Months later.

The Research Station on the planet, which had been called 'New Arizona' by some intrepid bastard whose little nickname had caught on, had grown substantially as more researchers were awoken from cryosleep. Admittedly, a staff of a few hundred researchers, plus a garrison of several hundred Marines may not have seemed so much in comparison to the millions still aboard the fleet, actively in Cryo, but their families were also being added into the mix.

Doctor Grayson marched through the small underground city, which had expanded out from the base of the station, through its collapsed tunnels and into the depths of the planet's safe zone. A multitude of families were, in fact, living in specialty-made 'apartments' as built by the Navy's Construction Battalions. From wires connected to the reactor of the place to a specialized wavespace communication station built deep into the central section of the complex and linked directly to Atlana to keep her operational.

There was also a massive mess hall and a hydroponics section for growing the vegetables that'd feed them. Grayson regarded the place with a smile, noting to herself that it may yet expand further, into a full, operational underground city at a later date, that could potentially accommodate tens, if not hundreds of thousands of those currently asleep aboard the fleet.

This was their most out-of-the-way place, the only safe haven from other interstellar cultures that may have formed deeper in the galaxy, according to Atlana. The other planets that she had given coordinates to had apparently been discovered with a calculation for drift from Latana. Of course, in millions of years, some of the might've drifted off from their original location from during the Concordat's time.

Still, even with the joy of new colonization permeating the air, she saw the adults' stares. Those of the soldiers, scientists and support staff within the base, as well as their families, extended or otherwise. There was still the animosity, the hatred of having left their brethren to battle alone, the families out on Earth to fend for themselves. They all understood the mission, however, Grayson thought as she walked down the halls.

They understood it, but just like the Naval Crew and Marines, it did not mean they had to like it.

She saw them soldier on, regardless, some tending to the base's systems via maintenance, others playing with and tending to the kids. The security garrison marched through, chatting each-other and the civilians, whether family or family friends, up as they did so. Doctor Grayson, however, had a specific target:The hangar which had the aircraft that would take her to the fleet.

Marching into it, to the sight of the supporting engineers and the open top hatch of the place(as well as the sand that gathered in the corners), the woman saw the Pelican that would take her up to the ships. She paused as she saw captain Caleb and his squad already packing their kit for the trip, then smiled at them. The man nodded, hefting his duffel full of supplies and slinging it onto the shelves above the seats of the Pelican.

She marched into the transport as the rest of the Ranger unit boarded, then said, "I take it you remain my escort for the exploration of the new planet?"

"Command's orders," He replied as he helped her with her bags, slotting them on top and beside his. He looked over to her, then asked, "I'm hearing this time we're going tropical? Still burning hot, but nothing quite like New Arizona..." words which made the Doctor's smile widen. The group of soldiers and the woman sat themselves down in the chairs and strapped in as the pilot and co-pilot walked in.

"Indeed," Grayson nodded, "Command, in the meanwhile, will be testing out the new idea we've had in regards to combining Element Zero and our jump drives... Though there's still the matter of the eddies within Slipspace itself that may knock the ship about as it reduces its mass to near-nil for travel," She then explained and pulled her tablet out of her pocket. She thumbed it, then nodded approvingly and added, "That should be solved as soon as we crack one of Atlana's latest gifts. Kinetic Barriers are apparently an extra layer of armoring of a sort, meant to be able to repulse kinetic energy. Some of our doctors speculate they can be used to help our FTL travel, too."

"So, the short and sweet of it is we're getting specialized FTL travel fields," Caleb said as he slid his M6 Magnum back onto his thigh after giving it a check. The rear hatch of the Pelican shut closed and the hull pressurized, light strips coming on in the Blood Tray. The engines of the aircraft began to whirr outside, idling as the air crew of the bird made final checks.

"Yes," Grayson replied, "Not to mention an added layer of armor which could apparently be used concomitantly with the shields we are still working on developing from what we could reverse-engineer in terms of Covenant technology," and she handed the tablet with the research to the man to read. She then added, "Director Ivanov, the woman currently in charge of our current RnD effort here on New Arizona," and she chuckled, "Said it will provide us quite the boon."

"Those Shields are still theory from what I'm reading here," Caleb quirked a brow, looking at her, then added, "We don't have the Fusion reactors to power all of it at once..."

"And we may never do," She shot back, "Despite our penchant for D-D Fusion, we are still working to understand how Fusion proper and Microfusion may work to better boost the outputs. And, whilst our Research capabilities are in a good place, considering this is one of the first outposts we've established and it is quite literally an RnD center, the necessity for a proper manufacturing site still hampers our progress. We've only been able to make one of the Element Zero devices capable of providing us better speed in FTL with the tools we have at our disposal on the planet."

The aircraft lifted off the platform and boosted hard toward the upper atmosphere. Grayson calmly continued as they burned through turbulence and past atmospheric layers, "When we get to what we need, which may very well lay within the Covenant's Deuterium-Tritium Fusion systems, we will have advanced far enough for power requirements to grow somewhat exponentially and still be supplied, especially since we may outfit our entire fleet with similar devices."

"But that's still a ways away..." Caleb sighed, then handed her the tablet back after reading the last bits of research on kinetic barriers and how they could presumably provide defense against kinetic damage, including anti-asteroid and micro-meteoroid impacts. Doctor Grayson stowed the device, then hummed as she watched through the rear window of the aircraft while they entered the hangar of the vessel they'd be taking out for a spin. Beside it, two of the Gladius-class Corvettes stood on guard, their future escort. The UNSC Faraday and Eisenhower.

They'd be taking a Frigate over for exploration duty. She'd have liked to have been aboard the Prowler that first discovered the Exoplanet they were visiting(Discovered being a rather 'loaded' term for finding the coordinates given by Atlana), but this was fine, too. Being the first person to set foot on an alien world that was slated to become a colony for their fledgling Neo-Nation within this galactic playground would be quite the endearing event.

A low-risk fleet deployment all-in-all, but that also afforded them some firepower if they were to meet hostile units. The Captain, his troops and the Doctor disembarked from the Pelican, only to be met by the Captain of the frigate. She saluted them, then said, "Welcome aboard the UNSC Caliban, doctor Grayson, Captain Caleb" before gazing back at the innards of the Charon-class Frigate's hangar, where deck crew and Marines stacked boxes of equipment for the survey. Two other Pelicans had also landed in here, with the rest of the Away Team.

"Glad to be aboard, ma'am," The doctor replied, "How long are we expected to be away from the fleet?"

"It's a week's trip through Slipspace, apparently. The Prowler that explored the place has just recently re-entered the system," The woman replied, "C'mon. Let's get you all settled in to your rooms. FleetCom's running last checks on the ships and we should receive the departure order within the hour," and she led them forward, toward the main elevator in the hangar of the Frigate.

The halls were narrower than aboard the Moscow, barely able to accommodate two people, meaning the doctor, Captain and the troops had to stay in a row behind the woman in grey Naval dress while, to their left, the rows moved opposite. Taking a right, they wound up in one of the habitation areas of the Frigate. The soldiers remained in the Barracks, while the Doctor had received a smaller room all for herself.

The Captain stopped in front of the doctor, offering, "If you want to come to the bridge, doctor, feel free. Could use the company."

"I'll think about it. Thanks, Captain," she replied, "Have a nice day..." and she began setting up her room on board the frigate. Command had been kind enough to offer her a greater accommodation than many a man or woman aboard the fleet could currently ask for, but it was good enough to know that they did care about their staff. She hummed, setting her laptop onto the desk that faced the reinforced window, then she pulled out a picture frame. She smiled, seeing the faces of her family. Her parents, brothers and sister smiled around her as she held onto her diploma.

She set the picture on the desk, then stretched and removed her labcoat, setting it on the chair in front of the desk. Sitting herself down, the woman stared out through the window at the beautiful view of the planet below, its two moons in perfect view. The dark side glimmered, still, with the light of the terraforming station creating an aurora around itself.

There was a strange, alluring beauty to the unknown. It was what had first drawn mankind to space, that foreboding lack of knowledge over what they would find beyond the confines of their very own solar system so many centuries ago. That wonder was also the reason they had discovered the Covenant, or, more specifically, the Covenant discovered them. Mankind had broadcasted its position on the galactic scale to the point of drawing an enemy forth to them.

She, too, thought like many, that the refugee fleet should continue to hide, but they could not keep the survivors frozen forever. Their best bet would've been to find a new home and soon, onto which they could settle at least a million. A little over nineteen million people were left aboard the vessels. Nineteen colonies, each with enough biogenetic diversity to help human population grow back within the span of a century, hopefully. Each also spread out, but close enough for the fleet to defend with short jumps.

Doctor Grayson had decided to take the captain of the Caliban up on the offer to join up on the bridge. She greeted the doctor with a nod, while watching the stars ahead and the fleet itself. Their two escort vessels sat in geosynchronous orbit, right beside them. They were visible through the port and starboard windows, each small Corvette seemingly doing its own series of final checkups.

The Navy Captain spoke to the Ensigns, "... Fusion engine status..."

"One hundred percent operational, ma'am."

"Slipspace drive status," She asked next, thumbing her own datapad out of boredom.

"Fully operational, plasma coils are charged for the jump."

"Weapons?"

"MASTER ARM is SAFE, ma'am, but all weapons are operational and we have the full combat load."

"Good... Other systems check out," The woman hummed, then set the tablet aside and said, "Ping the Admiral and tell him we're beginning our departure as scheduled. ETA to arrival is somewhere around one week's flight over. Let's get ourselves out of orbit and proceed to the edge of the system for the jump. Drop Wavespace come buoys so we can have a link back to command."

"Aye, ma'am!" The bridge crew chorused. Doctor Grayson sat herself down next to the captain, at an open console. She was making the calculus for the UNSC ship's jump as she felt butterflies in her stomach. The gravitational fields of the planet and ship began to grow distant as the engines pulsed online and the trio of warships barreled forward, leaving the low orbit of the planet.

Before long, the UNSC ships had passed through the inner system, having flown past several other planets, including a Gas Giant that, according to scans, had a high concentration of Hydrogen within it, useful for the creation of Deuterium and Tritium, should they get through to that research that the doctor had mentioned a while back. Aside from that, a rather small asteroid belt with both ice asteroids and mid-sized metallic ones floated in orbit several stellar radii away from the place's star.

The void of an unknown galaxy, in a place unreached by humanity and found as a safe heaven by them. This would be where mankind would rebuild its legacy and return to retake what was theirs. She knew Latana had dedicated a part of her processing power to understanding the unknown event that had brought them to this realm. The flight to the edge of the systems was a couple of hours long, of course.

They'd made it to the edge of the system, where gravitational interference with their jump drives was minimal. The captain of the vessel spoke, "This is the captain to all crew and vessels... Let this be the first step on our journey back home, to reclaim all we've lost and defeat both threats facing this galaxy and ours once and for all. New model Com buoy deployed... Spool up our drives and jump when ready..."

Grayson smiled as she watched the void ahead begin to ripple. The wide sea of stars between them and their target seemed to split at the seams as the Slipspace portal opened, a whirlwind of black and blue currents. The portal grew wide enough to encompass all three vessels of the small scouting and research force. The three small-craft of the fleet pulsed their engines and, with one final gaze back at the System that'd served as their first home in this new, weird place, the Doctor smiled as they finally departed.

A week's flight later...

The three UNSC vessels emerged from their week's travel through Slipstream Space, right at the edge of the new system they were set to explore. The first sensor pings identified the older, temporary com buoy several thousand kilometers away from them, as well as six planets in the system, with the farthest of them all being on the opposite end of the place. Their target was, unsurprisingly, the Third Planet.

They powered their engines as the crew was being roused from cryo-sleep. It'd be another day's flight before they reached the planet itself. A day which passed relatively quickly as the trio of craft continued scanning the system to make sure nothing would surprise them. They had dropped a new com buoy on a stable orbit and tested the link between it and the buoy in their 'home system', proving that it worked within the span of a few minutes.

The captain herself had remained on the bridge for the duration of the flight, with non-essential crew having been sent to sleep. Currently, the captain could do little but stare at the globe of blue and green as they approached it. The new planet was beautiful, in stark contrast to New Arizona, which was just desert with nothing else but that oasis around the terraforming equipment on it.

The Captain hummed as the Doctor joined her on the Bridge again, before stating, "She's got a stable, standard orbit like Earth, but she's twice the Earth's size. Initial scans we got from the Prowler revealed it has similar atmo to Earth, too, so we'll be alright for breathing on it... Everything else is an unknown, though I can see a lot of mountains and... A single main continent."

"Yes," Grayson nodded, "Quite a stunning planet..." She then murmured as she gazed upon the Pangaea-type world before them. She activated a broad-spectrum scan of the planet from her tablet, then murmured, "There are faint energy signatures below the crust and within the central mountain range of the Pangaea. I'd suggest we land as close to those areas as possible."

"We'll have the air crews prepare the Pelicans for you. Let us know how the world is, eh?" The Captain smirked. Grayson smiled, then snapped a salute and walked off the bridge, toward the hangars. A short trip later, the woman already met with captain Caleb and his boys, all of them with their BDUs on and rifles slung on their backs. The Pelican itself had been prepared ahead of time by the air crew of the ship.

And, as the vessels settled into orbit with the sun rising over the horizon of the planet, a trio of Pelicans lifted off from within the belly of the Frigate, angling toward the surface of the planet ahead. It would be a short flight, burning through the atmosphere of the planet and leveling out as they entered the central mountain range of the massive continent.

The aircraft prepared their approach, readying themselves to land, with doctor Grayson already looking at their LZ through the nose-mounted camera of the Pelican. She had also noticed a second Pelican with a transport Hog, of course, because command wasn't just going to let them walk the place, were they? As the aircraft leveled out and began to slow down, Caleb and Grayson both felt pits in their stomachs, independent of each-other, but both related to the same thing. Just how would this new world be?

Each member of the team put on rebreathers, just in case. There could have been potential pathogens here, or not. They wouldn't know until they tested the atmosphere and the rest anyway. Once the aircraft touched down, she picked up her tool pack and got to work as soon as they'd left the blood tray, all while Captain Caleb and his men had secured a perimeter.

An orange sunrise greeted the crew, beams of beauty lighting the emerald forests around them. While the trees were strangely-shaped, they looked close to Earth ones in genus. Add to that the scans proved that the atmosphere on the planet was breathable and... "We've found a genuine garden world..." The Doctor murmured. She took her mask off, taking a deep breath of the fresh air of the place, before smiling. She set aside her tools, then took her hazmat suit off, before rushing forward into the forests.

"W-Wait, fuck, doctor!" Caleb yelled, then he swore to himself and ordered, "Two of you, with me! Let's go! The rest, keep the perimeter!'

The three men of the platoon took off after the doctor. Meanwhile, she smiled brightly as she rushed forth, her feet thundering against the forest floor. She grabbed onto the trunk of a tree and spun around it, before laughing heartily. She had been stuck for months, going between a bioluminescent, dark forest, the walls of an underground compound and the hulls of their vessels.

To be able to be this free, to run around... It was far too beautiful to be true.

She stopped her run only when she reached a stream, taking a knee, scanning the water with a pocket device and, upon getting the all clear, starting to drink from it. The sweetness of the freshwater stream, not to mention the cold, roused her to life, reminding her of the ancient past of mankind. She felt a hand land on her shoulder and looked up to see Caleb staring at her. He spoke, "I swear to God, I can't leave you out of my sight for more than two seconds..."

"Apologies, Captain, but..." She pointed forward... An obelisk of similar coloration and design to the one on New Arizona rose high into the sky. Caleb's shoulders sagged. He sighed deeply, then looked down at her as she smirked and lifted up a small scanner, "Energy signature was always in the back of my mind as I did this, Caleb..." And she stood to her feet, "We're where Atlana told us to be. The ruins here contain one of the Concordat's many technological libraries. And it is out of the way of their 'Gates'."

"At least, tell us the plan next time," Caleb requested, before radioing in for the rest of the squad to rally up. Before long, they had arrived within the center of the valley, next to the stream. Around them, the peaks of mountains rose high into the sky as the sun came higher and higher up from the horizon. Snow-peaked mountains, made of familiar rock and stone...

Entering the tower, the group descended down the familiar stairwells of the place and into the depths of the new facility, weapons at the ready and lights flashing. The woman had also had her equipment brought forth by the rest of the squad, so she had full access to a suite of items that would help her see what this place had going for itself. Readily scanning even the walls, she confirmed what she had suspected already:Same material as back on New Arizona.

The difference between NA and this place, however, was the presence of a different type of power source. It seemed to be based on the principles of Fusion, though what kind of fusible material was being used was still a matter of asking the local VI construct. Marching through familiar halls, all of which seemed far more pristine than the aforementioned NA ones, the group found themselves in a massive chamber that must've been central to what one would assume was a string of pillars growing out from the canopy of the forest, pillars which made up the main Concordat facility on the planet.

The place itself was awe-inspiring. The central Fusion reactor was veritably tiny in comparison to what they had on UNSC vessels, but it was also incredibly powerful. The energy sig within the chamber was incredible and the material inside had not decayed or been over-used. The central console was larger, too, with a multitude of what looked to be server and data storage towers with a most certainly concordat flair rising from the floor to the ceiling.

Grayson smiled, then said, "Behold... One of the Libraries of the Concordat... That which contains all technological, societal and martial advances of our long-dead friends..."

Yet another ruin to explore. Grayson figured she should've at least brought Atlana over to see the place. She approached the console, in the meanwhile, a holographic system with a single flashing button on it, before pressing said button. The place lit up, the recessed lights in the ceiling flashing to life, lighting the cavernous server room up in a beautiful pure white.

This was going to be quite fun...