James stared at Verten and sighed. It was his usual sigh, one filled with unwarranted exasperation and world weariness that seemed as though it had taken a lifetime to perfect; almost an art form really. "Sir, I still don't see why WE have to be the ones to do this. This seems like something an ODST squad could handle. If not that, then why not just fire our prototype O.D.P. Cannon?" Verten shrugged and before stating "The O.D.P. Cannon is as you said, A PROTOTYPE; hell it hasn't even been field tested. The only reason we have it is as a last resort before enacting Cole Protocol and scuttling the ship. That's why we're sending you down to retrieve the artifact, covertly."

Verten then brought up a simulation of the planet below before saying "This is all we could get from a cursory scan of the area. We would have done a more extensive scan except we would have had to drop our cloak and likely expose ourselves to the covenant cruiser." The image projected looked like some sort of ancient temple. . "Sir, it looks like the ruins we discovered on Onyx and Arcadia." said Antoine as he shifted in his seat. "Yes, but unlike those two, this one appears to be active and I'm worried that the Covenant might use this to gain an even BIGGER technological advantage on us then they already have. Now enough talk, I'm going to brief you on the mission. During our initial scan of the area we detected a powerful energy signature emanating from below the Forerunner structure. Your objective is to find and retrieve whatever is the source of that signal."

James sighed again before leaning forward and saying in the same monotone he did everything else, "Sir, have you considered that this object might be just a tad big for 6 men to carry by ourselves, let alone past the army of Covvies that we'll be sharing that space with."

"Look on the bright side James, you'll be able to catch up on the scoreboard," chimed Gabriel. Gabriel was a strange comparison to James, consistently filled with energy and frequently making even the worse situations into competitions between the two of them. Antares rarely participated, nor did the rest of the squad; it was a silent understanding that whatever it was that motivated Gabriel to challenge James at every turn was between the two of them and that anyone interfering in even the most trivial of their contests was like walking naked and bleeding into a pool of starved piranhas.

Verten just shook his head, not bothering to ask what it was they were talking about. Verten had been working for ONI for several years and found that in cases such as this, it was better not to ask. "Well if you can't bring it back to the Ask and Ye Shall Receive then I want you to destroy it. We can't risk it falling into Covenant hands."

Antares finally decided to address the problem that had been nagging at the back of his mind. "Sir, how exactly do we get to the planet, let alone return from it?"

"Well spartan, you'll be inserted two miles from the structure using the SOEIVs that you used during your last mission. The UNSC Harkonnen, The UNSC Compton, The UNSC Painted Lady, The UNSC Firebrand, and the UNSC Flying Swallow, two Valiant class cruisers and three destroyers will be providing fire support and a valuable distraction for this mission. We'll remain cloaked for the entirety of the mission. Once you set down on the planet the Harkonnen and the Compton will deploy large numbers of their troops to provide a distraction on the ground. After you radio for extraction, the Harkonnen will send down a pelican which will then bring you back close enough to the Ask and Ye Shall Receive that you can make an EVA jump to our airlocks without us having to de-cloak."

"What of the five ships that will be backing us up Sir?" replied Antares.

"As soon as we jump into slipspace they'll retreat in the opposite direction give the Covenant a black eye they won't soon forget."

"I'd prefer we give them two, one for each Spartan we lost last mission," grunted Chris. He was still mad about Hamal, and like anyone who has lost a comrade; Chris wanted revenge.

Verten stared at him and made a mental note to give him extra doses of his anti-depression meds. Chris pulled out a cigarette from a compartment on his armor and lit it. "You're going to kill yourself Denal," sighed Antares. "Those cigarettes are radiation medicine that he has to take due to his extensive exposure to radiation during Operation: PROMETHEUS,"* said Verten in a rather matter-of-fact voice.

"At any rate, we've got roughly 3 hours before the Harkonnen and the Compton arrive within maximum engagement range. The Painted Lady and the Firebrand are scheduled to arrive roughly an hour after the Harkonnen and the Compton do. However, the Flying Swallow won't arrive until the at least two hours after that. At 0900 hours we're going to officially begin the operation; unfortunately for you, you're being deployed in about 5 minutes. You've got 3 hours to map as much of the territory surrounding the structure as you can and use a dummy radio beacon to transmit it to the Ask and Ye Shall Receive, once you've done that, I want you to make your way to the structure and find a way in. From there we won't be able to do anything but buy you time and hope that the Covenant doesn't overpower us before then. Spartans, get your gear and prepare to drop. DISMISSED!"

The six spartans moved silently to the armory and picked up their gear before heading to the launch bay. The timer for their drop was 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Antares strapped himself into his pod and watched as the others did the same before a maintenance officer shut the doors on their pods. Antares' comm buzzed, "You guys ready?" It was the maintenance officer.

"As we'll ever be," replied Zach, breaking his silence.

"Well then spartans, good luck. Launching in

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

DROP!"

End of Chapter 2

*Chris was pulled out near the beginning of the operation due to taking a direct hit from a Fuel Rod Gun, thereby exposing him to extremely high amounts of radiation*