Rear Admiral Mcjingles walked slowly across the meager hanger bay on board the expedition's flagship: the Autumn class heavy cruiser UNSC Zeng He. Although he is somewhat annoyed with the fact that the heavy cruiser doesn't have large enough hanger bays to house multiple fighter squadrons like the older cruisers that he had served aboard during the years of the Covenant war, it did have various upgrades to its weapon systems plus: it has shields. Something that he hoped would balance out the lack of fighter craft.

Crew members busily worked all around the Rear Admiral, helping to organize supplies needed to the steadily growing colony on the surface, only stopping to give the senior officer the custom salute before returning to their work at hand. Pelican and Darter dropships would land and lift off from the hanger deck periodically to offload and load supplies and personnel. Sounds of mechanics doing routine maintenance on the various crafts and machinery filled the Rear Admiral's ear.

Jingles allowed himself to show a small smile as he walked towards a certain Pelican. Despite being almost 3 million light-years away from Earth, the atmosphere was full of life and purpose, nothing different from what he was used to back during the war. Though to be honest he thought to himself as he neared his destination, right now we don't have to worry about extinction.

"Greetings gentlemen!" he announced himself to the unexpecting group of ONI personnel. "Am I right to assume you didn't find any trouble? "

"You are correct sir" said a man whose facial features and voice accent resembled those who had Italian ancestry. Jingles immediately recognized him as the overall ONI commander of the expedition: Captain Mike Cenzo. "My apologies for not coming up to the bridge to report our findings"

Jingles waved his hand in dismissal at the Captain's comment before replying "No need for such formalities Captain. We're among friends. Now, tell me about what you've found" he continued suddenly, changing the subject to a bit more formal.

The Captain hesitated for a brief moment before replying "I suggest we give you a full report somewhere more private sir".

Jingles nodded in understanding before he motioned for the Captain to follow him. He led him to one of many meeting rooms located near the hanger bay and sat down at the table.

Cenzo followed suit and produced a brown envelope with a huge red stamp marked "TOP SECRET" along with a small computer chip before sliding both of them over to Jingles.

"In there you will find a full written report on all of our findings during our assignment" he said, voice full of professionalism while Jingles was flipping through the pages in the envelope. "Full sensory data is also included in the chip that I gave you"

"Thank you Captain, but can you give me a quick rundown of your findings? "

"Of course sir, " the ONI spook replied before producing a personal tacpad. The pad soon revealed a holo representation of the surrounding area within the Pegasus Galaxy that the expedition is in. "Mostly nothing much other than empty star systems with potential mineral resources, mainly molybdenum and iron." the Captain continued on "These two worlds can harbour human life with a little terraforming. My estimate about 7 months time" he said with the 2 systems in question being highlighted in the holo.

"So we're alone out here? " the Rear Admiral asked.

The ONI Captain hesitated before replying "Sir that may not be the case. Four days ago, we detected anomalous energy signatures on the surface of a planet." the Captain highlighted the planet in question before continuing. "The thing is sir, the readings were instantaneous, they were there on our sensors one second, then went away the next. They were so fast that our sensors couldn't get an accurate fix on their point of origin. And here's the catch sir: the planet can naturally support life."

At that statement, Jingles mentally froze. A planet that can naturally support human life is extremely rare to find. Only a dozen worlds in existence that he knows have the exact correct chemistry to house human friendly environments. Evidently however, Cenzo wasn't finished.

"I took the liberty of authorizing for a ground recon team to scout out the area we calculated to be the source of the anomaly was detected. What they found was a ruins of sorts, my guess it's a village of some kind, centered around a large metallic ring."

"You think this ring is the source of your anomaly Captain?" Jingles finally finding his voice to speak up.

The Captain simply shrugged before replying "I'm no expert sir, but there is a chance, but I'm not sure. To quote a member of the ground recon team sir, it looks like an object of worship more than anything else. But I'm not really an expert in such fields sir."

"Duly noted Captain, anything else you want to add? " Jingles asked, wanting to cut the meeting short so he can make a relay the information to Governor Olken.

"One more thing sir, we received a transmission from Earth."

"A WHAT? " Jingles suddenly jolted upright, not believing what he had just heard.

"A transmission sir. It was pure luck that one of the prowlers picked it up while it was scanning a system."

"What did it say? "

"Just a simple congratulations on reaching Pegasus and a memo saying that an expedition from our Sword of Sanghelios allies are going to join us. Force composition is a single CAS Carrier, 3 CCS battlecruisers and 2 CPV Corvettes."

"When and why? "

"Two years from now sir, and as for the why... "

"Spill it out Captain" Jingles interjected, though something tells me that he's not going to like the answer.

"Somehow, and I stress somehow, a minor prophet escaped the great schism and gathered up a sizable force of Brutes. Numbers are sketchy, but about half a dozen ships. Classes unknown. Apparently he figured that the Pegasus Galaxy is a good place to lay low."

Hearing that, Jingles wanted to scream in frustration. He thought that he, and all other members of the expedition, would be cut free from the Covenant for good.

"Any ETA to when the prophet will arrive?"

The ONI Captain simply stared at him, dread in his eyes before replying.

"Sir, he left the Milky-Way way back in 2553. Big chances are he's already here."

Hearing that, Jingles actually screamed.

A/N: Hey guys, sooner than expected update! Don't expect a lot of quick updates like this one, but if there's more, expect them to be short 1-2 thousand word chapters like this one. Longer chapters may or may not follow. I don't know, ask my brain. Anyways, just as a heads up, I will be happy to answer any questions regarding anything about the story (that I have shown so far) but I will refrain from answering anything pertaining to future plot events. And all you stargate fans can calm down, the Atlantis Expedition will make some screen time, just not yet. Anyways, longer than normal author note but eh, deal with it. Anyways, see y'all next time! ADIOS AMIGOS! (I probably butchered that)