Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VanDread - Halo The Second Stage ❯ Testing Grounds ( Chapter 2 )

VanDread Halo The Second Stage

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to VanDread or Halo so let's just leave it at that.

Chapter 2

Testing Grounds

< >: Thoughts

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On a nearby planet…

Parfait looked at the scanners and began to check over the data as she looked on the nearby portable computer system that she had with her. As the data streamed in quickly she looked at the field before her. The field was placed with a huge slew of obstacles, both natural ones as well as manmade. Along with her was her staff of engineers who were available for this mission, along with Dr. Catherine, the Master Chief himself, along with his fellow Spartan IIs and Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez. The Nirvana Fire teams were there as well to oversee the production testing of her Power Armors.

They had arrived on a nearby world that had similarities to Earth and quite by accident as well. The world was ideal for colonization though it appeared that this world was not inhabited by anyone and all of the natural resources appeared to be relatively intact on the surface and this had several environments that could serve as test grounds for the operational effectiveness of the Power Armor systems that the plucky head engineer developed months before.

The Power Armors were currently on the ground and had been installed with a number of sensors to scan the suit's internal and external systems for this test run. The sensors were also able to take hits and mock damage readings from the weapons that were brought in for the testing. These included a large number of UNSC weapons, the Covenant based weapons, the modified Megele Laser Rifles, and Megele Laser Rings, as well as Tarak weaponry and a number of salvaged Harvester Shock Trooper weapons that were reverse engineered to be used in the experiments. They needed to not only test the suits in combat conditions, but to see their effectiveness in the various environments that the Nirvana Fire Teams would find themselves in if ever they were once more on the planet.

The weapons of the UNSC and those of Tarak were currently armed with standard ammunition in which the suits would be tested in their shield systems as well as their armor plating, it would be expensive, but it would gauge the resistance of the Power Armor to basic solid rounds, the Megele weapons and the reverse engineered Harvester Plasma weapons as well as those of the Covenant would be used to test the Armor's resistance to energy based attacks.

Since the Megele Laser Rifles undergone modifications, they were a lot more effective than they were before and had to undergo not just internal modifications but external ones as well. The Laser Rifles might have been elegant looking but they were too delicate to be used in the kinds of fights the Fire Teams would routinely find themselves in. The casings were made to be tougher and harder, as well as lighter to allow the women to move about, the Laser Rifles were also like staves and had to be changed to match the needs of the battle field. This included a shorter profile as well as modifications to other parts of the weapons, namely the charging systems, storage batteries, the energy cycling chamber and the crystal arrays. The end result was the Megele Laser Rifle trading it's staff like appearance to a more traditional rifle design. The components were also shielded from dirt, mud, rain, dust, sand, and snow to fit the needs of the Nirvana Fire Teams. The Fire Teams quickly learned through their training that the original Laser Rifles might look elegant, but the delicate nature of the design made it impractical in the battle field, plus maintenance was too risky and difficult, plus when dealing with their training in close combat, the staff design was not effective in moving quickly as they would have to hold the weapons horizontally or vertically, they would further limit the effectiveness of the weapons.

Parfait also borrowed design concepts from the Talvernians who used lasers as their basic weapons and through this, she was able to scale down the rifles even more to help make them easier to move around with.

The Megele Laser Rifle now resembled a cross between the MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle with the barrel of the BR55 HB SR Battle Rifle, the slimmer and more compact profile made it easier to carry and use in a moment's notice and the battery packs could be replaced in the same way as the ammunition clips of the said weapons could be replaced. The design proved to be very effective and would soon be tested in this world as well and would soon find their way to the arsenals of the Nirvana Fire Teams.

The group on the surface of the world was currently using one of the Albatross Drop ships as a command center as well as an Elephant for more mobile use though mobile was not a very effective term for the slow moving machine. They needed the Elephant however due to the multi environment nature of it's design and it's hardiness to serve in a capacity where moving the Albatross was not feasible or advisable.

Parfait then spoke to the Master Chief.

“Chief, the suits are powered up and ready for testing.”

“Good.”

He nodded to the volunteers to get ready as the women were dressed in basic UNSC issued clothing instead of their usual Megele clothes. One of the members of Fire Team Alpha, a young brunette named Lisa Delann took to the center stage, she went to the nearby changing cubicle and placed on a small form fitting body suit with special kinetic body armor. Parfait had developed the inner suit to act as a safety system to protect the wearers from internal injuries such as heat, cold, toxins and shrapnel. It was not perfect, but it would help a good deal in preventing higher injuries while the testing was going on, it also came complete with a special interface system that allowed Parfait to monitor the vital signs of the user as well with the help of Dr. Catherine Halsey who would be nearby for medical support.

Lisa was done with the changing and then she moved to the first test suit and she then was helped by her comrades and began to enter the suit and as soon as it was done, she began to power up the systems by activating the computer systems, but immediately spotted a spike in the scanner system, she used the AI system to track down the source and found that the energy spikes were coming from the power regulation system and she called it in immediately.

“Parfait, there seems to be some odd fluctuations in the power system that's messing with the suit's sensors.”

“All right, power the suit down for a minute.”

Lisa did so and Parfait went to work on the suit using the scanners she had placed in before to track down the flaw to the power system, Catherine also looked over the situation and gave her own thoughts on the matter to help with the improvements and upgrades needed by the suits. At the moment, there were ten suits ready for testing and the others suits would then be upgraded to take into account the data gathered from the results of the tests of the ten suits. So far the Power Armors were in their simple metallic silver color as well as gun metal grey. Someone in the manufacturing suggested that they should color the suits in order to make them more feminine as drab silver and grey were so unattractive.

Amazingly however, the ones who shot down that idea were the Nirvana Fire Teams themselves, while they wanted the suits to look more attractive, they knew that doing so was an open invitation to being shot at by the enemy, looking good in the battle field was a death warrant as the enemy would spot you and hit you first. They were not going to lose the element of surprise and they insisted that the Powered Armor would be colored to match the battle field that they were no doubt going to be in at some point.

As they located the power source problems, Lisa was joined by another Fire Team member from Fire Team Charlie named Hana who wore the same clothes as well as wearing the same inner body suit and she too was helped into another one of the suits which had been fixed with the power problem and she began to run the suit, reporting that hers was working fine as the power systems were working a lot better thanks to the upgrades made by the engineers. Lisa was quickly able to join into it all and get her own suit back on track.

It had been several days since their latest flirt with disaster with the Harvesters, they had barely gotten away from the sight of the battle to lick their wounds when they were once more hip deep in trouble. They had salvaged what they could from the remains of the new Harvester Shock Troopers as well as the Cube Fighters and even that massive manta ray like creature that they had defeated before in order to find out just what the Harvesters had been up to ever since the destruction of the battleship that they fought with using Hibiki's near insane plan to turn a gas giant into a star.

The situation started out with their meeting with the young woman that they had rescued before, they brought her to the Medical Bay for a better analysis and found that her name was Misty Cornwell and she was biologically 14 years old. Paiway pointed out that while she was 14 she had spent 63 years in cryogenic suspension so she was actually 77 years of age in her usual tone with her puppet. Duero was amused at that while Catherine chuckled a bit. As soon as Misty woke up, out came the same blob like hologram from her earrings and she looked about to see herself surrounded by the Nirvana crew.

She then spoke to the blob that spoke to her in beeps and chirps that she was all right, showing that the blob entity she called Q-chan had asked her if she was all right. She shivered somewhat and Duero gave her a blanket to fight off some of the effects of her long hibernation while Catherine told her that while she suffered no signs of freezer burn due to her well made jump suit, now was not the time to move around.

The second she saw Duero, she commented on how handsome he was, surprising Duero as he was considered average looking back on his home world, not to mention that it was the first time a woman had ever commented on his looks. The young woman was then spoke to by Bart and asked if she did live on a world where men and women lived together and she called him an idiot for asking her that kind of question, earning a bit of humor from Hibiki as well as Catherine. Misty then directed her attention to the young Tarak youth, and after learning his name, begins to attraction and affections towards the young man, unsettling Hibiki somewhat as well as making Dita rather unhappy with the situation.

Needless to say, Misty was quick to show that she was interested in the young man, making Dita even more annoyed as Misty mentioned the old Japanese legend of the Red String of Fate, Misty and Dita were soon to be rivals after Hibiki at this point, though the Master Chief swore that even Jura was giving the young blue haired female slightly hostile looks. After hearing the truth from Catherine and told where she was Misty decided to back and get some much needed rest.

Dita naturally spoke to Cortana and Ezra about the situation while Hibiki was still trying to figure out just what the heck was going on. He had even asked John what to do but the Spartan merely replied that it usually happens. The Spartan knew that for a fact, some female UNSC Marines would sometimes make a pass at him as well despite his intimidating size and appearance, and when he was lost in thought and looking ahead, and in the direction of some female Marines they would comment on that, some were playful while he recalled one saying that he should pray that Cortana was not the jealous type.

In most regards, the Spartan explained that such things were considered normal for young man his age and he had to be able to adapt and handle it. Kelly, who was a bit more skilled with words than John was said that Hibiki should be lucky, most guys back in their dimension would gladly switch places with him right there and then, further confusing the young man. Dita meanwhile commented to Ezra about how unfair it was for Misty to be so familiar with Hibiki when they had only just met, Ezra tried to console her friend and told Dita that misty in a ship where she next to no one and no doubt is getting used to the idea of being in a ship where the vast majority of the crew were female, plus it would make sense that since might be from another world than Megele she would see men differently. Dita however was still not happy with the situation.

Misty had been placed back into sleep and was currently keeping out of trouble as she still needed to recover from the effects of waking up from cryogenic suspension.

However it was not long before Dita's attention goes to Ezra as the young mother to be cries out n pain and holding her stomach showing that the baby was about to come out. Dita hurriedly helps Ezra to the Medical Bay for the delivery and manages to draft Hibiki into helping her with Ezra. Hibiki was recently in the Register trying to make sense of the whole situation before he left to have a chat once more with the Master Chief or with Felix until he ran into Dita and Ezra, he saw immediately the pain the young mother was in and rushed to help, not waiting for Dita to call his attention.

They were on their way down to the Medical Bay when out of nowhere; the power in the whole ship suddenly went down. It was then that they were told by Duero who managed to contact them that the ship had been infected by some type of virus that had crippled the entire ship with the exception of emergency power as well as life support and short range communications as was reported by Parfait.

It turned out that Buzam and the others had found a message pod in Misty's stasis pod and had attempted to decrypt it, but it apparently had some form of failsafe device that immediately began to upload a virus right into the networks and it was a very fierce one, powerful enough to disable even the AI form Cortana was in, trapping the woman in her holo-tank in the bridge and rendering her unable to help in any fashion though she was able to communicate and said that she was all right. However it was then that the bridge crew managed to get some data from their long range scanners that faint traces of Harvesters were detected in the area.

It was not long before the Harvesters did show up, just as Hibiki and Dita were told that they would have to help deliver Ezra's baby right there and now in the very elevator they were in. Naturally Hibiki was far from happy with the idea and was not much help at the moment, so it was down to Dita to help her friend, not that it was a mistake, Hibiki, having grown up in an all male society had no prior experience on the matters of child birth and was not trained for such things.

The Nirvana Security Teams realized that they were going to have their work cut out for them as they would have to rely on themselves as well as the Nirvana Fire teams, the Spartans and the Talvernian soldiers to deal with the Harvester Shock Troopers who were no doubt going to show up and attack them while they were in this state. Magno and Buzam also knew that the only force they had on hand were going to be the Dreads and the Vanguards, thankfully the Talvernians who had been training on how to use the upgraded Vanguards in space were more than willing and ready to take the fight to the Harvesters and buy time for the Dreads to take to the sky, it was risky, but the Talvernians had been routinely training in the Vanguard simulators for both space borne and ground operations. With Hibiki out of action due to being trapped in the elevator during this situation, it fell to the Talvernian Vanguard pilots to hold the line. This was easier as unlike the Dreads who relied on the Launching Catapult to fire them out into space, the Vanguards merely leaped out and were now in action.

The Vanguards had gotten a larger number of upgrades in both offense and defense so they were better off at this point but the pilots knew that unless they had support from the Dreads, things were going to go from uncertain to worse for them all. Not to mention they had limited ammunition to begin with and without support from the Dreki to refuel and rearm, combat was not going to be easy so they would have to rely on close combat when their regular ranged weapons ran dry.

The situation was made even worse as with Hibiki no longer able to pilot the Vanguard that was transformed by the Paeksis all those months before, the use of the VanDreads was out of the question, and with Cortana out of the way to provide fire support, things were not going to be easy, and with the Nirvana's shields offline as well as all other functions they were dead in space.

The Spartans were quick to respond to the possible boarding attack, but with power down to most of the Nirvana, they would have to rely on natural brute strength to open the doors to reach the areas that could be attacked and that meant that they would have to use their heavy strength to open the doors. The women had to admit that seeing the Spartan IIs rip door open with terrifying ease made them uncomfortable, even the Nirvana Fire teams who had already gotten used to being around the Master Chief were in awe at how easily he and his fellow Spartan IIs could tear doors open.

The Harvesters came right at them with several squadrons of Cube Fighters as well as several Boarding Craft that with Cortana unable to support the newly released Vanguards as well several of the Boarding Craft were able to latch on the Nirvana and the Talvernians had to do their best to report to the crew on what was happening. Parfait managed to do what she could in order to help locate the attackers using the still functional sensors on the Nirvana but it was not going to be easy.

The battles in the Nirvana's corridors were very fierce as the Security Teams with their upgraded Megele Laser Rifles did what they possibly could in order to hold the line with the Nirvana Fire Teams, the Spartans, and the Talvernians remaining behind. The Spartans were doing an excellent job in all accounts and so were the Nirvana pirates and their Talvernian allies, but it was far from easy. With Cortana down and with already existing sensors down, the Nirvana defense forces had to rely on their own communication systems to help coordinate their efforts, The Fire Teams were able to rely on their UNSC Communications gear well enough to handle the situation and the women of the Nirvana and their allies were able to hold their own.

However it was far from pretty or tolerable, the injuries suffered by the defenders were considerable and a good number of the women were gravely injured though not fatally at this point and time, the problem was that since the Medical Bay was out of power and they could ill afford to leave the battle since if they retreated, then the Harvesters would have free reign into the Nirvana and cause considerable damage to the ship. The women had no choice but to toughen it out as the smell of gun powder, burned ozone, melting metal, burned cloth, and the undeniably sickening smell of burned skin and flesh was in the air. They could only do their best to patch the injuries with the Medical Kits they carried to treat injuries, Biofoam hurt like hell, but it kept them alive for as long as they needed to keep fighting. The medics in the team and from the Talvernians did their absolute best to keep their fellow soldiers from losing themselves to the pain and keep them in the fight.

As soon as they were able to eliminate the Harvester Shock Troopers in one section of the Nirvana they had to hurry as there was still an attack going on in the other sections of the Nirvana. The Security Teams on the scene did their best with the modified Laser rifles and while they were not very happy with the changes done to the rifles, that particular change was no longer an issue as the weapons performed as they were needed to perform in combat. The Security teams did their best but they too were in dire straits as some of them had been injured and it was with the arrival of the Nirvana Fire Teams, The Spartans, and their Talvernian allies. The wounded were patched up as best as can be, but with the Medical bay down and out, there was no way for them to get the needed medical attention until the virus had been dealt with.

The Security Teams were able to hold their own but it was no doubt that sooner or later, they were going to need some better armor, their outfits might have been comfortable, fashionable, and easy to clean, but it was nowhere near effective protecting them from the weapons fire of the Harvester Shock Troopers while the Marine Body Armor of the Nirvana Fire Teams were more than enough to handle itself in the heat of combat before them all. The fighting was getting even fiercer by the second and it was not going to be long before the Harvester Shock Troopers would be pushed back. The Spartans were getting a large number of kills as Blue Team were beating the crap out of the Harvesters one by one. Kelly and Fred blasted away with their weapons with Fred cutting down any attackers with his Combat Knife if they came too close to either him or Linda while Kelly and John blasted away with deadly accuracy and precision with their own weapons with John wielding his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle and Kelly using a Br55 HB SR Battle Rifle.

Hibiki was far from idle as he managed to get himself out of the shock he had found himself in and listen to the words being said to him by Magno as well as Catherine, despite not being a registered expert in child birth, Catherine genius intellect and her vast medical expertise came to the fore to work with Magno, Magno, being already a hundred years old was very much versed in the art of child birth and knew that since Hibiki had explained the pain, that Ezra was about to give birth there and now and thus both Hibiki and Dita would have to do what they could to help Ezra deliver the baby.

Duero was far from happy as this was not an ideal situation, but both Magno and Catherine knew full well that there was no way around it, if Ezra was already in labor, then there was nothing for it as there was no way to stop the baby from being born right now.

Hibiki had no idea how to do this but knew that now was not the time to lose one's cool, and focus on the matter. He was not going to let this fear of the unknown stop him and he certainly was not going to let anything happen to Ezra and Dita as well as Ezra's daughter, he had a job to do and that was to ensure the safety of the people with him. The Master Chief had taught him much and he had learned a lot from the Spartan plus his time with Chief Mendez.

The battles outside of the Nirvana were also getting very fierce as the Talvernian pilots did all that they could manage with the Harvesters, they held their own, but the lack of actual space borne Vanguard combat experience worked against them. And they desperately needed the support of the Dreads in order to match up with the still growing number of Cube Fighters as the two Seed Ships began to send out even more of their kind to fight with them.

However, there was already a drama unfolding in the Nirvana…

Meia had to help with the defense as the reports from a Security Team that held the fort in one section of the Nirvana told them that a large detachment of Harvester Shock Troopers were making their way to the Dread Launching Bay, if they were able to disable the Dread Launching Platform/Catapult completely, the Nirvana would be totally defenseless, not mention the Register girls who were there along with Gascogne would be sitting ducks, Gascogne had ordered the girls to use the oldest form of power generation, their muscles to help create enough power to run the Dread Launching Catapult, that meant they would have to use bike trainer machines and tread mills to create enough electrical current to power the system.

However, that left them vulnerable to the attacks of the Harvester Shock Troopers making their way to the area to disable the Launching Catapult's systems. Meia ordered the Dread pilots to hold while she would rally with the Security Teams to fight off the Harvesters, while the pilots wanted to help, they followed Meia's commands as she left, armed with her Laser Ring though she doubted that the charges in the Laser ring were going to be enough to handle the refractive armor coating that the Harvester Shock Troopers had on them.

She decided to head for a nearby UNSC Armory that was placed in the area to get some better weapons, while she preferred her Laser Ring, she knew that she would need some better weapons to stand a chance against the Harvester Shock Troopers as she had seen that it would take too many shots for her Laser Ring to harm a single Shock Trooper, as soon as she got there, she was greeted by the Spartan IIIs who were getting spare ammunition for their weapons. Apparently the Spartan IIIs had been ordered by the elder Spartans and by their commanding officer SCPO Mendez to stop the Harvester Shock Troopers from attacking the Dread Launching Platform/Catapult. Tom looked at her and then reached for a M7S Sub Machine Gun as well as a Plasma Pistol and a M6G Magnum with ammunition for both guns. The senior Spartan III knew that since Meia was the leader of the Dread pilot squadrons she was there to help secure the Platform and seeing that she was not going to be dissuaded, he gave her weapons with which to fight with.

Ash was not happy with having a civilian along since despite Meia's rank as Dread Squadron Leader, she was not a fully recognized member of the military, but time was against them and therefore he kept his peace. The group made their way to the area just as they encountered the Harvester Shock Troopers, the fire fight erupted right off the bat as both sides sought cover and the fighting was getting to be very deadly and quick. Meia observed the Spartan IIIs and could sense that the young people in the SPI Mark II Armor were going all out to end the threat before them.

She could see through their fighting methods that the Spartan IIIs were filled with anger and rage, so like her when she was still living on the streets of Megele after the incident that resulted in the death of her fahma as well as the life she led as a street hood. However, she knew that they were different from the norm. While she knew nothing of the full details, she heard that the Spartan IIIs were all war orphans from the War between the UNSC and the Covenant, she was not aware of the details but wanted to know more when she had the chance, even if there was no doubt in her mind that none of them would want to talk about their pasts.

The fight proved to be a fierce one and the Spartan IIs showed their extensive training as well as their fighting ability as the Harvester Shock Troopers were getting themselves torn apart though some of the Spartan IIs did take some hits, thankfully they were not killed as they held their own and so did Meia as she fired the weapon she had with her. The Harvester Shock Troopers were firing back and using cover, but the Spartan IIs were able to take advantage of the cover as well and used their Grenades to even things up in a fight with their foes. However the efforts proved to be a good one as the Spartans and Meia managed to defeat the Harvester Shock troopers heading towards Gascogne and the other Register girls. With that out of the way, Meia moved back to meet up with the rest of the Dread pilots just as a security team arrived with fresh weapons to hold and secure the area.

The Spartans quickly moved to where Hibiki and the others were and they quickly tore open the elevator doors to the stuck elevator, it was a great risk but Tom and ash quickly saw that the breaks that held the elevator steady as well as in position were already reaching breaking point and the attacks were not going to make it any easier. Tom, Ash, Jake, Leena, Mark. Olivia, and Lucy did their best to gently move Ezra without harming her as well as disturbing the soon to be born baby. The Spartan IIIs made it to a nearby room which they had to force open and there they gently took Ezra into a nearby couch for a more comfortable location, the took the mattresses and made a temporary bed and it was then that the Spartan IIIs got word on an incoming Harvester Shock trooper Team heading in their direction.

They quickly moved from the room and formed a barricade with the remaining furniture and the ruined metal doors and not a moment too soon as the Harvester Shock Troopers engaged them….leaving Hibiki and Dita to tend to Ezra, just as the Dreads were now being launched one by one into space to fight. The battle was fierce and brutal and more than one Talvernian had to abandon his or her Vanguard as soon as it was trashed while the Dreads knew that while they were fully loaded and fueled for combat, there was no way they could be able to handle prolonged battles without Gascogne to help them.

The Seed Ships quickly attacked the Nirvana while it was still helpless and it seemed that were going to go bad as the Dreads were slowly running out of ordnance.

It was not long for the salvation they all hoped for came into play…and it was from a baby's cry.

The cries Ezra's newborn baby gave out through the communication system of the Nirvana in the room as Hibiki and Dita helped deliver the baby acted as the password to the pod and the virus was quickly deactivated, allowing the pirates to reactivate the Nirvana. The Spartans were now in the room and looked at the new borne child along with the Tarak teen and Dita.

Cortana was relieved and quickly activated all the Nirvana's weapon systems and got ready to pay the Harvesters back for catching them all like this and soon enough the Dreads and Vanguards were quickly joined by the Longsword Squadrons under Cortana's command and the fight was now in the path of the pirates, the battle was over as the Seed Ships were wiped out and the Dreads, Vanguards and Longswords were able to mop up the rest of the enemy forces.

The Nirvana was back to operational status hours later and with the Medical bay online, the wounded were brought in and Paiway, Duero, and Catherine were busy working on the wounded along with the medics from the Nirvana Fire Teams and the Talvernians. The wounded were grateful and were finally able to get the proper medical treatment that they needed in order to heal and be ready for the next battle. With the ship back to operational status as well, repairs could be done and while Parfait and her engineering crew knew that they had quite the mess to clean up, they were more than ready to tackle the job before them.

With the message pod now unlocked and no more booby traps found in it, the Captain played the message for all the crew to see.

As the video played, they were all told the fate of Earth by a pair of scientists with the male scientist apologizing for the trap left behind but it was a built in safe guard to make sure the humanity was flourishing as it should. The scientists them told them about the true nature of the Harvesters and why the former humans of Earth had become the merciless beings they were now, it seemed that the remaining humans on Earth had tried their best to change the world left behind and clean up the damage done to the planet after the colony ships left the system, but apparently they had failed, and what was worse, genetic saturation had occurred in the human gene pool on Earth, meaning that evolution was now at a standstill for humans on earth. Some humans left earth to other colonies in order to escape that fate but those who remained tried to do what they could in the effort to save humanity.

With no viable land masses and with the environment of Earth resembling a washing machine with acid as the cleaner due to the violent storms and pollution there on the surface, the ones pristine home world of all humanity was now reduced into a mechanical and barren mockery of it's former glory in a mess of giant gears to contain it, with the Moon out of the way and influencing the tidal currents on Earth, the land masses were now nothing but ruined island with derelict cities that resembled human bones reaching out into the sky with almost hungry intent.

The scientists then stated that the remaining humans back on Earth eventually fell into madness and rage, believing themselves the last vestige of humanity, when they were unable to clone even basic copies of themselves, they justified the need for survival above all else, including the basic human morals such as compassion, mercy, kindness and more….they were concerned with survival and morals was now thrown away, they were going to harvest the organs of all the humans beyond the system as they view them now as nothing more than resources for their survival. They then used the Paeksis left on Earth which too fell under their control and was now an evil version of itself to create the harvester forces and their armadas, the scientists said that they didn't know how and why the people of Earth turned to this madness but they implored the crew to resist no matter the odds before them and do not let the future of Humanity die out.

As the message needed, Magno and Buzam nodded and vowed to do what they could to defend Humanity's future no matter the odds.

Hibiki and the Spartans who were still wearing their SPI Mark II Armor with their MA5K Carbines back at the Armory came to see how Ezra was doing and Dita was happy to see them, but before she could react, Misty spoke to Hibiki and then to the shock of everyone, Misty kissed Hibiki who was also shocked at this.

Needless to say that Dita was not the least bit happy with the sight of Misty locking lips with the young Tarak teen while the Spartan IIIs looked at the scene with some surprise and Paiway, she was going to have a lot of fun with this image soon enough.

At the moment however, the crew were taking a much needed rest from all the fighting as well since they still needed to unwind, once this world was discovered they were quick to take the advantage of it.

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In the Nirvana…

Magno watched the progress of the testing and knew that while this was going to shave time away from their mission to return to the system that had both Tarak and Megele, she knew that the stop would be worth it in order to make sure that they were ready for anything. The upgrades done to the Cube Fighters, the new manta like ship that attacked them days before, and the new appearance and tactical skill of the Harvester Shock Troopers told the elderly woman that they would need to take their abilities to the next level. They were nearly caught flat footed that time, they were not going to go through that again.

The world would also provide a good spot for them to rest and enjoy what it would be like to be on a planet for once. Though many of them were renegades from Megele's government and laws, they missed their home world and that was why their secret pirate base replicated their home immensely to remind them of their home planet, but not the ideals and problems with the society. It was not much to go on, but this world would at least for the time being be used as a testing ground and a vacation spot for the crew to get some much needed rest.

Of course she knew better than to let things be so she had the Dread pilots undergo routine patrols to make sure that they were not suddenly caught off guard as well as Hibiki and Cortana, at the moment Hibiki was currently in the Hanger Bay doing some routine maintenance on his Vanguard and while it seemed that he was back on track the elderly woman had a feeling that the young man was not going to have much of a private life going back all the way to Tarak and Megele, not with several females interested in him.

Despite the fact that she was a calm and serious woman when the need came for that, she did love a bit of gossip every now and then to make time on the Nirvana far from dull. She had heard about the rivalry going on between misty and Dita as well as Jura's sudden interest in having a baby with Hibiki in her target sights. The elderly woman had to admit that she couldn't help but be utterly amused by the whole proceedings since she knew that Hibiki had no idea that he was currently in a situation most young men not born of Tarak would have loved to be in.

Magno had lived a very long time and had seen a lot of things growing up back in the day when the Colonization Fleet moved through space in order to find new worlds for humanity to live on. And she knew for a fact that most young men Hibiki's age would love to be the target of attention from women, even more so from women like Dita, Jura as well as Misty. No doubt it was something that was totally foreign to the young man but at least he was not freaking out like before.

The training and discipline he got from the Spartan matured him while being with the Talvernian men might very well help him learn even more about women. She was well aware of how things between Dita and Hibiki were now, which was totally different from how things were before between the two of them. She could imagine just how interesting thing were for the young man as she had no doubt in her mind that he was about to undergo some very interesting things in his young life.

She wondered just how Dita was handling these new emotions that she was feeling towards Hibiki and while she was finding the actions of Misty and Jura towards Hibiki as somewhat entertaining, she hoped that that sooner or later, all of them would be serious about what was going to happen between them all at this point. She had a feeling that despite his youth Hibiki might very well have a large part to play in the coming times. He had already contributed his share of deeds in fighting the Harvesters, that much was true but she had a feeling there would still be more that can be expected from the young man.

**************

Still in the Nirvana

“She's so cute!”

Dita said once more as she looked at the sleeping baby in Ezra's arms, the young mother to be was happy that her baby was healthy and safe. The hair raising episode in the elevator was something she was not keen on happening ever again for herself and her baby and she had to thank Hibiki as well as the Spartan IIIs who had shielded her, Dita and her baby Kahlua from harm when they were cut off and were surrounded by advancing Harvester Shock Troopers. The Spartan IIIs made it back to her when she had just given birth to Kahlua and when the Harvester Shock Troopers came for them, the younger Spartans quickly used their Combat Knives to fight off the enemy showing that they were very capable in combat.

Kahlua was thankfully unharmed and so was she and Dita after the fight was over as the trio if Harvester Shock Troopers had been defeated by the Spartan IIIs. She thanked them for saving their lives and the Spartans replied in kind. The result however was that the Spartan IIIs became attached to Ezra and Kahlua, so much so that only after a day or so after being born the young baby seemed to be relaxed around Tom, Lucy, Mark, Olivia, Cade, Leena, Max, and Dante despite them wearing their SPI Mark II Armor, so much so that she would give them smiles when they passed her by and even try to reach out to them.

Currently the Spartan IIIs were working on security detail with the Talvernians as the Nirvana Fire Teams were down there running tests on the Power Armor systems developed by Parfait. They were focused on their work but would routinely take a break and relax a bit more when their shift was over. Cortana herself remained on the Nirvana to manage security detail for the ship as well as long range recon using the Clarion Spy Drones to make sure that they were ready for any possible Harvester assault.

Dita then looked to her friend as Ezra began to sing a lullaby to Kahlua and she wondered what it would be like if she ever had a baby like her friend Ezra. It was the very first time she ever thought about such things as well. She then decided to speak to Ezra as soon as her friend was done singing her child to sleep.

“Ezra, do you think there's a chance I could have a baby with Mr. Alien?”

Ezra looked at Dita with some level of surprise at the question, she knew that her innocent and cheerful young friend wanted to know all there was about men but this was certainly something that she was not expecting from Dita and she thought it over and replied.

“Well….I guess it is possible, our Talvernian friends certainly said it can happen, though they apparently can't get into too many details, and no doubt Cortana knows about it as well. Why do you want to have a baby with Hibiki anyway Dita?”

“I guess I want to.”

Ezra thought about it and decided to have a heart to heart talk with her long time friend.

“Dita, having a baby is a wonderful and joyful experience, being able to give life to another especially if it is a part of you is something that is beyond normal words. If you decide to have a baby, you have to really want to have a baby and be ready to raise the child with all your heart, my advice is to have a baby when you are ready. Don't just have child just for the sake of it, being able to have a baby inside you is a very great honor as a woman so it should not be taken lightly by any means.”

Dita thought about it and nodded at Ezra's advice as it did make a great deal of sense as well.

“I understand Ezra, but I do want to have a baby with Mr. Alien someday.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

Dita nodded and then she thought about Hibiki and then the image of him and her having a baby and raising it together popped into her mind and she smiled in a very happy way and was lost in thought. This was not the least bit lost to Ezra and she couldn't help but ask her friend a very important question.

“You really like Hibiki don't you Dita?”

Dita blushed at that and twiddled her fingers, something the further intrigued Ezra as Dita was not the kind to do such things. Dita thought about her feelings towards Hibiki and decided to talk to Ezra, after all, she was a great friend to her and they had known each other ever since she joined the pirates.

“It's hard to explain Ezra….but I do like Mr. Alien, I like him a lot, chasing was fun as well as surprising him, making food for him and more, but now…I feel….different.”

“Different?”

“I want to be close to him Ezra, I want to….I can't really explain it, but I feel happy when he's happy, I like it if he laughs, or complements me when I cook for him. And it feels bad when…”

“When what Dita?”

Dita took her breath in and tried to organize her thoughts at the moment and as soon as she felt that she was ready to speak about her thoughts concerning Hibiki to her long time friend Ezra

“I can't really say why I want to know more about Mr. Alien Ezra….it just feels nice to be around him, even more so than before now….and I sometimes….well I get all unhappy when other women go after Mr. Alien.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean….I don't know why, but I really don't like it when others try to take Mr. Alien from me and it hurts when they do….”

“Dita…”

“I really like Mr. Alien Ezra, but I don't know why I feel this deeply now…. I wish I knew why I feel this way, what do you think Ezra? Do I really like Mr. Alien that much?”

Ezra thought over her answer to the question and the gentle hearted new mother replied.

“I guess you do, and I am happy for you in a way Dita, Hibiki's not like your usual man from Tarak and he's really not so bad, so as long as the two of you can get along well with one another, I don't see anything wrong with your feelings towards Hibiki, take your time until you can be sure of your feelings all right?”

Dita smiled and nodded to Ezra.

“I'll do my best!”

**************

In the Hanger…

“All right….a bit more here…”

Hibiki was currently doing some regular field maintenance on his Vanguard as he planed to go out and take part of the routine patrol duty that was currently in motion while the Nirvana Fire Teams and the Spartans were currently working with the Power Armors that parfait had developed recently. He wished he was down there with his mentor the Master Chief, but he followed the Spartan's orders to remain on the Nirvana to make sure that he could defend the ship as well as the planet just in case the Harvesters suddenly came from out of nowhere to attack them.

As he finished his work he turned about to see Felix walking with one of his fellow Talvernians, in this case it was a woman who was very much a redhead like Dita. The Talvernian soldier then spotted Hibiki and spoke to him.

“Hey Hibiki, you need a hand?”

“Naw, I'm done, give me a minute to get down.”

As Hibiki joined them after locking back the access panel, placing away his tools and cleaning himself he decided to talk to Felix about his current situation, he wished he could talk to the Master Chief but with his mentor down there to oversee the testing of the Power Armors developed by Parfait he decided to talk to someone who can help with the problem he was dealing with at the moment.

Even after all that had happened, he was not going to have much free time for himself, if it wasn't Dita still following him, it was Misty and there was also Jura who apparently had not given up the idea of having a baby with him of all things. As he spoke to Felix, the Talvernians soldier whistled and so did his female companion and then the young man spoke seriously.

“You have gotten yourself in one hell of a tight spot.”

“I didn't do anything to be in it in the first place!”

“That's true, but you're stuck in it now, actually a lot of guys your age would love to be the object of affection of several women, can't imagine why at the moment, but it's supposed to be a guy thing and I have met some guys back in my world who still wish for it to happen to them.”

“You serious?!”

“Pretty much, though I guess with you being from an all male planet might have some difficulty with the idea.”

The young woman who Hibiki knew now to Sandra spoke to him.

“I have to agree with Felix there, most guys love to be in that kind of situation, and while I can't say I am an authority on the whole thing myself, the reverse can happen and even some women would love to be the center of attention from several men so it's not just limited to men.”

Hibiki didn't feel all that better at the moment and replied.

“But how do I deal with all this? I mean….it took some time for me to get used to being chased by Dita and now I have this new girl hounding me and then Jura wanting to have a baby with me of all things!”

It was then that a certain blue haired teen walked in at that moment and Misty was quick to make her move on Hibiki and hugged him deeply on the back.

“My prince!”

“Wha? Hey!”

Felix and Sandra looked on at the sight of the young woman hugging Hibiki and the blush on the young man's face, no doubt recalling the time this young woman had kissed him like that and it seemed that Misty was keen to be close to him as she spoke.

“Hey, do you have any free time Hibiki?”

“What do you mean by that?!”

“I was thinking that you and I could go have something to eat together, like a data or something for today.”

The mention of date was enough for Hibiki to recall memories of how he had been introduced to the idea of men and women being intimate, and he blushed at the memories and spoke to Misty.

“You want me to go out on a date with you?!”

“Ooh, so you know what a date is? And here I thought you didn't know what it was and I would have to explain it to you my Prince, so why don't we….”

“Hold it right there Misty.”

The others turned and there was Jura Basil Elden and she was giving Hibiki a smile and that made Misty rather wary of the way the voluptuous blonde was looking at Hibiki at the moment and as the blond walked over to Hibiki she looked at him and spoke.

“Now Hibiki, I was wondering about asking you on helping contribute your seed to me in having a baby soon.”

Misty blushed bright red and spoke to the blonde as she did the same thing that Dita had done when she tried to get Hibiki to sit next to her.

“Hold it right here blondie! I am not going to let you take my Prince from here!”

“Really now? I just need to get his seed, there's nothing wrong with that is there?”

“You're wrong! You can't just walk up to a guy and ask him to give you his….seed out in public like that! Have you no shame?! If anyone is going to ask Hibiki that it's going to be his girl friend and that girl friend is me!”

“Oh really so I need to be Hibiki's girl friend to get his seed eh? Fair enough, how about it Hibiki? Do you want me to be your girl friend?”

“HEY!!!”

The other turned and there was Dita with a rather unfriendly look on her face and she walked over to stare at the two women and spoke at them.

“Will you two stop?! The only one who deserves to be Mr. Alien's girl friend or go on a date with him or have his seed is me!!!!”

Felix and Sandra looked on, torn between amusement and sympathy as Hibiki found himself in the middle of a three way female argument as Misty, Dita, and Jura were now arguing with one another.

“Shouldn't we put a stop to this before something bad happens?”

Sandra spoke at then seriously.

“I don't even know where to start.”

**************

On the planet…

The suits were quickly put through their paces as the data from the suits and their pilots were streaming into Parfait's computer. The Spartans were now the foes the Fire teams had to fight, but thankfully the Spartans were not packing deadly ordnance, but instead, regular paint balls and low level Megele Laser Rifles as well as Covenant weapons that were toned down in lethality after Cortana had fiddled with the systems of the weapons as well as Catherine. These tests were by far the tough ones for the Nirvana Fire Team members and it was not lost to them that they would be fighting the Spartans in this fight, and even though it was not a serious exercise, the women took it seriously as the Spartans did.

Before the Power Armors of Parfait squared off with the Spartans however, the Armors had undergone very difficult tests both for non combat operations and combat operations for the next few days.

The first was their ability to handle the conditions of urban combat, to that end the Power Armors were sent though a instacrete maze of buildings, trenches and more to simulate battle field conditions that were the same when they had been in training when the Fire Teams were first formed and also during their battle with the Harvesters when they helped the Talvernians evacuate their home system. The tests included moving through rubble strewn streets, heavily damaged buildings as well as building corridors and rooms. All in all the Power Armors were not performing up to standard in terms of perfect or near perfect performance.

The reason was the fact that while they were not as bulky as the Space Suits normally worn by the pirates, they were still harder to move in and had some trouble fitting in tight doorways and were certainly not able to be used in easily crawling since it required a lot of power to do so and there was also the fact that it was bit taller and a bit bulkier than the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor of the Spartans and even more so than the SPI Mark II Armor of the Spartan IIIs.

Another problem was the fact that they were not able to remain hidden due to their increase in mass and height, while the Spartans themselves were not easy to hide, they could make due through their training and the fact that they were wearing the MJOLNIR

However, they did have several advantages. They were able to move rapidly into battle due to the increase of strength and speed given by the Power Armor and could rapidly reach the battle field in urban areas where space was a lot more open for use. They also could easily carry heavier weapons that the Fire Teams who were not able to carry without aid to the battle zone and hold the fort until back up arrived. Moving through large buildings as well as ruined streets was easier in Power Armor and the extra armor did come in handy if they were caught in a fire fight. The fact that they could carry weapons that would normally take several Nirvana Fire Team members and do so in record time meant that they could hold a location long enough for the rest of the force to make it into the battle and support them when the needed it. This allowed the Power Armors to offset their weaknesses and allow Parfait the chance to locate any problems that would crop up in the works.

Another test was in desert territory, for that reason the Power Armors were air lifted there by Pelican to the desert area for their training accompanied by the Spartans and when they arrived, the armors were put through their paces in desert maneuvers and combat. This was to test the functionality of the Power Armor units when they were in desert territory as well as how the pilot/users would be able to handle being in the Power Armors in the desert environment.

It was there that several problems were seen, the first was that the weight ratio systems had to be recalibrated in order to handle the loose sand as this affected the mobility of the Power Armors while they were climbing through the sand dunes. The sand would also get into the cracks and joint areas of the Power Armors that began to inhibit a certain amount of movement, the sand also created static electricity as it hit the armor and that caused some small surges of energy on the armor, not enough to be fatal, but caused disturbances in the scanners and systems.

Apart from the mentioned situations the desert training revealed that the women were under the risk of heat stroke due to the rising temperature and they expended a great deal of sweat and that further increased the risks of heat stroke and dehydration. This was something that was very risky for combat operations and thus the desert training and simulation tests had to be halted for parfait to make needed adjustments and also to help the new members of the testing group cope with the situation before them.

The desert training was considered to be the hard part while the Fire Teams who were part of the testing group had to suck it up and continue with the testing for the next few weeks to help Parfait gather all the needed information to perfect her Power Armor designs, they knew it was needed, but they certainly were not going to like it, though they had to admit even though the Power Armors were nowhere near as advanced as the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armors used by the Spartan IIs or even the SPI Mark II Armor used by the Spartan IIIs, they now had an idea on how it felt to be wearing a suit that was powerful enough to rival a tank platoon.

The Power Armors had other problems such as overheating issues to the servos and motor circuits, as well as overheating to the processor systems. These were seen as some of the suits would either suddenly lock up or reboot in the most difficult times. The sensors also had to be recalibrated for both operations in night and day in the desert. This training and testing was hard but the data proved helpful as Parfait was able to redesign the flaws on site and double test them to be sure.

The training was then rounded up with a trip to the winter north of the planet with heavy snow and ice, and here the exact reverse of the situation in the desert occurred. The testing team had winter training before when they were in the Fire Teams but in the Power Armors they had to content with the fact that they were inside suits of metal that could conduct cold easier. The next problem was the freezing up of the systems in the suits due to the cold weather. Some women began to get colds as well as the flu so they had to pulled out for Parfait to change the temperature settings for the Power Armors.

The reverse happened as well as systems would freeze and servos would lock up due to the cold environment as well as processors unable to deal with the cold environment would literally melt themselves in order to remain warm, this caused further delays and more work for the engineers who were now wearing UNSC Marine issue winter clothing. The repairs would ensure that the Power Armors would be able to regulate temperature in themselves and the users to keep them from freezing up.

The tests were taken on other locations as well and with each new problem, Parfait came up with solutions and Catherine also did the same thing, both of them working together to perfect Parfait's Power Armor design, however it was not long before many of the suits would have to be taken down for them to be recycled and the still functional spare parts that were taken out were to be used to repair the suits that were brought in for replacement work.

The Power Armors were also subjected to a serious battery of tests in terms of their shielding systems and armor plating to gauge just how much damage could they take before failing due to damage from weapons fire, thankfully these suits were not worn by any member of the Nirvana Fire Teams and thus were already active and were remotely scanned. This was by far the most brutal but essential test, Parfait knew that while she had endeavored to give the Power Armors as much protection as she could without making them too bulky, this was going to be a very important test that her prototypes could never afford to fail.

All the UNSC and Tarak weapons brought in for the live fire tests were all using live and lethal rounds with the energy weapons from Megele the Covenant, and the Harvesters were all at their high and very much lethal settings. There was no doubt that some if not all the suits for this tests were going to be either severely damaged and had to be recycled or outright destroyed and that made Parfait sad, but the plucky head engineer knew that it was for a very good cause and she could always build new ones to replace those that were destroyed.

The results on the first suit that was hit by live fire was not very promising as the shields were burned out by the concentrated fire before it in a few minutes worth of firing, showing that a need to increase the shield strength and durability had to be addressed in a later date, the shields would also need to have an upgrade on their recovery time since the shields took a bit longer to recharge themselves and the armor plating would have to undergo some thickening in some areas that were critical in ensuring the survival of the user as well as protecting them from being crippled in combat.

The weapons tests were harsh and a good number of the suits being tested were badly damaged but still holding on, the upgrades later done by Parfait addressed most of the key issues with the systems and the data she got was worth it to make sure that the protection systems for the Power Armors were better.

The remaining suits were then pitted against the Spartans and the results showed that the Spartans were still the best at what they did though the Power Armors certainly upped the ante for the Fire teams as they spared with the members of Blue team. The data would prove very helpful in combat as it would mean that the Power Armors would give the Fire teams a fighting chance should they encounter enemies to powerful to fight with conventional methods and weapons.

As the tests continued, the Master Chief couldn't help but wonder just what was going on back in the dimension where they had come from.

**************

In Earth…

Lord Hood looked over t6he latest reports from the field and rubbed his forehead just as Churchill appeared from the nearby holo-tank.

“Lord Hood, we have received reports from several of the Colonization fleets.”

“What do they have to report?”

The Third Generation Smart AI spoke in the same tone as Winston Churchill did as it filled in the high ranking UNSC official of the UNSC.

“The planets they have discovered have proven to be viable for human habitation and colonization there are adequate resources for mining, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and more sir. There are also strategic worlds that we can establish bases on for future defense and military expansion as well as R&D work.”

“Good, have there been any signs of Covenant Loyalist activity?”

“None as of late Lord Hood, however, the Kig Yar pirates have been active recently and no doubt are being used by the Jiralhanae to harass our ships.”

The high ranking leader of the UNSC sighed but he had to expect that, a lot has happened over the past few years and a good portion of it was very much welcome to all for the most part. Ever since the end of the UNSC-Covenant War with the victory going to both the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists, the UNSC and earth had begun to rebuild, the problems were growing as most of the Inner Colonies were either reduced to glass or severely damaged, while the Outer Colonies were nearly lost in the fighting with the Covenant. It was very much a logistical nightmare as well as economical and political to find the new places for the refugees of the UNSC to live in. There was also the staggering amounts of damages suffered in both the surviving Colonies and to Earth itself, it would be impossible for Colonization efforts to take place with the situation as it was, not to mention the sheer cost in the UN Credit reserves that they had in order to finance the effort.

It was then that the Sangheili came into the picture and not in a military fashion.

The Arbiter who was now recognized as Thel 'Vadam had arrived along with his friend Rtas'Vadum returned to earth after being cleared and they had a small fleet of Covenant Separatist ships with them. At first this was unexpected and then Thel replied that this was the Fleet of Repentant Reparations before them, not a military contingent and then the Arbiter handed Lord Hood NAV coordinates and when the Fleet Admiral asked what these were for, the Arbiter explained.

He and his fellow Sangheili, including the surviving Councilors had decided to make amends to the UNSC and had sent scouting ships to go forth and search for systems that were habitable by human standards and could be colonized by the humans. This was to show that they were willing to show how far they were going to go in being allies with the UNSC and how they wanted to make up for the billions of civilians and millions of UNSC personnel they had killed when they were still believing the lies of the Prophets. The efforts had been long but a considerable number of habitable worlds were eventually found, the worlds were scanned and catalogued for what resources were there for the humans to make use of. As soon as that was done, the scouts gathered all the relevant data and the Slipspace coordinates and headed back to Sanghelios to gather all the coordinates and give them to the UNSC. Though the Prophets were finally wiped out, the Elites had learned more than enough in the arts of science and technology to handle their own needs in the arts of science and technology.

Naturally there were still those who resented the Elites and doubted this, but Lord Hood took a chance and asked for a small team of ships that were available to be sent out to see of the worlds were indeed habitable, and the Arbiter agreed to lead the fleet personally while under the watch of several high ranking UNSC officers as proof of good faith and so did Rtas'Vadum . The fleet was assembled and comprised of some Frigates a handful of Destroyers, and some of the aging Halcyon Class Cruisers that amazingly were still in service. It had been expensive as hell and there were plenty of people, who still disliked and doubted the Elites for this action, but Lord Hood took the chance and it paid off.

The Covenant Separatists did one better and had provided the UNSC Fleet with a large number of Slipspace Drives that they had which were of a much better class than the Shaw-Fujikawa class Slipspace Engines that were on all UNSC ships. As soon as the drives were there, the Separatists asked permission to have the Huragok fuse the two engine types. The Huragok took some time to adapt to working for the Elites but it worked and the artificial creatures created by the Forerunner millennia before were a bit easier for the Elites to command.

The floating creatures went to work and fused both Covenant and UNSC Slipspace engines together, creating a highly advanced hybrid engine was then installed into the Fleet of UNSC Ships and soon they were sent out to see if these worlds that the Elites had given were indeed worthy of colonization for Humanity in order to recover form the war so long ago.

The worlds proved to be worthy of habitation, numbering at least eight hundred in all, amazingly enough, the number was the very same number of worlds that had been in the UNSC's control before the War with the Covenant. This fact showed once and for all that the Elites were truly allies of Humanity. In the years to come, small Phoenix Class Colony Ships were sent out to colonize these new worlds, and these ships too were now equipped with the new hybrid Slipspace Drives to allow for much faster arrival time for the human colonists. There were new colonies soon springing up in these new worlds and it was not long before viable colonies were founded. These colonies were but the first as more were sent out and it was not long before the UNSC had a large number of new Colonies.

It had been a great boon and further healed the rift between the UNSC and the Sangheili forces, even more so that there was now a Sangheili embassy in the UNSC. And with the new worlds that were slowly growing and being populated by new Colonists from earth and the other Colonies, things seemed to be on the mend. Agriculture flourished and food began to flow into the UNSC as the worlds that were now colonized were more than adequate to breed large amounts of food animals and crops. The resources coming in for industry began to grow, and economically, the UNSC was healing from the wounds of war, food rationing began to die down and riots began to end. The UNSC was finally seeing peace once more, materials for expansion were coming in and it was not long before the UNSC Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy would be more than ready to stand and defend Humanity.

The lessons from the former War with the Insurrectionist Movements and then with the Covenant were not forgotten as the UNSC decided to revamp it's colonial policies to prevent wild fire wars to spread out in the newly growing colonies. They also made sure to have sizable garrisons there in the new colonies as well as better defenses for both ground locations and orbital defenses and a lot of work had to be done in order to deal with the every increasing number of colonies in the new worlds that they were now expanding on. One philosopher said the best, the human race was stubborn and would survive no matter the odds and they have survived.

However, the two factions knew that there was still plenty of work left to do. The Jiralhanae were still out there as well as the Kig Yar, a number of their Unggoy followers, the Yanme'e, and some of the Lekgolo would still pose a threat to them all. The Brutes hated the Elites fiercely as well as the UNSC, therefore, there was always the risk that they would continue to fight with them. The Brutes were violent beasts and the horrors they unleashed on Humanity was far from forgotten by those who learned of the conflict or by those who were part of it and it was held in general consensus that as long as the Loyalists were around, the peace that the UNSC had as well as the Separatists were still shaky at best.

The Kig Yar race' own actions in the war were far from forgotten, the fact that they were the ones who told the Prophets of the existence of Humanity and had committed atrocities of their own that marked them as enemies in the eyes of Humanity for as long as they lived. The UNSC had never forgotten the brutal nature of the Kig Yar and the Elites never forgave the Kig Yar for their materialistic nature as well as their pirate tendencies

Rumors also persisted that there was a new Prophet rising up and that prophet was named the Prophet of Divine Revenge for the death of Truth and many others. It gave Hood headaches to think that yet another one of those religious hysterics were going to start yet another war with Humanity. But this time, things were on their side, the Sangheili were valued allies and were more than willing to fight side by side with them and with their greater understanding of Covenant and Forerunner technology, they would have the advantage this time.

“Lord Hood, we have a message from The Arbiter.”

“Bring it up.”

Lord Hood faced the holo-tank and there was Thel `Vadam who still wore the Arbiter Armor but it had been retrofitted with better technology and systems to make it a lot more up to date with the needs of the battle field. While the Elite was head of his people now before the UNSC, there was no doubt in the Fleet Admiral's mind that the Arbiter still wished to be in the forefront of battle. It was in the nature of the Sangheili to be in battle and Thel was no different.

“Greetings Lord Hood.”

“Greetings to you as well Arbiter, what's the situation?”

“We have received reports that have confirmed the rumors, apparently a prophet is leading the Loyalists once more.”

“Damn….I always thought that after High Charity got corrupted by the Flood that those bastards won't be around anymore, do you have anything on him at the moment?”

“Neon as of yet, however, we do know that this Prophet will not be alone, there no doubt will be others. We stand ready for this threat Lord Hood, the lies of the Prophets might have died with Truth on the Ark, but if another dares to spout them again, we will gladly rip that liar's tongue out.”

“Don't forget we want him dead too, No one here wants a replay of the war and we're damn sure not going to let some religious lunatic start another one.”

Thel nodded and replied.

“Then let it be so Lord Hood, we will do our best to locate this elusive Prophet and bring him to light, once that is done, we shall hunt him down, we would be honored if your people were to join us in hunting down this liar.”

“We will.”

**************

Back in the other dimension, at least six weeks later…

As the days passed, the testing of the Power Armors carried on and the crew also took the time to relax themselves and bleed out the stress that had been on them for quite a while now. As soon as the testing was over and the suits were hauled back up to the Nirvana for further tuning, changes, and upgrades while those that were lost to the testing were either retrofitted and repaired or were broken down for spare parts and also to be melted back into useful components. While Parfait was sad on how much abuse her creations took, the data that came back from those very same tests would allow her to better perfect the design, plus the actual performance data would be helpful should they decide to mass produce more of the Power Armors for special uses.

In the mean time the crew got the chance to relax as best they could, and the Fire Teams also managed to find yet more wild animals and wild plants that could be edible and hunting parties were sent out to gather all that they could. The Vanguards were also sent down to the planet's surface to gather the viable metals on the planet that they could afford to take with them. As soon as all the materials were brought up via shuttle and Albatross, the crew took the chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the planet while patrols were doing on. As soon as time was up, the Nirvana packed up and moved on to reach Tarak and Megele and do whatever they could in order to make it to their home system and get ready for the battle with the harvester forces making their way there to the two worlds.

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In the Nirvana…

CLANG!!!!

Meia grunted as she tried her best to stand and push back as she held the Energy Sword in one hand while the Master Chief who was out of his MJOLNIR Mark VI Armor as it was currently being studied by Dr. Catherine in the Engineering bay to find out just what sort of things had happened to the Armor when the Master Chief and Cortana had been brought to this dimension. So far, the young woman was holding her own before the Spartan despite the fact that she was nowhere near the same in terms of physical ability to the Spartan.

As the two moved and fought one another Meia began to get used to the method on how to fight with the Energy Sword, she normally avoided close combat despite her hand to hand combat skills and rarely used weapons apart from her Laser Ring, but she was a quick study and wanted to learn as much as she could in order to defend both herself and the people who were under her care.

John was not a true expert in wielding the Covenant based Energy Sword, in fact, he knew for a certainty that only two races ever used this energy weapon with excellent efficiency, the Elites and on occasion the Brutes. However, due to his training and combat experience fighting the Covenant, he was a quick study though of a much higher degree than most humans his age. As they moved through the motions Meia finally reached her limit and placed down her Energy Sword showing that she was tired and needed a break, the Spartan nodded and deactivated his Energy Sword. While he could have taught the Nirvana Fire Teams how to best use the Energy Sword, it was too risky and as a close combat weapon was not something one brought into the open battle field unless the one in question was highly skilled in combat the Energy Swords.

“Not bad Meia, you've grasped the basics well enough.”

Meia nodded at that as she was still in her normal outfit but didn't wear the chest and shoulder padding to give her body more maneuvering room in order to fight better.

“Thanks Chief, by the way…”

“Yes?”

“Do you….recall your parents?”

John was silent at that, truth be told he had forgotten just what his parents looked like, but at least re called how he grew up before being taken into the Spartan II Program. He had been a regular kid in his home city but he was already quite a different kid then due to his height, mental strength as well as physical strength. He then focused on his parents and tried his best to answer Meia's question, and then he replied.

“Not exactly, I don't remember much about my life, only that I loved playing Grav-ball and I was….different as a kid.”

Meia cocked her head a bit and spoke once more.

“Different? How so?”

“I was….already a foot taller than most kids my age, and I was only six then. The coaches said I was so good with grav ball that that they forbade me to play.”

“So you never knew your parents?”

“No….only that I had them.”

Meia felt sad, she might not have always gotten along with her fahma and ohma but at least she knew them well, the Spartan couldn't even remember the faces of his parents and that made her feel sorry for him, though she never said it, she knew that the Spartan didn't want or needed sympathy in this case, this was the life they had and despite how strange it was to others, it suited the Spartan, but still, there was no denying the fact that it was a hard life and she wondered how things would have been had John not been part of the Spartan II Program.

“Sorry I brought that up.”

“Not a problem, come on, we still have more training to do.”

Meia nodded and ignited her Energy Sword as the Spartan activated his own as the spared once more with one another.

**************

In the Conference Room…

“So these are the results from all the tests run by the ground teams Buzam?”

Buzam nodded as she, Gascogne, Meia, Duero, and Magno looked at the information, normally Cortana and John would be there to lend their support but the two were currently working with the Nirvana Fire Teams at the moment while Catherine was currently running some studies on the Paeksis to understand it, Chief Mendez was there however and the gruff, strict by the book UNSC Marine and Spartan I was there to give his own opinion on the performance of the Power Armors of Parfait's design. The other Spartans were also busy with routine training as well as working out with the other crew on the Nirvana.

“Yes, so far the suits have performed well enough o merit their use if the situation calls for the need of them. However, they do have weak points that can be a problem until Parfait fixes them, overall, the Power Armors did what they were made to do, provide the wearers the best possible protection as well as provide the ability to carry heavier loads, better mobility as well a s communications and sensor range.”

Magno nodded and spoke next to Parfait.

“How soon can you have new models Parfait?'

Parfait looked over the compiled information and replied.

“It might take a number of months, at least two or three at best but with all the tactical and performance data we gathered using the prototypes back on the planet. I can get the kinks worked out without a hitch, though we might need to test the new models still cover all the possible angles that I might miss.”

Magno then turned to Duero for the medical reports on the pilot/users of the Power Armors.

“Are there any topics that you wish to mention Duero?”

The Tarak youth nodded and he gave his report, as Chief Medical officer of the Nirvana he had to give his full report to make sure that there was no health risk to the users of the Power Armors since that was something the pirates had to avoid or minimize as best they could, along with the fact that his input could save lives.

“The users appear to have suffered no drawbacks, though I do recommend that special temperature regulation systems be used in areas were they are at risk from heat stroke or hypothermia. I recently picked up some considerable temperature fluctuations in some of the users when they were in their winter area training with the Power Armors. We also need to help them avoid heat stroke since there was a considerable risk of them suffering that in their desert training simulations as well as in the barren areas.”

“Hmmm….good concerns, any suggestions?”

“We could use a special water filtration and purification system to help them recycle water so they will have a built in water supply to prevent dehydration, I would also recommend them having a bit more cold and heat training to make sure that they are able to adapt better in cold or hot environments. I also recommend them to have special nutrient supply systems in their Power Armors to provide them with food supplements, sugars, as well as carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and proteins in order to battle the pangs of hunger and provide them with the needed energy when having meals in combat is too risky.”

Buzam had to admit that such effort on an armor system was unheard of back on Megele but this was a unique situation and they had to take all the best options they had on hand to ensure the success of the operations. She knew the women would love to have a good meal, but when eating was out of the question, the solutions suggested by Duero could save lives.

“I see….Chief Mendez….what do you think of the Power Armors?”

The Spartan I thought it over and spoke seriously.

“Overall, your head engineer made some fairly serious work, the Power Armors she made might not match either Covenant technology or that of the MJOLNIR Series made by Dr. Halsey, but it will do for the situation we have on hand, however, if the Fire Teams are to be trained, I suggest that Head Engineer Parfait design simulator consoles with all the data we gathered to test the users to make sure that if there is no planet for us to test on, we can retain all the skills developed in the initial testing.”

“Fair enough…all right, this meeting is ended.”

As the others left Buzam sighed and spoke to the elderly woman.

“We have gone a long way ever since the raid all those months before….haven't we Captain?”

“yes we have….but we never thought we would have the fate of humanity thrust on us back then either, let alone meeting the Master Chief, Cortana, facing the Harvesters and more besides. All things considered, I shudder at how thing might have turned out if we hadn't been there at that exact time and place.”

“That's true….maybe fate meant for us to be there at that moment Captain?”

“Maybe…we still have a long road ahead I think.”

**************

To be continued…

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Author's notes:

Yet another project done! Man I needed that a lot, it feels great to finally end this chapter the way I wanted. Though I have to admit that some ideas from you my readers have found their way here into this chapter. This goes to show that I have placed a considerable amount of time in considering viable ideas into the story.

As you can see, the situation with the UNSC and their allies the Covenant Separatists has grown into a stable and firm alliance and it seems that the Elites had decided to make amends for their actions under the lies of the Prophets when they were still part of the old Covenant. This would also show that the UNSC is now getting back on it's feet.

But it seems that the Loyalists are far from defeated and there is no doubt that the UNSC and their Separatist Allies are far from finished in fighting their foes, but united, they will be more than a match for the Loyalists. Now the big question is, how will the new characters mentioned as well as Jessica al-Cygni Johnson appear in the VanDread Universe?

Wait and see for it will appear soon enough!