"Red Alert! Red Alert! All hands man your battle stations, all hands man your battle stations! This is not a drill! Repeat, all hands man your battle stations! Spartans to bay Six-Charlie for Pelican deployment! Spartans to bay Six-Charlie for Pelican deployment!"

Ruby and her team rushed into their Pelican. Once the team was settled, Ruby tapped the pilot's chair. "Get us underway quickly!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The pilot quickly got them out of the Defiant and shot down to the surface with nine Longsword fighters and three Sabers configured for orbital defense and escort. The Longswords and Sabers left the formation as soon as the Pelican hit the atmosphere.

"Alright Gemstone. We're breaking into two squads. One for scouting and the other for power and defense. Yang, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Nora, you're Hammer Squad. Juane, Ren, Blake, and I are Ranger Squad. Hammer, you'll be defense while Ranger squad is scouting and gorilla warfare tactics." Ruby quickly broke up her team into two squads to maximize efficiency. "Ranger squad, call out any targets heading towards Hammer that you were unable to take out. Hammer, call out if you need help and where you need it. Squad leaders are Pyrrha and me. Helmets on and let's come back with everyone alive, including the civilians and Fireteam Blue." Helmets went on and all the Spartans grabbed their favorite weapons. Yang grabbed her M45 Tactical Shotgun and M57 Pilum Rocket Launcher; Juane his MA5D Assault Rifle; Ren his M395 DMR and M20/Personal Defense SMG; Nora her T-2 Gravity Hammer; Pyrrha her M395 DMR, 99-series 5 Anti-Materiel Sniper, and MA5D Assault Rifle; Ruby her MA5D Assault Rifle and 99-series 5 Anti-Materiel Sniper; and Blake and Weiss their T-1 Energy Swords. All Spartans also added the M6H Magnum sidearm to their arsenal as well as four frag grenades and enough ammo to endure a seven-day siege should it become necessary. As the Pelican leveled out after going through the Atmospheric Entrance Sequence, the lights went red to signal their drop was a hot LZ.

"Commander Rose, we aren't going to be able to stay down long. You might even have to jump. We're watching massive AA fire and lots of Covey ships flying around." The pilot hollered back at Ruby.

"Just get us as close as you can to the LZ, Lieutenant! We'll take it from there!"

"Get ready for a floating deployment!" The pilot stuck out his hand to count down as all the Spartans stood up and walked towards the back, keeping their eyes on the pilot's count down. As soon as the pilot made a fist to release the Spartans, Gemstone jumped backward out of the Pelican and the mission was started.