August 15th, 2546 22:33 Hrs
SPECWAR Group 3 Base camp, Cornalia city
Sargasso, Reglius Prime System
-Grizzly Team-
It was quiet in the bar that the Spartans of SPECWAR Group 3 had made their FOB, relative to the sound of distant gunfire and exploding plasma reactors as the covenant base off in the distance. Teams Lion and Colt had been unable to rejoin them after the aborted attack on the covenant base and were laying low until there was a gap in the now alerted and certainly pissed Covenant search teams that they could slip through. Leaving just Grizzly, Fox and Panther inside, most of whom were taking turns to catch some sleep, whilst the rest of their comrades watched for hostiles. All except Carter, Jake and Faith, who had moved into what had been the bars back office to talk in private.
"So, more Spartan III's then," Carter acknowledged quietly as he and Faith examined the screen grab of what had been conclusively been determined to be a Spartan-III, with ODST's having been eliminated by the damage sustained to the bodies that Grizzly and Fox had found along with the data cube, and Spartan-II's by the sheer fact they wore SPI armour.
"Yeah, but who are they then? Headhunters?" Faith questioned as she glanced at the image. Jake meanwhile remained quiet and worked off of a notepad, having roughly marked up where each of the covenant soldiers had been when they had been attacked, and guessing from where the shots had come from, having been trying to work out how many gunmen there had been.
"Hmm, maybe, but headhunters aren't normally deployed on this side of the front, normally they'd be blowing something important up" Carter replied as he flicked between two different screenshots, looking for anything that stood out to him.
"Son of a..." Jake muttered to himself, before rechecking his notes for the third time, just to be sure what he was seeing was correct.
"Jake, what is it?" Faith asked as she and Carter looked at him, Jake meanwhile simply sighed before answering.
"It isn't the headhunters, there are too many shooters for it to be them," Jake explained as he set his notepad in front of them, "I counted at least 8 shooters, including the sniper and the one we saw, and they used tactics we would use," he continued.
"So if they aren't headhunters, then who are they, because I'm pretty sure the rest of Alpha is rotting on some hellhole of an asteroid," Faith countered, prompting smug look from Jake.
"True, but firstly it's been nearly 10 years since Alpha went active, secondly it took about six years to train us," Jake replied as Carter figured out what Jake was thinking, "and thirdly, and most importantly, we were called Alpha company for a reason," he pointed out, as Faith finally caught on.
"Wait, are you thinking this is Beta company?" Faith asked as Carter pondered this thought for a minute before answering.
"It makes sense, and it explains who hit the base before we could," Carter replied to Faith, before turning his attention to Jake, "Get me a secure link to command, see if we can't get some cooperation out of these Beta's, or at the very least a straight answer out of them," he ordered Jake, who simply nodded, and began to set up the secure comm's channel as Carter left, Faith, however, had a nagging question that needed answering.
"Wait, if these are Beta's were dealing with here, why didn't someone tell us about them?" Faith asked, prompting Jake to pause and think for a second before answering.
"Well either whoever runs them didn't talk to our people, or our people didn't talk to their people, the old right hand not talking to the left stache" Jake commented, only to chuckle slightly as an idea popped into his head.
"Or maybe this is someone's idea of us meeting one another" he added, getting a chuckle out of Faith, "Now, I suggest you get some kip, It'll take me some time to make sure the comm's are secure" Jake continued, gesturing for Faith to go get some sleep.
"Yeah, we really need a proper computer specialist, you're a lot better with tools than computers" Faith replied as she stepped over towards the door, getting a smile out of Jake, "Call me if you need a hand" she added before slipping out, leaving Jake alone to work, which as it involved running a series of complex programs and checks, was going to be as enjoyable as pulling teeth.
August 16th, 2546 02:04 Hrs
Eclipse Class Prowler, UNSC Phantom of the Ruhr
Above Sargasso, Reglius Prime System
-Codename: Lycus-
Deep within the ONI Prowler Phantom of the Ruhr, ONI Operative, Codename: Lycus scanned her display, the reports from the ground were not looking good; the UNSC ground forces were barely holding on to their perimeter as it stood, with the front having moved closer to the major evacuation points in some key sectors, with the covenant pushes only being halted by throwing manpower into the proverbial grinder. Fortunately, some Spartans that had been dropped behind enemy lines had managed to take out one of the covenants main bases in the region, which had given the UNSC some much-needed breathing room as without a supply chain the covenant advance had been effectively stalled for the moment. Just then she heard the familiar beeping of a hail on one of ONI's secure comm frequencies, followed by an ID appearing on her display, quickly she scanned the text to see who was hailing her, before pressing the answer button on her headset.
"Agent Lycus to Sierra Alpha 384, you are aware you are meant to be comms dark, especially after what you just did," Lycus greeted in the signature cold ONI agent tone.
"If by 'what you did' you mean stood and watched someone else hit the target you were planning to attack, then you'd understand why I'm calling," Jake replied, prompting a raised eyebrow from Lycus, something in the tone of Jake's voice hinted that he was about to ask her something she wasn't going to like.
"I'm sorry Spartan, would you clarify what you just said?" Lycus requested as she reopened the stealth satellite photos of the smouldering Covenant base.
"That attack wasn't us, but we know who it was, all we need is the confirmation from you," Jake answered calmly, prompting Lycus to pull up the tactical orders for SPECWAR Group 3.
"Confirm what Spartan?" Lycus asked, as she scanned the orders and then checked the tactical map, confirming that they were in their allocated operations area.
"That Beta company are on Sargasso" Jake replied, causing Lycus to freeze, before she pulled up the second set of orders and scanned them as well, wondering how in the hell the Alpha's had figured out that Beta company had been deployed to Sargasso.
"I'm sorry Spartan I don't know what you are talking about?" Lycus deflected, as she resisted the urge to scream. Clearly, the left hand of ONI hadn't been talking to its opposite number, as both Alpha and Beta companies Cat-2's had been deployed into the same AO, on roughly the same orders.
"Cut the crap Lycus, we know they're here, all I need you to do is to tell me the truth" Jake countered, prompting a sigh from Lycus, normally she'd have denied everything and cut the call, but clearly the cat was out of the bag.
"Yes, there is a detachment of Beta company that may have been sent to your AO, other than that I have nothing," Lycus explained quietly, normally she'd have gotten in deep trouble for confirming the Beta's presence to the Alphas, but in her mind it did matter what she said because the Alpha's had clearly figured it out all ready.
"Ok then, can you contact them?" Jake asked, the tone of his voice changing to a more cunning tone.
"And why would I do that?" Lycus replied, wondering what Jake was thinking on the other end of the radio.
"Well, you could ask them if they fancy a team up," Jake answered, prompting Lycus to pause and think before replying. On the one hand, having Alpha's and Beta's was a bad thing, ONI had deliberately kept the two separate for a reason, exactly what that reason was, was only known to the higher-ups like Colonel Akerson and Admiral Parangosky, and if they were the ones to come up with the reason, it was going to be a good one. But on the other hand, the UNSC needed all the help it could get, and if that meant having the Alpha's and Beta's work together, then the positives must outweigh the negatives.
"Let me get back to you on that," Lycus remarked before cutting the line and taking a moment to think, weighing up all the factors, including Admiral Parangosky's wrath, before she came to her conclusion. "Shit!" she whispered before opening a secure comms channel.
August 16th, 2546 02:10 Hrs
Cornalia city financial District
Sargasso, Reglius Prime System
-Victor Team-
4 Spartans walked in silence as they made their way back to their base, each of the other teams having taken an alternate route back to their RV point, which wasn't surprising after the hornet's nest they'd kicked earlier that evening. Quietly the 4 members of Victor team moved into the collapsed ruins of a fallen skyscraper, with the silence only being broken when one of their members chose to speak up.
"So I definitely won the bet!" Zoe smirked as she gave Mason a friendly push, only to get a less than friendly shove from her teammate.
"And how did you work that out! because I'm pretty sure that I'm the one who killed all the killing, you didn't even fire your weapon once" Mason growled back as the other two members of Victor team stopped and starred at their teammates.
"Yeah, but I set the demo charges on the plasma reactor's, and I'm definitely the one who hit the detonator!" Zoe grinned, only for Mason to respond by tackling Zoe to the ground.
"Christ, will you two ever give it a rest!" Chrissie groaned as she stepped over and pulled the pair apart, keeping a firm grip on Mason. "Can you two ever play nice for once?" she demanded.
"You say that every time they do this, and it's always the same answer," Kat-B320 reminded her as she stepped over to Zoe and offered her a hand up, prompting another sigh from Chrissie.
"Yeah, but it would be nice just for once" Chrissie responded as she gave Mason a look of 'cut it the fuck out before I get mad', which was impressive as both of them were wearing full sets of SPI Mark II armour. However, just as Kat helped Zoe to her feet, the comms channel for the other Beta Cat-2 teams crackled to life.
"All team this is Gustav leader, I need you back at the RV quick," Gustav leader ordered curtly, getting a raised eyebrow from Chrissie.
"Victor leader to Gustav leader, what's the rush?" Chrissie requested as she gestured for Victor team to get moving quickly, just in case anyone or anything had heard the brief struggle.
"I can't say for certain, all I know is its ONI related and it's apparently not good, ONI wants to brief us ASAP, so double time it Beta's" Gustav leader replied before the line went dead, prompting another sigh from Chrissie, what could ONI want now?.
Authors notes
So after finishing university for the year, I decided to take a month off to let my batteries recharge, hope no one minded.