Aboard the main flagship of The Fleet of Particular Justice, Seeker of Truth, Kaiya had been escorted to the Medical Bay for treatment and examination. But mainly for examination and to be interrogated. She had been strapped down onto a slanted table within a quarantine cell. While she was being poked and prodded, her eyes slowly took in her new surroundings.

Just like the rest of the ship, the walls were a dark shade of purple. The ceiling was three meters high, making Kaiya feel even smaller than she was already. Just with a glance, people could tell the room she was in was like any other medical bay, besides the alien tools and for some reason a bit smaller than the average Medical Bay onboard human ships. The walls are smooth with small lighting. She had read reports that being inside a Covenant ship made you feel primitive. Well, the reports were right. All the tech was so much more advanced than the humans. Whatever they gave her, caused all her aches to disappear.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a snarl of the Elite that was interrogating her while another one was poking and prodding her, taking skin samples along with blood. She felt like a lab rat.

"Tell us why you were the only one to activate the Sacred Artifact! Your human friends touched it and nothing happened to them, so why you?" He asked firmly. Kaiya only glared at him.

"Oh, I don't know! I thought you knew because it's obvious now that you and your buddies were stalking us!" She replied. She struggled a bit with the energy bonds that kept her strapped down. "I'm not saying anything else…" She huffed.

On the bridge, Thel 'Vadamee had been watching the interrogation from his monitor. As he listened, he began to drift to his thoughts on what he had witnessed when he had followed Kaiya and her friends into the temple. He scratched one of his mandibles thoughtfully. He was curious as to why her hazel eyes had changed dramatically after interacting with the Artifact just once and her pleading to make the screaming stop.

What made this one human female special enough to activate an Artifact from their Gods? These questions danced around in his head as he turned his gaze over to the Artifact that hovered in a special container. He clicked his mandibles for a moment then looked back to the screen of Kaiya.

"Hmm…" Thel 'Vadamee hummed to himself.

Thundering hooves could be heard as Ford, Cole, and Megan rode as fast as they could to Eldervale. People quickly moved out of the way of the three. Some yelled at them to slow down as they raced to the UNSC Outpost at the edge of town. Once there they quickly dismounted their horses, tied their reins onto a pull, and rushed inside. The man at the front looked up from his computer.

"Do you have the authorization to be here, civilians?" He asked in a calm but firm voice. Ford panted heavily as he leaned over the counter.

"P-Please you have to help! Our friend was taken! T-The Covenant was here! They took her!" Ford pleaded.

"Yeah! They attacked us at West Haven Ranch and kidnapped her! Well, more like she gave herself up, but still!" Cole added. Megan nodded.

"Yeah so get your ass on the phone and call for backup before they get away with her! Along with the Artifact they found!"

The man behind the computer stood up and raised his hands, making a gesture for them to calm down. "Easy folks! Easy! Now we know for a fact that there isn't any Covenant here. We would know about it by now if they were on the planet, but I will make a report to verify your claims of the Covenant landing on Drotonia." He said as he sat down to open a report. "You may leave now."

Ford's jaw dropped. "Verify our claims?! Kaiya is endangered! If you don't do something now, we may never see her again! Why on God's green Earth would we make that up?!" He said, hitting his fist on the counter, making the man jump a bit. He singled for some guards.

"Can you please escort these civilians back to their horses before they get into any trouble with us?" The man ordered. The guards nodded and began to usher the group out of the building. The three had no choice, but to leave the building and go back to their horses.

After they had left the Outpost, the AI, Cortana, had overheard everything while working in the system. She downloaded the file of the claims and skimmed them over along with downloading information on the girl who had been taken if the story is true. Once she had what she needed, Cortana quickly went over to where John 117 was.

John 117 aka Master Chief, the most decorated and famous SPARTAN, had been doing PT. He had recently been assigned to the Outpost for a week now, mainly to train himself and make sure that there was no Covenant anywhere on the planet. He wasn't used to a quiet town and sometimes felt uneasy. As he lifted two small dumbbells, Cortana appeared on the computer nearest to John and cleared her throat.

"Master Chief. I found something that might be of interest to us!" She said, John, glanced over to the computer and sighed.

"What is it, Cortana? If it's another finding on the value of horse dung, I don't want to hear about it…" He said as he continued to lift. Cortana chuckled a bit and shook her head.

"No no. Nothing like that. But we just had a visit from three civilians, reporting that a small force of the Covenant was here and kidnapped a young woman along with an Artifact." She stated. This caused John to stop his lifting, set the dumbbells down, and turn his full attention on Cortana.

"The Covenant? Here? And they took a hostage, but didn't kill the others?" He asked as he strode over. Cortana nodded.

"Yes. According to the file, Kaiya Walker was reportedly taken by the Covenant and left her friends alive. One of her friends mentioned that she went willingly with them. Along with taking an Artifact that they found." She reported as she showed off the report file to John. He looked over the file on his datapad and scratched his chin.

It was unusual for the Covenant to do something like this. They would typically take what they wanted and kill everyone, rarely taking a hostage. "If this Kaiya was taken alive…then maybe it has to do with what the Covenant found."

"That's what I was thinking. Though it's strange. She's just a regular civilian who was a former champion in Horseback Archery before she went to the UNSC Academy and was adopted at the age of 5. Nothing extraordinary to be captured." Cortana said as she looked into the file on Kaiya. "I think we should head over to the West Haven Ranch, talk to the survivors and see what we can learn."

John nodded to her before he went over and stepped into the machine that helped put his armor on. Once his helmet was secure, John picked up the disc and inserted it into his helmet, holstered a MA5C assault rifle onto his back before he swiftly walked out of the building and mounted a nearby mongoose. The mongoose came to life and Master Chief took off towards the Ranch.

At West Haven Ranch, Ford, Cole, and Megan were hard at work repairing the damage the Covenant had done. Megan and Cole were at work on repairing the fence to the pasture and ushering any lost chickens, sheep, and horses into the barn to keep them secured until the repairs were done.

Ford was struggling with the door, hammering away at the nails. He kept hitting and hitting away at the nails until the wood broke. He growled and tossed the hammer to the ground and kicked at the door several times in frustration, then let out a yell. Megan and Cole looked over to Ford as he sat down on the porch and removed his hat. He ran his fingers through his black hair, slicking it down a bit.

"Ford…? Is everything okay..?" Megan asked as she walked over and sat next to him. Ford shook his head as he looked at his hat.

"No…not everything is okay…Kaiya is gone…in the hands of those bastards…She could be tortured...She gave herself up to protect us. And I…we couldn't do anything to help her. The bastard UNSC probably won't give a damn and won't follow our claims! It's frustrating as hell! And…how the hell…are we going to break the news to her folks when they get back…?" He tossed his hat down and slammed his fist onto the porch. Megan looked at Ford with a sad expression.

What happened to Kaiya was frustrating for everyone. They were a team and now the team didn't feel whole without their friend. Cole slowly looked down and gently petted a sheep that was grazing by his foot. Suddenly Cole heard the sound of a loud rumbling engine coming down the road and snapped his head over to see a large green armored man on a mongoose approaching the Ranch.

"Uhhh…hey guys…?" Cole called out to Megan and Ford. They had heard the engine and quickly stood up and walked over to see the vehicle approaching. Megan's eyes widened at the sight of the armor.

"It can't be…is that…" Megan rubbed her eyes and looked again. "Oh my god…it is! It's a Spartan!"

Ford's jaw dropped slightly. "A Spartan!?" He said in shock as the mongoose pulled in front of them and came to a full stop. He then felt a spark of hope ignite in his soul, it wasn't just any Spartan, it was 117, the Master Chief!

Cole quickly rushed over with tears in his eyes as Master Chief approached them. The man was truly huge compared to them. Like a titan from the old tales of Greek and mythology. Master Chief looked down at each of them through his amber-colored visor.

"Are you the ones that made the report about the Covenant being here on this Ranch?" He asked in a gruff, serious tone. They all nodded in unison.

"Yeah, that was us! But you have to believe us! The Covenant was here and they kidnapped our friend!" Megan quickly said. The Master Chief raised a hand.

"Take deep breaths and one of you tell me exactly what happened here and to your friend." He said as Ford and Cole looked at Megan who nodded and cleared her throat.

"Well, sir, we were out on a trail ride when we came across what we believe to be an old alien temple. We, Ford, Cole, and I, couldn't open the door not until Kaiya touched it and the door lit up and opened. We went inside and found an artifact. Cole, being the idjit that he is, grabbed it and nothing happened. Not till Kaiya grabbed it and she was screaming and her eyes changed! After we brought her back to the Ranch, that's when the Covenant appeared." Megan explained as she quickly went over to her drone, pulled out the recording, and handed it to the Master Chief.

He nodded and inserted it into his helmet. He quietly watched the recording from their little adventure as well as Cortana as she examined every little detail that she could find. Once he was done, he slipped the recording disc into his suit and quietly scanned the area. His scanners picked up traces of plasma blast, Elite footprints as well as Grunts and Jackals.

"Tell me where this temple is." Master Chief said finally.

"We…We can take you there ourselves!" Ford offered, feeling the hope rise more and more in his chest. The Chief shook his head.

"No. Stay here and stay safe. I will check it out, but I promise I will find your friend and bring her home safely." He said. Megan looked at her friends before she handed him the location of the temple on a digital map.

"The door should still be open. Good luck, Master Chief…and thank you." Megan said. The Chief took the digital map and nodded to the three before he mounted the Mongoose once again and took off in the direction of the temple.

Back on the Seeker of Truth, Kaiya had been moved from the medical bay to the detention cells with two guards posted there. While she was within the cell, her cuffs had been deactivated and she quietly sat on one of the berths. Once again she slowly took in her new surroundings, familiarizing herself with everything. Instead of bars like that of a human cell, there was a force field. The energy gently moved in tiny ripples.

Like everything on the ship, the color scheme was purple. The Covenant must really love the shade of purple, Kaiya had thought to herself. There was dim light within her cell. She was glad it wasn't too bright as her new eyes were a bit sensitive to bright lights. She took a small deep breath and let out a quiet sigh. She glanced out of her prison to see towards the back of the room was a small platform with a hologram control panel. She thought of escaping, but then how would she pilot one of their ships? She just hoped help was coming.

Out of curiosity, her eyes landed on the two Elites that guarded her. During her studies at the Academy, she became quite curious about their race and wished she could learn more about them…without them killing her. If only they weren't out to destroy humanity, for whatever reason, she would love to have befriended some and learn more about them.

Kaiya closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall, dreaming of being back on West Haven Ranch, racing with her friends, riding the big open fields upon Phoenix's back. After a moment of dreaming, she heard something powering down and quickly opened her eyes. She looked over to see the force field was down and the two Elites walking in. One of them activated her handcuffs. Her wrists slapped together, causing her to grunt a bit uncomfortable.

"Come along, human, the Supreme Commander wishes to see you." One of them said as he walked over and grabbed her arm, yanking her off the berth and causing her to stumble a bit. As her bare feet touched the cold metal floor, she shivered slightly.

"Hey, watch it! Don't need to be so rough…" She hissed as she was forced out of the cell and out of the brig. Quietly she walked alongside the two Elites, who led her to the bridge. The doors swished open for them and Kaiya was shoved in a bit.

Kaiya glanced around again at the bridge, seeing many monitors, Elites working away, etc. Standing in the center of the room with his back to them and his arms crossed behind him, was Thel 'Vadamee. He was looking out the large window of the ship and before him, was the Artifact.

Kaiya grunted as she was forced to her knees and the Elites saluted their commanding officer. "Supreme Commander. We have brought the human female as you have requested." One of the guards said. Thel slowly turned to them and nodded before he walked over to them. He took with grace and command with each step as Kaiya watched him approach her. His golden armor glittered in the light and his purple cloak seemed to flow elegantly behind him. Once he was in front of her, she was forced back onto her feet by the guard.

"Will you two stop with the rough handling?!" She snapped. One hissed a bit at her then silenced himself when his leader gave him a look. Thel could not help, but chuckle a bit at her feisty spirit.

"Tell me…what is your name?" He asked calmly. Kaiya looked up at him and blinked. Did he want her name? Well, it was better than being just called human.

"Kaiya…Kaiya Walker." She replied. He nodded then turned to the Artifact.

"Kaiya, when you touched the Artifact, what did you see?" He asked. Kaiya slightly tilted her head.

"See? I didn't see anything. Just a lot of pain from the blasted thing." She replied.

"Oh, I think you did see something and heard something." He retorted. Kaiya fell silent as she thought to herself. Yes, she did see something and heard terrible sounds, but she didn't want to admit it. She wanted to forget.

"Look, I may have come willingly with you, but I am not saying anything else about that Artifact." She said, Thel 'Vadamee watched her expression carefully. She was hiding something and he intended to find out what it was. He swiftly grasped her wrist and forced her to follow him to the Artifact. She gasped in surprise and began to struggle against the Commander.

"S-Stop! I will not touch that thing again! Keep that accursed thing away from me!" Kaiya hissed just as Thel forced her hand upon the Artifact. It began to glow brightly under her palm, lighting up the entire room. Kaiya struggled for a moment before she let out a cry of pain. She closed her eyes tightly from the intense pain in her head.

At the exact same time, Master Chief and Cortana were investigating the temple when everything around them began to light up, coming to life. The pillars' outline began to shine as well as the pedestal.

"Chief! Look over to the pedestal! I am getting a large reading of energy coming from it!"

The Chief quickly turned his head in the direction of the pedestal just as a hologram of an unknown writing and what looked like numbers appeared, but it was hard to make out as it went in and out for several seconds before it disappeared.

"What…was that?" Master Chief asked his AI. Cortana was quiet for a moment as she examined what she could grab before it disappeared.

"I'm not 100% sure, but it looked like some type of location from how the numbers were positioned. I'll have to run more data to figure it out, but I think we got everything we needed here. We should focus our attention on rescuing Kaiya." Cortana replied. Master Chief nodded and quickly walked out of the temple and back to his mongoose.

Kaiya is screaming in pain, her eyes began to ache once again as they bled once again. Everything was aching and her fever returned. She caught small glimpses of a strange large structure, figures running, and a horrible, terrifying roar. The Artifact began to slowly vibrate slowly underneath her touch before it became a violent vibration with heat rising through it.

Thel 'Vadamee quickly took notice of the reaction of the Artifact to Kaiya. He swiftly removed her hand and the Artifact began to stop and cool off. The woman beside him was panting heavily. Her body shook like a leaf within a storm before her legs gave out and collapsed to the floor, but Thel quickly caught her before she could hit her head on the metal floor.

Carefully, Thel grabbed her chin and moved her head side to side, checking her over and seeing she was out cold.

"We can take her to the Medical Bay, Supreme Commander." One of the guards offered, bowing his head respectfully. Thel scooped Kaiya into his arms and shook his head.

"No need. I will take her there myself. Follow me." He ordered before he turned and walked out of the bridge with the two guards trailing behind him.

Master Chief returned to West Haven Ranch and approached Ford, Cole, and Megan who were trying to have dinner when they heard the Mongoose and quickly ran out to meet him.

"What did you find?!" Ford asked.

"We believe we have enough information to mount a rescue mission for your friend," Cortana said over the helmet's speakers. This caused the three to look at the Master Chief with confused looks.

"No disrespect, Master Chief…but when did you start sounding like a girl?" Cole asked as he scratched his head. Cortana couldn't help but chuckle at the comment.

"Oh that's right I didn't introduce myself. I am Master Chief's AI, Cortana. I'm plugged into his suit to assist him in any way I can."

"T-That makes more sense! Sorry, Miss!" Cole chuckled a bit. Ford shook his head and sighed heavily before he turned his attention back to the Master Chief.

"So you can save Kaiya? Please bring her back…she gave herself up so nothing would happen to us and her home.." Ford said as Master Chief laid a hand on his shoulder with a firm and reassuring squeeze.

"I promise I will get my team together and bring her home safely. When I make a promise…I keep it." He said to them, seeing the spark of hope light up in their eyes. They probably wished they could do more to help, but now this was a Spartan's mission. Megan nodded and rubbed her eyes as tears started to form. She had begun to become frustrated with everything, but now knowing that Kaiya was in safe hands, took a lot of stress off her chest.

They watched together as Master Chief revved up the engine and drove back to the Outpost. "Cortana…summon Blue Team." He said.

After much-needed treatment from her last encounter with the Artifact, Kaiya had been once again escorted back to her cell and this time was given food. She quietly sat on her berth and stared at the tray of alien food before her. On the tray was a lump of strange-looking meat with what she guessed was possibly bread and a weird slop of grey mush.

She quietly stared at it for a good moment before she leaned back against the wall and wished she had a cheese bacon hamburger. Just thinking about the food back home made her homesick. Kaiya suddenly winced a bit and held her stomach as it began to growl hungrily, realizing she hadn't eaten anything since the morning of the trail ride. The trail ride that led her here. She glanced at the tray once again and grumbled.

Hesitantly she picked up the tray and set it on her lap. She took a small bite of the bread and meat. It wasn't too bad. At least it was edible. The meat was a bit tough to chew and the bread was slightly stale, but the grey mush? She wasn't even gonna touch that.

After she finished, Kaiya set the tray down on the floor and lay on the berth, staring at the ceiling then she glanced at the guards for a moment before she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, exhausted by everything that had happened in the last several hours.

During the night cycle on the ship, Kaiya slowly began to wake up from a sudden pounding in her head, her body began to shiver violently, and then every inch of her body began to ache.

"Damn it all…not…not again…" She whispered as she struggled to get on her feet. She stumbled against the wall, leaning against it. "Hey…hey…I'm not feeling..well…I need help…" She said to the guards. The one on the left glanced at her for a moment but the other nudged him to look away.

"Ignore her." He said to his companion. "She's most likely faking it."

The one on the left just simply nodded and stood back to attention. Kaiya gritted her teeth from the intense pain that grew more and more until it became unbearable.

"B-Bastards!" She snapped loudly and began to scream. She grabbed the food tray and chucked it at the force field. As the tray collided with the field, it bounced back and slammed into the camera in the corner of the room, breaking it.

An officer who was to watch the prisoner from the camera on the bridge, winced when the tray collided quickly with the camera, causing his screen to go black. He clicked his mandibles for a moment before he turned to a small button on his control panel and pressed it.

"Supreme Commander, forgive me for disturbing your rest, but the prisoner is acting out suddenly. Out of what seems like rage, she threw her food tray and shattered the camera." He said into the intercom.

Thel 'Vadamee slowly sat up from his bed and looked over, pressing the intercom. "Repeat that," He ordered as he stood up. Thel had taken most of his armor off but left his black tight jumpsuit and boots on when he went to rest.

"The prisoner is acting out and the camera broke when she threw the food tray. I can not see what is happening, but it looked like she was screaming."

Thel's eyes widened slightly and hurriedly put his armor and helmet on, but left his cloak off before he rushed out of his room and towards the brig. What could have caused her to suddenly act out? From the reports and from what he had seen, she was normally quiet and kept to herself while she was in her cell.

The Commander swiftly entered the cell and the two guards quickly saluted him, bowing their heads in respect to him as he approached them.

"What is happening to the prisoner? One of the officers reported that she had suddenly begun to act out and broke the camera. Care to explain what is happening?" He asked firmly in his deep, like the sound of a living thunder voice. The guard on the left seemed to become nervous and swallowed dryly.

"The prisoner was asleep then she began to complain about not feeling well. We…we ignored her, sir. We thought she was just faking so she could try to escape.." He explained. Thel clicked one of his mandibles and looked inside the cell. He could see Kaiya on the floor, in the corner, shaking and holding her head. The food tray was impaled in the camera from the force of the bounce-back of the force field. In the other corner, nearest to the force field was vomit.

Thel shot the guards a disapproval glare. "Does she look like she is faking? Lower the shield. Now." He ordered. They lowered their heads a bit and the one on the right lowered the shield and was about to activate her handcuffs when Thel stopped him.

"There is no need for those right now. She's obviously not in the right condition to run or fight." He said as he walked into the cell and kneeled next to Kaiya who was whimpering from the headache. He carefully scooped her up into his arms and walked out without looking at the guards.

As he quietly carried Kaiya down the hallway, towards the Medical Bay, he began to think that the medic there was probably going to give him an earful again. While in his thoughts, he felt something press up against his chest making him snap out of his thoughts and look down. His amber eyes widened a bit to see Kaiya pressing up against him in a gesture to seek comfort from her pain.

He stopped in his tracks and watched her. It had taken him by surprise for a moment before he snapped out of it and continued his way to the Medical Bay.

As Thel predicated, the Medic, named Zula 'Rtama, had begun to give him an earful when he came with Kaiya and laid her on the table.

"With all due respect, Commander…this is the third time within the last 48 units! The first time was fine, the second time was a bit and now this! What are you doing to her to make her have so many visits!? Are you trying to kill her?!" She asked as she flared her mandibles. Zula was one of the rare Elites that took up healing. While they did have special AIs to help treat, Zula preferred to do it herself.

She looked like any other male Elite, except slightly smaller, slightly slimmer body built with green eyes, and a light brown skin tone. She stood about nearly 6' 8" compared to the large Thel 'Vadamee. Zula growled and began to examine Kaiya with a scan and looked at her monitors as Thel watched.

The scans indicated a large area in Kaiya's head and highlighted it in red. "Whatever is happening to her is probably getting worse with each time you force her to touch the Artifact. The last time I scanned this it was not this large. I advise that you let her body rest and recover before you try anything else. I will keep her overnight so I can watch her vitals. Now shoo shoo! She needs rests and not a hovering Commander." Zula said as she ushered with her hands for Thel to leave.

Thel' Vadamee seemed to hesitate for a moment but sighed a bit. "Alright then, Zula…let me know once she has recovered." He said before he turned to leave. Zula crossed her arms and shook her head a bit.

Once Thel had stepped out the door, he looked back over to Kaiya, who was finally resting after being given medication. He stared at her for a moment longer before he left and returned to his room. He sat on his bed for a moment and looked at his hand, thinking to himself once again.