Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VanDread - Halo ❯ Awakening ( Chapter 1 )

VanDread - Halo

Disclaimer: Under no circumstances do I own Halo and the games connected to the series, nor do I own the anime series VanDread in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 1

Awakening

< >:Thoughts

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

In the Tarak fleet that was recently deployed, things were getting back to normal after an incident concerning a stowaway from the planet, who apparently had attempted to remove on their newly constructed Vanguards. And the rumor mills were already going all out on what was the fate of the stowaway.

“Did you hear? A Third Class citizen had actually managed to sneak into the ship!”

“You're kidding…”

“I'm not, I was there in the Grand Hall when they raised the Vanguards and there he was!”

“That Third Class trash ruined the whole ceremony and the Prime Minister was furious! That rat is already in the brig.”

“What do you think they're going to do to him?”

“What do I think…they'd either shoot him in the head, or out an airlock…either way, he's not going to last long.”

The speakers were all graduates of Tarak and their military academy and they were all eager to finally be part of the effort to defeat the women pirates who had been attacking their empire's shipping lanes for the past years and the young men were more than eager to place themselves in the front lines to stop the vile female pirates and their attacks on the ships and the deaths of their comrades. They have all seen the images of the pain and suffering the women had inflicted on their forefathers for many generations and now they were ready to move out and attack them for their actions on the proud empire of their forefathers and Grand Pa…but the mood was spoiled due to an interloper and a stowaway.

One of the cadets however was not concerning himself with the rumors and busied himself with getting ready for duty on the ship.

Duero McFile, 1st Class Citizen and one of the few top graduates of the Academy was now ready to check into the roster and start his rounds. He was already slated to be part of the first watch and he was not going to waste his time with gossip.

Though he did wonder on the fate of the stowaway a bit, there was something that was different about that one, though he was dressed in the very same fashion as that of the rest of the many Third Class Citizens the young man had seen on his days when he and the rest of his fellow cadets, prior to graduation had seen, working in the factories and assembly yards…many of them were content with their lots in the society…

But that one who had interrupted the ceremony…seemed…different.

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

In the said brig…

<How the heck did it come to this?! Maybe I shouldn't have just stayed there all day, but my partner has grown so much…>

The interloper, one Hibiki Tokai by name sat down on the floor of the room as he was still trying to recover some feeling in his limbs after being suddenly shocked by the floating, egg shaped machine that was his guard in the cell he was in. As soon as the young Third Class Citizen was up to his feet, he then began to try and find a way out. Though as to how he was going to accomplish an escape in this kind of situation, he did not know as of yet what he should do.

He recalled the events that got him here and what he wanted out of his life.

Ever since he left his Grandfather's house on the outskirts of Tarak's capital city, he had this desire and this feeling to see just what else was beyond his home planet…that there was far more to being alive as a man than just being forced to build machines and have nothing else to look forward to but another meal and a glass of water, with no other way to go. He wanted to find out if there was more to see and more to learn, and it had always got him into trouble with the other Third Class Citizens. They told him to stop dreaming and focus on doing what they were doing now, to quit thinking of making something more of himself and accept his lot in life.

He however, never wanted to let those things be the only deciding factor in his life and continued to want more, and he boasted that he could prove himself correct, and that very same boast was the reason he was in this mess in the first place. It started out on the day the rest of the men on duty forced him to live up to his boast that he could steal a completely made Vanguard, which had the special mark that they carved into one of the special parts for the vanguard, and naturally, since he was the one who had made the boast, he was picked to steal the Vanguard, and he had wanted to retake his words as he knew the penalty of being caught in a military ship…execution.

But he made a promise and he was a man of Tarak, no matter what class he was, he was not going to go back on his word, so he managed to use the various pathways and access shafts to enter the docks unnoticed. He first used a special eye scanner that he had developed to access the restricted cargo space section of the Ikazuchi and used the supply conveyer belt to get into the ship without being caught by the dock master. Once he was in, he was able to evade the crew including the engineers, technicians, and mechanics and finally locate the room where the Vanguards were being stored and though he was nearly busted by the security system there.

It was then that he saw the Vanguards and spotted the one he was about to steal, he had feared that the unit would have been rejected due to the mark, but he was overjoyed to the sight of his partner fully assembled and looking so pristine. He was about to take the Vanguard to prove his words and actions were true but then the sjip launched under the order of the Prime Minister two hours a\early and before he could try and figure out what to do and deal with the shock of what had just happened…the room rose up and he was now spotted by the other men, namely the cadets and the security personnel, he was captured and was now here, and he had tried to bargain with the robot guarding him and got electrocuted for his trouble.

He looked down at the floor and wondered just what else was going to happen today.

Funny he should ask…for at the very moment…

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

(On the subject of Master Chief John-117's age… by `real time' chronology, he is indeed 41 years of age, but we should not forget that when the UNSC used Slipspace drives to travel from one star system to another star system and from planet to planet, the ships they have used are equipped with cryo-stasis tubes that are designed for the crew to use until they get to the destination. And the reason is that Slipspace jumps are not instantaneous and could take a lot of time, a normally short Slipspace jump can take at least 2 months, and a long Slipspace jump could take at least 6 or more months, thus the need to have cryo-tubes. And since people in cryo-sleep don't age at all, it's not surprising that in the novels and some media, Dr. Catherine E. Halsey, head of the Spartan II Program does not appear as old as her age suggests, further adding merit to the fact that no one ages in cryo-sleep. The same could be said for all UNSC personnel and so would the Spartans…)

(This would mean that in the 27 years he has been fighting the Covenant with the UNSC and his fellow Spartans in the Inner Colonies and Outer Colonies, a good portion of the time he spent getting from one battle-ground to the next has been spent in cryo-sleep, thus his biological age is much younger than his `real time' age as he has not aged at all while in cryo-sleep. And also, the medical care system of the Human race has improved greatly in the past centuries in the Halo universe, thus human life spans are much higher than those of today, and the aging rate has been reduced significantly in the 26th century, and it has been known that John and the Spartans had been also biologically enhanced as well as being enhanced in cybernetics, this would further make them far stronger and tougher than normal humans, and this would make them far healthier than normal humans, and could make them age even less than others.)

(So in truth…the Master Chief would probably be around his mid or late 20s by now.)

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

In the bridge…

“Prime Minister!”

“What is it?”

The bald leader of the Tarak strike fleet asked in a still very irritated manner as he looked at the bridge crew member who got his attention. He had been forced to cancel the exhibition match with the Vanguards due to the discovery of the stowaway Third Class Citizen, and he was not in a very good mood as to this interruption.

<I am going to have that brat flogged when I get back to Tarak, after he can't take anymore, I'll have him shot!>

“The scanners are picking up an unknown object at least 2 to three kilometers from our current location, it appears to be about the size of a ship.”

“Is it one of our escort fleets? If it is, then tell them to hold their position and wait for the others.” He then went back to dealing with the situation that was going on in his mind and what other punishment they could place on the stowaway.

“It's not one of our ships Prime Minister…it appears to be quite different…”

The Prime Minister got his attention at that and looked at the officer, along with his second in command. There was something odd going on here and this merited their investigation immediately.

“Is it the pirates we were sent out to exterminate?”

The second in command asked, a portly, bald fellow who had a moustache as well as the Prime Minister. He was concerned as to the fact that while they were fully equipped for warfare with the women, many of the men were still raw and inexperienced pilots of the Vanguards, namely in deep space as unlike the training on the surface of their world, there was no gravity to keep the Vanguards upright.

“I'm not sure Commander…it seems to be of an unknown design that does not match ours or that of the women, and it seems to have some sort of…unknown transponder code.”

The Prime Minister and the Commander both looked at each other with surprise…an unknown ship in their region of space, and of a design that does not match either their ship designs or even that of the women of Megele…this was certainly worthy of interest, even if they still had a mission to accomplish, some this significant had to seen.

“How soon can we have the ship in visual range?”

“In a few minutes sir…and our other ships have also send confirmation, they have the unknown ship in sight and we will be receiving their own visual scans at the same time.”

The bridge crew and the leaders of the Ikazuchi looked to see what appeared to be a portion of a ship of totally unknown design, and it was in dark gunmetal gray and built in a very much unknown fashion, it appeared to have been in a major battle as the ship seemed to be badly damaged, and as the Tarak fleet got closer, they saw that the ship or what was left of the ship appeared to be relatively intact despite the damage. There was no doubt about the fact that the ship belonged to neither them nor the women…so just who did the ship belong to?

“Could it be a ship build by another race…aliens maybe?” One of the younger bridge crew members asked loudly.

Another officer in the bridge looked at him and with a glare and replied.

“Don't fool yourself, there's no such thing in this universe as aliens! The very idea of that is…”

The Prime Minister looked at both men with a glare, silencing both of them and he then began to think on what will be the next move of the Fleet in light of this discovery, He weighed the options before him and was not very happy with the idea of not being able to deal with the vile women pirates at this time.

“Prime Minister, the Katana is sending in some visual data now…there appears to be marking and writing on the ship, this might tell us just who the ship belongs to, they are still magnifying it though.”

“Put it on the screens…time to find out just who owns that ship…and whether they are allies that we can have on our side against the women or are our enemies as well as them.”

The crew watched as the images from their escort ship the Katana came on screen as they began to have a much closer look on the unknown vessel. The ship was designed as some sort of combat ship as the look of the battle scarred hull told them that there was no way it was a civilian ship or convoy ship at all, therefore it was built for combat…despite it's size, which was somewhat lesser than their escort ships. It was then that they all saw the writing on the hull of the ship.

“United Nations Space Command Frigate…Forward Unto Dawn…it certainly is not one of ours Prime Minister, there is no mention of any such organization within our databases both back on Tarak and here in the archives from the Ikazuchi.”

“No records at all?”

“None, Prime Minister, this must mean that the ship is truly of unknown origin.”

The Prime Minister then weighed over the new information, in front of him was an unknown warship from a faction that no one on Tarak knew of, and it was not of the design of the women. And apparently it was not inhabited at all, and there was the possibility that the crew of the ship were all killed in whatever fighting the ship had been in. It was then that he decided to see if there could be anything on that ship that the Tarak Empire could use against the women.

Despite the condition of the ship, there was a big possibility that there could be weapons and technology left in the ship that they could find of use. Even if the ship seemed to be a wreck, the Prime Minister knew that there would still things of value in the wreck…and he and the men under his command learned to always be able to make due with what they had could find and had on hand, that was how their empire was formed by the eight founding fore-fathers, and Grand Pa.

“Is there any form of activity on the ship?”

“The scanners have detected faint power readings that indicate that while most of the power supply is drained, the reactors are still emitting residual energy, and from the amounts of energy that we are detecting, the ship must have fusion reactors. Scans have also located what appear to be weapon systems that are on the ship, though we are not entirely sure as to what sort of weapons the ship has on it's body.”

The Prime Minister then thought it over, and decided that exploring the ship and finding out anything from it would be worth the time and effort.

“Have the Fleet move closer to the Frigate and have the Vanguards that can be spared to go there and take the Frigate to the Ikazuchi…once that's done, have an airlock tunnel connect to the Frigate and send a retrieval salvage and recovery team find out what they can on the ship. I want to know just who owns that ship, and what data, equipment, and technology we can salvage from it. The ship may also give us another edge we can use on the women.”

“Understood Prime Minister!”

The men in the Ikazuchi were busy getting to their stations until they were able to see the image of the UNSC Frigate before them on the view screens, some of them wondered what that was it was not like the pictures of the female pirate ship that they had been told was their foe. At the moment, an announcement came on the ship's communications network.

“Attention to all crew members of the Ikazuchi…we have found a ship that we may be able to salvage and gather information from, in light of this new discovery, the cancelled exhibition of the Vanguards will be replaced with a recovery operation, Several Vanguard pilots will be selected to go out of the Ikazuchi to escort the Fleet and to secure the ship for the entrance of our engineers to begin a retrieval, salvage, and recovery operation.”

The men looked at each other and went on to do their duties and accomplish their new mission objectives, though it was natural that there would be a few of them who were not happy that instead of using their new and powerful Vanguard weapons on the women who deserve to be shown their place, the machines were now to be used as salvagers.

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

Unknown to the men…

“It seems that the men have found something in the area that they are interested in Captain, Commander. The male fleet is moving to a new vector away from their prescribed path.”

The leader of the pirates then looked at the images of the Tarak fleet as the men seemed concerned with what appeared to be wreck of ship, that amazingly enough, upon closer scanning did not match any ship she knew of, both from her world and the world of the men, this seemed to make things very interesting, as whatever the men had found, it seemed to merit their full attention.

“Captain, should we continue the raid?”

“Yes….but this time, let's see if we can figure out just what the men are interested in…if possible, wait until the men have secured that thing they are after.”

“Yes Captain!”

It seemed that the female pirates were getting ready to not only score the biggest catch of their careers, but they were also going to get themselves a bonus prize. This was really going to be their lucky day.

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

Unknown to either the men of Tarak or the women of Megele…the supposed section of the ship that they were now interested in…had some already present company, and one of them had just finished her analysis of their forces…and was getting ready to respond to their intentions…

In the section of the Forward Unto Dawn…

Cortana looked on as she kept her passive scanners on the unknown fleet heading towards them. The UNSC smart AI had been able to locate the Tarak Fleet just only a few minutes after they were in position for their supposed patrol of the area. At first she had hoped that they were a UNSC recon fleet, or even a Covenant Separatist fleet, but as soon as she was able to scan and see the ships coming towards the section she and the Master Chief were in, her hopes were replaced with suspicions. Not a single one of those ships were recognizable…they didn't match the ships that were in the UNSC Navy, and they certainly didn't match up to the Covenant ships she had seen in her long years of service with the UNSC fleet.

The AI then determined that the unknown fleet were numerous and were already beginning to close the distance to the Forward Unto Dawn. She had few options right now as she realized that not only were they not UNSC made ships or Covenant made ships, but they had all had a transponder and IFF tag that certainly didn't match anything in her database…she had at first suspected them to anti-UNSC rebels, just like the United Rebel Front, the Eridanus Rebels, or worse…but the AI discounted those ideas for several reasons. The first was the fact that even the Eridanus Rebels and all known anti-UNSC forces used salvaged or black market acquired UNSC equipment, they didn't have the resources and manpower to both equip and staff ships of that size. The second was that both factions were wiped out when the Covenant invaded the UNSC Outer and Inner Colonies during the early to mid years of the war, and the last was that the ships were not armed with MAC guns.

Every UNSC ship was equipped with a MAC gun and several point defense guns and Archer missile pods, all along with Long-sword fighter squadrons were basic add-ons to the UNSC fleet. This meant that these were unknown forces…and considering the fact that she managed to barely scan weapon systems and sensors on the ships, they were a combat Fleet and were naturally potential hostiles.

They were not also Covenant ships…not only did they not match the overall physical appearance and design forms of every Covenant ship she knew of in her data archives…they also did not have the residual energy field that showed her that the ships were armed with anything resembling in the most basic Covenant ship shielding. Their weapons arrays were also not as advanced and this was beginning to make her nervous.

With the Forward Unto Dawn bare of any form of power, no forms of defense, no way to contact the unknown forces, and her scanners not to their full potential, she was running the risk of being unable to stop the unknown forces from boarding the ship and finding both her and John, there were other very deadly risks as well. There was a chance that the forces coming in would try and hack into her systems and gather information on the UNSC, and might even learn the location of Earth, even if the war was over, she was still programmed with the data of Earth's location and she was not going to let them find it, the second risk was that they might attack John while he was in cryo-stasis and if anything happened while the Spartan was still in cryo-stasis, it could permanently kill him as the risks of freezer burn were high, and not even a Spartan like John could withstand that.

This meant she had only one option, they were going to have to get ready for combat. She quickly made the needed commands to begin awakening her protector from his cryo-stasis. She didn't want to suddenly awaken John and therefore underwent to procedure slowly and carefully. She checked as the freeze gases in the cryo-tube began to filter out as the cryo-tube opened and the AI saw the Mjolnir Mark VI suit that her friend and comrade wore. She checked his vital signs and smiled as she determined that he was not in danger of freezer burn. She smiled once more as her scans in the cryo-tube showed that he was awake…sure enough, the Spartan turned to her and she looked back at his visor.

“Nice to see you again John.”

“Cortana…are you…”

“No, not yet, I'm not crashing down just yet John.”

“Then what is it? Is there a rescue fleet coming?”

“There's a fleet heading to our direction all right, but we've got a problem…they're not UNSC ships…or even Covenant ships, they're of a type I've never seen before.”

Inside his helmet, the Spartan frowned at the news and managed to lift his body out of the cryo-tube and then sent a mental command to his Mjolnir Mark VI to administer some wake up-stim injections into his blood stream to get his body back into moving shape, he then ran a check on his suit's status. As he ran through his systems, namely his hydrostatic gel later, his pressure seals, the medical systems, the reactive metal liquid crystal, his fusion power pack, his COM systems, the FoF scanner, his Heads Up Display, the memory processor super conducting metal weave, and his weapon ammunition scanner. He then began to run the suit's diagnostics on his shields, he smiled a bit as his scans turned up to indicate that the systems were all good and shields were now charging, he heard the slight hum as the shields began to power up while he looked at his shield gauge.

As soon as he finished with his shields, he quickly turned and floated towards his MA5C ICWS Assault rifle and removed it from it's holding unit, the weapon's electronics suite came online and told him he had a full combat load and at least 11 magazines left in his Mark VI's ammunition compartment and he then placed the weapon on his back and there was a slight thumb on his back as the magnetic pads held the weapon in place, he then reached for a nearby M7 Caseless Submachine Gun and the four magazines nearby and loaded the extra ammunition in the spare compartment on his armor and managed to grab yet another M7 and also loaded the spare magazines into the compartment along with the ones he had placed in already. He then grabbed a pair of grenades and a Combat Knife that he placed in the belt for easy reach…once he was now was fully prepped, he then turned and moved towards Cortana.

“How many are there?”

“My scanning abilities are pretty limited, even though I've determined that they are not either UNSC or Covenant, and they are large, I just can't be sure of just how many there are, so far, with whatever spare power I can get from the Dawn's fusion reactors, I can tell that there are at least three ships…large ones heading in our direction…I can't be entirely sure with the data I'm getting from whatever scanning ability I have left, but one of them appears to be the main flagship of the Fleet, and it's the one that's trying to dock with us…my guess is that the ones who are leading this unknown fleet want to see the Dawn at a more personal level…my guess is, they might send in a salvage team.”

John-117 nodded as he weighed his options, if he did nothing, whoever these guys were, they would no doubt try something that could endanger both him and Cortana. He was not about to risk their lives just yet, but he needed to find out just who these people were and if they were indeed hostile. These were unknown contacts and while he had a mission to do, which was to protect Cortana at all costs, he was not going to start an incident that could be disastrous. Right now, he could sense that he had several options. The first was to try and find out just who they were dealing with without getting killed which would require some sneaking around, the second was the go in and fight his way through. Both had good and bad points, but he then decided to try and get an idea of just what they might be up against. With that in mind, he quickly placed his hand into the holo-tank and Cortana was now downloaded directly into the Mjolnir's main memory weave core. With that done, he began to make his way towards the severed section of the Frigate.

“What do you have in mind?”

“I'm going to find out just what sort of ship we're going to be docked with.”

“Are you sure about that idea? For all we know, they might see you and fire on us.”

“Got any better ideas?”

“Afraid not…so try to keep out of sight.”

“Got it.”

The Spartan moved through the corridors while floating in Z-gravity and the Spartan was not very comfortable with the situation. John-117 had taken training in z-gravity combat and his Mjolnir Mark VI had special magnetic pads on the boots to allow him to move and fight on a ship's outer hull, but he was not very comfortable in that regard of a battle environment. As he made his way to the severed area, he was able to use the dark shadows to his advantage in order to stay hidden. As he was reaching the area of the opening, his motion sensors suddenly gave off a warning as he saw a massive object moving nearby.

Cortana saw it as well and spoke quickly.

“There's something massive coming in fast John! Better hide!”

The Spartan wasted little time and placed himself on the walls and in the shadows near a door and managed to peek out a bit…

To see a massive humanoid like head made of gun-mental grey metal with one massive eye…the strange machine moved on and a few seconds passed as the Spartan stayed hidden as best he could and kept an eye on the motion sensor radar until the massive object was out of the radar's scanning range.

“What was that?” The Spartan asked as he looked a bit more out the wall of the door and looked on, carefully checking his motion scanners again, just in case there were more of the massive machines coming by.

Cortana replied to that question with some surprise of her own.

“I'm not sure…I've never seen anything like it, but it seemed to be some sort of massive robot, no doubt designed for operations in space, from the looks of it, though land operations must be possible. Hold on a second…I think we're about to see the ship.”

The Spartan and the UNSC AI looked to see the massive form of the Ikazuchi as the massive Tarak battle-ship began to close in on the section of the Frigate, the ship was very much bigger than most normal ships and the two looked on, trying to figure out just what sort of new beings they were about to encounter as the ship came into closer view…they then noted the strange insignia of the Tarak Empire and the name of the ship.

“That's no symbol I'm familiar with…though the name sounds oddly familiar.”

“Ikazuchi…that sounds familiar to me too. But it seems we're dealing with a combined flagship here, not one ship.”

“Pardon?”

The Spartan then pointed towards the Tarak flagship, namely to the section in the middle of the ship itself.

“That section appears to be a lot older than the other sections, I can see connecting sections from the other areas to the main one, the color may be new but it's different from the rest and yet the hull plating appears to be older than the new sections. It looks like the middle section must be a salvaged ship of some type. Plus the design of the middle section doesn't match the other sections as well.”

The AI then used the optical systems of the Mark VI and noted that her protector was right on what he suspected and she then detected several more of the massive robots coming and then stopped as the ship began to get closer. The Spartan and his AI companion and friend then watched as the ship then seemed to be moving alongside them…and they then heard the sounds of something hitting the side hulls of the Forward Unto Dawn. The Spartan then took the risk and ventured outside while activating the magnetic pads on the boots of his Mark VI and then began to walk on the hull and look towards where the impacts came from and spotted long access ways locking onto the hull. There were also other long magnetic arms that were not access designed and were now holding the Frigate stable.

“They must be planning to send their salvage forces through those access-ways. They will have to use something to break through the hull of the Frigate, but considering the condition of the Dawn when the Slipspace portal collapse…it might not take them much.”

The Spartan then thought of the options that they now had as the fact that the unknown beings that had found them would soon be boarding the frigate…as badly damaged as it was. This was making things a lot harder. And then he decided that at the rate things were going, they could not stay on the Frigate anymore. So he decided to take a huge risk, which was not very new to him at this point, he had taken risks before and this time, it was going to be no different. He moved back into the Frigate and made his way through the corridors back to the cryo-tube and then placed his hand over the holo-tank, sending Cortana back to her original place.

The Ai then looked at the Spartan and gave a slight frown.

“You're up to something again…I may not see you're face, but I know that posture of yours, what is it?”

“We've only got a few minutes before they send out a salvage team on this Frigate, considering that we don't much of a ship begin…”

Cortana's confusion didn't last long as she quickly understood just what the Spartan had in mind, the two of them had done this before on one of the Covenant ships…namely the Ascendant Justice after the destruction of the first Halo ring. However, while that was most famed UNSC raid in UNSC history accomplished by only a small handful UNSC personnel and several Spartans…there were some problems to the idea.

“You've got to be kidding…it worked the first time John…but we're talking about taking a ship, which judging by it's size would have a massive crew complement, and just in case you might forget…there's only two of us right now.”

“I know.”

Cortana smiled a bit at the determination in her partner's voice. She knew him well enough to know that he had been in far worse spots than this and he could handle any odds, that might not ease her uncertainty about what they were about to get into, but she felt fine with him around.

“All right…let's get to it…but before you yank me, promise me one thing.”

“Name it.”

“Keep you're head down…like I said, there's two of us in there now.”

The Spartan nodded and reached downwards to get Cortana's main data chip and slide it back into the receptacle into his helmet…when all of the sudden, the entire frigate began to shake and despite the lack of sound, the two could swear they could hear explosions.

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

Hibiki tried once more to reason with the robotic guard of his cell when the ship suddenly began to shake and buckle and then the entire ship listed backwards, sending him back into the various boxes and containers in his cell, and that also sent the robot which had it's own anti-gravity system crashing into the energy bars, shortening itself out and weakening the laser bars as well…and as soon as the young man managed to get wind oh his senses, he wondered just what the heck was going on now.

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

The pirates had struck as they began to attack the Tarak ships and namely the Ikazuchi once they were sure that the men had firmly secured the unknown ship to the Ikazuchi's older section. With that all working out the way they wanted, they then launched their Dreads. The sleek and agile Megele fighters were able to evade the slow and prodding turrets of the Tarak ships as they worked on the strategy of crippling the ships by taking out their weapons and engines, leaving the ships dead in space while they focused on their main prize…the Ikazuchi itself.

Inside the Ikazuchi, the Prime Minister was livid with outrage as he watched his prize fleet being attacked by the Megele pirates, and he was even more angry when they discovered that the women were cowardly using their own escort ships as shields, even if they could retaliate, they would end up firing on their own men. He then gave the order for all Vanguard pilots and their Vanguards to be deployed.

Naturally the Commander was not very pleased with the idea as he faced the Prime Minister.

“Sir! Many of the Vanguard pilots are mere trainees, how can they stop the attacks of the women if they had no combat experience?!”

“If we lose this ship to the women all because we hesitated to use our latest weapons, we will bring even more shame to ourselves and to Grand Pa! We may have not been able to predict the women's cowardly attacks, but we will not let them have either this ship or our new catch without a fight! Launch all Vanguards! That is an order!”

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

In the Forward Unto Dawn…

The Spartan wasted no time as he quickly took out the data chip that was Cortana's main core and slid it into his helmet once more as he moved back out to see just what the heck was going on. As soon as he arrived, he spotted the massive number of debris and saw streaks of light passing around the other ships and the Ikazuchi. They appeared to be fighters, but not like anything he has ever seen before.

Cortana agreed as she saw the fighters as well.

“Those aren't Long-swords or Seraphs, but they can certainly move fast.”

They then saw the Vanguards as the human shaped robots were unleashed from the Ikazuchi and began to engage the Megele fighters, however, even from a long distance, the Master Chief could tell that while the pilots for the fighters were good, the ones piloting the robotic suits were merely trainees as they were not properly armed and they didn't move well.

“This is getting more odd by the minute John…we're going to have to move fast before we get caught in the cross-fire…are you sure you want to do what you intend to do?”

“Pretty much…you ready?”

“Always.”

Was Cortana's reply to the Spartan's question, she might not like some of his plans, but they certainly worked when push came to shove.

With that, the Spartan grabbed a nearby floating grenade and then moved back to the hull of the Frigate and looked to spot a nearby airlock. He made sure to check his distance and found it to be manageable. With the plan in his mind, he wedged the spare grenade into a crack on the hull and then quickly primed it, dug his feet on the hull and leaped forward. The following explosion rocked his shields, but it also catapulted him forward as he closed the gap towards the airlock. As soon as he hit the hull of the Ikazuchi, he activated his Mark VI's magnetic pads on the boots and walked his way to the airlock and then placed his hand on the nearby manual pad and watched as Cortana did her magic, it took only a few seconds for the UNSC AI to open the airlock and the Spartan moved into the airlock chamber. Once he was inside, he then placed his hand on the chamber's manual computer to open the inner doors to allow him into the ship.

As soon as he was inside the Ikazuchi, he quickly took out his MA5C and moved out as quietly as he could and listened to the sound of klaxons, and warning sirens. He then spotted a nearby terminal that appeared to be functioning and intact. He knew that he needed some data and schematics of the ship, the last thing he wanted was to get lost in the massive unknown ship made by unknown people who apparently were at war with someone else. As he touched the screen Cortana did her magic and began to hack into the data cores of the Ikazuchi and gathered whatever relevant data she could find. However a large part of the data she found stunned her.

“You've got to be kidding me!”

“What is it?”

“This ship…it's a colony ship from Earth!”

“Earth?! That can't be right, it doesn't match any recorded colony ship that was used by the UNSC that I know of from my days back on Reach.”

“I know…but what's even more shocking is that, this was not launched by the UNSC…in fact…there's no mention of the UNSC or the UEG anywhere in the records. According to the data I've gotten…this ship, or at least the section we're in was part of a colonial fleet sent out to populate the stars after Earth was consumed by pollution…but along the way something occurred between both the crews and eight men…took this section of the original Ikazuchi and landed on a nearby desert world and founded a civilization…”

The explosions became louder and the warning that the pirates were getting ready to board the Ikazuchi through hull breaches made the Spartan go back to his plan.

“Let's put that aside for now…what's the situation so far?”

Cortana then hacked into the communications arrays and relays and then gave her companion the information he requested.

“The battle-net here is in absolute chaos…they were unable to repel the incoming fighters that we saw earlier, their escort ships are crippled and unable to assist, and their weapon systems are offline, and several of the pirate ships are now entering through the breaches and are sending in their teams to secure the vessel. They are already managing to break through several security check-points, but so far…all they are doing is subduing the crew.”

“How much further are we from the bridge/?'

“At least several more sectors, the quickest way would have to be through the Paeksis reactor room. I'll upload you the coordinates of the reactor room then the bridge to you're NAV point marker. We'll have to avoid hurting the people here John, they may be unknown contacts, but they are human, fight only if they strike first.”

“Got it.”

With that part of the job done, the Spartan moved away from the terminal and moved on, running at his top speed and following the NAV point that was to guide him to the location of the Paeksis reactor room.

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

In another part of the Ikazuchi…

The pirates then managed to breach another section of the Ikazuchi even more as their Dreads began to enter the holes and then the men got ready to fight as they managed to seal off the area to preserve the oxygen to the breached area. One particular Tarak cadet was screaming in panic and hysteria as he still hid in the statue that just got it's head sliced off by a passing Dread fighter, as the rest of the pirates in formless and hideously masked suits made their way in, while using laser based weapons to fight with the Tarak security forces who were armed with assault rifles that fired solid rounds.

The suits were made in that way to ensure that they could play on the fears and propaganda of the men towards women, and was working, but even though the suits were effective and had forms of protection one of the women was injured when a Tarak assault rifle round pierced her suit.

However, the Dread that sliced off the head of the statue that the cadet, one named Bart Garsus by name continued on, apparently the pilot was unable to stop her fighter as it came closer to a wall. The pilot saw what was happening and began to panic

“Oh no! Please Stop!”

It was then that she accidentally activated the weapon systems of her Dread and open fired at the wall.

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

In the reactor room…

“Darn it! I've got to get my partner and get out of here now!”

Hibiki Tokai ran as fast as he could manage as he headed back to where his Vanguard was located and then make his way back to Tarak. He had managed to use the down robot guard to finish unlocking the remaining laser bars on his cell and was happy to finally be able to leave, but decided to bring the very same robot with him since he could reprogram it and use it for his own uses, he was not just a good mechanic, but also had some good skills in electronics.

However, the sight of the ship being badly damaged was baking him worry even more as he tried to find his way back to his partner, and the warnings that told him that the women pirates had attacked, made him even more afraid as he rushed through several gangways near the reactor. However, he suddenly turned and spotted a massive bulge in the wall above him and could only stare.

At the same time…

The Spartan was moving as fast as he could and was already in the reactor room, on the ground floor when he suddenly heard the sounds of expanding metal, Cortana reacted just as fast and detected the massive swell of energy coming through the walls.

“John! Incoming!”

The Spartan quickly rolled out of the way as the explosion occurred and he was then forced to hide under a fallen piece of metal as the explosion filled the room.

********

The Ikazuchi's main Command Bridge…

“Minister! Please! You mustn't do this!” The second in command begged as he saw the lever in the Prime Minister's command console.

The supreme commander of the now decimated Talark Space Fleet shook his head as grabbed hold of the large lever designed to separate the old colonial ship section with the new sections. “We can ill-afford to let this entire ship fall into the hands of those pirates! I must at least save the new sections of the ship! Before all is lost I will separate the old from the new!”

“But what about the men who are still on the old section of the Ikazuchi?! We can't just turn our backs and leave them behind! They are our new generation Prime Minister, we can't just leave them now and at this point…they are our future!”

“We must not hesitate and do what we can…even if it means that we have to leave those fine young men behind…for now…we will make the women pay for this crime and if they have killed any of our young men, then we will make sure to remember this day and avenge them. We must do what we can, and we must not hesitate!”

With that and with no hesitation, he pushed the lever forward.

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

Throughout the whole of the Ikazuchi, several chains of explosions were heard as explosive charges were detonated, causing the new sections to be detached from the original vessel. The cadets who were still in the barracks of the old colonial section watched in horror as they were abandoned by their leaders. The only cadet who showed no surprise or fear of this event was none other than Duero. As he knew that for all their talk of bravery the top brass were nothing but cowards and hypocrites.

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

In the reactor room…

Hibiki shook his head a bit and tried to get his bearings back as he reached forward to try and move whatever it was that was on top of him. However, his hands then touched something soft, firm, and squishy. As soon as that registered in his brain he opened his eyes further…and found himself looking at a very scary face…he panicked and pushed the being over him afraid that he had just met a woman.

“M-M-M-Monster!!!”

“Please wait!”

Something in the voice suddenly made him stop and turn around and spotted as the scary figure reached for it's face and then took it off…to reveal yet another face…and this one was different…very different.

Dita Liebely took off her mask and shook her long mane of red hair free, along with small jewel that she wore as a pendant, along with the golden tiara on her head. As she finally got off a portion of her space suit she smiled warmly as she looked at Hibiki, her deep blue eyes sparkling in joy as she took a good long look at her very first man.

“Wow! A real live alien!”

“Alien?!”

Hibiki then looked on, still very tense as Dita inched closer towards him and then placed on her hands forward, which were bare of the gloves of her space suit, and began to move hands in certain waving motions, the Tarak youth wondered what was going on and then began to follow the very same actions that the young woman had done…when he did so perfectly, the bubbly redhead cheered.

“I did it1 I really did it! I made first contact!”

Hibiki had seen enough and decided to bug out of the area as fast as he could. With one word from his mouth as he grabbed his bag and grabbed the robot and ran.

“Bye!”

Dita however was dismayed as she tried to get out of her space suit and revealed herself to be wearing a short long sleeved jacket, a tank top, a short skirt that resembled a mini-skirt and short boots. She then reached for her suit to get her camera as she called out to Hibiki.

“Wait! Let me take a picture!!!”

Unknown to either of them, the Paeksis began to glow as if it sensed their presence.

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

In another part of the Ikazuchi…

A hiss ran out as the Tarak cadet opened his eyes and gritted his teeth as he raised his hands, showing that he was surrendering. He was then herded along with the other young men as the female pirates, some of them now free from their own space suits and armed with laser rifles, were watching over them and making sure none of them tried to either fight back or escape. Among them was Duero McFile who kept his attention on the situation around him and he then noted the actions of the women.

“Darn it…I know that there's disinfectant in here, but I never get used to the smell.”

The speaker took off her own disguise and was now bare of the suit and moved her long wave of blonde hair. Jura Basil Elden looked around and commented at the Vanguards that were in the area. The blonde 20 year old woman was stunningly attractive, a testament to the inbreeding in Megele as she had a lush, and well formed and endowed figure that would have made many models back on Earth, namely the UNSC controlled Earth green with envy, and every red blooded male howling like wolves after meat.

Not only did she have the curves and swells in the right places, but she had the height to go with it being at the height of 5'9, and the beautiful face as well, along with the deep emerald green eyes that would have been hypnotizing for any man not from Tarak, along with the kissable lips as well.

To add further weight to the package, she was dressed in a dress that had her front exposed up to her belly button which exposed her front well, with only two flaps of the soft and comfortable material covering her more than ample breasts and those were held by a ring on the collar of the outfit, there were also slits on the lower dress, reaching up to her hips, revealing her long legs and her feet were covered in soft boots at ankle length. Her arms were bare but she wore special sleeves that were held to her arms by brown straps of soft and comfortable leather. Despite the rather…revealing get-up, Jura was not vulnerable as she was armed with a slim but strong rapier sword.

“I thought we were going to get some brand new items to add, but the only things we get for our troubles are just these hunks of junk.”

“Has anyone seen Dita?”

Another woman asked as she too removed her suit and helmet.

The new woman's name was Meia, Meia Gisborn; she was younger than Jura by at least one year, placing her age at 19. She was tall as well, though not as tall as her blonde companion at the height of 5'6.

Her body was completely athletic showing also well defined curves that would have attracted the eyes of men who also knew how to appreciate the female figure. Her hair was cut to a short boyish style, which still suited her well. On the left side of her face, which had, a light cream complexion as well was a strange metal circlet that still didn't mar her appearance nor break away the glitter of her blue-green eyes. She also wore a form-fitting suit that was gray, black, and white that also showed her curves even more, along with her breasts.

Meia however, showed a great deal of leadership skills on her face, and from the way she carried herself she also had experience in physical combat. This plus her innate talents had made the Dread squadrons' commanding officer.

“The last time I saw her, she went barreling in that direction and crashed through that bulkhead… ouch!”

Another woman said but was cut short as she glared at her comrade who was patching up her wound on the right arm. The woman's name was Barnette Orangello or simply Barnette; she was Jura's best friend and wing mate as they had been working together in the pirates for quite a long time ever since they joined up. And like her blonde friend she too had a well defined figure that would have made men drool like fountainheads, though she was slimmer and not as…well formed as her blonde friend.

She wore a dress that showed all of her own well defined curves and swells to the fullest, this dress had an open front that displayed to top areas of her bosom's cleavage. Her hair was dark green and like her commanding officer Meia, her hair was cropped short and had a decorative hairpin as well. Her eyes were of deep violet, which had the look of purple silk.

But she had skills like her comrades in the arts of combat as she was a good hand to hand combatant and carried her own weapons, but at this point she was more concerned with the pain she felt.

“Watch it Paiway! My skin's very delicate you know.”

She gave a frown as she watched the injury she had received when she along with the infiltration team entered the Ikazuchi. The burn was caused when one Tarak rifle round managed to bypass her suit's armor began to sting in pain and she knew that there would be a scar after the wound would be healed. She then became a bit distraught as she realized that her perfect skin would now be permanently blemished.

“Just try to endure it for a bit longer.”

The apprentice nurse replied as she resumed adding amounts of disinfectant to the wound. Nearby, several other pirates were sitting down and awaiting treatment.

“Nurses are supposed to be more sensitive to their patients.” Barnette complained as she gritted her teeth at the feeling of the disinfectant spray on her skin.

“I am!”

Paiway assured. The young girl who served at the medical officer as was indicated by her nurse uniform, of the pirates was only eleven years old with long, dark purple hair, which were held in large ponytails that framed her head.

Duero took stock of her and saw that she wasn't good at what she was doing. He however could tell that she had the talent and promise to become better suited for the job she had, but she lacked the proper training and the knowledge to treat her patients effectively.

Part of Duero's mind halted him as he looked at the injured pirates, he knew what that urge was. As a graduate of the medical academy of his planet, Duero had been trained to follow the medics and doctors of the past. That was to provide medical treatment to any injured person. And while he was about to tend to the wounds of his world's enemies, he was not going to stand by and let them suffer more pain and injury, with that in mind, he made his move.

As the men were being herded through and forced to enter the escape pods, Meia went towards one of the holes in the walls. She then directed her attention to Jura and called out to her.

“Jura I'm going to look for Dita.”

The blonde sighed. “This is one of the reasons why I didn't want to take a trainee with us on this raid in the first place.”

“We're rather short-handed right now if you didn't know!” Meia shouted calmly and with restrained impatience. “If you didn't want to come along, then you should have said so back at the hideout.”

“Oh all right! I'm coming along!

As the two of them headed off to find their wayward companion, the last of the men were about to be moved towards the life boats, under the still watchful eye of the female pirates, however one the men had a plan in mind as he moved away from the column.

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

In yet another part of the Ikazuchi…

Several Megele women arrived in the bridge and were now bare of their space suits and were in the sub bridge of the Ikazuchi and were busy extracting data from the core terminals.

At least one of them was at any rate…

One was a young woman who was dressed in what one could describe as house wife attire and she had a very kind and gentle demeanor about her, Ezra Viviel, or rather Ezra to her friends was normally part of the bridge crew and was not supposed to be in the front lines of the pirates' operations and never carried a weapon, as she was against unneeded violence. However, she did use one but only for her own personal protection and those she cared about. The other pirates would never ask her to be in the front lines and she was happy for it.

She was in the group in order to help with data retrieval along with Parfet Balblair, the head engineer of the ship, a short and spunky young woman who wore her hair in two large braids and wore an engineer's jumpsuit, along with a pair of large glasses that hid her eyes. The young engineer decided to help the gentle bridge officer with helping to keep an eye on the Tarak fleet using the Ikazuchi's still functional sensors and scanners. The young engineer however was not very happy as she was not able to use her Interpricko device, a special translation unit she had invented as it seemed that their team leader was already familiar with the language of the men.

Their leader was none other than Buzam A Calessa, a tall and statuesque woman with dark skin and silver hair all the way to the back of her legs and dressed in something that resembled a harem girl outfit, though in a far more futuristic sense. The woman in question was the best officer second to the Captain on the pirate group, she had already given the order for Meia to have the men dumped out into space in the life pods that were on the Ikazuchi. Once she was done with the extraction of data, she quickly contacted the Captain of their group.

“Captain, we've completed the data transfer and all the men have been removed from the ship.”

“Good, how soon can you send in a team to explore the ship that the men had been after before we hit them BC?”

“It won't take too long, according to the data, the ship section is already docked with the Ikazuchi section we're currently in, all we need to do is have Parfet and several security personnel to go in and find a terminal, once we're there, she can use the translation device she has made…I saw the ship or the section of a ship Captain…it's not one of the men, or that our world Megele…but of a totally different design.”

“I see…well, we can't let the men have it, once you're ready, evacuate as fast as you can.”

“Roger!”

“Thank you! I finally get to use my Interpricko device…but on a new ship! I wonder what data is in that ship?”

Parfet was in joy at the chance to take a look at the section of ship that the men had brought it…she had seen it earlier and wondered just who had built that particular vessel.

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

In the new sections of the Ikazuchi that had been released…

<Damn those blasted females!!!! Damn all to the chaotic darkness!!!>

The Prime Minister was deep in rage as he glared as the Megele pirate cruiser began to move in on the old section of the ship. He was still figuring out the best way to finally eliminate the women for this insult and to finally wipe them out permanently from the face of the universe. The male leader was angry not only at the humiliation of his fleet being bested by the women in only one ships…but the loss of the unknown UNSC frigate and what secrets it held that could further elevate the status of the men over the women made the humiliation even more bitter for him.

As he was told that all back-up information was retrieved, he then ordered the use of one of their newest weapons…powerful enough to wipe the women out for good.

“Prepare the Murumase Torpedoes…target both the old section of the Ikazuchi and the Forward Unto Dawn!”

The Second in Command was even more stunned at that announcement as he voiced his complaints.

“Prime Minister! You can't be serious!! Do you actually intend to destroy the Ikazuchi that our people have labored many years to rebuild and improve on, along with the unknown ship that could hold information and technology that could be beneficial to Grand Pa?!”

<I would rather have both destroyed by my own orders than to let them be in the hands of those disgusting pirates!!!>

With that, the missile was now being locked in, towards both the former colony ship and the UNSC Frigate.

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

“Oh no! The Tarak fleet has locked in a missile right at us!' Ezra replied as she detected the radar lock on made by the men as they were getting ready to fire the Murumase Torpedoes. Buzam realized the dangers they were all in and quickly faced Parfet.

“Can you get the ship to Parfet?”

The head engineer looked over at the diagnostics of the ship's engines and systems using her Interpricko device as she was not skilled in the language of the men as Buzam was, as soon as she was done, she decided to tell the Commander that the engines were dead and no power was available.

“Sorry Commander, but the power to the engines is completely offline and the engines won't respond to any signal I send them…this ship's dead in space.”

“Captain!”

The captain of the pirates heard the message and replied to her commanding officer.

“I heard that BC, losing this day's catch and the bonus is a great shame, but better to be empty pocketed and alive, than full pocketed and dead. Have all the crews evacuate form the area immediately, the ship will provide covering fire for extraction.”

“Roger! Meia do you read? We're pulling out now!”

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

In the reactor room…

“I understand Commander…but I have to locate my apprentice pilot first, she was last seen in the reactor room. We'll head out as soon as we find her.”

Meia then looked at the Dread her apprentice was flying in, she sighed and wondered if Jura was right in the bad idea of bringing the young girl with them on the raid, Dita had good skills, but was always so bubbly and had a very short attention span and always seemed to have her thoughts on other things.

“Where could she be? She should know better than to go around and leave her Dread behind in a place like this?”

“At least we know she was here Meia, though I've got no doubt she's doing something she's not supposed to again.”

The blonde replied as she looked around while they were on the railings where the Dread was.

“What do you mean by that?”

That was when they heard a voice that they recognized as a man and both of them looked to see a young man carrying a strange thing in his arms and he was running away from something or someone, and the question as to who was chasing the man was answered as a certain redhead was seen.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!”

“PLEASE COME BACK!!! I'M FROM A PEACEFUL RACE!! I WON'T HURT YOU!!!”

“WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE A WOMAN?!”

“BECAUSE I AM A NICE WOMAN!!!”

Meia couldn't help herself as she got angry at the sight of her apprentice pilot chasing after a man of all things when they were supposed to pull out immediately.

“Dita?!”

Jura sighed and gave her leader a sly look.

“I guess I was right after all wasn't I? She's chasing a man.”

Meia sighed and took off to catch up with her apprentice, while Jura followed her, hoping that this whole wasted trip would soon end, all this running and the dust was messing up her hair and getting her body and dress dirty, plus she was beginning to sweat.

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

At the very same moment, the women began to launch out the life pods with the men inside of them, the women were pirates, they were not like the Megele military forces who killed men on sight. However it seemed that not all the men were going into the capsules.

Duero looked over his last patient who was none other than Barnette Orangello, the young man had taken a different direction and took out a Tarak medic's trench coat and then told the women that he was a doctor, and that was very much true as he had been a high ranking graduate in the field of medicine. Though the women were in need of good medical care as despite her best intentions, Paiway was still a child, they were not very comfortable with the idea of a man touching them.

As he patched up the bandage and told the female that there was no danger of scarring, he took the time to study the emerald haired woman. He was quite surprised to see that instead of resembling the hideous monsters that he had seen in the films in his youth and growing up…the women looked human…like himself…though they did have some anatomical differences, namely in the chest region and the lower form, they didn't have the Adam's apple and their bodies were softer in a way. In that sense, rather than being frightened by the women…the young man became intrigued.

Barnette then glared at him as she noted his intense examination of her form.

“What are you looking at? You found something that interests you?”

Duero smirked a bit and replied.

“Yes, in truth I do.”

“Well don't expect any thanks at all from me!” Barnette said with a dark glare.

“I don't, now then, I'll take my leave.”

Paiway however was not being idle as she was writing in her notebook the number of people that the male doctor had touched as she planned to have them all undergo the standard Megele decontamination treatment to kill all the male germs that they were exposed to when the man touched them.

“So…he touched five women…”

Her taking of notes however was cut short as the ship began to shake. Outside the Megele cruiser was firing it's beam cannons in order to slow down the Tarak forces and make sure that they bought enough time for the extraction of the crew.

The Captain nodded as the reports of the crew being evacuated from the area came to her ears, and she wished that they could hurry up, but they then got confirmation that the men had fired the missiles and the weapons were powerful enough to destroy the Ikazuchi and their ship in the process. The time to impact was 300 seconds and counting and the weapons were coated with some sort of beam deflecting film as their ship's beam bolts were rendered worthless agains the weapons.

“BC, what's the status of the crew evacuation?”

“We've evacuated everyone else, but Meia's Dread team has not yet been able to call in and confirm their evacuation.”

“We'll let them leave in their Dreads, get back here in the ship immediately!”

“Roger!”

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

In the reactor room…

Hibiki was running at full throttle and as far as his legs could carry him, the women were indeed scary and he wanted to be away from the red haired one as fast as he could…however, that was when a mass of debris suddenly exploded in front of him, forcing him to scream and try to stop…

And as soon as the smoke cleared he sighed, but gulped as he found himself looking at the barrel of an assault rifle. He slowly looked upwards and gaped in shock and fear as he now found himself looking at a seven foot all armored giant of a man aiming a very odd but nevertheless deadly looking rifle at him. He saw his reflection on the golden visor that the armored giant had and felt a massive shiver run down his spine…he couldn't tell if this new one was a machine or a human wearing armor…but he was not going to try anything that would antagonize and make the giant shoot him. Hibiki Tokai was looking at a UNSC Spartan-II armed with a MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle, a Combat Knife, two fragmentation grenades, and two M7 Caseless Submachine guns on his thighs…a very intimidating sight for a 16 year old boy like him to face in one day.

When John had ducked from the explosion and the debris, the resulting forces had briefly made him lose his focus and the energy from the explosion had managed to jam his Mark VI's systems. Cortana was all right and he had to do a rapid manual reactivation of his Mark VI and when the systems were green light, he forced his way out of the debris that covered him, it was then that his motion sensors told him of an incoming unknown and he reacted in his normal military fashion and took out his assault rifle and waited for the smoke to clear so he could identify the would be aggressor…

Only to find him aiming his weapon at a short 16 year old boy with a strange outfit and carrying what looked like a massive metal egg. The boy had a strange and wild hairstyle and seemed to be in a very big hurry…he scanned the boy for a second and saw no visible or hidden weapons on him and he then spoke.

Hibiki gulped as the green and black armored giant looked at him intently…maybe considering to blast him into a pile of unrecognizable pile of shredded meat with that weapon or to crush him with his bare hands…those possibilities seemed more frightening than being followed by a woman…he tensed a lot more and was sweating as the man spoke in a deep and strong voice.

“What's a 16 year old boy like you doing on a ship like this?”

Hibiki tried to think up an answer, and closed his eyes as he saw the giant move…only to hear a sound of metal on metal and he opened his eyes to see the giant placing it's weapon on it's back. He didn't know what was going on and tried to answer, but he then looked behind him and saw the redhead again and he panicked. He turned and tried to run, but found himself colliding with the giant's armored body. He gulped once more and tried to leave, but the giant of a man placed a firm and powerful grip on the back of his shirt.

“Just where do you think you're going?”

“I'm running away from that monster!!! Let me go!!!”

The giant looked at him, cocking it's head to the side slightly and asked him.

“What monster are you talking about?” The Spartan felt a slight moment of unease as he thought, though no matter how absurd it might be, that a Flood Infection form was on this ship.

“WOW!!! ANOTHER ALIEN!!!!”

John turned and spotted a young redhead teenage girl with a camera. He blinked abit as the girl took a picture of him. Before he could try and figure out what exactly was going on the young man panicked and shouted to him.

“Let me go!!! That monster is after me!!!”

“He's got to be kidding…that young girl's no monster…just what is going on here John?”

The Spartan heard Cortana ask him as she was confused as to what was going on here. They run into a boy who thinks women were monsters, and now they ran into a girl who thinks men were aliens…just what in the name of Heaven was going on?!

“I wish I knew.”

John responded back to his AI companion and close friend…but then his motion sensors picked up two more unknown contacts approaching…and sure enough, he spotted a aqua blue haired girl in a black, grey and white body suit appear and a blonde woman with one the most revealing dresses he had ever seen any woman wear in his life. That naturally made him feel some sensations in his body, he quickly placed those thoughts aside as he focused on trying to get some answers from any of them. He then dragged the young man back to meet up with the young women…maybe they could give answers.

Meia gasped and lifted her laser ring as she spotted the seven foot tall armored being that was in front of Dita…she didn't know what was going on but her training kicked in and she pressed the firing stud and out from the supposed jewelry came powerful laser beam, though not in the caliber of the heavier laser rifles they had, the bolt should be enough to slow the giant armored thing down for Dita to run.

“DITA!!! RUN!!!”

John saw the laser and quickly reacted as he released the boy and moved quickly to block the attack. The laser beam slammed into his Mark VI's shields and he was covered in rippling golden energy, the bolt didn't do that much damage…it didn't even take an inch from his shield gauge.

Meia was stunned on how fast the giant of a man move and get in front of Dita, but she was stunned as the laser bolt she fired was deflected away…it seemed that the armored giant was also armed with some sort of personal defense shield that was highly resistant to lasers. She heard Jura gasp also as the blonde saw the armored male before them.

John was about to ask what was going on when Cortana broke in.

“John!!! We've got to get moving fast…there's some sort of heavy missile coming to hit this ship! We need to get back to the Dawn and ride it out…hopefully the armor and hull will hold!”

The Spartan nodded and moved away, allowing Meia to collect her charge when Dita tried to go after both John and Hibiki. She then berated the young girl and after Dita apologized, they all quickly made their way to their Dreads as they needed to evacuate. Hibiki likewise found his Vanguard and quickly boarded it as the time continued to count down from 300 seconds to 150 seconds and the crew of the pirate ship were already out of the Ikazuchi.

However there were two problems, one was the fact that the young man didn't know how to pilot his Vanguard…and the redhead's Dread fighter was stuck in the wall…apparently several jagged pieces of metal had held the ends of her Dread tight and couldn't allow her to escape.

The Spartan was running back to the Frigate as fast as he could…but even he knew that time was against them all.

Hibiki tried his best to move the Vanguard, while Dita her best to try and free her Dread, Meia and Jura couldn't go anywhere and leave Dita so they stayed and hoped that somehow, their comrade could escape…though they both knew that they were already too late.

John saw all that yet had other concerns, namely the safety of Cortana and himself, but a massive bulkhead suddenly fell from the roof and headed towards the entrance he had taken. The Spartan moved and rolled away as the massive pile of metal blocked his exit and he rushed in and tried to remove the metal away, tossing the metal pieces aside as fast as he could.

“John! We're not going to make it!”

“We will!”

“I'm sorry…I'm so sorry I got us in this mess.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about…don't give up on me now Cortana!”

“Please John…leave…save yourself!”

“No…I am NOT letting you go…ever! We go together…or we don't go at all!”

“Darn it! Move!!!”

“Please move!!!”

The cries from the Tarak youth, the young Megele girl, and from the UNSC AI and the Spartan was on the right moment when the Paeksis suddenly glowed brightly.

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

The pirate ship…

“We can't avoid a direct hit!” One of the Bridge crew declared as she tracked the missiles aimed at them.

“Hit or miss, it's our destiny.” The old captain said as she prepared for the worst to occur as the torpedoes were too close for them to avoid.

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

The torpedoes slammed into the ship and the explosion consumed both the Ikazuchi…the Forward Unto Dawn and the Megele cruiser. The men saluted the destruction of the Ikazuchi and the UNSC Frigate and watched as the scanners told them that mass was being lost in a matter of seconds. The Prime Minister sighed and replied as the scene ended with the explosion faded away.

“The price was high…but we are now rid of those vile pirates…may chaos deal with them in the way that befits their crimes to all men of Tarak.”

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

A sea of deep green filled his field of vision and he struggled to find any form of sure footing in this mass of green light that moved like water.

The Master Chief looked around to see where he was, but all he saw was a massive sea of green light that seemed to be beat like a human heart. He looked and saw the young boy he had met before, the young redhead, the blonde woman, and the aqua haired teen who had fired her laser ring at him. They too were screaming as they fell in the lake…before he could do anything…he heard another scream…a scream that sounded very familiar.

“JOHN!!! HELP ME!!!”

“PLEASE!!! I…IT HURTS!!!”

He then felt that something was missing and then as he felt the back of his Mark VI helmet…he found to his horror that the data crystal chip that held Cortana was gone.

He searched everywhere for it…he made a promise to Sergeant Major Johnson, to himself…and most of all…to Cortana, that he would never let her go…and now she was lost. He then spotted something glowing violet in the distance and quickly moved towards it…and spotted the data chip that held Cortana. He then saw it break apart and he tried to reach it, hoping that he didn't fail to save her.

Then to his surprise…a human form appeared around the fragments of Cortana's shattering data crystal chip, the figure began to take more defined form and he saw that it had the same form Cortana had when she was in her holo-tank…and the human was shivering in pain and it cried out in Cortana's voice.

“DON'T LEAVE ME!!!”

The Spartan reached out and saw the human figure look at his direction…and the figure had Cortana's eyes and face, relief and joy etched in her features…the being he saw which was Cortana in human form reached out for him with an open hand and he reached out as well and only inches separated them…

And then the entire scene faded into black.

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

To be continued…

So…how was the first chapter?

Not too shabby and might need some updates later, but this is it for now, though I have been having some problems due to so much activity in the house recently, so forgive me if I seem a little lost for the moment and this is a new project for me to do so expect that things will be a bit sketchy at first.

Don't worry though…the Master Chief will see action soon enough and Cortana will be all right, despite the rather odd and strange situation you've read…in fact this will make things in the VanDread universe a lot more spicy and interesting!

And if you think that Master Chief is somewhat OOC, then I'm merely following the advice of the game designers, as they said that the players of the Halo series are the ones who will make Master Chief's personality, and I wanted him to be a bit more human and open, though not too much, just enough to show that he is still a living, breathing, and feeling, person, than just a warrior.

On the next chapter…the pirates, and the men of Tarak will get to see the UNSC Spartan in action, as the new additions to the Harvesters will make their appearance!

Here's a little taste of what is to come.

Trailer:

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

Magno looked through the view screen as she felt a shiver run up her spine at the sight of the carnage that had just taken place in the span of a few minutes. She, Buzam, several of the security team members, Barnette, and Gascogne, their leader of the Register were stunned at the sight…to think that one man could do this much damage.

The door opened and out came the Master Chief holding his MA5C in both hands…the sight of the armored Spartan was enough to have the female security personnel raise their laser rifles and even their laser rings…though many of them were shivering at the man's arrival…even the normally calm and cool under pressure Buzam shook a bit as they gazed at the seven foot tall form of the Spartan.

Magno however gave the order for them all to stand down, after seeing the Mjolnir Mark VI in action and the man wearing the advanced combat suit, and what he was capable of…she doubted that anyone in her crew could take this man head on. If he wanted to kill them all and take over the ship…he was more than capable enough of doing just that.

However, their fears were put to rest as the Spartan placed his MA5C on his back with a slight thump as the magnetic pads held the weapon in place, and saluted the elderly Captain and spoke in a very respectful tone.

“All hostiles have been eliminated ma'am…the ship is secure.”

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

It's all up to you, the readers to guess just what sort of enemy the Master Chief will be facing on the next chapter.

Comments and Reviews are a must…constructive and helpful critiques are also welcome…while flames will be kicked out the minute they are caught.

See you on Chapter 2 - Under new management.