With only a twinkle of radiation and a two maneuvering flares, Both the Aurora's flame and Genie's Smoke were in high orbit around the super star known as Rankor. For this particular mission both ships had to be refitted to be able to withstand close sun orbit. Rankor was not closely observed until just recently, and the little data they've gathered they've learned that the sun is more unstable then most. Huge solar flares tear off its molten shell and are ejected into space like uncontrolled geysers. Getting caught in one would melt a ship in seconds. So why would two expensive ships be sinking into low orbit around such a dangerous cosmic object? Because that's where a piece of the ark was flung to after it's explosion.<br/><br/>The ark was a Treasure trove of Forerunner tech, the one place in the galaxy where most of the life in from the forerunner's time was cataloged and stored. As with Requiem, this fragment was the place where the UNSC could potentially learn the secrets of Forerunner technology and launch themselves even farther into the future. They just needed to survive the massive hazard of Rankor and find the tech in the ark fragment.<br/><br/>As both ships lowered towards the large fragment the ships heated up, their under bellies starting to glow yellow. The modifications attached a large solar shield to the underside of the ships to keep the rest of it protected, however the shield wouldn't last long. Maintaining an orbit above the ark fragment was the only way to get relief from the heat.<br/><br/>It was an Hour of long stifling heat and damaged systems before they got close enough above the fragment to benefit from it's large shadow. The Lead prowler, Aurora's Flame, carrying most of the Missions 'Heavy Lifters' including a group of Spartan 4s and a small platoon of ODSTs, dropped one Pelican from it's small hanger bay. The Pelican was holding most of the S4s. The second Prowler, Genie's Smoke, also dispatched a pelican, this one holding a lot of science equipment and technical crew.<br/><br/>Piloting the first pelican was Corporal Zephyr, He gripped the controls as he fought the craft down against the turbulent tides of the sun's heat. As they descended, the violent shaking of the craft slowly died off, within four minutes their teeth stopped rattling and it turned from being in side a tornado doing a flat spin, to being inside a turbulent storm cloud. Captain Terrence should be coming over the speaker soon to go over the briefing, Radiation interference would delay long enough for everyone in the back to screw their heads on straight and plug their brains back in. The corporal spoke over the team's Comms as he looked out over the fragments surface. His voice was calm and polite sounding, and pitched slightly as the craft jerked to and fro. *"Despite being so close to a sun, the horizon of this hunk of junk looks spectacular. It's still too hot to open the hatch yet though, you'll have to wait."*<br/><br/>Surprising it was. The edge of the Ark was glowing red, and it looked like it was on fire casting huge tendrils of flame into the darkness of space. Occasionally there was a purple or light blue hue cast onto the background. It was scary to think that they'd be setting foot on a piece of metal that had been doing this for an estimated four months. The bit of ark they were on was one of the edges of instillation, It was a vast piece. From their vantage point you could watch the landscape change from blazing glass-lands on the outside edges, to desert, to wasteland, to plains and then to a large jungle in the center with a large rain cloud overhead, seemingly unaffected by the condition of the ark fragment. A nav point popped up, placed by the second pelican. It marked the designated landing point, in the middle of the forest where a large pillar stretched out above the trees. Zephyr thought it must be some control station as he steered the craft toward it.