Convergence Infinites: Halo

Chapter Sixty Two

Location: Independent Freighter Wild Card, Slipspace, En-route to Scorpio VI Asteroid belt

Parisa Mattock forced herself not to fidget. she was not alone in this. there were over thirty men and women on this boat with her, as well as millions of others on other ships. No sense chickening out now. Yet, she couldn't calm her nerves.

She was on Sarah McGregor's new freighter, her old one lost when she'd been shot down on Reach, and rescued by a navy admiral and a handful of Spartans. The pilot of the ship was a mutual friend of her and Corporal Wilson. Officially, she was a freelance trader, delivering shipments as an independent from one end of human territory to another. Unofficially, though, Parisa suspected she was either a smuggler with good connections, or an official agent of the R.I.F. The fact Parisa had discovered a number of smuggling compartments filled with UNSC contraband bound for the R.I.F supported this, as well as the fact how fast Sarah had secured passage for her.

"Attention all passengers." the woman in question announced over the PA system. "We're exiting Slispace in T-Minus 3 minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts and remain seated until the all-clear has been given."

Mattock complied, making her way back to the seat in the cockpit. As both Wilson and McGregor thought highly of her, and she was the highest ranking person on board, she had been one of three afforded a seat in the cockpit. The others were Banks and Wilson's daughter, Lena. Wilson had wanted to desert long ago, and still wanted to permanently move there, but he still needed to handle a few things UNSC-side. Hence, why he wasn't here and accompanying his daughter. Still, she knew Sarah and Wilson were close, and that Lena liked Sarah a lot. The fourteen year old would be in good hands.

She arrived at the ladder leading to the cockpit, bypassing a couple of ODST soldiers who were hurrying to their own seats further back. As she climbed, she saw Banks and Lena had preceded her, already buckled in and Banks telling Lena a few war stories about what had happened on the second Halo. namely, their imprisonment by the Brutes and their daring escape with the help of the Covenant Separatists, now known as the Swords of Sanghelios.

She moved to her own seat and buckled in, looking out through the viewport ahead. In front of her, Sarah sat in the pilot's seat, with a Grunt with little cardboard boxes taped to his feet sitting in the copilot's seat. The Grunt adjusted a few systems on the panel.

"15 seconds to target, Captain." the Grunt reported.

"Engine room standing by to slip out." a voice from a console reported. From the accent, Parisa assumed it was a Bugger.

"Alright, people. Stand by to exit near the asteroid belt. Oghur, count it out." Sarah ordered.

"Exit beacon locked." The Grunt reported. "Slipping out in five. four. three. two. one."

At the end of the countdown, a portal opened in front of them, and they returned to real-space. In front of them, the boring red gas giant of Scorpio VI hung in space, an asteroid belt surrounding it. To her surprise, the wrecks of multiple Covenant Capital ships floated just on the belt's edge. By the amount of pockmarks from asteroid impacts on each vessel, it had been that way a long time, at least ten years. alongside the belt, a number of Charon and Paris class frigates, as well as Halcyon cruisers and a single Phoenix-class colony ship.

"We're here, people." Sarah announced. "And we're not the first ones. Lets be polite and greet them. Oghur, raise them."

"Yes, Captain." the Grunt affirmed, before grabbing a headset, bringing it to its breath mask, and putting the headset to its ears. it keyed a few buttons, before speaking.