Chapter 9: TBD

"Xion..."
The AI grimaced. "No time for you two to attempt a tryst. Armor up with the others. I'm contacting Arzenchel to tell Commodore D'Aramis the change in plans. Captain James has been notifed; Captains D'Aramis, Ikezawa, and Ramius about the situation."
"Why are we believing them?" Rika frowned.
"Aurore asked the same."
"Captain D'Aramis takes after her brother." Sora said.

The two Spartans raced odf the bridge without further ado. Xion turned away. She had been Lelouch D'Aramis' AI, and carried his authority.
No matter.
Rising Dawn's engines warmed. She sprang alive...ready to do something stupid.
Just another day for Priest Team.

(Hans)
Hmm, well continue operations for now. For now you still have the destroyer providing over-watch, though I want you back at the Graveyard soon. We're going to need you here more than out there.

(Harris)
Understood sir. I'll make sure our forces here have the site locked down then I'll head back. What's the status on the other sites?

(Hans)
Cynos has been locked down, though our troops encountered problems with the local wildlife. Demophon reports that their surveillance system will soon be able to track movements around the Haven system though they admit it won't be a 100% accurate at their range. Reports of the same caliber are coming in from the other two sites as well.

==XAS Candlelight==

=The 'captain' of the Candlelight sent one final message to Haven=

Code:

You have done us a great service, 'Haven'. If we may be of assistance to you, we would be honored to aid. We are in your debt.

--Haven--

(Jason)
=The message from the XAS Candlelight was routed to me, and despite everything that was going on, it brightened my day, just a little, to know I helped out a group of strangers. I decided I might as well send a message of my own=

Code:

Glad to help out, but assistance is not needed. Once repairs are done you are free to leave the system.

=A reply came not long after=

Code:

Where do you suggest we go? Our home burns.

(Jason)

Code:

While I cannot think of a safe harbor for you, my world faces problems of its own and I do not want you caught in the crossfire in a war that is not yours.

=The reply this time was swift=

Code:

A war..?

=There was a delay=

Code:

We are born Warriors. We would be honored to aid you, if you would allow it.

(Jason)

Code:

I appreciate the offer, but as I said this war is not yours. To allow you to fight in it when you have no real reason to, would be irresponsible of me as a leader and a betrayal of who I am.

=The reply came again with quickness=

Code:

Very well...

=There was a slight pause before a familliar metallic voice finished the sentance. The voice of one that some would call a Monster, others a Patriot=

Code:

...Shepard.

(Jason)

Code:

Wait, how do you know who I am? And that voice....Delta, are you alive? Is that really you? Because if so, then Alpha is here, and she needs medicine. Your medicine.

(Punikav)
=we all went to the hangar, ready to start this mission and get things back to the way they were=

=The reply came swiftly again=

Code:

What are Delta and Alpha? The voice is merely a usage of what little is stored in our memory to identify you, Haven.

we we're all here get in the group pods and get ready to drop people

=gets into his designated spot and waits for others to get to theirs=

(Jason)
=Hopes corpse went through some post mortem twitching=

Code:

Then they are truly gone for good. All that is left are ghosts. I'm sorry for the confusion then.

I run up into the pod, click myself and wait.

=A reply came shortly after, but there was a greater delay this time=

Code:

Who are '[i]they[/i]'?

(Deniv)
=we go to our pods and strap in, making sure our weapons are all ready=

(Jason)

Code:

Those known as the XNNO's. They were.....a troubled race, but strong and proud. Among them was one that I considered....not a friend, but a peer. An equal. And it would seem he is gone.

Code:

We are sorry for you, Haven...

(Jason)

Code:

Thank you, but it is nothing more than a recent wound that I have trouble closing. And my responsibilities are of more import than my wounds.

==Trophaeum==

=Feyd and his squad get into their positions and prepare to drop. Feyd opened comms=

Awaiting the order, Captain.

William also took a place in a pod, not sure if there was one designated for him or not.
He gave a thumbs up, saying he was good to go.

=While the kamikaze Sentinels were being built, the new refits for the ships began. To make sure the planet still maintained a security force, only two ships at a time were brought in to dry dock for the refits. New reactors, and the shield emitters, were installed, though the process would take the better half of a day. At the same time, a frigate was brought in to the Refugee Camp, to pick up the prisoner, as it had been decided that since he was still an operative of ONI, it would be better to return their man alive as opposed to dead=

Soon after the UNSC troops got into their pods, I see that the Spartan II gets in his.
"I guess we're all ready?"

=Feyd got onto the comms=

Whenever you are.

(Jason)
=I figured that the conversation was now over, so I closed the channel between me and the new arrivals. Once I was free of that conversation, I turned my attention to a rather pressing matter; the ONI operative. Medical scans had come back bearing striking similarities to my own physiology. He bore the same augmentations I had, which meant one thing- he was a Spartan. Well that was just great, and it made me glad to be sending him back home. I may not like it, but the UNSC needed every living Spartan they could get their hands on (present company excluded). Making my way back to my office, I sat down behind the desk, and sent a message to Parangosky, bringing her up to speed=

Code:

Parangosky-

I intercepted one of your Spartans smuggled onto my world among the refugees you sent here. Rest assured, I haven't killed him nor am I really seeking any form of recompense. I am simply sending him back to you, in chains, aboard one of my frigates which will drop him off at the nearest colony to Haven that is still alive [coordinates enclosed].

Hoping you are well, and still conniving,
                                 
--Admiral Shepard

=looks as everyone gets into their pods which promptly shut and spin into place with a 60 second timer beginning=

ok people only gonna tell you this once so listen up, once your pod slams into the rebel base you will have 2 minutes before it is swarmed by rebels

"Yes sir."
I fidget in my pod, I never really liked these.

(Jason)
=Once the message was sent, I gave the official order for the Spartan to be transported onto the frigate and shipped offworld. The sooner he was away from here the better, because I needed to focus. Right now, I was waiting on updates from the scouting groups out in the Haystack. They're next report was due in about 15 minutes actually=


--Outskirts of Algol System, Midnight Class Prowler, Run Silent--

=Captain Donnell stood on the bridge of the small prowler, Run Silent, watching the digital displays of his crew. His prime concern was the long range scans. Almost an hour ago, they detected a signal on one of the planets in the system, a desert planet the navigational archives had pegged as "Adachi." What was odd though was that they had arrived in the system 24 hours ago, and there hadn't been a single blip. Donnell had given the order for the ship to move closer and investigate, believing it to be a Reclaimer signal. It wasn't long though before long range scans confirmed this suspicion, showing energy signatures, radio signals. There was a base down there=

(Deniv)
And why are we using these pods and not a safer one that doesn't guarentee our death if something goes wrong?

(Burk)
And if someone get's trapped in the pod after it lands? It's a death sentence.

=Once it was confirmed, the Run Silent sent a message back to Haven. In the meantime, they chose to remain in system and maintain observation=


--Haven--

=A number of things happened, relatively within the same time. Caesar, the Spartan, was wheeled out of the Hospital, still attached to the bed. From there, it was a small trip onto a transport to a frigate, and he was soon on his way back to UNSC space. At the refugee camp, the lockdown was lifted and civilians were free to move about. And a message was received through Alpha Bases's Long Range communication array, from a prowler out in the Haystack. A message that was then relayed to the Admiral=

=remembers something=

oh btw if your door does not open it means you ended it facing a wall so just kick it open

(Jason)
=I was just about to head back to the Serenity to rest, when a message came through. Stifling a groan, I sat back down and opened the message. Whatever weariness I felt though, was immediately washed away when I saw the implications of the message=
So....we've found another base. And by the looks of things, bigger than the last one.

=I was unsure of what to do. Last time we found a base, I sent in Alpha Team and that had turned into a trap that they barely escaped. And by the look of the telemetry, the base was significantly bigger than the GESTR facility, and there was a warship in orbit this time. No doubt there would be a group of ships waiting nearby if the planet came under attack. So the question was, what was the safest course of action? That was when the voice, Starfilled, spoke inside my head=

*Starfilled*
Plan your attack, prepare your forces. Only fools rush into an early grave.

(Jason)
I thought you were just a Builder. Not a Warrior-Servant.

*Starfilled*
During the war, many things changed.

(Burk)
=i radioed the others=
Kick open a door? While it's facing a wall, and in a pod designed to stay shut as it falls through space? Are we really trusting him?

(Punikav)
For now we are, at least until we get Dormii back.

(Jason)
Well then, let's get to it.
=Thumbing a small button on the desk, I contacted Silver Light=

Silver, where are we on our mechanized division?
='Mechanized Division' was the term we used for the Sentinels built mainly for off-world, ground deployment. We didn't have any tanks, and it was actually cheaper to just use the Sentinels, and even adapt their designs=

(Silver Light)
We currently have precisely 300 Mortar variant Sentinels ready for transport and active combat.

(Jason)
Only 300? We had a month to build these things with the foundries here.

(Silver Light)
Correct, but the foundries were programmed to create the standard variants only. Working the new designs into their memory banks and adjusting the assembly lines to properly create these variants took up more time than expected. So, we currently have 300 mortar variants.

(Jason)
=I made a grunting sound, annoyed at the facts=
It'll have to do. Have transports load them up and bring them up to the Hyperion, and the destroyers Stalwart and Unyielding. They're to form a battlegroup with the frigates Dresden, Phoenix, and Olev. I want soldiers from Alpha, Beta, and Gamma bases prepped by tomorrow. I'll distribute orders myself by the end of tomorrow. And I want the heads of each base to meet me on vid-call. We'll devise a plan of attack from there

(Silver Light)
Orders sent.

James sighed as he heard what was said... "Let's just get started ok? We have armor and AI's to recover after all don't we?"

=The XAS Candlelight had jumped to Slipspace and headed away from Haven. While in slipspace, they encountered a new problem with their small ship and had to exit. The ship's power was failing due to a previously undetected problem with the main generator. Slowly, they began drifting towards another planet, not wanting to expend what unknown amount of energy they had left on the Engines=

=the timer hits zero and the pods drop and begin the descent to the base=

William grab hold of two of the handle bars as the pod dropped out of the large ship.
Never did like this.

(Jason)
=For the record, planning a strategy for a planetary invasion over video link was very weird for me. hen again, it was probably because it was my first time doing such a thing. Let's review the timeline of my life: Black Ops soldier, rogue Spartan, political leader, and only recently a military commander in an active war. Before now I had no real experience in devising tactics for entire armies or how to take a planet. So this was a learning experience for me=

Alright, here's what we know right now. About an hour ago, one of the three Midnight Prowlers we sent out, came across a signal on the surface of a desert planet that only recently has been identified as Adachi, courtesy of the Archives. We're still learning more about this place so the name and atmosphere details are all we've got for now. Upon closer examination with their instruments, the Run Silent discovered energy readings and radio transmissions much larger than the GESTR facility we found on Waltari. They suggest that we have found a Reclaimer base, though to get any closer for more info would mean putting them closer to the destroyer in orbit over the planet, and that ship wasn't detected until it came from the other side of Adachi.

=I calmly looked from screen to screen, examining the stoic expressions of each base commander=

We need to assume that there is a significant Reclaimer presence on Adachi, and that more ships will be on their way. As such, orders have already been sent for a battlegroup to be formed and soldiers from each base to gather within. Right now, our goal is to create an effective strategy for our forces to follow.

*Beta Commander*
What do we know about the surface of Adachi? What's the topography of the area the base is located in?

(Jason)
We don't know yet. Run Silent's last message said they were working on a way of getting closer without alerting the destroyer, so they could be a while.

James felt his stomach lurch up into his throat and let out a whoop of surprise...he hadn't been in a drop pod since before he went into that broken cryo pod and he didn't really like the feeling of it so far...he gripped his shotgun tight and was ready to get out when he felt the pod slam into the ground. "Ok...lets do this......"

(Deniv)
=we felt the pods hit, and knocked the doors open. Our suits recognized the low atmosphere and switched to internal. We were spread out a bit but there were some rocks here and there, that we could use for cover should anyone come looking. The ice gave everything a surreal look to it, as it reflected all sorts of things. Light, darkness, other ice, our suits. It made it all look like a dream. I kept my rifle ready, with an SMG on my hip, and started to head towards the base. The auto turrets opened fire as we got closer, and we ducked behind some rocks as the bullets lashed out. I commed Simile=
Pair, were these motion sensitive?

"Affirmative."

Dammit.

"Hey, Pair, think you can take them out?"

"Only if 'Splosions gives me some of his grenades."

"I can do that. Head to my position, I'm pinned."

=my HUD showed Simile cloaking and moving towards Punikav, avoiding any open spots just in case the turrets were sensitive enough to detect cloaking flicker=

=is staying back covering the squads's rear when he hears the turrets and takes cover just incase and comms them=

what's going on people

(Burk)
=i reply=
Auto turrets.

*Gamma Commander*
Well, our first order of business is going to be orbital forces. From the scans we know there's the one destroyer but chances are that will change as the invasion continues. What are our possible scenarios?

(Jason)
Well I'm hoping their Fortress Vessel won't make an appearance. If it's just a battlegroup than we'll at least be on even footing.
=I tapped a button, and a simulation played out=

I suggest we move into orbit over the area, and try and maintain dominance over this sector here. It'll be too much of a hassle to try and take the sector directly over their base especially given we don't know what sort of defenses they have. Now while our ships deal with theirs, our ground forces will deploy and land 20 km away from their base and establish a Forward Operating Base.

*Alpha Commander*
And while they set up the base, I suggest we use either Sentinels or free dropships for aerial recon so we can get an idea of the terrain. How long until after the F.O.B. is set up before our forces move in.

(Jason)
Our forces move in 2 hours after the base is set up and secured.