On the fifth day since Chief's arrival, the sun rose over the lazy valley in the mountains and a stream of thick, grey clouds was moving in from the west, ready to envelop the whole of the mountain tops. Down below, a mix of Terran and other types of animals went about their business both in trying to find shelter from a coming storm and to hunt or forage for food. The peaks of the mountains surrounding the valley were bare no longer when the clouds passed over them.

Sara was leaned against the wall of wood at the mouth of the cave that was their base, looking outward to the edges of the valley. Her left arm ached. She looked to it, to see a deep scar behind the burned, worn-out carbon fiber. It pulsed with a moderate pain... She once again gazed outward, then murmured to herself "It's gonna rain. Pretty bad." as she continued scanning the skyline.

She watched as Chief walked outside, joining her, before showing wit in asking "Sleep well?"

"No thanks to the weather, yeah." He nodded, sliding his weapon on his back. He looked around too, then said "Looks like someone's passing by." And, upon noticing he piqued the curiosity of his fellow stranded survivor, he pointed forward and down. People clad in leather tribal wear moved past them, with a pair of large local animals resembling buffalos, just with... More fur. And white.

Sara hummed "The Confederacy of Iron Mount. Local, loose alliance of tribes busying themselves with trading with anyone on the continent... Didn't think they'd be this far out."

John hummed, watching the Tribals. Two turned their heads. A woman and a man. Both waved and Sara promptly waved back, to show they're friendly. A young child was among the Caravan moving across, as far as John could see. And she was smiling too, looking at the new arrival... They'd rolled in with the clouds, so they probably failed to see the Dawn embedded in the wall.

The soldier girl crossed her arms, watching them pass, before murmuring "Must be going to trade with the other villager faction nearby. Though those guys are more warlike than the Iron Mount."

"Hmm." John scratched his chin.

"I'd take it we're staying inside. Patterns suggest it's gonna rain pretty bad out." Cortana offered. "You two should try and mine out a bit more, expand the base if at all possible."

"Mhm..." John answered, then turned to Sara. "Going by the clouds, it's gonna be a pretty nasty rainstorm. Think we should work on expanding our base a bit further into the mountain and gathering whatever underground supplies we can dig up?"

"Sure thing, Chief." Sara looked to John. "Surprised how quick you caught onto using the M-Fit by the way." And, noticing he tilted his head again, she chuckled, then explained "The Holo-Tool. It usually takes people some time or a small crash course to properly use it. It's a pretty advanced piece of tech." and turned to go inside. John followed, closing the door behind him. The two went deeper into the cave, through the door near their cots and into the darkness. Chief powered his suit's helmet-mounted flashlights, then powered the Holo-Tool in mining mode.

Slowly, the duo chipped away at the surrounding stone walls, digging deeper and deeper into a cave unfamiliar to either. They were leveling out the place into an actual room by utilizing a similar, but somewhat more powerful version of the beams used to cut down the trees. They were basically hollowing out another room to build into. The Spartan continued to dig... 'Digging' meant cutting an X shape into a chunk of stone and sending a small pulse of energy into it to shatter it, effectively purging the strange stone.

"Wooo! Another vein!" He heard Sara call out joyously, turning his head to look at her, his helmet's lights catching her as she dug into what looked like a mishmash of stone and hardened material of a reddish hue. She gave a thumbs up to chief, then explained "I found another vein of compacted steel! This is gonna be doing wonders for when we need to upgrade!" and she paused. And, with a gasp, she turned to face a wall, before calling out "Chief, give me light here!"

The Spartan looked to where the light was needed. A wall of a darker shade of yellow, with what looked like wire, steel and machine shards encased within. Sara gave an approving nod at the sight, then explained "Compacted machinery. Basic electronic components we can use to build somewhat advanced tech, like batteries and the likes. But I may need to research it first... C'mon, help me dig this stuff out, then we can go for the Steel."

And as they dug out, Sara was humming along...

"She's pretty smart." Cortana noted, ticking a few things off a list in her head.

And they'd dug out a further expansion to build into at some point. Probably good to serve as bunks, Chief thought. He watched as she moved to the Research Table, sitting down on a chair she'd built during last evening. They'd partially expanded the base's facilities already, to include more wiring and a second wood-fired generator, for another lamp to enlighten their place and for the basic research table to have some lighting as she worked on it...

Chief knew well enough they'd need to upgrade several more things. If the Feds were hounding her and if they saw the Dawn crashing, they would know where to come looking. He could take on many creatures, but he'd rather not get outnumbered 100 to 1 if he could help it. Or if he did get outnumbered, he'd have a way to counterattack and swing his advantage back his way. He knew Sara was a capable engineer since she first expanded their base, so that would be easy... Hopefully...

"So, we going collecting food again, Chief?" The girl asked. "I think I saw some wild potatoes out there."

"Would help vary our diet... I want to find an entry to the Dawn afterward, though." He answered, readying his weapon. "Let's go."

The trek had begun with both military survivors ready. The clear sky was interesting to look at, enough so that Chief could swear he saw flashing beams of light overhead. Odd enough, but he'd have time to worry about it later... The two didn't talk as they walked, at least not this time. There was little interaction as Sara was focused on looking for traces of the potato plants. Stems, leafs or something...

... He heard a telltale rustle of leafs he recognized from past operations in woodland terrain. He thumbed the safety of his gun, making the girl stop. He nodded to her as she maintained her usual poker face. She blinked, then continued looking for the potato plants, hands hovering over the Plasma Rifle she had on her chest. Chief, meanwhile, scanned the surroundings carefully...

"Chief." Cortana spoke. "MT picked up something... Expanding search range to 400 meters."

The Spartan eyed his MT, to see about a dozen dots surrounding them. His helmet's outer sound sensors enhanced the rustling. He was right, that was the rustle of clothing scratching against the leafs and branches of bushes. He gazed forward, looking at a tree that was between... Two silhouettes, tactical gear. Rifles were trained and ready. Going by the silhouettes of the weapons... Old Kalashnikov models? Huh...

He elbowed Sara and she gripped her rifle, only to raise it in unison with the Chief, both going back to back... They were in a clearing. No cover. And Sara had no body armor to speak of. She tapped the Chief on the shoulder, raising three fingers off the left hand. Three shots left for the Plasma Rifle. Then it'd either burn out or... Chief didn't know. He looked around, watching as the soldiers patiently traversed each-other's line of sight, maintaining their guns locked on the Chief and his partner.

"Got comms from them..." Cortana noted "Poorly encrypted, mind you." She quipped.

"Sledge One-three. We're in position. Targets spotted us."

"Copy. Maintain perimeter. Be ready to fire when Actual gives the order."

The Spartan eyed his comrade, then whispered "I think they wanna kill us." almost carelessly. He had his body armor. The girl didn't... He needed to make sure she survived, though

"Not like I haven't figured it out. They're taking their sweet time with it though." She quipped. "What's our plan?"

"Shoot our way out... Stay behind me." He noted, aiming his rifle for the closest one... Unless one of them came to talk to them soon, ask them to surrender or some dumb thing like that, Chief was gonna make sure they got the first shot off. And that they got out alive... He heard another safety click off, listening in as his helmet amplified their comms...

"Three..." Another voice spoke... This one distant...

"Two... Only wound the girl. Feds want her alive." It added... Chief laid his finger onto the trigger... He wasn't gonna let that happen...

"One..."

Before the man... "Actual", Chief assumed, could even finish that, the Spartan's lightning reflexes allowed him to fire the first burst. The Merc in his sights was washed with 7,62 ammo. His chest rig shattered under the sustained fire assault of the weapon. He collapsed, his AK dropping to the floor. The Plasma weapon of his partner howled its last two shots and two men screamed their death howls. The girl took cover behind him, drawing her Kukri.

She rammed the blade into the throat of a man that moved in behind the Chief, trying to fire a shotgun into the man's back... A Chain Shotgun, to be exact. The woman took to the weapon, raising it and firing a three-shot burst from the weapon at the advancing enemy. The Chief swept the trees with his MA5 as bullets pinged off his shield. It flared as its power slowly drained.

He moved his left hand to his belt, unclipping a frag grenade and tossing it into the crowd. He started moving backward, keeping his eyes on the trees and emptying his magazine into them, whilst also praying that Sara had cleared the back. He heard a groan from the girl, only to look back and see her right arm had taken a hit. A glancing shot that must've zapped into his shield, however, as the wound wasn't deep. She gritted her teeth, raised the Chain Shotgun and continued firing...

Two soldiers once again tried to move and outflank, while the rest had taken cover in the treeline. As they too entered that same treeline behind them, he pushed one of the AKs on the floor to the girl. She grabbed it and an armored rig off of a headless corpse, probably taken by her shotgun. She reloaded the AK, took cover behind a tree, then felt her wound as Chief continued to return fire...

She shot the two flankers with disregard, before checking the armored rig's pockets...

Two Russian fragmentation grenades... Rounded ones with a metal rod at the top where the pin and fuse were. She pulled the pin on one, hurled it without line of sight past the tree she was hiding behind, then looked to the Chief as his shields flashed, flared and died. He took cover as the AP rounds struck into the Titanium plating of his armor, before reloading his own weapon.

"So! Chief! An actual plan, please!" Sara asked with half-snark, half-beggary in her voice, taking a knee and shouldering the AK... The weapon was a modified AK, of course, with piccatini rails, a folding stock and even a scope at the top. She was glad these dumbasses brought in good kit for the fight. Even more glad she had some sort of armor to stop a few rounds.

"How many grenades do you have?" He asked, before he elbowed a soldier trying to stab him from behind his cover. The man collapsed with a caved-in skull, dropping his kit. The girl checked, then raised three fingers. Minus the one that she'd just used, of course... He nodded, looking over to their targets. If his shields held back the onslaught of rounds, he could very easily throw them into the packs of advancing foes...

Ah, yes, they were advancing in standard formations... That made things a little easier... He motioned to her to toss him the frags, which she did immediately. Pulling the pin on the first, the Chief moved back, firing his rifle one-handed, before throwing the first pitch. The grenade landed in the middle group, the one leading the assault, before it detonated, sending shrapnel into the men and the men themselves, to the floor, dead or wounded...

No armor on the legs... He motioned to the legs, then swept with his hand... She nodded, bending to the side and aiming for the bastards' legs as she switched to fully automatic. The gun kicked and bucked like a mule, but she managed to keep her aim steady, sending rounds of 7,62 into the thighs and legs of the bastards trying to kill them. The right group was her target, on which she intently focused as the Chief himself let loose his own weapon's bite...

... He had to admit, the girl's aim was good. Maybe if they got guns off of the Dawn, he could hand her an SRS99 to provide cover... Then again, she was an engineer as far as she said, so sniping wouldn't be her exact forte... He'd have time to figure out details later. He watched as one of the bastards, with heavier armor than the rest(including a helmet with a bulletproof visor), charged him... Chief cocked his fist back after throwing the next grenades to finish off whoever was wounded by Sara's sweeping fire, punching straight through the thick glass into the man's jawline and snapping his neck...

And finally, with casings still smoking on the floor and dead bodies littering the clearing, the Chief and his partner had taken a moment of reprieve. Whoever these guys were, the Feds sent them... Chief knelt beside one, ripping what looked like a pair of Tags off of him... His name was scratched out, but the 'Company' he belonged to wasn't... 'ANVIL'... Hmm...

Sara breathed a sigh of relief, sitting down by the tree she used as cover, then said "Man... Hell of a day..." And as she gazed around "And we haven't even found the po-..." She paused, then smiled as she saw the telltale leafs of the objective... "Tatoes... Nevermind, there they are!" She smirked, diving into and digging out the potatoes... By the time she was done, her bag was full of both 'taters and seeds... She looked to the Chief, then, through her tired panting, asked "Can... We go home now? And go check your ship tomorrow? I'm kinda burnt out..."

... John nodded. He agreed, that was tiring...

... But then again, he needed answers...

He went to the bodies, retrieving whatever wasn't sullied by blood, including their firearms, before walking toward the girl. The two nodded to each-other, then they walked away... He knew there was still a shooter out there watching him. Some of the shots he took were high-caliber and from sniping distance, at around 1000-1500 yards. And if he had to hazard a guess... He hadn't killed their 'Actual'... Just his goons.

He'd figure things out eventually... Cortana was probably already working on it, knowing her.