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Please make sure to read through if you like fanfic! And don't forget to follow me on twitter too! Your support means the world! Mikaelis belongs to @CrackedFullmoon ! Mel Crawford belongs to Dral_Marev !)

{-Personal log, LCpl Judas T. Morrison. Date Log Created: January 15th 2549}

In several hours we'd reached the system in question and the Green Lion engaged its cloaking device to begin the slow approach to the planet. I'm still amazed we even have a ship like this, what with active camo and all. From what I've heard it's based on Covenant technology. Honestly I find it hard to believe we've been able to reverse-engineer alien technology in the middle of a war but we have been at it for almost thirty years now. This shit was going on before I was even born. I suppose that's plenty of time for ONI to learn some enemy secrets. Just wish it'd been enough to end this nightmare by now. Maybe I'd have a bit more to live for if that was the case. Damn this got a lot more depressing than I intended it to be and it's not what I want to be feeling right before an Op. I have to go get kitted up for deployment anyway. One thing I have to look forward to at least is that we all got new gear. Shiny, new, and black plus the gear for our specializations. I'll miss the old blue colors our squad had on the Heart of Valor but I can't say no to new toys. Mel is the only one who didn't want a set of the new gear; guess he's a bit sentimental. Not me though. Alright. Guess I should get to it. See you on the flip side.

ADDENDUM ://
Post Op Judas here. Despite the non-combat nature of the mission objective I didn't have time to write more in my logs once we'd landed planetside. It was all turn and burn from there on out; getting to the dig site asap was a big priority. Mikaelis stayed on board the ship to monitor our progress and relay orders, delegating Farrah to lead the Operation on the ground. I got the feeling that they were still testing us and measuring our skills despite sending us into the field. I just wish we had an easier time of it; I know I've moved up into the "big leagues" now so I've got more weight to pull but I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect a bit better than trekking across the desert in the middle of the day. Even though UNSC Prowlers had stealth drives, it wasn't a good idea to linger in potentially hostile territory.

Unfortunately we couldn't land near the dig site to make this pick up easier. Instead we took two warthogs and traveled by land to the canyon outcropping where the underground forerunner site was located. Shit, we had to cross a lot more desert than I expected and the high winds didn't help-I swear I'll still be cleaning sand out of my kit well into next week. On a more serious note, I won't pretend to understand anything that's going on in regards to these "forerunners'' or their artifacts. All I know is that these scientists were acting really overprotective of whatever they'd found here. We'd been told that it was alien and important-beyond that we were under orders not to speak about any of it outside of the mission. When we arrived at the dig site, most of the artifacts were already sealed away in lock boxes and crates by the ONI team but for some reason they hadn’t stopped their digging operations. Clearly they hadn't wasted any time and were eagerly awaiting our arrival but it soon became apparent why they hadn’t shut everything down. The lead scientist was speaking with Farrah while Jinny and Ivan were helping the team move the crates onto the Elephant. I stayed with Mel as we watched over the entrance to the mining station. The expedition lead was adamant that we couldn’t leave yet because his team was so close to unearthing another artifact, one he claimed outdated even the Forerunners. He begged us to give him more time but it was all mumbo jumbo to me and I’m glad Farrah felt the same. She immediately dismissed his claims, ordering him to get his men out of the digging equipment and onto the Elephant. When he staunchly refused, she grabbed him by the lapel of his uniform and explained just how dire the political situation was. I thought she was going to hit him for a second but that would have been entirely out of character. She sighed and told him that everything they’d worked for here would be lost if we didn’t leave immediately and that it wasn’t worth risking for one artifact-not to mention the lives of *our* team. Begrudgingly he accepted the reality of the situation and began contacting his team down in the quarry. I guess he couldn’t live with himself if anyone under his watch died. Kinda hit close to home.

Farrah sent me outside to check on the situation in the Elephant and make sure everything was secure. I have to admit, I was surprised to see an M313 here and one as decked out as this one at that. The interior was rigged with all sorts of fancy science equipment, all of which the ONI nerds didn't want us going near. We simply placed the cargo boxes inside the bay of the vehicle and what we couldn't fit was put in the external cargo areas that had been retrofitted for their operation. Everything seemed in order but for some reason the rest of the dig team wasn’t coming which made their coworkers antsy. All of a sudden there was noise on the comm and I rushed back in with Ivan to see what was going on. The science lead was looking out of the station’s viewport down into the quarry , panicked and it was obvious why. Something had malfunctioned with the digger and it wouldn’t shut down. He was rambling about the forerunner tech messing with theirs but I didn’t have time to figure out what he meant. I asked Farrah for orders and she was silent for a moment, looking back and forth while deciding what to do. Finally she ordered Mel and Ivan to go down and rescue those workers but Mel protested, saying they were already gone and we didn’t have time. It seemed like things were going to be heated but Farrah asserted that she wasn’t going to have civilians die on her watch. I’m not sure if Mel’s silence was understanding or disagreement but he sighed and accepted the order.

Next, Farrah ordered me to get the team lead secure in the Elephant and then man the gun on our hog just in case anything happening here was drawing unwanted attention. I immediately complied but had to drag the frantic scientist out of the mining station. He wasn’t happy with the thought that he might be leaving his people to die and as memories rushed back…I couldn’t blame him one bit.

Description

Please make sure to read through if you like fanfic! And don't forget to follow me on twitter too! Your support means the world! Mikaelis belongs to @CrackedFullmoon ! Mel Crawford belongs to Dral_Marev !)

{-Personal log, LCpl Judas T. Morrison. Date Log Created: January 15th 2549}

In several hours we'd reached the system in question and the Green Lion engaged its cloaking device to begin the slow approach to the planet. I'm still amazed we even have a ship like this, what with active camo and all. From what I've heard it's based on Covenant technology. Honestly I find it hard to believe we've been able to reverse-engineer alien technology in the middle of a war but we have been at it for almost thirty years now. This shit was going on before I was even born. I suppose that's plenty of time for ONI to learn some enemy secrets. Just wish it'd been enough to end this nightmare by now. Maybe I'd have a bit more to live for if that was the case. Damn this got a lot more depressing than I intended it to be and it's not what I want to be feeling right before an Op. I have to go get kitted up for deployment anyway. One thing I have to look forward to at least is that we all got new gear. Shiny, new, and black plus the gear for our specializations. I'll miss the old blue colors our squad had on the Heart of Valor but I can't say no to new toys. Mel is the only one who didn't want a set of the new gear; guess he's a bit sentimental. Not me though. Alright. Guess I should get to it. See you on the flip side.

ADDENDUM ://
Post Op Judas here. Despite the non-combat nature of the mission objective I didn't have time to write more in my logs once we'd landed planetside. It was all turn and burn from there on out; getting to the dig site asap was a big priority. Mikaelis stayed on board the ship to monitor our progress and relay orders, delegating Farrah to lead the Operation on the ground. I got the feeling that they were still testing us and measuring our skills despite sending us into the field. I just wish we had an easier time of it; I know I've moved up into the "big leagues" now so I've got more weight to pull but I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect a bit better than trekking across the desert in the middle of the day. Even though UNSC Prowlers had stealth drives, it wasn't a good idea to linger in potentially hostile territory.

Unfortunately we couldn't land near the dig site to make this pick up easier. Instead we took two warthogs and traveled by land to the canyon outcropping where the underground forerunner site was located. Shit, we had to cross a lot more desert than I expected and the high winds didn't help-I swear I'll still be cleaning sand out of my kit well into next week. On a more serious note, I won't pretend to understand anything that's going on in regards to these "forerunners'' or their artifacts. All I know is that these scientists were acting really overprotective of whatever they'd found here. We'd been told that it was alien and important-beyond that we were under orders not to speak about any of it outside of the mission. When we arrived at the dig site, most of the artifacts were already sealed away in lock boxes and crates by the ONI team but for some reason they hadn’t stopped their digging operations. Clearly they hadn't wasted any time and were eagerly awaiting our arrival but it soon became apparent why they hadn’t shut everything down. The lead scientist was speaking with Farrah while Jinny and Ivan were helping the team move the crates onto the Elephant. I stayed with Mel as we watched over the entrance to the mining station. The expedition lead was adamant that we couldn’t leave yet because his team was so close to unearthing another artifact, one he claimed outdated even the Forerunners. He begged us to give him more time but it was all mumbo jumbo to me and I’m glad Farrah felt the same. She immediately dismissed his claims, ordering him to get his men out of the digging equipment and onto the Elephant. When he staunchly refused, she grabbed him by the lapel of his uniform and explained just how dire the political situation was. I thought she was going to hit him for a second but that would have been entirely out of character. She sighed and told him that everything they’d worked for here would be lost if we didn’t leave immediately and that it wasn’t worth risking for one artifact-not to mention the lives of *our* team. Begrudgingly he accepted the reality of the situation and began contacting his team down in the quarry. I guess he couldn’t live with himself if anyone under his watch died. Kinda hit close to home.

Farrah sent me outside to check on the situation in the Elephant and make sure everything was secure. I have to admit, I was surprised to see an M313 here and one as decked out as this one at that. The interior was rigged with all sorts of fancy science equipment, all of which the ONI nerds didn't want us going near. We simply placed the cargo boxes inside the bay of the vehicle and what we couldn't fit was put in the external cargo areas that had been retrofitted for their operation. Everything seemed in order but for some reason the rest of the dig team wasn’t coming which made their coworkers antsy. All of a sudden there was noise on the comm and I rushed back in with Ivan to see what was going on. The science lead was looking out of the station’s viewport down into the quarry , panicked and it was obvious why. Something had malfunctioned with the digger and it wouldn’t shut down. He was rambling about the forerunner tech messing with theirs but I didn’t have time to figure out what he meant. I asked Farrah for orders and she was silent for a moment, looking back and forth while deciding what to do. Finally she ordered Mel and Ivan to go down and rescue those workers but Mel protested, saying they were already gone and we didn’t have time. It seemed like things were going to be heated but Farrah asserted that she wasn’t going to have civilians die on her watch. I’m not sure if Mel’s silence was understanding or disagreement but he sighed and accepted the order.

Next, Farrah ordered me to get the team lead secure in the Elephant and then man the gun on our hog just in case anything happening here was drawing unwanted attention. I immediately complied but had to drag the frantic scientist out of the mining station. He wasn’t happy with the thought that he might be leaving his people to die and as memories rushed back…I couldn’t blame him one bit.