Illicit Cargo

0625 Hours, February 14, 2554

UNSC stealth cruiser Vegas

In orbit of frontier colony Gotland

Christina-131 sat in the troop bay of the Owl, peering out at the other small dropship being prepared next to theirs, the smaller, black armored SPARTAN-IVs clambering into it. She thought it was curious, they wore the same armor as the IIs but they didn't seem to fit it, like a child wearing their older siblings' clothing. She turned her attention back inside her own dropship at the other Spartan with her, a hulk of a man even by Spartan standards, who seemed unusually uncomfortable inside the cramped bay of the Owl. They waited in silence for another minute before the dropships raised their ramps and lifted off the deck, flying out of the hangar bay and into the void of space, with only the tiniest glimpse of the small blue world below.

On the ride down, they were briefed on their mission. It appeared the insurrectionist forces had established themselves in one of the colony's larger settlements and had been kidnapping and shipping groups of civilians off-world. ONI wasn't sure where, but everyone agreed that it needed to be stopped as soon as possible. The ONI team, the SPARTAN-IVs, would be launching an assault on the holding areas to free the civilians, while Christina and Colin would be making their way inside the rebels' main command post and try and find out where the others had already been sent.

As the Owls neared the ground, she brushed her near-shoulder length hair back behind her ears as she picked up her helmet, turning it over in her hands before placing it back on her head, the Heads-Up Display coming to life as the armor automatically created a seal around the helmet. Colin waited until the Owl had dropped its ramp before he stood up and grabbed his own helmet, slapping it on his head before grabbing his weapons. The pair were armed with suppressed BR55HB battle rifles and M6Gs. The pair disembarked the dropship together, weapons raised and began moving in the direction of the rebel command post.

The two rebels standing guard outside the simple office building didn't even see it coming before they dropped, Christina's BR55 landing a burst of rounds in one's chest, while the other gripped his throat as a single round passed through, silencing any screams he might have had. The two SPARTAN-IIs stood up from their cover and scanned their environment. The streets were utterly empty and the few cars that were around sat abandoned in parking spaces and on the curb, it was like a ghost town. It made her uncomfortable in a way, she was used to empty cities, but not in such pristine condition. Almost nothing was damaged save for a few scattered bullet holes and broken windows. It probably hadn't taken much to subdue the colonists, so there wasn't any need for large scale destruction. After another moment, Colin spoke up, "Clear, we need to get moving. It won't be long before Team B makes their move."

Christina nodded and the two darted across the street, taking position at the front door. Peering inside, she could see about half a dozen Innies armed with various antiquated arms, mostly the MA3A. She glanced back at Colin who lifted a hand up, silently counting down.

Three

Two

One

The two armored supersoldiers suddenly burst through the doors, rifles raised, and open fire before most of the rebels have a chance to react. Their rifles spitting out suppressed rounds, slamming into the insurgents and dropping them to the ground. With the bottom floor clear, the two Spartans reloaded their weapons and looked around. Christina looked to Colin, "See if you can find a terminal so we can plug in and find what we're looking for."

"Got it. How are we going to find what we need once we find the terminal?"

She smiled behind her helmet, "Don't worry, I've got something just for that."

After a few minutes, the two Spartans met back in the hallway, "Find anything?"

She shook her head, "Nothing, not a single datapad. Sometimes you've got to admire how they do so much without a lot of technology."

"I know, but if we don't find something, even a paper document, we're screwed."

"I know, I know, there's got to be something here that we can use."

Colin put a finger up before activating his COMs, "Team B, this is Team A, come in."

A silent moment passed before the radio crackled back, the sounds of gunfire heard in the background, "Team B here, have you found the target?"

"Negative, there's no computers here. Have you found anything that might fit the bill at your location?"

"Nothing here, sir, except a lot of pissed off rebels. We'll keep looking for som- RPG! Down!"

The line went dead after that, Christina pulled up TEAMBIO on her HUD, all members of Team B read green. Outside in the distance, a large explosion could be heard. Colin jogged over to the door and looked out, spying a large fireball in the sky, "Guessing that's what's got Team B occupied."

Christina was about to respond when she heard movement behind her, turning around lightning fast, she saw that the end of the corridor which had previously just been a blank wall was now opening up to reveal a hidden room. A false wall, clever bastards, she thought as an individual walked out. He was older than the other rebels and his uniform was far more decorated than the others, a rough impression of an Army Captain's twin bars on his shoulders and a MA37 in his hands. The next moment was like a flash as she lifted her rifle and instinctively opened fire, putting three bursts into his chest, perforating the man and killing him near instantly. Christina walked over to the corpse and went down to a knee, "Must've been their leader. Maybe he's got something."

She moved her hands over the corpse, feeling for anything that could've helped, when she felt something under his coat. She pulled it open and a datapad fell out, and when she picked it up to inspect it, her heart skipped a beat. It had been nicked by a round but was still functional, if her shots had been just a little more to the left... She shook her head and looked it over for a moment before locating what she needed, a slot for an AI chip. She reached into the back of her helmet and pulled a chip free, turning it over in her hands before plugging it into the pad. At this point, Colin walked over, "An AI? Didn't know you had one with you."

She grinned again, "I told you I had something, didn't I? Caladbolg, you know what to look for, right?"

A light on the pad blinked once, the sign for affirmative. Despite the pad being made to only accommodate Dumb AI, Caladbolg only used a small amount of his processing power to search through the pad's files. A few moments later, another blink and a file opened up. Christina squinted slightly as she read through it, and then gasped softly as one work caught her eye.

Kig-Yar.