-A rumor heard over various Comm. Channels-

"Hey, did you hear?"

>> "Hear what?"

"They say that not all the Spartans went MIA on Reach."

>> "That's crazy. Everyone knows that the Chief is the last one. At least, the last on active duty."

"Yeah, well, what if he isn't?"

>> "Then... we'd have a better chance of getting out of this war alive."

"Exactly. Speaking of alive, how's the family?..."

Time: 0950 Hours
Date: 24, October, 2552 (UNSC Calender)
Location: Voi Marine Base, Kenya, Africa
Earth, Sol System

Out of the Banshee came a very tall humanoid figure. It was covered from head to toe in a really worn looking cloak. Or, as John described it when he first saw it, 'it looked like it had been through a sandstorm, thrown into battle then dragged through a marsh.' Of course, for all they knew, it could of. It's wearer was very sparse on detail. It walked toward the Mongoose in front of it, standing right next to the Arbiter. Much to the chagrin of the Marine who spoke and the confusion of others. "Ha, you all should see your faces! Okay, remove the hood." the female voice said.

"Since when were you the boss?" another voice, also female, said. Regardless, the figure reached up to the hood covering it's head, sleeves falling to reveal solid green armour covering the hands and arms. Everyone started to mumble in shock as they figure pushed back the covering on it's head. Light from the sun gleamed off of the polarized glass of a definite MJOLNIR helmet. Many of the Marines questions, especially about the cloak, began to become easily heard, and it caused John to smirk under his visor. Getting off of the Mongoose, he looked to his fellow Spartan. "Inside."

Marines, techs and just about everyone else in the base it seemed was crowding around the pair of Spartans. "I hope you remember that I don't like crowds." the female Spartan commented to John over a private channel. Slowly, but surely, they pushed their way to the tech centre of the base. The door shut and the two got seem relative peace. A few technicians came forward, ready to aid the as-of-yet unnamed Spartan out of her armour. It was to be a very long, drawn out task, but in this case it needed to be done. Upon revealing herself, the Spartan had made sure to note the fact that the systems were in dire need of maintenance, most urgent being it's power supply.

However, before she allowed the techs to touch her, she removed a crystal data chip from her neural interface. It most likely contained the other voice they had heard while she had been in the Banshee. The Spartan handed it silently to John, who understood the gesture completely. Spartans were never big on words, at least in situations that didn't require them. He moved over towards a computer station, inserting the chip into a slot on the side. "Ah, it feels good to have a change of systems." the AI said, voice filled with gratitude. "And now I can finally get some updates on what has been happening." The intelligence then fell silent, reading over the information. As it did, the technicians helped peel the green armour off of the rubber undersuit piece by piece.

The helmet had been removed first to deactivate the airlock on the suit and allow it to be removed. Similarly, it would be the last piece put on. For the time in between, anyone could see the dark brown, almost perfectly black hair, which ended just below the ears, of the human under the armour. Battle hardened grey eyes followed each piece that was removed from the suit as they were set aside. Her skin was slightly tan, but was still obviously paled from it's natural colour. After what seemed like hours(which it probably was), all the armour had been removed and the Spartan was given standard issue Marine outfit, since they lacked much anything Navel.

It disturbed the Spartan to be in anything other than her armour. It felt as if, though she was wearing a uniform, that she had nothing on at all, as all Spartans had been in some sort of armour since 2525. Of course, until she was either issued a new suit or they fix her old Mark V, she was stuck as-is. Even if she didn't like it.

"Sounds like you've been busy, John."

"Don't give me that, Tamura." John said. He had just finished giving the woman a five minute run-down of the happening since Reach. In return, she had told him how she managed to get to Earth. From the sound of it, the frigate Fall of Dusk had picked her up after the Piller of Autumn escaped into slipspace. After a random jump, they managed to ensure that they weren't being followed. However, it had received a fair amount of damage, with several areas sealed due to breaches in the hull. Both auxiliary engine drives were offline, with the mains not to far behind, and with many engineering routes out of service, the crew had to leave the ships AI, Lariana, to limp the ship home while avoiding the Covenant.

Of course when they get 'home', the Fall of Dusk got caught in the gravity well of Earth. The rest of the details were slightly sketchy, as it seem she had been quick thawed, given Lariana and pushed into a Pelican(more or less) right before the ship entered the atmosphere. "I don't know what happened to the Dusk, so don't ask." Tamura stated flatly, then sighed. "I always did have some of the worst luck."

A/N: There you go. An update if you wanted it, and answers if you otherwise didn't care. I added the time and date and all that because the first chapter was mostly just a heads-up. Getting you into what was happening. I plan on adding a few things over the course of the story, but don't be (too)afraid, it probably won't be anything all that major. So, anyway, please read and review, because who will if you don't?