[Halo d20] Project Freelancer

[Xepheral]

The hum of the engines on the shuttles has finally died down as the Pelicans land in the Frigate's hanger. The doors slowly open and a few dozen greenhorns begin to scramble out and stand in formation in front of the sergeant and the guards waiting for them.

The sergeant, an older man in the standard navy uniform with his stripes, quickly begins and rushes through his speech to the recruits, not even waiting for you four to step out of the shuttle. "...and you are here representing the best. You have been well trained, and you are expected to show that at every turn you make. Now, head to the western barracks and finish your transfer papers so we can get to work beating those alien bastards!" With a small, nervous cheer from the recruits, they run off towards the barracks, and once they are out of ear shot, the sergeant hangs his head and shakes it, "They don't stand a chance. I doubt they even know they're pawns."

The sergeant looks around briefly and notices you four standing there by the Pelicans and walks over. "And here are the stars of today. They could send us a thousand soldiers, and I would still pick one agent to be on my team." He turns slightly and signals you to follow him as he starts walking across the hanger.

"The name's White. Sergeant Major Walter White, and welcome to the Eclipse of Heaven. I'm going to be running your briefings and debriefs for the first little while until you start climbing the scoreboard. The hanger operators are already moving your personal belongings up to your private quarters for you, but right now, we need you to head out on an assignment. Any questions before I brief you on it?"

__________________________________________________ _____________
Pelican (shuttle):
http://i.imgur.com/Ju0bT.png
Frigate (Eclipse of Heaven):
http://i.imgur.com/ocNs8.png

[Ballista]

Michigan gives a quick salute to the sergeant.
Negative sir, just make sure your men don't shake my bags around too much. It might get a bit loud and rumbly in here... On second thought, how are your forces on this ship? Number of troops, armory status, vehicles, the caliber of that monster mounted on the front of this ship...

[OracleofSilence]

California stretches in his new armor ""Sir, just one question, who exactly will we be fighting? And why now? I tested for Freelancer almost a year ago. They said they were full up.". He glances around the hanger, noting entrances and exits. "And whats this about a scoreboard?"

[Xepheral]

"The Freelancer Project is currently running 500 strong, 300 being troops, and 50 agents. The armory is supplied by the UNSC, so any gun you can order, and it will be in within a week or so. Expect your weight in red tape though. And that "monster" is a MAC gun. It's used solely in large ship combat. The other guns though are 50 caliber dual cannons all around the ship, and two 75 caliber rail guns mounted under the MAC gun. Right now, we are testing new equipment against the Covenant, and the project is maxed at 50 agents. You four got accepted because we had a squad get wiped. You are their replacements. Now, the scoreboard list all 50 agents in order of skill. Higher ranking agents get higher priority missions, not to mention bragging rights. You four are tied for 50th place. Your performance on this mission will break that tie. Any more questions?

[Ballista]

Wait, 50th? What the hell, there's only 49 damn states...
Michigan turns his head to take in the appearances of the other agents.
Well damn sarge, this is going to be fun.

[Xepheral]

"Yeah, there is 49, but we still remember Florida."

[Comissar]

Jersey had been leaning against the side of the Pelican, arms crossed, while the Sergeant gave his little speech to the raw recruits. She doubted they even knew why they were here.

She stood up straighter as the Sergeant came closer, saluting as she did so. After listening to the others, she dropped her salute and said "Sir, I have a question. How is ranking on the scoreboard determined?"

[Xepheral]

"The ranking is determined through your combat skills, your test scores, your mission success rate, and your mission efficiency. And be warned, you drop a lot faster then you rise.

[OracleofSilence]

"Based off what I've heard of this place, your idea of fun may be very different then mine... Hell who am I kidding, this sounds like it'll be a blast!" California streches slightly bouncing on his toes as he does so. "So what was this about field work again? When do we leave?"

[Xepheral]

"As soon as you all finish with your questions. The Pelican behind me is taking off and taking you to your objective as soon as I brief you. So are you all good?"

[Hazuki]

"I'm good, sir." Alaska answers, speaking up for the first time since getting off of their Pelican. The briefing was waiting for them, and she wanted more time to think about that than the competition. Scores didn't mean anything if they got killed first.

[OracleofSilence]

"Well I'm ready. Can't speak for the rest of these guys."

[Comissar]

"Ready to move out Sir."

[Ballista]

Michigan simply looks back at the sergeant and gives a curt nod.

[Xepheral]

"Alright then, your first assignment. A harbour port has been captured by the Covenant forces. As a fall back, an energy cell in the base has been modified to explode and destroy the base. The remote detonator though has been disabled. We suspect plasma damage shorted it out. Your job is to get in and detonate it. If failed, the Covenant would have a **** ton of intel on the UNSC. Got it?"

The sergeant points back over his shoulder with a quick nod. "Get in, and good luck."

[Hazuki]

Alaska moves into the Pelican at the orders of the Sergeant, taking a seat near the window and pulling out her shotgun, making sure everything is in order with it as she waits for the others to get on board.

"So, has anyone else fought Covvies before?"

[Ballista]

Michigan follows the one designated as Alaska onto the Pelican, grabbing onto the handlebar to drag the rather cumbersome Bombsuit style armor onto the dropship. He lumbers over to sit down in the bucket seat farthest from the passenger bay doors.
"Heard about those bastards, never seen one up close. The marines say they're about as pretty as a cow's ass."

[OracleofSilence]

California walks quickly onto the shuttle, and starts fiddling with his wrist display, before sitting in an unoccupied seat. "Never seen one myself. Met a few guys that have. I don't think they liked it much".

He turns to the sergeant asking "Sir? Are we going to have any support down there? Numbers, any intel at all? Or are we going in blind."

[Comissar]

Jersey climbed back into the Pelican, picking up her sniper rifle and checking the sights as she did so. She picks a seat about halfway down the craft. "Nah, I've not fought them before. So long as they can be killed with a shot to the head, I'm not too worried."

She looks back up and out towards the Sergeant, "I agree that it'd be useful to know how many we're up against, Sir"

[Xepheral]

"From the most recent reports, you're looking at about a hundred hostiles, and about 4:1 grunts to elites. Shouldn't be anything you can't handle though."

[Hazuki]

"****." Alaska groans, leaning the back of her helmet against the wall. "I've only fought grunts and jackals, myself. It'll be...interesting to get into melee with one of those big guys."

[OracleofSilence]

"From what I've heard, the word your looking for is lethal. Then again, the guy that came from is a total REMF, so you're probably going to be alright." The tilt of California's mask indicates a grin, and he gives a mock thumbs up.

"Anyway sir, how did the honking bastards get this close? Or are we going to be in FTL for a few weeks?"

[Comissar]

Jersey turns to look at Alaska, amusement evident in her voice "With luck you won't need to, I reckon I could take them out before we even get close with this," she lifts her sniper slightly, "Besides, our objective isn't to kill them all, we just have to get to the detonator and blow the place sky high."

[Hazuki]

Alaska shakes her head with a smile behind her helmet at California's joke, before looking to Jersey and laughing softly as she drums her fingers against her shotgun. "And let you get all the points? Nah; besides, I'm pretty sure they have AA weapons, so we can't stay in here for long."

[OracleofSilence]

California stops grinning and raises his hand. "If I can propose a plan? Jersey and myself can find some overwatch, and keep them distracted. Alaska, your best at close up fighting, maybe try to keep Michigan safe while he goes for the arm. That seems safest. After you guys are posted up, I can try to get to the computers, and dump then destroy on site records. Give us a back up in case the bomb falls through." He looks around, after all, their all new and its not like anyone put him in charge.

"After you are at the bomb site, I'll head there and supply back up. I may not be an exert, but I am good with explsives, so i can be of some help at least." Does this seem a decent plan?

[Xepheral]

"The "honking bastards" as you called them are all over the colonies. Many of which have been lost, and we don't want to add this one to the list. You're heading to Hellas, to our outpost near the southern pole. We are far enough from the base that they can't find us, but close enough a Pelican can get you there in a few hours. Good luck agents."

With that, the sergeant walks away and pounds twice on the side of the Pelican, signalling it to take off, and it does. Exiting the Eclipse of Heaven, it races towards the large white and blue planet off in the distance.

[Comissar]

Jersey nods to herself, the plan seemed sound.

"We could perhaps create a distraction, find a spot sufficiently close to the detonator to draw guards away, but far enough that they won't swamp us immediately." She chuckles a little, "I'd rather get my close up through a scope"

She turns slightly to face California, "Remember that our primary objective is to detonate the charge, it's not a bad idea to destroy the computers manually but ideally the charge will handle that. We need to focus on priming the charge, then we can worry about anything we missed."

[Ballista]

"Aye, this is assuming we'll be staying in a wide open courtyard with plenty of space. Chances are, this will be a bit more confined but don't worry this armor and I, we've been through a bit together and it hasn't failed me yet."

Michigan pats his left pauldron as if to test his claim and his combat knife slides out from its sheathe. He reaches out with his free hand to grab the handle right before it clatters to the ground.

"Well, that was odd... Let's pretend that didn't happen. Don't you guys worry, I'll be sure to set the fireworks up the right way."

[Hazuki]

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Alaska confirms with a nod of her head, patting the combat knife attached to her thigh. "And don't fret, Michigan. I'll make sure you don't need to drop your knife again." She tells her fellow Agent with a smirk. She leans back in the Pelican, ready for the trip and landing at the port.

[Xepheral]

The Pelican roars into orbit of Hellas after a few hours of flight, then skims over a freezing cold ocean for another 20 minutes. As the sensors start to go off, signaling the port outpost is close, the pilot yells back at you from over her shoulder. "How do you want to do this? I can hover under the structure and you can jump and climb up, or I can fly over it as have you guys VERY quickly jump out before the AA guns dent my baby.

[OracleofSilence]

"Lets go from the underside. See if you can send us a map of the place at some point. After all, we need to know how to get to you when we're running for our lives." California loads and checks his weapons, whistling softly to himself has he does so.

[Comissar]

"Under and up sounds good, less likely to be spotted."

Jersey runs a few last minute checks, ammunition counters, safety off on her guns, zoom's functioning.

"How much of a heads up do you need for evac?" She didn't like the idea of hanging around waiting for the Pelican to get back to them.

[Xepheral]

"Im going to set her down on one of the floating ice sheets a few miles out so I don't waste fuel and so I'm not spotted. On an evac call, you're probably looking at an ETA of a minute and a half."

You will need to defend yourselves for 15 turns after you call

[OracleofSilence]

"So, do we have a map of this place? we should figure our paths before we attack. Or whatever you want to call what we're doing."