Skirmish over Netherop

The Skirmish over Netherop was a UNSC mission to capture the Radiant Arrow.

Prelude
Authorized by the head of ONI Section 3 Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth, the goal of the mission was to gather concrete intelligence on the Covenant, in hopes of reverse-engineering their technology. To better prepare themselves for the operation, the twelve SPARTAN-IIs were equipped with emergency patching kits, extra thruster packs, and locator beacons - all lessons learned from their recent engagement at Chi Ceti IV. Their MJOLNIR armor had been temporarily modified, with each suit including unique features to their titanium alloy frame that better optimized each Spartan's unique skills. The same refractive coating used on prowlers was also applied to make them harder to detect. In addition, four other prowlers were on stand-by to conduct rescue operations.

The battle
The battle began after the UNSC prowler Starry Night observed the Radiant Arrow orbiting Netherop for more than a day, when the prowler conducted a slingshot maneuver to launch the twelve SPARTAN-IIs towards the Covenant frigate at a distance of more than eighty kilometers. The Spartans eventually shadowed a squadron of five Type-27 Banshees, and infiltrated the frigate after following them into a maintenance hangar. They swiftly dispatched all enemy pilots and crew-members there, without raising an alarm.

As they were still undetected, the Spartans split into their preassigned teams. Blue and Green Teams took to systematically clear each compartment of Covenant troops, while Gold Team collected and dropped off captured material for later retrieval. Part-way into the mission, an Insurrectionist disguised as a prowler sensor operator revealed the Spartans' presence to the Covenant by transmitting a report over an unsecured SQUADCOM channel.

As the Covenant responded in force, the Spartans changed mission objectives. Blue Team pushed forward to capture the bridge, while Green Team attempted to secure the engineering deck. Gold Team acted as tactical support, covering the back of the two other teams and detain surrendered soldiers if necessary. Despite heavy resistance, Blue Team successfully reached a grav-tube that would take them to the control room. Although they made it up towards the bridge level, an override and ambush saw all but John-117 being thrown back down the shaft. Kelly-087 suffered a compound ribcage fracture and had to be extracted by Frederic-104, and Linda-058 attempted to climb her way back up. John, meanwhile, took out the majority of the bridge crew with fragmentation grenades.

In response to the attack from the Spartan, the shipmaster activated the ship's self-destruct via a dead-man's switch built into his chair, and gave time for the Radiant Arrow 's remaining crew to abandon ship. By this time, Green Team reported that the only resistance that remained was from stubborn Yanme'e defenders. As a result, John ordered his Spartans to evacuate the ship once he realized that he could not reverse the process.

List of Appearances

 * Halo: Silent Storm