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Srin pushed herself through the treeline as carefully as possible, trying not to make any extra noise as shoved through sticks and leaves and various other obstacles. Though some parts of her mind wanted to panic, to stay still, to throw all her explosives in every direction, her training and more rational thought-centres told her to move towards the objective blinking on her eyepiece as quickly and as quietly as possible. If one squad of those alien bastards could wipe out her whole squad, even a single enemy contact could spell death for the lone Army trooper. After 45 minutes of slightly-panicked-but-kinda-calm hiking, Jinxie pushed herself into a clearing and leaned against a tree to catch her breath and steady her breathing. She took off her helmet and wiped a gloved hand across her forehead. She was sweating more than usual. Nervousness? Exertion? The damnable climate? Who thought it was a good idea to wear all this gear in a temperate forest? Checking all her gear, she brushed a hand through her messy hair and put her helmet back on just in time to catch the start of a radio transmission. 

[i]"Fireteam 2, Bravo 9, I want you to make your way towards my location fast. Double time, little exceptions. Out of the three closest to me, you are the furthest, but don't bring a horde of Covenant forces with you."[/i]

Okay, orders. Let's unpack this. 

Whoever this 'Chariot' was, they seemed to be generally in command of things, which is good. Linking up with other units is also good. "Out of the three..." so there are at least four other units out here nearby. Good sign. "...Don't bring a horde of Covenant with you..." Was there a horde of Covenant that she wasn't aware of? That could be bad. 

Pfc. Chéreau shouldered her rifle, satisfied, and prepared to respond. 

"Chariot this is 2 Bravo 9, I read you and I'm Oscar Mike, over." 

Well it sounded better in her head, but it seemed official enough. Maybe she should have paid more attention when they were going over radio etiquette. She suppressed a laugh at the absurd thought and then set off with renewed vigour. More trees. More rocks. More sticks at EXACTLY head height. More dirt. More leaves. More gunfire. Wait what? Jinxie stopped and looked around, listening. Maybe it was an animal? No it was definitely gunfire. Sounded fairly close. A battle rifle? The Trooper picked up her pace, almost tripping several times on dead Covenant. There was DEFINITELY a squad around here, but where? It couldn't be Chariot, they were miles away still. It had to be another squad, maybe one of the ones that Chariot had mentioned. Jinxie bit her lip and stared at a dead Jackal as she tried to plan her next move. Following the bodies seemed like the best course of action. Worst case scenario? She runs into the rear of a Covenant patrol tailing this squad and gets killed by 1. The Covenant or 2. Friendly fire. Srin shrugged. Probably beats being lost and alone in a dense forest. Giving the ex-jackal one last tap with her foot, she set out again, slightly more aware of where her feet were landing. 

Fifteen or more minutes of light jogging later and Srin began to hear talking. Human talking? Yes. Maybe she shouldn't be so quick to trust. Okay, so it's a definitive maybe. She planted herself firmly next to a solid-looking tree and really [i]listened.[/i] It turned out to be 100% unmistakably human. So maybe she shouldn't be so paranoid and just trust her gut. Something to think about. Task at hand, right. She peeked out from behind the tree. It looked like they were talking to someone who had just arrived. Maybe she was following someone who was following them. Trailing a trail? 

"Hey!" She called out, slightly unsure if they could hear her, "You guys are UNSC right?"