Federation Forward Ops Base 'Mars'

Barito Badlands

Several miles South of the Forward Unto Dawn's crash site

A dozen buildings and bunkers, lined with plasma gun emplacements and painted the bright white and scarlet of the Federation Armed Forces, towered over the old asphalt highway of the Rimworld. Almost two hundred soldiers of the First Legion manned this outpost. Peacekeepers of the highest caliber. The most well-trained men and women that the Federation could muster in defense of her borders patrolled the land, with Bions and mechs beside them.

From the third story of the command post, a heavily reinforced, Foerum-protected bunker embedded into the side of the tallest mountain in the badlands, a single woman stared out at her soldiers, on patrols, in formation or just resting. In her hand was a combination of melee weapon, cane and precision plasma rifle. She pushed her long, raven hair over the shoulder of her scarlet armor.

Red, gene-engineered eyes locked onto a patrol of Bions returning from battle. Bearing marks of damage in the form of dented armor and scorch marks, the tank-bred clones marched on nonetheless, back to their tanks. Content with the image of the sunrise bringing light to the ferro-concrete roads of the outpost, the commanding officer of the Federation First Legion turned herself to the command center.

Holographic consoles lined the rear wall, where operations chiefs, communications officers and requisition corps AI maintained a thorough, well-built logistics division that provided all ground troops with the food, armor and weapons used to run the well-oiled, hundred-thousand strong army present on the planet. In the center of the large room, resided a holographic display table presenting images of the planet itself. It, too, was surrounded by Federation techs rummaging through the data.

The woman descended to the holographic table, eyeing a section of the planet that was run by roaming bands of tribals, pirates and an odd species. She hummed. Turning her head to one of the techs at the table, she asked, her voice smooth, yet authoritative, motherly, yet harsh "Have we received word from the scouting unit we deployed to Sector 12?" and she smirked as she saw the tech visibly shudder.

"N-No, commander... We haven't." He weakly responded.

She looked up at the sector and said "Zoom in for me." watching as the globe spun and narrowed down onto one area. Sector 12 was a mountainous region with few, if any passes in-between its many, tall mountains. Yet, sensors detected seismic activity from one of its tallest peaks down, almost as if there had been an impact. The few active spy satellites they still had were not going to be orbiting directly over that area any time soon. She licked her lips, then asked again "What about the mercenaries we sent in search of our lost trooper?"

"He has just arrived, ma'am." The Commander heard a gruff, harsh male voice speak from the door. A single scarlet 'eye' served as the visor for an angular helmet with a large face plate, fastened into place by a dozen small Foerum supports. On his right shoulder, attached to a thick breastplate was a black and red cape and on his back, a high-power, experimental Plasma rifle, given only to the soldiers and commanders of the Unity Guard, the Federation Peacekeeping Corps's best.

He was one of her best soldiers and friends. She remembered him fondly for what he had been before the Mechanoids struck, not for what he was now:an amalgam of biological engineering and hyper-advanced, ancient alien tech. Alas, he was an asset. One that proved very useful.

He and his soldiers dragged a single man into the room. Stripped of weapons and the almost ancient combat armor he had worn when out on mission, the man was left only in a Battle-Dress Uniform with camouflage reminiscent of an old Terran nation's best. The soldiers tossed him to the floor in front of the commander, which garnered a grunt of pain from him.

She took a knee, then said "I hired a squad of your mercenaries... Where are your comrades?"

He looked up, right into her burning scarlet eyes, then said with spite "Dead... The girl you sent us after had backup..."

The Commander made no effort to hide her confusion and surprise, stating matter-of-factly "She was supposed to be alone. She deserted, after all." before she looked to her Captain and said "Go find her former squadmates..."

"It was a big motherfucker, not one of yours... Not by the armor." The ANVIL Contractor corrected, then pushed himself into a seating position by the stairs. "Hell, I'd almost say he was Greydale or Jotun..."

"Greydale don't have large operations in this sector of the galaxy and Jotun is still busy with the Mechanoids on their planet.." She glared at him. "And I don't think mere tribals have the skill or knowhow to make armor and gear out of Plasteel."

"You'll see if you meet the guy... He and the girl murked everyone in my squad."

The Commander shook her head and sighed in disappointment, before standing up. The ANVIL operator started to speak, but one fell swoop from the woman's weapon shut him up. His head rolled on the floor, right at her feet. The tip of the cane then struck the floor with a loud crack. Her gaze swept the command post and saw that every single one of those there had stopped, staring at her with wider eyes than before. All, but the Captain. She looked to him, then said "Instruct a force from outpost Sigma to scout that location. Tell them to deploy Seekers and Stalker Bions."

"Understood, Commander Sereniz." The Captain spoke, saluting. He walked off...

She turned to everyone, then spoke "This planet clearly needs us more than ever. Peacekeepers of the Federation, look upon what man's wildness can do, but do not despair! We are those who will bring the light to this wretched rimworld and deal with any threat that may arise, be it mechanoid or human! Continue your work, for we will all return to the Core Worlds as heroes. In honorem foederatio!"

"In Honorem!" The soldiers cried "Et in honorem praefectus Sereniz!"

With a content smile, the woman returned to the window, stopping only to wipe the blood of the ANVIL merc that was on her boot on the corpse.

"How're you holding up?"

The Spartan had noticed Sara tending to minor wounds with one of the IFAKs they got off of the ANVIL fire-team. Going by what he found on the squadron of PMCs, these men were hired to kill Sara, presumably by the Federation if they were willing to send Bions after her. She was also re-stacking magazines for use later in the day. Standard ANVIL kit seemed to be old Russian armaments, weapons and even BDUs from before the formation of the UEG. More specifically, the team now had a stack of 6B43-type armor, nicknamed the 'Fort' in one of the ANVIL Mercs' memoirs.

Aside from the armors themselves, they got Altyn helmets with visors, AK variations ranging from the basic 47 to the 103, 104 and even 105 and dozens of Russian-made grenades. He'd yet to answer to Sara, though. So, he did so with the most monotone voice he could give, still processing what was going on while Cortana worked on the data"I'm fine."

She hummed, "Right..." before turning back to her wounds. "Say... Did you know this planet's called after an old desert on the Capital Planet?"

"Oh?" He asked, watching the outside.

"'Mo-Jave', I think... I don't know how it's pronounced." She shrugged, before sliding one of the magazines back into the AK. John hummed and Cortana chuckled.

"Mojave. Like the Mojave Desert, back in the old United Republic of North America." She quipped. John had figured, but... He looked up at the sky. A flash of light high in orbit was followed by a deep rumble and the sight of a dozen small meteoroids entering the upper atmoshpere. And Cortana added "Well... That was unexpectedly unlucky. Mayday signal from a transport vessel called 'TCF Persephone'. And I'm detecting a dozen escape pods coming down... Well, nuts, five of which are gonna land nearby."

"What was that?!" Sara jumped to her feet, approaching the door and looking up. "... Oh, shit."

"Civilian ship..." John murmured.

"And drop pods. Five, coming in close." She said, pointing exactly at the pods Cortana was tracking. The two soldiers exchanged a glance, then watched the pods arc down into the valley. A loud thunder bellowed across the mountainous region as the escape vehicles' thrusters powered. The vehicles landed about half a kilometer ahead of them, deep in the forest. The two stepped off without a second thought.

And Cortana hummed "Well, at least I know you two think alike."

Entering the forest, the two soldiers sprinted, with the Chief taking he lead while Sara hanged back, running slower to conserve energy for her own sake. She was wearing heavier armor and was hauling a gun and enough ammo for said gun in the rig. The rustling leafs, the blowing wind and the floor and bushes being littered with resources. The Chief slowed, raising his rifle and scanning the treeline. Sara went to cover his back.

The Spartan's motion tracker pinged 4 unknowns around them. One was right ahead...

And the rack of an automatic rifle's bolt was enough for the two to train their weapons on a red beret. Clad in a light set of 21st century armor, the soldier was a woman. A pair of emerald eyes, wide as saucers, locked with those of Sara. Slowly, the women lowered their rifles, then the redhead beamed. With a soft voice, she said "So that's where you went, Sara."

"Pris... Long time no see." The Drop Trooper responded, a dumb smile plastered on her face.

"That, it has." Her friend slung her rifle on her back. She gave Sara a once-over, then snorted and asked "Running ANVIL kit nowadays?"

Sara looked down at her gear, then said "Oh, right... No, this is stuff we got off an ANVIL platoon that tried to kill us. Armor, ammo and the AKs." and looked between the Chief and the woman ahead and noticed the Spartan staring between both of them. He had slung his own rifle on his back and was staring at her now as if he asked the relation between her and Pris-Ooooh. Right. Sara quickly realized her mistake and, with a smile, she motioned to the redhead with a military beret, explaining ecstatically "Right, sorry Chief, this is Sergeant Priscilla Bellerose. One of my fellow drop troopers. Pris, this is the Master Chief. He's helped me stay alive."

"Chief, huh?" The woman approached the Spartan. She found herself needing to crane her head up to look him in the visor. To that, she quipped "Christ, you're a tall one." before extending her hand, "A pleasure, big guy. Hope Sara wasn't too much trouble for you." an ear-to-ear grin on her face. Chief grasped her hand firmly and shook, before shaking his head. Pris's grin widened, if that was possible.

Chief then said something that spooked Priscilla a bit... "Mind telling the others to pop up?"

With a slight tilt of her head and a snort, Priscilla looked back and yelled "Alright, everyone! We're safe, you can come outta the bushes now!" and whispered "I gotta know how you did that, Chief."

"Hmm." The Spartan answered, watching as the four others emerged. A young woman with long, messy blue hair and grey eyes came out first, an American military woodland jacket draped over her shoulders, covering the body armor. Chief had just now noticed that the leading woman had a favorite set of guns. The G36C Assault Rifle platform, by the old Earth company H&K.

"Haul ass, Zele, we ain't got all day..." Pris quipped. The young woman seemed to hobble a bit and she was pale, but she made it to Priscilla's side. Following her, a redhead beauty with wavy hair approached. She was taller than 'Zele' and seemingly stronger, too, toting an FN Minimi squad automatic weapon. She wore a leather jacket over body armor and a camouflage uniform, with black hiking boots.

"Yo." She waved to Chief. "I'm Miranda Mars, but most of my friends call me Panda. And don't mind me sayin', but Jeez, you're a big guy." and he now noticed both her arms were bionic in nature. Highly advanced bionics, hidden under the sleeves of the jacket and with only the fingers and the wrist servos being visible under a pair of fingerless gloves. On her right wrist, she had a military-grade watch. The bionic arms were a decent explanation to why she could haul the Minimi.

Up next was a girl with raven hair, tied in a ponytail and with a fringe over the right eye. Good enough point to show she was a lefty as she hauled a G36C assault rifle in matching with the others and was dressed in a similar woodlands uniform to the others, with black combat boots and a plate carrier rig. She seemed peppy, a smile as wide as can be on her face. She gave a nod to the Chief, then waved to Sara and finally went to introduce herself "Hey, you two. I'm Paulette Mendez. Happy to meet you."

And finally, a young man with a scoped, bolt-action rifle marched from the shrubs, with a noticeably gigantic rucksack on his back. He was a handsome fellow, not that the girls were lacking in the looks department, Sara thought. The weapon he had was the Canadian-made C14 Timberwolf sniper, with a polymer stock and hardened barrel and, clearly, a large muzzle break device and a 12x scope.

He smiled at the Chief and Sara, then offered a nervous "Hello..." and spoke as calmly as he could "I'm Tyden Boor... Nice to meet you both."

"You two got a place?" Pris looked to Sara. A single nod was the response. She and the Chief took the lead. It wasn't long before the group of 7 were out of the forest. Priscilla whistled aloud, stopping in her tracks and looking up at the Forward Unto Dawn. She yelled out "Holy fuck! Did the Chief come here in that?! Look at it, it's got more guns than most of our fleets!"

"I know, right?" Sara smirked. "Speaking of, Chief, we should probably go scout it out."

"We will, but when the sun rises." He answered "Right now, we need to expand quarters and food production."

"So, dig deeper and make a bigger farm." She smirked. "Gotcha."

"A soldier too?" Priscilla asked, approaching John's left. He hummed approvingly, garnering another smile out of the Sergeant. She spoke "Well, it's good to know me and Sara won't be alone in training the four behind us... They're civvies. Zele's full name is Jenni Ikavalko, by the way ,but she's uh..." and winced "Mute." before looking back to a struggling Tyden.

"I see." Chief hummed, turning back and stopping Tyden, before he grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder. He then asked "I presume this is what you landed in those escape pods with."

"Yeah..." Tyden nodded. "Ammo for our guns, some basic resources like steel, wood and electrical components and a lot of packaged survival meals... So we should probably be good for a bit on foodstuffs."

"MREs aren't really that nutritive, Tyden. You'll probably eat two per serving." Priscilla quipped, looking ahead at the small, mountain-stuck shack that the Spartan and Sara had been using as a home for the time of their stay here. She smirked, then said "Nice building spot. Out of the line of sight and dug into the mountains. Gonna be hard to crack this place when we get it up and running prim and proper."

"That's the plan." Sara quipped. "I'll go ahead and prep the beds."

And she ran off, entering the building first. Priscilla eyed the Spartan, noticing the UNSC Eagle crest on his armor's breastplate. She hummed, then said "So, Chief. Sara just told us you murked a squad of ANVIL troops and stole their things... The hell happened?"

"They were sent after her. We met them while we were gathering potatoes, to plant for our food source." Chief answered, holding the bag by the strap as they walked forward.

Priscilla hummed, unsure if she should be the one to put it out there about her and Sara's occupation. Against her better judgement, she chose to keep it to herself, only asking "I see. Any idea why?" as she checked the rig placed over her armor.

"The Federation want her dead." He answered simply.

The Sergeant chuckled "And, by association, now they want you."

"Probably." Chief then returned as calm as if he was ordering food. The woman blinked, surprised.

"Ain't you concerned? Even as they are on this Rimworld, the Feds have a lot of military power... And energy weapons."

"No. What do you mean?" He looked to her calmly.

"Oh, you don't know? The Federation's collapsed... From the inside out. Smaller nations have begun appearing."

"I see... And..." He raised a brow.

"We were on a colony ship heading to a world in another system when something went wrong. Anyways, the point is, the Feds probably have an army here and if you managed to piss them off, they'll becoming our way soon enough." She explained rather thoroughly. She grinned, noticing how calm the Spartan seemed to be about this. Either the guy really didn't know the Feds that well, or he was confident in his own skill. They had made it to the door.

He nodded, already having figured out the need for defenses, "Mhm."

"So, as you probably already thought, we should expand defenses." She basically put it into words already... He hummed.

Then he answered calmly "Yeah." before he opened the door and put the supply bag on a wall, leaning it against it. He saw Sara had just finished the assembly of the beds, standing up proudly. She gave a quick thumbs up as the team entered the small, cozy cottage and set their gear aside. Zele was the first to sit down on the bed in the far corner, leaning her rifle on the wall beside the bed.

Priscilla stopped in the middle of the room, then turned to the others and said "Well, folks... Looks like we got lucky. I'd be ready for work tomorrow. Zele, you're gonna help Sara plant our food, I imagine." receiving a nod from the mute. The Sergeant looked to Chief, then said "I guess you're gonna be setting us up with how we work and the likes? We came with a few seed for different plants in the bag, so..."

"That's good." Chief nodded.

"Aye aye. What'll ya have me and the others do?" She asked.

"Patrols, mining and expanding our living... And probably research." He answered, sitting himself down on his reinforced steel cot. She smirked, then gave an approving nod, before noticing the makeshift stove ,table and lights. Yeah, Research to expand power output was probably gonna be necessary, since a rinky-dink generator like the one outside wouldn't count for shit if they needed defenses. A solar farm and maybe a thermal generator, if they could find a vent in the cave they were in. Right now, though, the Sergeant went to her own bunk, sat herself down, set her rifle aside and wiped her eyes, before suggesting "Maybe Tyden should work as our hunter... He's got the longshot rifle."

Chief looked to Tyden, who gave his approval, clutching the Timberwolf sniper close. The Spartan approved the choice, watching as Paulette and Panda unloaded the supplies in the bag. Steel, components, wood and MREs, just like Tyden said. Tomorrow, he and Sara will probably be gone scouting while the others worked. Right now, though, they needed rest. And rest the team would have.