Chapter Twenty Seven
January 28 2537, UNSC Montpelier

Chaos' hologram rotated to face Emily and Carolina, "The Covenant vessel is responding with audio and video, on an open UNSC frequency."

Emily turned to a screen next to her to look at the details, "It's not one of our major channels, but it's not one we've seen the Covenant use. Let's see what they have to say."

The main screen on the bridge turned black before the interior of a Covenant vessel popped into focus. The purple walls and the two alien creatures standing at ease were unmistakable: A Jackal and an Elite.

The Jackal spoke first, in near-perfect English, "I am Shipmisstress Yen Ham, of the Determined Voyage. We would appreciate not being blown up, if you wouldn't mind."

"I'm Lieutenant Ward. We'll leave you alone if you'll leave us alone," Emily replied, glaring at the aliens on the screen.

The Elite seemed to chuckle, "I'm afraid, Miss Emily Ward, that while we mean you no harm, you probably won't want to leave us alone. My name is Nese 'Enoum, and I am the one who captured your brother, William."

January 28 2537, Covenant Frigate Determined Voyage

Nese glanced to her right, Will and Kev sat just out of view of the communication screen. The original plan had been to avoid being destroyed by the crazy Humans and continue with their current objective, but Will had convinced her to stay. He wanted to speak to his sisters, in person, and explain everything to them. He might even be able to talk some of them into joining their colony.

The screen was silent, the collection of Humans hadn't said anything for the past few minutes, just silently glaring at Nese. She cleared her throat and tried again, "As I understand it, you're out to rescue him?"

This seemed to bring Emily back out of silence, "Damn right, we are! Where is he? If you hurt him-"

Nese cut her off, "I assure you, he is fine. He has been my personal guest. He would like to speak to you, in person."

"You're not going to let him just shuttle over, are you?"

"No, and you're not going to shuttle over here either, I suspect. Therefore, I propose we dock and he'll be able to travel to your ship to talk with you. Once he is returned to us, we'll undock and let you go on your way. We have no desire to cause a fight," Nese offered.

Emily crossed her arms, "How do I know he's really there?"

Nese took a step to the side let Will step forward. He gave a smile to his sisters, "Hey."

Carolina stepped forward, "Will! Are you okay?"

He nodded, "Just fine, actually. It's been... Well, it's a long story." Nese cleared her throat again. "Right, listen, you can trust Nese and Yen, because I trust them. Dock with us and I'll explain everything. I promise."

After a moment of silence Emily sudden shouted, "Goddammit, Will! This is just like that time I lost you while we were at the mall. Mom was so upset with me!" She sighed and turned to the AI near her, "Chaos, make ready for docking."

Will smiled, "I'll see you all soon enough."

Nese stepped up again, "Before that happens, I do have a request."

"What now?"

"I know you Humans are very violent when it comes to interacting with other species, I would appreciate it if all weapons were kept away from the docking port. One of my crew will be escorting Will across to your ship, and if something were to happen to her it would not go over very well."

Emily nodded, "Very well. Montpelier out." The communication closed quickly.

Will sighed, "That went better than I expected."

"At least she doesn't want to kill us," Kev commented. "Or, didn't say so if she did."

January 28 2537, UNSC Montpelier

The entire gang of Humans on the UNSC Montpelier had gathered at the docking port. They were all nervous. Chaos and February were handling the ship maneuvers. There wasn't even a bump before Chaos reported, "Docking complete. Pressurizing." A heartbeat later the door lock popped, "Airlock is pressurized, opening doors."

As the door open Will's voice came through, "Relax Kev, my sisters are nice enough. Just... Keep your distance at first."

"Will?" Carolina called out. The door opened to reveal Will and a Jackal standing side by side on the Covenant side of the airlock. "Will!"

He looked up, a smile on his face, "Wow, it's really good to see you all again." He took a few steps across, wobbling slightly as he passed from the Determined Voyage's artificial gravity to the Montpelier's. Everyone stood still as he approached, not quite believing that he had just walked onto their ship after all they went through to get where they were. He gave both his sisters a hug, pulling them in close. "It's so good to see you two again."

Eventually they broke down and hugged him back. "You were always so much trouble," Emily scolded, "What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

After a few more moments with his family he turned to the rest of the crew, "Julia, Corporal Edwards, I got to say what you did was incredibly stupid. Thanks." He gave them each a friendly hug.

Kev slowly stepped over onto the Montpelier and hung back from the group, she didn't want to be in the way, certainly not around all these Humans who could turn violent against her at any moment. Will took a step back, so he was next to Kev, "Right, my turn I guess. This is Kev Jec," he did is best to pronounce her name clearly. "She's been my personal body guard and friend while I've been with Nese."

Emily glared slightly at her, "You do realize you just called that alien your friend, don't you?"

"Because she is." To prove his point Will grabbed her hand and held it tightly, "I want you all to behave, she's a very nice young lady and it would ruin our pride as Humans to treat her rudely."

Carolina tried to give a friendly smile, "We can try, Will."

"Before we get too relaxed, I want to talk with Will in private," Emily said. "Carolina, would you like to keep- Kev, was it?" Kev nodded slowly. "-Kev, company?"

Will sat down in a very small conference room, it only had seating for six. Emily sat across from him, pulling up some information on a small screen in front of her. "Will... I'm sorry, but there's something I need to be made sure of before we go back to the others."

"What's that?" He asked, slightly confused.

She sighed, "You've been held captive for a while now, Will. I need to be sure the Covenant hasn't done anything to you that would compromise your mental facilities."

"You mean, you think they brainwashed me? Just because I made some friends who aren't the same species doesn't mean-"

"Will. Please, just let me run my test and if you're unharmed I will personally apologize to Kev for thinking that they harmed you." Emily reached into her pocked and pulled out a small, metal ring that she then placed on Will's head. "It'll just be a few questions."

Carolina and Kev were not too far away, in a small lounge. Kev wandered over and sat down on the couch. Carolina grabbed a glass of water, "Can I get you anything?"

"No thanks, I'm fine," Kev said, trying to sound friendly. She was rather nervous about the current situation, Nese had told her not to leave Will's side.

Carolina sat in a chair where she could easily look at Kev, "So, um, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself. If you really are Will's friend I'd like to know more about you."

With a nod Kev started, "Right, well, I'm not actually a member of the Covenant. I'm a mercenary, really. I'm being paid to protect Priestess Nese 'Enoum and her human subjects. She's been tasked by the Prophets with understanding humanity on an individual level. We've been going around and taking people for her to study. She learns all she can about how a single human thinks and acts, and uses that information to try to figure out how better to fight you."

"So you're just a body guard?"

"I think Will once said we were a mix between guards and assistants. If Nese needs something, we're the ones she trusts to do it."

Carolina frowned, "Why you and not Covenant soldiers?"

"Oh, the Covenant isn't really made for activities like this. They're too busy trying to appeal to their gods and earn personal honor. We mercenaries only cared about being paid, so as long as she pays good money we have no problem working with humans or any species really." Kev smiled, "It helps keep things neutral."

"That sounds like a reasonable idea," Carolina admitted. "You've been guarding Will, he said?"

Kev nodded, "I was the one assigned to make sure he was comfortable and to protect him against any Covenant soldiers who got too close. Though in the end he really protected me." Carolina gave her a questioning look. "We got attacked when Nese was out, Will managed to keep him from killing me, but got his arm and leg broken."

Carolina gave a slow laugh, "Will always was one to jump head-first into trouble. That doesn't surprise me one bit."

"Ever since then we've been taking care of each other," Kev said, with a slight blush.

"How so?"

Emily and Will walked out into the main rec room where everyone but Carolina and Kev were waiting. "It's okay, he's not brainwashed and in surprisingly good health."

"I told you there was nothing wrong with me!" He said, rubbing his arm where Emily had taken a blood sample just a few minutes before.

Julia smiled, "I'm just glad you're still in one piece, William. It's been so long now we weren't sure what state you'd be in."

"The likelihood of you being so healthy after months of captivity was low," February chimed in over the intercom.

Chaos' hologram shimmered into view, "Guess this means I'm not going to be blowing any alien ass out of the sky?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to hold back today, Chaos," Emily said. "Not only is Will just fine, based on some of what he said I think we can trust this particular crew of aliens to keep their word."

Carolina walked in, followed by a very embarrassed looking Kev, "There's one thing Will probably didn't tell you, Emily."

Will turned and the look on Kev's face was all he needed to figure out what she meant, "Oh no... You didn't... We were going to wait and tell them after we explained our plan!"

"She explained more than enough, Will," Carolina said. "It appears that both Kev, here, and Priestess Nese have developed romantic feelings for Will." Everyone was silent, except for Will who groaned. Carolina continued, "Apparently they are in a quite serious relationship."

Author's Notes: Sorry for being so lazy about this story. I spent a lot of the time planning out how this story is going to end. I don't think it'll be many more chapters, hopefully I can get them out quicker than I have been lately. I just want to get the story finished, I would hate myself if I left it unfinished at this point. For those of you who are interested, I will be writing more fanfiction hopefully, though maybe not Halo fanfiction.