/qst/ — Halo: Spartan II War Reports. Thread 7 [Spartan]

>>6378205 (OP)

A electric tingle went down your spine, as Vice Admiral Stanforth, personally, removed your Lieutenant bars from your collar and replaced them with the three bars and oak leave cluster. Shortly after, one of his aids did the same for the insignia on your shoulders. There was a brief & brisk round of applause, lasting longer in the officers you'd commanded during Hvitserk. They didn't say anything out loud, but you could tell they were astonished to witness the youngest Lieutenant Commander to ever receive that rank. A honor that continued from your promotion to Lieutenant, and one you'd had probably since you'd made Ensign right out of Basic.

"And in recognition for the excellence in leadership you displayed in the campaign to dismantle the terrorist organization and extremist insurrectionist front known as the Einherjar, along with the Outer Colony Counter Terrorism Award, have been selected to receive a second Military Star" He said, as a polish, gun metal black box was presented to you, and he took and pinned the star beside your first. It wasn't the only Military star prepared, three in total. One for James, and Kurt & Fred, when the latter two reached the station to receive their next orders.

It was soon joined by an additional purple heart, before the last of the medals you'd earned in bringing the Einherjar to heel is presented. A silver star. You lifted up your chest as it was pinned, just below the higher decorations of the Colonial Cross and Legion of Honor, beside your purple hearts and Military stars.

"I argued in favor of a higher commendation, in consideration the level of threat they represented to the on-going war effort" Stanforth explains "But it was decide by committee that your personal actions across Operation: Irminsul met the criteria only for the Silver Star. Wear it proudly, Lieutenant Commander'

Every medal was one worn proudly, when it was pinned to a Spartan's chest.

"Thank you, Vice Admiral" You say, bowing your head as you replace your cap and adjust it, feeling the weight of the attention of the gathered officers and commanders "I hope that my subordinates receive similar or higher honors then myself"

"They'll receive their new ranks as a unit" He explained "along with their individual decorations, I've only singled you out because I believed that the officers in attendance needed to see what a Spartan Commander looked like"

"Only a Lieutenant Commander, Sir. Lets not get ahead of yourselves' You say, and got a few chuckles from the crowd

"And" He says, ignoring your joke "I wished to inform you of your next deployment personally, and hear your opinions concerning proposed Spartan-II field operations"

"Of course, Vice Admiral" You say, as you follow two steps behind the Vice Admiral as he leads you past the other officers in attendance, who slowly stop applauding your Silver Star recognition.
Cont

>>6378206

Captain Mahmoud tips his hat to you as you walk by, and you have to stop yourself from saluting him on reflex and instinct.

"Now, the next mission that has been selected for the UNSC Skidbladnir and her compliment of Spartan-II super soldiers" Stanforth began, as a AI that styled its avatar like a musketeer appeared and swept off their feathered cap "Is a series of diversionary actions in close proximity to Battle Groups X-ray's advance and the planned battleline to retake harvest. You and your crew are to divert Covenant Attention from Cole's approach and perform acts of sabotage and harassment behind what is now Covenant lines. Porthos will show you our projections of the outer colonies and worlds the Covenant have occupied after harvest"

Your attention was immediately taken by one of the colonies listed and shown in red on the holographic star chart that Porthos projected with a theatric whip of their cape.

Alpha Corvi II

"I thought the Covenant glassed Alpha Corvi" You say, surprised. Anyone else would've been breathless, in disbelief maybe.

"We believed so initially as well. But...we've received concerning reports from refugee ships escaping from the colony after it was abandoned" Stanforth explained, in a tone that made your veins fill with ice, he didn't need to go into detail to get what sort of reports he'd received to get the point across "That the Covenant have occupied it, which goes against their usual MO. As for the other worlds, the Prowler Corps have recorded increased alien activity in the vicinity of these habitual worlds, and colonies that have gone completely radio silent"

"I see. We'll be behind enemy lines. But we've been trained to fight and survive in circumstances like that, with minimal support and none back up" You say and Stanforth straightens his back, hands clasped behind your back

"I will allow you to organize these planned strikes via their perceived tactical performance, by your discretion" he says "Then, we will discuss the planned deployments of the Spartans outside of your direct command. Porthos, present the locations and details of the strikes the UNSC Skidbladnir is now authorized and commanded to carry out"

"At once, Vice Admiral" The AI said as they did a sweeping bow and your eyes flicked across the fast moving scroll of a number of planned operations, behind the theorized Covenant frontline. Without your augments or training, you wouldn't have been able to read the initial reports and planning, or gather any details. If the Vice Admiral was allowing you to pick and choose which took priority, it'd have to be...
Cont

>>6378208

>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world

>Hitting a non colonized world believed to be a mustering ground or staging point for the Covenant advance

>Going to Colony Ambition, and performing a covert denial op before the Covenant come back to the world with a fleet

>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest

Remember, Brutes are coming.

>>6378210
Ack. Just noticed I forgot to update Sven's Officer Quality from [Lieutenant] to [Lieutenant Commander] in the OP. Please ignore that

>>6378210
>>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest

Im so unsure of the best choice to give us the best impact to the war effort

>>6378210
>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world

More forerunner ruins, which Sven has shown some skill

>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest

Taking out a king is always viable if we want to take harvest and we ha a ninja and infiltrator to make it work

>>6378210
>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world
Honestly just being a thorn in their side seems suitable and it will give us experiance fighting the aliens before we try to knock off one of their big wigs whom would no doubt be surrounded by their most skilled guards.

We need experiance before we try going big game hunting.

>>6378210
>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest
This or disrupting the Covenant's Forerunner treasure hunt on Alpha Corvi would definitely do the job. Though I would also really like to take Shika to Ambition.

>>6378220
Oh yeh the rest our crew still don't have xp against covenant

>>6378222
Shikanis definately bound for ambition yeh probably daisy too. Hopefully we save the rest of her family. If we can maybe bring Oscar with us there.

>>6378210
>>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world
A lightning strike maneuver to cause them big issues. Fast and hard. And then get out of that hornet's nest.

Since we can shuffle around the various Spartans we can send Shika back to ambition with whomever. I trust her enough to get her closure AND play her part in the mission itself.

>>6378210

>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world

>>6378228

Yeah, Shika should probably get some closure on Ambition.

>>6378216
>Im so unsure of the best choice to give us the best impact to the war effort
here bud, consider.

Alpha Corvi II
Alpha Corvi II cities were destroyed, and we spartans have personally killed one of their worms prophets here. We detonated a cave system that would have lead to some forerunner ruins. What that says ? The Covenant might have done a special thing here because one of their worms died. There is probably fully built military bases with garrisons and work crews near ruins. At least we know the place, and can access to human structures with ease but any force we deploy needs to be done with care and stealth. We deny the Covenant again ruins, we kill more of their own. Its a distraction, good help for the war.

Mustering Ground
The planet wilderness will help us approach the covenant military bases and support depots no doubt built here hopefully. But that's it. We are going to see their numbers and whats there, then we decide what to do and what to deploy. We make a lot of shit explode, war supplies gone. Temporarily slow fleets and armies. Very helpful for the war.

Ambition
We have home advantage. Plus CMA and locals. The Covenant shouldn't be in high numbers at the start. Covenant spec ops have been here though, so we can expect a squad of them at least. We have to dismantle anything of importance and make sure the population also gets away. We deny all Ambition has. Helpful for the war.

Assassination
Extremely difficult. Covenant troops numbers will be very high. We need to somehow get in an admiral ship, likely at the head of a covenant full war fleet. There might be a ridiculous number of covenant special military units on board (blademasters, etc..). And this might be the same head honcho we denied a intrigue victory more than once, the elite in charge of the fleet of Sublime Deception. So a crafty guy. Its death would be a blow to the early strategic Covenant plan about this war (helping tremendously Cole plan for Harvest), a temporary minor morale loss for the aliens and more importantly the very rare opportunity to jump at the data and information at the fingertips of an alien admiral. I have heavy doubts we can do it. I am impressed High Command considered to even do this 99% suicide mission, because it means they are starting to see Sven and Spartans in general has exceptional. Extremely helpful for the war effort.

In all of them we can expect brutes to be present in some capacity. Looting Covenant war gear/tools/equipment and capturing Covenant aliens might be difficult in some of this missions. Mostly for keep stealth. If stealth is broken then we can take has much as we can before hitting the road really. And i intend to loot and capture.

>>6378210
>Going to Colony Ambition, and performing a covert denial op before the Covenant come back to the world with a fleet

Lets save some humans. I am genuinely considering to tell Stanforth that 4 op might be a tad too much and to cut it for something else. I like the trust and wanting to give us another new rank, but that shit is guaranteed spartans death if we err.

>>6378210
>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest

Time to kick off thread 7 with a bang!

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>>6378231
Ah forgot to add a few things for Assassination : there is likely no guarantee for infiltrate that war fleet, no guarantee for reach the admiral ship and no guarantee we board it safely. It will be all careful planning and rolling. And the only way we get away, is by putting Vali in the admiral ship command deck. Otherwise is pretty bleak for gtfo.

The cherry on top of this cake of alien zealotry legendary difficulty is that, if this is the fleet of Sublime Deception, this guys are specialized in stealth and intrigue. No pressure. And I don't think we can afford to use a small team here. We might need all spartans on board the Skidbladnir. I wouldn't even be against using all marines and ONI field agents on board. The risk of total failure is very high.

>>6378210
>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world
What's that? You thought you'd won here?

I'd love to assassinate a Covenant fleet bigwig but, alas, I don't think we can do it without an unacceptable risk of catastrophic failure.

>>6378210
>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world
I'd prefer to do Ambition but we already know Alpha Corvi and could be disrupting some big ritual or getting into more Forerunner ruins, resulting giving the UNSC a heads up on world's that the Covenant will occupy instead of glass. Trying to off a fleet commander without any more intel on hand is genuinely a bad decision.

>>6378210
>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world
Getting more forerunner tech for RND would have the greatest effects since it isn’t black boxed like covie tech.

>>6378210
>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest
Seems like this would have the highest strategic impact and immediately help out Cole and Battle Group X-Ray the most. I imagine it would be a big propaganda victory and provide a sorely needed morale boost as well.
As for difficulty... Spartans do like challenges.

>>6378210
>>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest

>>6378210
please ignore my previous vote>>6378216
and i apologize for the inconvenience

>Returning to Alpha Corvi II and disrupting the Covenant activities on the world

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>>6378231
What I expect on the military forces and objectives there :

Alpha Corvi-II
We can expect garrisons and workers quarters placed near forerunners ruins. Or for practicality in ex human cities. Lots of grunts infantry, and workers. Maybe a few jackals cohorts. Not that many Sangheili, beside the ones in charge. A few packs of Brutes, has rapid response force. Might have a few spaceships in the solar system flying above for keep guard of the world.
Objectives : leave some portable nukes and C12 has a gift, detonate the forerunner ruins if the Covenant have already made an accessible path to them without drowning, detonate tomb/monument made for the dead alien worm (funnier if Nesta clicks the button), get away with loot and prisoners.


Mustering Ground
I could see either grunts or yanme having been used for establish logistics here. We can expect a lot of soldiers and more vehicles. Banshees and Ghosts. Some brutes will be waiting here for the campaign they have to join. There will be a few convoys of transport spaceships i recon alongside some warships in orbit.
Objectives : leave some portable nukes and C12 has a gift, compromize most if not all supplies and ammunitions, get away with some samples of it. Some prisoners too if feasible.


Ambition
Likely the largest amount of brutes. I feel like the Covenant will throw them a lot here, the Sangheili will just be present with spec ops maybe an high rank for keep the monkeys in check. The army deployed here will be fully supported by a fleet.
Objectives: Ensure all comms and digital infrastracture is gone, ensure that evacuation of colonial government, CMA force and population is mostly successfull, get away with loot and prisoners.


Assassination
Might include most of the aliens. This is a war fleet. There is genuine no lack of troops present, and an admiral ship will be exceptionally big. The brutes here.... i kinda feel their presence will be political even if they will have troops. I just don't see a Sangheili admiral keeping them on board on his own ship, out of his own desire.
Objectives : find a way to get on the admiral ship without being found, find and kill the admiral, believe in Vali, survive

>>6378210
>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, whose heading and location have been determined to be heading towards Harvest

Load me into a Prowler and launch me at the Prophets

>Returning to Alpha Corvi II
8
>Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander
5
>Going to Colony Ambition
1

Quick vote recap for help 404. An anon is voting both Returning to Alpha Corvi II and Assassinating a Covenant Fleet Commander, so that would count has 9 and 6. Unless this vote is one vote only? Either way 14 players is a good number. Sorry for the theory posting probably made counting votes harder.

[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online ]

>>6378633
Lines up with my count, mostly.

Assassinating has 6 votes in total, and there is no way for Returning to Alpha Corvi II to have 9, it has eight. You must've double counted one of them during your count. But those minor errors don't change the result of...

Sven deciding that the Alpha Corvi II mission takes priority (Meaning it will be the first diversion mission Purple team/ The Skidbladnir crew undertakes)

[ Decision made ]
[ Proceeding.... ]

>>6378231
>>6378246
>>6378503
Good tactical analysis anons.

>>6378633
lmao

>>6378655
i should stick to theory...

Alpha Corvi II. Whatever the Covenant are doing to the former colony, the last thing they'll expect is to get sucker punched now that they're settled in and have let their guards down. Perfect circumstances to surprise them with a Spartan hello. Assassinating a fleet commander behind their own lines, that would be a bigger distraction. It'd also be suicide, even if it could be pulled off. Too much risk even for the tactical gains chopping one of the hydra's heads off would have. High Command might think Spartans are immortal, if that's the case they've been overlooking how often you limp back to base after a mission, considering how big and tempting of a target you are in or out of MJOLNIR. Circumstances might change things, but as it stands, you aren't wasting Spartans; your brothers and sisters lives on a gamble you'd lose more than ninety nine percent of the time.

But Alpha Corvi II. Grace turned one of the Covenant's worm priests into so much fine mist and bone particles there, kicked a hornet's nest and put their invasion into overdrive. And that reaction could explain why the Covenant hadn't just melted Alpha Corvi like they did Harvest. A martyr was made on that world, and whatever importance that rock slash artifact they'd wanted so badly to enter the battlefield personally held. They very well could've seen the colony as a holy site now, or were just desperate to return any kind of positive results to report back to their version of High Command besides 'Oops, we let one of our ruling caste meander into a active war zone and get blown to gristle and gibs, please don't crucify us or whatever barbaric punishment we squidfaces do to our failures and fuck ups'

"Returning to Alpha Corvi II" You say, as you notice Stanforth expression minutely shift, as you spend a little too long thinking and mulling over your decision. But as fast as you can think, only a few seconds had past as you considered the Whys of why the Covenant hadn't glassed Alpha Corvi yet "That's the highest priority, and the first strike we'll make. Its behind what the enemy considers their lines, sir, they've likely lowered their guard after how easily they conquered the world and destroyed others. We don't know what they're doing there, or why they remain, but I believe...I know that that the last thing they'll expect is a Spartan Strike Team"

"I accept your reasoning, Lieutenant Commander. Its sound. An army cannot rest if they have to be constantly Vigilant. If the mission is a success, I imagine the Covenant will grow warier of advancing and focus security on the ground territory they've gained" The Vice Admiral says, relief washing over you as he, as promised, accepts and backs your decision of which mission took priority "We'll put the other suggested operations on the back burner for now"

"You also wanted to talk about the other Spartan ops that had entered the planning stage?" You asked, and he nodded his expression stone hard and set.
Cont

>>6378666

"High Command has seen the results the Spartans have already achieved this early in the war, and as you are well aware there are number of individuals and factions that believe they alone know how best to make use of them" He explains "With forty six active Spartan two super soldiers, Twelve currently deployed on Operation: Dreamcatcher, en route to their target, and twelve currently posted on your ship, you're seen as something of a commodity at this point. Which means there has been..."

You straightened your back, and thought, 'Backroom deals, cloak and dagger 'persuasion', and shouting matches between the brass'

"Some debate on where the remaining twenty two active spartans should be deployed and sent out", is what Stanforth actually says "And now that Operation: Irminsul is complete, there will be calls to reduce the Spartan presence aboard your vessel so they may be posted elsewhere"

"They don't realize we're just as killable as anyone is" You say heavily "If assassinating a fleet commander, was on the table, while they're planning to..."

Take away

"Deploy members of my current team, elsewhere" Is what you actually say, since you know that, despite your personal feelings, Command is right. Twelve Spartans is overkill, for most things. But you still wondered why they were so confident you could jump in the middle of a fleet and...

The pieces fit together. Two Variables. Two Reasons.

Hvitserk.
Vali.

It'd be a longshot, but not as much of a suicide mission as you first thought. Still was one and you didn't have a death wish or want to send Spartans to all but certain death. But maybe circumstances would change.

"I would like to say your perspective is skewed, but you aren't incorrect, Askeland" Stanforth said, shoulders dropping slightly "You Spartans have excelled, far beyond initial expectations, and detractors and sceptics of the program have changed their opinion. Suddenly, drastically"

And all that meant was they considered you effective weapons. Not people.

"I won't be the one to teach them their lesson, with all due respect sir. I won't send my people on a suicide mission" You tell him, and his eyes light up, ever so slightly as he gives another, respectful nod in your direction

"And I've endeavored to ensure no missions that would be pointlessly risk Spartan lives, has gotten past the proposition stage" He says "And have succeeded for the most part, thus far"

"Thank you, Vice Admiral" You say "Where do they need us"

"Porthos?" He asked the AI, who lifted up their chest and drew a rapier from under their swishing cape and tapped it in the air, display a number of potential operations and requests for Spartan Support. And then, the holographic avatar keeps tapping the air. It is, immediately clear that there aren't enough Spartans active to satisfy the demand for them. Couldn't blame them for it, considering WHAT the UNSC was fighting and how outmatched it was.
cont

>>6378667

Only way to decide was to organize the proposed missions by types, terms and goals. Not only to reduce the workload of denying the majority of them, but so your Spartans could act as an effective force multiplier as well as boots on the ground. Purple Team was going to be running diversion for Battle Group X-Ray and Vice Admiral Cole. John's team was currently attempting to get Command a second intact Covenant Vessel.

Considering you'd probably be commanded or forced to redeploy some of your squad elsewhere, the best gameplan at this stage of the war would be to focus Spartan Efforts...

>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.

>On Diversionary actions, putting them on similar missions as Purple team was. The only action underway, was Cole's advance to Harvest, supporting it was highest priority

>On Capture ops, sending them to try and secure more live Covenant specimens and intact equipment. The war was still in its earliest stages, and any officer worth the salt knows wars are won by knowing the enemy.

>On Support, sending them to assist other UNSC soldiers. Bloodaxe and Danelaw after it, had proven that friction seemed inevitable between Spartans and Conventional troops. This war was going to be a long haul, and you'd prefer to keep future "incidents" to a bare minimum

>Write in option

This choice will determine what the next few Spartan ops will be, the last vote determined Sven and Co's next mission

>>6378661
Its no biggie, I just appreciate the help

>>6378669

>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.

These might be a slog, but they have to be done and Home Alone went well enough.

>>6378669
>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.

Were outnumbered so we need to preserve our forces until things go online and this also makes sure covenant gets as little info about other planters as possible.

>>6378669
>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.

>>6378669
>On Diversionary actions, putting them on similar missions as Purple team was. The only action underway, was Cole's advance to Harvest, supporting it was highest priority
Every ship the Covenant reassigns to patrol, escort or guard duty is one not glassing a planet or reinforcing a battle group.

>>6378669
>>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.

>>6378669
>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.

i hate that we have to do assets denial even tho tactically it is a sound choice; hopefully we can do on support next time

>>6378669
>>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.
Currently there are too many projects and exceptional people in frontier worlds and threatened zones to ignore. The more we can ensure we don't lose data or materiel from these places the better it will be for humanity. You never know when some egghead's pet project about making nuclear powered trees or investigating slipspace musical harmonic theory might pay off in some unforeseen way. To say nothing of actual blacksites and engineering projects.

Once we get our eggs in safe baskets we can focus on kicking the Covenant in their dicks. Maybe some agri-science-nerd on a farming world is inventing a new dewormer formula we can use as torture for one of those covie priest fuckheads.

>>6378669
>On Capture ops, sending them to try and secure more live Covenant specimens and intact equipment. The war was still in its earliest stages, and any officer worth the salt knows wars are won by knowing the enemy.

>>6378669
>On asset denial ops, like Home Alone. Wasn't where glory was won, but it could prevent an early Covenant blitzkrieg and if nothing else, save lives that Command would otherwise write off.
Asset Denial and Diversionary operations will give us the most breathing room to figure out a long term solution. I'm partial to assets because we'll get to see 404's OC stuff more often and maybe get something nice out of it that might give us a leg up.

>>6378669
>>On Diversionary actions, putting them on similar missions as Purple team was. The only action underway, was Cole's advance to Harvest, supporting it was highest priority

>>6378669
>>On Diversionary actions, putting them on similar missions as Purple team was. The only action underway, was Cole's advance to Harvest, supporting it was highest priority

>>6378669
>
>>On Diversionary actions, putting them on similar missions as Purple team was. The only action underway, was Cole's advance to Harvest, supporting it was highest priority

[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, Back online

Managed to find just enough time to fit in an update before I got that Cyberpunk game

7 Votes for Asset Denial ops

4 Votes for Diversionary Acitons

1 Vote for capture ops

So Sven will send the other Spartans out on asset denial ops

[ Decision made ]
[ Proceeding.... ]

On Asset Denial Operations. There wasn't any glory to be won in that sort of actions, but that was among the lowest concerns any Spartan had and it could prevent an early Covenant Blitzkrieg, and if nothing else save lives that High Command would otherwise write off.

And once those simple parameters were set, it became much easier to sort through the mass of proposed operations and Spartan Deployments. The final call for which ones went forward, was Stanforth's, but you'd cut back the possible operations to a manageable number. Stanforth, eyes darted through the files you'd pointed out and selected for Porthos to keep projected in the air. He studied and scrutinized them as you stood, silent and at attention. The other Spartans serving on the Skidbladnir, should be arriving to receive their medals and new ranks, soon. The Vice Admiral read through the OPLANs and OPORDs, rapidly, eyes moving as he occassionally gestured to the attending AI, who removed one or two files from the scroll projected in front of Stanforth, pruning it as he decide which deployments had merit and which would be a waste of resources, manpower and time.

In short order, he'd reduced the number to just three and nodded once.

"Forward these through a secure channel to the UNSC Skidbladnir" Stanforth said, though it was unnecessary as you'd already read through and memorized the contents of all three of the missions "We'll want to keep some of the Spartans in reserve, the be prepared for the unexpected"

"I understand, Sir" You say, giving a nod of agreement, as you lift up your chest and clasp your hands behind your back "Will I be needed for anything else?"

"You're dismissed, Lieutenant Commander, and may observe the proceedings or return to your post at your leisure", you snapped a salute and marched away from your commanding officer as he, from a distance, observed the first Spartan to arrive to recieve their commendations.

It was James. He'd arrived in MJOLNIR, now repainted back to its original color, the refractive coating giving off a ghostly green gold shimmer beneath the powerful lights of the station, as one of Stanforth's aids listed off the reasons for his decoration. All of which would otherwise be hidden beneath black ink. And you smiled to yourself, as you saw, even from as far away as you stood that one of the medals James got was a Military Star, just like the two you had. A sense of pride swelled in within you, but before you could congratulate him, you had some decisions to make.

Vice Admiral Stanforth didn't want to deploy all available Spartans immediately. Keep a reserve would allow for rapid reaction to any unexpected invasions or pushes from the Covenant, or sudden Insurrectionist activity. The Einherjar weren't the only extremist front by far, and the number of rebels who'd agreed to the cease fire, while steadily increasing, did not account for every insurrectionist group in the outer colonies.
Cont

>>6379218

Three Missions, three fire teams of four. You could figure out the team comp for each in the time it took you to clear the distance between yourself and James.

[ John-117, Sam-034, , Kelly-087, Linda-058, Vinh-030, Isaac-039, Dimas-012, Joshua-029. Kai-125. Vannak-134, Rix-028, and Li-008 unavailable/ currently deployed on Operation:DREAMCATCHER ]

>OPERATION: KNIFE-IN-THE-BACK. Priority level 0. Stealth infiltration/ Sabotage/ Asset Denial Operation. Team Size: Four. Goal: Delete NAV Data, capture or destroy military resources, prevent intel leaks by any means necessary . Location: Delta Indi System, Colony Gravity Free, Mission Difficulty: EASY. ONI has determined that an illegal outpost/ proto colony of the Spacenoid Revolutionary Front, poses a threat to the security of earth due to its proximity to Harvest and the Epsilon Indi System, and that preventive measures must be taken immediately before the Covenant discover its location

>OPERATION: SINKING-SHIP. Priority level 1. Escort/ Evacuation/ Asset Denial Operation. Team Size: Four. Goal: Retrieve Vital Personal from war zone/ prevent their capture by the enemy. Location: Asteroid Field Sigma Epsilon 138, Rebel Station, "Come and take it". Mission Difficulty: NORMAL or HEROIC. A covert operation to capture Insurrectionist Leader, Gung Kwan, that was underway/ given the green light just prior to contact harvest, has been listed as a possible risk of intel leak, due to the knowledge of the commander of the Operation and the ODST deployed. Possibility of Covenant interference low, but not null due to the stations proximity to projections of Covenant frontline

>OPERATION:BRUSHFIRE. Priority level 0. Stealth infiltration/ Sabotage/ Asset Denial Operation. Team Size: Four. Goal: Delete NAV Data, Shut down agricultural complexes and colonial AI, Prevent intel leaks by any means necessary. Location: Colony Ambition. Mission Difficulty: EASY to NORMAL. It has been determined that Colony Ambition remains at risk and that preemptive measures must be taken to prepare for its possible invasion/ subjugation by Covenant forces. As a rural colony, with high agricultural production the possibility of it being used as a breadbasket by the enemy is too great to risk.

You didn't have to like the missions you were sending your Spartans on. They were necessary for the War Effort, even if they were dirty jobs. Dirty was what Spartans were meant for, anyways. Even if it left a bad taste in your mouth.

But you also had to consider your own team for your deployment behind enemy lines, especially now that the Brass was going to be encouraging you to reduce the size of that team. You could probably get away with keeping it at twelve for a mission or two, and just act like you were unaware of they had a problem with it until they voiced it...
Cont

>>6379220

>OPERATION: CROWS-NEST. Priority Level 0. Stealth infiltration/ Sabotage/ Assassination/ Combat Mission. Team Size: Four to Eight: [ Maverick Quality bonus] Max team size increased to Twelve. Goal: Disrupt Covenant activities on the Conquered Colony of Alpha Corvi II. Location: System Alpha Corvi, Colony Alpha Corvi II. Previously believed to be lost, recent intel shows the Covenant remain on Alpha Corvi II and have yet to destroy the world, like Harvest. Spartan team lead by Sven-033 is to disrupt their activities on the planet, in anyway possible.

>>6379222
...I fuckin cut off the difficulty for Crows Nest while I was formating it.

Anyways. OPERATION: CROWS-NEST difficulty is: HEROIC to LEGENDARY

>>6379220
We need to send shika and Oscar to ambition. Hopefully to give her some closer like Sven did for us. Probably means bot having her for awhile but we should be able to handle it.

>>6379220
We really need an updated Spartan roster. It's becoming a pain to keep the mixed up teams sorted when half our list don't even have names to them. I'm assuming most active Spartan teams have a full four members at minimum, and if not, or more, I'd leave it up to their TL's discretion on who else to take.

>OPERATION: KNIFE-IN-THE-BACK.
Naomi with her Orange Team. Naomi has the intrigue and mind for stealing anyone and anything not nailed down if it looks important enough.
>OPERATION: SINKING-SHIP.
Fred and his Red Team, a good enough jack of all trades team with the third best leader.
>OPERATION:BRUSHFIRE.
Shika with Augusta with her Omega Team. Shika is probably tied in first place with Daisy for infiltration while full blown torch and burns, and liquidations, are Omega's bread and butter. Should give Shika a 'special secondary objective' or something so she has an excuse to vanish during down time. IIRC Omega has only 3 core members so sending Shika should be fine.
>OPERATION: CROWS-NEST.
Sven, obviously, with Purple Team minus Shika but with Gray Team puts us at a neat eight man force to handle a higher difficulty mission. And if we can swing it we should probably also bring along some of our Spartans who haven't had a chance to do combat against the Covenant yet, like Carris, Aurthur, William, etc but not bump it over 10. Enough to keep on standby just in case or swing to help out with situations as they pop up.

Also lmao at the 'Spacenoid Revolutionary Front.' Is their supreme leader's name Gihren and are they a bunch of extremist eco-terrorist who hate Earthlings specifically?

>>6379263
I forgot to mention, this also leaves Kurt and his Green Team on standby for emergencies. Though they'd be a good swap out for Frederick and Red Team or Naomi and Orange. Along with however many other unidentified Spartans we sitting on their thumbs.

>>6379263
Supporting these. I'd also support trying to bring Carris and Arthur along. More bodies to help us steal more shiny alien loot and kill more alien scum if nothing else.

>>6379263
Yeah the roster desperately needs to be updated, but the anon who made it is MIA, and I don't know how to make one myself

>>6379265
There are 46 active Spartans.

Sven-033,John-117,Adriana-111,Anton-044, Arthur-079,August-099,Cal-141,Carris-137,Daisy-023, Dimas-012, Edgar-150, Frederic-104, Grace- 093, Illya-077, Isaac-039, Jai-006, James-005, Jorge-052, Joseph-122, Joshua-029, Kai-125, Keiichi-047, Kelly-087, Kurt-051, Leon-011, Li-008, Linda-058, Malcom-059, Maria-062, Micheal-120, Naomi-010, Nadja-078 Nesta-097, Nicole-017, Oscar-129, Ralph-103, Randal-037, Riz-028, Robert-025, Samuel-034, Sheila-065, Shika-108, Solomon-069, Vannak -134, Vihn-030, William-043

Nineteen Inactive/ Washouts. Alice-130, Cassandra-075, Douglas-042, Fhajad-084, Jerome-092, Jori-149, Kirk-018, Margaret-053, Musa-096, Otto-031, Rene-081, Roma-143, Soren-066, Victor-101, Igwe-149, Kang-Dae-115, Sal-009, Alia-086, Yasmine-148

1 "missing" in Serin-019.

And 34 Spartans Candidates who did not survive the Aster procedure, who make up the entirety of the Spartan-???/ unidentified and Spartan-073 on the roster

Which is all 100 Spartans accounted for

Since, the "for want for a nail" of this quest, was Halsey getting additional funding for the program, which let her nab 25 more kids than she did in canon. Including our boy Sven.

We really need an updated spreadsheet... kek

>>6379220
>>6379222
>OPERATION: KNIFE-IN-THE-BACK.
Team: August-099, Robert-024, Leon-011, Grace-093
Leader: August-099
Omega Team + explosives expert Grace... Big explosions are good for emergency asset denial.

>OPERATION: SINKING-SHIP.
Team: Frederic-104, William-043, Nicole-017, Carris-137
Leader: Frederic-104
Fred is a great strategist and has that experience with TALON (Watts). Will has a close friendship with Fred (at least in canon). Nicole's CQC might help with wrangling the innie leader. Carris for a similar reason, I guess. Not too sure about the expertise of Carris and Will, but hopefully they can help round out the team.

>OPERATION:BRUSHFIRE.
Team: Shika-108, Daisy-023, Oscar-129, Naomi-010
Leader: Shika-108
We managed to give Shika a bit of leadership experience, so we can build on that here. Daisy is always another good stealth option and knows what's going on with the clone stuff. She can also provide Shika and Oscar with some support if necessary, since she's close to them. Naomi seems like a solid addition with her intelligence and adaptability, hopefully dealing with any snags with the AI/NAV data and any new developments with the clone stuff.

>OPERATION: CROWS-NEST.
Team: Sven-033, Nesta-097, Jorge-052, James-005, Kurt-051, Cal-141, Malcolm-059, Anton-044, Illya-077, Jai-006, Adriana-111, Michael-120
Leader: Sven-033
Potentially legendary mission, so we can add Kurt and keep the whole of Green Team with us, which would be a plus. We wouldn't really have to make many adjustments either. Dimas and Joshua (tech experts) are out of the picture, so Michael is one of the few tech experts we have at our disposal unless I'm forgetting someone, nice to have one if we encounter any relics. Wouldn't want to break up Gray just to take him, plus they're pretty versatile together, which is always nice.

I'd probably be more inclined to assign some of the others that we haven't really had a chance to work with or put on a mission if I knew what their strengths were.

>>6379274
Naomi is a squad leader tho so why not have her leading

>>6379274
>>6379279
I do think Shika would be better NOT as the team lead for that OP, specifically because she might have some distractions to deal with which would not play nice with having to stay in the loop and giving orders.

>>6379220
>OPERATION: KNIFE-IN-THE-BACK.
Team: August-099, Robert-024, Leon-011, Grace-093
Leader: August-099

>OPERATION: SINKING-SHIP.
Team: Frederic-104, William-043, Nicole-017, Carris-137
Leader: Frederic-104

>OPERATION:BRUSHFIRE.
Team: Shika-108, Daisy-023, Oscar-129, Naomi-010
Leader: Naomi-010

>OPERATION: CROWS-NEST.
Team: Sven-033, Nesta-097, Jorge-052, James-005, Kurt-051, Cal-141, Malcolm-059, Anton-044, Illya-077, Jai-006, Adriana-111, Michael-120
Leader: Sven-033


the only difference to this plan that the other plan did is that Naomi is squad leader not Shikia

>>6379272
I'll make a copy of the spreadsheet and figure something out when I've got the time. For the active Spartans without confirmed teams do you want me to arbitrarily assign them to evenly fill out compositions or do you have teams in mind?

Finally, and most importantly, Soren IS a Dragon yeah? He is in my heart but I'd like it to match up with your intentions.

>>6379263
>Also lmao at the 'Spacenoid Revolutionary Front.' Is their supreme leader's name Gihren and are they a bunch of extremist eco-terrorist who hate Earthlings specifically?
They are exactly that.
They fully hate the UNSC; in that capacity, they are another extremist terrorist organization that, like the Einherjar, needs to be cracked down on. In fact, Anton shut down with a sniper round one of their demagogues in the SNAKE EYES operation (the one that was done for the capture of Fino & Firmino Costa), while he was saying some insanity, surrounded by other innies leaders. Including Bomb Mom (Ingrid Askeland, aka Fenrir). This was before we captured her on Black Sands and ended her plot to kill a ton of people and attempt to end the public peace talk with Innies Movements.

Honestly, we might have to just sign as extremists that need to be found and destroyed, all the terrorist groups that were in that fucking villa in Bethlehem Star. The fuckers there were all fucking nutjobs or diehard haters of UNSC/UEG/ONI/CMA.

To answer your other question, there are additional rebel movements added by 404. You can read about the operation I mentioned in the After Action Report. Spartan field Operation no: 3. Operation: SNAKE-EYES. It's in the second thread.

>>6379220
>Operation:DREAMCATCHER
>Already Deployed
John-117, Sam-034, , Kelly-087, Linda-058, Vinh-030, Isaac-039, Dimas-012, Joshua-029. Kai-125. Vannak-134, Rix-028, and Li-008

>OPERATION: KNIFE-IN-THE-BACK.
Team: August-099, Robert-024, Leon-011, Grace-093
Leader: August-099

>OPERATION: SINKING-SHIP.
Team: Frederic-104, William-043, Nicole-017, Carris-137
Leader: Frederic-104

>OPERATION:BRUSHFIRE.
Team: Shika-108, Daisy-023, Oscar-129, Naomi-010
Leader: Naomi-010

>OPERATION: CROWS-NEST.
Team: Sven-033, Nesta-097, Jorge-052, James-005, Kurt-051, Cal-141, Malcolm-059, Anton-044, Illya-077, Jai-006, Adriana-111, Michael-120
Leader: Sven-033

>"RESERVE" TEAMS
Arthur-079, Edgar-150, Joseph-122, Keiichi-047, Maria-062, Nadja-078, Ralph-103, Randal-037, Riz-028, Samuel-034, Sheila-065
Solomon-069 and Cal-141 are also out of the Skidbladnir with this assignment for now. I suggest making both of them team leaders in case of emergency ops.


>>6379292
Soren still counts has washout.
He remains a Spartan brother, one Sven took with him. The dragons are about fighting. He can't go into the field with us to kill our enemies, but he can look in to informations we gain in a mission and provide us a better approach. The point, though, remains: he can't show more of his worth. He would be like a dragon without fire and wings. For now, at least. Let him gain new abilities in the matter of strategy and info reviewing, and if all goes well, maybe we will get an interesting tech missive in the future about Rhodes-Mjolnir collab. Then he might have an opportunity to be a new dragon. A real one.

>>6379304
Actually just Solomon, Cal is with us my bad.