RP:Losing Hope/Content

1
Both military and Covenant aircraft made way for the UNSC Eternal Peacekeeper, as it lowered itself into the atmosphere at a surprising speed. The captain of the Peacekeeper understood how little time he had to deploy the ship's entire supply of marines and Spartan supersoldiers to the surface before the Covenant recognized his presence. He also knew that he was partaking in a self-assigned suicide mission, however, he felt that it was for the best. After all, ONI Section Zero had assigned him to trail the a curious Covenant fleet all the way from Reach to discover which UNSC colony they planned to invade next. Now it was time to fight. He had already sent a transmission every UNSC starship within a decent range of the planet. The colony that he would be ready to defend with his life? Hope, and in many opinions, it was among the most wonderful and beautiful worlds colonized by the United Nations Space Command. It was a fairly new planet with a bright future. How could he just sit back and watch as the Covenant destroy it?

Three atmospheric deployment platforms slowly lowered themselves from the underside of the Peacekeeper before coming to an abrupt halt. Each pad contained some Spartans along with multiple Falcons and Phoenix aircraft, each filled to maximum capacity with marines. They couldn't believe how packed the sky was with battling aircraft. The UNSC military force already stationed on Hope was definitely a force to be reckoned with. "Marines! On the count of five, get your aircraft off this pad and make getting to the surface your top priority," commanded Spartan Rowan-090 before turning and whispering to the Spartan standing beside him, "Riley, you'll take the jump with me. You've got your jet pack right?" After giving Riley a pat on the back, he realized that he was wrong. "Shit," Rowan muttered, "Hijack a banshee or something then..." "Sure." Riley responded. It was foolish of him to leave his jet pack on Reach, but he knew that he'd manage. "One!" Rowan began, "Two-" Within a split-second a flaming banshee crashed and screeched across the pad behind them, hitting a Falcon and taking it over the edge along with itself. Rowan turned back in horror, "Now!"

Rowan and Riley fell so fast that it became impossible to keep an eye on the marines. Riley slammed back-first into a banshee and slid down it's hood, jumped, and gripped the turret on the underside of a Covenant Spirit dropship as Rowan continued downward. The turret swayed back and forth, attempting loosen Riley's grip. Finally, a Phoenix maneuvered itself a few meters underneath the Spirit, unknowingly providing a place for Riley to land. To the surprise of the Phoenix's passengers, a large thump and the roof caving inward indicated an invader. Riley swung himself inside. "To the surface!" The marines gave each other a surprised look. The Phoenix began it's decent. Meanwhile, Rowan's suit began to ignite as the result of the speed of his fall. Rowan attempted to activate his jet pack, and to his horror, it was on fire. Rowan spread out his arms and legs. He never took falling lessons before, but he knew enough to arch his body to slow down his fall. Rowan hit the ground. The force of the impact knocked Rowan unto his back. The fire went out. Rowan lay sprawled out on the surface. Dizzy and disoriented, Rowan watched as a Covenant Supercarrier decloacked itself directly above the Peacekeeper and activated it's ventral energy projector. The plasma cut through the Peacekeeper and all of the fighting aircraft (human and Covenant) below it like butter. Rowan blacked out.

2
Rear Admiral Torkamentov and the crew on the bridge watched in horror as the Covenant Supercarrier obliterated the UNSC Eternal Peacekeeper. They had jumped into the system after recieving the distress call just to arrive in time to see this. "They're going to pay for that," muttered his XO, Alexander Mulgrew. "I agree. Now let us get to the part where we make them pay," replied Torkamentov, "Put me on FleetCom." "You're good to go, sir," replied one of the bridge crew. 'This is Rear Admiral Nikolai Torkamentov to all ships in the area. As of 1530 hours, I am taking command of this fleet. We are going to make those Covenant bastards pay for messing with us. All ships move into attack formation. Launch all fighters. Commodore, tell me what we have got to work with." "Well, sir. Obviously, we have us. We have also detected a Halcyon class cruiser among other things. In all, we have 12 ships of various models, not including the defense forces already around Hope." Torkamentov nodded as he looked at the viewscreen. "Send a message to Earth. Tell them what I am about to do. Then move in for the attack."

A slight hum went through the ship as the UNSC Siren's Call accelerated toward the Covenant fleet as fighter craft disgorged themselves from the ship. "Fire a nuclear missile barrage. One round. All pods." Outside the ships, missiles flew out of over 60 Archer missile pods and accelerated toward the Covenant fleet. On the bridge, "Sir. Covenant have engaged countermeasures." "Very well. Initiate the Shadow Drive. Make them have a lot more problems." Covenant plasma fire continued to shoot at the missiles, but their aim became more erratic, almost like they were shooting at nothing. Mulgerew lookwed at a datapad he was holding, and said " The Sadow Drive is operating within normal parameters. Battle damage has not had an adverse effect on it." Torkamentov grinned. He was glad that ONI had chosen his ship to test the shaodw Drive. A device that could fool Covenant sensors into thinking there was a lot more of somethinfg than there really was, was useful in times like this. With the sound of a whump, nearly 15 missiles detonated within the Covenant fleet. Torkamentov grinned as he said, "MAC guns, fire on the Covenant Supercarrier. Show them that we mean business. If the nukes didn't show that already." As the sound of gun discharges filled the ship, a bridge crewman turned to Torkamentov. "Sir, we have Covenant fighters inbound!" Now Torkamentov began to become concerned. "Defense guns, take them out. And order all launched fighters to engage. This is the flagship. We cannot lose it! And I will not lose thuis fight!"

With the sound of gunfire filling the system as the relief fleet engaged the Covenant invaders, the slaughter became a battle, and the fight was on.

3
As the elite minor Kahulara readied for battle, the Covenant ship named Resurrection transporting him approached the planet Hope. Another battle came so soon even after surviving the Battle of Reach. When the ship reached the planet, the Sangheili minor was in the hangar climbing into his assigned Spirit Dropship ready for anything coming his way. The Covenant ship he had been put under cloak because the fleet master of the Resurrection had realized suprisingly, a human ship had been following them all this time unnoticed, but now the enemy ship had lost visual on them, and this was a great advantage for the Covenant side.

His mission was to get to the surface of the planet and meet up with other Covenant forces, then wait for more orders. He didn't really care about his squad, which was just a pack of unggoy, he thought of the unngoy as cowards, and he would always rather fight alone, unless he was working with other Sangheili. Also in the spirit was another squad of Unggoy and a Sangheili minor, the almost identical groups rarely talked but when they did, spoke in 3 different languages,the two Sangheili spoke in, obviously Sangheili, and the unggoy spoke in their native language, mixed with human languages. There was no Covenant translation software aboard the dropship, so the two different species couldn't understand eachother. Kahulara's only friend he had on Reach had died. It was by the hand of one of the demons, he had avenged his comrade, and slayed the demon with his best friend's own Type-1 energy sword. He still had the blade, on his side at that very moment, he also had a type-51 carbine on his back, one of his weapons of choice.

As the spirit left the hangar of their ship, acompanied by 2 other dropships, they saw the Resurrection decloak, and unleash it's main weapon on the ship below, the blinding plasma struck the human ship and sliced it in half. Large groups of human dropships and ODST pods fled the scene descending to the surface. New orders came in, and the fleet master's voice flooded into the Spirit "All type-25s follow the remains of the human ship onto the planet, once at the crash site, kill any survivors, and destroy any humans foolish enough searching for survivors." The ship changed course and followed the falling remains of the ship.

4
Matthew-123 and Ryder-K231 waited for Morales to land. Matthew sadly watched the UNSC Eternal Peacekeeper as it fell apart. Ryder walked impatiently waiting for Morales. "What is taking the old geezer to drop? He weights more than me." "Maybe he caught a Falcon or a Phoenix." suggested Matthew, all though his heart wasn't really in the statement.

"Matt? You OK?" Ryder said after pausing his walking.

"Those Covenant turds are going to pay for this. They're going to hell, Matt-style!" Matt took out his grenade launcher and gripped it in the hardest grip Matthew had ever done.

Before Ryder could say anything, the voice of Morales came out of the blue, with a Phoenix on it's tail.

"Hey,boys. Need a lift?"

"About time you showed up." huffed Ryder. "My feet got cold, standing there."

"Good to see you too, Ryder." Morales said in his Sarcastic tone.

"Where's our destination, Morales?" Matthew said with a grave tone.

" We're on look-out duty. Some Spartans are still on the field. We are the rescue team."

"Not this again!" Ryder whined.

"Who's missing, Morales?" Matthew asked.

"Rowan." Morales said in a sad tone.

5
Moore exited the cryo tube as the door's lifted open. He had always hated cryo, for one he had always hated flying whether in space or in atmosphere. Reaching for a towel handed to him by a techinician he looked at his squad, who had already been awoken.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." He heard the unmistakable latin voice of Staff Sergeant "Tequilla" Ramirez.

"Yeah, it's you boys who make me want to crawl out of my cold as hell coffin. Now shut it smartass." Moore quickly remarked back. "Benson, sitrep."

"Well sir." Benson started.

"Yes."

"Well we're in orbit over Hope, some little backwater colony. Appearantly Covies are attacking full force and by my guess it's not gonna last the week."

"So I take it we made it off Reach trouble free?"

"Yes sir. No problems getting off. Just problems here."

"Great." Moore started. "I'm in cryo for a few days and without me everything has gone to hell. Can't you idiots do anything?" He sarcasticly asked then returned his voice to a more serious tone. "How long have we been here?"

"About two hours in orbit. Sir."

"And you didn't wake me? What you sick sons-of-bitches been staring at me naked in cryo the past two hours? Ah...fuck it I don't want your answer. Yankee, get ready for combat get the other platoon geared up and those sailor boys, I mean marines ready to go in hot."

"Yes sir."

"And also where in hell did you put my uniform?"

"In the armory sir."

"Excellent. Dismissed." Moore finished as he moved to retrieve his uniform and weapons from the ship's armory.

After about ten minutes of getting outfitted, Moore was fully geared up with his rifle slung over his back.

"Benson." He asked over his comm.

"Yes sir?" The british voice replied.

"Status?"

"Everyone's ready sir."

"Excellent. I'm going to the bridge to talk to the CO, that one russkie for orders. Hang tight out." Moore finished and disconnected as he proceeded to the bridge.

"No way in hell i'm missing this fight." He muttered to himself as he stepped onto the bridge.

6
"One . . . Two . . . Now!"

Rowan's early signal caused Pvt. Erik Quinn to be a half-second late hitting his HEV's release. It was a good thing, too, as the violet hull of a Banshee fighter shot beneath him just before he was accelerated away from the Eternal Peacekeeper and toward Hope's surface. Less than twenty meters away, another pod dropping from the 'Peacekeeper collided with the Banshee, the force of the explosion rocking him violently.

Quinn wasn't sure what had happened. Coming out of cryo an hour ago, he'd heard the ship had exited Slipspace at Hope and had immediately been attacked by single ship fighters. Not long after, an evacuation was called, and Erik was stuffed into an ODST pod waiting for the Spartan's signal to go from half a ship away.

What mattered now was stabilizing his pod before he lost control. Grabbing the analog sticks on either side of him, he angled away from the rest of his platoon to avoid any mid-air collisions as they dived through a dogfight between UNSC Falcons and Longswords up against Banshees and Seraphs swarming the Peacekeeper. His taut nerves started to relax as the shaking stopped, and he leveled out. But just as he did, a light coming from seemingly everywhere blinded him and an explosion shook his teeth.

His visor polarized, letting him see the fading beam that had impaled the Peacekeeper. The ship was gone, he could see it begin to fall to Hope's surface alongside him. Quinn decided he didn't want to be crushed by it, and angled farther away to look for a safe landing zone.

A city street provided one, and Quinn took it. With the metal parachute and reentry jets slowing his fall, he made a clean landing on the blacktop, and his ride was over. He took a moment to relax, after about thirty seconds being on the knife's edge of death.

A scream struck fear into him as the snarling mug of a Covenant Elite appeared before his pod window. Erik fumbled for his weapons, as the light of an energy sword sprang from its hand. Quinn punched the door release almost accidentally. It blew the door from its frame, impacting the alien hard enough to spray blood across it. Flying thirty feet over the pavement, the jumble of body and metal glanced off a parked car and lay in the street. The Elite's broken corpse was still.

Erik exhaled, counting himself lucky a second time. Removing the MA5C from its bracket and checking the BR55 on his back, he took his first footsteps on Hope's solid ground and went to look for friendlies.

7
Needless to say, Luc was pissed. First,the Warthog he was riding on Reach was ambushed, with him bareley escaping alive. Then, he was forced to board the Eternal Peacekeeper in order to survive, and now this happens. "Look on the bright side, at least I get to see my home planet again". Luc says to himself as he boards a Falcon preparing to take off. Delicately placing the Fury on his lap, he prepares himself for the worst. All around, intense air to air combat could be seen, with both sides taking heavy losses. A Falcon next to them takes off, only to get it's right rotor hit by plasma fire from a banshee, burning as it spirals down towards the surface of Hope.Hearing Rowan's signal on his helmet's com system, he looks to the Falcon's pilot and shouts "What the hell are you waiting for, take off already"! The pilot hurriedly nods and the Falcon takes off, not a moment too soon either, for seconds later the Eternal Peacekeeper was skewered by a beam of plasma, courtesy of a Covenant Supercarrier.

Meanwhile, over Reach, Robert Garcia, captian of the UNSC Grapes of Wrath sighs in releif as the Pillar of Autumn manages to escape. He then orders a retreat. "What, we're not going after them"? asked first officer Morgan. "Nope. Our first priorities are repairs and medical treatment for the wounded aboard. Robert answered. "I want a damage report in less than 20 minutes, until then, I'll be in my quarters". With that, Robert turned around and started to exit the bridge. Suddenly, the ship's radio operator, Maxim Jackovitch, spoke up. "Sir,we're getting a transmission from the Halycon class cruiser, Eternal Peacekeeper! Apparently, the colony Hope is under attack, and their captian is asking any ships in range for help"! Robert then turns around. "hm... in that case, prepare to make the slipspace jump to Hope, continue repairs in the meantime". after saying this, he finally exits the bridge to get some rest before yet another battle.

Back on Hope, Luc exits the Falcon as soon as it touches down, using his MJOLNIR armor's magnetic plates to attach the Fury to his back. " Okay, I made it to the surface.. Now to regroup with the rest of the forces that dropped from the Peacekeeper". Luc cocks his M6 magnum pistol and MA5C assault rifle.After that, he heads out, following a road.

TheivingFan 03:53, November 29, 2010 (UTC)