Author's Note: So, current annoying plot bunny and hopeful peace offering. Apologies to everyone hoping that I will continue with my other stories. Please consult my profile for an update on that. Now, this story will make reference to my Halo story "Escaped the Reach". I will try to explain relevant things here but I would suggest reading that for some clarification. Due to lack of familiarity, Halo Escalation is not part of this continuity. As usual, some knowledge of the universes involved is expected. Also please note that I use metric.
SSV Normandy SR1, 2183
Jane Shepard, Kaidan Alenko, Ashley Williams and Garrus Vakarian heaved a sigh of relief as they deposited the object in between them on the deck next to the Mako. Urdnot Wrex snorted as he watched Ashley collapse to the ground and lean back against one of the wheels of the Mako while Shepard walked to the intercom to speak to Joker.
"What the hell's that meant to be?" Wrex snorted as he looked at the thing lying in middle of the storage bay.
"What does it look like? It's a mech of some kind," Ashley retorted.
"Ain't like any mech I've seen before," Wrex pointed out, walking over.
"What ever it is, it had the geth very interested," Kaidan commented.
Wrex grunted in acknowledgment while Shepard and Garrus merely watched. Wrex leaned down to examine the feminine-looking mech. It was large, probably over two meters tall, and had large pieces of armour attached, with a large knife strapped to the chest piece. The armour was pale grey with red highlights and a light blue stripe, almost like a visor, across the front of the head.
As Wrex leaned closer to the head, the right hand shot out at incredible speed, delivering a punishing uppercut to the krogan's chin. The shocked krogan staggered back at the force of the blow as the figure leapt to its feet with a loud thud. Before any of them could react, it lashed out again, sending Kaidan soaring across the bay with an open palmed strike to the chest. It seemed to blur as it charged Garrus, sending a trio of rapid strikes at his torso before gripping him by the throat and throwing him at the recovering Wrex. Ashley, having managed to draw her pistol, opened fire only for the figure to sidestep the bullets before stepping forward and batting the gun aside with her forearm. A sharp elbow to Ashley's gut knocked the breath from her with the following backhand sending her crashing into a wall. Shepard flared blue as she launched a lift at the figure picking it up into the air.
Those still conscious staggered to his feet as Shepard relaxed slightly as she took in the floating figure. The head turned slightly as though in confusion as the mech slowly spun around a horizontal axis. The group's relief was short-lived.
When its feet were once more facing the floor, the hulking mech fell to the ground and stayed standing, unaffected by the mass effect fields attempting to keep it in the air. Wrex let out a roar of rage and ran at the figure. It didn't even try to dodge out of the battlemaster's way, merely planting its feet and grasping the krogan by the shoulders when he got close enough. It slid back half a meter before coming to a stop, despite Wrex's best efforts. Using its grip on his shoulders, the mech flipped the krogan over onto his side before delivering a kick to his midsection that catapulted the one ton creature straight through the Mako, barely giving the remaining fighters a chance to dodge.
Before he could recover from his dive out of the path of a flying krogan, Garrus found himself grasped by the back of the neck and lifted into the air, feet dangling a dozen centimeters from the floor. The hulking figure barely paused before slamming him face first into the nearby bulkhead before dropping his limp form. The figure turned and seemed to glare at the two Alliance soldiers standing side by side.
"So, who's next?" a distinctly feminine voice taunted from the figure.
"Wait, you can talk?" Kaidan exclaimed, dropping his guard in surprise.
"Of course. I'm a SPARTAN not a robot."
"There appears to have been a misunderstanding here," Shepard commented, wary.
After clarifying that no, they were not rebels and that yes, the aliens were allies, the massive figure introduced itself.
"I'm Commander Sarah Palmer, XO of the UNSC Infinity and commanding officer of her SPARTAN complement," the SPARTAN introduced herself.
"What's the UNSC Infinity? And that's the second time you've mentioned SPARTANs. What's a SPARTAN?" asked Kaidan.
"Seriously? Where've you been for six years? Under a rock?" Palmer asked, disbelief oozing from every letter.
When she realised that they were completely serious, her disbelief only increased.
"Really? You have no idea what the UNSC Infinity is? The singular most powerful warship made by man and you've never heard of it?" Palmer asked, incredulous.
"What are you talking about? The most powerful ships in the Alliance are the Kilimanjaro-class dreadnoughts and there isn't one called the Infinity, much less UNSC Infinity," Shepard told her, confused.
Palmer paused before speaking again.
"What year is it?" she asked, cautiously, as though she feared the answer.
"What? Why?" Kaidan asked.
"Just answer the goddamn question!" the SPARTAN shouted, suddenly angry.
"2183," Kaidan answered quickly, now terrified.
Palmer paused, looked around the bay, focused briefly on Tali who had just come in, before looking at the floor and muttering an expletive they couldn't quite make out.
"Last thing I remember, the year was 2559 and I was on Solace. Forerunner device acts up, everything goes black and I wake up with frog-boy looming over me," Palmer explains, nodding her head toward the Wrex-shaped hole in the side of the Mako.
"Okay, so you use a different counting system," Kaidan started to say before being cut off by Palmer reaching up.
There was a click before she pulled the helmet off, revealing a very much human head. A quiet "Keelah!" was heard from Tali while the two Alliance soldiers just stared in silence.
"See why it's a major thing? So far, I have two theories: one, you're civilisation is the result of some long lost colony ship, or two: I'm from a completely different reality, corny as it sounds," Palmer explained.
"What?" Shepard asked in shock.
"Where I'm from, wherever that may be relative to here, humanity didn't develop any form of FTL until the late 23rd century when we discovered Slipspace. That out there isn't Slipspace," Palmer informed them, pointing out the window.
She gave them a moment to consider this before ploughing on.
"Our first contact occurred at the colony of Harvest in 2525 and resulted in a twenty-eight year war against a more advanced and more numerous civilisation known as the Covenant intent on wiping humanity from existence. The majority of our personal weapons systems still rely on chemically propelled bullets, unlike your weird looking toys," Palmer continued, waving a dismissive hand at their guns.
"And I take it you have proof?" Kaidan asked, now skeptical.
"You mean besides physical and mental scars, a great deal more experience in combat than seemingly any one else on this ship, armour more advanced than anything else I can see in this bay and recordings from Solace, which I can't show you anyway? No," Palmer stated, annoyance visible on her face.
Before Kaidan could piss her off further, Shepard decided to fill her in on some of the contrasts.
"Here, humanity discovered FTL travel in 2148 due to some alien ruins on Mars, which introduced us to mass effect physics and the mass relays. Almost every weapon in the known galaxy relies on mass effect physics to function. First contact for us resulted in a one month war on the colony of Shanxi before the multispecies government known as the Citadel Council stepped in," Shepard explained, while signalling Kaidan and Tali to help their teammates.
The next hour consisted of comparisons between the two human civilisations. Palmer was horrified to hear that humanity's largest ships were barely a kilometre long until she discovered that there were only two vessels known to be bigger at which point she almost died of laughter. Shepard was shocked to learn that the UNSC Infinity exceeded five and a half kilometres and it wasn't even the biggest vessel that humanity knew of. Palmer was delighted to discover that the Alliance had become relatively powerful in twenty six years but positively livid to discover that their military obviously wasn't capable of defending their territory effectively. Shepard was surprised to learn that the UNSC had, at its height, had a military that it seemed would've been capable of easily driving the turians back but horrified that they made use of AIs and nuclear weapons on a regular basis, not to mention the SPARTAN-II and III Programs. When Shepard mentioned her mission and its cause, Palmer paused thoughtful expression on her face.
"Sounds like you could use all the help you can get," Palmer commented after a moment.
"Yeah," Shepard replied, wondering where this was going.
"The UNSC motto is 'For Earth and all her colonies'. I might not be in the UNSC anymore but Earth and her colonies still need help. If you'll have me, I'll help you," the SPARTAN told the N7.
"Judging by what you did to my ground team, you'll be most helpful. Just be prepared for some animosity, I doubt they'll all be as understanding as me," Shepard warned.
"I'm a SPARTAN-III. I'm used to suspicion, distaste and sometimes outright hatred from my allies," Palmer answered with a wry smirk.
That said, the older woman walked over to the Mako, pulled her helmet on and then reached in and heaved Wrex out and onto her shoulder before carrying him after Kaidan who was half-carrying, half-dragging Garrus into the lift. As the lift doors closed on the calm-looking SPARTAN and nervous-looking biotic, the only thought going through Shepard's mind was 'well this is going to be interesting'.