Chapter 1

Everything felt…. light, like he was floating, he turned his head to the left to see if he was in water, but all he could see around him was total darkness. Suddenly out of the darkness came the outline of a small house as color started to return to the scenery around him, like the side effects of a camera flash. He looked down at his chest, his dress whites on, the buttons polished, the fabric completely crease-free, and the rectangular name tag reading "Strieger" glistening in the strange light.

"Where the hell am I?"

"You're home," a calm female voice rang out from the fading blackness, a voice Strieger recognized all too well.

Stepping out of the building daintily came a small old woman as the colors slowly returned to his surroundings, her eyes green, and her hair chalk white and folded into a bun, she stood there in a blue apron and smiled at him, her laugh wrinkles and dimples prominently visible. As Strieger viewed his surroundings again, they were now clearly recognizable. The house was a quaint wraparound porch, lying on a small hill, in the distance you could see the towering skyscrapers of Pilvros City off in the distance. It was his home, but it was impossible, it had been years since he had returned to New Carthage, and even longer since he last saw his childhood home.

"Mom? How did I get here? I was just on Skopje for ship leave."

"I missed you too Mom, gosh it's been 3 years and I haven't written in 2" She said in a mocking tone of voice, a playful smirk crossing her face, "what will I ever do with you Alec? Off making your father proud and the galaxy a safer place for everyone."

Alec looked down slightly, remembering his father's stern face and bushy mustache. Admiral George Strieger was a sort of hometown hero on New Carthage, he had fought against the Insurrectionists before humanity had discovered the Covenant, served in the fleet that fought the 2nd battle of Harvest that retook the planet, and led the evacuations of dozens of outer colonies. He was a firm and overbearing career soldier. As much as Alec missed him, his legacy left a heavy weight on his conscience. Looking down at his captain's epaulets, he knew that he never really earned his position, sure he had done well throughout Officer Candidate school and was ranked third highest in a class of 500 students, every last one of them being some of the finest prospective officers the human race had to offer, but he had gone from an Ensign to a Captain of his own ship in less than a year. He knew this was his father's legacy at work, and everyone expecting perfection from him was extremely nauseating, though he never had the courage to tell his mother that. He moved his lips to respond but no noise left his mouth, followed by a loud banging noise inside his skull.

Strieger sat up, a cold sweat running down his spine as he looked around him. He was in his apartment, his uniform hung up on the closet door and 2 empty bottles of whiskey sitting on the table by the door, a half full glass sitting next to them. He leaned forward and stared for a moment into his own lap, rubbing his eyes with his palms, his skull ringing with an intense hangover. Another series of loud knocks echoed from the door as he rose to his feet, taking a moment to inhale a deep breath through his nostrils and walked to the door, grabbing the glass on his way there, the electronic seal sliding open with a press of a button, revealing a young blonde woman in UNSC Navy garb, a file in her hands. Strieger must have been quite the sight to her; he was unshaven, his military issue haircut beginning to grow unkempt, and he wore an alcohol stained and wrinkled green tank top and PT shorts. He leaned onto the doorframe with his right arm to balance himself as he took a sip from the glass in his left.

"Uhmmm… Captain Alec Strieger?" The woman inquired with a thick Finnish accent.

Alec smiled and shrugged, "am I not what you expected ensign?"

"It's not my place to judge sir, I have a message for you, it's directly from HIGHCOM, it seems that they have something high priority for your crew," she held out the file, which he took and flipped open with his right hand after removing it from the doorframe.

"They want me to escort an admiral to Reach?! I just received my commission yesterday, I don't even have a ship, or a crew yet, and they want us launched in 3 hours?"

"You do now captain," she clicked her heels together and snapped into a crisp salute "Petty Officer Freja Karlsson, I've been assigned as your new helmsman."

Strieger chuckled as he took another sip, "thank god, I was worried you might be my weapons officer."

"Do I look that unstable sir?" She said with sarcastic overtones, her doey blue eyes giving him the puppy dog treatment.

"Only slightly," With that he chugged down the rest of the glass, "give me a moment to get dressed for success and we'll make our way to dry dock."

A few minutes later both Karlsson and Strieger were walking through the streets of New Thessaloniki, Strieger's face freshly shaven and his hair trimmed short. His dress white uniform now folded inside a small duffel bag, he wore his service uniform consisting of a double-breasted olive drab tunic, bearing the seal of the United Nations Space Command Defense Force, with his surname printed above the seal. He wore matching trousers, a pistol belt, and a cap also bearing the UNSCDF seal, just like Karlsson's uniform only with differing ranks. His Ship Emblem patch on the right shoulder was still nonexistent as he had yet to receive it from his new crew. The cyan blue sky glowed orange in the sunrise, the streets already packed with people and the sounds that came with them.

As they made their way towards the light-rail station, they were stopped many times by civilians thanking them for their service, which they politely thanked them but quickly resumed their pace towards the station. As they boarded the monorail, the overhead screens began blasting a triumphant drum roll, relaying images of Spartans fighting on Protev 3 against the covenant invasion force, followed by a number to call for recruitment opportunities.

"Seems those Spartans have brought hope back to the people." Karlsson spoke as she looked up at the viewscreen, her arms hands lightly gripping onto the overhead handle, causing her to sway slowly with the train. "Recruitment rates haven't been this high since we retook Harvest."

"Hmmph, is it hope, or is it that the civilian population is finally starting to realize that we're fighting an enemy that takes no prisoners, spares no civilians, and cares nothing of collateral, only genocide." Alec was about to continue until he noticed a small boy and his little sister, both with messy brown hair sitting with their mother near them on the monorail, their eyes wide as they stared at the two officers with awestruck looks on their little faces. Alec quickly lower his voice, "Whichever it is, all that matters is it's happening, this war isn't a fight we can win if we're not all in."

As the rail rounded a small skyscraper, they could see the UNSC dry dock just outside the city limits, flickering light erupting from all over the area from hundreds of industrial grade welding torches being used.

"So, that must be my new ship, you didn't tell me it was a brand new Marathon."

"You didn't ask Captain, and it's not like an Admiral would hitch a ride in anything else."

Captain Strieger had to admit, she was right, a Marathon-class heavy cruiser, one of the biggest and baddest new additions to the UNSC fleet, meant to replace the aging Halcyon-class light cruisers. There were only so many of these ships out and about, usually under the command of fleet admirals and acting as flagships. Although it didn't have nearly the firepower of a carrier, the ship could still pack a serious punch with its two bow mounted Magnetic Acceleration Cannons, oversized archer missile pods, 50mm point defense guns, fusion rockets, and Shiva nuclear missile launchers. As the rail pulled up to the station just left of the ship, the two of them could see the ship's name, painted in white and illuminated by ambient lights above it.

"UNSC Seventh Son, it's quite a ship," Karlsson piped in as the monorail door slid open and the two officers as well as a few dozen construction workers filed out.

"Indeed, I'll meet you on the bridge deck, spread the word the captain wants a meeting in one five hundred with all chief officers and bridge staff. I'd rather get this done before Admiral Corvitz arrives."

"Aye Captain," and with that, she made her way across the Tarmac and clambered across a gang plank onto the service elevator, Strieger tilted his head slightly, watching her as she walked away, whistling quietly to himself before straightening his service cap and making his way onto the Seventh Son. Making his way through the ship and introducing himself to every crewmember that stopped to salute him, he eventually made his way to the expansive bridge deck. A holographic projection table occupied the center of the room, surrounded on both sides by empty terminals. Overhanging screens and diagnostic consoles attached to three walls. Past the projection table sat the captain's chair, fully mic-ed up and interfaced directly to the ship's AI. Past that was the helm and navigation stations, both hanging seats enclosed in the bubbled viewport, though the very vulnerable looking viewport was actually reinforced and had titanium-A shutters as a just in case. Standing between the captain's chair and the holotable were about a dozen or so officers standing at attention in platoon formation.

"At ease men, it's time for a meet and greet."

"Aye Captain" they echoed before relaxing their stance, folding their arms behind their back.

One by one Captain Strieger was introduced to them. There was the timid young Ensign Joshua Ferguson, a short and skinny navigation officer with regulation-breaking mop of black hair under his service cap. Petty Officer Cullen O'Malley, a gruff and short-tempered chief weapons officer of Irish ancestry, who had full body tattoos up to his collar, and was as broad shouldered and muscular as he was intimidating, he operated the MAC cannon controls, while his two junior officers Steven Wilson and Miranda Pollard, a pair of fair skinned Skjope natives with British accents, handled the missiles and point defense weapons respectively, with Pollard also in charge of coordinating the ship's starfighter contingent. Chief Engineer Howard Dixon and Communications Officer Kendall Wright were both currently off ship and were unable to make it to the meeting. Finally at the end of the formation stood Freja Karlsson, who Strieger had already met, and a rather intimidating looking Asian woman who introduced herself as Lieutenant Natalie Wei, acting first mate, although pretty and slender framed, she had a look on her face that could freeze plasma.

"So, other than Dixon and Wright these are my conning officers?"

"That is correct captain, and this is Iago." Wei responded as an image of a green man wearing a 14th century cuirass and sported a short beard.

"Artificial Inteligence unit, designation IAGO, at your service captain," the hologram spoke with a Victorian English accent.

"As in the antagonist from William Shakespeare's Othello Iago?"

"Young and well-cultured, I quite like our new Captain, Lieutenant Wei" the AI chuckled.

"Seems you're starting up quite a fan club Cap'n" O'Malley interjected with a hearty laugh.

"I'll be taking applications, now back to the business at hand. From the files I received this morning from our own Petty Officer Karlsson, the Seventh Son's maiden voyage will be the delivery of a few UNSC VIPs to Castle Base on Reach. These VIPs, particularly Rear Admiral Corvitz of the 3rd fleet, will be arriving at 0700 followed by our departure at 0730. I want everyone bright eyed, bushy tailed, sober, and I want the ship to be prepared for launch before Corvitz arrives. Inform the enlisted men, start warming up the reactor, and for God sakes have someone find Dixon and Wright, if anyone needs me, I'll be unpacking, am I understood?"

"Aye Captain" the officers echoed back.

"Dismissed"