The Missing Wall

The Missing Wall is the name of the hidden memorial located on the glassed planet of Merken. Built toward the end of 2553 by surviving members of Gamma Company the wall is the surviving Spartan-III's most closely guarded secret, known only to a handful of people outside their ranks. The Missing Wall itself is a long stretch of walls inside a small cave etched with the name of every Spartan-III to have fallen in battle, from the start of Alpha Company to every death suffered by Gamma Company. The wall holds a great deal of reverence for all that know about it especially for Spartan-III's who see it as something of a hallowed area. Since its creation many Spartans have 'gone to find The Missing Wall' in order to write the names of dead comrades on the wall. 
==Merken==
Prior to its glassing Merken was a world of long grass plains and rolling hills. It wasn't hugely colonized, sporting only five major settlements across it's three large continents each of which clustered around an orbital elevator of considerable size. While not a world rich in people it's position on the edge of the Inner Colonies made it an idea transit point for any ship travelling to or from the Outer Colonies. As such it enjoyed a higher amount of trade than most other worlds of its size, something that the large orbital dock that once sat in geosynchronous above its atmosphere were proof of. 
With the onset of the Human-Covenant War Merken saw a change of situation and it's orbital stations were quickly refitted to repair and rearm UNSC vessels going out on patrol and it's settlements quickly saw an increase of transit from UNSC marines and navy personnel coming to spend their off duty time. This suited the Merken status quo just fine and the world soon blossomed with the increased transit as it became a hub of UNSC work in the sector.
However as the war dragged on the situation worsened. With the Covenant war machine pushing ever deeper into UNSC Space many UNSC Battle-groups begun moving their rearming stations deeper into the Inner Colonies. As such Merken lost out on much of its business as the bulk of the UNSC forces slowly moved backward. The issue soon became two fold as refugee's from the outlying worlds caught in the Covenant's attacks were brought to Merken and left to fend for themselves. This late in the war the UNSC no long has the capacity to watch over every world and combat the alien menace and so many worlds had to do with their planetary garrisons to deal with internal strife.
As the riches of Merken dried up many people went out of business and soon many of the original inhabitants were as poor and destitute as the refugees that had joined their world. Soon after this happened riots and fights broke out between Merken's original inhabitants and members of the refugee camps that had sprung up around the cities. Rumours of an insurrectionist movement didn't help matters and soon the situation turned dangerous as the UNSC troops in the area tried to step in to bring order back to the cities.
Before the situation could worsen further a Covenant Fleet transitioned in system. On May 16th 2552 Merken was glassed. UNSC forces resisted for just over a day during which they were able to evacuate much of the civilian population due to an unexpected warning from out system. However in the end their enemies superior numbers won out and the last major city was overrun as the second day broke. Doing a quick sweep of the planet and finding nothing of value the Covenant fleet glassed the planet and promptly left the system. Leaving Merken a scorched and battered wasteland.
==OPERATION:RHO AIAS==
A fate would have it, Merken would have a role to play in humanities future, specifically in the then fledgling Spartan-III Gamma Company. A few months earlier ONI's Section Three was busy deciding the soon to be completed Gamma Company's mission target. Deciding that this late in the war a strike against the Covenant would be both time consuming and potentially impossible due to lack of resources Rear Admiral instead sought to use the company in a delaying action against the Covenant.
Toward the end of the war many ONI analysts had determined a link between Covenant appearances and ancient alien ruins that were often found on worlds they attacked. While they didn't fully understand why the aliens often appeared on planets baring these ruins it was a parallel ONI couldn't ignore. The plan for what was dubbed Operation:RHO AIAS was to lure the Covenant into a system garrisoned by Gamma Company using a faked signal that mirrored reading taken from Harvest and other sites of the ruins the Covenant seemed to seek and bring the aliens into a battle of attrition that would hopefully delay their movements into Human Space. Due to its position outside of the Inner Colonies as well as relative position from other worlds that were recently attacked, Merken was chosen as the target for the operation. The main hope being that the Covenant advance could be slowed or perhaps even diverted for a time.
The Operation was never put into practice however as was able to bargain more time for his third company, citing that to be at full effectiveness they would need a few more months of additional training. Section Three agreed to Kurt's requests and the Operation was scrapped.
==The Wall==
With the scrapping of Rho Aias Merken faded out of mind as another UNSC colony lost during the devastating Covenant advance. It would remain this way until 2553 when it would come to server a purpose for the same company of Spartan-III's that were once set to fight and die on its surface.
Following the end of the Human-Covenant War many people were left adrift in the post war malaise, none more so that the young spartans of Gamma Company. For them their whole purpose in life had suddenly been wiped away, the war they had been trained to fight in for as long as they could remember had been won and they had barely had a chance to participate at all. This issue for the company was only made worse as ONI quickly moved to sequester them away from the public eye, first in Bravo 6 Facility and then off world to the nearly completed . Unwilling to allow the truth of Gamma Companies existence to become common knowledge, which could have resulted in some serious ethical questions being levelled at the Office, they chose instead to keep them as far away from the public as possible while deciding what to do.
The final straw came during the , a commemoration service for all those who had lost their lives in the 28 year span of the Human-Covenant War. With ONI unwilling to allow the Spartan-III's to leave the Infinity they were also disallowed from attending the Memorial. Many of the Gamma spartan's, especially those who had lost teammates during the combat on Earth and beyond in the last few days of the war, were outraged that they weren't allowed to attend. To them it was almost a betrayal of all the sacrifices that Gamma and the other Spartan-III companies had made. But the Office wouldn't be moved and despite their protests none of the company was able to change anyone's minds.
It was in this dark time that the idea of the Missing Wall was first seeded, specifically starting with Gamma Team Shoto. Shoto had suffered one loss during the Battle of Earth, their heavy weapons specialist and close friend Lance-G244, and their leader Shepard-G127 had lost his right arm which had now been replaced with a prosthetic. They were one of the loudest voices against the Office when it came to the Voi Memorial and the general consensus between the three teammates was that ONI was trying to quickly bury the Spartan-III's to avoid a public incident.
Each of the team spent a long time mourning in their own way, Shepard in particular didn't take the situation well. First push himself to near breaking point in the combat rooms and training floors and then taking up self-harm as a form of punishment for his perceived failings. His overriding suffering and turmoil was mirrored by many amongst the Gamma ranks, a kind of soul sickness that spread through their ranks. There was a general consensus that something needed to give soon if the heart and soul of the company was to survive. Either by luck or design a ray of hope final appeared.
Jess-G128, Team Shoto's technical specialist, spent much of her time mourning attempting to find a way to remedy the painful situation affecting her friends. A few months after the Voi Memorial she received a mysterious unnamed message at her terminal. The message contained the image and coordinates of a planet on the edge of the Inner Colonies, long since glassed, and explained that this planet was at one point to be Gamma Companies first deployment, Merken. Mulling this information over for a while an idea begun to germinate in Jess's mind. Perhaps this was the place, that once was to be their first true battle, could instead be the place they could come to mourn.
Taking this first to her team and then to the other members of Gamma Company they were quickly able to build a case to present before their current ONI handler. The handler in this case was Agent Dawn Knights, who had been more receptive to the Gamma's plight than others. To the young spartan's surprise the agent was more than open to allowing them on their expedition though requested that she tag along to keep an eye on them. Considering this a small price to pay the group of Gamma's agreed and soon were enroute to Merken aboard a small transport shuttle with a collection of mining equipment safe stored away.
The trip to Merken was one of quiet contemplation for the Gamma's onboard their shuttle, a time for deep reflection and for some a sudden realisation that a particular time for all of them was coming to an end. They sat together quietly, sharing words on friends past, planning on how they would construct this memorial and for some, Shepard is particular, taking time to apologies for how they had handled the last few months. It was a sombre and heartful journey, especially for such young people. Agent Knights, mercifully, chose give the young spartan's their space though she offered council to any who wanted to talk alone.
Eventually the journey reached its destination, the abandoned and melted surface of Merken finally appeared. On the journey over Jess had poured over the topographical charts and located what looked like the best location, a small cave in the northern hemisphere that seemed to have survived the worst of the glassing. As Dawn brought the shuttle into a descent the Gamma's prepared themselves, gathering up the cutting equipment and supplies. At this point few words were shared, whether all talk had been exhausted in Slipspace or the event quelled all voices none could say. Landing the shuttle a short trek away Agent Knights agreed to stay in the ship and watched as the spartan's gathered together and begun the quiet walk across the grey world they had chosen.
The cave they had chosen appeared as nothing more than a small hill, indistinguishable from the rest of the ruined landscape. In the lee of the hill they found the entrance as a low, wide hole that sloped slowly down into a roughly circular chamber below. Laying out their tools and taking shelter there was a long, deep pause as they figured out how to begin. Eventually it was Shepard who took up one of the laser cutters and carefully etched the words that all spartan's had come to know. 
With these first words written they all took up their own tools and begun the long work. Carefully carving the names of every Spartan-III to ever given their lives for humanity during the Human-Covenant War.
As they worked they begun to talk once again, sharing happy words and sad stories. From the stories they had heard of the other companies, tales from their time on Onyx or their experiences and losses in their own battles at the wars end. Despite the sad events that had brought this group to his lost world a sense of repairing comradery slowly returned to the group, and though it took the better half of a day soon they were able to stand back and look at their accomplishments. Around them, in small script, was a host of names all across the wall of the cave. Some close friends, some that they had only heard of in tales from their trainers but all linked by a shared history as members of the Spartan-III's. The Missing Wall had been built, a place of sadness and remembrance for all of those who had sacrificed everything and yet would never receive the praise they deserved.
The group that left the Wall wasn't the same one that left. While not the jovial, boisterous group they had been on Onyx there was a sense of lifted weight, as if something had finally been set aside. They returned to their shuttle and their duties as spartan's, prepared to face the next phase of galactic history. The Wall itself sat quiet and still, waiting for the day when one of their number would return to write another name and commit another friends memory to all those that had gone before them.
==Quotes==
==Notes==
*Merken is German for Remember