The Office of Naval Intelligence had always been a strange organization. Their escapades into the technology of the Ancient Forerunners always turned up some strange result or another that no sane UNSC member could put their finger on. From the grandiose UNSC Infinity, to the highly-advanced weaponry and energy shielding the UNSC had developed over the course of the Human-Covenant War, there was no real tangible advanced tech that hadn't been touched by ONI's Materials Group.

Still, some of the shit the Archaeology Division also pulled out of their asses during the post-War period was terrifying, too. Those engines strapped to the biggest UNSC vessel currently in service? Some fucker dug them up from within the middle of bum-fuck nowhere, Space. It was the same with a lot of other things, including the reason there was a battle group of six warships sallying forth through Slipspace toward unknown coordinates.

A fleet formed of three frigates, two Autumn-class cruisers and a Punic-class Supercarrier that'd been pulled out of Mothball as specialized reinforcement after being given a thorough overhaul and modernization currently travelled Slipspace with a hefty complement of UNSC Marines, Army and Science Staff to the newly-discovered coordinates pulled out of the ass-end of some random archive that Doctor Halsey's 'Janus Key' opened.

The Doctor herself stood on the bridge, her tablet in hand as she regarded the whirlpool of Slipspace. She'd been lucky. Lucky that the UNSC found Cortana and John when they did and lucky that her testimony against the Office of Naval Intelligence had been accepted. It had helped her save herself and damn ONI's former leader, Margaret Parangosky, to the same cage at the bottom of a pit she would've been thrown in after that kangaroo court ONI tried to pull.

Cortana had helped Halsey damn half of the ONI Staff loyal to Parangosky, including one of her own, sadly. Serin, a former SPARTAN-II. That girl was, however, at Halsey's behest, charged with only sixty years in prison instead of Parangosky's 'For-Life' lease to some deep space mining colony at the ass-end of human controlled space. Halsey herself could've easily gone to that same pit...

Sighing, she pulled up the images on the datapad. While some of the symbols that they'd found were definitely Forerunner in origin, namely the coordinates that allowed them to find their way to this place, the main data itself was a combination of various ancient dialects, including a hefty amount of really thoroughly-confusing Latin that she was still trying to decipher before their arrival, to no avail.

"Doc," The Admiral approached. He was a younger man, in his mid-fifties, compared to most of the UNSC's staff. He'd been a Captain during the Fall of Reach almost six years ago, but he hadn't been too forthcoming about service prior to that. Halsey had had Cortana pull up his file before she and the Chief returned to the Infinity with the rest of Blue Team. Samuel Seegson, born Thatcher, had been a deserter, a fighter and officer in the Insurrection's budding naval force before the Covenant had boiled away the oceans of his homeworld and killed all those he had loved right in front of his eyes during their early genocidal campaign. Since then, he'd switched sides and has happily and unabashedly served the UNSC with an almost patriotic fervor.

"Admiral," She nodded, her voice impassive, "I presume we are on schedule."

"Affirmative, ma'am. We should be reaching the slipspace exit point within the next half-hour," He replied. Halsey narrowed her lips. Being called 'ma'am'. She scoffed at the idea. She wasn't Parangosky, despite what ONI would've put her up as. Apparently, someone named Terrence Hood, the sly old bastard, had decided it was a good idea to suggest that she be the interim Office Of Naval Intelligence Director while the entire mess was being sorted out, which meant she had the unofficial rank of Fleet Admiral.

"Good..." Halsey sighed, then pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose, "Also, Admiral, I do believe I told you there's no need to refer to me as 'ma'am'. Doctor will do just fine..." and she'd pressed on the word. The man hummed, then snorted and nodded, turning back. She tapped a few more lines of data into her pad. Yes, the Latin remained really flourishing and prosy, like the Covenant's own senior-level communiques on their wartime Battle-Net. She sighed again. There was no time to translate it properly.

Thirty minutes later, the dark-blue tinge of the FTL Whirlpool split at the seams, revealing the wide sea of stars ahead of them. The coordinates had lead the Battle Group to the end of the Galaxy, pretty much. This was the farthest star from the galactic center. It had remained actively untouched for the better part of several millennia if one knew Forerunner carbon dating really well.

The ships had arrived above one of the six planets in the unnamed unary system. An Earth-like planet, located at the System's Goldilocks Zone, it had one landmass visible on this side, but it was a rather large piece of territory with various biomes and even elevations. Halsey had to note that that was pretty much bog-standard for all planets of this type. She made a mental note, however, only stating, "Initiate planetary scan. Make it thorough, even if it takes us hours. I want to know everything from the atmospheric composition to the patches of rich soil..."

Affirmative replies came from the bridge crew as the ship's enhanced sensor suite began to ping the planet's surface, with the shipboard AI, whom Halsey had not met, alos aiding in providing accurate and rapid results in terms of the scans. She hummed, noting that, for now, there was no detectable planet-side power sources to hint at any intelligent life that may or may not inhabit the planet.

An hour and a half later, Halsey had everything she needed to know about the planet safely stowed away on her tablet as she and the Admiral descended down to the hangar deck. She spoke calmly, "Strange planet, is it not...?"

"It is," The man agreed, "Not even a sign of a Forerunner power source."

"I have a few theories as to why that may be the case," Halsey murmured, then shut her tablet off and slid it back into the breast pocket of her labcoat. She looked forward as the elevator descended, then asked, "How many men did the Colonel prepare for the scouting operation planetside?"

"Approximately three hundred Marines and a dozen LAVs, all loaded onto multiple heavy drop-ships and Pelicans," He replied, "Your science staff ready?"

"Sixty of the brightest minds the UNSC could muster for this off-hand expedition are already prepared, yes," Halsey replied, "The other two-hundred-thirty science staff aboard the Vladivostok will stay here until we're able to fully translate the Latin prose we saw at the Dig Site on New Sidney and discover the location that could tie it all together planetside."

"Understood, doctor," The man replied, "You folks gonna be alright down there? And... Shouldn't the Chief Scientist stay aboard, generally speaking? I get that you found a nice spot for the boys and girls to settle into, what with being near a forest, but..."

"I can handle myself, Admiral," Halsey replied calmly. Indeed, the woman had pocketed several magazines of M6 Magnum ammo and a pistol for herself from the armory, for self-defense. She also donned the standard UNSC Hazmat gear, just in case the planet proved to be hostile in terms of germs and microbes... Or if there were any other hostile organisms like that.

"Understood, doc," The man nodded, "I'll take care of things within the Fleet then."

"Keep Lord Hood informed of our progress. I will send daily reports from the research station as we make to search. Farewell, Admiral," She nodded, then turned to leave. Marching up to her research team and their escort, she simply gave one hand signal. All the chatter on the decks stopped. The men and women gave quick salutes and nods to the doctor as she pulled up her hazmat hood and gas mask over her face and head, tightening them properly before boarding her Pelican with part of the science team.

The UNSC Marines would be boarding Heron and Albatross-class heavy dropships with the supplies necessary to erect a temporary camp at the LZ. Two Albatrosses would be carrying the vehicles. The massive, square-shaped heavy drop-ships sat side-by-side with the three narrower, troop-carrying Herons, each craft powering their engines as they took off. The hangar doors of the UNSC Carrier opened, revealing one of the two Autumn-class heavy cruisers that flanked the vessel. The UNSC Absolute Zero floated menacingly, a hull familiar to the good Doctor from during the waning days of the Human-Covenant War.

She sat herself down and tightened the harness as the Pelican lifted off from the deck of the carrier. It was the first bird out, banking down and hard left, toward the Planet below. The glittering orb before them would be their new home for at least a few months, the good doctor felt. Because there were a lot of things that needed answers. She tapped in strings of code, calculations that played onto her glasses' Heads-Up Display. If her data was accurate, this planet was barely beyond one of the Halo Arrays' targeting range. Just barely.

She blinked, narrowed her lips, then looked up at the rest of the scientists. Several of them seemed jittery, but most of the ones on board also showed a certain level of excitement to be the first in discovering a world that could potentially be rich in archaeological discoveries and new technologies to adapt to the UNSC's arsenal. Some would likely even get inventions or new calculations named after them.

Halsey didn't care about that. She wanted to find out why there was written Latin in a Forerunner installation and how that would affect the world. What kind of threat that posed could not ever be overstated. She sighed, sliding her tablet again into the specially-designed pocket of her hazmat suit as the sudden shakes of the aircraft breaching the atmosphere rattled her teeth.

She opened her mouth as the sudden pressure increase caused her ears to pop and hurt, quickly swallowing nothing but air to try and even out the pressure. She bit down, feeling the aircraft pull a tight-G turn to settle itself back onto a flat trajectory, parallel with the ground, then felt herself pushed into the right side of her harness as it began to decelerate.

Upon touching down, the back doors opened to reveal the rest of the UNSC assets landing in a tight formation around Halsey's Pelican. Warthog Force Application Vehicles, the lightly-armored all-terrain troop support vehicles, rolled off the Albatross dropships and off to the side, while Marines disembarked, hauling the newly-loaded MA40 assault rifles. Based on the MA37k designs, though somewhat more streamlined, the blocky firearms gave Halsey a sense of nostalgia as she slowly stepped off the aircraft, a good chunk of her science team behind her.

This was almost akin to them stepping onto the world of Requiem for the first time, just after finding John and Cortana. She pulled out her datapad and a scanning device, then started running tests almost immediately on the air. The data streamed onto the tablet and Halsey, content with what she saw, pulled her hazmat suit's mask off, letting out a heavy breath and wiping the sweat off of her brow with her gloved hand. She reported over the radio, "Air is breathable and there are no unknown germs or possible viruses that can be detected... We are in the clear."

The entire science staff breathed sighs of relief, all of them excitedly tearing off the hoods and gas masks of their Hazmat suits, while the Marines did away with the sealed helmets, some of them outright removing the specialized masks and clipping them to their belts before slapping the helmets back on their heads. She pushed a bit of her grey hair off her forehead, then murmured, "This is certainly an interesting planet... Ninety-nine point nine percent match in atmospheric conditions and no unknown pathogens? It's almost as if it was perfectly engineered for human habitability... This warrants further research."

She looked to the commander of the three-hundred strong Marine security contingent and ordered, "Let's get the base up and running, major. I'd like to have us enclosed in the safety of the modular walls of a FOB within the day... I feel like our landing attracted some attention."

"There's nobody here, ma'am," The Marine noted, "Right? I mean... We found nothing."

The man was old, but still hopeful. He'd seen enough hell during the Human-Covenant War to want a peaceful, cushy research mission. She hummed, put her glasses back on, then said, "While I would certainly hope we are alone on this gem of a planet, Major, I think I'd be deluded to say there is no form of life, intelligent or otherwise, here with us... So, for our safety, if you please."

"Yes, ma'am..." he nodded, then turned to the detachment of SeaBees that had come down to the planet with them and gave a single motion of the hand. With the approval given, the Engineers, electricians and other important workers immediately got to work. First, came specialized tents in which the troops would be bunked, then, modular research buildings that'd been brought in by the other Albatrosses waiting aboard the UNSC Vladivostok. Finally, the power and the walls of the place had been set up, providing lights and safety to the entire UNSC presence just as nightfall came.

Halsey sat on one of the walls now, clad in her labcoat, turtleneck and a knee-length skirt. To their left there were the visible beginnings of a rather thick forest. Beyond that and farther way lay tall, snow-capped peaks. They were on a vast expanse of plains, otherwise unoccupied by anything as it seemed. She narrowed her lips, eyeing the forest, then pulled her tablet out of her pocket again and made a few notes.

She sighed, descending from the wall via a ladder after she completed her notes, then turned to see the most recent patrol returning. A pair of Mongooses and a Warthog rolled into the FOB through the main gate, the 'Hog's fifty caliber gatling gun pointed up at the sky by the Marine operating it. As the men rolled past, each gave Halsey a quick salute which she returned, though weakly. She was still not used to having a genuine rank.

Calmly, the doctor entered one of the four modular buildings used both for research and to house her team of scientists. All sixty were hard at work, peering through data from the sensors and their own machines. Some were checking soil composition, others continued to check atmospherics and others still ran tests on the water that seemingly flowed below-ground.

She marched to her makeshift office, grabbing a cup of instant coffee from one of the machines in the meanwhile. She entered the small room and sat herself down at her desk, rubbing her eyes as she tried to figure out her way around the Latin once again. There were tons of references to 'The Gods', the prose matching almost exactly with the Covenant's own Religious chatter the further she read into the passage. Still, there was a minor breakthrough or two...

She noticed the mention of a Gate of the Gods. Curious, she made a not of that, wondering if it meant anything particularly important. Reading further ahead through the Latin, she saw the same line appear twice more. A Gate of the Gods. A Gate of the Gods... She read the lines in context and got 'A Gate of the Gods to bestow life, A Gate of the Gods to bestow land and strength'.

Huh, strange. She saved those lines onto her tablet with the translations, then looked for coordinates, or at least some sort of something or other to tell them where they could openly look for this 'Gate of the Gods'. She also made a mental note to ask about why Gods were being referenced through what would normally be Forerunner texts, with them being a Secular Empire, at least from what some of her own research showed.

Sighing, she thumbed the datapad off and took a sip of her lukewarm coffee, parsing through some extra sensor data on the computer system on her holo-desk. She pulled a window aside and focused on another while trying to drink her coffee without forgetting about it. A certain AI had berated her about her bad habits when it came to coffee and how often she'd just let it go stale. Multiple times.

Letting out another sigh as she poured half the contents of the cup down her throat, the good doctor eyed the files on her computer. She sighed, stretched and yawned. It had been almost eighteen hours since they'd landed planetside. She needed to get some damn sleep, but she also needed to finish the translations and filter through the prose just so she could have some sort of idea of where to even begin the search for this 'Gate of the Gods'.

Leaning forward onto the desk, the Doc thought about taking a short five-minute nap before going back to work. It'd certainly benefit her desire to stay awake for further studies, she thought as she slumped over. Pretty much the moment the good doctor had set her head down onto her desk, she'd fallen asleep. A dreamless, short sleep accentuated by the eerie, silent void around her.

She hadn't been able to sleep like this in a while, honestly. It was almost a bliss to her to be able to not have any form of nightmare stirring her awake at every turn. So, to her, the wake-up that was a series of loud knocks on her door told her she would not get another sleep as sweet as this one was. She clicked her tongue, looking up at the door, then groggily said, "Come in..."

The door opened, revealing a young man. Short, black hair, brown eyes and a pale complexion combined with the standard-issue Marine forest BDUs. His boots were stained by mud and dirt and he still had his assault rifle slung over his shoulder as he walked in. He snapped a crisp salute toward the Doctor and she saluted back weakly, her glasses' HUD IFF reading him as a Lieutenant. One Richard Samuels.

"Sorry to wake you up, ma'am," The Marine commented.

"It's fine, Lieutenant. I needed to get back to my work anyways... And it's Doctor. As I told the Admiral, I am none too fond of my current promotion..." She stated firmly. She hummed, noticed the messy clumps of grey hair on her head and murmured something to herself. As she cleaned up her act, she asked, "Is there something I can help you with, Lieutenant?"

"Nothing much, ma'am... Just came to report that a couple of our guys patrolling outside the wire haven't called in yet. Also wanted to ask permission to go find them," He replied calmly, shifting the rifle on his back. The woman paused for a moment, then hummed and stood to her feet. She closed the holo-table's tabs and marched out from behind it.

"How could our men have gone missing just like that, Lieutenant?" She raised a brow.

"Don't know, ma'-err... Doctor. We're looking into it now. If you'd let me take my squad out, we could check thoroughly," The man replied as the two walked out. The doctor's mind raced for a moment. This was the first time she'd had to make this kind of choice, whether to send more men and women out to search for their lost soldiers or... She shook her head, clearing the desire to return to her slumber and the confusion.

"If your squadron is ready, Lieutenant, go on ahead. Keep your eyes open and utilize Night Vision. If those men went missing, it means something is out there. I'd rather we be ready for anything," She ordered, tugging down on her labcoat to straighten it out, "I'll be following your progress. Make the report for when and if you find them thorough. Otherwise, if you can't find them where they went missing, return to base. We'll mount a large-scale Search and Rescue Operation in the morning."

"Yes, ma'am. And if we make contact with anything hostile?" He inquired.

"Well, First Contact protocol would usually be attempting peaceful discussion..." Halsey hummed, "But if they turn out to be enemies, you have free reign to engage."

"Thanks, doctor," The man replied, "I'll go get the lads and ladies ready, if I may."

"Dismissed, Lieutenant. Get to work," She ordered firmly. He grinned, snapped a quick salute, then marched toward the barracks tent of his squad. Third Platoon, Sixth Marine Division off the Vladivostok. The UNSC wasn't playing, seeing as the Sixth was one of the veteran divisions still active post-war and had dealt with a lot of the Covenant's splinters during the early days.

He entered the barracks tent and said, "Alright, drop your cocks and grab your socks, gents! Doc approved our deployment!"

The Lieutenant was somewhat less restrained when talking to his men and women, mostly because of the amount of time he'd served with them. The twenty-person strong unit all whooped and cheered, grabbing their kit from beside their cots. The squad's NCO, a young woman with scarlet hair and green eyes going by the name of Rosalind Voss, or just Rosie, stated happily, "Finally! Some fuckin' action!" as she hoisted up her BR75 Battle Rifle and slung it onto her armor's back.

The squad's SAW Gunner hefted his own weapon onto his shoulder and said, "Here's to hoping I get to lose some of the extra ammo... Shit's hurting to carry..." as he stepped up to join the Lieutenant and Sergeant. Viktor Ivanov, Russian by birth, Corporal by rank and twenty-five years old at current time, the man had his head shaved to the skin and had a slash scar across his face from a Storm Covenant Elite's energy sword. A pair of empty black eyes started at the Lieutenant while on his sleeveless hands lay tattoos depicting various sights of good old Mother Russia.

The youngest of the bunch of close friends then came next. At twenty-four, the team's reclusive Sniper hoisted her SRS-99 over her shoulder via the strap, noting, "D'you think there'll be boars we can hunt? Command got pretty stingy with the MREs for this op and only sent us the cheap stuff..." as she joined up with them. Young, with south-east Asian features including almond-shaped, black eyes and black hair that was cut into a straight, short bob to fit under her Shemagh hood, corporal Yua Ikari stared with the usual deadpan you'd see out of the best sharpshooters in the Military. Richard snorted, then tilted his head toward the motorpool and slid his helmet onto his head.

"Let's hope so, Hotshot," He quipped, "Though I'm not sure it's so sane to fire a fourteen-point-seven millimeter round into them."

She shrugged, pushing locks of her black hair off her forehead as they marched to the motorpool. The Marines of the Platoon mounted up on the first Troop and Gun 'Hogs they could find and, with permission from Doctor Halsey, moved out toward the main gate and into the wilderness. Truly, an entire Platoon of Marines could not fail to find their lost comrades or kill whatever stole them.

There were more of'em now, compared to two dudes on a Mongoose that just happened to go missing.