A slow wind rolled through the deserted streets and over the stone cobbles, kicking up a delicate layer of dust around his feet. It rippled and tugged at his long leather jacket as he crouched in the middle of the abandoned square observed in the shadow of a great marble statue towering overhead, a muscular man poised eternally for action his shield held high and his spear pointed aloft.

The engraving on the marble plinth below the statue read.

Leonidas.

He stood from his kneeling position, nothing the layer of grime that had begun to accumulate on the statue, mostly dust from the dry summer heat uncharacteristic of a usually Mediterranean climate. He turned his head slowly sweeping his gaze over the Greek inspired city carved in marble. Flags billowed and snapped in the wind carrying with it the crest of the Neo-Spartans, a roaring Greek lion in golden thread on a red background.

His eyes took in the architecture and the cold fire bowls lining the bridges and pathways throughout the Spartan, and now deserted city.

In the heart of New-Laconia, he had expected to find the spartan king sitting on his stone throne. he had been told on good authority that King James of Sparta had a close relationship with Admiral Vir, and that information might be readily found if he was brave enough and prepared to meet some hostility, but instead he had found an abandoned city, poised to be reclaimed by the surrounding alien landscape.

He had walked the entire city now, looking into houses, and even walking into the throne room, walking up the famed stone throne and even sitting in it for a moment as he stared down the darkened hall as light filtered in from high above, somewhere between the pillars.

The Spartans were gone, and their city left behind.

Not just the warriors.

But farmers

Children

Even the dogs were missing.

The only life he saw was at a distance identified as some of the local fauna, which ran off scared as soon as it smelled their presence.

He stood from his crouch, where he had been examining the statue.

"Mmmmm the coals are cold, and based on the spoiling produce I the market, I would say they have been gone for some weeks now."

The voice did not pass from the lips of another human, as he was the only living thing for almost twenty miles in all directions.

Instead, the voice came from a small silver ball which floated over his right shoulder. The silver ball was made up of connecting pieces of silver and white mechanical parts and retained a black lens like one giant eye which it turned in his direction as it spoke.

The AI was one of the most advanced systems on the open market, advertised as a learning bot, it was supposed to develop a personality based on the person who it followed. As of yet, it was mostly just a quiet and efficient assistant with no personality to speak of, though he hoped that might change.

"It would take a lot of resources to relocate and entire population." He said.

"MMmmm the entire population of Laconia could fit comfortably on the Omen's D deck cargo hold."

Wait, correction, the AI liked to contradict him at any occasion, which he found kind of annoying but mostly useful.

"but why? By all rights the king of Sparta has claimed to be loyal to the UN."

"A man like the kind of Sparta is likely loyal to what he thinks is right, not necessarily an organization."

He tapped his chin, "So his loyalty changed when he thought the UN went down the wrong path.

"Yes."

"He believes Admiral Vir."

"Precisely."

The man sat on a marble plinth and stared out over the abandoned city. It made sense, from what he had seen of Admiral Vir, he tended to inspire loyalty in almost anyone, aliens included. He had met the admiral once, briefly, during his days as a detective.

Admiral Vir had even saved his life at one point.

He personally had found the man annoying, sarcastic and a pain to work with, but that's what happens when you butt heads with someone who is simultaneously intelligent, stubborn, contrary, and a major smart ass all at once.

Now, now longer a detective but an intergalactic martial and bounty hunter, he had been tasked with hunting the man down once more.

He did not relish his work.

He stood brushing the dust from his coat, "Well, we will not find him here."

"No I suppose we will not."

He turned and headed back towards his shuttle, head down a look of worry creasing the lines of his forehead.

He hoped he would manage to find the admiral First.

He wasn't the only one who had received the contract, and he was also sure he was one of the only ones who was willing to speak rather than shoot first.

Admiral Vir was the most wanted man in the system, and the bounty on his head was going to bring in some less than savory people.

He could only hope that he be the one to find him.

***

"Now is not time for rash action, Admiral. Please, turn yourself in."

Admiral Vir sat in the captain's chair on deck of the Omen. In the dim light of the room, the digital Tatoo on his neck flashed and spun glitching occasionally onto the side of his face before shutting itself off and then repeating the cycle again.

He tapped his hand against the seat, the extension of the digital Tattoo now visible on the back of his hand.

"Admiral Koslov, I haven't had the opportunity to congratulate you on your promotion Fleet commander now?"

The Russian man's face was crossed with a look of pain, 'Please Admiral Vir, I do not want to hurt you, we were friends once...."

The digital tattoo on Adam's skin shut off leaving his face serious, illuminated only by the console lights on the bridge, "That implies that we aren't fiends anymore."

"Is hard to be friends With someone I don't know if I can trust, you understand?'

"You think I Killed admiral kelly?"

"I do not know what to believe." His voice was just as unsure as the expression on his face. He really did not want to fight, but Adam Vir Knew Kozlov. He was likely the most loyal man in the UNSC, and even if he didn't agree with the current president he would do as ordered. But he was also a man of reason.

"I am being framed Kozlov, you know it, and you know me. I am still loyal to earth, I am still loyal to the UNSC, but Hunt is the reason Kelly is dead, and he would take away my ship, and my crew neutralize us so we can stop him from giving power to the void."

The holo screen flickered, 'But is that something you can prove."

Outside the forward viewing screen, Adam could see Koslov had pulled his small force into an attack formation. His larger ship straight down the middle and two light cruisers on the side. The train ships would be held back to protect cargo.

Adam sighed.

"It does hurt me, that you think I would be willing to kill any of you."

"IF we fight, someone will die." Koslov said matter of fatly, "I must ask you to turn yourself in."

"I will not hurt any of your ships, Admiral. I am not the danger here, but I will not surrender myself either."

"There is no other option Adam, please. Do not make me fire o you."

"Goodbye Koslov."

He cut the viewing screen, and the digital tattoo started up again, lighting his face with a blue glow.

"Shields up."

He felt the whir through the ship as his orders were followed.

Before him, he saw the glittering gold nexus as Koslov did the same, encasing his ship in a grid of interlocking hexagons just visible through a UV filter. It was some of the newest technology out of Luna corporations, and it was a good-looking design. Still not enarly as powerful as the Vrul shielding that surrounded his ship.

"Captain, Admiral Koslov has target lock."

Captain, it had been a while since anyone called him that, but now since he was no longer an admiral, Captain was going to have to do.

"Let him lock."

Inside the gears in his head were whirring.

He couldn't hurt Koslov, and he didn't think he could take the guilt of hurting any of his crew either, that would disprove the whole point he had been trying to make. He was not a killer, and he was not a traitor, but he was sure that Killing members of the UNSC would not endear men and women to his cause when they were already soured by his supposed betrayal.

A hand came down on the back of his chair, and he looked up to see a metal- cased forearm attached to that hand.

The king of Sparta had been built to wear Steel Eye equipment, and when he moved the metal on his body whirred with power.

From under his golden helmet his eyes burned hungrily.

"What do you think?" Adam asked.

"You need aboard that ship."

"Through the shielding?" Adam said with a raised eyebrow.

The kind of Sparta nodded pointing to one of the hexagonal shapes, each bit is likely controlled by a different power cell, it is designed so only parts of the shield fail rather than the entire thing, but that means if we focus our efforts on one cell, we can crack it open.

"That is all well and good, but one cell is barely big enough for a single.

He paused

"I see."

James nodded his partially obscured face taking on a wolfish grin.

Adam stood and pointed a finger at one of his men, "Lieutenant, scan the ship for signs of life."

The man gave him a look, "But sir, why would..."

"Just do it."

The LT turned with a confused look on his face, but did as asked.

"Sir, scan complete. Do you want to tell me what I am looking for?",

"A ship segment with a viewing window, and no additional signs of life, that can be segmented off from the rest of the ship."

"Sir..... Deck C."

"Admiral we have incoming fire" Someone said, and just as they did the ship rattled, and their shield lit up with a bright radiating pulse as it impacted, "Shield integrity dropping sir."

He stood from his chair and pointed to one of his men, "Work on one of those cells just above Deck C. Simon, you have the bridge."

Simon stood from her seat, having insisted on being called second mate rather than lieutenant as, she wasn't in the UNSC anymore and it wouldn't make sense."

A part of him wondered how they had managed to convince her to stay. Though, a part of him thought she was at least partially enjoying herself as evidenced by the small birdlike creature that she let sit on her shoulder like a pirate might allow a parrot to do.

She took a seat and began firing orders as he jogged off the bridge and into the lift carrying him swiftly down into the lower decks.

The kind of the Spartans stood beside him, his spear resting lightly in one hand. The haft of the spear glowed with blue crackling energy ready for battle.

"It was simply an idea captain, I didn't exactly expect you to run with it"

"Why suggest it if we weren't going to think about doing it?"

"Because it's a crazy, insane and reckless idea that is going to get us both killed."

"Who said you were coming."

"I'm a king, I can say and do whatever I want."

The doors opened up into the main engineering bay, "And how do you plan on convincing Narobi of this plan/"

"Oh I'm sure she will see the reason in it."

***

"Are you fucking insane?"

Adam followed Narobi around a corner as she barked orders at her subordinates. Outside their ships shook as the shielding was bombarded with high yield explosive warheads.

"yes?"

She turned to look at him, "Just because it looks like glass doesn't mean it is. That glass is at least a foot thick and designed to withstand asteroid impacts."

"Yes but you are forgetting the part about the big gun."

"Adam this is a spaceship, not a circus! I Am not going to fire you from a railgun. Not only is that stupid and reckless, but it is also not possible without killing you instantly."

"I mean yes, but no. The new SE2 combat suits are designed to withstand impacts from orbit to earth."

She glowered at him, "And is it designed to withstand thousands of degrees of dissipating heat, because it is hot as fuck inside those guns Adam. You would melt."

"Need I remind you that the combat gear is rated for extremely high temperatures."

Her wide brown eyes were wild with near rage, but he held up a hand, "And think about it, putting that much mass into a small point, at those speeds would shatter that glass like it was nothing, go on just do the calculations, I'll wait."

There was a pause and he watched her eyes glaze over as she did the math right there inside her head like some kind of wizard. By the look on her face when she came out of it, pure rage, he knew his hunch was right.

He grinned, "So its possible."

"Yes." She said through gritted teeth, 'But you will break every bone in your body and die while doing it."

"Need I remind you about the SE armor, besides you don't have to fire me at full yield."

"No."

"Thirty percent should do it, also reducing the lightly hook of heat overload."

"No."

"Fine, if you don't do it than I will just have to do it myself and likely get killed in the process because I have no idea what I am doing."

There was a pause.

And then

"If you don't die, I will kill you myself." She said before turning on her heels and storming away

He grinned

"that's what I like to hear!"