Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my MechWarrior/BattleTech - Halo crossover redux.

Thank you all for your wonderful feedback and support! I deeply appreciate it.

Also, the problems with the website on my end were fixed yesterday, and I have updated the previous chapter with the new reviews for it. If you want to check it out, go ahead and do so.

A reviewer that I've corresponded with in the past also made a suggestion that I will be following. All chapters, save for the first, will use the UNSC calendar, with the BattleTech calendar in parentheses. That way, there's no confusion between the dates. All previous chapters will have this done retroactively, and I will be changing the dates to have them line up with each other in terms of the month and day.

As always, leave a review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the MechWarrior/BattleTech or Halo franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, WizKids, Piranha Games Inc., etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.

Uncharted Space

In-System Jump Point

September 2nd, 2515 (2785)

If there was a word that Captain William Needs could use to describe his current mental state, it was bored. Sitting inside of the CIC of his ship, a Sovetskii Soyuz-class Frigate known as the Kharkov, he stifled a yawn as he waited for the DropShip that had been launched around eighteen days ago to dock to the WarShip. So far, it was taking longer than he would've liked it to take, something that irritated him, given that he was a man of punctuality.

At least we're equipped for long range travel, he smiled to himself while looking around the boxy interior of the CIC. Took us around a month to get this baby refitted and repaired, but we're now capable of protecting ourselves. The Ferro-Carbide armor should provide much better protection than the original Improved Ferro-Aluminum Armor. Looking at the crew, he could tell that they were in a similar state of boredom, if the blank stares, yawning and general relaxed demeanor was anything to tell by. Still, I am a man of duty, and I will do the mission, even if it's tedious.

That reminded him of the mission that they were on. Once they had enough structures to house everyone on the surface of Soell IV and Soell III, and the utilities to support them, General Kerensky had decided to have a survey of the nearby star systems conducted. This was to not only determine if they really were still in the Inner Sphere, but to also establish a network of monitoring devices at each Jump Point, while surveying the worlds within each system. Captain William Needs, who was a member of the SLDF's Science/Survey Squadrons, had volunteered to help with the mission.

So far, all is well, Needs thought to himself, but that could change in an instant. Still, we won't find out if we are in the Inner Sphere if those slowpokes of DropShips don't show up soon. His train of thought was suddenly disrupted when he heard the intercom on his command chair chime. Pressing it, he asked, "Yes?"

"We're docked and ready," came the reply.

"Good. What took you so long?"

"Some connectors got snagged when we tried to dock. We spent the better part of an hour trying to untangle the mess. It's all good now, and we're ready to jump."

Finally, some good news, Needs smiled. We can finally get underway. Keying the 'com, he said, "All right. Make sure you're secured for K-F Jump." Closing the 'com, he turned to his navigator and asked, "How long until we jump?"

"Around ten minutes, sir," came the navigator's reply.

"Good," Needs replied, smiling at that. With that in mind, he began to count down the minutes to their jump. To keep himself occupied, he looked at various readouts and gauges. Keying the 'com again, he asked, "DropShip Beta 2-1, what's the status of the worlds you surveyed?"

"Excellent," came the reply. "We found a garden world here. Mostly temperate, but it's got larger than average polar ice caps and the tropical bands are narrower than Terran standard. Reminds me of Tharkad."

"I see," Needs noted. "You came from Tharkad?"

"Yes," came the reply. "My parents lived in Tharkad City, and I grew up there."

Needs nodded. "All right. You ready to go?"

"Yes," came the reply.

"Good."

Just as Needs closed the 'com, the navigator announced. "K-F Jump in T-Minus sixty seconds." Those seconds passed, before the officer announced. "T-Minus thirty seconds." Another few seconds, then, "K-F Jump in ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one… zero."

Deep within the bowels of the Heavy Cruiser, the Compact K-F Drive spun to life. Power surged from the capacitor core and through the intricate mechanisms needed for the ship to bend space, ignore time, and thumb its metallic nose at Einstein. The K-F Coil powered up, generating a hyperspace field while punching a hole into hyperspace itself. As soon as the field encompassed the entire ship, the hull glowed blue-white, before the entire ship seemed to dart forwards and vanish.

Onboard the ship, Needs felt the jump, with his body feeling like it was a piece of dough being pressed down and outwards by the meat of a baker's palm. While the ship took a few seconds to get to it's destination, it only felt like a second for Needs, as moments later, the sensation came to a stop. All he felt after that was a slight bit of dizziness that quickly faded.

The same couldn't be said for the Fire Control Officer, who violently puked into a bag near his station. A medic stationed nearby came over, only for the FCO to push him away. "I'm fine," he croaked out. "Just some TDS. I'll be OK."

"You sure?" the medic asked. "TDS can cause epilepsy."

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"All right. If you should have any symptoms worse than what you're currently experiencing, then let me know." With that, the medic resumed his post near the door, while the FCO tied up the vomit bag he used before pushing it into a small trash bin nearby. Wiping at his mouth with a handkerchief, he resumed his own post.

Needs smiled slightly. The FCO, Richard Weeds, had always had a 'tough guy' approach to Transit Disorientation Syndrome, which was usually to brute force his way through the symptoms through sheer willpower. It was one of his more admirable traits, as it meant that he could get the job done, even when under mental and physical duress.

Alright, immediate crisis over, he said to himself. Get on with the usual business. Looking at the navigator, he asked, "Navigator, did we make a successful jump?"

"Hang on," the Navigator replied, her voice calm and crisp. "I'm working out where we are, and it's not easy. We're way out in the boondocks."

"Take your tine," Needs reassured the woman. "I'm a patient man." He braced himself for another hour of waiting.

Fortunately, he need not have worried, as the navigator looked at him and said, "Captain, we've just had an extraordinary stroke of luck. We've had a misjump, but not a bad one."

Needs sat up straight at that. "How bad?"

"Like I said, not a bad one, but a bit of a complicated one. We've arrived within the Lagrange Point for a planet-satellite system that's in the star system we're in." A moment later, Needs, needing clarification, activated a nearby view screen. Cameras on the surface of the Kharkov activated, allowing him to see where they were.

To his surprise, the navigator was correct in her assessment. The viewscreen showed the image of two bodies floating in space from where they were located. One of them was a dark gray body, which he recognized to be a moon. The other, however, was a verdant green and blue orb that floated serenely near the other stellar body. To him, it looked like a beautiful jewel in the vacuum of space, a safe harbor that one might use in a storm.

"Interesting," he noted. "Where did we end up, specifically?"

"Just calculated it," the navigator replied. "We've ended up in this system's L3 Lagrange Point. We got incredibly lucky, Captain."

That we did, Needs agreed. Misjumps are the worst kind of thing that can happen to a ship. I'm just glad that we didn't get fused to the deck of the ship, or turned inside out for that matter. He shivered slightly at the thought. He'd seen the interior of a JumpShip that had misjumped before. It had given him nightmares for months on end.

That was when he got a surprise from their SIGINT/CAT (Signals Intelligence/Communication and Tracking) Officer when he spoke up. "Captain, I've just detected a large number of radio transmissions coming from the planet."

That got Captain Needs' attention. "What?!" he yelped, pushing against the restraints in his seat when he jumped. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," the SIGINT/CAT Officer replied. "I've just spent the better half of a few minutes analyzing the signals. None of them are consistent with those found in the Inner Sphere. I've also discovered that they're speaking in Star League English."

Again, Needs' felt confusion. What is going on, he wondered. First we find out we've misjumped, then we find out that this planet is inhabited, and now we learn that it isn't the Inner Sphere. What the hell is going on?! Keeping his emotions under control, he asked, "Are we dealing with pirates?"

"Negative, as far as I can tell," the officer replied. "All of the radio transmissions that I've detected thus far make repeated references to a 'UEG' and 'UNSC.' In addition, I've detected transmissions that hold data, which indicates the presence of a PIN."

"Planetary Information Network?"

"Affirmative. I can attempt to access it if you – Wait a minute! I'm detecting incoming contacts! Bearing 3-2-0!"

At that, an image of the multi-modal scans of the immediate area they were in came up on a view screen directly in front of Needs. The image showed a spherical region around the ship that showed where objects and contacts were in relation to the ship. Combined with the RADAR and Multispectral/LiDAR systems used for the threat detection system, and Needs could get a very good idea of what was going on in a region encompassing a light-second around his ship.

Right now, however, the image showed two contacts approaching the ship at flank speed, but it was the acceleration that had his attention. That can't be right, he frowned to himself. The unidentified ships are approaching at an acceleration of 200 G. If a ship went that fast, the entire crew would be dead in an instant, and you'd need a massive pair of engines to even get to that point.

Still, he knew what he was going to do. "Engineering," he said into the 'com, "we need to make a jump as soon as possible."

"We need to wait several more hours!" came the reply from the Engineering team. "If we jump right now, we're guaranteed to have a misjump, and I don't need to tell you how bad that can get!"

"Damnit!" Needs snarled. It seemed as though he had only two options remaining: stand and fight, or try to talk his way out of their situation. Tapping his feet, he thought for a few seconds, before he said, "Fire Control, I want weapons loaded, charged and a firing solution using passive sensors. No need to give these new contacts any reason to shoot at us. SIGINT/CAT, I need you to open a laser-comm beam if they contact us."

"Roger that," both officers acknowledged, before quickly going to work.

"Sir, ships are within visual range," the Navigator replied. "I've also got a LiDAR scan of their hull profiles. Sending the info now."

A moment later, the view screen Needs was using loaded the images of the two incoming contacts. The hull profiles were nothing like anything that he'd ever seen before, with each of the ships looking boxy and angular in appearance. Compared to the Kharkov, which resembled a cylinder with rounded ends, these ships looked like blocks and cubes that had been welded together, before a pair of engines were slapped onto the back.

Either way, they looked like military ships, and Needs had no desire to enter into an all-out military engagement unless he absolutely had to. "Contact General Kerensky," he ordered a moment later. "He needs to know about this. Inform him that we've encountered an unknown force, but that they're not from the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, nor are they pirates. I think we're dealing with a legitimate government we haven't seen before, but I'm not certain."

"Aye, sir," the SIGINT/CAT Officer agreed. Within a minute, he had a message typed out, and in just a few seconds, he hit the send button. "Message on it's way," he reported. "We'll have a message from General Kerensky within a few minutes tops."

"We might not have a few minutes," the Fire Control Officer added. "Sir, I had the computer perform a scan of the incoming ships. Looks like they're armed with either Naval Gauss Rifles or Naval Autocannons. It can't make a definitive answer from this distance."

Another good reason to be wary, Needs remarked.

Just then, the SIGINT/CAT Officer said, "Sir, I've got an incoming transmission from one of the unidentified WarShips. Sending it now."

A moment later, everyone listened when a deep, male voice said, "Unidentified ship, this is Captain William Barnard of the UNSC Lawful Compact. You are trespassing in a restricted area. Identify yourself and state your intentions."

"Sounds like he's serious," the navigator frowned.

"I know," Needs replied. "Keep calm." Looking at the SIGINT/CAT Officer, he asked, "Any replies yet?"

"Checking," the officer reported. "Well, I'll be damned! Just got a reply from Aleksandr Kerensky, sir! The message says that we're to speak with the newcomers, but if they attack, we're authorized to defend ourselves by any means necessary."

"Understood," Needs acknowledged. "Inform him we are complying. Also, open a laser-comm-link to the Lawful Compact. I'll try and talk our way out of this mess." As the SIGINT/CAT Officer complied, Needs cleared his throat, and said, "This is Captain William Needs of the SLS Kharkov. We apologize for entering a restricted area. We just had a misjump with our FTL drive."

There was a pause for a moment, then he heard Barnard ask, "SLS?"

"Star League Ship," Needs explained. "Why do ask?"

"Are you, in any way, associated with the Insurrectionists?" Barnard asked, his voice taking on a hard edge.

"Captain!" the Fire Control Officer reported. "I've got thermal blooms on parts of their ships! I think they're powering up weapons!"

"Do not fire unless we're fired upon!" Needs ordered, his voice booming in the interior of the CIC. "I do not want to be the aggressor if a fight breaks out!" Hitting the transmit button after clearing his throat, he said, "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the term, Captain Barnard. In fact, I've never heard of a group calling themselves the 'Insurrectionists' before. Mind if you elaborate?"

. . .

On the other side of the exchange, Captain William Barnard was nothing short of flummoxed, even as he surveyed the situation before him. When he'd gotten up this morning, he didn't expect to have to deal with an unknown warship that was hovering in space before him. In fact, all he expected was a boring, but needed, patrol of the Lagrange Points surrounding Sigma Octanus IV.

That, however, had changed when, during their transit to the area in question, the entire ship had shuddered, not enough to cause problems, but enough to be noticeable. His mind had rushed back to when Insurrectionists had used a low yield nuclear device to try and destroy his ship. The thermonuclear bomb had fizzled, but it had cased enough damage that the Lawful Compact had to be pulled into a major zero gee dry dock for repairs.

That had been his first thought, but the AI onboard the ship, Alexia, had informed him that there was no radiation that was associated with a thermonuclear bomb. What she had detected, however, was a space-time fluctuation around 1,000km from their original position, along with some electromagnetic radiation and a few exotic particles. As such, he'd ordered the two ship group to head to that area at flank speed.

Now, he found himself staring at a warship that was unlike any that he'd ever seen. Aesthetically speaking, it was more pleasing in appearance than the bulk of most UNSC ships. Much of the hull resembled a cylinder with rounded ends, with the front section having a pair of antenna-like structures sticking up from the top and a pair of stubby wings on the bottom. Towards the back, he could see more stubby wings arranged around the ship like fins on a circular heat sink. A trio of engines was located on the rear, completing the image. From where he was at, it was larger than his own ship, and a nagging feeling told him that he might not want to fire on it.

He turned to Alexia for answers. "Alexia, is there anything you can tell me about that ship that I don't know about? In addition send this 'Needs' a data packet on the Innies. Perhaps that could clear a few things up."

"Understood," Alexia replied. A moment later, the blue-white holographic image of a woman with dark brown hair and a dress similar to that of women from High Medieval times appeared on a nearby holo-pedestal. "Data package sent, though I don't know if their systems are compatible with it. It was only by sheer luck that our comms systems were compatible."

"I agree," Barnard concurred. "So, what can you tell me about their comms system, or anything about their ship really?"

"It's quite unique," Alexia noted. "They're using a form of tight-beam laser to transmit information, so it's hard to listen in on if you're not at the receiver. In addition, I performed a scan of their armor plating. Multispectral scans indicate that the layer were seeing is composed of hafnium carbonitride."

Barnard whistled. Hafnium Carbonitride was not only a tough material, it had an extremely high melting point, around two-thirds of the temperature of the Sun's surface in fact. What would require armor plating of that melting temperature, he wondered, though part of him didn't want to find out what. "Can you access their systems?"

"Yes. but only at your command. I don't wish to start a fight, after all."

"Fair point," Barnard conceded. "What about their engines?"

"They're quite powerful, but they're only being used at a fraction of their power. My calculations indicate that, if they rammed those engines to full power, they could accelerate at roughly 700 G. It could be that they either don't have inertial dampeners like we do, or that the structure of the ship isn't designed to withstand that, though I could be wrong."

Just as Alexia said this, Barnard heard Captain Needs reply over the comm. "I just read that data packet you sent along. I can safely say, with certainty, that we are not, in any way, affiliated with the Insurrectionists that you mentioned. In fact, I'd rather blow them out of the sky, judging by their blatant use of nuclear weaponry."

That's reassuring, Barnard thought to himself, though he knew that it was just as as likely to be a ruse more than anything. "I would like to conduct a face-to-face meeting, if that's alright with you."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that," Needs replied. "I need to clear it with my superiors before I can perform such an action. In fact, I just received a message from him. We have to return to where we came from within thirty six hours."

"Are you sure?" Barnard asked.

"Yes," Needs confirmed. "I have to remain in the Lagrange Point we're at to allow the FTL drive we use to function normally. Plus, standard practice is not to use the drive for another thirty six to forty eight hours. If we use it any earlier, we risk a misjump." A moment later, he asked, "May I ask why this is a restricted area?"

For a few moments, Barnard paced around the bridge, debating on whether or not he should tell Needs why they were here. UNSC Protocol dictates that we cannot divulge our purpose to any ship from a faction not affiliated with the UNSC. Still, this is a First Contact scenario with people that are likely humans like me, if the language is anything to go on.

Ultimately, the decision was decided for him, as moments later, Alexia said, "Sir, I've detected four Slipstream Space Ruptures near our position. My scans indicate a number of Lancer and Mako-class Corvettes. None of them have UNSC IFF's."

Damn, Insurrectionists, Barnard realized. Probably the local Insurrection Cell, the Sigmus Saboteurs. Guess that ONI intel on them using the Langrange Points here was accurate. A moment later, he said, "Needs, we'll have to discuss this at a later time. We've got hostile ships moving towards us."

"I know," Needs replied. "They just arrived here on another FTL flight system that our scans indicate emitted Kerenkov Radiation. That your system too?"

"Yes," Barnard confirmed. "We use Slipstream Space for FTL flight. You?"

"Hyperspace fight," Needs replied. "I can't tell you much more, but I can say that we use a K-F Drive to get around. You think you can handle these guys on your own?"

"Yes," Barnard replied confidently, "though I think they're gunning for your ship now." On the holographic screen nearby, he could see the blips representing the Insurrectionist ships moving towards the Kharkov.

. . .

Onboard the Kharkov, Needs could see the incoming hostile ships approaching his own. The newly identified Mako-class, he noted, was just a few dozen meters larger than a DropShip, while the others were a little shorter than the ship he was on. From what he could tell, they were approaching his ship from the right, likely in an intent to perform a broadside maneuver.

"Sir," the SIGINT/CAT Officer reported. "The two larger ones are splitting away to engage Barnard's ship and his compatriot's, The smaller ones are moving to engage us."

"Alright," Needs decided. "Fire Control, lock onto the smaller ships and prepare a firing solution. SIGINT/CAT, contact the smaller ships and ascertain their intentions."

"Yes sir, I -"

"INCOMING!" the Fore Control Officer shouted. "They've fired on us!" Just as he said this, the rounds from the smaller ships impacted the Kharkov.

The ship shuddered as the rounds smacked into the Kharkov, only for the Ferro-Carbide armor to easily withstand the blows. Needs felt the ship vibrate, though it wasn't as bad as being hit by a slug from a Naval Gauss Rifle. He could even hear the clanging sounds of the shells impacting. "Damage?" he asked.

"Negative damage!" the Damage Control Officer reported. "The armor held up to the attack!"

"Fire Control, do you have a targeting solution?"

"Affirmative! Naval Lasers firing now!"

In the vacuum of space, there was nothing for the lasers to interact with, save for the target that they'd been given. As such, the only areas where the lasers were visible were at the lens of the laser itself, or at the enemy target. The same applied for PPC weapons, given that there was no atmosphere for them to interact with. Either way, the smaller Mako-class Corvettes were doomed.

An NL45 targeting the first of the two hostile ships fired. A sparkle of green-white light erupted on the enemy ship, with the laser boiling through the armor on the smaller ship. An explosion rang out as the laser destroyed a component on the hostile ship, causing it to be blown apart. Another shot blasted the hostile ship apart, sending pieces of it flying everywhere.

The second ship, realizing what had happened, quickly turned around to leave, only for the Kharkov's Naval PPC's to fire at it. Unlike the first one, the second ship was promptly destroyed, with the particle bolt cutting the entire ship in half. Both halves were sent flying away, while spinning at speeds high enough to kill anyone onboard.

"Targets neutralized," the Fire Control Officer reported.

"That was easy," Needs mused. "Did they have any kind of armor on them?"

"I don't think so," the navigator replied, shaking her head. "They should've withstood three to four hits from our Naval Lasers. Maybe Barnard can enlighten us when we're done here."

"Sir, permission to engage the other hostile craft?" the FCO asked.

"Granted," Needs ordered. "Unless Barnard has the situation well in hand."

"No need," the SIGINT/CAT Officer remarked. "The remaining enemy ship's powering down weapons and the other one's been destroyed. I think we intimidated them into surrendering."

Just then, Barnard came over the comm. "Captain Needs," he said, "I must thank you for your assistance. The Insurrectionists just surrendered to us. From what we can tell, the display of firepower you put on scared them into surrendering. Just what did you use, anyways?"

"Classified," Needs remarked, "though you can ask my superiors if they decide on a meet-and-greet. Need any help wrangling the hostile crews?"

"No, we've got them handled," Barnard replied. "In fact, they've stated that they've never seen your ship before, nor do they have any like it. Judging by how compliant they're being, I'm inclined to agree with them." There was a pause, then, "Do you still wish to leave?"

"Yes," Needs replied. "I've got to report back as soon as I can."

"Alright," Barnard decided. "We'll take these Innies in while you wait here for your drive to be ready to go. I wish you a safe and pleasant journey."

"You too," Needs remarked, glad to have avoided a confrontation with the UNSC.

(Author's Q&A)

SulliMike23: Same here, but we'll find out once we get to that chapter, and that chapter's a long ways off.

Blanchimont: Good idea. Thanks to your review, I'll make the necessary changes, and I've informed new readers of what will happen. Thank you for the suggestion.

The True Skull: Refitting the SLDF's WarShips with Slipstream Space Drives would be useful, except for the fact that the Compact K-F Drive takes up quite a bit of room, with all SLDF WarShips built around the drive. This different from UNSC WarShips, which are built around their spinal mounted Magnetic Accelerator Cannons. To retrofit SLDF WarShips with the UNSC's CODEN IV Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines, you would need to completely tear the ship apart and rebuild it from the ground up, which would take years and years of work and far too much effort.

As such, the smarter way to do things is to advance the K-F Drive by directly improving the recharge time and by extending the range, which would involve improving the internal components or adding on additional power supplies. In addition, Guilty Spark will be much kinder this time around, as he now knows why Kerensky chose to leave the Inner Sphere behind, and why he chose to find a new home for the remnants of the SLDF that wished to avoid having to destroy the Inner Sphere they loved. Still, I fully understand where you're coming from, and I am glad that you will be carefully considering my words. I don't seek to debunk or harshly criticize anyone. I wish to educate, which is far better.

: Thank you.

galacticarmor2 Alt: That's one reason why meeting the SLDF was so fortuitous for him. It gives him someone to interact with, someone to share his views with.

SpaceCommander-09: Hopefully this chapter explains where they're at in terms of the timeline.

Guest #1: I have. I loved that book.

Just a Crazy-Man: Thank you.

Danny79: Very true. Hopefully, with the UNSC and Covenant coming around, things turn out better this time around.

mckenleymagarcenio: Thank you for your kind words.

Violet Toyger: Same here, though we're going to have a much better meeting in this case.

Guest #2: Thank you, and I hope you have a pleasant weekend as well.