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Description
CH8
16/1/2554
7:35
The Aspire came rushing out of slip-space, the run from Amphora had been complete and the mission to recover the artefact out of the turians hands, but the cost came at Rey and most of the remaining venerators were none too happy for their brother's predicament.
The Spartans knew what it felt like to lose team mates, or family, but they had a job to do, and they had to do it before anything else. But the venerators were different and more so in attitude and action.
"Damn it, why can't we get him back?" Grey said in a harsh growl.
"Because the colonies come before family and that means Rey, if he is alive or dead we couldn't retrieve him, we don't have the necessary people or gear to…" Karl was interrupted.
"DAMN it Karl we don't just leave brothers to die and you know it, we have to at least pass our tag's back in before we die."
The two venerators were arguing over the sense of family and duty, the Spartans had never had to deal with such things, but they could understand their uneasy behaviour.
The teams had returned to the Aspire and recovered more than just an artefact, they had retrieved a memory module of the Forerunners and new data. The ONI spooks back on earth would like to get their hands on the data, but the Aspire was well out of reach, now with Spartan II and III on the ship the crew was getting tense, not because of the Spartan but because they were now in unknown territory.
Fred and the Spartans moved along to let the venerators to come to an agreement, now walking down the ship Fred and the other Spartans managed to get a better look at the advancements since their time.
The corridors were slightly larger for personnel to reach their posts, and the rooms of each section of the ship seemed more organised and more tactically efficient, the walls had reinforced bridges that connect just above their heads, capable of withstanding more punishment.
The Spartans also noted the change in the ships schematics and colouring, the new frigate had adapted black and dull silver or grey, the walls also had some kind of deployable metal shields at specific points most probably to reduce issues with boarders.
As the team moved down to the barracks they had an interesting taste of what the colonists of Nova Stratus were like, the mixing and mingling of different individuals, the different demeanour that they had and the fact that there were soldiers dressed in black and red with a wolfs head symbol on their clothes with a motto attached.
'Aim for their throats.'
But the most intriguing thing to the Spartans were, the soldiers and technicians were all young, and this was proven when they noted the teenager field stripping a MA5C rifle with modifications down and redoing it within less than 2 minutes.
These soldiers had proven themselves already to the Spartans, with large amounts of weapons at their disposal and vehicles it was just like a UNSC frigate but with everyone older now somehow young.
The Spartans eventually reached the end of their tour after looking at the new fighters in the hangar bay and the new shields and engines, the Spartans couldn't have believed such things were possible and just ignored by the whole time by the UNSC.
Well in any case they were glad to have the colonists and venerators on their side.
XXXXX
Dr Valerie's office 09:23
Halsey had finished her introduction to the ship and her meeting with Captain Graves, but there was something that had gotten to her during the meeting, the lack of age the man had or the fact the ship was this far out.
It made some sense but to her it felt like ONI was keeping different parts out, the mission had been to secure data on the Forerunners, as simple as it was, and the identification of these aliens.
But something was off; the ship was a stealth frigate, not a prowler or a simple research vessel but a fully armed frigate with hundreds of soldiers and specialists, including Spartan types, which to her surprise were called venerators.
The venerators were sent only in necessity, and this seemed interestingly more than just an exercise, the whole thing seemed more and more like they had predicted some outcomes and were willing to sacrifice soldiers if need be.
'These venerators were used in the Nova Stratus campaign but only a few things are ever mentioned in the records, who ever let them be known was covering their tracks well.'
The door opened revealing a tired Dr Valerie who had finished her report on the Forerunner data core.
"Sorry for the lateness, I got caught up deciphering something's manually and you know…"
She yawned and lazily set her coat on the chair behind Halsey and set to get into bed.
"Wake me when you need me…" She said as she dozed off.
Halsey noticed the humour of the situation.
'Doctors getting lazy and professors getting paranoid, my we must have sure changed.'
XXXXX
Bridge 9:35
Graves had gone over Dr Halsey's report on the micro Dyson sphere, though it gave new insight into the Forerunners it didn't provide details or specifics, but the bright side to this would be of the return of Halsey herself.
Though ONI would have her questioned for the next few weeks when they got back, the Spartan II and III were getting acquainted with the crew, though the argument down in the hangar with Grey and Karl had been of concern.
The Venerators were trained to have each other's back until death, and if they were left behind or left to die, they at least gave in their memory tags. These tags were capable of storing the life memory of each Venerator and when they die it is supposed to be placed into a type of secure system called 'Memory' though no one but the recovery units know of what it actually is, and they of course are part of a separate division which resides on a Forerunner world called Tertiary.
The venerators have never lost these memory tags, and only the few which were are considered at the highest of honours, but to lose a memory tag to an enemy is a fate to them far worse than death.
Graves looked about at his old pictures of the war with the covenant and how he had so many friends and brothers in arms, he could remember them all, but the same thing applies for the venerators, though it was worse to them to lose brothers.
Tanya popped up, her demeanour remaining calm and serene as usual.
"Sir, I have intercepted a distress beacon." She reported.
"Where is it located?" He said.
"Not too far in system sir, the ship does not match the turian vessel designs, and from what I can tell is in high danger, though the decision is yours."
He thought about helping some locals, but this might attract some attention.
"Has anybody responded yet?"
"No sir, the planet has a high EM field and scans cannot penetrate either than the signal, I have noted due to this only ships within system can respond and there are none within reach."
Graves had no hate for these aliens and if there was a chance to at least get an understanding from someone, it was probably best to ask the locals.
"Fine, Tanya get us on that signal but keep an eye out for other ships, any reach the system we pull out."
"Aye sir, who should we call in for this mission?"
"The venerators had enough, maybe you should ask the Spartans, but this is if they're up to it and have 343rd prep just in case."
With this Graves dismissed Tanya.
XXXXX
17/1/2554
5:15
The Aspire arrived to the uncharted planet; its glowing orange and brown surface hazed the view on the window. Fred and blue along with Katana were preparing for a search and rescue mission for some locals, mainly this was just to test the Spartans and get them up and about, the rest period was good and they seemed to have had enough time to get ready.
Linda was helping attach some of the new gear they had received from the venerators and the armoury, the MKI-Vindicator armour smugly sat in place of his old MK-IV MJOLNIR and was much lighter, though not to deceive the armour was stronger than it looked, he had gotten used to the colour being standard blue with azure lining.
Though Ash, Olivia and Mark were not as happy with the sudden redesign of their armour, they had a habit of having armour that was built for stealth rather than combat, the armour they were given were MKI-Marauders, the armour matched the standard blue and azure as did Fred, but they had a problem with the armour being strangely less thick than his SPI, though they were reassured the suit was much more capable than SPI.
Linda and Kelly were both outfitted with the same armour, MKI-Ranger armour, it was lighter and more suitable for rapid recon and scouting as well as stealth, both were updated with cloaking and jammers, but to everyone's surprise both were blue as well.
The Katana team was the only ones who had armour that was more based for combat, and it did not have blue, their armour was black and deep red, and all had the same armour, the MKIII-Redeemer as it was called was worn by the regulars of the venerators and was the only armour left that was their sizes, though it looked more bulky than the vindicator, the suit covered the entire body, advanced armour was placed at the joints to reduce damage, and their visor was actually a combat mask with two eye slits.
But without complaint the Spartans quickly adjusted to their new armour and received a few upgrades for themselves, blue team did receive combat adaptations for their suits, excluding Linda and Kelly, with standard shield boosters and CQB knives and daggers inbuilt into their suits.
Katana did not receive any kind of upgrade because they were short on time, though only enhanced speed boost for them to run about and get about.
Tanya materialised on a display on the wall to brief the Spartans.
"Arriving in orbit, surface scans show evidence of a shipwreck meeting quarian design specifications; I have compared the ship designs from my investigation into their extranet. Identity of ship unknown, number of life signs detected in vicinity uncertain. Local wildlife may interfere with accuracy of biological scan."
Fred was the first to ask. "So no ideas how far we're to land?"
"Approximately 150m from the crash there is a clearing and possibly a camp." She said.
Ash was the one to ask out of curiosity. "What about these quarians, can we trust they won't shoot at us?"
Tanya replied. "My investigation into the quarian people show no hostilities unless to defend themselves and their people."
"So, play nice, will you." She said.
With this the teams set into their designated pelicans, and set themselves for planetary insertion.
XXXXX
5:50 Alpha LZ
Blue team felt the ride down on to the planet, the rough EM fields had at first scrambled a part of their gear but once they had gotten to the ground it was relatively simple, Fred ordered for a standard search pattern of 2x3 and moved towards the campsite of the quarians.
Katana were deployed north from where blue team were and moved quickly down form their landing zone and moved to meet them in the clearing ahead of the campsite.
XXXXX
Fred and blue team had arrived at the campsite, it was not to their surprise to find it abandoned, there was a few faint traces of what seemed like a struggle, large patches of the ground had marks of three toes but Linda found another few sets that did not belong, like a normal shoe print that led away from specific areas.
"Looks like someone may have gotten here sooner than we thought." She said searching the data logs and computers around the camp.
"Agreed, but we can't leave yet, we have our orders to locate and confirm at least." Fred said.
Kelly placed her hand on one of the intact computers, or what looked like one, the screen started glowing orange before some text appeared. The language was alien and she couldn't really get the gist of using her in built translator, she pressed a few buttons that Tanya had told them to so it would begin.
A few moments later and the text on her HUD read out what the quarians had left.
-Crew Log-
Commander Unare'vael vas Idenna
-We have arrived in system over a week before but we doubt there is any chance we can escape off this forsaken rock, the pirates that attacked us are hopefully gone, but that is also in doubt, though we wait here for rescue something has gone wrong, there were five teams sent out to scout for some water and one did not return and I fear the worst.
-Middle entry
We have been unsuccessful in recovering the team and my suspicions are growing, there are strange noises reported along the north and the scout team sent did not report back, I hope that the flotilla will find us soon because someone else already has.
-Last entry
Damn… we should have known the… would not… find us, I can only hope that this record reaches the flotilla… damn they have found the camp I must leave…
"Upon the path I walk the endless seas of stars I shall return to where I came. The ground is broken and held up high upon endless gusts, the path to the light is nearby."
-
Kelly pulled herself from the screen, Fred asked. "Did you find anything?"
"Just this thing and a very good riddle with it, sir."
Blue team checked the logs, they were surprised to hear that something was just north of their position, and that Katana team was heading right on top of it.
"We need to get to this survivor and contact Katana."
Kelly said. "So we split up?"
"Looks like it."
"Ash, Olivia and Mark you will go looking for the survivor and Linda you'll be in charge, me and Kelly will move towards Katana and meet them at the rendezvous point, hopefully undetected."
"Sir yes sir."
The Spartans quickly went to their designated objectives.
XXXXX
Katana were only a few hundred more meters from the RP and were noticing some interesting sights, the grounds in which their clearing was, was made by hand not naturally and there was some structures a bit north east from their current location, that meant that there was more than just a crashed ship.
Katana stopped less than 100 meters, Liam G114 as the leader stopped the team.
"Something is wrong; the area ahead is the rendezvous point but, there are multiple structures not far from there and strange artificial adjustments, someone was already here."
The team was never suspecting that they were being watched.
XXXXX
(SORRY)
I didn't have the time to complete this but we will be back on Monday or Sunday.
To all of revelation fans hope you like this one.

Description
CH8
16/1/2554
7:35
The Aspire came rushing out of slip-space, the run from Amphora had been complete and the mission to recover the artefact out of the turians hands, but the cost came at Rey and most of the remaining venerators were none too happy for their brother's predicament.
The Spartans knew what it felt like to lose team mates, or family, but they had a job to do, and they had to do it before anything else. But the venerators were different and more so in attitude and action.
"Damn it, why can't we get him back?" Grey said in a harsh growl.
"Because the colonies come before family and that means Rey, if he is alive or dead we couldn't retrieve him, we don't have the necessary people or gear to…" Karl was interrupted.
"DAMN it Karl we don't just leave brothers to die and you know it, we have to at least pass our tag's back in before we die."
The two venerators were arguing over the sense of family and duty, the Spartans had never had to deal with such things, but they could understand their uneasy behaviour.
The teams had returned to the Aspire and recovered more than just an artefact, they had retrieved a memory module of the Forerunners and new data. The ONI spooks back on earth would like to get their hands on the data, but the Aspire was well out of reach, now with Spartan II and III on the ship the crew was getting tense, not because of the Spartan but because they were now in unknown territory.
Fred and the Spartans moved along to let the venerators to come to an agreement, now walking down the ship Fred and the other Spartans managed to get a better look at the advancements since their time.
The corridors were slightly larger for personnel to reach their posts, and the rooms of each section of the ship seemed more organised and more tactically efficient, the walls had reinforced bridges that connect just above their heads, capable of withstanding more punishment.
The Spartans also noted the change in the ships schematics and colouring, the new frigate had adapted black and dull silver or grey, the walls also had some kind of deployable metal shields at specific points most probably to reduce issues with boarders.
As the team moved down to the barracks they had an interesting taste of what the colonists of Nova Stratus were like, the mixing and mingling of different individuals, the different demeanour that they had and the fact that there were soldiers dressed in black and red with a wolfs head symbol on their clothes with a motto attached.
'Aim for their throats.'
But the most intriguing thing to the Spartans were, the soldiers and technicians were all young, and this was proven when they noted the teenager field stripping a MA5C rifle with modifications down and redoing it within less than 2 minutes.
These soldiers had proven themselves already to the Spartans, with large amounts of weapons at their disposal and vehicles it was just like a UNSC frigate but with everyone older now somehow young.
The Spartans eventually reached the end of their tour after looking at the new fighters in the hangar bay and the new shields and engines, the Spartans couldn't have believed such things were possible and just ignored by the whole time by the UNSC.
Well in any case they were glad to have the colonists and venerators on their side.
XXXXX
Dr Valerie's office 09:23
Halsey had finished her introduction to the ship and her meeting with Captain Graves, but there was something that had gotten to her during the meeting, the lack of age the man had or the fact the ship was this far out.
It made some sense but to her it felt like ONI was keeping different parts out, the mission had been to secure data on the Forerunners, as simple as it was, and the identification of these aliens.
But something was off; the ship was a stealth frigate, not a prowler or a simple research vessel but a fully armed frigate with hundreds of soldiers and specialists, including Spartan types, which to her surprise were called venerators.
The venerators were sent only in necessity, and this seemed interestingly more than just an exercise, the whole thing seemed more and more like they had predicted some outcomes and were willing to sacrifice soldiers if need be.
'These venerators were used in the Nova Stratus campaign but only a few things are ever mentioned in the records, who ever let them be known was covering their tracks well.'
The door opened revealing a tired Dr Valerie who had finished her report on the Forerunner data core.
"Sorry for the lateness, I got caught up deciphering something's manually and you know…"
She yawned and lazily set her coat on the chair behind Halsey and set to get into bed.
"Wake me when you need me…" She said as she dozed off.
Halsey noticed the humour of the situation.
'Doctors getting lazy and professors getting paranoid, my we must have sure changed.'
XXXXX
Bridge 9:35
Graves had gone over Dr Halsey's report on the micro Dyson sphere, though it gave new insight into the Forerunners it didn't provide details or specifics, but the bright side to this would be of the return of Halsey herself.
Though ONI would have her questioned for the next few weeks when they got back, the Spartan II and III were getting acquainted with the crew, though the argument down in the hangar with Grey and Karl had been of concern.
The Venerators were trained to have each other's back until death, and if they were left behind or left to die, they at least gave in their memory tags. These tags were capable of storing the life memory of each Venerator and when they die it is supposed to be placed into a type of secure system called 'Memory' though no one but the recovery units know of what it actually is, and they of course are part of a separate division which resides on a Forerunner world called Tertiary.
The venerators have never lost these memory tags, and only the few which were are considered at the highest of honours, but to lose a memory tag to an enemy is a fate to them far worse than death.
Graves looked about at his old pictures of the war with the covenant and how he had so many friends and brothers in arms, he could remember them all, but the same thing applies for the venerators, though it was worse to them to lose brothers.
Tanya popped up, her demeanour remaining calm and serene as usual.
"Sir, I have intercepted a distress beacon." She reported.
"Where is it located?" He said.
"Not too far in system sir, the ship does not match the turian vessel designs, and from what I can tell is in high danger, though the decision is yours."
He thought about helping some locals, but this might attract some attention.
"Has anybody responded yet?"
"No sir, the planet has a high EM field and scans cannot penetrate either than the signal, I have noted due to this only ships within system can respond and there are none within reach."
Graves had no hate for these aliens and if there was a chance to at least get an understanding from someone, it was probably best to ask the locals.
"Fine, Tanya get us on that signal but keep an eye out for other ships, any reach the system we pull out."
"Aye sir, who should we call in for this mission?"
"The venerators had enough, maybe you should ask the Spartans, but this is if they're up to it and have 343rd prep just in case."
With this Graves dismissed Tanya.
XXXXX
17/1/2554
5:15
The Aspire arrived to the uncharted planet; its glowing orange and brown surface hazed the view on the window. Fred and blue along with Katana were preparing for a search and rescue mission for some locals, mainly this was just to test the Spartans and get them up and about, the rest period was good and they seemed to have had enough time to get ready.
Linda was helping attach some of the new gear they had received from the venerators and the armoury, the MKI-Vindicator armour smugly sat in place of his old MK-IV MJOLNIR and was much lighter, though not to deceive the armour was stronger than it looked, he had gotten used to the colour being standard blue with azure lining.
Though Ash, Olivia and Mark were not as happy with the sudden redesign of their armour, they had a habit of having armour that was built for stealth rather than combat, the armour they were given were MKI-Marauders, the armour matched the standard blue and azure as did Fred, but they had a problem with the armour being strangely less thick than his SPI, though they were reassured the suit was much more capable than SPI.
Linda and Kelly were both outfitted with the same armour, MKI-Ranger armour, it was lighter and more suitable for rapid recon and scouting as well as stealth, both were updated with cloaking and jammers, but to everyone's surprise both were blue as well.
The Katana team was the only ones who had armour that was more based for combat, and it did not have blue, their armour was black and deep red, and all had the same armour, the MKIII-Redeemer as it was called was worn by the regulars of the venerators and was the only armour left that was their sizes, though it looked more bulky than the vindicator, the suit covered the entire body, advanced armour was placed at the joints to reduce damage, and their visor was actually a combat mask with two eye slits.
But without complaint the Spartans quickly adjusted to their new armour and received a few upgrades for themselves, blue team did receive combat adaptations for their suits, excluding Linda and Kelly, with standard shield boosters and CQB knives and daggers inbuilt into their suits.
Katana did not receive any kind of upgrade because they were short on time, though only enhanced speed boost for them to run about and get about.
Tanya materialised on a display on the wall to brief the Spartans.
"Arriving in orbit, surface scans show evidence of a shipwreck meeting quarian design specifications; I have compared the ship designs from my investigation into their extranet. Identity of ship unknown, number of life signs detected in vicinity uncertain. Local wildlife may interfere with accuracy of biological scan."
Fred was the first to ask. "So no ideas how far we're to land?"
"Approximately 150m from the crash there is a clearing and possibly a camp." She said.
Ash was the one to ask out of curiosity. "What about these quarians, can we trust they won't shoot at us?"
Tanya replied. "My investigation into the quarian people show no hostilities unless to defend themselves and their people."
"So, play nice, will you." She said.
With this the teams set into their designated pelicans, and set themselves for planetary insertion.
XXXXX
5:50 Alpha LZ
Blue team felt the ride down on to the planet, the rough EM fields had at first scrambled a part of their gear but once they had gotten to the ground it was relatively simple, Fred ordered for a standard search pattern of 2x3 and moved towards the campsite of the quarians.
Katana were deployed north from where blue team were and moved quickly down form their landing zone and moved to meet them in the clearing ahead of the campsite.
XXXXX
Fred and blue team had arrived at the campsite, it was not to their surprise to find it abandoned, there was a few faint traces of what seemed like a struggle, large patches of the ground had marks of three toes but Linda found another few sets that did not belong, like a normal shoe print that led away from specific areas.
"Looks like someone may have gotten here sooner than we thought." She said searching the data logs and computers around the camp.
"Agreed, but we can't leave yet, we have our orders to locate and confirm at least." Fred said.
Kelly placed her hand on one of the intact computers, or what looked like one, the screen started glowing orange before some text appeared. The language was alien and she couldn't really get the gist of using her in built translator, she pressed a few buttons that Tanya had told them to so it would begin.
A few moments later and the text on her HUD read out what the quarians had left.
-Crew Log-
Commander Unare'vael vas Idenna
-We have arrived in system over a week before but we doubt there is any chance we can escape off this forsaken rock, the pirates that attacked us are hopefully gone, but that is also in doubt, though we wait here for rescue something has gone wrong, there were five teams sent out to scout for some water and one did not return and I fear the worst.
-Middle entry
We have been unsuccessful in recovering the team and my suspicions are growing, there are strange noises reported along the north and the scout team sent did not report back, I hope that the flotilla will find us soon because someone else already has.
-Last entry
Damn… we should have known the… would not… find us, I can only hope that this record reaches the flotilla… damn they have found the camp I must leave…
"Upon the path I walk the endless seas of stars I shall return to where I came. The ground is broken and held up high upon endless gusts, the path to the light is nearby."
-
Kelly pulled herself from the screen, Fred asked. "Did you find anything?"
"Just this thing and a very good riddle with it, sir."
Blue team checked the logs, they were surprised to hear that something was just north of their position, and that Katana team was heading right on top of it.
"We need to get to this survivor and contact Katana."
Kelly said. "So we split up?"
"Looks like it."
"Ash, Olivia and Mark you will go looking for the survivor and Linda you'll be in charge, me and Kelly will move towards Katana and meet them at the rendezvous point, hopefully undetected."
"Sir yes sir."
The Spartans quickly went to their designated objectives.
XXXXX
Katana were only a few hundred more meters from the RP and were noticing some interesting sights, the grounds in which their clearing was, was made by hand not naturally and there was some structures a bit north east from their current location, that meant that there was more than just a crashed ship.
Katana stopped less than 100 meters, Liam G114 as the leader stopped the team.
"Something is wrong; the area ahead is the rendezvous point but, there are multiple structures not far from there and strange artificial adjustments, someone was already here."
The team was never suspecting that they were being watched.
XXXXX
(SORRY)
I didn't have the time to complete this but we will be back on Monday or Sunday.
To all of revelation fans hope you like this one.