This chapter was written by me, and after this there is a somewhat substantial time jump once again. Honestly it occurs to me that this one might be a little boring, most of it is exposition and the characters interacting a bit. If that interests you, read on, otherwise feel free to skip this chapter.

Anya launched another glowing orb into the air and put a sniper round straight through the middle. Talking to Reya had only served to make her more determined, if Reya and Elan decided to dump Stock on some abandoned rock of a planet then they were either leaving her too or she would leave them at the first opportunity. If they sent Ira after her and she had to kill him, well that would just be a bonus.

The orb pulsed with light as it floated to one of the steel reinforcement beams, adhered to it for a split second, then detonated. She had decided to use low power, low damage rounds, so right now her bombs were a bit pathetic, but making things explode did at least have a calming effect. She was somewhat dreading seeing Talos. She was supposed to be investigating him, and he wasn't supposed to know she was doing it, so she had her faceplate engaged because she didn't feel like she would be able to lie to him successfully otherwise. Reya was right though, she had a stupidly complicated history with Ira and this would not have gone well. If she'd had to interview Ira she would have accused him of being the traitor point blank, whether he was or not wouldn't have mattered.

"I thought you would be resting," came a quiet voice from behind her and Anya turned around to see Talos standing in the doorway watching her.

"I've been resting for the past three thousand years or more, Talos, I think it's time I did something besides lie on my back for a change," she responded, "I thought you would be the one still asleep."

"No," he said simply.

"What are you up for anyway?" she asked, "It's four in the damn morning."

"Wanted to talk," he shrugged, "I don't sleep, you know this."

"…I… I don't remember that much," she admitted, creating another bomb and shooting it through the middle before allowing it to explode on another beam, "Only Stock, and unfortunately Ira."

"Then?" he said questioningly. Anya just tilted her head to the side. "You didn't forget the marine," he clarified.

"I couldn't," she answered, "It's hard to explain, Talos. He's…"

"You love him," the Excalibur said knowingly.

"That took you all of about five minutes," she said, "I had to spell it out for Reya."

"It was not so difficult to see," he told her, "You nearly took Ira's fool head off."

"I… may have… not been thinking very clearly," she sighed, "But… I don't know, I panicked and I just reacted. Guess it doesn't matter much what was going through my head now, does it?"

"Maybe, maybe not," he shrugged, "But I doubt our operations officer will be making that mistake in your presence ever again."

"Not if he's smart," she snorted, "I don't really want to kill him but… Well, I've had too many nightmares, the same stupid thing kept playing over and over in my head for thousands of years. I suppose I was bound to go a little mental."

"Hopefully not too much so," Talos said, and she thought she heard a hint of a smile in his voice.

"Well, I certainly can't go off like that again," Anya said, "I don't think Reya was happy with me. Funny though, she didn't say anything about it, only that I was supposed to train with you until she told me I could stop."

"Your form was rather poor," he stated bluntly.

"Oh thanks, now I feel so much better," she said sarcastically.

"Now there's the Anya I remember," he teased.

"Laugh it up, Talos, I'll put you on your ass," she snarked.

"You can try," he said, the teasing smirk clear in his voice. She lunged at him and tackled him to the ground, but soon found herself pinned with her back to him and her right arm pinned uncomfortably behind her back. "Alright, you win," she managed to laugh.

"You would still rather not get close to your enemy I see," he commented, letting her go.

"And apparently you're all business any time someone is less than perfect in hand to hand combat," she retorted.

"I think it would be best if you rest," Talos said, "Time enough to begin training tomorrow."

"Maybe you're right," she said, but she made no move to get up off the floor.

"Anya, go to bed, get some proper sleep, hell, go make that marine howl your name at the ceiling," he ordered.

"Hey!" she squeaked, her hands flying to cover her faceplate.

"Ha! I can still embarrass you," he teased, then grunted as she kicked his feet out from under him and he hit the floor.

"Told you I'd put you on your butt," she laughed.

"Yes, my chest is my butt," he said sarcastically, "Should I send you to see Gaia with instructions to ask her for training in anatomy?"

"I think it's a lost cause," Anya quipped, "If I haven't learned by now I doubt I ever will."

"Go to bed," he told her, "I'll still be here waiting when you wake up."

"Yeah, you're right," she sighed as she stood and went to the door, "I'll see you later, Talos."

"Take care," he said.

Anya walked out with every intention of heading for her quarters, but she decided half way there that she was hungry and she ended up going to the galley. There weren't many other tenno there, and those who were immediately started whispering excitedly to each other the moment she walked in. She had no idea why. She had no idea where to look either, everything seemed to be either brightly colored or wrapped up in a brightly colored cloth or bag, and she didn't recognize any of it. Everything that had existed before must have either died out or evolved so thoroughly that it bore no resemblance to what it had originally been. "I like these," Tess spoke up as she came up beside Anya and picked up two different fruits, offering one to the nova.

"Thanks," Anya said softly as she removed her helm and held out her hand.

"You look tired," Tess remarked.

"I feel tired," Anya admitted, inspecting the fruit, "But I feel hungry more. Just, uh… how..?"

"Come on," the little mag grinned, "It's easy once you do it a couple times. Your sword is too big though." She pulled a small dagger from its place at her lower back and carefully ran it along one of the many seems, repeating the process until she'd gone completely around the fruit. "Now crack it on the table," she instructed.

"I would never have figured this out on my own," Anya said when the fruit split into about ten wedges.

"Not exhausted like you are, but I'm sure you'd have gotten it at some point," Tess shrugged.

"Well, thanks," Anya replied, "I'm going to go down to the garden, you're welcome to join me if you want."

"Sure," Tess grinned, "Long as you don't mind."

"Nah," Anya said, giving Tess a small smile as the two headed out of the galley, "I don't want to be stared at like I'm some museum set piece, but I also don't feel like being by myself either."

"That why you're not sleeping?" Tess asked.

"Well, that and I was just talking with Talos," Anya shrugged, "I still don't think he'd ever betray Reya, but we didn't get that far either so I suppose I can't really say for sure. Speaking of which, have you talked to Ira yet?"

"Nope," Tess replied, "I think if I wake him up at four in the morning he'll know something is up and he's not supposed to. I wish I could ask Boreas how to do this too, I've never had to do anything like this before."

"It's probably closer to 0600 or 0700 by now," Anya chuckled, then she said, "I just wish I could remember more about them than just their names and feelings I had about working with them."

"That was actually something I was hoping to ask you about if you didn't mind," Tess said, "I heard it second hand from Boreas and Stock, but Stock said you almost beheaded Ira. Asked Boreas if it was anything more than you just being protective, and he told me that all he could remember was that Ira somehow made you hate him."

"I honestly don't remember much more than that about Ira myself, only that he never gave me a moment's peace and he was much more cruel than he needed to be," Anya replied, "Reya was right though, Ira and I have a stupidly complicated history. As for what I remember about Talos, Boreas, and Reya, it's mostly just feelings. I remember feeling like Talos would be there no matter what happened, like he was my brother, while for Reya the feelings are a lot less personal. She was my captain and I respected her, I still do, but I admit my trust in her is a bit...shaken... Of the three of them, Boreas is the only one I have a clear memory of. I remember... Something happened, I was upset, and he just sat there holding me and telling me everything would be ok."

"He was pretty much your dad," Tess supplied.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Anya mused, "I know it's probably a good thing Reya didn't assign me to him too, because I don't think I could keep him in the dark."

"It's difficult for sure," Tess agreed, "He's the only family member I feel like I have, he practically raised me after they pulled me out of cryo. Plus, he's really hard to lie to, he always knows when you're trying. Stares at you until you get so uncomfortable that you can't fess up fast enough."

"I don't think I've ever been on the receiving end of that from Jack. At least if I have I don't remember any of it," Anya chuckled, "I could definitely see that from him though."

"So here's a question, is there anything you remember properly, clear enough that you can say without a shred of doubt, 'Yes, this actually happened exactly this way?'" Tess asked.

Anya thought about it for several minutes, wondering why this girl was so fascinated with her and also wondering how much she should actually tell her. "I will have to get back to you on that," Anya said finally, then she looked at Tess, "What about you? Do you have any memories like that?"

"Only memory I really have at all is from before the Zariman," Tess said, "I remember my parents hugging me and telling me they would see me when the voyage was over, then I climbed in the pod and that was it. Then we cut to about... I don't know, a few years ago maybe, and Reya, Boreas, and the other clan leader, Elan, were waking me up. They scared the hell out of me too, I thought I was dead for sure until Reya took her helmet off."

"So you were never involved in the wars and all that mess like we were," Anya realized.

"No, I wasn't," Tess said, "Boreas said you were though. He also told me a little bit about you and Ira, what he could remember anyway. I asked after they brought you back, because Ira was really mad. I don't think I've seen him that angry since Reya opened your cryopod and found Stock instead of you."

"I'm still annoyed with Reya for bringing Ira in on that," Anya grumped, "She should have just talked to Boreas. Boreas would have known the right questions to ask, he could have gotten so much farther in a much shorter length of time than Reya and Ira apparently did."

"I don't think Reya expected you to care," Tess commented, "You are a bit of a legend, us squires have to know at least a little bit about you or we don't climb the ranks. I've read everything I could find about you too, you always went alone if you could get away with it and the files all say you never left any survivors. I think they thought you hated the Orokin at least as much as Ira did and some of the archivists seem to think you hated them more."

"Fair point," Anya conceded, "I mean, I know I didn't always kill everyone I came to, I remember one man in particular, but all I can remember is that I let him live, I don't even remember why now. Talos or Boreas might be able to tell you more about me, everything that I remember clearly was before the war with the Sentients, plus one little snippet just after we came back from beating them."

"The archives didn't mention anything about what you did immediately after coming back, or about what you did before the war with the Sentients," Tess said, "I always wondered why, because we know practically everything about some of the others."

"I didn't tell them," Anya shrugged, "Boreas was the only one I would have been comfortable with telling to begin with and I'm sure I probably did tell him something although I don't remember it, but then by the time Talos came along I was so used to keeping the secrets that it was just easier."

"Is there anything you wouldn't mind sharing?" Tess asked.

Anya looked at the younger tenno for a long moment, then smiled and asked, "What do you want to know?"

"How about the beginning?" Tess asked with a grin, "You know, how you met Stock and all that."

"There wasn't much to it really," Anya said, "The Orokin military assigned me to his unit and we just sort of clicked. Everyone else was scared shitless of me, but Connor…he wasn't afraid of me at all. Sure I made him nervous when I first got there, but he wasn't terrified like the others were, and he wouldn't let me give up. Then after that he just stuck by me, even when it would have been easier and probably a lot safer for him not to. He, another marine by the name of Havoc, and I were in the same unit for… about four years I think. By the time the Colonial Rebellions ended we just somehow had the idea that we'd always be there for each other, that we'd never be split up. It happened though, I ended up being transferred to ORSOC and I had to leave him behind. I… I have no idea what happened to him after that, and I've lost pretty much all of my own memories of that war, but it doesn't matter, not really anyway. I'm just glad I have something, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it," Tess smiled, "I kind of wish I could have seen that now though."

"Why is that?" Anya asked.

"Because I bet you two were adorable," Tess giggled.

"Oh wow," was all Anya could say, while Tess burst out laughing for the second time that morning. They spent the rest of the morning just chatting and getting to know each other, with Tess telling Anya about some of the missions she'd been on after being woken from cryo, and Anya telling her about missions she'd had with the marines before the war with the Sentients.

"So it sounds like you really enjoyed being with the marines, at least for a while," Tess said finally.

"I did," Anya replied, "I mean, sure, a few, probably most of them actually, were just jerks, but there were a few who were ok. Even some who were jerks I was mostly ok with. It wasn't their fault really, they were just doing what they were told their whole lives."

"But didn't they, you know, hate you?" Tess was surprised.

"Some did, some were just scared because they didn't know any better," Anya explained, "Some of them got over it though. There was one guy in our unit who was a complete idiot and kind of an ass when I first met him but once we got used to each other I would say he was a friend. He… he died though, pretty early on. I think I had only been with the unit for about six months when we lost Simmons…"

"You sound like you miss them," Tess said curiously.

"Sometimes I do, but I wouldn't want to go back," Anya told her, "Have Reya or Boreas told you anything about the Colonial Rebellions we had to help end?"

"Not much, only that they were involved," Tess answered, "I think it hurts Reya to talk about it while Boreas is missing some pretty big parts of his own memories. I haven't asked Talos at all and Ira has only been willing to talk about it since we opened your pod. He usually just complains about how horrible everything was and how much the Orokin deserved to pay for it."

"It may not be entirely his fault," Anya sighed, "I can't stand him, but the fact that he's a cruel, vicious person may just be a result of whatever they did to him. The Orokin Empire created a cruel, terrible world and there were only a few tenno who made it through undamaged. The problem is that Ira was never willing to accept the idea that the tenno weren't the only ones who suffered."

"What do you mean?" Tess asked.

"It was a class based system," Anya explained, "The high born and ruling classes did whatever they felt like, there were a few classes that weren't exactly high born but they weren't the scum of the earth either. They were mainly business people and craftsmen of all kinds, then you had the lower classes and… they were essentially slaves, some more despised than others. That was what caused the rebellions to begin with as near as I can recall, some of the worst treated of the people decided that enough was enough."

"So how does Stock fit in? I mean, he is, or was, a noble, right?" Tess wanted to know.

"He wasn't always," Anya said, "When I met him he was actually worse off than a lot of the guys who came from the lowest of the low born. His grandfather was caught supplying the rebels with advanced weapons and tech, and for that he lost his rank, his land, his titles, and his whole family was disgraced. Stock wouldn't talk about it at all at first. For a long time most of what I knew I found out from hearing the other guys in our unit talking, other stuff I learned from public record. It was very, very public, the empire would never let anyone forget…"

"Wow... I had no idea," Tess said quietly.

"It could definitely have been worse, he could have ended up dead," Anya sighed, "I just don't know how I would have handled that is all. Probably would have lost my mind."

"Boreas told me a little bit about what happened after you were switched over to ORSOC, I think he was worried about you for a while," Tess replied, "It's funny kind of, he worries any time one of us is feeling down or gets a minor bruise."

"That reminds me, the only corny thing I've ever heard him say, I think it was only a couple of weeks or so after I was transferred," Anya told her, "I remember being on the ground on my back for some reason ready to just give up, and he shows up holding out his hand asking if I need a hand up, I said thanks and then he goes, 'The name's Frost, Jack Frost. At your service.'"

"So that's where that nickname came from," Tess laughed, "I must ask him about that one later."

"Just say Jack Frost, he should get it," Anya giggled.