New Mombassa, October 20th, 2552, 6:00 PM
Tracking ODSTs: Sergeant Charles Louis Mathison and Corporal Christopher Xavier Lugo
Sector 3-F. Historical District, Armax Weapons Depot.
Mathison Crept up next to the emplacement of sandbags outside of the Armax Facility.
“Lugo.” He said into his radio, looking over the sandbags.”You in place yet?”
There was a few seconds of silence before Lugo responded.
“Yeah, I'm in place. You've got a bit of resistance on the way in.”
Mathison peeked out again.
“Which tower are you in?” Lugo used his helmets flash light to get Mathison's attention. “Alright, I see ya. Guide me in. I need to get inside the main building.”
“Why don't we just take 'em out? Be a lot easier... and fun...”
“Without a proper head count? We could be biting off more than we can chew. Once I get a solid number on the enemy, we can decide whether or not we can take 'em then.” Mathison said, with some annoyance. “Now can you do me a favor and tell me where to go?”
Lugo rolled his eyes. “Alright, you've got a few grunts to your left, head right around those crates, and be quick. There's a brute who keeps making passes over there.”
Mathison peeked around the corner one more time, before rushing out, and sliding to a stop behind a pile of Ammo crates.
“Am I clear?”
“You'd have to be blind to miss ya, Sarge, but I don't think anyone saw ya.” Lugo chuckled. He scanned around Mathison. “Slip around that shed behind you and move along the wall.”
Mathison crept along the wall, staying as low to the ground as possible, in the shadow of the outer walls. Lugo followed him though his spotting scope.
“You're clear, the entrance is on the left. Hope it's not locked.” Lugo said with a smirk.
“Oh ha ha, you're on a roll today Lug'.” Mathison scoffed. “Get over here. Try not to get spotted.”
“You're not giving me enough credit, Sarge.” Lugo said as he climbed down to ground level. “I'm telling you, you probably won't even realize when I get there.”
“With your mouth? Hell I'd know if you were in the same state without seein' ya.” Mathison groaned.
A few minutes later, Lugo crept up next to Mathison.
“Did you get the door open, Sarge?”
“No.” Mathison said, shaking his head. “I thought you could?”
“Logan's the one with the lock-picks...” Lugo sighed.
“Ah... F—k it.” Mathison stood up and kicked the door in, getting the attention of the four brutes inside the room.
“A little warning would have been nice, Sarge!” Lugo shouted as he followed Mathison into the room, his AR lighting up. Two of the brutes dove for cover, but the other two didn't move quickly enough, and were cut down by the storm of metal. Lugo ducked down behind a crate to reload, while Mathison scanned the room.
The Depot was rather large, but it seemed smaller with all the weapons and ammo crates around the room, stacked to the ceiling.
Lugo circled the room slowly, searching for the two brutes, with Mathison following closely behind him.
“How'd we lose a pair of god damn gorillas?” He said, Sniffing the air. “I smell you monkeys! Come out and play!”
Almost to answer him, one of the brutes shoved over a crate of DMR's, colliding with Lugo and knocking him to the ground. The alien leaped over the fallen crate, intent on beating Lugo to a pulp. Mathison reacted quickly, however, firing his Shotgun, and blowing the Brute's chest wide open. The second brute tried to rush him, but Mathison spun quickly, cocked the gun, and blasted the Brute's face off. He ducked aside as the lifeless body toppled toward him, collapsing on top of Lugo. Mathison slid two fresh shells into his weapon.
“And that,” He said with a grin. “Is why I brought the shotgun.”
“Fantastic,” Came Lugo's muffled reply. “Can you get King Kong off of me now please?”
“Since you asked so nicely...” Mathison chuckled, dragging the corpse of off his squad-mate. He scanned the surrounding room. “Oh yeah, we can definitely use this stuff...”
“That's great and all, Sarge...” Lugo said, wiping the Brute blood off of his visor for the second time today. “But did you forget about our friends outside? Assuming they didn't hear all this.”
“You didn't read up on our target, did you?” Mathison groaned.
“Can't say I did. Care to enlighten me?” Lugo said, slinging the AR over his shoulder and looking into a few random crates.
“Well, these Depot's are important, obviously, so they need to be protected.”
“Which explains why we had to sneak in here and take it back...” Lugo said with a scoff.
“Shut up and listen, Smart a--. This base uses Auto-turrets, we get to the Command Console up there,” Mathison pointed to a small booth overlooking the room. “We can turn 'em on, and kick our feet up while they do the hard work.”
“Do I still get credit for the kills?” Lugo asked hopefully.
“One of these days, I swear...” Mathison muttered, heading up the nearby stairs to the command console. Lugo peeked into another crate.
“Ooo.... Pretty....” He said, lifting the large Automatic Rifle. “The hell is this thing? We don't have any of these in the Armory...” He peeked down at the Crate's label, and read aloud. “ The M739 SAW... Chambered for 7.62 by 51 Millimeter ammo... Hm... Sold!” He said, shouldering his new weapon. He gathered a few spare drum magazines, and joined Mathison in the control booth.
“Damn it... which button is it?” Mathison muttered as he looked over the practically foreign control panel. Lugo reached forward and pointed to a single switch, labeled “Turrets”.
“Oh... I knew that...” Mathison said, flipping the switch, which was immediately followed by the sound of heavy gunfire outside. Mathison turned to Lugo. “Where'd you get that thing?”
“I found it... I call it Greg.” Lugo said with a cheesy grin.
“Do you ever listen to the S—t that comes out of your mouth, Lugo?”
“No sir, I do not.” Lugo said, puffing out his chest.
“Idiot...”
“Love you too, Sarge.” Lugo chuckled. Mathison walked over to the large garage-type door leading outside, and punched the button to open it. The door slowly slid open, and Mathison ducked under it, followed by Lugo. It was a gruesome scene outside, as the Covenant had been cut down but the auto-turrets.
“Oh, this is real pleasant...” Lugo said, looking around. “Oh, hey! Lookie lookie!” Lugo pointed to the other end of the compound. “A Warthog!”
A military grade Warthog sat near the wall of the depot, ready and waiting to be used. Mathison looked over to Lugo, holding up his gun.
“I call Shotgun!” He said with a snicker, making Lugo groan.
“That was bad... and you should feel bad...”
“Like your jokes are any better.” Mathison said, rolling his eyes. “Go get it fired up, I'll plant the tracking beacon. I get the feeling Logan and Ty are gonna need our help.”
“You got it, Sarge.”