Scott sat on the edge of the Pelican bouncing his foot, head in hand, waiting for Senior Chief to come back. After a moment he got up abruptly and started pacing, then he growled and sat down again. "When is he going to be back, it's been two days already!" He said angrily, bouncing his foot again.

Selina looked up from her work on one of the delicate tablets the people at the station had given them. "Relax Scott, the doctors said he'd be waking up today. He may have better augmentations than we do, but even he needs his rest and time to heal, especially considering he's still only 16 while we are all 4 years older than him. We aren't that much different you know." she replied calmly. He grunted and leaned his head on his hand again, staring out at the marines milling around the hangar.

She watched him for a moment, thinking, and then said, "Hey..."

He looked over, not moving his head from his hand.

"why don't you do something productive if you can't sit still. You could go see if the Pelican has moved, or try and get an update from the doctors on the status of Senior Chief's recovery. It's not good for you to sit around doing nothing when everyone else is busy. Even Kade is doing something." she said.

Kade had been checking on the status of the ship and modifying a few things, periodically checking in with Selina. Right now he was stocking the ship with weapons and ammo, carrying a large crate up the ramp past Scott.

He sat for a moment, frowning at how he hadn't thought of that. Then he grunted and got up, walking towards the desk where two other identical tablets had been placed for the Spartans' use. He tapped the reinforced glass screen and it slowly lit up to show a 3D image of the UNSC. The logo faded back out disappeared and 5 finger print marks appeared. He placed his hand on them, and after a moment the tablet screen said, Welcome Spartan 283, and opened to the home screen.

Scott selected a few applications and brought up a map for the area. Then he put in the ID for the tracking function, available only because he was a Spartan and held the rank of Petty Officer.

A coordinate came up, as well as changes from the past few days. He zoomed in on the area... and squinted at the tablet with a confused look. That wasn't right. He backed out of the application and reinput the information for the area again only to be met with the same results. That doesn't make any sense. The Pelican was still there all right, but the inventory had disappeared, meaning they had unloaded for some reason. It also had moved... Into a tree? He zoomed in on the area from the drone view to get a closer look. Oh wow.

In a small open area near the Pelican in the tree, much of the foliage around it had been ripped out or pushed over, one tree was even thrown to the side and the area was a mess except for a small circle of dirt with grass in the center. It was hard to believe, but there was no doubt that the area and subsequently the old dilapidated Pelican had somehow been hit by a tornado.

That's just bad luck. He thought incredulously shook his head until he abruptly froze mid-shake. Crap! Kyle could have still been in there. He frantically pulled up the feed from the drone that watched that area, originally surveying that area to warn of Covenant activity. The area was off to one side of the drone's feed, so the trees covered the left side of the Pelican in the playback video, but it was enough. He played the video from the beginning of the motion activity warning timestamp.

The Pelican had just landed, a puddle of remaining fuel forming quickly before stopping as the tank ran dry. The back hatch opened and was watched as Henderson walked down the ramp. Rogers followed and the shadow and parts of Grey's left arm and helmet could be seen. Henderson had his helmet off and was talking to Rogers, slightly agitated.

After a few minutes, Henderson and Rogers pointed inside the Pelican and then to the forest, talking lengthily until finally re-entering the Pelican. Then they began emptying the Pelican, often the crates being covered by the trees because of the bad camera angle, but the ones he could see without covers had an interesting variety of items.

He sped up the video slightly and paused the feed periodically as he tried to identify the contents of the crates. A few of them had ordinary items like ammo, extra assault rifles, hand-guns, etc., but the others carried odd things. One had a crate full of glowing orange rifles, and a few had similar versions of UNSC weapons, but different and glowing orange.

Scott had heard about these in vague reports of the conflicts that had occurred near the inner colonies, but these must have been shipped out as soon as they were discovered. After all, it had only been a year since those events and even with fluctuations in slipspace it would have taken about that long to get here. Who supplied them this stuff?

He continued watching. The next few crates were closed, one even had a hazard sign. Total there couldn't have been more than 12 crates, but he had a bad feeling about what their contents meant for White team's mission. Then he saw the shadow of a stretcher pass over the ramp from behind the trees, the shadow of two Spartans accompanying it and just barely the outline of an object with a Spartan helmet on the stretcher.

Scott had no doubt it was Kyle.

The stretcher was moved off the ramp and Grey came out from behind the trees to the other side of the Pelican with a tablet. He paused for a moment, and then looked up quickly, rushing over to where Henderson was checking the crates. He told something to Henderson and pointed to the sky, now dark gray. Henderson looked up quickly, put his helmet on, and told Grey something, pointing to the forest. They quickly moved the crates into the blind spot covered by the forest, taking a while to come back for the next crate.

Scott skipped ahead and then played it normally at the timestamp for another major motion event. All crates were somewhere in the left covered part of the forest and the clouds were swirling now, getting darker. Then a portion of the clouds began lowering, slowly twisting. Henderson looked up and pointed to Grey and Rogers. The vortex was getting faster and almost touched the ground. They nodded and the three ran.

The end of the funnel touched the ground and swirled, quickly picking up debris from the ground. Rogers fell and began slipping towards it, but stabbed a dagger into the ground. Grey came back and helped her up, making it to the safety of the forest.

The tornado swirled angrily, slowly moving towards the pelican. Scott saw the pelican start to slide, slowly at first, and then faster. After about 5 feet of sliding, the supports left the ground and the Pelican disappeared into the tornado. He saw a Pelican wing poking out of the twister fly around once before the Pelican was unexpectedly flung out of one side of it. The Pelican crashed through several trees before hitting a thick oak tree and becoming stuck. The tornado seemed to become unstable after this, the middle twisting around and swaying before it dissipated and the clouds rose back up. The clouds still moved threateningly but no other tornado appeared and there were no more timestamps for the area. The drone feed was now at the present time.

He typed in a few codes and then placed his hands on both sides like a steering wheel. He tilted it forward and the drone moved over to reveal the whole clearing. He angled it to look at the direction the team had moved in, and, seeing a small trail, flew over the trees at a distance high enough not to be seen. After a minute he spotted the first crates. He flew a little closer, scanning them.

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The one crate marked with a hazard sign contained a Havoc Nuke, one of the deadliest and largest affecting land explosives used by the UNSC. There were two of them, in the same crate but separate containers. What they could have planned for such massive ordinance could only be something terrible.

Another carried something the drone couldn't identify. It was similar to a Spartan laser but barely any of the features matched. It seemed that it had been modeled after one but instead of the singlura barrel they typically had, it had 4 barrels, curving out from the back of the gun and angling back inwards to create 1 beam. The main ammunition seemed to be some kind of electricity not unlike lightning. There were also extra energy reserves that held different types of energy, similar to stun and disintegration ammo only found in classified prototype weapons. That's not good.

That weapon could probably take down a Spartan easier than a Spartan laser, Scott realized, his bad feeling from earlier intensifying.

There was another experimental weapon in the same crate, this time it was a small device, circular in shape, with 3 rings to the center. There were two of these as well. He recorded the scans of the crate contents and then moved on from the crates, immediately spotting Kyle on a stretcher that was resting on the ground. There were two new dents in his armor and a ton of scratches, one of the dents being on his helmet. He was laying on his back with straps restraining his arms, legs, and chest. All of his weapons had been removed except for a knife in a sheath on his lower leg. His camo was still on or his armor had been repainted a dark green to cover up the dark orange before he left.

Scott thought about trying to help him for a moment, but it would be useless. The drone was only for observation. It had no weapons or other functions that could help Kyle right now.

He moved the drone over the trees a bit farther and saw the rest of Fireteam Prime crouching around a flat spot in the clearing on which a map and plans were laid down.

Scott moved the drone closer, zooming in on the map to take a picture, but the drone was only able to see something that said Steele and a part of the map around the area Fort Cause was in. Then Henderson leaned over it, pointing to something and covering it. Scott maneuvered the drone, trying to get a glimpse. Then Henderson seemed to notice something and looked around for a bit before looking upwards.

Scott saw him start to look up and moved the drone behind a group of leaves on one of the trees. Then there were footsteps behind Scott. He looked up from the tablet and behind himself, spotting Senior Chief walking towards them. "You're awake." He said gratefully, rising to greet their Team Captain.

Selina had already walked up to Senior Chief, swiping two fingers across where her mouth would be, the signal they had been taught for a smile and the most outward sign of expression the Spartans had. Scott did it as well, the gesture being returned by their leader. Then he turned his eyes back to the screen. Henderson seemed to not have seen the drone and had gone back to talking with the group over the map. Scott looked up again, "Senior Chief, you might want to see this." He said, returning his attention to the screen and maneuvering the drone higher again, looking over the site where Fireteam Prime was camped out.

____________________________________________

Steele's POV

After returning the smile expression to Kade, I walked over to where Scott was using a drone on a tablet.

I had taken a bit longer to wake up because they had injected me with a needle full of sedative so I wouldn't be awake during my 0-Gravity surgery. The surgery ended a few days ago but apparently since they didn't want to risk me being awake during the surgery they had given me an extra dose of sedative. Then after I woke up a few hours ago they subjected me to several different tests in order to make sure I was fully recovered and the surgery had gone smoothly.

I looked over Scott's shoulder at the screen. Fireteam prime was packing up equipment in a large clearing, but as I watched I saw Henderson walk over to a stretcher on the ground. There was a Spartan laying on it, covered in scratches and dents. It was Kyle!

Subconsciously curling my hand into a fist, I moved closer to get a better look. I could see the physical dents and scrapes all over his armor and body, some were more recent by the more clear metallic look.

Scott moved the drone down farther, hiding partially behind a tree. Henderson knelt down by Kyle. Kyle laid still for a moment before finally moving, slowly turning his head from laying on one side to look up at Henderson. Scott turned on the audio and angled the mic to their location. Kade and Selina stopped what they were doing for a moment and came over to watch as well.

"Hello Spartan 324. Had enough?" Henderson asked in an infuriatingly cocky voice.

Kyle waited a moment, and then said in a tired and scratchy voice, "Why am I here, what do you want from me?" He then clenched his fists, straining at the restraints for a moment, shaking at the effort, and then letting his hands fall to the stretcher again.

Henderson seemed amused. "Oh you know very well why, don't you think there was a reason you were let out early, why they sent you on this mission? You must have thought something was strange about them sending a 16-year-old on such an important mission so far from the Inner Colonies. You also carry something important on top of that. You were told some information that we need, information they gave to no one else."

He moved into a squat, rubbing his hands a little and looking around at Grey and Rogers getting ready. He looked back down. "There are also people who have a list of demands that we need to deliver on, including a specific someone, but we have to keep you until they get their target."

Kyle turned his head back over, "Why are you doing this?"

Henderson shifted his weight, "Well see, I was on your side, dedicated to the mission, protecting 118. But then, I was given an offer. Not only will we be paid money and weaponry, but we will get to see the UNSC fall from it's blood-soaked throne, and we get to be the ones to start it all." He said a bit maniacally before getting up and moving over to a small crate nearby, grabbing a baton-like electric device.

"You see, they were using us, and they are still using you. They don't care about our lives and they definitely don't see us as humans beings. Even if we die protecting the "greater good" they don't care. Because of them, my family died in the war despite being no where near the front lines and not being soldiers. The UNSC is too old, too stuck in their outdated and callous ways. The Navy needs a new face, a new chain of command. No more missions, no more financial problems, no UNSC to say I can't go back." He paused, turning around. "I won't die for them. Too many have. They don't get my death to use for their 'cause'. Anyway, a good payday is better, and with this opportunity I can finally retire and have a normal life."

He bent down. Kyle looked back, warily inspecting the device in Henderson's hand. "You signed a contract, you knew the risks and enlisted willingly. They told you that if you made it to the end of your career you could go back. You chose this life!"

"I don't care. Besides, as long as I get paid I'm happy, I have no one left to hold me back anymore anyway." Henderson said a bit sadly, turning on the device. Electricity crackled up the sides menacingly. "Now, what did they tell you?" He demanded, holding the device close to Kyle threateningly. Kyle put his head back, leaning away. In a strained voice he said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do know what I'm talking about, and I will get it out of you." He said, hitting a button that turned on the extra electric restraints, probably to ensure Kyle couldn't break out. Then he jabbed Kyle in his side with the device, arcs of electricity spreading over Kyle's suit.

Kyle yelled in pain, arching his back as much as he could and pulling at the restraints, convulsing as the electricity scrambled his nerves. He's barely 18, he doesn't deserve this! I thought as I watched in horror.

Henderson pulled it away and Kyle sank back to the stretcher, his head back, shaking slightly.

"Now, tell me what they said. I know they told you, we have proof, What did they say!?" He yelled. Kyle was breathing heavily. "I'll never tell." He said in a hoarse voice, coughing.

Henderson jabbed him again, the electricity rolling across Kyle's armor once more. He yelled again, shaking and straining against the restraints. Smoke from his suit began to curl up when he finally passed out, head and back falling to the stretcher. Still, he only stopped shaking when Henderson pulled the device away a few seconds later.

For one terrible moment I thought he was dead, but I could see his chest still rising and falling. Little sparks of electricity popped all over his body. I turned away from the terrible sight, letting out a breath I hadn't remembered holding. "That's enough." I said, walking away a few steps. Scott moved the drone high above and put it in it's monitoring mode, setting down the tablet.

The team sat silently as they waited for my command.

I thought for a moment, pacing. I can't let him suffer any longer, we have to go after him and fast. We had already planned to rescue Kyle, but with this new information it is clear we need to take down Fireteam prime and the people they work for. They can't be allowed to destroy the UNSC. Doing so would no doubt end in the extinction of mankind by the Covenant's hands.

I stopped pacing, turning around and looked at my faithful team, waiting patiently. I know what we have to do.

I stepped forward and said determinedly, "Gear up, we leave now."