Ch 1

John watched as Sgt Johnson entered approached the controls of the ring. He could hear the flood and sentinels fighting each other. The sooner they could activate this ring, the better.

"A premature activation will destroy this ring!" guilty spark exclaimed.

"Deal with it." Johnson spat, not caring about the lightbulb's point on the matter.
"Will destroy this installation." the forerunner AI muttered to himself. Just when he was about to kill Johnson, a burst of gunfire occurred, catching his attention.

"Chief, what are you doing?" Johnson asked, ducking away from the shooting. Guilty spark then fired his laser beam at the Spartan, knocking him down and taking out his shields.

"Protocol dictates action! I see now that helping you was wrong!" guilty spark shouted, before he noticed the Arbiter and fired upon the alien, shoving him out of the room.

"You are the child of my makers. Inheritor of all they left behind! You are forerunner. But this ring is mine." spark growled at the Chief, his bulb now turning rampant red.

Before chief could fight the AI, a blast of red hit the back of guilty spark and destroyed him.

"Thanks." Chief said.

"Don't mention it. Lets get out of here." Johnson said, as he activated the ring.

"Guys, run!" Cortana exclaimed, prompting the two to run to the door, seeing the Arbiter.

"Glad to see you're still alive. Where's the forerunner?" he asked.

"Went crazy and tried to kill both of us, so we put him down." Johnson said, as they ran into a shooting war between the flood and the sentinels.

Arbiter only grunted in response as they gunned down their enemies. The next step was trying to get the hell out of dodge.

"Drive, demon! We need to get off this ring!" Arbiter said, as he manned the chaingun.

"Now that's a badass." Johnson said, referring to the arbiter, who used the human weapon to great effect against their enemies.

"Cortana, how long until we approach the carrier?" John asked, as he turned a flood combat form into a speed-bump.

"A few more minutes, chief. We're right on track." Cortana said, as part of the ring exploded.

"I don't understand how your construct can be so calm when death seems so imminent." Arbiter said, turning the .50 caliber machine gun onto the sentinels and turned them into scrap metal.

"There's the jump! Floor it, Spartan!" Cortana exclaimed, watching as they flew from the last piece of forerunner metal into the hangerbay of the covenant assault carrier.

"You know, you could make the landing more easier." Johnson said, gripping his shoulder.

"Johnson, you and Arbiter head to the bridge. Chief, find me a terminal." Cortana ordered. It didn't take long for chief to find terminal and plug Cortana in. Her holographic image appeared on top of the holo projector and she quickly activated the engines.

"Hang on." she said to the chief, as they quickly went into the vertical. Chief held onto the terminal for dear life, only to be sent flying thanks to an unshackled Ghost. He then pounded his armored hand into the deck, stopping his descent.

"Thank god." Cortana said, watching chief crawl to her. Cortana wanted to leap from the holostand and hug John, though she realized how silly that would actually be.

"If we don't make it." she started when John cut in.

"We'll make it." he calmly said, as if he knew everything would turn out alright.

"It's been an honor serving with you, John." Cortana softly said, wanting to tell John something more personal.

…

"Captain, you'll want to see this." Dax said, seeing a large unknown vessel that came out of the wormhole. As she scanned it, her expression turned to worry and fear. The ship was massive, at 5,000 meters long. She was also reading hundreds, if not a thousand, laser turrets and dozens of powerful plasma guns all around the ship.

She also took notice of multiple plasma scars and holes in the armor of the ship. The unknown vessel was clearly built for war and had seen it.

"What is that?" Sisko asked, seeing the mammoth vessel itself. He wondered if it was some new Dominion warship. If it was, there was nothing they could do to prevent the station from being destroyed.

"Don't know. The energy readings are off the scale." Dax said.

"Have you tried hailing them?" Kira asked.

"I'm trying now. Lets hope they're friendly."

…

"Chief, where the hell are we?" Johnson asked, seeing the space station parked next to their ship. The station was circular, with 4 massive pylons that seemed to bend inward to the 'core'.

"Don't know. Cortana, do you recognize that station?" Chief asked.

"Scanning. I don't recognize that station at all, chief. It's not human, forerunner, or even covenant. I am reading thousands of biosigns all across the station. Human, and others that i can't tell." Cortana said.

"Should we make first contact?" John asked.

"That'll be nice. Hey, we were in the neighborhood and decided to drop by in our massive warship." Johnson sarcastically said, lighting a cigar.

"Johnson, how many of those things do you have?" Cortana asked.

"Last one." he said, savoring the flavor.

"Forget it. Cortana, hail them." John said, sitting in the captain's chair.

Cortana attempted to send out a hail, only to realize that the communications were gone. So she decided on the old-fashioned morse code.

…

"Captain, that ship is sending us a message. It's in morse code." Miles O'brien said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What does it say?" Sisko asked.

"It says 'hello. We wish to initiate first contact and meet with your leaders. Very important.' message ends." the engineer said.

"Not much for conversation. Send a message back. Tell them to come aboard to meet with us." Sisko said.

The bridge crew waited a few minutes until a shuttle left from the hanger of the ship and approached the station.

"That's odd. The shuttle is using ancient propulsions, comparable to the engines the shuttles used in the mid 22 century. And it's armed." Dax said.

"What kind of weapons?" Kira asked.

"I'm reading several chemical projected rockets, and a rapid-fire projectile weapon under the nose. Not as well armed as our shuttles, but that shuttle can take more of a beating." Dax replied.

"Bring her in. Lets go meet our guests." Sisko said, heading to one of the landing bays.

John piloted the Pelican towards the platform, and watched as they were lowered into the bay. A docking collar attacked itself to the back end of the shuttle, and the Pelican door opened.

"Lets go." Chief said, grabbing an assault rifle and put it on his back. Johnson put a battle rifle on his back, and Thel put two plasma rifles on his armor, and a carbine on his back. While Chief wanted to have a peaceful first contact, he wasn't taking any chances.

Sisko, Kira, and Dax were heading to the airlock when they heard a scream. Running to the airlock, they stopped in their tracks and looked at the three newcomers. One was clearly human, wearing some kind of armor, who was also smoking a cigar.

The second one caught their attention. He was seven feet tall and covered with armor from head to toe. On the armor, was the number 117 labeled on it.

The third visitor was even taller, standing at eight feet tall. He was covered with some ceremonial armor and had more of a lizard appearance.

And all of them were armed with rifles on their backs.

Sisko was about to call Odo and security, but decided not to. He had no idea who they were, and provoking them seemed like a bad idea.

"I'm Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine. This is Major Kira Nerys of the Bajoran militia, and my science officer, Jadzia Dax." Sisko said.

"I'm Sgt Johnson of the UNSC marine corps. This here, is Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117 of the UNSC navy."

"Arbiter Thel Vadam of the Sangheili armed forces."

"What's this UNSC and Sangheili?" Dax asked.

"First, we need to head to sickbay. Doctor Bashir is going to need a blood sample from you three and your crew." Sisko said.

"What for?" Chief asked.

"It's classified." Dax said.

"We're not going anywhere unless you tell us why." Arbiter said.

"Security measure." Sisko said; this calmed the soldiers.

Entering sickbay, they saw a young man at a console, looking over some data.

"Doctor Bashir. I need you to take blood samples of our guests." Sisko said, catching the doctor's attention.

"Sure thing. You mind rolling up your sleeves?" Bashir asked, approaching them with a hypospray.

"What is that?" Johnson asked, eyeing the instrument.

"Hypospray. It's so i can take your blood." Bashir said, noting the man's suspicion. Don't they have advanced medical technology where they came from?

"Okay. i'll be watching." Johnson said.

John removed the armor from his hand and watched as Bashir also removed his blood. Like everyone else, Bashir did a double take when he saw how massive the chief and Arbiter was.

"Is that all?" John asked.

"Not yet. We need to confirm if you three are who you say you are." Bashir said.

"Me and the Chief are human, and the Arbiter is clearly an alien. Should we strip naked?" Johnson retorted.

Bashir looked over the data the blood was giving over. His eyes widened at several anomalies two of the guests gave off. But rather than make a scene, he decided to analyze the data when he was alone.

"Well, you three are in the clear." Bashir said.

"I could have told you that before hand." Johnson smirked, taking a draw of his cigar.

Sisko raised an eyebrow. The man's flippant remark and smoking a cigar was in stark contrast of the many starfleet officers he'd met. He was reminded of Garak.

"Lets take this conversation to the meeting room. Follow us." Sisko said.

John ignored the many stares and hushed whispers that seemed to infest everyone they walked by. Being a seven foot tall killing machine, he was used to it. He followed Commander Sisko to a meeting room, where he saw other officers sitting down. And they were all, except one, wearing a similar uniform to Sisko.

"Chief?" Johnson asked.

"I weight a full ton in this armor. Doubt any of those chairs can support my weight." John said.

"You could take off the armor." Dax said.

"No thanks." Chief curtly replied.

"Anyway, where did you guys come from?" Kira asked.

"Where'd you get that armor? And that warship?" O'brien asked.

"Cortana, you mind doing the honor?" Chief asked, pulling out the data chip and putting it on the table. Cortana's holographic body then appeared.

"Hello, everyone." she said, a smile on her face.

"An active AI in the palm of your hand?" Dax asked.

"Yes. I'm a third generation smart AI, also working for the UNSC." Cortana said, when Kira cut in.

"What's the UNSC?" she asked.

"United Nations Space Command. It's the military arm of Earth." Johnson proudly said.

"UNSC? You're not part of Starfleet?" Sisko asked.

"Never heard of starfleet. The UNSC was formed in the year 2163, after the Jovian moon campaigns and the rainforest wars. Humanity was finally united with one goal in mind, to explore the galaxy and expand." Cortana said.

"Interesting. We've never had this Jovian and rainforest war. And in 2163, humanity was part of the Federation: an alliance of many different species." Sisko said

"Peaceful first contact with alien species? That's a first." Cortana said.

"What makes you say that?" Kira asked.

"First contact with humans and aliens didn't go so smooth." Arbiter said.

"Sgt, do you know what year it is?" Odo asked.

"2553. Why?" Johnson asked.

Silence filled the room until O'brien spoke up.

"The current year is 2373."

"That's impossible." Thel said.

"It may very well be possible. We failed to escape the blast from Halo, and we still don't understand Forerunner tech. The slipspace portal was unstable already. Well, that's the only reason i can think of." Cortana said, earning odd looks from everyone else.

"Forerunner? Halo?" Dax asked.

"That's classified." John said.

"Well, you said you had something urgent to say. Lets hear it." Sisko said.

"Simple. We're looking for a way back home. It's apparent that we're in the wrong universe." Cortana said.

"Hate to disappoint you all, but we're stumped as well. It'll take time before we can figure a way out. In the meantime, you're welcome to make yourselves comfortable here at DS9." Sisko said.

"Thank you, sir. We'll try to stay out of everyone's way." John said.

"By the way, we'll need to check the rest of your crew." Odo said.

"Captain, we're all that's left of the crew. And why would you need to check our blood?" Arbiter asked.

"What i say does not leave this room. That wormhole leads to another sector of space that we call the Gamma quadrant. And in that quadrant we encountered a power that's called the Dominion. And they're lead by a shapeshifting species that call themselves the founders." Sisko explained.

"I presume they're hostile." Johnson said, throwing his used cigar away.

"Yes. They're attempting to sow chaos and pit the alpha quadrant powers against each other. And they've already attacked several of our ships, outposts, and colonies in the Gamma quadrant." Kira said.

"Makes sense. Why fight a unified galaxy when you can let them tear each other apart? You can conquer the territory without a drop of blood." Chief said.

"Clever bastards. If they're such a threat, why haven't you fought them?" Arbiter asked. Is this Federation still preparing for war?

"The Cardassians and Romulans had that idea as well. They took 20 warships, manned by combat vets to the homeworld of the founders. The plan failed. The fleet was destroyed in the blink of an eye." Worf said.

The news didn't even faze the trio.

"Just 20 ships? That's nothing. The Covenant fielded hundreds of ships to take many worlds. And the UNSC also fielded hundreds to defend their worlds." Johnson said.

"Covenant?" Dax asked.

"The aliens that we had first contact with. It quickly turned into a war. A war we just barely won." Chief said.

"So that explains your guns and armor." Kira said.

"If we're going to stay here, we need to know how this galaxy works. We need more information." Chief said.

"I'll send the necessary info to your ship. But i do have one last question." Sisko said.

"How come you three are the last crew on such a massive ship?" Kira asked.

"That's also a long story. I'm sending the information to your computers right now." Cortana said, shedding her info into the stations's network.

Inside sickbay, Bashir went over the bloodwork and his jaw fell in shock.

"Captain Sisko, you need to come here quickly. And bring the guests as well."