Fatherly Interlude

[CII]

Something Cyndi and me are working on. Since apparently we're experiencing technical difficulties with posting the story up. I'll have to give you all a link to it. I'm gonna go to the mods about this though.



2107 December 15 2552? (Military Calendar) \ Sol System \ Undetermined Location in Slipstream Rift Above Earth

Telek gave one more kick to the military clock projecting through the holographic system in the bridge of the Shade of Darkness.

“Come on!” he growled. “Don’t give me that! We’re on Earth!”

The Sangheili kicked it again growling through his sharp fangs. Tekn and Tom just stood there, shaking their heads as they watched the newly appointed Vice-Admiral/Supreme Commander pummel the holographic projector column with his booted, cloven-hoof. Tekn settled himself down on the purple, metallic floor of the raised platform in the middle of the bridge. Tom sat in his lawn chair that Telek provided him with since the day that he first came aboard the Shade of Darkness. Telek was in a particular foul mood. First, he had to leave Commander Miranda Keyes and the Arbiter Otto ‘Gamamee behind on Delta Halo to come to Earth’s aid bringing behind him a huge fleet of loyal Sangheili, Lekgolo, and Unggoy troops and ships. Next, he had to stop by the planet—his homeworld Joyous Exultation to pick up more ships and the combined fleet known as the Righteous Purpose to add more to their numbers. Though, by the time he had gotten to Joyous Exultation, he found the planet completely destroyed and the fleet Righteous Purpose scattered, half of the ships blown to bits by the NOVA bomb sent from Reach by Vince Witcom himself. His homeworld, his family, everyone he knew—they were all dead. There were a few stranded warriors, various Unggoy and Sangheili left from the destruction that he managed to save—and one of those being a warrior he really did not care for to the least bit. That warrior he really did not want to even deal with was Imperial Admiral Xytan Jar ‘Wattinree. Telek had a history with this Admiral, though he was not the Admiral that Telek accidentally flew off with in a latrine while under questionable influence many years prior to joining the UNSC. No, that Imperial Admiral was Sasha Jar Zabothee who was Otto’s commanding officer. Sasha hated Telek. Xytan on the other hand worshipped Telek. Not only did Xytan worship Telek, but he stalked him left and right. Telek thanked what ever god out there that he was in a completely different fleet than that of Xytan. Xytan wanted Telek to be in his fleet, Xytan wanted Telek to be is Supreme Commander—Xytan also wanted the cloaking carrier the Shade of Darkness to be a part of his fleet—and knowing that having Telek on his roster of Supreme Commanders meant that the other Ship Masters that were loyal to Telek—Tulsa, Mitsu, and Cujo, would follow right behind him. But Telek refused the promotion and the transfer to Xytan’s fleet, much to Xytan’s dismay.

Though, now that the fleet Particular Justice was destroyed, its Supreme Commander now the Arbiter stranded on Halo with some Sangheili warriors and a bunch of UNSC crew and Marines from the In Amber Clad, and now Xytan being rescued by Telek, it was the prefect time to offer this promotion. Telek had no choice but to take it. And so, he donned the gold and copper armor of a Supreme Commander for Xytan in order to lead the remaining loyal Sangheili fleets to the human homeworld to stop Truth from making the ultimate mistake—starting the Great Journey—or the Great Lie or Great Farce as Telek and his pirating band had called it. Telek told Xytan what he discovered—that the Great Journey was a lie and Truth aims to destroy the universe with the Halos and Xytan believed him right there. There was no breaking down in emotions, calling Telek a liar or a heretic. Xytan, like Telek, also suspected the Prophets. This news that the Halos were weapons not gateways and that the Prophet of Truth was a lying, backstabbing charlatan only added to Xytan’s conclusions that perhaps the Prophets were pulling the wool over the Sangheili’s eyes all this time. How this Elite managed to become an Imperial Admiral with thoughts like that—Telek could never tell. Xytan stated over and over that if Telek was in his fleet, Telek being branded a heretic would have never happened. Still, that did not mean that Telek liked the guy. But Xytan loved Telek and he followed the pirate everywhere. The only place Telek felt safe was in his bridge where he locked the doors to keep Xytan out.

When they finally reached Earth, Telek managed to save some refugees on board a damaged UNSC destroyer known as Honshu. One of those refugees he managed to save was the President of Earth Kiryuu Knight. And he was another being Telek did not particularly like. Kiryuu though, needing an admiral with a higher rank to help in the defense of Earth, finally promoted Telek to Vice-Admiral and gave the pirate another star. Now the pirating Ship Master was a Supreme Commander and a Vice-Admiral and he was confused, befuddled, angered, saddened, and in grief. Of course, the only way to fix all of these emotions he felt was to drink a lot of vodka, which he did. What made matters worse was that Imperial Admiral Xytan Jar ‘Wattinree and President Kiryuu Knight were actually getting along. Poor Telek broke down into tears after that.

Now, how they managed to get inside this rupture was a problem there. After Telek had picked up Kiryuu, knowing that having the President on board would mean that he would have to take the world leader to safety before returning to battle—Telek advised his fleet that he had to drop Kiryuu off somewhere safe. Kiryuu informed Telek that there was an outpost on Io that the Covenant have not discovered and that he could be dropped off there for the time being. Telek agreed, mostly because he would be getting rid of Xytan’s new pal—and hopefully have Xytan go with him so that Telek could be left alone again on his ‘baby’. Unfortunately the escape route brought Telek’s ship to the rupture and the assault carrier fell in. Kiryuu advised Telek that this rupture was created in a slipspace accident in 2551. Though, the President would not divulge any other information than that—which unsettled Telek to no end.

Telek gave one more kick to the holographic projector column and the military calendar flashed again, showing the time and date.

“1245 June 17 2007 (Military Calendar) \ Earth…”

“There, that’s better,” Telek sighed. “Wait…what?”

“What?” Tom asked. “Tekn…”

“Uh…” Tekn breathed. “Excellency…uh…”

“Stupid piece of ****!” Telek growled and prepared to kick it again.

“No!” Tekn cried. Both he and Tom grabbed Telek to restrain him from kicking the holographic projector again.

“It’s my ship!” Telek cried. “I can kick it if I want!”

“Telek, please,” said Tom. “Just calm down.”

Then, the ship shimmied forward and Telek felt his balance give way. Tom glanced around when he heard the sounds of the ship begin to accelerate and he began to breathe heavily. Tekn eyed the front screens, seeing the planet of Earth come into view swiftly growing larger with each passing minute.

“Uh-oh,” said Telek. “Coming out of that wormhole has accelerated the ship. If we don’t calculate a window of trajectory, this ship will go skipping off the atmosphere like a flat stone on a pond.”

He ran his fingers across the controls, trying to gain control of the ship.

“Engineering!” he called. “Slow the thrusters. We’re out of the wormhole.”

“Aye, Excellency,” began a red-armored Major Sangheili. “But we’ve got a problem. The slipspace drive is out and the cloak’s damaged. We’ve got impulse power at the most.”

“Slow the ship down if you can, Major,” Telek ordered. “Impulse power is all we need.”

“Right, sir,” he nodded. “Barbara! Cut to half power.”

It was obvious that the Sangheili was talking to a human officer just as the image clicked off. Telek sighed again, running his fingers along the controls.

“Found a window,” said Tekn. “Over an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. We could anchor there and begin repairs.”

“June 17th, 2007…” Telek sighed. “That means they’ve got satellites that could spot us.”

“Hubble Telescope too,” said Tom. “SETI stations. The whole planet is one huge interstellar eye and ear. They’ve probably picked us up the moment we got out of that wormhole.”

“And the damned cloak is damaged,” Telek growled. “I’ve got no problems with the main engines on the fritz, but we need that cloak!”

“The problem is, Excellency,” began Tekn. “Once we anchor we can’t activate the cloak at all. The anchor disables it automatically so that those loading and unloading can find the ship.”

“Which leaves us vulnerable to attack,” said Telek. “We’re one ship. One ship against Earth of the past’s forces.”

“At this time, though there is a UN,” said Tom. “Everyone is still in disarray. They’re more worried about their wars now than us.”

“That island chain will have to do,” said Telek. “It’s out in the middle of nowhere and I don’t think anyone visits it. Doesn’t look like it from here. Still, those satellites…” He pressed a button on the screen. “President Knight.”

“Vice-Admiral,” began Kiryuu.

“Supreme Commander!” barked Xytan. “What just happened?”

“Mr. President,” Telek sighed. “I need you to come to the bridge. I need your help.”

“Of course,” Kiryuu replied. “I’ll right there.”

“Why do you need Kiryuu?” Tekn asked.

“Because,” Telek replied. “He knows more about 21st Century satellite technology than I do. So, I need him to help me calibrate the system in the ship to block out their signals so that we can safely slip under them without alerting any government of our location.”

“We’re slowly running out of fuel as well,” said Tekn.

“Tom, we’ve got Honshu still attached to us, right?” Telek asked.

“Yes, Admiral,” said Tom. “The docking clamps have held through the trip.”

“I think we can use the fuel from the destroyer which will help a lot in getting our ship back up into space and through the rift,” said Telek. “We basically use the same type of fuel anyways.”

“It’s possible,” said Tom. “We’ll have to recalibrate the system to incorporate the new fuel.”

“Now that’s very easy,” said Telek. “One thing I love about this ship. It’s versatile.”

Xytan and Kiryuu came through the door at the back of the bridge. Telek turned and groaned when he saw the silver and gold armored Sangheili walk in alongside the bio-mecha.

“What’s this all about, Telek?” Xytan asked.

“You tell me,” Telek growled as he shot a chilly glance toward Kiryuu. “Well, can you, Mr. President? Tell me something. You knew this rift was here, but did you know it lead to the past?”

“What?” Xytan asked, glancing back at Kiryuu.

“We had theories,” said Kiryuu. “I didn’t believe that they were true. We were in the process of gating that rift, but it’s hard without Technomancy. I thought about using it, but the laws forbade it. So, I didn’t.”

“Well, here we are in the year 2007,” said Telek. “With no cloak and only impulse power. We don’t have slipspace capabilities right now because the drive is shot and needs repairing. And we’re being pulled down by the planet’s gravity, plus we’re low on fuel. We’re using impulse right now to slow the descent so we won’t go skidding off the atmosphere. We can’t even make it out and back through the rift without the slipspace drive and we’ll be stuck in there if we run out of fuel. My ship needs repairs and we’re about to dip down into the range of the current communication satellites. They’re about to be alerted that we’re here. Now, Mr. President, you have knowledge of these satellites. Can you help me hide this ship as we go through them?”

“Yes,” Kiryuu replied. “I can.”

Telek stepped out of the way and motioned for the UNSC President to step up onto the platform where the holo-projectors are.

“The floor is yours, sir,” Telek said. Kiryuu placed his hands on the holographic panels and began to command the ship’s on board computer to seek out satellite frequencies. Two particular satellites he sought out were Lotus and Juniper, the satellites of the Utah Foundation. He did not want his 21st Century self go looking for him and the ship. The last thing Kiryuu wanted was some sort of cosmic catastrophe caused by meeting his past self. As soon as the satellites were pinged, Kiryuu stepped back from the control panel.

“I’ve found them for you,” he said. “But I don’t know enough about your systems to do what you ask.”

“Then, let the ones that know her begin to work,” Telek said. “Tekn.”

“Yes, Excellency,” Tekn nodded.

Xytan chuckled and glanced back at Kiryuu, crossing his arms: “As formidable of a computer you are, Mr. President, even you aren’t infallible.”

“I never claimed to be, Imperial Admiral,” said Kiryuu. “Nor have I ever been inside a Covenant ship before.”

“I heard you attempted to hack this ship once,” he said.

“Once,” Kiryuu replied. “Once. I couldn’t get as far as the desktop.”

“You know very well of your own style of technology,” said Xytan. “But not ours.”

“It is very alien to me,” said Kiryuu. “Though I did hack into a Simian ship once and made it self-destruct.”

“Hah!” Xytan laughed. “You hacked a baby’s toy compared to the superior technology of the Forerunners.”

“Might I keep reminding you,” began Telek as he glanced back. “President Kiryuu Knight was also built by Forerunners.”

“After they lost their memories of their technology, Telek,” said Xytan. “But maybe someday we’ll help them remember.”

“Technomancy is Forerunner technology,” said Kiryuu. “We did remember. We just abused it because we didn’t understand what we remembered.”

“It’s total irony,” Xytan chuckled. “That we Covenant, worshippers of the Forerunners, would want to destroy the very ‘Gods’ we put our faith in. All the more reason why I’ve always hated that ******* Truth.”

“Truth wants Earth,” said Telek. “He always wanted Earth from the beginning. He wanted Earth to stay on while he fires the Halos and gets rid of the rest of us.”

“The Prophets…” Xytan spat. “We fell for their lies. Blinded so our eyes could not see…wars yield many dead but never victory…more like blinding our eyes so that we could never see the real reasons why we fought them in the first place!”

“How many times do I have to say ‘I know’!?” Telek barked. “Now can you please let me veal our descent?”

Xytan chuckled as he watched Telek work. Once more, he had to say that the Sangheili warrior that stood before him was the best of the best. Though Telek was belligerent at times and a lot of times insubordinate to his superiors, he was still the best. Xytan could easily over look all of that because he had the best on his team now.

“Okay,” Telek sighed. “That’s it. It’ll hide us for a moment. But—we can’t hold off their radar for much longer, not after entering the atmosphere with the infrared signature of an asteroid. Not only that, but I’m sure they heard our sonic bomb coming in too—as well as the plasma trails we’re leaving behind. We need to get this ship repaired. The important thing is to repair the cloak. That way, we can remain hidden while we make other repairs. We’re gonna anchor on that small island there. Maybe we can gather up some fruit from the trees and such for food and it’ll give the refugees a chance to unwind. But we can’t stay here for very long. As soon as the drive is fixed and fueled, we’re back up in the air and back to our own time. Mr. Knight, can that portal go two ways?”

“Yes,” said Kiryuu. “We’ve calculated that it could. Just no one tried because the person who went through never came back.”

“Who was this person?” Xytan asked.

“SPARTAN-458,” said Kiryuu. “Nicole. She was on board the Nassau Station when it happened. This of course is ONI clearance information.”

“I’m a member of ONI,” Telek said. “The station…Tekn!”

“Excellency,” Tekn said.

“It’s a part of the Orbital Defense Grid,” said Kiryuu. “Like the Cairo. It cannot be moved even if we have hopes in linking to it. If she’s still around, she and whatever UNSC personnel on board are guarding it’s secrets to keep it out of the hands of present day 21st Century. We cannot let anyone know about the war or our technology.”

“Nor the Halos,” said Telek. “Right, Imperial Admiral?”

“I wouldn’t advise it,” Xytan agreed. “Someone from this time could go looking for the Ark. After all, it rests right now undisturbed in Africa. Has always been for the last 10 thousand years.”

“We could also use the fuel from the station to fuel the ship if need be,” said Kiryuu. “And we’ll be bringing Nicole and the others home as well. Though, your ship is becoming quite full with all the refugees you have on it.”

“This ship is large enough to fit more,” said Telek. “She’s a carrier. She’s built for this.”

“And a fine one at that!” Xytan laughed loudly. “She can hold another ‘Demon’ on her and a few other human warriors. I insist upon it. We’ll need the help when we return.”

“Found the Nassau, Excellency,” said Tekn. “Believe it or not, it’s orbiting right above the island we’re about to anchor on.”

“Try to keep contacts with the Nassau limited and encrypted,” said Kiryuu. “I don’t want any 21st Century spy poking in to see what we’re up to. Contact Nicole-458 and tell her that we’ll be heading for her once we get the ship repaired.”

“Come in, Nassau,” began Tekn. “Come in. This is UNSC-CCS carrier Shade of Darkness, do you read me, over?”

“Nassau here,” began a voice over the line. Kiryuu could hear the static. He began to figure that the Nassau was slowly moving over to the dark side which would put them out of range for a while. A flickering, static image of a female human with dark skin and short, tightly curled, black hair came onto the screen. She was of African descent. She was dressed in the green Mjolnir Mark VI armor. Telek stepped forward.

“This is Vice-Admiral Telek ‘Herosee,” he began. “Nicole?”

“Chief Petty Officer Nicole-458, Admiral,” Nicole replied. “SPARTAN. I’ve heard about you, sir. The famous Covenant defector turned pirate. But the last time I heard about you, you were just an 06.”

“I’ve been promoted twice, Chief,” said Telek. “Apparently, my ship upon trying to escape a fight has fallen into the same rift you fell in. As much as I’d like to fill you in on what’s been going on while you were stranded here, I’ll have to keep contact to a minimum to keep unwanted eyes from spying in. We’re about to anchor on an island just below your orbital trajectory. I’ll give you the coordinates. My ship is damaged, my slipspace drive needs repair, and the cloak is on the fritz. In order for us to make it through the wormhole again back to our own time, I’ll need to have these repaired. Also, we’re low on fuel. I’ve got with me the destroyer Honshu with me to help fuel my ship, but I may need more. We’d like to come and pick you and whatever personnel you have there with you and bring you home as well perhaps use the station’s fuel reserves to fuel my ship.”

“I will do all that I can to help you,” said Nicole. “But once the fuel runs out on this station, it’ll begin its fall into the atmosphere. Though, it should burn up, there by destroying any evidence of 26th Century technology.”

“I can vouch for that,” said Kiryuu. “It will burn up. If not, you’ll fire your beam cannons at it to make sure it does.”

“I don’t want to alert anyone that my ship posses a threat, Mr. President,” said Telek. “But if I have to…”

“We’ll keep that on the back burner, then,” said Xytan.

“If you have supplies as well, Chief,” said Tom. “Food rations, medical supplies. We are in need of them. We’ve got quite a load of refugees here.”

“Anything I can do to help,” she said. “As well as the other personnel here.”

“Are you the highest ranking officer there?” Xytan asked.

“Yes, sir,” Nicole replied. “Many of us didn’t make it. Neither did Vice-Admiral Turpin. Only ten of us did, all of them NCOs—Crewmen mostly. The others got out before it hit.”

“Thank you,” said Telek. “Right now, just hang tight till we get there. We’ll keep contact with you every two hours.”

“Yes, sir,” Nicole nodded.

“Telek out,” Telek sighed as the screen went blank. “Okay, we’re gonna get a SPARTAN. I’m so happy!”

“Wonderful,” Kiryuu sighed.

“Island coming in range, sir,” said Tom. He glanced away when he heard a beeping sound coming from the consol. “Uh, Admiral, we’re being pinged.”

“Pinged?” Telek asked. “Now? Who could be pinging us?”

“Something’s that’s putting out enough electromagnetic disturbances of a small star,” said Tom. “Mr. President, what do they have that could produce such a signature?”

“Only one thing that could produce that amount of electromagnetism,” said Kiryuu. “AWACS.”

“What?” Xytan asked.

[CII]

“Airborne Warning and Control System,” replied Kiryuu. “It’s a jet, unarmed, jet with a massive Doppler radar-looking dish on its back. And it knows we’re here.”

“*******-it!” Telek bellowed. He glanced up as the ship began to shake as it came through the atmosphere. “How long do we have?”

“Well, let’s see…” Kiryuu began. “This ship’s plasma trail no doubt produced some meteorological disturbances.”

“Who would catch that?”

“NASA,” said Kiryuu. “Which in tern they will report to Space Command in Cheyenne, Colorado.”

“Next?” Telek asked.

“Well, AWACS will be tailing us,” said Kiryuu. “Guarded by fighters armed with chemical explosives similar to C-4 plastic. They can easily just drop them 50 miles from their position in the atmosphere and each one can travel up to 3 times the speed of sound.”

“Only something like that won’t do a thing to the shields,” said Telek. “Except make a lot of noise.”

“The best thing you can do is just let them impact,” said Kiryuu. “Don’t retaliate.”

“Why?” Xytan asked.

“Because it’ll change history,” said Telek. “And that’s the last thing we want to do. The most we can do is just allow them to think we’re alien visitors that just took a wrong turn and are heading out. Okay? At the most they’ll just pelt that on the shields, find that we’re not gonna attack them, watch us—and then see that we’ve left. And the most damage that could do is fuzzy photographs on the Internet, right?”

“Right,” Kiryuu said. “Only—once they find out the ship’s still around, they’ll send something far worse.”

“And?” Telek asked.

“B-52s,” Kiryuu replied. “Each one armed with 24 air to ground long-range missile with nuclear warheads. Each one with a yield around 50-100 kilotons.”

“Oh for the love of…” Telek kicked his ship again. “I might as well put a friggin’ target on this ship and say: ‘Aim missiles here!’”

Xytan glanced down at Tom Jimenez, his lavender eyes burning at him.

“Xytan,” said Kiryuu, picking up on his silent thoughts. “This is the 21st Century. These people are paranoid, primitive savages. Eventually, they’ll become what they are when the Covenant finally meets them, but until then, they are dangerous. It will take many wars before they’ll quiet down.”

Telek stood in between Tom and Xytan: “These people are the ancestors of Earth. We’ll let them attack the ship if they must. We won’t retaliate. How much longer do we have until they scramble the B-52s?”

“Wait until AWACS has its fighters attack us first,” said Kiryuu. “Then, we’ll know. How much longer do we have before the drive is fixed?”

“Engineering?” Telek asked as he pressed the button on the panel. “How much longer do we have until the drive and cloak are fixed?”

“The cloak is easy to fix,” said the Major. “10 minutes tops. The drive will take longer, maybe a few hours or so.”

“If we have to, we’ll have to fix the drive while remaining docked with the Nassau,” said Telek. “The drive can be easily fixed in zero gravity. It’s been done before. But I want enough fuel to break the Earth’s gravity and put this thing in geosynchronous orbit with the Nassau. We’ll use the fuel from it in order to power the drives and return to our time.”

He turned back to the screens.

“Make ready the anchor and prepare to lower it,” Telek said as he watched the island come into view. Kiryuu focused on that island for a moment, his eyebrows becoming crossed. Something was familiar about that island, something that disturbed him.

“Anything wrong, Mr. President?” Xytan asked, noticing Kiryuu’s silence.

“No, nothing,” Kiryuu replied. Telek could not help but to notice the machine’s tone. He was hiding something. As soon as the massive assault carrier came to the beach, it began to lower its gravitational lift platform—which also served as its anchor.

“Alright,” Telek began, pressing a button on the holo-panel. “Let’s go. Banshees, keep a look out for anyone who might come near this island. Get your Warthogs and Specters ready, we are going down.”

The ship opened up its hatches and allowed the various squadrons of Banshees to fly out, each one patrolling the area, circling around the ship. Telek turned back to Kiryuu and nodded.

“Shall we go down?” Telek asked.

“Yes,” said Kiryuu. “Let’s. Imperial Admiral, care to join us?”

“Of course,” he replied.

“Tekn, Tom, you have the comm.,” said Telek. “Let’s go.”

With the purple gravity lift activated, as soon as Telek, Kiryuu, and Xytan got to the gravity lift chamber, they were soon transported down onto the white sandy beach the ship was anchored to. Already, the ground crew began to set up base camp and communications especially with that of the Nassau. Kiryuu still had a funny feeling about this island and he glanced around it to figure out what it was. Telek noticed the odd stupor that the biomechanical President had put himself into. His silvery armor glistened in the noonday sun, freshly polished—shining as brightly as Xytan’s armor. Kiryuu’s armored tail patted the sand, giving away his unrest about this place. Various Separatist and UNSC scattered around the ground, checking out the area for anyone who could be spying on them. Above, squadrons of Banshees and Shortswords patrolled the air. Telek began to figure that the repair to the slipspace drive would probably take a day. He hoped that the cloaking device would be fix before that so they could hide themselves swiftly. He eyed the ocean and began to wonder whether or not he should take the ship underwater. Though it’s difficult to repair slipspace drive underwater, repairs to the cloak could be made there without anyone seeing the ship. Kiryuu on the other hand was still muddled about the island. He began to sense something familiar poking at his mind—something he had not felt in centuries. The being poking at him began to worry him even more.

“Acanthus!” Telek called to the Marine Lt. Colonel as he assisted with establishing communication. “How soon will we be able to contact the Nassau again?”

“It’ll be heading over us in about another 12 hours, Admiral,” replied Davis.

“East side of the island is clear, Admiral,” began the voice of Lieutenant Trevor Riker.

“No sign here,” said Ultra Tulsa ‘Tolumee. “All clear.”

“Thank you, Boom Brothers,” Telek replied over the comlink. “So far, so good, Kiryuu. This place is completely deserted.”

“No, it isn’t,” Kiryuu said.

“What?” Telek asked. He and Xytan walked over to the bio-mecha and found him standing beside a large glass canister. The canister itself appeared to be at least 50 feet in length and it laid on its side. On the face of the canister was a circular Aztec symbol.

“What in the Forerunner’s names is that?” Xytan asked.

“Omak Technologies and Magical Research,” Kiryuu replied. “Or rather what it’s really called in this day and age—Omak Argon Industries. Plutonium…I hate plutonium. I remember, I left this here once 500 years ago. I needed it—in order to fuel up so I could fire the AZC and kill my ailing son.”

“Son?” Xytan asked. “You had a son?”

“My son is dead,” said Kiryuu. “He died nearly 350 years ago. But he’s alive today—so is his mate and their child. This island…this is Lagos! Everyone back to the ship, now! That’s an order!”

“What?” Telek asked. “Why? We just started setting up.”

“I know,” said Kiryuu. “But we’re not supposed to be here. If they find us, they’ll attack us.”

“They who?” Xytan asked.

“My family,” Kiryuu replied. “My family will attack us. We have to go.”

“Family?” Xytan asked.

“Yes,” said Kiryuu. “I can’t explain it more than that. Telek, you know who I’m talking about. My son—Godzilla.”

“Oh Jesus,” Telek breathed. “Yes, I do know. He’s right, we have to leave now!”

“Is there something I should know, Supreme Commander?” Xytan asked.

“No time!” Telek shook his head. “We have to get out of here or a 50-meter tall reptile will be blasting to bits all of my men!”

“What?” Xytan asked. “Are you for real, Telek?”

“Yes, I am,” Telek stated. “Because the President here is his father. And he’s really 60-meters tall.”

“I use Technomancy to shrink myself,” said Kiryuu. “In order to have the convenience of my office. Though I’m quite formidable in my true size, it’s quite cumbersome.”

“I see,” Xytan breathed. “I’ll take your word on that, then, Master of Earth.”

“We must leave this island,” said Kiryuu. His eyes roved over to the large mouth of a cave not too far from the beach. That thing he was feeling was coming from the cave.

Filia…

[CII]

It began as any other day - the sun rose colorfully over the horizon, the sky went from starry to crystal blue and fog hugging the coast slowly burned away. The night before had been rather stormy so everything smelled fresh. Filia and her mother stood on the beach to watch Daddy depart for human lands. He’d promised not to hurt any of the little pink two leggers this time, and he made a funny face at Filia before he dove underwater.

Shezilla hunted just offshore and brought back a whale. Her and her daughter shared it. A full stomach in the morning was a rare thing for Shezilla because she preferred to let her mate and daughter eat before she did. And they didn’t always leave much. Especially Godzilla, who had a gigantic appetite. When it was just the two of them he used to share food equally. Sometimes Shezilla missed that.

Trees rustled as Filia pounced at a bird moving around in the jungle. Her eyes widened when she heard a snap. She looked back to find a palm tree broken in half. She’d hurt the tree! Gasping, she tried to set the tree back onto its remaining stump. The tree just fell over again.

“Mommy!” Filia scrambled up to her mother with the broken tree clutched in her fist, “I broke it and I can’t fix it!”

“You can’t fix a broken tree, silly,” Shezilla squatted to Filia’s level.

“Then I’ll see if Daddy can fix it when he comes back,” Filia sniffed, her face pinched in infant frustration. She looked up at her mother. Mother’s gold eyes were like a sunrise and they always had a sadness in them. When she involuntarily touched her mind, she noticed her mother viewed herself as incomplete. Just like the broken tree she held clutched in her own hand. “Mommy, will the other trees be sad that I broke their friend?”

“Uh...” she glanced at the other palm trees, “perhaps you should...uh...go tell the other trees you’re sorry. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Okay!” Filia ran back to the jungle. Halfway there, she felt something both familiar and unfamiliar touch the back of her mind. First she sensed alien chatter, followed by an image of Grandpa so clear she swore he was standing before her. Then a shadow blotted out the sun and the mountains. Filia gasped and looked up to see a massive dark shape that looked like a hole in the sky. As it came closer she could see blinking lights like stars on the bottom. She stared, her eyes drawn to a strange symbol painted on the huge thing. That human with the light fur on his head told her a story with that symbol in it! The story was about people called...oh what were they called? “pie-pits” or something...and they liked treasure. Their leader was a weird, wobbly guy named “Jack Sparrow”. What was the rest of that story? Something about a Black Pearl...well this big thing looked black!

Filia’s eyes lit up. Maybe Jack Sparrow is on that ship and he rescued Grandpa from ugly skeleton people!

Shezilla also spotted the strange object in the atmosphere. It first appeared as a dot near the horizon. The dot grew, and grew, and GREW until the biggest thing she ever saw in her life was floating almost overhead. Terrified, she bolted towards Filia, snatched her up between her hands and sprinted into the cave. “You stay in here with me.”

“But—I feel Grandpa! And there’s pie-pits in it!” all the running made Filia’s noises come as staccato grunts. She ventured to the cave entrance. Before she could get ten feet from it, her mother hauled her back inside. “Mommy!”

“Hush!” barked Shezilla.

Pouting, Filia craned her neck to look outside the best she could. Something purple came out the bottom of the big thing and a ton of little shiny people emerged onto the beach, chattering in the same language she sensed earlier. They were so shiny that she couldn’t really see beyond the sunlight glaring off their armor. But there was one shape she would recognize anywhere. Even though he was small, parts of him glowed purple and his body gleamed brilliant silver.

Filia pointed to the silver figure, which stood next to another shiny gold person, “Mommy! It’s Grandpa! Those pirates shrunk Grandpa!”

“What?” the adult female leaned over her daughter to peer outside. Her eyes were more mature than Filia’s and better able to see in bright light. She could definitely tell the shiny beings weren’t human. Humans were usually a certain height and these strange beings exceeded that. The way they walked, the noises they made, their faces, the shapes of their legs and the shapes of their heads were all wrong.

Then she spotted Kiryuu. He was gazing in her direction, but didn’t seem to see her peering back. Well—it certainly looked like her mate’s metal father, yet there was one major difference that disconcerted her. The color of his dreadlocks. They should have been all green. This metal being had a few silver dreadlocks mixed with the green. Shezilla squinted and swore she made out wrinkles around his eyes, though she couldn’t be sure. His tail patted the sand uneasily. Suddenly, he appeared to get frightened and began barking orders at the shiny figures, sending them scrambling back into the ship.

“That might be Jack Sparrow!” Filia pointed to the gold figure.

“Filia!” Shezilla’s heart leapt into her throat, “Stop it, please...I love you but SHUT UP!”

Filia’s mouth hung open. Until then she hadn’t sensed how frightened her mom really was. “I’m sorry, Mommy.”

Shezilla nuzzled Filia’s cheek with her nose. “I’m going to go outside and see if that is really your Grandpa and if that dark thing is dangerous. You are to stay here unless I call you. No matter what happens, you are not to come out of this cave. Do you understand?”

“O-Okay,” the infant sniffed. She grasped the tip of her mother’s huge index finger claw in her dainty fingers, “Mommy, be careful.”

“I will.”

With that, Shezilla warily ventured out of the cave.

“Wort, wort, wort!” Telek bellowed, giving the Sangheili language version of ‘Go, go, go!’ Kiryuu glanced up to the sky, signaling for the Banshees and Longswords to return to their launch bays. Telek breathed heavily, his mandibles quivering. Suddenly, he felt the ground itself began to shake and the sound of two enormous feet slowly pound onto the sand.

“****,” he breathed. “****.”

“Supreme Commander!” Xytan called. “Uh—what is that?”

“That…” Telek asked as he swung around seeing the enormous, bipedal reptilian form walk out from the cave. Kiryuu’s gold eyes lit up like two headlights when he saw the female come out.

“Shezilla…” he breathed. He turned back the UNSC Marines, noticing that they started to raise their guns. The Sangheili warriors followed them. “NO! No! Lower your guns. Lower your guns now!”

“Meht rewol!” Telek bellowed to the Sangheili. “Mih draeh uoy!”

The Sangheili and UNSC complied and lowered their weapons.

“Oh, that’s big,” Xytan breathed.

“Get back aboard the ship, Imperial Admiral,” Telek called.

“Telek, I beg your pardon, but I’m your commanding officer…”

“I don’t give a flying ****!” Telek growled. “Get back aboard now! If things get heavy, we still need someone to command the fleet when we get back.”

“Rednammoc Emerpus, kcab ruoy hctaw,” Xytan finally said.

“Ycnellecxe, sey,” Telek replied as he watched the Imperial Admiral leap into the purple gravity beam along with the rest of the UNSC and Separatist personnel. He glanced back at the enormous form of Shezilla, his hand on his modified Magnum. “She your women?”

“No,” Kiryuu replied. “She’s my daughter-in-law. I haven’t seen her in—centuries.”

“She looks pretty alive and well right now,” said Telek.

“I know,” said Kiryuu, feeling a tear roll down his cheek. “I know.”

“Wow—family reunion in—how long?”

“350 years,” said Kiryuu.

“I’m guessing you can tell her we mean no harm,” he said.

“Go back up to the ship, Admiral,” Kiryuu began. “I’ll take it from here.”

“Not on your life, Mr. Knight,” Telek shook his head. “Your safety is my responsibility. I don’t care who she is to you—if she tries to harm you, I’ll glass this island and her with it.”

“Alright, then,” Kiryuu sighed. “Here.”

He produced a piece of his own syntech and handed it to Telek.

“What is this?”

“Translator,” said Kiryuu. “It’ll translate your speech into my—and her language. It’ll allow you to understand what I’m about to say—and allow her to understand you. Just as long as you speak English.”

“That’s not a problem,” said Telek.

“Oh—that’s not, but explaining ourselves will be,” said Kiryuu. “They have no real concept of—decades let alone centuries. I can’t begin to figure out how to tell her I’m from the future.”

“She’s looking at us,” Telek began. “You better think of something soon. She’s not looking very happy.”

“Right,” Kiryuu sighed. “Here goes—nothing.”

Kiryuu turned around and faced Shezilla, clapping his metallic claws together. Telek rushed out of the way just as the President of the UN grew to his true height, dismissing the Mass Displacement spell he had cast upon him. Kiryuu glanced over at where Telek had gone and pointed at him—also making him grow to Kiryuu’s size.

“What the…”

“I’m not the only one who will need to explain things, Admiral,” Kiryuu said using the Old Tongue. “So will you. Hello, Daughter. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other—at least it has been for me.”

Shezilla drew back when Kiryuu and the other one with him grew to her size. She looked first at her supposed Father in law and then to his blue-eyed companion, who looked as though somebody clawed his mouth into pieces. Kiryuu’s companion flared his mandibles, ca[using Shezilla to rattle her spines.

“Easy does it,” Kiryuu held his hands out.

A growl rattled in Shezilla’s chest. “A long time, you say? I don’t believe you. You just left here three days ago!”

Telek fingered his magnum, wary of the female. “Well, maybe he did—but from what he’s telling me, he hasn’t seen you in 350 years.”

“What?” she became even more suspicious. “A likely story! How can you stand here when the sun has not yet risen on the day you came from?”

“Time is more like a path, my dear,” Kiryuu began, “A path that goes beyond the horizon. You can’t see the path beyond the horizon, but it still continues, doesn’t it?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I suppose it does.”

“Well then, my friend Telek and I have come from ‘beyond the horizon’.”

Blinking, Telek glanced at Kiryuu: “Dumb it down a little more, Mr. President; I don’t think she grasps it just yet.”

Kiryuu replied, “I have to speak in terms she can understand. Just bear with me.”

“That doesn’t explain this,” Shezilla’s hand shot out and touched one of Kiryuu’s gray dreadlocks. “How do I know you’re really my metal Father?”

“Watch it!” Telek reached for his magnum, only to have Kiryuu put his hand out again. Kiryuu’s constant stifling began to wear on the Sangheili’s nerves.

“Because I called you a cloned puppet when we first met and cut off your arm.” he raised his eyebrows. Shezilla growled at him. He thought to himself, I see she’s still sore about this...

Meanwhile, back in the cave, Filia watched the proceedings with rapt attention. Once Grandpa and that other creature grew to her mother’s size, she could sense their minds much more clearly. Grandpa’s companion was tall with an elongated head and eyes like the sky. But her main fascination was his feet...he was a horse-man! And he had a lot on his mind. Something exploding, sadness, tears, grief and a LOT of death...she felt the emotions as if they were her own.

“Mommy!” Filia whimpered, racing out to hug Shezilla’s leg. Shezilla growled at her for her disobedience, but Filia didn’t seem to care. “Mommy, the horse-man is sad about something! And—” she blinked at the pirate symbol on Telek’s armor. “Mommy! The horse-man is Jack Sparrow the pie-pit!”

“Pie-pit?” Telek asked. “Jack Sparrow…” And he began to chuckle after that. “The infamous pirate Jack Sparrow, Captain Jack Sparrow—of the nigh un-catchable Black Pearl. A ship with black sails. And my ship is such a ship—nigh un-catchable. ‘This is the day that you should remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow.’ A phrase I say often whenever I’m almost caught by Covenant forces after again raiding their stocks and stealing their secrets. That and ‘why is the rum always gone’? Which reminds me! I need a drink.” Telek glanced down at his belt and brought out his tin of vodka.

“Oh, God no, don’t you start your drinking now, Admiral!” Kiryuu bellowed still in the Old Tongue.

“I’m gonna drink as I damn-well bloody please,” Telek protested as he began to his wobbly stance. “Until I’m richly liquored and my mind is at ease from all the adieu that you’ve been feeding me.” He glanced back at Shezilla. “I think you’ll be needing some too, dear—especially for which the long story your father-in-law is about to give you. Because after-which you’re head will be spinning. To put it in less simpler terms—actually in terms only humans can understand because apparently they know how to keep track of such dates—we come from 500 Earth years into the future, in which you, your lovely daughter, and your mate are already dead. Died of old age. The only reason why your dear father-in-law is alive is because he’s a machine. His parts can be replaced when they wear out. But as it is, you should be thankful you lived a wonderful life and died from old age because it’s Hell on Earth now—your dear father is the ruler of the planet and now he’s fighting a loosing battle with aliens bent on human genocide—as in extinction. We barely managed to escape to save your dear father from becoming a trophy on some Brute’s hammer and we fell into a hole in space and—ended up in the past by accident. But I doubt you have the brain capacity to understand that so, why the hell did I just bother to basically explain it when you don’t understand. So, I’m going to come over here and sit on this rock and rest my hooves. By the way, it’s not like we want to be here. But right now until I’m able to gather enough fuel for my ship to break the Earth’s gravitational pull, return to the slipspace anomaly that brought us here—and be out of your hair. Oh, sorry, you don’t have any. But again, I’m sure all of what I just said went over your head. Kiryuu, there’s no point in us explaining it to her. She’s not gonna understand it anyways. As soon as they get the cloak fixed we’ll be leaving. I want off this island! So, be happy you saw your family one last time—and say whatever you have to say so we can go. We’ve got a planet to save, we’ve got a universe to save—we’ve got lying, backstabbing Prophet to kill. We’ve got a war to win.”

“I thought you said I was loosing it,” said Kiryuu.

“We are, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the game,” said Telek.

“Astigmatism,” said Kiryuu.

“What?” Shezilla asked, recalling the word.

“Your human father,” Kiryuu continued. “Ken. He has astigmatism. You wanted to know what it was. I remember you asking about it when you first met him. It’s an eye condition. His eyes are oddly shaped so he can’t see very well and everything he sees is very blurry. So, they make glass in frames that help correct his vision. Some humans develop it.” His head turned back down to Filia. “Even if you don’t believe me, Daughter, I know who does. And that’s all that matters.” Kiryuu smiled. “Am I still unhappy, Filia?”

“Grandpa!” Filia giggled, her little tail wagging a mile a minute. Telek boggled at how she could wag that stubby tail so fast. Filia sobered and gazed up at Kiryuu with her big brown eyes, “You feel really old!”

“See? Filia believes me.” grinned Kiryuu. He patted Filia’s head, “Now, about that astigmatism. Do you recall me telling you about it?”

“...I remember that.” Shezilla’s eye-ridges drew together. Her eyes flashed when she smelled the contents of Telek’s alcohol container. Once, her mate thought it would be funny to drink the contents of a fermenter in the city. He got so sick afterward and wobbled around as if he didn’t know which way was up. This substance had a similar scent. She wrinkled her nose in distaste when Telek held it out to her. “No, thank you.”

“Your loss.” Telek took another drink and wiped a hand across his mandibles. Shezilla kept staring at them as if she expected them to reach out and bite her. He glanced over as Filia got all the way down on the ground to look at his hooves. “What are you starin’ at, kid?”

“You’ve got horsie feet!”

“So?”

“They look funny,” she giggled.

“And?”

Filia rolled over, laughing. “You’re silly!”

“Ugh...kids...”

“Ah,” Kiryuu blinked and turned to Shezilla. “Wait, I know how to prove who I am. Right after Filia hatched, she—”

“Excellency!” it was Tekn, “Sensors are picking up radiation ten miles southwest of our location. It’s heading for a large island. Should I destroy it?”

“It’s Godzilla,” said Kiryuu. “He’s heading for Japan for food. Damn-it! I—I tell that boy time and time again not to go to the human lands.” He settled down on the sand, leaning over and began to weep. “He—he never listens to me.” Then he switched over to the Old Tongue again. “It’s not easy, you know—seeing him waste away to nothing. It was his heart. It was—it was his sickliness. No father should ever out live his son, Daughter, do you understand? And I’ve carried the pain of his lost for so many years. Filia thought that after he died that I would just shut down all emotion—that I would be this cold—horrible being. She was happy that she was wrong, Daughter.”

[CII]

Shezilla’s eyes prickled at the thought of her mate dying. She wanted to ask which would die first...but was too afraid of the answer to even formulate the question. Still, there was good in what Kiryuu said. Filia would live a long life and she would be there to keep Kiryuu’s heart from freezing completely.

“Father...he is hunting to bring us sustenance. There is no other way to feed. He promised not to hurt any humans.”

“He is still going into their territory, Daughter.” Kiryuu said, “They will not understand, attack him and he will throw a tantrum because he can’t get what he wants. You know to leave when they shoot their lightning stingers. He doesn’t. He fights them.”

She nodded, lowering her head to lick some sand off Filia’s cheek. The infant hadn’t stopped staring at Telek, and it was making the Sangheili squirm a bit. Or maybe it was his intoxication that made him wiggle?

“What do we do?” Telek asked. Kiryuu wiped his eyes off and sniffed. He still could not get that horrible image of his son wasting away out of his mind. Then, he rose up from the ground and looked up at the assault carrier, his eyes panning down the gravity lift.

“Can the gravity beam lift let’s say—20 thousand metric tons?” Kiryuu asked, continuing to speak in the old Tongue for Shezilla to understand.

“It can lift more than that,” said Telek. “I’ve got another gravity lift going holding the destroyer Honshu to the ship as well as the clamps in place. Why?”

“Send the Shade of Darkness after my son,” Kiryuu replied. “And bring him here.”

Telek gave a chuckle and lifted the comlink to his mandibles.

“Tekn, maeb tfil ytivarg eht gnisu ereh kcab mih gnirb dna Allizdog dnif, ffo ekat ot uoy tnawi,” Telek ordered.

“Ycnellecxe, sey,” replied Tekn. Just like that, the gravity platform lifted up off the ground, once more reuniting with the underside of the ship. Then, the Shade of Darkness flew off, causing a ripple of air fluctuating around it. Just as it flew off, the contrails of the ship began to produce thick cumulus clouds and rain showered down from below.

“He won’t like it,” said Kiryuu.

“He’s not suppose to go to Japan, right?” Telek asked.

“That’s right,” Kiryuu replied.

“Consider it a Covenant version of a massive spanking,” the pirate chuckled. Kiryuu shook his head and glanced away, once more returning to his stupor of sorrow. He hardly even noticed Filia shrieking in delight at the clouds created by the huge ship.

“This won’t hurt him, will it?” asked Shezilla, frowning.

“No, but it will definitely scare him out of his mind.” Kiryuu answered, his eyes growing faraway as he stared over the water.

[CII]

Calm, endless blue surrounded Godzilla as he lazily swam towards his destination. The sustenance he desired made his nose prickle in anticipation. He glanced down at something shiny far down on the ocean floor. An old shipwreck, partly buried in coral. Those were always neat!

Then a huge shadow blotted out the sun. Clouds always did that. Godzilla thought nothing of it, nor did he pay any attention to the purple light that encapsulated him, and began to dive deeper for a better look.

At least...he thought he was going down until the ocean slipped away and he found himself being sucked straight up! The SECOND Godzilla lost touch with the water, reality spun violently. Before he knew it the ocean was so far away that the sparkles were tiny moving dots on a blue background.

Godzilla’s heart throbbed like a machine gun, causing his chest to hurt. He was so dizzy he couldn’t tell up from down. This massive dark thing began to move the direction he just came from. Terrified, Godzilla tried to claw at the purple light holding him aloft. Everything spun in all directions, he couldn’t even control his hands. He fired his heat beam at the light. No effect, it just passed right through it. Was this some predator animal intent on eating him? Godzilla entered total panic mode and started to scream at the top of his lungs.

He saw his home. There were strange people there with his mate and daughter. One figure, however, could save him from this massive creature!

“Father!” cried Godzilla, “Help! Father! Please help me! I’m scared!”

And then, suddenly, the purple light went away. Godzilla fell, flailing, and bellyflopped into the water with a tremendous splash that soaked most of the beach.

Telek winced at the sound. That had to hurt!

Godzilla bolted from the sea and threw himself into Kiryuu’s arms, clinging to him like a frightened child. He sobbed, tears and snot pouring down his face. Fear wasn’t an emotion Godzilla felt often, but when he did it was more exaggerated than average. He was so blindly terrified that he didn’t notice anybody else on the beach. All he could see was the one who always kept him safe from danger. “Father! Make it go away, Father! Tell it to leave! I don’t wanna get eaten!”

Kiryuu’s eyes began to water and all emotion melt away to nothing—nothing but caring for his frightened son. He lowered to the ground and cradled his son in his arms, rocking him like he used to when they were alone in the cave—and he was frightened of the dark. He held tight to Godzilla, rumbling to help him calm down. Tears flowed out of his eyes, tears of joy and sorrow because he had not seen his son healthy and alive for so many years. He really missed him, he really did. Kiryuu glanced up at Telek.

“Could you do me a favor and—move the ship?” he asked.

“Where?” Telek asked. “I don’t have enough fuel to find another island, anchor there, come back to pick you up, and then hope to break the Earth’s gravity. And you know the cloak needs to be fixed.”

“My son is frightened of it!” Kiryuu bellowed.

“I know he is,” Telek said. “It just picked him up and dropped him off.”

“Please!” Kiryuu called. “Find away to move it away from my son. He won’t calm down unless it’s gone.”

“As much as I’d like to…” Telek began. He paused for a moment and glanced up, hearing the sounds of several ear-splitting whistles wail in the clouds. Kiryuu knew the sound very well and glanced up.

“Everybody, get down!” he bellowed, grabbing Godzilla and pinning him with his weight before the dinosaur could do anything. Shezilla grabbed Filia and held her tightly as a barrage of explosions pelted the ship. Telek turned up his shields and glanced up, kneeling down as he saw the shields on his ship fluctuate brightly blue as one by one, the explosive harpoons hit the top of the hull. Inside, it was something different. The noise was unbearable to the crew inside. Tekn knelt down, holding his ears along with Tom on the floor of the bridge. Tom, reached up and contacted Telek on the ground.

“Admiral…” he began. “It’s horrible! It’s so—noisy! My head feels like it’s splitting open from the sound.”

“Just—wait it out a little longer,” Telek called, holding his own ears. “They’ll stop soon to let the smoke clear. Kiryuu! When they stop—how much longer?”

Kiryuu glanced, up. His syntech was wrapped all the way around Godzilla to keep him down. Even some of his syntech bound Godzilla’s muzzle, keeping it shut. He began to speak in the Old Tongue so that Shezilla could understand him.

“When they stop, they’ll let the smoke clear to see if they destroyed the ship!” Kiryuu bellowed. “Then, we’ll have anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes to get out of here before they glass the island with the long-range nukes.”

“Metal Father!” Shezilla cried. “Why are they attacking us? We’ve done nothing to them!”

“They’re not attacking you, Daughter!” Kiryuu called. “They’re attacking Telek’s ship! They saw it coming through the atmosphere. Every human government has been alerted to it—thinking this ship is invading the planet. This is what I was talking about! They’ll keep firing at it until they’ve destroyed it! No doubt they’ve made an attempt to contact the ship to demand an explanation.”

“Contacting us?” Telek asked, ducking his head again when he heard the explosions impact his ship. “We received no transmission from them!”

“Actually, they probably tried to contact us many times before we even hit the island,” Kiryuu called, feeling Godzilla wiggle under him. “But we don’t communicate on the same frequencies they do. So, it’s like trying to wave your hands to signal a blind man. Even if we attempt to reply to their summons, they won’t be able to hear us. There’s nothing we can do!”

“Can’t you fight back?” Shezilla asked.

“And change history?”Telek asked. “Are you nuts or just stupid? Anything we do here upsets the balance of things! If we fight back, then it’ll change the outcome of our time. Our time won’t exist.”

“He’s right,” Kiryuu said. “We can’t do it. We have to let them pelt the ship. These explosions won’t damage it. But after they stop, we’ll only have less than a half an hour to fuel the ship up to leave. We stay anymore, this island will be completely destroyed. Daughter, you don’t know the extent of the human’s powers, or their ferociousness! They’ll destroy their own planet if they know they’ll take out their enemies with it!”

“Humans are fools!” Shezilla’s eyes flared, “And you said time is a path! Paths don’t change!”

“It’s a little more complex than that, Daughter. Think of it as a path that curves with every decision you make. If we aren’t careful, we may cause the path to turn in a way that leads us into the mouth of a volcano. Understand now?”

Shezilla found that concept difficult to grasp. She lived in a world where things were predictable. She knew the sun would rise the next day. She knew the moon waxed and waned. As far as foretelling the future, she could smell rain coming hours before the clouds appeared. “So you could make a mistake here that causes a storm that’s supposed to rain here at sunset to never arrive...which then results in all the trees dying?”

“More like the storm fails to arrive, so a tick that’s supposed to bite you ends up dying. Now, suppose that tick was carrying a deadly disease and you were supposed to die of three days after the storm. And after you died, humans come to dissect you—cut you open to look at your insides—and they learn how your body works. Then, years later, your mate falls ill with a different sickness. The humans know how to cure it because they know how your body works. But if you don’t die, the humans can’t dissect you. So if in the future your mate came down with the same illness and you were still alive...”

She gasped and a light came on behind her eyes, “...the humans would lack the information they would have gathered from me, so they would not have the means to cure the ailment and my mate would die sooner than he was supposed to.”

“Exactly. And because he dies, he may not be around to push Filia out of the way of a fireball that came at the season’s change. Since he was supposed to be there and now isn’t, Filia would die from the impact. Do you see how the events form a chain?”

Shezilla nodded, frowning. “All that because of a tiny insect?”

“The death of a bug in the wrong time could ruin the future, yes.”

“Then if you do things correctly here, the you I know in this time will eventually be the you I see now?”

Kiryuu dipped his head. “Possibly. And don’t even get me started on what would happen if I met myself and—” A loud explosion rocked the beach. Godzilla roared and began to flail under Kiryuu. Kiryuu growled, reached underneath himself and pulled Godzilla’s arms apart with his syntech. Godzilla’s chest puffed out and his legs stiffened into a posture much like Christ on the Cross. He couldn’t move as long as Kiryuu held him in that position. Kiryuu hated to take advantage of his son’s physical limitations in this manner. There was just no other way to keep him safe. He had also forgotten how physically powerful Godzilla really was. Given the chance, Godzilla could pick him up and toss him like a toy. “Son, attacking them will not help matters!”

“They’ll hurt us!” roared Godzilla.

“Not if you leave them alone!” Kiryuu snarled in his ear. “You just be still for me. It’ll be okay.”

Filia began to outright scream because all the noise frightened her. Shezilla tucked her baby against her chest and dashed for the safety of their cave.

“Filia!”

“Son, it’s okay. She’s fine.”

“I wish they’d quit shooting!” Telek clutched his head. He kept getting transmissions from Tekn and Tom about the noise. Then, the noise stopped. The sounds of explosions echoed off into the distance as the dust around them slowly cleared. Telek glanced up and took a sigh of relief, thankful that the noise had stopped.

“Set your watch, Telek,” said Kiryuu. “We’re not out of this yet. We’ve got 15-30 minutes before the B-52s come. Maybe even longer since they have to ask permission from the governments to unleash their nuclear weapons on us.”

“Ask permission?” Telek asked.

“We’re talking about the most powerful weapon on Earth,” said Kiryuu. “In order to unleash it, they have to ask permission to do it. The President has to call Japan and Australia to tell them they’re about to unleash 3 megatons worth of nuclear bombardment on our ship. Someone’s gonna say yes.”

“And I asked you again, why wasn’t there some sort of marker to tell a ship to avoid that wormhole?” Telek asked.

“I was getting to it,” said Kiryuu.

“We wouldn’t be here if you had already gotten to it!” Telek cried.

Kiryuu sighed and sat down on the sand, holding his head in his hands. He was completely upset about this. He should have marked that wormhole, he knew that, but then again, this sort of thing takes time to do. He had other things to worry about. Kiryuu laid down on the ground and shook his head, still hiding his face in his metallic claws. Telek continued his contact with the ship, noticing that they had not even broken through the shields. So far, Tekn and Tom had told him that the cloak had burned out a fuse and now they were in the process of replacing it. At the same time, he glanced up and noticed the glowing blue tubing sucking out the fuel from the destroyer attached to the bottom of his carrier.

“The fuel from the Honshu will be enough to bring our ship out of the atmosphere and into geosynchronous orbit,” said Telek. “Then, we’ll link up with the Nassau and fuel up from there. We’ll set both vessels on a collision course with the sun and be done with them. Do you think Earth will catch up to them?”

“No,” said Kiryuu. “It’ll take two weeks for them to launch something into orbit. They won’t have the power to reach us there. Even some of their missiles that can reach into space won’t catch up to us by the time we make it up there. It takes two weeks to calculate a trajectory window for NASA to put something up in space, while it only takes us a few seconds to calculate.”

“Good,” said Telek. “We’re safe in space. I should have just turned this ship around and landed on the dark side of the moon instead of landing here. At least on the dark side, we could mask our presence.”

“And the fact that it’ll take them a month to even reach us even if they did discover us,” said Kiryuu. “But—we did what we could. That’s good enough.”

He laid his head down again, and glanced up at the sky. The clouds cleared and he saw the blue sky, the sun shining on his face. Then, his eyes opened wide and he began to realize something.

“Uh-oh…” Kiryuu breathed.

“What?” Telek asked. “What’s uh-oh?”

“The calendar said June, right?” Kiryuu asked.

“Yes,” said Telek.

“Two months after the United States launched Project Thor…” Kiryuu began. “They’ll fire Thor at us!”

“Thor?” Telek asked.

“It’s like the Nassau only, it’s pointed in reverse,” said Kiryuu. “It’s the grandfather of the Orbital Defense Grid. It’ll fire several rounds of tungsten rods at Mark 30 speeds down upon this ship.”

“At those speeds,” said Telek. “The tungsten would have melted into liquid plasma—plasma that could take out the shields on my ship!”

“And leave a nice little happy hole for the B-52s,” said Kiryuu. “They developed Thor for various purposes. One of those of course is to kill Godzilla. And yes, it can kill him. My company helped in the project. I could not show any biased remorse for my family—lest I give away my secret which would put Godzilla in more danger. So, I assisted in the creation of Thor. But it’ll take time to bring Thor into position over the island. We’ve got a 45 minute window before Thor launches its ‘Rods from God’.”

“Oh, nice name for them,” sighed Telek. “Tekn, you get that?”

“Yes, Excellency,”said Tekn. “We should be fueled and ready to go at least 10 minutes to 15 minutes before they fire Thor.”

Telek sat down on the rock again and put his head between his legs, sipping away at his tin.

“Daughter, you can come out,” said Kiryuu. “They’ve stopped. They won’t fire for another 40 minutes. By that time, we’ll be gone.”

“Filia is extremely frightened at this moment,” Shezilla called back.

Telek mumbled something into his communicator and listened for the response. When he got it, he took another drink from his tin.

“Bring her to me,” Godzilla said as he pushed himself up off the sand, wincing. Being locked in that posture hurt after awhile. He flexed his fingers to work out the stiffness. A few moments later, Shezilla came out of the cave with Filia in her arms. The little one cried and cried, her little tail curled up firmly between her legs. Godzilla took his daughter and held her to his chest, licking the tears off her cheeks. He could feel her trembling. Then he turned to Kiryuu. “You can’t stay?”

“You would be in danger if I did. The humans have a weapon that comes down from the sky like the Fireball. It can kill you. They will fire it on this island unless I leave soon.”

The plates on Shezilla’s back began to light up. “And you can’t tell them you are no threat?”

Kiryuu sighed. “No, I can’t. Not only is it impossible to talk to the humans in charge of the weapons, I also risk alerting my present self and I can’t have that happen. Remember what I said about how the smallest thing can change the future? I just can’t chance it. And don’t you dare try to seek out the satellite. It’s above the sky where your beam can’t reach.”

She mirrored his sigh and slapped her tail angrily down on the sand, causing the beach to tremble. “I’d love to get my claws in whoever agreed to let such a cruel weapon exist in the first place.” she snarled. “Now my daughter will be afraid to play outside because she thinks a fireball will destroy her or one of us. Look at her!” she pointed to Filia, who still clung to Godzilla in terror.

“Love is a powerful thing, daughter,” Kiryuu sighed. “So powerful that it makes us do foolish things. Especially when we are being blackmailed for it. But without it, there would be no Orbital Defense Grid—no Earth. The ‘Fireball’ called Thor is needed. It’s needed and it’s necessary. It’s the bases to which I and my human friends can protect the planet they so dearly love from a threat greater than you. If asked again to create such a weapon? Would I do it? The answer is yes. Because I love my son too much. I love him so, to protect him, I created a weapon that could destroy him. Because such a weapon is vital to the United Nations Space Command and the protection of Earth. Knowing what I know now I would still create Thor. I would be happy to create Thor, I would create several more Thors! Because I know that Thor will become the protector of Earth. Thor—the God of Lightning—a being of Norse legend, would fulfill that legend and protect those who just want to live their lives in safety.”

Taken aback, Shezilla inched closer to Kiryuu. “But isn’t something like that too...cruel?”

Kiryuu shook his head and sighed. “You’ll never see what will happen in my time. You’ll never see the suffering. You’ll never see—the end result of a planet being glassed—watching as world after world becomes destroyed by a force you can’t control, by a force that—you’ve done no wrong to. We did nothing to them, and they destroyed our planets, they destroyed our homes, forced us into a narrow corner—make us beg and plead to them to stop the war. Where I come from, innocents are being slaughtered along with the guilty. But we built machines like Thor for one purpose, and one purpose only—to protect our loved ones. And in time, such weapons will grow to protect us from greater threats. Fighting monsters like my son is one thing, fighting a wave of fleets of aliens bent on your total annihilation is another. So, if I knew then what I know now, I’d still build that weapon. So, don’t ever judge me on the decisions that I make. You can never fathom the reasons why I make them because you can’t see beyond the horizon like I can. Besides, I had to hide my biased relation to my son in order to protect them because I knew that if I did not help build something like Thor, the humans would build something worse that could also destroy me as well as him. So, never judge me—ever. Never judge the humans either.”

“It’s so hard not to judge them when they judge us before the know us.” Shezilla hugged herself and lowered her head. “And it’s not fair that they could end your life just because you love your young.”

Kiryuu half-smiled at Shezilla. Kenpachiro did that a lot. She must have unconsciously picked it up from watching him while inside her tank. “I know, Daughter. It’s something you’ll have to deal with forever.”

“Mr. President,” said Telek. “We’ve got 30 minutes and they’re putting in the last fuse to the cloak. I wanna get out of here the moment they repair the cloak.”

“What about the drive?” Kiryuu asked.

“We’ll make the repair to it once we docked with the Nassau,” said Telek. “Since it’ll take them two weeks to catch up to us. And the drive should be repaired within a day anyways.”

“Okay, good.”

“You can’t stay?” Godzilla asked. He already knew the answer, Kiryuu could tell by how tears formed in the corners of his eyes. Even as an adult he never lost his ability to make a big, sad puppy dog face.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to say,” said Kiryuu to his son. “Something that I should have told you when you were still alive.”

“I’m alive now, Father,” said Godzilla.

“No, not where I come from, you’re not,” said Kiryuu. “And you died not knowing how much I really loved you. Even if I don’t show it. I’m sorry if I’m hard on you, but you have to understand that I have to be in order to keep you safe. Sometimes you don’t understand things, and you react before you think. It’s how you are, but reacting before you think can be deadly, son. And that’s why I get upset with you. I just don’t want you to be harmed.”

A tiny smile started in the corners of Godzilla’s mouth. Suddenly, he giggled and started to cry at the same time. “I wasn’t just a slow, stupid burden you were glad to be rid of?”

“No! Never...” Kiryuu swallowed hard and reached out, patting Godzilla’s head. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel that way.” He glanced up at Shezilla. “And—my dear daughter, it’ll take time, but you’ll learn that I will come to accept you as a loving, caring mate to my son and not as some puppet clone a human created in a lab. I trust your judgment when it comes to my son, Daughter, I want you to know that. And I’m sorry if—I’ve been cruel to you when we first met. I was so set in my ways—I just couldn’t see passed the horizon—I couldn’t see that you are a good companion to my son and you will take care of him—despite your origins. It’s not your fault that you are what you are, but you make the best of it. And don’t think of yourself any lesser because of your origins.”

[CII]

Shezillla’s mouth quivered. “I—I don’t blame you for telling me the truth. And you were protecting your son from a perceived threat. My actions towards you was just me behaving in the same manner. I was protecting my baby,” she blushed, looked over at Godzilla and her eyes twinkled when Godzilla met her gaze, “And I love my mate. I love taking care of him. I live for his smile...he’s my big lug. I would not choose another male over him even if fifty more lined up and asked to court me.”

“My good looks came from Father,” Godzilla wiggled one eye-ridge up and down.

“And don’t you forget it.” Kiryuu chuckled. He actually missed seeing his son smile. All those silly, simple little things that he took for granted.

“20 minutes,” Telek said, giving an update.

“Thank you, Telek.” Kiryuu frowned and checked his internal clock. It had been a little off ever since they came through the wormhole. He just hoped it corrected itself when he returned to his proper time.

“My love, I’m going to lay down with Filia in our cave.” Godzilla nuzzled noses with Shezilla and smiled a little sadly at his father. “If I don’t come back here in time to see you off, will you come to the cave and say goodbye?”

“I will.” answered Kiryuu.

Nodding, Godzilla lumbered towards the gigantic cave and ducked inside.

Shezilla watched Godzilla walk away until he disappeared from view. Then she turned to Kiryuu, “This may be an odd request...Father...but I have always had a feeling that I won’t be here to see Filia grow up. Don’t tell me if I’m right or wrong, I don’t want to know that. I know you can speak to minds like she can. So could you—could you please let me see a picture of her at my age?”

“Daughter,” Kiryuu’s eyes saddened at this. But he nodded, lowered his head and took Shezilla’s hand. An image of full grown Filia emerged in his mind. She was petite and slender with tiny, pink-tinted dorsal spines even smaller than her mother’s. Filia would grow up to have her father’s shy smile, though when her face grew mischievous she looked a little like Kiryuu. Her eyes had the same slant as Shezilla’s, but their dark golden brown color made them piercing on her pale face. She wore a black ribbon around her neck and the nails on her delicate hands were painted the same pale pink color as her dorsal fins. “She is very small as an adult. Only one hundred feet tall, or about half my height.” Kiryuu held a hand up about level with his waist. “She is a dwarf. Humans can have this condition too and it is genetic. It causes their bodies to be smaller than average. Filia is a proportionate dwarf, that means her arms and legs don’t look too short for her body. Her mental abilities are extrodinary. She may be tiny and delicate, but she is incredibly smart and...” he laughed, “she has quite a temper.”

Tears trickled off the sides of Shezilla’s snout as the image faded. “She’s beautiful.”

“She was...yes...she lived a long, wonderful life, Daughter. She’ll grow up to do amazing things. The dreams you have for her, they’ll come true. I made sure of it.”

A smile came to Shezilla’s face and she wiped her tears away. “In that case I’ll make sure to raise her right until that time comes.”

Nodding, Kiryuu clasped her hand in both of his and gave it a little squeeze. “This is what it feels like to have a real father. Even the me from this time will help you when it comes to your mate. All you have to do is ask.”

Another tear skittered over her snout. “You did a good job raising my mate. It takes a special person to raise a child like him. I’m glad you let him live so I could know and love him. He is...I just don’t see the disability when I look at him. It’s just part of what makes him so sweet and part of what made me fall in love with him. I honestly can’t see myself loving anybody else.” her cheeks flushed when she realized she was rambling. “Sometimes I think he’s the lucky one because he doesn’t have to live his life in constant fear. He just...lives...to him time is only this moment. We’re the ones who worry about having food, or staying safe or even wondering if we’ll see another tomorrow.”

“Someday,” began Kiryuu. "Human friends like your human father Ken will help in providing you food to keep you off their lands instead of trying to kill you. And in time, they’ll come to respect us because of Filia and I. Though, it has taken me a long time to become their leader. A very long time. And it wasn’t easy.”

“Kiryuu,” said Telek. “They’ve fixed the cloak. We’ve gotta get outta here now.”

Kiryuu nodded and glanced up at the Shade of Darkness. His eyes traced the purple beam of the gravity lift and then down to the platform it anchored itself to. Then, he glanced back up at the sky.

“Though, it takes a lot of money to run Thor,” he said. “We’ve better go.”

He turned back and crawled into the cave and saw Godzilla holding Filia. Filia was fast asleep while her father slowly lapped at her back.

“Well, the ship is fixed and I need to be leaving,” he told his son.

Godzilla roused from his stupor to see Kiryuu’s face in the light coming into the cave. Green and silver dreadlocks framed his snout and shoulders. His age showed—not in his wrinkles, but in the weight of the world that seemed to press down on his shoulders. Blinking, Godzilla raised an arm and wrapped it around his father’s neck, pulling him down against his chest. “Don’t remember me sick or however terrible I looked when you saw me die. Remember me like I am now. When I was strong.” he licked at the tears that trailed down Kiryuu’s snout. “You said I died not knowing you loved me. You were wrong, Father...” Godzilla looked him straight in the eyes. “I always knew.”

A lump grew in Kiryuu’s throat. He sniffed and rested his cheek against Godzilla’s. It was moist. “It’s time to sleep now, son.” he said, stroking Godzilla’s head and sending out a weak, telepathic sleep signal. In seconds Godzilla closed his eyes. Kiryuu kept petting his head, using the contact to gently slip the memory of this visit from Godzilla’s conscious mind to his subconscious. When he woke, he would think the whole thing was just a strange dream. Kiryuu touched Filia’s head and performed the same alteration.

Telek ran up to the cave, his armor flashing, “Mr. President! Come on!”

“I’m coming,” Kiryuu replied. He pressed his lips first to Filia’s cheek and then to Godzilla’s brow. Shezilla met him just outside the cave. He told her, “Daughter, I must go. Your mate and daughter are napping. You should do so as well.” and before she could react, he placed his hand on the side of her face. Shezilla slumped against the side of the cave and curled up like a giant cat.

Altering memories made Kiryuu’s head hurt. He stood still for a moment, rubbing the spot between his eyes with his thumb.

“Come ON!” Telek’s mandibles flared and he narrowed his eyes. “Don’t make me drag you into the ship like a keg!”

“Like you would enjoy that,” Kiryuu snorted as he snapped his fingers returning him and Telek back to relatively human size. As he ascended the platform after Telek, he took one last look at his family. Another tear flowed down his cheek. Telek glanced back and tugged at Kiryuu’s arm.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go. We’ve got 10 minutes to make it into orbit before Thor fires.”

Kiryuu nodded and joined the Sangheili as he leapt into the purple beam and disappeared into the bowls of the ship. Imperial Admiral Xytan was there to greet the two as they entered the cargo hold.

“It’s about time you got back up here,” said Xytan. “I was getting worried those two monsters ate you.”

“That’s my son you’re calling a monster, Xytan,” Kiryuu said.

“So sorry,” he corrected. “I do see some of the family resemblance. Is it the spines?”

“A little more than that,” said Kiryuu.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Telek interrupted. “Tekn, move this ******* ship out of the atmosphere, now! I want it off the planet!”

“Yes, Excellency!” Tekn cried. Telek heard the sound of the engines rev up and felt the ship become alive right at the touch of Tekn’s fingers. He turned back to Kiryuu and Xytan. “I’ll be on the bridge if you need me.”

“Dismissed, Commander,” Xytan said, waving his hand. Kiryuu gave a chuckle and Telek sighed as he ran back towards the bridge.

“If you don’t mind, Imperial Admiral,” began Kiryuu. “I’ll be in my guest quarters. I need to take a bit of a nap after altering so many minds of events…”

“Altering?” Xytan asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “My families. They’ll have no recollection of these events or ever having met us. To them, it’ll be nothing more than a dream.”

“Interesting,” said Xytan. “Well, I suppose computers like you do need to have a shut down every so now and then. We’ll pick this up later.”

“Admiral on the bridge!” Tom called as Telek came through the doors.

“As you were,” Telek said to the two who awaited him.

“We’ve got a North by Northwest heading, Admiral,” said Tekn. “But it’ll put us over Russia.”

“Not only that,” began Tom. “But we’re picking up movement from Guam.”

“It’s the B-52s,” said Telek. “They’ve come to fire upon us while we’re leaving!”

“No, sir,” said Tom. “They appear to be holding their position right now. And AWACS is following as swiftly as it can behind us. Our sensors are picking up the signature of said ‘small star’ trailing very far behind.”

“Making sure that we are indeed leaving,” said Telek. “Good. At least they’re not gonna shoot anything else at us. As long as we don’t shoot anything at them. I hate Causality!”

“We’ll be flying over Russia,” said Tom. “And no doubt we’re making a huge sonic boom while we’re at it.”

“And altering more of their weather patterns,” Telek sighed. He watched the screen just as the blue sky faded to black, indicating they had made out. He settled down on the floor and sighed heavily in relief. They were in space now, they were off the planet. Now the humans could not touch them. He rose back up and commanded his ship to move into geosynchronous orbit. He allowed his hand to drop from the holo-panel and took in another deep breath. Telek glanced back up at the ceiling. “Contact the Nassau, tell the Chief that we’ll be docking soon and to have the hoses ready for fuel siphoning.”

“Yes, Admiral,” said Tom.

“Excellency, are you okay?” Tekn asked.

“We made it out there by the skin of our asses,” said Telek. “We almost got blown up to teeny-tiny bits. I’m certain though, that seeing this ship might have changed some of the history we’re about to go into. I’m just hoping not a lot.”

“Yeah,” said Tom. “Me too.”

“Who knows what kind of damage we did,” said Telek. He silently watched as the space station Nassau came into view on the main screens. Telek ran his fingers over the controls and felt the ship move at his command. He heard the sounds of the docking clamps come into place, connecting his ship with the station.

“Shade of Darkness,” began the voice of Chief Petty Officer Nicole-458. “Welcome to the Nassau.”

“Hang tight,” said Telek. “We’ll be right over to assist in bringing the survivors over.”

“Yes, sir,” Nicole said.

“I’m going over,” said Telek. “Mr. President?”

“Right here, Telek,” said Kiryuu.

“I’ll be over on the Nassau,” he said. “Care to join me?”

“Sure,” the bio-mecha replied.

Upon the Nassau Telek managed to meet for the first time a female SPARTAN. Nicole, with her helmet off, glanced around as a mixture of ex-Covenant and Human soldiers grabbed supplies from the station and took it back to the ship. She had never worked with Sangheili or Unggoy warriors either and the feeling was awkward to her. Another awkward moment was meeting for the first time the President of the United Nations.

“Not used to seeing so many mixtures of human and alien, are you, Chief?” Telek asked.

“No, sir,” she replied. “One question though…why does the Elite in the silver and gold armor keep calling me ‘Demon’?”

“Actually, that name is a term referred to John-117,” said Telek. “But apparently it’s applied to all of the SPARTAN super soldiers. They think you’re some sort of unbeatable, supernatural creature because John was able to take out the fleet Particular Justice. I, on the other hand, know that you’re basically a human version of Kiryuu—only not undead. And certainly more livable to talk to.”

Nicole could not help but to laugh at that. She did have to agree on his analogy of her and the President. All SPARTANs were equipped with bio-syntech, the main product of the Utah Foundation. Though, unlike Kiryuu, they could not produce the famous syntech blades that he could. That trick had to be programmed into the syntech.

“Supplies are on board, Excellency,” informed a Sub-Commander Zealot.

“Thank you,” said Telek. “Well, that’s it. Shall I escort you to the ship, ma’am?”

Nicole chuckled again and took the arm that was offered to her. She hooked her gloved hand inside the rim of her helmet and allowed it to swing slightly as she walked beside the big Elite. She could not help but to notice that Telek had a sort of Alan Alda/Hawkeye charm. He even walked a little like Hawkeye too, but she noticed that he also had a mixture of the pirate Jack Sparrow in his steps as well. Some of his steps seemed a little off key, showing he had a bit too much to drink, whether or not he actually did have too much to drink. Though, either characters he seemed to portray had drinking problems. Once more, that was Telek. She was flattered by him and his whimsical charms, but nothing more than that. Telek lead her into the cargo bay and let go of her when the red Major Domo from engineering came walking over to him along with his human assistant, a Petty Officer.

“How’s the engines?” Telek asked.

“Almost done, Excellency,” the Major replied. “We’re just refitting the plasma coils now.”

“Good,” he replied, another sigh of relief. “The sooner we leave this god-forsaken time the better!”

“We’ll be able to hit slip-space and move towards the wormhole again,” said the Major. “And with the fuel from the station, we should have enough to drop the President off at Io.”

“Belay that order, I’m staying!” Kiryuu bellowed across the cargo hold. Nicole, the Major, and Telek turned back towards the silvery-armored mecha. Kiryuu had his helm on his head, his golden optics and red tear lights glowed brightly in the dim lights.

“Mr. President,” Telek began. “You can’t fight. If you get yourself killed, who’s gonna pin all of the medals on all of the one-legged heroes as they return home at the end of the war?”

“Telek,” Kiryuu began. “If there’s anything that I’ve learned when I was down there with my son is that I have the right to fight and defend my planet and defend those I love. I hate sitting back on the sidelines, waiting for the end to come. I like taking charge of things. And besides, you saw how big I am. Just imagine the turn-out of the war if someone like me were to step in and help our allies defeat the Covenant. I’m armed, I’m ready, and I pack a punch.”

“I suppose it would be suicide for me to tell a 60-meter tall mechanical dinosaur that he had to sit this one out,” said Telek. “Alright, you can stay.”

“I’m glad you’re able to see it my way,” Mechagodzilla chuckled.

“Alright!” Telek bellowed. “Listen up! As soon as the drive is fully fixed and the ship is fueled, I’m gonna release both the Honshu and the Nassau. They will be on a collision course with the Sun. And these people in this century won’t be able to muster up anything that can chase after them in time. We’ll be going back through the wormhole. When we get there, we’ll be coming into a fight between the Covenant and the UNSC. So, on that note, battle stations!”

Chief Petty Officer Nicole-458 complied with his order, putting her helmet back on and grabbing an assault rifle, holding it up. She filled it with some ammunition from her utility built and gave it a click to load it up.

When the drive was fixed and the ship was completely fueled, the Shade of Darkness released its hold on both the Honshu and the Nassau. With a minor adjustments and a few degrees away from Earth, Telek sent them both floating off, caught in the deathly grip of the Sun’s gravitational pull. Without both ships to hinder the speed, the assault carrier was free to re-enter the wormhole. He had a feeling though that 21st Century Earth no doubt took some pictures of his ship letting the two other vessels go. Telek, with the help of his two assistants, brought the ship around and managed to take it through the wormhole, powering up the slip-space drive. He felt the ship shake again as it streaked through the wormhole anomaly and he hoped that the ship would make it out undamaged this time. Behind him was SPARTAN-458, Kiryuu Knight, and Imperial Admiral Xytan ‘Jar Wattinree. Kiryuu was in deep thought himself as he began to reflect upon the battle that will soon happen. They had one mission now, stop Truth—stop Truth from activating the Ark—stop Truth from making the biggest, ignorant mistake in the universe. Kiryuu smiled inside his helm, thinking back on Godzilla. He had in his mind now his son’s face—smiling back at him. Godzilla protected his daughter and his mate from anything that would harm them, just like what Kiryuu planned to do for Earth. Just like Kiryuu did for Godzilla. He was glad that Godzilla never lived though to see this horrible war.

“We’re almost out!” Telek called. “We’re almost through!”

“Shields at maximum,” said Tom. “Engines are holding.”

“Plasma cannons are charged,” said Tekn. “And ready to fire the moment we break through the wormhole.”

Telek glanced up and saw the end of the wormhole. The ship brought itself out of the anomaly and Telek gave another kick to the clock.

“Come on, daddy wants to see the right time…”

“2217 December 15 2552 (Military Calendar) \ Sol System \ Earth”

“YES!” Telek cried.

The Shade of Darkness brought itself around and cloaked, ready for a sneak attack on one of the invading Covenant ships. Multitudes of blue and orange explosions filled the space around Earth as one particular Forerunner ship made its way to Africa. Telek and his crew were insistent on following that ship…

[CII]

Damn....that was trouble. Well, hope you all enjoy it.

[Cyndi]

Oh! You got it to post! Awesome! *Shezilla steps on this corner of KP*

This was such a funny story XD I had a great time writing with you, as always. Kiryuu and Telek are hawtness!

[lord Manda, King of Mu]

Two fanfictions in one I loved it

[CII]

Thank you. Hoping that anyone who likes Halo and Godzilla will enjoy this.

[Cyndi]

*Kicks Telek's ship and her foot falls off*

Thanks, Manda :) Glad you enjoyed reading this.