Star Wars: Odyssey of the Infinity

by IX404

During a routine safety test, the Slipstream Space Drive of the Infinity malfunctions, catapulting them into unknown space. Little do Lasky and the members of the Infinity know is that they will soon change the fate of a far away galaxy.

8. Departures & Coups

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo/Star Wars redux.

Thank you all for your wonderful feedback and support. I deeply appreciate it.

I apologize for having all of you wait for so long. I was busy with life in general, and I was also working on getting slightly ahead in terms of writing new chapters. Next week, I will be posting a chapter on Wednesday, and a new short story into the companion piece, known as Star Wars Tales of The Infinity's Odyssey, for this crossover on Friday.

Another major change that I and my beta readers have done for this story is a change to the UNSC's rank system. Given it's current state, the UNSC rank system is somewhat convoluted, so we've decided to use the NATO rank system, which also includes the rank system that will be primarily dominant in this crossover, which is the USA Armed Forces ranking system for the Army, Navy, Air Forces and Marines. The reason for this change is to not only make it easier for readers to follow, the US and NATO rank system is more familiar to me and my beat-readers. I will be posting a link to the rank system used by NATO for further clarification right here. Just remove the spaces, paste it into the URL bar and then go to that site:

https : en. wikipedia wiki/Ranks_and_insignia_of_NATO # Ranks_and_insignia_of_member_armed_forces

As always, leave a review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Id o not own the Halo or Star Wars franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Disney Films, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developer, producers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to its original composers and/or artists.

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Coruscant

Senatorial Apartment Building

May 9th, 0BBY, 9AM (November 22rd, 2558, 9AM)

The mood inside of the Senatorial Apartment building was fairly light as Lasky walked in with Chief and Fred-104, while behind them, Lucas Browning walked in behind them. Proceeding through the lobby, they entered the small living room that was just past the lobby. Nearby, Bail and Leia were involved in a discussion as the group approached.

When it came to the apartment, Lasky found that it was quite lavish, though not as lavish as the apartments at Sydney. The sight was enough to remind Lasky of the three weeks that had passed since they had arrived at Coruscant. It's been interesting, he said to himself. Whoever would've thought that we'd need to do this sort of thing. It's been one bit of drama after the other.

That, he had to admit, was what made him more than happy to know that they would be leaving soon. In addition to meetings with Imperial Senators, they had a few meetings with some Imperial Admirals that had been at Coruscant since their arrival. Most had agreed that Gorin had acted impulsively, though most had doubts about the Infinity's existence until they saw the ship for themselves. You'd think that they wouldn't claim that such a ship is 'impossible', he grumbled.

There was another reason that he was here, though, and that was why he had come with two members of Blue Team, as well as a medic. Spotting Lasky, Leia and Bail both smiled, with Bail saying, "Captain Lasky. I'm glad that you managed to get our message. I assume that your ship now has HoloComm?"

"Yes," Lasky said. "It took us the better part of eighteen days, but we finally managed to get the ship retrofitted. At least we can talk with each other without having to constantly hotwire radio communications."

"At least," Bail agreed. "I take it you are here to congratulate Leia for being inducted as the official Ambassador to the UNSC, yes?"

"Yep," Lasky said. "Leia, I wasn't able to attend the ceremony due to other matters, but I would like to congratulate you for becoming the Empire's official Ambassador to the UNSC and UEG."

"Thank you," Leia said. "It's an honor to be able to become a representative of the Empire to your people. I admit, though, that I don't know still if I deserve the honor. All I did was stop a war from breaking out."

Lasky smiled. "Exactly why you're the best person for the job. On top of that, you've had the most experience with us, so it just makes sense all around." Sitting down, he said, "That being said, there's something that we need to do."

Both Bail and Leia looked at Lasky with confusion. "And that would be?" Leia asked.

"We'll need a blood sample from you," Lucas Browning said.

"Ah, my apologies," Lasky said. "This, Ambassador Leia, is Lucas Browning, one of the medics that we have onboard the ship. As he said, we'll need a blood sample from you."

"Why do you need a sample of Leia's blood?" Bail asked. "I just don't understand."

"The reason is our method of long range travel," Browning explained. "You see, while Slipspace travel is very fast, it often takes a long time to cross distances due to the topography of Slipspace. As such, when going on long trips, the crew usually goes into cryonic stasis in order to slow their aging and to reduce their resource footprint during the journey. One of the drugs used, Cytoprethaline, is used to prevent ice crystal formation inside of a person's cells when they undergo cryonic suspension."

"And the problem is?" Bail asked.

"There's a 1 in 50,000 chance that Leia could have an allergy to cytoprethaline, which would mean that she would have complications when using the drug. Common symptoms of cytoprethaline often include nausea, blistering, peeling of skin or red rashes, along with difficulty breathing and other unpleasant syndromes. As such, we'll need to determine if Leia is allergic to the drug or not. If so, we'll use other drugs that don't interact with cytoprethaline to manage her symptoms. If not, then we won't have to worry about any of that."

"Are you certain that this is necessary?" Bail asked.

"Yes," Lucas said with a nod. "It is necessary. We'll also have to give Leia immunizations for common diseases that are present in our galaxy, as her body doesn't have the antibodies necessary to deal with them."

Bail frowned. "I see…" Resting his chin on his thumb, he silently thought the matter over before turning to Leia. "What do you think? Are you comfortable with going through with this?"

Leia's expression was one of determination. "Yes," she said. "You taught me that I cannot allow fear to control my actions. What will it say about me if I refuse such a simple request that might determine if I am able to use their method of travel? I am willing to do whatever is necessary to be able to speak with their leaders."

Bail raised his hands placatingly. "I understand, Leia. It's your decision, and I would be wrong to choose for you in this case. If this is what you want, then I won't stop you." Turning to Lucas, he said, "How long will this take?"

"Not even a minute," Lucas said. "I've also brought along the vaccinations that you need for when you visit our galaxy. As for this test, I'd better get started." Opening up a bag that he had brought with him, he brought out a few alcohol swabs, as well as a pair of small, cylindrical objects. Walking over to Leia, he asked, "Would you kindly raise your sleeve, please?"

Complying, Leia lifted her dress' left sleeve, allowing Lucas to wipe a patch of skin clean. Once that was done, he pressed the end of one of the cylinders onto her arm and pressed a button on the other end. "Local anesthesia," he explained. "It should only take about twenty second to take effect." Walking back to his bag, he pulled out a syringe and needle before walking back over. A moment later, he gently pushed the needle into her skin, using a small device to locate a vein, and drew out a small amount of blood. Withdrawing the needle, he applied a small bandage and said, "There we go. Now for the vaccinations." Pulling out a series of hypodermic injectors, he quickly injected the vaccines into Leia's arm. "There," he said when he finished. "All done."

"Thank you," Leia said. "That was quick, and painless."

"I strive to make all my medical experiences just like that," Browning said. "If not, then I've messed something up, unless it's a situation where that's not possible." Looking at Lasky, he said, "We should head back to the Infinity and get the tests going."

"That we should," Lasky agreed. He was about to get up when he pressed a finger to his right ear. "I'm here. What do you need?" he asked as someone talked to him on the other end. "You sure…? All right. I'll be right back." Closing the COM channel he was using, he said, "That's all for today. I've got something that needs to be taken care of. We'll send the results of the test when we can. I hope you two have a good day."

"To you as well," Leia said with a smile.

. . .

If there was a word that described Roland's current state of mind, it was pure boredom. Inside of his AI matrix, Roland was constantly sifting through the HoloNet channels, which had had done so for the past twenty one days. Normally, this would've been quite stimulating for an advanced AI like Roland. However, when he'd checked the HoloNet for any other major news, he had found that the Infinity's arrival into another galaxy had practically overshadowed everything else that was going on in the galaxy.

Boredy boredy bored, Roland grumbled internally. As if my job was interesting in the first place, outside of any firefights that is. Why is it that Cortana and Gabriela get to do the exciting things, while I'm stuck here, playing nanny to the entire ship? Well, aside from that one guy that's in the network, but we had that conversation weeks ago. As such, he continued to page through the HoloNet, stuck with a large amount of boredom.

In fact, he was so bored that he didn't initially pick up on something that had been coming in on the WAVECOM module of the newly refitted COM Array. Seeing the signal, he initially brushed it off as noise, but after hearing something on the signal, he was almost immediately intrigued. As the signal continued to come in faintly, his boredom was quickly replaced with utter shock. "Uh, Gabriela, are you there?" he asked.

"Of course," Gabriela said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I think we've got something pretty strange going on." Copying the audio log in the signal, he quickly sent it to Gabriela, who scanned it over in nanoseconds.

He got a reply back almost immediately. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Yep," Roland said. "We've got to tell the Captain immediately! This is too big for him to not be told!"

"I'll scan the signal and make sure it's genuine," Gabriela said. "You, Roland, get into contact with Lasky and tell him what we've found."

"You betcha," Roland said. Accessing the COM Array's systems, he said, "Captain Lasky, do you read me? Over."

"I'm here," Lasky replied over the COM channel. "What do you need?"

"We've got something you need to look at. It's something of a longshot, but Gabriela and I have confirmed the presence of what appears to be a UNSC distress signal emanating in this galaxy, and not from the probe that Jordan launched."

That had Lasky's attention, though his voice remained calm. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, Captain. Gabriela and I checked it over two dozen times. The distress call is legitimate."

"All right. I'll be right back." A moment later, the COM channel closed.

"COM call ended," Gabriela said. "Now we just have to wait for Lasky to come back.

"Agreed," Roland said. "If this is what we think it is, it might just solve a mystery that's persisted since the latter half of the war." With that in mind, he began to count down the minutes.

. . .

Around half an hour later, Lasky walked onto his private quarters on the Infinity and proceeded directly towards the holo-table that had just been installed in the room, with Chief and Fred-104 following closely. "Roland, are you there?" he asked.

A moment later, Roland and Gabriela's holographic avatars appeared over the table. "Yep," Roland said. "We're here."

"Good. You said that you have something to show me, yes?"

"Yep," Roland said. "I was just lazily checking the HoloNet channels when I picked up an errant signal on the WAVECOM module for the COM Array. I initially brushed it off as an error in the signals that we were receiving, but the more I checked it out, the more I realized that it was something unusual. After I did a scan of the signal, I sent it to Gabriela to confirm if this was something legitimate."

"And?"

"And we think we have something, sir," Gabriela said. "According to my own verification scans, the signal has a number of UNSC encryption protocols that were in heavy use during the Human-Covenant War that happened five years ago. When we cracked the encryption, we managed to get an audio log that was embedded into the signal."

"May I hear it?" Lasky asked.

"Yes," Gabriela said. "Beginning playback now."

The audio file in the signal began to play. For a while, Lasky could hear only static, with a readout on the holo-table indicating that the static was the sound of Coruscant's electromagnetic output. This cleared somewhat, with a voice being heard at that moment. "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is UNSC VAL-072 Everest, requesting immediate assistance. Survivors onboard. Prioritization Code: Victor 05-3-03956-26127-PC."

While most of the faces of the crew were confused as they heard this signal, Lasky almost immediately recognized it. In fact, the moment he heard the word 'Everest', he knew what was going on. Looking at Chief, he said, "You hear what I hear?"

Chief nodded. "Yes. I do."

"What's going on?" Roland asked.

"The Everest," Lasky said, "was a Valiant-class Super Heavy Cruiser, one of the more powerful ships during the Human-Covenant War. What makes the Everest special is that it was the flagship of one Vice Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole."

The moment Lasky said those words, everyone remembered who Cole was. Vice Admiral Cole was one of the most legendary figures in the UNSC, both during the Insurrection and the Human-Covenant War. A strategic and tactical genius, Cole was single handedly responsible for dramatically slowing down the Covenant invasion, and had devised numerous tactics that had led the UNSC to major victories against the Covenant. A few years before the war's end, though, Cole had been presumed killed after the Battle of Psi Serpentis, where Cole had lured in a Covenant fleet close to a gas giant before firing off the ship's entire nuclear arsenal, causing the brown dwarf to undergo nuclear fusion while destroying the Covenant fleet in question.

If what they were hearing was true, then apparently, rumors of Cole's death had been greatly exaggerated. "But that's impossible!" Cortana, who was now in the system, said. "According to records, Cole's flagship was destroyed during the Battle of Psi Serpentis… unless there's something we don't know of, that is."

"You'd be correct," Roland said. "I managed to get my hands on an analysis that ONI did of Cole, known as the 'Historical/Psychological Analysis of Cole, Preston J.' It was written by an ONI Operative known as SURGEON, in conjunction with a pair of AIs. According to that essay, Cole likely faked his own death by using another UNSC ship, the Io, to make it appear as though he was dead, when in actuality, he used an in-atmospheric Slipspace jump to escape just before his ship's nuclear arsenal detonated."

That had everyone caught by surprise. "Really?" Gabriela said. "I'm not sure if that is the case, though that being said, Cole was a strategic genius."

"It makes sense, actually," Lasky said.

"What do you mean?"

"You said it yourself: Cole was a strategic and tactical genius. Plus, I've also read that analysis myself; I'm at the lowest rank possible to access that information, and I did so at some point with Parangosky's permission. Cole's pulled off more victories against the Covenant than any other UNSC officer. If he could have consistent victories against the Covenant, then something like that would be easily achievable by someone like him. The question is, who does he work for now?"

"That's a good question," Roland admitted. "According to the analysis, Cole could be living among former Insurrectionists that wanted out of the war. According to that speculation, he was likely leading a farming colony with his wife, a former Insurrectionist that captained a ship called the Bellicose. However, if what we're picking up is really a distress signal…"

"Then it's possible that the Slipspace Drive on the Everest malfunctioned," Lasky finished. "In fact, I think I know someone that can tell us if that's the case or not." Keying his personal COM, he said. "Specialist Jordan MacCallum, report to my quarters immediately."

"Copy that," came the reply. "I'm on my way." Around ten minutes later, Jordan walked through the door and into Lasky's private quarters. "Yes? What is it?" he asked.

"We need your opinion on something that we've found," Lasky said. "As such, the information you're about to hear is classified, and is not to be shared with anyone outside of this room. Am I understood?"

Jordan's expression hardened. Having been around the block a few times, especially in recent years, Jordan knew when it was time to keep a secret. "Yes," he said. "I understand. What is it you need my opinion on?"

"This," Lasky said. Hitting the playback, he repeated the distress signal that Roland and the others had picked up on earlier.

Jordan remained silent as the audio file played, though the others could clearly tell that he was processing the information that he was hearing with the scrutiny only an engineer could achieve. Once the playback ended, Jordan asked, "Have you confirmed if this is the real McCoy?"

"Yes," Roland said. "We double and triple checked the signal. It is legitimate."

"I see," Jordan said. "If that's the case, then we could be hearing the distress call of one of the most legendary ships in the entire UNSC, with its captain being one of the most legendary people in the UNSC."

"Exactly," Lasky said. "Given the importance of this information, we needed you to verify if that's the case. In addition, we wanted to know if it was possible for Cole to use an in-atmosphere Slipspace Jump to escape the detonation of the Shiva nuclear missile arsenal, as well as the resulting micronova that occurred. Is it?"

"Possibly. What was the CODEN series of Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine that the Everest was equipped with?"

"Series IV," Gabriela replied. "That series was used by the UNSC before Forerunner Slipspace drives were being studied."

"In that case, it is possible that he could have pulled that off. The probability that he didn't is high, but given that we're hearing a distress signal from the Everest, then I'd say that it is likely that Cole pulled that maneuver off. I've read up on his tactics and strategy, so I can say with reasonable doubt that it is possible that he pulled this maneuver off. He would need to have his coordinates for jumping spot-on, but it is possible."

"I see," Lasky said. "Thank you for your assistance."

"It's my pleasure, Captain," Jordan said. "Oh, and for the record, you never called me and I was never here."

"I've already deleted those records," Cortana said. "Have a nice day."

"You too," Jordan said as he turned and left the room.

Once Jordan had left, Lasky said, "Looks like we've got ourselves another mission. We're going to have to trace the distress signal to its origin and see if it really is the Everest, or if we're going on another wild goose chase here. Roland, Gabriela, do you have a trace of that signal?"

"Yeah," Roland said. "It took us a while, especially since the signal was very weak. However, we were able to determine from the signal strength that the Everest's likely location is the Jerrilek System, which is located in the Deep Core just off of the Koros Trunk Line. Once we've reached that area, we'll see if the Everest is there. If not, we can send probes out to all of the possible locations that the Everest might be at, though that'll take some time."

"Then let's hope that we get lucky on the first try," Lasky said with finality. "It's time for us to find the Everest." As they left, he mulled over a worry that he hadn't shared with the others. That analysis also says that Cole could be an Insurrectionist, he thought. If so, he could be a major threat to the UNSC and its security. Still, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and see if he really is an Innie or is still loyal to the UNSC. Should he prove to be loyal still, we'll not only have a major asset on our side, we'll have someone that'll pull us through thick and thin. Shaking the thoughts away, he proceeded to the bridge...

Around ten minutes later, Lasky was on the bridge of the Infinity with Blue Team as they prepared for the Slipspace jump towards the signal that they had picked up. As he entered, he found another person on the bridge that he didn't immediately recognize. "Jyn?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

Jyn, seeing Lasky, was about to reply when Lieutenant Jet said, "After the security interview and after she became a cadet, she asked me if she could see her new workplace at some point. I figured that it wouldn't cause any harm to show her the bridge. I cleared it with Commander Connor."

That cleared up the confusion. "Ah, I see," Lasky said, "Well, I trust my XO, so if he had no trouble with it, then I have none too." Looking at Jyn, he asked, "How do you like the bridge?"

Jyn took a look around. While she'd seen the bridge of a ship before, the bridge of the Infinity was something else entirely. "I've never seen a bridge designed like this before," she said. "It's all so… new. How long ago was this ship built?"

"Around eight or so years ago," Lasky said. "She didn't see service until shortly after the Human-Covenant War, which is why she looks brand new. Still, she's been through quite a bit of action already, so don't let the nice shiny looks fool you."

"She? I didn't know the Infinity was a 'she.'"

"It's a really old tradition that dates back to when we sailed the high seas on Earth," Lasky said. "Still, you're just in time to see us begin a Slipspace jump. We're going to be performing a precision jump to some coordinates outside of Coruscant's system."

"Why is that?"

"For reasons that will become clear enough soon," Lasky said cryptically. Jyn, obviously not satisfied, walked back over to where Jet was.

"We're ready to go," Jet said. "Given the distance of our jump, Gabriela has control of the exit."

"Affirmative," Gabriela said. "Ready when you are, Captain."

"All right," Lasky said. "Begin the jump."

Outside of the ship, the fabric of space-time began to warp and shift as the Slipspace drive began working to allow the ship to bend space, ignore time, and thumb its metallic nose at Einstein. Within seconds, a tiny, microscopic portal was cut into Slipspace, before being widened to the width needed to allow the Infinity to enter. At that, the Infinity smoothly slid into the Slipspace portal.

Looking at the portal entrance, Jyn was strangely disappointed to see absolutely nothing. There wasn't any darkness, or even a single point of light for her eyes to have a reference to. Just a simple, pervasive nothingness. "Well, that was a disappointment," she said.

"Why is that?" Lasky asked.

"I thought I'd see something like what you'd see in Hyperspace. I guess Slipspace is different in that regard."

"It is," Lasky said. 'We should be there very shortly. Jumps as short as the one that we're making usually take just under a minute or so to make."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Agreed," Lasky said with a smile. "Now, I hope you're paying attention to Lieutenant Jet, especially since you'll be working as another navigator for the ship." Hearing that, Jyn jumped slightly, before keeping a very close eye on Jet's station. The Lieutenant, in response, smiled at her before returning to his duties.

Just fifteen minutes later, the ship exited Slipstream Space, it's gargantuan bulk sliding out of the portal and back into real space. As they exited, Lasky said, "Cortana, Gabriela, once we've exited Slipspace, I need you to begin a scan of the entire area withing a one light year diameter of our current position using our FTL sensor network. Inform me if you find anything."

"Aye, sir," Gabriela said. "Lieutenant Campbell, are you ready to begin the scans?"

"Aye, ma'am," Campbell said. "Scanners are online. Time to see if we're the only ones out here."

"Agreed," Lasky said. "Roland, I want you to do a COM check and see if the signal strength's gotten stronger or weaker. Space is an enormous place, so we'll know if we've gone the wrong way if the signal's gotten weaker or if it has become nonexistent at all."

"Yes, sir," Roland said. "I'll check our signal if the scan doesn't pull up anything."

For the next fifteen minutes, the Infinity began a series of thorough scans that would tell them if the Everest was nearby and, if so, where it was located. When Campbell looked at Lasky, he shook his head. "No return on the scans. I don't think the Everest is here."

"Roland?" Lasky asked.

"The good news is that the signal's gotten stronger, much stronger at that," Roland said. "Captain, judging by the signal strength, I'd say that we're around a single light year from the source of the distress signal. I've even got a direction this time around."

"Affirmative," Lasky said. "We'll do another jump, but Gabriela will bring us out. We're close enough to where a human operator can't do a pin-point accurate jump. Sorry, Lieutenant Jet."

"It's all right," Lieutenant Jet said. "I figured that something like this was going to happen. Its all yours, Gabriela."

Leaning towards Lasky, Jyn asked, "Is this normal for something like this?"

"Yep," Lasky said as the ship entered Slipstream Space once again. "It's pretty normal."

As soon as he said those words, the ship exited Slipspace once again, making this jump the shortest one the ship had ever completed. As they did so, Roland said, "Whoa!"

"What is it?" Lasky asked.

"Captain, we're practically on top of the signal source! My scans estimate that we're just twenty kilometers away from the signal source itself. We'll be there in just a few seconds."

"RCS systems engaging!" Lieutenant Jet said. After a few seconds, he said, "We've come to a halt, sir."

"I'll perform another scan and see where the signal source is at now," Campbell said.

"No need to," Lieutenant Ryder said as he looked out of the viewport. "I think we've found it." He pointed a finger just to the left of the viewport.

Looking in that direction, Lasky spotted exactly what Ryder was pointing at. Up ahead, floating silently and resolutely in the vacuum of space, was the silhouette of a ship. Powerful lights onboard the Infinity were now illuminating the ship, revealing the matte-gray color that all UNSC ships were painted in. Sections of the hull appeared to have been melted, though that was likely from residual heat created by the ship's nuclear arsenal when it detonated. On one side of the ship, Lasky saw the words Everest in stenciled white letters on the hull.

His heart leaped into his throat as saw the words on the hull of the ship. This is it, he realized as they came closer to the ship. We've found it. We've found the Everest. Then his military mind took over and he said, "Gabriela, Roland, can you do a scan of the ship. I want to make sure that we've really found the Everest."

"Scanning," Gabriela said. After a few seconds, she said, "I can confirm, with 95% accuracy, that we are, indeed, looking at the UNSC Everest. We've found it, Captain. We've found the ship that Vice Admiral Cole captained during the Covenant-UNSC War."

Lasky nodded in agreement, the novelty that he had found a ship that had been presumed lost with all hands still weighing on him. He shook it off a moment later. Get a grip on yourself, Lasky. Time to entreat with reality and do your job. "What's the status of the ship?" he asked.

"The reactor is online, but is running at minimal power," Gabriela said. "At that power level, though, the ship can sustain cryogenic tubes for an almost indefinite period of time, but most of the functions of the ship will be offline. I'm also reading damaged hull plating on the stern of the ship, likely from the detonation of the SHIVA missiles the ship fired into the gas giant at Psi Serpentis. I'm also reading some damage to the engines, but not severe enough to where they need a shipyard to repair it. We'll know more once we get a team onboard the ship."

"Agreed," Lasky said. "Have Commander Palmer get a team of Spartan-IVs ready to go. I want Fireteam Majestic to get onboard the Everest and see if they can't power up the ship. Cortana, you'll remain onboard the Infinity with Chief and coordinate with Fireteam Majestic so that they can get the ship up and running. See if you can remotely power the ship back up."

"Yes, sir," Cortana said. "I've alerted Commander Palmer to the situation on hand. She's got Fireteam Majestic gearing up for the mission. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if the Smart AI onboard the ship left behind a series of protocols to have the ship activate upon receiving UNSC signals before self-terminating. They've been gone long enough that the AI would need to in order to prevent itself from suffering Rampancy."

"Yeah," Lasky agreed. "It might. Go ahead and send a signal to the Everest. Let's see if we can't trigger those subroutines."

"Aye, Captain," Cortana said. Keying the COM, she said, "Channel's all yours, sir."

Clearing his throat, Lasky said, "This is Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity to the UNSC Everest. We received your distress signal and we are preparing a boarding team to offer assistance wherever needed. We will send the team over should a response not be coming within fifteen minutes. Over."

No response came, though Lasky wasn't how far the ship was from home, and the fact that it was mostly offline, it would make sense for the ship to not immediately send back a response, both automated or manual. "Cortana, make sure I have a COM line to Fireteam Majestic. We'll need to remain appraised of any situations that develop. Inform the Commander that we are doing so."

"Roger that," Cortana said.

. . .

Down at Hangar Bay 21-D, Fireteam Majestic was boarding the Pelican that would take them over to the Everest. As he boarded the Pelican, Gabriel Thorne looked around to make sure that the team was fully ready to go. All of them had their helmets on, and the way they moved clearly indicated they were taking this seriously.

As the last member of the Fireteam came aboard, his mind drifted back to that day on Eladen IV. Wherever you are, DeMarco, I'm certain you're looking down on us with a smile on your face, he thought. I hope that you're happy with the quality of the job that I am doing.

He was shaken out of his idle reverie when Majestic-4, known by his name of Carlo, said, "Thorne, you OK? You looked like you spaced out for a moment."

Thorne winced. "Sorry. Just spaced out for a moment, like you said."

"You still thinking about DeMarco?" Naiya Ray, Majestic-5, asked.

Thorne didn't want to admit it, but he knew that it was the truth. Nodding, he said, "Yeah. I just wonder what he would think of me, now that I'm Majestic Lead. I still wonder if there was some way that we could've saved him."

"If there was, I'm certain you could have," Carlo reassured him. "He went out doing what he loved: protecting Earth and her colonies."

"Yeah," Thorne nodded. "Yeah, he did. And you're right, he did go out doing what he loved. Plus, I don't think he'd want us to be mourning his loss forever. He'd want us to get the job done, so let's go and do it. Let's make him proud."

"Ooh-rah!" Anthony Madsen, the team's sniper, agreed.

As he walked into the cockpit, Throne said to the pilot. "We're ready to go."

"Affirmative," the pilot said. Keying his COM, he said, "Whiskey One-Niner-Five to Flight Operations. Requesting permission to begin take off procedures. Over."

"Roger that," Lieutenant Murphy replied. "Whiskey One-Niner-Five, you are cleared for take-off. Follow the flight vector being sent to your autopilot until you are clear of the Infinity."

"Roger," the pilot said. "Taking off now." The Pelican's interior rumbled as the pilot throttled up, with the powerful fusion ramjet thrusters lifting the vehicle off of the ground and into the air. A moment later, they flew out of the hangar, passing through the magcon field holding the atmosphere inside and into the hard vacuum of space.

Looking ahead through the viewport, Thorne could see the hull of the Everest looming ahead as they flew towards it. "Is that the Everest?" Carlo asked. "If it is, then she looks pretty good for having escaped Psi Serpentis. My question is 'how?'"

"That is a pretty good question, all things considered," Tedra Grant, Majestic-3, admitted. "I've been wondering that myself."

"Maybe they used a decoy ship," Anthony suggested, "then did an in-atmosphere Slipspace jump. It's not impossible, just really hard to do. Plus you have to remember, we're talking about the ship that Vice Admiral Cole was captaining. The man was nothing short of a genius. Hell, he makes the calculations I do as a sniper look like kindergarten math."

"A fair point," Naiya Ray said. "Still, to do something like that is very much like those old myths about the Grecian heroes, such as Perseus beheading the Gorgon, or Heracles chopping off and burning the heads of the Hydra. It's mind boggling."

"I agree," Throne added. "It's even more mind boggling if what Anthony says is true." Looking at the pilot, he asked, "How soon until we reach the Everest?"

"Two minutes, tops," the pilot replied. "I hope your EVA thrusters are good to go."

"They are," Thorne said. "Naiya, you ready to do your job?"

"Always," Naiya said.

"Then let's do it."

The Pelican slowly began to turn around, before the pilot sealed himself inside of the cockpit and hermetically sealed the door. With Thorne and the others in the troop bay, they made sure their helmets were sealed, before Thorne clicked his COM unit twice, indicating that they were ready. The loading ramp opened, with all of the air inside of the Pelican's troop bay rushing out into space. Once fully depressurized, the team exited, with small EVA thrusters gently nudging them towards the Everest.

Fortunately for them, the pilot had managed to get them to one of the airlock doors that were built into the ship. "Looks like the airlock's sealed up tight," Carlo reported. "We'll need to cut our way inside."

"No need," Naiya said as she came closer to the airlock. "UNSC ships, including the older ones, have a manual release lever that allows any rescue teams to manually open the airlocks without having to cut them open. Look for a panel that has yellow-black stripes." With all five Spartans looking closely, it wasn't even a second before Carlo found the panel in question. Smashing a fist into it, he dislodged the panel, with a small red wheel underneath. Grabbing it, he braced himself against the airlock's frame before turning the wheel.

Despite being in space for decades, the wheel turned as though it had been freshly installed and lubricated, with Carlo having no trouble at all. Slowly but surely, the locking mechanism disengaged, with the outer doors of the airlock slowly parting. Once it was wide enough, Thorne slipped himself inside, with the others quickly following. Finding another wheel just like it inside the airlock itself, Carlo quickly closed the airlock, before opening a panel just below their feet, which revealed a lever that he quickly began to pump. At that, the panel that controlled the airlock came back online, with a command causing the outer airlock door to close and lock.

"Door's locked and airtight," Carlo reported. "Opening inner airlock door." There was a hiss as air from inside the hallway beyond rushed into the depressurized airlock, with the team waiting until air pressure had equalized before fully opening the doors. Advancing inside after closing the inner airlock door behind them, they began to move along.

"No artificial gravity still," Tedra reported. "Looks like the reactor's running at a low enough power level that the contragravity generators can't run."

"We just have to power up the COM array and allow Cortana to access the ship systems," Thorne said. "After that, she can activate artificial gravity and even wake up the crew."

They silently proceeded towards the bridge. Before long, they came to a pair of doors that had letters saying Bridge: Authorized Personnel Only. Thorne smiled at the redundant admonishment. Given that they were Spartan IVs, and that they were coming here on Lasky's orders, they already had the authorization needed to come onboard. Again, they had to manually unlock the doors, with Tedra forcing the doors open to allow them into the bridge.

Floating on over to the computers, Anthony tapped the screen of one experimentally, which elicited a smile from him as the screen lit up. "Computers on the bridge are still receiving power," he said. "My guess is that Cole knew someone would come to rescue him, so he had the computers powered up in case someone did come across him."

"I'd do that if I were him too," Thorne said. "Naiya, any progress?"

"Checking," Naiya said. "COM Array still has power, which explains the distress signal that we managed to pick up. Cortana should be able to access the Everest's systems and bring her online."

"I'll check in with her," Thorne said. Keying his COM, he said, "Cortana, you there?"

"Yes," Cortana said. "I'm accessing the ship's systems right now. I'll have power, lights and gravity for you in a few seconds."

A few seconds later, the intercom on the ship chimmed. "Partial System Restoration," a feminine voice announced. "Contragravity Generators Online. Attention: Reactor Capacity Below Standard Operating Levels. Reactor At 55%."

At that, the feeling of weightlessness vanished almost instantly, with Carlo landing on his feet with a metallic thud. At the same time, lights came on all over the bridge, with computers that had been dormant flickering to life. The main view screen activated, with the ship being displayed in varying colors. "Damn," Anthony said as he looked at the ship readouts. "The Everest got a little fucked up. There's hull damage on all sections of the ship, though the stern's taken the worst of it. Plus their engines need some work. On top of that, they had some damage to their primary life support, though their auxiliary is functioning normally."

"I can definitely see that," Thorne said. "Cortana, did you get a status report on the cryopods?"

"Yeah," Cortana said. "From the looks of things, all of the occupants are still alive. I've even managed to locate one of the cryopods. Good news: Vice Admiral Cole is onboard and he's alive and well."

"Can you get us to the cryonic bay that he's currently at?"

"That I can," Cortana said. "I'll guide you to the area in question. The funny thing is that he's in his own personal cryobay."

"All right then. Let's go." The rest of Fireteam Majestic, forming up on Thorne, continued to move through the ship.

Everywhere they moved, they found evidence of what had been an orderly evacuation to the cryonic pods that were onboard the ship. Signs of messes that had been cleaned up were present, and there was even decomposed food that had been tossed into a 'cycling bin. Eventually, after passing through one of the cafeteria, the bow armory, as well as some of the maintenance corridors, they reached Cole's private cryobay.

The layout of the bay was quite similar to the cryonic bays onboard the smaller Halcyon-class Light Cruisers, only it was significantly smaller, and it had a single cryopod inside. Scratching the frost off, Thorne smiled when he saw the words C. Preston embossed into the metal. "Cortana, is this the one?" he asked.

"Yep," Cortana said.

"Vitals?"

"Scanning… looks like Cole is as fit as a fiddle, for a sixty year old man," Cortana said. "I'm going to go ahead and put him through the thawing cycle. You might want to remove your helmets once he starts coming to. I'd rather not have him panic when he sees the five of you."

"Understood," Thorne said. Pulling off his helmet, he noted that the air smelled slightly stale, thought that was from twenty years of not having been used. In all other respects, though, the air was just fine.

Once the others had removed their helmets, they waited for the pod to finish thawing, while Carlo pulled out what looked like an Admiral's uniform from inside a drawer. "Huh," Carlo noted. "Looks like Cole was busy. He packed up everything he needed inside of this thing, and inside of plastic containers as well. The uniform and clothes inside look brand new still."

"Good thing that we got that out for him then," Thorne said. "He's about to come to."

. . .

One of the first things that told Cole that he was waking up was the fact that he was dreaming, specifically of the Battle of Psi Serpentis. He could still hear the blaring of alarms, the thunderous shouts and orders that he and the others were issuing, as well as the desperate rush of adrenaline that came as they made the jump to Slipstream Space. The other was the fact that he was feeling warm, which was unusual in a cryopod unless he was being thawed out.

His sight returned shortly after he regained his sense of hearing and touch, with light leaking in through his closed eyelids. Blinking, Cole groaned as he slowly came to, his vision blurred from the years of cryonic induced slumber that he had just come out of. As his vision cleared, the sound of the casket's lid opening up and back reached his ears, with the man rubbing at his eyes to clear them.

It was then that he finally managed to get a look at the cryobay that his pod had been installed in. To his sharp, attentive eyes, the cryobay looked exactly as it did when he had stepped into the cryopod to begin his long slumber. The one thing that was out of place were the five armored persons that were nearby, one of which had his uniform and clothes. Seeing the symbol of the UNSC on their armor, Cole realized what he was looking at. Looks like they expanded the Spartan Program after all, he thought.

He winced as he moved limbs that hadn't been moved for years, though the cryonic freezing process had preserved his strength. "Easy, easy," one of the Spartans said as he helped Cole out of his pod. "You've been in there for a really long time. Take a moment to catch your bearings." The man gently lowered Cole onto one of the benches in the room.

"Thanks," Cole grunted, his voice rougher than normal.

"How are you feeling?" the man asked.

"Shitty," Cole said, "but then again, being frozen is always shitty." Looking up at the Spartans, he asked, "I take it you're Spartans, yes?"

"That's correct."

Cole nodded. "I figured as much. What's your name, son?"

"Spartan Gabriel Thorne, Majestic Lead. With me is Anthony and Tedra, Two and Three, Carlo and Naiya, Four and Five. We were sent aboard to bring the ship online and get you thawed out. Cortana will have the crew thawed out shortly."

"Cortana?" Cole asked. "I take it that's the AI your assigned to."

"Yes," Thorne said.

"I see…" Looking at Carlo, he asked, "Mind if I have my clothes now?"

"Yes, sir," Carlo said, handing Cole his uniform and clothes. Once they'd turned away out of respect, Cole quickly got himself dressed. Once he got his shoes on, the others turned back around. In his uniform, Cole cut an impressive figure.

With his uniform back on, Cole went straight to business. "So, I take it you're the rescue crew that was sent aboard?" he asked.

"Yes," Thorne said. "We came across your distress signal and followed it here. Once we found your ship, we boarded and restored power to the entire ship. After that, Cortana guided us here so that we could confirm that you were, indeed, aboard the ship and alive and well."

"I see," Cole said. "Very good. I take it that means you ended up in the Andromeda Galaxy, just like we did."

The statement caught Thorne off guard. "You know we're in the Andromeda Galaxy?"

"Yes, I do. When we did our in-atmosphere Slipspace Jump, we suffered a malfunction to the Slipspace Drive that supercharged it. When we cut the power to the drive, we came out of Slipspace, only to find that we had entered the Andromeda Galaxy. Given that the chances of being found were very minimal, we had everyone go into cryonic stasis and sent out a distress signal in the event that anyone found us, though even that was considered to be remote, if not impossible. Still, its good to see that we were wrong about that." Becoming more serious, he asked, "Who's your commanding officer?"

"Captain Thomas Lasky, sir," Thorne said. "He's the CO of the UNSC Infinity."

"OK. What's the date?"

"November 23rd, 2558, sir," Thorne said.

Cole cocked an eyebrow. We've been in cryo for over fifteen years, he realized. That would explain why there are more Spartans and why their gear seems to have become more advanced. The war could also still be ongoing, or it could have ended with the UNSC as the victor. Keeping his thoughts to himself, he said, "I see. Would you accompany me to the bridge after we wake the rest of the crew up? I would like to speak with Captain Lasky." As the Spartans followed him, he said, "I remember hearing something about a man named Thomas Lasky. Last I heard, he was one of the survivors of Corbulo Academy."

"That's right," Thorne said. "Since then, he's done quite well for himself. I'm certain you'll enjoy speaking with him."

"Yes," Cole said. "That I will. Go ahead and help get the crew up and about."

"Roger that," Thorne said. Keying his COM, he said, "Cortana, can you help us wake up the rest of the Everest's crew?"

"Already on it," Cortana said.

The next fifteen minutes were spent getting the crew up and about. Most were groggy from the years of cryonic stasis that they'd spent in. Some, mostly the younger members of the crew, were much more perky when they woke up. Those personnel quickly went to help the others get out of their own cryotubes and back onto their feet. Before long, the entire ship was bustling with activity as the crew got to work.

At Cole's quarters, Thorne and the others watched as Cole came out. Now that he had properly cleaned up, he looked exactly like the legendary Vice Admiral that he was. "How do I look?" he asked.

"Perfect," Thorne said. "Do you want us to accompany you to the bridge?"

"Yes," Cole said. "Follow me." Following Cole, the Spartans passed crew that were quickly moving back to their stations. By now, only a few were groggy, with the rest fully catching up to speed on their duties in the ship. By the time Cole and Fireteam Majestic reached the bridge, the bridge was fully staffed.

It was there that Cole go this first look at the Infinity in all of its glory. Upon seeing the gargantuan hulk of the ship, his eyes widened ever so slightly. Giving a low long whistle, he said, "Is that the ship that Captain Lasky commands?"

"Yes, sir," Thorne said. "She's one of the biggest ships in the fleet at over five and a half kilometers."

Questions about the ship's capabilities and design features whirled through Cole's head. Already, he wanted to know how the ship had been constructed, who had constructed it, and why it had ended up in the Andromeda Galaxy with his ship. "Damn. Lasky is an especially lucky Captain." Looking at his COMs officer, he said, "Get us a direct line to the Infinity. I would like to speak to Captain Lasky."

"Aye, sir," the officer said.

Cole looked back at the ship. How did a Captain end up in charge of a ship that large? he wondered. A ship of that size should be commanded by at least a Rear Admiral.

. . .

On the bridge of the Infinity, Lasky was pacing back and forth as he waited for a report from Fireteam Majestic. Just minutes earlier, all of the running lights onboard the Everest had fully come online, indicating that Majestic had managed to restore power with Cortana's help. Now, though, he was waiting on a progress report from them. "Cortana, what's Fireteam Majestic's status?"

"Good so far," Cortana said. "I've directed them to the cryobay, where they found Cole's cryopod. Judging from the helmet feeds I'm getting, Cole seems to be doing quite well."

"That's good to hear. Where are they heading?"

"The bridge. My guess is that Cole wants to speak with you. On top of that, the crew's coming out of cryonic stasis now, so the Everest will soon be mobile. Judging from the conversations, though, Jordan's going to have to go onboard and make sure their Slipspace Drive is fully functional. He's also going to have to make some modifications so that their drive can go fast enough to follow our ship. Good thing we keep spare CODEN VI Series drives onboard for such an eventuality."

"Good thing indeed," Jordan said, having come onto the bridge at Lasky's request. "The CODEN VI Series is much more efficient than the CODEN IV Series in terms of power draw. With the engines that the Everest has, it'll certainly make life easier on the nuclear reactor onboard."

"Indeed," Lasky said.

At that moment, Jespersen said, "Sir, I've got an incoming COM call from the Everest. Apparently, the Admiral wishes to speak to you."

"Send him through," Lasky said. Once he heard the chime that indicated the COM channel was open, he said, "This is Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity to the UNSC Everest. Is anyone present? Over."

A moment later, a voice said, "This is Vice Admiral Preston J. Cole of the UNSC Everest. We read you loud and clear, Captain Lasky. Glad to see that the UNSC found us. Sounds like you ended up in the same galaxy that we're in."

"That we did," Lasky said. "We had a malfunction with our Slipspace Drive, which ended up sending us into this galaxy. We've managed to send a probe back to the Milky Way, and it should have arrived by now. Within another three weeks, we'll either have a probe with another message sent to us, or a UNSC fleet will arrive."

"Excellent news," Cole said. "Now, from the looks of it, things have changed considerably since I went missing. Can you provide me a brief summary of how you managed to find us."

"Sure," Lasky said. "We picked up your distress signal when we finished negotiations with a government that calls itself the Galactic Empire, as well as a rebel faction known as the Rebel Alliance. We had to negotiate a non-aggression agreement with them in order to prevent them from attacking us."

"Why is that?"

"When we dropped out of Slipspace, we accidentally rammed one of their ships, causing them to attack us during First Contact. Fortunately, we were able to contact the Galactic Empire's leadership and negotiate a cease-fire."

"I see," Cole said. "Considering the circumstances, Captain Lasky, as well as what you've had to deal with, I believe that you made the right decision in not being too hasty when it came to the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance. We don't need another enemy, especially after dealing with the last one."

"I agree," Lasky said. "That's why Melody, the UEG's envoy to the Infinity, and I negotiated a truce with the Galactic Empire as well as the Rebel Alliance. Between them and being in another galaxy without support, we have enough enemies as it is. I don't want to add two more to the plate."

"Wait a minute," Cole interrupted. "Melody is a UNSC Envoy?"

"Yes," Lasky said. "Following the end of the war, the UNSC returned all emergency powers and governance to the UEG. Why?"

"Just curious," Cole said. Melody's got the same rank as a three star Admiral in terms of military equivalent. "Still, I applaud your decision. One ship against what might be millions of warships amounts to very poor odds, and even I am not suicidal enough to go up against that many ships, not without the backing of the UNSC."

"Agreed," Lasky said. "Perhaps we -" At that moment, he noticed something odd, which he promptly realized was the sound of the bridge doors locking. "Roland, what's going on?" he asked. When he got no response, he asked, "Gabriela?"

"Is something wrong, Captain?" Cole asked.

"I'm trying to ascertain that now," Lasky said. "Cortana, are you there?" When he initially got no response, he started to become worried.

. . .

Unbeknownst to Lasky, another one of Osman's contingencies had not only gone active, he had also gone rogue. Walking into the laboratory he was at, Captain Ferdinand Warner checked to make sure that he was alone, before sealing the door shut. Tapping on one of the walls, he was rewarded with part of the wall retracting, revealing a hidden entrance to the maintenance access corridors that riddled the Infinity like tunnels inside of a termite nest.

Out of that corridor, four individuals emerged, each one in full body armor. The first three were Spartan-IIIs, with each one fully decked out in MJÖLNIR Powered Armor. The last, however, was a short woman with brown hair that was brushed to one side, leaving an area that was much shorter than the rest. Both of her hazel eyes bored into Ferdinand's own dark brown eyes as they entered. "Were you followed?" she asked.

"Of course not," Ferdinand said. "You know me better than that, Lieutenant Lopis. I'm your superior; it's my job to remain unnoticed." Checking behind her, he asked, "Is that everyone?"

"Yes," Lopis said. "The rest of the crew for the Prowler that's on standby will be ready to come to our position once we've taken command of the Infinity. I know you don't like leaving the Prowler, but Captain Ford is a capable leader. He'll take good care of the ship."

"Agreed," Ferdinand said. Once the others were fully inside, he said, "I've disabled all surveillance devices in the room, so we can speak to each other without Roland, Gabriela or Cortana overhearing our conversation. Just to make sure that we know our objectives, I'll go over them one more time."

Clearing his throat, he continued. "As you all are aware, Captain Lasky refused to work with the Rebel Alliance due to their disorganized command structure. While I approve of his decision to do so, I do not, however, approve of his decision to make peace with the Empire. I've seen a lot of poorly thought out decisions made before, but making peace with a totalitarian government, even if they have a more powerful military, is an incredibly poor decision. In addition, he did not start taking affirmative action in getting the Rebel Alliance ready for war, another reason why our new objective is this: to remove Captain Lasky from command and replace him with me instead.

"To accomplish this mission, our goals are to take control of the Infinity and to keep the compliment of traitors onboard under control until we can persuade them to work with us." Looking at one of the men, he said, "Petty Officer Mark, you and Petty Officer Ash will head to the AI Core and override the security systems onboard the Infinity. Once you have done so, you will link back up with me, Veta and Olivia at the Primary Security Control Room. While you are doing that, we will head to the PSC and attempt to persuade Lieutenant Phillips, who is currently conducting his shift there, to come in with us. If he does to comply, we will render him unconscious and have one of our own take his place.

"Once that is done, we will have you override Roland and Gabriela using the phrases 'Silent Fog' and 'Forthright Perdition.' Once Gabriela and Roland are under our control, you'll have them separate Cortana from the rest of the ship. During this time, the security forces that are under our command will use non-lethal implements to incapacitate the crew. However, they are authorized to use lethal force if that is necessary. While that is going on, we will head to the bridge and we will remove Captain Lasky from command, with lethal force if necessary. Once the ship is under our command, I will make an announcement to the rest of the crew, and show them evidence of Lasky's betrayal of the UNSC. After that, we can finally get to work tearing apart the Empire immediately. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," the others replied.

"Good. Operation: WHITE SQUALL is a go." All five personnel split off and went their separate ways, each one in armor that allowed them to blend in. Ferdinand, having exchanged his science uniform for body armor, walked in step with Lopis, with the two of them making their way towards the Infinity's PSC.

The Primary Security Center for the Infinity was a large and populated room, with the entire place split into two levels. Both levels, though, were used to coordinate the security forces and military police onboard the ship, with the use of AI allowing the security officers to effectively coordinate most of their forces on the ship.

Walking past numerous personnel that were at their work stations, both disguised ONI Officers walked into the office of the Chief of Security onboard the ship. Working at a desk, Lieutenant Phillips was filling out a few forms, while taking a few sips here and there from a mug on his desk. Hearing the two coming in, he looked up and said. "If it's about the Imperial prisoners that are in the penitentiary, then I'll get back to you on that."

"I'm afraid that is not the case," Ferdinand said, pulling out his M6H2 and pointing it at Phillip. Seeing the pistol, Phillip reached for the silent alarm underneath his desk. "Ah, ah, ah," Ferdinand said as he pointed the weapon at Phillip's arm. "I would not do that if I were you. Besides, I'd rather not shoot you; I don't like killing unless I have to."

"What's going on?!" Phillip asked. "Who are you?!"

"Captain Ferdinand Warner of the Office of Naval Intelligence," Ferdinand said. "I'm here to inform you that you are working for the wrong person. Captain Lasky, by making peace with the Empire, has betrayed the values of the UNSC and has crossed ONI for the last time. As such, in accordance with Admiral Osman's orders, I am going to be taking command of the ship. You are to cooperate with me, or I will have the authority necessary to kill you. Do you understand?"

Phillip, hearing this, said, "Are you insane?! If we go up against the Empire right now, not only will we be literally blasted apart, we'll get into major trouble with the UNSC and the UEG! I -" He immediately lunged for the silent alarm.

Rather than shoot him, though, Ferdinand cold cocked Phillip with a strong blow with the Magnum in his hand. "Such a shame," Ferdinand sighed. "It seems as though I'll have to do this myself." Hearing the door open, he turned to see another disguised ONI officer, one that had also gotten his briefing over a secure COM line. "I take it you have control of the Security Center, yes?"

"Yes," the officer said. "We've forced the security personnel in the room to comply with our orders. In addition, Spartans G313 and G099 have reported that they have reached the AI Core and that they have used Roland's override code. We are ready to lock down the ship at your command."

"Go ahead and do so, Lieutenant?"

"Jake Verner, sir," the officer said.

"Thank you. As of now, until I say otherwise or anything else happens, you are the Chief Security Officer for the entire Infinity. You have my express permission to keep Lieutenant Phillip compliant by any means necessary, including the use of torture." Turning to Veta, he said, "Time to get this operation fully underway."

. . .

On another part of the ship, Captain Parisca was moving through one of the halls on the ship on her rounds. Whenever the Infinity wasn't in battle, she was given the ignominious task of assigning people to patrols. While she wasn't technically military police, they did appreciate having her help out from time to time. This just happened to be one of those times.

As he walked through the hallway, she spotted another UNSC Marine, with the chevrons identifying him as a Master Sergeant. When he turned, his name tag quickly identified him as Stacker, M. His dark blue eyes and black hair were clearly visible from where she was at. "Sergeant Stacker," she said.

"Ma'am," Stacker said. "Going on your rounds?"

"Something like that," Parisca said. "Walk with me. I'll need to discuss a few things with you."

"Yes, ma'am," Stacker said, lighting a cigar before placing it in his mouth. "What do you -" He was promptly interrupted when the door just ahead of them suddenly slammed shut without warning. Stacker was just inches away from the door when it shut, crushing the end of the cigar that was lit. Spluttering loudly, Stacker stumbled away from the door, with Parisca doing the same. "What the hell is going on?!" he shouted.

"That's what I'm thinking," Parisca said. Keying an intercom, she asked, "Roland, what the hell's going on?"

"Shipwide lockdown protocols engaged," came Roland's voice. "AI Override engaged by Office of Naval Intelligence. Please standby."

"ONI?!" Stacker asked. "What the hell does ONI have to do with this?"

"Good question," Parisca said. Keying the 'com again, she asked, "What is the reason for the lockdown?"

"Classified?" came Gabriela's.

"How long until the lockdown ends?"

"Classified," both AIs answered. "Further inquiries will result in pacification of the immediate area. Please comply."

"Damnit!" Parisca shouted as it occurred to her what was going on. "I think ONI's attempting a coup of the ship!"

"Why would they do that?" Stacker asked.

"I don't know, but I'll find out, one way or another." Looking around, Parisca checked the door that had shut before them. An idea came to her as she laid eyes on the manual lock override. "I've got an idea," she said. "Stacker, come help me with this." Getting up, Stacker came over to the door.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"Yep," Parisca said. "Glad that they built this safety feature into the ship." Pulling the panel open, she found a small red lever inside. "We swing this lever, we'll manually unlock the door. After that, we'll need some elbow grease to get the door open. Given how well built the doors are, we can force them open with only a little trouble. You go get the Marines that are in any nearby rooms while I get the door open. Understand?"

"You got it," Stacker said. As he left to help free the other Marines, Parisca pulled the lever towards her with a hard jerk. There was a clunk as the locking mechanism disengaged, with the doors parting about two inches. Getting her hands between the doors, she grunted as she began to push them open.

Just as she did, several more hands reached in and forced the doors open, revealing a squad of Marines that were on the other side. "Who's your CO?" she asked.

"I am," a tall, dark skinned Marine with green eyes said. "Sergeant Jordan Oberon, ma'am. I heard the same thing you did, Captain. Sounds like ONIs getting too big for its britches once again. I think it's a coup d'etat."

"That's what Stacker and I thought too," Parisca said. "You with the people attempting the coup?"

"Nope," Oberon said. "I'm a 100%, dyed-in-the-wool, A-Grade Marine, ma'am! ONI's going to have to do a lot better to get me onto their side!"

"Same here," Parisca said. "We need to get to the bridge and warn Captain Lasky of what's going on, if he hasn't been warned already. On top of that, I'm guessing that ONIs turned some of the security officers, as I'm getting scattered COM reports of Military Police attempting to either incapacitate or kill anyone that's questioning ONIs orders. We'll need to stop them in order to save the Infinity and the Captain. Ideas?"

"I've got one," Oberon said as he advanced towards a door that was set into the wall. "Take four of my men and use the maintenance corridors and lifts on the ship to bypass any locked doors. I'll take some men and head to Primary Security Center to override the lockdown, even if we have to gun down a few people to get the job done. We'll let you know once the lockdown has ended."

"Understood," Parisca said. "Give those ONI bastards hell for me, will you?"

"That I will," Oberon said. "You heard the lady, Marines! Bust open those doors and get to the Primary Security Center! Anyone that tries to stop you, shoot to incapacitate or kill!"

. . .

Onboard the bridge, Lasky snarled as he heard Roland and Gabriela's announcement over the intercom. Of course, he realized as he waited for Cortana to reply. Looks like Osman had people onboard in case I disobeyed her again, he thought. Damnit… this complicates things greatly. "Looks like Admiral Osman stationed them on the ship to take it over and remove me from command if I did anything that she didn't like."

"Who?" Cole asked.

"Admiral Osman. She's Margaret Parangosky's protege and she replaced her as the Director of ONI."

"I understand," Cole said. "Honestly, I'm shocked that ONI would pull something like this. Removing a Captain from his position without due provocation? I know for certain that ONI isn't that dumb. Whoever this operative is, he or she has likely gone rogue, which means he or she's acting without ONIs permission."

"Any ideas on what to do?" Lasky asked.

"Yes," Cole said. "ONI and the UNSC were likely looking for me once the Battle of Psi Serpentis was over, if that analysis that you told me about is correct. As such, they won't want to antagonize me if they can help it. Given that this operative's gone rogue, they're not only committing dereliction of duty, they're making an incredibly stupid mistake. Don't worry, Lasky. I'll handle this rogue operative. You focus on getting control of the ship back alongside freeing any AIs that have been overridden. When the traitors get to the bridge, pretend that you don't know what's going on. That will buy you enough time to find out what's really going on."

"Understood," Lasky said. "Cortana, are you there?"

"I'm here," Cortana said. "I managed to remain connected to some parts of the ship. Quite handy when you've got a Spartan that has an AI Core built into his armor."

"Any idea of what's going on?"

"Just like you suspected, Roland's been overridden by Spartan-IIIs that are working for ONI," Cortana said. "Even I didn't know they were onboard the ship until the lockdown commenced. I'll start working to override the lockdown, even if it means trapping Roland inside of repeating lines of his own code. In addition, some of the security forces are on ONIs payroll, so we'll need to free the Marines to take back control of the ship."

"Make it so," Lasky said. "Once you've freed Roland from the overriding protocols, have him help you reconnect the AI Core to the rest of the ship, and get the other Marines and anyone on the security crew that isn't on ONIs payroll to retake the ship. Apply minimal force: disarmament only. I'd rather not kill members of the crew if I can help it."

"I'll get it done," Cortana said. "Whoever these ONI assholes are, they've crossed us for the last time."

"Agreed." Turning to Chief, he said. "Chief, I want you and the rest of Blue Team to take up position in the bridge. Be ready to come out of hiding if they point their weapons at me. Also, where's Melody?"

"I'm right here," Melody said. "I came inside just before the door locked behind me. Is what I heard really true?"

"Yes," Lasky said. "I think ONI is attempting to remove me from command due to making peace with the Empire. They might try to do the same to you."

"Those idiots!" Melody snarled. "Don't they realize the reality of the situation that we are in?!"

"I'm guessing they do, but don't care," Lasky said. "Either way, get your acting face on. We've gotta trick them into telling us the reason why they're trying to take over the ship." Both of then then went to work attempting to do what they could, while Chief and the rest of Blue Team took cover.

"What about me?" Jyn asked.

"You know a thing or two about fighting. Get ready to shoot them if need be." Tossing Jyn an MA5D, he asked, "You remember your shooting lessons?"

"Yeah," Jyn said. "I'm not an expert, but at least I know how to use your slugthrowers now."

"Good. Take cover and get ready." Nodding, Jyn got into cover, while Lasky and Melody, working with Cortana, began doing what they could to override the lockdown.

Around ten minutes later, Lasky heard the door behind them unlock. They must've arrived by now, he thought. OK, Lasky. Time to get your game face on. Turning around, he watched as three Spartan-IIIs, a single woman and a man wearing an ONI uniform came inside of the bridge. "Who are you?" Lasky asked in mock-confusion, while subtly tapping something on a control panel nearby. "What is going on?"

"Our job," the man replied. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain Ferdinand Warner, Section Three of ONI. With me is Lieutenant Veta Lopis, Spartans Mark-G313, Olivia-G291 and Ash-G099. As for what is going on, well, it's quite simple really. We are relieving you of command, Captain Lasky."

Pretending to be confused, Lasky asked, "Why? I haven't done anything wrong. I've conducted myself to the highest degree of UNSC excellence."

"On the contrary, Captain," Ferdinand said. "You willingly colluded with an insurrectionist organization, as well as a totalitarian regime."

"You mean the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire?" Melody asked. "That was necessary to prevent ourselves from being blown out of the sky! I demand that you cease and desist as an Envoy of the United Earth Government!"

"You have no authority over me, Melody Azikiwe," Ferdinand said firmly, drawing his M6H2 and aiming it at her and Lasky. At that moment, Jyn, the bridge officers, as well as Blue Team, came out of cover, weapons aimed directly at the ONI Officers. "I'd advise all of you to stand down, otherwise your precious Captain will have a bullet in his head."

"Not until we get answers, you pile of bantha poodoo!" Jyn snarled.

"Who ordered you to do this?" Lasky asked. Deep down, he knew the answer already.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ferdinand said. "Your actions at Requiem, Lasky, cost the UNSC and ONI a considerable amount of time. You destroyed a treasure trove of technology that would've allowed ONI to finally destroy the Covenant, once and for all, and would've allowed humanity to thrive. In addition, you directly disobeyed Admiral Osman by sparing Dr. Halsey's life when you were ordered to silence her for good.

"As such, I was placed on a Prowler that was assigned to the Infinity by Admiral Osman herself. My orders were to keep an eye on you, to make sure you were being a good little boy. And, just as a naught boy has their toys taken away, I was ordered to relieve you from your command of the Infinity if you started doing things that were, for lack of a better word, untoward. Your repeated collusion with the Rebel Alliance, and your effort to make peace with the Galactic Empire, are actions that are very much untoward. As such, by Admiral Osman's authority, I have the duty to relieve you of command, even if it means inflicting casualties."

"You can't be serious," Lasky growled. "Don't you realize what we're going to be going up against if you go through with this. No only will you have to answer to the UNSC for what you've done, you'll also be triggering a war with the Empire, a war that we are not ready for! On top of that, you are also threatening a UNSC Officer and an Envoy of the United Earth Government! You could go to prison for this!"

"On the contrary, Captain. I have the authority to do as I please here. Even if we are arrested in the end, we will not only have accomplished our goal of ensuring the UNSC's supremacy over the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance, we will have also ensured that both factions will be subservient to us, especially after we dispose of the Death Star and the Emperor. If you will not comply, then I will kill you and everyone onboard this bridge, and I will kill Cortana as well. So unless you stand down at once and surrender, I will begin doing my job, and no one will ever know what happened here." Ferdinand smiled with a cold sort of gloating as he finished.

Lasky was about to give his refusal when Cole came in over the intercom. "But I would. Thanks to your grandiose, self-righteous monologue on the nature of your mission, I have enough evidence to put you away for life, Captain Ferdinand Ivan Warner."

Ferdinand and the rest of the ONI team jumped slightly as Cole spoke. "Who are you?!" Ferdinand snarled. "Identify yourself!"

"As you wish," Cole said. "I am Vice Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole, Commanding Officer of the UNSC Everest."

The silence that followed was so complete that one could've heard a pin drop. "Roland, can you confirm that is the case?" Ferdinand asked.

"Yes," Roland, who was still under the override's sway, said. "Voice pattern analysis indicates with 99% accuracy that we are speaking to Vice Admiral Preston J. Cole. Scanner data taken 30 minutes ago indicates that we are near the UNSC Everest, the flagship that Vice Admiral Cole commanded at the Battle of Psi Serpentis over fifteen years ago."

"I see," Ferdinand said. "Good day, Admiral. I was just performing the duty I was given by Admiral Osman in relieving Captain Lasky of his command of the Infinity for -"

"I know exactly what you were doing. Just as you entered the bridge, Lasky used the COM station on his ship to have it voice activate while you were speaking. In addition, Captain Lasky and I spoke earlier on the very things that you are attempting to remove him from command for. Not only has he acted in accordance with the highest traditions of the United Nations Space Command, he has also ensured that the UNSC does not have to wage a war against a faction that could easily destroy us, were it not for the FTL anomaly that prevents them from escaping. As such, if you do not cease and desist in your threatening of Captain Lasky, I will be forced to send a boarding party to the bridge and relieve you of your incredibly short-lived command, even if it means killing you."

"Don't you realize what he has done?!" Ferdinand pleaded, a stark contrast from the commanding tone of voice he used earlier. "Lasky has repeatedly disobeyed orders from the highest echelons of UNSC HIGHCOM, and he has become a rogue agent by colluding with the Empire and Rebel Alliance! He has to be removed! I -"

"STOW IT!" Cole roared over the COM. "Your are in disgrace, Captain Ferdinand! You have repeatedly jeopardized the safety of the Infinity, and you are committing dereliction of your orders! Unless you are trying to force me to kill you, you will stand down at once!"

As soon as he heard that, Ferdinand knew that he had been defeated. For a few moments, he kept the pistol aimed at Lasky, before lowering it. "All right," he said with a sigh. "I will not go against the orders of a Vice Admiral, especially one as experienced as you are. Roland, Gabriela, inform the other members of our mission to stand down and reconnect the AI Core to the rest of the ship, especially given our Forthright Perdition and Silent Fog."

There was a slight moment of silence, then Roland and Gabriela said, "Lockdown lifted. AI Core reconnected. Overrides disengaging." His avatar flickered for a moment, then he asked, "Cortana? Gabriela? What just happened?"

"That's what I was wondering," Gabriela said. "What happened, Captain?"

"You were overridden by a rogue ONI Officer that attempted to take control of the ship," Lasky said. "Cortana can fill you in on the details."

"She just did," Roland said, his expression becoming that of anger, while Gabriela gave Ferdinand a death glare. Looking at Ferdinand, Roland said, "You motherfucker! You used us, violated is, all for the sake of power and your damned orders! If it weren't for the fact that Gabriela and I value my loyalty to Lasky above all other considerations, we would have killed you ourselves!"

"You wouldn't be able to anyways," Ferdinand said, "not with my knowledge of the override I can use on you."

"Captain Lasky," Cole said. "Arrest Captain Ferdinand and place him in the brig."

"Yes, sir," Lasky said. "Blue Team, cuff them immediately, then place them in the brig. They've caused enough trouble as it is." All four Spartans quickly moved in, slapping cuffs onto their wrists.

"I will not apologize for my actions, Captain Lasky," Ferdinand said. "Were it not for Cole sheltering you, I would have carried them out and killed you anyways." He gave a cold, predatory smile. "Either way, we will be bailed out for this. We always get away with what we do."

"Wait," Jyn said to Chief, who had begun to drag Ferdinand away. When he stopped, Jyn came over to Ferdinand, her face a whirlwind of emotions. Taking a breath, she said. "Captain Lasky, Master Chief, I would like to apologize."

"For what?" Lask asked.

"This," Jyn said. Almost immediately, she drove her fist into Ferdinand's gut, a meaty WHUMP-SMACK echoing on the bridge. Ferdinand's face went pale, before he projectile vomited his breakfast onto the ground. Jyn wasn't finished, though, as she promptly kicked Ferdinand in his crotch, causing him to give a choked cry of agony. Before he could finish, Jyn socked him in the face with a right haymaker, cold cocking the man in an instant. "I'm done now," she said.

Normally, the other Spartans would've reacted, but Lasky had kept a hand raised. "I see," Lasky said. Looking at an Ensign, he said, "Apology accepted, Ensign Jyn. Blue Team, take the ONI team to the brig." As Chief dragged away the unconscious Ferdinand, along with the rest of his team, Lasky came over to Jyn and whispered, "Off the record, Jyn, I fully approve of what you did."

"Thank you, Captain," Jyn said. "Does this mean that I won't be tossed into the brig with them? If I am, I'm not sure I'll be able to control myself."

"No," Lasky said. "You did quite well in selling the illusion of our confusion. Besides, your disciplinary action is to clean up the projectile vomit that Ferdinand left behind."

"That's quite fair," Jyn said. "Which way to the janitor's closet?"

"Follow me," another Ensign said.

As Chief was about to exit the bridge, the doors unlocked and opened up, with several Marines moving inside, weapons raised. Leading them was Captain Parisca, who burst into the bridge, MA5D at the ready. Seeing what was going on, she asked Chief, "I take it that you've detained whoever tried to take control of the Infinity?"

As Parisca said this, Chief immediately recognized the woman from her name tag. Parisca, he thought, his mind digging through old memories. Then he remembered his childhood on Eridanus II. That Parisca, he realized, remembering the young girl that he'd saved once. I didn't know she was onboard the Infinity. Pulling himself out of the memory, he said, "Yes. This is the man responsible: ONI Captain Ferdinand Warner."

"Really? Then he was a fool from the start. I knew that Lasky wouldn't give up. When you can, you'll have to tell me what happened on the bridge."

"Yes, ma'am," Chief said as he and the others left.

Once they had left, Cole said, "That young woman is quite the spitfire. I take it from her name that she's a native to this galaxy?"

"Yes," Lasky said. "We recruited her when she left the Rebel Alliance. She's training to be a navigator, considering that we know very little of the Andromeda Galaxy."

"A wise decision," Cole said. "I'll be reviewing the reports on what happened after my disappearance at the Battle of Psi Serpentis. Though I must admit, the report of my death was greatly exaggerated, though given the circumstances, I can forgive them for assuming that I was dead. In any other case, I really would have been dead."

"Definitely," Lasky said. "I'm sorry that you had to be dragged into this, sir."

"That's all right. It's not your fault, Lasky, though it does tell me how far ONI has fallen. I would like to speak to you some more at 0300 hours in your quarters. We have a considerable amount of things to discuss and i would like to see the interior of your ship for myself. Plus, you're more caught up on information than I am, so it's only logical."

"That we do," Lasky said.

. . .

Far away from the Infinity, in another galaxy, Captain Carter Jones was bored. Walking towards the bridge of his ship, the Stalwart-class Frigate known as the Intrepid Explorer, he was tossing a small stress ball up as he entered. Pocketing the ball, he sat down in his command chair and looked at the rest of the bridge crew. "Status report?" he asked.

"All quiet, sir," his Sensors Officer said. "We might as well be in the middle of a quiet summer's day."

"I concur," came another officer's reply. "We're good here."

"Excellent," Carter said. "I want us to be out of here and back at our assigned port within fifteen hours. Comms, perform a sweep of all COM activity to make sure we haven't missed anything."

"Aye sir," the COM Officer said. Carter was about to go back to his usual business when the officer said, "Sir, I've got something!"

Immediately, all of Carter's boredom was gone, replaced instead with the cold, business-like attitude that a Captain of a ship had. "What do you have?" he asked.

"I've got a Slipstream Space COM signal coming in!" the officer said. "I just checked it over! It's using UNSC encryption protocols that are consistent with that of the UNSC Infinity! Playing the message now!"

A moment later, the voice of Roland, the Infinity's AI, came in over the speakers. "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is UNSC INF-001 Infinity. Survivors aboard. Priority Code: Victor 98604-72690-TL. Distress Signal will repeat in 5 seconds."

Hearing that, Carter realized that this was big. His mind brought up memories from over three weeks ago, when he had received a bulletin from UNSC HIGHCOM back at Earth. The bulletin was a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) message that informed him and anyone else that had received it, that the UNSC Infinity had gone missing, with her last reported location being in deep space, where the crew had been conducting tests on the ship's Slipstream Space Drive. As such, a task force had been put together to find the Infinity, with Carter's ship not being on the task force's list.

Now, however, it was clear that they had managed to catch a signal from the Infinity. "Get me a Slipspace COM line to HIGHCOM immediately!" Carter ordered. "While you're doing so, trace the signal and inform me when you've got a location!"

"On it," the Comms officer said. "I've got a direct line to FLEETCOM, sir!"

Clearing his throat, Carter said, "This is Captain Carter of the Intrepid Explorer to UNSC FLEETCOM, do you read me?"

"FLEETCOM to Intrepid Explorer, we read you," a woman's voice said. "What is the nature of your call?"

"We've received a Slipstream Space transmission," Carter said, "that appears to have come from the Infinity. We're tracing its location now. Stand by." Muting his end of the COM, he asked, "Where's the transmission coming from?"

"It doesn't make sense, but the signal's coming from Epsilon Indi, sir," the Comms Officer said. "That's where Harvest is at."

"I see," Carter said. Unmutting his end of the call, he said, "We've identified the signal location as Epsilon Indi, ma'am."

"Understood," came FLEETCOMs reply. "Captain Carter,we've informed Section One. Your orders are to travel to Epsilon Indi and make contact with the Infinity. If it's one of Infinity's log buoys, you are to retrieve it and send the information to us via Slipstream Space. We are also sending Admiral Alexander Reeves. Understood?"

"Affirmative," Carter said. "We are heading there now. Captain Carter over and out." Closing the COM channel, he turned to his Navigator and asked, "How far are we from Epsilon Indi?"

"Two hours, sir," came the reply. "Our CODEN VI Series drive should make the journey easily."

"Make it so," Carter said. Turning back to his other officers, he continued to issue commands, even as the ship entered Slipspace…

Two hours later, they emerged out of Slipspace, with the ship gracefully exiting the portal into the non-dimension before it closed. Looking around, Carter found that they had exited near Harvest. From this distance, the planet looked like an enormous ball of snow, courtesy of the nuclear winter that it was currently in the throes of. Even after the war, colonization efforts had yet to begin, due partly to slipspace topography, as well as the planet's negative connotation of being the first victim of the Covenant-UNSC War.

Carter, however, didn't have his mind on the planet. What was on his mind was the signal they were getting. "Where's the signal coming from."

"I've picked up the signal sir," Columbus, the AI for the ship, said. "It is roughly one thousand kilometers from our current position."

"Got it," Carter said. "Navigator, bring us about and get us towards the source of the signal once Admiral Reeves arrives."

"Aye, sir."

A few minutes later, several ships came out of Slipspace, along with an Autumn-class Heavy Cruiser. "Intrepid Explorer, this is Admiral Reeves of the UNSC Song Of The East. We're moving towards the signal right now. Rendezvous with us at the signals location.

"Aye, sir," Carter said. "Helm, you recall my orders?"

"Ayes, sir," the Navigator said. "ETA to signal location: eight and a half minutes." With the destination time in mind, Carter began to patiently wait.

Eight minutes later, they had arrived at the signal destination. Looking around, Carter noted the conspicuous lack of the 5.6km large ship that was the Infinity. Still, it could be that the ship was nearby. "Columbus, run a scan and tell us if the Infinity is nearby."

"Scanning," Columbus said. After a few seconds, he said, "I've got nothing, sir. Slipspace sensors don't have any nearby contacts. What I did detect, however, is what appears to be a log buoy attached to a single Slipspace Probe. It's roughly one kilometer off the port side of the bow."

"Access the buoy and send the information on it back to ONI Section One, encryption code GAMMA X-RAY," Reeves ordered over the COM line.

"Understood," Columbus said. As the AI accessed the log buoy, Carter looked at where he knew the probe was. What happened to you, he thought as he thought about the Infinity.