| abstract | - Wolf walked through the tight corridors of Valkyrie Base, ONI's report gripped tight in his gauntlet. He proceeded to a locked metal door, entered his password into the keypad, and removed his MJOLNIR Security helmet to allow his retina to be scanned. The door slid open with a mechanical hiss and Wolf stepped through. His team waited for him in the room beyond. He replaced his helmet and analysed the report - the briefing on his team's next mission. He stepped into Team Valkyrie's HQ, a square room with computer consoles against the walls and an aluminium table in the centre, with a holo-projector built in. His four team members were already assembled around the table, waiting for him. Wolf swept his eyes over the four soldiers. The one immediately to his right was a heavy-built soldier wearing steel-coloured MJOLNIR CQB armour with blood-red details. His code-name was Tiger, Team Valkyrie's close-combat specialist. He was un-matched in hand-to-hand combat, his fists capable of cracking through armour and bone. Wolf shifted his gaze to the soldier on his left, a skinny Spartan wearing light Scout armour, which suited his role as a sniper. He was called Falcon. His armour had green patches for camouflage, and his helmet had a wide visor for extra visibility. Next to Falcon was a Spartan in large, heavy armour designed to withstand explosions. The armour had dark patches where there had been burns. This was Rhino, Team Valkyrie's explosives expert, and also excellent at electronics, able to hack into most computers and unlock doors. The last member of the team was not a human. He was an ex-Covenant Elite who went by the alias of Snake. Wolf trusted Snake, unlike some of the other team-members. Wolf cleared his head of these thoughts and sat down. He removed the data-crystal from ONI's report and set it in the holo-projector. The ONI logo appeared as a blue projection with the word CLASSIFIED superimposed. Wolf cleared his throat and spoke in a clear voice. "Valkyrie, Wolf." The computer matched his voice with the one on file and the ONI logo was replaced by a projection of a slim man in pale, hooded robes. The rasped "Team Valkyrie mission: Codename: HIGH-GROUND." "Continue, Altair," said Wolf. The AI named Altair disappeared and was replaced by a three-dimensional map of a sandy beach surrounded on 3 sides by reddish-coloured cliffs. The main feature of the projection, however, was a delapidated base with a large Anti-Aircraft site at the back. Altair's disembodied voice said "Covenant Loyalist forces have captured this abandoned base near the city of Mombasa. As you can see, the base contains a powerful Surface-to-Air Missile Launcher, which we believe the Covenant plan to use against UNSC ships massing around Voi and Mombasa since the location of the Ark was discovered. Your mission is to destroy the SAM-Site and if possible, gather intelligence on Covenant operations. We cannot expend any additional UNSC forces to assist you, all available units are unavailable for transfer. In other words, it's just the five of you." The map zoomed towards the entrance to the base, revealing a huge, metal gate that seemed a formidable defence. Wolf doubted that even Rhino could breach it. The map panned to different locations as Altair described them. Altair continued "The main entrance to the base is heavily guarded and pretty much inpenetrable to all standard explosives. However, analysis by ONI Recon has shown that there are further two ways to enter the base's interior. Previous battles have damaged a section of the outer wall and destroyed a bunker overlooking the beach. These are likely to be heavily fortified, but are the best chance of entering the base's interior. The cliffs surrounding the beach have caves and ledges that will make a stealthy entrance possible, provide a suitable position to snipe from, and give cover from the two plasma turrets mounted above the gate and the tower overlooking it that is likely to contain jackal snipers. I will be joining you to provide field intel during the course of the mission." "OK, Team..." said Wolf. "Let's get to work."
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