A/N: Welcome back! Just a few things. I uploaded another drawing on deviantart. A scene from chapter 7 and I think you all know which one it is. Also, until I change it in the summary or say it here, I am still accepting OCs. The details for what I need is on chapter 6 (chapter 7 if you're going by fanfiction's list). With that out of the way, onto the review responses.

Major Simi: Ah, thank you for clearing that up. Also, thank you for your review. As for wolf #2 and 3, wolf 2 was killed and wolf 3 got away with a broken leg. As for your newest comment, I said I was going to slow down on posting chapters. Read chapter 7's A/N for the details.

Apollyon602: Thank you. Great to know it surprised some. I actually came up with that part off the top of my head. It was just some boring self-pity crap beforehand, then I thought 'You know what, f**k it. I'm gonna make him yell at her'. I mean, she was kind of being nosy and, dare I say it, a b***h.

ShiningShadow1965: Thank you yet again. Damn right he did. As for Twilight's questions… eh, you'll find out.

Skullcrusher206: Haven't heard from you in a while. Thanks for all 3 positive reviews. I'm not one for romance either, but something in the back of my head said 'do it, DO IT!' so, yeah.

DatAss111: Good summary, and thank you. I intend to keep my fingers on. I've got my tape, super-glue, and staples all at the ready. Lol.

Shark Spartan: Eh, not so much a halo crossover as having small amounts of halo in it. I just love the design of their ships. Also, thank you for the positive reviews.

Everyone: I've sat here sometimes and thought to myself 'Do I REALLY want to keep doing this?'. After reading reviews and some pushing from myself, I answer that with a firm yes. I'd like to thank everyone for the positive and constructive reviews.

Well, need I say it? No, but I'll say it anyway. ONTO THE CHAPTER!

Disclaimer: Bleh…. That word leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's the taste of copyrights.

Ch 8: All Well Laid Plans…

UUA First Fleet

SFG-0041 Under the Shroud

Location: Central mainframe of the UIF flagship Ominous Justice

Mission: Obtain information as to the location of the Faith and wipe systems of information.

Secondary Objective: Shut down main weapon systems

Mission status: Underway. Location compromised. Ship under fire.

The Shroud shook violently, most of the bridge crew grasping something to keep their balance. 10 minutes into the operation, and the flagship was lit up like a Christmas tree with all the radio chatter. Not long after that, the guns and missile tubes were sending projectiles into the abyss of space trying to hit the cloaked frigate. A few of them got lucky. Now the frigate, cloak slowly failing, was desperately avoiding the shots as they waited for the infiltration team on the flagship.

Peterson grabbed a hold of one of the rails as the frigate shook again. "Sir, shields at 65%," one of the crew announced, "cloak failing."

Shit, Peterson thought as the ship shook again. "Get all guns shooting down those missiles. I don't care if they're CIWS or not, if it's not shooting it had better be fucking broken!"

He didn't really wait for the 'yes sir' that followed before he continued, "Contact the infiltration team. I want to know why the hell their weapons are still shooting at us!" The frigate shook again.

"Another missile impact sir. Sheilds at 50%," the same officer from before announced.

"Well then do something about it! Re-route power from secondary generators to the engines and shields!" Peterson ordered, half annoyed at this unlucky officer who had been giving him nothing but bad news this entire time.

"Contact established, opening channel," one of the communications officers announced.

Finally, Peterson thought. A voice came through the comms, "Welcome to Burts' Infiltration, how can-"

"Sergeant Major, what the HELL is taking so long!" Peterson interrupted as the frigate shook, this time less violently.

{-}

Sergeant Burt Rodriguez had loved this plan from the beginning. Small infiltration team, escorting a next to useless combat-wise techy, one way in and out, low chance of survival. A textbook suicide mission, just his style. So here he was with one other from his 12 man squad and a techy hacking into the flagship's mainframe all the while getting shot at from the supercruiser's security team. It brought joy to his heart. Although he loved the plan, he wasn't too keen on dying today. He made sure the techy knew this.

"How much longer McGeek?" Burt asked, chuckling slightly at his nickname for the techy as bullets ripped through the hallway just outside the open doorway, some bouncing off the walls.

"My name is CHARLES and I'm breaking past their last firewall now. This would have been much quicker if we had stopped by HIGHCOM and picked up an AI. Hell, a VI would have done," Charles, the Under the Shroud's resident tech genius, said as he was quickly typing away on the laptop he had hooked up the ship's mainframe.

"Stop complaining," Victor, 2nd in command of the Dragon Tears squad, spoke up.

"Yeah, c'mon McGeek you're ruining the wonderful atmosphere," Burt said with a smile as he shot more bursts down the hallway, hitting some of the security.

"THIS is WONDERFUL?!" Charles stopped typing and turned around, "We're getting shot at by half the ship's crew, our only escape root blocked, and you're SMILING?! Are you CRAZY?!"

Burt paused for a moment before throwing a grenade down the hall. "Yeah," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone as the grenade went off, downing a few more enemies.

"Just think it this way," Victor butted in, "the sooner you break this thing and get the info, the sooner we can get your sorry ass back in your little computer room on the Shroud."

Charles turned back around, shook his head, and continued his typing.

Burt was about to try to lighten the mood again, but was interrupted by is communicator. "Ten bucks it's the captain, Vic," he said.

"I know better than to make a bet with you," Victor answered before unloading the assault rifle's clip down the hallway.

"Your choice," he said before connecting the link, "Welcome to Burt's Infiltration, how can-"

"Sargent Major, what the HELL is taking so long!" Peterson yelled through the comm.

Burt shook his head to clear out the ringing going on in it after having the captain yell in it. "Well sir, if you haven't noticed, they figured out we were here. No worries we have the situation completely under control," he said before emptying one of his .50 cal magnums down the hallway. "See, under control."

"Sergeant," Peterson said calmly over the comm.

"Yes sir?" Burt answered enthusiastically.

"Give me a DAMN STATUS REPORT!"

This time, Burt had pulled it out of his ear beforehand, saving it for the screeching mess that was coming out the small speaker. "Yes sir. McGeek over here is almost into the syst-"

"I'm in," Charles interrupted.

"Scratch that sir, he's in and downloading the MV drive's logs," Burt corrected.

"Good, now get him working on taking down the weapon systems. If we keep this up, there won't be a ship to get back to," Peterson ordered.

"Yes sir, Burt out," he said turning to Charles, "You heard him tech monkey. Bring down their shooty, fiery things."

"It's not that simple, they keep blocking me out of most of the system. It's a miracle I'm still in their MV drive's logs," Charles stated.

"So, you can't do it?" Victor inquired.

"No, but there is something else I can do," Charles continued, "but the download needs to finish first."

"And how much time will that take McGeek?" Burt asked, emptying his other .50 cal magnum. "I'm out."

"Now. Download is complete. Now I need, what, 5 minutes," Charles said.

"For what, exactly?" Victor said, sealing the door shut. "I'm out of ammo."

"To do a complete shutdown of the ship. That'll power down their weapons," Charles answered, typing furiously.

"Well, you have 3 until they override this door," Burt said, then, turning to Victor, continued "Reminds me of that boarding mission above Trafalgar III."

"You and I remember that mission VERY differently," Victor said. Then, a bang on the door.

"Shit, well, make that 1. Wish I hadn't left my katana on the Shroud," Burt said getting to one side of the door. "Get ready."

"Wait a moment," Charles said, still typing. "and… there."

At that moment the lights cut off and the banging stopped.

"Way to go McGeek," Burt said, nodding in approval and giving Charles a firm pat on the back.

"Don't go congratulating anyone yet," Victor cut in, "We still need to get off this ship and our only escape-root is sealed shut." As he finished, Burt's comm came alive again.

"Sergeant, tell the techy I don't know what the hell he did, but I'm damn happy he did it," Peterson spoke over the comm.

"Will do sir. We do have a minor problem though," Burt said. "When McGeek here shut down their systems, it locked to door controls to this room, sealing us in. On the other side is about half the ship's crew waiting to fill us with lots of tiny holes when they pry it open. We need a new way out."

"I think I can help with that," Peterson replied. "Steer clear of the starboard side of the room."

Victor keyed in, "Why, sir?"

"You'll see. Don't want the techy freaking out. Oh and, mind the hole," Peterson said as he cut communications.

"What did he mean by 'mind the hole'?" Charles asked.

Burt could only smile as he said, "See? Just like Trafalgar III."

Vic shook his head, "Get you oxygen mask on. You're about to find out."

{-}

Peterson stared at the now disabled flagship, slightly amused at what he was about to do. Just like surgery, he thought cheerily. "Prime the forward particle cannon. Get me a firing solution on the starboard side, straight towards the infil team. Pelican one-six-niner, do you copy?"

"One-six-niner, copy. Gunner here. I'm in position waiting for pickup."

"Good. Fire when ready. Low yield. I want to cut a hole, not vaporize the team," Peterson ordered as he saw the light of the frigate's medium sized particle cannon begin its work on the flagship's unprotected hull.

{-}

"Just give me a bit…" Charles said, fiddling with one of the ports on the mainframe computer.

"We'll be out of here in just a bit," Vic said, trying to pry Charles from the computer.

"So, what are you doing," Burt said, not minding the fact he wasn't helping Victor.

"I'm linking a processing data crystal with a highly encrypted sleeper software to the-" Charles started, but was interrupted by Burt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down and try small words."

"I'm hooking the doodad to the thingamajig so that when the ship wakes up, its computers catch a cold," Charles said, slightly annoyed.

"Now that I understood," Burt said, walking over to the other side of the room while waiting, looking at the computer.

"Why would you need to plant a virus? We already have what we need," Victor inquired.

"Because," Charles started, placing the cover panel back on the wall, "we have to format the logs so they can't use it to find our missing ship. I didn't have the time to before because they were breaking into the room. This will do it for me long after we are gone."

"Yeah, cool and all. But what is this light for over here?" Burt called out, gesturing them to come.

Besides the emergency lights in the room, there was one light on the wall blinking on and off. Charles took a good short look at this and turned towards the others. "Um… we need to leave now. That's a distress beacon, running off of its own power source. I don't think we want to be here much longer."

"Well, shit." Burt said, activating his comm. "Sir, we have a problem. How much longer until we have our escape root?"

"We're cutting through the last room now. Why?" Peterson said on the other side of the line.

"You're about to get some unwanted company out there. They have a distress beacon running on its own power. I don't want to be here when whoever is getting it gets here. And, what do you mean cutting?" Charles butted in.

"We're ready to leave sir," Burt said, both him and the captain ignoring Charles question.

"Cutting the last wall. Let the decompression carry you out. We have a pelican waiting for you on the outside," Peterson said.

"Copy that," Burt cut the link. "Ok get ready."

"Ready for wh-"

Charles never got to finish the question as a hole was cut into one of the walls. The air decompressing shot all three out, Burt acting as a plow for what small material was in the way, while Victor held on to a curse-spouting Charles.

{-}

Peterson sat and watched the three float into the pelican waiting for them, smiling as he heard Charles in the background of the radio of the pelican. "Packages are aboard, sir," Gunner started. "You son of a bitches. What the FUCK was that!? I'm gonna kill every last one of you fucking DUMBASSES!" "Hey, shut up back there or I'll shut you up myself! As I was saying. Packages aboard, ready to set this baby down."

"Negative, we're all set to leave. Fly her as close to the Shroud as you can and get under our shields," Peterson ordered.

"Copy that," Gunner replied. In the background, Peterson heard Charles say something before getting cut off. "Wait, we're NOT docking!? What the hell are-"

Peterson smiled before ordering, "Fire up the MV drive. Take us home. We'll sort through the data there" He watched as the order was silently carried out as a MV portal appeared in front of the ship. As the Shroud and accompanying pelican made their way through and the portal closed, a fleet of ships came from their own, occupying the empty space on the other side of the flagship.

There we go, chapter 8. I don't really have anything to say down here. It's all up in the top A/N. So, hope to see anyone reading next chapter. Arwingmaster1, out.