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| - Horatio Fry: Hey, Demarco. See that? Whose the new guy?
Paul Demarco: New guy? Palmer said we weren't getting any fresh recruits till next month.
Horatio Fry: Think he's a replacement?
Paul Demarco: No, can't be. You remember Switchback, right? When they replaced Costabile they brought in a vet. That badass with the red and white War Master rig?
Horatio Fry: So? Ledge rocks recruit gear and he's been with it since Requiem '57.
Paul Demarco: Look at those plates, Fry. They're clean, smart ass. No burn marks or nothing.
Horatio Fry: He might just be a badass.
Paul Demarco: Come on, no one's that good. We all take fire some time or another. If he was a field guy, he'd have something.
Kodiak-G114: Hey Majestic, what's the hold up? Get your gear off the Pelicans so we can get ours! I got a brand new knuckle plate in there and need time to get it attached.
Paul Demarco: Little shit. Whose he think he's talking to.
Horatio Fry: Hey, cool it Demarco. Oy, Kodiak, come over here a minute, would ya?
Kodiak-G114: What's going on?
Horatio Fry: That Spartan over there by the unpacking crates, in the Recruit gear. You know where he came from?
Kodiak-G114: You know I know like, half as many people on this ship as you, right?
Horatio Fry: Yeah, but you...roll with a different crowd, so to speak.
Kodiak-G114: You mean I know the other Gammas and you don't.
Paul Demarco: Oh come on with it. You know him or not?
Kodiak-G114: No. Or at least, I don't...think so.
Horatio Fry: Sounds to me like you might.
Kodiak-G114: I don't know, I can't place him, He looks familiar is all. Like he belonged here at some point. Not a combat Spartan, or you'd know him, right? Maybe support or something back for a visit. I mean...he doesn't really...look combat ready.
[Codename: MONTAGUE, across bay, knocks over a crate of BR85 Battle Rifles.]
Paul Demarco: Shit, you got that last part right. Maybe he's ops.
Horatio Fry: Never seen an Ops guy down here though.
Terry Ledge: Hey, what's with the party? Looks like I'm missing something.
Paul Demarco: We're all trying to figure out who that is.
Terry Ledge: Who is?
Kodiak-G114: Him.
Terry Ledge: Him...who?
Horatio Fry: Jesus, Terry, him! Guy in the Recruit gear.
Terry Ledge: Horatio, there's like...six guys in Recruit gear on this floor---
Kodiak-G114: Am I the only one whose getting more confused?
Paul Demarco: This is friggin ridiculous.
Horatio Fry: Guys, zip it. Terry, the new guy. Dude in Recruit kit that we don't know.
Terry Ledge: Oooooooh. Him.
Paul Demarco: Unbelievable...
Horatio Fry: So do you know him? Wanna help us out?
Terry Ledge: Well...shit. Can't put a name to the face but he looks familiar or something.
Kodiak-G114: That's what I said.
Terry Ledge: Wait, who are you?
Kodiak-G114: Kodiak...
Terry Ledge: With a name? Or a number?
Horatio Fry: Hey, Terry---
Kodiak-G114: A number.
Terry Ledge: So your a three?
Kodiak-G114: No, I'm a two, but I got left in cryo for thirty years. Gamma Company, trained and bred.
Terry Ledge: Cool. I figured, with how young you are and all, but I've never had one of you guys talk to me. You know, I always sort of wondered---
Paul Demarco: Hey, socialize later. I wanna know who the new guy is.
Terry Ledge: Well if two of us have seen him before, he's not really a new guy is he?
Horatio Fry: New to Infinity. You might have shared a base with him, or rode on the same shuttle. Could have been a year ago for all we know.
Paul Demarco: I've never seen him. I think he's new here.
Kodiak-G114: Umm...isn't that sort of reasoning in circles?
Terry Ledge: You gotta get out more kid! Good gossip is founded on talking in circles using baseless assumptions. It's the way the cool kids do it.
Kodiak-G114: Right, well, I thought we actually wanted to know who he is, not just talk about him. I'm a little creeped by him, honestly. He's just...standing there.
Paul Demarco: Looks like he's watching everyone in the bay to me.
Horatio Fry: Look at his eyes. He's not just watching the spectacle. He's checking faces.
Kodiak-G114: Think he's evaluating us or something?
Terry Ledge: If he wanted to do that, he should do it during War Games time. We're just unloading personal shipments. I don't see what there is to evaluate there.
Kodiak-G114: So...maybe not evaluating. He's still creeping me out.
Horatio Fry: I feel you on that. Demarco's right. He's checking faces. Looking for someone prob---
Sarah Palmer: Ladies! What the hell are you standing around for?
Paul Demarco: Crap.
Horatio Fry: Commander Palmer, sir! We were just---
Sarah Palmer: Wasting time and holding everyone else up. Get your asses in gear, Spartans. Pelicans are inbound with some actually important assets. Hangar floor needs to clear.
Paul Demarco: Commander, if you'll let me explain. We weren't holding up the line, it was already short behind us.
Kodiak-G114: Hey, guys...
Sarah Palmer: Three, I'm already in a bad mood today. Shut it. Demarco, your a squad leader. You don't make those decisions.
Kodiak-G114: Seriously, the creepy dude...
Sarah Palmer: Kodiak, did you hear what I said? Quiet!
MONTAGUE: Why does he need to be, when you're so loud, Commander?
Kodiak-G114: ...is coming over here. Figures.
Sarah Palmer: You! What the hell' are you doing here?
MONTAGUE: My job. Where are Spartan Olson and the rest I requested?
Sarah Palmer: Where they are is none of your business Mil---
MONTAGUE: MONTAGUE is the name your looking for there, Commander. And if Admiral Musa think's it's my business, I think it's fair to say it is.
Sarah Palmer: I'm not giving up four of my best Spartans for some spook show, and I'm sure as hell not letting you wander around this ship like some sort of damned kid in a candy shop!
Terry Ledge: Are we....err...interrupt---
Horatio Fry: Shut it Terry.
MONTAGUE: We've got a problem then, Commander. That's a direct refusal of an order.
Sarah Palmer: A bullshit order.
MONTAGUE: One the brass gave you.
Sarah Palmer: You think you can just waltz in here and order me around after what you did? Like hell! Your staying right here.
MONTAGUE: Fine. Spartan Fry, a quick word, please.
Horatio Fry: Umm...yes?
MONTAGUE: Given how easily you picked me out of that crowd as an outsider, I assume you know the bulk of the Spartan contingent here well. Would you please go and find Spartans Elias Olson, Bradford Gale, Jonathan Dorian, and Mark-G253 from Fire teams Firefly, Switchback, Domino, and Azure? If you don't know the last one, I'm sure Kodiak here can help you.
Sarah Palmer: Don't you move a muscle, Spartan.
MONTAGUE: Commander, I understand you not wanting me wandering around the ship...jogging people's memories. I think I deserve to be on this ship a hell of a lot less than even you think I do.
Sarah Palmer: Then why the hell are you here.
MONTAGUE: Because you forced my hand, dammit. The brass gave me authority to requisition a task force strike team, and they need to come from here. I'll tolerate you not wanting me on the ship, but Commander, you can't refuse an order.
Sarah Palmer: ...Horatio. Kodiak. Take a walk. Grab Olson and company.
Horatio Fry: Yes ma'am.
[Horatio Fry and Kodiak-G114 IFF tags detected leaving hangar bay.]
Terry Ledge: Uh, what about us, ma'am?
Sarah Palmer: You and Demarco just...ugh, sit tight. Keep an eye on our guest while I go contact the brass.
Paul Demarco: Yes ma'am.
MONTAGUE: You know as well as I do what you're going to find, Palmer. You'll get the exact same answer as what I told you. I never could have gotten on the ship if this weren't legitimate.
Sarah Palmer: Well, I wouldn’t put anything past you...MONTAGUE. You keep yourself nice and still until I get back.
[Sarah Palmer IFF tag detected leaving hangar bay.]
Paul Demarco: That's not your name.
MONTAGUE: Hmm?
Paul Demarco: You didn't show your face, but I remember your voice. I know you...MONTAGUE. You disappeared after the Commander caught you hiding Crimson.
MONTAGUE: Ah, the perfect example of why Palmer should have just sent Olson and the others straight to me instead of making me come get them...
Paul Demarco: I don't care about any of that. How are you even here?
MONTAGUE: You don't get it by now?
Paul Demarco: Just...explain.
MONTAGUE: I'm on a mission hunting someone. Officially I don't exist anymore. It also needs to stay that way.
Terry Ledge: What's that mean?
MONTAGUE: It means you, Ledge, don't tell anyone you met me here. Neither do you, Demarco.
Paul Demarco: You think we're going to hide something like that against orders, huh?
MONTAGUE: No, I think you're going to hide it in accordance'' with your orders. Check with Palmer if you want confirmation on that. The brass will confirm the mandate same as they confirmed me taking the four Spartans I asked for.
Paul Demarco: What...are you?
MONTAGUE: A spook.
Terry Ledge: That's...simple.
MONTAGUE: Yes.
[Sarah Palmer's IFF tag detected in hangar bay.]
Sarah Palmer: MONTAGUE!
MONTAGUE: Well that was quick.
Sarah Palmer: Take them and get out. Your gold braided friends came through.
MONTAGUE: Very good. As soon as my Spartans get here...
Sarah Palmer: Just get off my ship.
[IFF tags detected in hangar bay: Spartan Elias Olson, Bradford Gale, Jonathan Dorian, Mark-G253, Horatio Fry, Kodiak-G114]
Elias Olson: Commander, you wanted us?
MONTAGUE: Actually, I did, Spartan. Follow me. I'll brief you aboard the ship.
[Codename: MONTAGUE, Spartan Elias Olson, Bradford Gale, Jonathan Dorian, and Mark-G253 IFF tags detected boarding shuttle.]
Horatio Fry: Commander? What exactly just...happened?
Sarah Palmer: Tricks and bullshit, Horatio. What always happens when Spooks show up.
Kodiak-G114: Spooks? The guy in armor? Spooks are Spartans now?
Sarah Palmer: They wear the armor, kid. Doesn't make them Spartans.
[Spartan Sarah Palmer IFF tag detected leaving hangar bay.]
Kodiak-G114: Yeah. Whole lot of that going around these days.
- Jacky-359: Hey, scoot over. Gimme some hot water, eh?
Elias Olson: You---I---what?!
Jacky-359: I said scoot, jackass. Your taking all the hot water.
Elias Olson: I---I'm showering here!
Jacky-359: Yeah, I can see that Fire team Obvious.
Elias Olson: I'm mean, I'm showering, get out!
Jacky-359: God dude, what's the big deal? It's a big ass officer's shower. Plenty of room.
Elias Olson: I'm naked!
Jacky-359: Yeah I know, me too. You generally want to shower naked. Clothes get really wet otherwise.
Elias Olson: I---eh---gah---ok, ok, ok, listen. I don't know how...exactly you guys do things in the Ares Detachment, but it's really not...ok to be in the same shower as me.
Jacky-359: Jesus dude. Not like we're kissing.
Elias Olson: You're naked! Not wearing...anything! I...I think.
Jacky-359: What, need to check or something?
Elias Olson: No! Spartan...umm...whatever your name is, this is basically fraternization!
Jacky-359: Basically fraternization, huh? Really? Got designs on me, Spartan Olson?
Elias Olson: Of course not---
Jacky-359: Good, neither do I. So it ain't fraternization now, is it. Just two people taking a shower together.
Elias Olson: You're...you're insane.
Jacky-359: Oh shut up already. Hand me the soap, would you?
Elias Olson: Why...why are you even here?!
Jacky-359: Umm to catch EGOR, same as you.
Elias Olson: In my shower. Why are you in my shower.
Jacky 359: The hot waters out everywhere else.
Elias Olson: You're...I...I don't believe this.
Jacky-359: You know, I could care less about you believing this or not if you'd just hand me the soap.
[Break in conversation: 15 seconds.]
Elias Olson: Will...you please...leave? If I give it too you? Please?
Jacky-359: Well I'm certainly not going anywhere without soap, that's for damn sure.
Elias Olson: Take it.
Jacky-359: Gratzi. So what's your name?
Elias Olson: Are we seriously having this discussion right now?!
Jacky-359: Well it seem's like a valid question to me.
Elias Olson: I...I can't...I don't...I...I'm...Elias. Elias Olson.
Jacky-359: Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Spartan Olson. Jacky-359, Gold Team...close quarters specialist.
Elias Olson: You've got to be fucking kidding me...
Jacky-359: So you're part of Granite, of course. What do you do?
Elias Olson: I've got to go...away. Just...away.
[Elias Olson IFF Tag detected leaving officer's cabin.]
Mason-317: Hey mate, you got some soap on you. Mate...?
Matthew-363: Oh no. Is Jacky....
Elias Olson: Yes.
[Sound detected: Uncontrollable laughter from Mason-317 and Matthew-363.]
Elias Olson: Something...funny?
Mason-317: She's fucking with you man.
Matthew-363: So hard.
Elias Olson: You've got to be kidding me.
Mason-317: She...
[Break in Conversation: More uncontrollable laugher from Mason-317 and Matthew-363]
Matthew-363: ...S-sorry Spartan. We used to watch out and warn people that she might try it to mess with them, but we thought she'd gotten tired of the joke...
Elias Olson: I'm...I'm going to go lie down.
[Jacky-359 IFF Tag detected leaving Officer's Cabin]
Jacky-359: Hey, Olson! You forgot your soap! Oh, hey guys.
[Sound Detected: Even more uncontrollable laughter.]
Elias Olson: Just...keep it.
- Musa-096: MONTAGUE. Glad you could make it.
MONTAGUE: What's this about?
Musa-096: The situation with Codename: EGOR.
MONTAGUE: What about it?
Musa-096: The rest of the brass thinks we may have been too...hasty.
MONTAGUE: What? In booting me from the mission after one single failed operation? My first error, after hundreds of successes? After I turned the investigation from a cluster fuck into an actual working mission?
Musa-096: MONTAGUE, settle down. You were already close to the investigation, and then the capture was thwarted, by mystery men who appeared out of nowhere.
MONTAGUE: And of course they blamed me.
Musa-096: What did you expect son? You were a mole before. I had to go to bat to just get you onto the operation. The rest of the brass didn't trust you.
MONTAGUE: Well, how did that turn out for them? You caught EGOR and have him locked up somewhere nice and tight? Get him all easily without me "sabotaging" things?
Musa-096: Save me the sarcasm MONTAGUE.
MONTAGUE: Oh, this isn't even close to sarcasm. This is the love tap of my sarcasm. I'm being frank. They dropped me from the investigation after I single-handedly made it effective and they're paying for it.
Musa-096: You know as well as I do where their suspicions are coming from---
MONTAGUE: No, I don't, because they don't have suspicions. Not legit ones. They've got stupid gut feelings and a nice blissful disregard for facts. I would never have chanced putting Granite that close if I wanted to just cover for EGOR. They would have had him, if not for just bad luck. And the men? Jesus, how dense can they be? I tell them everything about CHAUCER: who he is, what he's done, the resources he's got, his incentive to get rid of EGOR, and they just ignore it all.
Musa-096: They were wrong, yes.
MONTAGUE: Damn straight they were. So how bad is it that they're sending you to get me back?
Musa-096: Bad. They put Spartan Shaw on the case---
MONTAGUE: Shaw?! I bet he ran it into the ground! What about the codenames? The real Spooks? REDEEMER, DIPLOMAT, BLUTO? Hell, even EVEREST! Why Shaw?
Musa-096: They didn't like the association to you. You're a bit mythological to them. Section Zero is spooky stuff for soldiers, MONTAGUE.
MONTAGUE: Jesus, no wonder it's bad enough they're needing me back. I didn't even select those guys, that was you! They've got codenames because they're the best and we don't want the best being assassinated...
Musa-096: I was there when you explained it the first time.
MONTAGUE: How far behind has Shaw put us then?
Musa-096: Eight assets were burned and identified, one of them with violent consequences. We had to solve that one with a visit from Fire team Granite. He managed to pick up three leads, then lose every single one.
MONTAGUE: Wha---how!? He had everything! Shit, we tracked EGOR to Earth with a tenth of the information we got from the raid.
Musa-096: You see why they relented to me. They know they made a mistake. It's their belief now that...lets see, what did Gibson say..."given the state of deterioration since MONTAGUE was removed, it's likely we doubted him in error".
MONTAGUE: Well, so sorry to disappoint, but I don't think I'm coming back.
Musa-096: I understand the frustration, but I just spent the last three weeks going to bat on your behalf. The investigation needs you. You told me you wanted redemption.
MONTAGUE: Yeah, the redemption of spending my time doing something useful! A tour on Infinity fighting off Remnant, or on a patrol craft securing outer colonies. Not sitting around, doing the same thing I did for Section Zero forever.
Musa-096: You won't be stuck there forever, you know that. We catch EGOR, you're in the clear. No way they'll be able to doubt you.
MONTAGUE: And that requires catching EGOR, which I'm sure as hell not going to be able to do with them second guessing every decision I make.
Musa-096: If you came back, what do you need to catch him?
MONTAGUE: Full control, Admiral. No more dancing around it. Not this pseudo leadership where they can yank me if, in their shitty understanding, they think I've fucked up when I haven't. Or where every action gets delayed, or my operatives are questioned. I can't work like that.
Musa-096: You know they won't like that. A lot of them still just think of you as just a mole for---
MONTAGUE: Section Zero, yeah. It seems to escape their notice that I'm not anymore, though. I'm the one who can do this and the one they want for it, but I can't do the job unless you all let me do it.
Musa-096: I'll take it to them.
MONTAGUE: I mean it Admiral. No bullshit or tricks. If they try and play me, and spring the stuff on me later, this thing won't work.
Musa-096: You've got my word, son. I'll have the Nox get you within the next week. Shouldn't take longer than that for them to come around. Shaw's tanking the investigation fast enough.
MONTAGUE: And my team?
Musa-096: Granite? I thought you...conveniently got them put on a mission together. A totally non-EGOR related one.
MONTAGUE: Also a totally unnecessary one. Just kept them stuck together so Holland or anyone didn't get any bright ideas. It can wait.
Musa-096: I'll make sure they're onboard the Nox when it arrives, then. Catch this bastard, MONTAGUE. Prove the rest of them wrong.
MONTAGUE: That's the plan, sir.
- Bradford Gale: So, you were really on Harvest?
Griffin Standoff: Right from the start, yeah.
Bradford Gale: Damn sir, your an old bastard. Putting it out there.
Griffin Standoff: Yeah, don't remind me. Harvest was...a lifetime ago.
Bradford Gale: That must have been...brutal.
Griffin Standoff: A damned bloodbath, right from the start. Nobody really knew how to fight that war, not at the beginning. Going from fighting backwater Insurrectionists with shitty tech to aliens? We're lucky we won the few battles we did. After that first bout of wins, and we started running into real trouble, no one knew what to do. A few Generals tried Innie tactics. Fat lot of good that did with a destroyer glassing everything in sight...
Bradford Gale: Bet they ended up pulling a whole lot of contingency evacs.
Griffin Standoff: Didn't even have them. Stuff like that---birds always on hand for an evac, they're all doctrinal changes that came later. We didn't have them yet. Too expensive, too asset heavy. Overkill fighting Innies. So the infrastructure wasn't there yet.
Bradford Gale: Damn. I had my ass saved on three different worlds thanks to those contingencies. How did you manage?
Griffin Standoff: Well, they didn't glass as much straight away in those days, mind you. Liked to kill us up close for the honor of it, before that got boring. We had to improvise a lot though.
Bradford Gale: Ha! Improvise? That sounds like a war story in the making.
Griffin Standoff: Huh, you could say that. I remember once in...twenty six? Maybe twenty seven...we were rolled on by a big Covenant ground force. Wraiths and Locusts, pinning us down in an old parking structure outside Utgard. It stood up to bombardment though so we figured, what the hell, let's just wait the bastards out. Figured reinforcements would come. They always had before. Well, Covenant decided they were done play fighting and parked a destroyer overhead. Command pulled up stakes, and since they were short on Pelicans---we all landed in Albatrosses the week before---we had no way out.
Bradford Gale: So what'd you do?
Griffin Standoff: Ah, hell, we got creative. I had the bright idea of activating every damn automated city bus in the area, and believe it or not, there was still a hell of a lot of them in running condition. Depot was way outside town, cause the people there didn't want them in city, and all that. Escaped the worst of things. So sure enough, they started rolling around, navigating their old routes. Handled the rubble pretty well, even. Covies blew up fifty probably, before they realized the things were harmless and empty, so they stopped bothering. We jumped on a bus right after that, and rode out right under their noses. Alien dipshits never knew a thing.
Bradford Gale: Goddamn! City buses...that's some wild shit Colonel.
Griffin Standoff: Yeah, well, we were inspired by the circumstances. And a month later, the next time I tried to get smart, I got a chest full of plasma doing it. Spent four months on a hospital ship with burn injuries.
Bradford Gale: Damn. Were the nurses hot, at least?
Griffin Standoff: The hottest. And they were everywhere.
Bradford Gale: Jeez, maybe that's where they all went.
Griffin Standoff: What, never seen a cute navy nurse?
Bradford Gale: Hell no. The whole generation of them must have gotten sick of taking caring of soldiers and collectively decided to go civilian. Left behind all the ugly ones. Man, must have been different days.
Griffin Standoff: Almost a different war. We had numbers, equipment, the whole damn UNSC space behind us, and we pissed it all away. Didn't learn how to use all of it right until we'd used it all up. God, so many people sent to their deaths...we fought over Harvest for six years. A glassed, backwater outer colony world. And we threw lives at it for half a decade.
Bradford Gale: But Harvest was a symbol of something bigger. An icon to rally behind and everything. All the history books say that, anyway.
Griffin Standoff: So was Paris IV, but I didn't see the fleet sticking around six years after it fell the first time.
Bradford Gale: I guess your right. I remember that one myself. Signed up for boot not long after.
Griffin Standoff: Was it because of Paris IV?
Bradford Gale: Pretty much. All this talk in the news about the "invincible Parisian line", and one day it all just stopped. A buddy of mine said something bad must have happened so I had the bright idea of joining up.
Griffin Standoff: So when did you actually hit the front, then?
Bradford Gale: Not until Fifty. Didn't see anything nasty until about a year in, after that. Remember Ballast, in fifty one? My whole unit was smack in the center. Got massacred, pretty much. Me and four other guys made it out by the skin of our teeth and went ODST.
Griffin Standoff: And Spartan after that.
Bradford Gale: Well, it took a few years, but yeah. Not a lot of spots and too many applicants, you know?
Griffin Standoff: Yeah.
Bradford Gale: Problem, Colonel?
Griffin Standoff: Applicants. Doesn't sit well with me, sorry.
Bradford Gale: Shit, don't tell me you think like Halsey on this one.
Griffin Standoff: Excuse me?
Bradford Gale: Don't mean to offend, it's just, I know Halsey thought us grunts couldn't make real Spartans. That we lacked something.
Griffin Standoff: Do you?
Bradford Gale: When I got my Gen 2 on and I'm plowing through a Covie line with my squad, Colonel, it don't feel like we're lacking anything. Hell yes, I feel like a Spartan. But I was asking you, Colonel. I already know what I think.
Griffin Standoff: Tell you the truth, Bradford, I don't really know. What makes a Spartan a real Spartan?
Bradford Gale: Well you trained a whole bunch of them, didn't you? What did you look for.
Griffin Standoff: Heart. Skill. Professionalism and loyalty. Teamwork, Creativity, intuition, ruthlessness...it's a long list.
Bradford Gale: And those all combine to make real Spartans?
Griffin Standoff: In some form, sure. From what I've seen and read, you boys have all of them.
Bradford Gale: But you still don't think we're real. Elias told me you make little distinctions between us in messages. Call us fours, all spelled out, and don't capitalize Spartan. Then when you talk about the threes or the twos or your class whatever's, you capitalize it all and use the little roman numerals. He said it was a little thing but that you were really consistent about it. Wanted me to ask you about it, honestly. He was a little nervous to do it himself.
Griffin Standoff: Well...you caught me, huh? You're all real Spartans, but maybe some of you are better than others. Just the way life is. Always someone better.
Bradford Gale: Better how? More heart and loyalty and all that shit?
Griffin Standoff: No...because...shit. Look at it in an example, maybe. The SPARTAN-II Class of 2525 are basically legends now. The most professional easily. Definitely the most skilled. Unquestioningly loyal. But the SPARTAN-III's, they've got skin in the game. Parents killed by the Covenant. They've got more heart.
Bradford Gale: What do us fours have? More to prove?
Griffin Standoff: Sure, why not. Big shoes to fill.
Bradford Gale: Shit, don't remind me. I got that bad. Whole squad captured, failed our objective, then our asses saved by a SPARTAN-II.
Griffin Standoff: You've got it damn good, kid.
Bradford Gale: I guess. Hard to remember when your the laughingstock of Infinity.
Griffin Standoff: At least your not dead. Gale, you applied to Spartan. I wasn't judging whether or not you were real Spartans like Halsey did. That's not what doesn't sit well. I frankly couldn't give a shit. But it irks me that you don't see how good you have it.
Bradford Gale: Colonel, I didn't really think---
Griffin Standoff: I know you didn't. That's part of the problem. It's not your fault, it's your whole institution, but it's still a problem. Gale, you got to apply. It was a choice. A choice my kids didn't get. They died in droves on augmentation day, during the war. Spent eight years in training, then got thrown into the meat grinder. You---you spent eight months, right? Got a whole month to string along to string along augmentation, then half a year to complete voluntary training. They gave you MJOLNIR and treated you like priceless treasures, compared to my kids. That's just not fair.
Bradford Gale: I...I'm sorry Colonel. I see where you're coming from.
Griffin Standoff: Yeah, you and a grand total of maybe ten other people...
Bradford Gale: They just don't know, Colonel. They just haven't heard.
Griffin Standoff: Whose going to tell them, Bradford? I'm old. A civilian. I'm here because I basically bribed my way on. There's nothing out there for me, once this is over. No one in Spartan is going to remember this. There's seven of my kids left in Spartan branch. They're a forgotten breed.
Bradford Gale: They're some of the best soldiers I've ever met---
Griffin Standoff: And the brass will remember that. They'll treat them with appropriate care, with the value they're due. That's true. But where they're from? They won't remember that. No one will.
Bradford Gale: People remember all the horrors the Class of 2525 endured. They'd remember this too.
Griffin Standoff: They remembered that because it came out first. Shocking, unprecedented evil. People can only bear so much bad though, Gale. Absorb too much, and they break. The brass, they're still just people. And they hit their horror threshold years ago during the war. They don't want to remember more. The things my kids went through, the hardship---honestly speaking, it was worse than the Class of 2525. And that's too much bad to handle with a sane mind. I know that for a fact.
Bradford Gale: I'll remember, sir.
Griffin Standoff: And that's why your number eleven, eh Spartan?
Bradford Gale: Guess so, sir. Can you tell me something, Colonel?
Griffin Standoff: Ask away...
Bradford Gale: You really think we'll get him this time? I'm just a grunt, a damn good one, yeah, but I know a lot of this stuff goes right over my head. You've been hunting EGOR even longer than us, though, right? That's what Elias told me. You have to have a feel for him, right?
Griffin Standoff: I've got one, yeah. Tell's me we're close.
Bradford Gale: Close enough to actually get the fucker this time? I've had enough of him slipping away, let me tell you.
Griffin Standoff: With luck.
Bradford Gale: Hate to break it too you, but you're not to convincing, Colonel.
Griffin Standoff: You hunt ghosts for long enough, you do start to wonder if you'll ever do more than grasp at shadows. Or maybe I'm just a natural cynic. I've been told it enough times.
Bradford Gale: Cynics are underrated. We're the ones who see it the way it is.
Griffin Standoff: Wish I had that idiom thirteen years ago.
Bradford Gale: Why?
Griffin Standoff: Ancient history, Bradford. The kind that's ok being forgotten. Some horrors you have to remember. Some of them...well, let's just say I don't think dwelling on times of hopelessness do much good.
Bradford Gale: Maybe something light then, eh? We've just about filled our quota of deep topics I think, sir.
Griffin Standoff: Give it a few years, and that quota will get so large there's no room for anything else.
Bradford Gale: Well, guess I got time to fill it then, huh? We'll have to settle for talking about cute navy nurses in the meantime.
Griffin Standoff: Guess we will Spartan. I guess we will.
- MONTEGUE: Admiral Musa, sir!
Admiral Musa-096: Spartan Jared Miller, correct.
MONTEGUE: That's me, sir.
Admiral Musa-096: Very good. Sit down, Spartan.
MONTEGUE: Of course. I--thank you, Admiral. For seeing me.
Admiral Musa-096: I think that it's a bit early to be thanking me, Spartan Miller. You've put me in a very difficult
position here.
MONTEGUE: I know sir.
Admiral Musa-096: I'm sure you're well aware of the fact that there are...angles to this. On one side, I have your history. Excellent coss branch references, an exemplary battlefield record. A Spartan who served aboard Infinity these past months with nothing short of excellence. Essential to the success of a number of groundside operations, responsible for the oversight of a number of other controllers during an absence of Commander Palmer's, and of course, a part of that final crucial effort to free Infinity from the gravity well. Damn fine soldiering, I would say. Wouldn't you?
MONTEGUE: I don't think that's mine to judge sir. And with respect, Admiral, I wasn't on the ground for any of that. I ran ops.
Admiral Musa-096: Spartan Miller, if there's one thing I am sure of, it's that you are an impressive soldier, precisely because you were in that Ops Center. I'm told that when Infinity was boarded and the Ops Center personnel were evacuated, you personally volunteered to remain and continue coordinating operations. When the Covenant were just outside your door, you didn't flinch. I know the score, Spartan. You might very well have saved the entire ship with that move. You certainly saved hundreds of lives.
MONTEGUE: I was just doing my duty Admiral. What we're all expected to do, correct?
Admiral Musa-096: You went above and beyond simply your duty, Spartan Miller. Looking at your CSV, I see quite a bit more than what was expected. I see the actions of someone I personally would call a hero.
MONTEGUE: Yes sir. Thank you, sir.
Admiral Musa-096: What I cannot understand, Spartan Miller, is how to reconcile all that with the fact that you lied to your commander. Manipulated those around you for an unrelated agenda. Put in the harshest of terms, Miller, the kind most who know about this are using, you are a traitor.
MONTEGUE: I...yes sir.
Admiral Musa-096: That's it?
MONTEGUE: I beg your pardon, Admiral?
Admiral Musa-096: I said, "that's it?" Spartan Miller, I didn't bring you here to waste my time, nor to yell at you, nor to compliment your service record. I brought you here because you requested a meeting, so I'd damn well like to discuss something, especially a few pressing questions of my own. Why did you betray us, Spartan?
MONTEGUE: I...well, to be honest sir, I thought that the information on my...motivation....would be clear from the audio logs.
Admiral Musa-096: I didn't listen to them.
MONTEGUE: You...ignored them, sir?
Admiral Musa-096: I did indeed. You are here because I do not believe comments, taken out of context or even within context, are an adequate way to judge the content of a man's character. A soldier and his record are the only things that can speak for themselves.
MONTEGUE: What about Commander Palmer's report then, sir? If that's part of my record, I can't imagine it reflecting very positively on me.
Admiral Musa-096: I read Spartan Sarah Palmer's report, yes. I also understand the nature of her character. I helped select her, and I watched her and her classmates closely during training. I know she is an excellent soldier, undyingly loyal to the UNSC and to this branch. I am also aware, however, of the fact that she is confrontational and somewhat one sided by nature. I did not bring you here with the intent of having to defend my decision to take you, Spartan Miller, least of all to you. If you wanted to self sabotage, I can think of a few better ways anyway. So seeing as I fully intend to discuss what you want to discuss, and have questions I need answered before that, I really would like you to answer.
MONTEGUE: I...I think I would need to start at the beginning then, Admiral. I was an ODST fresh off my first your when I was approached by ONI Section Zero. I'd never heard of them before. But they told me I could help with something really important. Trouble is, that turned into seventeen years of helping them. They latched on and refused to let go and by the time I knew I wanted out, it was too late.
Admiral Musa-096: You killed for Section Zero.
MONTEGUE: Yes sir. Until 2553, when a job went south. Me and another agent were trapped, enemies closing in, about to die for...what? I asked myself. Some Section Zero vendetta. I wish I could say I panicked and ran. But I didn't. I left fully aware of what I was doing. When Zero came calling, an old fiend of mine faked my death. Got me clear of everything...my job with Section Zero, the operation, my theft of an escape vehicle.
Admiral Musa-096: And that's when you came to Spartan.
MONTEGUE: Yes sir. I had a contact in the ODSTs who I ran an operation with a few years prior write a referral, and after that, my combat tests did the rest.
Admiral Musa-096: Why Spartan Branch, Miller?
MONTEGUE: I thought that'd be obvious, Admiral. I spent years doing terrible, awful things. I got out into the world and saw how close we had come to annihilation, how Spartan and Infinity were so important to the humanity's fragile place as one of the giants of the galaxy. And I was disgusted with myself, with Section Zero. I hadn't known any of how bad it had been in the office. I'd been just as blind as some inner colony civilian. I didn't want to be that, not again. Never again. I had combat skills to rival the best in Spartan, sir, and I realized that here was my opportunity to use those and maybe set things straight.
Admiral Musa-096: So how could you betray all that?
MONTEGUE: Admiral, the one who saved me, he came calling. He had a favor. It seemed innocuous, maybe even like he'd help us. I was scared of him revealing who I was and determined to hold on to that little piece of redemption I'd found. Maybe even use an office ploy to help us. The idea of that...of using one of their tricks, making it my own, and turning it towards something good...there was a certain appeal to it, sir. And...then it all went wrong.
Admiral Musa-096: The conclusion of the Requiem campaign.
MONTEGUE: Yes sir. EGOR got out and Palmer saw him and all of a sudden it all just...blew up.
Admiral Musa-096: I see. Spartan, I'll be honest with you. I called you here to hear things from your perspective. To understand fully what had happened. Not from some report, not from some recording. From you. What I've seen has impressed me. You were up front. But I can't give you what I you want. In good faith, you cannot be put back aboard Infinity.
MONTEGUE: I think that's where your wrong sir.
Admiral Musa-096: Something you want to share, Spartan?
MONTEGUE: I don't...deserve a place on Infinity. Not now, maybe...not ever. The men and women aboard that ship, I've disgraced them, Admiral. Even the idiots who see things in black and white, they deserve it. I don't want back on Infinity, sir.
Admiral Musa-096: Then why are you here?
MONTEGUE: Because I want to deserve to be back on Infinity, Admiral.
Admiral Musa-096: You have a convoluted train of thought, Spartan. Anyone ever told you that?
MONTEGUE: It's come up a few times. But sir, Codename: EGOR was my foul. I am the only one who can take the blame for it. While that's unresolved, I have no place on Infinity or anywhere else, really. But I don't want to be like that forever.
Admiral Musa-096: A second redemption.
MONTEGUE: Yes sir. I understand Spartan Branch has troops out searching for EGOR right now. I don't know how much success they're having, but if I were to make a wager, it wouldn't be much. Spartans don't think like Spooks, sir. They're too good for that. They're above it. But I know EGOR, I know the people he's being used by, and I know how to catch him. That's what I'm here for sir. I can catch him. Let me.
Admiral Musa-096: I admire your gusto Spartan Miller. But...a traitor, heading up an investigation---or, if I'm reading your thoughts right, a new Intelligence Division? That's a tough pill to swallow. For the other brass as well as me.
MONTEGUE: I understand that sir. But Spartan has been looking to build an intel division ever since it go it's own leadership, hasn't it? I'm not asking to be put in charge. Just that you let me find EGOR, and if that builds Spartan Intel along the way, then it's an added plus.
Admiral Musa-096: And you are sure you can do it?
MONTEGUE: Not at all, sir. But I am sure no one here has a better chance at it than I do.
Admiral Musa-096: You're confident for someone covering his ass, Spartan Miller.
MONTEGUE: Not covering it sir. Just being honest. I worked for the same people that are harboring EGOR now. I know exactly how good they are. And I know that I'm damn good sir. But I'm not going to lie about this, sir. I've done enough of that.
Admiral Musa-096: It might take weeks to get the other brass inboard, Spartan. And they won't tolerate failure. You'll be watched closely.
MONTEGUE: I think that's just my reality now sir.
Admiral Musa-096: You're wise beyond your years Spartan Miller.
MONTEGUE: Haven't heard myself called wise much before, sir. And I'm older than I look.
Admiral Musa-096: Cheeky. Do you have a plan for how you'll run it?
MONTEGUE: Same as I would run an operation on Section Zero. Recruit a strike team for missions, spread agents out all over, and stay tight on them. Even Section Zero slips up, in its own ways. I'll find them, and I'll find EGOR.
Admiral Musa-096: And when you find him?
MONTEGUE: Then we take him alive. I was a professional when I did things like this for Section Zero. When I hated what I was doing. Here sir, I've got a purpose I can believe in. I'm not screwing this up.
Admiral Musa-096: I think, perhaps, I may be able to help you Spartan Miller. I'll talk to the other brass and make them see my side of things. Get yourself ready.
MONTEGUE: I always am, Admiral. One thing, though.
Admiral Musa-096: Shoot.
MONTEGUE: There's a lot of people on Infinity that will remember my name, even ones who haven't met me. To do this, I'm going to have to dredge up skills I buried, part of myself I've tried to leave behind. Call me sentimental, sir, but my name...I want to keep that pure. Keep Spartan Jared Miller the wholesome Ops controller...something, good to come back too.
Admiral Musa-096: You are an odd duck, Miller, but I'll oblige you. What did you have in mind?
MONTEGUE: In the Office, my name was MONTAGUE, sir. If I do this, I'll have to become him again. I think it would fit best, admiral. And...there are still people inside Section Zero that remember all I did for them.
Admiral Musa-096: If it'll make those sneaky bastards sweat, Spartan, then I'll have people call you whatever you like. Welcome to Spartan Intel, MONTAGUE.
- Elias Olson: Hey. Haven't uh...well, seen you around much. Since I got back from Chashma.
Jacky-359: Yeah. Sorry, I missed our last prank.
Elias Olson: The one you had planned the flash bang and the toilet bowl?
Jacky-359: Damn, that one was going to be good. Ah well. Probably not the best time for it anyway.
Elias Olson: Too bad. I was looking forward to that one...
Jacky-359: Sorry Elias. I've just been...busy.
Elias Olson: With Standoff
Jacky-359: Well yeah. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.
Elias Olson: Yeah, pretty obvious, even to us troglodyte Spartan Fours. What have you guys been up to with him?
Jacky-359: Oh, you know, mostly just the normal. Catching up about the rest of the class, asking about Laszlo---he was our instructor. Just business as usual.
Elias Olson: You're close to Standoff, aren't you?
Jacky-359: Yeah.
Elias Olson: Why'd you never bring him up? You let me believe he was some monster, listening to all that stuff MONTAGUE rambled on about. Why did you never mention him, or even just contradict MONTAGUE?
Jacky-359: I figured if you wanted to believe the Spook's bull, that was your prerogative. the Colonel wasn't just some trainer to us, Elias. He helped raise us, really. Remember our first talk?
Elias Olson: Only every day.
Jacky-359: Well, a the Colonel...he's one of those personal things. From the program. Not really for outsiders.
Elias Olson: So I'm still an outsider, huh?
Jacky-359: Hey, Elias, you're a good friend but...the detachment, my class, my squad, our instructors? They're family. You keep that in the family.
Elias Olson: But he's here now. He's on the mission. Matthew mentioned passing on his request and his offer straight to MONTAGUE. So you tried to bring him on, deliberately. I wouldn't keep you in the dark over something like that, Jacky. That's not what...friends do.
Jacky-359: He had intel, Elias. Trust me, we didn't want him on the ground. We just wanted the intel.
Elias Olson: Why don't you want him on the ground? Matthew was really particular about that too. I mean, I read his file. He did some crazy stuff back in the day. According to the stories Gale gives me second hand, he's a serious badass. No augments, yeah, but he'll be fine at the back of the line. What's the problem with having him on the ground? Because there is one. You guys can't hide that, Jacky.
Jacky-359: Did I ever tell you about Top Honors, Elias?
Elias Olson: Top Honors? Some kind of competition? What has that got to do with this?
Jacky-359: Yeah, a final excercise. The Colonel and Laszlo came based it off something the SPARTAN-III's did, a similar excercise. They threw all of us, all ten squads, into a ten square kilometer area, and just had us go at it. Trying to see who was the best.
Elias Olson: I still don't see...
Jacky-359: My team won it, obviously. We were the best, even back then. There were some other squads with one or two members who might have been better individually, but no one worked better as a team. We were just in complete sync. Matt knew exactly where to put us. We knew exactly where we could find each other. Right at the end, there was this big showdown---us, and three other teams. Tan, Cyan, and Crimson...just a big brawl of a battle. We didn't even speak. Wasn't time. We just went for it. And we were so in tune, we came out on top, with nothing but feel. That's how close we were. Eight years of training. Day in, day out, seven days a week, always with your squad.
Elias Olson: I can imagine. The way you guys fight now---trust me, it shows.
Jacky-359: We went to augmentation a little over two months later. There was...five of us. There were three when we came out. One day, I was talking to Anna about Matt, making fun of Otto for keeping that damn drink packet from the first night of training. The next, they were in caskets.
Elias Olson: I'm...I'm sorry.
Jacky-359: That's the kind of history you get into when you ask about our personal stuff, Elias. It's not pretty or fulfilling or exciting---it's a whole hell of a lot of pain. There were people after augmentation who damn near broke. Connor from Tan Team. Probably the best damn SPARTAN in the whole group, just a monster of a fighter. Ever seen vids of Linda-058, from the original Class of 2525, with a sniper rifle? Connor's a fraction of a hair below her. And augmentation nearly broke him. He lost two friends, too. Amber-373, she was disabled, her bones crushed so bad she couldn't move, had to be put in a gel tank so her entire body wouldn't collapse in on itself. And Jackson-348....he just died. Heart couldn't take it, or something. I didn't...I didn't ask. Never wanted too.
Elias Olson: That's---
Jacky-359: Awful? Yeah, yeah it is. And the list goes on, Elias. Rick-353 and Lauren-372 from Silver Team, Chris-367 and Susuan-333 from Scarlet, Megan-308 and Alai-369 from Orange, Landry-371 from Orange, Keegan-362 and Dominic-366 from Olive, Anne-306 from Violet, Maggie-327 and Jacob-303 from Crimson, Jack-313 from Turquoise. Nearly half of us died. A handful more were maimed. And those of us who made it through? Not all there. Connor wasn't the only one to break, just the most high profile. Roger-341---I think you know him as Roger Jacobs---he turned even harder after augmentation. Rachel-343...she coped but we could all tell it hurt her badly. And Richard-312...he....well, he wasn't ever the same. He never really recovered.
Elias Olson: I didn't...I mean...I wasn't trying to dredge up bad memories.
Jacky-359: You didn't, Elias. You didn't dredge them up because they come up every day regardless. When you've got four teammates who are closer than family, closer than brother and sister, and you lose two...you don't forget that, ever. This stuff was for our unit to deal with though, Olson. Inside the tent.
Elias Olson: But you can't live like that! Not forever. Sooner or later, you can still rememember, but you have to let go. Have to move on.
Jacky-359: As if I'm living right now anyway, Elias. I'm a soldier, and it's all I've ever done. All I'm likely to ever do.
Elias Olson: That sounds like you're just...indoctrinated. Not thinking for yourself.
Jacky-359: Trust me, it's not indoctrination. You want to know what that looks like, look at the Class of 2525. the Colonel and Laszlo were supposed to foster just a total, absolute loyalty to the UNSC, but...well, it was clear enough to us after a while that what they said didn't always match up with what they felt. And that even if the UNSC was probably the overall good guy, it did some ugly stuff in the name of that good. Sure, we were loyal, but we knew the score. There was a damn good reason for us to exist. It just was an awful thing.
Elias Olson: But you can't see a life outside that awful thing?
Jacky-359: No, I can't. Let me ask you something, can you? Or are you a soldier? Self defined as a fighter, a killer? I'm a soldier because it's a job I'm good at, a job that needs doing. If I'm not there, then some kid is just going to be recruited and put on the front lines in my place, and he'll probably end up dead, because he just plain old won't be as good as me.
Elias Olson: Then why do you say you're not living.
Jacky-359: I don't know. Maybe I am after all.
Elias Olson: Then...you can't hold on to that pain, Jacky. You're either living or your not. Seems to me you are. A weird life, a difficult life, a scary life, but a life. So...you have to move on.
Jacky-359: It's not that simple.
Elias Olson: Why not? You made it out like some huge, catastrophic thing if you let an insider in on the details of your squad, and look at it now. No big damn explosion, no crater in the ground, just a little bit of clarity. Why can't it be like that?
Jacky-359: Because it's just---it's not, Elias. Ok?
Elias Olson: Not ok. You can't live in the past, Jacky. I...I get it, ok? I saw Standoff. I met him. He's got the look. He's let every piece of life weigh on him, and he's crushed under it. That's the kind of thing this line of thought leads too. It'll weigh on you.
Jacky-359: The Colonel has more weighing on him than me. He can't even smile these days.
Elias Olson: Maybe. He's a lot older, though. And he's an example of what happens if you can't move on.
Jacky-359: I...Elias, I am moving on.
Elias Olson: Doesn't seem like it to me.
Jacky-359: Just...being here. Doing what we're doing.
Elias Olson: What are you talking about?
Jacky-359: You remember why I'm here.
Elias Olson: Orders and duty. There something more to that you didn't tell me?
Jacky-359: No. Well, not...yes, but not in the way you probably think.
Elias Olson: What do you mean?
Jacky-359: Remember how I said the Colonel pretty much helped raise us?
Elias Olson: Don't tell me he ordered you to do this. Or is this going to be another tangent like Top Honors?
Jacky-359: No, Elias, just---listen for a sec, ok?
Elias Olson: Ok.
Jacky-359: The Colonel...he was always there. Not quite in the same way Laz was, but always there regardless. I guess you could say...hell, I don't know how a normal person would put this. Laz was a father figure, and Standoff maybe was a favorite teacher. A stern one, a hard to impress one, but one that looked out for you, even when you didn't know it.
Elias Olson: I heard about some of the stuff he did for your class. Embezzling from his own backers and from all those other projects to try and get you better gear or training or whatever. Stealing that armor for that Roger Jacobs---makes sense now, really. After all you've told me about the SPI.
Jacky-359: It's not just that. Elias, my first real memory I've got---the first clear one---was of him. He interviewed a lot of us, evaluating us for the program. I remember that day just...crystal clear in my mind. He's been a rock. Unmoveable. Laz was close but you could also tell things like...affected him. Which was good. The Colonel was steady ground.
Elias Olson: What are you trying to say?
Jacky-359: He...worked for us in ways no one else would. He was someone we could fall back on. During the war, my squad had...a mission. That went bad. And we fell back on him, sort of. We didn't even have to ask, he was just there, backing us. I don't know if he even knows how much it meant. We were really cold, suspicious of everyone. So we've got a duty to him, Elias. We have to make sure he's safe. I have too. I doubted him the most. I owe the Colonel that.
Elias Olson: What was the mission?
Jacky-359: It was...it involved EGOR.
Elias Olson: EGOR. The EGOR we're tracking.
Jacky-359: You really think it's that common of a name? Yes, the EGOR we're tracking.
Elias Olson: So is this...?
Jacky-359: A vendetta? No, no it's not. It's about as far removed from that as possible.
Elias Olson: What do you mean?
Jacky-359: We're protecting, not avenging. Believe me, Elias, we're not about to compromise this and risk your guys' safety. That's not what this is. Believe me, please.
Elias Olson: I believe you.
Jacky-359: Ok...well, that's a umm...that's a bombshell dropped. Thank you.
Elias Olson: And I won't tell MONTAGUE.
Jacky-359: You won't?
Elias Olson: No. I trust you. You had me and Gale's back four months ago and I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I know you and I don't think you'd lie. MONTAGUE might not feel the same way. Actually...I think I know he won't feel the same way. I think telling him would be the final blow to a battle you guy's are fighting. I'm not as oblivious as you'd think.
Jacky-359: Thank...thank you.
Elias Olson: So...you're protecting Standoff. Why?
Jacky-359: The mission we...failed on...it did a number on us. But it did more on him. Hurt him real badly. That eye patch didn't come from the Covenant or Innies, Elias.
Elias Olson: It was a Class III member, wasn't it. Someone needed your help and you failed.
Jacky-359: How'd you know?
Elias Olson: His whole life is centered around you guys. It was sort of obvious, I guess.
Jacky-359: Well I'll give you that. We...were supposed to protect someone. Richard-312. And EGOR killed him. The Colonel spent years just working out that EGOR was the one who did it. Then years since then hunting him down. He's relentless, Elias. And...I'm worried.
Elias Olson: That he'll come on too strong.
Jacky-359: Say it plainly. That he's going to do something rash and get himself killed. That's why we wanted in on this, Elias. We tried delaying him with busy work but that didn't work one bit. The only way we decided we could stop him from going after EGOR by himself and getting killed was if we found EGOR first. Except he's smart. Always smarter than people give him credit for...
Elias Olson: He screwed everything up. And MONTAGUE...
Jacky-359: Is trying to play the whole thing, yeah. Get us to admit our ulterior motive by bargaining with the Colonel's life. But if we do that, then we're off, maybe he's still on, and he's either going to get killed on the mission or go off on his own if MONTAGUE drops him and get killed there and now we're not even in the same squad as him and I can't watch him and---
Elias Olson: Hey, hey, hey. Slow down there.
Jacky-359: Sorry. Not...don't deal with...this much. Whatever it is...
Elias Olson: Vulnerability. You never had to, not like this. All the people close to you have always been safely far away or able to take care of themselves, right?
Jacky-359: How do you do it? How do people...live like this? With the worries, and the anxiety, and all of it...
Elias Olson: Well, they go crazy a little bit. Then they lean on their friends, their family.
Jacky-359: Well my team is all in the same shitty boat as me...
Elias Olson: I'm not.
Jacky-359: Excuse me?
Elias Olson: Come on, you didn't see that coming? Jacky, friends don't bail when times are tough. Even weird cross generational Spartan Four friends. I've got an eye in the back of my head, watching Standoff. Promise.
Jacky-359: I don't know what to say.
Elias Olson: Well that's a first. Come on, Jacky. Let me show everyone I finally got you to keep your mouth shut for five minutes, eh? They don't have to know why.
Jacky-359: It won't really stay closed for five minutes, Elias. You know that.
Elias Olson: Hey, a man can dream. Let's go.
- --//Error: File Incompatible. Manual Access Required.//--
- Jacky-359: Hey, Olson. How's it going?
Elias Olson: It's umm...swell. It's swell.
Jacky-359: Right. Well, I was thinking we may have gotten off on the wrong foot.
Elias Olson: I...you think?
Jacky-359: Well in my defense, you're a four. You lot normally need to be put in your place.
Elias Olson: Put in our place.
Jacky-359: Yeah, you know, taken down to size. Humbled, chastened, humiliated. Most of you are shit but think you're the shit.
Elias Olson: So you...prank them?
Jacky-359: No, no see, it's not all about the pranking. That just get's them off balance and weirded out. Sometimes it'll throw them off so much they forget to be arrogant. Course that's just when I'm lucky. Most of the time they're just distracted. Then we whoop them in War Games and they all shut up.
Elias Olson: So...because I'm a four, you had to...traumatize me.
Jacky-359: No, no. That's why I'm here to say we got off on the wrong foot. I really didn't need to do the whole joke.
Elias Olson: Because...
Jacky-359: Because you don't think you're the shit. I mean, you're not spectacular or anything, but at least you know it. You don't act like a lot of those idiots on Infinity.
Elias Olson: Umm...thank you?
Jacky-359: You're welcome. You're actually pretty good, honestly. Haven't seen many fours fight like you.
Elias Olson: So we're moving on from pranks to compliments now?
Jacky-359: Hey, you don't have to take it as a compliment. Considering the way most of you fours fight, it isn't much of one.
Elias Olson: Do you ever say things...nicely?
Jacky-359: Sure, when I've got something nice to say.
Elias Olson: I take it now's not one of those times.
Jacky-359: Try not to rain on the parade too much, Olson. I gave you a pretty good nod back there. You've got guts, at least.
Elias Olson: Why do you say that?
Jacky-359: Oh come on, we read every intel report that passes through this ship. I know you volunteered for plainclothes on that last op even though you beat everyone but Mark in combat aptitude.
Elias Olson: I didn't even do the War Games with them.
Jacky-359: Yeah, cause you knew you would win. Some of that stuff you pulled on Requiem with that jet pack of yours---not exactly what I'd call the smart way of doing stuff, or the best, but you had guts. Really stupid. But gutsy at least.
Elias Olson: I just push my luck sometimes. Nothing compared to the way you three in Gold just...decimated them.
Jacky-359: Oh, you saw that huh?
Elias Olson: Kind of hard not too. You took thirty of them down in...shit, two minutes? One?
Jacky-359: Fifty seven seconds, actually. Fifty five, if you don't count me executing that last wounded one. Probably hard to get a good count stuck behind a car or running, though.
Elias Olson: Funny. Bullets are a lot more difficult to deal with when they're not bouncing off, though.
Jacky-359: Oh trust me, I know all about that.
Elias Olson: Why would you know? You can't have spent too much time outside that armor of yours during the war. If I'd had it, I don't think I'd ever have taken it off. Don't really like taking it off now. Course, maybe that's cause the last two times I've been without it I got shot at...or blown up...
Jacky-359: Or hit by a truck. But we didn't have it during the war.
Elias Olson: Didn't have it? You're basically SPARTAN-II's, though, right? That's what MONTAGUE said. Trained like the Class of 2525. About all he said, actually.
Jacky-359: The money wasn't there. We used SPI rigs instead.
Elias Olson: Semi Powered Infiltration armor? Like the SPARTAN-III's did? That's stuffs flimsy as hell. My old ODST plates could probably take more punishment.
Jacky-359: Well, it had the advantage of being nearly invisible. But it wasn't MJOLNIR, that's for damn sure. A lot of our class got killed during the war. So did a lot of the Class of 2525, obviously, but...it's easy to think some of us might have made it with the resources the Class Ones had. They came up against odds that killed us and had armor there to pull them through.
Elias Olson: They threw you into the same kind of heavy action with inferior gear?
Jacky-359: Heavy action? More like suicide missions. Tasks that are impossible for a normal soldier downgrade to just "chancy" if you throw SPARTANs at the problem instead.
Elias Olson: You make it sound so haphazard.
Jacky-359: Cause it was. We got thrown in with the standard fleet, a lot. None of the minute-by-minute oversight that the Class of 2525 got. ONI didn't track their every move and gauge every single deployment. Technically, our class wasn't even supposed to exist. Only certain parts of ONI knew about us. So they tossed us in with fleets that were hard pressed and not likely to ask questions. Most of the officers controlling us stopped listening at "SPARTANs" and just tossed us at whatever big target they couldn't get rid of themselves. A few of the really savvy or high up ones got told we were SPARTAN-III's, out of the "Ares Detachment". You know who Echo, Gauntlet, or Noble Team were, Olson?
Elias Olson: Of course. I did the readings, same as everyone else. SPARTAN-III's who were outfitted with MJOLNIR.
Jacky-359: Yeah, and guess what those savvy brass thought when they heard "Special SPARTAN-III detachment"? They pictured these MJOLNIR toting badasses and threw us at a target.
Elias Olson: And you're still here.
Jacky-359: Hell yes we are. We're damn good, what can I say.
Elias Olson: What kind of missions did you do?
Jacky-359: The kind SPARTANs do. We were the first squad deployed after training...started things off with a few generic planetary defenses, then graduated to ONI black ops in '49. Recovered some Office assets from Arcadia before the Covenant managed to glass it. We had eight hours to get in and out before the damn aliens burned our section of the planet. After that, we had an actual Forerunner site recon in 2550. That was a near suicide mission, what with all the Brutes everywhere. And the Scarabs. They had a lot of Scarabs. Then...let's see. We got to jump off a building after a MAC strike on Romana. There were those SPARTAN-III's whose asses we saved at Concord only for the credit to go to their armor. Oh, and a nice stint marooned on Regent after we blew up an RCS-class cruiser. After that, there was just Earth. We got stuck in Washington for a lot of that, attacking supply lines.
Elias Olson: You...wow.
Jacky-359: Like I said Olson, SPARTAN stuff. The kind of missions Class Ones were thrown at. Or just not risked, like Arcadia.
Elias Olson: So you lived through what other's couldn't.
Jacky-359: Yeah. You could say that. Well...what about you?
Elias Olson: Me?
Jacky-359: Yeah, you. What did you do during the war?
Elias Olson: You're asking...me?
Jacky-359: Yeah, that's how this works, right? We do the whole, I talk about myself, then ask you about yourself. It's how the whole friend thing works, yeah?
Elias Olson: So we're friends now?
Jacky-359: What, you think I'd talk this long to someone that pisses me off?
Elias Olson: Probably not.
Jacky-359: Right. So what did you do during the war, then? How'd you end up...soldiering? That's what it's called right? It's a little weird, talking to someone who wasn't...inducted into the whole business.
Elias Olson: Well...I started with the marines. Standard stuff, you know, normal deployments. I capped two tours with a stay on Algolis and nearly got wiped there. After I figured what the hell and joined ODST. Landed a tour with the Bullfrogs and fought on Reach from pretty much the start to finish. A lot of the boys from the 11th Shock Troops, me included, managed to evac to Earth. I was supposed to drop into Mombassa but my ship got hit and didn't get planetside for a few weeks. After that, I was all over Africa, got roped into the Voi push, and ended up on the Forward Unto Dawn.
Jacky-359: You were on the Ark? Did you...
Elias Olson: Fight with the Master Chief? Yeah, I did. God, that was a lifetime ago.
Jacky-359: I get why they picked you for Spartan Four.
Elias Olson: I didn't do much more than any of the others. A lot of guys did more than me. Thorne, from Majestic? He saved his whole platoon on Criterion. And Gale? He acts dumb, but he saved a whole damn ship. His pod malfunctioned and didn't drop, and when the Covenant boarded, he fought them off all on his own.
Jacky-359: Right, but then you get fours like Paul Demarco or Terry Ledge or god help me, Anthony Madsen.
Elias Olson: I guess.
Jacky-359: I saw you, Olson. You ain't shit.
Elias Olson: But you're right. I'm no John-117. None of us are. I remember watching him...Jesus, he moved like none of us ever do. A lot like EGOR. Slower in some ways, of course. Faster in others. We're not ever going to measure up to that. You're the closest I've seen, and you're still a level below.
Jacky-359: He did pretty much save all of humanity and everything.
Elias Olson: Yeah. Actually, hey, I've been meaning to ask, how different was you training really? From the Master Chief's, I mean...
Jacky-359: As similar as it could be. Same methodology, same augmentations, same everything, near as they could make it. We're practically the same as the Class of 2525, in my opinion. Us good ones at least. Not that anyone notices it.
Elias Olson: Is that why you're here? To prove yourself? Get noticed?
Jacky-359: I'm here for the same reason you are Olson. Orders and duty.
Elias Olson: But you requested to be put on this, right? MONTAGUE picked us.
Jacky-359: I...never said whose orders.
Elias Olson: Or what your duty was too.
Jacky-359: You learn pretty fast. I don't want to go there, though. Sorry. Personal...frankly, me and my squad don't do personal, not outside the squad. No offense Olson. You're just not one of us.
Elias Olson: Well two points for honesty...
Jacky-359: Just...we're not there yet. I'm not there yet. This whole friend thing is unusual enough already.
Elias Olson: I can get that, I guess.
Jacky-359: Though hey, that doesn't mean being friends doesn't sound like fun, bud.
Elias Olson: Does it "sound like fun" because you're planning more pranks on me?
Jacky-359: No, I don't do that to people that don't deserve it. I do need help though sometimes. MONTAGUE seems like he needs to be screwed with too, once in a while. Might need backup.
Elias Olson: Sounds like trouble to me.
Jacky-359: Don't you know? Getting in trouble is just a fancy term for pissing off a certain group of people. And honestly? I'm damn good at pissing people off.
Elias Olson: And getting away with it?
Jacky-359: Eh, sometimes.
- Elias Olson: Granite Actual, reporting. Granite Recon is on the move.
MONTAGUE: ETA to target, Granite Actual?
Elias Olson: Ten mikes, sir.
MONTAGUE: Understood. Granite Strike? Status?
Mark-G253: Two mikes behind them, sir. Holding distance.
MONTAGUE: Keep me advised, Granite Strike.
Bradford Gale : I still want to know how the hell it happens that half of us get armor, and I get put in the half that goes plainclothes.
Elias Olson : Cause Mark and Dorian both kicked your ass in the War Games. And you look so dashingly handsome. Don't want to hide that behind a helmet.
Bradford Gale : Hey, "kicked my ass" is a pretty strong way of putting it---
Elias Olson : Mark killed you twenty one times to three.
Bradford Gale : ...I see your point. Plain clothes it is.
Bradford Gale : Hey, Mark, how close are you anyway?
Mark-G253 : Two mikes. Like I said before.
Elias Olson : Nervous buddy?
Bradford Gale : Just want to know how much I have to make you hit the breaks so that the guys in armor take the semi to the face this time.
MONTAGUE: Granite Actual, target has been acquired. Passing the corner of Traynor Avenue and heading north on the Eden Transfer.
Elias Olson: Understood, sir, we've got it.
MONTAGUE: Let's keep this one tight, gentlemen.
Jacky-359: You forgot to add "and lady".
Mason-317: Jacky, do you really qualify?
Matthew-363: Cut the chatter, Gold.
MONTAGUE: Thank you, Gold Actual...
Jacky-359 : Gonna kiss the spook's ass some more, Matt?
Matthew-363 : Mission first, Jacky. Watch those screens.
Jacky-359 : You know we should be on that ground team, not Granite. It's risky.
Matthew-363 : Mouthing off about it now isn't the solution, Spartan.
Jacky-359 : Understood sir. Sass mode deactivated.
Elias Olson: Granite Recon here. Seeing a lot of movement down here, sir. Place normally this busy at eleven hundred?
MONTAGUE: Gold?
Jacky-359: I'm tracking them. Plates are all civilian and local, all but two registered to long term residents.
MONTAGUE: Noted. Stay on the target, Granite Recon. Don't get distracted.
Elias Olson: Copy that, sir.
Jacky-359 : Hey, Olson, try not to listen too hard to MONTAGUE. Keep your eyes open down there.
Elias Olson : You got a bad feeling too?
Jacky-359 : Always got one with MONTAGUE around. Keep tight and don't hesitate to call us. We'll be down there in a minute flat like the wrath of God.
Elias Olson : I'll remember that, Spartan Jacky.
Mark-G253: All callsigns, Granite Strike reporting. Visual on target. Delivery van, reinforced shocks. Signs of recent welding.
Bradford Gale: That brings back bad memories...
Elias Olson: Granite Strike, Granite Recon here. We see you. Where's the van?
Mark-G253: Parallel road over. Check your left.
Elias Olson: Ah...there he is.
Bradford Gale: Anyone else just get a chill?
MONTAGUE: You know the plan, Granite.
Elias Olson: Yes sir. We're moving to tail. Watch our six, Strike.
Mark-G253: Affirmative.
Elias Olson: Granite Recon has visual on target van. Do we need to paint it, Gold Team?
Matthew-363: Jacky? You got it?
Jacky-359: Hold on the lazing, Granite. I've got him myself with visuals. No need to chance it.
MONTAGUE: Granite Strike, Granite Recon is in position. Get ahead of them and be ready. Spartan Mason, drop our altitude.
Elias Olson: Granite Recon here, picking up a lot more activity. Look like some sketchy guys in the nearby pickups.
MONTAGUE: Stay focused, Recon.
Jacky-359: I'll check it out.
MONTAGUE: Belay that, Spartan. We're here for EGOR. Don't get distracted.
Jacky-359: Crock of shit, sir.
Matthew-363: Jacky, do as he says.
Jacky-359 : It will take fifteen seconds, sir. Recon has a visual on it already. Let me look.
Matthew-363 : If there's a threat, it'll be directed at EGOR, not Granite. Watch him, and you'll see problems coming a lot quicker.
Jacky-359 : Ok sir. You're the boss.
Elias Olson: We got a problem down here.
MONTAGUE: Granite Recon?
Elias Olson: Target is heading for the parking garage ahead. Sir, what did you say his target was again?
MONTAGUE: We don't know.
Elias Olson: Well that parking garage connects to the Traxus building via a skyway, sir. I don't think he's going to be in that van much longer.
MONTAGUE: Damn it. Alright, Granite Strike, abort the cut off. Rendezvous with Recon in the building.
Matthew-363: Sir, we going in?
MONTAGUE: Not yet. We don't know if it's actually the target. It could be a fake.
Jacky-359: Just lost visual, sir. EGOR's in that garage somewhere.
Elias Olson: We're going in.
Bradford Gale: How do we always end up doing this without armor!?
Mark-G253: Granite Recon, this is Granite Strike. We're forty seconds out.
Elias Olson: We'll watch the skybridge and let you sweep, Strike. Just get here.
Mark-G253: Acknowledged.
Elias Olson: We're inside. Out of the vehicle, moving out. Gale, take point!
Jacky-359 : Be careful you idiots.
Matthew-363 : Jacky?
Jacky-359 : Nothing, sir.
Mark-G253: Granite Strike inside and dismounting. Granite Recon, what's your location?
Elias Olson: Second level. We've got eyes on the skybridge but there's no movement.
MONTAGUE: Granite Strike, do you have anything?
Mark-G253: Negative...moving to the third floor.
MONTAGUE: Spartan Jacky, check the roof.
Jacky-359: Already did. Nothing, sir.
Elias Olson: Where did he...?
Bradford Gale : Bad feeling is getting worse...
Elias Olson : Just look sharp. Mark and Dorian have our back.
Jacky-359: Oh shit.
MONTAGUE: Spartan?
Jacky-359: I'm tracking activity! Six delivery vans, eight SUVs. Coming in from Alberta, Northrop, Allers, and Shepherd Streets. All converging on the parking garage.
MONTAGUE: Someone else is after EGOR again.
Mark-G253: Sir! Target acquired! Fourth floor, at the...support column. He's setting charges!
Elias Olson: He's going to bring the whole building down!
Jacky-359: First vehicles are entering the parking garage, sir!
MONTAGUE: Granite Strike, engage engage engage. Spartan Mason, drop our altitude.
Mark-G253: Understood sir. Dorian, move up!
Jonathan Dorian: Covering fire.
[Sound Detected: Type-51 Carbine , SRS99-S5 Sniper Rifle.]
Jacky-359: Those goons are deploying! Thirty...forty plus foot mobiles, coming up the front ramp!
Elias Olson: Granite Recon, displacing! Strike, is EGOR contained?
Mark-G253: Negative! Dorian, watch your shields! He's accurate!
MONTAGUE: Keep him in one spot, Granite Strike.
Mark-G253: He's moving left. Jonathan, give me some cover, I'll cut him off!
[Sound Detected: Detonation, TR/9 Antipersonnel Mine]
Mark-G253: Augh!
MONTAGUE: Granite Strike!
Mark-G253: I'm...green, sir. He's got traps, though. Dorian, be careful.
Elias Olson: Oh son of a bitch. The goons are on the second level.
Mason-317: We're two minutes out, Granite. Hold on.
Jonathan Dorian: EGOR just rabbited. He's off the side of the building.
MONTAGUE: Off the side?
Jonathan Dorian: He jumped.
MONTAGUE: Get after him, Granite Strike. Granite Recon, get up to the fourth level and disarm those charges.
Bradford Gale: Those goons aren't gonna miss us moving.
MONTAGUE: You don't move and the building might come down.
Elias Olson: We're on it sir. Bradford, standard move. Give me cover to the pillar then go.
Bradford Gale: I'm never setting a foot on a planet out of armor ever again...covering fire!
[Sound Detected: M935 Designated Marksmen Rifle; Retaliatory Exchange: MA5D Assault Rifle, BR55HB SR Battle Rifle, MA5B Assault Rifle, M739 Light Machine Gun, M247 General Purpose Machine Gun, M7 Sub Machine Gun, SRS99D Sniper Rifle, ARC-920 Rail Gun]
Bradford Gale: Motherfucker!
Elias Olson: Ready?
Bradford Gale: Hell no!
Elias Olson: Shut up and run, Bradford! Frag out! Covering fire!
[Sound Detected: Detonation, M9 HE-DP Fragmentation Grenade]
Bradford Gale: I! Want! Armor next time!
[Sound Detected: BR85 Battle Rifle; Retaliatory Exchange: M41 Surface to Surface Missile Launcher]
Bradford Gale: Jesus!
Elias Olson: Go, get the charges! I'll keep 'em busy!
MONTAGUE: Granite Recon, give me and update.
Mark-G253: We're...on him sir. He's on foot in the city.
MONTAGUE: Don't lose him. We're on the way.
Matthew-363: Sir, what about Granite Recon?
MONTAGUE: They'll have to hold. EGOR cannot escape.
Jacky-359: Bullshit, sir! They need help!
Elias Olson: Negative, negative. We got this! Get EGOR.
Jacky-359 : Stop trying for some heroic self sacrifice you jackass.
Matthew-363: Orders, sir?
MONTAGUE: Drop our altitude. Granite Recon, keep me up to date, understood?
Elias Olson: Copy that sir! Gale, what's the deal with the charges?
Bradford Gale: Small...directional...and...shit. Already primed.
Elias Olson: Throw them off the side of the building or something! I'm heading your way and bringing company!
Bradford Gale: Off the building? Where's the fun in that!
Elias Olson: Gale!?
[Sound Detected: Spartan Gale removing charges, throwing them past Spartan Olson; Retaliatory Exchange: MA5B Assault Rifle, M7 Sub Machine Gun]
Bradford Gale: Aaugh! Goddamn mother---
Elias Olson: Down, idiot!
[Sound Detected: ARC-920 Rail Gun, impact]
Elias Olson: MONTAGUE! Granite Recon here, Gale is hit! Hostiles are delayed but still coming strong. We need backup.
MONTAGUE: How many?
Elias Olson: Still at least thirty plus, sir! These guys are good.
MONTAGUE: Acknowledged. Spartan Mason, prep the ship for autopilot. Set it to hover.
Mason-317: Can't you fly it, sir?
MONTAGUE: I wear this armor for a reason, Spartan.
Mason-317: Understood sir.
Matthew-363 : Thirty seconds out. Buckets locked, Gold Team.
Jacky-359 : About time.
Mason-317 : Ah, saving Granite. Wasn't this the plan all along?
Elias Olson: Gale, can you still fight? I need cover.
Bradford Gale: Who do you think your talking to, Anthony Madsen? Go!
[Sound Detected: M935 Designated Marksmen Rifle]
Bradford Gale: Two down! Go, Olson!
Elias Olson: Moving! Civilian car, back of the lot, Gale! I've got you, get over here.
Bradford Gale: On my way!
Mason-317: Coming up on the parking garage! Everybody out!
Matthew-363: Gold Team, go go go!
Bradford Gale: About damn time, eh.
Matthew-363: Olson, what's the situation?
Elias Olson: Our floor's swarming with them, sir. Three dozen.
Matthew-363: Acknowledged, keep your heads down. Jacky, over the back wall, slip their rear flank and use the ramp to break their LOS. Mason, left corner. I've got right. We're on crowd control.
MONTAGUE: Gold Team, I'm on Granite.
Elias Olson: Sir, Gale is fading.
MONTAGUE: Just stay down, Spartan.
Matthew-363: Gold Team, positions ready?
Jacky-359: SPARTAN-359, ready to go.
Mason-317: SPARTAN-317. Duh, sir.
Matthew-363: Go!
[Sound Detected: MA5D Assault Rifle, SRS99-S5 Sniper Rifle]
Matthew-363: Gold Actual, six tangos down.
Mason-317: Gold Two, seven down.
Jacky-359: I'm in back.
Matthew-363: Do they have a bead on you?
Jacky-359: They never do.
[Sound Detected: M90 Combat Shotgun]
Jacky-359: Well, I guess I got seven with the knife before they noticed me. Going loud.
[IFF Tracking: MONTAGUE detected landing behind Spartan Olson and Gale]
Elias Olson: Sir, Gale's going into shock and they're pressing up front---
MONTAGUE: Duck out the left corner, fire, then pop back.
Elias Olson: Sir?
MONTAGUE: Go.
[Sound Detected: BR85 Battle Rifle; Retaliatory Exchange: M247 General Purpose Machine Gun, M739 Light Machine Gun]
Elias Olson: What did that accomplish...sir? Where---?
[IFF Tracking: MONTAGUE eliminating hostile gunmen via combat knife. No sound detected to correlate.]
MONTAGUE: Get Gale to the roof and out of this, Spartan.
Elias Olson: Yes sir!
Matthew-363: Gold Two, take the left.
Mason-317: Moving...nice sniper perch, sir. Thanks.
Matthew-363: Gold Three, stack on the southeast corner. Hostile are coming your way.
Jacky-359: Got it. Alright...come here.
[Sound Detected: M90 Combat Shotgun]
Jacky-359: Thanks for the set up, lead.
MONTAGUE: Granite Strike, give me an update.
Mark-G253: I think we got him, sir. He's ducked into a construction yard, but there's no egress. We can take him. Permission to fire?
MONTAGUE: Do what you need to take him alive.
Mark-G253: Engaging.
[Sound Detected: SRS99-S5 Sniper Rifle]
Mark-G253: He's hit---
[Sound Detected: Impact of steel girders on Mark-G253]
Mark-G253: Crap. Dorian, I'm pinned.
MONTAGUE: Dorian, get him.
Jonathan Dorian: He's in the superintendent's office. I'm going---oof.
[Sound Detected: Impact of EGOR on Spartan Dorian]
MONTAGUE: Dorian? Dorian!
Mark-G253: Sir, I'm clear of the debris. Dorian's incapacitated. EGOR...he's...gone. He's gone.
MONTAGUE: Goddamn it.
Matthew-363: Gold Actual reporting. Parking garage is clear, sir.
MONTAGUE: But EGOR is gone. Dammit. He was a step ahead of us again. Always a fucking step ahead of us.
Mark-G253: Sir...what are your orders?
MONTAGUE: Get Dorian and prepare for extraction. Spartan Mason, get that bird on the roof. I've had enough of this planet.
- Bradford Gale: So, anyone know why we're here? Elias?
Elias Olson: You know just as much as I do Gale. MONTAGUE just told me to meet here at 1200.
Bradford Gale: Very spooky of him. Nice and vague.
Elias Olson: He's a spook, Gale. Aren't you used to it by now?
Bradford Gale: Hell, I'll never get used to it. I'm ready to get thrown back on Infinity. A nice straight up firefight, you know? Shooting bad guys with no distractions.
[IFF Tracking: Mason-317, Matthew-363, and Jacky-359 enter conference room.]
Mason-317: You have to actually be able to hit the bad guys for them to put you on that duty, Gale.
Bradford Gale: Funny funny, Mason. I took down three of them when they were in the middle of firing rockets at me, case you didn't notice.
Mason-317: Mmm, and who killed the guy with the rocket launcher there tough guy?
Jacky-359: I did, you jackass.
Mason-317: Oh shut up.
Jacky-359: Just pointing out that I dropped twice as many of them as you, Mason...
Mason-317: Twice as many? Bullshit! You were fooling around with a knife in back while I was putting sniper rounds in the guys firing SAWs at Olson and Gale!
Elias Olson: For which we thank you, by the way---
Jacky-359: I just seem to recall putting a cluster of buckshot in the guy with the rocket launcher and his buddy with the ARC-920....
Mason-317: Course you did, they were at the back! Where the big guns usually go.
Elias Olson: Seems a little silly to be arguing about this...
Jacky-359: Oh come on Elias. You know we're just joking.
Bradford Gale: Your joking sounds pretty damn competitive...
Jacky-359: Well we have to compete with someone. You Granite boys aren't giving us much of a challenge.
Bradford Gale: Hey, we were plain clothes!
Mason-317: Mmhmm. All it was. Certainly not our years of intensive training and experience on near suicidal combat missions…
Bradford Gale: Ah shut up you fat heads. What's with the armor? Expecting trouble?
Jacky-359: When MONTAGUE is involved, we always expect trouble. Especially on this mission. Bringing us all together at once? That’s a red flag if there ever was one.
Mark-G253: Good approach to things....
Matthew-363: Jacky...mind your manners.
Jacky-359: I wasn't the one who ordered us to suit up, sir...
Matthew-363: I‘m aware, Spartan. Now just be quiet, please.
Bradford Gale: So do you guys know why we're here, then?
Matthew-363: Negative. MONTAGUE just ordered us to report.
Elias Olson: What about Standoff? Would he know? Anyone seen him?
Bradford Gale: I chatted with him a few hours ago while we tinkered with his armor...
Jacky-359: We haven't seen him. Maybe MONTAGUE came up with a clever plan to get us all killed and the Colonel's busy talking him out of it.
Elias Olson: I can't believe MONTAGUE would really devise that questionable of an op...
Bradford Gale: Not sure all of us have such a glowing opinion of him sir...
Jacky-359: Elias, that last mission seems like it should count for a questionable operation, doesn‘t it? He was about ready to let you two die to get EGOR.
Elias Olson: That's the mission though. To get EGOR. If we had gotten him then maybe we wouldn't have needed Standoff's intel at all, Jacky. Might have been…for the best.
Mark-G253: The speed EGOR moved, I think even Gold and MONTAGUE together would have been too little to help.
Jacky-359: Seriously? Come on Mark, this is us your talking about.
Mark-G253: He's dangerous, is all I'm saying.
Elias Olson: I think we should have learned that bit back on Earth...
Bradford Gale: Hey, don't look at me. I learned that lesson plenty well.
[IFF Tracking: Codename: MONTAGUE and Griffin Standoff detected entering conference room.]
MONTAGUE: Afternoon, everyone. I was just reviewing a few things with Colonel Standoff. I hope you didn't mind waiting.
Elias Olson: What do you need us for today, sir?
MONTAGUE: As you're no doubt aware due to your ability to read a calendar, we're fast approaching Whitefall. This is your briefing.
Matthew-363: Excellent, sir. Glad to finally be making our move.
Elias Olson: What's the overview?
MONTAGUE: As you know, EGOR is clever, he's deadly, and he's resilient. We try to chase him and even with numbers, we're likely to have as much success as Granite Strike did last mission. He has to be trapped. Colonel Standoff's intel should explain the next bit.
Griffin Standoff: For those of you who don't know, Leonid is going after Loren Curtis, Whitefall's planetary governor. He'll be booted out of office in a week and a half and then he'll be free game for Section Zero to hit. I don't know about any of you, but I don't particularly care about stopping them. What I do care about is killing or capturing Leonid-144. So Curtis is bait.
Matthew-363: Curtis is aware of the threat, correct Colonel?
Griffin Standoff: He is indeed. He'll be holed up in a private bunker in the city center.
Jacky-359: In the city center? This guy an idiot?
Griffin Standoff: Politicians and bureaucrats always are. That will be our first problem. Civilians there have been through a lot in the past few years, and SPARTANs may cause a panic. We'll have to move quick.
Elias Olson: What's the Governor's security like?
Griffin Standoff: Bulky and basic. He hired nearly three hundred cheap goons, with the idea of just filling up every available space. Figures he can use them as an indicator of when to bug out. Soon as they start dropping, he'll bolt.
Elias Olson: What will they do when they see us?
Griffin Standoff: Probably try and shoot you.
Elias Olson: Ah.
MONTAGUE: Seeing as he's Section Zero's top man, EGOR will not be falling for that trick.
Jacky-359: How would you approach it?
MONTAGUE: Excuse me.
Jacky-359: Oh come on, we've grown past the stupid denials. You were a Zero trigger man. We all know it. So how would you kill the Governor.
MONTAGUE: Normally, with that many, I'd be in a team. We'd plant a bomb, but the city would interfere. So a distraction to get Curtis to run and then a team to pick him off as he leaves.
Bradford Gale: EGOR's just one guy though.
Griffin Standoff: Doesn't matter.
MONTAGUE: Something you'd like to share, Colonel?
Griffin Standoff: Just because Leonid is one guy, doesn't mean he can't still do it. I've studied his work for years now. I've seen how he operates in this scenario. He'll infiltrate past their first line, kill a nice secluded group of guards in one area, then go quiet and move across the base. His timing will be perfect. The other guards will discover the downed group exactly when he wants them to, and he'll be right in Curtis's way when the governor tries to escape.
Elias Olson: How will he exfil?
Griffin Standoff: Through the exit with the most guards.
Bradford Gale: The most? Why?
MONTAGUE: They'll be the least on alert. They'll figure he'll go for the easy way out and have traps ready. EGOR can plow through a hundred hired musclemen as easy as fifty.
Matthew-363: So we ambush him at the most concentrated exit, then. Which, looking at the map would be...the construction yard here.
MONTAGUE: Convenient, it being mostly abandoned...
Griffin Standoff: It's got the most guards because it's the only exit that doesn't come from right smack in the middle of a bunch of civvies.
Mark-G253: No offense Colonel, but it's hard to believe all this is accurate. We've had a lot of snags in this mission already. Can wet really trust the accuracy for these little details?
Griffin Standoff: My friend Roger Jacobs consulted on the security. And bugged every single mainframe in the entire bunker complex.
Mark-G253: He's not UNSC. He left the SPARTAN's even---
Jacky-359: Mark, Roger's a Grade A asshole. Trust me when I say we know that. But he's in Standoff's corner.
Mark-G253: Does that mean our corner, though?
Elias Olson: It does if Jacky says it does. We need to stop all this, people. This arguing, this sniping. Yeah, we've had a few chancy missions. But this is our best shot to get EGOR. We all want him taken down. So enough of the mistrust and the bullshit, people.
Griffin Standoff: Well said.
MONTAGUE: Yes, excellent. But getting back to things, Spartan Matthew and Colonel Standoff correctly summarized the plan earlier. We hit EGOR hard the moment he comes out of the construction site exit.
Jacky-359: What's the plan of attack, then?
MONTAGUE: We surround EGOR in a twenty five meter perimeter, put fire on him until he's incapacitated, then Gold secures. Granite, you'll cover the back and exits. Gold is faster and they'll stand a better chance up close if EGOR tries something.
Matthew-363: Sir, how exactly do we intend to "incapacitate" EGOR?
Bradford Gale: Didn't those VORAUSSICHT two's have to put a sniper round in him? I mean, Gold is fast, but I saw that footage sir. EGOR kept coming even with a round and a knife in him. Full twos had a hard time keeping up.
Matthew-363: Mason's as good a shot as any two besides 058. He can put a round in EGOR if we keep him busy. That's a promise.
Elias Olson: I don't like it. EGOR is a nasty bastard. Not much takes him down. I can't imagine he'd ever let himself get duped by the same stunt twice.
Mason-317: Well we have to keep him at a range. We let him get close and we give him an opening.
Jacky-359: Speak for yourself Mason.
Mason-317: We let him in close, our numbers weigh us down. He can bottleneck us and take us a few at a time. And don't forget, he doesn't need us alive.
Griffin Standoff: So we can't go after him up close, and we don't want to try and hit him from range. Seems we're out of options.
Elias Olson: We just have to get creative.
MONTAGUE: Creative usually ends with "complicated". Which usually ends with issues.
Jacky-359: Creative ends pretty well for us, actually.
Elias Olson: Maybe with Covenant cruisers...EGOR's a different story.
Bradford Gale: Can I take a moment to point out how wrong that is?
Matthew-363: We need to stay focused. We need a plan to get EGOR and right now we've got nothing.
Elias Olson: Maybe we can try something other than traditional tactics?
Matthew-363: Some of us are a fan of those traditional tactics...
Griffin Standoff: If they don't work, Matt, then we rethink.
Matthew-363: Yes sir.
MONTAGUE: We could lure him. Bait EGOR into thinking he's winning then surprise him with extra forces.
Griffin Standoff: That won't work. He's got no reason to press any advantage he gets. He'd much rather just slip away.
Elias Olson: Is that it then?
MONTAGUE: Is what it?
Elias Olson: Letting him slip away.
Jacky-359: Elias, that doesn't make a lick of sense.
Elias Olson: Not actually letting him slip away. But the only way we're going to get him is if we surprise him, right? Those VORAUSSICHT SPARTANs caught him with his pants down. He didn't expect to be cornered there. Wasn't really ready. So that's how we get him. Hit him when he's not ready for it.
Jacky-359: You've got a plan?
Elias Olson: Yeah. We hit him right when he comes out of the tunnel. Same plan that VORAUSSICHT used. One he'll be expecting. My team, yours, and MONTAGUE. All the assets he know's we've got. If we get him with that, score. If not, he breaks it, gets past us, thinks he's in the clear, goes onto an escape route we've got mapped out---
MONTAGUE: How do you intend to map out one of EGOR's escape routes?
Mark-G253: Standoff, you know EGOR inside and out, right? Studying him all that time?
Griffin Standoff: I could make a fair guess at it if you gave me some time. He's deadly, but there's patterns in his work if you look at a long enough sample size.
Elias Olson: Right. EGOR runs right into where we want him, thinking he's all good and about to get away clean, and then Standoff hits him.
Griffin Standoff: Me? I appreciate the confidence, son, but I don't think your commander over there will let a plan hinge on me taking Leonid down myself.
Bradford Gale: We could give you a rocket launcher. Splash damage; don't have to hit him, just his general vicinity.
MONTAGUE: A rocket is slow. He'd dodge it and kill Standoff.
Elias Olson: But Gale's got a point. We have to give Standoff a weapon that just hits near EGOR. A remote detonated minefield, some kind of environmental hazard. Let me see...oh. Oh yes.
Jacky-359: Wanna share the source of your excitement with the rest of us?
Elias Olson: Colonel? How do you feel about construction sites? Any particular attachments to buildings under construction?
Griffin Standoff: Couldn't care less.
Elias Olson: Well then. MONTAGUE, sir? Standoff might not be able to put a sniper round on EGOR, but if there's an open stretch of building sixty meters long with a temporary roof holding up thirteen floors worth of structural steel bars, would you just him to press a button to drop that on EGOR's head?
MONTAGUE: Sounds...outlandish and inane. Which unfortunately seems to be exactly what we need.
Elias Olson: How about it Colonel? Wanna drop a few floors onto EGOR's head?
Griffin Standoff: It'll be my absolute pleasure.
Jonathan Dorian: Huh. That'll be one hell of a crash.
Bradford Gale: Jesus! Don't sneak up on me like that!
Mason-317: Wait, when did Dorian get here?
Jacky-359: He's been here, people.
Mark-G253: You'd give an old friend of mine a run for her money in a suit of SPI...
Mason-317: Holy crap, it's like he's a real SPARTAN and everything!
MONTAGUE: We pull this mission off, we're all real SPARTANs.
Griffin Standoff: Honorary induction. Shut it before you even try and say anything, Gold. I trained you three and if I wanna include a few fours as real SPARTANs I think I'm qualified.
Matthew-363: Most qualified person I know, sir. Let's get this done right.
Elias Olson: I second that.
Bradford Gale: Thirding it over here. I mean, we get to drop a building on EGOR. Serves him right. Truck to the face? Building right back at him. Sound fair to me.
Jacky-359: Maybe not fair. But it'll do.
- MONTAGUE: Spartan Matthew-363 of Fireteam Gold. That is how you want to be referred to, yes?
Matthew-363: Gold Team, if you will sir. Not Fireteam Gold.
MONTAGUE: That seem's like a very minute detail.
Matthew-363: We were serving the UNSC as SPARTANs long before the Spartan Four program went operational, sir. Serving as Gold Team before Spartan Branch standardized Spartan team naming conventions. We prefer Gold Team, sir.
MONTAGUE: You're very proud of your heritage, aren't you.
Matthew-363: Wouldn't you be, sir?
MONTAGUE: Not so important, I think, for me as it is for you. I'll be honest, you're an annoyance, Spartan. A stubborn annoyance.
Matthew-363: We didn't mean to be, sir.
MONTAGUE: Five separate meeting requests. Each one submitted what...two hours after the last was rejected?
Matthew-363: It's important sir.
MONTAGUE: It'd better be. I get a lot of people asking about this investigation. Most of them wear a lot of gold braid and like to command Spartans when they themselves aren't even augmented. You're the first one among them who works for a living, but you still take up time.
Matthew-363: I was hoping the interview would have more questions in it, sir.
MONTAGUE: There's an underlying one in that last section. I've been operating off the grid. Spartan Brass knows about this, and Spartan Intel knows about it. You're neither. So my question, SPARTAN-363, is how you even knew about this mission to ask for a place on it.
Matthew-363: One of my squad mates heard someone talking about it during our last deployment.
MONTAGUE: Heard someone talking about it. And who was that.
Matthew-363: Don't remember who, sir.
MONTAGUE: You don't remember who. Interesting.
Matthew-363: Sorry sir. Just chatter in the mess on Infinity, sir.
MONTAGUE: From "just chatter"?
Matthew-363: That's correct, sir.
MONTAGUE: Spartan, why are you lying to me?
Matthew-363: Sir---
MONTAGUE: You can cut the sir bullshit, Spartan. This mission is top secret. No one on Infinity is just "chatting" about it. So however you know about this, it's not from Infinity. You're either covering for someone else, or covering for yourself.
Matthew-363: Sir, with respect, that's undue speculation.
MONTAGUE: So it is. What is not speculation is the fact that I am the one deciding who is on my team, and you are asking to join it. Problem for you is, I don't trust you, or your team. I suspect your lying to me, so let me ask you: why the hell would I put you on my team?
Matthew-363: Because you're looking for the most effective soldiers around, sir. And my squad is them. We're the best.
MONTAGUE: I beg to differ. I already have the best.
Matthew-363: Respectfully sir, that's simply not correct. Our dossier will reflect that.
MONTAGUE: I read everything in your file that wasn't redacted by ONI. I won't deny that your good, Spartan. But not the best.
Matthew-363: Sir, did the dossier include the fact that we were in SPI during the war? We functioned on skill and precision, sir, not a reliance on armor.
MONTAGUE: The overwhelming majority of the branch operated without MJOLNIR during the war, Spartan. Myself included. They were in ODST plates, or a Marine BDU, or an Army combat suit.
Matthew-363: Sir, my squad destroyed a RCS-class battle cruiser over Regent. I don't know of anyone in your team who did that.
MONTAGUE: Yes, the business at Criterion.
Matthew-363: None of the Spartans I've talked to recall jumping off a building in the aftermath of a MAC strike either, sir. I have yet to find a Spartan recruited from traditional military with eight hundred kills in three years, sir. Neither have I come upon any who have eight cumulative years of training under a SPARTAN-II operative.
MONTAGUE: Yes, I read about that. Laszlo Katona. Sierra-108. A Leonidan. Interesting, considering who this operation is tasked with retrieving.
Matthew-363: They were teammates in training, sir. It won't have a bearing on the mission, I can assure you. Captain Katona discussed Leonid sir, but made it clear in no uncertain terms that he thought Leonid might be the incarnation of the devil. It won't affect my team's performance, sir.
MONTAGUE: Unless that's a lie, and you're here on Katona's behalf.
Matthew-363: Sir, with respect, that's impossible. Captain Katona is on Operation: SAVIOR. Two of the SPARTANs from my graduating class are with him, in fact. And regardless, sir, it's been two years since I graduated. Laszlo won't influence me, sir.
MONTAGUE: Throwing a lot of "sirs" into a sentence is not enough to convince me, Spartan.
Matthew-363: If it would reassure you, the comm logs for my entire team are available at immediate request. I spoke with Commander Palmer yesterday to make sure they would be accessible. I can assure you, sir, my team has not had any contact with him regarding this mission.
MONTAGUE: Spartan, you cannot stubborn your way onto my team. Saying lies over and over again and refusing to admit they're lies does not make them into truths.
Matthew-363: Sir, the things I refuse to acknowledge I'm lying about this because I am in fact not lying.
MONTAGUE: Not lying? I find that hard to believe, if not insulting. You expect me to believe you found out about a top secret mission from the water cooler, rather than from your Leonidan trainer.
Matthew-363: Will it impact the mission, sir, even if we did find out from Captain Katona? My team dropped nearly two thousand Covenant troops during the war. We hit battlefields scattered across the galaxy from Regent to Romana to Criterion to Earth. We've been with Spartan Branch since it's inception. On the ground for Installation 03's library retrieval effort, eliminating Flood. Aboard Infinity during both Requiem events. In a War Games simulation, sir, I guarantee Granite would come out worse for wear against just me, without my team.
MONTAGUE: You just keep making the same damn argument, kid.
Matthew-363: Because the argument is valid. I know on the last operation, your team was supposed to only track EGOR, but circumstance forced your hand. Granite had to be committed to a capture effort that they likely would not have survived. Circumstances like that will likely arise again, sir. I'd like my team to be there to support yours when they do.
MONTAGUE: What about you, Spartan? What do you get out of it, since you clearly are intent on convincing me with sheer stubbornness.
Matthew-363: Sir, I don't need a reason to be stubborn. I just am.
MONTAGUE: Really? I'm supposed to believe you get nothing out of this arrangement.
Matthew-363: No sir, there's a number of things my team gets out of this. The prestige of being on the foremost Spartan Intel operation, the chance to get EGOR back for wreaking havoc on our security, an opportunity to raise awareness of our skills within Spartan branch.
MONTAGUE: And what's to stop me from just taking some other, uncomplicated, honest team, and using them for backup?
Matthew-363: Nothing sir, that is your decision to make. But I would caution against it. You want the best, and my team is the best you'll get your hands on. A team of SPARTAN-III's are a step below us. Spartan Fours wouldn't even touch us. SPARTAN-II's are of course unavailable. So that leaves us---for now.
MONTAGUE: For now?
Matthew-363: Sir, I don't know how long my team will be available to you. Spartan Branch is somewhat enthralled with the novelty of the Fours, as you're no doubt aware, but they will eventually come to prefer effectiveness. My team is extremely effective, sir. That won't escape their notice.
MONTAGUE: I might catch EGOR long before that.
Matthew-363: If elements of your strike team are lost because of inadequate support though, sir, is that really a preferable option?
MONTAGUE: If they even need support. Granite has experience with EGOR now. They know what to expect.
Matthew-363: The logic there is flawed, sir. The same experience that gives Granite a leg up over the last operation also informs EGOR. He knows who they are, sir.
MONTAGUE: They're watching our investigation now, after the operation showed we could get close. They'd pick up on your presence as well.
Matthew-363: Sir, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that SPARTANs from my class are often overlooked or underestimated. We are treated as an offshoot of SPARTAN-III, but that's not accurate, sir. We trained as SPARTAN-II's, and my team is very close to matching their performance. We are a secret weapon, of sorts.
MONTAGUE: You've convinced me you're useful. But that's a distraction from the main point. You are lying about how you found out about us, that much I know for certain. You're motivation for being here is likewise under suspicion.
Matthew-363: Sir, I told you everything---
MONTAGUE: Save it. You can be an asset that my team can use, one that we need, but I require you to meet me halfway.
Matthew-363: Sir?
MONTAGUE: I wasn't done explaining. You tell me you have a private motivation for this, as I suspect, but give me reason to believe it won't be an issue, and I'll overlook the lying I've already confirmed. The fact that you found out about us independently might be a positive thing, anyway. It certainly speaks for your capabilities in intelligence work.
Matthew-363: That's a lot of trust in us, sir.
MONTAGUE: Yes, I'm aware. I've been mistrusted by the Spartan Brass, however, and it badly damaged this investigation. Sooner or later someone has to take something on faith.
Matthew-363: Sir, do you believe it's of no consequence because you plan on manipulating us later, and discovering our "hidden motivations" on your own? Because that's unlikely to happen. We simply don't have a hidden agenda to work out---
[Sound Detected: crash, rustling]
Jacky-359: Oh, get away from the microphone, mule ass.
MONTAGUE: Who is...?
Jacky-359: Jacky-359. Matt is busy escaping a headlock.
MONTAGUE: Ah, one of his squad mates.
Jacky-359: Yeah, that's me. Matt is too damn stubborn to admit it, but yeah, we've got our own motivation. He's a jackass like that.
Matthew-363 : SPARTAN-363! Get away from that microphone!
MONTAGUE: Umm?
Jacky-359: Mason, gag him, will you?
MONTAGUE: This is the..."precise and professional Fireteam with a knack for efficiency, tactical excellence, and combat skill"?
Jacky-359: Hell yes.
MONTAGUE: Charming.
Jacky-359: Listen, Spook, I really don't like you.
MONTAGUE: Because...?
Jacky-359: Your a Spook! Duh! You reek of clandestine bullshit, backstabbing, and deliberately vague intel. But you're in charge of the operation we want in on, so I have to play nice.
MONTAGUE: This is playing nice?
Jacky-359: Damn straight.
MONTAGUE: You might consider taking a few lessons on manners from your squad leader, Spartan.
Jacky-359: There's a reason he's the leader, and not me. He's just indisposed at the moment.
MONTAGUE: Clearly.
Jacky-359: We're getting away from the point. Here's the deal, sir. We've got plenty of hidden motivations for wanting EGOR taken down. Including a hate for Spooks, but definitely not limited to it. EGOR did some very bad stuff to someone we know.
MONTAGUE: You're squad leader could take a few tips on honesty from you, I think. You should swap pointers.
Jacky-359: Sure, whatever. Sir, we've got a nice solid hate for EGOR, but we're professionals. We want him in, and want to be part of the group that brings him in. It won't compromise the mission.
MONTAGUE: Personal vendettas---
Jacky-359: ---Don't say "aren't allowed", please. We're good, and we'll do the job. Take us.
MONTAGUE: Be at the hangar bay in full kit in two days. I'll have a corvette to pick you up and bring you two a midpoint. Don't make me regret this.
Jacky-359: No promises about that. I'll probably say something to piss you off. But we'll help you catch EGOR for sure.
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