1142, September 12th, 2547[MILITARY CALENDAR/] Above Colonist Planet[TUNGSTEN II], Onboard UNSC Cold Hearth [COMPROMISED]

As soon as we step foot into the hangar, we're trapped. The door leading into the rest of the ship opens and a group of unfamiliar faces steps inside, filling the catwalk and surrounding us.

"I suggest you put down your weapons," the female of the group says. She stands with her arms folded and has a Rocket Launcher resting dangerously on her shoulder. The other soldiers have their weapons trained on our heads and don't look like they're going to back down.

"Think we can take them?" 211 asks me over a closed channel. "I'm not giving up that easily. I'll go down with the ship if I need to," Kia growls, speaking over the same channel. I don't answer the woman on the catwalk but keep quiet and weigh the options.

Parkson had stayed inside of the Phantom, probably following one of his hunches, and it's obvious the others don't know that a fourth Spartan is hidden inside. If we can utilize the element of surprise he still has, we can get ourselves out of this situation. But it all relies upon whether or not they'll send some of the people down to restrain us, and if Parkson is fast enough. There are too many variables, but we'll have to push the risk.

I put down my weapon and slide it away. 211 and Kia follow my lead instantly. If they have any objections, they don't show it. An indicator light winks on my HUD under Parkson's tag, showing that he understands what's going on. I don't allow myself a change in emotion as the woman up top jerks her chin and sends more than half of her soldiers down to restrain us.

"Good choice," she says, lowering the barrel of her missile launcher. It's a decision that possibly gives her life away.

As the soldiers are restraining our hands, they begin moving into the Phantom to secure it. I had just seen a shadow move against the corner of the room, near the catwalk, and know that Parkson is already on the move. We comply readily with their demands, but I almost have to laugh as they look over the Energy Sword hilt on my thigh, labeling it as "non-dangerous". If only they knew.

We are just about to begin moving deeper into the ship when the shadow resting against the back wall makes its move. A Spartan appears out of thin air just behind the Insurrectionist with the rocket launcher and brings the butt of his gun down onto her neck. Stunned by the attack, the Rocket Launcher falls onto the deck where Parkson retrieves it. I watch as he turns to the last remaining innies on the catwalk and pulls the trigger, sending a missile sailing into their midst where it detonates with an ear splitting explosion.

In a simultaneous movement, the rest of attack our guards, bringing them down. There's a crack of metal on bone as 211 headbutts his Insurrectionist, breaking his face and dropping him. He then seizes the keys and somehow manages to unlock himself. "Hell yeah!" he laughs. 211 then unlocks me next and I waste no time in grabbing my Energy Sword and turning it on.

There's a crack of energy as the blade appears. The weapon connects to my HUD and shows a slightly depleted charge. There are four remaining guards in the room whom are all in differing stages of surprise.

I charge the first guard head-on and lunge forwards with the sword. He screams as he finds his torso disconnected with the rest of his body. The next guard doesn't have time to voice his pain once I decapitate his head. I turn on the other two guards to find them already dead on the ground. And it's only then that the hangar room is finally clear of hostiles.

"We'll need to retake the bridge," Kia says after double-tapping each of the dead insurrectionists and taking their ammo. "Agreed. Parkson hang onto that Launcher. As soon as we enter, aim dead center at the floor and only fire once. 211, Kia, after the dust clears you will need to storm in and secure the area. I'll be behind you, so check your fire," I say and catch a clip that Kia throws to me for my assault rifle. "Would you like some shock with that awe?" 211 says while reloading his Shotgun with armor piercing rounds

There are a surprisingly low amount of innies posted inside of the ship itself. I'm assuming that they didn't know Spartans had been inside, and came understaffed. But as we near the bridge, my assumptions are blown clear out of the water.

I set up behind Kia who stands next to the door to the bridge. Parkson is opposite to us with 211 ready behind him with his Shotgun. Parkson is readying the charges when I feel something behind us. I look over Parkson's shoulder but see nothing. I ignore the feeling and refocus on the EOD's work.

But just seconds before he blows the charges, I see it. A ripple by the hull just beside 211. I backpedal as fast as I can and am about to shout a warning when the Energy Sword appears. 211 must have heard the thing activate because he does something that saves his life.

The hulking Spartan suddenly throws himself backwards where the glowing sword comes within inches of impaling him. Parkson whips around but comes face-to-face with a second Elite who had just decloaked. Parkson then slams into the ground from a lights-out punch to his faceplate.

The occupants inside of the bridge flood into the hallway and all four of us find ourselves surrounded by both Covenant and human soldiers.

The following fight is short and sweet. Two Elites gang up on me and take me down while a grand total of three Elites rush Kia. It takes five insurrectionists and three Elites to finally subdue 211. It leaves us thoroughly confused as to how we are still alive. We had fought like hell, only to be contained with cuffs around our wrists instead of bullets in our heads.

"Okay, so you have us. What now?" 211 snarls. "Ransom, of course. Do you know how much eight Spartans are worth?" one of the Insurrectionists says. It then dawns on me that Zeta must have been captured as well.

"Do you really think that the UNSC will just willingly pay you the money? I would like to think they're not that stupid," Kia says. "You overestimate your precious UNSC. They've done dumber," another one of the innies says. "Zip it. Move them to the transport, pronto," the lead Insurrectionist says, jerking his chin to the other Innies and Covenant soldiers.

We are then lead to a docking bay where a ship-to-ship tube had been forcibly installed. The decompressed tube boasts artificial gravity and a weak supply of air which is close to dwindling away as we enter the second ship.

Without another word from our imprisoners, we are thrown into the brig which has a separating wall keeping us contained. But there to greet us is all four members of Fireteam Zeta. They look tired but alive.

"Well...hell," 211 says. "About sums it up," Arnold answers, rubbing the top of his bald scalp with a gloved hand. "Welcome to our humble abode. Want to try some gruel? It's only a little better than vomit," Jacobs says, gesturing to a bowl of grey slop.

I sit down on one of the benches and remove my helmet and poke at a clotting headwound that kept dripping into my eye before it dried. "Cameras?" I ask Zeke without looking at him. "Visual without audio. There...there...and there," he says, slowly pointing out each of the cameras that stare at us from the corners. "Lets hope they don't read lips," I say, looking up at the camera that watches us for the moment. "I bet they read fingers, though," 211 says and turns to the one that currently watches us. "Hey, assholes!" he yells to it. He then extends his middle finger and flips the bird to the watchers. He laughs and turns away from it and removes his helmet to examine the damage.

"Got you good, didn't they?" Jacobs says, looking at 211's shattered visor. The Spartan frowns and runs a thumb over the jagged material. "Going to be a pain in the ass to fix," he mutters.

"So what happened?" Kia asks, getting to the question on all of our minds. "I don't know how they did it, but the assholes somehow reset the shipboard AI. He turned into a vegetable. We couldn't get anything from him. Next was the EMP. Again, no clue how that happened. The boarding party we could handle, but those sorry excuses that call themselves Elites came in with their camofluage and beat the living hell out of each of us," Arnold explains. "I was curious about that. What are they? It's obvious they're not Covenant. A milita band, maybe?" Kia asks.

"We were thinking Mercenaries. As strange as it sounds. Jessy caught some of what they were saying and a few of them were talking about payment," Zeke says. "So they're not with the Covenant?" Kia asks incredulously "That's what we were thinking. Why else would they be working with humans?" Zeke answers. "Well, remember the Rubble?" Kia points out. Jessica chuckles quietly from where she is sitting and shakes her head. "A story of sneaky betrayal. It always ends in some bad way," the female Spartan says.

"So did you find out why they let us live?" Arnold asks, changing the subject after a moment's silence. "Ransom. I'm assuming several million for each of us," I answer. "This whole thing will last twenty-four hours, tops," Jacobs says, leaning back against the wall with his legs crossed. "Don't the Innies understand that the UNSC is smarter than that?" Kia asks, shaking her head. "Appearently not," 211 answers.

It takes a total of four days for anything to happen. The ransom went out the very day we were captured. I could tell we had moved away from the colony planet by listening to the other Insurrectionists during our hour of "free-time" which basically consists of sitting in a slightly bigger room and staring at the wall.

But nothing truly happens until the fourth day when a deep thud reverberates through the entire ship. A few moments later several more thuds follow and an alarm wails outside of our cell. "The calvary has arrived," Jacobs says, standing up and brushing off his armor. "Who wants to bet it's a Spartan infiltry team?" Arnold says, looking up from his seat and watching the far wall that leads to the brig room. "I'll bet ODST's. Who else could come in so loud?" Jessica says.

Our cell room is soundproof so we don't hear anything that is happening outside. We are forced to wait in anticipation as our rescuers fight their way into the ship. Or at least that's what we're hoping is happening. The reverberating thuds continue for the next fifteen minutes and are only interrupted when the door comes flying inwards and almost flattens Zeke whom had been standing near it.

The smoke from the charges billows into the room and makes it hard to see as two black armored figures appear with their weapons pointed at us.

"Subjects located," I hear the taller of the two say. His voice is strangly synthetic sounding because of his helmet's voice modulator. The second is slightly smaller and I can tell the Spartan is a female.

"I knew it! Spartans to the rescue once again," Arnold says with a grin as he stands up and puts on his helmet. "Are you unharmed?" the shorter of the two asks us. "Besides the horrible living conditions and the slop? Yeah," 211 says. That's when I spot the white triangle situated on each of the soldier's chestplates and my blood turns to ice. ONI.

I take an involuntary step back as I watch the two Spartans. Kia notices my reaction and quickly understands why. She is on edge as we leave the cramped cell and follow the black-armored Agents into a blood soaked room. Six corpses lay inside, several of whom are mangled beyond recognition. A scorch mark near the entrance shows their shock and awe tactic.

"The ship has been cleared and secured. You will not have to worry about being attacked," the shorter ONI Agent says, looking over her shoulder. "Damn, you guys work fast," 211 says with an appreciative tone. The Agents don't reply but leads us into the waiting arms of the UNSC ship.

Once we enter the ship, the ONI Agents disappear and we never see them again. They had never given us their names or even Spartan numbers. Parkson tells Kia later that he had seen their Prowler leaving the ship shortly after our arrival.

It's a relief to be back with friendlies. But it's even more of a relief to have a cold shower and warm food. The Captain tells us that we are scheduled to rendevouz with the Faithful outside of Planet Reach. Though Zeta tells us that Captain Jameson is planning on giving us R&R when we return.

We don't get much time to think about that, however, because we are informed that we will be making a slipspace travel and we are to be stored in tubes for the trip. I am definitely not thrilled by the news but I strip down and soon find myself surrounded by the cold embrace of a dreamless sleep.