CH3: The Endless

(To all my readers thanks you guys for the 11,111 views and hope you have a wonderful school holidays (AUS) and maybe some others I really don't know about.)

(Sorry I couldn't get this done sooner.)

Time: Unknown/ Place Unknown/ -

The 'New Dawn' came out of slip-space at uncontrollable speeds, the ship and it's thousands of crewmen were knocked back into reality as the ship made its final transition into normal space.

Jacob in the bridge asked. "Cyrene, what is our status?"

"Not looking good commander, outer layers of the hull were damaged in the slip-space anomaly and we are dead in the water, the engines from 1-6 and external boosters are on minimal functions, as well as the shields."

"So we're sitting ducks?" He said.

"Give or take the fact that we can still barely function, that is a yes."

"What about the Forerunner ship?"

Cyrene responded with pulling up an image of the ship.

"Damage is mostly superficial, though there is a power failure, the ship is completely dead."

Jacob hoped the team survived.

"Send in a dispatch of pelicans and have the ship towed in, we can't leave 7 to be hanging in space."

"Right sir, sending out recovery teams in five."

XXXXX

Jonathan and his fellow Spartans hadn't really expected the ship to suddenly swing them out this far into space, from what they could tell from the displays, the ship had travelled into subspace and then exited into an anomalous regions of space.

This being said, the team wasn't so sure how to get back to UNSC space, the Forerunner ship had burned out its core and the trans-light drive, the New Dawn and its crew were now stranded in the deepest reaches of space.

Assuming they were still in their own galaxy of course.

The pelicans attached themselves to the outer hull as they began to tow the now shot, Forerunner ship back to the Dawn; Jonathan had never considered this either very lucky or very unfortunate to the single fact. They were still alive and still here so that is good, but also bad, the ship was now stuck beyond known space and maybe further, without rescue or any chance of return.

'But that aside what do we do now?'

There was nothing else to do but search around space, and if by some miracle make it back. But this was unlikely, Jonathan looked out the pelican's rear hatch as the ship came into view, the newly crafted ship was one of the finest of the UNSCDF made for the protection of the outer colonies from further attacks by Old Covenant Loyalists.

And now after chasing the Prophet of Sanctification they had saved the UNSC and colonies from another dangerous plot to annihilate them. This though hadn't put his mind at ease.

The pelican finally touched the metal deck of the New Dawn, the flight crews started to get out of cover to assess the Forerunner ship and bring it into the hangar. Jonathan and Spartan team 7 made their way up to see the Captain.

XXXXX

On the bridge Jacob was dealing with more than he could handle the fact that now the ship was stranded out in space without the proper details or return back into UNSC or colonial space. The Spartans debriefing revealed a now that this was more than just a simple accident.

"So, no way back and now no way out." He said.

"Affirmative sir, there is no chance of return unless we could repair the Forerunner designed engine, but we have no clue on how to do it."

Cyrene popped up on the display next to him. "I don't think I would be of any help either, there is just too much to calculate and remake of the thing, it would take a millennium, and I think we forgot our spare Forerunner engines back at home." She said with a tinge of humour.

Jacob wondered, and then asked. "Cyrene, we don't know how long it would take but can our scanners find the nearest habitable or habited system?"

"Yes sir, I can send subspace signals to each star system and see if there is anything but this might be over a few days."

"Do it."

Jacob looked to the Spartans and said.

"Dismissed Spartans, we'll call you when we need you."

"Sir, yes sir."

The Spartans filed out of the bridge down to the lower decks, they needed to prepare for anything, and that was exactly what they were worried about.

XXXXX

Ship board time: 11:30AM

5 days after jump.

The crew had been waiting for any good news and it did arrive, there was a signal far out in a cluster of stars, and from what Cyrene got it had habitable planets but not too sure of life signs.

But this was better than no news at all, the chances of survival were now better than simply wandering space aimlessly.

Transit was to finish soon and the crew prepared to venture into unknown territory, but still some people had to keep on their toes.

Jonathan looked into the barrel of his MA9A, it had some new adjustments added since the war with the Covenant, this included a mass driver installed, though it was small it had definite punch, the ammo was different though, smaller than the original 7.62 x 51mm bullets fired.

This allowed for much more ammo to be taken onto fields and granted wielders more freedom to carry more weapons. Jonathan was used to the use of the old MA5 series and was fonder of the old heavy recoil, though the newer weapons were faster and easier to maintain, he found it hard to believe in such short time all things had changed.

He finished field stripping and cleaning his rifle, and was watching his fellow Spartans. Winter as beautiful as she was watching the slip-space pass by, she had always looked into the endless waves of light; she seemed content with separating herself from the team though without much reason. Thom was sparring with Mitchel or more like practice, Thom was teaching the art of 'How not to get knocked over by a grunt' to Mitchel who had an expertise in hijacking enemy vehicles and searching through crates.

And finally Caroline who was in the other room, she was talking to the ODST support team she had, though every time she talked it either ended up with someone playing cards and then some drinks.

But all in all Jonathan saw this as another day with his family.

"So are we preparing or are we procrastinating?" Haley said as she entered the room.

The Spartans stood up and acknowledged her entrance.

"At ease, you know I don't like military formalities when I come to see you all."

She moved over to one of the room's large windows watching slip-space go by. "We have an assignment we need you to be prepared for."

Thom was the first to ask. "What kind of assignment?"

She looked over to him and said. "You'll know once we're at our destination, either than that you do need to also talk to Thel'an, he's on the crew deck, this will be all."

Haley forwarded out of the room, though the short talk was enough to get the Spartans attention to specific details she just left out.

But now was not the time, if it came along the way they would deal with it, but now they had to see Vadamee.

Crew deck level 5 section A.

The walk through the Mythic class cruiser was easy, just walking down to the crew deck to see Vadamee was simple but there was a lot of navigating. The ship was vast and huge honey combs that ran through the ship can sometimes be hard to navigate, but there were handy lines on the wall that indicated specific points and details of the ship.

When they found Vadamee he was talking to an old friend. James Enders or Short sight, he was the ODST built for CQB and RR though he had a problem with long range combat, he had the best skills for CQB, this included blowing up ships.

He was in a debate about the use of plasma VS frag in a hangar bay, but it seemed Thel'an was giving a bit of a fight.

"I keep telling you, the UNSC standard frag can clear out pockets within a 2.5 m radius if not more but that depends…"

"No, the UNSC standard is supposed to be a five second charge with an average weight of explosives at 300gm of…"

"That's what I mean, there are more different standards of explosives than there were before, and the 300gm is around 450gm of ODST standard HE…"

"Gentlemen, I presume we're not interrupting anything are we?" Thom said as he pointed to the team.

Enders bumbled a bit and replied. "Sir no sir, me and Vadamee were just debating the use of different compounds in the tactical use of clearing out areas, I should be going."

"Carry on trooper, we'll see you later."

Enders walked out to his quarters as the Spartans began their briefing with Vadamee.

Thom asked. "So we need to know, why did Haley want us to meet with you?"

"We have a dilemma, when didn't tell the crew what exactly we might have discovered, and Dr Haley had talked to me about where we might be, if she is correct in theory, we are in either another galaxy or another dimensional universe." He said, this is what the Spartans were not entirely expecting as an answer.

"Wait, you're saying we're much further than just, oh…" Mitchel said in a faraway voice, he did technically have family back on Vestige and on Reach.

"So, this is what we aren't supposed to tell the crew about?" Caroline said, though it did catch some of the crew's attention. This was hushed by Vadamee with a harsh stare.

"We're not supposed to say this until we need to, until then quiet, but there was another purpose. The construct of your vessel has discovered a faint UNSC transponder signal, specifically why we are heading towards the system, we identified it as the CFV-88 Spirit of Fire."

The Spartans were surprised as well as confused.

"How the hell did a ship that old end up in another universe?" Thom said.

"That is why we are to investigate; we cannot afford to lose some form of help if we can receive it, and also there was another signal besides the Spirit, we presume it is some kind of species, but we aren't sure, we have detected a number of strange dark energy signatures but we cannot be sure."

"So you need us to look for you?"

"Not you, me and Haley will accompany you and one squad of ODST."

The team knew if Haley was going it meant something big, especially if it was in her unique planet side gear, which none of the crew ever wanted to talk about, ever again."

"Then let's get to work." Was all Mitchel could say as they left for EVA and planet side.

XXXXX

CFV-88 Spirit of Fire

-Anomaly detected-

Date 1/12/2531Time: 17:09

-Unknown anomaly at 300m starboard bearing X.15 mark 0.9-

-Alert energy spike increase. Emergency protocol initiated. Crew revival initiated.-

Serina awoke; her alert protocols had woken her out of minimal setting to preserve her life expectancy, though it was cut short. She quickly caught up to speed with the alert and anomaly on approach, though it had been a while she was surprised that they had come across something.

"Hmm, what have we here?" She brought up the visual on the display.

There a swirling vortex of dark energy and cascading light, it looked more like a storm in space than an anomaly.

She quickly processed the reading and projected outcomes of entering into the storm, there was a distinct possibility that the ship could survive, but she want willing to risk the crew.

She materialised into the cryo bay.

"Captain Wake up, something has happened."

James Cutter was just waking out of cryo sleep, his body ached, the months of cryo sleep were wearing off, and he was slightly of balance and focused to ask.

"What is it Serina?"

"Unknown anomaly sir, it's on an approach off our starboard."

"Distance to the anomaly?" He asked. "Less than a hundred meters." Was all Serina could say.