A/N : Eh. Set up chapter for the CLIMAX! of the first phase.

"What's going on?" Thomas asked as he entered the cockpit. 317 was piloting the Pelican.

"Fighting's stopped for now." He shrugged.

"Put her down, then." Thomas told him. As they exited the Pelican and to the firebase they were greeted with guns and angry remarks.

"Why did you flee?" A cold voice ordered.

"Our captain was wounded." 322 told him. The captain's eyes sweeped the group. James was being supported by 317 and 263.

"So, because one person was wounded, you left the battle and stole a Pelican?" He asked.

"We were all under heavy fire and the Pelican was one of the enemy's." 192 told him. Her armour was shaped differently and her voice differred a lot from the other Spartans - she was female. "And in our defense, we had already taken out 40% of the opposition and there were 12 more Spartans fighting the same battle.

"All Spartans to Command Base 06." He said coldly and he turned to leave. 322 threw his hands up and sighed.

"Come.. On. Let's go." James groaned. He took a few shaky steps and grabbed onto 322's shoulder. He let go and managed to walk into the command centre. There was a commander standing in front of a large metal table showing a digital grid. Four other Spartans were in the room and many Marines and some ODST were also in there. After taking a few more steps James fell onto the large table in the centre of the room. A holographic projection was thrown up into the air, showing another conflict.

"Another battle?" Thomas asked and a commander nodded, causing a groan to ripple through through the group.

"Will we be deployed?" 317 asked and the commander shook his head. He tapped a button and the hologram flickered and disappeared.

"You're going to look for and strike the foundations of the insurgency." He informed them. He pressed a few buttons and a new hologram appeared.

"This is one of the insurgency's bases. You'll be deployed here and you are to split up. Two will lead and use active camo to sneak past the Hornets. Charge in and take a Gauss Warthog. Destroy the aircraft and a Falcon will be drop off reinforcements. Using Warthogs engage the insurgents here. While they do that, three of you are to take several ODST and head up this mountain. There will be two Hornets and a Falcon. Use the Hornets to destroy the anti-air turrets and provide cover for the Falcon while destroying hostiles, mainly vehicles and other larger forces. The Falcon will be used to snipe members on the ground. Another three are to enter and rig the buildings with explosives. Take the Hawks and exit the base. The remaining two are to detonate the bombs. After that, everyone is to clear up the conflict in the courtyard and exit the premises using the aircraft - Leave several Marines in Warthogs on the ground. Scatter and wait for the convoy of Pelicans and the Shortsword squadron." He explained.

The insurgent base was in a lush enviroment with a jungle surrounding the base. Electrical fences lined the outside of the base and navpoints indicating guard's posts dotted the inside and outside of the area. Hornets and Warthogs positioned around the outside of the base. There was a large outdoors bunker containing four Falcons, ten Hornets and around 30 Warthogs with variations split between them. The mountain was a rocky horn protruding from the ground and had a red digital trail running through it with a Falcon and two Hornets hidden near the precipice. The base was a cluster of buildings with a command base near the back. Each building had a large turrent containing missiles, linear weaponry and more. There was a large courtyard that was to house the main battle near the center.

"You'll be allowed to change your armour if you want and we'll have them modelled to be like their suits." He told them after a pause. "Marines will be joined by ODST and some will be in ODST armour. Remaining Marines will be in insurgent uniform." He continued.

"Why all this?" 192 asked. "All this faked insurgent attire..."

"A Coup de'tat." James stated simply. "We'll be posing as a mutinous group."

"Right-on." The commander agreed. "Anyway, suit up now. We'll be launching in two hours. Choose your teams and be ready to launch."

James looked uneasy about the mission presented to them and 192 was wary but 317 was impressed by the carefully planned assault 263 was fingering the handle of his knife. 322's face lit up on the left side and his facials were contorted for a moment before they returned to normal.

"Let's drop into hell, then." Thomas sighed. This was going to be crazy...