched into the plating along with the units he'd served in.<br>Of course, he'd gotten hell for it.<br>Commander Palmer claimed it weakened the armor there.<br>Four re-issues later, Spartan Gates was allowed the Custom design, but only because he had proved the Commander wrong in a series of tests.<br><br>In fact, the special design allowed him a special reunion before his...punishment.<br><hr><br>All Spartan-IVs were asked to join the program.<br>All, except Gates. And where, he didn't mind being a Spartan, always ready for Combat, always in the shit...he didn't like the <em>Navy</em> part.<br>Probably the reason why Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck refused to join the program. That and the fact that his team wouldn't be with him.<br>But that didn't stop the Marine from accepting to tour the UNSC Infinity.<br><br>Being in a formal military uniform while aboard a UNSC Battle Ship was...weird.<br>Sure, he'd done it plenty of times before, but not as a guest, and not on a ship he had no sense of direction in.<br>This led the good Gunny to a dilemma.<br>Somehow he had gotten separated from his group and ended up standing in the middle of the Hangar surrounded by Navy personnel and Spartans.<br><br>As Buck glanced around to ask for directions it looked like everyone was too busy to give him an answer until a Spartan with an ODST Insignia on his Armor passed by.<br>The ODST Gunnery Sergeant stared at the Insignia as it passed him by with a small feeling-, "Marine!"<br><br>Spartan Gates stopped in his tracks as the title was called out.<br>There were other Marines who volunteered to be a Spartan, sure, but they were so full of it, they've forgotten who they really were. And there was no one on the ship that ever called him by that title.<br>Plus, he'd heard this voice many times before.<br>Helmet still on, he let it hide his grin as he turned towards his former Fire Team Leader.<br>"Good to see you again Gunny."<br><br>And of course, "Uh...well, I didn't think anyone would know me here beyond the higher."<br><br>"I could never forget the best Fire Team Leader I've ever had."<br><br>"...and you are...?"<br><br>Spartan Gates laughed and shook his head.<br>He had served with Buck on Reach, and was reassigned to another unit just before New Mombasa.<br>The Battle of Earth saw to Gates' temporary promotion to Lieutenant where he commanded a Company of ODST Marines who had lost their Captain.<br>As far as Battle Experience went, he had more for it.<br>Commanding a Company was...hard.<br>Gates took off his helmet and tucked it under an arm, the augmentation obvious in the form of his height.<br>"Sergeant Jonathan Gates. PFC, when we were in the same Fire Team on Reach."<br><br>Edward Buck's eyebrows cocked upwards as those memories ran through his head.<br>Buck's reintroduction into a Life was apparent when he stuck his hand out to shake.<br>"Gates!? I heard you took a Battlefield Commission on Earth. Read the Report too, helluva job Marine."<br><br>Gates accepted Buck's hand and gave a firm handshake, careful not to crush the man's hand. "Thanks Gunny. But Command didn't think I was fit for the job of an Officer and shipped me over here."<br>As the Spartan let go of Buck's hand he had a sinking feeling the Gunnery Sergeant read that part of his report as well.<br>He'd be right.<br><br>In fact, Buck was surprised Jon Gates was still alive.<br>Not only did he sleep with anything that had a hole between its legs, his Combat prowess was something to talk of.<br>How many times had Gates' ideas been rejected because it put himself and the rest of the unit in danger?<br>Once, on Reach, Buck and his Team faced off against four Covenant Wraiths with a nearly depleted Spartan Laser.<br>Buck had his men spring an ambush in hopes of luring the wraiths into a bottleneck where they could deal with them one by one, until Gates blew up a cliff face and buried/disabled the Wraiths under a pile of rocks, nearly burying them as well.<br>Ed Buck took his hand back and offered his former underling a polite smile.<br>"Can't imagine why."<br><br>"So, how'd the Rookie fair after my reassignment?"<br><br>"Quiet. But one helluva Soldier. We got separated on the drop to New Mombasa, I met up with the rest, you remember Mickey and Dutch. The Rook was on his own for most of it. Patched myself in to the Super-Intendent when we had a break and watched a lot of the Security Footage. If I didn't know any better I would have said I was watching a Spartan go to work."<br><hr><br>As the two caught up, high above Commander Palmer watched with stress and anger levels on the rise.<br>Why?<br>She had just found out Gates had slept with every woman on board the UNSC Infinity save herself.<br>Jealousy? A Fat Negative on that.<br>"Spartan Gates!"<br><br>Gates heard it.<br>But, at that moment he was no longer a Tool of the Navy but a Weapon of the Marine Corps.<br>He had a rightfully earned Title, Goddamnit!<br>Use it!<br><br>"Spartan Gates!"<br><br>Gunny Buck glanced upwards at who was doing the yelling and would swear later he had seen an imminent erupting Volcano instead of a female Spartan.<br>"Well, Gates. It was great seeing you-"<br><br>"Nah, don't mind her. It's probably something that happened last week."<br><br>"Gates. You <em>really</em> don't learn do you?"<br><br>"...Spartan Gates!"<br><br>Buck reached up and smacked Jon Gates upside the head. "When a woman is calling you in that tone, you have two options. Run to her, or Run away, and seeing as you're on a ship, running away will only get you into more trouble."<br><br>"GATES!"<br><br>Spartan Gates bowed his head in defeat, but kept his grin, looking back up to the ODST Trooper.<br>"I was assigned here, I never accepted the position."<br><br>"I know, Marine. Your ideas are suicidal, but your skills are beyond any I've seen, even the Rook. Wherever you are, no matter what you become by choice or otherwise. You'll always be a Marine, and you'll always Represent."<br><br>"If I had a choice I'd stay with the ODSTs. The Covie war, is done, but there's something else going on."<br><br>"I know Marine. Now hurry up. Momma's calling and she looks awfully pissed."<br><br>Gates laughed out loud and put his ODST helmet back on, in fact, it was the same one issued to him since Boot Camp, save for the few times he had to reinforce it.<br>UNSC Command thought he was nuts when he requested to use it with his Spartan Armor.<br><br>"GAAAAAAAATTTEEEESSS!!!!"<br></div></div><br><strong>Rank:</strong> PFC<br><strong>Branch:</strong> UNSC Army<br><strong>Location:</strong> On the corner of No and Where<br><strong>Present Day</strong><br><em>"And the White Knight is talking backwards..."</em><br><br>The days go by one after another.<br>It was a weird feeling.<br>The days themselves go by slow, however the months pass like nothing.<br>How many months has it been since those UNSC bastards stripped him of his rightfully earned title?<br>Marine.<br>The word echoed in his head over and over as he slowly Geared up at the beginning of the day, and Geared down at the end of it. On his bad days, the dull echo of the word became screams. He was being chewed out by his conscious like a Drill Instructor chewing out a recruit.<br><br>He had gone to see a shrink.<br>Gone to see if he could be medically discharged for it.<br>But it wasn't enough.<br>Rather, it was enough, but not for someone like Gates.<br><br>Where had he gone wrong?<br>How could the UNSC abandon him so?<br>What about the Corps? Did General Hogan even try?<br><br>These questions plagued him day and night.<br>So much so that he had not had sex since being transferred.<br>He'd been in the red light district, of course. Hoping a good lay would get his head back in place, but he couldn't bring himself up to it.<br>In more ways than one.<br><br>U. N. S. C. Army. Private. First. Class.<br>Gates.<br>Jon Gates.<br>It made him sick.<br>Made him hate the UNSC.<br>Made him want to get away.<br>But to where?<br>How?<br><br>His thoughts led him away from his Patrolling Platoon with M739 Light Machine Gun in hand (though at a rather low rank he was put into a position that required him to carry the Squad Automatic Weapon), he ended up at the loading docks.<br>He ended up staring at the Ohana booth, standing behind a lone figure, crouched behind some trash cans.<br><br>Gates, blinked several times as he senses came to him.<br>In the dark cloud of this nightmare, there was a sudden ray of light.<br>A ray of Hope.<br>The <del>Army Trooper</del> Marine looked down at the crouched figure and didn't think anything of it.<br>There were many like him.<br>Dumpster Divers. Trash Golems. There were many names for those types.<br><br>As he walked towards the ray of light that was the Ohana stand, something replayed in his head.<br>Something from his last days on the <em>Infinity</em>. But why now?<br>Why were the words of Gunny Buck playing in his head.<br>How he was always a Marine.<br>How he would always Represent.<br><br>PFC Jonathan Gates seemed to stand straighter, and taller, and walk with more pride, as his eyes darted here and there, checking everything at the stand from the training course, to the people. How they stood, what they wore.<br>As he got close to the stand he stopped and cleared his throat loudly to get their attention, if he somehow hadn't yet. "Morning. I'd like to see some Papers for this temp set-up."<br>His eyes caught a shimmering light on the ground, and a glance confirmed it to be the brass end of an empty shotgun tube.<br>"Also papers for any Firearms you may hold on your person or property."
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>28-04-2014, 03:15:05</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name:</strong></span> Mariko<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><hr><br>"Yeah, let's get this over with." the other private answered. Lazily both soldiers sauntered toward the crates within the medical supply ship. Their lack of motivation to their duty was overwhelming and their minds seemed to be in another place.&nbsp; Together they lifted a heavy crate off the floor of the ship and slowly carried it to the dolly. When a comm came through, they stopped in their tracks. <br><br>Mariko had snuck her way close by. Kneeling behind a recycling bin, she watched the couple cautiously.&nbsp; Her blue eyes scanned the inside of the supply ship, hoping to find the case the captain had mentioned to her before she left. This wasn't something Mariko had done before and it made her nervous. With each minute that passed, her heart began to speed up. Gleaming in plain sight she discovered a case on one of the crates. She glanced to the men at the entrance, noises from construction of the docks caused them to stray from the ship to get a better chance on hearing what message they were receiving from their headsets. This was her chance. Gulping, Mariko scurried toward the ship. Her body shook nervously, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She hopped the case on the crate was the one she needed. Paranoid about the men finding her, Mariko almost neglected to check the contents. Pausing in her tracks, she opened it up. Within she found canisters of bio-foam. Wrong case. Mariko glanced back out of the ship to check on the soldiers. They were still occupied.&nbsp; She needed to hurry, she had to get out of there. Where was the case? Panic began to take over, Mariko clumsily looked through the packages around her. As she was about to give up and run out, she spotted a black case. As she opened it up, a shadow covered her light. Her heart dropped to her stomach. <br><br>The two soldiers had caught Mariko. At first they were slow to react, dumbfounded to find a woman before them.&nbsp; She took that advantage and took off with the case in her arms. Pushing her glasses closer to her eyes she prayed she could get away. She failed, one of the private's latched onto her arm. The jolt knocked the case from her arms and slid a few feet before falling into a nearby drain. Mariko shrieked in horror to her capture. One of the men went to the case, but as the woman fought against the other soldier, he had to stop and help his comrade restrain her.&nbsp; Kicking and struggling, Mariko fought, but she wasn't strong enough to overpower them.&nbsp; Once her arms were fastened, one of the soldiers stayed behind to put the load away. The other pushed the woman forward and walked her down the dock toward base. Mariko didn't know what was going to happen next, tears slowly filled her eyes. As they walked past the back of the obstacle course belonging to the Ohana Rebels, she looked back to the group. When her eyes met with Ressaw, she felt embarrassed and silently begged the commander for help. Nothing happened, the captain averted her eyes as if she didn't recognize Mariko.<br><br><hr><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name:</strong></span> Ressaw and Colby<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Outside Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><hr><br><br>Ressaw had caught glimpse of Mariko's return, but it didn't please her. Averting her eyes from the scene involving the new recruit, the commander thought over the situation she had witnessed. The soldier leading the young woman could have easily been taken out. Ressaw had the skills and every intention of protecting her crew at the top of her priority. Clenching her teeth, she hid a frown behind her vacant stare, but her nostrils flared slightly. Green eyes spied the training shotgun within reach, but she couldn't get herself to pull it forth. <br><br>Movement caught her attention and she was forced to refocus on what was going on around her and the booth.&nbsp; Ressaw watched as a man approach her setup. From form alone, she knew something was up about the guy. It made her tense, she felt the hydraulics pump her blood faster, but he didn't seem to recognize her, she calmed and the cybernetics keeping her alive slowed their energy. She still wanted to bump heads, but was fully aware that Falaknuma was full of UNSC personnel and she had no chance so instead she forced a half smirk and extended her hand toward the soldier instead. "The name's Ressaw. I'm running the Ohana recruitment of this booth. Need a new crew for cargo pick ups. Seems bravery is rare these days, figured Falaknuma would offer stronger individuals, but just in case thought a simple obstacle course wouldn't hurt." With a free hand she grabbed her digital pad and opened up the documents for her permits for parking and booth setup. Sliding it toward the individual before her, she picked up the orange painted shotgun. She held it by the barrel up and though she glanced back to her obstacle course, she thought about Mariko and secretly made plans for the new recruit if she managed to keep her trap shut. Ressaw returned her attention back to the man and placed the empty gun upon the counter of the booth. "Some cargo pick ups can lead to danger, I like to make sure my future crew is prepared for surprises. This.. child's play. Flexible baton round shotgun. Used to test endurance, and reaction for new recruits. Nothing more than a toy." she said and gave a quick wink, though she wasn't any good with flirting and felt the idea would only make her look misplaced and mischievous. "All weapons ship wise has been forfeit upon arrival to the colony, as was reccommended when we entered."<br><br>Leaning against the counter, she placed her hands upon the tabletop and with a slight challenge in her voice she said, "You come here for that or were you looking for something outside of your everyday? Why not test your skills on the course. Lets see how you boys do it on Falaknuma."<br><br><br><br>Colby smirked at Amber and nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Alright, happy birthday doll face, we might need to celebrate that later." Turning slightly he pointed toward the course behind the booth. Though he looked to the man that had appeared, he could only offer the soldier a smile before looking back to Amber. Ressaw could take care of the paperwork though he knew she didn't like UNSC, but with her background, he didn't blame her and though his thoughts should have been the same, Tyrese just didn't see UNSC as an enemy like Ressaw. "You see that course behind me, here's what's going down. I gotta time you to run the course. You run the course, climb the walls, shuffle through the tires swing down the rope. Easy, you're gonna hate me, but as part of the course I need to test your speed, endurance, and how likely you are to bring a package home safely. Don't think about it too much, I got you. What you lack here can be improved later on. You ready?"<br><br>Colby had to give another look to Ressaw and her company. He needed the training gun, but didn't want to take it until the whole process was over. If he couldn't use it, he could figure something else out, even if that meant cheating for Amber. The captain seemed pretty focused on the man in front of her and he didn't want to disrupt them, so he turned back to Amber and added, "We usually use the baton round shotgun for the course, but just for this time, you'll run through without it."<br><br><hr><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name:</strong></span> Chubs, Zakara, Serisno<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Chubs Frigate Cargo Ship at Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><hr><br>Chubs took in smoke from his cigarette and held it in a moment as Kain's voice took his attention. He looked the man up and down before blowing out the toxins from his mouth. At first he wasn't sure who the guy was talking about. "Whos? Oh... yeah... yeah.." he said thinking back to the better offer he had received. Chubs didn't think Ressaw would be so quick to notice that he had arrived. Looking around the dock, he checked to make sure the woman wasn't sneaking around. Turning his back on Kain, he waved him to follow. Walking back onto the ship, the obese man had to come up with something&nbsp; quick. Glancing back to the man behind him he began talking again, "So Ressaw wants her package, I assume you know whats you're in for hmm? Ressaw..."<br><br>Chubs didn't know enough about the woman to make an accurate decision, but he did know that her crew never stuck around long enough and he figured that with her secrets, she wasn't particularly someone he should cross, but he didn't feel she was dangerous enough for him to look into any details. He was good at what he did. Flicking his cigarette away, Chubs walked to his computer and began typing in numbers. If he wasn't going to give the guy the correct packages for Ressaw he had to find something. He almost laughed aloud at what he came across in his inventory. He covered up his glee with a scoff, "She's early. Package isn't due for another twos weeks."<br><br>He looked Kain over with narrowed eyes and a raised brow in suspicion. The guy was much bigger, and Chubs didn't think he could really make Kain leave, but he had to give it a go. "Why don't yous comes back then?"<br><br><br><br>Both Mgalekgolo were becoming impatient and frustrated with being locked up for so long. They wanted to be free, both wanted to join in battle even if that meant igniting one themselves. Lack of metal had their central nervous systems on edge. Zakara especially wanted to be free of the crate that held the myriad Lekgolo collectives. As a pod the Lekgolo felt it was time to crush something. The crate weakened with Zakara's constant tapping, but the colony stopped with the reappearing of Roger's voice. He spoke in sincerity and the two Mgalekgolo appreciated such things, but they remained unpersuaded of a master worth more than any Sangheili commander. If this leader was so grand why had she not shown up yet?<br><br><hr><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name:</strong></span> Dexter<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Flood 89 at Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><hr><br>Being alone on Flood 89, Dexter was left to do what he pleased. Though his interests involved logging into the Falaknuma UNSC bases, he kept his distant as was Ressaw's specific request, though it broke down to more of a threat. Dexter had no intention of being broken down into smaller parts if he could help it, and the commander made it clear that if he wanted to keep it that way he would need to stay out of the UNSC's databases. So instead he scrolled through the DNA analysis and genetic readings the notebook at the booth had picked up and sent to the ship. Organics were simply astonishing and complex creatures. Molecules even if rearranged by one differential created something completely foreign from the last specimen. <br><br>The A.I. was in the midst of identifying the unique gene he hadn't recognized before involving a newly enlisted member when a message came through and interupted his research. Dexter looked into the encrypted message directed to Ressaw. She wasn't around so the robot thought it wouldn't hurt to check it out himself before he contacted the commander. Dexter found the message overall intriguing and it brought up questions he, himself, would like answered. He decided to look deeper. The message had spoken of several words that made the A.I. dig into the database located on Chubs' frigate at the other end of the docks. When he could confirm the message he would inform the captain.<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>28-04-2014, 11:23:08</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				This guy was far from a professional, but he had what Ressaw wanted, so Kain would have to deal with him. He watched Chubs look around all suspicious and shady like, almost as if he was trying to spot someone. This guy was as subtle as a big red button that said "PUSH ME". He didn't say anything though, just nodded and followed along behind him. He asked a dumb question, if Ressaw wanted her package. <br><br>"Wouldn't be here if she didn't. And with her? Got a pretty good idea, and it's nothin' I can't handle...trust me." He kept a hawk's gaze on the chubby little man as he appeared to type in the shipping number to find the package for the Ohana. Only that's not what happened. What happened was that Chubs looked him in his eyes, and told him the package wasn't due for another two weeks. Then had the nerve to tell him to come back later. <br><br>"Heh," he chuckled as smiled down at Chubs. "I was lookin' for trouble today, guess I found it." Taking a step forward, he made sure to point out the height difference between the two of them. "You're a good liar, fat man. But I've picked out <em>great</em> liars. So I suggest you give me the package me, you <em>and</em> my employer are all 100% sure is on this boat. Or you and me? We're gonna have problems. And I'm not someone you want problems with." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Gladiator0161</strong> on <strong>28-04-2014, 21:31:01</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong><span class="bbc_u">Name:</span></strong> Davek Ironwall<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Affiliation:</span></strong> UNSC NavWepSpec: Spartan II Program.<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Rank:</span></strong> Lieutenant Commander<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Location:</span></strong> Falaknuma Colony, near Dockside<br><strong>Present Day</strong><br><br>Davek was watching the Ressaw woman, a feeling growing in his gut that this was indeed Shana. He'd almost been tempted to grab his helmet from his duffel bag, turn on the HUD and zoom in on her face, when he heard footsteps drawing closer from behind him. Quickly, he grabbed a handful of mud, trash, and...something that he didn't want to think too hard about what it could have been, and spread it over himself. He put some on his face, his shirt and pants, making it look like he'd been searching the garbage for something to eat. He didn't hesitate too much about spreading the crap on himself, he'd been covered in worse before. Just about the time he was done, the person behind him rounded the corner, coming into view. <br><br>Davek slumped against the wall with a heavy defeated sigh, and slid into a sitting position. He slumped his shoulders and hung his head, to make it look like he'd been at it for hours, and hadn't come up with anything. Gladiator caught sight of the man that came within feet of him, using his peripherals. He was a Private, judging from the insignias on his uniform, and part of the UNSC's Army. It looked like the Private First Class, or PFC, Officer was too lost in thought to take much notice of him though, which was good. Gladiator watched the Army grunt approach the Ressaw woman's booth&nbsp; out of the corner of his eye, and sighed with relief. A moment later, as the PFC was asking for her documentation, he saw one of Ressaw's people being led away by two UNSC guards, obviously having caught her in whatever it was she was assigned to do. <br><br>He was tempted to use the situation to his advantage. Sneaking up on the two guards and knocking them out would be simple. There was the PFC to deal with too though, and he was armed with a M739 Light Machine Gun, or a SAW, as everyone in the UNSC called it. There was no way that he would live through that should the PFC decide to fire on him and succeed in shooting him. A single standard magazine carried 72 rounds of M118 FMJ-AP 7.62x51 mm ammunition, which could be extended up to as much as 128, an automatic fire rate of 920 rounds per minute, and a muzzle velocity of 2,600 feet. The only advantage he had, was that it was less accurate at long range, and was considered a close to medium range weapon. While he could hack into the UNSC camera feeds with his helmet's HUD, and loop them for 13 minutes, giving him just enough time to knock out the guards and "rescue" the Ohana crewman, and disappear, thus earning him some favor and more credit to his story, all the PFC had to do was get <em>one</em> lucky shot with one of his one hundred and twenty eight rounds, and call for backup over his radio. The last thing his mission needed was trouble with his own people at this point, and either one of those possibilities would end his mission on the spot. <br><br>He seriously thought about doing it anyway, he was getting impatient and tired of sneaking around. Unfortunately, he was now rooted in place by his own curiosity. He gritted his teeth, grabbed a mostly unused napkin from the garbage nearby and used it to wipe his face, and watched the Ressaw woman slide a tablet over to the PFC, which he assumed held the documentation he was after. <em>The things I do for Humanity and the UNSC,</em> he thought.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Ambie</strong> on <strong>29-04-2014, 04:09:25</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Name: Amber Valentine<br>Location: Outside Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><br>Amber listened to Colby...but seeing Reesaw's attention shift she looked over her shoulder. Was that...wasn't that the girl that was just standing where she was as she was walking up to the table? She was being led away by guards for the Docks...Had Reesaw sent her to do her first mission and she failed that quickly? Amber felt another approach behind her so she tried to redirect her attention back to Colby...was he flirting with her? Baby face huh?<br><br>She looked over his should at the course...she smiled almost with a smirk. She had to run a course much tougher during her training...this should be a piece of cake...She walked around the table and approached the entrance...taking off her jacked...wearing her pants and a tight, form fitted tank top..."watch this..." she said as she took off...<br><br>...As she approached the end she ran out the outlet...panting a little as she walked back over to him. She looked around at the man still at the table questioning Reesaw...some homeless man in a nearby alley...her ass swaying..breasts jumping lightly. She picked up her jacket smiling at Colby..."first time I've broke a sweat in a while...time for the showers! Haha! I grew up in a deep forest...running over roots, jumping off of tree limbs was a fairly normal thing." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Fabjuth</strong> on <strong>05-05-2014, 21:08:51</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				It was clear from their response that something was up with the Mgalekgolo pair... But Roger didn't know near enough to assess what. This disturbed him, as it threw a kink into plan A that had already been set in motion. In the business he was in though it never paid to have only one or two plans. Like a good strategist you set up a tree of possibilities, and planned to improvise when a branch was lopped off, as was being done now by the noncommittal pair. Pulling out his data pad Roger called up ships control and had the in-bay loading system activated. While it was moving the mobile pallet with the Mgalekgolo pair's shields and his canisters to a place by the outer bay door, he donned the radiation suit. Before placing the final seal on the radiation suit he said "I'm going to mostly arm your weapons now, though I don't have time to complete the process without harm to myself. When the shipmistress arrives a code word will be said and explosives will go off, freeing you from both crate and chain. You'll need to issue a half twist and connect the last wire, but your cannons will then be active.”.<br><br><hr><br>Being sealed inside the anti radiation suit, Roger didn't hear the alarm on his pad of a hostile system intrusion into the ships database, though he'd see the notification once he checked his pad. Not that Chubs would know, as the default anti-intrusion software Chubs used was based on date changes and user tags... easy enough to spoof. Roger however had a system from Earth based on the amount of external traffic from internal requests. Once in the system Dexter would find it had free range of the system, but would probably notice a slightly more encrypted file containing the command override Roger has (encryption enough to prevent another human from gaining access, not that it could stop an AI). The command key would provide access to everything, from all communications (including the traffic from Roger to Ms Bates back on earth, and spoofed 'client' messages), through looped and original versions of the security camera footage, to the signal to detonate all the explosives and their locations. Not that it couldn't get that information anyway... None of the systems on Chubs ship could prevent an AI intrusion.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Delta 8O8</strong> on <strong>07-05-2014, 10:52:36</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>Name:</strong> Jonathan Gates<br><strong>Rank:</strong> PFC<br><strong>Branch:</strong> UNSC Army<br><strong>Location:</strong> Ohana Booth<br><em>"You ever wonder why we're here?"</em><br><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/c0/Vasili_Avatar.jpg)</div><br>Gates let go of the 21-pound LMG with his left hand, holding it up with ease with his right.<br>His hand didn't shake, he didn't make any noises of discomfort, or look as if he were struggling with the weight.<br>With his left hand he blindly searched for the strap while his eyes glanced about the booth looking for any other discrepancies.<br>He eyed Amber for a bit, feeling nothing at all, then his gaze shifted to Colby.<br>As he was sizing them up, his left hand found the strap and in one motion he had his SAW shouldered, barrel pointing upwards.<br>From there he took the digital pad with his left hand, then the "training" shotgun with his right.<br>He looked over the permits and documentation as if he knew what he was looking at.<br>The truth is, he didn't. He wasn't exactly trained for it. He did know what the Manifest was.<br><br>He gave the pad back to her before he checked out the Shotgun with the swiftness of a Marine Drill Instructor.<br>Gates checked everything, but at a glance he did confirm that it was used for Training purposes. The load port for the ammunition had been extended to fit the baton round, which stuck half an inch outside of each shotgun shell.<br><br>The young man gave the shotgun back then turned towards the actual docks and counted each gate from the one's he remembered until his eyes settled on the Ohana ship.<br>It was a weird looking thing.<br>When Ressaw mentioned that all Weapons of the ship were forfeited upon arrival Gates had to stop himself from laughing out loud.<br><br>It wasn't that he didn't believer her.<br>No.<br>It was the Army's Air Defense System.<br>It didn't work.<br>You heard me.<br>Those Mk. 2547 "Mini MAC" Gun Platforms and HEV platforms one can see as they're flying from port to orbit and vice versa, the very same Platforms the Army threatens each ship with. The very same Platforms that supposedly blew away a Covenant Carrier, to the point where all the left over debris burned up as it was coming into the atmosphere, thus conveniently ridding the Army of any "evidence" to clean up...<br>Don't Work.<br><br>There was a time when the Army cared about them and sent multiple requests to get them repaired, but over time those requests were lost in the abundant paperwork to refit, or decommission equipment, and over time people stopped caring.<br>What's more?<br>A lot of those Platforms had been torn apart by the Army themselves.<br>Reusing parts for non-defense purposes.<br><br>Gates had kept himself from laughing but not from grinning.<br>And just in time!<br>Ressaw had just winked at him.<br>It looked as if they were flirting with each other.<br>Looked.<br><br>Then came Ressaw's challenge.<br>Gates stopped grinning as he looked towards the obstacle course and watched Amber make her run.<br>He looked back to Ressaw, then back toward the course. Then back to Ressaw and replied, "Are you serious?"<br>The Marine shook his head at her words. "I'll do it, just don't put me in the same category as those <em>boys</em>." As he spoke he unslung his weapon and carried it to the starting line fully expecting to run the course with it. Looking at the course again, his shoulders slumped as he wondered what kind of JROTC bullshit he was looking at.<br>He looked at the Shotgun he had inspected earlier and grumbled about how insufficient it was but left it at that.<br>"On <em>your</em> mark."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>07-05-2014, 22:56:41</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong><span class="bbc_u">Name:</span></strong> Dexter<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Location:</span></strong> Flood 89 at Falaknuma Ship Docks<hr><br>Gaining entry into the cargo ship belonging to Chubs Saltos was almost too easy. The databases obeyed Dexter's influences without any trouble, but as he scanned the systems further he ran into a wall. The A.I. paused in his search at this find and though he had a feeling he should stop until he could require the captain's permission, it was only a small feeling and so he ignored it and set forth on hacking into this foreign system. As Dexter gained entrance he became more aware of what was going on in the ship across the dock. Granted, Dexter was nosey, but he chose not to dig too deep as the questions that would correctly correspond to the email to Ressaw seemed far more important than the history of Chubs' ship.<br><br>Curiosity did cause Dexter to access the live camera feeds of Chubs' cargo ship. The first camera to open up was a room, the camera held its position on a desk and monitor. Ciggerrettes littered the floor. The putrid things put into such things even had Dexter confused as to why an organics would want it in their systems. As he looked around the camera viewing, he noticed the commander of the ship himself. Morbidly obese for a human, he stood facing a rather large individual. Though Dexter could not fully recognize this individual through this computer system, he was curious about him. The size difference was obvious, and Dexter wondered why. Before investigating further, the A.I. switched to another camera. What else was on this ship? How many organics were there? Where were the A.I.s? Dexter had to know. When he came across another individual on the camera screen he focused on him and watched him curiously. This one&nbsp; was preparing for something, and Dexter wasn't convinced it was something benign. Without too much investigation, Dexter concluded that this must have been the one that had sent the message to Ressaw.<br><br><hr><strong><span class="bbc_u">Name:</span></strong> Ressaw and Colby<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Location:</span></strong> Outside Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><hr><br>Colby watched Amber run the obstacle course, he analized that she did have some speed and accuracy. Amber was in good health and shape. It wasn't until her return did he realize that not only did he not use the shotgun, but he had forgotten to give her a box to carry on her run. She seemed to be in a hurry to get it done with and Colby had been too distracted with her to fully complete the requirements of the task. Biting his lip he dared to look back to the commander to see if she had noticed what he had done.When he was met with a stink eye from Ressaw, he offered a smile and rubbed the back of his smooth head. "Heh!" was all he could manage to say to her. Returning his attention back to Amber he said, "We may need to do that again. I forgot to give you a box for your run. If it were up to me I'd just let it go, but Ressaw.." Tyrese shrugged his shoulders a bit in slight defeat. He didn't want to look back at the captain, he could feel her green eyes upon him. He could almost hear her thoughts recognizing his weakness for women. Colby knew he had a problem, but what was wrong with liking pretty girls? He was pretty, it was only natural, right?<br><br>Ressaw stared at Colby for a moment, a look of distaste stuck to her face as she judged him. His love for the opposite sex usually got him into trouble. He liked to believe women were the light hearted of the sexes, but Shana was convinced he was just an idiot for listening to the wrong head. Amber would need to be retested, but now was too late. It was Colby's neglectance that had caused this and it will be his to fix. Now it was going to be in the way. Waving off the notion, she grabbed the shotgun and loaded it with two beanbags. "Forget it. Prick her finger and lets move on." She said and turned her attention to the course. Picking up the box from yesterday's course runs, she handed it to the soldier beside her. Ressaw didn't much care for his extra weight he held strapped to his shoulder, this was all just for fun anyways. Her green eyes scanned the course for any imperfections, when she came across nothing, she lifted the gun into postion and told Jon, "Mark."<br><br>Colby's mood brightened at Ressaw's command. He was relieved and though he had a feeling he'd pay for it later, he was just happy the captain wasn't going to scold him for what he had done right now. Picking up the&nbsp; diabetic pen, he made sure the needle was a brand new one and handed it to Amber. "Prick your finger. I'll send the blood sample to our database and you'll become apart of our crew."<br><br>Reminder: two shots will be fired during Jonathan's course run. You will need to detect when these are fired, and how Jonathan will be affected.<br><br><hr><strong><span class="bbc_u">Name:</span></strong> Chubs, Zakara, Serisno<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Location:</span></strong> Chubs Frigate Cargo Ship at Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><hr><br>"Whoas guy, yous gots me. So serious." Chubs responded with hands up in surrender. Partly stunned and intimidated, the man inched his way from Kain and walked toward a corridor. Grumbling beneath his breath he scolded himself for letting someone push him around. He had to remind himself of the profits he would make though and to that, he led Kain into a dark cold room. Upon entrance, the sensors picked up movement and imidiately brightened up the room with its artifical lighting. Various containers lined the room. Not one for organization, edibles and non-edibles were intervened with each other. The man walked to a solid plastasteel container, and though it was bubbled with dents, it remained strong. Chubs touched it, but after a good look at the container he retracted his hands from the dark metal. His hands stung from the cold at its surface. Everything looked intact, and even though it wasn't Ressaw's correct package, he still hesitated to give it up. Chubs wasn't sure if it was the guilt or just simply his greed. <br><br>The captain of the frigate took a step back and looked back to the Ohana crew member and then back to the container. It must have been half the length as Kain. Chubs bet the package was a lot heavier though. Scratching the back of his head the obese man said, "So yous have a dolly for this? Yous looking at about 1,800 pounds right heres."<br><br><br><br>Zakara and Serisno listened to Roger's voice as the vibrations resonated between the lekgolos and together they interpreted his language.&nbsp; These Lekgolos could understand the human tongue, but refused to speak it. Only a Sangheili had right to speak to Spartan Killers and only wortish would they speak. Roger's intensions just didn't seem to compute, the mgalekgolos decided on a calamity. Tilting and shifting positions in their crates the brothers tested the strength of their prisons. They still needed the aid of the human though, so they settled again and kept quiet. Until they could get full access of their gear and the knowledge of where they were, Zakara and Serisno had to keep still a while longer. Both listened for the movement of a pallet that possessed their weapons and shields. Serisno needed only one word to make Zakara produce a low rumbled laugh. "Kukra."<br>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>11-05-2014, 07:35:05</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name:</strong></span> Kain Austin<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Chubs' Ship<br><br>His threat, the little thing that it was, had apparently worked. The fat man put his hands up in surrender, which probably was worse for Kain since the smell from his pits was just...awful. "Serious got me the truth, didn't it? I'd say serious is workin' out fine right about now." He waited for Chubs to get moving, then followed along behind him, hoping that he'd either get the package so he could leave, or Chubs would give him a reason not to leave. This fucker was more shiesty than an Elite with a stealth mod. <br><br>He followed the chubby little man into a dark room that was more than a little chilly. Their entrance caused the lights to brighten and the sight before him made him wonder just how the fuck Chubs ever delivered anything to the right person or even on time.&nbsp; Chubs went over to a box dinged all the hell up, and after a bit of a personal moment with it, he asked if he had a dolly as 1,800lbs wasn't an easy thing to move. "1,800 pounds? Hmmph, okay. Let me ask you something. You know Ressaw right? You know how meticulous she is. I think if she had a package that weighed more than a ton, and we both know she'd know how much it weighed.&nbsp; She wouldn't have sent me over here with just directions if it was so damn big. Now if you want to bullshit somebody, that's fine. But don't try and bullshit me. I've got better things to do than throwing your short, hairy ass all over the ship until you give me the package you agreed to deliver to my employer." 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Ambie</strong> on <strong>20-05-2014, 00:35:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Amber came back through the other side...She saw Colby's face as she ran up...she knew something was up. Amber wasn't even breathing heavy but decided to fake it a little to play off the fact that she could have ran that course 5 or 6 more times just for light exercise. She listened to him mention something about doing it again....she raised an eyebrow...then seeing the display of unsettling angst coming from the female to their side at the table...Amber grew nervous...tightening up a bit. She then breathed a sigh of relief as she gave the ok...<br><br>"A prick huh?" She said walking over to the older model DNA blood receiving machine at the table...She did so, drawing her finger back and seeing the small hole with some blood leaking out...she took a nearby swab and rubbed the alcohol on it, cleaning it. She walked back over to Colby slowly..."So...what now? Need me just hang out here?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Fabjuth</strong> on <strong>27-05-2014, 21:39:47</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<hr><span class="bbc_u"><br>Name: Roger O'Hare<br>Location: Chubs Frigate Cargo Ship at Falaknuma Ship Docks<br></span><hr><br>Roger could tell from the shifting that something was amiss, but had absolutely no idea what was wrong with the pair of hunters. Since they refused to speak to him he guessed they were assenting, but maybe he was shooting himself in the proverbial foot by arming these cannons when the Ohana wanted these creatures...<br><br>Unsealing the first radioactive fuel rod, he carefully inserted it in the massive canon stored within hoping he was managing to do it correctly based on the shoulder mounted fuel rod gun he’d once had the pleasure of disassembling, making sure to leave a half twist and the last wire in the circuit undone. With luck the Hunters wouldn't know about the wire, and he should be able to enable the cannon externally if they weren't rampaging when they were freed. Then Roger repeated that process with the second crate, finishing the process with about 15 minutes to spare on his radiation suit. Shimmying out of his suit Roger checked his pad and saw the security alert, but also saw that his pad had isolated itself and turned off all wireless connections per the security software. That would complicate accessing security camera feeds, but Roger was able to use the console in the cargo bay to verify the route was clear and return to his cabin, no one on the ship wiser he'd left. Whoever the hacker was might be able to see him, if they were good enough.<br><br><hr><strong><span class="bbc_u">Name:</span></strong> Dexter<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Location:</span></strong> Flood 89 at Falaknuma Ship Docks<hr><br>As Dexter's runtimes monitored more camera feeds and compared them to the processes he'd left in the crew files and correlated faces, a name popped up. Roger O'Hare. Curiosity caused the AI to suspend the motoring runtime it had on Roger for about half a second, long enough to access and thoroughly review the file on him in the ships files. Long enough also to notice the clear (to an AI) tampering, though it was the pattern of tampering that was interesting. Things like personal history before joining the UNSC were intact, portions of the UNSC files were tampered with, and almost all of the history post leaving the UNSC. Since the files were 'originals' loaded on the ships systems the tampering had happened earlier, before Roger had joined Chubs. Curiosity caused Dexter to split off a process to Roger's personal storage on the ships systems, and keep watching as Roger entered a crate which the cargo manifest identified as one of the two Ressaw was expecting, with an object that looked suspiciously like a radioactive fuel rod.<br><br>An alert from a sub process and a hundredth of a second later Dexter had determined the only files in Roger's personal storage were a map of ordnance placed throughout the ship rigged to explode, the detonation code that was required to do so if an audio receiver failed to pick up a key phrase, and all of Roger's message traffic (which also confirmed Dexter's appraisal that this was the person who'd sent the message). There were a few other pointers to files on a different system, but it seems that a fairly advanced anti-intrusion program had isolated that system, shutting off all it's connections to the ships systems. Leaving a routine to monitor in case the system re-connected Dexter returned to his other processes and watched events continue to play out on this dinky little ship...
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Delta 8O8</strong> on <strong>28-05-2014, 08:13:00</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>Name:</strong> Jonathan Gates<br><strong>Rank:</strong> PFC<br><strong>Branch:</strong> UNSC Army<br><strong>Location:</strong> Ohana Booth<br><em>"Go For Broke"</em><br><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/c0/Vasili_Avatar.jpg)</div><br>Unlike the other Spartan he did not get to see in action, Gates didn't hold back.<br>He didn't have to.<br>Not to the Army, not to the Ohana crew Members nor to anyone else.<br>His movements from a casual stand still with LMG in hand to a full sprint was, in lack of a better word, Explosive.<br><br>He didn't have to think about the two Training Rounds fired at him. He could've given his LMG to Ressaw and instructed her to use the entire magazine, in the attempt to <em>try</em> and hit him and he wouldn't have flinched under fire, he would have simply found a way to complete the course without getting hit and/or dying.<br>As a Soldier does.<br>Hitting the first wall...<br>The Wall was made to stand over anyone of any height, and yet Gates ran up to it, jumped high enough for his right hand to grab onto the top, then with that one hand pull the rest of his body over as if he were jumping standard chain-link fence.<br>His speed didn't slow down when he hit the Tires. Unlike some others who throw up their knee, when raised to get through the course, and wait for it to come down before taking some control of it, Gates had complete control over his legs making them look more like Steel &amp; Oil Machines than Flesh &amp; Bone.<br>The First Training Round was fired at the end of the Tire course. It whizzed right past his head, and where most people would flinch, duck down, or roll, or what have you, Gates simply kept going.<br>The next wall was much taller than the first.<br>There was no way he'd be able to get up it with just one jump. Scrambling up was also out of the question. Though Ressaw never gave him any rules, he was sure going through it wasn't what they were thinking when they came up with the idea of a giant wall.<br>So he improvised.<br>Reaching behind him he gripped the hilt of his Custom Combat Knife, pulled it out, and flung it at the wall in one motion. The knife became embedded into the wall, though not as deep as Gates wanted.<br>This was when the second round was fired.<br>This time, Gates did move, but on purpose.<br>His quick side step on the run allowed the Training Round to miss his back and hit his knife.<br>Right on the button.<br><br>The knife sunk in even deeper.<br>As Gates approached the wall, his speed quickened momentarily before he lifted his foot up on top of the Knife, using it as a step, before jumping the rest of the wall. His left hand, this time, grabbed the top, and he heaved his body up and over like he had with the first.<br>But he didn't stop moving.<br>He saw the Rope at a glance, saw the disturbed dirt where everyone else had landed from using it, and kept going.<br>The ex-Spartan IV ran off the wall, executed a Combat Roll as soon as he hit the ground to soften his impact and lessen his momentum, then came to a stop standing.<br>He wasn't sweating, he wasn't breathing hard. He was just...fine.<br>Gates walked to the Wall where his knife was embedded and yanked it out with one hand.<br>He inspected it, checking for bends, cracks, or other damages. None were found. Truly a High Quality Blade.<br>The ODST symbol was stamped into the blade on one side, while the other had the Symbols of all the Units he had served with, and one could see that for the moment it took him to look it over before putting it away.<br><br>As Gates made his way back to Ressaw, passing by Colby and the woman from earlier, an idea of leaving the Army and joining them crossed his mind.<br>Could it be done?<br>Would they take him in?<br>Just by looking at Ressaw and Colby he could tell they weren't stupid. He was sure they would do a background check, and would get rid of him the moment they found out he used to be a Spartan IV. In one way or another.<br>And, of course, Gates himself wasn't stupid either. He knew that they would be taking on jobs that was opposite of the Justice System.<br>The "bad" side.<br>But what did it matter? Which side of the Law he was on.<br>He was like a Fish out of Water, here with the Army. At least with Ohana, he'd be on a Ship.<br><br>Even with thinking through the Pros and the Cons. The Rights and the Wrongs.<br>Gates knew there'd be no way he could sneak away and the UNSC wouldn't care.<br>After all, he still had their implants, Time, and Money.<br>As he passed by Ressaw he only said a few words without stopping. "The Course is adequate for your average person. Stay outta trouble, will ya?"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>02-06-2014, 02:49:18</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name:</strong></span> Ressaw and Colby<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Outside Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><br>Placing the sample he had received from Amber,&nbsp; Colby entered it into the digital pad. As it ran its course of gathering her information, he looked back to her with a light smile. "Once the computer finishes its report we'll call you upon further instructions. You can leave when ya want, or stick around and see what happens later?"<br><br>Ressaw watched the soldier take his leave. She didn't comment on her findings keeping her personal thoughts to herself. If it had been a real test, Shana would have failed his attempt for over confidence and rushing through the course. The commander could tell with everyone that tested out the course they were holding back, it told her they were being cautious and to Ressaw that meant they were more aware of what was going on around them while trying to determine the outcome before they finished. Jon, however, rushed through it with what appeared to her as lack of thinking while showing off what he could do. She needed cautious individuals not daring ones. It was high risk, and Shana was determined to keep a low profiling. Looking to Colby and Amber she decided to butt in. "I still need that case Mariko failed to bring me. Amber I have a mission when you are ready to go, I will give you details."<br><br><hr><br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name</strong></span>: Chubs<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Chub's Ship<br><br>Chub's didn't like Kain's threats to his well being, he didn't like being talked down to. He didn't know much about Ressaw, only a few details, but that wasn't enough to stop him from doing what he had already decided upon. Crossing his arms the obese man huffed irritably. "Humph, if Ressaw knew the details then why you come heres with no dollys, huh? That's not my problems she sent you heres with nothing."<br><br>The man was just about ready to send the man away with nothing other than a message to Ressaw to tell her the deal was off and he wasn't giving her anything. Getting a hold of the original packages were difficult enough. He had a better offer for them anyways, but throwing away the deal with Ressaw altogether meant a double loss. Extra money and he didn't really want the package he was trying to give Kain anyways.&nbsp; If the container broke open he'd be in trouble, so with a heavy annoyed sigh Chubs uncrossed his arms and walked to the comm box. "Since I'm such a nice guy, I'll helps ya." he said and pressed on the comms to get onto the speakers, "Roger O'Hare report to the freezer and bring a dolly with yous."<br><br><hr><br>Unable to move characters: Dexter, Zakara, and Serisno forward until Kain returns.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>02-06-2014, 07:25:36</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<br>Name: Kain Austin<br>Location: Chubs' Ship <hr><br>The more Chubs spoke and moved, and was simply himself...the more he pissed Kain off. At this point it was testing even the legendary calm, composure, and patience drilled into Spartan's from their "birth"; he seriously wanted to bash this guys face in, check the manifest for himself, find the package and take it. But that would cause a load of problems, especially since a sleaze like Chubs was clearly a professional criminal.<br><br>&nbsp;He probably had safeguards and all sorts of shit hooked up so only he could access the important info. That meant if Kain did it, red flags would pop up and he'd probably be arrested before he knew it. So he had to bite the bullet. If this was Ressaw's package, fine. If it wasn't, well that's what team meetings were for. He'd tell her Chubs stonewalled him and that he took what he was given.<br><br>&nbsp;After that they could come back and take the package if necessary. When he did a job, he did it well. That was a bit of personal pride for him, and he'd be damned if some short, stubby man who thought he was hot shit got one over on him. So when Chubs asked why Ressaw knew what she was getting and still sent him with no dolly, he wanted to say <br><br>"Because that's not the damn package, fat man." But he wasn't gonna do that. Let Chubs think he'd won for now. So instead, he took a deep breath. "No idea. I'm just the pickup guy. I'm sure she's got her reasons though." He didn't move as Chubs showed off his infinite generosity and offered to bring someone to help with a dolly. "Oh really? Thanks so much. I'm glad we could work this out."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Gladiator0161</strong> on <strong>21-06-2014, 23:10:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<br>Davek watched as first the blonde, then the soldier ran their courses. The woman he noted, ran the course with ease but, with focus, the soldier ran the course with athletic abandon, using all the strength and speed at his disposal. In fact, he was too fast. Gladiator's interest was peaking, the man had to have been a Spartan, no man, no matter how athletic, could move with that kind of speed. Granted, the man wasn't Superman, or some other kind of super speeding hero from one of the comics he'd read as a child but, he was unnaturally fast. It seemed that the Ohana was attracting the attention of ex UNSC military, which, wasn't all that surprising in itself. It even made sense. Find a ship, keep flying. Never stop moving, don't attract attention. The taller man, Kain was it? Hadn't returned from his task in some time but, Ressaw's right hand man was still there, along with Ressaw herself. To his surprise though, the soldier simply started to walk off after saying something. <br><br>Davek couldn't see Chub's ship from where he was, couldn't see anything that was happening over there. He gritted his teeth, he needed a better angle. A small gust of wind blew up, shifting one of the boxes he was hiding behind, and giving him a generous waft of the stuff that he'd covered himself with. The Spartan almost gagged it smelled so bad but, managed to hold it down. Getting up, he grabbed his duffel bag and shuffled his way back further into the alley. Looking around for a moment, he jumped up, caught a window seal, and pulled himself up, then began to steadily climb to the roof of the building. The good thing about Dockside, the buildings were shorter near the dock, the bad thing about Dockside, ships were constantly flying to and from the dock. At some point, someone amidst the local air traffic would see him. He didn't plan to be there long though, just long enough to get an idea of what was going on. <br><br>At this point, anything was preferable to just sitting around.<br><br>Crouching low to the roof, he looked over to where the other Spartan had disappeared, spotting a ship that was undoubtedly this "Chubs" character's, it was the oldest, dirtiest, most rickety thing he'd ever seen. He wondered briefly how on earth it was even "space-worthy". Calling it a ship seemed like an injustice, and a "piece-of-shit", too kind. The ship's loading ramp was down, and Chub's workers worked around it like a colony of ants. He didn't hear any gunfire go off from within the ship itself, and doubted the man in charge would have fit the rust bucket with any kind of sound proofing rooms. So, the Spartan must have had everything under control. Everything that he could see from where he was, looked normal. Davek sighed, knowing he'd have to get down soon and get back into the dirty alley, or be spotted by a UNSC security patrol craft. He set his duffel bag down, and searched through it to find the binoculars with the audio enhancing package equipped to it.<br>He regretted not getting them out earlier but, it had been too risky. Even now, there was a possibility that he might attract attention to himself should the sunlight hit the reflective lens just right while he was using them. <br><br>He had to know if the woman at the booth was Shana or not though. His curiosity was tormenting him at this point. Bringing the binoculars to his eyes, he looked through them and zoomed in on the woman's face as she talked with her right hand man. A moment later, Gladiator dropped the binoculars to his side, a hard pit in the middle of his stomach. It was her. It was Shana. <br><br>A second later a voice spoke through the ear bud in his ear "target confirmed to be Shana Wasser. Time to infiltrate her group Spartan. Get to it. Find out what she's up to."<br><br>Gladiator gritted his teeth"yes sir," he whispered, gripping the binoculars tightly, the black metal creaking underneath the pressure of his fingers. Ofcourse they would put bugs into his equipment, the UNSC had eyes on everything. <br><br>"That equipment costs money soldier, I'd suggest not breaking it," he heard through his earbud, reminding him that he wasn't alone.<br><br>"Copy," came the Spartan's dead reply. He didn't want to feel anything right now, and most especially didn't want to be here, on this mission. All thoughts of desertion quickly fell from his mind, the UNSC would know, they'd chase him to the ends of the galaxy to get their property back, tear it out of him if necessary, and ensure that any information he had, never made it into enemy hands. He'd be hunted for the rest of his life.<br><br>Putting the equipment back into his duffel bag, he crouch walked back to the rear of the building, took a quick scan with his eyes to make sure he was clear, then climbed back down into the alleyway, and took up his original position. He felt trapped, the UNSC would hunt him if he deserted, and he probably wouldn't be much better off if Shana found out that she had a spy amidst her crew. <br><br>Davek looked up, an angry fire burning in his eyes as he clenched his fists in his lap, a single question burning in his mind. What was he going to do now?
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Ambie</strong> on <strong>15-07-2014, 01:08:04</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Name: Amber Valentine<br>Location: Outside Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><br>Amber smiled back at Colby...it seemed he was straightening up and ending his flirtations knowing that his obvious superior wasn't too pleased with him. Amber nodded at his words and looked around, reaching her arms up above her head to fix her pony tail...<br><br>She noticed movement toward the top range of her vision...on top of a building across the way. She was trained to notice things in the top of her peripheral due to her having been a pilot. The helmets that she had to wear when flying Pelican's or Hornet's had a bulk of information floating at the top of her display inside her helmet visor. She saw the figure stick around for a moment, pull something to its head, then back away. There was really no reason to be on the roof of any building here...most equipment was kept inside the houses due to the harsh winters. She let the thought roll away and heard Colby's superior speak to her. <br><br>She turned toward Ressaw to reply..."Yes Sir...I am ready now...it sounds important." Amber took a few steps closer to the table to get the details...
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Fabjuth</strong> on <strong>23-07-2014, 05:02:35</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<hr><span class="bbc_u"><br>Name: Roger O'Hare<br>Location: Chubs Frigate Cargo Ship at Falaknuma Ship Docks<br></span><hr><br>He’d just made it back to his cabin without anyone seeing him when the com chirped a ship wide alert. “Roger O’Hare report to the freezer and bring a dolly with yous.” blared out from the com panel, with echoes as system delays caused the speakers in other parts of the ship to have a slight delay. With a shake of his head at the poor maintenance, and an irritated glance at his desk console which would have helped Roger find out where the unknown system hack was coming from, Roger turned around and left the cabin.<br><br>Grabbing one of the last few functional dollies on this hunk of junk Roger headed to the freezer compartment, where he found Chubs apparently staring down the man Roger had seen on the monitors earlier. Or at least trying to. The fat fool was clearly under armed in the mental battle of wits that had been happening in the 3 minutes it had taken Roger to arrive, but you wouldn’t know it from the effort he was putting in.<br><br>Wiping the disdain from his voice Roger asked "Which package are we loading up here?” before helping the Spartan (yes definitely a Spartan on closer examination, though awfully old compared to the Infinity Spartans) load the package on the trolly and helping him until he was off the ship.<br><br>With a smirk when Chubs was out of sight Roger contemplated the world of pain Chubs was about to encounter once again. Spartans weren’t keen on unpleasant surprises, hopefully his message had been delivered to the Ohana already and they’d come back properly prepared...
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Delta 8O8</strong> on <strong>02-08-2014, 13:42:53</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<strong>Name:</strong> Jonathan Gates<br><strong>Rank:</strong> PFC<br><strong>Branch:</strong> UNSC Army<br><strong>Location:</strong> Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><em>"Enemies to the End"</em><br><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/c0/Vasili_Avatar.jpg)</div><br>As Jonathan walked away from the Ohana booth he casually did his normal rounds.<br>No, not the one's set for him by the UNSC Army. The rounds he made for himself, which took him past every facility on the docks. Whether they be Shops, Dock Procedure Facilities, nearby Slums, etc.<br>Everyone either stayed away or approached him.<br>Black and White.<br>There was no Gray. No punks kissing up to him. No Black Market merchants trying to suck up to him. No Crime Lords trying to talk down on him.<br><br>Then...<br>Life seemed to just stop.<br>Everyone who was out on the streets ran in and locked their doors. Those unfortunate to be caught outside sat in corners and stared at the wall.<br>No one made a sound.<br>No one dared to look.<br><br>Up ahead, there was another Soldier walking the same alley as Gates.<br>An Army Captain.<br>The tension in the air went from laxed to Mach 3 heavy, and got heavier and heavier with each step the men took.<br><br>Jonathan Gates had no real problems with anyone else...except this one.<br>This one got his blood running to the point of pre-mature hard on.<br>But not the type where he'd want to desire him as a partner.<br>A strong, a very strong desire to Kill.<br>These two men knew each other from the War.<br>These two men were of opposite sides of the same coin.<br>Jonathan Gates was an ODST and a true frontline soldier.<br>Captain Locke Itur was a child-soldier from the day he was born until the age of eight where he was taken in by Rebels and trained to be a no-nonsense-do-your-job-or-die Agent. At the age of 17 he began his career as a UNSC Army Officer who received special Training and Missions from the Office of Naval Intelligence.<br>The type of missions that required there to be no witnesses.<br><br><hr><strong>Name:</strong> Locke Itur<br><strong>Rank:</strong> Captain<br><strong>Branch:</strong> UNSC Army<br><strong>Location:</strong> Falaknuma Ship Docks - A few minutes earlier<br><br>Locke Itur.<br>Captain was just a Rank.<br>Something to show for on paper.<br>Truthfully, ONI should have done away with him the second they heard of him.<br>But they didn't.<br>And now he had share air with specks of dirt like Gates.<br><em>Spartan</em> Gates.<br>Spartan was just a Title.<br>Something to show for on paper.<br><br>During the War Itur had run across countless of Humanity's precious Spartans.<br>Spartan IIs &amp; IIIs.<br>Some of them he let live because of...circumstances.<br>Others he killed.<br>Some gave him a fair fight and didn't die right away.<br>But he survived them all only to be done in by some regular cannon fodder Trooper by the name of Jonathan Gates.<br><br>Back then he was just some one out of a million Soldier.<br>Just some regular guy whom he'd killed hundreds of thousands of millions of times in hundreds of thousands of millions of ways.<br>And yet, here was...<br>Years later, walking before him.<br><br>In the blink of an eye, Itur could remember the day Gates became a constant thorn in his side.<br>PFC Jon Gates' first assignment as an ODST was not to Gunny Bucks Fire Team, but to another Unit completely separate of Bucks, but stationed on a Ship docked at Reach.<br>There were rumors of a Covenant Invasion making its way around and Itur had been assigned the mission of keeping it hidden until it was confirmed by Noble Team.<br>On the same night of Noble Teams Infiltration Mission, a Squad of ODSTs reinforcing an Army Unit, who were down a few Squads due to a Food Poisoning, followed signs of conflict from an emptied out Locals village to an old abandoned Military Structure.<br>There they split up to search the entire building as a whole.<br>Gates was separated from his Fire Team when part of a stairway collapsed.<br>Minus Gates, the Squad regrouped in a large room in the center of the building where they were ambushed by what little Covenant Itur had yet to eliminate.<br>Before they could link up with the UNSC Battle Net and report anything, Itur swooped in and killed them all.<br>Gates showed up for the last of it.<br>For the next five minutes the Marine tried his best to take down Itur. If not kill him, then at least restrain him and get Justice. But every time he tried, he failed. Locke Itur was just that much better in Skill.<br>Gates had more luck. He used his Sergeants Pistol to put a round into Itur's chest. Through his heart.<br><br>After the fact Gates ran to get back up, but upon return all that was left were the bodies of his ODST squad. Itur nor the Covenant were nowhere to be found.<br>The same night he had lost his Squad he was about to be thrown into the Brig for something he didn't do, was the same night an alert was posted for all UNSC Forces on, near, and beyond the Planet.<br>The Covenant was on Reach.<br>Gates was thrown into Gunny Bucks Fire Team in the chaos of getting ready for the Fight.<br><br>Since then, it seemed to be destiny that Itur and Gates would constantly fight against the other. Or just miss the other in the opportunity to end it.<br><br>And then the war ended.<br>And then the two went their separate ways.<br>ONI allowed Itur to live and stay with the Army in case they needed him again.<br>Gates...well...you know...<br>On arrival Gates' first contact was Itur.<br>Itur thought that was too perfect. That he was going to be able to torture his true Enemy before finally putting the dog down, until he was given the no-kill order.<br>At the same time, Gates, who, over the years, uncovered Itur to be an ONI Spook, knew he couldn't do a thing to Itur without the finger being immediately pointed to him.<br>They both were just waiting for the right time to do it.<br><hr><br>The two men remained calm as if passing by any other Trooper.<br>Hands still on their weapons. No fidgeting. No sweating.<br>Their eyes locked forward as if not even noticing the other man.<br>But the tension remained.<br>It grew.<br>The heavy feeling spread like the Flood, growing heavier and heavier, and became its heaviest right when the two men passed each other.<br>When their backs were to the other, it seemed as if the tension manifesting from the two would form into something physical give a grin and then implode.<br><br>However, the tension started to dissipate and lighten as the two simply did nothing but walk past the other and continue walking in opposite directions.<br><br>And then the two stopped walking when they were of certain distance away.<br>The heavy tension came down like a ton of bricks, but added to it was a dash of madness, and a little bit of...<br>It was as if their thoughts were linked to the others.<br><br>"Gates."<br>"Itur."<br><br>They both said to the other at the same time.<br><br>"You better watch your back."<br><br>...a little bit of...what would be the best way to say it?<br><br>"All I need is Chaos."<br><br>Something like...<br><br>"And then I'll End this."<br><br>Killing Intent.<br><br><br>Once again, the two began to walk their separate ways.<br>When they were far enough from each other the tension no longer lingered and people came out of hiding.<br>Those who were close enough to hear hoped they would be on a different planet somewhere when that time came.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>ashia starstreak</strong> on <strong>12-08-2014, 20:55:32</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<span class="bbc_u"><strong>Name:</strong></span> Ressaw and Colby<br><span class="bbc_u"><strong>Location:</strong></span> Outside Falaknuma Ship Docks<br><br>Ressaw watched Amber's attention leave the group, but when her eyes followed Amber's, she didn't see anything. The captain placed her hands upon her hips and glanced around. She couldn't believe the girl was just starring at a bird, Shana had seen too much and knew the bounty on her head to just let the gesture slip aimlessly from her. Perhaps she was getting hot. Crossing her arms Ressaw looked toward the ship docks suspiciously. Thoughts of abandonment played across her mind, but when she saw nothing out of the ordinary, she brushed off the paranoia and etched close to Amber. The captain pointed back to the docking area and explained the task to Amber. "Among these ships is a small medical supplier. They have what belongs to me. I sent a new recruit to capture it, but she failed. Bring me back this black case and you'll prove to me you are worthy to stay. With&nbsp; luck perhaps she managed to hide it before being captured, if you go now, your chances of success would be greater while they have their hands full with her." Shana maneuvered her hands to display the general sizing of the case she was after before stepping away from the new recruit. <br><br>Sliding the application sheet toward herself, the captain wrote a small message on the back side of one of the blank sheets and handed Amber the note containing a few more details for her mission. Shana was beginning to feel it wasn't so safe to talk openly about tasks. Leaving Amber to her errand, Ressaw looked to Colby and said, "Too hot for closed eyes."<br><br>"Not enough coals to burn. What do you want to do?" he asked her crossing his arms across his chest. He could feel the captain tensing up. Colby understood why, and had warned her of what could happen if she showed her face. The slight paranoia had crept into the back of his head the moment they entered the colony, but he had no real say in the matter. Ressaw simply didn't want him in charge of recruiting this time.<br><br>She wanted to get this over with before someone took notice of what was really going on, but it seemed she was gaining too much attention too fast. A new recruit had just been taken, another still missing. Ressaw needed a crew, but couldn't go back to the Kig-Yar. Biting her lip she answered, "Bring me a log we'll burn it quicker."<br><br>"You want gasoline with that?" Colby asked, but as suspected, the captain gave no reply and so the booth grew quiet as they waited for something else to present itself. The feeling of being watched, overwhelmed Ressaw, but she remained still.<br><br><hr><br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Name:</span></strong> Chubs<br><strong><span class="bbc_u">Location:</span></strong> Chub's Ship<br><br>By now, Chubs wanted nothing more to do with Kain. The sooner he could be free of this behemoth the better. His brooding form standing there just waiting for Chubs to say the wrong thing, disturbed the man. There was negative tension here and&nbsp; he knew he couldn't get away with much now, but with a little luck maybe the package would contaminate Ressaw's ship and then her and her crew would see what happens when you mess with the wrong criminal. She wanted a dangerous package, she was going to get one. The idea made him crack an ugly smile, but that quickly diminished when Roger appeared. Chubs didn't need to answer the question he had asked, Roger had already known the one. Before any further words could be exchanged, Chubs decided it best he get out of that freezer. He pushed himself past Roger and waddled his way down the hall. His smile reappeared at the thought of what a mess that container would cause if the contents were to spill out and by the looks of it, it was soon to burst.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Juggtacular</strong> on <strong>18-08-2014, 03:12:31</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<br>Name: Kain Austin<br>Location: Chubs' Ship <hr><br>The waiting game he and Chubs were playing wasn't a fun one for either party. Not fun for Kain because his time was being wasted. And not fun for Chubs because he'd see what happened when Kain's time got wasted if things didn't go right. The thudding of footsteps caused him to turn his head, and he nodded at Roger after he'd answered Chub's summons. <br><br>He had no problem with this guy, so he was cordial if nothing else. As Roger asked which box they were loading, Chubs moved faster than Kain thought possible considering his frame, and the fat man got the hell outta dodge. As soon as he was sure Chubs was out of earshot, he helped Roger with the package and asked him. "How the hell do you work for that guy? I was ready to flatten him in the first few minutes."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Halo: The Ohana Rebels</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Gladiator0161</strong> on <strong>30-08-2014, 00:30:53</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				Davek sighed, there was no point in hanging around and spying on them if he couldn't hear anything, which meant, he'd have to go in. He didn't get any surveillance equipment for the mission, as the mission parameters hadn't exactly been known. Carefully making his way back to the inn he'd stayed in the night before, he showered quickly and changed clothes from his black t-shirt and jeans, to a grey t-shirt and brown cargo pants. Washed his clothes to the best of his ability and packed his things. He paid his bill on the way out, and made his way back to the Ohana.<br><br>As he walked, he couldn't help thinking about the last mission he'd been on with Shana. They'd been deployed to take over a Covenant Cruiser that was hovering over New York City but, it had opened a slipspace gate and escaped before they'd even made it half way in their SOEIV pods. His mind traveled back in time, and replayed the moment he had finally managed to garner a small amount of trust with Shana, the moment her life had literally hung in his hands. His mind rushed backwards 4 years in time in the blink of an eye, and sent him from Falaknuma, in the 18 Scorpii system, near the Sigma Octanus System in the Inner Colonies, or as the brass like to refer to as now, FLEETCOM sector three, to the Sol System, and finally Earth some 45.7 lightyears away.<br><br><strong><em> 4 years ago...<br><span class="bbc_u">Location:</span> On top of Grand Central Banks and Loans, New York City, NY. <br><span class="bbc_u">Date:</span> October 27, 2552. One week after the Covenant Invasion of Earth has begun.</em></strong><br><br>The sounds of plasma fire followed them as they made their way up the stairs, only to be stopped by debris. Gladiator grunted and kicked down the door beside him, and led the way to the elevator shaft. Power was out all over the building, casting everything in darkness and clouds of ghostly fog as debris continued to fall from the ceiling as a result of the battle that was raging on outside. Only days before, Patric, one of the Spartans on his team had been put on one of the few medical Pelican transports in the area, and taken to safety for medical aid. Their crazy ODST "Sling", Spartan "Valkyrie", Spartan "Hunter", Shana, along with himself, and two other Marines, Jacobs, and O'Brian, were all that was left now of their team. It had been utter hell since the moment they all had crash landed, every step had been a fight, and there had been very few chances for rest. The others were either dead, or missing.&nbsp; <br><br>Seven people out of what was once an infiltration team of over thirty Marines, ODSTs, and Spartans. Four that he knew of, had been confirmed KIA, and nine people that he knew of, were MIA, leaving eleven more with unknown statuses. In every way so far, this mission was one big failure on his record but, if he could learn why the Covenant was here, it might make the sacrifices that had already been made, easier for him to bear. He had to believe that the answers they hoped to gain, would make the lives they'd lost worth something. The thought of his people dying for nothing ate at him fiercely. Now finally, they were close, and it looked like they were about to get some answers as to why the Covenant was in New York City, and not fighting over in New Mombasa where everyone else was. That is, if they could manage to take out this one last communication jammer. Luckily, it looked like the Covenant had already searched this building, so there was nothing in front of them impeding their way except debris, the gaps left in the flooring, walls, and ceilings. Fortunately, they made it relatively quick to the roof.<br><br>Gladiator motioned for Shana to go ahead of him up the stairs as he magnetized his MA5C Assault rifle to his hip. He grabbed a large sturdy looking metal desk a moment later, and hauled it bodily up the stairs, intending to jam the door with it to occupy the Covenant for a few precious minutes. He wasted no time in closing the heavy door and jamming the desk inside the fire escape, the desks edges giving way with a harsh, ear piercing cry as they bent inwards as the wall earned a new scar. <br><br>"Gladiator, we have a problem..." Shana started.<br>"Great, now what?" came Davek's annoyed response as the Covenant they'd been eluding caught up to them much faster than he would've liked, and it sounded like they'd brought Brutes to the party. Just great.<br>"There's no way for us to reach the coms jammer from here" Shana stated flatly, irritation beginning to edge into her voice "look".<br>The big blue and gold armored spartan walked over to the melted hole in the wall, and stuck his head out. He spotted the jammer easily but, Shana was right, there was no way any of the rubble would support her weight, much less his, for him to make his way to it, and the map they had didn't reveal any rooftop access points beyond the shattered, and slagged remains of what at one time must have been a simple fire escape.<br><br>Spotting a possible route, the Spartan two looked back to Shana "let's try over there," Gladiator said, pointing directly to their left, across the cylindrical hole that had been carved vertically into the building, the remains of what must have been a Covenant Battle Cruiser's ventral beam, and to a small outcropping of brick, and concrete flooring, and steel girders jutted out above nothing "the remains of that wall might hold a way up to the roof". <br>"If you say so..."<br><br>Gladiator piled on some of the heaviest rubble he could find, and another desk into the barricade, to slow their Covenant pursuers, which were already hammering, and firing on the door, before he joined Shana. He took a look at the route that he'd spotted, and it was questionable at best. The wall looked like it could give at any moment but, it did have enough handholds to be able to climb, and when Davek pushed gently against it, it held, somewhat. The ledge the communication jammer rested on was over their heads, and to the right of them. Right over a thirty story plummet to the ground below. Davek just prayed that the ledge would hold, despite in the instability of the building.<br><br>"Alright, up you go," Davek said turning to her.<br>"Fuck that!"<br>"Shana..."<br>"There's no way in hell it'll hold"<br>"Shana, we need a direct line to command, and between the two of us, you're the smallest, and the lightest," Gladiator reminded her, his hands on his hips.<br>"Thank you Captain Obvious for that stirring reminder," Shana snapped back.<br>"I'll be right below you to hold it up should it start to fall, and if the ledge gives, I'll catch you but, if we don't move and clear those com lines, then we've wasted our time, and our comrades will have fought, and died for nothing."<br>Gladiator wasn't pleased with the situation in the least but, he was sincere in his promise to her. He'd try his damnedest to catch her, or failing that, jump off the damned building himself, and hope to hell that he could make the fall survivable by being the cushion for her. He'd displayed such brave recklessness before, and he hoped that she would remember that, and trust that he'd keep his word.<br>"Oh fuck me! Fine! But, if you don't catch me. I swear I'll come back as a goddamned ghost and haunt your ass," Shana threatened.<br>"Fine by me, now get up there so I can give our Covie friends a warm welcome," Gladiator said jerking his thumb up to the roof.<br><br>He watched her briefly as she started climbing the wall, and quirked his head a little to the side, noticing for the first time the curvature of her buttocks. A small smile creeped onto his face, that was thankfully hidden behind his helmet. Feeling eyes upon her Shana turned to look at him, a questioning expression upon her face "what?"<br>"Huh? Oh. Nothing. I just never noticed what a nice looking ass you have is all," Davek replied, grinning from ear to ear.<br>"Oh bite me," Shana replied rolling her eyes before continuing the climb.<br>"Maybe later," Gladiator started to laugh but, he was quickly cut off as the barricade exploded outwards as the Covenant that'd been pursuing them used their grenades, and the Jiralhanae Commanders used their Brute Shot weapons. The explosion sent tremors through the floors, and walls, loosening dust and debris. The blue and gold armored Spartan cursed as Shana slipped, caught herself, and resumed her climb, as he began firing at the Covenant entering the destroyed rooms. Jackals, and Grunts dropped like flies amidst the hail of gunfire that was sent their way but, the Brutes were another matter entirely. Their armor was thicker, and better protected them from his assault. One of the Brutes leveled his grenade launcher, and fired it into a pillar, which bent backwards with the force of the explosion, then began cracking, as the ceiling began to sag.<br><br>He heard Shana shout something but, was too busy engaging the Covenant to catch her words. He timed his next shot, and waited for the Brute to take aim again as his partner dashed out and took cover behind some debris on the other side of the gap. He zoomed in on his target, the Brute's forearm, and fired, the bullet hit the target right where it was supposed to, and just as the alien fired, the barrel was flung to the side, and dipped toward the ground, a second later the smoking remains of a Brute toppled over the edge and fell to the street below. The remaining Brute was none too happy about his partners demise, and leveled his Spiker weapon, and fired, forcing Gladiator into cover that barely protected him as the sharp metal spikes dove into concrete, and drywall. Gladiator sprang up, and leveled his DMR, searching for the Brute but, the alien had already moved into a different spot. Luckily, his threat tracking radar still worked on his HUD. Taking a grenade from the small armored pouch at the small of his back, he gave a toss to where the radar said the Brute was, and was rewarded with a startled bark as the alien jumped from it's cover, and ran. A second later, the grenade detonated, reducing the debris it'd been using to dust. The Brute though, was fast, and again, fired it's Spiker weapon, forcing Gladiator back into cover. When he raised up again, the Brute was right on him, mouth wide, and snarling as it brought the blades on the underside of the gun crashing down on the Spartan. Gladiator hit the ground, sparks flying from the impact of the blades on his helmet. His vision began to blur thanks to the concussion he still had but, he kicked out a foot anyway, and was rewarded with a bark of pain, and the sound of the alien hitting the floor. Holding his head lightly, Gladiator rolled over and took a knee to get up but, the Brute, not two feet away, grabbed his ankle with it's long arm, and pulled him back down, then slid him hard into the debris he'd been using for cover. <br><br>Again his vision blurred, and blackness began to edge into the edges of his vision but, he stubbornly clung to consciousness and pushed the blackness away. He felt himself sliding again, and took out the knife he had sheathed on his right shoulder, and plunged it into the floor. The alien's strength pulled him a good four feet more, carving a large semicircle into the floor, before he stopped, his knife hooking on something, and halting the alien's efforts. Gladiator kicked at the hands that held his ankle, and finally felt them release, then he turned over, and shot the beast three times in the chest, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off it's armor but, knocking it back nonetheless. Getting to his feet, he leveled his DMR again but, had to jump away to avoid the Brutes charge as it began to go berserk. <br><br>Scrabbling to his feet again, he turned just in time to be football tackled, and slammed into the damaged pillar. The impact of the Spartan, plus the Brute, dislodged the pillar completely, and the roof heaved mightily. Hearing Shana's cry of surprise, he slammed the butt of his DMR into the Brute's head as it came for a second tackle, and used his legs to lift it over himself, and fling the beserking beast into the air. It landed with a heavy thud, and skidded towards the edge, it's bottom half sliding over into open air but, managed to catch itself using it's powerful arms. As it started to crawl back up, Gladiator's knife buried itself deep into it's left eye, and it plummeted to the street below. Rushing over, Davek saw the Covenant Communication Jammer fall past, and looked up to see Shana clinging for dear life to the weak, and crumbling ledge. A second later, it finally gave way, and she fell into open air. His heart leaped into his throat. Of all the deaths he'd seen, he could only imagine the one that awaited her, at that moment, being the most horrible. He saw her twist in the air in slow motion, a look of terror on her face as her arms flailed to catch hold of anything close. The heavier debris fell past first, and Shana followed seconds later.<br><br>Gladiator reached out his arm, his finger's grasping for her hand, and somehow their hands met. The moment he felt her hand in his gloved one, he clamped onto it tight, and pulled her close, as he backpedaled away from the edge, the roof groaning as it began to collapse.<br><br><strong>Today...</strong><br><br>It all came back in a rush as he strode towards Shana's booth. He'd broken her hand in five places when he'd grabbed her like that but, she was alive. As he stopped in front of Shana, he smiled and said "Hey Shana, it's been a while. Got room for one more?"
			</dd>
		</dl>
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