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[INDENT] Captain Hermin Ferald stood firmly in the center of his ship's bridge with his hands behind his back. With his jaw tightly clenched, he again reviewed the facts he knew. It had been over forty hours since the small Covenant recon picket had found them, informed their superiors, and brought six Covenant cruisers to ambush them, despite all of Ferald's caution in that damned system. Blind, with no recon in an uncharted system, Ferald should have known better. He should have gotten out of there ASAP, but his need for intel was too much for his prudence.
[INDENT] Almost a half a week ago, his UNSC superiors took his old ship, one that he'd been working with for years, ever since he'd become a captain, in successful victories against the Covenant. Yes, of course, they were all small victories, and he had almost always been with no more than half a dozen to at least a score of other UNSC cruisers, but they were victories, and with the way this war was going, any victory was good news. He'd been a little pissed when they took it, but he understood when they told him what it was for. Apparently it was for some top secret mission involving the Spartans, which made him happy and unhappy. Happy because it meant they would put the ship in good hands for the sake of the Spartans safety, and unhappy because the ship would be in more danger than ever, for the Spartans were never in any "safe" places. He cared greatly about his ship, what he considered possibly the best ship in whole fleet.
[INDENT] Ferald never objected to the Spartan program, but he was never a fan of it either. Though he had never personally seen one, they sounded like alien humanoids with almost no mind. Most of those under his command were about fifty-fifty with it, and that was just fine with him. As long as they did their job and followed orders, they could think whatever the hell they wanted.
[INDENT] In the years of commanding his old ship, [I] The Pillar of Autumn [/I], he'd grown to know and love it. It was probably the smallest or one of the smallest cruisers in the entire UNSC fleet, but it had other advantages than size. A [I]Halcyon[/I]-class ship, it boasted high maneuverability, several longsword fighters, dozens of 50mm guns all over it for countering smaller craft, and a small MAC gun that could fire three shots in a single charge for cruisers, as well as over a thousand missile pods. It had light armor, but was built in different sections and areas, like the honey-comb of a beehive. As a result, it could take an incredible amount of abuse. Captain Ferald had thankfully never really had to test that, but now he probably would never get his ship back.
[INDENT] Now he had a larger, perhaps one of the largest ships in the fleet, more armored space cruiser with two generators for the engines. It was almost as fast as his old one, but still lacked many assets that the Autumn could have supplied. It had more missile pods though, and four MAC guns that, although bigger and more powerful than the Autumn's, could only fire one round per charge. Sometimes one of them might get off a second shot, but it was highly unlikely and not to be depended on. It was named [I] The Victor [/I], rather ironic because despite its advantages in armor, speed, size, and firepower, it hadn't been in many battles and lost the majority of the ones it had been in.
[INDENT] After the confiscation of his ship, he had run several recon runs and random checkouts with his new one that were always nothing. He had been sent to a newly discovered system which he had heard might become a new base, depending on the information he brought back. On the way back with little report, sensors painted major contacts somewhere close to him. He came out of slipspace to check it out and found a system that wasn't charted on Human archives. He didn't find anything at the time, but too late discovered that he was on the opposite side of a planet that hid several dozen Covenant armadas from sensors. Apparently they were aware of him, and didn't know how many Human ships there were, so they sent six of their cruisers after him in ambush. As with the protocol, they had jumped to random coordinates to escape and not lead them to Earth. That was it. Now, with seconds ticking away from the time when they would come out of Slipspace, pretty much all of the crew and Marines were being woken out of cryo-sleep and put on alert.
[INDENT] With a start the Captain brought himself back to the present. He needed to focus on the present situation.
[INDENT] One of the bridge crew waved to catch his attention. "Twenty seconds to real-space sir! I suggest you sit down!"
[INDENT] "Thank you Connell, I'll do that." Ferald left his place and quickly buckled into a padded chair close to the ships main controls. Looking out the main view port, he now wished he had the Autumn's view. He forced himself to forget his lost ship and concentrate on the moment, listening to the countdown. "Eight seconds to real-space! Six, five, four, three, two, and one! Revert!"
[INDENT] There was a slight shudder as the giant ship appeared in silence. The usual second of everyone holding their breath held for a moment, then the scanners started up, taking in as much information as possible, looking for planets, possibly asteroids, and most important, UNSC or hostile forces. After a mere forty seconds, it was clear that they were the only ones in the system. But sensors painted something else, something that Ferald was instantly curious about.
[INDENT] After quick long-range scans, a rough 3D image of it floated above a projector. Ring-shaped, it was massive. Info showed it to be ten thousand kilometers in diameter, and twenty-two point three kilometers thick. The outer surface of the thing seemed strangely metallic and was engraved with deep geometric patterns. On the inner side, there were several different climates, showing mountains, snow, grass, every habitable environment thinkable.
[INDENT] The ship's AI, Tremaine, appeared on a second projector and studied the object. She wasn't a humanoid AI, but instead something that resembled a comet or flaming meteor. "Tremaine . . ." Ferald began slowly. "Do you know what that thing is?"
[INDENT] "No Captain. It appears to be artificial, but I can't be entirely sure without a closer scan." A moment's pause indicated that the AI had taken a moment to examine the data coming in from the sensors. "From what I can tell, there seems to be some sort of gravity field that directs the objects spin and keeps the ring's atmosphere inside it."
[INDENT] "This thing has an [I]atmosphere [/I]?"
[INDENT] "Of course captain." She said, as if it were obvious. "Look at the inside. It's covered with plant life. They would not be able to survive without an atmosphere."
[INDENT] Captain Ferald shook his head in disbelief. "An artificial atmosphere . . . Incredible . . ." he murmured softly.
[INDENT] "I have a somewhat pleasant surprise for you sir. This ring-world, if sensors are accurate, the construct has an atmosphere of oxygen-nitrogen and Earth-normal gravity. Very interesting, I wonder if . . ." she trailed off. "Well, anyway, I'm committing this data to the ship's main memory, if that's all right with you Captain."
[INDENT] "Yes." He said, frowning. "We may want to review this later. Do it." The AI's comet-like form grew slightly brighter for a moment, then went back to normal. "Data transfer complete. I await your next command."
[INDENT] Ferald deepened his frown in agitation, attempting to determine what the best course of action was. Normally he would write up a quick report, add it to the ship's log, and set course for home, home meaning Reach, where pretty much all ships reported back to. Only he couldn't do that because he didn't know where he was for one, and he also didn't know if the Covenant were still out there, looking for him in the course of path for Reach. At that point he remembered that it didn't matter anyway, because Reach was under attack. The slipspace jump and ring had made it momentarily slip his mind. The armadas he had bumped into on accident had jumped into slipspace only several minutes before he gotten the call, saying that Reach was under attack and all ships were to return to help beat off the assault. But, Ferald wasn't able to do that, not with six Covenant cruisers breathing down his neck, ambushed and having the possibility of missing Reach and going all the way to Earth, leading the Covenant there and dooming mankind. It wasn't likely to make that kind of mistake, but accidents happen. Anyway, just the cruisers were enough to keep him from Reach, so he'd jumped away and succeeded in losing them, only to find a mystery in front of him. He was too far away from Reach to make a difference anyway, so he might as well try to figure out where the hell they were, and he guessed that that weird ring-world had the answers to all his questions.
[INDENT] "All right Tremaine, I'm going to land some troops on that thing. We need information, and I believe that we'll find it on the object. I want you to start up all necessary sequences, alert the crew, and prepare the materials essential for creating a base once we're on the ground, however temporary. I assume you can handle that."
[INDENT] "Of course Captain." She said in mock seriousness. "What do you think I am, Human?"
***
[INDENT] "The transports are on the ground. Ninety-nine point nine percent readiness in all troops. I've put the entire ship's personnel on standby. All forces are ready to begin unloading. Shall I give the command?"
[INDENT] Captain Ferald looked at the AI with amazement. It was surprising to have such an old, low class AI work that fast. Of course, she wasn't really all that low-class, because all ship AI's [U]had [/U] to be high class. But for a ship AI, she was fairly low, though useful and effective. "Yes, begin unloading." He said simply. "And keep me informed." Tremaine's glowing orb-like appearance brightened for a moment, then disappeared to personally give instructions to the crew.
[INDENT] Ferald sighed. It wouldn't be long now. He had already begun looking for an ideal spot for a base, not for fighting, for no Covenant were present, but for a place to hold them for however many days that they would be there. They could have used the Victor itself as a base, but Ferald wanted an alternate place to regroup that was on the structure. Making too many trips in and out of space would cost them a lot. Plus, the Covenant were still out there, looking for him, and if one of their cruisers popped out of slipspace, then it wouldn't take them long to find the ring, and only a few cruisers could blow the whole thing to pieces. Of course, they would keep personnel on the ship and hold it as a primary base out in space, but the other, named "beta base" before its actual construction, would serve as a secondary one on the ground.
[INDENT] Gene, the even lower class AI belonging to the Helljumpers appeared on one of the five projectors on the bridge. Gene was an AI resembling an old-fashioned theater mask. The floating face would flash different colors like every other AI, data scrolling across it. Ferald had borrowed Gene from the Helljumpers commander, Major Griffen, to do other tasks while Tremaine was off organizing the discharge of the cruiser's Marines and supplies. While unable to work quite as fast or efficiently as Tremaine, the AI could handle almost anything put on him.
[INDENT] "I have good news Captain. I have found an ideal spot for Beta base."
[INDENT] "Good." Ferald said with enthusiasm. "Where is it?" in response, the AI disappeared and was replaced by a floating image of the ring. Parts of the image disappeared as the view zoomed in quickly, showing a cliff several thousand meters high. At the top, the area was very flat, and only a few plants and formations were scattered here and there. Gene's voice came out of the speakers below the projection, lacking the neural link to the Captain's CNI transponder that Tremaine had. "This cliff is far enough away from the Victor to avoid detection by Covenant sensors should they appear and find it, but close enough to get to quickly and have the base completed and fully operational by the end of the day. With a few 50mm guns positioned around it, and Marines operating them, the base would be well protected." The image disappeared and was replaced again by Gene's mask form, data and color flashing across his shape. "Though, Sir, I must say that it is probably highly unnecessary. I doubt the Covenant can find us here and it isn't likely that they'll appear by chance."
[INDENT] "Your concern is noted, but I don't want to take any chances. We won't have time to bring guns to that base if the Covenant emerges from space. Estimate amount of supplies, men, and weapons needed for the construction and uphold of the base and Pelicans required for transport to it. Then transmit the data here and start up."
[INDENT] Gene acknowledged the order with a "Yes Sir" and disappeared to begin his task. Ferald smiled. He liked it when things went well.

[INDENT] Fleet Master Huta Fumamee stood at a firm stance before the main display deep inside his capital ship, [I]The Illumination[/I], attempting to look like he had authority. He had a right to, after all, because he did have authority. Fleet Master's did not humble themselves. They were proud.
[INDENT] The navigator turned to him in question. "To where shall I set the course, Sir?" The Fleet Master had no idea where to look for the other ancient Halo's, but he couldn't let that show if he wanted to maintain discipline onboard.
[INDENT] Fumamee had been charged to find the other ancient Halos, since the research on the first one was going so well. Apparently the Prophets had found information regarding Halo and bringing them to the conclusion that there were more Halos, somewhere in the universe, awaiting discovery. Now, Fumamee had been given an armada of considerable size and ordered to do whatever it took to find and take the others.
[INDENT] Fumamee felt that he was more than worthy to be in his position, and the Prophets as well were confident that he was able to do his task. He had run several search and destroy missions near the beginning of the war on the Humans, as well as other searches for sacred artifacts that the Prophets desired, but there were many other Fleet Masters and even Ship Masters that felt they were much more qualified in finding such a sacred item as another Halo. Some were . . . not content that they had not been selected. Fumamee had transferred those under his command that he did not trust.
[INDENT] "Tell the armada to spread out and prepare to receive the coordinates." Fumamee said. Then he turned away and gave the equivalent to a smile. He would find them. Might not be soon, but yes, he would find them.

[INDENT] "Beta base will be fully established within a half hour, Sir. Most of the structure is complete, and I have begun transporting Marines over. As with the data I transmitted to you, the complete number of troops that will be staying there is four hundred. This will be able to withstand a massive attack, Sir."
[INDENT] "Thank you Gene. Continue operations and notify me when things are fully operational down there. The Victor will serve as a satellite and continue to take in as much intel as possible, but on the ground things are different, I'm sure. As soon as its finished, I want you to work with Tremaine and begin taking the necessary procedures to create several more bases around the Ring. I want to know everything about this thing, but three main questions stand. Why is it here, how old is it, and who the hell built it?" The AI floated gently above the center projector, data scrolling across his face. The other four projectors on the bridge showed the ring, beta base, the Victor, and other areas the crew were keeping an eye on.
[INDENT] Captain Ferald was tired. The deployment of the bases and constant work in establishing defenses and preparing mobile forces for recon and other purposes, like finding out what this ring was, had started to wear him down. Soon he was going to push all the work on Major Carter and catch a few hours of sleep. So far he hadn't done much anyway so he deserved a little extra work. Ferald, however, had been overseeing every last event and construction of beta base, and planning possible places for other bases, in case he might need more areas to work with. All supervision had taken large effort and left him exhausted. In any case, he could rest now. Beta base would be finished tomorrow, and he could probably start looking for answers soon after. He assigned his late duties to the other top personnel and headed for his cabin. Things would be even better in the morning.

[INDENT] Far below the ring's surface, locked doors held in a terrible inhuman monstrosity. Waiting for so long to escape, to feed. Now, unbeknownst to even the monstrosity itself, it would not be long until their long awaited escape. But now, they still wait, and wait, and wait. [I]Hungry[/I].

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