Amaranth

~ Halo: Oman ~

Shorter post :P

~ Halo: Oman ~

---

Jinxie stared at the squad of ODSTs she had just startled. She had to admit, it was a bit unnerving staring at their polarised visors. Regardless, she could understand their jumpiness. Pfc. Chéreau shouldered her rifle and walked closer to the makeshift meeting area.

"I came from about a klick in that direction," Srin offered, gesturing over her shoulder, "incidentally, that is also where my squad is. They uh..." She paused, the memory still fresh and painful. "They didn't make it. As far as I know I'm the only survivor, although one member was missing. I didn't think the Covenant took prisoners?" Srin shook the tangent out of her head. "Either way, that same Chariot contacted me and told me to make it to them double-time, so that's where I've been headed but I'd be glad to join your squad and assist you with whatever you need."

Jinxie put her hand on her neck, feeling guilty about losing yet another squad. It was just like Fumirole all over again. Maybe she really was jinxed. She patted her bag of grenades reassuringly. At least she had decent luck with explosives, right?

One of the ODSTs asked her something about OP Sierra. Sierra.... The name rang a bell but Srin couldn't place where she had heard it. The Army Trooper tapped her chin thoughtfully. "OH! OP Sierra. Yeah we were supposed to meet some Marines and maybe some ODSTs there to help establish a base of some kind. I'm a combat engineer, from the 147th Engineer Corps." Pfc. Chéreau smiles sheepishly at the last remark, "Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about building. I'm more of an demolition type of girl." Jinxie gestures to the demo charges strapped to her kit and laughs her distinctive laugh.

Finally, hearing one of the helmeted figures inquire as to who she was Jinxie gave her most enthusiastic salute and smile, practically jumping to attention. "Private First Class Srin Chéreau reporting for duty! But most people call me erm-" She cut herself off, hesitating at perpetuating a nickname she wasn't particularly fond of but realising she had almost certainly locked herself into saying it by getting this far before cutting herself off. "-most people just call me Jinxie." She smiled again and looked at herself at the laconic visors of the ODSTs.

@Starlance

Warhammer 40k: The Eternal Fight for Freedom - Penal Legion RP (Looking for cannon fodder!)

Alright I can do that.

Room Number 405

I'm still interested!

~ Halo: Oman ~

---

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.

"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."

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 listened. 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?"

~ Halo: Oman ~

---

"Hey Jinxie, try not to doom this mission with your powers." Corporal Jast Vjun teased as he passed by Srin's bunk. She scowled an unconvincing scowl.

"I already told you not to call me that!"

"You like the nickname."

Srin sighed and went back to fiddling with an inert grenade. At least she insisted it was inert. No matter how many times Sgt. Penlan had yelled at her and given her extra duties, Srin kept bringing explosives into the Barracks. Vjun thought it was hilarious, but Li was noticeably on edge when Chéreau was in possession of explosives. The older of the two squadmates seemed to totally believe in the 'curse' surrounding Srin and it slightly ticked her off when he voiced his concerns. She had trained to blow stuff up for just as long as he had trained to beat stuff with his rifle or whatever it is they teach the normal ground-pounders. Oh well. Some things could not be helped. In the long run it didn't matter what Li or Vjun thought, so long as they got through the mission. She deftly slipped the explosive core back into the shell and screwed the top back on before tossing it in her rucksack with the rest of the specially marked grenades and flopping back in her bunk.

After what seemed like only minutes came the soft hiss of the automatic door opening and a voice like thunder. Srin's eyes shot open and she jolted up in bed, nearly smacking herself on the top bunk.

"All Bravo Company fireteams report to the briefing room in five minutes! You have five minutes or you'll be riding a Warthog down to the surface!"

The last remark elicited a few laughs from the room, including Jinxie's recognisable laugh, which was somewhere between a giggle and hysterical meltdown. The Explosives Expert swung her feet off of the bunk and brushed her messy hair with her hand halfheartedly before grabbing her vest and boots and joining the rest of Bravo Company in suiting up. Vjun walked up and grabbed one of her boots before she could put it on.

"Damn Jinxie, you have some tiny feet, you sure you're old enough to serve in the illustrious UNSC's Army?"

The sarcasm placed on illustrious made it all too clear how Vjun thought of the UNSC.

"Give me that back you-" Srin snatched the boot back and stuck it on her foot. She had 'borrowed' some extra armour and attached it to her boots. They were a little heavier but they'd also protect her feet better. A worthy tradeoff when dealing with explosives.

Vjun repeated her protest back to her, mocking her accent. Chéreau retorted with a swift punch to his shoulder and wondered if he ever got tired of being an ass. Slinging her rucksack and putting her helmet loosely on her head, Private First Class Chéreau made her way to assembly room with the rest of the stragglers. Li was already there, looking as dour as ever. Vjun was there too, chatting up the Specialist next to him. Penlan slid up next to him and elbowed him hard enough to make him whince and rub his side. The Sergeant wasn't much for words but made her points plenty clear. The lights dimmed and a holo projector of the surface of the alien construct flickered to life. The Captain began to outline the objectives of the mission and all the other details. To be honest, he had a habit of droning on and on and that gave Srin the habit of dozing off. Briefings were so terribly boring...

"... and I know you will deliver! Dismissed!"

Jinxie shook herself out of her daydream and followed the crowd into the armoury to finish suiting up. Technically she was only supposed to be issued three frag grenades, which she did take. But if you added the ones she had modified and stored in her rucksack previously you got closer to nine. Srin laughed to herself as she grabbed her MA37 and a few magazines, which she slung across her back and stuffed into the pouches on her vest, respectively. Last up was the M6C. Some guys claimed it was way weaker than the other M6 models but Srin did not notice or care enough to request a different one. A slight pressure on her back caused her to turn around and catch Vjun, red handed, in the process of writing something on her armour.

"What did you write on my back, Vjun?"

"The truth." came the smug response from the Corporal, who capped his blue pen and walked away.

Srin shrugged and walked into the hangar.

The Pelican bay door closed with a clicking noise and the eight soldiers housed within were bathed in darkness for a few moments before the overhead lights kicked in and illuminated the room once again. Srin blew some hair out of her face and looked around. She only recognised a few faces from the other fireteam. Vjun was the first to cut the relative silence, as always.

"Hey pilot, you better be careful. One of the soldiers down here is bad luck!"

The pilot chuckled and responded in good humour, "I don't care, I make my own luck."

"Wait, are we with Jinxie's team?"

"Yeah didn't you see the giant 'JINXED' written on her back?"

"THAT'S what you wrote on my back?"

Vjun erupted into laughter.

Srin threw a mock pout at the other soldier, "You're trying to get the Covenant to kill me!"

"Can it, all of you." Sgt. Penlan decreed forcefully, "And Vjun, you're gonna clean that off of Chéreau's armour once we hit the ground. That's defacing UNSC property."

---

The past three hours had been rough to say the least.

They landed without incident, and Vjun had even offered to clean the graffiti off of her armour but Srin shrugged. It made him happy and she didn't care much. Li had scowled at Vjun but said nothing. The Sergeant was too busy trying to organise the other squad and get everyone's bearings to intervene. They had figured out the general direction of the Marines and ODST squads that they were supposed to attach to and started walking. Thank goodness their helmets had intricate navigation systems; the forest was extremely dense and Jinxie had no doubt she would become hopelessly lost without the nav beacon on her eyepiece.

After an hour or so of walking, the eight man unit ran smack into a Covenant patrol, neither of which had seen the other coming due to the heavy foliage. Two Brutes, a Jackal and three Grunts versus eight UNSC Army troopers at melee distance. One of the Brutes roared in surprised and gored the unfortunate pointman from the other fireteam on his spike rifle. Immediately all 7 remaining troopers opened up with small arms fire. The furry monster died in a bloody heap, the pointman still impaled and gurgling on the weapon. The second brute dove behind a tree to avoid a similar fate. Jinxie dashed behind a rock and wildly sprayed the general area of the enemy with her rifle. A Grunt's panicked cries told her she hit something. As a satisfying end to the opening statement, Srin tossed a grenade over the rock, which detonated with a satisfying thump and snap as a tree buckled from the blast.

For the next three or so minutes Pfc. Chéreau peeked from her rock to periodically pepper the vague area of hostiles with gunfire. Eventually she peered over the stone to see Penlan eat a plasma blob to the chest and die stoically firing her rifle 'til it clicked. Vjun avenged the fallen Sergeant by turning the killer Grunt into a blue-green mess of gore. The Jackal screeched as it planted a bolt from it's purple carbine through another soldier's chest. Srin unloaded a burst at it but only one bullet hit the hideous bird-thing in the arm, causing it to recoil in pain and leap for cover.

"JINXIE! LOOK OU-"

Srin wheeled around in time to see Vjun point at something behind her. Something that promptly fired a trio of foot long spikes into his chest, (hopefully) killing him instantly. Jinxie swiveled again in time to see the brute raise his spike rifle for a death blow. However this gave her enough time to raise her rifle to block the blow. The blades chopped into the weapon and rendered it harmless and the monster wielding it pulled the spiker away and with it, the MA37. Srin fumbled for her pistol and managed to crack off two shots before the Brute gut punched her with it's free hand. The blunt force of the blow knocked the soldier back several feet and into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw being Li engaging the would-be killer with his rifle.

---

Srin Chéreau awoke an hour(?) later to silence, save for the sounds of the forest. Her chest ached in pain and she suddenly remembered the events of the last hour or two. She sat up from the damp forest floor with a groan. Dead troopers lay everywhere, it was obvious who had lost this engagement. Although the alien patrol had taken near total casualties as well, the Brute who had incapacitated Jinxie and killed Vjun was nowhere to be seen. That's when she remembered. Vjun!

She ran over to his body. Sure enough, he had died nearly instantly as far as Srin could tell. She tried in vain to yank the spikes out of his cold body but gave up after a couple tries. She wiped tears or maybe sweat off of her face and grabbed his tags and rifle before standing up. None of the other soldiers she checked were alive. She played the grim duty of tag collector as she took the fallen's ID tags and stuffed them in her pocket. The only one missing was Li. She found his helmet but there was no blood or trace of his body. Drag marks or maybe heavy footsteps lead off the site of the battle but she lost them in the soft forest ground. The Nav beacon blinked softly in her eyepiece, reminding Srin of her former goal. Current goal? She took a deep breath and started off in the direction of the beacon.

After a few minutes of walking the radio crackled to life, informing all available callsigns that there would be a ping for a short time at this 'Chariot 9-' whatever's location.

"Chariot, this is what's left of Army Fireteam 2 Bravo 9, I'm on my way to your location, over." The HUD on her eyepiece confirmed the ping had been received and saved locally so she had something to track.

Hey, better than nothing.

~ Halo: Oman ~

After reading the other CS's, I've come to realise that I may have copied the height and weight of Amaranth's character without knowing :( I'll edit it right now, sorry about that >_<

Edited... I made her closer to my height >____<

@OrizaSaucer

It doesn't matter! People can be the same size. Also it would have been an interesting conversation piece LOL

~ Halo: Oman ~

Happy early Birthday! I hope you get out of the hospital soon and in good health!

~ Halo: Oman ~

Srin 'Jinxie' Chéreau

Srin Chéreau

Gender
Female

Age
21

Place of Birth
New Harmony

Military Branch
Army, 147th Engineer Corps

---

Appearance
Srin stands about 5'5" (165 cm) and weighs 120-ish pounds (54~ kilos). She has a thin build but makes up for it with a wiry strength that is not to be underestimated. Her skin is fairly pale and burns rather than tans when exposed to sunlight. Her face is an inverted triangular shape, with a small pointed chin and a face that widens at the cheekbones. Her nose is small, slightly upturned and the area surrounding it is covered with a few freckles. Her large eyes are a light brown that borders on amber and her thin eyebrows arch in the middle, giving her an expression of constant surprise or excitement at first glance. When she smiles, she smiles with great enthusiasm, making her mouth look fairly wide. Only her upper teeth are visible when she smiles. Several squadmates, past and present, have made fun of her smile in the past, calling it "deranged" and "creepy". Her hair is auburn with streaks of light blonde running in it and it's about as long as regulations will reasonably allow. A few locks of her hair seem to permanently hang in front of her right eye, much to her officers' chagrin.

Attire
Army BDU, CH252 Helmet, Combat knife mounted on the left shoulder, up-armoured boots

Weaponry
MA37 ICWS, M6C Magnum, M9 HE-DP grenades, M168 Demo Charges, various other explosive devices of dubious origin

Fireteam 2 Bravo 9
Sgt. Penlan - KIA
Cpl. Vjun - KIA
Pfc. Chéreau - Active
Pvt. Li - MIA

Rank
Private First Class

Specialisation
Explosives, Demolitions

---

Personality
Private First Class Chéreau is a dedicated and spirited soldier who never lets an obstacle dampen her mood. She's quick to volunteer for any kind of mission no matter the personal risk. Despite her enthusiasm she has a few quirks that set her aside from the average soldier. She seems to enjoy her job blowing stuff up a little too much. They say you can't get into demolitions without being a little crazy and in this case it's probably true. Srin also has somewhat of a daredevil streak as well, enjoying excitement and the feeling of adrenaline. However she can also come off as naive or childish due to her eternal good mood and seemingly unlucky or accident prone nature which makes her somewhat of a target for jokes and mockery, thankfully she tries to take it all in stride. The only thing that really gets under her skin is the nickname Jinxie, which she picked up after her last squad was wiped out and a string of unfortunate accidents in close proximity to her. Overall, what she lacks in brute force and sheer skill with a gun she makes up for with attitude and destructive ability with explosives.

Biography
Born on New Harmony, Srin's parents worked for a colonial construction company, where she first learned about explosives. She would sneak off and watch her parents operate controlled demolitions or the explosive clearing of land. Fire and explosives became a lifelong fascination. When she was seven years old the Battle of New Harmony took place in 2537. Young Srin watched from her backyard in total awe as one of the only UNSC victories in space unfolded right above her. Bright colours of violet and pink as well as orange and red detonated in the night sky as ships were gutted and burned in the atmosphere. She was utterly transfixed by the display of lights and eruptions and from that night forward she decided she wanted to join the UNSC.

In school she studied engineering and demolitions and apprenticed for her parents in their construction business as a teenager. It was decent work but it never really captured her imagination or really scratched her idealistic itch she had developed after the battle she had witnessed. The week she turned 18 she enlisted in the UNSC Army as a combat engineer due to her past experience. After an extended basic training she was finally deployed.

On her first deployment there was an incident with an Officer's Warthog and a few fusion coils and although Srin was nowhere near at the time and cleared of all blame officially, several persistent rumors placed her responsible. During a stint aboard a frigate, a maintenance failure had Srin almost sucked out of an airlock in the middle of orbit. Only a quick-thinking ensign saved her, and although she escaped with only a minor bruise, talk of her jinx soon grew. Even routine, expected breakdowns became blamed on her bad luck, such as guns jamming, electronics failing etc. It was around this time that she picked up her nickname. A joke at first, it eventually stuck, much to Chéreau's annoyance.

Eventually she was deployed on Fumirole along with numerous other UNSC Army elements to counter the Covenant invasion that was ongoing. It was her first combat deployment and it ended up wiping out her entire squad, leaving her with only a plasma burn to her shoulder and further cementing her reputation as bad luck incarnate. Following the battle, she was transferred to Reach for what was supposed to be a quiet deployment but, lacking volunteers and manpower, before long her unit was folded into the larger battlegroup by ONI in preparation for OP Grey Axe.

Service-History
- Battle of Fumirole: WIA

---

Affiliations
Father and Mother on New Harmony

Notable Traits
- Nicknamed Jinxie
- Wide reputation for bad luck & jinxing those around her
- Fondness for explosives
- Speaks with a distinctive New Harmony accent
- Tries to remain positive about all things

Theme Song
Found it!

~ Halo: Oman ~

Srin 'Jinxie' Chéreau

Srin Chéreau

Gender
Female

Age
21

Place of Birth
New Harmony

Military Branch
Army, 147th Engineer Corps

---

Appearance
Srin stands about 5'5" (165 cm) and weighs 120-ish pounds (54~ kilos). She has a thin build but makes up for it with a wiry strength that is not to be underestimated. Her skin is fairly pale and burns rather than tans when exposed to sunlight. Her face is an inverted triangular shape, with a small pointed chin and a face that widens at the cheekbones. Her nose is small, slightly upturned and the area surrounding it is covered with a few freckles. Her large eyes are a light brown that borders on amber and her thin eyebrows arch in the middle, giving her an expression of constant surprise or excitement at first glance. When she smiles, she smiles with great enthusiasm, making her mouth look fairly wide. Only her upper teeth are visible when she smiles. Several squadmates, past and present, have made fun of her smile in the past, calling it "deranged" and "creepy". Her hair is auburn with streaks of light blonde running in it and it's about as long as regulations will reasonably allow. A few locks of her hair seem to permanently hang in front of her right eye, much to her officers' chagrin.

Attire
Army BDU, CH252 Helmet, Combat knife mounted on the left shoulder, up-armoured boots

Weaponry
MA37 ICWS, M6C Magnum, M9 HE-DP grenades, M168 Demo Charges, various other explosive devices of dubious origin

Fireteam 2 Bravo 9
Sgt. Penlan - KIA
Cpl. Vjun - KIA
Pfc. Chéreau - Active
Pvt. Li - MIA

Rank
Private First Class

Specialisation
Explosives, Demolitions

---

Personality
Private First Class Chéreau is a dedicated and spirited soldier who never lets an obstacle dampen her mood. She's quick to volunteer for any kind of mission no matter the personal risk. Despite her enthusiasm she has a few quirks that set her aside from the average soldier. She seems to enjoy her job blowing stuff up a little too much. They say you can't get into demolitions without being a little crazy and in this case it's probably true. Srin also has somewhat of a daredevil streak as well, enjoying excitement and the feeling of adrenaline. However she can also come off as naive or childish due to her eternal good mood and seemingly unlucky or accident prone nature which makes her somewhat of a target for jokes and mockery, thankfully she tries to take it all in stride. The only thing that really gets under her skin is the nickname Jinxie, which she picked up after her last squad was wiped out and a string of unfortunate accidents in close proximity to her. Overall, what she lacks in brute force and sheer skill with a gun she makes up for with attitude and destructive ability with explosives.

Biography
Born on New Harmony, Srin's parents worked for a colonial construction company, where she first learned about explosives. She would sneak off and watch her parents operate controlled demolitions or the explosive clearing of land. Fire and explosives became a lifelong fascination. When she was seven years old the Battle of New Harmony took place in 2537. Young Srin watched from her backyard in total awe as one of the only UNSC victories in space unfolded right above her. Bright colours of violet and pink as well as orange and red detonated in the night sky as ships were gutted and burned in the atmosphere. She was utterly transfixed by the display of lights and eruptions and from that night forward she decided she wanted to join the UNSC.

In school she studied engineering and demolitions and apprenticed for her parents in their construction business as a teenager. It was decent work but it never really captured her imagination or really scratched her idealistic itch she had developed after the battle she had witnessed. The week she turned 18 she enlisted in the UNSC Army as a combat engineer due to her past experience. After an extended basic training she was finally deployed.

On her first deployment there was an incident with an Officer's Warthog and a few fusion coils and although Srin was nowhere near at the time and cleared of all blame officially, several persistent rumors placed her responsible. During a stint aboard a frigate, a maintenance failure had Srin almost sucked out of an airlock in the middle of orbit. Only a quick-thinking ensign saved her, and although she escaped with only a minor bruise, talk of her jinx soon grew. Even routine, expected breakdowns became blamed on her bad luck, such as guns jamming, electronics failing etc. It was around this time that she picked up her nickname. A joke at first, it eventually stuck, much to Chéreau's annoyance.

Eventually she was deployed on Fumirole along with numerous other UNSC Army elements to counter the Covenant invasion that was ongoing. It was her first combat deployment and it ended up wiping out her entire squad, leaving her with only a plasma burn to her shoulder and further cementing her reputation as bad luck incarnate. Following the battle, she was transferred to Reach for what was supposed to be a quiet deployment but, lacking volunteers and manpower, before long her unit was folded into the larger battlegroup by ONI in preparation for OP Grey Axe.

Service-History
- Battle of Fumirole: WIA

---

Affiliations
Father and Mother on New Harmony

Notable Traits
- Nicknamed Jinxie
- Wide reputation for bad luck & jinxing those around her
- Fondness for explosives
- Speaks with a distinctive New Harmony accent
- Tries to remain positive about all things

Theme Song
still looking :D