"Alright maggots! Hurry up, hurry up, stop screwing off and get our asses over here. This is the Space Core not a damned dog show. You there, yes you right there, stop staring gaped mouth at me like a beached fish, and get over here."

The young recruits hurried across the tarmac at Fort Landing.The massive interspace launch field was a good five mile square of landing pads and supply chains surrounding massive interstellar battleships resupplying and rotating troops on and off. Boots thudded against concrete as troops of marines and army grunts walked past in their differing shades of camouflage.

The young group of soldiers hurried up to the officer nervously glancing around at the ships most of them had never been aboard a ship before, and some of them had never even been out of the region much less into space.

A couple of nervous recruits stepped to the front of the line two in flight suits and another group of young soldiers being transferred in to augment one of the fleet. They had been told they would be placed on one of the outgoing intergalactic units, but none of them had any idea WHICH one they wanted. Of course they had read through the suggestions given to them by other crew members aboard the different ships, and byar the Harbinger was the most recommended, but it was also the most competitive, sought after, and most people who joined didn't decide to leave any time soon, and so there weren't often many openings.

Now none of them were exactly sure why the Harbinger was so great, aside from being at the forefront of intergalactic travel, and run by Commander Vir of the UNSC who was a little more than legend and just slightly less than myth.

Otherwise it was also considered to be one of the most dangerous positions considering what they were doing out there. The crew was supposed to be interspecies with Delta units (also known as drev) on board.

There were rumors going around that the commander had managed to win himself the position of clan leader in a Drev contest of armed combat. Some said that he had defeated five armed Drev soldiers with his bare hands, though that thought was little more than conjecture and made anyone with a reasonable understanding of Drev just a bit skeptical.

Of course a few of them had been lucky enough to see an alien, though there were also some of them who hadn't"

"Recruits Kimber, Alvarez, Han and McCaster!" The group of four recruits hurried forward, two young pilots one army engineer and one marine.

The officer eyed them up and down and shook his head, "Where the hell are they finding you guys these days scraping you off the back of a wet rock." He flipped through the hologram on the flat of his hand, "Ah, here we go-" THey watched as his eyes widened a bit, and he stopped insulting them for long enough to look interested. He glanced up from his clipboard, "Well look at the four of you being all special. You've been requisitioned for the harbinger gonna go into deep space." They glanced at each other in surprise, shock and excitement, "Hear they have some pretty freaky ass aliens on that ship, one bastard who can float and read minds or some shit, anyway get on the lot of you. They docked at landing pad A1 because they get special treatment, now GET GOING!"

With a muttering of surprise, they hurried off heading down towards the troop transports.

One of the young pilots leaned forward as they drove down the tarmac wind whipping past them as the sound of engines shook the ground below.

"Do you guys believe everything they say?"

The engineer turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, "Everything about what?"

"Everything about the Commander? Everything about the Harbinger."

"You're gonna have to be more specific, there is a ton of shit they say."

The young pilot rolled his eyes, "Take your pick. That he ran a marathon on an A-1 death planet, that he's a telepath that can speak to aliens, that their doctor is an alien, that half the ship is drev, that he's mostly a cyborg, that they have alien pets, that he stopped an intergalactic war."

Someone waved him off, "Obviously false."

Another one of the recruits leaned in closer, "I heard the guy's a extrial."

"The fuck is an extrial."

"You know one of those people who screws aliens."

" fucking disgusting."

"Dude, you serious? leave them alone there is nothing wrong with that?"

"What ISN'T wrong with that?"

"Both parties agree besides I bet you screw your cousin so-"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP." They did as the marine turned around the glower at them, "Doesn't matter what they are or are not. We have to make a good impression. So shut up we're almost there."

The troop transport came to a stop, and the four of them stepped out onto the tarmac looking up at the ship. It was big, blocky and dark looked like a much older model than some of the others sitting on the launch field, but what it lacked in beauty, it held in reputation.

At the moment it was busy being stocked by the people on the ground, though they did notice a group of people lounging around on some of the crates outside.

Staring at the ship, they didn't see anything out of the ordinary, no aliens or anything... so far.

Awkwardly they walked towards the ship not sure where to go or what to do seeing as there were no officers to greet them. They were just heading past the crates and their lounging occupants when someone whistled.

"FRESH MEAT!" They were followed by heckling from the group sitting on the crates. They could have been marines or army grunts, but it was hard to tell. The group of them sat up both men and women.

One man in the middle slowly chewing n a piece of gum and wearing aviators making him look like he was trying to hard, "Hey, you four c'mere."

With nowhere else to go, they approached slowly.

The group moved from lounging to sitting atop their crates.

"What are you recruits here for."

They shuffled a little, "Two pilots a marine and an army engineer uh.... Sir?"

THe gum chewer grinned slowly nodding at one of the other guys, "Sir.... I like that makes me sound special." He leaned forward, "Well they won't have anything for you to do until they are done loading the ship with cargo, so come on sit down and let's take a look at you."

All together, they were rather nervous, but they still came up and sat on the crates with who they learned to be were a group of marines.

A younger, tan young man leaned over and held out a hand, "Ramirez." They shook the man's hand nervously glancing towards the gum chewer behind his dark sunglasses who was grinning knowingly at them."So two pilots, an engineer and a marine." He glanced up at the sky, "Well go on let's hear a little about you."

Most of them didn't really intend to say anything, but somehow Sunglasses managed to draw it out of them, had them talking until he had practically unraveled their life stories. It was almost disconcerting how the man could do that, and the group of them were rather nonplussed by the time the conversation began to die away not entirely sure how they had gotten here.

"So, is there anything you want to know about the ship, the people, the perks etc etc."

"Is it true that you have an entire Drev clan on the ship?"

Sunglasses grinned, "A good half of one at least maybe a dozen or so. An entire clan can be up to five hundred in one population, as many people as we have on the crew. So really I should restate and say that we only have a teth of a clan."

The group glanced between each other.

"What other aliens do you have on the ship?"

Sunglasses leaned back against the crate hands behind his head, "Oh well we have a few. There is Convict of course, he's a starborn, watch out for that asshole, he can read minds. Don't plan on having any sort of privacy. Than we have Krill, he's our surgeon, ask him and he will tell you he's the best in the galaxy maybe the universe. Then after that we have the spiderlings."

"The what?"

"Well technically their presence is classified, but you will find out. Type of alien can incorporate the DNA of other animals into their own offspring, some asshole got himself stuck with an alien egg sack and now we have alien hybrids on the ship."

"No shit.:"

"Yeah shit, not kidding with you. Watch out for the one named Glados, she's a real jerk sometimes, to everyone accept the Commander of course."

"Tell us about him."

There was a shifting among the marines as they looked between each other. Sunglasses glanced back at them grinning before, "That asshole, yeah don't get your hopes up, he's a tool at best and an idiot at worse. I mean the guy wears an eyepatch, like he thinks he's some sort of space pirate."

The marines slowly began to grin, "yeah he has some idiotic idea that the crew are his friends or some bullshit. We let him think that because it makes him easier to deal with."

"Uglier than sin too."

The group looked around at each other in confusion and concern not exactly sure why the crew was acting the way they were, "Are you guys serious, or just screwing with us."

Sunglasses didn't crack a smile, "Very serious.

Still skeptical, they looked around at each other, "I thought I heard he was a good pilot."

Sunglasses waved a hand, 'Never said he wasn't a good pilot, I said he was a tool who doesn't know how to take anything seriously/"

Another marine shrugged, "Yeah, I mean they promoted him super early on in his career, guy isn't even past his dumbass twenties faze yet."

"You make that sound like he will ever get past his dumbass twenties phase. I honestly think this is his last evolution."
More shifting form the nervous new cremembers but sunglasses stood, "Might as well show you newbies around the ship, let you get to know things before we take off." He pointed to the marines, don't do any dumbass shit while I am gone."

Moe dumb jokes followed as he left, and the young group hurried to catch up, "So uh.... You a marine then?" The young marine asked glancing downwards at his clothes that did nothing to hit at what his job aboard the ship was, "Not exactly."

The man answered.

"Than what do you do?"

"I'm their CO."

"So you are a marine?"

"I didn't say that." They followed him up the long ramp and into the belly of the ship where cargo crates were being stacked. Men and women in various stages of work hurried past them greeting sunglasses with a nod and a salute.

"So you're pretty high up?" One of the pilot's asked

Sunglasses shrugged, "You could say that."

"So you spend a lot of time with the commander than?"

The man sighed, "Unfortunately yes.... Too much time."

They made their way around a corner and nearly ran face first into a massive shape. The young recruits yelped in surprise, one of them making an extremely girlish squeal as they realized what they had run into. The form was absolutely massive, nine feet tall or more with six limbs and a head that was vaguely reminiscent of a bird. It thrust its head down at them with a critical eye and the hard light on the ship rolled over its bloody red carapace.

"Cannon."

The massive Drev inclined it's head, " Lod dazha tadazh? Zhe dazha nehjakazi."

They blinked in confusion for a long moment all feeling the strange sensation as the translation software booted up, and a moment later, a very human voice. "Who are these, I don't recognize them". The voice was pleasant enough, a deep rumble.

"Who the hell names their kid Cannon?" One of the pilots said realizing to late that he had probably just insulted a massive ass alien that looked like it could kick his ass.

Sunglasses turned to look at him, "It's actually a word in his language, should be pronounced Kanan. It means 'noble." He got a pat on the shoulder, "Try not to be a dickhead alright. Most of the Drev have names like that, usually after an attribute or a force of nature."

"What's your name." The Drev asked, the translation so smooth it was almost seamless integration over his real voice.

The young man stammered, "R-richard."

The alien looked at him for a long contemplative moment, "Isn't the nickname that goes along with richard..... Dick?"

That made the other four laugh as the large alien trundled past to show, to their surprise, he was wearing a bionic brace around one of his legs.

"Damn Cannon, they should have called you savage instead, DAMN!" He turned back, "Anyway, keeping the tour moving, try not to insult anyone else alright. Cannon is relatively good humored, but I can't guarantee the other Drev won't challenge you to a duel for their honor."

There was a soft murmuring among the men, but they followed awkwardly behind as the CO led them through the ship showing them to the rec room, the mess hall, engineering and so on. They began to see ore evidence of alien activity, mostly those huge Drev things who were, surprisingly colorful, as compared to the pictures the media tended to release them. They greeted the CO with traditional muttering in their own language which he returned in kind. The translation generally just ut it as good morning though there were multiple versions.

They were walking down one long corridor when one of the recruits yelped and cursed looking as if he was about to piss himself. The others followed his gaze upwards where a face leered down at them from the piping and ductwork.

The man stopped a few feet ahead not bothering to look up, "Stop being an asshole convict, come and show yourself." The strange alien creature did as told floating down like some ethereal sort of space angel, all white and surrounded in billowing ribbons. He wore an anti-gravity belt and a strange set of gloves.

The CO turned, "Well everyone, this is Conn, he is our ship's resident telepath. Yes He can read minds, no I can't make him stop, but yes he will generally keep all your deep dark secrets for his entertainment. No, you won't be able to tell when he's invading your minds, only the Commander can talk to him that way ."

The alien waved at them with a malicious grin on his strangely humanoid lips.

"But that's ok because killing him is easy. If he ever gives you trouble just threaten to take off that gravity belt of his. He was born in zero Gs so it will snap his spine like an uncooked spaghetti noodle."

"Convict' raised a hand and made a move to flip the CO off, an effect somewhat damaged by the fact that he only had four fingers.

Nervously, they walked past, and the alien grinned malevolently at them. Unfortunately with the way the human mind worked all of their deepest darkest secrets seemed to be at the forefront from their heads as they did so.

THey took a walk up another few decks, and into what appeared to be the med bay, which hissed open as they stepped in. Inside they were surprised to find another strange alien creature directing the placement of some new medical equipment, "And ry not to drop it on yourselves, I have gone almost a month without any major accidents aboard this ship, and I intend to keep it going." The spiderly little creature turned in a broad circle its unblinking orange prismatic eyes falling on them.

"Dr. These are our new recruits, Kimber, Han McCaster and Alvarez. Just giving them the grand tour."

They stared on in awe and wonder as the little alien moved closer.

"Are you really a doctor."

The creature stared at them looking almost offended, "Are you really a pilot?"

He stood back in shock, he had not expected the aliens to be so aggressively sassy, or even know how to use sarcasm. A had fell on his shoulder, "Forgive McCaster, he seems to have a bit of a pension for running his mouth. Anyway, I'm just taking them the last few decks up to the bridge, is there anything you want to warn them about?"

The doctor looked at them with a critical eye before, "If you are going to stick anything up your ass, just make sure it has a base otherwise it's going to get stuck, and I am going to have to either A get someone to stick their hand up there or B do surgery,"

The CO laughed, "Always good advice doctor."

With faces scrunched with confusion, the group followed the CO back into the hallway and up the stairs the last few decks and onto the bridge . The bridge crew was already hard at work on systems checks barely noticing as the group of them entered.

Looking to the right they saw another one of the Drev sitting in a chair just to the side of the captain's seat.

"Oh, everyone meet, Sunny our Chief Weapons Specialist." The bright blue Drev turned around in her seat looking them over with a critical gold eye. She was actually pretty short compared to the massive male they had met earlier.

"So what does her name mean?"

The Co looked at the kid with a raised eyebrow, "It means involving or having to do with large amounts of light produced by a star onto the planet's surface, sometimes known as the sun."

The other three laughed at him and he wilted," I thought, with the other..."

"With the other guy, his real name just so happens to sound like an english word, her name does not, so we call her Sunny. Sunny and Cannon are brother and sister from the same clan." The Blue Drev stood and walked over to look them over. Though she was short for a Drev she towered more than a foot over some of them.

"Scraping the bottom of the barrel with these four." She said, her voice over the translation was obviously female but not entirely feminine if that made sense. Somehow it suited her.

There was a sharp squeal from somewhere and the group of them turned, shrieking again and backing away as a group of the most HORRIFIC creatures came scuttling across the floor. About as big as medium dogs, and with similar heads, they skittered across the floor on spider bodies. One of the recruits leaped back into a chair picking his feet up off the floor, the other three went into defensive posturing.

Most of the creatures ignored them entirely, one of them making a B-line for the CO Crawling up his back and locking it's strange feet over his shoulders like the most grotesque backpack ever. One contented itself by lying on his feet, and the other woman began sniffing at them. After a moment a very miffed looking German Shepherd appeared following them and collapsed by the Captain's chair with a grumble.

The one on the man's shoulders glowered at them, it's strange humanoid eyes bright green with anger and intensity. It opened its mouth wide and a strange robotic sound came forth, "Go.... away." They stepped back even further in shock. The voice was strange, like that of a talking bird, not entirely human at all.

The man turned his head and frowned at the spidery creature reaching up to pat her hairless dog-like head with one hand, "Oh Stop that Glados."

"No."

He rolled his eyes, "Manners."

"No."

"You know ever since you learned that word, it's been the bane of my existence."

"W-what the hell are those things."

The Co looked up at them, "These guys are the spiderlings ⅔ s adaptid ⅓ human. This Is Glados," He pointed down, "That is Hal and the one sniffing at you guys is Cortona. The commander named them, they are technically his after all."

The recruits started on in awe and disgust, "You mean he like DID IT with an alien."

The man grimaced, "More like he got roped into incubating an alien egg sack against his will. I hear the process was rather unpleasant."'

They collectively made a face as the CO scratched the spiderling under the chin, "he says its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Besides, the adaptids were just doing what adaptids do, and that is borrow DNA from other creatures."

"Where IS the Commander anyway."

The Blue Drev looked over at them with some interest before growing bored and looking away

The man shrugged, "Who the hell knows."

And then an officer ran onto the deck, "Sir, Transmission from the GA."

At that moment the CO stopped smiling, and pulled off his sunglasses. The group of them were stunned into silence as he pulled an eyepatch from his pocket and slipped it over his missing eye. The other one was a bright green, not dissimilar to that of the adaptid. With the sharp clatter of boots on metal he walked back to sit in the Captain's chair dropping the adaptid to the floor with a growl of protest.

He pressed something on the side of the chair, and a hologram leaped up in front of his face.

"Greetings commander."

"Chairwoman."

The group looked at each other with miffed expressions.

"How the hell did we not see that coming."

"Because you're a dumbass."

"Like you knew, asshole."

The other one stopped them with a raised hand, "Is he wearing heelies?"

The group of them turned their heads to the side and confirmed that the man was, in fact, wearing a pair of heelies this entire time.

There was a soft snort from behind them, and they turned to see the Drev 'Sunny' sitting at her station.

"Welcome to the crew of the Harbinger."