[center][h2][color=BF1010]Spartan Lucas Ryker[/color][/h2][/center]

Lucas' face tightening was barely discernable to those who didn't know what to look for, but for those who did, the presence of the ONI agent was clearly a stressor for him. While he knew that ultimately the Office of Naval Intelligence would likely send an attache to join the group, the fact that they may have command jurisdiction over the Human aspects of the team were a bit of a concern. And then there was Ben, the last to arrive ahead of the ONI officer and a Spartan himself. He said he was from Epsilon company, but his designation, a name with a phonetic letter and several numbers, indicated either SPARTAN-II or III, though he wasn't sure this team qualified for one of the dying breed of IIs.

Filing away the name of Ben's Company name for review with one of his analyst contacts within ONI, Lucas turned to Vael'Virisusai as the Sangheili mentioned the hated name of what he'd likely faced for at least a week and smiled sadly. "Yes, unfortunately. ONI calls it red tape, I call it a pain in the ass, the Sergeant and his men I worked with before my transfer called it a waste of time. Any way you slice it, bureaucracy is no good for anyone." Taking his Venator helmet out from under his arm, the Irishman secured it over his head and waited until the visor finished booting up to continue speaking.

"Anyways, SPARTAN Command sends their apologies they couldn't spare anyone with more time working with the Swords, sir. As you're aware, the galaxy is facing an interesting time right now so they're needed everywhere they can be spared."