Ongoing thanks to Zimu Yang for beta-reading
The song Cortana plays is from the Halo 3: ODST trailer
Dragon Cat: I though it would be a little too obvious if I'd called him Alexander Kerensky,
but yeah, the old wolf lives ;)

Red In Tooth And Claw
Chapter 38: Power Plays

"I'm sorry if this is a bad time," The voice was calm and level, "but we need to talk."

The Master Chief was out of bed and rolling across the floor before his eyes had opened. Jumping to his feet behind the sofa, he fell into a fighting stance and surveyed the room for threats as Cortana grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to her chin, silently cursing that she still wasn't allowed to have a side-arm of her own. A Six stood in by the hatch with her hands on her hips, dressed in one of their signature slinky red dresses and wearing a somewhat amused smile on her face.

"Well, that was somewhat impressive." She winked at the naked Spartan, "But I assure you I mean you no harm. I only assumed this form because I knew you'd recognise it. And if I did want to hurt you or anyone else on this ship, there's nothing either of you could do to stop me."

"Explain." The Chief's voice was cold as ice.

"We met before on New Caprica. I told you to take the child Hera with you, because she would be important to what is yet to come. All this has happened before, and will happen again; humanity is only playing its part in the cycle." The woman remained unmoving, "But the time will come when you will both face a choice that could affect the fate of the galaxy. I can not tell you which course of action to take, only that events have already been set in motion."

"Who...or rather, 'what', are you?" Cortana asked.

"I am a representative of... an interested third party." The Six smiled as her form morphed to that of Captain Jacob Keyes, pipe clenched in his rock-hard jaw, "But this form is just an illusion; a projection created within your minds." It morphed again, becoming the Arbiter, complete with low, growling voice, "I can become anyone or anything you have ever encountered, or can imagine." It returned to its original form, but with the red dress now black, "But I like this form; it's distinctive, so you're hardly going to mistake me for a member of the ships crew."

"You're still not telling us much." John grunted, his mind racing as he attempted to assimilate the new information.

"I have told you all I can, for now." Six winked, "Be seeing you."

With that she faded into nothing.

Starbuck pulled the straps holding her in place as tight as they would go as the glowing portal grew larger and larger in the main view screen. She'd been told that passing through from one end to the other was all but instantaneous and completely safe, but she wasn't one to take a stranger's word for it. After all, the last time she'd passed through the vortex it had knocked her out and all but destroyed her Viper. If it wasn't for the auto-eject system, she would have been spread out across half of central Africa, like the rest of the debris.

"Thirty seconds to transition." The ships Flag-Lieutenant reported, "All stations report ready."

The screen showed Destroyers, Frigates and Cruisers vanishing into the Portal, followed by the imposing, inhuman mass of the Renewed Purpose. The bight light filled the screen, and Starbuck repressed the urge to shield her eyes as the countdown reached zero. There was a flash, and then the blue-green orb that was Earth was replaced by the swirling cloudscape of the gas giant she had been flying patrol over when she had lost contact with the Galactica.

"All stations report in." Admiral Grant ordered, "Inform the CAG I want a double CAP until we get our bearings. All ships are to remain at high alert until further notice. Tell Commander di Milo that I want to know as soon as his astronomers have a confirmed fix on our position. Have the techies on the Alan Turing deploy their sensors. I want them to scan for any traces of the ships we're looking for."

A chorus of "Aye-Aye's" followed as the crew went about their assigned tasks.

"Breath, Captain, breath." Baxter's hand appeared on Starbuck's shoulder, "We still have a long road ahead of us."

"You're sure?" Halsey was standing in the former wardroom, talking to an armoured Spartan when Adama entered the former pilot's ready room. Despite his best efforts, he still couldn't tell them apart if he couldn't see their faces.

"I had the night watch. He wasn't in his bunk, and the door to her quarters was locked from the inside." The Spartan nodded, and the Admiral recognised Kelly's voice, "While on its own that means nothing, I did hear...things, as I made my way past on my rounds."

"Well, I knew it was only a matter of time." Halsey nodded, "Okay, thank you for letting me know. But keep it to yourself, okay? There's little enough privacy on this ship as it is."

"Ma'am." Kelly nodded politely and walked off.

"Trouble?" The Admiral asked, equal parts curious and worried.

"No, nothing major." Halsey shook her head, unconcerned, "Cortana and John have started sleeping together, but I was expecting it sooner rather than later.

"I see." Adama paused for a moment, "I do hope that's not why you wanted to see me?"

"My daughter's sex life is not something I would normally consider keeping you up to date on." The scientist glared at him over the tops of her glasses, looking more like a school teacher talking to a troublesome pupil, "No, I wanted to let you know that I spoke with Silent Contemplation, and he has asked the Huragok to refrain from increasing their number any further without your express permission. They apologised, saying that they felt they needed the extra help to deal with the work load."

"Good." Adama nodded, "Call me old fashioned, but I do like to at least pretend that I still command this ship."

"That's another thing I needed to talk to you about." Halsey looked round to make sure that they were alone, and that Kelly had closed the hatch on her way out, "I had a visit from your Vice President last night."

"Tom Zarek." The words were spat rather than spoken, "What did he want?"

"I'm no expert on your government and how it operates, but I'm no stranger to power games. I believe that he's building up his power base as a prelude to retaking the Presidency." Halsey frowned, "I don't know the how or when, only that he asked a lot of questions about how my government might react to various governments your people might have when we finally reach UN controlled space."

"Thank you for letting me know. I'll have to keep a closer eye on him from now on." Adama turned to leave, then stopped and looked back over his shoulder, a slightly confused expression on his face, "You didn't have to tell me; you could have let him play his hand and negotiated with whomever was left standing when the dust settled. Why didn't you?"

" The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." Halsey shrugged slightly, "I'm many things, Admiral, but I am a realist, and a pragmatist: it didn't take me long to work out that the best chance this fleet, and my Spartans, have of reaching Earth is if you are in command of this ship, and Laura Roslin is President. Beyond that I have no interest in your society's internal politics."

Most of the Galactica's crew was still on duty, so the bar was almost empty, and no one commented as Cortana made her way over to the beaten up old piano in one corner. She tapped the keys a few times to get a feel for them, then stretched her fingers and started to play a slow, mournful tune.

"Gafflwn Dihenydd O'r fuddugol yn wiriol sydd, Ni fydd neb yn ein drechu, Falch ydy ni I drochu, Traed o flaen I'r Annwn, mewn y gwybodaeth fe godwn ni."

"Wow!" Shaw stood leaning against a support beam, "That was beautiful."

"It's from the ODST battle-hymn; We cheat Death from his rightful victory. No one can defeat us, we are glad to plunge feet first into Annwn, in the knowledge that we will rise. But it's traditionally sung in its original Welsh, and I have to agree it does sound better that way." Cortana smiled and tapped the side of her head, "You'd be surprised at what I've still got rattling around up here."

"Annwn?" Shaw still looked confused.

"It's the Celtic other-world where warriors who die bravely in battle go while they wait to be reborn. Kind of like the Viking's Valhalla." Cortana explained, "I don't know if your people have anything similar."

"Well, that explains that." Shaw walked over and sat down in a nearby chair, "But doesn't explain why you've been walking around all day looking alternatively like you just won the Picon Lottery, or like someone just run over your dog."

"The second one is...too complicated to go into right now. At least, not until I've worked it out myself." Cortana looked around to make sure no one was listening in, "As for the smile, well, let's just say that there has been a definite improvement in my relationship with John."

"So, the Caveman finally made his move then, huh?" Shaw chuckled as she raised an empty shot-glass in mock salute, "Today you are a woman! Just don't expect me to agree to any double-dates; as much as I like him, he's not much of a conversationalist."

"We've identified enough quasars to confirm our relative position; we're right where we wanted to be." Dr Spencer handed over a print off, "Given the course Captain Thrace says her fleet was following, and a rough estimate of how far they could have travelled since she passed through the portal, I think our best bet is to try and cut them off here." He type a command into the main holo-emitter and a swirling cloud of gas and dust appeared in the air, "NGC 2440; a planetary nebular some 4,000 light years from Sol. It's an obvious navigational marker for anyone headed that way, so I think it's safe to assume they'll pass by there."

"Sounds reasonable." Grant nodded, then turned to her guest, "Well?"

"I was only a pilot, but it does sound right." Starbuck nodded, "They should pass close buy that way."

"That's good enough for me." The Admiral placed her hands on the desk, "Inform the Commodore; we have our next destination."

To Be Continued...

As requested:
Huragok = Engineers
Mgalekgolo = Hunters
Sangheili = Elites
Unggoy = Grunts
Jiralhanae = Brutes
San 'Shyuum = Prophets
Yanme = Drones
Kig-Yar = Jackals