When There Was a Tomorrow

by General Rage

Do you remember when there was a tommorow? Commander Wade Shepard does, but with a Reaper threat looming he's not sure there is one anymore. And he's about to discover that his universe may not be the only one where mankind faces extinction. M for B&V

4. Discontent

Chapter 4: Discontent

Carter didn't like being woken up this early, but Auntie Dot said it was urgent. If it was from Colonel Holland it had to be. He just hoped it was more news on the new member they were getting tomorrow. He had been hoping the Colonel had found a file without black ink covering it before he welcomed this guy into the squad. He needed to know what kind of skill set this man had.

He trudged out of his bunk, and plopped down in front of the view screen. Flicking on the flashing light for the com-link he was greeted with Holland's face. A static unmoving profile picture of course because this outpost was using an older operating system. Military cut backs were becoming a bitch on basic equipment.

"Commander, good to see you awake." Holland greeted."Hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"Never sir," Carter replied simply, "what you got for me?"

"A mission," Holland informed him matter of factly, "ONI is letting me take off your leash. Took a bit of brow beating though, Ackerson was stubborn as always. Get your team up soon, full briefing at 0730 hours, give or take."

The news was great, that meant he wouldn't have to waste time on base evaluating the new guy. He could do it in the field. That always seemed to be the best way about going about these things anyway. Besides, he'd been itching for a real mission ever since they got to this planet.

"Good to hear sir," he replied, "the others will be happy to hear it. Especially Emile, he's been antsy for weeks. Anything else?"

"Actually yes," Holland began, taking a breath "I got this sooner than I did cause I pressured Ackerson. Have you heard the rumours about the ship the Nebraska picked up?"

Carter tried to think back, he could've sworn he had heard about it. That's when he remembered, how the Nebraska came back with something extra and it was under lockdown because of a potential threat. But it was all hush-hush and ONI wasn't letting anything important leak.

"Just that it's in lockdown. I don't have a name or anything on it." Carter explained. "What about it?"

"Well I guess full disclosure is in order then." Holland began. "The ship is called the Normandy, it's captained by a man named Commander Shepard who is human, but his crew isn't. They're aliens, but not covenant from what we understand."

That immediately snapped Carter to attention. A mission? That was great news. Aliens being led by a human? That was unheard of. Not Covenant aliens? That needed a better explanation.

"Aliens who ain't Covenant?" Carter asked slightly perplexed. "Why? They don't buy into the religious fanatical bullshit?"

"They claim they aren't from around here," Holland explained a bit wearily. "As in, not from around this dimension."

Carter just looked at the communication screen blank faced for a bit. Trying to be sure he had heard his Commanding Officer aright. This could not be real, it just couldn't.

"Sir, is this a joke?" he finally asked, sounding annoyed

"No son, it's this Commander Shepard's story." Holland replied reassuringly. "As you probably guessed ONI is sceptical to say the least."

"That sounds like an understatement sir." Carter replied, trying to keep himself from sounding too sarcastic.

"He wants to prove his crew is trustworthy." Holland continued. "He heard about the mission in question and that it requires some technological savvy. He's offered three of his people to assist in this task. Two of them are aliens, one is some kind of robot."

With an exacerbated and drawn out sigh Carter put his hands to his face. Of all the things he thought Holland was going to bring up, this wasn't one of them. He put his hands down and looked at the Colonel once more.

"Permission to speak freely on this, sir?" He asked grumbling.

"Granted."

Pretty soon, with the question of whether or not he could let out his concerns with no repercussions, the frustration was flowing out of the Spartan Commander's mouth.

"This is not what I need, sir," he told Holland as professional as he could muster. "I already have one new guy coming into the squad in a few hours. The team isn't happy about that. Now you tell me you're sending me three people, a robot and two damn aliens who claim to be from outside our dimension and you expect me to just accept that?"

"They're offering assistance, son, and they have combat experience according to their Commander." Holland replied, trying to calm the Spartan. "They fought several waves of Elites and survived to tell the tale. Their ship engaged a Covenant Battlecruiser, those things are huge and this ship... its small Carter. Dwarfed by our standards."

"And you believe them?" Carter asked once again, anger now present in his voice. "How do we know they aren't lying?"

"I've seen their Commander," Holland answered earnestly, "he looks respectable enough. He's stuck to his story from day one and his team appear to revere him."

Carter just rubbed his temples at that response. He was needless to say shocked at how hard Holland seemed to be pushing for this. The Colonel seemed to pick up on it.

"Look I'm not saying I believe his story," Holland said with a tired sigh, "but I believe him when he says his team wants to help."

"I'm not one to turn away help either, sir," Carter assured Holland obediently. "But you must realise that Noble Team has been killing aliens since day one of our service. Now you want us to work with them, that's gonna create some major whiplash among the group, more so than I wanted with the new guy coming in."

"They'll have to deal with it then," Holland informed him adamantly. "Shepard stuck his neck out on this one. Ackerson grounded him aboard his ship. Otherwise he'd be coming himself. If his team screws up he takes the blame and the consequences. I don't think a potential traitor would take that big a risk, do you?"

"No sir, but I gotta say you honestly seem so gun-ho on all this," Carter noted, his tone one of curiosity. "Why? And don't feed me bullshit here."

Holland didn't take long to answer. He knew what to say and he was honest about it, as he always was. That much Carter could appreciate from his Commanding Officer. That and he didn't take crap from ONI, always a plus.

"Because if there's a chance their story and intentions are true we're looking at a much needed boost to our arsenal," Holland answered with a firm demeanor and straightforward face. "We're losing this war, son. We need an edge. Maybe this Shepard and his flock of xenos are that edge. If that's the case I don't want to alienate them. I don't know what it is, but there's something about this Shepard. I've seen it in him, he's a leader. Like you. Other than that and pissing off Ackerson, hell I don't know. I'm trusting my instincts here Carter, that's all I can say."

Holland's instincts never were wrong before. So that was reason enough to accept this whole deal. Carter still had his doubts though.

"Sir, this is all just a bit much for me to take in," he explained, struggling to come up with the right words and not sound like he was refusing an order. "Dimensions, aliens that wanna help, it's hard to get a firm grasp around it. I don't like unknown elements, sir. These guys, they sound like major unknown elements."

"At least see them before you prejudge them," Holland told him sternly. "The Normandy's XO has already passed files on to me concerning them. I've sent them to your comp now. You should go over them and properly explain the situation to your squadmates. I also have your uncensored file for the new guy so to speak. Should be enlightening."

At least there was some comforting news.

"I'm not sure about how this is gonna fo over, sir." Carter reiterated once more. "First a replacement for Thom, now aliens, you're putting a lot on my plate here. I'm not so sure the squad will handle this with as much grace as I am."

That was when Holland struck a chord. The mention of Thom was what set him off.

"Don't start bringing up your doubts, Noble One," he told him with a stern look. "We've been over this a hundred damn times. Thom got himself killed, it wasn't your fault."

Thom, that name had been on Carter's mind for who knew how long now. Thom was their last number six, before he got aced. It was on mission, on a planet whose name Carter couldn't remember. Some shit-hole rock, not worth much now. They were supposed to take down a Covenant Battlcruiser, stop it from glassing them all. Kat was going to get the bomb to its grav-lift take it out, no squad casualties, no risk. They didn't count on the enemy air support. Kat got hit and Thom took the bomb himself into the Battlecruiser via jetpack, he didn't come out. Kat lost an arm to that fight, Thom lost more.

Everyone kept telling him and Kat that Thom was just stupid, that he got himself killed. They didn't get it. They didn't have that timer in the corner of their HUDs telling them how few seconds they had left. They weren't boots on the ground, knee deep in Covenant and Marine blood, too slow to get there in time. In Carter's mind, Thom was making the only call he could've made in that situation. Kat was down. Time was running out. He blew up that Battlecruiser and saved them all. The only problem was, it shouldn't have been Thom who had to make that call.

If he had just been faster. If had just stuck with Kat better. If he just put Thom in the rear. If he had just been there.

"Respectfully sir," Carter began solemnly. "I disagree with that."

He could hear Holland groaning at that even before he actually did.

"If this whole alien thing is about your doubts as a leader-"

"It isn't," Carter quickly answered in a very final tone.

"Good," Holland said in a stiff voice. "Then we have nothing else to discuss. They'll be arriving at 0500. That's 3 hours from now. Wake up your team, get them prepped and briefed on the situation. I don't want you shooting these people on sight when they arrive."

"Does that go for everyone or just Emile?" Carter asked half-jokingly.

"Everyone," Holland calrified. "I ain't playing favourites. Keep their guns pointed at the real enemy Commander, Holland out."

The console flashed off as Holland's picture disappeared. In its place on the screen were four files. One for a Spartan, the rest for the Normandy crew. This would make for some excellent early morning reading. At the very least it would be different from his usual briefings. First things first though, he needed to wake the team. And then find a way to explain this to them all.

"Noble!" He called out. "Rise and shine! We got work!"

---

If there was anyone not enthusiastic about Shepard's plan, it was Garrus. Usually he was fine with crazy as hell ideas coming out of Wade's head. This was not one of them. Sure, he should have been used to this by now, but damn it if Shepard didn't always find ways to raise the bar on crazy ass stunts.

"You know I trust you, right?" He asked the Commander. "Like, no matter how many insane as all hell situations you stick me in, I actually DO think you're gonna get me out of it right? You know that."

"Yes Garrus and I appreciate it." Shepard told him with a smile.

"Well with that said just let me say that this is a stupid plan." Garrus told him wholeheartedly. "Probably your dumbest yet in fact. You're gonna stick me in charge of the squad while you sit up here with your neck on the chopping block. And if I screw up, you pay for it. Gotta say, that is a lot of pressure to just up and drop on me, Shepard."

"How is that different from any other day?" Shepard asked. "That's what every squad leader faces. Their teammates' lives are in their hands."

"Yeah, but at least I can somewhat control the situation on the ground." Garrus informed him. "You're stuck up here in space with an arbitrary judge."

"I have a contract." Shepard reminded him. "You read it, I read it, fine print and everything and we all signed it. We have our insurance."

"With a spook! A damn shady looking agent for some secret organization!" Garrus reminded him. "What's to keep him from breaking his word?"

The two exited out of the cramped elevator they had been arguing in, arriving on the command deck and quickly heading towards the armoury.

"I just don't get it, why me?" Garrus continued, his beffudlement apparent. "Miranda and Jacob are more capable of handling this. And they're human, that could ease the tension."

"I'd trust Miranda and Jacob to lead any mission under normal circumstances," Shepard assured Garrus as they entered the armoury. "but it's not them they have the issue with it's you and the other aliens. They need to realise they can trust you and the best way to accomplish that is by proving it to them in person."

Sheprd led Garrus over to the heavy weapons table. The commander began overseeing each of the large guns one by one.

"That and I need someone on the ground who is a bit more reactive than Miranda and Jacob." Shepard continued as he picked up the missile launcher. "A lot less stiff than Miranda and a bit less of a boy scout like Jacob. You fit the bill."

"Why? Because of what I did on Omega?" Garrus asked plainly, sounding somewhat downtrodden. "That-"

"Was impressive." Shepard finished for him as he put the missile launcher down. "You took what you learned from me to heart and you used it to do a lot of good. If the people that took out the Visegrad relay are insurrectionists, then they're using similar hit and run tactics that you used on the Omega gangs. You'll know what to do"

Shepard grabbed another heavy weapon off the table and lofted it up in his arms. It was the arc projector, their little thunderstorm sealed in a metal tube so to speak.

"Take it." Shepard said, passing it to Garrus. "You're gonna need it."

Garrus was a bit taken a back by the gesture.

"Why are you giving me the arc projector?" He asked a bit surprised. "You always hog the heavy guns."

"Only because they're cool." Shepard replied snarking. "Seriously, I never meant to hog them, it's just no one ever seemed to ask if they wanted it. You'll need it cause I won't be down there and someone needs to carry the big gun. I want you to show these Spartans we have more to offer the UNSC than just our support. They'll see our weapons tech, be impressed and they'll want us to share it with them. In return we could get some much needed upgrades to our weapons stock as well. That and you never know what will go down on the ground."

Garrus eyed the huge weapon before he picked it up into its portable form and slipped it onto his back.

"Well, I'm never one to refuse a badass gun." He admitted. "Speaking of these Spartans, we know much about them?"

"Besides they're named after a group of ancient earth warriors, no." Shepard responded glumly. "Ackerson is tight lipped about it. That's another thing I want you to do, figure out who these guys are. Don't ask questions that will just be suspicious to them. Observe them for now, ask casual questions, don't look like you're interrogating them."

Shepard motioned Garrus to continue following him, as they exited the armoury and headed along the hallway past the briefing room to Mordin's lab.

"I still think this leader thing is a mistake." Garrus reiterated to him. "Despite what you think Omega ended badly for me when it was all said and done."

Shepard stopped in the hall and whirled around towards Garrus, a confused look on his face.

"You haven't gotten over it have you?" Shepard asked with concern. "Not even after you led the squad through the Collector Station."

"I attribute that more to your leadership skills than mine." Garrus replied a bit unenthusiastically. "You were still in command. It was your plan, not mine. My plans got my team on Omega killed. I know you have confidence in my abilities, and I'm grateful for it, but I'm not so sure I see it anymore."

Shepard crossed his arms, shaking his head displeased.

"Christ Garrus, stop selling yourself short already." He told the Turian sternly. "I know how you feel more than anyone else on this ship. I lost people on Elysium, just like you on Omega. You made mistakes, I made mistakes. You couldn't have known what was gonna happen, neither of us could. You're a damn good leader Garrus, one screw up ain't changing that."

Garrus didn't seem convinced much, but his usual smile did seem to return after a second.

"Well, I did learn from the best." He admitted with a bit of his usual smile.

Shepard grinned back.

"There's the old Garrus wit," he smirked happily, "try and keep that attitude. You're gonna need it to keep the squad's spirits up. Not that Legion needs that, but they appreciate confidence in their leaders. Now come on, Mordin is waiting on us."

The doors to Mordin's lab slid open and the two walked in. They found the Salarian professor, busy as always, at his lab table. He was fiddling with a small electronic box full of circuitry in his hand when he looked up and saw the two walking in.

"Ah Shepard, just in time." He said as quick as ever "Was wondering when you'd show up. Making final adjustments now. Difficult without Tali'Zorah's help at the moment. Enjoy challenge however, learning on own."

Shepard just nodded at the professor to continue his work.

"Mordin's been working on the Elite's armour for a bit with Tali since we arrived at the station." Shepard explained. "We were hoping we could modify its shields to work with ours. From what we can tell they can take a bit more of a beating against plasma than our shields, absorb the heat better too. That would give us an added boost to our systems."

At that Mordin jerked up from his work.

"No need to hope. Have accomplished task." Mordin informed him at a lighting pace. "Tali'Zorah's shield expertise was most appreciated. Took tech class in school as minor. Needed someone versed in shields proper to make headway. Now have working upgrade. Tali'Zorah already installing hers."

Garrus was happy about that. Their makeshift heat shielding was great and all, but a shield that could take more punishment from Plasma was a lot better. Added protection that wasn't gonna weigh him down.

"Well, I'd be stupid to say no to something that will save my ass." Garrus said with a grin. "How's it work?"

"Like many shield upgrades." Mordin began to explain. "You only have to install system into your regular shield power supply. Will create extra layer of shielding. Fascinating design, does not utilize same kinetic barrier fields most shields do. Suggests system more similar to shields encountered by the Geth ship on Aite. Advise caution though, not invincible. Can be overpowered like any other shield. Remain in cover when you can."

Mordin handed the electronic device he was working on at last to Garrus. He eyed it a bit before he attached it to his shield's power supply. It took a few minutes but another shield quickly blinked into existence around Garrus and was gone the next.

"We expecting Covenant down there or something?" Garrus asked. "I don't think insurrectionists would have Plasma weapons would they?"

"I still prefer to be safe about this, Garrus." Shepard told him "Who knows, they may have swiped some from some Covenant. And stronger shields never hurt anyone."

Shepard turned to Mordin, who was now back to work on yet another of the shield upgrades.

"How long before you have enough of these up and running?" Shepard asked the good Professor. "I want the whole squad outfitted with these upgrades."

"Already created sufficient amount of prototypes." Mordin assured, rambling off a list of requirements. "Have proper design blueprints and assembly instructions on computer. Will require the help of engineers Donelly and Daniels as extra hands. Should have enough for all squad members within the day."

It was always good to see Mordin in his "zone" so to speak.

"Carry on then Professor." Shepard told him.

"Will do, Shepard." Mordin replied with zeal. "If finished early will resume work on pet project. Varren specific STDs have been surprisingly prolific in methane breathing species nicknamed Grunts biological functions. Could be potential bio-weapon. Don't tell Joker. Still concerned about last project of similar calibre. Claims waking nightmares at random."

"I'll try and keep it on the down low, Mordin." Shepard smirked as he left with Garrus back through the main door to the command deck.

"I've already uploaded a Turian language program to Commander Holland along with the team's files." Shepard explained as they walked. "Tali already has her helmet set to translate for humans through its speaker system, so that's covered too. And Legion doesn't require that because he automatically translates for everyone."

"Well no language barrier, that's good." Garrus reckoned.

As they were exiting out onto the command deck the elevator opened wide and Tali stepped out. She was just checking her heavy pistol when Shepard caught her attention.

"Ah Tali, good you're here." Shepard greeted as he walked over "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She said with a slight shrug, her voice a bit lower than usual as she holstered her pistol "New shields installed properly and seem to be holding. I'd be feeling better if you were still coming along. And if you weren't risking getting thrown in the brig for this."

"Which I won't be because I know you," Shepard told her admiringly. "if anyone can get this done it's you and the others. I have faith in you."

Tali's face seemed to light up a bit at that.

"Well, I guess we'll just call this payback for all the times you had to save me then, huh?" Tali asked.

Shepard gave a single snigger at that.

"Before I forget," he said, reaching to his back and pulling out something off it. "I want you to take this along with you."

Shepard handed Tali the Geth Plasma Shotgun, a weapon they were lucky to even have in the first place and had ended up somewhat preparing them for this situation.

"Thinking of impressing the locals?" Tali asked cheekily.

"Best shotgun we have right now." Shepard responded in a matter of fact manner. "If I can't be down there to keep you safe I might as well give you something that I know can. And yeah, maybe I'm trying to impress the locals, just a bit."

"He gave me the arc projector for the same reason." Garrus added.

Tali attached the shotgun to her back holster.

"Thanks Shepard," she said, "I'll drop a few bad guys for you with it. Just to see how much it impresses these Spartans."

Garrus interrupted the two with a cough.

"I'm gonna wait over by the airlock till we're ready go." He said simply. "Just let me know when Legion is set."

As Garrus walked away, Shepard turned to Tali.

"Frankly I'm not really worried about you." Shepard explained to her with a whisper. "You could have the crappiest shotgun in the world and find out a way to make it work for you. That and I've seen you when you're pissed off, it's scary."

Tali giggled a bit at the compliment, but Shepard was quick to interrupt it.

"I'm more worried about Garrus." He continued to explain. "I want you to keep an eye on him. I thought he was over what happened at Omega but..."

They both instinctively looked over Garrus as he stood by the airlock, he didn't notice them. Even at this distance they could tell he was miles away, thinking about something else as he leaned against the wall. He stared out the front window of the cockpit, not moving.

"Guess those scars run deeper than we thought." Tali commented sadly.

"Make sure he keeps his head on straight." Shepard told her. "Lord knows you've done the same for me."

"Of course Shepard." Tali said resolutely. "You don't need to tell me. He's my friend too, remember?"

As Shepard nodded, the elevator opened once again. Inside was Legion, its Widow sniper rifle in it's arms.

"Targeting systems are now optimal." It declared. "Shall we begin?"

---

Carter had gathered up the team, told them what was going on and predictably they were not happy about the news. Especially Emile, but that was expected. Strangely he was the only one who was more concerned about the fact they were gonna have to let aliens tag along with them. Everyone else, they were pissed off at how command seemed to sticking them with new guys left and right now. Thom hadn't died too long ago and now, and on top of some new guy they knew nothing about they were getting aliens they knew even less about.

He had Jorge, Jun and Emile all lined up in standard formation near their little outpost to see the aliens as they were flown in. He'd greet them along with Kat and evaluate them. He didn't want them meeting the others until he was sure they could handle it. He'd let them see these xenos first hand, let the thought sink in a bit more and then introduce them. Carter just wondered how he'd explain this to the new Noble Six when he got here.

No time to think about it now, they could see the aliens now flying in on one of the Falcons. As it slowly approached the landing zone Kat took off her helmet to get a better view.

"I still don't see why Holland thinks we need help on anything tech based." Kat blurted outin frustration. "That's my department, that's why I'm here. I'm capable of handling anything and I would know these systems better than they would."

"Don't think of it as the Colonel doubting your abilities." Carter told her, trying to calm him down. "He made this call, it's a high value target and fixing it needs to be done fast. We may need more manpower for that. He had his reasons, just deal with it."

Kat didn't respond to him, either she saw his point or it was because the Falcon was starting to land and she wanted a good look at what these aliens looked liked. First one that stepped out, nearest approximation was that of an Elite. But it certainly didn't look like one. For one its face was bony, and flat. Also, it wasn't as tall and it had some kind of large ring circling its neck. Could've been just its armour configuration, which was blue with a serious slice across its upper torso. Like someone had put a round through it and him if his scarred face was any indication.

A second alien followed him, this one was female from the looks of it. She appeared to be wearing some kind of spacesuit, one with a purple veil and yellow straps around her waist and around her neck the suit followed up to her helmet with similarily styled yellowish material. The helmet itself had a purple tint to the visor and what looked like a bright circle of light where her mouth should be. Her legs had the same structure as the first on, sort of like a bird in the way they bent one way before moving back. Even from here, Carter could see her silver glowing eyes through her helmet. She definitely didn't look like any Covie they had seen. It lent credence to the supposed inter-dimensional story.

Last one wasn't an alien, it was a robot, with a big blue eye, what appeared to be plate sections on its head and a hole in its torso. From what Carter could see, its body type was similar to the female alien in the spacesuit, it even had three fingers like her and the first one. Things just got weirder and weirder with this bunch it seemed and they hadn't even talked to them yet.

The blue armoured alien with the scar face stuck out his hand as he approached Carter.

"Garrus Vakarian," he said, "gunnery officer of the Normandy SR2, pleasure to meet you!"

Carter stared at the hand for a good long twenty seconds before he finally received it.

"Commander Carter," he began very shrewdly, "Spartan A529, you may call me, sir, Noble One or Noble Lead. That is all. This is Kat, you may call her Noble Two or Lieutenant Commander. Follow me."

He and Kat began walking back to the outpost, leaving Garrus there a bit perplexed at what had just happened and wondering if he had said or done something wrong. He expected to be treated a bit nicer, at least from what he had experienced with most humans. He smiled, he was polite, he did everything he was taught in C-Sec on meeting humans he was sure. Was the fact that he was an alien really pushing this guy's buttons that bad?

"He seems happy to see us." Tali piped up sarcastically.

With that, they followed the two Spartans inside. Garrus decided to suck it up, this wasn't an unexpected outcome. Hell it was the most likely. This dimension hadn't exactly been fond of their arrival so far, why start now? Especially with the whole "Aliens are murdering our wholes species" thing going on. This was probably about as well as they were going to take it.

As they began walking towards the small building Carter was leading them to, all three of the Normandy crew members peered to the side and caught a glimpse of the three other Spartans on the team. Tali noticed the one with the skull painted on his helmet's visor. Then she got a better look at the skull, it wasn't painted... it was carved into the visor. She also noticed how he seemed to follow her as she walked, his hand gripped on the big knife in its scabbard on his shoulder. Tali quickly turned away.

"I don't like the look of the one in the middle." Tali whispered to Garrus.

"To be fair they probably don't like the look of us." He reminded her. "Just relax Tali, they're on our side remember? They're not gonna bite."

"Oh I'm sure about that, the one with the skull face looks more like he wants to hack me up first." Tali replied in a deadpan yet slightly nervous tone.

They all entered the outpost and stood beside each other in single file while Carter and Kat looked over them for a minute. Garrus was instantly reminded about his service in the military for a brief second as Carter looked him over.

"I read your personnel files," he began "so did the Lieutenant Commander. It was interesting reading, you've had distinguished careers from what I can understand. Naturally though I have questions, I hope you understand why and I don't need to explain."

Garrus just nodded, he knew what he was talking about. Carter wanted to be sure they were going to cooperate, if they were worth the trouble of bringing them along.

"First you, Mr. Vakarian." The Spartan leader began "Among the three of you, you're the one with the most military experience, and when you left you became something called Citadel Security. I'm assuming that's some kind of important installation or mercenary corporation..."

"Actually, it means I was a cop." Garrus explained "The Citadel is a giant space station housing millions of people from all over the Galaxy from all different races and it's C-SECs job to keep the citizens aboard it safe."

The two Spartans eyed each other briefly before Kat interjected.

"It also says you left," she mentioned, "so forgive us if we ask you why, if you have such a high opinion of it, did you you quit?"

Tali snickered a bit.

"High opinion," she chuckled briefly under her breath. "Ha."

Carter looked over to her, his glare silencing her instantly, although Garrus could tell she was still harbouring a smile under that faceplate.

"I felt like I was getting stonewalled with red tape." Garrus answered shrugging. "So I left and joined Shepard."

"And then, somewhere in between that point and now it says you became a vigilante gang leader killing criminals under the name Archangel." Carter added with a grimace. "How was that career move?"

Garrus gulped, that was certainly a very probing question. Carter was no doubt wondering if he was gonna listen to his authority because of all this. Vigilante and disgruntled ex-cop were titles that reeked of trouble maker. Which was kinda true, but he wasn't that much of a trouble maker.

"That's somewhat personal," Garrus explained hesitantly at first before stiffening up, "but I won't deny we did good work. We helped people, stopped crime, gave regular folks some power back. Not unlike you I imagine."

Carter raised an eyebrow, and nodded for a moment.

"Taking down drug dealers and smugglers isn't the same as Covies, but I suppose you have a point." He admitted. "Can I trust you to follow my lead and obey my orders?"

Finally, he wasn't batting around the bush anymore. Garrus could answer that easy.

"Commander Shepard told me that's what I have to do, and I defer to his leadership now. So that's what I'm gonna do." He swore. "That's what Turians pride themselves on, being good soldiers."

Even if Garrus didn't think he was always a good one, maybe he could at least act like he was. On that note, Carter looked to Kat for input.

"Well, it's nice to have a alien from warrior culture that isn't swinging a plasma sword at us for once I guess." She said begrudgingly "But he should wear a helmet for the duration of our mission. It should help hide the fact he isn't human from any civies in the area, if only a little."

Garrus just nodded in agreement, he could do that no problem.

Carter moved on to Tali, who was trying to avoid eye contact a bit. She was not comfortable with how methodical this whole procedure was. That and the skull faced Spartan was still fresh in her mind. Carter walked away after finally catching her eye and clicked on his computer, bringing up her dossier.

"Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy." Carter began to read off the screen plainly. "Chief Engineer of the Normandy, says your species is called a quarian and you're an expert in technology and electronics. Out of curiosity, why are you named after the ship you came off of?"

Tali wondered exactly what she should say. Last time she tried to explain she got shot down by Ackerson. How would she approach Commander Carter on the subject? Should she blabber on about the complicated events that got her name changed from Vas Neema to Vas Normandy? That she kept the latter because of her relationship with the ship's Commander? No, she wasn't going to let that slip. She opted for the easier answer.

"Quarian last names are derived from the ships they serve on, they're our home. It reminds us where we come from." She explained timidly, trying not to fumble her words.

Kat's curiosity was now peeked.

"You live on ships?" she asked seemingly intrigued.

Normally Tali would love to tell the whole story, but Legion was here and she didn't want to make this team look like it was divided in its loyalties. She gave the short version.

"We lost our home world." She answered as she rubbed her forearm "We, um, are considered vagrants so we can't so easily relocate and then there's the problem of our... suits."

"I've been meaning to ask about that." Kat added. "Why are you wearing it? What's it's purpose?"

Garrus interjected at this point.

"It has to do with her immune system." He said, a tinge of mockery in his throat as he looked over to her. "Why don't you tell us about it?"

Tali grimaced under her face mask in embarrassment. She wanted to smack Garrus over the head for that comment right at that moment. Why did he have to make such a big deal about how she rambled on about how immune systems when they first met? Why'd he find it so funny? She wasn't used to interarcting with other species at the time for one. That, and maybe she had been afraid they would forget about her need for the suit and not be on guard to help her if she got sick from a suit puncture. Either way she didn't find her predicament funny and it annoyed her how terrible Garrus had to be about it every time.

"It's a bio-suit." Tali replied trying to hide her embarrassment, not especially hard to do when you wore a mask "Quarian immune systems are weak. We can't handle contamination from foreign cotangents and being in sterile ship environments has ruined it further. So-"

"So you get a rip in that thing and you die?" Carter asked, obviously concerned about how effective she'd be.

This was what Tali had been afraid of, being looked at as weak because of her condition. That the Spartans would see her as a liability, as most other species saw quarians back home. Well she wasn't going to be stereotyped in this dimension, especially when she was probably the only quarian around. She was the representative of her people, an ambassador of sorts. She needed to act the part and make a good impression on the part of her species.

"I won't die from a simple puncture, sir." She proclaimed more confidently than before. "I've been in combat and I know the proper procedure for potential suit containment loss. I also have anti-biotics and immuno-boosters on hand. I'll be more than capable of handling myself should the need arise."

Once the alien engineer had said her piece, Tali settled down a bit. She wasn't sure, but Tali could've sworn Carter almost cracked a smile at her resolve, but he remained professional nonetheless. Kat, however, had her own questions for Tali and they were more pressing.

"What about your technical qualifications?" She asked, a bit condescendingly. "Our equipment isn't the same as yours. Will you be able to do field repairs when we need them?"

"I'm getting familiar with your systems actually." Tali replied pleasantly, not grasping fully how threatened Kat felt about being saddled with another tech-head in the squad. "We just made ourselves some shield enhancements from the tech we recovered from the Elites that stormed our ship. Give me a few minutes with anything technical and I can get it working again. Of course if you're offering to help me learn I'd be happy to accept."

Kat eased back, the last line was enough for her to know she was still dominant here it seemed. That was reassuring enough to get her approval of the quarian's presence here.

Finally, Carter looked over to Legion and eyed him for a moment.

"So what are you?" He asked simply. "Exactly, I mean. Android? Cyborg? Military drone?"

"We are Geth." Legion answered.

Carter didn't seem satisfied with that answer.

"Yeah I know. That's what the dossier called you." Carter responded, a bit annoyed. "It didn't explain much else other than you were good with sniper rifles and tech. What does GETH stand for?"

"It stands for nothing," Legion responded "We are Geth."

Carter sighed and rubbed his forehead. The dossier said this thing was supposed to have an AI, a smart one, why was it not answering like one.

"Let's try this again, who made you?" Carter asked once more, thinking rephrasing things would help. "Where were you manufactured? What is your function?"

"Geth were constructed by the Creators, this platform was specifically designed in one of our manufacturing stations." Legion explained in its monotone. "Our original function was to observe. Our new function is integrated with that of Normandy and Shepard Commander's functions."

Well that answered a whole lot of nothing, as far as Carter was concerned. Annoyed at the machine's inability to give a straight answer, he turned to Garrus and Tali.

"Can you tell me where you picked this thing up and what it does?" he asked on the verge of growling.

"We picked him up on a mission on a derelict ship." Garrus said, not mentioning exactly WHAT the ship was of course "It's a Geth, it doesn't stand for anything. That's what it is. That's its species, so to speak. It's a synthetic life form. Or more accurately they are."

Carter raised an eyebrow.

"They?" he asked, looking back at the singular machine behind him. Come to think of it, the thing did keep referring to itself as "We." Tali filled in the gaps for him.

"What you're seeing is just a platform, or hardware, for Legion." She began. "Legion is actually thousands of software programs neural linked together to create a full functioning consciousness."

"Creator Tali'Zorah is correct," Legion interjected, "there are currently 1,183 active programs in this platform."

Carter turned to Tali again, Legion's words sparking an interest.

"Creator?" he noted curious "Your people made them?"

Tali nodded, no denying that now. It answered Carter's next question as to why their body structures looked similar. At least he didn't ask if this had anything to do with them not having a home world. Carter went back to Legion instead, prepared to try conversing again.

"So, Legion," he began once more speaking poignantly, "I guess it makes sense now. I thought it was code or something personal."

"Not code." Legion corrected "Term derived from Christian Bible, New Testament, Mark 5:9. We deemed it an appropriate metaphor."

"I am familiar." Carter responded, somewhat irritated with the trivia tidbit.

Kat walked behind the Geth construct and looked through the gaping hole in its torso.

"Funny how you keep working despite this." She noted.

"We notice you are missing an arm," Legion said bluntly. "it has been replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic. The condition of our hardware is a similar matter as we have replaced what was lost to continue to function."

Kat briefly looked to her cybernetic replacement arm and back to Legion, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the invasive statement. Especially considering how she lost it.

"No critical systems were damaged as a result of the rifle shot impact that left this hole." Legion explained astutely as its eye adjusted. "Relevant and necessary repairs have already been made. We are functioning at full capacity. Runtimes and performance are not affected."

"Yes, performance." She said curiously, as she peered closer at the mechanics of the machine.

Kat stood straight once more, getting a look at thee bos like object on Legion's back.

"Is this equipment?" she asked.

Legion took box off and let it automatically stretch itself out, revealing it was the Widow sniper rifle.

"Compact, saves space, nice." Carter noted as he eyed the weapon.

Jun would probably love one of those. Considering it was a machine, Kat and Carter assumed that meant Legion was good with it, probably even more steady and accurate. No need to breath, no twitching, no need to be concerned with the weight. It would be interesting to see what Legion could do with the rifle.

"We don't usually have many AI working in robotic construct forms." Kat mentioned as she returned to Carter's side. "In fact we have none. Let alone over a thousand of them in one body. I'm assuming that increases your capabilities."

"Correct." Legion replied quickly, the plates on its head clicking up and down. "Geth think at far faster rates than organics. In our time here we have already reviewed every second of this meeting several hundred times. In light of what we have seen, we would wish to ask our own question."

Carter looked over at Kat for a second, they didn't say anything but she simply nodded. Almost as if Carter knew what she meant he responded back to Legion.

"Go ahead."

"We have noticed your line of questioning towards both Creator Tali'Zorah and Officer Vakarian were more stringent and suspicious than those directed towards us." Legion stated. "We have also noticed your AI are given relatively free range aboard your stations and are less constrained. Yet Normandy's crew has been confined to lockdown, despite it mostly consisting of organic beings. You appear more trusting of synthetic life forms, why?"

Carter was a bit puzzled at this question, he figured that the machine would have figured it out.

"We have been at war with aliens, but we've had AI for several centuries now." He explained, as he tried to choose his words right "They've never been an issue before and they have not glassed planets to kill humans. So we're more readily trusting of them I guess because they help us. We're used to them I suppose."

Legion, however, did not seem satisfied with this answer.

"This is troubling. While we understand your familiarity with AI being more comfortable, we do not understand your dislike of our crewmates." Legion replied. "None share similar appearances or bahavioural traits to the Covenant you have encountered, yet you treat them with suspicion. They have done no harm to you yet you act hostile towards them. By your own logic they, like your AI, have also never been problematic towards your species either. Meaning they should in fact be treated in the same manner as your AI."

Both Tali and Garrus were a bit stunned, of all the people who could be speaking up on their behalf it was Legion who was confronting the Spartans directly on this issue.

"It's not that simple." Carter replied. "You must know by now that the Covenant species are the only alien races we've ever encountered. Our suspicious nature can't be unsurprising."

"It is not," Legion answered, "we have recognized how organics fear that which is new to them. It is an error in your software. The nature of this unique reversal of roles from what we have experienced thus far is simply something we wish to understand further. More data will be needed to answer this. We can only suggest for the moment that you attempt to overcome this error to facilitate unit cohesion."

Tali would have to remind herself to thank Legion for sticking up for them later. Something she was finding herself doing more and more. As she looked to Carter along with Garrus she saw the Spartan Commander's stance loosen a bit at long last.

"I think I can at least attempt that." Carter assured. "I can't speak for everyone though."

Kat chimed in as Carter looked to her.

"As long as they listen I'm fine." She answered readily.

Carter, pleased by this closed off his evaluation at last.

"You'll have to convince the others through your actions." He told them. "Just do your jobs, follow my lead and I can guarantee you your Commander will be off the hook."

"That's all we want, sir." Tali told him.

"I guess you should go meet the rest of the team." Carter finished off as he walked back to his computer terminal. "Make it quick though, Holland will be calling us up any minute now. Dismissed."

The three filed out into the only other place they could go in this tiny outpost, outside. Tali took Legion aside with a hand on its shoulder.

"You didn't need to stick your neck out for us there." She told it. "Thanks."

"We saw potential cracks in unit cohesion that could endanger ourselves, you and the mission at large." Legion explained. "We were obligated to voice concerns."

"Still doesn't make it any less commendable I think." Tali told him.

"Agreed." Garrus added. "Wish they could've heard it."

The group looked over to the three other Spartans that were congregated a little aways from them. At the moment the largest one was cleaning his huge bulky machine gun, the one with the rifle was checking his rounds and the skull faced one was sharpening his blade. He looked over to the three briefly and made sure the next time he slid the sharpener over the machete he slowed it down so they could see the sparks.

"Body language suggests potentially aggressive nature." Legion noted.

"The word 'suggests' is putting it mildly." Tali added in a deadpan tone.

"We can't avoid them forever." Garrus told them. "We should at least try to introduce ourselves."

"Recommendation, largest Spartan more docile. He has barely exhibited any sense of dislike or discomfort." Legion told them as its eye expanded and closed. "Contact with him most likely to produce positive results."

Garrus shrugged, wasn't the worst idea they heard today. Considering he was the squad leader that meant he would have to be the one to try and talk things out with him. Taking a deep breath, Garrus began to walk over to the big Spartan, the others in tow. It was only when he was in an arm's reach of him that the Spartan acknowledged he was even there.

"Garrus Vakarian," he said saluting briefly, "I'm the acting squad leader of the Normandy Ground team assigned to your Commander for the duration of this mission. This is Tali and Legion, they're our best technical officers on the ship. We're looking forward to working with you all."

The large Spartan took a few seconds to actually get up off the large container he was sitting on.

"Jorge-052, Noble Five." He began slowly in a light Hungarian accent and a very calm voice. "Gotta say this is a bit weird, working with aliens. But hey, you're not shooting at us so it's a plus. Hope you didn't feel like Noble Lead was putting you under the microscope there. We're all a bit on edge lately."

"We understand," Tali told him considerately, "it's a bit disheartening but we understand. We just hope we can change your minds in the end."

Jorge just nodded and pointed to his team mates.

"That there's Jun and over there is Emile." He said, sounding more relaxed already "I wouldn't talk to them right now, they're kinda busy. Gearing up and everything, they need to be ready for the mission. By the way, from what Noble One said you seem to know more about this mission already. Anything you can tell us?"

"Just that it's about one of your relays and insurrectionists might be involved." Garrus responded.

"Doesn't sound like anything to get too worried about." Tali added hopefully. "We should be able to get in, find out what happened and get out without much trouble."

"I hope so." Jorge told them with an assertive tone. "Coms being down for the rest of the colonies, that's not good. Specially not now. Sooner we get things running the better."

Garrus was glad this initial conversation was working out so far. With any luck they'd be able to turn the other Noble Squad members around before this mission was over with. The only thing that worried him was between now and then, was if the skull faced Spartan named Emile was gonna try to gut one of them before they got that far.

---

The Warthog's four wheel drive made these trips less bumpy, but that didn't make the unpaved roads any smoother. In any case, he was just glad to be getting back into active duty. As he finished checking the last of his helmet's critical diagnostic functions, along with his HUD's personal power supply, he reattached it to his head. He then looked at the early morning overcast of clouds. Not the best day on Reach, but there had been worse. For one thing it wasn't raining and it was starting to clear up as well. Besides, you couldn't really complain. The countryside was always breathtaking, no matter the weather, which made things easy on the eyes at least.

His driver was a young faced marine, probably fresh out of boot camp. That was becoming more and more common now, all the veterans in this fight were old grizzled men, dead or crippled. You didn't get out of the Marine Corps after a tour, not anymore. Battling for the survival of your species kinda curtailed certain rights like that. He wondered how long the poor kid had till he got his leg burned off by a plasma bolt. Morbid thought, but it was crossing everyone's minds more and more. No one was invincible, not even Spartans. The fact he was replacing one made that fact clear enough.

The Warthog finally pulled in to it's final stop in the middle of the outpost. At least three Falcons were landed near one of the small buildings that made up the fire base. From the looks of it, it was the barracks for the Spartan team he'd been assigned to. He could tell by the one leaning on the Falcon checking his sniper rifle. As he began walking out of the vehicle towards the entrance, he heard a voice over on a comm channel.

"Contact with Visegrad relay was lost last night. All signals flat lined at 2600 hours. I responded with trooper fire teams, but they have since been declared MIA."

He walked past the Spartan with his gun and into the building where the voice was coming from. In the doorway he spotted another Spartan. His armor was silver-grey with a skull on his visor. He was sharpening a huge machete against his arm, his armor sparking as he did. He looked up from him into a corner of the room to see three other figures he couldn't recognize, but was distracted by another voice.

"And now you're sending us."

"The Office of Naval Intelligence believes the use of a Spartan ground team in this matter is a gross misallocation of resources." The first voice said slightly, annoyed at remembering the words it seemed. "I respectfully disagree."

As he looked over at the Spartan in dark blue staring at his console with a static picture of Colonel Holland, a metal arm blocked his path. He looked over to his left to see a woman staring back at him. She called over to the dark blue one and got everyone in the room's attention. Especially the three people at the back of the room. They all stared directly at the new Spartan now standing in the doorway, in dark green assault armor, with an ODST helmet on, a yellow stripe going down the front of the helmet.

"So that's our new number six." Said the big Spartan in the orange and tan armor in the middle of the room.

"Kat, you read his file?" Asked the skull faced Spartan to the lighter blue one in front of him.

"Only the parts not covered in black ink." She responded.

While the Commander in dark blue looked at him for a moment, he went back to his comm channel without so much as batting an eye. The three unknowns kept looking at him a tad longer before returning to look at the Commander's screen. Now that he had a chance to look at them a bit more, he realized they weren't Spartans. They didn't even look UNSC. Especially the one that looked like he had a flashlight head and the girl beside him who possessed what appeared to be chicken feet. He didn't have time to ponder on that revelation much though.

"Anyone claim responsibility, sir?" the Commander asked

"ONI thinks it might be the local insurrection." Colonel Holland replied. "Five months ago they pulled a similar job on Harmony, took down the relay to take out our eyes and ears and made off with two freighters from dry dock. That cannot happen here. Reach is too damn important. I want that relay back online Noble One. Today."

"Sir, consider it done." Noble One responded quickly.

"Then I'll see you on the other side, Holland out."

The console went blank and the Commander now turned to him as he got his helmet off the desk. He quickly stood at attention as Noble One did so.

"Lieutenant."

"Commander, sir." he responded immediately.

"No time for evaluation right now, we'll make this quick." The Commander began. "I'm Carter, Noble team's leader."

The other Spartans were already filing out of the building. They didn't even give Carter the chance to introduce them to him. He already felt unwelcome here, which he could understand. FNGs weren't respected on the first day, even if they weren't green. Strangely enough, the three unknowns didn't move. They were just mingling.

"That's Kat, Noble Two, Emile and Jorge, Four and Five." Carter told him as the other Spartans left. "Got a name or do you prefer just Six?"

"I think I'll stick to Six for now." He answered, then he motioned over to the three in the corner. "You didn't give their names."

Carter looked behind him only briefly before he turned back, he put his helmet on as he did.

"I'll explain it in full on the way." Carter replied. "You know anything about the ship called the Normandy?"

Six had heard of the ship, it was a tiny little frigate that the Nebraska had picked up. That was the extent of what he knew.

"Just what ONI leaked." He admitted.

That told Carter all he needed to know.

"All you need to know for now is they're from it and they're friendly." Carter explained. "That and they'll be coming with us. So keep your crosshairs off them. They're taking the third Falcon, you're riding with me and Noble Three, Jun."

Carter looked over to the three unknowns in the corner and whistled.

"Garrus, move it out."

The one in blue armor began marching towards the door, his friends in tow. Carter and Six exited the building before them.

"Not gonna lie to you Lieutenant," Carter began as they walked side by side, "you're stepping into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather see unfilled. The new guys aren't exactly helping the matter."

"You mean the aliens?" Six asked bluntly, a bit tired of beating around the bush.

Carter looked back abruptly, but kept walking.

"Two Xenos and a Robot actually." Carter replied. "That's all I'm authorized to tell you at the moment. Back to you though. I read your file, even the parts ONI didn't want me to. Impressive stuff, I'll admit it. But we're a team here."

Carter and Six stepped aboard the Falcon. Carter stood upright in the aircraft as Six took his seat beside Jun. The two aliens and their robot walked past them to the Falcon behind them and climbed in. When they were set Carter waved their pilot off the tarmac.

"That lone wolf stuff doesn't cut it." Carter continued to inform Six. "Can I trust you to understand that?"

"Yes sir," Six answered resolutely, "with or without aliens."

Six assumed that satisfied Carter enough cause he sat down and let the Falcon finally take off. The aircraft lifted off the ground and made its way into the now parting clouds of the early morning. The clouds and snow topped mountains were turning orange as the sun hit them. Six let it soak in awhile, probably his last chance to enjoy it before the fighting started. Meanwhile, Jun who was beside him clicked his final bullet into its magazine and put the clip in his rifle.

"Welcome to Reach." He greeted Six.

It was the friendliest and only welcome Six had got all day.

---

The flight into the Visegrad Relay was mostly quiet, except for a few comm checks and reviewing of the mission parameters. Tali was also looking over the detailed plans Kat had provided her of the relay itself as they flew behind the first two Falcons carrying Noble Team. Legion had already finished the second the plans were transmitted. Tali needed more time to look it over of course. Smart as she was she was only an organic after all and lacked Legion's super fast processor of a brain.

"With any luck it's just some blown generators and a disabled receiving and transmitting unit." Tali expressed as she eyed the schematics on her omni tool. "We should be in and out."

"What about the missing soldiers?" Garrus asked.

"I'm just remarking on the possible extent of the damage to the structure, I didn't say how it got there." Tali responded. "Best case scenario, their radio is damaged."

Garrus turned to Legion as their Falcon began to rise higher up a mountain range.

"Anything you can tell us about our new friends?" He asked. "Your systems must've been able to detect something."

"Only preliminary scans." Legion replied. "Strength and physical prowess are increased above average for human lifeform. Possible cybernetic enhancements as well. More data needed for consensus."

"Maybe they'll be a bit more open when we earn their trust." Garrus said with hope.

"Let's not get our hopes up for any classified information." Tali quickly added. "Personally, I just want to know why they are called Spartans."

Legion's head shook a bit, it's eye blinking once before its head plates rose up.

"Sparta, ancient Earth city-state, location Greece, prominently known for its warrior culture and powerful military, remains legendary among Alliance military to this day."

Sometimes it was good to have a living computer with them. Legion had spent so much time on the Extranet studying organic cultures that it seemed to know them better than they knew themselves by this point. It was especially helpful for Garrus and Tali, as they couldn't always ask Shepard about his species' culture, like now.

"Well it's interesting to know their fame crosses dimensions." Garrus noted with a smirk. "I'm sure they'd be happy to know that if they were still alive."

As they began to round the mountainside, Garrus and Tali looked up to the skyline. It was a breathtaking sight to behold. Through the early morning mist that was just beginning to settle, they could see a large mountain pointing up towards the sun as they flew by. Below them the green sloped mountain they were hovering over passed by even quicker, its winding paths, rocky cliffs and lush vegetation that blanketed the massive natural formation were a welcome change from most of their excursions on a planet. This one wasn`t a giant desert or freezing cold for one and there was no apparent devastation to the landscape either, it was simply pristine.

"Too bad Shepard couldn't see this." Tali said with saddened look.

"He will once we get this done." Garrus told her in a comforting voice. "We just have to hope that Ackerson keeps his word and that it is just a bunch of pissed off human traitors that did a number on this relay."

Tali looked back to the Turian, offering her own comforting words.

"If anyone can get us through this it's you Garrus." Tali assured with a friendly look. "Shepard couldn't have picked a better stand-in."

Garrus looked to the side, not looking at all comforted by the compliment.

"Let's just hope it doesn't end up a permanent position." He told her, sounding rather inward and reserved.

Tali's posture saddened as Garrus' head lurched downward. Shepard was right to voice his concerns about him before. She would've said something, had Carter not interrupted them over the comm-channel.

"Listen up people," he said, "we have a downed relay 50 clicks from Visegrad. We introduce ourselves to whoever took it out and get it back online. And remember we have additional bodies with us today along with civilians in the area, so watch your targets."

"You know, we're on the same channel you are." Tali spoke over the comm, sounding a bit disgruntled. "Could you refer to us as something besides bodies? It's a bit morbid."

"Fine, you're Team Xeno." Carter replied dismissively. "Now if that makes you feel better, stow it. This isn't your Op, you don't call the shots."

Smooth Tali, she thought to herself immediately after Carter shut her down. Now he was pissed at her, just what they didn't need right now. Thankfully Jorge managed to change the subject and get Carter's mind off them.

"Sir, why would the rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of the colonies?" He asked concerned as he looked over Carter in the second Falcon "Wouldn't just downing a smaller internal communications hub be better? If they just want to grab a frigate or something it would be easier than shutting down a big installation like this."

"Ask them when you see them, Jorge," Carter replied sarcastically, "maybe they'll tell you."

"If Emile is in charge of the interview they will." Jun joked.

Emile only grumbled over the comm as Jorge snickered somewhat.

"Commander," Kat spoke up suddenly, "I've lost our feed back to HQ."

Carter snapped his head towards her, looking over at Kat's Falcon as she fiddled with her communication uplink device.

"Back up channels?" he asked.

Kat looked up after a second and shook her head.

"Nada, can't say what's jamming us." She replied.

"Whoever took out the relay may have put up a communication scrambling device." Tali suggested to the Spartans. "Some kind of dead zone generator. That's probably why the troopers couldn't report in. We'll need to get the relay back online or take it out if we're going to contact your superiors."

"Agreed." Kat said in response, surprising everyone it seemed given her discomfort with Tali. "I don't see any other reason for us to lose our signal. A downed relay wouldn't cut off our groundside communication channels, they're on a separate network."

"Dead zone confirmed then." Carter concluded. "Noble, command will not be keeping us company this trip."

"I feel lonely already." Emile snarked.

As the Falcons rounded the next bend, the team began to approach their landing site. What looked like a small farming area on the side of the mountain. Nearby were some large spinning structures. They were long pole with ribbon like strips of metal whirling down around them, the wind pushing them around.

"I assume those are wind turbines?" Garrus asked over the comms.

"Best way to get power all the way up here." Jorge commented back. "Wind current is exceptional on this mountain range. One of those turbines can power a small three story house by itself. There are several of them scattered over this range alone."

As the ground closed up on them they all got a better view of both the relay station and the farmland below.

"Strange that there's enough fertile land up here for these fields." Tali said she readied herself for landing by putting her feet over the side of the aircraft.

"You'd be surprised." Jorge added "Whole place was fertile for a long time. There are a lot of valleys up here, small ones but they have enough soil to keep these farms running. Times have gotten tough though I hear, a lot of people are relocating to the cities nowadays."

"You seem to know a lot about this planet." Garrus commented.

"I should," Jorge laughed, "I grew up on Reach. It's my home. Good to be back, sad to hear these insurrectionist assholes are here stirring up trouble."

Carter quickly interrupted the small bonding session between Jorge and the Normandy team.

"Stay focused people," he told them, "you see that comms outpost from here?"

The Normandy team all looked up towards the large satellite dish in the distance. Considering the facility needed to send information across the galaxy to other planets it was understandably huge.

"That's our objective. Worry about that for now, not a dying farming community." Carter sternly told them.

"Yes sir. Sorry, got sentimental just a bit." Jorge apologized.

Kat was once more quick to interrupt their conversation.

"I'm picking up a distress beacon from down below." She said. "Marking it on your Head-Up Displays."

Everyone's heads quickly turned to the small clump of buildings below and tiny blue dot that appeared in the center of it. That is to say, it was blue for the Spartans, different colors for the different HUDs of the Normandy team and their helmets. Tali's was light purple of course like most of the stuff she owned.

The Falcons set down on a bluff up and away from the buildings and everyone but Jun and Jorge got off. Carter told Jun to stay behind and act as their eyes in the sky and let off Jorge at the next set of buildings. Then he directed everyone to head towards the distress beacon. He told everyone to keep an eye out for the troopers near the beacon and to keep their heads on a swivel for hostiles.

Now with feet on the ground once more, the Normandy team eyed the alien landscape of twisting trees that dotted the hillside and the large rocks that jutted up out of the ground. They had little time to properly admire it though as they were directed down towards the bottom of the slope and where the beacon was coming from. Emile clambered to the top of a large rock to get a look at the clump of buildings it was coming from.

"Everything clear from this angle." He commented as he jumped down from the tall rocky formation to the ground below.

Garrus wondered if he just witnessed one of those cybernetic enhancements Legion mentioned before. As he watched Emile, however, he noticed the Spartan stared back at him for a brief moment before continuing on to the beacon's signal. His face was covered by that visor, but the skull painted on it seemed to say everything for him regardless. Thankfully the Spartan hadn't acted on his "uncomfortable" feelings towards the Normandy crew so far. So Garrus thought it best they all continue to simply keep their distance. He didn't want to risk provoking him, for whatever miniscule reason.

"No other human life signs detected in the immediate area." Legion announced as it closed in on the clump of buildings. "It is unlikely the trooper team is still here."

"They gotta be nearby somewhere." Jorge said over the radio. "Standard procedure is to stay near the emergency beacon as close as possible."

Six approached the clump of buildings now, he entered one doorway, gun drawn and whirled around to the next. Not a soul to be seen.

"Looks like the robot is right." He said. "No one home."

The clump of buildings was now revealed to be a small storage and generator area. The mini-concrete bunkers hid farm equipment from prying eyes and surrounded a small but intact generator, fueled by gas. The buildings themselves looked a bit torn up, as if there had been a firefight here. What was most curious were the burn marks on the sides of the building. Most telling was the burnt out vehicle near the site. It was still on fire, so it couldn't have been too long ago that it met its untimely end. For all they knew they probably just missed the party.

Everyone gathered around the beacon's signal at the edge of concrete slab that made up center of the buildings. Kat and Emile dug through a pile of debris to reveal the distress beacon, a small red little object.

"Can't make out any ID," Kat said as she eyed it, "but it's military."

"Least we know they were here." Tali said optimistically

"Yeah, but where are the troopers now?" Jorge asked worried as he and Jun flew over. "They'd have to be in real trouble to abandon the distress beacon like that and not take it with them."

Six looked once again to the battle damaged buildings and car.

"From the looks of it," he began morbidly, "they either had to fall back cause they were being overrun, or they were captured. Only other option I can see is they got killed and someone dragged their bodies away afterwards."

No one seemed to comment on Six's remarks, they were the most logical conclusions and there was no disputing there had been a fight here. The real question was the nature of the fighting itself. Something seemed wrong, particularly the scorch marks around the area.

"Not seeing much in the way of explosive residue." Kat said confused. "In fact I don't see any at all."

Garrus eyed one of the scorch marks with his finger.

"So what blew up our jeep here and scorched the earth around it?" he asked.

"Maybe we just can't see it." Tali suggested. "Visible traces could be gone by now."

Carter was on the same wave length as he Tali. He quickly contacted Jun asking for any signs of Explosives residue, but he came up with nothing all the same.

"Plasma maybe?" Emile suggested.

"Can't be." Jorge was quick to shoot down over the radio. "Not on Reach. Rebels don't leave plasma burns, they use our weapons."

But those marks had to be caused by something, and plasma looked to be the most likely suspect. Garrus looked to Carter.

"Is it possible that insurrectionists got their hands on plasma weapons?" He asked the Spartan commander inquisitively.

"They'd either have to get them from our lock up or research labs, which are heavily guarded, or they'd have to attack the Covenant to nab them, which is suicidal." Carter explained adamantly. "Besides if they tried anything like the latter they'd realize what we're up against and join up instead of thinking about their radical separatist agenda."

"You're not giving radical ideologies enough credit." Tali told him. "Even after facing the Covenant, I doubt they'd change their minds. Thousands of colonies have been destroyed already, if they haven't joined up now…"

Carter sighed, Tali made a lot of sense as much as he hated to admit it. They had fought separatists before, they weren't exactly big on thinking their rebellion plans through.

"Yeah you have a point. They haven't jumped at the bit to help us yet why now." Carter relented "Still, if it is plasma that only leaves two options, one of which is unthinkable."

"But not impossible?" Garrus asked, knowing what Carter meant.

"Let's hope it is just insurrectionists with stolen plasma guns." Carter answered him gravely. "For everyone's sake, and I do mean everyone."

Emile bent down on one knee over a pool of blood on the concrete floor of the small storage and power area.

"Lot of blood on the ground," he said seemingly unfazed, "If they got away some of them are seriously wounded. If they died, like Six said, someone took the bodies."

"Troopers don't usually leave their men behind, even dead ones." Carter explained. "They could have fought off the attackers and made a break for it with whoever they could carry. Course they could all just be captured cause they couldn't fight anymore."

"Then we should go after them." Garrus said, a look of urgency in his eyes as he approached Carter. "Who knows what kind of condition they're in. They could be dying for all we know or worse, being tortured."

"That is not our priority," Carter responded adamantly, "we're here for the relay. We can't waste time looking for a bunch of men who may already be dead."

Carter turned to continue the mission, but Garrus wasn't willing to drop the subject it seemed. This scenario of missing soldiers reminded him too much of Omega.

"You don't know that," Garrus told him defiantly, "you said it yourself, they wouldn't have left the beacon if they weren't in trouble. We can't just abandon them like that."

Carter turned around quickly, not at all happy to have Garrus arguing with on this.

"As I recall I told you this wasn't your Op." Carter reminded him. "You don't make the calls, I do."

"I'm giving a suggestion, that's it." Garrus responded in his defense. "That relay isn't going anywhere. These people may not have much time left."

"They knew the risks," Carter replied nonchalantly, "we'll encounter who they went up against eventually and take them down. They'll rest easy."

Garrus stepped forward as Carter started to head further up the path. As per usually he didn't know when to drop something.

"If it was one of your own men would your opinion be different?" He asked simply.

Carter stopped in his tracks at that. For a second it looked like he was completely frozen. Without even responding to Garrus he opened a channel to Jun.

"Noble 3, keep an eye out for any UNSC trooper life signs or transponder signals. Inform us as soon as you confirm."

"Roger, Commander." Jun replied "You should probably head down to the slope to the next set of structures. They more than likely would've retreated through there and it's on the way to the Relay anyway."

Carter nodded and turned to Garrus.

"We keep moving in the meantime. Satisfactory?" He asked.

"More than enough." The Turian answered.

Carter moved out, the other Spartans slowly joining him, Kat being the first and making sure to keep in step beside him. Emile of course shoulder bumped Garrus as he walked by, the turian didn't say anything. Just more of steam the surly soldier was blowing off no doubt. Six just eyed them briefly, then seemed to nod approvingly as he kept walking. Garrus followed behind, Tali and Legion joining him.

"Well, that was certainly tenuous." Tali commented

"I told you, I'm not a very good turian when it comes to orders." Garrus replied a bit flustered. "Bad orders just don't sit as well with me as they would with most."

"Point is you stood firm. That tells them a lot about your conviction." Tali reassured him. "I'd like to have their respect as well as their trust. That and we did just stick up for saving human lives."

"Let's not ask for too much just yet." Garrus warned her. "One step at a time and everything."

As they began to approach the path to the next group of buildings, they saw a large flightless bird that looked like a Moa run across the path and into the bushes across them. It was shrieking as it did so, cawing up into the sky.

"He looked scared out of his little bird brain." Six noted.

Kat looked up towards the direction the bird had run from and noticed a possible explanation, smoke.

"Possible fire at the next set of structures." She suggested.

"Alright then," Carter concurred, "let's check it out. Everyone circle west, permission to fire but be selective. I don't want us telegraphing our presence."

With that Emile took off, leading the charge and prompting the rest to keep the pace. He seemed to be getting antsy, but Carter was quick to rein him in.

"Noble Four stay with the group." He told him. "We haven't engaged the enemy yet, there's no reason to be looking for a fight."

"I'm on your HUD sir, relax." Emile responded. "If something goes wrong I'll shout and you'll probably know it before then anyway. Won`t matter though, whatever it is gonna be dead by the time you get to me. Let's just get this done quick, alright?"

Carter shook his head in frustration. Another one of Emile's days he thought. Tali was the first to ask the obvious question.

"He always like this?" She asked.

"Emile never has liked the `calm before the storm` so to speak." Carter explained.

They approached a cliffside house; whoever lived here had a fantastic view for sure. Carter told Six to enter first with most of the team following behind. All except, of course, Emile who was already half way through the house. Inside they found the place in shambles, clutter everywhere and tables and chairs strewn across the floor along with papers and broken plates.

"Seeing heat sigs in the structure ahead, Commander." Jun announced over the radio. "Watch your corners down there."

They exited out of the dark little building via a giant hole that had been blasted through the wall. While they kept their eyes on the building next to them that Jun had warned them about they were still curious about the battle damage surrounding them.

"Somebody hit these people hard." Six observed as he looked at the small crater in the pavement that was blasted apart in front of the door. He then looked over his shoulder at the source of the smoke, a fire on the roof above. "Not like it was an orbital bombardment, but it seems a bit excessive for a bunch civies."

"Damage to structures is similar to previous firefight site." Legion added

The discussion was interrupted by the sound of whirling blades. The Falcon was letting off Jorge in a nearby field. It took off again soon after, as it was vanishing in the distance another sound caught the team's attention, that of a slowly opening door from the structure next to the building they left. Emile was the first to point his weapon at the entrance way, everyone else followed for a brief moment.

They soon all saw, however, the people inside were unarmed, huddled and scared. All except Emile, who somehow still saw a threat in the frightened civies. As one man rushed out, speaking in a different language the Spartan didn't understand, the skull faced commando went into kill mode. He clicked his shotgun once and pointed the weapon at the man's head, forcing him to put his hands up.

"On your knees!" he demanded viciously. "Now!"

Garrus wasn't a cop on the Citadel anymore, but he still had the reflexes and quick reaction time that was afforded to one. Instinct took over quickly, an unhinged man was pointing a gun at an unarmed civilian. He trained for stuff like this in C-SEC academy, but he couldn't shoot him, so he had to do the next best thing. He was the closest to Emile, so he stepped in and knocked the gun upwards, holding onto it with his claws.

"What the hell are you doing?" He shouted at Emile as the Spartan tried to rip the gun back. "They're unarmed!"

"Fuck off alien," Emile shouted back as he pushed Garrus away with his free hand, "and get your mitts off my weapon."

Garrus knew that was probably a stupid move, given the situation and the subject. Luckily, Jorge was quick to step in and keep things from escalating.

"They're not Rebels," he said pushing Emile's gun down and taking Emile`s eyes off the turian, "they're farmers. Look at them, they're harmless."

Jorge peered over to the frightened civies as he let Emile's gun go. Carter added his own two cents.

"Stand back Emile," he said calmly, "we don't need you scaring them more."

Emile, reluctantly, backed off, staring back at Garrus with slumping shoulders as he walked up beside Kat. Six took the place where he stood instead. Carter, however, wasn't letting Garrus off the hook either.

"I appreciate your consideration for their safety, but I can handle my own men." He told him sternly.

Garrus bobbed his head.

"Sorry Commander, my instinct took over." He replied humbly, "It won't happen again."

"Just save it for the enemy." Carter told him plainly. "We're gonna need it when we encounter them."

The Spartan Commander now turned to Jorge.

"Ask them what they're doing here, what they saw." Carter requested. "We need answers."

Jorge spoke to the man in his language, as he responded Jorge filled them in.

"They're hiding," Jorge began, "neighbors were attacked last night. They heard fighting, shooting, stopped around sunrise. He says that… something in the fields… killed his son."

That was interesting choice of words to everyone.

"Something?" Carter asked in return.

"Pronoun choice suggests non-human organic entity." Legion added. "Noble Commander, we suggest there is a strong possibility this incident was not caused by human insurrectionists."

"The alternative to them is unlikely." Carter responded abrasively. "It could've jsut as easily been an animal, unrelated."

"We suggested you consider the possibility." Legion replied. "Nothing more. You may choose to ignore it at your leisure."

No one voiced exactly who Legion was suggesting because everyone knew who it was suggesting. They just didn't want to really think about it. The idea of rebels still being responsible, despite all the evidence starting to point the other way, was less disturbing, more comforting, preferable.

"Set a perimeter." Carter told the others. "Jorge, Kat, with me, we need to talk. Team Xeno, Emile, Six, keep the civs company. We'll contact you if something comes up."

Six began to lead the man back inside, before Jorge left he told the civies in their language to follow him back into their hiding place. While Garrus and the other Normandy team members just looked on. When Carter, Kat and Jorge were out of ear shot however, Emile grabbed the Turian by the large plated ring around his neck and pulled him down so that the Spartan was looking down on him now. He couldn't see the look on the Spartan's face, but his voice was all Garrus needed to understand how pissed off he was.

"Listen up, plate head," he said in a hushed angry tone. "I don't like you or your two tag along buddies. I especially don't like you touching my shit either. You pull something like that again, I don't care what the Commander says. I'm gonna pull them giant ass scales off your face one by one and let you bleed ta death in the road. Ya hear me?"

Garrus was not fazed by the disturbed Spartan's little threat, he stood there staring back at the skull faced visor through his own helmet.

"You're welcome to try." Garrus told him. "I hear from a friend of mine you have to work the blade a bit when it comes to us turians."

Garrus could hear Emile snarling under his throat. He started to grip at his machete with his free hand. Thankfully for both their sakes, someone was there to play mediator.

"Is this behavior considered favorable towards unit cohesion?" Legion asked simply, its geth assault rifle pointed casually at Emile from a distance.

The Spartan backed off, pushing Garrus back up. He walked away towards Carter and the others. Garrus breathed a sigh of relief. As did Tali who watched the whole spectacle, rather frightened as to whether it would really come to blows

"Thanks Legion," he said, "I had a feeling for a second he was gonna actually do something."

"His actions were distracting from the task at hand." Legion explained. "We surmised he would yield once reminded of his numerical disadvantage and how his superior would disapprove."

"At least we know who Noble Team's Grunt is." Tali joked, trying to relieve the built up tension.

Garrus gestured his neck around, trying to get it to snap back correctly as Emile's Spartan strength had left a crink in it.

"Grunt is a kitten compared to that guy." He argued. "At least he knows who's on his side. Plus he doesn't make idle death threats because we touch his guns. Well, as long as he's not using them."

"What about the action figures he bought on the extranet?" Tali countered. "He's defensive about those."

"Touché." Garrus conceded.

As they had their conversation they soon noticed that Six was still watching them, quietly, from near the door the civies were hiding behind.

"Grunt is another alien I guess?" he finally asked.

While surprised one of the Spartans was trying to spark up a friendly conversation for once, the Normandy team didn't want to be rude and not answer. So Garrus did so.

"Yeah, he's a giant hulking lizard." He answered as if it wasn't anything special. "Has a major temper."

"Well if he's anything like Emile your Commander must be pretty damn good at keeping him in line." Six noted as he stepped down towards them. "Especially if he's a giant lizard."

He looked to the three Normandy crew members as they began to huddle around Garrus.

"Garrus, Tali and Legion right?" Six asked. "Noble Lead told me all about you on the flight in."

"Hopefully it was only good things." Tali expressed in a deadpan joking sort of way. "Then again you're talking to us so I assume it was."

"Just that you all volunteered to help out because it's the only way to get your CO of the hook with command." Six explained. "So if you want to count that as a favorable remark, you can. I decided I wanted to make my own judgments."

At least that meant he was open-minded, that much Tali could appreciate.

"So what do you think of us so far?" Garrus asked.

"Well, you know what you're doing and you care about innocents, but you don't take crap and speak your mind." Six listed off. "Good qualities so far, can't complain. Not sure what to make of you beyond that."

Garrus supposed he could take that for now, better than blind xenophobia.

"We appreciate the compliment anyway… um," Garrus stopped in the middle of his sentence because he wasn't sure exactly what to call the Spartan, "Six, I guess?"

"Its fine, I'm mostly known by my number anyway." Six replied. "Even before I got transferred. I prefer it that way. I don't need to be labeled."

Legion's head plates made a gesture of curiosity at this point.

"That belief is similar to that of the geth." The machine observed "Numbers and broad based terms are more common than proper names."

Six just nodded his head.

"Interesting to know," He responded, "considering that you let people call you Legion."

"We accepted it to better communicate amongst and integrate into Normandy." Legion replied.

"Huh, how's that working out for ya?" Six asked.

Legion looked briefly to Tali, when she noticed she only briefly stared back. Then she went back to avoiding eye contact, slightly embarassed at the gesture.

"We are still building a consensus on that subject." The geth responded.

Six just nodded again and looked back towards the other Noble team members.

"Me? I get the feeling they don't really want me around." Six explained. "It's understandable. I'm replacing their last Number Six. Poor guy, hear he bought it in a big way. Soldiers never really enjoy having to accept an FNG."

Tali cocked her head a bit bewildered at the term. She was never very good at military terms, she was an engineer after all and she hadn't been with the Migrant Fleet Marines or Shepard long enough to sort out all the jargon. While she had heard plenty in her life, she had never heard that term before.

"FNG?" She asked.

"Fucking New Guy." Both Garrus and Six responded at the same time.

Tali just widened her eyes in understanding as she got the term. She suddenly realized why she hadn't heard it before. Among the Migrant Fleet there was no concept of the "New Guy" joining up. You were all family, when you went to another ship you were just acclimating into another part of it. She hadn't heard the term on Shepard's team before because no one had ever replaced or filled in for an absent or dead comrade on the first or second Normandy. Not in the way Six was describing things at least.

"I suppose that's common ground between us all right now, huh?" Tali asked, slightly hopeful as she did so.

"In a way I guess." Six answered "Breaks the ice a bit at least. Still weird working with aliens though."

Their conversation was cut short, however, when Jun shouted something over the radio.

"Noble Lead, I've detected heat signatures in the structure up the road from you! Could be the troopers or rebels!"

"Noble, Xeno, double time it! Now!" Carter ordered.

Without hesitation the group took off heading towards the small structure jutting out of the rocks up ahead. They rushed across a bridge, guns at the ready as they rushed to the doorway, Six and Emile pressed up against it while Jorge stared down it into the darkness.

"You got night vision on you, use it now." Carter told the group at large.

Both the Normandy crew and Noble Team flicked on the night vision in their helmets as they entered the darkened building. Inside, they found no heat signatures, only bodies. Both troopers and civilians, piled into one corner, they looked like they were in a bad way. The one who had it worst was the poor soldier pinned by his back to the wall. The soldier beneath was propped up against a barrel, a pool of blood surrounding him. Everyone else was a civilian, farmers, tossed in a pile to the side.

"Keelah." Tali said as she brought her hand to where her mouth was underneath her face plate, trying her best to remain composed. "They've slaughtered them. Like animals. Why?"

"Let's just hope it was quick... in the end." Garrus said to her hopefully.

Carter eyed the two soldiers who had obviously been tortured, for what exactly he wasn't sure but the evidence was clear. He called Jun.

"Noble 3, heat sigs no go." He told him. "We found two of the missing troopers, they're been interrogated. It's messy."

Carter shook his head as he stood up and let Six get a closer look for himself.

"Looks like they were beaten," he told the others as he surveyed the one on the ground's face, "then executed. Cut them up with some kind of blade. Then let them drain out for a bit."

He looked up at the one stuck to the wall via a series of hooks in the wall. Once used to hold miscellaneous farming equipment, now it was holding his corpse. Six moved the poor guy's head around to get a better view.

"Someone forced him on here, punctured his back, held him and, eventually, it seems they snapped his neck." He observed.

He let the man's head go before turning to the civilians.

"They were beaten to death," he determined, "you can see it all over them, blood looks consistent with that."

"What are you? Sherlock Holmes now?" Emile derided with a smirk.

"I took a class on anatomy back in my salad days if it will make you trust my judgment any better." Six responded a bit bitterly. "I've seen how dead bodies look Noble Four, on the battlefield and off, I know what I'm talking about."

"I agree with the analysis," Garrus said quickly rising to Six's defense as he closed in on the bodies. "I was a cop once. I've seen stuff like this. Never this bad though."

All the while this was going on Legion was observing the entire scene, making a consensus of all the clues and evidence.

"We have always been perplexed by organic tendencies to drift towards torture." The Geth said it eyed the slumped over soldier on the ground. "The subject is more than likely will invent fiction that they believe the interrogator desires. It is an inefficient way of gathering data."

"Maybe after a point it wasn't to get information at all." Tali added, staring at the corpses in disgust. "Maybe they were just on some sick power trip."

Legion seemed off put by this information.

"Organics who enjoy the procedure are more puzzling." The Geth added. "They accept the action is pointless, yet commit it only for emotional self-indulgence. It will gather invalid information nonetheless and only makes themselves satisfied. Again, nothing is achieved."

"I wouldn't try to understand it, Legion." Garrus told the machine sadly. "Hell, I was in C-SEC for years taking down some pretty sick bastards and I still didn't get them."

Six stared at the bodies for a moment more.

"I think Tali may have a point," he said, "rebels are ruthless but if they were gonna interrogate and kill people they'd be cleaner. Bullet to thebrain is quicker than stomping a poor guy's head in."

"Maybe they're just messed up little fuckers." Emile suggested.

"That's not the only thing that's making me question all this." Six quickly added. "Check out the floor."

Everyone did at once and saw exactly what Six was pointing out for them. Bloody footprints, three toed, defiantly not human and they were all over the place.

"Could just be more of the Moa." Carter suggested.

"I doubt it, sir." Six told him.

Legion spoke up once more as it examined the footprints.

"Evidence of plasma weaponry, account of farmers and the footprints heavily suggests the insurrectionists were not involved." It said.

"That only leaves one option," Jorge said abruptly, "one I don't like thinking about."

"They've taken almost every other planet why not this one?" Tali asked him sincerely.

"Because Reach is too damn important for that to happen." Jorge shot back.

"We merely stated our judgment on available data," Legion said plainly in its defense "It is your choice whether to act upon it."

Carter shook his head in frustration, this circle jerk wasn't getting them anywhere. While everyone was thinking what Legion was suggesting, no one wanted to say it aloud. Neither did he, he preferred still thinking they were secure, if only for a moment more.

"Were not getting answers here." Carter told them sternly "Heat sigs were here ten seconds ago, now they're not. We just missed whoever was here by seconds, they can't have gone far. We find them, we get our answers and we'll deal with it when we do. Now move, everyone."

No one argued against Carter and they all moved forward through the building, past another poor dead soul. Tali looked at the dead civilian for a moment, shaking her head.

"Whoever did this to these people needs to die, badly." She said, whispering unbridled rage under her throat.

"No argument here." Jorge agreed.

As they got to the exit they started hearing sound above them. Something was rattling around up there. All the while there was something on the Spartan's motion trackers.

"Rats?" Garrus asked.

"Those are some pretty big rats." Tali noted, slightly unhinged.

Carter asked Jun if he had anything, he said no. As quickly as it came the sounds were gone. The team started to make its way through the courtyard past a burnt out tree towards the next building, a large storage facility from the looks of it. As they entered, the memory of the sounds was brought up once again as the Spartans' motion trackers spiked again.

"Something is moving around the corner." Kat told them. "Very erratically, like it's jumping around."

Six was on point, Garrus close by. They rounded the corner, passing some large circular containers covered in mesh. When they got to the other side they saw a window. Outside they could see the main courtyard for the building and how the two wings of the structure surrounded it. And on the wing to right, they saw it.

A bird like creature again, but it was certainly not an moa. It clutched a weapon in its bony arms as it turned to look back at Garrus and Six. The two stood there, not entirely shocked by what they were seeing at this point, but certainly horrified. That horror quickly amplified as the Jackal screeched into the heaven, calling on its friends. Six reacted and fired his pistol through the window. Two rounds penetrated the alien's skull and fell off the building to the ground. Carter and the others caught the tail end of it all.

"Contact! Contact!" Six shouted.

Carter immediately called Jun on the radio.

"Jun, Covenant! Our position!" He shouted, he then heard alien screeching heading to their position. He ran to the window with Garrus and Six and watched several Jackals rush into the floor below them. "Reinforcements engaging, we need close air support!"

"Copy that, Commander."

Suddenly their unvoiced concerns were all voiced for them. The only one among them who didn't seem to hate the truth now staring them in the face was Emile who merely remarked "Here we go" as if he had been hoping things would turn out this way. Carter didn't have much time to be horrified, however briefly. He need to deal with the current threat dogging them.

"They're downstairs. Six, get a grenade in there. Garrus, cover him. Everyone else, follow after them!"

Six rushed down the nearby flight of stairs, Garrus right behind him and his Vindicator Battle Rifle at the ready. Turning the corner of the stairwell they saw the massing group of Jackals at the doorway. None of them had shields, but they were all heavily armed. Six quickly pulled the pin on his grenade and tossed it underhand into the mass of aliens. They heard the thing start bounding towards them and turned. They only caught a glimpse of Six and Garrus before the grenade exploded. Four Jackal bodies, full of shrapnel, were tossed into the walls of the building. Their limbs flying as their crumpled forms collapsed to the ground.

The survivors of the explosion gathered their bearings and began firing their needle weapons at the two. Garrus was quick to respond taking headshots at both of them in quick succession. They fell to the ground, but they could hear more just outside.

"I thought these guys had shields most of the time, what gives?" Garrus asked as he pressed himself against the doorway.

"Sub-species with different tactics," Six explained as he got behind Garrus, "we call them Skirmishers. Keep an eye on them, they like to jump around like damn grasshoppers."

Garrus nodded and poked his head out the doorway. He saw a large contingent of Grunts onrushing them, their Skirmisher pals taking up the rear. As one of the skirmishers leapt to the side, landing on top of the right wing of the facility, Garrus began firing at him. As Six said, he was slippery bastard, dodging the vindicator's fire as it crept towards him. He fired back at Garrus, who dodged the needle rounds coming out of the large rifle the creature held in its arms. It was even harder to get a bead on it because Garrus was distracted by the plasma bolts rushing at him and Six. He had to go back to cover before too long.

Its flight did not last long, Kat was next down the stairwell and cut off the Skirmisher's escape path by firing ahead of it. It backtracked towards it's doom. For Tali was down on the ground next and took aim with her heavy pistol at the creature's head. The alien's head twisted around from the impact and it fell on its stomach, its ass sticking up in the air.

"Good shot." Kat commented quickly.

"Thanks," Tali replied as the two got to cover, "I told you and Noble Lead I knew how to handle myself."

"Gangway!"

The voice shouting that was Jorge bounding down the stairs, his chain gun at the ready. He fired a stream of bullets into the onrushing crowd of Grunts and Skirmishers. The Skirmishers jumped away, the Grunts had to flee backwards. One of them had its back filled with lead before it got to relative safety. Jorge's suppressing fire allowed most of the others a bit of breather room to maneuver. They didn't have to worry about plasma bolts for a few precious seconds. Of course it didn't last long as the Grunts, showing uncanny courage unnatural to them, started coming back to resume the assault. The Skirmishers returned as well, hoping onto the wings of the structure once more in an effort to take the high ground.

As one grunt hobbled and strafed across the doorway, Six opened fire on his methane tank. As predicted with the volatile gas, the tank exploded and sent the poor hunchbacked alien into the air, flipping ass over tea kettle as he did, screaming all the way. It should've been ample warning for the Skirmisher taking aim at the doorway. Instead the Grunt flew smack into him and the remaining methane within the tank exploded.

The team headed out of the doorway and into the courtyard, Tali had swapped her pistol for her Geth shotgun. She made use of it at once. A skirmisher jumped atop the left wing's roof and began firing needles down at Carter and Kat as they made their way for cover, the center of the courtyard to be precise, where a large tractor was parked. Tali charged the weapon and fired it at the Skirmisher. The Geth shotgun's plasma bolt, travelled across the length of the courtyard and smacked straight into the body of Skirmisher. The alien was melting into a fine molten paste before it even hit the ground.

Carter and Kat caught the whole thing as they were trying to decide what to do about the skirmisher that had them pinned. Tali quickly took cover at a nearby corner as the shotgun cooled down from the expenditure.

"That gun standard issue where you come from?" Kat said asked over the comm.

"No," Tali admitted as she swapped out the thermal clip of the gun as fire started smacking against her cover, "not unless you're a robot I think. Pretty good range for a shotgun, huh?"

"Emile would love it, that's for sure." Carter added to the conversation. "Focus now, we got Covies on all sides."

Six kept behind Jorge as they moved up the right path, trying to clear out or chase of the Grunts on their end with continuous automatic fire. Six covered Jorge's flanks as the large Spartan used that bullet hose of his to clear them a path. As one Grunt tried to jump Jorge from the side, Six kicked the gas guzzler in the face and fired point blank into it's now tumbling form. It then switched to the other side where a Grunt was standing firing plasma bolts at him and Jorge.

So busy Six was with protecting Jorge, he didn't notice the Skirmisher creeping up on top of the wing towards him. It's Needle rifle at the ready the alien assassin prepared to make a head shot at the Spartan, perhaps even land enough needles to create a catastrophic enough explosion to kill both him and Jorge. However the Covie wasn't counting on another sniper in area. A large shot rang out and where the Skirmisher's brain once was only a large gaping hole remained. Six heard the bang over the gunfire and looked up to see the Skirmisher tumble to the ground. He traced where the shot must've come from and found it had been fired from the second floor. Legion was still up there in the window they first saw the Covenant through. His widow sniper rifle was still smoking a bit from the shot. As Legion expended a thermal clip it spoke to Six through the comm.

"You are clear, proceed with objective, we shall cover you."

Six just nodded in the Geth's direction and kept covering Jorge. Back with Legion, it set its sights on keeping the wings of the structure clear and the Skirmisher's off the high ground. The Geth's sensors were working overtime to keep up with how quickly and how often the Skirmisher's kept jumping up to the roof. Luckily Legion could keep up with them, for Geth reflexes were faster than that of most Organics. As another Skirmisher leapt on top of the left side wing, Legion switched around and fired another round into the creature's eye socket before it even saw any of the Spartans. Another Skirmisher came jumping up to where his comrade fell. It was only distracted by the dead body for a millisecond, but that was all it took for Legion to get the alien in its sights. A single shot ripped apart the Covenant assassin's throat.

Back to the right, Legion saw another Skirmisher using the right wing as a stepping stone to jump on the tractor and try to take Carter and Kat from close range. As the skirmisher jumped, Legion calculated how far it would have to lead its target to make a clean kill. One round penetrated the Skirmisher's chest and the creature screamed it's last as it's lifeless form collapsed onto of the tractor and then slid off.

Back to the left side of the courtyard a group of Grunts were amassing for another rush. They met with Garrus and Emile who stared them down., the two seemed to nod at each other before they opened fire at the group. Vidcator and shotgun rounds filled the air with deafening bangs. The Gunts cowered for what they surely thought was their end. Instead they opened their eyes once more to find their will all still alive. The enemy had missed.

Then they heard a strange whooshing sound like hot air and flames escaping something compact and small. They turned to see a volatile red gas container, it's top spewing fire. Their eyes widened in fear and they tried to run. It was too late. An explosion of flames erupted next to them, sending others flying, igniting unluckier Grunts closer to the container. The other grunts tried to flee.

"Impressive." Garrus complimented towards Emile on their combined effort.

Emile responded as Garrus should've suspected.

"Yeah," he said rather cocksure, "I was."

Garrus grimaced under his helmet, but there was no time to argue. A large green explosion erupted in front of them. They looked to where it had come from to see a small purple oblong shaped craft with two large sticks jutting out of its bottom.

"Banshees!" Carter cried out. "Get to cover! Jun we need support now!"

Everyone heeded the command as the banshee, now joined by its wingman continued to strafe the area. Luckily Jun's Falcon flew in to engage the second craft, peppering it with machine gun fire. Tali, still in her corner stepped out to get a view of the first one rushing her. She didn't budge.

"You want me ya bosh'tet? Huh?" she asked in defiance "Well I got something for you! So come on! Come and get me!"

She powered up her Plasma Shotgun once more as the aircraft began slowly strafing it's plasma cannons towards her. Luckily her weapon charged up first. She fired a huge blast at Banshee, hitting it dead center. It began to burn and tumble in the air. She saw where it was headed and looked to Legion's position.

"Legion!" She shouted with urgent concern. "It's headed your way! Get out of there! Now!"

Legion looked up at the flaming Banshee as it closed in. Heeding Tali's advice it threw itself out of the open window as the small purple craft smashed into the part of the building the Geth had been using as a perch. Once it hit the ground, Legion rushed over and tackled Tali to the ground as the ship's remains crashed to the dirt nearby.

The two pulled themselves up once the dust cleared.

"Are you undamaged, Creator Tali'Zorah?" Legion asked

"I'm fine, more or less," Tali said as she shook off how winded she was at the moment, "how about you?"

"No damage to this platform detected." It responded. "We surmise had you not warned us of the impending danger-"

"Hey, we're a team, remember?" Tali told it. "You just did the same for me after all."

Legion's eye opened and closed for a moment before responding.

"Nonetheless, we are grateful." It said sincerely.

The bonding moment was interrupted as they heard the fight in the skies above them intensify. Jun's Falcon was strafing the banshee as pitched and yawed in the air. Finally it got parallel to the alien ship exactly. Jun took aim with his scope, his armor piercing rounds loaded and aimed for where the pilot would be. With the banshee already damaged enough the round penetrated the vehicle with ease and blasted the Elite driving the ship's head apart. The Aircraft tumbled out of the sky and exploded as it slammed into the ground.

What few grunts remained now began to make a hasty retreat down a hill and towards a nearby bridge. Their air support was gone, they had no one left to save them.

"Noble, Xeno," Carter commanded, "pursue! We can't risk them bringing more reinforcements this way!"

The teams did so and began gunning down the fleeing Grunts as they made their way to the bridge. As they proceeded with this task though they saw something else approach them, a large U shaped craft coming out of the sky.

"Covenant dropship team!" Carter told them all. "Coming in fast and hard! Watch the plasma turret on its underside!"

As if on cue, the turret began opening up, prompting everyone to run for the cover of the nearby roofed bridge. The searing heat of the plasma turret licked at their heels as they ran and allowed the large doors on either side of the dropship to open wide and allow the Covenant inside to leap down to the ground. It was mostly Grunts and Skirmishers from the look of it. There was however one Elite, a commanding officer at that it seemed, in gold armor.

The Grunts began to stream down the side of the hill, blasting away with the plasma pistols as Noble and the Normandy crew came into their line of sight. The Elite held back, content to watch the soldiers under him sacrifice themselves as cannon fodder. As predictable with most Grunt charges it didn't last long. Kat and Six had their pistols out, aiming down the sights the Grunts' heads exploded into fine blue mist. Jorge put a nail in the charge's coffin when he opened the chain gun up on them. The sound was enough to start driving them back, too late for one poor Grunt who ended up getting his methane tank punctured. He swirled forward into a rock, crushed his skull on impact.

As the grunts ran up hill the Skirmishers began opening fire, but not on Noble or the Normandy crew, on the Grunts themselves.

"Guess their CO doesn't tolerate retreats." Emile commented as he watched the bodies of Grunts explode from needler rounds or tumble down the slope with plasma burns.

"Unfortunately for him neither do we." Carter declared adamantly. "Move up Noble! Xeno flank them to the side!"

Sound enough strategy, Garrus recognized it, oldest one in the book really. Carter was going to get the attention of the Skirmishers, hopefully leaving the Elite open to be taken out. Garrus, Tali and Legion circled the bluff while the others stormed the hill top, heading towards a clump of twisting trees and bushes. Jorge's chain gun was more than enough to rip the frail bodies of the Skirmishers apart, but some were quicker than his trigger finger. One made a beeline towards Kat, jumping at her with plasma knife in hand. She grabbed the bird alien's head and slammed it into the ground. Her metal arm beat the Skirmisher's head in the rest of the way.

Six peppered an assault rifle on two of the remaining Skirmishers. That was when the Elite rushed out. Armed with just a plasma rifle it took a swipe at Six's head. The alien missed of course as the Spartan ducked out of the way. He then unloaded a full magazine into the Alien's shields. It was enough to get them critical and to the point of fizzling out. A punch to the face from a Spartan arm was enough to take them down completely. Six jumped back as the recovering Elite made a move to kick him.

That was the last thing he ever did as the Elite's back began to get ripped apart. Purple blood spewed everywhere as several shots slammed into the Covenant officer. He only went down finally when a stray shot hit his head. He collapsed onto his knees and then to the ground completely. Behind him was Legion, Garrus and Tali, their weapons smoking. Tali had her heavy pistol out once more, Garrus and Legion their Assault rifles, and from the look of it each of them were smoking.

"So uh, which one of us got him on that last one?" Garrus asked jokingly.

Six composed himself once more and walked up, his gun still drawn but at his side.

"Good timing." Six told them "Saved me the bullet."

"Would've got here sooner but a Skirmisher got away from the pack and got us distracted." Garrus explained. "We punched his head in though, didn't take long."

"Problem took 2.3 seconds average to correct." Legion added.

Another gunshot was heard as Carter blew out the brains of the last Skirmisher.

"Alright, stand down Noble, Xeno. Contacts are neutralized." He told them seemingly calm.

Jorge was not as composed as Carter.

"Contacts?" He said annoyed, seemingly pissed that Carter wasn't calling a spade a spade at the moment. "It's the damn Covenant! On Reach! None of us wanted to admit till now, but they're here!"

Jorge was distressed, Tali understood somewhat. This was where he grew up he said, it was hitting him hard. It would've been like if something had attacked the Raaya, the ship she had been born on. This all made Emile's next comment downright insensitive to her.

"Cheer up big man," he said barely hiding his joy over it all, "this whole valley just got turned into a free fire zone."

Tali, as stated before, wasn't at all amused by Emile's cool and arrogant attitude towards the situation. That was more than enough for her to forget her prior reluctance to speak up against the skull-faced Spartan.

"I'm glad that you can at least find some solace considering the possible beginning of the end for every living thing on this planet." She derided him.

Emile paid her no mind.

"Just saying there's a silver lining and all." He replied smugly. "Enjoy it while we can."

Carter at least kept his mind where it needed to be, on mission.

"We need to warn Colonel Holland. Kat, I need you at that relay outpost ASAP." Carter ordered. "We have to declare Winter Contingency."

"Winter Contingency?" Garrus asked confused.

"It's the code word for a planet wide lockdown and martial law." Kat explained. "When evidence that the Covenant have found a colony it's issued immediately. The Cole Protocol goes into effect. No ship can leave the immediate sector, we can only accept incomings from our own people. Military comes out in force, fully mobilized and we try to contain the enemy where they landed if we can."

"It's the only way to respond to a Covenant attack quick enough." Six added. "And keep them from discovering more colonies or planets."

"Like Earth." Tali finished for them.

"Exactly." Carter responded firmly.

With that in mind Garrus tried to reach Commander Shepard on the Normandy, hoping to at least get him so he could tell Holland or someone. But the dead zone was in full effect and he got nothing.

"Damn," he said to himself in frutration as he turned to the others, "just static. I can't get Shepard either, like Noble One said our only chance is the relay."

"No time to lose then, come on!" Carter shouted.

As they rushed across a small shallow stream, a waterfall cascading down beside them Jun came over the radio again.

"Another dropship, sir! I'll try running interference so they don't offer any plasma turret support but the troops they drop off are on you!"

"It will be enough," Carter told him, "we'll handle the ground troops, just be ready to get a Falcon in to lift Kat and Emile out of here! Six you're on point!"

The group came upon a hay bale field, with a large outcropping of rocks and trees directly in front of it. As they moved into position, Grunts poured out at them. The first two died as Carter and Six unloaded assault rifle rounds into their bodies. The third began running back as the team began to pursue red bolts of plasma suddenly arched their way over to them. The teams scattered in different directions as the volleys slammed into the position. Emerging out of the hay bales were three Elies, with large ornate curved crowns on their heads.

"We got Elites." Carter informed the others as he took cover with Kat in a small open storage and work area. "Ultra class, watch yourselves people."

Carter and Kat tried laying down suppressing fire but the Elite with the concussion rifle fired back, pining them down. The others had taken cover in the treeline with the rocks. Jorge set up his own little machine gun nest with his chain gun to keep the Ultras heads down. They were more slippery however as they kept ducking amongst the hay bales, no one could seem to get a bead on them.

Garrus tried get a lock on one to rip through his shields with an overload, but as he launched it the Elite ducked behind a hay bale again and the power surge missed.

"Damn! It's not like back on the Normandy, they have too much space to move around!" Garrus screamed in frustration "We need to root them out of hiding if we're gonna stop them! One of them keeps dodging among the hay bales, I can't get a bead on him."

Tali, who was next to Garrus, started thinking it over in her head. She was no strategist, but she wasn't stupid. She saw a Grunt, still in cover but more exposed than the Elites and he was right near said dodgy Elite.

"I can take one of them down," she declared confidently, "I just need a clear enough shot for like three seconds. Can you give me that?"

Garrus was about to ask how, when he remembered the Arc Projector Shepard had given him.

"Just be ready." Garrus told her

The Turian rushed up to a rock where Emile was firing off shotgun rounds.

"Not my kind of fight." He complained. "I prefer the up close and personal stuff."

"Which is why I'm here." Garrus informed him, mimicking Emile's own arrogant and cocky attitude.

He took out the Arc Projector and took aim at the Grunt. He charged the weapon. He needed to time this right or the Elite would just stay in cover and wait for his shields to come back up. When the moment was right the Elite made his move and began to dive between the hay bales. The Grunt, still in view from this position was open to attack. Garrus fired the arc projector. The electricity shot out and hit the Grunt square on. The body of the little alien squealed in agony as the electrical surge travelled through his body like he was a transformer on a telephone pole. Garrus shied away from looking at the Grunt. That many volts through anything's body never was a pretty sight.

The Elite fared better. His shields absorbed much of the electrical impact they still held however, but the shock had kept him from reaching his cover. He was only paused for a few more seconds than usual. Enough time for Tali to fire a single charged plasma shot at the alien. The blast travelled across the field and struck the Elite square in the back. The Elite collapsed into blue molten goo. One Elite and a Grunt down. Even Emile seemed impressed.

"I need me one of those." He said looking at the weapon.

Legion, who was huddling beside Six on the outside of the rock outcropping had its own idea of how to get the second Elite in the hay bales. But it required a bit more cooperation.

"Six Noble, we require your assistance." It told him.

"I'm not opposed to hearing some ideas right now myself." He responded.

"Follow our lead, stay behind us, provide cover fire." The synthetic said, laying everything out simply and matter of factly.

Six just shrugged and got his pistol ready.

"Lead the way then," he told the Geth, "I got your back… or backs."

Carter had explained to him on the ride in about Legion, suffice to say Six was struggling on how to properly refer to a machine that had thousands of sentient programs running around in it.

Legion walked out, Geth Assault Rifle at the ready. It activated it's Geth shielding which added an extra layer of protection for both it and Six. They closed in on the Elite with the concussion rifle who was now lobbing explosive plasma bolts at both the treeline and the work shed in tangent from a distance. As Six and Legion closed in the both started to unload on the Ultra Elite. It growled back in anger and tried firing its concussion rifle at them. The explosions erupted around them, but Legion was careful not to let the Elite get any direct hits. As the Ultra's shields dropped the alien ducked behind Hay Bale cover.

"Creator Tali'Zorah," Legion declared over the comms, "Enemy combatant hiding behind nearby obstruction. Sending coordinates to your HUD. Request drone assistance."

Tali noticed a purple dot appear in the corner of her visor. She looked towards it and spotted the hay bale. Quickly she activated her drone.

"Go Chiktikka, make him run screaming out of there."

The purple drone materialized close to the hay bale sought out the Elite. It spotted the drone, was perplexed for a second and began to back up to fire. It was too close to fire a concussion round. Chiktikka struck first and delivered a powerful energy zap to the Elite's eyes. The alien rushed out, holding its eyes in its hand. Legion pursued still firing even as the alien tried to regain it's composure.

"Garrus, we require assistance." Legion called.

Garrus leapt out of cover and charged ahead, the arc projector still at the ready. He fired a quick burst at the Elite causing it to reel back slightly from the shock. Legion renewed firing with his assault rifle along with Six. They got the Elites shields down at last, but it had recovered from the blinding shock and electrocution already. It made a move to fire a concussive blast at Legion. But Garrus was still there and he delivered another electric shock to the alien with the arc projector. As the Elite stood there in pain, Legion fired point blank into its head.

"Target terminated." Legion said looking down at the collapsed and charred form of the once proud covenant officer.

"Damn, these guys can really take a lot of punishment can't they? That last blast was half charged." Garrus informed Legion. "It's usually enough to kill a man without their shields up."

Garrus had forgotten in his state of amazement at how much punishment an Elite could actually take, that were three Ultra Elites. The last one body checked him from behind. Garrus was thrown to the ground and had to roll of the way of close range plasma rifle fire. The elite screamed in anger as it tried to follow the rolling Turian. Its rage filled attack was interrupted by a chain gun hit his shields. Jorge was back in the open, keeping up the fire.

Legion and Six added to the attack. The Elite's shields went down and he caught a bullet from Jorge in the back of his leg. He ran to a hay bale before collapsing. The Elite took a deep series of breathes and finally growled. It picked up its plasma gun once more and made a move to head back out into the fight. It turned the hay bales' corner and met face to face with a shotgun barrel. Emile stared down at the Elite from on high.

"Hey there, welcome to Reach."

The elite gave out one last roar before Emile pumped its body full of lead with three successive shotgun blasts. Only then did the alien seem to stop trying to get back up.

Legion helped Garrus to his feet as the rest of the team regrouped.

"This how most engagements are for you?" Garrus asked Carter as he came up.

"No, they're usually worse." Cater admitted. "Yours?"

"Same deal, usually worse." Garrus replied. "Still tough as nails though. Would like to fight them on our own terms one of these days."

"That will come when it does." Carter assured "Right now we still have a mission."

Carter was interrupted as he explained by Jun again.

"Commander, I have activity to the Northeast of your position."

Carter nodded and turned to the others as he talked to Jun.

"Get a Falcon down here to take Emile and Kat to the relay." He ordered. "Me and the others will run interference. Try and keep them off you."

Tali was perplexed as to why she and Legion weren't going. This was why they were down here, to help with the relay.

"Shouldn't I go to assist?" Tali asked as the Falcon made its approach.

"I'll work faster alone." Kat told her abruptly as she ran past towards the Falcon, Emile in tow.

Tali was about to say something in her defense, annoyed that Kat still seemed unwilling to let someone else with tech experience help her out. She had come to help with exactly this problem and she honestly thought that they had gotten voer this. It was disheartening. That was when Carter explained his reasons.

"I need every available body down on the ground to help clear out the area and take pressure off Two and Four." He explained to them. "From what I've seen so far I'm gonna need all of you for this. Now let's move."

Carter took off with Jorge and Six, Tali stood there flabbergasted.

"Did he just say he needed us?" She asked the others, rather pleseantly surprised at the implication.

"Well, I think our status among these guys has just improved." Garrus said happily.

The Falcon took off, leaving the others behind to face whatever lay northeast. They dropped down a small ledge to a small forested area nearby. To their right they saw two civilian trucks, just waiting there.

"Why walk when you can ride, right?" Asked Garrus.

They piled in, Six driving the noble team truck, Garrus taking over the second vehicle. Legion hopped on the back of their, sniper rifle at the ready. Jorge shimmed his way up onto the backside of Noble's truck, making a machine gun turret there with his chain gun.

"Gun it, Six." Carter told the Lieutenant. "We need to find what's in this valley and clear it out."

Six put pedal to the metal and the two trucks took off along the dirt road. They made their way down a hill towards a set of structures nearby. On the way they saw two Skirmishers patrolling the road. They spotted the two trucks and began to fire on them.

"Don't break for anything." Carter told Six.

The Spartan gunned it, as did Garrus. Jorge fired on the Skirmishers as they got close. Six's vehicle ran over one, Garrus' bumper smacked into the chest of the toher that had jumped out of the way.

There was nothing in their way as they pulled into what looked like a small villa that had been torn apart. With good reason as several grunts rushed out firing. Tali took aim with her shotgun, she didn't bother charging it up as regular plasma shot were enough to take apart a grunt it seemed. Garrus jumped out with a fully charged arc projector and launched a blast as a contingent of the little gas suckers rushed down the steps towards them. Noble didn't have to do much, they just let Jorge strafe the Covies. The lone Elite amongst the little squad made a dash out of cover. He was just a minor officer from the look of his armor, but that still made him a key target. Legion took aim at him, Widow at the ready. One shot penetrated hios shields and dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

"Move on it's clear." Carter told them.

Garrus jumped back in and followed Six as they sped out of the villa. They drove down yet another hill towards a grove of trees. Amongst a small flock of Emus there were some Skirmishers in wait. The Emus ran as they heard Jorge open fire on the Skirmishers. The three aliens ended up trying to run from the truck as well, firing back when they could. They ended up as speed bumps for the trouble.

"Little choppy today, eh Lieutenant?" Carter asked a bit jovially.

"Least the shocks are getting a good workout, sir." Six said adding to the remark.

The trucks pulled up along a stream around the next bend, surprising a group of Grunts as they did. Jorge laid into them with his chain gun. Tali began to shoot at them as they drove by the group, taking out two with her heavy pistol. Both shots connected with their heads.

"Detecting enemy movement across the stream in structures." Legion announced. "Halt transportation."

Across the stream was a complex of structures in the cliff side. Legion aimed down the scope of its Widow rifle once more to eye the distinct appearances of an Elite leading group of Grunts out the complex's doors and into the stream that separated them. Legion made sure that the Elite would never make it across the river. A shot rang out and the half of the Elite's face exploded.

"Primary target down," Legion said, "firing at secondary targets."

Over Legion's gunfire Carter picked something up on comms.

"Boss," Jun said, "we're picking up a distress signal. Patching you through."

Over the comm came the voice of a frightened and frantic soldier.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Three Charlie Six, we are under attack by Covenant forces! The Covenant is on Reach, I repeat the |covenant is on Reach!"

The cry for help caught everyone's attention.

"The Troopers?" Jorge asked.

"Must be, only other military unit out here we were told of." Carter replied. "Looks like your faith in them surviving was a good hunch, Garrus."

The Turian didn't proudly boast or anything, Garrus was just happy to know those Troopers had made it out alive.

"I had a feeling they were good soldiers," Garrus replied modestly, "they don't die easy."

But relief gave way to urgency, as Tali reminded them how long the Troopers had been here.

"If they've been out since last night fighting the Covenant they're probably running on fumes now." She told them all anxiously. "They're probably running out of ammo, or wounded, we have to get to them."

"Agreed." Carter said at once.

"No offense sir," Jun said sullenly over the radio, "but don't we have more important things to do than picking up strays?"

Carter had his mind on the mission for most of this op. The Relay was the goal, but Garrus had reminded him about Thom from the outset of it all. He already had a guilty conscience. He wouldn't add to it.

"We don't leave people behind." Carter steadfastly told Jun. "Keep tabs on that signal, find me those troopers."

Jun copied.

Legion by now had long since mopped up what was left of the Grunts. No more movement. The trucks took off again. It was only a few feet further when they started hearing the distress signal once more.

"We are under attack! Mayday! Three Charlie Six! I got wounded! Covenant are closing in!"

"We're close," Carter spoke up, "Jun, do you see anything at our position?!"

"Northeast of you! Hurry!"

The trucks rushed over to the site, they found a dropship hovering close to ground, dozens of Covenant soldiers, Jackals and Grunts, assaulting what appeared to be a small power station of sorts. Amongst the ruins were the troopers.

"Noble Three we have the Troopers," Carter called up, "we need Falcon Evac! Now!"

"En Route, just hold out."

Carter took out as many grenades as he could and set them up in his arms.

"Six, gun it, jump out on my mark. You too Jorge."

The truck took off, Six's pedal practically eating through the floor. Carter pulled the pins on the Grenades.

"Mark!"

Jorge, Six and carter bailed out of the truck. The grenade laden truck kept driving into the center of the Covenant attack force, running over a few as it did. A terrific explosion took out the assault force in one go. Noble team got to their feet just as the Normandy crew stopped their truck in front of them. They piled out and followed the Spartans to the Troopers. They were as Tali suspected, battered, worn out, and half dead, but they weren't broken, not yet.

"Spartans," said one of the exhausted troopers "thank god. I'm Corporal Travis. It's the Covenant, ambushed us in the night. Lost our CO hours ago, been trying to just stay alive since and-"

"Corporal, relax," Carter putting his hand up, "we're gonna get you out of here. I just need you to stay calm. Are you with me?"

The Corporal nodded nervously. Carter didn't blame him for being scared, he been out here so long, it probably felt like a lifetime.

"Covenant dropship en route to you sir!" Jun shouted over the comms. "I'm holding evac back."

"Good call Jun, we'll clear the evac zone." Carter told him

"I can get to high ground with Legion," Garrus suggested "act as overwatch."

"Do it," Carter responded, "everyone else, hold it here. Let's get to work Noble."

Tali took up position near one soldier near the doorway. It took only a few seconds of looking at her to realize the obvious.

"Hey, you aren't human." He said eyeing her three toes and fingers.

"No, but I'm on your side." Tali assured him with a steely eyed determined look. "And I won't let them take you. I promise."

For a moment, the trooper stayed crouched there, justy looking into the Quarian girl's eyes. Tali could see the man trying to process things in his head. Trying to guage her intentions. She almost half expected him to act like most people do around Quarians. Instead he surprised her. He took up a firing position beside her. Tali smiled a bit, a person who had never met a quarian before was trusting her. It was a nice feeling, and a famliar one.

The Covenant dropship came and began letting off its deadly cargo. Six rushed up to point and tossed a grenade to one side of the dropship. The explosion killed three of the grunts that plopped out of it. There were still plenty more coming. That and there was an Elite as well, this one apparently armed with a suped up plasma rifle, one that kept firing in greater bursts.

Six ducked for cover near some barrels. Carter picked up a nearby battle rifle, a semi-automatic weapon with a scope, and began firing on the shields of the Elite. It wouldn't stay still of course and kept bounding round. Thankfully every time it's shield was hit it paused for a brief second to get it's bearings. Tali used this opportunity to charge up her shotgun once more, wait for the right moment and fire. The plasma ejected out of the Geth made weapon and slammed into the Elite. It burned through the shields and sent him flying across the field as plasma ate through its armor. Cooked within its own protection, the Elite lay dead on the ground.

But he wasn't the only one on the ground. Another Elite rushed over, picked up his weapon and quickly rallied the remaining Grunts to the fight. Six popped out again firing at the Elite determined to strike him down. That's when the second dropship showed up. Another large group of grunts accompanied by Skirmishers and another Elite were dropped off.

"Great, we practically have our hands full here as it is." Garrus groaned in frustration.

Both he and Legion began picking off targets left and right, trying to stem the tide. There were so many grunts, so many bullets, so much blue blood spilling onto the ground with each passing second. Some of it spilled by him most of it by Jorge who was down in the doorway bullet hosing the entire attack force. all the while the Elites stood in cover letting the little guys take the brunt of the UNSC's fury. After awhile, seeing eyes pop out of their little heads for the twentieth time, Garrus began to feel sorry for the poor things. Still didn't keep him from laying on the hurt.

Garrus managed the small fry while Legion tried to get a bead on the bigger fish. The Skirmishers were fast, but they couldn't run much of anywhere without their legs. Legion fired a single round with perfect accuracy. The knee cap of the bird alien split in two and the poor thing was left to bleed out on the road. The Elite who had taken up his fallen comrade's weapon was still in the fight, as was his newly joined Elite comrade. They were making their stand in the rocks to the right of the complex. They ducking behind them so it was hard to get a lock on their skulls and impossible to hit their center mass.

But Legion was not deterred, there was a solution to the problem and it lay in Noble Six.

"Six Noble," Legion spoke over the comms, "we request your assistance again."

"Listening." Six said over the plasma bolts hitting his cover.

"We will cover your approach towards Elites on right side of facility. Toss a fragmentary device into their position."

"Just watch my back and I'll have them running out of there."

Six reloaded his assault rifle and began his run to get closer to the rocks. Legion kept the Skirmishers on the outside from getting a lock on him, blowing out their bird brains with well placed shots. Eyes collapsed inward along with skulls, Six advanced, Skirmishers died. The Spartan fired his Assault rifle into the enemy position on the rocks. The Elites turned to fire and he flung his grenade. The Elites of course saw it and ducked out of the position, leaving the slow moving grunts to die as the grenade exploded.

They lived, but were now exposed. Legion fired one shot at the first wave Elite's companion, blasting off the creature's arm. Screaming in agony the alien fell to the floor. With his attention placed on his comrade, Six jumped the Elite with the Plasma rifle on steroids. He punched his face into the ground several times. The Elite finally head butted the Spartan off him, connecting with his chest. The Elite stood up to finish Six, taking aim at the Spartan's head. Six stood up fast enough to miss the shot and deliver a roundhouse to the Elite. The creature stumbled an inch backward, faced toward Legion's sniper nest and got a round through the brain.

"Target eliminated." Legion said as it expelled a spent thermal clip. "We appreciated your assistance in this task Six Noble."

"Anytime," Six responded, "it's why I'm here. Smashing Covenant skulls and all that."

Six's shields suddenly spiked, plasma was smacking into his back. He quickly rolled out of the way, if it weren't for his shields he'd already be dead. It was the Elite, the one with its arm shot off. It was still alive and firing a plasma pistol at them. Luckily Six fired a full clip into the creature's body. Carter joined in, shooting a round in the Elite's face.

"Damn," Jorge said, looking on in shock, "he wanted to take someone with him I guess."

"If you gotta go, don't go alone." Carter reckoned.

The Falcons arrived soon after the last Covenant fell. One was for the injured Troopers, two were for Noble and the Normandy crew. They helped who couldn't walk onto the first Falcon then piled into the other two. Next stop was the Relay outpost, their objective and where Kat and Emile were, probably fighting off who knows what.

"Let's hope our delaying action got them off the hook a bit." Carter said as he contacted Kat. "Noble Two sitrep."

"At the relay outpost," she responded "haven't been engaged yet but that may change. Door is locked open, mechanism has been flash freezed."

"Can you beat it?"

"I got my torch, but it will take time."

Tali was wetting her mouth in anticipation of what she was hearing. Flash freezed, she knew that term. She knew how to fix it. She knew what to do.

"I can do that!" She said, pointing at at herself excitedly, eager for a bit for the action herself. "I can do that! Get me there! I can fix it!"

"Easy Tali," Carter calmed her, "you'll get your chance when we land."

They started to close in on the Relay outpost, passing by as destroyed bridge and the mountainous terrain below. As they passed close to the courtyard where Kat and Emile were they heard Emile shouting over the comm.

"Under fire boss! Came out of damn nowhere!"

Carter looked below, as did everyone and saw the swarming mass of Covenant soldiers firing on the still open door of the Relay outpost.

"Pilot, put us down in the courtyard." Carter ordered.

"LZ is a little hot, sir." The pilot warned.

"Put her down pilot." Carter repeated adamantly "Six, break is over. That goes for you too, Team 2."

"We're Team 2 now?" Garrus asked curiously, but still sounding grateful.

"I think you've earned it." Carter replied. "Don't get mushy on me now, we still have a job to do."

As the Falcon touched down the two teams barreled out and made a beeline for the door. No time for fancy shots, they took out their full automatics and rushed for it. Six smacked a Jackal, these ones had shields, and kept on going. He was already punching a Grunt down to the ground before the Jackal had hit the pavement. Same story with the others, Jorge cutting a path through the Covenant on his way in, Legion and Garrus staying together as they mopped up the surviving Covenant on their way to the door.

Tali was the first to reach the door, sliding in beside Kat, who was still working on the door at a fevered pace.

"How's it coming?" She asked as she began opening pockets on her suit in a hurry.

"I'm doing fine, I don't need distractions." Kat insisted. "Just help the others hold off any reinforcements till we can close this door."

Everyone piled inside as Emile pointed to something in the sky.

"Got another dropship, fast and hard!" He shouted.

Tali became more urgent now with Kat as she fired up her omni-tool.

"Let me help. I can get it closed faster." Tali informed her.

"I'm fine on my own," Kat assured her. "I don't care how good a hacker or tech you are, this is my domain."

"Just let me help," Tali pleaded urgently, "just open me a channel to the door's controls! I won't even get in your way!"

"They're locked!" Kat shouted back in anger.

That was when the Covenant landed, they started firing off Plasma shots as their boots touched asphalt. Tali looked frantically on as the others tried to hold them off in the small doorway.

"I know they're locked, but the flash freeze is gumming up the mechanics, right?" she presumed, her handing hovering over her omni-tool "That's the real problem, get me access to those controls I can circumvent the freeze!"

Kat growled in frustration.

"Fine!"

Kat opened a channel as fast as she could with her electronics bypass program installed into her onboard equipment.

"There, you're in, let me work!"

Tali obliged and opened her omni-tool, she frantically began pressing buttons, bypassing the imposed lock on the controls. That was stage one. Now the mechanics were open to her and she could see the schematics clearly, particularly the freeze. The part of the door that had essentially been frozen up, literally. The hydraulics must've burst and the released pressurized water must've frozen over night. With a few clicks of her omni-tool she had the door's power supply shift into overdrive. The heat caused by the power source igniting began to melt away the flash freeze before Kat's eyes. She looked over to Tali who was just powering down her omni-tool.

"Close it! Now!"

Kat obliged and activated the lockdown for the outpost.

"Everyone in!" She called.

The team slinked inside one by one as the plasma bolts slammed against the bulkhead of the door. When everyone was in the door slammed shut completely and the covenant were left outside, uninvited.

Kat turned to Tali, admitinh feeling a bit like a heel.

"I'm sorry." She said reluctantly. "I got possessive there for a moment."

"I understand, I don't think I'd enjoy someone sticking their nose in my business either." Tali assured her. "It's just, well, I got excited and this is why I'm here so..."

"No, it's okay," Kat replied to her. "that was a lot faster than what I was trying. I just didn't have the equipment to attempt it."

"Yeah, yeah," Emile said annoyed, "we're all one big happy family now, we get it. Moving along?"

The door to inner sanctum of the relay opened wide and the teams entered slowly. As they made their way around the bend to the central hub of the center they found a slaughterhouse. A dead body lying on the ground, this time a old man and a soldier in the corner bleeding badly. Kat told Six to search the body as Carter went to check on the soldier. Emile covered the door.

"Where's the rest of your unit?" Carter asked.

"Got split," the wounded man said, "I don't think they… sounded bad over comms."

"Just sit tight, soldier." Garrus told him. "We'll get you out."

"And to a combat urgeon." Carter added. "They'll fix you up."

Tali joined Kat at the console to see the extent of the damage.

"Damn plasma damage," she said eyeing the scorch marks, "all the damn Covenant in the galaxy and we end up with the cudgel squad. Makes our job harder."

"I can start patching up the transceivers," Tali suggested, "that should get us some kind of feed."

"Good start," Kat added, "but we'll need to boost the signal next. Search the plans for a power module while you're working."

Six began looking over the body, as he moved its arm he saw something fall out onto the floor. He picked it up and looked it over for a second.

"Found something," he said, "looks like tech."

Kat looked back and grabbed it from him immedietly.

"That's me and Tali's domain Six, we'll handle it."

Tali smiled, she was finally feeling included with Kat in this operation. It was nice to know she hadearned the respect of the tech head so quickly. She remembered how migrant fleet marines became closer after a baptism of fire shortly following training or joining a unit. Apparently it held true for Spartans as well.

"Got a live one!" Jorge shouted aloud.

Everyone's head shifted to the back of the room where Jorge was pulling out a hysterically from the airduct system. She kept screaming in what apparently was Hungarian and was trying to punch Jorge away to no avail. He was a supersoldier in heavy armor and was ten times bigger than her, she didn't have a chance.

"I'm trying to help you!" Jorge shouted softly as he pulled her out.

"Subject appears to be in heightened state of stress," Legion noted, "possible danger to self and others. Recommend administration of a calming agent."

"Our morphine is a bit too strong for her I think." Six told Legion.

Finally Jorge forced the young girl to stay put.

"Stand still," he said politely, "calm down and I will release you."

She still seemed defiant, but in reality she said something to him, something that gave him pause for alarm, because he was the only who spoke Hungarian.

She said: "There's more…"

That warning let Jorge hear it before anyone else did, he ducked his head a half second after hearing something drop from above towards them. The Elite swung his plasma sword at Jorge's head, missing by inches. Jorge forced the girl and himself to the ground. Emile hawked on the radio about what was happening.

"WE'VE BEEN ENGAGED!"

That was all Carter said before everyone in the building opened up at the onrushing Elite. It went for Carter and Kat first, slicing through a panel as the commander ducked, taking Kat down with so she wouldn't get sliced in half herself. Still looking for a kill, the Elite bulldozed past Garrus and tackled Six to the ground.

Garrus regained his composure as he watched a second Elite make a beeline for the exit Emile wasn't guarding. He began firing on the attacker with his vindicator, the shots were able to take down it's shields enough to clip the elite in the leg.

Six barely was able to move his arm and head in time to avoid get slicing by a plasma knife the Elite had on him. Six punched the bastard back for his trouble. When it recovered from the blow it roared loudly in Six's face, its mandibles wide apart. Almost as if the Elite was going to devour him. Luckily Six had friends. Legion the Elite off Six entirely. Carter opened up with his pistol on it as well, joined by Tali of course. The combined fire power was enough to force the Elite to roll over on its back a clamber to its third comrade who had taken the wounded soldier as a hostage.

Carter kicked Six's assault rifle over to him, he grabbed it and let Legion help him to his feet. Cornered the two Elites stepped back into a darkened hallway of the complex.

"I clipped the second one! I can go after him!" Garrus shouted to Carter.

"Same here, Sir!" Emile called over the comms. "Let me pursue him!"

"Negative Four and Garrus!" Carter ordered "Stay on the door Emile!"

"But-"

Garrus was put down quickly.

"That's an order, Garrus! Follow it!"

By now the girl was screaming in horror at the scene before her as the poor wounded soldier was brought behind the door. They could hear his agony as the Elites did who knew what to him.

"Two, Tali handle her and get back on the console!" Carter ordered in reference to the girl. "Legion, Garrus, go with Six and Five, clear the hole!"

Garrus didn't like the order, but he understood the necessity of staying on task. They had to secure this facility. Jorge and Six walked up to the door in rushed pace, Legion and Garrus following. They closed the door behind them. If anything tried to get through before they gave the all clear sign Carter would know to have it filled full of lead before hand.

As they entered the corridor, the Elite screeched at them before running off. It left a wave of Grunts on rushing them in its place. Jorge lay the hammer down and let loose a stream of bullet, ripping the Grunts to pieces. The harder part was the Jackals as the end with their shields. Garrus had his sniper rifle ready and took aim at the small corner of the shield that left the hand of the jackals exposed. He fired a round. Forcing the Jackal back. Six rushed in, fired a bullet into the Jackal's brain and put him down for goods.

As they headed to the next corridor, more Jackals and Grunt rushed in. Garrus armed the arc projector, charged it up and fired one more bolt of electricity into the onrushing wave of alien bodies. The attack shorted out the Jakcals shields and killed almost all the Grunts in the corridor. Jorge took care of the stragglers with his chain gun.

"No time to lose, let's keep it going!" Garrus told the others.

They rushed down the corridor to the final room, a large database it seemed with huge servers plunging up from the ground and back down into it.

"Detecting movement from that small enclosed corner." Legion said as he pointed. "Likelihood of hostiles occupying designated space."

"We're gonna need to flush them out." Jorge reasoned.

"Suggestion, allow us to accomplish this task." Legion requested.

Six nodded to Legion, so far the synthetic hadn't steered him wrong yet. The Geth activated a blue orange drone in the center of the server room. As he did three Grunts piled out of the small enclosed corner and began firing at it. Six switched to his pistol and fired three rounds, each connecting with a Grunt's head. Legion's little drone continued unmolested into the corner as worts and grunts were heard. An explosion of pure energy followed, the drone had activated its self-destruct mechanism. Incredibly, pouring out of the corner were the Elites, no worse for wear.

"Least they're in the open." Jorge said.

Garrus and Jorge opened fire, while Six and Legion ran along the path to the server floor. The Elite with the concussion rifle began firing on Garrus and Jorge, his shield rapidly failing as he stood in the open. The one with the sword that attacked Six, started to barely down on Legion.

"You go left, I go right." Six told the Geth.

"Acknowledged."

The two split and Six attacked the one with the concussion rifle. He was so focused on Jorge and Garrus he paid the Spartan rushing up from behind no mind. Six jumped on the back of the Elite, stuck his knife square in the creature's neck and using that as a base, twisted. The alien fell over dead as Six jumped back off.

Meanwhile, Legion ducked and weaved out of the way of the Elite with the sword. The plasma weapon seemed to be just barely missing Legion, who was running several analysis' at lightning speed to calculate where the next swing would come from. Then the Elite stabbed forward… and hit nothing. Surprised that his quarry was uninjured, the Elite looked down to see the hole in Legion's chest where the plasma sword had stuck itself through, missing everything.

"I'd advise you to remove that." Legion warned.

It didn't have time as several pistol shots slammed into the shield of the Elite. When they were down, Legion balled it's hand into a fist and smacked the Elite in the face with all the force the robotic body could give him. It wasn't enough to knock the Elite out, they were too tough for that. But it gave both Legion and Six ample time to pull out their weapons and unloaded into him. Legion's Geth Assault Rifle and Six's Pistol made the body twist and turn as several shots were needed to finally kill the alien.

"I swear the more we shoot their asses the more bullets the next one needs to take before he goes down." Six lamented.

"Perhaps a more efficient way of terminating the subjects is required." Legion suggested. "We will attempt to build a consensus on this."

"Let me know when you come up with something okay?" Six asked.

"We shall." The synthetic complied.

Six contacted Carter.

"Hostiles neutralized sir." He announced.

"Good, Kat needs you to reset a power junction, do it, get back here."

With new orders and no enemies to get in their way, Six and the others got a good look at the Elites who fired on them. They had strange patterned helmets, tough as nails shields and were definitely crazy enough to take on a room full of heavily armed Spartans and others. It was the armor and helmets however that ultimately gave it away/

"Zealot class." Six hauntingly. "Top of the line in terms of crazy as fuck in the Covenant hierarchy."

"Why is it that Organics tend to take their religious convictions to such suicidal terms?" Legion asked.

"I can only speak for humans Legion." Six replied "You wanna know why they're nuts? You gotta ask them."

"That is difficult considering hostile status. Data improbable to obtain."

"Well, maybe if we shoot enough of them we'll get our answer someday." Six joked.

"That is suggestion appears unlikely to produce the desired result." Legion responded once more, clearly not understanding the sarcasm.

---

Kat and Tali were hard at work trying to get the Relay working at minimal capacity so Carter could contact Holland. It was slow going, the console was trashed. Thankfully with the junction reset by Six they knew the signal would get through the dead zone. They just needed to get the thing working again.

"How long?" Carter asked.

"Question of my life." Kat replied monotone.

"Same." Tali added in solidarity.

Kat continued as they began to work.

"If you wanna know when the station will be back online, two weeks, earliest." She explained. "Plasma damage isn't something we can just sodder, put in a new hard drive and make it better. All the major uplink components are fried."

"Well two minutes is too long," Carter told her adamantly, "give me something."

"That's why me and Tali are splicing into main overland bundle to get you a direct line to Colonel Holland." Kat said calming him down "Give us a few minutes, you'll be online."

Carter looked over to Tali, beside Kat.

"You're in our light commander." They said in unison.

Noble one backed off, he knew better than to get in Kat's way, let alone another tech head like her. He turned to Jorge, who was standing next to the young girl.

"Find out what she knows." He told him.

Jorge bent down to talk, but she didn't seem to be in the mood. Emile just snickered at the whole display.

"What's your name?" Jorge asked in a friendly tone "Do you live around here?"

Eliciting no response he took off his helmet.

"I'm Evan Jorge," he told her in Hungarian, keeping up a nice friendly smile "I used to live here way back."

"Sara." She finally relented.

Everyone hung back and just let Jorge talk, it was clear he had the best connection to the young girl anyway. He kept speaking in Hungarian here and there as well, something none of them could really do anyway.

"You're pretty strong," He said with a light smile, "your accent sounds familiar, Sopron?"

"Tengeri." She answered.

Jorge looked to the dead body.

"Friend of yours?" he asked

Sara curled up tighter at the suggestion

"Father." She spat back sadly.

Jorge, saddened himself at the news, and feeling like a heel for assuming, tried to apologize.

"Sajnálom. I'm sorry."

"Why would you be?" She asked back in anger.

Jorge shook his head, he wasn't gonna get anything else out of her. He stood back up, feeling a bit defeated and helpless over the whole thing. Six was less sympathetic, he looked Six and Legion square in the eyes and just shrugged the whole thing off.

"Big man forgets who is sometimes." He joked.

Incensed, Jorge stared back at Emile in quiet rage.

"She just lost her father." He told Emile sneering. He then walked to Carter. "She's in no shape to answer anything, sir. She needs a full psychiatric work up."

"She's not the only one." Emile responded condescendingly to Jorge.

As the big Spartan turned round to face Emile for a confrontation, Carter cooled their heels.

"Lock it down, both of you." He told them sternly. "You're soldiers, not preschool kids."

He turned to Carter once more.

"Get her on her feet. The body stays here."

Jorge thanked Carter, gave the cold shoulder to Emile and helped Sara up at last. She looked back once at her dead father, and left.

"Poor girl," Garrus shook his head sadly, "no one should lose their father like that."

"Aw shit, more softies." Emile groaned.

Garrus didn't bother to confront Emile on that, he wasn't worth it. Instead he turned to Carter.

"So how'd we do?" he asked.

"I'll make sure Colonel Holland knows how much you helped on this mission." Carter assured. "With any luck, your Commander will be off the hook before day's end."

"Glad to hear it," Garrus responded happily, "I hope this is the start of a long partnership, Noble Lead."

"Same," Carter complied, "I may still have my reservations about all this, but we need all the people we can get for this fight. And good leaders like you."

Garrus just shrugged and shook his head.

"I'm still not entirely sure about that." The turian told him. "I'll need to run my own Op first I think."

"We'll see if we can pull something off next time round." Carter promised.

The conversation was interrupted by Kat and Tali.

"We got it!" Tali said with glee.

"Signal's patchy, Commander, but you're through to Holland." Kat told him.

"I'll take what I can get." Carter told her.

As everyone filed out of the room Kat stopped in Carter's face as he took off his helmet.

"Try not to touch anything." She told him dryly. "We don't wanna ground this place."

Carter walked up to the screen to contact Holland, and deliver the terrible news. Today was just the start of something far worse. He could feel it.

"…can barely read you come in Noble one."

"Sir, there are no rebels, it's the covenant, Normandy team is clean, they're on our side. Saved our asses today. I say again the covenant have found Reach."

"Repeat that last Noble One, did you say Covenant?"

"Confirmed sir, it's the Winter Contingency."

"Christ… God help us all."

---

AN: I've saved this last because, damn this chappie is long! Now you see why it took me all month to finish it. I didn't want to burn the candle at both ends, so I'll say some quick things here.

I love writing Legion, even if it is hard to make sure the dialogue sounds synthetic enough. Or as I call it "robotic in the good way", but I like the challenge of keeping things consistent, I hope I succeeded. You'll be seeing a lot more of Legion as things roll on as he'll be a major part of the story. I want to explore a few Asimov ideas about the nature of Artificial Beings. I fall into his camp concerning robots, Terminator is fun but its bullshit guys. If a toaster gains sentience, you think it's gonna decide to kill you? Its function is to make toast! Why would it feel it's a slave for following its function and purpose? I sympathize with the Quarians for losing their home of course, like Legion says they just responded naturally to the "error in their software." I just think they jumped the gun a bit. Still the people who pulled that shit are dead so I think they've suffered enough punishment already. Expect me to find a way to get them and the Geth to reconcile.

And I only said all that because it's part of Tali's arc in this story too. You'll see soon enough, trust me.

Speaking of Tali I hope her tiny rivalry with Kat came across well. Kat strikes me as a career minded woman, so naturally she's gonna get defensive about another tech head coming in, at first. Nerd, even hardass nerds like Kat, tend to soften up around their peers. Especially when they show their stuff.

One little Easter egg, I like it when my chapter titles have several meanings. This one's named discontent, try and guess the possible reasons why. Leave a way for me to reply to ya and I'll even tell ya if you're right. You'll probably get at least one of them right off the bat because I'm a damn sucker for the thespian arts. I'll let you make of that what you will.

Finally, hope I captured all the distinct personalities of Noble Team well enough. I added something to Six because, well we don't much about him beyond his military career. So, I filled some blanks. I've also being LA Noire so I had a hankering for detective stuff. Which explains the crime scene analysis in the Chapter. Hope that clears that up.

Well, the fourth chapter is in the bag. Next time, Shepard returns to command and we head to our next mission. I have a feeling thyat chapter is gonna be long too, don't wait up.