This chapter will go back to the Halo and Titanfall meeting. They will exchange some background information, including how the Birmingham entered the Halo Universe.
I really hope you enjoy this chapter and, like always, please leave me a review.
I do not own anything from the stories but I do own any original content.
Chapter Three: First Contact
On the Main Bridge
Of the UNSC Infinity
In the Milky Way Galaxy HU
"Patch him through." Lasky told the officer and she nodded. The view screen shifted from a scene of the outside space and the Birmingham to a dark red room with a dark skinned man with a grey moustache standing in it. Lasky shot a salute, "Greetings, I am Admiral Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity. I'm sorry for the scare. We didn't realize how close our slipspace jump was to you."
"Well, you didn't crash into us so I'll say that's a good thing." The man stated, "I'm Vice Admiral Marcus Graves of the M-COR Birmingham. We have been adrift for months now and we are running low of fuel and food. If you are willing, we would greatly accept any help you can offer us."
"Good to meet you, Vice Admiral. I'm sending my transports to your hanger bays with fresh food and supplies for your crew but I would like to invite you on board the Infinity for a more face-to-face meeting." Lasky told him.
Graves nodded, "Once my men are taken care of, I will head right over. I'm looking forward to this meeting, Admiral."
"Likewise, I'm sure we have a lot to discuss. I'm sending out towing cables and my engineers will attach them to your ship. We will tow you to the nearest UNSC fueling dock and get you fixed up." Lasky promised, "Now, if you excuse me, Vice Admiral, I need to personally look over the transports."
"No problem at all, Admiral." Graves gave him a salute.
Lasky returned it, "Lasky out."
The transmission was cut and the view screen returned to the Birmingham. He looked around and gave the proper people the proper orders before heading for the hanger bay. He took the elevator down the few dozen decks until he reached his destination. As the elevator rolled down, he called Roland up, "Roland, have our sleepy friend meet us in Hanger Bay 4C."
"Yes, sir." The orange avatar saluted and disappeared.
By the time Lasky made it to the hanger, his friend had already beaten him. Dressed in his olive green armor, he stood at seven feet tall and, with the suit on, weighed in at about a metric ton. His face was covered by a similar green helmet with an orange visor, hiding any facial features. Strapped to his back was a Battle Rifle and a magnum hung from his left hip.
The giant saluted Lasky as he approached, "Admiral Lasky."
Lasky returned the salute, "Good to see you, Chief."
"Likewise, sir."
"You got down here pretty quick." Lasky pointed out, beckon him to follow him towards a nearby Pelican. He spotted several troops loading the various Pelicans with cargo crates full of food and supplies.
"Once we spotted the Birmingham, I headed for the armory. I wasn't sure if it was hostile or not." He said, "One can't be too careful."
"Wise words, Chief. How's your friend in there?" he pointed to Master Chief's helmet.
Chief answered by reached back and pulled out a data chip from the back of his helmet. Out of the blue ring, a holographic image of short haired female appeared. The AI smiled at him, "Fit and ready for service, Admiral."
"Good to have you back, Cortana." Lasky told her, "Looks like Halsey was able to rebuild you."
"Yeah, I was all comfortable with being dead until I realized there was no snack bar. Besides, who will be around to keep this guy in check?" She gave Chief a small smirk and looked back at Lasky, "What do you need from us, sir?"
Lasky nodded, "You always read my mind. I need you both to go over to the Birmingham for two reasons. First, I want you to see if you can dig into their files a little bit. I want to know who they are, why they are here, and where did they come from. Second, I want them to know that we are not to be crossed. Seeing one of our best Spartan IIs will give them that message. Am I clear?"
Cortana nodded and Chief plugged her back into his helmet, "Crystal, sir."
"Good, I want a full report before you get back. I don't like surprises, Chief."
"I agree."
In Hanger Bay 2
Of the M-COR Birmingham
In a unknown galaxy
Sarah and Graves entered the hanger bay just as the strange ships touched down. The grey colored transports looked like birds to Sarah but still nothing like she had ever seen before. They were far more high tech than anything they had on the Birmingham, except maybe the Titans. She felt the hair on her neck stand up when she thought about who they might be letting on board their ship.
Just moments ago, as they headed down the emergency stairs, Sarah and Graves had been silent until she ruined that, "Sir, do you think that they could be the IMC?"
Graves had shaken his head, "Of course not, Lieutenant. The IMC don't have ships that size that can fly out of wormholes. I think we are dealing with a whole new faction in this galaxy. Most of all, they are willing to help us. We are not in a position to deny help from anyone."
He had a point, she thought, but she still couldn't shake the bad feeling she was having. The first transport's ramp came down and green armored men poured out. Each one of them had cargo crates in their hands. The second transport dropped a large crate in one spot from under its belly before landing in a clear location. More men came pouring out with crates from that one.
The process repeated a few more times and Sarah knew that the same was happening in the ships other two hangers. The last transport was what caught her eye. The last soldier to step out was a mountain of man in dark green armor that covered his entire body. He was armed to the teeth, if you could see his teeth, in weapons and munitions. He carried three crates with no problem while his men were struggling with one. Sarah looked at Graves and could tell that he was looking at the same person.
The armored man dropped his crates and pointed to a few of the men, ordering them to do something that they couldn't hear. Once his orders were started to be carried out, he turned towards them and made his way across the hanger bay. He stopped two meters away from them and saluted, "I am Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117 and I am the de facto ambassador from the Infinity. You must be Vice Admiral Graves?"
Graves nodded and shook the man's hand, "Pleasure to meet you, Master Chief. This is my first lieutenant, Sarah. Welcome aboard the Birmingham and thank you for your aid."
"It is no problem at all." Chief said, "I was told to escort you personally to the Infinity to speak with Admiral Lasky."
"Lead the way, Chief." Graves nodded.
In Hanger Bay 2
Of the M-COR Birmingham
In the Milky Way Galaxy HU
Chief used his helmet to display a silent message to Cortana. The words came up on his Heads-Up-Display in the bottom left hand corner, "Did you get anything?"
"Tons. Dare is going to have a field day with all this. I'm already creating a report for Lasky to read while we bring Graves on board. We might have to distract them a bit once on board, though." The words of Cortana appeared below his own, "I didn't realize you were such a gifted speaker."
"It helps when your AI unit tells you exactly what to say."
"I knew you missed me."
In the Meeting Room
Of the UNSC Infinity
In the Milky Way Galaxy HU
Admiral Lasky had his team meet him in the meeting room fifteen minutes before Graves would arrive. He knew that Graves was bringing only one other person with him, claiming he didn't really have that many people left, so Lasky only had two people join him. The first was his ship's Office of Naval Intelligence member Captain Veronica Dare. Dare had only been on the Infinity for a few months before now. The second was Commander Sarah Palmer, leader of his Spartan operations and a Spartan IV herself.
The two girls stood at his sides with Dare on his left and Palmer on his right. Lasky brought up a datapad with Cortana's report on it, "Here's what we know: The M-COR is a group of former soldiers known as the Militia. They have only one purpose and that is to destroy all IMC activities in the Frontier. IMC stands for Industrial Manufacturing Company."
"I've never heard of them." Dare admitted.
"You wouldn't." Lasky said, thinking about his next choice of words, "They're not from around here."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"According to the data that Cortana dug up, they went through a wormhole about two months ago with the hopes it would take them to somewhere with fuel." He explained, "Where ever that wormhole was, it brought them here."
"So they're from another galaxy?" Palmer asked.
Lasky shook his head, "Cortana thinks they are from a whole different universe."
"Admiral, that's impossible," claimed Palmer.
"She found files connecting them to a planet that they call Earth with similar structure to our own Earth. That would explain why they speak English and why their ship is called Birmingham." He explained.
"I hope this Vice Admiral will be able to clear some things up." Dare said as Lasky received a call on his comm link.
He looked at them, "They will be here in five minutes. Chief is escorting them in, now."
On cue, five minutes later, the Spartan appeared in the door and stepped aside so Lasky could have his first real glimpse of the Militia leader. Graves wore a black uniform with red-orange trends around the edges. He carried a pistol on his left hip but Lasky could tell it was deactivated.
Graves's companion was a female with brown hair back in a ponytail. She wore a similar uniform to Graves but Lasky could tell that she would rather be fixing something. She reminded him of a girl that his older brother used to date. She use to work all day in a car garage and had that greasy look to her. Looking at Graves's companion, he got the same feel from her.
"Vice Admiral Marcus Graves," Lasky smiled, "it is a pleasure to have you on board our ship."
"The pleasure is all mine. My ship and I would still be free floating through space if it wasn't for you and your ship." Graves responded and pointed to the girl next to him, "This is one of the few officers I have left, Lieutenant Sarah."
Lasky waited a second, hoping that Graves would give a last name. When he realized that Sarah didn't have one, he introduced his own officers, "You already met Master Chief. To my left is Captain Veronica Dare of the Office of Naval Intelligence. To my right is Commander Sarah Palmer, commander of all Spartan operations coming from the Infinity."
"It is very nice to meet you all." Graves sounded and they all took seats at the table, except Chief who preferred to stand by the exit. Lasky knew that Cortana was recording everything that was going on in the room.
"So, Vice Admiral, let's start with history." Lasky told his opposite.
Graves nodded and went first and, for the most, his history of Earth matched up with Lasky's to the tee. The only difference was when he got to space travel, "Hammon Engineering begun to move their business elsewhere in the galaxy. That led to them creating colonies in a zone known as the Frontier. Out in the Frontier, Hammon Engineering became the Industrial Manufacturing Company and started using the lawless Frontier as a staging area for their armies. The colonist disliked being pushed around by some corporation and formed the M-COR, or the Militia as the IMC started to call them. Seven months ago, I was a member of IMC until a good friend of mine opened my eyes to their evil before dying. In his death, came the destruction of the Demeter fueling station. I took over his position in the Militia and used my intelligence from IMC to attack their major manufacturing base, crippling their hold on the Frontier."
He paused to let that sink in, "A few months later, we were drifting through the Frontier, running dangerously low on fuel, when we got stuck in the gravity well of a large wormhole. It was about three times large than the hole you created when you almost crashed into us. With no other option, we sailed into the hole."
"And that's how you got here." Lasky finished for him and Graves nodded. Lasky let out a deep breath because he knew he was going to need the time to thing on the next words. He had to explain to this man that he was still in the same galaxy, just a different universe. He looked at Dare and she nodded.
She cleared her throat, "Vice Admiral, your history is very similar to our own, minus the Frontier. After we discovered slipspace travel, we fell into an all-out war with a group called the Covenant. The Covenant was a collection of different aliens that all follow similar religious backgrounds. They crushed us to near extinction until the Covenant had some inter-rank fighting. With the help of the Sangheili, we were able to push back the Covenant and win the war."
Graves crossed his brows. Lasky could tell he was thinking hard about everything Dare had just told him. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped. He shook his head before speaking, "So you're saying that this is still the Milky Way. We're just in a different universe?"
"It would appear that way, Vice Admiral." Lasky stated.
Graves looked at Sarah and nodded at her. She returned the nod and smiled. He returned his stare to the UNSC officers, "How do we get home?"
"We don't know but we will try and help however we can." Lasky answered, "For now, that will be getting your ship to a refueling and refitting yard ASAP. Palmer, are the tows in place?"
The Spartan IV nodded, "Yes, sir. Engineering has report that the Birmingham would be able to follow us into a slipspace jump."
"Excellent. Roland," the orange hologram appeared on the table, nearly giving Graves a heart attack, "find us the nearest refueling and refitting dock. Set a course but don't launch until I give the order. Got it?"
"Yes, sir." The AI disappeared.
Lasky looked at the face of wonder on both of his new allies faces, "Roland is the Infinity's Smart AI. He's pretty much a giant computer program with the ability to do a thousand things at once."
"Thanks for the explanation, Admiral." Sarah smirked, "But a warning would have been nicer."
Lasky laughed and had Chief escort them back to the hanger bay. They will want to address their crew as soon as possible. Once they were gone, he looked to his two female officer, "Come on, let's get these folks somewhere safe."
On the Main Bridge
Of the UNSC Infinity
In the Milky Way Galaxy HU
Admiral Lasky stood at the head of the bridge with Roland to his right. The bridge was buzzing with the sound of dozens of crewmen getting the last of the prep work done. A few moments later, the noise quieted and Roland sounded, "The deck is ready to jump when you are, sir."
"Open me a line to Graves. I want to make sure he's ready for his first slipspace jump." He told the AI.
"Aye, sir." The airman pilot disappeared and the view screen changed to the dark red room that served as the Birmingham's bridge.
"Vice Admiral Graves, are you ready to jump?" Lasky asked the officer.
"Whenever you are, Admiral Lasky." The dark skinned man nodded.
"Very well." Lasky turned to his crew, "Begin slipspace jump to Refueling Station Delta Fifty-six B."
Several "Aye, sir"'s echoed the room and Lasky watched as the slipspace hole opened in front of their ship. Slowly, the Infinity inched inside before getting sucked into the massive vortex. The Birmingham was right behind it.
The ship rattled back and forth, more so than usual. Before Lasky could react, the emergency lights begun to blink, "Roland, what the hell is happening?"
"I don't know, sir." Very reassuring when an AI doesn't know something, he thought, "It appears like we are being sucked out of slipspace by something. I don't know what, though, sir."
"Well, find out." He bellowed but before the AI could disappear. The Infinity came out of slipspace. On the view screen, a large terrestrial planet lied ahead with bright blue oceans and white cloud space. Lasky looked at Roland, "Get me a scan of the planet."
"Already did, sir."
"And?"
"I have a massive energy signal coming from one location on the planet." Before he could continue, the blue holographic image of Cortana appeared on a different pedestal. She stared down at the planet.
"Admiral, I might be mistaken but the signal is familiar." She looked up at him, "It's a Forerunner base."
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