A/N This fic is AU. Do not know if I mentioned it before so I will now. Not much will be changed except for time. Time is the real factor hear. The Time line for the Mass universe is altered slightly in case you hadn't notice but only by exactly 300 years. So for those of you who read your codex it all happened on the same specific dates in the same order. Just add three hundred years to the date in mass effect to get the date in this fic. Examples 2069 July 20: Armstrong Outpost at Shackleton Crater is formally founded as the first human settlement on Luna, on the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing. Revised date to this even would be 2369 (I understand that this may contradict things I have already written but I assure you I plan to fix that if it is the case). As far as halo goes. Other than the fact that they where not actually on earth when they reached the ark the other change is that the dawn remains intact. And the Arbiter is "dead" as far as the chief knows anyway ill shut up now and let you read

Derelict Frigate Fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy

Deep in the far off reaches of space a battle scarred frigate glided through space. Its engines working on minimal power for the last fifty years had pushed it back to its home galaxy at last. The ship itself was large and industrial looking. An onyx gray box that appeared heavily fortified and battle worthy. Yet if one looked closely the scars of battle where evident the hull had scorch marks littering its outer shell and there where several smaller hull breaches. It had seen better days.

Inside the large vessel it was quite and dark. There was no activity to be seen. Its bunks lay empty. Its hallways where still. Not even the emergency lights remained active. The ship was a ghost Save a small pedestal. It was hear that the A.I known as Cortana stood. Coming on line to check on her charge. The only living occupant aboard the vessel. It was tragic. The entire situation was tragic. They where still so very far from there territory and at this rate she doubted that the impulse drive would carry them much further. Even at minimal power the fuel reserves where nearly depleted. She gave it another month before they would come to spaces equivalent of a dead stop. It seemed that it was finally the end. She hated herself for it. This had to be her fault.

She again replayed the events in her head. Right after she had plugged herself into the ship she should have shut the cargo bay doors. If she had done that then she might have at least been able to save the Arbiter. But the data was clear that it wouldn't have helped much. If anything he may have been crushed by the doors themselves in the process. The best case scenario he would have bled out after having his arm ripped off. She thought of other ways she could have gotten through the closing portal. Perhaps creating a slip space rupture. Again the data proved that this was too much of an unknown. It also would have been catastrophic as the drive would have been powered when the backlash from the portal hit the ship. This would have blown it to kingdom come instead of just frying the slip space drive

And she continued. Pouring over thousands of options and coming up with the same conclusions. She had done the best she could. The situation they where in was the best case scenario.

They where in all honesty very lucky. There was a very real chance that the radiation from the Halo would have killed John due to the proximity. However the ring being incomplete may have weakened the weapons effects to a localized blast. That combined with the large push the ship was given by the collapsing portal ensured there survival

Most would have found solace in that. That they had done the best that could be expected of them. To achieve the best of themselves. But as the AI reviewed her situation. It merely made her feel useless.

Because for all that she had done. He was most likely going to die. She would go rampant. And they would float on in there casket for eternity. This depression would have continued had an anomoly not appeared on the long range scanner. It was an object that while she was not familiar with she had knowledge of. It was a mass relay similar to the one that explorers from earth had used to reach what was now UNSC. Space. This was an exciting development. She may not be able to use the slip space drive but perhaps she could bring them closer to home using this. It was a long shot and involved great risk but it was there only hope. The knowledge for its use was ingrained in her memory. It had been given to her as one of the first data caches she had ever received. Being a ship AI it was invaluable knowledge in case one was ever located.

Several hours later the ship had finally come in range of the massive device. This was a transit relay and there where several destinations that the thing could send them too. Using star charts and logic she made a best guess assumption. And maneuvered the ship into position. She accelerated the ship along the side of the massive structure and the outside of the ship began to glow blue. Her last thought before entering the relay was along the lines of how similar this was to a slug being fired out of a MAC gun.

Presidium Embassies

Captain Anderson Sighed as he sat in Udina's office. He had finally traded in active duty for a desk job and he wasn't the least bit happy about it. The situation was defiantly not how he had wanted to end his career but he had enough dignity to at least act accordingly. He would rather of gotten killed in combat than end up like that drunk Harken. He was waiting on His reassignment orders. Shepard having left hours earlier that day for The Artemus Tao cluster to search for the Matriarch's daughter. He sighed hoping it would be as far away from here as possible. Udina made his skin crawl and the sooner he was away from that man the better off he would be. It was at that point that the terminal in the room began shrieking. Anderson became curious. That was a priority one message. Those could only be issued by the Council members themselves. As if summoned by his thoughts the holo terminals lit up and Anderson met the eyes of the Council themselves

"ANDERSON! We have just received word that a Dreadnought bearing a Human Insignia has just \ cleared the relay into citadel space and is headed this way. It has not responded on the Communications and is ignoring proper docking procedures. Not to mention that we have no record of this ship which is in clear violation of our previous agreements (AN I will edit this as to what the agreement is officially called. If anyone could help me out im talking about the fact that humans are only aloud a certain number of Dreadnought cruisers. In relation to the Counsel races) We demand and explanation." The Turian all but screamed in outrage. Anderson for his part had no idea what was going on and responded in kind.

"I'm as in the dark about this as you are. There was nothing told to me about a Dreadnought." He examined a holographic image of the ship closely. "And the only thing that marks it as human is the lettering. Other than that I haven't seen anything that even remotely resembling this design in any Alliance fleet." This had Anderson worried. He had next to know idea what was happening. He also lacked the clearance to know that he was telling the truth. Where the hell was Udina when you needed the man.

"That ship may bear our letters but it is of no affiliation to the Systems Alliance" Udina replied coolly as he stepped into the room. "This is probably something cooked up by the Batarians to breed distrust among us." he keyed in some thing on his terminal and the holograph of the ship in question zoomed in on the supposed Human lettering. It was a symbol that vaguely resembled that of the United Sates Eagle with the letters UNSC. Written underneath as well as the ships name. "Forward Unto Dawn"

"The only thing Close to a reference such as this is the Emblem for the United States. A small governing body on earth. Whoever set this up wasn't even able to get the proper Acronym" Udina said with an almost chuckle.

"At any rate this warship is a threat to the citadel and we will not hesitate to use lethal force if required." added The Asari Councilor It was at this point that a voice was heard over the loud speaker in the room. "Ambassador Udina, This is Alliance Tower we have just received a message from the warship. Patching it through now. " This is Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, Acting commander of the UNSC frigate forward Unto Dawn. We mean no harm. Repeat we mean no harm."

"Have him stand down. We will send a contingency of Asari Commandos from the Destiny Assertion to escort a leader to the counsel Chambers Provided this isn't a trap and see whats going on here." The Salarian stated. Speaking for the first time.

Udina angrily replied. "They spoke through our channels. Perhaps we were mistaken. We have a right to..."

"To nothing Ambassador. After all this is nothing but a hoax meant to make your people look bad. Meaning this is Council business. Unless theres something you had withheld." Replied the Turian smugly. "I thought as much." he responded to the silence.

"We will inform you of our findings Ambassador should it be important to you." the Asari placated before ending with. "if you will excuse us we have to prepare." With that the holograms faded.