The exterior of the base is nothing interesting unless you have a fascination with snow, ice, and the color white. The Distance Shooting Range is located out here and uses a special shielding that allows the bullets and projectiles out, and doesn't let the cold air in.

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Aaron stepped out from the small hatch on the side of the hangar and took a look around, his HUD was giving him information on the weather conditions outside his suit. "Sure glad I'm all bundled up." He muttered to himself.

"Ah, I've been in worse" Tavish said, rolling his shoulders and making the motors on his chest whirr in action, giving him a little extra heat inside his suit. Thank god for those motors... they could make it a bit stuffy if he didn't ventilate it, but at a time like this it was the best thing for him.

"Yeah, nice weather we're having, eh?" There was a smirk under Stitch's helmet, but he rarely removed it anyway, and sure as hell wouldn't if it was as cold as it looked. "So, I'm the new one here, where the hell are we going exactly?"

"We are heading to the Distance Shooting Range." Aaron said as he trekked through the snow and ice, glad that his visor had an automatic defog/frost setting. "It's a firing range that stretches about 1-2 miles from the base to give sniper and rocket launcher targets. It's got a shield, barrier thing that keeps the cold out and that is our objective."

"Straight up or what?" Tavish asked, waving his hand about and pointing in several directions to indicate he had no idea which way held the objective. It was RATHER nippy out here, he wanted to get this over and done with quickly.

"Just keep following me, Shaft. I shall not lead you astray." Aaron said as he continued forward, following the side of the base that the armory was next to.

Humming "we're off the see the wizard", Tavish followed after his boss. This was plenty dangerous enough for him... well, maybe a few things could shoot at him as he moved as well, but so far, this was fine.

Chuckling at Tavish's tune, Stitch lamented the front grill in his helmet, it let the cold in slightly, and snow kept getting stuck to it. Luckily, he tended to keep well wrapped up. "Understood, I'll be right behind you."

After several minutes of walking in the near silence of the artic, Aaron could see part of the shooting range up ahead and it ended at the bottom of a rather large cliff face. "Alright boys, look like our place is up ahead. Keep your guard up and an eye out for anything suspicious."

Tavish was about to ask how he could tell which snowflakes were suspicious or not, but decided against it. He hunkered down as he spotted the shooting range ahead, looking for any movements at all that weren't snow.

Aaron was doing the same, checking to make sure they didn't walk into some sort of ambush. As they looked down there they would indeed see movement. "Looks like the practice drones were left on." he said pointing down at them. The practice drones where simgleminded automatons that moved around on a preset path for moving target practice. They came in varying sizes to simulate the different enemies one would fight. Also, to keep costs down, they were made to be indestructible and instead would register a hit and fall down till a reset button was pressed in, when they then stand back up and resume their paths.

Tavish glared at them, leaning in slightly as if that would make his eyes somehow zoom in much closer to the moving practise drones. "Hmmm... why are they moving?" he asked himself, brow wrinkling slowly as he glared down at the drones "Are they armed? They could be acting as a kind of defence."

"Moving target practice." Aaron said, "You should watch Spook work them over." he realized the guy would have little use for long range shooting, but everyone has been briefed on them, and a few have used them in combat training scenarios. "As for armed, I cant say for sure. They are made to look like they have real weapons when the just have fakes, but they can be armed for live fire exercises."

"So, just a thought, but if they are armed, and the slime's done something to them like it did the turrets, would it be a good idea to shoot?" Stitch didn't want them to get off the first shot at least. "I mean, if they aren't, then we just got target practice, but if they are, I'd rather we shoot before they do." He readied his DMR, if honest, he wasn't as used to the weapon as his laser, so even if it was just practice, practice was good.

"I don't fancy wasting ammo on something that might not even fight back. How about... I go down there... I see if they fire at me. If they do, I punch some, use the indestructible body as a shield and you guys can shoot the others?" Tavish stood there, waiting for his boss to shoot this idea down. He would say it was too risky to his own health.

Aaron was going to shoot down his idea, but for a different reason. "No, these aren't made for hand-to-hand combat. If you punched it the thing would just get back up and keep shooting." He said, trying to think of a plan. "Ok, you see that ruined Pelican down there?" He said, pointing at a Pelican that was missing a wing and half buried in the snow. "We go for that, it's close enough that if the things see us they would start shooting and we will have plenty of time to make it to cover. If they don't see us, then we shoot a few down just incase."

Tavish gazed down at it for a moment, then almost burst his team mate's ear drums as he pointed dramatically down at the pelican and yelled "WHO LEFT A PERFECTLY GOOD PELICAN OUT HERE LIKE THIS?!" Perhaps pointing out the broken remains of a vehicle hadn't been the best idea for Aaron to do.

"...Ouch. Do you mind warning me next time you're going to do that?" Stitch had a feeling this wasn't the first time Shaft had heard someone say that, and it was likely not just due to shouting, but he kept that to himself. With Scorp's instructions, Stitch just nodded. "Right behind you. On your mark."

Aaron just cringed under his helmet before turning to look at Tavish. "Really? It's missing a damn wing. The thing was shot down during the Covenant attack on New Mombasa. It's been gutted of all usable stuff and then dropped off here." He shook his head before giving the path to it another good look. "Ok, on three. One. Two, Three!" As he said three he started forward in a run.

Tavish was going to prove them wrong. there was no reason to leave a machine like that just to collect snow out here. He didn't say anything right now though, concentrating on just running towards it at full speed. He would give it a once over when he arrived, then they would see what was useless or not.

Following quickly after, Stitch kept his eye on the targets, ready to fire at any time. He wasn't the best at aiming while moving, the spartan laser normally requiring him to stand still to fire, while his shock stick didn't need aiming.

They made it all the way to the Pelican without a shot being fired. As they regrouped by the downed ship Aaron leaned his back against it. "Ok, so far so good."

"Ok, lets see" Tavish was in the pilot's seat, scrabbling around in there, gazing down at the wreck "They removed the engine, electronics, fuel pipe... Amazing that wasn't hit really..." He was running diagnostics on the craft "Only one of the guns is gone though..."

So was the chair next to him as well as the door seperating the cockpit from the rest of the ship. The control panel was completely missing except for a few sheared wires that were hooked up to it. The pilots stick was there but was currently snapped and making a ninety degree angle. The remaining gun was buried in the snow and was most likely rusted beyond repair. And this was all just what he could see, who know how many internal components and mechanisms were missing or fubar.

"Tavish! Get out here now!" Aaron hollered to him through the large hole in the wingless side. "We are in the middle of trying to stop an alien from killing us all. You remember that?"

"I'm being useful!" Tavish said, barrelling out the side of the craft and taking a chunk of the armour with him. He was holding it in front of himself like a shield, the large section of craft being quite sturdy in his hands "See. Now, if they do attack, they'll have difficulty getting through the metal."

"Hmm...we'll see." Aaron said as he slid slowly towards the end of the ship. "I'm going to peek around real quick and see what we.." the second Aaron popped his head around the corner he was met with a full shell of buckshot which promptly spun him around. A target drone about the size of a human walked around the corner before cocking the shotgun again and aiming at Aaron's helmet and firing again. This shot put his shield down and sent a few bits of armor chipping away.

"What the?!" Having got to the Pelican with the others, Stitch jumped at the sound of the gunshot. The second shot helped him get his target's location a lot better. "Get down!" His DMR poised, he took a few shots, hearing at least one ding off of metal. He only hoped it wasn't his comrades.

Tavish let out a surprised noise as he looked around, spotting Aaron being suddenly blasted by a shotgun. He ran towards him, staying out of the way as he heard Stitch presenting arms; he heard a ding, but it wasn't him. He let out a yell like a wounded Mgalekgolo as he almost charged headlong at the target drone, trying to get it's attention, as well as physically charge it down if it hadn't fallen from the shots.

The drone dropped the second the first bullet connected with it, which was good seeing how it was about to fire a third time. Shaft arrived just in time to knock its now powerless body several feet away.

"You ok boss?" tavish said, panting slightly and holding the piece of the pelican up as he stood guard over Aaron. He had to wait for Aaron's shield to recover, then they might be able to continue on.

If it weren't for the fact that his mic had been turned off some how, they would have heard a very long slew of colorful language. There was the distinctive click of a comm coming on and a faint flash of his shield coming up. "Didn't appear on my motion detector!" Aaron looked at the two of them and the damage was evident. Little pieces of his helmet's face were chipped away as well as a series of cracks on his viewport that all led back to a buck shot bead that was embedded there. "My damn HUDs all screwy now, keeps fuzzing in and out." He slapped the side of his helmet with his hand as if it would jar everything back into place.

By this time the sound of gun fire could be heard all around them and ricocheting off the hull of the Pelican. Occasionally a few got passed and could be seen kicking up snow on the other side.

"If you take one more head shot that helmet's going to crack like an egg and you'll freeze to death out here" Tavish said, holding out the piece of the Pelican he had ripped off "Stay behind this when you move. I'll get a few more pieces off the craft." First Aaron had to take the piece he offering him of course.

"Thanks, but it's gonna be hard enough to see what I'm doing with my HUD being the way it is." Aaron said as he gently pushed the piece of Pelican back to Tavish. "Thanks for the concern though, but I ain't gonna get myself killed by a target drone."

"If you die by a target drone, I'm going to paint 'I told you so' on your coffin" Tavish grumbled, taking his piece of the Pelican back and holding it like a shield. "What about you?" he asked, gazing down at Stitch as he held his own protection.

"I'll be...No, I'll take as much cover as I can get." Stitch wasn't one for getting shot, preferring to go slow and protect himself like a turtle, rather than run fast and get shot. Truth be told, he was still shocked he hit the drone, but he kept quiet as always.

Tavish looked at his own huge protection, then down at Stitch. He reached out and yanked off a smaller panel from the ship, putting it against the ship for Stitch to take. "Target drones or no, they're still a threat. I suggest we move faster, hit quickly and" Tavish reached down, ripping the shotgun from the drone's hands, checking it's ammo and cocking it once "Pick up what they have. Don't want them getting up again and surprising us." He was never very good at assault rifles, this shotgun would be like holding one of his maulers.

Aaron peeked his head slowly around the corner again, but this time did it slowly incase there was another drone coming up on them. When he saw nothing right on them he eased up a bit. "Ok, it looks like we have some decent cover options on the move there. We don't have enough time to take them all out so we are going to have to get through the shield while under fire and then shut it again. Got it?"

Grabbing the small panel from beside the ship, Stitch couldn't help but worry if it wouldn't protect him enough. "Joy, I just love being fired upon." He sighed heavily. Every now and then, he wondered why he joined this operation. The answer each time being 'to protect others.' Great job he'd done of that so far. He shook his head. "Sorry sir, I mean, ready when you are."

"Don't worry Stitch. While you're getting the door me and Shaft will stand between you and the bullets." Aaron said, giving him a thumbs up. "The two of us make pretty good bullet sponges."

"I particularly attract sniper fire. Don't know why..." yes he did. "Anyway, should we off?" Tavish asked, waving his shotgun around lazily and grinning under his helmet "It's rather nippy out here and I wish to be with my actual guns soon."

"Yea, lets go." Aaron said with a nod. He took a quick peek around the Pelican to make sure of no surprises. "You can see the range opening in the side of the building. Make it there and set up under cover." With that he started running for the next set of cover. Trying to conserve his ammo by only taking a few shots at the drones to take them down since it only took one bullet anywhere to knock them down.

"Last one alive is a great big pansy" Tavish said jokingly, grabbing his shield firmly in one hand and the shotgun in the other. He dashed forward after Aaron, thundering along in a straight line towards the bots. He might try to do some fancy stuff with this shotgun, who knows; it would be fun.

"No offence intended, but I'd rather no-one get hit." Stitch had seen too many people die for him recently, the last time being 'bullet sponges' for him. Running after his comrades, he nearly wanted to punch Shaft in his face for his last comment. Was he suicidal or something? Nonetheless, he tried his best to use his 'shield' to block any fire, or barge into any drones along his way.

Aaron dropped behind the tread of a tank, which was the only thing remaining. He crept down to the end closest to the base before peaking around and downing two drones before moving again. He didn't have any time to check to see if they were keeping up with him.

"Fine. I'll get shot instead" Tavish said into his microphone, roughly the same time he slammed bodily into a bot, knocking it back into it's counterpart with the shield and sticking the shotgun around the side. The two fell from the one shotgun blast, the spray catching them both. For someone who the others through was suicidal, he did try to give them all a little bit of extra moving cover. Even if he was using his like a battering ram.

Stitch sighed. He didn't exactly know Shaft yet, but he hoped he wasn't a meathead who just wanted to show off. Shaft's current way of shooting may not have been as flashy, but it was safer, as he ran forward, looking around, stopping, and then firing still under cover. It might not be the best, but at least he was near-guaranteed to hit that way. He missed his laser, or better yet, his shock stick. No need to aim with a stick.

Aaron was close enough to the objective that he decided to take up a defensive position and cover the other two Spartans. "Move your asses!" he yelled as he ducked behind cover as he became the focus of several rifles.

One less rifle was on Aaron as Tavish managed to pop a shotgun shell into the side of a bot. "Just hack the console!" he said into his helmet microphone, starting to run towards another rifleman, clipping him with another bullet "I'll hold them back until you get it open."

"I'm on it!" Stitch ran towards the console, looking at it for a brief second, before calling on Spook's comms. "Spook, is Liddia still with you? Can you ask her for the password, or am I going in blind?"

Aaron was running low on ammo for his borrowed weapon and couldn't get out long enough to grab one from the downed drones. "What's takin' so damn long!" he yelled.

"Here" Tavish thrust out the automatic rifle, which he still had refused to use. He was running low as well, but he had a shield to hide behind. He was still doing his best to try and draw fire, moving so he was the one in front of the others, doing little dances to gain the robot's attention... anything he could.

"Damn, I'm not getting an answer!" At least that answered Stitch's question. He was going in blind. "Let's see." Thinking to himself, he decided it was always a good idea to try the passwords you know, and entered 'ARC791436KZ'. "Fingers crossed people!"

The terminal flashed red lettering "Incorrect Password" before going back to the input screen.

"Thanks." Aaron said as he caught Tavish's rifle and tossed away the now empty one he was using. "You might have to crack it the hard way Stitch!"

"Hmph..." Stitch sneered, annoyed at unneeded complications. "Nothing's ever easy. Let's crack this thing open." The Spartan meant that literally, and opened up the console beneath the screen with force. "Let's see, if that's the wire for the connection to the intranet, then that'll be sending a signal of confirmation to..." Stitch had a tendency to babble a lot when working with hardware. "There. Which means if I were to cut an auxiliary cable, the spark might activate the door. Or catch fire. Time's not a luxury we can afford." With that, he snapped a cable, sending a spark to the chip of the door activation. 

The console let out a crackle and started smoking as the distinct humming of the energy shield ceased and snow started blowing into the firing range.

"Fun! Now lets go!" Tavish yelled out, starting to back away from the approaching drones cautiously; he didn't like the idea of dropping his guard right now. Where were they going to go on from here exactly?

"Good job Stitch! Now everyone get the hell inside." Aaron said as he started to fall back and hopped over one of the counters and immediately accessed a nearby terminal. "Dumb bastard didn't lock out the system." Aaron said with a chuckle as the androids suddenly went limp and then dropped to the ground.

"awwww..." tavish half-sniffled at the bots falling to the floor "That's no fun." He sighed, moving forward slowly towards the nearest one "We can collect some weapons here though, so we'll be prepared for anything inside." Prepared for anything... there were only so many things you could solve by shooting them. Luckily, Tavish saw this entire situation comprised of them.

"Just grabbed a few clips, wont need that much." Aaron said as he watched the door, "On the other side of the door is our weapons and there isn't anything I can think of that could be in there to stop us."

"So long as I've got something better than this crappy gun, I'm fine." Stitch walked towards the door, shaking his head, still missing his spartan laser and shock stick, he was fine to heal, but precision based weaponry was not his forte. Even with the laser, it was a case of 'They're in that direction, I'll probably hit them'. "I'm not made to aim."

"Can we go inside now!?" Tavish yelled loudly as he dropped his shield to the floor, letting the wasted gun drop as well "I have to put that weird little puddle through the wringer."

"Yes, let's get in there and get our weapons." Aaron said as he lead the group, carefully, through the doors and into the Spartan Armory.

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Halo C.E. RPG
- Spartan Hangar