Chapter One
March 11th, 2531: Observatory Deck of Spirit of Fire
Ellen Anders was not able to process what just happened, she felt like crying but such emotions were trivial to her. Sure they won a battle against the Covenant and denied their price; shattered a Forerunner's shield world and its priceless weapons along with it. However she felt like she has lost something. "Forge," she muttered within herself. Before she could give in to her emotion the Observatory deck's door slowly hissed open. She spun around as if expecting SGT. Forge to walk in but it was Captain Cutter. "What's wrong with me," Anders wondered and slowly rose as the Captain approached her.
"Ellen, you ought to be in the Cryo. This is going to be a long trip," Captain Cutter said noticing her troubled eyes.
"I have few more work Captain," Anders said as she spun around towards her computer knowing that the good Captain has caught her off guard.
"No," Captain Cutter said sternly. "Come let me walk you to the Cryo room." The Captain forcibly moved Anders from her deck to the Cryo room.
"Captain, I much rather stay awake to monitor this area," Anders protested, but Captain Cutter interrupted her, "Professor, there has been no sign of the covenant for almost two weeks. There is nothing to do."
"But Captain," Anders once again fought a futile battle with her Captain. "But nothing Professor, you got us all out of there alive," Captain Cutter said, forcibly pushing her into her cryo chamber and punched in the final commands onto the console. "Get some rest."
"Not all of us Captain. Not all of us," Ellen Anders muttered as the Cryo chamber closed. Before Anders could say another word the sleeping gas kicked in and the Chamber froze her and her thoughts.
September 11th, 2533: Cryo Room 3
The cryo door slowly opened as heat washed over the Captain. He felt like thousand needles pricking all over his body and suddenly felt breathless. He has done this so many time yet it felt like his first time. "I hate the cryo," Cutter muttered as he slowly stepped out. He felt weak, head to toe due to the atrophy of his muscles and wondered how long he was asleep. Before he could call out his AI, Serina's hologram appeared over a console in the room. "Hello captain," Serina said.
"Status Serina," Captain Cutter said still trying to find his footing over the floor.
"Its been two years, six months, six hours, five minutes and forty nine seconds Captain since you went to sleep," Serina said.
"That long?" Captain Cutter muttered in disbelief. "Have anyone responded to our beacon?" Cutter asked. "No sir," Serina said with a concern. "Are we any closer to our destination?" Cutter asked already knowing the answer to it. True to it, Serina shook her head with a disappointed look.
"So, what happened?" Cutter asked wondering what made his AI to wake him up in the middle of their trip. "We got trouble," Serina said. And that was enough for Cutter to jump to his feet. "Meet me at the bridge in five," Cutter ordered and walked to the shower room nearby.
Exactly in five minutes and fifty five seconds the Captain entered the Bridge with his uniform on. At first he felt very weak, but slowly he regained his strength as he entered his bridge. Serina watched her Captain enter and she opened up the blast shields over the bridge's windows letting the nearby sun's ray enter the dark room. All monitors and screens flickered to life one by one. Cutter rushed to one of the bridge's windows excepting the worst 'The Covenant'. So he started scanning the space outside, when he found nothing he moved to the radar screen. Everything was empty.
"Serina?" Captain cutter asked wondering.
As if Serina read the Captain's mind she said, "The trouble is not from the outside but from inside."
"Explain," Cutter said confused.
"Two hours back I heard a strange noise from one of our lower decks," Serina said and played the recorded noise. To Cutter it sounded like a screeching noise, metal over metal. And occasionally he heard, what he thought was a scream. But the sound was so inhuman.
"What is it?" Cutter asked looking at Serina's Hologram. Even she looked confused and shrugged her shoulders. "Get me a visual," Cutter said.
"But sir, we don't have a proper view through the cameras. I even personally went to the nearby hologram deck to have a visual inspection, but I couldn't able to find the source. So I thought we should send one of our soldiers down there," Serina said.
"Agreed," Cutter said. "Get me my Red team here ASAP."
"Anyone else?" Serina asked. But Captain Cutter shook his head. He didn't see a reason to wake the rest of his crew. But something about this situation made him uneasy. His dark dream came to his mind. Cutter just shook his head as if shaking it would literally throw his thoughts out of his mind and listened to that weird noises one more time.
"Something is not right," Cutter muttered.