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En Route to Sector 2569
U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-D
0245 hours, Stardate 48156.8

The Master Chief was impossible to miss.

It had been over two weeks since the Enterprise had acquired their unique passenger and this was the first time she had seen him.

The bulky armor he wore stood out starkly in comparison to the form-fitting Starfleet uniforms the officers wore.

Guinan watched as he entered and scanned the room before crossing it. His stride was confident, but there was a tension that she could easily detect.

It was clear that he didn't want to be in Ten-Forward which made her all the more interested in why he was there.

After several seconds of glancing at the area, she watched as he moved towards a table in the back corner of the room. He was mostly hidden from the others in the room, but his position allowed him to have a view of everyone around him.

He had barely sat down in the too-small chair before Guinan nodded at the bartender down the counter. "Cover me."

She slid from behind the counter and made her way to the Master Chief. As she approached his table, she offered him a friendly smile. "Welcome to Ten-Forward. Can I get you anything?"

He shook his head. "No." A half-second passed. "Thank you."

She had been right in her early assessment; he didn't want to be there. Now she had to figure out why he had come into her domain.

Good thing she had always liked a good mystery.

"I don't think I've seen you in here before." She nodded towards the chair opposite of him. "Can I join you?"

She knew he wanted to say no. Guinan saw the slight frown that passed over his face. In the end though, he nodded. "Go ahead."

Guinan sat down, studying the man in front of her. If it wasn't for the lack of pointed ears, she might have pegged him for a Vulcan. He was certainly stoic enough to pass as one. "So, what's your name?"

"Master Chief."

Her eyebrows rose at his answer. "I asked for your name. Not your rank."

When he didn't answer immediately, she smiled patiently. "I'll start. My name is Guinan."

For the first time since she had approached him, he looked her right in the eye. "John," he finally replied.

A smile spread across her face. "Now that wasn't so difficult, was it?"

He didn't reply.

"So," she said, refusing to let the opportunity of a conversation pass, "it's not often that we get a visitor from another timeline."

He glanced at her clothing. "You're not a Starfleet officer."

"No," she conceded. "But working in here has its perks. You hear things." She leaned back in her seat. "Rumor is that you were sent from the mid-26th century from an alternate timeline. Your mission must be pretty serious for someone to go through all that trouble to send you here."

"It is."

She nodded out the window to where the stars were streaking past the window. "People may have also mentioned that the Enterprise is on its way to investigate some sort of alien artifact. I don't suppose you know anything about that."

John didn't answer right away. Guinan made herself comfortable. She could wait.

Finally, he said, "A Halo ring."

A sinking feeling settled in her stomach. "Forerunner," she muttered.

His eyes narrowed. "Did the rumor mill tell you that too?"

"No." Suddenly, the mystery of the Chief's arrival in Ten-Forward seemed trivial to finding out why he was sent in this timeline.

She leaned forward, across the table. "The El-Aurian, a race of listeners and extraordinarily long life, were said to have been the offspring of a faction of Forerunners and humans who fled from the Master Builder to form a colony together." She saw the confused look on John's face. "The El-Aurian are my people."

He shook his head slightly.

She folded her hands. "I take it that didn't happen in your timeline."

"No, but Cortana-" He stopped abruptly. He closed his eyes briefly, then looked at her. "How did you know what the Halo ring is?"

"My grandfather used to tell me a story that had been passed down to him about the Forerunners' curse. A ring world that could destroy the entire universe. He called it 'Halo'." She pinned John with a worried look. "It gets activated, doesn't it? That's why you're here."

She watched as he hesitated briefly. Finally, John nodded. "Yes. In six months from now, a survey team will find it. A year from then, Starfleet Command will issue the order to fire the ring. Their actions will not only kill the Borg they were trying to defeat, but all living life in the quadrant."

She studied him for a second. "What is your real mission, John?" she asked.

Before she could answer, a flash of red caught her eye. Captain Picard was coming up to the both of them, to talk to John presumably.

"I should be getting back to the counter," she said, standing up. "If you wouldn't mind, when all of this is over I'd love to have a long chat with you about my ancestors over a glass of Romulan Ale."