At Blue Base, Zone, Wash, Xi, and Tucker were staring at Caboose and his giant...pet. 

"So..." Freckles turns towards Tucker. "Never mind." 

"Caboose..." Freckles then turns to Zone. "Tell us again, where did you find this...robot?" 

"His name is Freckles." Caboose states. 

"That's a stupid name." Tucker replies as Freckles turns back to him. "Stupid-cool I mean! Great name, I mean, I wish that were my name. Yeah, Freckles is the best name ever that there ever was." 

"Nice save." Xi mutters. 

"Technically it's a Mantis class military assault droid." Zone explains. "Me and my Spartan team actually had one heck of a time blowing up dozens of Covenant Banshees and Phantoms with these things. Though I've never seen one act on its own without a pilot. Guess Caboose must've activated its auto-sequence." 

"Wait, why Mantis?" Tucker asks. 

"Well you see those legs? They kinda resemble the legs of a praying mantis." Wash says pointing at Freckles legs. 

"No they don't." Xi says shaking her head. 

"Then maybe it's the head shape?" 

"Yeah maybe its because during the act of procreation they rip off the head of their mates body and devour it. It's like an act of sexual cannibalism." Caboose inputted. 

"Eww...what?!" Xi says disgusted. 

"Eh, I've dated worse." Tucker shrugs. 

"Yeah, I call him Freckles because of the spots on his nose." Caboose points to the triangles on Freckles head. 

"Well crap, I actually have to give it to Caboose on this one. Robot definitely looks more like a 'Freckles' than a 'Mantis'." Tucker says chuckling. 

"Fine. Where did you find...Freckles?" Zone asks. 

"Well I was walking and I was sad and I missed Church-" Caboose starts out. 

"This is the greatest story of our generation." Tucker murmurs. 

"Quiet." Wash orders. 

"And then I heard a noise-" 

"Seriously, It's like I was there." 

"Tucker." Xi says. 

"Yeah and then I saw the little guy under like pieces of rock and space ship and body parts, but I just moved them out of the way and then there he was and now we're best friends forever! Right Freckles?" 

"Affirmative, Caboose." Freckles replies. 

"Great. Boy meets dog. Dog turns out to be a military-grade killing machine from a crashed spaceship." Tucker sighs. 

"Caboose...um, you know, a pet is a lot of responsibility." Zone points out. 

"That is why I will water him and I will feed him every day." 

"Water and feed? What the heck does this thing run on?!" Tucker asks shocked. 

"It runs on the power of the friendship of our love!" Caboose shouts. 

"This is so messed up!" Tucker says shaking his head. 

"THIS coming from the guy who was impregnated by an Elite and gave birth to another Elite?" Zone says. 

"Whoa, let's not bring family into this." Tucker protests 

"So, what fun adventures are we going to go on today, Freckles?" Caboose asks looking up at his mechanized friend. 

"Ha! I'm not doing crap! We're getting rescued soon, remember?" Tucker reminds them. 

"Actually, I think it would be smart if we continued with our training routine." Zone states. 

"What?! Why? There's no point." Tucker exclaims. 

"Training is an on going process, Tucker, and as the leader of both teams, I want to make sure that we're ready for anything." Zone says crossing his arms. 

"This is freaking stupid. Nothing has happened since we crashed here." 

"Well, you never know if someone or something will attack. So stop complaining and start jogging. Wash you go check the food supply." Wash nods and leaves as Zone heads in the opposite direction. 

"And where are you going?" Tucker asks the dark red Freelancer. 

"It's like I said, I'm the leader of both teams. Which means I have to watch the Reds also. Five laps gentlemen, and Tucker be sure to count for Caboose. Come on Xi." 

"Right-O boss!" Xi says floating towards him. 

"So you're just gonna leave me with them?" Tucker says gesturing to Caboose and Freckles. 

"Start running before I sick Cyclops on you again." Zone and Xi leave. 

"Pff, yeah right." Tucker scoffs. 

"Disregarding a direct order from a commanding officer is punishable by death." Freckles declares. 

"What? Since when?" 

"Target locked." 

"Geez oh Lou. Okay I'm going." Tucker begins running. 

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

At Red Base, Sarge is looking through his sniper rifle and watches Caboose and Freckles 'play'. 

"Those backstabbers..." He mutters before walking off. Simmons comes out of the base and approaches Grif who is looking up at the sky. 

"Hey idiot, would it kill you to take out the trash for once?" Simmons says irritated. 

"Simmons, I've been thinking." Grif replies. 

"I don't care! Take out the trash!" Simmons demands. 

"Why do we carry our guns?" Grif asks. 

"What?!" 

"Our guns. Why do we carry them?" 

"Because we're soldiers." Simmons states. 

"Yeah, but we're not really fighting anybody, are we?" Grif points out. 

"Well yeah but, you never know when we could be attacked!" 

"Attacked by who? The Blues?" 

"Um..." 

"We haven't fought a single enemy since arriving in this canyon, and yet here we are walking around in full body armor with a rifle in our hands like the galaxy is about to attack us any second." 

"What's your point?" Simmons asks. 

"My point is, why don't we ever just walk around without our guns?" There was a pause between them before Grif gave Simmons a serious look. 

"Do it!" 

"What?" 

"Drop your gun!" 

"No!" Simmons protests. 

"Why not?" Grif asks. 

"I don't want to!" 

"You don't want to? Or you can't?" 

"Um...um...I'm going back inside." Simmons runs back into the base. 

"And thus Dexter Grif single handedly avoids trash duty for a second day in a row. Hoo-rah." Grif smirks. 

"Men! Fall in! Double time! This is not a drill!" Sarge shouts. 

"What the heck?" Grif says confused. 

"I knew there was a reason why we were armed!" Simmons says coming out of the base and running to Sarge. Grif follows and stops when they find their CO. 

"Sarge, what's wrong?" Simmons asks. 

"What's wrong? What's wrong?! How bout' scheming, training, canarving, commiserating, colluding. Take your pick! Also, building a giant robot. Those Blues are up to no-good!" Sarge yells. 

"And here I was thinking something important was about to happen." Grif sighs. 

"But sir, didn't we build a robot first?" Simmons recalls. 

<You guys talking about me?> Lopez 2.0 asks walking up. 

"Lopez 2.0 doesn't count. He's about as useful as a box full of Grifs." Sarge states. 

"Hey! I'm offended." Grif scowls. 

"Men, I know we have considered the Blues to be our quote "allies" unquote for some time now, but we have to look at the facts." 

"What facts?" Simmons asks. 

"Number one: they now possess a tank on legs that's capable of killing us all." Sarge says counting his fingers. 

"Okay..." 

"And number two is that we didn't have our own Number one first! Clearly this is a conspiracy." 

"So, what do you expect us to do about it?" Grif asks. 

"I need you boys to conduct some reconnaissance. Secure intel. get deep in Charlie's bush. Initiate Delta force! Tango and Cash!" 

"Are these orders or 80's action movies?" 

"Find out exactly what those pesky blues are up to." Sarge orders. 

"You mean go over there? Near that monster?" Simmons says nervously. 

"See! This is exactly the robot overlord crap I was talking about! If only someone had listened!" Grif says covering his visor. 

"It will be dangerous, but I have confidence that at least one of you will survive!" Sarge says looking at Simmons. 

"Why aren't you coming?" Grif asks. 

"We have a major breach in security! One of the bags in my wall tore open and now there's sand all over the place." Sarge explains. 

"I can see how that might take priority." Grif mutters. 

"(Sigh) It is likely that we will never recover, there are just so many tiny crevasses!" Sarge declares. 

"Hey guys." Zone says walking up with Xi. "What's happening here?" 

"Sarge, please! I don't wanna upset the Mantis!" Simmons begs. 

"What's a Mantis?" Grif asks. 

"The giant robot!" Simmons yells. 

"Ah...why is it called that?" 

"I don't know, 'cause it's green? That's not the point!" 

"Well that's not a very good reason to call it a Mantis." Sarge says rubbing his helmet thoughtfully. 

<Perhaps they call it Mantis because it has an advanced camouflage system that it uses to ensnare enemies.> Lopez 2.0 states. 

"It does? Why didn't the UNSC tell us about?" Zone asks. 

"Whatever dum-dum. Can't you see we are talking strategy!" Sarge says ignoring the robot. 

"Stupid new Lopez!" Grif sighs. 

"Look the Blues are no more dangerous than this idiot." 

"Hey...come on guys. Cut it out." Xi says defending 2.0. 

"But that robot could flatten us in an instant." Simmons states. 

"You raise an excellent point Simmons." 

"I do?" 

"Yep, so you better not get spotted while you're out there." 

Grif starts walking. "Uhh... let's just get this over with." Grif groans. 

"But I'm telling you the Blues aren't up to anything." Simmons insists. He turns to Zone. "Hey zone you coming?" 

"Actually I need to go get to work on something. 2.0, mind giving me and Xi a hand?" 

<Of course.> Lopez follows the Freelancer inside Red Base.