Chapter 7

That morning was turning into a bit of hell. Reports said that there were a few bar fights out in the streets between the locals and UNSC or Covenant or both of them. Anders and Kilosomee had to charge a few with disorderly conduct and one for Anders with sexual assault. Anders swore after the Marine was taken from Sergeant down to Private, 'Fucking SOB, I asked for Marines on my ship, not people who like furry shit.' He thought savagely. He saw Kilosomee enter and he said, "God, I hate this." Kilosomee nodded, "You should have seen some of my court marshals back at High Charity. The cases on me would make you laugh at the stupidity of them." Anders was about to ask what they were when Lieutenant Hugh came in and said, "Sir! You need to see this! We've got contact!" Anders ran out and saw everyone was looking at the sky.

"Why the hell-?" Anders was saying before he saw something he didn't like at all.

In the sky was a UNSC Destroyer in low orbit.

Anders looked at Lieutenant Hugh and ordered, "Get me a radio and get contact with that ship!" Lieutenant Hugh dashed to find a radio. Kilosomee followed outside and saw the Destroyer and asked, "What in the Great Beings name is that doing here?" He turned to Anders, "I thought you said we were in another realm."

"I did! I swear, I did! We were nowhere near enough to make contact!" Anders retorted.

"Sir!" Lieutenant Hugh said as he held out a radio. Anders grabbed the mike and said, "This is Commander Anders of the UNSC Cruiser Heart of Vengeance, do you read?" He heard static before a reply, "Commander Anders, this is Commander Jack Morrison of the UNSC Destroyer Summer in Hell… Damn, it's good to hear you!" Anders replied, "I could say the same thing if you weren't so damn close and under us."

He heard a chuckle, "Sorry, We had a bit of a leak in one of the compartments and had to enter the atmosphere… What city is this? And who else is there with you?" Anders keyed the mike, "Shipmaster Kilosomee of the Covenant Frigate Ascendant Justice, Spartans 104 and 117 are here in the city Dragonforge, gathering supplies. We became sucked in a wormhole that brought us here."

"Et Tu, Anders? I've got the same thing before we got hit by a small meteorite that cracked our hull. We came down on the planet as soon as we could; we heard echoes of your ships but thought of them as nothing… Where are they now?" Kilosomee answered this one, "Heart of Vengeance is in geosynchronous orbit and Ascendant Justice is in orbit above her." Morrison paused and said, "Do either of you have a plan to go home?" Anders replied, "Yes, we do. But it requires some persuasion on a particular character who've, including you, brought three different people here. And you'd better believe it, because this planet isn't like Kansas in any way." Morrison laughed, "I'll believe anything right now. I'm coming down to be briefed on what's the plan." The com went dead.

"Good news, men! We've got reinforcements!" Small cheers responded from below. Anders smiled and looked at Kilosomee, who smiled back. Their numbers have grown, they can resupply on a nearly empty stock, and they can face whatever the Drakemaster could throw at them.

ELSEWHERE

"WHAT?" Malefor's voice screamed, "You mean to tell me, they've wiped out most of my armies, and now they've gotten reinforcements due to this fluke?" He splattered the orc that gave the news. Malefor roared in anger and slight fear. He now knew that his days will be numbered if he doesn't kill that Anders first.

Never once did his mind drift towards Siral nor Spyro. But it did drift towards a large mechanical box with a large cannon pointed at the sky, 'Hmm...'