Chapter 1: All in a Day's Work

3rd Person POV

The lone figure waited for everyone aboard the Pelican to leave before heading back to the cockpit. He had succeeded in incapacitating the original pilot and was excited to get behind enemy lines.

He then fiddled with the controls of the small aircraft as he encrypted a communication to someone. Once he finished with the encryption, he contacted someone.

"Admiral, I'm aboard Infinity," he explained to the unknown officer on the other side.

"Good. Does he suspect you?"a female voice exclaimed.

"I don't believe so," I replied.

"Then you know what to do."

The communication promptly ended and the man left the cockpit of the Pelican. His briefcase shrunk down to a manageable size that fit directly underneath the vest of his uniform without looking too conspicuous.

"I need to locate the medical wing," he thought to himself before making his way out of the hanger.

Master Chief's POV

It was home to me. The Infinity became my home after the crew rescued me in when I floated around in the wreckage of the Diadact's ship. Of course when the news spread that I was alive, I didn't stay idle for long.

But I was thankful that they gave me sometime to mourn for my fallen friend Cortana.

It was strange not to hear her voice inside of my head either joking around or telling me my next move. I miss that and it made my heart ache and long for her voice just to cut through the silence.

I jumped slightly when I heard a knock at the door to my quarters.

"Come in," I curtly replied.

The door swung open and in walked a young female Spartan I have come to know. Her name was Jade and she had taken a liking to my work ever since we met. She was a Spartan IV, the bunch that almost didn't qualify as Spartans. Jade was the exception to that rule as she rose through the ranks to become the leader of Fireteam Wolfpack, one of the newest Spartan IV fireteams. She valued my advice as she told me earlier that she had always admired me from the time she was fully able to process what all was going on. She was wearing the traditional under armor that all Spartans seemed to wear when the armor wasn't on. Her black pixie cut hair was brushed ever so neatly on top of her head.

"So how was the mission?" She questioned me with her thick Irish accent from Earth's colony of Dublin.

"It was interesting, if you count the fact that the marines were afraid of their surroundings more than they were the enemy," I explained to her.

"Yeah that sounds like most marines I know," Jade replied.

"You're going to have to go to the debrief Captain Lasky if you want the details," I replied.

Her face lit up as she stood.

"I'd like that," she replied smiling.

"Oh, am I interrupting anything?" The voice of the ship's AI echoed through my room.

"No Roland, you aren't interrupting anything," I reassured him.

"Well then, Captain Lasky is ready for the debrief," he explained to me.

"Thanks Roland, tell him I will be there shortly."

Lone figure's POV

I had been watching my target ever since the Pelican landed on board Infinity. But he seemed to be onto me. Every so often I would see him look in my direction with a concerned look on his face. I wouldn't blame him. He needs to watching back.

I was slightly taken aback when two Spartans, one a female the other a male, walked into the room, taking my target's attention elsewhere besides me. This mad me happy. I then turned back towards the medical wing and waiting for my turn to strike.

Captain Lasky's POV

"Thanks for that intel Master Chief. I will definitely look to have the marines trained like you suggest," I replied at the end of the Chief's debrief.

"Your welcome, sir," he replied.

"Okay I have to ask you this question," I began, "Did you know everyone who was aboard the Pelican with you?"

"Yes sir. Why do you ask?"

"I saw a man just standing on the back door looking straight at me when all of you guys had left and now I can't shake the feeling that I am being watched," I replied.

Master Chief just stood there in silence. The orange reflection of his helmet didn't stop me from feeling that he was deep in thought.

"Now that you mention it, the pilot seemed strangely quiet. Normally the Pelican pilots are a lot more talkative than this guy was," the spartan explained.

"Do you need some added protection?" Jade, my other spartan friend, asked me.

"That won't be necessary but if things do get worse I'll let you know," I stated.

"I will keep watch out for this guy too. If he decides to rear his face against you, I will be able to stop him."

"Thanks Chief. You are dismissed."

He nodded his head and left with Jade, the female spartan that had walked in with him.

I was tired from the long day that I had so I let Roland know that I was headed back to my quarters to try and get some rest.

But as I walked the massive hallways of Infinity, the feeling that I was being watched grew. I didn't know who or where it was coming from, but I felt my senses become more aware.

I was startled out of my thoughts though when someone taller then myself grabbed me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, impairing my forward motion. I tried to fight my way out of his grasp, but found it to be near impossible as his strong forearms squeezed tighter.

"Don't make a sound or else things will be worse for you," the person explained to me as he pointed a Magnum at my head.

He then dragged me into an abandoned room that I didn't know existed and pushed me hard against some crates that filled the room, freeing me from his grasp. I say up and tried to stand up, but found a sheering pain spread across my leg, its source was located around my ankle.

Once he holstered his weapon, he fiddled with something out of my line of sight and then turned back towards me with something in his hand.

I immediately recognized it as a pre-measured self-injector. The only time I'd seen one used was when a doctor was injecting cytoprethaline before being subjected to cryo sleep.

Not knowing what was inside the injection device, I panicked and attempted to run out the same door that I came in, but my abductor was faster then I was. He managed to catch me, this time wrapping his arm around my neck, stopping me in my tracks.

"Before I inject this into you, you should know that the substance will knock you unconscious and you won't remember a thing about this encounter," the man whispered into my right ear. I tried to struggle out of his grip, but it wasn't budging.

I then felt a sharp pain in the side of my neck and then felt a cool sensation run through my body. This stopped me dead in my tracks. It seemed to take a while before the man completed the task which made me wonder how much of the stuff was inside.

The man then guided me towards the door of the room. But as I walked, I began feeling weak and light headed. I tried shaking to off, but found that in doing so, it made the symptoms worse.

I finally made it to the door and that's where the man let me go. I quickly opened it, eager to leave the presence of that creepy man, and walked out into the bustling hallway.

But then dizziness set it as well as a strange ringing in my ears. I felt so confused and lost in my own ship.

I started getting tunnel vision and then soon found my legs giving out from underneath me, to where one miss step could hurt me drastically.

I was almost to my quarters when my legs finally did give out and I collapsed to the ground. I could see three marines hovering over me asking me questions that I could no longer hear.

Finally I closed my eyes and succumbed to the feeling and fell unconscious.