Knight sighed as he removed his helmet and tucked it under his arm.
"I'm going to be blunt. If we send you all in a single vessel then we risk you all being destroyed. At least with our current idea there's a chance at least one of you will make it down to the planet." Knight mentioned coldly.

Angel nodded to Jones' request, then looked to Gravedigger, waiting for him to finish. As she was about to speak, the Spartan who had introduced himself as Mathews spoke up once again about how his piloting skills could be of us. Angel was seriously considering confronting him when Iris piped up "Lieutenant, your heart rate is rising. I would suggest taking a step back to breathe."

She turned to Jones and went to bring him off to the side where they wouldn't interrupt the main conversation. She looked to him and brought up his file on the little screen on her forearm "When I was appointed to this operation while on shore leave, I was asked to submit a handful of candidates who I thought could be valuable assets to the mission. I was thoroughly impressed with your service record and I personally contacted your commanding officer to request your transfer to this operation." She looked to Jones, her helmet emotionless and metallic, but her voice caring yet firm "I do hope I didn't uproot you too much."

Jones looked at the Lieutenant. he couldnt believe that he had actually been hand picked for this squad, he had thought up untill now they had taken Spartans who were unimportant to the Theatres they were currently serving in. "No Ma'am, My CO was someone i grew up with so i was mainly using the Requiem campaign to reconnect with her aswell as dealing with the Covenant Revenants. i didnt catch your name by the way Lieutenant"

Joshua knew where he was coming from, it was a harsh truth but it often seems that the best option is also the riskiest. "So recon wise, we have no hostile numbers, nor any friendly ones, and no way to contact the surface besides manned missions? We might as well be going in blind,"he paused for one moment taking in what he could that's when he spotted the cruisers still floating above, "Sir, I understand we just shot one of them, but if we could hail them again could we not gain some information,Co-ordinates of clear landing locations, or maybe what went on? I mean this far into the war someone on this ship must speak shangheli"

"Someone on this ship must speak shangheli"

As soon as Joshua finished those words, the doors flew open and there, floating about half a metre of the floor was Sparky, the Blade' Edge Engineer, or rather Huragok. Sparky's tentacles waved frantically with excitement as he glided towards Knight who placed his free hand on Sparky's head reassuringly.

"Meet Sparky, he'll be investigating the problem with the Covenant fleet while we ensure that he can safely get planet side and help us uncover what's going on down there."

As the huragok entered the room, Jones practically jumped backwards in surprise "You best not be telling me thats the same thing Alpha nine picked up in New Mombasa." Jones said taking his helmet back off. he could see that Knight was comfortable with that thing "If that things coming down with us then im definitely being first in last out. Say who's even Fireteam leader on this Op"

"No, Sparky here is one of the first from an ONI breeding facility, well... factory." Knight explained. "After the Covenant Civil-War the Engineers came to our side."

"Is that really a huragok? It's been some time since i last saw them, i'm glad they're finally with us, last time i saw them they had been rigged to blow by the covenant." He walked up to the creature kinda hoping he wouldn't touch his armour, he knew that they like to fix and upgrade whatever they could. He remembered his training with Deja, they were alive with the forerunners, what's why the seam to squeal when they come close to us. He stopped inspecting the creature. "so then sir, when does the first pod drop?"

"I would suggest that we group into two fireteams, one to examine this Forerunner artifact and one to make sure the nearby town is alright. I'd be willing to lead one of the fireteams if so. We certainly have the numbers." She looked to Gravedigger for an answer and waited for a final verdict.

"It is indeed, I've worked with Sparky here for over two years now." Knight explained before clearing his throat. "Avalon?"

As soon as a Knight finished, there was the sound of a Pod being fired from the Pod Station, after a moment a MAC shot is then fired. The display then shows a holographic representation of what was happening. The MAC shot over takes the Pod seconds before it hits the barrier and only scrapes inside.

"It was close sir, but it seems possible." Avalon concluded.

The twelve hour slipspace jump had gone by very quickly she was in the shooting range of the Blade's Edge using her sniper rifle due to her skill as a marksman. Then she heard a message over her coms, setting the sniper rifle into a nearby weapons rack Vanessa quickly started making her way towards the bridge. As she made her way towards the bridge Vanessa patched herself into the bridge's coms and listened in on the briefing.

Vanessa felt the ship rumble as it fired a MAC round and started running faster until she finally got to the bridge and saluted the rest of the members of her fire team. "Sorry for being late." Vanessa said turning her head over seeing a haurgok on the bridge, she had seen and interacted with them before. "So what's its real name besides Sparky? I know they have their own names from the way that they were born." Vanessa then looked over towards the holographic display of Horizon as a MAC round went through and a drop pod as well. "I would like to volunteer to examine the forerunner artifact as well."

"His real name is Sparky, that was the name he was given when he was constructed and so that shall it be." Knight explained as he looked at Angel and pondered her suggestion. "Well the issue is we don't know what we'll be running into down there, and with reinforcements all bar impossible, we'll need all we can. The other Twelve thousand crew members on board this ship can handle the investigation up here. Now, get to your pods and prepare for drop." Knight ordered as he dismissed the others and made his way out to the Pod Station.

Jones left the bridge pretty quick. He always loved being dropped in the pods. it was like a giant adrenaline rush the idea that he would be there before they even knew what in gods name was going on. Jones was the first in the pod station so he had plenty of time to get his gear in the pod. "Spartan Jones, On-line and Ready to Drop."He said into the Comms system implanted in his helmet

Angel followed Jones with a brisk walk, grabbing her sniper rifle, smg and ammunition for the two of them from the armoury before jogging down to the drop pod bay. She loaded her gear in rapidly before locking herself to the seat and closing the door "Edwards online and ready to go."

Those that were ready would have their pods lowered down into launching positions, awaiting for the rapid deployment.

Knight observed the scene for a while, ensuring that all those being deployed were getting into their allocated seating, wondering if the Colonel, in his age would be joining them.

Colonel Morrel was currently commanding the Blade's Edge to the best of his ability, issuing orders and disseminating information. When comms arrived that the Spartan team was nearly prepped for dispatch Morrel was quick to delegate his command to a senior subordinate, Lieutenant Colonel Scarborough, before heading down to the armory to equip himself. The resounding clacks of cleared weapons and rustle of secured body armor made the old infantry commander feel right at home.

Unfortunately, as he was not a Spartan, getting the good colonel into a set of powered armor would prove impossible. Instead the older man chose a simple pair of non-descript grey fatigues that had been sterilized of any UNSC logos or insignia. Indeed, the outfit without armor made him appear more like a planetary militiaman than a UNSC commander. Next came the plated body armor, then armaments to include an MA5D, a few grenades, and an M6C. Of note for the last item was the nature of its age. The M6C as a service pistol had been retired for nearly a decade, though, to the colonel it felt as right now as it did nearly twenty years ago when he took his first platoon.

With all of these things done the colonel waited for the Spartans to move to the drop area before accessing the rear of the armory. As most people knew ONI liked to keep its secrets and fail-safes. What the colonel was accessing was one of them. It took only a minute or so to confirm that the item was indeed stowed away on the drop pods as arranged, having been attached to the interior of the colonel's personally. As soon as the team set down his 'deception' would be known, though in the end these too were simply orders.

Closing down to the control panel Morrel moved towards his respective pod, getting inside and securing himself via the restraint harnesses. The automatic tighteners did their work and in an instant he was pulled flush against the pod's rear padding. At his feet the large mystery item remained inert, danger graphics and bio-hazard warnings littering its sides.

"Fire team quantum this is colonel Morrel, prepare for drop."

"Spartan Edwards, wanna say a few words before we drop" Jones said into the comms. it felt only right for the Lieutenant to say a few words to mark FireTeam Quantum's first mission together

Angel smiled to herself as Jones requested her to say something.

"Helljumper, helljumper where have you been? Feet first into hell and back again. When I die please bury me deep and place an MA5 down at my feet. See ya on the other side boys!"

Under his visor Jones smiled. Atleast there were other Ex ODSTs in fireteam Quantum. "Ooh Rah. Lets show whatever's down there what Quantum is made of. Edwards, you buying first round when were done?"

"Hell yeah I am. The drinks on the ship aren't great, but they'll do. However, remember that odds are there will be a high friendly population down there, check your fire." Edwards felt as if she was back as squad leader, something she hadn't been allowed to do since the unspoken mission. She made sure she was locked in securely and waited, closing her eyes.