February 3 - 2552

Location - unknown/ Time - 11:23

Lord Terrence Hood was in a meeting about the war with the covenant. This is the third meeting he's been in since he has reached he's current position and he hates it just like the others. What was the point of these meetings anymore; he was needed to fight the covenant, not arguing with politicians over how to best save their assets or keeping them informed on how the war is going. There was even a few who thought that they knew how to fight this war better than him, granted he has only been fleet admiral for two years, it still doesn't change the fact that he has been fighting in this war sense the beginning. He knew what he was doing. 'sigh'. Sometimes he wished for the war to just end.

"Why do we continue to fight them, it is destroying our economy and our society. We cannot continue to fight them and expect some kind of miracle to happen. We need to talk to them, only then will this war stop." Said one Ruth Charet. She has numerous followers and has recently grown in power to the point that she could become president and no one could stop her. The only thing stopping her is the war.

Hood says "So why don't you explain your plan to stop the war." He was actually curious of the so called plan. If it had any chance of stopping the war, he would support it as best he could. But he had his doubts.

She smiled "I'm glad you asked. We give them shield world 0018." She looked smug. A look of horror crosses Hoods face. His eyes widen in shock. 'How could she even think of doing that?' Granted, he didn't know much about the place, only a few facts. They found it about a year ago and it is some kind of artificial planet.

ONI has sent over several of their best scientists, engineers, agents, and soldiers to unlock its secrets. He may not know much about it, but he even he could see the massive gain from studying the planet.

"You can't do that." Shouted Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, the head of ONI. A thought crossed her mind. "How do you even know about it? It's top secret."

Ruth replies "I have my ways." Anger was clear on Margaret's face.

Margaret stared at Ruth with looks that could kill a soldier. "You are to not give the covenant any information on the facility."

"I have already sent a frigate, the location of the facility, and a peace treaty to covenant space. I sent my most trusted aide to oversee the peace talks." Now she was being arrogant. Margaret clenched her fists tight enough to cause them to bleed a little. They needed time to study the planet and learn its secrets, time they didn't have anymore.

Hood stood up and said "That is going too far Ruth. You don't have the authority to make such a call. Call the ship back right now."

She looks at the clock on the wall and says "Too late. It will arrive any minute now."

Margaret rushes out of the meeting. Terrence sighs and says "This meeting is adjourned for today." He stood there for a moment watching everyone else leave. As everyone else was leaving he saw Ruth with a smile on her face, believing she had stopped the war. 'sigh' 'I wish that were true.'

Hood left shortly after. He knew where he had to go to find Margaret. As he arrived at her ship he saw two guards outside the air lock. The moment they saw him they saluted. He saluted back and kept on walking. They knew better than to stop him. It didn't take him long to find Margaret again.

When he saw her again, she was speaking to a hologram of someone, most likely a person from the facility.

"You are to pull ALL assets out of there immediately, sergeant."

"Yes, mam. We will have all data, scientists, and everything else taken and moved to a secure facility. Do we have an expected time frame for when they will arrive?"

She breathed out "A day at the soonest, a week at the most. If they arrive before you can get everything, then leave and bring what you did get to the usual place. Make sure everything else is destroyed, can't let them access to anything."

The person on the other side seem hurt for a moment, but it pasted "Yes, mam." The line was cut.

"What is it you need Terrence. I am not in the mood." Her face was neutral, but the tension in the air spoke of pain to anyone that disturbed her. Most people would just leave her alone and come talk to her another time. She was very influential, and can make many mysteriously disappear under unknown circumstances. However, Terrence was also very influential, well liked, and well known. Even she didn't have the power to remove him, but that didn't mean she couldn't make his life a living hell. He took a seat at the table and motioned with his left hand for her to have a seat as well. She just stayed standing and glared.

"Suit yourself." He stared at her for a bit, going over what he wanted to talk about with her. It was stupid, crazy, and the only chance they had. "We need to leave."

She looked at him like he grew a second head. "You're going to have to be clearer on what you mean."

"We're losing this war. You know it, I know it, and just about everyone else knows it. We can't win."

"If that is all..."

"I wasn't finished." His voice was stern and had an edge to it. "The covenant is destroying world after world and we can't do anything to stop them. We need to leave ALL known space and flee to someplace to rebuild. Disappear from the sights of the covenant and they won't find us. I know about the Infinity, if we had ships like that we could fight this war. As it stands not even it can defeat the covenant at this time, we need more than one. If we can find a place, a safe haven if you will, to settle down, we can build more. We can make them better, stronger, and more powerful than anything the covenant has; we can return and take back what's ours."

Margaret was stunned. What had her stunned was not so much the plan itself, but who it came from. She did not expect something like this from Terrence ever. Sure it crossed her mind a few times, but in all her years of knowing Terrence, she did not expect him to give up so easily. She thought he would fight to the bitter end while taking as much of them with him. A thought crossed her mind. "You're not the type to give up so easily, what made you come to this? Why tell me and not anyone else?" Her eyes narrowed.

He looked at her "What made me come to this you ask? Well, it's simple. The war. I have seen enough death and destruction to last a life time. I have had to talk to family after family after family that their son, daughter, father, mother, cousin, and more wouldn't be coming home. I have sent lives to their death knowing that they wouldn't be coming back just to buy us some time. I am sick of it all. Now why tell you. Again, simple. There is only so much I can do on my own. You have vast connections and can move ships, supplies, and even people without anyone knowing what is really going on. I need those connections to pull this off. I can't trust anyone else to help me pull this off." They stared at one another. "Will you help me save our people?" He raised his hand for a handshake.

She needed to think. She put her right hand on her face, palm non-touching.

On one side is refusing to help. She wouldn't need to move resources around to help. She could focus on ways to defeat the covenant and the insurrectionists. Really, not much would change. The downside was there was no way to tell how well her efforts will help. While she could stop the insurrectionists, the covenant was another story. She has sent dozens of ships into their territory to get any intel they could, less than half ever return. There was also the chance that Terrence would fail.

However, the other side is helping him. The amount of time and supplies she would have to pour into it to give it any real chance of success would be nearly everything she had. She wouldn't be able to focus on the covenant or the insurrectionists, leaving them open for more attacks. Even with help, there is no guarantee that the plan will work. One slip up would be all that it would take for the plan to fail.

After thinking over the pros and cons a little more, she finally conceded that this was all they had left. Terrence was right about one thing, there were losing the war, and if something wasn't done soon, humanity would become extinct. The only other option was to pray for a miracle, but she never puts her hopes on something like that. 'sigh'

"Before I agree to this, what would need to be done to make this work?" She may see this as the only option, but that didn't mean she wouldn't get the full details first.

Hood lowers his hand "There are several people, supplies, and equipment we would need to secure to bring us the best results. For people we need citizens and soldiers. Citizens are needed for obvious reasons and soldiers as well. However, ODSTs and Spartan would help immensely in the training of future soldiers. There is also the need for scientists, I would recommend Dr. Halsey, but she is a busy person, so I'll leave it to decide if to go for her or not.

Next we need supplies. We need travel to a place far away from known space to give us as much time as possible to rebuild, likely a few months. For that we will need food, medicine, and other such supplies to keep us afloat on the way there. A large variety of plants as well.

Finally, equipment. We need ships, a lot of ships. The Infinity will be needed; I'll send some supplies to speed it up to be ready in time. We also need materials, metals, and machinery. They're going to be needed to get us up and running as soon as possible.

All this has to be done before they reach Earth, otherwise we won't make it." He puts his hand back up "So, are you in."

There were flaws in it, but overall, not a bad plan. She'll fix it as they go. She looks at him and says "Aright Terrence, you got yourself my support." She grabs his hand and shakes.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

- The events of Halo Reach take place between July 24 to August 30.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Entering call... Hood.

Hood: It's almost time.

Entering call... Margaret.

Margaret: I know. But, I still need more time to finish a few last minute additions.

Hood: The covenant have taken REACH. We have two maybe three months left before they find Earth. You have until then to finish up whatever you can; for when they do, we have to leave.

Margaret: I know Hood, I know.

...

Hood: Let us pray they take longer than needed.

Leaving call... Hood.

Margaret: I don't pray, but your right, we need more time. I think its time I reveal the rebels to the covenant.

Leaving call... Margaret.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

November 2

- The battle of Onyx starts.

November 8

- The battle of Onyx ends.

December 1

- The battle for Earth

- The UNSC In Amber Clad, with SPARTAN-117 aboard, attempt to follow the High Prophet of Regret through a slipspace portal, but have to retreat when a salvo of plasma torpedoes are fired from assault carrier.

- The UNSC In Amber Clad under orders from Lord Terrence Hood Jump to the Phoenix system for a special assignment.

December 13

- More covenant forces arrive.

December 26

- After weeks of fighting, UNSC forces are pushed back with nearly half of Earth destroyed.

- A large alien artifact of unknown origin is uncovered by covenant forces under Kenya in Africa.

January 1

- With a force of over 1000 ships, the covenant take Earth.

- The battle for Earth is lost.

At the edge of the system a probe goes unnoticed by all. It has been recording all the fighting going on in the Sol system sense the start of the battle of Earth. Its job done, it sends it final data package and takes the next week to move around the system, staying outside the range of ships sensors, remaining unnoticed, and crashes into the sun. Destroying all evidence that it ever existed.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

January 2

Phoenix system - 30 light years from Earth

UNSC Infinity - Bridge

The fleet they managed to gather was large by UNSC standards, being at 650 ships, excluding the Infinity and her ten Strident-class heavy frigates, the fleet was massive in size, even larger than the home fleet. Of the 650 ships, only 150 of them were actually military. Of those, 100 were cruisers or larger. Now, one would think it would be easier to get frigates or destroyers, but cruisers are less effective against covenant ships than frigates and there for were easier to move around without anyone caring too much. If they did question it, they were told it was being decommissioned or 'taken apart to build some frigates'. Sense both a cruiser and a frigate get destroyed in a single shot from covenant plasma projectors, many saw this as a smart move. Now they did get 30 frigates and 20 destroyers.

The other 500 ships they got were civilian ships ranging in size from 400 meters to 1.5 km. These ships were the ones carrying most of the building supplies, people, and food they would need to start anew, some were even modified to hold more. Of the 500 civilian ships, 100 of them were corporate owned. It was necessary to bring them in; otherwise they would have to start new businesses there, which would be more troublesome then it needed to be.

However, the most important part of the plan, the part that could make it or break, is the people. They could have all the supplies in the galaxy, but without people they wouldn't survive. An important part of getting the people was making sure they wouldn't turn against them. ONI had to screen person after person and family after family, to get people who weren't hidden rebels or who were against the idea. ONI had to turn 90% of their resources to this job to get it done in time. Another part was making them disappear without anyone knowing. Now this part wasn't all that hard, simply have them have a fake accident, move, or when the covenant is attacking and no one would really know what happened to them. Because of the simplicity of the part, ONI only needed 10% or their resources to complete the job. They had set a quota of 10 million people they wanted to get for the mission, they only reached 7 million. Out of 50 billion people, that was a small number. There wasn't anything that could be done at this point that couldn't put the mission at risk.

There was one problem however. They never got Dr. Halsey. She always said she wanted a safe haven for her spartan, and hood knew she would jump at the chance to keep them safe. Never the less, they couldn't wait to find her any longer. She is on her own now.

Finally, there is the Infinity.

At a length of 5.7 kilometers, width of 833 meters, and height of 1,041 meters, it truly was the largest ship ever built by humanity. It has advanced shielding to match covenant shielding and more. It's primary armament consists of four CR-03 Series-8 Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and some kind of experimental energy projector. It boasts a significant missile network that can be implemented for ship-to-ship combat, anti-air defense and orbital gunfire support for Marine forces. Placed throughout the ship are 1,100 missile pods of three types: Archer, Rapier, and Howler, totaling the ship's missile payload at 25,900 missiles. The Rapier and Howler missiles were new types that ONI is experimenting with. Close-in defense against enemy missiles, fighters, and boarding craft is provided by the ship's M965 Fortress point defense system, a network of 830 70mm automatic cannons. It also has a number of Mark 2551 Portable Magnetic Accelerator Cannon placed along the ship. The UNSC Infinity truly is a marvelous ship.

For all its perks, it did have a few flaws. The two most important flaws were its main weapons. Neither the MAC guns or the experimental energy projector were finished in time. They still needed some wiring, cables, and programing finished. They'll fix them when they find a new home. There was also some minor errors throughout the ship, but nothing else that would impede ship functions. He didn't like the fact that it wasn't finished, but it was still better than it still being in dry docks.

'Sigh'. "Aine, is everyone ready for departure." He is seriously looking into retirement plans when they find a new home.

A golden thirty year old woman with variable clothing appeared on a holotank nearby. "Yes, all preparation are complete. We can leave on your word." He nodded to Aine. He looked at everyone one the bridge and opened his month to give a speech to help ease their nerves, but... "Slipspace rupture detected, 8 o'clock." Hood swore.

There were no more ships coming, so that only left one possibility...

...the covenant.

"Send a message to all ships, I want all guns locked on and ready to fire. Prep all missile batteries" "ONI IFF detected." "to fire on my..." Hood looked at Aine. She returned a smile and waved. "Tell all ships to stand down." He said slowly, unsure of what to make of it. "Confirm that IFF and contact the..." "Incoming transmission from Point of No Return." Hood slammed his hand down. He was getting annoyed at getting continuously interrupted. He put it aside for now. "Open the channel." On the front screen appeared Margaret. "Explain that ship." Pointing in its general direction.

"I'm just as surprised as you are." Hood crossed his arms under his chest. She signs. "That ship is Hidden Shadow. I sent it to find Dr. Halsey."

A thoughtful look appeared on hoods face. "That could mean..." He said softly.

"Yes, I have just confirmed that Dr. Halsey is, in fact, on board. It would also seem to be a few surprises on board as well." She had a small smile. Hood wanted to question her about the surprises. "But enough about that, we should be going soon." He dropped it for now.

Hood nodded. A smile appeared on his face. A way to bring everyone's hope up real easily. "Send a message to all ships, Dr. Halsey has just joined the fleet." A few on the bridge smile. Margaret looks at him sternly. Hood waved her off. "It will raise morale for everyone." She stared at him a moment longer before cutting the connection.

"Now then, let's try this again. All ships prepare to jump on my mark." The people on the bridge spin up the ftl drive and plotted in the coordinates. "Mark."

All ships in the fleet activated their ftl drives and entered their slipspace portals to their first destination on their journey.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Five days later - 120 light years from Earth

Lora system - 12:52

In the middle of the system hundreds of black portals opened up and dropped out 662 some ships. The ships started to scan the system to make sure no covenant or other hostiles were in the system.

The Lora system was abandoned over a decade ago, so no one expected to find anything, so when the spirit of fire is detected, everyone is at a loss for what to do.

UNSC Infinity - Bridge

"You're telling me that ship" pointing at the one on the holotable "is the Spirit of Fire that has been missing for the past 20 years." Aine nodded. Hood signed before pacing around the room.

After five minutes of pacing and thinking the situation over, hood is interrupted "Doing nothing isn't going to solve our problem. We either sends troops over to confirm the status of the ship or we leave. We can't keep waiting otherwise the covenant may stumble upon us." Said Aine.

Hood thought over what she said and knew she was right, they couldn't wait. "Alright, send the frigates Golden Fire and Ocean Waves to check it out." Aine nods before blinking out to complete her task.

20 minutes later

Steve, Jake, Miles, Luna, and Estelle were squad 8 of 20 squads sent in to find out what happened to the people. Looking around they saw this weird organic stuff in random places. They didn't have a clue as to what the hell it was.

Their mission was to check the cryo-chamber room and see who was alive. Said room was just behind the next door.

"Alright people" Said Miles, the leader "The next room is the cryo-chamber. We are to find as many people as we possibly can. We clear." They nodded, each marine holding their own weapon. The door opened and they saw hell.

(The scene inside the cryo-chamber is a bit graphic. If you don't like this, skip the next bit.)

Inside the room was not a mess, it was chaos. In one corner of the room they saw the organic stuff covering part a head and was feeding of it. Half the head looked like it had its flesh ripped off and had bone showing. Off to the side they saw a corpse ripped into six pieces. Head, both legs, both arms, and body. Little strings of flesh still connected the parts, blood was covering the ground. The corpse must have been old, because part of flesh were falling off it. Some did now. One corpse had the stuff covering him like rope keeping him trapped where he was, INSIDE his cryo-tube with his face pressed against the glass. The man's arm was through the glass a little above his head with glass sticking out of it. Flesh was ripped of it with the hand looking like it could fall off at any moment. The man's face had a look of terror on it, his jaw was missing and so was a few teeth. Jack thought he saw his right eye twitch.

(It ends.) (I wonder how well I did.)

They close the door. They saw only a small part of the bay, and it was bad. None of them wanted to open the door again.

Jake throws up to the side. Luna and Estelle didn't move. Steve is in shock and Miles feels faint.

"The..." Steve couldn't even speak.

Miles click his comm. on. "Command, this is squad leader Miles. Do you co... copy." His voice cracking a bit.

"This is command, we read you. What is the status of the cryo-chamber room 8."

...

"Everyone is dead." It took a moment to say.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Over the next week the ship is checked for survivors. Cryo bays 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 11 all showed different ways to mutilate a human. Cryo bays 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 and 12 all had different amounts of survivors.

When questioned, everyone said the organic stuff was called the flood and needed to be destroyed.

Scans show that less than 20% of the ship was covered with it. While many argued it would be better to simply nuke the ship and move on, others said it would help in the long run. Being a colony ship first, it had the means to start up a colony 10 times faster then what they had. The second week was spent removing the flood from the ship. A few days were spent scanning the ships to make sure the infection was completely gone.

632 lives were lost removing the infection from the ship. 4,252 lives were rescued from the ship.

After the fight the Spirit of Fire was given the all clear, it was given mild field repairs to make it jump capable. During repairs the A.I. core was found destroyed and was replaced with the NAVCOM from one of the Infinity's strident class ships, along with its slipspace drive. After four days the repairs were done. While not combat capable, it could make a jump without killing everyone on board. The Spirit of Fire crew once again boarded the ship.

With the Spirit of Fire joining the refugee fleet, they left once more.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

One month later - 500 light years from Earth

"So, what do you think of the new world." Said an older female voice.

"It's nice." Said an older male voice.

"It needs a name you know. Got any."

"I was thinking Eden."

"You got that from Adam and Eve."

"So. We're starting a new life here. I say its perfect."

They both look down at the world, it was beautiful.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

4,295 words in the chapter, excluding the A/N.

I just want to say a few things before signing off. One, I have no idea what my update schedule will be, they come when they come. Don't bitch. This is more of a side story I'll do when I'm not working on my A Better Humanity story. Two, the ship numbers. For the UNSC to fight the covenant for so long as they did, they had to have at least 5,000 war ships at the start of the war. So 150 ships is not a lot, same with the civilians. Three, I do the best I can, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes.

Bye, have a nice day.