Hello everyone!
First of all, a big 'thank you all' reader, reviewer, follower and favoriters.
There will be an AN at the end with some informations about certain points of this story and how it'll continue.
Answers to the reviews;
Apokal : Thank you! My beta and I try to keep the text free of errors, but we know that removing all of them is really hard. We'll do our best for the next chapters.
nestetris : Thank you! I hope so too! I will try to keep the Chief and Cortana as they are in the three first books but also games. And I'll also take into account what happened at the end of the third game and how it'll affect them.
Mandalorian Revanite : Thank you! In a way you're right both time. Actually Shepard will be as I played the game the first time meaning; mostly renegade with some hints of paragon and neutral depending on the situations (let's say 3/4 renegade). It pained me a little in the first and second game that we had to choose to be either completely renegade or completely paragon to unlock all the conversations, ends, etc...
56006 : Thank you! Well, you'll soon discover who did dent the ship. I don't want to spoil you, do I ?
Once again, I'd like to thank my beta-reader who does a wonderful job!
Now, here's the second (well, technically it's the first chapter as what came before was the 'prologue', but fanfictiondotnet still registers it as 'second') chapter.
Read and enjoy!
First Contact
On the Purgatory:
Shepard spun around as fast as she could. Her weapon, her faithful M6-Carniflex, was ready in her firm hand. By the time her body was half turned, her pistol nearly raised, she heard a loud, pain filled groan coming from Garrus. She moved her feet not to loose balance, re-positioned them at the ready for a shooting stand as her head turned to her squad-mate. But then, all she was able to see there, was the small black dot, the cannon of another Carniflex, aimed directly at her left eye. Instinctively, her head jerked to the right and two shots were fired instantly. One passed just next to Thereza's ear, close enough to drain a portion of her shield, and the other hit Garrus' armored shoulder, ricocheting as the Turian's shield was already completely offline.
There, standing behind Garrus, -who was obviously in pain, one of his hand pressed against his back, his rifle having slipped from his grip- a tall shadow. Her quick movement had thrown her aim slightly off, but by the time she corrected it, and started squeezing the trigger, a third shot rang. With a loud static sound and a blue shimmer, her shield failed completely, drowning the sound of her own shot, and preventing her to confirm the hit. At the moment of the shot, she felt and heard the dry impact as the slug grazed the side of her helmet. Her aim wasn't worse than the shadow's though, but the shadow was clearly faster and despite the Carniflex's strong recoil, the weapon nearly didn't move in its hand. The fifth shot produced a loud cracking sound and burning pain hit the left side of Shepard's face as blood splattered her visor. Garrus' rifle eventually hit the floor with a 'clang'. Blood and pain blinded her for an instant, making her third shot way off target.
The shadow didn't shoot a fourth time to ensure Shepard was down. Instead, it brought Garrus to the ground, by pulling him by the back of his collar and making the back of his head hit the floor first and hard. Thereza lifted her gun once again, even if her vision was still blurred by the pain, and aimed at the now completely exposed shadow's chest. A grin took place on her lips as she pressed the trigger and felt the Carniflex kick back.
Her target was saved by a hair breadth, at the last moment, when the blueish, half translucent wave of a biotic throw brutally kicked it out of the way.
"Ha! Fly and die, asshole!" Jack victoriously shouter, her arms still shining blue with her biotics.
Her celebrations were cut short as a shot rang in the hallway. She was sent on her back, doubling over, screaming in pain. Her hands were pressed against her uncovered and unshielded stomach as blood leaked through her fingers.
Shepard cursed and spun, not sparing the convict a single glance or a thought yet. Warm thick liquid kept pouring into and over her left eye as she tried to follow the shadow with her right's. She had seen him twist in mid air, aim, and take out the convict with one shot. She too, took aim, with both hands this time. Pushing the searing pain away wasn't hard for her, but the gore on her visor and the glitching HUD made her task difficult. She pressed the trigger, three times, letting the Carniflex release three shots. It was less to actually hit anything than to buy her some time. The shadow landed on its feet, slid, and dove on the side to dodge Shepard's last shot. That's all the commander needed as she was now ready to charge it with her biotics. It didn't take a lot of aiming when the cannon was pressed against the target's chest. However, someone else got the same idea as her.
"I am Krogan!" Grunt shouted, charging forward.
The loud and heavy Krogan ran to the shadow, his shotgun at the ready and his bright overshield encasing him. The shadow kept still, holding his ground, and started unloading -or in the case of any eezo powered weapon, heating- its gun on the tank bred berserk. The Carniflex packed quite a punch, actually overloading the first, bright white shield after the fourth shot. However, the Krogan was fast, his normal shield held until he was on the shadow, ramming into it with his shoulder and the butt of his weapon.
Suddenly Thereza's right eye, the only she still had open, widened. Grunt had pushed the shadow back a few meters and she had been confident their opponent would end up squished between a steel wall and a Krogan. That's when she saw the massive alien being abruptly stopped.
The shadow let itself be pushed back until they reached the short stairs. There, it took footing on the steps and stopped Grunt dead in his track, shoving its own shoulder into his chest plate. He, like Shepard, was took by surprise by this turn of event and this short moment of inattention earned him several powerful punches in his guts, chest, and under his arm were his armor wasn't as thick. He loudly groaned in pain, taking a step back and hit back, aiming for the shadow's head. It wasn't fazed and, in a blur, dodged to the left, allowing the Krogan to hit nothing but air. Swiftly, it swiped at Grunt's left leg and grabbed the side of his collar, pulling him back and down, effectively bringing the Krogan down like it did to the Turian. At the precise moment Grunt's back hit the metal floor, the shadow delivered a devastating uppercut. Grunt's head violently jerked up and a loud sound resonated in the hallway as his massive body slammed on the ground, unmoving.
Thereza froze, as Grunt's was knocked down, and blinked once. The shadow stood, keeping its only weapon aimed at the alien's throat and lifted his head back toward the only member of Shepard's squat still standing, herself. She instantly switched tactics and grabbed her M-4 Shuriken, sub-machine gun. She pressed both trigger and released a barrage fire, holding her weapons firmly and her teeth clenched. The barrage seemed to work as she saw the shadow hastily stepping back toward the door to the rest of the station, returning fire.
Thereza kept firing, while stepping toward the downed Turian, thankful that none of the shot hit her as she couldn't reach any cover. Thankful but soon concerned too. The shadow's aim couldn't have become so bad and so quickly, yet all of its shots missed her, hitting the boxes far on her left. Realization downed on her a fraction of second before a violent explosion nearly knocked her down. She cursed under her breath and slammed her Carniflex on her hips. Gathering her biotics, she sent a wave to the general direction of the door, forcing the shadow to take cover. Taking advantage of this limited respite, she bent down, grabbing Garrus by the arm and lifted him back upon his feet. The Turian groaned in pain and Shepard had to hold him firmly as a second explosion rocked the hallway.
Taking an instant, she looked around, assessing the situation. The hatch to the Normandy was still closed, but now blocked by rapidly spreading fire. Garrus was up and picking his rifle. Grunt was still down but also resuming to move. Jack was down too, groaning and complaining in pain, trying to crawl away from the fires. And the shadow was nowhere in sight.
"Garrus, get Grunt!" Shepard sharply ordered, running to Jack.
The Turian nodded and walked to the Krogan, his steps still uneasy. A third canister detonated at the back of the hallway. Shepard gritted her teeth, grabbed the wounded biotic by one of her clothes' strap on her back and started dragging her away, following Garrus.
"Joker, do not open the hatch. I repeat, do not open the hatch." Shepard instructed loudly through her radio. "We have one unidentified, armed hostile on our side."
"Ow! Watch the stairs, dammit!" Jack loudly complained as Shepard pulled her up the set of steps.
"Co... ...at ...ander." EDI voice answered through the cracking and buzzing of the stating from the obviously damaged radio.
Eventually Shepard reached the door and dragged Jack through, into the relative safety of the other dark hallway. She slammed her armoured fist on the switch to close the door and seal the burning hallway, preventing fire and smoke from getting to them. Suddenly, a shot rang and sparks flew from the wall on her right. She spun and promptly opened fire too. But with the darkness in the end of the hallway and the state of her visor she was rather sure she didn't hit anything. She kept stepping back hastily, eventually reaching a corner. There, Garrus was crouched down, his shoulder against the wall, staying at cover. She turned, kept pulling the wounded woman for a couple of meters and laid her in the middle if the dimly lit hallway. She took a deep breath, they were finally safe, for now.
(***)
Thereza breathed in and out, looking around herself. They were in an hallway, not really wide, but nor narrow either. In front of her there was a corner and and a dozen of meters behind them, an intersection in 'T'. She saw Garrus the Turian slowly slide out of cover, his M-15 Vindicator ready. A loud gunshot rang and the Turian swore loudly, pulling back. The top of his rifle showed a new dent and his shields were shimmering.
"Dammit, he's good!", he groaned, using the loud speaker of his armor.
A loud grunt was heard as answer. Shepard turned around to the Krogan who was shaking his head to clear it from the blows, visibly fuming.
"Let's see if he's good at swallowing my shotgun!", his guttural voice threatened.
He assured his grip on his shotgun and with a purpose, stepped to the intersection.
"No, stand down." Shepard ordered planting herself in front of Grunt.
He huffed, almost indignant and kept advancing, trying to force his way through the commander. Without losing her composure, Thereza grabbed the Krogan by the front plate of his armor. She pulled, to make him stumble and loose balance then spinned and shoved back, pinning him to the wall. It wasn't with small efforts that she managed the feat of overpowering the Krogan, but her training and the brute's carelessness made it possible. Her body's augmentations, Cerberus' gift, weren't for nothing either.
"Stand. Down." She sharply repeated, keeping her eye in Grunt's opaque visor.
Right now, she needed quiet and thinking to find a suitable tactic allowing her squad to get back on the Normandy safe and sound. Grunt's bout and hurt pride was the exact opposite of that. And moreover, it was making them loose time.
Grunt groaned loudly and tried to shrug Shepard off. Each time, Thereza shook him, her grip firm. Eventually he didn't calm down but gathered enough mind to conclude it was better to follow Shepard commands and not antagonize her. She carefully let go, keeping her eye on him. Another gunshot was heard, followed by Garrus loud complain.
The Commander turned her head to the Turian.
"Return fire" She ordered.
Then she turned to the Krogan and pointed to the wounded biotic. Jack's complains and swearing were becoming weak and her skin pale.
"First aid." She told him as several bursts of fire was heard.
"I'm not sure I'm hitting anything, Shepard!" Garrus commented as he kept firing blindly in the hallway.
"The point is not to hit anything, but rather send a message.", Thereza answered, bringing out her omni-tool. "We're not taking this lying down!"
She patched herself to the Normandy through her omni-tool as her helmet's radio was obviously broken.
"Normandy, this is Shepard, come in.", she announced clearly, holding her wrist close to her helmet. She felt the tremor of some explosion in the distance.
"Shepard?", Joker answered sounding almost panicked this time. "I see fire and explosion a lot closer now! The hell is happening there?"
"It was a trap, we're not longer in that hallway. I want you to unlock the hatch...", Shepard began.
"Wha...?"
"You open it a bit, and vacuum the atmosphere in the airlock.", Shepard continued, interrupting Joker. "It'll put out the fire in the hallway and stop the chain reaction and explosions."
"Yes commander.", EDI answered.
"Then fill it back with breathable atmosphere and tell me when it's done. Shepard out." The commander ordered and finished.
Now that one of the problems was taken care of, Thereza could focus on the others. First she turned to Jack. The now ex-convict was still weak and nearly knocked out by the anaesthetic and loss of blood. Grunt was maybe a brute but field first aid was still within his reach of ability. She then turned to Garrus. He had a scrap of metal with dark fabric warped around it, sticking out of his back, just next to his spine. The fortune knife was covered with thick blue blood. But it wasn't flowing anymore. The medigel dispenser of the Turian's armor should have sutured the wound already, stopping the bleeding, but he'll still need real medical attention.
"Garrus, status?" Shepard asked, standing behind him.
He glanced back.
"Operational." He shortly answered, turning back to guard the hallway they had come from. "Not up for a marathon though..."
Shepard nodded. She heard the Turian's tone. Since their first mission together, she had known Garrus didn't completely agree with her behaviour during missions. Not her fighting capacities and prowess, as they both recognized each other's abilities. Rather her state of mind. It was also something that bothered the higher ups when she was still in the System Alliance. But paradoxically something that helped her becoming the first human Specter. Her results and how she got them; her ruthlessness. Whenever she was on mission, she focused on one thing; the mission's objectives and how to get them done. And she expected her teammates to do the same.
"Joker, warn Chakwas and tell her to have the med-bay ready. We have two wounded, one light, one serious, over." Shepard ordered through the radio of her omni-tool.
"Three..." Garrus corrected under his breath.
She paid him no mind and starting to think of a strategy to get her team out of this mess and into the ship.
"Alright. I don't know who it is or what is is and I don't care. We're not getting back on the Normandy before the hostile is down and cold. I'm sure he agrees with us." Shepard announced her squad before turning to Garrus.
"You are to provide support and cover fire. As soon as the threat is dealt with, you grab Jack and drag her to the Normandy, understood?", the commander ordered.
Garrus nodded and summarized. "Covering fire then drag the woman."
Jack, having regained some colors and strength, choose this moment to add her two cent.
"Yeah, and do that more gent..."
"Silence!" Shepard mercilessly cut and snap at her before turning to Grunt. "You and I will charge and engage the threat. You first, with your overshield. Don't run in the middle of the hallway, but on the side" She instructed, motioning with her hands. "Stay out of Garrus' line of fire. I don't need you to get shot in the back by a Turian. You'll also cover our advance with your grenades, understood?"
"Yeah, but I don't have any grenades left.", Grunt answered.
"What? Why?", Thereza demanded.
She always kept a figurative close eye on her squad's ammunition and she was sure that the Krogan had at least three grenades left.
"He took them.", he shortly answered, pointing in the general direction of their enemy, obviously and understandably discontent.
Shepard sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, pressing her fingertips just above her broken visor. That just made their problems a lot worse. And the pain from the left of her face wasn't helping as it was still very far from a dull throbbing. Each pulse of her heart was pouring fuel on a very slowly dying fire.
"The hallway could also be booby trapped with grenades now... great." Shepard concluded out loud for her teammates. Keeping her eyes closed, she turning to Garrus' direction. "Distance to target?"
There was a silence, the gunshot from a Carniflex and the Turian answered.
"Thirty, thirty-five meters. Fifteen to the door. There's several boxes and crates on the way but I didn't see anything else."
'Damn', Shepard thought as the distance was too great for her to safely leap through with her biotic charge.
Grunt chuckled. At first lightly but he got louder. Garrus glanced back at him briefly. Jack looked at him, half worried, half chuckling too. The commander opened her right eye and gazed at the laughing Krogan.
"He knows what he's doing. Four on one. He trapped us and got us precisely where he wanted. The guy's damn good!"
Thereza felt her lips twitch and a grin took place on her lips, hidden of course by her helmet.
"Garrus, give him your grenades.", she ordered, knowing the Turian had still two fragmentation grenades. "And Grunt, count your teeth, you may be short a dozen when we'll be back on the Normandy."
She took her own shotgun before explaining her plan.
"You charge first, attract fire and trigger any traps, I'll stay at a safe distance behind. As soon as I can, I'll charge through with my biotics and end up behind him. Pincer. He'll be trapped between you and me. We'll see how good he truly is!"
"Hell yeah!", the berserk exclaimed, taking place behind the Turian and grabbing the grenades that were handed to him.
Shepard stood behind him.
"Ready? At three."
"One"
"Two" Grunt flexed his legs, ready to leap forward.
"C-commander? Someone wants to talk to you." Joker voice came from the radio and Shepard already didn't like his tone.
"Who?" She sharply asked.
"I think you already know..."
Shepard sighed and Grunt groaned, impatient.
"Tell him I'm kinda busy right now!" She answered, dismissing the issue.
"I did, but he insists. That sounds quite urgent.", Joker argued, his tone showing that he understood the commander well enough to know how unhappy she was with this turn of event.
"Time before breathable atmosphere at the hatch?" Shepard asked flatly.
"Four minutes until standard atmosphere, commander." EDI dutifully answered.
"Garrus, you take command. I'm back in three. If there's no other better plan by then, we'll go with mine." Thereza commanded, her tone still flat but the brisk pace as she walked away betrayed her mood.
(***)
Fiddling with the base of her helm, Thereza unlocked then removed it carefully. The warm air of the station and residual smoke caressed her still fresh wound, making it burn even more. She winced between her clenched teeth, getting her mind and body used to the new shade of pain. Spinning her helmet in her hands, she started to assess the damages. She let out a small, low whistle. The whole visor was cracked and smeared with blood, the left side being of course the worse. And there was a hole, small but clearly visible as all the cracks seemed to originate from it. Looking at the back, Thereza saw another hole. She nodded, glad and lucky that the micro slug hadn't started to ricochet within the helmet. Eventually she glanced inside. A shiver ran down her spine as she felt like she had cheated death a second time. The left side was completely covered with gore. And, just above her eye's height, a straight line could be drawn between the two holes where the plating and electronics were open and busted.
Shepard set down the broken piece of equipment and a nearby crate and leant against the wall. If she hadn't yet felt the effects of blood loss, it was only thanks to the huge adrenaline rush she had had, and was still coursing through her vein. With her right hand, she ruffled her hair and combed them down. But only on her right side. The longest strand of her auburn hair barely went beyond her jawline, allowing her to comb them neatly behind her ears when she was wearing her helmet, which also held her hair on her forehead not to have them in her eyes.
Then she lightly probed her wound with her left hand. It was still bleeding a bit as the medigel injectors on her broken helmet weren't able to function perfectly. From a bit past the middle of her eyebrow to above her ear, her skin and scalp were torn, ripped an open. And all around this sore, bloody line, she felt other, smaller wounds and tiny shards of plastic, ceramic and metal embedded into her skin.
Thereza decided not to do anything else as there was a high probability that she would only end up making it worse. She simply, with her thumb, wiped away the blood around her left eye and on her eyelid. She closed both eyes and finally re-opened her left. She felt a light, slick resistance as the slowly coagulating blood tried to hold her lids closed. As her eye finally opened, her world was red. She blinked several times to wash the blood and give the walls back their dull natural colours. Then, looking around herself, she worked her eyes in its orbit and nodded to herself. Apart from a light soreness, the lack of added pain allowed her to conclude it was mostly unhurt.
After a few more moments, her omni-tool starting to blink and beep.
"Finally!" She whispered, impatient, lifting her wrist and starting to press buttons on the hologram. It was one of his mind's tricks. Making her wait like that, to assess the point that he was in charge. Shepard, even if his behaviour angered her, wasn't vain to the point of making him wait before answering. And then, a small hologram of a standing man, dressed formally in a suit and holding a cigarette, appeared on her wrist.
"Shepard.", The Illusive Man greeted her, usually detached, almost cold.
"What do you want?", Shepard asked right away, going straight to business.
The Illusive Man didn't flinch and answered right away.
"It came to my attention that...", his free hand typing on a screen she couldn't see. "... you were having unexpected troubles on the Purgatory."
Thereza sighed heavily
"Miranda being nosy and doing extra hours I see...", she concluded, knowing there was nothing she could do about it short of preventing the overzealous woman to get anywhere remotely close to a computer.
"Operative Lawson is fulfilling her role exactly as I need her to do.", countered the man, looking directly at Shepard and using a slight accusatory tone.
There was a small silence, the Illusive man having said what he wanted and the commander biting back some snappy, but for now useless, retorts.
"The threat will soon be dealt with.", Shepard announced with a tone of finality.
"Even if I have a rather good idea of the means you'll use, can you enlighten me?", the Illusive Man asked before slowly bringing his cigarette to his thin lips and taking a puff.
Thereza narrowed her eyes. She didn't like where all this were leading to, not at all.
"Any means until its termination.", she answered shortly but making sure her suspicion could be heard and seen in her voice and expression.
"So you plan to kill him? Don't you think he could be more useful alive?", the Illusive man questioned.
Shepard scoffed.
"You don't seriously want him... it... whatever it is, on the team?", she exclaimed angrily and unbelieving.
Thereza wasn't really sure of what the shadow was. It was tall at least as tall as Garrus even a bit taller, and had an humanoid shape. But she was sure that it almost killed her and that isn't something she would easily forget and forgive.
"No, Shepard, I don't 'want him on the team'.", the Illusive Man said with his most serious tone, using her own words. "He was unarmed, unarmoured, unequipped and alone. Yet he engaged and defeated a Turian, ex c-sec, Archangel of Omega, a Krogan, tank bred to be 'perfect', one of the most powerful human biotic and an N7 operative, first human Spectre." He pointed his index and middle finger, the half burnt cigarette held between the two last phalanges, at the commander. "YOU want him on your team, Shepard."
The man paused and there was a short silence.
"Contact me when you're back on the Normandy. Over and out.", the Illusive man finished, his hologram disappearing.
Shepard let her arm fall down along her side, leant her head against the cold wall and sighed. She couldn't deny that the Illusive Man might have a point there. But it wasn't the worse. The worse was; she already had thought about that before his call. In her hunt and fight against the Collectors, she wanted and would need as much assets as possible. Unfortunately, she perfectly knew that those kind of things never went as smoothly as planned. Also, wanting and having were two very different concepts.
"But it's worth a shot..." She whispered to herself, decided.
She grabbed her helmet and walked back to her team.
Garrus, faithful to his post, was still at the corner, his rifle firmly held in his three fingered hands, ready. Grunt was pacing back and forth, impatient and restless. And Jack had almost recovered her original colours and managed to crawl away of the pool of her own blood to lean against the wall in an half sitting position.
"Garrus, sit-rep?" Shepard demanded, standing behind him after stepping over Jack's legs.
"He's still surveying the hallway and didn't attempt to run for the door.", the Turian answered, turning his head to her a bit. "It's like he is waiting for us to make a move which gave me an idea..."
Thereza interrupted him by lifting her hand.
"Change of plan." She simply said, motioning him to move away to give her some room.
She handed him her helmet and pressed her back on the wall, at the corner. If their opponent was indeed waiting for their 'move' then she would oblige.
"Hey, you!", Shepard loudly called to the sure to have his attention. "What do you want?"
"Commander Shepard, un-armed, alone.", the answer immediately came, its word and meaning clear. His voice, definitely masculine, was strong and assured, his tone deep and commanding and despite the situation, it held no aggressiveness.
"Clear, precise, concise...", commented the commander idly.
Shepard was now sure of two things. First, what she had identified as 'the shadow', or 'hostile' was a male human or an alien who had learnt to speak English without accent. Second, it was about his competence. If he was trying to eliminate them, he might be one of the worse combatant Shepard knew. But if his intentions were to weaken and split Thereza's team, he was among the best.
"Why does he want you?", Jack questioned, her voice rough.
"How should I know? But I doubt it's to discuss his surrender." Shepard answered, taking her pistol and sub-machine gun, handing them both to Grunt.
"You don't seriously plan to go, do you?", Garrus said, disbelieving.
"Whoever it is, I want to have a discussion with him.", Thereza informed, not yet revealing her whole intent.
"He doesn't look like a Blue Sun's guard, and I really doubt it's a lost tourist. So my bets are on a prisoner who escaped and had good reasons to be here.", Garrus wisely argued. "I don't think we can trust him on anything."
"Hey!", protested Jack as the Turian's description also fitted her.
"Oh sorry." Garrus began, apologizing with a gentle voice before finishing with a lot harsher tone. "I don't trust THEM!"
"Why you little...", Jack snarled.
"I never asked you to trust anyone but me." Thereza countered, handing Garrus her rifle.
He let out a heavy sigh before taking it and placing it back on his own back.
"That I can do, Shepard.", he admitted with a nod and a supportive voice.
She eventually turned to Jack and gave her her shotgun. If worse came to worse, she would still be able to defend herself. And in her state, she would not be a threat to the Normandy or her crew.
"I'll keep his attention on me. As soon as possible, you get back on the ship and lock the hatch.", Shepard issued her orders.
"Aye, commander.", Garrus nodded.
"Unless I say so, you keep the Normandy on lock-down, understood?"
Garrus let out a disapproving sound, turning himself to the commander and looking down at her.
"What if the negotiations don't go as well as you want?"
Thereza glanced at him from the corner of her right eye, keeping her facial feature neutral. She reached down to her thigh and pulled out her combat knife, unsheathing it. She didn't need to check her knife's edge, as she made sure it was as sharp as it can be before the mission.
"I never said a thing about any negotiation."
At the same moment, somewhere else:
As his call with the commander ended, he sat down in his armchair. He flicked his cigarette to make the ashes fall in the tray, his eyes already travelling back and forth on the screen at his right. He was confident in Shepard's capabilities and he directed her in the right direction, so he was also sure she would make the right decision. But there was one think he wasn't sure of, one cog he wasn't yet able to put at its right place in the mechanism. Maybe Shepard would be able to execute that feat, but...
He pressed a button on his armrest before taking a puff from his cigarette. A light blinked, signalling that the connection was established.
"Wake one of the soldier and tell her to come here.", he ordered.
'Just in case.', he thought, placing his cigarette down before reaching for a glass filled with an amber liquid and two ice-cubes.
"Is it about the Purgatory's situation? If we wake anyone, shouldn't it be the doctor?", the voice coming from the intercom questioned.
"Not until we have solid proofs.", the Illusive man said with finality, cutting the connection.
He leant back. Things were getting interesting, but he would have to play his cards carefully.
On the Forward Unto Dawn:
The Master Chief stopped himself against the wall and immediately started to get himself equipped. Years of training, followed by years of ceaseless war made his muscles used to the manipulations, executing them almost without conscious effort.
"Distance?", he asked, grabbing and loading a rifle, a BR55HB SR, while thinking and already making plans to defend the ship from an eventual hostile boarding party.
"Hmm?... Oh!... 20km for the bigger ship, about half the size of the Dawn, staying still. And I have another signal, weaker, but closer. I'd say a small shuttle. It should be on us in 2 minutes.", Cortana, his digital companion, informed him, half her mind apparently busy elsewhere.
"Already?"
Even with his voice as deep and his tone as flat as usual, Cortana knew him for long enough to understand more than a single word. He wasn't reproachful as he was aware that Cortana, as playful as she might sometime be, wasn't someone to slack off. He wasn't worried either. Unexpected events only made him adapt. And quick reaction was the key. The Chief was already devising plans to stop hostiles that were already in the ship. Worrying took too much time. But what made Cortana react and turn her hologram to the Spartan was the slight tension in his body and the pause he took, looking at her, betraying his concern.
"Given the fact that I only have what's left of half a ship... Let's be glad I was able to detect anything before anyone came and knock on your aquarium.", Cortana explained lightly, trying to comfort the Chief.
He nodded sharply, not asking any further and turned back to the racks, taking a M6G pistol and several magazines for both of his weapons.
"Doors are open and the lights are blinking in the hangar, let's hope it'll bait them there.", Cortan informed, turning to him.
She stood still, almost at attention, her hands behind her back, silently announcing him that she was ready whenever he was. And patiently she waited, observing her Spartan. For good manners, he took two fragmentation grenades that he'll have to use with caution. Without gravity and atmosphere, shrapnels would behave greatly differently.
Once fully equipped, the Chief pushed himself back toward Cortana's holotank. He grabbed the metal firmly to stop himself, this time without magnetizing his boots. The woman's hologram disappeared, like sucked into the crystal that was projecting her. Without waiting longer, the Chief yanked her chip and inserted it in the slot at the back of his helmet. A cold, yet not unwelcomed sensation invaded the back of his cranium.
"Home sweet home!", Cortana voice rang into his ears, followed by a soft and pleased sigh as she digitally stretched, making herself comfortable.
When her hologram vanished, the cryobay was completely invaded by darkness. The Spartan wasn't even able to see his own hands. But soon, the lamps on each side of his helmet switched on, piercing the obscurity and several way-points appeared on his HUD.
"Lead the way Chief."
He shifted, positioned himself, aimed, and pushed himself forward, shooting toward a door that opened by itself to let him pass without problem.
"I ran some simulation. That's not the shortest path, but that's where you have the most chance of meeting our guests if they walked in without ringing."
The Chief simply nodded and dimmed his lights, keeping them at the lowest brightness. It wasn't perfect, but it would still lower his chance of being spotted too soon. He was flying through the hallways, from corner to corner. Losing almost no velocity, he was using his hands to turn, redirecting his momentum, and his legs to balance himself in the right position.
And he kept progressing like that, advancing almost as fast as if he was running, seeing the hallway only a few meters in front of him and the way-point that was coming closer. And the silence. Often in his carrier, the Chief had to hurry though the narrow hallways of ships and station, with or without gravity. But doing so when everything was so quiet and silent was something that had not happened often. It put him even more on his guard. And if it would have happened a few years ago, he would be nervous. With two of his most important enhanced senses almost useless, it wouldn't come as a surprise. But at that time, he had been alone in his armor. Mendez had made sure to teach the future Spartans two things. Never depend on equipment and material, it can fail and will not always be there. But he also taught them the importance of teamwork first and foremost. And now, the Chief wasn't alone in his armor anymore. Having Cortana's voice filling his silence, showing him where to go and telling him when there was debris or a door he would have to pry open on his way, even if her way-point was already blinking red, was enough to replace his eyes even if he would have been in complete darkness.
Ninety seconds after the Chief departed, Cortana updated him.
"I can no longer pinpoint the shuttle's position. They're too close for the sensors I have left. They're broadcasting quite a chatter though... Still processing to find a suitable translation. And I'm also currently trying to hack into their computer to see what we can learn. It might take some time though."
The chief never doubted Cortana's ability to pierce through any encrypted signal, with ease, given some time. And now, thanks to her, he knew that their 'guests', as his AI said, weren't human and most likely weren't covenants either. But it felt kind of wrong in his mind. The galaxy was wide of course, so wide it was hard to truly comprehend it. However, for him, until now, the Milky Way was filled with humans, covenants, forerunner technologies and emptiness, inhabited planets. And now there was a new non-identified alien race nearing this very ship, and he was about to go through the first contact.
"How long?", the Chief asked as he spread a sliding door open with his shoulder and one hand, holding his pistol at the ready in his free hand, keeping his mind pragmatic.
"A couple of seconds", Cortana assured, confident. "But I managed to hide ourselves until now. So I'd like to do it as delicately and discreetly as possible. At least one of us should try to remain subtle from time to time."
The Chief nodded and didn't answer anything more at his companion light tease, even if he felt a slight pull at the corner of his lips. He focused back on the task at hand. As it would be wiser, he decided he'd wait for Cortana to have hacked into the ship's computer and gather enough informations before engaging the potential boarding party.
Suddenly, as he was flying toward yet another corner, he heard something like a sad, shivering sigh, mixed with a faint, weak whimper. At exactly the same moment, his HUD and lights blinked, making him miss the corner, his fingers only grabbing nothing, a few millimeters from the metal. He brought both of his arms up in front of him and braced for the impact. The lights switched back on at the last moment, just giving him enough time to see the dark grey wall and two luminous and white circles, a bit more than a meter in front of his helmet. As his half a ton mass crashed into the wall. The shock ran through his body as his helmet and chest rammed the wall quite fast. But it wasn't enough to hurt him or damage the Mjolnir. He was able to lessen the shock, his shield only being half drained.
"Cortana?", the Chief asked, urgency in his tone.
"I-I'm fine, just a minor glitch"
The Spartan pushed himself from the wall and gracefully spun in mid-air to land on the other wall. He magnetized his boots briefly to assure his footing and them jumped.
"Talk to me." He told her as he resumed his flying.
Even if it was worded as an order, his voice wasn't as commanding as when he was leading other soldiers.
More than a month had passed since he left her, alone, on High Charity, at the Gravemind mercy. And yet, she was able to send a message, and keep her secrets hidden despite the flood's questioning. The Chief didn't really grasp what happened to her during her captivity, what methods and devices it used to force her answers out, and he doubted he would ever be able to understand. But he saw her state, when he rescued her, less than a day ago. In all the years they lived and fought together, Jon never saw her like that; scared, hurt, doubtful.
"Cortana?", this time his voice had a soft edge to it.
"Wait!", the AI suddenly exclaimed, her voice firm and sure again.
All the way-points vanished from the Chief HUD, except one, the one he was about to reach.
"We've got some bold ones...", another series of way-points appeared, leading in another direction. "I detected the opening of a door, there."
One of the way-points, the last one, blinked greed.
"They're already inside, but I still don't know how they got in.", Cortana explained, sounding both serious and disappointed.
Without loosing any time or speed, Master Chief followed the new path, silent. If it was anyone else than Cortana, he would have pressed for an answer, then made this one stay back as he or she would obviously not be ready to be operational. But Cortana, he knew she was different, in so many ways.
"They came in through a broken hatch.", a new way-point appeared, triangular and red. "If you want me to guess, their taxi is still waiting for them.", Cortana supplied, sounding glad she found the answer she was looking for.
The Chief nodded, signalling he heard and understood her. Taking this new information into account, he kept following the diamond shaped way-points as intercepting the boarding party was still his top priority. But he also surveyed his six o'clock in case someone else from the shuttle came and arrived on him from behind or followed him.
"Oh, and I'll leave the way-points and disconnect myself from your HUD and a few other of your armor's subsystems, just to be sure.", Cortana declared, sounding detached and pragmatical.
"No", was Chief instantaneous and firm answer.
Cortana stopped, letting her hacking and other subroutines work alone as she thought for a few cycles, thoughts far away from any translation and hacking.
"Thank you.", she eventually whispered, very lowly, not sure if she wanted her Spartan to hear her, but still hoping, deep inside her, that he would.
(***SceneBreak***)
"Cortana, what am I looking at?"
With the AI's help, the Spartan easily and rapidly found them. As soon as he had first seen them, he switched off his lights. And since then, he had been following them, quietly, and discreetly, hiding whenever and wherever it was possible, at each corner, crates, structures in the walls or ceiling. He also made sure to keep his distance, not knowing whether or not they had motion trackers.
"A pair of strange looking aliens I'd say..." Cortana wittily answered.
'Strange looking indeed...' The two aliens were armoured, their faces hidden behind black visors and wielding weapons the Master Chief didn't recognize. Two legs that were bending like feline or canine would with two, dull spike, a dozen centimetres long, also armoured, prolonging from their heels, like spurs. Large hips, below strangely thinner waist. Two arms ending with three fingered hands holding what look like rifles. On top of their shoulders, their armor formed high, thick collars circling their neck while keeping its movements free, most likely as a protection. Overall, they stood straight, and taller than a regular human, just a bit shorter than the Spartan.
"Can they be some Covenants?" The Chief asked, following their every movements.
"A sub-species of Elites?" Cortana said, finishing his thoughts. "It's not completely impossible. But three fingers, and the position of their heads on their neck, and this..."
Master Chief's radio was filled by statics for a brief moment, then he heard voices, kind of deep with a strange vibrating and flanging effect. And unsurprisingly, he couldn't understand a word of what was said.
"...doesn't match any Covenant dialect I know..."
The Spartan nodded, pushing himself and floating silently toward the corner they just disappeared around.
"Time estimation for the hacking?", he inquired.
"I'm already in, but it's the same problem, without suitable translation, I can't give you any relevant informations.", Cortana answered a few seconds later, sounding obviously displeased.
They both saw the left arm of one of the aliens being encased by a sort of bright orange hologram. A few taps and instants later, the door in front of them unlocked and opened, and they resumed their advance. The human soldier stayed hidden and observed them from the shadows. They still haven't noticed him, but he knew it wouldn't last forever, his chance of being discovered were increasing by the minute.
"For now, they're considered hostile.", the Chief declared throwing a glance at the map of the surrounding area he had asked Cortana earlier.
"Following Cole's protocol all informations concerning Earth has already been removed from the ship's databases.", Cortana flatly informed, still worried about her translations.
The Chief pressed his pistol against his hip and took his rifle from his back, mechanically checking if the first bullet was in the chamber. He then pressed his boots against the steel, effectively standing on a wall. Lifting his weapon, he took aim. Their armoured collar were high enough to protect the back of their head. But the Spartan took position near the ceiling to be sure his shots would hit their target, over their collar.
"Chief, are you sure it's the best course of action?", Cortana questioned, concerned
"They're aliens", the Chief argued. "We can't let them access information on our technology."
He kept his finger on the trigger and the back of the alien's head in his scope.
"Agreed.", Cortana conceded. "But what if they're not hostile? When the covenants attacked Earth and when we defeated the prophets, and the flood, we lost too much..."
She paused for a brief moment. Both of them were still mourning said losses. But now wasn't the time.
"Humanity isn't ready for another war.", she finished.
The Master Chief knew Cortana was right, but...
"If there's any chance these aliens are not as hostile toward humans as the covenants, it is our duty to take it.", Cortana continued her reasoning, giving the Chief her whole attention.
'You will be the protectors of Earth and her colonies.' Dr Halsey's words reasoned into his mind. The Spartans had been trained to fight any threat against humanity. And this time the Chief had the chance to prevent a potential threat of becoming an actual one.
"So try to play it nice... nicer.", Cortana advised, with a light tone.
The Master Chief nodded and lowered his rifle.
"Patch me on their radio." The Chief demanded, de-magnetizing his boots.
"Done!" His AI instantly answered, before digitally turning back to her translations.
The armoured soldier waited until the closest alien turned his back to him. Using his legs' enhanced strength, he propelled himself forward, toward it, as fast as he could. In mid-air, he pivoted, magnetized his boots, making them stick to the floor instantly. He let himself skid to an halt, just behind the alien. Before it could react, he grabbed the back of its collar holding it firmly and pointed his rifle on the other alien, switching his headlights on.
"Put your weapons down!", the Chief loudly and clearly ordered.
The second alien flipped around, hastily, and brought up his own rifle. No shot were fired, but both aliens immediately started speaking loudly, aggressively in the ration with their strange and incomprehensible language. The Chief stayed silent and pointed his gun down, confidently pressing the trigger. Even when holding his rifle with a single arm, he handled the recoil easily. In vacuum, the shots were silent, but the flame at the end of his cannon and the three dents in the ground made the warning shot and its intent clear as both alien stopped talking for an instant
"Put. Your weapons. Down." The Chief ordered again, this time gesturing his intend by pointing at the aliens' weapons then the ground.
"Oh, interesting... what's that?" Cortana muttered with the tone of a little girl on her birthday.
Her companion ignored her for now. She picked up the habit of talking to herself while working, but it never slowed her down. The Spartan saw the alien lower its rifle, hesitate an instant, then let go of it. The Chief nodded, keeping his eyes on the floating weapon, apparently these aliens understood him one way or the other to a certain extend.
He shook the other alien he was still holding.
"You too!" He ordered him sharply.
If it was any indication of its actual mood, the alien groaned and grumbled. If it was anywhere close to humans or brutes or elites, showing discontent. But nonetheless, it let go of its weapon too. The Chief pushed it forward, mercilessly toward the other one. Seeing a strange looking object on the small of its back, he snatched it with his free left hand. It looked like a long, flattened hexagonal tube made of dark grey metal with complex reliefs and sharp edges. Taking advantage of his golden visor, Master Chief kept his rifle aimed at the aliens and glanced down at the object in his hand. Mildly surprised, he saw some parts of the objects slide and move. A large cylindrical tube appeared at one end and a black rectangle with round edges on the other end. When he noticed and recognize a grip and a trigger appear under the block, the Spartan understood it was a weapon. He cast all his interrogations away for later and placed the alien weapon on his back, feeling it get trapped by the magnetic weapon holder.
The Chief then focused his whole attention on the aliens. They were standing, next to each other, showing their palms. He knew his options were now limited. He managed to relatively peacefully disarm the aliens, but without a proper way to communicate he wouldn't go much further. He was about to ask Cortana how much time she still needed when the edge of his HUD shimmered and glitched again, but this time without blinding him.
"No... it's impossible!" Cortana mumbled distressed, her voice nearly shaking.
Master Chief didn't answer her this time either, but for a completely other reason. In the corner of his HUD, on his motion tracker, he had seen a red dot, coming on his six o'clock, and incredibly fast too. Turning around without hesitation, he swung his arm to violently back hand anything or anyone that was closing on him. Unfortunately, the motion tracker wasn't really efficient for detecting and showing the height of the target. The Spartan's hit was hence slightly too high. But his enhanced reflexes allowed him to brace in time as a third alien shoved his elbows in his guts. It looked like the two other, same species encased in the same armor, but instead of blue, the new alien's protective plates were a deep silver. The alien was abruptly stopped as the human super-soldier took a single step back, a quarter of his shield still barely holding, all despite the mass of the alien, his strength, and the velocity he had had. The Chief swiftly deviated the gun the alien tried to point at his neck from his now kneeling position in front of him, took an other step back and kicked it with his armoured boot, sending it flying away.
The only indication that he was being shot at was his shield indicator being depleted bit by bit. The Master Chief spun around, bringing up his rifle. Of the two other aliens, one was diving into cover, and the other had retrieved its own rifle and was shooting at the Spartan. The Chief assured his aim, holding his rifle firmly to lessen the recoil's effect and pressed the trigger twice. Six bullets flew. The alien's shield blinked blue before failing, his dark visor shattered and dark blue blood splattered on the wall behind it. Its body went limp, letting go of its weapon and tilted backward, its boots still stuck to the floor.
'So much for playing nice...' The Spartan idly thought.
The second alien was, for now, unarmed so the human whipped around once more to deal with the third first. It was at that moment that something blue and translucent hit him, square in the chest, with the strength of a warthog at full speed. His boots failed to keep him anchored to the ground and he was sent flying backward, spinning uncontrollably. His shields were completely depleted and this time he wasn't able to turn around and bring his arms up to lessen the blow before violently crashing into the wall, shoulder first, leaving a sizable dent.
"Cortana, what was that?" The Master Chief sharply asked, shaking his head briefly to clear it from the shock.
"I-I don't know... some kind of energy weapon, like a covenant concussion rifle or something..."Cortana backhandedly answered, sounding busy and as distressed as before.
The Chief didn't want to take time to ask what she found as first, she sounded like she was still processing some kind of information. And second, for now he needed to catch the two remaining aliens before they flee. Scanning the hallway, the Spartan noticed that they were already gone, leaving their comrade behind. But thankfully, Cortana's triangular way-points were still showing him the shortest path to their entry point. Using the same method of displacement as before, the Spartan propelled himself forward, flying through the hallways. At the moment of the shock, the Master Chief had felt his weapon hit something hard and be knocked out of his grip. He hadn't lost any time trying to retrieve it and brought out his pistol instead.
The Chief took the first corner, spinning around it. There, at the middle of the next hallway, he saw the two aliens. As expected they hadn't gone far as they didn't possess the same enhancements as the Spartan. Moreover, they were no longer trying to flee, but they were tinkering with the panel next to a door. As he lifted his handgun, the sliding door slammed shut silently behind them.
"Damn... they locked the door." Cortana exclaimed, sounding surprised. "And fried almost everything!" Now she sounded angry.
The way-points changed position to show an alternate route.
"The magnetic lock is engaged...take this path it'll be faster than to force the door open."
Without wanting to contradict his AI, the Spartan followed the new path even if he knew that all the time he'd loose now -even if it was less than a minute- was time the aliens would win to get back to their shuttle. Taking this into consideration, he did his best not to loose any more time, but stayed careful nonetheless. A missed corner would mean even more wasted time.
"Cortana, what's happening? What did you find?" The Chief asked her, taking advantage of the short moment of relative respite and quiet.
"I'm not sure yet, give me a moment." Cortana answered shortly, almost dryly.
The soldier agreed to the AI's demand and instantly re-focused on the aliens.
As the Chief feared, once he got to the broken hatch, all he saw was the shuttle fly away. It looked strange, white and blue, like an exotic elongated car with rectangular, directional and movable reactors in place of the tires. The first pair pointed forward, the other backward. Definitely not covenant looking. Without hesitation, the Spartan lifted his pistol and emptied his magazine on the shuttle's closest reactor. The small ship was also equipped with the same blueish shield as the aliens, but much stronger. None of the Spartan's shots reached its hull, only draining the shield and ricocheting on it. As the pistol's clicked empty, the Chief didn't press the trigger one time too much, and instead of losing time reloading it while the shuttle floated away, he grabbed the aliens weapon on his back. Shouldering it, he waited briefly for all the pieces to have slid in place. He aimed and pressed the trigger. The recoil was strong, but still weaker than he expected for a weapon this size. No cartridge was seen being ejected from the left or right, and no moving bolt could be seen anywhere. By the impacts on the shield, he quickly concluded that the rifle was some sort of shotgun. However, as the distance to the ship was still increasing, that sort of weapon would not help him much. So he placed the weapon on his back again and moved back against the wall and prepared himself to jump.
"Wait! Don't!" Cortana nearly screamed, understanding what the Chief wanted to do a fraction of second before he actually tried to jump toward the shuttle.
"Why?" He asked, staying ready.
"What do you plan to do when they'll dodge you? Float away to infinity and beyond?", the AI chastised him.
"I won't miss.", he argued and countered, sure of himself.
"Hangar, this way, we might just find something more useful there...", she advised, 'showing' him the way.
The Master Chief took a moment to consider. Cortana was right to be worried. Behind the shuttle there was nothing for probably several light years. At least when he had jumped from the Cairo, Earth was still there to 'catch' him. With a sigh, he nodded and turned his head toward Cortana's first way-point. He just had the time to jerk his body out of the trajectory of another blueish translucent wave. At least one of the alien was still on the Dawn, the one with the silver armour and unknown weapon.
The Master Chief chased it right away, or rather sprung in the direction the strange wave came from, and it seems to flee toward the hangar too. With Cortana's help, and his speed, he managed to follow the alien, but also force him to go to the hangar. During the way, as the Spartan's armour and enhanced body allowed him to catch up to the intruder, it tried to keep the human at some distance using the same, strange, energy weapon. These times again, the Chief dodged them, sometime closely, but he didn't see anything resembling a weapon in the alien's hands. So he assumed it should be small enough to have been integrated into the armour's left arm or gauntlet.
Just as they passed the hangar's large door, the Spartan was close enough to catch the alien. It tried to use his strange weapon one last time, but the Master Chief struck at his arm, throwing its aim way off. Still in mid-air, floating, flying rapidly through the hangar, he grabbed the alien's collar to hold him still, pressed the shotgun's barrel against its dark visor and squeezed the trigger. Reacting surprisingly fast, the alien pushed the weapon away with its right hand. The shot would have completely missed it if it wasn't for the Spartan's strength. Instead, it hit its left shoulder making the shield fail completely and lightly damaging its armour. The Master Chief pressed the trigger a second time; the shot tore the alien's armour. And a third time; shredding its shoulder. The alien shook at each shot and at the third a spasm of pain ran through its body and it reeled back, letting go of the Spartan's weapon. He pushed the alien slightly away and took aim one more time to finish him off. But the intruder was saved once more as the Master Chief was knocked away, generous portions of his shield being drained, piece by piece, rapidly. The human magnetized his boots to gain footing and to see what he already knew.
The shuttle was back. And its two guns, one on each of its front reactors, was shooting on the human soldier through the still open door. Without hesitation, the Spartan ran to the cover of a structural pillar. Taken by surprise by his speed, the shuttle's aim wasn't perfectly able to follow its target. Even though, when the Master Chief was finally behind cover, pressing his back against the steel of the pillar, alarms were ringing in his ears and his shield indicator, empty, was blinking red. He stored the alien's weapon in his back and reloaded his sidearm. He knew the shuttle was still shooting at the pillar and around it as he saw the dents left by the bullets and felt the vibrations through his feet and back. He pressed his pistol on his hip. Last time, he hadn't been able to deplete the shuttle's shield, this time wouldn't be different and he wouldn't have time to empty his magazine anyway. Instead, he took his two fragmentation grenades and pulled both pins. He waited for his shield to start recharging. Making sure he wouldn't get hit, he glanced at the shuttle, letting only a small part of his helmet out of cover and only for a fraction of second. Hundred meters, maybe hundred ten. He would have to adjust the strength of the throws on the moment. He let go of the levers and counted. The small metals part started to spin and fly away from the soldier. Normally, he would have asked Cortana to help him as her processing capacities would have made sure the grenades would explode at the precise spot and instant where it would be the most effective and destructive. However, her silence told the Spartan that for the moment she was too busy. Hence the reason why he took two grenades. That way he would be sure that at least one of them would hit the shuttle no matter how it moved.
The Master Chief was almost about to toss his grenades, when he saw something from the corner of his eye. He turned his head. The alien he hadn't had the time to finish off was, surprisingly, still moving. Its left arm was limp and dark blue blood was oozing out of the wound, droplets floating all around the alien. It right arm moved slowly and weakly. But as he pressed the trigger of the warthog's turret, the gun reacted nonetheless, indifferent of the shooter's state, he three barrels already rotating fast. Thinking in a split second, the Spartan tossed one of his grenade under the warthog, dove to the side, out of its cover, his shield still undamaged and throw the other to the shutter. Without missing a beat, he then threw himself toward the door leading out of the hangar to re-think its strategy. His shields were taking a serious beating under the combined fire of the shuttle and warthog, but even if they would most likely not hold much longer, his dense armor would be able to take a few hits and by that time he would have reached cover. As the door was only a few meters away of the Chief, the grenades exploded. The shuttle was kicked to the side, its shields failing and one of his reactors being heavily damaged. The explosion under the warthog was much more powerful than expected, breaking the attaches that were holding it to the floor and sending it and the alien crashing against the ceiling. The detonation sent debris everywhere and, coming fast from his blind spot, the Master Chief felt something struck his side, hard.
He clenched his teeth, as his whole body shook under the impact. Ignoring the pain, he spun, twisting its limbs to the limit, reaching out with his right arm. Despite his best effort, and Cortana's as she desperately tried to alter his course, magnetizing almost his whole armor and closing the hangar, the Master Chief's hand missed the hangar's door by nearly a meter.
The Spartan and AI couldn't do anything as they both saw the Forward Unto Dawn get farther and farther away from them.
And there it is! I hope you liked it!
AN:
So, time for a few informations about some things. They might answer a few questions you might have or explain some... oddities and inconsistencies. (tl:dr at the bottom)
First of all, I love both series. I played all Halo FPS games. And play all three Mass Effect games, I'll discuss about the DLC later. I also read the 'first' three Halo novels; The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike. But I sadly didn't read any Mass Effect novels or comics or the other Halo novels. That however might change in the future. What won't change however is that I explain in greater depth the elements I took from the books, so that those who haven't read it won't be lost.
As mentioned before and as you have noticed, this story start mid-Mass Effect 2. Shepard has already gathered The Archangel, Grunt, but also Mordin Solus in her team, she saved Jack for last. For The Halo verse, it starts at the end of the third game. It also means; Spoiler alert. I plan to continue this story over the events of Mass Effect 2 to its end, and for later plans take into accounts the events happening during Mass Effect 3. For now, I don't plan to integrate any events or elements from Halo 4 as this trilogy (Halo 4, 5, 6) is not yet over.
Now concerning the elements that I decided to change
Weapons:
There is no situation or universe I can possibly imagine where the 'upgrades' the Mass Effect's weapon underwent between the first and second game make any military sense. No soldier or general would have, in his right state of mind, asked for something like that. In the first game, the weapons had unlimited ammo and was only limited by the heating factor which forces the shooter to take relatively short pauses when shooting, limiting his average rate of fire. It is justified as the weapons don't shoot large bullets but tiny slug ripped away from a larger 'block' and shot at high speed by a mass effect field. According to the Codex such 'block' was able to produce (several) thousand(s) slugs. But shooting like that produced a large amount of heat that the weapon would have to dissipate. When the gun reached a too high temperature (overheat), it stopped shooting to prevent damage. The 'upgrade' between the two games had been thought to allow the weapons to shoot faster and maybe a bit harder by adding an 'heat sink'. It traps the heat and prevent the weapon from becoming hot. However the difference in the rate and power of fire is not really that great to be honest. But even if it was ; The Avenger has 40 shots per 'heat sink'. Let's say one has 10 sinks, that makes 400 shots. It is less than the half of the minimal amount of slugs contained in one 'block'. And such blocks could potentially easily be replaced the same was as a magazine or an 'heat sink'. The difference between the rate of fire and damage would have to be huge to justify such 'upgrade', limiting the number of shots to such an extent. There is only one reason why it exists ; game-play. So for now the weapons will work like they did on Mass Effect 1. Upgrades are already planned but they will be implemented differently.
Biotics:
To use biotics power, humans must, among other things, be outfitted with an implant, surgically inserted in their brains. Several times along the games, it is suggested that it is possible to use biotics for other things than the standard powers/ability (Warp, Pull, Push etc...), suggesting a certain freedom about how one would use his power. The Shepard in this story can use biotics, but I lifted the game's limitation about what ability a Vanguard can or cannot use. I understand and respect that these limitation are there in the name of balance, but Vanguard in Mass Effect 1 could use Warp Throw, Lift, etc... However there will still be difference between a Vanguard and an Adept, not in what power they can use, but concerning their efficiency. A Vanguard's throw will have real trouble to stand against Samara's.
Classes:
Shepard is an N7 operative. Meaning that she/he is among the best, and moreover, first human Spectre. She/He should be able to use any kind of weapons. There is no reason why a biotic Shepard could not use a rifle. This limitation exists mainly in Mass Effect 2 and I decided not to keep it for this story.
DLC:
I'll be clear and honest. I don't like DLC. I haven't played and DLC of the Mass Effect trilogy (Except the Extended Cut from Mass Effect 3 if it counts as one...). I 'may' play some of them in the near future (Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival for Mass Effect 2). So there's some good chances that this story will contain some elements from them, but I make no promise. And as with the books, I'll explain the events in greater depth for those who didn't play them. However this story will not include Kasumi, Zaeed, or Javik, sorry.
tl:dr :
-Weapons have (for now) nearly unlimited ammo like in Mass Effect 1 and no limitation among the classes.
-Biotic won't have the same limitations as in the game.
-The story is mainly based of the three Mass Effect games and Halo 1, 2 and 3.
-I will take and use elements from three Halo novels (The Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike) but will also explain them for those who haven't read them.
-Maybe I'll include some elements from the DLC. But no Kasumi, Zaeed, or Javik.
Now that's all said, I really hope you liked it. I'm open to criticism and will gladly answer any question you might have.
See you soon (hopefully) for the next update.