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The Human Race has always been strong. They have always been the type to go to hell and back. Commander Jacob Keyes operated a UNSC ship and personally destroyed 4 Covenant Cruisers. For this he is seen as a hero. Despite his skill in the ship, he does not notice a Covenant Beacon attached to the ship which the Covenant use to track the ship back to the UNSC's Training Planet... Reach. The Covenant followed the Beacon back to Reach and it is there, that the battle began. The Covenant's victory was swift and easy, moving over Reach like a knife through butter, killing off humanity one by one. Though the Human Race fought back, they were not enough. Before long, The UNSC abandon Reach. The Human Covenant War on Reach has been lost. However, not all hope has been abandoned with it... Soon after the departure of the UNSC Ship "The Pillar of Autumn", another UNSC Ship comes into view. The ship is named... "Forever Night".

The Ship's Operator, a Lieutenant Major Cross, orders the crew to move into the planet's atmosphere, near the surface. They scanned for survivors. His plan was simple... Locate all surviving UNSC Soldiers and give them a choice. Die alone on the abandoned Planet or Join his crew and become a member of the resistance. The Rogue Ship, "Forever Night" spends only little time inside the Planet's atmospheres, gathering all abandoned personnel for his own personal use. After scrolling over the small section of the planet, the ship redirects its course and pushes back up from the atmosphere, moving back into space to formulate a "New plan".

The lt. Major sat in his command chair, going over the reports of the rescue operation. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully while reviewing the details of this report. "It seems we may have had a bit of good luck today. Five Spartans, and four marines. Two of which are special forces, and the other two seem to be combat medics. Ensign, pull us away from the planet at maximum safe speed as soon as all the retrieval teams have returned. I want this op to be clean and quick. Do not break stealth cover." The ensign confirmed his orders with a curt "Aye, sir, prepping escape course now." The Major nodded his approval and keyed in a few commands on his tacpad. "I also want the survivors assembled as soon as possible to be briefed on why they're here. How soon can I expect to speak with them all?" he asked his personal aid. The aid checked her notes and after a short delay responded with; "Sir, that may take some time. By the incoming pelican pilots reports, two of the Spartans are injured, and unconscious. All of the survivors also should be checked by our medical crew to be sure that they can be in optimum condition for any missions." The major nodded to his aid, and thanked her. It seemed he would have to delay his briefing for the time being. "Then I want you down in the hanger with them when the birds come back. Answer any questions they may have and assign them to their quarters. Make sure they're ready for my briefing." The aid responded with a formal "Aye, sir" and left the bridge.

Meanwhile, in the drop ship hanger....
Two pelican drop ships had gone out to search for survivors. Three came back. The first pelican back docked within the bay, settling into the support struts that lock the ship into the hanger and waiting for a brief time while the other two ships came in behind it. After all three were aboard, the outside hatch was sealed and pressurized. The rear hatches for all three drop ships opened. Three Spartan III's and an ODST made their way out of the first, the second unloaded its small passenger load of two marine combat medics, and within the third another ODST jumped out and immediately waved the crew medical personal over. "Yo! I got two KO'd Spartans over here! C'mon medics!" A team of the crews medical personnel ran over and immediately set the slimmer Spartan on a mobile stretcher. One of the med team yelled out to one of the ships mechanic crew afterwards. "Hey Holsen! we're gunna need the heavy lift gear over here! This guys a big one! We cant even budge him!"

While the crew and med team dealt with the unconscious body of the Spartan II, the aid stepped into the hanger bay. Her face was sharp and angled, her jet black hair tied back into a short ponytail. Her figure was trim and lean, hinting at the physique of an athlete. She carried in her arm a data pad linked with the ships systems and could access any information not classified by the commander himself to answer any of the rescuee's questions.

"Attention new arrivals. My name is Sasha Cruse, I am the direct aid to Lt. Major Cross, the commander of this ship, the Forever Night. I am here to situate you all and show you to your quarters. I have also been authorized to answer some questions, should you ask. And as soon as all of you are ready, the commander himself will brief you on the terms of your stay with us, as part of the crew. Is that understood?" Sasha's eyes narrowed, looking over her glasses at the new arrivals. The sharpness of her piercing gaze gave off a clean and clear presence of authority and left the very blatant message to the arrivals with her tone of voice; she was not someone that would take any shenanigans. A professional to the core.

This was turning out to be an interesting day for Richard. First, the planet he was stationed on had been glassed, with him barely managing to escape. Then, the pilot told him he had to jump out to see what was going on with some crazy beacon. He did it, of course, and he was treated with the biggest surprise of his life: a genuine Spartan. He pulled the big lug into the Pelican, where he was forced to drop the heavy sonofabitch in the nearest seat. Whatever they'd done to him, he was definitely not a lightweight. As if this wasn't enough, he was sent out again when the pilot found another Spartan floating in the black. This one was easier to handle, and Richard couldn't help but wonder if it was because it was female. How could he tell? Well, Spartan or no, he knew how to tell a woman, and the hips on the second catch told stories. He managed to pull her a bit further in and get her as comfy as possible in the seats.

By dumb luck, at least in his opinion, they came across a lone UNSC carrier, and were able to dock. Without hesitation, Richard hopped out as soon as the ass of the bird dropped, and used his lungs proper, shouting out to whoever was listening, "Yo, I got two KO'd Spartans over here! C'mon medics!" He then jumped back into the bird and pulled out the girl from her seat, handing her over as they worked her onto the stretcher. He heard the guy call for help on the fat ass, and Rich began to turn when he had to give a double take.

"Whoa," he muttered under his breath and exhaled with a low whistle as he more saw than heard the aid exhale words at them. When her gaze fell on him, though, he quickly straightened up and saluted, though he couldn't wipe the grin off his face. "Yes, ma'am!" He quickly turned back to help out with big Spartan. "Alright fellas, on the count of three, let's here li-" he began to say, only to pause as he found himself looking at the Spartan's faceplate, and to what seemed to be a winged man tapping as if on glass. Dumbfounded, Richard took a step back and watched the image for a moment, only to see it write out something: "Get the Aid."

"Uhh, Ma'am," he said as he hustled over. Her sharp gaze made him pause, but he saluted and said, "Designation Richard-565, ODST, Ma'am! You might wanna come have a look at this." He gestured her over and made his way back to the Spartan as the med crew was preparing to load him onto a heavy stretcher.

System: R3bo0t
Diagnostics: Optic relay
Vocal Synthetics
.
.
.
Error, self-m4inten4nce ab0rt3d

Entering Safe Mode: X41N

The AI's first priority was to check his surroundings, so he activated the the optic relay, and quickly came to the realization he in a very bad place. There was no time run a proper diagnostics on himself, he had to find someway to get out his predicament. Thankfully, the unit's emergency beacon hadn't been damaged, but with the amount of radiation, even if he boosted the signal, it would be a minimal chance of discovery, and a very real possibility that it would be the kind of discovery he didn't need, but there were quite literally no options left. So he activated the relay, and proceeded to wait. "I hope you're still alive in there, big guy," he murmured to the unconcious Spartan who's MJOLNIR armor he was currently housed in.

Surprisingly, not long afterwards, they were indeed found, and beyond all hope, by a familiar ship. The AI quickly ran through his memory banks to confirm, and it was indeed a Pelican class. So it would seem that the odds decided to play in their favor this time. From the attire, he could tell that their rescuer was part of UNSC's Orbital Drop Shock class of soldier. If the vocal components hadn't been damaged, he would ask the man for information. For now, however, it would seem he must wait. Shortly after they picked up a second passenger, this one a Spartan III. His memory banks told him that this Spartan was designated Jamie, tag B314. She seemed unconcious, which meant he would likely be unable to find out anything regardless, especially since the MJOLNIR Mark V tended to be incompatible with his systems.

Somehow the Pelican was able to find a UNSC carrier to dock with, and as he waited for the ship to land, he ran through his memory banks again to try and discern this ship's designation, but he seemed to be having trouble locating information, but the chatter from the Pelican pilots, he now knew there multiple ships that had landed, at least told him the name of the ship: Forever Night. Finally the ships were opened and it would seem they would all be taken care of. He heard the call of the Aid, and he decided she would be a suitable person to help both him and his partner.

How to get her attention though. Then he saw the ODST loom in his optical relay again, and he said to himself, "The direct approach is sometimes the best approach." He rerouted the subroutines of the HUD, polarizing the faceplate and allowing him to be visible upon. He then did all he could to catch the man's attention: waving his hands, waving his wings, doing a handstand, somersaulting, and finally he settled for "tapping on the glass in irritation" when he was finally noticed.

He thought everything would be settled then, but the Trooper continued to just stare. Resisting the urge to put his virtual hand to his forehead, he quickly wrote out a simple message: "Get the Aid." He knew the message had been gotten across the the soldier walked away. Soon he'd be able to finally, truly assess the situation.

From inside of the pelican after the ship had landed on board, another ODST hopped out from inside to assist with the situation. He looked around the interior of the ship and mummers to himself.. "Home Sweet Home". The ODST turns and looks at the Spartan's then nods with the acknowledgment that they were on board. Before long he wanders through the crew, making his way toward the leader of the bunch. "I need to speak to Cross." The ODST continues looking for him, but is unsure of his coordinates... with how much Cross moves around, there's no telling where he is on this ship.

Sasha Cruse had just finished her announcement when it seemed an ODST was trying to get her attention. It seemed there was something about one of the spartans that needed attention. With a short sigh she made her way across the dropship deck towards the medical and mechanic team that was currently deaing with him. Mid-step she was addressed by yet another ODST and had to pause. With a sidelong glance at this second soldier she spoke to him while continuing her walk. "If you are referring to Leuitenant Major Cross, then I expect you to follow proper procedure for rank, trooper. The commander will brief everyone together as soon as ALL of th other soldiers are up and operation ready. If you have any important informaton to pass along, I am fully authorised by the commander himself to recieve it." She waves the TacPad in her arms for emphasis. "Any data entered by me goes straight to the commanders screen. Understand?" Having kept walking during her short tirade, Ms Cruse stopped in front of the first ODST who signalled her. "Is there something wrong with the spartan, soldier?" She said, rapping her fingers against her TacPad, waiting for a response and somewhat annoyed that these supposd 'special forces' dont ever seem to listen.

The ODST was insulted by the woman whom addressed him simply due to her tone. He momentarily contemplated the effects of what might happen if he was to not give the information. However, he turns to the aid and shouts to her "I'm sorry but information like this is too important to trust to a hag!"

The ODST smirked and with confidence in his previous comment, turned to head to the Lieutenant Major's assumed location at the head of the ship. The information he had, could it have been so important? He did not know if it was worth the risk though he never really cared about the consequences.

The ODST wandered around the ship and passing by marines. He noticed multiple sections of the ship were being occupied. Was it like this before he left? The Trooper moved his hands just below his helmet so his palms were against the lower section, then pressed up on it to lift it from his head, revealing his lightly toned tan skin. His silky black hair flows back from the helmet at which he now pulls to his left side, holding with his arm around it. The Trooper stops in front of two Marines who seem to be working on a door which is malfunctioning and offers a hand, taking the data pad and the mechanical tool, switching the circuits within the wall. The door sparks, then slides open fully functioning.

"Heh, thanks Corporal." said one of the Marines.

"No problem" replies Reiner. "Have either of you seen Cross? I would go to the bridge but, last time I tried that I just got yelled at by the hag."

"No idea, I say try the bridge anyways". The marine makes the suggestion to Reiner and proceeds to cleaning up the gear with the other marine.

With this, Reiner sighs and prepares to make his way for the bridge. After going through the different sectors of the ship, he starts to think about the outside while they were on Reach. The place... it looked so different from before. This is the cause of the Covenant? Then he started to think about the Spartan that fell. First about how he was crushed by the weight of her armor.. How embarrassing. Then he thought about her in herself. She managed to hold on through tough combat situations and that was easy to tell to any soldier worth their salt. What did she look like? He was curious. Through the thought process he gathered nothing from his own mind and before realizing it had arrived in at the bridge. "Hm?" He looked around for Cross himself now, expecting to see his Lapdog attack him as usual.

Lt. Major Cross was standing in the center of his bridge, one hand held firm on a railing, the other held in a fist behind his back. His eyes were narowed on the forward screen, which displayed the distant outline of a covenant corvette entering the planets atmosphere, complete with escorts. "I want eyes on that vessel. Im not going to have it come up and bite us on the ass when we attempt a slipspace jump." Ordered Cross to his crew. Cross turned his head towards the sound of the bridge blast doors opening when the ODST stepped in. Just briefly, his hand touched the handle of his sidearm. Upon seeing who this unannounced visitor was, the commander turned back to the forward screen.

"I was wondering when you would show up. Perhaps Captain Cruse's message wasnt clear enough to you, trooper." Cross waved his hand towards his personal TacPad built into the arm of his command chair, which showed a real time camera capture of the personnel in the dropship bay, and with a low volume relaying every conversation going on within earshot of Cruse's own TacPad. "Im afraid I'm going to have to order you off of my bridge, son. This is a very tense moment and I dont have time right now to divide my attention. I would suggest you head back to the hanger and help the new troops. And after you submit whatever report you have for me to the captain, I will review it after we get out of system. Is that understood, son? Good. I thought so." Cross cut off any objection the ODST could make and nodded to the marines stationed nearby.

The marines stepped up to the ODST and motioned for him to exit the bridge, their assault rifles at the ready, but their expressions and posture non-threatening. These men were simply following their orders, and had no desire to start an issue with the trooper at this time. Especially not while within firing range of a covenant battleship. Cross addressed his crew as the ODST was led out. "Prepare the ship for slipspace jump, but keep the drive cool to avoid detection. I dont want to be followed."

(Um?)

Staff Sergeant Shamus Malachy sat back, breathing heavily trying to recover from the slaughter he had just witnessed. Behind him, the Covenant Fleet was finishing off the glassing of Reach - his stomach was churning. While he usually kept a rather calm composure with death and destruction, his inner beliefs were in turmoil.

His entire team had been completely annihilated, his entire company...

A body shifted uneasily next to him.
"Holding up alright Kip?" Malachy, though normally rather distant with his fellow soldiers was rather affectionate with his subordinate, Lance-Corporal Avery Kipling.

"Aye... I can't believe we made it..." His voice sounded weak, it was obvious he was fatigued.

The ship docked in the bay holding of 'The Forever Night', the hatch opening and the occupants spilling out.

There was some sort of commotion going on deck, Malachy dragged Kipling out and stood to observe the scene around him. An important looking woman was standing rigidly, fingers rapidly tapping across some sort of board - Malachy couldn't see. A lone ODST was standing toe to toe with her and took off deeper into the ship.

He was confused, had more soldiers been saved? To his right, he noticed rather unexpected happenings.

"Is that a Spartan?" Kipling had beat Malachy to the punch.
"Aye he looks hurt." Malachy rolled his sleeves up. It was time to get to work.

The Female Spartan laid unconscious still, though not fatally wounded. Her damaged and fatigued body seemed to exist purely through exhaustion and lack of rest. Her body remained damage though nothing too far beyond repair. On her armor on the opposing side of the arm was an an etched phrase... it read, 'For The Gods'. This meaning was unclear to all else who read it, seeming to have been etched out with a combat knife in the middle of the field.
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The Trooper had been removed from the bridge upon insult.. though he argued the fact. This was not acceptable! He had information to relay to Cross, and after a year of working with them he had imagined he might have earned enough respect to be heard out. Due to the relation between him and the Captain, he learned that nothing said between them could result in anything quite as well as he desired. With this acknowledged insult, he simply dropped the matter and turned from the bridge.

Reiner made his way toward the Armory inside the ship now, waiting in front of two armed soldiers at the door.

"Halt." demands one of the guards at the door. With this demand the trooper halted, waiting for the guard to acknowledge it.

He then proceeded to present his identification, "Corporal Adam Reiner. Ex-Trooper from the 105th".

Upon some conversation between the two guards and Reiner, the guard continued to speak. "We'll have to ask the Captain about this one." The Guard turns and prepares to request permission from the Captain.

The captain wouldn't allow Reiner into the armory, especially under such circumstances. He takes the light moment of hesitation into play and takes a step to the opposing soldier, grabbing his Assault Rifle by the barrel of the gun, then pushing it against the wall and rushing his knee into the gut of the soldier, he then quickly brings his arm around behind the marine in which was prepared to link a communication with the captain and smashed it into the back of his head. As one was knocked out and the other was on the floor, holding his gut, Reiner swung his leg forward with his foot into the face of the soldier and knocked him out cold. This was bad... but if they wouldn't listen to him, he knew what had to be done. He moved up to the controls and used the soldiers authorization to enter the Armory, moving inside. "I am so gonna fry for this.." the doors slid closed, without a single sound. Reiner seemed to disappear inside.
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As the new soldiers appear in the cargo bay, marines assist them in unloading the pelicans of weapons, equipment, and crew.

More in specific, two marines sat on the back of one pelican which was already unloaded. They seem to carry on a conversation from when they were in orbit.

"Do you think anyone survived?" questions one of them to the other.

"They had to.." replies the opposing marine. "There's no way that this few of people survived... Reach is huge and it definitely wasn't full of push-overs."

The marine sitting on the right seems to hold his assault rifle in more of a careless manner, letting it point at the ground. The one on the left holds it with his right hand on the upper section, messing with the general mechanics of it. He questions something in his head.. there was something he noticed, but wasn't sure of. "Hey.. did you notice, that big explosion on the ground..?"

"Hm?" The marine acknowledges the question, though doesn't think much of it. "The planet was being glassed, not hard to believe there would be a thousand big explosions. Hell, it was probably a cruiser-- there were thousands of those things down there."

"But that's just it... wouldn't a cruiser attract a lot of attention?" The marine questions finally.

"Dude, don't be so paranoid." The other marine laughs and stands up, grabbing his ammunition from the pelican. "We'll be fine, these guys know what they're doing-- just look at them!" The marine smiles and walks to help the others with the Spartans. Soon after the other one nods and follows as well.

Malachy and Kipling pushed their way through the crowd of huddled marines towards the unconscious Spartan,

"C'mon you miserable lot, get out of the way." Kipling nudged his was first, Malachy following hot on his trails. As they entered the ring that had formed around the Spartan, they noticed something peculiar about the figure in front of them.

It was a female.

Malachy had no idea that females had even trained under the Spartan programme, then again, Malachy had really no idea what the Spartan programme was all about. He looked over at Kipling who shrugged,

"Check her vitals." Of course, Malachy realised he had no idea how to do this.

"Malachy..." Kipling voiced the concern and the Irishman crooked a grin.

He knelt over the Spartan and touched her faceplate with the back of his left hand. The armour was smooth and cold, he couldn't make out a face underneath the bright visor.

There were some scratches and dents across various components, but other than that she seemed intact.

"One of you, get ahold of some high ranking officer; do they even realise they've got a Spartan on board?" Malachy was beginning to get frustrated.

The most elite of the human forces was being left alone on the ground, except of course for the audience that had formulated around her. He didn't have experience in dealing with super soldiers, but he was going to use every ounce of his training to help this one out.

Originally posted by Matthias Fenris
Sasha Cruse had just finished her announcement when it seemed an ODST was trying to get her attention. It seemed there was something about one of the spartans that needed attention. With a short sigh she made her way across the dropship deck towards the medical and mechanic team that was currently deaing with him. Mid-step she was addressed by yet another ODST and had to pause. With a sidelong glance at this second soldier she spoke to him while continuing her walk. "If you are referring to Leuitenant Major Cross, then I expect you to follow proper procedure for rank, trooper. The commander will brief everyone together as soon as ALL of th other soldiers are up and operation ready. If you have any important informaton to pass along, I am fully authorised by the commander himself to recieve it." She waves the TacPad in her arms for emphasis. "Any data entered by me goes straight to the commanders screen. Understand?" Having kept walking during her short tirade, Ms Cruse stopped in front of the first ODST who signalled her. "Is there something wrong with the spartan, soldier?" She said, rapping her fingers against her TacPad, waiting for a response and somewhat annoyed that these supposd 'special forces' dont ever seem to listen.

"Other than the fact his fat ass won't wake up, Ma'am?" Richard retorted with a casual grin before taking on a more serious demeanor, "No, but it seems he's not alone in that suit. Take a peek for yourself." The soldier pointed to the Spartan's faceplate, where the strange winged man still stood with a clearly annoyed look on his face. It seemed to turn to look at the Captain, and more words formed around him:

"I hope this grunt isn'tthe best you can do around here. AI X41N, designate Xain, logistics and support partner to Spartan 060, Soran. I need to run a diagnostics check, but I'm limited with what I can do in 060's armor, so get me out of here, would you kindly?"

The words hovered there for a good moment, then the faceplate depolarized, the winged man and all his many words vanishing. Richard wasn't sure how to respond. He'd never been taunted by a computer before. "Why that little piece of circuit, I oughta-"

"You will leave that 'piece of circuit' to me, soldier," the Captain stated icily, and Richard immediately shut his mouth, "It is worth more than you and almost every other personnel on this ship combined."

Unsure of what else to do, Richard saluted the Captain with a quiet, "Ma'am." and stepped away from her and the Spartan. Clearly there was something going on that was going over his head, and he'd rather check on the others than stick around and be insulted.

Inside of the armory, Reiner was planning his next move. This could be seen as treason.. he had no intention on going Rogue against Cross but if he couldn't get the information to him then he would have to do this on his own. Reiner approached the first wall of equipment and stocked up on ammunition, as well as grabbing an Assault Rifle from it and wrapping the strap of it over his shoulder. He tucked away a few frags for safe measures but did not feel safe about it... this wasn't enough fire power. He walked around the armory, using a flash light, to look at the other weaponry. He needed something to... hah! He found just what he needed. Pulling down a latch, he opened a cage, pulling a Rocket Launcher from it which he pulled over his shoulder. After doing so, he pulled on his helmet and activated his VISR. Looking around the room, he tried to find a way to remain hidden yet safely move about the ship. He walked to the far corner of the armory and looked up.. an air lock? no, it lead to the ventilation. A tight fit, but no problem. He shimmied himself up the wall and opened the way, sliding inside the ventilation of the ship, then closing it behind him. Where was his next stop? He needed a clear view of the ship's hanger. He began to move around through the inside of the ship.

After a few minutes he manages to reach the section directly over the hanger. He continued and laid the Rocket Launcher as well as a few rocket's next to it inside of the vent to the right of him. He laid his SMG to the direct left so he could grab it quickly if needed and activated his helmet's zooming function, looking closer inside of the hanger at the Captain's chest. "... okay enough fooling around." He looked inside and saw the new guests they had. Over time working inside "Forever Night" he grew a full understanding of the ship. He knew most every inch that he could step foot into as he had worked on most of it as a mechanic. A sudden thought bursted into his mind and he suddenly smacked his forehead. He whispered to himself.. "Damn it, I should have grabbed a Sniper. Oh well.." He waited now, he knew something would happen. Nothing ever went swimmingly especially with Cross.

Spartan-B314 remains to be unconscious though something is odd.. Her body seems to be recovering itself. Though her armor still remains partially damaged and locked down, her body seems to be recovering. Direct damage is deduced by one of the marines from the medical squad that originated in the ship.

Damage-+
+Multiple cuts across the armor created from a plasma source
-Possibly a Sangheili Energy Sword
+Visor is cracked
-The plating of it remained cracked with a decent size hole now formed at the upper right sector after time.
+Plasma burns along the back of the armor, most of the damage was soaked up by the shield.
+Right wrist sector includes ridged markings from an unknown source.

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While the Captain and soldiers work down in the hanger, Reiner watches from above patiently. Something is going to happen and he knows he will have to be light years ahead to stop it.. He adjusts his right arm and with it, he unlocks a tacpad from his hip and places it onto the vent. Using it, he scans the full layout of the ship. He has this data from the various times he's had to repair malfunctioning or damage sectors of the ship. He locates all the sectors and then checks their damage intake. If the ship was damaged too badly sense the last encounter with the Covenant, it would fall apart under fire. He prepared to move just in case. He knew something was off and nobody on the ship would ever have taken him seriously if he told the truth. He prepares... prepares for war.

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The two marines from before continue to assist in anyway they can. For now, they help to move Spartan-060 onto a movable platform in order to transport him to the engineering bay.

"Grr! He's one heavy sonovabitch!" complains one of the marines.

"Suck it up, Grunt!" commands another marine, this one appears to be a commanding officer.. not the same as the one before. "If we're going to bring the rain, this boy might just save your ass!"

"Yeah.. if he doesn't crush us first under his fatass!" The marine complains again but does not fall back on his attempt to help. With the combined effort the soldiers pull Spartan-II onto the platform and two other marines begin to move him to the Engineering bay. Now that the first one was out of the way, how would they go about moving the next one? Several marines stepped up even through exhaustion to help and move her as well. Despite her being a Spartan-III, a Female, and quite slim fit, she was still increasingly heavy. This was due to her armor. It may not have been Spartan-II design, but it sure as hell was heavy...

The soldiers successfully moved the Spartan's to the engineering bay where the medics and engineers could take a look at them. The two marines previous now make their way back to the pelican's and awaited further orders from the Captain.

"God..." questionably asked by one of the marines. "If your up there... please let these Spartan's kill off the Covenant so we don't have to see their ugly ass faces anymore.."

"That ain't his job.." the marine smirks. "That's ours.." He fixes his assault rifle in his arms now, having the strap over his shoulder to ensure it doesn't just fall out during combat. The marine turns and looks back at the Pelican. "Nothing in this world is easy but I sure as hell ain't gonna let GOD take my glory."

The crowd seemed immobile as Malachy shouted his command. Fed up, he turned his attention back to the wounded Spartan.

"I think she's coming around." He noticed a few light shifts in her posture, it was clear that the girl wasn't dead, at least for now.

"What the hell happened to her..." Kipling seemed taken aback by the sheer amount of punishment this Spartan had endured. Malachy shrugged, these were Spartans after all.

"I can't tell her vital signs, but she seems to be doing alright." Of course she couldn't stay here in this condition - Malachy still had no idea how to formally help her.

Kipling seemed to read his mind, "Make yourselves useful instead of sitting around, get some sort of large cart we've got to get her to medical!"

The marines around them dispersed and began looking around for any form of device that could help them move the heavy Spartan. Malachy looked over his own kit, he didn't have much left in the way of supplies save for some bandages - which would be useless if he couldn't find a way to remove her armour, something he didn't dare do; a bottle of water, and a shot of painkiller.

Shortly, a few marines came over rolling along the ground a fairly large cart probably used by the maintence crews for moving large pieces of equipment to and fro their destinations. Nodding their thanks, the medics as well as some help from the marines managed to hoist the Spartan up onto the cart.

"Thanks lads, now who knows there way around this ship, we've got to get to medical." Malachy said as he began straining to push the cart.

"Trooper 565!"

Richard winced internally at the summons, but quickly wheeled around and saluted Captain Ice Queen, "Ma'am!" He had decided to tag along as they took the Spartans to the medical bay. Call him weird, but in some way he felt responsible for them, since he'd pulled them in out of the cold and dark. Besides, he thought to himself, that's a real honest-to-god Spartan! Who wouldn't want to take a look at him? He also found himself thinking, Bet the lady's hot under that helmet, too. He watched, jaw dropping as the super soldiers were revealed, a moment later hearing Captain Cruse's bark.

The captain stared at him for a good ten seconds, and he could swear it was for the sole purpose of making him squirm. So, of course, he steeled himself under her cold gaze until she finally nodded, apparently approving of something.

"You are to escort this technician to the bridge, double time!" she said with authority, "You will not pause. You will not slow down. You will not detour from the route given, as there is no faster way. Understood?"

Sir, yes, sir! Richard thought to himself as he repeated the phrase with the proper term. He watched as the captain called on another ODST and repeated the process, and with the tech leading the way, they were off, hustling down corridors, him and his fellow soldier using their best drill sergeant impersonations to clear the halls as they rushed by. He'd gotten a glimpse of what the technician was holding, and near as he could tell, it was a massive, glowing, glorified computer chip. It looks so fragile, he thought, I could probably snap it right in half without any trouble at all.

Even using the fast track and keeping the tech moving at their pace, it took the ODSTs a good amount of time before they reached the bridge. Richard felt his legs burning by the time the trio came to a halt before whom the Trooper could only assume to be the commander of the ship. The tech, even more fatigued than the battle hardened soldiers, passed along the glowing object with a gasp of breath. Richard watched as the man stared at the chip, almost as if he could see into everything about it just by looking at it, before turning his back to them and inserting it somewhere. Richard took advantage of the momentary lapse of recognition to stretch his legs.

________________________________________________

He hated waiting. Specifically, he hated waiting between transfers. When all he had was himself, fully aware of his vulnerability despite his vast intellect and processing capabilities. It was a maddening thought, the fact that he truly was little more than a piece of sophisticated hardware, which is why he tried not to dwell on it. Hard to do, though, when you're stuck with nothing but your own head. Finally, he felt a connection, and he knew the journey must be complete. Immediately he patched into the network, navigating relays and subroutines until he found what he wanted.

Upon a little dais, silvery-blue light flickered and danced, tiny motes rendering into floating feathers that etched the shape of wings. With a flap, the rest of the avatar formed, and Xain looked out among the crew of this ship, the Forever Night. He arched a brow as he listened to the Lieutenant Major's order and comment, and his mouth opened to speak. Suddenly, the dais went dark, as well as half the lights on the bridge. With a curse, the A.I. worked rapidly on the one thing he should have done before anything else: ensuring that the damage done to him couldn't affect systems he'd been patched into. He didn't know how often A.I.s became faulty, but he had a pretty good idea that when they did, they didn't see prolonged use.

It took him roughly fifteen seconds to restore the lights and establish a rerouting mechanism to ensure that any other little "blackouts" would only shut down his avatar temporarily. He also decided it would help if this little issue had a visual cue, and as the dais powered up again, the winged man reappeared, only this time he seemed to be walled off, enclosed in a cylinder comprised of polyhedral shapes. The avatar cleared his throat and opened his mouth once more.

"AI X41N, Xain, at your service, Lt. Major," he said, the avatar offering a salute, "I apologize for the sudden blackout. As I informed Captain Cruse, I have suffered damage and have not had the resources to run a self-diagnostic. It will not happen again." Xain spoke the last sentence with a finality that seemed emphasize that he would not be a burden to the crew that had saved him and his Spartan...

A marine carelessly walks around the ship with a magnum in his right hand, he puts it to his head once, he thinks.. Damn it man, this war is never gonna end! I should just do it, just pull the damn thing, it'll save me from those damn split jaws! the marine seems hysterical. He cannot focus on anything other than the thought of having to fight for the rest of his life. Torture.. it's hell. He removes the gun and continues his monologue, then puts it back to his head. He cannot decide what to do.. Suicide or Homicide, no matter what he does he is sure he will die one day.

Too bad this died; it had potential.

It only died because Matt lost internet and Liberator stopped posting.