Chapter Fifty-Two: Love and War

1958 hours, November 21, 2564 (Military Calendar) \ (Two Days Later)
Elpis, Sigma Octanus System

UNSC Blood and Iron

Seventy-five minutes. That was how long Alex-G004 had been able to sleep before the outside world came back knocking on his door. Well, it wasn't literally knocking; it came in the form of a loud, persistent beeping noise. Nevertheless, the damage was done; Alex was woken up.

The Spartan-III mumbled unintelligibly to himself as he gradually returned to consciousness. He pushed the covers off and managed to sit up, allowing himself a lengthy yawn and a good stretch. He looked around himself, but had trouble seeing anything; the cabin was that dark. Even with his augmented retinas, Alex still had to squint to see. However, with the advances in technology, he had no need to exert himself.

"Lights!" Alex called out. The command registered with the voice-activated sensors and a series of neon tubes hummed to life, bathing the admiral's quarters in a soft illumination. Not blinding, but more than enough to light the room.

Next Alex looked to his left and found the source of the beeping; his personal COM unit set into the small stand next to his bunk. "Let's see what the universe has decided to throw at me this time…"

Alex activated the COM unit, stopping the obnoxious beeping. "Room service?" the Spartan grumbled.

"Close, but no cigar," deeper, husky voice of Colonel Angiers chuckled in reply. "I need you two in the mission briefing room immediately."

Alex didn't bother arguing with the ONI colonel. He let out a weary sigh and told Angiers that they would be there. Angiers thanked him and killed the channel.

Alex turned around and gazed down at his wife, who was still asleep on the other side of the bunk. She had slept through the whole conversation without even twitching.

That wasn't surprising; soldiers who had fought in the Great War had had to learn how to sleep through Covenant plasma barrages; snoring right through something as simple as a makeshift alarm clock was a cakewalk.

Alex's mouth twitched in a faint grin as he looked at Sam. Every once in a while, he would simply marvel at how lucky he had been to have her. When he really thought about it, he was luckier than he thought. From the moment when he had first met her—in a pelican on Onyx, over twenty years ago—things had, for the most part, turned out in their favor. They both passed the selection process for Gamma Company on Onyx, and then they had even been placed in the same team. Of course, their greatest accomplishment had been surviving the Great War.

Alex's smile widened as he leaned over and picked up his pillow. With a quick Hail Mary, he chucked it at his wife. The pillow struck her in the head, making her leap out of the bed with a startled yelp.

Alex's laughter filled the air as he watched his wife's reaction. "HAH-I've never seen you jump like that since that one time back on Onyx when Robin and Tyrone slipped ice into your-"

Alex's reminiscence was cut short by a second pillow smacking him right in the face. He shook his head and regarded his wife silently. "Call it even?" Sam offered.

Alex, seeing the olive branch, accepted without hesitation. "Even," he agreed, with another slight chuckle.

"Now, I'm assuming you woke me up for another reason besides trying to end our marriage?" Sam asked as she crossed over to the footlocker at the foot of her side of the bunk, taking out a set of combat fatigues to put on over her undergarments.

"Well…yes," Alex admitted, walking around the bunk over to the footlocker and doing likewise, "Angiers just radioed up; he wants to see us in the mission briefing room which we were questioned in."

"Ah…" Sam nodded, straightening out her shirt and lacing up her boots. "Wonder what surprises the spook has in store for us now?"

Alex finished lacing up his second boot and stood up, allowing himself another good stretch before heading for the door. Sam followed right behind him. The two Spartans stepped out into the corridor as the doors hissed open. The couple made their way through the groups of naval personnel also populating the corridors to the nearest lift.

Alex cleared his throat and called out, "Deck Ten!" The lift instantly registered the command and began to move, ascending to deck ten from the deck Alex and Sam had previously been on. The lift came to a halt and its doors opened, revealing another network of corridors nearly identical to the ones on every other deck.

Sam led the way through the corridors until they came to the familiar junction which the sub-corridor leading to the mission briefing room was located at. Sam headed down that hallway first, walking right up to the doors. The two guards at the door stepped to the side and allowed the Spartans to pass.

The doors slid open and the Ambroses walked through. Inside the room were none other than Admiral Al-Hassin and Colonel Angiers, both sitting at the table in the center of the room.

Al-Hassin snapped the two Spartans a quick salute, saying, "Glad you two could join us."

"Ready to take us off the shelf, I'm assuming?" Sam asked, not rudely.

"That about sums it up, yes," Al-Hassin nodded. "I received Admiral Rich's confirmation of your identities, so I can allow you to be released."

"What of our friends from the Magistarium?" Alex asked. "When will they be released?"

"We're working on it," Al-Hassin assured the Spartans, "but we cannot exactly send them down to the surface along with you; they would not mix well with our marines."

"Well, they didn't come halfway across the Orion Arm with us to spend the entire battle locked up in a cell," Sam argued, her voice growing hard.

"No disrespect intended, but that is not your call to make, petty officer," Al-Hassin emphasized the rank. Sam backed down, a seed of respect for the admiral planted in her heart. Not many officers had the minerals to stand up to an annoyed Spartan.

"We are not leaving your friends to rot in there, but until we can finish interrogating them they must remain right where they are," Admiral Al-Hassin explained. He cleared his throat and moved on to other, simpler topics. "Now then, back to business. I will let the colonel explain what is to become of you two."

Colonel Angiers got to his feet and began to speak. "I'm going to be brief; there is not much to explain right now. Early tomorrow morning, we are going to be sending you planetside to Côte d'Azur. We have lost communications with the First Expeditionary Force, but we know they are defending the city of Côte d'Azur from Insurrectionist ground forces, keeping them away from the control center of the orbital defense grid."

"How do we intend to send us in, with the Insurrectionist fleets between us and the planet?" Sam asked next.

"We will discuss that at a later time," Angiers replied simply. "It will be much easier to show you."

"When you reach the surface, your orders are to report directly to General McCandlish; he will tell you which way is up," Al-Hassin told the two Spartans. "So get back to your quarters and rest up; we'll be calling for you at 0015 hours. That will be all, you are dismissed."

Sam and Alex got back to their feet and, after snapping the admiral and the colonel quick salutes, turned on their heels and headed straight out of the room.

"It's not right, keeping Jess and Blaze cooped up like that," Sam muttered as she and her husband walked back into the lift. "They came here to fight; they deserve to fight. They've probably fought longer than a good deal of the boys in green-black on the surface."

Alex ordered the lift to drop down to the deck which the brig was located on. "We should probably visit them one last time," the blue-eyed Spartan sighed, "Least we can do."

Sam gave a hum of agreement as the doors hissed open, allowing the Spartans to walk through. Alex led the way this time through the labyrinth of corridors which ran through the interior of the Blood and Iron. Soon, they reached a large set of double-doors which opened by slitting into four pieces and sliding back into the walls, floor, and ceiling.

A petty officer who looked like boredom was going out of style lounged behind the console desk in the front room of the brig. He recognized the two Spartans almost instantly—word of the super-soldiers' presence on board had spread throughout the crew like a wildfire in a forest of dry twigs. "They're the only ones being kept in here," the petty officer said, already knowing what the Spartans were there for, "go on back, and please don't try to break them out; it wouldn't go well with my superiors."

"Mm-hmm," Sam grunted, heading straight for the corridor behind the console desk. Alex followed his wife into the hall. Lining both sides of the short corridor were medium-sized holding cells, separated by thick titanium walls, but without anything in front. Two of the cells had glowing force-fields barring the fronts of the only two occupied cells. Alex and Sam walked up to the first cell and saw O'Riley inside, fast asleep. They had nothing to say to him, and so they moved on to the second cell.

"Hey!" Blaze leaped out of his cot in the corner of the cell, running up to the force field. The black-haired thirteen-year-old stopped himself from hitting the force field just in time, but he still cut it pretty close. "You finally letting us out?"

Sam shook her head. "No dice, kid," she said apologetically, "It's not our call. They need to finish questioning you."

"They've been at it for two freakin' days already," Blaze grumbled, sitting back down on the floor, resting on his elbows. "What more can they possibly have to ask?"

"You'd be surprised…" Alex murmured.

Jess sat on the edge of her cot, not bothering to move. "You're leaving, aren't you? That's why you've come now, of all times," she guessed, pretty much summing up the Ambroses' visit. Her voice lowered and she asked quietly, "Have you found him?"

Sam shook her head dejectedly. "No…no, he isn't with the Insurrectionists here…we have no idea where he is."

"He'll come," the voice nearly startled Sam and Alex when it issued suddenly from the adjacent cell. Liam O'Riley sat on his cot near the force-field, now awake and alert. "He'll be here soon," the former deputy director of Shade Branch said, "And when he arrives…believe me; you'll know when he arrives. The Director must have taken him on a detour to link up with the Weapon; otherwise it would be here already. Be patient."

"Find him," Jess almost whispered, her voice adamant with resolve and determination. "Find him, alright? Tell him…tell him that I'm sorry…I'm sorry that I wasn't able to-"

Alex held up a hand, quelling the thirteen-year-old. "He'll get the message," the blue-eyed Spartan chuckled. "We have to get going, so…well, if we never make it back…well, just good luck, aight? Good luck to you both."

Sam and Alex exchanged farewells with the two Illuminati youths and terse, but mutually respectful nods with O'Riley as they left. The two Spartans walked all the way back to the lift and returned to their deck, heading straight back into their quarters.

Alex flopped out on his side of the bunk, lying motionless for a few seconds before pulling himself back up, peeling off his shirt, and pulling the blanket up over himself. Sam slipped in next to him. Alex rolled over and rested an arm over his wife's side. She held his hand with her own and the two of them lay there in silence for a few minutes.

Alex was content to let the moment last as long as possible; he and his wife had rarely had the chance to be together on their own in a long time. Odds were they wouldn't get another chance for a long while, either. Love had no place on a battlefield.

"I miss him, Ace," Sam murmured to her husband, using the old nickname which she had called him during the Great War. "I miss him so much…"

"We'll find him, Sam," Alex said firmly.

"Will we?" Sam let out a deep breath and rolled over onto her other side, coming face to face with her husband. "Will we, Ace?" she asked, "We should have found him in the Cruciamentum on Nemesis III. We should have found him in Portus Illuminatus; both times we missed him by a matter of minutes, and then days. Will we find him here? The way it looks to me, the universe seems pretty keen on keeping us and him apart-"

"Hey," Alex's voice grew stern. He pressed his forehead against Sam's and said, "Don't think like that. It does us no good and it doesn't help Robin. 'If you march into battle expecting to fail, odds are that you probably will," the blue-eyed Spartan said, reciting one of the many mantras the Spartans had learned as kids in Camp Currahee on Onyx, during their training.

Sam had to see the logic in that. "Oh, you're right…I just get stressed out by this…this whole…thing sometimes…"

Alex decided to change tack. "So…what do you make of Jess? I mean, we've certainly gotten to know her and Blaze during our trip here, but-"

Sam's laughter was not cynical or bitter—this laughter was actually lighthearted and amused. "Oh, she's got the hots for Robin; she couldn't make it any more obvious if she said so with a bright neon sign bolted to her forehead."

"Kind of makes me nostalgic, you know?" Alex chuckled, "Reminds me of the old days on Onyx…those nights in the forests evading the DIs…and our banyan tree…"

The memories brought a smile to Sam's face. "I remember that tree…"

"Or our place on the banks of the Twin Forks River…that was where our first kiss was," Alex murmured.

Sam leaned in close and kissed her husband, prolonging it for several seconds. "Like that?"

"Yeah, like that."

"Only you kissed like a nine-year-old," Sam chuckled.

"Hmm, maybe that's because we were nine years old."

"Really? I thought we had been ten…"

"No, we were definitely nine," Alex said stubbornly, completely certain.

"Well forgive me; I don't have a sniper's knack for precision," Sam rolled her eyes. She remained silent for a minute or two, deep in thought with herself. Alex was brushing her hair out of her face, but she barely noticed. "Well…" she finally murmured, returning to reality, "I wouldn't want to be one of the sorry sods who are holding Robin when we find them…I bet that he's already threatened them with us…"

That was enough to make Alex chuckle. "Yeah, I bet he has…he probably threatened O'Riley with us, and that Holtz character, too…if whoever the Illuminatus really was isn't shaking in his boots with fear right now, then he damn well should be…"

Sam's laughter mixed with Alex's. "What was it that those ancient Greek warriors used to do in the old days? First we drink, then we fight."

"Well, we can't exactly get wasted when we're going to be dropped into the biggest battle since the end of the Great War in just a few hours."

"It was just a saying, Ace," Sam chided her husband, "I'm just saying…we probably won't get another night like this for a long time, maybe even forever…"

Alex caught the drift and allowed himself a full smile, something which he hadn't done with happiness since before his son had been kidnapped in the beginning of August. Sam and Alex both looked right at each other. Pine green eyes met electric blue, and between them passed unanswered questions and reassurances. They both gave a barely perceptible nod; they would find their son, and they would make the sorry sons of bitches who had torn him away from them even sorrier.

Alex and Sam leaned in close once more and their lips brushed. They left it at that for a few seconds before going into a full kiss and embrace. Alex returned his wife's advances, giving himself over to the pent-up emotions which had been welling up inside of him for the past four months. Time lost most of its meaning, sliding by like water in a sieve; unobstructed, smooth, free…


Alex-G004 lay back on his half of the bunk in the small quarters given to him and his wife by Admiral Al-Hassin. He was panting heavily, trying to recover his breath. Next to him, Sam-G113 was doing likewise.

"Wow…" was all Alex said, pulling himself into a sitting-up position and lacing his fingers behind his head.

"We haven't gone three times in a night since we were teenagers," Sam breathed, resting her head on her husband's chest.

Alex chuckled at that. He exhaled and let his arms fall to his sides, caressing a finger down his wife's back. He felt Sam shiver from the movement. "Maybe we should get ready soon," the blue-eyed Spartan mumbled.

"Not a chance in Hell," Sam's reply was. She lifted up her head and put an arm around her husband's neck, drawing him close. "My turn to play slacker."

Alex kissed his wife right in the nape of her neck and worked his way up until he reached her mouth again. Like the rest of the night, if someone had asked them how long they went, they wouldn't have been able to answer.

Just as Sam and Alex started to sink back down into the pillows, the loud, obnoxious beep beep beep of the COM unit on the stand next to the bunk cut through the small quarters.

It took the two Spartans a few minutes to hear it, and when they did their first impulse was to ignore it, but after another few minutes it was clear that it wasn't going to go away.

"Well, fuck…" Sam sighed, breaking off and lying back on her pillow.

Alex muttered something along those same lines as he rolled over and reached out to the COM, activating it and stopping the wretched beeping. "Yeah?"

"What the hell were you two doing in there; I've been calling for nearly ten minutes!" Colonel Angiers sounded flustered and extremely impatient.

"Been a while since we've gotten any sleep, sir; took us a little while before it woke us up," Alex's excuse was.

"Right," Angiers responded, though Alex could tell that the Colonel was really saying bullshit. Thankfully, Angiers let it rest and moved on to more important matters. "It's time, Alex. We need you two down in sub-cargo bay 17 immediately."

Alex's ears perked up. Sub-cargo bay 17 was a highly-restricted area on the Blood and Iron; something was definitely up. "Anything special I should know ahead of time?"

"No," Angiers's reply was, "just make sure you're nice and flexible by the time you get down here. Angiers out."

Alex deactivated the COM with a cryptic look. After a second, he sighed and shrugged; the ONI officer would explain what he meant sooner or later.

"They want us, don't they?" Sam asked, rolling over to Alex's back and talking to him over his shoulder. "For the battle?"

"Mm-hmm," Alex murmured, turning over in the bunk so that he was facing his wife once more, "Angiers just radioed up; they want us down in the restricted cargo-bay."

Sam gave an interested hum. "I won't even bother asking what for; no self-respecting ONI officer would give us a sensible explanation right away…"

"Well, I won't tell you you're wrong," Alex grinned, planting one last kiss on his wife's lips before pushing back the blanket and swinging himself out of bed. He looked around the floor and found his some of clothes and Sam's scattered all over the room. "How did everything get thrown all over the place?" the blue-eyed Spartan murmured, wondering aloud.

Sam shrugged innocently. "No idea."

Alex pulled on his boxers and camo-pattern pants, looking around for his shirt. "Honey, you see my shirt anywhere?"

"Yeah, it's over here," Sam hopped out of the bunk as well and picked her husband's shirt up, tossing it over to him. She quickly slipped into her undergarments and fatigues before scouting out her socks and boots. Both Spartans laced up their boots in record time, getting back up to their feet and heading for the door.

"Sam…your hair," Alex cautioned his wife.

Sam took a quick look in the mirror. Her hair was…well, it wasn't exactly tidy, so she quickly ran a hand through it and smoothed it down enough so that people who saw it wouldn't jump to conclusions.

That done, the Ambroses left their quarters for the last time, making their way down the corridors to the lift which they had used before. They waited in front of the lift for a few seconds as the weight-sensitive sensors in the floor picked up their presence and called the lift over to their location. The doors hissed open and the Spartans walked in.

Once inside, Alex called out the location of his and Sam's destination. "Sub-cargo bay 17!"

The lift did not move. A light appeared at the ceiling and a voice spoke out of the walls. "You are asking to be diverted to a restricted area; please provide proper identification by placing your eye near the retina-scanner," the voice instructed. The voice was a deep baritone—the voice of the shipboard AI, no doubt.

Alex and Sam both moved over to the small retinal scanner and held their right eyes close to it, blinking briefly as the laser snapped out to read them.

After they were done, the AI must have been satisfied, for the bright light snapped off and the lift lurched and began to descend down into the bowels of the Blood and Iron.

The lift came to a stop close to the bottom of the fleet carrier and towards the center of the ship. The lift came to a halt and hissed open, revealing a short hallway lit by dim, red lights. Alex and Sam stepped out of the lift, warily proceeding down the short corridor and to the doors at the other end. When they reached the doors, they hissed open as well, revealing a large cargo bay filled with weaponry equipment, special equipment, supplies, and what looked like a type of sub-prowler occupying the center space.

Across the sub-cargo bay was Colonel Angiers and a team of ONI technicians. They were standing near a row of large walk-in cylinders slightly larger than cryo-pods. Alex looked closer at the containers and visibly jumped with surprise when he saw what was inside. He felt Sam stiffen beside him as she did likewise.

Inside three of the containers were none other than three suits of pure black MJOLNIR Power Armor.

"Alex, Sam, good to see you both," Colonel Angiers gave them a friendly nod, something unusual to see from an ONI officer. "I don't think I need to explain what your purpose for being here is," the ONI colonel began, gesturing to the power armor suits behind him.

"MJOLNIR Power Armor…" Alex breathed, disbelief rendering his voice quieter than normal. "Am I dreaming?"

"It'll be the best dream you've ever had if you are," Angiers assured Alex.

A deep, almost giddy sense of excitement bloomed in both Alex and Sam; they had never been able to use MJOLNIR before. During the Great War, Spartan-IIIs had used modified ODST-variant armor and Semi-Powered Infiltration armor. Both models were far inferior to MJOLNIR, but MJOLNIR had been much too expensive to produce for over three-hundred super-soldiers.

"I would like to introduce you to MJOLNIR Mark VIII power armor," Colonel Angiers gestured to the suits of MJOLNIR again with a flourish. "All of our other suits are in use by several of your brethren who are already fighting on the surface; these are the spares. However, it is unbecoming of Spartans such as yourselves to fight on the battlefield in your skivvies and fatigues, so we will be issuing you two of these suits. Try not to blow them up; they cost a fortune. Mark VIII has all of the qualities and components of Mark VII and VI, only we have made improvements to the energy shields and the ballistic gel layer. You will be able to withstand much greater impacts and much greater damage than you have ever been able to before. With a suit like this, you could have waded through several files of grunts and jackals from the Great War without even breaking a sweat."

"We were able to do that without MJOLNIR during the Great War," Sam reminded the colonel.

"Of course," Angiers chuckled, "But during that time, you had to dodge bullets—avoid getting shot—to survive. With MJOLNIR, you will no longer need to. Only Spartans can wear this armor, so it's not as if you will be depriving some lucky marine of his chance for fun. I'll turn you over to Mr. Gonzales, here, the Chief Technician in charge of this bay."

Technician Gonzales, a short, tan, mustachioed man with Hispanic characteristics and a slight, Mexican accent gave the two Spartans a quick nod. "Since you two are new to wearing MJOLNIR, we will have to make sure you can make sense of your ups and downs once you're outfitted. Right now, I'm going to have you two get into your armor; no sense in delaying."

A pair of technicians directed Alex to the suit on the right while another two led Sam to the one in the middle.

"MJOLNIR Mark VIII powered assault armor comprises of four main layers," the chief technician explained to the two Spartans as they got situated. "First, there is the external titanium alloy shell; that provides the bulk of the armor's durability, capable of taking great amounts of punishment. It provides cover for your chest-torso area, legs, arms, hips, and calves, with boots and gauntlets for your feet and hands respectively. Second, there is the titanium nanocomposite bodysuit, comprised of a flexible, titanium-based polymer which provides you with the remainder of your protection. Third, there is the reactive metal liquid crystal layer, which forms the inner structure of the suit; this is the crux of the MJOLNIR—it moves with your body and amplifies the force of your muscle movements, increasing your speed and strength five or sixfold. Before, you could flip over or lift warthogs without too much effort; with this MJOLNIR you could practically throw them. And finally, there is the inner skinsuit; this layer does not perform in the area of protection and defense, but it provides you with a suitable environment with changeable temperature and texture in accordance with your bodily needs. Without this layer, you would be wearing half a ton of metal, gel, and crystal directly on your skin."

Alex and Sam listened intently as Technician Gonzales gave a quick run-down on the MJOLNIR's ballistic gel layer and its numerous perks and capabilities. When Gonzales was finished, he took a deep breath. "Alright, I'm going to have you two get those suits on. First, I will need you to remove all clothing before proceeding."

"Come again?" Sam did an almost comical double-take, Gonzales's request taking her completely off guard.

"Your clothes," Chief Gonzales repeated himself. "You cannot wear clothes with MJOLNIR; that is what the inner skinsuit is designed for. Clothes would…well, you just can't wear them; they'll damage the inner workings of the armor."

Sam let out a defeated sigh and obeyed, casting the technicians suspicious glares as she undressed. "Don't get any ideas," she warned them. The technicians all stood rock-still, probably going out of their way to avoid making any kind of expression.

"They're all happily married, honey," Alex chuckled as he peeled off his shirt, tossing it away.

"Never stopped people before…" Sam muttered.

Chief Gonzales waited for the Spartans to completely undress before proceeding. With a sharp whistle, he directed his subordinates to open the MJOLNIR's outer shell. The pressurized suit let out a hiss as it was opened, revealing its insides. A mechanized robotic 'arm' lifted the outer titanium layers up, leaving the second layer of the titanium nanocomposite bodysuit combined with the inner skinsuit. The MJOLNIR's ballistic gel was sandwiched in between those two layers.

Several more mechanized robotic arms partially disassembled the armor, leaving the lower half of the armor fixed to the floor, partially opened. Alex followed the directions of the technicians working with him. He slid his legs into the partially-open armor and pushed until his feet reached the armor's boots. The mechanized arms sealed the MJOLNIR shut around his legs. Piece by piece, his waist, back, chest, and upper torso were also covered in the inner layers of the MJOLNIR until he was left looking like he was wearing an armored vest. The armor for his arms came next, and then his gauntlets for his hands. When the process was complete, his head down to the very top of his neck was the only exposed part of his body. He shuddered as he felt the coolness of the inner skinsuit knitting itself together at a molecular level, becoming seamless, conforming and adapting to his body.

The effect was immediate; when the skinsuit fully adapted to him, Alex could barely feel the armor. Oh, he knew it was there, but with the skinsuit it didn't feel nearly as obvious as it should have. It felt like he was wearing a normal shirt and pants.

Sam's muttered complaints gradually ceased as she felt the same thing. The inner skinsuit felt somewhat refreshing. Undressing for all of the ONI technicians to see was well worth this armor.

After the nanocomposite layer was fully constructed, the mechanized robotic arms, under the careful surgical-like guidance of the ONI technicians, encased Sam and Alex in the external titanium alloy shell. The outer shell was the most durable part of the armor, able to take the greatest amounts of punishment, but it was not a complete shell. It covered the chest and torso, the waist, the legs, calves, feet, and arms, but it did not cover places like the elbow, shoulder, and hip joints, part of the stomach, and the neck. They were completely protected by the flexible nanocomposite layer, but not by the outer layer. This was not too much of a problem, though; the odds of getting hit there were very low, and the energy shields would stop any stray bullets which actually did manage to hit there.

The jet-black MJOLNIR armor was now nearly complete. The mechanized arms all retreated into the ceiling, all except for one; the one with the helmet.

Alex tried to move, but found that he couldn't. He was stuck in the armor, like being stuck up to his neck into a vat of cement after it hardened. A brief sense of panic surged through his mind and he started to struggle, but even his augmented strength was not enough to free himself from the MJOLNIR. He forced himself to calm down, taking deep breaths. A brief glance to the right showed him that Sam had come to the same conclusion. "Why can't I move?" he asked.

"MJOLNIR is power armor," Gonzales explained. "Its power is supplied by the fusion reactor built into your lower back; you cannot see it by looking from the outside, but it is there. Without the reactor, the MJOLNIR is nothing but an unbreakable, lifeless shell; it needs power to be able to move with you. Right now, the fusion reactors are not active, but we will be bringing them online momentarily."

Alex nodded, forcing himself to relax. He did not like the feeling of being trapped like this, but it soon passed. MJOLNIR was like this only for a very small amount of time; the rest of the time, it was what had made the Spartan-IIs into the Titans which they had been.

The technicians cleared out of the container at Gonzales's order. The robotic arm holding the helmet above Alex began to descend. Alex could only look up at it as it came down towards his face.

"Don't look up; look straight ahead," Angiers said to Alex.

The blue-eyed Spartan complied, looking down away from the helmet, staring at a spot straight ahead of him and closing his eyes. The helmet came down over his head and connected with the armor on his neck, sealing itself with a hiss. The MJOLNIR was complete. Alex opened his eyes and gazed out through the MOJLNIR's faceplate. He was still able to turn his head and look around, but the rest of the armor remained stubbornly locked.

"Alright!" Gonzales called out from behind a master console set in a control room up towards the ceiling of the hold. He must have sprinted there during the final phases of the outfitting. "Before I bring you two completely online, I'm going to run through a few basic tests. Stare straight at the wall on the opposite side of the hold. There are a series of four lights built into the wall. I am going to light up each light, and I want you two to look straight at that light when I do."

Alex and Sam both looked straight at the wall and waited for Gonzales's go-ahead. As the chief technician input a series of commands into his console, one of the four lights set in the diamond-shaped square in the far wall winked green. Alex turned his head and looked straight at the light.

"Good, now look at this one…"

The light at the top winked green as well. The two Spartans looked at that one as well. Chief Gonzales ran through the other two lights, and then turned on all of the lights and instructed the Spartans to look straight at each one.

After Sam and Alex did so, he shut the lights off. "Your targeting coordination is sound. I am going to bring your HUD online right now, hold a sec…"

A heads-up display winked into appearance on the inside of the faceplate. It was clearly visible, but it were also transparent, off to the sides, and did not obstruct vision. It was there to be used when needed, but at the same time would never impede a Spartan's ability to fight. There was an empty bar up at the top of the HUD, which displayed the status of the suit's energy shields. At the top-right would normally be a weapons indicator, but neither Spartan was holding a weapon for the gauntlet sensors to detect, so that part of the HUD remained blank. At the top-left was a grenades indicator, but that was also blank. Down in the bottom-left was a small blue circle which was the MJOLNIR's motion sensor, but it was not yet active, as the suit's reactor had not been brought online yet.

"Has everything showed up normally?" Chief Gonzales asked from his observation deck.

"Affirmative!" both Alex and Sam shouted back.

"Alright, that's good!" Gonzales began inputting more commands into his console. "I'm going to bring both of you online now. I want you to step out of your armor stations and walk around a bit, get a good feel for your new bodies. When you are done, return to the cylinders."

Alex felt a small buzz at the small of his back for a moment as the fusion reactor which provided power for the MJOLNIR came to life. The effect was instantaneous; Alex was suddenly able to move. It was not the same as just throwing on a suit of armor and then walking around; the MJOLNIR took every small movement he Spartans made and multiplied them. Alex found that when he tried to walk normally, he ended up taking huge, painful strides, straining his legs. He moved to steady himself, but overbalanced and ended up crashing to the floor.

Several of the ONI technicians turned away, hiding their smiles.

He tried to get back up to his feet, but his movements were changed and altered so much that he ended up just sprawling around on the ground. Alex gave a frustrated growl and lay still for a few seconds, rethinking his strategy. He tried getting up again, but this time, he minimized his movements, making smaller movements than he would normally. The armor compensated and made it seem almost normal. Alex made it to his knees and, carefully, stood up.

"How does it feel?" Gonzales asked from the observation deck.

"Different!" Alex shouted back.

"That's what every Spartan has said. Give it a few minutes; you'll get used to it in no time."

After walking around for ten minutes, knocking over a pile of crates, bumping into the wall eight different times, and nearly crushing one of the technicians, Alex found that he was able to move somewhat easier, only with slight difficulty. It was almost like going from a smaller bike to a bigger one; the bigger bike felt different and performed differently than the smaller one, but after it was used for a small while the biker could scarcely remember what it had felt like to ride the first bike.

The same was true for the MJOLNIR. Alex's brain adjusted to the new capabilities of the MJOLNIR, mostly without his knowing it. A normal man might have had a devil of a time with adjusting to the armor, but within ten minutes the Spartans were walking around in their MJOLNIR like they and their armor had been lifelong friends.

After the ten minutes were up, Chief Gonzales called them back into the pods which their armor had been contained in. Alex and Sam both complied, walking back to their containers, turning around, and backing in.

"Alright, I'm removing the final inhibitors in your armor's programming," Chief Gonzales informed them, "This will give you complete control over your armor, and it will also give you your energy shields. Hold still, please…"

As he input one final command, Alex jerked suddenly, feeling a shock course through his body. The feeling vanished after a split-second. The energy shields sprang into existence around the MJOLNIR, shimmering as they charged up before becoming turning invisible. The energy indicator at the top of the HUD turned completely blue, indicating full charge.

"Alright, that's it," Gonzales hollered down, "They're all yours, Colonel!"

"Thanks, Horatio, pleasure working with you!" Colonel Angiers stood up off of the crate which he had been patiently waiting on. "Come with me," the ONI Colonel said to Sam and Alex, gesturing for them to follow.

Sam and Alex followed Angiers out of the restricted cargo bay and into the lift at the end of the short corridor outside. The lift's doors slid to the side, allowing the threesome in.

"Drop bay five!" Angiers called out, allowing the lift to register his command. Less than a minute later, the lift came to a halt and opened up into a larger, longer super-corridor which had currently-unused ODST drop pods lining both sides. Angiers led the way down the aisle in the center to the other end of the drop bay. He placed his palm at a certain place on the wall, spoke a hushed military password, and leaned in close to a small, black square. A green laser snapper out of that square into Angiers's eye, scanning his retina. After a second, there was a slight hiss and a rectangular door appeared in the wall and slid open, revealing another, smaller drop bay beyond.

There were more drop pods in this new drop bay, but they were different. They were slightly larger, more angular, and they were completely black.

"You will be going into Sigma Octanus IV feet-first," Colonel Angiers explained, "But you will not be using normal drop pods; you will be using these."

"Which are…?" Sam let the question hang in the air.

"These are Single-Occupant Exoatmospheric Long-Range Covert Insertion Vehicles; significantly modified HEV pods," Angiers continued. "We will be able to send you both in without having to break through the Insurrectionist lines. You will simply slip right by them. These HEVs have been outfitted with black stealth ablative coating and counter-electronic systems to render them invisible to unfriendly sensors."

"Stealth pods, basically?" Alex summed the whole thing up in a few words, a skill which he was beginning to become proficient at.

Angiers nodded. "Basically," the colonel agreed.

"What if we head right into an insurrectionist ship; how in hell will any of that fancy technology help us?" Sam asked next.

"These pods are equipped with minor maneuvering thrusters," Angiers replied. "If you end up on a collision course, you will be able to steer out of it. However, if you do have to use the thrusters, you will have to get yourself back on a proper trajectory, otherwise you'll either miss the planet or burn up in the atmosphere. This whole insertion is a big risk, but it is the only way. Now, any last-minute questions? This may well be the last time we see each other."

"Negative," both Spartans said in unison.

"Alrighty, then," Angiers nodded, "Hop right in."

"See you on the other side, Ace," Sam clapped Alex on the back as she climbed into one of the stealth HEVs.

Alex selected the stealth HEV next to the one Sam was climbing into. The blue-eyed Spartan opened the pod up and climbed inside, strapping himself in and bringing the power systems online. He hit one of the buttons to his left and the HEV entrance slid down shut and was sealed.

Colonel Angiers walked past and knocked twice on the front of the stealth HEV. Ready?

Alex replied with a knock of his own, rapping his armored fist against the side of the pod's interior. Ready.

Alex could hear Angiers do the same with Sam. Alex's MJOLNIR's built-in COM system crackled to life and Sam's voice issued through. "You ready for this, Ace?"

Alex could hear his own heartbeat, but he was not nervous or afraid. He was almost eager. "I've been ready for this for four months."

After a few more seconds, Angiers's voice came over Alex and Sam's COMs, saying, "Good luck, Spartans. Until we meet again."

Alex took a deep breath and gripped the hand-grips situated at the base of the arm cavities set into the back of the HEV, which the occupant lay on. He felt a small jolt as the stealth pod began to move. His view of the drop bay was replaced by a generic bronze-red-lit titanium as his pod was lowered through the expanse of hull separating the drop bay from the underbelly of the Blood and Iron. Finally, the viewport set into the front of the stealth pod rewarded Alex with a brilliant vista of star-sprinkled black. Sigma Octanus IV was visible in the distance, along with the hundreds and hundreds of Insurrectionist ships barring the Seventh Fleet from the planet.

With a final jolt, the stealth pods were launched free from the fleet carrier. Alex looked down through the viewport at Sigma Octanus IV, which, nanometer by nanometer, was growing larger as the stealth pods slid through space towards it.

"Let's go get 'em."