Space Station Erebus spared every possible expense when it came to making a person feel welcome. Most of the walls were sheet metal with thick bolts running up and down them every few feet, with a steel girder here and there for some purpose known only to the people who designed the station. Lighting came in the form of ceiling panels that matched the shape of the sheet metal ceilings, making a sheet, sheet, sheet, light, sheet, sheet, sheet, light pattern. The floors were of a light grey plating similar to ceramic tile, and the arrows and directions painted on them every so often were the only major sources of color along any given hallway.

John led about 20 Marines down the halls towards the Pelican docking bays. Major Johnson had apparently been stopped along the way, as he wasn't with them.

Soon they came to a door marked Bay 1 and, about 50 feet down the hall, another door marked Bay 1. They opened into the same room. The door opened automatically and John led the Marines inside.

The doors actually opened to the 'second floor' of the bay. It was a balcony, designed for Pelicans to hover in front of so Marines could board quickly. Down below on the actual floor crewmen and officers were busy amongst crates and racks of supplies and weapons. There were also one or two Elites down there, holding loaded weapons in their hands and looking them over curiously while seemingly high-strung officers watched nervously, their eyes silently pleading the Elites to not hold their fingers against the triggers so hard.

There were no Pelicans in the bay though. Normally they would be docked in their mounts hanging from the ceiling, but these mounts were empty.

"Are we in the right bay?" A Marine asked.

Before John could answer, Major Johnson walked in. Right away he noticed the lack of Pelicans.

"Oh holy hell." He said, pressing his headset. "I said Level 4, Bay 6!"

Johnson walked in front of John and the Marines. A keen eye would point out how close he was to the edge of the railingless balcony, but no one bothered. One would also point out that his cigar violated the 'no smoking in the docking bays or armories' rule, but that would be suicide.

"Well we'll be here a minute, since those idiots sent the Pelicans to Level 6 Bay 4 or Level 6 Bay 9 or some other perverse number, so here's the mission." Johnson said. "We'll be flying to UNSC-11. It's a research station built on a man-made island off the coast of Britain. Flood bastards managed to steal some Hornets and break through the quarantine around Falmouth, and they found their way there."

The relative silence of the bay was suddenly broken as two Pelicans flew through the air shield outside the bay, their vertical thrusters echoing in the bay and almost drowning out Johnson.

"Our job is to clear the Flood out of there!" Johnson yelled over the thrusters. "More when we arrive! Two squads, ten of you in that one and ten of you in the other! Go!"

Johnson pointed at John, and then at the Pelican he himself was not getting into. John would be leading one of the squads, it seemed.

John climbed into the Pelican and walked into the internal passenger bay, as the outside one couldn't be sealed for space travel. He looked back and watched as Marines picked who they wanted their leader to be. Cortana once told John that you could tell a lot about a person based on his willingness to follow John into battle. John was a Spartan, and hero of the UNSC, but he had a habit of going into missions with a squad and returning alone. So a jump to join his squad either meant that the Marine had a death wish, or he was conceited and thought that he could do anything John could. John asked why it wasn't possible that the Marines would want to join him for the privilege of helping him in battle, and Cortana replied 'Because that's stupid and only happens in those inspirational recruitment videos with the half naked girl on the cover.'

Cortana had always been a ray of sunshine like that. John wondered if her personality would change much if the experiment was successful.

Ten Marines soon filled the internal passenger bay, and the pilot pressed the button to close and seal the door.

"Waiting on Major Johnson, sir." The female pilot said. All of her features were hidden by her uniform and helmet.

They didn't have to wait long. "Move out!" Johnson barked over the comm.

"Yes, sir." The pilot replied.

Cortana and Dr. Hewlett had taken the lift to Level 6, and were now walking to Bay 4. Bays 1 through 3 were no more than 100 feet apart, but Bay 4 was designed to accommodate even the biggest of starships. It was a rather long walk to get to Bay 4, which was actually nothing more than an extendable hallway to connect with a starship's doors.

Eventually they found Bay 4. An officer was standing in front of it, holding a clipboard and checking off people as they boarded.

"Hey. Er… I'm-" Cortana began.

"Major Johnson sent word, go on in." The officer said. "Kept your hair the same, I see."

"You know you love it." Cortana replied, and walked down the hall with Hewlett.

"All psyched up? Anxious, dizzy, throwing up?" Hewlett asked.

"I'll be fine." Cortana said with a smirk. "I just hope I remember everything I need to."

They entered the Prowler itself and looked around. It was much like every other UNSC starship, only slightly more aesthetically appealing than the Erebus. They had taken the front entrance, so the Bridge was just a few dozen feet to the left. They walked down the hall and entered the Bridge.

Three terminals were on either side of the Bridge, with two more terminals at the front. The transparent display screen was in the middle, with the shipboard AI terminal in front of it. All but one of the terminals – the middle one of the right hand side – were occupied by officers. The captain – a man in his early 30's with short brown hair and brown eyes – turned to look at Cortana and Hewlett. The two quickly saluted.

"Oh, good! We needed a shipboard AI!" The captain said with a smile and a French accent.

Cortana wasn't sure how to take the statement.

"Kidding, kidding. I'm Captain Grassé. Welcome aboard the Flapjack." The captain said.

"…flapjack?" Hewlett asked.

"The guy who named it… I don't know, he was drunk." Grassé said with a sigh. "Too much paperwork to change it now."

"What do you want me to do, sir?" Cortana asked.

"You'll be on one of the radar stations." Grassé replied. "Seat is there, if you could take it. Dr. Hewlett, just don't get in the way, and you can be the eye candy."

Hewlett's face just screamed 'I want to hit you.'

"Kidding!" Grassé exclaimed. "Americans have no sense of humor!"

Cortana just shook her head and sat down at the terminal. Hewlett walked over and leaned against the wall beside the terminal, as there was only one seat there.

"Remember enough about this?" Hewlett whispered.

"Sure, this is the easiest station." Cortana replied.

And that it was. Scanning for the most part was completely automatic, and anything of any urgency was automatically put on the captain's screen. All Cortana really had to do was point out any minor things that came on screen and transfer what was on her screen to the captains' should he ask.

"Alright people, listen up." Grassé said loudly, making everyone turn to look at him. "Major Johnson is leading a strike on UNSC-11 to clear out the Flood infestation. Much of the base is topside, and since the Flood always manage to shoot down our aircraft and fly them themselves, we're going to be providing air support. We're to fly above UNSC-11 and fire upon what Major Johnson tells us to, as well as detect Flood that the squads may not see and warn them of them. Are we good to go?"

"On your order, sir." An officer replied.

"Alright, take us out." Grassé said.