WHOA WHAT'S THIS? Someone is rewriting Christian Knight's Date Night?

Yes. Yes we are. We intend to fully finish the story this time seeing as we were actually given plans for every chapter leading up to and including 20. Hopefully this and the first 9 chapters will be up at the same time along with the unreleased and unfinished 10th.

When I say 'we', I refer to Red Raptor Writing, the one publishing this, and I, The Quackster.

I will touch on the revisions made at the bottom in notes.

Halo: Date Night

"Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common-sense"-Helen Rowland

"Oh man," Derek Heath moaned as he rubbed his eyes, "I swear, that's the last time I mix drinks again."

"You just can't handle being a Marine, can you boot?" was Jacob Knott's response.

Derek briefly glanced at Knott.

"You're not looking so hot yourself, Corporal," he shot back.

Part of him wanted to argue, but Knott wasn't in the mood to haggle. He was sprawled out on his cot just like Derek, holding the sides of his head with a migraine.

Knott was a good guy, but most of the time Derek felt like the senior marine was being nice to him out of a sense of duty. As corporal, it was his job to make sure that both Derek and the other guy in their firing team, Tray, weren't total outcasts in the unit. He probably should have been harder on the both of them, but either way, Knott was always helpful and always ready to help the new marines.

Derek took a look at his watch and groaned.

"Great," he swung his legs out of his cot, grunting as he stood up, "Friday, ugh. I have guard duty."

"If it's anybody's fault for getting hung over, it's yours," Knott muttered as he buried his face deeper into his pillow, desperately trying to block out dawn's harsh sunlight.

"Whatever you say mom," Derek said as he grabbed a towel on the floor and started wiping down his body.

After a moment, he stopped. "How the hell did I get glitter on me? Scratch that, where did the glitter come from?"

"Koklas was probably stashing it in her bag," Knott answered with a yawn, "She probably used it for makeup, but must have decided it would make you look prettier."

"Fat chance," Derek muttered as he looked at himself in the mirror that was taped to the barrack's wall. His blond hair was slowly growing back after being unceremoniously cut jarhead style. His ice blue eyes were pink with exhaustion and the dark bags formed beneath didn't help. His skin was pale and he had a decent physique going on, but the sparkling particles on his bare chest ruined the image.

He rested his head against the cool surface of the mirror briefly and scrunched up his eyes. His head would not stop throbbing, but he knew that he needed to go out and do his job. Even thinking about waiting a bit longer would lead to someone else like Corelli needing to cover him, and Derek knew that he wouldn't hear the end of it. Regretfully, the exhausted marine got up to start his day, his muscles aching from remaining in a stationary position for far too long.

"Do you think Corelli had any idea what we did last night?" Derek asked, a twinge of fear entering his voice, wondering if he should try and avoid his non-commissioned officer today.

"Dude, if he did know what we were doing last night, he probably would have joined us," came Knott's somewhat reassuring response, "By this point, everyone is willing to do anything but their job."

Derek grunted at that as he pulled on his t-shirt and pants. "So, the ball that's coming up isn't a part of our job?"

"Well obviously, but aside from that, life on this base is dead," Knott said. "Hey, you just got in three weeks ago, right?"

"Yeah," Derek answered as he clicked his green armor into place, already feeling the sweat building as he put it on.

"Well just you wait," Knott said. "When the ball is over, that's when the midnight card games and grav-ball tournaments will lose their color and it won't be long before I catch you hitting your head against the side of a wall out of sheer frigging boredom."

"I'll keep that in mind," Derek slid a clip into his assault rifle before he slung it over his shoulder. He walked to the door before pausing and glancing back at Knott with a small grin.

"Have you asked Mel out for the ball yet?" Derek asked teasingly.

Knott moaned. "With the way I'm feeling, I just might sleep through it."

He opened one eye and looked squarely at Derek. "So my date will be ten times, no, infinitely better than whoever it is you're bringing."

Derek shook his head in mock exasperation before exiting the barracks. Once he was alone he sighed to himself.

What Knott said was pretty much true, Derek had yet to find a date for himself. Upon hearing that there was going to be a ball at the end of the month, Marines started looking for partners long before Derek had arrived. When he did get wind of it, almost everybody was taken. He was sure he asked everyone on base by now, but all the women already had a date, hell, even the receptionist had one.

That only left the officers, and Derek would rather eat his own rifle before approaching a high ranking officer and asking them out.

With these thoughts in mind, he slowly trudged to his post underneath the bright suns of Rahnelo. Camp Rojas, situated in the fiefdom of the Sangheili Keep Lord Quas, is considered one of the safest bases on the planet. The ambassador on this side of the world didn't even look like she needed the UNSC's protection.

The fief itself was located deep within an equatorial mountain range that only the local sangheili inhabitants truly knew how to travel through. Although they were pretty lucky to even be posted anywhere near the equator, considering the extremely cold northern and southern hemispheres.

Should the Covenant remnants or Pirates attempt to storm the fief they would quickly lose steam just by trying to negotiate the rough region's mountains, then there will be the sangheili warriors and UNSC soldiers to deal with on top of that. As far as Derek can see, the only way this place can be invaded was via air assault, which was unfortunately very plausible. The last time something like that happened, a single vessel was able to take the damned Kaidon and his sons.

Although, they would have to be mad to use that few amount of ships if they were trying to invade now, considering the anti-air weapons the marines had brought with them. They had everything from old reliable AA machine guns to the latest surface-to-air missiles.

Camp Rojas itself was situated on a little hill that looked down on a small sangheili village where the oddly dome shaped buildings are clustered together around an impressive looking castle. The Keep Lord wasn't pleased with the elevated advantage that the human base had over his Keep, but it only seemed logical to put the Maries somewhere up high where they could station their anti-air guns. The village and the base were surrounded by mountains though, and on some of the surrounding peaks the sangheili have built guard towers that watched over the village while also keeping an eye on the "alien" occupiers.

A good show of faith in friends from Derek's point of view.

After walking the short distance away from the Marines living quarters, Derek positioned himself by the main gate. There were three other entrances into the camp, but this one was the largest and where the vehicles drove in through. There wasn't much traffic, though, considering that the only people who ever entered or left were the diplomats from the camp and the Keep. This would have been seen as a light job, but not for Derek. He had to stand in the tropical heat, in full gear and had to wait till he was relieved, which would be in twelve hours. The fact that he still had a headache from last night's "social" gathering wasn't helping either.

The engineers had promised to erect a guardhouse to provide some shade for whatever Marine was on duty at this post. However, they hadn't started yet because they were far more concerned with getting the ambassador's home set up first. It seemed a little surreal that among the military barracks, armory and mess hall, a tiny little mansion was being built in the middle. The ambassador had insisted that they must give their sangheili counterparts some proper accommodation, claiming that they couldn't conduct inter-galactic affairs in a tent.

There has been a bet going around that the posh woman was doing this mainly for her own benefit since she doesn't look like the type to "rough it."

Derek was more than comfortable in this life though. He was born and raised on a small plantation on Mars, where they had a plot of land with modified soil that allowed them to plant whatever food they want.

Derek had done his part for the war effort by helping to grow food both for the UNSC military and the refugees that are always streaming in. The war may have ended a year ago, but he was still drafted since their military might was all but a shadow of its former self. He comforted his mother the best he could by stating that he will be on a diplomatic mission; that nothing bad would happen.

Now, however, he wished he could be sent somewhere where there was some action. True, he did have some fun on the recently built grav-court and he won some cash in a poker game, with that he would pay for the small black market trade going on within the base. Spray paint, different currency, candy and even perfume were being traded as goods for one thing or another. Derek had bought himself a century year-old book, a pack of gum, some credits and a finger nail clipper through the illegal trade, but nothing that could provide him with much fun.

Knott was right; He was getting bored, it was as simple as that, even the morning calisthenics seems to slack off a little. Back home, even with the threat of being annihilated over his head, he still had some good times by going into town, hanging out with some buddies, and by having a good conversation with his family. Out here he had only a few friends, there was no town to travel to, and the only time he could call his family was on a set date, and even that was only for a few minutes. The upcoming marine ball was their only means of escaping boredom before falling into depression.

From what he heard it wasn't going to be much of a grand affair. Just a simple dinner in the mess hall, a couple of streamers, "unauthorized" music being played, and free time for every grunt not on duty that night to either dance or just hang out. It's not much, but to a bunch of marines who are close to being bored to tears, this might be a prominent opportunity to get a little lively.

A distant humming caught Derek's attention, and he looked up from the ground just in time to see a UNSC standard issue Spade driving towards him. In the back were crates, probably more technological gifts for the sangheili. The UEG hoped the species would learn how to make their own digital devices on their own soon enough, but until then they were willing to give the aliens some samples of their own tech.

Which, of course, were the oldest models that could be scrapped up and passed along as being brand new.

Ah, diplomacy.

The truck rolled up to the gate before stopping, cueing Derek to take a step forward.

In the driver seat was a fellow marine and on the passenger side was a guy in a business suit.

"Hey," Derek greeted with a raised hand, "What's up?"

"More gifts from the ever helpful United Nations Space Command," responded the driver with a high and proper sarcastic voice as he held up an identification card.

Derek took the card and briefly scanned it over. He didn't go over every little detail, just the authorization code. After all, why should he be concerned with what's being brought out, shouldn't he be more worried about what's coming in?

A short snicker caught his attention, causing him to look up just in time to see the occupants of the vehicle look away from him. The driver immediately lost the smile and was staring dead ahead, but the suit still had a wide grin on his face.

Derek felt his eyes narrow as a sinking suspicious filled him.

"Uh, something funny?" he asked them.

The suit succumbed to a giggling fit, then the driver cracked the barest of smiles.

"Perhaps," the fellow marine answered, laughter plain in his voice.

"Care to elaborate?" Derek asked with folded arms. He controlled the gates, so these two were unable to proceed forward without his permission

However, the tough guy act just caused the man in the suit to burst out laughing, then the marine finally allowed himself to chuckle before looking at Derek.

"You're him, aren't ya?" he asked, "Private First Class Derek Heath, right?"

Derek frowned a little. What is this all about? As far as he knew he hadn't done anything in particular to make him stand out within the camp.

"Depends on who's asking," he answered instead.

"Did she reply yet?" the suit finally asked as he looked at the young marine.

Derek tried to hide his confusion, but the driver released a booming laugh upon seeing the look the younger marine must have been wearing.

"Ha, I told you he was drunk," he said as he looked to the suit, causing them both to fall into a laughing fit.

Derek felt dread formulating within him. Did he do something last night? It was a blur but he is sure, no, completely positive that he had stayed inside the barracks. He hadn't adventured outside as far as he knew. But the fact that a Marine and a diplomat, two completely different social characters, were laughing about the same thing was another sign that this was probably something bad.

What the hell did he do?

Finally, wiping the tears away from his eyes, the suit looked to the marine and asked, "S-should we tell him?"

The marine in turn shrugged his shoulders, "I don't see why not, it'll be terrible if she comes out of nowhere and he doesn't know what's going on." That caused the suit to start snickering again as he brought out a data pad and handed it to the marine, who in turn gave it to Derek.

"Have a look for yourself lover boy," The marine said with a wicked grin.

Derek didn't grace him with an answer as he looked at the device he was holding, seeing that it appeared to be a video. He stiffened upon seeing that the person the thumbnail was centered on was himself, in a battered and miserable state. His shirt had a tear in it, there was a large pile of glitter on his shoulders and a tipsy look in his eyes. Judging from the background, it appears to be taking place within the barracks.

Did he do this himself or one of his squad mates?

With painful slowness, Derek brought up his finger and pressed the 'play' button.

"Good evening ladies."

Oh shit, his voice in the recording was high-sprung and everything; how much did he really drink last night?

"It is currently... 0105 in the morning and personally, I've never felt more alive," if it was possible, Derek would strangle himself, but if Sergeant Corelli knew he was up that late, drunk no less, he would be brought back from the dead and facing a punishment worse than death.

"Quit stalling," a voice off screen calls out, sounding like that of his squad mate Sue, "get to the point before you chicken out."

"F-fine," video Derek says as he threw his hands up in an exasperated way and he looked back towards the screen, a stupid look plastered to his face that instantly made the sober Derek hate himself even more.

"The whole reason why I'm doing this is because I can't think of a better way to ask this question," Derek wondered if it's possible to die of mortification, "as you all know the marine dance is coming up and I have yet to find a, uh, date."

Oh no… no no no...

"So what I'm getting at here is this," he paused for dramatic effect, and Derek was about ready to murder himself. He might actually do it too if he asked the ambassador out since he did have a sort of a crush on her. Or even worse, Colonel Sandra Hackworth, who he admitted to being pretty once.

"Daughter of the Keep Lord Quas,"

Oh… God…

"would you like to go out with me?"

NOOO!

The truck drivers were laughing hysterically again, but Derek didn't care as he continued to watch, too mortified and scared to miss what happens next.

"In case you're wondering, no, I don't know your name, buuut you must be something special if you're the Keep Lord's daughter." Seriously? He may be intoxicated but surely he could talk smoother than that.

"I'm also a warrior, and I'm young,"

Oh for the love of…

"Please consider this since you are the only girl available, and I promise you it will be worth your while," he came to an end with another cocky smile.

"I await your reply, night." and with that small amount of mercy the video ended, but not before leaving a pale faced Derek alone with his thoughts.

Please let this be a dream, there is no way this can be happening, did it really happen?

Yes it must have, the evidence was right there in his hands.

Wait.

The evidence was in his hands!

Without even thinking, the young marine threw the datapad to the floor, causing a muffled thud. However that wasn't enough for Derek, he needed to make sure no one saw his mistake. He started stomping on it, repeatedly slamming his right booted foot down on the device multiple times, smashing the screen into a million pieces and causing glass and sparks to fly.

"Hey!" Shouted the man in the suit while the driver started giggling again at the display before him, "What are you doing!? That's government property!"

Derek didn't stop until there was nothing but a mess of wires and shattered glass. Satisfied that the device was beyond repair, he looked back up at the suit, "Alright, who else did you show that to?"

"That cost over five thousand credits, it was custom made and everything!" the suited man said with disdain.

"Bill me!" Derek shouted as he threw his hands in the air, "now how did you get that video and who else did you send it to?"

The suited man just scowls at him, but it's the marine who finally started speaking after calming down.

"Kid," he chuckled, "you did."

"What?" Derek asked quietly, the truth slowly revealing itself to him.

The marine slowly shakes his head, "That video was posted on the military net, every marine on base," he suddenly chuckles again, "or for all I know, every marine in the galaxy may have seen it."

He ended with another great laugh.

Derek's arms dropped to his side as he stared off into space.

Every Marine? The whole galaxy? There's even rumors that the media has been able to hack into the military network to get information, so if they were to break into the mainstream…hear about this…possibly publish the video as a story…then his parents might actually…see him saying…saying…

Suddenly he felt a whole new kind of shame and humiliation taking over.

The driver held out his hands and snapped his fingers, "Might I have my card back now?"

Dumbly, Derek handed it back, barely aware of his actions.

"Now open the gate."

Wordlessly, Derek did as he was told.

"Thanks boy," the marine grinned, then he drove off with the man in the suit next to him, arms crossed with a scowl on his face. Derek lowered the gate back down as soon as they rolled through. He stood there for a moment before falling to his knees and eventually falling backwards in a decently awkward position, but he hardly felt it.

Instead he gazed up at the sky, his mouth hanging open in silent horror. Finally, after a minute, another marine who was walking by pauses in her route and walked up to Derek, who was still lying on the floor like a pretzel.

"Hey buddy," the marine said as she got closer, "Are you alright? You didn't get a heat stroke, did…" she trails off as she looks down at Derek.

Suddenly, she bursts into a fit of giggles and asks, "Oh wow, you're Derek...Heater, aren't you?"

Derek was quiet for a moment before he brought his hands up to his face and covered it, softly murmuring to himself, "I am never going to drink again."

#

The sun has barely moved, but according to Derek's watch his shift was almost over. This usually would have made the marine happy, but not this time.

Derek was propped up against the gate, eyes cast down in an attempt to avoid eye contact with whoever passes by. Much to his disdain, it didn't work. Everyone within the camp, military personnel and diplomats alike, would take one look at him and start snickering. Even his squad mates came by with wide smiles, though they didn't tease him as much since they could easily tell he was already receiving more grief than the average young male could handle.

At one point First Sergeant Corelli walked by and Derek immediately stood up, praying he didn't say anything. However the sergeant stopped and looked at Derek with his ever stoic look.

"Private First Class Heath?" he asked.

"Y-yes sir?" Questioned Derek.

"Have you learned your lesson?"

Derek didn't even try to hide it as his shoulder lowered a little, "...Yes sir."

The sergeant nodded before walking away, probably convinced that Heath was in deep trouble already.

That was supposed to be the last interesting thing to have happened that day. Derek had planned on taking a shower before going out on another search for a dancing partner, but decided at the last second it might be for his own good to return to the barracks and hide under his blankets and miss the ball entirely. Besides, after seeing that video, what woman in her right mind would want to-

His chain of thought was interrupted, causing him to look up when he heard a surprising sound. It was the hum of an anti-gravitational engine. Taking a look even further, he saw that the sound was emitting from a sangheili specter vehicle that was moving up the hill towards his gate. Derek frowned at this before pressing his finger against the comms piece in his ear.

"Command," Derek said carefully, "this is Post Number One, do you read."

"We read you loud and clear lover hawk," came an obnoxious voice that made Derek cringe a little before he continued on.

"Command, I have a specter coming up towards the gate, are we expecting any visitors today?"

There was a pause before a response was given, this time in a more serious manner, "Negative lover hawk, this isn't on schedule, ask for their reason on coming here and try to remain respectful. But remember, remain on guard, for all we know this is a sangheili version of a Trojan horse."

It never really occurred to Derek before that this could be a trap or that he was in any danger.

'Wonderful, getting invaded and shot dead is the perfect way to end the worst day of my life,' Derek thought ruefully to himself before he hopped over the barrier and held up one hand in the air. His other hand grabbed his rifle and carefully unslung it until he was holding it by the grip. He certainly was no Spartan, so he couldn't accurately shoot with one hand, but he could let off a few wild shots if worse comes to worse.

The violet vehicle came to a halt just a foot away from him, it took all of Derek's restraint not to point his gun at the occupants. There were two sangheili within the compartment, one wearing the blue colors of the lowest rank in the sangheili military, but the other…the other was covered in gold. Weren't those the colors of a freaking general or something?

Derek gulps nervously before saying, "Hello."

The only response he received was a growl from the driver, prompting the marine to scoot a little further away. He turned to the passenger in the other seat and asked, "Is there anything you need?"

He couldn't really see, but he could have sworn he saw a glint of malice in the sangheili's eyes.

Honestly what did he do?

The gold plated alien then swung itself out of the vehicle and stood up tall. It's standing at a good six-foot-five height, just a few inches taller than Derek was.

It proceeded forward and took a good look at Derek. As it does so, that's when the human noticed something odd about this sangheili. Yes, it was tall, but there was something about its body that seemed…out of place. Slowly his eyes gravitated downwards and that's when he probably realized what was different, the alien had some very curvy sides, a large contrast compared to the other sangheili that he had encountered.

A snarl caused him to break off from his close observation, looking up into the alien's eyes. They were bright with annoyance as they squinted at him, yet what he noticed though is that the eyes are a bright orange. Despite himself, he finds himself lost within them, they were quite a nice shade, reminding him of a soft sunset right before nighttime.

"Are you done staring?"

Derek jumped upon hearing the Sangheili speak for multiple reasons.

It was the first time that an alien had ever spoken directly towards him. He nearly passed out when one looked him dead in the eye and snarled, but now with one actually addressing him, it just seems surreal.

There was also something else, something just seemed…off. All of the sangheili that he had ever encountered had gruff voices. Yet this one, sure it snapped at him for his gazing, but that voice, it was actually smooth and even possessed a subdued melodic tone.

Who the hell was he speaking to?

However, all thoughts of the musical voice were wiped clear from his mind when the sangheili growled again, this time more directly at him.

"Sorry," Derek says as he raised his hand again and backs away a little more, "I'm sorry, I just…" he pauses for a moment, unsure on what to say or do next.

He just what? Had a rough day? Was completely perplexed? Scared out of his mind?

The sangheili, however, remained silent as it continued to observe him, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

He couldn't, for the life of him, bring himself to finish saying what was on his mind earlier so he might as well try a different approach.

He re-slung his rifle, no longer observant to danger as he held out a hand to the sangheili.

"I'm Private First Class Derek Heath."

There was a moment of stillness as the alien looked down at the hand he was offering to it before looking back up at him.

"I...do not understand this gesture," it finally said.

Derek bit his lip a little before saying, "Uh, it's a welcoming gesture and also a, uh, show of trust."

The sangheili met his eyes, "A show of trust? You don't even know who I am."

Derek shrugged and gave his best smile, doing his best to look past the razor sharp talons and teeth, "Well then why don't we start with giving our names? I gave you mine, what about yours?"

He extends his hand a little further towards the alien, "Take my hand and tell me your name."

The sangheili regarded the hand strangely, almost as if it was weary of the limb, before slowly reaching up itself and gently taking his hand. It easily enfolds over Derek's and it took all of his will power to keep himself from shaking when he felt the sharp talons lightly pressing against his flesh. He tries to focus on the skin of the alien instead, feeling it's odd structure and sleekness. He almost half expected it to be cold and clammy, yet it was warm and had a toughness to it that vaguely reminded him of leather.

"You humans have soft skin," The Sangheili said as it looked down upon their clasped hands.

"Uh, yeah," Derek agreed, "and you sangheili have some rather tough skin as well."

The sangheili looked up with him, the annoyance in their eyes gone, now replaced with a bit of curiosity. Derek had no idea what was going on, but before he could ask, the alien spoke again.

"I am Alasha Quas," it says, "daughter of the Keep Lord."

"Alasha," Derek says to himself so he would better remember, "Wow, that's a pretty name, I-"

However it wasn't until now that the sangheili's, or rather Alasha's, sentence fully took effect on him.

Did…did she just say…

"Human?"

It, or she now, asked, "Are you well? You look much paler than before."

"I…I…I…" Derek wasn't sure if it's possible for people as young as him to have a heart attack, but at the moment he felt like he was on the verge of one.

'What is she doing here!? Of all days!'

"Do you need medical assistance?" Alasha asked with the slightest of concern in her voice.

"Fine!" he suddenly yelps before lowering his voice when he realized that he had shouted.

"Uh, I mean, fine, I'm fine, I-I'm just a bit nervous cause, um, well you see, um…"

Finally an idea struck him and he looked back into the sangheili's eyes, "The thing is, I need to report to my Commander what your business here is."

The sangheili eyed him oddly, "My business?"

"Your…um…reason for coming here," Derek speculates. He was surprised when he felt her give his hand a rather gentle squeeze as she peered deeply into his eye.

"My purpose?" She said in a deadpan voice, "my purpose is to accept your invitation of courtship."

A/N Quack: So there are a few fixes changes that occurred, most being some formatting and grammar issues.

I decided to make sure the entire story was conjugated properly, aka everything is now written in a past tense. The reasoning is that the first few paragraphs were originally written like that, and you most certainly want to keep it consistent. It was honestly a nightmare to read at times. I also decided to reformat some paragraphs and even rephrase a few lines to make it flow a lot smoother.

There have also been a few changes to the narrative, although minor as of right now. The biggest and perhaps most important was the change of planet. Originally the story took place on Sangheilios, however there were some glaring lore inconsistencies if that were the case. So instead, we chose to set the story on Rahnelo (the planet from Shadow of Intent for you keen readers).

What lore inconsistencies you may ask? Firstly, the Arbiter would absolutely not allow humanity to establish any military presence on the Sangheili homeworld (hence why he was pissed when Osiris arrived in Halo 5). So we thought, 'hey, we need a sangheili planet that is under Sword's control, so I happened to find our little planet of Rahnelo. Even luckier, the planet also solved another lore inconsistency. It was unlikely that Alasha would ever know her father or be openly expressed as his daughter, so we toyed with the idea of making her a high ranking keep maiden. However, Rahnelo's culture does not follow that anonymous father rule, which solved that problem for itself. We'll have to rework a little of Guisha's arc but it shouldn't be too bad.

A/N RedRaptorWriting: Awooga awooga sangheilixhuman awooga