As Aaron stepped into the Command center a lower ranking officer shouted, "Spartan on deck!". Almost everyone in the room stood up and saluted before sitting back down. The only people who didnt where civilian employees and the Admiral. Aaron walked over to him and saluted before speaking. "Spartan-283 reporting for duty Admiral Reynolds. The mission was a success and the riot has been quelled." he said in his deep gruff voice.

Admiral Reynolds returned the salute. "Its good to see you in health Spartan-283. Go ahead and go to the briefing room and upload your data recorders into the computer then get yourself some food." The Admiral said as he signed a few orders and took a few reports from underlings. "Dont get too comfortable though as we already have an assignment ready for you. This one is a Class 2 mission."

"Thats great news Admiral." Aaron said enthusiastically. "To be completely honest sir I was growing tired of these little nothing missions." With that said he gave another salute as he went to the briefing room and uploaded his data recorder into the system and filed a mission report. Once he was done he went to the Spartan Mess Hall.

---

Derek Slowed down just before he entered the Command Center. The doors slid open before him, and some called out,"Spartan on deck!" He gave a nod to the lower ranking men and women, and then saluted the admiral."Spartan-314 reporting for duty sir!" His boots clicked together, as he stood as rigid as a statue.

"At ease Spartan." Admiral Reynolds said. "I can tell your enthusiastic about this mission by the fact that your the first one here." He directed Derek towards the briefing room. "Now, hopefully you will be able to keep the friendly fire down to a minimum of non-existent."

Beneath his helmet Derek gave a sheepish grin."Yes sir."He said as he walked towards the briefing room. He thought quietly on exactly how much detail the admiral knew. He hadnt meant to fire on his own men, nor flip his warthog. The crashing it through a large office building's first floor however..that had just been a short cut.

"The others should be here soon so go ahead and grab a spot to sit." Admiral Reynolds said as he opened the door to the briefing room.

Derek nodded and saluted the admiral."Yes sir."He said quietly, and took his seat near the middle of the large oval table. The others should be here shortly, and then they would all find out what was in store. This would be the first time he would work with other Spartans. He began to wonder what it would be like to work with a group of people who were just as skilled and able as him. Things would turn out fun.

Spook came through the door, snapping her helmet down. She had just come from the mess and behind her visor was chewing the last bites of banana she'd brought with her since her meal had been disturbed. She didn't bother announcing herself, considering that her mouth was full.

Scorch arrived just a few seconds after her, coming to a full salute as soon as he entered. "Admiral Reynolds, Spartan-372 reporting for duty, sir!"

Derek nodded to the others, and whispered under his breath."What do you guys thinks going on?"

"Spartan 369 reporting sirs, just got in" Tavish said as he came in, trying to hide any trace of him being in the mess hall before hand. He saluted properly, but this was the extent of resepect he seemed to show. Turning and slinking off into a seat, he sat down next to Spook and rested his head on his hand.

Aaron quickly changed from his overexcitedness to serious Spartan as he stepped into the command center. "Spartan-283 reporting for mission briefing Admiral. Sorry it took me so long, techs had me tethered down."

"Its ok Spartan, just take a seat." the Admiral said with a humored smile.

"Yes sir." was Aaron's quick reply as he then moved and grabbed a seniority seat at the table.

Admiral Reynolds made sure everyone was seated before starting. "As you will not know we have a top secret research facility on Mindowa, a planet in the middle of the outer colonies. They are testing several different new weapons and technology that is supposed to make life for us and civilians easier. They were making headway and were putting out a good amount of new tech. That's not important, what is important is that they are late for their check in by four days. This has the higher ups wetting themselves in concern. They sent in a group of ODST to check it out and they haven't checked in either. Therefore they have asked me to send in a group of Spartans to investigate." The Admiral lifted up his hand with a small remote in it and clicked the button. The lights in the room dimmed and a holographic display of the planet Mindowa appeared above the middle of the table and then quickly zoomed in to a miniature version of the base. "You will be dropped off here by a Pelican and will move quickly into the base making your way room by room, checking for survivors, to the computer mainframe. There you will download the contents of the computer, once finished you are to set several charges and level the base once you are a safe distance away." While he was giving orders, little holographic Spartans and a Pelican went about and completed the objectives and then left. "Any questions?"

Tavish stuck his hand up at once, but as usual he didn't wait for anything but a glance in his direction to start talking. "I have a question sir, why is this place so top secret? Plenty of places make weapons and develop technology, why is this place kept even from us? And..." he shifted up a bit more, sitting up straight "Why is this place so vital that, after four days of silence you send in ODST's and then Spartans?"

"Well one of the concerns is the increase of rogue Covenant action in the area. The higher ups are afraid that some of the techs may end up in their hands if it hasn't already. The reason for the secrecy is something I cannot tell you. Even though you will be downloading and carrying the info you are not to access anything. Doing so will be considered an act of treason and the offender will be executed, are we clear?"

"Run in, beat stuff up if it's there, look for what happened to ODST's, download stuff and don't look." Tavish sighed internally, what was the point of being a Spartan if they never let you know anything? "If we come across the techs, do we save them or kill them? Same for the ODST's."

"You are to aid any survivors you find. Bring them back with you so they can be debriefed to find out exactly what happened."

"What kind of explosives are we taking with us?" Aaron asked. Since he was going to be the one setting them up he wanted to know what he was going to be handling.

"You will be using special triple core Vulcan fusion explosives. The compound was built to survive magnitude 6 seismic activity so you will need some very high powered explosives. The will be dropped at the drop point once you give the all clear. They are very volatile so they should be transported using the hover dolly that they will be dropped on."

"Search and retrieval? Sir, I understand that you have your reasons and I may not be privy to them. But if I may ask, just what kind of resistance are you thinking we will encounter?" Scorch asked carefully, choosing his words just right. "I'm not exactly the best choice for search and retrieval, but I am the best for combat situations. Are we to expect heavy resistance?"

His pulse began to quicken as Derek thought about what might be instore.As usual, the tech guy would have to extract and carry the data..which meant he would have to be extra careful not to get shot. Oh well, he thought to himself, If i must...

The Admiral started to walk around the room as he answered the questions. "Intelligence shows that there is about a 40%-45% chance you will encounter resistance. This whole problem could just be the cause of atmospheric disturbances or their equipment may not be functioning properly. The fact that the ODST didn't report in is the only reason we expect any resistance at all."

Scorch nodded as the Admiral explained. ODSTs did it by the book. If they didn't report in, it was only because of two things. One the equipment was shot, which rarely happened. Or two, they were dead. Which was even rarer, for those that survived the drop at least.

"So there is a chance of resistance then" Tavish huffed, running his hand on the bottom of his helmet as if rubbing his chin. This felt strange to him, they were sending in a whole team of Spartans for this one place, and the data was important enough to bring back but they would kill the place the moment they were out. He didn't voice his thoughts though, he was sure most of the others were thinking the same.

Derek raised his hand."What equipment will we be bringing with us sir?" He knew they would individually bring their own kit, but sometimes he was given special weapons. Rocket launchers..Warthogs..No telling what he'd need to pull this mission off.

Spook sat back and listened as she watched the slightly comical miniature Spartans infiltrate the base in regulation order. There seemed to be a few good sniping spots along the terrain and she logged the figures into her VISR to use later. As was her experience nothing ever happens the way you thought it was gonna happen. No matter how much prudent planning you put into a mission, shit would go balls up without a moment's notice.

"Other then the explosives that Spartan-283 will be using there will be no special equipment given. If you find anything at the base other then regulation weapons you are to leave it be or destroy it." The Admiral came to a stop and looked at the group. He switched off the hologram projector and the lights came back up to full, "Do we have any other questions?"

Aaron looked around the room to see if anyone else had a question. He was glad he was wearing a helmet so that it could hide his excitment, he had never used such high powered explosives before and he was very excited.

"Are there gonna be VISR nodes we can jack into?" Spook asked, it was the only question relevant to her section of the mission she could think of.

"There should be unless it is damaged." The Admiral said quickly, the sooner he got them out there the sooner the higher ups would get off his back. "For this mission Spartan-283 will be in charge due to his seniority and higher mission count. Any objections?"

Spook had no issues so she kept her mouth shut. Answering to higher ranked personnel wasn't a big deal when you where stationed several hundred yards away, simply squeezing a trigger.

"No, sir." Scorch replied to the objection question. He looked to Scorp and nodded his approval. It was about time they got to team up on a mission. "When do we ship out, sir?"

"As soon as we are done here, you will head to the armory and gather your equipment and ammo. From there you will board a Pelican which will take you to the Stradavarius which will take you to Mindowa." The Admiral moved over to the door and waited as he forsaw the briefing coming to an end.

Aaron was shocked when he was placed in command. He figured it would happen one day, but he expected it to be over a bunch of Marines or ODST, not his fellow Spartans.

For a moment Tavish flicked his gaze to Aaron, so he was in charge. Good, Tavish didn't like looking after the others, if they couldn't take the heat he wouldn't risk his neck to save them. "No complaints sir" he said, waving a hand and wanting to get moving already.


Derek Nodded, ready to move out as well."Ready when you are sir."He said, waiting for a dismissal.

"Alright then. You are all dimissed, report to the armory for arming and then to the hanger for your ride." With that the Admiral saluted, "Keep your head down, aim straight, and come back alive." he then opened the door and left.

Aaron stood up from his seat at the table. "Well...lets get this thing goin." he said to everyone in the room before leaving for the spartan armory.

Derek left shortly after, on his way to the armory as well.

Scorch followed suit, eager to get his weapons back where they belonged.

Tavish nodded slightly and got up, heading out of the room quickly. This thing still sounded fishy to him, but he wanted to get the mission over, fast.

---

A Week Later

Aaron walked in to the usual announcement and made his way up to the Admiral. "Admiral, Spartan - 237 reporting for debriefing."

The Admiral turned to Aaron and set down the weather report in his hand. Without saying a word he gestured to the debriefing room.

Aaron turned and walked into the debriefing room and, due to regulations, inserted the mission recorder from the inside of his helmet into the computer for download and assessment. He put his helmet under his arm and stood at attention waiting for the Admiral.

The Admiral didnt keep him waiting for long as he lit a new cigar and sat at the head of the table. Taking a quick puff he took the cigar out of his mouth before speaking. "Details."

"The mission was near failure but we pulled it off. The compound is destroyed and one scientist survivor was found and returned to Earth. All relevant data from compound's computer were downloaded by Spartan-314 "Priest" and handed over to proper hands." He stood there for a few seconds before speaking again. "Permission to speak freely sir."

"Permission granted Spartan." The Admiral said, almost knowingly. He knew Aaron very well, not only from his files, but from personal experience.

Aaron took his helmet and hurled it against the wall as hard as his genetically and technologically enhanced body and armor would allow. "We almost fucking died down there! Command's need for secrecy cost us the lives of forty-four scientists and some good ODST! They released Flood onto the planet that was killing and eating the damn wildlife. This could cause another galaxywide Flood outbreak and I dont know if we would be able to bring them down. One of my team is in the medical wing right now having pieces of her armor removed from her fucking leg! Next time Command wants to send us on a mission without telling us everything you can tell them so shove it up their asses...sir." He had become red in the face and had to take a few calming breaths after his rant.

"Your complaint has been noted and filed Spartan." The Admiral said, pushing a few buttons on his console. "Im glad your team made it back alive. We have lost contact with Spartan-498 and presume she has been captured or killed, so some good news was needed."

"Im sorry to hear of the lose of one of our own." Aaron said as he sheepishly retrieved his helmet and inspected the dent in the wall. "She was a very lively person and she will be missed in the mess hall. What was her mission if you dont mind me asking."

"She was doing recon on Scanton IV for possible Pirate/Covenant activity. She was supposed to report in a few days ago and The Medusa's Gaze has lost her signal on the planet." The Admiral said as he finished his key tapping. "We are working up a mission to go in as either a recon or recon/rescue, whatever the situation calls for."

Aaron stood at attention, "I volunteer me an my team for that mission. As soon as Spook gets all healed up we will be ready to ship, sir!"

"I admire your enthusiasm Spartan but its going to be a one person mission to minimize casualties and to be more descrete." The Admiral said quickly, "Although she may be the one to go anyways, your sniper Spook, that is."

"So what are the rest of us doing sir?" Aaron asked. He really wanted something to do but with Spook out of the picture for a bit they were limited to what they could do. "Is there a different mission lined up for us?"

"Yes. Your next mission is to enjoy yourself outside of this base." The Admiral said with a smile. "I see the confused look on your face so let me divert the questions and just expain it to you. Your team is gettingsomething called R&R or shore leave. Its where you leave the base or ship your stationed at and go have fun in a nearby city or town. Well Command feels that this system should be given to Spartans as well and after your last mission they have decided that your team should be awarded the first try."

"Fun sir? I dont think a civilian town will be able to entertain me." Aaron said seriously. "My idea of fun is mowing down a platoon of...well anything really. "

"That may be true Spartan but its still happening." The Admiral said as he walked over to the door and opened it. "You will be leaving tomorrow morning at 9 am with the rest of the soldiers and techs heading in. You wont be taking any weapons or your armor with you so you will find special outfits set out and ready for you when you wake up in the morning."

Aaron walked out of the room and saluted the Admiral. "I will go and tell the rest of the squad the good news." With that he left the command center and headed to the Spartan Barracks.

---

Aaron walked into the command center and straight into the debriefing room where the Admiral was waiting. "This went almost as well as the mission to Mindowa, sir."

"So the report tells me, Aaron." The Admiral said as he looked up, acknowledging the Spartan's entrance.

Aaron wasnt really sure what to do at this point as he was used to being here in his armor where he would have a data logger that he would be uploading right now, but he didnt have either right now. "We arrived at New Tokyo and settled in at our hotel rooms before setting out for entertainment and try to enjoy ourselves per our orders. Thats when the trouble started, sir." he moved over closer to the table. Even though there was an abundance of chairs, he didnt sit. "Spartan - Call Sign: Shaft was engaged in an evening out with a young local female when she drove him right into a trap that resulted in his capture. This resistance movement made similar attacks on myself and Spartan Call Signs: Spook and Scorch, which failed. This lead us on a search for Shaft aided by the GPS in his phone. We found him unclothed and covered in blood, not his own, standing over the body of the young girl that had led him here. We killed most of the resistance fighters and called for emergency pick up and clearing of the area."

"Yes, the emergency response report tells that it was an unexpected scene." The Admiral said as he knocked off the ashy end of his cigar into an ashtray.
"Tell me of the girl that Shaft was with."

"She was a young local civilian that worked in a fast food joint." Aaron started quickly, "She took Shaft around the town to visit several different places before driving through the restricted zone to get to her 'Grandma's House'. This is where she intentionally drove into an ambush that resulted in his capture. Apparently they were going to cut him open and try to figure out what was done to him physically to make him a Spartan so that they can repeat the process on their own people to 'properly defend themselves'. While Shaft and the girl, Sori, where alone in the medical room they had a heart to heart which led to her unstrapping him and giving him an antidote to the sedatives. Before they could enact their escape she took a round through the back and into her stomach. She died shortly after the medical staff flighted her out of there. It has Shaft pretty tore up."

The Admiral shook his head before flipping open a file and reading it a bit in silence. "Do you think he is mentally or physically ready for duty?"

"I think that with time he will be, right now he isnt good for much more then laying in bed or puking, sir." Aaron answered honestly.

---

-Halo C.E. RPG