Halo: The Rainforest Wars Plot

The Rainforest Wars

A collection of stories chronicling The Rainforest Wars from February 2162 to September 2163 (the first seventeen months of the war consisting of terrorist attacks against the UNSC and mainly war crimes between Koslovics and Freidens before the UNSC steps in in August)

1 - An ODST trooper is dropped into the Amazon Rainforest sixty miles outside of Pucallpa, Peru to take out the North Freiden Confederation Air Defense Platform in advance of a UNSC invasion

2 - A UKWF Navy officer, going against orders, tries defending the port of Paramaribo, Suriname when the UNSC launches their attack

3 - A Koslovic Special Forces team must take the Venezuelan Koslovic Cabinet to a stolen UNSC luxury jet, the Suvorov, and transport the hierarchy to an airfield in Mexico City

4 - A SPECWARCOM fireteam performs operations throughout São Paulo; taking the military airport, rescuing UNSC citizens in a skyscraper, and taking out an incoming aircraft carrier

5 - A soldier with the 9th Armor Battalion, 6th Airborne experiences bloody fighting in Medellín, a key Freiden stronghold that serves as the Confederation’s intelligence hub

6 - The former President of Chile and Chairman of the Freiden Confederation and his entourage try to flee into neutral Bolivia to avoid prosecution

7 - Set after the war, on the Isle el Frontón in Peru, rogue UKWF fighters hold out against UNSC personnel with former UKWF and Freiden assistance

8 - An ONI operative works out of Buenos Aires, turning Koslovic and Freiden persons, carrying out assassinations in Puerto Santa Cruz, and working to assist UNSC nation-building operations

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United Koslovic Workers’ Front - Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana

Freiden Confederation - Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru

Neutral/Uninvolved - Bolivia

French Guiana was USNC affiliated - many Special Operations and intelligence teams operated out of this country throughout the war, monitoring events, training and making alliances

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1


Staff Sergeant David “Davey” Waters - Born in St. Louis and raised in foster homes, he was very smart, but not able to get into university, so he joined the Marines for four years. He served a sentry tour in Mercury before going through Force Recon School, serving with the 10th Recon Regiment for three years, doing a tour in Slovenia and working an advising mission in Costa Rica.  He then re-upped for four more years and was selected for Helljumper School, being assigned to the 11th Marine Force Reconnaissance Battalion, serving in Croatia and in parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina for two years. Decorated for combat, he joined A Company, 2nd Shock Troops Battalion, 1st ODST Regiment and was briefed on the operation. He has a Costa Rican wife and a young son; he desires to spend more time with them both, yet keeps getting pulled back into the Corps


Command Sergeant Major Jeremiah Mendez - Born in Central Florida to Cuban immigrants, he was regularly abused by his father and grandfather. Leaving home at sixteen, he worked on the railroad before getting into an accident in which a boy was injured. Faced with jail or the military, he joined the Navy and within a year, was assigned to NAVSPECWAR’s SEAL Team 7. After five years of clandestine missions on Mars and in Siberia as a Petty Officer First Class, he moved to the Corps, immediately joining ODST. At the age of 59, he is the oldest Shock Trooper and many believe it will be his last mission. He works his unit hard and has them train PT almost every day when off (except in Sundays - he’s Catholic) and specifically requested the Major General of ODST Command to allow him to lead the company operation


1st Lieutenant James Donovan - The son of a HIGHCOM General, he attended the University of Melbourne where he gained a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Military Studies. Attending Basic and OCS in Canada, he attended grad school at the University of Ottawa before being assigned to the 2nd Artillery Battalion, 77th Marine Regiment and going to advise units in Indonesia. Allowed a shot at ODST, he passed and was placed in command of 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 4th Shock Troopers Battalion; he served on a clandestine mission in Sierra Leone and then was an advisor in Nigeria where he assisted in defending the embassy. He was then sent to 2nd Battalion and took control of A Company


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2


Commander Gabriel Khan Williams - A Guyanan Naval officer, he was in his third year of academy when the government was overthrown by UKWF Forces. Like other cadets, he remained and, after a quick schooling on Marxist-Leninist theory, became a Surface Warfare Officer.  He commanded PT boats while also assisting in training Suriname Naval Forces and teaching at the academy in Venezuela. Despite his seeming dedication to the nation and the Navy, he has been repeatedly passed over for promotion due to his previous experience as a cadet in a military dictatorship; he is nearing retirement when the UNSC launches the invasion. Stationed as commander of a cruiser, the Abimael Guzmán, he receives orders to defend Caracas, the ideological center of the UKWF, but refuses to and becomes one of only two ships in defense of Suriname


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3


Gulliermo Jiminez - Born in Caracas, he spent all his life in the city, but desired most to get away from the politics, settling in a foreign land. Working at a newspaper, predominantly photographing stores for propaganda, he had a wife and child before being called up for war. Having been a footballer and active gymnast, he was immediately given a slot with Special Forces, given little training. He performed operations in Colombia, the cone of Chile, and trained insurgents in Cuba and Guatemala. He also assisted in a bombing at an INTERPOL building in Belguim. Returning home as a Guardsman, he learned his daughter died in a bombing and his wife starved to death; he becomes determined to leave South America and head to Japan after this last mission


Boris Agiahvilli - Born in Batumi, Georgia, his father was a dockworker and mother ran a small shop. Leaving school at nine, he worked on the docks and heard Koslovic labor organizers often, becoming enthralled by their message. He was radicalized after his brother was arrested and forced to leave the country (he headed to Cyprus where he later OD’d); at seventeen, he killed the family of a policeman and the officer who killed his father at a riot. Having a warrant for his arrest, he fled to Sarajevo and took part in guerilla warfare against UN peacekeepers. He went to Moscow to train with Soviet advisors, but left when they began cooperating with the UN. Being somewhat trained in Spanish, he went to Venezuela where he built up the army heavily; given the rank of Major in the UKWF’s Special Forces, he became disgusted at the corruption of its goals and requested a transfer; he was demoted to Specialist and given a slot on the presidential detail under Jiminez’s command. He is the most experienced member of the crew and doesn’t care much for ideology, instead preferring just to fight


Yuna Límon - Born in Antoquia, she was the daughter of a dissident FARC commander and a Koslovic operator. She grew up building bombs, printing propaganda and remains a dedicated Marxist-Leninist having been given a strict communist education. She somewhat begrudgingly goes along with abandoning the ministers, but dislikes the anti-Marxist speak heard by other team members. She acts as the air artillery coordinator, calling in air strikes when needed and acting as the combat controller


James Creighton - A Canadian from Toronto, he was born into a middle class family and became exposed to Marxism-Leninism after reading Marx. A bright student, he was rebellious (his mother verbally abused him) and expelled from school for beating a Conservative student after a political debate; sent to military reform school, he escaped and, within a year, was in Venezuela. Expecting to find a paradise, he was mistaken and had to resort to prostitution for a time. When war began, he enlisted and served as a paratrooper in the Battles of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janiero; after those battles, he was sent to Croatia where he learned to make explosives and assigned to a recon and demolition team that went around and rigged all the bridges in Venezuela to blow. After, while on leave in Caracas, he was called up and assigned to Jiminez’s squad to protect the chancellery; he doesn’t particularly care about politics or war anymore, more desiring to find heroin to escape from it all


Uli Leon Moreno - The team’s heavy weapons expert, his father was a Ukrainian advisor to the Venezuelan Marine Corps while his mother was a mid-level member of the Ministry of Commerce. He gained a BS in Engineering from the University of Havana and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of São Paulo, all while acting as an intelligence agent for the Koslovic Internal Security Force. He became the equivalent of a Major General and has the goal of spotting and stopping dissension. In the final months of the war, he begins using contacts to turn the Ministers over in Mexico City at a pre-determined spot in exchange for a slot with the UNSC Intelligence Bureau. Finding this option unavailable, he instead decides to try and destroy the Corvette, claim the bodies are the dead Ministers, and save himself


Francesco Illich Molina - The youngest member, he is seventeen and was assigned to the Presidential Guards Company due to a shortage of manpower at sixteen. Responsible for protecting the Cabinet, he was raised in UKWF-controlled Venezuela all his life and was named after Lenin; however, the bureaucracy and corruptness of the state appalls him and he secretly renounces Marxism-Leninism; he even had plans to blow up the transport. Seeing the SF team leaving, he abandons his post and joins them


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4


Captain Lauren Brady - Born in Ithaca to a grocer, she attended West Point and joined the 91st Airborne Division as an Infantry Officer, serving in Yemen for four years with the division’s Ranger company. She then went through Selection, joining Fireteam Zhukov before being assigned command of Fireteam Butler right before the invasion. She is an experienced officer and knows how to deal with all men teams and combat scenarios. This is her first combat mission with the team


Master Sergeant Michael Kirkpatrick - Born in Bismarck, he joined the 3rd Infantry Division at nineteen, then was selected for SF at twenty-three. For the next eighteen years, he served with multiple U.S. Army Special Forces Groups until they merged with various other nations in SPECWARCOM. He is the Senior NCO for Butler and knows Jameson well. He has a wife who is expecting their first and he has plans to return home and be with her for the birth


Staff Sergeant William “Bill” Jameson - Born in Dublin, he joined the Irish Defence Force at seventeen before joining the Irish Ranger Wing at twenty; he served in Brazil for a time. When the UNSC Military formed, he was allowed to try for a slot as a Communications operator with SPECWARCOM. Gaining it, he was made a member of Fireteam Butler, serving a few ops in Central Europe, including a surveillance job in Berlin


Gunnery Sergeant Albert Hussein Al-Fulani - Born in London to Jordanians, he was raised there and in Amman. Attending King’s College-London, he was planning on going into business, but instead joined the British Army, serving as a Royal Engineer on peacekeeping missions in the Balkans. He then merged with the UN and joined as an Explosives expert with the 34th Explosive Ordnance Department. After two years, he won a slot with SPECWARCOM and was assigned to Butler; this is his first mission with the Fireteam too


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5


Corporal Focault - The son of an Army Colonel and a Navy Admiral grandfather, he descends from a long line of French military tradition. He enlisted and, due to his aptitude for French, was assigned to Seychelles as an intelligence analyst. Desiring a combat assignment, he fouls up his work and is made a cavalry scout. Despite his desires, he quickly finds combat to be not what he had in mind


Private First Class McCaffrey - The son of moonshiners from Arkansas, he joined the Army to escape from the boring life. Initially sent to Yemen, he was quickly reassigned to 6th Airborne and dropped in for the op. Dedicated, he spent much of his teenage years at the mall playing video games and is eager for combat. He has a big desire for Special Forces (but is rather poor physically) and is the communications specialist for his platoon


Private First Class Abaza - The son of an Egyptian winery proprietor, he joined the UNSC Army in order to serve. He deferred studying at the Sorbonne and plans on attending Brown University when he leaves the service. He is very proficient in explosives and enjoys his job, but this will be his first combat operation. Having been an adventurer throughout his life, going bungee jumping and whitewater rafting, he desires excitement, but has learned from his uncle the horrors of war (his uncle served in the Seventh Arab War)


Captain Binh - An armor officer, he graduated from Thailand’s premier military academy, 3rd in his class. The son of a diplomat, he is fluent in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. He mainly worked at NORCOM headquarters as an intelligence officer on Freiden armor units, but gained an Armor slot. He is eager to be on the front and excited to see how Freiden armor holds up against UNSC vehicles and tanks. However, upon initial combat, he freezes and Hewlett must take command


1st Sergeant Hewlett - The son of Kiowa Indians, he was a top athlete in Oklahoma and attended OSU where he studied political science. Joining the Army on a whim, he enjoyed the job and kept at it, refusing promotions to officer. Now in his 27th year, he is considering retirement and desires to spend more time with his kids in Lawton and teach high school social studies. He has served in Madagascar, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Luna and two advisory tour in Belieze and Uruguay; he has been decorated for valor and wounds many times and had tried to put in his retirement before going on the operation, but failed


Lieutenant General Davit Girabaldi - A Colombian, he is the Deputy Commander of Intelligence for the Frieden Confederation Armed Forces. He is arrested by Focault’s group at the stadium and is considered a high-value target, to be placed aboard an ONI transport in the middle of downtown


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6


President Julio Yanes Ballesteros -Born into an upper-class, aristocratic family, his father was a mining billionaire and Congressman while his mother was a conservative social activist. Julio was educated in France and the UK, becoming the COO of his fathers business before being made Minister of the Federal Reserve and the Chilean Ambassador to the UN in two separate regimes. Under Rene Strauss Figueroa’s presidency, he is made Vice President; he exhibits a more progressive view than most Freidens, desiring to live harmoniously with Koslovics and work together with them on issues, engaging with other Vice Presidents and Ministers in addition to the UNSC. Sixteen months into the war (which Ballesteros opposed vociferously), Figueroa’s plane is shot down and he is declared missing; Ballesteros assumes command almost right when the UNSC invades. Enduring a mental breakdown, he follows Fuchs blindly and, due to his saving his life multiple times, trusts him wholly


George Javier Zapatero Fuchs - Born in Northern Chile, he was the tenth of eleven children and was born to a British Neo-Nazi and an indigenous mother. Working in the mines, he detested the socialist phrases and openly assaulted many of them; at sixteen, he joined the Army for an impending war with Bolivia and Argentina. He became a member of an elite infantry corps and was decorated, becoming a Master Sergeant. After, he went through the Santiago Military Academy and graduated in the bottom of his class, getting many demerits. He chose intelligence and ruthlessly worked counterintelligence throughout, personally interrogating, torturing, and executing dissidents and overseeing the government’s torture and assassination programs. When the invasion begins, he is also tasked with providing security for the Executive and other Confederation members, reaching the rank of Brigadier General. Eventually, as things become more tense in the capital, Fuchs enables Ballestros, the General of Military Intelligence, Minister of the Interior, and a few aides and security people to flee to Putre where a small home is located. From there, they backpack into the mountains and try to cross into Bolivia while pursued by a rogue Freiden patrol. After five days of traversing the mountains, evading UNSC patrols and the dissident Freidens, the remaining group makes it to La Paz and begins planning to head to Delambre. Fuchs is approached by an ONI agent in a cafe and is offered a contracting job with ONI if he assists in gathering war criminals

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7


Agustina Caballeros - Born in Pagua Grande to Colombian-Peruvian immigrants, her family moved when she was six to Pacasmayo where her father operated a series of bodegas and was on the city council. She began attending the National University of Trujillo studying Journalism when, in her sophomore year, she joined the UKWF when they became labeled a criminal movement and dropped out. She assisted in propaganda production and radio broadcasts, operating throughout Peru and not seeing combat. When it became clear the war was ending, she fled with other Koslovics from the approaching UNSC soldiers and took up refuge on Isla el Frontón, where the Koslovics had food and water supplies for months, loads of ammunition and boats and a series of AA gun enplacements. She is ardently committed to holding out against the enemy and, despite never having been involved in combat operations, is able to effectively rally people to the cause and direct military operations (though this often results in more casualties than victories)


Carlos Michel Demachy - A Moroccan-Peruvian from Brest, his former Legionnaire father taught history to secondary school students and his Peruvian mother was the manager of an automobile factory. Not especially rebellious in his youth, he would go hunting with his father and also read about military operations. At seventeen, he joined the French Navy and served in the Fusiliers Marins for almost two years before beating a Greek tourist to death on leave in Corsica. He made his way to Brazil and found work as a private security operator for a Koslovic politician; when the Freidens took over, he successfully evacuated the man to Santiago and was made an officer in the UKWF Armed Forces. Despite having no overt loyalty, he commanded a group of paratroopers and fought in Caracas and Asunción where he enjoyed a few military victories; being pushed back, he lost many of his men and was forced to flee to the island (UKWF planners had envisioned the island as an evacuation spot for Koslovic fighters in Chile and Peru). The loss of his men turned him off to war and he desired to see no more. After a series of weeks and no rescue, he desires to negotiate with the UNSC and avoid more bloodshed, but is frequently at odds with Agustina and the more dedicated Koslovics. He is eventually removed from command by Agustina and imprisoned


Rodrigo Esteban Flores - Born in Tarapoto, his father drunk himself to death at three and his mother was killed in a mudslide at eight; left to care for his three younger siblings, he operated a bodega with them until Spanish Influenza killed his siblings at seventeen. Influenced by a Koslovic councilman, he joined the UKWF and got a job as a builder. He later began hiding weaponry and bombs; while a lookout on a job, he was forced to kill a storekeeper, which he deeply regretted. He predominantly kept quiet and stored weapons (all while working on trying to build an ANFO bomb) but when the UNSC invaded, he fled with others to the isle. He tried to save a few frightened Freidens, but they were shot by Koslovics. Angered by everything around him, he tried to take his own life, but fails; he tries to escape, but is locked away. Finally, he decides to try and build his ANFO bomb


Col. James Dingane-Badenhorst - A South African Army officer, he has mixed Zulu and Afrikaaner heritage. A highly intelligent individual, he was educated at Sandhurst. He joined the British Army initially as an engineer, but later spent most of his time in the SAS, advising foreign militaries, performing covert direct action and surveillance, and working counterinsurgency operations. He later gained two graduate degrees in International Relations from Georgetown and Columbia while also working as an advisor to the MP and in British think tanks. Inserted in French Guiana a year before the invasion, he was responsible for most of the intelligence gathered on the situation and took part in combat operations in Argentina and Brazil before working on the diplomatic side in every South American country. He has a strong desire to see his resolves peacefully and often butts heads with Valdez


Lt. Col. Alvaro Valdez - Born in Santiago, his mother was the heiress of a prominent Scandavian mining company and lived in wealth (he joined the Freiden Youth Club at ten, then the Freiden Nationalist Party at seventeen); educated at West Point, he joined the Chilean Armed Forces as an Air Defense Artillery Officer and gained an MBA from the University of Florida. He mainly spent the first thirteen years of his career overseeing the emplacement of AA batteries and missiles and gaining lucrative contracts from UAE, the U.S., and Finland. Though he desired to see combat (and prove himself to the cause), when war began, he was made an advisor to the Joint Chiefs and spent all his time in Santiago. Of the JCS Staff, he was the only one captured by UNSC soldiers upon taking the command center (everyone else committed suicide or were executed by roving Koslovic and anti-Freiden bands). Doctoring his resume and making himself more important, ONI approached him and made him an officer with the UNSC (promising him a full pension at Lt. Col. rank and a career in post-UNSC occupied Chile as a Senator) as long as he assisted. Readily agreeing, he set out to punish escaping Koslovics, ordering his UNSC men to butcher them mercilessly (some obeyed, some refused); teaching this final stronghold, he is dead set on eliminating them all


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8


Chief Warrant Officer II Oliver J. Hernandez - Born in Detroit to a Brazilian-Venezuelan family, he was abused and grew up in a drug-addled environment. Getting into fights as a child, he became a boxer in his teenage years, winning a few lightweight fights. Faced with jail time or joining the military after being arrested, he joined the Navy, being assigned to a ship orbiting Earth for a time before trying out for NAVSPECWAR, joining SEAL Team 2 and serving for seven years in clandestine operations around the globe and on Luna. He then joins ONI as an Operations Officer for two years before being “fired” and transferred to their most classified division, carrying out assassinations and gathering intelligence. Due to his familial ties to South America and his ability to speak the language, he works there. He worked with legitimate ONI and NAVSPECWAR teams during the battles in Rio de Janiero and Montevideo, but now hunts down Koslovic and Freiden war criminals. Having been doing this for three years, he feels unfulfilled and is slightly alcoholic while also abusing sleep medication. He longs to be out of clandestine work and is trying to find a way out of his line of work