UNSC Ballista

October 1, 2558

Aegis sipped at his coffee that had materialized by his side. Courtesy of Francois, the steward had a habit of being unnaturally stealthy. He vowed one day to put a bell on him.

Danny Tyler and Luke Riley were discussing something in private at their stations next to one another. Tongju gave him thumbs up, slitting his throat to indicate that they were in a dead zone in space. He hadn't heard from another ship in seven hours. Unlike the tension after the weapons tracking deal, the room had a relaxed feeling. Their next job was an overwatching job of a transfer of ancient artifacts in the fabled Golden Dragon casino in Macau.

Drew came down from his own cabin and sat in his seat. His presence seemed to chill the room with a silence and never had a word to anyone.

Aegis let it slide for a few minutes before Tongju came up to him, fingerprint covered datapad in hand.

"We've picked up a distress call originating from the moon of United Alpha coded Uniform Alpha." He reported.

"What distress?" He had ordered Ballista over the gas giant of United Alpha. While the planet itself wasn't fit for colonization, its moons of Uniform Alpha, Uniform Delta and Uniform Echo had watery surfaces with very little land. It was known much for being a place to be far away from troubles. Resorts and population were few and having private islands was quite common, ever since threats were seldom present this far away from Earth and they were spaced out plenty in preservation of privacy. Military presence was also sparse, having a United Alpha naval station consisting of a trio of frigates and a heavy destroyer.

"I don't know exactly the details since it was just a burst before vanishing."

Aegis let it pass for now. He had more pressing issues to go with. "Run a scan from the origin and get back to me."

"I'm on it." He rushed off. Now he had to prepare for a very heated conversation.

"I don't want to hear another word about it." Drew snapped when Trip approached him from behind. Automatically, Vaal Talam had emerged from the hallways at the moment and settled himself into the command chair. Since Aegis was busy, he automatically assumed the role of captain/shipmaster.

"We'll set a course for Criterion ASAP. In the meantime, I'll get Riley to book us two tickets back to Seattle. Our next job is straightforward at Macau in a couple of days. Vaal and Leah will be able to handle it without us."

"I don't think you understand." Drew coldly replied, "This is not your fight. I don't want to ask this type of favor from you because it would mean more expenses from the Blades' full services. This is something I need to do on my own and you're not going to stop me."

"I sure as hell am. The last thing I need for this company is for one of its top members to needlessly risk themselves because of their stubborn decision."

"Chase is my family…"

"I know. Someone kidnapped a member of your family. To me it's like they just abducted one of my parents. I'd accept nothing less than your help so do not expect me to not be here for you." Aegis' words would later come back to bite him.

Drew looked back at him, "Thanks Trip. I'm really grateful."

An hour later, Aegis turned back to Tongju to obtain the details, the matter with Drew now settled.

"What do you have for me?"

"I've pinpointed the origin coming from a lake's center on Uniform Alpha's largest isolate island. It looks to be an abandoned retreat. Judging by the waves lapping against the sides, I'm estimating that it could be a very good salvage fee."

Aegis was intrigued. He'd leave a prize crew for the scrapping authorities while they moved on to Seattle and Macau.

"We might just do that."

Drew had just put down his comlink when Aegis knocked on the door of his cabin. When he stepped in, he was always amazed at how his architecture worked so well in tandem. It was reminiscent of a Munich style apartment with simple features, yet added an odd high-tech vibe. To the left of the entrance was a workbench. This was the only industrial part of his entire room. A sliding door would cover up any noise and oily smell that permanently emanated from that corner. His twin tables were cluttered with gray and silver parts. To the right of the tables was a disassembled reconnaissance drone, a newly designed feature supposedly implanted by him to install self-guided long range torpedoes to eliminate distant ships like Covenant light cruisers without fear of risk. On the center of one table was a hovering model of the Ballista herself, with holograms of her charging with force into an asteroid field.

"What's up?"

"Tongju just picked up a distress call from Uniform Alpha. I just want to make sure it was okay with you if we have a look-see."

He shrugged, "Well Chase's been missing for a couple of days now. Jennifer just told me that she knows who, a group of friends she doesn't particularly care for. I think she's making it sound worse than it seems. It will take us a while, at least before we reach Seattle. I know slipspace to Criterion is about two hours and it'll be even more back to connecting ports and then London to Seattle route with that British air travel company so losing an hour at a floating ghost town won't matter much."

"Are you sure?" Aegis' voice had worry in it.

"Trip, I'll be fine. This isn't the first time me and my family have been at an adversarial situation like this."

"Okay." He switched over to Danny Tyler, who was manning the helm, "Helm, plot us a direct course to the call. Get Maverick to set up a UAV and send it on ahead."

"Done and done."

This chapter seems to be a bit shorter in length than normal.

Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.