Hi guys, sorry for the ending, but it's hot AF here and the heat doesn't do well for my focus. Anyway hope you'll enjoy it.

3 days ago.

Parisa walked into a comms room that was largely closed off to the rest of the ship and crew. The room was closed off any kind of communications and monitoring as well. The inside of the room was cylindrical and covered in black panels. Aside from the small flashing lights, there was a circle on the floor in which she stood. Something then scanned her as she waited for the communication to begin. A few moments later the bulky power armoured form of Sarah Palma appeared.

The two shared an unpleasant look before two regular humans appeared. The first being General Kol of the GHR and the second was Samuel Kain of the Victorian Union. Sarah was the only one who wore power armour while the others wore a combat suit that was fashioned into a business suit. After a look of disgust and acknowledgement between one another, Parisa began.

"I called this meeting due to a recent attack on my ship," she said calmly. "It was the Order of the Mantel," a look of concern passed the faces of the others.

"And you suspect that they may be coming for us?" Kol asked.

Parisa nodded. "We suspect that they came for me due to the fact we found out about Zeta. And we know how they feel about anyone who isn't them meddling with Forerunner tech,"

There was a series of reluctant nods from the others. "Is that all?" Sarah asked.

"The agreement said that if any of us comes into contact with Forerunner tech, we would report it to ensure that counters would be in place. And that is what I'm doing," Parisa said. "We have no idea what is going to wait for us at Zeta. But if the Order is trying to stop us, then we need to take measures to stop them,"

Kol nodded. "Even a simple call about a new finding, no matter how small, is important. Don't forget earth,"

Sarah sighed in annoyance. "Very well, I'll keep an eye open," and with that, she left.

The others soon left leaving Parisa there who soon left.

OOOOO Present

Kol looked at the others gaging their reaction to the news about the movement of the Order. To most people, they were little more than boogiemen. But to hear what happened to an unknown vessel, it was clear that these people weren't just shadows in the dark. But a legitimate threat that could take them down. Only Empress Mei knew what Kol was talking about.

Out of the 5 council chairs, only two knew about an agreement made years ago. Granted some of them knew about a long-standing non-spoken agreement to destroy the Halo's, but that was only part of it. Even though they were meant to be united as one, Kol and Mei didn't trust the other three with the knowledge of the agreement. There was more to it than just simple sharing of intel.

"So, this ship was destroyed by the Order for finding something on a world," the bishop asked thinking things over.

"And destroyed a settlement," Caine added. "These people do not mess around,"

"They aren't supposed to," Mei added. "From my understanding, they want to keep themselves secret and keep any Forerunner tech out of our hands. Or anyone else's hands,"

Warwood nodded. "Which means that we have to be careful about what happens on Zeta,"

"Indeed," Kol nodded. "While we may fight against the other factions, the one thing we need to do is kick the Empire off Zeta and set up a demilitarise zone,"

The Bishop, Caine and Warwood looked to Kol with narrowed eyes. "And why in God's holy name would we do that?"

"Because of the threat, the Halo poses. Not just to us but to everyone. The flood, the secrets, and more. We cannot maintain control over a Halo without putting ourselves in danger," Mei added.

"And what makes you say that?" Cain asked. "How do you know we cannot control Zeta?"

"We don't know what's there," Kol said. "And given what the weapons were used for, we can assume that the flood are there. Other secrets may be even more dangerous,"

Warwood and the other two looked unconvinced but nodded. "Very well, we'll put it to a vote when the time comes,"

A series of nods echoed across the room as they moved on to policy making, tactics, gains, losses and resource availability. It took 2 days until they were finished. Kol and Mei were the first to leave, as they were close to the front lines. But Cain, the Bishop and Warwood remains and returned to the council chambers. This time, with all recording equipment, turned off.

"They are hiding something," Cain said. "It's obvious, they know something that we don't,"

"Could it be that secret agreement that we've heard about?" the Bishop asked with disgust. "So, they are traitors to the cause,"

"Not traitors," Warwood cautioned. "They have made good points about the flood and Haloes. So, something like a joint venture may be an idea," he paused. "But if we took advantage of the ring…" he let the words hang in the air earning interested looks from his fellow councillors.

OOOOO

As Parisa finished writing up the report her mind could help but drift. This whole situation reminded her too much of how she became president.

Earth 10th June 2557, Cairo, Egypt, Africa.

Parisa ran through a check on her battle rifle as she waited for new orders. She was sitting on a set of ammo crates earning disproving looks from every soldier who passed. But she ignored them and just focused on her work. Even after the modifications to the newest generation of the Spartan IVs that removed the power-hungry attitude, they still got looks of mistrust. Something that she had grown used to over time.

The surgery was painful, to the point she wanted to die. But then she remembered John and what he had to go through. She wanted to find him and hold him to that promise, even if he didn't remember it. It would take time, but she didn't mind. Her lifespan had been extended from an average of 130 years to 240 years. Estimated. She had plenty of time to wait.

As she slid the bolt back into her battle rifle, one of the marines walked up to her.

"Major, high com want to see you," he said.

Parisa nodded and fitted back her rifle together before standing and walking over to the base. It didn't take her long, but the looks she got were not pleasant. She was one of the few who volunteered for Spartan-IV. Something that was now seen as taboo by just about everyone. She walked into high com and stood before the commanders before and saluted. It was only then she realised that she wasn't the only one.

Several Spartan IVs stood on either side of her causing her brow to raise in confusion. As the door closed Lord Hood stood and activated the holo map of Earth.

"This is not to be repeated to anyone," he warned. "Tanga has gone silent we need all of you to investigate,"

"Where sir?" one of the Spartans asked.

"Voi," another Spartan said and pointed to the location of the former city.

A shiver of fear filled the spines of the Spartans. Both due to the glassing and the flood. The latter being more feared than the former.

"I will do it, sir," Parisa said as she stepped forward.

It didn't take long for more to join her and two pelicans filled with Spartan super-soldiers headed towards the city.

It took 6 hours before they made it and landed. 16 Spartans split into 2 teams of 8 each. As the teams gathered around, Parisa and a fellow Major, Roberts, looked over a map. Tanga had already been sealed off from the rest of Africa. No one in or out, other than them. The two looked over and analysed the map planning out their mission to recon the area. She was looking at moving into the industrial and transport hub while Roberts moved into the commercial and civilian district. With all that agreed on, the two groups moved out.

Parisa lead from the front as she and her team moved slowly through the silent streets of Tanga. Eyes and ears moving and open. Something was wrong with her, but nothing screamed out at her. But there was something there, something she couldn't her finger on. As the team moved down one of the streets, rubble blocked their way. A building had collapsed onto the road forcing the squad to stop.

The group looked to one another before scattering into cover. Almost a second later a rocket hit the middle of the road taking out a couple of cars. The shrapnel flew out and hit the Spartan's shields. Trackers lit up with contacts around then and the Spartans engaged. Gunfire erupted from the buildings as they tried to target the Spartans but no one managed to get a good look at the attackers. Parisa signalled and the team pushed down doors and made their way into the buildings hunting. That's when she noticed the problem.

As she busted down the door of a closed-up shop, she could see green particles that caused her to back up.

"Oh, shit…" she muttered but immediately hit her comms. "High command come in, priority 1,"

"This is…." Someone began but Parisa cut him off. "Order a nuclear strike on Tanga now! Highest grade possible!" as she spoke, she signalled to the rest of her team to fall back and fast.

"What…" the man stuttered. "W…."

"Flood!" she yelled down the open channel so that not only her team but the quarantine force and Robert's team. "WE HAVE FLOOD CONTACTS,"

The voice went silent as the officer seemed to be yelling. A few moments later he came back on with a neutral tone.

"A shiva nuke is on the way," he said. "Orders for evac has been…." all of a sudden it got cut off.

Parisa cursed as she ran at full sprint followed by her team. They ignored all contacts due to the nukes. But that didn't mean that they weren't in danger. As they moved under a bridge, something exploded and it collapsed on top of them. Parisa blanked out as she was buried in a pile of rubble. Her mind wandered for what seemed like seconds before she awoke and found herself under a large pile of rubble. Using her new strength, she pushed the rocks off of her. It took her a few moments before she was free and stood shakily as she looked around, only to find herself in the sewer.

Looking up she could see a hole in the ceiling. The blast, or something else, must have caused the road to collapse from under her and sent her into the sewer. Her helmet reset and her eyes widened at what she saw. A timer had spears showing that she had 30 minutes to get out of dodge before the nuke hit.

"Jones," she yelled into her comm. "Davis, Allen?" but no response.

She checked her unit stats, all but 2 were flatlined. Cursing, she tagged their armour to see where they were only to see they were in orbit. Her brow furrowed as she ran a check of her suit only to see that her comm system was down. That explained her problem.

"Shit," she muttered as she began to move down the pipes.

The sounds of squelching met her ears as she pinned herself against the wall and slowly move up. Carefully taking steps before looking around. In a corridor, fleshly growths covered the entire passageway. She looked around and found some cans of chemicals nearby. Moving over to them, she began to create bombs that she hoped would work on the growth. But there was an issue. Her timer changed from 28:44 to 10:00 which began to count down.

"Oh, shit," she muttered.