MDAM- Hey guys, so I managed to squeeze a small amount of time during revising to get this chapter out, hope you enjoy.

C2: Old Friends and Enemies

2125 hours, 21 July 2557 (Military Calendar) / Position Unknown (Outside UNSC controlled space), Forerunner Planet, UNSC Spirit of Fire, Observation Deck

"So we are heading towards a forerunner planet, what could go wrong?" said Ellen rhetorically.

"Given our track record, we have around a 99.9% chance of dying." Serina said in her usual sarcastic manner. "That would be over a million times better than our previous chances of the fleet shield world."

"I just didn't thinks that I would be waking up to another one of these." She sighed.

"Look on the bright side Miss Anders, looks like Douglas, Alice and Jerome will be getting some new gear, skipping Mark V MJOLNIR armour straight onto Mark VI. You may find Halsey an ass, but you have to admit, she is good at what she does."

That woman, such a bi… Ellen suddenly lost concentration as large beam of energy swept the room. "That can't be good." She said.

Then Cortana broke in. "High intensity scan, doesn't match any known patterns." Cortana had been inserted into the computer systems as Serina went under a diagnostic for rampancy. "All hands to battle stations, we have multiple slipspace ruptures, sensors correlate ruptures to Covenant ships."

Ellen looked below her feet, she didn't see a couple of ships, no, she saw an entire armada. "Said it wouldn't be good. Cortana, prep an elevator for the bridge level." Ellen said, grabbing her lab coat as she exited the room. "Serina, could you finish preparation for armour creation."

"No problem." Ellen had requested that Serina should still be useful whilst undergoing diagnostic scans, so she had for the last twenty minuets been using her as a lab assistant. They in such a short period of time been able to get all the parameters of the MJOLNIR Mark VI armour and started preparing for three more sets for Alice, Douglas and Jerome.

Ellen got in the elevator and made her way up to the bridge level, she felt the inertia as the lift moved quickly upwards, there was a shudder as the ship was hit, but in a matter of seconds the doors opened and the bridge was revealed. Inside were four tall figures flanking the Captain, each of them easily recognisable, the four Spartan-II's. The Captain turned. "Professor, I thought you'd come and watch the fireworks." He said. "Cortana here can only do so much, but she can work miracles with it."

"Thank you Captain." She said, evidently not paying him much mind, but concentrating on keeping the crew alive. The Captain was fine with that, so long as the ship would live to see another day. Then there was a flash of blue light, and then a shudder, finally Cortana spoke. "Captain, I hope you are fine with going inside the planet."

He sighed. "Well its not the first time." He grabbed the main ship communicator and spoke. "This is Captain Cutter, all hands, brace for impact."

Ellen spoke. "Please say there is some good news Cortana."

"Well, a good portion of the Covenant fleet is going to be destroyed by the gravity well."

Then John spoke. "And the bad news?"

Cortana's avatar turned to the Spartan. "You know me so well John." She smirked. She reminds me so much of Halsey, smiling in the height of danger. Ellen thought. "We are going to be sucked in too, along with a ton of debris and still intact warships."

"So it's going to be a bit bumpy." John added

She replied. "That is a severe under statement.

2140 hours, 21 July 2557 (Military Calendar) / Position Unknown (Outside UNSC controlled space), Inside Forerunner Planet, UNSC Spirit of Fire, Bridge

"PULL UP CORTANA." Yelled the Captain.

Her Avatar stared right back at him. "YOU DON'T THNK I AM TRYING SIR" Evidently annoyed with the obvious statement. The ship jolted upwards, the inertia stressed the ship as the sudden change in velocity made the relatively ancient structure creak under the G-forces, the captain was surprised that no one on the bridge had fainted. But in a matter of seconds the ship steadied itself into a normal horizontal flight path. "There we go, captain, she is all yours." Cortana said after calming down. "Scans indicate that atmosphere is perfect for breathing, no traces viruses or other containments, I have already chosen a relatively good area for resource collection and supplies for the Spirit. If wee need to, we have nine out of ten Heron Firebase Pods, so we can set up a temporary ground base."

"That won't be needed, Cortana" said the captain, his head still spinning from the entry. "How many Covenant ships made it through the roof?"

"Two super cruisers, and a small fleet of corvettes, frigates, cruisers and carriers."

Douglas spoke up. "Looks like another day in the office."

Then Ellen realised, THE ARMOUR. She turned about and ran to the elevator and made her way down. Cortana smirked at this, but then something pinged on FLEETCOM. That is impossible, only the UNSC has access to those frequencies. "Sir you will want to see this." She produced a volume metric display showing the data.

"Clear the bridge." He shouted and the crew obliged. He looked at the data. "FLEETCOM, that's impossible. Are you able to source the signal?"

"No for that I would require a cartographer. This facilities map room."

"I see. I'll send a fire team."

"Already got one sir." She swiped him a list.

He frowned. "All four of them. What if there is a trap?"

She smiled then they are the best ones to get out of it.

0900 hours, 22 July 2557 (Military Calendar) / Position Unknown (Outside UNSC controlled space), Forerunner Planet, Pelican en route to cartographer

"ETA two mikes." Shouted the Pilot.

"Copy that Foehammer Bravo." John said.

"Just like old time huh." Cortana said.

"Just that this time I fighting with people I know will get the job done." He said, obviously describing the three mammoth super soldiers in the rear compartment of the Pelican.

"How modest." Cortana jabbed.

"How honest." He corrected. He changed his channel to TEAMCOM. "All prepped?" They all replied with green flashes on his HUD. They were all wearing their new Mark VI armour that Professor Anders made, the fact that she made three sets in under twenty four hours impressed both John and Cortana, not only that, she upgraded the armour to iron out some of Halsey's errors, to put it bluntly she was a genius. John had been unofficially transferred to Fireteam Red for the time being. Douglas sported a shotgun, Alice an assault rifle and Jerome a DMR. John stuck with the Battle Rifle he took off the Dawn. They all carried a magnum for a side arm along with a multitude of grenades.

"ETA one mike."

"Copy" John said. He had been promoted to Red Actual, though to his surprise Jerome took it well, probably due to John fighting for twenty more years than the rest of the team. "Okay, the job is simple, we get down, get to the cartographer, get the relevant information, and then request orders once information is required. Note; kill anything that prevents the extraction of that information. Copy?" They all respond to the message with a green flash. Then they all stood up, facing the rear hatch as the pilot opened it. Outside was a forerunner structure, it coloured silver with blue highlights, and it was built into the side of a gorge. But what caught the eyes of the Spartans was the number of covenant troops.

They jumped out the back of the pelican and landed on the soft green carboniferous soil, leaving deep boot marks in the dirt. "Red one, you take the right flank, give us covering fire." He gestured Jerome to an outcropping that overlooked the area. "Red two and three, you take point, I'll take the left flank." They all replied with green flashes, he replied with three shot flashes and then a long one to indicate operation execution.

Jerome snuck around, keeping to the shadows. He came up to two grunts and quickly stuck his knife into the methane tank, ripping it out and plunging it into the throat of the other; he picked up a plasma pistol and holstered it onto his side. Once he made to the top of the outcrop he took some fibre sting an made an improvised trip mine with a grenade before lying down and prepping his DMR, ready to strike all those who went in the way of red team.

Alice and Douglas went through a small crevasse, Douglas taking point with his shotgun ready to take any fool stupid enough to take on a Spartan. Alice held her assault rifle high, ready to take anyone who dared to attack from above. She spoke up, "Actual this is two, in position, waiting for your mark." John replied with a flash.

He was in position around a couple of rocks over looking a group of grunts; in his hand was a frag grenade, all ready for detonation. "Execute." he said, as he threw the tennis ball sized device into the group of eight grunts, disintegrating them into chunks of cyan blue and orange as the methane exploded. He noticed a couple of jackals go down as the bullets of Jerome's DMR entered their skulls and exiting the other side producing a spectacular display of purple blood painted the limestone rocks, dematerialising the head into a fine mist. Alice opened fire into an elite, dropping the shields with a fantastic golden burst of light, only to have Douglas produce red mince meat as the aliens innards, creating a Jackson Pollock painting on the silver walls of the forerunner structure.

Another elite attempted to hit Douglas, only to have him duck and produce a textbook upper cut to its may jaws, breaking its shields as it hit the floor, the super soldier then proceeded to crush the disabled monsters head with his metal boot, leaving a well detailed imprint of his boot grips. Alice emptied her clip and during her reload she came across a jackal that was pointing a beam rifle towards the Spartans face, big mistake. She dove to the side grabbing the empty magazine, smashing it against a rock, shattering the metal into a serrated edge only to have it placed into the jackals face at high speeds, and nailed in with a quick punch to the face. John made his way up the left ramp, picking up a plasma grenade on the way, igniting it and stuck it into the face of an elite ranger. The ranger made an attempt to remove the explosive device only to have its own hand stuck to its face, then it exploded. A wave of blue lit up the area, taking out two grunts along with it. "Nicely done John." Cortana said

"Like you thought I wouldn't have." He said sarcastically

"Of course not." She said as he made his way along the first floor to the second ramp to the top, sticking his Titanium-A combat knife into a charging, energy sword wielding, elites jugular. Ending its life for good. "But you are being a bit sloppy." She joked as john turned the corner to see Alice and Douglas, they could behind the two Spartan the last member of the team jog up behind them. They all formed a line and started walking up to the second floor, with the entrance to the forerunner cartographer, they all reloaded their weapons and cocked back the handle, they all proceeded to aim up, and they shot at a large crowd of grunts, elites, jackals and two hunters. Cortana spoke over TEAMCOM "Looks like another day in the office."