Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VanDread - Halo ❯ Separated ( Chapter 15 )

VanDread - Halo

Disclaimer: I do not own either VanDread or Halo….the first is owned by GONZO and the other is owned by Bungie.

Chapter 15

Separated

< >: Thoughts

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

In the Nirvana's Engineering Bay…

Parfait wiped the sweat off her face and placed aside her tool box and looked over the machine in front of her and she couldn't help but smile at the sight.

“Thank the Goddess that we've fixed that bug.”

The second in command of the Nirvana's Engineering Teams looked over the machine that Parfait and her teams had been working on for the past few weeks and it was certainly impressive looking but she still had some doubts about it.

“It's almost ready, but we still need to test a lot of things Parfait.”

“I know….but the first batch is finished and we can test them when time is on our side.”

The machine they spoke of was Parfait's first creation of Power Armor for the Megele pirates and their Talvern allies. It had been expensive in parts, resources, and time, but in her mind it would be worth the investments and she had to admit that it was certainly a good looking and powerful piece of work.

It was about eight feet tall and that was about the very same height as that of the Master Chief's own Mjolnir Mark VI but was somewhat bulkier due to the fact that it was only following the basic design principles of the Mjolnir but not all the technological details and systems. The first was that the suit relied on specially made motors and smaller servos to move the limbs as there was no way to copy the Reactive Metal Liquid Crystal Layer, the system in question was too reactive and could and would critically injure normal people.

However, Parfait worked around the problem well enough as the Megele engineer was able to downscale the motors and servos to a much smaller size…making them less bulky and easier to fit into the suit. The servos would be easily programmed with special function settings via computer so it would be able to match up with the normal reflexes of the person wearing the suit, and with the downscaled motors, it was a lot easier than fitting big ones into the system which would have made the suit too bulky for normal operations. The suit also had special nano-fiber muscles that could serve to increase the strength of the suit and give it an even greater lifting capacity as well as speed. The suit's build in medical scanners would also inject special medication into the user to keep the user alive and conscious for the time until medical treatment was possible. Parfait had to squeeze as much of these features as she could manage and made the suit very effective, though not in the same fashion as that of the Master Chief's Mjolnir Armor as the UNSC created suit was very advanced and it was also enhanced by the Paeksis to be much stronger than it was originally made for.

Another feature was the power supply. The head engineer was able to find a suitable power source and it was a cold fusion power reactor that provided clean and reliable energy to the suit and the rest of it's key systems for combat and due to the power source it could be operational for longer periods of time, and the power source could be used to power some of the new weapons Parfait had in mind to supplement the suits.

The installed AI program in the suit's CPU could be custom programmed by the users as well as having a basic but versatile default program to work with and could be accessed by the HMDS and that would allow the user to make on the spot changes and it could also be programmed by external connections by a laptop when the user was not inside of the suit to operate it.

The suit was also able to carry stores of ammunition and supplies should the user need them as Parfait and the other engineers were able to fit in magnetic plates in order to carry weapons and supplies into the battle field, as well as hidden pouches to allow for better access to the said supplies and ammunition.

The shields however on the suits were Parfait's best work…..she had studied the two shielding system they had to work with, the Mjolnir Mark VI's shields and the Bubble Shield system, the Mjolnir Shields and the Bubble Shield were too complicated to easily replicate and they did have weak points, the Mjolnir' shields were vulnerable to ballistic fire and energy based weaponry, and the Bubble Shield was an immobile system and it could be passed by slow moving objects. However that would not deter the head engineer and mechanical whiz of the pirates as she was able to study them well and devise workable prototypes that she had been working on for a number of weeks, until she was able to create a good version that she installed into the suits that she and the other engineers had been able to make.

She found a way to create shields that had the same qualities of both shield systems but still was mobile, she got the designs and also incorporated the design plans of the Megele Dreads' own shielding system which could handle both solid and energy impacts. The technology of Megele was better than that of the men of Tarak, but it was not as versatile and it was with the studies she had on the technology of the UNSC and Tarak that she came up with the shield system It was not as long lasting as the shields of the Mjolnir Mark VI, meaning that they were only half as much as the shields, but it made due with a much faster charge rate and was a lot tougher.

In order to make due for the lowered shield energy length, the suits were able to copy the armor of the Mjolnir Mark VI by having slimmer but denser plates of heavily laminated titanium alloy and that gave the suits good protection from basic ballistic and energy weapons fire. The armor had been thoroughly tested by Parfait and her engineering staff and it was found to be the best form of armor for the suits as they were not easily weighed down by heavy armor plating. The light weight titanium helped greatly as well as the other metals and resources that they were able to get from the planet formerly used by the Harvesters.

Had this project been done without the supplies, parts, technology, data and resources then Parfait could have bet that it would have been extremely expensive for the whole engineering crew and her to make and would have been tossed aside for the moment.

The Suits were small in number at the moment and the Nirvana only had ten of these suits in their arsenals….and Parfait was able to study more UNSC technology and weaponry to add some special punch to the suits. The first was following the design of the Stanchion Gauss Rifle that first saw action during the rescue of the people of Talvern months before. She had been impressed by the rifle in action and decided to integrate the weapon with the suit, and that was done by having the laptop's programming to be fitted into the HMDS of the suit….this allowed the user to do the calculations required to make precise shots on key targets and with the suit, it was mobile and also had a better protection rating.

She also decided to create a portable version of the M68 Gauss Cannon used by the Warthogs. This mobile Gauss Canon would be very valuable in bringing heavy ordnance into combat where the users of the suit could be able to help support vehicles and infantry with heavy power and it would be able to use the power from the Suit's cold fusion reactor to power it as well. This was perfect for key battles where the Warthogs might not be enough to get to a battle zone in time.

For assault purposes, Parfait knew that there was little chance the suits could carry normal weapons as the hands were too big and thus she had to find ways to create other weapons, but for now she was able to use another weapon in the UNSC arsenal to help out, the M247 General Purpose Machine Gun, namely the Squad Assault Weapon version. The weapon had been superseded by the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun and the heavy weapon would have been a good choice, but Parfait decided against it as the weapon was too big and the heavy amounts of rounds could weigh the suit down. Thus the M247 was a much better choice and with the suit providing greater carrying capacity and with some modifications to the M247 itself, the box magazines were replaced with the drum magazines, allowing for greater amounts of ammunition to be carried.

Parfait still had to make energy based weapons for the suits but that could wait for the time being and she couldn't help but feel very happy with the initial results.

“These suits are going to go a very long way in helping us beat the Harvesters.”

“But we still need to test them in a real obstacle course as well as other environments to make sure that they are really ready for combat and I doubt that we can do it on the Nirvana, there isn't enough room and space for them.”

Parfait nodded as she still needed more data on how the suits would perform in combat….they were powerful but were not good choices for ship security as they were too heavy and the weapons that were made for them were too powerful to be used in the ship for defense and were limited to ground operations, though she had a feeling she could modify that with extra time on her hands.

“The best way we can do that is if the Master Chief and the Ground Teams land on a planet for training….that's the best time we have for making the needed changes of modifications….man, who would have thought we'd own our own suits of Power Armor now? Many people back home would have never bothered with the idea.”

Chief nodded with Parfait….the idea of Powered Assault Armor for Infantry never took off in Megele, but considering the extreme dangers of the battles they were in with the Harvesters, these suits would become prime combat gear for them all. They still need to do some more field testing and also some extra studying on how to create and perfect any new weapons that could be added to the arsenals of the suits.

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

In the Medical Bay…

Hibiki was currently getting his latest physical with Duero handling the tests as Paiway was busy checking up on the Medical Bay's supplies of medicine and other tools, as Duero took a blood sample from Hibiki, the Tarak teen merely made a slight hiss at the pain and as it was over, took the time to rub his arm where the blood sample was taken.

“I'll never get used to that.”

“You should, it's the best way to keep track of one's health.”

“I know….so how are things with you Duero?”

“Pretty good, so far this trip has been very interesting, I have been learning as much as I can about the true nature of women and also learning just how to heal them, they might be human despite their….ah….differences from us in an outward sense, but their bodies are different in some areas that I have yet to understand more fully, what's your plan for today Hibiki?”

The Tarak teen thought about it and recalled that Dita had asked him to help her with some sort of cooking errand.

“Dita's got me to helping her cook some sort of special meal, I personally have no idea why, but for some reason she's a lot perkier on this day.”

Duero thought about it and gave his thoughts on the matter.

“Maybe she's planning a surprise for someone; you know how Dita would love to make surprises anyway.”

“I guess….well then I think I should help her, she did ask for my help after all, anyway, I have to get going before she starts looking for me again.”

As soon as Hibiki had gone, and Paiway was done with her duties, the precocious eleven year old girl was able to finish her duties in the Medical bay, she quickly followed Hibiki, no doubt to do another Pai check, but she was very curious about what the two men had been talking about and she was the one who knew just what this day was, to both Dita and her.

This was the day of their joining the pirates and both friends had been celebrating this for years, but it seems that Hibiki was now the object of Dita's affections and despite not showing it, she was jealous of the attention Dita showered on Hibiki and she wanted to know if Dita had forgotten her, however she was thinking differently at the moment as she recalled a conversation she had with Cortana…

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

Flashback….

Paiway was sitting down in front of Cortana as the former UNSC Ai and the young nurse were having the chat that Cortana had promised. The young Megele nurse listened to Cortana explain about how men and women actually got along with one another how to tell the signs properly and it was somewhat surprising for Paiway to hear about all this.

Cortana had the information of male and female relationships as most AI did, though that was only something that was considered standard procedure, however since she was cloned from Dr Catherine E, Halsey she had a far more open mind to things….namely when it concerned John….Dr. Catherine always had a soft spot for the Master Chief and this fact allowed Cortana to explore human emotions and thoughts. Plus she was able to spend time with Dita and observe the relationship between the two of them, and she could see that the relationship had grown a great deal since it started out and now she wanted to make sure that Paiway would understand.

“You mean to tell me that Dita LIKES him!”

“Yes….though how far that has come, I can't really say, all I know is that Dita likes Hibiki a great deal, and compared to how he was back then….he's certainly matured.”

“I guess….but are you saying that Dita could be….liking the man even more now?”

“Yes….though like I said, I can't be sure how far that has come. Listen Paiway….I know that what I told you about men and women being together is alien to you, but that is a truth, hard to accept, but it's there…”

“But why him? And she always wants to know more about him, why can't she just accept that he's a man and that's it?”

Cortana sighed and spoke.

“That is where things can be different, men are different from women and vice versa….Paiway, just because you're world views men differently does not mean that all men are like that. They are….kind of like onions in a sense.”

“Since when are men onions?”

“That's the figure of speech….when you cut an onion, there are different layers, and that is what a man is, once you get past the first skin, you can really see what they are inside.. Let me say this….you know how I met John when I was still an AI?”

“How?”

Cortana grinned and replied.

“When I was still an AI back on Reach, I was shown pictures of the Spartans and I read all of their profiles, John was strong, swift, and brave, a natural born leader, I even called him attractive…in a primitive animal sort of way…trust me, I managed to get a blush out of my mother/creator Dr. Catherine when I said that. But do you know what I saw in John once I began to work with him, underneath all that talent….something only I saw and no one else?”

“What?”

“Luck….”

“Luck? What do you mean by that?”

“John had a greatest amount of luck I had ever seen in a single person, he has fought in so many battles for the past years I have known him and he has escaped with his life many times over….in situations where even the finest UNSC Marines or ODSTs would no doubt be killed….he came back alive with resounding success and pulled victory from the jaws of absolute defeat….without him and all he had done….the Covenant before it's schism, would have destroyed humanity, and without him, the Flood would have turned every living thing into nothing but food. That is what made him different from all the others of his unit….”

Paiway listened and said nothing until Cortana spoke once more.

“Hibiki is like that, once you get past the layer of what you think are due to being from Megele….you might find out things that you never expected.”

“How can you be sure?”

“The best way to know is to try and not react rashly….analyze the situation before doing something and when you are sure….then you can act. Trust me on this Paiway.”

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

End of Flashback…

Paiway had no idea what was going on and thus she decided to observe and try to see just what was going on between Hibiki and Dita at the moment. She kept out of sight as best she could at the moment and observed and when she entered the kitchen, it was then that she saw Hibiki sit on the nearby table and there was Dita chopping something while Hibiki was moving about carrying some things.

She looked and then saw Dita crying and she wanted to find out what was happening and she knew that it was not Hibiki who was making Dita cry as the Tarak teen in question was a fair distance from Dita and she watched as Hibiki walked to her friend in a panic.

“You all right?!”

“Yes Mr. Alien, it's just these onions, they can really make anyone cry.”

Paiway managed to stop her impulsive desire to think that Hibiki had made Dita cry as she heard the onions being mentioned at that moment. She continued to observe, her desire to understand what was going on between Hibiki and Dita was still strong and she could see that Hibiki was not doing anything to harm Dita and she began to think that maybe despite the fact that she still found men odd at times, they were not all that bad.

She decided to leave for now and figure out just what Dita was doing, maybe she could surprise her friend in turn and see how that would turn out.

In another section of the Nirvana, a certain Spartan was busy meditating in the training hall when he was greeted by none other than Cortana who was still wearing the coin necklace that he had given her during their time in Christmas. The Master Chief had always wondered just what was he going to do once they got to Tarak and Megele, those were big on his mind at the moment and also on Cortana's fate. He had always protected her and now there was a chance they would soon make it to the worlds that each faction of the crew came from, with the exception of their Talvernian allies.

He looked at Cortana and then back to the floor as Cortana joined him and they both meditated in silence for the time being, just absorbing the silence for the moment and as soon as Cortana was relaxed, the former Ai and now full woman turned and spoke to her long time friend maybe something more.

“John, are you all right?”

The Spartan barely nodded and took off his Mjolnir Mark IV helmet and then spoke to answer Cortana's question.

“Just thinking about what we're going to do once we make it back to the solar system that has both Tarak and Megele in it, I have no idea what is going to happen once we get to the system, namely in the case of you and me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The way I see it, there are a few things that can happen, the first is that I wind up being treated like a lab specimen on Tarak if they get their hands on me. There's no way the women on Megele would welcome a man anywhere near them even if the man in question does not see women as the enemy. And there's you as well, I know there's no way the men would acknowledge you if you go with me Cortana if you decide to do so, they might shoot you instead, and I doubt the women of Megele would welcome you there as well, considering how you view men.”

Cortana had to agree with the situation, the UNSC didn't exist at all here and there was nowhere for them to go, they can't stay in either world. So where did that leave them? The woman prided herself with her high intellect inherited from her `mother' Dr. Catherine E. Halsey and she knew that in this world, they would be considered very weird to say the least. There was a good chance the men of Tarak would do their very best to turn the Master Chief against their enemies, the women of Megele. Or they could try and turn him into a lab test subject and try to discover what gives him his abilities, as well as try to use the Mjolnir Mark IV for their own uses. The same could be said for her as well. The men of Tarak would do who knows what if she was captured with John, and if she was on Megele, she would be ostracized for being with men.

The Talvernians who volunteered to aid them in the battle with the Harvesters would also have to deal with the soon to come problems as well. But for them, it would be different, they each had abilities and skills that were not the norm and they would be valued by the people who see them. However, she knew that with the already brewing conflict with the Harvesters, they were going to be needed once more and that was the one thing that they could be able to use to their advantage in this time.

“You might be right on those accounts John, but with the harvesters coming, things are going to be very hectic and we're needed here. I have no doubt the very second the people on both Tarak and Megele see just what the Harvesters plan to do on the worlds that humans live on regardless of gender, they will get the message.”

The Spartan had to agree with that and then Cortana smiled.

“Besides that, I doubt the Captain or anyone of the crew of the Nirvana would willingly turn either of us over to either world considering all we've done for them. And no matter what happens I am not leaving your side, all right?”

“I guess….but let's suppose this war ends with us being the victors, just for the sake of argument, what do we do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was trained ever since I was young to fight, I'm a Spartan Cortana, I was trained to the core to be a soldier, if the war does turn in our favor, what then? The UNSC does not exist out here and that means the Spartan II Program and the Covenant never existed. Where does that leave me and you?”

Cortana thought it over once more and she spoke to the Spartan who she trusted more than anyone with the exception of her `mother' and the other Spartans.

“There are two ways we can solve that. The first is that we remain with the crew of the Nirvana and help out if ever a new threat comes into play, but you will have to deal with the boredom of not doing anything for months or years as you'll only be called into handle the most extreme of situations.”

“Fair enough. The other one being?”

“The other one being you find someone you can spend time with.”

The Master Chief had removed his helmet during the pat of the discussion and the very second he heard that, Cortana saw something that made even her smile. The Spartan had a mischievous twinkle in his eye and a very amused smile formed on his face. And sure enough, the Spartan actually laughed, not a boisterous or arrogant laugh, but a rich and well timed one that would have made him look like he had been told the best thing in the whole of the universe.

“Spend time with someone? You mean like I should get married like Maria-062 did?”

“That might….be a bit much, but you'll never know right?”

The Spartan then gave a reply while having the same smile on his face.

“No offense meant Cortana, but I don't exactly fit the mold most women would think of as prime husband material.”

Cortana smiled and replied.

“Remember when I said I chose you to be my partner? You were strong, swift, brave, tough, a natural leader, and a quick learner. You were like the rest of your fellow Spartans though you didn't excel in all the fields of war. But you had something none of them had, something only I ever saw, and that was luck. You can learn anything because you are a Spartan and I have no doubt being a civilian would be a bit easier in that regard. Plus, if you do have any children, let's a say a daughter for example, NO young man would be willing to try anything frisky with your little girl, knowing who you are and what you could do to them. And if you ever have a boy, no other boy in their right minds would bully your kids, and the ladies would have to be at their best behavior if they want to court your kid.”

“Apart from that, your kids would be more than able to take care of themselves in a fight if you teach them what you know. And your….wife, I think would love you despite all the differences, after all, UNSC soldiers did have wives too, even ODSTs had families back home you so why can't you? The way I see it, you'd make an excellent husband and father.”

John had to admit that Cortana did have a few good points, but it still made him a bit amused and he made it clear to Cortana.

“You know…call me crazy, but you seem very much in support of that idea, are you asking me out?”

Cortana laughed, but she was actually blushing at that comment. She had thought about it for some time but decided to wait for the time being and see how it would turn out. The woman stood up and kissed the Spartan right on the lips, making his eyes widen at that and she smiled once more and replied.

“I just might John. Got to go, I'm due to report to the bridge on recon duty….see you.”

Cortana turned and smiled as she walked off in a way that she had seen some women do….hoping to make the Spartan see her walk and the way she sashayed off to work in her outfit.

And it worked…

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

In the world of the Harvesters…

“How soon can we get the information we need on the performance of our new weapons?”

The Council were ever eager for any and all new information that could help them with the soon to come war with the Nirvana and it's crew. The pirates, their allies, and most of all the Spartan had halted their operations for the very last time, they were going to stamp the Nirvana and it's crew out like the pests that they were and continue with the Harvest agenda to make sure that they would survive and endure. No one was going to stop them no matter the cost.

“They are undergoing the last of their trials and will be ready for a ground mission deployment as well as space borne combat operations.”

The Council were more than eager to start their counter attack to the Nirvana and had dispatched a small fleet to handle the Nirvana once and for all, but they now had other things to worry about.

“How goes the operation to the system of Melanos for skin harvesting?”

“The people of Melanos had been fighting their best to stop us, and have assembled a fleet to stop our soon to come forces.”

“Is their fleet a threat?”

“Negative, they do not have enough ships and even they did, I doubt their vessels and crews can beat a single battleship.”

The rest of the Council agreed, their battleships were never defeated and could maintain independent operations away from any shipyard and was able to gather materials form floating bodies and could manufacture it's own parts and forces internally. There was no way the Melanos people could defeat their ship.

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

On the bridge…

Amarone was busy running through the scanners when she spotted a signal coming through the area ahead of them from the Clarion Spy Drones that were already ahead of the Nirvana on their routine recon run.

Buzam walked over and spoke to Amarone.

“What's the situation?”

“There appears to be a massive cloud of asteroids that are blocking out path Commander.”

Magno had just arrived from her room and was now sitting on her command chair and then Cortana arrived and was now in the Holo-Tank. The elderly Captain looked over the information and then turned to the Commander and Cortana.

“All right, we can find another way through this, or we can blast our way through.”

Buzam thought it over and then had a thought and ordered the bridge crew to scan the asteroids and the results showed that some of the asteroids actually had some large deposits of radioactive materials there. These were the ones that they would have to avoid blowing up lest the results would be very much something no one was in the mood to let happen.

“All right…have a demolition team clear out as many of the asteroids as possible so we can move through them using our shields….as long as we avoid blowing up the ones with the radioactive materials in them, we'll be in the clear.”

“Roger!!”

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

Later…

“Man, this is going to be hard work.”

Parfait said as she was manipulating the control systems of one of the Vanguards to plant the special explosives for the job, her Vanguard was not armed with heavy weapons except for a small plasma torch. She was not alone however as a number of her engineering crew were also there to help out in their own Vanguards. Not all the Vanguards were used for combat. Seeing the need for space borne repairs and salvage runs, the pirates had rebuilt a handful of Vanguards and modified them for use by Parfait's engineering crew.

At the moment, the Talvernian soldiers were also trained in Vanguard operations and by Hibiki no less as he had the most operation time with a Vanguard out in deep space in the Nirvana's crew roster. They were also accompanied by a wing of Dreads with one lone Longsword there in the area that was piloted by none other than the Spartan himself. He oversaw the explosive placement as he had more knowledge in the use of explosives. Namely since they were using C-12 Shaped Charges to do the work, namely much larger ones than the normal types.

“Can't be helped Parfait, that much C-12 has NEVER been used before in this magnitude, if it's done wrong….well, let's just say it won't be pretty.”

“Thanks for the heads up Chief.”

The crew were busy as Bart was in the Navigation Well and was busy running through the area….however they were unaware that they had company heading their way….until it was too late.

Cortana was shocked as she picked up incoming contacts.

“Harvester Cube Fighters!!!!”

The pirates were caught completely by surprise by the sudden and unexpected assault as the ship was suddenly under attack by the enemy. Somehow the Harvesters had devised some sort of jamming system to evade the sensors of the Nirvana and it was only Cortana's sensors on the Forward Unto Dawn that detected them at the last moment. The Dreads quickly got into action as well as the Vanguards and fought with the Cube Fighters and it was there that the Harvesters planned to cause as much damage as they could.

Parfait and her team had no choice but to abandon the area and move back to the Dreki to escape as their Vanguards had no means of fighting back at all. The battle was quick to change as Cortana could not risk using the Archer Missile Pods and the 50mm Point Defense Guns as the battle field was too small for her to target accurately at the moment.

Outside, Hibiki was already in his Vanguard and fighting his hardest, he had recently been told by Dita that the whole affair was to surprise Paiway with a meal commemorating the anniversary of when she and the young nurse had joined the pirates. The Tarak teen had watched as Paiway came back and when the surprise was revealed was very happy with the news, but just as the party was about to start, the mission was called in….and then this happened.

“Mr. Alien!!!”

Hibiki managed to fight off a pair of Cube Fighters and also defeat another one that tried to blindside him and then the Spartan was on his own as well, using the arsenals of his Longsword to fight back with. The Spartan was quick to support the others in fighting off the enemy forces but that was when he spotted the Cube Fighters aiming for the explosives that were still there, as well as seeing that the fighting had allowed some of the asteroids they had to avoid to move to the battle-zone and realizing the danger, quickly ordered the crew to evacuate. He quickly ordered Hibiki to get clear of the explosion.

As soon as they did so, the Cube Fighters blatantly fired at the C-12 Shaped Charges and the resulting explosion had been devastating, however the real blow came as some of the debris had struck the asteroids that had the radioactive materials in them….the result was a massive explosion that blinded the sensors of just about everyone in the area, forcing the Nirvana to clear the area while Hibiki and the Master Chief also had to leave the area quickly.

As soon as the explosion died off, there was a thick veil of radiation that was before the Nirvana and to the shock of the crew….there was no sign of the Master Chief's Longsword or Hibiki's Vanguard.

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

On the Harvester home world…

“Sir….we have lost contact with Scout team 097A.”

“I see….never mind the losses, have the rest of the forces we have rally with the assault force we are assembling to take Melanos, it's high time to get the skins we need.”

“Yes sir.”

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

In the other sector of space…

Hibiki tried yet another frequency but it also proved futile as he had tried several others, the Tarak teen sighed in frustration and in a brief moment, lost his cool and banged the side of his Vanguard's cockpit with a fist.

“Damn it! The comm.'s completely down! I can't raise the Nirvana Chief!”

The Spartan knew that it was the same thing with him at this moment. The two had barely escaped with their lives after the battle had prematurely activated the number of modified Damage Packs that had to be used it in order to blast through the heavy asteroid field that they had encountered safely before the Harvesters had managed to get the drop on them through their new jamming technology. The Spartan was happy that his Longsword had been modified with a lot of extra technology, armor, ammunition and weaponry, had it not, then he would not have made it out alive from the battle.

Both he and Hibiki had burned out a lot of fuel and energy to escape the massive blast of the number of Damage and the large number of radioactive materials that they had been able to scan in the asteroids. They had gone out to oversee the placing of the explosives to move the asteroids aside safely but then the Harvesters attacked and they had to fight a defe4nsive action to protect the engineers as they were evacuated in their Vanguards. He and Hibiki were cut off and had no choice but to fight their hardest and as soon as they were clear, the Spartan dumped out all the Damage Packs and detonated them to cover their escape.

However, they had traveled to a new sector of space away from the Nirvana and now they were on their own, the energy radiation from both the explosion and the distance they had at their current location had rendered them unable to contact the Nirvana….not even the long range communication system of his MJOLNIR could reach the Nirvana, as he had tried to contact the ship and Cortana.

He was not the kind of guy to give up for any reason, but he could tell that they would have to find another way to contact the Nirvana and they couldn't remain here either, there was no telling if there were other Harvesters in the area, and while they had their weapons full, they were not going to do well if the Harvesters would get the drop on them.

“All right, we're going to have to leave, we can't stay here, there's no telling if there are other Harvester forces in the area that might decide to ambush us.”

“But what about the Nirvana if they come looking for us through the energy fields Chief? If we leave they might not find us.”

“I have an idea, we can use some of the equipment here in the Longsword's inventory to act as piggy back messengers, I can use a much more powerful power cell and a special COM signal to guide them to our location.”

“Are you sure it will work Chief?”

“We have no choice, like I said, we can't stay here and we need to find a good place to rest and prepare, cover my Longsword while I do some modifications and get to building the device we need.”

“Roger that Chief!”

The Vanguard pilot and Tarak teen quickly took his Vanguard's sword out and got ready to defend his commanding officer as the Master Chief began to assemble the much needed gear in order to make a jury rigged transmitter. He checked the Longsword' inventory list to see just what he could work with in order to signal the Nirvana, he knew that with the radiation and energy emissions from the explosion, there would be no way a normal signal would be able to reach the Nirvana's scanners, so he would have to do some serious planning in order to make a make shift device to tell the Nirvana where they had gone.

The Longsword had a supply of NAV Marker beacons, the devices were about the size of a normal tick, a type of parasitic insect native to Earth and scattered in various planets still under the control of the UNSC and the ones that had evaded the attacks of the Covenant all those years ago. The devices had considerable power sources and had good signal strength and he had used this device more than once.

The mission to disable the URF station known as Jefferson Station had seen the use NAV Marker beacons and that had given them the chance to cause a good deal of inconvenience to Howard Graves, the URF leader at the time. However, the massive radiation in the area, would scramble it as his own COM system was being disrupted by the massive radiation at the moment. Along with that was the fact that there was a chance that the Nirvana would miss the signal and Cortana might miss it in the backlash of the radiation and energy emissions. Thus he decided to place a large number of NAV markers and then took out a pair of Chatters and Data Pads, he also jury rigged a pair of still functional hydrogen fuel cells to act as the main power source.

As soon as he was done, he made the message and then created the call signal that he knew Cortana already knew of and since in this universe no one knew that special portion of Spartan language, Cortana would be the only one who would know. He trusted the crew of the Nirvana, but not that much to reveal Spartan language that had served to keep his team alive and safe in combat conditions.

As soon as he was done, the Spartan reached for a nearby ejection port and placed in the device and launched it, and had designed it to be activated by a signal from the Longsword's own COM system. He then contacted Hibiki.

“All right, let's move out.”

The Tarak teen nodded and off the two of them went to try and get to a possible location that would prevent them from being detected and attacked by the Harvesters at this time. The Spartan knew it was a risk, but they had no other choice at the moment as he scanned the area before them to make sure that they were not suddenly ambushed like before.

He could only hope that the crew would make it through the area safely.

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

Back in the Nirvana…

“It's no good, the radiation is still messing up the scanners.”

Belvedere reported as she scanned once more and it was becoming very apparent to the rest of the Nirvana crew that there would not be able to scan for anything to tell them that Hibiki and the Master Chief were alive, however the crew were not going to give up hope just yet as they tried other wave lengths to try and get past the field.

“Captain, we might need to move through the field but as soon as we do, the scanners and comm. systems are going to be badly gummed up until we clear the energy field.”

Magno nodded as Buzam's assessment, the elderly Captain was not happy with how things had turned out for them all at this time, this Harvester ambush had caught them with their pants down as the saying went, and now it had separated them from two of their key allies. She knew that the Master Chief was needed for countering the Harvesters' ground forces, and their boarding parties, plus his skills and leadership were very much essential and more so than that, he was a good friend. She trusted him a great deal when the situation was very bad and his efforts to fight the Harvesters made him important to them all.

Hibiki was also very much an important part of the crew, he had changed to a good young man while still having his fiery personality. He had been tempered by the Spartan to be an effective and skilled soldier and a Vanguard pilot since the Master Chief had taken him in and he was the most proficient with Vanguards and had routinely worked with the new Vanguard designs that were used in the previous battle with the Harvesters. The young man had also become less like the men back on his world in relation to his situation with women, he was less temperamental, more open minded, and also more understanding, thanks to being with the Spartan who taught him many things as well as hanging out with Cortana. And his contributions to the crew were just as important as without him and his Vanguard, the VanDreads would not be present and the machines were needed to fight the Harvesters in space.

The Spartan was right in his saying that the VanDreads gave them a tactical edge in combat and Cortana also stated that the VanDreads would be the aces they needed in space battles as their respective abilities in ranged combat, close attack, speed, and defense made them key players in space.

And naturally, the two men were instrumental to the well being of the crew….Dita was beside herself with worry at how they would be able to find Hibiki, Magno could tell that Dita had fallen head over heels for the young Tarak teen though she had no doubts in her mind that the young Dread pilot had no idea about her newly developing feelings towards the boy. Meia likewise was not happy without him around and despite the fact that they would bicker, there was a sense of respect between the two, unlike before when they were very hostile to one another, and the friendship could blossom into something more. As for Jura, she said she wanted him back so she could combine with him, but there was the old saying that things can change and she did like the young man now that he had grown up so to speak.

And John-117, well, he was very much respected by his Fire Team members and NCOs, when they heard that he was lost in the fighting it made them very unhappy and they vowed to make the Harvesters pay for this action on their commander. Hilda, Kara, Rena, Carla, Sheena, and Fiona were the hardest hit as they had looked up to the Spartan with great respect and admiration…almost to the point that they considered him an adopted ohma or in the old Earth term, a father figure. That was understandable as the women were of various young ages. Kara was around nineteen, Hilda was twenty, Rena was around eighteen, Carla was twenty one, Sheens was nineteen, and Fiona was the eldest by the age of twenty two.

The NCOs of the Fire Team had once been the most resistant with the idea of working with the Master Chief, but after all they had gone through, they held him in the highest regard and they were not very happy with the idea of ANYONE either harming or insulting the Master Chief who they saw as a good example of a strong man worthy of respect. The girls had been outcasts from Megele and had been with the pirates a bit longer than the others, like Dita, and they were not very happy with their lives on Megele and the pirates spelled adventure. Joining the Master Chief's Fire Teams had at first sounded insulting, but the Master Chief's trust in their abilities, which prompted their promotion to NCOs and the battles they had been in under his command had made them admire him greatly.

Of course….the hardest hit was Cortana herself, ever since the battle and the subsequent disappearance of Hibiki and John, Cortana was working nonstop to try and locate them, and John most of all. The elderly woman could understand why Cortana would do all that to locate the Spartan. They had been through hell and back many times over and the fact that the Master Chief had risked all to bring her back from the clutches of the vile Flood Gravemind despite the dangers of going into the mutilated and transformed city of High Charity spoke volumes of how much Cortana meant to him, and it would make sense that Cortana would feel the very same way concerning Cortana.

The woman was currently in her AI form and even then, even with the fact that her face was glowing purple and was having symbols of data on it, the elderly woman could see the sadness, and worry etched all over the woman's face. It was no doubt a difficult thing for Cortana to have to leave John behind as he had ordered her to protect the crew while he took that suicidal risk to stop the Harvesters from overwhelming the Nirvana and worse. The elderly woman then spoke to Cortana.

“Cortana….”

The woman in her AI form turned and spoke.

“Yes Captain?”

<Even her tone of voice has changed, don't worry dear, we won't give up.>

“We will find them Cortana, I promise you, even if we have to comb this entire sector of space, we will find them.”

Cortana nodded and a faint smile came to her face.

“Thank you.”

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

Elsewhere on the ship…

Dita was pacing back and forth, her hands held together in worry and sadness as she tried her best to figure out just what to do, the knowledge that Mr. Alien and Mr. Green Alien were out there and possibly under attack by the bad aliens was making her very depressed. The redhead was there to help Hibiki if needed, but suddenly the Harvesters came out of nowhere and blindsided them while they were trying to clear away the asteroids that were in the area with explosives, just enough to send the asteroids away. She had tried to get to Hibiki's Vanguard with her Dread but the move proved to be worthless as the asteroids was in the area and the Cube Fighters were more than willing to do what they could in order to prevent them from uniting, they did the very same thing when Meia and Jura tried to help Hibiki. The redhead tried her best, but then…

“Mr. Alien….please be al right.”

Dita was very worried and as she moved back and forth, the doors to the room opened and in walked Meia and Jura, along with Barnette. The redhead quickly walked or rather ran up to Meia and spoke rapidly.

“Any word leader?! Is Mr. Alien all right?!”

Meia could see the worry on Dita's face and so could Jura and Barnette at the moment. The blonde and emerald haired Dread pilots could see that Dita was very worried and they couldn't really blame the redhead. They however could only do what they could to keep Dita from doing something very dangerous that could very well get her in a heap of trouble.

Meia held Dita's shoulder as the young redhead sat down with a sad and forlorn look in her face.

“Dita, we will find Hibiki and the Master Chief all right, we have to find another way to get past the cloud of energy, so don't give up all right?”

Dita nodded while wiping a tear from her eye. Jura and Barnette noted that as well as Paiway who had just arrived on the scene, the young nurse was very unhappy that Dita was this sad, not because she disliked Hibiki, it was because that she had seen how much Hibiki meant to Dita and the Harvesters had taken him from her, though she doubted Hibiki was gone, the boy was too stubborn and with the Master Chief by his side, the young nurse had no doubt that Hibiki would be in good hands at least.

She then walked over to Dita and consoled her best friend along with Meia while Jura and Barnette.

It was then that things got to an even better start as Magno announced that they had received a message from Hibiki and the Master Chief.

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

Earlier…

The ship had managed to get past the radiation cloud and thankfully was now on the other side and as soon as their sensors were in the clear, they quickly began to scan the other sector of space, hoping to find any trace of their missing comrades. The Nirvana's radiation ships helped greatly in reducing radiation damage and therefore all the crew were all right at the moment the ship had cleared the area. But much to their dismay, there was no sign of either Hibiki's Vanguard or the Spartan's Longsword Fighter.

However…

Belvedere looked through the information to be sure and then spoke to the officers on the bridge.

“Captain! Commander! I'm picking up a coded signal from a nearby source.”

“Can you bring it up?”

The blonde bridge operator nodded and as soon as the signal came on, they listened, and to their surprise it was a seven note song that seemed to repeat. This confused Buzam and Magno as well.

“What is that?”

“I'm not sure….it sounds familiar though.”

Cortana however knew just what the seven tones meant. It was the highest secret the Spartans ever kept, the signal known to her as `Oly Oly Oxen Free'. It was a near forgotten song used on Earth, at least their Earth. It was a very guarded secret among the Spartans, and only a few outside of their close knit group knew of it, one of them being herself, as well as Sergeant Avery Johnson, Dr. Catherine Halsey, Deja the AI who had taught that to John and his comrades, and finally Senior Chief petty Officer Franklin Mendez. It had been used to act as an all clear and emergency signal. This also told him that Hibiki and the Spartan were all right.

“Captain, we need to get that item, it can help us locate Hibiki and John!”

The elderly Captain had a feeling about this but decided against it, some secrets were best left untouched as she had learned over the many years she had been around, and since this secret was between the Master Chief and Cortana, she couldn't interfere. She gave the order and soon enough Gascogne with a pair of Dreads and a Longsword escorting her ship, the Dreki was out in space.

They tracked the signal and found the make shift message pod device by the Master Chief. As soon as Gascogne was back on the ship, she gave her report.

“It looks like a Chatter and a Data Pad, as well as a makeshift hydrogen power cell and some tick like devices.”

“Thos are NAV marker Beacons, UNSC issued equipment.”

Cortana explained as Gascogne read the information in the Chatter and the Data-Pad and she smiled and gave her full report.

“The Chief and the kid are all right, they went in the direction ahead of us to avoid being caught by the Harvesters, they have left behind a NAV chart to show the path they are taking.”

The crew were relieved and both Dita and Cortana were happy as well. Meia herself gave a slight smile while Jura was happy as well, while Barnette sighed a bit. Magno herself gave a wide smile and Buzam was also relieved and the crew quickly made their way to find their wayward comrades….who knew what they were getting into this time?

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

They had no idea…

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

In another part of space…

“WHAT THE?!?!”

Hibiki shouted as he and the Master Chief quickly moved aside as a number of energy beams came right at them. The Spartan was quick to evade the shots despite a portion of his Longsword got hit hard on the wing, thankfully the armor held off the attacks well enough to not result in the fighter being completely destroyed. The Vanguard Hibiki piloted also got nicked and the two soldiers, mentor and student quickly got ready to fight.

That was when the shooters finally decided to make their appearance, and to the surprise of both Hibiki and the Master Chief, they were not Cube Fighters, the fighters smaller, more dynamic and were certainly not like the one that Harvesters used to ambush them months before in an asteroid field. The ships that came out were certainly not of Harvester construction and there appeared to be at least some capital class ships there as well.

“Well now, this is unexpected.”

Hibiki was still tense as he readied his Vanguard for combat, he then spoke to the Master Chief.

“Who do you think they are sir?'

“Not a clue, but they certainly aren't Harvesters since if they were they would have attacked us again after that salvo they shot at us.”

“Human?”

“Probably, but until they do something that says so, we can't be all that sure.”

Hibiki then got some sort of incoming message and as soon as he was done studying it, he informed the Master Chief that they were being hailed by the lead ship. As soon as he heard the voice, the Master Chief was sure that the crew were human and the one speaking was a man of authority.

“This the Anti-Earth Melanos Defense Fleet. From what planet do you hail from?”

Hibiki was furious and shouted right back.

“Listen here you!!! You've got some nerve asking us that question when you just tried to turn us into space debris! Ever heard of the old saying to identify first who the heck are you shooting at first?! As for where we come from…”

“Hibiki, calm down, this is not going to work.”

“Yes sir.”

Hibiki said as the Spartan spoke….he couldn't blame his protégé and student for the harsh words he said as being shot at for no reason was usually the reason for the reaction he had made towards the old man, but the Spartan knew that they couldn't go spewing hostile words to every new person they met. And from the sound of things, he was very curious as to why the leader of the Fleet called themselves the Anti-Earth Fleet. That part of the situation didn't make any sense, however, he decided to place that line of thought elsewhere for the time being.

“Sir, you might want to explain why your forces shot at us first, we have not made any attempt to attack you or your forces, but you shot at us and we deserve an answer for that attack. And as to who were are, the young man is my student Hibiki Tokai from the planet of Tarak.”

“Tarak?”

“And as for who I am….I am Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 of the United Nations Space Command Navy, currently serving on the Nirvana with Hibiki.”

That got an immediate reaction from the crew of the Melanos forces as the Captain spoke.

“Master Chief John-117?! As in….The Spartan-117 of the Nirvana Fire Teams?!”

Hibiki and the Spartan looked at one another with some surprise of their own. It seems they were easily recognized.

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

Later…

The Melanos people were looking at the Master Chief and Hibiki with some surprise and awe as they recognized just who they had taken in. They had heard rumors of the Spartan's victories against the Harvesters and how he could fight off hordes of Harvester Troopers. They had not believed it to be possible, but the very second they had seen the Spartan step out of his Longsword's boarding ramp carrying his trademark MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle in his hands and a pair of M7 Caseless SMGs on his hips, they knew that they were meeting the man who had led the crew of the Nirvana against overwhelming odds and pulling out victories that would have seemed impossible. The fact that such a legend was walking in the very ship as they were was very much something none of them had ever prepared for.

Hibiki smirked a bit as he heard the whispers being directed at his mentor and spoke to him.

“You've gotten really popular Chief.”

“I suppose.”

As they made their way to the bridge, the two got to meet the people of Melanos in a much more relaxed setting. The sight of a male and female working side by side made the Chief smile a bit more as he saw cooperation, trust and more with these people, the same kind of trust, cooperative spirit that he hoped would one day exist with the rest of the people he would meet, namely against the harvester threat that was looming on the horizon.

He was faced by none other than the man who was the leader of this fleet. He could see authority, duty, courage, and discipline. In some ways, the man reminded the Spartan of his old commanding officer, Captain Jacob Keyes as well as his instructor on Reach, Master Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, from one soldier to another, he was starting to respect the man.

“I must apologize for our rash actions earlier, we have been on the defensive for so long that we have gotten a bit on edge with new arrivals coming into our sensor range. With the Harvesters and their tactics, we can't be too careful and cautious.”

“It's understandable Sir.”

Hibiki likewise calmed down and had to admit that he couldn't find fault in them either, had the situation been reversed, he would have attacked first and then regretted it later on.

The Captain then looked at the behemoth in green and black armor with the golden visor, the man betrayed no fear, only respect and awe, as like all the crew, he had heard all about the Spartan's exploits battling the Harvesters as there had been the people of Talvern who had seen him in action and how powerful he was in combat. To know that here before him was a man who fought with the power of a full planetary army was a strange but not a fearful feeling.

“I've heard a great deal of your accomplishments with fighting the Harvesters Master Chief. And I must admit that you have inspired many of my crew here to resist, even more so for a very long time.”

“I see, begging your pardon sir, but considering the way your fleet's been in formation you are acting as a blockade force against the Harvesters, are you expecting an attack?”

“Yes, we gathered as many ships as we could in order to meet the soon to come attack, we're all that's left to stand against the Harvester Fleet and our home system as well. We are familiar with the horrors that the Harvesters willingly inflict on humans and we will not let them take us without a fight.”

Hibiki smiled and replied.

“At least you guys and ladies have a load more guts than the ones we ran into on Anpathos.”

The leader gave a serious nod and replied.

“We're not like them, we don't see the Harvesters as Gods, more like inhuman butchers who treat humanity like we're nothing but livestock and spare parts to use for their own benefit. We're not going to let them do what they want with our people…we'd rather fight and die free than to be treated like animals!”

The same sentiment could be seen in the eyes and faces of the crew, The Spartan noted that and knew that they were not going to let anything happen to their people and while he respected that, he was a student of warfare and knew that while being on the defensive has advantages, it's disadvantages were very apparent.

“With all due respect Captain, your strategy might not work the way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you remain on the defensive, it might shield your home, but if you are defeated, then the Harvesters will have a clear shot towards your worlds. You would lose too many ships, soldiers, pilots, and more valuable personnel in a pitched battle. Not only that, you would exhaust your resources and personnel and in the end the harvesters can destroy you and harvest your words piecemeal.”

The Captain was silent and pondered the words of the Spartan. Normally the crew would have said it was better to die fighting than to be enslaved and wiped out without a fight. However, the Captain had heard about this man's superhuman exploits in fighting the Harvesters and the forces and knew that he might have a point, they could ill afford a defensive war and exhaust their forces and supplies as there would be no telling how long the fight would be.

“So what do you suggest Master Chief?”

“Lure them into ambushes and traps, turn your number weakness to an advantage, make them overextend themselves trying to catch you and then use hit and run attacks to weaken them. Make it seem like nothing will stop them from their goal and then surprise them when they least expect it, do not rely on conventional tactics when fighting them, surprise them at every turn and every engagement. Deprive them of all resources as they go deeper into your lands and then when they least expect it, surround them and attack.”

The Captain pondered the information and so did the rest of the crew. It was then that the Captain spoke out.

“I have to thank you for not just the advice Master Chief, but for exposing the bastard who dared to turn against the human race.”

The two men knew just who they were referring to and Hibiki replied.

“That Rabat bastard sold you two out as well?”

“Yes….we received reports from a passing number of human ships about your revelation of this Rabat, and we have found him to be the one responsible for the compromising of some of our outer colonies. When we find him, we will execute him on sight.”

The Spartan spoke as well.

“I'll be the one to put the bullet in his head if you would like that captain, I made a promise to kill him myself after all.”

“Nothing would be more fitting for that traitor, in the meantime, you and your student can remain here with us until the time is right for you to decide your options, though your support of our own battles with the Harvesters would be more than welcome.”

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

Later…

The Master Chief was checking his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle while Hibiki was busy checking on his Vanguard with his tool kit on hand. Both of them however were also watching the numerous people moving about, working left and right and the Spartan saw men and women working side by side. And that for him was a sign of very good things and for a very good reason as well. The way they worked together showed cooperation, trust, discipline and more, much better than how things were in the beginning back on the Nirvana….though the Nirvana's crew had improved over time.

The Tarak youth also noted that and while he was busy assessing the damage on his Vanguard, he couldn't help but notice how close the men and women were, there were smiles all around despite the dangers they were going to be facing at this time. The Tarak youth had to admit that the sight of men and women working side by side and being friendly or even affectionate to each other was still something he couldn't quite grasp despite his exposure to the people from Talvern who were their allies in the war with the Harvesters and more besides. However he couldn't help but be amazed how the men and women of Melanos got together and wanted to know more about all this when he got the chance.

He then thought about the others, and also how they were doing, there was no doubt in his mind that Dita was frantic with worry on how they were going to find him, and Cortana was going to be doing everything she could to locate them as well. He then wondered about Meia and Jura as they were the ones he associated with the most apart from BC, Magno, Gascogne, and of course Ezra.

It was then that he began to think about the three Dread pilots, he then wondered why he was having odd thought whenever he was around them…

That train of thought was stopped when a pair of Melanos people came on the scene. One appeared to be a young woman who was a brunette and had one a suit that was designed differently than the others but was seen with men and women who did work on machines, and that told the two men that she was a technician or an engineer. She appeared to be in late teens or early adulthood and she held her hand out in greeting, offering a handshake to Hibiki.

“Hi there, my name's Seran, it's good to meet the two people who have been a thorn on the Harvesters' side for the past months.”

The two greeted her, with Seran offering a salute to the Spartan which John-117 returned as well, and it was then that another man walked over and was dressed in a different suit than Seran and was the same worn by the people who appeared to be pilots. Much to the surprise of the two, the young man had an apologetic look to his face. And his words then explained just why he had that look on his face.

“I have to apologize for my actions towards the two of you, I was one of the firs to open fire on your machines once you were in our scanner range were unknown contacts.”

Hibiki looked at Seran's life partner with some surprise.

“YOU were the one who shot at me and the Chief?!”

The man gave a sheepish look and replied.

“Yeah, I have to apologize for that and the damage my shots did to both your machines, but we've been on the defensive so for so long it kind of made us very jumpy.”

The Master Chief knew that while his student's reaction was to be expected, he knew how being on standby could wear down on people's patience and made them jumpy, that and other traumatic events had a very high factor making any person trigger happy at times, though in the young pilot's case, his actions were warranted as they couldn't afford to be too lenient, though he was not the least bit happy of being shot at by anyone.

“I can understand that, but next time, try to ID your targets before you shoot them, all right?”

The pilot nodded a bit and saluted the Spartan.

“I'll make sure it won't happen again Sir!”

“Good, now then, what's your name?”

“My name is Kouji Mikage, it's an honor to meet you Master Chief, and you as well Hibiki Tokai, I've heard of your battles with the Harvesters myself.”

The four talked together and it was then that Seran handed the pair some bottles to drink from, the two were eager for a drink and the Spartan removed his Mjolnir Mark VI' helmet and drank as well as Hibiki did, however the drink was something that neither of them were familiar with the very second it hit their taste buds.

Hibiki spat out the drink while the Master Chief gave a slight growl at the drink while Seran and her life mate looked on with some amusement at the reactions of student and mentor, though they were respectful enough not to laugh at the faces of the two men.

As soon as the two recovered, the Spartan spoke first as he looked at the drink, which in his opinion was worse than drinking heavily aged UNSC Navy brand coffee, which he had done once and regretted. Navy coffee brands had not changed at al in the past hundreds of years and was always strong with a pinch of salt in it mixed with sugar. Despite being a Navy officer, the Spartan still had a preference to normal coffee, and this was certainly not a drink he was familiar with.

“Well that was….different.”

Hibiki's reaction was a lot more colorful and animated however.

“Yuck! What is this stuff?! This tastes just like the nutrient pills I ate back home, only worse!!!”

Seran was not the least bit discomforted as she drank the liquid, much to the amazement of both the Tarak teen and the Spartan. Sera's life partner replied.

“It's special vitamin drink, it's good for the skin.”

John looked at the drink and then to the people who were around them and saw that while the people were pale in complexion like he was, their skin was a very healthy type and complexion like him though in a much better quality, while his paleness was due to wearing the Mjolnir Mark V and Mark V all the way to the Mark VI for some time..

“I see….but I take it that's the very same reason the Harvesters are attacking your worlds?”

Seran and her partner nodded sadly and the Spartan shook his head while Hibiki growled.

“Those inhuman bastards, how I wish we could go to their own world and make them pay dearly for all they have put so many people through.”

The Spartan however replied.

“Let's take the time to plan that part out Hibiki, as long as we have no idea where their main home world is, attacking them in their own backyard is a bad idea.”

“But we can't stay here on our butts all the time and do nothing sir! We have to fight back somehow!”

Sera then replied.

“I think you all will get that chance….I have a feeling the Harvesters will make their move soon enough on all of us.”

As soon as the alarms were heard, the Spartan turned and replied.

“They're here.”

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

In the Nirvana's command bridge…

“Captain! I've picked up a massive energy blast at least a hundred kilometers from our area ahead of us!”

Cortana and the others looked at one another and Magno gave the order to full power to al engines, they wasted little time as they had followed the course outlined by the second makeshift message pod that was still made with some NAV Marker Beacons as well as a Chatter and Data Pad left behind. Whatever was going on over there, they were not going to be left out.

And they hoped that they would find Hibiki and the Master Chief there as well, hoping that they were going to be all right.

Naturally in the lead was none other than the three Dread pilots with Meia doing her best to keep Dita from running off in search of Hibiki and winding up in what Goddess knows kinds of trouble, thought she too hoped to find Hibiki and the Spartan alive, the same went for Jura who was being followed by Barnette. The Dreads were naturally followed by a number of Vanguards piloted by the Talvernian soldiers and then they were followed by Longswords as well as the Nirvana.

It was when the scanners picked up the transponder signal of a certain person that got the rest of the Nirvana crew on fire and they gunned their engines to reach the area in time.

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

In space…

“Wow….what a mess.”

Rabat said as his ship flew through the floating and powerless hulks of Harvester Cube Fighters, Seed Ships, and Space urchins, it looked like a whole sale slaughter had happened here. There were ruins of Melanos fighters as well as some of their larger capital ships and cruisers, but as soon as he passed the floating debris of the two forces….he saw a sight he could have thought to be impossible.

A massive hulk of a ship was still floating there in deep space….it was torn apart as sections of it were burning from still leaking and burning fuel, the ship was blown completely apart by what appeared to be a massive explosion that tore it from the inside. Rabat knew what that ship was….a Harvester battleship. But the former super ship of the Harvesters had been reduced to a burning, hulking ruin. The main bulk of the ship resembled a melon splattered by a massive hammer as it was still burning like mad all over the place.

“How the….impossible….there's no way!!!!”

The Harvester spy had seen the impossible….an entire Harvester battleship utterly obliterated into total uselessness! There was no way the Melanos fleet could have done this on their own, there was just no possible way they could have done this with the level of fire-power they had on hand. This was no doubt going to cause a hell of an uproar in the Harvester home world if they heard that the battleship had been utterly reduced into nothing but a ruined wreck….and judging by the amounts of radiation, they had used nuclear weapons.

But there was no way a nuclear weapon could have THIS kind of destructive potential and his forays into the Melanos systems told him that they did not have a working nuclear arsenal with their forces. But there was no denying the fact the only way this level of destruction was possible was through the use of nuclear weaponry.

It was then that he spotted a certain Vanguard and Longsword. He scanned the two fighters and smiled evilly as he was told by the scanners that there were two occupants in the two machines and he was getting ready to have his payback. The Harvester spy had every intention to make the two pay with their lives for making his life a living hell. The mercenary powered up his mechan and was about to attack.

However, the mercenary was forced away as several bolts of energy fire came right at him, and there were three voices there on the scene.

“LEAVE Mr. ALIEN AND MR. GREEN ALIEN ALONE!!!!”

“Back off Rabat, you are going nowhere near that long Longsword or that Vanguard!”

“Same here, if you even think of harming the kid I can combine with, you're dead!”

Rabat swore as he found himself surrounded by not only the three Dreads, but a wing of the well modified Vanguards, and some Longswords and sure enough he heard Cortana speak. And the former UNSC AI and now human woman was speaking in a very hostile tone.

“Back off traitor, you so much as even fire a pebble out of anywhere in that ship of yours, I will shove an Archer Missile right up your ass and blow you up like a piñata in a festival!!!”

“Same goes for me you sorry sack of shit!!! You lay a hand on either the boy or the Chief, my crew and I will tear you apart!!!!”

The Talvernian soldiers piloting the Vanguards were already priming their weaponry. They had been told just who Rabat was and the knowledge that the man had willingly betrayed all of humanity to the Harvesters for profit and to save his own skin had driven them to being in a deep rage. It was the fact that Hibiki and the Master Chief were in the need to recover at the moment that they didn't quickly attack Rabat.

Rabat gritted his teeth, he had the punk and the freak in his sights, but he could do little to make them pay. The mercenary however had no idea that the Spartan was very much conscious and had secretly armed the Longsword's weaponry despite the heavy damage the fighter had suffered.

Johyn-117 knew that Rabat would do anything to have his revenge the very second he had spotted the mercenary trader and traitor's ship. He knew that he would have one shot and had armed one of the missile pods and had slowly aimed it at Rabat's ship right at the cockpit. The arrival of the Nirvana's crew, the Dread squadron, and the Vanguard pilots changed that. The Spartan gave a slight smile and as soon as he got a signal from the Nirvana, he saw Cortana's face and even if he saw that she was in her AI form, he could see the joy in her face.

“John….are you all right?!”

The Spartan made the same `Spartan Smile' and gave her a slightly teasing reply.

“What took you so long?”

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

In the Command Bridge…

Cortana smiled and she nearly cried at the response, she tried to hide her emotional outburst from the others, but Buzam and Magno were not fooled and neither was Ezra, they all knew how close the woman was to John and seeing him alive and still there was something she would have loved more than anything.

The elderly captain placed those thoughts aside and spoke directly to Rabat in a very serious tone.

“Rabat, the last time we met the Master Chief told you to leave before he killed you for betraying the whole human race and the next time you would meet he will kill you. Now it's my turn, you have no business being here Rabat, no doubt the only reason you came here was to act like the parasite that you are by stealing from the people who died here. Unless you want to be reduced into nothing but atoms right here and right now, you will turn around and leave.”

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

In the Vanguard…

Hibiki shook his head and opened his eyes and as soon as he saw that he was getting an incoming message on his comm. system and as soon as he activated it, he saw none other than a certain trio of female pilots who's Dreads he could merge with. He couldn't help but feel very much relieved at that fact that some familiar faces were now on the scene. He cringed a bit as the feel of the shrapnel on his body, thankfully the very worst of the damage was blocked by his Marine Body Armor and for that he was very thankful for it. That coupled with his Tarak upbringing and the training he had gotten from the Master Chief had toughened him up a lot.

“Mr. Alien!!! Are you all right?!”

“I'm….cough….still here right?”

Jura then spoke.

“Hibiki you're a mess, you need to head to the Medical Bay fast.”

“Heh, thanks for the concern, how did?”

Meia answered for the others.

“We followed the signal and then detected a massive charge of energy and here we are. We're lucky we made it in time, how badly are you hurt?”

“A broken rib on the right side of my body I think, thank Grand Pa and the First generation the thing wasn't a serious one or punctured any vital organ, hurts like hell though. Got some bruises and a few gashes, thankfully the Armor held it off, and I think I've got a crack in my left shin bone.”

Meia looked very concerned at Hibiki and so did Jura and Dita, which seemed to make him feel very happy for one reason or another. Dita was close to tears and she spoke.

“Don't worry Mr. Alien, when you get back here, I'll have Mr. Doctor make you all better!”

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

In Rabat's ship…

Rabat pounded his ship's console hard while Utan looked on, he had the chance to finally pay back the snot nosed brat and that freakish superhuman, he had them right there where he wanted them so he can finally pay them back for the trouble and torment they had placed on him!!!

But now their allies were there and he couldn't do anything, his defense mecha had nowhere near the firepower needed to fight off the force before him. He growled and then sighed as he consoled himself as he turned his ship around, but as he was about to leave, he taunted the pirates and their Talvernian allies.

“Fine ladies, I'm leaving but don't think you are going to have it easy….soon another Harvester fleet is one it's way here, and they will deal with you since I already told them your location.”

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

Cries of outrage and anger were heard as the Nirvana's crew and their Talvernian allies as Rabat left the area as fast as he could. Magno restrained the crew and ordered them to worry about Rabat later, they would deal with the traitorous bastard soon enough, for now they had things to take care of and allies to help. The Vanguards escorted the damaged Longsword of the Master Chief and also the Vanguard of Hibiki, they had a lot of things to plan out if what Rabat said was true. The sight of the Harvester Cube Fighters and Seed Ships that littered the battle area was a big indicator of how serious the battle was.

And the biggest indicator was the massive hulk of what appeared to be a massive sea cucumber like vessel that was torn apart like a hotdog stuffed with a VERY large amount of explosives. The Elderly Captain and her Commander knew that sooner or later, as soon as the Master Chief and Hibiki were back and fully recovered from their injuries, they were going to find out just what sort of opposition were they going to have to fight in the coming hours.

This was going to be one heck of a battle field soon enough.

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

To be continued…

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

Author's notes:

Damn….I have updated this baby in a while now huh? I got so wrapped up with Naruto Dragon Champion and many others that I forgot the whole thing. But not this time, I am going to be busy with this since it and several other projects of mine are nearing their finish line at this moment. So I hope to get all this finished before the end of the semester and the onset of the summer vacation….which I am also looking forward to as I need to make some plans of my own.

Anyway….what happened to the Harvester Battleship that was sent to attack Melanos? How the heck did it turn from once a pristine and undeniably deadly Harvester Battleship into a floating hulk of metal that looked like a can filled with C-4? Did the Master Chief and Hibiki have anything to do with?

Here's a trailer:

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

“What are you going to do Chief?”

“Hibiki, remember that time when we rescued Miss Gascogne from that wreck?”

Hibiki and the other Melanos soldiers, and engineers, including Seran were gasping as the Master Chief revealed just what was in the crates he had on the Longsword. Hibiki however was quick on the uptake and recognized the weapons. He grinned and then spoke to his mentor.

“With all due respect Chief, you're crazy.”

“I know. But we don't have any choice at this point.”

Seran spoke as she gulped at seeing a certain hazard symbol on the weapons.

“What are we going to do with all these weapons?”

The Spartan replied as he went to getting the weapons out and ready for use.

“Simple Engineer Sera….we are about to turn that Harvester battleship into the universe's largest Fragmentation Grenade ever recorded.”

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

See you on the next chapter!