Operation: RETRIBUTION

Operation: RETRIBUTION was an Office of Naval Intelligence operation undertaken by Blue Team and the Ferret team lead by Veta Lopis in December of 2553.

Making a scene
"Ross Nyeto"

- Veta Lopis On December 12, 2553, Veta's Ferret team and the legendary team of Spartan-IIs, Blue Team, deployed to New Tyne, Venezia. ONI sources within the city had reported that a Keeper gunrunning crew was in port looking for cargo. In order trick these Keepers into approaching Veta's team, they would need to create a public scene that would pique their suspects' interests in them. For the past few days, the UNSC had been making a show of stopping and boarding Crows and specifically pretending to be on the lookout for one with Archer missiles or Mini-MACs. In addition, a story of the being hit and having ten HAVOK nuclear weapons stolen was permitted to spread. These things were done so that the Ferrets could present themselves as the pirates who had raided the Taulanti. In order to really sell the idea that the UNSC was desperate to recover the nukes and that they had indeed been the ones to take them, the plan was for it to appear as if Veta and the Spartan-IIIs just barely escaped when Blue Team arrived.

To this end, Veta's Spartans disguised themselves to look older than their actual ages and to look like street punks that fit the profile of those belonging to a pirate gang. They got a table at the Trattoria Georgi, where they knew a gunrunner known as "the Goliath" would be that evening. Veta approached the Goliath, who was in fact Ross Nyeto, the son of a famous lieutenant commander that had defected from the UNSC Navy to take up the cause of the Insurrection. She revealed that she knew who he was to set him and his three men on edge and offered to pay for the transport of her crew aboard one of his s, the Ghost Flag. Nyeto was resistant to her offer since he was not accustomed to transporting people as opposed to contraband and also had little interest in being paid in boson beads, which she had produced whilst stating her case. The beads did, however, provoke one of Nyeto's men to place a beefy hand over Veta's when she tried to gather them up off the gunrunners' table. Veta did not hesitate to use a pain-compliance technique on the man that caused all eyes in the restaurant to focus on them and for some patrons to nervously exit. Her Spartans also drew their sidearms at this time. The situation was diffused by the owner of the establishment, Georgi Baklanov, who assured his wary customers that the Goliath would be paying for everyone's tabs. Veta noticed two Ruuhtian Kig-Yar take their seats at a table closer to her than the one they had been at previously, and surmised from this that they could be affiliates of the Keepers and therefore the ones this whole show was for. Continuing her conversation with Nyeto, she casually let it be known to all within earshot that the reason her crew needed transportation was due to a problem with their S77 Crow, which also had been modified to sport Archer missiles and a mini-MAC. The Goliath put the pieces together immediately and changed his tune, now making an offer of his own wherein he would take them to their destination in exchange for ten of the Taulanti's nukes.

Feeling that the narrative about who she and her team were had been effectively communicated, she signaled Blue Team to move into position by working a certain phrase into her talk with Nyeto. They would be breaching the trattoria in four minutes and it did not take long before lookouts paid by Baklanov spotted M121 Jackrabbit driven by Fred-104 and Kelly-087 turning onto the Via Notoli. The place cleared out due to fear of the encroaching Spartans and threats from its owner. Among those that hurriedly left were the two suspicious Kig-Yar. Now all the Ferrets had to worry about was making their escape convincing. A deal was struck between Veta and the Goliath, who came up with the idea to have his Jiralhanae bodyguard, Picus, knock a hole in one of the exterior walls so that they wouldn't be flushed right through a doorway where an ONI sniper could be waiting for them. Things would have gone well enough had Baklanov interfered by making it clear that such an affront to his building would not be tolerated. He believed that he only needed to turn over these troublemakers to the Spartans to make them go away. He and his henchmen drew on Veta's team and though she convinced him he was in danger as well, it was too late. The delay made it so that her team was still present when Fred and Kelly crashed their Jackrabbits through the Georgi's front window and began a firefight. In the carefully-controlled engagement that resulted, Mark-G313 was hit in the shoulder and everyone but Veta, Ross, and the Spartans were killed, including Georgi Baklanov who was shot by Kelly as a target of oppurtunity as soon as she rolled away from her vehicle. Picus did manage to create an exit before being taken out by Linda-058, who had been well aware that Veta and others weren't going to be coming out a door thanks to all the UNSC operatives being linked via an encrypted comm net. Nyeto glimpsed Linda briefly nodding at Veta before the Spartan-II knocked him out with a clean strike to the hinge of his jaw with her assault rifle. The Ferrets sprinted away from the wreckage of the restaurant, as Blue Team could only give them so much time before the need to make all this believable required that they pursue. Linda did fire a single shot at the fleeing "pirates" that tore into one of Olivia-G291's thighs before giving her full attention to securing Nyeto for transport to an ONI interrogation facility. Capturing the Goliath had not been a primary objective of the operation but it was a bonus. A shallow-draft airboat had been left floating on the water beneath a trapdoor in a building ahead of the running Ferrets. The plan had always been for them to use it to escape through the swamp that this part of New Tyne had been built on. Before they could reach it, however, a tri-wheeled minivan screeched to a halt in front of the Ferrets driven by a Kig-Yar. The side door opened and another Jackal told them to climb inside if they wanted to live.

Among the enemy
"Fred-104"

- Serin Osman Veta threw open the passenger's side door and climbed in and the Spartan-IIIs entered the back where two Kig-Yar were. The van sped away toward the New Tyne Airfield. The driver revealed herself to be Chur'R-Sarch, commander of her own starship. As the minivan approached Ziggy's Hangar at the airfield, Sarch told Veta she wanted the same deal that had been given to the Goliath: phase pearls in exchange for transportation. The Kig-Yar steered the van to the back corner of the hangar past several craft until arriving at a Mudoat starsloop, which it drove up the ramp of to come to a rest in a parking bay within its cargo hold. Veta was still unsure whether these Kig-Yar were members or even associates of the Keepers of the One Freedom, but given that most Kig-Yar on Venezia had at least a casual relationship with the group, the chances were good. In order to keep up appearances, Veta urged that they hurry in leaving. She stated that she wished to be taken to Shamsa to meet the Banished there. Chur'R-Sarch bristled at this and said that by no means would she allow them to sell their HAVOKs to the Banished. To Veta, this reaction implied a sense of rivalry which all but confirmed to her that they were on the right track and this gang could lead them to the Keepers. Lopis adamantly maintained that they must be taken to Shamsa and threatened to find someone else who could accommodate her wishes. When it seemed to Sarch that the humans were about to walk right off the ship, she relented and said she could take them. It was obvious to Veta and Olivia, however, that Sarch had no such intentions and would probably double-cross them at the opportune moment. Even Veta's stipulation that she only pay half of what she would have to Nyeto for the Ghost Flag went unchallenged, which only made this conclusion more likely.

Over two hours later, the Kig-Yar vessel still had yet yo jump to slipspace. It had been necessary to retrieve the HAVOKs and bring them aboard after the deal was struck. Unknown to the Jackals, each of them was inoperable and one was in reality as disguised starship emergency locator beacon, or "slipbeacon". Once they arrived at a new destination, it would be able to transmit that location to the, the that had brought them to Venezia and which Blue Team was aboard. Around an hour after first arriving at Ziggy's hangar, spy gnats covertly place by Ash-G099 transmitted a conversation between Chur'R-Sarch and her crew in the form of a microburst of data to the Silent Joe. Rear Admiral Osman, Blue Team, and the ship's captain and senior intelligence analyst were present to overhear the Kig-Yar planning to deliver their cargo straight to the Keepers and to murder their guests with ostanalus gas. Captain Piers Ewen believed they had no choice but to extract the Ferrets, which was seconded by Anki Hersh. Fred was confident in the team's abilities and believed they could handle themselves. Osman and the Spartan-IIs were the only ones that knew about the unique augmentations Mark, Ash, and Olivia had undergone that marked them as members of the SPARTAN-III program's Gamma Company. The decision was made to withhold from interfering due to Fred's confidence and a sense of owing it to Admiral Tuwa to take risks in order to see her family returned safely.

The Kig-Yar's starsloop, Stolen Faith, eventually departed Venezia for Pydoryn in the Shaps system. Having learned of the aliens' plan for them, the Ferrets devised a plan of their own. Before heading off to sleep, Mark secretly killed one crew member and switched out the ostanalus so that the dispersal of gas would be completely harmless. After it was released, the four humans played dead: Veta and Olivia in a sleeping compartment and Mark and Ash in the cargo hold, where they had been permitted to stay to guard the HAVOKs. All caught their would-be murderers by surprise. Veta and Olivia killed three Kig-Yar that came to check on them in their compartment and Mark and Ash did likewise to five more. Inside the casings of the inert nukes were four disassembled M7S SMGs and ammunition, which the Ferrets at this time put back together. With five Kig-Yar left aboard the ship to subdue, the females made for the flight deck where Chur-R-Sarch was sure to be while the boys went to put down any others. Veta and Olivia surprised one individual in the galley who had no chance to defend himself whatsoever before three silence rounds from Veta ended him. Sarch and a copilot were seated on the flight deck. The Chur'R was attempting to reason with Approach Control on the moon, Taram, evidently the location of the Keepers' Salvation Base. The human on the other end of the communication channel was nervous about the Kig-Yar's stated intention to "deliver" nuclear devices to Castor. After being told they would have to wait for a vigilance squad to inspect their vessel Sarch tossed her headset away in frustration and turned to find herself face-to-face with the human females. Olivia dropped the copilot as soon as she reached for something, presumably a weapon, but Sarch made excuses for why they had not traveled to Shamsa and denied ever trying to gas them. Her defenses fell away quickly, however, and once she was told they had been playing her all along, she said it was regretful the ostanalus did not work. She died diving for her copilot's controls.

Timeline of events
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December 8, 2553

 * 1122 hours

December 12, 2553

 * 1432 hours: Veta approaches Ross Nyeto at the Trattoria Georgi.
 * 1504 hours: The Ferrets reach the New Tyne Airfield with Chur'R-Sarch and two other Kig-Yar.
 * 1613 hours: Spy gnats planted by Ash-G099 transmit a randomly-timed microburst of data containing a conversation between Chur'R-Sarch and her crew.
 * 1714 hours: Blue Team boards the Silent Joe after concluding its activity on Venezia.
 * 1725.023 hours

December 13, 2553

 * 0804 hours: Crew members of the Stolen Faith come to check on Veta and Olivia, believing they are dead.
 * 0824 hours
 * 1445 hours
 * 1509 hours
 * 1514 hours
 * 1524 hours
 * 2005 hours
 * 2027 hours
 * 2029 hours
 * 2032 hours
 * 2045.053 hours
 * 2117 hours

December 14, 2553

 * 1403 hours
 * 1416 hours

December 16, 2553
}}
 * 0316 hours: Castor and his forces arrive to Meridian's Pinnacle Station. Papa-10 discovers their location and attack the True Light, killing Castor' second-in-command Orsun in the process.
 * 0327 hours: A battle between the Keepers and Papa-10 erupts. Three Papa-10 operatives, led by Bhu Zdenyk, flee with the cryo-jars.
 * 0349 hours
 * 0354 hours
 * 0401 hours
 * 0421 hours
 * 0422 hours
 * 0433 hours
 * 0448 hours

List of appearances

 * Halo Retribution