AN: So uh… hey?

I'm honestly sorry I took so long to update.

The whole turn of events sucked, and I really never wanted to put this thing on pause like I did.

That being said, I'm back in it. If you wanna know what happened? I'll put it in the AN at the bottom.

That being said, enjoy. I really hope you guys do. :)

Italics are someone thinking or speaking through electronics or emphasis.

Bold is digital or unknown parties talking to each other.

Bold plus italics is electronics plus unknown party.

Bold plus underline: you'll figure it out.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Neither Mass Effect, nor Halo. The only thing I own is Altor. The other two are owned by EA and Bungie respectively.


Chapter 3: What is that?

Watching him work, Altor wondered about the Master Chief. He worked tirelessly; never stopping, never resting. It was like he did this every day, and it was just another part of life. He followed a simple pattern.

Step 1: Walk toward the power source for an hour. Adjusting his movements as he moved.

Step 2: Find a hill, carve a target into said hill. Shoot at it with increasing accuracy.

Step 3: Repeat.

She wanted to talk to him. She did, Cortana's memories of him showed he was nothing short of extraordinary. But… he didn't speak. Everything he did was silent as the winds. Which confused her. The Composer's data banks said that all intelligent organisms liked to communicate, even if it was with themselves when alone. It was an ingrained instinct to form communities and packs. Master Chief however, well… unless he needed something, was as loud as a statue.

The world they were on was intriguing. Due to the gravity, the composition of the ground, and the thin atmosphere; Altor theorized this was a planetoid sized asteroid. What really interested her was the giant blue orb next to the star this rock orbited.

Eventually, after hours of theorizing and analyzing, she was still stumped. In this time, they came upon the source of the power she had detected earlier. Metal walls climbed high into the air around the compound. The bright white and blue coloring served as poor camouflage, so maybe it represented the organizations colors? The, she assumed, base consisted of 8 buildings, connected to each other through metallic tubes.

An engine roared above. Chief flattened himself against the ground, weapon drawn, as a rectangular ship passed overhead. To the eastern side of the compound, one of the largest buildings opened up. The ship slowly settled inside, the doors closing above it.

Minutes passed in total silence.

"Can you contact the base?" Chief's voice rumbled like an earthquake.

Altor gazed at the complex, analyzing the signals it was emitting, before turning to the Spartan. "U-ummm, I think so. What should I s-say?" By the Rings, why did she always stutter around him?

She could almost feel Chief's mind race. His mind was… solid. But it pulsed whenever he thought particularly hard. She had tried to interact with it, but whenever she did, she slammed into a wall. The Chief didn't trust her; he would not let her inside his sanctum. She looked at her shoes in thought, orange pixels forming randomly into shapes she liked.

"Can you infiltrate their system?" he asked.

Altor looked at him in surprise for a second, a smile grew on her face as she held her hand out toward the main building, diving into the base's systems. Accessing them wasn't too hard, the cyber defenses were easy after a few thousand calculations or so. But they were, different. The system she perceived was odd, unlike either human or forerunner computers she had… her predecessors... had accessed before. Still, nothing she couldn't handle.

She combed through their computers, making sure to hide from their anti-virus programs, while downloading all the data she could get her hands on. Having moved through most of the systems, she came across a terminal with only one connection. Suddenly a powerful security system manifested around her.

Shock resonated in her as hundreds of viruses began spawning, all attempting to access and infect her programing. Weren't they concerned about their own machines!?

Cutting her link to the system, she recoiled as if burned. "I've accessed their data banks, but there was a powerful program guarding an area within the compound, separate from all the other computers. W-When I tried to access it, it a-attacked m-me with viruses!" She shuddered in disgust, hugging herself.

"Were you damaged? What was it guarding?" he questioned, voice steady, hands clenched around his weapon.

The small concern made her want to jump with happiness. As it was, she settled with a smile. "I'm fine." She shook her head, "I couldn't get a definitive analysis, but the words "Object Rho" was written all over the code."

"Are they human?" he contemplated.

"Yep! All human base." she confirmed.

Chief looked toward the base. "Contact them, see if they recognize standard UNSC contact."

Altor jumped to the task. Maybe they'll be friendly. If not… Chief will be ok.


Shepard jolted awake as the ship landed. When she had fallen asleep, she didn't know, but she shook off any fatigue and grabbed her weapons. The doors hissed open as Dr. Kenson walked out onto the exit ramp. The base was desolate, crates piled upon each other haphazardly, a layer of dust encased almost everything. The hangar was devoid of any ships or people, the single exit in the room had a timer above it, with a cracked screen.

"Here we are. Welcome to Project Rho." Dr. Kenson introduced, her arms widened to present the building.

"Run down, isn't it?" Shepard questioned.

"It's a black ops mission, Shepard. We didn't get many resources, it had to be off the books. That's why I was grabbing this," Kenson hefted a small cube-like machine from the ship. "to finish the project."

Shepard pointed at the large timer above the doorway. "What's this?"

"That's our countdown to Arrival. When that gets to zero… the Reapers will have come. Just over 8 hours and counting. Puts things in perspective, doesn't it?"

8:11:03 the display flashed.

"How can you know when the Reapers are coming, to the second?" Shepard tilted her head in confusion.

"The artifact has been giving off pulses at definite intervals since we found it." Kenson explained. "The intervals have been decreasing at a steady rate. We believe the artifact is reacting to the Reapers' proximity. In just 8 hours, the pulses will become constant, and the Reapers will be here."

"You're saying the Reapers could be at Earth in less than 10 hours?" Shepard panicked. "There's no time to waste."

"Then let's start up the Project." Kenson agreed. "That door exits the hangar. The control system should be behind the central lab area, near the barracks."

The two women took off, walking as quickly as they could through the base. Entering a long corridor with multiple locked rooms, Shepard continued to follow Kenson, asking questions as they moved.

"So, what would it take to activate the Project?"

Kenson opened the door to the Common Area. The room had 3 large windows to the left, with plants and sofas in the middle and stairs leading upwards to the left, the only unlocked door Shepard could see, was across the room. This place, like the ones before, was completely devoid of people.

"Nearly everything should be in place. This piece of equipment should keep the eezo core running, allowing us to accelerate the asteroid much faster. If we don't use this, the Relay may survive." she answered.

"Is there ANY alternative?" Shepard couldn't keep the plea out of her voice. She may not like Batarians… but destroying their relay? Killing millions with the explosion and leaving the rest for the Reapers? She felt sickened at the idea.

"The Reapers will reach this system regardless." Kenson reminded Shepard, devoid of emotion. "But the Alpha Relay is their shortcut to the rest of the galaxy. If you want to keep the Reapers at bay, this relay must be destroyed."

The two continued into another room, it had computers lining the walls, and to the right, a strange metallic machine reaching for the ceiling was visible in the next room through a window.

Kenson led them to an elevator, saying nothing as they entered and began their descent.

"Can't we at least warn them? If the Reapers are coming in 8 hours, we have time for at least some people to evacuate." Shepard reasoned.

"We could try, but what are the odds of Batarian ships coming and destroying the engines on this asteroid? Leaving us with no way to destroy the Relay?" Kenson countered.

Damnit. Damnit Damnit Damnit! The Batarians would do that, ANY sensible government would. But… all those people. Shepard clenched her fist with anger.

The elevator doors opened, showing… another corridor void of living people.

"Kenson," Shepard held the doctor back, drawing her weapon. "Where are all of your people?"

Kenson paused, confusion shifting to panic as she checked her Omni-tool. "I had them work on making sure everything was right, but at least some people should be off duty…" Kenson quickly grabbed her pistol.

As the two began to advance, Kenson's Omni-tool flared. "Kenson!" a voice shouted.

"Arthur? Where is everyone? It's practically a ghost town." Kenson spoke to her Omni-tool, lowering her own weapon.

"We were following orders," he responded, "when we received this message."

'This is Sierra 117, designation Alpha-Zeta-Epsilon-3-6-2-9 reporting to unknown facility. If you are friendly, respond. Over.'

"Who is sending that? No one should be near us… Did you trace the source back?" Kenson demanded.

...

"We did, and you're not gonna like it. I'm sending you the image." Kenson's Omni-tool beeped, before a screen rose up to chest level. An image of a large shadowy figure appeared, yellow lines blurred all over it, and a single orange eye at the head. It was bipedal, with two arms, but nothing else could be determined.

"Whatever it is, it's fast. We barely got that image before it, just… disappeared. Mike can still barely believe it, and he was on the monitors."

Kenson and Shepard looked at each other. "Could it be the Reapers?" Kenson asked. "Have you encountered anything like this Shepard?"

If I had, don't you think I would've said something? Shepard thought, before replying. "No, I've never seen anything like this."

They two traded confused looks for a moment, when Arthur suddenly yelled, "Wait, we got a new message!"

'Unknown facility, identify yourself, or be designated as hostile Insurrectionists. Protocol dictates that division is paramount to treason within UNSC governments and her colonies during this time. You have 5 minutes to comply.'

Oh glorious. Now there's shadow figures about to raid the base we need INTACT to stop the Reapers! For treason against an imaginary government! Perfect! Shepard growled under her breath.

Deep breath.

Well… It's contacting us, maybe…

"Kenson, send me out there." Shepard ordered.

"What?" Kenson replied, shocked. "Shepard, we have no idea what is out there."

"What the hell is Commander GODDAMN Shepard doing aboard this station?" Arthur hollered. "The hallucinations were bad enough, now we're seeing famous dead people?"

"She obviously didn't die, Arthur." Kenson scolded. "We all faked our deaths, she obviously-"

"It doesn't matter how I'm here, we've got bigger things to worry about." Shepard cut her off, annoyed. "Arthur, if you guys could see it, then the scanners must have gotten something."

"That's just it," Arthur's voice trembled. "The sensors aren't picking up anything. We barely even registered the environment had changed when that message suddenly blared through. Even worse, we can't stop the message. It's just blaring through all the intercoms, so we shut them off. It was only sheer luck that we even got a picture of it!"

Shepard blinked. This doesn't sound like the Reapers. Why announce your presence if you can just sneak onto this station and destroy it? "Have you tried messaging them anything?"

Arthur shifted uneasily, "Shepard, you may face down monsters every day, but we don't. We're not gonna try to communicate with damn ghosts. Not until I can find it. At least so can I shoot it if it's not as friendly as its message says."

Point. Being declared hostile and accused of treason for no identification isn't pleasant for anyone. Shepard looked over at Kenson before sighing.

"Even more reason to send me out." She concluded.

"Huh?!" the two black ops members stared in confusion. Kenson stared at her, while Arthur gaped through the video feed.

"Whatever this thing is, it wants to talk. Anyone else here manage to get a bunch of different aliens to all work together?" She mocked looking around. "I didn't think so. I'll distract this thing, you fix this base. We need it operational."

"Are you sure Shepard?" Kenson was half-turned toward the door.

Shepard looked back the way they came. "If worse comes to worse, Arthur can at least get an idea of how this thing fights. Send a message to meet at the entrance of the docking bay. I'll head over now."

Rescuing a high-value prisoner from the Batarians, blowing up a relay to stop the Reapers, and now talking to apparent ghosts. Shepard wanted to scream. Why is my life so crazy?

Despite her thoughts, she didn't falter as she made her way back to the ship. The N7 training program's motto ringing in her ear: The difficult we do first, the impossible? That takes a bit longer.


Pressed into an alcove on a cliff, the spartan scanned the facility. Higher ground and a wide field of vision over every exit point, his eyes narrowed through the scope of his LightRifle. "Any response?"

"Nothing yet," Altor responded, hiding behind his shoulder. She peeked up above it, before quickly hiding back down and giggling.

2:45 the timer on his hud read. John felt his stomach churn, how long had it been since he fought Insurrectionists? Why couldn't they just leave well enough alone? The entirety of humanity was at war against extinction, and they wanted to squabble over who got what.

Miranda, Johnson, Cor-

The Master Chief exhaled, refocusing. It didn't matter. UNSC protocol was clear. Either they were part of the UNSC or they had to be stripped of all data and personal. The Cole Protocol still remained in effect, and the remains of the Covenant could not be allowed access to more human colonies.

"Have you scanned the data?" the timer kept ticking.

"I'm categorizing it now. But some of their equations and other files don't make any sense…" She sat on his shoulder now, looking down with a pout.

"Explain."

"W-Well, look here." She turned and jumped down, balancing on his forearm. Her hand opened up and a rectangle popped out. It expanded, showing him various equations with little explanations denoting what they could mean.

"Like there." She flourished her hand as the screen highlighted a particular line. "This is an equation to calculate how fast a ship is going, but it's almost entirely ignoring mass. With those numbers, they'd be have an error range of almost a light year. Or over here," The screen highlighted a new line. "This calculates the force the engines use, like the one we saw. It's impossible that the engine produces that amount of force for the ship to achieve lift off. It'd never make it out of the atmosphere."

Odd. Very odd. "Perhaps they gave you false data?" He proposed.

She shook her head, sitting down as she pondered the screen. "I took this out of their own flight data computers. If its false, than their own computers use false equations. More than that, I can't find anything mentioning slipspace drives."

Something was wrong. Very wrong. Even if this was an Insurrectionists facility, they'd still use slipspace to move. Yet no mention of it? Even their own computers using flawed equations?

Altor jolted suddenly, standing up. "They're sending out a signal!"

"Put it through." he ordered.

Sierra 117, this is Project Rho. We are not hostile, repeat, we are not hostile. We do not recognize UNSC and are sending a negotiator to the Bay Hangar. Please comply, over.

Orange film spread across the facility, a circle pinging were the message wanted to send him.

1:30 blipped in his HUD.

"Acknowledged." the spartan rose slowly, scoping out the large doors where they wanted to meet. "Can they see us?"

Altor frowned. "I didn't want to set off that terminal again. I just left a small program to scrub us from the security cameras."

He nodded, placing his gun on his back. He could feel the gun disassemble as the armour adjusted the weight. They wanted to meet at the hangar bay? Possible ambush. The 'Bay Hangar' was the closest building to the perimeter, rectangular and rounded at the top. Large block letters designated the hangar D4, alongside a string of symbols he'd never seen.

No windows, one entrance, and they already knew he'd be there. He could see at least 5 different ways to easily set a trap.

But they were human.

Chief cautiously made his way down the cliff to the small wall surrounded that the entire facility. He examined the blue energy shield generated from the ring. It covered the entire facility in a dome, complete with turrets every 20 feet. Good cover and good support. Altor had ripped through them like a child slapping a house of cards.

She laughed, pointing at various turrets exclaiming, "Nope!" "Nuh uh!" "How about no?" Each turning away at her command.

He carefully reached his hand out toward the sphere. It looked different from normal Covenant shields, a gentle light blue instead of the harsh white and turquoise of alien shields. He pressed down and was surprised as his hand slipped through like air. He pulled his hand out, looking over for damage.

Strange.

The spartan climbed over the wall, sound returned as wind buffeted him. Artificial atmosphere, perhaps that's why the energy field didn't repel him. He walked toward the doors, keep his hands free of weaponry.

The doors slowly slide apart, a figure visible in the distance stood in the center.

"Altor, hide and engage a voice modifier." she obeyed becoming a orange blur flying into his chest. He marched forward.

Another human.

Chief gave her armor a glancing look, it seemed similar to an strike teams infiltrators gear. Reinforced pads, with what appeared to be a mesh weave, were mounted to her shoulder. Segmented overlapping plating, with the same mesh, covered her torso and was combined with a heavier pair of gauntlets. Armored grieves encased the woman's legs, jutting at odd angles. He didn't see the practical application for the blue highlights, though perhaps they were for illumination.

Special forces most likely. Brilliant scarlett hair partially hid her eyes, and framed her freckled spotted pale skin. Dried blood speckled the top of her forehead. She stared back at him, blinking once, her body tensed. As he approached, he kept his hands slightly away from his body in an attempt to show he meant no immediate threat. It was apparently wasted as he saw emerald green eyes widen as he came to a stop a few meters away.

Her hands twitched.

The doors mechanisms echoed in the silence.


Shepard watched it carefully. Measured even steps, no hesitation, the 'head' never moved. This thing was a machine. A sentient machine. A.I. whispered in the back of her mind.

But it didn't look like anything like the Geth, or even the Reapers

Reaper tech was old, yet more advanced than anything in the galaxy. Every time it seemed to scream unnatural methods. The ultimate culmination of efficiency over ethics. Whereas the Geth were pale imitations of life. Tubes connecting to make crude faces, poor metal homunculi of their creators. The glowing lights each an individual program that made a single geth.

Sierra 117, as it called itself, was large. The humanoid construct was that much more unnerving in it's differences, the height for one. The thing was well over 7 feet tall.

The head was rounded, sloped shape. It's faceplate an eerie, glowing orange circle that stared down at her. Metal hexagonal panels floated on each side of the head, almost framing it.

The chest of the machine was covered in twisting, dark metal strands atop metal sheets. Shifting with each step it took, the strands contracted and rippled. The center jutted out, like a tank's bulkhead, plating weaving in and out. Yellow lines pulsed beneath the black exterior, glowing energy running through them. Air hissed softly from between the chest and shoulder joints as it halted before her.

Chitin like armor covered the arms, the joints of the android nigh invisible. Rectangular containers connected to the edge of each forearm, reinforcing the metal sheet. Floating, twisted metal pieces spun unnaturally around his limbs, each a different configuration. Hovering, metal drones followed behind its shoulder and back, making almost a mockery of royalty. They remained in perfect synch, mimicking its movement flawlessly.

Concentrate. It didn't reveal itself until we responded. I've never heard of any colony called the UNSC, or any organization under that name. Why is it even here? Who could've made it, let alone sent it here of all places?

The orange screen reflected her image nearly perfectly. The light was even, no way to tell if it's eyes were even there. But she had to look at something. While she couldn't see a weapon, the idea it was unarmed was laughable.

"I'm Commander Shepard." her voice sharp, "And you are?" short and polite, hopefully it wouldn't go like every other A.I. encounter she'd had so far. Her glove crinkled into a fist.

"Sierra 117." the rapid response was… cold, robotic.

Lovely. She almost groaned. The commander waited for more, but the thing stood still as a statue.

"On what authority do you charge us with treason?" She eyed him up and down. "I'm a Spectre and I've never heard of any government called the U-N-S-C."

Silence. The thing's head didn't even twitch. Two small drones floated up slowly, a gentle hum emitted from them. "Spectre?" the tone questioning.

Shepard blinked. "You've never heard of Spectres? Where have you-"

SHRRRIEEAEK

Whatever she would've said next was drowned out by the sound of shearing metal. Shepard's hand snatched up her pistol, as she threw herself back. As fast as she was, the commander was forced to blink in shock as the machine in front of her was now pressing a large, single barreled weapon into her chest. I didn't even see it move! Her mind whirled.

More so, the hexagonal plates had snapped together, covering the all but a thin section of the faceplate. It's weapon pulsed with energy. Where the hell did that rifle come from?!

Still processing how it could have crossed the distance so quickly, she held her hand up, the other slowly lowering her sidearm to the ground as the strange weapon hummed menacingly. "I see, get me in here and talking so you could assault this base. You bastard." she snarled.

"Not mine." the reply came swiftly. "Yours?"

"Why would I break into my own base?" she snapped. "I can open doors, thank you very much!"

"Commander!" Kenson's voice shouted as Shepard's Omni-tool flared to life. "Something's wrong with the crew! They're blocking me from the engine room."

Shepard's eyes went wide, flicking from her Omni-tool to the large countdown screen behind Sierra 117. The numbers glitched and disfigured, before the screen failed entirely. A moment later, it snapped back to life, Arthur standing in the display.

The man's eyes burned like twin white suns, metal wires and tubes now mangled his body. "Shepard. How peculiar." The noise, by its very nature rattle her bones. The unnatural resonance caused adrenaline to fire through her.

"What have you done to him?!" Shepard roared. She stood up, ignoring the weapon at her chest. The android allowed it, content to watch the exchange. She knew that voice, she'd heard it in her nightmares a thousand times.

A Reaper.

Arthur's head tilted, almost jolted. His neck muscles convulsing. "I only created a conduit to speak to you. You are an anomaly Shepard. Annoying organics always are created every cycle. Insignificant, but annoyances nonetheless."

"Annoyances…" she grit her teeth so hard they could've cracked.

"What victory awaits you?" He questioned, Arthur's jaw moved in unnatural motions to the words he spoke. "Your victory is a sacrificed star system. Your defeat, the inevitable, unavoidable end. You are but dust fighting against the cosmic winds."

Shepard's eyes blazed, "Maybe so. Maybe we'll be crushed as you say. But we'll fight." her biotics burst into being around her body. "Sovereign came with the same message, and an army behind him." a vicious grin spread across her face.

"We destroyed him."

Arthur's ruined body stood rigid, not a single muscle twitched. Burning, white eyes filled with contempt.

"However 'insignificant' we are," she continued, "we'll keep going, keep trying, and find a way. That's what we do."

Arthur turned, like a child jerking the individual parts of a doll. "Know this, as you die in vain: your time has come. Your species will fall."

The screen faded to black as Shepard stared defiantly at the device.

Anyone else wanna take a shot? New death robots, OLD genociding robots. She shot a glare over at the still silent automaton.

The door to the base exploded.

Shepard sighed.

Soldiers, no less than a dozen poured into the hanger, breaking off into two formations focused on the occupants.

For the love of-

Shepard dove to the side, lead filling the space she previously occupied. She whipped her head to the side, as Sierra 117 raised its rifle. Advancing slowly, it methodically fired back, forcing soldiers to find cover or be cut down.

You know what? Go for it, have a ball.

The Spectre focused on the soldiers firing on her position. Several remained behind cover, firing wildly at her while two more kept her pinned behind a crate. Closing her eyes, she built up her biotics around her. A single eye snapped open, eyes lit like a livewire.

Line of sight, straight shot… Her body hummed with energy, her nerves felt like lightning was running through them.

In a split second, she broke cover. Her vision tunneled into blue and white as her Biotic Charge catapulted her forward. The world returned with her feet crashing through the unfortunate soldier's helmet. Her hand glowed blue as she Pushed, spinning herself, smashing her pistol into another human shoulder. Bone and cartilage gave way beneath armor fibers as she forced the pistol against his chest, pulling the trigger as she pounced on him.

Someone yelled "Scatter!" barely audible over the crack of gunfire and bones. She turned her pistol to the next closest target, forcing them into cover. One soldier ignored the weapon, charging forward while firing his shotgun once. Shepard fell back, blue waves emanating from her shoulder as she rolled on the ground and recovered her bearings.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

His shields shattered like glass. He ignored it, shoving his weapon into her gut. She batted the shotgun away as he tackled her. Bringing his Omni-Tool down, arcing the blade towards her throat, he roared his victory.

Shepard's blood surged with adrenaline, her muscles singing in the life or death struggle. Orange metal sparked against orange, as she braced her Omni-Blade with her left hand. Holding off his weight as he bore down on her. She brought a vicious knee upwards smashing into his legs, thigh, ankle, anything to offset his balance.

The blade inched closer, sparks fell, fizzling against her neck.

Green eyes flashed as she fought back, her mouth stretched in fang filled smile.

From the corner of her eye, a familiar muzzle caught her attention. Welp, Plan B.

Her eyes snapped back to the soldier on top of her, her Omni-Blade turned docile in an instant. The soldier's eyes widened as he surged down, blade centimeters from her flesh. Shepard bunched her knees against his stomach, hands wrapped around his neck, as she kicked off sending him end over end.

Red splattered across the Commander, the unwilling human shield dead before he knew what hit him.

Shepard threw herself to the side, reaching cover behind a large crate as fire raked her position. Carefully, she loaded a heat sink into her weapon as she peeked around the edge. Two Shock Troopers advanced on her position, their armor aglow with light as they blurred between cover. Behind them, a woman was busy reloading the heavy chain gun they had set up.

They're already pumping Adrenaline. Her mind raced, Just need them a little closer…

The Spectre holstered her pistol before clenching her fist. A dark purple power swirled to life in her palm, forming a small sphere. She reached behind her, and drew the Mattock, still grasping the biotic power. Taking a few steps back, she concentrated.

3

Bullets pinged off her cover, cutting off all escape routes.

2

Loud boots crashed against the floor. A drop of sweat dripped down her forehead.

1

Rifle muzzles peaked around either side of the crate.

Shepard leapt forward, planting both feet on the crate, before unleashing the concentrated biotics into it. She flung the energy into the crate, as it hurled towards her enemies. The black ball of energy easily picked up the crate, flinging the two soldiers into the air.

The Singularity surged and snapped, ripping up everything in its radius that wasn't bolted to the floor. The remaining gunner was trained her weapon on the unexpected maelstrom. Shepard landed hard on one knee, her weapon snapped to her shoulder. She braced a little before pulling the trigger.

The soldier's body shuddered with each impact, tumbling to the ground with a wet slap.

She switched targets, killing the second soldier before he could recover. The gunner opened fire, bullets widely flying through the mass of biotic energy.

Shepard sprinted around the Singularity, her head felt as if it was being put through a pressure cooker. Her hand reached to her belt, only to curse the lack of explosives. Her shields sparked as more stray rounds found their mark, each projectile forcing a grunt out of her.

Found you.

The gunner continued to fire into the biotic cloud, never glimpsing the Spectre flanking her. The Mattock spoke, bullets singing against the soldier's shields. Blue energy burst into nothingness, the gunner desperately turning her weapon onto Shepard.

Click Click.

Shit. Shepard threw down her weapon, reaching for her sidearm. The barrel of the gun started to spin, fully focused on her.

Orange light splintered the skull.

The gunner jerked, collapsing over her weapon. The helmet had a hole the size of a tennis ball, strange orange particles slowly evaporated from the wound, dissolving the armor and flesh.

Standing tall, Sierra 117 lowered its weapon.

She stared at it, as the crates and bodies clattered to the ground.

Half a dozen corpses laid sprawled behind the machine. Only four spouted the strange orange wounds. The other two were contorted in unnatural positions, clearly having died in melee combat. At least as strong as a Krogan. One's chest was completely caved in, while the other's neck was at least 90 degrees sideways.

She breathed in, calming the burning within her mind. Gingerly, she stood up, grabbing her rifle and holstering it. A vein right above her eye pulsed in pain, she barely kept from wincing. Note to self: using a singularity that big and for that long is a BAD idea.

"Soooo," she shook her head. "Thanks for the help?"

The timer on the wall fell off its doorway, smashing into a thousand pieces. The android kept its gaze solely on her.

"They shot first." no trace of emotion to be found.

She tried to laughed, a spike of pain flickered across her face. "Reapers have taken over this base. Whether you like me or not, I am your best chance to get off this rock." She held out her hand.

Sierra 117 stared at the appendage.

Then it moved.


AN: So I'm back. Honestly, i love this story a lot. But I was a new writer and life said: 'fuck you!'

Being a new writer. I wrote NOTHING down about any kind of future events. No timeline, nothing. And then got hit by a car. Concussed to boot. So…

I LOST EVERYTHING.

Even better? I lost my old beta that week.

So, the story kinda died for a bit with college taking over.

I tried to get back in, this chapter took a literal year to crank out half on my own. For everyone who i told I would post soon. I'm a dumbass who overestimates his ability to decisively decide what shouldn't be edited, and re-edited over and over and over again. I have seriously written the fight scene and meeting about 50 times.

But, enough of that. I'm back. New beta to boot. Say Hi jim.

Sup Mofo's. So I literally found this man laying in a cardboard box behind a strip club. I was in need of a Beta myself, and thought, 'hey! He looks slightly knowledgeable.'

Jk. Jaeger DM'd me when I asked for a Beta on my own story, and we hit it off. He's done a lot of work making sure my story has any coherence at all, along with making me think about plot points, continuity, etcetera.

I told him I'd Beta for him as well, so I read through the chapters he'd made, and offered what little I could. So here we are.

To those of you who messaged him about me. I honestly laughed when he told me. And then got down to work. The next chapter won't be delayed so long. Promise.

Response to reviews:

BigDame77: Perhaps later. He'd have to build those. Though, Altor does have all the schematics for them, so… :)

As for silencer, yes. Not now, but he will. The Ship? That's REDACTED. A secret.

StayBlessed: Agreed, but it's mostly because she's struggling to keep Paragon. My Shepard may be Paragon, but I want her more human and more driven towards things like that. So there, she saved him because she felt that she was being everything she wasn't. (Heartless, murdering assassin) Should she have killed him? Maybe. And if she hadn't been forcing herself to be this? Probably.

All reviews for updates:

They will be faster. And will be at least 5k words. :)

Special thanks to all the people who love this story and review. It really does help to see that. XD

Jaeger signing off!