Still not quite back up to a 3 chapter buffer, but wanted to get something out. (I do have a good chunk of chapter 10 written, so progress is being made.) Made some minor updates to chapter 3 to fix some minor continuity errors mentioned in reviews. Thank you again to everyone who's reviewed and followed the story, I appreciate the feedback and it makes me happy that people are enjoying it.

Standard copyright disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any associated media, characters, or settings which are properties of 343 or Bungie. This is a work of fanfiction written purely for entertainment and not for monetary gain.

29 July 2549

Levosia III, 26 Draconis System

"What the fuck is a Forerunner?" One of the humans muttered.

The officer sitting across from Chac Lon also showed a flash of confusion, but hid it well. One of the humans near the end of the table had a much stronger reaction, his eyes widening for a few seconds. Chac Lon saw, and briefly locked eyes with the human, whose expression quickly turned to one of anger.

The kig-yar laughed and pointed at that human. "Hah! That guy knows, but I don't think he wants me to know he knows!"

Now the human across from him was upset. He turned to the other human. "Give it to me straight, is this entire thing some ONI bullshit? I don't need the whole story, I know I'm not cleared for it, but I need to know if we're all walking into some weird spook shit."

Now everyone in the room was staring at that human. He sighed and buried his face in his hands. "Captain Korhonen, nobody here has clearance for this, but since a fucking Covie is sitting there joking about the whole thing I guess it doesn't fucking matter." He paused to collect himself. "The Forerunners are an extinct alien race, more advanced that humanity or the Covenant. There's been artifacts of theirs found on some planets, and they're apparently important to the Covenant religion. That's all I've been cleared for. Maybe if you write Parangosky a nice letter and send a box of chocolates she'll tell you more!"

Chac Lon thought this entire thing was hilarious. "Well, if we're done with that, I'll get on with the story. Just so you know, a good chunk of what I'm about to say is a lie. But it being a lie is important to why we're here." He paused, and point to his left. "Actually, Brak, since you're the one who actually believed in the Great Journey, you could probably tell it better. And you've been practicing your human anyway."

Brak looked a bit surprised to be put on the spot, but he straightened himself up and began speaking. "As you say, the Forerunners are a race that lived ages before any of us. Millenia ago, they ascended to godhood, and left behind the other races of the galaxy. The Forerunners were advanced beyond comprehension, even their smallest artifacts and ruins have power beyond measure."

"The Prophets, leaders of the Covenant, consider themselves the inheritors of the Forerunner's legacy. Long ago on their planet were Forerunner relics and even a ship that the Prophets were able to use, and writings they translated. Those writings told them of the Great Journey; the Great Journey is how the Covenant species will ascend to godhood as the Forerunners did. Using the Forerunner ship, and by spreading word of the Great Journey, the Prophets were able to ally themselves with the Sangheili. The Sangheili would be the warriors of the Covenant, and the Prophets the priests."

"That was thousands of years ago. Since then, the Covenant has expanded, bringing the message of the Great Journey to other races. The first was the lekgolo, though you probably know them in the form of the mgalekgolo."

"Hunters." The ONI agent interjected., seeing confusion among some of the UNSC.

Brak nodded, and continued. "Then the Yanme'e, the insects. And then, about a thousand of your years ago, us. The kig-yar. When the Covenant came to our world the kig-yar had already mastered spaceflight within our system, and we fought hard against the Covenant. I do not think they expected it to be as difficult as it was, which is why the kig-yar are relatively free compared to the other Covenant races. Such as the unggoy, who came even later. Last were the jiralhanae, not even 100 of your years ago."

"All these races are united in their belief in the Great Journey, and the Prophet's leadership. Under them, we will find the Holy Rings, activate them, and ascend to the next plane of existence. None who believe will be left behind. Or so it was said. A few months ago, we found a Forerunner artifact on one of your planets."

"Tangier II." The ONI agent spoke again, seeming as if something had finally fallen into place inside his mind.

"Yeah, that's what it was called." Chac Lon interrupted. "Sorry, Brak, continue."

"As I was saying, we found a Forerunner artifact buried in a mine on your planet. After some work, we were able to determine it was a star map, showing the locations of the homeworlds of various races. Ours, the sangheili, the jiralhanae, the unggoy, and other races of the Covenant. But there was one we did not recognize. And it was marked with a symbol meaning 'reclamation', and named Erde-Tyrene."

"It was not a world I knew, but legend had it that a great number of Forerunner relics could be found on worlds marked 'reclamation'. If we found the relics, we could become unimaginably rich. Imagine our shock when we traveled to the system and found hundreds upon hundreds of human ships. We barely escaped with our lives!"

Korhonen pounded the table. "So it WAS you!" He pointed angrily at Chac Lon.

The kig-yar seemed unperturbed. "Yeah, I suppose it was. Now we're getting to the good part, though."

Brak continued his story. "How could there be humans on a Forerunner world, when the Covenant had decreed the humans to be unclean? After escaping Erde-Tyrene, we argued for hours. It was then our historian, Shaon Tol, realized that the translation was wrong. The symbol was not 'reclamation', but 'reclaimer'. Meaning, you, the humans, are the successors to the Forerunners, and the Prophets are wrong."

Korhonen spoke up again. "So you realized that your gods actually chose humans, not your Prophets as the chosen ones, so you decided to help us?"

"Well, that might be Brak's motivation, but I'm not too big on that Great Journey stuff." Chac Lon cut in. "I was thinking more of … self-preservation, you could call it. Do you know what happens to heretics in the Covenant? They kill you, if you're lucky. Usually they make it hurt."

The kig-yar leaned forward. "And here's the thing. After we realized that translation issue, we found a couple references to it buried in dark corners of the archives and Covenant network. And wouldn't you know that everyone who's ever decided it's 'reclaimer' not 'reclamation' has vanished. Disappeared. Gone."

"I like being alive, so what are my options? Good luck keeping a secret like that forever, especially in a pirate crew like mine. Out of three hundred someone's going to talk eventually. We could all go hide in some remote system somewhere, scraping out an existence in some asteroid belt hoping the Covenant never finds us. Probably a lot of other kig-yar doing the same thing, running from the Covenant for whatever reason. But that's not living, that's just putting off death."

"So, we have you, the humans. Our last, best option. And I think we can make a deal that will benefit the both of us." Chac Lon grinned.

The room was silent. Chac Lon hoped that Brak's story and his little speech would be enough to get the humans to treat them decently. To have an actual partnership, instead of ending up as prisoners.

After what seemed like hours, the human spoke. "Your story sounds... believable enough, especially for a bunch of jackals. Before we go any further you need to answer my questions."

"Ask away, human."

"What do you have to offer us besides your good word, what little that's worth to the UNSC right now."

Chac Lon had prepared for this question. "More Covenant tech than you've ever got your hands on for your engineers to take apart. Small arms, Banshees, Ghosts, Phantoms, gods I'll even let you onto my ships. You were probably going to search them anyway, but still." The human's expression told him he was right. "If you ONI help the search, I've got a Covenant spy tied up in my ship's brig I'd like you to take off my hands."

"Second, the Forerunner artifact. I've got an intact Forerunner artifact AND" he gestured at Shaon Tol "the best expert on it this side of High Charity. Help you humans along with the 'reclaiming' part of being 'reclaimers'."

"Third, we're the best source you've got on the Covenant right now. Sure, we weren't part of it, but we've dealt with it for years. You want to know about sangheili culture, how unggoy reproduce, which species hate the other ones, we can tell you. Hell, Shaon Tol here has the biggest pile of kig-yar artifacts and literature I've ever seen, inside or outside of a museum. Which brings me to one of my requests."

This had popped into his head on the flight down, and he hadn't had the time to think through exactly what he was going to say like the rest of his answer.

"So, when you – we win this war..." There was no point in talking about what would happen if the Covenant won. "I don't know what you humans do instead of glassing, but I'm sure it's not pretty. When you get to Eayn, our homeworld... don't?"

The human was unmoved by the display of emotion. "That's not my choice, but I'll mention it to my superiors. Second question; the 'holy rings' your buddy mentioned. What are they, and where are they?"

"That's a great question. I've never seen one, and I've never heard of anyone that has. Personally? I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't exist. Forerunner shit, though, so who knows? Can't help you much with that one."

Again the human seemed unimpressed. "Interesting. Smitson, Johnson, Engers, I want to talk in private. Alpha, Bravo, Tango teams -" The human gestured to the armed soldiers throughout the room. "Make sure the jackals don't do anything."

Inside the a repurposed break room of the mine, the four men sat down. Korhonen poured himself a cup of cold coffee, left of from before the UNSC unceremoniously kicked the ice miners out of the place. It was acrid and lukewarm, but at least it had caffeine. Then, he started the conversation.

"First things first; whatever is going on here, can we agree it's not an imminent Covenant attack?" The other three men nodded their assent. "Good. Smitson, after this send a notification to the governor to stand down the evac."

"Will do, sir."

"Alright. Now." Korhonen paused to inhale. "This Chac Lon guy. He's a cocky little fucker, isn't he? Coming in to ask for our help and acting like he owns the place?"

"Ah, I don't think so. He's acting, not doing a bad job of it, but he's acting." Johnson said.

"What makes you think that, sergeant major?"

"This guy says he's some pirate captain or something – from my time dealing with innies and criminals you want to stay in charge of an outfit like that you have to make everyone think you're the biggest badass in the room, even if you're not." Johnson laughed. "Way he was fidgeting and twitching around the whole time, if he was any more scared I'd be having one of my Marines clean bird shit off that chair right now."

"So what would you have me do?"

"Trust but verify. Let them stay for now, but make sure they know we've got enough firepower to wipe them out if they step out of line. And get him off script. That turkey's been planning what he's been going to say to us the moment he decided to flip off the Covies. Ask him something he hadn't thought of and you'll crack the shell."

Korhonen nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks, sergeant major. Makes me feel a bit better about dealing with this. Didn't have you pegged as the type to want to work with them, to be honest."

"I've been killing this guys friends for twenty years, if one wants to talk I have a minute."

"Heh, still think he's an arrogant little prick, though." He turned to the ONI representative. "Now, Commander Engers, I'm sure you and ONI have some thoughts."

"First, no, I didn't know this was going to happen."

"You knew about where they found that 'artifact' without them telling you."

"We had the data on the ships, the ones at Tangier matched here and Earth with over 90% certainty. And the agent onsite did send out a message about an unknown artifact being dug up a couple days before the jackals showed up. And that jackal looks a lot like the one from the security footage on Tangier. I'd have to run it through analysis to be sure but I'd say it's 90%."

"In other words, we have this guy on tape killing humans."

"If they want to cooperate and share technology and information ONI is willing to overlook some activities on insurrectionist-held planets. Besides, it's not like they glassed Harvest. Jackal's probably killed as many Covies as people anyway."

Korhonen sighed. "Of course."

Engers continued. "Look, I don't like the turkeys either, but right now humanity needs all the help we can get. I'm just thankful it looks like the actual Covenant might not have the location of Earth. And, if that jackal's not lying, we might have the location of Covenant homeworlds. At the very least, the translation data from that artifact will help us with our own translation efforts."

"How long has ONI known about this... Forerunner... stuff?"

"A while." Engers shrugged. "Sorry, I don't know more even if I was cleared to tell you." He paused. "Getting back to where I was before, we've got Covie tech to reverse engineer now. Sure, we've had bits and pieces before, but not a whole lot at once like we have here. Including at least four slipspace drivers. And, we tell those jackals that one of the conditions for keeping them out of a cell is that they show us how it works."

"They already offered that."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I've just got a lot going on in my head. This could be the biggest break we've gotten in years!" The ONI agent turned to Johnson. "What about giving some Marines the opportunity to train on Covenant weapons, or even train against a bunch of them in a nonlethal setting?"

Johnson was unimpressed. "If these guys are who they say they are, won't be too much help. Tactics, organization, all going to be different from the actual Covenant. I haven't seen a single elite with them and the Covenant doesn't let anyone take a piss without an elite ordering them around." He shrugged. "Still, if you can convince my Marines not to follow their training and shoot them on sight, go on and try."

"All that aside, what do we do right now, in the next ten minutes?" Smitson spoke up for the first time in a while.

Commander Engers was the first to respond. "I've got to let Mongo know this is the real deal. They'll jump out to Earth or Reach, show back up in a month or two with half of Section One and Section Three most likely. Hell, wouldn't be surprised if they wanted Halsey herself to look at that Forerunner thing. As for me, I'll be staying here. ONI's going to want someone to keep an eye on this place."

"And the jackals?"

"I've decided; we'll let them stay. But there will be conditions. Let's talk a few minutes on specifics, but they'll be one or two steps above prisoners for now. At least until HighCom overrides me." Korhonen said.

Chac Lon watched the second hand on the wall-mounted clock make another revolution. By human reckoning, it had been barely half an hour since the important humans left to have a private conversation, but it felt longer. A few of his kig-yar were talking amongst themselves. Shim Vol and a few others had been bold enough to try making conversation with some of the human soldiers, but they might as well have been talking to rocks.

At last, the humans returned. The main human sat back down across from Chac Lon, placing his hands on the table and folding them together. He paused for a moment, and cleared his throat.

"I have decided to allow you and your crew to remain here. However, there are conditions."

"Naturally." Let's see how bad it's going to be.

"Your ships will be left unmanned, aside from the minimal crew needed to keep them in working order. At all times at least an equal amount of human crew will be present."

"Fine, but you realize that they won't be useful for anything like that. I don't think your people know how to run my corvette."

The human continued as if he had not heard. "Second, yourself and your crews will be interned at a location of the UNSC's choosing for the foreseeable future. You will not be left free to roam around the planet, and you will be disarmed aside from personal weapons. Which will be kept in a secure, locked location. Anything you do bring with you will be thoroughly inspected." His voice lowered. "Need I remind you that the UNSC troops watching you will be much more heavily armed."

This wasn't anything he hadn't expected. "As long as we're actually going planetside. This iceball doesn't look very fun, and I'd be whoever owns this mine wouldn't be happy about the lost profit from turning their business into a prison."

They continued. "Third, you and your crew will answer any questions asked of you, at any time. I don't care if Commander Engers here wakes you up at 3 in the morning to interrogate you about your dating life, you better cooperate."

"That'd be a short talk." Shim Vol muttered just loud enough for the humans to hear. "Can you not?" Chac Lon hissed at her as a few of the humans held back laughter.

Chac Lon turned back to the human. "Just to clarify, all this is just a temporary measure, right? I understand, we're unfamiliar, kig-yar and humans haven't exactly been the best of friends, all that. But we did come here of our own free will and offer to help you. If I tell my crew that I brought them here to spend the rest of their lives as prisoners they're going to riot. And I wouldn't blame them."

"Be that as it may, you are entirely at the mercy of the UNSC right now. Cooperation will be regarded favorably when I make my report to my superiors." Left unsaid was the opposite; causing problems would earn them a one-way trip to an ONI black site.

"Sure, sure, alright." Chac Lon sighed. "Not like I have much of a choice do I?"

1045 (Local), 15 August 2549

UNSC Camp Teton

Arka Region, Levosia, 26 Draconis System

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump thump.

That was a good throw. Chac Lon threw the greenish sphere again, bouncing it off the concrete floor and walls of the dead-end hallway.

Thump thump. As the sphere bounced back to him, he heard footsteps approaching. Bet I know who that is. He concentrated, wound up, and threw again.

"I know you hear me, Chac Lon."

Thump thump. Chac Lon jumped to grab a random bounce off a protruding pipe. Thump thump.

"Hello, human." Thump thump.

"I know you also know my name by now."

Chac Lon turned and leaned against the wall. "What can I do for you today, Captain Korhonen? As you can see I am very busy."

The human groaned in frustration. "I've been hearing some complaints about your people. Rumors that they're fighting."

"Each other or your humans? Why do you care if my kig-yar fight each other for fun, what else are we supposed to do for fun?"

"Mostly the first, but two of Brisbane's ODSTs say that two of your people were harassing them yesterday. And that's after the incident with the food two days before."

"To be fair the food was pretty crap that day, my unggoy could probably cook better than that. Speaking of, how are they doing?"

"They've been more cooperative than your jackals have, that's for sure."

"No surprise there, unggoy will listen to pretty much anyone. Just how their brains are wired. Surprised your ONI people haven't tried to recruit any of them in this, as long as you treat them better than the sangheili they'll adore you." Chac Lon paused. "Really, what did you expect? This is a pirate group, not a military unit, I can't just start cutting off hands whenever somebody acts up. Well, I could, but you know what I mean. And I wouldn't, anyway. They just want something to do. And so do I."

Korhonen sighed. "Honestly, I get that. My crew gets stir crazy after sitting around too long, and the floors and windows can only get so clean." He chuckled a bit.

"That might help, letting more of them get back to the ships for a few days might break up the monotony at least. My other offer still stands, too."

"I should have known letting Engers and Romol talk to you was a bad idea."

"No, I came up with that entirely on my own! Besides, it's great! Helps you solve your insurrectionist problem, plausible deniability for the UNSC, gives me and mine something to do and even the chance for some loot. Everyone wins!"

"No. Final. But I will put in a good word for you when the rest of the UNSC shows up. As much as it pains me to admit this has gone... less badly than I expected."

"I'm doing the best I can. But I brought my kig-yar here, and they're going to hold me responsible if they spend the rest of their lives in prison here."

The two stood in silence for a minute. After a bit, Korhonen gestured to Chac Lon's left arm. "Have to ask, how'd you get those scars? Looks pretty painful."

"Yeah, wasn't fun. Was on a former human colony, Persia IX I think it was called, about five years ago. Covenant glassed it a while before that." He held up his hand. "No, no, don't worry, I didn't kill any humans this time. There was this Sinaris-pattern destroyer, Imperious Convictor. Got shot down by your people in the battle for the colony, crashed in a remote part of the planet. You know the place?"

"Can't say I do." Korhonen motioned for Chac Lon to continue.

"Probably was a decent place before the Covenant showed up. Cold as hell though when I visited. Frozen, windy, air was all dusty. Anyway, went there to try and salvage the destroyer. Hoped it was remote enough that it hadn't been picked clean, and from orbit looked clear. Turned out it wasn't."

"Didn't even make it inside the wreckage when a sangheili major got the jump on me. Guess he was head of the security detail for the crash site. Anyway, the bastard hits me with a burst from his plasma rifle, gets a bunch of hits. Thank the gods my armor took the worst of it and he didn't hit my legs, so I got out of there."

"Still messed me up pretty good. Shoulder plates half melted and heat transfer through the armor burned me pretty bad." Chac Lon ruffled the feathers on his left arm, which were a lighter color than the ones on his right arm. "Thought these were completely scorched off, didn't think they'd grow back. Did end up needing skin transplant and surgery on the shoulder, that cost a lot. Especially since I didn't get any money off that job." He flexed his arm and shoulder experimentally. "Hurt like hell for a while but not too bad these days unless it's freezing out. And I'm a warm-weather kig-yar anyway."

Korhonen smiled. "So that's why you don't like the Covenant."

Chac Lon waved dismissively. "No, no, I'm not mad at that guy. I mean, I don't like the split lips, they're arrogant idiots with an iron rod wedged up their assholes, but I don't really hate them. That sangheili's job was to keep people like me out of the crash site, and he did that job. You have to respect that. Really, sangheili aren't the worst to deal with, ninety-nine out of a hundred of them are so big on honor and family and service that they're predictable. They don't like me, I don't like them, but they won't kill me if I don't cross certain lines."

"You said ninety-nine out of a hundred, some of them are different?"

"Sangheili pirates are rare, but not unheard of. Physical enough to throw any kig-yar around but they don't really get respect, if you get what I'm saying. Had a nasty run in with one a while back. Story for another time, save it for a day you skipped lunch. No, I have more personal reasons for hating the Covenant."

"Brutes?" Korhonen asked.

Chac Lon twitched involuntarily. "Yes."

"One of them give you some scars too?"

"No." The kig-yar's tone made it clear that the conversation was over.

With expert timing, Lieutenant Commander Smitson appeared down the hall, banging against a pipe to get Korhonen's attention. As the Captain turned to look, Smitson frantically waved him into a small side room.

"What is it, Smitson?" Korhonen spoke in hushed tones, low enough that the kig-yar in the hallway could not here.

"Sir, it's the Covenant. Defense grid picked up three contacts, one light cruiser, two light frigate class."

"Any communication from them?" If you can get lucky once, you can get lucky twice, Korhonen thought.

"None. I think this is the real deal."