A soft chirping starting to fill the void known as darkness. Samantha's eyes slowly opened to the sound. She squirmed a bit, feeling a firm warmth behind her before she looked at the nightstand. Her small PDA was dimly blinking to the soft chirps, and she groaned. She took a hold of it, letting her eyes focus before she looked it over. It was some kind of alert. Ugh, English at 4 am.... Halo could have understood what it was more than she could this early in the morning. She yawned widely, licking her lips a bit before she winced, clutching her neck. It was very sore, but more pressing matters were at hand. When she could focus, she read what the small screen had to say.

Pillar of Autumn under Critical Alert. All hands report to designated stations.

"Dammit," she cussed, sliding out of the arm of the one beside her, and quickly rushing to get her clothes.

She managed to get her pants and a military issue bra on, before she nudged the sleeping form's shoulder. She frowned when he didn't wake. She shook a bit harder, and saw the eyes of him open, glancing around quickly.

"Halo, we have to get to the bridge," she spoke with concern, slipping on her shirt and quickly buttoning it up.

"Early...." Halo grumbled, slowly getting up as he flexed his jaws slowly.

Samantha took his projector watch, then quickly placed it around his wrist and activated it, the Human image obscuring the threatening Covenant, and helped him to his feet. She quickly poured herself a cup of coffee, took a few long gulps of the cold liquid, then hurried to get her boots on. When she couldn't find the other one, Halo helped out, handing her the foot wear before lifting her to her feet. She smiled a bit, but given the seriousness of the situation, a sense of humor was beyond her.

Halo and Samantha quickly rushed to the bridge, stepping out into the hall and taking the lift down to the deck of the bridge. Upon exiting, pulsing red lights filled the corridors, contrasting the moving figures of those that lived here. The crew members, having been waken up by the alarms of Katrina, were running around in a blind panic. The Raven's Night, was on full alert. Halo had to be careful not to bump in to anyone, risking his presence. He didn't know what was happening, but he was sure he would be shot, given the look of concern on everyone's face. Before long, him and Samantha stepped onto the bridge, approaching the Captain and promptly saluting. She saluted back, then turned back to the bridge. Once again, Katrina glared at Halo. He simply sighed and avoided her gaze. Everyone stood and faced the Captain, at attention. She held her breath, preparing to relay the information she had just acquired to everyone on the ship. A nervous finger pressed the All Decks button, broadcasting her statement to everyone on board.

"As of 03:00 hours, we have received emergency distress calls via the UNSC Network, from both the planet Farthern Star, and a Halcyon-Class Battleship: The Pillar of Autumn. Two days before the activation of the SPARTAN-II project, Covenant forces had attacked planet Reach, and destroyed most of the payload. The mission to infiltrate a Covenant vessel and learn the location of the Covenant home world, has failed. The Pillar of Autumn has survived the attack with the one remaining SPARTAN-II that we know of, and has jumped to an area undisclosed to lead the Covenant away from Earth. They too, were under attack. Attempts to contact the ship have been useless, and we can only assume they had followed Cole Protocol, and had self destructed their vessel.

Unfortunately, there has been a similar attack on the planet Farthern Star. Primarily a colony of Humans. This ship, the Raven's Night, has been ordered by the UNSC to head to Farthern star to look for survivors. Being the closest, we expect to arrive at the planet in two days. I have also received information that Colonel McPherson was expected at planet Farthern Star for the activation of the SPARTAN-II, and he will instead be boarding the Raven's Night in under eight hours to accompany us to our destination. We will prepare for his arrival, and then head to Farthern Star to continue our main objective."

The Captain stopped speaking, her gaze wandering over everyone within the bridge, and she could easily see their worried expressions. She cleared her throat and adjusted her uniform.

"Gentlemen. We are about to head into harm's way. I do not know if there are any survivor's on planet on the Star, nor do we know if anything is salvageable. If all else, our orders are simple: find survivors, and get the hell out of there. If there are none, well.... Destroy any traces of our technology present. We can't afford to let them have even a calculator. If there are any soon to be prisoners of war, we will liberate them, and destroy the threat surrounding a hallmark in our species.

Now, we are going in blind. We have no idea what the circumstances are surrounding our landing, but one thing can be certain. There will be shooting. We have no reason to believe the Covenant has deserted the Star, and we are preparing for one hell of a battle. None the less, if there are any survivor's at all, we... WILL... find them. We're the toughest sons of bitches in the entire universe!"

She slammed her hands down on the console, making everyone stiffen like a board.

"Farthern Star may have suffered a great blow, and if we fail those that haven't died in vain by rescuing our people, then we fail every Human Being in the universe. We let down our Mother, our home, Earth, by losing this war. We will teach the Covenant that we too have a right to exist in this universe. To our enemy, we are abominations against their Gods. If their Gods think that we don't have a place in their grand scheme, we will be victorious over them too! We are Humans! Our race will be victorious against all odds! We will continue to exist in this universe. It is our God given right, and no one, will take that from us!"

Captain Anderson turned off the intercom, and simply stared at her crew. They had renewed faces, as thought they were the invincible. Farthern Star has been there for them countless times, and now, it needed their help. No one was about to tell them otherwise. Halo, on the other hand, simply stared at Captain Anderson. He had heard speeches like that several times before from his own commanders. Aside from appearance, he wondered what really separated a Human from a Covenant. Spending time on both sides now, the only thing that separated the two, was their religious beliefs. It's a story he's heard time and time again while researching the history of the Humans. Not unlike his people's own history. Both were sad to read about, but both were necessary to shape the future.

Halo simply stood where he was, lifting his head slowly as the cheers and the whoops filled the air. The echo's of everyone aboard the ship filled the metal halls. Surrounded by a thousand Humans, he suddenly once again felt like the enemy. The Captain turned to him, and he was immediately at attention.

"Halo, I know you have been there for us since your defection, so I regret to inform you that your services will once again be required." she spoke with a tone of seriousness.

Halo lowered his head slightly, then nodded.

"What I need you to do, is monitor the star charts. You are familiar with Covenant boarding procedures, and we need you to keep a watchful eye on the monitors. You may use my private chambers for your assignment, and Major Kidman here will assist you in any way possible. After we join with Colonel McPherson, we will be landing on Farthern Star further in the day, and I would like you to lead a group of my finest soldiers, the Major and her squad included, for reconnaissance."

Halo nodded again, then lifted his hand to salute, "Y-yes... Captain."

"Major Kidman. You are required to see to it that Halo gets a run down on small arms weaponry in the mean time. I want him familiar with our weapons until he gets a chance to retrieve the weapons he's already been trained in." Anderson spoke, turning back to the bridge, "Katrina. You will also transfer a sub-routine of yourself to aide in their progress."

Katrina frowned a bit, then nodded, "Yes Captain."

He wasn't pleased by the news, but he did fight for the Humans now. When he was dismissed, Halo immediately went into the Captain's quarters, then glanced at all of the star charts. Their route was already plotted, and they were well on their way to Farthern Star. The Sword of Damocles' route was also given to them, and they would meet well before Farthern Star to coordinate their attack strategy. Kidman was right besides him, explaining the finer details of the maps, so he could work a bit better. A purple glow of light signaled the appearance of Katrina, and she stood, the sentient hologram observing Halo as he was explaining potential threats. They were not what Sam or Katrina expected. Covenant ships almost always came from behind. Their faster ships allowed them to do so, and watching their back was something that most Human vessels simply ignored. The residual ions in the engines' wake, however, almost always provided a perfect cover for the Covenant.

Sam was working on a few more maps, showing areas in and around planet Farthern Star, while Halo was busy pointing out areas that would most likely be heavily guarded, and other areas that were of no concern to the Covenant. He also confirmed that there would be survivor's at the colony, however, how long they would be allowed to live was a different story. It all depended on who the Commander was. Katrina was glancing at the maps as well, formulating a plan of insertion, and the best areas of landing that wouldn't alert many Covenant forces to their presence. Their collection of Scorpions and Warthogs would prove to come in handy, by landing a ways from the base. The plan was simple. Bottleneck the Covenant forces, and force them to move in one direction. He was rather surprised to find the planet was quite hospitable, though it was quite warm. Still, combat in an atmosphere that Human and Covenant could survive in, gave him so much more ideas to play around with in regards to tactics.

Katrina, despite her distaste of working with a Covenant, had to admit that he had some good strategy. It wasn't a secret that with his skills, he would have eventually been promoted to the highest honor of Elite. Halo had to stop, taking a seat in the Captain's chair, and laid his head back. He had been sleeping well until the alert, but with only a few hours, he needed to rest while Samantha went to go and get some coffee and something to eat. Katrina just stared at Halo, then sighed.

"Covenant, come here." she spoke.

Halo tilted his head, then stood slowly, moving before the hologram, "Yes... ma'am?" he asked, not at all pleased to be interrupted. He just wanted five minutes to clear his mind.

"The Captain instructed Major Kidman to give you a basic training course on small arms fire. Unfortunately my sensors have indicated that she will be a while before she returns. She needs to coordinate her squad as much as anything right now before we land ."

"Land? In this size of ship?" he asked curiously.

"Well, this is an Ansalon class ship. Meaning, there's a part of the ship that disconnects to allow atmospheric flight. We're in that part of the ship now. I'm sure you know what a drop ship is, Covenant."

"I do."

"Then you shouldn't worry too much. We should get started."

Halo nodded slowly, then looked to the hologram named Katrina, and heard a small door open. He turned to the side, and saw a wall filled with a few pistols, some assault rifles, and a fragmentation grenade. She highlighted the pistol.

"The M6D light infantry pistol. 12.7 millimeter, semi armor piercing rounds," she spoke, while Halo lifted the weapon.

He played around with the grip, trying to get his hand to fit comfortable, and found a position he felt that would hold the weapon it place. His only gripe that it was rather small. He'd have preferred a Needler, if one were available.

"This weapon fires in two selectable modes. Semi-automatic, or automatic fire. The trigger is of the double pull variety for selection of the rate of fire. Move the trigger in a bit for one shot bursts, pull it completely back for automatic fire. To reload, press the magazine release when the slide... that's this part," she pointed to the top, "is locked back completely. Push in another magazine until you hear a click, then press this lever, to release it. Do you understand?"

Halo frowned a bit, fiddling with the weapon, then shook his head, "No."

Katrina closed her eyes and shook her head. It took a good while, but soon Halo began to understand how the weapon operated. He was locking the slide back, placing empty magazines into it, cocking the weapon when it was ready. He squeezed the trigger a bit, hearing a sort of snap in the process as the firing pin tried to strike a chambered bullet that was not there. He placed the weapon back before Katrina highlighted the assault rifle with a red light, and Halo picked that up. Still much different than his plasma rifles, but this one was much more comfortable to hold.

"MA5B, standard infantry weapon. Works very much like the M6D. When empty, press this button here to eject the magazine, place another one in, then pull this lever to re-arm. This is a fully automatic weapon, intended for short or medium ranges. Watch your ammunition in the counter here," she pointed to the small read out, "and point of reference, which is decided shortly before the battle. While on ship, it will always be pointing to the center of the bridge."

Halo nodded slowly, lifting the weapon and trying to find a comfortable position for it, all the while seeing if he could look through the integrated scope. It was easy enough to find targets, and he was satisfied that he could use such a weapon if needed. He just couldn't shake the uneasy feeling, holding a weapon that in the hands of Humans, killed countless Covenant. He placed it back on the rack, looking at a the fragmentation grenade. Very much similar to the sticky plasma grenades the Covenant army used. He was surprised to find out they operated much in the same way as well. Pull the pin and throw it. Unfortunately, it won't stick to enemies, which he was secretly hoping they would.

"Anything else that you would like to know about our weapons?" Katrina asked, watching him shake his head.

Halo just went back to the maps. Katrina would show the Covenant alternate forms of insertion, and the precise battle plan for when they landed, and he would pick out faults, and try to find other ways of procedure. Loss of life was completely real here, and there would be many spots where battles would be inevitable. Shades, the single manned guns of the Covenant, were pointed out in the most likely of spots, and Katrina started labeling them as high risk.

A few levels below, the Captain was doing a routine examination of her ship, watching her crew do their assigned jobs. She stopped at a large bay window, staring at the activity in the docking bays. The hall that led around the docking back, all had these large windows, and all of them were blast proof, considering the Docking Bay, in essence, was an air lock. She puffed on her cigar, arms folded across her stomach as she studied her crew with her watchful eye, wanting their actions to be perfect. Marines were refueling the vehicles, loading weapons, organizing themselves, and sparing no time to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible. She then turned to Samantha, who was by her side.

"Do you think Halo will be a problem?" she asked bluntly.

Sam lowered her gaze, then shook her head, "I don't think so, Captain."

"Hmm.... This is between us, but we are placing him in a highly combative situation when we land on Farthern Star. For our soldiers, it is called post traumatic stress disorder. You yourself have admitted that he shows signs of this."

"That is true, Captain. When push comes to shove though, I have no doubt he will take up arms and fight, despite his willingness not to."

"I see. But, Major... just who's side will he fight on?"

Sam cocked her head slowly, but could understand completely, why her Captain would bring this up. She still had doubts about the legitimacy of Halo's defection. But could Halo have that Covenant side of him rekindled by seeing more of his people again? She didn't know how he would react to things. But if all else failed, and they needed to make a quick escape, Halo could have been used as a bargaining chip. To avoid capture, they could turn over the Covenant back to his people so they could escape. It pained Sam to think about that, but she knew the idea hasn't slipped past the Captain.

"Captain, I am confident that Halo will fight for us. He had admitted to me that he was betrayed by his people, and a Covenant Elite, especially his class, follows the orders of his commanders to the death. If we maintain our trust with him, he will continue to follow your orders, Captain."

Anderson nodded slowly, continuing to stare through the glass, then looked to Samantha, "Very well. He came in our care in trust, and we shall offer him the same. If one Covenant was willing to defect, then I am sure there would be more willing. It could be a turning point for the war. But just in case, I want you to remain with him when we send you out there. If he shows any signs that are not normal for him, you are to evacuate with him at once. Understood?"

"Understood, Captain." she spoke, rolling her shoulder a bit.

The Captain nodded slowly, though looked to her shoulder, and the bit of blood leaking through her clothes, "You're bleeding, Major."

Samantha tilted her head, then slid her hand around her neck, looking at it and seeing a few drops of blood on her palm. She blinked a bit, trying hard not to blush. The Captain noticed her face turning red, then pulled the shirt back to reveal what looked like a bite mark. She frowned a bit, adjusting her shirt again and hid the mark. Samantha just held still, and caught a knowing glance from the Captain. Shit, she knows. Her heart started thumping harder, and the Captain merely puffed on the end of her cigar..

"Huh," she spoke, taking her time, torturing the poor Major with a few moments of silence.

"I... slipped," she spoke, trying to remain confident, but it wasn't going over well with the Captain.

"Uh huh," the Captain spoke, inhaling a few puffs of smoke, then looked back to her.

Samantha lowered her head a bit, and knew she'd been busted. She opened her mouth, about to come out with the truth, and prepared to be thrown in the brig, before the Captain cleared her throat.

"Major Kidman, I suggest you head to the infirmary, and have that rather nasty look scrape looked at," she spoke, walking away, though stopped a few feet into her stride, turning to look at her, "and Major?"

"Yes Captain?" she asked, her heart still thumping quickly.

"Next time be more careful around the pool. Those edges are sharp," she spoke and continued on her way.

Samantha let out a contained breath of relief, swearing that she could feel her heart start to beat again.