Vitaly looked over the prosthetic right arm he'd gotten for the heroic act of dragging a squad member away from a Covenant explosive. Sacrificing his arm hadn't brought him back to life. Now he left such heroic acts to others.

Suddenly feeling the need for an escape from his cluttered office, he asked Quinn, his A.I., to secure it as he left. Stepping outside his office, he came to an abrupt halt, face to face with Admiral Parangosky. Or, considering the recent promotion of Admiral Osman, the former ONI admiral.

"Ma'am."

Since she retired and would soon face war trials for her service, there was no need to salute her. But this woman had taken them through the war in one piece; he saluted her out of respect rather than rank."Stand down son. I've long left that position."

Vitaly slid into a more relaxed stance at the dismissal. "Is there something you needed, ma'am? Just notify Quinn."

"I've come to personally give you one final assignment from me. There's been some papers that have disappeared from my desk, and I need someone to make sure they don't run off again."

The true meaning was clear. The colonies have started to act up again, time to interrupt and cause some chaos among their ranks.

It was odd how easily he could pick up on Parangosky-isms. He supposed it came from being one of her associates for as long as he had.

Immediately after his "accident", he went through therapy to walk and eventually run again and was eventually put into an ODST squad.

After many years of service and using his intelligence to gather scraps of information, he was moved to ONI's headquarters, where Parangosky swept him under her wing, despite her already having an apprentice of sorts.

Never was one for dancing around toes like these ONI people...

"Ma'am, you know I support you through thick and thin, but I've retired from field service."

"Come on, V."

Yeah. THE Parangosky had a nickname for him. It was kind of weird in front of people but in private... actually it was still weird. But it was less embarrassing.

He felt like her grandson anytime she called him it. Even though - they had proof - she'd never reproduced."Parangosky. You know I retired from field work. Plus I have a prosthetic now. I'm unsuited for field work now. I can't leave this life behind, either. Finally settled down."

Parangosky smiled at him for a few seconds knowingly, "You and I both know that you never leave this building."

Vitaly sighed before stepping back towards his office with a minor headache. Before crossing the threshold, he turned back to Parangosky with his face set in solid bedrock. "What do you need me to do?"

Stepping out of the severely crippled cab she took to the shuttle, Saryn took a deep breath of the salty ocean air and gazed over the damage that the Covenant had done to 'd left her Spartan gear on their ship, not seeing a reason to take it into the city with her. It wasn't like someone would steal it. Besides, these docks were ONI personnel only.

Stepping through the portal to the shuttle, she took her first physical look at the team that would be accompanying her.

She saw the Russian in the corner, smoking a cigarette while waiting. His four most striking features were his bright emerald eyes, what little of his right arm remained, and two ugly scars that ran from the corners of his mouth and crossed at his jaw, giving him something eerily reminiscent of a was someone who she knew to be South American, but looked more like a Caribbean. He wasn't dressed in fatigues like the Russian was, but at least it was something more fitting than civilian clothes.

The only other female she saw sat at the very back of the room they were to wait in. You could tell she wasn't happy to be here. Probably just got back from a mission and wanted to spend time with either her family or pick up some unlucky civilian. What stuck out about her, though, was her dark blue hair and the dark sneer settled across her visage.

She'd read their files - each having an impressive chunk blacked out. What she could gleam from it was that the Russian was an ODST, now staying on Earth and answering directly to Parangosky.

The South American sadly fit the stereotype of the too-long-in-service Marine. He'd went on a suicide mission and returned alone. Somehow, he was still fit for service. She assumed it was the massive amounts of alcohol he drank. She was willing to bet that that was most of what he packed in his woman... she was apparently the wild one. Constant flirting, bringing a date home, etc. She liked to party any time she could. Saryn wouldn't be surprised if she had a crush on the Russian already.

Speaking of the Russian, he had his own personal A.I., named Quinn. Saryn didn't know his or Quinn's clearance level. And that was sat near the Russian and began counting the seconds until the shuttle left for the ship.

Vital smoothed his shirt over the stump of his arm. He'd removed the prosthetic arm before he left his bunk and had brought a massive briefcase, large enough to hold two were the two versions of his prosthetic. One was built for combat situations, but he mostly wore the other one because it was more comfortable. And it wasn't powered, which meant it was much more suited to a civilian setting.

He'd put his prosthetics in the case so the people he would be spending lots of time with could get used to the fact that he only had one arm. It wasn't like he was useless - far from it - but it was a new team and he'd only skimmed through their files before picking them. He didn't want to give off the impression that he was perfect - far from it.

Each of them were crippled in some way. The South American had outbursts of mania and psychopathic tendencies - though they didn't impede his work - and the woman with dark blue hair was emotionally insecure. He didn't know how the Spartan was crippled. Needless to say, he was the physically crippled one.

He assumed that the Spartan had identity issues. It must have been a side effect of going through the Spartan program. Yeah he'd read Halsey's journal. In fact, he went through some of the procedures they took. So he knew what they did to colony kids. It was no wonder the colonies were trying to fight a war against the UNSC, now that the Covenant wasn't knocking on their doors anymore.

He was one of the unlucky ones, unable to walk without rehabilitation. He'd gone through five years of physical therapy to join the ODSTs. Maybe if the procedure had succeeded, he wouldn't have lost half his squad in a Covenant ambush.

Vitaly shook the incriminating thoughts from his head. Now was not the time to think about what-ifs. What-ifs got you killed on missions.

But he didn't like the way the Spartan was looking at him. It felt like she was sizing him up, seeing if he was useful in a fight. One quick estimation told him she was assessing his arm. He didn't enjoy that.

"Eyes are on the head, Spartan. I'd appreciate you not staring. You don't have a visor to hide where you're looking anymore."The Spartan turned away awkwardly, like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

It was an understandably awkward shuttle ride. No one spoke, nor did anyone move.

The only noise was Vitaly removing his combat arm from its case and tightening the bolts that held it together.

The shuttle cycled down to half speed as it approached their ship. Vitaly was the last one off, having to close and lock his case.

The others waited for him, marking him as the de facto leader - alienating him. He stood by himself, awaiting Parangosky's arrival. She always came early to briefings like this one.

Speak of the devil…

Parangosky strode towards them with cane in hand, seeming to smile warmly like a grandmother- until you realized she was smirking. She seemed to be proud about something.

All four soldiers snapped to attention rather quickly. Even Vitaly, who was just finishing tightening the screws that held his arm in place.

She nodded approvingly. "Very wise choices, V. I'm sure they'll serve you well."

The other three soldiers now glanced at him, sizing him up as their leader.

Vitaly grimaced but bit his tongue. He could lead the ODST's - they were part of his squad for that reason - but he wasn't sure about the Spartan.

She didn't have a basic identity of herself. That made for a dangerous person with no morals - no limits.

He didn't like flight risks.

"Also, Vitaly, your rank has been released to the public. Welcome back to ONI, Captain. And you'll have another member joining you soon. He's untested, but shows true promise."

The Spartan fidgeted, uneasy with an untested and therefore risky squad member. "Permission to speak ma'am."

Parangosky turned to Saryn stone faced. He'd enjoyed calling it her admiral face until she turned it on him one time. "Granted."

"Ma'am, you said he was untested. If he has no combat experience, why is he being put onto this squad? This is a mostly assault squad, with a tactician and three soldiers."

"The answer to that question will come to you in time. Vitaly, do you still have Quinn with you?"

She was still looking Saryn in the face challengingly. Quinn spoke up of her own accord, answering for him. Her voice was chipper and actually had a tinkling of bells in the background, not unlike a child's in some twisted way. "He can't get rid of me that easily, Parangosky."

Parangosky broke away from the stare down to watch another shuttle come in. "Your final subordinate has arrived. While you get to know him," she handed him a small flash drive, "take a look through your mission perimeters."

Parangosky had handed him an innocent flash drive, a legacy that dated back over five-hundred years, that contained their orders. It was nondescript and matte grey, matching his own gear. He fitted it into a port hidden in the elbow of his prosthetics.

Upon insertion, it retrieved several folders of files. One for each of them - uninked - and then two more. One dealt with their mission but the order was a separate set of tasks that were officially unofficial, which meant they were on their own for them.

Parangosky walked away briskly to her own shuttle. Well, as briskly as one can with a cane. The door shut behind her as Rouk's arrived.

He stepped out in full gear, carrying his helmet and a duffle bag. The twenty-year old set his bag down and saluted them cheerily. The first thing the four of them noticed - the intelligent shine to his eyes.

Vitaly rifled through the folders he was given, searching for Rouk's file. He stared in shock at the age stated on his file.

He'd just turned twenty, three days ago. Vitaly composed himself, it wasn't a Captain's job to question their superiors. "At ease, soldier. Why don't you introduce yourself to the team, since we've all read through each other's files."

He did recognize that Saryn kept moving her head slightly towards him while in a private conversation with Rouk. He whispered to Quinn softly.

"Get me into their conversation."

"I can only get the audio from Saryn. Something keeps forcing me out of his."

Vitaly inconspicuously activated the earpiece he wore while Quinn piggybacked into Saryn's neural interface.

"-three are ODST's as well. The one with the prosthetics is Vitaly, the Lieutenant is Jund, and the woman is Miya."

The computer read the text to him in a bored, monotone voice. He suffered through the monotone voice for a few more seconds before turning it off. The boy - he couldn't be anything but - answered. "My name is Rouk, but everyone just calls me Rook, spelled with two O's."

A Rook huh..? Coincidentally, Jund's callsign is Bishop while Miya's is Pawn. Though I better keep him away from Quinn, if he can force her out. Even if she never leaves my neural port.

After boarding their transportation to the colony, the ODSTs left to sit down with some coffee while Vitaly and Saryn squared off in the observation deck. It was silent for a few tense moments, ending abruptly while Saryn fidgeted. "Yes, Spartan?"

"Sir, why do you have an A.I?"

"That's classified, Spartan."

Saryn nodded at the dismissal, having expected this answer. "When is objective briefing, Sir?"

"I will have Quinn bring to the bridge when it is time. Until then, do whatever you do to occupy your downtime."

With that abrupt dismissal, Vitaly settled back onto the wall. "You think we can succeed, Quinn?"

Quinn materialized as a middle-aged woman wearing a sundress over the command panel. Her bright pink glow slightly illuminated the scowl on Vitaly's visage. "With all due respect, Vitaly, your success rate is distressingly low."

"I know that." He leaned on the projection table that had minor pockmarks from firefights inside the ship. Seems Parangosky couldn't arrange for the ship to have all the 'whistles and bells' put back together. "But do you think we have any chance of turning that around?"

Quinn's glow dimmed slightly. "There is a forty-three percent chance of this mission succeeding in any circumstances."

"I don't want calculations, Quinn. I want your opinion."

Quinn's avatar faced him. That really gave him a headache. He thought she was there, but in reality she was just a microchip in the back of his neck and partially inside the ship. It hurt just thinking about it. "Sir, I am just an A.I. Calculations are who we are. Not being able to calculate is analogous with humans not being able to breath oxygen."

Vitaly sighed and ran a hand through his short, dark brown hair. "Call them up to the bridge for briefing."

"One final thing to remember. We do not exist. If anything goes south, we are not in anyway affiliated with ONI - or Earth for that matter…"

That was what the others were waiting to hear. They were all expecting it - they knew it would happen, they just didn't expect him to be so straight-forward with it. The Spartan didn't look too affected, though that was because they were trained from a young age for this. "When do we begin, sir?"

"We already have. We started warp immediately to block communications coming in and out. We should be within three days of travel once we exit. Until then, do whatever you want - I don't really care."

Rouk was the most shaken by the details of their "officially unofficial" mission, though he seemed to brush it off like only a veteran ODST could. "You're very lax for a Captain, sir…"

"Jund, Miya, Saryn, could you excuse us for a bit?"

Jund, Miya, and Saryn immediately left, leaving Rouk behind. "You're not really a Captain, are you?"

Vitaly nodded. "Very astute of you. Though I believe that question is far above your paygrade."

"I like to consider myself a revealer of the truth."

"A mindset like that might get you killed someday."

"Sir.."

"Enough. Dismissed, soldier."

Rouk saluted crisply and left with several unanswered question while Vitaly gazed at the bulwark, lost in thought. "Quinn?"

"Yes?"

"Can you search through the psych files of Rouk for anything.. unusual?"

There was a momentary pause while she searched. "Psych eval., August 17, 2554. Rouk Ea shows unusual intelligence and is unexplainably able to detect psych tests and react accordingly. I'd say he's brilliant, Vitaly. Almost scarily so."

"I always did have the worst of luck outside of combat... Inside, that's another story..."

After an hour of conversing with Quinn, Vitaly had the stomach-dropping feeling of exiting slipspace. "Comms check, Quinn. And run ship diagnostics. I'd like to know we haven't damaged anything coming out."

Quinn took a moment to run it, her core processor several thousand times faster than the human mind. "Ship's running at full capacity, no signs of damage. There's a distress signal from Unbounded Frequency - within an hours travel of slipspace. Coolant leak in their main reactor. Their asking to offload non-essential crew until repairs have been made."

"Even with the latest upgrades? And do we have time to drop off their men at the nearest UNSC base? We're not on a time schedule, but I'd like to be home within the next few years."

"They're maintaining orbit over a tight-lipped insurrectionist planet. No help is coming within three hours if we don't interfere."

"Bastards… Too high and mighty, now that the Covenant's stop knocking on their doors. Do they even have the ordinance to refuse assisting a cruiser-class ship...?"

"Vitaly?"

"Collect Echo-13 and bring them to the bridge. It's their lives at risk and therefore their choice."

(A/N) For future reference, Saryn-239 is outfitted with the Cinder helmet and Copperhead armor with a bronze visor. All the ODSTs wear unmodified ODST gear except Vitaly. He has a knife sheath across the back of his torso, right above his waist. He has also removed his shoulder pads for increased mobility.