Operation: TALON: Difference between revisions

Disguised in the clothing of the crew of the freighter ''[[Laden]]'', the [[Blue Team|team]] of 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 cigar|Sweet William Cigars]] with a [[NAV marker transmitter|NAV Marker Transmitter]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 85''</ref> 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 track point, they arrived at a barrack, where Kelly and John quickly and silently eliminated. Then, using the elevator cables, they climbed up to Watts' room. Using their [[MA2B Individual Combat Weapon System|MA2B Assault Rifles]] (as well as Linda's [[Sniper Rifle System 99C-S2 Anti-Matériel|SRS99C-S2-AM Sniper Rifle]]), 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 shot three times in the side, one bullet penetrating his [[Black body suit|Black Body Suit]], bouncing off a few ribs, and causing a tremendous amount of internal bleeding, keeping the bullet lodged in his abdomen, during the ensuing firefight. Though Watts brandished an [[M6D Personal Defense Weapon System|M6D Pistol]] at them, Kelly and Fred fired, causing him to duck. Spartan-117 then leaped to his quarry, snapped his finger, and choked him to unconsciousness.<ref>'''[[Halo: The Flood]]''', ''page 91''</ref>

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 [[D77-TC Pelican|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.

Despite UNSC plans to return later and destroy the base, it never happened despite it being marked by the Spartans.  Presumably the greater conflict with the Covenant prevented this.  The base survived for another 25 years, even after Eridanus II was destroyed by the [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]]. In 2552, all but one of the Spartans who attacked the base returned with the ''[[Ascendant Justice]]-[[UNSC Gettysburg|Gettysburg]]'' for repairs.  They were able to find the base thanks to information from this attack and convinced the rebels to help them.  The group even defended the base from attack by a Covenant Cruiser, but were forced to abandon the rebels to the Covenant when over 30 ships showed up, leading to the [[Massacre at Eridanus Secundus]] in which the rebel base was presumably destroyed by the Covenant.