Lance of Unseen Influence

"Out of darkness, these blades will light our way."

- Mantra of Special Operations.

The Lance of Unseen Influence was the first and only known team, commissioned in 2531 by the  to learn more about humanity and the. Composed of five veteran warriors of Special Operations branches, the Lance served as Mercy’s right hand for the years it was active, responsible for a number of the ’s classified incidents.

Formation
"I fear we have heralded the Age of Reclamation too soon, for in my mind, the Age of Doubt still lingers."

- Mercy to a close confidant.

After the five year battle for, Mercy, like his colleague Doubt, realized the war with the humans would be far more costly than expected. He also recalled his experience with the Oracle housed in the Forerunner dreadnought, and logically determined that it could not have lied. Fearing the repercussions of its words, he determined to try and discover the connection between it, humanity, and the Forerunners. However, he knew to even suspect such things, that their religion was based on lies, would be the greatest of heresies. Thus, he needed a way to gather information on humanity without being traced. It would have to be secret even from the other Hierarchs, whom he suspected might go so far as to kill him for digging up these secrets.

Rather than send one lone agent, Mercy formed the first known team of Ossoona to work together over a long period of time. This was for a number of reasons, mainly that they would need to break into human military installations before a full invasion by the Covenant army even began. Immediately, he began painstakingly careful reviews of the Sangheili at his disposal. His choice for a leader would be Vract 'Aeramee, last of his line following the Harvest Campaigns. Though not an experienced infiltrator like the vice commander, T'ramee, he was willing to order a retreat rather than simply die for honor, a quality which Mercy needed. The other three members were selected on the basis of what their team would need; a skilled pilot, a weapons master, and a ranged expert.

After first calling the five together, Mercy explained that they were to retrieve all data they could find in human systems relating to Forerunner artifacts, and anything else of possible importance. To keep them from questioning their unusual task, Mercy granted them the ability to kill any humans they deemed necessary during their exploits. They were stationed on Mercy's personal corvette and given a number of dropships, light vehicles, and a well-stocked armory to work with.

Service
The Lance's first tests were boarding two human on separate occasions, providing first evidence of three new human worlds which would be located and glassed months later. The findings were frustrating to Mercy as they did not prove useful to his personal goal, but praised them for their success. They would soon turn up results. Infiltrating both human facilities and Forerunner reliquaries, scattered logs were found from Artificial Intelligences, civilians, and even histories of. However, due to mistranslations and ages of biased misunderstanding, Mercy was unable to understand most of it, and what he did grasp either made no sense or was too fragmented to be of use. Had he succeeded, the universe's events might have played out very differently.

Over the seven years they were active, tensions began to form between the Lance's members and Mercy himself. Weapons Master 'Konaree entered a disagreement with his superior during a mission, and attacked him. 'Konaree was defeated and disgraced, and for their short remainder of time cooperated poorly. While Vallenee, 'Konaree, and Kedaree were merely grateful for their task and freedom to kill humans as they pleased, 'Aeramee and T'ramee speculated on Mercy's motives, and began to pay closer attention to what they found.

Disbanding
Fearful he might be discovered or revealed by one of the Lance, and unable to come to any conclusions, Mercy disbanded the Lance of Unseen Influence before any ill could come of them. Its members were spread into different branches of the Covenant military, never discussing what they had seen or done and, like Mercy, left without answers to their many questions.

Members

 * Vract 'Aeramee

The Lance’s leader, a brilliant tactical mind with conception of the wider strategic view. After its disbanding, Vract was given the position of Fieldmaster and distinguished himself in the counterattack on, earning the title Demonslayer. But directly after at Kholo, he failed to kill two Demons that had been cornered, because of Major Erin Coney’s intervention. He was the sole survivor of the tank platoon he commanded, and returned injured but alive. Vract would be imprisoned until escaping with the self-proclaimed Prophet of Redemption early in the.


 * Veral T’ramee

An unparalleled duelist and already experienced Ossoona, T’ramee was Vract’s lieutenant and responsible for electronic aspects of the Lance’s activities. Slicing, codebreaking, and electronic warfare were his talent, and were put to the test repeatedly as an Ossoona. After the Lance, he was promoted to Ultra and led the strike at on Reach. There, he killed Isaac-039 personally and captured Vinh-030. He was killed in the Great Schism by Vinh, moments before he would have slain Jiralhanae Chieftain Parthius.


 * Daak Vallenee

Pilot and vehicle operator for the Lance. His entire line was shamed by the actions of their Kaidon, not so much that they would all be killed, but they were all recalled to Sangheilios and placed under a wide form of house arrest, having a length of time before even given the chance to redeem themselves. The line of Vallenee was liberated during the Great Schism by the self-proclaimed Prophet of Redemption, vanishing into the far regions aboard a hijacked CCS-class cruiser dubbed the Renewed Strength.


 * Cor 'Kedaree

Before and after the Lance, 'Kedaree was a member of Sangheili Strike Teams, Special Operations groups meant to eliminate high-value targets. A master of using the, his comrades believed he was more interested in killing any he could than gaining glory or honor. He was stationed on a Covenant ship during the Loss of Hope, and lead ground forces in hunting down the scattered human soldiers after it was revealed to be a Shield World.


 * Roran 'Konaree

Ordnance master and gunner. After being shamed, he did not commit suicide and instead served the will of the Prophets on High Charity as an Inquisitor, examining cases of possible heresy. He was responsible for Aeramee’s imprisonment, which was highly controversial given their history, but his own newfound influence silenced any formal review. After joining humanity’s side in the Great Schism, he would lead forces at the Battle of Doisac alongside Vinh-030, negotiating the cease-fire in their sector with Parthius.