Chapter 65

Following the appointment of Khega 'Votamee as Arbiter, the Prophet of Regret had learned about the human settlement called 'The Rubble' being taken over by UNSC forces. The Kig-Yar were killed and the contact with the Humans on the station was lost.

But not before they had found something from one of the slip space drives that they had gotten from the Insurrectionists.

While the slip space drive was worn down and old, they had managed to get 8 locations of human worlds from the drives. But he didn't want them to be defeated once again, so withheld the information while secretly he planned to gather a massive fleet to start attacking these locations.

Despite his belief that Humans were feeble and inferior, he could not deny that his assumptions had been completely overturned. Despite facing numerous challenges, the Humans had shown incredible resilience and refused to succumb to their potential extermination.

He had heard of a rumor of a suspected Human leader who was the main person responsible for the Covenant losses during the start of the war. His agents have been collecting information from the Human Outer Colonies and the identity of that person would soon be revealed.

Once he learns the identity of the Human leader, then he would make that person his main target to rid the Humans of a capable leader and deal with a constant problem that kept interfering with his plans.

He spent days submerged in his ceremonial psychic pools, eyes half-closed, purple lips murmuring ancient prayers. He called for help from the ancestors, the holy martyrs of the Covenant who had struck down countless enemies. His essence swirled with theirs, their collective wisdom aiding him in formulating a grand plan.

Meanwhile on Reach, Axel had visited the headquarters of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). ONI headquarters was called Sword Base, and it was where the main operations and such were conducted from.

Usually, you could find the Commander-in-Chief of ONI, but considering Axel was the Commander-in-Chief and the Chairman made it difficult for him to be always present within the base.

But a few things had popped up that he needed to be informed about, and since he had time, he decided to hear the information during a face-to-face meeting.

The first person he would be meeting with was Catherine. She had returned from her time at the Research facility on Trove and had gotten some information on how to stop a dangerous organism that the Forerunners refer to as the 'Flood'.

Of course, Axel was interested in this information since the Flood would be a major threat in the future and he had yet to take measures to prevent the organism from spreading once it eventually came about.

Second was Section Zero who oversaw internal investigations which involved rooting out and eliminating illegal programs and monitoring ONI personnel to prevent corruption from within.

Third was ONI Section One. Section One is the proper intelligence-gathering branch of ONI. As such, the section's services are most often utilized by UNSC forces. Its responsibilities include information gathering and codebreaking through military espionage. Information released by Section One includes evacuation notices for colony worlds and Covenant force deployments. It is also responsible for covering up all information on locations ONI wishes to keep hidden from the public eye.

Fourth was ONI Section Two. Section Two is the propaganda branch of ONI; they are also responsible for psychological operations. Overtly, however, Section Two only deals with external communication and public morale. It handles communication between colonies to reduce the spread of rumors and information that would damage morale. Under Orders of Axel, Section Two was responsible for releasing details of the SPARTAN-II program to the public to boost morale throughout the colonies.

Once information about the Spartans was released to the public, Section Two would have to maintain the Spartans' near-mythical status within the military by listing those killed in action as MIA. Thankfully so far, no Spartan-IIs had died yet so they haven't hat to list any as MIA.

Next was ONI Section Three which is the department that Axel is the Head of on top of being the Commander-in-Chief of ONI. Section Three is responsible for the development of the MCUs, creating and developing the successful Spartan-II program, and several Black Operations.

Within ONI its reputation was widely known mainly for its accomplishments with the MCUs, and the Spartan-II program since the Black Operations weren't exactly known to others.

Next was Section Four which is a clandestine survey group employed by ONI for the reconnaissance of new worlds, alongside conducting xenoarchaeology efforts. These efforts are used by ONI to claim new worlds for their own personal use, without oversight of the Unified Earth Government.

There were also a few other subdivisions within ONI that performed various other operations and missions and such, but Axel was not here to see them.

As soon as his Pelican landed at Sword Base, outside a line of soldiers was already lined up ready to greet him. It was to be expected as this was his first-time visiting Sword Base, he was the Chairman of the UNSC, a High-ranking Admiral, and a Known hero for Humanity.

As he exited the Pelican, the line of soldiers had all snapped to attention and performed a salute. Among the group Axel had noticed some Spartans lined up as well.

He immediately recognized them as members of Blue Team. He knew that they would be here, and he planned to meet them, but he didn't know that they would come greet him as soon as he arrived.

"At Ease," he stated as he began to walk down the line until he stood in front of one particular Spartan.

"Master Chief, it's good to see you again" Said Axel as he looked at the other Spartans "I did not forget about the rest of you, I remember each of your faces."

The Spartans wanted to smile at his words, but they maintained their military professionalism.

"I trust you all have been taking care of yourselves, yes?" Axel continued, his gaze drifting along the line of soldiers as the Spartans nodded in unison.

"Yes sir," John-117, the Master Chief, replied confidently. "We've been maintaining our training schedules and have participate in many battles in the outer colonies helping to evacuate civilians and reinforce military positions."

"Excellent," Axel approved, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly showing a satisfied smile. "I have heard of your achievements; they are what I expected from all of you."

Next, he turned to a tall woman who stood next to John-117. Her icy blue eyes stared directly into his chest as he was much taller than her, who was already around 7ft. She had read about his new appearance in the news but didn't think that he was that much taller than a normal Spartan.

"Spartan-087, Kelly," he addressed her. "Sir," she answered, her tone firm yet respectful.

"I've been hearing stories about your speed on the battlefield. Keep up the good work,"

"I will sir," she said as she was about to open her mouth to say something else but ended up not saying anything.

Axel had notices this and was curious on what she wanted to ask, "If you want to ask something then go-ahead Kelly."

"Sir if I may, how did you get that tall?" asked Kelly as she was curious. At the same time all the other soldiers were curious too.

"I can't tell you that right now, but keep in mind that eventually the rest of the Spartan-IIs will have a similar upgrade that will make them better" Stated Axel as he looked over all the Spartans.

"And as for the normal Army soldiers, I haven't forgotten about you, your lives are just as important as a Spartan or at least that's how I see it" Added Axel as he looked at the time.

"Now I won't hold you for any longer, you are all dismissed" said Axel as the soldiers snapped back to attention.

Axel ordered them to carry on which officially dismissed them back to their duties.

After exchanging a few more words with the Spartans, Axel excused himself and made his way into the heart of Sword Base. The multitude of ONI personnel greeted him with respect as he passed by them, some even shaking hands with him before he moved on.

Inside the main conference room, representatives from each ONI section awaited his arrival.

He sat down at the head of the table and plugged in a small microchip into the table which allowed Omni to connect to the Conference room so that he could monitor the other Section Heads to see if they were telling him lies or being truthful.

"All right, let begin" said Axel as Catherine stood up to begin her briefing.

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A/N: Another Random quote from the Art of War.

"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."

-Sun Tzu

-The Art of War