[h1]Tar 'Mdalak[/h1]

The ship was alive with activity, even to Tar, who was a relatively late arrival. Sailors dashed between sections, making last minute checks to the cruiser's status. Excited soldiers moved from their barracks to an armoury, before heading fully laden to the hangar bays and air locks. Tar would normally make way for them, but she was now dying to find out what was in store for her and her fellow Commandos.

She breezed through a security checkpoint and a set of blast doors to the Special Operations Control opened in front of her. It was a smart set of rooms that included barracks, a mess hall, an armoury, training facilities and a variety of meeting rooms.

It was from one of the meeting rooms that a Human female Tar didn't recognise emerged. She guessed she was probably a high ranking ONI officer, utterly anonymous in her dress and expression. She gave Tar a polite nod as they passed each other.

She barely had time to wonder why ONI was present in person on a Sangheili ship, when she heard the familiar voice of Commander Skell calling to her from the meeting room.

"Ah, Tar! Just who I needed to see. Come in here and close the door."

Tar obeyed, sloping into the long, tall meeting room and closing the door behind her.

Skell sat at the head of an imposing circular table with a holo unit embedded into the centre. He was an experienced soldier, with one of his mandibles missing and scars all over his exposed hands and arms. Tar had heard lurid tales of his savagery during the war, and felt them incongruous with his jovial attitude. This made it hard for her to trust him completely, but so far he’d proven to be a wise and strategic commander.

“We don’t have much time, so i’ll be brief.” Skell began from his seated position. “The shipmaster…” He motioned to the holo. “has informed me of a risky mission. There are three Jiralhanae ships on the other side of Sarcophagus, holding position over a den of rebels. Our battle group will take care of the Brutes, but there is a team on the ground that aims to capture the leader of the rebels. The plan is to insert this team into the very heart of the base while reinforcements assault the base from the outside. This mission will require a skilled pilot, so you will take a phantom, pick up this ground team, and drop them into the base. If you have questions, then hurry, because you have one minute.” Skell explained quickly. His usual, relaxed attitude had been replaced by one that was uncharacteristically straightforward, so their time constraints were easy to believe. 

"But sir!" Tar objected, moving forward a pace. "If there are Brutes to kill I would much rather be with my brothers than ferrying operators around. Can't you get one of the regular pilots to 'volunteer'?" Tar couldn't shake the feeling that a clue to her father's whereabouts lay in one of those ships. If there was any chance she could be part of a boarding party, she was going to take it.
Skell was quick to snap back in a firm voice, giving no ground literally or figuratively. “That was not a question, that was a complaint, and I did not give you permission to complain. The mission requires a skilled pilot who can deal with ground fire, and that is you. If you survive the insertion, you can support your brothers from the sky.”

Tar wilted a little, but recovered quickly. She had been given an important job, which she did find quite flattering. "Yes sir." She saluted.

Skell brought his fist to his chest and slightly bowed his head. “Good, then get to your phantom.” He said, though has he started to approach Tar, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave the Sangheili equivalent to a grin. “And you need not be [i]too[/i] upset. The heavy plasma cannon of a phantom will rip apart a Brute just as well as your blade. Now hurry, we go to a standby position in 5 minutes.”
Tar leapt into action; 5 minutes was not a lot of time in Sangheili military speak. Nodding eagerly, she turned and ran from the room. There was no time to equip in the armoury, so she exited via the blast doors and headed for the closest hangar. Special operations maintained several enhanced Phantoms near SpecOpsCon, and Tar knew they carried a small personal weapons arsenal onboard. That would have to do for this mission.

Skell got in contact via her helmet comms as she passed impatiently back through a hangar airlock. “I’ve found you a co-pilot; he's waiting for you in Lot 51. The team you’re picking up are Callsign Aegis. Good luck."

"Understood. Thank you sir." Tar replied, stepping from the airlock into a crowded hangar. Ground crews flitted between rows of parked Phantoms like insects feeding on ripe fruit. She found Lot 51 by checking signs suspended from the ceiling and began picking her way toward it. Halfway there, she stopped to grab a weapon strap and two fire grenades from a passing cargo platform.

"Commander!" A hoarse voice called to her. Tar looked up to find a short, stocky Sangheili waving to her from underneath her Phantom. She jogged the remaining distance, saluted to and then took the extended arm of the Male. "You must be my co-pilot?" She asked. "Prax Vol, at your service!" The Sangheili half said, half yelled as dozens of Phantom engines started at once. Let's get you in the hot seat, Sister!" Tar nodded, gesturing for Vol to lead the way.

They headed up the grav lift to the Phantom's interior. Tar quickly checked the vehicle's armoury in a locker next to the cockpit. There was a decent, if slightly lackluster selection of assault weapons and sidearms along with two fuel rod cannons. She pulled a Storm rifle from the rack and clipped it onto the strap she’d collected earlier.

Pushing on into the cockpit, Tar found Vol conducting pre-flight checks in the co-pilot’s seat. He turned at beamed at her. “We’re ready to leave, commander.”

“Call me Tar. Good.” She slung her Storm rifle over the back of her seat before settling in and strapping down. The interface above the viewing window showed a countdown to jump.

27...26...25…

“So, where are we headed?” Vol asked.

“Paxopolis surface. We need to pick up a team who're going after a human rebel leader.”

“Ah. I smell ONI treachery.”

“I think you’re right.”

The countdown reached zero, and the whole hangar became eerily quiet. The whole fleet was now waiting for a signal from the surface. Tar counted three extra minutes in her head - Prax checked the instruments over and over again.

Suddenly, the whole hangar bay began rumbling. The slipspace jump had started; They watched it’s progress on their instrument dashboard. As soon as the energy signature died down, lights began flashing and Phantoms lifted off from their lots as one. As their vehicle was up against the wall, they had to wait for most of the others to leave before they had room to maneuver.

Tar and Vol deftly spun the Phantom round and followed the taxi path to the hangar doors. “Prostrate Disciple leaving the nest.” Vol announced over comms. “Acknowledged. Good hunting, Five One.” Hangar Control responded.

Gunning the engines, they pushed through the hangar’s forcefield and into the atmosphere above the surface of Sarcophagus. A beacon called to them from the sphere’s surface; Tar adjusted their course to head for it. After a hard descent, they leveled out within a hundred feet of the arid landscape below. Keeping close to the ground would make them harder to detect by any forward units.

Clearing a dusty cliff face, they finally made visual contact with the rebel base. The other drop ships from the Repentant Proselyte and the rest of the fleet were swarming around the outside of Forerunner facility, drawing plenty of small arms fire. “There’s Aegis team!” Prax pointed. Their waypoint led to a mesa overlooking the base, where a small collection of life forms waited. Tar flicked on the comm channel associated with the waypoint. “Aegis team, this is the Phantom Prostrate Disciple, approaching for pickup. Please climb aboard.”

Tar brought them in for a fast, controlled final descent onto the mesa, sending sheets of dust into the air. Vol kept the side doors closed to improve protection for the passengers but activated the grav lift so Aegis team could board.