"Major Yalu 'Suumko." Yalu answered, looking forward as they walked. "And if you know the rudiments already, I have only two motions of advice." He turned an eye to Lucas. "First, do not underestimate the gesture in that gift. Whoever gave it did so knowing you well. Second, there is no ancient sangheili art form and tradition to a dagger like there is in a sword. One only becomes better with an energy dagger by finding greater opponents to teach them."

Yalu left the question of which of them was the greater to the arena.

Looking up to think, Yalu curiously sniffed. "I do not presume you to want to teach," he continued. "But I am also curious to see how Spartans fight more generally...from beside their weapons rather than in front of them."

The remark draws a chuckle from the Spartan as the duo approaches the War Games simulation area, stopping to call an elevator for them. "Yeah, I imagine the thought of fighting with our crazy asses is much more appealing than fighting against us. Gotta level, fighting with a Swords spec ops team...let's say it's a welcome change of pace watching those active camo shrouded forms appear behind the enemy instead of behind a friend."

Once the elevator had arrived, Lucas allowed Major Yalu'Suumko to board before he did and selected the floor it was on. "It was also very...enlightening. Seeing your people in a capacity other than as warriors and leaders. It was...pleasant."

---

However the team decided to spend the few hours they had, it did not take long after their departure from Earth for Major Robinson to call the team to muster in one of the hangars. With the upgraded slipspace drives that new UNSC ships, like the Chorus of Thunder, had been receiving, journeys through slipspace were no longer the time consuming voyages they had once been. Their ships could now best even Covenant ships for speed. Even aside from that, Sarcophagus was not a long jump from Sol.

For any who might have had access to external windows or cameras, their arrival in the system might have seemed somewhat bizarre. Sarcophagus was a complete shell, almost unfathomably large, fully enveloping the star, and the Chorus of Thunder entered the system just outside of it. The only light came from distant stars, which was far from enough to illuminate the megastructure. From the perspective of the ship, there was only blackness on one side of them, as if all of the stars in that direction had been extinguished.

Inside the hangar, there was another surprise waiting for them in the form of a vehicle that was clearly being prepped for the mission. It was a Mammoth, though nonstandard in a few obvious ways. The most notable modification was that the mini-MAC had been removed, and overall, it seemed like a somewhat stripped down, lighter version of the vehicle. Although, that did not reduce the size of the aptly-named vehicle; it would still require something like a Heron dropship just to get it to the ground.

Vael was fully-equipped and ready for the mission. He had opted for his usual selection of weapons, with a carbine, plasma rifle, energy sword, and a handful of plasma grenades. Combined with his active camouflage, he could be versatile with the situations he could deal with.

After the usual formalities, the Major addressed the team as a whole. ”Alright, you all have the relevant mission files and you know your objective, so I will keep this brief. We’ve dropped out of slipspace outside the Dyson shell to avoid detection. You’ll be inserting via Pelican through one of the entryways, and we’ll be sending this in with you as well.” She explained, gesturing to the Mammoth. ”You’ll need to approach from the ground to avoid detection by the Brute ships, and you’ll have a bit of a drive ahead of you. This Mammoth has been modified to serve better as a mobile base for your team. It is stocked with weapons, supplies, and a pair of warthogs. Some of its heavier components have been removed to help improve its speed as much as possible. We have also installed improved communications equipment to intercept enemy communications and help you track down your targets.”

Once she had given her explanation, Major Robinson took a data crystal drive and handed it to Fireteam Leader Aviza. “Shih has been assigned to Aegis Team, as well. You may take responsibility for her yourself, Fireteam Leader, or assign her to another member of your team as you see fit.”

Ben's time in the mess hall passed quickly. Grikgar went about his business with the food, and the mess the Unggoy had made was cleaned up. Quickly finishing his own meal, the Spartan-III reported to the war games deck, where he proceeded to practice his sniping skills and use of grenades. There was less time than he had anticipated, as by the time he had moved on to training in the use of the grenade launcher, Phong (who he had unmuted at this point) contacted him.

"Ben, I had received a signal from Major Robinson. Please proceed to the designated hangar immediately." Not that there was much of a choice. Phong had taken the liberty of ending the simulation in any event. Quickly gathering his gear, Ben-E218 made his way to join with the rest of the team. He stopped to find Grikgar still milling around the simulator.

"Come on, Grik. You can tell me all about your virtual kill count later; it's time for the meeting." He briefly paused to wonder what Covenant mission briefings were like. It was probable that the Grunts were given much less explanation than the Elites had been told. Cannon fodder only needed to know where to be pointed. Still, he supposed that a Grunt like Grik would have been considered a bit more than the usual bullet-catchers his brethren were. An elite grunt- used in the sense of superior soldier- might have been afforded at least an explanation about why he was about to die and what he had to accomplish before that happened.

Sarcophagus was impressive, despite being very hard to fully see in the dark. It was almost like a gigantic bowling ball set in a badly-lit room. Ben had his sniper rifle stowed on his back, and had a designated marksman rifle and a pistol with enough ammo for an extended engagement for all firearms. Doubtlessly, this wouldn't suffice, so he brought a complement of frag grenades and a combat knife along with him. Obviously, a one-man mission was out of the question, although he was technically the only one assigned to his special mission in the event one of the team proved to be a liability.

"As a reminder, the capture or corruption of a UNSC AI is unacceptable, especially for AI whose rating is above my level." It wouldn't have been the first time Ben had to destroy a smart AI. At least they knew it was nothing personal and accepted their fate, insofar as an AI could be considered a "he" or "she." Even so, he hoped it didn't come to that. So far, nothing about the mission was too exotic or difficult to comprehend, even if it took place on a rather exotic location. Get down the surface and take a mammoth to a destination, then attack.

Practice with one of his new Spartan teammates was just what Yalu needed. Ryker did not go easy on him, and even for a sangheili like himself it was a challenge staying ahead of where the shorter-armed human would strike next. He gathered Ryker had plenty of experience going for a quick kill rather than preserving himself for fighting in prolonged melees like Yalu was. While he was not sure how much Ryker had to learn from him, Yalu had plenty to learn from the humans.

Teaming up for firefight simulations was far more even between the two of them. Yalu struggled with Ryker's battlefield slang -- as he had been with most human warriors he had encountered -- though the two of them fought with surprisingly little friction between them.

After roughly an hour and a half, Yalu withdrew to study the files for their upcoming mission. The physical activity had sharpened his mind for the reading. Sequestered in his cabin, he got through plenty of dossiers before being summoned to the hanger.

---

Everything was double-checked on Yalu's harness. His loadout gave him the tools he needed to fight on the move or dug in. Everything else was left to fate, as always.

"Reporting for duty." Yalu addressed Major Robinson with human formalities. He fought with great willpower not to gawk at the colossal wheeled vehicle.

Before the end of the war, Yalu had a low view of human technology. However, he grew to admire the size and sophistication of their ground vehicles knowing they were largely without plasma power and boosted gravity propulsion.

Yalu gestured to their 'Mammoth'. "With permission to ask, how many crew are required to operate that?"

---

”A small squad of marines will be accompanying you to operate the Mammoth, so you will not have to dedicate any of your own number to the task.” The Major answered to Yalu. ”Remember, once you are through the shell into the interior of Sarcophagus, you will be out of contact with the Thunder, or any other outside support. You will be facing a long drive through rough terrain, dangerous creatures, and potentially hostile forerunner constructs. If you make any long range broadcasts once inside, the rebels may detect it, so do not contact us until you have located the insurrectionist base of operations. Once you have, you may call us in to deal with the Brute ships; we will have a battle group ready to handle them. However, the Brutes are your secondary objective. If you have to let them escape to find the rebels, then so be it.”

The Major turned her attention to Aviza, then gestured to the nearest Pelican. “If there are no further questions, you and your team may embark, Spartan.”

Lucas found his time training with the Sangheili major to be incredibly informative, both in terms of how to deal with enemy assassins and how well he could learn to fight alongside a new team mate. As it stood, it seemed working with that spec ops team while part of Regis had helped him somewhat prepare for the differences and similarities in their fighting style. However, eventually his partner found he had done enough for the day and left the SPARTAN-IV to train with his wrist mounted dagger for awhile longer until he decided to take a nap.

---

When Lucas had arrived at the briefing, he had his sidearm on his right hip, his DMR across his back and two silenced SMGs he'd picked out for this mission specifically in the small of his back. During his days as a black ops agent for ONI, the ODST's caseless silenced version had served him and his team well both upon infiltration and upon exfiltration post-mission. He saw no reason the weapon wouldn't do him some good now, especially given the covert nature of it all. Alongside that was his twin modified energy daggers and his standard issue combat knives along with a pair of fragmentation grenades for when things inevitably went loud. While the Major went over everything, including their new mobile base for the duration of the mission, Ryker took it upon himself to give it a more thorough look over while recording the briefing so he could dissect the spook's words later. Never trust ONI and you'll find you live a lot longer... Words his team's first leader had spoken shortly before ONI had fired him and moved him to a civilian job as a security contractor that the former black ops operative had taken to heart.

Major Yalu'Suumko asked a valid question as Lucas went over the ammunition stockpiles and the Major quickly made it clear that they wouldn't need to concern themselves with operating and guarding the vehicle themselves, but that didn't mean that Ryker wouldn't worry about it anyways. Marines are good, but if these are Remnant we're dealing with, Marines are outclassed in more ways than one. Guess we don't have a choice though... With no one else speaking up, it fell to Aviza to give the all clear to load up and move out. While he couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be SOP for every mission that took them ground side, he didn't think the question needed to be asked just yet, as it would be answered over the next few months quickly enough. "Ready when you are, Fire Team Leader."

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery //

Grikgar had learned several new things on human etiquette and was quite fascinated by it. Next time he would remember to eat in an appropriate manner around the other humans. The others did not seem to be too fond of his antics thus far, the Unggoy was aware of this but didn’t let it show. Picking up his helmet and wiping off the rest of his food he followed the Spartan Ben around the ship.

The next stop was the holodeck, a training simulation computer. It wasn’t something he was used too, Grikgar was far more interested in watching some of the other humans in the area do what they were doing while the others trained. Always curious to the stories and lives of the humans, he was not afraid to ask any of them about their life stories. They varied so vividly that it was always interesting to learn more even if it was fake.

The Spartan he had been following earlier came and got him at about the same time a notification for mission start popped up in his helmet. Grik was able to grab the crate with his gear in it on their way to the meeting. Once he arrived and began seeing the images of the construct on several nearby screens as well as the others that had begun to get there gear ready he knew that the mission was about to start. At least he did feel lucky, yet again he found himself starring at another relic.

The Unggoy straightened his posture, with a deep breath he sighed opening the container. He listened as the major spoke while he affixed his weapons to him. The smooth silent way he got his gear together said he was used to it. Plasma pistols checked and placed on his thighs, plasma grenades on one side of his belt and plasma charges with extra ammo on the other. He was very careful and practiced as he checked his gear, the hiss of an extra can of methane to top his main tank off, his cloaking device making him disappear for a moment then come back, and finally a small flash of his energy shield coming online.

Looking up for a moment to see the mammoth as the major gestured to it only for him to quickly return to prepping his gear. The final two things the Unggoy prepped was checking the blade of his ODST combat knife and securing it to his left shoulder. Then picking up the rather large and bulky fuel rod gun, checking it carefully for damage or foul play, then loading a cluster of ammunition into it taking care to keep the safety on.

Grikgar closed the crate but kept it close to him he would need to take it with him onto the mammoth just in case. He stood quietly cradling his cannon in his arms it was almost as if his personality changed. Going from a childlike aloof Unggoy to a serious battle hardened elite. He knew what was expected of him and now that their mission was starting it was time to be professional, it was time to show why he had the rank of Ultra. "Grikgar is ready for combat mission Commander."

---

---

The M510 Mammoth was a Siegeworks ultra-heavy assault platform vehicle that Aviza had heard about but had never seen in action before. It was apparently the largest ground vehicle that the UNSC had in its ordnance. This particular Mammoth had been heavily modified to serve as a mobile base for Aegis Team, having its mini-mac cannon removed, along with other modifications. Aviza found herself standing alongside the massive vehicle, peering up at it and wondering what it was like to drive one of them. “They removed the mini-mac cannon and installed heavy modifications into the Mammoth? I wonder what other changes were made.” thought Aviza to herself as she moved to the rear of the vehicle and peered into the back of it, where supplies were being loaded by a Prime Mover and other UNSC ground forces.

Aviza had still been inspecting the Mammoth with great interest when Major Robinson had announced that she had been chosen for the Smart A.I., Shih. The Spartan Four was unsure how to respond to the information at first but then approached the Major and took the offered data-crystal-drive, plugging it into the back of her helmet very carefully. “It is my honor to have this opportunity, Major Robinson.” said Spartan Aviza, with a slight nod of her head. When she had plugged the data-crystal-drive into her armor, she had not felt anything, but could instantly notice her suits systems rebooting, clearly much more was happening behind the scenes. “Shih? I have never been paired with a smart A.I. before, is there anything I should know before we depart on our mission?” asked Aviza.

There were no further questions, and Aviza was now making her way towards their designated D77-TC Pelican, “Let’s move out Aegis.” Once onboard, she would strap herself into a vacant seat near the cockpit and await departure.

As the others were loading onto the Pelican, Shih ran a quick diagnostic of her new environment to get herself settled in. Of course, her new environment was not only the suit, but Aviza’s mind. ”Anything you should know? Well, I suppose I would say that I prefer you keep your head out of the line of fire, but I imagine you already knew that.” She replied. To hear Shih’s voice would be a strange thing for one who had never experienced such a close melding of two intelligences. The AI linked directly into her neural implant. Shih’s voice did not come through Aviza’s helmet, but rather she could ‘hear’ it within her mind.

Having Shih meld her intelligence with her own via the neural implant was a disorienting experience at first for Spartan Aviza. “This is going to take a short while for me to get used to Shih, the whole experience is slightly disorienting.” said Aviza as she used the UI built into her helmet to check over important mission details. For the current mission, she had chosen to bring along her usual loadout which consisted of a SRS99-S5 AM, MA5D ICWS with an Underslung Shotgun, and a couple grenades of variety. Of course, she had brought along her advanced medical kit as well, with other equipment that she felt would prove beneficial.

Again, Shih’s voice came to Aviza like thoughts within her own mind. “Don’t worry, Spartan, considering that you have never had an AI with you before, I would find it more concerning if you were already accustomed to having extra voices in your head.”

Shih took another moment to review the mission files and other data that Aviza had considered relevant to the mission. Though, a “moment” for the AI was essentially instantaneous. ”I see you have brought along several medical and anatomical references for multiple former-Covenant species. I do not doubt that you are probably already more qualified for that than the majority of Sangheili medics, but you may have trouble convincing the Sangheili, at least, to accept your help, should it come to that. They are notorious for their taboos against spilling blood.”

“They will have to put their beliefs aside for the good of the mission, I can’t just let them bleed out or allow them to not have their injuries tended to. Do you honestly think they will give me trouble when in a life threatening situation?” said Spartan Aviza as she attempted to see out the back of the D77-TC Pelicans small rear window. “By the way, what is our current estimated time of arrival upon the inner surface of Sarcophagus? I would like to update the rest of Aegis before too long.” Aviza nodded once at Grikgar’s comment about being ready for the mission ahead of them.

”Considering that Sangheili have been known to allow themselves to bleed to death rather than accept help from a medic…I am going to give that one a strong ’maybe’.” Shih answered. ”Though, if it helps you feel better, I can confirm that the Arbiter has ordered his warriors to allow themselves to be healed ‘at any cost’. Evidently, he recognizes that they no longer have the numbers to just allow themselves to die.”

As she was speaking, Shih performed a quick analysis of their planned flight path. “At the average speed of a Heron dropship under load, it should take three minutes and thirty-eight seconds to reach the planned landing zone. From there, we will have at least a day of travel over ground in the Mammoth, through largely desert terrain. I should also warn you not to let down your guard on the way. Most of the animals may not be a threat to the Mammoth, but Forerunner constructs on Sarcophagus can be hostile.”

“ETA is three minutes Aegis.” said Spartan Aviza as she moved to the D77-TC Pelicans cockpit to get a better view of the inside of the Forerunner construct. She had heard of Shield World 0006 before, but had never seen the manufactured structure with her own eyes, until now. “I wonder how long it took the Forerunners to build such a structure.” thought Aviza, knowing that her thoughts were no longer private, and now shared with Shih.

”Even with all we have learned about the Forerunners, I cannot even begin to answer that question. They were a species beyond even what Ican understand, which is quite a lot, by the way. Seeing a megastructure like this, it is a wonder that they could have ever been defeated, even by-” Shih’s response was cut short by the sudden panic of their pilot.

It was alarming how fast everything happened. They had been flying over a rocky desert towards their landing zone, but with little warning nor time to react, Forerunner sentinels could be seen speeding by the Pelican outside the cockpit. “Contacts!” The pilot shouted. He started with evasive maneuvers, but again, there was little he could have done to stop it. A group of five sentinels flew around the front of the Pelican, then all focused their beams on the right-side wing as they flew past. “We’re hit, strap in!”

The Pelican did not entirely lose control, but the sentinels’ attack had left one thruster on the right side destroyed, and the other at the rear damaged. The pilot was still able to slow their descent, so the landing was not too dangerous, but it was still a crash that came with a jarring impact.

The Heron carrying their Mammoth diverted away from the swarm of sentinels to drop the vehicle at the closest safe location, so for the moment, the team would have to defend themselves without it. Once they were on the ground, Vael quickly stood up from his seat. The landing had not been…pleasant, but he had only mild pain to show for it.

”This world’s warriors have not taken kindly to our intrusion.” Vael remarked as he took his plasma rifle in hand. ”I have fought machines like these before. Aside from their own weapons, plasma weapons are some of the most effective against them. We should make sure as many of us are armed with them as possible. Your projectile weapons can destroy them, but it takes many more hits. One of you Humans may use my carbine; it does not work as well as plasma, but it still should be more effective. Otherwise, fast-firing weapons that can overwhelm their shields will be more effective than your precision weapons.”

The Mgalekgolo was pensive, entire wars had been fought over these Forerunner structures. The Covenant itself went to war with the ancient Lekgolo over the Forerunner structures over Te, and after the Covenant brought the Lekgolo into their fold. The Great War had many objectives tied to Forerunner artifacts and ruins, and after, the Covenant was destroyed. The Sangheili took their freedom back from the San'shyuum, and forming a friendship with the humans that they fought against not long ago. It seemed to Tasuma that whenever Forerunner anything was involved, great change would follow.

When the team assembled to the hanger, Tasuma felt particularly alone. Before, it would always be with his bond brother. They were in constant communication, and while it was some consolation to know that Iteyi was alive and healing, the colony missed its brothers. The ODST Platoon was strange, Lt. Horn kept his troops on a tight leash. They were all so used to fighting alongside each other that they seemed more akin to a Lekgolo colony, than a unit of human warriors. They were often so rowdy, loud, and many of them liked to crowd around Tasuma. With them, it felt connected, feeling so many familiar entities around it. It reminded it of Te, a little. The Hunter looked at the Mammoth. Human war machines. They were beautiful in their own way. Practicality and usability seemed to be at the forefront of human design doctrine, and Tasuma could appreciate that. It sometimes sat down with some of the ODSTs, and listened to them discuss the many vehicles of the UNSC. It had heard of the Mammoth, supposedly a rolling firebase in of itself, armed with a 'mini-mac', a massive cannon that could fell spacebourne warships. This particular Mammoth was missing its weapon, to make it lighter and quicker. But its thick armored shell and massive wheels still provided protection and speed.

Tasuma walked over to a small stack of crates near the Mammoth, marked with the symbol of the Swords of Sanghelios, and spray painted with the ODST's flaming skull droppod. It instantly knew what it was. It gently removed the tops of the three boxes, revealing its Assault Cannon, Pavise Shield, and a pouch with straps. It opened the pouch, and removed one of many rolled pieces of cloth. Tasuma unrolled it and draped the grasslands camouflage cloak over its head, shoulders and back. It wiggled its spikes, revealing that the camo cloak was cut in a way that allowed its spikes to move freely. Tasuma then strapped the pouch to its leg, and looked at the Assault Cannon and Shield. The Assault Cannon was a more modern variant, it had been using it for a number of months before joining Aegis, and along with the newer cannon, it had been given a newer version of the Pavise Shield. While Tasuma accepted the newer equipment, he only replaced his pauldron for the newer one. Opting to keep the older, longer and heavier version of the shield. It grabbed the pauldron and fastened it to its left shoulder, then placed both of its hands into the shield and cannon. Lekgolo worms flowed forward, filling the space.


Inside the Pelican, Tasuma's spikes were flowing freely. It was sensing its teammates around it. It was familiar with most of what was around it... Spartan-IV, Human, Sangheili, Unggoy. But some of the Spartans were different... very slightly different, but the differences didn't escape Tasuma. Were they from a different Spartan clan? And the one Tasuma had apologized to before, Aviza, it noticed the addition of something that wasn't there before. Perhaps it would ask later.
"Contact!"
Every Lekgolo in Tasuma's body tightened together, and in an instant the Hunter brought up its shield arm, slamming the tip of its shield into the ceiling of the Pelican, denting the metal plating. Tasuma took a step forward and braced itself, its spikes pressing flat against its back, and its gun arm pressing against its chest. Tasuma felt the drop ship rock back and forth, then there was a lurch.
"We're hit strap in!"

Not long after, the Pelican hit the ground. Another lurch, with violent shaking as the Pelican skidded. All the while Tasuma stood unmoving, having braced itself well. When the shaking stopped, Tasuma removed its shield from the ceiling, then approached the rear exit in a combat stance, assault cannon at the ready. Tasuma's spikes slowly rose to a threatening height, and it growled. While it didn't know how Aviza or Vael would command the team, it did know how a common Sangheili Commander in the Covenant Era would face the situation... likely with Unngoy and Kig-yar moving out first to attract fire, leaving the Sangheili, and Sharpshooter Kig-yar to destroy the Sentinels. It also knew how Lt. Horn would react, likely having some of his troops rip out armor paneling from the Pelican to use as shields, and then to destroy each Sentinel with focused massed fire. But with Tasuma...
"Enemy, I attract. On your ready." Tasuma spoke.

Admittedly, Lucas hadn't anticipated any issues arising as the team boarded the Pelican and each found seats. As he settled into his own pre-mission flight routine, he pulled his sidearm free of its holster and started to disassemble it in his lap and reassemble it. He proceeded to do this several times over the course of the flight before finally reassembling it one last time and holstering it again before pulling one of his modified energy daggers free and activating it, letting the crimson colored energy hum quietly as he flipped the blade around in his hand.

It was a joint Sangheili and human design that had only been issued to a handful of specialist SPARTAN-IVs with orders to give regular updates on things such as strange fluctuations within the blade, if it cuts out mid-combat, performance against other shielded enemies, such as Sangheili loyal to the Remnant, and other such odds and ends. Sending the regular reports back to the eggheads was somewhat obnoxious, but making the design more stable, and therefore more readily available to the rest of the Swords and Human military, was an important thing to do.

Finishing the usual non-combat observations, he deactivates the blade and stores the hilt and starts filing away the usual report to be sent at mission completion after he'd had a chance to confirm the usual combat effectiveness when the pilots shout "Contacts!" Report filing forgotten, Lucas is already moving between members of the team to make sure their harnesses are secure before swiftly moving and securing himself.

"Fireteam secure, Team Leader!" And not a moment too soon as he felt the Pelican shake from impact. The sound of the Mgalekgolo securing itself in place was startling, but not unexpected given it was too large to actually use the seats in the transport, but it was certainly unorthodox and an issue that they should address before the next mission. Bracing in his seat, the SPARTAN-IV rattled a bit with the rough landing, but other than that was fine and as soon as the ship quit sliding, was unhooked and had the twin SMGs in his hand. Vael'Virisusai made a good point about the issue with the precision weaponry against the Sentinel plating, but then, there was always another option, which admittedly required an answer to his question. "Are we looking at a group of Sentinels or a swarm? If it's a swarm, we may want to just get to the Mammoth and hope it's got enough turrets on it."

Yalu's hands tightened on his seat. If there was any downside to human flight technology, it made Yalu feel the sudden lack of weight as they descended. He recited a mantra courage in his mind that kept his emotions level and cut off for every moment out of his control.

They landed, roughly. They were jostled. The screaming metal ran out of momentum. One second passed before Yalu unbuckled himself in a precise flurry. He pulled his carbine out from his back when he joined the others scanning the exits, but had an idea when Vael gave his orders.

"Noted, commander!" Yalu said, slinking over to the tripod-mounted machine gun secured to the loading ramp. While his comrades-in-arms before Aegis were content to tear such weapons from their swivels, Yalu took the extra second to squat and pull the quick release loose to slide it free. He hefted the three barrelled weapon around to stride heavily towards the door. "Ready."

All Yalu needed was a moment to spin up while the hovering sentinels were distracted.

Ben followed the rest of the team as he considered the mammoth. It was a huge vehicle, and the sniper hadn't imagined he'd get to ride in one anytime soon, although he had completed certification for operating one some time ago just in case he had to. Such was typical fare for Spartans; even the IVs had to know how to operate most pieces of equipment in the UNSC.

"Intriguing. Phong, when did they start putting these into service? We could have used this sort of firepower in Beta Aquilae."

"Since 2553. Production of the M510 Mammoth and its variants has been slow due to extensive damage to the UNSC industrial base following the war-"

"Thank you, Phong, that will be all." Large though it was, there was no way it was designed specifically to deal with Forerunner constructs. Humanity had barely come into any meaningful contact with that ancient civilization. Technically, no human had come into contact with them at all, at last to Ben's knowledge. The wealth of information from Forerunner equipment alone was enough to push human technology forward by many decades in a matter of years. Ben was no expert on how long technological advances 'should' take, but something seemed a little bit off about it to him, as if this sort of high-tech grave robbing constituted a form of cheating somehow.

He joined the rest of them on the pelican, a vehicle he had ridden in many times before. He had been attacked in-flight before, and he had even hijacked vehicles in mid-air before. What he hadn't counted on doing was facing a swarm of Forerunner tech, although he had handled a rather more fragile swarm of covenant drones.

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Planets Surface

Grikgar loaded onto the pelican with the others and watched as the rest of his gear was taken to the mammoth. The rest of the team seemed tense and quiet, at least the same could be said about the former covenant when they were about to drop into combat. The Unggoy was sure he would find many more similarities before his time was finished with the humans. The seats of the pelican were still just as uncomfortable and his straps didn’t work to well with his tank. So he opted to stand within arm’s reach of a seat and behind the Lekgolo as the pelican left the human warship.

The rocky decent down towards the surface was actually calming to him. It had been a little while since he was on a combat drop and it was a welcome change no matter who he was flying with. He was going over the mission plan again in his head when an alert pulled him back to reality. Apparently the ancient’s constructs did not like the human ships just flying around their space. Hearing what was happening, the Unggoy dug his claws into the floor the best he could while holding onto the leg of the Lekgolo and the chair straps then braced. He felt the pelican take the hit, the steep incline and speed of the drop, then the shaking and rumbling of a crash landing.

He didn’t fall or lose his footing, the others around Grikgar seemed ok as well. Performing a quick equipment check and finding everything to be in order. The rest of the team where stacking up and giving out the last bits of advice on their adversary’s. The Lekgolo spoke up about going out and drawing fire, a job normally meant for him in any other circumstance. Grikgar would not let it go out alone. Drawing his dual plasma pistols he stacked up behind the hunter and waited for it to push out, “Grik is right behind you.”

Aviza had been listening intently upon every word that Shih spoke about Sarcophagus, clearly the A.I. would know more about the Forerunner construct than she, and learning about the environment they were about to land upon was very important for their mission. The loud mention of contacts from the Pelicans mains pilot interrupted the two of them. Aviza barely had time to lean forward and look out the front cockpit window before the Sentinels attacked them. Quickly leaning back into her seat, Spartan Aviza pulled the safety straps over her body and secured them tightly into place. She had seen and heard about members of vehicles, either ground or air, being tossed from their seats when being attacked and did not one to be one of those unlucky individuals. The Mjolnir armor would most likely protect her from a fall from most heights, though she was unsure if she would come out of such a predicament unscathed. "Brace for impact." said Aviza over her helmets coms in her normal calm and collected voice, as if nothing was out of the ordinary and this was a normal occurrence.

The jarring impact from the crash was enough to violently throw Aviza around in her seat, though thankfully the safety straps had saved her from much worse. "Is anyone injured?" asked Aviza as she removed the seats safety straps and stood up, grabbing onto the automatic rifle with the under-slung shotgun upon her back and prepping the weapon to fire. Spartan Lucas brought up a good point, if there was a swarm of these Sentinels, they would have a much more difficult time handling all of them. "If it is a swarm of these Sentinels, there is a chance we would take severe damage before we reached the Mammoth. These Forerunner defenses use energy beams that can make short work of armor, even more so for our squad-mates who are not in Mjolnir." said Aviza as she attempted to open the Pelicans rear door.

Once Tasuma said he would distract the enemy, Aviza stopped what she had been attempting to do and turned to face the Hunter. "I am unsure if your shield will hold up against their weaponry Tasuma, if we focus fire on targets, we may have better luck thinning their numbers to the point of where falling back to the Mammoth is possible." Aviza moved to the far right side of the Pelicans rear door and pushed a switch, thankfully the door still worked, albeit slowly while the sound of groaning metal filled its interior along with a few sparks.

The two Oni Spooks were the first out, and Aviza was directly behind them with her auto-rifle raised and already firing upon targets close enough to maximize damage. "Shih, where is the Mammoth currently located? What is the current number of Sentinels in the area? Everyone else, group up and do not give them easy targets to pick off." Asked Aviza, waiting to open fire at the current moment.

---

Inwardly, Vael felt that a Spartan would be a more effective recipient of an improved weapon, but there was not time to linger and discuss in great detail. Vael handed of his carbine, along with some spare ammo, then stepped outside the back of the Pelican along with the others. A carbine would not be quite as effective as plasma against the Forerunner machines, but it would certainly work better than bullets. The pilots, though shaken up, were not seriously harmed in the crash. They emerged from the cockpit just as the others were starting to move out to secure the area around the Pelican, but until they were given orders to move out, they would hang back in the troop bay.

At first, it was just one sentinel that flew down to investigate the site of the crash, which Aviza had fired upon immediately. It took sustained fire from the assault rifle to break through its shields and damage its frame, but it did eventually break apart and fall to the ground a short distance away from the Pelican.

Shih had already received telemetry from the automated systems of the Heron before Aviza had finished her sentence. This time, instead of speaking solely inside Aviza’s head, Shih patched in through the team’s comm channel to inform everyone at once. ”The Heron set the Mammoth down at the nearest safe landing zone, approximately 700 meters away, on the other side of that plateau. Updating your HUD with a navpoint now.”

As for Aviza’s second question, Shih did not even need to answer for the team to know that they would soon be under imminent threat. Motion trackers detected well over a dozen hostile signatures directly above them, which looking upwards would quickly confirm. It was not exactly a swarm of sentinels, but it was easily enough of a group to be threatening, and they were quickly descending upon them.

On Vael’s part, he had no issue following Aviza’s order in this case. The sentinels were far too close for them to try and make a run for the Mammoth. He moved himself a short distance around to the left side of the Pelican, positioning himself underneath the dropship’s wing. Sentinel weapons were powerful and their flight could allow them to surround the team easily, so it was important to limit the number of angles from which they could threaten him. If there was one advantage the team did have, it was that sentinels did not tend to have any particular tactical acumen, so they could out-think the machines, despite the advantage they had in numbers. Vael started to fire his plasma rifle skywards in short bursts. For those using plasma weapons, it would only take a few shots to destroy any individual sentinel.

”Motion sensors detect seven…sixteen sentinels in the immediate area.” Shih commented, correcting herself as a burst of plasma fire from Vael downed one of the machines. ”I’ll keep scanning for new contacts as best as I can, but my options in terms of sensors are limited in this suit. I’ll radio the crew of the Mammoth and have them activate its new sensor suite. We’re close enough that I can access it remotely, so that should expand my coverage.”

Tasuma looked back at Aviza, "Understood.", it then looked down at the Unggoy beside it, "Grik, stay alive."
The two ONI members exited the Pelican first, quickly followed by Aviza herself. The Spartan immediately let loose a long burst of assault rifle fire. Vael swiftly used the opportunity to reposition himself under the Pelicans left wing, using the wing as cover against the flying enemies. As gunfire intensified as more members joined the fray, Tasuma bounded forward. The majority of the team was still in one location, in the troop bay. While the sides of the exit was granted some ground cover from the small trench dug by the crash, and the top was excellently covered by the Pelicans tail section... if the Sentinels dropped lower to the ground and fired down the trench, almost everyone in the team would be exposed. Tasuma would cover that weakness then. It stopped just below the end of the Pelicans tail, ensuring that it still covered him from above, and it brought its shield to bear.

The small radio attached to Tasuma buzzed to life, it was a new voice. She informed the team of the Mammoths location and distance, and the number of the surrounding enemies. Tasuma listened, then opened up with its assault cannon against the nearest sentinel. It was turning towards Aviza, but the assault cannon fired quickly. With a rapid, high pitched thudding, a burst of plasma like incendiary gel bolts flew out of Tasumas assault cannon and struck the sentinel, knocking the sentinel aside and stripping it of its shields. Tasuma switched targets, trusting that its team would finish off the now exposed sentinel. It fired a burst of bolts at another sentinel, they were wise to Tasuma now, and this one attempted to strafe to dodge. The bolts tracked, striking the sentinel and stripping another of its shields. A third sentinel turned and fired its beam weapon at the Hunter. Tasuma rose its left arm, and the beam struck the nanolaminate alloy shield. The Hunter tilted the shield and kept it moving, ensuring the heat from the beam spread across a wider surface of the shield.

"Suppose that my main point in asking won't hopefully show itself." Lucas was more concerned about the machines using their super beam on the group to finish the job, but then, the Spartan wasn't sure he'd never seen the machines approach a battle tactically outside of 'swarm the target area until there are no more organics', so maybe the odds weren't HORRIBLY against them. Still, a measure of nervousness shivered through him briefly as he moved to follow Aviza and the two Spooks out, an old trait from his days on the black ops team. The Fireteam leader was already dousing a flying robot in automatic fire, but the assassin didn't open fire as quickly, choosing to pick targets that wouldn't take as much ammo. As he moved forwards, his SMGs looking for suitable targets, he noted that the Mgalekgolo went just a bit further out and followed, feeling letting any member of the squad move solo was a bad idea. Name, name, what was it's name...Ta...Tatusa? No...Takuka? Nope...Tas...Tasuma!

With the name now back in his mind, he followed the large creature and waited until he'd stripped the shields of the first Sentinel to fire, his left SMG chewing through it's now unprotected frame with little issue. The SMG in Ryker's right hand took out the second Sentinel, several shots tearing through the construct's 'eye' section and damaging critical components. He turned to inform Tas that he had the Mgalekgolo's back when the third Sentinel fired and the Spartan dove for cover mostly instinctively. A split second after he hit the ground, Lucas realized the sentinel's real target and was back on his feet with a roll, reloading the twin SMGs in a swift pair of motions.

"I got your six, Tasuma." Sliding up on the Mgalekgolo's right, the two SMGs fired in unison, taking out the construct's shields and then the construct itself, though he did have to reload the weapons again as he danced back out of the immediate line of fire. "Wouldn't do to not have each other's backs, right?"