DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN HALO OR MASS EFFECT, THEY BELOND TO 343 AND BIOWARE. MICROSOFT AND EA.
AN: Rannoch has a 32.3 Hour Day Length. So I was trying to coordinate what time it would be day light, and such. It may be slightly off, but I tried the best I could.
Also Shepard on Rannoch is because he romanced Tali, in ME3, they said that after the war, they would go back to Rannoch and build her a home.
Also BIG NOTE AND CHANGE TO THE STORY! With the new Extended Cut, the story now follows the Destroy ending with some alterations, well less alterations and more 'fixes' that happen after. Such as the Geth are rebuilt by everyone with full sentience and stuff like that. It also follow the most perfect version of destroy and in this confirms as hinted that Shepard lived.
(Edit: As of 9/26/2012, I have edited the first chapter to also state that it takes place after destroy ending.)
Enjoy. :) Also if you hadn't checked, the first Chapter has been edited a while ago.
June 5th, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System - Rannoch – 2100 Hours.
"Spotted anything?" Asked a Quarian sitting down fooling around with his Omni-Tool. Another standing up, looking out at the endless barren lands simply sighed and turned to his comrade.
"Not a damn thing, same old same old, just barren wastes. You know, when we took back Rannoch, I was hoping I would be part of construction… But no, I get placed on guard duty."
The other Quarian stopped fooling around and then stood up, "What's up with that anyway? Honestly… What are we supposed to be watching out for? Geth that are malfunctioned? Raiders? Reapers that may have survived?"
"Can't say Royis, they didn't get specifics," Royis just shook his head at the other Quarian's statement.
Royis went back to his Omni-Tool bored out of his mind. Together they sat on a watch tower, in the middle of nowhere, with just a couple of buildings behind them. Just a simple outpost. "We should rebel against them, Yisor," Royis spoke jokingly.
"Yeah… You go do that. Tell me how that turns out," Yisor spoke as he looked away from the barren wastes and noticed a Red Geth coming up to the tower, "damn… Tin boy coming up to the tower."
The Geth didn't climb up the ladder; it just simply looked up and called out, "Yisor Ensign, anything spotted?"
"Nothing, we will tell you when there is something," Just as he spoke he heard a loud roaring noise in the distance, he went to the front of the tower and looked out and then up in the sky. It was far and he couldn't make it out but he saw something falling from the sky. "Got something! It's roughly… 120 Kilometers away..! It will be impacting the land in ten minutes going by its speed."
Looking back he saw the Geth leaving in hurry and ten minutes later a team was ready and a drop ship made its way to the impact site.
June 5th, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System - Rannoch – 2400 Hours.
They landed near the crater and ran up to it. A Quarian with a Vindicator went down into the crater and spoke, "Nothing. There is the impact crater… But nothing else."
"Yansia'Van Leader, I detect nothing in the crater. No residue, no scraps. Just a simple crater. 99.8% chances are that what was in the crater has now moved elsewhere." The Geth spoke as its eye scanned the crater. Yansia put her Vindicator on her back, and began to move around the crater looking for something, some trace.
Taking her Omni-Tool, she scanned the ground and it she saw the foot ingrain in the ground, whatever had moved it was heavy. She signaled for everyone to come and take a look, "Let's get back in the Drop ship. We can follow the tracks from the air, because I don't see what ever got out in the distance."
Together they boarded the Drop ship, and they began to fly in the direction of the footsteps. The Sun began to lower down as they went and the clouds began to gather, it was to rain soon. It would be harder to spot, the thing they were looking for in it, but they continued on. Eventually the trail began to go colder with the rain, but they believed they still had a good trial.
For what were many hours, they rode through the rain, and eventually when the sun began to rise again, and the rain stopped. They saw their target. It was moving extremely fast over the landscape. But then when they got closer to the ground, the thing stopped, and looked up at them. It was humanoid shaped, and immediately began to suspect it was human, but it was bigger than any she had seen before and the armor was unknown.
They landed the Drop Ship ahead of it.
June 6th, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System - Rannoch – 0900 Hours.
The Spartan looked out at John's hand and shook it, "The pleasure is mine." The commander looked at the Spartan and then back at Yansia.
"So what is his story?" Shepard spoke as he sat down, he gestured for the rest to do the same, so Tali and Yansia sat down but the Spartan still stood. "Are you going to sit down?"
"I can't sir; I don't believe it can within stand my weight," Jastis responded.
John was confused by the statement but smiled, "It can hold the weight of Krogan, it can hold yours."
These Krogan's must be another race, big I assume.
The Spartan went over to the couch and sat down, surprised that it was still standing. John took a glass of water on the table in the center of the couches and chairs and drank from it and shook his head as if he was trying to make himself more awake. "So, please tell, Yansia."
"Sir, yesterday on June 5th, two Quarian's at an outpost spotted an object falling at tremendous speed and over 120 kilometers away at 2100 Hours. We investigated the crash site and found no one, so we continued to search until we found him. This Spartan as he called himself."
"Spartan?" John asked, "like the Sparta in Ancient Greece?"
The Spartan nodded and Yansia continued, "When we eventually found him, he told us he was a Lieutenant from the UNSC, United Nations Space Command. Also this is his first time meeting a Quarian or Geth, he also stated he doesn't know what the Alliance is."
"How is that you don't know of the alliance? It is after all Humanity's main fighting force. Earth's military and political side," John inquired.
What? No, that can't be right.
Jastis shook his head, "You're mistaken, Earth's main government is the UEG, Unified Earth Government, and its military force is the UNSC. Only four years ago in 2553, we finally ended the war with the Covenant. You must all know that, right?"
"2553? Spartan, this is 2191," Shepard told him.
For a moment the room fell silent, 2191 was 365 years ago from 2556. Something had gone wrong, more than just falling through slip space. The only logical theory that came to his mind was that he was in another dimension. After all it couldn't be his dimension, back in 2100's, they were just forming the UEG and the UNSC, The Rain Forest Wars had happened and so did the Interplanetary War. No Alliance, Quarian's, or Geth to speak of.
Before he could respond Tali was quick to speak, "So what, you're from the future where there is no more Quarian's or Geth?"
Jastis shook his head, he knew what had happened, it was only a theory but it was the only way to logically explain where was. "No, not the future, but another dimension. That's the only logical thing I can think of. Because back in the 2100's we still hadn't made first contact with any other life, in fact the UNSC didn't come into first contact with other life until 2525 at the colony Harvest which was attacked by the Covenant."
Once more silence hit the room, the revelation was strange, they had encountered perilous dangers but never once a being from another dimension. Shepard folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, "Another dimension you say… What proof do you have? For all we know this could be just made up hogwash and this is all just some ploy."
"To be fair sir, the Spartan did fall from orbit. I don't know any armor we have that can survive that sort of fall and be nearly in perfect condition. You of all people must know that," Yansia added in.
Shepard knew that all too well, after their first encounter with the collectors aboard the original Normandy. He saved Joker, their pilot, but John had gotten hit and his oxygen tubes had been broken and he gasped for air as he fell to the planet blow burning up to a crisp. While he had been 'revived' by Cerberus after two years of work on the Lazarus Project, which the sole purpose of the project was to bring him back. Only during the war with the Reapers when they raided Cerberus's Headquarters did he learn the extent of how bad condition he was in when they found him, he was roasted, and he could barely even be identified.
"Even so, I will need to have some proof, does that suit of armor your wearing have any sort of recording functions to show us your dimension? Or a codex of sorts?" The commander insisted.
Jastis didn't have a codex, doesn't even know if such a thing exists in his dimension, but he did have recordings of previous battles over the years. "I do have a recording system, but I don't have anything to project them out of. Your technology doesn't appear to be the same as my own."
The Quarian, Tali, decided to help, "We probably could find something; there must be some similarities, something that can bridge the two technologies."
"Is there any way for me to send you the videos? Do you have something I can send them to, maybe my suit can detect its frequencies."
Out of her arm an orange holographic gauntlet appeared, and she began to interact with it, and she noticed it could connect with the suit, it couldn't hack into it, not that she attempted anyway, but a link could be established. As she worked with it, he noticed on his HUD that she was connecting, and thus he simply forwarded the videos he deemed best to see. It only took mere seconds for Tali to get all of the video files, once she was satisfied; she stood up and went over to the holo television, and it began to play.
November 5th, 2552 – Earth – North America – Rhode Island
Jastis ran down the street and slid into cover when he heard noises ahead, the distinct noises of a band of brutes. The buildings around him were burning, and civilian bodies littered the ground mixed in with some army troop's corpses. He looked above, Longswords flew by shooting Seraphs. One of the Seraphs got hit and crashed into the building next to him. Debris fell and Jastis ran out of the way as it smashed against the ground.
Moving on he stopped right before where he knew the Brutes were; they were looking around for any survivors to kill. They began to split up; three went in his direction, and two in another. Stepping silently into a building, he waited in its shadows, for them to arrive. It had appeared to be an office building, desks were on the ground alongside computers, wires were sparking, and fires were breaking out across the floor.
When the Brutes moved across his sight, he pulled out his knife and vaulted over his cover and before they could react he slammed the knife into one of their necks and repeatedly stabbed until he was sure it was dead. The other two brutes reacted, one brought down its gravity hammer and Jastis rolled away and the grav hammer annihilated the ground where it hit. Then the second shot its brute shot at him and Jastis kept dodging.
Leaping behind cover, Jastis saw the top of a grenade and he picked up out from the hands of a dead trooper whose body was crushed by a large debris. He readied it and then threw it out of cover, the two brutes saw it and made away but their shields took a hit bringing them down a bit, Jastis left his cover from the other way and aimed at them with his pistol and shot the brute with the brute shot and killed it with shots to the head. But the Brute Chieftain with the gravity hammer didn't go down as easily.
Its power armor activated and a shimmer of blue covered the Brute Chieftain and it rushed at him with the grav hammer in hand ready to strike. He would have to disable the power armor if he wanted to kill it. It wasn't like the power armor of some other Chieftains but similar to the ones worn on Reach that were far more resilient. With his pistol in hand and no other gun, the Spartan was forced to have to make a temporary retreat.
Jastis turned and ran and stopped when he found a BR55HB SR Battle Rifle or BR for short with some ammo, picking it up the Super soldier ran up some nearby stairs and spotted the Brute rushing at him still. They were strong, but not as quick. Aiming down with his BR he began to rapid fire at the brute and its armor began to dwindle and just as the Brute reached the stairs feet the shield was down. It ran and jumped up the stairs and slammed down the hammer and the Spartan ran into the building and waited for the Brute to enter.
Taking out his magnum he waited and when the Brute came slamming in, the Spartan unleashed his ammo onto the Brute's head, it's blood splattering across the walls, it fell down to the ground and the grav hammer hit the ground with a large slamming noise. Knowing there was no time to wait, the Spartan picked up the grav hammer and made his way back to the streets. His radio picked up a signal.
"This is Charlie Squad! Request back up at the entrance of Harvest Street, Sector 12, we're pinned down and need urgent help!" A marine spoke over the radio.
Jastis replied, "This is Lieutenant Spartan-015; I am close by and will provide support."
"Thank god! Thought we were goners!"
Without further wait the Spartan moved across the street and reached Sector 11, and saw in his field of view the entrance of Harvest Street where Charlie Squad was. Grunts, Jackals, Brutes, and Drones were raining down upon their position. Just as he was reaching the squad into Sector 12, the video stopped.
Present Time
They all looked at Shepard who had stopped the video, "I have seen enough, there isn't any doubt that you are from another dimension, this video is proof of that."
"What were those aliens? I have never seen before, I assume they must exist in your dimension?" Spoke Tali.
Jastis nodded and then responded with, "Jiralhanae and from that response I assume they don't exist in yours."
"Correct."
It was then that the second Quarian spoke, "So, if I may ask since this is something that has never happened before. What is your dimension like? Your history? You gave us a tidbit-"
"Now. Now, this isn't an interrogation," Shepard addressed, "When he wants to speak he shall. At the moment, I think we should address the larger problem at hand. What are we going to do?"
What will us? He was stuck in another dimension, no easy sign of getting home…
Tali clapped her hands together, "Shall we call the alliance? He is military after all. I wish we could help him in some way, but I have no idea where to start. But- the Alliance maybe the best place for him now."
John agreed, and Yansia had no objection, and for Jastis… He couldn't really argue, it was a right decision, but they would need to test him most likely, and will want to look through his armor. The Spartan didn't like the idea of them learning of his augmentations, especially since he doesn't know their laws. Then there was his MJOLNIR, he couldn't simply hand it over. But what other choice did he have?
"I shall go to the Alliance that you speak of," He proclaimed, and John simply nodded and went onto his Omni-tool and sent a message to his friend Marcus Renidor, one of the few people he genuinely trusted and then he waited for a response. Most likely he would be on Earth, still rebuilding, it's still quite a mess after the Reaper attack.
Soon he got a response; John didn't go into to detail, so Marcus assumed that he would get the full detail when he would arrive. It wouldn't take long, but at least an hour at best for Marcus's ship to arrive, get to Rannoch and then land; the message stated they would land in the nearby space port, so they had to leave if they wanted to not let Marcus wait.
Shepard stood up and explained to them just that, so all of them stood up as well and left the house. Once outside, Yansia updated her squad and them along with herself, left and went back to their outpost. Jastis once more stepped into the vehicle he rode earlier.
Time to meet these alliance people…
AN: Thanks for reading! I should have gotten this out a really long time ago, but hadn't been in the mood. I ended this earlier then I wanted to but I wished to get at least something out. And with the new changes I may or may not have to edit the previous chapter.
Please review and give good criticism and examples. Don't say: "This character is off."
Say: "This character is off because of blah blah."
Well thanks again!
Also a very short short CODEX:
Name: Marcus Renidor
Race: Human.
Age: 32
Born: 2/04/2159
Home world: Earth.
Bio: Marcus Renidor is an Earthling who serves in the Systems Alliance and since the passing of the war with the reapers is a captain, and yields the ship SSV Colorado. He was the person to find Shepard in the broken down citadel who was barely alive.
Note: Originally before the Extended Cut (As it was going to go with the indoctrination theory), Marcus was supposed to be Anderson, but with following the Destroy ending… He is no longer present. D: