Operation: TALON

DATE: December 9, 2525 (Military Calendar)

LOCATION: Eridanus Star System

Involved: UNSC SPARTAN-IIs John-117, Frederic-104, Kelly-087, Linda-058, and Samuel-034 against Eridanus Rebels.

Synopsis: The Spartans were deployed at a space dock orbiting Eridanus II with orders to locate and capture the rebel leader Robert Watts.

Mission: Disguised in the clothing of the Laden's crew, the Spartan-II's, consisting of John, Kelly, Fred, Linda, and Sam, went to the upper girder and hid in the reservoir storage tank, which John deemed "the perfect hiding place". In addition, Sam rigged the fill sensor so that it would not let more water flow. Then, having ten hours to spare, they took alternate sleep patterns. When they had almost approached the base in the asteroid field, the Spartans tagged a crate containing Sweet William Cigars with a NAV Marker Transmitter. Then, remaining calm, they slid out along with the rebels and decided to group at the public showers, which would be their fallback point if something went wrong. Following the trackpoint, they arrived at a barrack, where Kelly and John quickly and silently eliminated. Then, using the elevator cables, they slid down to Watts' room. Using their Assault Rifles, the Spartans proficiently eliminated the five guards around the door leading to Watts. However, after slaughtering the next three guards, who had an easier target, as the Spartans had to take care not to kill their target, John was scraped by a bullet during the firefight, drawing plenty of blood. Though Watts brandished an M6D Pistol at them, Kelly and Fred fired, causing him to duck. Spartan-117 then leaped to his quary, snapped his finger, and choked him to unconsciousness.

Then, Kelly proceeded to inject Watts with enough polypseudomorphine to keep him out for a day. On his part, John received a dose of biofoam in order to stop the internal bleeding. Sam then read that there were six incoming vehicles...to which he responded by placing the mines that they brought. After activating the panic button, John and the rest of his team escaped to a Pelican dropship (stolen from the UNSC by the rebels) and watched as the base blew up. However, John still felt uneasy at the loss of human life.

Outcome: The Spartans successfully located Watts' base of operations, infiltrated the base and captured him. However, they were unable to make a stealthy infiltration, and as a result some of the surviving rebels witnessed their superhuman abilities. Despite this, the rebels never found the locator beacon that the Spartans left behind.

Despite the mission's success, John-117 reported having a feeling of unease as they left the station, possibly due to the fact that it was the first time he'd had to deliberately use deadly force against human beings.