Chapter 2

Planet: Unknown; Date: N/A; Time: 0600 hours

Dawn. 118 has been on this planet for hours now. He ran all night hoping to make a larger gap between himself...and the Covenant. Since his encounter with the Brute hours before, he hasn't come upon any more opposition. He is now growing very tired and hungry. So he decided to walk a few more feet and then stop and rest. But as he walks forward he notices that light is bursting through the trees just ahead. He bursts towards the light! Running as fast as he can! When he reaches the end he comes to a dead stop. His eyes widen and his jaw nearly drops, it is not the fact that he is now in a vast open plain that startles him, but is the fact that in front of him is a massive fortress!

He approached the massive installation slowly. When he reached it a large blast door, probably 15 feet thick, was blocking his way. Upon closer examination the door was made of pure titanium! Also, the structure itself seemed to be made of steel reinforced concrete. He searched the door for some sort of switch to open it. After searching the right side he found a DNA scanner. So he took his knife and made a small cut on his hand. He then placed his hand on the scanner, hoping that human blood was what was required. The scanner then lit up brightly and the 4 locks on the door slowly slid free, the door then opened in four sections. He drew his pistol and slowly walked inside, not knowing what awaited him inside the belly of this beast!

Once inside, all power in the structure came online and the giant blast door closed once again. 118 found himself inside a massive motor pool. Tanks, Warthogs, dropships and lifeboats were all in specific holding areas specially designed just for their types. All of the guns and other weaponry on the vehicles had full ammunition. As he stood in the center of this vast area he looked around and said, "Was die holle!"(German for "What the hell!"). He then saw a large elevator shaft and in the door way it said "To Level Two". 118 walked to the elevator, got in, and went up to level two.

As the door slowly opened a voice came on an intercom system and said "Level Two. Weapons, Armor, and Explosives." By all of these signs it was clear to see that humans had made this structure, also it didn't look very old and all of the equipment had UNSC markings on it. But 118 had never been informed about this base. Infact, he had no record of this planet or this base existing at all! By the looks of things this was a huge staging area for a massive attack! But on what and where? The second level was chalk full of weapons, grenades, explosives, and just about anything else you would need to have a war. There were massive columns going down in rows like bookshelves. Each column had a specific weapon and ammunition for it, all were perfectly labeled. By the looks of it nothing had been touched since placed there, but why? Why build a massive fortress and just abandon it? These were the questions racing through 118's mind. 118 walked down the rows and grabbed one of every weapon and as much grenades, ammo, and high explosives as he could and began going back and forth loading it all into a Wart hog, incase he had to make an escape and leave his newfound haven. He then proceeded up to level three, newly found Shotgun in hand, and fully loaded. He also had a new suit of fully charged outer-armor, black of course.

Once the elevator stopped the same voice came on the comm. again except this time it said "Level Three. Heavy Weapons." In this room the entire area was filled with Artillery, Artillery shells, and Mountable Machineguns. 118 had no interest in these because he had no use for them. He just walked between the huge Artillery units and continued on to level four.

The elevator stopped and the voice 118 was growing accustomed to came on once more. "Level Four. Information, Communication, and Control Room." 118's eyes brightened, he ran to the comm. system and quickly sent out an SOS to all UNSC frequencies. He then turned on the fortresses radar system. 118 was horrified by what he saw. The Covenants advance had gained tremendous momentum. They were already closing in and would be there by nightfall. Suddenly the comm. system came on and someone was calling him. His SOS had been received, but by who?

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