Shress POV*

As Shress awakens from her slumber, she could feel her suitor's muscled arm wrapped around her middle, his front pressed into her back. The warmth she's feeling is blissful, as for once in her life she feels the comfort and safety that only a male could bring. Her male. Her Michael.

With careful movements she slowly turns around in his arms, and peers at his relaxed appearance. For the first time since she had met him, it appeared as if all the stress that he felt during the battle for the human planet of Reach had gone as he slept so peacefully.

Mindful of her claws, she gently brushes his fur while she continues gazing at his sleeping form. She feels happy being held by him, and just to be here with him makes her throat thrum. 'He called it purring did he not? I wonder if human females do it too.' She couldn't help but continue, pondering her situation. Out of all her past suitors not a single one of them made her feel this way.

If only he would stay. There is only one thing that she fears would push him away. After all, it had pushed all the others away.

'No. We have been through so much together! He would not just leave me for that… Would he?'

Despite herself her mind flicks back into the past, even as she absentmindedly runs her hand down his chest. 'Just like all the others, right?' Her mind seems to taunt her, filling her heart with the cold dread of uncertainty.

'No.' Slightly tightening her hold on Michael, feeling reassured simply by his solid presence. 'He is different. None of the others ever truly cared for me and my dreams. He has shown more honor and care for me than any other.'

Shress is brought out of her thoughts by Michael's arms tightening around her waist. She watches as he takes a deep breath in, his single mouth widening into a yawn, and his eyes slowly blink open, still slightly unfocused from the restful slumber.

He looks up slightly to her, his forest green eyes locking onto her metallic silver as he forms what she recognizes as a smile. "Now there is a sight I can get used to seeing in the morning."

Shress can't help but smile back before she sits up and stretches her muscles a bit. She can feel Six's eyes on her but he makes no move to act on what he sees. She sees no harm in it. In fact, she likes it. No other male had ever acted like this to her. 'If he is looking, that means I must be appealing to him… I hope.' She thought, a warm flush reaching her face, thinking about what almost happened the day before.

"Are you hungry, or do you want me to show you where the bathroom is so you can shower?" He says thankfully interrupting her rapidly deteriorating thought process, although she still had to steady herself for a moment.

"I would like to groom myself if I could. We have spent some time on this ship and I believe that I am starting to smell." She sniffs herself and her mandibles twitch a bit in disgust. "I can eat afterwards."

Michael swings his feet off the bed and stands up before gesturing for Shress to follow him. As she scrambles with the covers in order to remove herself from the bed, she looks over to see that Michael has reached the portal to the main hallway. He presses the keypad next to the door, and with a gentle hiss, the door opens and they both step out.

They both walk to the crew's quarters, and after they both step in six gestures to the door that Shress contained the three basins Shress had seen inside it from before. The door seemed to open from his gesture and hissed smoothly open.

"Here is the bathroom. If you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask."

Shress watches him walk towards the dining area before she enters the room, hearing the hiss of the door shutting behind her. She heads further into the room, and takes a quick glance around. It appeared the same as the last time she'd inspected the compartment. Inside were the three basons, one that stood on a ledge that was far too small for her, another that stood low enough that she could awkwardly sit on it, and a third that was just barely big enough for her to fit inside with her legs stretched.

'This must be the grooming station.' She thought as she examined what she now realized was the 'shower' Michael was talking about. On a shelf next to the cleaning station were some fluffy cloth squares that were folded neatly inside of a cabinet with glass doors, somehow undisturbed by the slipspace jumps that the ship had undergone not three days ago. She opens the drawer to examine the inside. There were some scented soaps wrapped in some kind of foil thrown haphazardly on top of the towels, seemingly thrown into it without a care. She picks one up to sniff it, and lets out a satisfied grunt, finding the scent alien yet pleasing.

She turns to examine the shower, peering through the glass pane with a curious eye. It has a small spout above that if she crouches down slightly, she could fit under. There are two small handles inside, one blue and one red, and a few small shelves where she can store some of the soaps she has found when she isn't using them.

Decision made, she strips herself of her roughly made clothing, uses her talons to rip her way into one of the foiled soaps, and opens the glass door, before squeezing herself inside. She growls when she hits her head on the spout above, forcing some cold unused droplets to rain down onto her head.

As she shivers slightly, she glances down to look at the small colored knobs below her, red or blue becoming her choices. 'The humans have a habit of making their off and broken switches red, so blue must mean activate.' She thinks to herself, and with care, she takes a talon and presses down on the middle of the oddly shaped blue protrusion.

Nothing happened.

Growling slightly, she nudges it with a bit more force and notices that it turns a bit. With the realization that she must turn it, she takes two fingers and twists.

Freezing cold water sprays down from above and drenches her before she can react. With a yelp she throws the glass door open, forming a small crack where it slams against the cabinet before stumbling in a frenzy out of the basin and onto the floor.

As she lays there, freezing cold droplets of water falling from her skin onto the cold metal floor, her surprise turns into a burning hot fury that builds within her. She turns and lets loose a vicious snarl toward the offending knob that would intimidate even the most hardened of warriors.

The knob predictably remains unthreatened by her show of aggression.

Her threatening snarl turns into a groan of frustration. "Curse you humans! Why must you make things color coded! No text or command button I can press!" For just a moment, she wishes that she was on one of her people's ships, if only to groom without uncomfortable surprises.

Getting up from the metal floor, she gently turns the blue dial back to the off position, and attempts the red one. Within a few units, steam begins to filter out of the small stall. She carefully stuffs herself back into the enclosure, allowing the now hot water to wash over her. She lets out a small sigh. 'That's much better. It's been far too long since I have washed myself.' She blanches as she thinks back to how long it has been since she has last groomed herself. 'Has it really almost been a full cycle?'

With a renewed vigor, she grabs one of the rougher cloth squares, lathers it with the scented soaps, and begins to scrub her body down. Unconsciously she begins to purr, the feeling of warmth from the water and the feeling of the rough cloth scrubbing away the loose dirt that has managed to get through her armor giving her a feeling of bliss. She relishes in the general feeling of being clean after so many missions without the ability to groom herself, as both the physical filth and the emotional turmoil flow off of her and down the drain beneath her.

After a few minutes of washing herself with rough motions, her skin now blushing a light blue all over, she steps out of the shower. Standing there slowly dripping; she turns around and uses a talon to turn off the water.

Glancing around the room for a device to dry herself off with, she spots the cabinet with the larger towels within it. Shrugging to herself, she grabs one of the fluffy cloth squares and begins wiping herself down. Hoping that this was the intended use of the cloth.

Now fully dry, she looks around for her poorly made clothing which she left on a small shelf earlier. Lifting it to her muzzle, she takes a sniff. She can smell her scent faintly but it did not smell too unclean yet. 'If this trip takes much longer I will need to make more clothing.' She thinks to herself, hoping that there was more than just the gray bland cloth somewhere else on the ship. With care of her talons, she begins to dress herself before opening the door and walking outside the bathroom.

As she walked down the hallway toward the bedroom, she could hear the water running in Michael's room. Realizing he is using the small washroom attached to the officers quarters, she decides to wait for him to finish.

She begins to walk aimlessly around the prowler, until she finds herself standing in front of the portal leading to the room with the strange blue beds. Typing in the jumble of numbers that Michael taught her, the entryway opens. With the sounds of her footsteps the only noise to break the sound of the prowler's engine humming, she walks through the door and begins to investigate the room more closely.

Immediately her eyes yet again zero in on the strange pod beds scattered along the majority of the walls along the sides of the room and she decides to take a bit of a closer look at them. Upon approaching the contraption, she realizes that there are some red monitors next to them with words flashing along the screen. After a second she manages to interpret the strange letters.

"Warning! Cryo Pod disabled."

With a grunt, she turns her attention to the now named 'Cryo Pod.' It appears to look the same as the last time she examined it. The beds are lined up against the walls, their blue insides remains cool and feel slightly damp when she puts her claw tip against it. It is made out of a blue transparent material that forms to her touch, yet retains its shape once left to itself.

'I'm going to have to ask Michael about what that blue squishy stuff is.I have never seen anything like it in all the planets I have visited.'

Once she figures she has learned all she could from her observation, she turns her attention to the rest of the room. There appears to be a rather large mess scattered in the room around her, a large amount of debris and machinery scattered everywhere.

As she walks down the aisles of beds, her foot brushes a wire that appears to be haphazardly trailed across the floor. Once her attention is drawn to the floor fully, she can see that there were a large amount of papers scattered along the far edge of the room, which appears to be the origin of the mess. She can also see that along the far wall, there appears to be a table half full of objects ranging from more wires and machinery to books to a small bolted down container.

Curiosity fills her as she makes her way over to the strange assortment of objects, the noises as she steps on some of the smaller pieces filling the room with every step she takes. Curiosity begins to fill her as she passes over a blue and white picture of what appears to be the prowler's slipspace drive that she fixed.

Once she makes it to the desk, she grabs one of the stacks of bound paper. 'Maybe the answers are within some of these archives.' With a mental shrug she flips a few of the papers around with a talon and attempts to read them.

Within units she could tell she would not be able to understand it with her limited understanding of human writing. The only thing the papers had in common was an odd black and white pyramid symbol with a circle in the middle and the letters 'UNSC' over it. A growl escaped her mandibles. Perhaps Michael could translate it.

She sets one of the papers back onto the desk and takes a look at the small container bolted down to the desk. It has a screen with more of the symbols she recognizes as the human numerical system. She tries to use the code Michael has given her, but like the box where she found the clothes, it blinks red and remains locked. Tilting her head slightly, she attempts the code once more, only to receive the same response.

Curiosity and a bit of frustration taking over, she unclips her sword once more and begins to work on the small metal box. Within a few moments, there is a neat line encircling the top, and with a careful nudge with her hand, the top is separated.

She nearly drops her sword at what she finds. Sitting cradled in a padded enclosure, wrapped in a very fine red cloth appears to be a softly glowing orange crystal. It seems to hum with a power of its own, and remains hard to directly focus her attention to. She recognizes the object from her time as a zealot scouring the galaxy for similar artifacts. This is a Forerunner slipspace crystal, the kind found within the center of the gods' shuttles that the Covenant has found from time to time. Immediately her hearts pick up pace as age-old instincts take over. 'What a glorious find! I must bring this back to the Proph-'

Her thoughts die in their place as she realizes her situation. Her whole life, any time an artifact left behind by the Gods was found, it was to be brought before the San'Shyuum for study. Now though? She is an exile who chose the company of a human over her own people, so what is she to do? Here she is staring down a holy artifact, yet now she has no idea what to do with it.

Making sure the artifact is safely secured in its container, she carefully places the now slightly cooled down top half of the box back over it. Wishing to at the very least find some answers, she begins to look through the human papers scattered across the floor once more. After a few moments of scanning over blue sheets of paper and scattered machine parts, her gaze lands on another one of the small bound archives that Michael had called a book.

Reaching down to pick it up, quickly opening it and scanning the first page. She realizes that unlike all the other sheets of paper around, this one seems to have been written by hand. After a few moments of scanning, she recognized a few of the words.

'Crystal. Artifact. Not Covenant. Unknown properties.' She snorts in amusement, 'Obviously it has unknown properties to you. You humans don't even know how to properly manipulate gravity yet, let alone slipspace.'

Flipping through the book, she finds some hand drawn pictures of what appears to be the crystal, some machines, and the human slipspace drive that she repaired.

Wanting to find more answers, she shuts the book with a small thump, and decides that she will get answers through the only one who can actually give them to her. With that thought she walks through the small debris field around the desk and makes her way out into the hall towards the officers quarters.

Once she reaches the door, she types in the code and the portal whooshes open. After waiting for a unit, she can tell that the water from the small bathroom attached to the bedroom is not running. Realizing that Michael has had enough time to groom himself, she begins to walk toward that room, seeing the door is slightly open. Thinking nothing of it as she closed the distance, once she peered in, she saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

From the look of it Michael had just gotten out of the shower, but that was not what had frozen her.

He was naked.

Realizing this is the first time she has seen him with nothing on, her face immediately begins to warm, yet for some reason she could not look away. He was in front of one of the small raised basins, peering into one of the reflective glass as he took a small object and ran it along his face. Almost against her will, her eyes trace his form, able to get a good view of him while he was distracted. His muscles were more defined then a male of her species would have been, the skin being more malleable and less tough, looking as if they were chiseled from stone yet he had always moved with the grace of a dancer.

As her eyes drew lower she was able to admire the differences in her suiter's core muscles compared to those of a Sangheili. instead of the wave-like pattern that she herself has, he has eight bulging muscles on his abdomen.

Slowly her eyes are drawn lower. What she sees there makes her quietly gasp, as even though she has felt him under his clothing, it didn't prepare her for actually seeing him fully exposed. Even though he appears to be relaxed, his manhood is exposed, something new for her as she expected it to retract into him as she has seen with her own people. It appears to be limp and hanging, which she realizes is not the same as how she remembers when she had her hand over it. She feels her face blush even hotter when she realizes that if this is him normally, he would be rather large even for her standards if he becomes fully aroused.

Sangheili males were either erect or retracted, and from what she could see he didn't have a knot or sheath for his. Michael's testicles were also visible, and rather large from what she could see, though since she is exploring new territory so to speak, she has nothing to compare them to.

Realizing she is pervertedly ogling the male she began a courtship with not even two days ago like a harlot, she forces her eyes away from the scene. For some reason her body wants to turn back around and continue to look, yet the small part of her mind that has retained its lessons from when she was young forces her to move.

Quickly, before she succumbs to her more primal urges, she turns around and as silently as she could, makes her way back to the door before making it back out into the main passageway before closing the door. The moment she did so she regretted it as the hatch loudly swooshes shut, making her twitch her mandibles in annoyance. 'He definitely heard that.' She thinks to herself in embarrassment.

With a haste that only comes from frayed nerves, she quickly makes her way to the dining room, the book in her hand long forgotten. She feels confused and disgusted with herself. Remembering all the lessons she had with her mother about courting, she knows that she should not have stolen a look at Michael without his knowledge, as it was the male who was supposed to initiate such actions. Since it was her, a female, she would now be seen as impatient and dishonorable if he finds out and she does not tell him.

'I must tell him.'

Her face loses its blush and she feels her two hearts skip a beat. She sits down onto the couch attempting to mentally prepare herself for his angry outburst, yet finding herself falling short. She does not want him angry at her, but what she was taught was clear.

'My family would be ashamed of me yet again.'

*Six POV*

Michael can hear Shress's light footsteps softly fade in the distance as she makes her way to the door. 'She was sure to have seen me.' He thinks to himself quickly glancing to the slightly open door, feeling nervous about what her thoughts about him are.

'Did she like what she saw? What if I am ugly to her?'

The door to the main passageway lets out a loud hiss as it shuts causing the Spartan to chuckle a bit. If she was attempting to be stealthy, she should have left the door open. Even though he would have noticed her either way, he hadn't lived as long as he did by letting his guard down after all.

With quick movements, he dries himself off with one of the towels he found before putting it into a small storage container in the wall that was designed to automatically wash the laundry. He reaches down for his clothes and brings them up to his nose and smells them, hoping they were clean enough to keep wearing, unknowingly mirroring the target of his thoughts. Thankfully they didn't seem to smell too badly yet. Probably since he has not resumed his physical training as he could only smell the cleaner that the clothes had last been washed with.

With a sigh Six begins carefully dressing himself in what seems to him to be the smallest clothes that could possibly fit him, before he makes his way to the door to the washroom, blushing slightly as he reaches the slightly open hatch. With a few presses of the keypad, it slides open fully before he steps into the bedroom.

Glancing over to the bed, he remembers what happened last night. All other times they slept together in the bed, Shress was timid and unsure, but once they reached the bed last night, she was all over him. He begins to feel warmth blossoming up in his chest once more as the feeling of her crawling over to him and the two of them embracing each other with no hesitation fills him with an emotion he, a Spartan, never thought he would feel.

Contentment.

He looks over to the burnt out remains of his MJOLNIR armor, remembering each battle he was in while wearing it. Insurrectionist terrorists, Covenant invasions, assassination missions… Before now, that was all he had even known. The only memories that were not of combat and war were the very few memories he had from before he "volunteered," but now? Here on this prowler with Shress, Six was not a Spartan. He was something else, something happier.

In the moments before he fell asleep with her, he did not wish to rush into battle as it would just bring him away from her embrace, he did not want to put his armor on as it would just be another barrier between the two of them, and he didn't even wish to have a gun as he trusts her with his life.

He walks over to the bed and puts his hand on where her pillow was, completely undisturbed from where it lay from the day before. It takes a second before Six realizes that this was because she used him as a replacement cushion. He begins to wish for the company of his otherworldly companion even more now.

His military training kicks in as he begins to make the bed, only taking a few seconds for him to complete the small chore. Taking the time to reorganize his thoughts, he examines his handiwork before turning to the hatch leading out into the passageway.

Typing in the code, the door slides open and he starts down the hallway, stomach growling as he thought about breakfast. Within a few seconds he found himself at the closed door that leads into where he is sure Shress is.

With a deep breath he tries to loosen up his body and relax his mind. 'This conversation should be interesting.' He thinks to himself as he enters the rec room.

After a moment of scanning the room, Six's eyes land on Shress's slouched form. Judging from how she was wringing her hands and her twitching mandibles, it appears as if she was extremely nervous about something. He hadn't realised her anxiety over what had happened earlier this morning far outstripped his own.

With quiet steps he walks over to the spot next to her and takes a seat. Throughout it all, she refuses to even look in his direction, remaining in her distressed state. He can even hear her slightly talking to herself, catching only whispers and unable to make out any words. Minutes pass between the two of them while neither knows what to say as he wants her to work out whatever it was that is tormenting her.

Every time the two would meet eyes, they both would look away with a blush, each remembering exactly why the situation is awkward. Neither of the two soldiers knew how to start the conversation.

With a rumbling growl that fills the space between them, she stands up and begins to pace around the room, seemingly at random. Six sits there a bit confused as to what she is doing before she turns and looks at him, her mandibles moving as if she was speaking but no noise came out.

Feeling slightly worried for her, Six decides to speak up.

"Michael I-"

"Shress I am-"

The both of them began speaking at the same time, somehow causing the awkward feeling in the room to increase in the quietness that followed once they both stopped speaking, the engine's constant hum filling the silence as the two of them then gestured at the other with a hand.

"You go first."

"You go first."

'Damn this is going to be harder than I thought.' Michael grimaces as he looks at the blushing Zealot before him, before she takes a breath in and begins speaking once more.

"Michael, I am so sorry." She stops pacing the room and looks to him, arms straight at her side and back stiff. "While you were grooming, I saw you before you managed to get yourself fully covered. My ancestors would be so ashamed of my actions towards you once I found out that you were not yet clothed. I have acted shamefully, and am unworthy of calling myself

your suitor." At this she kneels down and lowers her head down close to the floor. "Please forgive me Michael for my dishonorable actions. I will accept any punishment you deem fit to gain your forgiveness."

'Wait, what?'

Six just sits on the couch staring at the near prone Sangheili before him in shock, though he tries his best not to let his face show it. Of all the things he expected when he woke up this morning, this was not it. Obviously she crossed some sort of cultural boundary that he has no idea about, and he honestly has no idea how to deal with it.

After a moment, Six realizes he is sitting there dumbfounded and needs to say something to the emotionally distraught Sangheili, he opens his mouth to try and comfort her, "Shress," The moment her name leaves his lips, Shress appears to press herself closer to the floor, obviously assuming he is going to dish out some kind of punishment or something. Michael grimaces as he looks at the prostrating Zealot before him.

'How am I even supposed to comfort her right now?'

At this Michael begins to feel nervous, realizing that the situation he has found himself in is a lot more delicate than he originally thought. Choosing his next words carefully, he begins in a soft voice, "Actually Shress, I don't think I have any right to find any fault in what you did."

Slowly, she pushes herself up from her position on the floor, sitting back onto her folded legs as her head tilts in obvious confusion. Before she could reply with the question that was sure to be on her mind, he began speaking again.

His face becomes a deep red and he refuses to look her in the eye, the memory of what happened on the deck of the ship when they last exited slipspace clear in his mind. "It would not be fair to judge you for an accident when I have done the same."

A few seconds pass between them as the words that have just left his mouth begin to sink in. Realizing he just admitted to staring at her naked, he is sure his face becomes stark white.

He recalls a memory of when a female marine had been catcalled by some rather rowdy male marines when he was stationed on a cruiser. He also remembers very vividly that the female got physically violent with them, kicking one of them in a rather sensitive spot between his legs.

'I believe I have made a tactical error.'

Shress slowly stands up in front of him, her seven foot form towering over him like a vengeful goddess of war.

"What do you mean?"

Her tone is bland and without emotion, causing a cold sweat to run down his face.

It was at that point he starts to realize he might be in danger of bodily harm here, so he yet again tries to choose his words carefully. "When we dropped out of slipspace and you… Lost your footing…" He flushes at the memory, mentally kicking himself for sounding like a child.

"What about it?" Her tone remains neutral as she takes a few steps closer, towering over his still seated form, the overhead light behind her outlines her form as her shadow engulfs Six.

'She's going to make me say it.' He takes a deep gulp as he continues, "After the jump, I heard you fall behind me, and when I turned to see if you were okay, I saw… I mean your dress was…" He trails off, now absolutely certain that she was about to pound him into dust. Deciding just to get it over with, he starts up again with renewed confidence. "I saw you before you managed to get the clothing back on, not that I wanted to, I mean. It was an accident… Not that you look bad or anything! You are very beautiful and… I mean I..."

His confidence he gained not even a second ago was now completely gone, so he does the one thing that has never failed him. He shuts up, sits at attention and his eyes face forward forming the military thousand yard stare that every single soldier is taught. He is sure he looks like a complete idiot sitting there staring straight and unmoving right into her belly, but if boot taught him anything, it was to take your punishments like a Spartan.

Shress's figure looms over him, form darkened due to the lighting behind her as she speaks, Six tightening his muscles in preparation for… something. "You think… My form is attractive?"

"Yes, ma'am." His voice did not squeak, and he would brutally murder anyone who says that it did.

Suddenly, Shress moves. Six is slightly ashamed of himself as he realizes his eyes are closed yet again when he feels her form crash into his. Expecting pain, he is unprepared for the feeling of her swinging her arms around him, her long neck latching itself into the crook of his neck as she begins to purr loudly, her throat pressed against his own causing the vibrations to cross over into his own body, massaging his tense muscles. Unconsciously relaxing into the embrace that she gives him, she begins to nuzzle his neck lovingly. "I find you quite handsome as well, my suitor."

'Wait what?'

As Shress continues to hug him lovingly, Six's mind begins to whirl at a mile a minute. "Shress?"

She pulls herself a bit off of him as she sits down in his lap, arms over his shoulders and she places her forehead against his, her sweet xenomorphic scent filling his nose. "Yes?"

"Why did you think your actions were dishonorable, yet you are hugging me for doing the same?" He asked, legitimately confused.

She lets out a loud laugh as she takes a talon and begins to run it through his hair lovingly. "It is because you are a male, you can't help it."

Six thinks for just a moment, attempting to find out if he should be offended by that or not before finding that he does not care, as the situation was resolved and the two of them were back to normal. He wraps Shress up in his arms and pulls her closer to him, the two of them lock lips and fall back onto the couch.

——— UA ———

They remain like that for what feels like hours as no matter how long the two of them are together, it does not matter, because here he is yet again, feeling the same feeling he had this morning. Contentment.

Eventually the two of them reluctantly got up and began to eat breakfast together yet again, the muffled thumps of her jaws tearing the meat apart filling the room as Six finished one of the MREs he found.

He glances up to see her finish her meal and begins to stand up, stretching her muscles out before moving back over to the couch. She sits onto the furniture before moving a clawed hand to the empty spot next to her, looking at him expectantly. He smiles back at her, getting up to join her.

Upon reaching the couch, the two of them resume their comfortable position, happiness filling his being as he passionately kisses the one he has grown to care so much for.

'Life has never been this good.'

Suddenly, he gets a feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that has saved his life countless times in the past. One that tells him that he is missing something. With that thought, he breaks off the kiss and reflexively scans his surroundings, even though he knows for a fact that there is no one else on the ship.

His eyes nearly pass over a small worn-down notebook that seems to have been dropped carelessly onto the floor next to the couch they are sitting on. Nearly dismissing the object, he stops when he sees something on the cover.

The insignia for the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Six stiffens underneath Shress's hold, causing her claws to tighten slightly as she swivels her neck around to look at their surroundings. "Michael, what's wrong?"

He slowly dislodges himself from the couch, a feat by itself as he was sandwiched between the back cushions and a seven and a half foot alien who did not want him to move. Small growls of annoyance bubble up from her throat as he swings his feet around and his bare feet meet the cold metal floor.

Shress, her makeshift pillow now gone, lays down fully and stretches her legs out fully, clearing the side of the furniture by at least a foot.

Six bends down and picks up the book and gives the cover a quick examination, wondering where it came from. The book itself looks like a note pad of some kind, the ONI logo front and center, with no other indication of what it contains. Flipping the notebook around in his hands, the spine gives a bit more of a clue as to what it contains.

'Dr. H. Glassman. ONI Section Three, Beta Three Division, Study of Artifact T-190.'

Looking over to the Sangheili, who has her mandibles wide open in a yawn. He decides to speak up. "Shress, do you know anything about this?" He holds up the notebook so she can see it clearly.

She turns to look at him, quickly spotting the book and blinking a few times, her eyes becoming unfocused, her mandibles twitching as she mumbles to herself, before they clear from whatever fog she is under. "Oh, that! That's what I wanted to talk to you about before I became… distracted." Her face quickly becomes a dark indigo as she shifts slightly, jostling him in the process. "I was wondering if you could read it to me?"

Six looks back to the book in his hands, before looking back over to Shress. "Where did you even find this?"

"I found it in the room with all the cryo pods. There were some papers and machinery that was thrown around by the slipspace jump, along with a-" Her eyes widening suddenly as she quickly jumps off of the couch, rushing out of the room, the claws of her feet clinking quickly against the floor.

"Shress? What's wrong?" Six stands up quickly and hurries after the panicked Sangheili, wincing a bit as he strains his injuries, yet he ignores it and continues on. He finds Shress growling at the keypad to the door to the cryo bay as it makes a sound that Six recognizes as 'incorrect input.' Walking up behind her, he types in the passcode and the door opens, revealing the cryo bay.

At first he did not see what mess she was talking about, but as his eyes scanned farther down the rows of cryo pods, he saw it. The mess starts about halfway from the end of the large compartment. The far end of the room has the majority of the clutter as it appears as if a small tornado has been through it. Wires, screws, assorted tools, and machinery are scattered across the floor. Before he can even think about what all of this equipment and paperwork's purpose could be, Shress is moving once more, brushing past him without a word and heading straight to a desk he was sure was not there the last time he was in this prowler. She reaches a small box and lifts off the top, covering the top of her form in a bright orange glow.

Thoroughly confused at this point, Six slowly makes his way to the desk, carefully avoiding all the wires and sharp objects that shress just barreled through, slightly jealous at how tough her feet are. He reaches her just in time to see her reach into the box and pull out… something. It is wrapped in what appears to be velvet cloth and is emanating light by itself, but other than that he couldn't even guess what it is, as it was obviously not natural.

"Shress, what is that?"

"This is one of our God's artifacts." She whispers, almost to herself. "It is a crystal used in the center of their spacecraft to aid in travel through slipspace. They are incredibly rare, even amongst the Covenant. They are only seen when one of their creations has been disassembled for study. I have only ever seen one before, and it boosted the speed of the craft it was placed in to near instantaneous speeds." She examines the crystal in her hands as it glows through the fibers of the fine cloth, her talons curl around it gently, before her fingers relax, and she delicately places it back into the container. "This is a very powerful artifact and should not be kept in a small metal box on a shelf."

Six looks back down to the book, then over to the advanced equipment surrounding him, starting to realize that their getaway vehicle might have a few more secrets than he originally thought.

Looking back up to Shress, he realizes she has a bit of a stormy look on her face. Attempting to cheer her up a bit, he reaches up and lightly grips Shress's arm, trying to get her attention. "Shress?"

She looks away from the glowing crystal, stormy attitude disappearing the moment her eyes lock onto his as it is replaced by the warm happiness he is now used to. "Yes Michael?"

"I think it would be a good idea to figure out what all this stuff is." He waved a hand absentmindedly over the scattered equipment around them. "After all, you did want me to read this book. Though I doubt it will be as interesting as the last one."

Shress laughs a bit as she makes her way to the door, yet again stepping through wires, screws, and tools without a care in the world. She makes it to the door and turns around, only to see Six tip toeing through the minefield of small pointy objects. "Michael? Are you okay?"

"Yes, why?" His focus completely on the floor below him as he navigates through the room.

"You seem to be having a bit of trouble walking, are you hurt?" She asked, concern filling her tone as she begins to walk back over to him, yet again carelessly ignoring every twisted piece of shrapnel scattered on the floor.

A pang of jealousy fills Six for just a second before he brushes it off. "Shress, humans have very tender feet. If I step on one of these," he gestures to one of the small pointy objects on the ground around him. "It would sting a bit." He reluctantly admits.

Shress stops her approach, looks down to his feet, then back up to him, before she begins laughing.

Despite himself, Six rolled his eyes at the near hysterical Sangheili in front of him, his own lips twitching at the corners at the sight. 'At least someones happy about the situation' Resigned to making some progress while she regains her breath, he slowly makes his way towards the door, face burning.

Her laughs finally quieting down before she speaks up, voice still tinged with mirth, "Imagine that? The mighty demon warriors, the greatest enemy of the Covenant's biggest weakness is someone stepping on your toes." Her melodic whistle-like laugh increases in volume along with the rising red tide covering his face

Becoming slightly angry with her teasing, he fully turns his attention on her which turns out to be a grave mistake as the moment his attention leaves the floor, he steps with his full weight on a small screw.

He is a Spartan III supersoldier. He has fought through droves of rebels and Covenant soldiers, been beaten with shock batons, drowned, shot, stabbed, and burned. He has been trained to ignore all manner of pain and suffering without even flinching, and no manner of torture could break him.

But damn did that hurt.

Striking this one up as a loss for humanity, he returns his attention to the floor and swiftly makes his way out of the debris field, quickly making it through the door with a still giggling Shress following close behind.

The two of them seem to have regained control of their emotions by the time they return to the rec room, as they both sit down side by side on the couch and six brings the book into focus. 'The contents of this are most likely classified far beyond me, even looking at it might get me court martialed.' He thinks for only a moment before he feels Shress lean her body against him, her body warmth bleeding through the small amount of clothing between the two of them. 'Well, wouldn't be the first thing now would it?'

The silence grows between them as Michael begins to read, the vast majority of the technical details of the journal going over his head, but some key phrases sticking out, 'Babd Catha forerunner vessel' 'Doctor Halsey not notified' and 'Classified tier one' being chief among them.

With every minute that passes his expression grows more confused and disturbed, causing him to stop reading in order and just quickly skim through the journal, reading a bit from each page. Once he reaches the last page he reads the hastily written words on the page for a moment before shutting it with a soft thump and placing it on the couch next to him. After a moment, Michael sighs before putting the book down and putting his head in his hands. "We couldn't just get a normal prowler, could we?"

"Michael, what's wrong? What does it say?"

He sighs before looking slightly up at her. "It's a science journal from someone named Doctor Henry Glassman. It says that the structure under the ice on reach was actually a crashed Forerunner ship that was being studied for some years now. A while ago they found the slipspace drive, but didn't know how it worked, so they cracked it open and found the crystal." Taking a moment to process everything, something stands out from what he read. Looking over to the Sangheili next to him, he reaches over and takes her hand in his. "Shress, you said you have seen our slipspace drives before. Did you notice anything different about this one?"

She thinks for a moment before "It was a bit different I suppose, there were some components that I had not seen the last time, but it still appeared to be rather primitive. Why?" At this her head tilts a bit, conveying her curiosity even through the unintended insult.

"This prowler was used in an experiment by ONI in an attempt to speed up our slipspace capabilities. The doctor studied a forerunner slipspace drive and attempted to replicate it, or at the very least boost our own drives with what he learned from it." At this he picks up the worn notebook and places a finger on one of the frayed edges of the book, before returning his attention to the Sangheili next to him. "The doctor spent years trying to figure it out and used this ship as the next test for it, and you made it work with no tools in less than ten minutes. ONI would do anything to know how you did that Shress, that's amazing."

She rubs a hand over her arm, embarrassed, before her attention returns to the book. "What does it say about the crystal?" Her voice is tinged with concern as she patiently waits for Six's reply.

"The Doctor studying it had no idea what it's purpose even was, as every test he did on it came back with inconsistent readings. It was placed on his workbench until he could come up with a breakthrough with it." He says, remembering the coffee stains on the pages where the crystal was mentioned, the doctor obviously perplexed by the object. "Then the glassing began and they were forced to evacuate. Due to the crystal's odd energy readings, they were not sure that a normal slipspace drive would work correctly around it and the slipspace drive in the prowler wasn't operational, so they left it back on Reach."

Six notices that Shress is staring off at the far wall, deep in thought. Just looking at her, Six begins to see Shress in a new light. She is brilliant and she doesn't even know it. What she knows, if she shares it with humanity, could save millions of lives and easily buy her a ticket to getting her asylum with humanity. With this new plan hatching into his mind, he realizes this could be her chance to not end up imprisoned in some ONI black site, but before he could voice his idea, she speaks up.

"I have devoted all of my life to the prophets Michael. I have fought for them in glorious combat, searched ancient ruins and temples for them, and killed so many all for a cause that has revealed itself to be false." Her voice is wavering, unsure of itself as she appears to be fighting with herself just to form the words, yet she continues. "What do I have left if all I have fought for is a lie? What was I searching for if what I found went to thieves? How do I forgive myself, let alone ask your people for forgiveness for those that have died by my sword?"

With those words being said, tears sliding down her face and landing on the deck with a small stream. As he sees the one he has grown to care for in such a state, a pang of sadness fills him and his throat clenches. He quickly closes the small distance between them and wraps her in a deep embrace, hoping that his mere presence would break her out of the sadness she has fallen into. She stiffens slightly before relaxing a bit and returns the hug, rubbing her clawed hand through his hair once more, a soft melancholy sigh escaping her lips.

After a few moments, Shress begins to speak up once more, her mandibles brushing the top of Six's head as she talks. "Michael, I am worried about what will happen once we arrive. Your people have ample reason to despise my people, and I am not so innocent myself."

Six breaks the hug, and moves one of his hands to her cheek, wiping away the small trail of water that has fallen from her eye with his thumb. "Shress, what was done in the past is over and can't be changed. Do not worry about what you did or what you were but what you can become, and what you can do now. In case you have forgotten," At this he bumps his forehead against hers, his nose bumping into the front of her muzzle, "I am human, and I forgave you a long time ago. Even after all the Covenant has done to me, I can still see clearly that you are the most honorable person I have ever met, Sangheili or otherwise, because even though it was all you have ever known, you refused to be a part of it. At the top of that spire on Reach I saw you for who you were, and that is someone who wants to do the right thing, even if it costs you your life to do it. For that, you may not have what you did before, but I will always be here for you."

Her eyes begin to moisten with tears once again, but before six could even comment on it, her mandibles close and she smashes her lips against his, passionately kissing him as the two of them fall back onto the couch, once again enjoying each other's presence, completely lost to everything except the small world around them, until as one their eyes begin to drift close once more.

*Shress La'Vdam POV*

Suddenly, Shress jerks awake as both she and Michael jump up, a familiar piercing whistle filling the air. Shress chews her mandibles as the painful whistling continues before it finally ends.

She turns to Michael who appears to have calmed down as well and she asks, "Michael, are we arriving?"

He gives a deep sigh and he looks at her with loathing in his eyes, "Yes, we will be exiting slipspace soon."

Shress feels multiple emotions starting to fill her. Disappointment, irritation, but mostly fear. She knew they were heading to earth, the original home of the human race. She has been comforted by her suitor not too long ago, but now with the moment arriving, she feels a sort of doubt beginning to take over yet again.

She remembers what she has done, destroying planets, killing thousands and all for a false cause, her very name engraved into the grave of millions of humans. Would the humans be as quick to forgive as Michael has?

As if sensing her discomfort, her human suitor walks towards her and wraps her in a hug. She eagerly returns it, but couldn't help feeling a bit foolish. She is a Zealot, one of the best warriors her society could produce, yet here she needs the reassurance of her suitor as if she was just a weak house mistress.

Michael pulls back and looks her in the eye as he says, "Every so often, we all could use some reassurance to get through this hard life."

Shress feels her mandibles form a smile. She has no idea how he does it, but he always knows what to say. He smiles in return and leans down and they share a kiss. After a few moments though, the same irritating whistle sounds through the compartment, and they break apart.

Michael shifts his weight around as he says, "I'm going to have one last look around and see if I can find anything more… presentable that I can wear."

Shress smiles teasingly at him, it is true she supposes, he does look a little…unprepared for an audience. His feet are still bare, there's a strange aroma starting to set into his clothing and the combination of the long sleeve garment and short lower clothing does look ridiculous on his large frame.

"Alright," she says as she positions her jaws close to his ears, "But you'll still look handsome to me."

Michael's face turns red slightly as he turns to leave. Their intertwined hands soon fall away as he walks out, but not before he casts her one last smile before the door seals them from each other.

Shress sighs as she sits back down, trying to keep herself from worrying as she ponders her new life. Will it be any better than the old life she left behind? How will humanity view her? Would she be allowed to fight beside them on the field of battle?

She shivers at the thought of fighting against her own people, can she do it, and does she want to? Shress shakes her head, she's a warrior, but now she has no idea who it is she is fighting for.

Finally she gets up and heads to the door, she needs something to do to keep her mind occupied.

——UA——

Shress carefully eases her helmet on and looks to the mirror she found in the closet where she stored her armor. She looks no different than any other time she has worn her Zealot armor, but she knows just from a glance that she has changed simply by the way she is standing. She is no longer standing with confidence and honor, but with heavy shoulders and tired eyes, knowing she has helped in a needless genocide.

She wonders what Michael is doing; the simple thought of him is enough to cause Shress to smile. She makes ready to leave, but pauses and looks at the mirror again. The sudden thought of Michael was enough to change her appearance, she now sees a woman standing confidently once more with a smile on her face. She turns away, still smiling and heads out the door.

She walks down the hallway and enters the bridge. She hasn't set foot within the room for what feels like days, but everything seems to be the same. The consoles still hum, strange light blinks on odd machinery and the screen showing the outside views nothing but a black void, slipspace as she recalls Michael calling it.

The Spartan in question is sitting at the main console once more, typing and reading off of it, working diligently no doubt. He is wearing the same top clothing, but now he wears a garment that wraps around his individual legs; fitting, but like all other clothing it appears to be too tight for him. She notices his feet are now encased in the same metal footwear that he wears when he is in his Spartan suit.

Shress walks over next to Michael and taps his metal foot with her own and says, "It appears at least one piece of your armor has kept its function." She says, the laughter from the day before bubbling up once more.

Michael smirks at her and taps her foot back as he says, "Well if I had some tough feet like yours then boots wouldn't be necessary."

She continues laughing lightly as she sits next to him, "It's still hard to imagine that you, a Spartan, the most skilled warrior of your civilization, have tender feet."

The Spartan turns, probably to say something, but at that moment one of the consoles starts to emit a series of noises, drawing his attention back forward. He taps in some commands before leaning back in his seat and looks to Shress and says, "You might want to brace."

Shress pressed herself into the seat as best as she could while gripping the small arm like protrusions, but it was made for humans, not Sangheilis. She tries pushing herself back from the consoles so her legs could have some more space when a small beeping noise begins to sound. Knowing what is coming, Shress hangs on tightly to the arms of the chair when there's a sudden flash on the screen and she shoots forward when the craft comes close to a complete stop.

Shress barely catches herself from falling out of her seat and so did Michael. They both reposition themselves while Michael said, "Well…that went a bit better than last time."

Shress offers him a rather timid smile as she says, "Sorry."

The Spartan just chuckles while shaking his head before looking up and Shress follows suit. Her eyes widen at what she sees.

There is a planet in front of her, one she has never seen before. It appears to be covered in water or some form of liquid, leaving only a small measure of landmass visible. The land appears to be mostly green, but in the middle it turns brown before becoming green once more. The sun that the planet is orbiting is large and yellow. A smaller pale planet, probably a satellite, is positioned close to the primary planet, it appears grey and as she focuses a bit closer on it, she can see artificial lights, but it's clearly under the control of the larger planet which she realizes is Earth.

The human homeworld is not quite what she expected. Sanghelios is fairly large with three orbiting suns and two satellites attached with the surface mostly covered by scattered land masses between large bodies of water. She didn't think Earth was a complete duplicate of Sanghelios, but with the amount of effort the Covenant is using to find it she would have guessed it would at least look opposing. Instead this world appears peaceful, small, and non-hostile, the last place she would have expected the thriving and dangerous humans to originate from.

"So," Shress turns when she hears Michael talking to her, "What do you think?"

Shress smiles as she says, "It's not what I expected, but still, I haven't seen any other planet like it before."

Michael smiles once more before tapping some controls and he starts to talk, but not to her, "Cairo station, this is Spartan B312, LW commando, I am coming in, ETA five minutes. Be advised I have a HVI with me, how copy, over?"

There is a heartbeat of silence before a response is heard.

"Spartan, this is Cairo station." A voice emitted from one of the console's devices, "How did you get here so fast, Reach fell just a week ago, over."

"Cairo, I have a HVI with me who has critical knowledge, both on the Covenant and slipspace science. I can fill in the blanks later, but I'm requesting permission to land, over."

There's another moment of silence before the voice responds, "Roger that Spartan, come in for a landing, Cairo's CO will like to talk to you, over."

"Looking forward to it, see you in a few mikes, Spartan B312 out." Michael flicks more switches and the ship rockets forward, heading towards the planet.

Shress waits a moment before turning and asking, "What's a HVI?"

Michael looks at her and grins, "It's an acronym, the letters stand for a word, 'HVI', it stands for 'high valued individual,' which you are, to me anyway."

Shress feels herself become warm when she hears him say that before she looks down, feeling slightly embarrassed. Michael laughs a bit before redirecting their course and they continue on.

Shress watches as they descend before asking, "So we are landing on Earth?"

The Spartan shakes his head, "Not yet, we have to stop at Cairo station first so they can verify we are not a threat."

Shress lets out a sigh, "That might be difficult for me to convince them of."

Michael reaches across and takes her hand as he says, "You're with me, I'm sure we can work something out."

Shress doesn't say anything as they continue their journey, unsure of what else to say. As they near the planet's surface, Shress is now able to see that there were a number of large objects floating in the atmosphere. She blinks her eyes a bit to make sure she is seeing correctly; there are dozens of the objects floating around in space, each as tall as a building and are in the shape of a massive gun.

"Those are Orbital Weapons Platforms," Michael explains when he sees her staring, "It's one of the few weapons we have that are effective against Covenant ships, there are about three hundred of them spaced out all over the planet."

"Impressive." Remarks Shress, she has never seen any orbital defense system like this before. Then again Sangheilos has no need for defending its inhabitants, who haven't been attacked in almost a thousand years now.

"Spartan, this is Cairo, do you read, over?" The same voice from earlier comes through the console.

"Copy Cairo, what is it?" Responds Michael.

"I just sent you directions to hangar C-01, does your computer have lock on? Over."

Michael checks a terminal close to where he is sitting and says, "Affirmative, it's reading nice and clear Cairo, will be docking in one mike, over."

"Copy Spartan, Cairo out."

Shress breaths in an attempt to calm herself, from the sound of it, they have reached their destination. She feels something on her hand and looks down to see Michael clutching it once more while his green eyes look into hers.

"It will be ok." He promises, "I won't let anything happen to you."

She wraps her longer fingers around his and says, "I know."

They smile at each other before looking back at the monitor. Slowly they approach one of the stations that grows larger and larger as they get closer. Soon Shress could fully see the size of the station. It's almost as big as a capital flagship standing on end. Lights flash everywhere, all along the exterior and interior structure. She can see square panels on the sides, and after a moment of pondering, she realizes they were windows. The area they are approaching appears to be a solid wall when it suddenly begins to unravel itself, revealing a large room with a large number of equipment scattered around.

The shuttle slows as it enters, Shress feels a jerk as they enter the superstructure. She looks up and watches in wonder as five mechanical arms lower themselves from the ceiling and reaches for their spacecraft. Shress feels the ship shudder, probably the robotic limbs grabbing hold of them. Delicately, the arms lower the ship down to the floor and they land with a soft thump.

For a while, both Shress and Michael sit there, as if waiting for the other to move.

Finally Michael stands, but instead of leading the way, he holds his hand out to Shress. She peers at it curiously before she grabs it once more. Slowly, Michael pulls her back to her feet and they stare at one another.

Shress gazes into his green eyes and he stares into her silver ones. He reaches his hand up and runs it down her cheek and ends at her neckline. She hums for a moment before leaning down and the two kiss. Michael wraps her into a hug, running his hands up and down her back while Shress does the same, but she adds running her hand through his black fur to her motions. They pull apart, no longer embarrassed or feeling awkward; a feeling that Shress is grateful for.

Michel looks down briefly before looking up and says, "You are our ally now but… maybe now isn't a good time to tell others we are… together."

Shress thinks for a minute before nodding in agreement. The humans will be reluctant to accept her as a friend, so finding out that she and Michael are now pursuing each other romantically may not help much either. Despite the end of their journey she suddenly feels her suitor stiffen beside her and crane his neck to stare behind them.

"Michael, what's wrong?"

"The ship," he responded in a strained voice, "It's got cameras, I'd completely forgotten about them."

Unfamiliar with the new human word, she tilts her head and asks, "What is a camera?"

Michael responds in a distracted tone as he hugs her a bit tighter, as if it might be the last time he could. "They are recording devices, they would be watching anything that is happening on the ship."

Shress feels her own face flush to match the rising heat of her suitors as she realises the implications, of everything that had occured, did so on record. She twists around in his hug and sees the camera, an innocuous piece of black material tucked in the corner of the room.

"Can you do anything about them?"

Michael doesn't respond verbally, instead he breaks out of their hug and drops back into the chair again. Shress sees him input various commands into the system and watches as various symbols appear on the screen, until he eventually leans back in what Shress hopes was relief.

"Michael?"

"We're alright, as best as I can tell without going into the files, there's no indication the cameras have drawn power, no change in stored data and nothing has been transmitted since before we left Reach and our contact with Cairo Station."

Seeing her quizzical look he elaborated.

"ONI's not stupid. If I attempted to access the camera recordings they'd know it and want to know why. So I do the next best thing: Have any of the cameras used power? Has any data been added that would correspond to video footage? Has anything at all been transmitted? All concealable as part of some 'good manner' checks that any conscientious operator would do to complete their shift." Here he flashes her a grin. "Especially since it has the welcome effect of covering them in-case something goes wrong in the near future. There could be remote cameras with their own data storage and power hidden away, but I doubt they'd do that on one of their own classified projects."

He stood up and she followed suit enjoying the resumption of their interrupted hug.

"There's no recordings then?"

"Nothing, as far as I can see."

They continue to stand close to one another while holding the other's arms, still gazing into each other's eyes before Michael sighs sadly and says, "We should go."

Shress nods in agreement and says, "Lead the way."

Together they walk out of the control room and head to the primary hatch. Michael enters the same numeral code and they both stand back as it begins to hiss and slowly start the process of opening.

While they wait, Michael looks at Shress and says, "I'm not too sure how people will react if they see you walking around with full combat armor on."

Shress sighs, "I was thinking the same thing, but I will not stand in the presence of others wearing rags."

Michael nods but he leans in close to her and says, "I know, but I don't think people will respond well if they see you like this."

Shress growls lightly, "If it's of any comfort, I left my weapons." She looks at him sharply, "Which I expect to receive back afterwards."

Michael smiles and nods, "Of course, I'll retrieve them myself." He is silent for a minute before saying, "I just want to let you know, rags or armor, you're still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Again Shress's breath is caught in her throat. It wasn't because he told her she looks beautiful, but because she hears the sincerity in his voice.

She wishes she could reach out and kiss him again to show how great her feelings are for him, but the door opens and reveals the interior of the space station. Her jaws flare a bit at the unusual and strong smell that clouds the place. She smells perspiration, strong aroma and some scent that reminds her of fuel cells. Michael looks around strangely as well, looking unsure of the setting.

Hesitantly they walk down the ramp, Michael leading the way as he looks around, appearing more and more confused by the step.

All of a sudden there is the sound of rushing feet and clanking metal and stepping out of the shadows are dozens of humans in black body armor, all with weapons trained on them.

One of the humans steps forward and holds up a rifle and shouts, "Both of you, hands in the air!"

\/\/\/ AUTHORS NOTE \/\/\/

Alright so let's go with the rundown as to why this exists and it isn't just like the original. The goal is to (at least until Halo 3) try and keep the timeline as accurate to cannon as possible (with some notable exceptions). In the original, the dynamic duo spent 4 days on the prowler, and about 10 days on Cairo before Chief shows up. That's just not accurate to cannon, as it took him 50 days (August 30 2552 to October 19th) from the end of Halo Reach when the Autumn flew off, until they actually get back to earth, and one day later for the covenant to show up, so in order to keep it within the actual timeline, we had to make a new story arc that will last a bit longer and tie in much later in the story, so yay! New content! Expect more Cairo station then before, and also PLEASE read and review, we want to know how we do with what we add. -PyreElegy