I know I know, its been an ungodly amount of time since chapter 20, and I'm sorry. My dumb ass started another 3 books, and I lost track of Unnamed. But I assure you, there will be more updates coming soon. As always, feel free to leave a review with an yquestions. Love you guys lots! Ps: This one is a little short but bear with me, there's more on the way.

Chapter 21

Mannon Creelwood's steel-tipped boots thudded dully on the artificial stone beneath her feet as she approached the ornate double door at the end of the hall. Two guards flanked the Forerunner heiress, and were quick to open the doors for her, careful not to make eye contact.

"You asked to see me?" she said, entering the large, open room, with its stained glass windows that reached from the floor to the vaulted ceiling. Upon reaching her place at the center of the room, she dipped into a bow before the occupant of the classically sculpted throne.

"I gave you orders. Orders that you didn't follow. You were to do away with the prisoner upon apprehension. And yet I hear that she lives. Explain to me why Faeyreee Lefelle still lives and breathes on my grounds. Mannon tipped her head upwards towards her mother's figure, and a blank look in her violet eyes. Her wavy, snow white hair bounced with the motion.

"It was suggested to me that I make a spectacle of it. To boost morale against the alliance." Morale was a twisted way of describing the fear they forced upon the people of Calsara, more specifically those who did not reside in the capital. It amused Mannon that people would lay down and accept whatever lie was fed to them if you raised their standard of living.

"Keeping her alive at all is a risk. You are aware of her ties with the captain. Do not be foolish enough to believe she holds no sway over him." It took all of Mannon's patience not to roll her eyes.

"Captain Lance is not foolish enough to waste his career, or more importantly his life on a rebel. The ceremony will be carried out before the end of the day-" Mannon's reply was cut short as the doors behind her were thrown open.

"There's been an emergency!" Mannon whirled around, and grabbed the younger century by the throat.

"Do not ever interrupt me, if you want to keep a head on those shoulders." she snarled, baring her sharp canines menacingly. The young man squeaked in surprise, and Mannon scoffed at him, releasing him from her hold.

"I'm sorry Ma'am, but it's important! Our scanners detected a ship approaching the barrier. It appears to be a human vessel." he relayed, and Mannon's eyes widened. Humans? That had discovered Calsara? That was impossible! There had only ever been one human to achieve such a thing, and he'd done so out of sheer dimwittedness in her opinion. Mannon's eyes settled on her mother's thoughtful figure curiously. Yes, there had been one. The one that had shuttled her aunt off to that human planet. To Earth.

"It is highly unlikely they have realized we are here. In the event that they do discover us, Mannon will be ready for them. And this time, I expect there to be no more prisoners." the lilt in Mevyln's voice told her daughter that if she failed such a task, there would be grave punishment.

"It will be handled." she growled, before turning on her heel. "And when I'm done with them, I'll handle Lefelle." the Forerunner added as she stalked off.

Catherine knew she felt something strange, no matter what the ship's radar said. They had reached their destination, only to see that it wasn't exactly what they had expected it to be.

"There's nothing out here." the Chief pointed out, and Catherine grit her teeth.

"Yes, thank you captain obvious." He wasn't wrong. Before them was what appeared to be an empty expanse of space, but the redhead knew there was something different out there. She could feel a thrum of sorts, like an engine emitting a strange frequency.

"Then why are we still here?" Catherine shot him a dirty look, to which he merely rewarded her with the shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm not crazy. There's something, I just have to find it." she argued. Her intuition was rarely wrong, and she had developed a fierce dependency on it. Her eyes scanned the constellations, looking for some sort of clue. But there was none. It didn't even align to make a picture. She ran her analysis over and over again until the realization hit her. She recognized that frequency, the one that she could feel running through her body on a loop. It was the same one that had emitted off of the composer when she had first been allowed to see it, back before the didact's attack on earth. No one else had been able to feel it then, and John didn't feel it now.

'Because you aren't like them, Firefly.' Catherine shook the voice from her head.

'No. leave me alone, I'm trying to focus.' she scolded. The voices in her head could wait their turn. Catherine's hand settled gently atop the pelican's thrusters, and she slowly edged the ship forward. The ship moved upon command for a moment or two, but after a moment, it seemed to meet a sort of resistance.

"What are you doing?" John questioned, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"That's not me. Something's pushing back." she explained, giving the thrusters a little more push. And then, as if they had never been there to start with, the pelican disappeared. There was a moment in which the light around them flashed a vibrant purple, and then it faded. Catherine opened her eyes to find that their surroundings had changed drastically. There were no stars, but there seemed to be a thick, glowing fog, it's colors mirroring that of the aurora borealis in Catherine's opinion. Amidst the thick fog-like substance, Catherine could see what appeared to be a planet, shrouded by the unexplainable phenomenon around them.

"What is that?" she mumbled, leaning forwards in her seat.

"I find it unsettling that this was your idea, but you happen to be the one asking questions." the Chief stated. Catherine rolled her eyes at him, and began her dissent to the strange planet.

"I only wish I had all the answers." She muttered. As soon as the pelican touched ground, Catherine was out of her seat, and headed towards the back of the ship.

"Where are you going? You just said you don't know what you're doing." The Chief pointed out, following her out of the ship.

"Sitting around isn't going to get me answers. This planet isn't very large, and we know which way civilization is, it couldn't be that hard to find Faerie." she explained as she jogged down the ramp.

"We don't know if anyone here is even friendly Cath. As far as we all knew, Forerunners were extinct up to this point. The fact that there's a planet with an entire civilization of them should be reason enough to take this cautiously." he argued. Catherine paused for a moment, letting herself feel the slight breeze as it wafted around her, ruffling the grass that lay beneath her feet. Was this home? Was this everything she'd been looking for? "Catherine are you even listening to me?" John paused as he ducked out of the pelican, and his eyes settled on the redhead.

"This feels familiar." she said, eyes closed, and posture relaxed. "I don't know how but- we have a mission." she said, cutting herself off. "We need to find Faeyree. Maybe if we have a look around town someone can tell us where to find her."

"Are you gonna explain to me who Faeyreee is or am I just supposed to find that out later?" John asked. Catherine shrugged.

"I don't really know yet. There's….a lot I don't know." she said tenaciously. John gave her a withering look from beneath his visor. She was going to be the death of him. Then again, this wasn't the first time he'd gone off on a half baked wild adventure.

"There seems to be a lot of unknown variables. What exactly are you hoping to achieve with all of this?" His question threw her off for a moment, as she hadn't been expecting it.

"I...I wanna know what's going on. I want answers. Faeyree has them. That's the objective. To get answers." she said, her phrases coming out broken and unorganized.

John's helmeted head dipped in her direction, and Catherine could tell he was giving her a contemplative look. "You'll need to do recon. You're smaller and more unnoticeable. I hate sending you into an uncharted zone alone, but there's less room for disaster. You have one hour. Be inconspicuous…,for once." he added as an afterthought.