Trying to tighten ties between the two armies after the shaky civil war, several outposts were made to be manned by teams of both sides. Red and Blue teams that had manned stations Alpha and 1 in Blood Gulch have been placed on Weather Station Z41 to protect it from any attacks.

It was cold. Very cold. And there was nowhere to go. Nowhere at all. Just a platform above the cold icy Arctic sea, stuck with people who hated him.

Grif sighed.

Sarge walked about the weather station, searching for Griff. He needed him to dissasemble the main generator, haul all the parts up the stairs, set it up in the Red barracks, and hook it up.

"Griff, GRIFF, I know your here somewhere" he repeated as he searched for the lazy dirtbag

Grif was currently hiding on the ceiling of the barracks, held in place by copious amounts of chewed gum. Sarge had walked past underneath him and was looking around.

"Hehe, the perfect plan." he thought to himself. Then he noticed that he was slowly lowering. The gum was stretching. It finally reached the point where he was hanging a foot off the ground.

Simmons strolled down the corridor, happening upon Griff, about a foot from the floor. 'What the hell are you doing?' He lowered his pistol, and moved around Grif. 'Wow... I'm suffering a major dilemma. Tell sarge, or use you as a pinata, or both!'

"Can we resolve this with a solution that doesn't involve either?" Grif asked. His answer came in the form of Simmons drawing his boot back for a kick.

"Not the face! Not the face!"

"Griff, what in the hell did you do! You chewed through our bubble gum supplies!" Sarge exclaimed as he walked back into the barracks.

He took no notice of Simmons kicking Griff, not wanting to condone or stop it since it was funny.

Simmons smacked his boot home, right in the groin. 'Dammit! You'd think with all that gum you'd drop a load of goddamn candy!' Simmons turned and nodded to sarge. "Hello sir, Griffs been laying off. Would you like a kick? The candy will come eventually'. *Kick*

"Ow! Hey! Stop! Quit it!" The kicking stopped briefly. "Sarge, before you kick me, just so that you know... Donut ate all your candy with Simmons! Check his bedside table! The one with all the naked pictures!"

"Simmons! You better replace that candy by the end of the day! And you Dirtbag, get this cleaned up" He said.

Simmons ran off to find some more candy, which would be near impossible with Church eating any that came on the shipments from the mainland. He turned and left, leaving Griff hanging in the air.

'Asshole' Simmons muttered, kicking Grif one last time. 'He's lying sir! He ate the candy! He's a human pinata now! Goddammit!' He spun. 'Fuck you man. I'm gonna tell Donut you want a makeover. Dick.' He wandered off, wondering how to replace about 10 pounds of Gummi bears and other assorted snacks. 'Damn Donut'

Grif spun around from the kick until the gum became so tangled up, it snapped.

*THUD!*

"I'll get you Simmons!" he shouted from the floor. Then he spotted a package under one of the bunks. "Oh, bacon-flavoured marshmallows!"

Caboose wandered about the weather station into the red barracks. He spotted the orange guy eating marshmellows.

"MARSHMALLOWS! I want 4!" He said excitingly

Greg was riding on the dropship into the Red section.

"Brr... getting cold. at least its better than that bumsteer last posting..."

the dropship touched down, and Greg hopped off. As it flew away, he took stock of his surroundings.

"Aha, that would be the barracks!" he said, noticing a sign, and walked inside.

he saw a blue figure.

wha? blue!?

"INTRUDER!" he yelled, jumping on the blue...

Caboose fell to the ground as the red attacked him.

"I just wanted a Marshmellow!" he said, starting to cry.

"A Marshmellow? Likely story! you were attempting to spy on us!" yelled Greg. He grabbed the blue man, and flung him out the door, closed and lent on it.

"Err, excuse me? Do your know where the CO here is?" he asked the Orange man

A green hologram flickered to life at a console in the room, the figure of a Spartan appearing.

"The Commanding Officer is currently in the power room" Delta said.

"Oh, neat, you guys got a hologram projector." Greg said, somewhat impressed, "Thanks for the tip."

He walked over to the weapons locker, pulled out an Assualt rifle and a pistol, and clipped them onto his armour.

"Soo... since you're here and all, can you brief me on the situation?" he asked the Hologram.

"Certainly. You are currently on the former United Nations Space Command Arctic Weather and Research Station Z41. Both Red and Blue militaries are using this location as a joint military unit tasked with protecting the station from Covenant attack.

Although the station itself holds no strategic value, it is one of the few staging areas Humanity could use to harvest materials from the Arctic. There is an ample supply of minerals, metals, and even primitive fossil fuels if needed by the war effort" The AI told him.

"So that blue I just kickked out?" Asked Greg with a sinking feeling.

Starting your new tour by throwing someone on your side out into the cold wasn't the best way to introduce yourself.

Stupid life...

"Private Caboose is part of the Station Z41's Military Team" Delta told him.

He stayed at the terminal, waiting to see if the soldier had any more questions.

---------------

Caboose picked himself up, wondering who the new guy was. He spotted the drop ship flying away, and forgot about him.

"Why he is rude" he said to himself.

He then forgot about it, seeing some snow.

"I want some orange juice!" He said, running off

"What the hell is going on?" Tex said as she decloaked out in the snow covered field... right next to the door of an elevator "Open dammit!"

After realizing that even shooting it wasn't going to open the door up, she decided to head out a back to check the top platform for any signs of life. Bringing up her sniper rifle, she zoomed in on a running blue figure, which she immediately recognized as-

"The biggest idiot on blue team that I haven't dated..." Tex muttered to herself "Caboose! Stop running for a moment! Stop dumbass!"

Though she was yelling, he didn't appear to be stopping... or noticing her in the slightest.

"Let's see... how to get him to-" she began, then glanced at the sniper rifle held in her hands "...that'll work."

Bringing up her sniper rifle, she shot a round aimed directly at Cabooses feet. Whether it hit him or not, she didn't care; both would grab his attention... most likely.

Caboose jumped as the round glanced off the metal flooring of the platform. He looked around, spotting tex.

"You know, you could just use the talkamagig instead of the telemascope!" He said over the radio.

-----------------

Delta's sensors picked up the shot, his image flashing away and coming up on a holoterminal near Tex.

"Freelancer, as you know, regulation A19 states that the discharging of firearms on, and around the Weather Station is strictly prohibited in times of non-combat" he told her.

"My way was faster than trying to tell you where I was Caboose." Tex said from over the radio to Caboose "Now open the d-"

Then a holographic AI popped up next to her, chiding her for discharging her weapon.

"Well, tell ya what: You open the damn door next time, and I won't have to 'discharge my weapon' to get someone's attention." Tex replied to the AI "Now, how about you get that door open now?"

“Of course Freelancer” Delta replied.

The door slid open, allowing Tex entry.

---------------------------

Caboose walked over to the door, seeing Tex.

“Where did you go Tex?” He asked.

"I went somewhere that wasn't here... and was much warmer." Tex replied "That's all you need to know, so that's all I'm telling. Now who else is here Caboose? Any old... friends?"

The pelican landed with Church stepping out. He had his rifle in one hand leaning on his shoulder and Andy in the other arm. He immediatly spotted Tex just outside the door and walked over "Don't tell me more problems?".

"Well, lets's see: Caboose is still as brilliant as ever, and your base just told me off for trying to get Caboose's attention with my sniper rifle... nope, no problems; everything's a wonderful state of S.N.A.F.U. around here." was Tex's response, and you'd have to be a complete moron to not catch her sarcasm "So what's the deal with the 'non-combat' crap? I figured you and the reds would still be trying to put together some half-assed plan to try to f**k up your previous plans and team-kill each other?"

Andy listened to Tex as she continued her rant. "Just like old time huh Tex. As I can see, you have produced more testosterone since last time I saw you. That would explain your manly figure. Still only half way done with your sex change still?" Andy said, not really scared of whatever Tex was about to say.

"Oh, great, the bomb's back." Tex muttered, her eye twitching beneath her mirrorshade visor "I still have that detonator you know, and the fact that it's Church who's holding you isn't exactly a deterrent from making me press the button that'll send both of you to hell and back."

"Oh like I havn't heard that threat before. Listen you would never blow me up Tex and you know it. If you did you would never get that 1 year gift certificate from bomb warehouses. Remember, a life time supply of grenades. That is why you made me using some of their parts, and along with your 'personal' devices." Andy said hinting at Tex.

Sarge walked up onto the main deck of the weather station. He had heard the pelican and wondered who had came.

"What in tarnation are you doing here you dastardly blue! Get to your barracks!" He said, trying to boss him around.

Grif stood up after having finished the marshmallows. His back was still covered in gum and he now had a fine layer of bacon-flavouring over his suit.

"Ahhh... a good snack, no reds or blues in sight and plenty of time to do nothing."

He walked into the station's kitchen where he noticed the coffee jug that Simmonds and Sarge drink from.

"Oh man, perfect op-por-tun-i-ty!"

Grif headed to the garage where there was copious amounts of Sarge's red paint.

"Open the damned door Sarge. I don't think you want to be bad mouthing a superior officer today do you?" Church called out. He turned to Tex "It's some sort of experiment here and I've been promoted.".

As Grif was walking to the garage, he heard Church shouting.

"Yeah, right, your in charge!" he shouted back. "You couldn't even beat us before and we had Donut! What makes you think we would fall for a stupid blue trick like that!"

"This does." Church said as he set Andy and the rifle down and took off his helmet and Chest armor. Inside showed a suit with Commander stars on it. Out of his bag he pulled out papers showing record of his promotion. "That enough PRIVATE?".

"I dunno... looks aw-fully fake to me..." Grif exaggerated. "It would be dereliction of my duty if I let an imposter into the base. What will Sarge say about me then? 'Grif, I am disappointed in you, boy. You let an imposter into the base'. Yep, I think I'm going to have to NOT let you in."

Church put his armor back on and lifted his rifle. "Tell you what. Either you let me in now. OR I can put a bullet through your head. I've gotten REALLY good at this. And either way, I win." Church said as he aimed at Griff. "I'm sure sarge wouldn't mind finding a replacement.".

"Not the face! Not the face!" Grif slammed down on the door button and it slid open. He took off before Church could shoot him.

Church laughed and picked up Andy "I love this job." He walked in and found Sarge. "Now I believe you owe your superior officer an apology.".