Steele's POV

I cradled an injured woman in my arms as I ran as carefully and fast as I could to a medic tent. She had gotten her leg caught between some rocks while running from the residual Covenant forces and had been shot multiple times in the back with a needler. Luckily the needles were few and far apart enough to have not exploded, and none had caused any immediately fatal wounds. I held her back up gently with my right hand between two needles, using only my fingertips so I wouldn't touch or move them and cause her pain or further injury.

I hurried through the flap of the tent and a medic came up to me upon seeing the patient. "What should I do with her?" I asked. "Place her on her side over on this bed. We don't want those needles to move anymore than they have already." He instructed me, pointing to an empty cot. I walked over and carefully laid her on her side. She groaned as the movement tugged against the needles a bit, but said, "Thank you." I nodded. Just then a little girl rushed in who was gasping for breath, looked around, looked at the woman, and ran over. "Mom!" She yelled and hugged the front of the woman, being careful of the needles. Tears streamed down both of their faces and the girl buried her face in the woman's neck, crying. Medics came over to assist the woman and I looked away and walked out, partially for their privacy but also because it reminded me sharply of my failure to save Team Prime's Spartans. I walked out the flaps into the sunlight, my visor adjusting for the brightness, going back to my section of the surrounding area and continuing to patrol.

I had brought one last person in and went back out for a bit again before I called in to my team. "White team, report." There was some static and I looked around the vast field, scattered with vehicle remains and Covenant. "Selina reporting, all remaining survivors picked up, area clear." I walked towards the base. "Good, report back to base." There was an acknowledgement light. "Scott reporting in. No more survivors, area clear, all covenant dead. Wait..." There was the sound of a gunshot. "Now all covenant dead." A few more gunshots sounded.

Selina tuned in, "A little overkill?" There was a short laugh from Scott, "Can't be too careful right?" There was a humorous tone in his voice. I smiled briefly, "Report back to base." He also flashed his acknowledgement light. "Kade reporting in, no more survivors, area clear." Kade said shortly.

"Report back to base."

He flashed his light.

"Alright, we will meet up and prep for evac. Senior Chief out." I said and jogged out of the clearing through the trees. I jumped over a warthog and practically bounced and the mossy ground. It felt good to run without worrying about carrying someone. I came out of the trees after a few miles into the half empty refugee camp and found the team gathered near the middle, looking around for me. They spotted me as I approached and Selina pointed me out to them. I walked up to everyone and said, "Ok, let's join up with Fireteam prime, grab Kyle, and go." They nodded. I switched channels to our coms with Henderson's team. "Fireteam Prime come in, this is Senior Chief of White team. Over." We waited for a moment. When they didn't reply I repeated, "Fireteam Prime come in, this is Sierra one-one-eight of White team. Over." We waited. Still no response.

"That's odd." Selina commented. "Do you think they turned off their coms accidentally?" I shook my head. "Not all of them. Maybe something's jamming them. Let's grab Kyle and figure it out after we've secured him." I said. They nodded and we walked towards the tent off to the side that he had been recovering in. The medics had said they would keep him until specifically White team arrived to take him to the Pelican. I pushed the tent flap aside and walked in, my team following. I looked for the medic who normally watched the front area and began to say "We are here to pic..." before I trailed off. Something wasn't right. I walked into the section Kyle had been in and walked straight towards his cot, immediately noticing the torn curtain. The team came in and Selina gasped. The tables near the cot were overturned and one was crumpled against a wall. The cot had tipped to one side and there were scratch marks from armor scraping against the wall and floor. A few stray bullet shots had hit the ground and there was a similarly-sized hole in the fabric ceiling. An empty syringe was broken on the floor, it's fluids mostly dried. Another empty one lay near the first. There were two deep scratches leading to the back, presumably from someone being dragged.

I looked around and saw the medic to one side near the entrance. He had presumably been thrown and knocked unconscious. I first felt for a pulse, and, finding one, shook him. When he didn't wake up I asked Selina, "Grab some smelling salts on that tray over there." I pointed to the other room. She grabbed them and hurried over. I waved the vial underneath the medic's nose and gave them back as the medic started coughing. I let him cough a bit and when he stopped I helped him sit up. "What happened here? Where's Kyle?" I asked. He looked up at me, "I don't know. All I know is that he was resting after we put his armor back on and patched his under-suit. Some Spartans dressed like you, I think three of them, came in. I told them they couldn't come in because I was ordered to only let you guys in. They insisted and when I said no again, one of them that seemed to be the leader picked me up by my coat and threw me against the wall. I started to reach for the alarm but the girl punched me, and I don't remember anything after that. Last thing I saw was the other two talking to Kyle and Kyle seemed alarmed. That's it." He said, shrugging and rubbing the back of his head as he winced. I nodded, "Thank you." I helped him stand up. I walked back to my team who had been listening intently. Selina stepped forward, "Think it was them? Fireteam Prime?" I nodded, "All the clues add up, I don't know why they would need or have to abduct their own teammate, but I'm guessing they gave him a chance to come quietly and he resisted so they tried to drug him with the syringes on the floor. Then they probably tried to drag him off the bed and there was a bit of a fight including him trying to shoot them but his shots were re-directed. They wouldn't have been the ones to fire as they wouldn't have bothered with the sedative if they wanted him dead. Then they probably finally drugged him and dragged him away. Recently too by the state if the liquid on the floor." I shouldered my rifle, "We can find out why later. Let's see if those tracks lead anywhere." I said.

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They nodded and we walked out through the back where it had been slit open. Now we could see very faint tracks from the three others. Rogers' smaller tracks were walking backwards alongside presumably Grey's. Then the tracks abruptly stopped a slightly deeper dent where he had been lifted up. I sighed and surveyed the area briefly. "Spread out and look for clues." I told them. Kade looked around the large grassy area behind the tent, looking at large indents in the ground. "Senior, over here." Kade called. I walked over. "What?" I asked. "Here," he pointed at the indents, "They took a pelican." I nodded, "and?"

"Judging from these indents, it was an older model pelican that doesn't have enough power left to leave the atmosphere, which means they are still on Atrius. And," he pointed to a large stain in the grass, "They are leaking fuel, that means they can't be far away, they will have to refuel soon. Since it hasn't been that long and they can't have gone too far..."

"They can be tracked. We need to get to a computer hooked up to Atrius' vehicle database now." I said, "White team, re-group, we need access to a computer." I ordered. Scott and Selina came back to the group and we jogged towards the main facility building.

I ran up to the building entrance and pulled on the door... It was locked. No one was left to open it. It wasn't reinforced though. I backed up. The team gave me some space as I ran up to it and kicked it open, barely landing upright. The door flew open and inwards, dented so much it was almost unrecognizable. My team rushed forwards and into the doorway, scouting it just in case. I pulled out my assault rifle and signaled them to move forward. We proceeded in a defensive formation until we reached the control center. I watched their backs as I signaled them to go in. I locked the door behind us and walked over to where Scott was logging in to the computer. Kade told him the Pelican model and Scott typed it in. A map came up with a small red dot on it that marked the Pelican's location. "It says here it's at a base called Fort David. They checked in not too long ago, but only Henderson was listed in the roster. It says they've almost refueled." Scott said, clicking through the records. "We better be on our way then, we need to get to the ship now." I said. Scott exited out of the database and hopped up. We sped through the hallways, out the same way we came in. The Pelican was still where we left it and I ran up the ramp into the cockpit, handing my assault rifle off to Selina and sitting in the chair that had been modified specifically to fit Spartan armor so that I could strap into the seat securely if I had to take evasive maneuvers. The team sat in the back, strapping in, and I fired up the engine. I closed the ramp and checked all the controls. When I was satisfied I pulled up on the throttle and the pelican rose. I set a course in my helmet for Fort David and turned the Pelican in that direction before slowly rising away from the base, moving forwards and gaining speed until the Pelican reached a comfortable speed. We flew silently and I listened to the varied distress calls over the radio, grimacing as a few disappeared into static.

We finally got closer to the base and I flew near the tree tops. Then the trees opened up to reveal one of the last of the large military bases combined with a refueling station of Fort David. I checked for clearance to land as we approached and, receiving it, maneuvered to the spacecraft section and lowered the Pelican, slowly entering through the hangar into a slot between two other Pelicans. I extended the landing gear and lightly touched down, a shake throughout the Pelican signifying so. I lowered the hatch and unbuckled, walking out of the cockpit over to where my team was waiting. Selina handed me my assault rifle and I said, "Ok, Let's go." We walked down the ramp out of the Pelican and near the middle of the hangar. "Spread out and look for their pelican, it should be the oldest model here." I commanded. They spread out, Scott looking down the way we just came in case they appeared from there. I drifted near the back of the hangar where the Pelican's were doubled up, or parked forwards and backwards interchangeably to save space and scanned down the rows. Then I spotted it. "White team, on me." I commanded through the COMs. They jogged back, Scott last after having gone the farthest. "Where?" Selina asked. I pointed to my right a bit, in the row closest to the right end of the hangar entrance. They looked and Kade nodded, confirming the model. I noticed a few soldiers milling about begin to stare at our fully-armed group and whisper to each other. No one dared to approach, but we had to be quick or they could scatter upon hearing of our arrival.

"So what's the plan?" Scott asked. "Me and Selina will approach the Pelican. Scott, I want you in a place where you can see the whole hangar floor with ease. If all goes wrong I give you permission to fire on them, but only to disable or hamper. We don't want any unnecessary casualties." I said. He nodded. "Kade, you will stay back where you can see the entirety of their Pelican and ours. You will be back up." He nodded as well. "Me and Selina will figure out what is going on, and try to settle it quietly while looking for Kyle. If they start to take off I want all of you back to the pelican, Scott, on top of over watch duty, I want you to try to disable the Pelican before it gets off the ground should they start to run. If worse comes to worst and I am injured or killed, fall back and call for help. They would have the home field advantage so it would be unfair and they could easily evade you, but if the Military personal in the base knew that these killed someone or we confirmed the kidnapping of Kyle, they'd have every ship here on their tail. First priority is to attempt to deescalate though, and we don't want to put any further strain on Atrius's forces considering the circumstances so that it our last option."

They nodded solemnly. I signaled Selina to follow me and I walked between the Pelicans, placing my rifle on my back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Scott heading towards stacks of fuel tanks on the back and Kade hung back a few hundred feet. I approached the pelican. I hope this goes as planned. I thought. We came up to it and I knocked on the hatch. Kade settled out of sight to one side. There was a grinding sound and then the hatch slowly lowered...