Chapter 3 – A new Dilemma

In orbit above Jupiter, the fleet of three cruisers, two destroyers and six frigates dropped out of slip-space and settled into geosynchronous orbit. Their sensor suits came to life but picked up strange readings from the Sol System.

(1435 hours/ September 20 2552/ UNSC Cruiser Lyonesse/ Location Ships bridge)

"Captain?" Cortana said with large hints of worry. "I am not picking up any orbital stations or human colonies within the system." Cortana said.

"WHAT?!" Keyes barked out alarmed.

"Sir the Jovian moon Colonies are not responding and the Martian and Luna colonies have disappeared. So has the shipyards, space stations and unfinished defence grid." Cortana spoke with increasing alarm to both herself and those on the bridge. Keyes thoughts immediately went to wondering if the Covenant had found Earth and attacked. Apprehension and dread filled the bridge as everyone had the same thought process.

'Miranda, at least she was with him as a part of his fleet and not on Earth.' He had to stop thinking about the possibility of what would have happened had she been there and focus on the issue at hand.

"Cortana, are the sensors working and f so are they working properly." Keyes asked trying to calm the bridge.

"Sensors working at full capacity and working properly sir." Cortana responded a moment later.

"Are there any traces of Earth having been glassed by the Covenant?" Keyes asked the next important question.

Cortana reached for her forehead and shook her head concentrating. "I am not detecting, the usual amounts of soot or ash that correlates with an orbital plasma bombardment. However, I am detecting a suitable, and relatively undamaged atmosphere as well as life signs."

There was a collective unheard sigh from everybody on the bridge.

"Sir, I am also detecting unusually high levels of radio waves being emitted from the planet." Cortana informed him.

"Put them over the bridge speakers." Keyes ordered.

Seconds later there was a garbled mess of different sounds voices and music playing through the speakers. Everyone but the chief flinched at the sudden bombardment of noise. Keyes knew that whatever was now blaring through his bridge speakers were not usual communications.

"Captain, I have managed to analyse the radio traffic and it appears to be that the majority of the traffic is from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It would corroborate with the levels of space debris in the planets orbit as well as the technological level that Earth appears to be at." Cortana stated while switching off the racket that had been playing through the speakers. This news left those on the bridge stumped.

"Cortana, Time travel is impossible." Halsey said to Cortana while beating both Keyes and the Chief to the punch.

"Dr, Captain, I am picking up chatter about NASA's Pathfinder space probe landing on Mars, the release of the first Harry Potter book, about the United Kingdom handing over Hong Kong to China, as well as other issues. We are certainly five centuries before our time." Cortana stated with a somewhat triumphant smirk about being right.

Keyes just glowered.

"If you are correct and we are in the late 1990s, early 2000s," he snarled, not fully believing what was being said. "Then how the hell did we get here?" he said with the 'and how do we get back' left hanging in the air unsaid.

"Honestly Captain, I am unsure how we arrived or how to get us home." Cortana confessed.

He suddenly had a possibly horrific thought. "Doesn't Earth have long range orbital telescopes at this point in time?" he asked making everyone on the bridge blanch.

"They indeed do Sir. That is why I have ordered the fleet to behind Ganymede to mask us from Earth's telescopes and sensors." Cortana informed Keyes making everyone regain some colour back to their skin.

Keyes now had some quite large issues. His fleet was damaged and without the necessary shipyards to effect the much needed repairs, the cruisers would stay that way. However. He was lucky that his frigates and destroyers had not been damaged to anywhere near the extent the cruisers had. They also did not have the necessary materials to manufacture the parts that were needed as the factories needed for the process had yet to be constructed on Earth.

'Miranda' He was hit with a wave of relief yet again that Miranda was on a ship that was a part of his fleet and not stuck back in 2552 where he would never see her again. Another though crossed his mind of all those sailors and soldiers who had loved ones back in 2552. No one had even a home to go back to any more let alone a family.

"Time till the fleet can re-enter slip-space?" Keyes asked his chief engineer with defeat in his voice.

"Roughly 1 hour 20 minutes Sir." Lyanna Griffiths answered.

Keyes back straightened resuming his stoic Captain's demeanor.

He knew they had very limited options at the moment. It felt like weeks as he watches his once mighty fleet set course and move to behind Ganymede. He still didn't believe that they had time travelled back to 1997, However Cortana was supremely confident in her belief. Back in 2552 Ganymede was famously proud and isolationist with a small population of a few thousand.

"Captain, there has been a massive energy spike." Cortana called sounding extremely alarmed. "It is much more powerful than what this century should be able to create."

"How large is the spike?" Keyes asked concerned.

"well over 60 gigawatts sir. that is more power than a Cargo Freighter." Cortana said.

"Griffiths, does the fleet possess any probes?" Keyes asked his chief engineer.

"No Captain. If we want to find out what is going on down there, we will need to move the fleet nearer to Earth." Griffiths answered.

"Change of plans then, Order the fleet to move to behind Luna. The fleet is to use the planets, asteroid belt and moons to cover their movement to Luna. We will investigate this." Keyes said resolutely. "Cortana, I want you to infiltrate all of Earth's military databases and computer systems and find out what the hell that energy spike was." Keyes continued.

The Master Chief finally spoke up from after arriving in the system. "Sir, do you believe what Cortana has said to be the truth?" he asked.

"Well as much as I would love to tell Cortana she is wrong about our current situation; I am forced to consider her conclusion as an ever increasingly likely possibility." Keyes answered in a slightly defeated and disturbed tone.

Ten minutes later, the fleet began to move towards Luna.

Edited 18/01/2023