This is the hanger where all the airborn vehicles are stored. It also doubles as the garage for all the Warthogs, Mongooses, and Scorpion tanks.

---

About three weeks have passed since the discovery of a new hostile alien race by the Spartan team. The Labs have been off limits to any and all personnel except the Scientists and Medical staff, due to the frantic and fierce studying and experiments that were being undertaken. Many breakthroughs were made and at the same time questions were raised, but the Lead Scientist was sure they were ready to present their findings. The intercomms crackled to life through-out the entire compound. "Will Spartans - 283, 313, 314, 369, 382, 402 please report to Command immediately."

---

Tavish was twisting a piece of metal back into place, gritting his teeth and flexing his massive muscles as he slowly pulled a piece of broken metal free of the engine. There had been a little... crash, and the engine had found itself with a bit of a bonnet stuck deep in the mechanism. He leant back, holding the twisted scrap in his hands and looking up at the intercom "oh great and wonderful fuck-ups call us again" he mumbled before starting off towards the command.

---

Suddenly, the fire alarms began to blare all over the facility. A calm feminine voice came over the speakers in between appropriately space alarm screams, "Please make for the nearest exit and follow evacuation plan Foxtrot and proceed to the hangar."

Scorch couldn't help but skidding to a halt when he entered the hangar. He, like mostly everyone else who had started to evacuate, had run the whole way.

Spook came in fully armed and an ammo box under one arm. She'd stopped off in the armory and still got here before everyone but Scorch. Did being half the size of a normal spartan make her that much faster?

Following not too far behind Scorch, Stitch saw Spook, and chuckled. "Someone's prepared now, aren't they?" Truth be told, so far, all of his experiences with her dictated that she wasn't one to get surprised, always prepared. Not knowing what this evacuation was about, he hoped that the current trend continued.

Aaron walked in behind them still carrying his helmet under his arm. He was glad to see that pretty much everyone was already here and a few Pelicans where ready incase they had to evacuate. He moved over to the rest of the group, "Tavish was behind me. Hear anything yet?"

"Boo" Tavish said as he emerged, holding the chip in his hands as he appeared. He cocked his head to one side, making sure that everyone was here "So who knows what's going on?" He glanced down at the device in his hands... she probably did, she probably knew what was going on, but he wasn't getting her in his head.

"So far nothing. Just a bunch of people standing around waiting for the evacuation order." Aaron said as Tavish came in. He noticed the chip in his hand as he entered. "What's that?"

"It's the crazy lady." Spook said ignoring Stitch. She knew that ship anywhere having been the first to carry her around in her helmet.

Aaron looked at Spook and then to Tavish. "No, no you didn't! You didn't pry her from the terminal!" He put his head in his hands and sighed, "Why didn't you just leave her there?"

"You mean... why didn't we leave the only thing we have that might help behind in an unmanned terminal when a mysterious alarm goes off? Because I watch movies, that's why" Tavish said, his eyes rolling slowly as he spoke "I'm not going to give anything a chance to steal this little Goddess back."

"You hijacked the AI?" Scorch said, looking at Shaft in disbelief. He could see the logic in not leaving it behind, but still. Where would it go on base, in an isolated terminal?

"Yes... jeese" Tavish shook his head, still holding the chip close "Look, it's safe now right? And worse comes to worse, I can put it in my helmet, right?"

"You know protocol, Tavish. You should have left her where she was." Aaron said, amazed. "Hand her over, I'm going to take her over to the Admiral."

Tavish seemed reluctant to hand it over, but he offered it to aaron "Here... but just so you know, they were going to shut her terminal down... which means I did exactly what they were going to do, but I made sure that the actual chip wasn't just left lying around."

Before Tavish could hand the chip over, the alarm stopped for a few second before being replaced with a different one. The new alarm was accompanied by lights flashing. Suddenly all the doorways and hangar exit's blastdoor shit and sealed tight.

"What the hell is going on now?" Aaron said as he looked around. When he saw equally confused looks from everyone else, he began to worry. This all caused him to completely forget about the chip.

If it were up to Spook she'd crush the AI chip in a heartbeat, but this new alarm sounded sort of familiar. "That's not a chemical warning alarm is it?" She asked.

"Yes it is." Liddia said walking up to the group holding a small laptop in her hands. "It looks like a few of the containment units in the lab have been breached. Specifically the ones holding the Ammolite armor and the ruby armor."

"Why would that cause the hangar doors to seal up though?" Aaron asked, more to himself then to anyone.

"Because anything that can go wrong will." Spook told him.

"See" Tavish said, his hand curling back around the chip and pulling back to his side. "Tell us we've got some weapons here at least?" he said, his eyes roaming over towards the supply closet... he could always make a few.

"Looks like the only weapons we have are what the base security team is carrying. That and Spook over there." Aaron said, gesturing to what he was talking about. "Unless some of the Pelicans still have guns in their little supply racks."

"Give me a minute and a wrench and I'll make us something good" Tavish said, looking around at everyone "Where's the commander? I'll need his permission before I start messing around."

Aaron looked around before spotting the Admiral. "Looks like he is over there." He said, pointing towards the Admiral and his large retinue of guards.

Tavish made sure to push the chip away into a pocket before he marched right up to the Admiral. "Sir" he said quickly "As you are now well aware we have been sealed off in a single room with limited ammunition, most of which will not work well against those creatures we fought before. On that end, I ask permission to start building some weapons that MIGHT be of use, distributing them between Spartan and soldier alike, then those who volunteer be allowed to explore the complex... if we can open the doors that is."

The Admiral looked at Tavish as if asking himself a question before responding. "What is it you have in mind?"

"If these things are the weird goo things we fought then we're going to need some electrical weapons, or ones that deal intense heat. We're in a hangar. I can take some of the vehicles apart, some of the tools as well maybe, get some improvised weapons..." Tavish gave a small shrug, he was a mechanic after all, they were in his domain right now and he was going to try his best.

The Admiral thought about it for a few seconds, "Approved. Do what you can but try not to do anything that can be undone."

"I'll try not to" Tavish said, giving a small salute before practically racing over towards the supply cupboard. It wasn't part of the main compound, it was just a little section away from the main hangar, so the door wasn't sealed as he pushed it open. He began to snatch at tools, grabbing extra ones that he needed in order to make something of use.

Aaron watched as Tavish rooted around for tools, Wondering what he was up too.

Seeing Tavish grabbing tools, and overhearing his plan, Stitch's ears perked up. "Hey Shaft, mind if I help? My main forte's medicine and computers, but I dabble." His eyes where darting around the room already, his head buzzing with thoughts. 'Will this work?','Ooh, that might!','I probably shouldn't break that...'

"Sure!" Tavish called out, putting a few jump leads over his shoulder "Just don't mess up my things alright? These babies belong to me, and for every Pelican that doesn't fly they'll dock my pay."

Scorch turned and walked over to Spook, "I see you've got Baby, you didn't happen to grab one of my weapons, did you? I feel naked out here."

"Now why would I grab something of yours?" Spook asked. She'd taken her box of ammo and was packing loaded magazines into every storage compartment within her armor. "Your weapons are your responsibility. Besides, I had Baby when we went to the meeting."

Tavish seemed to be taking a welding tool to itself, doing a quick fix between that, a rotating saw blade with the outer casing cut off and a length PVC with what appeared to be rubber on it. He looked way too happy with this, he just hoped the new guy was making something good.

"We're not supposed to be carrying on base." Scorch told her, how had he missed the fact she had her big rifle at the meeting?

Aaron was getting worried, this is a very bad situation to be in. Locked in the hangar with no way out and a biohazard warning in the lab. "We need to get these doors open." He said as he looked around for anyone that may be able to accomplish that task.

Suddenly the lights went red and a loud mechanical whirring could be heard through out the hangar. That sound was the base's security measures activating, as several large anti-infantry turrets popped out of the walls and ceiling. An eerie sound of nothing dominated the large room for a few seconds before the turrets opened up on the gathered personnel and troops, mowing many down in a matter of seconds.

Tavish paused in his weapon making as the panels slid back, then hurridly stuffed the last few pieces together. The turrets whirred, and just as the first shots fired he screamed at the top of his voice "INTO THE VEHICLES!" They would provide cover... for now. He darted forward, heading straight towards the turrets at once, tossing people not in armour behind him, throwing them towards safety as hard as he could while moving forward.

Aaron quickly slapped his helmet on and grabbed Liddia before he started running towards the Pelican that he was closest too. Once he tossed her inside he began hollering and ushering people into shelter the best he could. His shield would light up a few times, but nothing that seemed to concern him.

Once Tavish got between the turrets and the other people they focused solely on him. The concentrated, combined fire of several turrets tore his shield down in a matter of seconds.

That dumb sonofabitch. Of course he would do something stupid like this, put his life on the line to focus the fire to himself. Spook pushed pass Scorch and sped into the path behind Shaft. She dove, barreling into his back, driving him forward between the turrets with her momentum. In the space between their firing range they would be safe. Safe at least from those two not from the rest. The shielding for the mark three spi armor was different from that of the moujlner armor. Mjolnir shields remained active while the spi armor stored it's power for the cloaking technology. The shielding activated once the sensors detected oncoming projectiles. If these had been knives as opposed to bullets, Spook would have been screwed. Had she not encountered issues with her power supply on the mission to the valor, she may not have known she could advance the field of her shields to encompass Shaft also. He wasn't as large as Aaron, but he was the second largest Spartan in her group. Advancing her shields to this greater size began to seriously drain their power supply, they had mere moments before the two of them were cut in half by molten led.

Stitch was busy fiddling with one of the Pelicans, when turrets spread up from nowhere. With Scorp and Liddia jumping into the Pelican, he quickly welded, before jumping in himself. Looking at Shaft and Spook, it really worried him. "The hell is wrong with Shaft?"

"Ah! Jesus Spook!" Tavish yelled "I almost landed on my DC!" DC was short of deployable cover; in his hand Tavish was holding two capsules that, when activated, would fold out into strong barriers between himself and the turrets. He'd had a plan dammit, a second too late with those shields and he would have died, sure, but he had been about to activate them just as Spook landed on him. He was glad that Spook was there to help, but that meant the moment her shields ran out he was going to have to protect her as well.

"Shut up and move!" Spook yelled at him. How was she supposed to know he had D-covers? All she saw was an idiot about to get himself killed. At least when her shields ran out he'd have the DC to deploy. She might be smaller than he was, but that didn't keep her from trying to muscle him up and towards the pelican.

Aaron looked around, trying to see if anyone was still left unprotected, that is when he saw Tavish and Spook. "Damnit!" he said to himself before activating his comm, "Spook, Shaft, what the hell are you still doing out there? Get to my position now!"

"Hang on... fine! I won't take out any of the guns!" Tavish yelled; he knew Spook's shields would be depleting soon, but now he could just retreat, even if he MIGHT have made it back himself, her shields would be down now. "Ok Spook" he said, gritting his teeth and frowning at the DC in his hands "Don't get mad at me for doing this." He grabbed Spook tight, picking her up like a rag-doll; he hadn't moved her like this in a long time. The shields would be out any minute... He took a few steps back... dashed forward. There was no way they could just run back there, and the turrets were on them already. The DC clattered to the floor just below them, landing and flowering out in a shield of solid light; if they had been hiding behind it they would have been uncovered from almost all flanks. Good thing Tavish wasn't using it to hide. The shield had shot upwards, and as it popped into life it had caught a leaping Spartan on the backside. Tavish, and Spook, were sent shooting forward, almost rocket propelled by the sudden force of the opening DC. Tavish landed with a small screech of metal, sparks flying up from his shoes as he skidded to a halt outside the nearest Pelican. "Safe!" he yelled as he pushed inside, getting Spook and himself some protection... for now. He should probably let her down soon...

Scorch leaned against the wall of the pelican and shook his head. "So how did this happen?" He asked aloud, it wasn't really directed at anyone, but right now he wanted some answers

Aaron caught Scorch's question over the comms and replied, "Don't know. From what I know the base's security can only be accessed from the command center. So either there is a glitch in the system, or someone is up there running the controls."

The pilot for Aaron's Pelican/shelter looked back at him through the open door, "We should be good for awhile, those turrets are only rated for personal armor and not for armored plating. Some of the smaller vehicles won't last as long." As if on cue a mongoose currently shielding a Marine and a lab tech exploded and sent the two people scittering across the floor. If they had survived the explosion they would have been killed quickly by the turrets that immediately pumped holes through them.

Spook pushed herself away from Shaft and landed on the floor in front of him. They were safe, but it would take forever for her power-cell to recharge. Now that there weren't bullets raining down on them she could react and she did so by backhanding shaft in the bubble of that big shiny helmet of his. "Don't you EVER do anything that STUPID again!" She shouted. "What the HELL is wrong with you!"

"Better hope there's a glitch. I'd hate to think we've got a traitor." Scorch said to Aaron. "So are we just gonna sit here and wait for the auto guns to run out of ammo or are we gonna do soemthing?"

Aaron had to wait to respond as a nearby Warthog went up in a ball of flame. "No, we have to do something. I doubt these puppies are even close to being out of ammo. Destroying them seems out of the option unless we use the Pelicans and I don't know how well that will work." He stopped for a second to think. "I can get out there and use one of the Gauss cannon 'Hogs to take out a few if we can get few of these Pelicans in the air to use their guns to help. Maybe drag the ship along the ceiling to take those out? Either way we need to get someone to the computer terminal in the hangar control room to shut them down and reopen our doors."

"No reasons to live" the only way Spook heard those words were from a faint crackle through the microphone. Tavish turned away,, not reacting to the punch, clambering forward towards the front of the Pelican "WHY IS NO ONE SHOOTING?!" he demanded. The chip... he gazed down at the little piece of metal that caused so much misery right now. Still there. "Scuse" Tavish said as he moved into the pilots seat. Not the most protected area, but the glass was still withstanding... for now. "Permission to release hell sir?" Tavish said into his microphone, aimed at Aaron.

"One moment there Shaft, gotta get everyone organized first." Aaron said before continuing, "Stitch, you think you could get the doors opened and the turrets shut down in here if we can get you safely to the hangar control room?"

Spook was glad that none of them could see her expression behind the shield of her helmet. How dare he say he had nothing to live for? She supposed she was mostly to blame for that, shunning him all this time. Damnit... why was she such an idiot?

"I could give it a damn good shot." Stitch right now was breathing heavily, not due to exhaustion, but as a way to find calm amongst this storm. "And right now, I think a damn good shot is all we can ask for." He only hoped he hadn't worked out the reason for this mess, otherwise a rather rash Spartan and his little friend would have a lot to speak for.

"Ain't that about the truth." Aaron said under his breath. "Well we are going to give you come cover and I want you to take two of the nearest Marines with you and make a break for the control room once we start breaking turrets."

Tavish was starting to warm up the guns on his own ship, tapping in the directions for them to go. Hopefully they wouldn't actually nail the directional computer before he got to set these off... the warthogs were starting to look sketchy now, they wouldn't last for much longer.

Spook decided to try and put Shaft's stupidity behind her and approached Scorp. "My ammunition has an explosive tip. I shouldn't have any problem taking out several of them so long as they're clear."

"Must be nice to have some ammo." Scorch said to Spook with a groan. He couldn't believe she was the only one with a gun. This was absurd. He sat himself down at the turret on the Pelican he was stuck in. "We have a go for distraction, boss?"

"I'm ready to run." Stitch had his back against the Pelican wall, next to the opening. "Marines! Are you ready?" He hoped so, it sickened him, but with recent circumstances, he almost felt like the marines were only there as meat shields, giving Spartans extra time. Hopefully they'd prove him wrong.

There were three Marines near him who, in unison, said "Hooraw!". They put themselves closer to Stitch as to provide better cover once they start running.

"Alright Shaft, lift off and blow away as many turrets as you can. Spook, if you can take some out with those rounds you were talking about then do so. Your not going to have a good window, if we keep your hatch open too wide it gives the turrets a chance to shoot in. Once, the we start shooting I want you to run like hell Stitch. As for you Scorch, wanna go for a drive?" Aaron said as he picked out a non-damaged Gauss warthog.

The Pelican began to ascend, slowly, not by much to avoid the hangar roof but enough to get it off the ground and more maneuverable. Tavish flipped a switch, three missiles fired off, one after another, slamming into turrets and making them explode in a shower of shrapnel and fire.

"But I didn't even get to shoot..." Scorch said from behind the controls of the turret. He sighed and got to his feet, "Just tell me where to go."

"I only need a six by six opening to shoot." Spook told Aaron. "If I had that, wouldn't have to worry about the turrets hitting me."

"Make it happen then." Aaron said to Spook before returning his attention to Scorch. "We are going to run off to that Warthog right there, I need you to drive me around so I won't get mowed down as quickly." He said, gesturing to the Gauss warthog he had picked out.

Spook nodded to Scorp and gave him a slight salute. These pelicans usually had a small repair kit complete with all kinds of goodies. She needed to slice herself a hole large enough to shoot through and also repair later. She lifted one of the panels in the floor and found just what she was looking for, a wielding torch. A small single bottle that was just the right size for a quick job like this. She could even patch the hole once they were done in case they needed to make a sealed flight. She began to cut her opening while the rest figured out what they were going to do.

Scorch nodded and moved to the front of the line, if he was supposed to do the driving, he'd have to fire it up before Scorp could hop in the gun, get them moving right away. He'd have to get there first

"Alright, Scorch. I am right behind you. GO!" Aaron said, going to give him a 2-3 second head-start before following.

Given the boss's immense size, Scorch always figured he would be faster than him. Most giants didn't move all that quickly because of all that muscle mass, after all. He ducked behind crates and other debilitated vehicles on his way to the warthog. He jumped into the seat and fired up the vehicle. He was so glad they stopped using keys centuries ago. With the push of a button the engine roared to life.

Stitch almost gagged at the 'Hooraw' of the troops, and how they had effectively made a Roman style turtle defense around him. Did they want to die? But there was no time for this. He grabbed the two marines to his side, pulling them closer, and run forward, pushing the one spartan ahead of him along with him. "Gotta...get...to...the doors..." Sprinting as fast as the added bulk would allow him, he hoped he'd get there in time.

Spook finally knocked out the hole she'd been cutting and slid the end of her rifle and scope through the space. It was a but tighter than she may have liked, but she had enough maneuverability to swivel side to side. Three shots rang out in the traditional 'bip, bap, bam' fashion and three turrets that had begun aiming at their men sparked and exploded with Spook's satisfaction.

A few seconds after Scorch started the warthog, Aaron hopped into the cannon. "Go, go, go!" he yelled as he brought the cannon around and opened up on the turrets. He opened up his comms to anyone in the area, "Everyone get to a Pelican or the Condor, we are trying to provide you with enough of a distraction."

The run to the hanger control center was a mad dash accented by ricochet marks and sparks. The Marine in front of Stitch went down under concentrated fire from two turrets, before the one to his left did, when those turrets swiveled around.

Scorch didn't even have to be told the first time. The moment he felt the shocks int he back go down, his foot slammed the petal to the metal. There was only a slight lurch as the warthog took off.

The turrets continued to explode as spook concentrated her fire. In seconds she'd exhausted her thirteen round mag and paused only long enough to switch it for another.

It took a little longer to lock on missiles precisely, Tavish didn't want them spiralling off and hitting something else after all. The next flurry hit their targets however, one blowing up an already damaged turret that Tavish hadn't bothered to untarget after Spook did her stuff.

"I need to get me one of these." Aaron said as the gauss cannon fired round after round in its beautifully slow way. He wasn't getting as many hits as the rest of the group, but he was drawing more attention.

"When we're done, why not just take it?" Scorch offered as he swerved out of the way of an exploding vehicle

"I don't think the mechanics around here would like that very much." Aaron said as he ducked to avoid flying debris.

The concussion of Scorp's gauss affected two of Spook's rounds and she cursed quietly under her breath. She adjusted her fire to suit the new conditions and six more turrets exploded. It was a good thing the reaction didn't ignight the rest of their internal ammunition.

"How many of these things are left?" Tavish hissed under his breath, another turret going up in smoke. The problem was that they probably would wind up with no defences after this, just a lot of dead. He flinched slightly as the bullet pinged off his helmet... they were getting through the windscreen now. He was so glad that he had the chip safe and sound in his pockets.

As his comrades fell beside him, Stitch picked up the bodies, still holding them close. Whether this was a futile attempt to save those who were already dead, or simply to use the oh so willing meat-shields as just that, not even Stitch knew any more. He whispered as he neared the door, "I'm sorry", before throwing the bodies at a wall. He then slid across the floor, hoping to avoid however many bullets that were left to hit him.

Aaron saw Stitch dive into the control room and sighed a sigh of relief. "Hurry Stitch, get these turrets deactivated and these damn doors open!"

Scorch was getting tired of this Driving Miss Daisy job of his. He swerved and slammed the side of the warthog into a nearby turret. He was quite pleased when the side of the vehicle erupted in flame. There was a grin of sheer pleasure on his face inside his helmet

Spook was glad that she'd brought that spare case of ammunition, but she only had room to shoot from one side of the plane. "Tavish!" She shouted. If she took the time to cut another opening for her to shoot, they'd loose valuable time. "Turn us about!"

"Already on it Amala" the name just... popped out there. In all the commotion, all the worry, Tavish had forgotten to be careful. He didn't notice though, so wrapped up in his own actions that he wasn't following his own speech. The craft span in a circle, a volley of rockets firing from it to spray across the turrets on the walls. It was getting a little rushed though, so only about half really hit. Most of the others span away slightly, hit the walls and caused the turrets to either get jammed or swivel a bit looser in their sockets. He settled again, the opposite way from the original starting point... well, they'd turned.

"I'm on it!" In the control room now, Stitch looked around for the right terminal. His mind was abuzz with all the computer around, but he knew he needed to focus. While a lot of the turrets were no longer a problem, the doors needed opening. "C'mon, which one? The organisation in this place..."

Following the cluster of buttons and toggles brought Stitch's eye to a large-ish computer monitor. He knew that this was would be the only thing here that had access to the base's mainframe.

Explosive rounds sang from Baby as Spook emptied another mag as Shaft turned them about. She'd heard him call her by name, but that wasn't exactly important right now. After all, they hardly refereed to Scorp by his call-sign at all.

All the buttons on the mainframe made Stitch feel like a kid in a candy shop. But he'd always been a fussy kid, so finding his favourite candy was always the bother. "Let's see, is this air-con? Okay. Heating? Check. Doors Xan, doors." Looking at a set of buttons, he decided to risk it, in a pattern and collection that meant it was was either the doors, or the turrets. Or so he hoped. He pressed the buttons simultaneously, if it didn't turn off whatever he'd pressed, it'd probably break it.

Stitch pushing in the buttons cause the screen to flash red and bring up a line of red flashing words in the computer screen. Controls Over-ridden by Command Center in Accordance with Base Invasion Protocols. Admiralty Over-ride Code Required.

"Bloody typical." Stitch looked at the screen with a mixture of perplexity and disappointment. "Anyone got a clue what this 'Admiralty Over-ride Code' could be? Any hints? Or should I try to...get around it?" Stitch hated brute-forcing, and he was sure the higher-ups wouldn't approve much of the knowledge either, but if needs must, he would.

Scorch couldn't help but take a glance over in Stitch's direction. "Sounds to me like we need an Admiral, just call me Capt. Obvious."

Apparently, their conversation was heard over the comms as a new, but familiar voice could be heard. "Admiralty code: Alpha-Romeo-Charlie-7-9-1-4-3-6-Kilo-Zulu."

"Uhh...thank you?" Stitch was unsure of the voice, but trusted it enough to follow it. "Right. Arc," He typed in the keys as he spoke. "Seven Nine, One Four Three, and Six. Hope this is right." With a large gulp, he did the usual, and pressed one last button to confirm.

Spook really hoped that whatever they were doing it was going to work. She was far from running out of ammo, but her loaded mags were getting low. In the time it took to load up again a dozen people could get killed.

After Stitch entered the override code, the screen went blank before showing a green Override Accepted. All the turrets stopped firing in unison before returning to its default position and vanishing into their hiding spots, soon after, the doors unlocked and opened.

"Good job Stitch! Alright, it looks like it's all clear people." Aaron said, "Go ahead and take us over to the Pelicans once they land, Scorch."

Spook sighed and brought her rifle back into the bird. She hadn't fired so many steady shots like that since sniper school. She wouldn't be surprised if Baby's chamber wasn't red from the heat. She immediately began gathering her discarded mags to reload them. There was brass all around her feet, some still smoking.

Tavish sighed, settling the pelican down and frowning at the controls. They had pulled a little to the left, and now they were mostly full of holes. But they'd just lot quite a few people out there... This wasn't good, not good at all, they had to figure out what happened.

Now that it was quiet Spook thought it best to bring up the issue from earlier. As she reloaded her mags she used the secure channel between her and Shaft. "What did I say about using my real name?" She asked. Ever since they'd been on the team together she'd not once let on that she remembered him or that they had previously served together... until now. Apparently when a guy charges head first into a mass of turrets it means it's time to stop playing stupid games.

Tavish wasn't rude enough to leave his own channel open, so he switched it over to Spook's own "It slipped out." He shrugged slightly, she could see him in the cockpit "I'm used to thinking of you as... her." He carefully moved out of cockpit, stepping past Spook as he went to explore the wreckage.

Spook knelt there after Tavish brushed past her, reloading mags because when it came to a function like this her hands worked on sense memory. Did he really not even think of her as the same person any more? Why would he? It wasn't as if she'd given him any reason to.

Scorch was pouting inside as the turrets stopped firing. He was just beginning to enjoy himself. He sighed and pulled the warthog alongside the pelican as it landed

Aaron patted the side of the gauss cannon affectionately before hoping down and walking closer to the Pelicans as the Admiral and several other Marines exited. "What now Admiral?"

The Admiral got ready to speak when there was a painful screech on the comms before a rough voice come over. "What have...done with Goddess?! You return her...or suffer worse death."

"Ohhhhhhh fun" Tavish said, the only person who heard him was Spook, since he was on HER comms and her comms only "Well looks like I'm going to have to kill some stuff."

Spook winced when the screech and message came over the coms. She packed up her ammo and reloaded mags and joined the others. "I say we crush the damn thing, then blow us up some goo."

Aaron stood there for a moment before saying, "Who the hell is this?" he said. He understood the reference to the AI and the botched English, but that would mean that somehow an alien had gotten back to Earth and inside the base.

Running back to the others, you'd swear you could see Stitch's smile behind the visor. "So, do you approve?" Then with the screech over comms, the smile just got bigger. "Please tell me I managed to wipe that bitch when I was fiddl-I mean, accessing the system."

Tavish slowly turned the AI chip in his hands, hidden inside his pockets while staring at the inside of his visor. Not here, not in plain sight... in a moment. He switched his comm to open, licking his lips and saying loudly "So, Spartans go out into the complex and find what the hell is making this mess?"

"I am Aresh'nathor. High priest for goddess on holy planet. The one called Ortega to you." The voice said over the comms.

That is when the light dawned on Aaron, he may not be the brightest one in the group but he knew how to put pieces together. "It's that armor that Shaft brought back. The one he was so insistent on bringing back. I knew he hadn't fled the armor!" he started pacing back and forth for a bit. "I think we need to talk to her worshipfullness."

"Are you going to make a habit of doing stupid shit?" Spook asked Shaft. She was still a little pissed about that "her" comment from earlier. "Or was the turret thing just an encore?"

"Next time I'm going to juggle plasma grenades" Tavish said roughly "And I knew he was still in there too. That's why I kept telling them to CHECK the damn thing, and seal it off properly. Well it seems here, Mr Areshkthanthrx, that we have a problem. Your Goddess is more than a little bit false. Actually, she's a piece of scrap from a broken ship which crash landed. We are very sorry for the inconvenience, if we could stop an interstellar war, that would be great." Tavish turned, giving a thumbs up to Aaron as if he believed that these words would solve everything. He knew they wouldn't, but he wanted to say them anyway.

Aaron walked over to where Tavish was, "Hand her over Shaft, we need to have a chat with her.

The voice responded to Shaft, "Do you think me fool? I know she from ship, I know she crash. I know all about my Goddess, infidel! It is you who need to learn."

"Yeah... pretty foolish. I mean she's all... broken and stuff. I'm pretty sure we have some newer models in. They're smart, and functioning, and very easy on the eyes. You could have one if you want. I'm pretty sure they'd be less psychotic if you DID take a new Goddess" Tavish carefully held out the AI to Aaron, though he didn't quite like handing it over, at least it was to his boss. "I mean, you've made a goddess out of SCRAP. And worse than that, she doesn't care if you live or die. Seriously, I've talked to her. She doesn't care."

"This is ridiculous." Spook groaned. "Sir?" She said turning to Aaron. "Permission to weed out these goo things and unleash hell please?"

Scorch put his hands behind his head and looks over at them from the driver's seat of the warthog. "Do I get to say 'I told you so' yet?"

"Yes Scorch, yes you can. And not yet Spook, I want to know a bit more about what is going on first." Aaron said as he moved towards the hangar control room trying to hold several conversations at once, "Stitch, I need you in here with me, I need you to get me a secure console, I don't want nothing but a power cord running to this thing."

"I do not care if I die or not, I would happily die for Goddess." The voice said. "You know nothing, and you never will know. Your mind full useless lies and false things."

"You're the one with a screwed up head" Tavish called out to the assailant; if he antagonized the goo enough then maybe it would come at him. "I mean really? You don't care if you live or die on the whims of a broken computer, and you say that I am full of lies and falsities?"

Wearing a grin under his helmet, Scorch nodded his thanks to Aaron. He couldn't believe that Shaft was trying to antagonize the thing! It was an ammolite, from their recounts of the missions, they were worse than the ruby that he fought.

"Where would he have to be to tap into our comms like this?" Spook asked. "Maybe we can wire a probe drone to deliver an explosive payload?"

"Sir." Stitch came as fast as he could when Aaron called. "I've gone one better, no power cord." With that, he tilted his rear health pack back, and took out a laptop that was nuzzled between it and his back. "So, what needs doing?"

"You sure that thing wont have any sort of access to the bases system?" Aaron asked as looked at the thing. A terminal would be better suited for what he needed to do, but if this had even less of a connection to the bases systems then he would go with this.

"He can access the base's communication systems from just about anywhere in the base with the proper codes." The Admiral answered Spook's question.

"My head is not screwed on." The voice said, a bit quizzical at the statement directed back at it. "I speak nothing but truth, not yet has one lie leave my mouth. Your head broken and not able to realize that I am enlightened. I have devoted my life to Goddess and am willing to give it up in defense of her, so are all my brothers."

"No offense Sir," Spook told the admiral. "But considering the circumstances, that sounds kinda dumb." This creature had escaped and caused the deaths of over a dozen marines in all this mayhem. It was time to find it and stick a plazzy on it's crotch like the last one.

The Admiral turned and faced Spook full-bodily. "And how does that sound dumb to you Spartan?"

Oh now someone listened to her. Half of what she'd said earlier had been ignored. "With this thing tapped into our comms it's going to be more difficult coordinating from different positions." Spook told the Admiral. "Unless of course he's not familiar with stealth tactical code. Though I doubt everyone in base is fluent clicks."

"He should only have access to the broad channels such as the bases main comms and our main comms like the one in your headset." The Admiral explained, "Any secure lines we open up between each other should remain secure."

"Still..." Spook said. "If he can access basic comms what else does that give him access too? These guys had how long to learn the Valor's systems? He could get deeper than we've considered. What's there to say he can't sick another round of armaments on us?"

"Nothing can cancel out an Admiral's override, so the hangar is safe. However, since we don't know where he is we can't judge how big of a threat he is." The Admiral said.

"Not unless we configure our hud to pick up the goo's bio sign." Spook told him. "If they can scan for his bio-magnetic frequency rather than electromagnetic energy, then we might have a chance of pinpointing his location."

"The only places that have those capabilities are the command center and the labs." The Admiral said, "And with that containment breach presumably being the goo, we can see how he broke out."

"Then I volunteer sir." Spook told him. "I have the base's blueprints downloaded to my VISR. I can get one of the techs to the labs through the service tunnels." She was probably the only spartan team small enough to travel the service tunnels any way. "If my hud can be converted, I'll radio the team his location and we can coordinate a proper assault."

"Your head isn't screwed on alright!" Tavish was talking to the goo a bit more "If you don't care about yourself or your brothers more than a broken AI. You know what? What if we snapped the chip? What if we literally snapped the AI chip right now? what would your lives mean then? You've got nothing to fight for but your lives after that; what are they worth to you then?"

"This thing won't have any connection to anything unless I tell it to." Stitch opened the laptop, entering several different passwords on several different screens. "Can't be too careful. So, what needs to be done?"

"If it's in a body sir, there's only 2 options for it. I brought back a ruby and Shaft brought back the one is apparently escaped from." Scorch pointed out. "Given the condition that Shaft's was in, I can only assume if it wanted a body, it would take the empty ruby armor I brought back for study."

"Sad little human. If you kill Goddess then my life will be to end yours." The voice said, the lack of emotion in it's monotone made this statement even more unnerving. "My life is full purpose as yours is. I fight and die for Goddess, you fight and die for infidel humans. What you do if humans and this...Earth were wiped out?"

"Take a holiday. retire" Tavish scratched his helmet, his back turned to Spook as he spoke "Get a farm or something, have some kids. Raise them happy and strong and alive. Die old, or die protecting my family." He paused, then sniffed and scratched his helmet quizzically "But if I broke her... your duty would be to kill me correct? Only me? No others, since they did not damage your Goddess. It would just be me. Correct?"

"Then your life is pointless." The thing said blankly, "And the death of Goddess will result in the genocide of your people."

Aaron took the AI chip and popped it into the laptop and waited for the laptop to activate it. A few seconds later the screen went blank and a simple line of text read: AI/: Hello.

Tavish sniffed slightly, crossing his arms and thinking "Well... what if we kill you... then snap her? That would be a lovely little justice wouldn't it? Or better yet, put you in a jar, let you WATCH us snap your precious goddess, then kill you? No one would know that she's broken. They'd all be trying to get here to save her from our clutches... Unless, of course, you come out of that little hidey hole and try to save her. Because it's either you hide where you are, we find you, we kill you, we break your goddess, or you have to try and kill us. And since you CAN'T get into the Hangar anymore, you'll have to come to us for that."

"The doors to hangar are wide open, and defenses are disabled. What stopping me?" The voice said, "I stay here, will kill you all eventually, save Goddess. You destroy Goddess, I still kill you all, then use this as operations base for incoming invasion."

"You CAN'T kill us, you CAN'T save her. What you CAN do is die or surrender. Heck, if you surrender we might even NOT break the Goddess. IN front of you" Tavish let out a small chuckle and shook his head "One thing you don't realise, Slime. In your religion, you're talking to the devil."

"You just put that AI bitch...Into my laptop." Stitch could nearly weep when his screen went blank, safe for the AI's message. He typed in his own response. User/: Hi there

The Admiral thought it over for a minute before answering. "Approved, take two Marines with you along with a lab tech and make your way to the labs. The rest of the team will make their way to the armory so they can gather some better weapons to fight with."

"What did you think I was going to do? Check my messages?" Aaron said in his defense. He moved around so he could get a good look at the screen.

AI/:Unable to look upon my magnificent form? Is that why I am in this poor excuse for a computer?

"You make me tired with you sad attempts at intimidation. Come to me, I will kill you all." With that there was a distinctive click that signaled the channel had been closed.

"It's going to be guarding the armoury" Tavish said into his comms "It was too confident to let us just get weapons. But, question. If this thing has access to our computers, does that mean that it is effectively touching the wires right now?" Electricity in large amounts did not agree with them, he remembered that.

"Thank you sir." Spook replied to the Admiral. "And... I have an idea how the boys can get to the armory without getting filled full of holes..."

Liddia answered Shaft's question, "No, from our studies they don't have anyway to converse like that, and in order to speak to us they have to use their armor's translator."

"What's the idea?" The Admiral asked Spook.


"The long range stall opens to reveal targets outside." Spook told him. "There's an energy field that keeps the cold air out, but allows projectiles through. I'm sure stitch can access the panel without much trouble. But it will mean that the boys will have to approach from the outside." And they both knew that even a Spartan could freeze in those extreme temperatures.

"Great idea Spook. Once everyone gets together we can get everyone into position." The Admiral said.

Aaron leaned forward and typed on the keyboard. "User/: Security reasons. What's going on here?"

"Then I'll get on with my end sir." Spook said. "With your permission."

Stitch cleared his throat with a cough that said 'Excuse me? My laptop' despite inward thanking him for essentially taking the AI away from his hands./he knew too many commands that could simply wipe her from the system, and still wasn't her biggest fan. Hearing Spook mention his name, his ears perked up. "Right. Where is this panel now?"

Scorch climbed out of the warthog and started to look around for anything that could be used as a weapon. He was glad the turrets quit firing, but now they were off to hunt down the snot that Shaft brought in. He knew one thing, he was not going to be snooping around looking for the thing without some sort of weapon. His stuff was locked up tight in the armory, like everyone else's was supposed to be.

AI/: I'm afraid I have no idea what you are referring to since I was pulled and am only just now being informed of anything happening after the fire drill.

Aaron just grumbled and waved Stitch off before responding to the AI, "User/: Don't give me that crap! You know what is going on, tell me now!

AI/: I'm sorry to disappoint you but I honestly haven't a clue. Perhaps your looney friend was stole me might be able to enlighten you, he seems to know everything.

Frustrated, Aaron shut the laptop and yanked the AI out. He walked back over to the group, tossing the closed laptop to Stitch, "Here, she wasn't being helpful."

"Alright everyone, gather around. We have a plan." The Admiral said and then waited for everyone to come close.

"Fun" Tavish said as he moved towards the admiral; if this didn't involve him putting himself in extremely inappropriate risky scenarios then he was going to be very disappointed.

Spook was already present, just waiting on the word to choose her marines and be on her way.

Scorch hadn't managed to locate much of a thing for a weapon of his choice. The majority of the things littered throughout the hangar bay were great hulks of weapons more suited for Scorp, Shaft could probably haul some of this stuff around, but not him. He was more suited for the subtle things in life, as long as you didn't look at his commissioned weapons. He had found a large hunk of shrapnel that would suit his purposes, once he had gotten it affixed to something else. Just as the Admiral ordered them to gather round, he noticed a long piece of rod. It wouldn't matter what type of material it was made of, it would do for what he had in mind. At the very least for one strike and that was far more than he had at the moment. He picked it up and headed towards the other, pulling some garrote wire from his belt compartment and began twisting it around the shrapnel and the rod, creating a make-shift spear as he walked.

Taking his laptop from Aaron, Stitch nodded, a look of high annoyance on his face at the lack of results. He stood amongst his comrades, with a small salute. "Sir."

Once the Admiral was sure that everyone was paying attention he began, "Spook here has come up with a two-prong mission plan that should allow us to locate the intruder and get a team into the armory. The first prong with involve Spook, a few Marines, and a Lab tech going through the maintenance tunnels to the lab and using the computers there to do some scans and try to locate the intruder. The second prong will have Scorp, Shaft, Stitch, and Scorch taking an outside path around to the armory's distance shooting range, hacking into the shielding controls and slipping in that way to acquire their weapons. We can't send any Marine's in with the second group due to the extreme cold outside." Once he was finished explaining he looked over the group, "Any questions?"

The words "why do our code names all start with S" played on Tavish's tongue before he raised a hand, as usual, and said "why are so many of us taking the outside route while Spook is going into the excursion tunnels alone? Surely she would meet with more resistance that way? I know big people like Scorp and myself would not fit, but... we have recently got a new tech Spartan."

"Her going with a small team and a lab tech gives her all she needs to get into the labs and access the information she needs." The Admiral answered, "We need Stitch to hack into the shielding controls to allow you all to get inside. That and she is the only one with her specialized weapon, the rest of you are not."

Scorch couldn't help but laugh in his head. He remembered the training through those maintenance tunnels, they all had to do them. It would be nearly impossible for Scorp to move around in there, and Shaft wasn't very far behind in the size category either. He could probably make it and Stitch as well, but they wouldn't have much room for maneuvering. "He raises a good point though, sir." He looked over at Spook and shrugged slightly. "No offense, Spook, but I think you could use some back-up." He turned back to the Admiral and added, "Not to mention the fact I'm the close-quarters specialist, sir. This is kind of my specialty."

Stitch shook his head in amusement at the others. It was a good plan, and the squad was very versatile, that much was true, but he'd rather not argue with the admiral, he was new after all. "I' fine with whatever you decide, I can scan, or I can hack". This was especially true now he knew the format of the passwords, but he kept that thought to himself.

"I'd appreciate the backup Scorch." Spook told him, showing him she wasn't offended by his offer. He was the close quarters specialist and she wasn't exactly designed for cramped spaces. Sure it was her idea, but she was the only one with VISR and she wanted to track this sonofabitch down before he decided to bring the base down around their ears. "That is, if you guys wanna spare him." She added.

Tavish gave a thumbs up, his scratched armour giving a green glint in the light "You're going to need more backup than we are. And I made a weapon with just him in mind... I just got to hope that it isn't blown to pieces in the fire fight we just had."

"Oh, so us Marine's aren't good enough, huh?" One of the nearby Marines said, with a little aggitation in his voice, most likely sarcastic. "Ain't no kind of defense unless it's a Spartan?"

The Admiral signaled everyone to calm down. "Scorch, you can go ahead and go with her, but your still taking the few Marines with you. Scorp, make sure you grab one of Scorch's weapons before you leave the armory."

"Yes Admiral." Aaron said before turning to Scorch, "Which one you want?"

Tavish gazed down at the Marine who had spoken, eyeballing him through his helmet; the giant shiny dome was quite good at eyeballing by itself anyway. "Have you had any experience fighting these things?" he asked, his voice almost cold "Up close and personal? In cramped circumstances... with barely any weapons..? Forgive me for not believing you are the super man you obviously believe you are."

"Better make it the shotgun, unless the Admiral doesn't mind me burning down the base." Scorch told him with a shrug. "My sword would be nice to have too. It worked pretty good on that ruby armor. If this slime has really taken over that body, which would make sense to me, I'd like a rematch." He was grinning under his helmet. This was what he was lived for. He was pretty curious as to what Shaft had managed to make for him. It wasn't like he really had much time to do any building, really. He was happy with the would-be spear he had pieced together, it would suffice until he got his own weapons back again.

Spook thought about saying something to Tavish, but kept her mouth shut. Scorch had done well during their mission to the planet. After all he had brought back the armor for the egg heads to study and he'd had the foresight to make sure it was empty first.

The Marine turned around to face Tavish. "I may not be a 'Superman' but I'm not the one who brought this thing here, sir."

"I'll see what I can do." Aaron said with a nod. "So, if we got all the questions out of the way then we should head out."

Tavish was grinning beneath his helmet, letting out a small chuckle and saying "Nope. But you're also not the one who freed all the prisoners and managed to bring back a working specimen of the creature's upper body. You're good, I know you are, you're marines after all. But there's stuff you can't do."

"Can we just get on with this?" Spook asked. She didn't want to get in the middle of having to break up a fight between any of them an the marines. They were on the same side after all. "Or are we just gonna stand around while that glob of goo takes the whole place over?"

"Agreed, the sooner you all get under way the better." The Admiral said, "Spook, pick out your team."

Spook nodded at the Admiral and pointed to the marine that had been so lippy. Sometimes it was a bad idea to have guys that were hot under the collar on a team. Sometimes they were perfect. Spook didn't know how she knew, but she figured the guy would be useful. She picked out two more. Guys on their feet with clear eyes, steady hands and side arms. Perhaps she should have let Scorch pick a couple, but the admiral had put her in charge considering this was her idea.

Scorch was grinning under his helmet as well. He was glad Spook picked the lippy guy. He had something to prove clearly. That made him the perfect man for the job.

"I'm coming with you too." Liddia said to Spook as she finished picking her team. "I have all the clearance authorization passes and codes you would need to access anything in that lab."

The Marine smiled when Spook picked him and as he started across the group to her, he looked at Tavish and said "Up, up and away."

"Alright, Stitch, Shaft, your with me." Aaron said quickly to stop Tavish from responding to the Marine. "We gotta go out the bay door and take a small walk through the snow to the Distance Shooting range. Keep an eye out cause I don't know what this jelly has got in store for us." He said as he started walking towards the personnel access hatch at the side of the hangar.

"Fine." Spook told Liddia. "But you take orders the same as anyone else. Stay close to Scorch and keep your head down. This is his area of expertise, if anyone can protect you he can."

Scorch nodded to Liddia. He rested his make-shift spear against his shoulder and looked at Spook. "Alright, boss. Lead the way."

Just before Stitch followed after Aaron, he overheard Liddia mentioning knowing codes and other things. As he walked off, he called back to her. "I might call you on someone's comms if I need a password, if you don't mind."

"You should have applied for the program. Something tells me you would have done well" Tavish said, patting the marine on the back as he walked off towards Aaron and the others, leaving Spook and Scorch behind "Just don't be a dumb ass with Spook. She's not as gentle as I am."

Aaron was waiting at the hatch for the other two, as they arrived he unlocked and swung the hatch open. "Alright, we need to make this as quickly as possible. Even with our suits it's going to be really cold." With that he lead the group out to the Base's Exterior.

Even though Spook was in charge of this little expedition, Scorch found himself at the head of the pack, leading the others to through the Maintenance Access

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