ME: Light of Halo

XXXXX

It is the end of the war, and for the weary colonies of Nova Stratus the war is over, 29 years of war against the covenant had ended and some resemblance of peace returns. However not all peace is the same, as the effects of the end are felt through the galaxy, there are those who still watch the skies for anything that remained.

On the edge of the remains of one system, a single Haldane Class Destroyer enters the region, and soon is encountered by unknown covenant forces digging on an abandoned colony. From orbit the UCAF Dusk till Dawn watches over the planet.

In the CIC Captain David Adams watched from his display at the world, he couldn't help but watch in wonder as to what the covenant loyalists were doing. It had been almost 1 month since the end of the war, and when the alliance agreed for a treaty between them and the elites.

But here it was, one group of loyalists, most probably a group of old elites or loyal moronic apes, the Captain could only wonder what these scum were doing on a dead world. There was less to scavenge for seeing as this was a system devoid of life.

It was then when the ship's AI appeared; Sera materialised in a small swirl of light, blue and cold white figure in the bleak black and grey CIC and smiled slightly. Sera, was a series 3 AI and only sent into the field after increased lifespans had been adapted to them. They also possessed a number of Forerunner adaptations from salvaged or recovered sites.

"Sir, I'm detecting three hundred thermal signatures and tow corvette, one is currently holding over the ruins of Liberty's Grace, they seemed to be attempting to recover an object, large in diameter, at least 5km in diameter and over 500m in height." She said with apt curiosity.

"Can you get a clear scan of the dig site?" David asked brining tactical up.

"Yes, there are 4 AA batteries located at each side, and a significant portion of their troops watching over the area, I also count a handful of fighters and vehicles." Sera finished.

"How's our troop compliment?" David asked.

"We have 500 marines ready for launch, 500 of the 170th ODST, and 200 ADST 180th brigade. There are also our scorpions and whatever of our cobras; the new vipers are also in the hangar. There are few things else, either than the MV- Frames and the last of our Striker squadrons."

"How are we on combat status?" David asked.

"About as ready as we're going to be, I sent out last records back to HIGH COM, the UCAF Command should receive them in the next few hours, though it will be a while before the fleet can respond. We have full complement and our Spartans, should we go for the horns?" Sera asked.

"Like we did before, prepare to preform manoeuvres Sigma-Delta 33, we're going in."

XXXXX

The ship came alive, the 750 meter long Haldane class was a standard assault destroyer, and it had the best the UCAF had to offer, though it was out-dated by the newer Iron Clad and Shadow Storm class. The UCAF Dusk till Dawn began to charge its engines and began a slip-space transition.

XXXXX

Faithful Resolution

The Covenant corvette held itself over the once lively site of the people of the planet, now it was a living site of the ancients a site where the gods had once tread, forgotten in the past when the war was at full tilt, the UCAF had ensured the covenant could not follow.

The remains that were left had been picked over, and the earth had been removed to reveal a large structure, it was a divine discovery, one that could help them begin their journey.

"Brothers take heed; our day of ascension is almost at hand." He triumphantly cried.

On the ground many of the warriors cheered and prayed that their bounty would grant them salvation, they were sure, nothing could stop them.

That however was about to change...

Above the corvette a large swirl of light suddenly appeared, the troops were blinded by the disk, and only realised that there was another ship, with a charged MAC.

XXXXX

"Sera, fire at will." David said in calm tone.

"As you command." She replied.

The Dusk blasted the corvette in near point blank; the shell connected with the mid-section and cleaved the largest hole into the corvette. The renowned Advanced MAC was the first development advanced type of Mass Accelerator Cannon in existence, right next to only 3 others in the fleet.

The multi tinted shell was mixed with tungsten and iridium composite, it was shaped however into an object, it was an actual shell that looked like a bullet, it was also combined with a large ion charge set into the core.

The shell impacted with the original 40% the speed of light, and did not require any more than one shot to take its target out.

Once the corvette had been dealt with, the striker fighters deployed in waves, they were followed by large amounts of HEAT missiles and rail shells. The shells buckled the ground defences and punched the covenant AA batteries, on the ground, there was no need for any major force, they sent the ODST first and their Spartans.

XXXXX

Spartan Strike Team was sent through HEVs alongside the ODST members, the young Spartan V were part of the program nearly 20 years previously. They and the Spartan Alpha were the best the UCAF had to offer to the UNSC during the war and with the war over, most Spartans were just on clean up.

But having such an opportunity to clear an at least sizeable zone was enough for them, and thus they joined the quick flight to the battlefield.

Jones-2959 was the commander of Spartan Strike. Raven-2005 was the second in command of Strike team, and one of the youngest. Then there was Chris-2203, assault marine of the squad, he carried the heaviest burdens with ease. Mitch-3091- one of the youngest of the team, he was seasoned from the Callistan Campaigns launched during the war.

And finally Ian-3211 the recent addition to their squad, he was only in his standard armour when they sent him over, but he had the largest record in city fighting to guerrilla warfare, he was also trained for fighters.

There was also one adept, a teenager named Kevin; he was scouted for the psychic research and development of Anomia making him the specialist of the entire team, and medic.

As the HEVs hit the ground, they hissed open and popped each hatch a few dozen feet away, the Spartans stepped out, each hefting their own weapons, Jones set them to work by sending a team of marines and ODST to secure each point of the artefact.

"Get to work Spartans, we have to clear this site, the captain needs the covenant out of here ASAP." He called over their team com.

They acknowledged and began to move into their assigned squads, clearing the remaining batteries were a breeze, however, securing the actual ground was a obstacle that required a bit more force. The Spartans began to hammer into the remaining troops by using warthogs and scorpions.

Chris went for his special dual ICWS-SA-AA12, the dual shotguns were semi-automatic and were only just made by the UCAF development teams on Anomia, and it was the best close quarter's weapon in existence, and one that they could all be proud to use.

Meanwhile Raven had her jump pack with stealth armour, the SPI-MKV was an impressive sight, and Epsilon team had been configured with all stealth armour. Raven used her advantage to gain the higher ground and eliminate the enemy commanders with her SR-A099- Halcyon Sniper.

The other members did what they usually did when the covenant were being wiped up, burn them with as much available fire-power necessary.

XXXXX

The elite commander watched in dismay, he had been as careful for as the UCAF shouldn't have noticed them, he damned the fact that the UCAF was nearly equally matched in combat, he turned his attention to what remained of his forces.

He did anticipate that if the artefact was to be captured, he would let the heretics die with them, he engaged a small device, and linked to his device, a powerful plasma coil had been stuffed inside the artefact.

"Death to all of you demons, for you shall rue the day you were conceived." He yelled as he held against the onslaught of the Spartans, who kindly responded by sniping him through the head.

XXXXX

"Sir, I'm picking up large amounts of energy discharging from the artefact, the entire system is telling me that the thing is about to blow." Sera alerted.

"Call, back the troops, get everyone aboard now, and tell Strike they have 2 minutes before we need to clear atmosphere." David ordered.

The call back was heard immediately and if the two pronged tip structure glowing with energy was not an indication of danger, they didn't know what would. Strike was already boarding their pelican transport with the others, all equipment was being quickly loaded, though all marines who had died had to be left behind, there wasn't enough time.

As the last transport jumped off the ground, they were airborne and headed back to the Dusk, once landing the ship headed to the atmosphere, the engines still recharging from the jump.

"How long till we get a clear jump Sera?"

"Another 30 seconds." She responded.

"Sir, energy spike, the artefact is destabilising, core detonation in 10."

"Sera hurry up..."

"I'm trying, and panicking is not helping."

The artefact detonated a few moments later, the impact washing over the planet and closing the distance between it and the Dusk.

"Ten seconds to impact."

"And five seconds to jump!"

The wave began to overtake the Dusk, David watched as the ship's displays were encased in over wash of bluish light and energy. He could see the Slip-space portal open in front of them, the ship speared the portal and then all the lights went out.

XXXXX

Ambient light ended and the Dusk was thrown forwards from the blast, it exited slip-space no longer than 10 seconds later, the crew were scattered over the length of the CIC, and across the ship. David came around first, watching the displays carefully as the ship rebooted through alternate fusion drives.

"Everyone alright?" He asked.

Sera materialised again, a little fuzzy, but alright. "Fine sir, I had a minor overload. But nothing a quick data save couldn't fix, I got the emergency systems for shock when we entered slip-space."

"Good, how's the crew?"

"I count all members alive, with plenty injuries, you need to also take a quick examination, that bump to your head doesn't look to good." Sera said concerned.

He noticed what she meant, a small trickle of blood slowly dripped from a wound, he picked up a small first aid kit located under the chair, he pulled out bio-gel, a medicinal substance made by the Hyperion Corps, he never was ceased to be amazed as they produced the best in medical technology.

He knew better though to trust constantly in the bio-gel, he needed an actual medic, but not until the ship was better off. The crew needed to be tended first, and foremost, and then there was the question of where they were.

XXXXX

It only took a few hours to get the ship back to combat status, the repair teams did everything to take into detail of what had been where, once that had been completed, the light wave barriers were recharged, and the sensors did a sweep through the region for any stars.

Once they located a system the ship did a quick short range jump, they arrived in system near a large pulsar, there they found a group of planets and an asteroid field, they scanned the planets for any signatures of life, the found nothing until they reached a strange object in space.

"Sera, isn't that the artefact that was on Liberty's Grace?" David asked.

"Yes, however in shape alone, not in the actual size, I guess what we found was a prototype of sorts."

"Agreed, but what can we tell about this one?" He asked.

"Nothing, it seems exactly like the other, just that I don't know how it functions." Sera said.

Sera scanned the object and the region until she noticed something.

"Sir, I just ran through the energy signature, it matches with traces scattered through the region, and I think I located a colony."

"Where?" He asked.

"About 2.4 light years out into another system on the opposite side of the relay."

"Right, well seeing as we don't want to be alone out here any longer, get us to that system, and prepare Strike team; we don't know what might be out there."

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

Another few minutes later...

The Dusk exited from slip-space once more, this time in a region packed with more than 6 planets and had over a dozen moons, the ship exited near the actual energy signatures, it was for the best that appearing not within the midst of unknowns.

"Sera, what's on your sensors?" David asked.

"I can't get a specific clue, however the slip-space probes have revealed a large base on the planet, there are also some rather scattered energy sources, possibly some kinds of mining equipment."

"So a resource world, I guess that makes sense, but why mine a world that can sustain life?"

"Probably consumer demands, I'm guessing that their governments had allowed for this, it's just that there also seems to be more than just regular signals." Sera said.

"What else is down there?"

"I can track a large amount of some beacons, I think the colony is under attack, I just located the traces of the energy signature from the artefact, they're ships holding position above the planet, and a few have landed." Sera examined.

"So, invasion, what else is new, what can we tell on what's currently going on?"

"Miners trapped or captured, or killed and a lot of unknowns on the ground, and we have a small army to deal with them."

"I guess that means we're sending out the whole package."

"Should I get the ADST and the armoured 5th to gear up?" Sera asked.

"Yes, and get the Strike team with a fully armoured MKV- Assault Armour, and get Rey from storage."

"Yes sir!"

XXXXX

Rey891 awoke from cryo-stasis, his mind ached from the weeks of sleep, he had been sent into cryo due to his final mission ending. He was put into the back burner so he could await a full decommission from the military, he was one of the 1000 Rey units cloned for the use of the advanced MKV- Assault Armour, he was one of the best means of dealing with the covenant heavy forces.

He gained motor control on the table and arched his arms and legs, all standard procedures, especially since that he hadn't done anything yet. The cloned suit pilot got up, his figure was still young considering everything, he was by the UCAF military only 15, and he had died over 283 times.

He was built to hold the memories of his fallen brothers inside his head, which in truth actually drives them insane, as they are relieving their deaths as they integrate the ICT (Information Combat Tags) into each of the next unit up.

But still when one brother knows how their life began and ended it grants the others some sense of closure, however I still hurt like hell.

"I assume that I am needed for a mission?" He asked.

Sera felt guilty for using Rey for such a thing, however this was what he was born for, gathering his uniform she began to inform him of what needed to be done.

"Rey there are approximately an entire enemy base, however something happened when we were in transit, and now we don't know where we are, we have confirmed a range of distress calls on the planet and have located a large complex of which is under possible hostile control. We need you and the others of Strike to launch with 2 squads and secure the facility, we have your MKV armour powered and ready."

"I understand, I shall launch immediately." He saluted.

"Good luck Rey, and please stay safe." Sera said motherly.

Walking to his locker and pulling out his combat skin, the black layered nano-layered suit attached and sealed. Rey walked from there to the main hangar, he was greeted by the members of Strike team.

"Where do you need me sir?" He saluted.

"Support, the Armour is backing us when we hit the base, just make sure to ID the hostages, and make sure not to use HE rounds, you're going only in for shock and awe."

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

The Dusk approached from the dark side of the planet, it loaded the strike team in HEVs and located the drop site, and the LZ was close enough for a slingshot drive. The HEVs would drop with thrusters and manoeuvre through the atmosphere and land as close to the LZ as possible.

The MKV-AA was also jumping with an external planetary jump gear, and made sure not to miss its exit trajectory. David waited until they finished charging their MAC and charged their light wave barrier shields, the ship was to engage with a warning, and if provoked, then the rest is self-explanatory.

The HEVs disengaged from the lower hull, they sped towards the planet, while the Dusk approached the unknown fleet.

"Sir, contact, I have managed to establish some sort of communication link. However it'll be scratchy." Sera said.

"Good patch it through; at least we'll try to talk." David said.

The idea of a 22 year old being in command of a ship isn't the best image, however being the only one that had experience and seniority on the ship it was better than no one.

The image came through, and as Sera said scratchy rather than nothing, the image was at least humanoid, though the being was four eyed, and surprisingly not very friendly.

"Humans, your ship and its crew are now under control of the batarian hegemony." The four eyed alien said.

Arrogance was one thing that the UCA never tolerated, including that all UCAF commanders, especially David.

"Well then, I guess then we're just going to option one, Sera open fire." He ordered.

Two things happened in a rather impressive manner, the fully charged MAC lobbed a shell at 40% the speed of light, with a modified shell weighing 300 tons, the shell buckled the first ship and ripped it from bow to stern. The second thing was that the ship that they hit was a cruiser that was in command of the batarian pirate fleet, once their commander was removed; all the ships began to separate from their fleet.

"Bring the ship bearing down their middle, and then begin a full spread of HEAT missiles. Alert Strike team, confirmed hostiles, get visuals and Ids on each one." David ordered.

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

On the ground

HEVs landed with a thunderous crash, all things within range would have probably gotten a rude wake up call, the planet's surface was covered in plenty of grass and earth, this pleasant world was a brilliant and vibrant green and bronze.

Though it only held so much as to the true purpose, here there was already a malice that could not be ignored. The batarians attacked the colonists and miners mostly being resources and wealth that was located on the planet, they were also planning on holding hostages in order to dissuade the military of the HSA from attacking them.

Rey's suit came down only moments after the HEVs it used its ventral boosters to make its way to them, the suit also released external jump gear after exiting the stratosphere. Strike team gathered together, their weapons drawn and positioned to secure their position.

Jones walked around scanning the area, once he swept the area he turned about to call in their confirmed landing, once completed the team picked up their gear and began to head off in the direction of the base on the ground, he and Strike were to attack the pirates position.

Rey was given separate orders to hit other positions with his unit, these may not have been covenant, but he had no complaints, he knew what was to happen, his orders were clear.

He pulled away from Strike team and moved to his own position, a simple break and enter was supposed to suffice, however this was his own way of doing things, and with a bit more efficiency.

XXXXX

Rey arrived in range of the position, he located the large base, tents set in a messy form and the large prefab that was constructed to hold its occupants inside, and there were towers and vehicles in scattered perimeters and guards.

Rey unlocked his M419 Magellan recoilless rifle, the anti-armour shoulder mounted cannon loaded and target the nearest vehicle, the flat nosed tank like object made it easier for him to strike. Even if the base as alert, they had no idea what they were to expect.

Strike team's IFF appeared on the other side of the base, they were awaiting his attack, and they knew he would take to the assault before they would get the chance to infiltrate, but then again, his attack was to draw the pirates into the open.

Locking the vehicle in position he also brought the HEAT missiles loaded in his external launchers to target the tents and troops. A confused enemy was one he liked to finish, even if this was against orders, he didn't care.

Grinning he brought the M50 Vulcan and began his assault, which is the reason why it is called an assault armour. The missiles went first, followed by the large kick back of the Magellan, the shell blew apart the vehicle and sent the guards packing.

The HEAT missiles then began raining on the tents, the temporary shelters were vaporised and the troops blown apart, the armoured suit began a slow approach, Rey making sure not to overlook any targets.

Meanwhile the Strike team made their way into the base's rear entrance; they used C-12 foaming charges and hid as the wall blew out.

They then entered from the back, their sweeping from left to right, Jones and Raven took point, Raven activating her active camouflage, and she vanished from sight and took to the maintenance hatch. Chris brought forwards his double handed M50 Vulcan, the large gas powered anti-tank machine gun, and it was probably one weapon that can punch through scarab armour.

Ian and Kevin took to rear guard, Mitch took to the higher levels with his sniper, and they entered the base and then began to remove the threats. The pirates awaited the team's arrival and their troops, the ADST marines, Atmospheric Drop Shock Troopers, the ADST were equipped with jetpacks and sent down via lower atmosphere to reach their destination.

The troops began to unload over the base, the ADST taking the roofs, the defensive towers being removed by Rey as he continued to strike their front, the Vulcan mowing its way through enemy troops. Rey was not slowing as he cut his way through, the batarians began to actively use their mechs and as much of their heavy weapons to slow Rey down.

However that was of little effect as he continued on his rampage through their lines, the ADST held the roof and waited for the Strike team to signal them to attack.

XXXXX

"Commander clear to the right, and left, I see that the objective is only 200 meters to our left, should I continue to advance?" Raven asked.

"You have my permission, use any means necessary to get those people clear, I'll have Chris start a diversion on the right wing of the base, begin when in position." He ordered.

"Yes commander, beginning recovery of prisoners." She replied.

Raven continued down the corridor and moved to breach the door at the end of the corridor; she pulled out her neural interface for a direct link to the interface of the locked door. The bar on the side was red, she began to analyse and determine a means of hacking.

Finally determining the means of breaking the door's lock, she began to tap away at the colour coding and eventually unlocks the door, as the door slides open, there were two guards aiming their rifles at the door. Raven was invisible in concealing her body, her slender cloaked form gliding by as the guards remained oblivious.

The UCA Special Forces of ONI had improved their use in stealth technology and implemented it in the advanced form of active camouflage. The layered shape of her body would not be detected by infra-red or by heat emissions or even reflections. The suit kept her completely hidden from everything, her motion scanners brought up her objectives and the guards continued observing confused.

Once she had cleared the guards she arrived at the door to the holds where the prisoners were being held, she could get a clear shot as the windows in the utilitarian like base. The grimy windows showed the inside workings of the cells, she could see over a dozen cells, each with 5 or six in each.

"Sir, I have confirmed prisoners, preparing to extract, require a distraction in 30 seconds." She reported.

"Right beginning distraction at 30, proceed." Jones replied.

Raven checked around the cell room, only 4 guards patrolled, each armed and alert, a base under attack wouldn't be ignored, but only 4 guards is a weakness, especially against 1 Spartan. She breached the door with hacking and opened it; she slid by into the main hall with no one looking. Going past each cell, she reached the first guard undetected; she removed her 10inch resonator blade.

The guard only felt a hand grabbed him from behind, then a large cut appeared on his body, and then he couldn't scream as he dropped to the ground. The resonator went through his lungs, or what would be assumed would be lungs, and then Raven muffled the guard's voice by crushing his windpipe.

The body dropped next to the cell in which its occupants noticed the guard drop dead, they were baffled as the body rolled away from the sight of the other guards, there was no trace of blood, and the body remained still.

Raven continued by removing her linear sniper, putting a guard in range of the rifle, she waited as an explosion suddenly rocked the interior of the base; the cells shook as prisoners began to run about. The guards on the higher cells guards began to look about confused.

Raven picked the two off in quick succession, and then she began to work her way to the last guard, who only managed to notice her once his comrade's fell from their positions with loud thuds. He turned about to see the muzzle flash and twitch before his head went clean off.

Raven uncloaked once she had confirmed that all had been killed, she walked over to the console where her objective marker was positioned at. She then began to hack the controls and unlock all the doors to the cells, she went over to a cell where a few humans had been stuffed in and said.

"You're free to go, there's a squad of marines heading here to retrieve you in a few moments, until then remain here in the prison block until they arrive." She said autonomously.

They looked at her with surprise and uncertainty and nodded, they watched as she then exited the cell and walked off, cloaking again, this time to locate the pirate's computer systems and begin an upload of information on where this was.

"Mission completed commander, beginning secondary objectives."

"Confirmed, alerting the major to begin extraction, the rest of strike team will be completed, hurry and finish your objective, we'll regroup back at the rear entrance." Jones ordered.

"Yes sir."

XXXXXX

Rey had been busy cleaning house, he cleared out a large number enemy troops. Much of their force now remained scattered and beaten; he himself was on approach to their position. They opened fire if he came within their sights, and if not, they fell back away from his armoured behemoth.

He fired the Magellan and removed another tank and its troops, the continuous retreat seemed to be lessening as they had almost nowhere left to hide or hold. He was cutting into them without mercy or remorse; to him all they had to do was die, so that he could continue to live.

Rey swatted another squad of the pirate's forces and advanced on the main complex, he reached the front doors in which over a dozen or two pirates had been waiting to get inside from the walking tank's arms. The batarian started to fire, but in vain, as Rey pulled his Magellan down and fired point blank into the doors, and the survivors.

He proceeded to the annihilation of everything and anything that stood between him and his rendezvous of the squad. Inside the garage the batarians had been rushing to get their vehicles for immediate departure. Once Rey picked his way through the vehicles by placing as many bullet holes as he could into the hulls of each transport, he continued to advance.

Shoulder mounted guns and missiles began to run low as he finally breached the main facility, he ran his Vulcan 50cal into the remaining defences and waited for his fellow Spartans to arrive.

XXXXX

Kevin being the youngest and the most powerful of the squad was left in charge with hunting down for the base commander, if there was one. He searched through the minds of all of the batarians and arrived at one mind frantic in regaining order, the batarian commander was in a hurry to escape and was panicking that he would be the next to die.

Kevin was used to being able to see into the minds of his enemy, their fear their emotions, he could easily be able to gain a foothold in them to use to his advantage. Kevin instructed his mind to locate the commander, once then he made his move.

Walking down the corridor he took to the left and began to hack his way through the doors, the batarians inside the base that weren't already engaged in battle suddenly had to deal with Kevin. The first to raise their weapons were stunned for moments, they gaped in fear as he lifted them with his mind.

They couldn't speak as he began to slam them to the floor and ceiling, then reaching with his one hand, he sent them into the wall, and each made a sickening crunch before limping dead on the ground. He continued to walk unabated by the pirates, his eyes glowed as he punched once more into his enemies, and gleaming with fire he began to pummel his enemies with his mind.

Once they had been dealt with, he continued on without pause, he arrived at his target, after removing all 'threats' in range. Kevin used his mind to strike the door, ripping the large metals doors was ease, the room he ended up within a moderate sized chamber, noting that there was a chair with restraints and a person cuffed to it.

The batarian leader was behind his multiple guards, they fired at him without pause, and Kevin raised his hand and stopped all their kinetic weapons on the spot. He was intrigued by the weapons, kinetic based, not like the prototype mass accelerator rifles or linear rifles; these were less powerful, however fired at greater rates and at a much smaller projectiles.

Kevin was amused as they continued to fire, their rifles overloaded and overheated, once they realised that the weapons hadn't even scratched him, Kevin reached out and focused with his mind. The first guard suddenly shifted and thrown into the wall, the other guards tried to change weapons, Kevin then lifted them with his mind, and then with a bit of strength he crushed them...

The batarian leader was now aiming a pistol at the head of the prisoner tied to the chair; he screamed something that Kevin gleamed from his mind.

"Stop you freak or the hostage dies!" He yelled.

Kevin didn't need to be a psychiatrist, he lifted his hand and reached out for the weapon, the pistol in the hand of the batarian suddenly and violently exploded, the batarian crouched on the floor gripping his wound.

"I don't think that you know who you are dealing with." He stated with glowing eyes.

The woman remained restrained and away from danger, she was protected from the blast by Kevin's psychic shield, the field blocked the damage. Kevin walked over to the woman and checked, she was unconscious, not harmed, he aimed a telepathic blast into the mind of the batarians mind, and he stiffened as he was hit.

The batarian dropped to the ground incapacitated while Kevin walked about securing the area.

"Commander I have secured the batarian leader, I have also one hostage that has been recovered from a possible torture chamber, and I'd like to bring an alert for one fire team to get here."

"Acknowledged advent, I'll divert one to secure the leader." He replied.

XXXXX

The Dusk pinned another ship through the hull and blew it apart and sent the other ships running for cover, David watched from his tactical screen, Sera reappeared.

"Sir, all hostiles have been neutralised, no active signals, only 1 intact hull located." She reported.

"Good, prepare the ship to send a team over to initiate a boarding action, also send in one team with pelicans to recover all prisoners from the planet, send a med team along to." David ordered.

"Yes sir." She replied.

The Dusk launched 2 pelicans and 1 albatross; the drop-ships went on an exact trajectory to their designated locations. The Dusk made itself only a few thousands meters away to ensure of no traps, while the med and evac teams went to the surface to ensure the safe retrieval of prisoners.

The teams landed on the planet and began to deploy their teams, the marines went about inside to help move the prisoners from their cells, the troops were surprised to see that there was more than just the average prisoner.

XXXXX

Rey was now waiting in the hangar, there he was guarding the prisoners and the batarian prisoners, the freed prisoners were gathered down by his view, they were being treated by the ADST medics, the Spartans were on the prowl in the main grounds, sweeping through the area for survivors.

The marines however were being very cautious, they had discovered while searching the cells that there were humans and non-humans. It was an interesting discovery as they had not expected to discover anyone that was human, or possibly human.

Rey looked about, his purpose was to kill all things with less than human looks, it was also a problem for him to look around without shooting, he was killed over 129 times and each memory fragmented into his mind. Most humans would be driven insane by the sheer fear of death, and the pain of dying, he would be no exception to those pains.

Rey was soon to be relieved from his post, and he would be glad, he had enough looking at these aliens. It was then when the medical teams arrived to pick up from the Spartans and from him, he began to move away as the medics went to work.

He went to the pelican, his suit was needed to get back from the planet, and the Albatross was here for this purpose, he was to load it into the drop-ship and allow him to free his hands to deal with things outside.

He activated his neural link, he activated his release and let him exit his suit, and he walked down and walked back to his fellow Spartans and saluted.

"Sir, are there any other orders?" He asked.

"None, we're on standby until they can clear the wrecks from space, we also searched the grounds here and found other vessels, a bit too late however. Most of those we found have been dismantled, so we're having you go back to deal with the surviving civilian prisoners, we need to begin moving them soon."

"Yes sir, do they need me for any use?"

"No, you're to remain here to guard the prisoners, the suit will be taken back up, Sera ordered you for medical support, you have had past training, especially in exobiology in your past existence."

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

The prisoners released were mostly miners and colonists, and some military personnel, one being Commander Aurelia Ulanday, the Filipino American descendant. She was under orders to research a sudden black out of communications from Osira; the mining bases had dropped from communications over a week ago.

When her ship arrived, they were ambushed by the batarians, it had been revealed that they were in the region for the past week, and used a hit and run tactic on Osira and struck hard enough to disable their defences, and took the facilities.

The other ships stood less of a chance as the batarians had also gathered a significant fleet to deal with whatever the colonists had. Once they were all captured it only took time as they prepared to hold the entire colony hostage, the interesting thing was that they were in the process of doing so when the base was attacked.

Aurelia was in the chair when she was in full view of the mysterious attacker who saved her, the young man was impressive, and she had never seen such powers. Using his powers to save her, she was astounded as he blocked all the attacks and weapons fired by the batarians, even most biotics couldn't deflect that many assault rounds.

Once he had dealt with the batarians, he walked to her and checked if she was harmed, once he had ensured that nothing was wrong, he continued on by waiting for his fellow troops to secure her and the batarian leader.

They moved her to her crew outside in the main hangar and all the prisoners and people from the other captured vessels, there were turians and asari and a handful of salarians, but not to mention the quarians.

Her ship pulled the quarian vessel prior to being ambushed, as they were believed to have seen something, and only when they were meeting, the batarians attacked.

Now being stuck altogether in the same breathing space, the colonists were uneasy being stuffed in the same space, but they had no say seeing as these mystery soldiers had arrived to save all they could. Even if it was alien, the large machine like soldiers remained outside, while the large mechanised suit that was over-watching them departed, to be replaced by human medics.

But to her and the others these were not HSA- marines, they were others, outside from alliance control; the troops that they noticed were young, far young. She was being treated by a teen with a medical pack, he was surprisingly skilled as he stitched her injuries and used a strange gel.

The gel was like medi-gel, but it was a luminescent clear, it seemed quite close; however the medic refused to say much except his medical opinion of her. He was not alone as the others checked on the asari and salarians, the turians and quarians however needed a specialist with a bit more in medical training to deal with alien physiology.

A younger teen arrived, he was 15, or looked like, he had pale skin and hair, his eyes were brown and his hair a faded grey, looked like his body was chiselled from stone. He walked to the quarians with a small kit and a lot of technology.

He began by scanning the closest quarian who had been injured before, the young teen was not welcomed as the other quarians began to shoo him off. He in turn replied.

"If you don't grant me to help, you're comrades may die, and I will not be held responsible for any causes of death, so remove yourselves from me at once."

The quarian captain who seemed to be in charge was not happy with a soldier who appeared from nowhere and began to try and help, but this was from a child, and one that demanded it because his superiors told him to.

"What do you intend to do child?" The female captain asked.

"Nothing, I have a direct order to give my biological skills in medical treatment to help with your wounded and report back to my captain." He replied.

"Then you should tell your captain that we cannot be exposed to external atmosphere due to the given fact that we cannot breathe in the air or we would die." The quarian replied annoyed.

"Very well, captain, it seems as though I cannot gain permission from the 'quarians', they explained that their bodies cannot withstand external exposure to the air, without expiring outside their suits." He stated on his command interface.

He received a reply a moment later, from Sera.

"Acknowledged Rey, treat the others, ignore the quarians for now, unless you can gain some trust. The pelicans will be down soon, so just prepare all prisoners to move out of the area, we'll treat the quarians aboard the ship."

He simply nodded and walked off, heading to deal with the salarians and the turians, he had his orders to deal with the more serious problems.

XXXXX

David had gotten the overall report from the main teams, they had secured one hull of a small ship and what was left, and the recovery teams reported to have located the remains of the computers and had begun to hack their way into the core.

The main extraction teams had gotten all they needed; they had taken inventory of unknown objects and critical pieces of technology that had been left behind, the reports stating mass accelerator rifles of sorts. He and the others thought that the mass linear rifles were not to be mass produced for another 2 years.

The situation was continuously changing, it was interesting, but also difficult to attain, once they gathered all that they needed, they were to fall out of the area as soon as possible.

"All teams have reported in sir, the last pelican has dropped in and recovery team 1 has brought enemy ship into lock."

"Good, then let's get out of here, Sera head back to the artefact in the previous system, we should be able to get a proper analysis this time." David said.

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

Captain Risala Zareel Vas Miller was a woman who was not happy, first was the fact that her mining operations had been disrupted and her ship was halted by the alliance and then she was taken prisoners by batarians. Either the heavens were playing a sick joke on her or she was really running low on luck, she was grateful that someone came to their rescue, even if it wasn't the migrant fleet, but none the less grateful.

She was in the hold of a strange drop-ship, it was larger than most other drop-ships she had seen in her life, and that was saying something considering what she's seen. When they arrived at the ship, she and her crew was greeted by a large open hangar, large enough to fit a frigate or two, the hangar was packed with dozens of vehicles and transports.

"Kelaah, where are we captain?" One crewman asked.

"I don't know, but don't let your guard down; we don't know what these people want, or who they are." She replied sternly.

They nodded and kept on alert, they only watched as they were gathered alongside the alliance and the other races by the drop-ship they had been aboard. Troops were going about on their routines and the engineers; they were ignoring them completely, except for their guards.

Risala was looking about at the troops with some curiosity, they were young, too young, and teens that looked as though they should still be in school ran across the hangar in their routine lives. Some carrying large amounts of tools or weapons, they all looked well trained.

It was the same feeling for commander Aurelia, she was just as confused and intrigued by whom these teens were, and the crew only seemed to be made mostly of teenagers. And there were only a few that actually looked like they were over 20, but there was something odd about these teens, almost all were over 5feet and some nearly 6, she didn't know what these kids had done, but they didn't seem so rebellious.

A man, or an older than 20 arrived, he seemed to carry great respect from his fellows as they saluted as he walked over to the prisoners. He stood before them and then said.

"Welcome aboard the UCAF Dusk till Dawn, I am Captain David Adams, are any of you leaders of your respective groups?" He asked.

Aurelia stepped forwards along with the quarian captain and the others, the turians sent forwards someone to represent them and the asari. They all stood before the captain and he said.

"Greetings, and welcome aboard my ship, you and your crews were rescued under my specific orders, simply because we're in need of some assistance ourselves."

"Assistance? You managed to deal with the entire batarian slavers and pirate's fleet while clobbering your way to us, and you say you need assistance?" A turian asked.

"Yes, you see we weren't intentionally coming here for rescuing ships in distress, our ship was lost after an accident in FTL, we arrived nearby and heard your distress beacon, and thus we came to help." David replied.

Aurelia asked. "What kind of help do you require?"

"What time and place is this?" David asked.

That question seemed to get their attention, these soldiers didn't seem to know what time they were in. this did seem strange. Aurelia seemed to wonder why these teenagers even needed to know.

"The year is 2182; you're in the Attican Traverse." She replied.

The captain didn't seem as troubled, he was more confused; he turned to the ceiling and said.

"Sera, can you confirm?" He asked.

A flash of light and the figure of a woman materialised, she was dressed elaborately in a dress and a ethereal like halo above her head, she was coloured in pale blue and lines of data.

"Sir, I have confirmed their question, the batarian databases have revealed all we require for intelligence, the region is the Attican Traverse and that this is by council and earth calendar 2182." She replied.

The rescued prisoners were just staring at Sera in a surprised but slightly stunned stance; the quarians were no exception as they suddenly began yelling out. Their captain angrily asking.

"An AI? Why do you have an AI aboard your ship, they're dangerous, those things almost wiped our race from the face of the galaxy!" Risala shouted out.

Sera seemed to keep a neutral face, she had seemed to be rather intrigued by the sudden and blatant attack from the quarians and fear from the other races, she slipped through the data of the batarians and found something from a codex of the galaxy, and she didn't notice it until she resumed her search.

David decided to respond.

"Now just wait a second, Sera have served aboard my vessel for over 7 years, I have served alongside her as long as she had been present on this vessel, and you have no right to judge other sentient beings."

That confused the quarians. "Sentient? Those things are machines, they aren't living, they aren't capable of being loyal, or noble." She seethed.

"Well then I must repeat that Sera, is part of my crew, and she has served humanity without question, against all threats, so you do not begin to even start with loyalty captain Risala. For I do not see any loyalty from yourself, nor should you judge those loyal to my crew." He replied.

The quarians seemed unhappy that Sera was still there, or that she seemed almost passive, Sera in truth in interested by the quarians and judgemental considering what they did to themselves.

"As I was saying no one will judge my crew, if anyone has a problem with Sera, then you personally come to see me, and voice your complaints, for I will not have it upon my ship. As of this moment you are guests and refugees on my ship, under the protection of the UCAF and its forces, and we will be trying to contact head governments of all your species as soon as we can locate them." He stated.

Sera decided to take over, even though there was still the uncertainty of the freed prisoners.

"You will all be allocated a temporary room until we begin going through the relay, then we shall head to the Citadel and let you and your people off, the contact with your governments are all that we require." She stated.

They all acknowledged and looked to her without any further instructions; a group of marines then came along to begin helping all members of each race to the rooms.

XXXXX

"Can't believe we have aliens on the ship, huh, the luck we get." A worn teenage marine of the 81st ADST said.

"Yeah, the cap must really think that these guys are worth saving, hell the shit we've seen, and yet now here we are another race of aliens and we're helping them." Eric White replied.

The marines looked on at their guests and scrutinised each one, there was nothing good that came from looking at an alien, or anything pleasant, these marines had lived through the worst that the covenant had been able to throw at them. And they weren't enjoying the view.

All the marines had been sick and tired of fighting wars, since they were younger, most had lost family and friends and had seen many brothers die, they had all lived as a family but now most were gone or transferred to other legions or battalions.

Many had been child soldiers trained for war and battle, constant and omnipresent war was all they could fight, and one that they were good at. Marines carried their ammo crates to place to place while their engineers cleared the areas for their guests, the constant watching of the marines made many of the 'guests' seem uneasy.

Aurelia herself was unsure of what to make of the soldiers, they all stared at her like she wasn't even there, and the other troops seemed to watch the other races like hawks, one fatal mistake and that was it.

She was being led along with her crew to a barracks, the trooper in charge made sure that she and her crew didn't deviate from their path, and made sure that they didn't see anything that was too compromising of their security.

Meanwhile Risala and her unhappy crew were led into a sealed room where there were beds and bunks; there was also a sterilising machine that was in the middle of the room, and a handful of integrated computers and monitors.

The quarians walked about free to the room, many looked for cameras or listening devices, but they found none that looked even remotely like one. Either the UCAF was being honest, or they just didn't look the same, Risala made sure that nothing could hear them, especially the AI.

They were discussing a number of topics, one being the AI and the second being the ship itself, the others varied from the battle to what the ship was. Risala however felt that having the AI made her more uncertain of what was going to happen.

Risala decided not to instigate and wait for the flotilla to hear about this; once her report was completed she'd be in a unique position considering what was happening. She and her fellow quarians decided to take their usual passive stance and wait.

XXXXX

The ship was less than a few thousand meters as they made the final approach, Sera guided the ship in to launch as they calculated the correct mass and trajectory. She had copied and redefined all the data on the batarian vessel for use on the Dusk.

Once reaching a conclusion on how to proceed, Sera took the ship into launch and sent the ship parallel to the relay; they launched in a lightning arc of energy and headed in the direction of the Citadel.

The exited at the next relay and Sera commented.

"Sir this is amazing, technology that can warp the mass of an object and decreases it by astounding variables and then propels it forwards like a MAC, but this does it at higher speeds and with larger masses, if I was sure then this would have been a forerunner creation, however forerunners haven't built such archaic means of transportation in years.

"Then I guess who's ever built this thing hasn't been as advanced, Sera can you give me a specific time we'd arrive at the Citadel?"

"Not long, maybe a couple of days, seeing as the nearest relay is still off by my mark." She replied.

"Okay, best possible speeds to the next relay; I'd rather not keep out guests waiting in the ship."

XXXXX

After a single day, Risala and her crew were allowed to be touring the ship, they were granted permission only for non-critical areas and systems. They viewed the ship from bow to stern, the UCAF had an impressive array of technologies, even if some were out-dated, and the UCAF had shown them many things.

When Risala was in engineering she asked.

"What type of energy does your ship run on; I haven't seen any type of mass effect core lying about."

Sera answered much to her dismay.

"The UCAF do not use any piece of mass effect technology or element zero, we run purely on fusion drives and impulse cells and coils, plasma conduits also are used, but to a lesser extent." She answered.

The quarians and the other races were surprised; there was no class of element zero anywhere located on the ship, Risala herself had been curious as to how these separate humans had evolved without any known major class of element zero technologies.

As the tour reached the barracks they noticed many things off with the actual crew aboard the ship.

There were children no younger than 14 and up to 17 or 18 as far as they could see, many of whom seemed less than pleased to see the quarians or any other race aboard the ship.

The teens usually kept to themselves, however the glares and glancing looks didn't make things easier, the quarians were used to these kinds of things considering their pilgrimages to other places, and the other races had difficulties trying not to get the wrong impression.

Aurelia looked about as she saw a child walk by with a robotic arm and leg; she couldn't help but ask the guide.

"Um, Eric White was it?"

"Yeah, what do you need?" He replied dryly.

"Why are there children aboard the ship, I know that you're from another place or whatever the hell you call it, but still I thought that you'd have some sense into your fellow youth not to use them as weapons…"

She wasn't going to finish the sentence, the hard grasp of the marine held her suspended in the air as he lifted her up in a fury.

"Don't you dare say shit about this unit…? I have served my life with many of them and damned will I be questioned on how they were treated, none of us won in the end and none of us ever will. So keep your mouth shut about us being tools for something, when we choose this life, do you understand?" He warned with a fire set burning in his orange eyes.

The other members of Aurelia's crew were about to jump in, but seeing a 17 year old lift a full grown person with armour on was a sight to be cautious, the commander just nodded and Eric let her down. Then he continued to walk down the hall as if nothing happened.

The commander had never been fearful of other soldiers in her life, but now that took things to a level she couldn't even begin to imagine. The rest of the crews continued on, their incident hadn't caused the other UCAF marines to look except those who were travelling in the corridor.

Once they moved on back to their rooms, they were left alone to ponder about what had just been divulged by the UCAF.

Aurelia was more than convinced that no race no power would want to tackle the UCAF head on, ever. The rest of her command agreed, along with all the other races.

Risala wasn't sure what to make of the crew, they didn't hate quarians, they were all just xenophobic because of what they went through during their war, and whatever it was, had a long lasting effect on them.

XXXXX

Another day went by quickly as they arrived at the Citadel, the Dusk did not however take the relay to the station, and it took another means of travel. Even though slip-space hadn't been perfected, it didn't mean that they couldn't just jump the length.

The Dusk was outfitted with the latest in Slip-space tech, just during the rebellion of the new covenant, the elites allowed for some advanced tech to get to human hands, and thus the Dusk was outfitted to use the tech, it took only a 1hr cycle to travel at least 100 light years, so the chances of reaching the citadel via FTL was simple.

When it arrived was the big question, the Citadel fleet had a rather presumptuous duty to perform in welcoming newcomers to the station. And welcoming as it may have sounded, it wasn't.

The fleet noticed the anomaly, and then were suddenly shocked as a large ship pulled itself through it.

The ship seemed to radiate a sense of omnipotence, possibly due to the large amounts of guns it currently had pulled into combat stance; the ship had enough ship-ship weaponry to take half the fleet easily.

The citadel fleet was the first to respond.

"Unknown vessel, you have appeared in council space, please identify and power down any weapons."

The ship seemed not to respond for about a few minutes, and as the fleet was taking in the worst case scenario the ship finally replied.

"Citadel control, this it UCAF Dusk till Dawn, we will power down weapons, however we request be made to the council to agree to an appointment between us, we have also need to disembark captured council species members."

The fleet was stunned by the bold response and request of the ship, but also the surprising charity of their thoughts, the fleet hadn't thought that another power would even be bothered to rescue their own.

"Very well, UCAF Dusk, head to dock 0159, it seems to be the most compatible for your ship, you will be greeted by Citadel security there who will meet with you on your request."

"Acknowledged Citadel control, we are proceeding to dock."

The large hull of the UCAF Dusk was enough to get the attention of half of the station in a matter of minutes; no one could ignore the bristling lights of the underside of the ship, or the sheer level of point weapons and turrets that stuck out like knives.

The Dusk made its way to the public dock that was being commandeered for them; the large platform could easily be dwarfed by the immense doors of the starboard docking hatch. It just fit, barely, but it fit. The doors opened up to reveal allow the rescued persons to depart the Dusk without any problems, and they were greeted by many C-sec officers who were trying to identify who each were.

As that was happening, the entire platform seemed utterly packed, as hundreds of onlookers and press arrived, the usual network being citadel prime time network, they arrived to get in close, however they were blocked by the many C-sec officers.

The council themselves were in a bit of a rush to get things under control and allow for the meeting to take place as soon as possible, but there were eagerly awaiting reports from the Dusk itself.

When C-sec was greeted by Captain Adams, and his security teams, they were a bit more than just surprised.

"Greetings, I am David Adams of the UCAF Dusk till Dawn." The young looking man saluted.

Palin himself was there to greet the captain, and was a little bit unsure how to respond to a captain that was about up to his nostrils.

"Greetings to you Captain, I assume that you are the captain?" He asked.

David was not annoyed by the response, he knew that he was rather young looking, but he was a tactical genius, he lived his life in battles, he was also the only member, except a handful, that had not undergone some augmentation to his body. That said, he was about 174cm and had some unmilitary like hair that was black and grey.

"Yes, I am the captain, and this is my second in command, Major Kyle Evens."

The well armoured teen saluted, his red beret sitting on clip on his armoured shoulder of his advanced Marauder armour.

"Greetings I am Executor Palin, I can say that this is an interesting surprise, the council will not however be able to meet with you right away, they have requested that you take time in going to the presidium and meeting with the other members first."

"Very well, we shall take their recommendation; we'll take our drop-ship there as soon as it is prepared."

"Drop-ship, wait a moment, you can't take military vehicles into public airspace, that's dangerous."

"Who said it had to be armed?" Kyle replied.

XXXXX

The albatross was a vehicle to be seen to believed, the flying crate seemed to get many people's attention, especially since that it reached the citadel in record breaking time. The drop-ship had external boosters outfitted on the exterior to ensure a rapid drop with minimal casualties.

The large crate made a scene as it casually hovered to the sidewalk where the rapid transit transports usually did, the passengers disembarked one not so well, while the others seemed almost fine.

Kyle and David walked as though nothing had happened, Jones and the Spartan team had to be careful not to bump anyone, and Palin seemed disoriented from the rapid movement, along with Aurelia and some other members.

"Remind me never to step into that thing ever again." Aurelia commented.

"How about reminding me to test your pilot for actual training?" Palin sarcastically commented.

"Hey I heard that!" Olivia- gunny 126 said over the external PA.

They continued on to the presidium, avoiding too much movement, Kyle and David had never seen so much green in military personnel, usually the 12 year olds got sick on their first ride, but not after 4 more. These adults couldn't handle even 1 without almost throwing up.

Jones couldn't help but feel sorry for the other races, if they had the luxury of inertial dampeners, they were going to have to get used to the rough life for once.

They walked through the presidium, starting from where Palin had his office, and then to the Elcor and Volus embassy, they then made their way to the asari member of the wing and explored the local bar. There they were met with some interest, as Kyle ordered 2 cups of iced mocha.

They then went straight to the human embassy, where they were greeted by three members of the HSA, Captain David Anderson, Representative Udina, and Admiral Hackett.

Captain Anderson was on report to the citadel for representation of the HSA navy, while Hackett arrived with the plans for a joint construction of the new ship series. Udina was only there to present it to the council later that day.

"…And here we have the human embassy, ah here is representative Udina, and fellow members of the alliance military." Their guide explained.

Udina was annoyed and angrily said.

"Is there a reason for barging in during a meeting?"

"Not really, we were here to show…"

"A group of militants the inside of a place that they shouldn't be in?"

"Actually the representatives of the UCAF, and the captain of their ship the fine workings of the council system…"

Udina looked slightly flushed, and only the grins from Anderson and Hackett seemed to bring about some sense of the word, idiot.

Udina quickly recomposed himself and said.

"Ah, well welcome to the embassy gentlemen, I apologise about the blatant rush, the situation at hand was rather critical."

"I can see, well, if we've had enough, I should assume that you have heard about our arrival?"

Anderson answered.

"No, we've been talking for over the last hour about a project underway, so we've had little time to hear anything."

"Well then, no harm, of by the way, I am Captain David Adams." Adams said offering his hand.

Anderson took it and replied.

"I'm Captain David Anderson."

He then gestured to the major.

"This is Major Kyle Evens; he's in second command of my forces." Adams introduced.

"Good to meet you soldier." Anderson said.

Kyle saluted and said. "Sir, it is good to meet you to sir."

Hackett introduced himself.

"I'm Admiral Steven Hackett of the seventh fleet."

"It is an honour to meet you then sir."

"So what brings about mysterious people like you out into the public lime light?"

"An FTL accident and the rescue of an entire colony and the dispatch of one Batarian fleet, and a surprise visit to the centre of council space." Adams replied.

"Well that is interesting, so by the UCAF, I assume that you aren't from one of our colonies?" Hackett asked.

"No, that's why we're here, the council would like to meet us over our arrival and over the circumstances we arrived here, and what we intend to do next."

"So the UCAF, is that your government?" Udina asked.

"Yes, well mostly, we haven't had a civilian government in power for nearly 20 years."

That seemed to shock the members present in the room.

"The how does your government function?"

"We're a military state, and we have many military representatives in the government to have it functioning."

Adams replied.

"Look I think our time is running short sirs; we need to meet with the council soon." Kyle intervened.

"Right, we'll continue this explanation of our people with the council, good day sir."

The representatives followed the UCAF members out; they went to the council tower, where they were expected to meet with the heads of the citadel. But not far from their position, there were eyes watching, ever so closely.

XXXXX

Once arriving at the tower, the UCAF members exited the lift, and headed straight to the council chambers, they were being scrutinised by the members of the council government, all by representatives and democrats. Politicians and military all looked on in wonder of the new players in the galactic space.

The local news networks were watching the UCAF with hope to get to meet with them. They brushed by until arriving at the tower interior, where the C-sec members were increased dramatically.

Palin had to intervene on a certain matter.

"Captain Adams, I have to inform you that this area requires that all weapons have to be removed from your bodies they won't be examined, they just need to be removed."

Adams understood completely, and then said.

"Jones, can you and strike team hold here?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, hold our weapons." Adams said giving his M6A to the super soldier, Kyle did the same.

"Only we're to enter and that's all we need." Adams said.

"Right, well, let's head on in."

They continued on their path to meet the council, once arriving at the chambers themselves, the dais and the large amounts of dim lighting seemed to emanate a sense of subtlety in the council, and a seclusion of something's.

The asari councillor Tevos welcomed them.

"This meeting of the council is not in session, the UCAF members Captain Adams and Major Kyle have requested that you meet with us on a matter of galactic introductions?"

Adams nodded and said. "Yes, I have made that request, on the account of my crew."

"And what of your crew?" Valern the turian councillor asked.

"We as a whole are not affiliated with the council, and as such we cannot join, as we are part of a government that does not exist here."

"What do you mean by this?" Maelon the salarian councillor asked.

"From what my scans of your galaxy and all records of my ships databanks have revealed, none of this Milky Way galaxy and our own match, each is too vastly different."

"How is that even possible?" Valern asked.

"Well I do have someone who can explain the phenomenon; however I need to access your local communications to my ship." David replied.

"Very well, you have access." Tevos said.

"Thank you." David replied.

He began to tap down the communication link, and secured the line, and then called in Sera.

"Sera, you can come in now."

H stepped back a bit from the panel, and watched as the holographic display on the right of the council (if looking from David's POV, it would be left) activated, and allowed for a dressed woman in a tunic to appear, she smiled and said.

"Sera, S-3171, reporting for duty sir." She said warmly.

"An AI? Why is there an AI aboard your vessel?" Valern said frantically.

"Because that AI is a member of my crew, and one member I would never want to lose." He replied.

"Captain, do you know that council laws technically state that all AI are dot be destroyed or deactivated?" Tevos asked.

"Yes, and I know that you punished an entire race over a mishap for that, to which I might add is unfair for one race to hold blame."

"That does not concern what is currently transpiring; you have to remove your AI from here at once!" Valern said annoyed.

Every being inside the council chamber were beside themselves when they watched the whole situation unfold, the UCAF used AI, to which they didn't understand. The C-sec teams were unsure how to act, and Udina along with Anderson and Hackett seemed to almost twitch at the sudden argument of the UCAF and council, no one has dared to defy them in such a manner.

"How about, you shut up and listen to my sister, or so help me, I will knock the stuffing out of your skeletal like face with both my cybernetic arms!" Kyle threatened.

The threat actually in succeeded in shutting the council up, but also starting up another confusing situation.

"That AI is your sister?" Valern asked puzzled.

"Yes, based on her mind and set patterns, yes, with the constant fact that she likes to dress up." He replied.

There was a very confused murmur, and some very puzzled looks on more than half of everyone inside the chambers. The council, as much as they feared the AI entity that was sitting only three feet from them, they did not want to agitate the very heavily armoured soldier with cybernetic fists, a thing that they'd try to avoid.

The council looked at each other, and decided to let things go on.

"Very well your AI, may present whatever it needs and then must clear away." Valern grudgingly stated.

"Okay, Sera transfer the link to Kyle; I know you two work better together."

Sera did so, and used another means of linking her mind into her brother's suit; she then activated the holographic emitters in the right gauntlet to project the images. Sera rematerialized next to the projection and began.

"Here are the major differences; your galaxy does not possess any known regions of space called the badlands, a large region of space on the edge of the galaxy covered in dark matter. There is also the absence of the mysterious shadow zones, and the large section of space near the Nova Stratus region known as the twisting nether, and the veil. From what we pieced together, there is a 95% difference between this galaxy and our own."

"So that means that you don't come from our universe at all?"

"Essentially yes, there are obvious differences, and seeing as how much we differ in technology alone should be an easy assessment alone."

"So how can we prove that you are not faking this whole thing, like a backstory for another secret organisation that functions outside of the alliance control?" Valern said.

The other members on the council looked somewhat disapprovingly at the suggestion made by Valern.

"Well an asari can prove this, can they not?" Sera asked.

Tevos suddenly got the idea.

"Yes, we could, a meld can grant us the ability to look into others minds, and share and exchange feelings and memories."

"This idea would work well for both sides, seeing as you can confirm our story, while we don't have to waste any extra amount of time trying to get someone else to do so or just have general distrust between us and you." David said.

Tevos seemed to agree and walked on the side exit of the panel to the front of the dais where David was standing.

Tevos explained to the captain the process.

"Just remain calm captain; this process requires both persons to be on a state which allows one to enter."

"I understand." He replied.

"Good, now embrace eternity." She said.

David looked into the darkness of her eyes, and wondered what he just went into. The blackness cleared, and then there was light, the sun, the earth, his homeworld of Haven's Peak, then the days the weeks the months and then years.

It opened to his mother, how she feared the war was coming to their doorstep, his father already planning to move the family out, and then it all ended. The war came sooner than expected, Haven was the first major colony to be attacked, his home was gone, he could remember the sights, and sounds.

His father was decapitated by an elite, his mother was dying in a hospital ship, and he was left to look after his younger sister, who seemed to be in a disorientated state. He was left to take her in and try and make a living, he ended up being scouted to an academy on Callistan.

He was left to fight simulation battles and improve, he made every right decision to get his troops out alive, and he kept fighting. It was then at the age of 14 that he was placed on a ship on routine patrols. He encountered three major engagements for 5 months and won the Nova award after his third victory.

David was then given to the commander of the 5th fleet, and sent aboard for the frontlines, he then fought in the hot zones for 2 years, and then after his battles, he ended up in inner Nova Stratus, his ship was being assigned to him on Anomia.

The UCAF Endurance of the Will did its name justice, the frigate took to the battles for over 3 and half years, and then Callistan was attacked. His surrogate home was lit up by the covenant crusade fleet 'The will of Faith' he was left to command the last command vessel left of the Callistan defenders, as the Endurance was destroyed.

And then the war ended 2 years later, and he was alone, with what remained of his life. The rest of his mind went into fighting the remaining covenant forces in the dead zones, and in dark zones, but there was all the tactical and higher class intelligence he wouldn't reveal of those specific operations.

Tevos and he re-emerged from the mind meld, Tevos being somewhat shocked and suddenly sick and David feeling light headed.

"Remind me never to look inside your mind ever again." She said almost faintly.

"I concur." He replied.

"Is his story true?" Valern asked.

"It's far more than I could have ever imagined, I do advise, that he was traumatised in his life enough that even I could feel it."

"Well at least you are safe." Maelon added.

Sera asked.

"Is that enough evidence to you councillor?"

"Yes, that is quite enough, the captain is telling the truth, there is nothing more than I can say."

"Very well, Captain Adams, you and you're crew have their say, in the light of these developments the council will decide upon your case."

"Including Sera?"

"Yes, including your AI, that you shall be granted a position with the council races."

Adams and his team nodded and he said in a casual tone.

"Ah, well the problem that is our government does not exist here or that the fact that our planets or any part of our space exists makes this rather difficult for us to gain a position."

"Well you could join us Captain." Udina offered.

"That sounds interesting, if not unbalanced, first of all, the reports of our intervention in removing the Batarian pirates in council space would cause a lot more than just ripples, and also the military spectrum would seriously be undermined."

"Why?" Udina asked.

"Because our technology in its own right is vastly more powerful than most of the council's own, and we'd rather avoid causing other races to begin arguing the abilities of the UCAF being vastly more powerful than that of the their own and giving it to the alliance without consulting the rest might be seen as bit arrogant."

"Ah, I can see." Udina said disappointed.

"Well then what do you intend to do captain?" Valern asked.

"We'll do what we usually do, and what councillor Tevos already knows." David replied.

Valern looked to her.

"He means by protecting humanity and serving the needs of the innocent, the laws that the UCAF must abide by, for Duty, Honour and Grace."

"Yes, well-spoken councillor." David complimented.

"You're not serious are you?"

"I'm dead serious councillor; the UCAF will function as its own force, the UCAF will remain a neutral power for all reasons stated, and only when we need to will we provide you with what you'd require, however not until we've managed to decide upon what to give."

"Wait just a moment Captain, you have no one to monitor your actions, a neutral power with our standard of technology could be understandable, however the UCAF has almost no one looking over its actions and thus can become a serious issue." Valern stated.

"Well I guess that's going to have to be something you'll just have to find a way around, the Dusk is loaded to the brim with armed and trained soldiers, and experienced crewmen, so don't think that sending others to watch over our vessel as a good idea."

"Then who would you suggest we send?" Maelon asked.

"Sera, can you provide them with an answer?" David asked.

"Yes sir, the council can send one to five members on board the Dusk, and the alliance can send five as well, so all sides have equal eyes, though these members that you choose must pass a psych test and a full mental ingrain, once that I have evaluated them shall they be allowed aboard." Sera replied.

"Well there's your answer." David responded.

"Well then, this leaves us in a tight spot, out best spectre is currently engaged in a mission, and only a handful that are not currently busy can be sent, we shall return with a possible list by the end of the day."

"Very well we'll wait, the alliance is already going to send someone soon as well I assume?"

Udina and Anderson, we're already discussing on whom to send to the dusk.

"Yes, we have reached an agreement, Commander Aurelia, who is no longer in the possession of a ship will be sent along with two crewmen."

The commander almost looked stunned.

"We know that she'll do a fine job in representing the alliance and its interests."

David looked at him questioningly.

"Well looks like we're off to a good start." Sera chimed.

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CH1: END

Well I hope you guys like this one, it took only 3 days and 23 hours to work and edit upon, it'll take another 2 days to get the rewrite done, so just wait.

And also this is just a fun topic on the idea of what would happen if my universe of halo was suddenly thrown into the untouched universe of ME?

Well here's the sudden addition, no worries, this is half canon, and the events in my AU might run into it later on.

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AN/Characters

So Sera how do you think that this new chapter has started off?

I think you need to get a beta.

Hey, that hurts, I've been trying to improve so much more, and I have little time to do so anyhow.

Well that's not my problem; the viewers need a person that can stay in touch with the lingo.

Well then I'll just improve mine.

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Hey Kyle, how do you think this has started off?

I don't know, the chapter seems okay, good start, needs a bit of editing, but good none the less.

Thanks man, see you on reach.

Wait didn't reach fall?

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So Jones, do you think that you're role in all of this is good?

I do what I can for humanity, whether kicking everything's ass or shooting the living """"" out of it.

Okay.
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Tali, so Tali, do you think you'd play an awesome role in this new story?

Who are you and where is this?

This is the net and we're currently on word.

What the…

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So that's all for now, BTW, if you want drama, this is it.

And an awesome war cry from the vindicators of Hikamage.

"In life we must endure, and in death we are at peace, in duty we must serve, and in our peace we remain vigilant. We are warriors, we are soldiers, we are the sword the shield and the soul of all, men and gods. What defines us is our goal, our destiny, and that is what sets out our end, the graces of death for us all."

Himitsuki Yamato-118 ALPHA Project- Verse 9- Vindication and Veneration

New stories!- ED