Authors Note: This is my first fanfiction I've written, hopefully it's not that bad compared to some of the other amazing ones I've been reading so far.

Please review if you have time, I would greatly appreciate any advice or such.

Enjoy

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine.

Chapter 1: Departure

Bridge of the UNSC Port Stanley, March 5th, 2559,

CINCONI Margaret Parongosky to Captain Serin Osman

March 4th, 2559, ONI Research Facility Trevelyan

Serin,

Excellent job taking care of Venezia, those bastards finally got what they deserved. One less thorn in the UNSC's side. The Pious Inquisitor will make a great addition to our slowly rebuilding fleet. Still no sign of our dear friend Jul, hopefully that teleport dumped him into a sun, but I don't think we got off that lucky. We should have disposed of him while we had the chance, hopefully he doesn't come back to bite us in the ass someday. Some good news though, the Infinity is fully operational, and with the Arbiter finally putting down the Sangheili rebellion, it looks like they won't be troubling us again.

Now for the real reason I contacted you. As much as we would appreciate the help from the Port Stanley and her crew, I have another mission for Kilo-5. One of our long-range slipspace probes have detected a large anomaly near the edge of the galaxy, and I need someone I can trust to investigate it. Coordinates have been enclosed, and with your new slipspace drives, should get you there in about two days. My bets are that it's another shield world, but there's no way we can be sure, be careful out there.

On another note, I hoped you found the little "surprise" I left you in your latest resupply. Best regards to BB and the rest,

- Margaret

Captain Serin Osman put down the data pad, and sat back in her chair. She looked down to the bag of gift-wrapped ginger cubes in her lap, and popped one in her mouth. "BB, did you get the coordinates?" A black holographic cube materialized next to Osman, Kilo-5's assigned AI, Black-Box.

"The routes been plotted before you even started reading Captain, the whole millions of processes per second thing comes in handy sometimes." Osman smiled, ever since BB started working with Kilo-5, he's become more than an AI, he's a part of the crew, as human as anybody else.

"Find out where the rest of the crew is and call them to the bridge, lets brief them before we set off on our little adventure." said Osman

"Mal, Vaz, and Devereaux are in the wardroom, Naomi is in the armory, she might as well put a cot down there, and Phillips just got rudely awakened from his beauty sleep. Dear me, I wonder where he learned those Sangheili curses. I didn't bother with the Huragok, I figured they were having enough fun playing with the Mantis, and they probably wouldn't care anyway" BB floated over to the navigation console, even though he didn't need to. BB wasn't so much a part of the ship, he was the ship. He was integrated into every system; he saw everything, heard everything, and did everything. Even so, that only required a fraction of BB's processing power. He was also in constant contact with fragments that he'd left in the Infinity with that ship's own AI Roland, ONIRF Trevelyan, and Bravo-6 back at Earth. Instant Slip-space comms were a wonderful thing.

The rest of Kilo-5 steadily trickled into the bridge, starting with Mal, Vaz, and Devereaux. Three tough-as-nails ODSTs, battle-hardened, smart, dependable, and loyal, they took their places around the briefing table. Next to come in was Phillips, their language and interpretation expert, eyes red, hair and beard in disarray, with a cup of coffee in his hand. The thud of heavy boots on metal signified the arrival of Naomi, one of the last Spartan-II's known to exists.

Her ghostly pale face contrasted deeply with her dark purple MJOLNIR armour, and her helmet was tucked under her arm. Now that everyone was here, Osman looked over her crew. They've been through a lot together, Venezia, the extraction on Sanghelios, the shield world, and various other missions. She knew she could depend on them, they were her crew.

Mal opened up the conversation."Do we have another mission ma'am?" Sarcastically, he added "Cause lord knows I was getting tired of drinking all that beer."

"Actually yes staff sergeant, we do." Osman replied. "ONI has decided to send us to the edge of the galactic rim to investigate a large anomaly that one of our long-range slipspace probes detected."

"Can't somebody else do this ma'am?" said Vaz, "Just seems like a gross misallocation of resources to me"

"Our orders came down from Parongosky herself, and besides, were currently the closest ONI team. Although I will say that I was thinking the same thing myself." replied Osman.

"Think Big Maggie knows something we don't?" Mal asked.

Osman replied, "No, she would certainly tell me something like that." Being one of the original Spartan-II candidates, Osman was kidnapped from her parents at the age of six, and spent the next 8 years in brutal training. However, during her augmentations, Osman's body reacted badly, leaving her badly crippled. Parongosky must have seen potential in young Osman though, as she rehabilitated her back to normal, and started culling her to become her replacement as CINCONI. In a way, Parongosky was more of a mother to Osman than her biological one. If Parongosky knew of any possible danger, she definitely would have let Osman know.

"Seems like a piece of cake ma'am" said Devereaux.

"I hope so." replied Osman. "BB, prepare to jump."

"Ready when you are Captain." BB stated

Osman went back to her bridge chair, closed her eyes, and tightly gripped the arms of her chair. Slipspace jumps never agreed with her; hopefully the ginger Parongosky sent would mitigate the nausea.

BB counted down, "In five, four, three, two, one, and were off, like a herd of raging turtles..."

Osman's stomach felt like it had flipped over, and her head started to feel light, but that was as bad as it got. She opened her eyes, and stared out the viewport into complete blackness, the unknown dimension of slipspace. Speaking to the crew she said, "It'll be about 2 days until we get to our destination, so eat well, clean your gear, and get some rest."

As the crew began to leave, Osman called out, "Naomi, stay here, I'd like to talk to you."

The Spartan turned around and went back to the bridge, and stood in front of the Captain. "Ma'am?"

Osman took a long look at her, noticing her face was completely expressionless. Spartans were masters at hiding their emotions, most likely due to spending so much time behind their faceless visors. But Osman wouldn't be fooled so easily, Naomi's eyes told her everything she needed to know.

"You didn't say a word the whole briefing, are you feeling alright?" Osman asked.

"I'm fully combat operational Captain." she replied.

"That's not what I'm asking about, and you know it."

Naomi shifted her eyes downwards, as if her boots had suddenly grown extremely interesting, but remained silent.

"It's okay to grieve." Osman said quietly.

Though the mission to capture the Pious Inquisitor was officially a success, it had some unforeseen, and unfortunate consequences. The UNSC's kidnapping of Naomi sent her family into turmoil after the replacement clone inevitably died, with her mother eventually killing herself, and her father moving to Venezia and becoming a staunch insurrectionist. During Kilo-5's deployment to Venezia to track down the Inquisitor, the ship finally showed up in-system, however Naomi's father was on board along with his Kig-Yar associate. ONI had ordered the immediate commencement of boarding operations, and the plan was to immediately capture the bridge and shut down the rest of the ship from there. However, during the breaching, Naomi's father was about to shoot Vaz while he was distracted with the Kig-Yar shipmaster, and Naomi was the only one in the position to stop him. She had no choice, and without hesitation, she pulled the trigger.

As Osman was looking at Naomi, she thought, Damn, even for a Spartan, killing your own father must be unimaginably painful.

Naomi looked up, and with slightly glazed eyes said, "I'm fine Captain."

Osman, sensing that it would be a bad idea to push the issue further, nodded her head. "Dismissed Spartan."

Naomi saluted, Osman returned it, and the Spartan turned on her heal and strode down the hall, Osman watching her go.

Osman turned around, and BB materialized in front of her. "She'll pull through Captain, those Spartans aren't made out of tin foil."

"I know BB, just wanting to make sure."

"Get some rest Captain, you've been up for 18 hours, and were going to need you fully functional in case we run into something like a galactic toll booth."

Osman smiled, and went back to her cabin to catch some shut-eye, wondering what exactly would await her crew.

Bridge of the UNSC Port Stanley, March 7th, 2559, Slipspace Anomaly at Galactic Rim

Osman got out of her chair, and walked over to the forward view screen. "BB, what exactly am I looking at here?"

It took BB a couple of seconds to respond, quite a long time by AI standards. "Well Captain, the energy readings I'm getting are consistent with those associated with wormholes, although this is unlike any wormhole that's ever been recorded."

"How so?" Osman asked.

"Are you familiar with Einstein's theory of general relativity ma'am?"

"Vaguely. What about it?."

"Well Captain, this wormhole fits the specifications of an Einsteinian traversable wormhole."

Osman raised her eyebrows. "Traversable? So we could travel through this?"

"In theory Captain. This wormhole possibly leads to another point on the galaxy, or even another galaxy altogether." BB said.

"That's incredible." Osman explained

"Indeed. But Captain, there is another theory concerning traversable wormholes. It may be possible that one end of the wormhole is accelerated to some significant fraction of the speed of light, perhaps with some advanced propulsion system, and then brought back to the point of origin. As a result, time dilation causes the end of the wormhole that has been moved to have aged less than the stationary end." BB explained.

Osman was silent for a moment. Quietly, she asked, "Time travel?"

"It's a possibility ma'am." BB replied.

Osman was silent for a moment, then sprang into action. "BB, bring the ship up to readiness levels, get the rest of Kilo-5 to report to the bridge, and I want an unmanned probe launched ASAP, one of the new ones the Hurogok have modified."

"Roger that Captain." A quiet thud reverberated through the ship. "Probe away. Estimated time to contact with wormhole, thirty seconds."

The rest of Kilo-5 arrived at a bridge, confused but alert, and Mal asked, "Why the sudden alert ma'am, are we under attack?"

Osman raised a hand to shush him. "BB, status on the probe."

"Estimated contact in seven seconds... six... five... four... three... two... one..."

"Status?" Osman urgently asked.

BB was silent for a second. "I've established contact with the probe ma'am, it's transmitting."

"And?" Osman breathlessly replied.

"The probe is picking up sensor reading, you won't believe this ma'am. The date it's transmitting... it's 2522."

Silence fell over the entire bridge. Vaz then summed up the collective feeling rather nicely, "Holy shit." he said.

Excitement in her voice, Devereaux exclaimed, "Ma'am, do you know what this means? We could change the outcome of the entire war! Think of all the good we could do, how many lives we could save!"

Osman slowly nodded her head, than addressed the holographic box to her left, "BB, send a message to Hood and Parongosky immediately, priority ALPHA, encryption code 8392-4934. Let them know how important this is, and ask them to send as many ships as they can spare. I also want everything that probe is capturing recorded and analyzed. The more we know about what's happening at the other end, the better. I want the ship in full stealth mode, and establish a perimeter of Havoc nuclear mines around the wormhole, in case any unwanted guests show up. Naomi, Vaz, Mal, and Devereaux, I want weapons, armor, and vehicles cleaned and ready to go. BB, get the Huragok to upgrade anything they haven't already. Got it?"

A series of "Yes ma'am"s echoed through the bridge.

Osman nodded. "Let's get it done it Kilo-5"

ONI 4th gen AI Black-Box, to Admirals Hood and Parongosky.

URGENT - PRIORITY ALPHA - URGENT

CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET EYES ONLY

Encryption code 8392-4933-28944.

Location Galactic Rim, coordinates enclosed.

WARNING - UNATHOURIZED DISCLOSURE OF FILE CONTENTS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH AS PER UNSC CODE 110-23B - WARNING

Admirals,

Further investigation into slip-space anomaly reveals it as a traversable wormhole. Probe has been successfully launched and information acquired shows the probe to have traveled to the year 2522. Time travel, admirals. Surely I don't need to explain the significance of this discovery. We could end the war before it even started. Recommend the sending of a Sierra-class battle-group and all available assets from ONIRF Trevelyan that could be of use. All hands on deck for this one. We await your response

Kilo-5 out

- TRANSMISSION END -

Admiral Hood to ONI 4th gen AI Black-Box

URGENT - PRIORITY ALPHA - URGENT

CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET EYES ONLY

Encryption code 8392-4933-28944.

Location UNSC Infinity

WARNING - UNATHOURIZED DISCLOSURE OF FILE CONTENTS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH AS PER UNSC CODE 110-23B - WARNING

Kilo-5,

Request for Sierra-class battle-group granted, supplemented by detachment of Separatist Sangheili warships. Assets from ONIRF Trevelyan acquired, and S-4's are now embarked. Will make best possible speed to rendezvous point. All hands on deck.

Hood out

- TRANSMISSION END -

Bridge of the UNSC Infinity, Sierra-Class Battle-Group Keyes, March 9th, 2559, Slipspace Anomaly at Galactic Rim

On the outskirts the newly discovered wormhole stood one of the largest fleets gathered following the end of the Human-Covenant war.

A Sierra-class battle-group was quite a sight these days outside of the vast UNSC Home Fleet and the reclaimed Reach System Epsilon Eindani.

Humanity was recovering, but it was doing so quite aggressively and quickly.

Consisting of twenty Paris-class heavy Frigates, twelve Thanatos-class Destroyers, eight Marathon-class Heavy Cruisers, ten Refitted Halcyon-Class Cruisers, one Cradle Mobile Repair and Resupply platform, and of course, the UNSC Infinity as the flagship of the group.

In addition the Sangheili forces consisted of eight CCS-class battlecruisers, and two CAS-class Assault Carriers.

While sixty-two warships paled in comparison to the number of vessels that could be procured during the Human-Covenant War, this battle-group had a distinct advantage: the incorporation of Forerunner technology. Shields had been added to every ship, with the strength growing with the size of the ship. Frigates could take up to two plasma torpedoes and a single MAC rounds before their shielding failed, while larger ships such as Cruisers could withstand up to four torpedoes and two or three MAC rounds.

Plasma guidance systems have also been improved upon Sangheili vessels, greatly improving their accuracy and homing capabilities. However, the most important technological advancement was without a doubt ability to perform extremely accurate slipspace jumps. Now commanders knew exactly when and where their ships would exit slipspace, and micro-jumps opened up whole new realms of tactical battle strategies.

Due to the massive amounts of energy required for a jump, UNSC and Covenant Separatists have installed a smaller, secondary reactor in all of their ships for the sole purpose of powering the FTL drives, but in an emergency, one reactor could power the whole ship. Because of this new tech, a smaller, augmented force could in theory, defeat another unaugmented, numerically superior force. "Quality over Quantity" as the saying goes.

Captain Thomas Lasky stood on the bridge of the Infinity, and nodded his head slightly, his forces were ready. Ever since Captain Del Rio had died from a massive brain aneurism, Lasky had been placed in command of the Infinity, and now the whole of battle-group Keyes. It was a huge responsibility, but Lasky knew he'd be able to shoulder it.

He had faith in his men, they'd follow him to hell and back if the situation arose, and they might be doing just that. The plan once they exited the wormhole was as follows: The Sangheili task force commanded by Arbiter Thel Vadum' would try to convince the Covenant of the Prophets lies using records gathered during the Human-Covenant war and the events immediately after.

If that didn't work, a special forces team would be inserted to try to assassinate the Prophets Truth, Mercy, and Regret, to deprive to Covenant of their leadership. Then, the task force would make it's way to Earth to inform them of the situation, and upgrade Human technology, especially ships, more up to par with Covenant ones. As a last resort, Lasky had authorization to destroy High Charity with a NOVA bomb, effectively crippling the Covenant for a long period of time.

However, Lasky was a strong believer in the age-old proverb, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." They would see soon enough.

"BB, send a message to the Shadow of Intent, tell them that we're ready to move when they are."

"Yes Captain." BB said. In addition to controlling the Port Stanley, BB has also integrated into the systems of the Infinity, and is the coordinator for all AI's across the fleet. "Sir, the Arbiter reports that his ships are ready to move as well."

"Very well. Coordinate movement with the fleet, Helm, ahead full." commanded Lasky

"Aye sir" were the responses, and battle-group Keyes began moving towards the wormhole in perfect tandem.

Lasky stared out the forward viewscreen. Once more unto the breach.