Fred slowly moved along a snowy ridge to get a better view of the Empire Base. The cloak he wore managed to cover the majority of his blue armour and allowed him to blend into the scenery. Linda was around somewhere, being the ghost, she was. But the two had cut communications for now. Being this close to a relay outpost, they didn't want to tip anyone of to their presence. They were too close now, too close to fail.

As Fred moved a pelican came down and landed on one of the pads near the outpost. While the snow covered his vision, Fred used his helmet's visor to get a closer look. He couldn't use his enhanced sound detectors this far out, and the snow only hampered that problem. He wated as a long-coated officer walked off the pelican and onto the snow as another officer walked out. Other than the long-coated officer and his guard, the others wore winter camo with red and black armour. All five of them wore a mask over their face, keeping them alive.

The planet's atmosphere wasn't entirely safe for human habitation. There was something in the air that turned a human's lungs into little more than liquid sacs. Scientists still haven't figured it out yet, but that wasn't the problem the problem was the officer and what he was here for. Seeing any officer of the Empire in the field meant something went horribly wrong for them. Fred gritted his teeth.

"Of all the times," he muttered as he deactivated his visor and began to move again.

But he placed a foot on a loose chuck of ice and slipped. The Spartan slid down and landed face first into snow.

Linda said nothing as she aimed her sniper rifle at the officer who looked in the direction here Fred fell. Her finger on the trigger ready to blow the man's head off. But she didn't need to do anything as one of the local marines said something and calmed the officer down. Inwardly she sighed with thanks and watched as the five walked inside the outpost. She then flashed green on Fred HUD. Her 'brother' flashed back and began to slowly move up to the outpost.

Linda moved her rifle to see if she could see any guards outside the outpost. This place used to be an ONI comms facility before it was taken over by the Empire. Aside from communications, Mars wasn't sure what it was being used for. So, Fred and Linda were sent to investigate. Fred moved in closer and closer until he was close enough to break out into a run without being spotted. Making it to the outpost he pressed himself against the wall and edged towards the door.

He flashed Linda green before moving up to the door and pulled off the key code panel. He smiled and began to selectively pull wires out and splice them together. The door opened and he put the panel back on. Officer or not, no one in the outpost was going to make it out alive. He claimed in and locked the door behind him. The door only led to a lift which he got onto, however instead of taking it down, he opened up the floor panel and climbed into the shaft. He swung over to a maintance ladder and slid down the shaft.

It didn't take long for him to reach the bottom. Once he landed, he moved over to the door and opened it thankfully no one was watching the door allowing him to move though. He pulled out one of his knives and moved down the corridor. The door on the other end opened as two marines walked out. They didn't have a chance to register Fred's presence as the Spartan moved.

A knife landed in the eye of one of the marines and before the other could react Fred was already on top of him. The Spartan grabbed the marines head and snapped his neck. Fed gently lowered the marine onto the ground before recovering his knife. Picking the two marines up, he moved them to an out of the way and hide them before moving on. Unaware that hidden camera's saw his every move. Crouching low, he moved slowly into the main corridors and kept his eyes open for anything that might become useful.

But there were only three doors. One for quarters, one for operations and the final one for the generator. While plunging the outpost into darkness was an interesting prospect, it could shut the entire base down but that would mean losing the intel. Not an option. It would also be strange if the Empire stopped receiving messages from here. So that's the quarters out, it may hamper Empire messages taking out this place which would make his mission even harder.

Fred entered the room with pistol in hand. Operations turned out to be a large open room with several cryo tubes in the middle of the room. Computers and terminals were stacked along the walls with wires attached to the ceiling and down to the cyro tubes. Fred walked up to one of the pods and looked inside. To his horror a face stared back at him, a human face.

A nude man lay in the tube surrounded by some kind of liquid. His mouth was covered by a mask, but given his jaw movements he was clearly saying something. Wires connected him to the pod, with the majority of the coming from his head. Fred moved around looking from one pod to the other seeing the same thing. In all he found six people, two male two female.

"What the fuck is going on here?" he muttered.

"Nothing for you to worry about," a deep voice said making Fred to see the officer standing before him.

The man had dark skin and piercing brown eyes. His officer cap sat snugly on his bald head while his coat hid something under it. But there was no mistaking that face.

"Locke," Fred muttered making the man smile.

"Hello Fred," Locke muttered as he removed his hat. "You're doing well,"

"If I'd known you were here, I'd would have brought the entire team," blue three countered as he looked for an exit.

"Too bad," the officer said as he removed his coat showing his spartan armour. "You won't be leaving alive,"

Locke then charged at Fred who blocked the attack. "Going one-on-one with me?" Fred asked with a smile. "Did you forget that scar I gave you?"

"I'm going to pay you back," Locke said as he kicked Fred in the side and threw him to the side. "Just like your 'sister',"

Fred said nothing as he pounced on Locke.

Outside Linda kept her eyes open for anything that may come towards the bunker. But something still felt wrong, she trusted Fred, but he hadn't contacted her though a secure line yet. That shouldn't have taken him long to do, so what was…

The sound of a shot-snap sounded in her ears making her move for cover. She slid further into the crevasse she was hiding in and moved along it. Soon she found a hole that she used to move along to get out. Dropping into a ditch she scanned the area, who took that shot? Her eyes scanned the landscape until another shot landed next to her making her take cover again. Inwardly she groaned, she knew who it was. But she wasn't going to let him win. Checking her rounds, she moved along the ditch as low as she can knowing that the sniper had got a bead on her. In fact, she counted on it.

She approached some steam vents and managed to find some cover. Even if he was a good sniper, even couldn't target her though steam. But neither could she, but that was the point. She had a general idea of where he was, so if she managed to scare him, flush him out, then she could take him down.

Fred ducked as a fist came for him, he responded by punching Locke in the leg. That made him go down, but it also allowed him to get a grip on Fred's armour. Locke swung at Fred, but missed as the older Spartan kneed the young in the jaw sending him back. Getting up Fred ran to the door activating his team-comm.

"Linda, Osiris is here," he said before he was tackled to the ground by Locke.

Fred trucked and slammed his helmet against Lock's skull. He was sure he didn't crack it, but that wasn't his worry at the moment, he needed to escape. He stabbed Locke ins the side before pulling himself away he then kicked Locke in the face before making a run for the lift. Jumping to the ladder, he climbed up and slid though the lift hatch. All that was left was the door.

Linda fired three rounds; she didn't mind where they landed. But if she could…

"Linda, Osiris is here," Fred's voice said over team-comm.

Saying nothing Linda moved out of her position, she would have to end Jun's life another time.

The door opened and Fred exited the compound before running in the direction of the Prowler. Parisa wasn't going to like what he had to say.

OOOOO

John stood before Kelly's apartment and sighed. This whole new life was already starting to get to him. First it was the fall of the UNSC, then Parisa being alive, now being a commander of a combat group. Now here before his sister's apartment, he hoped that some familiarity would come back. But a part of him doubted that. He knocked on the door. A moment later and a girl opened the door and looked up.

"Mom," she called out. "A Spartan's here,"

"John?" Kelly asked before appearing behind her daughter. "Finally, Parisa loves to hog people," she smiled and invited her 'brother' in. "Come on in,"

John looked around the apartment. It was large and well furnished with a good look at the city. Toys were scattered around the window next to a tv. The window overlooked the northern part of the city. A set of stairs that lead up to the upper level sat next to the window with a kitchen area opposite.

"Ahh balls," Kelly muttered as she pulled a pot off the cooker and onto a wooden tray. "Balls," she continued to say as she picked up the lid. "It's a little burned,"

"Mom," the girl said. "You said you could cook,"

"I've been practicing," Kelly defended as she pulled out some bowls. "Honey! Foods, up and our guest is here!"

"Coming," a male voice said as the small girl moved up to the table and sat on a chair.

John walked up and took a set as Kelly came over with the pot in her hands and her husband came down. As he walked down the steps, John got a good look at him. He wasn't a Spartan, but he did look fit. He wore a grey/ black suit and carried a baby in his arms.

"Ahh you must be the Master Chief," he said as he spied John. "I'm Alex," he slid the child into a high seat before offering his hand to John. "Please to meet you at last,"

John reached over and shook the man's hand. "I… thank you," he said making Alex snigger.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine," he said as he sat down. "Kelly, Fred and Linda have told me all about you and your missions. But meeting the legend makes a change," as he talked Kelly placed bowls of rice and curry in front of them.

"Arcadian-style Tikka curry," she smiled. "A little burned, but it might add to the taste,"

"That cooking class helping?" Alex asked as he nervously tapped the food with his spoon.

The little girl on the other hand just tucked into her food. "Mommy, it's too burned," she cried. "And I hate the vegetables,"

"You better eat them Athena," Kelly said looking to her daughter. "Or no tv tonight,"

"Awww mommy…" Athena moaned.

"She's right you know," John said. "Eating vegetables makes you big and strong," he said as he ate his own.

He didn't know where that came from, but it came from somewhere. Maybe before he became a Spartan.

Alex just sniggered, but said nothing. He knew that few Spartan II's remembered their past before the project. So, he didn't bring it up.

"So, Alex, how did you are Kelly meet?" John asked as he took another bite.

'Athena is right, it's a little too burned,' he thought.

Alex fell silent as he thought. "About 8 years ago," he said as he took a bite. "Kelly came back from deployment and I found her at a local café," he shrugged. "I had never seen a Spartan outside of the tv so I sat in front of her and began to talk,"

"It was awkward as hell," Kelly added with a blush.

"But worth it," Alex winked to his wife as he continued the story. "After that we met up a few more times before we started to properly date," his tone then turned to a more sobering one. "As we had our talks, one thing crept into mind, who was Kelly?"

John blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"As a person, who was Kelly?" Alex clarified. "The Spartan II's didn't have much of a personality, much identity when ONI took you. All you were, were soldiers, people who lived and breathed warfare. So, under all that, who was Kelly the person, not Kelly the soldier,"

"It took us ages for us to figure that one out," Kelly smiled. "I am Kelly the soldier, but I'm, also Kelly the mother,"

John nodded and continued to eat. "Does six have a husband?"

"You mean because of her two kids?" Kelly asked and John nodded. "No, she adopted them,"

The Chief blinked at that. "She adopted them?" he asked with some surprised.

"Yeah," Alex nodded. "Before she became commander of the Wolf Pack, she was a nomad with a group of refugees from Reach,"

"Six the Wolf!" Athena smiled. "She's one of my favourite characters!"

"She means cartoon characters," Kelly clarified. "She had been gone for so long, that she had plenty of stories to tell. Which got turned into a kid's TV show,"

"Six did not like that," Alex smiled as he fed the baby next to him.

"What happened?" John asked.

OOOOO

Six knocked on a door which was followed by a 'come in', and she entered. Captain Edward Buck sat behind his desk while he talked to his wife.

"Veronica I know but…" he said but got cut off and gave a slight wave to Six.

"No but's about it Buck," Veronica said over the comm as Six walked up to a seat in front of the desk. "You need to get me those files if you expect your cadets to graduate, you need to get them signed off on available posts. If not, then they are just wasted,"

"I know," Buck sweated. "I'm doing what I can, but you know the red tape,"

"I'll see if I can ease it for you," Veronica said before she cut the link.

"I love it when your wife eats you out," Six smiled earning herself a scornful look from Buck.

"I know you're not here to gloat about my love life," he said with a smile of his own.

"Yeah, I want to take Ainko for a 2-week vacation," the Spartan said making Buck's brow raise.

"I assume it has something to do with her recent… disagreement?" he asked with a sigh.

"Yes, I feel she's been pushing too hard," Six said as she took the seat. "She's one of the best students here, working non-stop in all areas. Physical, academic, military…"

Buck nodded. "She's had been putting 110% in at all times. Top of her class in multiple fields, but her temper tends to be her downside. I can see why you want to take her off for a while,"

"Yeah, I'm just not sure where she got the temper," Six shook her head.

"Well, I think that might be you," Buck shrugged earning himself a look from her.

"Me?" she questioned. "But I adopted her,"

"There's always been the argument of nature versus nurture," he said as he poured himself a drink. "It's always been a bit of both, at least in my experience," he took a drink. "Don't forget, she was brought up for 7 years as a nomad with a Spartan for a mother. You really don't think she picked up some bad traits from you?" he smiled.

Six said nothing but sighed. "True, I didn't want her to join anything military. But…"

"But she took after you and is aiming to be a Spartan. Because she looked up to you," Buck smiled. "I know the feeling. I'll get her signed off, on the understand she gets extra,"

"I don't think she'll mind," Six smiled. "If anything, she'll relish the challenge,"

OOOOO September 3rd 2552 Reach.

After getting what they needed from Iron base, group 2 set up a convoy to the space port. The convoy was made up of two road tractors, four spade picks ups and eight trucks. They also managed to get their hands on twelve warthogs. Four of them had chainguns, three had rockets, two had gauss cannons and two were transports. The trucks carried weapons, food, water, ammo and some crates of clothing. But the group prioritised the crates from 1 to 4 with 1 being the most important and decreasing in importance the higher the number.

The trucks were also modified with a speed boost fuel so that they could get to the spaceport faster. Granted they would be ruined, but at this point group 2 didn't have much of a choice. The Covenant was moving in, and fast, as such they couldn't split up or do anything except put the peddle to the metal. But in order to provide protection, the warthogs were placed between the trucks. Marines had also been armed with rocket launchers and placed on the side seats of the warthogs. A little extra protection couldn't hurt. Thankfully, no one had tried to strafe them… yet.

Six sat in a troop warthog second from the front. She sat at the front with the baby, named Sophia, while Aniko slept in the back with a female marine. The Spartan didn't know what do with the two of them, but leaving them wasn't an option.

"How are they?" she asked.

The medic who checked them out, also drove the warthog the two were on.

"Sophia's fine considering how young she is," he said not taking his eyes off the road. "She may need some formula, easy to get on the ship. As for Aniko, she's been though a lot. I'm not sure what kind of scars she'll have, but all she needs now is a good meal,"

Six looked back at young girl as a thought crossed her mind. If she could survive this with few scars, could she be a Spartan in the future? That thought she banished from her mind, no. Very few could be Spartans and for some reason she didn't want to think about that possibility. The idea that one of these girls would become a Spartan wasn't appealing. Six had been though that hell, and wouldn't want it on her worst enemy.

"Both of them have been though a lot," the medic continued. "Once we're on the ship, maybe we can find a good home for them,"

Six looked down at Sophia in her arms. Giving them to someone else to look after? The thought alone, she didn't want to think about it. But would it be a good idea to give them to someone else? She didn't have time to think about that as the sound of banshees met her ears. Aniko woke up and looked up as did the others in the convoy.

"Shit!" one of the gunners yelled and opened fire.

The gunfire woke Sophia up who began to cry.

"Sparten," Aniko said making Six look to her.

"Hold onto you sister," Six said and handed Sophia to the 5-year-old.

The Spartan then grabbed a Spartan laser and looked towards a squadron of seven banshees flying toward them. 12.7x99 slugs flew through the air creating bullet holes in the banshee's front armour. While it did little it did force them to break up and try to take out the convoy. But the lead was taken out by Six who destroyed it with her Spartan laser. The other six drifted away from trying to pick out their targets with their plasma cannons.

The pilots were smart, however as they tried to keep their distance from the convoy. The gauss and rockets would outright destroy them with ease. One of the pilots decided to try his luck and tried to get in close only to be taken out of the air with three rockets. The fist detonated harmlessly close to the fighter, but it did force it to move to the side when it got hit by two rockets. It's shell then crashed into another banshee making the two crash into the ground.

That pissed off the other four as they flew in and managed to take out two of the warthogs forcing the convoy to stop. One rocket and one troop were destroyed. But it did them little favours as the firepower of the others took the final four banshees' out. But they lost 10 marines, and two warthogs. A fair price to pay of keeping their supplies. There was a problem however, did they send out a message to the others? They didn't want to find out, or take the chance. So, after moving the warthog husks out of the way they just pushed on. A few did say a prayer, but even those were on the vehicles on rote to the spaceport.

After another two hours the convoy arrived at the gates, which opened up and lead them to main docking area. Several marines from group one lead them to the only spaceship in the whole station. A Paris-class frigate with the name 'Dire-wolf' on the side. As the vehicles stopped Six climbed out of her warthog and looked around.

Group one had made barricades around the entrance and along the walls. Four scorpion tanks were positioned around the main entrance to prevent the covenant from getting in. It also cleared space in the frigate to allow for more storage. As Six exited her warthog, Major Lee, Rose, Kai and Dan ran up to her with a man wearing a white uniform following close behind.

"Six, good to see your group made it," Rose said before looking to her legs and seeing a 5-year-old hiding behind the Spartans legs holding a baby. "Who might this be?" she asked as she squatted down while smiling.

"This is Aniko and her Sister Sophia," Six answered before getting down and looking at Aniko. "This is Rose, she'll take care of you,"

"But.. I want to stay wif you," Aniko said.

"I know, but what I'm going to do is dangerous. I'll be back I promise," she said leaning in and kissing the girl on the forehead. "Go on,"

Aniko was hesitant but walked over and took Roses hand and the three walked off.

"You really were motherly," Lee commented.

"I know," Six muttered before shaking her head. "But we need to get out of here, what the situation?"

"This is Captain Lynch," Lee indicated to the man in the white uniform. "He and a few more survivors had the same idea as us,"

"Pleasure," Lynch said as he offered his hand which Six took.

"Captain," she said looking at him up and down. "Forgive me but you don't look navy,"

Lynch just waved. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm not military, and I don't take it as an insult. I'm a cruise Captain, but most of the men I picked out were military. They're on board now getting the ship ready for take-off now,"

"How many men do you have?" Six asked.

"20," he said. "Not too many,"

Six just nodded. "Let's hope so," she said as the trucks moved into a line and began to unload their cargo.

"It should take about an hour for us to unload the cargo," Lee said. "Until then we need to keep an eye out for the covies,"

"Agreed," Lynch said. "I'll get back to the bridge, make sure things are going well,"

"Keep in contact," Six said.

"Will do," the Captain nodded.

"I'll take the wall," Six said.

"Weapons are over there," Lee pointed to a weapons crate making the Spartan smile.

"Nice," she said as she walked over to it.

She grabbed a sniper rifle, with several magazines, a rocket launcher and a fully charged spartan laser. She placed the sniper on her back mag-lock and carried the other two up to the wall. After placing the spartan laser to one side she then readied the rocket launcher on her shoulder ready for action.