Operation: RETRIBUTION

"Investigative abstract: refer to operational document #ONIS3-33456-SO Retribution for full report on assassination of UNSC Admiral Graselyn Tuwa, associated abduction and murder of her husband and two dependents, and subsequent utilization of security unit Papa-10 in failed effort to recover antibodies and erase evidentiary links to rogue science officer Lieutenant Bartalan Craddog."

- From an internal ONI intelligence finding detailing the events that launched Operation: RETRIBUTION and its outcome.

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.

Prelude
On December 1, 2553 the UNSC passenger schooner Donoma came under attack while en route to the human colony of Nephis in the Tisiphone system. Onboard the ship was Vice Admiral Graselyn Tuwa, commander of the UNSC Navy's Isbanola sector patrol fleet. She had been traveling with her husband, her daughter, and her son to attend the Threshold Ceremony of the daughter of her sister, the Nephis premier.

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 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 opportunity 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 silenced rounds from Veta ended him. Sarch and a co-pilot 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 was shot and killed while diving for her copilot's controls.

A less-than-warm welcome
"This decision is not for me. Someone who knows your science will inspect your devices; then we will take you to the Redoubt of the Faithful and advise our dokab whether to believe your story."

- A Keeper Jirahanae chieftain to Veta Lopis. Olivia righted the ship, which had pitched forward during Chur'R-Sarch's death throes. Veta confirmed with Mark and Ash that all Kig-Yar aboard had been eliminated just as the Chur'R's abandoned headset began making noise. Veta grabbed it and covered the microphone as best she could. A Type-31 Seraph fighter and a Tronto boarding craft were headed their way. It became clear in that moment that hiding in the system until the Silent Joe arrived was not going to be an option. Mark and Ash both suggested that they take defensive measures and meet the approaching craft with hostility, but Veta shot that notion down, reminding them that they were supposed to be covert operatives. She was forced to admit to herself, however, that she simply was more concerned with their survival at that moment than with completing the mission. She declared to her team that they would be allowing the Tronto's boarders to enter, but she did tell Ash to gather the ostanalus he has stored in acetylene bottles and prepare it for quick dispersal through the starsloop's ventilation in case things came to that. So that the Silent Joe would know which moon the Keepers were located on when it arrived in-system, Olivia loudly declared Taram to their target so the spy gnat attached to Sarch's corpse would broadcast it when the prowler arrived. Veta took her hand off of the mic and spoke to the voice on the other end, letting them know they were speaking to the Stolen Faith's new captain.

To Veta's relief, the group of keepers in the Tronto came aboard using standard procedures and did not feel the need to use breaching charges. The first Jiralhanae that stepped out of the airlock was confronted by Veta alone standing next to a pile of the starsloop's former masters. Naturally, seeing the corpses arrayed so caused him to train his Type-25 Spiker on her. The two were able to communicate through the Brute's use of a translation disk, so Veta raised her hands and promised she could explain. She also revealed that she was holding a detonator in her hand. Pressing the button on it would have released the ostanulus gas throughout the ship the Jiralhanae naturally figured it must be linked to the HAVOK devices Chur'R-Sarch had mentioned. Veta went along with this line of reasoning, telling him that getting everyone blown up it probably wouldn't be of great service to the True Path. He barked a command and three more Jiralhanae entered the ship to subsequently spread out and search for other humans, despite Veta's warnings against it. Each of the Spartans had taken a hidden position down one of three passageways that led away from the airlock and each soon had killed one of the Jiralhanae. The one in charge did not permit any further excursions down the hall but did threaten Veta that she would not leave the system alive. At this, she countered with a threat of her own. She truthfully told him about the slipbeacon they carried with them, but instead of saying it had given their location to the Silent Joe, she told him that they had been in touch with the Banished, who would certainly come there if they did not receive the ordnance that had been promised to them. The Jiralhanae was racked with uncertainty then, and decided the appropriate course of action would be to bring the humans to the chief dokab on Taram, Castor. He could evaluate they and their devices, and determine whether they spoke truly. Relieved that she had bought more time and a possibly greater chance at discovering what happened to the Tuwas, Veta handed over the detonator, but not before transferring the ability to release the gas to a remote hidden within Ash's lowest shirt button.

Having ostensibly disarmed herself, the rest of the boarding party entered, consisting of six humans and two Kig-Yar. The Keepers took control of the craft and piloted it toward the moon while the Ferrets were herded into the galley unarmed and under guard. A young woman entered to inform the chieftain after the secretly-inactive nukes had been secured and sat down to speak with the four "pirates". The woman let them know she had discovered one of the devices was in fact the slipbeacon Veta had mentioned. Lopis reiterated what she had told the chieftain concerning their agreement with the Banished to see those nukes safely to them. The human Keeper told them that avoiding a feud with the Banished was certainly something she wished for, but she considered allowing the murderous group to be given thermonuclear weapons to be just as bad. She casually floated the idea that Veta's crew might be able to redeem themselves by helping to doing significant damage to the Banished. When Veta asked if she was offering to let them go if they complied, the woman clarified that they would never be free to go. They knew too much. If they would share the arming codes for the weapons, they would be allowed to live. That is, of course, she reminded them, unless Castor decided they were ONI spies and ruled otherwise. Veta shared the accurate codes and then, hooded and with their hands tied behind their backs, she and the Spartans were led down the boarding ramp to a spaceport within Salvation Base. Ash pretended to accidentally run into Olivia so that she could release the gas with the detonator in his shirt button. At the sound of canisters being blown within the ship, everyone sprang into action. Veta drove headfirst into the woman who had spoke with them. They both fell off the side of the ramp, with Veta landing on her shoulder. Veta headbutted her repeatedly in the temple until she was dead and the three Spartans had little trouble breaking free of their restraints and dealing with the four other Keepers that had made it off the ship.

Salvation Base
Olivia freed Veta from her restraints with a knife and the team looked around for the first time to assess their situation. Luckily for them, the starsloop had been set down in a quiet area. The nearest hub of activity seemed to be paying no attention to where they were. The spaceport lay within a giant crater. From their vantage point, the team members could see a fleet of ships being prepared to take off, which the reasoned must be due to the threat of the Banished being taken seriously. Mark and Olivia secured the bodies of the Keepers inside the ship by piling them on its boarding ramp and then closing it. While they did this, Veta policed the corpses' weapons and Ash kept watch. In addition to an assortment of small arms, chronometers, and a datapad, Veta also collected three comms headsets. Blue Team would not arrive for another five hours at the earliest, but simply hunkering down and waiting until then was not a viable option, since Castor would learn something had gone awry soon since he was expecting to receive prisoners. Locating the Tuwas was the first priority, and a nearby cliff face with artificial grottoes carved into it was determined to be a likely holding spot for them. Since they had been hostages themselves only a short time ago, it was reasonable to think that the starsloop would have been brought near to a detention center. Veta gave a headset to Olivia and Ash, keeping the third for herself. With these they would be able to listen in on Keeper channels.

Each Spartan went a separate way, with Veta trailing Mark toward the presumed detention facility. He walked as if his hands were bound while she pointed a Type-52 Mauler at his back. Ash, on the other hand, purposefully made a cut on his forearm and made his way toward the direction of the Keeper fleet half a kilometer away, purposefully trailing blood to make it look as if they had gone that way should anyone come looking for them soon enough. Olivia rewrote the Stolen Faith's security routines so she could seal it shut and then set her sights on an ONI REAP-X Turaco located just seventy meters from where they had landed. The plan was for her to commandeer the reconnaissance craft and have it ready to fly by the time the Tuwas were rescued. Mark and Veta passed the ship on their way to the cliff grottoes and noted that it appeared to have only arrived recently. In addition, Mark picked up a trail that had been left by whoever it had carried. Wherever one trod, pale ripples of shadow were left in the hard light surface that made up the ground of the clearly Forerunner ruin the Keepers had taken for their base. About a dozen paces from the entrance to the grotto Veta noticed that behind them, a lake of water had suddenly appeared so that the spacecraft were partially submerged beneath its waves. Before she could comment on the strange phenomenon to Mark, he disappeared within the mouth of the grotto and she found she could not communicate with him. Unbeknownst to her, this was due to the fact that the installation had been designed by Forerunners to create a time differential between those within the Suhulu Contemplarium and those without. The lake was largely an illusion only visible to those standing in relative proximity to the contemplarium, though some real water was also summoned around the subjects' feet to be convincing.

Timeline of events
{{Scrollbox|

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

 * 0800 hours: The Stolen Faith emerges from slipspace at Pydoryn around this time.
 * 0804 hours: Crew members of the Stolen Faith come to check on Veta and Olivia, believing they are dead.
 * 0824 hours: Keepers board the Stolen Faith via a Tronto.
 * 1445 hours: The Ferrets are escorted off of the Stolen Faith at Salvation Base.
 * 1447 hours: Having killed their captors, the Ferrets make plans for what to do next.
 * 1454 hours: The Ferret team splits up to accomplish different objectives.
 * 1509 hours: Ash-G099 kills a group of Keepers within the Suluhu Contemplarium.
 * 1514 hours:
 * 1524 hours:
 * 2005 hours:
 * 2015 hours: The earliest point at which the Silent Joe could have arrived at Pydoryn.
 * 2020 hours: A microburst of data from a spy gnat is transmitted to the Silent Joe with audio recordings of Keepers at the Stolen Faith.
 * 2027 hours: Blue Team enters the situation room aboard the Silent Joe to convene with Captain Ewen.
 * 2029 hours:
 * 2032 hours:
 * 2035 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