The ONI Offensive

by MrChef99

A small killteam of Spartan 3's are approached by the assassin's brotherhood during an OP against insurrectionists and are told the truth about ONI, and their plot to continue the Human-Covenant war so that they can be led to more forerunner artifacts to unlock the true potential of the apple of Eden.

1. Prologue

OPERATION EDEN

0001 Hours,

July 3, 2545 (Military Calendar)

Unnamed Asteroid in the Epsilon Eridani System

The steady tone of the sonar beeping in the background and the hum of the generator running on stealth mode had become all but familiar. Day 3 of watching this black market traffic lane with nothing to show for it, why ONI would remove Phantom Squad from the assault on Pegasi Delta just to stare at nothing is beyond my comprehension. As far as I was concerned, smuggling was damn near impossible around Reach, it being the UNSC's biggest supply asset and all.

"See anything yet?" My radio blipped with the callsign PH-3 appearing on my Heads Up Display.

"Negative Red, still dead out there," I responded. "Either these smugglers have the best stealth ship in all of human-controlled space, or the big wigs are worried about nothing."

Even for an enhanced super soldier with 1000mg of caffeine tablets running through his system, sitting for days on end with no sleep and nothing even remotely engaging happening can put you to sleep.

"Somebody wake up Joe, I'm starting to drift." A green light blipped next to PH-2 in acknowledgment, and a few moments later Joe contacts me to report that he was moving to my position. Standing as he approaches, I give him a nod and remove my helmet.

"Have a good nap, buddy?" I jest.

"Oh, for sure, nothing better than a nap on a stone tablet. You would think that if ONI can make power armor and stealth craft, they could brainstorm a comfortable bed," he laughed.

"Too right"

I start making my way towards the bunks when I hear a beep come from the sonar. Turning on my toes I sprint back to the screen and see that there is a yellow dot on the sonar, meaning an unidentified craft entered the 10000m range, and it was heading our direction.

I press the 'all' button on the radio. "Target has entered the vicinity, set equipment to Amber!" I race to the Prowler's controls and prep the engines to turn on and launch at a moment's notice, and activate my SemiPowered-Infiltration armor. The suit crackles as I do so. The thing about the SPI armor is that in place of energy shields, it utilizes an active camouflage.

"Armory is unlocked." I inform the crew, pressing the ARMS RELEASE button on the dash. I make my way to the arms room where I see Red, Joe, Mac, and Paisley prepping their weapons for contact. For this mission, we are equipped with M7S Caseless SMG's, M6H magnums without the smart-link attachment, and combat knives. I enter my code into my personal weapons locker, equip my gear, load the magazines, attach spare magazines to my magnetic belt, and move out to the main deck area to check the radar. 8500m and counting.
"We got a slow mover, keep an eye out. They might have reinforcements." Four green winks of acknowledgment.

Everyone returned to their assigned stations, Joe with me on the radar, Red on front guns, Mac on rear guns, and Paisley in the cockpit. All was quiet except for the occasional beep of the ship closing in on the radar and my breath rasping against my helmet visor. I could feel everyone's tense focus and anxious adrenaline buzzing in the air like cicadas on a humid summer night.

3500m

2500m

1500m

500m

Go time.