Kyle's POV

I woke up to the first streaks of dawn filtering in through the dew-covered half window of the room. I yawned refreshingly at the good night's sleep and swung my legs over the edge of the bed as I sat up, my eyes still a bit blurry. I lifted my arms over my head, stretching out my muscles that were cramped from me sleeping in my armor. I looked across at the other bunks to see everyone else either getting up or already awake and subconsciously reached for my rifle.

My hand grabbed air.

What! I looked at the floor and behind the bunk to see if it fell off but it wasn't there. "Guys! Someone stole my rifle!" I said, frantically jumping down from the top bunk and searching Grey's bed too.

I turned around, combing my hands through my hair exasperatingly as I looked around the room and saw them staring at me. "What? Come on help me find it! We need to report this!" They all had their helmets off and I could see Smith concealing a smile. I quickly walked over and searched the other beds.

"This isn't funny, someone snuck past us and..." I paused. Wait a minute, Smith was keeping watch last. I whipped around.

"Where is it." I asked him, folding my arms angrily. He laughed out loud and Grey joined him. The others were smiling. "Very funny, now give it back." I held out my hand. Smith pulled out one arm that had been tucked behind him the whole time and handed it over. I looked it over and paused. "Oh that's great, very funny." I said sarcastically.

Smith had painted the entire dang rifle a bright girly pink intermittent with crude bows. He had even modified a small scope on to it as well. I looked down the scope at the crosshairs pattern. Instead of the normal circle or x-marker, the target dot had a small heart encircling it. There were snickers the whole time I had turned away from them to inspect Scott's 'handiwork'. I turned back, holding the bright pink gun standard at-ease position with my orange and blue enforcer armor still on. They all burst out laughing.

I stomped towards Smith and he choked out between fits of laughter, "Grey helped me do it!" I ran at him and he ducked behind Henderson, still laughing. I ran around Henderson and cornered him. The team stepped in and held me back, the laughter wearing off but still smiling. Smith chuckled a few more times.

"Come on man, now I have to repaint it, I'll be spotted a mile away." I said, arresting my attempts to kick him for his prank and picking up the rifle from where I had tossed on the bed with disgust. Henderson grabbed his own rifle as he checked the time. "Come on guys, now that we've had our fun we have to go on patrol with Whom I have found is officially classified as White team." Fancy I thought. "We will start patrol while Kyle cleans up his rifle. And forget the scope, just make the rest of it combat fit." He said to me. My shoulders sagged and I nodded. Man.

"Speaking of names, we are officially classified as a Fireteam so we earned the name Fireteam Prime. You will respond and identify as this name. We have a lot of ground to cover so move out Prime." He said. I grabbed the rifle and made my way towards the armory. They headed the opposite way to where White team was waiting, but stopped and ducked into a room for a moment before coming back out. Something was said and they all nodded.

I walked around the corner grumbling, "Stupid Smith."

______________________

Steele's POV

I looked up from cleaning my rifle as the first streaks of dawn started to show above the horizon. White Team had been up for an hour or two already and were ready to leave on patrol as soon as the others were ready as we had eaten already. I dimly heard the sounds of Fireteam Prime awakening in the quiet morning air. I guess their watch didn't want to wake them up. We usually automatically woke up at 0500 hours now, a habit from training.

I heard quiet whispers through the door thanks to my improved hearing, catching a few words. "Kyle...Employer...stick to the plan..." The whispers cut off as I heard someone else wake up. The rest of my team started to get up from their positions, only noticing that Fireteam Prime was awake from their laughter at something since their hearing wasn't as sensitive as mine.

I rose to my feet quickly, sliding my magazine into my assault rifle with a satisfying click! I put it on my back and said, "Let's go." they nodded and we walked out of the tower, a guard standing at the bottom looking at us with awe as we came down for him to replace us. I always thought it was strange and a bit uncomfortable that people thought we were so much different than they were or some big heroes. We just want to do our job, we earn no more merit than they do.

We spread out just next to the door, my team waiting behind and beside me for the other team to report. After a few minutes Henderson came out with Prime, all except Kyle. "Commander Henderson. Where is Spartan 324?" I asked.

"He needs to clean up an incident with his rifle. He will be with us shortly so we will start without him." He replied casually. I grimaced. One thing I remembered from training was Never leave a man behind. A soldier left is a bullet to the chest. However, he was their commander so the matter was out of my hands.

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He watched my physical responses closely and I stilled, returning the gaze. Something wasn't right. "Let's move then." I said and we walked in rows of two out of the base, immediately taking out our rifles as soon as we passed the fence, me on point with their soldiers named Rogers and Grey. I placed a muffler on my rifle and scouted the forest, now at about 200 feet away from the fence-line. We walked over the after-math of the battle, abandoned weapons, pieces of warthogs and tanks, and a smoldering banshee.

There was a quiet crack! ahead and I signaled the teams to stop and take cover. My motion tracker detected a small group of blips half a klik ahead. We quietly moved into the brush, my team up front barely making a sound and the others too far back to matter. I enabled my helmet zoom and looked ahead, scanning where the tracker was indicating.

There was a flash of purple as light reflected off of a grunt's methane tank and I zoomed in on him. He was accompanied by one of the bird like walking creatures of the Jackals. His sniper rifle and standard round electric shield with a small indent for shooting were both down in a relaxed position. I signaled Scott to come up and he army-crawled next to me. I pointed at the jackal and signaled him to take it out with his sniper. I gave him my muffler and grabbed an extra, aiming at the grunt. The two teams watched us with interest. I held up my hand and counted off. 3...2....1! I closed my hand and we fired simultaneously. There was a small sound of escaping air and the grunt and the jackal dropped. We stayed completely quiet for a moment. No alarm had been raised.

I signaled the team to rise... but then there was a sudden blip on my motion tracker and there was the sound of a bush rustling behind us. We all simultaneously drew our weapons and pointed them at the emerging figure. Kyle dropped his newly camouflaged gun and raised his hands in surprise. "It's just me guys." We lowered our weapons. He picked up his gun up from where it had fallen, brushing off the dust. "Took you long enough." Henderson remarked and Kyle grumbled a little. "Not my fault it was a thick layer of pink." I smiled and we continued on our rout with no further encounters. We walked back into the base, another team of about 20 relieving us.

"Awfully quiet for after a battle don't you think?" Selina remarked. I nodded grimly, "Somethings up." I replied and we headed to lunch. Commander Henderson came up next to me, "What do you think the covenant could be doing? It's not like them to go quietly."

"I don't know, but it can't be good. They must be gathering." I said.

"I'll contact the other squads to see if they've experienced similar events."

I nodded. "Report back to me. As of now I have to report to the Sergeant Major." I said, and finished my meal quickly, standing up and walking to the Major's office. I walked in, the doors closing behind me. "Sergeant Major, First Class Petty Officer Steele reporting." I said, saluting.

He was speaking with another commander. He turned and gestured for the other commander to leave. I stepped aside for him to pass and began as soon as I heard the doors close. "Sir, as expected there was minimal covenant activity. We only encountered a jackal and a grunt. I think they are planning something."

He nodded. "How far did you patrol?"

"Past the farthest outpost about a mile. Well into what should have been enemy grounds."

"We feared this. Usually this can only mean one thing. A glassing is imminent. The only other thing I could think of since we haven't detected any slipspace ruptures yet would be that they are gathering for one focused attack. Both are not good. We have to evacuate all of the largely inhabited areas of the planet. I will notify the other outposts immediately. You are in charge of civilian protection at the large city of Redemption. I will prep a pelican immediately for White team and Fireteam Prime's transport." He said. I nodded.

"Also, Seeing as you will be spending a lot of time with civilians and other people and your recent successes in battles. I've decided to go against protocol and promote you once again. All of the standards could be counted as fulfilled and since I am the highest ranking officer it is within my authority. You are hereby promoted to the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer. People will refer to you as Chief, Senior Chief, or Senior. You are dismissed Chief."

I stood there for a moment, temporarily stunned before remembering I was still in the presence of a Sergeant Major. "Uh, thank you sir." I said, saluting and walking out the door. That was unexpected. I walked back to where the teams were gathering after lunch. Selina approached me. "How did it go?"

"We have new orders to protect evacuating citizens of the city Redemption. A pelican is being prepped immediately. I was promoted as well." I said. She widened her eyes. "That's great. What to?"

"Senior Chief Petty Officer." Now my whole team was surprised. "Really? Wow, that's a huge honor." Kade said. I nodded. "It is, but we need to get moving. The Major thinks the covenant are planning either a focused attack or a glassing. Grab your equipment and let's get the the hangar."

They ran back to their seats and grabbed helmets and weapons. We marched to the hangar. I stood in the entrance, the teams stopping behind me. I found our pelican, the second closest. We hurried to it and ran up the ramp inside. The door closed and we heard the pilot call back, "All clear!" before the ramp closed. The pelican rose off the ground and shot out of the hangar, Fort Cause shrinking from view at a rapid rate out the window. I doubt we will ever see that place again.

There were footsteps from the cockpit. I looked up. To my surprise it was Commander Silas walking out. "Sir?" I asked. He waved me down as I started to rise and I sat. "Yeah, I know, not protocol to have a Commander escorting Spartans. I just wanted to wish you luck and this was the only way to talk to you privately before you left."

"Thank you sir."

"Don't mention it. Just stay safe. A lot of people are going to be depending on you and your team. I have to stay in the cockpit so good luck to you and goodbye."

"We make our own luck, but thank you sir."

He nodded and turned, stepping up into the cockpit. The pilot called back again. "ETA 30 seconds"

"Alright, let's get ready to drop. We are being let out about 20 feet off the ground so roll when you hit the ground." The pilot called back an all clear. "Secure your weapons. Light's green." I said and hit the button to open the hatch.

Then we jumped.