Recon Team Darkblade

Recon Team 57 is an ONI ground combat intelligence unit. The team was formed in 2551 in Syndey Australia. In 2552 the team was sent to Reach for further orders closer to the front. The force contributed in the battles for Fumirole, where they provided the intel needed for Noble team to take out a Covenant CCS Class Battle Cruiser. They also played roles in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV and during the battle of Tribute. During the assault on Tribute they provided updates on Covenant forces allowing UNSC marines to counter the alien attacks and evacuate more civilians. During the battle of Reach, the team was sent to Olympic Tower in the now fallen New Alexandria to place a Fenris type nuclear device. The order was to destroy anything that remains in the building and to deterred any covenant from scavenging its ruins.
== Members ==
*Commander Garrand (Exarch)-Team Darkblade's ONI handler. He is also the Combat Operations Commander for Operation SOMME. He is a veteran of many ONI operations during the Human Covenant war. Starting his first missions in 2534.
*Sergeant Stonefield-Leader of Team Darkblade. A veteran of many hard operations conducted by ONI. He has been a field operator since 2538. A skilled fighter and a hard man to get approve of, he has lost more men than anyone likes to mention. Though a topic talked of in whispers, the only reason so many men are lost with him is none can match his skills in the field. 
*Corporal Fresno-A member of Team Darkblade: Corporal Fresno acts as Sergeant Stonefield's backup. Skilled in close combat and clearing out buildings, he often backs his sergeant up when the team is making a snatch and grab.
*Corporal Drosavitch-Member of Team Darkblade: Team Darkblade's sniper, he is cool and unforgiving. Able to stay level headed under extreme situations, he is one of the best snipers in the UNSC.
*Lance Corporal Turner-Member of Team Darkblade: Squad's newest recruit. A driven individual, who has little issue with following orders to the letter. A skilled hacker and communications tech in ONI section II, Turner's deployment with Team Darkblade is his first field operation. 
== Deployments ==
===Fumirole===
During the Covenant assault on Fumirole, recon team 57 assisted Spartan Noble Team in assaulting the Covenant CCS Battle cruiser hovering over the remains of the city. Team Darkblade did the initial recon of Noble's drop point and the landing zone for the supporting UNSC ground troops. Once the attack began they provided long range observation and update reports to Carter A259 on Covenant troop movement in the surrounding area. They observed the confirmed destruction of the Covenant cruiser and the retreat of the inbound Covenant reinforcements.
===Sigma Octanus IV===
During the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, team Darkblade was deployed in a more direct fashion of combat. The squad was to assist in the recovery of the planet, and was deployed with the marines at Alpha base and were set to move into the jungles to gather intelligence. However before they could, the base itself was attacked by a massive Covenant assault force. Taking shelter in the central command building, the squad created a sniper post in the three story building while sergeant Stonefield and Corporals Fresno and Turner fought alongside the marines and ODSTs defending the base. They were later extracted with Corporal Harland's team by the Spartan IIs.
===Battle of Tribute===
In the attack of Tribute, ONI deployed team 57 under the call sign "Metal" once more to assist in the evacuation of the planet. The squad was deployed at the edge of the capital city Casbah to give reports to UNSC GROUNDCOM on exact Covenant numbers and locations. This recon data was instrumental in organizing the UNSC counter attack call signed, OPERATION: GOAL POST. The team supported the UNSC's 75th Army regiment and 2nd Marine regiment in pushing the Covenant troops back from the outer suburbs of Casbah. The next day with 35% of Casbah back in UNSC hands, and UNICOM preparing to initiate phase two of the counter thrusts, Dark Blade was attached to an Army warthog convoy and sent deep into the city to destroy a UNSC communications tower that the Covenant had hacked into. With the Covenant able to listen in on UNSC radio traffic, making a surprise counter attack would be impossible, and evacuating any civilians that much harder. 
When the convoy was ambushed by Covenant forces 500 meters from the objective, the squad was forced to disembark and advance with the surviving marines on foot alongside the Scorpion tank support. As they neared the objective Covenant banshees closed in and with strafing runs while phantom drop ships provided close range fire for the ground troops. The squad was forced to advance through several side buildings when a Covenant counter force destroyed the two Scorpion tanks and killed any marines trying to hold the main road way. 
When they exited across the street from the building, they met up with an ODST squad call sign Anvil. The four ONI members and three ODSTs pushed towards the building where they discovered it was already in Covenant hands. Though the Covenant had deployed two Plasma cannons in watch towers and had two dozen troops guarding the entrance the strike team had no other options available, and launched an assault on the Covenant forces. After clearing the main entrance, squad Anvil opted to stay and secure the recon team's rear. Darkblade moved to the main control center of the building engaging another two dozen ground forces and advanced towards the roof. As they reached the ladder they came under fire from below. Realizing Anvil team was gone and the recon team was surrounded, Sergeant Stonefield led them to the roof with the hope of possible extraction. 
Clearing out the ten grunts and the Elite leading them, the squad set their explosives and blew the communications tower. With the Covenant no longer able to listen in on UNSC COMMS traffic, the ground forces could move throughout the city extracting civilians and launching counter attacks and defenses against the advancing aliens. As they waited for their extraction vehicle, the squad came under fire from two building across the street. Jackal snipers and grunts with Fuel rod cannons and plasma guns opened fire on the trapped soldiers. ONI was able to deploy a flight of longswords to attempt to flush out the Covenant ground forces and sent one of the bombers to aide Darkblade. With the snipers clear, the four members jumped on the Falcon transport and were deployed to the edge of the city harbor to meet up with a Spartan fire team. As they escaped the downtown area, they fought off several banshees that attempted to shoot them down.
On their way to the landing zone, the team is briefed that they are to assist the Spartan team Deadeye in boarding one of the Cruisers. Once boarded the Spartans will assault the bridge and turn the Covenant's guns against the rest of the fleet and buy more time for the evacuation effort. Darkblade's mission is to destroy a Covenant Anti Air gun to clear the way for the Spartan team. Darkblade is informed as they are in route to the drop point that twelve ODST operatives will be assisting them and they may gain assistance from surviving defense forces in the city.
The covenant had set the AA gun in a large intersection two kilometers away from the cruiser. The Falcons were small and fast enough to deploy the special forces on rooftops. Escorted by a pair of AV-22 Sparrowhawks to clear out the landing zones. Darkblade set down on a rooftop to the south of the gun while two ODST teams deployed to the north. While Darkblade provided sniper fire, the ODSTs and a UNSC Army tank platoon moved into the intersection. After destroying several Covenant Wraiths with the Scorpions and shoulder mounted anti vehicle weapons, the assault force cleared almost twos scores of hostile ground forces before destroying the AA gun.
With the objective complete the Spartans of fire team Deadeye moved in on the cruiser via pelican drop ship. Unfortunately as the transport got close, seraph fighters shot the craft down. All the Spartans survived the crash though one of the Spartan IIIs was wounded from it, they were held up a kilometer and a half from the UNSC assault group. UNSC GROUNDCOM ordered the tank platoon and surviving infantry elements to push to the crash site and assist the Spartans. Team Darkblade was set to advance with the assault group but ONI directed them to return to the space port for extraction. 
The squad boarded a falcon transport and were returned to the spaceport where they boarded one of the last transport ships out of Casbah. The team was redeployed to Reach for a special mission by ONI.
===Reach===
Once the team was deployed in the orbit of Reach, they were immediately sent to the ruins of the destroyed city of New Alexandria via SOEIV pods from a UNSC frigate on August 28th. ONI realized that though the surface of Reach was glassed, the ONI headquarters had several layers of underground facilities. Each squad member was given a FENRIS Tactical Nuke. After the squad landed just outside of the city and made their way to the coordinates of the ONI HQ, they would advance through the rubble to reach the lowest levels of the structure where they would plant their bombs. Since the area was already glassed by the Covenant, team Darkblade met zero resistance on their insertion. They were able to infiltrate the ruins of Olympic Tower and plant all four of their bombs. The squad quickly retreated and made it to the rallying point without incident where they detonated the nukes. From there the squad was ordered to drive to Fairchild Field where their extraction off world would be waiting. 
The team arrived and boarded a transport that took them to the UNSC prowler Shadow Runner.
It was from here that the Prowler made an emergency jump out of system to a random point per the Cole protocol. 
===Operation: SOMME===
Category:Human-Covenant War