Disclaimer: I nor my co-author own Halo, Battlestar Galactica, nor any of their affiliates. This fanfiction is for entertainment purposed only and all that fun stuff.

No boring statements at the top of the page this time as no interesting reviews or flames were made, kinda makes me wonder if we are losing our touch... Ah well enjoy

Flesh and Bone

Battlestar Acropolis– CIC

The creature suddenly howled in agony and keeled over. Korran stood before her, his hand covered in purple blood, his combat knife clenched in his fist. He turned around and threw the knife at the other creature. It sunk deep into its neck causing it to choke and collapse. A gunshot rang followed by rapid rifle shots as the creature guarding the door stumbled backwards until it fell over. Cole and Jason stood in the doorway holding two assault rifles. They both dropped their clips and grunted.

Sasha looked down at her arm that lay on the floor, and then at the stub only a few inches from her shoulder. The cloth had almost been burned completely away revealing the severed limbs burned flesh. Korran looked down at the arm as well and back up at Sasha.

"I appear to have lost something," Sasha said, delirious.

"We need to get you to sickbay," Korran said picking up the arm, "Come on."

She took a step forward and lost her balance collapsing to the floor, reaching out with both hands, unfortunately she no longer had one. Korran caught her and lifted her up.

"Your balance is off," Korran said, "Are there any more of these bastards left?"

"I can account for around ten," Cole said, "there seems to be fourteen here, that's a total of 24. If they're any others they won't last long."

"If there are, finish them," Korran said walking out of the room.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

"We appear to have eliminated the intruders," Came a gruff voice from the COM, "But we lost a lot of good men doing it."

"Thank you for informing us," Gabriel said, "Vigilance out."

"They got them," Alex said, "We appear to be free and clear."

"Until the next incident, yes we are," Gabriel said picking up his cup of coffee, "but this war isn't over yet."

"Feels like it should be," Alex replied.

"Commander Sabbath," Alana said from behind them, "There's a communiqué from Admiral Preston Cole for you."

Gabriel and Alex looked at each other, "Permission to take the transmission, sir?" Alex requested.

"Absolutely," Gabriel replied getting up and indicating his chair, "maybe he's handing you a command."

Alex sat down in the command chair and typed in his code and a holographic message popped up in front of him. He began to read it and his heart fell to depths Alex never believed possible. He felt a tear well up in his eye as he turned the holo projector off.

"Permission to leave the bridge," Alex said.

Gabriel nodded. With the affirmation of his request he bolted towards the door. Alana chased after him, glancing back at the captain for permission. With a deep breath and second nod of his head Alana headed after him.

UNSC Vigilance – Deck 21 observation

Alana turned the corner to find Alex staring out a window, his hands placed on either side of the frame. Tears dripped from his eyes, which fell onto the curved window. Alana walked up next to him fixing her eyes out the neighboring window. The massive Battlestar floated beyond the frame cutting through space.

"What did it say?" Alana asked, "You looked upset enough I thought you might want to talk to a friend."

"My brother served on board the UNSC Raven, a Halcyon class cruiser," Alex said, "It was over Harvest when the second attack hit. The Raven was lost with all hands."

"I'm so sorry," Alana said, "I didn't realize. I'll head back to the bridge then."

"No, its all right," Alex said, "I could use the company."

"All right," Alana replied, "Was he your only sibling?"

"No," Alex said catching his breath, "He was one of two brothers. The first, Aaron, was lost a year ago when the covenant assaulted Harvest and practically glassed the surface. Now Eddie is dead as well."

"I'm so sorry,' Alana replied, "how about your parents?"

"Both are on Reach. My father works in the Research and Development labs in an ONI research facility there; my mother is a civilian contractor. My father will understand this loss, my mother won't."

"Tell me about your brother, that is, if you want."

Alex looked at her for a few moments, contemplating.

"He was bright, an operations officer like you. He was the eldest; he had long blond hair, and kept jokingly being called Legolas by his comrades when off duty, now he's dead. You know, the hardest part isn't hearing about the loss, or dealing with it. The hardest part is coming home to my parents, and trying to explain to myself why I'm there and my brother's aren't, trying to justify it."

"I can't imagine what you're going through," Alana replied putting a hand on Alex's shoulder, "But I can promise I'm here for you if you need me."

Alex placed his hand on his shoulder, overlapping hers, "Thank you," He said another tear dripping from his eye, "I appreciate it."

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

Luke stepped forward looking at the spinning drive arms. Taking a deep breath he prepared to step through. Watching the glowing blue flashes carefully, Luke timed his jump and leapt through the moving bars. He landed in front of the large ovular piece of equipment. The lights on it pulsated with energy every few seconds and the central cylinder seemed to vibrate with energy.

"You in safely?" Andy's voice came from beyond the spinning rings distorted by their presence.

"Safe and sound," Luke called back, "but this is going to take a while, it needs to precise, if not I might blow the ship up all on my own."

"Why would we build a piece of equipment that would be so easily dislodged?" Andy called back.

"The Vigilance utilizes a new prototype mounting system," Luke said, "It's extremely well balanced, however, it appears to be vulnerable to heavy impacts from plasma weaponry."

"Great, so this will happen again?" Andy called.

"Not if I can find a way to lock it in place," Luke replied.

Grabbing the equipment from the bag he had with him, Luke pulled out a long object that vaguely resembled a yardstick. Placing it next to the newest variant of the Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drive he activated a button on the bottom. The entire stick glowed and projected a holographic beam that contacted the drive while the other side projected a display of several computer screens indicating pitch, yaw and rotation of the drive core. Grabbing a second tool shaped like a handle for a shovel Luke placed it on the drive's central cylinder and squeezed. The handle projected a holographic beam that spanned the entire horizontal axis. The two holographic beams missed each other by less than a fingers width.

"Amazing that such a small difference would lead to the ships destruction," Luke muttered to himself as he pulled down on the handle.

The process of manually repositioning the drives core mounting was a very slow tedious process. This was intentional as the slow movement was used so that one could precisely align the drive core by hand if needed considering that a couple millimeters were all it would take to cause mass amounts of damage. As such it was 5 minutes later that the two beams of light finally met each other. They flashed with energy as they became solid holding the drive in place.

"Well glad that the easy part is done" Luke said more so to himself.

He exited the cores chamber with another well timed jump. He gestured for Andy to bring him three newly cut metal beams to proceed with his plan to hopefully fix the issue of the drive being easier rather than harder to knock out of alignment. Grabbing another tool Luke crawled under the drive, which was mounted on an axle that was connected to the remaining bulk of the drive which in turn connected to its drive chamber. The chamber in turn connected to a platform that anchored the drive to the rest of the ship. Moving between the chamber and the platform the drive was mounted on, Luke pondered the lacking secure connections to the platform that allowed for the drive to fall out of synch in the first place. The rings that orbited the core were designed to keep the core in position in the event of a large scale impact. If the core should ever suddenly deactivate without the necessary security measures in place, those rings would go flying off releasing the immense energy stored in them, and that would cause a whole other set of issues.

The third tool Luke had procured from his bag was a highly localized welding torch of sorts. Grabbing the metal beams one at a time he began to attach them to the slipspace drive chambers underbelly. He worked slowly and meticulously with Andy's help attaching the new and improvised supports as needed for the maximum possible level of strength given the situation. Fitting them under the core was easy, the hard part was trying not to cause any damage to drive chamber or heaven forbid, the drive itself. Sliding out from under the hyper-expensive piece of technology, Luke removed his other tools and tapped the drive, which was now secure and stable.

"Is it going to stay locked into place this time?" Tom asked.

"The balancing rings had been knocked out," Luke said, "But they will fine once the whole thing is back up and running." He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his brow, "Magnetic locks are nice but plasma based impacts release a EM pulse that can rip them apart if they manage to penetrate our hulls natural resistance. After that it is only the hard points that will keep it in line until they are restored. Reinforcing those as we did should do the trick."

"yes sir," Tom replied, "So no one has to go diving into that death trap."

"That's right," Luke replied.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

Gabriel handed the holo-pad back to the young ensign nodding. The ensign saluted and walked towards one of the exits of the bridge. Looking back out at the stars Gabriel clasped his hands behind his back observing the floating debris field that now floated harmlessly through space. The sounds of damage control teams hammering at the outside of the ship's hull reached the bridge as they attempted to repair the gaping hole in the side of the ship. While it looked small from the outside it had exposed almost five decks to space, and also nearly killed him and Alex when a structural support gave way.

Another junior officer approached Gabriel with a data pad. Taking it, he looked over the reports from the most recent battle between UNSC and Covenant forces. The Origami asteroid belt was now a graveyard to over 4,000 people as the UNSC Iron Clad and UNSC Stendar had both been destroyed in the combat leaving Preston Cole with only five vessels with which to defend Harvest and the outer colonies. Scrolling down Gabriel saw the combat update from Reach. Almost a hundred vessels were being dispatched to Harvest after the battle. ONI had apparently directly intervened in fleet deployments to ensure Harvest remained securely in UNSC hands.

Sighing heavily Gabriel signed the pod with the holo-pen and handed it back to the young ensign. The junior officer snapped into attention and saluted and proceeded to leave the bridge. The Vigilance had been under Gabriel's command for almost two years now, and in that time he had seen one major battle and made history by being the first ship to make contact with these twelve colonies that had apparently been lost so long ago.

"How many more are out there?" Gabriel said out loud.

"Sir?" Marcus replied from his station to the right of the forward bridge.

"Nothing," Gabriel replied, "I was just wondering how many more human civilizations may be out there, what if there are others out there, other civilizations, other galaxies like this one with thousands of potentially different civilizations?"

"Science fiction is a great genre but is hardly real," Marcus replied, "I don't see how humans could have evolved more than once. Take a look at the Elites, they evolved in our galaxy and they look nothing like us."

"I just have a feeling humanity has a larger role to play in the shaping of the universe than we yet realize," Gabriel said, "If we have twelve brother colonies out there, who is to say that we even truly evolved on earth?"

"Well we do have fossil evidence," Marcus replied reasonably while pinching the bridge of his nose, "besides this is all above my pay grade, that's ONI talking again sir."

Alex walked in with Alana, "Sir, reporting for duty," Alex said saluting, "I want to make every one of those bastards pay."

"We will," Gabriel replied raising an eyebrow, "but take it easy, we aren't winning any wars today."

"We should be," Alex said, "Those bastards don't deserve the artificial air they breathe."

"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked.

"He's a bit angry," Alana said, "Stage 2 I believe."

"My last brother is dead because of them," Alex said pointing out at the wreckage of the former covenant vessel, "They've killed my family, and I mean to kill theirs."

"Captain!" Alana blurted from her station, "Covenant forces have been sighted near Circinius four!"

"Near the Academy?" Gabriel asked.

Battlestar Acropolis – Sickbay

Korran placed his XO on the white hospital bed looking around for the doctor. Nurses were running about the large room with medical supplies and equipment. A nurse quickly attached an IV into Sasha's remaining arm. Korran held out the severed limb to the nurse who grabbed it and placed it in a bucket of ice. Korran knelt down over Sasha who seemed to drift in and out of consciousness.

"Hey, can you hear me," Korran said.

"Yeah," She whispered, "I can't feel my arm, and my body feels cold."

"Well, as soon as the doc gets over here, they'll fix that right up," Korran replied, "I need my XO in the CIC."

Doctor Sirena Orios walked up to the commander and his patient. Looking at the wound she examined it.

"She's in shock," Orios said at last, "But her body isn't in any danger, no blood loss or physical trauma. Other than a severed limb."

"I'd say that's severe trauma doctor," Korran replied looking up at the white clad officer, "what do you mean her body isn't in any danger?"

"When her arm was cut off it was cauterized at the same time," Orios said pocking at the arm's stub, "The good news is that she will be fine as soon as her body adjusts and we treat the burns. The bad news is there is no way we can re attach her arm."

"That's not good enough, doctor," Korran replied, "I need my XO in one piece."

"I'm sorry commander," Orios said, "but reattaching limbs was a difficult task, even before the reversion. The best I can do is treat her burns, and in time give her a prosthetic appendage."

Korran rubbed his forehead, "Very well doctor, get her back up and walking."

Korran got up and turned around to see Ilene sitting next to a bed. In it laid Celesta who was unconscious. Ilene held Celesta's hand in her own and was absent-mindedly stroking it. Walking over Korran placed his hand on her shoulder. Ilene jumped and looked up at Korran, but still held onto Celesta's limp hand.

"Is she okay?" Korran asked.

"I think so," Ilene said, "The doctor bandaged her up and gave her a sedative for the pain."

"How did this happen?" Korran asked.

"Killing five alligators," Ilene said, "they managed to get a lucky shot at her."

Korran smiled realizing that almost all thirty intruders were now accounted for, "Celesta is tough. She'll pull through."

"Yeah, but I," Ilene paused, "I really care for her."

"As she does for you," Korran replied, "Orios is a very good doctor, Celesta's in good hands."

Korran patted Ilene on the back and headed for the doorway and from there to the CIC. As Korran walked down the hall the intercom whined.

"Commander Veritas, Vigilance actual on secure line alpha," the loudspeakers screamed, "Commander Veritas, Vigilance actual on secure line alpha."

Korran glanced over at the hallway side phone and grabbed it. Picking it up he typed in his authorization code and hit the line 'alpha'. The phone crackled into action.

"Veritas here, what can I do for you Gabriel," Korran said.

"There's an academy of ours about to come under attack by covenant forces," Gabriel's voice said over the phone, "we will be heading out ASAP to try and head them off."

"How far are they from here?" Korran asked.

"About a day at our best possible speed in our current condition."

"A day away, does the academy even have that long?" Korran asked.

"Probably not, but I have to try," Gabriel said.

"We will go," Korran said, "our FTL is point to point, we could be there in seconds."

"I have thought of that," Gabriel said, "but that's asking you to take a huge risk."

"The Covenant will think twice before assaulting a planet with a battlestar in orbit," Korran replied, "We'll see if we can't at least slow them down."

"We'll be there as fast as we can," Gabriel said resignation clear in his voice.

Disconnecting the line Korran dialed into the CIC, "Jason, you just became my XO for the next few days. Action stations, condition one throughout the ship. And tell helm to plot an FTL jump for the coordinates given by the Vigilance."

"Yes sir," Jason's gruff voice responded.

Moments later the alarms on the ship blared.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

Gabriel looked out the window as the Battlestars massive engines flared bright blue and the large vessel began to change its course. He nodded to the young helms officer who typed something into her console. A massive roar went through the ship and the lights dimmed slightly as the slipspace drive powered up. Slowly a massive circle of energy appeared in front of them, its edges shooting out what appeared to be lightning bolts at random. As if a cloud where behind the ring, the center swirling with some form of energy almost like the eye of the storm, and slowly "lightning" strikes started to cover the center of the ring. The Vigilance vibrated, the rumbling of the ships mighty engines resounded through the vessel as the thrusters propelled them towards the slipspace window.

The Vigilances bow entered the vortex of swirling black matter surrounded by the bright white bolting ring. Before the bridge of the Vigilance passed the threshold Gabriel glanced over at their neighbor. It seemed as if nothing was happening for a brief moment, then a bright light shot down the vessels lateral structure and then retraced its steps and flashed as it reached where the bow had been. The vessel was gone. Then the dark covered the front of the vessel and sent the ship bridge into a black and blue haze just as the hard metal shields closed over the windows. After a moment the vessel was traveling through slipspace. Lightning shot out of the side of the white energy conduit harmlessly in front of them.

"On our way to kick their ass," Alex said.

"Alex a word please," Gabriel said beckoning to him.

Alex complied, "Yes sir?"

"I understand your feelings of hatred believe me I do, but revenge isn't going to help you in the long run. In some ways it can make you feel worse," Gabriel said, "trust me I've been there."

"I want them to pay," Alex said quietly, "and I'm sorry if I got out of hand earlier, my last brother is dead, how did you expect me to respond?"

"I'll make it simple, Alex, and you'll hate me for this now but thank me later," Gabriel said in a low voice, "you will either reign in your emotions or I will judge you unfit for duty and you will spend the remainder of this mission in your quarters. Do I make myself clear?"

Alex snapped to attention and saluted, "Yes sir."

"Good," Gabriel said, "your want for revenge is so far low on my list of things to do right now it's not funny."

Alex saluted and stood at attention looking down at his nearby console and began to read one of the damage reports determined to get his mind off of his brother.

"15 hours out," Alana said from the ops console, "I hope that battlestar is as fast as their boasting or this will be a very long journey for nothing."

Circinius four - Orbit

The planet glistened in the stars brilliant light, the surface shining blue and green from the oceans and forests. The atmosphere harbored many clouds that floated over the planet like imperfections in a snow globe. In a flash of orange and yellow light a massive ship appeared in orbit, flying high above the clouds, its metallic hull illuminated and shining silver in the radiance of the star. The name Acropolis shone brightly on the side of the ships pontoons.

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

Korran entered the room, walking straight for the command table where Jason Kelley stood in the XO position. Glancing up at the Dradis consol he saw the long-range screen. As the dradis wave passed over the screen several contacts appeared. The closer marks were shown on the close range screen reading as unknown UNSC contact while the distant ones read as a combination of Unknown enemy contacts and Enemy CCS Battlecruiser. The long-range dradis screen read contacts that were almost a thousand AU away.

"Enemy contacts," Jason said.

"Indeed," Korran replied, "Hail the UNSC vessels, we need to identify ourselves before they decide we are a threat."

"The Vigilance should have informed them of our arrival," Jason said.

"I trust Gabriel will understand my taking a few precautions," Korran replied picking up the phone.

"We are on," An ensign who was at Celesta's station called.

"This is Commander Korran Veritas of the Battlestar Acropolis, we are here to aid in the defense of this planet," Korran said, "we are friendly."

"This is General Black of the Corbulo Academy of Military science, and commanding officer of all UNSC forces on this planet" Came the response, "The existence of the threat is a classified matter, and I would prefer it if we did not speak on an open channel about it."

"Understood," Veritas said nodding to the ensign who clicked a few buttons and nodded back, "this channel is secure."

"Good, then we need to talk," Black responded, "I have students down here that may need evac rapidly."

UNSC Vigilance –First Officers Quarters

Alex sat at his desk with his family holo-journal. He was looking at a picture of a blond haired man hugging a young beautiful girl. They were both looking at the holographic-camera, smiling while holding up a bouquet of flowers. The man wore a standard military dress uniform. It was white with a golden line down the middle with brass buttons dotting the center all equidistant. The lieutenant commander bars were pinned to his collar on his neck. The two vertical bars glistened in the sunlight while the star seemed to sparkle. The woman was dressed in a beautiful white dress. On her hand was a golden UNSC Military Academy ring.

A knock came at the door. Alex pushed himself out of the chair and squeezed through the gap between the table and his bunk. Unlike the captain's quarters the XO only had a one-room cabin with a bathroom squeezed off to the side. Getting to the door he pressed the 'open' button. The door slid open to reveal the captain standing in the frame.

"Sir," Alex said going for his jacket, "I'm sorry I'm out of uniform."

"It's okay Alex," Gabriel replied, "may I enter?"

"Of course, sir," Alex replied indicating the cabins interior, "please do enter, what can I do for you?"

"I was hoping I might be able to be a friend today," Gabriel said, "This war has robbed us of so many, I value what few I have left, and I count you among them."

"Thank you," Alex aid sitting down in his chair while Gabriel took the small couch.

"And to explain what I said on the bridge."

"I understand," Alex replied, "I was letting my emotions rule my judgment. That's a bad thing for an officer."

"It was more than that Alex," Gabriel said, "Revenge is something I know very well. I wasted almost ten years of my life on it. Take it from me, it's not something worth living or dying for."

"I know sir," Alex replied glancing at his holo journal.

"Is that your brother?" Gabriel said pointing at the journal.

"That's Edward," Alex replied, "He was the oldest of us, and always the rebellious one. I think he joined the military just to spite my mother. He was a talented operations officer and a good man."

"They are all talented," Gabriel said as he picked up the holo-journal and looked closely at it, "is that his wife?"

"Tessa," Alex said, "She has a child on the way. Guess he won't have a father."

"Losing people to war is the hardest," Gabriel said placing the journal on the table, "it seems so righteous and just at the time, but the truth is it is senseless."

"What did you mean when you said 'revenge is something you know well'?" Alex inquired.

"When I was young," Gabriel replied, "my parents were killed in an insurrectionist attack. I was fifteen I believe. I watched my father get shot and killed. My mother," he paused and grimaced "They weren't so gentle with, they took their time with her, so I spent the next seventeen years of my life looking for revenge, it's not worth it."

"You did get you're revenge didn't you?" Alex asked.

"I did," Gabriel replied, "but after I had finally killed the group responsible with my own hands, the realization of what I had done hit me. I had killed men who I had held responsible and considered monsters. The truth was, only a few actually were. In the end I believe that what I did was justified, and it was, they all participated to some degree, however that still doesn't mean that it was worth it."

"It's hard to do that with the Covenant," Alex said, "They are all monsters."

"How do you know?" Gabriel said, "each one of their warriors we kill had to come from somewhere, they may even have a family and kids back home. Who knows why they attacked us? But it wasn't because they were monsters, they had a reason."

"And that makes it right?" Alex said standing up.

"Not at all," Gabriel replied,

"Then why do you care about their reasons?" Alex said slamming his fist on the table, "they kill our friends and family, glass our worlds and crush our fleets. Who gives a damn why they do it!?"

"Because understanding your enemy is the first step to defeating them," Gabriel said standing up to face Alex, "maybe one day we can broker peace with them."

"We should kill them!" Alex yelled.

"Alex think about what you are saying!" Gabriel said, "Even with the aid of the Colonies we are still fighting a losing war! I know we are going to lose this war if we don't find a way around their defenses to attack their infrastructure."

"And if they refuse peace?" Alex said.

"Then we fight them," Gabriel said, "but if we have to we are going to have to pick and choose our battles. We can't fight them all, not against this enemy."

Alex sat down, "Your right. It's just hard to accept I can do nothing."

At this Gabriel chuckled to the confused look of Alex

"Now whoever said that you were incapable of doing something to stop them?" Gabriel said, "So what if you can't kill the bastard responsible for your brother's death, but you can honor your brother by being the best damn officer you can be."

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

Luke watched the slipspace drive spin. The stabilizer rings were flying around the central core so fast that one couldn't make them out as seperate. Luke slammed the red button forcing the doors to close. The two massive titanium doors came together and closed with a massive thundering crash. Turning around the double set of doors that led to the engine room stood before him. The doors whisked open as Alana walked in. She was dressed in a casual uniform, not the standard officer's uniform. She wore her golden hair up.

"Hey," She said, "Got a moment?"

"Sure," Luke said, "What do you need?"

"Just to talk if you'll listen," Alana said.

"Of course," Luke replied indicating an bench that lined the wall, "What do you want to talk about?"

"We all have our secrets," She said, "And one of mine is eating away at me."

"Well, what is it?" Luke said smiling.

"Before I tell you promise me one thing," Alana said, "promise me you won't go running until you here the whole story?"

"I promise," Luke said.

"Are you familiar with the slave trade?" Alana said.

"Yes," Luke said, "Though it's hard to get much information on it. I thought the UNSC had all but eradicated it?"

"They got rid of the slave trade in bulk," Alana said, "but there will always be those who crave the pleasures of a woman's body, and use their money to get it instead of their charms."

"Aren't prostitutes for that?" Luke said.

"Yes, but not all are willing," Alana replied, "Many young children are stolen from their parents or sold by them into the slave trade. They are bought by gangsters and the like who run whorehouses. It's easy to cover the illegal parts of the business in the outer edge of UNSC space. These girls are rented out to men who pay, and they can do whatever they want without fear of reprisal."

"Why are you telling this to me?" Luke asked.

"Because I was one of those little girls," Alana said a tear welling up in her eye, "I was a man's play thing since I was a child. I was rescued by a young officer from the UNSC when they cracked down on the illegal operation. I was seventeen years old by then."

"Why didn't you try to escape, or run away?" Luke asked.

"Ever heard of lysergic acid diethylamide?" Alana asked.

"Yes," Luke replied.

"They gave that to me every time I did what they wanted me to, and refused when they didn't," Alana said, tears began to stream down her face, "I would do anything to get a shot of that stuff, and the withdrawal symptoms are unimaginable! I lived for the stuff. When the UNSC officer tried to save me I kicked and screamed and tried to get away because I knew what I'd have to go through."

Luke put his arm around her, "I'm so sorry."

"After I was clean I enlisted in the UNSC Navy because I didn't know what else to do," Alana said, "But I didn't get very far, you can't without schooling. Then ONI came for me and turned me into something monstrous."

"What did they do?" Luke asked.

Alana shook her head, "Even you can't know that," She said, "When I walked away from them they ensured I got into the UNSC command chain. That's where I learned computers."

"I can't imagine what type of hell you've gone through," Luke said, "But why are you telling this to me?"

"Because I see the way you look at me Luke," Alana said, "before you try to pursue a relationship with someone as fucked up as me, you should know what type of mess your getting into."

"Listen," Luke said, "Do you still do LSD?"

"No."

"How about sell your body out?"

"God no!"

"Then how are you, in any way screwed up?"

"Because of what I been through, what I've become. I'm not a sweet innocent girl, I've seen the worst part of life." Alana replied.

"Sure could have fooled me," Luke said.

"Your sweet," Alana said, "But you don't want me as a girl friend. I felt I owed it to you to tell you that."

"What if I don't care?" Luke said.

"Then be careful, because I will fall for you Luke," Alana said, "Just make sure you want me to."

She got up and exited the room. Luke felt mildly stunned by the conversation. On one hand he had just gotten a go ahead from a beautiful girl, but she gave him a pretty deadly stern warning.

UNSC Vigilance – Captain's Quarters

Gabriel walked into his quarters removing his uniform and hanging it on his chair. Reaching over to the side of the desk he swiped his hand across a smooth panel causing the lights in the room to flicker to life. He walked into his bedroom where he saw a lady sitting on his bed. He jumped backwards, immediately oing for his side arm.

"There is no need for that," The woman said getting up, her royal purple robes and golden highlights seemed to bring about a mystical aura to the room.

"Gabriel to security, we have an intruder," He said but there was no response.

"I've ensured a little privacy," The woman said as Gabriel pointed his gun at her.

"Who are you?" Gabriel said.

"A messenger," She said with a smile, "and I have something to tell you."

"A messenger from who?" Gabriel replied.

"The gods," She said.

Gabriel smiled, "I'm sorry I believe I may have misheard you correctly, did you say that you are a messenger from the gods?"

"In time a planet shall be turned to glass, a planet you and your crew hold very dear," She said, "and the Spirit of Fire will bear you to new fortune, but at a great cost. If you are to win the war, you must let you're planet fall, for Harvest's days are numbered, as are its sisters."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriel demanded.

'You must pick your fights,' She said with a smile.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes dangerously, "How did you know I said that?"

A small beep from his com panel signaled that he was being called he glanced at it quickly and when he looked back however, there was nothing but thin air where the woman once stood.

"Sir," Came Marcus's voice over the com, "is there a reason you called security?"

"No," Gabriel said after a moment, blinking in confusion "I think I was dreaming, sorry."

He disabled the com and looked down to see a piece of paper on his desk with the words "Harvest's days are numbered" written on it. Gabriel tucked it into his desk. That was far too strange for his liking.

A/n And there you all have it, no cliff hanger on a character(s) well being this time, just Gabriels sanity. Hope you all enjoyed it, the hardest part of this chapter was the scene where Luke was "fixing" the slipspace drive as so little info is known about them and I was going off of pictures more than anything to describe what was what on it. Making up the tools that he used to re-align it was kinda fun though. Please let us know if anything was royally screwed up on this part as we didn't really have much to go off of. As always, next comes the unashamed askance of reviews, for after all they keep the puppy clean... Until next time!