Hello, everyone. This is a Sci-Fi that was actually loosely based off of a dream i had once like last year and this came pouring out of me. It's been locked up in my folder for 2 months and i intended to make this a one-shot but it's soo loonggg.

Anyway enjoyy.

(I don't own the characters or some names mentioned)

Piper twisted her engagement ring in anxiety.

It had been exactly four hours since the podship took the whole of Squad 107 to Atlas to conduct the one mission that would work to their advantage. At least, that was what they expected, with all the failed ones in the past. If this ended in failure too...

She took a calming breath.

No, it wouldn't. It was a simple task of faltering the ship's motors and messing the wiring. They even had the most talented mechanic in all of Olympus part of the team. It wouldn't end in failure. It couldn't.

Then why hadn't they returned yet?

She shook her head. It's a large ship, she reasoned. It had many circuits and lots of wiring. And working discreetly would require a steady and slow pace in order not to be caught. Or perhaps they already were...

"Lieutenant Mclean," She snapped her head up and shot to her feet at the sight of Chiron, the ship admiral, her hand shooting to her forehead in a salute.

He gave her a nod and she relaxed, her face expectant. Was there news he was to tell her? Was there any news they received from Squad 107? She forcibly shoved all negative possibilities as she watched him.

He gave her an apologetic smile. "We haven't recovered anything from Squad 107, but there haven't been any iris signals so we assume it's going smoothly."

She nodded, disappointed.

"What I am here to tell you," Chiron continued. "Is to man your sector and prep it for battle."

She paused and stifled the instant fear that grappled her heart. No, she told herself, whatever battle he's talking about can't be related to Squad 107. She let the confusion take over instead.

Piper's brow furrowed. "But sir," she said. "What battle am I preparing it for?"

"We have received signals from our satellites." He said. "And the ship seems to be inching closer. One of our satellites was destroyed either due to the proximity of it to the ship or an intentional attack. Either way, we need to be prepared."

Piper nodded. "Yes, sir." She then frowned. "If you don't mind me asking, why is it you came here yourself to deliver the message?"

He tossed something black to her and she managed to catch it in surprise. "Sir?"

He gave her a ghost of a smile. "It's Captain Grace's." He said. "He asked specifically for me to give it you personally." He then promptly left, the door sliding shut with a mechanical click after him.

"But…" She said after him. Why give this to me a whole four hours after he left?

She stared after him in surprise before looking down at the device. It was small, fitting the size of her palm and made of metal. She turned it in her palm and examined the millions of miniscule holes that filled the entirety of it. Her hand roamed the device until her finger caught on a button. Slowly, she flipped it, the device instinctively inched away from her face.

It buzzed, a crackling sound emanating from it, before a voice sounded.

"Testing, testing." A throat cleared. "We've reached our first hour here. Leo's being an absolute dumbass."

"You mean Leo is being the awesome hot mcshizzle he is?" Came a distant voice.

"No, you must've heard me wrong." Jason replied. "I said dumbass, being that we've been here for an hour."

"This is a big ship!" Leo exclaimed. "You try this, Grace."

"I'm too busy keeping watch for your scrawny behind."

"You're watching my scrawny behind?" Leo asked, his voice holding a tinge of mock-shyness. "I can talk to Piper about this. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you leaving her for me."

"Unfortunately," A new voice came in. Annabeth. "I would. Now get back to work and Leo, is this a B5 or a C2?"

"A6." He chuckled and Annabeth huffed, sounding frustrated. The clicks of tools then followed as both Leo and Annabeth resumed their work.

A deep sigh followed from Jason. "Anyway," he continued. "I'll give you a run over what's happened so far."

Piper chuckled. Classic Jason. Has to go straight to mission reports.

"Percy, Frank and I are keeping watch here." He said. "Leo only trusts Annabeth and Nyssa to do the job right, so they're tackling the circuits. We've already shut down half of the North-East wing of the ship without anyone noticing." He hummed as he tried to recall more information. "Hazel has given us regular signals that she's okay out with Arion." He chuckled. "Smart of her, too, with Frank constantly doing his silent worrying. I mean, she's grown up flying that pod and has gone through many battles with it too. Any more worrying from Frank will just be downright insulting."

He paused.

"I'm still a little miffed that Chiron didn't allow you to attend this mission." He said. "With you here, avoiding the enemies would've been ten times easier." He sighed dramatically. "And I fear I am losing my sanity with these people! Where are you Pipes?" He whined.

Piper grinned. And like that she spent an hour in her room listening to his hourly reports, her face starting to hurt with the smile that cracked it.

A beep sounded from the device and she gasped. She pressed the button and waited for the sound to filter through.

"This is the fifth hour and please, please tell me you're listening." Jason's voice was frantic. "We're in Arion on our way back but we have a bit of a tail on us."

"A bit?" Percy shouted.

"Okay, okay." Jason said. "We might've brought a fleet of podships as a welcoming present and—"

A boom echoed through and Piper sat, horrified, as she listened to the screams that followed.

"Leo, shoot!" Annabeth ordered. "Their weak spots are their engines. Hazel, take us through an Asteroid Field."

Piper's feet had already begun moving as she listened.

"What?" Hazel cried.

"We'll lose our tail that way." Annabeth said.

"No, but we need to go back to the ship." Jason shouted. "We need to—"

"We can't go back to the ship with a tail."

Piper dodged a few cadets, ramming her shoulder against the door of the hallway for it to open as she cradled the device in her hands.

"They're going in that direction anyway and we need to warn them."

"This message is a warning enough." Annabeth replied with a firm voice. "And Admiral Chiron isn't stupid. He'll find out himself."

"And if he doesn't?" Frank asked, his voice painting out his anxiety.

"He will." Annabeth ground out.

The voice recorded ended. It didn't matter. Piper was already at the ship command room.

Everyone looked to her as she entered and for once in her life, she didn't care about the attention. She strode to the announcement phone and, ignoring the protests of the person at the station, she grabbed it and put it in front of her mouth.

"This is Lieutenant Piper Mclean," She said. "Podships from Atlas are headed this way after Arion, which will be going through the Asteroid Field to get here." She saw Reyna, a commander, cross her arms as she stared at Piper, a frown taking over her face. "I want the East Wing to be monitoring and ready with the doors for Arion to come back safely and the weapons' commanders to ready the missiles should the enemy podships breach our fifty metre radius barrier." She took a deep breath. "All sectors must be manned and prepped including my sector, Sector 10, and the satellite signals must be very carefully monitored." She paused. "That…is all." She finished lamely.

She then lifted her head slowly to meet the eyes of her seniors as they watched her with blank faces and…wow, were there many people in the room. She cleared her throat awkwardly as she tried her best to be invisible. But the eyes were firmly glued onto her. They wouldn't stop staring. She met Admiral Chiron's eyes and quickly looked away, very mildly ashamed.

The silence was broken by Reyna. "What are all you looking at?" She demanded. "You heard her. Get to work."

Immediately, the tension was broken, and the room was instead broken by shuffling and the hustle of the room.

Chiron approached her, a smile on his face. Piper's eyebrow furrowed, her eyes widening slightly. She saluted and gulped as he neared. He glanced at the device in her hand and winked.

"Funny how it only gives useful information when you have it." He said. "And good job." He added, gesturing to the announcement phone.

He must have kept it for four hours before giving it to her to monitor the updates, she realised.

Piper nodded in thanks and gestured to the whole of the ship. "The ship needs you, sir. My sector needs me."

He nodded and walked briskly away, shouting commands.

Piper made her way out of the room, meeting Reyna's eyes and returning her nod before sprinting down the hallway, taking lefts and rights before she reached her sector. She slammed open the door and entered, meeting all of their stares and nodding to their salutes.

"Okay," she said. "I want everyone to be prepped and ready. Get your gear on and meet me in the common room in five minutes."

Mitchell, her second-in-command, threw Piper's gear to her and she swiped it, dashing to change.

"They've done quite a good job." Rachel nodded in approval as they watched the feed they received from the satellite.

The massive giant of a ship moved slowly, sparks flying from the right, where the motor was supposed to be running, half of the ship faltering, the windows flapping open and closed, messing with the gravity inside the Atlas, causing the ship to tip up and down as it practically tumbled through space.

Piper grinned in reply, proud of her friends.

She was in her uniform, a full suit with a high zipped up neck that flared to make a sort of collar. The suit was in full crimson, three dull gold stripes running across her back from shoulder to shoulder and two racing down with the zip which ended at her navel. The gold stripes displayed her sector leader position and her bronze cuff links were a reminder of her time with Half-Blood forces.

Rachel, a ship advisor, cocked her head as she listened in through her earpiece. She snapped her head to Piper.

"They've arrived." Were the only words Piper heard before she darted to the door, swinging it open and sprinting to the East Wing. They're here. They're here. They're here. They're here.

She elbowed through the crowd that developed by the exit and stopped at the front, a grin splitting her face as she watched them dust their uniforms and slump against the wall in exhaustion and help each other out of Arion. They looked bruised and a little bloody but they were all there. They were all alive.

An even giddier smile lit her face as a flaxen head popped out of the pod and a lithe, muscular form followed. He scanned the crowd as soon as he exited and returned her grin when he found her. It took a mere four steps (two for Jason) to reach one another and soon she was wrapped in a tight blanket of warmth, her own arms snaking around him and tightening on him too. It was a long yet brief embrace and they soon separated, him poking her cheek with his finger, a familiar gesture that Jason had never lost the habit of.

"Beauty Queen!" Leo whined. "That's not fair! Me first!"

And Piper grinned, pulling away from Jason to hug Leo, knocking him affectionately on the head.

"You so-called world-renowned repair boy," She crossed her arms. "Five hours is a little too long. You're losing your touch."

"Hey I'm called repair boy for a reason. I'm better at fixing things, not tearing them apart." Leo defended, scratching his curls.

"Uh, no." Piper shook her head. "Do you remember my 19th birthday?"

He winced. "I've been trying not to."

Annabeth chuckled. "I don't think any of us want to recall such a horrifying memory."

Piper grinned at her and moved to greet her too with a hug when the ship suddenly shook and she was knocked off her feet.

Screams and yelps followed the slam of her body on the ground when it shook more violently, lights beginning to flicker. She blinked against the dark spots tainting her vision and put a hand on her head against the pain, her head swivelling about to make out the chaos. The stark whiteness of the room had flipped to a dark blue as the fluorescent lights made their last pathetic attempt to light before fusing completely.

She felt a hand on her back and turned to accept Jason's other free one as he helped her up.

"Are you okay?" He asked, glancing at the ceiling where the lights once glowed with a frown.

"I'm fine." She said. She examined him herself to make sure he was okay before peering out the room that led to the hallway. It was completely dark too. "What just happened?"

The answer came in another bang against the ship, causing it to rattle and shake once more.

"The podships," Jason said, snapping his head to the exit they just came through as another boom reverberated through the ship. "They caught up."

Piper's eyes widened. She whispered a curse before darting out of the room and down the hall, Jason following close behind her.

The ship's alarms began to whine, the bright red flashing on the walls as Piper dashed past them. People moved around, disoriented, some panicked and most sprinting, shouting orders. The booms and rattles of the ship continued, so repetitive that it dulled to the back of her head. She dodged a few cadets and slipped into a right turn that lead down to the command room.

Reyna straightened from her position bent over the control panel. The massive screen filling the whole wall displayed an image of dots—perhaps they represented the podships—flying towards the large arc at the bottom of the screen—the ship, maybe. There was another arc in red a little far from the image of their ship that, if passing by it, towards the ship, turned the dots red and goodness were there many red dots.

Piper pointed at the red dots. "Podships closer than the fifty metre barrier?"

Reyna nodded. "Correct, and the numbers keep increasing."

Another wave of pods barrelled into the ship, causing another shake, and an eruption of colourful curses spilled out of Jason's mouth. "We need to gather the forces." He told Reyna. "Fire the lasers, send pods to retaliate. Something."

Reyna leaned over the panel and typed a series of codes. "We're working on it," she said. "But that last mission took quite a lot of energy out of the ship and we haven't had time to recharge."

"What about the individual attacks?" Piper suggested and Reyna sent her a dark look.

"That's too dangerous."

She was right. The venturing out into the vacuum of space with only protective suits and gravity boots was suicidal especially against dozens of pods.

"My sector and I have been trained for this." Piper replied. "And there isn't any other way."

She even had a little secret she'd been working on to perfect their attacks. A small but efficient weapon that would destroy many ships at a time.

"We've lost too many soldiers now," Reyna fixed her with a stern look. "There's no use in losing any more."

"We'll lose a whole ship of people if we don't do something now!"

"Wait," Jason interrupted them. "The barrier has a sort of gravity, right?"

Both Reyna and Piper nodded.

"Then why don't we remove the barrier," he started, and raised his voice when Reyna moved to interrupt, "And disorient them a little before putting the barrier back up."

Reyna sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I don't like this." She groaned.

"Where's the admiral?" Piper asked.

"Dealing with the forces." Reyna sighed once more and, without ceremony, flipped a red switch and removed the barrier.

There was a boom, but not one that vibrated the room. Piper moved to the closest window she could find and watched the podships outside lose control and tilt and sway like puppets on a loose string. As they began to right themselves and adapt to the vacuum, Piper called.

"Put it back on!"

And Reyna locked the barrier in place once more and Piper watched as the podships shook once more, righting their balance, the quick change disorienting them. Piper smiled and looked at Jason, who beamed back at her like a child being praised for his work. She chuckled, shaking her head, and went to Reyna, who'd become quite amused in her job of switching on and off barriers.

But the amusement diffused when shrill screams and shrieks filled the ship. Reyna moved from her place at the panel to the door, her braid slipping behind her shoulder as she popped her head out. Piper and Jason both moved forwards, frowning, when Reyna snapped her head back, a green light shooting where her head had been mere milliseconds ago.

She turned, panting, her eyes wide. "They're inside the ship!"

"How?" Piper exclaimed, startling when Jason pushed past her to the panel. He pressed a button and the screen split into two columns. On the left was a map of the ship and the right showed the CCTV footage of each wing.

Piper stood behind him and examined the screens. Utter chaos was the South Wing, as was the West, and Piper tensed at the amount of enemy soldiers invading. They wouldn't stop coming. Like cockroaches, they slipped out of narrow hallways, through port windows, never-ending in number and all but eradicating the Half-Blood soldiers fighting there.

"We need to do something!" Piper turned to Reyna. "We need to help evacuate them from there."

Reyna kept her stony face tilted up to the screens. Her mouth tightened at every kill and she strode to the panel. "Both of you ready the soldiers." She bent over the array of buttons. "I'm closing the gates of the West and South Wings."

"But—" Piper protested.

"The sooner you get the troops ready, the sooner we can evacuate our soldiers and gas the enemies." Reyna cut her off with a firm voice. "For now, we need to keep the intruders from spilling in."

Jason nodded. "Keep your earpieces on too." He said to everyone. "For now that's our only way of communicating secretly."

Reyna nodded and adjusted her earpiece, Piper doing the same.

"Now go." Ordered Reyna.

Piper and Jason nodded, making their way to the door, Jason's hand on the small of her back.

As the door slowly slid open, both of them slipped out their guns. They nodded to each other a split second before the door opened before they slid out of the control room, Jason slamming the button for it to close as soon as they both made it out.

It was utter pandemonium outside, the hallway a battlefield of war cries and lasers, slams of bodies and the cracks of bullets. Piper ducked as a bullet flew towards her, spinning back up to shoot back before darting to the closest cover she could find—a potted plant. She would laugh at the absurdity later once her life wasn't in danger. Moving a little, she angled herself so she could see Jason. He was battling hand-to-hand with an unarmed intruder, ducking when he slammed his fist forward, landing a blow to the intruder's gut. Why was he being noble now? He should've just slipped his gun out and ended it. She sighed, moving her gun a little out of cover to carefully aim it at the enemy soldier, her eyes occasionally darting for any threat.

Stop moving Jason, she cried internally. I need to get room for a shot.

Her gun mirrored the soldier's movements, moving down when he ducked, turning to the side when he moved, shooting up when he jumped. Goodness, would both of them just stop moving? They kept—ah, he had Jason cornered, none of them moved.

This was her shot. It was one shot.

As her finger moved to the trigger, a bullet zooming from her right ripped through her hand and she screamed, dropping the gun. Jason's head snapped to her as she shrieked and he narrowly missed a life-threatening blow. She slammed herself back, taking full cover from the potted plant, tears of pain streaming down her face. Her hands were completely bloody, red dripping onto the floor, and she couldn't move them without feeling as if a mace was smashing it. She squinted through the blood and the agony and found that…she was missing two fingers from her left hand. Her ring finger symbolically remained intact, her ring covered in blood but unharmed. She took shuddering breaths, rocking herself, the battle completely disappearing from her mind as she drowned in pain.

Until a figure moved into her vision and she shouted, her leg moving to defend herself.

Jason blocked, showing her it was him before crouching down to examine her, his gaze full of raw concern. He gasped when his eyes caught her mutilated hands and he surged forward, taking them carefully in his.

"Oh my gods," He breathed, his voice shuddery. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm right here."

He reached forward and wiped her tears, one hand gentle yet firm on her wrists. He moved to help her up when she stopped him.

"Switch on my earpiece." She said weakly.

Jason frowned, moving his finger to her ear to switch it on.

She took a deep breath against the pain. "S-sector 10." Her voice, though a mere whisper, was steady. "Mitchell. I want you take charge until I arrive and move forward with Plan 14A. We have intruders plaguing the ship and we need to keep them away. I will be arriving there as soon as possible. All of Sector 10 copy?"

Dozens of voices replied in her ear. "Copy."

She then nodded to Jason and allowed him to help her up. He reached behind her to cup her back and kept one hand clasped around her wrist, careful not to press her hands. They both rose together and he took a gun out, his other hand still holding her wrist, keeping her close.

His body acted as a shield due mainly to his size that covered her from the blows and lasers and bullets that filled the air. Concerned for his wellbeing, she wrapped an arm around his waist, flinching when her hand bumped against him, and pulled him close, making sure to run it around to feel for any injuries. She played seer too, making herself useful in some way, telling Jason where to dodge, shoot and when to take cover. Occasionally her leg would shoot out to defend them, kicking back any threat that moved too close and Jason would look at her with a quirk of his lips, amused. She kept the blinding pain at bay, though barely. Any movement they would make, any dodge or sudden turn, would result in the pain spiking from her hands and Jason resting his cheek on her head, breaking into many apologies.

A female soldier came too close once, too. She ran at them like a bull, her gun out, and fired shots that they narrowly missed, a bullet nicking at the side of Jason's neck and one catching his thigh. Piper shoved herself with her elbows away from him and into cover. He was covering her so much he was getting hurt and she wouldn't allow that. He reached for her, startled, but she shook her head and gestured at the soldier, who was slowly recovering from the blow Jason landed on her stomach with his fist.

While Jason dealt with his opponent, Piper jumped when one came too close to her. He practically straddled her, both of them hidden behind her cover, her legs pinned down by his body. The flash of his knife was the one thing she saw before he jumped forward and she ducked into the forward arc his body made as he surged forward, her head slamming into his chest, pushing him away.

Momentarily.

He recovered too quickly and zoomed forward quicker and Piper felt fear grapple onto her heart. A knife was a much slower death than a bullet. A more painful death than the quick flash of a laser. She didn't want to die by a knife. She didn't want to die.

And there was no damn way to defend herself.

She heaved a deep breath and met his eyes before he brought the blade forward. My legs are free, she realised. She stole a quick glance at her legs and the man's position. Well if I'm going to die I better die with a bang.

And up her foot went, striking him right where it hurts, and relishing in his scream of pain, meeting his blade, as momentum carried him forward, with a smirk.

But suddenly a form shoved him to the side and Piper leaned back as the form hit the ground with the man, her eyes wide. She turned her head to see Jason, dusting his hands and running to her.

"Did you just," She stared at him incredulously. "throw her?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps."

"You're a little scary, fiancé." She said as he helped her up.

"Not as scary as you." He gave her a grin, shaking his head. "I mean, the poor guy can probably never have children now."

"Well," she said with disgust. "Assuming the fact someone is actually willing to take a guy who plays with knives."

"Touché."