Feb 23, 2016 10:41:52 GMT 10 |
Post by Spartan 999 on Feb 23, 2016 10:41:52 GMT 10
SPARTAN-B312, Noble Six
Sangheilios, Haroun Region
Makeshift Council Chambers
“Hm...” came a curious female voice from his helmet's speakers. “'Mdama must be getting desperate, to have one of his better allies send in a suicide bomber or three, now. Especially since 'Lutar has been apart of the Swords for a few years, now. Much greater risk of compromising a useful asset, that way. Assuming what admittedly-sparse info we have about 'Lutar isn't wrong.”
“He is losing the war against the Arbiter,” Six replied in his usual calm and level voice. “The occasional piece of carefully-delivered inside information isn't going to change that, at the rate things are going.” He peaked around around the corner of an AA battery's base, head with a Recon helmet on slowly turning as it surveyed the area.
The building currently being used for strategy talks by the Arbiter and some of his higher-ups and allies was big, though rather squat and wide more than tall. And...also heavily defended and guarded, in case Covenant forces showed up. Always a possibility of that, nowadays.
But it wouldn't be a problem to infiltrate. Not for him.
“...By the way,” he added after a moment as he darted closer, taking cover beside a boulder. “What did you mean by suicide bombers? I don't think they have bomb vests or explosives implanted in their bodies.”
“Simple,” Kokabel chirped. “The bad guys have bombs that they're going to attempt to use on the Arbiter and some of his buddies. That makes them our targets. Thus, suicide bombers.”
A grin flashed across Six's face. “That's what I was hoping you meant, Koko.”
“Oh, stop,” the AI giggled. “You know I'm not that big of a fan of that nickname.”
“Would you prefer Bell, again?” Six inquired, steadily drawing closer and closer to the meeting hall as they spoke. “I could always go back to using that one again.”
“Eeehhh...no, not really.”
“Then Koko it is.”
Kokabel gave a playful huff. “Fiiine.”
By then, he'd reached the outside of the meeting hall. Six quickly found an entrance--made, more like, since he quickly and relatively quietly smashed through a weakened section of wall--and headed inside. He lurked in the shadows, avoiding the guards with practiced ease.
“Status and locations of the bombs?” Six crouched behind a pillar and brought up a holographic display over his left forearm.
“I'm currently detecting and setting waypoints on four of them,” Kokabel replied. “One of which is actually in the council chambers itself. You know, with the Arbiter and the others. Which...probably means that one of the three is actually a suicide bomber. You know, to observe the bomb and make sure it goes off.”
“I wouldn't doubt it.” Six traipsed off to the closest bomb in order to defuse it. “Though I assume that bomber would much rather prefer to make a nice, clean escape before the bomb goes off.”
The three outside bombs had been strategically planted along the outside of the council chambers to destroy and collapse the room in on itself, which would “hopefully” crush anyone within. Assuming they weren't already dead from the fourth bomb's explosion.
Once he was done with those three, Six spotted a gap at the top of a council chamber's outside wall. He clambered up to the gap and slipped inside the room that way, then hid himself behind a large bench in front of that wall.
The room itself was large and roughly pentagonal shaped, with five walls and five slopes in the floor, each with several rows of benches and seats on them. The middle, at the bottom and meeting point of the five slopes, was a clear circle about ten to fifteen meters in diameter, with a raised dais and holographic projection system in the center of that circle.
The seats weren't filled, but there were several Sangheili scattered all about the room. Most were clustered around the circle in the middle, and Six could plainly see Thel 'Vadam slowly walking around the dais as he spoke. A holographic image of Sanghelios, several ships (including some new ones the Swords of Sanghelios had recently acquired), images of Covenant activity and ongoing battles, and such were displayed from the dais.
Several of the Arbiter's lieutenants were absent, off fighting in some of the battles being shown, but most had left proxies in their stead. And, of course, there was the conspicuous absence of 'Lutar, the mole, traitor, Covenant sympathizer--however you wanted to put it. Well, only really conspicuous to Six and Kokabel, though there was the whole thing where it was mostly circumstantial evidence. Still, what they did have was...hopefully going to be enough to convince the Arbiter.
...Yeah. Hopefully. And even then, talking to the Arbiter was going to be tricky...
Six spotted the bomber. Or, one of them, anyway. He had a direct line of sight to the Sangheili, but he was two slopes away and almost on the opposite direction of the central circle from where Six was. He'd have to move fast if he wanted to ensure that nothing bad happened. Not to mention, the bomber was in one of the crowded front rows.
If he took the shot, he could eliminate the enemy from range and relative stealth, no problem. But that still left the matter of the bomb, not to mention that he could potentially inadvertently hit someone else on the bomber's other side. His sharpshooting skills were damn good, but they weren't absolutely perfect; he wasn't exactly the legendary Linda-058, after all.
So...that left him getting in close and taking the target down in close-quarters, then dealing with the bomb before it went off. And since the target was surrounded by other Sangheili, it couldn't be a subtle assassination, either.
“...Oh boy,” Kokabel murmured, evidently having come to the same conclusion as Six. “Talk about being tricky.”
Six didn't say anything as he started creeping through the rows of benches and seats. He didn't really need to, at this point.
((Layout pic. A in middle is Arby, 6 on right is Six, B on left-middle is bomber. The rest of the stairs aren't drawn because I'm lazy.))
Sangheilios, Haroun Region
Makeshift Council Chambers
“Hm...” came a curious female voice from his helmet's speakers. “'Mdama must be getting desperate, to have one of his better allies send in a suicide bomber or three, now. Especially since 'Lutar has been apart of the Swords for a few years, now. Much greater risk of compromising a useful asset, that way. Assuming what admittedly-sparse info we have about 'Lutar isn't wrong.”
“He is losing the war against the Arbiter,” Six replied in his usual calm and level voice. “The occasional piece of carefully-delivered inside information isn't going to change that, at the rate things are going.” He peaked around around the corner of an AA battery's base, head with a Recon helmet on slowly turning as it surveyed the area.
The building currently being used for strategy talks by the Arbiter and some of his higher-ups and allies was big, though rather squat and wide more than tall. And...also heavily defended and guarded, in case Covenant forces showed up. Always a possibility of that, nowadays.
But it wouldn't be a problem to infiltrate. Not for him.
“...By the way,” he added after a moment as he darted closer, taking cover beside a boulder. “What did you mean by suicide bombers? I don't think they have bomb vests or explosives implanted in their bodies.”
“Simple,” Kokabel chirped. “The bad guys have bombs that they're going to attempt to use on the Arbiter and some of his buddies. That makes them our targets. Thus, suicide bombers.”
A grin flashed across Six's face. “That's what I was hoping you meant, Koko.”
“Oh, stop,” the AI giggled. “You know I'm not that big of a fan of that nickname.”
“Would you prefer Bell, again?” Six inquired, steadily drawing closer and closer to the meeting hall as they spoke. “I could always go back to using that one again.”
“Eeehhh...no, not really.”
“Then Koko it is.”
Kokabel gave a playful huff. “Fiiine.”
By then, he'd reached the outside of the meeting hall. Six quickly found an entrance--made, more like, since he quickly and relatively quietly smashed through a weakened section of wall--and headed inside. He lurked in the shadows, avoiding the guards with practiced ease.
“Status and locations of the bombs?” Six crouched behind a pillar and brought up a holographic display over his left forearm.
“I'm currently detecting and setting waypoints on four of them,” Kokabel replied. “One of which is actually in the council chambers itself. You know, with the Arbiter and the others. Which...probably means that one of the three is actually a suicide bomber. You know, to observe the bomb and make sure it goes off.”
“I wouldn't doubt it.” Six traipsed off to the closest bomb in order to defuse it. “Though I assume that bomber would much rather prefer to make a nice, clean escape before the bomb goes off.”
The three outside bombs had been strategically planted along the outside of the council chambers to destroy and collapse the room in on itself, which would “hopefully” crush anyone within. Assuming they weren't already dead from the fourth bomb's explosion.
Once he was done with those three, Six spotted a gap at the top of a council chamber's outside wall. He clambered up to the gap and slipped inside the room that way, then hid himself behind a large bench in front of that wall.
The room itself was large and roughly pentagonal shaped, with five walls and five slopes in the floor, each with several rows of benches and seats on them. The middle, at the bottom and meeting point of the five slopes, was a clear circle about ten to fifteen meters in diameter, with a raised dais and holographic projection system in the center of that circle.
The seats weren't filled, but there were several Sangheili scattered all about the room. Most were clustered around the circle in the middle, and Six could plainly see Thel 'Vadam slowly walking around the dais as he spoke. A holographic image of Sanghelios, several ships (including some new ones the Swords of Sanghelios had recently acquired), images of Covenant activity and ongoing battles, and such were displayed from the dais.
Several of the Arbiter's lieutenants were absent, off fighting in some of the battles being shown, but most had left proxies in their stead. And, of course, there was the conspicuous absence of 'Lutar, the mole, traitor, Covenant sympathizer--however you wanted to put it. Well, only really conspicuous to Six and Kokabel, though there was the whole thing where it was mostly circumstantial evidence. Still, what they did have was...hopefully going to be enough to convince the Arbiter.
...Yeah. Hopefully. And even then, talking to the Arbiter was going to be tricky...
Six spotted the bomber. Or, one of them, anyway. He had a direct line of sight to the Sangheili, but he was two slopes away and almost on the opposite direction of the central circle from where Six was. He'd have to move fast if he wanted to ensure that nothing bad happened. Not to mention, the bomber was in one of the crowded front rows.
If he took the shot, he could eliminate the enemy from range and relative stealth, no problem. But that still left the matter of the bomb, not to mention that he could potentially inadvertently hit someone else on the bomber's other side. His sharpshooting skills were damn good, but they weren't absolutely perfect; he wasn't exactly the legendary Linda-058, after all.
So...that left him getting in close and taking the target down in close-quarters, then dealing with the bomb before it went off. And since the target was surrounded by other Sangheili, it couldn't be a subtle assassination, either.
“...Oh boy,” Kokabel murmured, evidently having come to the same conclusion as Six. “Talk about being tricky.”
Six didn't say anything as he started creeping through the rows of benches and seats. He didn't really need to, at this point.
((Layout pic. A in middle is Arby, 6 on right is Six, B on left-middle is bomber. The rest of the stairs aren't drawn because I'm lazy.))