Advent Of the Reclaimer Empire

by WaaagMaster

110,000 years have passed since the fall of the Ancient Human Empire. When the Great War at last came to a close it would lay down the foundations of something that has not been seen in over 100,000 years, a resurgent people, a revived empire. But one final test remains, the Reclamation has at last begun... [AU]

2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer I Own Nothing, Beta'ed by Debye

"When the Great War ended, Humanity was devastated, over five hundred colonies rendered uninhabitable, six out of every ten men, women, and children slain. We needed hope, an assurance that Humanity could still function and we found it… in our past."

-Secretary-General Anita Goyle on the significance of the Heian discovery, and the founding of the United Worlds Directorate and the Reclaimer Empire.

OPERATION: Midnight Stroll

The Jungle floor was pristine. Great trunks reached up over a hundred meters into the night sky, while great branches sprouted out of the vast trees and intertwined with one another, their leaves creating an impenetrable canopy that blocked out both sun and star.

It was because of this that the Jungle floor was undisturbed until now, at the base of two of Wooden Giants who were no more than fifteen meters apart crouched four figures, three men and one women waited for the fifth member of their group to return.

They were in pairs, each pair behind one of the two trunks. One pair comprising of the younger members of the team were a Lieutenant (junior grade), and a Warrant Officer, they were Templars -Three and -Four respectively of Fireteam Templar. They were encased in black bodysuits, over which they wore light grey, dark green striped power armor, whose lights pulsed a soft blue. The senior of the two commandos cradled a long twin-pronged rifle in her grasp; it was an Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine. The latest in a long generation of man-portable railguns. The other of the two wielded a MA9a Gauss Assault Rifle, which was the newest in an even longer line of Rifles. Their Dark Green markings showed them to be Jump-Jet specialists, their hallmark jetpacks deactivated on their backs.

To their left crouched the second pair. They were the Fireteam's Commander and Executive officer, a Lieutenant Commander, and a Lieutenant respectively. The executive officer like the junior members of the group wore a black bodysuit and light grey armor and soft blue lights, call sign Templar-Two. But his markings were of a deep orange, a support specialist. He wielded a M744 Light Machine Gun, and as a secondary armament a grenade launcher slung across his back. The Fireteam leader was similar to the rest of his squad, except for the blood red stripes that he wore, they marked his as unit leader for the duration of the mission as Templar-One.

The Fireteam leader sat crouched his MA9a, cradled in his arms, as his left knee dug softly into the unpacked dirt. At the top of his HUD was a solid blue bar, in the bottom right was an ammo-counter, and on its opposite side was a motion tracker that read clear. Above this but below the Shield Bar was a cluster of five lights all green. Cold blue eyes scanned the power armor's heads up display, until the fifth light blinked yellow before returning to green. His motion tracker showed a yellow dot make its move to his left. Soundlessly the final member of the squad made his appearance and standing at seven foot twelve he was by far the tallest of them.

"Report" Ordered Templar-One the Fireteam leader of Fireteam Templar to the team's fifth member. As he cocked his head to the left, he wasn't one for waiting. His Fireteam was planet-side for an Operation, and he was determined they wouldn't fail.

"Two patrols, circulating around the objectives location, at ninety meters distance from the objective." The Sangheili responded smartly, as he shifted in his olive green combat harness. His suits translator going full speed "Each patrol comprises of two Kig-Yar minors, and a Skirmisher major. There are four mercenary snipers in two towers at either edge of the camp, another six with shields spread out, and our objective with three Sangheili Guards."

Templar-One considered this for a second, which meant twelve mercenaries and three Storm officers. But he'd need a closer look; mercenaries could be unpredictable given desperation, especially Kig-Yar. Not that he distrusted the Sangheili; nevertheless after Torfan he had always preferred to have as much Intel as possible.

"Fireteam move out, Ulras lead the way" Templar-One ordered as he emerged from his cover and with his XO to his right and rear, a way point was established as to where the objective was, which was to the west.

The only sound any of them could hear was the soft crunch of armored boots as they moved over soft dirt under the dense canopy of the Alien Jungle.

"Switch to VISR mode." He ordered as his Fireteam move ever closer to the objective, now 2,000 meters away. The VISR Version 7, like its three previous models had the Z-5080 Short-Range Spectrum Augmenter/Vision boosting its ability to friendlies and Hostile alike behind cover or in the open. In the darkness of the Jungle it made the mice into all-seeing giants, a living nightmare to the enemies of Man and its Empire.

With that order given the Jungle ground changed to a light green, tree trunks pulsed softly as they passed. Looking to his right Templar-One watched out of the corner of his eye as Three and Four kept pace with the two veteran Spartans, and for a split chin Ulras wasn't that bad as a pathfinder for that matter.

Ulras led the Fireteam through the Jungle at a steady pace until they got within four hundred meters of the objective. Heading to the left they reached an area Ulras had spotted earlier on his recon.

The area was a thick brush covered reverse slope that allowed them to be able to look down at the only clearing in the region, which was where their objective waited extraction.

Templar-One fell prone along with the rest of his Fireteam. Activating his VISR's zoom function he took a look at the Opposing Force.

There were six shield-wielding Kig-Yar, four Minors armed with plasma pistols lead by a pair of Kig-Yar Majors armed with Needlers. At either edge were make-shift towers no more than four meters in height, which was higher he saw than any thing in the two hundred meters surrounding the small camp. Within the center of the camp was a trio of Storm-Aligned Sangheili warriors, their charge; an Ossoon who had critical Intel that could not be allowed to be exposed as well as an old Great War era covenant beacon. Templar-One frown beneath his gold visor, the beacon was trouble as it meant that all the OpFor was doing at their camp was to wait for extraction. That could not and would not happen under his watch.

"Sir" said Templar-Three who was spotting through her ARC-970's inbuilt-scope. "Hostile patrol spotted, ninety meters from camp and three hundred and ten meters from our location."

Templar-One nodded, he watched as OpFor patrol headed north from his location as a plan started to take shape in his head, and when it came he nodded to himself.

"Five locate then shadow the other patrol, eliminate on signal" Ulras, Templar Five flashed his acknowledgement when his green dot flashed the remained yellow.

"Four, engage with your Grenade launcher on the Sangheili Majors, keep them and the HVT pinned, Jump on my signal." A second green light on his HUD flashed yellow.

"Three, eliminate the snipers, then assist Four, Jump on Command" The last part of the previous orders felt redundant the kids had good heads on their shoulders, else they wouldn't have made it though Academy.

"Templar-Two take out the Shield Bearers, and keep them contained, three and four are going to be exposed." The Lieutenant Commander told the Lieutenant.

Once the last light flashed yellow, he moved as silently as he could in power armor to shadow the patrol that Three had spotted. Weaving through the Great Trees he kept to mercs right and rear keeping a forty-meter distance.

Templar-One tensed as a leaf crunched under his boot, causing the patrol to freeze. The Kig-Yar stood and peered at the darkness with their naturally developed night vision, trying to find the offender. Looking at their armament he found him self semi-impressed or as impressed as a human could get with Xeno Mercenaries. The skirmisher was armed with a plasma rifle while his companions held energy pistols.

Silently raising his Assault Rifle he fell into a crouch and aimed at the biggest of the threats, the Skirmisher. Now or never he told himself as he took aim at the Birds chest.

Letting loose two three round bursts, the six rounds traveled at a few thousand kilometers per second. The first burst shattered the Kig-Yar's armor sending fragments into its chest and at its companions, leaving the second burst to shred the flesh underneath. The hostile dropped without even a screech.

Both of the shield Bearers immediately moved, slamming shields together in an overlap while they charged their energy pistols, searching for him.

Templar-One moved as he was trained to do back at the academy. The sound of chaos, war and the dying filled the air as he moved to a new location, the sounds of battle disguising his footfalls. Readying a grenade he tossed the heavier that normal explosive to the feet of the Kig-Yar, and with his new position it landed underneath one of the panicked mercs, with that done he ducked behind a tree.

Kig-Yar were fast as a rule, but that didn't mean they were fast enough to get away from a UNSC issued Concussion grenade. With a roar it detonated obliterated two pair, the grenades shockwave tearing the pair apart in a split second.

Emerging from cover he advanced on the downed tangos, he didn't need any thing more than a cursory check, as there were only a few strips of flesh left blood carpeting a two-meter area.

"Fireteam Templar, report" He ordered as he moved to the engagement zone.

"Five, Patrol eliminated, engaging from two's eleven." Came Ulras's deep voice over the

"Four, HVT wounded but in cover, the bodyguards are KIA, over."

"Three, Snipers are KIA, I can engage HVT but I'm pinned by Kig-Yar, over."

"Two, four of the bearers are KIA moving up, over."

Listening to his Fireteams status he saddled up to a small out cropping, he watched as Three crouched behind what was left of one of the sniper towers her M8B smg grasped in her hands, and not seven meters away his VISR showed the HVT in cover.

"Two, Four and Five take out those Kig-Yar, Three once they're down take out the HVT" He ordered, and then added, "I've got you six"

Almost immediately the two remaining Kig-Yar were torn apart from a mix of plasma, and depleted uranium moving at a few thousand kilometers an hour. Which left the HVT, the target was smart as Templar-One and Three laid down a barrage that kept him pinned as they both advanced, Three was to his left and from his position three meters from the target. Then the target did some thing that was unexpected.

It burst from cover, and charged the young lieutenant. If she had been a Marine or even an ODST she would have been ghost-spattered, but she wasn't, she was a Spartan and more than that she had years of training, as well as three years of field experience under her belt.

Firing her smg Three dropped the HVT's shields, slapping her M8B smg to her thigh. She drew her Spartan issued Kukri, a blade of hyper-dense silver alloy, it had become the JumpJet Spartan specialists CQB blade of choice. She rolled to her right, getting her behind the target and sliced at the exposed area of the Ossoons knee joint sending it to its knees as it let out a loud scream. Templar-Three rolled away to her right; just as she like the way Spartans had been taught at the Academy, or at least those who had gone to the Academy.

Jumping back up she wrapped her arm under the HVT's screaming head and slit its throat, killing it.

"Templar, regroup on me." Templar-One ordered as he walked up to the beacon and open fire full-auto at it, ending its transmission. "Normandy, Mission Accomplished, HVT is KIA, waiting for extraction, over"

There was a pause then a voice can from everywhere and nowhere.

OBJECTIVE COMPLETED, SIMULATION COMPLETE.

UNSC NORMANDY, May 2582

Templar-One blinked as the simulation flashed into darkness, and the lid of the simulation-pod opened soundlessly.

Stepping out of and to the side of his previously occupied pod, the Fireteam leader of Fireteam Templar gazed at the chamber and his emerging squad.

The room was square shaped, with a dozen black coffin-shaped simulation-pods arranged in a semicircle around an observation table, which sat in the room's center. Soft light came from the top corners of each of the four walls. From four of the pods emerged his team, Fireteam Templar.

His Fireteam could have been an odd mix in any outfit.

His second, earth-born Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko stood at over six foot, his regulation cut black hair, and brown eyes could have made undistinguishable in any group. The former-marine had joined the Spartans after exemplary service and passing the necessary qualifications and training. He had ended up joining the Fireteam Templar-One was apart of a few years ago and they had ended up sticking together since then. With Alenko acting as the Fireteams Jack-of-trades since the beginning.

Felicia Carter, call sign Templar-Three, the only female in the team, stood at six foot seven, her light brown hair tied into a bun at the back of her head covering the Spartan standard issue Neural Implant. Green eyes looked towards the last Spartan of Fireteam Templar her friend and the squad's grenadier, Templar-Four.

Min Ambrose, call sign Templar-Four was the shortest of the group as he stood at six foot six topped with jet-black hair, black eyes looking to Felicia in silent communication. The pair was attached to hip when it came to looking after one another, but after a mission like Akuze that was to be expected. Even then both Spartans were from the Fortress World Eric's Holdfast, Min with his parents who helped train recruits for the Fortress Worlds' UNSCMC garrison and Felicia from an orphanage before being sent off to live with her uncle on Elysium.

The last member of their group was the tallest by a fair margin and he wasn't even human. Minor Domo Ulras 'Vadam stood at an impressive eight foot two, which was eight inches taller than the Commander himself. Where the Spartans wore their standard off-duty garb; Grey BDU pants, belt, black polished combat boots and grey body suit, Ulras wore his olive green standard-issue New Covenant Combat Harness.

Turning back to the center of the room, Templar-One saw that, there were more people present than there had been where he and the rest of Templar had originally entered the Sim Room.

"Captain on deck!" Templar-One barked out as he and his squad snapped to attention.

The Normandy's Captain was a legend in the UNSC Navy Prowler Corps, he had been born and raised during the Great War, serving in the Navy since the Rearmament period and had served on a prowler during the UNSC's Counter-Attack that started in January of 2557. Since then he had been apart of dozens of operations each one as successful as the last. The earth-born captain was dressed in the grey Armor-like uniform that had been the late to post Great War era standard for naval officers. The captain inspected the team for a moment before giving the order to stand down.

"Good work Shepard, you completed the mission in twenty eight minutes." Captain David Anderson said congratulating Fireteam Templar.

"Your Fireteam preformed within the performance level that had been expected." Said the ship resident spook, Intelligence Officer Miranda Lawson, who wore the ONI trademark black uniform, and black-grey triangle insignia on either shoulder. Shepard didn't trust her. Being member of Office Of Naval Intelligence and her cold attitude was his primary reason for his distrust; even then he didn't have to like her to work with her.

"When will we be heading out, sir?" Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepard asked, turning to look at the Captain.

"We'll leave the fleet in half an hour, from there its fifteen minutes to the target system in slip-space and another fifteen until we're hunting, Commander"

"Get suited up in forty-five, sir?" Asked Shepard, when Anderson nodded and turned to leave, Shepard turned to the members of Templar "Min, remember the M319 can be used for both airburst and direct fire." Said Shepard as he proceed to critiqued his team for fifteen minutes, to iron out any mistakes so they wouldn't be made while out on mission.

"Felicia, Chambers is waiting for you in observation two." Shepard reminded the Lieutenant, when he finished the critiquing. After receiving an affirmative from the brunette he dismissed the Fireteam.

Felicia took the lead as she headed to the room in question and moved to the starboard side of the ship, which was the right side of the ship if you were facing forward from the back. Min followed his best friend; the pair was inseparable, even before the incident. But after Akuze, Felicia and Min were never far apart.

Akuze was a disaster, an eight strong pioneer team, forty-six marines, and three Spartans, all KIA by the time it was over. It had taken place in 2580, two years ago, but a few months afterwards both Spartans had been declared fit for duty. Regardless Felicia still needed to see the ship's ONI-sanctioned psychologist to get over the incident. The kid seemed to keep getting the short end of the stick he thought, becoming an orphan, then Akuze, regardless if her record was anything to show she had excelled at the Franklin Mendez Academy of Military Science on Elysium.

"She is strong and will not bend easily, Butcher" Commented Ulras as he stood to Shepard's left, in the classical Sangheili hunch.

Shepard scowled; he hated that title, which people started to call him after an anti-piracy operation on the moon Torfan. He hated the operation no matter the success of in destroying one of the Damocles Cluster's largest Kig-Yar pirate dens, he had gotten too many good men and women killed that day including the rest of his squad.

"True" Shepard admitted as the trio walked down the hallway, when Ulras turned down another hallway at an intersection heading to the Normandy's Rec room.

That left Nathan and Kaidan to continue their walk down the center hallway until they reached one of the Normandy's elevators. Entering Shepard pressed the hard-light display sending the elevator, which was hardly ever that, to the ships lowest deck, the SOEIV and the ships small shuttle bay. Shepard allowed his mind to drift as the Grav-Lift platform descended.

The Normandy was a prototype stealth attack-frigate, at 320 meters in length the angular arrow shaped ship was smaller than a modern fast-frigate which stood at 360 meters in length and much small than the venerable Charon class which stood at 490 meters in length. The Normandy's hull was covered in Loki stealth plating, which was if the tests were correct, to be as durable as modern Titanium-B alloy. It was suppose to be able passively mask the ships emissions, and along with a prototype Cloaking system it made the ship impossible to find or at least that's what all previous tests had shown when faced with modern sensor suits even with its energy shields active. This was the reason why they were going pirate hunting, to test it in the field.

Unlike its predecessors the Normandy had teeth, plenty of it. It still had the standard pulse lasers, but it also had eight Howler missile pods each loaded with ten of the ship killers, to top it off it had a nuclear armament and its main gun. The main gun was a particle accelerator. The PAC as it was called had dictated the ships size; it was the smallest that could be made. The draw back was that additional power needed to be routed to it, leaving the Normandy vulnerable. All of the technology, weapons, and its stealth system made the Normandy a silent ship killer even with the vulnerability.

Shepard shook his head, the Normandy wouldn't have been possible without the Heian Discovery back in June of fifty-eight, when a UNSC fleet found ruins older than any previously found Forerunner Instillations. Deep underground in a chamber under the ruins they found The Watcher. An Ancient Human Empire Artificial Intelligence, and he had been in a stasis awaiting activation. Once he was activated and had seen who had awakened him, it changed everything for the Human race.

The Great War had up to that point had been a nightmare, the first twenty-eight years saw humanity pushed back until the Battle of Earth, which resulted in a Pyrrhic victory for humanity and its new allies the Separatists. But even with the death of the three Hierarchs and the disappearance of the San 'Shyuum, the loyalists were still out there in force. The tide began to change in the early weeks of 2553, when Trevelyan had been uncovered and those within freed. From there the UNSC underwent a massive rearmament upgrading every warship Humanity had with Forerunner technology. In 2557, with a sufficient amount of ships upgraded the UNSC took to the offensive. They found Requiem, which was its own spot of trouble with a rogue Forerunner, and Forerunner AIs, but they did find and then brought back The Chief. That Shepard reminded himself in addition to gained access to the Absolute Record and a second Shield World. Bringing an end to the UNSC's first offensive into Covenant Space.

It was on the second offensive that they found Heian, and when the war ended in 2560, humanity suffered a near coup' d'état from Admiral Parangosky. She along with most of her loyalists ended up dead, killed or summery executed for treason but a few vanished at the end of the six month long fiasco. Both the War and the Coup left humanity lost, directionless and uncertain. It was because of this that HIGHCOM's Security Committee and Council had directed newly installed Director of ONI, Dr. Halsey to have Section II reveal the AHE to the public. By this point in time the public had already learned about the Forerunners, and the Reclaimer-Status of Humanity, which had been the cause of the Great War in the first place.

What resulted was a revival, a rebirth. Humanity was already highly militarized, with a vast technological and robust industrial base. Fortress worlds dotted human space post-Great War, and most human colonial governments had made military service mandatory to try and ensure that Humanity would not go quietly in the night. Human society became martial in response to the eighty billion men, women, and children who lost their lives as well as the total destruction of five hundred colonies. The Insurrection was something of the past. The sacrifices the UNSC had made to protect all humanity and the fact that there were too few humans left were the primary contributors.

Humanity had made a vow; Never again would we be the hunted. We were no longer mice that would hide and be cowed. We. Are. The. Giants. Now.

With it a new age had dawned, a new future for a sundered people, The Reclamation.

"Done yet, Shepard?" Alenko asked besides him with a chuckle.

'I-"Shepard looked to where the elevator had stopped. "Sorry about that Alenko, just lost in my thoughts." He said as he ran a hand through his buzz cut auburn hair.

"Torfan?" His friend asked, with a hint of concern.

"Negative" Shepard replied as he marched out of the grav-lift, the Shuttle bay was a small dimly light hanger, with enough space for two Pelicans to sit side by side with room to spare. There was only one in the Bay at the moment; it was a D81-STC or Dropship 81 Heavy- Stealth Troop Carrier. True to its name it was midnight black from its passive systems, the Pelican's Cloaking field was offline as well. Since the New Covenant like its predecessors used cloaking fields for its Phantoms the UNSC saw no reason why they shouldn't do so as well for its SpecOps birds.

"You wonder if those rumors are true, Commander?" Asked Kaidan, as they walked in to the Bay.

"Which rumors?"

"You know, the ones about Forerunners being out there." Kaidan answered gesturing 'out-there' with a wave of a hand.

"Above my pay-grade Alenko, and if they're around even with the Tier One tech we have now we would still get kicked around like we're Grunts against a Hunter." Promethean Knights were difficult enough to fight in the simulator as it was, Shepard thought.

"Makes you wonder how the Chief and the Infinity's Spartan Company kicked the Didact's ass, though." Responded Kaidan.

"What's the birds status, Cortez" Shepard called out to the Pelicans pilot call sign Hammerhead, whom Shepard could see from the open rear hatch at a systems consol, ignoring Kaidan's response.

The Flight Lieutenant turned around from what he was doing to reply, "She's good Commander, and I'll have ready for when we have a go ahead for hunting."

"I'll check on the Argus drones, Shepard," said Alenko as he headed to the left of the room where a rack of seven drones waited at their charging stations.

"Going down in a cushy Pelican, Commander?" A feminine voice asked from his left, turning Shepard found the speaker in question and raised an eyebrow.

The woman snapped to attention, which he returned as he responded. "My team's coming down with extra firepower, Helljumper. There is nothing like overkill in the in a Buzzard Hunt."

"I didn't think overkill existed, sir" The onyx armored Orbital Drop Shock Trooper responded with a smirk.

The HellJumpers were a dying unit with the advancement of technology such as GEN 4 power armor. With the growth of the Spartan Corps, the ODSTs were being folded gradually into the commandoes and the last of ODST formations would cease to exist in a few years.

Shepard raised a hand to reply when he was interrupted "Loki systems online, exiting slip-space in fifty seconds." The Normandy's AI Persephone called over the ship wide comms.

"True, You're people ready for action Williams?" Shepard admitted before responding, once the announcement had finished.

"Yes sir, Bhatia, Jenkins and Taylor are going over pod supplies now, we'll be ready to drop." Ashley confirmed, she commanded the Normandy's fifteen strong ODST detachment.

"Good, we'll see you planeside then" Shepard responded, where the elevator came back down depositing Felicia, Min, and Ulras. The former two in full MJOLNIR Gen IV armor, jetpacks equipped and Air Assault helmets held in each of their right arms. In all three of their left hands were their preferred primary armaments, for Felicia it was a ARC-970, for Min it was a M319 Grenade Launcher, and in Ulras's case a Type-55 Storm Rifle.

"Exiting slip-space in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" The AI paused for several seconds, and then the ships sirens blared, "General Quarters, General Quarters, Condition Two set." Said the AI, before continuing again "Hostile Vector detected, Unknown Vector detected. Al-Cygni protocol in effect, Repeat…"

Shepard felt dread as he moved to his armor, it was a first contact and there were hostiles in system.

Codex: The Reclaimer Empire; or The Reclamation as its known to its citizens is a powerful Galactic-State originating from the Damocles Cluster. Analysts report that it may possibly be an equal to the Citadel Council, something that if true could change the balance of power for the first time in several millennia. While The Reclaimer Empire appears to be a single entity, it in fact compromises of two distinct branches; the UWD (United Worlds Directorate) is the political and 'morale' focused branch charged with political, civilian and primarily domestic affairs. The second branch is the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) believed to be far older than the UWD by centuries; the UNSC fulfills what it has under the defunct UEG as the Exploratory, Military, and Scientific branch of government.

AN: I'll leave it with a cliffhanger there, tell me what you think about the combat, the Codex entry, and the OCs introduced. PM me any questions and I'll try to answer without spoiling anything.