Halo: Indelible Past/Chapter Twenty-Four

Felix followed Rosch up the ramp of the ONI shuttle. He still had no idea how Rosch had managed to requisition such an advanced ship for their jump to Sanghelios; he still didn't know how the man was still heading up the task force at all.

But it seemed that Simon-G294 merited a much smaller task force than David Kahn. Gone were the ODST squads and aerial assets, replaced by simply Rosch, Team Jian, and one subdued hostage. It wasn't much as far as task forces went, but then again most task forces didn't sport a team of Spartans. And given Rosch's track record, Felix was quite grateful that the commander wouldn't be unleashing a UNSC arsenal on an allied homeworld.

Jake and Ralph trailed behind him, escorting a handcuffed Cassandra into the shuttle. Their form and posture was so lax that had they been MPs they would have been drummed out of the force in a heartbeat. Neither of them so much as touched their prisoner's arms or shoulders, and Felix's helmet sensors could pick up faint words of encouragement being whispered by both of them. No matter what G294 had done and no matter how many years had passed, the young woman was clearly still considered a member of Jian, at least as far as Jake and Ralph were concerned.

Felix nodded appreciatively to Rosch as they entered the shuttle's interior. It was cramped as far as crew accommodations went, but it was big enough to sport an advanced Slipspace drive and room for a single Pelican dropship, which was docked right in the center of the ship like a child in its mother's womb.