February 19th, 2560/ unexplored region of the outer rim.

There was a calm, quiet atmosphere inside one of the several cryo-bay onboard the Spirit of Fire. The entire room was near silent with no activity as several thousands of cryo-chambers were lined up against each other, the only sounds throughout the cryo-bay being the low humming from the generator.

Most of the crew onboard the Spirit of Fire were frozen, except for a small fraction assigned to do scheduled maintenance now and then to make sure the ship and its systems were still functioning and operational. Including Isabel who would constantly everyone's vitals twenty-four-seven around the clock.

Thanks to the cryonic suspension done to their bodies, metabolism was almost zero for them, preventing aging and eliminating the crew's need for food, oxygen, and warmth while they were frozen in cryo. And though it would take a while for them to get to their destination, and knowledge of the possible danger on the other side once the ship was out of slipspace, the crew would be ready for anything once they were up and about.

As time aboard the Spirit of Fire passed, the majority of the crew was still frozen in cryo with exception of the skeleton crew sent out to do their scheduled maintenance work while the ship continued its course through slipspace. Approximately fifteen minutes later, several pods began to open up containing medical personal who began to wake up the crew from their slumber.

One of many thousands of individuals amongst the crew to wake up is a Spartan two in his twenties, Commander Jerome-092.

The Spartan two regained consciousness just as the door to his pod opened with the interior lights cranked up to maximum, squinting his eyes at the brightness. Jerome proceeded to push himself up from his pod's bed, clumsily climbing out of the tube and steadying himself against the railing in front of him.

He sat up and drew his first breath in two or three weeks, and coughed up the surfactant that coated his lungs and throat until a string of clear fluid flowed into his mouth, and swallowed, his taste buds tasting the bitterness of the liquid as it went down his throat. The liquid he swallowed was a bronchial surfactant, with its purpose to coat and protect the lungs upon entering cyro-sleep, and then to be regurgitated and swallowed upon awakening, replacing nutrients lost during the journey through splipsace.

Jerome proceeded to take several long, deep breaths and blinked several times, letting his eyes adjust to the cryo bays interior lighting. He saw his empty cryo chamber with its door wide open in front of him and looked around to see several other pods open up with the crew climbing out of them.

Every crew member who was awake followed standard UNSC cryo wake-up protocols, checking up on each other to see if they've revived from cryo alright. With more of the crew waking up, a large portion of them was partially naked as they emerge from the cryotubes, due to the extremely high risk of having blistered skin once they emerge with clothing on.

Some of the crew, however, did have dedicated cry-suits they put on before entering two weeks prior.

But for him though, Jerome emerged with his whole suite of MJOLNIR Gen 4 armor on. His armor had all the basic components, features, and advancements that the GEN4 platform provided, ranging from the wrist-mounted grapple shot, MJOLNIR GEN4 Bios, and SPDR counter intrusion measures to name a few.

His team's specific variant however was a brand new version of the Mark 4 that professor Anders personally created, ironing out some of Halsey's errors, to put it bluntly, she was genius.

Though the spartan did not feel any immediate pain after coming out of cryo with his armor on, he still went ahead with a team of medical personnel checking up on him and scanning his body for any freezer burn. It was better to be safe than sorry. The medical staff did find a somewhat small amount of freezer burn beneath his armor's bodysuit, with the Spartan also having his suit run a medical diagnosis, detecting the freezer burn the doctors found.

Thankfully though, there was little to no pain that would bother him for the most part, thanks to his training in dispelling training.

"Whelp, that it, commander. You're good to go." one of the doctors told Jerome as she lowered her handheld datapad.

He nodded his head at her just before she and her team left.

Jerome proceeded to follow protocol and help the rest of the crew who just woke up or were in the process of waking up from cryo. He walked across the cryo bay, helping out anyone he could in the process. The spartan was just about done helping out the rest of the crew when someone caught his eye.

Jerome looked and saw one of the crew members wearing a white cryo suit suddenly collapse onto the floor, causing the Spartan and a medic next to him to rush towards them. Jerome grabbed and lifted the crew member from the floor and sat him straight up on a nervy bench behind them. The medic proceeded to make sure he was alright, doing medical procedures per UNSC regulations.

He inspected the crew member in question, seeing he was still in his teens with shaved black hair, bluish-green eyes, and fair skin. The Spartan thought he was one of the recruits they picked up before the Spirit of fire departed until the medic helped him take off the upper half of his cryo suit, revealing tattoos on both of his arms which bore a skull and a drop pod behind it, along with a banner at the bottom inserted 'ODST'.

He now knew the young man in front of him was an ODST, one of the many thousands on board the Spirit of Fire and some of the best soldiers the UNSC had to offer.

The ODST cleared the corners of his eyes as the medic checked his eyesight and continued to do any remaining medical procedures on him. While the medic continued his work, the hell jumper looked to his right and saw the Spartan 2 towering over both of them, remaining patient and silent with his hands behind his back. Finally, the medic finished his work and packed up his gear, moving on to the rest of the crew that needed assistance.

Next, the hell jumper got up from the bench he sat on, stretching his legs and arms out before facing the spartan to his right and spoke, "At first, I thought some of the guys here were joking when we boarded, but it seems we have a Spartan commander on board after all."

"You're new around here?" Jerome assumed.

"Yes sir, my and my fireteam were just assigned to the Spirit of Fire before it departed." The ODST replied. "Allow me to introduce myself, sir."

" Corporal Jaron Colton of fireteam Delta." Colten said as he stood at attention." And you must be Commander Jerome of the Spirit of Fire."

Jerome nodded his head and replied, "You got that correct, Lance Corporal."

"Never seen or heard of a spartan being a commander before," Colten commented nervously as he eyed the Spartan two.

"Where's the rest of your fireteam?" Jerome asked him.

"They're somewhere on this deck, either recovering or still asleep," Colten answered. The conversation went on for a while with Colten doing most of the talking before a message popped up on the Spartan's heads-up display from Isabel.

Isabel: Commander Jerome, Captain wants you to check on Red Team ASAP.

Jerome closed the message and said goodbye to Colten, "The captain wants to see me on the bridge, guess that's my cue."

"Alright, sir. Nice knowing you." He nodded at the Spartan."Good luck, hopefully, we'll have the chance to work with each other in the future."

"You too, Corporal." Jerome ended the conversation and walked towards the exit.

He exited the cryo bay and headed for the armory down the hallway. The Spartan entered the room, seeing several marines, army troopers, and ODST's getting dressed into their BDUs and grabbing their gear. He walked past several soldiers and headed to one of the weapon racks where he grabbed a BR75 rifle, Mark 50 sidekick, extra ammunition, and a few M9 fragmentation grenades.

Jerome then left the armory and headed towards the nearest elevator that could take him to a different part section of the cryo bay. A few seconds passed after he pressed the elevator's button with the doors opening, revealing two marines who each gave the Spartan a salute as they left.

"Lieutenant."

"Sir."

Jerome returned the salute with a nod before entering the elevator.


Meanwhile onboard the bridge of the Spirit of Fire, the crew on deck were at their stations doing their duties just as the fleet came out of slipspace. At the front of the bridge stood Rear Admiral James Cutter who looked through the ship's viewport with a mug full of coffee in his hand.

Cutter saw the planet that was in direct view, seeing a Strident-class frigate flying past the spirit. The view was quite pretty from where he stood, seeing half the planets continents in light and darkness out the view part. He then spoke to the ship's AI just as the entire crew of the Spirit of Fire onboard was now fully awake and reported to their stations.

"Isabel, status?" Cutter asked before taking a sip of his well-brewed black coffee.

"Standard orbit achieved. All systems are operating at one hundred percent." Isabel answered after projecting herself onto the holo table behind the Captain's chair.

"Good. Prepare reconnaissance parties and bring the shields and weapons systems online," Cutter took another sip from his mug.

"Expecting trouble captain?"

Cutter placed a mug in his chair's cup holder and walked towards the holo table behind him, bringing up a 3D projection of the planet they were now orbiting." This system may be ours now but I wouldn't be surprised that the Banished would want us caught off guard like before."

"Banished clocking technology was always had to deal with Admiral," Isabel agreed with the Rear Admiral.

Isabel's is a smart AI originally assigned to the Henry Lamb Research outpost to guide the activation and direction of the installation's massive Retriever Sentinels used to conduct repairs on the Ark. Before long, those Retriever Sentinels were able to work unsupervised, and Isebel and the team set to the immense task of researching and cataloging the Ark.

This work was tragically cut short by the unexpected closure of the portal to Earth and the Banished's assault. Now she was given a chance to strike back at the banished with the aide of the Spirit of Fires factories. Her vast knowledge of technology and military science gives her an edge when using and improving vehicles as well as making use of subterfuge and disruption tactics on the battlefield.

"However my sensors detected no spacial anomalies in space or on the planet's surface."

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared, Isabel," Cutter said. before bringing up the projection of the planet.

A few minutes eventually passed until the doors to the bridge opened, revealing Professor who walked up to the captain.

"Rear Admiral Cutter,"

Cutter raised his head to greet the professor who rolled her shoulders."Good morning professor. Did you sleep well"

Anders walked to the other end of the holo table across where Cutter and Isabel were observing a projection of the planet in front of their fleet." Well, if you don't mind being on Cryo again, then waking up in another galaxy then yes I had a very good morning."

"I'm glad to hear that, Doctor," Cutter said as he brought up the surface of the planet.

Isabel spoke up after the rear Admiral finished," Building a base of operations on this world isn't going to be easy as we first thought. Besides the native wildlife per military scans detected several structures on the western continent.

"Damn it! That complicates our mission," Cutter exclaimed.

"If you don't like this news, then you're going to love this." Isabel brought up images of a large debris field of ship wreckage that didn't match with any known ship classification in their database.

"Isabel, what are we looking at?" Cutter asked

"A shipwreck, sir," Isabel answered before adding," Or shipwrecks to be more specific."

"So we know what caused this?" Professor Anders questioned zooming in on one of the wrecks, examining its remains closely looking at it every single angle.

Isabel shook her head, "No sadly but I am picking up traces of an unknown energy surrounding the wrecks."

James Cutter brushed his fingers his white beard deep in thought for a moment before giving out orders," Isabel, put together a briefing package once you're finished. HIGHCOM will want to know our status immediately."

"Right away, admiral," Isabel acknowledged before Cutter turned back to professor Anders

"Anders, what did you've got?"

"Captain, I did a more thorough scan of the western region shows no activity on the surface." She said as she pressed the holotable projecting the planet's landscape," like Isabel said there's some kind of structure down there."

"Is it Forerunner origin?" Isabel questioned.

''That's what we're here to find out," Cutter exclaimed as he stared at the designated area, "We're to establish a base to operational status and take control of that site."

The Admiral of the Spirit of Fire then activated the ship's intercom, "Cutter to Jerome."

"Yes, Captain."

Prep, Spartan Red team for a reconnaissance mission, Isabel will send you the coordinates." He ordered knowing that Red Team would get proper support this time," In the meantime, Colonel Kinsano will establish a base on the surface. Be on the ground within the hour, travel light."

"Roger that admiral, recon only."

"Now then, let's see what kind of galaxy we've woken up to..." Cutter muttered, observing the planet below the Spirit of Fire.


An hour later a Pelican Red teams warthog onto the ground as they started towards the waypoint. The Warthog they were driving is a specialized version of the M12B 2560 model with the M46 Valcun or the M343A2 machine gun as its primary armament.

"Ah, It feels so good to have our feet back on the actual ground again, doesn't Alice, " Douglas emphasized on 'real' as he scanned the woods for hostiles.

Alice nodded her head, "You can say that again but that doesn't mean we can relax."

"Alice is right, for all, we know that we're walking right into a trap like last time," Jerome said, reminding Spartan of the time his shoulder was crushed by Atriox.

Douglas grunted as he still felt some aches in his right shoulder, "Well, the next time we meet him we'll be ready."

Passing a couple of squads of marines who were securing the surrounding area as Jerome noticed three D79-TC Pelicans flying overhead, escorted by five AV-14B Hornets heading to Kinsano's position.

As Red team drove through the forest they came to a clearing and saw the UNSC base insight as a D81 Condor carrying a prefabricated 'Pod' firebase came and hovered over the green flares. The Condor then placed their firebase pieces on the ground and released them before returning to the Spirit of Fire.

The UNSC developed modular firebases due to lessons learned in the early days of the Human-Covenant War, in which large UNSC military installations proved vulnerable to orbital bombardment.

The firebase combines the needs of tactical communications, a command center, and expansion into both a barracks and a production facility capable of assembling combat vehicles. The Firebase unit itself is a variant of the old colony starter units constructed out of polycrete and power by a small hydrogen reactor. Because of Gaining a foothold quickly was a key to fighting the insurrections throughout the colonies, ships can directly deploy an entire assembly unit of a Firebase via large dropships such as the D20 Heron or D81-LRT Condor, making it immediately useful.

This ability proved invaluable in the ongoing war with the Covenant and was often considered a key advantage of the UNSC on the ground.

The Expeditionary Firebase on the other hand is another type of lightweight firebase module that can be delivered directly to the battlefield by D81-LRT Condor dropships and was used notably in the Second Ark conflict. But the Spirit of Fire's expeditionary firebases trades a portion of the original Heron-transport 'pod' system's operational flexibility for substantial mass and resources savings.

Unlike the older pods firebases, additional pre-manufactured base structures must be transported to the firebase rather than assembled on-site, but this method saves irreplaceable strategic resources, thus allowing the older pod bases to remain in reserve, with the Heron dropships used exclusively for mass deployment of cargo and troops in secured rear areas.

It is this kind of strategy that kept them all dying on Installation 00.

Up head, Jerome-092 saw a group of marined setting up charges on an old building that collapsed, they stopped working when they saw Red team "Recon one reporting, sir."

"At ease, Lieutenant," Jerome said, before looking at the damaged structure closely," What happened here?"

"One of the structures collapsed an hour ago, Sir." one of the marines sighed, "We've already set up demolition charges to clear a path for the supply Convoys. I don't know what they were defending against, but there are some heavy-duty defenses here."

Jerome couldn't help but agree with him as he saw some of the defenses while passing by however unlike the Research sight, he saw no plasma damage. Indicating that the structure must've collapsed because of extreme old age.

"The charges are set, get clear!" The marine ran for cover while Red team was already safe, a second later a controlled explosion destroyed the collapsed structure clearing a path for them to drive through. At this moment that Alice's sharp eyes noticed something strange with the abandoned buildings.

"Jerome, these are military defenses but they look...old," Alice said.

"Yeah, but the people who built them left in a hurry." he agreed, gaining a look from Douglas.

"Why did they abandon this place anyway?" Douglas wondered, "They must have expected they'll be a vulnerable target."

That's a good question, nobody would just leave all this to rot without a good reason to back it up. What they can tell is that this place was once a flourishing settlement but something happened that forced the residents to abandon it.

Red team continued to drive through the ruins avoiding any obstacles like rocks or debris in their path, all the while recon teams were investigating the rubble. After jumping over a small cliff they came upon more empty buildings but this time it was entirely taken over by the native flora, they could already see some buildings completely covered in rust or slowly crumbling.

"These are homes. No defenses." Alice stated, looking at a collapsed building," The people here weren't soldiers, they were civilians."

It was then the sound of Hornets came flying around on patrol, radioing anything that looks suspicious for the ground forces to investigate. But when Jerome looked up, he was surprised that two hornets were escorting a Condor which was carrying a mini base underneath as it flew past them in a hurry.

The Condor stopped in midair before hovering a green flare which was thrown by another group of marines who started guiding the pilot as to where to place the base mini base as it was slowly set down in the dirt, as it locked itself down into the soil of the planet with its clamps.

"It would seem that Kinsano men are already setting up some outposts," Douglas muttered out.

Colonel Morgan Kinsano always had an... interesting past to say at least.

Before the war, she was a key insurrectionist leader in the outer colonies. It wasn't until the Covenant attacked, sparking the human-Covenant war, did she saw her fellow fighters and family members alike cut down by the unstoppable Covenant war machine. The war scattered the insurrection movement did she signed up to join the UNSC, realizing that if the Covenant killed everyone she wouldn't have an insurrection to come back to.

Her politics and approach to combat might be unusual for the UNSC, but her ruthless fighting style and unorthodox tactics have saved many lives. Even though flamethrowers are not particularly common within the United Nations Space Command. As Hellbringers are occasionally deployed to engage only the most heavily entrenched enemies, in which these marines tend to suffer heavy casualties.

But thanks to Kinsano though, she convinces the top brass to give the Hellbringer corp brand new equipment and tactics to at least lessen the casualties rates. And as a bonus, she was promoted to full Colonel and became one of the longest-serving Hellbringers in the history of the UNSC.

They've driven for another half a minute until they finally made it into another clearing but this time giving the Spartan Fireteam a good view of the large structure before them. The place was a miniature fortress as it was constructed into the base of a cliff face, its steel round dome was slowly falling apart from the elements.

Jerome drove the warthog to the front entrance of the facility before stopping the vehicle to dismount.

"Spirit of Fire, we're outside the structure," Jerome reported through his radio, "Base looked clear from out here."

"Jerome, I've ordered the rest of our forces to secure the area around the base while you investigate," Cutter informed Red team."Kinsano has already sent some of her forces to investigate the western part of the base, so expect friendlies."

"Yes, Sir" Jerome turned to his fellow Spartan-II, "Let's see what's inside."

Learning from last time at the research outpost, the members of Red team took a more cautious approach keeping an eye out as they walked through the main entrance. Unlike the Forerunner installations, this place was more...primitive, but at the same time almost futuristic. Moving quickly through the corridors of the structure and checking every corner for hostiles.

The first room they searched was supposed to be the living quarters but know some native wildlife made it their new home, in the second room had a bar with tables, chairs, and everything for personal to let out some steam, unfortunately, the roof caved in because of years of rust showing sunlight outside.

It took them half an hour until they found what looks to be the command center.

"Holotable, ten o'clock," Alice pointed out.

Examining a holotable closely, Jerome wiped away some of the dust off of it and pressed his hand against the table expecting to turn on but it didn't turn on at all.

"Looks like it's out of power," the leader of Red team muttered.

Douglas tilted his head towards his teammate"The generators must be cut."

Jerome nodded his head in agreement before getting on the radio, "Spirit of Fire actual, this Red team do you read me?"

"We read you, Red team. What's your status?"

"We're all fine here but the power is out and we can't access the main generator from here." He said, remembering seeing some of the corridors of the base collapsed.

"I'll send a squad of engineers your way to fix the problem until then, secure the complex until they arrive."

" We'll be waiting for sir. Jerome out." He then turned to his team who were looking at him.

"You heard the Admiral, let's secure a landing zone so the engineers can land"

The rest of Red team nodded as they walked to secure a landing zone leaving Jerome stopped mid-step to stare at one of the pieces of cloth hanging on a flag pool showing an emblem of a partial Cog while the other part looked like a winged tower the shining light on top, before joining his team.


The surface of Rakata Prime, Maine Banished base of operations.

Lehon also referred to as Rakata Prime and was the homeworld of the Rakata and the secret capital of their so-called infinite empire.

It is a typical world in a remote and relatively unknown corner of the galaxy known as the Tempered wastes, a large void area of space. Its surface is largely covered by oceans dotted by numerous clusters of islands and archipelagos. The planet itself was orbited by two small moons, but one of them was close enough to be visible from the surface during daylight, covering a significant portion of the sky.

It was the only habitat planet in the Lehon system, but it shared an orbit around its primary star with a once ruined space station which was in the process of being repaired and upgraded by a fleet of ships. Each of these ships looks like some sea creature but were covered in armored plating with blood-red painted on their ships.

On Lehon's surface, it was a buzz of activity as multiple species were salvaging the wrecks of old ships which were left during the time of the Jedi civil war. But in one of their citadels, there was a private meeting being held by the four leaders of all the Banished forces present in the galaxy.

There were four Jiralhanae and two Sengheili, each having an important role within the Banished forces in the Andromeda galaxy, three of them are warlords with feard reputations with the last one being a shipmaster. But the last Jiralhanae or brute was completely different than the rest of his species, as he is vicious and cunning Warmaster of the Banished.

Leader and creator of the Banished, Atriox is in charge of the operation on Hoth. While he was brutal just like the majority of his Jiralhanae brothers, he was also a fearsome warrior who rose to power through his fierce tenacity and shrewd strategic planning honed during the Human-Covenant war.

The two warlords went by the names of Pavium and Voridus of the rejuvenated clan of the long shields, who were formally disgraced after releasing the Flood. He was half attempted to execute the two of them but spared them instead when the pair discovered a Forerunner entanglement dish, which he was ultimately able to use to send a brief order to Escharum in a milky way.

The two even claimed to have stopped the Covenant loyalists from attempting to fire the Halo arrays at the cost of their entire pack. However, It would seem that luck was on their side once again, as the human's orbital bombardment uncovered a galactic map room that revealed more forerunner sites in the Andromeda galaxy.

So when he returned to Ark after the rogue AI Cortana tried to kill him by destroying a portion of the Ring. He reluctantly ordered a full evacuation of the forerunner Installation when the portal to Earth opened and traveled to this new galaxy. It took them a full week for them to arrive and it was worth it as they quickly discovered that they weren't the only Jiralhanae and Sangheili in this galaxy.

Thus allowing them to replenish their almost depleted ranks as other flotillas joined them.

Pavium is an architect and siege master, in charge of making the best fortifications of Atriox's command. He is called the unbreakable for a good reason since he is an intelligent individual and had shown great care for those under his command but even though his skill is impeachable however at conflicting times of loyalty to his clan and brother has slowed his advancement in the Banished.

Voridus on the other hand is everything that his elder is not: Glory seeking, impulsive, impatient, vicious, curious, and spontaneous as he is gifted with an intuitive understanding of Forerunner technology. He has ruthlessly exploited the Ark for new resources and knowledge that allowed Atriox to bring them here, and finally, the two Sangheili.

The first Sangheili is known as Murza 'Moramee, the son of the seventeenth Arbiter who was exiled by the prophets and sent to one of their 'Penal' colonies. But like his father, he was driven to control and dominate, with a nearly insatiable bloodlust and ambition.

So when the Covenant fell apart he made his move by starting a massive uprising quickly taking control of the penal colony in just a few hours. Unbound by traditional notions of honor and loyalty he joined the Banished becoming Atriox's sword. And lastly, Let 'Volir, the shipmaster of the Banished CAS-class assault carrier Enduring Conviction, the most powerful warship in the Banished fleet.

The old Enduring Conviction was destroyed at the Ark, but they were able to build a brand new one thanks to a new shipyard they've found at a shield word

Inside the war council, both Atriox and Volir were present in holographic form with Moramee, Pavium, and Voridus in front of them, behind the holographic table in the center of the room.

Finding a secret Forerunner complex that held valuable technology and loots for them to scavage.

"What the status on finding the complex's entrance, you two?" Atriox demanded his two warlords, promoting Pavium to respond.

"We are close to finding it, our Engineers should discover its location and how to unlock it within the next two hours. "

"Good, this planet has plenty of these installations for us to scavage. If you manage to find a way into the shield world, then you and your brother will be back in my good graces"

Pavium spoke up again after his superior finished speaking, "We are still working on that, although every time we capture a human from this galaxy it will still not open."

Atriox frowned after hearing the news, "Hmmm, it would seem that the Forerunners did not think the humans in this galaxy are worthy to wield their creations. It would seem that we have to use that machine once again."

"It would seem, Warmaster," Vordius replied.

"And what of the natives of this galaxy?" Volir brought up, "They'll be a threat to us sooner or later, and most surely search for their missing ships."

Atriox turned towards Volir and answered his question, "The natives will eventually be dealt with when the time comes. But if they do discover us and stand against then you all know what must be done."

They knew what he was referring to as they would glass planets of military value to effectively and permanently cripple the Republic's or Separatists' ability to wage war. To turn their entire worlds into glass, thus wiping out every man, woman, and child just to the galaxy a clear message.

Volir nodded at him and looked back at Pavium, and Vordius, "Continue your search, report back if you've found anything."

"Yes, Atriox." Pavium nodded his head. The two holographic projections of Atriox, Murza 'Moramee disappeared with the two Brute warlords leaving the room, making their way to the exit of the War Council as they chatted with each other.

"I hope we find one of these complexes soon, my men continue to grow restless as we try to look for one," Voridus said to Pavium, his brother.

"Keep them on a leash, Voridus. We can't afford to lose Atroix's favor a fourth time but this time we won't be spared. So your men can have patience and wait like us." Pavium told him.

"Don't worry brother," Voridus punched Pavium's shoulder in a friendly manner."I'll make sure my men get the message and be patient for a little longer this time."

"When we do eventually find one of these complexes, we have to tread with extreme caution. Who knows what kinds of threats may lie inside them? It could be the parasite for we know." Pavium warned remembering the last time they fought it.

"Still worried about the potential threat of the parasite? Our engineers have found zero traces of those abominations on this planet. We'll be safe ." Voridus tried to ease his brother's worries.

"You can never be more prepared for such an occasion if it were to happen again. Still, though, we have to be careful. There are many things about the Forerunners that we do not understand," Pavium responded as they approached the exit.

"I understand Pavium, but don't forget the fact that we are the Banished!" Voridus said as the door opened."Fortune and Glory await us!"

Pavium saw his brother exit the war council and step outside, revealing the rest of the Banished base. The stronghold itself was nothing short of a fortress, sporting the same color scheme and design as the rest of their bases on the planet. Besides the War Council, the rest of the buildings were two harvesters, one power extractor, and a single raid camp accompanied by four spike turrets on each corner of the stronghold's perimeter.

The warlord walked past several of his troops, making his way to the stronghold until an Elite and a Grunt both clad in red-colored Banished armor approached him.

"Pavium!" The Elite stopped in front of him."Our Engineers have made significant progress, and they're close to finding a nearby Forerunner complex. It's estimated to be near one of our outposts."

"Good, anything else to report?" the warlord asked his underlings.

"Yes!" The Grunt replied. "We have leftover parts from constructing both the harvesters and the power extractor, so we're making additional upgrades to them in the meantime."

Pavium smiled at the good news." Report back to me immediately when our engineers have discovered anything new."

"As you wish," Pavium saw the two of them depart and continued on his way towards the citadel, he knew that whatever lies ahead for the Banished, they would be ready for it.


Chapter two is out and I hope you really like it.

Anyway, I gave the Banished a few worlds to recruit from since Cortana destroyed the Brute homeworld of Dosac only leaving the colonies alone. As for the planet that the UNSC found, it's in wild space making it hard to find.

The next chapter will be the Republic's introduction to the Banished and their leader.

So see you in the next chapter.