Disclaimer: I don't own Halo but Lisa and Sarah are mine. Steal them and you die.
A/N: I've been writing stories but this is my first fanfiction... go easy on me but criticism is welcome.

Strange Discoveries

Chapter 1

Time: 0636
Date: October 5, 2552
Location: Sydney, Australia

Lisa sighed as she walked along the beach, watching the sun as it rose over the ocean. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair as she slumped to the ground, her bright blue eyes never leaving the horizon.

The teenager was exhausted both physically and mentally. While her legs ached from the hours of walking up and down along the shore, her mind was consumed by misery.

Her mother's sudden death had hit her hard – and that her father was serving in the UNSC as a marine didn't help. He was always away and she rarely ever had a chance to see him. So that left her with no one. She had no idea what she was going to do or where she was going to go.

The Human-Covenant war had been raging for years and it didn't look as if was coming to an end any time soon.

As Lisa thought, the sun grew steadily higher in the cloudless sky. The gentle breeze helped clear her mind. Yet still grief lingered within her.

Why my mum? Lisa thought to herself sadly. Of all the people… and why did it have to happen on my sixteenth birthday?

Tears streamed down her cheeks. She hadn't spoken a word – not to anyone other than her friend who was staying with her at the isolated beach house. She had cried but few words had left her mouth since the funeral.

Lisa brushed away the tears and scowled. She shouldn't just sit here and cry… she should do something more-

But suddenly, something caught her eye. There was an object of a sort, gleaming in the wet sand that was repeatedly struck by wave after wave. The girl got to her feet and walked further down toward the water. The object was partially sticking out of the sand and as she got closer she saw that it emitted a bright blue light, like that of a sapphire. Only this wasn't any kind of jewel Lisa had seen before. She slowly dug around the object and picked it up, brushing away the sand that clung to the smooth edges. She was hesitant in touching it as it could have been anything. But as she held it up, she realized that it was a crystal of some sort. What its purpose was or where exactly it came from remained a mystery to Lisa. She stared at it for a few moments, holding it in her palm, wondering if there was any possibility of it being dangerous. The crystal wasn't small – it fit in her palm quite comfortably and it still discharged the brilliant blue light.

The girl shrugged and put it in the pocket of her jacket. She turned away from the shimmering water and headed back home.

Lisa had just opened the gate when someone burst out the back door of the house.

"Where have you been?" the girl demanded as Lisa trudged up the steps.

"Relax, Sarah. I was just out for a walk," Lisa replied.

The other girl's eyes softened.

"Sorry… I was just worried – I woke up at 4:30 this morning and you were gone! No note, nothing!"

Lisa smiled. That was Sarah – always concerned for the people around her. She was a great friend, especially because she had agreed to keep her company after her mother's death.

"You want breakfast?" Sarah asked and was answered with a nod. "What do you want?"

Lisa shrugged. "Just toast."

They walked into the house and Lisa collapsed onto the nearest couch.

Sarah grinned and asked, "Tired?"

"Yeah… just a bit."

When the toast was done, Sarah took Lisa's plate and handed it to her before sitting on the sofa opposite. Halfway through her breakfast, Lisa remembered the crystal she had found on the beach.

"Hey, look what I found," Lisa said, taking the object out of her pocket and setting it on the coffee table between the two of them. Sarah stared wide-eyed at the glimmering crystal in silence for a minute or two before speaking.

"Where did you find that?"

"It must have washed ashore earlier. What do you think it is?"

Sarah paused for a moment, thinking as she gazed at the crystal. "Well I dunno. I've never seen anything like that. Doesn't look like a diamond but it the colour looks like a sapphire's."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

A heavy silence followed. Was this crystal important? Did somebody lose this? If so, then they were probably out looking for it now. Finally Lisa spoke, "What should we do with it?"

"No idea," Sarah answered, shaking her head.

"Maybe we should go back down to the beach – there might be something that I missed and might help us find out where it came from."

Sarah nodded in agreement and so tucking the crystal back into her jacket, Lisa led her friend down to the shore and headed down to where she had located the strange object.

"Hey what's that stuff?" Sarah asked as she pointed toward something that had washed ashore. Lisa squinted and saw that indeed something had swept been swept from the water and onto the sand.

"That wasn't there before."

All that she could make out was that the thing – whatever it was – was purple. The two of them cautiously approached the 'purple thing' and when about twelve feet away from it, Lisa stopped dead in her tracks, the colour draining from her face. It was debris – debris from a Covenant Phantom. A cold lump formed in Lisa's stomach as she realized this. Looking up, she saw more along the beach – the wreckage of the dropship had appeared all along the coast. The lump in her stomach grew – was this where the crystal had come from? It seemed to be the most likely explanation. If it was then the Covenant were probably looking for it right now.

"What… should we do with the crystal?" Sarah asked with a shaky voice.

Lisa took the glistening object from her pocket and stared at it. If this thing was important to the Covenant then they had to get rid of it. But where? She couldn't throw it back into the ocean – the waves would just bring it back. Could they bury it? But what if the UNSC was looking for it as well?

Then it hit her. The UNSC. They would know what to do with it… wouldn't they? But how would they get the crystal there? The people would probably think that it was just a prank. Lisa frowned. This wasn't going to be easy. But going to the UNSC was probably the smartest thing to do.

"Well, maybe we should try taking it to the UNSC," Lisa said slowly.

"What?" Sarah turned to Lisa and looked at her in disbelief. "You're joking right?" She stared at the crystal before turning her eyes back to her friend's eyes. "They'll never believe us! We're just a couple of teenagers," she continued, brushing a few strands of her dark brown hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but what other options do we have?"

"We could just put it somewhere and forget all about it."

"But where?"

"Hell, I don't know," cried Sarah, throwing her arms into the air. "Just somewhere nobody will go."

"Or we could hand it into-"

Sarah snorted. "You can try. They won't believe you."

"For all we know, it could be dangerous! Chances are it came from that Covenant dropship," said Lisa. "And if it did, they'll probably be looking for it right now. We can't keep it."

Sarah huffed in annoyance. She didn't want to admit it, but Lisa did have a point.

"Fine… but how exactly will we get it to the UNSC?"

Lisa was silent for a moment, thinking things over. "I'll find a way to contact my dad. Maybe he'll be able to do something."

Sarah nodded slowly. This was going to be difficult.

A/N: In the future I'll do my best to make the chapters longer. I've read the three books but I still might get a few things mixed up.