Three weeks of hell this one took. Did the majority of it while on a vacation hunting trip.

Sucks that most of that period we had power outages because of the government. Not worry its quite common here in this country I am from. We call it "Load Shedding". Funny..... never happened 28 years ago and beyond

Anyways, I do hope you enjoy this one.

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https://youtu.be/jvrdJjjrXKY

1126 Hours
Sword Base, Babd Catha Ice Shelf, South East of Atlas

The two UH-144 Falcons head toward the coast of the big mountainous island. The two teams aboard watching the ice shelf becoming bigger and bigger.

Their radios crackling to life as Sword Control coms through. "Be advised, Kilo 33 and Kilo 34, your current LZ is too hot!"

Carter responds. "Roger that. Dot, standby to receive and respond." He says to the teams 'dumb' AI liaison.

The Falcons pass a large rocky island and the Atlas cruiser holding position comes into view.

Dot replies. "Yes, Commander... coordinates received. Initiate immediate course correction." She states as she then sends a new flight path for the pilots to follow.

The Falcons turn sharply and head right away from the airfield they were initially were to land at. They flew low near the cliff towards the main structure of the base.

"The Office of Special Intelligence Sword Base is presently under siege from a corvette-class Atlas vessel under control from the Black Claw. Due to the sensitive nature of this facility, use of orbital rounds has been, for the moment, prohibited." She says as the Flacons near the building, keeping low near the water.

(No it's not the ship from Halo Reach. I'm trying to be simple and I am going to say its a bigger version of the ship that Ironwood used)

"Regrettably, my efforts to obtain relevant data on enemy forces have been unsuccessful. However, current defensive forces are insufficient. OSI has requested Teams Hunter 4 and Noble's direct intervention to help secure Sword Base." She says

The Falcons near the cliff and pull up to begin their run. "All right people, we're stuck with that ship for the time being. Let's focus on the hostile infantry - give those troopers a hand." Carter says as they fly over the base engulfed in skirmishes all across the area.

They head for the furthest courtyard that doesn't contain any enemy troops. "Kat, Six - you're out here. Jorge, Emile - you're next, get prepped." Carter orders as they begin to descend.

"Jack, Sam - join them on the deck." Colt also orders.

Kat, sitting opposite of 6, cocks her pistol as the Falcon approaches its landing zone.

"Let's move, lieutenant." Kat says as she jumps from her seat as the Falcon hovers for a few seconds from the ground. 6 doing the same as the Falcon flies away.

Jack and Sam hop off too as their Falcon hovers in low and then flies off to join the lead flight.

The BC are assaulting the entrance to Sword Base, and now it was up to the four of them to clear out the invaders.

"Alright team: push back the attack on Sword Base, find out what we're dealing with." Carter said over the Coms.

Kat nodded. "Roger that, we're your strike team."

"Troopers, hostiles north." Sword Command stated.

Jack noticed enemies light troopers, Grunts, approaching them below the bridge ahead of them as well a few troopers on the walkway to the left of the main building overlooking the courtyard. He spotted on the right walkway an enemy officer shooting at the opposite walkway.

The forces attacking the base wore the typical Black Claw uniform and armor. But was uniquely different about them was the colours. They wore blood red armor with grey clothing underneath.

(Best I could find when it comes to Red and Grey colours. Also I think this is the perfect type of enemies for this faction)

"Sam: head up left and support those troopers. 6: move up the right and take out that officer. Kat and I will push through the middle." He ordered.

"Copy that." Sam replied.

"On my way." 6 responded.

"Let's go Captain!" Kat said readying her pistol, then Jack readied his AR.

The two Spartans and two Rangers head north to  the main courtyard, where they engage a significant number of Black Claw troops, mainly grunts and including several officers.

"Let's knock some heads boys!" Kat says landing head shots with her pistol.

Sword Control came through again. "You've got enemy contacts."

A strange looking dropship flew in and dropped even more enemies to reinforce the entrance attack before flying off.

(Basically all the vehicles used by the BC are Banished based.)

Kat and Jack moved towards the main gate of the Base, while Sam moved further along the top walkway, shooting at the enemies from above the gate. 6 had managed to corner the officer and they engaged into a quick hand to hand combat and dispatched the officer quickly, then began shooting into the courtyard picking of enemies.

After clearing the courtyard, the Spartans and Rangers head down a ramp where they engage several well acrobatic enemies, Skirmishers, dropping them all and eventually making it down to a gate.

Jack radios in. "Hunter 4-3 to Sword Control: courtyard is clear, over."

Sword Control responds back. "Head to the main gate to the east, I'll brief you as you go."

The Strike team enter the main gate, coming across several ordnance packs.

Kat then notices something in one of the packs. "Sword Control, I see a Target Locator. Any artillery support in the area?"

"Limited, but we'll prioritize whatever you need, ma'am." Control replied.

Kat chuckles. "Good to know pilot."

Six takes the Target Locator, and the Strike Team then head out of the gate as the BC controlled Atlesian Corvette opens fire on the base.

A damaged on fire M831 Troop Transport is seen attempting to escape from two enemy hover tanks.

(The one on the right)

"3 Echo 57 heading back to base, we got enemy tangos on our six. How copy?" The driver says on the comm.

Before there was any reply the Warthog is soon destroyed by one of the tanks mortar rounds.

"Six! Use the Target Locator on those tanks!" Jack says.

Using the Target Locator, Six calls in the artillery. With perfect timing both tanks end up in the kill-zone as 7 high explosive shells land in the designated area, destroying them both.

"Outstanding!" Sam praises Six.

"Pelicans inbound with transport, boys." Kat says.

Two Pelicans arrive. One drops off a Warthog, the second drops off another but it has a different kind of gun.

Before they could hop on Jack casually strides past Kat and Six towards the second vehicle. "Gauss Hog's mine Kat. Sam take the wheel." He said with a smirk behind his helmet as he hopped on the gun.

The M12G1 Light Anti-Armour Vehicle, The Gauss Warthog or Gauss Hog.

Unlike its M12 base which has a three barreled M41 Vulcan chaingun.

The Gauss Hog instead employs the M68 Gauss Cannon, which fires a 25mm slug round at hypersonic speeds by means of magnetic acceleration.

The two Spartans didn't know how to respond, looking to Sam for answers.

Feeling their gazes he shrugs them off. "What are you looking at me for? I just follow." He says to them before getting in the driver seat, and an army trooper joins them in the passenger seat.

With that Kat and Six get on the regular hog, with Kat at the wheel and Six on the chaingun and another army trooper joining them.

Sword Control comes through and gives them the following objectives. "The old Farragut Station has its own comms array that should bring us back online with Command. Airview Base has an anti-air battery that will help clear the skies."

Kat nods. "AA gun is to the west, comms array to the east. How do you wanna play this Captain?." She asks Jack.

"You and Six take the Comms array. We'll take the AA." Jack replied.

Kat nods at the plan. "Alright! Let's roll!" Then slams the throttle forward, heading East to the Comms array.

Sam does the same and heads West to the AA gun overlooking the the air base.

The two rangers drive along outside the wall towards the AA platform.

As they approach a turn they encounter two small single seat hover vehicles and a few Grunts holding their position outside Sword Base's wall.

They engage them, Jack landing solid single direct hits on the vehicles, destroying them, while Sam ran over the troops and the army trooper shooting any who may have dodged.

One lone survivor makes a run for it, but Jack acquires sights on him and fires, killing him.

"I'm picking up a power source, we're close to the gun." Jack says as he reads the data on his HUD.

Sam only nods and continues their journey.

Soon they arrive at the base, to find it under Black Claw control. A high ranking officer with a big launcher commands the group. "Get into positions! The enemy are coming!!" He says to his men.

"That's the gun over there. Should be a reset control somewhere to get it online." Jack says as he opens up on the infantry.

Sam plows through the base, making them all dodge. He drifts to a halt and immediately jumps out with his pistols drawn.

Jack jumps off and shoots back with his AR. "Sam get on the gun! I'll go reset the AA! Cover me!"

"Copy that!" The wolf replies as he runs to the back and takes control of the rail gun and instantly guns down any enemy in the open with a single shot, with the Army trooper providing supporting fire.

As Jack runs he looks up into the sky and notices the ensuing air battle going above the airbase. Falcons slugging it out in an ensuing dogfight against much more faster and nimble looking aircraft.

While the BC aircraft were faster and outnumbering the their adversaries, the Falcons were far more agile and maneuverable. Able to quickly avoid and reacquire target and shoot them down with their cannons.

Jack heads for the two-floored building next to the AA gun that is swarming with Grunts. As he approaches he cooks a frag grenade, then tosses it into the open window as he proceeds down the outside towards the lower back entrance.

The grenade explodes, killing three. Jack works his way up the stairs to the main entrance where he tossed the grenade and opens up on the remaining enemies who were disorientated by the blast, making quick work of them.

He then heads to the left, going up the stairs leading to the roof.

As he gets up there he is confronted by the officer who is guarding the controls to the AA gun. "Hahaha! You think you can get past me! Puny human!" He taunts.

Jack smirks. "Time to find out." He taunts back.

The officer snarls and fires a few blast from his launcher, Jack doges and unloads the rest of the mag into him.

This did little as the officer only angled himself to allow his armour to absorb the bullets and deflect them.

With no choice the ice man tosses the AR away and pulls out his knife, rushing forward to quickly dispatch his foe.

But the officer proved to be more than a match and he quickly blocked the knife.

With no time to think, Jack quickly twirls around for another swing.

But this too is blocked, however this made the officer open himself up and allowed Jack to kick the weapon out of his hands and reach.

Now the two were in an ensuing hand to hand fight.

Two combatants dodging, sidestepping and blocking each other's attack.

Eventually the officer managed to land a swift punch to Jack's chest, making him stumble before getting kicked in the midsection and sent away.

Sam then came through the coms. "We need to activate the AA gun, Jack. Reset the controls dammit!"

The ice man got on one knee, huffing as he replied. "I'm working on it."

He looked back at the officer who was laughing. He then charged wildly at him.

The officer stood his ground allowing the iceman to get closer.

When Jack got within reach he lunged forward to throw a punch.

But the officer grabbed him and tossed him into the corner next to the control, hard.

Jack was groaning, his back against the corner and he was at the full mercy of the officer.

"Hahaha! See! You didn't believe you could actually beat me did you?! I will gladly rip you limb from limb!" The officer goaded in his victory.

Jack sunk a little in the corner before making a light chuckle. "Heh, I wouldn't be so sure of that." He said.

The officer looked at him questioningly, then looks up and his eyes go wide in shock behind his mask.

The last thing he saw was the railgun on the hog pointing right at him.

Sam fired the slug, barely passing by right over Jack's helmet and right into head of the enemy, sending the officer to the other side of the roof and over the railing, dead.

"Thanks for the assist." Jack said with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Just get that gun online." Sam replied back.

Jack gets up flicks the switch of the reset control on the roof. The AA gun turns on, scanning the skies before immediately acquiring lock on a enemy dropship. It opens fire just as the dropship deploys two of the single seat hover vehicles.

The AA gun keeps firing until the dropship explodes, then it begins to focus its fire on the aircraft fighting the Falcons and any other dropships in the area.

"That did it. AA gun is online." Jack said admiring the handy work of the AA gun as he heads down the building back to Sam who managed to take out both the incoming vehicles.

Sword Control comes through. "Nice work, Rangers. Be advised the Spartans just also managed to get the Farragut Station comms array up and running."

The corvette draws closer to Sword Base, and continues to fire its turrets at the OSI facility. Three dropships, carrying more vehicles, fly by. Distant explosions from Sword Base can be heard.'

Colt then comes through the comms. "Strike, this is Hunter 4-1. Get back to Sword Base ASAP."

"On our way, Commander." Jack responds as he gets into the driver seat and slams the throttle forward and leaves the area.

"Good work, Strike. Return to Sword Base, the rest of your team is inbound, imminent." Sword Control said.

As they drove away a few Pelicans flew over head to the AA gun, dropping off a few squad of troopers and a couple of Warthogs to defend the area again.

"Noble, Hunter, be advised: Enemy corvette moving into position. Strike, get here quick. We need you inside." Carter said over the comms.

"Things must be pretty bad." Sam said.

Jack could only nod as he didn't slow down for anything. "Must be."

The two Rangers arrive at the gate, only to find it under attack by several two seat hover vehicles with a turret in its rear, along with a small group of Grunts, and some supporting single seaters.

(Suppose to be in Red not Blue)

The single seat vehicles were quickly taken out by Sam in quick succession. Then he quickly tried to acquire lock on the remaining two seaters.

But this proved more to be a challenge as the vehicles had a much greater fire power then the rest and their turret could swing 360 degrees like the Gauss Hog.

Jack had to constantly jerk the wheel to make the Warthog miss the oncoming shots, while Sam had to continually duck to avoid getting hit.

They couldn't find an opening so Jack decided to buy time, driving towards and past the rock formations, using them as cover and to observe for a possible opening.

He kept this up with Sam getting no clear shot at all. The two vehicles proving to be a match.

However the pilots of these vehicles made a severe mistakes. They were so focused in the Warthog they forgot to check their surroundings, and in doing so they accidentally crashed into one another.

Jack saw this as the perfect opportunity and drove full speed right at them.

"Jack?! What the hell are you doing?!!" Sam yelled out.

The iceman didn't answer as he gunned for the tiny gap between the two vehicles.

The drivers and gunners were so distracted that they didn't see the raging four wheeler heading right at them.

In the last second one of the pilots noticed and immediately jerked the controls, swinging his vehicle away and creating a big gap for Warthog to pass through.

Once he was directly in between them Jack yanked the hand brake hard.

The wheels locking up and Jack expertly using the wheel to drift directly behind the one who pulled away.

Once they came to a complete stop, the enemy was painted fully in Sam's sights. Squeezing the trigger the slug round pierced through the hull of the two seater and caused it to blow up spectacularly.

With that done, Jack quickly scanned for the second, but could 't find them, Sam neither.

The two Rangers were then blind sided as the second vehicle rammed them from the right.

The both of them quickly found their bearings but it was too late.

They noticed the gunner was already preparing to fire and that there was no escape.

The gunner grinned behind his mask, his finger squeezing the trigger to end the two Rangers.

When suddenly he is instantly killed by chaingun fire.

The two Rangers turn their heads and see the oncoming Warthog with Kat at the wheel, Six in the gun and holding down the trigger as the chaingun kept spewing bullets.

This gave Jack ample time, putting the gear in reverse and throttling it, putting some distance between them and the vehicle getting turned into swiss cheese.

The pilot could do nothing but panic as the vehicle then started sparking before eventually blowing up and killing him.

"Thought you could use a hand Captain!" Kat said with a slight smirk.

Jack only shake his head, but he had a smile on his face. "Though I hate to admit it but, thanks for the save there."

Kat pointed a finger at the two. "You owe us one there!"

Both teams drive to the gate, hopping off as the other side is barricade so they have to proceed on foot and open the reinforced doors.

As the gate control beeps Jun comes through the comms. "We're stalled in the tower atrium. Kat, where are you guys?"

"Opening the gate now." Kat responded as the gate fully opens.

Once inside, the Strike team heads back up the courtyard, which is once again occupied by the the Black Claw.

"Man these guys just won't quit!" Jack said as he reloaded his AR and fired at the nearest enemy.

"Just means more enemies to fight is all." Six said as he kept landing headshots one after the other.

After clearing the courtyard, they enter the base via the garage, finding a few troopers inside being besieged by more enemy Grunts, including a pair of heavily armored up soldiers using miniguns.

"Hunters! Take cover!" Jack yelled out.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Sam yelled.

The pair immediately focused their fire on the newcomers causing the four to split up. With Kat and Jack getting behind some crates while Six and Sam hide behind a forklift.

Kat peeks over the crates and fires a few pot shots, only to duck again when the minigun was firing back.

"Screw this! You wanna play with fire? Then I'll give you fire!" Jack said as he swapped the AR to his shotgun, cocking it.

He aims over the crates and fires a few shots before ducking again to avoid the bullets.

Sam and Six shot down any enemy trying to get close to them and observed the heavily armed Juggernauts as they continued to decimate the area,

The two looked to one another, Sam pulling out a grenade, prompting Six to do the same.

They leapt out of cover, drawing the attention of one of the Hunters, their intention to separate them from one another.

They were successful as one them decided stray away and focus on them, while his partner continued to focus on Kat and Jack.

As the Hunter neared the two, Six and Sam flanked him on either side, each tossing two grenades in delay.

With four grenades landing around him and exploding at four different times the heavy behemoth was sent down, dead.

Seeing the partner now down for the count, Jack jumped over from his cover and charged at the last Hunter before him.

The heavy weapon wielder was stunned for a second at the sudden charge, a second all Jack needed.

The Hunter spun the gun but Jack slid onto his knees until he was behind him, then unloading round after round after round into his back.

The pellets tore through the fabric, eventually causing him pain.

Jack only had one last buckshot left and he decided to do something unorthodox.

He jumped onto the Hunter's back, climbed up and aimed his shotgun directly point blank into the neck area, the weakest spot.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" He screamed as he pulled the trigger, sending a full buckshot round into the neck, killing the last Hunter.

With that settled they now retaken the garage.

"Let's get to the atrium. We have to go through the security office. Elevator, Lieutenant. Take it." Kat said as she headed for the elevator.

"Roger that, let's go." Jack replied.

The four enter the lift, Six activates the switch to take them to the security office. Midway up, an explosion rocks the elevator. The elevator stops briefly before continue its ascent.

"That did 't sound good. Right?" Sam asked half worried.

Emile then came through the comms. "Corvette's hitting this base hard."

"Where's our orbital support? Got to be a platform that could take it out with a single MAC round." Kat asked irritated at the situation.

"Like Dot said when we arrived." Jack stated. "Because it's an OSI base orbital bombardment has been prohibited. Though I wouldn't mind a stray shot to hit the base at least." He said making everyone there smirk and chuckle.

The elevator soon reaches the security office, and the four are immediately engaged by Black Claw Grunts.

They quickly drop them all and proceed through the security checkpoint, the PA coming through as it was programmed to do. "Welcome to the Office of Special Intelligence. An OSI representative will meet you shortly."

"I doubt that very much." Jack dryly remarks.

They reach the end of the hallway and the door opens to the atrium, revealing a big firefight taking place.

Jorge and Gopher, fighting alongside each other with their machineguns blazing at a group Skirmishers on the bottom floor of the main atrium.

The Strike team move into Sword Base's main atrium, linking back up where Jun, Jorge, Gopher, Colt and some Army Troopers are engaging BC troops.

"Spartan! Over here!" Jorge calls out to Six, prompting him to move to the big Spartan.

"Six, head upstairs and assist Emile. Jorge, make sure he gets there." Carter orders from the comms from somewhere else in the base.

Jorge replied back. "Depend on it!"

Colt was on the high ground alongside Jun dropping tango's left and right like a birthday party. "Sam follow Six up there, Gopher I want you providing cover, stat!"

"Copy that!" The wolf said as he linked up with Six, the two of them using their DMR's to drop the Grunts quickly.

"You can count on it!" Gopher said back as he moved beside Jorge to help mow down the enemy.

The Spartans, Rangers and the Troopers clear out the lower level.

"We're clear. Squad up!" A trooper yells out.

Three troopers quickly squaded up with Six while another three joined Sam.

The four plus six troopers make their way upstairs, engaging various BC forces as they go, including a low ranking General armed with a grenade launcher, clearing them all out.

The base shakes as the Corvette's attacks intensifies.

"Corvette's gonna rip this base apart! What's the situation, Noble?" Sword Control asked.

Emile then came through."Can't do this on my own! Need another Spartan up here!" He said as he was at the very top floor.

"Six, Sam, get to the top floor and assist Emile." Carter ordered.

They rush to the top floor, luckily finding no more infantry to deal with. The four of them make it up to the top floor and find it in ruins.

Sword Control frantically comes over the comms. "Commander, this base won't survive another salvo from that corvette. Kill those fighters!"

Colt responded. "Understood control. Upstairs, Lieutenants, we need those Tomcats in the air."

Six and Sam go through a doorway to the top floor, where there is a massive hole in the building. The corvette is holding position just outside. Fighters are swarming all around. Emile stands on a ledge, firing his rocket launcher at them.

Six and Sam both notice a few rockets launchers in a pile with some ammo. The two nodded to each other and each grabs a launcher.

They move out into the open and begin to acquire lock. As soon as they do they fire.

Heatseeking missiles streaking through the sky and destroying the fighters one by one.

"About time." Emile says as he uses rocket launcher too.

As Emile, Sam and Six engage the fighters, Gopher notices a dropship heading for them. "We got company!" He points to it.

It arrived above them and started dropping off the elite of the BC onto the floor.

"Shit! We got Spec Ops over here! Jorge I'm gonna need some support!" Gopher said to the Spartan.

"On my way." Jorge replied.

Soon the two joined together and opened fire simultaneously at the elite units.

Because there wasn't really much cover or space on this floor it was easy pickings for the two heavy gunners.

The Special Ops now dealt with it was now easier for the Spartans, Ranger and troopers to grab a launcher and focus on the enemy fighters.

Gopher grabbed the launcher off his back and locked on the last fighter. He squeezed the trigger, and watched the missile twirl in circles as it tracked the fighter.

The warhead rammed into the nose and exploded the vehicle, sending it down to crash and burn.

The skies were now clear.

"That's the way we get it done!" Emile cheered. as he dropped his launcher.

Sword Control crackled through. "Hunter 4, Noble Team, Tomcats are inbound and ready to push. Orbital defense standing by to take the shot."

Six and Sam stand near the edge of the destroyed building, watching as two F14 Tomcats fly towards the corvette, which is attempting to flee.

The two watch as the Tomcats follow the corvette for a distance, as if they were pushing it further and further away from the base, but soon break off.

They watch as the Corvette keeps retreating, until a massive round suddenly streaks down from the sky above and smashes right through the ship. Its engines flicker, and it loses altitude.

They had just witnessed that for the first time the Coalition has just utilized their most powerful weapon. The Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, or MAC Gun.

Built into the orbiting stations above, and able to provide much needed orbital support if needed. Though they are still new and have not seen any form of combat, until today.

Gopher and Jorge emerge from the shadows, approaching their respectful team mate.

"Beautiful, ain't it? Someone should take a picture." Jorge says patting Six on the shoulder for congratulation.

"Bring a camera next time then big guy." Gopher laughs.

The corvette crashes into the sea.

Gopher gives Sam a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "Nice work, by the way."

Sam smiles at the sight. "I aim to please."

Carter radios in. "Five, Six...get down to the science wing. Doctor Halsey wants a debrief, and Command's saying we're all hers."

The two Spartans and Rangers turn around, heading back into facility's interior.

Jorge puts his finger to his helmet where his ear would be. "Repeat? Sounded like you said 'Halsey.'"

"I did." Carter replied.

"Copy that, on our way. Don't need Command to tell me... Been all hers half my life." Jorge said to Six as they headed back inside.

That's when Colt also came through. "4-2, 4-4... that goes for you as well, get down here with the rest of us."

Gopher nodded and replied over the comms. "Roger that." He then glances to the wolf. "This should go well." He said half sarcastically as they walk away from the scene of the corvette sinking into the ocean.

Not long after the four soon arrive at the science wing, where Carter is talking to Dr. Catherine Halsey, who is behind a glass wall, separating NOBLE Team and Hunter 4 from her. Colt and Jack leaning against the back wall with their arms crossed as the Spartan and Doctor conversed with each other.

Halsey was busy prodding Carter for information. "I requested your assistance, Commander, and do not need a report on events that occur on my own doorstep. What I do require is a detailed account of your previous engagement-"

She pauses mid-sentence as she notices Jorge and Six enter the room with Gopher and Sam following a few seconds after. "Jorge. It's been too long."

Jorge takes off his helmet. "Ma'am."

"What have you done with my armor?" She asks him regarding his Spartan which doesn't look the same last time she saw it.

Jorge and Noble Six look at big Spartan's armor, which has been customized, just like the armor of the rest of Noble Team, and to some extent Hunter 4.

"Just some... additions I've made." Jorge answers.

Halsey could only reply in her usual cold tone. "Indeed. Visegrad Relay. Its data center was home to one of my archaeologists, Professor Laszlo Sorvad. Perhaps you could shed some light on his death." She said looking back Carter.

The Spartan Commander responded dryly. "If he was a civilian male in his mid-sixties, he died with energy sword through his abdomen."

"Elites, then." Halsey deduced.

"Whoah hold up!" Everyone turned to the Captain of Hunter team.

"What the hell was an archeologist doing at Visegrad anyways? And why the hell were Black Claw there in the first place?" Jack asked confused and half angry.

"That is Classified." Halsey said. "And none of your concern."

"Hah! My ass!" Jack remarked.

Colt stepped up. "Jack, easy." He warned.

This prompted the ice man to shut his mouth and keep it in till the end. Halsey then looked to Jorge for him to continue.

"They engaged us as well. It was just, uh, just after we found your scientist's daughter, ma'am. She was hiding in the-" He said describing the event leading up to the engagement.

But Halsey cut him off. "Irrelevant. The Elites. Tell me more about them."

The big Spartan straightened up, and gave a response like a proper soldier. "Three. Zealot-class. One got by us. The leader, from the looks of him."

"Zealots? You're certain?" This piece of information intrigued Halsey.

Jack and Colt looked to each other, their expressions showing signs of worry at what they just heard.

Jorge nodded. "Their armor configuration matched."

"I gave the order not to pursue." Carter then interjected. "Our primary objective was to get the station's relay back online."

Halsey retorted. "Your primary objective? Commander, are you a puppet or a Spartan?"

Emile and Jun look up at Dr. Halsey, indignant.

"Ma'am?" Carter then questioned.

Halsey sighed. "There are those at OSI, myself included, who believe the Black Claw dispatch Elite advance teams to hunt down artifacts of value to their religion. Survivor accounts suggest such teams are small, nimble, and almost always Zealot-class. No doubt they came to the station for the abundance of OSI excavation data stored there. And you let them get away."

"Data retrieval was not a command directive. Even had we known, we had other, more urgent matters to attend to." Carter said back.

Halsey merely smirked. "Professor Sorvad's final entry in his field notes made reference to a "latchkey discovery." Latchkey... not a word he would use lightly. So let's hope that the data module your Lieutenant Commander stole contains it."

Everyone, from Noble team and Hunter looked to the second in command "Kat?" Carter said.

"Before you ask, I was alerted the moment you attempted to access its contents. As I am with any unauthorized tap." Halsey stated as she pushes a contained forward.

Kat walks over and drops the module in a container in the shield door.

"That data is classified Tier One... I could send you to the brig for interfering with my work." She warned.

Halsey pulls the container towards her side of the shield door and retrieves the module.

"Maybe you'd like to join her." Colt stepped off the wall, unfolding his arms.

"...I'm sorry?" Halsey asked back.

"We're currently under emergency planetary directive, "WINTER CONTINGENCY". I'm sure you're familiar with the punishment for civilian interference with a Spartan and/or Ranger deployment."

Halsey just chuckled at the 15 year old. "Are you threatening me, Commander?"

"Just making a reading suggestion, ma'am." Colt said before returning to his spot by the wall.

With that Carter and Kat start to leave, while Halsey begins to examine the module.

"Let's move, Noble Team. Commander, it was privilege to work alongside you and your Rangers." Carter said to Colt.

Colt nodded. "It was a pleasure to work with you and your Spartans, Commander." Then gave him a two fingered salute as he left.

Noble Team departs, with the exception of Jorge, who lingers briefly.

"Ma'am?" Jorge inquired.

Halsey continues to examine the module "That... will be all, Jorge."

Jorge heads for the exit, but is suddenly stopped by the silver eyed Ranger. "Jorge, hold on a minute."

All eyes are on Colt when he spoke. Still leaning against the wall he turns to the Iceman. "Jack, go nuts." He gestures to Halsey.

Jack walks up to the glass wall. "I demand an explanation on Visegrad."

Halsey puts the module away. "I don't need to explain myself to you, or anyone for that matter."

"Oh yes you do! Or have you forgotten Dr. Halsey that it was you who requested me to design the relays hardware and progamming systems. So yes I think I do need an explanation!" Ice man shot back.

Halsey merely stayed quiet, not giving a single answer.

That's when Colt decided to make his move. The young Ranger walks up to the big Spartan who easily towers over him. "Jorge I'm gonna need you to be more specific about those Zealots."

Jorge just shrugged. "I don't see how specific I could be based on their armour."

"What colour were they?" Colt then asked, confusing him.

"I'm sorry?" Jorge asked.

Colt then walked forward with each word with every step." What.... colour.... were they."

All eyes of Hunter were on Jorge, awaiting his answer. Halsey also waiting, intrigued by the young Commander's question.

Jorge only shrugged as he gave his answer. "Mainly black mixed with white, and some grey here and there."

Colt's eyes went wide, as did the rest of the team. "Shit, that means they're on the move." The bluenette said looking to Jack.

"All hell is going to break loose." Jack said shaking his head.

Confused, Jorge asked the bluenette. "What's going? Did I miss something?"

"As of now this is none of your concern. You may join your team again Spartan." Colt said gesturing to the door for Jorge.

The Spartan may be twice his size but he knew not to mess with things beyond. He left, passing by Gopher who gave him a light tap in the shoulder.

"What is going on? I demand to know what relevance a particular armour colour has to do with Zealots!" Halsey said as soon as Jorge left the room.

This time Colt turned back to her, giving her a cold glare that could rival Jack's personality. "Like I said, this is none of your concern as this is a Tier One Classified information...... Ranger information. So if you have a problem with that, then take it up with General Sheridan."

Halsey glared at him, as if trying to turn him into a puddle while the other three members just snickered. No on has ever talked to Halsey like that before.

No one other than Colt's Godmother, 'The Colonel' as she always manages to get under Halsey's skin.

"Very well, I will inquire to General Sheridan, but right now we have other pressing matters." Halsey said making all four look at her.

"I assume you four have all noticed something rather different about this attack, have you not?" She asked them.

Jack nodded. "We did." He said, the others nodding too. "Aside from the Zealots, regular BC forces always distinguish themselves based armour colour to denote which faction they belong too."

"And if I remember correctly." Gopher spoke as he walked to the centre. "There are currently only six factions ever since their split."

"Correct." Halsey said.

"And what we saw today, red wasn't one of those six. We are looking at a new player." Colt stated, then he looked to Halsey who had a slight smirk. "You know something, don't you?"

"Indeed I do." She said procuring a small data bank and putting it into the container before pushing forward. "One of my best decryption analyst managed to acquire this message that was broadcasted to the entire Black Claw net a few days ago. And it was heavily encrypted." She said making them each look to one another.

"On this message you will find out who we are truly dealing with". She said as Jack walked up and took the data bank and put it into his pouch.

"Very well. Doctor Halsey if you don't mind but we have bigger fish to fry back home." Colt said as he lead his team out the door, letting them exit out first.

"Be sure to give Ozpin my regards for your help." She said smirking.

"Yeah, we'll see." Was the last thing Colt said before leaving out the door.

1658 Hours
Beacon, Vale

After 6 hours of debriefing, cleaning their weapons, armour and getting their school clothes back on and in order, Hunter 4 now back as SSPF have returned to Beacon on a Pelican after and hour flight, this also included the one hour flight back to Reach base just to do all the things listed previously.

They were walking through the hallway, taking their time to arrive at their dorm.

As they neared their room, RWBY were all in their room pondering when the boys would return.

"School's out and still no sign of them." Ruby said on her bed and holding a jar of cookies she was stress eating into.

"Do you think something bad happened?" Blake asked on her bed clutching her knees.

Weiss shook her head. "No I don't think so. If there was Ozpin would have informed us immediately.

"Yang sat by the window looking out, hoping to find any sign of the boys returning. "Maybe, but still. They could at least call and tell us they are coming back or something.

As they continued discussion the return of the boys, Blake's bow peaked up and told everyone to hush.

As they stayed quiet, they heard voices out in the hall. And it was getting louder indicating they were approaching their area.

"Man that was a long day. I'm definitely gonna need a shower after this."

Yang sprang up. "That's Gopher!"

"Yeah you stink man. Hahaha!"

Weiss then looked up. "That's definitely Jack."

"Let's just get inside before you two start blowing up stuff."

Ruby quickly dropped the jar of cookies and hopped off her bed, recognizing Colt's voice, and bolted for the door to quickly stop them from entering their own room.

She rushed the door and opened it quickly and found beside their door SSPF in their school uniforms, all looking tired from a long day.

"Colt!" She yelled to gain his attention.

"Huh?" The bluenette said looking in her direction before getting tackled by her onto the floor. and getting crushed in a hug. "Gah! Not again!" He said hard of breath.

The rest of his team snickered at the display before someone coughed very loudly from the side.

They turned and saw three disappointing glares from three angry looking girls who had folded their arms.

"Jack! You better have a good explanation of why you four suddenly ran out earlier this morning." The heiress spoke glaring him.

Jack just sighed. "Weiss can we not do this right now? We are tired from a long day out in the field. We can talk about this the day after tomorrow? Please? We're tired."

The glaring girls, minus Ruby who had hugged Colt into unconsciousness, softened their glares, but still maintained a level of dissatisfaction.

"You better explain yourself ok?" Yang said walking right up to Gopher, putting a finger on his chest and looking at him right in the eyes.

"We will." He said taking her hand in his and taking the finger off his chest. "We'll discuss this the day after our mission tomorrow."

"Let's just get some rest and sleep for now ok?l Sam said looking at Blake who sighed and nodded.

With that the girls let SSPF into their room, with Gopher dragging the knocked out Colt by the collar and with the crimsonette still clung onto him.

"Can you get that please?" The ginger asked the blonde.

After much trying, and some shouting, they managed to free Colt from Ruby's vice grip. They said their goodnights and closed the door.

"Alright wake him up. I'm going to be playing the messages that Halsey gave us." Jack said taking out the data bank.

While Jack was connecting the device to his wrist pad.

Gopher kneeled down next to the bluenette, taking out a small vile and opening it. He brought up to Colt's nose to let him smell it's content.

Almost instantly the bluenette shot up. "PRAWNS!! GIMME!!" He said, then looking around and noticed the vile in-front of him. "Aww man. I was knocked out again wasn't I?"

Gopher chuckled. "Yup! Come on, Jack's gonna play the message that Halsey gave us.

Colt stood up and joined the rest in the middle of the room as Jack typed away on his pad.

"Give me a few seconds. And.... here we go." He said then tapping a last button which would make the message project out from the pad and into the air like a hologram and began watching.

The video began by showing a single figure. Well armored up and wearing the same red colours as the attacking force from earlier today. It was clear that this was the leader of this faction.

https://youtu.be/hXrMkGXtk0c

At the end he said one last thing that would send shivers up all four if their spines

"We are the Banished!" Then the video ended.

"The Banished huh? Guess we are going to have our hands full." Sam said crossing his arms.

"Looks like it." The Iceman replied. "Guess we're gonna have to look out from now."

"Let's get some rest guys." Coly spoke. "We start hunting tomorrow."

He said receiving smirking smiles from them all before having one plastered on himself. "This is gonna be fun."

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Man am I tired after this one. Probably made a good few continuity errors or some form of plot hole I just made without realizing it.

All I cam really say is I am glad to be over with it.

I do hope you found this one to be fun though.

Now for the next chapter I have to bust my a$& into figuring out what SSPFs alternate outfits will be.

Based on the colour scheme of RWBY in "Minor Hiccup" it looks to be Winter Based of sorts.

So yeah I am going to have a "fun" time figuring that out.

Alright see you all in the next one.