Operation: RETRIBUTION

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Previous:	Fight at the prototype Halo
Next:	Draco III rebellion
Operation: RETRIBUTION
Date:	December 8-16, 2553
Location:	Venezia, Orso system Taram, Pydoryn, Shaps system Gao, Cordoba system Meridian, Hestia V, Hestia system
Outcome:	UNSC victory
Details Belligerents United Nations Space Command Keepers of the One Freedom Ross Nyeto's gunrunners Georgi Baklanov† Intrepid Eye Dark Moon Enterprises Commanders Rear Admiral Serin Osman Veta Lopis LTJG Fred-104 Dokab Castor Ross Nyeto Georgi Baklanov's enterprise Intrepid Eye Strength Blue Team (Three Spartan-IIs) Veta Lopis' Ferret team (Veta and three Spartan-IIIs) Several Jiralhanae Several Kig-Yar Several Humans Ross and three others. Georgi and three others Dark Moon Enterprises forces Casualties Three of Nyeto's gunrunners. Georgi Baklanov and three of his people.

Operation: RETRIBUTION was an Office of Naval Intelligence operation undertaken by Blue Team and the Ferret team lead by Veta Lopis in December of 2553.

Operation

Making a scene

Ross Nyeto: "You're stalling."

Veta Lopis: "The Spartans are coming for us and you think I'm stalling?"

— Veta rebuffs the Goliath's suspicion.

On December 12, 2553, Veta's Ferret team and the legendary team of Spartan-IIs, Blue Team, deployed to New Tyne, Venezia. ONI sources within the city had reported that a Keeper gunrunning crew was in port looking for cargo. In order trick these Keepers into approaching Veta's team, they would need to create a public scene that would pique their suspects' interests in them. For the past few days, the UNSC had been making a show of stopping and boarding Crows and specifically pretending to be on the lookout for one with Archer missiles or Mini-MACs. In addition, a story of the Template:UNSCship being hit and having ten HAVOK nuclear weapons stolen was permitted to spread. These things were done so that the Ferrets could present themselves as the pirates whom had raided the Taulanti. In order to really sell the idea that the UNSC was desperate to recover the nukes and that they had indeed been the ones to take them, the plan was for it to appear as if Veta and the Spartan-IIIs just barely escaped when Blue Team arrived.

To this end, Veta's Spartans disguised themselves to look older than their actual ages and to look like street punks that fit the profile of those belonging to a pirate gang. They got a table at the Trattoria Georgi, where they knew a gunrunner known as "the Goliath" would be that evening. Veta approached the Goliath, who was in fact Ross Nyeto, the the son of a famous lieutenant commander that had defected from the UNSC Navy to take up the cause of the Insurrection. She revealed that she knew who he was to set him and his three men on edge and offered to pay for the transport of her crew aboard one of his Razor-class prowlers, the Ghost Flag. Nyeto was resistant to her offer since he was not accustomed to transporting people as opposed to contraband and also had little interest in being paid in boson beads, which she had produced whilst stating her case. The beads did, however, provoke one of Nyeto's men to place a beefy hand over Veta's when she tried to gather them up off the gunrunners' table. Veta did not hesitate to use a pain-compliance technique on the man that caused all eyes in the restaurant to focus on them and for some patrons to nervously exit. Her Spartans also drew their sidearms at this time. The situation was diffused by the owner of the establishment, Georgi Baklanov, who assured his wary customers that the Goliath would be paying for everyone's tabs. Veta noticed two Ruuhtian Kig-Yar take their seats at a table closer to her than the one they had been at previously, and surmised from this that they could be members of the Keepers and the ones this whole show was for. Continuing her conversation with Nyeto, she casually let it be known to all within earshot that the reason her crew needed transportation was due to a problem with their S77 Crow, which also had been modified to sport Archer missiles and a mini-MAC. The Goliath put the pieces together immediately and changed his tune, now making an offer of his own wherein he would take them to their destination in exchange for ten of the Taulanti's nukes.

Feeling that the narrative about who she and her team were had been effectively communicated, she signaled Blue Team to move into position by working a certain phrase into her talk with Nyeto. They would be breaching the trattoria in four minutes and it did not take long before lookouts paid by Baklanov spotted M121 Jackrabbit driven by Fred-104 and Kelly-087 turning onto the Via Notoli. The place cleared out due to fear of the encroaching Spartans and threats from its owner. Among those that hurriedly left were the two suspicious Kig-Yar. Now all the Ferrets had to worry about was making their escape convincing. A deal was struck between Veta and the Goliath, who came up with the idea to have his Jiralhanae bodyguard, Picus, knock a hole in one of the exterior walls so that they wouldn't be flushed right through a doorway where an ONI sniper could be waiting for them. Things would have gone well enough had Baklanov interfered by making it clear that such an affront to his building would not be tolerated. He believed that he only needed to turn over these troublemakers to the Spartans to make them go away. He and his henchmen drew on Veta's team and though she convinced him he was in danger as well, it was too late. The delay made it so that her team was still present when Fred and Kelly crashed their Jackrabbits through the Georgi's front window and began a firefight. In the carefully-controlled engagement that resulted, Mark-G313 was hit in the shoulder and everyone but Veta, Ross, and the Spartans were killed, including Georgi Baklanov who was shot by Kelly as soon as she rolled away from her vehicle. Picus did manage to create an exit before being taken out by Linda-058, who had been well aware that Veta and others weren't going to be coming out a door thanks to all the UNSC operatives being linked via an encrypted comm net. Nyeto glimpsed Linda briefly nodding at Veta before the Spartan-II knocked him out with a clean strike to the hinge of his jaw with her assault rifle. The Ferrets sprinted away from the wreckage of the restaurant, as Blue Team could only give them so much time before the need to make all this believable required that they pursue. Linda did fire a single shot at the fleeing "pirates" that tore into one of Olivia-G291's thighs. A shallow-draft airboat had been left floating on water beneath a trapdoor in a building ahead. The plan had always been for them to use it to escape through the swamp that this part of New Tyne had been built on. Before they could reach it, however, a tri-wheeled minivan screeched to a halt in front of the Ferrets driven by one of the Kig-Yar Veta had taken notice of in the restaurant. The side door opened and the other Jackal told them to climb inside if they wanted to live.

Timeline of events

December 8, 2553

• 1122 hours

December 12, 2553

• 1432 hours: Veta approaches Ross Nyeto at the Trattoria Georgi.
• 1504 hours
• 1714 hours
• 1725.023 hours

December 13, 2553

• 0804 hours
• 0824 hours
• 1445 hours
• 1509 hours
• 1514 hours
• 1524 hours
• 2005 hours
• 2027 hours
• 2029 hours
• 2032 hours
• 2045.053 hours
• 2117 hours

December 14, 2553

• 1403 hours
• 1416 hours

December 16, 2553

• 0316 hours
• 0327 hours
• 0349 hours
• 0354 hours
• 0401 hours
• 0421 hours
• 0422 hours
• 0433 hours
• 0448 hours

List of appearances

• Halo Retribution (First appearance)