Planet Onyx -1603 hours, 2551

"Dammit!"

Bullets flew past Azhaq as he ran headlong down the corridor, "I don't have time for this!"

A quick glance over his shoulder was shortly followed by the azure glow of a plasma grenade.

"That should slow them down" he muttered. As he turned back to face forwards he realised he had hit a dead end. It dawned on him that there was about to quite a large explosion behind him and he was completely exposed to the blast. Franticly he looked for any sort of cover, the only object around was a supply crate which he scrambled to get behind it before the explosion went off.

He got behind it a matter of seconds before the timer hit zero.

KRAK! The crate slammed into Azhaq knocking him a good 10ft down the corridor and into the wall. There was a sharp crack as his shields were disabled from the impact, "That's going to leave a mark," he groaned.

Shaking his head Azhaq started to get back up and was surrounded by a light blue glow as he shields recharged and began looking around for another exit.

Looking down at the small metal block in his hand he whispered to himself, "I've got to get this out of here......it could put an end to this war."

As Azhaq stared at the object for a moment imagining the sense of accomplishment he would feel after presenting what he had found. He could end this madness!

"We need Spartan support!" a surviving marine barked into a radio, jerking Azhaq back into reality.

Azhaq sighed, "How do I always get into these messes?"

He began to sprint down the first passage that he saw, all the while praying that there were not any more than one Demon in the base; he really didn't have the time to fight any more than that.

Planet Onyx - 1303 hours, 2551

"But it's the only option! The main entrance is suicide!"

"But we only have records of that entrance Azhaq! We have no idea what could be waiting anywhere else."

"And the welcoming party at the main entrance looks so inviting," He replied sarcastically. Azhaq's voice softened, "Listen, my job is infiltration, if anything goes wrong with this operation I will accept full responsibility, and you know what failure on this mission would mean."

"Yes....I do."

Azhaq crawled further forward on the hill to get a better view of the UNSC base ahead. Guards were crawling all over the main gate and the surrounding walls.

"The caves are the only option," Azhaq muttered.

"Fine, take the caves, but you better be careful, if you get lost I'll never let you hear the end of it."

"I know, that's why I'm not going to get lost...."

Planet Onyx -1313 hours, 2551

So far, so good. I haven't got lost yet....

Azhaq stumbled in what he first thought to be a ditch, looking down he quickly realised that it was a footprint.

"Something big came through this cave recently....really big."

"What do you mean really big?"

"Big as in Phantom big."

"That's big," Ithix chuckled over the radio.

"Stop that or I'll start laughing in a minute and the noise will echo all the way through these caves."

"Ok, one last th-"

"Ithix?"

"Az—q? You—e brea—ng up"

"Godammit! Ithix!"

He was replied with nothing but static.

Planet Onyx -1333 hours, 2551

Azhaq clenched his mandibles and made a rumbling noise in his throat, a noise he usually makes when very annoyed or agitated.

He walked over to a large mound of rock with the intention of sitting on it. Forgetting to disable his shields he sat on it...and promptly slid straight off into a pool of water that had gathered on the floor of the cave.

He crawled out of the pool growing angrier every second, he hated it when Ithix was right, he was lost. Standing up he began to look around the cave, he saw three tunnels leading from the current chamber. After a few seconds of thinking he came to two conclusions, the first was that he had been here before. The second......

"I hate caves!" Azhaq announced to the seemingly empty cavern.

He flinched as his cry echoed throughout the cavern.

He stood still breathless for a second expecting an alarm to sound and this entire mission to be over before it had even started. Frozen on the spot he listened intently until he was sure that there was not going to be an alarm. He began to relax when he thought he heard the shouts of marines echoing from one of the tunnels.

His head dropped to his chest and his shoulders drooped, "I really hate myself sometimes."