The Reds and Blues watch while Doc patches up the Scout's leg. 

"There, good as new." Doc says stepping away. 

"I can't feel my toes." 

"That's normal." Donut reassures. 

"Is it?" Wash aims his rifle towards Felix's face. "H-hey, whoa!" 

"You need to start talking." Wash growls. 

"Hmm, aggressive, paranoid, and a little melodramatic—you must be Agent Washington." The Scout states. 

"Ha! Melodramatic." Tucker laughed. 

"And that means the rest of you are the Reds and the Blues." 

"Oh my God, how did he know that?!" Caboose yelled. 

"We're wearing red and blue armor." Grif answers. 

"But how can he tell?" 

Grif slaps his hand over his visor. "Will somebody please fix his helmet?" 

"How do you know about us?" Xi asks the Scout. 

"Seriously? Come on man, everybody knows about you guys. You're heroes."  

"Heroes?" Sarge questions. 

"You're the team that brought down Project Freelancer. You're some of the galaxy's greatest soldiers." 

"Well, I can see how you might think that." Simmons says looking at the group. 

"Because it's absolutely true!" Sarge states. 

"It's partially true." Doc clarifies. 

"But mainly false." Grif adds. 

"Stop giving him information. What's your name?" Wash asks. 

"Felix. But Wolford knows also knows me as Gates." 

"Okay, Felix, how do you know Zone and what are you doing here?" 

"Do you want the long answer or the short one?" The Scout says weighing his hands as if the stories were in either of them. 

"Do you want another bullet in your leg?" Wash threatens. 

"Hey, that bullet's there because of you." Felix retorts. 

"He's got a point." Tucker says. 

Wash lowers his rifle. "(Sigh) Just...explain what's going on." 

"Uh yeah, like who were those guys that were trying to kill us?" Grif asks. 

"And why haven't we been rescued yet?" Simmons added. 

"Wait, where do you think you are?" Felix inquires. 

"What are you talking about Isaac?" Zone asks. 

"I mean, Rex do you understand where you've crashed?" 

"Well, we've been taking bets. Highest wager's currently on Bermuda Triangle. After that, we've got Gilligan's Island and purgatory." Sarge exclaims. 

"So stupid." Grif shakes his head. 

"No, just think about it. It makes perfect sense." Donut insists. 

"The reason no one's come to help you is the same reason no one's come to help them." Felix gestures to the soldiers the Reds and Blues fought moments ago. 

"Them?" Simmons questions. 

"The people on this planet." Felix clarifies. 

"What planet?" Wash asks. 

"Chorus." 

"Never heard of it." Tucker states. 

"Well, I wouldn't expect you to. It's on the very edge of colonized space, and after the war between the humans and the aliens, it was more or less forgotten by Earth and the UNSC." 

"We crashed in the middle of nowhere, on a planet in the middle of nowhere. Freaking beautiful, everybody." Grif says throwing his hands in the air. 

"But how did we end up so far from home? It should have been a short flight." Simmons points out. Sarge hesitantly looks at the ground. 

(FLASHBACK) 

"Sir, please, you can't be back here. These engines are delicate." An Operator warns Sarge. 

"Can it, Poindexter. No wonder this flight's taking so long! Who ever heard of delicate engines? These engines are supposed to be big. Loud. And terrible for the environment! Let's kick this baby into slipspace!" Sarge punches a button. 

"Wait!" The alarms then start going off. 

(FLASHBACK OVER) 

"Uh, one mystery at a time there, Simmons." Sarge replies. 

"Now, being a small planet, completely free of UNSC jurisdiction, the nice little people of Chorus decided to run things on their own. The only problem was, they didn't do a very good job." Felix says crossing his arms, 

"Ugh, history's the worst. Can you just get to the point?" Grif groans. 

"The point is, you've crash-landed in the middle of a civil war. And I'm on the side that's trying to keep you alive." 

"And which side is that?" Wash demands. 

"The New Republic. Essentially, a bunch of people got fed up with the way things were going on Chorus, so, they put together a rebel army and decided to fight for their freedom. It's all very patriotic." 

"So, what? Does that make those guys the Evil Empire or something?" Tucker says thumbing at the dead soldiers. 

"Yeah, you could say that." Felix shrugs. 

"Oh. Well, crap." Tucker mutters. 

"But why the attack Gates? Why try to kidnap us?" Zone asks. 

"It's like I said Wolford: you're the greatest soldiers in the galaxy. That makes you a pretty hot commodity. And I'd be lying if I said my poor attempt at a rescue mission didn't have a few strings attached." 

"What kind of strings we talking here?" Sarge inquires. 

"(Sigh) The rebels need your help. Once they heard that you were on Chorus, they sent me out with a small team to find you and bring you back. They're hoping you might be the key to winning this war." 

The Reds and Blues look at each other for a moment.

"Hmm, no." Grif speaks for everyone. 

"No?" Felix says shocked. The group then gathers inside Blue Base. 

"Yeah, no." Simmons agrees. 

"Yeah, that, that's not gonna work, for me." Caboose says. 

"Look, Felix, I hate to break it to you, but we're in no condition to fight a war." Wash explains. 

"All we want is a ride off this crappy planet. No offense." Tucker adds. 

"Meh, it ain't my crappy planet." Felix shrugs. 

"Aren't you one of the rebels?" Doc asks. 

"No, I'm a freelancer." The Reds and Blues immediately point their weapons at him. 

Zone jumps between them. "Whoa whoa! Guys! Guys! He meant a mercenary, as in a gun for hire." The group lower their weapons.

"Oh, thank God." Grif exhales. 

"They paid you to come find us?" Wash questions. 

"They pay me to do lots of stuff, but yeah, you're my current paycheck." Felix says in no deniability. 

"So you want us to go fight someone else's war, just so you can make some extra cash." Wash says crossing his arms. 

"...Uh, it's for a good cause?" 

"Right. We'll just take that ride out of here, if you don't mind." 

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Mediocrity." Tucker chuckled. 

"Woohoo! Here's to not going that extra mile." Grif pumps his fist. 

"Well I'm staying to help him." Zone says standing next to Felix. 

"WHAT?!" Everyone including Xi yelled. 

"Guys, he's my friend. I've known him for six years. I can't just leave him, I fought alongside this guy against Covenant." 

"Thanks Raptor." Felix turns to the rest of the group. "You know, I wasn't alone when I came out here to find you. There were three of us. Just think about that." 

Felix turns and walks away.

"Whatever. It's not like we asked them to save us." Grif protests. 

"Yeah, we definitely didn't build a giant radio tower to send a distress signal or anything." Simmons replies sarcastically. 

"Shut up." 

Felix walks to the edge of the base and taps his helmet. "Headquarters, this is Felix. I've made contact with Raptor and the Reds and Blues." 

"Holy crap, you found them? That's great! Um, what's your status?" 

"Not good. We ran into some Feds. I need an evac team." 

"Uh, Felix, I can't just fly somebody out there." 

"Yeah, I know, okay, but you send as many men as you can, as fast as you can. Locus has our position." 

"Oh, no." 

"Who's Locus?" Tucker asks. 

"Ortez?!" Zone says shocked. 

"Now I want to do this quiet, and I want to do it right. But just to be safe, bring lots of guns." Felix orders. 

"Right. Sending reinforcements, sir." 

"Roger. Felix out." Felix taps his helmet again and turns back to the group. 

"So, what now?" Grif asks. 

"Now we work on making this canyon the most defendable hole in the ground the universe has ever seen." Felix states. 

"Why?" Xi asks. 

"Because we're about to get hit, hard. I need a detailed list of the supplies you've got on hand. Let's set up choke points, and mark potential sniper's nests." Felix says pointing various parts of the canyon. 

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. We're not telling you anything. We still don't even know if we can believe you." Wash says cutting off Felix. 

"I believe him guys. If you don't fine, but believe this: if we don't prepare for a fight, we might as well just be waiting for a massacre." Zone says crossing his arms. 

Wash looks away, then nods at Zone. "Tucker, see if you and Xi can fix Caboose's helmet." Wash orders. 

"Yes, who said that!" Caboose shouts. 

"Sarge, you and the Reds build up an arsenal. If we can use it as a weapon, let's get it prepped." 

"I can think of a few things that might come in handy." Sarge grins. 

Zone turns to his former squad member. "Gates, you, me, and Wash need to talk." 

"Well all right then. Let's see if you guys are as good as they say." Felix says straightening up. 

"Prepare to be sorely disappointed." Grif murmurs.