Enjoy!

Dr. Catherine Halsey stood in an expanse along with a group of doctors and medics that were waiting in anticipation, in probably one of the most heavily defended facilities in the known galaxy.

Not only was it headquarters of ONI Section III but also the amount of sensitive information and material contained there made it imperative that it was defended. It even had its own attendant battle group should the planet come under attack, it was under orders that it was to not assist the other defenders but to evacuate the facility before engaging enemy forces.

Having thirty Spartan-II commandos in cyrostasis, waiting to be called upon by Humanity in times of need, tended to have that effect.

Every single occupant in the room were in awe as they were about to be a part of history. Only one other time, seventy five years ago, were the legendary Spartans awakened when there was a chance that Earth would be under attack by the Flood again. Now, they really were the stuff of legend as most of the UEG populace believed the Spartans to have died. Only a select few knew that they still lived, those that defended this facility and staffed it and also the Security Council minus the President of the UEG.

The Spartans had their eyes closed and donned a special bodysuit made for cyrostasis as well as for their armor. On the top of each of their pods, above the safety glass that separated them and the outside world was a plaque that had each Spartan's serial number on it.

Halsey paused while she approached each of the pods by herself putting a hand on the glass of each one as if touching their faces. She recited each of their names in a motherly and comforting whisper as she passed them "Kelly, Fred, Jorge, Linda, Adriana, Aaron , John..."

She finished and paused at the last pod. John's pod. She would oversee his awakening personally.

"Wake them up." She ordered. There was no hesitation on the doctors part only excitement. They quickly sorted themselves into pairs and began defrosting the pods.

One by one, each of the pods clicked and hissed open as if a chorus of snakes were present and a thick, cold mist gathered at the feet of the room. One by one, giants stepped out of their cold tombs and stood in the land of the living once more.

Halsey was ecstatic to see that they weren't reacting violently or even reacting at all to the bronchial surfactant.

That means the formula for it had worked. Halsey thought to herself. She had worked hard on and studied all the aspects and effects of cryo-sleep. She devised a solution with the new-type of fluid. One that would exponentially increase the chances of survival in long-term stasis. It was only used by the Spartans though since cryo-sleep was out of date with the new slipspace speeds and precision.

Instead, they all stood stoic and silent and responded appropriately to whenever a doctor asked something of them to make sure they all hadn't had any lasting effects of the stasis.

After a few moments, the pod in front of Halsey clicked open and mist began to seep out. The pod was fully opened when a man about six foot 10 in his body suit with his strong features remaining impassive. Halsey nodded and cleared his evaluation quickly.

They had received a psychological evaluation before they were put into cryo-sleep and they, of course, had all passed.

"Spartans!" She announced. Immediately, all the genetically-enhanced soldiers stood at attention while the doctors stood off to the side. They were done with their evaluation. "After you receive your armor and weapons, you will head to the auditorium where you will be briefed on the situation." She said and she gestured for them to exit.

In perfect unison, the Spartans pivoted on their heel and left through the set of doors that went towards the armory.

-()-

As was custom, or rather self-volunteering from John, the famed Spartan donned the new MJOLNIR first. They all watched with impassiveness as the bulky but streamlined armor was carefully but quickly bolted into place on the super soldier. It looked like the MJOLNIR Mark VI but more streamlined and bulky.

He nodded to the other Spartans and they snapped off a perfect salute before they each went to their own personalized armor. Each armor was custom-fitted and made to suit each Spartan's specialties. For example, in Kelly's case her armor was, compared to all the other exoskeletons, lighter and more maneuverable than the others while in Jorge's case his armor looked like it just got beefier and even, given the right circumstances, could withstand a direct hit from an Aegis Main Battle Tank. However, slim those chances may be, a Spartan is ready to counter any situation.

John's armor however, lacked any sort of customization rather going for the more vanilla feel of the armor making him easily distinguishable. This was in part to boost morale as he had been essential in Section II's propaganda campaign, the other part was because he was an all-rounder and while the Spartans could and would respond to any given situation with the upmost effectiveness and brutality that it usually didn't make a difference, if a Spartan was deployed to where they specialized in the effect would be doubly so.

Not many changes were made to the design of the armor rather the technology reaped the benefits of being updated such as the shields, armor-plating and the circuits within the system and numerous customization options for the wearers. The Mark X MJOLNIR exoskeleton is the most advanced power suit to date and only a Spartan-II can wear one without being killed from how intense the speed is.

While everyone was being fitted out, John walked down the aisle and inspected each and every one of his Spartans as their armor was bolted into place and their helmets sealed and pressurized, each visor polarized to the iconic hexagonal, reflective gold visors.

As if it was choreographed by a screenwriter, each Spartan finished as he walked by and followed John out to the armory where they would also receive their customized weapons. Linda and Kelly were on either side of him while Fred was directly behind him with all the other Spartans following closely in formation. Their heavy footfalls resounding as they made their way past the awestricken technicians and doctors.

After a few moments of comforting silence and walking through a massive bulkhead door and filed into two rows of thirteen with Blue Team in the front and John leading them. They would be the first to retrieve their weapons. All of them picking up their preferred weapons from the long-range sniper rifle to the more close-up shotgun.

Picking up his standard armament of the standard issue automatic rifle, sidearm, ammunition and grenade, John's visor quickly scanned the weapon he was holding and gave him the specifications on the weapon, the MA5 series staying true, in its design while also still being a relevant weapon due to the many refits and tuning to be a modern tool of destruction.

At a 120 centimeters in length due to the extended barrel, it's capable of breezing through a standard magazine of forty bullets in just six seconds at fully automatic. His however looked to be more of a special operations weapon due to the blue conduit, with flaps that would cover it, on both sides of the weapon, the specification read that it used plasma lances as munitions and power cells to power said beams. The specification also read that the reflective coating on the titanium plated weapons would deter sensors making it ideal for stealth applications.

He assumed all the custom weapons utilized plasma as the main munitions if all the pulsating blue conduits running through the weapons were any indication.

Since Blue Team had retrieved their weapons, the first row of Spartans stepped forward in unison to gather theirs. John watched as Jorge picked up a massive HMG, that looked ideal for a static defense, and Aaron, the leader of Red Team, help Jorge lock a massive armored power cell onto his back while two technicians also helped connect the HMG to the cell.

When the 30 Spartans finished gathering their gear, they look like they could take on any type of army, in any kind of environment, in any style of combat. Many of the more bulkier and armored Spartans, that were similar to Jorge, carried armored packs that contained a variety of supplies.

They all filed into the auditorium, one that looked eerily similar to the one they first convened in when they were children on Reach. On the floor were four people John could recognized and also another that he could not, who was present via hologram. There was also a pair of AIs present, both he had not seen before.

Seeing the AIs, though sparked several memories to flash in his mind. Cortana. Flood. Halo. Guilty Spark.

He remembered the Flood on the Halo installations and how they were determined to consume everything in the galaxy. Only with Cortana's help had he and Johnson destroyed the Lesser Ark along with the Flood with controlled firing of the Halo Array and the Greater Ark throughout UNSC space.

He remembered that Cortana had sacrificed herself to save him from the blast that killed the Didact, who was intending to compose all of Humanity to fight the Flood and return the Forerunners to their former glory.

Of course there was The Covenant but they didn't encounter them as much but when they did, UNSC forces were completely and rapidly demolished. They left no survivors when did show up, only the Spartans ever managed to remain alive in their encounters with the advanced-alien conglomerate. There were only a select few within the military hierarchy that even knew that the conglomerate of species even existed.

However, several premature and extremely lethal strikes against the aliens had rendered them completely into disarray. ONI dubbed the series of operations First Strikes and it was a war fought in the shadows of the Human-Flood War.

Only the Spartan-IIs and select ONI personnel had fought in it and crippled the Covenant to a point where they only needed to watch as the genocidal aliens fought each other to extinction over resources which they did. ONI was extremely methodical in preventing the Covenant from reaching USNC held space and discovering them. One of the few things, that John silently praised them for.

Salvaged Covenant tech was the reason that the devastating energy projector, ship-grade energy shielding and individual energy shielding was now standard issue among the armed forces of the UNSC.

John mentally shook himself from his thoughts as he went to his spot in the auditorium. From his peripheral vision, he saw Halsey going through every single one of the Spartans and inspecting them and the armor personally, similar to what John did in the armory.

He focused his gaze to those in front, the ones that waited for Halsey to join them. One was Fleet Admiral Lasky, who stood in the BDU of the navy and was present via hologram. John knew he was likely present from his command ship, the UNSC Infinity.

Admiral Serin Osman, was also present via hologram. She held an impassive look but John noticed the slight twitching of the upper corners of her lips. Someone would be hard pressed to see something like that but for a Spartan, they could see it as if it was as clear as day. Their sister-in-arms was happy to see them awake again.

Captain Franklin Mendez stood stoically on the side of the AI. He was neatly dressed in his UNSC marine BDU. He watched impassively as Halsey continued inspecting the armor. He locked gazes with John and their former trainer acknowledged his former trainee with a nod of respect. John nodded, albeit unnoticeable to the untrained eye, back to the marine his respect as well.

The last person in the room, also present via hologram, looked to be an ONI captain, John immediately recognizing the bird and bar, that seemed to a bit out of place. With John's acute eyesight, he read his nametag as David Anderson.

The AI were a different matter entirely. One looked eerily similar to Cortana, but John knew Cortana was dead and her being here was impossible. Even if she hadn't been destroyed while protecting the Chief, even he knew that Halsey would've never had been able to cure Rampancy because, as far as he knew, they just didn't have the capability to stall it or even cure it, not even the Forerunners could if 343 Guilty Spark was any indication.

The woman wore a white, skin-tight, padded suit with golden orange, similar to the Prometheans encountered on Requiem, circuitry laced within.

The other AI seemed to be a little less creative and instead chose to represent itself as a holographic blue pedestal and blue sphere. He figured that this AI was similar to Black Box, who he interacted with only once, and that led him to believe that this AI was ONI-specific. It seemed like a trait that was shared with all the ONI AI in their rather expressionless states.

Halsey then returned to the front where she joined the others. Captain Mendez was first to address the Spartans.

"Spartans! Attention!" He barked out. The thirty supersoldiers stood stoically and rigidly at the order. "At ease." They relaxed but to the normal eye it looked as if they hadn't moved a muscle.

The ONI admiral took command. Behind her was a depiction of a garden world. "This is Shanxi. One of the UEG's most recent colonies. Population is around five million with a garrison of five thousand green army personnel with a column of armor and a wing of fighters."

"This feels just like Harvest." Adrianna, a member of Gray Team muttered over the private comm. The Spartans all blinked their acknowledgement lights in agreement.

Osman continued. "The orbital defenses only consisted a taskforce of ten Zodiac-Class Frigates as well as a Preston-Class Heavy Cruiser that did not have a full combat load. The onboard contingent numbered about two thousand with a handful of Mastodons and around a hundred superiority craft."

For all the Spartans, their HUDs began displaying information about all the new equipment and vehicles. What caught John's eye was the Mastodon, it was reminiscent of the Mammoth that was used a hundred years prior but larger. Much larger.

Like its predecessor, the Mastodon had a Mini-MAC for anti-warship and anti-fortification use but could be used as a mobile anti-orbital platform. This one was what the original Elephant design was meant to be. A literal base on wheels. Bracing pistons for a siege-type mode, a retractable sniper's nest and a deployable landing pad for VTOL aircraft. There was also more anti-air emplacements scattered across the top.

"Around 26 hours ago, an unknown fleet appeared from this artefact of unknown origin." An image of a silver tuning fork that they all knew, just from the aesthetic design, was not Forerunner. "We have deduced it to be one of their methods of superluminal travel." She added on. "But that is beside the point. 156 hostile ships have entered and engaged the defense forces. What we know is that our ships are superior to theirs but they have the numbers to make that advantage void. The defense fleet was overwhelmed and destroyed but they did enact Cole Protocol to ensure that none of the ships fell into enemy hands. An ONI satellite is currently feeding us with information."

That explains on how Osman has all the knowledge. John knew she would be in charge of this operation personally and would have taken every single precaution to ensure that Humanity would not be caught unawares again.

Fleet Admiral Lasky took his turn to speak, his salt and pepper hair clearly showing his stress and his weary eyes showing signs of fatigue. "Your mission, will be to insert yourselves into the capital, Imes, and repel the invaders. All remaining defenders are surrounded by the emergency bunkers. So far, heavy casualties have been sustained. The Mastodons that are deployed are currently preventing any form of orbital bombardment."

He paused. All the supersoldiers looking at him with their unnerving reflective gazes. Right now, John figured, Lasky was unnerved by their trademark reflective visors. "Captain Anderson?" Lasky gestured to the ONI captain.

"The Normandy will serve as your transportation to the planet. Edi is our attendant AI and will serve as an extra hand of tactical support." The Captain responded. "A pleasure." A distinctly feminine voice that emanated from the floating orb which also pulsated when she spoke.

Lasky nodded. "You will arrive approximately thirty minutes before the 21st Fleet does. Full-scale mobilization is in effect and other fleets will be on their way right behind them with several others on stand-by." It looked as if they were done speaking. "If that is all?" There was no response and his hologram flickered off after a few more moments. The hologram of Captain Anderson fizzled for a second before Mendez said. "We will inform you when the Spartans are en route." The ONI captain nodded and his and Edi's hologram also dissipated.

That left Osman, Halsey, Mendez and the new AI.

"Your handler will be ARI 0875-10 or Aria, a seventh-generation AI." Halsey said gesturing to the orange colored Artificial Intelligence. That got the Spartans' attention, especially John's who was closest to Cortana, so much so that they all visibly turned their helmeted heads to her.

Under the scrutiny of the reflective visors, Aria offered a an extremely hesitant wave from the hip and an equally shy smile and nervous laugh. Halsey continued as if she didn't notice the anxious behavior. "She will be provided most of your tactical data and will assist in anything that is required."

"She looks like a replica of Cortana." Kelly observed over the private comm. Instantaneously, green acknowledgement lights winked in unison as if they were waiting for someone to comment on that particular aspect of the new AI.

John stepped forward to the front, the eyes of the remaining officials trained on him. Heavy thuds resounded as he continued resolutely towards the front of all the Spartans, who didn't turn their gazes to their leader but instead kept them on the new AI.

-()-

Aria wrung her hands together in anticipation. The entire day she was nervous.

She was always ready to be deployed but throughout all her simulations, not one predicted that this scenario would be relevant.

Being a 7th Generation UNSC Military-Grade AI, had given her all sorts of benefits. Excluding from the traits she inherited from Halsey and the massive amount of processing power she had at her disposal, she knew, while paired with a Spartan-II, that they could be extremely lethal force to be reckoned with.

She was always ready but she never had the combat experience, despite all the data she had and the wealth of information she had accessed to, she knew that it would never be enough when the time actually came and a Spartan's life was decided on how fast she could open an encrypted bulkhead.

But, in all honesty those seconds, however fast they were to her, she spends hacking through terminals or mainframes are what truly matter when in the heat of combat.

And for all intents and purposes, she knew she was innocent and inexperienced for a military-grade AI.

She had been commissioned just for this purpose, to aid the Spartan's in anything they required. Be it cyber-warfare or a constant stream of relevant tactical information. She knew her predecessor, Cortana, had set the bar extremely high, so much so that she was probably considered family by the Spartans. Aria just simply didn't want to be the cause of a Spartan death because she couldn't perform adequately.

She, of course, had done as much research on how the Spartan operated.

They performed differently from standard UNSC conventional tactics of shock and awe that were similar to the strategies used by the German Wehrmacht in World War II.

The Spartans had been originally designed for counter-insurgency operations, unconventional tactics to root out the rebels that threatened the stability of Humanity. But their extremely lethal and effective operations against the Flood and the now, extinct Covenant, had rendered them to use those unconventional tactics to be the surgical precision of a scalpel, instead of the blunt instrument of standard military, and be the best asset the UNSC has in its arsenal to deploy against the Flood or any other threat for that matter.

Under their belt, each Spartan-II had a little over half a century worth of combat experience and each had at least over one hundred and fifty military operations with John-117 leading with over 232 military operations, that was including the 115 military campaigns he participated in.

So standing in front of the thirty individuals, that if they were to get right down to technicalities, had been the ultimate deciding factors in the survival of Humanity during the Insurrection, Human-Flood War and Operation: First Strikes, she had every right to feel small in comparison, having only a year under her belt and that was not even full operation status.

She felt extreme anxiety at the gazes and even more pressure reach her when Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 approached her. Not close enough for her to enter his armor systems by herself but enough so that if he decided to turn away, he could do so without a moment's notice.

Under the inspection of the famed soldier, she couldn't help but feel like she was being inspected for the first time by Halsey. "H-Hi." She said hesitantly.

After a moment but was a literal eternity to the AI, he responded. Not to her but to Halsey. "Who is the carrier?"

Halsey didn't miss a beat. Both Aria and Halsey knew that, primarily John but the other Spartans as well would need to move on from Cortana. "She chose you." He nodded and extended his hand over the pedestal.

She transferred over to his suit and she could see that his vitals changed rising a little above normal as she did so. "I could get used to this." She said as she got comfortable in the suits hardware.

The Spartan didn't show any visible reaction to this but from the vitals she was receiving, she could tell that he was uncomfortable still with her presence. This is going to take a while. She thought to herself.

-()-

John was conflicted.

On one hand, he knew the importance of a military-grade AI and how essential it had been in the Human-Flood War and when combating the Covenant. Numerous experiences with Cortana had justified that. She had saved his and his Spartan's lives on numerous occasions.

But it was just that. This AI...this replacement was not Cortana. She didn't have the experience, even though she was AI and could learn, practical application was what really mattered. To John, anyone can learn and be an expert on anything but to be a master at a given field took hands-on experience.

He wouldn't trust her just yet. Not until she proved herself.

He was snapped from his thoughts when Mendez barked out, "There are several pelicans awaiting to take you to the Normandy. Get moving Spartans!" They all snapped a crisp salute to which he returned.

They all proceeded outside.John was moving to follow his brothers and sisters when Halsey stopped him. "Bring them home." She whispered.

"Yes Ma'am." He responded and left without another word.

They were directed outside to the bays where three pelicans awaited them. The pelicans that flanked the center one already had their ramps sealed while the center one awaited John who quickly strided over and entered.

He noted that Blue Team, Gray Team and a three members of Red Team were present in the pelican. He entered and the bay closed. Over the bay's intercom system John could hear the signal for take-off and he could feel the Pelican underneath him lift up and take-off towards the Normandy.

The ride up was silent, not uncommon for Spartan-IIs who generally used the silence to psyche themselves up for the missions. But John knew there was an undercurrent of anxiety.

Almost as if responding to John thoughts, Adrianna's plasma wrist blade crackled to life and break Jai's shields instantaneously. All the Spartan's looked to their more independent sister while Jai lit up in an array of gold as his shields recharged.

"Cool." She simply muttered over the team comm as she examined the blade intently. Apparently, she still didn't know all the aspects of her suit or simply was wanting to see all the functions in action.

The blade came dangerously close to a member of Red Team who used the butt of her marksman rifle to point the energy blade in a safe direction earning a couple dry chuckles from the all the occupants of the pelican, even Aria. John even managed a small smile albeit it just looked like a single corner of his lip twitched.

The intercom of their pelican suddenly crackled to life and John could feel the turbulence of exiting the world's atmosphere. "Welcome Spartans! Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau speaking." A jovial male voice said. "The Normandy is ready to depart as soon as the order is given!"

John patched into the comm. "Flight Lieutenant, this is Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117 speaking. Depart as soon as we are aboard. We will be ready."

"Copy that. Chief!" The voice turned a little more quieter, apparently Jeff was facing away from the receiver. "Guys! The Chief talked to me!" The Flight Lieutenant's ecstatic voice said before the intercom cut out. The Spartans green acknowledgement lights winked on. John knew he was being teased by his comrades.

"Just like old times?" Kelly asked her external speakers coming to life.

John nodded. "Just like old times."

The pelicans landed and the Spartans prepared to go to do what they were meant for. Just like old times. John thought to himself.

And there you have it!

Loving the response I am getting! Will further continue all my stories!

Looking for a Beta for this story! Shoot me a message and I will determine if you are Beta potential.

Like always, let me know how did!

Until Next Time!