"There's nothing wrong with a strong silent type." Blaine nodded towards Manuel. "Glad to have you aboard. I actually had just gotten off the line with your superior, War. He gave a stellar review for your performance."
Blaine took a moment to give the Spartan a once over. Much like the Spartan III standing beside him, Blaine made the assessment that this Spartan before him was a Spartan II, such as himself.
"So, you're a II as well." Blaine nodded. "You don't seem like any of Halsey's II's though."
Taking a moment to stare intensely into Manuel's visor, Blaine eased up. ONI was full of surprises, and Manuel had likely just been taken off of the Spartan II program before Blaine had met him.
"I won't pry." Blaine continued. "However, I do suppose it is time we actually get to the reason we're all here. This, unfortunately, isn't a spring social gathering we're dealing with."
At these words, the Spartans in the room took their respective seats. Autumn remained standing beside Blaine, who placed his hands firmly behind the small of his back.
"The reason I've called you all here is a crisis that's slowly working it's way up from the far reaches of UNSC space." Blaine began pacing. "Autumn, if you would."
Nodding her head, Autumn placed a pair of fingers to the right side of her helmet, uploading relevant data to the Spartans in the room.
"What you are currently looking at is the newest face of Covenant insurgents." Blaine grit his teeth. "Sangheili allies say his name is Tuk Nitram. ONI Intelligence says that his name could not properly be translated. Sangheili allies say it translates roughly to Bullfighter. As such, the target is known as Toreador."
"Personally, I wouldn't give this twisted fuck the time of day, let alone give him the satisfaction of some alias." Morgan growled from the back.
"Once a loyal member of the Arbiter's forces, Nitram one day decided to make an attempt on the Arbiter's life. Jul M'dama, the old leader of the Storm Covenant faction, managed to save his life. From there, Nitram has been fighting a Guerrilla war with the UNSC for the past few months."
"He's known for heading kill squads consisting of high ranking Sangheili and Jiralhanae units. Now he persists in hit and run styles of combat, effectively wiping out one-hundred percent of every Marine or Spartan squad sent out for his head."
"This statistic ends today, Spartans." Blaine clenched his fists. "Earlier this morning Nitram performed a heist on a ONI facility towards the Outer Colonies. Incidentally, it is also near one of the many Halo Rings."
"If I may, Blaine?" Autumn interjected, to which Blaine nodded.
"Nitram's offensive on the ONI facility was not for the Index stored there, nor was it for anything remotely related to the Halo super weapons. Peculiarly enough, his target was a lone Huragok, or Engineer, that allied itself with Humanity. He bypassed the Halo Ring entirely."
"We're unsure what Nitram has up his sleeve, but I can assure you it isn't good." Blaine shook his head. "Last known position was a Forerunner Gas Mine located on the nearby planet, aptly named; Ragnarok."
"As a precaution not to give away our advances, we have limited the amount of scouting runs over the planet. Most of the surface of the planet is covered in dangerous glass storms. From what we've gathered, the location of the target is within one of the Planet's more habitable zones, though he may try to flee to the Storms if pushed too hard."
"Our Primary objective is to eliminate Tuk Nitram. However, as this is a Forerunner facility not touched by ONI, our secondary objective is to seize any and all Forerunner technology to prevent the Covenant from getting their hands on it."
"Simple enough, let's get it on." Darryl said.
"Not quite, there is still more." Autumn politely said, ushering Darryl to sit once more.
"This is more of a personal request than an actual objective." Blaine scratched the back of his head. "Around the time the ONI drones marked Nitram's shuttle entering Ragnarok's atmosphere, the cameras picked up this blurred image."
Shown before the Spartan's visors was the blurred image of a Covenant Supercarrier. Autumn took the moment to enhance the image as best as she could.
"This, Spartans, is the ass-end of the Covenant Long Night of Solace. A Supercarrier class vessel that I was charged with destroying during the attack on Reach years ago for Operation: Uppercut. Regrettably, in that battle, we lost Spartan-052. I knew him as Jorge, he was a good friend of mine."
"ONI drones have picked up several pings from inside the destroyed vessel of a UNSC personnel's neural interlace. In other words, Jorge's skull is sending an SOS. We assume he was likely captured by surviving Covenant forces, and stuck within a pod while they run tests. If we can locate the pod that he's located in, our tertiary objective is to rescue Spartan-052. Nitram is the priority though, Spartans. Jorge would understand that."
"One last thing to note: Nitram doesn't work alone. So far, we only have the Dossier of ONE of Nitram's Lieutenants. A Jiralhanae Chieftain by the name of Harabum. While young and still inexperienced, Harabum fought under Nitram in the war. Do not underestimate him."
"Like all Jiralhanae, Harabum is a force to be reckoned with. Aptly codenamed: The Butcher, Harabum has a confirmed kill of an entire Spartan IV squadron during the Requiem campaign." Blaine sighed, his eyes casting down to his feet. "Those Spartans never stood a chance, they were some of my best."
"I'll be feeding you more information as the operation goes along." Blaine continued. "You will all be wondering how this is going to go down."
"John, Manuel, Vance, and Autumn will be the initial team for insertion. Thermal scans picked up a convoy of Anti-Air Wraiths to the southern entrance to the Gas Mine's numerous above ground trenches. You will need to neutralize those before the real operation will begin."
"On the side, Darryl, Morgan, Phil, Scott, and Josh-"
"Hey, why the fuck am I last?!"
"You're always last." Blaine glared. "You will be running support. Other teams of Spartan IVs will be doing what they can on the ground to the Northern, Eastern, and Western entrances to the Mine. But that's only possible once you've taken down those AA Wraiths."
"After the Wraiths are down, you will be providing air support when necessary, whether it be stealth or a run and gun. I need you all available for assistance in case the other Spartan IV teams are in need. That being said, you will all be given a Golden Eagle to pilot."
"Morgan, because you are the only one besides Darryl that can properly operate a Grizzly, I'm designating you as the sole Grizzly pilot. Unfortunately, it's an old model and will require frequent refueling, so I can only send it down in a pinch."
"You haven't mentioned what you'll be doing?" Autumn replied politely.
"Fair enough. I will remain on the Bridge until the Wraiths are down, relaying information as I receive it to you guys. Once those Wraiths are down, I will be joining you on the field. As of now, our Sangheili informants only prefer to talk to me, and will likely stick around until the Operation officially begins."
"That all being said, are there any questions?"