Sunday, April 12th, 2551, 08:27
ONI-Base Hermann Northern Courtyard
UNSC Space: Neo System, Planet New Brika

Private Greer K. O'Brien

"Phantoms, inbound from the west!"

"They are converging on our position!"

"Heavy enemy air. Banshees, seraphs, and vampires coming in hot out of the atmosphere. Tracking them... Destination solutions show… They are after the AA guns!"

"All anti-air forces reposition for AA gun defense of ONI-Base Hermann. Copy?"

"Wolverine company twelve rerouting to intercept. Over."

"Copy W12, Hermann Base have the AA guns target the small aircraft. We can not allow the enemy to have air support or air superiority. Let the phantoms land the troops in. We'll box them in and make them land where we want them. Ground forces will have to hold. Copy"

"Hot copy Hermann command, changing targets. Guns five through three opening up on them now."

"Twelve confirmed kills… no, make that sixteen! Over."

"Enemy transports have changed course… New tracking information shows they are inbound to sector four. Copy that control?"

"Loud and clear air-grid, Ground forces in sector four be advised heavy ground troops inbound to the northern courtyard. Repeat Heavy enemy troops inbound to the courtyard in sector four. Over."

"I have visual- enemy armor! At least three wraiths!"

"Multiple light reconnaissance vehicles too."

"Hot copy scout team 21, all ground personal enemy armor will be providing ground forces with cover. Recommend using heavy weapons to engage. Vulture support will be ready in 27 minutes."

"Three phantoms have broken off course! They are moving to sector two!"

"They are after the launch bays, all personal in sector two be ready for a firefight! Companies two and seven move to engage."

"Moving to secure the hanger! Over."

I was not all that happy that I was standing next to a radio operator. Sure I could call in an airstrike but all this unneeded radio chatter was getting to me. My mind was in other places at the moment. Well, I would at least hear what was going on.

"Phantoms will touchdown in forty seconds. All marines in the courtyard be ready. Take up defensive positions if you have not. Wait for them to be in the kill zone. Over."

"Roger that."

I kept my gaze looking out in the distance. I positioned myself on the fifth floor hallway that gave me a good overview of the courtyard. I adjusted the weight of the sniper rifle in my hands. "Ground forces pick out enemy targets, you have sniper support, copy?"

"Copy that, we have ODST sniper support. Pick your targets for him, Over."

Seeing that my message was received I turned to the radioman next to me. "Is this glass bulletproof?"

The marine looked up at me due to his crouched spot below the window. There was some confusion written on his face, "No, I don't believe so. I can't really say. I was never assigned here." The marine was taller than myself but that really wasn't an accomplishment. Everyone was taller than me as I was only five foot. The marine has black hair, white skin, and dark eyes. Well, his damn goggles made it hard to tell for sure.

"Well," I started looking at the gun on my thigh, "we are about to find out." I placed my sniper rifle on the floor and took out the large pistol on my thigh. I could only wonder how powerful the kick was on the damn thing. I braced myself and pulled the trigger. The gun nearly ripped my arms out of my sockets. The bullet shattered the glass of the entire window and the shot echoed loudly throughout the courtyard.

"Ahh fuck!" I cried out as the gun almost flew out of my hands with my arms still attracted to it. "Who the fuck can shoot this kind of gun?! Jesus the damn thing almost ripped out my arms, fuck me, dude!"

"You alright?!"

I really wanted to go off on the man but the last time I did go off on someone…, "Give me a second will ya?" I finished as I sat down putting the heavy pistol back. "Firing that gun feels like firing a small compact rocket launcher. It's that powerful. Shit, my arms feel like they want to fall off. How in the Hell can Spartans use these damn things?"

"Oh, that's so cool! How did you get that lucky to get a spartan's weapon?!" The marine gushed at the bloody thing. Yeah, it might be cool but the damn thing can't be shot by a normal person for too long. I also didn't want to go into the story about how it was available either.

Feeling some self loathing I asked him this bitterly, "You wanna fire it?" Hopefully the anger in my voice would stop the marine from asking any more unnecessary questions. I raised an eyebrow at the man and watch the spark die from his eyes.

"Hell no!" The man rejected the idea as fast as he commented on it.

Rolling my eyes I picked up my rifle. I could hear the humming of the phantoms at they dropped down from the sky. I really didn't want to think about the female spartan either. However, somehow people keep reminding him of her. This was eating at me too much. It was making me unfocused and that's the last thing I needed during a firefight.

"O'Brien, come in! What the Hell is going on up there?!" Dutch yelled over coms no doubt about the gunshot.

I sighed to myself, "Nothing, I was blowing out one of the windows so I could use it."

"Ever heard of opening a window genius? I heard that works well with saving ammo. Also not alerting the enemy to us." Mickey joked lightheartedly but somehow also seriously.

"Yeah, like they don't know were here right?" I snapped at the derogatory comment. "It's a good thing I did anyhow! That bloody pistol, no hand cannon, is strong enough to blow your arms out of your sockets."

"Stop whining about it scrappy."

"I'm not scrappy Dutch!" Dutch had to add something! Man, my whole squad was on my ass after that bloody mission. I stood up from my spot feeling a good portion of my arms returning to normal.

"ODSTs, this Col. McCallen. We have more supplies inbound for the northern courtyard. You will have to hold for 25 minutes until it gets there. Once it's there you will be given new orders, over."

"Copy that Colonel." Meredith's voice called out through the coms. I looked down into the courtyard to find my team. Mickey, Dutch, and Meredith were hiding behind one of the many plant displays on the far left of the courtyard under an overhang. It gave them cover from overhead fire and sight. "All heavy weapons users, keep your eyes on the road."

Three phantoms dropped down behind the tree cover. Two spirits behind them. I set up shop quickly. My sniper rifle ready for picking out targets. I tried to see through the canopy in hopes of identifying what was coming at them. "Whole enemy strike force. One thousand meters out. Two wraiths and at least six ghosts." I called out over the coms.

"Copy that over-watch. Do you see what enemies are following that up by?"

"Negative the trees are blocking my view on the…, wait something is coming out of the bush- Brutes! High ranking ones at that. Careful they have needle rifles and heavy weapons. Grunt Ultras flanking them. What the Hell?! All incoming enemies are high ranking. Permission to take out targets with heavy weapons?"

"Denied ODST, we want to surprise them when they are in the courtyard. Mark targets instead."

"Copy that captain." I clicked his tongue in irritation. They already know we are here. It made no sense to wait. I felt my eyes narrow further as I zoomed in on a brute. If there was one species I hated the most as of now…, It was the brutes. Seeing them bumble their way out of the tree line just angered me more. As much as I wanted to clip the first chieftain, I did Like I asked. I started marking targets with heavy weapons that will no doubt become more trouble later. As I was marking targets I noticed the Phantoms lifting up back into the air. One flew off while the other two moved above the courtyard. I watched on as the door opened and drones poured out. "Buggers! It an ambush!"

Even with my warning being called out before the creatures left the ship it was far too late for everyone to brace themselves with the new threats. They dived down from sky like eagles on a river. Firing green plasma, and pink needles on the marines below. Within seconds two marines fell to the super heated shots and another exploded in a pink mist.

"Ahh, shit! Let 'em have it! Let 'em have it!" Not much else was needed as marines and the ODST squad opened fire at the alien invaders. While the Yanme'e were very weak to bullet wounds, they were hard to hit. My sniper rifle would not help me here. I decided to focus on the ground force that was increasing their ground due to not being engaged. If I opened fire on them it would halt them momentarily. Well, I hoped that it would.

I wasted no time picking off the brutes that we still approaching from the forest. I managed to down three grunts with fuel rode cannons and a brute officer with a hammer. I had to stop when the phantoms opened fire on the marines a level below me. They didn't have a read on me yet and I wanted to keep it that way.

The phantoms stayed overhead raining down red plasma at the marines. More of marines dropped and were blasted away by the pinkish explosive rounds. "Somebody do something about those damn guns! They are going down harder on us than your daddy went down on your mama!"

"Marines us your bloody rockets on em'!"

"Copy, I got the one on the right!" Not shortly after that was barked out Meredith fired one of her rockets at the front of the ship. The explosion ripped the gun right off. More rockets were fired right after that. Purple flames covering the right side of the ship. The damage done to first phantom fired on was enough to make it retreat and it was closely followed by the other.

"Their air support is gone, take out those drones dammit!" The captain bellowed over the radio, "Sniper how much longer until the main force is on us?"

"Two minutes-"

"Watch out!" the marine next to me cried as he pushes me and his-self out of harm's way. Pink needles covered the back wall behind them. The marine was quick to roll off of me. I nodded at him.

"Thanks," I said as I pushed myself up to a crouch. This time I made sure to thank someone when saving me. I would not have a repeat of last time. I was still in a crouch when the windows down the hall shattered and drones started crowding in. There were at least 6 of them. They buzzed around before landing on the floor, ceiling, and walls. "Fuck, buggers are in the building! Repeat covenant are in the building." I pulled the DMR off of my back and started firing. The Marine moved behind me and fire his assault rifle at the hard to hit flying targets. Luckily for us, the drones hadn't noticed them on their way in.

"All teams be advised, possible drones in the ventilation system. Be alert for imminent threat. Code Green. Active code green in all sectors."

They dropped the drones but more rushed in after them. Some green plasma managed to hit around them but thankfully it missed its mark. "O'Brien where's that sniper support! Were getting killed down here!" Dutch's loud voice boomed over the coms.

"I'm on it, drones got the drop on us. Hold on a little longer."

"Behind us!" I cried seeing motion on my motion tracker as two more drones smashed through the glass. Three shots nicked the marine in the back. Each one hitting the radio on the man's back. We managed to turn back and kill the last two drones in time before more damage was done.

"Turn around, I want to see the damage done." I order to see the man's gear.

"Sure," The marine complied turning his back to me.

I flinched seeing the destroyed radio, "Nah, it fried alright. You be better off ditching the damn thing."

"Oh, hell! What do we do? We can't communicate with the Vulture without it."

"No other coms are connected to it?"

"No, the reason for that is they don't want to confuse the pilots with hundreds of different hails at once. Only certain radio chatter can get through, vultures are one of those ships. Unless there is someone else down there with a still working radio; the vulture is going to have a hard time picking out targets with inflicting damage on friendlies." The marine explained odd circumstances.

I really wanted to curse my luck- I paused, an idea struck me at that moment. "Mickey, you copy?"

"Yeah? What's up? Everything alright up there?" The man asked with concerned. He seemed to care about my well being after all. Ah shucks.

"For short, no. I need you up here. The marine's radio got hit and is toast. We need your radio."

"That's going to be hard, those wraiths got us pinned." Mickey informed.

"The covies are moving in too." The woman ODST also added.

"That fine, Dutch can you guys regroup on me if I give you guys support?" I inquired a loud.

"We could, why?" The man asked.

I couldn't help but grin seeing a bluish enemy tank off in the distance. "I have a lovely view of some armor with your name on it."

There was a pause before Dutch answered. I could tell he was smiling just like me, "Lay down the covering fire and we will make our way over."

"Gotcha-" The building shook for a moment and then it was followed by another. "Wraiths have opened fire on the base! Watch out for incoming plasma-blasts!"

Me and the marine got back into position. Only for the right hallway to erupt in blue flames as the steel started melting and the tiles on the floor cracked. "Fucking perfect." I muttered with distaste.

I finally noticed what the courtyard had turned into. Plants were de-rooted and on fire. The ground in some areas was scared an ugly black. Marines laid dead along with drones scattered here and there. Brutes and grunts were already pushing up the stairs further into the courtyard.

They were quickly engaged by the marines.

"I got you guys, start moving!" I saw my first target. A grunt with needler coming up the stairs with it's gun pointed at Meredith. I fired my first short as the rifle jerked from the power the bullet had behind it. The large bullet ripped the grunts methane tank off its back as a massive hole was made in its chest.

I fired my next shot at a brute that was pointing up at them to a Jackal. The brute flung backwards from the impact and rolled down the stairs. The jackal returned fire with its needle rifle. Have to duck for cover as the pink deadly crystals dashed over head.

I didn't even notice the jackals before the attack started. Those damn drones were just a diversion. I popped out of cover and was quick to put a bullet in its jaw. The bottom half of its jaw was torn right off. Its finger must have still been on the trigger because the gun fired around randomly nailing a brute in the leg.

I fired my last shot in the clip into it. It hit but the brute didn't go down. "Tough son of a bitch," I whispered to myself, "Reloading!" I was quick to pick up my DMR and shove into the marine's hands, "Here, provide fire support."

"R-r-right!" He still dazed by the battle going on outside the complex. I could tell the man had never been in a firefight with aliens before by the way he was shaking. I needed to calm him down.

"Hey, I never got your name." I said while reloading. The marine had saved me a minute ago. Might as well get his name.

"Ryan, It Ryan Kist." He called out over the guns ringing.

"Got it, just call me O'Brien. I want you to spot targets for me while laying down support." I told him inspecting the gun once more.

"Yeah," The man answer tossing the destroyed equipment off of his back, "There that's better."

I finished reloading and looked back into the scope trying to find my squad. I found them behind one of the downed trees. "Careful, you guys have a group jackals with shields moving on your position. Give me an opening."

"Copy O'Brien, engaging." Meredith answered. Fore a combat medic she was pretty damn aggressive. A medic with a rocket launcher. That was pretty badass in my book.

"Hey, Ryan opened fire on that squad of jackals by the down tree, left side." I pointed out to Ryan.

"I see them, Firing... now." Ryan's DMR fired shot after shot. He managed to take two down before the jackals started catching on to what was going on. I caught the glimpse of purple light far off in the treeline. I fired immediately like my life depended on it. Chances were, they did. If there was one thing to fear, it was a Kig-Yar Sniper. They were the true threat on any battlefield. The light died signaling a direct hit.

"Careful, Jackal snipers in the treeline! Look for the purple glow in the trees! MARK THEM!" I warned all troopers in the area. "Ryan once I'm done with this magazine we're moving locations…, The window were the bugs came in will do."

"I gotcha, bud." Hearing the man receive my orders I went back to searching the trees for more snipers. Two focus rifle beams pierced the courtyard and I watched as two marines screamed before falling silent, "Ryan right side tallest tree! I got the one on the left!"

"I won't be able to hit it!" He doubted his own skill. I did too but he could still provide fire support.

"Then suppress it!" I barked out as I found the other Jackal. My shot caught the bastard in the chest and the body hit at least five large branches before getting caught between two. I turned my head for a minute to see something legendary. The jackal sniper just missed the marine. That never happened. Those damn things always landed their shots. I looked back into my scope and found that jackal had indeed been hit by one of DMR shots. I finished it off with a hit into its neck. "Choke on that you piece of shit."

"Damn good shots O'Brien!" Ryan cheered out happy that the snipers had been taken out. I couldn't help but smile at the praise.

"Yeah well, I was one of the-" I stopped mid sentence. Here came that feeling again. That horrible feeling I had since the Heian mission. "I am the best shot in this sector." The reason for that being, 'The best shot in this sector died protecting my sorry ass.' I fired my last shot at a Chieftain that was giving commands. The high impact round tore the helmet right off of its big dumb head. It did not kill it sadly. I clicked my tongue an annoyance. "We're moving," I dictated. As I was passing Ryan I grabbed the man's arm, "Oh, and by the way, you did hit it."

The man was taken aback by that. "What? Really?!" The joy in his voice at being helpful was too bright for me.

I grinned under my helmet, "Yeah, but then again, give a child a gun and tell him to shoot straight he might eventually hit the target."

Ryan looked like he had been smacked , "Bro, your an ass."

"Yes, and let's go make some Covenant into grass." I finished moving down the hallway in a hurry. "Dutch have you been able to move forward?"

"Yeah, we are inside the building moving to the elevators now. Three minutes at the most."

I was about to say something when glass from the windows started shattering as needle rifle rounds started firing all around us. I was quick to dive down onto the tile floor with an 'oof'. "Ryan get down! They know we are on this floor. Dutch change of plans, go to the sixth floor, fifth floor is compromised over!"

"The fuck happened up?!" Dutch implored. He must have been hoping to hear more of what was going on up.

"The chieftain I hit must have seen my bullet trail. Me and the marine are pinned down up her-" Blue plasma blasts erupted in the hallway. "The wraiths are firing up here now! Get to higher ground!"

"Hold on we just made it to the elevators. Gives us a minute and we will have them down for ya." Dutch notified me of what was going on down there.

"I don't think we have a minute! Ryan, come on! We got to crawl away from the windows and further down the hall. Whatever you do don't stand up." Not hearing a response I rolled over to see that Ryan was holding his stomach as two pick needles we sticking out of it. "Aww, fuck." Dread was filling me up again. "Hold on buddy, I'm coming. I got some biofoam." I hurried over as fast as I could crawling.

The marine didn't say anything. He wasn't making noise either. A large puddle of blood pooling around him. His clothes were already soaked red. Ryan got hit, bad. I reached the man shortly. Blood from Ryan soaking into my clothes. I was quick to move the marines hands away from the needles getting more of Ryan's blood over me. My pants were also getting soaked red as well the longer I sat in the man's life force. "Don't worry, I'll apply this and then I will have Mere-" I stopped as he looked at the man's face. One look into the man's eyes told me exactly what I didn't want to know. There was no light in the dark eyes man's eyes. I checked the man's pulse. Nothing.

It was the same look she had. Ryan was gone. She was gone "God dammit!" I cursed gritting my teeth.

Another person that had saved my life was dead. Was this going to be a common occurrence now?! My breathing was becoming ragged. Looking at my blood covered hands I quite literally freaked out. I was covered in blood. Blood! I pushed myself away from the body like it was on fire. Sweat was pouring down my face at stinging my eyes. "Oh god, oh god." I mumbled over and over. My ears played the sounds of my increasing heartbeat. I heard my name over the coms but it was being drowned out by everything else.

I didn't know how long I sat there looking at the body of Ryan but my stomach was turning and my vision was blurry. I couldn't breath! My heart was racing at speeds that were far from normal. I hadn't been shot, but I felt pain. The next thing I knew was that I was being crowded by…, my squad. Meredith was looking me over while Dutch and Mickey were crouched further away but were listening to her. She took off my helmet, then I heard Her. My eyes locked with hers.

"Just breathe deeply," I did so, "your having a panic attack." I realized that and I could feel my heart rate slowing down. "Look at this helmet, close your eyes and picture it." I did just as she asked still breathing deeply. "Just the helmet, nothing else." She added making sure I didn't start having more ideas. After a few minutes I had finally calmed down enough.

I looked around the hallway. It was scared mostly black. Parts of the walls were gone, some of the floor had collapsed onto the floor below. Dutch and Mickey were laying down fire from their spots. My sniper rifle was still down the way from me where I had left it. Ryan was lying just a little away from me but the needles were removed and his eyes were closed. This wasn't the first time I had seen someone die in my own arms, but it was the second time I had someone that saved me die. Stress. The stress of loss was what was causing this.

"Can you move?" She asked her studying me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I don't want to stand up yet." I finished putting on my helmet as kept close to the ground moving to get my gun. I didn't miss the look on the woman's face. "How long have I been out for?"

"Thirteen minutes," That was a fucking shock. I missed like half of the battle. "You were going through a panic attack. It looks like it has subsided. Do you feel better?"

"I don't know. I just don't feel the same anymore." I answered truthfully.

"Oh, no. I can feel the angst rolling off of you." Dutch moaned at me from the far wall. Well, what was left of it. It seems the wraith had pounded the whole floor. I frowned as my head whipped in Dutch's direction.

"Fuck you Dutch!" I barked back.

Mickey not one to be left out of a conversation added, "Wow, he's as good as new!"

"Tangos on the right Mickey!" Dutch called for the man's attention back at the battle in front of them.

Pink needles hit the wall behind them, "Shit!" Both men took cover behind what was left of the broken outer wall. "More Phantoms inbound! They are bringing more wraiths!"

"I only got about another shot of this laser. Damn thing only has four fucking shots." Dutch cursed aloud displeased with the weapons low energy count.

"I got about two rockets left, there are three wraiths coming in. If we hit one with the laser and rocket we can take one out. We will be able to damage the other one but that's about it." Mickey explained.

"Here," Meredith slid her own rocket launcher on the floor to Mickey. "There's four more rockets."

"Well, that takes care of two problems. It leaves us with one."

"I can take it out with a couple of good shots." I called out from my spot. "My anti-armor rounds will be depleted though." I added to say I wouldn't be taking any more shots at armor.

"Good then we can eliminate the armor. The last of the marines can hold out until the reinforcements get here." Dutch looked towards me, "You got enough shots for that?"

"I have plenty of ammo, just not the armor piercing rounds." My black visor hid the light glare I was sending him, "Don't worry, I don't miss."

"Got it, what do we do about the ghosts?" Dutch commented peaking over the hole in the wall.

"We want them in the courtyard. You guys draw their fire while I snake around to the side and shoot out the drivers." I informed them of my plan.

"And the plan comes together." Mickey slammed his fist into his hand, "I'll keep you guys updated about the vulture and provide support if needed."

I picked up my sniper rifle and stayed flat against the wall. "Mickey, we're taking the first one out to disrupt the column."

"Got it, firing when you do." I saw the red flash from the Spartan Laser. The sun had burst and the beam nailed the alien tank. Armor and pieces flung from the floating beast. Mickey's rocket fired shortly after and a blue explosion tore it apart. "One down, Firing one the second on my mark."

Dutch dropped the useless weapon on the ground and picked up the other launcher and took aim. "Firing on you mark Mickey."

"Mark!" Two rockets fired from the fifth floor onto the second wraith. The blast hit the machine and caused it to stall. It got off a poorly aimed shot that nailed the third floor. Dutch fired the second. The second tank was hit once more and erupted in a blue ball of plasma.

"Reloading." Dutch called out.

"Third ones firing on us!" I hollered from corner, "Take cover!" The rest of the ODSTs scrambled out of the way from the artillery blast. "Thank God for how slow those rounds are."

"Dutch, you almost done?" I asked out.

"Nah, I had to stop to, you know, get out of the way!" He sarcastically grunted out.

"Hurry it up!" I implored. We were very short on time.

"Hey, give me a moment will ya…, and done." He finished giving a thumbs up. "Firing the first shot now." Rocket one hit its mark. He fired the second. "Second one is another hit, she's your Greer."

"Yeah, I'll finish her off for ya." Maxing the zoom feature on my scope I could see the drivers head. I would put two shots into the front. One to take out the controls and the other to kill the driver. My first shot hit the elites head and brain matter flew in the cockpit. My second shot nailed the spot of where computer screen would be located. Thanks to my advanced training I had to know where things were on enemy vehicles.

"Its down, They ain't using that thing again." I informed my team.

"All right!" Mickey cheered before blue plasma started flinging up at them. "Shit, the ghost ain't happy! They ain't happy!"

"I'm moving into my next spot! Keep them occupied!" I shouted over the gun fire of the aliens.

"You need support?" Meredith called out to me.

"No, I'll be fine." I replied crawling my way over to the end of the hallway. "We only have to hold for three more minutes. Once the ghost are dealt with we'll be fine." Finally getting to the end of the hallway I stood up and made a dash for the far side window. There were five ghosts in the courtyard with seven more waiting outside. I pressed myself against the wall, aimed at the white spec ops elite.

Trigger pulled back. The bullet shattered the glass, bypassed the shield, and the remains of the bullet pressed on through to the head. The elite flung from his ride and fell to the floor. My next target was a grunt driving a ghost that was in the process of turning towards me. I fired fast and popped its tank. This causes the grunt to fly around wildly screaming before blowing up in the air.

I hid behind cover as the rest of them fire on me. That was when the rest of my squad and the marines open fired on them. Two explosions signaled the end of two more ghost. I was quick to move from my spot once more.

"Everybody clear the courtyard, Vulture barrage inbound in forty seconds!" Cried Mickey over the coms. I couldn't help but grin at that. Death from above, eh!

"Took em' long enough." I complained to myself taking cover by the far wall away from the windows. Just how many people fell for this small space? If only we were more prepared for this. Maybe then less would have fallen.

The high pitched sound of missiles screaming throughout the skies tore at my ear drums. The light from the blasts shined brightly in my visor. All the window that weren't broken had become blades of crystals that rained against the walls. The shock waves rattled my teeth. Then it all stopped. It was quiet once more. Standing up from my spot I popped my head out cover. The ground was black, trees from the treeline were a splintered mess. Bodies from both side scared, mangled, and just not recognizable. The heavy engines of the massive gunship screeched like a mighty eagle as it hovered in place over the courtyard. It guns firing down swift judgement on the stragglers.

I could see that the remaining marines were cheering as the covenant retreated into the treeline. It was a small victory at best. The fight had been won. The battle, however, had just begun.

I didn't have much time to ponder my own thoughts as McCallen's voice filled my ears. "ODSTs the courtyard has been held. Report to Sector three. We have a breach that needs plugging."

"How goes the surgery, Colonel?" I asked just curious on how much longer we had to wait for. If that was the first wave then we were in some big trouble if this dragged on for hours.

"No updates but it is underway." As he said that I notice warthogs entering the courtyard a Grizzly tank too. Holy hell. Now that's what I call reinforcements!

Dutch jumped in to confirm the Colonel's orders. "Copy that Colonel, what are we facing in sector three?"

"A Hunter Kill squad."

"Aww, fuck." My thoughts must have summed up everyone's own thoughts.