The familiar noise of the loudspeaker echoed throughout the orbital base as SPARTAN-102 strode silently through the hallways to the bridge. Admiral Arnold Guantano removed his cap and scratched the back of his head before turning around to greet the cybernetic warrior.

"Major, how are you?" he asked, placing his cap back on his head.

"I'm tired," replied the SPARTAN. Guantano smiled slightly and pressed a few buttons on the control panel that stood before him.

"Who isn't? Constant assaults by Covenant task forces on our bases on Genalsus VI leads to a tax on emotions, or so says common sense." The Admiral glanced back at the large monitor behind him; the view of the planet smeared with green and blue was a beautiful sight. "With no contact with the other UNSC forces because of the comm jamming that the Covenant's done, I bet they think we're dead. And the last word was that there was only a single other SPARTAN unit left."

"That troubles me greatly," stated the Major. He watched with interest as Guantano pressed a few more buttons and a small holographic projector rose from the metal-plated floor. It pulsed a few times, and a small figure appeared, materializing from the head down. As the feet met the base of the projector, SPARTAN-102 realized that it was an AI manifested in the form of a male.

"We meet again, Admiral. What's the problem this time?" asked the AI, crossing his arms. His voice was cool, calm, and collected, like he had done this many times before.

Guantano smiled slightly. "No problems this time around." SPARTAN-102 cocked his head to the side slightly. "Oh, I apologize. The last time we had to call on Thor was when the hanger bay doors wouldn't stay shut. Quite a predicament, that was."

"Why haven't I heard of this 'Thor' before now?" asked the warrior quizzically.

"He's a top-secret project, along with two other new AI; a one Cortana and a one Amherst. The other two are in the hands of the Earth-side branch of the UNSC. This guy was a present from the bigwigs of the UNSC command… He's been really useful in the past, as this installation is beginning to age."

"I do have a certain affinity for electronic devices, don't I?" stated Thor. "They keep me located in the quick access memory banks, but they don't keep me on call 24/7."

"It's to maintain the ultimate control over our systems. That way, if this installation is taken by Covenant forces, and Thor is captured, we don't have to worry about our technologies being analyzed."

"Unfortunately, Captain, the Covenant has been analyzing our technology since we first went to war with them. Careless Marines leave empty weapons lying around, spare clips in obvious places, and helmets on the ground. With these simple things that we discard without thought, the Covenant can obtain valuable information on our military status." The SPARTAN's voice was dry as he finished, "The helmets and their video data captures provide an excellent encyclopedia when accessed."

"I'm sure they do," replied the Admiral. "Alright, well! We've got another group of Covenant drop ships heading toward the surface of Genalsus VI. From our calculations, they're going to land at Base Six."

"Isn't that…?" began the Major.

The Admiral nodded. "Oh yeah. As soon as those Covenant sons of bitches land, they're going to get their asses frozen. Our Marines are going to be complaining about this one for a while."

The Admiral strode over to a display and pointed at several red blips approaching a large blue blip. The radar zoomed out, showing a larger area of land, and then out once more, showing the planet of Genalsus VI.

"As you can see," he said, "the Covenant forces are already prepping for landing. Major, you and four other hardcore Marines will be traveling planet side, where you will plan and carry out an assault on the Covenant invasion force. It's small, and the our base down there should hold out long enough for you to get down there and hit those Covenant bastards from the back."

The Major walked up behind him and tapped the control panel. "Hopefully those drop ships don't hang around. They can be pretty vicious when they need to be."

"Covenant chatter says they're going to do a recon sweep after the invasion force, if you can call it that, lands. After that, they'll be heading back up to the atmosphere where they'll rendezvous with a large slipspace-enabled carrier," piped up Thor. "If my calculations are correct, we can launch Longswords now and intercept them. The Major's right in that they can be vicious, but if we launch six Longswords, we'll easily overpower them; there's only four."

"Four? That's it? That's all they're sending to attack our base?" asked the Major, looking over his metallic shoulder at the glowing AI.

"Something doesn't feel right, I know," replied Guantano. He clapped his hands and turned to face the SPARTAN. "Alright, let's get this operation underway. Major, carry on."

The Major saluted, snapping to attention, and Admiral Guantano returned the salute. The Major turned on his heel and began removing himself from the bridge. Behind him, he heard Guantano begin giving commands.

"Communications, radio the hanger and the barracks. Have those four Marines ready, the Pelican powered up, and those Longswords ready to launch!"

"Sir!"