ARES:Gods of War

James May Was Right

Fireteam 'Auburn'

Western Old US

Michael Shevchenko was assigned to the Middle of Nowhere, surprisingly enough. In truth, he was somewhere around what used to be Colorado Springs, packing his gear into the Saddleback MRAP they'd gotten assigned to them. His, his sister's and his team's job was simple:Scout out the places around the bend for any useful technology, equipment or base locations. The Rockies wouldn't allow them to move to California, but, oh, well.

Bidding a quick goodbye to Centi and Liter, both of whom had come here to ensure that the buildings the UNSC had taken up residence in were reinforced and safe, the Marines boarded their MRAP and rolled forward with the support of a pair of newly-built Wombat drones and a platoon of MP Nikkes that had recently received upgrades. From the stereo system they brought aboard the MRAP, a quiet tune played as the vehicles rolled down the broken road and out of the main gate of the FOB, past the defense turrets and landmines and into the sprawling desert ahead.

The sun beat down on the hull of their transport as the group listened to tunes and laughed, sometimes joining in to sing with them. Valentina, Sev's sister, spoke to Sev, "And then Alice kicked down a Brute, put her rifle up to its face and shot it. Heh. Saved me from being instagibbed by its hammer," and she checked her rifle. A few laughs echoed from the MRAP's crew and people, while Sev smirked.

"Been a while since you told me any psychotic stories like that, sis. Glad to know you never changed, even while servin' with our beloved Corps," The man quipped, garnering a few more laughs. The Nikkes aboard also watched the two siblings bump fists, with Sev quipping, "She's the reason I joined. Went AWOL on us a while a go with the Spirit, so it was good to find her here again."

"Sarge Johnson mentioned knowing you, Shevchenko. Any particular reason?" Forge, who was the TL on this one, asked from the back seat, cradling his shotgun and checking his pistol. He looked ahead at another Marine from Sev's squad, one guy by the name of Anthony Baker, a corporal like Shevchenko, in fact, who was apparently still waiting for his girlfriend to show up.

Sev nodded and replied, "We've worked together from Miridem to the Ark, actually!" before jabbing a thumb back Anthony's way and stating, "Ant and I both went through that hell with him, Chief and the others. What being assigned to the Forward Unto Dawn post-Reach meant was literally just some of the last battles of the war..." then he turned the wheel left, veering onto a side road, the truck bouncing slightly on the uneven terrain and broken road.

"Sounds like you guys had some fun," Quipped a certain Product 23. Klara smiled as she leaned forward, tapping her helmet to make sure the HUD systems worked properly, then looked over to Ant and Sev and told them, "Hoping you get to see another genocidal war against mankind end quick, right?"

"Yeah. Hopefully, the Raptures don't get their shit together before we kick their asses," Sev quipped, smirking. A few more laughs echoed among the crew of the transport as they finally entered the mountain range. The Nikke manning the Machine Gun, a Product 12 called Ayesha, leaned down and looked at the rest of the staff on board, taking her helmet off and setting it aside for now.

A Product 09, one not to different from Syuen in size, checked her armor and shield, stating, "If we're going for the Cheyenne Mountain, I wanna see the famous 'Stargate' broom closet, I'm not gonna lie," before slamming home a flat magazine on top of her SMG. The others laughed as she folded her ballistic shield up, then said, "Oh, right, you folks might not know me. Name's Naomi."

"Nice to meet'cha, Naomi," The entire crew chorused almost like schoolkids. They all laughed, with the blonde, green-eyed and freckled short Nikke grinning.