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Chapter Text

CHAPTER I: Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

During the start of the Human-Covenant War in 2525, a lone human ship was raided. Six months later, open war was declared, starting with the glassing of Harvest, one of the UNSC's agriculture planets. As the war went on 6 years later, Arcadia was placed under attack by the Covenant on February 9, 2531, with its populace evacuated with the help of the UNSC Spirit of Fire and a contingent of SPARTAN II-s named Red Team. With the reported losses of many valuable UNSC assets, the United Earth Government (UEG) wasn't sure if they were ever going to survive the war.

In 2537, Operation: PROMETHEUS saw heavy losses from the recently-activated SPARTAN-III Program, which in itself was a desperate attempt to buy the UNSC time to fight back, and as six months went by, the future looked more grim than ever.

The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) had many plans in secret, and one of them was a contingency plan. With losses of world after world, the option of rebuilding elsewhere was becoming a more favorable choice. On that end, Project: OUROBOROS was put on full steam, with plans ranging from an entire fleet of Phoenix-class colony ships to secret convoys shipping out onto uncharted territory, a flaw was pointed out in terms of feasibility and survivability, as both options had ships that were rather easy to destroy once spotted.

Seeking a ship that's well-protected and can house a huge complement only left a few options, and one of the viable options was the acquisition of former Colonial Military Authority (CMA) assets, specifically from its Navy. The attractive choice was the Punic-class supercarrier, as it was large, heavily armored, and although the UNSC had requisitioned all of them for the charge of defending humanity as the war started, especially the UNSC Trafalgar, there was another that was bound to be scrapped due to battle damages from the Insurrection, but at a rather convenient time, ONI acquired the ship and had something special in mind.

This particular supercarrier was renamed the UNSC Aegina, after one of the Greek naval battles that was rather short, ending with the capture of 70 vessels and Aegina paying tribute to Athens. The damages assessed were rather serviceable, for a covert organization that can pull its funding from God knows where.

The diagnostic results showed this:

(2) CR-01D Series 6 Magnetic Accelerator Cannons (MAC) = minor damages sustained on one

(2) Mark 15 Breakwater naval coilgun batteries = 3 cannons damaged; one on port turret, two on starboard

(100) M42 Archer Missile Pods = 30 pods damaged

(20) M96 Howler Missile pods = 10 pods destroyed

(80) M85 Scythe Anti-aerospace turrets = 50 turrets damaged

(100) M965 Fortress point defense guns = 60 guns damaged

(4) Frigate docks = 3 intact, 1 needing repairs

(20) Hangar bays = 10 damaged and needing repairs

(1) XR1 Boglin Fields: S81/X-DFR Primary fusion drive = heavily damaged

(4) Orphios System Jupiter-1 Secondary fusion drives = 2 damaged, port and starboard

All the sustained damages were from her lone stand against a medium sized fleet of Insurrectionist warships attempting to capture her when she was caught unaware over an unnamed world. Now, the ship was still salvageable on their own terms, as the parts for the fusion drives and the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine were accessible, and by compensating the shipbreaking facility (and telling them to keep quiet), they effectively gained their asset without much hassle. Due to the ship's milspec equipment and overall architecture, acquiring replacements and repairing were going to be quite accessible.

The next part of the plan was making sure the Aegina was able to perform the same capabilities as the Phoenix-class colony ship. Onboard facilities were still mostly military, and large spaces were repurposed for housing UNSC vehicles for rapid deployment. Improved and upgraded factory modules from the Phoenix-class were installed inside, and basically everything the colony ships had, the Aegina was given those. The secondary drives were replaced

What stood out as a great exception, however, were the specific factory modules that could actually produce another slipspace engine, and all this has made the supercarrier into an arkship, one that could save humanity from extinction.

December 15, 2537
ONI Alpha Site
New Mombasa, Kenya
East African Protectorate

A meeting was adjourned by CINCONI Vice Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, who flew in from Sydney, between ONI officers over the approval of greenlighting the UNSC Aegina. Also present were Vice Admiral Stanforth and a particular UNSC Navy Captain, Adrian Vought.

"We are here to discuss the UNSC Aegina, and it seems to me that the result is, in essence, a giant version of a Phoenix-class colony ship, only that it can actually fight back. The Orion-class assault carriers seem to be a more viable option, so what good reason is there to choose a supercarrier with none of those capabilities?" the admiral started off

"The Navy wasn't willing to relinquish one of their Orion-class assault carriers due to the Covenant getting more and more aggressive. A covert shipbreaking facility on Neos Atlantis in the Alcides system was about to scrap the Aegina due to battle damage and time constraints in setting up for the war effort. We were fortunate to acquire a ship for the intended purposes, and one that won't draw unnecessary attention from the public." Lt. Col. Asher clarified

"Fortunate indeed. Now, I admit that the end goal is for the good of the UNSC's survival in this war and is indeed in line with Project: OUROBOROS, but we should be cautious on this decision as we have to face is the possibility of wasting immense resources when the Covenant find out about it and hunt it down, not to add the costs of repairing and adding upgrades. So, any contingency plans?" she started

"I believe I can help clarify details on that, admiral." Lt. Col. Asher spoke up

"Explain."

"The UNSC Aegina is just a prototype for our future possible plans similar to this one. In essence, what we do to the Aegina will only be marginally expensive compared to retrofitting it with experimental technology."

"So you are saying that her equipment is purely milspec?"

"Yes, admiral. Basically, whatever cheap and reliable military equipment we can get rid off, we put onto her. The frigates are considerably old, they will be ventrally docked and can still serve as their own escort, but I suggest at least two Halberd-class destroyers to be our primary escorts since they can absorb substantial damage for their size, and return damage just as effectively, and to add that their maneuverablility will be a valuable advantage."

"A rather logical input, but I shall ask on how prepared the ship is against potential hazards. I know that the Titanium-A battleplate can weather against many of those, but I am talking about situations like phenomena and potential infiltration."

"Well... this may sound far-fetched, but how about Spartans as our premier force onboard?"

"They are rather expensive, and at most, we can only pull around 2, factoring in MJOLNIR maintenance costs and acquisition of spare parts."

"How about the washouts from the SPARTAN-II Program? Are there any available for re-conditioning?" Capt. Vought asked

"First, and foremost, whatever we have discussed in this room does not leave it. Am I clear?" she gave her warning

"Yes, ma'am." the captain replied

"Good. We have several Spartans from the SPARTAN-II Program that have been listed as killed by the augmentations. However, there is one particular candidate from a small group that survived the incident, listed as Akane-119."

"Didn't she suffer extensive damage during failure?" Vice Adm. Stanforth asked

"119 is a rather odd case, in the sense that her injury has not effectively halted her progress, but made her more... eager. Her arm was damaged via unstable muscle growth and rupturing and was deemed to be unusable. But after trying to graft a prosthetic arm as a replacement, it was stated that she requested the arm to house a retractable blade alongside the functioning hand. When we asked why, all she said was that the new arm only made her more confident to jump into the fight, and also requested a compartment to store a dose of Modafinil to be included in her prosthetic arm."

"Wait, why?"

"119 stated that she would like direct access to the dosage when needed, so her arm has a tube that directly connects to her axillary vein, and the pump mechanism activates either when under extreme stress and damage or when she manually activates it."

"So, a potentially psychotic Spartan with a highly weaponized prosthetic sounds rather wild, but if she can do the job, I have no complaints." Stanforth gave his assurance

"In summary, a Spartan that has a disturbingly increased thirst for war is still comparatively a high value asset that I am still hesitant to invest in the Aegina's journey. But I believe that 119 will still be of use through this mission, hence she will be immediately transferred under your command." Parangosky gave another point

"This is quite the generous offer, admiral. I'll be glad to accept her, and I hope you allow me in the matter that I shall provide one of my own in return." Capt. Vought offered

"Who would that be?"

"I know a certain individual, and he was part of the original ORION project."

"I know there were several candidates from that program, so who do you have in mind?"

"Staff Sergeant Michael Hamilton. He supposedly retired after Operation: TREBUCHET's hiatus 12 years ago, but I have a feeling he's gonna want this job, especially with his situation. He once survived several insurgents closing in on him with only a kitchen knife he found lying around during a mission. Talk about dedication and adaptiveness."

"Are you sure he's willing to accept?"

"I'll take care of that, ma'am."

"I suggest immediately, while this meeting is still ongoing."

Nova Scotia
Canada
United Republic of North America

It was winter in Nova Scotia, and SSgt. Hamilton, a 57-year old Caucasian man with a lumberjack's build, would take hikes and mountain climbing, but would sometimes swim in the Gulf of St. Lawrence even in winter, to test himself and keep himself strong, even when he was honorably discharged after the Insurrection. He swam back to shore, and was about to ride home in his HC1500 Truck after changing, but his COM Pad received an anonymous call.

"Hello?"

"Sergeant, this is Capt. Vought."

"Captain? Well, I'll be damned. It's been a long time since we talked."

"Yes, sergeant. Too long. However, I believe I can offer you something that you can't refuse."

"If you're talking about getting me back in the UNSC, then I'm sorry to decline."

"Allow me to finish, but this offer is important to the UNSC. You do know that the war is still going on, right?"

"Yes, but what in the hell can I do? Captain, I'll be frank with you, I've lost too many good men when I was fighting the Innies, and I am not going to go through that again, especially when it was y'all that discharged me. The Covenant's a different story, but if I were still in service, I'd have no complaints fighting them."

"I know what you're going through, but what I can say is that instead of having to lose them, this time, you can directly protect them."

"What are you saying?"

"Further details will be disseminated once we have a secure line."

*HANGS UP*

Then seconds later, an encrypted call came on, requesting him to videocall, prompting him to accept.

ONI Alpha Site

SSgt. Hamilton's face appeared on the meeting room screen, and was surprised to see ONI officers around a table.

"Greetings, Staff Sergeant. This is Vice Admiral Parangosky, and I am requesting your cooperation."

"Good day, ma'am, but may I ask on what's the occasion?

"You have been handpicked for a particular mission, sergeant. One that would benefit from your skills and experience on the battlefield. Knowing that you were an ex-ORION operative, I take you have more than a fair share of experiences."

"Yes, I do. Now, what's in this for me?"

"I believe you won't be able to refuse the offer of 1,000,000 credits to be directly deposited in your pension."

"Wait, what? That much?"

"Tell me, have you been around your wife recently?"

"Well, I can say I haven't.."

"You wish to stay dead? I believe you were listed as MIA, and you seem to be making good use of it."

"Look, ma'am, that part of my life I won't bother much talking about, and if it is true, I'll gladly do anything to make sure my family is well off even long after I'm gone. In their eyes, I'm already gone anyway. Twelve years since TREBUCHET, and I stayed low for the UNSC. Being an ORION carries great weight, especially ever since Far Isle and Callisto. You and I both know we aren't clean of anything, but I am willing to accept since I got nothing else to go for."

"A wise decision, sergeant. We will bring you on-site for further dissemination of your mission. Head to Pictou Island, and we will pick you up there. You have 30 minutes to pack up."

"Yes, ma'am."

After Admiral Parangosky cut off the transmission, she was relieved that the ex-ORION operative accepted after much consideration.

"So, admiral, what are we going to do about his setup? I wouldn't expect him to wear just baseline Marine BDU Armor. He's practically a SPARTAN-I, and I wish he'd been given better equipment." Capt. Vought asked

"Very well. This will require an additional investment of resources too valuable to lose. But if it will give humanity a fighting chance, then so be it. I will approve 119's MJOLNIR armor for transfer onboard the Aegina, alongside replacement parts just in case, with equipment and a facility dedicated for her. For your ORION partner, I will reserve him a special SPI-related prototype."

"What does the prototype aim to do?"

"This SPI will be called the MIRAGE. It is expected to meet the baseline requirements of the standard MJOLNIR armor at a fraction of the price, but it won't be as robust as the latter. It is still capable of stealth to a similar degree as the original SPI, which your contact might like very much. He will have partially-enhanced strength, and is more than what the mainline SPI series could offer, but he won't be as strong as a SPARTAN-II or a III. We took a little inspiration after Lt. Ambrose's idea of the SPI Mark II for Beta Company."

"That'll help convince him. Now, do we tell him of the true nature of this mission?"

"I will handle that myself, captain. Now, if nothing else, he should be here within an hour and thirty minutes."

HC1500 Truck
SSgt. Hamilton

"Jesus on a mongoose... what the fuck did I just get myself into? Refusing the CINCONI herself would've been a dumb-ass move. Damnit, Adrian, why in the hell did you choose me out of all people..." he muttered to himself, in a mix of confusion and despair

He searched the glove box for anything that could calm him down, but a particular photograph dropped itself on the car's floor. He picked it up, and saw his younger self in ORION armor with Adrian Vought, who was still a Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG). Remembering PROJECT: KALEIDOSCOPE, he thought that was going to be his big break, but was called for testing the ORION armor's leg components on the surface of Mars. Looking at the armor, it said 029, remembering his candidate number.

He and Vought were close, as they had each other's backs during the early stages of the Insurrection, and that got him thinking on why he was chosen. He would get his answer later, and headed to Pictou Island as instructed.

Pictou Island

Being given further instructions to head to a more remote part of the island, a Razor-class prowler lay within the evergreen scenery, and the ex-ORION soldier was escorted onboard by two ONI agents that waited for him. As the ship ascended, it activated its stealth mode, and proceeded to head back to ONI Alpha site in New Mombasa, all the way across the Atlantic. As the trip carried on, he noticed that an entire ODST platoon of 40 was in its troop bay. He was wondering on why there was this much onboard, and on what the mission truly was. He decided to keep quiet to himself, knowing how the ONI agents, or "Spooks" as he also called them, operated when it came to covert operations, meaning it was next to useless in asking them as they will most definitely keep shut.

ONI Alpha Site
New Mombasa, Kenya
East African Protectorate

As the prowler landed in the courtyard, SSgt. Hamilton was then led to the building, and straight to the door of the meeting room. As he entered, he saw his old friend. He asked to head to the restroom with his old friend for a while.

VOUGHT & HAMILTON

"Michael. It's been a while since we talked in person."

"Adrian. Christ, it's been years since we talked, and now ONI personally gets me to come here. Why in the hell did you even pick me? Do you know how I've been trying to pull through ever since I got discharged? Especially when the UNSC still decided to list me as MIA even though I came back alive much later, and my wife still believes I'm missing. I bet they took advantage of that initial error and basically told me that I should stay dead."

"Then why didn't you try to visit her?"

"She really thought I was dead. I tried to see her two years later after ONI stuck me on duty in Arcadia back in 2532 trying to help oversee the recolonization. Now I saw her with her new boyfriend, and I really don't blame her, especially when the Marine Corps sends two jarheads to your house and tells your wife that you went missing fighting the insurgents, and with the Covenant starting to hunt down human colonies, that pretty much slimmed down her hopes that I was alive. With everything I've gone through, I decided it wasn't worth the slog and disrupting her newfound balance. My kids are all grown up anyway, so there's nothing left for me.

"Michael, I-"

"Look, even if I tried to get back to her, what in the hell could I offer? I can't get a job since they'd get suspicious on how this 50-plus years old scumbag looks like he's 30. I tried getting a job and was rejected because of that. My pension got siphoned off to her for 10 years just so my kids could live just in case I was gone. Now, I really am gone."

"So you decided to disappear out of the fear of inadequacy? What happened to you?"

"I lost the chance to really be a father to my family ever since I got signed up to ORION. After TREBUCHET, it just seemed that war was always gonna follow me. So, to make sure my family was able to go on without me, I signed an agreement to directly give my wife access to my pension."

"You can just tell me that you're afraid that once you go home, there might not be a home for you. I know you have demons and skeletons in your closet, and that you don't want to bring your family into it. I will say this, but your fear was founded on good intentions, then you lost your way and never tried to go back."

"Alright, you got me. Now, why did you pick me?"

"I picked you to save you. I knew there was nothing else that could convince you to move forward in life. Besides, there's nobody else that I could trust but you."

"Adrian, what is this really about?"

"You'll understand once the vice admiral debriefs us. I'm under strict orders not to reveal anything due to protocol. Come on, let's go."

ONI Meeting Room

"Ah, sergeant, glad to have you here." Vice Adm. Parangosky greeted

"With all due respect, ma'am, I wish to know what this is all about." SSgt. Hamilton spoke up

"You will in a moment. Now, Capt. Vought here brought you for reasons I do not care much about, but I believe you will be of great aid. To cut to the chase, ONI is acting under the goal of Project: OUROBOROS, and this is a mission to ensure that humanity would survive even if the Covenant succeeds in destroying the Inner Colonies." the admiral said

"So, you're preparing to find another world to colonize?"

"Yes. Before I enter the one million credits in your pension, I want to make sure that you are cooperating with this plan."

"I basically agreed to it the moment I decided to show up for your guys back in Nova Scotia. So yes."

"Good. Our first step before carrying out this plan is to get stocked up in Onyx within the Zeta Doradus system before we finally decide to leave and head out to uncharted space."

"So, what are we gonna ride out of the Milky Way? I suppose it's something like a colony ship like the Spirit of Fire, or if I don't know any better, an Orion-class assault carrier because last I heard, those had manufacturing capabilities."

"You are not far from the answer, sergeant. In fact, I will delight myself in telling you. Have you ever been on a Punic-class supercarrier?"

"Wait, are you saying that's going to be our ride? I'm no naval architect, but last time I was in one, they didn't have the capability to colonize."

"You are technically correct. Hence, a few modifications were made to ensure it would have the same capabilities as those aforementioned ships."

"A giant lifeboat is what it is, am I right? I've gotta say, getting your hands on one without the Navy trying to cook you up for potentially weakening their arsenal by taking a command ship is in itself a commendable feat. Now, I'll ask how y'all are going to recoup the costs just in case the ship gets fried by Covvie warships."

"The Aegina is rather old, and her equipment was selected to be the same as her specifications, but we managed to throw in some that aren't usually standard in her class. Cheap, but reliable and easily serviceable, which I believe would benefit the journey just in case the world to be settled in is a harsh backwater. After all, the factory modules to be installed onboard can't produce higher-end technology by themselves."

"That's the military for you. If it works, it works, even if it's cheap and total shit. Especially when the world you'll go to can be an absolute shithole that could damage expensive tech." he thought to himself

"Also, the civilian populace that will be introduced onboard will be of a limited number, around 6,000 should do. They are largely from colony worlds destroyed by the Covenant's glassing efforts, and will be picked up in Onyx as the final detour before your journey."

"Would that include the Outer Colonies? Ma'am, there will be a risk of Insurrectionists amongst the 6,000 that got chosen."

"All the better that we have someone like you with the right experience onboard to sniff them out if that is the case."

"Don't you have anything or anybody else besides me to safekeep the ship from infiltrators?"

"Actually, you will be part of a small fireteam of 2, including you. There is one Spartan in the team, two if you would like to be considered as one since the ORION program has been effectively redubbed as the SPARTAN-I Program."

"This makes me sound really old. So, a Spartan fireteam? You all made sure of this. So, where are we headed after Onyx?"

"That is the part where it is up to the captain. The instructions are to search for a semi-distant system that the Covenant will need time to find. To further enact the Cole Protocol, once you leave the Zeta Doradus system, all navigational data onboard will be wiped. We will not expect to hear from you for quite a long time. After all, this war might take longer than expected."

"About those credits, will you include a personal note saying that I saved up over the years? That'll help reassure my wife. Please try to make sure that I am truly dead in her eyes, so that she won't have to worry anymore. I know you guys are capable of that."

"Granted. From here on out, you now are officially reinstated as your rank upon discharge. Welcome back to the UNSC, Staff Sergeant. Oh, one more thing, you will have a pleasant surprise later on. Please follow Capt. Vought. The rest of the details will be given to you later on. If nothing else, I have other matters to attend to."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"So, Michael, I mean sergeant, how did you take all of that?" the captain talked again

"Look, Adrian, you don't have to call me by my rank when it's one-on-one and not in front of the other military personnel. We had each other's backs, and you still do. So, please ease up a little when we can, alright?"

"Heh, okay then. Follow me to the armory."

ONI Alpha Site Armory

Spartan-119 was in the armory after getting geared up in her Mark IV MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. Akane was checking her weaponized prosthetic arm if it functioned properly, along with the retractable arm blade made of Vanadium-alloyed Titanium-50. Her Modafinil reservoir, in the form of an inert canister that could be inserted into a port, was checked to be fine. The ex-ORION and the Aegina's captain walked in.

"Oh, it seems the Spartan is here too. Michael, meet 119."

Akane only gave a salute, then went back to her stoic posture

"Alright, enough about other things. I brought you here because the vice admiral wanted you to be a tester for a certain armor."

"Wait, what? I'm getting new gear? I'll be damned. It's been a while since I wore armor, especially the ORION one."

A small crew of technicians handed him the MIRAGE SPI (Semi-Powered Infiltration) Prototype armor and the way it felt when they put it on him flooded him with memories of his younger years when he was fighting the Insurrection. The helmet finally came on, and it showed him the HUD. He moved around and felt the armor was quite reactive to him.

"What the hell is this? It feels kinda amazing, not gonna lie."

"The Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor was originally made for the SPARTAN-III program as a cheaper alternative than MJOLNIR. This particular armor is ONI's newest prototype from the line, the MIRAGE. As the vice admiral told me, it's made to meet the basic requirements of MJOLNIR armor but at a fraction of the price. Although you won't have as much strength as 119 here. It is also equipped with the latest HUD software, the Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance. In short, the VISR."

"So what, this is baby MJOLNIR? I've heard of the MJOLNIR killing unaugmented users, but at least I have some enhancements. Better something than nothing. Wait a second, did you say SPARTAN-III? They made another one?" SSgt. Hamilton remarked on its capability

"Yes, they did. It was spearheaded by Col. James Ackerson."

"Oh, God. After the hot mess surrounding Halsey's SPARTAN-II Program, they decided to make another one, and this time, under a real asshole."

Then he looked at SPARTAN-II Akane-119 and saw her prosthetic arm. The experienced former ORION operative was able to notice the presence of the hidden blade and noticed a canister that looked like it would directly connect to her veins. Just these two made him infer that she was at least adept and very attuned to close-quarters combat.

"Ey, um, 119, is it alright if you showed me the blade in that arm of yours?" he asked

Akane-119 looked at the others present in the room, and after a few seconds, she extended the titanium-alloy blade, revealing it to be dagger-shaped but more akin to a Roman gladius in terms of taper and length, and retracted it. SSgt. Hamilton then whistled as a form of conveying his impressed reaction and decided to ask one more thing.

"So, since we're getting to know each other, and this mission is pretty much secret, I think it's safe for you to show your face to me. Makes me feel more comfortable knowing what you look like. Would it be fine?"

119 removed her helmet, revealing her face.

Akane-119 (born Akane Kimura), standing at the height of 7 feet, had the look of a rather youthful Japanese woman. Her jet-black hair styled into a textured bob haircut contrasted her pale complexion. Her looks, accompanied by her dark, almond-shaped eyes with her button nose and heart-shaped face, only served to belie her ruthless nature and conditioning as a SPARTAN-II. Her additional time under ONI's guidance only enhanced her performance, along with her demeanor that would be very suited to a ninja, or as they were called in Ancient Japan, shinobi.

Michael Hamilton, candidate No. 029, stood at a modest height of 5'10", in comparison to her.

"Well, damn, now I really look old, and diminutive compared to you. So, I'm Michael Hamilton, former ORION operative number 029. Oh, I almost forgot, what's your name, 119?"

"Petty Officer First Class Akane-119 of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, sir!" she saluted in a crisp military fashion

"I'm glad we got to know each other. So, do any of you have any idea on what's next?"

"We'll be hitching a ride in the same prowler that brought you here. We better pack up, as this is going to be a one-way trip from now on."

"Alright. I hope the credits reached my wife. So, let's go. I know this may be a little cheesy, but I wanna be classified as a SPARTAN-I from now on. I know it's still technically ORION, but I like the new name much better. I'm ready whenever you are."

As they all exited the building to the prowler, the ONI ship activated its cloaking system and exited the atmosphere. Once it did, it made a slipspace jump straight into the darkness.

Austin
Texas
United Republic of North America

Tess Hamilton was visited by two UNSC Marine personnel later that night at the doorstep of her new home. Her boyfriend, Matt, also wondered what was going on. She was given a letter which told her that in her husband's pension was 1 million credits, stating that Michael Hamilton was officially pronounced deceased effective immediately, and that in the envelope were photographs of his deceased body complete with scars. It also stated that he was to be cremated in a will he made during his service, and to send his ashes home. When she asked why that much, it was said that her husband saved up over his years and placed it in a different account, and the rest of the money was supplemented by the UEG itself as a form of respect to him.

They explained that the body was found just recently, and further expounded that it took some time to find it long after when the Covenant attacked Harvest and turned the planet's atmosphere into a tundra after they glassed it, explaining his thawed-out look. This solidified her assumptions, finally moving on that her husband was truly dead. The letter lastly stated that the credits were for her and her alone to live off of.

As the personnel left, she broke down and cried with the knowledge that he was truly gone, with Matt attempting to comfort her.

From her eyes fell out tears, tears that landed onto the photographs of his "deceased" body. As she looked out the window, she gazed into the stars, wishing her husband a peaceful journey to Heaven.

Back in ONI Alpha Site...

"Ma'am, with everything that's happened, do you think it's worth it?"

"I've killed several birds with one stone. A chance for humanity to re-establish itself outside of the Covenant's reach has been increased with the supercarrier as the ship for the job. On the other hand, I have basically gotten rid of many assets getting too costly and old to maintain and use for war. That former ORION was a risk for secrets spilling out, as the program itself didn't exactly produce desirable results, and his depressed behavior was already a red flag. With Capt. Vought out of the picture, hopefully for a long time, his successor will hopefully be more promising."

"How about the Aegina? Was she a military asset worth sending away?"

"The Aegina was a supercarrier too damaged and expensive to keep and reinstate in the fleet. Sending her away is a mercy, and would serve a better purpose as a lifeboat instead of sending a colony ship that wouldn't survive a small battle group of Covenant or Insurrectionists. The vehicles and equipment for the Marine Corps and Army are cheap to replace, and many of them to be sent away have underlying issues that they should be able to manage on their own."

"The manpower to be stationed onboard, what of them?"

"As for the military personnel, a considerable portion of them have records of misconduct worthy of being demoted to the Wet Fleet, and them having use as shipboard reinforcements is an adequate compensation for a partial loss of available manpower. The rest have a large percentage of retrainees who signed up as a way to compensate for their failures. I think it's safe to say I have made some rather fine results getting rid of undesirable assets and giving them a new purpose."

"Indeed..."

"But with every purpose, it must be intently watched to ensure its success..."

ONE YEAR LATER, 2538

Special Assembly Plant Concord
Oort Cloud
Sol System

The assembly plant where the Aegina was secretly towed to from Neos Atlantis in the Alcides system, had her fully repaired and upgraded. SSgt. Hamilton, with Akane-119, looked at the ship and were wondering if the time to go and find a new home has come. Just like the workers there, they were subjected to the same secrecy concerning shipbuilding. To pass the time, every military personnel involved trained for one year inside the ship's undamaged sections and alternated with a different section everytime. It also served the double purpose of being familiar with the ship by the time deployment was going to happen.

Michael had gotten completely used to his MIRAGE SPI Armor, and was able to use it more effectively, feeling that it was reminiscent of old times when he tested the ORION armor. As a little present, they gave him two chemical injections that enhanced his eyesight and metabolism, since any more would compromise his already-augmented body courtesy of Project: ORION.

Akane was in the process of learning to loosen up a bit when she was around Michael, and that was a lesson he wanted to teach her, and in a way it was his caring parental nature that came out and reached for her. He knew that such feelings weren't typically encouraged, especially around Spartans, but he didn't give a damn, as he knew what it was like to go through an experimental government program meant to create supersoldiers, and wanted to give her a sense of normalcy and the dignity of being treated as a human being instead of a military asset. By that time, Akane's hairstyle was now longer but with bangs and was called a Hime cut.

"Akane, how's your training going?" he asked her

Akane just gave a tiny nod, and resumed to her near-robotic stance.

"Girl, you gotta to learn how to smile and talk more sometime. We're going to be working with civilians, and it'll help if they can actually approach you. I know you're just that way cuz of the SPARTAN program, but we all have the opportunity to grow. I get that there may be an Innie amongst them, but you don't have to be cold and distant to them, you'll effectively scare them and if you put too much fear into them, they will start to not trust you."

"Sir, why are you telling me this?"

"Remember, you can call me Michael when it's just us and the captain. Look, I'm telling you because one, you're still young, Spartan or not. Your body is still able to develop even with those suppressors implanted in there. I get that Mendez beat the training deep into your head, but he never said it wasn't allowed to be emotional to other people. So, let's try again. Akane."

"Michael."

"I was making some burritos back in the kitchen for lunch. Want one?" he handed her one wrapped in foil

The SPARTAN-II accepted the burrito, curious on what it was, before proceeding to take a bite. She found it rather enjoyable, and a welcome change for her tastebuds from the MRE that was standard issue by the Navy. Her indoctrination started to kick in, but the senior SPARTAN-I sensed it, and tried to reassure her.

"Nobody's judging you if you wanna enjoy your food. You don't have to be so stoic at all."

Akane looked at him in a mix of struggle and doubt

"Oh, come on, I know you wanna smile cuz it tastes good..."

Akane gave into her basic human instincts even for only a brief moment, and smiled due to the burrito's wonderful taste and the teasing from Michael.

"See? That wasn't so hard now, wasn't it?"

The SPARTAN-II then gave a faint hint of melancholy even when the indoctrination was effective in instilling a duty-first mindset. As always, the SPARTAN-I was there to help.

"Hey, it's not too late to have a life. You're still young, and if what I read was correct, you're just 27 years old. You've got a lot of time to live. Between you and me, I lost my parents to the Hydra System Massacres. I was living in the streets when I was in my teens, until a UNSC recruiter found me. Real funny that the same organization that sent my parents off to war had found me. You can still have a life, especially when we'll be heading off to a new world to colonize. There's your chance, and don't be afraid to take it. You don't need to stop being a Spartan to have a life, because you still can while being one."

She about his words, and deep in her mind, they knew that they could never shake off their Spartan indoctrination, and learning to live a life outside of it was still new territory to her, but she wasn't going at it alone, as the Staff Sergeant made it his job to guide her in that path of life.

"Okay, come on. We best head to the briefing room."

As everyone headed to the aforementioned room, the plans were already put in place. They were going to make a slipspace jump straight to Onyx, where they would load up their final remaining cargo and equipment, and to pick up the civilians that signed up for the exodus program a year ago. They were largely screened for potential ties to Insurrectionists, and were largely found to be clear, but the SSgt., now codenamed as SPARTAN-X29 for security purposes against potential infiltrators, was there to provide his insight and experience in rooting out those that could be sleeper agents. Akane-119 served as the two-man fireteam's heavy reinforcement, which would further deter potential hostiles from making an attempt onboard, if any.

(INCOMING: A shitload of images)

The Cole Protocol was to be upheld at all times, and strictly enforced by Capt. Vought. To help them in the journey, a smart AI straight from ONI, named Alessandra, was installed onboard the UNSC Aegina. She would autoregulate many routines that would require extensive manpower, which left the engineers mostly on maintenance duties for the cryotubes and factory modules.

Speaking of maintenance, many of the war vehicles including aircraft were discovered to have issues but were fixed as the year went on. As protection against enemy fighters, antiquated S-14 Baselards were given small upgrades by the crew to increase their chances of survival, many of them being dissatisified with problematic second-hand vehicles sent their way. F-29 Nandao Strike Fighters and GA-TL1 Longswords (C712 variant) supplemented the main fighter group, but their numbers were rather small.

Infantry equipment was a mix of Navy and Marine MA5B & MA5C Assault Rifles, BR55, and BR55HB Battle Rifles alongside the Army MA37 ARs and M392 DMRs. The M6G and M6G2 Magnum sidearms were respectively used by the Marines and Army. The SRS99-AM Sniper Rifle and M41 SPNKr Rocket Launcher were used by every branch onboard. For special forces units such as the ODSTs, and vehicle crews confined in tight spaces, the M7 and M7S Submachine Guns were available as an option, and as a special exception, a whole stock of M6C SOCOM sidearms was delivered for use by the ODST. For shipboarding and urban environments, two other options introduced were the Navy M90 CAWS Shotgun and the Army M45E Tactical Shotgun, both deadly close-quarter weapons in their own right.

Heavy vehicles were the M808B Scorpion, M650 Mastodon, the SP42 Cobra, and the M9 Wolverine. Under ONI's supervision, many of these were CMA-era, meaning they were old. Warthogs of different variants were also onboard, but as if a miracle came down, a dozen M850 Grizzly Tanks made it on the list, although these were also old. Light vehicles included the M274 Mongoose, and its armed variant, the Gungoose.

Navy and Marine AV-14 Hornets alongside Army UH-144 Falcons were the main atmospheric aircraft. Pelicans were standard for all branches, but one D80 Condor was put onboard, as the UNSC slowly wanted to get rid of them due to their prohibitively expensive maintenance costs, largely in part due to the slipspace drive that had a rather short lifespan. The D96-TCE Albatross would serve as the main cargo transport of the Aegina due to its rugged nature, in place of the smaller and more recent D82-EST Darter. For more higher-tonnage cargo, the D20 Heron was to be used.

Adding more to the cargo was an entire stock of old 40 Troop Pod attachments for the Pelicans which was a way for ONI to free up space from the main airfields and hangars back in Sol, and to skimp out on including additional dropships onboard.

For rapid deployment by ODST forces, the M8823 SOEIV Drop Pod was chosen, and was a rather aged design. Adding salt to the wound, older drop pods were at risk of falling apart mid-drop, which only added to the fear and stress. Modifications on the ventral side of the carrier, besides additional launch bays for the SOEIV drop pods, included extra docking entrances for the smaller Albatross dropships to increase deployment and resource transporting speed.

All the military personnel, including the enlisted, officers, and engineers joked that the UNSC Aegina was more befitting to be called a gigantic trash barge due to the majority of the equipment onboard being old, having issues, and the crew at their mercy to fix and maintain, and many of them even acknowledged that they themselves had shitty personalities and carried misconduct records, adding to the dark humor. As the year went on, the differing branches learned to live and interact with each other, as majority of the spaces were shared, which led to interesting results.

Army hanging out with Navy, Marines hanging out with Air Force, etc. and even the ODSTs learned to lighten up despite their hardcore culture. They all would crack jokes with each other, play games with each other, and all that, as they knew it would suck making enemies out of each other, since this journey would really take a long ass time. Slipspace drive components were pre-assembled for rapid replacement of damaged drives in an emergency. A few drives were partially built to hasten assembly in a pinch.

After hours of preparation and loading, the UNSC Aegina would finally leave the Milky Way forever after it makes its last stop in Onyx in the Zeta Doradus system.

COVENANT SPACE

Sublime Transcendence
Fringes of Covenant Space
Flagship of the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose

Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree was contacted by Ord Casto, the Prophet of Truth, and immediately hailed the transmission.

"Imperial Admiral. I have a task for the Combined Fleet of Religious Purpose. It is a rather important one."

"What is the mission, hierarch?"

"One of the surveillance drones near the supply station next to the system where Saepon'kal resides has reported enemy movement, and it seems to be heading out of our space and theirs as well. Dispatch them immediately."

The imaging from the surveillance drones showed the outline of the Punic-class supercarrier being escorted by two Halberd-class light destroyers.

"It will be done, hierarch."

Scutum-Centaurus Arm
Salia system
Close to Saepon'kal (Joyous Exultation)

The Unrelenting Absolution, A Kewu-pattern battleship under the command of shipmaster Ivu 'Zodamee, was on the prowl, and was on the fringe of Covenant-controlled space. A Ruma-pattern light carrier named the Clarity of Contrition, under the command of Shipmistress Ceia 'Vavamee, was its partner. Escorting both was a pair of Ceudar-pattern heavy corvettes named the Sacred Resolve and the Penitent Prayer, and all four were part of the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose under the command of Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, tasked to scout the fringes of Covenant space, but in truth, were sent away by the Hierarchs due to his position being capable of challenging theirs, thus their solution was to practically exile him but with sacred duty plastered on as a label.

(in order: Kewu-pattern battleship, Ruma-pattern light carrier, Ceudar-pattern heavy corvette)

The Imperial Admiral tasked the battleship and the light carrier to patrol the space just outside the 51 Pegasi system, as the former was unconventionally built to counter other Covenant ships, with the light carrier acting as support by virtue of its air wing. The system was home to a Covenant starship fuel refinery and staging station built on the moon of Pegasi Delta, with the Kewu-pattern being perfect to police that location as it can destroy other Covenant ships and be built to withstand their damage, in case of rebellion or insurrection occurring on that world. Strangely, that particular battleship was granted a Phar-pattern excavator beam, which was typically located on Varric-pattern heavy cruisers, to extend its lethality, requiring a retrofit with a slightly more capable powerplant.

The Ruma-pattern was no slouch in terms of protection as it had unusually thick armor of over 30 meters, which was unorthodox for its classification. In addition, several were added to the Imperial Admiral's fleet by the Hierarchs, as it was in many cases, unwanted by a sizeable number of other shipmasters since it made for a rather bad compromise due to a considerably reduced capacity for starfighters and ground troops than a Syfon or Kerel-pattern assault carrier, and while more heavily armored, frontline combat was not its main role and its quality of life onboard was subpar in comparison to the latter due to poor upkeep and lack of extensive automation, explaining the disproportionately-large percentage of Huragoks onboard.

Essentially, it was a starter ship for new shipmasters and pilots, who would jump ship to better warships if given the chance, which further added to the workload in terms of maintaining morale. The Contrition's shipmaster, or shipmistress, in this case, was a truly special case.

Female Sangheili were typically barred from Covenant or even Sanghelios's military service based on the established gender norms. Back on Sanghelios, she was deemed to be unfitting of a female sangheili due to her higher-than-average aptitude for combat and warfare, along with her mannerisms that are typically aligned with the males. Ceia 'Vavamee was close to social excommunication due to her frequent and rather aggressive lobbying for recruitment into the Covenant military.

To quell further incidents, the Prophet of Mercy chose to personally intervene and declare that she would be at his service, which saved her keep the shame they endured from the repercussions of her rebellious actions. However, Mercy only chose to do so to prevent political unrest on Sanghelios concerning the House of 'Vavam. The High Council was not entirely pleased by those turn of events, as they felt that a female of their species was inadequate and not compatible with military service. Ceia 'Vavamee, once again, defied the odds when she rose up the ranks, garnering the respect of many other races under her command, but the overwhelming majority of her kind still did not accept her as a commanding officer.

Having proven her merit, she chose to undergo training from the Special Warfare Group and was able to attain the rank of a Ranger, becoming highly competent in low and zero-gravity environments and boarding enemy warships and stations.

Sangheili Rangers in Tlaipoz-pattern exo harness

Ultimately, she garnered the attention of the Imperial Admiral, placing her under his command. When the latter was going to be sent to the fringes of Covenant space, her being already a part of his fleet meant that she too had to go. During her time there, she was given command of the Clarity of Contrition, and even when she was a shipmistress, she still chose to don her Ranger harness but had a gold trim added to help the crew distinguish her from the other Rangers onboard. The choice was made out of preparedness, in case there would be a hull breach that could kill unprepared crew, and with the armor, she was confident that she would survive even the destruction of the ship she was on, but it would ultimately violate the mantra of a captain, or shipmistress in this case, of going down with their ship.

Her years of service in the Covenant military strafed with hardship and discrimination led her to adopt a pragmatic mindset, and she thought of being more useful by surviving instead of going down with the ship. Currently, she was starting to grow bored of the mundane routine, and the unnecessarily increased workload due to some crew leaving, and hoped for something else. The replacement of some Unggoy with Yanme'e and Jiralhanae only made it more challenging, as the former had a competitive rivalry with the Huragok in terms of engineering, and the latter generally had some disdain towards her species.

A transmission from the Imperial Admiral had reached the Unrelenting Absolution, requesting its cooperation.

"I have a task for you, shipmaster. I have received a report from High Charity concerning the human forces." the Imperial Admiral started off

Both of Ivu 'Zodamee's hearts beat in eager anticipation, as he wanted to be freed of the mundane task of patrolling, and the chance to exterminate human combatants and warships lay right in front of him.

"A large human warship escorted by a battle group was spotted by one of the surveillance drones next to the system where you are in, and close to where the resupplying station resides. Eliminate it, and do not let any of them get away. Leave none surviving."

"Yes, Imperial Admiral!"

As the transmission cut itself off, Ivu 'Zodamee then contacted the Clarity of Contrition, Sacred Resolve, and Penitent Prayer. Their commanding officers answered the call, wondering what was going on.

"I have just received an order from High Charity through the Imperial Admiral. We are to intercept a human warship escorted by a small force and eliminate them. The coordinates are close to the resupply station just adjacent to the system where Saepon'kal is. We will head out in a minute."

Shipmistress 'Vavamee checked her complement to see if all were ready for combat. The 200 Morsam-pattern Seraphs, the 100 Bkowe'nei-pattern Vampires, the 50 Is'belox-pattern and 50 Oghal-pattern Banshees were all prepped for combat, with Dextro Xur-pattern Spirits and Ru'swum-pattern Phantoms for additional support. The heavy corvettes had their share of Elsedda-pattern Banshees. The light carrier's ground craft included Ruwaa-pattern Shadows, Karo'etba-pattern Ghosts, Muz-pattern Wraiths, and Wuzum-pattern Spectres, with a small number of Rizvum-pattern Revenants. A rare addition to the complement was the Haruvr-pattern aerial artillery, dubbed the Wight by some UNSC troops who witnessed it firsthand. It was essentially a flying Wraith, but its design was deemed to be a waste of resources as it was too vulnerable on the underside and was rather slow. Thus, it was only rarely used, but a few were thrown into the Imperial Admiral's care as a form of disposal.

For the infantry, their weapons in all the ships were standardized to a set. The Nakata'vho-pattern plasma repeater, Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle, Eos'Mak-pattern plasma pistol, Nahle'hax-pattern needler, the Mosa-pattern carbine, and the Gadulo-pattern needle rifle. Heavy armaments include the Jovokada Workshop Type-25B Brute shot, Kopasa'mada-pattern plasma launcher, Korva-pattern fuel rod gun, and the Elo'Nakada-pattern concussion rifle. Last, but not the least, melee weapons were mostly reserved for high-ranking individuals, thus the Akelus Workshop gravity hammer and the Pelosus-pattern energy sword were in stock, with a few unnamed variants put onboard as reserve.

With all three commanders signaling their readiness after checking their status, the four Covenant warships in their sleek, fluid, organic grace, entered slipspace like sharks swimming right into the dark waters of space.

Uncharted Space
100 Light Years from Zeta Doradus

The journey searching for a new planet to at least colonize began the moment they left Onyx. The Aegina's captain had chosen to do tidbits of slipspace jumping to not get lost, as the Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drive was rather crude in comparison to the Covenant's borer drives. As per the implementation of the Cole Protocol, effective 2535 as standing orders by the UNSC, the supercarrier-arkship would then have to make random jumps to unknown locations, and it was transmitted shipwide as standard procedure.

The ship's effective complement consisted of:

MILITARY PERSONNEL

1 Fireteam = SPARTAN-II 119, and SPARTAN-I 029 (officially SPARTAN-X29)
1 Battalion = 1000 ODSTs (3 Rifle Companies, 1 Weapons Company, 1 Headquarters and Service Company)
1 Brigade = 5,000 Marines
1 Regiment = 3,000 Army Soldiers
1 Wing = 900 Airmen

4,000 Navy personnel (Engineers, Technicians, Specialists, etc.)

CIVILIAN

5 Research Teams = 100 scientists per team
6,000 Civilians from glassed colonies

VEHICLES

30 M808B Scorpion Tanks
12 M850 Grizzly Tanks
30 SP42 Cobra Tanks
30 M9 Wolverine Anti-air Tanks
30 M274 Mongoose Gungoose
25 M650 Mastodon APCs
50 M12 LRV Warthogs
150 S-12 Baselards
40 D77-TC Pelicans (included with 40 Troop Pod attachments in storage as an option)
40 AV-14 Hornets
30 UH-144 Falcons
30 D96-TCE Albatross Dropships
6 D20 Heron Dropships

600 M8823 SOEIV (Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle) Drop Pods

ADDITIONAL REINFORCEMENTS:

4 Paris-class heavy frigates (attached to ventral docks)
2 Halberd-class light destroyers (serving as escort)
32 F-29 Nandao Strike Fighters (from the Halberd-class destroyers replacing Marine complement)
24 GA-TL1 Longswords (C712 variant)

To answer the question of sustenance, the UNSC was able to balance the budget by formulating a mix of food supplies: from those that would expire next week, gradually working up to the next months expiry, to one year, then five, and at maximum, 10 years expiry. The supercarrier's large size had several compartments repurposed or temporarily utilized to store perishables. To make sure that none was wasted, the near-expiring foodstuffs were first to be consumed, and as for cryosleep, additional pods were added which would partially explain the reduced military complement to make up space, the others such as the factory modules taking up more space.

For hygiene, the same expiration date formula applied to the foodstuffs were also applied to the hygiene supplies. As for water, a considerably upgraded filtration system was installed to help recycle water, which had a mix of osmotic and mechanical filtration, along with sterilizing techniques such as UV, temperature, and chemical treatment. Additional water and minerals would be expected to be harvested from other planets or asteroids encountered along the way.

The slipspace drives that were partialy pre-assembled were in the process of undergoing maintenance checks, especially the temperamental models meant for the Condor. Every ship that had a drive underwent routine inspection to ensure that nothing happens to them or theirs.

All was well and life onboard was rather leisurely for the past few days.

*ALARMS BLARING*

"Enemy contact! Covenant battle group approaching! Red alert! All hands to battle stations! Get those guns online!" Capt. Vought commanded over the comms

Every able military personnel immediately headed to either the fire control systems, the guns, or the airwing to man the Baselards. As for the four frigates, they detached from the ventral side of the supercarrier, and the two Halberd destroyers joined in on the fight, with the former deploying the Longswords they had in their launch bays and the latter deploying its two F-29 Nandao squadrons. Every gun while the Super MACs charged were firing at the battle group, which mustered its own forces.

The Unrelenting Absolution's shipmaster, Ivu 'Zodamee, ordered the shipmistress of the Clarity of Contrition, Ceia'Vavamee, to send three squadrons which consisted of 300 Morsam-pattern Seraphs. Supporting her was a small flight of 20 Elsedda-pattern Banshees from the Sacred Resolve and Penitent Prayer. They spread out to prevent being downed by cluster fire.

Seeing that the measly complement of Baselards was outnumbered, even with the help of the 32 F-29 Nandao fighters from the Halberds, it was getting more evident that it'd be a losing fight if they stayed as minutes passed. The supercarrier may be heavily armored, but it won't be able to fight back once its ammunition runs out, or its fighter complement gets decimated.

"Damn you, Parangosky..." the capt. thought to himself

He thought that the only option was to run, and further away. Not towards any UNSC settlement, but away. At this point, they were on their own. Seeing the battle group, he was able to identify the light carrier and the corvettes as he had seen some during the early years of the war, but the battleship was what truly scared him. From its looks alone, it looked heavily armed and protected, which meant that if it were to get close or in range, the Aegina would most likely be destroyed.

He ordered the Super MACs to fire on the battleship to at least catch it off guard, the twin shots significantly depleting its shields. Taking advantage of the momentary surprise, he issued an order.

"All hands, prepare for slipspace jump. Frigate captains, return to your docking vents immediately. Every fighter out there, please return to your hangars! Setting a jump in three minutes!"

Every pilot manning a fighter was stumped by the sudden changes in tactics, but realizing it would be a losing fight, they immediately returned to their respective ships. As soon as every fighter and ship were properly prepared, the Aegina made the jump with the frigates piggybacking, while the Halberds made their own jumps coordinating with the supercarrier's relayed coordinates. The rather slow deployment and retrieval of UNSC fighters were largely due to mechanical doors needing to open in comparison to Covenant warships enjoying the luxury of vacuum-sealing energy fields in their hangar bays, allowing them to deploy quickly.

"TRACK THE HUMAN FILTH! They dare to run from us! Destroy them at once before they run off to another galaxy!" Ivu 'Zodamee expressed his rage at the sudden changes after the shields were significantly depleted

The Banshees and Seraphs returned to their respective ships, and the shipmasters immediately went to track the fading slipspace wake created by the UNSC ships. Within a few minutes, they were able to get a lock on. Grinning from his mandibles, the Sangheili shipmaster then gave the orders to pursue.

UNSC POV

In slipspace, the Aegina was a chaotic mess. The civilians were panicking, while the military personnel attempted to keep the order. While the technicians and engineers were struggling to keep their stations free of clutter, Akane and Michael then headed up to Capt. Vought in the bridge.

"Captain, what the hell was ONI thinking when they decided to give us a small number of old fighters? We can't even properly fight back!"

"That decision was a blunder on their behalf! I bet Parangosky didn't think that an enemy carrier and a goddamned battleship would be the ones to find us!"

"No shit! I bet they thought we'd only face a cruiser or a frigate!"

"The real question is, how in the hell did we even stumble onto them? We were pretty much far out from any kind of civilization."

"Captain, I believe I may have an educated guess on this matter." the smart AI Alessandra spoke up

"Explain."

"There is the possible likelihood that we may have been spotted going past Covenant-controlled space when we left Onyx. With the warships we faced of such caliber and class, it would only be logical to think that they would come from a planet in a nearby system and that they may have had reconnaissance posted close by. I wouldn't think that a large warship such as that battleship would go far out of the Covenant's reach being restricted by its logistical limits." she stated, with her mild Italian accent

"The nearest systems to Onyx would be the 51 Pegasi and Salia systems. Of all the rotten timings, we just had to make a random jump possibly close to their sphere of influence. Nonetheless, it won't matter, as our duty is to make a run to another galaxy where the Covenant won't find us. I just hope to God the UNSC finds out the Covenant's reach is just close to the damn door. We need a plan to shake them off or they'll overwhelm us." Capt. Vought thought to himself

COVENANT POV
UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM
30 Minutes Later

As the Punic-class supercarrier and the Halberd light destroyers attempted to run, they exited slipspace and stumbled upon a collapsing star facing its starboard side after a random jump. Its slipspace drive was exhausted from the previous jumps prior to facing the enemy battle group and needed to cool down. Hoping that the star won't start to suck them in, it only got worse as the Covenant battle group caught up to them.

As the Punic-class supercarrier and the Halberd light destroyers attempted to run, they exited slipspace and stumbled upon a collapsing star facing its starboard side after a random jump. Its slipspace drive was exhausted from the previous jumps before facing the enemy battle group and needed to cool down. Hoping that the star won't start to suck them in, it only got worse as the Covenant battle group caught up to them.

Both sides saw they were in a dangerous situation. If the Covenant group goes in to attack, they too were at risk of being sucked in by the collapsing star. The Punic-class supercarrier decided to get closer to it but not enough to get sucked in to deter the Covenant from approaching. Seeing this, the Kewu-pattern battleship fired its Muesh-pattern flensing lance, which shot out a powerful beam through the distance that grazed one of the rear fins of the UNSC supercarrier. It rocked the ship, which caused some tilting and some cargo to topple, setting off some alarms. The Ruma-pattern light carrier followed with its two Ignis-pattern plasma lances which left a scar on the port side. A small group of Seraphs were deployed to cripple its guns.

The Baselards on the port side were set to fly out the port hangars as a response when a small complement of Seraphs and Space Banshees were sent to attack.

Barely resisting the gravitic forces of the star, Capt. Vought thought the only way to survive was to get away from the star at the risk of getting closer to the Covenant battle group. He took that chance and was attempting to make another jump as soon as the Aegina's drive was considerably cooled, but saw there was no time to lay around and get hit. The Halberd-class light destroyers were attempting to protect the Aegina by providing fire support against the Seraphs.

The supercarrier inched further away from the star, facing the battle group, with both UNSC and Covenant commanders readying themselves to face each other head-on. As the Baselards and the Seraphs fought each other, each side was squaring up and charging their most powerful weapons.

However, fate decided to draw one of its most cursed cards of all: shit happens.

The collapsing star's black hole suddenly got stronger, and now the human and alien warships were starting to get pulled into it. The Sangheili and Human captains noticed it on their radars, which led them to immediately try to make a run for it, but to no avail. The now-unstable black hole, growing ever stronger and larger every second, only made the gravity well immensely strong which started to pull everything in its vicinity into its bottomless maw.

As the black hole made its widest expansion, all ships seemingly vanished from existence as they were engulfed, and the rather magnificent phenomenon died down to nothingness a few seconds later.

The quiet that followed after the darkness was eerily... peaceful.

CHAPTER I END

SHIPS AND LEADER PROFILES (for quick reference)

UNSC Expeditionary Group

Captains: Adrian Vought, Tolu Ogunde, Hikari Nakamura, Francesca Bellanti, Henry Johnson, Alexander Ramirez, Helena Marceau

UNSC Aegina

Punic-class supercarrier
Status: Upgraded to arkship (mixed capability of warship and colony ship)
Length: 4,000 meters (13,123 ft)

UNSC Roswell and UNSC Tucson

Halberd-class light destroyer
Status: Escorting the Aegina
Length: 485 meters (1,590 ft)

UNSC Marseille, Zaragoza, Algiers and Casablanca

Paris-class heavy frigates
Status: Attached to the Aegina
Length: 535 meters (1,755 ft)

Lost Covenant Patrol

Shipmasters: Ivu 'Zodamee, Tyvo 'Gottinee, Ozo 'Ragamee, Ceia 'Vavamee

CNV Unrelenting Absolution

Kewu-pattern battleship
Status: Placed on patrol duty
Length: 3,500 metres (11482 ft 11 in)

CNV Sacred Resolve and CNV Penitent Prayer

Ceudar-pattern heavy corvettes
Status: Escorting the Absolution and Contrition
Length: 956 meters (3,140 ft)

CNV Clarity of Contrition

Ruma-pattern light carrier
Status: On patrol duty
Length: 3,000 meters (9,843 ft)

Cole Protocol (pulled straight from Halopedia)

ARTICLE I

United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1
Encryption Code: Red
Public Key: file/ First light/
From: UNSC/NAVCOM Fleet H. T. Ward
To: ALL UNSC PERSONNEL
Subject: General Order 098831A-1 ("The Cole Protocol")
Classification: RESTRICTED (BGX Directive)

The Cole Protocol

To safeguard and protect the Inner Colonies and Earth, all UNSC vessels or stations must not be captured with intact navigation databases that may lead Covenant forces to human civilian population centers.

If any Covenant forces are detected:

1. Activate selective purge of databases on all ship-based and planetary data networks.

2. Initiate triple-screen check to ensure all data has been erased and all backups neutralized.

3. Execute viral data scavengers (Download from UNSCTTP/EPWW:COLEPROTOCOL/Virtualscav/fbr.091)

4. If retreating from Covenant forces, all ships must enter Slipstream space with randomized vectors NOT directed toward Earth, the Inner Colonies, or any other human population center.[Note 1]

5. In case of imminent capture by Covenant forces and boarders, all UNSC ships MUST self-destruct.[Note 2]

Violation of this directive will be considered an act of TREASON and pursuant to UNSC Military law articles JAG 845-P and JAG 7556-L, such violations are punishable by life imprisonment or execution.

ARTICLE II

Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable.

*SUBSECTION 7*

No captured Covenant craft may be taken to human controlled space without an exhaustive search for tracking systems that could lead the Covenant to Human bases.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER II: First Contact

I decided to make an appearance guide to help one visualize the characters' faces and voices, especially the UNSC and Covenant, but you can visualize whoever you want ;P. Hope you enjoy it!

UNSC

Staff Sergeant Michael Hamilton (SPARTAN-X29) = Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Petty Officer 2nd Class Akane Kimura (SPARTAN-119) = Tsubasa Honda
Captain Adrian Vought, UNSC Navy = Matt Damon
Alessandra, UNSC Smart AI = Isabella Rosellini

Cmdr. Tolu Ogunde = Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Cmdr. Helena Marceau = Marion Cotillard
Cmdr. Alexander Ramirez = Gabriel Luna
Cmdr. Hikari Nakamura = Rinko Kikuchi
Cmdr. Henry Johnson = Tom Hardy
Cmdr. Francesca Bellanti = Marisa Tomei

Vice Adm. Margaret Parangosky = Judi Dench

COVENANT (VOICES)

Ivu 'Zodamee = Jeremy Irons
Ceia 'Vavamee = Rosamund Pike
Ozo 'Ragamee = Ving Rhames
Tyvo 'Gottinee = Tony Todd
Zuvan 'Dragunai = Vin Diesel
Incitus = Michael Clarke Duncan
Cavum = Clancy Brown

...

"So, the Aegina made it past charted space. Now, whatever happens to them is not my full concern. I don't expect her to return anytime soon, as a pioneer's job is rarely quick. It took mankind decades to find the New World in the centuries of old, and I expect her journey to be lengthy before the crew reestablishes contact with the UNSC or the UEG."

"The Orion-class assault carrier would've sufficed, but the only problem was operational authority and ownership. Yes, we were fortunate to acquire a ship as large as her, but at what cost? The latter comes equipped with factory modules we had to secure to install on the former."

"The Punic-class supercarrier was never purpose-built to be a mobile colony, by all means. Yet, our recent endeavor has proven to be a very promising one. Although she was able to be converted into one, and from standard military assets, there is still room for improvement. That means the Special Assembly Plant Concord will have very busy hands, especially with the plans to be formulated from the gathered data."

"Are you saying that another one is in the cards?"

"Finding a home for humanity has been the UEG's goal since its inception. Project: OUROBOROS aimed to strengthen that resolve, and with the war shifting against us, recouping somewhere will soon be our only viable option."

"What is the end goal in this?"

"To conquer the vast infinity that lies before us, one must constantly learn from the rigors of trial and error. Whether the Aegina was a success or an error, the lessons we learn from her will determine our future as a species. Eternity amongst the stars is what humankind still wants to achieve, and with the Covenant closing in, the desire grows stronger than ever. Their sacrifices aren't in vain, so it seems."

...

WORMHOLE
Unknown Dimension

Both sides were surprised to be still alive, as a black hole would normally destroy them. The black hole must have had enough energy to tear open into slipspace, but this didn't resemble slipspace. They were violently launched into this dimension, with the usual phenomena of slipspace but with some unexpected and unfamiliar streams of blue, violet, yellow, and green dancing in an aurora. Accompanying the aurora was a vortex.

The UNSC and Covenant sides resumed their battle, but their propulsion systems proved too inadequate, as they looked like they were tumbling. The vortex was sucking both sides into it, causing instability to their ships and setting off alarms. Some fighters started to take shots but their aim scored no hits, and several started to break down as the dimension's violent energies proved too much, with human and alien pilots trying to scream. Still, their voices were drowned out by their exploding craft and disintegrating selves.

A symphony of ship alarms, disintegrating fighters, and destabilized warships ensued until the vortex finally swallowed them all. The last thing they saw was a bright white light, abruptly transitioning to a sudden black.

AZEROTH

EASTERN KINGDOMS
20 ADP (After the Dark Portal)
14 years after the Second War

Lordaeron
Arathi Highlands

THRALL'S DREAM

He saw a battlefield where he led an army, and the humans charged upon them. But then he heard a voice call out to him.

"The sands of time have run out, son of Durotan. The cries of war echo upon the winds. The remnants of the past scar the land. Which is besieged once again, by conflict. Heroes arise to challenge fate and lead their brethren to battle. As mortal armies rush blindly towards their doom, the burning shadow comes to consume us all."

The skies rained a sickly green fire.

"You must rally the Horde and lead your people to their destiny!" a robed figure pointed at him

The young orc woke up profusely sweating, wondering what nightmare he had just experienced.

...

Medivh, Guardian of Tirisfal, suddenly had a headache while perching on Thrall's hut in his crow form, starting to have visions he could not understand.

Within the Great Dark Beyond lay strange-looking shapes. Cubic and sleek figures faced each other, floating in the darkness. They were engaged in a battle, but a crushing void engulfed both. Verdant lands were left in a glassy inferno with one of the sleek figures dominating the sky above.

"Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument!"

Azeroth came into vision, and moments later, it was reduced to a smoldering and blazing wasteland.

The intensity brought him back to his senses, which only troubled him.

He knew that the Burning Legion was coming to set this world to the flame, but he could not understand what those strange figures had to do with his vision. Nonetheless, he set out to bring Go'el, more known as Thrall, to the path of salvation for his people. He would try to understand more of what he saw once he was done.

He saw to it that the young warchief would follow his destiny despite his feelings of unforeseen changes, personally appearing to Thrall to tell him of what was to come and that his people would stand a chance against the great burning shadow by sailing west to Kalimdor.

Southshore
Hillsbrad

As three days went by, Grommash Hellscream was captured but freed due to the former's efforts. They were able to sail away by stealing and taking command of the human ships nearby.

Once Medivh saw they were on their way, he would try to discover more about the other vision. Something gnawed at his mind that what he experienced would profoundly impact the times ahead, and he decided to seek a deeper understanding whatever the cost. As the winds of war loomed over the Eastern Kingdoms, he sought out the Kingdom of Lordaeron as time had begun to outrun him.

Medivh flew for days from Southshore to the Capital City of Lordaeron, intending to warn the Alliance of the oncoming war. Snow or desert winds did not deter him and remained steadfast in his objective.

Kingdom of Lordaeron
Capital City

Within the throne room, King Terenas II was showing signs of frustration amidst the councilors and other officials bickering on what to do between a rumored plague and the escape of the orcs and their violation of the Alliance Internment Act. The king flared up at the possibility of quarantine due to the rumored plague and declared he would not institute it without proof.

Medivh flew into the room and transformed into his Guardian self from his crow form. "Yet prisoners they are, good king."

"What is the meaning of this? Who are you?"

"Humanity is in peril! The tides of darkness have come again! And the whole world is poised upon the brink of war!"

The chamber clamored in irritation and disbelief from what had transpired.

"Hear me! The only hope for your people is to travel west, to the forgotten lands of Kalimdor."

The clamor grew even more. Not recognizing the former Guardian of Tirisfal, the elderly monarch gave his resolute answer. "Hold, Ambassador. I don't know who you are or what you believe, but this is not the time for rambling prophets. Our lands ARE beset by conflict, but it shall be WE who decide how best to protect our people, not you. Now, begone!"

"I failed humanity once before, and I will not do so again. If you cannot take up this cup, then I shall find another who will."

The moment he left, he felt the winds change. "The warning has been given. Their fate is now their own."

Upon the verdant landscapes, his vision was assaulted by blazing flames, charred earth, and the cries of horror and despair. The overstimulation caused him to momentarily seize up, plummeting to the ground in a dull thud. The pain from the impact didn't compare to the mental anguish he suffered and he tried to compose himself. The vision then showed a giant figure in the sky, and from it, came a swarm that rained death, and the last thing he heard was an inhuman roar before it ended.

Back to reality, he breathed heavily, clutching his sides on the ground. Standing up, he looked at the skies.

"What is coming that I do not know?" he said in a mix of doubt and fear

Reminding himself that time was running out, he then tried to seek out the archmage Antonidas in Dalaran in hopes that he too would listen.

Magocracy of Dalaran
Dalaran City

Jaina Proudmoore, a pupil of Archmage Antonidas, was deep in thought when it came to her arcane studies. As she fixated her eyes upon the tome she was reading, a slight tingle coursed through her, startling her but brushed it off, thinking it was just some random occurrence. An intense blue flame suddenly manifested on the edge of the tome. Moving away from it, the blue flame consumed the tome and left it a pile of ash. Wind rushed into the library and blew away the ash, revealing a strange, unfamiliar symbol burned into the table. Circular in shape, it glowed an ember red, burning a hole through the table.

The windows suddenly turned dark, as if the sun was extinguished. A faint blue light then pulsated as it shone through the glass, accompanied by a vibrating rumble. Jaina's sense of dread grew, which did not bode well for her. A crackly, sizzling sound caused her to turn around, and the last thing she saw was a luminescent blade split into two prongs before it thrust itself into her chest.

Jaina realized it was only a dream, as she checked for any wounds and found none. Everything was fine with no evidence of any sort of burning. Sweating from the intense ordeal, she wondered if that was a dream, or a vision of something yet to come. Taking a deep breath, she tried to relax herself and resumed her scholarly pursuits by heading to one of the arcane sanctums within the city.

Looking at the Halls of Magic, elven sorceresses and priests walked about their daily routines. Human magi and wizards stroll past without caring much about the world outside this city. As of late, she had sensed faint traces of dark energies, but could not tell where they came from. Focusing back on her studies, she would try to understand more of her vision once her thoughts were clear.

Zul'Aman-Eversong Forest boundary
Quel'Thalas
Northeastern Lordaeron

Two Seraphs had exited the wormhole, surviving the perilous event that killed off their squadron. The wormhole's EMP effects shut down their flight systems, leading them to fall from great heights upon reentering normal space. The crafts' teardrop shapes only served to speed up their descent and approach dangerous velocities.

A vast expanse of evergreen forests lay below them, getting closer as every second passed by. Soon enough, they crashed into the trees which were barely enough to break their fall. The creatures of the woods panicked and ran away from the crash sites.

Both fighters' top hatches opened, with Sangheili and Jiralhanae emerging from their wreckages. Being relatively close enough, they immediately headed towards one another.

"Are there others who survived?" the Jiralhanae pilot spoke up

"I do not know. I fear we may be the only ones that have. We should try to contact our comrades."

SNIFF SNIFF

"What is it?"

"This place smells unfamiliar. I'm also picking up the scent of something else."

Both tried to make sense of this new environment, and their motion trackers registered several signatures closing in on them.

"We may have company."

An axe flew out from the woods, but both were fast enough to dodge it. Soon after, several hollerings and war cries followed.

"Company we do have, it seems."

From the forests emerged beings just as tall as them, strangely resembling humans but the differences came into view, for they had long ears, long tusks, three fingers, and only two toes. Axes, spears, and even small blades were wielded by these green-skinned creatures.

"Hah! What strange beings dey are. Dey dare to trespass on Amani land! First, we have da elves, now deez two! Slaughter dem and offer dem to da loa!"

They all chanted in a frenzied way, brandishing their weapons. Having no weapons, they were going to have to rely on their brute strength and their armor to let them get through. Eyeing the weapons, they planned to get some as soon as their attackers would go in for the kill. One immediately headed into the fight but suddenly had an arrow go through its head.

Soon after, arrows came raining down which hit some of them. Smaller pale humanoids soon arrived on the scene, further confusing the alien duo. They strongly resembled humans but had glowing eyes and long ears. As fast as it happened, one of the tusked savages appeared out of nowhere and tried to decapitate the saurian's head when its skull was caved in by a hefty punch.

His pseudo-ursine companion had stepped in when a spear was thrown at him which failed to penetrate his armor. This only served to anger him, as he immediately went at his attacker, brutally mauling the spear-thrower to a bloody pile of brains and chunks. Both grabbed an axe and some spears from their fallen attackers, finally arming themselves. Standing their ground, the Amani soon were forced to retreat from their losses.

..

The quel'dorei, or the high elves, saw the forest trolls leave and retreat. However, they soon turned their attention to the two strange creatures in their midst. One was a tall, hulking bipedal reptilian with four mandibles. The other was a massive, furred primate-looking being, complete with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Seeing the dead forest trolls around them, they knew it would be trouble trying to fight these two if they were able to handle several of the Amani on their own, but felt it was too dangerous to let them live.

The archers readied their bows, while the mages and sorceresses charged up their spells.

..

The human-like creatures were readying to attack, and seeing some of them do strange things just told them they would need to act fast before the fight might not be in their control. Tightening their grip on the looted weapons, they blitzed toward their new opponents. Arrows and strange bolts of energy headed their way but sidestepped to avoid them. The Jiralhanae proceeded to throw his spear which caused the group to scatter, and took this chance to charge straight into their formation to break them up, only to be met with a flight of arrows. However, they failed to penetrate his armor nor the unprotected regions, as his thick fur and extremely tough hide served as armor on their own.

Balls of fire and bolts of ice soon peppered him, doing little damage but further triggering his race's infamous berserker state. He managed to reach a few of them and swatted away the unfortunate souls.

..

The massive, eight-foot-tall giant of a beast had brushed off their spells like they were nothing. The priestess rushed to heal her allies who had been hit by it but was soon met with the other one. What she saw struck a chord of fear in her heart, as the bipedal reptilian who had initially disappeared now stood in front of her. With one hand, it wrapped its fingers around her throat and lifted her off the ground, slowly choking her. She tried her best to get free of the iron-like grip, but at best resembled a fish hanging from a hook.

Her companions saw her in distress and attempted to save her. Suddenly, the tall reptile threw her at them, toppling them all. It brandished the axe and cut down one of the archers who tried to fight back. Some of the sorceresses threw ice and fire spells in an attempt to slow it down, creating a steam shower from the hot and cold intermingling. When the steam dissipated, what they saw was disheartening.

On its body, a protective barrier had formed and crackled from the spells they hurled at it, but the creature was left virtually unscathed.

..

These long-eared humanoids had something that he did not expect. How were they able to conjure up such energies? All this finally made him realize that they were in a truly unknown land, far away from home. As he stood there waiting for his shields to recharge, he would need to quickly dispatch them or take some hostage. Sprinting as fast as he could, he managed to eliminate them at breakneck speed.

His partner scouted for any stragglers, using his superior sense of smell. Having found none, he went back to the ones wielding bows and executed them by stomping on their heads; his weight alone being massive enough to crush them with ease.

"You're particularly brutal, aren't you?" he quipped to his furry companion

The Jiralhanae looked around and saw the decapitated heads "No less than you, it seems."

The reptilian chuckled in response. Seeing the one that wielded a strange-looking staff still alive, they thought of interrogation in order to understand this planet better, as gathering intel would be crucial to their survival until they could reunite with the others. Finding some ropes, they bound her to the point of immobility. Before they went off into the forest, they killed every last one still alive except their captive.

..

The priestess looked at her dead comrades and cried in sorrow for them. She was now at the mercy of two towering behemoths that expended no mercy, and she would remember their faces for as long as she lived.

KALIMDOR

Stonetalon Mountains
Central Kalimdor

Six of the S-14 "Space Striker" Baselards from the near-decimated squadron had exited from the extra-luminal dimension and into the skies above the Stonetalon mountains. They were freefalling, as their power had shut off when they reentered normal space. The emergency systems kicked into place, with the blaring alarms waking their pilots from their blackout-induced sleep into a descending hell.

Trying to activate the manual controls, they fought against the drag during the fall, but it caused them to disperse in random directions. Three were gyrating while falling, and their circumstances didn't allow them to stabilize, leading to their deaths when they crashed on top of the jagged mountains.

The remaining were scattered in random positions, one ending up further north of the mountains, and two landing close to the peaks. S-14 Baselards crashing in a mountainous area doesn't seem out of place, but that theory was about to be tested.

Crashing into the relatively safe ground, a Navy and Air Force pilot exited from their fallen fighters and began to try and find out where they were and how they were going to survive and make it back to the supercarrier. Their weapons officers survived the crash with them.

In their separate instances, they noticed how the land looked so similar to the ones in the midwestern regions of the United Republic of North America. But, that didn't matter to them, as what truly mattered was how they would be able to reestablish contact. From their cockpit, MRE rations, First Aid kits, and smaller firearms such as the M6G Magnum were loaded within it as an emergency loadout.

However, in the good graces of Capt. Vought, the M7 Submachine Gun was added, as it substantially had more ammunition than a Magnum while being compact at the same time. Last, but not least, portable distress beacons were made standard amongst all branches. They activated their beacons and gathered everything that they could before they set out.

As they left their downed craft, the land gradually became ominous as time passed by, evidenced by the increased presence of skeletons and rotting corpses. This told them they would expect company from something any time.

The Navy crew from the Baselard designated F124 discovered that the forests thinned as the land rose, telling her that oxygen would be deficient in that area.

"SNAAAOOOWWRT!"

Both jerked their heads around in the direction of that sound and saw something that made one scrunch her nose up in disgust and squint her eyes in confusion. It looked like an anthropomorphic pig beset with sharp quills akin to a porcupine. It carried a studded club and was accompanied by three more with the same weapon.

With their bodies turned halfway, they slowly reached for the M7 on their non-visible side to ready themselves. However, one of the pig-things noticed the subtle movements and their suspicion kicked in, rushing in with a roar.

When one is trained to fight against a brutal hegemonic alien empire, they would be damn sure to try their best to at least land a hit before they receive it. And hit they did.

The M7 unleashed a hail of armor-piercing bullets that tore into the porcine flesh, rendering them down to bloody Swiss cheese. One managed to evade the shots and succeeded in tackling the pilot down, knocking away the M7 from her hands. It lifted its club and was about to land a killing blow until the weapons officer aimed his M6G Magnum and shot the quilled pig man square in the face, chunks of brain and fragments of skull exiting the other way. What both didn't anticipate was more of the pig-men popping out of nowhere and surrounding them.

Guns went blazing again, and combat resumed. The gunfire had scared away the birds in the surrounding trees, and the mountains' relative quiet was broken.

..

From afar, the Air Force crew from the Baselard designated F276 had heard the unmistakable sound of guns, and that told them UNSC personnel might be nearby. On their HUDs, the distress beacon started to ping stronger. However, this moment of hope was interrupted by a screeching sound that horridly sounded like a woman's.

"YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Abruptly looking at the screeching's direction, both were greeted with a small barrage of feathers that were shot at them like arrows, and instinctively tried to dodge them. Some were able to hit, but the quills either glanced off or bounced off the BDU's Titanium-A armor plates.

What they saw were flying creatures that resembled humanoid women, but were covered in feathers and had scaly, clawed feet that looked like they could rip out a man's throat. Several of them were eyeing both, fixated like predators to prey.

The weapons officer managed to shoot down some of them with his M7 Submachine Gun, but one managed to pick him up and carry him off. The pilot tried to save his partner but was also carried off. Not wanting to get up too high, he shot the bird woman, sending both plummeting down.

Using the dead body as a cushion, he managed to land on the trees and drop down to the ground unharmed, but the flight did not take well to his defiance and proceeded to pursue him even within the woods. Seeing that they wouldn't stop, he stood his ground and fired away. Under the cover of the trees, he ran through and tried to find somewhere to hide.

..

A small centaur party was roving and wondered what had caused the harpies to act up. Soon enough, they saw what the bird-women were hunting down. The archers shot at the harpies, killing the remaining members. After that, they focused on what they were chasing.

To them, it looked like a small thing clad in dull green clothing and armor, wearing some kind of helmet that covered its face. It looked like nothing they had ever seen, and when something unfamiliar encroached on their land, they challenged it.

A battle cry roared out in an abominable mixture of man and horse into one. "NEEEIIIIGGGHHHHAAAAA!"

The archers fired their arrows only to have them glance off or not penetrate at all. The small creature then pulled out a small object and held it in its hands.

..

The M7 had run out, and with no time to reload, pulled out the Magnum and shot the charging horse-men in the head and body, the latter collapsing to the ground in agony. He had left no survivors, making sure they were all dead and checking his surroundings one more time to make sure it was safe to rest.

Letting out a breath of exhaustion and disbelief, he said to himself, "What in the hell did I just run into? First, there were these bird things that looked like harpies, and now these horse guys that may be centaurs. What is this place?"

Remembering the gunfire he had heard earlier, he then tried to head in the general direction of where it came from, hoping to stumble onto a fellow UNSC. The noise grew stronger, and he ran faster to it, seeing strange pig-looking creatures heading in the same direction. This told him that his fellow survivor was in danger, and bullets would eventually run out.

The Navy pilots' HUDs had registered another distress beacon and this momentarily broke their focus, causing a large pig-man to take a swing, hitting one in the chest plate and causing her to topple. With her on the ground, the others became bolder and tried to swarm, but were met with futility as bullets went through them as she tried to get back up. The weapons officer was running out of ammo, but another sound ensued.

Hearing the unmistakable buzz of another M7 and seeing the swinelike humanoids distracted, they went back to eliminating the rest. By the end of the bloody encounter, mangled and bloodied corpses of pig-men littered the ground underneath the trees. Seeing the faint silhouette of another human being, she ran to it.

The Air Force pilot saw his fellow survivors, and they were relieved to see each other in these dangerous wilds.

"Are you okay? I saw those pig things running at you guys. I heard your gunfire."

"Yeah, I'm alright. How about you? Have you found the others?" the Navy pilot asked

"No. If I recall, two crashed into the mountains and got killed. The other two seemed to end up way north over the mountains in this view."

"Ah, shit. Something tells me we ain't in Kansas anymore. Walking pigs seemed to be the first indicator." The Navy weapons officer replied

"Well, before I got to you, I encountered what seemed to be centaurs and harpies. One bird lifted me off, but I shot her down and that's when I found the horse guys. My weapons officer got carried away by the other birdies."

"Oh, man. There's no telling what else we're gonna run into. Any plans?" she wondered

"Get over these mountains, and find our fellow pilots. I have a feeling that if we stay here, we die." her partner gave an answer

"Roger that. Time to do some hiking. But before we go, our distress beacons pinged with each other, but why not with the ones way north of us? Aren't they supposed to have some considerable range?"

"I don't know, but mine only pinged when I got closer to your position."

"Something is wrong with this place if we need to be close just to see each others' beacons. Just so we don't have to call each other weird names, I'm Ashley and this is Jake."

"Vince."

Ashenvale Forest
Northern Kalimdor

On the edge of the mountains, a Marine Baselard had managed to fly, or more accurately, glide through the mountainous terrain despite the rude awakening and was greeted by the view of verdant woodlands upon leaving the mountains. Seeing that as a safer way to crash, they aimed for the treetops, hoping those would slow them down.

..

Within the forests, nature stirred in a tranquil yet whimsical harmony. Sprites danced around the streams and ponds, while the tiniest of insects to the largest of bears roamed in relative peace. The deer grazed on the low-lying plants, and their senses caused them to perk up when a whooshing noise started to get closer.

Within moments, numerous trees sounded off in a cracking cacophony and ended in a crashing bang, causing the creatures of the woods to disperse in a panic. The forest seemed to come alive, with silhouettes emerging from the shadows. Luminescent orbs glowing in the twilight landscape danced and blinked, culminating in humanoid forms coming into shape. Lean, tall figures in a shade of purple, paired with long, swept-back ears, and pearly eyes that glowed like moonlight all emerged to see what had caused their lands to stir.

As they looked, broken trees were their first sign, and followed along the path that was laid forward. In the end, they saw something that they had never seen before. A metal thing that vaguely resembled a bird had crashed into their forest, its landing slowed down by the trees. Being cautious, they melded into the shadows whilst approaching it. On its front, a gold-colored dome was present.

A hiss was heard, prompting them to hide behind the trees. But out from that dome, came out an unfamiliar and strange-looking being.

Clad in strange-looking olive drab clothing, accompanied by a helmet with a glass-like material covering the front, with segmented armor composed of thick plates, the largest piece being the chest plate.

It looked rather small in comparison to them, although its outfit told them it would be no less dangerous than they were.

..

The Marine weapons officer was trying to breathe as much air as he could and took his helmet off as he was sweating from stress. He discovered that his pilot had died from the whiplash, and this added to the stress. After wiping away the perspiration, he then tried to find a safe place to rest, and while seeking sources of water to drink once his hydro-pack ran out. He took the Magnum and M7 in the cockpit, alongside the distress beacon, and attached whatever he could to his BDU before looking around.

Minutes went past as he looked around, and saw a clear flowing stream. Deciding to take a chance, he scooped some up and drank, and the water tasted very clean, close to spring water. He only hoped that he wouldn't have the runs, for he had no pan or a vessel to heat water in, and he had just taken a gamble by drinking it without any sort of treatment. He put his helmet back on and tried to see if the HUD registered other distress beacons, but none registered.

His instincts, however, made him tingle, as he felt that he was being watched by something. He accessed the motion tracker in his HUD but saw no signatures. In his mind, he was itching for assurance, so he attempted to look for any sign. He then tested a theory by acting like nothing was bothering him, and moving away from his current position. Acting calmly, and walking a considerable distance, he was soon proven right when several signatures registered in his motion tracker which reaffirmed his suspicion of being watched. However, those same signatures soon disappeared once they were close to his position.

Seeing the forest, he deduced that they were hiding amongst the trees. He pulled out a flare from the survival kit he attached to his BDU, and remembering where they popped up in his HUD, he abruptly pulled off the cap causing it to ignite, and quickly threw it in that direction.

To his surprise, they looked like they emerged from the shadows, and he was instantly met with arrows. He sidestepped to dodge them and immediately ran back to the Baselard. He heard an arrow whoosh past his head, and one was able to dent the backplate of his BDU Armor but ultimately bounced off. He hid behind a large rock and checked if they were pursuing him.

As quickly as that happened, everything went quiet. This unnerved him, but he kept vigilant for any signs of disturbance.

"RAWRGH!"

He was greeted by the sound of a large, black, sabertoothed panther that tried to pounce on him and was knocked over to the forest floor. He took a good look at his attacker and mounted on the panther was a purple-skinned woman with dark blue hair, white eyes, and long swept-back ears. She was equipped with a shield and a large triple-bladed throwing weapon.

"What the..."

He soon saw her other companions emerge from hiding, and they all looked at him. Only recently realizing their height, they were as tall as Spartans! He wondered what was going to happen to him, but he made sure to show that he wasn't gonna go down without a fight and helped himself up. One of the archers stepped forward.

"Thor'o, t'lara! (Fight me, coward!)" she said with venom as she readied to approach him with a dagger

"Thero! (Student!)"

The one riding the panther stopped the one who attempted to fight him. He understood that he was essentially in a hostage situation, as he would've been dead if they didn't plan on taking him prisoner. Seeing that it would be unwise to start another fight, he then put his hands up to show that he surrendered.

..

The odd green being raised its hands, confusing many within the group, but the huntress somehow understood that it was a sign of surrender. She sensed no form of magic from it and decided that it was rather harmless.

"Has anyone been hurt, sisters?"

"No one has hurt. But I say we should dispose of this strange creature."

"Patience. Nobody else was harmed?"

"No."

"Then I believe this being has no ill intent. I sense no magic from it, and it hasn't attempted to escape. From the looks of it, it wants to surrender."

They all looked at it, just to try and confirm what their party leader was thinking of. After a few seconds of silence, a decision was reached.

"We shall bring it to one of our druids and see what it truly is. If it decides to fight, then so be it."

..

His hands were then bound with rope, attached to the large sabertoothed cat just to make sure he wouldn't get away. In his mind, this encounter was rather peaceful, considering the horrors the UNSC and UEG faced back at home. As the twilight beamed across the verdant expanse, he soon disappeared into the shadows, under the watchful light of this world's moon.

BELORE SYSTEM, GREAT DARK BEYOND

...

After the chaotic event, the UNSC and Covenant commanders woke up with mild headaches and nausea. After recomposing themselves, they checked in on their systems and crew.

"This is Capt. Vought, calling all commanding officers. Please respond."

"This is Shipmaster Ivu 'Zodamee, respond."

Their respective subordinates gave their responses, their short-range communications working to their relief. They then decided to check their long-range comms to at least try to contact their respective militaries.

"High Charity, this is Shipmaster Ivu 'Zodamee."

"This is the UNSC Aegina contacting Camp Currahee. Do you copy?"

Both sides try their very best to find a way to search for any of their home frequencies but to no avail.

"Captain, there are no detectable UNSC or UEG frequencies in this sector."

"Shipmaster, no frequencies are tracing back to High Charity or the Sublime Transcendence."

The now-wayward UNSC and Covenant forces discover to their dismay how lost they are. But remembering their erstwhile encounter with each other, they immediately tried to check their vicinity for each other's signatures on their navigational data. Once again, to their surprise, they find no signs of each other, the former in relief and the latter in frustration.

...

COVENANT BATTLE GROUP
5.9b km from Azeroth
Asteroid Belt

Unrelenting Absolution
Kewu-pattern battleship

"It seems we have lost them. But no matter, we will find them again."

Seeing the sensors rather dulled for an unknown reason only increased his frustration. Looking back at the kelguid, its lack of readings for the local coordinates only added to the pressure. Although some functionality remained for the navigation systems, the borer drive was rendered partially unusable.

"Where is the Seraph squadron?"

"We seem to have lost all of them."

The shipmaster closed his eyes and gave his respects to the fallen. Composing himself, he deeply breathed in the air and returned to investigate.

"Shipmaster, it appears there is an asteroid belt in our way." an officer reported

Looking back at the kelguid, he started to sink deeper into thought. The fuel for their starships was finite, and he knew it. From what he had recalled, the black hole must have opened slipspace, and that both meant they used up fuel and the place they were in was random.

His eye caught a silhouette that was unmistakably a planet, and his curiosity drew him to it. "Hmm, there seems to be a planet a bit beyond this asteroid belt. If it is habitable, we will recoup there, and hunt them down again. I will send the Sacred Resolve to explore, as she would take the least amount of fuel to get there. This ship and the light carrier consume too much, and I would rather conserve it for more important matters."

He contacted the Sacred Resolve to scout ahead and report any findings or data about the planet. Its shipmaster accepted without much hesitation, as exploration of a new world could mean the prospect of finding Forerunner artifacts, resources, or new species to subjugate or maybe incorporate into the Covenant. But with the borer drive rendered nonfunctional, they would have to resort to subluminal speeds which was fine considering their situation, as extra fuel was given to enable a round trip.

Sacred Resolve
Ceudar-pattern heavy corvette

Tyvo 'Gottinee prepared to head to the planet, ensuring his crew was ready.

His crew was largely composed of Unggoy and Sangheili, but a significant portion of Jiralhanae was also a part of his crew. In addition, Kig-Yar from Ruuht were the majority of their species onboard, with some groups hailing from T'vao and Ibie'sh, the former being more avian and the latter being much more saurian in appearance.

The ship also hosted three pairs of Mgalekgolo to act as additional security.

For the surface team, three Spirit dropships would carry a Shadow, Spectre, Wraith, and the team, accompanied by two Oghal-pattern banshees. The scanners couldn't thoroughly scan the planet for some reason, as they only gave out surface visual data, and this meant they would have to survey it themselves. The corvette's shipmaster internally sighed as he was taking a gamble, for there was always the risk of situations becoming worse, more so in unexplored space.

Once they arrived close to the planet, the exploration team would leave the ship by launching from their current position just above orbit to prevent drawing attention to the corvette if it were to instead descend into the atmosphere. Learning lessons from Harvest, it was best not to show yourself unless that was the plan. Stealth mode was activated for the trip to prevent detection, and the team would ultimately be a small number, led by a Sangheili Officer.

Two Jiralhanae Majors, Incitus and Cavum, were chosen to join the surface expedition. He had chosen these two out of their competence, and both were proven to adapt quickly to unconventional situations and environments. The former's tendency to enter a berserker rage laid waste to numerous enemies in general. At the same time, the latter was known to have a very keen sense of smell even for Jiralhanae, which made him a very adept tracker.

The T'vaoan skirmishers were formidable in their own right and were highly proficient marksmen. Armed with the Gadulo-pattern needle rifle and the Mosa-pattern carbine, none would escape their sights.

It would take a day to reach the planet, and that meant a day to try and keep order in the ship.

...

UNSC EXPEDITIONARY GROUP
2.6b km from Azeroth

UNSC Aegina
Punic-class supercarrier

The UNSC Aegina had its crew working to restore order and normalcy. The captain checked if the systems were intact, and was thankful when Alessandra popped up on the bridge's holo-map.

"Alessandra, where do you think we are?"

The X-ELF Radar System took its time to calculate every variable, while Alessandra put in some of her elbow grease. "Checking coordinates... no records have indicated that we are close to any UNSC or Covenant space. I also checked the slipspace coordinates but to no avail. I have a theory that the black hole was, in reality, a wormhole. But what could have caused that?"

"No time to think about that for now. So, you're saying we are lost in the middle of nowhere?"

"Effectively, yes. Scanning the local area... that's strange.. it seems there's a planet close by. Although, as a precaution, you may not want to use the slipspace drive, as it seems the anomaly had appeared to mess with it."

"How so?"

"The internal components are, for a lack of simpler explanations, out of whack. If we activate it, we might end up cutting the ship in half as the transition to slipspace will be incomplete and with an unstable drive, might explode."

The officers and crew on the bridge that listened to her all stopped in a mix of fear and surprise. The captain proceeded to try and get back to work, as he felt that a panicked crew is not a good thing within a ship, especially a supercarrier.

"Right. So, sub-light speeds it is. How long will it take?"

"From my calculations, we can arrive within a day."

"Perfect time to set things up. By the way, where is the Baselard squadron?"

"Some were destroyed in slipspace, or if it is slipspace. No further signatures have been detected."

The captain silently paid his respects to the pilots who both died and those who were nowhere to be seen. Remembering his priorities, he went straight back to the navigational controls.

Capt. Vought turned on the shipwide comms and proceeded to make an announcement. "Attention, this is your captain speaking. We should be grateful we survived whatever happened a while ago. It appears we are officially lost, ladies and gentlemen. However, Alessandra has detected a nearby planet which we could potentially settle on. ETA is 24 hours, so I suggest we set the colonization units up and running. Last, but not least, all slipspace drives are not to be used in the meantime, as the anomaly appeared to have messed with the ship's drive, and it's only fair to assume that all ships with one would have likely experienced a similar thing. Good luck, and good day to all of you."

"Captain, if I may suggest, we should send one of the frigates to do an in-atmospheric insertion. It'll save on fuel, and they're fast. Plus, they seem to be the least affected when it comes to the anomaly, although their slipspace drives are just as hampered as ours."

"Very well. Who do you recommend for this mission?"

"I say, Commander Ramirez. From his experience fighting the Insurrection on Meridian during Operation: OPEN GRAVE, I'd say he's one of our best-suited candidates. Being able to survive five years against Insurrectionist forces without additional help is a feat worthy of mention."

"Patch him through."

UNSC Zaragoza
Paris-class Heavy Frigate

Cmdr. Ramirez was trying to handle his ship's matters until he received a transmission from Capt. Vought.

"Commander, you'll be on an exploration mission to a planet that was just detected. If it is habitable, then we'll mark it as our colony world. I'll send in X29 as part of your surface team. Just a reminder that usage of slipspace drives is prohibited until further notice. You're gonna have to go subluminal."

"Aye, sir."

As the transmission ended, he gave out an announcement "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new mission from the captain. We have been chosen to explore a planet that was just detected, and if it's habitable, that'll be our colony world. All hands, man your stations immediately."

SSgt. Hamilton arrived via the frigate dock connecting to the ship and was greeted by the commander himself. Both took to the CO's Quarters, where they were having a conversation.

"So, sergeant, I know ONI Protocol is strict about confidential information regarding the SPARTAN Program and other information in general, but from what I've read, you were in the ORION Program, am I correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"But the real question I'm going to ask you is if you feel like you belong here."

"Excuse me?"

"Let's face it. What did you notice on the first day we all got assigned to this mission? Nearly every officer and enlisted stationed onboard every ship has been known to garner at least some form of bad conduct. I disobeyed direct orders from HIGHCOM when I was on Meridian."

"Didn't you stand your ground against Insurrectionist forces there?"

"That's right. I disobeyed orders to retreat, and I know I put my crew at risk, but I stayed. Do you know why? Because I didn't want any of them to escape and cause problems elsewhere, so I drew them to me."

"Then they sanctioned you with reckless endangerment and disobeying direct orders."

"Surely you have fought Innies, sergeant. I heard you took some down with only a knife."

"My assault rifle ran out, magnum too. I saw a kitchen knife lying on the ground, and with nothing else, that's what I used."

"They teach you that in ORION?"

"No, the Corps did. Heh, seems it came in handy."

"Now, tell me, what did you do that got you in here?"

"Long story short, I accepted the opportunity. Figured out I was going nowhere back in Nova Scotia. Civvie living isn't for everyone."

"Hmm. Perhaps you'll tell me how you got the opportunity. Alright, we have an entire day to do everything we need."

The frigate crews were making sure that everything was set into place. The surface team would land via Albatross, complete with a Warthog or Mongoose. However, both the sergeant and the commander requested a Mastodon from the inventory of the Aegina, as an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) would prove to be a useful thing in uncharted territory and potentially hostile environments.

"Commander, what is the particular reason why you requested a Mastodon?"

"We need something to carry troops and protect them at the same time, sir. I have the feeling that we will need something else down there. Me and the staff sergeant thought the same way about this. We just want to reduce potential casualties, sir."

"Request granted. I'll be transferring four just in case. Happy hunting, commander."

As soon as the four M650 Mastodons were transferred onboard the UNSC Zaragoza, the docking ring was unlatched and the heavy frigate soon left the massive supercarrier. The entire day would be spent preparing minor maintenance and routine system checks. So far, no other problems were found on all the heavy frigates and destroyers.

The Aegina would undergo more extensive maintenance due to her size, and to prevent hidden problems that would worsen later.

AZEROTH
24 hours later

The Sacred Resolve and the UNSC Zaragoza were approaching the planet and preparing to send down their exploration teams, but their sensors registered each other, leading their commanding officers to order every crew into their battle stations.

The UNSC Zaragoza charged up its MAC cannon and unleashed a heavy strike, managing to partially deplete the former's shields. Although considerably powerful, the Sacred Resolve, being a Ceudar-pattern heavy corvette, was not particularly equipped to be a mainline warship, lacking a plasma lance which forced it to rely on its Melusean-pattern heavy plasma cannons and Phot-pattern pulse lasers.

Firing a barrage of plasma, a few shots hit the heavy frigate but the latter returned its response with another MAC round, further depleting the former's shields. The UNSC Zaragoza made the maneuver to get close to reaching the topside of the Sacred Resolve; a blind spot out of reach from its plasma weaponry. Letting off a Shiva nuclear missile, the plan was to use its electromagnetic pulse to disable the shields.

Knowing this, the corvette sent out a small squadron of Seraphs and Banshees to cripple the frigate and destroy the missile. Anti-aircraft guns sprayed and tracked the incoming fighters, managing to shoot down a few. The nuclear missile made it past the squadron, impacting the shield while also damaging the port cannons, leaving the corvette vulnerable.

In the heat of the moment, the Sacred Resolve's shipmaster ordered the exploration team to hurry and head down to the surface to complete their task and to save them just in case the ship was destroyed. The Seraphs were ordered to disable the MAC cannon while the Banshees distracted the anti-air systems.

The frigate's cannon and nuclear missile pods were targeted and crippled, with a few M58 Archer pods left operational. Letting off a salvo, the corvette's nanolaminate plating was heavily damaged. By that time, the Zaragoza was on top of it and began to batter it with cannon fire, leaving no room for the shields to regenerate.

The corvette tilted to aim its broadside cannons and fired away, hitting the frigate and dealing damage to its armor plating. Seeing the chance, a few Archer missiles locked onto the cannons and destroyed them. The Seraph and Banshee squadrons retaliated by damaging the starboard engine but were shot down.

In an attempt to run away, two of the Sacred Resolve's repulsor engines were rendered inoperational when the last of the UNSC Zaragoza's missiles made their mark. Every bit of available ordnance the frigate carried had run out.

The two warships by the end of their confrontation were heavily damaged, and both realizing that either one was too crippled to fight back, they retreated and headed to return to their comrade's locations without pursuing each other.

UNSC Zaragoza

"Commander, wait, on the radar, I saw that the Covenant had sent down an exploration team. Best send us down there too. If they begin to map out the place, they may get a better foothold by the time we return."

"What are you suggesting, sergeant?"

"While they do that, we also map out the place so by the time you've brought the others here, I'd have found a habitable area ready for immediate occupation."

The commander was thinking, but after a few seconds, decided to greenlight that decision."Very well. I'll prep the team, and best of luck to you. Spartan."

The surface team would be sent down with three Pelicans: one outfitted with the Troop Pod attachment, one with a Warthog, and one that would carry the Mastodon. The ex-ORION/SPARTAN-I was currently wondering what was going on with Akane back on the ship. As the year passed, he hadn't admitted to her that he began to see her and treat her like a daughter. Remembering what he was supposed to do, he put on his helmet and went back to work.

The heavy frigate's scanners could only make out the land's topography but were heavily interrupted by something, giving a hazy readout. The team would be composed of an entire Marine platoon, and they would be under his command. Inside the Pelican, they were having a small chat based on what had just recently happened.

"Man, I thought we were goners! This frigate against that Covenant corvette? Real slim chances."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are fortunate to be alive. But right now, our mission is to secure an area for immediate occupation so that by the time Commander Ramirez has informed Capt. Vought of the situation, they would go straight to planning for civilian housing and ours as well."

"Sarge, what about the Covenant?" a corporal asked

"I think they'll be sending for help as well. They seemed to have sent down exploration teams just like we're doing so right now. But what matters is that we prepare the place for when they return. As for the alien shitheads down there, we best be armed and ready when we encounter them."

"Amen to that."

The hangar door opened, and the wind rushed out into space.

"Alright, ladies. Standby for disengagement."

The Pelicans then flew out of the hangar, with the door closing behind them.

"Proceeding with atmospheric insertion in 5..4..3..2..1."

Both dropships suddenly descended into the planet's atmosphere, turbulence rattling their frames. The UNSC Zaragoza then accelerated back to the supercarrier's position. They slowed their descent to reduce air friction from building up heat.

"We're in the clear, five by five."

The planet's moon shone on them, reflecting off their surfaces. they descended further down, the night sky made it rather difficult to properly judge where they could land. Seeing some open plains, they chose that as their landing spot. The Pelicans' thrusters kicked up some leaves and debris, detaching the Mastodon and the Warthog before finally picking the proper spots to land.

Surrounded by evergreen forests, they would have some prepping to do. Unbeknownst to them, some eyes watched them from afar.

Back on the UNSC Aegina...

Akane-119 was wondering what had transpired, as Michael had been gone for more than a day now. Nonetheless, she was given a duty to watch over the civilians onboard, especially the refugees. Remembering what her senior partner had said to her, lessening her stoic habits would make it easier for them to process her presence, but still wasn't accustomed to doing that except to him and the captain.

A large demographic of the refugees was from the Outer Colonies, some straight from Harvest, Madrigal, and Arcadia. A portion was recently sourced from two of the glassed colonies belonging to the Leonis Minoris system. A few of these planets had a history of Insurrectionist activity, hence the desire to monitor them for potential infiltrators was strong despite initial screening.

There was a refugee who was somewhat tall compared to most of the others, but what stood out the most was the pair of aquamarine eyes. Dressed in boots, a hooded jacket, and some dark pants, he had a habit of being rather quiet and keeping to himself. Looking around, he was trying to eat his meal despite the growing discomfort of his fellow refugees.

The supercarrier's maintenance checks were finally completed when Alessandra verified that no potential issues were detected. She then tried to find a solution for the slipspace drives and how to get them to work once again.

EARTH

ONI Alpha Site
New Mombasa

"Ma'am, SPARTAN-X29's VISR is still at the prototypical stage. Was it a wise investment to give him that?"

"Of course. During the entire year of being stationed at the facility while the Aegina underwent repairs and upgrades, I had specifically requested that a concealed data transmitter be integrated into his helmet. All data, from movement to usage of the VISR, is automatically sent to one of the servers in that station. So far, the prototype of this VISR's version has proven quite promising."

"And SPARTAN-119?"

"Her being an additional subject has given invaluable research data. It seems that it can be integrated into the MJOLNIR Mark IV, and with X29's SPI Mirage Prototype being able to house it, the possibility of its integration into more mainstream armor systems is now more likely than ever, thanks to these two."

"The former ORION was indeed a risk for confidential information to spill out. However, 119 seems to be fully functional. Why include her amongst the colonization candidates?"

"The training I gave her is a double-edged sword. She has become quite the lethal operative, but I discovered unusual activity based on her brain scans. Erratic brainwaves and the recent revelation of her borderline-psychotic behavior were starting to become a potential danger, as I observed that when matters concerned Dr. Catherine Halsey, her brain activity showed spiking."

"Are you saying 119 may have a potential grudge against Dr. Halsey?"

"Sadly, yes. Not the first SPARTAN-II to exhibit such behavior, with Soren and Serin being two other examples. I had to deal with it before it could become a full-fledged problem, especially with the extra ONI training I authorized for her. Not a total waste of resources, as the data collected from her armor will prove valuable for the following generations, and will greatly benefit the SPARTAN-III Program and beyond."

"Indeed."

"Last, but not the least, the procedure concerning SPARTAN-X29's chemical injections was that he was unknowingly a testbed for those, as I wanted to see whether those with pre-existing augmentations could be given additional upgrades. His upgrades were relatively minor, but the collected data will be quite valuable not just for the SPARTAN program, but for us as well."

"A year ago, Alpha Company was brutally massacred. Is the SPARTAN-III Program still justifiable? Lt. Ambrose and CPO Mendez's training regimen didn't seem to prevent their deaths."

"Allow me to remind you that they were only meant to be expendable. At this point, time is worth more than any amount of credits, hence I authorized the formation of Beta Company just before Alpha Company was sent for Operation: PROMETHEUS. Perhaps all the information gathered from monitoring 119 and X29 will prove more crucial than we thought."

"Amongst the 6,000 refugees that registered, there was a point regarding potential Insurrectionist infiltrators. Besides X29's experience being a useful asset, what else is there?"

"Besides the hidden transmitters, I had something else sent in to ensure and oversee the success of the exodus program."

CHAPTER II END

Chapter Text

CHAPTER III: Close Encounter

AZEROTH

EASTERN KINGDOMS

40 minutes earlier...

The Sacred Resolve's shipmaster ordered the exploration team to immediately descend upon detecting the UNSC Zaragoza, hoping that they would make it and that when they returned, the team would've already established a foothold in one of the foreign lands. A pair of Mgalekgolo and a few Yanme'e were hastily included to add strength to the team in case of adverse situations that could occur planetside.

Brightwater Lake
Tirisfal Glades
Eastweald

The three Dextro Xur-pattern Spirits were pre-chosen due to their higher survivability, a decision that paid off as the human frigate began to attack the corvette. Without exact coordinates of the planet's topography, they had to rush in blind. Due to their position still being in space, the originally-planned Oghal-pattern Banshees that would escort them were hastily abandoned, thus two Elsedda-pattern Banshees were substituted in as they could do exoatmospheric insertions. The ships experienced turbulence upon entering the atmosphere, the night sky blanketing the world below. Seeing that it was filled with rather tall trees, they tried to avoid them but soon spotted relatively open ground around a lake. Choosing that spot, they decided to land on the lakefront.

The three dropships unloaded the Spectre, Shadow, and Wraith before the troop bays opened to let the team out. Incitus and Cavum made their first mark on this planet, alongside their superior, a Sangheili Officer who had been given the temporary title of Field Commander.

Kravi 'Barutamee was part of the prestigious clan of Barutam but fell prey to one of his relatives' machinations and power-mongering schemes to climb up the ranks, as he was due for promotion to Major but was ultimately denied it by one small accusation of disciplinary misconduct. Fate brought him into the hands of the Fleet of Glorious Interdiction under the direct command of the High Prophet of Regret, known to favor Sangheili. He was present on the human planet called Harvest around 7 years ago when he was part of the task forces sent in, with the late Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee leading it. Until Etran Harborage, he upheld his duty of escorting the Prophet of Regret until he was forced to return to High Charity when the UNSC Spirit of Fire was reported to pursue them inside the shield world.

Back in High Charity, he was appointed Officer to safeguard Regret. With this advancement, he hoped to exact revenge on his relative, Rho 'Barutamee, for his humiliating demotion long ago. But his ambition was put to an end when he was told to be stationed on Saepon'kal by the High Prophet of Truth. The final straw was Rho 'Barutamee rising up the ranks to Zealot, making him out of his reach.

All that felt like a distant memory, as he now had a new mission: claim this planet for the Covenant and kill any UNSC they encountered. Glory on the field of battle was one thing he would not refuse.

Incitus and Cavum were no strangers to their superior's past, as they had served on the same battlefield. When Avitus, titled the "Thrallslayer", was attached to the Fleet of Glorious Interdiction, he was also sent down to Harvest's surface alongside contingents of Jiralhanae forces, the former two being part of that. As much as their commander disliked Sangheili in general, Kravi 'Barutamee was a strange exception to both of them, as he treated them with dignity and respect. They never thought they'd see him as their superior years after the Etran Harborage incident.

The Spirits powered down, with the plasma cannon and extended troop bay doors serving as struts to keep them upright. The Unggoy and Yanme'e went to work unloading supplies, while the Kig-Yar had distinct roles: Ruuhtian snipers served as perimeter security, Ibie'shans were assigned guard roles due to their bulkier profile, and the Tvao'ans retained their skirmisher role with the added duty of reinforcing the perimeter.

Incitus and Cavum ensured everything went smoothly, while Kravi formulated a plan for setting up camp and how to deal with the radio silence, as the humans called it.

"Three of you will go with one of the skirmishers to scout the area ahead. The filthy humans might have sent down a task force to hunt us down."

The Spec Ops's dark gray armor seamlessly blended into the shadows of the night as he disappeared into the evergreens, with the two Skirmishers and three Minors trailing behind.

Several minutes went by, and the Spec Ops had covered considerable ground until the woods started to thin. At the edge, the open ground gave way to a field full of crops, with a small dimly-lit house overlooking it.

He wondered if the planet was already inhabited by the humans, but was puzzled by how primitive it was in comparison to the ones usually found on the planets the Covenant had glassed. Nonetheless, he looked to observe the area and instructed the others to hold their position and stay behind the trees.

Activating his invisibility cloak, he quietly snuck up to the house as the lamps lighting the cobblestone paths vaguely revealed his cloaked visage as he went by them. Reaching one of the windows, he peeked into it and saw a small family at the dinner table. Two adults and two children ate their dinner in relative joy, with a pot in the middle of the fireplace.

He decided to let them be, as it would be unwise to stir up the place, and that no combat had ensued yet. He ordered the group to head back to the field commander and report the farm's location and the possibility of more human settlements nearby. On the way back, twenty bandits had headed the same way they had to reach the small farm, unaware of the alien encroachers hidden a few feet from them. Their motion detectors registered them, causing them to try and take action but the group leader halted them and told them to stay hidden and hold their positions.

Overhearing them, these humans somehow spoke English, the language commonly used by the UNSC. The Spec Ops zoomed in and listened to their conversation.

"Men, the farm is just nearby. If we strike quickly, we can ransack it and disappear before the town guards catch up to us."

However, one of the bandits suddenly strayed for a bit, and soon seemed to follow something. It slowly led him close to where they were hiding.

Realizing their footprints had been spotted, their cover might get blown at any minute. Accepting that a confrontation would be the definite outcome, The Spec Ops decided to kill them and leave no survivors just to make sure they wouldn't have their presence known on this planet, as it was not yet the right time. Plus, with them being criminals, nobody would miss them.

The cover of night was on their side, and they took full advantage of that by using the woods to make their presence even more difficult to detect and positioning themselves to surround the bandits from all directions. They were in a conveniently-packed formation with no firearms on them, and that would make the task much easier. A palpable silence loomed over both sides, the other not knowing what would come upon them.

The invisible Spec Ops Sangheili snuck up behind the flanks, simultaneously activating his energy sword and swinging it in a wide arc, cutting down five of them. Once the silence had been broken, the bandits were suddenly alarmed by the surprise attack. The remaining fifteen armed themselves as a response, only to be shot down by the three Minors who aimed their plasma repeaters and rifles. Six of them managed to slip away from the chaos but were intercepted by the Skirmishers who blasted away with plasma pistols. The energy sword cut the last five in half, with the other four previously dealt with.

Within a minute, the bandit group was wiped out in a brutal display of technological gaps that lit up the dark forest in blinding flashes. The two Tvao'ans feasted upon the slain, enjoying their buffet of plasma-seared humans.

Not wanting to leave a trace, they decided to carry the bodies back to the lake and sink them to the bottom.

Back in the camp, the group reported their findings. Surprised by the presence of humans on this planet, the field commander sank into a deeper state of confusion when he was told that the humans they came across were not affiliated with the Insurrection or the UNSC. Poisonous spears accompanied a head with a crude helmet. The bodies then were piled on for him to see. Seeing no firearms on the dead bodies made the field commander rather pleased, as he thought it would make things easier for them if the humans here had nothing close to what the UNSC usually had on hand.

Seeing the island at the center, the field commander ordered the two dropships to go there and stay hidden. He would use it as their temporary camp until reinforcements came down planetside. The Banshees were ordered to scout ahead but not stray too far. Several minutes later, its pilots returned with a status report of the area.

It seems they had landed in an area somewhat populated with more humans than they had thought, and seeing several farmsteads and the roads that connected them, told them they would need to keep low. The Banshees were to be put into the island, with the pilots given the task to help prepare the area, with one dropship to carry the rest of the crew there when needed.

Without any sort of satellite to help draw intel, they would need to map the place independently and avoid confrontations as much as possible. With the capital city south of their position, and the West and East filled with small towns, maintaining secrecy was both a chore and a necessity until the time was right.

If everything went according to plan, they would need two or more days to wait until the commander would send an invasion force.

ROOOAAAAARRR!

A large, territorial grizzly bear had come to fend off the intruding aliens, standing upright on its hind legs to show dominance. At nine feet tall, it towered over them. However, it would meet a foe unlike any other.

Cavum was about to take action, but his partner put his hand in the way to tell him to sit back and watch. Incitus was the larger of the two Jiralhanae and quite strong for his size. The bear saw his presence as a challenge and the former perceived it the same. Charging at each other, the bear was knocked down due to the massive pseudo-ursine weighing twice as much. Fighting back, the bear gave one large swipe of its claws but failed to leave a scratch on his hide. Returning a hefty punch, he broke its skull which killed the large beast.

"Fresh meat. Nothing like the thorn beast back home, but it will suffice." Incitus spoke up

He and Cavum proceeded to pull out their combat knives and carve up the bear to eat in raw and bloody chunks. The rest of the Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and Yanme'e feasted on the bandits as the night went on. However, one of the patrolling Tvao'ans sensed something that smelled like humans. Going a bit beyond the edge of the woods surrounding the lakefront, a small party of humans wore light gear and some strange equipment. As minutes passed, they were slowly getting closer to their position.

He went back to the field commander and reported his findings. The squad leader was once again ordered to track the targets. Upon seeing the humans, he thought that they were hunters. Remembering the bear that Incitus dispatched, they must've been hunting for it. Killing them would be unwise as they were most likely part of the townsfolk, meaning that others would come looking for them if they went missing.

But the situation grew more tense, as they could not get the dropships in time to pick up the Wraith, Spectre, and Shadow without being seen. They decided to try and hide amongst the trees further away from their position. But the bear's corpse could end up being the downfall of their secrecy. Even if the two Jiralhanae dragged it with them, the blood leaking would still leave a trail. The pile of dead human corpses only made the job much more difficult.

So the choices came down to try and hide the corpse somewhere or wait for the hunters to come within reach of an ambush. Without much choice, they would have to hold the interlopers hostage. The bear was left to be used as bait, while they hid and waited to strike. The Spirit dropship with them was given the order to hide on the island with the other aerial craft. The ground craft and the human corpses were transferred into the woods to conceal them. All they could do was wait once the lakefront appeared barren, bar the bear.

Minutes later, a small party of hunters arrived at the scene. The Spec Ops heard their conversation.

"By the Light, what could have done this?" the hunter was shocked at the grisly scene

"Maybe forest trolls or ogres. Those two are big enough to do the job, and it must've fought either. Explains the roaring we heard."

"I don't know, but something just doesn't feel right. We better tell the town watch about this."

Once the hunters went back their way, the cloaked Spec Ops immediately held two of them hostage and covered their mouths, with other Minors detaining the rest. Once they secured their quarry, they immediately gathered around.

"They will most likely send scouts to investigate. We camp on the island immediately to stay out of sight." Kravi 'Barutamee declared

A dropship's gravity hoist carried off the dead bear to erase evidence of their presence. The two distant dropships were then ordered to come back and pick up the Wraith and Spectre, while the Shadow was last to be hauled off. Despite the large kill they had acquired, they needed to quickly hunt for more food and stockpile it for the troops to feed on for days. The Tvao'ans and the Minors were best suited to the job and gathered small to medium-sized game, such as rabbits, hares, and deer within a few minutes. With everything in hand, they boarded the dropships and left for the island.

As the night went on, the kidnapped hunters felt fear and confusion, with the vibrating hum, dim purple lighting, and the troop bay's claustrophobic design adding to their distress. One looked at Cavum who snarled in response, while those guarded by the Sangheili Minors were greeted with toothy grins. Their captors' imposing heights and physical features only served to intimidate them.

Unbeknownst to them, a trio of UNSC Pelicans had just entered the atmosphere, the night sky's darkness and vast distance blinding both sides of each other's whereabouts, especially when they had no recon or satellites to alert them.

Once they landed on the island, the Mgalekgolo were the first to disembark. The Sangheili followed suit, and then the Jiralhanae. The Kig-Yar, the Yanme'e, and the Unggoy were tasked with arranging the wild game into a pile for everyone to eat. Lastly, the kidnapped hunters were then bound by the ropes they carried on themselves. A special individual recommended by Commander 'Zodamee was an Ultra, who had shown promise in the art of interrogation and was attached to the surface team if the need arose.

And arose it has.

A native of Malurok, he had crossed paths with Chak 'Lok, and the brothers Merg Vol and Parg Vol. Each had a profound effect on his military service, as he looked up to them for experience. From Chak 'Lok, he had learned the basics on how to extract information from unwilling captives. The Vol brothers had instilled in him a ruthlessness that could only be outmatched by them and the late Arbiter.

Seeing these humans as a test to apply his knowledge, he grinned internally as he would likely enjoy the task. Remembering that they spoke the language called English, he was not fully proficient in its pronunciation but could form full sentences despite a raspy result.

"So, you have had the unfortunate step of stumbling onto our trap. How amusingly convenient." he said while eyeing each one of them

Seeing that they would not talk only made him more excited for the challenge of making them do so. He then set himself to work. Borrowing a plasma pistol from one of the Unggoy, he then proceeded to give a small speech.

"I was once told silence is not empty, but is full of answers. You all aim to keep quiet, but what I see is a hoard of information just waiting to exit your pathetic bodies. And I have just the key."

Aiming the plasma pistol, he then shot at one of the hunters' legs. The green plasma burning and sizzling the hapless captive's flesh led him to roll around and scream in agony, causing his fellow friends to sweat and look upon their tormentor in white.

"It seems I have forgotten to ask. What is this place?"

Silence once again came forth.

"It seems you wish to prolong this little game. Very well, I shall grant that favor."

Aiming the plasma pistol once again, this time, at the head of the first victim.

"Wait!" one of them spoke up

With a smile hidden by the ornate white mask, he proceeded to ask again. "Where or what is this forsaken backwater?"

"Th-this place is called the Eastweald, within Tirisfal Glades. You are in the middle of Brightwater Lake."

"Does this planet have a name?"

"Wh-what? What is a planet?"

The interrogator looked at his comrades in confusion. He then proceeded to reword his question. "Then, does this world have a name?"

"Azeroth."

"Azeroth. What a strangely beautiful name. When we came here, our scouts reported the presence of several towns and villages, but there seemed to be a large fortification. What is it called?"

"You must mean the Capital City. The Kingdom of Lordaeron-"

"Tell them nothing!"

Incitus proceeded to lift the defiant one by his neck.

"It seems one of yours has spirit. Nonetheless, if you don't tell me everything, your friend will end up as his dinner."

Incitus showed his jagged teeth to signify his eagerness to dine on his unfortunate companion.

The one who was questioned then proceeded to continue. "This area belongs to the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Soon enough, the king's forces will discover what has happened here. When that happens, they won't let you leave alive."

"We shall see."

The Ultra then pulled out his energy sword and activated it. Deciding that the captives were no longer of any use, he then beheaded all of them.

The dead bodies were immediately and gleefully gobbled up by the Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, and the Yanme'e.

Eversong Forest
Quel'Thalas

The high elven priestess was currently held captive by two giant alien creatures. She could not comprehend how monstrous they looked, their numerous daggerlike teeth not helping her perception. As the night went on, she felt cold and shivering, while these creatures seemed to not care about not lighting a fire. As they walked briefly, her captors seemed to slow down and finally stopped when she saw a strange, rather large thing.

It had a bulbous, teardrop shape adorned by strange carvings, and wondered what it was, or where it came from. The reptilian one climbed on top of it, and a hatch had opened. Entering it, she was now left with the massive, fanged one. Looking at it, it noticed her gaze and proceeded to snarl menacingly, showing its gleaming spikes that somehow passed as teeth.

Fearful, she looked back to the strange craft. The bipedal reptile had emerged and carried a rather peculiar, handheld device. It gathered some wood, twigs, thick branches, and piled them altogether. It gripped the device in its hand, which emitted a pulsed sound as it shot out a green bolt of energy. The bolt landed on the wood pile and lit it on fire.

Both looked at her and started conversing in a language completely alien to her understanding.

(Ine yap'o k'e o kkhat'a? Zhiija domo?)

"What do you think of this? Suitably human?"

The reptilian claws touched her ears and looked closely into her glowing blue eyes.

(Eya...)

"No..."

The saurian's soulless pitch-black eyes only enhanced its menacing visage, paying attention to its four mandibles, each lined with spike-like teeth. Its massive, towering partner could be best described as having the attributes of an ape and a bear, as its face vaguely resembled the latter's. It came closer, its crimson-red eyes contrasting its brownish-gray skin and fur, and proceeded to sniff her like a predatory animal would its prey. Upon closer inspection, its mouth was a cave full of sharp, flesh-rending teeth that could bite her hand off in a second. Its overpowering smell caught her attention, but she tried her best not to show weakness.

However, her curiosity drove her to try and understand what they were thinking, even when she could not comprehend their language. Speaking of which...

"We need to find a way to contact our comrades. We cannot take much more in our state."

"Especially against those green ones with tusks. I wonder if it was a wise decision to take the female with us?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"She came with a small party. Sooner or later, if her people arrive, they will investigate and if we do not leave in time, we will be caught. Strong we are, but not against too many for too long."

"Then how will we evade them long enough?"

"Perhaps we should consult our prisoner."

The moment they focused their attention on her, both her eyes widened in fear, thinking of torture as the most likely outcome.

"Do you think she can understand us?"

"Only one way to find out."

The Sangheili tried to intimidate her, speaking his first sentence: "You may not understand me, but I wonder how we could make you do so. If you do not speak a word within a minute, I will proceed to dismember you with this."

He waved the troll axe in her face and aimed the edge on her hand to signify that's where he would start. After a minute, he readied to swing it downwards, prompting the priestess to scream in muffled cries of fear. The gag was removed, relieving her of the chafing discomfort. In a hasty move, she cast a language spell upon them. It caused a small display of light to envelop all three of them, leading the two of them to believe she played a trick on them and intended to escape.

"Kill the female! It was a mistake bringing her with us!"

She then understood what they were saying. Being a priestess blessed by the Holy Light, she had the ability to translate, or more specifically, bypass language barriers by directly connecting with one's soul. Seeing as they were about to cut her head off, she shouted, "Stop!".

Both of them stayed in place, puzzled at the turn of events. Strangely, they could understand her now but immediately went back to interrogating her.

"What did you do? How is it that we can understand you now?"

"Wait, allow me to explain. I cast a language spell on both of you so that we could understand each other."

As the two aliens looked at each other in clear confusion, the priestess felt uncertain about how this interaction would go.

"Bah! What does it matter? At least we can understand each other now. Well, back to business. What are you? You resemble humans yet you have those long ears, glowing eyes, and speak a strange language." the Jiralhanae asked

"I am a high elf."

"Elf? Then what were those green ones with tusks? Surely they had long ears just the same as you."

"They are forest trolls of the Amani tribe. With both of you slaughtering them earlier, they would now see you as their enemy along with my people. You killed my companions. Why?"

"All of you were planning to attack us. Even if we fled, all of you would've pursued us to no end." the reptilian stared harshly

In her mind, she cursed at the misfortune. She knew her companions would've done so, and now she bore witness to the price they paid for their lack of control when it came to potential enemies that one would encounter. At the same time, protecting Quel'Thalas was their duty, which only made it hurt more when she thought of it as it reminded her how unmoving they could be, especially when the Orcish Horde attacked during the Second War 14 years ago.

"Now, what is the name of this place?"

"I will tell you nothing! Because if I do, many more of my people will die!"

"You will die if you don't say anything."

A tense silence soon permeated the air, and the last thing the priestess saw was black as she closed her eyes.

Ashenvale
Northern Kalimdor

Within the Emerald Dream, Malfurion Stormrage was walking around and watching over the realm as usual. Ysera lay peacefully, guarding the dream as she had for generations.

"Something has stirred the spirits and the elements. I feel the taint of the fel, but there is something else I do not recognize." Ysera suddenly rose from her rest

Within the ancient forests in the physical plane, Cenarius had certainly felt something bother him, but could not pinpoint on what it was. Tyrande patrolled the forests as usual, unknowingly feeling the same feeling that started to plague Ysera, Malfurion, and Cenarius.

Violet Citadel
Dalaran

Jaina continued to study the rumors of a plague spreading throughout the regions close to Andorhal. She tried to consult with others such as Archmage Antonidas, and even Kael'thas Sunstrider.

But what overtook all that was the ominous feeling that lingered after her harrowing vision. She was torn between delving deeper into that or the plague that could affect the Northern Lordaeron. Deciding that more concrete matters took higher importance, she remembered some time ago when she helped her master deal with the renegade wizard Kel'Thuzad. His necromantic magic was a sacrilege to the teachings of the Kirin Tor and an affront to the arcane, and could not help but feel that the plague might be connected to that.

Taking a small nap, she awoke in a very unfamiliar environment.

An eerily quiet hallway lit by purple-blue lighting, a vibrating hum gently reverberating throughout only intensified the feeling of isolation. Touching the walls, it felt cold and strange, the lights reflecting off and revealing its pearlescent sheen adorned by a hexagonal pattern. The hall then abruptly became dark, with only small lights left to illuminate the way.

And within the dark, all she could see was a faint glow.

But then it moved and disappeared. Realizing what she saw was a pair of eyes, she realized that danger was closing in. As she was about to cast a spell, those same eyes then reappeared right in front of her.

As intense as her ordeal was, she was thrust back into reality with equal measure. Cold sweat drenched her face, her hands showing the slightest signs of trembling. Another vision had just invaded her mind, and she did not know how to comprehend it, yet alone the first one.

Rememebering that she had a rumored plague to investigate, she then packed her things to head to Archmage Antonidas to discuss more on the matter, but when the time came, she would finally try to understand what these visions tried to tell her.

Visions that might have told her of what may be coming.

Chapter Text

SPARTAN-A324, born Anthony Jones, was inducted into the SPARTAN-III Program following the Covenant's glassing of Harvest.

A year ago, he was pulled out before Operation PROMETHEUS, and having heard of this, he silently mourned for his fallen brothers and sisters, wishing he had joined them in battle. Remembering Carter, Emile, Rosenda, and Jun, he wondered what became of them. The last time he saw them, Lt. Kurt Ambrose and CPO Franklin Mendez had pulled them out of the company for reasons he didn't know about.

Vice Admiral Parangosky approached him personally, trained him as a Headhunter, and inducted him into the Office of Naval Intelligence. She had seen his performance on Mamore against the Insurrection and on New Constantinople against the Covenant, deciding that he was a perfect addition to her secret operatives alongside Akane-119 but the two had never met eye to eye nor had known of each other's existence.

Before the exodus program, he was assigned to go undercover with the 6,000 refugees to infiltrate the group and weed out anyone affiliated with the Insurrection, from sleeper agents to collaborators.

For that task, he was given the SPI Mark II Armor, which was just recently approved for Beta Company's drill instructors back on Onyx, as he would need all the stealth that he could get. His MA5K Carbine, a stripped and cut-down version of the MA5B Assault Rifle, was included with a suppressor to enhance his covert operations capabilities.

So far, he had found no one affiliated with the Insurrection, but the former ORION operative piqued his interest instead. From what he had observed the entire year, he noticed the interactions between SPARTAN-119 and the Staff Sergeant to be strangely similar to how a parent would teach a child.

In his mind, he was thinking about what the now-dubbed SPARTAN-I could do to try and loosen the indoctrination the program did. He knew it was a difficult task, but he watched them to make sure it wouldn't compromise the mission. To make his presence more covert, the tracking software and the identification data in his neural interface were disabled, making him undetectable to UNSC scanners.

He was secretly briefed on the Staff Sergeant's usefulness in rooting out Insurrectionists but didn't know the true reason why he was inducted into the mission. He would need to avoid getting caught being an ONI spy, but the last several hours started to stir doubt in him, as he had overheard that they were lost in an unknown part of the galaxy. Lastly, he knew that SPARTAN-II would be the most likely person to weed him out.

Thinking of that, he came back for his SPI armor, which he had managed to hide away from every personnel onboard. Just like his neural interface, it was off the grid as any sort of tracking software or device was disabled. For an additional layer of stealth, it was painted a matte charcoal gray, which would blend in well in darker environments and wilderness areas, especially at night. Luckily for him, the ship had darker sections.

If he were discovered, his orders could be compromised, and any Innie would have to double their efforts in hiding.

Ironically true to his suspicion, Akane-119 was observing him from afar.

To her, that particular refugee she had observed the entire year was something else and she eventually deduced that he was not an ordinary human being. She would keep it a secret for now and went back to her job of searching for any potential terrorists. She remembered Michael's advice of being more friendly and wondered if now was the time.

Back on Azeroth...

Hillsbrad Foothills
Eastern Kingdoms

SSgt. Hamilton had just set up base camp, and was unfamiliar with the environment, but was able to draw some similarities in a form of comfort.

"I remember when I was stationed on Reach a long time ago. The evergreens getting blown by the wind, and feeling that breeze. Arcadia once was beautiful before the Covenant glassed it years ago."

Looking at the landscape at night, he figured that the forests were too dense to get a proper sighting, hence he suggested recon before the sun in this place rose. He assigned a small squad of seven ODSTs to map out the area alongside him, activating their night vision before they proceeded. Checking their local comms, the reception was found to be a bit crackly, which meant that if they strayed, they could lose contact.

With that in mind, they decided to leave some markers as they went along the way to be able to find their way back to the camp. As they trekked through the evergreens, the night felt too quiet even for this time.

As time went on, something had registered in their motion trackers but the party just brushed it off as the local wildlife. Soon enough, they stumbled onto a farmstead.

"Well, I'll be damned. A farm sitting right here on this planet, and a farm means people live here. Let's fancy ourselves a look and see whether or not our farmer is some alien bastard." he said to them

Sneaking up to the house, they managed to open the back door quietly and discovered that its occupants were asleep. But what caught their eye was that they were human. Looking at each other in doubt, they wondered how they just discovered humans on a planet they thought to be uncolonized.

A pack of gnolls was around the area near a cave. They were on the hunt and wondered what their scout had witnessed earlier, who had returned and told them of it. Mobilizing to track their new targets, they were eager to come home with lots of fresh meat.

As the team headed back to camp, the gnolls started to stalk them within the darkened woods ever since they found them approaching the farmstead, following their prey all the way.

"They no look like humans from nearby town. But meat is still meat, and they only small party, hihihihi." one of them chuckled in glee

Michael's motion detector from his VISR registered several lifeforms in the area, numbering around two dozen. He heard their chatter and deduced that they were being surrounded. Remembering his experiences against an ambush, he had the idea to act as bait by straying a bit further to reveal whoever was stalking them.

His hunch was going to prove him right.

WRAGHRAAHH!

A gnoll rushed in and swung downward with its axe, but the SPARTAN-I proved to be too quick and gave a hefty punch, stunning the unfortunate victim. The rest of the gnolls in their ravenous hunger made their move to overwhelm them.

The remaining nineteen reached the ODSTs, with some getting pinned down. Some attempted to bite off their limbs, but the titanium-ceramic armor ensured no grave injuries, which gave them time to react. The M7S Submachine Gun did a great job at killing them, while some met their end by getting stabbed in the heart or jugular with standard-issue M5 Combat Knives.

By the end of the encounter, all the gnolls were dead. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured.

"Holy shit, what the fuck was that?! Sarge, what just happened?"

"I don't know, trooper. But this tells me we're gonna have to invest in some security. I don't want the civilians to live here in danger."

"No shit. Getting chewed up by a walking hyena isn't exactly an example of safe."

They soon headed back to base camp, as venturing further into the darkness would grow even more risky, as there is no telling what else lies within the shadows of the night. As the camp was being set up, hours had gone by. Soon, the sun started to rise, turning the skies into an ever-brightening shade of blue and soon into a pink hue, signaling its arrival. The creatures of the woods soon sounded off their morning calls, from the tiniest of insects to the largest of herbivores and carnivores.

The sun then bathed the highlands with its golden glow, showing a beauty that made them marvel.

It was early dawn, and the forest ahead would be scouted again for dangers. A scenery reminiscent of Eposz's alpine forests back on Reach was in sight. The ODSTs, Marines, and the SPARTAN-I were brought back to it when they saw the breathtaking sights.

Remembering the farmstead, they thought it best to approach as the locals would most likely be of great help to them, and the fact that they were human made it easier for them to attempt to interact. With daylight now making the view clear, they saw a cave they missed when it was still dark.

Muffled grunts were heard from it, with another ODST asking to investigate. He found a young, red-headed girl tied up and gagged with ropes, honey-colored eyes red from crying in fear and exhaustion. Pulling out the M5 Combat Knife, it made swift work of the thick ropes with just a few cuts.

"Oh, thank the Light! They were about to eat me, and thank you for saving me!" she replied in a British-sounding accent

Every member looked at each other in confusion but remembered the now-deceased hyena-like beasts most likely to be the cave's inhabitants. She then noticed their armor, some wearing dark gray and some olive drab, seeing the UNSC lettering and logo, which was unfamiliar to her.

"A-are you from the Alliance?"

This response even created more confusion, and one decided to speak out.

"What's the Alliance? Young lady, is there a nearby UNSC outpost?" SSgt. Hamilton asked

"UNSC? W-what is that?"

"So, what were those hyena-looking things we just killed?"

"Wait, you've never heard of gnolls?"

"Gnolls? That's what they are?"

"Yes. Oh, dear. I must get home, my mother and father are worried sick! I've been missing for almost a day!"

They were pondering on what to do, as they couldn't just leave her in the wilderness to die. Looking at her exhausted and dehydrated form, one of the ODSTs decided to grab a canteen full of water and give it to her, who drank it all out of thirst.

"Thank you."

"Excuse me, but where do you live?"

"I come from Hillsbrad Fields. It's a farming community, and I wish I could remember where to go, but I lost my way ever since I was kidnapped." she replied

"Speaking of a farm, we stumbled onto one earlier. Perhaps the people there can help point you in that direction?"

"Oh, please do take me there. I would be grateful for the assistance."

"Alright, let's get you home. By the way, what's your name?"

"Emma. You?"

"Michael."

Back at the UNSC Battle Group...

After the UNSC Zaragoza had returned, the captain was alarmed at the damage.

"Sir, we came across a Covenant corvette over the planet. We ran out of ordnance and barely survived limping back here on one engine."

"Alessandra, why hasn't it been detected?"

"Forgive me, captain. I believe that Cmdr. Ramirez's report said they had only spotted it at close range. That could mean its stealth technology was activated, which would explain why the long-range radar hasn't detected it."

"Any casualties, commander?"

"Luckily, none. Only some injured personnel."

"Wait, where is the Staff Sergeant?

"He chose to go down the planet. The Covenant had also deployed their teams, so he offered to go ahead and wait for reinforcements."

"If the Covenant are here, they'll be thinking the exact same thing. Alessandra, we need to form a fast strike team, and we have the ODSTs and the Falcons for that but for the ground troops, the Warthogs might not cut it in terms of speed. We don't have many men to spare so any idea that could prevent losses might be good at this point."

"Fast... ground... I may have an idea, captain."

"Explain."

"Being the property of ONI has its perks. I once managed to acquire tidbits of data just for some personal fun before security protocols locked me out. From those files, I have pulled a rather interesting choice of vehicle. The M121 Light Strike Vehicle, codename "Jackrabbit"."

She then pulled up a holographic representation, showing its intricate details.

"It seems that learning from the CMA, they decided to take a bit of inspiration from the Cobra. A motorbike that can switch from a three-wheeler to a two-wheeler. The former for stability, and the latter when speed is needed. Perfect for hit-and-run missions on uneven terrain. Weapons systems are mounted on a pedestal above the driver, configured to be compatible with weapons that could be attached on a Warthog."

"I'm taking it. When can you start working on them?"

"If sufficient feedstock is available, I can program the factory modules to begin producing them. I suggest recycling any broken-down vehicles in the cargo hold. Hmm, there are two Scorpions reported to be in dire need of maintenance."

"Use them. We have enough that are still serviceable, so losing two to recycling isn't a big deal."

"Excellent. From those two Scorpions, I can theoretically produce around close to 80, based on weight. 66 tons can cover that."

"What else can be made from that much? Without two tanks, we need something else that can hit back just as hard."

"If you wish to have heavy fire support, I can think of another vehicle. Pulling again from those files, the M400 Artillery System, codename Kodiak, is a relatively new addition to the UNSC inventory. But will it be necessary? We already have Grizzlies for that."

"We need to optimize everything we can. The Covenant won't give us a chance to stand back up. Once they know we're here, they'll come with everything they've got. We keep the Covenant secret from the civilians until we settle down on the planet."

After the decision was made to start producing the Jackrabbit and Kodiak, the order was given to bring the two near-broken-down M808B Scorpions to the recycling section, and to be used as feedstock for the factory modules. Alessandra calculated there would be around close to thirty Jackrabbits and two Kodiaks once production was finished. Within three hours, the modules started to create the necessary parts and the workers went to assemble them.

In the assembly lines, some workers wondered why they were making new vehicles.

"Check it out. This is something new, man. A bike with a gun on it, and a howitzer on wheels. What'd they need this for?"

"I for sure as hell don't know. But I gotta admit that bike would be one sweet ride. Breaking down those piece of shit Scorpions was the right choice. The maintenance guys slaved all year to keep em from falling apart."

Anthony was part of the civilian refugees who had chosen to work in the assembly lines for extra rations. He knew he would need it due to his energy needs from having to exert so much effort to hide his equipment and keep it low. Being a SPARTAN-III made blending in a bit harder, but his time with ONI and in interacting with civilian matters helped him ease into it. Seeing the new vehicles made him wonder what was going on and why they needed that much firepower.

In the civilian section, the usual routine of guarding them was in place.

One of the ODSTs, Lance Corporal Andrew Polarsky, reminisced of Harvest when the Covenant attacked it. He briefly cooperated with another ODST squad under the command of Gage Yevgenny who he would meet again in the Battle of Yat Hai. Nonetheless, he had gotten into trouble when he had one too many whiskeys leading him to lose control and causing a bar fight to happen. This wasn't the first time, as several soon happened as the years went on. From his rank as Gunnery Sergeant, he was gradually demoted to being a Corporal, and finally a Lance Corporal. His last drunken bout landed him in the affairs of military justice and was sentenced to military prison for several months.

Due to his service record, he was soon relegated to the Wet Fleet back on Earth instead of being dishonorably discharged, taking the chance to sign up for the exodus program 8 years later just to escape the demeaning conditions, now wondering whether it was the right choice as he had heard that they were officially lost in nowhere.

BRIDGE

For deployment, the supercarrier wouldn't need to get close to the atmosphere, as an Albatross dropship would be able to enter the atmosphere by itself upon exiting from the starboard hangar. The captain decided to keep away just in case the planet's gravity would pull the ship into it, as the ship might have suffered hidden damages that might lead it to disintegrate upon entering its atmosphere.

The Pelican was perfectly fine for this endeavor, but the Albatross was seen as the more suitable option, given that the Zaragoza did not carry any at that time and the former was the only available option. The large dropship would serve as a good makeshift base or command center that could immediately move out of position if the situation required it.

The one carrying the reinforcements was loaded with weapon racks and supply crates for the team, the vehicle itself outfitted with three M41 Vulcans each facing the bay door openings. The upgraded software courtesy of the Smart AI improved the performance of the autopilot and the hydraulic systems by around 50% more which would help in case of emergency repositioning.

"Alessandra, have you started scanning the planet?" the captain asked

"Yes, captain. Although, I've been noticing something rather... strange. Planetary scans show high amounts of energy in constant fluctuation and may present a problem with wireless communications. As of now, scans are rather... incomplete, so to say."

"New plan. Before we start regrouping with the Staff Sergeant, try to send more consistent reports concerning connectivity once down there. That way, Alessandra can help with making a solution to that."

"Yes, sir." the team answered in unison

"Last but not least, this planet may have some rather unsavory natives, and as much as possible we should expect confrontations. If there are natives, we surely don't want them getting restless, don't we? Alright, gear up." the captain interjected the last time

The team then headed to the armory, with all 22 of them acquiring M6C SOCOM sidearms and M7S Submachine Guns, alongside MA5Bs and BR55s modified and fitted with suppressors for additional firepower.

As a day's worth of hours passed by, the entire ship was given extra maintenance. The Albatross was being prepped for exoatmospheric insertion, with the hangar crew steering clear of the bulkheads once the launch was close to being greenlit. Inside, the team performed checks on their weapons and systems as per protocol.

The captain was conversing with the AI concerning the transmission issue.

"Alessandra, what can you think of for this situation? You said the scanners have a bit of trouble."

"Yes, captain. I am currently trying to formulate a solution to the wavelength problem. I might need some time to create a new algorithm to help me figure out what wavelengths we can use to allow better feedback from the sensors. As for the dropship, don't worry. I loaded enough hydrogen reaction mass for it to make a round trip in and out of the exosphere."

Remembering the VISR technology that was developed for the MJOLNIR Armor, it would mean that the ODSTs only have a rudimentary HUD for their helmets similar to regular Marine infantry. Only 119 and SSgt. Hamilton had VISR for their systems, but Alessandra uploaded a beacon software for the team just in case they got too far apart, and uploaded the upgraded in a chip to be handed to the Staff Sergeant for manual updating.

The captain just hoped that his friend was still alive by the time they reached the planet, as with the Covenant down there, anything could happen.