The COG Gear, Marcus Fenix stepped onto the ship. His large boots clanked as he walked across the cold metal floor of the docking bay. As he did so, the ship went into LOCKDOWN mode to prevent a breach from the ensuing Covenant attack. Marcus' squad mate, Dom, was there to meet him.
"Dom, think this thing can go any faster? Getting our asses kicked out there."
"I'll check it out. Nice to have you back," Dom replied hastily and jogged toward his destination.
Marcus headed towards the captain's station. As he turned a tight corner, he ran head first into Miranda Keyes, a beautiful, high-ranking woman in the UNSC, daughter of Commander James Keyes.
As they ran into each other, their lips touched for but a moment as Miranda quickly pushed herself away from his armor-plated chest.
"Marcus Fenix. So like you to try that on your first moment back on the ship. My father wants you on deck immediately!" the commanding officer said and she looked sternly into his eyes.
"Yes ma'am," he saluted as she walked briskly out of his sight. He had a slight grin on his face as he continued down the corridor and turned into the doorway to Commander Keyes'.
"Sit down, Fenix. We need to have a discussion."
"Isn't that what we're doing sir?" Marcus replied while taking a seat.
"Do you want to run that by me again, Fenix?"
"No, sir. My mistake," he coughed.
"Good, now shut the hell up. The Master Chief is on his way from Arcadia as we speak and the second he gets here, I want you in a full suit and ready to go. You boys are going to track down the Gravemind and destroy him once and for all," the Commander explained.
"The Gravemind sir?" Marcus inquired.
"The Gravemind is basically a central computer that all these damned Flood are connected to. It tells them what to do, where to go, and how to survive. As soon as you shut it down, the Flood will be that much easier to kill."
"Right, Phantom Menace style?"
"Not quite, see they don't rely on it to live, it just supplies knowledge. You'll still have to fight the bastards, but they won't have any sort of skills."
"Sounds easy. How long did you say until Chief gets here?" said Marcus, standing up.
"About three days. Arcadia isn't exactly next door…"
The following morning became something of a joke in Marcus' mind. Dom had found himself a stash of chocolate pudding and refused to share it with anyone, claiming that he "found all the booty, got all the booty" and hustled out of the mess hall.