"There's a WHAT!?" governor Olken blurted out after he heard the new intelligence gathered by ONI, voice full of shock and disbelief. An emergency meeting had been called in by Admiral Jingles to have all senior staff of the Initiative discuss the current situation that they found themselves in.

"A prophet sir " replied Jingles, "He's out here somewhere. "

"Any idea where he is and strength?" the governor asked as he rubbed his temples.

"No idea sir, we just began recon operations in the surrounding sectors" captain Cenzo replied "He is at least 5 years ahead of us, so he could have a considerable force built up already, but there is no way to be sure sir."

"Options?"

"Not very much sir," Jingles replied "We don't have enough resources to scour every single star system, nor the time to build up orbital defenses over Nova Status"

"Don't tell me what we can't do Admiral" the governor retorted, "Tell us what we can do."

Jingles sighed before he responded "We could speed up the refit project on the orbital repair station and have it churn out small automated satellites, then strategically place them in the surrounding space. We can program them to send out an automatic message when they detect ships."

"How long would that take?"

"Depending on the coverage area you want sir" Jingles replied "If you want us to only cover the surrounding space? 6 months give or take. If you want us to place them in every strategic star system in the galaxy, that could take up decades."

The governor groaned before asking "What about our current military assets? Can we realistically fight the prophet?"

"Governor, we only have 11 ships rated for combat." a new voice piqued up, this being that of the minister of housing and urban development Mark Sorelson. "There is no way in hell we can go out there and expect us to win a small war against the prophet's fleet, not until we truly know what we're up against"

"Besides sir, there's no telling whats out there," captain Cenzo butted in "We have absolutely no idea who or what is around our borders"

"Lets just focus on what we know so far" Jingles interrupted, having an inkling that the captain would go on and on and wouldn't stop. "Sir, with your permission I would like to start on those automated warning stations" Jingles said, having his attention drawn to the governor.

"Granted Admiral" he replied before everyone else started to take their leave "Keep me posted on any updates."

Jingles simply nodded his head in acknowledgement before heading out of the conference room, the others following suit, leaving Olken behind to dwell on his thoughts alone.

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" the voice of young Lieutenant Samuel Baker sounded over the sounds of explosions and gun fire as he grabbed a nearby marine's armor and dragging him to the relative safety of cover behind a rock. It had only been a few hours after the Lieutenant and 2 of his squads stepped out from the stealth Owls to do some ground recon after the ONI spooks had detected the same anomaly on the ground. What they had found when they reached the source however, was at least a few dozen of unidentified humanoid aliens wandering around a ruined village. As soon as one of his men broke formation and tried to make friendly contact, he was shot upon. Now? the UNSC marines were playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek-and-kill with the aliens, buying time for the Owls to return from orbit.

"COVER FIRE!" he yelled as he pulled out his BR55 Service Rifle and poured lead down sights, trying to suppress the very obviously hostile aliens from advancing any further. Out of the corner of his eye however, he saw a squad of at least 6 of the strange aliens advancing from his left flank while another group of 5 was advancing from the right. If he and his men don't pull back now, there was the very real risk of getting surrounded.

"ALL SQUADS PULL BACK PULL BACK!" he yelled into his radio before he was forced back under cover from the alien's strange weapons.

"You ok marine?" he asked the young marine private that he saved earlier as he fired a few more bursts, managing to strike down 2 of the strange aliens before forced back under cover again.

"Ye...yes sir" the young man managed to stammer out, clearly this was his first time under fire.

"Lieutenant!" a voice sounded out over the sound of constant weapons fire from the tree line behind the rock Sam and the other marine were hiding behind, "We're ready for you, we'll provide cover fire"

"Copy that Sergeant on my mark!" he shouted out before turning his attention to the man shaking in fear besides him, "Private, when I say mark, I need you to run like hell to the Sergeant"

"N...no sir" the private managed to stammer out "I...can't...do it"

"Yes you fucking can private!" Sam yelled at the poor man's face "If you don't, you will die here!"

"I'm already fucking dead el-tee! We all are! What difference does it make if we survive now, only to die later on a few seconds later?" the private yelled back, obviously shocked and on the brink of a mental breakdown.

"Just get your ass over to the Sergeant and that is a DIRECT ORDER!" Same replied, anger and frustration in his voice before leaning around to take a few pot shots at the enemy "NOW MOVE! MARK!"

As soon as Sam said that, he grabbed the man by the collar and stood him up before pushing him in the direction where the Sergeant is taking cover. The man stumbled and fell down but since he is now in the open, the only chance of safety lays with the cover that the Sergeant has acquired. Satisfied that the young private is safely behind cover, the Lieutenant reloaded his rifle, counted to 5 and broke cover.

The few seconds that took the Lieutenant to move from his rock to the tree line felt like an eternity to him as he was forced to run in a zigzag pattern in order to avoid getting shot at by the at least dozen alien weapons. Blue bolts of energy whizzed by, inches away from hitting his body. The Sergeant kept true at his word and constantly poured lead down range, forcing the majority of the aliens to keep in cover, even managing to kill a few of them.

As soon as Samuel reached the safety of his men, he immediately radioed in EVAC as well as organizing what remained of his forces for an organized retreat. With 6 left out of his original 9 men, he split them up into 2 teams of 3's, backward leapfrogging their way through the forest. 1 team would retreat to another cover while the other would provide cover, process repeats.

8 minutes of constant backward leapfrogging left the "squad" low on ammunition, but at least it seemed that the enemy had given up their pursuit. The team then made their way towards a small clearing, where they await extraction. Suddenly, a load shriek in the air can be heard. On cue, all members of the UNSC team looked upwards to the source of the sound. Sam's face paled at realization.

"ENEMY FIGHTER GET DOWN!" he yelled as realized that a small, triangular, purple craft was heading towards them, nose down. Streaks of what looked like blue plasma struck the ground near where the team took cover, dust and debris flying as a result of the impact. It also took out 2 more of Sam's team.

The craft then broke off for another return pass. Wanting to use the brief time of respite to his team's (what's left of it) advantage, he ordered them to prepare to move to another position. Before they could accomplish that however, another squad of aliens showed up and opened fire on their position, effectively pinning them in one location.

By now, Samuel had long ran out of ammunition for his battle rifle so he was now forced to used his M6D Magnum, not exactly your ideal weapon for use in pitch firefights like the Lieutenant found himself into.

"GRENADE OUT!" he heard someone yell as a fragmentation grenade soared through the air and landed in the midst of the alien soldiers. The hostiles didn't get a chance to take cover before it went off, killing at least half of them, and scattering the rest.

"Alright MOVE OUT EVERYONE GO GO GO!" Sam yelled at the top of his lungs as he leaped out of cover and emptied his entire magazine from his magnum, providing cover fire for the rest of his men to fall back.

As one, the remaining 4 marines leaped out from their cover and made a run for it even further into the forest, the aliens in hot pursuit.

"Hector 1 to Panther 1" Samuel called into his radio, "Rendezvous point alpha compromised, say again, rendezvous point alpha has been compromised. Heading to rendezvous point charlie over" he finished before he drew out his magnum and shot at his pursuers.

"Copy that Hector 1, we'll meet with you there." the radio replied as Samuel heard another grenade go off. "Get there within two minutes. Skies are full of bogeys, don't know how long we can stay undetected over"

"Roger that, Hector 1 out." Sam then closed the channel before turning his attention to what is rest of his team, who had now had to pause in their tracks to take out some of the enemies that had gotten a little too close.

"Graham, Pearson on point" he barked "Daniel you got our six. We make to RV point Charlie. Two minute window!"

"Yes sir!" came the replies as each member gathered what they could and headed out. It didn't take long for the team to reestablish contact with the hostile aliens however as the team made their way to the extraction point. By now, the ammunition for their rifles have long run out so all the surviving team members had picked up their fallen enemy's weapons for now, a necessity in these circumstances as well as it would give the scientists back on Nova Status a rare chance to examine the alien weaponry.

Exactly 2 minutes later, the team have made it to the extraction point where Panther-1 was supposed to pick them up.

"Sir where are they?" inquired a private.

"They'll be here private" replied Sam, eyes darting across the horizon to try and spot their ride.

As soon as he said that, he heard the familiar sound of an Owl on approach. The owl was based on the more well-known Pelican drop ship design, albeit being smaller and reconfigured for stealth mission, perfect for ONI missions like the one Sam and his team found themselves in.

The Owl dropped down a few dozen meters in front of them in the open and opened its rear hatch, ready to take on Sam and his team.

"Sir, me and Pearson will cover you while you make it to the owl" Sergeant Graham offered, to which Sam nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Daniel you're with me" he ordered, "Once we get to the owl, we'll cover Graham and Pearson."

Daniel didn't say anything but he nodded his head in understanding, which was good enough for Sam. Once satisfied that everyone is ready, Sam and Daniel made a run for the awaiting bird. They then stopped short of the back ramp to provide cover fire to Graham and Pearson if needed.

As soon as they saw that the Lieutenant and Daniel were safely at the owl, the remaining 2 marines then made their own run across the open field towards the plane. However, just as they cleared the tree line, the now familiar screech in the air can be heard.

Oh shit. Sam thought to himself as the remaining marines had now stopped everything they were doing and looked towards the sky to search for the enemy fighter. It didn't take long to see the familiar triangular shaped purple craft.

"RUNNNNN!" Sam yelled to the 2 stunned marines, who were caught dead smack in the middle of the field. The lieutenant's shout managed to snap the remaining 2 marines into action, chucking their acquired weapons away to shed unnecessary weight so that they can run faster.

But the hostile craft was faster, and a split second later, a beam of distorted light protruded from the craft's underside and went over the 2 marines. Sam couldn't believe his eyes, one second they were there, the other they weren't.

Sam stood there stunned for a solid fifteen seconds before he was dragged onto the owl and forcibly strapped into one of the seats. His mind still not believing what he has seen.

Soon later, he felt the craft make its smooth and slow ascend into the atmosphere, the pilot relying on the ship's stealth to avoid being detected from the countless hostile fighters that litter the atmosphere. Luckily the stealth held up and the small craft now docked to an ONI prowler before it made its jump into slipspace, leaving behind the alien infested star system.