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ODSS Chapter 7
Posted By: Firerwolf<triss2008@yahoo.com>
Date: 26 August 2011, 2:12 pm
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Kathleen hated cars, and for a good reason. They were just too small for her Spartan size. Here she was, though, crammed into the back seat of a car. The first location they had been given wasn't where they were heading now. When they'd arrived they found their informant and one other man present. They had crammed Edward, Matthew, David, and her all in the back seat of a car that only meant to carry three adults and, if you forced one in, a midget.
When the car finally did stop and they were let out, she couldn't get out fast enough. The cramped space gave her no room to move and it had left her feeling a bit stiff. She stretched out trying to loosen up her muscles. She looked over where they'd stopped and wasn't at all surprised. They had driven out into the country far away from the lights and people of the city.
What was odd was the building they had arrived at. The building was an old style mansion though it looked like no one had taken care of it in years. Paint peeled from the walls, shutters hung by a single hinge, and the door looked like it if you knocked on it too hard, it would splinter apart.
The two men led them to the house, pausing only for a moment to knock in some code before the doors were pulled open for them. One guard stood on the inside of the door though he didn't look like he was awake most of the time. The inside wasn't much better than the outside. The tables and chairs were worn and old and the floor creaked with every step. If you turned off the lights it would make a perfect haunted house.
Edward took the lead, playing the part of the guy in charge. There was a lack of security. It either meant that the rebels were off doing something, or it meant they were so few in numbers they didn't have the manpower. The UNSC had been trying to stop this group early so maybe it was the latter. To pose enough guards
The man led them down a hall of doors, a total of six which could all could be hiding danger behind them. For all Kathleen knew each room was a housing area for soldiers. They'd have to worry about it when the time came to get away. For now they had to focus on their main target.
They were led to a large oak door that had two guards standing on either side. One of the guards opened the door into what was the library. The shelves of books that covered the walls looked like they'd never been touched, all the books in perfect condition but covered with dust. Inside the room there were two more guards who closed the door behind Kathleen. Her attention, though, was drawn to the center of the room and their target.
His name was Benjamin Donal. He'd been part of the Colonial Military some years ago. He'd been under suspicion for some time for helping the rebels, and it seemed now that they had been right all along. Too many times supplies such as explosives went missing under his watch and it had been noticed. He'd left the CMA about half a year ago and that was when the group on this planet had appeared. This confirmed the suspicions as facts, but as she looked at him now there was no doubt in her mind that he'd been working against them for a long time. That he'd been responsible for the death of UNSC and CMA soldiers alike.
"So you're interested in joining our group?" Donal sat straight up in the red leather chair he was sitting on. He was obviously trying to make himself look like a strong leader, though he was failing to Kathleen.
His military uniform almost made him look like a soldier except it was a CMA uniform. To any real solider the CMA was like a joke. Their soldiers weren't properly trained, they had bad equipment, and because so many CMA soldiers were suspected rebels, they never got the hard jobs. Compared to ODST training the CMA training was a picnic on a perfect day. From the insignia on his collar Donal had risen to lieutenant, but in an army like the CMA even a private of the UNSC could be a Sergeant. Kathleen wasn't impressed, though she didn't let it show.
"Yes, we're interested in assisting you in your cause, sir." Edward stood at attention as, though the lieutenant insignia meant anything at all to him.
Donal seemed pleased to be called 'sir'. The damned pride of humans was usually their downfall. "So, I hear you're all former UNSC ODST." He motioned toward Kathleen. "Is she naturally that way?"
"Yes, we are all former ODST." Edward grinned a bit at the second question. "She's all natural."
Donal paused as if trying to tell if Edward was lying. As far as Edward knew, Kathleen had been born a giant with inhuman strength and reflexes. She'd never told them about the other Spartans; she had been ordered not to. Saran had blatantly called it a cover-up to a failed project.
Donal nodded. "My apologies for my suspicion. You can't be too careful with all the rumors about giant soldiers that attack rebels. Your friend fits the description," he explained, as he stood. He tried to look commanding and proud, but after having worked with Saran, Kathleen felt like he was mocking the role of leader. The Gunnery Sergeant looked like a rock hard leader all the time without trying. This man was trying way too hard.
"Oh, we completely understand." Edward put his hands up to show he was unarmed. "The world is a dangerous place and you can't always trust people right away anymore."
With Donal standing it was obvious he was unarmed. No gun on his belt and the way he stood was too straight for any sort of hidden arm. That put Kathleen at ease enough to make her move.
"Enough." Kathleen turned to one of the guards. "You should have taken our weapons."
She moved forward like a flash of lighting. She easily snapped the first guard's neck. The other turned to face her, but David's combat knife found the second guard's heart, and he crumpled to the ground. Kathleen turned to find Edward cleaning off his own knife, Donal lifeless in the chair, throat slashed open.
Matthew and David took the battle rifles the guards had been carrying but hadn't had the time to use. Kathleen and Edward drew their side arms.
"That was too easy." Edward slid a round into the barrel of his gun.
"It's the CMA. What do you expect, an operation like what Watts had?" David checked over his rifle, satisfied that it was usable.
"Not exactly, but more than this." Edward frowned as he glared down at the dead rebel leader. "I barely got to kill anything. Every rebel group should at least have a few things for me to kill."
"Well, it's not over yet. We still have to get out of here and back to town without our car." Kathleen pulled back the slide of her gun to load it. "We break out of here, kill the two guards outside the door and run for it. Kill anything that shoots at us if you get a chance. Once we get outside, Emily and Max should be waiting for us and we can use the dark to make our escape. On three. One, two, three."
The soldiers threw open the door, catching the guards by surprise. David and Matthew took out the guards with a quick three round burst to their chests, and the rebels dropped. The soldiers made a break for it, sprinting through the house. The sound of bullets firing through the air surrounded them. A few doors in the hallway opened to reveal what seemed to be unprepared rebels behind them. The soldiers fired toward the group, taking out a few of the rebels and forcing the others back into the room.
Kathleen ran ahead, slamming her shoulder against the front doors and knocking them off their hinges. She felt a single shot hit her left leg as the guard that had been posted at the main door opened fire. He fell a second later as a bullet from Edward's gun found his head. The soldiers dashed out across the yard, jumping over the untrimmed bushes that lined the walkway up to the mansion.
The rebels stopped at the threshold and opened fire after the soldiers that were quickly becoming shadows in the dark night. Shots echoed from across the lawn and two of the rebels fell as Max and Emily opened fire from their hiding spots at the tree line. As soon as the main group passed into the trees, Emily and Max followed after weaving through the trees toward the city.
Once they'd gotten closer to the city limits, the soldiers had stopped just long enough to bandage up Kathleen's leg. They disguised it enough to look like she'd just wrapped a bandana around her leg as a fashion statement.
The UNSC had preset their evac point and it meant crossing the city to get to it. Kathleen was just glad it would be through citizen covered streets rather than through the forest. The rebels wouldn't be able to open fire on them without alerting the cops of what was going on and that was too great of a risk.
They ditched the rifles before they made their way down to the city streets so they wouldn't be given away. Kathleen noticed that they were getting a few looks from passing civilians. "Loosely scatter and head to the evac point."
Max and Matthew moved to the other side of the street, starting up a conversation about what they wanted to eat for a late-night meal. David dropped behind Kathleen a good distance—behind, but still within sight. Emily and Edward moved a bit faster, pulling ahead, Edward putting his arm around Emily's shoulder and chattering nonsense about a movie that had come out not long ago. Kathleen had to admit that she'd somehow taught them how to blend in with a crowd, despite the fact that she felt like she stood out like a sore thumb towering over the other people.
It took them longer than Kathleen had hoped to get to their evac point. The streets had been crowded and there had been no direct path from one side of the city to the other.
They finally reached the waiting pelican, though it seemed like an odd place. It was sitting in a local park and the pelican was obviously out of place. It was a bit unsettling, but Kathleen held her tongue, not bringing up her worry. She wondered how many of her soldiers were doing the same thing. They filed in and took their seats, glad to be somewhere they considered safe.
Kathleen grabbed the com for the radio, making contact with the ship above. "Star Fall, this is Sierra-one-one-three."
She was surprised that rather than being answered by an unknown communications officer Saran replied. "Sierra-one-one-three, this is Star Fall, you done on the ground?"
"Yes, threat has been neutralized. We are returning to the ship." She kept the unease from her voice. Too much was different and wrong at the moment, and something was odd in Saran's voice. His voice was like ice over the radio and she could almost see his furrowed brow and deep frown.
"Good, 'cause we've got bigger things to do." Saran's voice was no longer hiding that something was very wrong. Whatever it was, it must have been very big. A nervous pilot, Saran directly answering the com, and on top of that the worried tone.
"Exactly what kind of bigger things do we have to do?" Kathleen bit her tongue as she waited for an answer.
"We made contact with alien life." Saran's voice made it evident that it wasn't a good thing like the science nerds always hoped. "They smoked our asses and whipped out the ships we sent. They're supposedly out to kill all humans. All UNSC personnel are being reassigned to face the new threat."
"Understood." Kathleen put the radio back in its place. What more could she say?
"New assignment?" Matthew sounded a bit excited. Kathleen supposed it was because the last mission hadn't been as fulfilling as they'd all been hoping.
"Like none we've ever had before." Kathleen's voice was as cold as Saran's had been, but tinted with anger. The others fell silent, anticipating the fight ahead.
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