Years of Days- Stranded

This is a prologue to Years of Days: Book Two- Journey. This also has major spoilers for Years of Days: Book One- The Ring, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Stranded
"Nrgg..." Kyran felt himself slowly surface to consciousness. He was aware he was lying on a metal floor and vaugely wondered if he fell out of bed again. Then he heard a voice.

"Wake up! Kyran! Sir! Wake up!"

The Sangheli's eyes shot open and he saw a Grunt standing above him. It was Yenee. And next to him was a very displeased Kig-Yar. Nex. And the Sentinel. Z-1 something or other. Z-1004X.

"What's going on?" Kyran asked, sitting up. He felt a bit bruised, and noticed that the others seemed to have taken some damage too. Then he remembered. "The Ring... it exploded."

"Yes," ￼Z-1004X replied, her voice a bit glitchy. Her vocal processors must have been damaged. "When it exploded, it seemed to have punctured a hole in subspace. We we're pulled into it just before it destabilised."

"This is relevant how?" Kyran asked, annoyance seeping in. Why couldn't the robot just get to the point?

"We are... in an uncharted part of the universe. I am unable to triangulate our current position," Z-1004X spoke after a moment of hesitation. "We are stranded."

"Impossible!" Kyran stood up shakily, not believing a word.

"Sssshow him," Nex hissed as she rubbed her bruised beak. "Sssshow him the map."

Z-1004X projected a holographic map into the room. "You see? I just charted this sector forty minutes ago. It doesn't match any maps in my database."

Yenee nodded in agreement. "We lost. Very lost."

Kyran let out a low growl. "Lost or not, we will find our way home. No matter how long it takes."

"In my opinion," Z-1004X interjected, "it would be better to settle on the nearest uninhabited M-class planet. We don't know where in the universe we are. You all could be dead before we would reach known space."

"That is not an option," Kyran growled.

"I believe it is," Z-1004X replied, her voice just as venomous.

"Maybe we can find somebody?" Yenee offered. "Ask for help?"

"You think that any aliens we encounter are going to speak Sangheli?" Z-1004X asked. "Of course not! They may try to kill us!"

"It does not matter!" Kyran snapped. "We will try to get home."

"And what makes you the leader of this group?" Z-1004X floated forward until she was hovering right in front of Kyran's face.

"If you do not comply," Kyran snarled, "I will rip out each and every one of your circuits."

"Actions say more than words," Z-1004X replied mockingly. "As the humans say. Anyway, you can't fly Forerunner ships. You don't have a neural interface, nor the necessary command codes. You need me."

Kyran pondered. "Then we... will compromise. If we don't enter known space within the next two months, then we will find a planet to settle on. Perhaps... it may benefit the Covenant in some way. To have a foothold where neither the humans, nor any Covenant soldier has ever been before. Do we have an agreement?"

"I accept," Z-1004X responded after a moment of thought.

And so the journey begins.