Hello everyone. I am IX404 and welcome to the final redux of my Halo - MechWarrior/BattleTech crossovers.

Now, for those of you that have read my other two Halo/BattleTech crossovers, I want to say thank you for doing so. I was a budding writer at the time, and my skills weren't fully matured yet. I still feel that they aren't, though I can say that they have drastically improved.

Now, you might be wondering, 'Why is IX404 doing a third rendition of his previous two stories instead of trying something new?' Well, to answer that question, it's because I felt that the first two stories favored one half of the setting far too much, and painted a thin veneer of the other over that half. As such, I've been working with the wonderful writers drakensis and Ulquiorra9000 to craft a crossover between the worlds of Halo and BattleTech that fairly represents both sides of the crossover, and creates a richer story as a result. Plus, as they say, 'third time's the charm,' and I intend this story to be the greatest version of the previous two.

As such, all that I ask is for all of you to read this new rendition of both of the previous stories and give your honest opinions on it. Constructive criticism is both genuinely welcomed and desired here, but no flames please. I do not wish to have to report or ban someone simply because they decided to be rude. I will also have a section at the bottom of each chapter where I will reply to all reviews of a previous chapter, so stay tuned for that as well.

As such, leave a review, but most importantly, enjoy this wonderful crossover!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or MechWarrior/BattleTech 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.

BattleTech OST – Uncertain Crossroads

SLS McKenna's Pride

Deep Periphery

October 15th, 2785

It was an early morning start, or rather what constituted as an early morning on a WarShip, where one would've found Aleksandr Kerensky pacing about on the bridge of his ship, the vaunted McKenna's Pride. One would've guessed him to be too old for military leadership if they didn't know him personally. Despite time, and the stresses of his life, rendering him bald and his facial feature wrinkled, his brown colored eyes held a vibrant vigor that one would've found in a younger person.

As for why he was up and about so early on his prized flagship, it was simply due to the fact that he had taken over for the day shift, having had his fill of sleep. As such, while he paced, officers of the SLDF worked at their stations, or handed out orders for ensigns and crewmen to carry out. Outside, the WarShips of the SLDF hovered in place at the zenith point of the star they were at.

A good crew, he thought to himself as he looked at the people aboard the bridge. A General couldn't ask for a finer crew than this. If only I was a General worthy of that station.

The thought caused him to sigh, especially when he remembered what had happened a couple months prior. I understand why the crew of that ship mutinied, though I do not approve of it. Had they gone back to the Inner Sphere, the Great Houses would have, in their greed, tried to bring us back, or destroy us.

Still, I don't like how I forced Andrey to be part of the firing squad that killed the mutineers. Yes, it was required to maintain morale, but I was acting as a General, not as a father. He sighed as that though passed through his head. Perhaps, when I speak with him again, I'll do what I can to smooth things over. It's high time that I spent some time with my sons, after all, especially Nicholas.

That caused him to frown, though it wasn't because of anything wrong that Nicholas, his eldest son, had done. It was the fact that he, along with Andrey and Katyusa, his wife, had been on Terra when that damned traitor, Stefan Amaris, had conducted the coup. All three of them had to fight against Amaris' unlawful regime for a whole decade before the planet was liberated. That, he knew, could cause major personality shifts and, in that long of a stressful environment, definitely personality disorders.

His thoughts were interrupted when the systems officer of the ship said, "Sir, we've finished up K-F Drive charging operations. In around two hours, we'll make the jump to the next star system."

"Very good," Aleksandr nodded. This led him to look at his executive officer, General Aaron DeChavilier. DeChavilier was, like him, an older man that still had a spark of vitality in him. He was a natural leader, and an even better friend, which made him excellent as a second-in-command. "DeChavilier, you have the bridge."

"Yes, sir," DeChavilier nodded. "Where are you off to?"

"Business," Aleksandr replied. Aaron knew enough about Aleksandr that he didn't need to ask to know what the latter had meant about 'business.' Nodding respectfully, he took command, while Aleksandr continued to move through the bowels of the ship.

Deeper inside of the ship were the crew quarters, along with the grav-deck of the McKenna'd Pride, as well as the K-F Drive that allowed the WarShip to bend space, ignore time, and thumb it's metallic nose at Einstein. As he moved past personnel that were pulling themselves along in the zero-g environment, he took a look at the crew to gauge their current standing.

So far, all was relaxed, but he had seen subtle indicators that they were starting to become tense. It has been a while since we found a suitable world, he thought to himself, though even then, it was too close to the Inner Sphere to be suitable. I might have to cut short the journey if tensions build too far. It was at this thought that he reached the grav-deck, which was still slowly spinning.

Pulling himself through, he felt himself exiting zero-g, with weightlessness being replaced by a comfortable .8G, enough to prevent muscles and bones from atrophying, but light enough to make heavy items less burdensome. Setting himself on what his body now recognized as 'down', he began moving towards one of the rooms onboard this part of the ship. Once he reached one of the doors, he walked into the place.

For a two man room, it was fairly compact and small, but that was standard for WarShips. Designers had a limited amount of space to work with, and they needed to cram everything that the crew needed into a space around the same size as a submarine from the late 20th to early 21st century. Still, it was comfortable, though the lighter 'gravity' was a constant reminder that they were on a WarShip, not a planet.

Instead of seeing two people inside of the room, Aleksandr found that there was only one other person inside of the room. Sitting on a bunk was a young man with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. He had an athletic build, as well as scars that had come from years of fighting. While he wore a uniform, his name tag wasn't present, a reminder that this man had fought in a guerrilla force.

Aleksandr, though, could recognize Andrey Kerensky everywhere. Tapping on the frame with a knuckle, he said, "Good morning, Andrey."

Andrey didn't turn to face him, though whether or not this was out of resentment or some other emotion wasn't clear. Eventually, he looked up at Aleksandr and said, "Good morning, sir."

While Aleksandr appreciated the gesture of respect, he wanted to talk with his son in a familiar manner. Rather than speak, he sat down on the bed next to Andrey and said, "I wanted to see how you were doing, Andrey. Is everything all right?"

"Yeah," Andrey replied. Aleksandr, knowing that Andrey said this when something wasn't right, kept silent. Noting his father's gentle but persistent stare, his shoulders slumped. "No," he finally replied. Turning to Aleksandr, he asked, "Why was I on the firing squad that day?"

"When the Prinz Mugen mutinied?"

"Yes. Why did you choose me? It was enough that I had to go bring the ship back, but why have me shoot the mutinous officers? Was it my punishment, or was it something else entirely?"

Hearing this, Aleksandr saw why Andrey was asking these questions. Apparently, their relationship had been damaged enough to where Andrey was wondering why his father did what he did. I can't let this stand, he thought, but I don't want to distance myself from my youngest son. Taking a breath, he said, "To be honest, Andrey, it was a punishment, but it was also for another reason entirely."

"Oh?"

"Do you remember what we left behind around a year ago?"

Andrey's face became one of concentration as he remembered the day they left. "The Great Houses were planning to pummel each other," he replied. "They've likely started that by now."

"And what would they do to all of us if they found out where we were?" When Andrey didn't reply, Aleksandr said, "They would have convicted us of dereliction of duty, before executing every one of us. Only the enlisted would be spared, and our armada would be used to utterly destroy the Inner Sphere, damning Humanity to a dark age. I also wanted to show you the consequences of your actions, so that you could avoid repeating the same mistake again.

"Still, I admit that I might have been… too harsh on you. I want to take the first step in mending that."

"If that's the case, why favor Nicholas?"

"Because, one day, he will have to lead the Star League-in-exile. It is also because I am worried about him as well. Given that the two of you fought on Terra for a decade in a guerrilla war, that can cause a lot of damage to the mind, especially to young children. It's for that reason why I seem to spend more time with him: I'm worry about him."

That seemed to make sense to Andrey, as his brow became less furrowed. "So, you aren't favoring one son over the other?"

"Yes," Aleksandr replied, deciding to take the diplomatic route. "Still, when I had you shoot the mutinous officers, I was acting as a General would, and not as a father would have done. It's for that reason that I believe I was too harsh on you."

Andrey, however, took that moment to surprise him. "To be honest, father, I needed it," he replied. "I was too… naïve. I should have been more suspicious, less trusting."

Sensing an opportunity, Aleksandr asked, "Do you know who sent the seditious messages from your console?"

"No," Andrey replied, shaking his head, "but I intend to get to the bottom of things. When that happens, I'll take care of the problem myself. It's high time I did so."

Normally, Aleksandr would've said something, but he thought he sensed a spark of conviction in his son's voice. As such, rather than press the point, he said, "I understand. It's not immediately important. Should you find out, though, do let me know."

"I will." With that, the two left, though the tension between the two was noticeable reduced.

Just as he left the room that Andrey was at, Aleksandr bumped into another person. This person was a woman, with dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and quite the shapely frame. "Aleksandr," she beamed.

Aleksandr, seeing the woman, recognized her immediately. "Katyusha," he smiled, hugging her for a moment. Stepping away after a moment, he asked, "How are you faring?"

"Quite fine, thank you," Katyusha nodded. "I saw you go in and speak with Andrey. He was fairly upset over what happened a couple months ago, but now that seems to have been replaced by a kind of determination. Have you found out why?"

"He's going to be conducting a private investigation into who sent the seditious messages from his terminal," Aleksandr explained. "I have full confidence that he'll find out what happened. He's a natural leader and a son I deeply love."

"That he is. Still, please go easy on him. You were quite harsh in your disciplining of him that day."

"I know. I believe I was too harsh, as a matter of fact. I will do what I can."

While the two left as they talked, Andrey's lips bent into a frown as he closed the door to the bunkroom. I hate it when I have to lie to my father, he said to himself. I already know who sent those seditious messages: my elder brother, Nicholas.

If there was a name that sparked resentment and anger, it was that name. While everyone saw Nicholas Kerensky as the elder scion of Aleksandr, Andrey really knew who his brother was. He's nothing but an egotistical sociopath that needs to be really hammered down. At least I know know why father seems to favor him over me, though knowing about it doesn't make me feel any better about it.

Still, I fully intend to stop Nicholas from manipulating me any further. I was naïve and foolish to trust him. He was the mastermind behind the Prinz Mugen mutiny, and was likely testing the waters to see if he could manipulate people into following him.

Either way, I won't let him manipulate any more people if I can help it. From now on, I'll make certain to weigh and screen each word he says, so that I can weed out the truth from the half-truths and lies. I'll need to be careful, though, as I don't want to tip him off on the fact that I'm not going to be manipulated by him. Perhaps it's time I learned a few lessons from his behavior and did the same to reverse what he's done so far. Shaking his head, he got up, and began to move to one of the smaller simulation rooms aboard the ship.

. . .

Two hours later, the Grav Deck of the McKenna's Pride had been secured in place, and the solar sail full retracted inside of the ship. The waiting period now was to make sure that the rest of the ships that were members of Operation EXODUS were able to jump. With that in mind, Aleksandr decided to wait until every WarShip and JumpShip had reported in.

Part of this had to do with the nature of K-F Drive travel itself. K-F Drives were an advanced form of Brane Jump Drive, since they operated via String Theory and high energy particle physics. This meant that they operated by transporting a ship via wormhole into an 11th dimensional form of space-time known as Hyperspace.

This, however, came with risks. For one thing, jumping anywhere other than a star's Zenith or Nadir Jump Points had the chance of causing a misjump to happen. I remember tales of those, Aleksandr noted to himself. The least dangerous misjumps are not much to be frightened off, with ships appearing an AU away from their intended destination. The worst ones, however, are very much the stuff of nightmares for JumpShip and WarShip crews.

Unfortunately, I know from experience. We recently lost the SLS Manassas to a misjump, due to their K-F Drive malfunctioning. I don't know if we'll ever even see them again. The worst ones are where the ship simply disappears, never to be seen again. Even the thought of a misjump happening to the McKenna was enough to tighten his gut, that and abandoning his duty as Commanding General of the SLDF-in-exile.

"All DropShips docked to JumpShips," an officer reported. "JumpShips are charged and , one minute to jump." With that in mind, Aleksandr, sat down in a nearby seat and buckled himself in. Across the ship, the intercom announced, "Thirty seconds to Jump… Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero."

Within the bowels of the McKenna lay the ship's K-F Drive. A massive conglomeration of cables, pipes, computers and equipment, the K-F Drive was massive, but small enough to fit inside the McKenna with room to spare for the rest of the ship. Deep inside it's heart lay the capacitor core, a solid cylinder of germanium alloyed steel designed to hold the massive electrical charge required to utilize the EM field tensor necessary to activate the rest of the drive, along with the computers that would help the drive use the hyperspace field to warp the fabric of space-time

As soon as the intercom had announced the moment of jump, a command sent from the ship's bridge to the K-F Drive allowed it to fully activate. A hyperspace field enveloped the McKenna's Pride, as well as the other ships in the SLDF Exodus fleet as their K-F Drives began to warp space-time. Each of the ships began to glow blue-white as the K-F Drives formed a wormhole to hyperspace and the destination, before each of the ships disappeared in a bright flash of light. Within a few minutes, each of the ships in the SLDF Exodus Fleet had jumped.

To Kerensky, the jump was instantaneous, with a brief sensation of being compressed vertically, while being stretched horizontally in all directions. That was normal; what wasn't normal was the massive wave of nausea that hit him, as though he had just come out of an AeroSpace Fighter that was doing barrel rolls and loops. For a moment, it felt like he was about to vomit his entire breakfast onto the air.

With an ironclad resilience, he forced the nausea down and bent it to his will. Fortunately, it seemed to be temporary, as it was already fading as he unbuckled himself from his chair. The sounds of moans, as well as the occasional interrupted groans of people throwing up told him the others hadn't been as lucky. What just happened, he wondered as he looked around. From the looks of it, Aaron DeChavilier seems to have overcome the nausea I felt moments ago, though the rest of the crew is throwing up. No one appears to be injured, though. Did we suffer a misjump? The thought immediately capitalized his attention. "Status?" he called out, his voice loud but level.

One person, who had recovered faster than the others, quickly stood up and said, "We've suffered a misjump, sir. Hang on, I'll try to contact the ship heads and get a headcount. Comms, contact the rest of the Exodus fleet and see what happened. On the double mister!"

"Aye, sir!" came the reply. For four feverish minutes, the crew worked hard to find out what had happened.

Aaron, who now seemed none the worse for wear, came over to Aleksandr and said, "I've never had nausea from a K-F jump before. This is unusual."

"Same here," Aleksandr nodded. "We'll know soon enough."

As soon as he said this, the officer in question spoke up. "Sir, the fleet's just reported in. We suffered a misjump that's affected the entire fleet. Fortunately, no one appears to have been injured, but we're getting numerous reports of moderate to severe TDS on every JumpShip, DropShip and WarShip. Most have arrived where we're at, but some have arrived hundreds of thousands of kilometers to roughly one AU away from our position. They're currently burning for our position."

That's a bit of a relief, Aleksandr thought as he heard those words. At least we didn't lose any WarShips this time around, but we need to find out where we're at. Clearing his throat, he said, "Navigation, get a fix on our position. I want to know where we are within the hour."

With that in mind, the officer got to work, while Aleksandr began looking at where they had ended up. Outside of the viewport, he could clearly see that the McKenna had also missed the jump point by an AU, as the view outside was that of a massive gas giant that hovered in space before them. The system's star was visible was a shining white orb of light that was millions, if not billions, of miles away from them.

As the minutes ticked by, more reports came in, with some indicating minor damage that had been suffered, while others were relatively mundane, aside from the misjump. During this time, Aleksandr moved to check on his sons when his eldest arrived at the infirmary. A young man with black hair, brown eyes and tanned skin, Nicholas Kerensky was quite handsome looking, though right now, that was marred by the queasy expression he had on his face. The mere look he had showed how miserable he was, that and an immensely loud belch that indicated how disgruntled his stomach was at what had happened.

Andrey, fortunately, had gotten the better end of the stick, as he had a minor dizziness that soon wore off. Katyusha was also just as fortunate, though she was quite confused as to what had happened. "I don't know what happened," Aleksandr had explained to her, "but I do intend to find out. Do what you can for the less fortunate." With that, he had begun heading back to the bridge to find out what else had happened.

When he arrived, Aaron was near the door, the mag boots he wore activated. "Sir, we've found out where we are."

"And?" Aleksandr asked.

At that, Aaron's expression became downcast, with a frown on his face. "We're nowhere near where we need to be. In fact, we appear to have jumped far closer to Earth. According to the navigator, we've jumped around 750 light years to a star system known as 31 Aquilae. In other words, we're roughly 50 light years away from Terra."

That had Kerensky deeply confused, but more than a little worried as well. That''s inside of the territory that used to be controlled by the Terran Hegemony, he thought. The worry came from the fact that this was close enough to where the Great Houses could find them, if they bothered looking that is. Still, he knew he couldn't panic, and it was likely that it was an error in the navigator's calculations. "Have you checked?" he asked.

"Yes," the navigator replied. "I've double and triple checked my findings. We are at 31 Aquilae, and there's nothing here that remotely resembles the Great Houses or the Star League Defense Force."

With that in mind, Aleksandr began to work on eliminating any possibilities that could be present. Once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, he thought, recalling something he'd read in a detective novel before.

His internal musings were interrupted, however, when his sensors officer gave a loud, "OH SHIT!" Jumping slightly, Kerensky moved with the speed of a much younger man. He was about to chew the sensors officer out when he saw it. Roughly 30 degrees to the left of the port bow, was an object that was in space. That wouldn't have been surprising to Aleksandr, except for the fact that it didn't look like any object that he had ever seen before. Even from this distance, he could clearly see what it was.

Basically, the object was in the shape of a ring, with the ring being perfectly circular, though sensors reported that it bent slightly due to the influence of gravity from what appeared to be a Lagrange Point. It was also massive, with sensors indicating that it was likely thirty one thousand kilometers in circumference, which gave it a diameter of ten thousand kilometers. The most obvious factor, which had Kerensky more than a little mystified and concerned, was that it was clearly artificial, as he could see glowing lights and glyphs even from this distance.

Nearby, Aaron vocalized the thoughts running through his head. "What the hell is that?" he asked, his face a mask of confusion and worry. "I've heard of O'Neil Cylinders from books, but never anything like this. Is someone pulling a joke on us?"

"Let's find out," Aleksandr decided. "Comms, check in with any WarShips that are close by. I want to know if we're not hallucinating this."

"Aye, sir," came the reply. It was around four minutes later that the Comms officer said, "Negative, sir. We're not seeing an illusion of some kind. According to fifteen other WarShips and five JumpShips that arrived where we are at, that object is there."

Too many for this to be a coincidence, Aleksandr decided. "How close are we?" he asked.

There was a minute of silence, then, "We're the closest ones to the object, sir. My guess is that it'll take us around two hours for us to reach it. However, I can get information on the object itself."

"What has my attention is the fact that it has an atmosphere," the Sensors officer reported. "My scan indicates that it has an atmosphere on the inside of the object. That's unusual, though, as it should've bled away into space given the object's size, unless it's made out of some pretty dense stuff. In addition, it appears to be spinning on it's horizontal axis. Either way, this is some really strange shit."

With that, Aaron DeChevilier turned to Aleksandr. "Sir, what do we do?"

For a full minute, Kerensky was silent as he considered his options. He now knew that they had, somehow, misjumped into a star system that hadn't been surveyed by the Star League or Great Houses, and had found what was, obviously, an artifact of unknown origin, one that likely could support life. After a minute of debate, he said, "Take us in. We're going to investigate, with boots in hand."