En-route Slipspace UNSC Omaha, October 26 2539

"I'm sorry Spartan. Your armour does not meet ONI tech specifications. I am going to have to requisition you another set before you are deployed" Lieutenant Cartwright said, stopping Ivan as he made his way to the Omaha's hanger bay.

While it had been nearly a day since the meeting with Crane it still had left Ivan with a poor taste in his mouth, he would do his duty for the sake of mankind but he would not let these ONI types dictate to him any longer.

"You see this here?" Ivan said, tapping the gouge mark on one of bulky shoulder pads "Siege of Taranto. Pelican I was riding in went down. Held off the covvies for three hours till evac showed up, needless to say they got a couple of hits on target, but I got more"

"Very impressive Spartan, but still…" Cartwright trailed off, he had caught Ivan's iron stare.

Ivan untucked his helmet from under his arm and tenderly gestured to a scratch mark that ran raggedly across the cranium to the jaw

"I got this during the Harvest Campaign" He went on " Some Elite thought it would be a good idea came at me with an energy sword, I caught his strike just in time, but he left his mark. Crushed his forearm and beat him into the dirt after that though, sorry way to go"

The officer and the Spartan stood silent for a moment; Ivan could tell he hadn't made his point yet.

"How about this one" Ivan ran his finger along a ridge of buckled blast damage that ran across his chest piece "Jericho VII, I joined up with a squad of marines as we stalked across the field to try and take out an AA gun. Little did we know we were being watched and soon enough we were pinned in a muddy crater. I took point but a grunt decided to take his chances and lobed a grenade our way. The thing landed in the middle of the squad primed and ready, I grabbed the thing and tried to send it back their way but nearly as soon as I let go the thing went off. A couple more seconds later I would have lost my goddam arm"

Cartwright remained silent.

"I don't have many medals, I don't really want any. These are my medals. Each one is both a badge of honour and a lesson, every time I get hit or something goes bad, I learn a lesson and every lesson makes me better than before. It's nice to have the reminders"

Ivan stooped forward so he brought his towering form down to eyelevel with the lieutenant; he could see the man had fear in his eyes.

"I don't give a dam about no tech specifications or ONI standards; you ain't taking my armour from me" Ivan growled, never once relenting from his eye contact.

"Yes…yes of course" Cartwright stuttered, backing slightly away from the Spartan "Carry on"

"Thank you" Ivan smiled, giving the man a relatively gentle slap on the arm that still left him stumbling slightly.

"The Admiral and Lieutenant Commander expect you in the hanger bay in fifteen Spartan" Cartwright said, trying to regain his composure and nervously wiping his brow under his cap "Don't be late"

"Where do you think I 'm going now?"

"Of course…sorry…I must go"

And with that Cartwright scurried off with his tail between his legs and left Ivan alone once more. Ivan couldn't blame the man for trying, he was a young officer and was obviously new to the game, while ONI liked to keep complete control over their conscripts there was nothing any silver-tongued spook could say that would make Ivan part with his trusted assault armour. On the battlefield you closest comrade is your armour, you trust it to keep you safe, to not baulk under even the heaviest fire, there was no way Ivan was going to plunge into the unknown without knowing he could trust the plates he wore.

Ivan continued thudding his way down the well-lit corridors of the Omaha, a number of other ONI officers and staff passed him but they spoke no words and gave the giant Spartan a particularly wide birth. Ivan didn't care, he had only been on this ship for just over a day and already he understood that they did not like outsiders. Aside from his fellow Spartans, the admiral and poor Lieutenant Cartwright, hardly anyone had said more than two words to him and constantly eyed him with distrust.

Ivan was slightly annoyed that he still had no idea when they would be shipping out, after their meeting with the admiral, he, Rebecca and Maximilian had been plunged into the dark once again as Cyrus and Crane had scarpered off together to apparently make things ready for them. Ivan would be more than happy to get off this dammed ship and he hated waiting around treading water, especially when the stakes of their operation were apparently so very high. But he expected that this apparent briefing would possibly start the ball rolling, why else ask your Spartans to turn up in their power armour?

After a brief detour in which he accidently bowled the ship's mess hall, Ivan soon found himself in the ships wide hangar bay. Standing in centre were the other three Spartans, all in full armour as had been requested. Maximilian wore a suit of the standard issue Mark IV that was the same dark grey as Ivan's, it looked well-travelled but still well presented; the Senior Chief had made the effort. Rebecca's was a light grey, almost white, and of the orangey gold domed EVA variant, still sporting noticably fresh char marks obviously from a recent combat mission. The Lieutenant Commander wore set of mat black armour of the Commando variant, carrying the helmet tucked under his arm. It looked brand new. Ivan crossed the flightdeck and joined his fellow Spartans.

"What's the good word?" Ivan said as he joined them.

"Not much to tell, we are still waiting on Crane" Maximilian answered

"I should have expected that" Ivan sighed pulling off his helmet, prompting the others to do the same.

"Nice of him to keep us waiting when so much is riding on this mission" Rebecca said

"He will be here 108" Cyrus cut in sternly "He will have a good reason for keeping us waiting"

"How do you know 142?" Rebecca spat venomously

"ONI always does. And need I remind you that I am your commanding officer, so keep your attitude in check 108"

"Of course" Rebecca said, noticeably trying to supress a groan of frustration before adding "Sir"

"Good" Cyrus said "I expect the same of both of you 055 and 015"

Neither of the other Spartan's spoke in return.

Ivan liked Rebecca; she was not afraid to speak her mind and wasn't putting up with any of this cloak and dagger bullshit that ONI was trying to pull on them. She seemed tenacious, quite an important trait on the battlefield, he looked forward to fighting alongside her.

While Rebecca though was very rough around the edges Maximilian seemed very much the clean-cut type. Ivan thought they he was nice enough and though he may not have been as brash as Rebecca, he struck him as the type to always fight his corner and not take anything he didn't like lying down. Judging by his massive array of medals he had sported on his dress fatigues and from what Ivan had been lucky enough to witness on Harvest, he also must have been a hell of soldier.

As for Cyrus though, Ivan didn't know what to make of him, he seemed three parts spy to one part soldier he wasn't exactly acting like their brother in arms. Obviously he was taking his role and rank very seriously indeed. Ivan really thought he was acting like some kind of fresh out the academy officer out to make a name for himself than a Spartan.

"Attention!" Cyrus suddenly shouted sternly, leading to the three other Spartans to snap to it in a heartbeat.

Ivan spied across the hanger bay that Admiral Crane had entered, flanked by two other seemingly faceless agents in matching black uniforms. They crossed the flight-deck with haste; Ivan knew things must have been moving.

"Spartans, follow me" Crane said sharply before turning on his boot heels and starting back across the hanger.

The Spartans all obeyed and followed without question, soon they had left the hanger and were crammed into one of the Omaha's elevators once more. Ivan watched the digit counter above the door fall as the elevator descended and quickly it slowed to a stop and they were moving through the ship once more.

"What is going on sir?" Cyrus finally asked as they followed the Admiral and his men's brisk stride.

"We are dropping out of slipspace and you four need to be prepped and deployed" Crane replied

"Isn't it a little risky to take the Omaha into this sector if so many ships have gone MIA?"

"We aren't. We are dropping out over Naupactus, from there you will head on alone"

"Sir?"

"All will become clear Cyrus"

They passed through a set of doors that opened with an exhale of air and found themselves on a deck that was a small room with an airlock on the far side. Crane gestured to one of his men and the ONI agent pressed a switch on a control panel near the door prompting a slight groan as a mechanism began to move. Ivan and the other Spartans watched as the far wall began to slide back revealing a thick perspex view screen that looked out onto nothing but blackness and the nothingness of slipstream space.

"The nature of this mission requires speed and stealth" Crane said turning to the Spartans "We don't know what you will be encountering when you arrive in the operations zone but we are trying our best to ensure your success and to give you access to the best tech available"

Ivan felt the ship shudder slightly and could hear the residual whine of the drive core begin to fade. When there was merely blackness the world through the observation panel suddenly flashed into life as the prowler exited slip space nearby a small grey and desolate looking planet surrounded by rings of asteroids. Quickly the planet and its rings grew larger as the Omaha swiftly approached.

Drawing nearer Ivan spied a large metallic object floating in the asteroid belt. As it came into view he recognised it as a UNSC station similar to the ones he had seen in orbit on large hub worlds like Reach. But getting closer still the shape become more distinct and he could see that a number of Prowlers were docked along the station's large spindly arms and a number of small tugs buzzed around them.

"The planet you see before you is Naupactus, an uncolonised and rather unpleasant little world" Crane continued "But the station you see in the asteroid belt is Orbital 7, one of our staging and refit stations that we have located just outside human controlled space. This one in particular is used also for testing of experimental spacecraft, one of which we plan on entrusting to you for this mission"

The prowler drew closer and slowed, cruising cautiously between the assortment of docking arms and stationary spacecraft that were swarming with drones and mechanics in space suits as they were patched up and made ready for redeployment. The Omaha finally slowed to a stop and Ivan could hear the electronic whirr as the prowler extended its docking tube. The was a fairly loud crash as the tube connected and locked in with Orbital 7. Crane made his way across to the airlock and one of his men keyed in a code prompting it to pop open and reveal the ribbed tube that now connected the ship's environment to that of the station.

Crane led once more at a swift pace as they crossed through the tube and into Orbital 7. They were greeted on the other side by a dark skinned man with a bald head and goatee, wearing a grey uniform with the black and gold epaulettes of a captain; he instantly saluted as Crane stepped across the threshold.

"We did not expect you so soon sir" The Captain said

"Time of the essence Mr. Lehane. At ease" Crane said, not stopping as he walked past the officer.

Lehane dropped his salute and hastily caught up with the admiral and the rest of the party.

"Is the Scimitar prepped and ready?" Crane asked as they continued on.

"We are just need to run the final simulation through the drive core. That should take about five hours sir" Lehane replied, trying to keep pace with the older man and the Spartan's strides.

"Unacceptable" Crane said "You will cancel it, we launch ASAP"

"But sir..."

"No buts Captain. We need to deploy now. Every moment we waste puts that AI in danger. You know what it says in the Cole Protocol"

"Yes sir, but still, she's not ready"

"What did I just say Captain?"

"Sir please"

"I said no buts"

Lehane's shoulders slumped in defeat "Of course sir. Follow me"

Soon the Spartan's found them in another hangar bay, but this one was nearly the height and width of a stadium. Ivan was impressed. Despite its size though only one ship was sitting docked, a sleek arrow shaped craft with long elongated angled wings and tail. Just before the angling of the wings on either side were two large engines, one mounted above and one beneath. Out of its belly popped a ramp and whole body of the ship was painted a metallic black glinted underneath the hangar's bright floodlights. Ivan thought it resembled a larger version of the UNSC Shortsword bomber or Broadsword Interceptor, he had never seen anything like this before. He guessed this was one of the experimental craft that they tested here and he grinned when he thought that this beast would be the one that they had been assigned, it looked like it packed a hell of a punch.

They walked across the hangar and soon were upon the craft. Surrounding it there was a buzz of activity as a number of technicians and mechanics busied themselves make slight alterations to the craft. Many were reinserting and retightening missing panels that revealed complex networks of tubes, cables and a number of other mechanisms that sat beneath the bodywork. Technicians ran up and down the ships ramp, wheeling numerous banks of computers off that they had obviously been using to test the craft's systems. Everyone working of ship was working double time.

"Spartans, admiral" Captain Lehane said, "I would like to introduce you to the D-45 RISC, or as it's more colloquially known, the Scimitar"

"It looks pretty impressive Captain" Crane nodded "Why don't you give our team the rundown"

"Yes sir" Lehane said "Spartans, if you will follow me please"

The team gathered around the captain and he led them up the craft's wide ramp into its cargo bay. A number of technicians were still working inside and there was the fizz and flash of a blowtorch as a mechanic worked on one of the benches of seats that lined either side. In the centre of the cargo bay, held by a clamp on the celling, was a Warthog that Spartan's filed around. Ivan had seen enough ships laid out like this in his time, it had obviously been designed as some kind of dropship.

"RISC stands for Rapid-Insertion-Stealth-Carrier" Lehane exposited, his demeanour noticeably lighter than when he had been in the company of the admiral "This baby has been designed to for when we need to get behind enemy lines or into a hot zone without drawing attention to ourselves"

"So it's a glorified Pelican?" Rebecca asked with a somewhat disappointed frown on her face.

"In a way" Lehane said with a slight grin "But it's more than that. It doesn't take much to spruce up a pelican and make it harder to detect, that's one of things we do here actually, ONI always seems to be losing them. But the Scimitar has been designed to be the quickest and the quietest thing we have"

Lehane led them up a short set of stairs and into the cabin. It was rather spacious, with seating for five; one pilot and then four technician's stations that for the moment lay dormant. The large panoramic window for the moment looked out onto the hangar and Ivan could see a mechanic on a harness working away at something on the craft's stub nose. The mechanic gawked as the Spartan's entered and when he noticed Ivan had seen him he quickly averted his gaze and went back to his work, nervously trying to avoid eye contact with them.

"The principle this craft is built around is simple. Small is fast and small is stealthy" Lehane said as ran his hand across the pilot's dash.

"It doesn't seem particularly small if it's supposed to be an insertion vehicle" Maximilian said sceptically as he looked over the banks of computers that lined each wall.

"That's were your wrong Spartan" Lehane said "All the miniaturization has been with the internal workings. This aircraft is equipped with a fully operational slipspace unit and active camouflage system"

"Very impressive Captain" Cyrus said

"This project has cost the UNSC a ridiculous amount of money but since the beginning of the war we have been experimenting with trying to shrink the size of the slipspace and active camo systems, looking to create a fast and stealthy strike craft capable of interstellar flight. And now, this is what we have come up with. It can't jump the distance of a capital ship but it jumps what it can faster, a jump of the range that would take about a week in a frigate, this baby can do in three days. Also the stealth systems are much more effective than those you get on Prowlers as the energy signature from such a small ship is so insignificant. In this thing you're pretty much invisible to all long and short range scanners"

"Will these see full operational service?" Maximilian enquired as he studied the cockpit's various control panels.

"I doubt it Spartan even though I hope so. This prototype alone was only possible due to ONI funding and even their purse isn't bottomless, especially with more and more funding having to go to commission new weapons and star ships for the front. Our intention was to study this one and put it through its paces around here to try and figure how to bring the costs down so we can get a squadron in production, but it seems ONI have other ideas"

"It's for the best Captain" Cyrus said curtly "This is exactly the type of craft we need for this operation"

"That's exactly what Crane thought" Lehane looked rather despondent and slightly angry as he spoke "But I guess it's true. She isn't quite finished yet and we had a few upgrades of hardware and software we wanted to install. But she should do just fine, just make sure you bring her back in one piece"

"I will try my best" Cyrus said "But it's dependent on if we come back at all"

There was a very brief awkward silence in the cabin.

"What kind of firepower is she packing?" Ivan said making sure to break it quickly.

"Not an awful lot I am afraid big man" Lehane said with a slight laugh "While the components for the slipspace and stealth drives have been shrunken they still take up a lot of room. So really we could only leave you with triplets of autocannons along each wing and a pair of ASGM missile launchers with capacity for four rockets a piece. But don't worry too much, we have loaded the ship with as many counter measures that we could stuff in"

"Not going to be much good in a dogfight then" Ivan grumped.

"Come on now. The idea of this craft is to be quick and quiet, the last thing you are going be doing with it is engaging the covenant at point blank range"

"Sometimes, you don't have the choice"

Ivan knew he was being churlish but he didn't like the idea of being left with so little armament. Stealth and speed could only take you so far and when a covenant corvette picks you up and you can't run and hide fast enough, your only choice is to fight, and there's not much you can do with a few peashooters and a couple of missiles.

"It will do" Cyrus cut in "Thank you Captain"

"No problem Spartan, I don't know exactly what you are gonna be doing, but I'm sure it's serious"

Captain Lehane's somewhat playful attitude he had while introducing them to the ship had faded, he knew the seriousness of what lay ahead for the Spartans, and Ivan was grateful of that.

"Which one of you is going to be the pilot anyway" Lehane said shaking off his brief moment of melancholy.

"That would be Petty Officer Rebecca -108" Cyrus said gesturing to her, leaving the lady Spartan slightly taken aback.

"Wait, you expect me to pilot this thing?" Rebecca scoffed "Sure I can fly most enough anything the UNSC has in service but never anything like this"

"You should be more than capable 108"

Rebecca looked as if she was about to snap but luckily Lehane spoke up again.

"Don't worry ma'am" He said "Our test pilots have said she handles like a Longsword with three times the power and three times the responsiveness. And don't worry about the extra bells and whistles, while ideally she is meant to be crewed by a team of five she can be handled by as little as two"

"Well who wants to be my co-pilot then" Rebecca shrugged disagreeably looking round at the others "Any takers?"

"We already got one for you ma'am" Lehane grinned "Geordie!"

"Good_Morning _Captain" A soft spoken man's voice that seemed to come from everywhere said.

Ivan looked around for a moment but could not discern who spoke. Then just above the pilot's control panel a small surface lit up and a holographic image began to fade into existence. As it became distinct Ivan saw it was the image of a blue sphere made up of numerous individual icons that floated just above the dash.

"Spartans, this is Geordie, the ship's AI" Lehane said rather pleased with himself.

"An AI?" Cyrus said cautiously "Is that wise sir? We are going on this mission to retrieve an AI, it would be senseless to lose another should we not return"

"Don't worry Spartan, he's not a smart AI, he doesn't have anything that could endanger us and has a self-destruct protocol should he be captured or all the crew of this ship destroyed. Ain't that right Geordie, you're pretty dumb aren't you?"

"I_cannot_operate _outside _my _set_parameters" said Geordie

The particles that made up his chosen shape contorted into a simple two dots and curve smiley face and then faded back into his avatar of a simple sphere.

"He's just here to help you fly the ship. He will monitor all systems and act as the autopilot, but when it gets down to it, you will have the helm ma'am" Lehane said reassuringly to Rebecca.

"Is that right?" Rebecca said moving forward to the AI's avatar.

"Hello" Geordie said as she approached, contorting his avatar into a smiley once again.

"I'm Spartan Rebecca -108" She said, stooping down slightly "And I'm going to be the pilot of this rig"

"It_is_a_pleasure_to_make_your_acquaitance_Spartan_Rebecca_1_0_8_I_will_do_whatever_I_can_to_make_our_partnership_pleasant" Geordie said, maintaining his smile.

"I hope so sparks" Rebecca said "You just make sure we get there and I promise I will try not to shake you up too bad"

"Of_course_Spartan_Rebecca_1_0_8_Any_attempts_to_minimize_damage_to_my_circuits_will_be_greatly_appreciated"

Geordie changed his avatar to a concerned smiley and then back to a beaming one once again. Ivan noticed this led Rebecca to let out a small smile.

"If that's all Spartans" Lehane said "I think it's about time we get this show on the road"

Good, Ivan thought.