Author's Note: Welcome everybody to Book Number 7! Whew. It's been a wild ride so far and it's about to get wilder, haha. Hope you enjoy!

Before I start, big thanks to all my readers and reviewers, old and new. Your support keeps this dream alive. I appreciate all of you. :)

And now boring, but necessary, disclaimers:

1) I DO NOT OWN Halo, the franchise/the books/the games/other media. I'm just writing a story based off this universe. And, like with the previous installments in the series, times/dates/settings may be slightly AU. This is especially true with this story as it's set a couple years ahead of the current canon timeline, and Halo 5's not out yet. :P If you're a canon stickler, please be patient. I'll get this as lined up as possible going forward, promise.

2) Also like its predecessors, this story is rated T but tends to toe the line with M for language, violence, blood, gore, and some suggestive/sexual content (not graphic). You have been warned.

3) While it is not strictly necessary to read the other Cooper stories to understand this one, it is highly recommended. The fics in this series have built off one another and you'll miss a lot of the character development/story progression if you choose to start here. If you're not sure what order the stories go in, I have them numbered in chronological order on my profile page.

And with that, here we go!

Intro: Bad Blood

WARNING! TOP SECRET! EYES ONLY!

SCANNING IN PROGRESS…

…CLEARANCE GRANTED

/TO: Colonel Natalie M. Cooper, Commanding Officer 52nd Combat Regiment, 1st Marine Division, UNSC Marine Corps

FROM: Major General Aiden Bolowsky, Commander of Planetary Ground Forces, Desmond, Regent State, Mars. Charter Territory, UNSC Marine Corps

SUBJECT: FILE ENCRYPTED

MESSAGE:

Colonel Cooper,

I bet you thought the human rebel threat in the Outer Colonies had died down a bit while we dealt with the Prometheans and Storm on Earth two years ago. If that's the case, we were wrong. If anything, the neo-Insurrectionist movement has grown even stronger in that time, and they've kept their organization growing as we were back on the home planet trying to save it - again.

Things have gotten particularly out of hand on the Outer Colony world of Puget. It's a small, cold rock that most people miss on the galactic maps, but it's got a surprisingly strong presence of rebels there. They know the planet's very easy to overlook, and they've made use of that. We think they're constructing some of their mass supplies from here: a big shipyard, a weapons facility, and likely a base. If that's the case, we need the area monitored at the very least - and maybe gone.

After your exploits on Khan and your success there, I couldn't think of a better Marine for the job. You'll let me know if you require anything special for this outing. Don't expect a warm welcome out there.

Semper Fidelis

Major General Aiden Bolowsky, PGF Commander

/END MESSAGE/