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This, didn't happen either... *Flashback*

Posted on Thu Feb 1st, 2018 @ 8:59pm by Warrant Officer Cato West & Master Chief Petty Officer Abraham Laurent & Petty Officer 1st Class Katee Dahl
Edited on on Thu Feb 1st, 2018 @ 8:59pm

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die
Location: Various
Timeline: The Past

*** Six months after, "This, Didn't Happen..." ***




Flight Deck | 0220 Hours | U.S.S. John Paul Jones

The klaxons sounded, red alert lights flashed on all decks and the John Paul Jones rocked softly from weapons fire. Cato stood in the newest version of his HECA, painted in vantablack camouflage . "Freedom isn't free at all, it comes with the highest of costs. The cost of blood. We've payed the cost, and we'll keep paying it! Because THIS is where we hold them!" Cato paused as he moved slightly as he talked. "THIS is where we fight! AND THIS IS WHERE THEY DIE!!!" he paused "Remember this day, it will be yours for all time!" he paused again "Spartans never retreat! Spartans never surrender!"

His team of twelve yelled "HA-OOH!!!" and it echoed the decks of the Flight Deck.

"Spartans! Prepare for glory!" as he moved his helmet to his head and locked it into place onto of his armor; Activating the PA his voice darkened in tone. "Give them NOTHING! But take from them EVERYTHING!!!"

A echoing sound from Cato's team roared across the Flight Deck "HA-OOH" was roared across the deck.

His eyes looked over to Katee who stood about thirty feet away from where he was with she with her own team. Looking back to his team, he shouted through his PA "Let's go kill some god damn bugs!" Cato said as he turned and motioned for them to move out and get aboard the transport.

Giving her team a final once over, she nodded in approval of what she saw. No apprehension, just eager anticipation. Armed to the teeth and ready to kick ass. "Saddle up gents," she called out loud and clear, her voice carrying to everyone without the aid of her PA yet. As her men hoofed it onto the transport, she brought up the rear, still carrying her helmet. "Ya know, I couldn't find any cans of Raid in the armory, so I guess it'll have to be bullets and grenades for these bastards," she commented calmly to Cato as she came closer, as if discussing the weather.

"Sometimes you need to use a cannon to kill a mosquito, Chief.” Cato said softly through his external PA before turning and looking at his men all strapped in. "Semper pergendum sine timore!" (always moving forward without fear) Cato yelled.

His team responded with resounding "HA-OOH"

Moving to take one of the jump seats, Katee switched on her PA finally and looked at her own team. "Nec misericordia. Et omnes interficiunt!" (No mercy. Kill them all.) she told her men, speaking Latin just as easily as Cato had. Pulling her helmet on, her expression was concealed from the others.

As if trying to be the louder team, her men hollered back, "HOO-YAH!" Which made her chuckled slightly.

Suddenly, the transport doors closed and the transport dusted off the Flight Deck shifting everyone around. "SPARTANS! When we get to the surface, we know what we need to do. Chief Dahl’s team will provide additional mission-critical support, MACO's will provide heavy fire, medical and EVAC. Don't lose sight of our objective!"

Cato's team sounded louder than Katee's this time with a "HA-OOH!!!!!!" He moved to take one of the Officer's jump seats back to back with where Katee was sitting. Cato strapped in and then tapped his suit-to-suit comms to Katee's suit. =/\="When this is over, I need to tell you something." =/\=

=/\= "You sure you don't wanna to tell me now? Before we get boots on the ground? You never know...might not get another chance in case somethin' happens to one of us." =/\= she said cryptically. They weren't strangers to high risk missions, so her asking if he wanted to tell her now was nothing unusual.

=/\="It can wait. Keep your head in the game."=/\= suddenly the drop ship shook violently as it began to enter the atmosphere of the Va'Karan / Void planet. The sounds of weapons fire rocking the drop ship as it evasively maneuvered.


Mirandar Advanced Research & Weapons Development Facility | Various | 0227 HOURS | Oovoo Six

Soon enough, the Pelican had hit the ground with a thud. Their magnetic harnesses automatically deactivated and Cato leapt from his seat. Awaiting the doors to open, he eyed them carefully. The sounds of gunfire, screams and roars all in the distance surrounding the ship.

Oh, she'd keep her head in the game, alright. =/\= "Roger that", =/\= she responded to West, then addressed her men. Katee kept it simple. =/\= "Show time! Crush these bug motherfuckers!" =/\=

Every single one of her team replied at the top of their lungs with an ear-splitting =/\= "HOO-YAH!!" =/\=

Holding her modified TR-116 rifle at the ready, Katee took a deep, calming breath. Her team was providing support, but she needed to get to high ground to provide overwatch as well as taking out as many bugs as possible while keeping them off of the rest of the men.

As soon as the doors open, Cato gave the hold sign to his men as he walked down the ramp calmly. Enemy weapons fire falling short as he calmly checked the sights on his TR-116 before looking around the planet and getting the lay of the land. =/\="West to ST3, change of plan. High ground isn't friendly. Form up on me and let's get into the compound and behind their lines. Bio-masking mode on your suit, stealth approach, keep it quiet.=/\= Cato said, stepping off the ramp and walking across the dry dirt on the hot planet's surface. Enemy and MACO weapons fire lit up the nights sky like fireworks in the distance.

=/\= "You heard him. Do it," =/\= Katee ordered one of the younger team members who seemed momentarily distracted by the display in the distance. He snapped out of it and got with the program. Activating the bio-masking mode on her suit, she followed Cato, leaving enough room to maneuver and fire if necessary. The heat was sweltering, despite it being nighttime, but the combat armor she wore had full environmental protection; including temperature control.

As the group began to enter the complex, enemy fire began to reign down upon them like heavy rain. While others went for cover, Cato and his men didn't flinch. He stood there and allowed himself to watch the rain. Continuing on, their energy weapons hit Cato's armor as if he was a big target instead just a single man. Their weaponry was no longer a threat, the new reactive armor Starfleet had cooked up was truly awesome. Enemy fire didn't penetrate, it was just absorbed into the suits power systems.

He continued on, custom built and heavily modified TR116C2 rifle in hand, he began to move through the entrance to their complex. Shooting selectively, he moved like the wind; His team in tow. They were like ghosts, there one second, gone the next; Moving with accuracy, precision and tactical prowess. Once they had reached the far side of the entrance, Cato used his suit comms again =/\= “Dahl, follow us in. We'll see you inside." =/\=

Suddenly, Cato and four of his men disappeared past the doors leading to the central complex. From there, who knows where they went...

Dahl moved her team in and had them spread out. Moving along, she didn't hesitate to pull the trigger; dropping enemy tangos as they appeared and attempted to fire upon her or her team. A quick glance around and she located some of Cato's team, but not him. Even in his armor, he stood out from the other men. Crossing to one of the Spartans, making sure not to come up in his blind spot and that he saw her, she thumped him on his shoulder. =/\= "Where's West?" =/\=

A soft feminine voice spoke over the comms as she continued to lay down suppression fire from her point. =/\=“Ares went inside with a four man team."=/\= she called out. Selective with her fire, Sam quickly reloaded her updated M14A1.

Grumbling under her breath, Katee took cut down three more tangos; her shots accurate and deadly. Giving orders to hold the position to her team, she headed inside on her own.

Cato was in their equivalent to a R&D lab... Alone, he was pulling the data he needed to get on a modified Borg Data Node, it screamed Section 31. In fact, it gave away who Cato really was. Downloading every piece of data, schematic of their technology, detail of their species... He was getting everything Aspid, Danvers and The Wolf had requested. It was beyond them though and he knew it.

Though Cato was beyond dedicated to his cause, he didn't deactivate the tracking system in his suit as to alert his team to him going dark. It was easier this way...

Making her way in, Katee checked the locations of Cato and the small team with him. Cato was stationary, while the others were moving slowly; most likely sweeping for hostiles. Glancing around, she spotted a catwalk that could give her a good vantage point to provide overwatch from. Her steps were silent as she remained alert with her rifle at the ready and climbed the stairs to gain the high ground. From there, she was able to spot the four MACO's as well as the Cato in the lab. What was he doing in there? Most likely gathering intel, but habit had her raising the sniper rifle to look through the scope to get a better look.

Cato worked quick, bringing up schematics of their weapons now, he began to download everything into that modified Borg Data Node. Moving it from one data-block to the next, he was working furiously. His rifle and helmet were both laying atop one of the consoles as his hands worked. His hair soaked with sweat, he was pouring. The comm-piece in his left ear sounding on his team's frequency, "Copy, I'm almost done." Cato stated "I'll need another ten minutes to finish the download, then we can get out of here." A few seconds later "Don't worry, I'll explain it to the Director myself. You guys get to deal with The Wolf." he chuckled.

Sounds of gun fire and explosions from outside the building didn't distract Katee from what was going on inside the lab. The windows weren't very big, but she had more than enough room to peer inside using her scope for an up close and personal view. Spotting Cato, she frowned. Not because he had his helmet off, but because she could tell he was talking, but she didn't hear a thing through her ear piece. Activating her own comms, she checked in with one of her team members. =/\= "Dahl to Wilson. Comm check. How copy?" =/\=

Barely two seconds passed before the crackle of an open comm line sounded in her ear; the chatter-chatter of automatic weapons in the background. =/\= "Wilson to Dahl. Solid copy. Comms are good. Repeat, comms are good. You're...son of a bitch!" =/\= More gunshots, this time loud and close as Wilson engaged an enemy at close range. His breath rasped over the line as he came back on. =/\= "Rude fuck... you're coming in loud and clear, Lieutenant." =/\=

=/\= "Copy that. Dahl out." =/\=

Okay. So West wasn't on the same frequency as the rest of the MACO's. Why the change? To keep down the chatter? Moving to get a better view, she blinked when she caught a glimpse of classified weapons schematics, specialized ammunition rounds and other data; all of it in the process of getting downloaded into...

"Fuck me." The words were barely above a whisper as she stared in disbelief at the modified Data Node. A Borg Data Node. All of the careful digging and searching through files and reports since she'd been on the John Paul Jones and now she knew why she hadn't found anything. Not him. Not Cato. Even as she tried to deny it, she flipped through the frequencies, searching for the one West's team was using.

Though the frequency was a secure channel, if someone was so inclined to find it they eventually would. Cato worked as quickly as he could, time was not on their side. The information was nearly completely downloaded into the modified Borg Data Node. =/\="Ares to all team members, prepare to shove off. Objective is complete, I'll rally with you at the entrance. Switch to the main frequency and teenage the enemy."=/\=

=/\="Copy Ares, Drogo out."=/\= Laurent said a deep voice over the comms.

Cato was walking a fine line these days, he was pushing his boundaries of his moral limits. The smeared line of right and wrong was so blurred that he no longer cared about what side he was on anymore. Withdrawing his Type II Phase Pistol, he looked down to one of the Va'Karan scientist that he held captive. "This is for Caleb Danvers." he placed the barrel against the man's head and pulled the trigger. Splattering the one all over two other hostages, he looked to the remaining two women. "We can do this the easy way, or the real easy way... I need access to the weapons vault behind THIS door." Cato said talking like a psychotic personality had taken over. "First one to give me the code, doesn't get harmed, you have my word. The one who doesn't is going to be left to get ravaged by every man under my command... over and over and over." he pretended to act sincere, but played it off very well.

Having found the correct channel, Dahl caught all but the beginning of the communications. Just as she was getting over the shock of her discovery that her objective was Cato himself (as well as the entire four man team that had been with him), he pulled his MK23 MOD0 and executed one of the scientists. The Va'Karans were their enemy, but none of the scientists were armed. If Katee had any doubts about how Section 31 corrupted and twisted things for their own objectives, seeing the man she was in love with send a bullet through an unarmed man's skull erased it.

Forcing herself to shut down her emotions, she disabled her tracking system, switching it to a cloned signal of one of the other team members then checked her display and located the others Section 31 operatives. She'd save Cato for last. Keeping low, she kept her steps quiet and unhurried as she stayed out of sight. The hunt was on.

One by one, she stalked the other MACO's silently, a deadly predator in the shadows, taking care to come up from behind them. She had to be smart; keep things quiet lest she alert them of her presence and deadly intent. Activating a short-range jammer, she made it impossible for them to call for help or for a single sound to be transmitted accidentally. The first two met their end when she slid up behind them, silent as death itself. Grabbing hold of their helmets, she gave a vicious twist and broke their necks, then dragged them out of sight. Not one to leave anything to chance, she quickly pulled each man's helmet off and drove the wickedly sharp knife into the back of their skulls and twisted the blade. Both times it only took a matter of seconds before she moved off to find the remaining operatives.

Finding them together forced her to change tactics, but it ended up being faster; more efficient. Though they were decked out in their combat armor, Katee was loaded up with armor piercing ammunition. Taking aim, she took a deep breath, exhaled and squeezed the trigger on the big sniper rifle. The sound of her shots blended in with the rest of the chaotic noise of combat and got lost in the din. At close range, the bullets did a horrific amount of damage; piercing the armor, tearing through flesh and muscle tissue. Shredding internal organs. Shattering bones. All moving at a high velocity to send a gory fountain of blood and tissue out through the exit wounds. After stashing their bodies out of sight, she moved to a new position. One target to go. The cold calm that had settled over her receded some as the reality of who her final target was came to mind again. Why? Why him?!

"Look, I don't want to hurt you... But if you don't give me the code for the weapons vault, I'm going to tie both of you down, naked and let whoever have their ways with you. It won't be quick, it won't be pleasurable, I will see to it that it is the most horrific torture you can imagine." He stood up from his knelt position, both female scientist shaking and shivering.

"FUCK YOU, MONSTER" one of the two said

"Ok, bend over." he grinned wickedly, light a bolt of lightning, Cato smashed the side of her head with the barrel of his MK23 MOD0. He put the barrel of the gun between the legs of the women he had just smashed in the head. Pressing forward, his eyes locked to the other scientist "Code, now." He said plainly looking between the two hysterical women.

"562-9889-2881-Delta" one of them screamed, crying.

Cato stood to his feet and moved to the wall, keeping a glancing eye on them as he entered the code into the panel. When the entry light turned green, the doors began to open for him. "Thank you very much." he said looking at them both, two surgically placed rounds were placed, splattering their brains all over the lab.

His eyes turned to the large weapons vault, the weapon he was after sat in the center of the room. The Tetryon Gatling Gun, it's orange metallic paint caught his eye. "Oh yeah, that'll do." he said to himself. Holstering his sidearm, Cato moved to the weapon and ran his hand over it's six barrels, gripping into the weight as he lifted it from it's pedestal; Bringing the weapon online he stepped back out of the weapons vault into the lab.

Closing on West, Katee found a spot that provided decent cover and watched him. Her gaze dropped to the Tetryon Gatling Gun and her eyes widened. Holy shit. Suddenly her sniper rifle seemed like a pea-shooter in comparison, even though she knew it was more than enough weapon. It just couldn't spit out the blinding amount of rounds at the same crazy rate. If he spotted her, he could cut her down in the blink of an eye. Less than a fraction of a second. Knowing that, she must have been absolutely batshit crazy to deactivate the jammer and switch to their suit to suit comms to talk to him.

=/\= "Did you get everythin' you were after?" =/\= she asked in a deceptively soft voice, doing her best to ignore the painful twist of her heart as it was torn in two different directions within her chest. Despite that, she had the sniper rifle raised and aimed at Cato. Had him in her crosshairs and dead to rights as a Section 31 operative.

A smirk crossed his lips as he heard her voice through his left ear. =/\="Not everything..."=/\= his eyes began to scan around as best as he could. =/\="You know, there's an explanation to this, but you won't like it."=/\=

He heard the rumbling in the distance of Void and Va'Karan soldiers drawing near... It wasn't going to be long before he had a shit storm on top of him. =/\="I guess I don't have a lot of time before you pull the trigger, so here it goes... The same day you got your black PADD, I got mine. I didn't love you any different than I did before, even though I knew you were the one after me."=/\=

Cato's free hand laced around the Modified Borg Data Node and picked it up. Sliding it into an external pocket on his combat armor, he secured it in place. =/\="I have no excuses to make, no regrets, no apologies... I just have to say, everything between us, up to this point, was real-ish."=/\=

He was right. She didn't like it. Not one tiny bit. Didn't like discovering he was working with Section 31. Didn't like that he was the person she was supposed to kill. Didn't like that she was questioning the very thing he had just said. That she'd been wondering if it had all been a deadly game all along? That she'd been wondering if he really loved her at all?

Despite her turbulent emotions, Katee's focus remained razor sharp; her situational awareness too ingrained to the point of being instinctive. She heard the Void and Va'Karan closing in on their positions. =/\= "I didn't know who my target was. Didn't know it was you until I saw what you were doin' inside the lab," =/\= she admitted honestly. Something he had said set off even more warning bells in her head. "Up to this point." Up to this point made her wonder if how he felt for her was different now that he had what he'd been sent to retrieve in the lab? Did he have orders to take her out before she could put a uranium slug through his head?

=/\= "You told me you needed to tell me something when the op was over. What was it? Were you gonna tell me you were on to me before you killed me?" =/\= There was a brief pause as the memory of the stranger at the bar came back to her. =/\= "Is that what you were going to tell me before you 'secured your nest'?" she asked as it clicked into place.

=/\="No..." Cato paused "My objective was never to kill you, it was to complete your recruiting process into the frey and bring you full circle. John Aspid issued the orders himself."=/\= he set the massive weapon in his hands down atop one of the counters in the lab.

=/\="Secure my nest?" He smirked "Wolf, he's a prick... A purist, a fuckin' relic..." his voice trailed off "Though, before you end me and leave me here to rot... I want you to know a few things; I love you more than you could ever imagine. Even if you pull the trigger, I'd still marry you. "=/\= Cato's eyes darted through the labs windows to the doors that were going to breach at any second.

There was no reply over the suit to suit comm line. Nothing but silence as the sounds of Void and Va'Karan soldiers drew closer and closer to their position. One moment he was standing alone in the lab, the next she was standing in the doorway; the big sniper rifle aimed at him. Her approach had been silent, like a wraith stealing through the shadows. The only people that had ever seen her aiming a weapon at them had done so because she had let them see her. She'd let them see that she was Death there to send them into the afterlife.

Keeping the rifle level, she braced it against her body with one arm and reached up to pull her helmet off. "Say it again...to my face."

"I'm not here to play who's the better killer. You have my heart, I love you so much that I can't stand the thought of losing you. We've been through hell together. I can't imagine another woman I'd rather wake up to or get my ass kicked by."

The distance between them didn't prevent her from locking gazes with him and staring deep into his eyes, as if peering past the outer layers of the man to see into the very depths of his battered soul. So much pain. So many old hurts. He kept most of them hidden or tried to, but she was so attuned to him that she sensed them at times. No matter the darkness that lingered, she loved him.

Pulling her finger off of the trigger, she returned it to the ready position along the trigger guard. "I don't want to lose you either, Cato...but you might still get those orders, since I took out the rest of your team," she confessed. "I'm screwed. On one hand I only partially carried out my orders, so I didn't complete my mission. On the other hand...I just killed four MACO's. I doubt that was part of my 'training' you were tasked with." She laughed bitterly. "As if I needed any fucking training."

"As if I didn't hear the shots over the open comm line." He smirked "You sure they were actually MACO's? I mean, they were wearing armor..." a wicked smirk crossed his lips "Don't worry, those orders shouldn't ever come. If they do, there's always a first time for disobedience." he smiled. "Let me guess, Aspid and Caleb fed you this bullshit story about Caleb becoming your...?"

Before Cato could finish his sentence, the doors that held back reinforcements were blown and revealed a platoon of Void Bezerkers moving through the hallways below them. "GO, NOW! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Cato said, pulling the Modified Borg Data Node from his pocket and shoving it against the chest-plate of her armor. "I love you." Before she could even move, he grabbed ahold of her and placed quick, passionate kiss against her lips.

Peeling away from her, he grabbed his helmet and clicked it into place. He opened up another utility pocket and tossed a magnetic transport targeting enhancer at her armor. "Get out and get everyone off this rock. I'll hold it." he said through the PA in his armor. Armored hands moved to pickup that tetryon gatling gun.

Reflexes fast as a cat, Katee tucked the Data Node securely away and automatically brought the big sniper rifle up and fired a rapid succession of high velocity, armor piercing rounds into the heads of the leading Bezerkers; dropping them directly in the path of those behind them and causing the first few to stumble.

Even has she fired the shots, she was on comms, yelling above the noise for the retreat of all MACO's and to haul ass for immediate exfil. Pulling the trigger again, she blasted several more of the big ugly fuckers. "CATO! DON'T DO THIS...COME WITH ME!" Standing her ground in furious display of bravery, stubbornness and loyalty, she hollered to be heard over the loud shots and enraged bellows coming from the Bezerkers. "YOU DON'T GO, I DON'T GO GODDAMMIT!"

Once his hands gripped the tetryon gatling gun (TGG), the barrels begun to spin. Getting a running start, Cato smashed his way through a window and leapt to the deck nearly two floors below. Crushing the cement below his feet, he stood to his feet and faced the horde of creatures in front of him. His right index finger began to squeeze the trigger unleashing the the rotational spray of weapons barrels onto the hordes of Bezerkers and a larger, more aggressive Va'Karan breed that was new, to them.

=//="WEST TO JOHN PAUL JONES!"=//=

=//="Operations reads you Lieutenant West, ready to transport out?=//=

=//="COPY! LOCK ON TO MY TRANSPORT ENHANCER, EMERGENCY TRANSPORT!"=//= Cato shouted as he continued to suppress the hordes pouring out of what was he guessed to be a cloning and genetic engineering facility.

Suddenly, the TGG became overheated and came to a screeching halt. Cato dropped it to the deck with a thud and switched to his TR116C2, programmed with Tungsten XM855 (Armor Piercing Rounds), he began to selectively take down enemy targets. He had made a significant dent, but the hordes were moving to surround him now... In a matter of seconds, Cato had gone from in control to surrounded.

"NO!!" Katee moved into a new position, covering him from the high ground; screaming and shooting at the same time. Shot after shot slammed into their targets with deadly accuracy, but it wasn't enough. There were too many Bezerkers. For the first time in her life, Katee knew true fear as she watched helplessly while he her fiancee was surrounded and overwhelmed. Still, she wouldn't stop shooting until the dry click sounded. Out of ammo. Ejecting an empty magazine and slapping in a full one, she fired a few more times and felt the familiar tingle as a shimmer of blue surrounded her. She was still screaming for Cato, his name cut off when she disappeared in a flash of blue...




 

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