EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For a moment, as she looked ahead across the now-revealed field of traps, Ahnasha was not sure how they would get across quickly, but Fendros' suggestion was enough to make the answer clear to her.

Extending both hands out in front of her, charged with dark violet energy, Ahnasha summoned from two portals a pair of flame atronachs. She instructed them to move forward, darting back and forth across the open area in front of them to set off as many of the traps as possible. Just like before, the mechanical traps jumped up into the air and exploded in fire, to which the atronachs were immune.

"Conjurers! Let's clear these traps!" Ahnasha shouted. Though, the enemy remained far from passive as they looked on. The two armies were still at long range from one another, but arrows and spellfire were already coming in from behind the Skaafin fortifications. In addition to targeting the opposing army, they would likely try to kill the atronachs as well.

In the center path, Do'rhajul moved to the front, holding Spellbreaker firmly out in front of him. Destruction spells from the mages on the barricades struck the unbreaking ward with no perceivable effect. Arrows were a threat as well, though the Dwemer metal protected just as well against them. Once he stepped far enough forward, another trap was triggered, and this time he was able to get a closer look at it. The explosion had no more of an effect on Spellbreaker's ward than the Skaafin's spells, so Do'rhajul stepped back in line with the other troops and shouted back to Sabine. "These traps, they are physical things. They can be destroyed, or set off early. This one cannot clear them all himself, but have mages form up on my flanks. Have them launch spells in front of us as we advance, while the both of us defend them."

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai and Shih

---

If nothing else, Vael could see that the members of the team were quick to act, took initiative, and were deadly in a fight. Even just simple accuracy with their weapons set them apart. The sentinels were falling much quicker than they would against an average squad of marines, or lance of Swords warriors. Vael was keeping track as best as he could of their enemy; there had been seventeen Forerunner machines to start, and ten had fallen.

Unfortunately, more sentinels had arrived within motion sensor range, a fact about which Shih was quick to alert the team, but the number of opponents within range to threaten them had still been temporarily thinned. Taking the opportunity, Vael dashed out from underneath the wing to the wreckage of one of the sentinels. He knew just what he was looking for, so it did not take long for him to holster his weapon and rip from the broken frame the sentinel’s weapon. In his experience, the true best weapons against Forerunner machines were their own.

It took only a moment for Vael’s suit to identify the weapon and paint a reticle on his HUD. The internal battery of a sentinel beam did not last too long when disconnected from a sentinel’s power source, but it would certainly be enough for this fight. Vael picked the harder-to-hit targets: the ones flying higher or faster. The intense orange beam hardly took more than a second of sustained fire to deplete the shields and cut through the sentinel’s frame, and with no deviation and effectively no travel time, he could fire it with pinpoint precision. Three times Vael fired a burst of the beam, and each of the three times a sentinel came crashing to the ground. Though, as his weapon overheated, two of the remaining sentinels focused their weapons onto Vael. Despite having shield strength appropriate to his rank, the Forerunner weapons were enough to deplete his shields and scorch his chestplate before he could get back into cover under the wing. The nanolaminate plating held, though Vael could feel the heat it had absorbed. “Shields are down!” Vael called out.

Vael was not the only one being pressured. Another beam from a different sentinel was cutting across the ground towards Grikgar, while another sentinel that had been damaged accelerated forward towards Ben, likely aiming to kill him with the secondary explosions of its own destruction. With the Spartan’s shields weakened as they were, he was vulnerable.

At the same time, the Marines radioed back to Aviza’s request quickly. “Yes ma’am. Telemetry shows there is a plateau in the way, so we’ll have to go around. ETA…two minutes.”

”More sentinels on approach, and they’re spreading out. Looks like they’re going to surround the crash site.” Shih warned the team.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Hjergir too split his forces and formed up into the two columns that would be moving along the left and right flanks, though he also dedicated a smaller force to assisting the members of Meesei’s pack that would be assaulting down the center. In such a narrow pass, it was more possible for a smaller force to defeat a larger one, but they would have to make sure their frontline never faltered, as there would not be many reinforcements to fill in the gaps.

Meesei and Lorag were front and center on the frontline of the left flank. Hjergir was just behind them, while to the left and right there was a shield wall of both Nordic and Dominion troops extending almost to the sides of the passage. The front was supported by mages on the second rank back, with similarly alternating ranks heading all the way back to the rear of the column. Ahnasha had joined Fendros on Leaps’ saddle, and they were moving near the front along with the Senche cavalry.

On all three flanks, the type of resistance the allied forces would face were similar. The Skaafin had neglected to reinforce the last few watchtowers so they could take the time to fortify these passages. Metal barricades had been moved into position about halfway through each of the three passageways. On the left and right flanks, the barricades were simple, spiked barricades not unlike the wooden versions used by armies in Tamriel. They would primarily deter cavalry, but the Daedric spearmen holding behind them could attack while soldiers were slowed by them as well. In the center passage, there was much less distance for the barricades to cover, so the Skaafin had been able to build up stronger defenses. In addition to the spiked barricades, they had also assembled walls out of metal posts, with elevated platforms behind them from which they could attack with spells, arrows, and long spears.

Meesei was at the front on the left flank, so she was the first to encounter the other defense the Daedra had prepared. Out of seemingly nowhere, a small orange, disk with four spike-like claws appeared in front of her and jumped up spinning into the air. Reflexively, Meesei formed a ward in front of herself, which did absorb the fireball from the ensuing explosion. Meesei shouted and brought the column to a halt, then cast form dispelling chains from both of her hands. As the chains cuts across the area in front of them, they stripped away the illusions the Daedra had put in place to hide their traps. From one side of the path to the other, dozens upon dozens of these mechanical fireball traps had been placed. Although the traps were no longer hidden, they would still have to deal with them as they pushed forward, and the Daedra ahead had already begun shooting volleys of spells and arrows. The other two paths were defended by illusion-obscured traps as well, and would need to be dealt with swiftly.

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai and Shih

---

Inwardly, Vael felt that a Spartan would be a more effective recipient of an improved weapon, but there was not time to linger and discuss in great detail. Vael handed of his carbine, along with some spare ammo, then stepped outside the back of the Pelican along with the others. A carbine would not be quite as effective as plasma against the Forerunner machines, but it would certainly work better than bullets. The pilots, though shaken up, were not seriously harmed in the crash. They emerged from the cockpit just as the others were starting to move out to secure the area around the Pelican, but until they were given orders to move out, they would hang back in the troop bay.

At first, it was just one sentinel that flew down to investigate the site of the crash, which Aviza had fired upon immediately. It took sustained fire from the assault rifle to break through its shields and damage its frame, but it did eventually break apart and fall to the ground a short distance away from the Pelican.

Shih had already received telemetry from the automated systems of the Heron before Aviza had finished her sentence. This time, instead of speaking solely inside Aviza’s head, Shih patched in through the team’s comm channel to inform everyone at once. ”The Heron set the Mammoth down at the nearest safe landing zone, approximately 700 meters away, on the other side of that plateau. Updating your HUD with a navpoint now.”

As for Aviza’s second question, Shih did not even need to answer for the team to know that they would soon be under imminent threat. Motion trackers detected well over a dozen hostile signatures directly above them, which looking upwards would quickly confirm. It was not exactly a swarm of sentinels, but it was easily enough of a group to be threatening, and they were quickly descending upon them.

On Vael’s part, he had no issue following Aviza’s order in this case. The sentinels were far too close for them to try and make a run for the Mammoth. He moved himself a short distance around to the left side of the Pelican, positioning himself underneath the dropship’s wing. Sentinel weapons were powerful and their flight could allow them to surround the team easily, so it was important to limit the number of angles from which they could threaten him. If there was one advantage the team did have, it was that sentinels did not tend to have any particular tactical acumen, so they could out-think the machines, despite the advantage they had in numbers. Vael started to fire his plasma rifle skywards in short bursts. For those using plasma weapons, it would only take a few shots to destroy any individual sentinel.

”Motion sensors detect seven…sixteen sentinels in the immediate area.” Shih commented, correcting herself as a burst of plasma fire from Vael downed one of the machines. ”I’ll keep scanning for new contacts as best as I can, but my options in terms of sensors are limited in this suit. I’ll radio the crew of the Mammoth and have them activate its new sensor suite. We’re close enough that I can access it remotely, so that should expand my coverage.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

After hearing the counsel of her pack, Meesei was satisfied with the plan they had reached. There was nothing better coming to mind for her, and they did not have the time to wait around much longer. “Very well, I agree. We will split our soldiers roughly evenly between the left and right paths. Janius, Kaleeth, and Sabine will lead a smaller force down through the middle. Being that it is a narrower path, you would not benefit from a larger force, regardless. Rossarm and his mages will accompany the forces on the right, while myself and the remainder of my pack will go along the left. Ri’kalesh, your Senche will not have room to maneuver down the center, so you should split your forces between the left and right.”

Ri’kalesh nodded in agreement, followed shortly by Hjergir. For Meesei’s final question, she decided to allow the Dominion commander to make his determination. Meesei did feel that having the skills of both the Nords and Dominion soldiers on all paths would give them the best chance, but it would require them to work together more closely than before. If the Altmer did not think his soldiers would do so effectively, Meesei was not going to order them to try. Not when the stakes were so high. “Commander, do you think your soldiers can work in tandem with mine on all flanks, or would you rather command your forces directly on one path, while we take the others?"

Halo: Aegis Team

Andromedai and EliteCommander collab

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Spartan Aviza, Shih, and Vael 'Virisusai

---

The M510 Mammoth was a Siegeworks ultra-heavy assault platform vehicle that Aviza had heard about but had never seen in action before. It was apparently the largest ground vehicle that the UNSC had in its ordnance. This particular Mammoth had been heavily modified to serve as a mobile base for Aegis Team, having its mini-mac cannon removed, along with other modifications. Aviza found herself standing alongside the massive vehicle, peering up at it and wondering what it was like to drive one of them. “They removed the mini-mac cannon and installed heavy modifications into the Mammoth? I wonder what other changes were made.” thought Aviza to herself as she moved to the rear of the vehicle and peered into the back of it, where supplies were being loaded by a Prime Mover and other UNSC ground forces.

Aviza had still been inspecting the Mammoth with great interest when Major Robinson had announced that she had been chosen for the Smart A.I., Shih. The Spartan Four was unsure how to respond to the information at first but then approached the Major and took the offered data-crystal-drive, plugging it into the back of her helmet very carefully. “It is my honor to have this opportunity, Major Robinson.” said Spartan Aviza, with a slight nod of her head. When she had plugged the data-crystal-drive into her armor, she had not felt anything, but could instantly notice her suits systems rebooting, clearly much more was happening behind the scenes. “Shih? I have never been paired with a smart A.I. before, is there anything I should know before we depart on our mission?” asked Aviza.

There were no further questions, and Aviza was now making her way towards their designated D77-TC Pelican, “Let’s move out Aegis.” Once onboard, she would strap herself into a vacant seat near the cockpit and await departure.

As the others were loading onto the Pelican, Shih ran a quick diagnostic of her new environment to get herself settled in. Of course, her new environment was not only the suit, but Aviza’s mind. ”Anything you should know? Well, I suppose I would say that I prefer you keep your head out of the line of fire, but I imagine you already knew that.” She replied. To hear Shih’s voice would be a strange thing for one who had never experienced such a close melding of two intelligences. The AI linked directly into her neural implant. Shih’s voice did not come through Aviza’s helmet, but rather she could ‘hear’ it within her mind.

Having Shih meld her intelligence with her own via the neural implant was a disorienting experience at first for Spartan Aviza. “This is going to take a short while for me to get used to Shih, the whole experience is slightly disorienting.” said Aviza as she used the UI built into her helmet to check over important mission details. For the current mission, she had chosen to bring along her usual loadout which consisted of a SRS99-S5 AM, MA5D ICWS with an Underslung Shotgun, and a couple grenades of variety. Of course, she had brought along her advanced medical kit as well, with other equipment that she felt would prove beneficial.

Again, Shih’s voice came to Aviza like thoughts within her own mind. “Don’t worry, Spartan, considering that you have never had an AI with you before, I would find it more concerning if you were already accustomed to having extra voices in your head.”

Shih took another moment to review the mission files and other data that Aviza had considered relevant to the mission. Though, a “moment” for the AI was essentially instantaneous. ”I see you have brought along several medical and anatomical references for multiple former-Covenant species. I do not doubt that you are probably already more qualified for that than the majority of Sangheili medics, but you may have trouble convincing the Sangheili, at least, to accept your help, should it come to that. They are notorious for their taboos against spilling blood.”

“They will have to put their beliefs aside for the good of the mission, I can’t just let them bleed out or allow them to not have their injuries tended to. Do you honestly think they will give me trouble when in a life threatening situation?” said Spartan Aviza as she attempted to see out the back of the D77-TC Pelicans small rear window. “By the way, what is our current estimated time of arrival upon the inner surface of Sarcophagus? I would like to update the rest of Aegis before too long.” Aviza nodded once at Grikgar’s comment about being ready for the mission ahead of them.

”Considering that Sangheili have been known to allow themselves to bleed to death rather than accept help from a medic…I am going to give that one a strong ’maybe’.” Shih answered. ”Though, if it helps you feel better, I can confirm that the Arbiter has ordered his warriors to allow themselves to be healed ‘at any cost’. Evidently, he recognizes that they no longer have the numbers to just allow themselves to die.”

As she was speaking, Shih performed a quick analysis of their planned flight path. “At the average speed of a Heron dropship under load, it should take three minutes and thirty-eight seconds to reach the planned landing zone. From there, we will have at least a day of travel over ground in the Mammoth, through largely desert terrain. I should also warn you not to let down your guard on the way. Most of the animals may not be a threat to the Mammoth, but Forerunner constructs on Sarcophagus can be hostile.”

“ETA is three minutes Aegis.” said Spartan Aviza as she moved to the D77-TC Pelicans cockpit to get a better view of the inside of the Forerunner construct. She had heard of Shield World 0006 before, but had never seen the manufactured structure with her own eyes, until now. “I wonder how long it took the Forerunners to build such a structure.” thought Aviza, knowing that her thoughts were no longer private, and now shared with Shih.

”Even with all we have learned about the Forerunners, I cannot even begin to answer that question. They were a species beyond even what Ican understand, which is quite a lot, by the way. Seeing a megastructure like this, it is a wonder that they could have ever been defeated, even by-” Shih’s response was cut short by the sudden panic of their pilot.

It was alarming how fast everything happened. They had been flying over a rocky desert towards their landing zone, but with little warning nor time to react, Forerunner sentinels could be seen speeding by the Pelican outside the cockpit. “Contacts!” The pilot shouted. He started with evasive maneuvers, but again, there was little he could have done to stop it. A group of five sentinels flew around the front of the Pelican, then all focused their beams on the right-side wing as they flew past. “We’re hit, strap in!”

The Pelican did not entirely lose control, but the sentinels’ attack had left one thruster on the right side destroyed, and the other at the rear damaged. The pilot was still able to slow their descent, so the landing was not too dangerous, but it was still a crash that came with a jarring impact.

The Heron carrying their Mammoth diverted away from the swarm of sentinels to drop the vehicle at the closest safe location, so for the moment, the team would have to defend themselves without it. Once they were on the ground, Vael quickly stood up from his seat. The landing had not been…pleasant, but he had only mild pain to show for it.

”This world’s warriors have not taken kindly to our intrusion.” Vael remarked as he took his plasma rifle in hand. ”I have fought machines like these before. Aside from their own weapons, plasma weapons are some of the most effective against them. We should make sure as many of us are armed with them as possible. Your projectile weapons can destroy them, but it takes many more hits. One of you Humans may use my carbine; it does not work as well as plasma, but it still should be more effective. Otherwise, fast-firing weapons that can overwhelm their shields will be more effective than your precision weapons.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Major Robinson

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”A small squad of marines will be accompanying you to operate the Mammoth, so you will not have to dedicate any of your own number to the task.” The Major answered to Yalu. ”Remember, once you are through the shell into the interior of Sarcophagus, you will be out of contact with the Thunder, or any other outside support. You will be facing a long drive through rough terrain, dangerous creatures, and potentially hostile forerunner constructs. If you make any long range broadcasts once inside, the rebels may detect it, so do not contact us until you have located the insurrectionist base of operations. Once you have, you may call us in to deal with the Brute ships; we will have a battle group ready to handle them. However, the Brutes are your secondary objective. If you have to let them escape to find the rebels, then so be it.”

The Major turned her attention to Aviza, then gestured to the nearest Pelican. “If there are no further questions, you and your team may embark, Spartan.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The werevulture shook her head. “We don’t really have the numbers here to be a fighting force. My flock are scouts. Most of our warriors are fighting in the battle below. We’ll still follow your orders, though, whatever they are.” She answered.

“Maybe we could just push through one pass?” Ahnasha suggested. “Don’t let them divide us. Maybe if we just hit one of their lines really hard, we can push through before we get trapped?”

Meesei was reluctant to accept the suggestion. “I do not think that will work. I do agree with the commander here.” She said, gesturing to the Dominion officer. They are using the narrow pass to their advantage. Even if we put all of our forces through one path, we will not be able to bring them all to bear at once. They could slow us down, then send a force down one of the unguarded paths to get around behind us trap us in from both sides. I do believe we have no choice but to dedicate forces to all three paths. But, as Sabine suggests, we could use portals or other tactics to give us an advantage.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael ‘Virisusai and Major Robinson

---

However the team decided to spend the few hours they had, it did not take long after their departure from Earth for Major Robinson to call the team to muster in one of the hangars. With the upgraded slipspace drives that new UNSC ships, like the Chorus of Thunder, had been receiving, journeys through slipspace were no longer the time consuming voyages they had once been. Their ships could now best even Covenant ships for speed. Even aside from that, Sarcophagus was not a long jump from Sol.

For any who might have had access to external windows or cameras, their arrival in the system might have seemed somewhat bizarre. Sarcophagus was a complete shell, almost unfathomably large, fully enveloping the star, and the Chorus of Thunder entered the system just outside of it. The only light came from distant stars, which was far from enough to illuminate the megastructure. From the perspective of the ship, there was only blackness on one side of them, as if all of the stars in that direction had been extinguished.

Inside the hangar, there was another surprise waiting for them in the form of a vehicle that was clearly being prepped for the mission. It was a Mammoth, though nonstandard in a few obvious ways. The most notable modification was that the mini-MAC had been removed, and overall, it seemed like a somewhat stripped down, lighter version of the vehicle. Although, that did not reduce the size of the aptly-named vehicle; it would still require something like a Heron dropship just to get it to the ground.

Vael was fully-equipped and ready for the mission. He had opted for his usual selection of weapons, with a carbine, plasma rifle, energy sword, and a handful of plasma grenades. Combined with his active camouflage, he could be versatile with the situations he could deal with.

After the usual formalities, the Major addressed the team as a whole. ”Alright, you all have the relevant mission files and you know your objective, so I will keep this brief. We’ve dropped out of slipspace outside the Dyson shell to avoid detection. You’ll be inserting via Pelican through one of the entryways, and we’ll be sending this in with you as well.” She explained, gesturing to the Mammoth. ”You’ll need to approach from the ground to avoid detection by the Brute ships, and you’ll have a bit of a drive ahead of you. This Mammoth has been modified to serve better as a mobile base for your team. It is stocked with weapons, supplies, and a pair of warthogs. Some of its heavier components have been removed to help improve its speed as much as possible. We have also installed improved communications equipment to intercept enemy communications and help you track down your targets.”

Once she had given her explanation, Major Robinson took a data crystal drive and handed it to Fireteam Leader Aviza. “Shih has been assigned to Aegis Team, as well. You may take responsibility for her yourself, Fireteam Leader, or assign her to another member of your team as you see fit.”

Halo: Aegis Team

@Crab BaneAlright, that sounds good.