User:Master knife D-124/Cobra Team: A Greater Purpose

Preparation
//JULY 18TH, 2558\\

//OTH SONIN SYSTEM\\

//0400 HOURS\\

"You have a greater purpose in this galaxy Cobra, far greater than the task at hand." That was all that Colonel Wright had to say to the squad before they left on their newest mission. SPARTAN D-137 let the words repeat in his mind, allowed himself to contemplate the possibility of a hidden meaning to these words. Perhaps they were simply a morale booster. Or maybe they had a hidden agenda of their own to be carried out with Cobra? SPARTAN D-137, Bernard, was always this way with everything that was said to him. Everything he looked at, or heard, turned into minutes upon hours of thought." Things are never as they seem", he would always say. However this was not one of those long thoughts, he knew he had the mission to think about, not only that but his hatred for UNSC ships. The Altim being no different. The Altim is a 20 year old marathon-class cruiser, despite it's age however it still has one of the highest mission completion records of any UNSC ship. To him "a Spartan being on a ship was like standing in quick-sand, you're just standing around waiting to die." Bernard D-137, was to no surprise considered an intellectual during basic training. He quickly lost that title when he demonstrated a way to use his suits power source as a bomb. In the process destroying three floors of a building, and over 700,000 cR worth of supplies. Being considered creative more than anything else from that point on. How he survived the explosion is a mystery the scientists who designed the suit, have yet to solve. Shortly afterwards he was put into Delta Company and then later into Cobra team. Lieutenant Bernard stood alone, however still alert, in the ship's hanger waiting. Waiting for something to happen. It would be 10 minutes before his name, and the rest of his squad, were called to the bridge."Here comes the action"

After a short ride up to the bridge, Bernard walked cautiously onto the deck of The Altim. His two squad mates were already there waiting for him. Captain Reynolds looked at Bernard who saluted and then took his place among his team. The captain turned toward a monitor and began to read it aloud. Name David D-122, serial #05267835261, Spartan II Stealth Specialist, weapon preference is the M6C/SOCOM pistol. Is this correct? "Yes sir that sounds correct, except i believe that ONI missed one thing." The captain turned toward David with a slight grin on his face. "What would that be......soldier?" "They forgot my favorite brand of shampoo,sir" The captain looked at David's face for a mere second before turning back to the monitor. He began typing something into the keyboard."Of course, of course, we can't forget your favorite shampoo, i'll make a note of that right now." David now a bit surprised asked "really sir?" "No you stupid mother-fucker,if you say another word i'll chop your cock off and tape it to the ceiling in your room!" " Do you understand me!?" David stood quietly staring at the captain, with no sign of speaking any time soon. "Very good",the captain turned to finish typing what he started.(D-122 is a smartass- END PERSONALITY DOC.) Name Neil D-127, serial # 08163475952, Spartan II Reconnaissance Specialist, weapon preference is the SRS 99D-S2 Anti-Materiel. "Is this correct?" "Yes sir it is" answered Neil calmly.(END PERSONALITY DOC.) "Captain we are approaching visual range of Doisac" announced an officer on the bridge. "Very good, make this quick, we don't want them to detect us."

It was as if in a unanimous way the whole squad knew this wasn't good. "Captain,why are we getting so close to the Brute home-planet!?" "Spartan what is your mission today?" asked the captain. Bernard paused before answering to think. He knows damn well what our mission is today. "Sir to destroy a counter-UNSC rebel base located on the glassed planet of Madrigal,sir." Captain Reynolds let out a short laugh then handed David a dossier. All eyes went towards the dossier. It read top secret in bold at the top, Bernard opened it to see-. "What is it Bernard? Whats going on?" asked David. David grabbed the dossier only to glance then hand it to Neil. "He is the target, sir?" muttered Neil. The captain with a look of disappointment on his face nodded. "I can handle this if you two can." David and Bernard looked at each other then back at Neil. They were ready. Neil handed the dossier back to Bernard. "Murdered 6 UNSC officers, took 11 hostages, then stole a ship from dry dock, he's not too creative is he,Spartan?" Silence completely took over until David walked off the bridge, followed by Neil. Bernard looked up from the dossier "no sir he isn't", then followed after his squad. Bernard arrived at his cabin and sat down on his bunk, he re-opened the dossier. "Wright, what the hell were you thinking?" Three days ago this man seemed more stable than anyone else Bernard had ever met. Now he was off killing officers and hi-jacking ships? There was an dark feeling going around the room. A terrifying evil, it felt wrong, Bernard placed the dossier in his locker. The Spartan needed time to sleep, to think. 0440 Hours

Contacts
0600 Hours

All of a sudden the intercom system began to screech from all directions

"ALL CREW WE ARE AT BATTLE STATIONS!"

"REPORT TO YOUR ASSIGNED LOCATIONS AT ONCE!"

Bernard jumped out of his bunk, grabbed his helmet and ran towards the bridge. As he ran through the halls of the ship looking for an elevator, it was total chaos. People yelling and running to get where they needed to go. Several people ran into him on the way to the bridge. As Bernard arrived on the bridge's deck, the screams, the frantic people, all vanished. They were removed from existence, on the bridge was the place Bernard wanted to be. Red lights enveloped the room, making the tension rise for Bernard. His squad were not here, perhaps on a lower deck, or assigned a different location. "Captain what's going on?" "We have a large Covenant battle cluster that just dropped out of slip-space right next to Doisac. Probably just remnants of their former fleet." Captain Reynolds always knows what's going on and how to react to it. Calm as ever, it never ceases to amaze me how well trained these men and women are. "We've adjusted course but it doesn't look like they have picked us up." SPARTAN D-137 glanced at the long range scanners and saw that all of the blips were disappearing. "See, they have all just jumped,it appears safe" stated a happy Captain Reynolds. All of the red lights that lit the bridge now turned to blue. The room seemed the same as before the blue lights, calm and peaceful. The captain grinned at Bernard. Bernard sighed then began the walk back to his cabin. This was not the first time battle stations had been initiated on this mission thus far and it surely would not be the last. "I think that captain has it out for me. I fucking hate him and his goddamn flying shit" 0620 Hours

OPERATION ARCLIGHT
//TURATIAN,OTH SONIN SYSTEM\\

//0740 Hours\\

"Proceed with extreme caution, he is believed to have a merc force guarding him. Other than that make this as quick as possible, and good luck Cobra." The Captain left the hangar in a rush. "Lima 2 Charlie was our transport for today, a pelican, sturdy enough. "The entire hangar grew lively with orders being barked as we approached the planets orbit. The planet he chose to hide on, Turatian, is a humid, jungle covered planet. Most of the indigenous lifeforms are herbivores so the area should be safe enough. The planet has yet to have an in-depth scan done but the captain has assured me that based on satellite photographs, the planet is safe. SPARTAN D-137 began his equipment check. BR55 with five mags,7 fragmentation grenades, and two DET packs. Neil walked over with his sniper rifle in hand, David beside him armed with his pistol. "Are you two ready?" David and Neil began to smile. Bernard cocked his rifle, "Alright pack it up, we're moving out!" The team jumped into the pelican and the rear hatch closed behind them.The Spartans sat down right next to each other. "This is Lima 2 Charlie requesting permission to proceed with operation Arclight." Static blared over the radio until the pilot smacked it. "-rmission granted, green light, green light on Operation Arclight." "Roger that, you all ready back there spartans?" David jumped up, "Hell yeah i'm ready to kick some ass!" "Alright good to hear sergeant."

The Landing
"Entering thermosphere." The Pelican began to rock back and forth. "Nothing to worry about it's just us breaking though the atmosphere." The pilot's voice now had a slight bit of excitement, that was not what Bernard liked to hear. Bernard sat and thought about the mission, about the Colonel, about his team. Could his team handle this kind of mission? In theory yes, but in practice complications could arise. Neil worked directly with Wright for 2 years before being sent to Delta, then to Cobra. David had great respect for the man, as did Bernard. So everyone had some attachment to the man. But what abou-, Bernard felt as if he suddenly got jerked toward the hatch, the whole squad moved in the same way. The pilot flipped his radio on. "Command this is Lima 2 Charlie, all sensors are down and i'm registering hull dmage all over the ship!" The radio had only static to greet the terrified pilot. "Engine two is down! This is Lima 2 Charlie, i repeat this is Lima 2 Charlie, the bird is going do-!" Neil looked at the cockpit door to see the bottom leaking fluid. "Sir, what is that?!" Bernard looked at the floor and had his HUD do a visual ID of the liquid. " That would be titanium tetrachloride, a highly corrosive acid, which will dissolve your armor spartan! It must hone through the windshield in the cockpit!" The pelican began shaking madly and the entire squad were in free fall. The pelican was now in a nosedive with the liquid being thrown around the inside of the pelican. Neil let out a sharp scream as some of the liquid splashed onto his left arm. "Hold o-" the pelican slammed through the tree canopy, crashing through 7 large trees before flipping over. 0800 Hours

"A greater purpose." Slowly Bernard began to open his eyes, their was blood in his right eye. Bernard's visor HUD, now cracked in several locations, was unreadable. Bernard took his helmet off, and took a deep breath. "Seems breathable....." The hatch to the pelican was busted open already, it lay crumpled up outside the pelican's exterior. "David! Neil!" Bernard began searching through the wreckage inside the pelican. Off in the distance Bernard heard something. "I'm here sir....." Bernard frantically looked for where the low voice originated from. He looked out of the back of the pelican to see Neil hanging by his leg from a tree vine, his left arm gone and his helmet on the ground. He was bleeding badly, a small puddle of his blood was accumulating on the ground below. The environment was extremely thick. It would be difficult to traverse this and the ground felt weak under Bernard's feet. The tree that Neil was in appeared to have barbs on it,"could contain a toxin." None of them appeared to have gone into Neil but Bernard couldn't risk getting a puncture from one of them. "I'm going to get you down Neil." Bernard pulled his knife out and aimed for the vine. Neil looked at Bernard's knife then back at Bernard "Don't miss." As soon as the words left Neil's mouth the knife was making a clean cut through the vine. Bernard caught Neil and carried him back to the pelican.

"Here,it looks like this canister of biofoam isn't completely cracked open." Bernard applied enough foam to cover the wound, then stored the canister in a cabin compartment. Neil now lay against the wall of the inside of the pelican. "Thanks Lieutenant." " Don't thank me yet, we're not out of this yet, can you walk soldier?" "Yeah Bernard, i'll be fine." The blood now stopped but with the remaining part of his arm being torn muscle and a broken bone it was likely he would need a robotic prosthetic replacement. The biofoam would dissolve in roughly 6 hours. Not long enough to complete the mission and he would likely die of blood loss. An emergency evac would be nice now but would likely suffer the same fate. "The Altim likely doesn't know what happened to us", Neil struggled to get those words out. Even if The Altim was still in orbit, which it may be, the only working radio isn't getting a signal. Meaning moving to a more open area or higher ground was essential. But the landscape is just too much for Neil. Neil is tough but this was too much, even for him. Bernard didn't know what to do. Bernard wasn't unscathed from the crash. The impact from the crash had left a small shard of metal in his skull. The fact that he was still talking and thinking meant that it didn't get to the brain. But anything could cause it to be lodges in deeper, his time was limited as well without medical attention. And where could David possibly be? Why the hell didn't they do preliminary scans of the atmosphere before sending us in? "I hate that captain." 0950 Hours