The Chief lay down on the uncomfortable bed in the holding cell. "She sure spares no expense." He joked to Cortana. He was trying to keep his thoughts from

drifting back to what she had said earlier, about being in a parallel universe. If that were true he was sure there was no way home, unless you could find away to

replicate Forerunner tech. As much as He liked Samus, he was used to taking orders, he figured he and Cortana would join up with the GF, as soon as Samus

dropped them off there. She had said she didn't know how much longer she intended to map the area. It wasn't like she had to do it all at once. But she had said

that she wanted to explore a little of the planet YD4β which Forward Unto Dawn was orbiting. The designation stood for Yellow Dwarf, the star type it orbited, 4 was

the fourth planet, and the β meant that there were two moons that orbited it. He figured he would accompany Samus if she wanted to go on the surface, not that

she really would need him. Since her weaponry and armor appeared to be more advanced than his. He wondered why she didn't destroy him when they first met.

Obviously because she thought she was dealing with her grade technology, which could propose a bit of a threat. Not that his stuff was useless, it was just not very

effective. At least on the bright side, he wouldn't have to fight Samus, not saying he wasn't able to hold his own, it would just take a lot more mind than muscle.

"Chief you can't leave a girl hanging," Cortana interrupted, "You still didn't answer my question what do you think of her."

"She's powerful," He said, "I'm glad she's on our side."

"Your no fun," She teased, "I mean it's not everyday you meet your soul mate."

"Funny, for someone who has no soul, you seem to be quite the expert, besides what makes you say that?"

"She's perfect for you; I mean the suit, the moves, basically a female version of you, only she looks better."

He shook his head and drifted off to sleep. The next day he loaded up a battle rifle, along with the SPNKR rocket launcher, and a few plasma grenades. He wanted to

maximize his usefulness on this mission, and he knew if there was trouble he'd need to have as much firepower as possible. Of course Cortana couldn't resist poking

fun at him, by the fifth compensating joke he was getting sick of it. She must have been lonely for those two months by herself. He walked to the cockpit of the

Gunship. He found Samus there at the helm, not yet in her Varia suit, which surprised him. She updated him on what the planet had to offer, which seemed to be

nothing, aside from a high concentration of metal alloys, which would suggest a base. Though she was unsure since she assumed someone would have received

Forward Unto Dawn's signal. After the ship landed, the Varia suit materialized around Samus. After they exited the ship, she sent it back up into orbit, to keep it

hidden, no use in announcing we were here. They found the base with relative ease. It looked like it had been abandoned only recently.

"Space Pirates," Samus hissed. Chief knew from last night's ordeal that the Space Pirates and the Galactic Federation didn't get along. He also knew of her personal

vendetta against them. Chief undid the safety on his Battle rifle; he didn't want to be caught with his pants down. There didn't seem to be much on the inside of the

base either, even the walls were bare. Samus was rummaging through material and scanning for various items looking for a clue on why they were here. Chief

walked up to a terminal and looked down at it.

"It's at times like this you wish you could read, huh Chief." Cortana piped up

"Can you make anything of it?" He mused.

"Nope, but at least I can download it, and we can check it out later."

He toyed with the idea and after much pressuring let her go into the alien computer. He did warn that he wanted her out as fast as possible.

"I've dealt with Covenant stuff, Chief don't worry about me, I'm probably safer in here than you are." She didn't know how right she was about to be. After digging

around for a couple of minutes, the hallway in which they had come threw exploded. It sent the Chief flying across the room. He got back up and raced towards the

terminal, so Cortana could jump back into the safety of his armor.

"What did you do?" Roared Samus, as she bounded around the corner.

"She did it," he said tapping at his helmet to indicate Cortana.

"She must have tripped the automated defense system, or some sort of insurance policy that anyone who enters wont be able to leave."

"I seriously doubt that." Chief said

"And why is that?"

Instead of responding the Chief opened fire, on the large insectoid that was approaching from across the room. "It seems that this place isn't abandoned." The

moved out of the large open space, and took cover. Dozens of Space Pirates started to enter the room. The first thing the Chief noticed was that the Pirates weren't

as well armored as Samus, that Chozo tech must have been top of the line. It only took a dozen or so rounds before he could split the head of a Pirate. Growing

tired of wasting rounds the Chief lobbed a plasma grenade towards a group of them. This disemboweled over half a dozen of them. He turned towards where Samus

had been, she was charging a group of them, her suit lit up, and she smashed them like jelly against the wall. After which she dove around for cover.

"Looks like someone is used to playing alone." Chief said to Cortana

"Funny, I thought that's the way we worked." She responded.

It was the truth, but he was used to dealing with the Covenant, he wasn't sure what these Pirates had up their sleeves. On opened fire on the Chief, the power

beam hit him square in the chest. It took down half of his personal shielding. He was too close to use a grenade or rockets, and knew he wouldn't be able to take

him with the battle rifle in time. So he took note of what Samus did and charged him. Only instead smashing him into the wall, he came down on his head with the

butt of his rifle. At least something remained the same; very few things could take the strength of the Spartan coupled with the MJOLNIR suit. Chief had no delusions

of grandeur, he needed time for his suit to charge, and wouldn't last long against some many of them. He sprinted towards the near wall, and bounded off of it,

sending him up to the ceiling. He steadied himself on the rafters, almost landing on them, a whole 3 meters up. From up here he would have a slight advantage. It

didn't last too long though. With in the minute he was encircled by a dozen of the Insectoids.