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the-silentium · 3 years

Text

Fresh Start

Masterlist

Pairing: No one so far, but it’s coming.

Words: 4847 words

Warnings: Typical Clone Wars/Halo violence. Not beta-read. The big part of this chap had been waiting to be published for a while and I wanted to get it out for those who waited for it.

Layla woke up at 0500. While moving her stiff joints, the Spartan recited the entirety of the Cole Protocol under her breath like it was mandatory to do so in order to protect Earth. It was a fact that this world couldn't do much to harm humanity's homeworld, but old habits die hard and this one had been going on for years. She had a harder time remembering her birthday than saying the whole Protocol backward.

The ship was still quiet, no one used the caf machine to alleviate their morning mood or used the droid as weight for a quick exercise. She passed the closed door of the barrack to join the cockpit where she found Tech watching his recording of her fighting a one-sided fight against the prisoners that now laid peacefully, shackles around their wrists, at the back of the ship. The sedative Tech injected them must have been a high dosage. That or he gave them another dose when she was still asleep.

He slowed down the caption whenever she made a move and ultimately snapped their bones without effort. He was so entranced by his observations that he failed to notice her arrival. He continued the incoherent mumble of words until she took a seat on the chair next to him.

"The sword has two blades because there are two magnetic-field generators in the handle." He immediately paused the recording to access his notes and prepare a new entry section. To his credit, he kept his mouth closed until she finished her info-dumping. "Kyber crystals are not the source of the power, it's an energy storage. Used with a blade projector, you can create ionized gas as hot as plasma and cut through pretty much anything."

"If there's an energy storage, it means that the battery will be depleted at some point." She nodded at his deduction. "How do you recharge it?"

Layla rotated her chair so she could point at the power droid. "Same as your ship." His eyes grew wide. The energy swords required quite a lot of energy to be able to function. "Once it's out of juice I'll let you have a look at its components. No playing around in it though."

She had to suppress a chuckle at his surprise. Who cared if he found something that was foreign to him? He couldn't ask about the origins of anything anyway.

"That would be wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity." She hummed in response.

For the next hour, she explained how the active camouflage worked with the photoreactive panels of her armor to recreate the nearby environment and make her blend in. Answering those technical questions was no big deal, mainly because Kai knew every aspect of the armor and because none of the other Batchers would ask her those specific questions again. Those were purely based on a scientific curiosity proper to the engineer whereas the remaining men would prefer more tactical information like the limit of her strength, Kai's abilities or her armor enhancements, amongst other things.

Talking to Tech came easier than she first thought. It wasn't like talking to Mirah, the engineer and very own tech wiz of the late Delta Company knew everything there was to know about human and Covenant tech. Explaining stuff to Tech was refreshing; he understood what she meant without the need to use simplified terms and she got to talk about her home.

Crosshair was the first to exit the barracks, soon followed by Hunter and a bit later Wrecker joined the team. They kept silent for a majority of the short time allowed for breakfast, opting to listen to the explanation she provided to the engineer when he asked about the energy shield protecting her armor.

"It can block a single blaster bolt and without that shield," She showed a dent in the metal protecting her abdomen. It was fairly deep for a single bullet, definitely not what a majority of the Covenants' weapons could do. Another bolt to that spot and she would require her first trip to a medbay. "The bolts can do quite a bit of damage."

Tech moved forward to examine the damage, his fingers prodding at the burned composite.

"For a thinner piece of armor, I would have expected less, to be honest. Lots of clones have lost their lives from a single shot to the right place." He sat back in his seat to compile his discoveries.

"A shield like that could save countless lives." Crosshair pointed out once his cup of caf was empty and pushed in a small compartment to wash later. "Why don't they give them to clones too?"

Layla hummed. She'd heard that particular question countless times from different clones and every time she answered the same thing.

"You're right. But they can't give them to you. Your armor is not compatible." She truthfully told him. Some would leave it at that and leave her alone. In this case, the Captain already knew she'd have to elaborate if not only because Crosshair tried to interrogate her and maybe gain interesting information but she knew the curious clone on the chair beside her would pitch in to fill his information thirst.

"Then why not make it compatible? Give the clones that new armor of yours." He continued with a glare right through her tinted visor.

"You'd die." She answered. "Or at least, very severely injured. Many have been crushed by the armor. Their bones shattered to bits."

Tech opened his mouth, caught off guard by her admission. He couldn't get a word in, his brother cutting him short.

"You're perfectly fine in it." The sniper sneered, looking her up and down again. His new condescension was hitting a weak nerve of the Spartan who started to wonder how many bones would break if she lent him her gauntlet. If only it wouldn't be a career destroyer for him, she may have thought about it more seriously.

"Now, yes." She forced the thought away. His career was his life. So far she'd never met a clone that wasn't at the top of their shape, leaving it all to her imagination as to what happened to the clones too heavily wounded to be sent back to the battlefield.

He may be annoying, but sending him to "reconditioning" would be disgusting.

"Alright. That's quite enough." The Sergeant intervened, his hands between the two of you as if a fight was about to explode. He shot a look to his teammate who glared right back.

"Have you eaten yet?" He turned to her once the grey-haired clone turned his attention elsewhere, most likely looking for his stash of tiny wood sticks.

A ration pack fell on Layla's lap as she shook her head, a water bottle following suit.

"We'll arrive soon to drop off the prisoners and then we're off again. Won't have time to eat for a bit so now's the time." He informed his newest addition.

It seemed like the night had cleared the remaining bits of anger he held towards her, leaving them to start fresh. He was going to get the information he wanted, some of it anyway, and she could still hope to settle in this team until she returned home. It was definitely preferable to stick with a group that could meet her skills and with whom she could get along.

If not, then she would consider joining the research team that looked into the teleporting cube or maybe request being a team by herself. Spartans were excellent solo-teams, the complicated thing was to have a ship and be able to pilot it.

"Yes, sir." Layla smiled briefly behind her visor. The plain food sounded amazing at that moment, the last meal her stomach received being more than 12 hours ago.

As soon as the soldier removed her helmet, the fresh air of the ship hit her face in the most heavenly way. The thermoregulation program inside the spartan armor worked wonderfully, never letting her freeze on Hoth or die from the heat on the hotter planets of this galaxy. The only thing it could not do was provide that nice little breeze and that revigorating feeling of freshness. She put the bucket on the floor under the console of the ship where no one could trip on it and tore open the seal of the ration to get the bread.

She knew they were all openly looking at her, taking in her short, wavy, black hair, the three scars lining her right cheek, the soft green of her eyes, maybe even the slight freckles spotting her nose and cheeks. It was the first time they saw her face after all. She was used to those stares from the clones. She'd heard many whispers about whether she really was human beneath that armor or not and lots of them were surprised to find out the truth.

She met the Sergeant's gaze right before he turned to look somewhat occupied, his hands already going over the controls of the ship. She would have chuckled if only it wouldn't look like she was laughing at a superior. Right as she noticed his ears getting a few shades darker, a hand fell into her hair and shook the strands vigorously.

The familiar and unexpected movement sent her heart in a frenzy. She choked slightly on her bread, a name forming on her tongue begging to be let out. She closed her eyes momentarily to force the food down in a forced gulp that hurt her throat.

"Aed-"

"So you really are a girl under that armor!" The tank of a man cut her off pleasantly with a grin. His hand left her hair to playfully punch her right in the shoulder and back off once he took in her slightly wide eyes. "Oh. Was that ok? Did I cross eh… boundaries?" He scratched his neck in embarrassment.

"No, totally not." She smiled to reassure him. "Was just not expecting it. No one really approached me with this much enthusiasm before." She chuckled and presented her fist to bump, which Wrecker happily obliged.

"That's regs for ya. You're more our type than theirs." Someone choked on their drink at Wrecker's words. A loud scoff resonated loudly into the ship, one that Layla promptly ignored.

"Your type?" She was slightly stunned by the turn taken by the conversation and began thinking that keeping her helmet on could have been preferable.

"Different, I mean. Not… eh…" The man trailed off, a new shade of red creeping its way up his neck.

Again, the urge to chuckle gripped her throat. She managed to keep her laugh at bay, although her smile couldn't be contained.

"I know what you mean, Wrecker." She assured him and took another bite of her dry rations.

It wasn't so bad so far; the team was fairly nice- a majority of it anyway- after the knowledge barrier was mostly removed and Wrecker definitely was a nice teammate to have around. All she had to do was remind herself to not get too attached, she had to go back to fight for humanity's survival.

"Would you mind if I take a look at your helmet? I would like to compare your optic systems to ours and see if maybe I could inspire some enhancements to our own systems." Tech inquired from his seat, datapad now discarded on the console.

"Sure. Let me just- Kai." She called when her helmet found its way to her lap. She rotated the helmet so she could see the inside of it, her visor illuminating as soon as the AI was responsive. "Keep the direct neural interface system down."

"Alright. Systems down until next order." He confirmed from within the helmet.

"There ya go." She passed the item to Tech who looked at her like she had two heads.

"Direct neural interface system? Do you-?" He jumped to his feet, catching the helmet in one hand while the other lifted the hair on her nape to find the two slim chips at the base of her skull. "Your helmet connects to your brain?!"

She nodded as she continued eating. "There ain't a better way to control the armor if you're part of the armor, right?"

"This is astounding." He whispered in awe, already lost in his observation of the piece of armor in his hands, starting by its interior.

"That's disgusting." Crosshair spat, his spiteful glare now morphed into one of mistrust.

"Guess it's both. What one wouldn't do to win a war? You all were created in labs, I have chips in my head." Amongst many other enhancements. She shrugged.

"Must have hurt!" Wrecker approached again to peek at her hair.

"Second worst pain I've ever endured despite the painkillers." She confirmed, the last bite of her meal now in her mouth.

"What's the first?" He asked.

Layla gulped at the question. It was to be expected from him, his genuine curiosity was purely innocent and she knew he didn't mean any harm by asking what he just did. It simply was way too painful to think about, so saying it out loud was out of the question.

"That's a story for another day." She offered him a forced smile to compensate for refusing to answer his question, which he accepted without any fuss. One of them continued his one-sided glaring contest, completely ignored by the Spartan.

"Can't wait to hear it!" He turned after shooting her one last smile and made his way back toward the barracks, surely to get his armor on, just as the Sergeant was doing.

"ETA 6 minutes." Kai chimed as he appeared by the upside-down scout helmet. His soft curls and jovial smile was on full display. Right before she could thank him, the engineer hopped in with a frown.

"No at all. With our current speed the ETA is 9 minutes." Tech looked at Kai who flinched and hurried to put his helmet on to disappear out of view of the troopers. "Is he defective? I never thought a computer program could generate erroneous data with such a gap. Maybe I could try to fix it." He offered.

Layla took a deep breath to remain in control of herself like the numerous times this specific matter came to light. She knew Tech probably meant no harm by calling Kai a defective unit, they were defective clones and called themselves defectives without care if Wrecker's introduction was anything to go by. In Kai's case, however, the word defective meant so much more. Hurt so much more. It reminded him that he wasn't as competent as he should be and that he was a weakling that should have been deactivated.

Would have been deactivated if it wasn't for your intervention.

It was his biggest flaw that he couldn't even hide under the armor he created in hopes to at least look like the flawless super-soldiers he admired.

"Kai is what we call a Smart AI. They are created using human brains," You explained. Tech's eyes visibly widened and he wasn't the only one who looked horrified, even glaring-toothpick lost his composure for a second. The Sergeant paused his movements, pauldron hovering right above his shoulder. "And so they sometimes keep some memories or characteristics from their previous identities. Kai was apparently dyslexic."

It came as a surprise to the staff maneuvering the matrix. Before someone's brain was used to create an AI, the individual had to pass numerous tests to confirm that they were optimal, in Kai's case, it must have been missed.

"And he's not just a computer program. He's sentient too, so don't you even dare try to do anything to him." She finished, grabbed her helmet from the man's hands and walked away from the group.

This was the very precise reason that she never gave up on him after she realized his learning disability. He had somehow managed to conceal it during his conditioning, but couldn't hide it from her once on the battlefield. She hadn't ratted him out, she knew what would happen to him in that case. It took a couple of months before a Lieutenant with whom they had fought alongside during a harsh battle had noticed the occasional inaccuracy in Kai's calculations and reported it to Command.

Thanks to the previous months of battle, Layla had the ammunition to defend her AI and prove his usefulness to her team and ultimately keep him. She had been reprimanded for not reporting the malfunction sooner, not that it really mattered for her. She would do it again anytime.

"It's alright Kai." She whispered after putting her bucket back on and he did not come out or pop on her HUD. "You know I don't mind."

"Someday it'll kill you." His soft whisper came from inside her gear. "And I can't stand the thought of it. I try really hard, but the numbers always get mixed up."

"It won't kill me. Stop thinking that. As for the numbers, I know you do your best." She assured him.

"My best is not enough." He sighed, going silent.

Pain squeezed her heart for him. Way too many times she had wished she could take this burden off his shoulder. During the four years they spent together, sharing the same space, working in perfect tandem, and nearly sharing the same thoughts, they had learned every last detail of each other to the point where they knew exactly what the other needed.

A low hum resonated from the back of Layla's throat, along with the familiar rhythm of the old song Kai loved to listen to during the cold nights on the battlefield, either in their own universe or amongst the boys in blue.

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

The silent lyrics managed without a fault to calm Kai's nerves and all it took was one verse for Kai to appear on her visor, helmet off to show her a small thankful smile before looking down at his fingers toying with his orange bandana.

Every time she wondered how old exactly his brain was when Kai was created. To her, he did not look like an old man who reminisced the time he sang the song to his own kid or wife. No, he seemed like a young boy who lived in a terrible world and could only find comfort in a soft song. He could be another one of ONI's and UNSC's multiple unethical projects for all she knew.

"We are landing." Hunter's voice put an abrupt end to the song.

The speed of the landing was quite alarming. It wasn't what she had gotten used to in this universe. It reminded her of emergency landings aboard Pelicans. it left her wondering whether they were in an emergency situation or not. She felt the direct neural interface system connect itself to her skull, the missing information appearing on her HUD.

Layla took hold of a nearby handle and waited for the landing to be over. Tech jogged up to her before she could get out after Wrecker and the prisoners.

"I did not mean to upset you." Tech's whisper surprised her. She thought he would be too engrossed in his stuff to notice her and yet, he completely dropped his datapad to walk up to her. "Or disturb you." He paused and seeing as she did not offer anything in return, he continued. "I apologize for my words earlier. I did not know Kai was more than a program and definitely would not have proposed to fix him if--"

“It’s alright,” Kai replied, offering the clone a brief appearance and a curt nod to show that he was sincere. "You didn't know. Let's forget about that."

And forget they did. The prisoners were handed over to the Coruscant Guards who were eagerly awaiting their arrival. Then came the time for a quick supply load and off they were for their next mission. There, the Spartan and the clones were finally bathing in their element; a chaotic battlefield where bullets flew everywhere.

Dirt and pebbles flew in Layla's vision, reducing her visibility for a moment. The harsh downpour washed the obstacles away in a matter of seconds, allowing her to see the wall of angry, red bolts coming her way. She dodged to the side to hide behind an exploded wall that provided just enough cover for her to take a second to look around and search for Crosshair.

The two were supposed to eliminate the droids that would try to cut the other men's escape route, the only remaining route now that Wrecker did an impeccable job at blowing up the main entrance tunnel towards the underground Separatist facility. Everything went according to plan; Sergeant Hunter along with Tech infiltrated the facility and extracted some new droid blueprints from the local servers while Wrecker did his best to not alert the whole place of their presence and install his precious explosives at strategic spots. It wasn't before Kai alerted her and Crosshair of 2 groups of commando droids closing in on them that everything went downhill.

The first bolts forced them down their nests at the top of a crumbling tower and into the mud. The droids rushed through the landscape of destroyed buildings that once formed a peaceful village installed in a quiet canyon.

"What's your status up there?" The Sergeant's voice cut through the channel, sounds of battle prominent on his side too.

"Backed in a corner but under control." The grey-haired soldier replied, two of his own shots resonating in the air.

Footsteps approached fast from the other side of the wall. To catch them off-guard, Layla jumped out and immediately took aim at the closest droid, piercing a single burning hole in its head. The following two jumped in every direction, unaffected by the slippery mud under their feet. Layla dashed forward to meet one of them and avoid the red bolts, her tactical knife already in hand.

The two clashed with force. The droid fell under the weight of the human armor, leaving it at the Spartan's mercy. One swift motion of her blade and the wires connecting the body to its head got cut off. In her peripherals, Layla noticed the incoming commando who had her in its aim and jumped away before it could pull the trigger.

“Layla? What’s your status?” Came the Sergeant’s voice again.

The bolt missed her ribs by mere centimeters. Hers, however, didn't miss. The droid fell under two consecutive pulls of her trigger.

"Under control, sir." She replied as she stood up and turned around to see her comrade shooting down droids as best as he could despite their erratic movements and their closeness.

In a heartbeat, she was in position, helping him in his task. A droid that attempted to jump at him from his blind spot fell to the ground at Crosshair's feet, missing a limb and its head. The clone took steady steps backward, towards the source of the blue bolts where he knew his ally stood. Between the two of them, the commandos were falling at a nice rhythm and soon enough, they were all scrap robots on the ground.

There was a short pause where no flash of color flew in the air, no one moved, attentive to any movement from hidden enemies nearby. Silence greeted them, the only sound breaking the rain being the battle a couple of klicks away. With a sharp nod, Crosshair turned in order to return to their spot and offer help to his brother. About to do the same, Layla froze upon seeing Crosshair's rifle lift in her direction.

Everything happened so quickly. She saw the bolt exit the cannon of his rifle, fly at high speed towards her face. The light burned her retinas for a second, enough so tears formed in her eyes. The thought of ducking hadn't even crossed her mind, she was too shocked. She had trusted her teammate. Too soon.

The bolt passed her, so close to her head that the shield protecting her armor shone in anticipation of the hit. The characteristic sound of the plasma hitting metal invaded her ears and lifted her worries. A breath finally entered her lungs when the droid fell to the ground next to her, its vibrosword digging into the mud.

Like nothing happened, the man stepped forward toward the ledge. A moment later, Layla followed, laid down in the mud alongside him and shot the droids surrounding the clones below. The situation was way worse for them down there than it had been for the two snipers. Droidekas, B2s and B2s rocket troopers gave them hell.

Wrecker had a wonderful time using his explosives right and left, making it difficult to cover them with the thermal lenses on. Aiming without their help was totally out of the question thanks to the inexistent visibility provided by the heavy downpour, so they had to make do, despite Wrecker's disturbance, in order to keep the guys breathing and in one piece and not shoot them in the process.

It took a couple minutes of close calls and the men were finally able to get out of the clearing they were trapped in to run to the ship.

"Helljumper," Layla called when he jumped to his feet, quickly packing up for departure. His movements slowed for a single heartbeat, his own way of telling her that he was listening. "Thank you."

The only sign of acknowledgment she received was the very short second his visor trailed on hers until the Sergeant hurried them over through comms.

They both arrived at the ship first and immediately took defensive positions in case droids were sent after the retreating clones. When none appeared on the horizon and every soldier was safe in the metallic bird’s belly, the Spartan allowed herself a small breather, which was quickly interrupted by a report request from the Batch's leader.

"We got out without a scratch, sir." She added at the end of her report, Crosshair nodding in approval to testify of his own health.

"Good to hear. Having you up with Crosshair has been a good call after all." She knew he didn't only refer to the good cover they both offered, but the fact that the clone would have had problems with the two groups of close-range commando droids by himself.

"Glad I could help, sir."

Crosshair clicked his tongue before leaving the main area for the barracks.

"Don't mind his attitude. He'll warm up with time." Sergeant Hunter assured her, even offering a small smile of his own. "Good job today."

Layla nodded in thanks. "Only following my training, sir."

"Well, you were well trained then. You'll only have to make sure to use your stun mode whenever needed." He reminded her in a soft tone, not in an attempt to jab at her.

This report went better than the last one in every aspect. Satisfied, Layla made her way to the crate she slept on the night prior, hopped onto it and used her free time to clean her rifle from all the dirt.

"Want to arm wrestle to kill time?" Wrecker joined her at the back of the ship, eyes glinting in excitement. It was clear that the guy wanted to measure his strength with hers, thankfully it wasn't an expression of his ego- not that the guy seemed to have one to begin with- but mere curiosity and maybe even a need for challenge.

The soldier perked up at Layla's chuckle, a smile splattered on his face as he thought she would agree. "Sorry Wrecker. Don't feel like playing around."

"It's not playin' around! It's exercise." He tried again. "You're just scared to lose!" He taunted her with a grin.

With a shake of her head, Layla declined once more, his teasing not affecting her one bit.

"Maybe another day." She offered, hands still occupied at disassembling the gun. It had been so long since she last indulged in those games, being a Fireteam Leader had required a certain level of seriousness and had eaten so much of her time that she had witnessed more matches than she had played. Surely it wouldn't harm anyone to participate once again, the leading job belonged to someone else now.

"Another day then!" He agreed and walked away after punching her shoulder playfully as if giving his word.

"I think this team is not that bad after all." Kai assessed. "Tech and Wrecker have already accepted you, Sergeant Hunter too, although he's clearly still wary of you and Crosshair had your back so I take it that he doesn't hate you all the way."

"It's good, considering the rocky start." Layla agreed. "Maybe it won't be as bad as I thought." I just have to watch my heart and don't get attached, she reminded herself.

#bad batch x reader #sergeant hunter x oc #halo #crosshair #tech #wrecker #crossover #clone wars #spartan oc

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the-silentium · 3 years

Text

The Outsider

Masterlist

Pairing: No one so far.

Words: 7703 words

Warnings: Blood, violence, characters death, swearing.

A/N: Yes, my Halo x Bad Batch series is finally starting! For those who loves RvB like I do, there's a lot of references to the show in there.

This is the intro, so pardon me if there aren’t enough Bad Batch for your liking, it’ll all explode soon.

Bad Batch Taglist: @haloangel391 @clone-rambles @mandaloriandin @apathetic-catastrophie @jenstar1992-2 @wondergal2001 If I forgot someone/someone want to be removed, let me know!

"The Covenants invaded Bounty 13 hours ago. Since then they have killed much of the civilian population and gathered the survivors in a building complex where they keep slaughtering them. The operation is simple. Get to that complex and get the survivors out. The Delta Company and the 14th platoon will be dropped on a beach behind the complex. Unfortunately, your arrival won't go unnoticed and so expect heavy enemy fire. Four pelicans will be on standby to evacuate the civilians. Spartan Layla D-074 will be the ranking officer on this mission. Operation: LEVIATHAN will start in 5 minutes. That'll be all. Good luck Spartans." Commander Kernn nodded once before leaving the war room, a somber look half concealed under his cap.

Layla looked down at her hands where the midnight visor of her helmet reflected a slightly distorted version of her own green, tired eyes. The last mission on Aleria had been a rough 19 days and it ended merely 53 hours ago. If there weren't that many lives on the line, she would have pushed for the mission to be transferred to another team, or taken care of by two platoons. Granted, it very probably would have been in vain, but at least she would have tried to have her team fully rested and maybe enjoy another hot shower and a full meal that wasn’t an MRE.

"Damn Covies," James growled in the otherwise silent war room.

"They'll regret it soon enough." Daniel joined the blond‘s side to grab his shoulder. James’ birth planet, Draco-III, underwent a very similar treatment where its population nearly got entirely wiped out right before being partially glassed, sending him to the orphanage that the United Nation Space Command visited in search of new recruits for the SPARTAN-III initiative.

"That’s not the problem.” The Warrior-class spartan blinked his memories away to grab his helmet in his teammate’s hands and pull it on.

No. The problem was that the Covenants would find another human colony and reduce them to nothing in under a day. The only way to solve the problem was to put an end to this war, either by killing them all or die trying.

In all reality though, the truth was that the human race would never cease to live in war. It was written in their DNA, so far that no one could really find it, but it was there, like the unreadable small caps of a contract. Humanity would always find conflict even where there isn't any. It has always been and will always be. Human wars on Earth before the colonization of the galaxy was a good example of it. The Insurrectionists were a good example of it and so were the Spartans.

“We’ll get there.” Daniel shook his shoulder twice, just enough to rile James up and force Mirah to intervene.

Sighing in amusement as the fire of a friendly battle was ignited, Layla pushed herself off the wall to get to the entrance. “Come on,” she shot over her shoulder. “We got people to save and aliens to kill.”

"Fucking finally!" Aedan jumped in tow, fists pumping in the air.

_____________

The human eye can distinguish about a million different colors. Yet, at that very moment, all Captain Regan could see was the color red. It was everywhere.

It was smeared across the white walls of the Scientific Institute, splattered along the bio-based tiles of the floor, staining the clothes, skin and hair of the fallen civilians who tried to run away from the multiple Kig-Yars that burst through an emergency exit farther up the hallway. It flowed from the broken bodies of her comrades, the deep crimson contrasting against their steel armors. It was flashing right into her eyes, the HUD of her helmet warning her of the lack of energy shield protecting her armor. Way too many scarlet dots were scattered across Layla’s radar, their numbers way above her ammunition counter.

13 bullets. 0 grenades.

The Spartan blinked the sweat away from her eyes and adjusted her grip on her weapon. With a last deep breath and a glimpse at the radar, the Captain jumped from behind the pillar and ran for the nearest corridor. Three sharp pulls on the trigger sent three Kig-Yars to the ground, tainting this world of red with blue blotches.

She ran down the corridor towards the evacuation point, her feet hitting the floor quicker than her own heart beating her ribcage. She was used to the war. Used to the blood that made her slip from time to time but never managed to send her to the ground. She was used to the killing, either alien or human. The sound of bullets and plasma bolts was now as natural as the soft clatter of rain on a window and if she was honest, nearly as soothing.

It meant she was still alive. That she was ready to fight another day.

What she wasn’t used to, however, was the missing set of footsteps that usually followed behind her. Her teeth clashed together as she once again repressed a scream.

The hangar came into view as she rounded the corner. Her group of survivors, the very last group of people that survived the Covenant assault merely 14 hours ago had perished, making this operation a total failure. Everyone had died. The objectives along with the rest of the Delta Company. Soon, she knew as she watched the hangar swarming with Sangheili of different ranks and their groups of Unggoys, she'd join them.

But not without a fight.

"Don't be a pessimist now. I can see your thoughts on your face." Kai chided from inside her helmet, his small form appearing in the corner of her HUD. "Three snipers on the far right. One Zealot by the Pelican, 2 Elites and 18 Unggoys scattered around. I could access the remote controls of the Pelican and have it ready to go in 42 seconds."

True to her AI's words, Layla could see a quite large Sangheili ordering his troops around, the energy sword in its hand shining softly under the neon lights.

"I guess it's worth a shot. Start the process as soon as they notice me." 10 bullets. Maybe she could do it. Behind her the remaining Kig-Yars were nearly onto her position, their lizard-like sounds giving away their progress.

"Alright. Let's do this shit."

With a push of a button on the inside of her right glove, Layla's armor blended with her environment, making her nearly invisible to the eyes of the unsuspecting aliens.

To avoid detection she needed to move slowly, or else even an Unggoy would be able to distinguish her form beneath the Active Camouflage. The 30 seconds span that her armor enhancement provided her wasn't nearly enough for her to reach the ship and clearly not enough for Kai to boot up the ship. There was no other way out of this than with a fight and she would gladly give her best.

The nearest trio of Unggoys didn’t have time to react. One fell under a swift stab in the neck, another received the knife right in the middle of its chest while the last one fell with one bullet between the eyes. Now fully visible to any of the angry aliens roaming the hangar, the soldier quickly grabbed her knife as a countdown appeared in the corner of her visor and dodged the first plasma bolts flying her way.

Without losing any time, the Layla returned fire, shooting down 2 adventurous Unngoys and one of the Elites that dared charge at her. Right before she jumped behind a nearby crate, her eyes caught sight of a couple of plasma grenades rolling away from their previous wielder. She used the remaining 3 rounds of her DMR to kill the Kig-Yars that attempted to shoot her in the back and jumped for the grenades.

A plasma blast burned the paint of her shoulder pads. The heat radiating from the hot piece of armor wasn’t enough to take her attention away from the aggressively advancing Zealot.

Trading her empty weapon for the dead Elite’s carbine, Layla opened fire on the heavy opponent. It dodged some bullets but took the majority of it in favor of gaining some ground. With practice calmness, the Spartan waited until her deadly enemy was close enough to be able to swing its energy sword at her, dodge the blade with the agility offered by her Scout armor, and stuck a plasma grenade to the alien. Another crate protected her from the blast and soon, blue blood flew in multiple directions, some of it obscuring her visor that she wiped off almost immediately.

The Zealot wasn’t fully fallen to the ground that Layla jumped for its energy blade and progressed under enemy fire towards the UNSC ship.

11 seconds remaining and green pixels danced at the edges of her HUD, informing her that her AI was under huge stress.

"Kai?"

"Sorry." Slight panic made his voice slightly higher-pitched than usual. "I-I-"

"It's okay." He didn't have to say what happened for her to know. It wasn't the first time Kai miscalculated something due to his defectiveness and in the event that she indeed survived this operation, it wouldn't be the last. Many had tried to change her AI, even Kai himself had tried to convince her to accept a new partner, but she didn't want anyone else. All she wanted was her small blue-green buddy with all the imperfections he came with. "How long now?"

"14 seconds."

“Okay. Tell me at 3.”

The activating Pelican had caught the attention of several Unggoys who made their way to the ramp and attempted to walk aboard. Unfortunately for them, they were in plain sight and at a perfect angle for her to take them down. Five of them rolled down the ramp and Layla took a step out of her cover to get closer to her evac, grenade in hand to throw at the grumbling aliens.

A sudden hit to the back of her head sent her to the ground, out of breath and dizzy. Pain flashed behind her eyes as a strong hand gripped her forearm and rolled her over. This Elite didn’t waste time with a dominating roar or some intimidating fancy movement. It went straight to the goal, the blade already moving towards her guts.

An explosion at their feet sent the Elite flying off her and sent her HUD in a flashing frenzy. Get up now. Finish the Elite and get out of here. Her energy shield was still struggling to regenerate itself when a clunking sound resonated next to her ear. A cube. No. A grenade. A new type of grenade. Less than a foot away from her face.

She didn’t have time to move, nor did she hear the scream of her distressed AI filling her helmet. Blue sparks escaped the grenade, which would have worried her to no end if only it wasn't that a grenade was going to explode right in her fac- it went off in an orange hue, engulfing her in its blast.

Deep blackness surrounded her. It was dark and curiously warm. I’m dead, she noted. Uh. I didn't think my armor would follow me in whatever afterlife I'm in. The familiar pressure it kept around her was reassuring, but did she really need it here?

"-k- up!" A voice in her helmet faded in and out, altered by some interference. Instinctively, Layla reached for the back of her head where she pulled a small cartridge from a slot in her helmet. She pulled her helmet off when she still couldn't see her hands but clearly heard the electronic sound of her AI showing himself.

As it turned out, it wasn't dark. Static had messed with her helmet and disrupted her HUD, plunging her in total darkness. A light slap on the side had her visor fixed and back online.

Kai's curly hair moved each time he frantically turned his head to look around, even dropping his holographic helmet when both his hands shot up to grab at his strands.

"Kai. What's wrong?"

"Don-Don't you see it? We're not in the Scientific Institute anymore! O-or even Bounty!"

Now that he mentioned it, the light and ambient temperature were quite different, way harsher and hotter than the average evening on Bounty. To add to it, the strong, metallic smell of blood was nonexistent, replaced by a sweet dusty aroma. "I'm dead, right? That's why we're not on Bounty." Must be a weird heaven or something.

She was sitting in the middle of what looked to be a street of dirt and sand, rubbish and rocks littered its surface, many small homes populated its length, devoid of any daily activities or any civilian for that matter. Upon closer look, the Spartan noticed that despite looking like an under-developed colony home, every door had a weird panel next to it, like a new sort of intelligent doorbell or something.

Banners harboring foreign symbols floated above her head, hanging loosely in a manner that reminded her of that one time General Sloan granted her team 3 days of shore leave and Mirah had taken them to a nearby festival.

What a weird place to be. Not paradise-like at all, totally deserted, it wasn't even a place she'd been before and to top it all, she was in armor under the harsh sun. Whoever is up there hates soldiers.

"You're not dead. Your vitals are still normal and I'm still here." He brushed off, still moving his hands around to generate some protocols and run different tests. Her name and number appeared above his head with a steady EKG and a short summary of her general condition which was more than ideal for someone who should be scattered around a room in hundreds of pieces.

A shiver ran down her spine. How was that possible? "How am I not dead? I received a grenade in the face! And where the hell are we?"

If this was a real village, where was everyone?

“I don’t know yet. I’m working on that.” Staying seated in the middle of an unknown street like a duck waiting to be shot down was unthinkable, she had to move, preferably take cover on higher ground where she could do a quick recon of the mysterious place get a better idea of where she was, and estimate what degree of danger she was currently in. There was a possibility that this planet was under the Covenant’s control and she could be overthrown fairly quickly.

Putting her helmet back on and Kai back in his slot, Layla walked around with her carbine at the ready and the sleeping energy sword stuck at her side. A cube with sparky corners laid on the ground amongst some rocks. Its soft orange glow immediately reminded her of the grenade that exploded in her face and upon closer inspection, she could tell that it was the very same explosive.

She stored it in her belt to inspect it further later before making her way to a nearby house and climbed onto the roof. Not nearly high enough, the Spartan scaled the rock wall, using the small cracks here and there to pull herself up. She was halfway up the highest part of the ravine when Kai gasped loudly and green pixels invaded her line of sight.

"Wai-wai-wai-wai-wai-wai-wait." He appeared on her screen, hands up and staring at nothing, effectively halting her in her movements. His eyes widened at the same speed Layla's confusion grew. "That's not the Milky Way galaxy!"

Wh- Impossible.

"Kai-"

"No, I swear it's not a mistake! I ran the numbers 4 times! And checked the scans and maps and everything 5 times! Nothing is as it should be. The frequencies are all wrong and I can't find anything human, covenant or even forerunner!"

That new information was enough to steal her breath away. The remaining meter and a half now seemed endless and way too much to take on at the moment. Kai’s words registered perfectly in her brain, but she couldn’t make sense of them. How was that possible? She dropped down onto a flat platform in the rock and pushed herself in the shadow to allow herself and her AI some time to think about all this nonsense and what they would do.

"That grenade you picked up radiated a weird energy that I've never seen or felt or analyzed before and after it detonated, we got here."

She took the cube out and looked it over. "So it’s a teleporter?"

It did look like some other forerunner technologies. It wouldn't be a bad guess to say it was a space-traveling device as those bastards created mass-genocide-super-weapons able to clean an entire galaxy of every last sentient being. Those guys were powerful and in their vast knowledge and who knew what else they did with their advanced technology.

"That's the only conclusion that I can find."

Damn it. Why can't I have some of John-177's luck?

"Great. Can you take us back with it?"

Kai's holographic form materialized near the cube to touch it lightly. "The signal that it emitted before is gone now. It seems broken."

"So you're telling me that a teleportation cube sent us in another galaxy and we are stuck here?"

He nodded solemnly. "It is technically an icosahedron, not a cube, but yes. That's a good summary of the situation."

She let the correction slip to focus on a yellow dot moving slowly within her radar. "Just what we needed."

"Hey. At least the atmosphere is breathable." Kai pointed out. "I would suggest keeping it close until I can analyze it further. If we're lucky, maybe this galaxy is not in its stone age phase and I'll be able to access this thing and reboot it."

"All right. The good thing is, I don't think they're in stone age." She trailed off. "The bad thing is, do you think those are hostile?" The small AI returned to his place in the programming of her helmet and took in the three yellow robots the size of a man talking in an unknown dialect amongst themselves.

"They do have… things that look like weapons. Besides, how can a robot be dangerous?"

That was the real question. But then this galaxy was entirely new to both of them and basically, everything could be a threat. It feels like boot camp all over again. Dumped in a weird place where she could only count on herself. This time though, she had a priceless ally with her.

Daniel would have loved those robots. Her heart squeezed at the thought just as her eyes started prickling. She blinked quickly to keep herself from crying, now wasn't the time or the place to do so. The ache in her chest remained, strong enough to constrict her windpipe but not to the point where she couldn't function.

The robots marched into the street, checking every door with their weapons drawn. She followed them from a couple of meters behind, eager to know what was going on in this universe and what those robots were after. Her answer came in the form of a curious-looking alien that caught the attention of the machines.

Layla frowned as she took in the appearance of the alien, its green skin and two appendages hanging from their head were unlike anything she saw before. Right. Not my galaxy. The alien seemed young if its size had anything to go by. It could be a small species like the Unggoys, with high-pitched voices to match younglings. The doors are too tall for a small species though.

Was their species part of the Covenant? Did the Covenant Alliance even exist here? And humanity?

The piercing, terrified screams confirmed that this was a kid in distress, crawling backward on its ass as three weapons aimed at them.

Muscle memory moved her arms before she could even decide if she blew her cover or not, helped an alien or not. It was over even before the kid could fill up their lungs and scream again. The three robots fell to the ground with holes in their heads, one of them crushing the child under its weight. In a second, Layla had jumped down the roof she kneeled on to remove the dead weight from the small being and check them for injuries.

They recoiled from her, fear written all over their face. Slowly, the Spartan took her helmet away to show her face and it was immediate. The kid visibly relaxed, the water in their eyes falling once but not twice. Alright. She knows humans and they seem to be on the same side.

"I'll go ahead and mark the robots' signatures as enemies. We may not know who are the good guys and who are the bad ones here, but those clearly looked hostile. Who shoots a kid?" Kai grumbled when she put her helmet back on and the latches closed.

"We're not here to take sides." She reminded him. Who was good and who was bad didn't matter. Who shot at her mattered.

Words she couldn't comprehend flew from the kid’s mouth, adding to her frustration at being thrown in another galaxy. If the kid could talk that much, then it must mean that they were fine. Ready to return under some sort of cover, Layla got to her feet and started walking away. A huff escaped her lips when a small weight firmly latched onto her right leg, not letting go even when she ignored it to continue walking.

She stopped once again to look around at the deserted settlement and sighed. Maybe she was too used to fighting battles, but this now looked awfully close to a raided village. The kid looked up at her and the fear dancing in her brown hues was the most universal language that she couldn't ignore.

"I gotta help you now, eh? Find your parents." She asked the kid, knowing full well that the language barrier prevented them from communicating effectively.

"Maybe the villagers could help us with our teleportation problem if we help them first." Kai chimed in.

"Worth a shot." There wasn't any blood around or body for that matter. The locals must have been gathered somewhere near or taken away. Either way, the raid was recent. The kid didn't look that bad and didn't look dehydrated or dying of hunger. If they were near, then she could see what she could do for them, but if they were on a ship or on the other side of the planet, the task would be more difficult, maybe impossible.

Lightly pushing the kid off her armor, Layla kneeled with her back facing them and tapped her shoulder in hope that they would understand. Hands moved to grip her shoulders and the child climbed onto her back. It sure wasn't comfortable for the kid, but it was safer than having them in her arms or clinging to her front.

Layla returned to the roofs and walked in a direction, now alert to any signs of the robots' friends. Where would you gather hostages? The kid pointed to her right where the road split in two directions. They wiggled and nearly fell, the only thing keeping them on her back was her hand gripping theirs.

"That way?" She pointed at the same road once they had stopped moving. The kid nodded rapidly and off they went in that direction.

An explosion resonated before them, shaking the windows nearby. Layla jumped through an open door, grabbed the kid off her shoulders and ushered them in a corner while she checked their surroundings. Other than the dust slowly falling from the sky, the street was empty.

"It was less than a klick away. I'd say a cannon, but it could be anything here."

"Thanks." Turning from the door, Layla showed her palm to the alien child hoping that they'd get the message once more. "Stay here." They advanced to meet her and she shook her head. "No. Go back there," She calmly said, pointing back at the corner. "And stay here. I'll be back."

The child seemed to understand this time and carefully, Layla stepped outside to investigate the explosion. She could hear war cries even before her radar captured their presence. No gunshots, no cannons, only war cries. Yellow and blue dots covered her HUD and she knew why the kid trusted her at the sight of her face. Humans were here and they were already helping the aliens. No red dots remained on what she thought was the battlefield.

She was pondering whether or not to approach the humans when a yellow dot entered the range of her captors and cautiously walked up to her from behind. With a small smile concealed beneath her helmet, Layla turned to greet the hidden child with a wave, inviting them over. They ran the rest of the way over to her and clung once again to her leg.

"Well, seems like the fight is already over. Wanna go find your family?" She asked, picking her up in her arms, the carbine now magnetically latched onto her back. Entering the scene without a weapon in hand but a small living being would hopefully not attract their weapons. Although if it does happen, she will turn around to cover the kid. They weren't a bullets-shield. Merely a hate-shield.

The first soldiers in armor came into view at the border of the plaza. They either helped civilians, surely checking them for injuries or they made sure all the robots were out of commission.

Layla stayed at the border of the plaza, not quite daring to walk up to them like they knew who she was and get shot down. She waited until someone spotted her, and the someone happened to be the parent of the kid who started fussing and calling something.

The adult came running, prompting the Spartan to put the child on the ground for them to meet their family. Layla promptly looked away from the heartwarming hug in order to shut the voice in her head whispering that this was her very first success of the day. That kid was the only being she managed to save.

For a second, the Captain found herself back at the Institute, back when Daniel fell under the shot of a sniper to the throat, when Mirah's chest plate partially exploded under the heavy fire of needlers, exposing organs that should never see the light. She watched again as the energy sword ran through James' flesh and as Aedan used his body to shield scared civilians from the bolt of a Hunter's assault cannon.

"Calm down." Kai softly coaxed, her 124 bpm flashing angrily in her visor. "They're coming."

The soldiers in white and gold armor had closed the distance and were now forming a messy half-circle between her and the aliens, weapons not openly drawn at her, but ready to be of use at the first misstep. Deep breaths filled her lungs to slow her frenetic heartbeat and get a better hold of herself. She kept her hands relaxed to her side as a man with less armor and cream robes approached her.

He overall looked kind, with his soft blue eyes, the short beard and confident posture. He stopped a good meter before her and opened the conversation. It sounded different than the kid's babbling although was just as foreign. All she knew was that it ended with a question. The inquisitive look and tone could not be mistaken.

At a loss of what to do and how to respond, Layla slowly lifted her hands, palms facing outwards, to remove her helmet and show her face, slowly shaking her head once the man took in her features. "I don't understand you."

The man frowned slightly. He didn't understand her either. A hand lifted to his beard in thought and he pointed at her armor. No. At the blood covering her armor. He added another question that she easily guessed. Where does it come from?

The blood of my comrades. Her heart squeezed again. If only I had di- "Layla." Cut Kai. "I'll take over."

Kai's small holographic form appeared by her shoulder and innocently waved at the brown-haired man who did the smallest of jump. He then proceeded to show video footage from Layla's helmet point of view of the Covenants fighting against the Delta Company and the 14th marine platoon in a conference room, he showed Mirah's armor breaking under the secondary explosion of the needler crystals and how Layla tried to stop the bleeding in vain, covering herself in blood by doing so. He fast-forwarded to the scene where her group of civilians got ambushed and the majority of them died despite her best efforts. The scenes blurred again and stopped on the teleportation grenade being thrown at her, it detonated and suddenly the scenery wasn't the same.

Showing confidential footage was their best shot, although not ideal, to offer some understanding of who she was and how she got into the current situation. Command would never know anyway.

The bearded man kept thinking for a moment longer, alternating between eyeing Kai and his wielder, until he nodded. He communicated orders to his soldiers who stood down and walked around to help the aliens. One of the soldiers remained close to the man in control, nodding to the orders he was receiving.

A sudden movement towards her caught her attention, every muscle in her body at the ready to answer to any threat. The same kid from earlier came back running, hands in the air to wrap tightly around her armored leg once again. After throwing a subtle glance to the soldiers to confirm that they would not use the kid as a distraction to attack her, Layla crouched to meet the kid's height and carefully patted their head between the appendages. They smiled and jumped for her neck, surprising the Spartan momentarily.

The only physical contact she was used to was from her fellow comrades who usually kept it at pats on the shoulder, shoulder bumps or high-fives. This was new and way too fragile to her liking. Carefully, she pried the child away from her neck and offered her open palm in exchange. Happy with the trade, the kid hit its own palm with hers and beamed, their attention quickly turning from the soldier to Kai who waved at them.

Layla straightened herself at the sound of footsteps, her attention abandoning the squealing child and her confetti-creating-AI to concentrate on the two men. The armored soldier had removed his helmet to show his scarred, human face.

Despite the black-haired soldier looking more strict than his brown-haired counterpart, it clearly was the calmer one who was in charge. He offered the Spartan a hand to shake, an opportunity at having an ally in this unknown universe.

She pondered for a second if she could return to her own galaxy by herself, but brushed it off as foolish and totally impossible. She'd need intelligence and technology, food and shelter as well as a means to communicate with the people of this world. Learning their language would take some time and she had no knowledge of how anything worked here. Having a guide, an ally, would come in handy.

She made sure to not crush the bones of the man when shaking hands. A warmth filled her body, traveling not through her nerves, but through herself, calming and reassuring that it will be okay, you can trust them. The mere 2 seconds of physical contact left her troubled.

She passed the whole ship ride questioning her life choices and ignoring the not-subtle glances of the armored soldiers that, she realized with a shiver, all had the damn face. That kept her attention until she was guided into a room full of people sitting in a circle. The fact that a majority of the people in the room were not human passed unnoticed thanks to the weird atmosphere of the room. It was strange enough for Kai to put his helmet on despite him not being visible and all the hair on her arms rose beneath her undersuit. What the hell did you throw yourself in?

They talked amongst themselves and Kai was the most attentive out of the two. Layla looked around as subtly as possible for exit routes and weaknesses, while Kai put effort into decoding the words and learning their significations.

The missing weight of the carbine on her back was nerve-wracking. She had accepted to surrender her apparent weapon to the soldier named Cody. The energy sword remained attached to her side, surely mistaken for a piece of armor.

The smallest alien of the group walked his way to her. The powerful aura she perceived coming from the green-skinned alien was a stark contrast to his frail appearance. He nodded his head once in what she thought was acknowledgment so she mimicked the gesture. Silence fell onto the room. The atmosphere shifted, passing from confusing to a most comfortable one. She felt a sympathy that wasn't hers, a warmth that she perceived as a welcome and maybe even a peace offering.

She gulped, accepting that this world had some new oddities that would need some getting used to, that she wasn't going mad from the space travel or from losing everything. All she hoped was that she was with the right people.

Looking back at that moment, one year later, Layla chuckled, catching Fives' attention from the bunk above.

In a year, she'd learned the most common dialect of this galaxy, had learned the general history of its population and had familiarized herself with everything military-related. She soon passed a deal with the Jedis in which she helped them with their battles and they helped her find a way back home. Their best scientists were analyzing the teleportation cube and the covenant carbine and gave her updates on their progress. Needless to say, they hadn't made much progress from when they received the cube a year ago, but Layla still had hope, hope that was wearing thinner and thinner with each passing month.

"So today's the day you meet your new team?" Fives inquired, ducking his head upside-down to look at her.

She nodded, the back of her helmet hitting the wall twice from where she sat on the bed, back pressed against the wall.

The thing was that she tried to keep her distance from the clones. Made efforts to not become their friends or care too much for them. It was easier with some than with others, like Fives, who reminded her of Daniel. She tried to protect herself from losing everything again. Her heart could only endure so much. She knew the clones were bred solely to fight and thus were excellent fighters, but so were her fallen comrades. They were optimized for combat, physically enhanced and armed with better armor than the clones and yet, they died. The ones she had trusted the most to survive the war fell.

So she made a choice to remain detached from the blue soldiers who learned to call her their own. She liked to listen to their stories but rarely contributed. Most of them only ever heard her say small words like "yes, sir" or "this plan has many flaws, sir".

Hell, she even rarely removed her gear around them, keeping it on nearly all the time. She slept seated like she used to on the battlefield back in her world, every piece of armor firmly latched onto herself, ready to jump into a fight at the first sign of ambush. The armor also hid her face perfectly, which came in handy whenever the nightmares decided to play with her mind. There were times when she removed her helmet or whole armor, for instance, to eat, shower, relieve her bladder, or cut her hair, but never for anything else that wasn't necessary. It worried Kai for a while, but there was nothing he could do.

"We'll miss your guts on the battlefield. Although I can't speak for the General." He snickered.

The problem she quickly encountered was General Skywalker's strange ability to create crazy plans and his habit of wanting to control every single movement she made. She knew what to do and where to go to not interfere with the boys in blue and add to their firepower and efficiency. Sometimes, the General approved. Most of the time, he hated it. She'd often have to remind him that she was loyal to the UNSC and his authority on her was fairly limited, which more often than not led to an argument that danced around the fact that the UNSC wasn't in this galaxy and that she should obey the officers in command.

These arguments helped to keep her from bounding with the clones, reminding her that she wasn't one of them; she had to give him that. It had escalated to the point where the sight of his face produced a tingling sensation in her fists, so she thought it adequate to talk about the situation to General Kenobi and request a transfer.

She thought he would take her in or send her to General Plo Koon who didn't work as much with the annoying General and seemed very pleasant to work with. What she didn't think was that he'd send her to an elite squad who apparently could match her skills and be overall a better fit.

Fives' smirk was too painful to look at. Her eyes moved down to find the comlink stuck to her forearm, the corner of her lips lifting the tiniest bit upward. "You boys better keep him on his toes for me."

"Not sure we can do half of what you managed, but I'm sure we can find one thing or two." Fives beamed at the sound of her chuckle escaping her helmet. His quota of the month was done. "Too bad we never managed to take you to 79's. You deserve the time off."

She sighed, this time looking at the UNSC logo on her chest. A part of the paint had been scratched off thanks to a commando droid who thought it could punch her to the ground, she would have to do a small paint job soon. Hopefully, she could have access to some orchid or purple paint too so her trims would not fade too much.

Just as she was about to answer, her comlink went off, beeping and flashing softly.

"Your team is here." Cody's voice came through the communicator after she opened the line. "Meet us at the hangar."

"Yes, sir." Fives jumped down as she stood up, their height difference as clear as ever. He, along with some of his brothers wished you well, some even gave you pats on the arm like they got a liking to, their missing 9 inches made it too awkward to go for the shoulder.

With a small military bag in hand, an A-280 blaster rifle on her back and the energy sword at her hip, Layla made her way to the entrance of the barracks where stood Rex who followed her out and walked silently alongside her until they reached the hangar. He grabbed her wrist when she didn't stop walking.

"I hope you won't hold back with them too." She turned to the Captain, head tilted to the side to show her confusion. "I'm not blind. I can't understand what it's like to be removed from your galaxy to be thrown into another, but I'm sure it would be less painful to let people in. Everyone needs to talk, soldier, and trust my words, it'll be better if you do. You can count on your team. And I hope you'll trust them enough to be happy while you're here."

That's the problem, Captain. I won't be happy if I do.

Even though she did not agree with his words, she nodded, if only to appease his worry. She caught early on that the man was too caring for his job. Too caring for his fellow soldiers, too caring for who had to be saved, too caring of everything. Like herself before operation: LEVIATHAN. It would hurt him sooner or later, just as it hurt her. For the time being though, she would appease his worries, give him hope that she'd give it a go and try to open herself again. Be vulnerable.

"Thank you, Captain Rex. Take care." Was all she added with genuine honesty. Thank you. Not for the advice, but for being pleasant to her from the very beginning, unlike hundreds of his brothers.

She turned around too quickly, missing the change of his surprised expression into a pleased one.

Cody stood next to a black armored clone, their backs facing her. It was the first time she saw an armor that wasn't primarily white. She had to admit, it looked awesome with the red highlights.

Her footsteps were enough to catch the new clone's attention, who turned to take her in. She was used to the surprise, either caused by her unusual armor or her intimidating height, not that her height should matter a lot around here if the big guy with the matching black armor was part of her new team.

“Layla, this is Sergeant Hunter. You’ll work under his command until further notice.” He gestured to the dark clone. “Sergeant, this is Layla. I’m sure you’ll take a liking to her style fairly quickly.”

“We’ll see about that soon enough.” He removed his helmet and offered his hand, an appreciative look in his eyes. It was new, the total opposite of what she used to get. Not that she complained.

"The tattoo is a bit scary." Kai's whisper won a breathy chuckle out of her.

She reached for the outstretched hand to start on a good note when loud footsteps echoed around the hangar, closing in on her position.

"You a defect too?" Defec-? The powerful fist matched the voice and hit her shoulder with so much strength behind it that Layla had to take a step backward to stay on her feet. She stood there, totally unresponsive, too shocked by the force of the hit that reminded her of Daniel or Aedan messing around. No clones she had met so far matched this strength, leading her to doubt that he too was one of them. Even Hunter was nothing like the 501st battalion. Was that what he meant by defect?

It was also a small relief to finally meet clones that were closer to be around her height. The muscular guy was shorter by only 3 inches while she was in armor, meaning that she was just barely taller than him without it. It gave her a sense of familiarity she hadn’t felt in a while.

"She's not. She's a hired freelancer." Oh yes. The made-up story to refrain from telling the entire galaxy that she was an outsider. It was quite a nice story. There was more background info that no one knew about since she never talked to anyone about herself, or her fake self. The only ones who did talk about it were the Jedis, Cody and Rex.

"A freelancer?" The big guy repeated, confusion all over his scarred features.

"Since when do we put mercenaries in clone squads?" A clone crept his way to the bigger guy’s side. Even without the sneer stretching his lips, Layla knew this one was going to be a thorn in her side. A single look was necessary. Not only because of his rat face, but his whole body language was on the offensive.

She noted that this guy dared talk back to a superior, reminds me of a certain orange fellow Scout who could never shut up. She thought for a moment. Gates was hotter though.

“Since she’s an asset we can’t afford to let go.” Cody shot him an unimpressed glance that should have been enough to end the conversation there. Obviously, it wasn't going to work for that guy.

“More like you can’t get rid of her so you’re pushing her to us.” He eyed her up and down like she was a pile of dirt. Now that's more like what I know. Sounds like an ODST too.

"I take back what I said. That guy is the scary one. Can't we go back to the 501st?" Kai looked at her from the corner of her visor, uncertain, face hidden under his helmet. She shook her head, a small, sympathetic smile on her lips. Don't worry. I'll protect you.

"Crosshair." The warning in the Sergeant's tone was enough this time.

“Look. I know your team doesn’t like new members much, I still remember last year’s officer, but trust me. You’ll appreciate having her around.” Cody nodded once, offered her a last pat on the arm and walked away, completely leaving her to deal with the rest.

The Sergeant approached her to offer his hand again, which she finally managed to shake. "I apologize for my brother. We are not used to new people joining the team." He shot a new glare to the grey-haired soldier as a brown-haired guy with glasses joined the group. "This is Tech," He pointed at the newcomer way too engrossed in his datapad to look at her, "Wrecker," The bald clone waved with a laugh, "And Crosshair." Kai disappeared from her HUD under the intensity of the glare.

Layla looked at them, really looked at them, their postures, their expressions, took in what she perceived of their personalities, resulting in the tiniest layer of water to sting her eyes. Blinking the mist away, she forced herself back in the present where everything mattered.

"Nice to meet you all." She allowed the words to escape her. Something, instinct perhaps, told her that staying silent would be detrimental for her, that this team was special.

Maybe Rex was right.

And her heart was going to pay for it.

#the bad batch #clone force 99 #halo #Clone Wars #star wars #crossover #spartan oc #sergeant hunter #tech #wrecker #crosshair #rvb #AI oc

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