Hi and welcome to the fourth chapter!

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(6th November 2569 UNSC Standard– UNSC Fortress World Norion – UNSC NAVCOM Base Bryyo)

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After twenty years away, she was finally returning home. The Commander hadn't been in this system since she completed her officer training and left for deployment in the Great War, and after the last tour of service she had been on, the world was a sight for sore eyes.

Norion, a world discovered in 2395 by the UNSC 27.8 light years from Sol, was found to contain high concentration of titanium and rare metals within its crust and was quickly set up for war and civilian ship production.

During its history as a colony of the UNSC it quickly took its place as one of the seven powerhouse worlds of the UNSC alongside Earth, Reach, Mantork, Callisto, Talon and Endymion.

While Earth was the political and economic centre of the UNSC, and Reach the Naval and Military centre before its fall, Norion has since become the largest naval shipyard in the UNSC with most of the fleet having come here to be retro-fitted with state of the art upgrades and currently 250 of the latest warships for the future fleets of the UNSC were being constructed within the orbital dry docks.

Among them were the newest class of ships being constructed, the Valour class hyper carriers. These new vessels were designed after the successful deployment of the UNSC Infinity. They were created to fill a new role as capital ship carriers in a similar method to the Assault Carriers of the former Covenant. Each Valour class hyper carrier was 4.7 kilometres in length with eight metres of Titanium-A3 armour and the latest shield technology that R and D could produce.

The Valour class was armed with two series 8 MAC guns and an energy projector as the main armament along with 250 M44 Archer Missile pods, 100 M76 Rapier missile pods and 800 70mm point defence turrets as secondary armaments.

However the greatest asset the Valour class had was the ability to deploy six Reliance class destroyers at any moment. The Reliance class destroyers themselves were constructed with 2 metre titanium-A3 armour and Mark 2 energy shields along with 2 MAC guns.

Currently there were only three such vessels in operation in the entire UNSC fleet, but within the next seven years a further ten would be commissioned for duty. Their power and strength were only surpassed by the Infinity.

The defences of Norion surpassed all but Earth with the Seventh Fleet on permanent patrol within the system. The Seventh Fleet was the first fully reconstructed fleet after the Great War and the third to be fully upgraded.

Along with the Fleet, Norion was guarded by thirty orbital defence platforms. Each of the platforms had been upgraded with the latest shield technology as well as point defence systems in order to circumvent the Achilles' heel of the older platforms from fighters and drop ships.

Norion, while currently holding the position that Reach once held, would however soon step down when the re-terraforming of Reach was completed and UNSC returned to the once formidable stronghold of humanity.

However for the time being, Norion held one asset that Reach never did.

The headquarters of the SPARTAN core branch of the UNSC.

It was here that the Commander had been summoned to receive the details of her next mission.

Her footsteps echoed throughout the corridor as she quickly made her way towards the briefing room. The commander of the SPARTAN core had called her weeks ago to pull her away from her current assignment on Doisac for a spec-op mission. A relief to be sure as the brutes were relentless in there assaults on UNSC forces.

She had to thank him for that as spending five years on the planet of the rhino-apes was not a pleasant experience but from the way General Holland sounded the mission might not be the saving grace she wished for.

"Greetings Commander Palmer. General Holland is expecting you." Chimed the personal AI of General Holland, Auntie Dot. While classified as a dumb A.I. and having been in service since 2541, Holland continued to keep Auntie Dot as his personal A.I. for having survived the fall of Reach and for her role in helping Noble team during their final mission.

Palmer, after acknowledging the A.I. entered the office of the commander of all Spartan forces.

"General Holland, what do I owe for the much needed R and R?" she asked as she saluted her commanding officer.

Turning to face her, with no hint of amusement, General Holland replied, "At ease Commander. Before I begin, you won't be thinking of this mission as anything like R and R."

Commander Sarah Palmer raised an eyebrow at that.

"What I am about to reveal Commander, is a discovery that the UNSC made less than five months ago and only to HighCom at that until two months ago."

"When ONI discovered the Forerunner Archive six months ago, they found a warning about something called the Timeless Storm."

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(6th June 2170 System Alliance standard - Serpent Nebula, Citadel Presidium – Council Chambers)

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Ambassador Goyle hated this.

Nearly four months after the unprecedented security breach of the extranet, the STG had finally pinpointed the breach occurring at Arcturus Station. When the news broke, the Galactic media went into overdrive with some vilifying the System Alliance while others were trying to find the hacker.

No one claimed responsibility for the breach, and the only reason the Alliance wasn't squarely blamed was due to having almost all of its secure data copied and stolen. The other races only had the public records copied with all sensitive information on the extranet untouched.

However with the knowledge that the Alliance had approved of expanding its naval forces on the same day as the attack, she had been called to explain what had happened and what the Alliance was planning.

Having dutifully served both the System Alliance and humanity as a whole for over five years since the Human Embassy was opened she had lost count of the number of times she had been called before the council to explain whatever mess someone made and try her best to explain it in a way that presented humanity in a positive light. Though it was almost always a lost battle with Councillor Sparatus, Councillor's Tevos and Vantar would always listen before passing any judgement. She really hoped that the Alliance appreciated her efforts as she had talked humanity out of several sanctions in the past but this meeting could be potentially disastrous.

Thankfully she would have help this time from Rear Admiral Hackett to explain the situation.

"This meeting has been called today to discuss the security breach of the Galactic Extranet, occurring at Arcturus Station. Ambassador Goyle, you may present you case to the council." Spoke the mediator of the meeting, Councillor Tevos.

"Thank you Councillor. As you know on March 26th of this year, one of the V.I.'s tasked with monitoring incoming connections to the extranet suffered from memory buffer issues causing the system to lag. At this moment the hacker, whoever they may be connected through an alternate V.I. specifically for naval officer connections only to enter the extranet. From there they gained access to the entire Alliance database, but we are unaware as to how they were able to remove the data without triggering any of the security protocols."

"Interesting, I didn't realise that the Alliance had such sub-standard V.I.'s that they couldn't handle high traffic volume. Or is it simply that you lack the security necessary for such tasks?" asked Sparatus, in his usual confrontational tone. While only being a councillor for three years, he had made Goyle's life a nightmare during her tenure.

Before the situation could turn sour Goyle responded, "Councillor, you know that to be untrue as the Council has monitored the Alliance's V.I. development since the incident with Dr. Shu Qian. The independent task group from the council inspected the V.I.'s in question not two months before the breach and had said they fell within the regulations of the Citadel Council."

"Ambassador Goyle is right Sparatus. The task group were very thorough with the investigation. And you are aware that STG stated the hacker would have been able to breach our countermeasures just as easily as the Alliance's own." Spoke the Salarian councillor, Vantar.

Sparatus growled lowly but made no further comment. Tevos decided it was best to continue the meeting.

"We have received notification from Ambassador Goyle as to what additional countermeasures the Alliance will take. We however are concerned about the reports of the Alliance expanding its forces. Ambassador, please clarify the motivations behind such a decision."

Before Goyle could reply, Admiral Hackett approached the stand. This was the reason he had been sent to the Citadel. "Councillor, with your permission, may I answer that question on behalf of Ambassador Goyle?"

"The council recognises Rear Admiral Hackett of the System Alliance."

"Thank you Councillor Tevos. The expansion of the naval forces of the Alliance is in response to the slaver attack on Mindoir. The Alliance has committed itself to the defence of Earth's colonies and the attack showed that we require more naval forces to counteract any future attack on human worlds by slavers or pirates. Our expansion falls within the limits imposed by the treaty of Farixen." Hackett and High Command knew that the STG had already reported such to the council before the meeting. What the council wanted to ensure that the Alliance were not going to exceed the treaty. HighCom knew what the council would do and had given Hackett the response to give.

"Admiral while that is understandable, please know that we cannot take the Alliance on word alone. Would the Alliance agree to allow a council task group to inspect your shipyards to verify your claims on the expansion that the Alliance is proposing?" asked Vantar.

Answering the question before Goyle could try and decline and spin the terms around, Hackett responded, "Yes councillor. The Alliance is willing however, the group will not be allowed to inspect the interior workings of the vessels, only to confirm ship classes and numbers."

The councillors turned to discuss the Admiral's terms as Goyle came up to Hackett and whispered, "What are you doing? Such an oversight is unacceptable. Why didn't you let me handle this?"

"This was a naval concern. Something the council, especially the Turian's would not back down from. If we denied the oversight, the council would take other measures to find out what we are doing. This puts them at ease letting them know what we are planning without giving way any knowledge on our ship designs, specifically our carriers."

Goyle seemed somewhat upset but understood. Unlike the scandal with A.I. research, the council would never tolerate a breach of the treaty of Farixen.

The councillors had finished debating with Sparatus looking angered and Vantar somewhat upset but neither made a motion as Tevos give their decision, "The council agrees with your proposal Admiral Hackett. The Task group will be assembled and ready to inspect Alliance shipyards in five years with follow up inspections every year. Does the Alliance agree?"

Ambassador Goyle took over from Hackett, "The Alliance agrees to those terms Councillor."

"Very well. This meeting is adjourned."

As the representatives of the Alliance and observers left the chamber, Sparatus turned to Tevos, "Why did we agree to such terms? We need to ensure that they are not disguising those carriers as dreadnaughts."

"Sparatus, they agreed to let us confirm the ship classification. They will let us ensure that such ships are not dreadnaughts as well as ensuring that they cannot be converted into dreadnaughts. They are simply not letting us see how they construct the interior systems, something that we ourselves wouldn't allow." replied Vantar.

Sparatus bristled at Vantar's reply but did not pursue the matter any further. He knew he was being brash as the newest councillor, but he had to ensure that nothing would threaten the ability of the Council fleet to protect citadel space.

Seeing that Sparatus had relented on the matter, Tevos turned to Vantar to discuss her main concern in all of this, "We have greater concerns. Who caused the breach? Has STG discovered the hacker's identity or motive?"

Vantar remained quiet for a moment, letting Tevos know that what he was going to say was something he wasn't comfortable with in the least. "STG has come to the concussion that with the data the alliance has given that no known race has the capability perform the hack... that is, no known organic race."

The mood greatly changed at that announcement. Sparatus seemed to have forgotten his concerns with the Alliance, "The Geth?"

"STG believes that they are most likely to be capable of such infiltration. With humanity being so new to the Galactic scene, it is believed that they would be curious of the Alliances capabilities. The reason that only our public data was copied is to understand what we have done since they isolated themselves behind the Perseus Veil."

Sparatus seemed to be mauling what Vantar had told him when Tevos had decided to query Vantar further, "Has the STG proposed any recommendations to counteract the Geth from further infiltrations?"

Vantar replied in a far more positive tune, "Yes, the proposal is for the council to give oversight over the development of Artificial Intelligence research in order to understand and counteract Geth actions in the future." Before Tevos could retort Vantar continued, "The proposal is for small scale research only, with no more than ten separate research projects at any one time. The research and development of any A.I. would have no capability to connect to the Extranet and would be contained on secure servers only."

Tevos seemed upset with such a proposal. While her fellow councillors were born long after the Geth rebellion, she remembered it is clearly as yesterday and she wasn't willing to be part of a second Geth rebellion. However she knew that such research would need to be done in order to protect Citadel space. "Very well I agree to such a proposal."

"As do I" replied Sparatus.

"Excellent, I will have STG comprise a detailed proposal for the next meeting."

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(6th November 2569 – UNSC Fortress World Norion – UNSC NAVCOM Base Bryyo)

"So let me see if I understand correctly. There is a second Earth with another human race with a similar history to ours but 400 years behind us. They are part of some galactic community but not very high in social standing and ONI wants me, on my own, without UNSC equipment or backup, to somehow raze their political standing, allowing them to increase their forces and unite the galactic community with us to fight some ancient threat from beyond the Galaxy that no one knows when it will return?" Asked Palmer in a clearly less than amused voice.

General Holland smirked somewhat and replied, "In essence yes. What we know for certain is that if we came out into the open directly then war with this Citadel council would be certain, reducing are resources and leaving everyone further unprepared for the Timeless Storm. We need both the System Alliance and the Citadel to help us stop this threat."

"Why me specifically Sir?" asked Palmer

Here Holland's features became cold as stone, "Officially, to get the System Alliance in a stronger position a Spectre is required. A Spartan IV is believed to be the best choice as the II's and III's aren't the most sociable soldiers, whereas you Commander have just as much experience of high risk solo missions and covert training as any Spartan II commando, but you also have years of experience in a commanding role as well as leading troops and engaging with the media, something the II's and III's greatly lack."

"Unofficially?"

Holland looked right into the Commanders eyes before replying, "Did you honestly believe that Halsey forgot that you shot her?"

Irritation flashed across Palmer's face for a moment at the mention of the Director's name but she schooled her features. No sense in arguing with the orders she was given, even from that woman, as it would only make the situation worse.

"So how is this mission to begin Sir? I don't have any knowledge on any of the species of this galactic community."

Holland returned to his naturally calm persona that he usually maintained and addressed the question, "Don't worry Commander. ONI has acquired all the data that you could potentially need for this mission as well as altering the Citadel and System Alliance records for when you are sent to infiltrate in one year. Until then you will be running simulations in the training rooms on interacting with the various races as well as studying the data ONI has acquired. You will also have to undergo augmentation surgery in order to hide your Spartan enhancement from the galactic community."

Palmer knew this was important as the Timeless Storm was indicated to be a threat to the UNSC but something had been bothering her, "Sir if the Timeless Storm is such a threat then shouldn't contact the Sangheili? The Timeless Storm is as much a threat to them as it is to us."

Holland smirked at her question with a knowing look in his eye, "Yes Commander, HighCom is well aware of that and has already sent a representative to the Arbiter."

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(7th November 2569 – Sangheilios – Vadam Keep)

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Thel Vadam stood patiently along with the Honour Guard waiting on the transport from the UNSC to open. It had not been too long since the last official meeting between the UNSC and the free Sangheili people but from what Fleet Admiral Hood stated, it was a matter of great urgency.

The loading ramp lowered from the rear of the ship and the Ambassador walked down the ramp and stopped six feet from him.

Thel couldn't help but notice that the Honour Guard were tense in the man's presence but it was to be expected when standing next to the one that had defied gods and demons.

"Welcome to Sangheilios, Spartan."

"It is my honour to be here, Arbiter." came the reply from Master Chief Petty Officer John-117.

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End Chapter

So that hopefully brings an end to setting up the background to the story. Better than starting off with a timeline I believe. Next chapter will focus almost exclusively from Palmers point of view as she enters the Mass Effect world.

With that said I would like to apologise with the delay as Life can be a bitch at times and my health has never been the best. However I should have the next chapter out far faster.

So with that I hope you enjoyed this and please let me know if I made any major errors.

Thanks for reading and thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, especially Michael1110.

Also thanks for over 100 reviews and over 11,000 hits for three chapters. I really appreciate it.:)