Let's see the aftermath


Everything hurt, that was the first that came to his mind as he was able to regain himself. Everything hurt, his arms, his legs, his chest, his head, even his eyes hurt. The only thing he could take comfort in was the fact that he was lying on something soft. But as soon as he realized that, everything else came rushing back. The mission, the fight, everything.

Despite the pain he felt, he forced himself to open his eyes. He couldn't see, that was annoying. For a moment he thought he was blind, but that was only for a second, after that he felt the bandages over them. He reaching up with his arm, which still hurt. He pulled them off and the whiteness of a med bay hit him.

The brightness of it all caught him off guard for a moment before he chose to ignore it. He sat up and looked down at himself, his whole body was covered in bandages in one degree or another and he didn't know how else to go about it all. He needed to get back into the fight, grunting in pain he started to rip them all off of himself and prepared to move.

That was when he felt it.

In his arm, was a needle. He looked at it confused for a moment, how did the needle stick into his arm. That's never been a possibility before. Then he thought about it, his memories of everything that happened came back to him and he started to think about all the possibilities of how that could happen. Within a few seconds, the only thing that came to his mind was that when he did whatever it was with his eyes. It somehow drained him of whatever power he seemed to have.

He didn't care about that, ONI now had the sample of blood that they wanted so badly. At least now, Halsey and other can try and do something with it at the very least. Maybe they'll find something they can use.

He was about to reach forward and rip the needle out but stopped when he could see with his own eyes that it was slowly being pushed out on its own. It would seem that whatever weakness that his body had was no longer then and the needle fell to the bed and the hole that was once there on his skin sealed shut.

He didn't even get a moment to stand up before the door opened "Alt!" he heard his dad say. Turning to the open door, he saw that his dad was moving in with a data pad in hand but as soon as he reached him, he dropped it on the foot of the bed and wrapped him a tight embrace. Alt did the same thing back to him with a couple of heavy slaps on the shoulder for good measure. Pulling away from each other he looked at him closer "how do you feel?" he asked him.

"Everything hurts" he admitted as he stood up, earning a grunt from himself as he did so. He was slightly shaking but managed to remain standing "what happened?" he asked him.

Stevens let out a sigh as he picked up the data pad and started to go over some things "after you did... whatever it was?" he admitted "you got carried back onto the Pelican and brought onboard. Thankfully we didn't lose any ships on the way out, expect for the Marathon class cruiser just before we retreated" as he spoke Alt spotted some cups with a jug of water and went over to them "you've been out of it for five hours, we're still in Slipspace at the moment. Heading towards the nearest UNSC shipyard for repairs. Khane's been in meetings ever since giving out reports left and right. I think you can guess what the main topic is" he said to him.

Alt gently placed the cup down and starred at it for a moment. Yeah, he didn't need to guess "this war just got a lot harder" he said aloud. Turning his head he could see there was a blurry sheet with a seat and a bundle of clothes resting on top of it. Moving behind it, he began to get dressed out of his medical gown and started to put the uniform on.

"You won though" his dad said from his spot on the other side of the room "that has to count for something"

"By the skin of my teeth" he countered just as fast "and I think it was just luck, he didn't act like he was expecting... whatever it was that I did" he added.

"About that" Stevens started as he sat on the bed and started to look at the data "once we had you stable, we realized that what you did seemed to weaken you. As we started to check for any more serious injuries, one of the team saw that a needle went in. Of course, they all started to lose their minds over it" a gruff chuckle escaped Alt as he heard that "yeah, I told them to grow and work on making sure you stay alive before we worry about that, when you were stable. I let them take some blood. Just blood, nothing else" he added.

"Ok" Alt called out and he buttoned his pants and worked on his shirt "find anything?" he asked.

"One thing" he started "we think we've found out where your power comes from" he admitted.

Alt paused for a moment and stepped out from behind the cover sheet, his torso still exposed "what did you find?" he asked with raised eyebrows, very much wanting to know himself.

"Something really weird" he started as he looked back down to the data "the first thing we found was that you blood, your cells do not give a fuck about anything. We have tried everything we could think of in order to kill them. Nothing worked, no amount of radiation, heat, cold, sound, vibrations, nothing worked. You're cells just don't care, but as we we're looking one of are dumb A.I's where able to detect trace amounts of solar radiation coming off of it" he explained and Alt finished dressing before moving to sit down on the bed. Listening to everything that was being said "when that happened, we were to take some of the scans that the ships passively take when in actions and guess what we detected high amounts of when you did what you did with your eyes?"

It took a moment for even his mind to process what he was hearing "are saying my powers come from sunlight?" he asked.

Stevens gave him a small shrug "it's the leading theory at the moment. We're going to need to do a couple of more tests to be sure but..." he trailed off for a moment and Alt took a chance to reflect. His mind started to go over the possibility of it all, could he get that much power from sunlight alone. No, there was no chance that solar energy could give him so much power. There has to be more to it than that "Son, what happened down there?" he asked.

"I don't know" he admitted "that... person, whatever he was. He didn't say much"

"You could understand him?" he was asked, Steven's seeing that he said 'much' meaning that he must have said something.

"Yeah, he spoke English" he admitted "said some... weird stuff. I... I think he Know's who I am. I think he said my name" he added.

His dad's eyes grew wide for a moment before he turned back to the data pad and opened a new page "what exactly did he say?" he asked him.

Alt waited a moment, making sure that he was remembering everything right before he spoke "He said 'you cannot stop this Kal-El. For every human you save, we will kill a million more. The Mantel of Responsibility for all things, belongs to the Kryptonians alone" he quoted.

Stevens didn't do more then let a hum as he heard all of that, not that Alt could blame him of course. While it might not seem like much, there was a lot to unpack there. The first thing was the 'Kal-El' every other word that was said was in English so it's not outside the realm of possibility for that to mean a title or a name and when he said it to Alt, that could be an indicator for his name. The part at the end was also interesting 'Kryptonians' that word could mean anything but he made it sound like it was a race. But it could just as likely be the collection of all the races as well, one would have trouble figuring it out without some inside knowledge. Meaning that they are going to need to take a prisoner at some point.

However the most interesting thing was the middle 'The Mantel of Responsibility' that could mean any number of things and neither of them had no idea where they would even start with that.

"I'm going to need to write a report" Alt started as he stood up "a very detailed one" he added.

"Agreed. And don't worry, once we know more from the blood samples, you'll be the first to know" he added as the two made their way to the exit.

"Yeah, thanks dad" the two left the room and entered the corridor "love you" he said before turning away and making his way down the steel halls.

"You too" Stevens added before he turned and made his way back to the lab.


"Atlas, how are you feeling" came the voice Admiral Lord Hood as his face was plastered onto the screen in front of him. On the screen next to his was Admiral Parangosky who looked at him just as sternly as he would have expected.

"Beat up sir" he was honest about that, he stood in a small room with his hands clasped behind his straight back.

"We've just went over your report, I'm not going to lie son. We're in the middle of shit creak right now" he added and Atlas couldn't help but agree.

Before he could respond however, the head of ONI spoke up "but thankfully, we do seem to have a paddle" she started "this new ability you seem to have unlocked, I need you to understand how it works and learn out to control. These aliens, who we are now calling the Covenant. Have us outclassed in almost every engagement we find ourselves in. We're seeing a pattern of being able to hold our ground on the ground but when it comes to naval engagements. We're laughably outclassed. You brought one of them down in a matter of seconds, that's a power we cannot afford to not use"

Alt slowly shook his head "I understand ma'am, but it might not be worth it if it knocks me out every time" he countered.

"We understand that which is why you are going to do everything you can to understand it and master it, there's a chance you only lost consciousness because it was the first time" she said back just as sharply.

"I'd like to know more about this enemy" Hood spoke "this... Kryptonian? he is one of your people, yes?" he asked.

"Unfortunately" was all Alt had to say about it.

"Did he give you any indication that there would be more of them?" he asked.

"No sir, but I strongly believe that he was not alone. If he was then he wouldn't be on the front lines like that" which was true, despite whatever level of arrogance that someone with his power may feel. It was very odd that they would be leading from the front like that.

"Are we sure he's dead?" Parangosky asked with crossed arms as she leaned on the table in front of her.

"No, we're not" he admitted.

Hood raised an eyebrow at him "A dead centre hit from a MAC round and you think he's still alive?" Hood said to him in a voice of complete disbelief.

"He could have gotten out of the way if he wanted to" Alt said back in a cold voice. And it was true, he was definitely fast enough and if he moved instead of talking he could easily have moved aside. He didn't act like he was ready to die "but there's only one way to find out" maybe it was the seriousness of it all or maybe it was the widening of his eyes as he said.

But when he did, the two most powerful humans paused for a moment and looked at him in confusion "are your seriously suggesting that we fire a MAC round at you" Hood asked with wide eyes and a disbelieving tone.

"We're not doing that Atlas" Paragosky said "I respect your commitment to see the enemy dead and I am well aware that we've test weapon on you in the past, but it was never with the intent to kill" he had to admit that it was true, whenever weapons where tested on him, it was always his hands that they went for and it was never anything so destructive as a MAC round "we can't afford to lose you, now more than ever. For now, you will do as instructed and get control of this new power of yours. That is all" that last part was a stern and clear order.

He took a moment before he nodded "understood ma'am and if I may...?" he trailed off.

"Proceed" Hood gave permission.

"How is the un-coding of data that we got from the alien ship doing?" he asked, really wanting to know if his mission with Blue Team was a win for them.

"Slowly" the head of ONI started "I'll have a progress report sent to you but for now the data we do have and it is a lot. Is being very slowly understood by a handful of smart A.I and a legion of dumb ones"

"Do we have anything specific we're trying to uncover?" he asked back.

"While everything would be useful" Hood answered for her "we've agreed for the moment that the most important asset we could acquire would be the shielding technology. But it is a slow road, we don't think we'll be able to get anything for a couple of months more, maybe even a year"

That was a grim answer and Alt hated that "I'd like to make a recommendation" he said, Parangosky raised an eyebrow at him.

"Go on"

He straightened his back before speaking "Stop trying to find the data for the shielding tech, instead. Focus on controls and navigation" he gave them a moment to think it over and despite how professional each of them where, they looked at him in completely confusion "If one of the A.I is capable of getting a complete understanding of how to control one of their ship..."

"You could hijack one" Hood finished for him understanding what he would be getting at.

"That could be just as risky as waiting for the de-coding" Parangosky started "they could have any number of ways to track down rouge ships" it was clear that while she was thinking about it, she was also leaning towards a no.

"But if an A.I could be connected to the ship entire before it's found" Hood countered "it may be able to get much more out of it in a very short amount of time"

"I could get onboard one easily enough" Alt continued "deal with the crew, plug the A.I into the system. One Slipspace jump to a faraway system where a UNSC ship will be waiting for extraction" he told them the very simple version of his plan.

They were both silent for a moment, no doubt thinking it over "this is going to require some deliberation" Hood said to him "we'll talk it over, for now. Make sure the fleet makes it to the rendezvous point and focus on training this new power of yours" he ordered.

Alt straightened his back and gave him a salute "Yes sir" he said before the image of Hood disappeared.

Lowering his head he turned to see that Parangosky was still there "I hope that you can understand, we'll be going over the blood sample we got from you just as much as the alien ship code" she told him.

"I understand ma'am. I imagine Halsey's going to be over the moon" he commented with a sarcastic chuckle.

Something Parangosky shared with him as she leaned back in her chair and let out her own smirk "yes, when I told her she smiled for the first time in my presence which was an interesting thing to see. I've told her to do what she has to but to be careful, I doubt we'll be getting any more any time soon"

"Well, here's hoping she can get something we can use" he commented, not knowing what else he could say on the subject, he of course not really pleased with the idea of someone very smart who doesn't like him having the means to understand his biological make up and look for a way to kill him.

"Indeed" she nodded back at him, looking down at something. She pressed a couple of keys into a keyboard"I'm giving you clearance to the data we have on the asset that was being studied in the ONI installation. I'll save you some work and tell you that it is alien in nature but the interesting thing is that we don't believe it to be covenant. But that's not the most interesting, no. That is the reading we are getting from this object are a match for the same alien craft we found you in" she told him.

He slowly nodded at that little piece of info, of course Alt knew where he came from, from day one. And yes, he did ask questions about how he got here, his dad did tell him the truth. That he was found in a ship and that ship was somewhere he didn't know. From there the idea of that ship has always been playing in his mind but he never asked about it, he knew ONI. He knew that the only way he would get anything on the topic of his ship was that if Parangosky felt he needed to know about it.

"I'm going to assume that you haven't gotten much from the ship I was found in" he said calmly.

"No, we haven't" she admitted very quickly and clearly.

That really did cause him to do a double take "after all this time?" he asked, it was pretty much the same question but he couldn't believe that, nearly two decades of time to study and they don't have anything?

The head of ONI let out a sigh "after all this time" she confirmed "the ship that you arrived in, was recorded to open one time when we first found you and once you were taken out it sealed itself back up. We haven't been able to access it because we haven't been able to find any type of port of plug in to get access. We've tried to force it open but whenever something so much as touches it, doesn't matter if it's organic or synthetic. It starts to emit enough energy to power New York"

His head tilted to the side as he heard that "you think it might be a bomb?" he asked her.

"I've deemed it not worth the risk of finding out" she admitted with her usual straight forward attitude.

He stopped for a moment and started to think about why she was suddenly telling him all of this "are you having that same problem with this new... artifact?" he asked them.

"We are. Which is why we believe this thing was once something your people used" she confirmed for him "which is why I am giving you access, the fleet will be at the rendezvous point in two days, at which point the asset will be shipped to an ONI research installation for further study. Until then I'm placing you in charge of it. Do what you can with the team and equipment at your disposal"

Upon hearing the orders, much like before Alt straightened his back and gave her a salute "Yes ma'am" he said before she gave him a final nod and the image blinked away.

He let his arm drop for a moment before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, making a schedule in his head about what he needed to do now and what the best order to do them would be. He made a bet with himself that no other nineteen year old had to deal with this type of shit.


The glass was in front of him and all he did was stare at it. Just waiting for the right moment. Most ships in the UNSC had some form of alcohol or another, it was started that due them being on active duty for prolonged periods of times. Sometimes small breaks of R&R would have to take place while people where still on board or in transit to the planet that would be used for the break and such.

You were never supposed to drink unless you were off duty, but of course there were exceptions to every rule. If a person or a troop just got back from a fire fight and wanted a drink, they could have one. Under the unsaid condition that they wouldn't party, they wouldn't cause a fuss and they would do it quietly.

Diggs was let out of the medical bay an hour ago and after showering, this was the first place he went to and he wasn't surprised that he found most of his ODST's there before him. To say that it was sombre was an understatement, when his fellow ODST's saw him, they didn't stand up and salute and he wouldn't have asked them too. They simply looked up at him and gave him a strong, firm nod. Something he returned.

He sat on his bar stool, looking at the glass of whiskey on the rocks and took a moment. This wasn't the first time he got out of a hard fight with many of his brothers failing to come back from and knew from experience that he couldn't rush this. He lifted his glass and took a small sip, savoured it for a moment and the lowered it back down. Doing a mental count down for another two minutes before he could take another.

It seemed that his mood was reflected by everyone else present, the bar area of the ship wasn't huge, not by a long shot. The maximum capacity for the place was twenty-five and only fifth teen could sit down while the rest would have to stand.

He only counted ten people when he entered including himself, most of them where his own ODST's, not all of them as people delt with after action in their own ways. Some went the gym, some stayed in a dark room and tried to move on past it in their own way, he never did it himself, but he's heard from a few that mediation was a good option. He also spied a couple of scientists that must have been in the ONI installation when they got hit, they looked just as shaken as everyone else.

When he first started, he used to hate those people. Who looked and acted just as horrified as them when they didn't see any action themselves. He got over that though, it was his old C.O who told him that not everyone was built for fighting and it wasn't due to a lack of training but a lot of people just didn't have the mental power needed to handle everything that a battlefield would give you. Those guys are most likely just as haunted as he and his guys where, despite doing practically nothing when the fighting happened.

The sound of someone moving onto the chair next to him caught his attention for a moment and he looked forward towards the bar wall which was also a mirror "Sarg" the man next to him said.

"Cooper" was all he said back to one of the newer members of the squad. Cooper had only been an ODST for a couple of years and seen his fair share of drops but he was the least experienced when it came to everyone else who was a part of the squad.

"Face healing up alright?" he asked him.

Diggs let out a chuckle at that as he looked back to the mirror, his face now sported two large lines in a V shape going diagonally from his top left to bottom right. It was very noticeable right now as the stiches had only just been placed in "it'll be fine, stiches come out in two weeks"

"Guess you're going to have to give up that modelling career huh" Cooper joked back which caused a small smile to break out onto Diggs face before he took another sip of his drink, doing the same mental countdown again.

"Just a beer for me" he said when the barman came over. Well, he said barman but the truth was that the one behind the bar was usually one of the ships chefs that wasn't in the kitchen. The man nodded at turned, quickly reached under the counter to what was most likely a fridge and brought up a bottle "any word on the debrief?" he asked him.

Diggs shook his head "no, most likely waiting for Atlas to wake up first. Get all that shit sorted out" he informed as best he could.

"Fucking Atlas" Cooper said more to himself then him "what the hell was that back there?" again, it was more of a mutter to himself then conversation.

All Diggs could do was let out a shrug, the truth of it all was Atlas scared him more than the aliens did. Yeah, they got their asses kicked when he left to deal with... whatever that fucker in black was, but he knows those aliens can be killed. He got quite a few of them himself so there was something at least. Atlas though, that guy was an unstoppable force. He took out anything that was in his way and brought down one of those ships on his own by shooting fucking lasers out of his eyes. How the fuck could they possibly stand up to him if he decided to change sides or some shit like that "I have no idea, for now. I'm just glad he's on our side" he admitted.

"Fair enough" Cooper said as he took a drink from his beer "you know, I heard he spent some time training with those Spartans" he told him.

For the first time, Diggs turned and looked at him more closely "how do you know about the Spartans?" he asked him. The Spartans are more classified than Atlas himself, operating in absolute secrecy. The only reason he knows about them was due to a random fluke that shouldn't have happened.

"Footage of them got leaked from some civilian on Anvarl. ONI stopped it from going full public but some of it got out and we saw it" he explained and Diggs nodded before turning back to his drink and taking another sip "well, it wouldn't surprise me. He had to have been trained somewhere, it's not like he could have gone with the rest of us"

"Fair enough" Cooper counted with a nod before the two settled into a silence as they drank. Diggs started to tune most things out and focus on his drink, the quiet music being played and his own mental discipline to not let the past fight get to him.

"What do you mean you can't tell me?" a voice called out from behind him. Looking at the mirror in front of him, he could see the back of one of the other ODST's, Thomas, was standing in front of a booth where the ONI egg heads were sitting with each other. All of them having the same haunted face that he and his men had.

He counted four in total and they weren't even talking to each other, just sitting around staring into space "It's classified" the one on the end of the booth, closest to Thomas spoke as he looked up at the angry ODST.

"Classified?" he asked back with a snarl in his voice, he leaned forward and rested both his hands on the table leaning into look the ONI spook right in the eyes "I lost I lot of my brothers defending that base, you better tell me right fucking now what it was all for" he said.

Diggs looked in the corner of his eye and saw the barman looking over to it with a slight look of fear and annoyance mixed into one. Mainly because it was his job to break up fights if that happened and if he did that he would get punched and most likely beaten. He may have been a solider true, but he was just a chef. What was he expected to do against an enraged ODST? Knowing that Thomas himself may have been a hot head but not this violent, the stress of the battle was getting to him and so far, all his usual methods most likely didn't work. He gave the barman a nod before he stood up and turned around. The fight may have been over but they were still his guys and he needed to keep them in check.

Standing up from the stool he turned around and started to make his way over to the booth, it wasn't hard to see that very other ODST had eyes on him as he walked. Most of the guys in here where either trying to move past it all or smart enough to know that they could handle being around others. The ones in the gym or alone in their rooms were the ones who knew that they were to volatile to be hanging around other people.

The others in the bar are there because they either know how to handle their emotions or the setting of the bar keeps them calm, helps them push the fight into the back of their minds. From there it can dissolve, it'll do it slowly but it will happen. The point being that if Thomas started to fight because he wouldn't be able to stop himself. Then the rest of the squads would be there to pin him until he calmed down

"I'm sorry, I ca..." that was as far as the ONI scientist got before Thomas grabbed him by the neck and forced him up to his feet and slamming him into the small wall that separated all the booths.

"FUCKING TELL ME!" Thomas yelled and before the scientist could even try and say no he brought his fist back and swung it forward. It didn't connect. Diggs locked his elbow with Thomas's and held it in place.

As they did so, the sound of scraping chairs could be heard as every single ODST in the place stood up. Ready to intervein if they needed too. They stared at each other for a moment, Diggs cold and emotionally dead eyes staring into Thomas's wild angry ones "that's enough" he said coldly to him.

Thomas shook his arms slightly as he tried to break free and punch the scientist again but it wouldn't budge. The lock was too strong for him to break out of "he's not going to tell you anything because that is the job" he started "you're not going to start telling civilians what happens on mission because they're not cleared to know about it. We are not cleared to know about what we were protecting. It's the job. Get over it" he snarled that last part to get the point across.

Thomas turned away from him and back to the scientist who despite having a large hand around his neck, just looked at him with cold indifference. Diggs was sure that in a normal situation he would have been worried or scared but after all the death he saw, he doubted this meant much now. The sound of the heavy door opening caught the attention of some but he didn't pay it much mind, he only focused on Thomas.

But when the scientist that he was holding looked in that direction and his eyes widened slightly. That did get his attention, he was half expecting it to be Khane or someone of similar rank. Turning his head, his own eyes widened as he saw Atlas standing in the doorway.

Looking completely fine.

Despite how beat up he seemed when he and the others dragged him onboard the Pelican. Then watching as he was dragged off by a whole team of doctors and who knows what else. But now, he looked perfectly fine. Like the fight never happened.

He looked at Diggs before he started to walk forward, all eyes were on him as he did so and a couple of his boys stepped out of the way as he walked. He stopped just shy of the table and looked at the grouping. Thomas still didn't turn away from the scientist "Problem?" he asked the group.

No-one said anything for a moment, each of them simply waiting for someone else to speak. It wasn't Diggs who spoke first. No, instead it was the one who was being held by the neck "I wouldn't mind some more help sir" he said with a strained voice.

Atlas looked at the man and then at Thomas who has yet to look away from him, the anger still clearly seen on his face. He walked around Diggs who still had him locked in place, he raised his hand and gripped Thomas's wrist. Diggs didn't know if Atlas forced it or Thomas let go because the whole thing just looked so effortless. He then placed a hand flat on his just and slowly forced him back a couple of steps.

As this happened Diggs let go of the arm and they fell to the side of him "that's enough" he said back with a cold look.

He wanted to punch him, Diggs could tell that easily enough based on the eyes that Thomas was giving him but thankfully he was smart enough to see that no good would come of it. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before nodding and turning to leave. Diggs should have stopped him, should have reprimanded him but he knew there would be no use to that. There was nothing he could do in this situation that would help him. He just saw a lot of death and no amount of training before hand would help, he just needed to get over it himself.

"Thank you, sir" he said to Atlas before turning to Diggs "you too sir" he added before joining the rest of the scientists at the table.

"Don't sit down" Atlas stopped him before he could drift off into his own mental hell for the next couple of hours "all of you, make your way to lab-3. There's been a change of plans, until we exit SlipSpace I've been given complete authority on the Artifact. And I have a lot of tests to do with little time, all hands on deck for it. Go, now" he added as he stepped out of the way and allowed them all to move, which to be fair they did fairly quickly after a moment of silence.

Once they did leave, Atlas turned to look at Digg "How are you doing?" he asked him with a sideways look.

"I'll live" he grunted before turning back and making his way over to the bar stool.

When he sat he went back to his drink and took another sip, Cooper staying silent next to him, it wasn't hard to miss Atlas walking over towards him "I want you to know that I'm placing your name forward for a commendation, half of those people wouldn't have made it out without you" he told him.

He knew that he should have turned around, shook his hand and thanked him. But at the moment, he was simply to emotionally drained to even care about it right now. So he did the only thing he could, he lifted up his glass he a cheers gesture and gave him a nod before turning back forward. When he did that, he feared for a moment that the alien wouldn't understand the situation he was in and get offended by it all but he simply nodded back and made his way out of the bar area.


Walking down the corridors towards the lab, Alt was already going over all the different steps he would need to take in order to complete the tests he had in mind. Of course he wanted to do more, unfortunately he was on a time crunch, so he needed to get this done quickly. By his estimations, factoring in breaks and sleep for the others. He could complete fifth-teen different tests for the artifact by the time they reach the rendezvous point and it's handed off to ONI for further study.

As he walked, a door opened on his right and he stopped as he saw Khane exit with a tired look on her face. She too stopped upon seeing him and they starred at each other for a moment. While he was completely healed up from the fight, she looked tired. There was no denying that she was still completely exhausted from everything that had happened. He wouldn't be too surprised if even after this time after the fight that she didn't take a break "Captain" he nodded to her.

"Atlas" she said as she took a step towards him before turning to face the direction she was heading "walk with me" she said.

Seeing as he was heading there anyway, he nodded and the two started to walk down the corridors "I trust since you're free from Doctor Allen lab that you're back to fighting shape?" she asked him.

"Yes ma'am" he confirmed with a nod "and I trust that since you're not on the bridge that you're about to take your first break since the fighting started" he guessed.

She closed her eyes and let out a long breath "thankfully, I am no needed as desperately as I was before. Every ship in this fleet has a captain who knows what they're doing. Unless something happens, I will be taking my ten-hour break"

Ten hours might sound like a lot but keep in mind that she has been in that bridge for over a day and most of that was overseeing a battle that required her complete attention. Also keep in mind that most of that ten hours will no doubt be sleeping "well, you do deserve it. I was going to wait to tell you but since you're here. I want you to know that I'll be placing your name down for a commendation" he told her.

She looked over to him as they walked, stopping just shy of the elevator waiting for it to open "do you believe that to be necessary?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow and the two stepped in the elevator.

"From the reports I've read you're the reason the mission was a success and we made it out of there" he countered calmly "yes, the other ships did their part and there were casualties, but you did everything you could, I'm going to make sure people understand that" he added before she could try and counter with that point.

"I see" she nodded as they started to go down "thank you, I'm grateful. And I am glad that you were with us, we would have been wiped out without you" she turned her head to look at him "and I saw the reports, I know what happened down there. You're the only reason anyone on the ground survived, don't forget that" the elevator stopped and the doors opened "come with me" she said to him.

While he himself was planning on going to the labs himself, he supposed that a small delay of a few minutes wouldn't make that much of difference in terms of the work that was being done. They walked down the corridors of the officers' quarters, the sleeping area that he himself and the other high-ranking members of the ship would use.

They stopped in front of a door that led to her own quarters and as she pressed her hand onto the scanner next to the door, it opened and the two stepped inside. It was about what he expected, no really furnishings or anything of the sort. A simple bed, table and chair, a terminal for whatever use she deems necessary and another door which he believed led to a bathroom which would most likely have a shower and such.

She walked forward and allowed the door to close behind them and immediately moved towards the other door, opening it and stepping inside. Alt himself walked forward a couple of steps as to not stand right in front of the doorway. Standing at the foot of the bed, he began to wonder why she asked him to follow her here. As he heard the sounds of running water from behind him, he turned around and was surprised to see Khane standing in the doorway.

What caused his eyes to widen slightly was she was standing there with her dress blue shirt on the ground behind her, her brown hair let free from it's tight bun and standing there looking at him in a very plain black bra "I'm going to take a shower" she said with a neutral face "would you care to join me?" she asked him.

Everything froze for Alt for a moment, he used his speed to slow down time for everything expect for him, allowing him time to think it over. Alt was nineteen years of age and spent pretty much ninety nine percent of his life in ONI facilities or some type of military complex. The only time he didn't was when he was on that frontier farming settlement on Reach while Johnson was training him.

So, he hasn't had much time to interact with the opposite sex in a social way, it's always been professional and the like. That's not to say that he himself doesn't have those thoughts, he lived with the Spartans for a while and they don't give two shits about exposed skin so he got used to it quickly. Even with all their teasing. He wouldn't say that he was sexually repressed or anything like that, he's been a teenager for a while and done what every other teenage boy does from time to time, he just has to be very careful about it because he's being watched by everything twenty-four-seven. Now though, with it being offered so freely and he knew she wasn't lying. What type of idiot would turn this down.

Time returned to normal speed "are you sure?" he found himself asking her "even though you know I'm..." he trailed off.

"An alien" she guessed for him "I know, I don't care" she shrugged before turning around and making her way back inside "you coming or what" she asked.

He stood there for a moment longer than he needed too but then he acted. He turned to look at the terminal and used his speed to log in and type up his orders to the scientists about what they should do until he arrives. Should he have left and lead them himself? Yes. Did he care at the moment? No. No, he did not.

Sending the message he quickly turned and made his way into the bathroom, the door closing behind him.


Her arms where crossed as she looked at the floating image in front of her. Every part of her body stilled as she looked at it closely, her eyes narrowing at the image. She has never felt anything like this, not since... that day. The day of the great fall, the collapse of their people, the day their deaths were chosen for them by those who believed they knew better.

For countless millennia she and what was left of her kin that stood behind the great Captain General, against the decisions of the ruling council. Where locked away deep in the great prison dimension of their own creation, forced to do nothing but sit in their squaller while the Halo array was fired and their mighty empire was wiped from the stars.

They were brought low, forced to do nothing but wait for the isolation to cause madness within them that would bring their end. But it seemed the holders of the mantel, would not end there. For they were freed from their prison by a species that would grow on the world that the door to their prison was located deep within.

The San'Shyuum they called themselves.

She did not remember seeing this race from within the archives of the Librarian but in truth, she wasn't really looking for them. Nor was she any of the other races, they had their own mission for being in her domain and it was not to help her kill their people, but that train of thought can wait for another time.

After being awakened, they showed their true power of this little race and took their rightful place as its leaders. Over the years, they were worshipped as gods. The thought that these lesser races would think her and her kin where divine was a laughable notion to them but it served its purpose, they now had a planet of followers ready to do their bidding. From there they would begin their mission and they could only have one, they needed to find their leader.

The great Captain General Zod.

The supreme commander of the entire Kryptonian military and the one who led us to battle against the old humanity and the parasite. The one person who could have led us out of the darkness, who could have been the true wielder of the Mantle. Of course, he wasn't kept in the same prison as them. No, he was taken somewhere else completely different and somewhere they could never find him. And they would, she would do whatever it takes to find their leader and restore him to his rightful place as their leader and heir of the Mantle of Responsibility.

Unfortunately, that would prove to be the most difficult of tasks. Despite this small empire they have built for themselves, despite all the worlds they've crushed under their boot. They were no closer to that goal then when they first started, all the great works of their people had been scattered across the galaxy with no way of tracking where they could have gone too. The only success they had came in the form of the scout ship that now rested in the open for all to see.

Turning her head to look out the window of their capital 'High Charity' as the San'Shyuum call it. Right in the middle of the large domed city was a large Kryptonian scout ship that was now used as a place of worship by the lesser races. In truth there was only one place where they would find the coordinates for captured leader and that would be the Arc.

The stage, the horror, the beginning of the end, the masterwork of the great builder. Jor-El.

The Arc is the only place she could think of where they would find the key to locating Captain General Zod. Which of course led to its own collection of problems, namely being they had no idea where the Arc was. It could be anywhere beyond the borders of this galaxy. They only had one way of finding out how, just before she and her comrades were placed within their prison. They were able to uncover Jor-El's deceit, the truth that he did everything he could to bury. The act of heresy he committed.

The biological child he had.

Every time she thought about it, this Kal-El. It brought an unmatched hatred into his being, that one of their most revered leaders. The great builder himself, the one who was supposed to stand by Zod's side would commit such a horrid act... she found her fists clenching even now after all this time.

But the more she thought about it, more it all started to make sense. She was not privy to many of the meetings that took place between the Captain General, the Librarian and the Builder but she was near them all many a times and certain things started to come together. It was no secret that the war against the parasite brought them lower than any thought possible, that they started to act desperate. Even she herself still felt unsure about the Captain General's orders to take the lesser races and even some of their own people, deconstruct their bodies and turning them into machines. Thus, turning them into something the parasite couldn't use against them later. She understood it and accepted the orders she was given, but it still felt more wrong than she would like to admit.

But as that great war started to come to an end, she started to hear whispers that the Builder started to speak of an idea, a last hope, a way for their people to carry on. After the firing of the Halo Array. She didn't think much of it, it wasn't her job or duty to worry about such things. But years later, when she and her comrades followed the orders of their leader and attacked the incompetent leadership of their people. She led her own forces on the ground while the Captain General went to confront the Builder, claiming that he had stolen the registration codex from its vault.

The last thing she heard about the Builder and the Captain General was that something caused them to fight and that resulted in the Builders death. But the codex was never recovered.

Which only led her to one train of thought, somehow this Kal-El was able to survive the destruction of their people and he is in position of the codex, he must be. How else could their people 'carry on' after the firing of the array without it? And the codex is the only thing she could think of that all of their technology would be able to recognize, without it, since she and her comrades were deemed criminals, all of the vast wonderful technologies of their people would be useless to them. They would have no way of locating the Captain General without the codex.

For decades they searched the stars for any sign of it, any lead, any clue they could find that would lead them to their prize. They found nothing. Despite all the worlds they located, all the lesser races that they brought in and the others they wiped out. There was never even a hint of where the codex could be.

That was when they found them. Humans. One of their oldest enemies, the ones the ancient precursors chose to uphold the mantel before they and their mighty Kryptonian empire showed them their mistake. She was fully aware that the Librarian had used the templates of humans for repopulation, and it was one of the few choices that she found herself agreeing with. Humanity had been a worthy opponent and when they found out that during their war with each other, they were only fighting half of them as the other half was fighting against the parasite.

There was respect there.

It was due to that respect that she ordered them to be wiped out completely, there would be no offer of peace from them. To see their once mighty enemy become something so... weak. It made her warrior blood slack with pitifulness; she could not allow the memory of their ancestors to be stained by these weak replacements.

She did not think that it would take long, especially when she ordered those under her command to see to their destruction. But what followed was not what she expected.

"Play it again" she ordered to no-one in particular. Before her the large screen showed the same video and she's seen nearly a hundred times by this point, but it matters not. Now they had a true goal to work towards. The image showed an overhead camera feed of one of their ships it saw the attack. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the figure on the roof as it turned to face one of their ships. Then the attack happened, two large red beams shot forward from his eyes and they ripped her own vessel apart. And of course, there was no forgetting the message that was sent just before the video. She looked down and saw the text under the video feed 'Kal-El has been located'

Now they had a real goal to reach towards. They still haven't had word on Dev-Em. She had ordered many teams to search the city and look through all the rubble they made. If he was alive then she wanted him treated, if he was dead then she wanted him brought back for the warrior's burial he deserved. The thought that he might be dead plagued on her mind more then she would have liked.

To think that not only Jor-El would have a child but done something to him as well. Where was this power during their own war? Why couldn't all of them have this strength? If the Builder was capable of such a thing, then why was this kept a secret from them? Her armoured fists clenched as she thought about it more.

She almost missed the sound of the heavy door opened behind her, though she didn't, she was always aware of all that was happening around her "Oh great one" the voice of the leader of the San'Shyuum spoke, well one of them at least. One of the three Prophets, this empire like all others before it had a hierarchy. Herself was at the top as her rank before the great fall was second only to the Captain General, just under her where her subordinates, her fellow Kryptonians. After them where the three Prophets, the ones who lead the lesser races in a more bureaucratic nature, after that it is a multitude of different ranks that she couldn't be bothered with remembering.

"What is it?" she asked back from her position.

"This humble one must beg forgiveness my goddess, for the efforts of stalling the information that led to injury of one of your kin has failed" he told her, she turned around from her place, her black helmet starring down at the fragile alien who despite being seated upon a hovering chair. It was lowered to the ground and the Prophet of Truths head was as low as it would go "the word has spread and unrest has begun to grow. I believe that it would be best that you address the masses yourself and spread your own truth of the matter to all of the loyal" he told her.

She suppressed a sigh, this is what she hated about being in charge of so many. Dealing with politics. She was a warrior, not some statesmen, it was not her place to talk to masses, only to kill them. But she would make this and many other sacrifices if she had to. All that mattered was returning their leader to his rightful place.

So, the acting Captain General Faora-UL nodded. Giving one final look over her shoulder towards the recorded image before she turned to leave, ready to address her people.


And we shall leave it there, I know not a lot happened, but I needed to put that huge exposition dump in here somewhere and this felt like the best place for it. So, encase it wasn't clear to you all at this point, the Kryptonians are replacing the Forerunners in this AU. Everything is pretty much the same as some of you might have recognized some titles like the Builder and the Librarian and Halo and all that. Everything's pretty much the same expect the Kryptonians are the ones who made it all and some of them are still around.

They also still fought against the flood but don't worry I am going to make a couple of changes to them as well but that won't be for a while. I also may be having a large time skip within the next few chapters as the human covenant war went on for 30 years before the Fall of Reach, so while there's a lot of stuff I could with that much time. I really want to get started on the Halo story we all know and love.

Anyway, let me know what you all thought in the reviews and I'll see you in the next chapter.

Next Story update: A New Guardian