A/N: Hey guys been working on this for quite a while but also had to focus on things like school. Anyway here Chapter 3 I hope you enjoy. Also to answer the question from the review section No the two Director's are indeed separate individuals. And as alwaysR&R and Enjoy.

Legend:

Bold- Scene Transition

Italics- Sounds

'Thoughts'- '...'

Chapter 3

Remnants of Challenger

[Play Halo 4 Atonement on Youtube]

As Adam led his new commander to the ship, his mind began to race: questions upon questions filled his mind, but try as he might he simply could not give his words a voice and so he remained silent. When Suddenly "Trooper." the lieutenant's voice rang in his ear.

"Yes Sir." The young trooper snapped to the position of attention as he responded.

"Its nice that you have manners and all but that won't be necessary here, Trooper. Whether I like it or not you're a Nova now."Lt. Miles placed his hand on the young Trooper's shoulder as he continued,"That means you're gonna be put in situations where my life is in your hands."

"Sir." Adam spoke not entirely sure what was going on.

"What I'm trying to say is... For two that are going to accompany each other on to the field of battle like you and I, rank shouldn't really be a big issue. So long as you do what I say."Lt. Miles explained, however the confusion in the young trooper's eyes persisted. The lieutenant finally huffed, "Just call me Forge. Everyone on Nova team does. Adam nodded causing the lieutenant to speak once again,"You don't talk much do you?"

As they exited the last of the double doors between the two troopers and the ship, Lt. Miles' eyes lite up when they hit the marvel before him. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was somewhat a cross between a warship and a cruiser. She was gigantic in size to be sure, the outside was covered with a stainless-steel that was brushed with a white reflective shield. It had the firepower of a Light warship with the commodities of a cruiser but their was something rather unique about it something the lieutenant couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Magnificent isn't she?" a voice creep out for the ship access point interface. As Lt. Miles approached to examine the origin of said voice he found the culprit to be non other than Lucy. "Beautiful, Mysterious and Oh so sexy, a woman after my own heart." Lucy smiled.

"She's definitely impressive." the lieutenant paused,"Never seen anything like her."

"Of course not." Lucy responded matter-of-factually, "This here is an ONI Prototype, I designed her myself. Unfortunately, as of right now we don't even know if we'll be releasing the design to the masses. In other words this baby is the only one of her kind. And she's all yours. You're a lucky guy commander."

"Sure she looks pretty, but what can she do?" Lt. Miles asked smirking.

"Just about anything you'd need her to really." Lucy reassured the young commander, "Stealth system, Pulse Laser resistant hull and running water. Rest assured Commander this top of the line Stealth Cruiser was designed with Nova team's skill sets in mind."

"Now that's what I like to hear." Lt. Miles smiled,"So where is my team? They were supposed to be here weren't they?"

"About that..." Lucy forced a smile as her gaze steadily left of her commander's.

"Wait. Let me guess."Lt. Miles said placing his forehead into his palm.

[Play Halo OST Brothers in arms Extended Drums]

"Grenade out!" Kristen Chambers roared as she let loose a dummy grenade into a crowd of opposing ONI agents.

"Ahhhhh!" they scrambled and ran for cover.

"Geez, ONI really needs to up their game, These soldiers are pathetic." Chamber stated over the comm taking cover behind a damaged vehicle. Just then an ONI agent leaped on top of the vehicle aiming in on the unsuspecting trooper.

Boom the sound of a nearby sniper rifle roared, as the agent was off his feet by the incoming fire. "You know how it is during these periods of peace Chica, everyone gets a little sloppy. Case and point." Jesus Moreno Teased her.

"Sloppy huh?" Chambers' raged,"You were just a civilian until a few months ago. What's the matter big boy the Corp to much for ya?" Chambers exited her cover in a cold sprint with her trusty shotgun at her side. Three ONI agents popped up with assault rifles, ready to take advantage of her opening.

Pow Pow Boom! Her relaxes were too great, she quickly knocked two of them down like dominoes only to the third taken out by Moreno's sniper fire."Hey, I had one!" She yelled furiously running into a nearby shack for cover.

"Awww De Nada Chica." Moreno joked,"You know I'd do anything for you. As for the reason I left the UNSC... Why wouldn't I? The war was over and I had the skills I needed to become a proper engineer in the civilian sector. More dinero less rounds coming down range, if you catch my meaning?"

"Moreno brings up a good point Doc." Noel Radd interrupted,"You're one of the best Medics the UNSC has to offer and yet rather than choosing to become a doctor after the war, you remained a Trooper, Why?"

"Are my ears deceiving me?" Moreno exclaimed,"Hell must have frozen over if your actually talking Radd."

"No need to act so surprised, it has always been well within my power to form a complete sentence," Radd explained,"However I was simply curious."

"Being a doctor just wasn't in the cards for me." Chambers explained in a somber tone,"I needed the corp... More than you know."

"What was that last part?" Radd asked,"We seem to be experiencing some trouble with communications."

"I said we can talk about this later!" Chamber yelled recanting her previous statement,"In case you two knuckleheads haven't noticed we're still in the middle of a firefight! Radd I need your position!"

"I'm right where the enemy would least expect me." Suddenly Radd deactivated his cloaking system behind a group of seven ONI agents. They turned to try and face this new threat but it was too late, he had a draw the black cased Katana that never left his side. In a single quick movement he sliced the barrels off of three of their rifles, he then submerge his Katana within the ground beneath him as he grabbed the barrels of two of the remaining agents forcing them to aim at their follow agents as they fired. Finally finishing off his performance by casually dropping a grenade on to the deck as he quickly grabbed his katana and jumped over the cover the agents were previously using.

"Radd, you're crazy companero." Moreno laughed,"No wonder you're known as Phantom even among the ODST."

"What do you expect?" Chambers' asked sarcastically,"He and Forge are the only two remaining survivors of that Project Challenger thing from a few years back."

"Oh yeah." Moreno remembered,"What was all that all about anyways Radd?"

"Its Classified." Radd spoke plainly.

"Of course it is." Moreno exclaimed.

In the Observation deck

"Looks like they're getting plenty of exercise before the big mission." Lucy laughed,"I mean, I tell them to end the training session immediately Commander."

"No." Lt. Miles stopped her,"This looks like fun, plus this could be a good opportunity to see what the new guy's got."

"Sir?" Adam said still not completely understanding the situation.

"Suit up rookie."The lieutenant smiled,"Let's light em up!"

"There's almost done for just keep the pressure on em!" Chamber's shouted.

"Who gave you permission to give orders to my squad?" Lt. Miles spoke plainly.

"Forge! Finally decided to show up companero!" Monero spoke,"Hope you're okay with bones because we've already picked this bird clean."

"That's fine." Forge replied,"Really just wanted to see what the new guy could do."

"New guy!"Chambers yelled

"Orale." Moreno huffed.

Radd remained silent.

"Yep... Got my team back. Got a ship. But... There were a lot of strings attached. He's one of them."Forge explained,"So what say we saw the new guy how Nova team kicks it."

"Sounds good to me," Moreno and Chambers agreed.

Lucy without meaning to began to analysis their combat data as they continued to fight. She was surprised each one of them individually possessed impressive combat prowess, however when place together like this their effective potential increased five-ford. It was remarkable to say the least. Suddenly Lucy heard a voice over her personal secure channel.

"Miss Lucy." The Director called out to her.

"Director?" Lucy exclaimed,"Told ya, you'd miss me."

"I have little time for your games Miss Lucy." The Director explained,"Why is Lt. Miles Ship still in the bay? What's he up to?"

"Nothing much, he and the team are just blowing off some steam in the training room, that's all. Hope you're okay with having a few of your agents on light duty for a while, because it looks like Nova team's in take no prisoners mode right now."

"Training room you say?" The Director repeated her,"Miss Lucy quickly prepare the prototype HRUNTING Mark VII Exoskeleton for a test run."

"The Mantis! You can't be serious? That thing has enough firepower to flatten New Mombasa and you want a newly reformed squad of Orbital Drop Shock Trooper to take it on?"

"Precisely. Now do it!" The Director raged.

"Very Well." Lucy complied.

Suddenly a large doors opens within the Training room.

tatatatatatatatata... tatatatatatatatata. The sounds of SMGs and Assault rifles filled the air.

"Just a little more, we got them on the ropes!" Forge shouted,"Hey what's that sound?" Then they saw it, a towering monster of a machine with a heavy machine gun on one side and a 4- shot rocket launcher on other held up by two extremely large leg like attachments. "What is that thing?!"

"Never seen it before!" Chambers cried.

"It would appear that ONI has been holding out on us." Radd stated the obvious.

"Whatever it is, I hope its ready for the recycling bin. Open fire!" The lieutenant's voice echoed as the sound of gun fire quickly overcame it. The Machine responded with firepower of its own aiming first for the young medic who was all too willing to get close with that shotgun of hers. Noticing she had catch its attention she quickly dove behind a huge pile of cement to avoid its assault but she was not fast enough, as one of the bullets from the heavy machine gun manage to graze her left.

"Damn it!" She shouted,"Hey Forge that thing not playing around. Its using actual rounds."

"Are you serious?" Forge took cover to reassess the situation, however he couldn't stop his eyes from wondering over to the Observation deck where Lucy was watching in horror. And as he's eye meet her form she felt as if he was somewhat able to see right through her. Despite her distance she took a step back from the intimidating individual before her.

"What now Forge?" Moreno Shouted,"Plastic rounds and dummy grenades aren't gonna penetrate that armor plating"

Forge was silent for a bit, he looked at the rookie and then down at deck beneath him. Suddenly Adam could see a faint soft blue light through his visor as he began to speak,"Plastic rounds or not, they should still be effective at taking those shields down."

"Thank you Captain Obvious, now that just leave the little problem of the armor plating." Moreno snapped.

[Play Zack Hemsey- See what I've Become on Youtube]

"Well maybe you should do a little less talking and a little more listening and let me finish." Forge snapped right back,"Just drop his shield, Phantom and I will take care of the rest."

"Roger that." Radd agreed over the headset.

"Listen Up! The moment his shields drop I'm gonna need everyone to throw your dummy grenade between us and him I'll need the cover."Forge Shouted.

"Roger!" The team's voice synchronized over the comm as they place their trust in their leader, believing he would not let them down.

"Fire!" Forge shouted.

tatatatatatatatata... tatatatatatatatata. The sounds of weaponry raged even more violently than before.

In no time at all the team of skilled ODST were unloading the remainder of their ammo on the behemoth before them. When the beast aimed at one they'd take cover allowing the others to put more shots into him.

"You know what to do right Phantom?" Forge asked confirming that the two still remember their training during their time in Project Challenger."

"But of course. I assume you brought them?" Radd did the same.

"But of course." the lieutenant mocked.

Finally the team's persistence paid off as they saw the behemoth's shield flicker for the last time before it finally burst. Without the lieutenant saying a single word the team fling their grenades between Forge and the Mantis so that he could approach without fear. "Cover me!" Forge ordered as he began to run.

"Got it." Radd stated as he unloaded his last clip into the Mantis, as Forge Approached Hidden by the cloud of smoke caused by the grenades. When Suddenly Forge pulled some sort of device from the most back portion of his utility belt. He then moved his hand in a jerking motion causing a single bladed energy sword to spring forth. With tremendous speed and accuracy he severed the wiring in the machine's left leg attachment.

Swing!

Swang!

Swung!

He continued with strike after strike three more times severing the wiring in the behemoth's remaining leg. Finally the lieutenant roared,"Now!"

"Right!" Radd acknowledged the command running as he and Forge swung their blades in synchronicity at the weakness point of the Mantis Midsection Causing it to tumble to the ground in a rather dramatic fashion. As the smoke cleared the team could finally see Forge and Phantom standing Victoriously over the machine at their feet. A faint blue glow radiating through their visors. 'Was that what you wanted to see... Director?'

Adam went over what he had saw over and over again. Those movements... Those eyes... They're just like me.

Lucy was struck by amazement. I've read the report but to see it in person, it's unreal. With such precise movements, with so little hesitation. I don't even think Spartans could formulate a plan and execute it with such precision mid combat. This must be what the Director wanted to see. The Remnants of Challenger.

So what did you think? I'm still on the fence on a lot of thing so a little feedback would really be appreciated so that I'm sure whether or not I'm going in the right direction or not. Oh and Thank you for reading up to now. I really appreciate it.