Editing Veta Lopis (section)

===ONI career===
[[File:Veta SPI.png|thumb|250px|Lopis, in [[SPI armor]], on the surface of [[Meridian]] alongside Castor.]]
In the following months, Lopis, Ash, Olivia, and Mark underwent an extensive ONI training regimen, with Veta's training including twice-weekly close-assault drills to prepare her for intense combat. During this time, they visited multiple [[Human colonies|colonies]], rarely staying in one place for long; at one point they were stationed on [[Jastolo]].{{Ref/Reuse|ant}} They primarily operated out of the ONI reservation known as the [[Mill]].{{Ref/Twitter|TDenningauthor|895332266074820608|Troy Denning|Y=2020|M=10|D=29}}{{Ref/Anthology|Id=ant|Fra|Story=A Necessary Truth}} Lopis was given the rank of [[Lieutenant]].{{Ref/Reuse|DWEpilogue}}

====Neos Atlantis====
On [[2553#October|October 14, 2553]], the Ferret Team participated in a training exercise against [[Oscar Squad]] at [[UNSC Recreational Facility 6055-NA-A]] on [[Neos Atlantis]], during which Lopis operated under the cover identity of a UNSC [[major]] named Keely. While Lopis was overseeing her subordinates in the [[officers' club]], Olivia was approached by the unscrupulous journalist [[Spencer Hume]], who laced Olivia's [[zantelle]] with [[nicothiotal]] in an attempt to coax her into revealing classified information about the [[SPARTAN-III program]]. Upon realizing Olivia had been drugged, Lopis ordered Ash and Mark into action. A server who had sold Lopis a drink earlier attempted to stop Mark, only to be knocked down. While Mark seized Hume, Lopis encountered Oscar Squad's [[Svenson|Commander Svenson]]. Thinking him responsible for drugging Olivia, Lopis incapacitated the man with a kidney punch. Announcing that she and her team were from [[FLEETCOM]]'s [[Criminal Investigation Division]], she ordered two [[ensign]]s to hold the server who had attempted to obstruct Mark. Lopis then escorted Olivia back into the Halsey Suite, which the team was using as a safe house, and administered a counteragent to the nicothiotal.{{Ref/Reuse|ant}}

Mark and Ash returned to the Halsey Suite shortly after, with Mark having been attacked on the way by the server from the club. Before Mark and Ash could fully explain what had happened, they were joined by Admiral Osman, accompanied by Commander Svenson, who claimed to have witnessed Mark and Ash carrying a body and demanded an explanation. A brief argument ensued between Lopis, Svenson and Osman, with Lopis firmly maintaining her team had done nothing wrong. The admiral then left the suite, giving the Ferret Team two hours to resolve the situation. Ash and Mark explained what had happened—Mark had accidentally killed Hume when he was attacked and the two had disposed of the body afterward. After Hume's identity was discovered, Olivia used ONI's [[Facial Recognition Database]] to identify Mark's assailant as a former ONI commander named [[Ota Gallo]], now working for the private security company [[Dark Moon Enterprises]], which was attempting to undermine ONI by leaking classified information to the public. Attempting to recover Hume's belongings, now in the Ferret Team's possession, Gallo and two of her henchmen stormed the Halsey Suite soon after. The Ferrets managed to eliminate the attackers after a brief firefight.{{Ref/Reuse|ant}}

As the team proceeded to evacuate, Admiral Osman returned to the suite with an [[ONI Security|armed escort]]. The admiral claimed Hume's personal effects and asked Lopis what had really happened to Hume. Lopis lied that Gallo killed Hume after the reporter was planning to name her as his source. While visibly incredulous, Osman was apparently satisfied with the explanation.{{Ref/Reuse|ant}}

====Operation: RETRIBUTION====
{{Main|Operation: RETRIBUTION}}
=====Assassination of Admiral Tuwa=====
On [[2553#December|December 4th, 2553]], Lopis and the Ferrets recalled during the final weeks of their ONI training to the [[Tisiphone system]] by Osman. They were asked to investigate the ''[[UNSC Donoma]]'', a [[UNSC schooner#UNSC Passenger Schooner|passenger schooner]] that was transporting UNSC Admiral [[Graselyn Tuwa]] and her family to [[Nephis]] for a family gathering. The vessel was attacked and boarded, leading to the assassination of Tuwa and the abduction of her husband [[Kerbasi Tuwa|Kerbasi]] and her children [[Catalin Tuwa|Catalin]] and [[Yuso Tuwa|Yuso]]. While Osman initially suspected [[Banished]] involvement, Lopis's initial investigation pointed to the [[Keepers of the One Freedom]] as the perpetrators. With this lead, Osman activated the Ferrets and [[Blue Team]] to track down the Keepers and try to recover the Tuwas alive. {{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC2|Ret|Chapter=2}}

Knowing that the Keepers were trying to acquire nuclear weapons, ONI set up an elaborate scenario to draw them out and locate their base of operations. They fabricated reports of an attack on the ''[[UNSC Taulanti]]'', a munitions ship, in the [[Isbanola sector]], where the raiders supposedly attacked with a heavily modified [[S77 Crow]] and made out with [[Argent V missile]]s, [[M68 Gauss cannon|Gauss cannons]], and [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon]]s. Lopis and the Ferrets then posed as these pirates on [[Venezia]]. They centered their plan around the [[Trattoria Georgi]], a restaurant in [[New Tyne]] that Keeper spies and smugglers were known to frequent. There, Lopis approached [[Ross Nyeto]], a Gao gunrunner who had aided the Keepers and [[Arlo Casille]] during Operation: JOVIAN WHISTLE. She convinced him that her crew had attacked the ''Taulanti'' and offered to pay him [[Boson bead]]s in exchange for passaged off world, mentioning the HAVOKs within earshot of two Keeper Kig-Yar. Blue Team then moved in on the restaurant, with Linda in position outside and Fred and Kelly rapidly approaching on [[M121 Jackrabbit]]s. The plan was for the Ferrets to escape in the chaos of the planned gunfight, but this was complicated by the restaurant's owner [[Georgi Baklanov]], a prominent Venezian businessman who intended to hand over the supposed pirates to the Spartans. Lopis's team was therefore unable to extract cleanly, with Olivia and Mark injured in the clash with Blue Team, who apprehended Nyeto and killed everyone else left in the building. {{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC1|Ret|Chapter=1}}

As they fled from the gunfight, Lopis and the Ferrets were picked up in a minivan by [[Chur'R]]-[[Sarch]], a Kig-Yar ship commander allied with the Keepers. She drove them to the spaceport and boarded the ''[[Stolen Faith]]'', a [[Mudoat starsloop]] of the [[Rach]] clan. There, Lopis and Sarch agreed on transport to [[Shamsa]] for a supposed deal with the Banished, though the Ferrets assumed the Kig-Yar would try to keep the nukes for themselves and deliver them to the Keeper base.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC3|Ret|Chapter=3}} They did exactly that, dropping out of slipspace near the gas giant [[Pydoryn]] in the [[Shaps system]] and tried to kill the humans with [[Ostanalus|ostanalus]] gas out of an abundance of caution. The Ferrets anticipated this and removed the gas canisters prior to this point. They then neutralized the crew and identified the location of the Keeper's [[Salvation Base]] on the moon of [[Taram]]. They realized that a Keeper boarding party was on their way to intercept them and prepared for the encounter, reconnecting the ostanalus back up to the ventilation system while relaying their position to Osman and Blue Team on the [[Sahara-class heavy prowler]] ''[[UNSC Silent Joe]]''.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC6|Ret|Chapter=6}} The Ferrets eliminated several members of the boarding party when they entered the ''Stolen Faith'' before appearing to relent, agreeing to travel down to Salvation Base and discuss their cover story of selling the nukes to the Banished.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC7|Ret|Chapter=7}}

=====Assault on Salvation Base=====
After landing in a secluded corner of Salvation Base's spaceport, the Ferrets detonated the ostanalus and neutralized their captors while disembarking from the ''Stolen Faith''. Knowing they had to buy time until the ''Silent Joe'' arrived in system, Lopis and Mark set off to locate the Tuwas while Ash and Olivia attempted to delay and misdirect the Keeper response to them. They located the bases detention center in a nearby [[Suluhu Contemplarium|grotto]] and entered the facility, not realizing the structure employed a [[Slipspace bubble|time differential field]] and bestowed a calming effect on individuals within it.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC8|Ret|Chapter=8}} In a relatively short period that amounted to several hours outside of the field, Lopis and Mark moved through the prison, witnessing about a dozen other hostages and encountering but not engaging a team of [[Dark Moon Enterprises|Dark Moon]] operatives that were departing. They proceeded on until the found the bodies of the Tuwas, whose organs were harvested for their unique immunity to the [[Asteroidea merozoite|asteroidea merozoite]] disease.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC12|Ret|Chapter=12}} This was a part of [[Intrepid Eye]]'s plan to purify the human race so they would be able to assume the [[Mantle|Mantle of Responsibility]], using the disease to wipe out humans she deemed unfit to rule. She required the antibodies to administer to her "worthy" humans.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC21|Ret|Chapter=21}} Their corpses were planted in Salvation Base to frame the Keepers for their murders.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC17|Ret|Chapter=17}} Lopis was able to recognize this ruse based on inconsistencies with the state of the Tuwas and cell they were left in. She and Mark recovered the bodies and moved to leave the facility, reuniting with Ash before reaching the exit.{{Ref/Reuse|RETC12}}

They emerged from the time differential field into a firefight between the Keepers, the Dark Moon operatives, and Olivia on board the Dark Moon operative's [[Turaco]] reconnaissance craft. The Ferrets immobilized two of the operatives with shots to the arms and legs as they were attempting to make it back to their ship and disabled the Turaco's [[Laser]] cannon, which was taken over by the Dark Moon AI [[Argie]] to try and prevent the company's operatives from being captured. Blue Team, having crash landed in an [[D102 Owl]] insertion craft while Lopis and Mark were in the detention center, joined the firefight at this point and disrupted a Keeper charge. Lopis engaged [[Castor]] and [[Orsun]], who had recovered the wounded Dark Moon operatives, barely missing a killing shot on the Dokab. She then reached the Turaco with the rest of the Ferrets and Blue Team and advocated to Fred for recovering the other hostages in the detention center before detonating the now-active nukes in the ''Stolen Faith''. Lopis was unsuccessful in this, and the team escaped Taram in the Turaco ahead of the destruction of Salvation Base.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC15|Ret|Chapter=15}}

=====Insertions on Gao and Meridian=====
After an initially tense meeting with [[Captain]] [[Piers Ewen]] and [[Krosbi|other]] [[Anki Hersh|specialists]] back on the ''Silent Joe'', Lopis was able to narrow the Dark Moon team's point of origin to a lab somewhere on Gao, assuming that [[Arlo Casille]] was in part behind the planting of the Tuwas.{{Ref/Reuse|RETC17}} The ''Silent Joe'' jumped to the system and the Ferrets and Blue Team deployed to the surface in the captured Turaco. Investigating the [[Yosavi Jungle]], the team noticed a thick plume of smoke and came across the [[New Leaf Extractions Field Complex]], a remote laboratory. After escaping Taram and interrogating the captured operatives, Castor had followed the Dark Moon connection back to Gao and raided the base, arriving less than two hours before Lopis and the Spartans. Lopis questioned some surviving [[Miguel|civilian]] [[Nita|staff]] members and learned that Dark Moon had been using the lab as a operating base on Gao and had left the base with the Tuwa's organs in [[Cryo-jar|cryo-jar]]s ahead of the raid, where the Keepers had killed every researched other than [[Anges Sabara]], the lab's director. She also deduced that Casille was en route to check on the lab, and the Spartans ambushed and incapacitated his convoy.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC18|Ret|Chapter=18}} Lopis spoke with the president, who admitted to working with Dark Moon to frame the Keepers in order to remove their threat to Gao shipping but feigned ignorance to the organization's goals with the Tuwas. Castillo then pointed to [[Pinnacle Station]] above [[Meridian]] as a possible destination for the fleeing Dark Moon forces, as [[Sloan]], the station's new administrator, had recommended the company to him. The Ferrets departed Gao for Meridian, leaving Castillo alive.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC19|Ret|Chapter=19}} 

The ''Silent Joe'' arrived at Pinnacle Station less than an hour after the [[Papa-10]] ONI security team met and executed the Dark Moon couriers and the subsequent firefight between them and Castor's Keeper force.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC20|Ret|Chapter=20}}{{Ref/Reuse|RETC21}} Posing as security inspectors, Lopis and Olivia investigated the scene while the rest of the team remained on the Turaco, finding Sabara's mortally wounded body. There they came into contact with Sloan, who assumed they were a relief force for Papa-10 and unintentionally revealing an ONI connection in the Tuwa assassinations. He also directed them to the location of the ONI team, who had fled to the surface with the surviving Keepers in pursuit.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC22|Ret|Chapter=22}}{{Ref/Reuse|RETC21}} 

Arriving on Meridian, they pursued the two forces into the [[Jenny Lynn Tantalite Mine]].{{Ref/Reuse|RETC23}} They came to a location where the Papa-10 operatives had stolen a [[Traxus Heavy Industries]] [[Powder wagon]] and were most likely going to acquire explosives to fend off the Keepers. Confirming their suspicions, the team was hit by the concussive force from a [[gelignite packet]] detonation, causing minor damage to some of the Ferret's [[Semi-Powered Infiltration armor]]. They continued their pursuit until they came to a dead end where Papa-10 had engaged the Keepers, both sides having run out of ammo and fighting with rocks and mining equipment. Treating the ONI agents as friendlies, the Spartans engaged the Jiralhanae, killing all of them but Castor. Papa-10 then sped away in the load-haul-dump (LHD) machine, running over Fred in the process. Lopis and Castor were both able to cling onto the transport on the bottom and back, respectively, and stayed on it as the ONI operatives fled to a different mine exit.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC24|Ret|Chapter=24}} Both of them climbed onto the LHD, where Lopis planted [[C-12 shaped charge]]s on the cryo-jars while Castor attacked and killed two of the three remaining Papa-10 members. Due to her mud-covered SPI armor, Lopis was unable to hide from the dokab and the two had a brief standoff, with Lopis wielding a mud-clogged [[M6C magnum]]. The LHD broke to the surface, with Castor's head striking the top of the mine portal and throwing him off balance. This and her SPI armor allowed Lopis to push him over the side before she jumped off herself a distance away. She witnessed the [[Bhu Zdenyk|surviving Papa-10 operative]] rendezvous with [[Lieutenant]] [[Bartalan Craddog]] at a Pinnacle Station utility skiff and, seeing the operative raise a rifle in her direction, detonated the explosives, killing the pair and destroying the cryo-jars, ending any chance of Intrepid Eye creating an asteroidea vaccine.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC26|Ret|Chapter=26}}

Afterwards, the Ferrets were reassigned the the [[Mill]] by Osman, where they completed their training ahead of a major deployment. Before they shipped out, Lopis visited Fred, who was undergoing treatment for his injuries, and the two shared a moment.{{Ref/Novel|Id=RETC27|Ret|Chapter=27}}

====Infiltrating the Keepers====
[[File:HDW VetaLopis.png|thumb|During their infiltration of the Humans of the Joyous Journey, Veta Lopis adopted the distinctive hairstyles adorned by the cult.]]
{{Main|Keepers Eradication Campaign}}
In [[2557]], ONI sent the [[Ferret]]s undercover to infiltrate the [[Keepers of the One Freedom]]. By joining an allied doomsday cult, the [[Humans of the Joyous Journey]], the Ferrets were successfully able to penetrate the Keepers and spent eight months gathering intelligence on the faction and relaying it to ONI.{{Ref/Reuse|DW1}} Coinciding with this deployment, the Ferrets were listed as [[Missing in action|MIA]] and eventually presumed dead by members of the UNSC.{{Ref/Reuse|Chapter 21}}

Eight months after the Ferrets infiltrated the Keepers, ONI put the intelligence that had been gathered to use and began a massive campaign to eradicate the Keepers. The campaign was highly successful, killing about 15,000 Keepers. As a result, the Keepers of the One Freedom were left decimated with less than a hundred members left.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW1|DW|Chapter=1}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW11|DW|Chapter=11}}

Much to everyone's surprise, the campaign had an unexpected effect: [[Castor]] sought refuge with the [[Banished]], forming an alliance with the much larger ex-Covenant faction. Although the Ferrets mission was originally supposed to end once the campaign was over, ONI ordered them to remain undercover in the hopes of getting a shot at assassinating [[Atriox]], the leader of the Banished. However, Atriox [[Second Ark Conflict|vanished]] with his [[flagship]] the {{Class|CAS|assault carrier}} ''[[Enduring Conviction]]'' soon after and the galaxy fell under [[Created conflict|the control]] of [[Cortana]].{{Ref/Reuse|DW1}}

====Operation: WOLFE====
{{Main|Operation: WOLFE}}
In [[2559#October|October 2559]], the Ferrets were deployed alongside Keeper forces on [[Reach]], who were assigned to find the location of a [[Menachite portal complex|Forerunner portal complex]] that Castor intended to use this site to transport the Keepers to [[Installation 00]] and start the [[Great Journey]]. They were present with them during the events of [[Operation: WOLFE]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=Chapter 3|SoR|Chapter=3}}

The Ferret's earliest confirmed involvement was on October 12th, where they were stationed in the [[Highland Mountains]] in anticipation of a UNSC operation that they assumed would be to locate the portal. The squad was ordered to hide in the caves ahead of [[Warmaster]] [[Escharum]]'s arrival before joining the pursuit of a number of UNSC craft.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Chapter 17|SoR|Chapter=17}} In the ensuing battle at the [[Menachite Mountain|Missing Mountain]] - the former sight of [[CASTLE Base]] - the Ferrets were positioned to defend the entrance of the underground Forerunner site while the Banished gained access to the portal complex and awaited it's activation. When Fred entered the tunnel while investigating the site, Lopis revealed herself to the Spartan, handing him a capsule containing information on the Banished's plans and a personal message. Lopis then ordered him to leave to protect her cover, firing her [[M7 SMG]] after Fred as he fled. The Ferrets then returned to the Keepers just as a [[slipspace portal]] to [[Installation 00|the Ark]] opened and Atriox's [[Lich]] passed through. As the Keepers took control of the craft, the squad covered Castor as he defied Atriox and prevented [[Blademaster]] [[Inslaan 'Gadogai]] from killing him, leading the Sangheili to join their forces as they travelled back through the portal to the Ark.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Chapter 21|SoR|Chapter=21}}

====Battle on the Ark====
{{Main|Second Ark Conflict|Battle of Epsilon Clarion}}
The Lich arrived on the Ark to find the Banished defending the portal from a [[Battle for Translocation portal Epsilon|combined assault]] of human forces from the ''{{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}'' and [[Dhas Bhasvod's Covenant|Covenant loyalists]] under [[Dhas Bhasvod]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW1|DW|Chapter = 1}} The craft collided with a UNSC [[B-65 Shortsword]] bomber while emerging from slipspace, with Lopis administering the [[Myklonas|pilot]] with a fatal dose of medication to spare her from torture. She was then summoned to the flight deck by Castor and made contact with UNSC forces, appearing to secure safe passage for the Lich's decent while discretely conveying a [[Final protective fire]] order to the combat controller. The Liche barely cleared UNSC positions before crashing in a [[Chasm Lands Biome|canyon]]. Veta was jarred free during the crash and suffered a fractured skull, though she was stabilized by Castor and remained engaged with her mission.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW2|DW|Chapter = 2}}{{Ref/Reuse|DWEpilogue}} Regrouping with the Gammas, they attempted to reach a position overlooking the Keepers in anticipation of an airstrike from UNSC [[AV-22 Sparrowhawk]] gunships. This strike was disrupted by a flight of Banished Banshees from the [[Clan of the Long Shields]] while the Ferrets evaded a [[Kralidonk|kralidonk]] swarm. Reaching the overlook, the operatives witnessed the initial Covenant strike on the Keepers and the alliance brokered between Castor and [[Dhas Bhasvod]] to pursue the Great Journey. They also saw the reemergence of Intrepid Eye, a development that complicated their mission significantly.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW5|DW|Chapter = 5}} They returned to the Keepers and set out with them in the Covenant's Phantoms towards the Ark's [[Cartographer#Installation 00|Cartographer]], but not before Veta left a message capsule inside the Liche. This was recovered by [[Pavium]] and [[Voridus]], the leaders of the Long Shields, tipping off the Banished to the effort to activate the Halo Array.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW6|DW|Chapter = 6}}

Veta eavesdropped on Castor and Bhasvod during the tense fourteen-hour transit to the Cartographer. Sensing the need to destabilize the fledgling alliance, the Ferrets manufactured a small firefight between the Keepers and the Covenant upon landing in the arid [[Drifting Lands]]. Reaching the top of a sand dune, they made contact with [[Romeo 008]], a nearby [[D77-TC/r Pelican|D77-TC/r reconnaissance Pelican]], and conveyed their situation, getting the crew to fire missiles to attract an [[Aggressor Sentinel]] swarm. One of the constructs came within two meters of Veta and did not attack her, which intrigued Intrepid Eye.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW7|DW|Chapter = 7}} She was therefore ordered to accompany the Keepers and Covenant as they ventured to the Cartographer on Ghosts. Her team's cover began to weaken during this trip, with 'Gadogai virtually seeing through it and growing especially suspicious. Upon reaching the facility, Veta proved to be the only one able to interact with certain Forerunner mechanisms given her [[Reclaimer]] status. Guiding the group to the Cartographer's tower, she made contact with the [[Epsilon submonitor]] and the group learned of [[Epsilon Clarion]], the sole functional [[Clarion]] site left on the Ark. After learning that the facility was located on the same spire they were on but hidden under a thick layer of ice, they raced back to the Phantoms. They arrived at the tail end of a Banished ambush, where the Long Shields had strafed the Phantoms and baited the Aggressors into attacking the Covenant Banshees and Seraphs. The force disembarked short a Phantom and half their fighter escort, with Veta once again separated from the other Ferrets and the human keeper [[Quenbi]] as a precaution to preserve the Keeper's supply of Reclaimers.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW8|DW|Chapter = 8}}

During transit, Veta overheard the Keeper and Covenant plan to take on a pair [[Zo'op-pattern Weevil|Weevil]] mortar artillery pieces before proceeding to Epsilon Clarion.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW9|DW|Chapter = 9}} After unexpectedly landing in a more lush area near two large ponds, the Ferrets recognized that their cover had been blown and that Castor and Bhasvod had arranged for a Seraph strike to eliminate them. Anticipating this, they signaled Romeo 008, which had been shadowing the Keeper and Covenant force since the Ferrets made contact, to set up extraction and later strikes at what they believed was the Weevil rendezvous location. They then moved to ambush the Phantoms, which were preparing to leave after they assumed the Seraph strike eliminated the operatives. This attack proved effective, catching the Keepers and Covenant by surprise and wounding several hostiles including Castor and [[Krelis]], but the Ferrets were unable to eliminate Quenbi, allowing for the plan to continue.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW10|DW|Chapter = 10}} They were then picked up by Romeo 008, meeting [[Commander]] [[Barre]], [[Lieutenant]] [[John Cassidy]], [[Hanson|and]] [[Ngonga|their]] [[Mahajan|crew]]. After getting some rest, Veta and Mark witnessed the airstrikes at the rendezvous point by three [[AC-220 Vulture]] gunships via holographic display. However, this attack played into a ruse set up by Bvashod and Castor, who had fed false coordinates to both the Ferrets and the Banished. Recognizing this, Pavium sent a Seraph talon commanded by the seditious [[Thalazan]] to these coordinates, where all but the chieftain's craft destroyed by the Vultures.{{Ref/Reuse|DW9}} The Ferrets and Romeo 008 landed and disembarked at the location of the strike to confirm this, during which Cassidy was killed by wildlife.{{Ref/Reuse|DW11}} Recognizing that no human forces could intercept the Covenant in time now, Veta had the ''Spirit of Fire'' broadcast the coordinates of Epsilon Clarion on an open frequency so the Banished could respond. Looking for glory, Pavium heeded this message and deployed the Long Shield in their entirety to the citadel.{{Ref/Novel|Id=DW12|DW|Chapter = 12}}

A few hours later, the Ferrets redeployed with Romeo 008 to observe the Banished position at Epsilon Clarion while the ''Spirit of Fire'' moved into position to a position to assist. They witnessed the remaining Covenant Phantoms drop in and deploy the force at a [[Outpost Gamma|defensive tower]] ten kilometers from the citadel while under heavy Banished fire. Correctly assuming that Bhasvod and Castor had found an alternate entrance to the facility, Veta had Romeo 008 deploy them into battle in an effort to kill Quenbi and neutralize the Keeper threat. They succeeded in the first goal despite the Spartan IIIs suffering from acute smoother deprivation and cornered the remaining enemy forces up the slope of the pinnacle. Fearing that Intrepid Eye would formulate a way to activate the Array without a Reclaimer to interface for it, the Ferrets devised a plan