Knowledge Transfer (TPF)

SPARTAN-B256 conducts a knowledge transfer with SPARTAN-B039 on Terceira
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The long walk up the side of Hiʻilei put Violet-B039 in a perfect observation ridge looking down into Mabula. Samuel-B256 handed a spotting scope to her while he shouldered his sniper rifle.
“Zone 44, Block 2, you see it?” Sam asked over TEAMCOM.
“A-firm, combat outpost for URF,” Violet replied.
Six targets on watch at 0100, one sniper, two canine handlers, and three fighters. Shift lead is male with MA2B.
“Between Zone 44 and Zone 48, there are six COPs spread out with varying structures to throw us off. They’re the early warning signal for the Mountain Defense Network embedded into the west side of the Hiʻilei Range,” he said while Violet moved her scope to the right.
“Horseshoe setup, frontal assault would be a mass casualty event,” she noted before continuing, “Air support?”
“Hardened target, they picked their environment well. The section of Hiʻilei Range is known as Zone 54,” he mentioned before responding, “you’ll deal with remote more than manned. Manned is fighting against other targets in the area. ISR and strike options are available to you if kinetic is needed.”
“Good,” she muttered while studying Zone 54.
She turned to look at him and then back through the scope, she remembered Zone 54 from Onyx, the training ground for Headhunters. A curiosity built in her after remembering his face from somewhere she couldn’t place. Once he said Zone 54, she knew he was a Beta and things started coming together.
Violet left her curiosity take a back seat, they were doing a knowledge transfer, not a reunion party.
Multiple openings, small presence of guards around false opening. A complex network the UNSC can’t penetrate with their airpower. We’ll need to root them out, one by one.
“Got any plans?”
“A few,” Violet said after his probing question. “Taking out the guard posts can be done with some remote strikes and causes the Innies to harden themselves into the mountain. For those who hide in the mountain, thermobaric and explosives can disrupt their network’s integrity over time. Either they get crushed or come out.”
“Not a bad idea, you got the air support for it and got the skills to do so.”
Violet tilted her head towards him, he knew she had the skills. Odd, her file was locked up, how did he know so much about her?
"Air Coordination callsign?"
"Dresden 40, for the remote section and Dunkirk 20 for the manned section."
"Really?"
"Yeah, some history nut in the operations cell is running the naming."
Violet noted the callsigns and returned to her thoughts about how did he know she had the skills. Instead of being taken aback and off foot, she pressed him to see what he had in mind.
“I’ll bite, what would you do?” she asked.
“Make a few people disappear from Zone 44 and 54, don’t kill them, snatch and drag them away. Makes them paranoid and they start screwing up. Use those opportunities to slip in, take out the leaders and get them scared shitless.”
Sam took a moment and sighed; he knew it was a philosophical difference in approaching the target. Violet was more geared towards doing direct action and kinetic while he focused on destroying morale and causing a mistake to capitalize on.
Clicking her tongue, she processed the information and refined her plan of hitting the area. Sam picked out a few Areas of Interest and shared the pattern of life of the guards. Shifts lasted four hours in Zone 54 while they were six hours in Zone 44. An estimated force of 500 fighters were rumored to be in the area, but numbers were always inflated.
“Any questions?” he asked after a moment of silence.
“Primary HVT details?”
“HVT is codename Shark Actual, fought on Eridanus II during Operation: TREBUCHET against the UNSC. RUMINT mentioned he was the mastermind of the Defense for Amtrup and using asymmetrical warfare.”
“Weakness?”
“Bullets.”
Violet smiled at the fast quip from Sam, she didn’t expect something so casual from him. He stayed strictly business in their first meeting and the hike up. She wanted to respect his mission and knowledge transfer to the very least. Spartan to Spartan mission transfers weren’t often and she wanted to see if he knew his craft.
Seems like he’s easing up, I remember something about a Zone 54. Maybe he has a connection to it or it’s a coincidence.
“Why did you name the MDN Zone 54?” she asked after a bit.
“Reminded me of a place on Onyx. Did you do your Headhunter training there?”
“Yes,” she said after a moment. “That’s not exactly known information. You need to be Read-In.”
“Takes one to know one, I saw your file about supporting the Spartan Branch Headhunters,” he turned his head to face her. “I don’t remember you from the original class. You were a manpower fill, I assume.”
Original class? ONI wanted to keep things compartmented from us. Who was his partner? Click.
Her curiosity surged about Sam; he was an original class Headhunter. He seemed too young to be an Alpha and too old to be a Gamma. Sam didn’t mention anything about his SPARTAN program.
“Which company were you?”
“Beta,” he replied.
“I don’t remember you.”
“That makes two of us.”
There was a gut feeling she wasn’t part of the first Headhunter class for Beta. The real-world exercises she went through were more recent and designed from previous Headhunter operations. Violet’s file was already covered in black, she figured ONI blacked out his file to keep this easier than classifying each line.
“No one knows we’re here,” he said after taking the sniper rifle off his shoulder. “It’s a knowledge transfer after all.”
“What team were you on in Company?”
“Tango, ONI pulled the team after augs and sent us over to Zone 54 in 2543 and we never saw the Company again. Ran a team until 2549 and got transferred out,” he paused and sighed remembering her.
“You were with Roland? Last thing I remember, Tango medically washed out.”
“Cover story for ONI to use, we were pulled and moved.”
“Are they still active?”
“Roland and Jonah? No. They’re MIA as of 2551,” he replied quietly. “Last I heard of them was in 2549, they were doing a mission.”
“How’d you get out?”
“Told you, transferred out in 2549. I was needed on the frontlines more than behind enemy lines.”
Something went wrong in 2549. Maybe he lost his partner or failed to complete the objective. Each mission was a suicide, coming back alive meant you either completed the mission or failed. Either way, you were being sent out again. Except he got transferred out, odd.
“How long you been sitting on this target set?”
“About a week, been mapping out the defenses to hand off to a larger force. Can’t do it by myself or with a fireteam element,” he said after relaxing his shoulders and sighing. “I’m sure you can handle it. Plan’s solid on your end, we have a difference in handling the situation.”
“Small war tactics,” she said. “Manage the fire till it burns itself out or take it out before it gets too big.”
Violet found herself taking him more seriously after learning he was a Headhunter from Beta. She didn’t like his idea but respected his opinion. At the very least, it was from someone she trained alongside, even if she didn’t know him.
“Mm-hm, we’re still celebrating the end of the Great War. Last thing we need is another insurgency on our hands,” he paused before rolling his head. “How about you, your Headhunter days?”
“Passed quals in 2546, ran missions until 2551, then transferred out,” she took a breath before continuing. "Spartan Branch pinged me about standing up the Headhunters about six months ago, here I am today.”
Don’t talk about TORPEDO. The feeling of security is nice, being around my kind again. Be cautious, don’t give too much. Let him continue driving the conversation.
“Do you want to rejoin the Headhunters?”
Looking up, she noticed his hand rubbing a piece of his armor. It must’ve been something like her clicks, a way to process information. She clicked her tongue again while analyzing him.
“No, I’ve done my time in the Headhunters,” he said after a long silence. “Anything further would do more damage than good. Besides, I’m not a fan of being a personal promotion tool for officers,” he finished then stood up, “Ready to head back down? I think we’ve done enough around here.”
He flew too close to a memory he didn’t want to remember in front of me. Must’ve been his Headhunter partner. Probably died, doesn’t want to relive those mistakes he made with someone filling her role in his team.
Violet nodded and stood up; she handed the spotting scope back to him. Watching him survey the area and how relaxed he was, she knew he was in his element. The two made their way down the side of Hiʻilei and towards their designated pick-up point.
“Piece of advice for you, on training your Headhunters. Team over mission, never pick the mission success over your team. I made the mistake of prioritizing the mission and I failed. The target will always pop back up again another day.”
He got his partner killed and failed the mission. Both grave mistakes in the Headhunters, he’s probably persona non grata from the Headhunters. No luck in getting him back into the fold, even if he wanted. Spartan Branch could wave it, but it will make him second guess whether he’s there on merit or because someone waved him through.
She clicked her tongue after the brainstorming.
“Mute TEAMCOM when you’re going to click your tongue. You’re driving me insane,” he said before muting the channel.
Category:The Weekly