(Not dead! I'm on my old laptop and I'm still waiting for the replacement desktop, but this will have to do, as I've kept this waiting long enough!)

[h1][center][color=0072bc]Ben-E218[/color][/center][/h1] 			

Ben had stayed in the background during their mission, assisting the team with a well-placed sniper shot at times, but mainly keeping his focus on his true mission of offing any cowards, deserters, traitors, or rampants. As per his orders, he gave them until a count of 10 if they ran away from the battlefield and didn't return, after which they could be shot. If they left more than once, he had the option of restarting the clock or picking it up from where it had last counted down. Phong ran the timer, so he never ran the risk of over or underestimating the time it took before he could pull the trigger. Of course, he was also directed to never consider an act of flight to be cowardice, treason, or desertion unless he had positive evidence of it. Rampancy, on the other hand, was usually self-evident, and while he had directives to subdue if possible, everyone knew that nine times out of ten, subduing a rampant Spartan without killing him was not an option.  

[color=0072bc]"Of all the cities in the world, we had to be stuck in this one."[/color] Ben had joined Vael after what had seemed a very long time apart. [color=0072bc] "But I suppose it'll do. Did you see the opera house? It actually dates from several hundred years ago, but it looks current. Guess it was far ahead of its time. You probably have some questions as to what I was doing and where I was. My superiors... my [i]real[/i] superiors- have authorized me to divulge my mission to you on the condition that you keep it confidential. It's a show of trust, I suppose, but I truly think they let me tell you because you might mistake my actions for insubordination or cowardice. And punishing those is my job. They could have let me tell you sooner." [/color]

[color=fff79a] "You could stand to be a bit more punctual yourself, Ben. A Spartan-III shouldn't take so long to report in. I was in your suit the entire time, and I still don't know what kept you so long. I even had enough time to reorganized my personal files on the species of the former Covenant. You would believe what the Unggoy get up to during their leisure hours. Those infusions really pack a punch." [/color]