Halo: Endurance

March 26, 2517

Tychos Terminal 

3 Light-years outside of the Portland System

*Cough-Cough*

In one of the numerous elevators of Tychos Terminal stood a man who appeared to be uncommonly anxious. He stood at a particularly tall height of 6 feet 4 and a half inches (194.3 Centimeters) and was clothed in dark-colored business attire, making him feel particularly out of sorts. His hair was black, and his face showed his young age of 22 years, complemented by his robust build from years of being in the military.

*ahem*

Clearing his throat, the man, a young Jacob Keyes, pulled the tight neck of the white collared shirt he wore to provide relief from its discomfort, 'Why the hell am I here?' he complained internally.

All he'd been told was that he was being assigned as an escort for a high-level VIP for a couple of months. That and the meeting location with its accompanying time, as well as the directive to not wear any military garb, instead something found in a business setting.

'Not that I am complaining, but could the Admiral have given me a bit more information?' Jacob understood from the suddenness and the lack of a detailed briefing that this escort mission was classified. Otherwise, he would probably not be the only one assigned to this mission.

As the man thought, he couldn't help but glance out the viewport of the elevator at the vast darkness beside him. From the descending room, he could see the large Space station he was traveling down illuminated brightly by the star in the system. In orbit beside the station was one of the many moons that orbited a particularly large gas giant. For most others, the sight was breathtaking, a true testament to humanity's progress, but to any officer in the UNSC Navy, it was more of the same.

"Bottom Floor: Primary Docking Bay," a robotic female voice chimed before the doors of the elevator opened, revealing a vast chamber reminiscent of aquatic ship docks. 

The room was colossal in size, easily being close to, if not over a thousand feet in width, somewhere over 100 feet tall, and maybe double that long. Yet, it had no solid outer walls on the sides, appearing to ships docking as a two-dimensional rectangle, though it did have a ceiling and floor made out of strong metal alloys. However, the floor, unlike the ceiling, was cut to form a mold around the various docking sites.

Two rows of 4 spots were designated as docking bays for a few different classifications of ships. Each slot was effectively a cradle of steel capable of properly securing the ship to it for landing, and above these cradles were an array of crane claws for moving heavy cargo and attaching crates/containers to other magnetic claws that ran along tracks to a staging area. 

Between each slot were comparably narrow walkways for passengers to disembark and travel to another holding area for those heading toward the surface of the planet. Each side had many small elevators leading to various other sections of the station, as well as being equipped with one large doorway. These massive doorways led to impressively long space tethers, also known as space elevators, that brought a vast assortment of things from the station to the surface and vice versa.

Typically, this chamber would be filled to the brim with people and unbearably noisy, as each person called out to members of their family to link up. Today, at this time, there were only three Egret-Class Spaceliners docked, and it appeared that two had already been mostly unloaded. 

Something that Jacob was incredibly thankful for.

Traveling along the platform, each step that the man took made a low, dull ring below his dress shoes. Each step was careful and measured, indicative of Keyes' true profession. He stood straight as an arrow, and if one looked closely would notice that his eyes bounced around, carefully analyzing each detail of his surroundings.

He reached the center of the chamber after a few minutes of walking and shifted the focus of his gaze on the passing people, "Where is she?" he couldn't help but mumble to himself, checking his watch on his wrist and making sure it was the right time.

"Darling!"

A female voice rang out behind Jacob, drawing his attention, but before he could turn to face the owner of the voice, he was immediately grabbed and dragged along in stride.

"Play along," glancing to his side, he recognized the woman who was clinging to his arm.

"Doc-Catherine, how have you been?" he caught himself before uttering her title and instead strained to call her in any kind of 'affectionate' way. 

Catherine Halsey repressed a smirk, 'Not bad,' she remarked, impressed by how quickly he caught on, "Crowded," she hinted, "But I am looking forward to touring the inner colonies."

"As am I….dear," the words came out uncomfortably. Jacob joined the Navy to be a captain of a ship, not to play around as some fake spy. Thankfully, they were able to make it to the elevator Jacob rode in on without any unexpected circumstances.

*Click*

The doors closed to the elevator, and Catherine immediately detached herself from Jacob, dropping the act instantly. She moved to stand across from him at the opposite side of the elevator. "I assume you are Lieutenant Jacob Keyes?" Catherine narrowed her eyes, studying him, the fake warmth in her eyes from earlier had disappeared.

With how quickly things were proceeding, Jacob felt as if he was having whiplash, "I-er-Yes," he struggled to get out, wanting to ask what felt like a thousand questions, " Doctor Catherine Halsey?" he asked double double-checking his p's and q's.

"In the flesh," she responded, no longer holding him under as much scrutiny as before, "You brought a ship. Where is it?" Her tone didn't indicate a question but rather a demand for an answer.

"It's in the Research section, port 9. The admiral sent me with a Vancouver-class Courier, the 'Han'," he said simply giving into the order of his trustee, "I kept it out of the way in case we ran into a snag," he elaborated before pausing, "Were you being followed down there?" he couldn't help but ask as his mind went to her security.

Halsey, upon hearing the location, began typing away on her wrist pad. What she was writing, Jacob didn't know and didn't intend to poke into, "Probably not, however due to the nature of the up coming mission, I deemed it necessary to test your capabilities in that regard. Though you could consider it practice if you like," she replied boredly finishing her work on her wrist before facing the man in front of her.

"Ok…" Jacob replied with a tone of uncertainty, 'Is this what the Admiral meant when he said she was a bit eccentric?' he thought, looking at her as if she might be an alien.

"We will be departing for the FLEETCOM Complex in Eposz on Reach. I need to grab a couple of things from my lab there, and after we can take on my task in full," she said shortly, giving the man the barest of details.

Jacob paused for a moment. It seemed the doctor wasn't fond of him or his involvement, something else Stanforth had warned him of. Despite this, Keyes still chose to speak, "Doctor, with all due respect in order to effectively do my job of keeping you safe, I need to know more," he said, grabbing Halsey's attention.

Seeing that she was listening, the young Lieutenant took it as a sign to continue, "If you'd tell me where we are going, then I could plan out the safest ways to-"

"Lieutenant, do you know why you were selected for this task?" Halsey suddenly interrupted, "Why would someone fresh out of the academy suddenly have their orders rescinded and abruptly told to guard this person?" she asked, highlighting some of the questions that had plagued the man's mind.

"You were chosen for one simple reason: You can keep a secret," she said matter-of-factly. "If ONI wanted someone capable, then they would have picked someone capable, but they did not. Now, let me remind you, Lieutenant, you have been given two orders: To protect me, and to stay out of my way," she reprimanded her tone icy

"If you fail to be capable of those two tasks. Then ONI will find a replacement,"

"8th Floor: Research Reception." As Catherine finished speaking her piece, the elevator voice spoke again and the doors to their departure were opened, "Lead the way," the doctor spoke now back to the same even tone she typically held.

Jacob sighed, 'So much for first impressions,' he thought with a wry smile, heading out into the reception area toward 

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Another Chapter down.

I am probably going to make a auxiliary chapter to upload images (seeing as I usually upload chapters when I am away from my computer).

Also if we can break into the top 200 then double chapter Wednesday.