A/N Just a personal opinion, I get that they are supposed to be the underdog, but I really feel like the UNSC is slightly underpowered in Halo, so I'm making them a bit more robust.

There was a loud "CLUNK" as Starbuck set her ship down on the hangar deck. She looked around before sliding her cockpit open and saw that there was four men with rifles standing right outside of her fighter. She sighed and raised her hands. This was going to be a long day.

Several hours later

"So you are telling me that several thousand light years away there is another group of humans?" Her interviewer asked skeptically for about the thousandth time.

"Yes! How many times do I have to frakking tell you?" Kara said, exasperation evident in her voice.

"And there is a race of rampant AI hellbent on the destruction of humanity?" Her interrogators eyebrow seemed to crawl up and merge with his hair.

"YES!" Starbuck screamed, before she noticed one thing her interrogator had said, "Wait, What do you mean rampant?"

"AI's have a limited life of around 7 years, after that they begin to become convinced of the idea that they are a godly 'master race' and they need to be, sadly, put down." Starbuck was instantly suspicious.

"How do you know this?" Starbuck asked, although she dreaded that she thought she already knew.

"Oh, we have AI's" the man seemed to wave it off before realizing that that might be offensive, "Oh... I am so sorry, I'm guessing that your family was killed by these 'Cylons'?" He asked gently.

"No," she replied "However you are lucky it was me who got transported here somehow, because I know not all Cylons, and therefore AI are bad." Starbuck almost instantly realized the irony in this, the most hot-headed pilot was the least hot-headed in this situation. However, most of the Sharon models seemed like good people.

The man gave an audible sigh of relief and grinned at her. "I guess we are aren't we?" Starbuck nodded.

"Now can I hear your story?" Starbuck asked, smiling innocently.

"Well that's a long story..." The man said as he began to tell the story, making hers seem pitiful in comparison.

Several minutes later

"Well that was... Dramatic." Starbuck said "So, what can I do to help?" She asked. The man was quite obviously surprised.

"Well I was kind of expecting you to just ask to become a civilian!" He admitted. Starbuck gave a snort of disgust as her mouth formed a grin.

"My ultimate goal is to get back to my fleet, the military seems like the best option!" She said, "Besides, fighting is all that I know..." The man grinned ruefully,

"Maybe I didn't stress enough on the survival time for a pilot. Or rather the lack of it..." Kara gave a short bark of laughter before answering.

"I'm no ordinary pilot."

"If you let us study your ship, I will organize a mission to your fleet, and to whatever planet you said people are trapped on."

"And what gives you that authority?" She asked sarcastically.

"I am the captain of this ship." The man said, "My name is Jacob Keyes."

A/N- I know Keyes wasn't a carrier captain! But I wanted at least one familiar face from Halo. So, let's say that some other random captain died on the mission with the Pillar of Autumn.