This chapter will be broken up into two parts. I would also like to note that I changed my name on here as well as AO3 to Allta, just so usernames are consistent across the sites. I had planned on posting this days earlier, but I ended up with what felt like a three day migraine and the fight scene is a bit rushed.

Kamino, two days before the skirmish on Atollon

The room was silent, save for the soft tapping of keys as the cadets of Sigma Squad gathered around a terminal, whispering in nervous and hushed tones of getting caught by the trainers or the Kaminoans as it was prohibited being in the halls after curfew. Several minutes of searching passed by and they finally came across a file labeled Spartan A-253, Tionne.

"You sure we should be doing this, Dev?" Ink quizzed, looking over his shoulder. "If we get caught-"

Dev cut him off. "We won't get caught. I've put Awen on monitor watch and he'll alert us if anyone heads this way. Besides, we're all curious about the rumor surrounding this soldier." he motioned to the file. Pulling it open, the other four troopers leaned in closer, eager to learn about the newcomer.

"It says she just appeared on Umbara with a creature of unknown origin." Another cadet, Owl, said with slight confusion. "No crashed escape pods or anything."

Ink then butted in. "I've heard the Spartan took on Krell and Grievous and lived to tell the tale." They continued to read over the info until a somewhat younger sounding voice came over Dev's comlink.

"Two of the trainers are heading your way." Awen spoke with slight urgency. "I suggest you move quickly and return to the barracks. I'll wipe any evidence of your presence." With that, they shut down the terminal, cleared the recent search and hurriedly made their way back to the mentioned floor, Awen entering the large room seconds after.

Present Day, aboard the Resolute

Ever since the skirmish on Vandor, the combat sorties on her record began to grow as well as the General's trust in the Spartan. Over the course of time, Tionne was able to easily meld into 501st, especially within Torrent Company, forming a strong bond with Rex and Fives. At the moment, Tionne followed said troopers into the hangar, where a squad of four awaited side by side.

"These are the new transfers?" Tionne quizzed, eyeing the troopers curiously. "I now understand why you call them shinies. There's not a speck on their armor. Spartans basically live in their armor and it's scratched by the time we see conflicts." She then fell silent as they came to a stop in front of the recruits, Rex having them call out their name and number. The troopers then stepped up one by one.

"CC-9692, the others call me Dev." Said trooper stepped forward and she took notice of Dev's appearance. Dark hair was cut into a crew cut and slightly wavy, light stubble covered his jawline and eyes were pale green.

"CC-0336, Ink, sir!" Ink seemed more eager than his squadmates. The trooper, from what she could see, had a tribal tattoo that curved slightly up his neck and just above the bodyglove collar and eyes a dark amber color, hair in a close shave. "Both Dev and I specialize in explosives."

"CC-6712, Awen." Awen seemed slightly more reserved and just a few inches shorter than the others. Like Dev, hair was looked like it had been originally crew cut as well, though it had grown out some and was lacking the wavy texture. This trooper had mismatched eyes, one brown and the other one a pale blue. "I'm the squad's tech expert, Captain.

"CC-9979, my brothers call me Owl." This trooper gave off a more mature appearance than the other three, no doubt keeping them in line. Owl had a slightly thicker line of stubble than Dev and a small scar down the left side of his mouth and hair in a crew. "Squad's sniper." He simply added afterward.

"I don't doubt that you four are aware of the Arc Trooper and Spartan behind me." Rex motioned towards the duo. "For the this next mission on Atollon, they both will be planetside, but you four will be serving mainly alongside the Spartan. You're dismissed until the briefing in the next few minutes." The Captain finished and the recruits gave a quick salute before turning towards each other.

Tionne turned towards Fives and bumped his arm with her own. "Guess that means we'd better get ready ourselves." She turned on her heel and headed towards the armory. "What do you think we'd expect?"

"Other than the usual hordes of droids? I'm unsure." Fives replied, loading the tibanna cartridge into his own blasters. "I know that Atollon is way out into the outer rim territories, has an underground cave network and that the wildlife there is fairly hostile. We've got a couple of hours to prepare, so we'll go over any information ourselves." The Arc cast a sideways glance at the Spartan and chuckled quietly. Tionne had come a long way since Umbara, though she still has her reclusive and silent moments, she's been more talkative lately. At least she's adjusting okay. Not that I doubted she would-

Tionne's deadpan voice shook Fives from his thoughts. "You're about to drop a cartridge."

Thank the Manda for helmets! "Seems my mind is elsewhere at the moment."

"Come on. Let's head back to the hangar."

"That's just great!" Tionne's agitated voice was accompanied by chuckling in the busy hangar, nearly covered by the sounds of gunships warming up. "It just had to be damn spiders!" Aside from snail-like lifeforms on Atollon, she came across the Krykna spiders and her distaste was evident before she even said a word. "I'm so glad you get a kick out of this." She turned her eyes on Fives, who was currently chuckling into his hand.

"It's amusing." Fives replied. "You're more than capable of handling yourself, and yet, you despise spiders."

"Don't push your luck, trooper. I might just leave you planetside." The Spartan threatened with a teasing smirk and the Arc held up his hands in mock surrender before patting her shoulder in a farewell and headed towards the gunship housing Skywalker and Rex. The newly recruited Sigma Squad approached their gunship, packs slung over shoulders. "Have you four readied yourselves? Because we'll be some distance away from the others and the possibility of encountering hostile wildlife is very high."

"Yes, ma'am." Owl replied as they boarded the gunship. "Awen has accounted for many outcomes-it's a bit of a hobby for him."

Tionne nodded, feeling familiarity at Owl's words. Sounds pretty similar to Kat. The few times I've encountered her, she was always running through different scenarios and outcomes. The last time she had ever heard about the technology expert's whereabouts, she and the other members of Noble were in New Alexandria-and after that, nothing else. It's safer to assume she's met her end. Tionne thought morbidly before turning back to the recruits. It doesn't do anyone any good to dwell on a thought like that for too long. "While it never hurts to prepare, one can never be sure what to expect. So keep an eye out, yeah?"

As the blast doors slammed shut, the small space where they stood was engulfed in darkness, save for a dim red light, and a slight shift could be felt as the gunship lifted and took off towards Atollon's surface. At some point, the gunship's frame shuttered beneath their boots, the pilot announced they were experiencing some minor turbulence, and the Spartan inwardly groaned. She always had a distaste for flying. Tionne could handle a lack of gravity easily, but just hated the idea of being trapped in a heavy-ass container soaring through the air. Eventually, the gunship came to a stop and the doors opened up, the landscape darkening as their HUD's adjusted to the sudden intensity of sunlight.

"So," Ink spoke with feign curiosity, earning a snort from one of his brothers, "looks interesting."

"I'm still unsure of what the Republic plans to do here." Owl said, moving up to stand next to the Spartan. "Despite it being way in the Outer Rim territories, the planet's pretty barren and doesn't seem to have a lot of strategic value."

"One of the things I've learned serving alongside your military," Tionne began, "is that one has to get creative when establishing bases. From what Fives and I learned, this sector is still uncharted and the planet itself isn't apart of any major hyperspace routes. That's probably why it peaked the General's curiosity."

"Long story short, they want us to scope out the area for any resources or anything else that might persuade them to build as base here?" Dev quizzed and the Spartan nodded.

"The sooner we start, the sooner we get done." She stated. "Sigma squad, link up to my radio frequency and switch to private comms." Tionne flicked her eyes towards the bottom right of her HUD and watched as four signatures popped up, yellow for a few moments before turning green. "It seems you're all connected. Can you read me?" she asked and a chorus of 'yes ma'am' sounded in her earpiece. "Good, no need for our voices to carry. Sigma squad, wedge formation."

The sun had long since fallen behind the coral-like trees, casting long shadows over the ground as Tionne and Sigma scouted the area. For the most part, and aside from the occasional critter skittering across the dirt, it had been relatively quiet. I'm not liking this one bit. Tionne thought to herself as she checked over her rifle for what seemed the thousandth time. The motion tracker-and she was certain Sigma saw it as well-would occasionally have a larger blimp than usual, but they couldn't find the body it belonged to. They'd better not have a damn cloaking device. She thought irritably. If it turns out they don't, then the trackers must be picking them up while they're underground. As they continued onward, the ground seemed to lose the hard packed feeling beneath her boots and concluded that it must be hollow.

"What is it?" Owl quizzed as the Spartan halted the squad and gently stomped the ground.

"Atollon, other than being in the ass-end of the Outer Rim territories, has a massive network of underground tunnels and we, gentlemen, seem to be standing over one."

"They also house the Krykna spiders." Awen cut in with a small shudder. "Nasty creatures."

The Spartan gave a nod and motioned for them to continue, and no sooner after, the trackers lit up with two red blimps rushing towards them, a sound similar to clacking teeth filled the air. "Rifle's up, Sigma." she ordered through the shared frequency and the sound of tibanna gas warming up was barely heard over as the giant spiders reared their ugly heads. "Owl, I want you to hang back a bit and provide some cover from the trees."

"Yes, ma'am!" Owl placed the sniper attachment onto his weapon and hung back at a distance and took aim at the giant spiders which, to his dismay, did little to no damage, aside from minor burns-of course. "It barely dented their armor!" The trooper then switched back to the default barrel. "Their underbelly might be softer!"

"I'd suggest explosives," Ink spoke up over blaster fire, "but the shockwave may cause the ground to give way and send us into the tunnels."

"We might have to take that risk!" Dev said, reaching into his pack and pulled out a couple of grenades. "Spartan, can you get them up?"

"That I can, Dev." Tionne rushed forward as one of the spiders brought its front legs up in an attempt to pierce her armor, only for her to catch them in her hands, much like she did Grievous weeks ago. The Krykna screeched as it attempted to free itself from her grip. "Dev, whatever the hell you're planning, you better do it now!" The sound of thermal detonators rolled around her feet and she let go, jumping just as they exploded against the large creatures underbelly. The ground shook momentarily and, the next thing everyone knew, they were engulfed in darkness.

"Sigma, roll call." Awen said, flicking on his headlamp.

"Dev and I are alright." Ink said, the dust settling on his armor. "I think Owl is still above ground."

"Yeah." Came a simple reply and a helmeted head peered over the edge.

"Are you able to radio back to any of the others?" Tionne quizzed and the trooper nodded.

"General Skywalker's group is closest to us. Need me to radio for backup?"

"It couldn't hurt. In the meantime, we'll look for a way out." She watched as Owl disappeared once more and turned to the remainder of Sigma and gave a wave of her hand. Let's move.