The Flood homeworld was a few weeks' journey through the void, otherwise known as the Slipstream Space. Fire Team Fenrir was travelling aboard a Paris-class heavy frigate, dubbed the UNSC Poseidon, for the trip. Xerxes, the leader of the squad, was awoken from his cryo-chamber, the sound of gas escaping as the door unlatched and swung open. It took a moment for the nude man to collect his bearings, but when he did he stepped from inside the chamber and stretched. His hair was braided and tied into a ponytail, which he quickly undid to let it drape over his face. He cleared his throat, coughing up a storm before looking to see a doctor standing nearby.
Are we nearly there? He asked, breathing heavily as his body returned to complete functionality.
"Yes, sir. We'll be there in the next few hours." The doctor responded, walking to a table to grab some clothes for Xerxes to wear.
"Here." Tossing the clothes to him, the doctor turned and waited for Xerxes to finish dressing.
"Thank you, doctor. Where is my team?" The Spartan asked, looking at the other cryo-chambers. There were rows and rows of soldiers sleeping inside their tubes, awaiting for their time to wake and join in on the battle for the universe. Some weren't going to make it, some might. It all depends on how the war plays out, and with what little information the Unified Military has on the Flood world, who knows how this will all go down.
At the question for his team, the doctor sighed.
"Some may already be awake, some may still be sleeping." He responded, then came to do a small check up on Xerxes.
"We do know that the A.I that is being sent with you still needs to come online, so you can go and do that while the others are situated." Xerxes nodded, then left when the check up was done. He walked towards the Armory of the ship and went towards a case designated for him. Pressing the numbers on the keypad in the correct order opened it, and out came his armor and the weapons he requested. They were displayed, ready to be equipped, but at this point in time all Xerxes wanted was in a pouch on his armor. Reaching inside, he pulled out a box of cigarettes and a lighter, which he then proceeded to place one of the cancerous sticks into his mouth and light. As he blew the smoke into the air, he began to walk down one of the halls towards the A.I Spartan assigned to his squad.
If any of his squadmates were awakened earlier, an alert would come across their neural interface that he was awake and moving. They could follow if they liked, or they could do just wait for him to come to them. For those still asleep, the doctor would point them to their commander.