The year was 2563. The Human-Covenant war was long over. The Forerunners were long since defeated. The Chief was retired. Spartan IV's were now used mainly as S&R, as well as disaster recovery. A very select few were still in a military form. You can guess that that is where we begin.

A/N: Before this starts, I do not own halo. That is 343. This takes place far after Halo 5, prior to Halo 6 release. When Halo 6 is released, this fanfic may become outdated. I will still write it, however. Enjoy and review!

Zach (Charlie - 819) was on his regular patrol. Why am I even working here?, he thought, All I do is walk around with a BR and make sure that no one gets shot. And no one ever does. He proceeded to check the weapon crates. Why are these here anyway? He payed no attention and moved along his route.

Near the end of his patrol, he heard a rustle in the nearby vegetation. He turned and saw a shadowy figure standing in the brush. The second it went out of peripheral vision, it was gone. Zach shrugged and returned to base, greeting Joke (Bravo - 017) as he came into duty.

"Ay Joke, watch out, I feel like I saw a figure," Zach warned.

"There's nothing out here Zach," he rebutted, "Who would want to come out here?"

"Good point," Zach agreed moments later, "just be careful out there."

"Don't worry, a figure won't do anything to me!" Joke screamed as he pressed on his route.

Zach walked to his bunk, taking his White and gold Mark V armor off and he donned his R&R outfit, a tan UNSC t-shirt and black shorts. He then went to the mess hall, and greeted his Spartan fireteam. They were the only Spartans in the mess hall because they were one of only 9 remaining Fireteams, the rest of which are guarding key buildings should an insurrection arise again. Not that they needed much more than one or MAYBE two. But, who would even care, right? He sighed. We're becoming nonessential as soldiers. Zach just got to the buffet and got 3 cheeseburgers, and some fries. He didn't want to eat just because he could. He then leisurely strolled over to where the rest of his fireteam was. One was Spartan Rose (Oscar - 066). She was one of the few Spartan II's in existence, let alone active duty. There was ShadowWolf (Zulu - 048), known as just "Wolf" within the team and most of the immediate facilities. There was also Joke. They all wore default Mark VI armor with white primary and yellow secondary. Gray (Victor - 271) was different. He wore Steel primary and lapis secondary. He was our communicator. His color armor was the way it was because many moons ago, he was going through Forerunner territory after a failed recon. His Warthog landed on a mine and just like that he had no legs or arms. The steel makes it so his cybernetics blend. They also make for excellent antennae. Lapis to indicate comms. This was our fireteam, call sign, Achilles.

Everyone was in their R&R outfit. The males similar to Zach with UNSC tee and shorts. Roses was same, just with a tank top.

"Anything interesting happen on patrol?" Gray mocked, knowing, or THINKING, he knew the answer.

"Actually, yes," Zach replied. Gray was surprised, nothing ever happened on patrol these days.

"Go on then," exclaimed Joke, "wait, are you talking about the… You CAN'T be serious."

"No, Joke, I am serious. I believe people need to know about this," Zach rebutted, he continued, "When I was on my patrol I saw, something. I didn't get a good look at it, it was only in my peripheral vision. But it looked humanoid, and stayed in the shadows." Everyone looked at him.

"So you mean to tell us," Rose said, in a rather sarcastic tone, "that you saw a shadowy figure, that didn't get to the center of your vision, and that it might be hostile? After all of these years of peace, and on top of it all, it decides this complex, which is the only complex guarded by spartans that has seemingly nothing important to guard?" Everyone was silent a moment.

After a moment of silence Zach replied, "I looked in one of the crates, There wa-"

"YOU DID WHAT?" Everyone at the table screamed in disbelief.

"Everyone, quiet down," Zach said in a whisper, he continued in a normal voice, "Okay, one of the crates were open, there were weapons that I couldn't identify." This surprised everyone, because all Zach did on his downtime is eat and study weapons, Vessels, and things of that nature.

"So you think..." everyone was interrupted

"Yes" Zach said.