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Nobles and Demons

New Republic Base, 0600 Hours

"Uhhh, Kimball?" Tucker called out, "You need to see this. Now."

"What is it this time Tucker" Kimball asked, walking over. "Another prank?"

"No, this is serious! There's an incoming object with a recording!"

"Play it back." Kimball ordered and listened intently.

*'Mayday Mayday Mayday. This is UNSC FFG201 Forward Unto Dawn requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard - prioritization code victor zero five dash three dash sierra zero one one seven'

"UNSC? Sierra?" Kimball muttered, then ordered, "Track its descent!"

"What does this mean?" Tucker asked in confusion.

Kimball answered and smiled. "It means, we have help."

Forward Unto Dawn, 0605 Hours

Cortana woke as the sensor systems started screaming bloody murder at her. She quickly checked the system and found that they were drifting towards a planet. They were coming in very fast. She turned to the cryotube opposite her. "Chief, wake up. I need you."

John woke up very disoriented and groggy. Noticing Cortana's hologram, he asked, "Why did you wake me?"

"Well," Cortana answered, "I've got good news and bad news."

"What is it?" Chief inquired concerned.

"We're approaching a planet rapidly." Cortana informed him.

"And the bad news?" Chief wondered.

"That was the bad news. We can't slow down." Cortana told him. "The good news is, the hull is intact and we have ways off the ship. Marking the closest one now."

After a short trek through the ship, Chief found the hangar Cortana mentioned. In the hangar there was a pelican that was still intact and functional. As an added bonus, there was a warthog and several crates of weapons and ammo. He loaded the pelican with the supply crates, attached the warthog to the back, and took off.

New Republic Base, 0610 Hours

Felix walked towards the briefing room, wondering why Kimball had called a meeting. As he walked in, he noticed the Reds and Blues, the 4 at their base anyway, standing against a wall. Kimball was at the head of the table with the other high ranking officers opposite the 4 captains. Kimball noticed him and motioned for him to stand at the end of the table opposite her. "So Kimball, why did you call this meeting again?" Felix asked.

"I called you all here because there is an incoming object falling to the planet as we speak." Kimball said.

"Wait a minute. You're telling me that after all these years, there is a spaceship on our doorstep?" Felix asked.

"Yes, and I want you to go investigate." Kimball told Felix. "Go now, and if anyone is at the crash site, bring them back. Tucker here will give you the coordinates of where it is projected to crash." Tucker gave the impact data to Felix, who then left to find the object. 'This is bad,' Felix thought. 'I should call him for help."

Forward Unto Dawn Crash Site, 0630 Hours

Chief landed at the crash site to scour the ship for equipment and such. After 10 minutes he found a couple of Battle Rifles, 4 Assault Rifles and a SPNKER rocket launcher. He continued looking until he heard something outside. "Felix, scout out the wreck. Take anything useful from it." The unknown said. 'So there is more than one,' Chief thought, moving to hide in the armory. After what seemed like an eternity, someone approached the armory. Chief jumped out hiding to find- A Spartan? However something was off. The other Spartan was backing away with a gun pointed at him. This immediately label him as hostile. Chief was unforgiving as he attacked. It was over in a minute. A voice drifted in. "Felix, stop messing around and get out here. Locus is waiting." It said, becoming closer by the minute. When there was no reply, the man got anxious. "Felix, buddy, you there?" Still nothing. Worried now, he stepped inside and was attacked immediately. He looked up to see Chief with Felix slung over his shoulder while pinning the man to the wall. "You just made a big mistake." the pinned man said. Chief responded by saying "Boo." In the scariest way possible. The man screamed like a little girl and soiled himself. Chief dropped Felix and the man and pinned them both under a piece of the wall. Right after that, about four soldiers came running in. All dropped their weapons when they saw him. Policing the weapons, he noticed movement on his motion tracker. He whirled and caught the knife as it bore down towards his head. He then proceeded to punch his attacker- square in the face. The man dropped like a stone. He knocked out the others save one. "Why did you leave me awake?" The soldier said with a feminine voice.

"Because you are going tell me where the closest base is." Chief deadpanned.

"Ok, just so you know, I'm not part of that merry band of terrorists. Epsilon and I have been undermining them for weeks now."

Chief shrugged. "You still get to give directions to me."

Cortana decided to appear at that moment. 'Hold on Chief, there's another AI in the room.'

Chief asked the soldier, "Mind explaining, Miss..."

The woman shook her head and said "The name's Carolina. Epsilon is my AI."

Epsilon popped up and started when he saw Cortana. 'Cortana, it's me, Alpha.'

Cortana turned to face Epsilon and told the Chief that the two were allies.

"Good," Chief said. "Carolina help me get these men onto the pelican. After that, get us to the closest base around here. We dust off in 10."

New Republic Base, 0650 Hours

'Where could Felix be?' Kimball pondered. 'He should have checked in by now.'

"Ma'am!" A troop called out. "You might want to see this!"

"Yes trooper, what is it"

"… There's a pelican landing in the courtyard."

Kimball jumped to the ground from the upper level.

The 4 Captains joined her.

Caboose took one look at the vehicle. "More friends!" He yelled as the hatch at the back opened and out stepped Carolina and Chief.

"Who are you?" Kimball asked.

Carolina stepped forward. "My name is Carolina. This guy is a Spartan. Spartan-117, to be precise."

"Carolina? Where did you go? You left us at the crash site! Where's Church? Didn't he leave with you?" Tucker said.

Epsilon and Cortana appeared. 'Hold up. Why is the blue idiot over there calling you Church?'

'Because that is what he used to know me by." Epsilon responded.

"Okay, Chief here has something for you guys. Chief?"

Chief re-entered the pelican and dragged out the bodies.

"Wait, is that Felix? And Locus? Who are the others?" Simmons asked.

"These idiots attacked me. So I took them out." Chief replied.

"You took out Felix, the hired help I sent to find you and bring you back?"

"Yes, as this entire group was working as a team. They were hostiles."

"Felix was working with Locus? Why?" Kimball asked.

"Ask him yourself. He's coming around."

Felix sat up with a massive headache. Looking up, he saw Kimball, the 4 idiot captains, and two others with blue and green armor respectively. "What's going on?" he asked.

"What's going is I want to know why you were working with Locus." Kimball growled.

Felix looked around. "Well, shit."