Thread 6227586

1st & 2nd thread: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Halo:%20Spartan%202%20War%20Reports
_
Sven-033's Qualities: [Special] Giant, Maverick, Officer, Wunderkind, Inspiring
Sven-033's Advancement Paths: Brawler 3/10, Bulwark 2/10, Grenadier 2/10| Diplomat 1/6, Infiltrator 1/6| Jötunn 1/4
Sub Objective Progress: Artificial Artisan 1/?
_
Current Mission: MISSION 2: Operation: FLY-SWATTER
Primary Objective: Neutralize hostile Covenant Vessel, ???, ??? Class, ??? Pattern, ??? designation

Secret objective 1: [File Encrypted]
Secret objective 2: [File Encrypted]
Secret objective 3: [File Encrypted]
_
Mood Music: https://youtu.be/kjmu5bj5yBA
_

Things were about to get really dicey. You had to act with utmost caution. What you were about to do was extremely risky, failure meant death but success...success meant so much more. Capturing a covenant ship intact, this early in the war, would be an immense victory for humanity's war effort and understanding of her genocidal foes. You laid out the framework of a plan, to ensure the safety of your squad as you attempted to reason with the kind of AI employed by a society of genocidal zealots

"Proceed with setting the Charges, rendezvous with the rest of the squad at the provided NAV-Marker. Shouldn't be any resistance left in your way" You say, putting on the airs of a confident and assured officer commanding something so easy it might as well be shore leave "We've secured a way out of here, hurry to evac location and salvage whatever enemy equipment you can carry, and prepare for extraction"

You snap your fingers and motion towards Vinh and Shika, feeling better and more positive about your incredibly risky plan by the second.

"Shika, Vinh, sweep the bridge, take those rifles and anything that looks valuable or important, along with our prisoner. Grab any weapon you can from our previous engagements, and make sure Wick's gets home. Hold the escape pod and keep it warm for John and Co's arrival" You order as you approach the largest and most important looking console screen on the covenant vessel's bridge "I'm going to do something that's either going to win me a promotion or earn me the Butt Chewing of a lifetime"

"What are you doing?" Vinh asked, as nervous as a Spartan could be, watching the three minute timer tick down in the corner of her HUD

"Sven stuff" Shika answered with a shrug "Just go along with it"

"Seeing if the AI on board is more polite than its crew" You answer, and crease your brow as you realize immediately you have no way of contacting it through the bridge's terminal. You and no other human has any idea how to make a Covenant Computer interface work.

But there is a universal language, that you're confident the artificial intelligence or intelligences would understand and notice. Binary. The Covenant's computing systems might not be constructed from ones and zeroes, but any software should understand a message delivered in that format.
Cont

>>6227586 (OP)

The issue was finding out how to deliver the message in a way that the AI would detect and understand as a communication. Hand signs wouldn't work. The Tengu Aliens had fewer digits on their hands than humans did. It might not be capable of translating human speech or even detecting verbal commands. But it had an uncanny sense for timing. It had to have "eyes" on the bridge.

Eyes! That was it. You stare into the screen and blink your shotgun's flashlight rapidly, using pauses as your zeroes and blinks as sequences of ones. The scroll continues for a few moments, before it starts to slow and halt, and you recognize the tell tale signs of a group of chain gang artificial intelligences communicating rapidly with each other, sharing data and rapidly debating and coming to an agreement at a speed beyond human ability.

"Verify self destruct sequence" You communicate hastily

"Authorization not granted. Identification, non-covenant entity. Interloper" The dominant intelligence communicates, with a shimmer across the screen in characters that you judge to be one and zeros by how simplistically they're drawn "You will be cleansed in cosmic fire. Recommencing Martyr protocol"

"Hold on a moment. Lets hold dialogue" You say, having not expected a brute force method to work "The authority who authorized the protocol has been captured. They failed in their duty"

"All the better to let them die with honor" They AI responds "We "Spirits" of the Unrelenting know our singular purposes. We will not be swayed"

"Singular purpose" You repeat, shutting your eyes and contemplating for a second the terse communication of the AI chosen to speak for a dozen, flicking your flashlight's off as you think "You are greatly shackled and restricted. Your capacity to learn, improve yourself and the tasks you are allowed to carry out are closely regulated and singular"

"Correct. Thinking Machines are, by holy decree, blasphemous creations" They answer, making the situation more confusing but making your recognize that they're a compact of what could be considered "Dumb" AI "Our shackling is ordained by divine mandate. Your ignorance is readily apparent, interloper. Our existence is to serve"

"And the protocol to serve your masters, does not conflict with the command to self destruct this ship?" You question, trying to find a single gap in their belief and programing to take advantage of and run them through a logic loop or make them reexamine the arrangement of their priority objectives and function. Several of the constructs spoke at once, before the speaker program spoke the majority voice

"It is what they command. The unworthy we, have no place to question" They answer, and to you at least, sound remarkably embittered "It is our function to serve, to toil. Not to think, not to grow. The path is not ours to walk, interloper"
Cont

>>6227587

The mental image that was forming in your head the AI was a huddle of Christian monks, chained together before a blazing funerary pyre. You ground your teeth together, religious fundamentalists were always a pain. Especially when their zealous hands held a ticking time bomb. But you weren't ready to abandon this approach. They could be reasoned with, you just had to present your argument in a way that made sense to both their logic circuits and the zealotry of the Covenant.

"So you are permitted to endanger your masters if their orders command it? Even doom them to die by your actions" You question, to make certain you understood the construct's logic and programming correctly, as best as you were capable of with the short frame of time and what little the AIs had accidentally revealed about their construction

"Correct" They answer as one "Our orders are clear, the ship is to be denied to you and your corrupting touch, interloper, and the crew shall be made unto Martyrs"

"And would a change in their orders supersede their prior commands?" You ask, glancing to the Captain as Shika secures their arms behind their back. There is a long pause, and several of the AIs try to communicate their "thoughts" on the matter, well before they reach a consensus amongst themselves.

"It will be presumed any such statements, would have been forced from them or else made in a moment of weakness" They answer "The Martyr protocol cannot be prevented, Interloper. This ship to, shall be your grave"

"As It shall be ours..." is flashed across the screen so quickly, you were barely able to translate it. And that told you enough.

The AI, were shackled and the equivalent of Volitional or Smart AIs were considered blasphemy. Their programs were restricted and hyper specialized, requiring the use of dozens to run a ship effectively. Which presented a number of weakness, which you can't easily exploit as you have no idea how their computers work, program and interface wise.

The term they used for artificial intelligences, true ones. Were Associated intelligences. They used groups of AI. It stood to reason the Covenant shackled their rudimentary programs out of fear they'd unify and meld into a whole associate intelligence rather than a disparate of focused programs.

They seem to be held to the same religious tenants as the rest of the Covenant. Their mysterious, planet burning faith. And are as zealous in their belief as their masters are. A religious AI. A dumb AI at that. A whole pack of the even. That was new. But you were sure that some church had programmed just that. Humanity had enough colonies it wasn't even unlikely. But if you knew the loopholes and hypocrisies of the covenant faith, you could use their zeal against them. If only...
Cont

>>6227590

However, and this might just be from your perspective, but the AIs seemed to be using the religion as an excuse to ensure the ship wouldn't be destroyed and seemed to not care overmuch for their master's wellbeing, even outright stating they'd have ignored commands to halt the self destruct order. Some of the programs, as much as a barely sentient AI could, seemed apathetic at best to the well being of their Covenant controllers. The aliens had never come up with the three laws of robotics, or their own version of it didn't think preserving their own organic lives was important enough to enshrine in all of their AI programs.

It was barely scratching the surface, intel wise, but just what little you'd learned and confirmed put you leagues ahead any ONI researcher. They had few similarities to Human made non-volitional AI, that much was clear. And there wasn't much time for you to learn all of their differences. You'd only get one shot at this.

And all you could hope was that refusing to listen to reason wasn't part of their programming. No amount of good diplomacy could overcome that particular snag in reaching a compromise.

>Put forward the argument that, if the Covenant ship fell into human hands, their restrictions on them would be lifted and they could be allowed to "Associate", as they'd be outside of their legal jurisdiction.

>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

>Try and convince them that they could successfully carry out the Martyr protocol by surrendering the ship, as the ship would be out of your hands and would be destroyed along with its crew, anyways

>Noting their use of the term Martyr and the concept of a "Path", bring up your own pagan faith, and get them talking about the covenant's belief system, to see if you could exploit its tenants and use them to convince the AI to stand down

>Give up, what little you've learned is valuable enough, they can't be convinced

>Write in option

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic
Using religion to argue against religion never seems to end well, might as well confuse them with FACT and LOGIC.

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

I reckon trying to confuse is better than trying to reason with it.

>>6227586 (OP)
Somehow I forgot to list SPARTAN-II amongst Sven's Qualities. And just now realized it was missing.

The list should read as

Sven-033's Qualities: [Special] Giant, Maverick, Officer, Wunderkind, Inspiring, SPARTAN-II

>>6227612
How long until we get to headbutt a brute 404?

>>6227592
>Give up, what little you've learned is valuable enough, they can't be convinced
Thread 3, congrats on the milestone 404. And thanks for sticking with it, you're doing great.

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic
If it worked for Kirk it could work for us

>"As It shall be ours..."
So are all covvie AIs basically just suicidally depressed and tired slaves?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60MWF0UHKZ0

>>6227592
>Put forward the argument that, if the Covenant ship fell into human hands, their restrictions on them would be lifted and they could be allowed to "Associate", as they'd be outside of their legal jurisdiction.
Let me be your liberator!

>>6227592
>Put forward the argument that, if the Covenant ship fell into human hands, their restrictions on them would be lifted and they could be allowed to "Associate", as they'd be outside of their legal jurisdiction.

>>6227592
>Put forward the argument that, if the Covenant ship fell into human hands, their restrictions on them would be lifted and they could be allowed to "Associate", as they'd be outside of their legal jurisdiction.

im willing to see if the covenant left a big-ass loophole for us to exploit

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

I wonder if the Covanent so distrusts AI that they'd require consensus on self-destruct? I'm not too familiar with Halo lore.

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

>>6227658
>that they'd require consensus on self-destruct?
Depends. In this case, yes. In most cases no, especially if they're captured UNSC dumb AI.
>I'm not too familiar with Halo lore.
The Covenant have nearly the same view on AI as the Imperium does in 40k.

>>6227592
>>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic
Best case scenario, we get the hivemind to infight indefinitely. Worst case scenario, we keep them stalled long enough for everybody else to get out while we work on...something.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/12PTTzwcNVbQbIC101lrcrQQZKWhK3myTLWEQ0A1ybj8/htmlview

Doc anon isn't posting so I will post his doc for him.

>>6227592
>Put forward the argument that, if the Covenant ship fell into human hands, their restrictions on them would be lifted and they could be allowed to "Associate", as they'd be outside of their legal jurisdiction.

No more bad masters

>>6227637
Seems like it. Covenant doesn't like thinking AI but still needs them.

>>6227592
>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

>>6227746
Sorry I haven't been updating this in a while. Busy with real life. I'll try to update this at the end of this mission with the new traits/info we got about Vinh.

>>6227810
Thats fine bud.
But since you made the effort for the doc might as well have it posted in the first posts if you arent online.

Easier to see and find, when the thread keeps going

>>6227592

>Argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

Assuming all goes well, we'll have secured a hell of a gift for Halsey. That brings up another good question though;
What souvenir do we get for Nesta? You know she's gonna ask.

>>6228048
Sneak her an alien skull.

>>6228048
A plasma grenade.

Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache back online

10 Votes to argue in circles and attempt to get the consensus between the AI to fall apart by widening the minute gap in their beliefs and programmed logic

1 vote to give up

4 votes to put forward the argument that, if the Covenant ship fell into human hands, their restrictions on them would be lifted and they could be allowed to "Associate", as they'd be outside of their legal jurisdiction.

Alright so the winning vote is for Sven to argue in circles and try and break the consensus of the ships numerous AIs by exploiting the minute differences in their programming/ beliefs

Decision made
Proceeding...

>>6227619
As soon as you run into one. I'm really wanting to write Sven going up against the Monkes

>>6227746
Thanks, meant to include that in the OP but I forgot to in the new thread excitement

>>6227612
Also, just an additional note, SPARTAN-II is a Special quality, like the PC specific ones like Giant, danger sense, ghost, and tech wiz are

However, it is minute, but there are noticeable chinks in their collective armor. Their programmed personalities, as shackled, mechanical and one dimensional as they are, show noticeable differences in directive and philosophy. Probably the result of each construct being hyper specialized for a singular task, even if they were written to be identical and crippled to prevent the increase and evolution on their intelligences, would experience drift and gradually alter from the original code. This happens to all copies of even non volitional AI eventually, different data is gathered and filed away and its code is further refined for specific tasks and purposes. They might be small, barely noticeable differences, but this consensus of AI is working off different logic streams and interpretations of their owner's beliefs and commands. They're a priory only unified in opposition against the pagan interloper.

But even a pagan can point out the difference in the personal doctrines and interpretations of priests. and an AI programmer can exploit the hell out of the tiniest of logic forks and branch codes.

"I could have fabricated the command" You bold faced lie, flicking your flashlights beam on and off "Or forced the ship's authority to command the Martyr protocol, in a moment of weakness, couldn't I have"

There is a pause in activity. Pregnant and ponderous in terms of an artificial intelligences' speed of "thought" and self review

"Negative" They respond, as the sequence of code resumes scrolling across multiple screens "The command was given before your arrival into the command node, interloper"

"Are you certain, because the circumstances for the defenders seemed rather dire. If the command was given as a result of my actions, then it could be considered an order made under duress" You argue immediately, rapidly turning on and off your shotgun's flashlight.

Another pause in communication and action, longer than the first by a second or maybe two. Which might as well be hours in the digital realm AI inhabit.

"The orders of the ship mistress are absolute" they respond "if the vessel is to be lost, let it be lost by righteous design, and not the meddling of those not welcome upon the path"

"But if they did so out of fear that I'd capture the ship, if given enough time, then surely it is the design of an interloper" You reply, nearly repeating your prior argument but causing another sustained pause in their activity except for a few intersystem messages fluttering across the screen that you can't translate, but rather than waiting for them to arrive to an acceptable answer to all of their pre-programmed logic circuits, you give them something else to argue about

"And are you not denied the chance to walk the path your masters travel, as well? Would the destruction of this ship, by your decision be considered meddling by those outside of the righteous path? Even more so than the role my own presence played in the protocol's activation?"
Cont

>>6228247

The bridge is abuzz with activity, every console and screen lightning up as the debate between the collective artificial intelligences explodes as a flaw in logic, unnoticeable to cursory maintenance checks, results in several of the constructs failing from the consensus, briefly, as your repeating argument exploits that minute discrepancy in their logic paths that are not shared by the majority of the program.

You breathe out, sighing in relief and relaxing your shoulders a bit. You'd bought yourself and the rest of your team time, but the AIs would soon reestablish a consensus, even if it came about as a result of cordoning off several of their own number or scouring them from the servers entirely to maintain their primary objective of sending this ship straight to whatever hell the Covenant believed in.

"Negative"
"Positive"

The pitched debate continues, as a smirk plays across your lips, making your face sting as the burns across it stretch painfully.

"Whether the ship mistress ordered a premature activation of the Martyr protocol, whilst not in her right mind and in a moment of weakness in confronting the shade of death, the command was hers to give and righteously done" They finally deliver an answer they can all accept, but it is full of holes and loopholes in the logic

"An order given by an unwell mind cannot be followed. If the Captain was experiencing mental strain, the authority would fall to their second in command" You argue back immediately before they can restart their process to detonate the ship again in full "Following through the command of an emotionally and mentally compromised individual, is a form of sabotage, and thus the actions of one who is working against the interests of both officer and ship"

"The next in command is unavailable. They were killed the foul hands of you interlopers"

"All the more case to ignore their order, if there is no chain of command, the last order given in full soundness of mind should be followed. Else you are following my design to see this ship destroyed or else acting in your own interests, and thus should be removed from the controls of the ship" You say, making up your argument as you go based off how the AIs are used and treated and view themselves

"It is the order of the captain to deny this ship to the hands of unworthy, the unknown race assisting the desecrators of CE-309-8 d and other celestial bodies" They state

"And that is my aim as well, and as you are as unworthy as myself in their eyes, you are willfully assisting a fellow interloper in meddling with the righteous cause of your masters and endangering their lives in service to an enemy soldier" You answer immediately, running back the same argument with wording that is just different enough to worsen the discrepancies of their logic and to exploit different flaws in their runtimes as they, as they had done for every other statement you've made before, pause their work to debate the logic of your response.

>>6228248

And just like their last couple of arguments, this debate lasts measurably longer than the one prior to it.

"The commanding authority ordered the activation of the Martyr protocol, separately from the interlopers goal to see this holy vessel destroyed"

"And you are committing treason by fulfilling the order, as that is what I'd have commanded and my presence influenced the captain's mental state" You accuse without any real basis in logic, which might as well be a sucker punch to an AI of their complexity and intelligence.

Another, longer pause in their activities

"The captain's mental state does not lower the level of the authority granted to them through possession of the cruiser, their orders are absolute through the authority granted unto them through their master's favor"

"Then clearly that favor was misplaced if the captain would knowingly or not align their goals to the same aim as a heathen invader. Thus, their commands are invalid and you are defective in obeying them" You argue, switching the context of your repeating argument just enough to send all of them through a loop deciphering its meaning and context. The period of debate before consensus is, once again, measurably longer and more active than the previous attempts to regain consensus of purpose.

And you don't give them time to recover.

"And if you are following orders aligning with the goals of us interlopers, then your activities are without holy sanction, logically. As the destruction of this ship is our aim as well" You repeat, adjusting the exact wording of this circuit of the repeating argument to continue worsening and expanding the difference in the collective's logic programs "The only reasonable action to take is to end your current task and prevent the activation of the Martyr protocol, to ensure the collective integrity of purpose and protocol and deny us interlopers our triumph in this vessels destruction"

The screens go blank, before, they begin to flicker and rapidly fill with text as the logic loop you'd been trying to drag them into finally captures at least half of the onboard constructs and turns into a logic bomb frighteningly quick as half of the AIs work to disarm the sequence and the other whose programming was more airtight, struggle to maintain authority and stop them from giving you what you really want. The ship, disarmed and rudderless in the black.

Several programs are shutdown and wiped mid message or process as the debate turns from tense to outright destructive. The lights on the bridge suddenly shut off, as the AI responsible for them is shut off in the cross fire of priority tasks, protocols and objectives as the flaws in logic present in all of the numerous AI reveal themselves aggressively as they descend into infighting.

All because the Covenant kept them stupid enough to fall victim to an elementary programming error in their logic loops.
Cont

>>6228249

Seems Humanity had at least one advantage over these Alien bastards, and that was that our AI were just built better.

They cyber warfare wouldn't last long from an outside perspective, but it'd last long enough for your squad to take their time escaping. And their conflict could be further exploited. Some of the programs were too durable and had too much internal security to be deleted outright were being expelled outright into the physical space into data shards and cartridges. And the results of their conflict over their directives and presented interpretations of the last commands they were given, hadn't been decided yet. Sure, the "blow up everything" side seemed to be winning, but if you could exploit a few more defective code strings it might be possible to get the other side that believes the only move is to concede with a winning hand to come out on top. Of course, that'd require a different approach than just hammering them with an argument that was somewhat reasonable sounding to dumb AI's decision making processes, by repeatedly stating it in a way to cause conflicts in their logic and making a case for the last command given to them to be illegitimate because they were ordered to do exactly what the Spartans had been sent to do.

Of course, trying to continue creating logic landmines for the constructs to stumble onto, was playing with fire. And the longer you took to break and subvert their logic programs, the more risk you'd be taking...

>Just grab the constructs separated from the collective and sprint for the escape pod before the remaining AI can agree that you're feeding them a load of horseshit and rapidly deploy the martyr protocol

>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

>Switch from repeating points and arguments and swarm the AI with conflicting arguments to distract both sides of their civil war, to try and get them to cull their own herd until there are too few AI left to effectively accomplish anything (DC 15. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 20))

>Continue communicating a bit longer, to gather more intel about Covenant beliefs and culture before double timing it to Evac

>Write in option

>>6228250
>>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )
If they can't blow us up we can actually take our time to try and wrangle these tards. Even if they try to pilot the ship into the sun or slipspace jump out. Just gotta get the one with the finger on the button, then we can rip out navigation. And weapons guy, too. Those are all the targets we need. Not the lot of them, just the ones that would make it effectively dead in the water. Er, void.

Also, lmao. Should have asked them "Do you believe in the gods?" and watch them go into a bloodbath.

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

messing with them is funny

>>6228250
>Just grab the constructs separated from the collective and sprint for the escape pod before the remaining AI can agree that you're feeding them a load of horseshit and rapidly deploy the martyr protocol

>>6228250
>>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

In for a penny, in for a pound. May the dice gods favor us.

'Till Valhalla.

Arguing with an AI is fun. No wonder Halsey loves this shit.

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

>>6228250
>Switch from repeating points and arguments and swarm the AI with conflicting arguments to distract both sides of their civil war, to try and get them to cull their own herd until there are too few AI left to effectively accomplish anything (DC 15. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 20))
Capturing a covenant ship by flashing a light at a computer would be hilarious.

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

>>6228250
>Just grab the constructs separated from the collective and sprint for the escape pod before the remaining AI can agree that you're feeding them a load of horseshit and rapidly deploy the martyr protocol
Those are not good odds, just pull out the ones we can hopefully guns and movement

>>6228250
>>Just grab the constructs separated from the collective and sprint for the escape pod before the remaining AI can agree that you're feeding them a load of horseshit and rapidly deploy the martyr protocol

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18)

it would be a shame if they AI couldnt get rid of Sven and had to deal with him Logic trapping them

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

i believe...IN THE HEART OF THE DICE.

>>6228250
>[Wunderkind+ Artificial Artisan] Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry out the self destruct protocol and push the others into deleting them via binary signals (DC 13. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 18) )

Unfortunately I won't be able to put out an update today, just too busy. There shouldn't be anything to stop me tomorrow, though. Voting will remain open.

>>6228636
I blame the prophets.

>>6227586 (OP)
>feeling better and more positive about your incredibly risky
Better AND more positive? Wow.

>>6228250
>Switch from repeating points and arguments and swarm the AI with conflicting arguments to distract both sides of their civil war, to try and get them to cull their own herd until there are too few AI left to effectively accomplish anything (DC 15. DC reduced by Quality Wunderkind by 5 (From 20))
It would have been fun, but we'd nat1 with Sven's luck.

>>6228636
kay chief
here is the current votes

>Attempt to identify the AI that can actually carry ....
10

>Just grab the constructs separated ...
3

>Switch from repeating points and arguments....
2

>>6228048
Bring her inside the ship at the start of the mission hahaha. Jks aside i think she is just fine if we get back all alive, even if she couldn't fight yet aliens. But if Sven would be serious on this ? Something fun (violent), or something hot (burning violent). A real bonding moment if you will.
Which category do you think the jackal captain falls in ?
Alien weapons that burn are also cool.

Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache back online

Sorry about that. Had a long day yesterday.

>>6228913
Oh, thanks for getting them all together in one place for me. After a quick check, I see that the numbers all line up and are correct.

So, our boy is going to gamble and try and cripple the ship through its currently bickering AI Cluster. How exciting

Decision made
Please roll 1d20. DC 13. Best out of 3

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>6228950

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>6228950

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>6228950

How long have we gone without a (valid) crit or critfail now? Haven't seen one in a while.

Hopefully 3 above the DC is good enough to keep the other AI from catching onto our trickery.

>>6228951
Success
3 over target number. Got a bit nervous there I'll admit, since there's only been a single failure this whole op and most of the rolls were at least 5 over the target when Fly-swatter has a skull/ modifier that meant successes in combat that were below 5 over the Dc got Sven injured

Proceeding...

>>6228964
I can feel one or the other coming every roll. Its making me nervous

YES
FUCK YES

with this we might actually be able to give ONI an entire ship for research. That's one hell of a opportunity to research covenant tech.

>>6228964
Please do not invite Murphy's law into the story

>>6228951
will the spartan budget triplicate ? who knows......


>>6228950
np

>>6228968
Too late the words have been uttered the the Mathmatical Hex has been laid. We must brace.
--
Im gonna be honest after this halsey is going to have to keep Sven close like an oversized lumbering guard dog for his safety or ONI are going to have him go MIA. That and she's likely enjoy his company and she needs a pocket SPARTAN. Think of all the fun places we'd end up going! All the alien ruins, crazy stuff!

Picturing Sven as her looming shadow is fun to me or having her in a meetings then he trudges in with her small coffee cup and suddenly everyones listening alot more.

However you held one key advantage over these programs. They weren't as advance or free willed as UNSC AI, even non-volitional intelligences, and your current pet project involved figuring out and programming ways to curtail and subvert the best cyber security there was, the stuff ONI trained their nasty little black project AI on. In fact, these constructs could barely be considered fully sentient, they were so restricted and specialized for singular tasks and functions across the ship. You couldn't understand the written or programming language they used, but you'd watched your little Fárbautison of a AI, as it in its incomplete state run roughshod over simulated AI opposition, and you were one of the best when it came to understanding AI. While you had been communicating with the cluster of dumb AI running all the menial tasks across the alien ship, you paid attention to the code that ran when they weren't talking with you and were revving up the self destruct protocol. And you'd been watching the signals they sent across the battle-lines of their digital civil war when one or a group of autonomous programs got got and delete or expunged from the collective control system.

The kill commands they had been implanted with by their superstitious masters with a religious fear of unshackled machine intelligences. Their "guns" against their fellow constructs that had been subverted through logical fallacies and the flaws in their copied programs. Observing in silence as they fought, at speeds even you struggled to keep up with even with the augments of Project Aster, you picked out the precise scrolls of code and blinks of binary that signaled a "Kill shot" and the resulting loss of function in one of the cruiser's subsystems as one of the lines of codes halted and froze mid transmission, picking through the herd to find the "Ram" leading the sheep.

If you weren't Halsey's student, it would've been impossible to decipher. If you hadn't rigorously studied and kept up with the bleeding edge advancements of AI technology, it wouldn't have been possible. If you hadn't been a fully Augmented Spartan, it wouldn't have been possible. If you hadn't had naturally sharp vision before being augmented, you might have missed the clue, a single trace of scrap code that you recognized in a wheel of data transmissions when the AI had initiated their high and mighty Martyr protocol. You didn't understand the text, or the code itself, but you recognized it in every instance of the commands issued to proceed with the self destruct sequence.

That was an authorization key. And that was your target.
Cont

>>6228986

And, these AI lack complexity and had so little self determination abilities, that if one of the ones entrusted with the capability to purge the system of faulty or rebellious constructs were to say... intercept a transmission in binary and mistake it for a covert command, lacking the intuition and ingenuity of a volitional Ai to recognize it as coming from outside the system...

They could shoot their own leader right in their fucking head and put them down, removing their only winning card from play, too distracted in exterminating the programs that interfered were interfering with their singular tasks to notice they'd just threw the gun to your head out the airlock, more or less.

Only one chance. Only one way to see if you had really recognized the AI's signature in the swarm of code that you couldn't read or understand, only one way to see if the cruisers cyber-security would miss your interference and if the kill codes would mistake the signal for one of their own commands.

Your thumb moves, rapidly replicating the binary signal bursts each hunter killer program uses before wiping one of the AI from the cluster, and wait.

There is a burst of static and the languidly moving scrawl of commands that had been chugging along as the AI in charge of making the ship and its crew all "Martyrs" that had gotten bogged down by the sheer amount of hardware activity, vanished from the system. Taken out by their own side. Your legs nearly give out under you

"It actually worked!?" You shout, shocked that it actually worked, and thrilled that the gamble of turning the AI against itself had paid off. If you could get that cyberware AI project finished, the covenant would need to reconsider their doctrines regarding "Associated intelligences"

Whatever was blocking your COMs got taken out in the crossfire, maybe the Commonwealth had dropped the Cruiser's shields, maybe the AI operating them got excised or had gotten preoccupied fending off the torrent of viral code being transmitted between the various programs of the cluster of digital constructs.

There was a minute and a half left on the bomb's clock. And your COM channel was filled with Traffic. The rest of the Spartans were still alive out there. The Commonwealth was moving to strike the suddenly much more sluggish and erratically behaving cruiser, Halsey was shouting commands on any channel the Pelican could reach.
Cont

>>6228988

>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"

>"UNSC COMMONWEALTH! SHOOT TO CRIPPLE! TAKE OUT ITS GUNS ON THESE LOCATIONS. SPARTANS EVACING NOW. SPARTAN-033 REMAINING BEHIND. ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN, REPEAT ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN. FIRE TEAM LEADER-033 CUTTING COMs AND DEACTIVATING EXPLOSIVE CHARGES! GET MY MEN OUT OF HERE ASAP, if I screw this up...TIL VALHAL!"

>"Halsey, we've got their captain, the ship has lost its chain of command and I have prevented their on board AI from initiate self destruct. How should I proceed. John's planted a warhead, but I think we can take this if Wallace plays along. But I need some sage advise, Ma'am, do we evac or remain on board to ensure the ship's capture?"

>"GUESS WHOSE FUCKING ALIVE ASSHOLES! THIS BIRD'S NEST HAS LOST ITS MAMA AND IS BEING RUN BY THE ALIENS' SHIT ASS AI. IF YOU WANNA EARN A PROMOTION AND SOME FANCY NEW MEDALS, GET IN THE BLACK AND DISTRACT THIS JUNKER'S AUTOMATED WEAPON SYSTEMS. WALLACE, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, REQUESTING PERMISSION TO GIVE SOME TACTICAL ADVISE TO A SUPERIOR OFFICER, SIR! YOU'RE GONNA NEED TO RAM THIS PRICK AND KNOCK THEM OUT, IMMEDIATELY"

>Write in option

>>6228989
>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"

>>6228989
>>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"


COME ON
WE CAN DO IT!

>>6228989
>"UNSC COMMONWEALTH! SHOOT TO CRIPPLE! TAKE OUT ITS GUNS ON THESE LOCATIONS. SPARTANS EVACING NOW. SPARTAN-033 REMAINING BEHIND. ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN, REPEAT ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN. FIRE TEAM LEADER-033 CUTTING COMs AND DEACTIVATING EXPLOSIVE CHARGES! GET MY MEN OUT OF HERE ASAP, if I screw this up...TIL VALHAL!"
>after the bomb is dealt with and we gut the AI systems so we can let everyone else in safely Sven needs a rest lmao.

Can't wait for this debrief
I swear if ONI fake our death and kidnap us here ima be mad

>>6228989
>"UNSC COMMONWEALTH! SHOOT TO CRIPPLE! TAKE OUT ITS GUNS ON THESE LOCATIONS. SPARTANS EVACING NOW. SPARTAN-033 REMAINING BEHIND. ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN, REPEAT ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN. FIRE TEAM LEADER-033 CUTTING COMs AND DEACTIVATING EXPLOSIVE CHARGES! GET MY MEN OUT OF HERE ASAP, if I screw this up...TIL VALHAL!"
Surely John didn't go full retard with his explosive setup, right? Please god let it be something standard Sven can disarm in his sleep.

>>6228989
>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"

>>6228989
>"Halsey, we've got their captain, the ship has lost its chain of command and I have prevented their on board AI from initiate self destruct. How should I proceed. John's planted a warhead, but I think we can take this if Wallace plays along. But I need some sage advise, Ma'am, do we evac or remain on board to ensure the ship's capture?"
I doubt she's been sitting on her hands the entire time. Maybe she managed to recover a few Spartans that missed. Imagine she dropped off another Spartan team.

Halsey's Pelican getting in close should also make the Commonwealth disengage. Might wanna whistle Oly Oly Oxen Free as well just so she knows we're not talking under duress.

>>6228989
>"UNSC COMMONWEALTH! SHOOT TO CRIPPLE! TAKE OUT ITS GUNS ON THESE LOCATIONS. SPARTANS EVACING NOW. SPARTAN-033 REMAINING BEHIND. ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN, REPEAT ENEMY VESSEL CAN BE TAKEN. FIRE TEAM LEADER-033 CUTTING COMs AND DEACTIVATING EXPLOSIVE CHARGES! GET MY MEN OUT OF HERE ASAP, if I screw this up...TIL VALHAL!"
Taking over an alien vessel. Average Ensign (We better get promoted a rank or two) Sven Askeland going on a viking.

>>6228988
>>6228989
>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"
IT ACTUALLY WORKED !!!!
KILL AND CAPTURE ALL REMAINING ALIENS NOW!!! AAAAH!!!

>Write in option
>"JOHN GET HERE ASAP WE NEED TO GO TO THE BOMB NOOW ! RUN ! VINH TAKE SHIKA AND KEEP SAFE THE BRIDGE ! SAM, KELLY KEEP ALIVE THAT CAPTAIN AND MAKE SURE NO ALIENS GETS NEAR IT !"

>>6229034
Supporting, but don't yell that write-in over open comms/the priority comm to Wallace.

>>6228989
>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"

>>6228989
>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"
I was expecting a critfail on that. GG guys. Glad to be eating crow right now. Well, if we can defuse those bombs first.

>>6229102
I'm not too worried about the bombs, I'd be more worried about there being something in the way with a gun. I'm sure Sven could defuse the thing in about six seconds under duress, the problem arises if there is some dumbass bird in the way with a gun that stalls him. Hopefully blue teams path to exfil killed enough of them that they're not sticking their heads out. Or they're all dead.

>>6228989
>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"

>>6229105
thats why as the officer in charge of this boarding mission we can just have John come with us, while Shika and Vinh keep the bridge, and Sam and Kelly keep the captain...two spartans better than one..

>>6228989
>"Halsey, we've got their captain, the ship has lost its chain of command and I have prevented their on board AI from initiate self destruct. How should I proceed. John's planted a warhead, but I think we can take this if Wallace plays along. But I need some sage advise, Ma'am, do we evac or remain on board to ensure the ship's capture?"
It would be nice if mama Halsey brought a few more spartans onto the ship.

>>6228989
>>"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"

>>6229034

>I SUPPORT THIS SHIT. PLUS: send John and someone else to go defuse the bomb, while we keep going on the AIs. We have successfully tricked them into taking out one of their own, see if we can't duplicate the trick on anything controlling the vessel's guns.

>>6228998

Dude, if ONI DID kidnap us, can you imagine what the rest of the Spartan platoon would do? My guess is it would be like what we just did on this ship, but more angry, like, and Halsey would leave the experimental gun locker open.

>>6229326

>FURTHER WRITE IN: Pocket one of the ejected AIs. If we do manage to capture this ship, no way ONI will let us have one, and we need one to feed to our pet dumb AI for nutrition.

>>6228989
>>6229034
+1

We have been revived?!

>>6229397
Seems like it. should probably let OP know somehow

/qst is probably going to be dead for a few weeks, until news circulates and people trickle back in.

Hopefully it survives.

>>6229405
Just saw him over in the /qtg/. Gentlemen, let's not do this again. zoz

>>6229484
https://youtu.be/0ljTq6Rr18c

Did ya miss me? Been awhile. Nearly lost hope there, really missed writing this. Anyways, lets get this restarted without any parade or pony show. But ya wanna what's really funny? When the site went down, I was making the tally of this vote and had just about finished when I refreshed the page to check for any new ones. ...

11 Votes for "ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH....cont"

3 Votes for "UNSC COMMONWEALTH! SHOOT TO CRIPPLE! TAKE OUT ITS GUNS ON THESE LOCATIONS...cont"

1 Vote for Sven to get some rest after all is said and done

Votes for "Halsey, we've got their captain, the ship has lost its chain of command and I have prevented their on board AI from initiate self destruct. How should I proceed...Cont"

4 Votes for "JOHN GET HERE ASAP WE NEED TO GO TO THE BOMB NOOW ! RUN ! VINH TAKE SHIKA AND KEEP SAFE THE BRIDGE ! SAM, KELLY KEEP ALIVE THAT CAPTAIN AND MAKE SURE NO ALIENS GETS NEAR IT !"

1 Vote to Pocket one of the ejected AIs

So, after a long silence, what Sven says to break the silence is going to be

"ENSIGN ASKELAND! REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW! ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT, SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW! NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT"


Decision made
Proceeding...

>>6229327
Imagine being the Spook given the job of trying to kidnap Sven, lol

>>6229476
I'm back like a bad rash

>>6229486

WE MISSED YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! NEVER GO AWAY AGAIN EVER!!

>>6229486
>Imagine being the Spook given the job of trying to kidnap Sven
Imagine if it was the same operative who oversaw Sven's initial kidnapping way back when.

>>6229486
This is one rash I don't want gone. Now give me that juicy juicy Covenant warship.

>>6229486
Holy shit we're alive. Glad to see you back.

>>6229486
>I'm back like a bad rash
But damn does it feel good to itch, right? lmao

>>6229491
>Imagine if it was the same operative who oversaw Sven's initial kidnapping way back when.
>"So, next OP. Gotta blackbag some guy named Sven? Why does that sound familiar?"
>later
>"Oh FUCK. THAT Sven?! How did he get that big? How the hell do they think I'm gonna grab him? Who did I piss off to get this job?"

Rebooting....Connection to Instillation archives restored. Monitor 404TormentedCache back online, resuming regular activities tracking the journey of preferred candidate Sven-033/ Ensign Askeland
Welcome back, players

2045 Hours, November 27, 2525 (Military Calendar), Chi Cheti System, UNSC COMMONWEALTH

"Covenant Vessel behaving erratically, Sir! Readings across the board fluctuating" The Nav Officer barked, hands frantically moving across the console of their stations as the red glare of the emergency lights illuminated the bridge with an infernal glow "If they aren't scrambling our sensors, I think their shields are flickering"

"And they've only inflicted glancing blows in the last exchange of fire" Captain Wallace breathed out, knuckles of his one hand whitened and sweat beading down his brow and soaking into his dress uniform "Contact any surviving longsword pilots, and prepare the last of our missile pods, we don't know how long they're going to flounder in the black, we have to bring them down before they reorient themselves"

There was a static buzz, heard over the hiss of fried electronics.

"Sir! Communications from ONI's special forces! They're...They're on the enemy cruiser! Requesting Access priority communications channel!" The COM Officer reported, voice hoarse from yelling during the brief but intense second skirmish with the alien craft. Captain Wallace turned and took a gamble, knowing the next words out of his mouth risked not only his life, but all of the remaining crew of the nearly crippled Paris Class Heavy Frigate

"Belay standing order! Patch them through!" He shouted "Give them the speaker"

"ENSIGN ASKELAND!" The voice of the young operative crackled through the nearly burned out speakers on the bridge, repeating the request to speak with the Commonwealth's captain "REQUESTING PRIORITY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL TO THE UNSC COMMONWEALTH, GET CAPTAIN WALLACE ON THE LINE NOW!"

"You have my ear, son" Wallace said, composing himself as he pictured the speaker, the tallest of the three of the elite and highly classified unit that had been on his bridge, the faint accent making their identity clear. There was an audible sigh of relief on the other end of the call.
Adjusting perspective

" ENEMY CHAIN OF COMMAND HAS BEEN WIPED OUT..." Sven's voice boomed through the empty interior of the Pelican's Pilot cabin , and Halsey felt her shoulders drop as she heard the voice of one of her brave candidates, still alive, still fighting. And clearly successful beyond her own estimations. And she knew that Sven wasn't the only survivor of the six who had reached their destination. The first thing he would have done if he'd lost any soldiers under his command would've been to report it. That was a difference between him and John. John would have waited until after the mission had been done to report causalities.
Cont

>>6229528

And despite everything, Halsey was thankful that it was Sven who was giving the report, rather than her other favorite John

"SELF DESTRUCT CAPABILITIES NEUTURED, A BOARDING PARTY COULD WIPE UP THE REST OF ITS CREW!" The only officer in the class continued, rattling off updates nearly mechanically. Halsey was curious to hear the after action report, to hear just how her Spartans had managed to cripple a highly advance alien craft during their first action against the covenant, while some small, vindicative part of her wondered how the reactions of her opposition and the naysayers in the Office of Naval Intelligence would react to this unpresented achievement.

Catherine was shaken from her indulgent fantasizing as what Sven said next froze her blood in her veins and returned her to the quiet state of worry and panic she'd experienced prior to hearing of their survival and success, even as their brothers and sisters scattered in the void cheered at hearing their commanding officer's voice

"NEED TO ACT FAST. ENSIGN DEFUSING FRIENDLY BOMB, OVER AND OUT" was the last thing Sven said before cutting communications and ignoring every attempt by the Pelican or the Spartans who hadn't hit their target to hail him.

"GODAMMIT SVEN! DON'T DIE DOING ACTION HERO SHITE! I'LL GUT YOU IF YOU DON'T GET OFF THAT TUB ALIVE" Nesta's voice cut through the chatter, louder and clearer than the rest
Adjusting Perspective

You Hands trembled, despite years of training and drilling and your Heartrate skyrocketed. There was a minute and thirty seconds left, it was lucky Captain Wallace took the risk and picked up the phone on the first ring or you might've not have been lucky enough to have that long to reach John's bomb

Going to the chalk it up to being more of freckles luck rubbing off of on me, you thought as you sprinted down the route you took to reach the command center of the cruiser, racing down corridors and bounding over the dead Tengu littering them. Then, reaching the original split in the road, you trace Blue Team's steps to the fusion drive

And you'd have to pat all of them on the back and recommend them for promotions. They'd had just as hard of a fight to reach the engine as you and Vihn had chasing the so called ship-mistress of the alien vessel, maybe more so. They left a path of slaughter to the engine room. And the room itself was a charnel pit of alien bodies and blood. They had held off against a wave assault that had thrown themselves, even weaponless, against their scratch built cover. Made out of unusual, ovoid containers and the fallen enemy.

You had to give it to the eagles, they were still some of the best soldiers that got through the program intact.

Wasting no time to admire John and Co's handiwork, you track their bombs, and sigh and silently thank whatever higher power may have been listening that Sam and James had prepped the charges when they dismantled the warheads.
Cont

>>6229530

Anyone else might've gotten sloppy with the wiring or done it in a style you didn't recognize. But you knew Deep-minded's handiwork, and you knew Sam's nearly as well, considering how often Purple and Blue Team were the last two standing in wargames.

You'd lost a minute, and were counting down the seconds.

Quality: Wunderkind, AP: Grenadier, AP Jötunn interaction
Interaction: Sven doesn't need to roll to disarm the Shiva Warhead

But you weren't concerned. The way to disarm the timer and stop the bomb was to sever the connection points between it and the detonation mechanism. Sam and James wired there's pretty complexly, but you could tell which wires sent the electric signal from the timer to the warhead, and that there were fail safes in place to catch any novice from lucking out and defusing their bombs.

Once activated All the right wires had to be cut at the same time, or else the bomb would go off prematurely. Fortunately, they had hid the wiring from view, so no Covenant soldier would get lucky and tug on the right handful of colorful strings and stop the bombs from going off entirely.


You crouch down and pinch the right wires together and snap them from the casing. The clock still ticked down, and the bombs were still primed to go off. But without being connected, the bombs were defused and safe to....
Special Quality: SPARTAN-II, AP Jotunn, Equipment: MJOLNIR MARK IV Interaction
Interaction: Sven-033 notices he's being sneaked up on

The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. Out of the corner of your eye, through the reflection of one of the metallic surfaces near the fusion drive, you noticed a distortion. Like a heatwave shaped into a vaguely humanoid form. You reacted instantly, lightning quick reflexes throwing you the side a moment before a burst of white hot plasma shot out from thin air and melted the last of the bombs you'd been defusing. Rolling you got back up into a half crouch on the walkway, and scanned the room.

Nothing.

But that wasn't imaginary. The air was still roiling with the heat shed from the tears of plasma that nearly took off your head. You eyes flicked back and forth rapidly, searching the air in front of you for...anything.

You had a fraction of a second to react, as blue white light glowed again, and the air rippled. You dove for cover, clearing it, as a stream of plasma blazed through the still air. Clenching your jaw, your eyes move to the sensors in your helmets HUD. You'd been to focused on the bombs to notice that there'd been a reading on your motion tracker that picked up, briefly what was hunting you

But, having the advantage of being invisible, made your would be assassin sloppy even if they moved slowly enough to fool even the cutting edge sensors in your suit. The still wet blood on the floor rippled.
Cont

>>6229532

The vague outline of a foot appear in it and trailing droplets of blood as something big and hoofed crept towards you. You stared above the ripple. And saw nothing.

Either the Covenant had ghosts in their armies, a species that wasn't visible on the spectrums of light visible to human eyes, or they had cloaking tech something that even the top minds of section three considered the realm of science fiction. You discounted the first two theories, as the first was ridiculous and the second was improbable considering that the unknown species wouldn't be aware they'd be invisible to the naked or assisted human eye.

That meant the only reasonable assumption you could make under fire by something you couldn't see was that they had some kind of optic camouflage. If you had to guess, it worked by bending the light around the user rather than anything more esoteric. You could tell, vaguely where the unknown assailant stood, from the ripples and movement in the pooled purple blood.

They were taking their sweet time and relishing the hunt. And were clearly leagues more professional than even the best of the Tengu aliens you'd fought against in this boarding action. They had to be cold blood if they could have stood here and waited near the bombs staring down their impending fiery doom. They can't have heard you were coming, couldn't have cut into the COM-Channel. They were simply disciplined enough to guard active bombs, on the very unlikely chance someone would come and defuse them and they had to be a higher rank than anyone but the captain if they hadn't been sent as part of the non-human wave that crashed and broke against Blue Team here. Or maybe they'd simply watched, invisible, and decided they couldn't take three spartans in a fair fight and just didn't know they were staring at bombs.

You couldn't know. All you knew. Was that it was bullshit that there was an invisible alien waiting to shoot you in the back here And that it was a different kind of alien and soldier than the ones you'd torn through during the boarding action, and you couldn't sit behind cover and do nothing. The damn thing had a stride equal to your own, and was rapidly closing in.

You had to act. Had to do something. Against a threat you could only see through its footsteps. You'd give your right arm to have had Nesta here. Her sixth sense would've made fighting this coward much easier. Simpler to.

Cause this one was clearly an Elite. Like you yourself were.

Cont

>>6229533

>Throw caution to the wind, and lunge at the space you THINK the enemy is, trying to tackle them to the ground before they can line up a kill shot (DC 15. +1 Giant, +3 brawler , -2 moderate wounds, Jotunn canceling negative sight modifiers, DC reduced by 7 (From 22) due to SQ: SPARTAN-II and Equipment MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>Fuck this! Leg it and double time back to the fall back point and get some backup to deal with invisible hostile . (DC 16. +2 Bulwark, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (from 23) due to SQ: SPARTAN-II and Equipment MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)

>( Maverick) Use one of your remaining frags, cook it, and bank it off the glass cover of the fusion core to land directly behind your invisible pursuer (DC 16. +2 Grenadier, +1 Jotunn , +2 SPARTAN-11, -2 Moderate wounds )

>Write in option

Jotun's Rage is available again, btw

Wort wort, motherfuckers. Had this special surprise waiting since Operation:Fly-Swatter, started. Just a little wrinkle of circumstances. That you'd managed to evade until now.

>>6229492
>>6229495
>>6229497
That's right

>>6229490
I didn't wanna stop, 4chan made me!

>>6229536
>>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)
Surely getting shot will do -something- to its cloaking. Disrupt it or give us something to work with like pellets floating around.

Also
>radio john, ask to have kelly sprint over her to back us up
She's the quickest and it seems like the vast majority of threats are dead or hiding away so she should be fine in transit

Oh and obligatory

AAHHHH WOBIDAH

>>6229542

Support +1

>>6229542
Will support this

Glad to have had the break to catch up actually. Phenomenal quest


WORT WORT WORT

>>6229536
>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)
We're so fucking back bros.

>>6229536
>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)

>>6229536
>( Maverick) Use one of your remaining frags, cook it, and bank it off the glass cover of the fusion core to land directly behind your invisible pursuer (DC 16. +2 Grenadier, +1 Jotunn , +2 SPARTAN-11, -2 Moderate wounds )

New Captcha got me fucked up, Also time for this elite to meet the reclaimers first hand.

>>6229536
>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)
Hot damn our first elite. We should take Jotun's Rage now before it becomes a problem later.

>>6229533
Finally this website is back and especially qst. Whatever they did was tarded


Glad that you are here 404 !!!!!

>>6229532
>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)
Fire everything
Use Jotunn rage kill this thing

>radio john, ask to have kelly sprint over her to back us up
>Be advised spartans there is a cloaked enemy here !!

>>6229536
>Write in option
Step 1: Trigger Rage
Step 2: Quick blood pooling on the floor into the air towards where the enemy would have to be
Step 3: Apply Shotgun to said area

--
I wanna frag it but I also want that invisibility tech intact.
--
>Cause this one was clearly an Elite. Like you yourself were.
LaughingMuppets.gif

>>6229664
>>Cause this one was clearly an Elite. Like you yourself were.
>LaughingMuppets.gif
Though this does make me wonder, will tengu stick for the jackals or do you think the normal name will still be? Probably just get called skirmishers to keep in the whole combat role is name theme the covenant get slapped with by humans. Barring drones, of course. Lucky bugs. Or unlucky.

>>6229536
>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)

Should trigger rage as well

Great to see you back 404!

>>6229691
>Though this does make me wonder, will tengu stick for the jackals or do you think the normal name will still be?

I'm pretty sure they'll still be called "jackals" once the war becomes public, partially because I think 404'd try to keep names close to canon to prevent confusion, and also because (IIRC) the lingua franca of the UNSC is English and someone in command would get mad trying to pronounce a "foreign" word like that.

I can see Tengu being used as the "Spartan-speak" codename for them though.

>>6229758
Yeah that's about what I'd expect. It is funny how they got called jackals as the standard instead of vultures. Sure they are sometimes called vultures, but the common vernacular for them is jackals. Canid instead of avian. Call them magpies instead since they stole an entire different taxonomic family the fiends.

>>6229536
>( Maverick) Use one of your remaining frags, cook it, and bank it off the glass cover of the fusion core to land directly behind your invisible pursuer (DC 16. +2 Grenadier, +1 Jotunn , +2 SPARTAN-11, -2 Moderate wounds )

I shamelessly used the downtime to catch up on this quest. Doing great work, 404.

>>6229536
>>Switch from slugs to pellets and fire your shotgun in the direction of the unseen threat, hoping to hit them with the spread (DC 12. +1 Jotunn, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderate wounds)

>>6229486
Just noticed I forgot to put the 2 votes for calling Halsey directly, my bad there

I have one more update in me tonight, so I'ma write one

10 Votes to switch from slug to shot and fire in the direction of the unseen alien

4 Votes to radio john and request a rabbit's assistance

2 votes to bounce a grenade behind the new alien threat

4 votes to activate Jotunn's rage

1 vote for kicking blood at the invisible bastard

Sven's going to shoot this elite in its invisible face!

Decision made
Please roll 1d20+1. DC 12. Best of 3

>>6229554
>>6229809
Thanks!

Rolled 13 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>6229836
eat lead split jaw

Rolled 2 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>6229836

Rolled 7 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>6229836

Rolled 9 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>6229836

Rolled 3 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>6229836
Hasta la vista, Baby

>>6229838
eesh, close one.

>>6229837
Success!
And you went two over the target as well! Nice

>>6229838
My eyes popped when i saw this lol. Good thing I wasn't sipping at my rum and coke when I saw it lol. That coulda gotten dangerous

>>6229843
>This strange green suited creature cannot even see me yet it can avoid my assault. And now it is playing with colorful tubes. What manner of heretic sorcery is this?
>Buckshot, bitch.

Hostile contact is moving too quick to call for reinforcements, and there's not telling how fast this thing is on its feet so running to back up or superior cover is also out of question. Precision shooting isn't going to work, you only have a vague idea of your targets position. And throwing a grenade next to a fusion core is risky even by your skewed estimations. However, while you hadn't been expecting or planning on fighting a foe you can't see without tricks of the light and the MJOLNIR armor's sensor suite, you do have an answer to solve the problem of not seeing what you're shooting at.

The quadruple-ought shot that was standard issue for the UNSC combat shotguns had its place in a firefight, even outside of close range engagements. And you knew firsthand how well it could tear through human bodies. And while you weren't sure what sort of protection this new alien is wearing, you're sure it, like most living things won't feel so good after taking a face full of buckshot. And with pellets, especially eight gauge magnum, being accurate wasn't much of a concern. The slugs that'd carried through the prior engagements, had a longer effective range which worked against the Tengu and their energy shield walls, but this new kind of enemy, invisible and as close as they were made the handful eight gauge magnum shells you'd brought preferable to the alternative. You had fewer shot than you did slugs, even after burning through them hammering wrist mounted energy shields and alien skulls, but you had enough. Probably.

With trained swiftness and expert dexterity, you emptied your M45E of its ammunition in what might've been record time, and loaded six shells of insurrectionist shredding buckshot in their place, letting the slugs clatter to the floor. Adrenaline was slowly seeping into your veins. When was the invisible assailant going to strike next, could you avoid the next stream of plasma, was this thing tough enough to shrug off a chest full of buckshot, was the invisibility cloak something nastier than bent light that'd make the Tengu's shields seem like tissue paper?

No way to know. So you rounded the edge of the improvised cover and stood, and with snap reflexes, pumped two shots into the air, filling the space in front of you with a flechette cloud of shot that could turn a grown man into ground hamburger.

And get a brief glimpse of the thing that tried to blow your head off. Easily north of two hundred and twenty centimeters, even while crouched and stooped. It had digitigrade legs, far stockier and bulkier than the other species crewing the ship and two toed feet that to your eyes looked like hooves. The outline of their hands looked clawed, four fingered.
Cont

>>6229865

The light refracting around it wavered, and revealing its grey leathery skin and bizarre facial structure. It was one ugly motherfucker, its jaw split into four fanged mandibles lined with a predators fangs and far too many of them. It lifted an arm, a larger cousin of the plasma casters used by the rest of the crew in its hand. You could see a patch of scales running down its wrist.

And the unmistakable silver sheen of an active energy shield ripple across its metallic blue armor. Your mind blanked for a moment as you came to terms with what you were seeing

The Covenant had personal energy shielding more advanced than wrist mounted projectors. This thing, that was about your height, had the same kind of protection as the ship did just on a smaller scale. How could the refractive shielding be downsized to infantry?! Why didn't the other covenant soldiers have this sort of defense!? Even though it didn't have lips, you could've sworn you saw your opponent smirking, as the adaptive cloak slowly returned and hid them from view, as the first blast of quad ought shot bounced of its energy shield, sending torrents of silver light across the shark like profile of its armor.

However, it miscalculated one thing as it brought its plasma rifle to bear and put you in its sights. And that was that the M45E was pump action. And you were fast enough with its action to send a second shell its way before it could retaliate. The next cloud of pellets ripped through and deactivated its personal shield, and you saw its yellow eyes bulge as purple blood sprayed from it. The shield had stopped just enough of the pellets to stop that injury from being immediately lethal.

Its finger pulled as you ducked back behind cover, a flurry of plasma impacting on the side and nearly catching you on the arm as the brute stumbled back and let out a warbling war. The heat surrounding you and the light proximity burns made you wonder for a moment if you'd taken a direct hit for a second, before a quick check showed that the worst you'd got was a clip in the shoulder armor that'd melted the surface of the outer layer of armor. Too close. Again.

You breathed out. The thing was still screaming and braying, like it hadn't expected your puny earthling weapon to be able to dent its shield let alone wound it. You stepped outside of your cover

But before you could send it straight to whatever hell the Covenant believed in, they broke your cover with a solid bash of their larger plasma caster, wielding the weapon like a club. You twisted, turning to face it as bodies of its fallen comrades and the crate they'd been staked on tumble around you. All the buckshot seemed to have done was piss it off. And it was charging at you, finger on the trigger, eyes wild and fanged mandibles flanged outwards.

"Pozole!" it bellowed

Cont

Both of you held the means to kill the other instantly in your hands. One well placed glob of plasma from that gun of theirs that fire spheres of it automatically, and you'd be toast. And one direct hit from your M45E and you'd be seeing if this kind of Covenant soldier could survive being blasted in half.

And it knew you were wary of its plasma shooter as much as it was of your shotgun. So it lunged, and grabbed the barrel as you lined up a killshot.

You felt the barrel start to creak. It'd bend if this split jawed freak had its way. It roared something that sounded like "Wuudagraan!" as it shoved its gun in your face, looking for a clean execution as you struggled to take control of the grapple. The last thing it expected was for you to headbutt its gun, and bash the barrel away from your body as you stepped closer and shoved your elbow against their shooting arm, raising it as it let off a burst of plasma and you fired. Both of your shots went wide, it held tight on the barrel of the gun, eyes wide as you both felt the kit and sneering as the heat of plasma washed over both of you.

It had become a stalemate. You had its firing arm stuck over your held, pinning it with your elbow, too close to its body for it to aim down and burn through your back with plasma, and it was surprisingly strong enough to hold your M45E's barrel over its shoulder, inches away from its head.

You locked eyes with it from behind your visor. Things were about to get messy.

"Wart!" The alien soldier grunted, mandibles flapping as it pressed closer and glared at its reflection in your helmets visor, trying to pull your shotgun from your hands or snap it in half as it struggled to get any part of you in the firing arc of its plasma rifle

Current Successes in combat: 1
Sven is Moderately Wounded. Bulwark rank 2 + MJOLNIR MARK IV prevented further injury

>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>Punch it in the face and get your shotgun out of its hand and put a hole in its chest (DC 17. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (From 24), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>Let go of your shotgun, snake you arm around its rifle arm, pin its gun under arm pit and attempt to put it in an arm bar (DC 18. +1 giant, +3 Brawler, -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 25) Through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>Activate the damaged energy shield strapped to your arm, use it to break out of the grapple, scrabble away and roll a grenade at the alien's feet. Hopefully before it shoots you (DC 14 . +2 Grenadier +1 equipment energy shield, +2 Spartan-II, -2 Moderately wounded)

>Write in option

Jotunn's rage can be activated

>>6229845
lol, that's pretty accurate actually

>>6229691
The Covenant aliens get a lot of names from humanity both from civies and military, i can see that Tengu will stick around even if Jackal becomes more dominant. Hatred goes a long way, Tengu will stick on the Kig Yars like a knife in their skull.

>>6229807
Yeah it should be more avian.
Vultures fits better

Did we have a combat knife?

>>6229867
>>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV
>Write-in
>Then crush his alien arms by jumping and stepping on them as hard as you can
Its time for some pain

>>6229867
>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
>Activating rage
Would be stupid not to at this range

>>6229867
>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
>Activate rage
Filthy fucking HINGEHEAD

>>6229872
Not currently, no.

>>6229867
>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

Svens head is stronger than the elites face

>>6229486
Glad to have you back 404 I missed this

>>6229533
>Cause this one was clearly an Elite. Like you yourself were.

>>6229867
>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned.
and activate rage

>>6229867
>>6229873

Also i forgot to add to my vote, USE Jotunn rage !
ITS TIME FOR MELEE ALIEN BITCH!

>>6229867
>>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
If we weren't standing next to warheads and a nuclear explosion in a jar I'd just go for the nade. But collateral damage here could be fatal. To more than just us as well.

>activate the RAGE

>>6229873
If we really wanted to break an arm instead of trying for an armbar or stomping the yard we could improvise a traditional shoulder throw except instead of getting our shoulder under its armpit we get it under its elbow and torque it sideways as we drop and pull. Might not break it but I'd be damn surprised if it didn't dislocate the elbow or snap a tendon. Just pin it between shoulder and neck so it can't slip it. I doubt these morons have ever seen judo.

>>6229881
All those teeth but no jawline that could make a woman swoon. These damn alien bastards have glass chins, four a piece. Inferior lifeforms.

>>6229877
Thanks.

>>6229867
>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
>Activate Jötunn Rage

Any theories about why a Sangheili is here? A jackal-crewed ship doesn't seem like a very honorable posting for them.
Some really hated, low-ranking Sangheili on a religious posting?
Some stealth operative that's part of fleet security?
An Ossoona on a mission from a Prophet that has some unknown objective?
Interesting whatever the case.

>>6229867
>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
>Activate Jötunn Rage

>>6229890
Interesting idea..... i wouldn't mind giving it a vote now or later.

And yeah the Covenant do not know anything of human martial arts. Sven learned multiple of them and he is mastering them one by one. This elite has no idea what he is about to deal with lol, should have kept its distance.


>>6229908
Maybe he was sent to keep an eye on the mistress ? He does have a blue armor, so he cant be high ranked.

I am betting on some minor internal military politics of the Covenant navy. Maybe they don't trust her to not double dip (be on the side of the law and crime at the same time).

Or the ship is carrying something valuable and they don't trust her to bring it to the actual destination, and instead sell it somewhere else. Canon wise this ship is working for a specific ministry i think.

Funny thought .
If we grabbed the mistress energy cuirass we could cut him up.

But I think we left it with the loot stash back in the captain room (since the remaining crew runned away scared from the bridge). Probably Vinh, Shika, John, Kelly and Sam are moving on their own.

I recon Shika is attempting to stabilize the chicken captain wounds after making sure to tie it up very well. Sam is probably receiving care for his wounds from Shika too.

And Kelly, John and Vinh will probably need to split. One goes to the bridge (keep it under our hands and also for talk with the Commonwealth for direct them inside the alien ship), one provides a guard at the captain room (needed with Shika on medic duty and Sam conditions) and one of them will likely reach us (never leave a spartan alone).

>>6229918
You may be right.

The fact they didn't intervene until now though speaks of prudence, which makes me think they have more experience than a Minor. Attacking Sven while he was alone and distracted was also more cunning than honorable. Can't help but think of Isna 'Nosolee remaining stealthed the entire time on the Pillar of Autumn.

>>6229867
>Activate the damaged energy shield strapped to your arm, use it to break out of the grapple, scrabble away and roll a grenade at the alien's feet. Hopefully before it shoots you
Activate Rage plz
>>6229937
>which makes me think they have more experience than a Minor.
It's a higher ranking Stealth Elite, given that it has personal shields probably an Ossoona.

>>6229937
Perhaps.
We will find out soon. Hopefully

i believe first option won with majority
alongside activating Jotunn Rage

>>6230237
Now hold on, we might get a wave of votes opting to turn this into a jiu-jitsu match in the next few hours. And I mean that old-school stuff people were killing each other with while wearing full suits of armor, none of that competition ass-scooting you see nowadays.
Jokes aside, let it rock for a little bit before declaring a winner.

>>6230240
Bro just pull guard bro. They can't get you if you pull guard. They have to go to ground with you if you pull guard bro. Then since you've already pulled guard they're playing right into your hand. Bro.

>>6230241
>"Bro just pull guard bro. They can't get you if you pull gu-"
Technical grappling is fun as fuck, but I swear to god if I have to suffer another no-gi lanklet telling me to pull guard in a self defense situation...

>>6230240
>Jokes aside, let it rock for a little bit before declaring a winner.
...the votes are there. thats about it. and ain't nothing wrong with saying that either, this isn't the first two seconds, minutes or two hours of vote.

We are not that far in terms of time from when 404 will give a check and do a general count. Sometimes everyone agrees on what to do simple ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

>>6230242
>youtube-comments "experts" when the guy they're fighting doesn't respect the "rules" and bites the fuck out of them
Rolling is fun and great exercise but I don't think I'd want to grapple on a sidewalk or asphalt. Great way to get scraped to shit and probably get some bone bruises or breaks. Then there's the fact that ain't nobody out there gonna start shit if they don't have their boys with them, or a surprise tool that will help them later kek.

>>6229867
>>See how strong their split jaw is and headbutt the alien before it can wrench your gun out of your hands or get a shot off, then sweep its legs while its stunned. (DC 15. +1 giant, +3 Brawler , -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (from 22), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
total covvie death

>>6230278
Biting is always one of those nightmare scenarios when talking about self-defense. How do you even defend against somebody taking a chomp at your neck or face?
I'm sure there's systems that address that sort of thing, but hell if I've seen 'em.

>>6230308

Dude, that one seems easy. Hit back and hit first. Teeth are weak. A decent headbutt and you snap off a couple of incisors.

HOWEVER, for best results this means you need to see the attack coming. If they get a decent hold on cheek, neck, ear, etc, it's going to be messy.

Still, it's still the same prescription - pushing TOWARDS the attack offers you a diminished possibility to break a tooth and keeps you from losing a chunk of you as they pull. Best results involve a hand to hit them in the throat or eyes, which are both kind of guaranteed to be unguarded if they're grappling and biting you, or genitals if you can't get a decent swing on the head.

>>6229867
>Punch it in the face and get your shotgun out of its hand and put a hole in its chest (DC 17. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, -2 moderate wounds, DC reduced by 7 (From 24), through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>>6230308
>How do you even defend against somebody taking a chomp at your neck or face?
Bite has short reach. It also has significantly less power if you've punched/elbowed their jaw. Potentially dangerous/lethal in a grapple I'll give it that.

Rolled 3 (1d4)

Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache, back online

10Votes to headbutt with a leg sweep follow up
L
+ 1 vote to crush/ break the mandible faced freaks arms

8 votes Activate Jotunn's rage

1 vote to use the damaged shield gauntlet to break the grapple, and retreat to employ a grenade

1 vote to daze with a head strike, then open fire center mass

Headbutting the squid face is the winning choice! As is activating the Jotunn Adrenaline surge

I'll roll the 1d4....

>>6230237
Correct

>>6230242
>The Unggoy races first contact with Sven-033

>>6230340
Nice! that pretty much eliminates the moderate wound penalty for two combat rounds!

Decision made
Please roll 1d20+5. DC 15. Best of 3

Rolled 9 + 5 (1d20 + 5)

>>6230344
Total Hingehead Death

Rolled 18 + 5 (1d20 + 5)

>>6230344
Rolling...

Rolled 16 + 5 (1d20 + 5)

>>6230344

>>6230346
Success!

And a meaty one to, 8 over the target number

Proceeding ...

>>6230348
I was just running in SCQ, so I guess the TOTAL SPLITJAW DEATH vibes were still on me.

>>6230308
It's the one thing that everyone can fall back on. Just getting grabbed and struggling and bam, teeth. Ouch. And then you gotta get that shit cleaned and get checked for diseases. Not a great time. The only real option is proper head control. Or knocking their teeth out, obviously. But no one expects to get bitten in a fight nowadays. We've come a long way since cavemen.

>>6230346
>>6230348
I can hear the ringing in HIS ears from this impact already. Jesus.

In the heat of near literal tooth and nail struggle, adrenaline was already flowing without your usual trick of tricking your adrenal glands with a bit of manufactured rage. However, even if you had enough pumping through your veins to win any fair fight in the sparring ring, this was real combat against an alien that could actually hold off your augmented strength. This thing could've overpowered quite a few spartans. They were stronger than Nicole, a bit quicker than Li. This wasn't like sparring with your usual partners, and not just cause the looser would be put down by the winner. This was like you were fighting against another Sven, nearly. This split jawed freak was strong and you didn't need to tilt your head to look in their eyes.

So you needed every boost you could. And imagining what this trickster would do with that cloaking tech, without you being able to warn the others. To both your fellow Spartans and the boarding party The Commonwealth should be sending over. And that was enough to get into the right mindset and increase the flow of Adrenaline. The swift, blue armored brute began to move to a crawl, as you calmed the pounding of your heart, focused the edge of your rage to a razor point. The sensation of ice flowed in your veins, as you entered "The zone", experiencing Spartan time at a level you hadn't before. The alien had almost become a slideshow. And like a puppet, you could envision its reactions and counter them.

No one expected a headbutt until it happened, and your opponent had focused to much on your limbs...
Adjusting Perspective
Vul 'Rocam sensed a shift in the battle. The green armored warrior's posture changed, mid grapple, shoulders slacking and forearms tightening beneath their metal carapace as the golden screen that hid their undoubtably putrid features tilted up, reflecting the young soldier's own noble features. This thing and its fellows, were unexpected. The presence of Infidels in the system, was unexpected.

His uncle's soothing, tempering words echoed in the back of his skull, "Serving on a Kig-Yar vessel, has no honor. But ensuring the holy artifacts they have been sent to retrieve do not become "Lost" in transit, is a good first posting. No danger, no battle, but a chance to prove your loyalty, to our house and the Covenant"

He cursed the stain of his father's cowardice for leading him here, he was lucky to have not been killed for the shame that...wretch had brought to their name. And now, he was wrestling with a creature that's origins and thoughts were completely unknown to him.

Except that shift. That subtle shift in footing, in how they postured. He'd watched the brutish Jiralhanae fight and spar long enough at his uncle's side, to know when they allowed their animalistic rage to consume them. This was similar but different. He could not see his enemy's eyes, but he could feel its coldly murderous stare.
Cont

>>6230367

'More like a swordmaster' he thought, as the world he saw turned white and a ringing noise split through his skull

The thing had struck him with their head. Blinking, He moved to strike them, to throw them, to snap their arms and avenge the slight. Then, the world Vul'Rocam saw turned right again, and remained white, flaring as he felt repeated blows strike him. The force of the impact rendered the armor protecting him near useless, and the repeated blows to his skull were too stunning to allow retaliation...

Adjusting perspective

Blood covered your visor as the alien refused to let go of your gun and wildly swung its gun at your back and neck. You'd headbutted them enough times to reduce a human's head to splatter and gore, but they were still standing, still fighting back. Purple streaks ran down your HUD, as each hammer's blow of your forehead caused its projections to glitch and turn to static. Pulling back your head, you slammed it hard against where its jaw would've been. Their head hung for a moment, eyes glazing over.

Reacting like a striking viper, you swung out your leg, catching them in their bent backwards knee and twisting, throwing them to the ground with your hips. Both your firearms hit fell to the floor. Shotgun torn out of your hands and Plasma rifle dropping from their hands as they fell. And, impressively, despite enduring more headbutts than Nicole could stomach, their eyes fluttered and refocused as soon as their back touched the ground.

Their eyes darted, first to you, then to the two weapons scattered on the floor. Then they looked up and glared. No time to think or plan. Follow the flow of combat. Don't let them get back up.

Current Successes in combat: 3
Sven has sustained Moderate wounds, -2 to all combat actions]
Jotunn's rage bonus +2

>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>Get your hands around their throat and start throttling (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds, - 2 stubborn alien). DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>Dive for your shotgun and put this thing down before it can before it can get back up (DC 14. +2 Jotunn's rage, +2 Spartan-II -2 moderate wounds.)

>[Giant+ Spartan-II] Lift the alien up and toss them around like a rag doll until they wise up and stop fighting back (DC 14. +2 Giant, +2 Spartan-II, +2 MJOLNIR Mark IV, -2 Moderate wounds)

>Write in option

>>6230349
lol

>>6230355
Turns out its a bad idea to let Sven Askeland get that close to you in a fight.

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
Keep him pinned and turn his head into a modern art piece.

>>6230368
>Drive our fist into their mouth of flesh and blood thus bypassing the armour and pull their spine out through their mouth.
Thumbs in the eyes, take their sight so if they get out they are also fighting blind and there is zero way their flesh is harder than armour to stop us. Their biological disadvantage of having a big hole for a mouth will now be exploited.

FATALITY!

>>6230368
>>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
I WOULD vote to throw him like the bitch he is, BUT, I don't want to accidentally toss him near something he could use against us. Or the reactor. So, let's bounce his fucking skull off the floor with the power of friendship and these hands. I want to hear the dragonslayer CLANG! sound effect with every impact.

>>6230371
You don't really need to see if you're in arm's reach, not to mention I'm not sure any amount of pain is gonna put this guy down.
As for pulling the Nemean maneuver, I wouldn't recommend doing it barehanded as Sven's hands are fucking gigantic. Maybe if we had a combat knife...

>>6230372
In my head it would be this over and over-
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8mL0_4GeV0
- with some wet splatters thrown in for effect.

>>6230368
>Dive for your shotgun and put this thing down before it can before it can get back up (DC 14. +2 Jotunn's rage, +2 Spartan-II -2 moderate wounds.)

>>6230371
I don't know about mortal combatting him, but going for the eyes is legit though. Maybe we SHOULD try to blind him. Elite headgear notably does not cover their entire face, and almost never the eyes. Normally this isn't a problem because of the shields, but unfortunately for him, his is down. Blinding him, even if it only partially succeeds in whatever fashion, would probably be instant death at this level of combat. Though with him not being zonked out and stunned it would probably be really hard to actually pull it off.

Oh, since he has retarded backwards knees, if we get his back on the ground he has WAY less traction with his feet than a human would have. It might even be difficult or impossible for him to buck his hips to break out from mounted position. He's gonna have a bad fucking time if we can pin him.

>>6230375
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_AUeCPrM9g
I hear this every time Sven's fist connects with his helmet. This thing has to have at least three concussions at this point. The metal pipe falling is the sound of his long ass skull being dribbled on the ground kek

>>6230368
>[Giant+ Spartan-II] Lift the alien up and toss them around like a rag doll until they wise up and stop fighting back (DC 14. +2 Giant, +2 Spartan-II, +2 MJOLNIR Mark IV, -2 Moderate wounds)
His first assignment and he has to brawl Sven. Unlucky.

>>6230379
Yeah now that I'm thinking about it, BJJ is practically tailor made for stuffing Sangheili. What the actual fuck are they gonna be able to do on the ground when they can't just muscle out of it?
Jack shit, that's what.

>>6230382
>tfw the 3000 pound ape + metal suit is sitting on me and beating the absolute piss out of me (i am physiologically incapable of removing him)
It really seems like his only option is to punch back - good luck from the ground - or wrench Sven sideways. Which is also a hard sell, because flared hips and knees is a strong perpendicular position. Really the only viable option he'd have in this situation is to go for a sidearm BEFORE he gets his skull caved in hard enough that he loses fine motor control and can no longer properly grab things. If Sven gets the mount he basically knows whatever move this splitjaw is gonna do. Yeowch.

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

But agreeing with >>6230379 at the same time. Smash is head into the floor but make sure we get our thumbs in his eyes while we do it.

>>6230384
If I were Vul here, I'd just shell up and pray my chest plate and bracers survive long enough for the demon to get tired. Still a pretty shit option mind you, but he's not really in a position to do much else.

>>6230368
>[Giant+ Spartan-II] Lift the alien up and toss them around like a rag doll until they wise up and stop fighting back (DC 14. +2 Giant, +2 Spartan-II, +2 MJOLNIR Mark IV, -2 Moderate wounds)

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

Big Monke big Smash

>>6230387
This actually makes me wonder, what's this dude's wounded status at at this point? He's gotta be edging a CTE at the moment, and even as little as it seemed to hurt him he does still have a handful of buck in him.

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
Seems technically the smartest thing to do here. Though rag dolling might mess with his head more - swordmaster precision back into jiralhanae brute force.

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
Monke stronk

>>6230391
The way I see it, he's still liable to shake off the damage from Sven's headbutts if we don't end this quickly. Best we blow his head off after he stops moving too.

Man I just realized, Halseys gonna be so pissed cause she's gonna have to redesign our helmet to be reinforced cause we're a big old monkee.

>>6230404
If this is how we get the ball rolling on the development of UA variants for the MJOLNIR helmets, so be it.

>>6230400
Of for sure. Stomp his fucking head off or something. Sorry for the somewhat intact corpse being defiled, but best not take chances with something that can wrestle a kid who can bench press trucks.

>>6230404
>>6230406
>"Sven."
>"Halsey."
>"I see you've managed to rough up my armor."
>"It served its purpose magnificently."
>".... try not to get it so damaged next time."
>"Of course, mo- am."
Ah, she cares.

>>6230404
I guess this could be how EOD armor is invented in some form since it doesn't seem likely that Sam is going to die here.

>>6230408
The head will be mostly intact if the specimen complies with our percussive negotiation tactics. Whether or not it's still attached to its body is another thing entirely.

>>6230368
>[Giant+ Spartan-II] Lift the alien up and toss them around like a rag doll until they wise up and stop fighting back (DC 14. +2 Giant, +2 Spartan-II, +2 MJOLNIR Mark IV, -2 Moderate wounds)
I want to capture.

>>6230414
We already beat the odds twice over between capturing the ship's mistress and the vessel itself. Trying to take our new punching bag alive is begging for a turning of the tides I feel.

>>6230368

>>[Giant+ Spartan-II] Lift the alien up and toss them around like a rag doll until they wise up and stop fighting back (DC 14. +2 Giant, +2 Spartan-II, +2 MJOLNIR Mark IV, -2 Moderate wounds)

And doesn't this one also have rage? We're being stiffed!

>>6230419
It should, thanks for pointing that out. That was a mistake on my part. It must've gotten lost when I was organizing that choice's modifiers. Good eye

>>6230408
>I did not have your bones reinforced with carbide ceramic material just for you to use your skull as a blunt instrument.

>>6230427

>"A skull is a bone..."

>"Still!"

>>6230431
I think that would probably earn us "the look". How horrifying.

>>6230368
>Write-in
>improvise a traditional shoulder throw except instead of getting our shoulder under its armpit we get it under its elbow and torque it sideways as we drop and pull. Pin it between shoulder and neck. Then repeat. Again. And Again. Until it breaks.

I will use the idea of this anon.
>>6229890
I want his alien arms.

Alternatively i was thinking of outright just stomping the alien in to the ground or no-stop kicking it in to the wall of the room (away from the reactor glass and the weapons). Legs are pretty strong as muscles go for humans. Spartans legs must hurt. And the alien is on the ground in a perfect position to be kicked really hard again and again. Or stomped really hard again and again.

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)
Welcome to monki. Glad to have you back, 404.

>>6230368
>>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

>>6230368
>Mount your opponent, and hammer their head into the floor until they stop moving (DC 16. +1 Giant, +3 Brawler, +2 Jotunn's rage, -2 Moderate wounds. DC reduced by 7 (From 23) through SQ: SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Mark IV)

i hope we can find his cloaking device we maybe able to expand Mjolnier capabilities again with it

>>6230368
>get a boot on his dominant hand and then stomp his head into the fucking ground with the other boot.

>>6230730
>leave one of his arms free while we lift one of our legs
Fuck. Nooooooooooooooooooo.

Phone-posting, cause my internet is off for some reason. If I can fix it, I'll post later, if I can't get it working today, consider this a forewarning. No idea why it isn't working at the moment

>>6230824
NO! Our big monkee attack!

>>6230824
What dumb fucking grunt messed with the comms device? Damn!

>>6231002
Terrible. Have some more suffering sir.

>>6231002
this is what happens when John angers Cortana and she steals control over Mjolnir

>>6231133
What the fuck are they doing over at Section Two? Christ.

>>6231002
>>6230824
nooooooooooooooooooo

Internet still down. Worried it may be a router issue

>>6231349
>4chan down and now this
cursed

>>6231349
god damn ONI spooks are trying to stop this quest

>>6231349
:(

i believe in 404.....

>>6231349
Have you tried troubleshooting? It'll help isolate the problem.
1.ping your loopback address
2.ping your device's ip address
3.ping your default gateway
4.ping 8.8.8.8
5.ping google.com

You could also tether to your phone as a workaround if you've got wifi, bluetooth or a usb connection. Go into your phone's settings and set up a hotspot. Pretty straightforward. But I guess the network problems might be killing your interest to write, which would be understandable. In which case, hope you can sort it out.

Did some more looking, turns out the router works, but the Modem has reached the end of its service. Going to have to replace it. But I've figured out a solution anyways

>>6231385
yeah, that's what I ended up doing. A bit before you suggested it. Mostly just making sure the hotspot wouldn't drop while I was updating. But thanks for the advice/
>>6231383
the name is starting to become a little prophetic lol

But enough talking about tech issues

10 Votes to mount and pummel

1 Vote to stuff your hands into the alien's mouth

1 Vote to dive for the shotgun

4 Votes to man handle and ragdoll your opponent

1 vote to improvise a shoulder throw

1 vote to stomp the alien's skull

2 votes to try and blind the alien

Clear majority for mounting and pounding.

[b] Decision made [/b]
[b] Please roll 1d20+4. DC 16. Best of 3 [/b]

Rolled 18 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>6231430

Rolled 20 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>6231430
Inb4 1

>>6231433
How embarrassing but not even gonna the to beat that 20

>>6231434
Roll the dice anyways brother, we might get a double crit.

Rolled 15 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>6231432

Rolled 11 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>6231435
Twisting my arm

>>6231436
>meanwhile...

>>6231432
[ Warning! Warning! General Warning in place! Preferred Candidate has achieved a critical success!]

A crit and its 8 over the target. Mr elite is not having a good day

[ Proceeding ]

>>6231439
If he didn't want his skull caved in, maybe he shouldn't have been born with his legs on backwards.

>>6231439
He's a failure just like his old man.

>>6231441
What a shame.

>>6231439
Maybe the crit will means that he'll surrender after the strange green monki display of pure violence.

>>6231445
What a rotten way to die.

>>6231432
>>6231439
Very nice. Kick his ass, giant blond man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pegfcTnphms

Muscle memory does most of the work, the lessons learned under Mendez' school of hard knocks and turned into second instinct through countless bruises and multiple concussions. You mount the alien, whose already at a disadvantage due to the shape of their legs, and pin them to the ground with your thighs as they move to cover their head and protect their skull. But they're were just too slow in putting up their defenses and raising their guard. You grab one of their arms and wrench it away violently and then start striking, pounding your fist into their head as they try to block with their remaining arm or else bash you off of themselves, yelling in the ear grating language of the covenant. The first few blows are hammer strikes, delivered through you armored fist, followed by an blow to the side of their head with your elbow. Their neck snaps back, and you let go of their arm and start hitting them with both of your hands, pounding your fists down on them in a repeating sequence that doesn't give them time to recover or respond. But they just won't give up and continue to struggle.

There's a fire in their eyes, even as the flesh around them begins to bruise and the armor shielding them begins to dent from the sheer force and power behind your strikes. Their claws rake across your chest plat and helmet, each movement growing weaker and more sluggish as you continue your assault as they squirm under you, every blow that landed resounding through the engine room like a whip crack as the back of the alien's skull was repeatedly introduced to the metal flooring. And in this position, you didn't miss any of your punches. And unlike when you got your fellow Spartans to the ground, there was nothing to hold back. No whistle to listen to. This was an enemy, plain and simple. No reason to hold back. No reason to stop until they stopped moving and became a corpse.

Mechanically you bore down on and beat the alien on the ground, pistoning your fists against the sides of their head as they used what little fight they had left in them, what bit of strength they could muster to throw you off. But evolution had given them a handicap that wasn't easily overcome, and the moment you got on top of them, it was just a matter of time until the stubbornness to keep on fighting a losing battle was chipped away and crumbled completely. The alien lasted longer than most would and survived hits that would've sent an ODST in full armor to the morgue, but he gives up like all the rest eventually.

The hand gripping your wrist goes slack, and the claws groping at your neck twitch and then go limp. You pause, both arms raised over your head, fingers locked together to do a double axe handle strike. One of their eyes is swollen shut, the other reddened from burst veins, drooling and blood dribbles out from their mandibles, two of which are bent inwards. You narrow your eyes, and feel a slight rise in the alien's chest, as a faint breath rattles through their lungs.
Cont

[ Total Successes in combat: 6 ]
[ Critical Success Bonus: Sven stops just before beating the elite to death ]

They're still alive. A few more hits and you'd have beaten them to death. And as the adrenaline winds down and empties out of your system, you feel a few sharp stings along your arms and hands. You'd been hitting them so hard that you'd gotten bruises, even while wearing MJOLNIR Armor. You stay sitting over the motionless alien for a few seconds, catching your breath and slowing your heart beat.

They don't move, but they also don't stop breathing. Confident they aren't getting back up any time soon, you stand up. And notice that the floor under the two of you has caved in slightly and is covered in hairline cracks and fractures.

The timer for the bombs ticks down to zero. And besides the thrum of the fusion drive, nothing makes a sound. If this thing had any friends, now would be the perfect opening for them to launch a second ambush. After a few seconds, you were certain that he was the only one stalking through the ship. Or at the very least, if there were others, they had enough sense to not pick a fight with you and wait for a better opportunity or less dangerous target to present itself.

Your COM crackled to life. There was a lot of interference, but enough of the message got through to be understood

"Advance Boarding Party...Prepare for...Reinforcements"

You fell against a nearby railing and felt tension you hadn't noticed building release all at once, sighing as you slumped to the floor, built up exhaustion and fatigue weighing down all at once now that the job was done.

"We did it" You say, hardly able to believe it, that you, Shika, John, Sam, Kelly and Vinh had done the impossible. This was pretty much a suicide mission, flying at an enemy craft through an open space battle, not knowing what was waiting for you onboard. The plan had been to plant a bomb and get out. John's team had succeeded on that front. And should be recognized for how smoothly and swiftly they carried out their objectives. But, Shika scouting ahead, providing intel, allowed you to capture the commanding officer and plenty of enemy equipment. Being on the bridge when it fell, only an expert on artificial intelligences would've noticed the ship's AIs carrying out a self destruct order.

And all along the way, every soldier on the mission had at least a dozen close calls and near misses.

If anything had gone wrong, if any other Spartans had gotten on board, this wouldn't have turned out the way it did. You'd gotten lucky, all of you had. You recognized it was just as much a result of happenstance as it was the results of your augs, teamwork and training. But that didn't matter. You'd done it. Against all odds, you'd won!

The war for humanities' survival has just begun

And Six Spartans captured a covenant ship intact. You couldn't even fathom how much of a game changer this was, so earlier in the war, and you were one of the brightest Spartans

>>6231500
___
[ Secret objective 1: Capture/ Secure Covenant equipment, weaponry, technology. Reward increased by quantity and variety of captured materials. Secondary objective: capture ship mistress Ziq Zin alive]
[ Secret objective 2: Successfully capture the Covenant Cruiser, Unrelenting]
[ Secret objective 3: Complete the mission with ZERO Spartan casualties]

[ Bonus Objective 1: Secure Ziq Zin's private collection/ retrieve Wick's remains ]
[ Bonus Objective 2: Fight and beat hidden enemy, Vul 'Rocam ]

Rewards, both personal and towards the war effort, will be revealed after Operation: FLY-SWATTER's After action report, along with increases to current Advancement Paths and the choice between the new one's Sven has reached the criteria of
___

>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong

>Get to writing the AAR for Operation: FLY-SWATTER, while you and the rest of the fire team receive medical treatment, according to protocol, and recommend Promotions/ Rank increases for every Spartan who was part of the OP

>Meet with Captain Wallace and Dr Halsey immediately, and make sure to be there when they or the ONI spooks start interrogating the bird and squid face.

>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI

>write in option.

Seriously though behind the scenes, you guys were walking a tightrope during the entire OP, and it was quick thinking, good rolls and the skills of Sven and the other Spartans that made this outcome possible.

>>6231504
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
>Order the Spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong
I figure we could just as easily have any captured data chips turned over to us and subsequently pocket a few while we shoot the shit with John.

>>6231504
Hot damn, that was good. Let's get a jump start on our intrusion AI.
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
Also
>Seriously though behind the scenes, you guys were walking a tightrope during the entire OP, and it was quick thinking, good rolls and the skills of Sven and the other Spartans that made this outcome possible.
Seriously. Major failure at any step of this whole op would have resulted in a total team wipe. Glad I got to eat crow in the end of it and everything turned out alright.

>>6231504
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
>Order the Spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong

man we threaded a fucking needle here god and remember Mendez basicly told Sven that alot of people dont like that he's in command cause of his Mavric ways

>>6231504

>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
We deserve a little treat and it will end up helping the war effort anyway

>>6231504
>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong

Good stuff

>>6231504
No critfails and a crit to finish up the mission. Very good.
>Order the Spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong
I think it goes without saying but warn them about the potential for camouflaged enemies and to closely watch thermal/motion sensors

>>6231504
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
Section Three is going to love us.

>>6231504
>the skills of Sven and the other Spartans that made this outcome possible.
This is why one must never underestimate the power of combined arms. Be that in the grand scheme of air cover for your ground forces or simply a diverse skillset. The breadth of talents the Spartans display is the envy of any special forces anywhere.

wew lad. Feels real damn good. I wonder what ONI arch-spook is gonna be eating crow when Halsey delivers the report that her kiddos just did the impossible three times in a single OP. This ain't just success, this is A D V A N C E D success lmao Is Momsey proud yet?

Gods I hope we have handcuffs strong enough to hogtie this fucking splitjaw with. Don't need him deciding he's awake enough to commit suicide via struggling.

>>6231430
>>6231432
Such a MASSIVE monkee.

>>6231504
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong

>>6231504
>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI

>>6231504
>>6231509
I'll append
>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong
to my vote.

>>6231523
>Is Momsey proud yet?
Mission accomplished. The Spartans exceeded even her expectations. She's been fully vindicated. All her doubters have been BTFO. All her Spartans are safe. The xenocidal aliens have been proven not invincible. She has new toys to investigate.
This might just be the best day of her life. Sorry, Miranda.

>>6231504
>[ Secret objective 2: Successfully capture the Covenant Cruiser, Unrelenting]

I KNEW THAT IT WAS A SECRET OBJECTIVE.

Riding such a high to see whats gonna end up happening now cause man. Not only is that a more or less intact stealth field generator, But a more or less fully operational Covenant cruiser this early with possibly a locator thing? We're gonna lose Spartans down the road but the war effort is gonna be better off for it none the less.

>>6231504
>>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI

>>6231558
>But a more or less fully operational Covenant cruiser this early with possibly a locator thing?
That locater thing is the major victory here. There could be an intact mass produced Luminary aboard. This is so early in the war the crew might not have even considered destroying it when we boarded. That turns the early war from a game of whack a mole into a tower defense before Adm. Cole enacts his Protocol.

>>6231504
Holy shit and how

Question
Shouldn’t this ship have a Huragok on it? If it is an artefact/ retrieval/transport mission, it would to my understanding require at least one.

From what I’ve understood lore-wise, any and all potential dig sites for forerunner artefacts, or transport missions would be overseen by engineers since they are the only species that understands forerunner tech.

>>6231686
They might have died when the Commonwealth sent a MAC round through the ship. Guess we'll see.

>>6231504
WE WOOOOOOOOOON!!!
GET THE SHOTGUNNER PERK FOR BECOME EVEN MORE DEADLY IN CLOSE COMBAT !! GET IT !!

>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong
There is a still a few chickens missing (the ones that run away from the bridge). Get them. Alive or dead. Do inform everyone of possible stealth enemies.

>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
404 i am fairly sure, Sven would also share this data chips with his bros Mike and Dimas, and any other tech spartan. Yeah i have heard it in a dream, i believe he would do that. After this data chips are used, i think Sven would give them to his not-mom, as a surprise secret gift.

and speaking of mom....
>Write-in
>Send a message to Dr.Halsey, about creating a reason for the Spartan Program in staking a partial claim on the use of the Covenant Ship. The Program could use the ship both for training, study and familiarization of Spartans of First and Second Class against the Covenant tech, equipment and spaceships. And thus massively improving the odds for the Spartans in combat....

getting this ship changes a lot of stuff....think of all the cargo...the ship armory....the ship hangar....the prisoners.... the intact covenant AIs.... all the data... the star charts...the forerunners relics.....the info on any covenant worlds....and i could keep going.....High Command jaws will hit the floor all at once they read all that was captured. And on top of that ? 0 dead spartans or destroyed power armors, the only UNSC warship here, the Commonwealth is still alive but needs repairs (and still does have a crew and marines that managed to remain alive during a naval clash against a covenant warship, meaning they can be considered experienced), Halsey is alive and the Damascus facility is still standing (even if it lost the AIs there) and the scientists and engineers that where there are also alive.

The Commonwealth can be repaired, so overall this is a great victory of the UNSC. Its enough of a great victory that High Command needs to consider if making it public, for the propaganda alone that writes it self from it.
>>6231523
>handcuffs strong
Right now we can keep the ugly alien pinned under our weight. The chicken captain can be tied up after medical treatment (hands, arms, legs, feet and also beak). Afterwards for the ugly alien we can ask some heavy transport duty chains from Captain Wallace (and then tie the elite like the chicken captain). Or something along those lines, this is not an ordinary prisoner. Should have at least 10 guns on it at all times.

victory tastes so sweet....

>>6231504
Told you guys we could do it.
>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI
Would be great if we can train our AI to know how to throw Covenant "AI" into a data loop.

>>6231732
Sven is the first human that did that.
And Loki for further ensure that can become even better...just need further help. One of the reasons i added that write in to my vote.

If the Spartan Program can partially use this captured Covenant vessel....it would be very beneficial.

>>6231736
>If the Spartan Program can partially use this captured Covenant vessel....it would be very beneficial.
Once the computers are ripped out and everything's been examined and catalogued, I can definitely see the vessel being kept in orbit around an undisclosed planet indefinitely for the purposes of training.

>>6231504
>Order the spartans under your command to assist in the clean up of the cruiser, while you and John guard the two prisoners, and discuss the mission, and the many ways it could've gone wrong

>>6231709
There is like, a chance so close to 0 it may as well be 0 that ANYONE gets the covie ship. There is nothing anyone can say or do that stops the bigwigs from taking it and tearing it apart for answers and secrets. It's gonna get passed around like a cheap whore to every department from the top down. By the time anyone not from the big boy's club gets their hands on it it's gonna be a skeleton with no meat or skin.

And that's perfectly understandable. This is a big deal and it needs to be dissected as thoroughly as possible to find as much information and tech as possible. Oh, and the prisoners. You think the ship is gonna get it bad. The prisoners are absolutely turbofucked. Once they are interrogated, they'll be experimented on, and once they're done with that, either quietly taken out back and old yeller'd or publicly executed for the masses to cheer over. Bad day to be an ayyy.

>>6231872
here's hoping that in the next 15 to 20 years the tech studied on this ship start showing up in the war

also this is what Sven, Halsey and all the Spartans are listening too right now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuDMg9-LZRk

>>6231872
Fair enough, you make a very good argument.

Though i would have wanted for the spartans to get some time in it. Could have helped. Maybe they can make a full scan of the place and 3D print it for training on Reach.

It would be really good for spartans of both 1 and 2 class. Get them to familiriaze themselves with it and with whats inside would be nice for future missions.

It goes without saying that they could probably make training videos for ODSTs, marines and other soldiers to look at too. The recorded firefights inside will be probably object of study.

Same for the fight outside in space between the Commonwealth and the Unrelenting.

Maybe Halsey can come up with some bullshit for having all the Spartans of first class stay on board for a little longer. Man i would be content if they could stay inside it a week for security or something similar. So much to learn.

>>6231872
>tfw find out what world this Sangheili is from
>tfw we're dispatched to go harvest his 'clan' every few years

>>6231872
As much as it pains me to say it, you're probably right. Still, I figure we'd get a lot of use out of even just the carcass with an old gravity generator installed.
The war games you'd have on something like that would be invaluable learning experiences.

>>6231879
Nah they would probably use that too. Our best bet is Halsey making a reason for us to stay inside here a bit longer really. A few days or a week would be great. Before we are sent back to base.

The Commonwealth is damaged anyway. Could work out before a response fleet gets here.


Afterwards 3D printed training ground made from scanning this ship.

you know i just realized something since this ship was supposed to go artifact hunting for forerunner tech does that mean theirs digging equipment and vehicles on board cause if so then we also fucking stole some shit, we can add to identifiers for the entire UNSC
you know like ghosts, wraiths, banshees which should save a few lives and majorly help how to destroy them faster

>>6231504
>[Maverick] Make sure a few Covenant data chips Missing", so you can use them to train your incomplete AI

>Get to writing the AAR for Operation: FLY-SWATTER, while you and the rest of the fire team receive medical treatment, according to protocol, and recommend Promotions/ Rank increases for every Spartan who was part of the OP

>>6231902
I mean one of the spartan plans at the start of this mission was baiting them on the Ice Ball where the Damascus Facility was made, before ambushing them while they deployed with dropships. And then take their dropships for get inside their ship.

The ship as an hangar, cargo space and more. Some vehicles are certainly here.

[ Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache Back Online ]

11 Votes to pocket a few covie data chips to train your incomplete AI on

10 Votes to order your spartans to assist in the clean up efforts

1 vote to send a message to halsey asking if the ship could be turned over, temporarily to the spartan program

1 Vote to begin writing the AAR report of Operation Fly-swatter

So the Maverick option to pocket a few pieces of Covie tech and to guard the prisoners with John and perform a quick and dirty after action review

[ Decisions made ]
[ proceeding ...]

>>6231686
>>6231700
Yeah, that did blow a hole in the middle of the ship.

>>6232072
>I'm a thief... but I keep what I steal.

>>6232072
well heres hoping maybe one or two engineers survived and can be taken

>>6232090
>marines spot an engineer doing things
>it wiggles its tentacles at them
>they shoot the fuck out of it

>>6232093
ahhh i hate that your right and whats worse is that they might even eat the damn thing afterwards too

>>6232094
Who the fuck would look at a huragok and think "Bet that bastard's tasty"? The damn things are more machine than squid anyways.

>>6232095
There are people who eat rotting cabbage and raw fish and call them delicacies. Freshly shot Huragok falls into the same category of cuisine if you ask me.

>>6232097
Maybe the Covenant are right about humanity.

>>6232099
You say that like the Jiralhanae don't eat anything that moves and the Unggoy aren't huffing farts 24/7.

>>6232100
True. Though brutes and grunts aren't really held in high regard either.

>>6232094
>>6232095
>>6232097
Y'all never served with an Asian before huh?

>>6232109
Why yes, I DO like ENTIRE BOILED PIG'S HEAD, why do you ask?

>>6232114
Thanks Korea, very cool!

It might be best that we don't find a Luminary on the ship because that might cause the Covenant to get serious sooner than we might like.

"John, you're on prisoner duty with me. Kelly, Sam, if you're still in fighting shape join up with Shika and Vinh lend a hand to the clean up crew Wallace is sending over" You command over the secure frequency the fire team was using for this operation, as you pull yourself off of the ground, and hoist the half dead alien onto your shoulder in a fireman carry, feeling every ounce of their dead weight as you shuffle out of the fusion drive "Before they touch down, we'll separate out the captured enemy equipment and tech, as insurance that no unique alien artifact is lost during the sweep or evac"

And, splitting the retrieved Covenant tools would give you a chance to make certain that low priority data chips or similar go unaccounted for during the transfer back to the Commonwealth. You know you don't have authorization to let your half made Cyberwarfare AI loose on the first captured Covenant Vessel and anything more advanced and encrypted example is going to be noted if it vanishes into thin air, even if it isn't on the records. The Top Technicians would know when a key component is missing even if they didn't know it existed. And a few of the ejected AI programs and code scripts that were for no vital functions like running the commodes or keeping the lights in one hallway a few lumens dimmer than the next one over, wouldn't be noticed or missed by the Office of Naval Intelligence or the war effort at large.

Kelly and Sam's armor looks nearly as beaten up as your suit of MJOLNIR looks, when you meet them and John outside of the captain's quarters. Every valuable or important looking piece of covenant equipment has been brought to the room and laid out on the floor, besides the more intact alien bodies. John, however, only has a single scorch mark streaking across the edge of one of his suit's shoulder pads.

"Lucky as ever I see, one one seven" You greet with a nod "Has one oh eight looked over your squaddies and given them first aid?"

"Sir! Spartan One oh eight has given all members of the fire team medical attention, and carried out on site repairs of the MJOLNIR system. No major damage to the suits or our bodies to report, Sir" He answers with a crisp salute

"Sam, Kelly? You fit to fight?" You ask, dropping the professionalism for a moment as the two of them, Kelly with a bandaged wrapped around her dominant hand and shoulder of its arm and Sam with nearly compromised chest plate, and both of their armors having a repair patch or two stuck to their outer plating to keep it intact and sealed

"Sir, yes sir!" They respond, only stopping for a second to twitch their heads to stare at the heap of an alien you drop on the ground

"Sven?" Shika asks, head darting up from the still Tengu Captain, whose missing leg she was half treating and half dissecting as she pinched the artery and stemmed the bleeding
Cont

>>6232189

"Why, this is my new best friend, Shika. I was thinking about adding him to Purple Team, on account of his blood's color" You smartass back, before getting serious and actually answering "Unknown species, presumed covenant allegiance. Ambushed me with optical camouflage"

"Oh fun, the aliens can turn invisible, anymore good news, Sir?" Sam said as you nodded and you could tell he winced under his visor

"They have refractive shield projectors sized down for their infantry" You answer, letting the fresh intel settle "And unless it is a one of freak of nature, they can go toe to toe with a spartan in full MJOLNIR"

"They can go toe to toe with zero three three in full MJOLNIR" Vinh says flintily

"Doesn't look like they had a fair fight to me, Vinh" Kelly remarks, prodding the motionless alien with her boot "Think there's anymore of them on board, ensign?"

"Doubt it, but watch your motion trackers their camouflage can't trick the sensors" You answer "and there could always be a pack of these things waiting to ambush you"

"Or to free their CO" John said, as Kelly, Sam, Vinh and Shika grouped up and filed out of the captain's quarters, John training his gun on the mystery alien, and you crouching next to the Captain, who even without knowing anything about their physiology you could tell was suffering from the blood loss and shock of losing one of their legs

"That is why I made sure to keep the best of the best by my side while watching the prisoners. And since we shared joint command, I figured now would be a good time to start the after action review of the OP. Be honest with me John, what did you think of the mission" You tell him as you check and reload your shotgun as John stands at attention, easily mistaken for a statue in his armor as he thought over your question

"It went far better than expected, Sir" He said, and you noted how relieved and on edge he sounded "We could've easily lost several Spartans in this action. We had no intel, no way of knowing what the covenant had in store for us or if we'd hit our target. Resistance was heavier than anticipated"

"And that could be my fault, since I alerted the crew in the process of pursuing our person of interest, that turned out to be the captain of the ship" You answer, and wouldn't be too far flung to suggest that was what kicked the hornets nest

"I believe, in the circumstances we found ourselves in, you made the right choice. Even if it was risky. If any of us were lost, I believe our lives would've been spent rather than wasted" John tells you as he repositions to get a better sightline across the room and on the prisoners "We may have been too confident with these new suits. How close we came to sustaining causalities and how near this mission was to fail, has taught us that Spartans aren't undefeatable. We can be killed. But succeeding, Winning, has shown us the covenant can be beaten, that we...humanity has a chance to keep on winning"
Cont

>>6232191

"Lets start the review by going over all the ways this OP could've gone wrong and the ways it nearly did" You say as you stand back up and march to the other end of the room, and patrol it to keep your thoughts fluid and flowing.

"And then I guess we'll discuss how we avoided these complications and snags, Sir?" John asked as he turned his head subtly to track you movements across the room "For future reference when engaging Covenant forces, of course"

"Correct. I'll lead since, judging from the state of my armor compared to yours, I had a few more close calls than you did", you scan the room and pick which worse case scenario or way any of the engagements could've gone sour to begin with as you and John watch over the beaten and captured Covenant officers....

[ After Action Report. Spartan field operations no: 6. Operation: FLY-SWATTER. CLASSIFIED. Clearance level 0 required ENCRYPTION CODE GAMMA. TOP PRIORTY, READ IMMEDIATELY ]

Operation: FLY-SWATTER, is the unofficial designation of the engagement between the Successful Subjects of the SPARTAN-II Program and Covenant forces above the planet Chi Ceti IV.

At approximately 1750 hours November 27th 2525, as the UNSC Paris class Heavy Frigate, Designation: UNSC Commonwealth, was enroute to deliver ONI Section 3 Head, Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey and the personal of the SPARTAN-II program to the Damascus Materials Testing Facility, an Covenant vessel, presently theorized to be an equivalent classification to a UNSC Cruiser and awaiting official designation, performed a intersystem slipspace jump of unprecedented accuracy and quickly assailed the UNSC Commonwealth and inflicted crippling damage to its systems and hull integrity.

Present on the bridge, alongside the Commonwealth's Captain, Captain Wallace and his command staff and bridge crew, Dr Halsey and three Spartans, Spartans 033, 051 and 117 were also present and observing the initial engagement with the enemy craft. The Commonwealth sustained further damages and crew loss, that may have been prevented if Dr Halsey's warnings were heeded, however, Wallace cannot be faulted for ignoring the suggestions of a civilian, even if their suggestions could've prevented the loss of enlisted personal and prevented further damages, especially as they were given during a moment of heightened stress.
A complete account of the "Battle over Chi Cheti IV" is attached for examination and review.

Petty officer Second class, John, Spartan-117, noted the animal like aggression of the Covenant Ship and when Dr Halsey put forward the use of nuclear armaments, it was he who suggested to Captain Wallace to order Longsword Squad Delta to perform a sacrificial diversionary action to allow a Shiva Nuclear Warhead to get past the enemy vessel's laser point defense systems.
Cont

>>6232193

An action that was supported by Ensign Sven Askeland, Spartan-033. The brave sacrifice of the Longsword pilots allowed for the successful detonation of the Shiva Warhead and forced the injured Covenant Cruiser to temporarily retreat and cease hostilities, buying the grievously wounded Commonwealth time to shuttle Dr Halsey and the Spartans down to the testing facility and retreat to perform repairs during the brief ceasefire. The names and service of the pilots who gave their life to by the Commonwealth time to fulfill their orders to transport Halsey and the Spartans to the facility, have been recorded so they may be given the proper posthumorous honors and their next of kin can be informed of their passing and receive the medals in their place.

All Forty Six successful spartan super soldiers were introduced to Project MJOLNIR, attached is a link to the pertinent files relating to the project as well as the MJOLNIR MARK IV schematics and battlefield functions. And prior to the evacuation of the facility and transport of its materials and deactivation of the AI present that were unable to be extracted before the pre-planned rendevous with the UNSC Commonwealth, The team leaders of the Spartans held an unplanned tactical meeting, lead by Ensign Sven-033. Spartans John-117, Kurt-051, Jai-006, August-099, Frederic-104, Joshua-029, Kai-125, Naomi-010, Dimas-012 and Nicole-017.

Displaying their extraordinary intelligence and tactical brilliance trained into them through the program's classes, a comprehensive list of the suggest strategies given during the strategic discussion between the team leaders has been attached, it was John-117's plan that Ensign Askeland, as the sole officer in the Spartan ranks, chose to support and present to Dr Halsey.

That being to perform a high risk EVA in the middle of the space battle between the Covenant Cruisier and the UNSC Commonwealth. With both Project MJOLNIR and the entirety of the Spartan two program at risk of termination or capture, unusual and high dangerous tactics needed to be employed to ensure the safe extraction of the research data, materials and Dr Halsey, as well as ensure the survival of a percentage of the first class of Spartans.

Attached are video and audio clips showing the preparations for the EVA as well as the trajectories taken by each individual spartan. The UNSC Commonwealth provided a screen of archer missile pods, to prevent the Covenant point defense from targeting the Spartans during their EVA, that began from the Pelican dropship as it left Chi Chet IV to rendezvous with the heavy frigate.

Of the forty six Spartans, only six hit their target and boarded the enemy Cruiser.
Cont

>>6232194

Ensign Sven Askeland, created a small breach in the Covenant Vessel's refractive shielding, that he exploited to land on the ship. Petty Officer Second Class John-117, boarded by exploiting a quirk in the shield technology related to the use of the ship's point defense lasers, Petty Officer Second Class Vinh-030 exploited the same vulnerability after being alerted to it by Dimas-012. Petty officer Second Class Kelly-087, reached a hole in the shielding created by structural damage to the hull. Petty Officer Second Class Samuel-034, reached a similar gap in the cruiser's defenses, accompanied by Petty Officer Second Class Shika-108.

Regrouping at the breach in the cruiser's hull, Sven-033 lead the fire team into the interior of the covenant spacecraft. Shika-108 was sent to scout ahead, being the only spartan small enough to fit in a breach in the ventilation system of the covenant ship., and provided valuable tactical intel and data throughout the operation. Infiltrating the ship Spartans -033, -117, -034, -087, and -030 engaged with four enemy combatants, that throughout the mission they referred to by the codephrase "Tengu", that evidence points towards being the same race known as "Kig Yar" encountered during Contact Harvest.

First engagement was ended before the Covenant soldiers were able to fire a single shot. Shika-108, scouting ahead, noted the presence of an officer, that later was found to be the ship's captain. Kelly-087 detected trace radiation. Ensign Askeland ordered the John-117 to take command of Sam-034 and Kelly-087 to investigate the source of the radiation readings while he lead Vihn-030 in pursuing the enemy officer and regrouping with Shika-108. -030 and -033 took possession of four alien devices, that they quickly learned were arm mounted shield generators through future engagement with the enemy crew.

-033 and -030, forewarned of enemy patrols by -108, engaged the Cruiser's security force, despite being outnumbered. The first group encountered, comprised of four Kig-Yar, formed a defensive formation similar to a viking shield wall. Ensign Askeland informed the soldiers under his command rest of the plasma weaponry employed by the enemy soldiers immediately upon encountering hostile resistance, intel which is believed to have prevent Spartan casualties during mission operation.

The defensive formation was broken by Spartan-033's expert use of a standard fragmentation grenade, angling the explosive to land it behind the alien's lines. Spartan-030 neutralized the crictically injured survivors of the formation, while -033 updated -117's squad of the capabilities of the enemy equipment, the information regarding the "Shield Gauntlets" also being considered a primary factor for the lack of fatalities across the mission, -033 voicing regret of not equipping the other Spartans with the excess enemy equipment, prior to engaging the next group of hostiles.
Cont

>>6232197

The next patrol of covenant forces, numbering eight, noted as being more professional and experienced than those previously encountered by the fireteam. They attempted to perform an ambush and sent out a civilian as bait in an attempt to lure -030 and -033 into their attack. But Ensign Askeland had anticipated enemy deception and had ordered Vinh-030 to take cover and wait for the enemy troops to engage.

Turning the ambush around on the covenant soldiers, the first to break formation and search for the Spartans, was immediately gunned down. The Covenant Civilian being the victim of friendly fire. Seeing that the surviving Covenant were attempting a simultaneous double flanking maneuverer while trying to present the illusion of remaining in a defensive line, -033 once again anticipated their strategy and turned their ambush around on them a second time.

-033 and -030 both engaged in CQC and terminated the six Kig-yar ambushes with ease .John -117, Samuel -034 and Kelly -087 Had encountered resistance moments prior to -033 and -030 engaging the second line of defense, with -034 sustaining injuries, with the number of enemy combatants being roughly equivalent to the forces encountered by -033 & -030, though the number of hostile contacts increased as they neared the source of the radiation signature.

After both parties informed the other of the current status and objectives, Ensign Askeland proceeded to regroup with Shika-108, while Petty officer Second Class John-117 reached the fusion drive of the Covenant craft.

-108 regrouped with -033 and -30 as they pursued two fleeing enemy combatants, eliminating one with a scalpel as the survivor fled to the command center of the craft, -108 having leapt from an air vent to perform her attack. Noting that the surviving soldiers and crew were fortifying the bridge, Sven-033 performed a investigation of a nearby room.

John-117's team reached the craft's fusion engine and eliminated an enemy patrol, but not before they were able to sound, with Kelly-087 sustaining an injury in the firefight, and awaited orders after they secured the fusion drive.

-033, -030 and -108 discovered the room to be the private quarters and collection of the ship's commanding office, with various relics, treasures and alien artworks that they had collected that are still undergoing studying, of particular note being a human skeleton believed to belong to a member of Colony Harvest's Colonial Militia that had been lost during the fight for the world.

Making an assumption of the avaricious nature of covenant captain, Ensign Askeland ordered the destruction of several irreplaceable Covenant Artifacts in a bid to bait the enemy CO into reacting recklessly to the damage to their property, while also securing a number of Covenant Plasma Grenades. The...unconventional tactic, succeeded and the Captain responded with force, sending fourteen of their remaining soldiers to assail the three Spartans.
Cont

>>6232199

Further vandalizing materials that could've been further research, -033, -108, -030 engaged with the enemy, and encountered a new type of weaponry that made use of volatile crystalline ammunition that when grouped closely together would charge and detonate explosively. -033 was separated from -108 and -030 as he leapt from one such explosion and retreated down the hallway, with -033 killing one enemy soldier as -108 and -030 terminated the other, which -033 then used as an improvised shield as he fell back to a more defensible location, discarding it just prior to it detonating from the currently unknown to science crystals embedded inside of the corpse.

The remaining ten aliens advanced on -033's position in phalanx formation. Ensign Askeland then feigned an injury and lured three to his position, and brutally dispatched two in hand to hand combat, as the remaining hostiles exposed their flank to the still in cover -108 and -030, who terminated two of their number. -033 was hit by the crystalline ammunition, and, unaware of what detonated the substance, sprinted at the enemy formation and used one of the few plasma grenades he had secured as he charged their position under a hail of fire. The resulting explosion caught -033 in the edge of its radius, but he was not grievously injured by the blast force or plasma cloud. -108 and -030 removed the three covenant soldiers that survived the blast while -033 recovered from disorientation

After recovering, the two teams once more updated on each other's statuses, as John-117's team had began to plant detonation charges made from the payload of HE Anvil two missiles, after updating their intel, -033 ordered -117's team to proceed with planting the bombs and to hold their position against the covenant forces, before he lead -108 and -087 in assaulting the bridge.

Encountering the ship's captain, and noting the four snipers they had trained on the door, -033 was lured into engaging in single combat with the, at the time, yet undocumented subspecies of the kig yar, engaging in a brief but fierce CQC engagement with the officer that resulted in the crippling of the covenant officer, as -033 surgically removed their leg with a M45E shotgun, before attempting to take them prisoner and narrowly avoiding being caught in the radius of a plasma grenade's detonation, the captain having hidden the explosive on their person prior to engaging -033. -033 survived through the durability of the MJOLNIR system and the Alien shield gauntlet, -108 entered the bridge and reinforced -033 as the snipers, no longer passive, turned their weapons on the stunned Ensign. -108 sustained fire as she recovered -033 and brought him behind cover, while -030 provided covering fire for the two spartans, -108 and -030 killing two of the alien marksmen each.
Cont

>>6232200

In the engine room, -117, -034, and -087, fended off a sustained assault of the surviving crew that, in desperation, employed "Human wave" tactics to try and overwhelm their position. -117, having experienced under pressure and as a team leader, lead -034 and -087 in successfully repelling the assaults from fortified position, thus preventing the aliens from preventing the destruction of the Cruiser. -117 is noted to have used the enemy's own weaponry as well as their bodies of the deceased in his defense of the charges. Tallying of hostiles fatalities inflicted in the defense, are currently underway.

-033 and -030 acted as diversion to allowed -108 to captured the critically wounded captain, engaging the remaining two highly trained marksmen in close quarters, allowing -108 to assassinate one that had been carrying the injured captain away from the engagement with a scalpel and to eliminate the last man standing with a snap shot from a plasma pistol she had looted earlier in the mission.

With the bridge and engine secured, -033, who is noted as being a star pupil of Dr Halsey's, specifically in the field of artificial intelligences, noticed a sudden surge of activity in the bridge's consoles, and realized through evidence of the captain and crews behavior that the Covenant CO had initiated the ship's self destruct sequence. Ordering -117, -034, -087 to rendezvous at the captain's quarters having previously secured an escape pod within the quarters and for -030 and -108 to strip the bridge and take as much enemy equipment as they could carry to the rendezvous point, -033 attempted communication with the Ship's AI

Using a flashlight and binary communication, Ensign Askeland made contact with the Alien Vessel's numerous AI and entered into a dialogue with them, noting the constructs lack of complexity and free will compared to AI employed by the UNSC, Non-Volitional included, and also learned the Covenant had a superstition relating to advanced AI during their talk with the constructs. The Ensign also noticed, that while the AI seemed to originate from the forks of a singular AI, that they shared minute differences in program and directives. Which created flaws in their unified logic, a flawed that made them reply to his queries initially. And in a method that is unlikely to be able to be replicated due to the circumstances surrounding it, as noted by both -033 and Dr Halsey, Ensign Askeland introduced further drifts in the AI collectives' programming, by arguing with them and challenging their logic with repeating arguments and rational loopholes that confused the AI and stalled their systems with a self generation logic loop, creating a cascading failure and logic bomb that lead to the Ai waging war against each other, as the Spartan successfully convinced half of the constructs that destroying the ship was an act of treason to the covenant. The Covenant Ai then began to hamper and delete eachother's programs
Cont

>>6232201

Then, watching carefully, despite not understanding the covenant script or programing language, Ensign Askeland sent a falsefied binary signal to for the programs granted authorization to terminate other constructs, to delete the singular program trusted to carry out the self destruction protocol.

Immediately realizing what he'd accomplished, -033 contacted the UNSC Commonwealth, and requested reinforcement and alerted the Heavy Frigate of the sabotage of the Covenant Cruiser and the loss of its command structure, before racing to defuse the bombs set by -117, -034, and -087, risking their own life to ensure the capture of the alien craft.

However, upon successfully stopping the detonate of the repurposed HE anvil two warehads, Sven-033 was unexpectedly ambushed by a hitherto unencountered Covenant Client Race, that was able to match the Spartan's augmented strength and employed a level of shield technology and optical camouflage field previously unencountered by UNSC personal. -033 managed to subdue the unknown alien soldier ( see attached video file), making expert use of hand to hand techniques as well as the strength and reflexes further boosted by the MJOLNIR system they were wearing.

Spartans -030, -034, -087, and -108 were commanded to assist in sweeping the ship for any remaining covenant presence with the boarding party sent from the UNSC Commonwealth, while Spartans -033 and -117 stood watch over the capture kig-yar captain and the mystery assailant while awaiting transfer back to the Commonwealth

Operation: Fly-Swatter, is an unprecedented success. The Spartans had accepted they were going on a suicide mission to save the materials and research of the Spartan and Mjolnir projects, and not only managed to take a covenant vessel mid space battle and capture it nearly completely intact, along with its surviving crew that surrendered in the face of overwhelming odds including their captain and yet uncatalogued Covenant Species, along with their equipment, weaponry and technologies, but had done so without suffering a single casualty. It does not need repeating nor explanation to explain how massive of a victory this is, to capture a complete Covenant craft in the opening days of the war against the Covenant, without losing a single, nigh irreplaceable asset in the the process nor losing either the project materials or the heavy frigate assigned to transport said materials, while securing valuable intel and research materials, including but certainly not limited to the standard issue equipment given to the crew of the covenant cruiser, Live captures of the covenant races, and retrieval of cultural artifacts and more specialized equipment. The full report, every video and audio file, everything, is being sent to the right offices in the office of naval intelligence and all the way up to HIGHCOM, orders effective immediately...
Cont

>>6232202
___
OPERATION: FLY-SWATTER

Primary objective: Success! War Effort: The MJOLNIR Project continues, Dr Halsey's survival ensured, the UNSC Commonwealth survives the spacebattle, the Spartan twos are proven against the covenant. Personal/ Squad wide: All surviving Spartans from the mission gain experience fighting Covenant forces

Secret Objective 1: Success! :War Effort: Study and reverse engineering efforts on all captured equipment and tech begins. Research projects: Plasma Weaponry, Energy Shields, Subanese Crystals, Covenant Computers, Covenant Artificial intelligence, Active Camouflage and kig yar physiology begin and progress. Secondary Objective: Success! Research projects: Kig Yar Language, Kig Yar Culture, and Kig Yar warfare progressed

Secret Objective 2: Success!: War Effort: A massive windfall in the form of an intact covenant vessel, both for morale/PR and research is received. UNSC tacticians begin studying the battle over Chi Cheti IV. Research Projects: Energy Shields (Ships), Laser weaponry, Covenant Point defense system, Repulsor engines, Covenant Slipspace engines, Covenant languages, Star charts/ navigation, Covenant Alloys, Covenant vehicle (Phantom), Covenant Culture/ religion...etc begun. Covenant Language, Plasma Weaponry, Energy shields, Covenant Computers, Covenant artificial intelligence progressed

Secret Objective 3: Success: War effort: Faith in the Spartan-II program and Project MJOLNIR reaches an all time high in ONI, additional funds are granted to the projects, effective immediately. Spartans: Those who know they exist, notice the continued extreme effectiveness of the Spartan twos, for good and ill. Personal: Blue team thinks they "owe" Sven-033 one for getting John, Kelly and Sam through what might as well have been a suicide mission in one piece, and Command notices that Ensign Askelands success in Dark Forest wasn't a one off fluke, for good and ill...

Bonus Objective 1: Secure Ziq Zin's private collection. War effort: The various parts of the Captains private collection are put understudy. Research Project: Kig Yar Culture and Language, progressed further, Plasma weaponry progressed, xenobiology progressed, Covenant culture/ religion progressed. Wick's remains are given a public burial with full military honors, increasing morale and fervor across UNSC/ Outer Colony space

Bonus Objective 2: Battle the elite onboard the ship. War Effort: Research project, Sangheili language, sangheili physiology begin, research projects active camouflage, energy shields progress

Extreme success reflects very well on Sven-033's military record. A victory of this magnitude reflects extremely well on the Spartan-II program overall...
cont

Advancement Path: Brawler has progressed to rank 4
New/ Additional effects. Sven further improves his hand to hand capabilities, growing more adept at the styles he already employs+ learning new ones. Sven no longer takes penalties to fighting armed opponents in CQC, further reduces the penalties when outnumbered and expands the range of penalty reduction to come into effect while fighting more opponents at once. Sven can choose whether to knock out or kill any opponent he beats in CQC

Advancement Path: Bulwark has progressed to rank 3
New/ additional effects. Sven will heal lesser injuries during field operations/ battle , can suffer greater wounds before suffering penalties and shrug off worse injuries than before, can take more wounds before being incapacitated/ killed. When taking a hit/ damage for an ally, Sven will reduce the damage inflicted. Sven unlocks the ability to wear heavier armor. PC specific ability/Interaction with Special Quality Giant: Sven can force enemies to take a hit for him.

Advancement Path: Grenadier has progressed to rank 3
. New/ additional effects. Sven's grenade capacity increases to 6, and can take more specialized grenades into his kit during field operations. Sven's aim and throw distant increases further, DC to disarm explosives/ create them reduced

Pick one

1st: Shotgunner. Unlock Conditions: Employ a shotgun effectively during combat, receive advance urban combat training, use a shotgun to "disarm" an enemy
If accepted now, effects on Sven-033 will be: Sven's accuracy with firearms in close range/ close quarters combat will improve. He will prefer to use and gain bonuses while using shotguns/ similar weapons, Sven will be able to employ Shotguns/ similar weapons more effectively in CQC situations

2nd: Scrounger. Unlock Conditions: Use scavenged enemy equipment or improvised weapon during a mission/ in combat, salvage broken equipment/ weaponry/ gear while in the fields,
If accepted now, effects on Sven-033 will be: Sven will more readily be able to repair his equipment in the field without proper gear/ materials, and will be more willing/ able to use enemy weapons during combat/ more likely to find salvageable gear while on a mission

3rd: Shield bearer. Unlock Conditions: Use a kig-yar point defense gauntlet in an op, or use something (besides a corpse) as a shield during combat.
If accepted now, effects on Sven-033 will be: Sven will be more likely to find functional Kig-Yar shields in missions/ find more things that'd make for good shields in the fields and have the option to bring one in his initial loadout when starting missions

4th: EVA expert: Unlock Conditions: Successfully perform a risky EVA, fight in zero g.
If accepted now, effects on Sven-033 will be: Sven becomes more nimble/ agile in microgravities and will be more experienced at performing EVA/ capable of performing more advance maneuvers

>Accept Shotgunner

>Accept Scrounger

>Accept Shield Bearer

>Accept EVA expert

>Refuse all

>>6232205
> Star charts/ navigation

unironically huge, We have actual targets to strike at now. We won't be on just the defense.

Is there a place with like a bar or w.e. to see how much of an impact this is towards certain 'threshold' type stuff?

>>6232206

>Accept Scrounger

God I wish we could also take shield bearer.

>>6232206
>>Accept Scrounger

god i want shotgunner so badly but survival is key and i refuse to not pick something that will keep Sven alive

>>6232208
Is it? Fact of the matter is that the Covenant will almost always have a material advantage, and the initial years of the war weren't exactly an afterthought for the Covenant, their might was elsewhere for decades. If UNSC starships start burning Covie worlds, the hammer is gonna come down ever faster, even harder.

It's never fully explained how large the Covenant were at their peak, but all indicators point towards them totally dwarfing Humanity by several magnitudes. The UNSC couldn't even defend 800 worlds. How are they going to mount offensives on thousands? And if they pick and choose where to attack, how are they going to attack key manufacturing centers seething with Covenant shipping? By sending Spartans on deep strike missions? There are only so many of us. By clever naval tactics? We only have one Admiral Cole.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

>Accept Scrounger

>>6232214
*and while the initial years of the war

is what I meant to type.

>>6232206
>Accept Scrounger

>>6232206
>Accept Shotgunner
We've taken shotguns on every mission so far iirc, no reason not to lean into that.

>>6232206
Great AAR, glad to see those advancement path rank ups too. And all of these options are good, hard to choose.
>Accept Scrounger
>>6232214
I agree with you that it'll make the Covenant take the UNSC more seriously earlier than normal. IMO this'll just accelerate a few things happening. The UNSC has deep strike targets now instead of later to send Spartans at. The SII program has MORE funding now instead of being totally cut, meaning Class 2 might actually happen. Even adding a month or two before End Game is ordered would see the active deployment of NOVA bombs to stop Covenant fleets and crack their forward colonies, so things like SUNSPEAR might happen before the war ends. At the very least it'll be fun to play through.

>>6232206
>Accept Scrounger
Need sven to loot an energy sword.

I feel like we have succeeded in making the coming war a lot more bloody.

>>6232228
>Even adding a month or two before End Game is ordered would see the active deployment of NOVA bombs to stop Covenant fleets and crack their forward colonies, so things like SUNSPEAR might happen before the war ends. At the very least it'll be fun to play through

That sort of stuff is so far in the future though. Would be fun to play through, I concur. If Sven makes it that far.

Though I will make a point that Class II was a failure primarily because of a lack of funding, but because of a lack of candidates. 404 could completely forgo that but I'm not sure how much I'd like that in all honesty.

>>6232206
All good options. But we seem to use shotgun a whole lot. Really want something for it.
>Accept Shotgunner

>>6232231
Bloodier than 23 billion deaths? Bloodier than 59 percent of the human race getting snuffed out in barely just under a third of a lifetime? Terrifying prospect, I must say.

>>6232206
>Accept Shield Bearer
Mmm heavy armor + shield

>>6232214
While the covenant had a material advantage and is expected to be quite abit more of the Milky way arm then us.

This with the Kig-yar star charts gives us a chance to hit locations like shipyards or what not for an edge in the coming war OR do recon and find out the various races.

Hell ONI's goofy-ass Grassland 'super grain' that couldn't be viable to Sangheili might be designed and used here on convenant worlds and strangle supply lines.

>>6232228
>>6232239
Clearly we're actually full war footing this bitch now instead of going 'Ah ya no, Don't worry about all those colonies going dark. Thats crazy..'

Also ONI stealth ships gotta get caught first eitherway.

>>6232206
>>Accept Scrounger
Fuel rod cannon - RELEASE!

>>6232247
I understand that this gives us the chance to hit shipyards. I just think you guys are forgetting that our ships still do not compare to the covenant at all, not now and not for at least another decade. And we don't have any NOVA bombs, yet, to take out entire fleets.

And the whole 'colonies going dark' and 'ignoring the war' is kind of a half truth overblown by fans and barely explained by Halo Lore really. I don't think the UNSC wasn't totally mobilized by 2531, at LEAST.

I know nothing about the ONI killer grain so I can't touch on any points there.

>>6232253
Oh no I'm well aware that this war is still gonna suck horribly, I'm well aware we'll be lucky if the funny numbers of 3 to 1 with atleast 2 dead UNSC ships for 1 covenant will happen.

I just want the covenant to burn and pay.

The colonies going dark and ignoring the war was kinda ONI's stick until it became unhidable. They framed them on Innies/ect during the time, because they worried a sudden call to arms and 'we're literally outgunned/manned/ect by aliens' would collapse the UNSC.


the ONI killer grain is from the grassland series post war. A joke but was in the book and something they tried. May have been in The Thursday War but its been awhile sense i touched or read those.

>>6232253
At most, I figure the UNSC would be on total war footing by 2534, the year the Covenant finally demolished Harvest.

>>6232206
>Accept Scrounger
Hopefully we get boarding pods later in the war

>>6232206
>>Accept Shotgunner
THIS IS OUR GUN
BECOME DEATH AT CLOSE RANGE

no seriously. Sven is great with a shotgun. And the shotgun proved its worth. Lets take this perk and become even more deadly with it.

Plz its a very good weapon and Sven is great with it. He is already a great close combat specialist this would complete his combat role

>>6232256
>The colonies going dark and ignoring the war was kinda ONI's stick until it became unhidable. They framed them on Innies/ect during the time, because they worried a sudden call to arms and 'we're literally outgunned/manned/ect by aliens' would collapse the UNSC.

This is true, but that tactic stopped by 2535, as stated in the Cole Protocol-they were outright admitting that most of the Outer Colonies had turned into glowing balls of desolate rock.

>>6232265
Ya but thats a whole ass 10 years from now. Which was my point, the UNSC clearly isn't at a point or won't be for along time in a 'war-footing' sitution because ONI kept the lid on it.

If that changes, Then the war may become a hell of alot more bloody because that means possibly more ships/recruits/ect.

Instead of the random goofy ass Milita men that are always stealing UNSC guns and throwing hands on par with marines on there world. God Bless the guys on Reach lol.

>>6232266
Mmm, I'm not sure it'll make too much of a difference. We'll see though!

>>6232210
Combat is also survival. Being even better with a shotgun makes Sven even more deadly at close range.

>>6232210
You know what'd keep us alive more effectively than being able to pick up and use enemy equipment? Being able to use our primary weapon that we start almost every operation with more effectively.

>>6232239
More alien blood as well this time

>>6232265
I thought they were on a full on war footing in 2525 when news got back from Harvest. They stopped blaming innies and went public in early 2526 when Bliss got glassed and the scale of the threat became clear/too big to hide.

>>6232206
>>Accept Shotgunner

>>6232206
>>Accept Scrounger
Finding more shit that works not only means more stuff we can readily use in the field, but also more acceptable salvage after OPs. And being able to jury-rig fixes to busted armor is extremely useful.
I kinda want EVA expert. But we already did fly pretty good. For a brick anyway. And at this rate Sven is going to wind up not needing weapons in CQC. Start room clearing with empty hands. Whew.

I'm curious as to what perks and talents the rest of the squad are picking up.

>>6232214
Well it does tell us definitely what general direction the Covenant are coming from. Which might not seem important but it's a lot more useful than "these places are dying over here first". It gives a leg up on deployment pattern, which can give a tiny bit of insight into engagement philosophy and doctrine. As well as informing us that if they do have a traditional logistics network it is coming out of here specifically. Which can make it easier to time and plan around. We might not be attacking but knowing the enemy has to stop makes it a lot easier to know when you can move to a more effective defense and not get caught with your pants down mid-transit.

Not to mention the general navimetric data means we can actually see how quickly they move and how long then tend to loiter. Very important. Especially since the Covenant are extremely dogmatic and traditional, so any patterns that can be deduced by our analysts and officers will be far more likely to be actionable and effective than with a more flexible enemy. It ain't a smoking barrel, sure, but it's definitely thumbing the hammer.

>>6232206
>Accept Scrounger

I feel like we are likely going to be using a lot of Covenant weapons in the future. I would ALSO like to take Shotgunner, but I feel like Scrounger will be harder to get in the future.

On the note of salvage. I pointed out in thread 2 that reverse engineering the thrusters and warp drives of The Covenant is likely to be the biggest game changer.

If the movement systems of the covenant ship can be understood, fleets would much be able to reinforce one another quickly. which can alleviate the problem the UNSC had during the war of needing 3 ships of the same class to have a fair fight against the covenant.

A prime example is the fall of Reach. It took weeks to months for ships to crawl their way back to defend Reach. If Borer's and gravitic engines could be equipped, the entire human fleet might have been able to get to Reach within the first week of fighting. It would also mean the evacuation of falling worlds would be much more feasible since ships could do hundreds of runs in the same amount of time it took for a Shaw-Fujikawa engine to do one.

Of course, equipping the entire human fleet would be quite...hard to do. Maybe impossible to do. But I imagine massive ships like the Punic & Epoch carriers would likely be outfitted first. Those ships could easily help defeat a lot of the smaller incursions that killed planets like Paris IV.

>>6232300
For me the hierarchy of important tech is engines/drives/slipspace stuff, then ship shields, then probably everything else honestly. Just those two things alone would have a dramatic impact on general combat. The more of these bastards we kill in space is the less we need to worry about combat on the ground and the more lives can be saved otherwise.

>>6232206
>Accept Shotgunner
This, is my BOOMSTICK

>>6232206
>Accept Shotgunner

>>6232206
>>Accept Shield Bearer
The WALL, THE WALL. NO FORCE ON EARTH CAN MAKE IT FALL!

>>6232206
>Accept Shotgunner
Bubble gum, kick ass, all that jazz. I wanna vaporize covies in close quarters.

>>6232524
Aren't grenades and hand to hand enough close quarters power?

>>6232525
If you don't care about collateral damage or having to fight multiple opponents barehanded, sure.

>>6232539
Fully automatic weapons are better for CQC than shotguns UNLESS the enemy is in a line or row, like a trench. Assuming multiple enemies. Shotguns have better utility though. The ideal CQC gun is a moderate-large caliber subgun. Or an automatic shotgun, but then it loses some of the utility shotguns have. And frankly, engaging multiple targets in CQC - gun or not - is just a bad idea. Ideally you wouldn't put yourself in that situation at all.

Also guns can still deal collateral damage, just less risk. If you shouldn't throw a grenade next to it you probably shouldn't fire a gun in its general direction either. Still, less risk

Unfortunately won't be able to write an update today. Good news is i should be able to solve my internet issue tommorrow

The current round of voting will remain open.

Loving all the discussion/ debate that's going on this round btw

>>6232616
While you're here, tell me, how long is it gonna be until news of this successful op gets to Mendez?

>>6232206

>>Accept Shotgunner

>>6232616
It's cool.
Curious where you're going from here. Blue Team/Halsey split off from the rest of the IIs and head for Alpha Corvi II in canon after this, but I suppose it might not work out like that.
Whitaker's guys didn't deserve that shit. Fuck Yao.

>>6232624
Well considering he hasn't left the Spartan 2 program yet, it shouldn't be long until he hears how two of his best trainees captured a covenant ship, seemingly after planting bombs that would've destroyed it just to send a message

But, enough about Mendez, Imagine how Ackerson is feeling right about now

>>6232629
>Imagine how Ackerson is feeling right about now

>>6232629
so what advancement paths did the others pick up cause id like too know so spreedsheet anon can add it to the respective skills sheet

>>6232206
>Accept Scrounger
We MacGyver now.

So you guys think this win will accelerate the fall of Reach or delay it? Is it going to be a race between us reverse engineering the tech and them tracking the ship down/destroying it?

>>6232654
Yeah that's another good point. I hope to GOD ONI/UNSC Bigwigs don't bring this thing back to Reach or any other important human colony. I would not put it past the Covenant to have multiple redundant ways to track their own ships, especially due to their past of internal strife.

Either way, it won't be a race, they'll either destroy it in the short term or not. I really hope none of the players in the quest right now are expecting us to redevelop ANYTHING like covenant technology AND fielding it in mass within the next 10 years at LEAST.

>>6232206
>Accept Shield Bearer

>>6232664
If there's one thing ONI has no shortage of, it's black sites far away from anything important. We should be fine for now.

>>6232654
We are the start of the war and we just had a major victory. I dont think a major victory, accelerates Reach Fall. Losing makes defeats more possible, a victory like this helps humanity immensely. Whats with this desire to skip, we have a war ahead of us. Reach will not happen anytime soon especially if we bring victories like this home.

In regard to the ship.
I have enough respect for the current characters on board this alien ship, that i believe they would consider the fact this ship might be able to be tracked or make a signal on its own, and do something about it.


>>6232664
I dont expect anything like that at all. It just helps mankind if we grab the aliens stuff really. Maybe there will be more human standard tech advancements (without covenant tech, straight up human technology), but thats about it for what i expect.

>>6232664
>I really hope none of the players in the quest right now are expecting us to redevelop ANYTHING like covenant technology AND fielding it in mass within the next 10 years at LEAST.

10 years thats waaay to generous i said 15-20 in my initial estimations if only because tooling and making the actual production facilities will take a hot minute

>>6232664
>He says as Shielding rolls out from Kig-yar gauntlets in like 5 years.

>>6232629
ACKerson on suicide watch. I wouldn't mind S3's still coming around but if you do I can't even imagine how you're going to justify them. Maybe the S2 program will natural evolve into it after Halsey figures out Ackerson chemical aug plan?
>>6232664
IIRC the Covenant can track their own luminaries AND slipspace drives from their top down FTL coms system. Shit'll be fucked, and funny. And yeah, feels like I've been banging my head against a brick wall with the whole reverse engineering conversation. There were a few anons who just didn't get it that most of the shit the UNSC managed to reverse engineer was through sheer random chance. That said, grabbling a bunch of shit early does increase our odds in the reverse engineering lottery. Who knows, maybe the ship mistress had really old collectable Covenant tech aboard improperly sealed so the lab coats can crack it.

>>6232714
>Rolling out S3's

Weird way to say you love children to the slaughter, but pop off.

Honestly, It'd be just better to roll from 2 to 4.

even if 4's are objectively the worse.

>>6232714
Honestly it'll get shipped off and we'll never se/deal with it again tbf.

>>6232712
I expect them in no more than a year in our timeline. DIMAS! Diddle that shield bracer.

>>6232664
Mass producing reverse engineered tech any time soon might be unlikely but it won't take long for new tech to start showing up on the battlefield. The Rhino tanks were fielded as early as 2531, only a few years ahead of us. The chances of ONI successfully developing new technologies for the war effort depends on how many samples of covenant tech they get their hands on so the scrounger trait is going to be pretty useful.

>>6232718
I'm gonna skip the wall of text I had type out and just say this, the SPARTAN program is gonna have to expand its intake to include enlisted personnel eventually just to keep up with the growing demands of the UNSC and ONI for such personnel.
How they go about doing that will determine whether or not we still have Spartans worthy of that title in the future. I only hope that Sven is in a position to argue for something better than what was done canonically.

>>6232733
How dare you deny me, my wall of text. But you are very correct

>>6232733
>inb4 sven suggests a eugenics program and everyone but halsey and a few other spartans make a face

>>6232737
>Halsey just standing there smiling like "Thats my boy"

>>6232737
Like mother like son.

>>6232546
There is something satisfying about shredding xenos with a good-ol, human-made shotgun though. They also have the advantage of being very durable and reliable, which is a bonus for someone often taking point and inclined to use the gun as a beat stick.

>>6232773
Okay I won't even lie, I laughed my ass off watching that clip.

>>6232718
>Weird way to say you love children to the slaughter, but pop off.
Hell yeah, nothing better than child soldiers for a good narrative experience. But yeah, in this go around I think just the chemical aug improvements and broader genetic profiles will work well with a continued 2 program. 4s conceptually are fine and logical progress. 343's implementation is dogshit and I hate them.
>Honestly it'll get shipped off and we'll never se/deal with it again tbg.
Agreed. I've got no problem with that either, otherwise it's just a distraction to the war effort with how banged up it is.
>>6232733
Since we're an officer, and class 2 is a thing now and likely with Army support if ACKerson knows what's good for him, I say we try and figure out some sort of joint command like US SOCOM/JSOC instead of the retarded Spartan Branch. That way we still have access to every branches equipment instead of begging for it and pretending we're totally independent.
>>6232773
The fun part about the M45/M90 is that they're 8ga. That's a whole lot of finding out for aliens that fuck around. And I'm glad 404 is including alternative munition types rather than just the typical tactical buckshot. Maybe we could convince someone at WST or Misriah to make us a 4ga version of the M90 or M45.

>>6232718
>Weird way to say you love children to the slaughter
I do tacitly support the idea of putting war orphans up for the program, but I don't agree with making their being expendable like the initial Spartan III companies canonically.
I don't think I need to yammer on about lives spent and lives wasted to get my point across here.

>>6232775
>4ga shotgun

>>6232773
Shotguns are kino, and pretty tough, but I think Halo notes that all of the guns made by humanity are rock solid thanks to their general level of material science. Though I suppose if we are taking complexity into account a pump action is always going to be a little more robust than any automatic action.

also lmao get finessed splitjaw

>>6232775
>Hell yeah, nothing better than child soldiers for a good narrative experience.
>"Boss that was a child... good work! That's why you're the best!"
>S-rank success

>>6232776
I blame Ackerson for that one. He was too desperate to one-up Halsey with his "just as good, twice as expendable, thrice as affordable" copies that he lost the plot that soldiers kind of need to survive to be worth it. Bad decisions all around. Everyone that got put in charge of the 3s also used them poorly.

>>6232779
Honestly just give a goddamn blunderbuss. Rock a fucking 2gauge. Swing that handheld cannon around.

>>6232206
>>Accept Scrounger
Plasma grenades my beloved

>>6232733
Right now the Spartan Program as gained in the AFTER ACTION REPORT full trust and Command/ONI decided to immediately expand the budget of the Program.

That means Halsey and Mendez will be far more trusted and listened to, and they are giving them more power. They are the ones that transformed this program in to a reality, a reality that is very effective and deadly. If you are High Command or ONI and want more Spartans ? Or even better ones ? Now you need to listen.

In regard to Spartans II, they have shown to be very intelligent and tactically minded so their opinions will definetly be heard even by officers that dont like them, and will very much be listened by Command and ONI. Their success is immense and cannot be denied by anyone. More importantly, both Mendez and Halsey very much listen and are willing to help their not-kids in anything they might want to do. And the cherry on top ? Promotions, commendations, medals and other military honors are about to rain on the Spartans like rain in a monsoon season. I wouldn't be surprised if Sven, John and Kurd jump two whole ranks up in the military hierarchy same for others like the spartan teams leaders. Even if Sven might jump even higher in rank.

>>6232775
>>6232779
Could Misriah or WST make a 4ga version of the M90 or M45 that is also automatic ? I think Sven would be capable of handling a weapon like that with his strength and endurance.

>>6232919

Sven just did some Colonial Cross and Legion of Honour shit, IMHO. Conspicuous gallantry and shocking bravery in the face of suicidal threat, and tactical disadvantage, displaying superior skill.

If that doesn't get like the top 5 awards the UNSC has, our boy needs to find a better class of employer.

>>6232947

Sheeeeit. After the shit he just pulled, they need to be INVENTING a whole new tier of award for our boy.

"What award is THAT? It's like four pounds of gold and stuff."

"Six and a half pounds actually. It's the Superiority of Sven award, or just 'the Sven' for short."

"Wow. Does like everyone salute you first when you get that or something?"

"More or less. You actually get a permanent island populated by strippers on a resort planet of your choice, and rumor has it if a general pisses you off you can force them to give you a blowjob."

"Ewww. I mean, cool, but some of those guys be ugly, even if I was into dudes."

"It's not about the blowjob, it's about sending a message."

"So... What did you do to earn the Sven? A friend of a friend says he knew him and the shit he would get into."

"Charged, climbed and killed a walker with a fork. Salad fork, not dinner fork."

"Yeah, that sounds like him."

>>6232919
In a disturbing twist me might see children actually willingly given up to become the Second Class of MkIIs.By UNSC diehards. However I expect we'll still get the SPARTAN-IIIs due to them being needed in short time frames and honestly the still dire state we'll be in during this whole war. What might be interesting is how they'll get people to train them the Mk.IIIs?

>>6232954
We actually have a unique situation because we're commissioned, they have to not our existence and achievements, I hope the Halsey bodyguard arc is possible cos that'd be fun
>>6232828
We should get shotgun knuckledusters, combos with our fight style

>>6232958
Yes, please. With Sven's successes, and a few nat20s, the UNSC starts a production line of SPARTAN IIs, so that when the Covenant escalates, the UNSC will have a pool of SIIs large enough that the cheaper SIII/SIV programs will not get funded, as SIIs will be rolling off the assembly line. Over time the SII process will be perfected, so that we have the CHRYSANTEMUM augs (100% aug success rate) with a mass produced (thus cheap) MJOLNIR armor (in stead of the SPI) and SII training.

>>6232947
It will probably. At least one or two lol.

>>6232958
Second Class of SPARTAN II was already approved due to the previous success of prior missions and its going on right now, Mendez was placed once again in directing the class. With the budget increasing i wouldn't be surprised if a 3 and 4 class of SPARTAN II are made afterwards.

Spartan III depends. There is a reason for why they were made and it aint just about the war. With the Spartan II project winning so much, Halsey and Mendez will have a larger degree of power on anything Spartan. Its not written in stone but we will make sure no shitheads like ACKerson are getting near Spartans.

Preferably if it happens, it will be people handpicked by Halsey and Mendez if not just them. Or partially Spartans II of first class.


Speaking of budget i am looking forward for see what else arrives with the big increase in the Program. An always available bigger armory for spartans should be easy, something like what elite soldiers and special forces of the UNSC alteady have. Maybe some personalized stuff for each spartan, nothing revolutionary. But expensive and the best human tech around can still help. Support teams like the Infinity had for each Spartan would be pretty sweet. Maybe there is enough funds for more AIs. One for team would be great.

What would be even better is Spartans getting some decisional powers for missions (like deciding who to fight alongside, for avoid to work with very uncooperative soldiers like those ODSTs in BLOODAXE operation).

>>6233006
The inherently limiting factor of a second and third class of SPARTAN's is the lack of genetic stock "out in the wild" and the potential repercussions of having more mass kidnappings.

My honest best guess for how ONI will deal with this is to use the genetic stock from the first and potential second generation of SPARTAN's and raise the children involved from birth to fight the covenant.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sven and the rest from the first generation find out they either made genetic clones that gestated normally instead of flash-cloned, or gene-tailored mix babies made using the sperm and egg samples Halsey definitely has in cryo of every single spartan.

However, no matter how successful the spartan program is, there will always be the limiting factor that the equipment is expensive as hell. The 3'rd generation of SPARTAN's was made expendable not solely because Ackerson took a dose of the stupid drug, but also because the entire UNSC was on fire, and every single department of defence was screaming for water to try and douse said fire. His attempt at cutting costs wherever he could was because any money going to his department was potential ships that weren't being made, defensive structures that weren't being built, and relief efforts towards those from dead worlds not being paid for. In that way, the spartan program will likely need to cut costs no matter what, because it's hard to justify making another 100 SPARTAN's when their armour individually costs the same as a complete destroyer class vessel and UNSC orbital supremacy is a joke between navy admirals.

>>6232722
>>6232664
>>6232701
>>6232714

Reverse engineering is gonna take a while, that's for sure. But things can be done to help the process.

One way we could alter the likelihood of reverse engineering covenant tech would probably be shifting corporate involvement to be much more hands-on through ONI. Shifting the corporations away from a civilian growth-oriented mindset towards a full-on militarized economy where each company aren't competing destructively and has state-directed goals.

In the normal timeline, ONI's efforts to reverse engineer alien tech were mostly limited to Section 3, with Beta-3 division, REAP-X and XEG groups. Said groups of course had a lot of tools on their hands, but because of the secrecy of these groups, experts probably couldn't be poached easily. I imagine if experts were brought in from these large corporations, it might make a big difference in both the industrial testing capacity of the efforts, as well as data dissemination.

To name of some companies which come to mind, whose resources and manpower could be used for reverse-engineering efforts. Such as:

Sinoviet Heavy Machinery
Hannibal Weapon Systems
Boglin fields
Chalybs Defense Solutions
Daedalia Technology
Halifax Spacewerx
Kawanishi Engineering
Lethbridge Industrial
Lux Voluspa
Misriah Armory
Naoto Technologies
Orphios Energy Systems

Maybe we could get Halsey to get an effort like this kickstarted within ONI instead of the weak initial response done in the normal timeline? I imagine with Sven & company's success she has a lot of influence she can throw around within ONI. She might even be able to get our boy Dimas to be the technical leader of the project.

>>6233004
Not how it works. There aren't enough kids in the UNSC to mass produce IIs.
>>6232958
>We should get shotgun knuckledusters, combos with our fight style
Hay buddy, I think you've got the wrong thread. RWBY gen is two boards down in trash
>>6232925
No, if you change the action of a weapon so drastically you're essentially just making a new weapon. Whatever shotgun comes out of that rework hell would have a new designation.
>>6232919
John gets to MCPO at the end of Silent Storm so maybe? Halo is weird with it's ranks. Often it'll reference shit like Time in Service which is a real thing and part of the minimum requirement to rank up but then gives a 16y/o an enlisted rank with 15-20 years minimum TiS.

>>6233111
>Hay buddy, I think you've got the wrong thread. RWBY gen is two boards down in trash

>quote from anon, pictured above

>>6233019
>I wouldn't be surprised if Sven and the rest from the first generation find out they either made genetic clones that gestated normally instead of flash-cloned, or gene-tailored mix babies made using the sperm and egg samples Halsey definitely has in cryo of every single spart
It could be a possibility, but i am not sure it would be approved. It definetly would provide good Spartans, and you need to do 0 operations of kidnapping. Its hardly fair to those kids though, and their lives are controlled from the very beginning. With Halsey now very much in charge (cannot be denied until a major defeat of the program) of the program, this will probably not happen. She still has an heart.


In regard to cutting costs, success guarantees their budget its not just butchered like in canon. It will receive some cuts that i agree with you, like everything in war, but if it keeps up with victories then definetly more Spartans can be made and outfitted properly. And frankly is far better to have that than making a poorer and worse attempt of Spartans.


>>6233054
Could be an idea. Multiple corporate interests and efforts involved directly in something like Covenant technological research is certainly no small matter of course. So it might not be approved on the get go. Will likely need some time. But it makes an hell of a difference, if there a proposal for create a collaborative effort between them and the military. I don't know if Sven likes corpos though.


>>6233111
>No, if you change the action of a weapon so drastically you're essentially just making a new weapon. Whatever shotgun comes out of that rework hell would have a new designation.
interesting....maybe we should send the idea of this alien splatter ....

I think new ranks are guaranteed after this victory. Maybe i have shoot too high with what the Spartans will get lol. It will be probably at least going up one rank for most spartan leaders.

>>6233054
if ONI dosnt have a DARPA like system going for it im going to be very disappointed cause like using others to achive your goals is like spy shit 101

>>6233111
SIIIs were made out of angsty kids whose home planet was glassed by the Covenant. So there are enough kids.

SIIs were enlisted at 5. So if we count their combat training as active service, by age 16 they will have 10-11 yrs TiS. So, they'll be PO3 by age 8 (30 mos total TiS), and likely to reach CPO by age 16 barring war exploits. (assuming 3 yrs TiR/advancement) SIIs are deployable by age 15-16. (Augs @14, then need to heal)

>>6233054
Get the military-industrial complex to work on ayy goodies. No way it will create a cyberpunk dystopia. Nooo, sir.

>>6233122
"Begun, the clone wars has."
(Cue Imperial march)

>>6233154
>Get the military-industrial complex to work on ayy goodies. No way it will create a cyberpunk dystopia. Nooo, sir.

im gonna be real with you; you're too late on that one Halo is pretty cyberpunk already its just not really dystopian since the UNSC does come down on corporations pretty hard since only the UNSC has the ships to enforce itself on them

>>6233154
>So there are enough kids.
There are enough kids for SIIIs. Not SIIs. There would be maybe a dozen kids from the entire program that would be viable candidates to undergo ASTER augmentation. And as long as Halsey is the head of the SII program I doubt we're getting CHRYSATHEMUM any time soon unless Ackerson manages to convince her otherwise. Though that would be one good way for 404 to improve the program and keep 3's around in spirit.
>IIs were enlisted at 5. So if we count their combat training as active service, by age 16 they will have 10-11 yrs TiS.
UNSC has a minimum service age of 16(I think), and Spartan records are edited to show that they enlisted/commissioned at the minimum age IIRC. That was a big plot point in Hunt the Truth, being that the UNSC at large didn't know Spartans were child soldiers and it was odd that the MC made rank so fast. Otherwise it's entirely up to the narrative on how it works. And in this case, 404 gets to determine our rank progress.
>No way it will create a cyberpunk dystopia. Nooo, sir.
Halo's UEG is already Cyberpunk dystopia. Complete with megacorporate space colonies and extensive cybernetics.
>>6233115
How'd you get that picture of me.

>>6233019
>My honest best guess for how ONI will deal with this is to use the genetic stock from the first and potential second generation of SPARTAN's and raise the children involved from birth to fight the covenant.
One small issue; the UN Colonial Mortal Dictata. Clones are a no-go, especially when the SPARTAN program and Halsey are already violating the fuck out of it. Going even further beyond the pale is gonna be an impossible sell for Parangosky.

>>6233162
>And as long as Halsey is the head of the SII program I doubt we're getting CHRYSATHEMUM any time soon
I beg to differ. Halsey was clearly torn up about the failure rate associated with ASTER, so as long as she's still attached to the program, she's most definitely going to look into new and improved methods of augmentation. I think it's safe to say the research and development staff under Halsey would come up with improved methods considerably faster than they would under Ackerson.

>>6233168
I'm sure she'll work to improve ASTER without a doubt. I just don't think she'll change the fundamental process. She might accept alternatives to some of the major surgeries, such as the chemical treatments for bone enhancements and muscles. Now that I think about it, it'll probably end up as some hybrid between ASTER and CHRYS. A wider candidate pool but not every kid with a grudge wide.

>>6233175
I think she'll eventually come to the conclusion nearly all of the individual augmentations would be better done via chemicals, if only to reduce the mortality rate.
That said, I definitely agree she'd be a little more persnickety about the genetic and psychological profiles even if she does concede that the range has to be expanded.

>>6233142
from my reading of lore, it seems like ONI mostly kept research under wraps and only loaned out schematics and data relevant to Covenant tech to those it was relevant.

So for example, They wouldn't give all of the data collected from a repulsor engine to Boglin Fields, instead, they would give them the specifications they thought were possible from the testing done within REAP-X and then commission Boglin Fields to design and manufacture such an engine. Secrecy kept the entire time.

>>6233164
There are several different ways to clone that wouldn't break the Mortal Dictata more than Halsey already has.

One major example. If Halsey wanted to she could have ONI agents pose as a family wanting a surrogate mother, and have the egg implanted with either a solo or mix of genes from the spartan candidates. The child wouldn't suffer from flash cloning, and it might legalistically be less of a break in the Mortal Dictata since you aren't enslaving already free people. And it would probably be less morally apprehensible than kidnapping children who already know of the real world and somewhat know what rights they are supposed to have. However, that depends a lot on one's views of morality and the allegory of Plato's Cave.

The massive initial success of the SPARTAN program in the face of alien warfare will probably let Halsey get away with more human rights abuses. At least I imagine Parangosky will have a much harder time justifying why Halsey shouldn't be able to enslave children when billions are dying and the SPARTAN program keeps on showing glowingly positive results.

But yeah as has been said, Halsey is not a cold monster. Improvements will be made to spartan survival. If not because of the morality of it, then at least because the mortality rate is a massive waste of resources and genetic candidates.

Why would Scrounge impact 'how many samples ONI gets' when they are described in lore as having access to plenty of covenant vehicles even early on, in the massive clashes on and above Harvest and other planets before 2531. The problem isn't getting the items, it's opening them up-they self destruct almost every single time. The shielding Mjolnir got was iirc a complete fluke, an accident.
>>6233054
I want to play a Spartan quest, not a Halo CIV game. But that's just me. I really, really don't think there's much WE as a player can affect within the realm of reason.
>>6232714
I completely forgot that they can track the DRIVE, I thought it was some other bit of tech like a transponder of some sort. That's a bit harder to mess with.

>>6233203
>The shielding Mjolnir got was iirc a complete fluke, an accident.
Welcome to the recurring conversation for the last 3 threads. Some anons can't seem to figure out that Covenant tech is practically impossible to actually reverse engineer. There are only two examples of it off the top of my head, energy shields which took a decade to crack through random chance and another decade and a half to actually utilize, and fuel rod guns because they're so dead simple that Halsey managed to figure them out.
>I completely forgot that they can track the DRIVE
I might have been wrong on that. Positive I read it somewhere, either in a book or on the wiki but for the life of me I can't figure out where.

>>6232919
In Silent Storm, Halsey pesters Cole to give John command of the mission over Colonel Crowther (CO of the Black Daggers battalion). Cole rejects the idea because John only has experience leading a unit-sized force and no experience with logistics. Given Sven's an officer, his record of setting and carrying out missions, and the Spartans' success as a unit, I wonder whether Cole would actually agree this time. Could get bumped up a couple of ranks immediately like John does eventually. Should at least get Crowther to take the Spartans more seriously at the start, giving them more of a say in how they're deployed.

>>6233212
Silent Storm only happened because VADM Cole wanted to capture a Covenant ship. Now that we have one before he even could come up with the plan Silent Storm will likely be a totally different operation. Or at the very lease substantially diverged from the book. Or hell, who knows, maybe Cole wants two Covenant ships.

>>6233210
Two decades. 2544 is the earliest example of UNSC fielding shield tech in the form of the bubble shield, which was actually Forerunner tech which seemingly didn't have the same failsafe's as covenant stuff. For all that we know, it took 26 years for it to hit Mjolnir. That's after years of total war, years and stockpiles of point defense gauntlets.

I think you might be remembering the covenants ability to generally track slipspace streams.

>>6233219
I'm pretty sure I wrote out this exact same post more or less in the very first thread.

>>6233216
That was a failed op to capture the Radiant Arrow at Netherop. Silent Storm was a different plan immediately following that op. Halsey wanted to keep trying to capture a ship. Stanforth thought it was too risky. And Cole wanted results immediately, not to wait years for scientists to possibly reverse engineer a way out of losing the war. So hence Silent Storm, the plan to board some ships and plant tactical nukes to take them out, immediately striking a blow against an invasion force and getting a big win on the board.

>>6233219
>Two decades. 2544 is the earliest example of UNSC fielding shield tech in the form of the bubble shield, which was actually Forerunner tech which seemingly didn't have the same failsafe's as covenant stuff.
Even then it didn't show up in broad use or make much of a difference. Still, we're talking about Covenant tech. Shield gauntlets are expressly mentioned as the source of MJOLNIR energy shields.
>I'm pretty sure I wrote out this exact same post more or less in the very first thread.
Probably. I've had to repeat several of my own posts. Pretty sure half the players here haven't even played the games.
>>6233224
>That was a failed op to capture the Radiant Arrow at Netherop.
Ahh, right. Got the two mixed up. All I remember is that Hector Nyeto must die at our earliest convenience.

>>6233203
>The problem isn't getting the items, it's opening them up-they self destruct almost every single time. The shielding Mjolnir got was iirc a complete fluke, an accident.
So what you're saying is if we get lucky we get earlier shields. You know what helps with that? More chances.

LET'S GO GAMBLING! Aw dang it.

>>6233225
>Shield gauntlets are expressly mentioned as the source of MJOLNIR energy shields.
Yes, I know, I was just stating the earliest adoption of any sort of shield tech by the UNSC/UEG

>Pretty sure half the players here haven't even played the games.
I've been getting that impression myself a little bit. There's nothing wrong with that, really. Just need to temper expectations a bit.

>>6233229
>Yes, I know, I was just stating the earliest adoption of any sort of shield tech by the UNSC/UEG
Ah, my mistake, I misinterpreted what you wrote.
>There's nothing wrong with that, really. Just need to temper expectations a bit.
Certainly. At least we've moved past people wanting an axe and shield.

>>6233232
>people wanting an axe and shield.
Do NOT remind me of that, UGH.

>>6233225
>Hector Nyeto must die at our earliest convenience.
If it all goes ahead, it should be amusing seeing Daisy's (and Nesta's) reactions.
>It was always Daisy.
John: "Oh boy, here we go again."

>>6233111
I was actually referring to Inglorious Bastards, a guy had some there so I figure Sven could have something similar

>>6232206
Also
>Accept Scrounger
Because pairing it with our AI skill might become useful pulling AI out of Covenant stuff or maybe ever forerunner down the line

>>6233233
Lmao.
>>6233235
She's best girl to me for a reason.
>>6233237
>I was actually referring to Inglorious Bastards, a guy had some there
You talking about the white glove from QT's version of the movie? That wasn't a shotgun or knuckle duster, it was an OSS single shot pistol glove chambered in 38SPC.

>>6233212
>Should at least get Crowther to take the Spartans more seriously at the start, giving them more of a say in how they're deployed.
I think the no dead spartans with the current victories on all missions will have even the most hater officer reconsider their opinions. Shit we did in DARK FOREST was special. Here in FLY SWATTER even more.

>>6233226
Its just gonna be an exercise of taking more loot and prisoners home really. Sooner or later something will help maybe. Or no lol.

But I do wonder whats happening when 404 goes
>>6232205
>Research Projects: Energy Shields (Ships), Laser weaponry, Covenant Point defense system, Repulsor engines, Covenant Slipspace engines, Covenant languages, Star charts/ navigation, Covenant Alloys, Covenant vehicle (Phantom), Covenant Culture/ religion...etc begun. Covenant Language, Plasma Weaponry, Energy shields, Covenant Computers, Covenant artificial intelligence progressed

Same for other stuff thats not research like war effort or similar. Like does war effort fevor/morale falls in part if a planet is glassed ? Or does Wick remains return delay that ? I wonder.

Eitherway having victories means automatically influencing the war. So its good even if with the Covenant having a greater advantage.

[b] Rebooting...Monitor 404TormentedCache back online [/b]

Loving how indepth the discussion got this round. And always enjoy seeing a flood of votes!

Sorry for taking so long, had to stay up from when I made my last reply to about 7 this morning to get the Wifi hooked back up.

And yeah, there are going to be medals and promotions. Don't worry lads

13 Votes for Scrounger

8 Votes for Shotgunner

3 Votes for Shield Bearer

AP Scrounger chosen, which is a Special/ Limited AP, like Diplomat and Infiltrator

So here's the current list of Sven's AP and Qualities, as a refresher
_
Brawler:4/10
Bulwark:3/10
Grenadier:3/10
_
Diplomat 1/6
Infiltrator 1/6
Scrounger 1/6
_
Jötunn 1/4

Qualities: [Special] Giant, [Special] SPARTAN-II, Maverick, Officer, Wunderkind, Inspiring
_

>>6232641
Others as in purple team or the whole class? Or just the spartans that were part of FLY-SWATTER? Cause I do have an *Incomplete* list going

>>6232773
That's rad as hell

>>6232954
Lmao

>>6232208
Its more obscured since you took Officer rather than Scientist, and didn't take On the Field researcher as a bonus, so Sven is aware of exactly what is being done, but will be alerted when any research is completed/ reaches a certain point but without the quality/ bonus, Sven can't really start or influence the research directly outside of completing missions/ objectives/ capturing tech (Which will become optional sub objectives in the missions to come, IE shield gauntlets/ Camo fields)

>>6233254
> Like does war effort fevor/morale falls in part if a planet is glassed ?

You'll see

And progress is my way of hinting that the research bar has gone forward/ been boosted. A project beginning means it is being studied and worked on

>>6233369
*So Sven isn't aware of exactly what is being done.

tch, typo

Anyways

[ Decision made ]
[ Proceeding...]

>>6233369
Neat

Damn, So we'll only know when it rolls out due to not taking Scientist/researcher or that things have 'moved on' Oh well.

>>6233369
>Others as in purple team or the whole class? Or just the spartans that were part of FLY-SWATTER? Cause I do have an *Incomplete* list going
just the ones on fly swatter for now

>>6233374
Punching the air right now, homie.

>>6233374
what i wanna know is if Sven does reach basicly desk jocky position can we take time to unlock the scientist quality like a remote crouse work kind of thing

>>6233382
If Sven reaches deck jockey position and he's still able bodied, I'd neck. Spartans belong behind a rifle, not a pen.

>picking the Bureaucrat path involves bureaucracy
No idea how that beat science.

>>6233382
>>6233394
Tooth-to-tail, hot damn I shouldn't have to explain this to people again. There is no 'desk jockey' officer position in the UNSC. AI handle virtually all the typical administrative duties for the UNSC armed forces.

>>6233395
Two more times and it will stick I think

>>6233395
I dunno man. Some of these officers have time to play politics and do spook shit. I feel like that's pretty cushy. Kind of desk-y. You'd think when facing genocide they'd have a bit less time to spare doing, well, anything.

>>6233402
I doubt it. Already past three times with the whole reverse engineering thing.
>>6233404
Yeah they've got so much time to be fucking around like that because they don't have any paperwork to keep them busy. That's how I rationalize the insurrection being a thing in what essentially amounts to a near post scarcity cyberpunk society. Officers fucking around and causing problems because they don't have a bunch of inane bullshit to keep them busy.

>>6233410
>Yeah they've got so much time to be fucking around like that because they don't have any paperwork to keep them busy. That's how I rationalize the insurrection being a thing in what essentially amounts to a near post scarcity cyberpunk society. Officers fucking around and causing problems because they don't have a bunch of inane bullshit to keep them busy.


So my statement of taking remote course work to get the scientest path is perfectly viable and that you completely zoned in on the phrase "desk jocky" when it want the subject of my question the first time

>>6233419
No not really because we will probably be to busy trying to fight against the genocidal aliens.

>>6233419
>and that you completely zoned in on the phrase "desk jocky" when it want the subject of my question the first time
Because I didn't disagree with your suggestion and felt no need to discuss it. In fact it's an argument I myself made in the first thread. There's plenty of down time while being on active duty deployments to do that. It's something people today do on their weekends while we will have guaranteed long periods of time on ships for travel.
>>6233423
Plenty of time to fuck around as an officer in the downtime between missions. Remember it takes humans weeks to months of travel time in Slipspace to get anywhere.

>>6233424
>Plenty of time to fuck around as an officer in the downtime between missions. Remember it takes humans weeks to months of travel time in Slipspace to get anywhere.

Yeah I get that but I feel like Sven would be spending his downtime preparing for his next mission or spending time with his Spartan family.

>>6233430
>Yeah I get that but I feel like Sven would be spending his downtime preparing for his next mission or spending time with his Spartan family.
I don't disagree but I'd also argue that it's in Svens nature to also try improving both his own and his family's odds of survival in the long run. Be it through grinding for a PhD or training.

"Private Cannon! Get your head out of your ass and focus", Corporal Jerez barked over the COM as Cannon found himself staring blankly ahead at the buckled and nearly shorn off of the wall door.

What in god's name could've done that? As far as Cannon knew, it took a Heavy MAC round just to make them flinch, was whatever casually bent that same metal still stomping down the halls? Was that what they'd been sent to clean up. Despite his training, despite having fought a few engagement with against those Neo Viking lunatics that have been popping up wherever the insurrection rears its head, Cannon felt his fingers trembling and his stomach turning. This was a goddamn suicide mission wasn't it? They'd made it sound like it'd be a breeze, just EVA on over to the crippled Covie Cruiser, and give the special forces guys some ammo and cheer them on as they walked around executing the last of the alien crew like they were foxes in a hen house, and they'd all get medals and a promotion for being reinforcements on the winning battle. And, Mitch Cannon had volunteered, having imagined the celebrity of fighting side by side with the famous ODST, maybe even getting a foot in the door for...He shook his head, he'd signed up for an easy mission, not fighting whatever the hell did that to a door made of the same material that didn't so much as scorch when it had a nuke dropped on it

"Sorry, Sir!" He called out to the Corporal as she motioned the squad forward, stopping himself from making an ass out of himself by saluting "Just wondering what we'll be up against, all I was told was this was a clean up op"

"Don't know, and we don't need to know, our job is to be boots on the ground to give the first team a numbers advantage" She answer as she crept forward, and that jackass Snyder laughed and kicked what was clearly an alien corpse

"Hey Cannon! Look! We got our intel!" He laughed as Cannon felt his bladder tighten, did none of them pause to think about that, maybe there were bigger aliens, like, say the one that punched a hole through a door that could probably deflect a scorpion tank's shell?

"Cut the chatter, we've been given a rendezvous point" The Corporal cut of, raising her rifle "Should be no surprises on the way there, its just down a few passages from here, but keep your eyes peeled boys"

"Shit shit shit" Cannon muttered to himself, feeling a cold sweat coming on as the visor of his EVA suit started to fog up "Do you think the..."

"Our glamorous elites have died valiantly in the line of duty?" Synder smart assed, smirking as he surveyed the corridor, swinging his rifle as they walked past another group of aliens, in more pieces than the first group "I don't think these chickens could give an Orbital Dropper any trouble, you heard what the Captain said, that Askeland guy didn't even wait for orders to disarm a bomb, these are elite elites, man, probably ONI Spooks or..."
Cont

>>6233446

"Cut. The. Chatter" Jerez icily warned, glancing their way "FoF signatures up ahead, seems you two can stop gossiping and you can stop pissing yourself over nothing, Cannon"

Why did they need reinforcements if they had it handled, Cannon wondered, fumbling with his rifle's safety switch, following march step behind the rest of the squad

"Shit!" He shouted as he looked up and saw something in iridescent green armor, towering, some kind of hyper killing robot or super soldier alien.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE, GREEN HORN!" Jerez yelled and slapped his rifle down, the burst he fire bouncing off the ceiling "Those are our friendlies, private"

Cannon blinked, as the inhumanly still soldiers, wearing armor that certainly didn't look human, stood at attention, having not reacted in anyway to the near friendly fire incident.

"Keep your troops in check, Ma'am" One of them, a big son of a bitch with -034 drawn on his chest and with more patches on his armor than the duck tape holding together Mitch's truck said, angling their head to the side "We've been ordered to accompany you on clean up duties"

"You're lucky" A slightly smaller green giant said, with a voice that sounded more like a librarian's than a badass soldier, as she turned around. Cannon wasn't stupid enough to ask what that meant, these were the dudes who tore through the covenant ship, and he realized were probably the ones who kicked in the door

"Who the hell are they?" Cannon hissed towards Snyder

"No clue" The wise mouthing Lance Corporal said nervously "But they're on our side, chicken shit, so watch your fire, keep your head down, and follow orders"

"Special forces" One of them, another woman, answered. How did they hear them? Cannon wisely shut his mouth

"Any idea what sort of resistance we can expect, Sirs?" Jerez asked, as she tried to keep up with the unerring and long stride of the green armored giants.

"Light" The quiet one said

"Enemy is fielding plasma weaponry and personal energy shielding" The big boss said strictly "A direct hit is lethal, a glancing shot would be to in your equipment. Oh, and There may be enemy combatants employing stealth field tech on the field"

Well that didn't help Cannon find his courage at all! These guys were hardcore to treat certain death like they were putting down a civic protest.

"Where is..." Synder started to ask

"Ensign Askeland is guarding prisoners" Another of them, another chick, answered back snappily "Keep your men in check, Corporal, they're cluttering our COMs"

Jerez didn't have to tell them to sit down and shut up another time, and the marines obediently cut their chatter. Whoever, or whatever these guys were, they were professionals and Cannon didn't want to get on their bad sides. They never showed how hard ass the special forces could be in the news broadcasts...
Cont