Critical Effect
The SPARTAN fire teams have returned to Infinity having secured the Alliance deep space radar facility. The Vesuvius transmits the location of one of the Alliance's field docks to let the Infinity use for the upgrades they had planned. The Elite commander informed the group that the Covenant ships would acquire a base of operations for the battle group and asked permission for the Infinity's frigates to join them. The Alliance Admiral responds confused and then drops his mouth in awe as six UNSC frigates drop out from underneath the massive flagship and move over to join the Covenant.
Before the nine ships jump into slip space and leave the system the Vesuvius sends them a data packet with information and schematics on the peoples of this galaxy and their structures to avoid their worlds. The infinity is standing by the space station, a close up of the hull shows dozens of mechs YMIR and light installing weapon positions all over the hull. The new, complete weapons glisten in the light of the blue sun of the system. The covenant/UNSC battle group drop to sub lights in an uninhabited star system and move to the fifth planet of the system, a tiny red class m planet with an orbiting moon of methane atmosphere. The covenant battle master orders a deployment of Phantoms loaded with supplies to begin the establishment of a base of operations. One of the helm elites exclaims that he has detected a groundside base. No life signs, with aesthetic properties of an invasion base of the "Geth" it seems derelict but the elite points out they have yet to calibrate their sensors to detect the Geth.
[Several hours later] Elites are patrolling the surface of the planet with their rebreathers on while Banshees fly overhead in a display of the military strictness of their kind. In a large sectioned out part surrounded by the daunting facility phantoms are dropping off supplies and resources to turn the facility into a functional military base for the stranded forces to use as a stronghold. In what appears to be a control room Elites are fiddling with the workings of what appears to be a forerunner teleporter. An orange clad Elite orders them to move faster with the device as it will enable forces to travel from the civilian facilities the humans are setting up. The humans hinted as the UNSC forces, the Elites grunt and move slightly faster and visibly more irritated.
A few star systems over in the med bay facility of the Infinity. A Doctor moves over to the group around the bed holding the wounded SPARTAN troop, and tell them that while it will take time the chances are positive of a recovery. However, they have an issue of a corrosive material that they haven't been able to expunge from her yet and that they don't know what to do with it. Captain Laskey turns to the SPARTANs around him – Palmer and Delta team – and orders Palmer to take a Pelican and meet with the Alliance Admiral on the Vesuvius to ask if they can help with the corrosive material. As he turns to Delta to give them their orders the tannoy speaks up and Roland says that the Captain will want to see this.
When the Captain and Delta are on the bridge they go up to Roland's holo-projection and beside him is a hologram of the Elite battle master setting up their new base of operations. After a lengthy discussion Laskey exclaims that it can't be possible, to which the Elite presses a few buttons and Roland reports he is accessing a livestream video. Laskey turns around to the veiwscreen and orders it on screen. The scene before them leaves them all stunned. A half dozen warship of design unknown to them, but the scans they have confirm that they are Geth going by the readings the Alliance provided. But that isn't the main thing, the battle master's vice rings out, as the view pans they see hundreds of tubes holding Robotic life forms of every size within them, and in the distance, a ship much larger than the others, one of massive significance to the allied forces seeing this. A Geth dreadnought.
A day later, after obviously sharing what they had found the Infinity drops out of lightspeed travel with an Alliance flotilla comprised of the Vesuvius, a few escort cruisers and scout frigates, including one Normandy class frigate. Pelicans deploy from Infinity cruising to the ground while the standard blue shuttles deploy from the Vesuvius, with the Normandy class ship, The Gibraltar, moves to land in a clearing set up by the Elites and UNSC technicians. Everyone assembles in the bases makeshift commend centre to discuss what they have found. The Admiral explains to everyone that the Geth attained true artificial intelligence status just before the end of the war, proving to be a very useful ally with their advanced shields and weapons, but they went silent not long after it ended, some factions even resorting their heretic coding. No one knows what happened to trigger this but given that these Geth are still asleep then they can only assume that they are safe to awaken. In a counter to this theory the Elite ship master states that they don't know if these Geth will be allies even if they do awaken and aren't heretical. Laskey states that it is true, but with so many Elites and SPARTANs present, not to mention the Alliance Marines, awakening one to get an understanding of the situation can't be all that bad.
After a lengthy debate everyone has agreed to awake one unit, with a sizeable marine compliment, Delta team and a few squads of Elites surrounding the area, a technician starts the process of awakening one of the Geth Primes, believed to be one with the most info about what is going on. Power flickers throughout the section as the technician works, and everyone is getting uneasy, the marines are twitching, and the SPARTANs take a step back while the Elites look nervously around to their leader. The lights stabilize for a while and then suddenly black out, only the glow from the Geth's hibernation tubes. Clicking can be heard amidst the rest of the noise from the Prime's tube. Everyone gets even more nervous as the shield over the Geth's optical piece opens, a soft red light glowing out from the lens. The tube opens, and steam forms flooding the area as the treated air floods into the much, much warmer air of the section. The Geth steps out and towers over everyone, its red armour shining in the dim light of the stasis section, and the minor light reaching the area from the nearby docks. Everyone' weapons ready and tighten to aim at the Geth. One sentence is heard in a dull robotic tone. What are you doing here.