Ferret

Ferret
Affiliation:	United Nations Space Command
Branch:	UNSC Navy Office of Naval Intelligence
Type:	Covert operations
Role:	Espionage, investigation, assassination
Commanders:	Lieutenant Veta Lopis

Serin Osman: "Investigators with teeth. You slip into a hole, find the rats, and—"

Mark-G313: "And kill them?"

Serin Osman: "Sometimes. But I was going to say, "fix the problem." Sometimes, that might mean rescuing people instead of killing them."

— Rear Admiral Serin Osman explains the purpose of Ferret teams

Ferrets are covert special operations operatives under the authority of the UNSC Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence. Organized into small teams, Ferrets are tasked with investigating situations or criminal activities that prove threatening to the Unified Earth Government and its United Nations Space Command, as well as resolving those situations by eliminating—or rescuing—certain individuals. One such team includes Spartan-IIIs Ash-G099, Olivia-G291, and Mark-G313 led by ONI operative Veta Lopis, a former special inspector for the Gao Ministry of Protection. After the loss of Mark and the destruction of their long-time enemy Intrepid Eye, the Ferrets joined the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, aiding in their conflict against the Banished.

Ferret Team One

Team composition

• LT Veta Lopis (Ferret One) - leader
• PO1 Mark-G313 (Ferret Two) - security specialist (KIA during Second Ark Conflict)
• PO2 Olivia-G291 (Ferret Three) - information specialist
• PO1 Ash-G099 (Ferret Four) - surveillance expert

Operational history

Origins

Following the Human-Covenant War, ONI feared that knowledge of the illegal and dangerous drugs utilized by the Spartan-IIIs of Gamma Company would become public. Taking measures in an effort to prevent such a leak from occurring, Admiral Margaret Parangosky, CINCONI, ordered that Ash-G099, Olivia-G291, and Mark-G313, at the time serving with Blue Team, be officially listed as killed in action and reassigned. Taking note of the proficiency of Special Inspector Veta Lopis and a bond that had formed between her and Ash, Olivia, and Mark during Operation: JOVIAN WHISTLE in July 2553, Rear Admiral Serin Osman formed a Ferret team out of the four, with Lopis leading the team and running the investigations.

In the following months, the team underwent a training regimen to mold them into elite ONI operatives. While the Gammas were exceptionally quick to learn the new skills, their military background meant they would often instinctively fall back to lethal force in life-or-death situations. During this time, they visited multiple colonies, rarely staying in one place for long; at one point they were stationed on Jastolo.

Neos Atlantis

On October 14, 2553, Veta Lopis' Ferret Team participated in a training exercise against Oscar Squad at UNSC Recreational Facility 6055-NA-A on Neos Atlantis. Disguised as junior ODST lieutenants, Mark and Ash posed as rookie ONI agents in the facility's officers' club, while Olivia adopted the cover identity of "Lieutenant Bati", a Luna OCS Academy graduate, as part of a ploy to deceive Oscar Squad. However, an unexpected complication occurred when Olivia was drugged by an unidentified man—in fact the reporter Spencer Hume, who attempted to coax her into revealing classified information about the Spartans. Lopis ordered Mark to arrest the man while Ash created a distraction and Veta escorted Olivia back to the hotel's Halsey Suite, which the team was using as their base of operations. While hauling the subject out of the club, Mark was attacked by a woman who managed to wound him with a knife. By his own account, Mark intended to use Hume as a shield and struck him in the chest when he resisted, which unexpectedly killed Hume. At this point Ash arrived, prompting the attacker to flee. Mark and Ash decided to dispose of Hume's body through an airlock and returned to the Halsey Suite afterward. The team soon discovered Hume's identity as well as that of Mark's assailant—a former ONI operative named Ota Gallo, now working for the private security company Dark Moon Enterprises. Attempting to recover Hume's belongings, now in the Ferret Team's possession, Gallo and two of her henchmen stormed the Halsey Suite soon after. After a brief firefight, the Ferrets managed to defeat the attackers, with Gallo being blown apart by her own grenade. Immediately after the attack, Admiral Osman arrived to the suite with an armed escort. The admiral claimed Hume's personal effects and asked Lopis what had happened. Lopis lied that Gallo killed Hume after the reporter was planning to name her as his source. Obviously incredulous yet seemingly accepting the explanation as being sufficiently believable, Osman sarcastically asked Mark to affirm Lopis' story, which he did without hesitation.

Graselyn Tuwa's assassination

Main article: Operation: RETRIBUTION

On December 2553, Vice Admiral Graselyn Tuwa was killed and her family was abducted. The Office of Naval Intelligence retaliated by sending Veta Lopis' Ferret Team to find her killer and rescue her family in Operation: RETRIBUTION. The investigation led to the capture of gunrunner Ross Nyeto, the son of infamous Insurrectionist Hector Nyeto and the discovery of the Keepers of the One Freedom's Salvation Base. Inside the base, the Ferrets recovered the bodies of the admiral's husband and children who had had their organs cut out and realized that the Keepers were being set up by Dark Moon Enterprises, in reality under the control of Intrepid Eye who was performing experiments upon the Tuwas' immunity to asteroidea merozoite as part of the AI's plan to turn it into a biological weapon. With the help of Blue Team, they destroyed the base using HAVOK tactical nuclear weapons and used the forensic evidence from the bodies to trace the murder scene to Gao where they discovered the lab destroyed by the Keepers. From information given to them by President Arlo Casille, the Ferrets realized that Dark Moon had set up both Gao and the Keepers to cover their own tracks.

Learning from Casille that Dark Moon had been recommended to him by Administrator Sloan, the AI running Pinnacle Station, they traveled to the station where they found that the Dark Moon couriers that had been transporting the cryo-jars containing the Tuwas' organs had been massacred by Papa-10, a rogue ONI unit that subsequently came into conflict with the Keepers. On Meridian, the Ferrets and Blue Team came into conflict with both Papa-10 and the Keepers, taking out all of the Keepers but an injured Castor who was left stranded on Meridian's surface. Castor and Veta managed to take out the surviving members of Papa-10 and Lieutenant Bartalan Craddog when he came to collect the cryo-jars which were destroyed by Veta as well. Unbeknownst to anyone, the explosion also destroyed Oriel, a remote aspect of Intrepid Eye who had been directing Papa-10 through Cradogg.

In the aftermath, Cradogg was pinned as the responsible party seeking to weaponize asteroidea for his own purposes. It was believed that he had sought to aggrandize himself through creating such a perilous weapon as the only possible explanation for his actions. Admiral Serin Osman sent the Ferrets back to the Mill to complete their training, but she warned Veta that something big was coming and that she needed the Ferrets to be ready for it. With Intrepid Eye's role in events having been undetected, she continued her experiments with asteroidea on Argent Moon.

Undercover in the Keepers of the One Freedom

Main article: Keepers Eradication Campaign

At some point in 2557, the Ferrets were able to go undercover as acolytes in the Keepers of the One Freedom by joining an allied doomsday cult called Humans of the Joyous Freedom. They gained the trust of Castor who believed them to be a gift from the Oracle. As part of their disguise, the Ferrets shaved the sides of their heads, leaving narrow falls of hair hanging between their shoulder blades.

Over the course of eight months, the Ferrets gathered intelligence for ONI, allowing them to launch a massive eradication campaign that decimated the ranks of the Keepers. However, to the surprise of many, Castor responded by taking refuge with the Banished. Hoping for a shot Atriox himself, ONI had the Ferrets extend their undercover mission and set up the groundwork for an assassination attempt. Shortly thereafter, Atriox vanished with his flagship the CAS-class assault carrier Enduring Conviction and Cortana rose to power. The result of this takeover was the decimation of ONI and its field operations, causing their undercover support prowler to disappear along with the clandestine communications station to which the Ferrets delivered their intel. The D102 Owl that was kept on standby in case of an emergency extraction was also unreachable. In addition, they no longer received covert deliveries of "smoothers" for the Gammas on the team, forcing them to begin searching for their own way out.

Operation: WOLFE

Main article: Operation: WOLFE

During Operation: WOLFE, the Ferrets aided the Keepers and the Banished in their search for the Menachite portal complex while secretly intending to self-extract and disappear into Reach's glasslands after learning of Atriox's intentions. However, the Ferrets eavesdropping intercepts revealed that Castor intended to go to the Ark to initiate the Great Journey, forcing cancel their plans to escape and to instead remain with the Keepers until they have been destroyed. Veta Lopis' hope was that the arrival of Blue Team and the UNSC could aid that goal, but they are unable to make contact until it is already too late to stop the Keepers from locating the portal installation. Near the end of the operation, Lopis unexpectedly appeared to Fred-104, surprising him. At this point, the Ferrets had been missing in action for more than two years and presumed dead. Lopis handed Fred a message capsule before departing again. After the Keepers located the portal controls, one of their human acolytes activated it, opening a portal to the Ark through which Atriox arrived in a Eklon'Dal Workshop Lich. When Blademaster Inslaan 'Gadogai threatened Castor, the Ferrets trained their weapons on him and helped Castor force him to stand down. The Keepers, joined by 'Gadogai, then boarded the Lich and passed through the portal to the Ark.

Upon returning to the UNSC Infinity, Fred gave Lopis' message to Captain Veronica Dare and reported that the Ferrets followed the Keepers of the One Freedom through the slipspace portal, and that Atriox's return should be expected. Dare admitted that it was incredible that the Ferrets were still out there, leading Fred to question if she really didn't know their status. Dare stated that even when ONI was whole, she wasn't read into every operation and that Ferret operations were highly compartmentalized. Dare promised to pass along anything that she hears about the team and allowed Fred to keep the top third of Lopis' message, implied to be personal in nature.

Stopping the Great Journey

Main article: Battle of Epsilon Clarion

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Joining the Fight Against the Banished

Main article: Second Ark Conflict

Ten days after the destruction of Intrepid Eye, Lopis, Ash and Olivia attended a funeral for Mark and the pilot who was killed stopping the Keepers of the One Freedom and a surviving group of Dhas Bhasvod's Covenant led by Prelate Dhas Bhasvod. Captain James Cutter extended an invitation for the team to join the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire and help in their ongoing conflict with the Banished for control of the Ark. Unable to return home and wanting to continue fighting, the surviving Ferrets accepted Cutter's offer.

List of appearances

• Halo: Last Light (First mentioned)
• Halo: Fractures
  • A Necessary Truth (First appearance)
• Halo: Retribution
• Halo: Shadows of Reach
• Halo: Divine Wind