(=) (=) (=) (=) Chapter Seven: Isn't he supposed to be dead?

UNSC Calendar and Time: 2/2561/22 Eight hundred hours

Location: Allderan

"So, how do you play punchies?" asked Serge to Adams just outside the Elephant's cockpit

Adams smiled. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was the best at playing punchies in his entire battalion. Adams had a high pain tolerance, which allowed him to shrug off a lot of pain, and combined with his muscle build, he was the champion of punchies.

"Well first off, you got to remove your armor from your waist up." he replied while taking off his standard issue ODST Armor. He first began to remove the straps that held it in place, and then started working on his chest armor.

It eventually took an entire ten minutes to take the armor completely off.

Serge began to do the same, and soon had removed his shoulder armor and chest armor, while leaving the black body suit on.

While Adams had a much different look.

He had taken off everything only leaving on a military grade, dark green, gym shirt with the letters 'UNSC' emblazoned upon them in dark lettering.

"All right, now that the armor is off we can begin the game." said Adams.

"What are the rules?" asked Serge, cocking his head in a peculiar manner.

"Rule number one, punches are only to be directed at the shoulders." Adams gestured to his bare shoulder.

"Rule two, no armor. Rule three; it's not an all-out brawl, so try not to make it one. We're doing this by taking turns."

"And finally, rule numero cuatro," said Adams, while failing at the Spanish accent. "The loser is the one that backs of first and can't take the heat no more. The winner is the last man standing."

Serge, still wearing his helmet, smiled. "This sounds more like a challenge."

"Well, it kind of is, it's a test of your endurance. Now let's begin. I'll go first." stated Adams.

"Get ready, and rule five says no blocking."

"So I'm supposed to let you hit me?"

"That pretty much sums it up."

Adams threw the first punch, and landed it with precision accuracy onto Serge's shoulder.

Serge winced at the pain, and rubbed his sore shoulder. For an un-augmented original, this guy packed a punch. But Serge had been placed in multiple different scenarios before, and he knew just how to handle them.

"My turn," he said and lashed out with a single strike, impacting on Adams vulnerable shoulder.

Adams was pushed back a little from the hit, and while he did have a high pain tolerance, even he felt the hit as he rubbed his own bruised shoulder.

Damn, this guy can throw down a hard hit. Thought Adams.

Most of the people aboard the Elephant had not paid any attention to the competition that was taking place upstairs, however, as it progressed a few people had taken interest and had begun to watch from their posts, or stand right up close to it.

Serge gritted his teeth as he felt another blow to his arm. The guy was resilient, there were no doubts there, but no one lasted forever in any given situation.

He was just worried who would quit first.

The two had continued to trade blows with each other, and they had actually started forming a noticeable pattern. Adams would have the first strike, and then a few seconds later, Serge would retaliate with his own blow. This continued back and forth until both were practically panting because of the amount of energy that had been exerted on this one single competition.

"Damn, you're good…. You're real good." said Adams in admiration of Serge.

"Your not so bad your self." He replied, while practically throwing his other arm at him.

Adams practically recoiled in pain, but he wouldn't back out, not now. He knew he had a reputation to uphold, and he was going to go all out to keep it.

"Is this what your people do for fun?"

Adams turned and Serge leaned past him to see Ahsoka, standing there in a posture that practically said 'What's the matter with you two?'

She was wearing, instead of her standard Jedi robes, Phase II Clone trooper armor, with the exception of the helmet of course. Though instead of its classic white color, it was painted with a blue base, with gray streaks and stripes. In one hand, she held her light saber, and in the other a flat cylindrical object which projected a map of the terrain they were going through.

Is she trying to look bad ass? Because if she is, then she wins the bad ass cup. thought Adams.

Adams shrugged, "Sometimes, but mostly in the Military. It's a good way to relieve stress and prove who can withstand more punishment."

Ahsoka simply shook her head in embarrassment.

"Hey, if it's fun we do it." defended Adams, while slugging Serge in the shoulder.

The sound of a Warthog stopped the entire congregation. Adams looked out in the distance to see a single Warthog speeding towards them.

"Hey, it's the Spartan!" shouted a Marine.

True enough, the Spartan was in the Warthogs driver seat, while a Sangeheli Ranger was in the passenger side and a Clone Trooper was manning the turret.

Within a few minutes, the vehicle had sped around the back ATTE walker, and rolled slowly onto the ramp of the Elephant. As it stopped, the Spartan and the others had climbed out and Adams had begun walking down the stairs, while telling Serge that they would continue their competition later. Serge, along with Ahsoka, began to follow him down the stairs.

As Adams approached, Saratoma, the Ranger, and the clone, instantly saluted their superior officers. Adams simply saluted back with his good arm, while the other simply hanged from his shoulder, blue, battered, and bruised.

"What do you have to report, Spartan?" asked Adams, while letting his saluting arm fall.

Saratoma's incessant AI spoke up, "Well, do you want the long version, or the short version, sir?"

"Long, we've got the time." He replied.

"While on our standard patrol, we had picked up something moving on our motion trackers. We followed the source until we came across some sort of drone."

"Drone?" asked Ahsoka.

"Yes, it had detected us and-"

"Was it black, with some spindly little arms and a rotating head? And on that head did it have a large red eye?"

Saratoma reversed back to her 'At ease' position, while Scorpio replied, "Your description is correct."

Ahsoka went wide eyed while Adams said, "Go on."

"It engaged us using similar weaponry to the Imperials and seemed to be making a recording. I had used Saratoma's systems to jam the transmission, but only succeeded in silencing the messaging half way. When it engaged us, we returned fire. The piece of crap that it was had very little armor, to none at all, at least to lasers and plasma. After we had destroyed it, I began searching through its data banks, or what was left of them, for some answer as to why it attacked us. The only stone hard evidence that I had received that it was on the orders of someone of very high rank."

"Give me a name, Scorpio, I need a name." demanded Adams.

"The only name I found in its hard drive was a 'Darth Vader'."

There was stone cold silence among the clones, while the Marines and other species on the Elephant simply sprouted confused faces.

Ahsoka's eyes had become so big now, they looked like moons.

"What kind of name is that?" asked a Marine.

"That is the name of the second in command of the entire Imperial government."

Adams turned to see Nolan, with his helmet off and drinking a cup of coffee. Adams had not grown used to seeing the similar faces of clones; it seemed so awkward to have clones as a military, while Nolan had developed a liking towards coffee.

Nolan took a sip of his coffee and continued, "Darth Vader was once a Jedi, like Ahsoka, but at the demobilization of the Republic on Coruscant, he was turned into a Sith Lord."

Some of the UNSC and UOS turned on their comms to listen and continued with their work, while others simply came closer to the Republic Commander. Ahsoka continued staring blankly at the Warthog with no emotion other than cold icy fear that had practically painted itself across her face.

"Sith Lord?" asked an ODST, "Sounds like something out of an old Sci-Fi film."

Nolan rolled his eyes. "You know of the Jedi, now its time for you to learn of their opposite, the Sith."

Adams tried to picture a Sith, but the only image that came to his mind was a picture of a Water Moccasin.

"The Sith have all the same powers as the Jedi, but they did not follow the Jedi Code when the Republic was around. They craved on power, and they would kill for any amount of power. They were the nemesis' of the Jedi, whose only goals were peace and protection, while the Sith's were destruction and power. While they do hold all the same powers as a trained Jedi, they also have a few extra tricks up their sleeves. They could launch lighting from their bare hands and could use the force to choke some one, only when you have really seen it happen will you believe it to be true."

"I don't get it..." Interrupted Adams who had his hands crossed, "If you people really wanted to get rid of them, why did the Jedi not change their motives, they could have killed the enemy a long time ago."

"The Jedi, during Republic times, believed that there should be very little killing involved with their cult. That's why most of the time, they locked a prisoner away. At least that's what I think I can remember."

Adams sighed. The more he heard about the Jedi, the more he thought of them as hypocrites. He was partially pleased that they had abandoned their cult, partly because of their methods.

Mostly because of Ahsoka.

"Soon there was a great war that ravaged the Galaxy, called the Great Sith War. This was far before the Clone wars so their only soldiers were the Jedi and Sith warriors themselves. The Jedi won in the end, but not before losing a large number of their cult. Millennia later, the Clone Wars start. And you know the rest." Nolan then fell silent.

At that exact moment, a voice broke through the comm. link that every clone trooper knew was their version of the Spartans.

"This is Mex, leader of Fire Squad; we've found something you might want to take a look at sir."

Adams shrugged. He had heard of Fire Squad, but he had never seen them. Supposedly they were some sort of elite commando unit, similar to the Spartans. Except that they were clones.

He turned to Saratoma and said, "Spartan, I want you to ride out on a transport Warthog and link up with Fire squad, you'll have to be my eyes and ears on this one."

The Super Soldier nodded and her AI incessant voice chirped in, "Saratoma complies with a 'Yes Sir!' attitude, officer."

She then hurried off the loading ramp on the Elephant and awaited a transport Warthog.

Adams rolled his eyes in annoyance. That AI was really getting under his skin. He didn't really care how much it was helpful to the crew, just that it was being a bitch with it occasional ranting.

He then turned back to Serge and asked, "You ready for round two?"

The Clone Veteran looked down to his bruised shoulder and said, "I'll pass, for now."

(=) (=) (=) (=)

Saratoma quickly sped over to the given coordinates on her newly acquired Transport Warthog. She began to think about what this Fire squad was and who were they really. When she had learned of the Republic originally having their personal Commando unit, she wasn't particularly surprised. Each and every organization had to have their own elite group of soldiers that proved their worth in multiple situations.

Even the Covenant had their Sangeheli Rangers back during the war to rely on. And the Zealots… She really didn't know what to classify them as.

She hit the brakes and the vehicle began to skid across the open plains, when she began to see the familiar form of a UOS Ghost tailing her.

"Oh my, it appears to be the famed Resd-Sayumee is ailing us. Wonder what he's up to." said the AI.

Saratoma began to stop as the Ghost parked itself near he Warthog and, low and behold, Resd-Sayumee climbed out of the vehicle and walked over to her.

"Spartan, so we meet again." He replied as she jumped out of her vehicle. She nodded her head in response while Scorpio said, "It is good to see you again, Resd-Sayumee. Are you here to accompany us on our mission?"

The Sangeheli warrior clicked his mandibles. "That is a matter of opinion, construct."

While the two began talking with one another, inside the MK VI armor, Saratoma had taken the liberty of looking through the multiple radio signals that she had noticed, she had even hacked a few Imperial channels just to see what they were up to.

Saratoma had been fascinated with hacking ever since she was trained in the military. On a daily basis, she would send people running around, completely confused as to who gave this order and who wanted this cup of coffee.

She would practically eat popcorn in enjoyment, while watching her superiors constantly fuel the chaos that would spread throughout the compound. Sometimes, she would even get the ability to hack and gain information about her life before she was abducted.

This is how she found her parents.

They lived on the planet of Arcadia, at least after it was re-colonized. She had actually snuck away on a ship to get to Arcadia, and all the while they had noticed her disappearance. A normal kid at the age of twelve does not do this.

When she finally met her parents, she expected them to not realize who she was. But they obviously had, for when she knocked on the door and the let her in, they instantly recognized her. Apparently they had supported some sort of clone of her that would die at a specific date to cover up her disappearance.

Her family was not able to do anything and they reluctantly said their good byes to her when she was forcefully taken away from her family. Before she got into the Pelican however, she promised her mother that she would see them again, no matter the cost.

Since that day she has not forgotten her vow.

"Hey Spartan, is that you?"

Saratoma looked to the west to see a squad of armored Clones standing on a nearby ridge. As she used her automated built-in Binoculars to see them more clearly, she noticed that they were far more armored than other troopers, wore a totally different type of armor, and carried around the same weapons as Nolan did.

So, these are Commandos of the Republic, she thought to herself in satisfaction. Finally, another Commando unit other than herself, she was starting to get bored.

They appeared to be at least fifty meters off, so she signaled to Resd to get back into the Ghost and move towards them, while she hopped back into her Warthog and sped towards them.

When the two of them reached their position, the Squad of Commandos hopped on to her vehicle.

"Its good to see another commando, even if it's from another galaxy." said one of the Commandos.

Saratoma looked behind her while Resd 'parked' his Ghost and walked towards them, and climbed into the vehicle as well.

"Spartan, we found something that might interest you, but its surrounded by fog, you'll need to reach the top of that cliff up there." said the leader, which she had assumed to be Mex.

She looked up and saw that the classic plains of Allderan slowly rise up and then drop at the edge of the cliff. Saratoma smiled, she was going to enjoy seeing what ever these Commandos saw as 'interesting'.

In all honesty, she had looked over the schematics for the Republic Commandos, and she found that they were supposed to be the Spartans of the Republic, so to speak. She grinned as she revved the engine and sped off towards the cliff.

They were a formidable ally, with just a lot of strings attached. They did not have unbreakable bones, nor as advanced armor, nor could they run as fast, or have as fast –reaction time, nor were they even as strong as she.

However, through all the downs there were ups, for they had intricate augmentations that allowed them to gain and advantage on the battle field. Adding to that, they had shields and a wide range of weaponry in their arsenal. Though their shields from their KATURN armor were not as strong as the shields that were produced by the MJOLINR, they were a significant upgrade to the Commando unit.

All in all, they were a very effective unit.

She had begun to move up the cliff, when she had begun to notice that there was an smell in the air that smelled like rusted Ceramics, if they could even rust at all.

She had finally reached the cliff's edge and climbed back out of her vehicle, shifting in her armor uneasily. She did not like the feel of the area; it felt like something was crawling up her spine.

She glanced over the egde, the Commandos and Sangeheli doing the same.

The sight that met her eyes was horrifying, to the point where she actually spoke in her raspy, not fully healed, voice.

''Shit."

(=) (=) (=) (=)

"Don't bullshit me Spartan! There is no fucking way that's possible….WHAT?" screamed Adams.

Ahsoka looked at him with a troubled face. She had never seen him this tense before, as if someone came back from the grave and he just got word of it. According to what she heard, there was some sort of…..organism hiding in a fog phenomenon.

She would have to deal with it personally, just like she would have to with Lord Vader.

"Adams what's wrong?" she asked, hoping to calm him down.

Except this time, her usual seduction trick, that she still had no idea affected Adams so, had absolutely no affect on him, if anything it made him even more wary.

"Well….GOD DAMN IT KEEP THAT SHIT Away… your serious?" said Adams disbelievingly, still talking into his comm device.

Serge continued looking onward to the Officer; he had healed his arm because of the wonders of Bacta but Adams had kept to himself and decided to go with Biofoam.

Biofoam. If it was anything it was a weaker version of Bacta at best.

From what he knew, Biofoam was a safe to inject type foam substance that, if a soldier was injured, could be used to temporarily heal the soldier so that he could still fight for a short period of time. Unfortunately, it was not able to completely or permanently fix any biological situation with subject, and would have to receive intense medical attention afterwards.

Bacta, however, was much better. It stimulated the cells to keep out infections and heal at a faster rate. So if a soldier on the field had received a wound that threatened his life, but had not taken it already, applying Bacta would completely heal the wound to the point where there would be no scars.

"All right, that's where we'll make our stand against the Empire, they'll have no idea we're there and we can launch attacks against them and they can't fight back. Adams out." Adams then let go of the side of his ear that held the comm. Ear piece.

"What was that all about?" asked Serge.

Ahsoka, who had come out of her fear trance, had begun to question at all her original opinion as to whether they could stand against the Empire and fight at all. If he had found a place as to whether they could make a stand, then they might just make it out after all.

"Well apparently, we've found an ancient structure containing a certain parasite in it." He replied. Almost on cue, every single UNSC and UOS soldier stopped what they we're doing and turned to look at Adams.

"Yes men, shit just got real." he replied while scanning the faces of this crew.

In most men and women, Adams only saw fear. They knew what he was talking about, and the fact that they were going towards it was a bad thought. Some who were couples clutched to each other tightly, in fear that their wife or hottie might be taken from them. The Sangeheli, however, were wary of the situation that has been presented before them. Some were anxious to fight the enemy, but most, despite their race being known for great courage and honor, most of the Sangeheli crew around them felt a hand of fear grip their hearts.

As for the rest of the races….the Kig-Yar were putting their hands over their heads in a sort of protective fashion, the Unngoy practically began wetting themselves, Jiralihane were more cautious of their surroundings, and Mgalekgolo were already prepping themselves for war.

"What is this… Parasite that you fear so much?" asked Ahsoka.

Adams spun around with a look of worry and concern practically grown onto his face, worrying about the one that he had feelings for.

"Are you sure you want to know? Some secrets should be kept secrets."

"I wish to know." replied Ahsoka in a confident voice.

Adams only stared at her for a long time, right before he spoke. "Fine, have it your way."

(=) (=) (=) (=)

"So what are the Flood exactly?" asked Tech, the combat engineer for the last of the fighting Republic Commandos on Allderan.

Saratoma stood on the edge of the cliff, surveying her surroundings while Resd Sayumee explained to the Commandos about the Flood.

She had been expecting enemy forces, most likely Imperial Storm Troopers, but the Flood?

"The Flood is an abomination to all life in the Galaxy, a parasite that consumes all, hoping to take control of the entire galaxy's population. We thought we had destroyed it during one of our major battles, but apparently not."

One of the Commandos, named Grizz, scratched the top of his helmet. "Can't you cure it, or get an exterminator or something'?" he asked.

Resd shook his head, "Sadly, there is no cure for the Flood. Its cells can mutate to counteract anything we can throw at it. It is an abomination that must be exterminated."

Mex, the leader of the Republic Commando squad, said "See there, extermination, problems done!"

"Not quite," perked up Scorpio, the artificial intelligence that was constantly being carried around in Saratoma's helmet.

"The Flood are constantly multiplying, and if they can get their hands on to a starship, they can use that to, "Infect" other worlds. And lets not forget that they usually come in giant swarms that even the best of armies cannot stop them, and again were pushing aside the fact that they can kill, infect, and reanimate the dead and use them to their advantage." said Scorpio over the comm. link.

While the commandos were being filled in on what the Flood did, and could do, Saratoma had taken it upon herself to see what exactly her surroundings' were.

The cliff that she was currently standing on was one of the many that surrounded the compound on three fronts, which meant that there was a narrow ravine that allowed the convoy to move to the place. The cliffs themselves were about 300 meters tall in some places, and 150 in others. This meant that if the Empire ever decided to attack, the Republic, UNSC, and UOS would have an easy time defending the compound since the enemy would have to get past the choke point, which would obviously be guarded against the enemy.

The fact that they could only attack from that ravine and not from the sides was helpful, and the fact that the structure in the middle was Forerunner was just gravy on top.

Quite a place.

Saratoma turned around to see none other then Retro the Shadow trooper, standing right next to her. Saratoma nodded in response. She had always been able to tell when the soldier was near; she was after all, part of the Spartan team Grey team.

Unlike Red, Blue and Green teams, Grey team was designed for covert operations and spec-ops. They could hold their own in a fire fight, but where they truly excelled was when they partook in night ops and etc.

Not only that, but what also helped her out in battles was the fact that she was also classified as a Hyper Lethal Vector (HLV). There was only one HLV per sixty Spartans, and there were only 300 Spartans, which made her one of the lucky few who earned such a title. Hyper Lethal Vectors is a rare classification of Spartan. Any Spartan that ever earned such a title meant that they were a Juggernaut even among their fellow Spartans. There have only been one confirmed HLV for the Spartan II program, who was Master Chief, the hero of the Human Covenant War, and another HLV for the Spartan III program, who was Noble Six of Noble team. Of the current Spartan IV's today, there were only five HLV's, and she was one of them.

Whether Retro knew this or not was unknown to her, there was a possibility that he knew such information so she would have to keep an eye on him for a while, but with her being part of Grey team, she was able to 'detect' Retro's familiar presence, which to some extent she believed he wasn't even trying.

She turned back to the Forerunner structure, which had resembled the UOS Shield Spires (Reference to the Covenant Spire found on Halo: Reach).

Its base formed a large circle around a large shield dome. The shield itself was transparent so Saratoma was able to see what the shield was covering, only to find brown, red and orange colored clouds swirling and twisting inside the shield, as if a storm was brewing inside. She could see the signs of a random tentacle flail in the air, and then disappear into the clouds. Below the shield was a thirteen foot tall wall of Forerunner metal that acted as the perimeter of the compound. The entire base looked like one giant circle with a diameter of perhaps half a mile. There was, however, a spire like structure on one side of the compound that she was closest to, and it raised high into the air to about ninety meters. It and of itself looked like a giant forerunner version of the spires commonly seen by UOS forces. The platform at which was at the top of the spire, was far larger than what the UOS used, by Saratoma's guess, their entire Group of air craft could be held up there and still have room for a maintenance crew. There was at the bottom of the tower, a smaller platform that could hold a fully loaded Marine squad. She guessed that this was the elevator up into the tower. There were occasional Sentinels patrolling the area, but she doubted that there were great numbers.

Down at the base of the Spire, there was a large structure that seemed to be apart of the wall, yet not at all. A Forerunner barracks? Possibly, but she wasn't sure. The structure in and of itself had the basic layout for a barracks, a huge one at that. It was large enough that they could reside within and make defensive plans; there was even a large shield door, about fifteen meters tall and ten meters wide, so they could keep their vehicles in doors and not worry about breaking down.

"Spartan, this is Warrant Officer Adams Cursk, we're nearing the mouth to the complex, provide us with a tactical layout of the terrain, and keep watch for any Imperial surprises, acknowledge." blurted Adams over the comm. link.

Saratoma nodded her head and activated her acknowledgement light to signify her response, and began to relay what she saw through her visor to the Elephants holo-tank, currently with the convoy.

"Understood, signals coming in great, keep us posted, Spartan. Adams out." the Comm. sounded off with a click.

She turned back to Retro, who replied by stating, These Forerunners, I have not encountered before where as you have. Tell me, are they advanced enough to be a threat to me?

Though the Shadow trooper did not see this, Saratoma raised an eyebrow in suspicion. From what she had heard, Shadow Troopers were powerful and greedy, and usually cared little for life, unless it was someone that they needed to be brought back to their superiors alive. In truth, their only pleasure was being the most feared. They didn't take pleasure of sex, drugs and subjects like that. The only wanted to be feared throughout the Galaxy as the deadliest warriors ever.

That's when a familiar thought came back to her head as she remembered the Valentine note that she found a few weeks ago. Who had sent it? She had originally scanned it for finger prints to match up whoever it was that joined them on their trip across the plains of Allderan. Unfortunately, there was nothing that she could base any evidence for any one being the writer.

It could have been Retro, but since he was a Shadow Trooper, she quickly dashed that possibility aside. It wasn't the fact that she wanted to know who sent the letter; she just plainly wanted to know who had seen her without her helmet on.

Apparently no one had spoken up. She could wait; after all, Good things come to those who wait.

(=) (=) (=) (=)

Adams stood on top of the cockpit of the Elephant as the driver quietly muttered to himself, complaining about how everyone wanted to fuck up his window. Adams stared at the towering Forerunner Spire as he called in for the hiding air support to make their head way. He had kept the Air ships away from the main convoy so they could have a greater chance of finding a place to stand. Since they had found a place to hold up and dig in until they could get off planet, it was best to call in the Calvary.

Adams, after calling the Air fleet to come, looked high into the sky only to find the sun high in the sky as well, indicating it was the middle of the day.

He looked back down towards the base of the Spire, which unfortunately was clouded by fog.

"Ms Sonya, can you come up to the front please, I'm going to need you for this." Called Adams over the comm. Link.

"Roger that sir, I'm on my way now boss." Replied a female voice from the comm.

Adams smiled. SGT MAJ. Sonya Parkinson was a African American to the heart. She had led countless victories against the Insurrection and Covenant forces. Many considered her, "Johnson's Wife", simply for the fact that she seemed to share many qualities with SGT MAJ Johnson, the obvious was that they were the same rank.

While not an ODST, like Laura, Sonya was instead part of a recently opened, widely known section of Marines called 'Sparker Marines'. Sparker Marines were a resilient bunch of marines, usually nicknamed 'Children of the Gray Ghost' referring to the U.S Aircraft carrier the U.S.S Enterprise. Sparker Marines were a strange class of Marine, due to the fact that they were given the strangest of equipment on the battle field. Whether the gear would be useful or not depended on the situation at hand. Such equipment that was given to them was strange in the sense that it was not the standard firearms or weapons used by standard UNSC personnel. Their armor however, while its base was the standard UNSC Marines Multi-cam set, their armor was much more, customizable then the Standard troopers.

Adams turned at the sound of foot steps, and saw the gorgeous, Sonya Parkinson. On the outside, she looked astounding, but every one knew that killer instinct that she had on the inside, it was almost as if she was a tiger ready to pounce on any prey that came her way. She had pitch black hair that came down to about to the base-of-the-neck-length. She had emerald green eyes that shone like gemstones sprinkled across the ocean. Her features were delicate, like a rose but it also seemed like her face had this foreboding, predator look, like every rose had its thorns.

Her skin cooler was slightly darker than that of Johnson's, and she had a slimmer profile then most Marines.

"Wha'd ya need, sir?" she asked in her classical, gangster, accent.

"Were going in, but I need a scout team to enter and find out what is going on in there. I'll be joining you, but I want you to pick the team members. They can be of any race, I don't care. Call me when your ready, do I make myself clear?" replied the Officer.

Sonya instantly saluted, and shouted "Yes sir!" after that she ran off to get collect herself a squad for reconnaissance.

(=) (=) (=) (=)

Sonya hopped off of the ramp located at the back of the Elephant, which in her opinion had still needed a name, and began to look at the troops that had taken up the opportunity to set up a few barricades at the entrance to the giant crater that the Forerunner structure was located in. She had been known for another reason besides the fact that she and the diseased SGT MAJ Johnson had similarities, and that was her ability to choose the best team members for any situation. She always had that nurturing feeling in her gut when she found someone that could be useful in the temporary squads she constructed.

She looked at the numerous amounts of soldiers that were already building barricades at the mouth to the craters center. She spotted one with real muscle, a true athlete. He was talking on his communicator to someone while at the same time relaying orders to a Clone Trooper in white and navy blue armor.

"Hey, soldier!" Sonya shouted.

The Marine deactivated his comm. Device on his helmet and turned to Sonya.

"Yes ma'am?" the Marine replied.

"Come on over here Marine, and bring your Clone buddy too." She ordered, as the Marine already began to tell the Clone to follow him as he made his way to her.

"What's your name, rank, and specialty, soldiers?" she asked them standing with her hands on her hips.

The Marine spoke up first, "Specialist, Samuel Fredrickson, I'm your standard Combat Engineer ma'am, there ain't nothing special about that."

"What weapon do you normally use, Specialist?" she questioned the soldier.

The Marine simply lifted his M9OA CAWS shotgun, (from which he had let it sit there in his right hand) and stated, "Shotgun ma'am, my personal Betty if you ask me. I never go any where without it."

"Lets hope that you bring your A-Game too, Marine." She then turned to the Republic Clone Trooper that stood beside him, "And you are?"

"PVT-838595-847659, ma'am, nick names Vil." Replied the Trooper.

"And what exactly do you do, PVT?" Sonya asked.

Vil lifted his DC-15X sniper rifle and shouldered it, making it clearly noticeable as to what he accomplished on every mission. "I prefer to provide Sniper Support when needed. When I need to get in close, however," he slung his rifle and then pulled out dual blaster pistols to prove his point.

Sonya smirked. "I like the way you think Trooper. Vil was it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"All right you two are coming with me, try to keep up."

The two soldiers looked at each other and shrugged, thinking that what ever she wanted them for was more entertaining than what they were originally doing in the first place, and began to follow her as she turned and walked straight into the Brute Chieftain.

"Oh sorry, sir." She said with slight disgust.

Warmolk smiled, while Sonya scowled. She had never liked the Jiralihane, mostly because she believed that they were the enemy and had to be taken out. Working along side one was not always the preferred option to most UNSC soldiers, but because of the Jiralihane rebels, they had no choice but to receive the help that was offered to them by the group known as 'Garmenad's Fist', other wise they would be in a complete stale mate with the brutes, resulting in a war that would last far longer than what either side really wanted.

"Your hatred towards my kind is noted, Sonya Parkinson." Warmolk replied.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't have disdain for your kind, sir. After all you were the primary fighting force for the Covenant during the last few months of the Human Covenant War. Should I count how many Humans you guys killed, including civilians?" Retorted Sonya.

"Water under the bridge human, water under the bridge." He said simply while waving his hand around in a pompous manner.

While the Brute Chieftain walked off to tend to other matters, Sonya cursed him under her breath. How she truly loathed those savage apes. The only reason they could be called civilized was because they had a civilization, and even then she was amazed that they could still live the way they do.

"Guessin' the two of you have a history together or somethin'?" asked Vil from behind her.

"You have no Idea."

She continued walking past the Barricades that were still being set up when she came across a quad of standard UNSC Army Troopers; all of them had similar faces so she guessed that they were brothers or something. Unfortunately, she did not have the same feeling in her gut for those four as she did for Vil and Samuel. She continued on.

That's when she saw the Gruntal Brothers. The feeling suddenly flared in her stomach as she saw Boom, pick up one of the Republic Thermal Detonators and begin to look over its components. That's when a red light flashed on the Republic Grenade, only about a second later did the grunt realize what he had just done, and immmediatly began looking around for somewhere to chuck it so that no one could be damaged.

In a last ditch effort, the Unggoy chucked it straight up into the air, where it detonated about two seconds later after he let go. One of the clones, this one to be in green and white armor, took notice of this and ran over to the scene, shouting at the uneducated Unggoy to get away from a pile of Thermal Detonators. The Unggoy then started running away from the angry trooper, which was a pointless effort as the Clone instantly caught him by the Methane pack, picked him up and started shouting at the defenseless grunt, accusing him of being a thief and promising all kinds of threats that he would place upon the Unngoy if he did so again.

"Hey Boom! Get your brothers over here! Trooper, you come here to!" called Sonya.

Both stopped what they were doing and stared at Sonya for a few seconds like she was crazy, then the Trooper put down the hyper active grunt and ran over to her position while Boom ran off to find his brothers.

"What's your name? And not your ID number, I mean your nickname?" she asked when the Trooper had walked close enough to her for her to normally talk to her.

"Serge, ma'am. Are you just gonna let that-"

"I need him for something and I need you too, Trooper. You'll be joining me and the squad I'm putting together for a reconnaissance mission in to that large structure."

"Ma'am, are you telling me that you need," he motioned behind him to the quartet of Unggoy waddling towards them. "That you actually need those clumsy and careless arthropods?"

"I'm surprised that you actually know what they are, since we only met a few weeks ago. Yes, Trooper. I NEED them. And if I find you and them in another quarrel, I'll make sure the proper actions are taken to lock you BOTH down, and that's putting it very, VERY, nicely. Are we clear?" she said with a voice of authority.

Serge shivered in anger. He knew in the future he would have a problem with the Unggoy again, he just didn't know when. They were so clumsy, stupid, fat and squat. He had no idea why these humans relied on such incompetent aliens for combat. It was insane; he would probably never understand how the heck they would live with them.

"Understood ma'am, your crystal clear."

"Good, now follow me." She said as she brushed past them and told the Gruntal Brothers to follow them as well.

"Hey,"

Sonya whirled around to find the familiar face of Jedi Knight, Ahsoka Tano.

"Why are you rounding up my soldiers like you can pick of your choosing?" she asked.

"It's on 1st Warrant Officer Adams Cursk's orders. Now if you don't mind, I'll be on my way. If you really want to, take it up with Adams yourself." She said harshly.

As she turned and kept walking, Ahsoka saw Serge simply shrug at the prospect and walk towards her, along with Vil as well. "What is your orders ma'am?"

Aksoka looked past them, stared at Sonya who was madly tapping her foot on the ground while shouting, "Hey plastic boys, if you don't hurry up with your damn Commander, well be leaving without you."

Ahsoka shook her head and walked past them, motioning for the Two Veteran Clone Troopers ton follow her as she walked up again to Sonya.

"You can use them for your mission, if…" she let it sink in for a bit before finishing, "If you let me go as well."

Sonyas face darkened and twisted into one of disgust. It was clear that she did not like working with anyone but her own kind.

'So,' she thought to herself,' she's racist against aliens…wonderful.'

"Why the hell should I take you?"

"Because if you don't then why should I let you randomly pick out my Troopers?"

Sonya tightened her hands into fists. She did not want this alien girl to go with them. However, she felt in her gut that she needed to bring her for some strange reason. Though she wasn't totally sure, as it seemed that her seething hatred towards other races other than Humans, she felt that this Jedi should go along.

"Fine, you can come, but if I see you doing something that I don't like, I wont hesitate to pull you out. Do I make myself clear?"

The Togrutan hesitated for a moment, then regained her posture and quickly replied, "Crystal."

Sonya nodded and kept on moving. She then spotted the familiar form of a Sangeheli Officer behind some crates and speaking with two Hunters. She walked around the crates to find none other than Tsu He'malee and the Pounder brothers, Idundi-Maka-Furu and Wensata-Maka-Enam. Both sides were deep in conversation as Sonya came around the corner.

"Sir, Sergeant Major Sonya Parkinson reporting in." She immediately straightened to a crisp saluting position, including the Marine.

Tsu turned and took a step towards them, "We will come."

"You received word sir?" she asked, perplexed that he had answered her before she even asked her question.

The Sangeheli warrior nodded his head. "We, including the Maka brothers, or Pounders as you so call them, will join you in your reconnaissance."

Sonya smiled while still holding a saluting position. "That's good to hear sir."

"Sonya Parkinson, report."

Sonya tapped the button on the side of her helmet, activating the COMM device. "Reporting in sir, I've got everyone I need sir.

"Good, ill be right over." Adams then cut the channel.

She then turned around and spoke to those before her.

"All right soldiers, we've got a mission on our hands and were gonna do it right, so lets get movin'!"

(=) (=) (=) (=)

Allright i know already that this was taking me along time and its not finished! bUT I NEEDED TO GET SOMETHING OUT THERE FOR YOU GUYS TO READ. NO IM NOT DEAD. tell me what you guys think of Sonya. for some reason this computer was stuck on caps. dumb connections broken cant even use shift. the second part wont be out for a while until i post new chapters on my other stories. but i ill never ever forget this story and don't you guys forget that either.

Tatah for now!