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Operation: RETRIBUTION: Difference between revisions
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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.<ref name="R8"/> | 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.<ref name="R8"/> | ||
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.<ref name="R8"/> 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.<ref name="R8"/><ref name="R11"> | 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.<ref name="R8"/> 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.<ref name="R8"/><ref name="R11"/> | ||
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