Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VanDread - Halo The Second Stage ❯ Shield World ( Chapter 3 )

VanDread Halo The Second Stage

Disclaimer: I don't own VanDread or Halo, and I don't own GONZO or Bungie either, all right?

Chapter 3

Shield World

< >: Thoughts

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

The Nirvana was currently orbiting a nearby planet beneath it, it was a brown world that resembled a world entirely made of mud or something like mud. However, the Nirvana was there for a reason and it was a very extreme humanitarian mission to say the very least. The recon showed that the world was safe to breath in but had a high level of pollutants in the air as well as traces of pollutants in the soil as well as the water.

Normally such a hostile world would have been long avoided by the crew…but not this one, Their scans had shown that there were signs of habitation on this toxic world. This prompted an investigation by the pirates on just who could possibly live in such a hostile environment as this one. The ground team would have to take immunization shots in order to avoid getting sick or infected, however such was not needed for the Spartans of the much larger Blue Team.

John and the other Spartans volunteered to go ahead in HEVs to check the place out and bring intel on just who would be living in this world. The Spartans were more than able to handle the mission and due to their long years of combat experience were better suited for the more dangerous tasks of front line recon work.

What they saw and the images there and sent back to the people back on the Nirvana….were more than enough to warrant their stay on this world. They had discovered a very brutal and inhumane experiment conducted by the Harvesters.

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

In a nearby medical facility…

Duero looked about the world, seeing the harsh glare of the sun as the poisoned earth gave this world a dying look that continued to both shock and anger him, he looked away from the window and couldn't help but feel his anger as well as his disbelief grew even more.

He like everyone else on the Nirvana was utterly horrified by the sight that was being relayed to them by the Spartans who went ahead of the ground team for the duty of advanced recon work, As soon as the Spartans were all listed to be all right after their HEVs hit the ground, they moved out, finding what appeared to be settlements, but their scanners could show that the surface of the world was heavily polluted, not enough to instantly kill humans but guarantee a slow, lingering, and very painful death while barely enough to sustain a mockery of life.

The Spartans did the same analysis in the air as well as the water, finding the same level of pollutants and they were also themselves surprised at just who would live in this hostile and unforgiving world. It was then that they saw the people there…and so did the Nirvana crew.

Seeing the inhabitants on screen from the live feed from the helmet cameras of the Spartans was enough to horrify all the people on the Nirvana…the people looked like they were barely clinging on to life, a massive number of them were already gaunt with disease, their skins had blisters and worse, they were skeletal and even the ones who appeared to be young adults looked like they were also dying, and it was a slow, agonizing, and lingering death. Even the healthy looking ones were dying internally as the Spartans could see. The people didn't react negatively to the presence of the Spartans and that was a sign that these people had resigned themselves to death.

Magno couldn't take the sight anymore and ordered the full ground team to be sent in to find out just what was going on as soon as they were all ready. The ground teams were given full medical protection and therefore were more than ready and able to handle the deadly environment that they had no found themselves in. As soon as they got there, the ground team went to work trying to find a viable solution to help the people on this poisoned world.

Duero and the others learned that this world was another test site used by the Harvesters, they had intentionally polluted this world in order to replicate the conditions that had reduced Earth into nothing but a giant washing machine that could no longer support life. They wanted to see if they could use this world as a test site to discover a way to harden their organs and bodies to the harsh world they lived in.

To see these innocent people being used as lab animals by the Harvesters appalled and angered Duero to no end as well as Dr. Catherine who was there with the others. To add further insult to injury, the Harvesters were even taking the bodies of the dead for their own needs, leaving the people with no memories of their loved ones for even if they had the strength to dig even basic graves for their loved ones as the Harvesters would quickly take the bodies like vultures.

In that effect, the only way for the people to remember and mourn their dead was to make dolls of their loved ones and eventually themselves when they too were going to die, and all these dolls were sent into a store house. This was the same store house visited by the ground team and the Spartans.

The Spartan IIs were able to absorb this though Catherine could tell that John, Kelly, Linda, and Fred were appalled by what they were seeing the massive number of dolls that were being stored there in the warehouse, the Spartan IIIs who were there as well were also shocked and enraged by this and it took some effort by SCPO Mendez to keep the young Spartans from losing themselves in their anger. The senior Spartan kept them focused on the task at hand as he guided the still shocked Spartans to security detail to make sure that the people on this planet were not going to suddenly find themselves under attack by the Harvesters.

They were not the only ones as some of the pirates who were part of the ground team were not in the least bit happy about the situation these people were in. And seeing the dolls provided more than enough incentive for the pirates to do whatever they could in order to help these people as best they could. Duero was angered by all this and while he knew that the medical treatment he, Paiway, and Catherine was helping it was only a temporary thing. Magno however was not going to give up after seeing the full extent of the Harvesters' experiments on this world and the suffering of the people who were forced to live here.

At the moment, Parfait and her engineers were working on finding a possible solution to ensure that the people in this world had a fighting chance to survive and prosper as was their right to live. The problem facing Parfait and her crew was going to be a very large thing, but Duero had no doubt in his mind that Parfait could handle it.

Paiway herself felt great sadness at seeing the deplorable conditions of these people, even the men who lived here were so weakened and sick that she couldn't help but wish that the soon to come medical supplies from the Nirvana could be enough to give the people here young and old alike a chance to survive. And she hoped that her fellow pirate Parfait could find a solution soon to help these poor people.

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

In deep space in the VanDread…

“All right Parfait, we'll keep things cool up here.”

Hibiki sighed and moved away from the communications system to take a break, he knew that this was going to be a very long mission and no doubt boredom was going to set into him soon enough. But he knew that it was important that he held his location as well as Jura did to ensure that the project being started there on the planet's surface could be done in peace.

Short of terra-forming the entire planet which they had neither the supplies nor the time to do, the only chance that they could give the people of this world was to build special isolation chambers that could very well hold fields that would help isolate the people who were expecting children and allow the children to be born healthy and whole.

Hibiki and Jura were to play a key role in the experiment as well as keep the Harvesters from getting to the surface to cause mischief to the project. At the moment, Hibiki ran some tests on the scanners and systems while the blonde Dread pilot had other things on her mind as she was busy with manicuring her fingernails. As soon as she was done with the said job to paint her nails, she directed her attention on Hibiki.

“Hey Hibiki, can we talk?”

Hibiki had no idea just what was going on with Jura at the moment but he decided to reply since he had nothing else to do for the next few hours.

`All right, what is it you want to talk about?”

“You realize that we're all alone up here in our VanDread right?”

Jura moved closer to the Tarak teen and that action was not lost to the Tarak youth either, Hibiki had no idea but the suddenly seductive and predatory look Jura was giving him was sending the wrong signals right into his brain at that exact moment.

“Yeah, so what about it?”

Jura grinned seductively and pressed her body right next to Hibiki who found himself being drawn to her form though why he had no idea at the moment. Nevertheless, the Tarak teen suddenly found himself looking at the seductive blonde as she was now touching him with her body and those things called her breasts were on his arm. He was confused and somewhat slightly frightened as to why his body was acting this way towards Jura at the moment as his body temperature began to climb as he gave her the once more. Every instinct bred into him by his life on Tarak told him to run, yet a deeper, more primal and amazingly normal instinct in him told him to stay there….not to mention do something to the blonde as his mind began to show him images of…

<Augh! Why am I thinking like that?! Why am I looking at Jura this way?! This never happened before so why now?!> (1)

Jura noticed that and couldn't help but smile warmly as well as feel that she had finally gotten Hibiki's full attention and she spoke.

“So that means we're all alone here and whatever happens here in this VanDread will be only between the two of us!”

That sent sirens going off in Hibiki's brain as he finally managed to got his mental faculties back into order and he spoke as he finally tried to get away from the seductive blonde.

“What the heck are you talking about?!”

Jura was not going to give up her chase just yet. Since she was with Hibiki at the moment and he was the only one here, she was going to get his seed. Also, she was starting to like the idea of making a guy squirm, she found it….interesting and entertaining. With that in mind the blonde moved her chair to follow Hibiki.

“You know what I am talking about Hibiki! I want to have your seed so I can have a baby, I told you that before that I wanted to have a baby and I meant it! I want to have a baby and I want you to be the ohma of my daughter Hibiki.”

“You can't possibly be serious?!”

Hibiki felt like he was going to lose his self control at this point and he still didn't know why! This was something that utterly confused him as his body began to react in ways that totally baffled him. He tried to think of other things such as doing training in the Forward Unto Dawn, repairing and upgrading his Vanguard, cleaning up messes in the register, eating Dita's…

However the very second he thought of Dita, the memories of what Duero suggested he do with Dita in order to see if it was true that men and women could have children together flashed right back into his mind and recalling what Felix told them as well, in that effect he began to imagine him being with Dita doing the things that Jura was suggesting, that effectively made him blush like mad as he tried his best to banish such thought from his mind.

However, Jura was not going to give up just yet and she continued to pursue the young Tarak teen and she was using every skill she had at seduction to get him to agree to her advances and while she was not sure why Hibiki was beet red at the moment, she had a feeling she was already getting a good deal of success in.

“Oh but I am Hibiki, and now that we're alone here on the VanDread….we can get down to it.”

Hibiki quickly moved away, he knew that with the cockpit design of the VanDread his Vanguard and Jura made, there was no way he could get away forever from the voluptuous blonde but he certainly was not going to give up trying as well as trying to make sense of his body's already confusing reactions. He managed to speak a this point as he got some distance.

“Have you even considered what you're saying to me?!”

“What else is there for me to think about? I thought it was time to for me to be a mother and I want you help me.”

Hibiki however was not going to fall for it just yet and spoke.

“Exactly what made you think this way?”

Jura smiled and replied.

“I wanted to have a baby who can be as beautiful as Ezra's baby and I feel that I would make a good mother someday.”

Hibiki was not entirely convinced, he was no expert when it concerned how women on Megele had children but he had heard how it was done by listening to Duero during his time taking his annual medical check up. He however knew that the women of Megele could have children with one another so it was confused and shocked him that someone like Jura was interested in having his seed to have a baby.

“So why are you asking me to help you with having a baby?! You could certainly ask Barnette to help you with having a baby and I know she'd be all right with the whole thing.”

“True, but I heard that men and women could have children together, have you heard of it Hibiki.”

Hibiki scratched his head and tried to come up with a viable answer to that question, and he decided to answer it before things got really strange.

“Yeah, I've heard of that.”

“See? So why don't we find out if it is possible for a man and woman to have a baby together?”

Hibiki however was not going to just let that happen right off the bat and tried to his best to reason with the very eager and willing blonde woman before him. He was still uncomfortable with the whole situation before him since he had no idea just how do deal with a woman asking him to help her with having a baby.

“Do you even know just how a man and a woman can have a baby together?!”

He hoped that this would prove Jura something to think about and disregard the whole idea of her having to take his seed since he really doubt that he was ready for the idea of having a baby with a woman. However, the blonde woman was going to surprise him yet again as she replied in earnest.

“Actually no, but that certainly doesn't mean that I can't learn, how hard can that be?”

Hibiki was shocked at that and he tried to find a way out of this before something happened that would be something that he was ill prepared to deal with at this moment, despite getting to be lot more comfortable with being around omen he was not comfortable with the idea of being intimate with a woman at this moment.

“You have any idea what you're suggesting we do Jura?! Getting a man's seed the old fashioned way is NOT as easy as it sounds!”

It was then Jura tried another tactic if she couldn't sweet talk Hibiki, then maybe wounding his pride would work, though she decided to keep that to minimum as she wanted not to antagonize Hibiki, she respected him enough not to push too far when the situation was not ideal.

“Are you being a coward Hibiki?”

“What?!”

“I just want your seed, it's not like I'm asking for a lot from you?”

“Where I come from Jura, asking a man to give you his seed to have a baby IS asking a lot! Besides you and I can't just get naked and put….”

Hibiki paled instantly as he realized his slip of the tongue and he was well aware that he couldn't take that back, he HOPED Jura was not going to go THAT far. However, Jura, being the extroverted and strong minded blonde lady that she was decided to accomplish just that.

“So we have to be naked for me to get your seed? All right, I can do that with no problem.”

Before Hibiki could do anything to try and stop Jura from doing something that he felt he was not ready for, the blonde removed her dress and she was now before Hibiki in her full naked glory.

Hibiki could only gasp as he was now looking at a woman….naked. He was struck dumb and was now glued to his seat and unable to respond, Jura smiled at that and saw that her ploy had worked and she was now free to go ahead and find the seed that Hibiki had in him. The blonde moved closer to him and she reached out to remove Hibiki's Marine Body Armor and with that suit out of the way, she went to work on his clothes while she was still very much naked. She was not being impatient with the whole thing as she took her time.

After a few minutes of proper searching on the still stunned and shocked Hibiki, she spoke

“So where do you find the seed on a man?”

That was enough to finally get Hibiki out of his stupor, but Jura had already got half of his clothes off of him and since his Marine Body Armor was the first to go he was now very much in his normal clothes which didn't do anything to impede Jura's progress and it was not long before he was only wearing his inner body suit.

That was enough to get Hibiki worked up and he shouted

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!”

Jura grinned at Hibiki and replied.

“I am getting you naked so you can give me your seed and make me pregnant, so where exactly do I find it Hibiki?”

Hibiki was blushing bright red as Jura pressed ever closer to him and he tried to pry himself free but Jura would have none of it as the two engaged in a game, with Hibiki trying to keep himself in some state of dress while Jura wanted him to lose the clothes. The whole situation turned into one heck of a match between then two of them.

“STOPIT!!!”

“Is it here?”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Now where is your seed Hibiki?”

“GIVE THAT BACK!!!!”

“Is it here?”

“NO!!!!!”

“Or maybe here!”

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

Jura was rendered silent as she found herself staring at a certain part of male anatomy, the blonde remained silent for a few more minutes as she looked Hibiki over and then after she got he breath back, she spoke.

“So….the rumors about men were true after all.”

“YOU CRAZY WOMAN!!! GIVE ME BACK MY LOINCLOTH!!!!”

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

Unknown to Hibiki, his little scene with Jura at that moment was not unnoticed since the COM system in the VanDread was still online and everyone who was working and using it heard ALL the details.

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

Cortana was laughing really hard as she was in her AI form while on the bridge…

Magno herself was also trying her level best not to laugh out loud at the news while Buzam and the other members of the bridge crew were confused by all that was happening before them and were naturally embarrassed at the idea of Jura appearing naked before Hibiki. She knew that there was going to a very serious discussion as soon as Hibiki got back to the Nirvana.

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

In the Talvernian section…

Every last member of the Talvernian contingent were glued to their seats and were trying their best not to laugh out loudly, the men were taking bets on Hibiki's next course of action while the women were eager to see just what Jura was going to do now that she had seen the men's most prized body part.

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

Gascogne was trying her best not to burst out laughing at this though she had to admit that she was VERY curious about what exactly Jura was looking at.

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

The rest of the pirates were also glued to their communication systems at that moment. The Spartans were totally relaxed at this while Catherine had to give a slight smile while Mendez merely grunted and planned to remind Hibiki that while he was not really a member of the military, he was breaking the regulations against fraternization in the ranks.

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

It was not long before Dita and Misty got into the act and spoke to Jura to leave Hibiki alone, though the two younger women were shocked to see Hibiki nude along with Jura who merely told them to wait their turn, she was already this close to get Hibiki's seed. That ignited the tempers of both Dita and Misty as they told her to leave Hibiki alone.

Jura however was not bothered as she hugged Hibiki will still in the nude and it was not long before Hibiki finally fainted.

Magno stepped in and after Jura was finally dressed and Hibiki revived form what he had seen, they were sent back to do their work. However there was no doubt that Hibiki was not going to be able to easily forget what had just happened to him.

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

On the surface…

Bart was currently regaling a young blonde girl named Shirley about several tall tales about the adventures he ad been part of ever since working with the pirates. Shirley was the most visible symbol of the cruelty of the Harvesters on these people.

Despite being only at the tender age of eight turning nine in a few days, she was doomed to die at that same age. Shirley had been born in this ICU for as long as she could remember, her body had been so frail and so weakened that leaving the ICU was not an option for her.

Bart had taken shine to the young girl and Shirley did likewise to Bart, laughing and smiling at all the stories that he would share with her, even though they were not entirely true or were exaggerated. Some of the pirates wanted Bart to leave the young girl alone, but the Master Chief said no to that, and so did Catherine, both the Spartan and the UNSC scientist could see that both Bart and Shirley were friends and as long as Shirley can laugh, smile and be happy with Bart then it was all right. It would help her cope with her current condition as well as give her a chance to have a normal life.

Bart loved to talk a lot and it was actually nice to meet someone who would not only listen but enjoy and laugh at his stories, and Shirley became the only female friend he had in this world and while he knew they would not be here long, he was going to make the most of it. Besides he found being with Shirley very relaxing and she was a nice person.

However Bart knew full well the danger that loomed over his friend and made it a point to try and convince Duero that they could take Shirley and the people away from here and find them a much safer and clearer place to live, the Nirvana had more than enough room and supplies to take the extra passengers.

However he was about to find out that despite his noble intentions, such a plan was not without complications.

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

Bart looked at John, Catherine, as well as Duero with utter looks of shock and disbelief. He had placed his idea to Catherine and Duero and he hoped that it could be done to save his friend Shirley and the rest of her people, but when they said no to his suggestion, his hope was turned to shocked confusion.

“What do you mean we can't take them with us?! There's plenty of room on the Nirvana to take them all! We can't just leave them here on this world to die like this!!!”

The UNSC genius scientist spoke to Bart, she could see that he was so desperate to save Shirley from this fate and others as well, she wanted to do the same thing, but she had to be realistic on this. There were too many things that were against the idea of having the people transferred of the planet and doing so would kill them, but knowing Bart's friendship with the young girl named Shirley, she would have to find a way to make him see reason.

“Bart….the people here have had their immune system corrupted by the pollutants in the womb since conception all the way to the very day they were born. There are too many dangers in space travel already as it is, if we bring them with us in their current state….they will die.”

“But can't you use the enhancements you used to make the Master Chief and the others the way they are?!”

“I can't….their bodies are too frail to survive the changes Bart and their genetic structure is too fragile already due to the damage their have suffered from the pollutants and the deliberate changes done by the Harvesters on their world, I'm sorry but there is nothing we can do for them or Shirley at this point.”

“You can't mean that!!! Shirley is young….she's…”

“She's been weakened in the womb Bart…her immune system is too weak, plus the fact that….the food and water here are so badly contaminated, and those make her condition too vulnerable…if she leaves the ICU, she won't make it.”

Bart wanted to deny if even more and he was trembling so hard that the Spartan was worried he might do something rash…

But Bart turned and walked away, he didn't say anything, but the Spartan could tell that Bart was in great turmoil over this. He couldn't blame the young man for his state of mind at all at the moment.

Duero and Catherine couldn't blame Bart either as he stormed off. There was no doubt in their minds that Bart was not give up in finding a way to save Shirley and the other people on this planet if he could, they couldn't blame him for his wish to do so, but they hoped he would not go too far in finding the answers.

They were right as Bart was then seen reading many books as he could to find a possible answer to saving his friend and her people, as the blonde cadet sought out a possible answer, he was unaware of the fact that the Spartan was looking at him.

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

The situation for the engineering team was not easy as they went to work on using the data from the Paeksis to create the isolation chamber, one mother who was pregnant bravely volunteered to be the first test subject, it was a very big choice but she was willing to do that either way, the chamber was constructed and Paiway said that this was very risky, Duero and Catherine nodded at that assessment but it was the only option they had at the moment.

The Spartans had been chosen to handle the movement of materials for the construction of the chambers and then they were dedicated to surface security, but they decided to finally smash the authority of the Harvesters on this world as they took a number of C-12 Shaped Charge sachets and destroyed the facility that the people used to put their dead in to be picked up by the Harvesters. Though some of the people on the planet were shocked, they were still not going to challenge the Spartans, in fact they cheered the effort done by the Spartans and the project went underway.

It was at this point that another tragedy took place as Shirley shyly revealed a doll to Bart that was made to resemble him, but both laughed at the lack of hair, Shirley asked if Bart was offended by it and he replied that he was not though the lack of hair as bit surprising to him, she promised that she would finish the doll soon, however that was when a massive surge of pain struck Shirley and nearly crippled her, Bart was horrified and shouted for help, alerting both Catherine and Duero. The two rushed to aid Shirley as Bart looked on in horror at the sight of his friend in pain

At the same time, the Nirvana's scanners and the Clarion Spy Drones picked up a massive signal and the signal was that of the Harvester forces, apparently they had come to this world to collect the newly deceased bodies for their own experiments and collect the dying as well. The Harvesters were quickly surprised to see that the Nirvana and it's crew were in the area and quickly launched a counter attack to defeat them, amazingly the Harvesters had neglected to bring a ground occupation force or even Boarding Craft limiting their combat options to only Cube Fighters and Seed Ships.

However the pirates learned how devious the Harvesters were and took no chances as they fought back with the Dreads and Longsword fighter squadrons, however, the Nirvana itself was not able to bring it's full guns to bear into the fight, with Bart groundside and him being the only one who could move the Nirvana into a better firing angle, Cortana was unable to use the full might of her arsenals.

And with Hibiki still holding VanDread Jura's shield on the planet for the experiment and defense alongside Jura, there was no way for VanDread Meia and VanDread Dita to fight back and since there was not enough water on the planet's surface, there was no chance of a repeat of the trick Jura and Hibiki used back on the world of Anpathos.

The crew needed bart and sent word to the surface to get him up there, Bart refused to leave Shirley and no amount of force or words to could make him leave his friend, however, Catherine told him that if he didn't leave then they were all going to fail and the Harvesters would win. Shirley also spoke to Bart just as she was being wheeled into the operating room for treatment.

“They're coming for me Big brother…”

Bart knew just who she was talking about, there was no doubt in his mind that Shirley knew just who had come to her world.

Shirley cried and spoke despite the pain in her body.

“The monsters are here they're here to take me away from my family….like they took my mama and papa from me…”

“No…I won't let them take you Shirley.”

“You….you won't let the monsters take me?”

Bart nodded seriously at this and Shirley smiled and spoke before Duero and Catherine wheeled her in.

“Thank you…I'll finish the doll when you come back Big Brother.”

That was all Bart needed to hear as he turned and looked deadly serious and moved with the others to the waiting shuttle. John and the other Spartan IIs saw the change in Bart and they approved of it. It was not long before Hibiki and Jura dropped down a portion of the shield generated by their VanDread to allow the shuttle back to the Nirvana, Bart was not giving up and quickly wasted no time to confront the Harvester ship that was before him.

The Harvesters had apparently seen the deadly power of the Nirvana in terms of it's weapons and began to unleash a much higher amount of weapons fire to suppress the Nirvana as the weapons fire hit the shields as the remaining teams of engineers on the Nirvana

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

Bart was not moved by the fire power and recalled his promise to Shirley to protect her from the monsters, the idea of these bastards taking Shirley's body and doing horrific experiments on her for their own benefit angered him to no end, he was not going to let his friend suffer that kind of fate!

“I don't care whatever kind on monstrous creation you bastards send out…”

Cortana wondered just what was going on with Bart at this moment, she needed something with a lot more punch in order to deal with this new Harvester container ship….apparently after the disaster on the surface of Anpathos, the Harvesters were not going to take any risks and had doubled the strength of the armor of their cargo vessels along with the internal and external integrity as well. It was taking a lot more firepower than usual to break through.

Hibiki and Jura couldn't separate as doing so would endanger the experiment below as well as expose the people to a Harvester ground invasion, she could use her MAC Cannons but there was a chance that it would not be entirely enough due to the heavier armor and the risk of the ship debris hitting the shields and breaking through.

Bart however was not deterred and focused his eyes on the Harvesters.

“I have a friend down there fighting for her life!”

Bart thought of Shirley fighting as best she could to live, he thought of the hard life she had to live because of the bastards who had done this butchery to this world and so many others, and how much the Harvesters had ruined lives for their own selfish survival and now they were here to take the lives of the people below and Shirley's as well!

“I made a promise when I came back here on this ship…and that promise was to save her from you monsters!”

It was then that the Paeksis reacted to Bart's words and suddenly several sections of the Nirvana suddenly opened up and sections of crystals were appearing on the now exposed sections of the Nirvana there were even two massive crystal spheres that were underneath the MAC Cannons of the Nirvana as the ship seemed to transform itself under Bart's courage to defend Shirley and her people from the Harvesters.

“And I intend to keep that promise!”

Bart then looked on as the targeting systems were all on the Harvesters and their mother ship as he shouted at them in defiance.

“GET OFF THIS PLANET!!!!!!”

The crystals on the ship broke free and revealed themselves to weapon banks, but unlike the UNSC weapons that Cortana used in defending the Nirvana, instead they were energy weapon banks and they were all glowing in sync with Bart taking a good look at the Harvester ship the weapon banks were unleashed by Bart in that moment in streams of plasma energy beams that were able to move away from the VanDread in combat and smash hard into the massive Harvester Ship and it's escorts, the weapons were powerful enough to literally gouge burning holes through the reinforced armor of the Harvester Ship.

Cortana was in awe at this and scanned the new weapons, finding them similar to the Covenant's Energy Projector weapons on their ships but these appeared to be self guided and highly accurate, she had no idea that these weapons even existed and guess that the Paeksis had something to do with this as it no doubt had access to UNSC combat data on Covenant ship based weapon systems. She however didn't mind the extra firepower as she quickly focused all her Archer Missiles and MAC rounds at the harvester ship.

Explosions were everywhere as the combined assault of the UNSC weapons plus the newly added energy weapon systems of the Nirvana was enough to end the Harvesters once and for all.

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

As the Nirvana ground crew looked on at the sight of a newborn child who was now shielded from the harsh environment around it, Catherine, Parfait, and Duero turned to see one of the elders of this world move to them despite the pain and sickness evident on his face. The literally dying old man spoke in a very soft and sick voice, yet his words were not offensive to the three of them.

“On behalf of my people….we thank you, from the bottom of our souls and hearts, we thank you. You have given us a fighting chance.”

“It's not much as you can see….we tried our best to terra-form this world for you, but…”

The elderly man shook his head and replied.

“I understand that, but even so….the sound of a healthy baby crying is music to our ears, it shows us that there is still hope for the future and this once beautiful world can be beautiful and safe once more. It will take years and many of us will never see it, but at least our young generations will see it through.”

The female ground team couldn't help but feel the need to cry at the truth of those words, the currently living will never see their world restored to it's past glory despite their best efforts, but with their help, the new generation would live to bring peace and hope back to this world which was once considered the world of the living dead. Gascogne couldn't help but smile while Parfait and her engineers burst into tears as well as Paiway, even Barnette shed a tear at this point.

Parfait was comforted by Duero while Catherine and Mendez looked on

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

However….not everyone on the Nirvana's shared the triumph…

Bart had returned to give Shirley the good news that the harvesters were gone, but his happiness was shattered at the sight of Shirley's body covered by a blanket, he was horrified at this sight of his friend dead, he tried to have Duero, Paiway, and Catherine do something, but he was too late, there was nothing that they could do, with that, he took the doll that Shirley tried to finish in her last moments and left the room.

Bart was looking at the setting sun and he was trying his best to hold back his tears as he looked down in his hands to hold the doll that Shirley tried to make for him. This was the very first time he ever cried not out of fear or shock but of sadness and despair, he failed to save Shirley after all, he promised to her that he would never let the monsters take her away and he would make sure she would live….but for what? She died….

“Damn it!!!!”

Bart was so deep in grief that he was not aware of the heavy foot falls that told others that someone wearing heavy armor. The cadet then heard the Spartan speak, telling him that the one behind him was the Master Chief.

“You did the best you could Bart.”

Bart turned and glared at the Master Chief, for the first time he finally cried out his tears before the Spartan and he shouted at the Spartan.

“I FAILED HER DAMN IT!!!! I TRIED TO SAVE HER!!! BUT SHE DIED EITHER WAY!!!”

“I know…but you did many things for her.”

“Like what?! Lie to her?! Pretend to be this hero when I'm nothing but a damn coward and fool?! All I ever gave her were lies…”

The Spartan nodded at that and spoke.

“Maybe that's true, but you gave her many things that meant a lot to her.”

“Like what?!”

“You made her smile.”

Bart stopped his anger at that simple sentence as he thought about how Shirley would smile whenever he came to her room.

John saw that and he knew he had to keep on to get Bart out of the mess he was in.

“You made her laugh.”

The memories of the laughter came back to Bart as he looked at the doll and then to the window where Shirley's room was.

“You gave her the one thing that mattered to someone like her….hope. And that is why you are a real hero and not a fool.”

Bart kneeled down and held the doll close to his chest and then spoke to the Spartan who loomed over him, most men would have been intimidated by this but Bart was not, for the first time he looked at the Master Chief's golden visor and spoke seriously to the Master Chief.

“What should I do?”

The Spartan replied then.

“Honor the friendship between you to, do that, and she will never die or fade away.”

“Will it…work?”

“You'll never know until you do it.”

With that, the Master Chief offered his hand and the blonde navigator took it and hauled himself to his feet while still cradling the doll Shirley made of him.

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

Days later…

“Man….what a day…”

Hibiki groaned as he walked towards his bunk in the Forward Unto Dawn and as soon as he was in there he sat down and moved his body, trying to make sure that he didn't have any stiff areas to worry about. As soon as he got the stiffness out of the way he decided to go get a hot shower so his body could relax.

It had been a number of days since the battle over the world that they had been to, it was hard to leave the people behind as so many of them would not survive to see the rebirth of their world and the renewal of hope in living, but the crew of the Nirvana took heart in the fact that their efforts were not in vain. Bart had also taken a turn of maturity, he took his duties as Navigator and energy weapons operator seriously, periodically taking the time to get himself reacquainted with the systems and even taking the time to learn under Cortana some key issues with the use of weapon systems and navigation.

Of course he also took his friendship with Shirley to a new level, shaving his hair until he was abld to replicate the unfinished doll made of him by his deceased friend, most of the crew would need time to get used to it, but the others didn't mind, even John approved of it to some degree. Magno herself was all right with the whole thing as well.

As for him, he decided to go and get a hot shower and headed in the direction of the main bathing area that had been set aside for use. The bathing area was similar to a shower but apparently was a lot larger and even had a series of bath tubes there, no doubt something the Paeksis had added. He sometimes used it and so did the Spartans on occasion. At the moment he was still trying to get used to what had happened before in the VanDread. He hoped that no one in the Nirvana would tell him about the incident, as he was not in the mood to replay the situation ever again. However the Tarak teen was going to be in for a surprise as he entered the bathing area and he was no longer wearing any clothes and wrapped himself in a towel.

He entered the room and headed into it until he heard something lock the door, the Tarak teen had a bad feeling about this and soon enough his feelings were correct as he realized that he was not alone.

He gasped as Jura appeared….and she was also…naked. The blonde grinned at him and spoke.

“Now that we're alone Hibiki, I can get your seed.”

“H-H-How did you get in here?!”

“I followed your routine silly, now then before we were so rudely interrupted…”

It was then that Hibiki heard the door open and he felt that rescue had come, but that thought died as Misty appeared in the same room. Apparently the blue haired woman had been planning to ambush him as she spoke to Hibiki.

“My Prince….no we can….what are YOU doing here you old lady?!”

Jura glared at Misty as she was outraged at being called an old lady and replied.

“I'm getting Hibiki's seed, so leave the room now.”

Misty blocked Jura's path to Hibiki and replied.

“No way am I going to let you take Hibiki's seed!”

“Oh, do you want his seed Misty?”

Misty quickly blushed and said nothing but then gathered her courage and spoke.

“it's not like that! That's going too far! But I am not going to…”

Another voice joined the scene as the door opened and in walked Dita who was carrying bathing supplies and a sponge, apparently she too had been observing Hibiki.

“Mr. Alien! I want to help you wash…”

Dita looked and saw Jura and Misty and she was not happy.

“WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE?!”

Hibiki was stunned and tried to escape, but he was shocked at all this and couldn't help but try and find some avenue of escape. However it seemed that there was no escape as he watched all three women begin to argue….over him, it also reached the point that both women were now buck naked and he found himself staring at Jura in the nude, along with Dita, as well as Misty. And in that situation, he did the one thing he managed to avoid doing when Ezra's baby was born.

He fainted.

“Ah! Mr. Alien!”

Dita tried to revive Hibiki from his lose of consciousness and then both Jura and Misty came along to revive Hibiki, that was then the door opened and in walked Kelly, devoid of her MJOLNIR and she was about to take a quick washing of her face and was fully dressed. The female Spartan raised an eyebrow and spoke.

“What the heck is going on here?”

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

To be continued…

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

Author's notes:

Looks like things are taking a very interesting turn and I have taken a more mature look at the scene between Hibiki and Jura in the VanDread over the planet. It might seem familiar but you can bet the fallout of that incident is going to be felt all over the VanDread universe for a while. Don't worry about what else will happen with this as Jura might eventually be paired with someone apart from Hibiki.

On the next chapter is something that all of you readers might find very interesting as this will be something of a treat, enjoy it for it is going to be the icing on the cake for the rest of the story.

It seems Hibiki is now getting in touch with the primal male instincts that have been repressed ever since the founding of Tarak all those years ago. This is way different than the anime back then so expect things to get really hot and heavy at this point and time!!!