0400 Hours, August 31, 2552 (Military Calendar) /

Slip space from Epsilon Eridani System, UNSC Born To Kill

Destination unknown

"Ruchi…How? You were… dead. Your body was recovered then burnt. I was…one of the few who saw it burn…But now…your standing…BTK…" Daniel's voice was wavering, his words erratic and filled with uncertainty. Confusion washed over his features, thankfully he was donning his full armor.

"Who is 'Roo Shee'?" Ruchi asked him.

Daniel's breathing became short, he took a step forward, then two steps back. His gloved hand went over his visor, his vision started becoming blurry, dots appeared and a feeling of dizziness overwhelmed him.

"Hey. Are you ok, Spartan?" Ruchi questioned with concern.

Daniel's hand left his head and made a 'stop' motion, it looked like he was trying to push her away. His head began to swirl, "Ruchi! It's me! DANIEL!" he started to yell until a flash of white light hit his eyes. Daniel collapsed onto the ground.

"Oh shit! Spartan! Medic! Medic!"

Darkness had overwhelmed his senses, he felt nothing, saw nothing, smelt nothing, taste nothing and heard nothing. It was a complete blackout, yet he knew he was conscious. Perhaps he was inside his 'minds eye', Dr. Halsey had told the Spartans about it before.

Daniel felt like he was floating, floating down a river almost, but instead of water it was a goo. His stomach flipped and another white light flashed, his senses came back but he wasn't where he last fell…

Concrete walls and bunkers surrounded by a chain link fence. Daniel was floating in the sky above all of what he could see, it was surreal. There was a man standing there, waiting for something. Daniel squinted his eyes and floated towards the man, that's when he saw who it was.

"Mendez…" Daniel said to himself.

If things could take a turn for the bizarre, then things just did. Daniel stared in confusion as he watched a younger version of himself walk up to the man. He was wearing a marine helmet, it had been cracked open and some of his hair had poked out of it.

"Sir! Reporting as requested, sir!" the younger Daniel said.

"Good work. Its been a while since I last saw you. How are you holding up son?"

"Good sir."

"Good to hear. Follow me."

Daniel's eyes grew big, he was dreaming or seeing his past in some form or another. He needed to wake up or be shocked, he did not want to relive this moment. Every step the two vision's took was a step closer to embarrassment.

Then it started, Daniel watched as the young marine ran into the young Daniel which caused him to –

"CLEAR!"

Two medics, three marines and the Captain himself surrounded an unconscious Daniel. His heart had stopped beating and they were now trying to resuscitate him.

The machine gave off a small beep and sent another charge throughout his body. Daniel's heart gave off a flutter, but was still in cardiac arrest. Another shock, followed by two more. Nothing.

"Shit." Captain Henry muttered to himself silently.

Once more the machine shocked Daniel, but this time it struck a chord. His heart started beating, slow and soft, but beating nonetheless.

Daniel sat up, "I'm sorry!" escaped his mouth in a loud yell. Confused, he looked around. His vision was a bit blurry at first and it seemed his suit had been somewhat dismantled. He turned towards the Captain hoping for an explanation.

"You had a heart attack. You were saying your old teammates name, Ruchi, before you fell unconscious."

Daniel spun his head, right then left, looking at everyone in the room. Ruchi had been here, he knew it. Older then he last remembered but he knew it was her. One more look around proved to be as helpful as the first, he spotted no one who even remotely resembled his fallen Spartan.

With one handful, he ripped out all the cords that were attached to his body and began to reassemble his armor. With the last piece in place, he reached over for his helmet and put that on as well. Standing up in one fluid movement, "Awaiting orders, sir."

Everyone stood with him, making sure the titan wouldn't collapse again. After a weary few seconds the Captain spoke, "Go run through the obstacle course with these three marines. They will be in your new squad. Once your done with that, go to the armory. Suit up and be prepared. Those Covenant sons of bitches want to follow us, we are going to give 'em hell. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir." Daniel and the marines barked.

"Enjoy the playground, kids." The Captain said with a laugh.

-

Daniel was waiting at the obstacle course in nothing but a wife beater and cargo pants. His dark hazel eyes seemed to be distant, as though off in another world.

"Should we wake him?"

"Uh. I guess?"

"Sir! Reporting at 0500 as requested, sir!"

Daniel's eyes snapped shut, then opened and looked around. Three marines, two female and one male. "Names."

"Kayla Lee Gillett, sir." This one, being female, was the shortest out of the three. If anything she resembled the body structure of an elite, slightly crouching over herself. Her short brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail.

She however would prove more then just the short one, she was, to put it literally, a tank.

"Alana Jane Large, call me Llama." This one, also being female, was a bit taller then Gillett. Her hair was breaking quite a few regulations with the length and color. She had the same body build as Gillett as well, but she didn't hunch over as much. She was tan, not that tan, but tan enough.

"Nathan M. Fuller." The only male in the group, he had a smirk on his face giving him a cocky look. He was tall, not as tall as Daniel, but a good head or two over the others in his squad. His blond hair blue eyes complexion worked well with his pale skin. He was the whitest, even more so the Gillett.

"Great. Now I want you to run this course with me. I will go first and we will see how you all follow in. This is for a individual basis only, I want to see where you all stand. Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!" the three marines barked.

Daniel let out a smirk then turned around facing the course. It was a two mile course, paint ball rounds were used instead of live fire ammunition. It was practically a run and dodge course. Daniel turned his head, nodded then blasted off into the course.

The course was part jungle, part Suburban and part desert. Daniel had just started in the jungle section, hitting two hologram jackals. Another two Jackals went down as the paint balls went through their heads.

Running through the path, he stopped to listen. A group of grunts were about to round the corner, four head shots later with his pistol, he continued.

The green grass soon turned into concrete, as small replicated buildings became real, Elites started firing down at Daniel. Running shoulder first into a wall, he hid behind it. Pulling out his MA5B paintball gun he fired off more rounds, taking care of the first two Elites.

The other two had decided to pull out their energy swords, they were rushing him. Not the smartest tactic. Daniel jumped out behind the small wall, firing down on one of the Elites. He landed and swiped his leg under the remaining Elite's legs, the hologram tripped. Standing up, Daniel fired off his rounds.

Smiling, he ran into the next area, desert surrounded him. Golden yellow and dark brown rocks littered about the area, four hunters came bulking around and Daniel let out a small chuckle. The programmers were having fun with this one.

Daniel, however, grew a frown when he heard Fuller yell "Fucking Elites!" at the top of his lungs. Daniel ran towards the first hunter and began firing, head shots and neck shots only, the beast fell.

Soon the other three hunkered towards Daniel, doing their "crab walk". He began firing towards the next target, then the next. This would take forever and his team would catch up, he needed a way to finish his part of the course now.

"Need a sniper?"

Daniel almost jumped. Almost.

"Thanks, Large." Daniel responded.

"I told you, call me Llama…Sir."

Daniel mentally nodded, set himself up with the sniper and waited a heartbeat. Four shots later, three hunters were down. He returned the sniper then blasted off past the exit and looked at the technicians.

"That was a great run, sir. The best we ever had. Seven minutes and forty seven seconds."

Daniel nodded and watched the camera's, following his teams stats. The next person to come through was Llama, time ten minutes and fifty seconds. She was only "killed" once, the Elite ambush got her.

Next came Gillett, thirteen minutes and ten seconds. She was killed twice, once at the sniping Jackals and the Elite ambush.

Then there was Fuller, eighteen minutes and fifty six seconds. He died thirteen times, four at the Jackals, six at the elites, and three times at the hunters. His hit percentage was noticeably lower then the other two.

"Fuck that course was hard…sir." Fuller was sweating from head to toe.

"Showers, then gear up. Covenant are coming."

-

Captain Henry H. Henry frowned. He had been working for the last hour to trying to calculate a long jump while in the middle of a random jump. It was impossible, even for Déjà , who was currently inside the ship. She knew it would be borderline impossible to make a slip space jump while already in a slip space jump. But if she could, then they would be able to get away from the Covenant and regroup.

Calculations and numbers scrolled through her Greek dress, her mind was doing trillions of calculations per second. Yet she still had no idea. "Captain, we will be arriving out of slip space within ten minutes. Orders?"

Henry sighed to himself, "Can we make another jump when we get out?"

"No sir. The Shaw-Fujikawa system needs to be cooled down. It will take about an hour."

Another sigh, "I see. We will just have to hold out until then. Get Longsword pilots ready. Also, call up Master Chief."

"Understood Captain."

-

Daniel finished his shower and was combat ready for whatever was about to go down. He had his MA5B and two HE pistols. He was, of course, inside his Spartan armor. He felt naked when he didn't wear it, so he almost never took it off, unless it needed to be cleaned or tweaked in some way.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Daniel. Report to the bridge." Déjà 's voice blasted over the speakers.

Nodding to himself he began the walk, it would only take a minute or so, but it gave him time to think. He thought about Ruchi, he knew he had seen her. There was no doubt in his mind, but why had he seen her. She was dead. You can't come back to life if your dead.

"Um. Hey."

Spinning around to see where the noise was coming from, Daniel spotted a female marine. Her skin was fairly white, brown hair that was at the longest it could be, regulation wise of course, and a certain attitude that made her seem all that more appealing.

"Can I help you, soldier?" Daniel asked.

"I was just wondering if you are ok, sir. I was the girl you called Ruchi before you collapsed."

Thankfully for Daniel, he was wearing his helmet. His face contorted into a confused and angered state. This girl didn't even resemble Ruchi in anyway, why had he seen her then. Maybe the girl was lying, he would have Déjà go through the security camera's.

"I am fine. Thank you for the concern."

With that Daniel was walking to the bridge once more. Questions swirled inside his head, perhaps we was just seeing things. A psychotic unlucky Spartan, oh that sounded just great.

Rounding the corner he entered the bridge, the Captain was already waiting. "Daniel! Good to see you are still up and running. Now I want you to take a look at this. We just exited slip space and that," the Captain pointed out the large screen to an object, "is what we saw."

Floating in the midst of black space, a giant ring. Metallic on the outside and organic on the inside. It had what looked like oceans and continents on the inside of the ring.

"Sir, what is that?"

"Hell if I know. Déjà , have you pulled anything up yet?"

"No sir. I recommend an organized party to go down there. We might be able to learn what it is, although scans show no sign of lifeforms down there."

Henry frowned. This was a complicated situation. They could be on the verge of finding a –

"Covenant are slipping through! One ship sir! No. Three ships!"

"Déjà , best solution?"

Three heartbeats later, "I say we land on the ring. We can't win in a three vs. one."

"We can rarely win a one v. one." Captain Henry said with disgust. Running his hands through his thinning grey hair, he began to pace back and forth deep in thought. Contemplating all that he could do in his current predicament.

"Captain, they aren't firing. Orders?"

"I… I don't know."

-

0730 Hours, August 31, 2552 (Military Calendar) /

Unknown System, Covenant Unbreakable Bond,

planet Ring

"Brother! Word from the holy one! That ring! It is a relic!" Igadi rushed by his bond brothers side, laughing as he spoke, "Like the ones we used to feast on! Back at our old planet."

"Ah yes. We feasted like kings! Rightfully so, don't you think?"

"Of course brother! However, there is another matter. What shall we do about the humans? We cannot fire, if we hit the holy ring we would be banished. Shall we send our troops to their doom?"

Chuckling to himself, Agida took three steps forward, "Not to their doom brother. Fill them with false hope. Prepare to board the human ship!"

Throughout the ship, Covenant soldiers of all kinds shouted and cheered, all except one very stupid Kig-yar named Yuk. Hiding in his room, fear already spread throughout his features. Yuk had accidentally boarded the wrong ship, everyone knows the Mgalekgolo Ship Masters hated his race. If they were to find him, Yuk shivered, he would be tortured.

Yuk almost jumped when he heard everyone was being called to prepare to board. He didn't want to be seen let alone go fight with this small army. "Once again. Report to the Aircraft, we will begin sending you out in waves."

Yuk wanted to throw up, with good reason. His stomach did a flip, then another. Dots filled his vision and he gasped as the doors opened up. Two minor Sangheili were standing there, shocked to find such a creature on this ship. Grabbing him buy his arms they proceeded to drag him to the air crafts.

"Cowering bird. We will show the prophets are true strength! Let us go brothers!" Sangheili rejoiced across the ship as Yuk started to sob.

-

"Sir! They are sending boarding crafts! All three ships are sending boarding crafts."

"Land us on that ring, Déjà !"

"Negative sir. Our engines just cut out."

Captain Henry H. Henry looked at his crew, then the ring, then the Covenant ships and back to his crew. Sighing while rubbing his temples, "Abort ship."

A loud thud was heard throughout the ship, followed by two more. "The boarding parties! They have connected!"

Sirens went off throughout the ship, the marines began to scramble and prepare for the boarding parties. The ship rattled once more as crafts connected to the outer hull, pouring in hundreds of Covenant soldiers.

"First Reach and now this. I doubt anyone else is this unlucky." Captain Henry muttered to himself.

Although he thought he said it in an inaudible voice, Daniel had heard him clearly. His mind wandered, could it be his fault that this was happening? What were the options that he had? Would he just abort the ship in hopes of –

"Sir, permission to speak sir."

"Granted, Spartan."

"Let me take a small infiltration team. Board one of their ships, once I have eliminated all of the Covenant from said ship I will fire upon the other two. Once I have done that, the rest of the crew will board the new ship."

"That is a suicidal mission." The Captain sighed, "The way I see it is we have two options." Henry put his first finger up, "Plan A. Abort the ship and get everyone to that ring. Have BTK set on a course towards the ring. It would take awhile but eventually the ship would come down. Then we would have supplies and from there, I am not sure to tell you the truth.

"Plan B." Henry's second finger went up, "We go through with your plan. But if you fail, by that time their probably won't be any hope for us. So we can live to fight another day or risk it all right here."

Silence crept throughout the bridge, no one wanting to make a move. Another rattle shook the ship, but the silence held strong. Finally, Captain Henry H. Henry sighed, "Alright, here are your orders."

00000000000000000

END TRANSMISSION

00000000000000000

What can I say? I am enjoying cliffhangers. As you can see the story can take two different ways. So I am curious with what the reviews think is the appropriate way. As always, thank you all for reviewing! When I see reviews, it pushes me to keep writing. So thank you all. =]