Alpha-Nine: Difference between revisions

**[[Operation: COALPEPPER]]

**[[Created conflict]]

***[[Mission to Luna]]

***[[Battle of Cassidy III]]

|commanders=*[[Spartan]] [[Edward Buck]]

With the onset of the [[Created conflict]], [[ONI]] decided to reform Alpha-Nine in order to reach out to the [[United Rebel Front]] for help, particularly the faction on [[Cassidy III]] that had unknown [[Forerunner]] technology protecting their colony [[Hole in the Wall]]. The hope was that the Front could help them use the technology to protect human worlds and ships from [[Cortana]] and the [[Created]], but it required releasing [[Michael Crespo|Mickey Crespo]] from prison.<ref name="Bad Blood" />

Departing the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} in a [[Condor]], [[Edward Buck]] and [[Veronica Dare]] traveled to the [[Unggoy]] homeworld of [[Balaho]] where [[Kojo Agu|Romeo]] had been reassigned, rumored to be because he slept with an admiral's wife. The Unggoy having submitted to Cortana's rule, they and Forerunner [[armiger]]s destroyed the UEG embassy. When Buck and Dare arrived, Romeo was on the run. The two rescued him and attempted to aid Romeo in rescuing the survivors from the embassy. However, the attempt failed and they were forced to flee while the survivors were killed.<ref>'''[[Halo: Bad Blood]]''', ''Chapters 3-4''</ref>

After rescuing Romeo, Dare directed the team to a secret ONI facility on [[Luna]] where ONI kept several of their [[Huragok]]s, including [[Quick to Adjust|Vergil]], who would be needed to retrieve Mickey. The three found the facility heavily damaged by the [[Guardian]]s during the [[Subjugation of Earth]], but otherwise relatively intact with the Huragoks having repaired several of the systems, including some life support. However, Vergil refused to leave without his handler [[Sadie Endesha]] who had been taken by armigers to an observation deck in another part of the station along with the surviving staff. As the armigers had restored power to that part of the station, Dare blew out the windows with the Condor's weapons and sent the armigers into space while force fields kept the humans safe. Having completed their objective, the team departed with Vergil and Sadie while the rest of the Hurgaok and human survivors moved to a safe house below the facility set up by the Huragok before the armigers could return.<ref>'''[[Halo: Bad Blood]]''', ''Chapters 5-7''</ref>

With the addition of Vergil and Sadie, the team traveled to the [[Spartan-IV training station]] where Mickey was being held prisoner for his acts of treason. However, the mission was complicated by a comms blackout imposed on the station by its AI [[Leonidas]] that kept the residents from knowing of the recent events, Chief of Staff [[Jun-A266]] being "indisposed" and the high likelihood that Leonidas had joined the Created. However, the team had the advantage of Vergil and their Condor's cloaking abilities which kept Leonidas from knowing that anyone but Buck was on board. As Vergil attempted to take over the station's systems, Buck visited Mickey, but quickly became frustrated with his former friend's [[Insurrectionist]] views. Recognizing the potential danger that the inhabitants of the station were in from Leonidas, Buck decided to take the AI offline even if he hadn't been compromised as a precaution. Leonidas quickly revealed his true allegiance to the Created and attempted to have Buck arrested, going so far as to declare Buck [[STOLEN GAUNTLET]], or a rogue Spartan. After Buck came close to convincing three Spartans ordered to arrest him to wait until Jun could handle the situation, Leonidas murdered them by evacuating the air from the room, Buck's armor saving him from the same fate. As Leonidas was poised to do the same to the rest of the station, Vergil managed to knock out power to the station briefly, giving Buck enough time to remove Leonidas' [[data crystal chip]] from a terminal in Jun's office, effectively taking Leonidas off-line.