HELLO EVERYONE! Yes, I live, under a new name, but still alive.

Right, so, first off, I apologize for how long this took, as well as the length. I couldn't really decide how I wanted this chapter to pan out, even now, I don't think it's how it should be, but I wanted to send it out anyways, just so people know I'm not dead.

Now, for some reviews. I did answer most of these in PM's, but I thought I would go over them again, here, just so people know what's going on.

Right, so, several reviews mentioned they assumed the Headhunters would declare for, or protect the Stark's in the future. While this is a good assumption, it's not really logical. At this point, they assume they're in enemy held territory, potentially surrounded by Insurgents and Rebels. And even if they're aren't, (which, we know they aren't) they will still assume so, because they have no reason not to assume so, and, the Stark's, despite their niceness and hospitality are still potential threats. Later on? They will probably learn to trust the Stsrks, but they will never declare for them. The reasons for this are two fold. One, to do so means swearing an oath of fealty, and two, this means that, until they regain contact with the UNSC HighCom, they ARE the UNSC, and thus, would technically be declaring war on whichever House is an enemy of the one they declared for. Will they defend themselves if attacked? Absolutely, but they won't swear fealty.

Another reviewer, Anquietas, mentioned that Spartans wouldn't carry underwear or toiletries with them, this is an understandable assumption, however, unlike MJOLNIR, SPI doesn't have the waste filtration systems of its larger tankier predecessor, nor the heating and cooling systems. Spartans III's are also on much longer term deployments than their S-II counterparts, lasting weeks to months, and so ammo alone won't cut it. I will concede the dress uniform (I honestly don't know what I myself was thinking) however, as to your comment about reading the Lore, I have, and, Halo: Glasslands shows us Spartans do carry underwear, toiletries, and extra clothes as well as ammo, food, and a data-pad in their rucksack. It's actually the only reason Blue Team was found, because Lucy-B091, who was stuck with a group of engineers and unable to communicate, dumps her rucksack to find something write with. An engineer picks up one of her spare underwear which has her name on the seam, allowing communication to begin develop between them. So, whenever people are happy that Blue Team is back in the new books, like Last Light and even the new games, just remember it was all because a Spartan remembered to pack her underwear. :D

To the guest who left me...whatever it was you left me with those paragraphs, I thank you, and will read through it post haste.

Of course, the disclaimer. I own nothing (Jon Snow) except my OC's.

Right, onto the chapter, enjoy, and please review!


Location Unknown, 22:00 hours, April 16th 2545 (UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time)

It had been fifteen minutes and twenty six...twenty seven...twenty eight seconds since Tara had woken up in this mysterious forest. She still had no idea where she was, no idea what planet she was on, and no idea what to do.

During the last fifteen minutes the two Headhunters had been walking in the vague direction of an animal, a deer, Tara assumed based on the tracks they were following, or something like a deer. While the odds it would lead the Spartans to people or just civilization in general were slim to none, it would provide a good meal, hopefully, and Tara knew that, if she had the option, she would gladly commit deericide if it meant never eating another Marine issue MRE ever again.

She raised her helmet to the sky, once again confirming the current time was not the same as her helmet clock, which quite cleanly read 22:01. It had been adjusted for Thebas's twenty nine hour cycle, of course, but the weather here was one of the many indicators that they weren't on the Covenant colony anymore. It looked to be about noon here, though Tara wouldn't change her clock until she had confirmation.

She was five metres ahead of Matt, as per standard patrol formations, and thus could more easily see signs the animal had come this way, broken twigs, hoof prints...It also meant she could hear the voices.

There were several, all sounded male, and all speaking standard Earth English [1], though, with admittedly heavy accents. Before even the first full word had registered in her mind Tara had activated her SPI's Photoreactive panels and raised her MA5K to her shoulder. Behind her, Matt did the same and the two III's blended into the forest around them, waiting.


Wolfswood, Westeros, 12:34 hours 298 AL (Local Time) Local calendar

"We're not going to find anything Father." Robb Stark stated for the second time in ten minutes as he stepped over a fallen log and around a pile of dead branches. "We've been walking for ten minutes with nary a trace of Wildlings."

Eddard didn't respond to his son as he kept walking, hand on his sword hilt, but found himself silently agreeing with Robb. They hadn't found any Wildlings, true, but with The King due to arrive in Winterfell within the next two weeks Lord Stark wanted to err on the side of caution.

After another five minutes of walking Eddard was about to tell them to head back when a voice shouted out from somewhere to his left.

"Stop where you are! Identify yourselves!" The voice was male sounding, young. Eddard guessed the speaker couldn't have been older than his twentieth Nameday.

Eddard was on edge immediately, but the voice didn't sound like that of a Wildling, it was full of authority, like a Knight's, yet, surely a Knight would show themselves.

Lord Stark and his party stopped where they were. Robb and Theon both had drawn swords, and Jory readied his bow, but Jon kept his sword sheathed, as did Eddard.

The Lord of Winterfell stepped forwards thinking it better to remain peaceful, and avoid any bloodshed unless absolutely necessary, not to mention he had no real idea who he was facing. For all he knew there were a dozen men hiding in the brush. So he stepped forwards, his hands were kept away from his sword hilt as he shouted in the direction of the voice.

"I am Lord Eddard of house Stark, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North under his Grace the King of Westeros, Robert Baratheon, First of his name." Ned shouted into the trees as the rest of the party tensed. It wasn't the full titles of either of the two men, but Ned doubted a barrage of titles would affect the situation. "And I command thee reveal thy selves!" For a solid minute there was no reply, until the group heard some rustling and the "Wildlings" emerged.

Ned wasn't quite sure what he expected would emerge from the thick forest, but he certainly wasn't expecting the two shimmering forms to reveal themselves less than five metres from his position.

They were almost liquid like in their shape, the light bending and reflecting away from them, yet at the same time, passing through them as though they didn't exist. They reminded Ned of the mirages that were often encountered across the sea, in the deserts of the Free Cities. Ned stared down the apparitions silently before, as though deciding he was safe to speak to, the shimmering forms solidified, revealing two suits of almost Knightly plate.

Despite the seeming resemblance the suits were like no plate armour Ned had ever encountered. Instead of shining metal the suits were painted a drab light brown that reflected nothing, and the helms were, on the contrary, a seemingly shining gold that Ned couldn't see through, almost as though he was looking through a mirror. [2]

The weapons they held, to, were different and unfamiliar to him. They reminded him of a crossbow, to be sure, yet, the similarities ended there. Eddard saw nowhere a bow string could be located, nor did he see a bolt. And unlike a crossbow, the weapons held across these Knight's chests were made of blackened metal, for Ned could see no wood along the weapons.

"Who are you?!" Theon shouted as both groups tensed at the sudden words, the Greyjoy seemingly impatient with how things were progressing, or just nervous. Ned couldn't blame him, however he held up a calming hand as he noted one of the Knights had braced themselves against a tree on their right, which Ned noted kept them covered from Jory's bow unless the Guard Captain repositioned, and raised their weapon a tad.

One of the Knights placed it's weapon on it's back, though, how the crossbow like weapon attached to the back armour without any sling or rope none of the Westerosi could say, before the figure took a tentative step forwards, it's hands raised in the air as if surrendering.

He noted, by the way it walked and the shape and contours of its body that it almost appeared like it was a woman, though, looks could of course be deceiving.

"Our apologies, sir." The Knight, who revealed herself to indeed be a woman by her voice, (a young voice at that, almost like a young teens. Was the woman a squire, perhaps?) stated as she stopped in front of him about a metre away. "We're a little lost...and, as to who we are," the woman tilted her mirror-helm towards Theon, "we're Soldiers, and we were sent here by mistake, from a land far, far away from here, so far you would have probably never heard of it." The woman stated in an accent not to dissimilar from those beyond the wall. Based on her accent alone, Ned might have mistaken her for a Wildling.

"Have you come to invade?" Robb asked before Ned could speak. He shot his son a look that said be quiet! before he turned back to look at the two soldiers.

"No, our arrival here was accidental." The woman stated. "I'm Petty Officer Second Class Tara, and that's Matthew, Petty Officer, First Class." She jerked a thumb at her companion, who had kept his gaze on the group from his position at the tree.

Ned gestured to the others in their party to sheathe their weapons. He was intrigued by the words Petty Officer, a title, or rank of some kind, no doubt. "We have no ill will towards you, Petty Officer Tara, or Matt, and would be happy to bring you back to Winterfell, so that our two kingdoms could better get to know one another."

In truth, Ned was wary of these strangers, and felt that Winterfell would be a good place to monitor them, not to mention the King would soon be arriving, and Ned could receive his consul on the matter.

"I suppose the King isn't the only head of state we'll be receiving this month, Lord Stark." Jory muttered. Ned didn't answer him, waiting for a reply from the strangers.

A second later Tara replied. "We accept."


En route to Winterfell(?), Westeros(?) 22:47 hours, April 16th, 2545 (Local Time) UNSC Military Calendar

All in all, things could have gone worse, Tara thought absentmindedly as she walked out of the thick woods and into open fields.

For starters, it was likely that these men might not have spoken any English, and while Tara was fluent in French, she knew that that language was an even less likely candidate than English for these people to speak, if one took official UNSC consensus into account.

Tara and Matt, of course, were wondering who these people were, Tara herself had even at one point assumed these weren't people, that maybe they just looked like people. she almost hoped they were aliens, because if they were people...

...If these were indeed humans, then why were they so primitive? And where in the galaxy were they? Those were the main questions that needed to be answered, the priorities. The man in front of Tara, the leader, Eddard, or, Lord Stark, had said they were in some place called Westeros. Tara had never heard of it, and she had heard of most places in UNSC space.

"What do you think?" Matt asked through a private channel as he kept pace beside her. "Innie trap?"

To the rest of the group, the two Spartans were completely mute, in fact, the party hadn't heard them speak since Tara accepted the invitation to journey to Winterfell, which was only two hours or so away.

"Don't know...maybe." She replied, drumming her fingers along the grip of her MA5K and looking around at each of the other party members. "If it is, ammo won't be a problem, at least."

"And if it isn't an Innie trap?" Matt queried, turning to look behind them and absentmindedly counting how many rounds of ammunition he had on his person.

"Then we adapt and deal with it." The young girl replied. "Besides, this is definitely better than what I thought might have happened when I touched that Crystal." Matt raised an eyebrow under his helmet.

"And what did you think happened?"

"I don't know, world ending apocalypse, the End Times, you know, something explosivey." Tara exclaimed.

"Explosivey isn't a word, Tara." Matter murmured, swatting a fly out of the air.

"You know what I meant." She muttered as they kept walking.

"Comm still down?" Matt asked, already knowing the answer. Tara nodded and adjusted her rucksack.

"Figured out what to do when they quiz us?" Tara asked as she looked left, then right.

"Sob story? Might endear us to them. You still have your holo projector?" Matt queried. Tara nodded again.

"We telling them my history then?" She asked, not really sounding bothered by the notion.

"If they believe you to be an heiress to a big family fortune and planet, all the better for us. they'll probably treat us better." Matt muttered in his typical whisper.

"That's assuming they don't freak out from what we show them. They'll have even more questions." Tara stated. "What do we answer?"

"Whatever we can without divulging classified Intel. Cole Protocal is clear." Matt answered. [3]

"Copy that."

They were coming up on a large castle. Tara could see the towers and ramparts coming up. It was a large castle, but she noted several flaws in its defence. She saw no moat, nor a drawbridge. Simply a wall and guard towers. That was to say nothing of how primitive it was. Her mind immediately noted the missing gun towers, electrified fences and tank traps, amount other things that would have been commonplace in the 26th century.

Of course, it wasn't the fault of the people living there, her mind was simply still processing the situation.

"There, Winterfell." The man with a bow, Jory, pointed out the the two Spartans and the rest of the party.

"Home sweet home." The boy, Robb muttered happily.

As they approached Tara noted guards and sentries along the walls eying them suspiciously. It was understandable, of course, but her fists tightened and she wished she could hold her rifle, unfortunately Tara and Matt had both agreed to place their weapons on their backs, so as to look peaceful, still, unease gripped her as they passed a a group of guards on patrol, all carried shields on their backs, which Tara noted had an engraving of a Wolf's head, the same as on the banners hanging from the castle walls. The guards nodded to Lord Stark, who motioned towards the two Spartans.

"These are our guests, you are to treat them with respect, and answer any questions they may have." The sentries nodded, and watched the Spartans with curious intrigue as the group continued further into Winterfell. Jory, however, didn't accompany them further, the House Gusrd seemingly heading into a barracks of some sort.

Upon reaching the main courtyard an older red haired woman, along with two young boys walked up to them. She was finely dressed compared to the other civilians the group had gone past, so Tara assumed this was perhaps Lord Stark's wife and his youngest children. "Ned, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" She good naturedly chastised him as the two embraced.

"Mother, these are Petty Officers Tara and Matt, we found them in the Wolfswood." Robb explained, gesturing towards Tara and Matt with a hand.

The woman stared at the two Spartans, perplexed and seemingly a little frightened of them. Finally, she seemed to catch herself and uttered a rather awkward, but good natured, "Lady Caitlyn Stark, How do you do?"

"Well Ma'am, thank you." Tara stated before sending Matt a yellow acknowledgement light to notify him to cover her, and then slowly removed her helmet. [4]

It was a risky move, nether Spartan could confirm whether they were in enemy territory, or if there were hostiles, human or otherwise, watching them, and without the helmet, Tara was opening herself up to far more attack vectors, not to mention until she replied the helm, she wouldn't have any type of HUD, and her Photo-reactive panels wouldn't activate. Still, both Spartans had agreed they needed to show their faces, and Tara would be first, as they both assumed she would give off a much more disarming presence.

There was a gasp from their right and a voice shouted "See, I told you she was a girl!" As one, the group turned to see two girls on a raised balcony overlooking the courtyard. One of the girls, the older one, looked like she could have been Tara's older sister, while the younger girl, who was pointing at Tara with a grin on her face, looked more like one of Lord Stark's children.

That at wasn't the only sound the group heard. Tara didn't even need to look to know Matt had taken a knee, his rifle was already in his hands and the safety had been flicked off so fast Tara doubted anyone could distinguish the noise from his movement. Upon seeing no threat, he lowered the Marksman Rifle, flipped the safety back on and mag locked it to his back yet again.

Tara looked at the others gathered around apologetically, but offered no comment.

"Arya! Sansa!" Lord Stark's wife shouted up at the girls, who ducked down and blushed respectively. "Get down here! We have important guests!" She continued, looking at Lord Stark, who nodded in confirmation.

Lady Stark turned to Tara and Matt, looking as apologetic as Tara had. "You all must be tired. I'll have rooms prepared for you, and baths drawn up, if you'll follow me?"

Tara smiled in spite of herself and the situation. Stranded? Sure, potentially in enemy territory? Absolutely, but a bath sounded lovely right about now. Still, there was one thing that needed to be changed.

The young Spartan opened her mouth to speak to Lady Stark, however she felt a squeeze of her shoulder. She turned to see Matt's SPI faceplate inches from her face, shaking from side to side.

Tara remembered they had agreed, until they could figure out where they were, and what was going on, they need to be hospitable, that meant not asking to many things, or requesting things that would seem out of place. Tara had been about to request a single room, but Matt, knowing this, stopped her. The less conversation about them, the better.

Tara sighed, and followed Lady Stark as the sun began to set behind them, a fitting sight, in a way.

They wouldn't see the light again for a long, long time.


And that's all folks!

My comments for this chapter are as follows

[1] I could have had Westerosi and English be separate languages, but it just would have been unnecessary and added inconsequential things, not to mention I want everyone to understand one another to some extent.

[2] Westeros doesn't have Visors like the SPI faceplate, in truth, that scene would have had far more confusion from Ned at how odd Tara and Matt looked, which is partly why I don't think this chapter is really that good, but I've never been good with conveying that type of confusion well, and it would feel hamfisted and odd, so, just assume he's utterly dumbstruck by what he's seeing, as are everyone else.

[3] As I mentioned up top, these are Spartans dealing with people who don't have the clearance to hear about all the classified stuff of the UNSC, so, mentions of "home" will be sparse, and as vague as the III's can make them so as not to divulge and classified Intel. It's a common pet peeve I have with stories where Spartans just give up everything. It's OOC and doesn't make sense.

[4] This is rather OOC for a Spartan, considering the area wasn't secure, and neither Spartan could verify they were clear of hostiles, however, in this instance, Tara and Matt agreed looking non threatening was the best option, rather than personal security, so Tara removed her helmet, and, consequently, when Arya shouted Matt assumed her a threat, and, would have probably gunned her down without remorse, but then, he realized she seemed harmless, so didn't fire. Remember, these are soldiers trained since they were four years old, their first instinct would be to assess a threat, and if necessary eliminate it. They don't have Cortana or another A.I or UNSC personnel to keep them in check, all they have is each other.

Right, that's it for me, don't forget to review, and follow and favourite if you liked this, until next time, guys and gals. :)