I sat in the pilot seat of the Pelican and flipped a few switches on the control panel, prepping it's shields and engine to leave the atmosphere. The rest of the team strapped themselves securely into the seats the back. I quickly checked the radar for nearby aircraft and visually confirmed that no one was in the nearby airspace and turned on the engine. It roared to life, spinning up to it's maximum thrust, only the brakes keeping us in place. Satisfied all was well, I pulled back slowly on the throttle down to idle, and then back up to minimum takeoff power.

I pressed a button to close the hatch and engaged upwards thrust, the engines tilting down to push us off the ground. The pelican rose, slowly at first but gaining speed as I increased throttle, the aircraft automatically converting from upwards thrust to horizontal. I followed a half spiral pattern as we rose above the surface until we were just under the first layer of the atmosphere. I broke pattern and flew in an angled ascent towards the sky, throwing on our afterburners to break us free from Atrius's gravity.

I took a moment to look back at the ground just before the cockpit glass turned completely red and saw the base, half melted to nothing. The city was gone, a single skyscraper near the ocean standing above the disfigured ruins of the other three buildings. I could also see a small town milling with refugees and another large city to the East of Fort Cause completely glassed. The heat of leaving atmosphere obscured the ground after a few more seconds.

How could they do this? Why would they do this? What are they after? I know that before they were hunting for me, like with the incidents in Fort Cause. What if they were still after me? Is this all my fault?

I shook my head and looked forward at the darkening sky as we approached the outer atmosphere and the air resistance lessened. It's probably not my fault, I thought. They wouldn't do a full scale invasion just for me and they would have only destroyed Fort Cause. Unless they didn't know where you were. If they had knowledge that you would be the next Master Chief, they would feel like an invasion is worth stopping the destruction of entire fleets of covenant. My subconscious whispered.

I shook off that thought, thinking like that would only lead to me losing focus on my current mission. Right now any slip-ups could be the difference between rescuing Kyle and losing him, either by death or slipspace. The Pelican rumbled, and for a minute I pushed the thought away to make sure our ascent was steady. It slowly stopped and we passed the final layer of atmosphere.

Suddenly a call on my com cut through the silence. It was Silas's voice. "Senior Chief, re-direct to the UNSC frigate you recovered on. There is something urgent you need to see regarding Spartan 201."

For a moment I didn't recognize the number, but then a really old memory came back to me sharply of a little girl standing over me, a soft smile on her face. That number was Sift! "What?!" I asked, trying to subdue my excitement and confusion.

"It's not safe to say over these channels, especially with you piloting a Pelican. Report ASAP. Silas out." The com abruptly clicked off.

I sat there a full minute before angling the Pelican towards the nearest Frigate. Was Sift alive? I didn't want to get my hopes up but the message suggested it. It's been so long, how will we be a team again? And if she was recently revived then she will only be 12, and without augmentations or training. And we need to hurry to get Kyle, why does it strangely seem like everyone is trying to delay us as long as possible?

I pushed that thought aside and returned my attention to flying. There were multiple carriers, Covenant and UNSC in the surrounding space. Two of them were linked in a battle far to my right, so far I could only see what was going on thanks to my enhanced sight. Missiles were flying out of each and dealing terrible damage. The UNSC carrier had a shield on but it was weakening with each blow. The others were separated by miles of space and seemed to be unwilling to be the first to engage.

I flew in a wide arc around all of them to our destined carrier so that we were not caught in the crossfire. "This is Sierra one-one-eight of Fort Cause, requesting permission to dock." I pinged to the carrier.

There was a pause. "Permission granted. Please direct to hangar nine, space five."

I adjusted our trajectory down and to the right thirty degrees. I called back as we approached, "We are making a detour, leave unnecessary equipment onboard but stay prepared. Prepare to board UNSC frigate."

There was a slight pause but acknowledgment lights blinked in my HUD a moment later.

I flew through the air-shield and landed in the designated space. Silas was standing not too far in front of it. I powered down the Pelican and lowered the hatch. I got up out of my seat and walked into the back where my team was waiting for me. I walked past them without saying a word and they followed me down the ramp.

Silas came around the side of the hatch, his face unreadable. "Follow me." He said, waving his hand for us to come. I saw Selina look at Kade questioningly. He shrugged and we walked after Silas. After passing a few different entrances and taking several turns we stopped at a door along a hallway.

Silas turned to us, "Before I show you I have to say some things. During your first training mission you lost two team members, Sift 201 and Grayson 283."

Selina shifted uncomfortably. Kade and Scott stayed still.

"Grayson was confirmed KIA, but not Sift. She was placed into cryo for her injuries. Approximately six years ago our doctors came up with a solution to revive her safely. Sift is alive White team." He said.

We all moved back slightly in shock, looking around at each other to make sure what we were hearing was real. "Sift is Alive? Why didn't you tell us before?" Scott demanded, stepping closer to Commander Silas.

Silas sighed, "For a number of reasons. One, you were too young to be told, there was a major risk of you losing focus and potentially letting feelings get in the way. Two, she is now the age Senior Chief Steele is at. She feared that without the same training she would never catch up, especially since she had to recover, and she didn't want to be a liability. If she was, it was her idea to leave her revival a secret when or if she ever reached proper combat readiness. Three, Halsey was afraid her recovery wouldn't go well or that you wouldn't be as motivated by their deaths to train harder and become better as a team if you knew Sift had been revived." He said. "I will add that she has also been augmented with almost complete success and is in prime physical shape. She has worked with several other teams on missions already so, other than getting into the rhythm of the how you guys operate now, she should adapt well to White team." He finished.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

We stood there for a few moments as we tried to process everything, and he asked, "Any more questions or shall we enter?" I was shaken out of my thoughts and looked at the rest of the team. They nodded their heads. "We're ready." I replied.

"Well then White team..." He opened the door and stepped in. "Let me reintroduce your teammate, Spartan Sift 201."

We walked in after him and I stopped. The rest of the team came in and did the same as they saw the female Spartan standing in the middle of the room, standard rifle on her back.

Her helmet was off, but she looked a lot different. Her hair was still startling blond but her eyes were now a blue with yellowish-gold around the iris. Her face was thinner and she was taller, but not taller than us. She wore dark red and black armor with white stripes to signify White team. It had a layered chest plate with a central protective layer, a type of armor called Vector. Her helmet was different though and had a smoothed triangle visor with a rounded exterior. There were also red crosses on the sides of her helmet, one in the center of her chest plate, and on her shoulder plates. She was fully equipped and had many different medical kits and supplies around her waist.

I realized the room was deathly silent and Sift was looking at me with an expectant look. I cleared my throat and said, "Um.. You look well."

She nodded, "I'm sorry we had to reunite this way." I shook my head slightly, "I understand....There's so much I want to say, to ask, but we have more pressing matters at hand." I smiled and continued, "However, you look well and I am glad to see you. Are you ready to leave?"

She nodded. "I am ready to follow any order you give. It will take a bit to get used to but I'll try to. What's our mission?"

I nodded, "Good, we will brief you in the pelican. Permission to be dismissed Commander Silas?" I said, saluting to him.

He had been watching the exchange from a distance and stepped forwards, returning the salute. "Permission granted. But, along with your mission, I have orders from higher up to destroy one of the covenant carriers. Any help would be appreciated Senior Chief."

I nodded, "I'll see what we can do. Thank you sir."

We turned to leave. "Good luck Spartans." He called from behind. I paused at the door. "We make our own luck." I replied and we walked out.

I immediately began a light jog towards the hanger and they followed suit, everything quiet for a moment except for the sound of our boots pounding on the metal as we ran through the hallways.

"So..." Scott said, lingering near Sift. "Have any secrets we should know?"

I looked over to see Sift tilt her head in a way at him that said, Really? That's the first thing you ask me after six years?

"Well, I can bring people back from the dead." She said. "Really?" Scott asked, stopping for a moment in shock.

"No, just wanted to see your reaction." She laughed. He hmphed angrily as he caught back up to the group. "Seriously though, I can help most injuries and some severe wounds. I only have a slightly extended field kit on me so not really mortal wounds. I have also learned a lot of difficult combat moves that might be useful and discovered that I also have almost photographic memory." She said proudly.

"We can use that. I'm glad to have you back Sift." I said. We entered the pelican and I started the engine.

"And I'm glad to be back here Senior Chief." She replied from the back, emphasizing my title. I couldn't help but smile. They buckled in and I lifted off, turning around smoothly and gliding out into space.

"So, what's our mission?" She asked. Kade quickly briefed her on what had been going on and where we were headed now. She let out a sigh and then asked, "Why would his own team kidnap him? Couldn't they have just tricked him into telling them the information while they worked together before this?"

I shrugged, and then paused as I realized she couldn't see me. I responded verbally instead, "I don't know, that's what we're going to find out. But I agree, it seems inefficient and risky." She paused and then asked, "So what if we lose him?"

"We won't, but we have to figure out where he is first. He said something about a larger ship. Scan the surrounding areas." I said. There was a sigh, "Yes Sir, might take a bit."

Even if we did lose him, I hoped it was by slipspace travel. Slipspace can be tracked through, but death is a chasm you can't come back from. Wait, tracking.. "Hey Selina, when you checked Kyle's suit, was his tracker working?" I called back. There was a pause, "I believe so... Yeah, it was on." I smiled, finally good news. "You or Scott trace that signal, then send coordinates to my HUD." I commanded. "Affirmative" she replied.

I returned my attention to the space and spotted multiple carriers, Covenant and UNSC the ones I had seen before. The two of them were linked in a battle to my left still, missiles flying out of each and dealing terrible damage. The UNSC carrier had lost it's shield during the time we had spent on the frigate and was sustaining damage, but seemed to have the upper hand. The others still seemed to be unwilling to be the first to engage, but had moved ever closer to the two locked in combat.

There were two Covenant vessels closest to us and I cut off our main engines so that we were only directed by air-bursts. Since there is no friction in space we continued our same speed. Another minute passed as we got closer and Selina called up, "Got it, but... You need to take a look for yourself."

I pulled up the coordinates she sent me and widened my eyes in surprise. It was close, but it was also... Inside the Covenant carrier? That bastard, he teamed up with them! I curled my fist in rage, bending the metal on the throttle a bit. The sound of metal creaking snapped me out of it and I took a deep breath and released it. "We need a plan." I said calmly.

"Well there is a damaged landing bay on the east side, most likely from an AA gun or a UNSC carrier. We could land there." said Scott.

I nodded, "That's a good idea, from there we will take access tunnels to wherever they are holding Kyle. Gear up, we're going in." I said. They winked their acknowledgement lights and I angled the Pelican towards the nearest carrier. I did a double-take on the row in my visor as the fourth light blinked. It's going to take a while to get used to that.

The sound of ammo sliding into a magazine and then into a weapon could be heard multiple times as the team got ready behind me. I again heard the familiar click of ammo sliding into an assault rifle, mine. Kade came up and took my pistol, reloading it and replacing it. I leaned forward and he placed my previously requested rail gun on my back.

I sat back and he walked into the back once more. I turned on cloaking as we got closer, set the Pelican on a course for the damaged hanger, and relieved my command to autopilot. The Covenant carrier eclipsed the view of the rest of space out of the front of the Pelican as we drifted closer. I took one last look towards the flaming hangar and stepped into the back.

Selina looked up from refilling her grenades and quickly turned around to grab my assault rifle. She handed it to me and placed her shotgun on her back, "You ready for this?" I nodded, "We can't afford not to be ready." She nodded back and I stepped past her. Kade stepped aside so the gravity hammer on his back wouldn't hit me. Sift got up and grabbed an assault rifle. I paused next to Scott and turned around. "I programmed the autopilot to turn around once we reach the hangar. It will be waiting on the hull of the ship until we leave. Once we are inside we will take the access tunnels to his location. I want this quiet so equip mufflers and stay to the shadows. Got it?" They nodded.

I turned back to the hatch and rested my hand next to the release. "ETA five seconds. Get ready to jump."

Five... My breathing quickened slightly.

Four... I pressed the release, the hatch would be down completely the moment we were close enough.

Three... Selina flicked off the safety on her battle rifle with a muffled click.

Two... I held my breath, tension thickening in the air so much I could taste it.

One.

We jumped.