AN: Some warnings beforehand.
-This will not be an in-depth technological FanFic, what would beat what, and all that. It will be simpler.
-This takes place AFTER Mass Effect 3, It takes place after the Destroy ending with some changes. Spoilers warned!
(Edit: Before this said indoctrination theory but this has since been changed as of Chapter 2.)
With that said, enjoy!
Edit: I edited and added a bit. Hope you enjoy the changes.
June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space - UNSC INFINITY
"Wake up Spartan-015," spoke the "Smart" AI to the sleeping Spartan. But the Spartan didn't respond, he continued to sleep. Suddenly the room went red and an went off, and the Spartan rose up, but as he did went off. The Spartan shook his head and then stood up, the black short haired, pale skinned man looked over at a Holotank and saw the AI appear. Marsiani as she called herself, looked like a reporter from the 21st Century, and she was designated to look after the Spartan.
Marsiani smirked, "Spartan, it is currently 0800; you were supposed to be up at 0600." She spoke to the Spartan. He folded his arms, annoyed at the AI, even for a Spartan who had been captured as a child, and went through brutal training and augmentations, he loved his sleeping time. While he was a Spartan, and on par with all the rest, he was a more laid back Spartan, but when he needed to be, he could be as serious as needed.
"Marsiani…Unless it's an emergency, I like to wake up at 0800, not 0600. Maybe with other Spartans, but not me," irritated, the augmented soldier looked away from Holotank and made his way to the armory to get his MJOLNIR [GEN2] back on, he didn't like being out of it. As he went through the halls of the UNSC Infinity, the AI followed him. He stopped and she appeared again on another Holotank.
The Spartan was further agitated, "Why don't you bother another Spartan? How about one of the IV's? Or even Kelly-087, Fred-104, or even Linda-058?"
The AI smiled, "Because I was ordered to keep track of you!" She pointed at him and he threw up his arms and walked into the armory. There he put on the MJOLNIR [GEN2], which compared to the VI, was slicker, and slimmer. His was white, with a blue visor, and some red tint around the arms, legs, and areas of the chest. Once he placed it on, he blocked out all of the noise of the AI.
Ever since the end of the war, when he was alone, or in his armor, he began to reflect on various parts of the war. Harvest, Reach, Earth. Yes, Earth…
November 17th, 2552 – Earth –– Voi.
He had been sent in with a squad of marines, not Spartans or ODST, just plain simple marines. But they would all perish, once the flood landed. The Spartan could do nothing to stop the flood from infecting the marines, even with his speed, the flood had ambushed them, and none of them had ever fought the parasite before. After losing his squad, the Spartan could hear over the COM channels that the Elites or Sangheili were about to glass half of the continent to contain the flood.
Not wanting to get stuck in it, he began to make his way to the Shadow of Intent. Stopping at a corner he looked out, he could see some bodies of brutes being infected by the flood. With his M90 Shotgun he rushed out at the infected, and began to rein bullets upon them. Infected forms ran at him at all angles, so he kicked them, and hit them with the butt of his gun to destroy them. A brute infected slammed into him, and sent him flying to the ground; the Spartan regained his focus and blasted the infected brute as it jumped on him.
Getting back up, the augmented soldier continued down the military complex, making his way through rooms full of flood. It was horrific, seeing all the damage and infected, it was as if he had stepped into a horror film, where there was no clear way out, "damn the flood!" He yelled out as he threw his empty shotgun away and pulled out his M6G Magnum sidearm and shot at the infected forms coming at him. Reloading he made his way to the outside where he noticed a pelican still active, and various marines and some ODSTs running towards it.
Flood were surrounding the pelican, and the Spartan ran over to assist. Picking up a downed soldier's BR55HB SR Battle Rifle and shot at the closing in Combat Forms. As the marines and ODSTs got into the pelican, the Spartan was the last one to get in. The pelican closed its door and then flew into the air. One of the marines who was sitting down, with blood over him, and breathing heavily spoke to the Spartan.
"Spartan… Thanks for the assist, I am Private Dunham," the marine looked relieved, as the other marines and ODSTs did.
"No need to thank me, only doing my job. Is this going to the Shadow of Intent?" Asked the Spartan as he wondered up to the cock pit. The driver nodded, and the Spartan then saw the Shadow of Intent and various other Sangheili controlled ships starting to glass the continent. It was ironic, they had feared being glassed, as many worlds had been, but in this case, now they were being saved by having to glass part of the continent.
He also saw the Portal, the giant forerunner structure that the Covenant Prophet Truth, went through on his Forerunner dreadnaught. Could they win this war? The thought plunged into his mind.
June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space - UNSC INFINITY
The news that they would be jumping into Slip space momentarily echoed through the ship. Since they had no mission at the moment, the Spartan didn't feel the compulsive need to reach out to his fellow Spartans. As he walked the halls, he saw some of the Spartan IV's, and compared to the II's or even III's, he felt no real connection to them. While the II's had been kidnapped, and the III's taken in from refugees of glassed worlds, the IV's were volunteered soldiers who were augmented and put with MJOLNIR [GEN2] armor.
Thus the connection of being trained at such a young age and been fighting all of their lives, was lost. So when he passed by he simply saluted to the IV's, the connection might be non-existent, but he still respected them. Just before jump, he sat down in a room with a large glass window that let him look out to the stars.
Space, he thought to himself, what a magnificent sight even after all of the years. Sitting down on the hard metal couch he looked out at the stars and relaxed. It was moments like this that he savored the most. The Human-Covenant war had taken such a toll on him, even for an augmented super soldier, there was only so far you could be pushed. For twenty-seven years, battle after battle, it was tiring. So far it had been four years since the battle ended, he remembered being at the Voi Memorial, back in 2553 in March, seeing his fellow remaining Spartans.
Seeing their numbers dwindled was saddening, he remembered training back on Reach with the originally seventy or so, and then after the augmentations, being reduced to thirty, and more have died since then. So many MIA or listed as MIA but actually KIA. But at least they were remembered; at least they were recognized for their actions. He remembered the Master Chief, one of the most decorated Spartans in all of UNSC history and the one who with the Sangheili, Thel' Vadam, or the Arbiter, fought on the Ark, and ended the war against both the Covenant and the Flood, but only the Arbiter made it back with the front of the Forward unto Dawn,with the Master Chief nowhere to be found, even after 4 years.
November 17th, 2552 – Earth – Kenya – Voi – SHADOW OF INTENT
Aboard the Shadow of Intent, the Spartan didn't make his presence overly known, as he didn't inform over the COM Channels of his arrival on the Shadow of Intent, which gained him some looks as the only Spartan most had seen recently had been The Master Chief, or John-117, whom was also aboard the Sangheili Corvette. He also learned that some Marines, ODSTs, Sgt. Avery Johnson, Miranda Keyes, and Lord Terrance Hood were present.
When he presented himself to Hood, he was told that unlike the Master Chief who would be going with the Shadow of Intent that he would be staying on Earth to fight off any remaining covenant forces. The Spartan didn't object. But before the Spartan left with Hood back to the Earth, he got to sit down and talk with the Chief.
"Good to see you Jastis. Been a while."
"Likewise," the Spartan responded. It was nice to see someone say his name, most only referred to him as Spartan or if they knew his designated number, Spartan-15 or simply 15, "So… You're going through the Portal to chase Truth?"
The tall green armored Spartan nodded, "Affirmative, I believe it's time to finish this."
Jastis nodded to that. "Too many of us have died; the Spartans are so few in numbers. We can't afford to lose anymore. Master Chief, John, live. I will be here on Earth, fighting the good fight; you make sure to come back. We lost Reach, but we won't lose Earth."
They continued to chat for a short bit after that, talking about the newly allied Elites, and the Flood. It was the Flood that the Master Chief told the Spartan about all of their forms and what to watch out for. Even the Gravemind which the idea of the head of the Flood sent shivers down the spine of the Super Soldier. Before they left, Jastis stretched out his hand to John.
The Master Chief grabbed his hand and shook it, and then the Chief spoke, "Jastis, make Earth proud."
"You go and make the Spartan's proud," with that Jastis boarded a pelican, Hood then before the pelican left, looked at both the Master Chief and Miranda Keyes both of which stood side by side. He hoped they would both come back. But in the end, he never saw either of them, and now believes both to be dead, but in reality, only Miranda was…
June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space - UNSC INFINITY
They had jumped before, but it was still strange, since the Infinity was made using Human, Covenant, and Forerunner technology, it was faster, but different than the normal Slip space he expected. One of the crewmates were counting down over the com channel.
"5… 4… 3… 2… 1..!" Then a portal ripped opened ahead of the vessel and the ship flew right in it. After which the feeling of being in Slip space was no different than all the other times he had been in it. Looking out the window, he saw nothing, everyone was pure black, and it made the view less relaxing.
Suddenly though the ship shook like if it had been hit by something, an almost red overlay went over everything and then stopped. Due to the immense shaking, the Spartan accidently flew at the window, and despite it being extremely tough and bullet proof, it wasn't enough for the almost 1000 pound super soldier slamming into it. The window shattered and the Spartan tried to grab on, but the speed of Slip space was too much and he was forced to let go.
As he drifted the MJOLNIR armor began its procedures and it was able to reenter normal space on its own. Now he was floating in space, with the Infinitynowhere in sights. Looking around he noticed he was beginning to be brought in by the nearby planet's gravitational pull. The planet held water but was mostly covered by many desert and barren areas. And he could see patches of grey which looked like cities or settlements.
Jastis turned on his COM channel and tried to get a signal but no one on the planet was using the same frequencies as he was, "Guess I will have to reenter the planet's atmosphere myself..," As he let himself be dragged into the planets gravity, he began to get faster and faster, and the suit became hotter but the inner cooling systems were active and were keeping him at a stable temperature.
As he got closer, he was right, they were settlements, but he wasn't going to land anywhere near them, as he was heading straight for one of patches of barren. It would be bad if he fell into water; the immense weight of the MJOLNIR wouldn't be able to handle it and would most likely sink.
His suit shields began to flare, but were keeping steady, and began to ignite fires around him. The g-force coming at him was immense, but he was a Spartan and could easily handle it. Also it wasn't the first time he had to reenter a planet's atmosphere by himself, two years ago he was on a cargo vessel that got attacked by some Kig'yar mercenaries and he was force to jump out of the cargo vessel and land on the deserted planet. Took him four weeks to be found, and those four weeks weren't fun, but he had his training and survived.
He was in the atmosphere now, and he enabled his suits armor lock, in minutes he would be crashing into the planet's surface. Then it happened, he struck the land and the ground around him erupted and he even bounced around a bit and then landed. For a few moments he blacked out, but eventually he awoke. Jastis found himself in a crater of debris, and slowly he stood up. His armor told him that the atmosphere held oxygen and it was enough for a human to breath, it was in some cases similar to Earth.
Then he remembered, Marsiani wasn't with him.
Shit.
He continued to keep his COM channel open, and he leaped out of the crater. Nothing for miles, his HUD zoomed in and still nothing. Jastis was a bit disoriented by the fall, but he did see the large settlement or city to the east, so that was his best bet. While he could run, he decided to walk, as he was in no rush, and the impact made him still a bit out of it and he didn't want to risk the chance of fainting.
The 7ft and weighing at a near 1000 pound, the Armored Soldier walked across the barren lands. He looked out at the clear blue sky and noticed a patch of heavy clouds coming in. Rain would rein down soon, although he wouldn't need cover, his armor wouldn't rust, and thus he could continue through the rain fall. Hours later the sun began to fall behind the surrounding mountains and dipped below the horizon. The moon then came out and lit up the night sky and a blue tint fell upon the land.
Then the rain fell, and he walked on. Jastis began to wonder if his arrival was spotted, no doubt that seeing an object falling to the planet would raise some concerns. It was nice, despite all that had happened, he was relaxed once more. So far he had to not worry about being attacked or surrounded; he could simply walk in peace. Although if he was attacked, he had no weapons making things a bit complicated, through if he was to be attacked, while he couldn't run as fast as Kelly-087, but he was still fast, and being a Spartan, he could rip most things apart with his fists, and the armor helped.
Stopping near a pond which his armor signaled him saying it was clean and drinkable, he took off his helmet for a moment and drank some of the water, he kept his helmet partially on so the rain didn't get his hair or face wet. His armor would keep him alive without food or water for days on end, but it had its limits, and he always could use a good drink of water.
Eventually the rain passed, and the sun came up and shined once more on the man. The Spartan feeling better than he did on crash decided it would be best to run. Like a blur he ran across the land, dodging rocks, trees, and ditches. Not once did he falter. Suddenly he slowed down as he heard the noise that sounded like a pelican coming near him, but this seemed smoother.
Looking up he noticed a drop ship coming in, but it didn't look like any UNSC drop ship he had seen. It was sleeker, grey, and was small, its thrusters began to cool down and then they dipped up to their sides, the thrusters stopped and the ship landed peacefully.
Already the Spartan was ready to strike at any moment. For a moment everything went still. He had no idea what to expect, would they even be human? Couldn't be Covenant, its style was different. No one was coming out of the drop ship. His eyes wondered, studying the surrounding area, looking for all his advantages and disadvantages. There wasn't much, he was on a flat area with some rocks ahead of him, to his east, and behind him. If anything was to go wrong, he could fall back.
It was strange that all this was happening, he had expected things to become normal after the war, well normal by Spartan standards, but after the war it seemed he still had much to do.
April 5th, 2553 – Australia – Sydney – ONI Head Quarters.
"Spartan-III's? Spartan-IV's?" The Spartan asked as he looked across the desk at the Older Woman. She nodded, and then began to look at some papers. Parangosky was her name, in her early nineties, and still head of ONI, she was an intimidating fellow whom Jastis wished he didn't have to associate with.
She slid a file across the desk and Jastis picked it up and looked at the pictures inside. They showed Onyx, the Spartan-III's, the UNSC Infinity, and the new Spartan-IV's. He felt mixed feelings, he had lost his childhood because he was deemed worthy to become a Spartans, and he didn't much like the ideas of more Spartan programs. The ONI Head began to explain in-depth more about the Spartan-III program and how his fellow Spartan's, Kurt, and Jorge had both participated in training them.
It made him slightly less worried about the III's but he was still skeptical. Then there was the IV's which Parangosky said that unlike the II's who were kidnapped, and III's who were orphans of the Human-Covenant War, IV's were soldiers who willingly volunteered to become the next Spartans, "As of this moment, you're being transferred to the UNSC Infinity, where you will overlook the Spartan-IV's."
"Why me? What about Fred, Kelly, or Linda? Hell even Mendez?" He protested.
She frowned, "They're already on board, except for Mendez. You will be the fourth Spartan-II training them. Some of the III's will also be present and also assimilated into the IV program."
Jastis put down the pictures, "Do I get a choice in this? I rather be out there stopping the recent insurrections then babysitting new Spartans."
"No, you're a Spartan and you will do your duty to the UNSC. This discussion is over; you will head to the nearest port and head off to the Infinity."
June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space – Unknown World
The door to the Drop ship opened, and stepped out for figures. They weren't human; one wasn't even organic or at least didn't look it. Three of them stood in what appeared to be very light skinned armor with purple visors, he couldn't make out any facial identification, but he did notice they had three fingers and their legs arched back a bit. The one synthetic, was red, with a various tubes over its body, it was similar to the other beings shape, with its legs going back, but its head was just a simple blue colored eye.
They all held weapons that were aren't anything he had seen before. Just for being non-human his reflexes wanted to react and snap all of their necks, but he had no idea where he was. All he knew is that they weren't from the covenant; at least they hadn't seen them during the war.
One of them spoke and to his surprise it was in English with an Arabic sounding accent, "Identify yourself!"
The one wearing blue and who appeared to be a female was the one who spoke to him, "Lieutenant Spartan-015 of the UNSC."
She cocked her head and then they each looked at each other and then back at the giant man in armor, "What is a Spartan, or for that matter, what is the UNSC?"
Now he knew for sure that they weren't from the Covenant. Although they seemed advanced… Why hadn't they encountered them before? "I am a Spartan, a Special Forces unit... The UNSC is the United Nations Space Command, also I am Humans, but what are you?"
"A Human yet you don't know what we are? Are you from the Alliance?"
Jastis nodded his head, they know of Humans… Yet there are no records of any of their races ever making contact with the UNSC, Insurrectionist, or Covenant, "No, I have no idea what you're or for the matter what this 'Alliance' you speak of, but you sound like you know Humans, if you wouldn't mind, please take me to a nearby Human."
That felt weird asking it like that…
They talked amongst their selves until they stopped and the female, whom he now believed to be the leader, spoke to him, "How can we trust you-your armor, it's like nothing we have ever seen, and how can we sure you're truly Human? You don't even know what the Alliance is!"
Deciding it was best not to piss of people he just met, he grabbed the back of his helmet and pulled it off revealing himself. Now they couldn't refute, but they still didn't trust him. That he couldn't blame them. "Believe me now?"
The strange looking Aliens nodded on that part, but weren't convinced they could trust him, "Just to make it fair, we're Quarian's, this is our world, Rannoch. Now tell us what you're doing here or else we will shoot at you."
"I was on one of our ships and were going through slip space when a sudden and abrupt shaking affected our ship. I was in a room with a window, with my armor's heavy weight, it shattered the window and I fell out. My armor allowed me to reenter normal space and when I did, I found myself outside your world. Then I proceeded to fall upon Rannoch and crash landed. Now I am here. Does that satisfy you?" He asked.
"Alright follow me, but if you make one wrong move, we will shoot you, no mercy." She stepped back into the Drop Ship and the three others waited outside, the Spartan then followed her, ducking his head so he didn't hit the top of the door. Inside he noticed it was fairly simple but it was advanced, but seemed almost archaic compared to the UNSC's new Forerunner, Human, Covenant-melded ship.
After he sat down, surprised it held his weight, the three others stepped inside and within a minute they were up in the air, flying over the deserts and barren lands. Inside they stared at him, they didn't appear to have seen a Human quite like him, and then again he wasn't an average Human. It took about an hour but they eventually reached a small settlement. They all stepped out of the Drop ship.
It was a small village but it was nice. He followed the aliens to a house, and female knocked on the door. With the Spartan's adept hearing he could hear the foot steps behind the door which grew louder until the door opened. Another female of the Quarian race appeared who was wearing a purple version of their outfit with various black and a hood.
The female bowed to the purple armored alien, "Tali'Zorah, we wish to see Commander Shepard."
"Yansia'Van? It's good to see you! What is the occasion-" Tali stopped and looked behind the female and saw the hulking man in heavy armor, unlike anything she had seen before, and she had seen a lot, "What or who is that?"
Yansia looked behind herself at the Spartan, "This is Spartan-015, at least that's what he says. Apparently he hails from something called the UNSC. He is Human, but this is his first contact with Quarian's, and Geth."
So is that what the robot looking thing is? A Geth?
Tali stared up at the Spartan, "Well it's nice to meet you, Spartan-015… This is strange… Please follow me inside." Yansia signaled for the three others to stay outside, but then looked at the Spartan which told him to follow.
Inside he stepped, the house was nice, and it reminded him of the insides of the buildings in New Alexandria, and back on Earth. "Shepard, guests have arrived, it appears… urgent," Tali spoke as they entered the main foyer. A man, human, was sitting on a couch looking at a holo television. He had pale skin, short black hair, and green eyes. But something about him made the Spartan believe he was one who had survived many battles.
Shepard stood up and walked over to the Spartan, there was something that felt off. The man reached out his arm, "John Shepard, nice to meet you."
AN: And that's where I will end it for now. I plan on writing the next Chapter soon. :) Be sure to leave a review, if people like it I will continue. Criticism is wanted, but no flaming. Be constructive. And if anyone acts out of place please tell me, or if I got a bit of lore wrong, I will be willing to go back and edit chapters.
Also Note that Shepard will NOT be a major character in this. At least not in the start, in the beginning he will act as a sort of mentor-like figure. Someone is going to have to teach him the way of this new universe.
Thanks for reading. :D