Disclaimer: We as in I and my friend do not own either Halo or Battlestar Galactica, nor any of their affiliates. They and thier respective affiliates belong to their respective owners. This story is written for entertainment purposes only yada yada yada, I'm sure you all get the picture. If you still feel like suing us then feel free, you will at most get one of our many doomsday weapons, take it, we have plenty.

A/n: there will plenty of flashbacks in this prologue, please note that there will be far fewer as we get into the actual story.

Chapter 1

The Tale of Two Wars

Unexplored space/ present day

"This is Battlestar Acropolis to unknown vessel. You cannot be identified. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon."

The words echoed in the background, repeating over and over. Korran placed his hands on the edge of the glowing command table and looked up at the Dradis consol. The blue sweeping line continued to ping on a large red dot labeled 'unknown contact'. The CIC was bustling with activity now, as men and woman rushed reports and numbers around the room.

"Still no response." Celesta announced.

"Who are they?" came Sasha's voice from across the table.

Korran looked down at the woman who stood opposite him. Her golden hair illuminated by the tactical board behind her. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce the chaos as surely as light rays pierced the dark.

"I wish I knew," Korran said, his deep voice seemed to carry farther than he intended.

"It's been two years. Could they be Cylons?"

Three Years Earlier/ Operation Raptor Talon

The Acropolis's CIC's lights flickered as a missile impacted the outer hull. Korran grabbed the command table to brace himself. The deck plating seemed to writhe beneath him as the concussive shockwave resounded through the ships mighty hull. The viper pilots voice were muffled for only a moment as the speakers failed briefly, they were screaming. Korran sighed; he knew they were getting cut to pieces out there. Opposite of Korran stood Commander Davenforth, the ships commanding officer. The old man's face was etched with deep furrows from the years he'd spent fighting the Cylons.

Davenforths eyes reflected the waving Dradis consol as he stared at it, waiting for something he could do. Korrans hand clenched around the edge of the command table, the hardest thing he had ever done was giving up the viper seat for the CIC. Now the men and women that he used to fly with were getting slaughtered while he and the rest of the crew remained safe behind the 6-meter thick hull of the massive battlestar.

"Tell guns Alpha through Echo to concentrate fire on the starboard baseship," Davenforth said looking directly into Korrans eyes.

Korran nodded as he picked up the phone and relayed the order. Another missile impacted the ship's hull. The CIC rocked and the lights flickered again. The entire CIC was flooded with the strangely haunting sounds as the explosion echoed through the ship.

"Oh my gods, the Atlantia was just destroyed," "Oh frak, she's gone!" Came a pilot's voice.

"Is that confirmed!" Davenforth said looking behind him at Ops.

"Confirmed sir," Hendar said, "The Atlantia has been destroyed."

"Were flying straight into hell, commander," Korran said, "We are the next major target on the tactical hit list."

Davenforth slammed his hand on the command table, "That's 5,000 good men dead. Frak this war."

The ship shook again as a missile hit, and then again as another impacted the hull. Soon the ship felt like a rickety old roller coaster ride, as dozens of missiles attempted to tear the Acropolis apart. Suddenly Korran was involuntarily thrust onto the command table, and Davenforth thrown against the opposing console as the lights on the ship failed completely. The Dradis consol died out, and the sound of working computers stopped.

"Nuclear Ordinance detonation on Acropolis's starboard hull!" Came the CAG's voice from the speaker before it too failed in a shower of sparks.

Planet Reach 2 years ago

Gabriel took a deep breath. Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni was etched in the door in front of him. He had to tell her, but he knew she would be upset or worse, disappointed. Running his hand through his short black hair Gabriel cleared his throat and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Came al-Cygni's voice.

Gabriel walked into the room. He was filled with a noxious anxiety that was more annoying than unnerving, though that could just be his eight years of training and serving in ONI's special forces talking.

Jilan's black hair swayed with the movement of her upper body as she wrote something on a piece of paper glancing up briefly to see Gabriel. She quickly put the papers aside and stood up smiling. Her green eyes almost seemed to be accusing him of failing somehow.

"Gabriel, come in," She said, "How was the last mission? Did the Intel present itself or did you have to look?"

"I had to look," Gabriel said removing his hat and tucking it under his arm with a heavy sigh.

"Why do I get the feeling you're not here to talk about the weather?" al-Cygni replied.

Her face wrinkled into an inquisitive expression that only made Gabriel more nervous. She had that effect on him ever since the two met. Gabriel's worst fear was that he might somehow fail the woman who had practically raised him. But he knew what had to be done.

"ONI's been very good to me, I can't complain about anything they have done for me," Gabriel Said, "and they certainly haven't wasted any time in using my talents to their fullest potential."

"I'm sensing a 'but' somewhere in here," al-Cygni said.

"I'm leaving ONI," Gabriel said, deciding that sugar-coating it would only make it worse.

The room seemed to go dead as if someone had turned off all the sound in the world just for that moment. Sitting down slowly she looked at her papers as if they would reveal something that would explain Gabriel's decision.

"I don't want to reach a rank where they won't let me leave," Gabriel said, "I have more plans than espionage and operating in the shadows for the rest of my life."

"I see," Jilan said, "but that's not all is it, Gabriel?"

Gabriel could see the barely disguised look of surprise mixed with, was that disappointment? in her eyes and felt something unpleasant move in his stomach, "What do you mean?"

"It has something to do with your parents too, doesn't it?" Jilan said pointedly.

Gabriel looked at the floor for some time before being able to meet those daunting green eyes. He remained silent incapable of answering, and perhaps unwilling to admit to himself what his real motives were. He took a deep breath, which did little to calm the butterfly's in his stomach.

"Well then, I don't suppose I can't stop you," Jilan said, "I'll get the paper work to you as soon as possible."

Gabriel nodded, "Thank you ma'am."

She smiled, "Gabriel it will always be Jilan to you. You are almost a son to me, and I will always be your friend. I made you a promise many years ago, and I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill it."

Gabriel nodded, placed his cap on his head and walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

Operation Raptor Talon

The moaning and muttering of recovering officers now filled the room in place of the sounds of machines and computers. The ship shook violently as it continued to be pounded by Cylon fire. The pitch-blackness that the nuke's EMP had left them in now seemed to encroach upon Korran magnifying his sense of doom. He knew that the Acropolis wouldn't last long under the beating they were taking. Suddenly with an abrupt pulse of energy the sound of machinery flickering back into life filled the room and the emergency lighting system kicked in illuminating the CIC in a dark red glow.

"Sound off!" Korran yelled across the CIC.

Most stations responded almost immediately.

"The commander!" Yelled Hendar leaping over his console where the commander lay motionless.

Korran bolted around the command table to the commander's side and knelt. Putting his fingers on the neck of the commander Korran searched for a pulse, there was none. He looked down in the red glow of the CIC emergency lights to see a pool of warm dark liquid. Korran touched the commanders forehead and made the sign of Hades.

"He's dead," Korran said, "I have the conn."

Korran returned to the command table, but now he took the commander's side. The ship continued to shake violently without reprieve. It wasn't long before the tactical office called across the room that the guns were back online. Then the sound of the Dradis began to fill the room as the screen above Korran flickered to life.

"All Gun batteries target starboard vessel, bring that Base star down." Korran yelled.

The satisfying 'thuds' of the Battlestars guns once again firing graced the CIC. The missile hits grew fewer in number as the PDGs shot them down. Regardless Korran could see red lights all over the Acropolis's structural display. The radio buzzed to life as the last thing in the CIC to return to function. The sounds of Viper pilots yelling, either from a kill or as they were being killed, now echoed throughout the CIC in the mesh of other sounds.

"Tell the CAG to cover our Dorsal hull, we can't take many hits there," Korran said taking a deep breath as he watched the officers carrying out his commands, "Tell our PDGs to concentrate on inbound missiles as well. We can take the hits from the raiders, but not from those basestars."

The ship shook again as a missile impacted the hull, "Sir we are losing integrity on the starboard flight pod, explosive decompression is imminent in those areas if we take another hit !"

The ship jolted again and the Dradis screen flickered. Korran watched as the starboard base star's signature disappeared off the grid.

"Did they jump or was that a kill!" Korran demanded.

"Kill, Starboard basestar is gone," Hendar shouted over the concussive roar of another missile impact.

"Holy frak, they got the Colombia!" Came the CAGs voice from the speakers, "I repeat the Colombia is down."

"Confirmed," Hendar said, "The Colombia's gone."

The ship rocked again as a missile hit the ship's hull. Sparks fell from the Dradis consol above Korran showering him in glowing beads of light. He backed away as the console sparked again. He didn't know what worried him more, the fact that the Colombia was destroyed or that he was thankful it wasn't the Acropolis.

"Guns Beta, Charlie and Epsilon are none operational!"

Korran sighed, "Compensate with guns Alpha, Delta and Sierra, keep our sides covered."

"This is Admiral Hogan of the Battlestar Cerberus, get the frak out of there Acropolis, this war can't afford to lose you!"

Korran looked down at the phone that was imbedded in the side of the Acropolis's CIC command table. He almost didn't want to respond. They couldn't leave the fleet short another battlestar and they sure couldn't leave their comrades in arms fighting for their lives.

"Admiral, this is Colonel Veritas, the current CO of the Acropolis, we are still able to combat the enemy, requesting permission to stay in the fight," Korran replied through the phone.

"Negative," The admiral, said, "Get out of there, Colonel."

"Understood, sir," Korran replied heavily hanging up the phone.

The ship shook again as another missile impacted the outer hull. Korran looked behind him at Hendar and nodded. Hendar grabbed the jump key and placed it in the slot. He then proceeded to pull up the emergency jump coordinates. The entire ship seemed to elongate as the FTL drives spooled up, and then the high pitch wine of the jump resounded throughout the ship. They had jumped.

"Damage Report!" Korran called out.

"It's bad," Hendar said, "really bad." as he read the first of what was to be many incoming reports.

UNSC Space Command Headquarters: Reach

Two years ago

The massive building loomed in front of him, its many stories casting a shadow over the city of New Alexandria. Why he had been called to the United Nations Space Command Headquarters eluded him entirely. He was just starting service, having been able to skip the academy entirely due to his work with ONI. But nothing he had done, either good or bad, had warranted a visit to headquarters. Unsure of exactly what to expect, he pushed open the doors with slow hesitation.

The massive atrium was filled with naval officers running from place to place carrying folders, boxes, stacks of paper, or books from one place to another. Many of the people however we seated at a large number of desks which were stationed around the room, they were holographic interfaces glowing in front of them as they helped others find where they were going.

In an attempt to not look like a complete fool, Gabriel looked for the lineup of people that would best suit his purposes. Just as if fate itself had decided to play a joke, the most beautiful blonde haired blue-eyed officer walked up to him.

"You look lost, can I help you find something?" She said smiling, showing off her brilliant white teeth.

"uhhh," He said blinking rapidly while trying to find words which seemed to have escaped him at the moment. She smirked at his flustered features.

He took a deep breath and composed himself "My orders are to report to Admiral Stanforth."

"His office is located on floor 12 room D2," The young woman said, "though he hardly uses it."

"Thank you," Gabriel said.

Nodding politely to the beautiful young lady, he turned towards the elevator and entered it. Pushing the '12' button he felt the elevator jolt to life and rise into the air. It carried him to deck twelve where it dinged and the doors opened allowing the young man to exit. Walking down the carpeted hallway he counted the many doors that started with A and went to Z and then began with A1 and so forth. He knew the building was huge, but the sheer mazelike corridors made him wonder how the UNSC ever got anything done.

Finally he reached D2 where he knocked on the door. While familiar in some way, the anxiety that he felt now was more of fear of getting removed from service for some deed he had not done. He shook his head of the thought, he couldn't have done anything wrong.

"Enter," Came an elderly man's voice.

Gabriel opened the door and found a grey haired man with a strangely kind face and distinct wrinkles around his mouth suggesting he smiled a lot. He wore a UNSC uniform with the three stars of a Vice Admiral pinned on his collar. In his hand between his index and pointer finger rested a Sweet William cigar, which filled the room with the musty fragrance that came with smoking a fine cigar.

He put it to his mouth and inhaled and once removing the smoking cylinder he morphed his mouth into an O and puffed out three smoke rings in a row. Smiling he tapped the cigar on the tray on his desk next to the multitudes of books and laid it to rest. Naturally Gabriel snapped to attention, which Stanforth waved away with flick of his wrist. Gabriel relaxed.

"Gabriel Halos, I presume," The Admiral said with slow methodical word as if each word meant something incredibly meaningful, "I'm willing to bet a shot of whisky you're wondering why the hell you got called hear."

"It's one of several questions on my mind," Gabriel said, "Yes sir."

"Well to put it simply we have a mutual friend who feels that your talents would be wasted working your way up the ranks like a normal officer," Stanforth said, "so how," he leaned back in his chair, "would you feel about a command?"

"I'm honored you would give me my own command, but I've hardly ever served on spacecraft before," Gabriel said. "Aside from getting from one place to another."

"What's important about command is tactics and leadership, and I'm told you have both," The Admiral said, he narrowed his gaze "Was I told wrong?"

"No sir," Gabriel said, Stanforth seemed to relax again at this.

"Good, then I have you slated for the Vigilance," The Admiral said, "As her CO."

"Thank you sir," Gabriel said hiding his surprise at being made the CO of a vessel.

"Good now I can give this office back to its original owner, I rarely ever use it anyway and I hate planetary gravity, wreaks havoc on my sense of balance" He said with a smile, "It's easier to pull the paper work here anyway, dismissed Captain,"

"Captain, sir that's not my rank, "Gabriel said with a strike of fear, maybe it wasn't him who was supposed to be there.

"It is now," The Admiral said, "As I said dismissed."

Gabriel snapped to attention and saluted the Admiral. Then turned around and exited the office. As he walked down the hall he felt a mixed sense of satisfaction and nervousness course through him. He was the captain of a UNSC ship. He had forgotten to ask its class, but hell, "A ship is a ship, right?"

Scorpia Shipyards

The Acropolis and the Galactica were side by side in the Scorpia shipyard. Both looking almost identical, except for the full armor plating on the Acropolis, the two made the gun stars and strike stars docked next to them look pathetically small. Korran stood at the window gazing out at the two leviathans as work crew caused bright flashes to occur around the ships' hulls as they ignited welding torches. He smiled, the two ships were absolutely gorgeous. The sudden increased in weight on his left shoulder caused Korran to turn around with a jolt.

"Didn't mean to startle you," Admiral Hogan said retracting his hand from Korrans shoulder.

"Sir," Korran said snapping to attention and saluted, which the admiral followed as well snapping his own hand to his forehead in military ridged precision.

"As you were."

Korran nodded and relaxed. He turned to look out at the two enormous Battlestars, "it's been almost a year since the Armistice was signed. It's amazing the ship survived considering the damage the Acropolis took."

"Well it was easier to repair her than build a new Battlestar from scratch, she's a fine lady of action," Admiral Hogan said, "speaking of which, have you made up your mind?"

"I was looking forward to returning to Picon, rebuilding my family home, visit my sisters grave, and her husbands," Korran said, "she left a 2 year old son behind when she died. I guess he'd be twelve now. I haven't been the uncle I should have been."

"No," Hogan said resting his hand on Korrans shoulder again, "you've been busy defending their right to survive."

"It's over now, and I want to go home, even if it's only for a little while," Korran replied, "I'll say yes if you give me two months with my family, or what's left of it."

"The Acropolis is yours then," Hogan said letting his hand fall to his side, "I'll see you in two months."

"Wow, seasoned commanders must be hard to come by," Korran said, surprised at how easy it was for the admiral to give him the time off and retain the command of the ship.

"They are." he stated simply.

For a few moments the two stood and looked out across the ship yard to where Scorpia loomed in the distance, it's atmosphere rippling with clouds mixed with the green of fields and the blue of water. Orbiting it were dozens of large stations all of which were bent on constructing new battlestars, or repairing and refitting others.

"I guess the fleet will eventually break up," Korran said.

"I doubt it, the people are still scared. While the war is over we will be completely manning all of our Battlestars for a few more years. Besides, there will always be a place for the fleet." Hogan said.

Korran nodded, "I need to pack."

The two saluted each other once again and walked their separate ways.

Battlegroup X-ray, Epsilon Indi System – One year ago

Gabriel pushed the heavy metal beam off of his chair with a grunt, it fell to the floor of the bridge loudly. He gave a glance out the window looking down at the once lush world which now flickered with the last of once blazing fires and white continental plates covered with snow from the nuclear winter effect of the glassing. Harvest, the breadbasket of the UNSC was little more than desert now. The lights on the bridge flickered slightly, and the holographic displays were all but gone.

"This is Vice-Admiral Preston Cole to Vigilance, do you copy?" Came the Admirals voice over the ships com.

"This is Vigilance, we're a little beat up but all and all we are alive," Gabriel gasped into the comlink on the arm of his command chair, "What the hell was that thing?"

"I wish I knew Captain," Cole's voice echoed again, "how long to make repairs."

"I don't know, how badly do you need us?" Gabriel replied.

"Badly, seventeen ships are in pieces out there," Cole said, "A Marathon-class cruiser like the Vigilance would be nice to have operational right about now."

"Understood, we'll get her back in ship shape as soon as possible." Gabriel said.

Gabriel got up and moved around the bridge reading the reports on flickering consoles and helping officers up who had been knocked off their feet in the recent battle. Whatever had glassed the planet had been able to pack one hell of a punch. A Marathon-class cruiser was not a push over by any means, however if this enemy force could do what they had done to this ship, then could rip apart any other type of ship in UNSC fleet with relative ease.

Looking out the main window that offered a view of the ships mighty dorsal MAC beyond which lay the massive hulks of dead UNSC ships that had been shot down in the fight and beyond them, Harvest. With forty to one odds they should have won with little issue, but they didn't. Half of the fleet lay dead beyond the Vigilance's bow. 'And the other half would have joined them if it wasn't for the Admirals last minute brilliance.' Gabriel thought to himself.

Turning around Gabriel walked towards the ship, "Fix this mess," he ordered "it looks like my room as a teenager."

He continued out of the room, walking down the metal hallway. He passed the giant red arrow on the floor pointing in the opposite direction in which he was walking. Inscribed in large white letters on the wall next to it was Bridge. Officers saluted him as he walked by, even though many of them were injured or groggy from their recent rough treatment. Repair crews were running around carrying heavy materials to try and patch up the damage.

Finally making it to the elevator he pushed the flickering holographic panel that led to deck 29 where his quarters were. He was beginning to wish he had taken that offer of a bottle of whiskey from Admiral Stanforth. He could sure use one right now. If these … things, for lack of any other term he could think of, meant war, then UNSC would be in serious trouble.

Battlestar Acropolis – Patrol of Red Line Border (Present Day)

A large burley man with dark skin sat in the gym benching massive weights. His black hair was cut short and his beard, which neatly formed on his chin and upper lip, was trimmed to match. With a final heave he pushed the weights up and mounted them on the two racks. Sitting up he wiped the sweat that had beaded up on his forehead.

The gym was filled with marines as well as Acropolis crewmembers lifting weights, running on treadmills or simply doing chin ups on bars. He smiled slightly seeing his men work hard even though the war was over.

"Something's never change." He muttered to himself.

"Something's never do," came a smooth voice from behind him.

He turned around to see Ileen Silo, the ships current CAG, packing her bag. She gave him a smile. Chills went down his back, and his brain went dead unable to formulate words any longer.

"What's wrong Kamen," she teased, "cat got your tongue?"

He shook his head slightly and reached out for her, "No captain, just admiring the view."

A sharp pain raced through his hand as she slapped him, "Look, don't touch," She said.

Kamen Cole was one of the huge muscular types on the ship, and one she'd "do" in a heartbeat if regs permitted, alas, they did not. Ileen Silo's dark hair and blue eyes were only two of her most enticing features. Her feminine attributes were not only well defined but she had little trouble showing them off. She was among the most beautiful women on the ship, some even told her in the twelve colonies. Her Call sign was Siren for a reason.

She turned around giving a backwards glance at the still drooling Kamen and kept walking till she left the room. Ileen slung her bag over her shoulder and began her daily run. She preferred running around the ship. It felt more real than a treadmill did, and the scenery changed slightly. Her run usually took Ileen around the ships Gym past the armory around the CIC. She would only go through the CIC if she really wanted to get a rise from Commander Veritas. After that it would lead her to the elevator and then down to crew quarters where she would proceed to change into her duty uniform. Daily routines took years of getting used to, and she still expected Cylons around every corner.

"I see you haven't changed since we launched," Came Leeman's voice from ahead of her.

"How's my viper?" Silo yelled back.

"As beautiful as always," Leeman said.

"Keep it that way," She said as she passed him.

Leeman Shara was the Acropolis's deck chief and one of the best in the fleet for that matter. Having served throughout the Cylon war, his face was covered with character. Though not particularly old, his face was weathered, with wrinkles that had formed around his eyes. His hair had gone almost completely gray, but there was still a defiant brown streak across the side of his head of hair and in the minor stubble of his chin.

He walked down the hall towards the Armory where he intended to check out a rifle to practice within the range on the deck. Granted the armory had pistols, but repeating rifles were kept in the armory and Leeman preferred to keep his eyes sharp, just in case something worse than Cylons showed up: like more Cylons.

He walked to the armory door where he nodded at the guard as he handed over his ID card. The guard nodded and unlocked the door for him to enter. After picking out the V-12 assault rifle and rounds to match he headed to the door where he nearly collided with another man.

"Wow," Hendar said, "Sorry, my bad man."

"No problem," Leeman replied noticing Hendar carried a V-12 rifle as well, "I didn't know you were certified for assault rifles."

"Sure as hell am," The younger man said, "If you want we can see who's certified best."

"You're on," Leeman replied, "See you in the range sometime next week."

Hendar nodded, "Wilco."

Hendar managed to effectively pass by Leeman after the two attempted to go through at the same place several times. After disarming the rifle and replacing it its box Hendar headed for the door as well. The clanging sound of the door closing behind him seemed to reverberate around the ship. It reminded him of the Cylon war and all the fights he had been through.

The young man was dark haired, with a well-cut face. He walked with a minor limp after having been shot in the leg during a Cylon raid on the Athena almost six years earlier when he was still a young ensign.

"Hey Hendar!" Cried the familiar voice of Jason Kelly, the ships tactical officer.

"Hello Captain," Hendar said with a sigh, "is there something I can do for you."

"No but you could do something for Ileen," Jason replied with wink and a grin, "Fancy that."

"You will never let my fanciful imaginings go, will you?" Hendar replied.

"Nope," Jason said, "But she does need this report, it's from the commander.

Jason handed the clipboard over to the young man. Hendar took it with a slight grin and turned around and walked in the other direction. Jason chuckled slightly, remembering the days when he too was madly in love with unattainable beauties.

Jason Kelley was one of the ships most seasoned officers, though not longest serving. He had seen fifteen major engagements in the Cylon war and it showed. A huge gash divided his face in two. And his left eye had been lost from a well-placed bullet. Despite all odds he survived the encounter. In addition he was also missing two fingers on his right hand. Not a terrible loss since he was left handed, but he still missed them from time to time.

"Hold it there, Cyclops," came the voice of the ships Tactical Communications officer.

"Celesta, the god of death," Jason replied, "look who's talking."

Celesta laughed at the joke, "I haven't killed anyone in my life, hardly a fitting name is it?"

"What is it you want?" Jason asked perhaps more harshly than he had intended.

Celesta backed away at Jason's harsh retort, "Just wanted to ask you if you would have lunch with me?"

"Oh," Jason said, sheepishly "Sorry, I'd love to, mess hall 13:30?"

"Sounds good," Celesta said with a beaming smile.

She walked with him into the large room that was the CIC. About 30 officers sat around the ships CIC running the various consoles and passing info around. The sound of the Dradis consol could be heard all the way from the second row of consoles where her console sat overlooking the entire command table and tactical area.

Celesta had dark black hair, and deep brown eyes. She wore her hair up in a ponytail above her head with two Tauron chopsticks crossed through it to hold it up. She actually held the rank of major and was therefore second in command of the ship, but she got her rank through her father's high position in the government and not skill, unlike most of the people currently in the room.

"Major," Came the smooth Aerlon accent that belonged to the ships XO.

"Colonel Iolaus," Celesta responded.

"I need the readouts of the latest Viper drill, I hear they weren't up to specs," Iolaus said.

"Yes sir, I'll get them right away," Celesta responded.

The young Major buried herself in the console and moments later produced a print out of the most recent Viper drill and handed it to Iolaus. Sasha took the print out of the viper drill and walked it to the command table. Her deep blue eyes and blond hair made Sasha Iolaus seem like a relatively harmless person. But she was widely known as a serious hard ass around the ship, and she knew it.

"Still riding the Viper jocks?" Veritas asked, glancing up from the command table.

"As hard as always, commander" She said with a grin, "If the XO isn't hated, she's not doing her job."

"Fair enough," Veritas replied, "Still the Viper drill went well enough. Give them some leeway, we've been in space for almost 9 months."

"No excuse to get sloppy," Sasha replied.

Korran Veritas's chiseled face, dark hair and deep green eyes made him a very hard person to cross without some measure of fear. Still Sasha had had little issue with doing so in the past nine months. Korran shook his head at the young XO, who trained for the job instead of earning it. Korran frowned slightly at this thought.

"Let them go for now, if they repeat the poor performance tomorrow you can ride their ass," Korran said.

"Understood, sir," Sasha replied.

"Thank you Colonel."

UNSC Vigilance – Epsilon Indi Patrol – (Present Day)

The heads up display shut down quickly as he removed his helmet. Beneath the curved black visor of his ODST helmet was a weathered face, with a small grey mustache and dark grey hair. Lionel Anderson's grey eyes seemed to emphasize his battle beaten face. The light from the landing bay glinted off his eyes as he began to walk forward.

"Excellent work today boys!" He called out, "Cryo freeze drills suck! We know this, but you did a damn fine job. Keep it up and I might not think you're all a bunch of Marines!"

The ODST teams voices exploded with approval as they began to head towards the mess hall with a daunting eagerness. Lionel pressed his bent forefinger against his moustache as he watched the group of young men and woman who had fought tirelessly for the right to wear the armor that now adorned their shoulders.

"Good men," Came Grants familiar voice, "well trained, glad to have them aboard."

"You better believe it," Lionel's gravelly voiced replied, "these are the best soldiers the UNSC has to offer, and with these uglies tryin' to kill us, were gonna need 'em all."

Dominic nodded his assent with something halfway between a smile and a pained grimace, "Go grab something to eat, my men are up next."

The two nodded at each other and walked in opposite directions. Though Marines were not ODSTs they were still very well trained soldiers capable of a great many things, once they put their minds to it. Dominic was a burly man, with dark skin and a pitch-black beard that framed his face perfectly. His deep black eyes were often considered to be his most haunting feature though. Black eyes were a possible result of genetic manipulation, the kind that occurs once you join the service. They were not only black, but they made him color blind, without his sub-optical implants he still would be seeing in black and white.

He entered the Cryo-chamber where the Marine team that was scheduled for combat drills were still sleeping. The only way to train a marine to get up and go after being thawed out was to put them through the experience as often as possible, make it familiar to them. He remembered his time at the academy going through these drills over and over again.

"You ready to thaw your boys out?"Came Stratton's young voice from behind him.

"The chief engineer is thawing people out now? What happened to the staff?" Dominic teased.

"They are still recovering, not everyone has the same extensive training coming out of Cryo sleep as you and I do," Said Luke.

"I see," Dominic chuckled, "Lets wake them up."

"Opening up the freezer," Luke replied.

Luke Stratton pressed in authorization code into the computer, which caused the thawing process to begin. He set the dosage for the stimulant and flooded the marines systems with it. Shortly thereafter the doors of the Cryo tubes opened up and the marines stumbled out of the pods onto their hands and knees regurgitating what little was left in their stomachs from 3 months ago when they had left Reach.

Luke smirked at Dominic, "And they are all yours."

It was long before the marine captain was screaming at his troops. Stratton exited the room and headed down the corridor towards his standard station in main engineering. It wasn't long before he entered the massive room, filled with the four huge nuclear fusion reactors. The entire room was humming with automated equipment.

Luke's childish face often made him look much younger than he actually was. He was skinny for a military officer but his brains had more than compensated for that in the past. Having perfectly blond hair made him a target for teasing in the academy.

"Hey Blondy!" Came the soft voice of the one major female officer on board.

"Lieutenant Commander, what can I do for you?" He replied turning to face Alana.

"Skipper sent me down here to collect on your reports," Alana replied.

"L.C. you came at the right time, I happen to have them right here on my desk," Luke replied walking over to the small table in the corner of the massive room.

He picked up the holo pad that lay there and handed it to Alana.

Alana Vallace smiled. She took the pad and flipped through the artificial pages to make sure everything the captain had asked for was still there. She nodded at her associate and began to walk towards the door. Her golden hair blew against her face as she passed an array of fans blowing hot air around the room. She had never understood the purpose of those devices.

She exited the overheated engine room and headed for the elevator that led to the main bridge. In truth the bridge was only two decks above her, but unfortunately was just over a kilometer away. That's what she gets for getting a posting on one of the larger vessels in UNSC fleet. Alana entered the huge elevator, which was devoid of other officers as most were still recovering from cryo-sleep.

The lift rose two decks before jerking to a halt where she exited quickly and headed towards the bridge. She would have taken the ships tramway, but she knew she could use the exercise. Already, however, more officers were in the hall, all looking as if they had forgotten what sleep was for a month.

"Vallace," came Marcus's war torn voice from behind her as he rushed by in a salute.

Marcus Varne had been bodybuilding since he was in his early teens, which probably explained his height. He stood at 5 feet 6 inches, but could lift just about any movable object on the ship. In addition he was a great shot with a MAC and had a knack for coordinating heavy strikes with the big guns. His face was scarred and beaten from a battle in which he had done something extremely stupid and pulled off. He ended up winning a medal for his "bravery".

He raced down the Vigilance's hallways. He felt a warm fuzzy sensation rising through his legs as he ran. After being frozen for a quarter of a year it was nice to move again. It was nicer to run. Finally he reached the main bridge. As he passed through the large square entrance way he felt his body come to a halt as his momentum carried him into a solid object.

"Ouch," he said looking up at the much taller Alexander Sabbath, who happened to be the XO of the ship.

"Enjoy your run lieutenant?" Sabbath asked pointedly

"Yes sir," Varne replied.

"Station."

Varne obeyed the order with great alacrity.

The tall dark haired man brushed off his uniform and straightened the wrinkles from his recent collision with the tactical officer. He smiled slightly looking at the short man who now ferociously set up his console as if he had been late for duty. In a way he was, but no one could blame anyone for being a little slow coming out of Cryo. Still every second they couldn't think straight was a second the enemy had to kill them. Fortunately the enemy wasn't here. 'This time' Sabbath thought.

"Commander, could I see you in here," came the captains voice from the front of the bridge.

"yes sir," Sabbath replied.

He rounded the corner to see the captain sitting in his chair overlooking the helm and operations consoles. The large window formed around the two consoles allowing both helm and ops to have 270-degree views of the area around them. Beyond the window lay the front of the Vigilance's mighty prow, which now sliced through the emptiness of space like a ship through the sea.

"Is something off, Captain?" Sabbath asked.

Gabriel Halos looked over at his XO, leaning back in his chair, Halos brought up a holographic display of some form of space vessel. It had a pointed front that looked like some form of head, reminiscent of an alligator. It had two pontoons, which appeared to be held in place by two thick anchor points that attached to a long thinner hull section, behind that was a large thruster assembly with four large thrusters of some kind.

"What do you imagine that is?"Gabriel asked pointing at the ship.

"Some form of space ship, not alien, it looks more human in origin," Sabbath replied.

"My thoughts exactly." Gabriel said, "besides it being of unknown design it also seems to be unaware of our presence as of yet."

"Have we tried to make contact?"Sabbath asked.

"Yes, no response … yet," Gabriel replied standing up, and as he did so the holographic display faded into nonexistence, "but it's dead ahead and we are closing fast."

"Do you think that this could be a new Insurrection ship sir?" asked Sabbath

"Sir," came the voice of the ensign from the ops console before Halos could respond "we are picking up a signal from the vessel. It's in short wave radio."

"Radio?" Gabriel pondered for a moment, "Can we translate it?"

"One moment sir," the ensign said his hands moving across the holo-display in front of him, "I got it."

This is Battlestar Acropolis to unknown vessel. You cannot be identified. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon.

"What's a battlestar?" Sabbath asked.

"I presume that is," He said pointing out the window where the formerly holographic ship floated in front of them, "And boy she's a big one."

A/n And there you have it folks. Hope you enjoyed chapter one of Embers of War, there will be more to come soon as my friend who does the bulk of the writing is already well into chapter 2. However as embers go they only burst into flame when fueled, in this case our fuel is reviews or heck just visits to the story alone get us as excited as a puppy on crack. With that disturbing thought, I leave you.