A/N: Some people have been wondering when the UNSC is going to show up in my story 100,000 Years Later. Long story short, they're not. The UNSC won't show up until this planned sequel that takes place 366 years after the events of Mass Effect. I have not decided on an official title for this story, nor have I started planning the exact order of events that will take place. I only have a general idea.

Before you read this, you should read the one-shot Peace Never Lasts that I wrote. It provides backstory on the formation of the Allies, and how the First Allied-Council War got started, and is a partial bridge between this story and 100,000 Years Later. I am still not sure what I will do with the Yahg. They stay neutral during the First Allied-Council War, but not the Second, since by that time their civilization has become too big and powerful to not be drawn into such a conflict. They will not be joining the Allies, since they are largely under the influence of the Salarians (as revealed in Mass Effect 3), but they hate the Council, and are strongly against joining it. I'll probably have the Yahg divided in civil war. One yahg faction will be loyal to the Salarians and fighting to join the Council. The other yahg faction will be fighting to keep their species independent, receiving minimal support from the Allies (not because the independent yahg faction plans on joining the Allies anytime soon, or because the Allies actually give a shit what happens to the Yahg species, but rather because the Allies would just prefer to not have another enemy to deal with).

You really should not read this story without reading the aforementioned first two stories, as this is an intended sequel, and they provide quite some backstory, especially the one-shot Peace Never Lasts. Like I said, I did not intend on revealing this so soon, but people were asking 'where's the UNSC?' in the 100,000 Years Later when the UNSC Humans don't even leave their home system until 2310. That's 235 years after the Alliance Humans, and 127 years after the events of Mass Effect. It would be imossible for the UNSC to show up in my story 100,000 Years Later, and I don't know why people would be thinking they would.

Anyway, I'll get back to this story after its proceding story, 100,000 Years Later.

Revelations

LOCATION: SLIPSTREAM SPACE

DATE: circa 163282 AR (After Reunification)

2552 CE (Common Era)

657 AS (After Sapience)

369 NB (New Beginning)

366 AA (After Awakening)

366 years after the Reaper War...

Six individuals sat around in a circle, their chairs all fitted to their respective shapes and sizes. Two humans, one batarian, one collector, one geth, and one rachni. The espionage proof room was dark and small, perfectly fitting to the classified nature of their meeting.

"How long have you known about these UNSC Humans?" the Rachni representative with vocal implants questioned the Collector representative and Imperium admiral, with the collector answering first, its voice as menacing as its appearance.

"Not long. We discovered them last month. Their Sol System is gravitationally locked with the Alliance's Sol System by a magnetic tether of sorts, keeping both systems on exact opposite sides of the galaxy. When Pluto and Neptune were destroyed by the Council, starting the Second Allied-Council War, and the Charon Relay was removed from the system because of the security risk it posed, there were disruptions in the tether. However, because Neptune was a gas planet, and Pluto and the Charon Relay were so small, the disruptions went unnoticed, but when Earth was destroyed by the Council near the end of the war, the disruption in the tether was substantial, and was instantly picked up by our galactic monitors. We investigated, and eventually discovered the UNSC Humans. We felt no need to notify the Alliance Humans, but our increased travel into uncharted territory did not go unnoticed by the Geth. They asked us what we were doing, and we did not lie to them. Then, they revealed the existence of the UNSC Humans to the rest of the Allies."

The Allies was a military alliance between the Batarian State, Geth Collective, Human Alliance, and Rachni People, molded in the aftermath of the Reaper War, and solidified in the fires of the Allied-Council War. The Collectors and Human Imperium were not members of the Allies, but remained on good terms with them.

The Collectors lived in the dark space between stars and outside the galaxy. They were almost never seen, but they maintained constant communication with the Geth, which was possible because of their shared synthetic nature, allowing them to communicate at the speed of light. The Geth, in turn, gave the rest of the Allies updates on the Collectors. Whether or not the Collectors were honest was unknown, but they had not committed any acts of aggression against the Allies or the Imperium after they were freed from the Reapers. They had actually assisted the Allies in both the First and Second Allied-Council War, although they did so indirectly with their own ulterior motives – whatever those motives may have been – not actually with the intention of assuring Allied victory.

"I see. And your people?" the rachni directed toward the Imperium admiral.

"We've known about them for 111,661 years, but we've never had any reason to contact them. In fact, we've had reason not to contact them. I don't need to remind you how first contact with a new warrior-civilization goes, and I most certainly don't need to remind you of the past three centuries of war – war that contact with this new civilization WILL, bring back."

The Imperium Humans were not the first humans to be seeded in the Milky Way. They were just the first humans here to pass the trials of the Precursors. Unbeknownst to the Imperium Humans, they were not the first humans to pass the trials altogether. Many other human civilizations had passed the trials before in many other galaxies around the universe, but that was another story. The Imperium Humans maintained an embassy on Arcturus Station in the Milky Way, and the Alliance Humans maintained an embassy on Olympus Station in the Mini Way.

"You have a point. First contact means war, and the Rachni People will destroy all those who threaten us, but we wish to avoid doing so at all costs..."

The Rachni fulfilled the necessary requirements to be considered a warrior-race, and thus, were eligible to join the Allies, but they were undoubtedly the most merciful of the four member races. The Rachni representative continued.

"...The data you have given us says this Covenant has been mercilessly slaughtering these UNSC Humans for 27 years, with the intention of exterminating them completely. Why did you not bring this to our attention earlier?"

"Because you would have intervened, and all human civilizations must go through a great trial in which they show their willingness to make great sacrifice. This war was the UNSC Humans' great trial, and they were recently deemed to have successfully completed it. However, they cannot defeat the Covenant because of what the Forerunners did to them. They require our assistance."

The Alliance admiral, was curious about this new human civilization, and probed the Imperium admiral for more information.

"You know, 111,661 years is a pretty long time. You must know a great deal about these UNSC Humans. Tell me more."

"Very well. I'll start from the beginning. When the Forerunners defeated us in the Second Human-Forerunner War, they took the all the humans who surrendered; ground them up into a digital state; reprogrammed them with geas; and fractured them into many different sub-species. They spread these sub-species across many worlds and installations, with the original variation of humans, like you and I, on Earth. The geas allowed the Forerunners to exert direct control over their subjects, literally, and also were a type of genetic instructions, sending their development down a desired path. The Librarian managed to hide seeds that lead to the UNSC's Spartan Commandos, as well as their smart AIs. But, for the most part, UNSC subservience was ensured. Together, the geas and different sub-species ensured Humanity would never unite and develop military technology capable of threatening the Ecumene's dominance ever again. After the Forerunner-Flood War, only the original variation of humans the Forerunners left alive on Earth remained. For some reason, the Flood left the Sol System untouched. We later discovered this was because the Flood were the Precursors, our creators. They wanted to destroy the Forerunners, but we got in the way several times. If we had known the Flood's true intentions, we would've left them alone. Hell, we probably would've helped them. Anyway, after the Forerunners fired the Halo Array, they reseeded the galaxy with life, including the original variation of humans. Of course, they didn't remove the geas placed in their reprogrammed humans. We managed to disable the direct control functions of the geas and isolate it to anyone born from by two of their people. There's no worry of their geas spreading to anyone born with a parent from another civilization. However, we could not remove the geas completely. That's why the UNSC's development of military technology pretty much stopped at the end of the 20th Century. It only picked back up again because they started reverse-engineering Covenant technology."

The Geth representative was content to stay quiet for the majority of the meeting, but decided to chime in now.

"That brings us to our current dilemma. The Covenant are going to defeat the UNSC within the next two to four months, and proceed to exterminate them completely. I believe we are morally obligated to stop this from happening."

All in the room agreed the Covenant had to be stopped, but the Human Alliance and Batarian State admirals agreed for much different reasons than all the others.

"Yes. The Covenant may present the Council with an opportunity to regain their former strength; strength we fought so hard over these past few centuries to ensure they lost. We cannot allow that to happen. We will not allow that to happen."

After the Council blew up Earth and half of Khar'shan near the end of the Second Allied-Council War, the Alliance Humans and Batarians all but abandoned any morals they had in the past, and launched a crusade, taking their gloves off and holding nothing back, ravaging Council Space and driving the major Council races to the brink of extinction. The Imperium Humans hoped for their younger Alliance counterparts to one day join them in holding the Mantle, and that day would come, but not anytime soon. They Alliance Humans were still young, having only been an interstellar civilization for 447 years, only 205 years longer than their UNSC counterparts. The Alliance Humans were still going through their violent phase, a phase the Imperium Humans went through as well.

"We have already devised a plan of attack..."

The Imperium admiral began manipulating a holographic map of the galaxy projected in the center of the room, pointing out fleet formations and their intended deployments.

"...Two Covenant fleets, calling themselves the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance and the Fleet of Holy Respite, are already en route to Reach, and will be there in less than two days. An Imperium rapid-reaction force will intercept them with slipspace disruptors, forcing them to either drop out of FTL, or be torn apart by anomalies. If they drop out, we will engage and destroy them. While we're doing that, the Collectors and Geth will simultaneously attack these targets in Covenant Space, halting any further deployments to Reach. They'll leave the Covenant capital High Charity and any other homeworlds alone for now. We want the Covenant to stand down, and attacking the heart of someone's civilization usually just really pisses them off. An Alliance rapid-reaction force is already nearby Reach, and can be there today as soon as we give the order. They will subdue the Covenant's advance force already on Reach. The Batarians and Rachni will send naval forces only, as it probably wouldn't be a good idea to land any non-human forces on Reach for the time being. The Batarians and Rachni can be there tomorrow and assist the Alliance with locking down the Epsilon Eridani System. Another day after that, we can all send our main forces in, completely securing the system from any further Covenant incursion, and establishing formal contact with the UNSC Humans."

"I suppose you also have recommendations for rules of engagement?" the Alliance admiral questioned.

"Yes. I advise you tell your forces not to attack the UNSC on sight, but the right to self-defense obviously cannot be abridged. As for the Covenant, you should engage them on sight, but if they stand down, than let them stand down. If possible, you should take prisoners, but you shouldn't take any unnecessary risks capturing regulars. However, we have identified several high-ranking personnel that should definitely be captured. I've forwarded you all the data with their names, descriptions, and current or last known locations across the galaxy, as well as other important information."

"How long do you think we can keep the Council in the dark about this?" the State admiral questioned both the collector and geth representatives. They were the two species with the most extensive misinformation programs running to try and keep the Council's spies and other intelligence gatherers at bay.

"Maybe a month or two. More if we raid one of their STG bases," the collector responded in that same menacing voice.

The rachni representative was rather critical of that plan.

"Might that start another war?"

"You heard the ancient human. War is coming, and soon, whether we like it or not. Better to strike first. There will be less motivation for the Council to counter-attack if we carry out the raid, since we are not officially part of your Allies, but they will know."

The rachni representative was disappointed.

"Very well. How much more free time would this raid buy us?"

"Another month or two. After the raid, they will double their efforts to investigate our motives, and we can lead them away from the Covenant and UNSC."

In the past three centuries, no species in the room had suffered pain and loss more than the Alliance Humans and Batarians, and their two admirals were both very eager to get back to their duties. They were worried, and rightfully so. In the time they spent in this room, in this meeting, the Turians and Krogan may very well have launched another surprise attack right at their hearts, just like they did to the Harsa and Sol System.

"Sounds good. Let's get it done."

Everyone in the room shared a few nods and left their seats. A portal appeared in front of the door in the room that lead to other parts of the undisclosed warship. All of the admirals and representatives left through the portal, with the exception of the Imperium admiral, who left through the door after all others had departed and the door opened.

"Here we go again."