The flight over from the Shadow of Intent had been silent, aside from the deep whir of the Phantom as it flew effortlessly through space.
They made way for the planet Earth, where just outside its atmosphere a UNSC Charon-class light frigate named "Earth’s Providence" floated peacefully.
It was heard that the vessel was created after the Foreword Unto Dawn was lost.

Looking up from the aircraft's floor Rethea clicked her mandibles and let her gaze fall on a figure standing at the opposite end of the ship. Red armor shone in the dim light and golden eyes looked back at her. A deep Sangheili voice came to ear; male in tone.

"You don't seem to be faring well......"

This made her exhale, then chuckle.
To state the truth she wasn't faring well. For the first time in her life she was leaving Sangheilios, and was going to a world inhabited by her people's past enemies, to aid them in a mission for their gain.
Of course, she didn't say that to her old friend.....not when the Ambassador stood not far away.

"Never once have I set foot off of Sangheilios soil, Kal. This is all very new to me."

The red armored male shifted and she caught clear sight of his face. His expression was soft and he gently worked his mandibles in thought.
"It is not that bad, Rethea; working with the humans."

He knew her far too well; all those years together as children had ensured to that.

Shaking her head Rethea stood strait and huffed, "I'll decide that once we have finished our mission."

For most of her life she was raised to hate the human race. How was she supposed to suddenly come to their aid and pretend as if all they did to her kind was a lie?
But then.....that was the purpose of their participation in this task now wasn't it? To bring them all to a deeper 'understanding'. That was what the Arbiter had said.

Ice blue eyes falling back to the floor Rethea heard the Ambassador shift uneasily beside her. The tension in the vessel was spreading to all its passengers.

He was dressed in the slightest of armor; grey plates only covering his legs and chest. He wore neither helm nor protection on his arms. He had said it was to give him a less threatening appearance to the humans. Rethea didn’t know why that would work, considering he was a ‘split jaw’ standing at nearly 8 feet in height.

The older male tilted his head and snorted, "I hope you change your mind, Ultra. It is imperative we give our best and cooperate with the humans; the Arbiter needs for our treaty to be strengthened not divided."

His words made her grimace and look to Kal. Her friend stood in silence and watched on; shrugging without a word.

Rethea held back a growl, "I will cooperate with the humans.....that does not mean I will enjoy doing it."

Her fists clenched and she leaned against the wall when their Phantom banked left, then slowed.
Outside deep clangs and odd shouts reached the ear, accompanied by the rumble of the occasionally passing ship. Kal walked towards the side doors, "We’ve arrived.”

A smile was on his mandibles, to which Rethea blinked and stood. Was he looking foreword to this?

White armor shimmering in the blue interior lights of the Phantom she walked to his side, but not before grabbing her energy staff from the wall. It was forerunner in origin; thin energy blades like scalpals on either end. Being an Honor Guard Ultra it had been her weapon of choice. At her hip was a plasma rifle.

Suddenly, a loud hiss sounded and the sides of the phantom cracked open; lighting the hull. Rethea blinked, before wincing painfully as the doors began to lower and her eyes were bombarded with an explosion of blinding light.

She heard Kal chuckle, and she huffed, “The humans keep their ships much brighter than ours.”

Eventually she could open her eyes, and when she did they widened in amazed orbs of blue.

Their Phantom was slowly lowering, and as it did she was provided with the perfect view of the Providence’s hangar.

Humans, just like the ones on the information videos, ran about hurriedly as they loaded supplies and vehicles onto the ship. They were much smaller than she had imagined; kind of odd looking in person.

Still gawking at the people below them, Rethea did not notice as Kal step over and nudge her on the shoulder, “Your mandibles are hanging.”

To this she gasped and snapped her jaws shut, before growling and clenching onto her staff.
Below the humans had begun to notice the arrival of their guests; looking up with some expressions Rethea thought to be curiosity, excitement…….and a few moments….. disgust.

She wasn’t the only one not looking foreword to this mission. The treaty was still fresh; some humans might still hold grudges towards their kind.

Whatever was to meet them down there, Rethea was prepared. Taking stance on the left of the ambassador she nodded for Kal to take his right. She was going to make sure their charge was as safe as he could ever be.

Cassandra stood in the briefing room with both of her arms crossed over her chest starring up at the ambassador talking with the captain of the Earth's Providence, she already read the briefing files and knew the mission. "You know Cassie, staring at the Ambassador Chistina Hays like that would probably scar him for life." James said with a laugh.

"You know the reason why I hate this assignment." Cassandra sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose and turned to look at her closest friend and the only person she trusted. "Don't you hate the hinge-heads?" Cassandra asked staring him in the eyes, James gave her a slight shrug as he leaned back in his seat. "I don't hate them nor like them, I mean yes they did try to kill us off." He answered.

The ambassador walked over to them, a woman who looked to be in her mid thirties with blue eyes and blonde hair looked at the two ODST's who were talking. "Lets go over and meet our new guests." She said as she headed over towards the door, the two ODSTs walking behind her and headed down the hallways until finally they were inside of the hangar bay of Earth's Providence.

Cassandra watched as a Phantom Dropship started to slowly land into the hangar bay, all she wanted to do was get a rocket launcher and shoot it down. But she knew the importance of the mission. As the Phantom finally came to a landing just above the deck of the ship and the bay doors opening.

Out came three sangheili, two of which Cassandra knew were males due to their size but then she turned to the Ultra, this Elite seemed to be much skinnier then their male counterparts. "I thought female hinge heads stayed back home, and do whatever it is that they do on their planet." James whispered, Ambassador Hays just shook her head as she approached the Sangheili party. "I would like to welcome you to the UNSC Earth's Providence." She said speaking in almost fluent Sangheili. Cassandra stood there glaring at the Elites but didn't say anything.

Stepping off of the Phantom's side panel Rethea landed with a sharp thump on the hangar bay floor. Keeping her weapon close she peered down at the humans nearest to her with a wary gaze. Some shriveled back, while others returned the look of distrust and grumbled to themselves.

Growling ever so slightly, Rethea looked up when the Ambassador and Kal leapt free of the dropship. Kal still gazed around with that ridiculous look of awe.......it made her huff. What was so interesting about the humans that made him act in such a way?

Suddenly, three figures out of the corner of her gaze appeared from the far end of the hangar; making the female Sangheili tense and keep herself from raising her staff. They approached swiftly; obviously intending to greet their new arrivals.

Kal sighed when Rethea took a step closer to the Ambassador, "You need to relax, Rethea."

She said nothing. But when the lead human of the three, a female with yellow hair and a slender yet surprisingly fit physique, spoke in understandable Sangheili it made her double take and suck in a breath.

Her Ambassador blinked as well, but brought what he could manage of a smile to his mandibles and nodded; also speaking Sangheili, "Thank you; we are...honored....to have come here."

He gave a silent glance to Rethea, then reached out in a gesture to shake the woman's hand; something he had seen their race do often in the acts of saying hello, "My name is Juso 'Vasam; the Arbiter sent me to act as the Sangheili Ambassador for the Aurora peace talks."
Rethea peered at him and snorted; clever male. No wonder the Arbiter had chosen him.

Pulling her eyes away from her charge, she turned to study the humans whom had accompanied the first female into the hangar.
She was met with a dark glare from a seemingly furious female with short ginger hair.

At this Rethea stood taller and stared back at the human for a moment; looking her up and down. Her overall body language signed that she was downright disgusted; most likely by their presence. Lovely.

Tilting her head she moved her gaze on to the second human. They were both dressed in what she recognized as the UNSC's ODST armor; typical ranking for a mission such as the one they were to attend.
The second human, a male, seemed a little more comfortable with the situation. At least she did not have to deal with two angry humans.

Blue eyes landing on the lead female she spoke up for the first time; the human language slipping from her mandibles easily. She didn't have anything to prove by exchanging words in her people's tongue.

"I assume you are the human Ambassador, and these are your guards....."

She gestured to the others with a shake of her head. They certainly matched the ranking description provided by the UNSC.....sadly she could not verify this by physical appearance, as she was not provided with their profiles upon accepting the mission.

Kal grunted beside her, shaking his head slightly.

What? He assumed she was going to stand by in silence? If she was going to guard the Ambassador she needed to do more than just follow and keep her mouth shut.

The Sangheili ambassador's hand was much larger then what Christina had thought but she continued to smile at the Elite. "Thank you for agreeing with the peace talks Juso." She said with a smile before backing away and looked towards the female Sangheili and gave her a quick nod. "Yes their names are Cassandra Wellens and James Riley, they will be my personal guards during the peace talks." Christina said gesturing to the two ODSTs.

Cassandra noticed the female staring right at her, but she decided to not say anything about it and remained silent her eyes going over towards the Phantom dropship watching it turning around to leave the hangar. "The jump to slipspace to Aurora should be about a three day's trip from here, if you'd like we can show you to your rooms if you wish." Christina said as she turned around and gestured for the Sangheili delegation to follow her.

James walked beside Cassandra for a moment seeing the tense look in her face and lightly gave her a punch on the shoulder in a friendly way. "Hey, it wont be that long you know think of it as just a babysitting job." Cassandra sighed and nodded, even if the war was over it was still fresh in her mind. "I know." She told him and looked over at Rethea. And then watched as James turned towards the one Sangheili in red armor watching as James extended a hand towards him in a friendly gesture.

Christina lead them up to several decks and then they were in the officer's section of the ship. "These will be your rooms here, if you would like a tour we can if you'd like." She offered with another smile.

Despite the odd nature of his mandible, Juso managed to maintain a general smile; nodding, "I appreciate your people allowing us to come along on such a mission, Ambassador Hays."

He had heard of her name while being debriefed before arrival, and was pleased by how friendly the woman was. It would make life on this mission far more bearable.... considering how his guard Rethea was behaving.

Turning to look over his shoulder as Ambassador Hays announced her guards' titles, he sent a frown to the Honor Guard Ultra beside him. She may have had a higher ranking, but he was older, and had to hold himself from scolding her for her behavior.

Rethea, catching his gaze, snorted and listened to the names of the human ODSTs. So....The female was named Cassandra? She took a moment to pronounce the word in her mind, then shook her head. The humans chose odd titles.

It was then that the human Ambassador told them of the time duration of their approaching Slipspace Jump; the second Rethea will have ever been able to witness. She could still remember the jump from Sangheilios.
But wait.....did she say three days? How was she to survive that long with these creatures?

Rethea's eyes widened, and she almost missed the part when Hays mentioned showing them their rooms.
Never giving Rethea a chance to think her situation over the group had begun making its way out of the hangar.

They moved past other humans working to move supplies and cargo, and made way through many levels of the ship towards what Rethea assumed were the officers' quarters.

Stride long and swift she walked at the back of her group; keeping near to Ambassador Juso but not too close to the human ODSTs. She could hear them whispering, but unable to understand their low tones she just squinted and kept walking along. When the man punched his comrade in the shoulder she blinked in surprise.

For the next few moments there was silence, then the human male turned and hung back to walk near Kal; extending a hand in much the same fashion Juso had done to Ambassador Hays. Surely Kal wouldn't....

But Rethea was proven wrong, when her friend smiled and shook the smaller being's hand as if it were the most comfortable thing to do in the world.
Kal nodded, "It is nice to meet you James. I am Kal, and that is my 'stickler' of a friend named Rethea."

He nodded in her direction and she sent him a glare, but the male chuckled, "I look foreword to learning more of your race while on this mission."

He had always been fascinated with their culture and such, Rethea imagined he would have plenty of 'Fun'.

When they arrived at the officers' quarters, Rethea heard Ambassador Hays mention a tour of the ship. She took a slight step towards one of the rooms available for her claiming; hoping to escape anything that would force her near the humans any longer than she had to. She didn't intend to see the ship.

But low and behold, Ambassador Juso stopped her with a chuckle;light and dripping with suppressed humor as he glanced her way.
Turning to Christina Hays he shook his head, "Forgive me, but I would like to first get settled into my room. I know the layout of your ships quite well......but my guards are a little less familiar. It would do them good to know their surroundings, if your Cassandra and James wouldn't mind showing them around."

He didn't care to mention why he had known their ship so well was because of past years served in the war. He had gone on plenty boarding parties to know what the inside of a UNSC vessel looked like. He figured such things would.....harm...what little friendliness these humans showed them.

Rethea went wide eyed. He was sending her with....them? Did he not see the look Cassandra was giving her?

Fully realizing what he was doing, Juso smirked and nodded to Ambassador Hays, "If you would not mind Ambassador, I would like to speak with you about the treaty sometime in the next few days. I have some questions I would like to ask of the planet Aurora and its people."

It wouldn't be long before Earth's Providence would finish loading supplies and begin the slipspace jump. After that they would have all the time in the world. Much to Rethea's joy.....

Christina smiled and shook her head. "Not a problem at all Ambassador Juso, we can discuss more of the treaty in your quarters if you wish. An Captain Wellens and Sargent Riley wouldn't mind showing your guards around the ship." She said looking over at Cassandra giving her a look that should say better be on your best behavior.

"Same here it's good to meet a friendly Sangheili that wouldn't want to shove an energy sword into your gut." James said jokingly, his eyes looking towards Cassandra. "That hard ass over there is my superior Cassie." He said earning a glare from James who just seemed to shrug it off, letting out a sigh Cassandra watched as Christina headed into Juso's quarters she quickly felt uncomfortable when she saw the door closed being alone with a hinge head always turned out as a bad thing, but she had her orders to make sure that the other two guests were comfortable.

"C'mon you two Hinge-Heads, i'll show you around the ship." Cassandra said trying to sound as happy as she could as she waved the two sangheili to follow her down the hallway and walked towards the messhall where there were already some marines as well as some navy personnel who were on their breaks getting ready to eat.

"If you wish, you can grab something to eat. Though i'm not sure human cuisine would agree with you." Cassandra told them turning around to look at Rethea and then at Kal.

Juso smiled, nodding as Ambassador Hays entered his quarters, "The sooner I know more of our treaty subjects the better."
He gave his guards one last stern look before entering his room; leaving them with the two ODSTs.

Rethea watched the two dissapear behind the door and huffed. She didnt exactly feel comfortable leaving her charge alone with a human, even more so while she was on the other side of the ship.

Looking up when the human named James spoke she would have raised an eyebrow if she had one.
Kal on the other hand chuckled loudly, "likewise; it would be most unpleasant to have a grenade forced down my throat.......Ive already had such a threat made by a rather enthusuastic marine last week."

He moved to follow "Cassie" down the hallway and began to jabber on about his experience with the humans thus far. Rethea almost felt bad for James.

But, slow to follow the group, she gave one last glance to Ambassador Juso's room. It was then that she reached up to the side of her helm and fumbled with a hidden control peice. It was her comm device, and currently she was tinkering with a secret mode in which she hoped would calm her nerves.

There was a small beep, before the slightest of static buzzed over the link.
Lowering her hand Rethea held her staff close and walked after the others.

As she stepped on, Rethea half listened to the bland tone of friendliness in Cassandra's voice. Her eyes still held the look of suppressed hatred.....at least that was what Rethea interpreted.

She frowned when the human mentioned food. Would the humans have anything similiar to what Sangheili's ate? Unfamiliar with human eating habits she didnt know.....

Kal spoke from beside James, "I'm willing to try whatever you've got."

Annoyed by how comfortable her friend was, Rethea was surprised to find herself wishing he would get food poisoning from eating unknown human food.

Suddenly, something came over the comms and Rethea's gait faltered. The quiet static broke, and she heard a familiar voice come through, "This is quite the guest's room, Ambassador Hays......albiet strange to what im used to...."

In her comm link was the built in option to listen in on another comrade's actions without their knowing. She had linked herself with Juso's signal, and had now gained survailance on him in case something should go wrong.
While loud enough to hear, the speakers were toned down to the point they wouldn't be distracting, but she could check in whenever she wanted while on the tour of the ship.

Continuing on after Kal and the humans she snorted softly.

______________

Juso sighed, glancing around his room once before turning back to Ambassador Hays. The furniture inside was odd.....but larger than others he had noticed...probably to fit his physique.

Gesturing to two chairs across the room he nodded, "I suppose my first question.....is about your ODST's if you dont mind my asking. I had noticed a certian.....feel about the one named Cassandra that concerns me. She seemed incredibly angry; at us I assume."

He merely wanted to make sure Hays trusted in the woman. He knew his own guard Rethea was not in the least humored by their mission, so he wanted to make sure the two wouldnt clash.

"Well we have quiet a bit of food, though unfortunately nothing from Sangheilios but i'm going to assume you guys eat a lot of meat." James said as he went over to grab a tray and handed one over to Kal as he grabbed his own and headed into line. Taking a moment he looked around before grabbing some chicken and steak as well, he slid down the line grabbing himself a roll and spooned in some corn. "Pick whatever you would like." James told him actually enjoying the conversation with the Elite he then went over to a vending machine and grabbed himself a soda.

Cassandra simply rolled her eyes and huffed at her friend being so friendly with a Hinge-Head, Cassandra headed over towards the salad bar looking over at Rethea for a moment. "Grab whatever you want to eat, and don't worry it's not poisonous or anything." She said when she was finished grabbing her salad Cassandra went over to pour herself some water and headed over towards the very back of the ships cafeteria. Seeing the looks that the other marines and navy personnel were giving them and simply ignored them.

===========
Christina personally oversaw the furniture being put into their quarters wanting to make sure that they had the best comfort as possible during the slipspace jump to Aurora. Looking over at Juso she nodded and went to sit down in a chair across from Juso's, hearing his question Christina nodded knowing that it was probably going to be brought up.

"Captain Wellens is a very fine soldier, but I understand your concern for her and your guards. I going to assume that you are very familiar with the Fall of Reach?" Christina asked reaching over for a datapad and handed it to Juso. "She was born there, even had to fight in her home city of New Alexandria.. That day when Reach finally fell she pretty much lost everything she knew, from family and friends to even her own comrades. But she still will follow orders, even if she doesn't like them right now I chose her just to get to know your kind more and let her choose her second to accompany us that's why James is here with us."

Clicking his mandibles at James' words Kal gladly took the tray and followed behind the human. Glancing over the food he really only saw the steak to his liking; it resembled some of the meats on Sangheilios......generally.

Without much thought he took three streaks and piled them up on his tray, then strode towards the nearest table and gestured to it after glancing to James, "Care to take a seat? If you wouldn't rather eat with your human comrades...."

Rethea watched them both with darkened eyes, mind half focused on the conversation she was listening to through her comm. Juso had just asked the human Ambassador a question, when the ODST Cassandra spoke to her.
Blinking Rethea came back to their world, and let out a small snort before grabbing a tray and moving over to the line of food. A human stood at the other side of the counter, to whom she cast a small glance and saw that he was staring at her and Kal; as were most of the humans in the room.

Ignoring the looks, Rethea placed a single steak on her tray and moved over towards one of the empty tables located nearby Kal's. She didn't want to sit with any humans at the moment.....

Taking a seat she stared down at her food, then made a small groaning sound and looked to those around her. She caught many of the marines casting uneasy glances towards her, and unbeknownst to them she picked up on their quiet conversations.

"I didn't think they'd send a female as the Ambassador's guard....."

"I didn't think they'd trust ANY Sangheili with our people. Female or not, you remember what they did to our kind! What happens if she's here to assassinate our own Ambassador?"

Growling slightly Rethea looked down at her food and spoke so that the men could hear her, "If I were here to assassinate someone I would have done it already."
She grabbed the odd human utensil called a "Fork" and poked her meat, while the men from the other table gathered their things and moved to another part of the cafeteria. She heard them muttering amongst themselves, and a small smirk came to her mandibles.

It was then that she heard Ambassador Hays answer Juso's question, and her gaze drifted to the corner of the room where the ODST named Cassandra was seated. What she heard of her past made her tilt her head. The human was present in the fall of Reach........that would explain her attitude towards the Sangheili.

Rolling her shoulders, Rethea's blue eyes lowered and she pulled a chunk of meat away from the steak. Popping it into her mouth her mandibles worked to flay the piece apart, then she swallowed.
It tasted odd compared to Sangheilios' meat, but bearable.

From Kal's table, the male Sangheili watched his friend eat, then turned to James, "I apologize for my commander's actions......she has not been away from our home planet before and she is slowly getting used to meeting your kind......believe it or not she really is kind....and enjoyable when she's relaxed."

---------------------------------------------------

Juso had listened to Christina's explanation intently while looking over the datapad that the woman handed him.
He was incredibly familiar with the attack on Reach. At the time he had been a major in battle........and sadly he had been sent on many missions to.....eradicate....the humans.

Not mentioning this, he nodded and looked up, "I understand why the Captian would react in such a way. I know many of my own kind who have experienced a similar history, and they act much the way Wellens does."

Taking a moment to think he added, "I simply asked, because my own guard Rethea, has similar views to your race. Many of her family had perished in the war, while many more had abandoned her in the past few years. With that said; the stories she heard of your people during the war poisoned her mind........I reffered her to the Arbiter simply because I believed this mission would aid in removing that poison.......and her skill set proved as one of the best on Sangheilios."

He remembered Kal and chuckled, "Her choice to bring her comrade Kal with her has only heightened that chance. He is a rather easy going fellow and he is most curious about you humans......I hope his presence will help her settle more easily."

Cassandra's eyes would glance over at Rethea who was sitting at the table across from her, she wasn't sure if the elite hated her for some reason or another but she just shrugged it off and continued to eat her salad and glanced over at James watching him chatting it up with the hinge-head named Kal. She just rolled her eyes and took a drink from her water and leaned back in her seat and sighed, Cassandra hated being on this mission but she had her orders to remain calm and do her job and just protect Hays from anything that would happen.

James would look over at Cassandra who was sitting by herself eating away at her salad. "Nah i'll be fine, besides they will just simply stare and glare at me if I did." He said with a shrug as he started to cut apart the steak that was on the table and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the taste and grabbed the can of cola that he bought from the vending machine. "I believe she would be a nice person to get to know. Though she does seem a bit scary and use that giant staff of hers to gut me or something." He said with a laugh and glanced over towards the captain once more. "in a way, shes sort of like Cassie over there."

-------------

The data pad that she handed over to Juso contained everything from information about Captain Wellens and James to even the colony of Aurora. "I believe your Kal and James would get along very well together during this mission. I think we should have Cassandra and Rethea work together.. just to clear the air between the two of them they seem to have been affected by the war the most." The ambassador said as she grabbed her own datapad. "So about the colony Aurora, it is the closest to the former Covenant controlled space but luckily seemed to be untouched by the war. Since Aurora is closer to your system we would wish to get aid with whatever you are willing to give, yes we could do this ourselves but it would take weeks from a non USNC military vessel to travel between the inner and outer colonies. And they would be willing to trade whatever you need as well since Aurora is an agricultural world, if I remember right you do have some trouble with growing crops at the moment since the San Shyuum were in control of those things."

Kal looked up at the human and nodded, "I apologize if my presence has in any way affected your relationships with your comrades......"
Looking down he snatched a bite from his food, then blinked at the taste of the meat. It was odd, yet very enjoyable surprisingly.

Chuckling he nodded to James when he joked about Rethea using her staff on him.
He had to admit though.......

"I've seen her use it.......and more often then not I've gotten the occasional view of an enemy's entrails........"

Realizing something he didn't continue with the subject and merely nodded quickly, "Pardon. I know you are still eating."

Gnawing on another of his many steaks Kal glanced over at Rethea, then to the human named Cassie. Indeed, he could spot resemblances between the two; in both personality, and the way they carried themselves. Both were confident warriors.

Kal sighed, "I wage they will warm up to each other in due time. Rethea may be stubborn like a rock is hard, but she cant keep to herself forever."

From the other table, Rethea's expression had turned into that of frustration and uncertainty.
The human ambassador and Juso were contemplating putting her into work with the human Cassie. They really thought doing that would get her to 'like' the human female?

Glancing over to said human Rethea snorted softly. But, something of what the ambassador had said made her grimace.
Cassie had been through just as much pain as she.....maybe worse. Akin to her, the human female seemed to be strong, proud, and ready to defend her race at the drop of a hat.

Rethea thought on the subject for awhile, then tilted her head and sucked in a small breath. Yearning for her family and her home rose up into her chest and she clenched her fists.
Maybe she could try it.....she had nothing to loose.....if it would get the others off her back and settle some things between Captain Wellens. She had to admit she didn't like the tension between them.

Slowly, the female Sangheili clicked her mandibles and stood up from her table. Leaving her untouched meal she grabbed her staff, then staring at the ground she strode over towards Cassie's table. She also chose this moment to turn off the comm between her and the ambassadors. There was nothing more to hear from them, and she was beginning to trust Ambassador Juso with Hays.

Without a word Rethea came to Captain Wellens' table, then sitting down she stared at the countertop.

What was she to say? If anything? She didn't know how to speak to these humans.

Blue eyes lifting to the ODST Rethea muttered, "I hope you don't mind if I join you."

---------------------------------

Juso nodded, looking over the screen on his datapad with unwavering interest. He only glanced up when Ambassador Hays mentioned teaming the two of their commanding guard together, and chuckled in agreement, "I think that would push them both along quite nicely. It would be good for Rethea to work with another female as well."

Hearing of the trading opportunities with Aurora he nodded, although rather stiffly.

"Since the end of the Covenant Sangheilios has taken a hard turn. Not only has our Agricultural status fallen, our ability to manufacture technology such as weapons and aircraft has lowered without the presence of the San Shayum."
A growl tinged his voice, "We were foolish to put so much dependence on those worms.....and now we pay dearly for it."

He added, face softening as he looked up at the human, "Sangheilios will do as much as we can in assistance with Aurora. The stability of our treaty, and the wellbeing of our people are our priority."

He would do everything in his power to make this mission go smoothly. If Aurora accepted their propositions, then many things for both the UNSC and the Sangheili, would improve.

"I imagine that she would scare off anyone who wanted to be her wife." James joked as he watched Kal eating some of the steak, he finished eating the rest of his meal before watching as Rethea standing up and heading over towards Cassandra's table which caused him to raise and eyebrow and turned to look over at Kal. "Seems like shes going to have a chat with the captain, but Cassie is harmless so you don't have to worry about anything. She wont fight unless ordered to or something really got under her skin." James said.

As Cassandra was enjoying her meal she would then hear something sitting down on the bench across from her, slowly looking up Cassandra visibly tightened up. About a minute of silence later Cassandra just simply nodded towards the female Elite as she simply continued to enjoy her meal, though those blue eyes made her feel awkward before finally saying something. "How are you doing uhm?" Cassandra had slightly forgotten the Elite's name they all seemed to look the same to her.

"I think we should leave the two of them alone, how about I take you to the weight room?" James asked as he stood up finishing up the last of his drink and then started to head out of the mess hall.

--------------

"Don't you have any engineers, that would help with construction of your ships, or did they disappear as well?" Christina Hays asked, leaning herself back into the seat tucking some hair behind her ear looking up at him. "The UNSC would help, but we are still recovering from the war and rebuilding the inner and outer colonies. That and i'm sure our tech isn't as advanced as yours still."

Kal sighed, shrugging, "Well......she has actually had many suitors......including myself......but she claims she never wants to marry."

He remembered their arranged marriage and chuckled, but hearing James' offer of showing him the weight room and leaving the females to themselves, he nodded and stood.

"I would enjoy that, thank you."

Meanwhile, Rethea looked over at Cassandra and saw her stiffen. She clicked her mandibles, then replied, "My name is Rethea......and I'm.....managing..."

She paused and silence fell, but shaking her head she decided against remaining silent.

"You humans have strange lifestyles......odd food and odd ships....."

She tapped the countertop with her fingers and added, "I'm attempting to adapt.....but as of this moment it hasn't worked......yet..."

-------------

Juso shook his head, "The engineers on our side are few in numbers......not many remain with us after the splitting of the Covenant...."

He added, "While I appreciate your concern the UNSC's aid is not needed.....yet.....while we are hindered we are not yet incapable."

A chuckle escaped him, "Now that we are no longer hiding behind the Prophets my people have discovered that we may not be as smart as we thought ourselves to be......but we will learn."