Ch. 1- Discovery

Sector 457UNXR (Unexplored Region)

UNSC Frigate Tomorrow's Destiny- Bridge

"Sir, Forerunner outpost is coming into view."

Captain Jones looked at his second and nodded, "Get the recon team ready."

The second saluted and stepped smartly out the bridge. The navigator looked back from his station. "Should we wake him up? He is the only one with any true experience with these matters."

Jones looked thoughtful, if they were to wake him up, they might as well make the entire recon team out of Spartans. He nodded and pressed the intercom, "Captain to Meat Locker."

There was a pause as they waited for a response, "This is The Meat Locker, how may we serve you today Captain?"

"Ok Meat Locker, I need the Rump Roast, the Texas Prime Rib, Wyoming Barbeque, the Elite Cut, and the Fillet Mignon."

"Yes sir, will that be all?"

Captain Jones cracked a grin, "Yes that will be all. Please make my order to go."

"Yes sir, have a nice day, and thank you for calling the Meat Locker."

There was a click as the intercom shut off. Captain Jones looked out the front viewport to see a sight few live to see, a Forerunner outpost. It looked to be in pristine condition, which was surprising. Most outposts they had come across were derelict and barely functional. Jones shivered, whatever was on that thing could change everything…

Cryochamber- aka The Meat Locker

Lieutenant Jackson turned away from the intercom and rubbed his hands eagerly, "Okay ladies and gents! We got a big thaw on our hands, so get your big boy mittens on and listen up." The fifteen or so cryoengineers looked up from their various monitors and tuned in. "We need Texas, Wyoming, Caboose, and Chief thawed out and prepped for recon. Let's move it boys and girls!" The Cryochamber tuned into a frenzy of heated activity as the engineers hurried to wake the Spartans from their Cryosleep. A cloud of vaporized dry ice billowed out from the opening cryopods, engulfing the room in a white smokescreen. Jackson grabbed a few men and retrieved the Spartan's weapons from the Wardrobe. "Be careful with Caboose's Gravity Hammer! I do not want to learn to fly today, thank you very much." They made their way carefully to the Meat Locker, where four Spartans now stood. Texas with her black MJOLNIR III armor, was berating Wyoming, probably for some idiotic wisecrack, by keeping him in a chokehold. His red MJOLNIR III armor was barely protecting him. Caboose stood by, his hulking blue MJOLNIR II armor belaying the fact that, even though he was fearsome on the field, he was a gentle giant. However, the two soldiers that commanded the most attention were the quietest. The first's name was John, but he refused to go by that. On his combat green MJOLNIR IV armor, Sierra-117 was painted in large white block letters. He held the rank of Master Chief on whatever ship he resided, and was called by his rank, or Chief. He had no preference. To his right, was Thel 'Vadam. The famous Sangheili was well known for his acts of bravery in both the United Nations and the Sangheili Nation. His gold plate armor was made by his hand, and showed his rank as an Arbiter. Though the two of them made a strange duo, they had worked together in the past, and were rivals of the best sort. The Spartan and Elite gave off an air of controlled power and authority. Jackson wheeled the weapons in, getting the attention of the Spartans. "Alrighty mates, we got your peashooters and mashers here. Chief, Arbiter, your usuals are over there." The two of them nodded and walked over to two separate trays. Thel 'Vadam nodded his approval at his weapons. "Good, the humans remembered my Energy Sword and Plasma Rifle." He picked the up and clipped them on, along with a few plasma grenades, ACU's, and OCU's. He threw a glance back at the others, who were also getting prepped for the mission. Looking back at Chief, he muttered, "I do not like this. Why would they feel the need to wake us up? They have sent many scouts into Forerunner outposts before. There should not be a need for us."

Chief nodded slowly, "Something is different this time. Something they haven't counted on seeing I bet. And you and I both know what happens when military superiors find something they don't know anything about."

The Arbiter nodded and chuckled, "They get jumpier and more paranoid than an Unggoy engineer after drinking one of your coffee beverages."

Even Chief had to smile a bit at that memory. As an experiment, Wyoming had given a Grunt a cup of coffee, just to see if it would like it. The poor thing nearly had a heart attack every time someone came near it. "An apt description Arbiter."

The intercom crackled to life, "Chief, you and your team need to report to Landing Bay 7. A Pelican is waiting there for you. Texas you'll be piloting."

Texas nodded and looked at Wyoming who was grinning madly through his depolarized visor. "This is going to be fun!"

Texas just rolled her eyes and followed Chief and the Arbiter out the door, "It's just recon Wyoming. Nothing special, and nothing hard."

"Oh come on Tex, they thawed us out and gave us weapons! That has to mean something." The pairs bickering could be heard all the way to the landing bay. Once they were loaded, Texas strapped into the pilot's seat, "Control, this is Pelican-1783 requesting permission to fly."

"Pelican-1783, this is Control. Pilot, state your name and rank."

Texas nodded, "Control, this is Kelly "Texas" Harrison. Rank, Spartan Lieutenant."

There was a pause as Control verified the identity, "Ok Texas, you are cleared to fly."

Texas powered up the engines and took off, exiting the bay smoothly. "Alright ladies, if you look out on your left, you'll see the UNSC Frigate, Tomorrow's Destiny. And on your right, you'll see the vacuum of space. Wyoming, please feel free to step out and take your helmet off for a breath of fresh air."

Wyoming laughed and yelled back, "Yeah Texas, I love you too!"

The Arbiter chuckled harshly and looked at Chief, who was slowly shaking his head in amusement. Caboose laughed heartily, and slapped Wyoming on the back, eliciting a startled choke from the much smaller Spartan.

Texas smiled and continued with her 'tour', "Okay, we are coming up on the main attraction girlies. If you'll look to the front you'll… oh my god…" She trailed off softly.

Chief and the Arbiter looked up sharply. Chief spoke up, "What is it Lieutenant?"

"The outpost Chief. It's in perfect condition!" Master Chief and the Arbiter exchanged looks. This is what made the Captain so nervous.

Arbiter growled out, "Now we know why we were needed."

Chief nodded, "Everyone needs to be on guard. Be on the lookout for a Monitor." The others nodded and the sound of safeties being switched off was heard.

Texas punched in coordinates for autopilot, and stood up. "Ok, from here on out, we are on our own. Grab your gear and prepare to jump." She looked at Wyoming, "Make sure you're aiming at the mark this time."

"Hey, that was an accident!"

There was a whoosh of air as the back end of the pelican opened up, and the Spartans and Arbiter used the force of it to propel themselves at the outpost. The five of them aimed their feet at the outpost and activated the magnetic lining in their boots. Each of them landed softly, except Wyoming of course. He accidently went through the only open door in the outpost, and was caught in the artificial gravity. THUD! The other four just looked at each other. Texas shrugged, "He hit the mark this time. Surprise."

"I can hear you! Wha-? Oh hello there!"

They hurried to the open door and jumped in. Wyoming was looking at a small Monitor as they came in.

"Greeting zzt* Reclaimers. I am zzt* Vitalis-409. Please follow me. Zzt* there is little time."

It flew off, dim blue light barely visible in its black spherical body. The other's hurried to keep up. Texas ran up close to it. "What is your malfunction Vitalis-409?"

"I have been taking care of zzt* this outpost for millennia. My zzt* power source as well as the zzt* power source of the ship zzt*, has only a few hours remaining. This outpost zzt* has a self-destruct sequence that is activated when there is only one hour of power remaining."

Texas nodded, "So why have you kept this outpost online for so long?"

The Monitor seemed to brighten, "My masters, the ones you call Forerunners zzt* left something in one of the hibernation chambers. A child I believe. I zzt* did not want this child to die, so I kept all facilities running zzt* to ensure her survival."

Texas sucked in a sharp breath, "Is it a Forerunner?"

"Not exzzt*actly, it is closer to what you are, but smaller."

Texas looked back at Chief, who nodded and gestured for her to move. She looked at the Monitor, "Vitalis-409, do you have enough energy to move faster?"

"Of courzzt*, I did not believe that you could move fazzt*er." There was a soft hum as the Monitor grew brighter and sped up tremendously. "Pleazzt* follow me." They were silent for the rest of the trip. After a few minutes of running, they came to a stop outside a room containing a single hibernation chamber. It was lit up softly, and inside was a small girl. She appeared to be in her early teens, with long bluish-black hair. She wore a black jumpsuit with two white stripes running down either sleeve. The Monitor floated up and looked at the chamber, which beeped and opened with a soft, pneumatic sigh. It looked over at a corner, "If the female Reclaimer would carry the childzzt* possession, the male Reclaimer in green can carry the child to safety." Texas looked over and saw a black hilted katana in a black sheath. She nodded, and jogged over to get it. Chief picked up the small girl gently, taking care not to wake her. As soon as the girl left the chamber, the lights went red and a shrill whine was heard. The Monitor spun around in a frenzy, "Oh dear, this is not optimal! The self-destruct sequence has begun earlier than calculated. All living organizzt*ms need to evacuate the outpozzt* immediately!"

Chief looked at Caboose, "We need a path to the nearest outer wall Caboose." The large Spartan nodded and ran through the nearest wall, gravity hammer in hand. Chief followed and shouted out to Texas. "Get the Pelican to the coordinates that Caboose is headed for. Get is a close to the wall as possible without taking damage!" Texas nodded and followed, handing the katana off to Wyoming who ran after her.

The Monitor watched them leave. "Good luck Reclaimers. Farewell." With those last words, its light went out, and it clattered to the floor, lifeless.

"Master Chief to Destiny, we will be coming in hot. Self-Destruct sequence for outpost has been activated due to power loss. Prepare to receive five plus one. I repeat we have an extra passenger. Species, unknown; gender, female. I must add that she has a weapon. Weapon is a curved blade approximately 1.5 meters long. Master Chief out." The super soldier charged ahead, keeping right behind Caboose, who was effectively drilling his way to the edge of the station with his sheer momentum, emphasized with blows from his hammer.

Texas came in over the comm-unit, "Ship is in position sir."

"Good, now get the hell up here."

"Already here." Chief looked to his right, and saw Texas and Wyoming running alongside him.

The Arbiter came running out of a side corridor, carrying a big box of forerunner tech. "I managed to recover this. It should bring us some glory. What did you find Chief?" The Sangheili looked at the small girl I his arms and almost dropped the box. "There was a human child on this outpost?"

"We don't know what she is."

There was a yell as Caboose burst through the final wall, and almost went through a window. Chief yelled, "Keep moving!" and charged straight through the window, covering the child with his bulk. Thankfully, the Pelican was not very far away, so they tumbled in after only a few seconds of exposure to the vacuum of space. Texas was in next, followed by the other three. Without missing a step, Texas dashed to the cockpit, and threw the engines into full power and closing the rear entrance at the same time. When they were about a half kilometer away, there was a blue flash, and the Forerunner ship vanished in an antimatter explosion. The power the blast rammed the Pelican, forcing it to go even faster. A few seconds later, the blast dissipated, depositing the smoking craft a few hundred meters from the Destiny. Texas maneuvered the damaged thing carefully into the landing bay before the smoking engines gave out. Dropping the Pelican a few feet onto the floor. Texas called out from the cockpit, "Is everything alright back there? What is the passenger's status?"

Chief shook his head to clear it. The passenger? The girl! Where was she? He sat up quickly and looked around, almost relaxing when saw her sitting up a few feet away. Then he realized, "She's awake." He looked at her eyes, "and she definitely isn't human."