Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 5: First Contact

Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117 resisted the urge to groan as he regained consciousness. The sound of Cortana's voice calling to him was distant for a moment, before it felt like it was coming from inside his own head.

"Chief! Chief, can you hear me? At last... are you alright? Can you move."

Instead of answering, John 117 stands slowly and glances around him at the bodies of the lifeboat's passengers.

"The others... The impact. There's nothing we can do."

Resisting the urge to sigh, John hastily collected weapons and ammunition before making his way outside of the lifeboat. Overhead a strange fighter screamed past, engaged in a dogfight with three Covenant Banshee. Ignoring what the Chief could already see himself, Cortana checked the MJOLNIR suit's sensors.

"Warning. I've detected multiple Covenant dropships as well as another I can't identify on approach..."

Spotting that the Banshee were fighting the alien fighter, Cortana paused for a split second to check their options.

"I recommend moving into those hills. If we're lucky the Covenant will be too busy with that ship and believe that everyone in this lifeboat died in the crash. We can't really take the risk of running into the unknowns at this point..."

The Master Chief agreed, sprinting at nearly 30 kilometers an hour across an alien bridge that crossed over a waterfall and cliff. The Chief quickly made it to cover before an explosion marked the end of the unknown fighter. Two more fighters, similar to the destroyed one roared overhead, firing a stream of crimson energy at the two Covenant Banshee that survived. They seemed to be having trouble tracking the slow, yet highly maneuverable Covenant atmospheric fighters but they needed to only strike the craft several times before they detonated in the air. Having destroyed three Covenant to the cost of one of their own, the two fighters climbed upwards, until they were mere specks in the blue sky and Master Chief magnified the image on his visor, spotting a distinct U shape in the sky becoming scrap as the fighters obliterated it.

"Impressive..."

Cortana remarked, having seen Longswords and Pelicans try to match a Covenant Banshee's maneuverability or try to go against a Covenant dropship's plasma turret. The Chief nodded absently, his mind more on the Covenant dropship that managed to get past and unload her cargo. As the Covenant dropship rose, the two fighters returned, one from up high and one from the surface, skimming along the ocean. The fighter's energy weapons burst, sending a stream of steady red energy bolts at the Covenant dropship until it exploded from the damage, its destroyed parts raining to Halo's surface in smoking heaps. Several Covenant Elites as well as a dozen Grunts and Jackals managed to offload from one of the dropships before it too fell to the strange alien craft.

The Master Chief unholstered his M6D pistol, eyeing through the 2X sight and followed the Covenant as they neared his position. The Spartan II's finger tightened on the pistol's trigger, only stopping when the Covenant looked upward at a shadow that passed over them. A strange craft of a gray metal hovered above them. The back of the craft opened and a black blur fell from the back. The Master Chief could practically feel Cortana scanning the ship but what had his attention was the object that had fallen from the craft. It was humanoid, but that was about where the similarities between humans and this thing ended. The being's skin from what the Master Chief could tell was green and two large tentacles hung from its head in lieu of hair. A violet blade formed in the being's hands and the Master Chief watched in what he could only later guess was shock as the alien sliced its way through the Covenant Grunts with its laser sword. The Jackals and Elites raised their weapons, firing and the Master Chief could vaguely hear Cortana listing off the alien warrior's abilities as it seemingly produced lightning from its hands. The lightning struck a Jackal, overloading its shield and frying the bird-like alien and another Jackal was sliced to pieces by a simple flourish of the alien's weapon. The alien dropship lowered and the Master Chief watched in admiration as half a dozen silver-armored soldiers emerged and split into two groups, their energy weapons cutting through the Elite's shields in one shot, the second lethally striking each Elite's head. Efficiently executed and with no casualties.

The remaining Covenant began running, though the Shangheili that remained chose to fight to the death rather than flee. The Chief saw an Elite activate its energy sword and charge the green-skinned alien and he quickly decided to make his presence known. Raising his pistol, the Chief sighted the Elite's head and squeezed off four rounds. The first two took out the shield and the last two penetrated the Elite's helmet and skull. The powerful alien landed on its chest, sliding to a stop at the alien's feet. The alien, its weapon still glowing turned to the direction the Chief had fired from and the Chief could see clearly that the creature was a man, or male at least. Cortana sounded a warning before the alien began sprinting towards him, nearly as fast as a Spartan and John 117 holstered his pistol in favor of his MA5B.

"Chief maybe we shouldn't have gotten involved..."

Cortana warned while the Spartan calmly emerged from his cover, keeping the weapon pointed towards, but not at the incoming alien.

"I don't think we need anymore technologically advanced alien enemies right now, Cortana and who knows, maybe they'll not attack us on sight. You saw the space battle."

The AI grudgingly agreed with the Spartan.

"Fine, but let me do the talking. I have social skills beyond simply shooting."

The Chief chose not to respond, fighting to keep a twitch of a smirk from his face. The alien stopped when he was a good ten yards from the Spartan II and John finally got a good look at the alien. He was probably just over six feet tall and if the alien aged like humans he would have pegged him for being in his late twenties. The alien man was athletic, well built and fairly well trained if his stance said anything and the skin was a dark shade of green. The alien's eyes were similar to a human's only yellow-gold with a red ring of blood around the eye and it was fairly obvious he breathed oxygen.

"You look like a Mandalorian..."

The alien spoke with a clean, nearly Midwest American accent. Cortana paused for a split second, curious as to how the alien could speak nearly perfect English but otherwise ignored the surprise. The alien's eyes narrowed.

"I sense two presences within you... one human and one... something else... perhaps artificial?"

Unnerved, John calmly pointed his MA5B at the alien's face.

"John, calm down."

Cortana cautioned, speaking within the helmet so the alien could not hear. Two of the armored soldiers from the dropship approached behind the alien, making a show of strength and John could practically feel the eyes of the other four around him as they started over from where the dead Covenant were. The alien man laughed, smiling a shark's smile towards the Spartan.

"Intimidation doesn't work on me and you're lucky Lord Revan wants all survivors of the unknown ship... I suppose we'll call it a human ship now, alive... My name is Sefail and I am a member of the Sith Order of the Star Forge. Relinquish your weapons and we will continue this discussion on board the dropship."

The Spartan's face was set in stone behind his mask as he continued to point the weapon at the man.

"Don't you speak Basic? Give me your weapon or I am going to take it from you."

Cortana, trying to diffuse an explosive situation spoke over the Spartan suit's speaker.

"Maybe if you let him keep the pistol he'll go along. We did after all have our ship destroyed and crashed on an alien structure..."

Confusion flickered in the alien's eyes a moment before he seemed to consider the offer. Above, a Covenant Banshee screamed past but the alien did not bother looking in its direction as the Sith fighters intercepted the agile but slow Covenant craft. The soldiers, however did glance at the craft and John weighed his options. He could run for it and risk pissing the aliens off or he could go along and possibly be a prisoner. Were it just himself he still wouldn't surrender and with Cortana the Cole Protocol was clear, the decision only took half a second.

"I can't do that sir."

The Spartan's rough voice, only slightly disfigured by the static answered. The alien man sneered, his vicious smile vanishing.

"Like you have any choice, stun him."

Blue energy bolts emerged from the Sith trooper's rifles and impacted on the Master Chief's shields. On instinct the Master Chief aimed his MA5B at one of the Sith flanking the Dark Jedi and emptied ten rounds into the Sith's faceplate. The thunder of the assault rifle drew a flinch from the Dark Jedi as he quickly raised his hand towards the Master Chief. The Spartan swept his assault rifle to the second Sith trooper flanking the Twi'lek and a controlled burst of armor piercing rounds shredded the soldier's breastplate. Red blood seeped from the wound and the Sith fell to the ground, crying out. By the time John had leveled his weapon back on the alien man two seconds after shooting the first Sith in the face, he felt sluggish, as if he were moving against water. The end of his MA5B lined up with the man's face as his shields flared golden and failed from the stun bolt fire of the four Sith troopers advancing steadily. A blue stun bolt hit John's left arm and he could feel it growing numb but with the suit and Cortana's help, he could still move.
"Hold your fire!"

John stayed his trigger finger a moment as the green-skinned alien stared at him with a hint of fear. Sefail had used the Force to stop the Chief's movements but the Spartan had been able to resist his strength. That alone had given the Twi'lek enough reason to let the armored man go. If nothing else, he had no wish to die. Of course, in John 117's mind he had killed members of an undiscovered alien race. First contact gone wrong would not erase this and the Spartan calmly squeezed his MA5B's trigger. To his credit, the Dark Jedi managed to raise his violet lightsaber, the blade intercepting and vaporizing a dozen of the rounds before one slipped past his defenses and clipped his shoulder. The Dark Jedi spun from the force of the impact, four more rounds perforating his body before the Master Chief began running, the four remaining Sith troopers watched in stunned silence before they switched their weapons to kill and began firing at the Spartan.

"Well that could have gone better..."

Cortana muttered. John grunted as he took cover and allowed his shields a moment to recharge. The display on his faceplate showed fully charged and the Spartan II dropped his clip, loading a fresh one and pulling the bolt.
"Protocol is clear, Chief."

Cortana sighed, knowing they had to cover their tracks if nothing else. The aliens had been hostile and if nothing else, going along with what they, the Sith as they identified themselves had wanted would violate the Cole Protocol. They could not risk Cortana's capture and the Chief's hands were tied. Not that it really bothered the Chief, his life had been a series of endless orders which he followed without question... for the most part. Turning, the Chief leaned from his cover, spraying a Sith trooper that was charging after him. The rounds struck the Sith's legs and he collapsed, screaming in agony. The soldier's head struck a rock as he went and the screams fell silent as he fell still and his mask cracked, falling free. The Master Chief paused for nearly a whole second when he spotted a human face but instincts and training took over and he turned his weapon to the next Sith, then the next and finally the last. The personal deflector shields the Sith troopers carried were designed to divert energy and while they slowed the armor piercing projectiles, even slowed they were still deadly.

"Chief I'm picking up a UNSC distress signal from just over that ridge."

A way point appeared on the Chief's visor as he reloaded his assault rifle. Kneeling beside one of the fallen Sith soldiers, John lifted a blaster rifle and decided to give the weapon a try. The symbols were unfamiliar but a small indicator on the weapon shone green and the Spartan put two and two together.

"What should we do about these bodies?"

John asked. Cortana sighed loudly.

"That's a good question Chief. Another good question is why some of them are human or how that unpleasant green fellow managed to actually block nearly a dozen of your rifle's rounds. Just blocking one bullet is phenomenal and he did it twelve times... Do you realize he'd have to be moving at nearly three thousand feet per-"

"Cortana, the bodies?"

The Chief interrupted, trying to stay on task. The AI was silent a whole second before responding.

"A couple well placed plasma grenades should do it. You should also clear the drops-"

A Covenant banshee streaked past, its plasma turrets spraying the Sith dropship. A figure in gray, unseen by the Chief leapt from the craft and began running before another tried the same and was engulfed in the wake of the craft's explosion.
"Never mind, just make them ash and lets get to the UNSC carrier signal."

Wishing for about the billionth time she had a physical body, Cortana waited calmly, analyzing weapons and data from the Sith and even the Covenant out of boredom before she checked the motion sensor log of the MJOLNIR suit and decided to speak up again. Just as the Chief had finished destroying any evidence of his presence.

"Chief... what happened to the one from the dropship?"

John 117 dropped immediately, checking his six quickly before doing a quick visual check.

"Motion sensors are black... Whoever it was they're not moving..."

The Chief nodded, tossing aside the Sith blaster rifle in favor of his MA5B and working his way cautiously towards the smoldering wreckage of the Sith dropship. The Chief paused for a moment when a Covenant Banshee screamed overhead and on instinct aimed his weapon at the craft. The Covenant flier banked suddenly as a red bolt of energy struck its side and the Chief picked up motion on his sensors.

"Movement at your nine."

The Spartan followed Cortana's directions, turning to his left and moving silently through the cover provided by the trees and rocks littering that section of Halo. Above, two Sith fighters streaked past, sonic booms echoing through the valley as they fired at the Covenant craft. The Covenant ship had no time to turn and was engulfed in the fire, exploding seconds later and raining to Halo's surface in smoldering wreckage. A shout drew the Chief's attention and he sprinted towards the sound, spotting the figure that had emerged from the Sith dropship. At first he had thought it was a UNSC officer with the gray uniform but on closer inspection the Chief noticed the person, though human was not wearing any UNSC gear. Holstering his MA5B on the magnetic plate on the back of his armor, John drew his sidearm and zeroed in on the Sith's head. The Sith waved at the fighters above as they passed but her calls for help went unseen or heard by the fighters as they banked and began climbing after a quick flyby of the area. Bigger things were going down besides the loss of one dropship and they had places to be.

John began squeezing the trigger but stopped when Cortana let out a warning. From the brush beside the Sith, a Grunt stumbled out and fell flat on its face. The Sith pilot, who looked uninjured immediately turned her weapon to the small alien and shot it center of mass. The problem was the Grunt breathed methane and in an oxygen environment, methane is explosive. While she wasn't standing next to the Grunt, the Sith pilot was close enough to get some shrapnel from the explosion and went down, crying out.
"Cortana advise."

The Chief was uncertain what to do. While protocol was clear, the Sith as they called themselves were obviously opposed to the Covenant and maybe they could convince the wounded pilot to speak on the UNSC's behalf. The woman looked to be in her mid twenties, her black hair was tied back into a ponytail that ended at the base of her shoulder blades and there was blood seeping onto her gray uniform.
"Alright Chief, lets see what we can find out from her."

The woman was leaning against a rock when half a metric ton of MJOLNIR armor and a good two hundred fifty pounds of Spartan stepped from behind a tree. Having seen the fate of her companions, the woman raised her weapon and fired at the Chief. The Chief's shields flared, holding against the shot though they were nearly completely drained and the Chief dodged the next shot, closing the distance between himself and the Sith in a second as his hand shot out, knocking aside the Sith's blaster pistol. The woman cried out, the bones in her hand shattering against the Chief's pulled blow and dropped to her knees, holding her hand as she glared up at the Chief. John 117 calmly pointed his pistol in the woman's face and waited, the image of himself reflecting back at him in the woman's dark brown eyes.

"Go on then."

The woman spat, a muscle in her jaw twitching as she ground her teeth together. The Chief waited for Cortana's lead before kneeling and holstering his pistol.

"Sorry, ma'am but you're going to be coming with me."

The Sith sneered, her left hand falling to her waist and producing a vibroblade.

"I think not."

The Chief immediately jumped back as the Sith rose, her blade piercing the air where the Spartan had been a moment before and she continued chasing the Chief. John threw his hand out, significantly pulling his strength as he grasped the woman's left wrist and applied a fraction of his Spartan strength, until the woman's bones crushed under the force. Crying out against the pain the Sith glared into her own reflection in the Chief's visor.

"Lord Revan will come for us and when he does-"

The woman's words went unsaid as a Covenant patrol of Jackals appeared, firing at the Chief as well as the Sith and striking the Sith in the back. The woman's eyes went dead and John tossed her aside, pulling his MA5B and firing at the Jackals. The battle was quick and brutal and the Spartan's armor was coated in spatters of violet Jackal blood by the time he had finished. Pausing only to look at the Sith pilot, John turned towards the way point of the UNSC distress signal on his visor. Watching the view from within the MJOLNIR armor, Cortana wished she at least had a projection so she could rub her pixilated temples. They sure had made a mess of that first contact. Hopefully the others were having more success.

From the Sith command base being set up around the Pillar of Autumn's Command crew lifeboat, a planet wide, or Halo wide signal lit every Sith comm line to turn their attention from collecting UNSC crew to returning to the base. The order came directly from Darth Revan and Sith fighters and transports lifted from Halo or turned from their courses, heading towards the Sith Command base. While most had not managed to reach the survivors of the Autumn, several had collected survivors from the lifeboats, all of whom were too seriously injured to be taken with their comrades. Their comrades had gone for cover and were still scattered all across Halo. The Sith Legions and Dark Jedi had been in the process of collecting them when the orders came.

"Chief I'm picking up a signal.. its not on any UNSC or Covenant channel and its hard to pick up..."

The Chief continued working his way towards the way point, his eyes scanning the area for any Covenant stragglers from the dropships while Cortana analyzed the strange alien symbols making up the Sith transmission.

Beyond the surface of the Forerunner installation, Darth Malak and the crew of the Interceptor skimmed Threshold's atmosphere, leaving a trail of orange fire. Plasma torpedoes tracked the Sith ship but could not catch up with the swift craft before burning up in the gas giant's atmosphere. The Covenant ships threw all their power into their engines, still falling behind the Sith vessel until one of the Shipmasters of the three Covenant ships in pursuit had the genius idea of a short range jump to get ahead of the Sith ship and slow it down. The idea was sound of course but what the Covenant didn't count on was the Interdictor gravity generator on Malak's ship. Blue and white light shimmered around one of the three Covenant ships as it made the slipspace jump. A moment after the ship vanished into hyperspace it reappeared, directly in front of one of its sister ships. From the bridge of the Interceptor, Darth Malak smirked.

"Good work, keep track of the other ship to see if they try to jump away."

The crew of the Sith ship followed Malak's orders, this time preventing the two ships from avoiding a collision by blocking their ability to transition into hyperspace. The two Covenant ships struck one another head on, their shields burned brightly before flaring golden and failing. The massive Covenant ships continued colliding with one another until they flashed against the atmosphere of Threshold and the starfield above.
"They can't maneuver in the atmosphere as well, bring us about and target that last ship."

Malak crossed his arms, turning his view from the rear of his ship to the front as the Sith ship's engines cut and she turned. The ion drives powered to full and the speck of blue and purple that marked their last Covenant pursuer steadily grew. A red glow appeared on the Covenant ship as she prepared to launch another plasma torpedo and Malak saw the opportunity.

"Pulse laser target their torpedo tubes. I'm guessing they drop their shields when they fire so we'll maximize damage."

As he had predicted, the Covenant ship's shields dropped for a split second as her plasma torpedo discharged. The crew of the Interceptor pushed all their power to their forward shields and Malak gave the order to fire. A red beam pulsed from the collector dish that housed its construction and the pulse laser discharged, passing through the plasma torpedo and into the Covenant ship's torpedo tube. A split second later the Covenant ship banked and began descending into Threshold's atmosphere as her engines were completely vaporized by the attack. The view from the Interceptor's bridge showed a clean hole through the center of the Covenant ship, the edges burning orange against blue and purple. A moment later the plasma torpedo slammed into the front of the Interceptor. The Sith Interdictor cruiser's hull glowed white hot a moment before cooling to orange and then black as a massive scorch painted the front of the ship. The Interceptor continued on her course and flew past the burning debris of the other two Covenant pursuit craft before she was again in line of sight to Halo.

"We may as well paint the whole damned ship black if they keep this up."

Malak muttered, causing several of the bridge crew to laugh. The entire front section of the Interceptor was charred black as was nearly the entire top of the ship. A section of the back near the engines and the bridge pylon herself remained metallic gray.

"Minimal damage. Shields are down but charging."

Malak nodded absently, his thoughts elsewhere.

"How many does that leave?"

Malak asked, his right hand raising to rub his chin. Revenge was satisfying and the Dark Lord smiled.

"Of an original group of thirteen, one is disabled and on the surface of Halo and ten are destroyed. The final two are holding on the far side of the moon."

Malak turned his eyes to Basis, the Force enhancing his vision so he could follow the faint movement of two artificial stars.

"Status on our power reserves?"

The bridge officers consulted their consoles.

"Our Hyperdrive matrix is fine and we can make normal jumps but that jump here took nearly half our power and with the use of the Interdictor generator and the pulse laser... I wouldn't suggest going for these two for at least a day. We still have to rebuild most of the power couplings in the core room and our shields are still down to ten percent and not rising... We'll need to divert power from the engines to get them any higher."

Malak shook his head.

"No, speed and a big gun seems to be our only advantage at the moment and I want to keep both of them. Bring us to this system's sun and use the Rakatan syphon to draw energy from the star."

The crew acknowledged, bringing the Interceptor towards the sun of Threshold's system. The Rakatan syphon acted like the pylons of the Star Forge, collecting and storing energy for later use. The Interceptor and the Revenge had been a new class within the Sith fleet, meant to be the prototypes they ended up being the only two of their kind. Both ships could operate for nearly an infinite amount of time, their only shortcoming having to replace actual sections of the ships or should worse come to worse, refilling her food stores. Parts and fighters were not even a major concern since the ship boasted the same operating systems as the Star Forge, including her machine replicators. The Interceptor could literally produce her own droid Legions from thin air.

"Lord Malak, Doctor Halfan requests your presence. She's analyzing the pods from the unknown ship that we managed to collect and she's found something rather odd..."

Malak nodded, turning and leaving the bridge with a sweep of his dark gray cape. The Dark Lord's crimson fiber armor glinted in the dim lighting of the bridge a moment before he was gone and the command crew continued on as if he were still there, relaying their findings to the captain and moving on to more pressing repairs as the Interceptor extended a three-pronged pylon from beneath a section of her armored plating and began syphoning energy from the system's sun. Malak strode into the medical wing of the Interdictor, pausing within the medical bay only to inspect a pod with the frozen form of a nude human male within. Frowning at the primitive stasis pod, Malak continued inward, keeping out of the way of the medical droids and medical technicians before spotting the ship's doctor. Doctor Halfan was a Cathar that Revan and Malak had found fleeing the Mandalorian invasion and genocide of Cathar right before their decision to join the Mandalorian war. The Doctor was experienced and in Malak's opinion a genius that had kept he and Revan alive and in one piece much longer than they had any right to be. Hell, Revan was nearly in pieces after his duel with Mandalore the Ultimate and the doctor had kept him first alive and then even gone a step further and cut down the scarring. Malak came to stand next to the doctor, towering over the five foot four cat-like alien. The fur on the Cathar rose slightly but her face held no emotion as she turned to Malak, eyeing the tall Sith Lord a moment before commenting.

"Your arm is still mending from your duel with Master Atris."

Malak frowned at the memory of the Echani Jedi Master Force pushing him off of a Coruscant walkway and into a speeder, Revan's speeder.
"Luckily Revan was there. Why he let her live I will never know..."

Malak didn't really mean it, but war had dulled his care for friends that had chosen to stay in the Order, rather than fight for that was right. Shaking off the guilt, Malak turned his eyes to the pod before him, frowning as he saw a gleam of golden and green.

"Looks like a Mandalorian..."

Malak muttered, more to himself than the doctor. The doctor nodded.

"Built like one as well. From what I can tell she's in pristine health. The edge of perfection like all Mandalorians and Echani and she is physically in her late twenties though from what you've told me of the race's technology she could be anywhere from twenty to any number of years. It would appear she is dead but that is why I called you here, Lord Malak."

Malak frowned at the title but said nothing, instead reaching out with the Force to the dead armored woman in the pod before him.
"She's on the edge of death. Physically dead but still able to return... Can you revive her?"

The doctor nodded.

"I'd like to have some time to administer kolto treatment to her wounds and make sure she stays alive after I revive her."

Malak rolled his eyes.

"Of course. Do it."

The doctor nodded, placing a stasis field around the woman's body and activating the cryopod's release sequence. A few minutes passed before the woman's body rose to room temperature and the doctor set worker droids to work; removing the armor and revealing a young, angular face and nearly perfect muscle structure. The wounds were repaired and healed slowly within the stasis field as the woman remained oblivious to her own body. By the time the doctor had finished her initial treatments she realized several things, one being rather painfully obvious.

"She's not entirely human."

Malak had been watching the entire scene unfold with morbid fascination. It wasn't every day you got to see someone rise from the dead and he wasn't willing to miss it. Raising a brow as the doctor spoke, Malak turned and locked gazes with the Cathar's yellow eyes.

"Hmm?"

Malak asked, coming out of his thoughts.

"She's not entirely human. She started as human but from what I can gather she was genetically altered in her teens... Her bones have been coated in a ceramic high carbon material near the strength of durasteel, her neural network has been modified as well as her eyesight and muscles... It would have been agonizing if it were done all at once, some of the procedures would need to be done without anesthesia..."

Malak stared blankly at the doctor.

"She's a genetically engineered human and you could even call her a cyborg if you wanted..."

Malak blinked, insulted that the doctor thought he couldn't follow. He was just absorbing the pain part and his thoughts had blanked when he thought of having molten metal graphed to his bones. Breaking his arm had hurt enough but he suddenly didn't feel so pained. The bone knitters were making quick work of the break and he was fine in a fight so long as it wasn't against an experienced Jedi Master.

"I got that part its just the whole ceramic bone plating thing."

The Doctor nodded, lowering her eyes to the readout.

"I can bring her back now but the shock to her system would likely kill her again. She may be many things but she's still human."

Malak nodded, following along and wishing Revan were there to be interested in what the Doctor was talking about. It was just a headache to him.

"I can always guide her essence back into her body."

Malak suggested. The Doctor frowned but shook her head.

"That won't be necessary. I'd like her to have time to adjust before you unleash your Force energies on her. There's no telling what her reaction would be so I'd like to keep her under stasis until her wounds are fully healed. We may even need to replace several of her organs if the kolto treatment doesn't regenerate them..."

In other words it would take time. Malak nodded, knowing enough about medicine to know you didn't rush things and that most of it had to do with patience and waiting.

"Very well, keep me informed. We're going to be stuck here for some time and I could use the diversion."

The doctor nodded, sympathy seeping into her feline features.

"Of course. Revan will be well, milord. You know that as much as anyone."

The former Jedi Knight nodded, his eyes staring at the armor they had removed from the woman. A rank was present on the armor in an insignia he did not recognize and strange alien letters adorned a simple strip on the armor that he couldn't read. PETTY OFFICER SECOND CLASS LINDA - 058. Shaking his head, Malak decided he'd see to the repairs in the engine room before trying to decipher any alien languages, that was Revan's expertise. Pausing only to study the armor of the woman for a moment, Malak left the medical bay returning to the bridge and getting an update on his ship. He'd come back in the morning after a good night's sleep. No sense being around the dead for answers, living were much easier to get answers from.