[center][h2][b]Vael 'Virisusai[/b][/h2][/center]

[hr]

With the speed of Covenant slipspace borers, it took only a few hours for their ship to reach their destination. Although, they dropped out of slipspace at the [i]far[/i] edge of the solar system to link up with the rest of the fleet to make sure they remained out of sensor range. The rest of the Swords of Sanghelios fleet was modest in size, consisting of ships ranging in size from the small, nimble Man O’ War, up to the CCS-class Battlecruisers that had once made up the backbone of the Covenant navy. From that, only a part of the fleet would be moving in to create the diversion, while the rest would stay back in reserve as reinforcements. 

If all went to plan, the [i]Magnificent Defiance[/i] would be landing, undetected, in a remote location directly on the planet’s surface. A pair of phantoms would take them about halfway to the keep from there, but they could not approach completely by air if they wanted to avoid detection. They would have four Type-46 Spectre vehicles to bring them the rest of the way in a reasonable time. 

Vael was among the first in the hangar from Aegis team. He stood waiting beneath one of the phantoms, watching as the spectres were being attached underneath. Since the Forerunner equipment was available, Vael had decided to replace his plasma rifle with a boltshot pistol. If all went to plan, they would not see much combat in the first part of the mission, so the limited ammunition would be less of a concern, while the additional power and ability to disintegrate corpses would be more useful. Once they disabled the anti-air cannon, they would be returning to the ship, so there would be an opportunity to change his loadout before the main assault.