Hey guys, I really appreciate the reviews I've gotten so far, and I'm hoping for more. A few things pointed out by Cryolophosaurus (thanks for pointing out some errors, and/or confusions, but I personally think that in some cases you care a little too much about the details, like with the thing about the armour lock. It's called fanfiction for a reason.) Is that for starters in the game Halo: Reach Dot is actually on Reach with Six. While I'm admitting that this may be a bit of an error in terms to the actual story in Halo Reach, in this facfic, each member of Noble has a copy of Dot installed in their helmet just for convenience. Now before any of you start objecting, remember that in the Halo novels, (I think it was First Strike) they made hundreds, if not thousands of copies of Cortana at one point. Now an excellent question that I'm sure a lot of you have is how some of the Spartans on Noble team are going to make it. After all as pointed out by Gone Rampant: 'Kat gets shot, Carter gets blown up, and Emile and Six get stabbed. How are they gonna make it?' These are all great questions, and will be answered in the next couple chapters... and I'm going to answer one of them right now.
Disclaimer: Okay, do I seriously need to do one of these things every time I post a chapter?
Chapter 2: I Know We're Losing... I Want To Know If We've Lost
"Keep 'em, he gave them to you... I'll honour him my own way." Emile vowed holding up his kukri knife as Six clenched Jorge's dog tags.
"Jorge always said, he would never leave Reach." Jun murmured as he mourned the lost Spartan.
Giving a sad chuckle, Emile grinned "The big man was sentimental."
Carter – thinking that Emile was disrespecting Jorge – immediately snapped "He gave his life thinking he'd just saved the planet, we should all be so lucky."
Thinking back to their current situation Jun asked his superior "Sir, is it true about Gauntlet, Red, and Echo teams being assigned to civilian evac ops?"
Knowing exactly who had told him that, Carter turned to Kat muttering dangerously "Those are senior level communiqués."
"I hear what I hear." Kat retorted. "Point is: why put Spartans on defensive deployments?"
Not responding Carter sighed "I need that link to SATCOM Kat."
"Chasing it," She grumbled "but this console's got more shrapnel in it than transceivers... you didn't answer my question."
"You want to know if we're losing?" he demanded exasperatedly.
"I know we're losing... I want to know if we've lost." Her thoughts were then interrupted by a beeping sound. "Colonel Holland! Hailing us... what's he doing on an open channel?"
Curious as to what could be so important to the Colonel for him to risk himself like this, Carter ordered Kat to let them hear the message. *- in the southwest quadrant of the city, over? Sierra-two-five-nine, if you are receiving I am authorizing override of radio security protocols to link with this channel.*
"How long do we have a secure link?" Carter cautiously asked Kat.
"I can't guarantee 'secure' anymore." Kat admitted.
"Could the Covenant trace it to us?"
"I could."
*Noble leader, this is a priority one hail. If you are receiving acknowledge immediately.*
Handing the radio to her superior, Noble Two warned him "Keep it brief."
Holding the radio close, Noble One said "Carter here, yes sir..."
While the Commander and the Colonel talked, Jun announced "We've got movement: multiple Covenant vehicles vacating the area. And they're in a hurry."
"How often do you see Covenant retreat for no reason?" Emile wondered, hate in his voice as he spoke of the genocidal invaders.
Before anyone could respond to that, Kat reported "Radiation flare, big! Forty million roentgens"
Losing Holland's radio signal, Carter asked Kat what the hell was happening, who explained how atomic excitement had scrambled the signal, and that now there were now ninety million roentgens. When asked what the source was, Noble's second in command said that it was airborne, and that it was close.
"How close?" Carter demanded, now worried. Less than a second later an explosion knocked all five Spartans off their feet.
"THAT CLOSE!" Kat screamed, the Spartan squad ran over to the elevators, with Carter, Jun, and Emile in one, and Kat and Six in the second. "Our best option is a fallout bunker on sub-level two, ninety-six kilometres northeast. We get orders from Holland sir?"
Noble One immediately answered calmly "We're being redeployed to Sword base."
The rest of the squad was anything but calm as Jun objected "Sword? Covenant own it now!"
Being a soldier to the core, Carter informed Noble team of how the Colonel needed them for a torch-and-burn op to prevent Dr. Halsey's excavation data from falling into enemy hands. Kat quickly pointed out the Covenant could have already taken all the information they needed.
"Maybe," Noble's leader admitted "but according to Holland the Covenant are still hunting for something."
Confused and annoyed, Noble Two wondered "Where the hell does the Colonel get off calling a demolition a priority one-" but before she could finish her question, Kat felt something strike the back of her helmet, and she fell to the ground like a rag doll. Blinking in confusion, Kat looked at where her HUD was supposed to be. After couple of seconds, she realized that her armour had lost all power. Even for a Spartan, trying to move inside MJOLNIR armour with no power was like trying to lift a mountain. As Six rolled her over so he could grab her pistol, Kat saw a phantom overhead and realized that she'd just been shot by a sniper with a Covenant armour piercing needle, and that it had destroyed her helmet's wireless central programming chip. That chip was basically the MJOLNIR armour's equivalent of a brain stem, and with it destroyed, every system in her armour was completely uncoordinated and powerless.
With the rest of Noble providing cover fire, Six dragged Kat's immobile body into the elevator.
Kat felt pathetic.
She was a Spartan; a beacon of hope for humanity; a symbol of everything the Covenant feared. And she couldn't even talk since her helmet's external speakers weren't working.
"Kat, can you hear me? Kat, are you okay? Damn it Kat! ANSWER ME!" Carter screamed in desperation as he looked at Kat's limp form.
"Sir," Jun interrupted, sorrow in his voice. "I'm not picking up anything from Kat's vital systems... I'm sorry Carter, she's gone."
Kat then realized that the rest of the squad didn't even know about the chip. 'Of course they didn't' Kat was the squad's tech. The other Nobles had been happy to simply figure out all the MJOLNIR armour's programs. Kat had been the only one of them to go over every single detail as to how the suit worked and what it was made up of. Even if they did know that the chip existed, the armour piercing round should have gone straight through Kat's entire helmet – or at least splattered her brain against her visor. The only reason it hadn't was because of her suit's shields, and that the sniper who'd shot her had been sloppy cleaning his rifle.
Thinking that Noble Two was dead, Noble's leader tore off his helmet and slumped against the wall, with an expression of complete and utter failure on his face – an expression that Kat would never forget.
Noble team made a small detour to a large lake that was practically a small ocean several dozen kilometres southwest of Sword base. Carter had held Kat – carrying her – the entire trip. Every chance he'd gotten he'd looked at Kat's visor, and Kat just couldn't ignore the look of inexplicable loss in his eyes. Carter lowered his head until his forehead was touching Kat's helmet. He then whispered "I'm so sorry Kat... I failed you." A single tear escaped his eye.
Kat was shocked beyond reason at this; in all her years serving on Noble team, she had never seen Carter cry – or even get watery eyes for that matter – not even when the original Noble Six had died. She wanted to do nothing else other than scream: 'You've got nothing to be sorry about Carter! You didn't fail me, I'm fine!' But she couldn't, and it broke her heart.
The area was then lit up by a bright blue light, and out of the corner of her eye Kat saw a blue flare being ignited; a flare to mark her 'death'.
Her fellow Spartans then loaded her up onto a weak wooden makeshift raft. They were going to push her out into the lake, and her thousand-pound MJOLNIR armour would quickly sink the raft, and Kat would drown.
Several minutes later, Kat was sinking like a rock, and it was going to take even longer for her to die because even with no power, her suit's oxygen delivery system was automatic. As she descended thousands of metres towards the bottom, her Spartan-enhanced eyes began to notice some kind of structure in the bottom of the lake. As she sank deeper, Kat realized that she was looking at a Forerunner relic, and if the faint blue glow was anything to go by, it was active. For several seconds Kat wondered how no one on the planet had found this place, until she remembered that Reach had always been the UNSC's military core; and as a result the people here were a lot more focused on making sure the UNSC stayed strong rather than running around with cameras recording everything.
This was the last thought her calculating mind had before she fell into the portal of the aquatic Forerunner relic.
"Let me see if I've got all this straight." Shepard said, his mind reeling from what Jorge had told him. "You're a super-soldier from another galaxy, where humanity has been fighting for its very survival for twenty five years or so against an alliance of alien species known as 'The Covenant'. You were protecting a planet called 'Reach' where you intended to sacrifice yourself to destroy a thirty kilometre Covenant Capitol ship. Then, acting on instinct, you programmed the ship for a… 'slipspace jump' at the same time you detonate a bomb, then you end up here."
"That about sums it up." Jorge responded. "If you don't believe me, feel free to either check my helmet's video logs, or ask Dot whatever questions you might have."
"Wait, Dot, did you have a companion on that ship?" Miranda asked the Spartan.
"Not exactly," Jorge explained, "Dot's a standard issue AI for everyone on Noble team: the squad of Spartans I was serving in. Say hi to everyone Dot."
Everyone in the med bay was surprised to suddenly hear a calm synthesized feminine voice – much like EDI's – coming from Jorge's helmet. "Hello, I am the Auntie Dot AI, a construct of The UNSC. My primary function is to assist the soldiers of Spartan-squad Noble, Noble Five in particular."
Curious about the AI's last statement, Shepard asked "Why's she so close to you Jorge?"
"Each member of Noble team has a copy of Dot, this one's mine."
"You're telling me that an unshackled artificial intelligence is standard issue for your squad? Here, AI's are illegal in order to prevent the possibility of them causing some kind of genocide for organics." Miranda gaped, incredulous as to how casually Jorge talked about it. She thought to herself 'I'll admit that Cerberus didn't exactly follow Council laws when we made EDI. But we only made the one, and even then we took every possible precaution."
Jorge countered "The UNSC has been using AI's for decades; we wouldn't be able to run most of our equipment nearly as efficiently without them. And they've especially proven to be damn useful in our war against the Covenant. But enough about me, I'm not even in the same galaxy anymore, and frankly, I'd like to find out more about where the fuck I am."
"I can imagine." Shepard sighed. "I think a good start for you would be to get an omni-tool, and start reading the codex on it. It should be able to tell you just about everything you need to know about this galaxy. If you have any other questions about how to use an omni-tool, or about anything else, feel free to ask either me, Miranda, or EDI – the ship's artificial intelligence. I'll also make sure someone gets you a translator."
Nodding in understanding, Jorge took the small device offered to him by the Commander, then walked into the mess hall to read in peace for the next couple of hours, while Shepard, Kasumi, and Jacob returned to the wreck of the Corvette to salvage any useful materials. EDI was very helpful in answering any questions Jorge had about the strange piece of tech, and after several minutes Jorge got the hang of the omni-tool. He read everything he could about the history of the galaxy he was in, and all the different races that made up galactic society. Fortunately for Jorge, he had always been a smart person, and combined with the Spartan augmentations to his brain, his mind was practically a sponge as he continuously absorbed information. By the time he was finished with the codex and the extranet, Jorge knew as much about the galaxy as any other person Shepard had come across. He also discovered that Shepard was a very prominent figure in the galaxy, and that he'd earned quite a number of impressive titles over the past several years; Hero of the Skyllian Blitz; Liberator of Eden Prime; first human Spectre; Saviour of the Citadel. He frowned when he read about Shepard 'dying' but Jorge remembered that even in the UNSC, specialists – particularly those working for ONI – had sometimes faked their death to do covert ops.
Learning all he felt he needed to know for now, Jorge met with the Commander shortly afterwards. He sighed, "Well Shepard, I know a fair bit about where I am now, but I've got absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with myself. I can't even get back to my home – or what's left of it – because I showed up here entirely by accident. Besides, the Corvette's slipspace core is destroyed. And even if I could do the same thing again, there's no telling where I would end up next time."
Thinking carefully, Shepard asked "What do think your options are?"
"I suppose I'll probably enlist with the Alliance." Jorge answered, "It's the closest thing I'll find to the UNSC, and I'll still be protecting humanity. I've got no intentions of selling myself out as a mercenary."
Liking his answer, Shepard smiled "That sounds like a good idea, but I've got something I'd like to tell you." he told the Spartan, "For the past year or so, entire colonies – human colonies – have been getting abducted by a mysterious race called the Collectors."
"I read about them a little on the extranet." Jorge murmured, his voice sounding both interested and suspicious. "They supposedly have technology more advanced than anyone else in the galaxy, and they're so rare most people don't even think they're real. You're telling me they've been abducting human colonies?"
"Yes," Shepard sighed, "I'm currently on a mission to stop the Collectors, but I'm going to need the best this galaxy has to offer. Even if I get it, this mission is considered both impossible and suicidal."
"I'm in."
"What?" Shepard couldn't contain his surprise at the Spartan's acceptance of an offer he hadn't even technically made yet.
"You said you're going to need the best. I am the best; I'm a god damned Spartan. These things are abducting humans, and Spartans were created to protect humanity. I'm in, Shepard."
Smiling warmly, Shepard extended his hand towards the super-soldier, who immediately shook it. "Welcome aboard Jorge."
Tali was getting frustrated; all they'd been able to find out about why Haestrom's sun had been getting 'old' in less than a couple centuries was that dark energy was reducing the mass of the star's interior. They had no idea about how or why it had happened. She'd quickly ruled out it being some type of WMD for the geth: it was too inefficient to be a real weapon, and this cluster was part of geth space – why would they destroy a system they controlled? To add to her frustration, since her team was trying to avoid attention from the geth, it meant she couldn't send any rare geth materials back to the fleet for her father's project. Tali sighed in exhaustion – it had been a long day, and she'd just spent the last hour checking over her suit – she was ready to turn in for the night.
She walked over to where her team had set up camp, only to be interrupted by Kal' Reegar's voice over her helmet radio. *Ma'am, our sensors just picked up some really weird readings coming from that prothean relic by the colony's centre. You might want to come over and check it out, I think one of the techs said it might be coming online.* Tali remembered that even though her people had come to this system centuries ago to study the system's star, they had decided to colonize the planet when they had found a very unique prothean relic on the planet's surface. The founding structure for the three-hundred year old stone-and-steel buildings on Haestrom had been inspired after studying the relic's unbelievably tough metal alloy.
Quickly deciding that investigating a seemingly random activation from the ancient structure could be important – or at least very interesting – Tali touched her hand to her radio and replied: "Roger that Kal', I'm on my way."
Tali showed up at the relic site in just a couple of minutes – they'd only set up camp a few hundred metres from it. She arrived to find her scientists and her guards looking at the relic in awe as a blue sphere of light formed at a site where several small columns came together. It grew larger and brighter until it looked as if it was about to explode. Then something happened that no one could have predicted: the armoured body of a human shot out of the sphere, landing right in front of Tali. Then – just as suddenly as it had activated – the relic shut down.
Tali looked at the limp form in front of her in complete shock. 'A human? Why did a human just get transported here by a prothean relic that's been inactive for at least centuries?' Her thoughts were interrupted as one of the scientists stepped forward to do a quick scan of the newcomer with his omni-tool, while the quarian marines kept their rifles pointed at it in case it tried anything.
"Miss Zorah, the human's alive. But it seems that the armour she's wearing doesn't have any power – and it looks like this suit requires a lot of it – so she's completely immobile. What are your orders?"
Wanting to know how the human had gotten there, Tali asked the scientist if the human was conscious. After confirming that it was, she told him to remove the human's helmet.
The last thing Kat remembered was falling into a Forerunner structure at the bottom of a very deep lake, and then all of a sudden she was on dry land surrounded by humanoid creatures completely covered in strange looking suits. These aliens weren't a known Covenant race; what were they? One of the creatures crouched over her and waved a strange holographic device over her head, and after a few seconds spoke in a strange language to what seemed to be a female of the species. After a short conversation transpired between the two, the male grabbed her helmet and removed it.
Tali told the scientist to back away so she could talk to the woman, who had a bewildered look on her face. She crouched down to look the stranger in the eye and asked "Who are you, and how did you activate that relic?"
The human looked at her as if Tali had suddenly grown a second head and said "Listen alien. Maybe you can't tell, but we're completely different species; so we don't exactly speak the same language. Wait, why am I even talking to you? It's not like you understand me or anything."
Taking a closer look, Tali realized that the woman didn't have a translator for some reason. She quickly grabbed a spare from one of her men, and then made the proper adjustments for the human to the device with her omni-tool. She then grabbed the woman's head – to which she responded by screaming at Tali asking 'what the hell she was trying to do to her' – then put the translator into her right ear. Tali then immediately got up and repeated her question.
Kat was astonished as Tali's strange speech suddenly made perfect sense to her. Then – thinking quickly after noticing the multiple rifles pointed at her – responded, "How about you see if you can restore power to my armour so I can move, then I'll gladly answer as many questions as I can."
Alright, so what to you guys think? Was this an acceptable loophole around Kat's death?
Seeing that I like feedback from my audience, one thing I'd appreciate is ideas for; possible directions to take the story; how certain characters will get along with one another; and even potential romances. Please keep in mind the thing I said about Shepard staying faithful to Ashley, and I don't want any 'sex-buddy' romances. I suppose it could possibly start out as that kind of relationship, but eventually it would grow into something more meaningful. Also, please don't just shout out the first idea that comes to mind; I'd like to understand your reasons as to why you think that idea could be interesting, and how it could influence the characters and the story as a whole.
I'd like to explain a few things that some the Mass Effect/Halo nerds are probably going to complain about if I don't clear it up. The thing about the central programming ship being in the helmet despite how frequently Spartans remove them; please keep in mind that I said it was wireless. Also, I don't know if Noble team actually dumped Kat's body in a lake, but in this fanfic they do, okay? And about Kat being beneath thousands of metres of water, and not being crushed under the pressure, keep in mind that the Spartan's armour (namely Six's) was able to fall through the atmosphere – which destroys most meteorites – and take little to no damage as we see when Jorge throws Six back down to Reach. Does that necessarily mean it would be able to take that kind of pressure? I don't really know, but in this fanfic, it can. As for the forerunner portal; it's one-way – like the Conduit – and only transports solid objects. If there's anything else I missed that you'd like me to explain, then please say so in the reviews. And if you simply don't like the way I'm crossing over the Mass Effect/Halo universes, no one's forcing you to read this story.
Just so you know, we're probably not going to be hearing that much (maybe a little) form Kat and Tali until Shepard goes to Haestrom to recruit them. And I'll probably change the rating of this fanfic to M in the next chapter just to be on the safe side. Hope you guys like this, see you soon.
