Editing Veta Lopis

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}}

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}}

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}}