26:30 Hours
A phantom flies by with its search light on. Jun emerges from a concealed position behind a rock as the dropship passes. He nods to you, who follows Jun along the cliff edge.
Warrant officer Jun: "Recon Team Bravo reporting: Three and Six in position. It's starting to get crowded up here, Kat."
Lieutenant Commander Catherine: "Then we're closing in. Report any Covenant structures or devices. Direct action may be necessary."
Jun: "Copy that. (chuckling) When Kat runs an op, direct action is always necessary."
Jun hands you a magazine of sniper rounds.
Jun: "Here. You may need these. High-velocity, Armor-piercing. They'll take the hat off an Elite at two thousand yards. And they ain't cheap."
You and Jun head further along the ledge, Jun reaches a boulder and starts to climb it.
Jun: "I'll be in touch."
you slide down the ledge to the ground below.
Too Quiet
Catherine: "Recon Bravo, the sector ahead is dark to electronic surveillance."
Jun: "Covenant can block our instruments?"
Catherine: "So it would seem, and Command wants to know what they're hiding."
You head up along another ledge. An Elite stands watch over the area, back facing them, while a few sleep nearby.
Jun: "Elite. He's yours, do it quiet."
You assassinate the Elite quietly.
Jun: "Not bad."
You eliminate the Grunts and continues forward, eventually reaching a Covenant-controlled complex.
Jun: "Recon Bravo to Noble Two, stand by for contact report."
Catherine: "Standing by to copy, over."
Jun: "We have eyes on multiple hostiles patrolling a settlement. This what we're looking for, Kat?"
Catherine: "Negative, too small, you're not in the dark zone yet. Engage at your own discretion, but keep moving."
Jun: "You heard her, Six. Drop those tangoes."
After a eliminating a few of the Covenant troops, a Phantom shows up.
Jun: "Incoming. Looks like we really pissed them off."
Jun and yourself eliminate the rest of the Covenant in the area and continue on a trail behind the buildings, going further into the complex, soon finding an area with more Covenant troops.
Jun: "We got hostiles near."
The Covenant in the area are quickly eliminated. You and Jun find a trail leading away, with more Covenant troops advancing.
Jun: "Visual on targets."
After dealing with the enemy troops, You and Jun continue down the trail.
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
You and Jun reach a clearing where some native large creatures are attacking Covenant troops.
Jun: "Look at that!"
After eliminating the Covenant, the creatures notice Jun and Yourself, and begin to charge them.
Jun: "Major enemy, incoming."
The creatures take multiple sniper rounds from both you and Jun, but eventually fall.
Jun: "Kat, pick any of that up?"
Catherine: "Affirmative, Recon Bravo. It's an indigenous creature, called Gúta."
You and Jun continue on, soon finding another trail.
Jun: "Six, there's a trail up ahead through the rocks. Let's take it."
While taking the trail they come across several Moa, soon hearing gunfire.
Jun: "Gunfire. Magnums, security side-arms. Standard issue."
The trail opens up to a pumping station. Several militia are under attack by Covenant forces.
Jun: "Noble Two, that's some sort of pump station. Got eyes on civilians, I'm thinking more local militia, they've engaged hostiles."
Catherine: "Move to assist. They may have intel we need."
Jun: "You heard her, Six. Keep those civilians alive."
Militia Trooper: "Give us a hand! Bastards just keep comin'."
After the Covenant troops in the area are eliminated, the group gathers around a couple briefcases.
Militia Trooper: "Little more action than we're used to. You Spartans are good in a fight."
Jun: "What are you doing here? Whole area's supposed to be evacuated."
Militia Trooper: "Didn't like leaving it to someone else to protect our home. So we came back, for this. We have 'em hidden all over the territory."
The briefcases electronically open to reveal various UNSC weapons.
Jun: "You know this stuff is stolen."
Militia trooper: "What? You gonna arrest me?"
Jun: "No. Gonna steal it back."
A Phantom shows up, and the group moves to defensive positions.
Jun: "Another dropship coming in."
After dealing with the hostiles, a second Phantom shows up.
Jun: "We've got company."
After eliminating the hostiles, yet another Phantom shows up.
Jun: "More inbound."
Eventually, they eliminate the final wave.
Jun: "Nothing here but that lake."
Militia trooper: Road leads to a hydro-electric plant, but the gate doesn't work.
Jun: "Alternate route?"
Miltia trooper: "We use the riverbed to smuggle rations, weapons..."
Jun: "Basically anything the UNSC considers contraband."
Militia trooper: "Basically."
Jun: "Show us."
The troopers lead Jun and yourself to the riverbed.
Jun: "There's the riverbed, Six. Let's see where it goes."
The Spartans continue down the riverbed.
Jun: "Where does this riverbed lead?"
Militia Trooper: "Straight to the hydro plant. We dammed this river up forty-five years ago, plant powers every settlement in the territory. Shame if it all gets wasted."
Jun: "Doing what we can."
A Phantom passes overhead.
Jun-A266: "Hold up. Covie dropship, take cover."
The Phantom passes them by.
Jun: "OK, clear. Let's move."
I'll Just Leave This Here...
They continue on, eventually reaching the plant, which is under Covenant control. A Covenant pylon is seen near the plant.
Jun: "Kat, are you seeing this? Covenant structure, kind of a big pylon. Heavily fortified."
Catherine: "That's the source of our dark zone."
Jun: "Ok, consider it gone."
Catherine-B320: "Negative, stick a remote det charge on it. Command's planning something big, they say that pylon dies at dawn."
Militia Trooper: "We gonna blow it?"
Jun-A266: "We're gonna clear the area, and I'm gonna plant a remote det charge. You want to provide some cover, go right ahead."
They neutralize the guards on the bridge, attracting the attention of the other Covenant in the area. After eliminating the Covenant forces in the area, Jun heads for one of the pylon's legs.
Jun: "All clear, Six. This is gonna take a minute, keep your eyes peeled."
A Phantom shows up and drops off a pair of Hunters, followed by another Phantom with a Spec-Ops Elite tandem. They are eventually defeated.
Jun: "Recon Bravo to Noble Two, charge placed."
Catherine: "Somewhere inconspicuous, I hope."
Jun: "Stuck it inside the pylon's power supply."
Catherine: "Alright. Keep pushing into the dark zone. Command wants to know what the Covenant are hiding."
Jun: "There's a gate to the southeast of the power plant."
Catherine: "Copy. Uploading security codes to you now."
Jun: "Okay, got 'em. Unlocking the gate."
Catherine: "Recon Bravo, you're heading into the dark zone now."
Jun: "Understood."
The Spartans head through the gate, engaging more Covenant troops almost immediately.
Jun-A266: "Phantom, too close for comfort."
They advance further, engaging more Covenant troops and a Shade.
Jun: "Shade! Fire and manoeuvre. Hit 'em from the side, Six."
After neutralizing the Shade, they advance further. Multiple Banshees start flying overhead.
Jun: "Lotta air traffic around here, Six. I think we're getting warm."
As they advance further in, they encounter more Covenant troops and several more Shades.
Soon, a Covenant Corvette is seen holding position on the other side of the rock wall.
Jun: "Noble Two, we have eyes on at least one Covenant ship."
Catherine: "Solid copy. Don't stop now."
Eventually, the Spartans and militia clear the area of hostiles.
Jun: "Yes, clear."
You and Jun are shown crawling forward. A massive Covenant landing zone is shown ahead of them in the distance.
Jun: "Jackpot."
(Y/N L/N): "Transmitting visual."
Jun: "You seeing this, Kat?"
Catherine: "Confirmed. Receiving Noble Three and Noble Six's live visual of a Covenant strike force."
Jun: "That's no strike force, it's an invading army. If we're gonna smother this thing, we need to go in hard and fast."
Catherine: "Agreed. All recon teams disengage and fall back. Sun will be up in a few hours...and its going to be a very busy day."