"So let me get this straight…" Lieutenant Kim began as he was sitting inside the King Raven alongside with Marcus, Dom, the Master Chief and another young soldier who wore a blue-themed, full-covering helmet…" you're some sort of a commando super-soldier from space whom just suddenly crash-landed here in our world out from nowhere?" he finished, his eyes completely focused on the fully armoured being sitting next to Fenix, who caused that huge man to yet look small in comparison of the stranger's own enormous size.

"That's right," the strange super-soldier – known as "Master Chief" by the Gears – answered shortly and quickly.

"And she's an artificial intelligence unit who functions like your personal guide, and whom is advanced enough to be considered a fully sentient being?" Kim then asked, referring to Cortana.

"That's true," she answered somewhat proudly.

"So how come that you two ended up on here?" Dom asked from the seat next to the lieutenant, curious on how these rather, well, exotic beings could've ended up in Sera of all places.

"Well, you could say that's a rather looong story that would take at least several hours to tell before we'd get to the part where we meet you," Cortana answered somewhat bashfully.

"Then try to make it short, than," Marcus simply said, also curious on how these obviously more advanced extraterrestrial beings suddenly found themselves stranded on the rathole of the cosmos that was Sera.

"We blew up an artificial world to stop an army of undead eldritch alien zombies from taking over the universe, got caught up in the exploding fire and ended up here. The End," the Master Chief simply and shortly said, basically reducing their entire hard-fought battle to end all battles that he and Cortana had to fight in order to save the entire universe from the Gravemind's personal wrath in just one quick sentence.

"Wait, really! Is that what you guys did before you came here?!" the young man suddenly asked excitingly as he turned his head toward the Master Chief, who turned his own eyes down toward the young man sitting by the near opening of the chopper. "Then you guys must be some of the most awesome fighters out there! I mean, you did save Marcus Fenix, the famous hero of Aspho Fields himself - twice! If that don't make you even more awesome, than I don't know what does!" the man finished, his blue visors staring up at the Spartan with fanboyish-like admiration.

"…Thanks," the Master Chief reluctantly said, as while he was used of being admired as a hero back from the UNSC, he personally preferred to avoid any celebration of his deeds, as in his own view, he didn't perform any heroics; only the duty that he was meant to do.

"Yeah, quite an interesting tale it sounds like. I bet that you're going to find Sera a rather dull place in comparison," Marcus said somewhat dryly, even if he secretly thought that the Master Chief's tale sounded rather impressive. It'd explain why he was such an enormously powerful warrior that could school any grub standing in his way.

"At this point, I'd rather prefer dull," the Master Chief said, all too war-weary to be excited for more endless battles that were sure to come as long he and Cortana remained on this new planet.

"Are you only ones that ended up here, or did you've company with you?" a somewhat suspicious Kim asked the strangers, still not fully ready to trust them, as he wasn't completely sure if they really had the best intentions in their hearts for the Gears.

"We'd a few other people with us when we tried to escape the Ark's destruction, but we don't know if they managed to follow us here. Though we hope that they did land here on Sera just like we did, if only somewhere else on the planet. After the battles we'd to fight together, the last thing we want is to lose them randomly to whatever dark and cold place in the cosmos," Cortana said, sincerely worried about the other companions of her and the Chief. She'd come to view Johnson as a personal friend due to the long partnership he'd gotten with her and the Master Chief, and while she didn't know the Arbiter that much on a personal level and only had antagonistic experiences with Guilty Spark, she was still aware that they were essential in aiding the Chief in his final battles against both the Covenant and the Flood, and without them, he likely would've failed in saving her from her torment back at the High Charity.

"If you guys ended up here, than I'm sure that your friends did so as well. We just have to find them, that's all," an optimistic Dom said, trying to ensure his new friends that they shouldn't give up hope of finding their own companions here on Sera.

"Are they just like you, like all awesome tall and buff and all that?" the young man asked excitingly. If the other aliens were just as badass as this one that saved Marcus Fenix's life was, than the grubs would guaranteed lose this war in no time.

"Not really. They differ in each on their own way from the Chief," an amused Cortana answered the latest fan the Spartan had already gotten even if he'd only been on Sera for around twenty minutes.

"How so?" Marcus asked with his eyebrows raised up an inch.

"Well, one of them is somewhat of the Chief's build and height, but doesn't possess what you'd call…fine, elegant appearance like he does. Another is just as a human like you guys; an older, tough-talking veteran who had been serving the UNSC for around fifty years. And the last one is an advanced, ancient robotic monitor who has a tendency to have some…neurotic moments," Cortana described her old companions to her new ones, hoping that it might help her and the Chief to find them if they did ended up on Sera like they did.

"In other words, one is a tall and weird-looking split-head clad in fancy armour, one is an old and cranky marine, and the last one is hovering, fast-talking light bulb," the Master Chief quickly said, causing the eye-browses of Marcus, Dom and Kim to rise in amused fascination, and the young helmet man to gaze up at the Spartan in further admiration.

"And that's our little unexciting story. Now I wonder, who are you two, and where're we going anyway?" the Spartan suddenly asked, looking directly at Lieutenant Kim while giving a small nod at the young man at the opening.

"Well, I'm Lieutenant Minh Young Kim, and the young man over there is Private Anthony Carmine. And I see that you already know Dom and Marcus. As the squad's field commander, I guess that I've to be the one to tell you – and the prodigal son next to you…" Kim said while giving a quick nod toward Marcus, who gave the lieutenant a small frown, "…that you're welcome to Delta Squad," he finished while he picked forward his water canteen and drank a few drops before offering it to Delta Squad's newest members. The Master Chief quickly shook his head, but Marcus accepted Lieutenant Kim's canteen and drank from it. He then returned it to the lieutenant.

"And for where we're going, we're on our way back to Embry Square at Ephyra to meet up with Colonel Hoffman."

"Hoffman?! Are you shitting me, lieutenant?" Marcus suddenly asked out, as the last thing he wanted right now was to meet up his old commanding officer who had decided to let him die back at the prison.

"No, I don't, Fenix. We're going to meet him up because he happens to have a mission for us, and he'd personally requested that we'll be the ones carrying it through," Lieutenant Kim sharply replied, annoyed by Fenix's disrespect toward such a great, respectful leader like Colonel Hoffman.

"Ah, shit," Marcus quietly complained to himself.

"Who is this Hoffman?" Cortana then asked, wondering who this Colonel Hoffman could be. He'd to be a rather respected officer if the lieutenant was ready to defend him from Marcus' displeasure with him.

"He's the commander of us all Gears, and he'd been leading us out on the field ever-since this war began; mostly all by himself, as most of our high command had been killed off by the grubs one by one through the war. And before that, he was a war hero during the Pendulum Wars who had worked himself up from private to colonel, with his greatest victory being at the siege of Anvil Gates. Without his leadership, the grubs likely would've defeated us and all of COG many years ago," Dom answered, his respect for Colonel Hoffman clear as the day in his voice, and it caused both the Master Chief and Cortana to wonder if this Colonel Hoffman was the same type of leader like Lord Terrence Hood, the de facto leader of UNSC, was. Someone who was ready and willing to lead his men courageously and fearlessly to the end against impossible odds and to fight alongside them at the frontlines if needed to.

"He's also kind of a hardass," Marcus sharply said, still bitter that Hoffman would leave him to die back at the prison.

"Watch your tone, Fenix," Lieutenant Kim quickly and sharply ordered, causing Marcus to grumble under his breath.

"So what's his mission?" The Master Chief then asked; ready to help his new friends with whatever they'd in mind. It might also give him something to occupy his mind with while he was searching for his other friends, something that would help him put his worry aside when focused on Hoffman's mission. And since he was on an entirely new, unknown planet with its own unique kinds of hostile forces, the last thing the Spartan needed was to let his worries distract him from surviving the dangers of Sera.

"The mission that he'd given us is…," Lieutenant Kim began before he was suddenly interrupted by Cortana.

"Lieutenant, please be quiet for a moment!" she demanded, causing everyone inside the chopper to stare at the Spartan in curiosity, while Kim frowned rather bitterly of being quickly interrupted like that by the alien AI.

"Cortana, what is it?" the Master Chief asked, wondering what Cortana's reason was in her interruption of the lieutenant's answer. She only did that back at UNSC if it was something of most utter importance, so it must be of a very good reason why she suddenly interrupted an officer's words like that right now.

"I'm getting a signal, Chief," she answered, causing everyone in the chopper to give their full attention to her. Everyone listened on when low tone of radio noise began to appear out of the Spartan, as Cortana was working on getting a stronger fix on the signal she was receiving. As she was getting it, a deep voice could be heard speaking through the noise, as well sounds of gunfire in the background. The more real sounds Cortana managed to get, the stronger the curiosity of everyone inside began to grow, especially the Master Chief, as the deep voice that could be heard sounded heavily familiar to him.

It also sounded heavily familiar to Cortana, which caused the AI to work harder to find the signal's origin. Fortunately, it wasn't that difficult to find, as it was coming from nearby, maybe one mile at most. Soon, she finally got a fix on the signal, and then that deep voice became clear to everyone inside the chopper.

"need immediate aid! If any human or Sangheilian forces can hear me, please response! We need immediate reinforcement to deal with these foul beasts!"

"The Arbiter!" the Master Chief said when he immediately recognized the speaker, internally glad that they finally found at least one of their friends on this planet.

"One of your friends?" Dom asked.

"More of an ally of convenience," the Master Chief answered with a loose tone.

"I'll try to make contact with him," Cortana then said before she began to do so. "Arbiter, this is Cortana speaking! If you can hear me, then please response!" she finished, causing everyone to listen intensely if the Arbiter would answer her call. An intensity that was getting stronger by the background sounds of gunfire echoing out of the Spartan's radio frequency.

"…Construct? Is that you?" A surprised Arbiter soon answered back, seemingly taken aback of being contacted by her suddenly out of nowhere.

"Yes, it's me, Arbiter! I'm glad we finally managed to find you! We almost thought that we might have lost you after the Ark's destruction! Are Johnson and Spark with you?!" Cortana asked the Sangheilian leader through the Master Chief's comlink.

"Yes, they're here with me, but what about you? Are you with the Spartan?!" the Arbiter quickly asked.

"Yes, I am. We've teamed up with local human forces and are on our way to meet up with their commander! What's your current situation?!"

"We're under siege, and need immediate help! Me, the Sergeant, and the Oracle are holding out against attack waves of what seems to be furless, saurian Jiralhanae, and I don't know if we can stand against them any longer. We need your and the Spartan's aid now!" the Arbiter called out, and despite his try, no one inside the chopper missed that worried, anxious tone that confirmed that he and his team mates were being pushed to the limits by no doubt grubs, based on his description.

"Stay put! We'll be on our way to help you," Cortana finished before she turned toward the Gears listening closely to the conversation. "They need our help," she said, a pleading tone obvious in her voice.

The Gears began to look at each other, not really sure what they should do. Most of them would be happy to help the Master Chief's besieged comrades, but the one who had the power to make it possible – Lieutenant Kim – was also the only one who didn't share the readiness of other Gears to immediate help their new alien team-mates.

"Hoffman expects us to arrive soon, and we can't delay even for one minute," was his final answer, firm and unmoving, making it clear that he was rejecting Cortana's plea.

The Master Chief strained himself after the lieutenant rejected their plea for aiding their friends, causing his impressive frame to look much bigger than it was already. But before he could start argue with the lieutenant, Marcus began opening his mouth as he looked at Kim straight in his eyes.

"With due respect, sir, I think that it'd be in the best interest of all of us that if we actually turn around and save the Chief's friends from the grubs. We're gonna need any help we can get if we've to win this war, and these aliens are the perfect grunts to send into the meat grinder, so we better make sure the grubs don't cook them up prematurely. I'm sure that Hoffman can await a few more minutes with whatever mission he has in gain," the Gear said, obviously giving his new extraterrestrial friends his support despite what the lieutenant just ordered. Everyone inside the chopper were now looking at Marcus, but the ones who were looking at him most intensely were the lieutenant and the Spartan.

The Master Chief was looking at Marcus, surprised but also glad that the Gear would stand up for him and Cortana against his own superior officer. Lieutenant Kim himself was staring hard at Marcus, making it obvious that he didn't like having the Gear talk back at him. However, before he could repeat once again that Hoffman's mission was the one thing that went first and foremost before anything else, Dom suddenly cut in.

"You know, lieutenant; maybe Marcus is right. Maybe we should help the Chief's pals from the grubs. I mean, I was there when we found him and we saw him cleaning house with those grubs back at the prison. They didn't stand a chance against him by him alone. Now imagine just how much power we'd have in our disposal if we've all his friends with us as well. The grubs will be good as dead. Hell, we might even win this war soon if the whole alien party join us," Dom said, trying to convince the lieutenant to reconsider his decision. Since the lieutenant trusted him more than he trusted the alien warrior or the disgraced traitor, Dom's words had more sway and they caused Kim to look at him with a looser but still suspicious look. Now that Dom had given his support to Marcus and the Master Chief, Kim wasn't that sure what to do now. Seeking for some last sign of what he should do, he then looked down at Private Carmine, silently asking for his opinion.

"Maybe…maybe we should help them, lieutenant. I mean, I think that these aliens are friendlies, and it's like Fenix and Dom said; if they're powerful enough, than maybe it'd be a waste if we didn't help them. Maybe Hoffman will actually approve that they fight for us," Anthony said, giving his own support to the rest of the squad, if somewhat hesitant due to the fact that he was supporting the decision that his superior officer was personally against.

Private Carmine's answer caused what sureness Kim had in rejecting the aliens' ask for help to falter, and he suddenly found himself having an internal debate what to do. Should he still keep going to Hoffman or should he help the other aliens? Hoffman wasn't the man who liked waiting for what he'd ordered for, and Kim wasn't sure if the colonel would accept the aliens even if they'd offer their aid in the war.

But then again, if he'd allowed that traitor to jump back onboard, then what more harm could allowing a few stranded aliens to jump in as well really do? This war couldn't become even worse than it already was, so what matter did it really do which decision he'd take?

"Can you track their location?" Kim then asked Cortana, finally giving in to the Gears' desire to help the aliens.

Surprised at first that the lieutenant had finally agreed to help, Cortana hesitated for a quick moment before she began to calculate the Arbiter's signal.

"Northwest, from around one mile away," she answered. Kim nodded in confirmation before he began to speak to the pilot behind him.

"Pilot, takes us to that location!"

"Are you sure, lieutenant? Hoffman has ordered that we…" the pilot tried before Kim interrupted him.

"Now, pilot! That's an order! We'll get to Hoffman immediately after we saved the other aliens!" he ensured to the pilot, who could only do as he was ordered to.

"Aye, sir," the pilot confirmed before he changed direction toward northwest where the other aliens were supposedly fighting off grubs.

The King Raven quickly flew toward northwest where the Arbiter's call came from. The Master Chief could feel his entire being getting enveloped by a strong force of anxiety that he'd never felt before, and it caused him to worry that maybe their rescue wouldn't work out. It was like if he was sensing a bad feeling about this event, that whatever the outcome, it wouldn't effect not only the very fates of his and his allies, but also the fate of this entire new world he'd found himself trapped on. The fact that his old friends were fighting off a siege by most likely massive waves of grubs only reinforced that anxiety, and it caused his body to tense up with deep worry. A worry that didn't go unnoticed by the others inside the chopper.

"Don't worry, Chief. We'll be soon there, and I'm sure that Johnson and his sidekicks can handle a couple of grubs at meanwhile. After what we'd to deal with back home, I doubt that they're going to let a few freakish primitive reptilians to take them out," Cortana said, easily noticing the Spartan's worry and trying to ease it. It wasn't everyday that the greatest amongst the Spartans allowed himself be nearly overcome by worry, less so openly. In fact, he never did, so now it also caused Cortana herself to be worried about the Spartan. But she was sure that it'd to do more about their friends' well-being than the battle itself, and that was a worry that she could understand. But she was also confident that Johnson, Arbiter and Spark can handle any grubs stupid enough to try to fight them just fine.

"Cortana is right, Chief. Your friends are gonna be okay, and we're gonna make the grubs regret their decision to try to fuck with them. That I guarantee," Marcus then said, also noticing the Spartan's worry. The Master Chief turned his head toward the Gear and gave him a quick nod, thanking him for the support he'd so far offer the Spartan in such a short time.

"Nearing the target, sir!" the pilot suddenly said, getting the attention of everyone inside the chopper. "I've a vision right now! I see grubs everywhere attacking something…big!" the pilot finished, and just after he did, everyone looked out to see an enormous alien structure that seemed to have been broken in two at the middle by some extremely powerful force lying on the open field, surrounded by a massive numbers of grubs that were charging toward the blasted opening, only to seemingly be kept at bay by whoever was fighting them off from the inside.

"It's the Dawn!" Cortana cried out as she immediately recognized the broken frigate that had crash-landed on the Seran field, leaving a huge impact of torn up and burned ground by the crash. The Gears could only stare at the frigate in wonder, as they never had seen such an impressive space ship ever before.

"You came to Sera from that?! That's fucking amazing!" Dom couldn't help but shout out, taken aback by the awesome-looking spacecraft that the Spartan and his companions had arrived from. It really made anything made by COG look like out-dated pieces of junkyard garbage.

"Oh, that's noting compared to some of the other spacecrafts out there. Most of the Covenant spacecrafts makes ours like this one look like paper aircraft in comparison," Cortana lightly said, amused by the Gears' fascination of what was actually a second-rate space frigate that could barely last ten seconds against its Covenant counterpart. But then again, she'd to guess that to a world that seemed to be still at its early Tier 5 space age stage, it was an impressive frigate enough.

Before any of the Gears could comment on her words, the pilot began to speak again.

"Sir, I see that the grubs are trying to break through the defence of whoever inside that spaceship! What's your order, sir?!"

The other Gears stared out to see that indeed the grubs were charging in massive numbers toward the opening of the broken half of the frigate, only to be held back by its defenders.

"Pilot, I want you to blast and gun down every single grubs outside that spacecraft so that the other aliens will be revealed from their siege! After that, I want you to quickly land down before that opening and pick them up before the grubs can counterattack!" Kim ordered as he watched the grubs attacking in massive waves the alien frigate and its defenders, with reinforcements constantly appearing out of the ground from the holes that popped up everywhere at every second.

"Aye sir!" the pilot confirmed before he began to move his aircraft in order to get a better aim on the grubs, whom seemed to be too focused on their siege of the frigate to notice the King Raven above their heads, and move his fingers toward the trigger-buttons on his control stick that would rain fire upon the clueless grubs the second he pushed them.

"Here it comes," Marcus lowly said to the Master Chief, who only gave a tiny nod while he was readying himself for the storm.

"Arbiter, we're about to attack the grubs that are putting siege on you from our aircraft any moment soon! I suggest that you guys take cover while we clear the field!" Cortana said into the Master Chief's comlink, warning the Arbiter about the rain of fire that was soon about to come.

"Confirmed, construct," the Arbiter answered right before the pilot got his perfect aim and finally pushed the trigger.

The King Raven spewed out massive numbers of missiles that immediately turned the entire field into a mass slaughter. The grubs were taken with complete dumbfounded surprise when the chopper's missiles hit them right on their heads and caused entire groups of them to perish in massive, explosive fires that seemed to had been sent by the Heaven Itself. Dirt, blood, organs, limbs and burned equipments flew everywhere as the missiles hit their defenceless targets, and soon much of the field was littered with countless of dead and wounded grubs, whose loud cries of chock and agony caused the entire sky to echo. But their cries went ignored by the Gears and their alien allies; whose chopper they were riding on still kept shooting and blasting ever more at the defenceless grubs.

Panic amongst the still surviving grubs quickly overtook them by the unstoppable attack, and those who could began to try run away or jump back into the holes they'd came from. Only a few fearless and enraged drones dared to stand firm and fire at the King Raven with their firearms, but those did little to deter the attack. Instead, the pilot began to target at those grubs with his chopper's frontal machine gun, ready to finish them off with mighty force.

The gun began to spew bullets everywhere, firing them out with load cries that caused the entire landscape to tremble, reducing the fighting few grubs into nothing but piles of mangled and torn-apart corpses. Soon, any resistance that might fight off the King Raven had now been absolutely eliminated, with only a few wounded or shell-shocked survivors there and there.

"The field is clear, sir!" the pilot called back to Kim, who looked out at the bloody slaughter-field and saw that all active grub resistance that been wiped out. Now sure that they could pick up the aliens from inside that space-frigate without risking ending up in an ambush, he quickly gave new orders.

"Land at the field right before that frigate, pick those aliens up and then get us out of there! Hoffman has been delayed long enough, and I don't want to make him await any longer for us! Let's make this quick and easy!" Kim ordered with great authority in his voice, and the pilot began to quickly but steady move the aircraft toward the ground, ready to pick up the aliens. The Gears and their Spartan ally began to feel their bodies being fuelled by the eagerness and anticipation of the event, unconsciously readying themselves for any battle that might still happen once they landed on the field. The Master Chief was especially eager for action, as he was determined to pull his friends save and sound from this ugly mess, and make sure that any still alive grub stupid enough to stand before him and them would die for daring to oppose his rescue.

The King Raven landed on the bloody ground, and everyone besides the pilot jumped out to secure the field. The Gears formed a defensive line between the King Raven and the sunken, broken frigate, with the Master Chief standing at the centre, right between Marcus and Dom. The soldiers were aiming at everywhere with their firearms, ready to take down any grubs that might try to fight them off. Meanwhile, Cortana, who was only reading a few enemy signals and was confident enough to believe that the troops could easily take them down, began to call out for the Arbiter through the Master Chief's comlink.

"Arbiter, we've landed and are ready to pick you guys up! Get over here quickly, we'll cover you from the grubs!" she said from inside the Master Chief's helmet.

"Confirmed, we're on our way to you," the Arbiter confirmed, and soon everyone in Delta Squad could see three figures emerging from out of the frigate and running with great speed toward them. They could see that one was a mighty tall figure wearing some fancy and shiny armour, one smaller and less fancily dressed figure and last, something that seemed to be just a hovering blue light. When they got all and all more closely, the Gears could see that the tall figure was some sort of a strange-looking reptilian carrying some strange alien gun, the smaller figure a black man holding a same type of alien gun, which though looked bigger when he was carrying it, and the last figure was a mechanical ball with a blue, shinning optic.

"What the hell is that thing?" Marcus couldn't help to ask out when he saw the Arbiter all more closely as he was reaching them, wondering what the hell that weird-looking reptilian creature was with its split jaws and those insect-like mandibles. It didn't look anything that he'd ever seen before; not even the grubs were that weird-looking. The other Gears were sharing his question when their focus was fixed on that reptilian.

"Tall and weird-looking split-head, remember," the Master Chief answered, referring back when he gave a more simple version of Cortana's definition of the Arbiter. Remembering that the Spartan had described one of his fellow alien comrades just like that, the Gears could only shrug and nod, even if all of them still found the Arbiter just all too weird to look at.

"Chief! Gears! Contacts!" Cortana shouted as her readings found several enemy signals suddenly appearing. And soon enough, the ground between Delta Squad and the running aliens shook lightly before its suddenly sunk into itself, leaving a rather huge hole on it. And out of that hole, several grubs began to climb out with their weapons held high up.

"It's an E-hole!" Dom shouted, as more grubs climbed out of the hole and began to take aim at the running aliens.

"Give them covering fire!" Kim ordered, and Delta Squad began firing at the grubs behind their backs, keeping them down and keeping more from climbing up to join the fight.

"Arbiter, we're right now giving you covering fire from the grubs emerging from that E-hole, as the Gears calls it! Avoid that hole, and get here as soon you can!" Cortana loudly said as she watched the Sangheili and his two companions running right toward the grubs standing before them and Delta Squad.

"Don't worry, construct! Any of these foul beasts stupid enough to stand before us will soon fall beneath my blade!" the Arbiter answered, right before he indeed activated his plasma sword and stabbed a grub right through its chest, finishing it off by blasting at it point-blank with his plasma rifle. He then threw the corpse away from his plasma sword and continued fighting through the grubs. Johnson, following the Arbiter, was using one of the Sangheili's plasma rifles, likely borrowing it from him, shooting massive amounts of plasma shots at the grubs and fearlessly cursing them out loud enough that even Delta Squad could hear him.

"That's right you ugly fucks – Die! You assholes picked the wrong day to try to pick a fight with us! Come and get some! I'm gonna bury you in that hole you ugly sons of bitches just crawled up from!" Johnson screamed at the grubs he was blasting tirelessly at, splattering one's head completely open before its headless corpse fell down back in the E-hole.

"Quite the mouth your friend has, don't he," Marcus dryly commented side-ways to the Master Chief while he was shooting at the grubs.

"You've no idea," the Spartan answered while he shot down a grub that was about to attack the Arbiter with its chainsaw bayonet before it died. The Sangheili and the sergeant ran pass the hole while they were being covered by Delta Squad, causing the remaining grubs to keep their heads down in the hole. But when they ran passed the hole, one of the grubs jumped up to try to take aim at Johnson's back. But when it was about to pull the trigger, Guilty Spark hovered just pass it and shot a beam right at its chest, killing it, before continuing to follow his organic comrades.

Finally, the Arbiter, Johnson and Guilty Spark arrived to the Delta Squad, whose Gears couldn't help but cast a quick stare at the Sangheilian warrior before returning their attention at the grubs, having no time to stare at the Arbiter. Once the Arbiter and his friends met up with the Spartan and his new allies, the human wearing blue armour suddenly shouted for his attention loud enough to cut through the loud sounds of the firefight, causing the Sangheili to turn his eyes to him.

"Is this all of you?!" the human asked the Arbiter, while he was shooting at those Jiralhanae-like brutes emerging from that huge hole. Realizing that they didn't have much time before those strange brutes would eventually overwhelm this small squad, the Arbiter nodded.

"Yes, we are!"

"Then good, get into the chopper right now so that we can get the hell away from here!" the human ordered, and while the Arbiter might find himself somewhat uncomfortable of being ordered around like that by a human, he knew that this wasn't the right time to argue. So without further hesitation, he and his companions steeped into the helicopter. The Delta Squad soon followed, with the Master Chief being the last one to leave the ground.

"Greetings, I'm 343 Guilty Spark, and I'm…" the monitor then tried when everyone got inside the King Raven, realizing that these new reclaimers that the special one and his construct had taken with would join them in their journey and thinking that it'd be polite that he'd try to introduce himself to them. However, he was interrupted by Johnson before he could finish.

"Not the right time, tinkerbell!" Johnson shouted while he was shooting the plasma rifle that the Arbiter had borrowed him at those ugly-ass fuckhead reptilians that had dared to try to kill him just moments after he'd helped saving the universe from that megalomaniacal Flood-asshole Gravemind. Ungrateful bastards all of them, to say the least, and they were going to pay hard for it!

"Pilot, get us out here now!" Kim ordered, while trying to sit right in this crowded chopper, having both Dom and the black sergeant trying to share his small end of the inside. '

"Aye, lieutenant!" the pilot confirmed and took off to the sky, while Delta Squad and their alien allies were still shooting out of the opening toward the grubs climbing out of the E-hole, leaving the battleground – and the frigate – behind them on their way to Ephyra to finally meet up with Colonel Hoffman and take up whatever mission he'd in mind for them.


After they'd saved the friends of the Master Chief from the besieged wreck of the frigate, Delta Squad and their new alien allies were on their way to Colonel Hoffman. During this journey, they couldn't help but feel very cramped for space, as the King Raven provided very little room for the occupants.

Also, the Arbiter couldn't help to feel rather uncomfortable by the awkward stares that the Gears were giving him. A few of them, like Marcus and Kim, were trying to be discreet about their stares, but the other Gears were staring at him with wide, open stares with awe and surprise, doing very little to keep their eyes discreetly.

Finally, the Arbiter felt that he just had to confront them about it.

"What? Have you humans never seen a Sangheili before?" he asked, his mandibles moving symphoniously with his deep, brooding voice, causing the Gears to stare with even more awe at him.

"Can't say that we haven't," Dom answered somewhat bashfully, while the King Raven kept moving. "I mean, last I heard, Sera hadn't been visited by any aliens like ever before. So far as we know, the only other life-forms that exist alongside us are those grubs that we just saved you guys from," Dom finished, causing the Arbiter to raise his invisible eye-browses and wondering just who these humans were if they'd no idea what a Sangheili, or any other alien life-form, was.

But judging them by their uniforms, weapons and equipments, the Arbiter would've to guess that these humans weren't UNSC or their Insurrectionists-foes, but some other types of humans that had been living isolated on their home-world, who hadn't developed any space-faring technology yet and who had no contact outside their own world. No different from the Unggoy or the Jiralhanae were at when the Covenant discovered those species, and the Arbiter could only wonder how things would play out now that he and his friends had found themselves allied with these "Gears", as they called themselves.

Johnson, forced to share the very little space with Dom and Carmine, quickly forced his own conversation.

"Okay, right me if I got something wrong here: this isn't an UNSC world or an Innies-world. You've barely began a space-age exploration, less a space-colonization process, so we can forget about finding a way home from this planet. That your own planet is in its own dark corner of the universe; that you're at war with those ugly, reptilian mole-people and that right now, we the stranded aliens just have to deal with it while we're trapped at here. Am I right on all counts, or did I miss something?" the sergeant finished, somewhat upset that he might be forced to fight another war just moments after he helped finish the last one. And fighting a war on a world that he'd never heard off before was something he was less than enthusiastic about to do.

"No. In short terms, that's how it's on here at Sera. Better get used to it while you're here," Marcus answered shortly Johnson's question, at around when the King Raven was nearing the outskirts of a huge metropolis.

Everyone inside the King Raven stared out at the city as it flew toward the centre of the city, flying pass the skyscrapers that surrounded them.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Ephyra! We're soon about to meet the colonel in ETA two minutes!" Kim said while the aliens were staring out at the city and its skyscrapers, happy that soon they'd met up the colonel for the next assignment. So far, no airborne attack had been trying to take down the King Raven so the crew inside it felt that they'd the luck on their side. The crew then saw that the aircraft was nearing a square that seemed to had been a nice and lovely park before this war had reduced it into ruins. Two reflecting pools were next to the park near the way leading toward a building of what seemed to be of neoclassical architecture, and standing at the middle of the square was another King Raven that had its propellers still running. And a few feet away from the King Raven stood a figure seemingly waiting for them to land on the square.

The King Raven that Delta Squad and their new alien allies were riding in was slowly and steadily landing on the ruined square right before the awaiting figure. When it reached the ground, the unusual team now saw that the figure was a middle-aged Caucasian man wearing the same type of heavy armour the Gears did, despite the officer emblem belonging to that of a colonel on his collars, showing that despite that his man was an officer, he seemed to be the type who wasn't afraid to show his face at the frontlines. It helped that he generally looked grizzled and battle-hardened, which meant that he was already a veteran of countless battles, and that he gave out the sense of hard-assed and no-nonsense authority that everyone inside the King Raven could sense before they even had stepped out of the chopper yet; the type of sense that no armchair officer could ever give out.

When the King Raven landed and the crew jumped out of it, the grizzled colonel walked toward Delta Squad to meet them up and the first one he met was Marcus, whom he faced up close with a deep sneer on his lips.

"You. A traitor such as you doesn't deserve to wear that uniform," the colonel bitterly said at Marcus, who frowned at the officer's blatant disrespect and contempt for him.

"Well, sorry to ruin your parade, colonel, but it seems to me that you need all the men you can get," Marcus returned, causing the colonel to sneer even more bitterly at him – especially at the fact that Marcus was right and as much as the colonel would've hoped for otherwise, he really did need all the men he could get.

The others watched Marcus and the colonel's verbal confrontation from the sidelines, not willing to break it up.

"Quite the frosty greeting; don't you think?" Cortana then asked the Master Chief, using her specialized audio so that only the Spartan could hear her. The Master Chief could only give a quiet, small nod, while as he'd that feeling that this Gear colonel was quite similar to the Spartan's old and hard-assed drill inspector back from boot camp, Franklin Mendez.

"And you!" the colonel then shouted when he then turned his attention at Kim. "I told you to get back here right at the time once your mission was done! Well, it seems that either my watch is showing a few minutes faster than it should or that you didn't bother to listen when I gave you an easy order. Mind telling me why you took your sweet time, lieutenant?" the colonel demanded, standing more straight up and making it clear that the lieutenant better give him a good answer.

Kim gave the colonel a quick salute before beginning his explanation.

"I'm sorry, sir, that we're late, but we'd an obstacle to deal with on our way here," Kim quickly explained as he faced the colonel, who gave him a slow, short and unconvincing nod before he asked further.

"And what obstacle would that be, lieutenant?" the colonel asked, looking at Kim right in his eyes.

"Well…we kind of had to pick up some company on our way here," Kim answered somewhat uneasily under the colonel's hard look.

"What company?" the colonel asked before he looked across Kim's shoulders and it was when he noticed the strange, weird beings standing alongside Dom and Carmine. When the colonel looked at each one of the strange beings with a disbelieving, dumbfounded look, not at all knowing what the hell these unusual beings were, or why they were with Delta Squad. They didn't look at all to be of Seran origins, with the possible exception of that old, black soldier. The rest, like that huge, green cyborg-looking guy, that one-eyed hovering light-ball and especially that tall and split-jawed reptilian that looked like some ugly grub's even uglier long lost cousin, were clearly of alien origins. The last one especially caused the colonel to wonder for a split second if he should take out his firearm and shoot its head off, just in case.

"Ok, mind to tell me what the hell kind of an alien company did you just dragged with you lieutenant?" the colonel then dangerously demanded from Kim.

"Believe it or not, colonel, but they're honest to truth space aliens that had crash-landed here on Sera, and we picked them up in the midst of our mission. They were being under siege by the grubs so we helped them out, in case they might prove useful to our war-effort. That one…" Kim said while pointing toward the Master Chief "…even personally saved Fenix's life," he finished, causing the colonel to look intensively at the Spartan, as if he was actually trying to see through the Spartan's armour and observe what kind of creature that was actually inside it.

"Did he now," was the colonel's only answer, looking directly at the Master Chief before looking at Marcus and then back at the Spartan again. "Well, than I've to wonder if these beings are worth to be entrusted than," he finished with a cold tone, causing the air to feel rather icy for everyone.

Wanting to ease up the tension, now that it seemed that they might have to stay here on Sera for quite a time and so a close partnership with COG was essential for their survival, Cortana decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir, but I can ensure you that we're not your enemies if that's what you're thinking," she said, causing the colonel to stare rather dumbfounded at the Master Chief, obviously thinking that it was him who just spoke.

"What the hell. I didn't expect you to be a gal behind that tin can, stranger. Now you better make sense of things before I get really confused. And here at Sera, that's the same as getting dead, and I'm in no mood getting dead today, sweetheart," the colonel demanded while his hard stare caused the A.I. and the Spartan to feel like he could actually stare through that thick visor.

"Sorry for confusing you, sir, but I'm still ensuring you that we're not your enemies, but friendlies whom you can trust," she repeated, causing the grizzled colonel to look at the Master Chief and his companions with a more at ease, but still a suspicious look.

"Oh really, huh. Well, why don't you make me at ease by telling me who the hell you guys are, especially that one," the colonel said, pointing at the Arbiter when he finished his question at its last part, causing the Sangheili to give the colonel a small frown and almost to speak up against the human to enlighten him who the Arbiter actually was, but he thought better of it.

"I'm Cortana, the A.I. unit designated to the super-soldier standing before you. He's Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, the very best amongst the Spartan super-commando corps from where we come from. The strange alien in fancy armour is the…" Cortana continued before the Arbiter walked up with a straight back toward the colonel and standing beside the Spartan while looking intensely at the colonel.

"And I'm Thel 'Vadam, the Arbiter of the proud and mighty race of the Sangheili, the once greatest warriors of the Covenant, and the proud slayer of the deceitful Prophet of Truth. And I'd prefer to not be referred as "that"," the Arbiter finished, his voice proud and powerful, his reptilian eyes looking straight at the colonel, who only gave an amused grin at the Sangheili's rather full presentation of himself.

"Very well, I'll remember that," the amused colonel said, not knowing about a goddamned thing the alien just talked about but decided to just roll with it before he turned his eyes at the old, black soldier and the hovering one-eyed ball.

"And you two?" the colonel asked the last two newcomers, wondering what kind of fancy, exotic names or titles these beings would have.

The black soldier, who'd been observing the conversion from the sidelines, now began to straightening his back and with a proud and boastful tone answered the colonel's question.

"I'm Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson, one of the toughest and meanest marines of all of UNSC, powerful enough to make any ugly alien bastard to regret the day it was ever born, sir" Johnson finished with his usual cocky and self-confident tone that actually caused the Gear colonel to crack a wide, amused grin at the sergeant's boastful self-presentation.

"Well, before I was rudely interrupted…" Guilty Spark began, referring back when Johnson interrupted his attempt to introduce himself earlier to the Gears "… I'm 343 Guilty Spark, and I'm the monitor of Installatio…" the monitor said with his usual polite, cheerful tone, only to suddenly silenced himself mid-sentence, as if whatever he'd to say was something that caused him too much pain to finish saying.

A moment of silence followed after Guilty Spark's half-finished answer, causing the atmosphere to become rather uneasy. Wanting to finish their explanation in hopes that they'd get on this colonel's good side, Cortana continued.

"Anyway, we're here on your planet out of sheer chance after we escaped the last battle from our own war. We were on our way home when things went a little complicated and before we knew it, we landed here instead. We met up with your Delta Squad during the confusion and decided to help them out now that it seems that we're stuck at this planet for the time being. And that's our little story", Cortana finished and she could see that the colonel was slightly impressed by what she'd told, even if he tried to hide it the best he could.

"And what about you? Mind telling us clueless, ignorant aliens of what the hell-kind of a planet we've crash-landed on and what the hell is going on here, sir" Johnson then suddenly said, causing everyone to turn their eyes at him, including the colonel. The colonel, taken aback by this outsider sergeant's way to bluntly demand an answer, couldn't help to be somewhat amused by Johnson's ruff demand and he grinned in amusement before he began answering him.

"Well, if you need to know, I'm Colonel Victor Hoffman, commander of Delta Squad. You've landed your asses on our sweet, little backwater planet called Sera, there innocence goes to die. Hope that you might enjoy your stay here," the colonel – who the group of the Master Chief now knew was this Hoffman that Kim and the other Gears had been speaking about – answered Johnson's questions with an amused grin on his lips.

"And what about those ugly, scaly motherfuckers that tried to kill me and my boys. What the hell are they?" Johnson then asked again, referring to the grubs that had made siege on his crash-landed frigate that he and his fellow companions had to fight before being saved by Delta Squad.

"They're the Locusts, but we prefer to call them "Grubs". We've been at war with those freaks for quite some time and they've proven to be some really nasty, tenacious, hard-to-kill fuckers," Hoffman answered, catching the curiosity of the Master Chief's team as they found themselves wanting to know more about Hoffman and his Gears' war with the Locusts, as those grubs were actually named, and what kind of history in general that this obscure planet could possess.

"So how did your war with the Locusts begin?" Cortana asked, curious of what kind of history this unknown world could yet had.

Hoffman turned his eyes toward the Master Chief and looked at him for a short moment, as if he was yet again trying to look through his armour and see the being inside it. He soon then gave a small smile before answering.

"Time for some exposition, huh? Well, I can spend a few minutes enlightening you aliens about the history of our primitive, little dirtball planet," the colonel said before he began his tale.

"It all began fourteen years ago. We've just won the Pendulum War that had been ongoing without stopping for 79 years and we'd just began to believe that peace would follow and heal our downtrodden and war-torn world when one day shortly after, they came," Hoffman began, having to take a short pause as that awful day from fourteen years ago began to haunt his memories. The Master Chief and his friends gave a quick look on each Gear to see that they all had that same haunted and disturbed look that the colonel had. It was obvious that whatever happened that day so many years ago on Sera, it was still haunting its inhabitants.

"That day – the E-day as we call it – they arrived, crawling up from the ground all over the world in millions. While we were being busy fighting an eighty years old war against our enemies – the Union of Independent Republics – they had been hiding right under our feet and just waited for the right opportunity to attack us. We, the war-weary and exhausted poor souls as we were just beginning to lick our wounds, were completely taken by surprise when the grubs came up from the underground and attacked us in massive waves. The last thing we expected back than was that hordes of ugly reptilians, whom we'd no idea even existed, would invade our homes at the surface from the underground. Long story short, we've been fighting off the grubs ever since, but those fuckers had proven themselves to be sneaky, cunning bastards, and despite all our firepower and harsh language, we've never been able to truly fight them off."

Hoffman then stopped, causing the Master Chief's team to look at each other while their minds were processing everything the colonel had just told.

"Why haven't you been able to defeat those foul creatures?" the Arbiter asked, curious how these humans could allow themselves to be bested by those Locusts, as they were called. Having been fighting the humans of UNSC for circles during his service in the Covenant, he knew that humans could fight off any enemy facing them if they'd the will and bravery enough to do so, no matter what kind of technological supremacy their enemies would possess, so surely these Locusts shouldn't be that much of a difficulty for them. Especially when compared to the might of both the Covenant and the Flood.

Seemingly amused that he seemed to had gotten the most alien-like member of the alien group personally invested in his fairy tale story, Hoffman continued.

"It's because those damn grubs are using an advanced underground tunnel-network that allow them to attack anywhere they can before any of us even knows what hit us. That makes them so goddamned unpredictable and hard to figure out where they'll strike next. Their tunnel-network had given them the advantage against us during all those years…until today. Today will be the last day the grubs will be able to sneak behind our noses and surprise-attack us anywhere at anytime. Today, we'll end this war once and for all," Hoffman finished, his tone now much more hopeful and upbeat, causing everyone to look at him with a wondering type of look.

"Really. How?" Dom then asked, finding it hard to believe that the colonel would've found a way to end this war just like that.

"Because Dom…" Hoffman began while he turned his head toward the Gear. "…it's because we finally have a way to strike their underground network where it'll hurt the most. And once we've destroyed it, the grubs will never be able to sneak-attack us ever again" Hoffman answered with a confidently grin on his lips.

"When could you please enlighten us than," Marcus said dryly, looking back at the colonel with hard eyes, causing him to drop his grin and to have a short but icy staring contest with Marcus. And just about when Hoffman was to answer Marcus, he was suddenly interrupted by a female voice that spoke to him directly from his comlink.

"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but our sensors are picking up several hostile movements close by. It won't be long before they arrive here," the woman said, and then Delta Squad and their new allies turned their eyes toward Hoffman's King Raven, there a young, blond-haired woman looking to be at around her twenties and whom seemed to be an officer working with some communication unit, judging by the fancy grey, non-combat uniform she wore, stood.

The woman gave a quick look at each of the arrivals, looking at the aliens with a mixture of curiosity and wonder – especially at the Arbiter and the Master Chief, who both looked neutrally back at her – before she locked eyes with Marcus.

Marcus' eyes, which had been hardened during his short staring contest with Hoffman, softened when he locked eyes with the young woman, as if looking at her caused some more sensitive emotions to come out from the internal prison he'd been trying to keep them locked away at. As if meeting this woman caused old memories that were both blissful and painful to emerge from their depths and make him remembering a time that wasn't as screwed up as they were now.

"Your officer is right, colonel. I'm also detecting several enemy units on their way from that building over there," Cortana then suddenly said, and if on clue, bullets began to fire from the neo-classical building further down at the square at the Gears and their alien allies.

"Locusts!" Dom shouted as the bullets were hitting everywhere all around them.

"Take cover!" Marcus shouted and everyone quickly dived to take cover behind the sandbags facing the building, while the woman quickly ran back into the King Raven. Everyone behind the sandbags – Marcus, Dom, Anthony, Johnson and the Arbiter at the left side and Kim, Hoffman, the Master Chief and Guilty Spark at the right side – began firing back at the grubs attacking them with heavy firepower.

"Shit!" Dom shouted while he was firing his assault rifle at the grubs behind his cover, trying to counterattack their seemingly endless assault. The grubs' bullets were being fired everywhere, barely leaving the Gears and their new allies any opening to counterattack properly. They could barely do much than spray and pray from their cover, hoping that their bullets would hit their targets.

"They're at the right!" Marcus shouted while he quickly jumped up from his cover and fired directly at the grubs' position; one of them giving out a loud cry that indicated that he managed to kill one of them. However, the fire seemed to only worsen by each second the firefight went on and Marcus had to quickly jump back behind the sandbags when now it seemed that an entire battalion of grubs were firing at his position with the full intent to reduce both him and the whole Delta Squad into nothing but bloody, fleshy pieces.

"Right?! How about everywhere!" Johnson shouted when the attack was escalating as the grubs were firing all the more intensely and furiously. Still barrowing one of the Arbiter's plasma rifles, he fired his own plasma rounds behind his corner and managed to hit one grub – whose chest melted away by the hot plasma round before its burnt corpse fell to the ground – before he'd to duck his head back when their bullets were being fired at his end of the cover. None of the Gears was able to raise their heads above to try aim and shoot properly, as the grubs' bullets were slamming at their sandbags like a furious rain of hails, and they were only able to try to pot-shot aimlessly at the grubs and hope that just any bullet they fired would hit anything on its way. "Just how many of those bastards do you think there are?!" Johnson then loudly asked while he glared at the top of the sandbags and the bullets that hit on them, wishing that he could simply stand up and fire the plasma rifle in his hands with everything it'd at the grubs until it'd melt from the sheer overheat so that those grub-bastards would learn who they were messing with.

"Don't know, but I won't let these foul beasts keep me down!" the Arbiter declared with his powerful voice before he stood up and began firing back at the grubs, now using his Type-51 Carbine for its more better suited function for the quick medium-distant, semi-automatic, sniping counterattack that he might need. With the help of the carbine's scope and his superior eye sight, he managed to fire and kill around three to four grubs, their death-cries echoing across the battlefield loud enough for anyone to hear in the midst of the loud fires and explosions. His armour shields deflected any bullet that hit him, protecting him from even the smallest of harm, and he was confident to believe that he'd kill enough Locusts to cause their morale to sink and that their attack would weaken before he would've to retreat back to his cover. But when his armour shields began to drop all closer to zero due to the intensive bullet-rain that the grubs were giving out, the Arbiter quickly had to duck down behind the sandbags and let his shields recharge while he reloaded his carbine. Johnson, seeing just what the Arbiter just did, quickly said to him.

"Nice one, Arbiter, but to try to save some of them for us too! I wanna teach those assholes a lesson in manners as well!" Johnson loudly said while he was firing aimlessly behind the corner of his cover.

"Than you better hurry up to get some for yourself, because I'm not going to be fully satisfied until they're all dead!" Marcus loudly declared before he quickly stood up and fired half a round at the grubs before ducked back behind the sandbags just before the grubs' bullet-storm would hit him and reduce him into several torn and splattered pieces.

While Delta Squad and their alien allies were being busy fighting off the all the more aggressive and ferocious attack from the grubs, Hoffman was briefing the best he could to Kim about the important mission he'd for the lieutenant and his men.

"As I said earlier, we finally have the miracle weapon we need to hit those grub sons-of-bitches were it'll hurt them the most: the Lightmass Bomb!" the colonel shouted as loud he could in order for Kim to hear what he'd to say through the loud, chaotic, violent sounds of war that were echoing everywhere around them. "With it, we'll strike back at the grubs at their own damned backyard and smash all of their tunnel networks into dust!" Hoffman continued as he and Kim kept their heads down while the rest of the squad was still fighting off the Locusts' ferocious attack.

"Chief, up high!" Cortana cried to the Master Chief when her sensors noticed a pair of grubs running down at the building's stair and firing at their position at the same time. The Master Chief, noticing their exact position with the help of his HUD, stood up and fired at them, quickly taking them down before they could even notice him. The Spartan still stood up and kept firing at any grub he could notice through the chaotic battle, his armour shields protecting him from the bullet rain-until they were close to reach zero. Just when a couple of more rounds would penetrate through his armour, the Spartan quickly ducked down behind his cover and stayed there for a short moment, allowing his armour shields to fully recharge.

"But for that, we need the resonator!" Hoffman kept saying to Kim just before a grenade thrown by one of the Locusts exploded right before the cover he and his companions hid behind, causing the very ground to shake and them to almost fall over to the ground, but fortunately didn't cause any damage to any of them, as their cover held up to the grenade's massive, exploding force.

"Watch the sides!" the officers could hear Marcus shout out for his companions while they were recollecting themselves.

"You missed us, you ugly bastards!" they also heard Johnson cry out back at the Locusts.

"It'll map out all of their tunnels so that the bomb can hit where we need to hit in order to pull it off! And it's urgent that we get it done right because we only have one bomb!" Hoffman continued immediately after he recollected himself from the explosion's massive trembling force. But the grubs weren't at all done and they still kept trying to kill all of Delta Squad with everything they got. Their overwhelming ferocity and aggression started to frustrate a few of Delta Squad, and they didn't even try to hide their rage at the grubs who seemed to be an endless wave of demons spit out from the depths of hell to slaughter every last member of Delta Squad.

"That's it: now I'm pissed!" Marcus shouted right before he stood up from his cover and began spraying as much bullets as he could, not aiming at any specific grub; just shooting bullets at everywhere in sheer bloodlust and rage while the Locusts' fire were raining down all around him, hoping that his action would slaughter as many grubs as he could. "Oh yeah, that's it how it's done!" Marcus cried out after he jumped back behind the cover after he'd shot out all of his rounds, his voice possessing a more excited tone that was unusual for his more known stoic and quiet tone. Soon after, the Locusts began a quick bombardment at Delta Squad's position, hoping that it'd put an end to their tenacious resistance. But the Gears and their alien allies refused to budge to the Locusts' relentless attack, and whatever terrific and destructive attempt they came with, Delta Squad answered with their own determined fire.

"Just how much do think they can take?!" Dom shouted out, feeling all the more the relentless pressure that the grubs were putting on the Gears, barely able to fire properly back at them.

"Just keep fighting, Delta! Their numbers are quickly falling and I'm now counting only four of them left!" Cortana answered when she heard Dominic ask out his question out of sheer frustration.

"When this will be easy than," the Master Chief then said, feeling that they'd emerge victorious from this battle despite its intensity, and he quickly pulled out a grenade, on which he pulled its pin out and then quickly tossed it over the sandbags toward the grubs at where two of them was supposed to be at according to his HUD. He then kept his head down and waited for that one explosion that would separate itself from the chaotic and trembling bombardment that the Locusts were throwing at the Spartan and his companions, and soon he heard it, despite the bombardment's hellish sounds drowning everything out. He could hear his grenade's own unique sounding explosion echo in the midst of the bombardment, and along with it, he also heard the death cries from the grubs caught by the grenade echo alongside it.

At the same time, Hoffman continued to brief Kim about the mission he'd for Delta Squad.

"We sent Alpha Squad to fix it, but we lost contact with them by Embry Square! And that's where you're entering the picture, Lieutenant! I want you to find and link up with Alpha, retrieve the resonator and deploy it! And if you've arrived at time as I told you, than I bet you would've already done all those three by now!" the colonel finished while he gave out a small frown that caused Kim to slightly shrink in discomfort.

"Fine, I get it! But will we've air support?!" the lieutenant asked, realizing that getting to Embry Square with all the grubs occupying the city would not at all be easy unless they'd the air support that could provide Delta Squad the clearing they needed if they'd to complete Hoffman's mission as quickly as possible.

Hoffman stared at the lieutenant for a short moment with his eyes wide and his mouth open, as if he couldn't believe that Kim just asked him such a question, before he answered. "What, are you kidding?! You're the support, son! Our birds can't fly even one inch near the square without having those damned Nemacysts blowing them down to smithereens! You've to walk to there on foot!" Hoffman finished, causing Kim to give out a frown that didn't even try to hide what he felt about having to actually walk on foot to Embry Square while having to fight through the grubs' massive army by themselves.

However, while Hoffman was finishing his briefing to Kim, the others were still fighting off the Locusts, and through their tenacious efforts, they were actually thinning the Locusts' numbers down. But they'd heard Hoffman's last sentence about having to move toward Embry Square on foot in the midst of a still occupied city without heavy support, and it caused a small sense of dread and defeatism to infect a few of the Gears.

"We're screwed," Dom solemnly said, thinking that Hoffman's mission sounded nothing more than a suicide mission.

"NO, WE ARE NOT!" Marcus shouted just right before he jumped up, determined to finish these group of grubs once and for all, and began firing his assault rifle at the two grubs that were running down the stairs about to join the battle, quickly taking them down in bloodthirsty rage. After when Marcus had gunned down those two grubs, the park suddenly fell quiet after that loud and chaotic battle, and a few of Delta Squad dared to look over the sandbags to see if there was any grub left to fight, and so far they didn't see any remaining one that they'd to kill.

"I detect no further enemy signals. It's now all clear. Good job, everyone," Cortana praised after when she couldn't detect any more enemy signals nearby and was glad that Delta Squad managed to fight through the skirmish without suffering any casualties. Delta Squad then got up slowly, as if they still weren't entirely sure if the danger really had been neutralized, and Marcus gave the building where the grubs had been attacking just a moment ago from a quick look to make sure that it really was clear. Noticing nothing coming out of that building, he then lowered his assault rife and turned around to form up with the others, all while he muttered to himself:

"That's was satisfying," he said wistfully, feeling really good about having slaughtered at least around a dozen of grubs who thought that they could wipe out Delta like if they were some easy preys. The less of those freaks that were out running around on Sera to cause death and chaos, the better.

"You, get it done!" Hoffman finally ordered to Kim, who gave the colonel a quick salute, before he got up and began walking toward the King Raven. But when he walked by Delta Squad, he then faced Marcus and looked the Gear straight in his eyes.

"And you…" Hoffman began, still looking right into Marcus' steely eyes. "I expect you to give me 110%, Fenix!" the colonel demanded with his strong and authoritarian tone that made it clear that he expected only the very best out of the newly reinstalled Gear, and nothing less. Not if he wanted to prove himself in the colonel's eyes that he can redeem himself for the great failure Fenix had once caused the COG.

"I'm not doing this for you," Marcus sneered back at Hoffman, causing the colonel's harsh and bitter frown to twist itself into a cold, amused grin.

"Oh really? Well, in that case, you should do this for yourself than. Consider this mission your one and only chance for redemption. If you succeed, I might consider you a real Gear again. If not, well, not only will you be doomed, but so will this whole goddamned planet and every living human being upon it so you better not fuck this up like the last time," Hoffman said, his grin widening further when Marcus' sneer did so as well. Hoffman then was about to leave with the King Raven when suddenly, Johnson shouted out for him.

"Hey! What about us?!"

Hoffman turned around to see the aliens looking straight at him, as if they were demanding something out of him. He quickly looked at each and one of them before he narrowed his eyes at Johnson.

"What about you?" the colonel asked with a small frown on his lips. When the grubs suddenly attacked like they did just moments ago, he'd quickly forgotten about the aliens when he briefed Lieutenant Kim about his special mission, and now that he was reminded of their presence, he was yet to be sure of what he should feel about them; if he should consider them as worthy, powerful allies of COG or as a potential threat that perhaps would be even more dangerous than the grubs themselves.

"Well, we want to help out too, you know! We don't want to sit on our alien asses while you guys go out and deal with those ugly freaks! We want to get into the action too!" Johnson determinedly said while looking Hoffman straight in his eyes with a steely look. A look that made it clear that if Hoffman would object to allow Johnson and his friends helping Delta Squad out on their mission, than he would've a very determined and stubborn sergeant to deal with.

Hoffman looked at Johnson with one of his eyebrows raised and his frown still on his lips that didn't hide the colonel's conflicted feelings about letting them help out Delta Squad in the most important mission that had ever been given out in this war. As if she knew just exactly what Hoffman was thinking, Cortana began to speak to him.

"Sir, I ensure you, we'd like to help you and your Gears out in this war. We know how it is to see your own world perish under the flames of war, and we can't stand by and watch while this world perish as well. Not when we're here and are perfectly available to help you guys out. I know that you might not trust us, being stranded and strange aliens and all, but please give us a chance. Helping you is the least we can do for you," Cortana pleaded, her tone full with the most urgent need to prove the colonel the reliability her team could provide the Gears in whatever the way they could.

Hoffman turned his eyes at the Master Chief for a short moment, as if he was trying to see through the Spartan's thick armour in search for any hint of deception, and while Hoffman couldn't see the Master Chief's eyes behind that thick, expressionless visor, he'd the feeling that the man behind all that armour did share the same determined look like his companions. And despite Hoffman's general cautious nature, he could yet feel some small part of him instinctively sense that he could put his trust on this mysterious warrior and his A.I. companion despite their completely extraterrestrial origins.

"So would you help us than?" Hoffman asked the Master Chief, as he still wanted to hear those confirming words directly from out of the Spartan's mouth. Despite that small part of him feeling that this alien super soldier and his designated A.I. might be trustworthy allies, he still mostly had his cautions about these strange beings and he wouldn't risk put his complete trust on them until they could completely ensure him that his trust wouldn't be wasted. In times like this, trust was worth much more than all the gold and imulsion put together, and Hoffman wasn't in the mood to let even one drop of it go to waste.

"Indeed I would, sir," was the Master Chief's immediate and firm answer, giving out a quick nod along with it to confirm Cortana's offer to the colonel.

Hoffman's frown loosened after he got to hear the Master Chief's statement, now mostly certain that he could at least trust this alien to help Delta Squad out, but it still hadn't entirely disappeared from his face. His eyes turned toward the Arbiter and stared at the strange looking alien warrior, wondering if this one could be just as trusted at with like with the Master Chief and Cortana.

"And you?" Hoffman asked the Arbiter, still finding much conflicting feelings about the strangest looking one of the entire alien bunch. In Hoffman's mind, the Arbiter didn't differ that much from a grub with cleft lips and fancy armour, and that was what caused him to feel the most caution, since this alien's least human-looking appearance was really off-putting in the colonel's taste. In other situations, he might have pulled a "shoot first and ask later" approach on the Arbiter, since Hoffman had been so used to that all non-humans were threats that needed to be immediately put down before they'd attack, and even if this one seemed to be a good guy like the other aliens, Hoffman still had his suspicion about the Sangheili.

The Arbiter looked at Hoffman for a moment, his yellow eyes possessing a sense of uncertainty, before he gave a quick look at the Spartan and Johnson, as if he was silently asking for their certainty. Seeing that determined, encouraging look in Johnson's eyes as well sensing that same type of look piercing through behind the Spartan's visor, the Arbiter then returned his eyes to Hoffman and then said.

"If the Spartan and the sergeant are ready to aid you in your war, than I'll be willing to provide my assistance as well if you're willing to accept it," was the Arbiter's answer, his large frame straight up and his powerful voice deep with that zealous dedication that was so common amongst his kind. And so powerfully dedicated it was that it almost crushed any suspicion or distrust Hoffman had for the Sangheili that he couldn't help himself from giving out a small, amused grin at the Arbiter, revealing that if he didn't manage to completely convince the colonel, the Arbiter at least managed to make him consider him a possible ally despite Hoffman's general distrust of all non-humans.

Hoffman then turned his eyes at the last member of the aliens, his look once again suspicious and uncertain.

"And what about you?" he asked Guilty Spark, who after his half-finished presentation had been rather awfully and unusually quiet; something that would've risen some eyebrows amongst those who know him. Something it did for Johnson, and both the Master Chief and the Arbiter also looked at the monitor, hadn't missed Guilty Spark's unusual silence.

Guilty Spark, jerking up as if Hoffman called him up in the midst of his spacing out, silently stared at the colonel before turning his optic at his fellow aliens, as if to see what decision they'd chosen before he'd take his own. Guilty Spark stared for a moment at the Master Chief, as if his decision was the one most important for the monitor to base his own at, and he did stare for quite a long moment before he eventually turned back his optic at Hoffman.

"If it's the decision of the Reclaimer to help you out, when protocol dictates that I happily grant you my aid as well," Guilty Spark eventually said, although his voice lacked that cheerful, bubbly tone that his allies had come to know him for. If anything, he spoke as if he was only agreeing to it because it was the only option he had, with rather limited enthusiasm behind it.

Hoffman looked at the alien group without saying one word in response of all of their declarations to aid him and his Delta Squad out. His suspicious frown had almost disappeared entirely, but there was still a small look of uncertainty in his hardened eyes, and after he'd stared at the alien group, his eyes then turned toward at Marcus, as if he was silently asking for his advice. As if despite the hostile antagonism that had grown between them ever-since that incident, there was a tiny part of Hoffman that still trusted Marcus' judgement.

Realizing the silent question that Hoffman was giving him, much to his inner surprise, Marcus answered after a short moment.

"As I said earlier, sir: you seem to need all the help you can get. And at this point, does it really matter from where that help comes from? Even if it literally crash-landed here from outer space? This world is already FUBAR as it is, so what harm is there to at least try. In the shitstorm as we're already in, we might as well give it a shot and hope it's the right one," Marcus said, hoping that despite Hoffman's frosty view of him, he still respected Marcus enough – if only out of their once old friendship's sake – to accept the aliens' willingness to help the Gears carrying out the colonel's important mission.

Hoffman looked at Marcus for another moment before he returned his eyes back at the aliens, looking at them with a neutral and silent look that did little to betray his inner thoughts to them. But inside his own mind, Hoffman was debating if he should accept the aliens into the ranks of Delta Squad and hope that they really were as eager to help as they claimed. So far, he didn't have any real reason to distrust them, despite being the strange beings as they were, but the war with the grubs, and the war with UIR before that, had still made him automatically suspicious of everything that wasn't a COG-aligned human. And yet he could feel his own inner instincts ensuring him that these beings, despite that even if they wouldn't benefit anything directly from out of it, were sincere in their offer to help him and his squad.

And it was as Fenix just said; everything was already FUBAR as it was ever-since this goddamned war began from what felt like a millennium ago, so he might as well roll the dice, take a chance and let these aliens join with the wild ride that was the war on Sera. What harm could it do that hadn't already had been done? Things couldn't get any worse than they already were, not even if a goddamned zombie invasion would suddenly appear out of the fucking underground alongside with the grubs.

And if he was ready to allow Fenix back in his ranks, even thought he still hadn't forgiven the man for the disaster he'd caused four years ago, which cost several good Gears their lives in needless deaths, than he might as well let the aliens into his ranks as well. Maybe they'd be the ones who would help whatever remained of COG to finally push back the grubs and defeat them once and for all. Their sudden appearance couldn't after-all be just a mere convenience, as they arrived and linked up with Delta Squad just right before he was about give them the most important mission ever given in this war. They'd to be sent here by a reason, and if Hoffman had been a religious man, he might have wondered if they were some strange form of a divide intervention. The fact that this strange Master Chief had saved Fenix's life did make him sound like if he was some sort of a guardian angel sent here to save Fenix's ass in Hoffman's ears, and perhaps that was all he needed to know.

"Very well, if you guys really wants to help us, than this is your big chance," Hoffman finally said, making his final decision to try and trust these alien warriors that seemed so eager to help. "This whole city is occupied by the grubs, so you guys have to do the best you can! But the lieutenant here will provide you the intel you need while you link up with Alpha," Hoffman continued while he pointed toward the blond, female officer still standing inside the King Raven.

"Yes sir," she confirmed through the comlink, her fingers pressed at her ear piece. "… and right now, my advice is that it's time to leave this place." She finished.

"Well al right than. Let's get going. I still have that saved-the-galaxy party to celebrate our victory in our last war, and I don't want this one to drag out all too long and keep me from enjoying my well-deserved feast," Johnson said while he picked up a cigar and put it in his mouth. And he was about to pick up his lighter to lit his cigar then suddenly, more bullets were fired at Delta Squad from the building.

"Reinforcements!" Marcus shouted while he and the others quickly dived behind the sandbags yet again, with Johnson accidentally dropping his cigar from his mouth in the quick movement, as a few more grubs were emerging out of the building that the last attack-wave had attacked from.

"Pilot, clear these grubs out now! We don't have the time for this shit!" Hoffman demanded to the pilot operating the King Raven, his fingers pressed harder than necessary on his ear piece, practically shouting into the com link while the firefight was echoing all around him.

"Roger that, sir," the pilot confirmed right before he flew his aircraft up and began aiming its frontal machine gun at the attacking grubs. Before they could do anything to either try taking down the hovering aircraft or escape its coming fire, the King Raven fired a whole massive barrage of bullets that made quick, bloody and gory ends of the grubs, leaving nothing but piles of bloody and savagely torn up flesh and organs.

"The grubs are now history. That's one for you Delta," the pilot said into the comlink, his tone not even trying to hide that inner pride echoing through the radio frequency.

"Al right, the fuckers are now wasted! Time to move out! Alpha and the resonator can't wait forever for your asses to take their sweet time!" Hoffman barked out once the pilot had eradicated the grubs into bloody pieces.

"You heard the man, Delta! Move out!" Kim then shouted before he jumped over the sandbags and ran toward the building across the park, soon followed by the Gears and their newest alien members. When they were by the stairs, Hoffman stood for a few seconds and only watched that strange company running up the stairs – with Johnson giving one last grieving look at his dropped cigar before following with the others – ready to take down a whole grub army in order to get his mission done. And while a tiny part of him still had its doubts about the aliens, he was now mostly sure that they'd become worthy allies of COG – warriors whom he could put his trust on without fearing that they'd betray or backstab him or his squad as so long they were on his side. And when his eyes were focused on the green, heavily armoured one, Hoffman couldn't help but feel that this one was a special one – the "one of its own kind" type of special – and that that warrior would become their ace in the hole against the grubs.

Beside, if he actually saved Fenix's life, than he and his fellow aliens couldn't be all that bad. A darkly amused grin fell on Hoffman's lips when he entertained the idea that with his actions, the Master Chief might had offered Marcus the chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his fellow Gears, of all of COG and not least, of the colonel himself.

"Good luck, Delta," Hoffman whispered with a tone that was much softer than what he usually use, hinting about his real, inner feelings about his men, when he saw the last of them disappearing inside the building. He then turned around to walk toward the awaiting King Raven, but not before he noticed the cigar that Johnson dropped lying on the ground. He bent down, picked it up and looked at it for a moment before putting it inside one of his pockets. And as he began walking toward the King Raven, he reminded himself that if the sergeant would survive the mission and return in one piece, than Hoffman would return his cigar back to him. But for now, the only thing he could do was to wish that he'd made the right call.