>>33951729
>> "Friend of yours?"

>>33951729
Just so you know, I could go well into the night this time around. I've been waiting for this quest for a while.

>>33951729
also, that is Six, right?

>>33951848
Yes that is Six.

>>33951729
>> "Friend of yours?"

>>33951937
I find it rather odd, though. Matilda is from Gamma company, while Six was from Beta. That would make her younger than Six by quite a few years and would have trained and fought with entirely different people. If I recall, Six was also known to act as a solo operative for the entirety of his/her career after leaving Beta.

Unless, they happened to have been involved in some off the books operations every now and again...

Writing

>>33951729

> "Friend of yours?"

Don't let him weasel in on your territory

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>>33952034
Dude, it's Matilda we're talking about... Must be some of the books shit.

"Friend of yours?" you ask her.
"Something like that," Matilda replies. "We've been on a few ops that are so far above your paygrade it would make your head spin."
"Neat," says Erika.
Matilda chuckles. "That's one word for it."

Your pelican flies overhead, wheeling around for a landing.
"Clear the pad," says Penny over the public net. The ODSTs hold back the civilians as Penny lowers the pelican to the landing pad.
"Everyone in!" yells the ODST sergeant.
You and the squad pile in with the civilians, making sure they strap in and get secure.
"Where am I taking the civvies?" asks Penny.
"Get them to the starport! Stay low, out of the sight of the corvette. We'll escort you in the phantoms and keep the banshees off you."
"Got it! Good luck, trooper."
"You too, pilot."

Penny took the Pelican through the buildings, weaving between the structures. The two falcons stay true to their word and stay on your flanks. Jacobson mans the gun, keeping the banshees off your six, and the falcons swoop in to finish them off.
"We're coming up on the spaceport," Penny says.

1/2

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The radio squawks. "This is transport Six Echo Two. I need to get off this pad. We're full up. Why aren't we leaving yet?"
"Six Echo Two, this is dispatch. We can't let you take off while that corvette's still overhead."
"Let me run the gauntlet. We can make it! Sitting on the ground isn't gonna help when the corvette could just shoot us anyway!"
"Negative, Six Echo Two. Stay on the pad. We're working on solutions."
"Damn it."

"Spaceport's in view!" Penny declares. "We'll be down in two minutes, roughly! Hang on... The transport's taking off!"
You can't see it, but you hear and feel the explosion.
"Mayday, mayday!" you hear over the radio.
"Six Echo Two, what's your status?" dispatch asks.
"We're going down! We're going down!"
You watch from the rear hatch as the massive transport ship dives into the water, exploding on impact.

"Jesus Christ!" says one of the civvies next to you. "That's us, isn't it? We're next! We're not getting off this planet!"

> Shut him up
> Try to calm him down

>>33953073
>> Shut him up

>>33953073
>Try to calm him down

>>33953073
>> Try to calm him down

>>33953073
Calm that civie.

>>33953073
>> Try to calm him down

Writing

"Calm down!" you tell the man.
"Calm down? We're all gonna die and you're telling me to calm down?"
"You're not all gonna die," you say.
"How do you figure? You saw that ship go down! We're next!"
"At this rate, it's not going to be the Covenant that gets you, it's going to be your own panic and fear! I'm an ODST. I jump out of perfectly functioning spaceships in a tiny metal coffin into the atmosphere of a planet and land at absurd speeds. That is my job description.
"They taught me about fear in drop school. They never told me not to have fear. No, you take that fear, and you beat the shit out of it! You take your fear, you keep control of your fear, and when the time comes, you use that fear to kill your enemies."
You turn and look towards the other civilians. "You're all scared of dying on this planet, right? Well use that fear to make sure you don't die here."

Your speech seems to inspire the civilians, and the one who was screaming out before now simply looks squeamish. The next few minutes go smoothly, and the Pelican lands at the spaceport with no problems. The civilians all get rushed along to the remaining transports, ready to be evacuated.

You can hear gunfire over by the entrance, where marines fight to hold back the covenant. And even now, the corvette continues to hover overhead.
"Where the hell do we go now?" asks Lancer.

> We help the evacuation effort, guard the transports until they're away
> We need to do something about that corvette
> We have a mission to think about. Let's find Moana Kipling.

>>33954110
>> We help the evacuation effort, guard the transports until they're away

>>33954110
>> We need to do something about that corvette
Like taking it over.

>>33954110
> We have a mission to think about. Let's find Moana Kipling.

We have our mission. I just want to get off Reach.

>>33954155
on second thought, seconding this decision

>>33954110
> We need to do something about that corvette

> We need to do something about that corvette

Like finding a semi operational ground based MAC and turning it into Swiss fucking cheese.

>>33954110
Corvette plz

>>33954110
> We need to do something about that corvette

Writing

"We need to do something about that corvette. None of the transports can get away while it's hovering there."
"Any ideas, smart guy?" Penny asks, stepping out from the cockpit.
You just shrug. "I dunno, but we need to do something."
"Thanks for the contribution," Penny says. "Anyone else?"
Matilda leans back and relaxes, Jacobson shakes his head, and Erika looks away with a thinking look on her face.
Lancer says "Well, we could board it?"
"Yeah, no," Penny replies. She huffs, then turns on the comms. "Dispatch, this is Acre Team. We were wondering if we could do anything about that Corvette?"
"Acre team, dispatch. We've got a Spartan and a company of Army troopers working on it, I think it's handled."

A new voice comes over the comm. "Break break break. Dispatch, this is Noble Six, the missile batteries are armed. Permission to fire?"
"Permission granted, Noble Six."
"Noble Six, firing."
Across the bay, you see several missiles streak out from the ground and fly towards the Corvette, striking it across its nose. The corvette begins to turn away, losing altitude.

"I guess that solves that problem," Penny says.
"All transports, you are clear to take off," dispatch says.
"About god damn time," replies once voice. The remaining transport ships fire up, then take off, flying away over the ocean.
"All remaining UNSC, begin a fighting retreat. We're abandoning the spaceport."
"God dammit, we still haven't found our guy," Penny says.
"Well we better hurry. Look," Matilda points towards the entrance of the spaceport, where Covenant are pushing in against UNSC forces.

> Offer your pelican for evac
> Support the retreating troops
> Cover the others' escapes
> See if you can find Moana before it's too late

>>33955074
>> See if you can find Moana before it's too late

>>33955074
Now it's time for our missing team member...

Quick break, I'll start writing when I get back.

>>33955074
> See if you can find Moana before it's too late

>>33955074
>> See if you can find Moana before it's too late
like we should have done last update

>>33955074
>> See if you can find Moana before it's too late

Back and writing

Yeah, shit, hang on. Had to do shit suddenly and then that was followed by writer's block.

Next post will be last post.

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"Didn't we come to the spaceport to find someone?" asks Jacobson.
Penny gets back on the net. "Dispatch, this is Acre, did you end up finding Moana Kipling?"
"Negative, Acre."
"All companies at the spaceport, if you have Moana Kipling under your command, can you send him to the pelican set down at the far south-west quadrant of the spaceport."

It takes a few minutes, but finally you see an ODST come running towards you. The first word you'd use to describe him is "overburdened". A red cross is emblazoned on his helmet, and in addition to a field pack on his back, he's carrying a large medic's satchel and has several large pouches attached to his hips and legs.

"You Kipling?" Matilda asks as he approaches the pelican.
"Yeah, that's me. Help with all this shit, would you?" He tosses a bag at Matilda, who catches it and throws it into a pelican.
"You ever heard the word 'overburdened'?" Jacobson asks.
"I'm carrying an entire fucking triage in these bags. These medical supplies are vital, and I'm not going to lose them to the covenant."
"You know you can get replacements, yeah?" says Matilda.
"But when is the next chance I'm gonna get to resupply in this mess?" Moana shoots back. Finally unburdened, he hops into the pelican.

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Penny starts up the Pelican and lifts off, with the six of you in the back, leaving the spaceport behind. You watch from the rear hatch as the rest of the UNSC troops lift away, leaving the covenant with their gains. The sun is starting to set, and that's when you see the first CCS class battlecruiser descend over New Alexandria.

The space elevator doesn't survive.

- - - - -

And that again is all for tonight.

Next thread should be same time next week. Keep an eye on my twitter for updates.

>>33956592
good night

>>33956592
Good thread, Thanks for running OP

>>33956592
I was busy until now, I hope you have a good night and come back next week. i am mostly enjoying this quest from the archive, so keep up the good work, even when i cannot post.

>>33956603
>>33956608
>>33956712
Thanks guys. See you next week. I want to try and pick up the pace.

>>33956592
I just got back from work and caught up, thanks for the thread FF.