The Spartan Effect

Infiltration

     Shelba, Vinos system. November 29, 2183. 

     The Cyniad touches down on the frozen planet, lured here by a traitor named Golo in exchange for some hard-to-reproduce tech that the Idenna needs. Unfortunately, they weren't prepared for the trap that Cerberus had set up, and quickly her crew is killed, and the pilot was interrogated. With the clearance codes from the pilot, Cerberus agents took environment suits from the dead quarians and began the journey back to the flotilla.

     Once they arrived, though, the objective became extremely difficult. 

     Eternity, bridge.

     Tali was ecstatic. She was running back and forth from terminal to terminal and, in general, was having a blast seeing all the different ways the ship differed from the Flotillas. Seeing the holographic displays and large sections of windows amazed her. The flotilla prioritized efficient storage over everything else, so seeing the amount of space given to everyone made her feel more at home. She had gotten used to the Normandy and its roomy feeling. She looked out the observation window towards the flotilla.

     "Looks like the Cyniad's back."

     Thomas looked out the window at the scouting vessel as it approached one of the frigates in the flotilla. Thom recognized the larger vessel, the Idenna, as the one they had given a weapons demonstration on. They were actually here to deliver another shipment in exchange for Element Zero. The scout vessel, however, did not dock immediately and angled up towards the Idenna's communication relays.

     "What the hell is it doing?" Thom whispered to himself, barely loud enough for Tali to hear him. Tali looked closer, just in time to see a streak of red from the Cyniads strike the antennas on the Idenna. 

     "Keelah, they just shot the Idenna!"

     Thomas spun around and found Hannah sitting nearby. He rushed over, startling her and making her spill some coffee on herself. 

     "Ugh, seriously!? Captain, you can't scare me like that. Now I have to -"

     She was cut off by the Spartan, scaring her with his urgent tone. 

     "Not the time. You can clean up later. What spartan units are currently in their Mjolnir?"

      Hannah was annoyed but knew there was likely a situation going on, so she pulled up the war games roster. 

     "Looks like azure just finished a match, their headed to the armory now for R&R."

     Thomas nodded and turned to run for the armory. 

     "Good, have them prep for a boarding action. I'll meet them there. Tali, come with me."

     Hannah shook her head and got on her comms. 

     "Hey, Alex. Yeah, it's Thomas. He needs you geared up for a boarding party. I know, we'll have dinner later. I'll be on overwatch anyways. Stay safe." 

Eternity, armory. Fire team azure.

     Alex hit his head against the locker again for good measure before grabbing his battle rifle off the wall. 

     "Every time. Every damn time. What the hell, one more can't kill me, right?"

     Maxwell bumped into Alex from behind and started teasing him.

     "You're starting to sound like me, Mr. party pooper. I thought you loved blowing things up."

    Alex rolled his eyes before putting on his EVA helmet, the skull carved into its visor reflecting the lights above.