Operation: RETRIBUTION: Difference between revisions

Intrepid Eye was delivered to the recently-commissioned ''[[Argent Moon]]'', an [[ONI]] research and development station, where she was kept under heavy guard to be interrogated and studied as part of [[Project Archeon]].<ref name="R5"/> Despite the many limitations placed upon her, the [[archeon-class ancilla]] managed to covertly smuggle bits of code off of the station over a span of five months that resulted in the establishment of remote aspects of herself in five different sectors of human-held space.<ref name="R5"/> These aspects were used by her to establish and control propaganda outlets, private security contractors, law practices, and political consulting firms.<ref name="R16"/> During her detainment on Gao, Intrepid Eye had been convinced by [[Wendell|another]] [[A.I.]] that [[human]]s were the intended [[Reclaimer]]s the [[Forerunner]]s had meant to inherit all their work.<ref>''[[Halo: Last Light]]'', ''Chapter 24''</ref> Since that revelation, it had become her primary purpose to make the species worthy of the great responsibility inherent in holding the [[Mantle]]. To this end, she began laying the groundwork through her multiple aspects for a series of events that she believed could bring humanity closer to this worthiness.<ref name="R5"/> One of her remote aspects presented itself to the [[dokab]] [[Castor]] of the [[Keepers of the One Freedom]], who had nearly been killed on [[Gao]].<ref name="R13"/> Eye had little trouble making him think he was being visited by a holy [[oracle]] with his best interests at heart, as she recommended a location for him to grow a new base for the Keepers and began to feed him information she had gathered concerning the routes and itineraries of human vessels. From the moon of [[Taram]], Castor waged a campaign of [[piracy]] to rebuild his forces and had soon ascended to first among the Keepers' dokabs.<ref name="R13">''[[Halo: Retribution]]'', ''Chapter 13''</ref> It was her belief that Taram and the [[Suluhu Contemplarium]] on its surface would become known to humans eventually thanks to this, as she was concerned that telling them about it outright could compromise her plans. She hoped to keep track of those that would eventually visit the contemplarium and achieve a sufficient amount of spiritual enlightenment through it.<ref name="R16">''[[Halo: Retribution]]'', ''Chapter 16''</ref> Onboard the ''Argent Moon'', she also handpicked a young ONI [[lieutenant]] by the name of [[Bartalan Cradogg]] to serve her ends. Through the selective supply of information to he and nobody else assigned to Project Archeon, she ensured that he was promoted to higher importance than he rightfully deserved, and she also began to gather evidence of his [[Reproduction|sexual proclivities]] with which to blackmail him.<ref name="R5"/>

==Operation==

Veta and the Spartans were ordered to the infirmary for a full evaluation after stepping foot on the ''Silent Joe''.<ref name="R17"/> Following that, they all were permitted to change into appropriate outfits for a debriefing with Captain Ewen in the ship's wardroom. In attendance were a smattering of other naval personnel as well as analysts, technicians, and others from the UNSC's [[Covert Services]] branch. Veta was angry with herself for having not considered doing anything to rescue the Keepers' prisoners until it had been too late. She surmised that Fred and the captain had engaged in a heated exchange concerning her last-minute protestations on Taram, and she was certain that Osman would have been informed. Veta was roused from her thoughts in the midst of the briefing by the captain, who had noticed she hadn't been paying attention to what the surgeon, Doctor [[Krosbi]], had been saying. Reorienting herself, Veta said she agreed with his assessment that the Tuwas had only been killed within the last day or two. This meant that the murder scene had to be somewhere within that range from Taram, in terms of the time it would take to travel there. Unfortunately, Olivia had been unable to get a proper navigation history from the Turaco before Argie had erased herself and the nav logs with her.  Having only the physical evidence to build a case around, Veta was able to determine that the Tuwas had been killed while lying on their backs, that their organs had been harvested soon after, and that they had already been dead by the time they were put on a ship for at least interplanetary travel. The cargo hold of the Turaco showed signs of having been used for just such a purpose, but the confirmatory DNA analysis had not yet been completed.<ref name="R17"/> The bodies were still in full rigor mortis and had evidently been left long enough to develop fixed lividity before accelerating during interstellar travel, so Lopis was able to narrow the list of potential kill sites to under fifty. It was the fact that they would have needed to be killed in a sterile environment to have had their organs harvested and still lack any insectoid colonization that made Veta conclude her home world, [[Gao]], was the answer they were looking for. The planet boasted plenty of large [[Drugs|pharmacology]] laboratories where the Tuwas could have been kept alive for weeks before their harvesting.<ref name="R17"/>

===Return to Gao===

{{Scrollbox|

===December 8, 2553===

===December 12, 2553===