A/N: Inspired by Heart-Of-Memories' "Of a Construct and a Hero", some random Halo ponderings and one-shots that have been on m
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Takes Place: Post Halo 3, Post SkinoftheTeeth – Part 2
A/N: This is an AU story; NOT canon for the Halo Universe. Unfortunately, Johnson did NOT make it off the Ring alive. It's one of the hallmarks of this AU, since Miranda will be without the Chief or Johnson for years to come.
She couldn't help but think that she had made a critical tactical blunder.
When she'd officially accepted the post of Shipmaster from the newly formed Interplanetary Relations Council, or the IRC, it hadn't taken long for several Elite Majors to appear at her doorstep, asking for a position on HER ship.
To her embarrassed hindsight, the very first one had saluted and addressed her as 'Lady Keyes', and she had responded to the moniker without batting an eye. Only after the Elite had left did she realize what she'd done. She had initially dismissed it, but when EVERY Elite after him had addressed her the exact same way, she wanted to slam her head against a wall.
The name had seemingly stuck amongst the Sangheili. Thankfully, the humans she still served with referred to her as Captain Keyes. She still grinned at the mere thought that she'd blown her old man's record out of the water by decades. It'd taken him more than 35 years after graduating as an officer and the inception of the 'Keyes Loop' to earn him the Captain rank. She'd done it in less than a third of that.
She'd been promoted soon after she'd woken up from her coma, with Hood secretly telling her that the only reason she wasn't a Lower Rear Admiral was because he needed her in the field too much to give her the two-rank promotion he thought that she rightfully deserved.
He made up for it however, by giving her 'perks' that she was certain other UNSC Captains didn't have. A Rear-Admiral-Level Security Clearance, expedited requisition orders, her choice of experienced crewmen, and a generous bonus tacked onto her yearly salary to name a few. She had suspected that Lord Hood had something of a Guilt Complex about the way he'd treated her before the Chief had talked him into allowing them to go to the Ark, and she certainly wasn't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth.
And she'd gotten another wish fulfilled when Hood had come to visit her in the late evening and asked her if she had anything to say "Off the Record", and he assured her that it would remain as such.
She'd ranted and called him several choice names in a semi-calm manner for almost five minutes before she'd tired herself out and then explained that she'd already forgiven him when he'd listened to the Chief and allowed them to go to the Ark. Maybe it didn't absolve his guilt over his conduct, but then she thought everyone occasionally had bad days. That particular one just happened to be one of his.
Now she was finally making some serious headway into preparing to take command of the Cruiser that would be waiting for her in orbit when the Fleet launched. Humans and Sangheili alike were reluctant to name things in these fragile times. After all, there was no more Covenant, so why call the ships Covenant Cruisers? The IRC hadn't figured out a suitable name for this fledgling Alliance as of yet, and so that too remained nameless.
She could quite frankly care less what they called these things, so long as they didn't name it something lame like Human-Elite Consortium or some other rubbish. For now, she was content to page through the datapads that Rtas had left for her and familiarize herself with the standard Cruiser and build her strength back up.
It'd been six months since Rtas had extended her the opportunity to be the first human Shipmaster, and he'd been right when he said that she'd mend with all due haste. He was fairly busy these days and it had been nearly a week since his last visit, although they did frequently correspond through email when she had questions regarding her Cruiser specs.
Needless to say, she was looking forward to getting her hands on this baby and giving her a shakedown cruise.
4 Months Later
"Shipmaster Keyes, I present to you the White Hunter." Rtas 'Vadum proclaimed, extending his arm towards the Formerly-Covenant-Capital-Ship, or FCCS-class Battlecruiser that was to be her new ship. As per its namesake, it was one of the newer battlecruisers built in the Sangheili shipyards with a more silvery hue similar to an Assault Carrier's.
"The entire ship has been refitted to help accommodate a Human-Elite crew, almost every console has been reprogrammed to display either Human or Covenant-Standard languages. The majority of your onboard transports are FC in origin, but you do have two detachments of regular human vehicles should your troops desire to use them. She is sturdy, dependable, and awaiting her Captain."
"Do her specs deviate from the standard Cruiser?" Miranda asked.
"Indeed, I've taken the liberty to update the floor plan for you and have detailed the changes here. The White Hunter is currently taking on supplies and I assume you'll want to shake her down yourself?" Rtas asked, handing another datapad to her.
"You assume correctly." She replied, a small smile on her face. She may have appeared calm on the outside, but inside she felt a strange mix of butterflies-in-the-stomach and kid-in-a-candy-store.
"It's certainly going to be interesting to suddenly have energy shields, point-defense lasers, and plasma torpedoes. Not to mention seraph fighters, grav-lifts, and faster slipspace transitions."
"It is certainly different than your ships, although I will admit that human ships are effective in the hands of capable officers. There are of course benefits and drawbacks to using FC weaponry, so it will become increasingly necessary to become proficient in the use of FC-based weapons since your nuclear stockpiles are so low after the war. Rest assured that your fighter pilots are some of the finest in our ranks, so you will be well protected from enemy aircraft because unfortunately, the other Member Species also have access to Seraph-class starfighters."
Miranda merely nodded. She'd suspected that Rtas had done more than a little digging to figure out such things, but it wasn't like the Covenant hadn't come to the same conclusions themselves long ago since Humanity had become more and more reluctant to use nukes in the closing months of the Human-Covenant War for the simple fact that they didn't have many left. And the rest was just a basic exercise in tactics, even she'd assumed as such soon after she awoke from her coma.
"One more thing, I've included a crash course in Elite tactics from our War Academy, so that you will not be out of the loop if we enter into combat. It would be best for you to learn them now rather than in the heat of battle."
"Humans have had to adapt to your tactics for more than two decades Shipmaster, but it will be interesting to hear what they teach you guys at the academy. I'll be sure to return the favor when I get a chance."
"I'm sure it will be an interesting experience." Rtas answered as the Phantom transport docked on the White Hunter.
"Now comes the fun part..." Miranda thought aloud, stepping off the Phantom and heading towards the first grav-lift that would take her to the Bridge Deck, some 40 meters above the flight deck where they'd landed.
"I've always wanted our engineers to start building our command centers deeper into the ship's hull, but they always told me it was too much rewiring and design modification when we were doing all we could to throw ships together on the assembly line fast enough." Miranda thought aloud as she and Rtas moved upwards and arrived at the exit two decks above where they started.
"Indeed. The Sangheili had fought numerous wars against the ... San 'Shyuum ... before the Covenant came into being." Rtas began, catching himself at the last moment before he uttered that hateful species' human-moniker again, though it was still difficult to overcome the engrained habit of referring to them as 'Prophets'.
"Fighting those wars taught us how to effectively build our ships so that they could sustain large amounts of damage and still function, though the primary reason is that we also wanted to shield our flag officers from being easily targeted, as you well know." Rtas continued as he led Miranda down another set of corridors to yet another grav lift.
After they ascended another deck, Miranda asked a question that had been nagging her for a while since reading some of the Master Chief's old After-Action Reports while he was on similar FCCS-class vessels.
"Do the grav lifts have an auto-shutdown setting in case you have to repel boarders? I can't imagine a more effective measure to keep them away from the command center than making them scale a vertical shaft with nothing to grab onto. It's a natural choke point." She noted.
"It is indeed, but it is also a double-edged sword..." Rtas began before Miranda finished his thought.
"Because while they can't advance, you also can't send reinforcements where they need to go should you have positions overrun." She shook her head. The Chief's reports had mentioned problems with securing grav lifts since they could never be slaved to a portable terminal, only disabled.
"Indeed. You are well-informed Lady Keyes. Although you will be happy to hear that this problem has been addressed by assigning a human-AI to the Hunter which will serve to activate and deactivate the grav lifts as well as nearly every other system on board the ship." Rtas explained as they stepped into the second grav lift.
"Almost like a UNSC Cruiser in that respect."
"Yes, it was a concession made by both sides that this AI would report directly to you or the next available human of sufficient rank, since you have more experience with the abilities of your constructs." Rtas continued as he extended his arms towards a door in the side of the passageway that opened and allowed them to see inside.
"These are your quarters, which can be outfitted to your liking with minimal hassle. Your personal effects are being transferred up as we speak and should be aboard within the next few hours. You will notice that the Command Center is down the hall another hundred yards or so, hence you will not have far to go when responding to emergencies. If you want me to show you the other amenties afforded by a Shipmaster, you need only ask." He finished before moving down the hall again.
Miranda briefly peered inside the room and noted that it was twice as large, if not more so, than her previous quarters had been on the Frigates she'd commanded. She added yet another point to her mental score card of things she was REALLY starting to like about this whole 'Shipmaster' thing as she broke into a brief jog to catch up to Rtas, who hadn't paused in his striding towards the Command Center.
"Do you know when the AI is going to be initialized on the ship?" Shed asked.
"The IRC hasn't given me a concrete date as of yet, but I would assume within the week. This construct will of course be not be like the Spartan's, but it will be sufficient to handle operating this vessel." Rtas replied.
Miranda only nodded. She knew that getting assigned another Smart AI of Cortana's caliber was a VERY remote possibility, but she'd be satisfied if this new AI was even half as good as her old acquaintance. That train of thought inevitably led to her voicing a thought she hadn't meant to...
"I wonder how those two are holding up?"
She abruptly bumped into Rtas, who had come to a halt and turned to face her. She met his eyes as he rested a hand on her shoulder, his massive fingers reaching just past her shoulder blade.
"Best to keep your thoughts trained on the here and now Lady Keyes. The Spartan and his Construct will take care of themselves. As I said before, I have a feeling we will meet them again, but not yet..." Rtas trailed off, resuming his pacing to the control room.
Miranda fell into step beside him after glancing up and down the corridor, glad that no one else had seen their new Shipmaster worrying over something needlessly. Strangely enough, she didn't feel awkward about her little slip with Rtas. Sure she was slightly embaressed that her mental discipline has lapsed, but Rtas hadn't made a big deal out of it. Almost like he'd dealt with these same doubts and guilt before, given what he'd done before being named Shipmaster of the Separatist Fleet.
"Thanks."
"What ever for, Lady Keyes?" He asked, but with a knowing tone in his voice.
"For understanding..." She replied, as if that were answer enough.
Rtas chuckled in that amused tone that Miranda was getting used to.
"Think nothing of it Lady Keyes. Come, show me what you have learned these past months!" He spoke, stepping to the side and ushering her into the Command Center as its doors parted at their approach.
Miranda only nodded and stepped past Rtas onto the Command Deck, the doors swishing shut behind them.
"Shipmaster on Deck!" Rtas called.
Every Elite, without exception, immediately stood and braced their arms across their chests, the traditional Sangheili salute. The two humans on the bridge, stationed at Sensors and Navigation, fired off the human version. If those two were uncomfortable, they didn't show it in the slightest.
"Alright crew; let's get this bird into shape. Give me current systems status; Tactical?" She began.
And on down the list of stations on the bridge as she sat in the Shipmaster's Chair and watched as her Cruiser came to life.
In the coming weeks, the White Hunter underwent its shakedown and Miranda had more than ample opportunity to get a 'feel' for her new ship. To say that she was ecstatic was a gross understatement.
Weeks later, at the end of the shakedown cruise, when Rtas had contacted her from the bridge of his new Cruiser and asked her to describe the role of Shipmaster in as few words as possible, her reply had been almost immediate with a mile-wide grin on her face.
"Shipmaster: The Highest Concentration of Awesome Allowed by Law."
The bridge crews of both the White Hunter and the Virtuous Pathfinder had roared with approval. Lord Hood would later simply roar with laughter. It was official, Captain and Shipmaster Miranda Keyes was back and in better form than ever.
A/N2: THIS is what reviews do for me! Within a few hours of someone sending me a review after over a month and hearing nothing, I am inspired to pick up almost from where I left off and produce something I feel is not too shabby considering this segment's been on my hard drive for quite awhile (over two months now). Reviews and Ideas only inspire me to do more! (HINT HINT )
Also, please feel free to point out glaring grammatical errors as I have less and less time these days to read my chapters four times over to make sure I haven't made such errors.
A/N3: Next up is another original storyline idea I've had brewing since I read Ghosts of Onyx, and then we have ANOTHER segment of the Panic-line! Prepare for Mega-WIN!!