May 15, 2181

Onboard the U.S.S. Nevada, DD-996

Tau Ceti Orbit

Standard watched as the UD-22 Navaho Heavy Dropship came to a stop inside of the Nevada's portside drop bay. The red-headed android was worried, worried that there weren't many survivors left, worried that Nathan had been injured, or worse, killed, and just worried in general about the whole state of affairs. She watched as the dropships ramp fell down to the deck plating, and several crewmen then proceeded to help the survivors of the ship. Suddenly, a crewman shouted in fear as a xeno calmly walked off the ship, a little girl firmly clinging to its back.

Standard was about to raise the pistol she had been given from the armory when she heard Nathan shout from the dropship, "Don't shoot! He's friendly!"

"Bullshit!" shouted the crewman. The alien rolled its head around, clearly annoyed. Almost, Standard realized, like a teenager. Standard stood there in shock until someone cried out about what the hell an illegal combat synthetic was doing with them. Standard rushed over to the ramp and saw with rather comical surprise that Kestrel, the officer leading the Army Airborne team, had a nice big hole in his chest, was leaking silicate lubricating fluid, and was now proceeding to tell everyone that he was not a combat synthetic.

"Then what are you?" Standard asked, her voice whipping Nathan's head around to look at her. Kestrel looked at the android.

"I'm a one of a kind individual," he retorted snarkily. One of the scientists on board, a woman, snorted.

"Biggest understatement of the year," she said. The scientist looked up and saw Standard. "Great," she muttered. Nathan looked over at her, obviously ticked.

"Larissa, please, can the hostility to my girlfriend wait until after we get back to Earth?" he asked, annoyed. Standard stood off to the side as the Marines and soldiers took Kestrel to the Medbay, per the lieutenant's continued and colorful insistence. So the scientist was Nathan's sister? Odd. She seemed absolutely nothing like her brother. She was apparently quite opinionated, was more into cutting open dead bodies, and hadn't talked to her brother in years.

Standard felt a hand touch her shoulder. Looking over, she saw the weary, but smiling face of her love. "Hey, don't let her faze you," Nathan said. "Larissa will come around eventually. Just give her time." Standard nodded.

"I'll try. Besides, it's in my programming as a pleasure droid to make people happy," she replied as the two of them walked over to the nearby armory so that Nathan could shrug off his weapons and armor. Nathan chuckled.

"Standard, the only people you need to worry about keeping happy are me, my sister, and if and when we meet them, my parents," Nathan said as he walked over to his locker. Opening it, he set the weapons off to the side and proceeded to take his armor off. Standard stepped in, and brushing Nathan's hands away from the buckles on his chest plate, took the armor off for him. Grinning, the two of them shared a kiss before someone, probably PFC. Frost, yelled for the two of them to get a damn room.

Without missing a beat, Nathan flipped Frost the bird, and the two of them heard the snickers from all of the other surviving troops at the insult. Parting, Nathan gently told Standard to wait outside while he put the rest of his gear away. Standard nodded, and stepped outside of the locker area. The moment she did so, however, she ran into Larissa. Standard immediately tensed, seeing the other woman's look of –what was it? Disdain? Anger? In either case, Larissa sighed.

"So," the scientist said. "How did you get my brother to fall for you?" Standard blinked. Off all the things she expected to come from Larissa's mouth, that wasn't exactly what Standard thought she'd say first.

"Well," Standard said hesitantly. "I was originally using Nathan as a way to be a bit more human. But after a while…I don't know. No amount of programming I think can explain it. I guess we just well…"

"You fell in love," Larissa stated bluntly. Standard nodded. Larissa rubbed her temple in annoyance. "Fine, I guess I can respect that. But you'd better have a better argument against our mother when we bring you to her. She's a bit…old fashioned, if you know what I mean."

Standard raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Actually, Nathan hasn't really told me much about your parents." Larissa's fell into shock, and then rage as she saw he brother come out of the locker room.

"Naathan…," Larissa hissed angrily, glaring daggers at her brother. Nathan noticed the look on his sister's face, and did the logical thing for any man in that situation. He backed away slowly.

"Larissa, what did I do wrong this time?" he asked, a look of panic slowly creeping onto his face. Meanwhile, several of the Marines and other military personnel were standing off to the side, enjoying the show. It was actually quite funny.

"Nathan, my little brother, why did you not tell Standard about Mom?" Larissa asked sweetly, cracking her knuckles while slowly stalking towards him. Standard looked over at Nathan and noticed that he was sweating profusely, and looking for an exit route. So, this was Nathan described as 'the wrath of a twin sister.'

Nathan chuckled weakly. "Oh come on Larissa, what would you tell Mom if you fell in love with a synthetic?" he asked. That stopped Larissa dead in her tracks as she looked up in thought.

"Good point," she said. "But you're still not off the hook." Any continued discussion was interrupted by the captain speaking over the P.A.

"All nonessential personnel please report to the cryobays. We will soon be engaging the Grav Drive, and it's a long trip. You all deserve a good rest. Wilkes out."

It was then that Nathan was aware of the others looking at the little drama that he, his sister, and Standard were a part of. Turning around, he yelled out, "What do want, a dance routine? Get to the damn cryobays!" Grumbling good-naturedly, the troops dispersed and went off to the bowels of the ship, where row upon row of stasis tubes were. Nathan and Larissa, accompanied by Standard, walked there as well and were quite surprised to see Kestrel standing there as well, a massive patch on his chest, watching as what was left of his squad entered stasis. The android looked over to Nathan and nodded in respect, and then waited for the two of them, plus a few more people, to enter stasis before moving over to a vacant pod.

Standard noticed the action. "Why are you going into stasis?" she asked her fellow android. "You don't require it."

Kestrel shrugged as he inputted several commands into his pod's control panel. "It's a habit," he answered. "Makes me feel closer to the men and women I serve with." Well, that made a sort of odd sense to Standard.

"Kestrel," Standard asked. "Have you…have you ever killed a human before?"

Kestrel stopped as he was entering his pod. Sighing, the lieutenant nodded. "A few times. It never gets easier." He then leaned back into his pod, the lid shutting. Moments later, the glass covering him iced over as the body was exposed to freezing air, while the gas inside contained a soluble solution designed to prevent what was appropriately called 'freezer burn,' which back in the day, had been known to kill people due to the very nature of having bodily cells frozen.

Standard tilted her head in confusion. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn that Kestrel exhibited signs of regret and remorse. Emotions that were completely foreign to a combat synthetic. So, what made him so…human? Standard apparently would have to wait until they got back to Earth to find out.

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A scarred, battered human ship serenely glides through the void of space, the scars adding to the already formidable scars on the hull of the ship. Soon, the ship seems to stretch, and in less than picosecond, the Nevada vanished, leaving behind a pair of nuclear warheads that were now obliterating the hive on Tau Ceti. The second nuke was just to make sure it stayed dead.

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A lone figure walks into the drop bay, and into the Navaho Dropship. Stopping at a floor panel, it pries it open, and drags out a box with the infamous W/Y logo. Opening it, it takes out a small, alien artifact and smiles grimly.

Mr. Weyland will be pleased when this gets to Gateway. Or better yet, when it reached the labs hidden under San Francisco.

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END ARC ONE (1): TAU CETI

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Wow. Just, wow. I mean, it took me a few months, but I finally got to the end of this bloody arc of the story! But, knowing me, it would have taken much longer if it weren't for the reviews and character submissions of Warlord Darnell and JJZ-109, both of whom have kept this story going. Thank you both! Now, next chapter will be the ever loved Tac Files, and then, well, then we get to why this fic is called 'Homefront.' Anyway, this is the author, signing off.