IM BACK BITCHES!

Yes, I have come to finish, in full, the story I left because I had lost motivation. But that motivation hath returned, and bigger than ever. Part of the reason I 'died' was because my laptop had broken and I have been finishing my last year of school. That, and I legit forgot to tell you guys that was all happening, so ya, this is on me. But I'm back, the story is back, and now with my own set minimum of 5000 words a chapter, meaning more reading content for ya gits. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: A solution

"You want to capture one of them?" The confusion in Ironwoods voice was clear, as was evident in his facial expressions.

"Yes, I do" Winter replied. "If we can somehow capture one of them we could find out who they are, why they are here and why they are hostile towards us. It may also keep those below them, what I would call their 'regular' soldiers in place, keeping them from advancing any further than we want."

Ironwood began to scowl at this plan, seeing the risks and possible casualties over the reward for a successful operation. "You're more than aware what can come from such a mission, right? The casualties, the public response if they find out, let alone how powerful these 'Reapers' are. I mean, 'rounds dissipating against armour into a fizzle', how can we fight that? Hell, even the 'regular' soldiers under their command have proven to be more than a handful."

"That's why I suggest using the robotic units, sir" Winter replied with haste. "There would be little risk to life involved, and even, then, for whatever reason these things seem to be avoiding death shots, only shooting to either injure, incapacitate or disarm. But I don't take this as a means of wanting 'peace', but more of a way of probing our forces. They did fire first after all."

Ironwood's look of disapproval at the plan continued to plaster his face, as if in thought. "How can we be certain they shot first? Do we have evidence of this? Along with this, why would they spare our soldiers and only shoot to defend themselves from soldiers shooting at them?"

Winter was caught off guard for a moment, and as she began to try and argue her point he started up again. "In addition to this, why not try and force peace? We've made no contact with these so called 'threats', they've made it so none of our men are dead, the worst is only injured to the point of being out of action for upwards of six weeks. Yet there has been no effort to make any form of contact, no form of intelligence gathering and nothing in the way of a report. This meeting alone is the first I've even heard of these, quote on quote 'hostile'. What can you tell me that can even come close to changing my mind? I'll wait."

Once again silenced filled the room, this time for a while. About three minutes passed before Winter spoke once more. "Need I remind you, sir, this is our world, and we must defend it from anything that comes our way. The Grimm came from nowhere, became the most widespread and deadly threat to humanity, and we've stopped them time and time again. Rouge hunters have terrorized outer villages and towns, along with bandits, thieves, murderers and raiders. We've been there to stop them. And now a new threat has come knocking on our door, shouldn't we try and hold the door closed for as long as possible?"

Ironwood kept a stern glare on Winter as she spoke, taking in a thinking about every word she had said. But after another small amount of time, a sigh came from his mouth. "Ok, ok, we'll do your plan. But I'm going along as well. If we can form some kind of arrangement, and if we're lucky, alliance, then I'm going to try. And that means if they don't shoot first, we don't."

Winter gave a nod, "Very well, sir. I'll make preparations for our leave, along with the deployment of the 18th Robotics Regiment." With this Ironwood left the room and Winter went about preparing for the upcoming mission. She sat there from sometime after doing this however, looking up into the night sky once more, taking it all in. But for a moment Winter swore she could she one of the stars move slightly out of place.

Present Day

"A base?"

"Ya, a bloody big one at that. Big enough to fit the Tip of the Spear inside it." I sat pondering for a moment, thinking about how I should act on this new information.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about this base?"

"Ya, besides four huge walls, armed guards and a couple buildings, mainly hangers, barracks and a command centre, this thing looks hastily built, even by our standards. Other than that there is about twelve shipping containers located in the centre of the entire compound, along with two what I assume are high ranking personnel walking about, discussing something or other."

This information boded well. If there was a form of high rank there it could lead to a swift end to any and all conflict. But any initial contact could lead to unneeded deaths and destruction. While I thought Franklin began talking again. "You know we could always set-up a listening post."

I turned to face the screen again, "A listening post?"

"Ya, keep eyes on them, see what they get up too. We won't be seen if we do it right and Katy already has training when conducting such operations." I found myself seeing this idea as the best one we had available to us, being both safe and allowing us to find a way to make possible contact.

"Alright, the rest of Raven will head out to your location with the required supplies and begin setting up a listening post. From there our team will stay at that location and do what needs to be done." "You got it, boss"

Franklin ended the transmission and I turned to walk out the door. Whatever these people want and whatever the reason for attacking us, I was going to find out and put an end to it. As I stepped outside I came face to face with Barry. "Sir?" he said, as if asking what was going on.

"Prep gear for a listening post ASAP, along with a Hog, while you're at it get Sam to pack his gear as needed, extra medical supplies and five times the rations. We'll be out of town for a while." As I relayed my second in command gave a quick nod and salute, then turned heel to find Sam and prepare for our next assignment. I continued walking towards the armoury, entering the security code and putting together gear that, besides our main armaments, could help us in quite a good way. As I was doing this I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, something I thought we would need if things got hairy.

Three hours later

As we continued to trek up the hill I could hear a slight rustle in the trees. Holding up a fist signifying Sam and Barry to stop we all took a knee and raised our weapons, sights centred on the area the noise came from. We move up slowly, only a mile an hour until out of the bushes a single armoured hand coloured dark green shot up. Knowing it was Franklin the others lowered their rifles and walked up with me to find the listening post we were to set up covered with leaves, foliage and other sorts of flora that could prove useful to covering us from the world. On the far end was a wall made of leaves with the bottom part having half a metre open to conduct recon on the enemy base. As I continued to look about I noticed Franklin walking towards us past Katy, who was cleaning her rifle. He rose his arm, hand open, I clasped it in a greeting. "Took you guys long enough."

"Well aren't you the friendliest guy in the world, we got here quicker than any marines could, and we brought gifts." As I set down the regular listening post equipment I unslung the modified SRS from my back, handing it to Franklin.

"What's this one do?"

"Makes big things disappear. Anti-matieral rounds, would take out a Pelican in three shots. But I'd give Katy two."

"One" I heard her yell back, as if trying to provoke me to continue. As I turned back to face Franklin I noticed he was staring at the gun with envy. He looked the gun up and down, knowing all to well a smile was creeping across his face. He then turned his head back to me and began speaking. "I thought we were here to make a form of alliance, not blow these people to kingdom come?"

"If we run into another of those 'grimm' monsters, I want to be ready. Now, show me this base." As the other three began to set up everything we would need I lay down next to Franklin at the crest of the hill, peering over the edge with my binoculars.

"About one click out, bearing 223, you should see it in seconds." I saw it sooner than that, this thing was both way too big for stealth and was to hastily built to be any kind of effective. The 'walls' were nothing more than dirt raised to be chest high, while the towers were simply stairs and a fence. The barracks were tents and the hanger, while occupied by two sleek looking aircraft we'd not seen before were also tents, but just bigger. The command centre however, was different. It wasn't only effective looking, but also a million times comfier than anything we had back at FOB. It was a white, steely colour with what looked to be three floors. The first two floors had windows for me to see in, with the first floor being a mess of some kind, the second floor armoury and the third floor unknown.

"Fancy tech they got here."

"I'll say boss, along with that the two HR's are around that hanger right now." I moved my gaze to the area Franklin described and picked them out in seconds. One of them was a man, tall, proud and somewhat noble. He was both clean shaven and fit looking, imposing nearly. He wore a jacket in the same colours to the soldiers, but didn't wear armour. He did have a gun at his side, but it looked sort of like a flintlock, maybe a lever action. Could just be for show, never doubt a gun I guess. I turned my gaze to the other officer and found myself lost for words.

She... well she was beautiful, simple as that. Her hair was white like snow, tied up in a bun to keep it falling down and spilling around her shoulders. Her clothes, like the males were not armour but still looked military issue, but unlike his hugged her body somewhat tightly. She looked unarmed from where I was, but I had no doubt that cold look in her eyes meant she knew how to handle herself, no matter who came knocking.

I found myself staring a little too long and quickly came back to my senses. As I looked for a moment longer I noticed that they were chatting with a soldier, but this one wore black armour. Special Operations maybe? Could be stealth units or hunter units. Either way we'd have to watch out for them. "Franklin, did you find out what's in the crates?"

"Look at them and find out" he replied, and I shifted my vision to see the crates in full view. A few soldiers in the regular white armour were unloading what looked to be robots from them, but only slightly before turning them on. When active the robots shot up, pulled a rifle from their back and marched into formation. There were hundreds of them, all armed and ready for combat.

"Robots for war, seems we got a new threat."

"New, yes, threat no. I watched one of those monsters take these guys on earlier, weaker than the one we faced. It wiped out nearly a hundred of those bots." I turned to him, wanting more information.

"They walk forward, stand and shoot. Sort of like those robots we had back in the day, only worse." This did put a load off my shoulders, seeing as this new addition could pose our men no harm if we were well prepared for them. I began recording my view and carefully scanned all areas of the base. I wanted to watch this back and see if I missed anything, along with sending it to the FOB and Tip of the Spear to both warm them and let them do further analysis. After I had finished recording I set my eyes back on the two officers, but I found myself unwillingly fixated on the woman. I had no idea why but her hair seemed to flow so differently to anyone else. Compared to Katy she was so much more in terms of appearance, but prideful and steadfast posture only complemented her figure. "Boss, I've found the civie."

The sudden appearance of Katy at my side nearly made me jump as I assumed she could read my thoughts and heard the comment about her. Thankfully this wasn't the case. Knocking the side of my head and coming back to reality, I asked her where she had seem them. "Second floor, command centre. It seems our civilian isn't really a civilian." I soon has eyes on, and quickly noticed that our previous guest seemed to be a member of that black armoured unit.

"Could she have been feeding us false information?"

"Don't know sir, but it seems that female officer you were oogling is heading in their direction."

Meanwhile, inside the Altesian Military Command Centre

"So let me get this straight commando. I send you to try and get as much information from these guys as you can, get captured, see how horrible they treat you, what kind of information they want from you and even go as far as to kill as many as possible if they prove to be too hostile, and you end up sitting down for tea, lunch and talking about our general world?" Winter was beyond belief at what the soldier had been telling her, seeing is as far from the actual truth, not knowing how correct the soldier was.

"That's on the dot ma'am. I'm still trying to understand myself, but when the Grimm out of nowhere, not only did the Reapers risk everything and all to protect a random civilian, but also the regular soldiers. And after that they gave me everything I would need to get home safe, let alone an armed escort, which they did infact offer, and only asked for information regarding the overall world, factions and events."

"It seems they may not be as hostile as intended, Miss Schnee. Perhaps we could come to an agreement with them yet?" Both Winter and the Commando turned to face and salute their commanding officer, General Ironwood, but not without Winter beginning to speak. "Sir, with all due respect I wish to continue with my plan. Capturing one of them could lead to a swift and decisive end to the Reaper threat. And with multiple factions opening up offensives against humanity, how can we know they don't side with our enemy?"

Ironwood held up a hand, as if to tell her to stay quiet for a moment. "I'm not stopping the plan Winter, all I ask is for you to avoid any unnecessary violence, understood?" A nod from the former showed that Ironwood could put her trust in her to keep things getting worse. He then turned to the commando and began to speak.

"You're dismissed, Corporal." A quick salute and five seconds was all that was needed for the soldier to disappear into the hallway. Winter stayed silent for a moment, as if waiting for her superior to speak. He stepped across the room, taking time in his moments and thoughts. Not before long he picked up a rifle, the standard issue used by most military units across the world.

"I'm sure you know what this is, Winter?"

"Yes, sir. The R-05 pulsor rifle. Uses magnetic energy to propel small traces of pure energy at targets in order to eliminate them."

"Yes" Ironwood replied. "You are correct in every sense of the word. But research just came back from the R&D labs. Something troubling..." Ironwood paused for a moment before continuing. "The rifle normally packs a punch against anyone and anything, even hunters. Until now." A look of confusion crossed Winters face before Ironwood continued once more. "Research shows that these rifles lack and kind of penetrating power to penetrate the outermost armour used by not only the Reapers, but also these, what I am told by Intel are called 'Marines', the regular soldiers they use. But further more, video research has told us that these Reapers utilise some sort of exterior shielding mechanism, capable of deflecting, absorbing and redirecting any kind of small arms fire with some ease, depended on round, power output and penetrating power. The maximum power we can output is nowhere near their minimal breaking force, far, far from it in fact..."

"Sir, what does this mean?" A hint of concern laced itself in Winters words, even thought she knew exactly what this meant she needed that extra confirmation before she should rethink her plan. A few moments passed before Ironwood spoke one last time.

"Even if we wanted to attack them, even if we want to defend ourselves from them, even if we wanted to do anything. We would never be able to even scratch their fucking paint. So, in order to help with your plan, and my goal of reasoning with them, I've got an idea."

Raven Team, listening post location, three days later

Three days and not a change in sight. Both Franklin and I had spent the last eight hours surveying the base, bored and hoping for something exciting to happen. Sam and Barry were busy making a dinner that was at least edible out of ration packs and Katy was up a tree keeping an eye on all of our flanks. "We've been here for two days and nothings happened boss. What are we even watching for?" The sudden question from Franklin was enough to break me out of a daze, shoving me back into reality.

"Anything" I responded. His groan only meant he didn't agree, and he was keen to let me know this.

"The only two things that have changed are that those robots are all set up now, waiting for something, and your damn fixation on that chick with the nice body."

"Pardon?" I said in reply, raising my head from my binos.

"Ya, all you've done is watch her every move. You forget I can see that marker where your eyes are looking, and every, single, bloody time she comes out you just start staring like a fifteen year old looking through a college girls window."

"I've gotta agree with him this time, sir" Barry said from the stove. "You've been pretty keen on keeping your eyes on her. Why?"

"It's pretty damn obvious. He's in love." Katy's response didn't help the situation, and it only riled Franklin up more.

"Oh, is he now? I bet he just REALLY wants to cuddle up next to her on a cold, dark night, doesn't he?"

"Shut your mouth" I said, watching the base through my binos.

"He just wants to sweep her off her feet and take her to a castle in the hills to live happily ever after." As Franklin was speaking I noticed something odd about a vehicle that just pulled up in front of the Command centre.

"Franklin, shut up."

"All he wants to do is hold her, love her, and do some REAL naught thing with he-"

"Franklin, shut up and look" I said, slapping him across the back of his head. Growling he pulled up his binos again, but soon stopped as he saw what I saw.

"What the fuck?" he cursed, attracting the attention of the others, who soon came up behind us, asking us what is was. As we watched this vehicles two of those black ops troopers who've been in and about of the base pulled a man out of the vehicle. He was wearing marine armour. He was wearing our marine armour.

"They've got one of our guys. How, when? Why didn't the Spirit tell us?!" Franklin's questions and accusations would have lasted an hour if Barry hadn't interrupted him.

"It's entirely possible we aren't in contact with either them or the FOB. I've have plenty of trouble reaching them for some reason, and anything to and from the ship is nothing but garbled mess." I sat there watching as the marine prisoner was taken into their command centre, all the way to the third flood.

"We've got no eyes" I reported. "They've taken him to that third floor. The one we can't see." This didn't bode well. We had no idea if they were going to interrogate him, keep him prisoner, or just kill him up there.

"Boss, we need a game plan." Franklin was right, we needed to do something, but what?

"We could do a full frontal assault, get him back quick and hard."

"No, we don't want to start a war. Remember we need to form an alliance." Katy's argument to Franklin's suggestion made him quiet real quick, but he still grumbled at this.

"We could do it but leave no survivors, no one to tell the tale." Sam's idea was terrible, but could work in the end. Thankfully Barry told him we we were not the Covenant and wouldn't just kill innocent people who are just defending their world from invaders. The bickering and arguing went on for about three minutes as I lay there, thinking of a plan that could work. Suddenly it came to me, a risky but possible plan. I shot to my feet which caught the attention and the silence of my team. Turning to meet their gaze I saw I had their full attention.

"A sneaking op. I go in, get out with the prisoner, get back here and exfill. Alone."

The silence that came from my answer to the situation was nearly worrying, until slowly the others began to mutter about the plan. "Alone, sir?"

"Yes, Katy. Alone."

"But, why sir, why alone?" It was Barry's turn to ask a question, looking to get the details as to why with haste.

"Because if more than one goes in, we'd be caught. A group of two or more is just asking for unwanted attentio-" Sam rose his hand to get me to stop speaking for a moment.

"You are aware out of everyone here, your armour doesn't really scream stealth, right?" This was true however. Katy's armour was a deep brown, making it easier to blend into the trees. Sam stuck to the shadows in a dark black and grey. Franklin held a dark green base with black accents, making anything in a green area easy stealth for him. And Barry was a nice, relaxing shade of burgundy, making anything soil or sand based his home. Me on the other hand, bright white doesn't work well, but that was part of the plan.

"I am well aware of my armour colour yes. But that's why I suggest going in during the morning, especially since I am going into the command centre. During the morning my armour colours will not be a noticeable, and most of the soldiers here will be lined up for morning formation. I could sneak into that command centre, which is bright white inside and outside by the way, get the prisoner and leave out of the back exit before anyone could notice." The other looked amongst themselves as if trying to assess my plan without words.

"And I need each of you to do a certain job to make it possible." This caught their attention once more, with all of their heads turning to face me.

"Katy and Franklin will be overwatch, ready to cover fire whenever required. Sam will be close to the base exit a hundred metres away from Katy and Franklin's position, ready to help me receive the hostage and exfil to their location. Barry will be giving me any and all intel that he can to help keep me aware. Got it?" Another bout of looks went around, with the next question coming from Franklin.

"Don't you want to make peace sir, form and alliance? Wouldn't an armed rescue operation only prohibit that?" I thought about it for a moment, until I had my answer as clear as day.

"It could, but the fact of the matter remains. One of our men, our allies have been taken prisoner, and we need to do something now. If we do this right, and we do it fast we can be in and out before they even notice. This could lead to the end of the hostility between us and a saved marine, so it's a win-wins situation. What do you guys say?" I could still feel they were no at ease with the plan, until I saw a universal group of nods in agreement go around.

"Alright, boss, we're with you. I guess you are the CQC specialist of the group, so it's only wise you go into such a situation." Katy's words of encouragement were comforting, especially with the newly forming situation at hand.

"But how are you getting in sir? That command centre is in the middle sight of the parade grounds." I could only grin at Sam's question.

"Don't worry, I've already got a plan to get in and out."

Seventeen hours later, 5:30 AM

"How the hell did we let you walk in there under a fucking box anyway?"

"Because Franklin, sometimes all you need is simple and ugly to get the complicated and fancy job done." I was slowly edging myself towards the command centre's door inside of a white metallic box that we foundon the outskirts of the base which we decided to re-purpose. As I was getting close to the door I noticed a large amount of soldiers gathered in formation on the parade grounds.

"Looks like morning formation's begun, sir. You better move it." Barry's words helped me edge closer and closer to the door, remaining unnoticed until I had reached the sliding doors. Upon getting closes I crawled out under the box and through the automatic doors. Raising my M6 I saw that the hallway to the elevator was clear and open. I quickly tucked myself outside of sight from the parade grounds. And just in time as well, as when the doors closed two soldiers on patrol had found the box I was in, and began to speak.

"What's this box doing here?" one of them said, as the other inspected the direction I came from.

"Who's footprints are these? Come on, we should check this out." And with that the soldiers had jogged away, leaving me free to infiltrate their command centre.

"I'm in" I reported over the radio.

"Alright, sir. Go to the end of the hallway and call the elevator. Try not to kill anyone, it'll make the job harder unless we have to go loud." I gave an affirmative in response and continued moving forward, protruding my silenced BR55 in favour of the M6. The hallway was small and short, making the travel time between door and elevator pleasantly short. As I opened the elevator doors I quickly swept the room. Finding nothing in it I continued inside, pressing the floor button '3' on the way in. The elevator slowly moved to life, just as Franklin came in over the radio.

"Boss, we're seeing those black ops troopers on the parade grounds, and their armed. Should we be worried?"

"Unless they begin moving my way, don't worry about it. Could be their customs to keep weapons on them during parade." Franklin didn't like it, judging by how fast he responded.

"I don't know, sir. Even if these guys are a lost UNSC colony, weapons in parade seems real odd."

"Don't worry about it Barry" I responded. "As I said, unless they begin to move towards my location, it's fine." Silence came from the radio for a short moment as I continued to watch the elevator slowly move up. That was until I got a response.

"Understood, boss. Will keep eyes peeled." As the radio crackle died away I had just reached the third floor, with the doors kept closed.

"Entering the third floor now" I reported over the radio as I opened the doors and quickly swept the room. Not a soul in sight. As I entered the room, careful to watch the three doorways I began to take the room in. A window was in here, but on the far side of the base, as this room seemed to be more along the lines of offices and high ranking quarters than anything else. Nothing worthy of noting however, mainly a lounge and kitchen area. My eyes drifted back towards the three doors on the end and I noticed that each of them were labelled. The far left had 'Schnee' on the front, while the middle had 'Ironwood'. I made sure to record the names in the video cam for further reference. The door on the right however was unmarked, and I had a sneaking suspicion that's where our marine was held. I slowly edged towards the door, and as I made contact I turned on heel and began to watch the rest of the room. Ensuring it was clear I quickly glanced at the door handle and tried to open the door. It was locked, obviously. The door was all but unknown to me, with nothing on the outside that could allow me to open it at all. Most likely sensor built, but it seemed like it would be easy to get in forcefully. I went back on the radio, ensuring the team would be ready if this went loud.

"Raven, I have to bust a door open, unsure if an alarm will go off or if armed personnel are inside. If anything happens let me know and I'll get out with the hostage sharpish."

"Understood sir, Raven is ready for quick and loud exfill if need be." Making sure that they were ready I turned to face the door, planting my foot behind me. I then reeled back and planted my foot hard into the area next to the door handle, not just opening the door, but also breaking it off the hinges. I had confirmed the room clear by the time the door hit the floor. All save for the marine sitting across the empty room in a chair.

"Hostage located, Raven. Our hosts aware yet?"

"Negative, sir. Black ops units seemed on edge for a moment, but are back to normal now. You're lucky that male officer decided to give a speech real quick." Unaware that was happening I slowing scanned the room, making sure no traps were in place. Once again, it was all-clear. A notation that was beginning to make me uneasy. I slowly approached the marine, who's head was slumped down, most likely passed out.

"Marine, are you ok? I'm with a rescue team." No response.

"Marine, are you awake, can you hear me?" I said, getting even closer. Still no response.

"Raven, marine is passed out, moving towards him in order to-" As I got within touching distance I noticed something. His armour was off, colours were right but those colours were either different shades or were missing in some areas. The radio began to speak but I didn't notice for a moment. His armour was... ribbed? Marine armour was meant to be flat, with even curves, not sharp edges. The radio began to get louder, and words began to form in my mind, but I gave it no attention. I lifted the marines head, only to see it wasn't a marine, but a dummy. It was a trap. The armour cardboard, the under clothes simple casual wear. I sprang back and activated my radio with haste.

"Raven, the marine is a fake. I repeat, it's a dummy marine. We've been set-up!"

"Boss, you've got that black-ops team closing in, and that female officer is with them!"

Chapter End

Once again, feedback in reviews or PM's would be appreciated, and hopefully the next chapter will be out within the next two-three weeks.