SpartaLazor : Well, here's the first chapter of Dejae's and my co-op. Dejae writes for Kiera's POV, and I write Treys. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter One: Hired

*Trey's POV*

"What is this?"

"Take a guess."

I stared down at the disassembled metal mess on the gray workbench in front of me. It was a gun, that much I knew, but what type of gun I had no idea. "Um...a pistol?"

Jakob sighed, and turned back to the computer on the counter. "Yeah, but what kind?"

"Um...9mm?"

We were in our little gun shop, Gun Runners, which rested in a small town right outside of a much larger city of New Pheonix. We sold guns here, obviously, and some attachments and other assorted modifications. On the exterior, we looked completely legit. But, there was more then meets the eyes.

Once again, Jakob released a disappointed sigh, and smacked the counter. "You're an idiot, Trey," he told me. "That's an M6C."

I folded my arms. "How was I supposed to know?" I asked in defense. "You took it apart. I can't tell."

He stood up from his old wooden stool, and walked over. After inspecting a single piece of the gun, he shrugged. "It's written right here on the side of the gun." He tossed the piece back to me.

I took the piece, which was the slide, and inspected the writing on the side. "Hmph. So it does," I said, and then dropped the piece back onto the work table. "And what makes that important?"

Jakob rolled his eyes. "We work in a gun shop. If you want to be successful, then you need to know a little something about guns." He gestured to the pile of shining silver parts on the table. "Clean it, and put it back together."

I glanced down at the hopeless myriad of pieces. There was no way I could put it back together. I had trouble putting a silencer on a rifle, which is far easier than making a pistol. "Can I get some sort of diagram or drawing? Something that tells me how?"

"You need to figure it out on you own, Trey," Jakob said, patting my shoulder. "What if the Covenant were invading, and you needed an M6C to safe your life?"

Pointing over to a rack of seven M6C's, I said, "I'd take one of those."

"And if they were there?"

"Then I'd go for a M90." I pointed to the rack on the other side of the room.

"And if there weren't any guns around but the disassembled one in front of you?"

I shrugged. "Then I'd be screwed."

Before Jakob could make a comment, the door opened and a man wearing an expensive black suit entered. He looked around, and purused the weapons that were displayed. We were only allowed to sell weapons that the UNSC had permitted, which wasn't an impressive selection. M90's were the most powerful thing we had.

"Can I help you, sir?" Jakob asked, abandoning my side and walking over to the man. "Do you have anything particular in mind?"

"Indeed I am," the man replied, his voice thick with a southern accent. "But, I don't see it in here..."

"Might I ask what it is? We might have it in the back." Jakob was desperate for customers. Several others had the exact same set up as us, but they actually had permits from the UNSC to sell the good stuff, such as SRS's, BR55's, M932's, and all that. We sold those on the down low. Illeagally.

The man tugged at his jacket. "Well, I'm actually hunting down an M6 Grindell Galilien Non-Linear Rifle. You wouldn't happen to have one of those? I'm willing to pay twice the asking price."

Jakob did the mental math. "Yeah, I think we actually have a Spartan Laser in the back." He turned to me. "We have one, right?"

I thought back for a second. "We have three, but Wheeler already has a claim on one of them, and the another needs to be fixed, but the last one's fine."

"Excellent," the man said, in a somewhat omnious tone. "And may I see you USNC permit to sell them?"

Jackob bit his lip. "We...um...left it at home?"

"So you don't have one?"

Mentally cursing, Jakob was quick to respond. "The thing is, we're not exactly big fans of the UNSC. If you don't tell anyone, anything you want in the store is yours for free."

The man shook his head. "No no. This worked out much better than I thought it would. I never thought I would find some fellow Insurrectionists that can supply our branch in New Pheonix with some weapons."

We weren't with the Insurrection. Jakob and I both hated the UNSC, since they simply abandoned our families on Reach. They didn't care about them at all.

"So, man, what do you say," the man asked, holding his hand out to Jakob. "Will you be willing to supply us with the weapons we need, for a better cause?"

Jakob didn't even need to think on that one. He almost immediantly shook the man's hand. "We have a deal," he said. "We have almost everything the UNSC has, and some that they don't."

The man raised his eyebrows. "I assume that you're talking about..."

Nodding, Jakob went over to the wall behind counter, and tapped in a code on the seemingly out-of-place keypad there. After a couple of seconds, the doors slid open, revealing a room with several rows of weapons. Our finest wares.

Covenant Carbines lined the walls on rackes, alongside an occasional Beam Rifle, Focus Rifle, and Needle Rifle. Plasma Pistols filled three crates in the corner, with Plasma Rifles and Plasma Repeaters lined up side by side on the table in the middle. Spikers and Maulers occupied the shelves on the far side. A sole Brute Shot sat amongst them.

The smile on the man's face suddenly widened. "That's exactly what I needed to see."

I watched the whole thing. Jakob was acting unnormal. He never even made deals with someone that he didn't know. But yet he jumped the gun here. The man cast a quick look over his shoulder out the window.

I followed his line of sight, and saw three Warthogs pull up. Two were the troop-transport kind, with the room for soldiers in the back. The other was mounted with a machine gun, which was manned by a female Marine.

Armed Marines jumped from their vehicles, and made their way over to the front of the shop. "Jake," I said, as my heart raced. We were busted.

"What?" He didn't even know what was going on. He was too busy inspecting the alien weapons.

The man in the suit smiled. "Game's over," he simply commented, as the Marines burst into the building, weapons raised at Jakob and I. "You lose."

"Wha...?" Jakob asked, before a Marine shoved his rifle into his face, and another grabbed his arms and slapped handcuffs on them. "What is this?"

The man chuckled. "I am Colonel August Roberston," he said. The Colonel folded his hands behind his back and continued. "I'm with the UNSCDI; the United Nations Space Command Department of Investigation," he clarified. "We recieved some information about you little shop from one of our undercover agents, and we're here to bring it down."

A tall, muscular Marine grabbed my arm and pinned it behind my back. I didn't resist, mainly because of the BR55 aimed right at my head. Once he locked the cuffs on me, the Marine grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the Colonel alongside Jakob.

"Mr. Barnes," the Colonel said to Jakob, looking at me in disbelief, "I still find it rather...unfather-like to drag your son into this illegal buisness. Certainly, you ran the risk of him getting arrested. And that's exactly what happened."

I rolled my eyes. If he thought that was unfather-like, he should've been there when I was out in space, salvaging the illeagal weapons from wrecked UNSC ships. That was far more risky.

"Sergeant, I want the building searched and cleared," the Colonel ordered. "If anything other than this stash is found, report to me."

"Yes sir," the sergeant replied, and rounded up her troops for the search.

The Colonel motioned to the Marine guarding me. "Take him out to the hog while we question Mr. Barnes here. We need to see if their stories match."

I began to mentally question his words, since it's hard to lie about the Covenant weapons in your store, that you purposely displayed. The Marine shoved me out the door, and up against the Warthog. The woman on the machine gun of the third Warthog glanced down in my direction, and swung the giant gun over towards me, to deter any thoughts of escape.

"What's going on, Trey?" a new voice asked.

I groaned. Of course. She would have to come now. "Oh...hi Lindsey," I said, shifting my hands that were bound by the cuffs. "What's up?" I asked, trying to act casual.

Lindsey Concorde was the same age as I was, seventeen, and arguably the prettiest girl in the whole city, on my standards. All of my friends had a pool going of how long it was going to take for me to ask her out. So far, it had been over three years since they started, and the total winnings were reaching around 300.

She blinked, and then brushed a lock of bright red hair out of her face with her free hand. In her other hand, there were a stack of the three video games she was coming to give to me. Her blue eyes stared into mine. "What's going on? There's Marines, and Warthogs, and...are you handcuffed?"

"Oh, these?" I asked, moving my hands off to the side of by back so she could see the cuffs. "Nothing more than a fashion statement." For some odd reason, whenever I was in a stressful situation, I seemed to become somewhat of an ass.

Lindsey sighed. "I'm being serious. What the hell is going on here? Did you kill someone?"

"Ah," the Colonel said as he exited our shop, done with questioning Jakob. "Young miss, are you aquanited with our prisoner here?"

"Prisoner?" Lindsey echoed, turning to the Colonel. "Why is he a prisoner?"

"Classified," the Colonel simply replied. "But, if he doesn't give me a full confession, then I might have to interview you for some information."

"Don't bother," I said. "She wouldn't know anything about what you want to know."

"Well then," he Colonel stared as Lindsey. "I'm afraid that you'll have to leave, miss. I don't want to have to arrest you for interfering with a military operation."

"Um..." Lindsey turned and ran back the way she came, hightailing it back to her mother. Even though she was a nice girl, she was still too dependant on her mother for everything.

"So kid," the Colonel said to me. "Is Mr. Barnes your biological father?"

"No."

"Then were are your biological parents?"

"My mother's still on Reach, probably still stuck in the wall with the Brute spikes holding her there. My dad's in Reach's orbit, if his body hasn't fallen to the planet yet."

"So they're dead?"

"Duh."

The Colonel rubbed his chin. "Well, you don't seem to sad about that."

I shook my head. "Why should I? They always treated me like shit, and if the Covenant hadn't killed them, then I would've."

"Moving on then," the Colonel said, pacing back and forth on the side walk. The Marine on the gun swung it around at the crowd forming to discourage them from watching. "Did Mr. Barnes make you actually go out on spacewalks to recover the weapons?"

"He didn't make me," I told him. "I wanted to do that. It was fun being out among the stars, being weightless, being a mere speck in the massive galaxy…have you ever been out in space?"

"I've been on ships," the Colonel replied. "Not on a spacewalk."

"Try it sometime, it'll life changing."

The Colonel tugged at his collar, and the pointed to the back of the troop-transport Warthog. "Get in and get comfortable. It's a long ride to Kepler Base."

With the help of the Marine, I climbed into the back, and sat on the seat closest to the back, and waited. A moment later, Jakob was escorted out by two other Marines, and they forced him into the other troop-transport Warthog.

The Colonel jumped in the back of my Warthog, while another Marine climbed into the driver's seat. "Take us to base, Hill," he ordered. "And tell them that we have accomplished the mission."

"Yes sir," he replied, and started the Warthog. We pulled away, with Jakob's Warthog following behind.

"Now," the Colonel said, looking back at me. "To finish questioning, have you ever come across any UNSC classified information in terminals or the like?"

"No," I answered. "Most of the time, the computers are completely ruined, or locked. We can't get in to them; we've tried."

"I see…" There was a silence between the two of us, and the only sound was the wind rippling by as we sped down the road. Scenery flashed by, blurring together from the high speed. Suddenly, there was a beeping heard over the wind.

"Excuse me," the Colonel said, reaching into his suit pocket. He pulled out his phone, and then pressed the button to answer it. "Hello? Yes." There was a pause, and I strained my ears to over hear the conversation over the phone, but the wind prevented it. "You want my prisoners for what? That's not possible. I need to know why you want them. I'm not just going to hand them over to…ONI's orders?" The Colonel sighed. "Fine." He hung up and shoved the phone into his pocket.

"What's up?" I asked, completely aware that I was out of place in asking.

"You got lucky, kid," the Colonel replied, moving over towards the driver seat. "Get the base on the line, and tell them to prep a Falcon for our guests. They're to be transported to the Nassau Station in the Bahamas."

"Sweet," I muttered. "I get arrested and I get to go on vacation."

*Kiera's POV*

I leaned back and closed my eyes, letting Sarah drive the warthog down the road. The Bahamas wasn't huge compared to some of the places Sarah and my mother had visited, but I figured I've seen it all on Reach before the Covenant came in and destroyed everything.

Reach.

It was our first home-Sarah's and mine. Sarah is my mother. She was a Longsword fighter pilot during the Fall, but we managed to escape on a ship just as the Covenant came. Knowing what would come after, Sarah took me to Earth; we've lived here ever since.

"Kiera, what else do we have to do today?"

Opening my eyes, I glanced at Sarah. Her long dark brown hair was tied back, and hazel eyes covered by a pair of sunglasses. Her pale skin matched mine, with her black tank top fluttering in the wind.

"Kiera?" She met my gaze before taking a hand off the steering wheel to adjust her sunglasses. Despite how I always told her that these things have autopilot, she always chooses to drive.

"Not that I can think of," I replied, and turned back to look out the open side. Scenery flashed passed as the warthog sped up towards the Nassau Station. I could see it from where we were on the road.

"You packed everything, right?"

"Yes, Sarah. Like you told me the first time." I slyly looked back again at my mother. Her lips were pursed and brow furrowed. I smiled, knowing I annoyed her by using her first name.

"Would you not call me that?" She sighed, sounding tired.

"Could you please tell me what the hell we're doing?"

Sarah looked at me before returning her gaze to the road. "I suppose I owe you that much."

"You suppose?" I laughed. "You tell me to pack my things because some guy whose name is Brian has a job for you."

"And you," she added before smiling. "We can actually call him right now. You can personally ask him yourself about what kind of job this is."

Sarah reached forward with her left hand-keeping her right hand on the wheel, and grabbed her tablet, tapping buttons that popped up.

Mumbling I said: "There's autopilot …" but she ignored me and continued on.

Finally, a call connected, and a man's face appeared on the screen with a ring. I didn't recognize him, and began wondering where my mother met him until the screen wavered as the call connected.

"Brian, hello. It's Sarah Free calling."

Static greeted her before a deep voice responded. "Sarah! You sound well. Are you on your way to the Nassau station?"

"We can see it now."

"Good, good …" More static. "Did your daughter decide to come along as well?"

"I didn't have much of a choice," I spoke up, expressing my irritation.

The man-Brian-laughed for a few seconds. "That's your mother for you; she doesn't take no for an answer."

"I think my way works pretty well." Sarah commented, before laughing herself.

"It made you a damn good pilot, that's for sure. You always seemed to have beaten the odds that way."

I saw my mother smile. She became serious, and asked quietly. "What's the job, Brian? We left a lot, so it better be good."

"Oh, it is." More static before it cleared away. "I can't brief you like this, so you'll have to wait until you arrive at the Nassau Station in orbit. From there, we'll get things squared away and you can meet your partners for this mission."

My mother must have sensed what I thought. "Partners?" She voiced out loud in a faint whisper. She cleared her throat. "Brian," she began. "I'm sorry, but from what I understand, it was just to be myself and Kiera on this mission."

"Section 3 denied the request. The main members thought it would be more suitable for a team of four to complete the mission."

"Four would mean more of a risk to the main objective of the mission." Sarah said. She was annoyed, that much I gained from listening so far.

"I'm aware, Sarah, but in this case, four would be much more … acceptable. This mission cannot fail. This would be possibly one of your most dangerous and long missions." Brian replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

I rolled my eyes, and sighed. "Sarah, let it go. If the big ONI man says that four's the number, then we'll take it. The extra help may be needed."

"Your daughter has some sense." Brian added. There were some sounds in the background from Brian's line, and a jumbled voice spoke. I couldn't make out the words that were being said.

"Listen, Sarah." Brian came back on the phone. "I've got to go. Your partners for the mission have arrived, and I must go meet them. Are far are you away from the station?"

"Just coming up to the Orbital Lift now." Sarah turned down the road, and stopped outside the gate to be inspected by soldiers. "We'll see you soon."

"Yes. I think you'll be more than pleased with the prospects of this mission. I can promise you that."

And with a click, the phone call ended.

"Good day to you, ma'am. ID please." A marine walked up to our vehicle, and stood on the driver side. I saw he had a MA5B and a kukri on him with no other visible weapons amongst his gear.

Sarah reached into the back, and grabbed her bag. Pulling it to the front, she rummaged through it and pulled out a small, but thick stack of papers pinned together. After the marine read through them all and scanned them to confirm their validity, he motioned the rest of the security group forward and they did a thorough sweep of the warthog before finally confirming they can go forward.

The gate slide open, and Sarah pulled up to a parking lot after the marine directed us where to go. Sarah parked the warthog in the very back corner of the long-term guest parking lot, making me glare at her in annoyance because of the distance. She ignored me, and got out of the driver's seat. We grabbed the gear in silence, and walked into the station.

It was like a hotel lobby. Red benches and couches lined the tan walls, which circled around to a front desk where two women sat working, and another stood behind them on the phone. There were five doors, one guarded by two marines and the rest left alone.

I know Sarah was taking in everything just as I was. As she stopped to look at stuff on her tablet, I focused on my attention on the guarded doors. They were large and had a metallic sheen to them. Two circle windows were on the top, allowing me a small field of view down past the doors. I guessed that the orbital lift was that way.

I made eye contact with one of the guards. He looked to be young, maybe in early to mid-twenties. As soon as he saw I was looking at him, he averted his gaze to somewhere else in the room.

Sarah elbowed my side, and nudged me forward. As she walked forward, we approached the desk as the woman standing finished on the phone.

"Hello-" My mother began until she was cut off by the woman. She was a blonde, her hair neatly pinned back. Her navy blue uniform seemed to be too tight for her frame, as she bent down, she sucked in tightly and held her breath. Her nametag was gold and stood out the most. It read 'Anna'.

She typed information in a hurried manner, before finally straightening up, and smiling at us. "Hello there. How may I be of service to you?"

My mother stepped forward, and set a duffel bag on the ground in front of the desk. "We received orders from Lieutenant Colonel Brian Mowry to arrive on the Nassau Space Station at approximately 16:00 for a top priority mission from ONI." Sarah handed the papers to the women, along with some more information on her tablet.

The secretary frowned as she looked at the papers. She slowly shuffled them through her gaze as if each word was worth savouring.

"I should also add, that Lieutenant Colonel Mowry almost meant that it would be without delay."

I hid a smile as my mother said that, because the secretary looked up at her with an irritated look upon her features. As it tugged at the corners of my mouth, my mother smiled politely at her. "I apologize for my rudeness, but any delay would be … unwanted."

The woman said nothing, and quietly piled the papers back in their original order, set them on Sarah's tablet, and gave it back to her. She looked around the room, and motioned at the guard I was staring at earlier.

He stepped forward until he arrived at the desk, and stood by my side. I heard his gear move when he stood at attention. "Yes ma'am?" He asked.

"Private Eric Millers. Escort these two up the orbital lift and to Nassau station. Ensure that they reach their destination of C-Wing, room 023. Once you've succeeded, you will remain there until they are sent out on their mission. I will have a replacement for you current position until then."

I didn't know if he seemed relieved, but his shoulders dropped slightly, but his facial expression remained the same. "Yes ma'am." With an 90 degree turn to the right, he faced the door. He looked to me, then me mother, and opened his mouth to say something before my mother cut him off.

"This way, I presume?" Sarah smiled at him, and hefted her gear up before striding to the doors where the other guard stood.

Private Millers squinted at her, causing me to laugh. "Don't worry, Private Millers," I reassured him. "She's always like that. We better hurry up, or she'll leave without us."

xXx

The ride up was uneventful, and the check-in on the platform was more tedious than the last. I couldn't blame security, though. Past events on Earth made it all the more needed.

Private Millers stood with us outside our room, detailing our schedule for the evening. I didn't think it was necessary, and I'm sure Sarah agreed, but Private Millers seemed to think so.

"Between 17:00 and 19:00, supper is available to all civilian personal in the C-wing dining hall, located to the left from the entrance."

"Thank-you Private Millers. I think we'll be good anyways. Brian is supposed to meet us soon anyways."

Millers frowned at the use of Lieutenant Colonel Mowry's first name, but simply gave a curt nod of the head, ending his lecture. "I'll be in the room next door if you need me. I am to escort you to dinner if you wish to go. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, Millers. We will be good to go." Sarah nodded back at him, before turning to open the door with our new security clearance card.

The Private turned to look at me, his dark eyes piercing mine. "And anything for you?"

I smiled. "No thank-you. We will be fine."

He stared at me for a moment, before giving a small salute and walking off to his room. I followed my mother into our room, and sat down on one twin bed.

The room had grey walls decorated with a few pictures and paintings. It wasn't overly huge, but it wasn't small either. Two twin beds-one being mine-rested their headboards against the left wall, with about a four foot gap in between. A small night side table sat there. Directly opposite of it, was a TV stand with a medium sized TV on it. One wardrobe stood a bit off from that, then the door to the bathroom was beside that.

"Cozy for a space station, eh?"

I snapped out of my wandering gaze and stood to face where Sarah's voice was emanating. She walked out of the bathroom, and looked around the room. I nodded, and fell onto the bed, feeling tired and hungry.

Sarah walked to her own bed, and sat down on it too, smoothing out a crinkle in the blankets. "Take a nap if you want. I think I'm going to get changed into something more suitable." With that being said, she leaned down and retrieved her one duffel bag of clothes. Digging through it, she held up her old pilot uniform.

I rolled onto my side, and watched her give it a once-over. "You look good in that," I commented thoughtfully. I knew it would make her happy.

And it did. "Thank-you, Kiera." She smiled at it, lost in thought. Sarah stood up, and walked to the bathroom to change. "So what will you do while we wait?" She closed the door, causing her voice to muffle. "You can go over our gear and make sure we have everything. Some of the details Brian sent me beforehand are on my tablet if-"

I scrambled to my feet, the tiredness gone. "No thanks, Sarah. I think I'll go walk around outside for a bit. See what else this space station has to offer."

"Are you sure? You wanted to know-"

"Yes, I know I wanted to know earlier." I huffed out. Pulling my long brown hair back into a ponytail, I determined that I looked decent enough to be seen. I took the card Sarah had from her when she came out of the bathroom, and left the room.

The hallways were empty. I walked around until I found myself at the entrance. Remembering Private Miller's words about the cafeteria, I turned to the left I saw the cafeteria further down.

Just as I went to walk down, I heard a voice behind me. "What is a little girl doing here?"

Turning around, masking the small spike of anger behind an expressionless face, I turned and saw two marines behind me. One was an older fellow, and the other looked a bit younger than him. Tattoos decorated each of their arms, and on the older fellow's case, tattoos along his neck too.

The older fellow laughed, and pushed his friend forward. He jabbed his remark at me: "I said, what, is a little girl doing here?"

I blinked slowly, ignoring his words. I turned around and walked to the cafeteria. Cooks in the kitchen were starting to prepare food, so I went to a table, sat down, and I observed my surroundings.

The cafeteria was basically empty, save for five people. A group of three laughed and chatted amongst themselves. They appeared to be cleaning staff, or other a similar thing.

The other group consisted a man and a teenager. Father and son, perhaps? They sat the farthest away, in a corner, and talked to each other in a quiet tone. I closely examined the father, then I examined the father. I couldn't exactly see a strong resemblance, but enough to understand that there is a possibility of a family-relationship.

They got up, and cleaned off their table of garbage, and walked to leave in the direction I came.

The two marines I had the pleasure of meeting earlier walked past my table, and grinned in my direction. I continued to ignore them, and watched the father and son leave.

A loud clap interrupted my thoughts, and I flinched in direction of the noise. The older marine stood laughing, along with his friend. He mouthed "Little girl" then walked away to go get food the cooks started dishing out.

"I am not a little girl! I'm 17, damn it!" I yelled at them. "That much I can promise you, idiots."

The younger marine stopped, and narrowed his eyes at me. The older marine stopped laughing, but smile still played on his features. The group of three stopped talking and glanced hesitantly in my direction.

The son out of the father-son pair stopped. And he smiled at me. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

I glared at him, and he only winked, before being ushered out by his father. The younger marine shrugged and pushed his friend in the direction of the group of three. One of the ladies who sat there poked him, and then pointed in my direction. The older marine shrugged, and they all laughed; probably at his friend's antics.

I propelled myself away from the cafeteria, already the tiredness starting to come back. I was beginning to hate myself for agreeing to this.

Dejae: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. [Insert Joke Here] See you by the next chapter!