Twenty five days later

Date: March 29th, 2552

Location: Main barracks, Reach

For Moe, the stories coming in from the marines and officers training the taskforce were strange, amazing, some hilarious and some annoying. He had heard of taskforce members both winning and losing in fights against holo-Covenant soldiers in the arena underground, to which he was shocked to learn that Eve was here as well, good results from the pelican training the taskforce members went through, one of them being from three days ago when a group of taskforce soldiers on board one pelican took out a seraph fighter and two banshees without suffering bad damage due to the pilot's skills and the actions of one of the taskforce members, and he had even heard of how well or bad they had done in rescuing hostages or securing Covenant leaders intended for capture. He had also heard that in about four days' time they were to be debriefed on the Covenant forces they were to face.

Right now, he was walking back to the barracks he was sleeping in after having helped out in the underground base deliver supplies for the taskforce training in the next few days. The entrance door to the barracks opened automatically and he walked inside. The barracks had a few other groups of marines scattered around it talking. He walked down to his bed and reached underneath it and took out his small box and sat down on his bed, placing the box on his lap. His hands were a little dirty again from lifting the supply boxes so he took out his antibacterial cream and squeezed the tube. A tiny bit of the water-clear cream came out of the tube onto his hands and he rubbed them together, the cream covering palms, fingers and gaps between fingers and knuckles.

The door to the barracks opened again and a voice exclaimed: "Hey Moe!" and he looked up to see two familiar faces coming towards them and he smiled.

"Isaac! Alan!" he exclaimed, putting the box on the bed next to him and getting up to greet them. They came over and shook his hands and pulled him into a friendly embrace. Moe even felt his eyes go a little moist but he stopped himself before they noticed.

"How've you guys been?" he asked as he let go of Alan and stepped a pace back from him.

"Fine," Isaac replied. "We finally got a transport back here. Couldn't get one at first because of the civilians and wounded,"

Moe nodded.

"It's been a bit different here lately," he told them. "Have you heard of this taskforce being put together?" he asked them.

They both shook their heads. "Well, one had been put together, apparently made up of the UNSC's best marines, engineers, pilots and such, and they've got these bodysuits or something that could apparently give us an advantage in this war,"

Isaac laughed a little. "I doubt that this taskforce will make much of a difference," he said.

Alan and Moe nodded in agreement. Alan then noticed the box on Moe's bed and saw the camcorder inside it. Unsurprisingly, his eyes lit up.

"You got a new camcorder," he said.

Moe quickly grabbed it. "Yeah, and you two are not borrowing or using this one," he told them sternly.

"Oh, c'mon!" Isaac pleaded. "We didn't even break it or even plan of borrowing it last time,"

Moe shook his head. Obviously, he was clearly not having any of this pleading. "Nope," he said.

"Look, we won't break it!" Alan said to him. "We'll even only use when your with us,"

Still, Moe shook his head.

"Nope," he repeated and he put the camcorder back into the box and put the box back under his bed. "Now, c'mon. We are going to leave and you two are not leaving my sight," and he led his friends, by gently pushing them out with his hands as he walked behind them, out of the barracks.

He was certainly not going to let them 'borrow' his camcorder this time.