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Chapter 27

Anyone who couldn't see that North was upset needed to get their eyes checked. Both York and Texas were concerned about their friend. Ever since they had arrived at Red Stallion's compound, New Taipei two days ago, he had been sulking and avoiding contact with people. He would politely decline dinner invitations from Fajhad, sneak out of the medical ward when he heard Tina coming, and would disappear for hours on end before turning up in his and York's room for some restless sleep. Even Theta told their AI programs that North wouldn't talk with him at all.

So, on the third day that they had been there, York cornered North before he had the chance to disappear in the morning. "Come on. We're spending a day together."

"What?" North asked distractedly, and York sighed heavily.

"I said, we're spending a day together. No sneaking off on your own, no avoiding contact with people, no doing whatever you've been doing the past few days," he responded determinedly, noticing how North would not meet his eyes. "You, me, and Tex are going out for a ride."

"Gotta stay here," North mumbled half-heartedly. "In case she comes back."

"Oh my God!" York said exasperatedly. "Is that what this is about? Waiting for your girlfriend to come back to you?" North finally met York's eyes, surprised and a little hurt. "No offense, North, but Dawn can take care of herself. I mean, look who we're talking about! The rankings may not have shown it, but she was on par with Carolina and Tex."

"If not higher," Tex mentioned, sneaking through the door behind York, her arms crossed. She wore black fleece pants and a wool overcoat over a plain black t-shirt. "North, Dawn's probably fine. The Innies may be a problem, but she can take care of herself."

"I'm not arguing with you two," North protested. "I'm just worried about her, that's all."

"We're not saying that you shouldn't worry," York pointed out. "We're just saying that you can't avoid the rest of us like this. You think that we aren't worried, too?"

"Come on, we're going out for a ride," Texas grabbed both York's and North's arms and started dragging them down the hallway. "Get some fresh air and all that."

"I thought that we didn't have any vehicles," North pointed out.

"We don't," Texas responded, a weird smile on her face.

"This is so cool!" Theta squealed excitedly, and the horse that North was riding nearly bucked him off in protest to the unexpected noise. "Sorry," Theta said apologetically, both to North and to their steed.

When York and Tex had said 'go for a ride,' they had meant using a couple of the horses that were a common mode of transportation for the people of Terra Beta. With little industry and few roads, vehicles were ultimately impractical for what they needed. The lifestyle, they had noticed, was a lot like what you might see out of the old TV series, 'Firefly.' York and Tex had saddled up three horses, and were given a map by Fahjad as to the safest areas for them to ride, as well as where he might need some recon done.

North patted the hide of his horse, a broad Buckskin stallion, and made sure that his sniper rifle was strapped to his saddle in a secure manner. York yelped slightly as his black Morgan spooked and gave a slight jump. Texas laughed at both of them as she drove her Palomino through the grass of the prairie, her blonde hair whipping behind her in the wind. North couldn't help but look at the absolute bliss on Tex's face as she rode the horse. She seemed so at peace with the world like that. Across the plain, other small groups of patrollers were galloping in different directions on their own routes.

Suddenly, North reigned in his steed and listened towards the forest area that they were running parallel to. "What is it?" Theta asked, curious as to why his host had stopped suddenly.

"Something…doesn't feel right," North whispered, and he called after York and Tex, "I'll meet you guys further ahead. I'm going in there to take a look around!"

"You sure you want to go alone?!" Tex responded.

"Yeah!" North reassured her, tapping his heels against the horse's side. He wove through the thin cover of trees on the edge of the forest, following his gut instinct. Something seemed to be beckoning him towards the center of the woods. Something was going on, and it felt like he needed to be there. Theta asked about North's thoughts, but he was oblivious to his AI's question. At this point, he could hear loud voices somewhere nearby, and he stopped to listen.

"We're telling you to come quietly, and nobody gets hurt," came a clear male voice.

"I don't think you will find me very useful to what you want," replied the strict voice of an older woman. "I have nothing to tell you that will be of any use."

"Quite the contrary, Doctor," another man said. "Your research would prove invaluable to our efforts."

"I will not help some gun-toting, backwoods Insurrectionists cause mayhem on this planet," the woman replied waspishly. North silently leapt off the horse, grabbed his sniper rifle, and crept to a large boulder, creeping over the top and looking down into a small hollow. A group of about five or six Innie soldiers stood amongst the leaf litter, their weapons pointed at an older woman in a light blue coat and dawning impressive grey hair. She stared at her assailants with her head held high, challenging them.

"This is your last chance, Doctor Halsey," the leader of the Insurrectionist squad growled, priming his rifle to fire at the woman's head. "Come with us, or you die here."

"I would be of even less use to you dead," Halsey replied evenly, folding her arms.

"This is taking too long," a female soldier complained. "Someone just shoot already!" Less than a second later, a shot rang out. Said soldier dropped to the ground, a sniper bullet dropping her at her very last word.

Chaos ensued as the Insurrectionists soldiers darted out of the way of an attack. Agile in her old age, Doctor Halsey took the chance to break for the trees near where North was hiding, while he picked off the soldiers one by one. They tumbled amongst the dead leaves, staining the ground red in their blood. A few attempted to fire back, but North wasn't a specially trained UNSC agent for nothing. With one last satisfying shot, he took out the leader of the Innie patrol and stood up, relaxing his grip on the sniper rifle.

There came a rustle from the trees, and Doctor Halsey approached boldly, staring at him as she came. "Are you one of the natives?" she asked, almost rudely, and North took a step backwards. He stared down at the shorter woman intently.

"No, ma'am," he responded respectfully. "I just heard that you needed some help, and came to offer my assistance."

"It was not needed," Halsey retorted, meeting his eyes. "I had the situation under control."

"With all due respect ma'am, I disagree," North countered carefully, so that he wouldn't come across as being rude. Halsey eyed him up.

"Ah," she breathed. "You're one of those cheap knockoffs for my Spartan program." It took all of North's self control to keep from bristling. A cheap knockoff?! What was her problem?

"Freeze!" someone shouted, and several weapons were directed at both North and Halsey. They instinctively raised their hands into the air as several people in MJOLNIR armor appeared from the trees, aiming a mixture of Magnums, Assault Rifles, and sniper rifles at the two of them. There were about seven or eight in total. "Lay down your weapon." The speaker, a female warrior in lighter blue armor of a more recent generation snapped at North. He put his sniper rifle on the ground and got to his knees instinctively, hands on his head.

"You're being harsh, Sarah," Halsey chided the Spartan-IV commander sternly. "This...replication just saved my life." Well, it was one step up from 'cheap knock-off.'

"Doctor Halsey, please refrain from speaking," a Spartan-II in dark blue armor hissed, lest the woman incite the volatile temper of Commander Palmer.

"You!" Palmer barked at North, and he looked at her. "What is your business here?"

North explained how he had been on patrol and had heard the altercation that led to him finding Doctor Halsey and the Insurrectionists, hence why he was here. Still disbelieving, Palmer demanded that he state his name and rank.

"…Agent North Dakota of the Office of Naval Intelligence."

"The hell?" Palmer whispered, then spoke louder. "What kind of a name is that?"

"It's my codename," North responded acidly. "I word with a special classified project with ONI." Spartan legacy or not, he was beginning to dislike the woman more every second.

"Don't move!" A different, more familiar voice spoke. All heads turned to see York and Tex standing at the edge of the clearing, their weapons drawn and held in a non-threatening manner. The Spartans directed their weapons at the two newcomers, but the Freelancers didn't react. "North, are you alright?" Tex called to the blonde-haired man. He gave a nod of affirmation.

"Hello, Sarah," York said neutrally, his eyes impassive as he stared at the leader of the Spartans. Palmer tensed at the name.

"Hello, Daniel," she replied just as evenly.

"Okay, what the HELL is going on?!" Tex demanded as they all lowered their weapons. They all worked for the UNSC, after all.

"Funny," Palmer snarled, removing her helmet. "I thought that you could explain that to me."

"Palmer, let me do the talking," a Spartan-II stepped forward and spoke. There was no need for him to introduce himself; the faded, scarred green armor was just as good as having neon lights strapped to him flashing "HUMANITY'S SAVIOR!"

"You're not the one in charge here, Chief," Palmer reminded the legend sternly.

"You need to talk with your boyfriend, Sarah," another Spartan suggested.

"This is NOT up for debate!" she squawked. "And he's my EX."

"They're right, Sarah," York continued with that neutral expression. "We can have a little heart-to-heart."

"That's not going to help us find our leader, Daniel!"

"HOLD ON!" North shouted finally, and the talking stopped. "We're missing a leader as well. Who is the missing person that you're talking about?"

A Spartan-IV removed his helmet and answered. "Admiral Miranda Tyette, sir." Palmer shot the speaker a death glare.

North's face went white. "What is it?" Palmer snapped.

"I've been doing research on some things, like how the IAOC is trying to negotiate for independence from the UNSC," North explained. "The library back at base details some of the people involved in those talks." He directed the next comment more at the Freelancers than the Spartans. "Guess who two of the people were that were communicating between the UNSC and the IAOC?"

"Dawn and the Admiral," Texas confirmed with a nod of her head.

"So it's the Innies that are behind this?" someone asked. "And Palmer said that it was the 'local upstart rebels.'"

"Shut up!" Palmer growled to the speaker.

"It might be best if we find a more suitable location for us to have this discussion," Doctor Halsey suggested as everyone lowered their weapons. York suddenly received a ping from the earpiece that he currently wore, and his eyes widened.

"North, let's get these guys back to New Taipei," he told his friend, making no attempts to quiet his voice. "We've got a pretty bad situation."

Dawn didn't want to wake up. Her head was throbbing, and opening her eyes might warrant a migraine to explode in her brain. Something kept nudging at her subconscious to wake up, though, and her eyelids fluttered open. She leapt up, rubbing her eyes, and the darkness stayed where it was. Her hands were dirty and wet and she could hear a faint dripping around her. The air was dank and musty, like she was underground. Cautiously, she stood up to get a better feel for her situation.

The first set of internal alarms started screaming when she didn't feel the weight of her HAYABUSA armor on her. She rubbed her hands over her arms and legs, and was met only with the slippery fabric of her body suit. The usual, comforting feeling of at least one of her swords on her back was also gone. She had no weapons and no armor to protect herself. The next few red flags popped up when she slid her hands up and down each side of her, and felt only wet stone and slimy moss.

"Shit," she cursed silently, and a red light illuminated up above her head. The weak light from the little indicator was enough to eliminate a little black box with a circular protrusion, and several wires coming from near the light. Wait a minute, the device looked vaguely familiar…was that an old Go-Pro camera? And were those microphones?

"You have got to be kidding me," Dawn muttered in annoyance as the film started rolling.

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