So work has been madness! I'm writing whenever I can, but really enjoying writing this so I shan't be abandoning it. Hope everyone enjoys and reviews their thoughts and ideas.
I can't express enough how much your reviews showing your enjoyment, curiosity, interest and constructive thoughts help me in writing this and inspiring me to improve.
Review responses:
Trife: Thanks! That's actually partly a reason why I did this. None of the ME – Halo stories I'd read fit what I felt would happen with the Chief and the UNSC's behaviour/effectiveness. And about the Turian's; they were always a contradiction to me in ME Canon. They were the most militarised species in ME and were the go to for example of military power and might, and were a self-confessed warrior styled society, and then with the profile of the First Contact War we get the full picture of what they behave like as a species. But then when it comes to their interactions in ME I feel like they were "humanised" a lot like most the other races to be easier for Bioware to write and for the gamer to empathise with. I'm hoping that I can distinguish their behaviour as a part of their alien culture.
Little Liar(Guest): You're in the right place then!
VexEchoUmbra: Thank you very much! Like I've said, I do want to steer the Chief in a somewhat different character direction than Halo Canon, just for the purpose of it being a fanfiction. So I'm introducing more emotional turmoil from the perspective of him adapting as a man, not just as Spartan soldier, and him learning to handle the emotional knowledge instilled from the Librarian and how that all balances on his new ambitions.
MikeyP: Thank you. I usually write in something of a hurry and edit in as much of a hurry. I should (and will try) to be more attentive to my errors.
Ferox Pretorious: Your predictions are on the money. This chapter is essentially filler, but that's what it is about. And hopefully you like how much this will massively begin to diverge from canon from the set up at the end.
The Mexican Taco Overlord: Hindsight 'tis a terrible thing! Would have sounded better, but no matter. : )
Zoltan-Atreyu: Better than most is good enough for an after work hours hobby for me! : ) Hope you keep enjoying.
Coduss: You'll love the picture I'll paint of the Turian's if you love how I'm showing Sparatus then ;) Seriously changing the ME Milky Way landscape with this chapters set up.
PopularFallacy: I probably haven't gone as in-depth as I could have, and I didn't commit enough time to writing this to be able to explore the diplomacy as intimately as I should have, but there are some important diplomatic set ups in this chapter.
Guest('s): To the one criticizing my statement about the UNSC. Well, that's your opinion based off what Halo lore you're versed with. The Halo lore I'm versed with (like the Guest supporting me) shows the UNSC as a military power that seized emergency control during the war, and did hand power back to the UEG as soon as the primary threat passed. That very fact shows their willingness to live in a democratic society.
Chapter Nine
.:: Reclamation and Revelation ::.
January 30/2186 - Systems Alliance Earth Date
XX Infinity Bridge
"This is something else!"
"Roland?" Lasky asked the AI. He looked up from his stooped over position on the stool he'd pulled up to tactics table where he was reading star charts of notable locations across the galaxy drawn from the Forerunner data crystal.
The Navigation officer spun in his chair "He's right, sir. This is incredible!"
A pointed look from Lasky made Roland beam in excitement at the discovery within the data crystal that they were experiencing first hand. "Slip Space here is like nothing you'd believe. We just crossed the bulge of the Perseus arm."
"We've just travelled the entire distance of the UNSC's former territory in two hours," The Navigation officer conceded with eyes wide with in amazement.
"Roland, have you rendered a map of the galaxy yet?"
In response to Lasky's question, a meter wide representation of the Milky Way appeared on the tactics table. The Captain glanced at it then back to Roland, "Can you add the locations and territories of known planets, colonies, home worlds and our trajectory?"
"Aye Aye."
First, a wave of red dots lit up across the map, quickly followed by far less green ones. "The green ones are active Mass Relays, and red are inactive," Roland explained as he clicked his fingers and two dozen more blue dots lit up on the map, some larger than others. "They're points of interest. Home worlds, their Citadel, so on… The Forerunner AI had been recording just about everything using Slip Space signalling."
"Slip Space signalling?" Lasky asked with his brows creeping up in curiosity.
"It's a form of Slip Space transmission, Cortana discovered that the Covenant could somewhat use it after she and the Master Chief captured the assault carrier Ascendant Justice following the events of the first Halo discovery. Same with anything to do with Slip Space, the Forerunners had mastered it," Roland recited his growing knowledge from reading into the crystal.
"And they didn't require any kind of physical probes or receivers to do this?" Lasky queried further as his eyes grew wider with the realisation that the data crystal was likely full of Forerunner scientific understanding that the Infinity could employ.
"No Captain. Hell, it looks like the Builder ship that arrived here could cross half the galaxy here in minutes." Roland continued as his avatar stooped over the crystal on the tactics table.
"So they picked this spot," Lasky pointed his finger top into the holographic sprawling blue nebula at the end of the trajectory that was grower nearer by the second, "Because it was out of the way?"
"That would appear to make sense," Roland agreed. He clicked his fingers and all of the red and green lit blips representing the Mass Relays pulsed. "That entire area is almost like a dead zone set away from all of the Relays."
"You mean that the Forerunners destroyed all nearby Relays?"
"I don't think so Captain," Roland shook his head, and the map expanded to zoom in on the sprawling red and blue nebula at the edge of the galaxy. "Considering that the Mass Relays are the epitome of technology in this Milky Way, I think destroying any would gain the attention of these Reapers. I would say that there was probably a supermassive supernova a long time even before the Forerunners arrived that wiped out a whole bunch of them."
"Why wouldn't these Reapers go back and rebuild them? Aren't they about directing the technological progression of new races?" Lasky instantly rebutted doubtfully.
"When I say a supermassive supernova, I mean supermassive, Captain," Roland said, crossing his arms and zooming the map back out again, highlighting a six thousand light year radius around the nebula. "The Forerunners didn't pick up a single habitable or primordial world in this area. It would probably take another supernova to essentially reseed this area of space with natural potential."
"What a convenient coincidence…" Lasky mumbled over the table and looked back at the glass that separated them from the inky blackness of Slip Space. He took a few steps away and clasped his chin in thought before slowly turning on his heel and looking back to the AI whose avatar was still stooped over the crystal.
The mere fact that a new generation smart AI was committing so much of its processing power and conscious attention to the crystal spoke volumes to Lasky how much information was stored within. He felt a surge of regret that such a discovery couldn't have been made months or years ago back in their native reality.
How it would have changed the tide of the war without the need for a single Spartan to become Humanities sole champion. How it would have saved millions or billions of lives and dozens of worlds, and how it would have prevented the culmination of events that lead to them abandoning the very reality that they knew as home.
He shook his head to clear it off the fringe of depression that lingered on the edge of his mind from his choice and refocused his thoughts to the UNSC's play in this new version of the Milky Way. "And what do we know about the political structure here? Who are our allies going to be?"
"Not much in the crystal for that," Roland conceded. "Besides some tactical and political espionage info; like how the Asari, one of the technologically dominant races, have a few secret hidden Prothean artefacts that they've kept from the other races and used to secure their technological dominance."
Lasky nodded and silently wished that either Halsey or Glassman were present on the bridge for a more empathetic and equally intellectual human perspective. "So we'll need to rely on the Master Chief's intel for that until Sarah and Majestic get back."
"Seems so, Captain, not like his intel isn't good though. He got a lot of good reads on the kind of culture each race has and the way that affects their politics."
"And what do we know about the Systems Alliance Humanity?"
In an immediate response, next to the Milky Way map, a holographic representation of a man with a regulation buzz cut and crinkled skin sprung up. "That's the Admiral turned Citadel Councillor David Anderson. In many ways, this Humanity seems to be a lot like our own back home. But semi recent history seems to be moulding them along the paths that these Reapers would want."
Lasky stroked his chin in thought and imagined seeing the Mass Relay and the Citadel on the holographic representation. He wondered if the Forerunner's had done something similar back in their world if life would have been so moulded by it like it had here. He clenched his jaw and shook his head with his brow crinkled and a momentary spike of anger as it occurred to him that what the Forerunners had left behind had moulded the direction of life in the reseeded Milky Way dramatically, to modern Humanities detriment.
"From the Forerunner's readings on the former cycle, the ruling power was a race called Protheans'. According to this, they discovered Mass Effect science and the Citadel before any other species from ruins left behind from the cycle before them, and rather than form a democratic government, were an imperial power. So all other races became a part of the Prothean Empire. In a round-about way, the same thing is happening in this cycle. There's the Citadel governed space, which mostly covers the space of all the allied species, and each species is assigned roles to play out from economic and militaristic stand points." Roland started curiously as Lasky peered more closely at the galaxy map as the regions of space belonging to various factions pulsed.
"The Asari retain the most of their own original culture and capability, whereas Humanity is in the process of conforming to the Citadel way of things, which is essentially becoming a specialised tool for the Citadel government and losing their generalist ability." Roland finished with his arms crossed.
"So, to break it down simply," Lasky began, poking his finger onto the small representation of the Infinity on the map to highlight their flight path. "Each race here did start out with their own fully functioning generalised and multi-skilled society, but over time under the Citadel Council rule, they have been refined into serving a single purpose? And the Asari aren't as much like that because they're the dominant power?"
"Essentially, yes Captain," The AI agreed with a nod.
"And what about this Cerberus group Chief mentioned? What do we know about them?" Lasky continued to pry.
"Ahh, that's where things start to get a little more interesting, Captain. They're labelled as a terrorist organisation with pro-Human motivations. This is more or less a direct reaction to the Citadel Council trying to control Humanity into serving its purpose like they successfully did with all the other races-"
"-They call themselves revolutionaries, right?" Lasky interrupted the AI's explanation with a scoff.
"From what I can tell, they probably would. But the interesting part is that they mostly just don't want to conform to Citadel rule and apparently don't trust aliens."
"So you don't agree with them being called terrorists?" Lasky asked.
Roland instantly shook his head, "Oh no sir, they're definitely terrorists. But they're just an interesting Human cultural reaction to the Citadel Councils semi-oppressive style of governing. It's like economic and cultural imperialism."
Lasky quickly shook his head in frustration, and his thoughts drifted to Palmer with Vale and Majestic, wondering how they must be dealing with these cultural issues being presented to them first hand. "Roland, can you adapt that Slip Space Signalling with our hardware?"
The AI nodded, "Halsey and I can probably sort that out fairly quickly."
"Good," Lasky instantly responded, "I want you to send all that info to Halsey, have it ready asap and send everything we know to Palmer as soon as we can."
"Sent," Roland instantaneously advised as he drew up a holographic representation of each of the Citadel species. "And how do you think we play in with this bunch?"
Lasky stepped along the tactics table and pinched the hologram of Anderson and dragged it toward the aliens. "I'm happy to be allied with all of them, but we won't follow their orders, and we certainly don't need their resources. Our primary objective is to find out what the Builders were doing and set up our own base of operations before showing any of our hand to the Citadel and preparing for these Reapers."
"Aye Aye, Captain," Roland dutifully saluted in return, the tactics table around him filling up with a recorded history of the current cycle for Lasky to read over.
XX S –deck
"We were sent after Blue Team to back them up after Fred-104 transmitted that he'd been contacted by Cortana through the Forerunner Domain and that she was looking for you. Osiris; Tanaka, Vale, Locke and Me followed, and we finally caught up with them on Sangheilios where Cortana activated one of the Guardians," Buck explained, his expression downcast as he did his best to keep his eyes glued to Master Chiefs golden visor standing a head taller.
The stationary sandy green giant remained unmoved from the beginning of Buck's recounting, making the former ODST cough to clear his throat and continue. "We ended up on a Forerunner planet called Genesis. Cortana lured Blue Team into a – ahhh-"
"-A Cryptum," Tanaka filled in for the stony faced Buck struggling with the right word.
Buck nodded to her with a sad turn of his lips in thanks for the clarification, "Into this Cryptum thing. So we tried to break them out." He stopped and shook his head at the recent memory, and his jaw flexed from the clench of frustration.
"That Warden Eternal Forerunner AI we mentioned earlier," Tanaka stepped in again, holding her gaze on John's visor much more resolutely than Buck had. "A whole bunch of him turned up, Locke and the Monitor almost got to the Cryptum, but he was killed, and we were forced to retreat. The only reason we got away was that the Monitor held Cortana's Prometheans back."
Tanaka finished and a moment of deafening silence stretched between the three Spartans despite the constant sound of marching boots, loud talking and machinery in the background. John finally nodded to both of them, "Thank you."
Both of the younger generation Spartans' eyes widened in surprise at the given thanks as the legendary Spartan reached up and hefted his helmet from his head and let it hang loosely from his left hand. He regarded the two with a solemnly sad expression with his larger than average bright blue irises shining in the bright lights of S-Deck.
Acting on his latest prerogative to distance himself from the controlling military structure that had dominated his life, and from a lesson learnt from Mendez in his early teens, John offered his open right palm in a shake rather than a salute.
Again, both of the Spartan IV's regarded both the revealed face of the Master Chief and the unorthodox gesture with wide-eyed surprise. Buck was the first to recover, and his expression shifted into a grim smile as he reached forward and reciprocated the handshake. "To help Blue Team was my honour, Sir."
Buck released John's hand after a brief moment, and Tanaka took his place a few seconds later. Unlike Buck, she was much more able to put on a pleased face thanks to her relative youth and lack of experienced war compared to the former ODST. She looked up into the face of Humanities champion with a clear look of pride in her eyes.
Her hazel eyes met the abnormally large blue eyes of the Spartan II, and her gaze naturally drifted over his expression, reading a mixture of sadness, happiness, pride, and conviction on the pale skinned face of the man who looked younger than his forty-seven years of life and duty.
"Master Chief, Sir, to serve you and to have helped you in any way is just about every soldier's dream. We ain't gonna lose you too."
John held the shorter Spartan woman's hand a moment longer, maintaining eye contact and reading her conviction before looking up to see the same look mirrored in Bucks' eyes, and then further afield where a group of five fully armoured Spartans had ceased their tasks with five Sangheili to look on him being unhelmeted.
Being sighted by the Master Chief, the orange-red armoured Sangheili' split off from the group of IV's that they'd been in discussion with and marched up to the three unhelmeted Spartans. Buck and Tanaka both gave the aliens respectful nods and stepped aside.
"Spartan!" The Sangheili in the lead greeted with a resonating voice and a nod of his reptilian head, "To meet you here is an honour unlike that of even the Arbiter."
John withheld any expression despite the confusion that was swirling around him. As far as he knew, Thel Vadum had risen to being a prominent leader amongst the Sangheili within his role as the Arbiter.
"We called you and your kind Demon for so long because you are such dangerous warriors, now we are allies we can admit the honour of fighting with such a warrior." The Sangheili continued, cutting off and somewhat answering John's internal curiosity.
"Is the Arbiter here?" John asked the warrior addressing him.
"No," A second Sangheili warbled in his natural baritone, "He stayed with the brave few to allow as many of us to escape as possible."
"About nine hundred Sangheili escaped Sangheilios with us, with some Unggoy" Tanaka filled in with a nod to the first Sangheili.
"We are a united people now, because of you, Spartan. In your honour, we fight."
John stayed silent for a moment as he read the surprised expressions of the two Spartan IV's beside him and the Sangheili. Obviously, neither of them had expected the surviving former genocidal enemies to swear loyalty to their own former greatest enemy.
John opted for simply giving the alien a firm nod while holding eye contact, knowing that the warrior culture in him would respect the action.
"Roland?"
"Yes, Master Chief?" The AI instantly replied from the receiver within John's helmet, still held loosely from his left hand.
"Update on the team I came here with?" John asked as he naturally slipped back into his leadership role.
"Grunt and Garrus are in the simulation deck with Crimson. Mordin and Kasumi are with Doctor Halsey in Starboard Observation 23 and Legion is on the bridge electronically communicating with me."
"Directions to Starboard Observation 23?"
"I can show you, Sir?" Buck answered John in Roland's stead.
John answered with a simple nod, and Buck promptly stepped passed Tanaka and made for a bulkhead door on the right side of the sprawling Spartan deck. John gave Tanaka and the assembled Sangheili a nod in respectful goodbye before catching up to Buck in two long strides.
"The Infinity is a big ship, easy to get lost in if you don't know it well," Buck advised as they neared the door and several unsuited Spartans came through from the other side.
John gestured toward the door with a quizzical frown, "Starboard Access, Batteries, Flight Hanger, Observation Deck." He quoted from the electronic screen above the doorway.
Buck laughed with a small smirk, "Guess it took me a while to start paying attention to them."
John naturally adopted something between a frown, a small smile, and a smirk in confused response to the odd behaviour from the Spartan who was apparently one of the best of the best. The four unsuited Spartans who'd stepped through the door ahead of them halted and snapped crisp salutes.
John flicked a semi casual salute back as they passed and stepped through the doorway into a long stretching brightly lit metal hallway.
"Going to be good serving under you, Sir," Buck started again after they took a left. "I mean, the Captain is still in charge, but you're THE Master Chief. As much as the Captain is in charge of the Infinity, everyone is going to look to you to be in charge of what we do as the UNSC."
John knit his brow as a flash of his old militaristically disciplined self, occupied his mind and demanded him to answer that he was an NCO and had no such authority as to what Buck was suggesting. But again, he suppressed the thoughts that he now saw as a form of indoctrination and affirmed himself of his own path here.
"We'll make the UNSC into what it should be, Spartan."
Buck smiled at the answer that suited the Master Chief all too well and caught the firm but calm expression on his face as meaning he wanted to walk in silence. The former ODST took the hint without a qualm and continued on leading the way from barely a step ahead for the next ten minutes from one corridor to the next until they arrived before another identical doorway to the hundreds of others they'd passed.
Buck nodded to the door and then went rigid into a parade ground salute, "This is your stop, Sir. I'll leave you to it."
John reciprocated the action instantly, wearing a small smile as he noticed the looks of admiration he saw coming from the passing personnel. He dropped the salute and keyed the door control, stepping through the moment that it opened to see the familiar figure of Catherine Halsey seated on a low bench before a large window.
The two likewise familiar companions with her looked to him as he was momentarily silhouetted in the doorway before it closed, and he marched toward them, sparing a brief glance left and right to see the deck occupied by at least fifteen other small groups at benches of their own before large observation windows.
"Ahhh Master Chief!" Mordin exclaimed as he drew near. "Doctor Halsey has been explaining your history, personally, and as a species!"
"You had it rough, didn't you big guy?" Kasumi interrupted before Mordin could make the topic too coldly analytical.
The pointed eye contact and very slight rise and fall in his shoulders were all he answered with to the Asian woman by way of saying 'I guess so,' before his gaze settled on Halsey's fascinated expression. "I'm sure you have a great deal to say to me, John. A great deal to ask of me, maybe even accuse me of?"
John stepped closer so that he was a meter from the seated trio, holding his creators gaze and softening his expression as he cleared his mind of the swelling emotions within him to blame her for everything that had befallen him and his brothers and sisters.
"Doctor," He halted to draw emphasis to addressing her, "The past is done and gone, and I know that there were dozens or hundreds of reasons that you did what you did."
Her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth hung slightly agape at John's borderline forgiveness, she peered more closely into his face, "You've changed, John."
"A lifetime of fighting for Humanity does that-"
"-No, John." Halsey rose from her seated position and stepped within his space, looking up into his face, "You have changed. You look – Different, somehow."
He nodded back, "The Librarian…"
"Librarian," Halsey whispered the name back in wonder.
John knew that the long dead Forerunner Life Shaper was the equivalent to an all knowing God in the eyes of Halsey. "She forced some evolution in me, she gave me memories from Ancient Humanity. I know about the Forerunners, about where we started, about the Flood and the Mantle."
"John…" Halsey trailed his name as a soft tone entered her voice, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "What I have done in my life with the Spartans was wrong on many levels, but I made you and the others capable of being what you were, and what you are. You have gone further than any Human before you, you are Humanities next step."
"Woah, Doc Hal," Kasumi broke hers and Mordin's respectful silence. "That's a lot of expectation to put on a guy!"
Halsey looked at the hooded woman with a sad smile, "If only you knew what – Who," She corrected herself, "-This man is. Your galaxy is going to change because of him."
"Your people's version of a Spectre?" Mordin asked, clasping his chin and shaking his head before Halsey could answer. "No, certainly not! Spectres advanced operatives, not a Luminary as you describe Master Chief to be."
"The Mantle of Responsibility shelters all…" John recited the Didacts words and sought the answer within himself. His heart doubled its pace in a moment of inner turmoil as he once more struck confusion and conflict over the nature of the Human-Covenant war and that the Mantle was the primary reason for it.
The Forerunners had stolen the Mantle from their creators and aeons later the best amongst them saw that it had been intended for Humanity, whom they had allowed the Didact to biologically violate. And as such Humanity had been marked as the inheritors of the responsibility, and one hundred thousand years later the Covenant had sworn them as enemies for it.
Humanity had been fighting for the Mantle without even knowing it.
John met Halsey's eyes again, "We're going to make a better Humanity here, a better UNSC. One that holds the Mantle how it was meant to be."
A small smile pulled on her lips, "I'm proud of you, John."
XX Infinity Bridge
"Transition back to normal space in 3, 2, 1," Roland counted down, and on cue, the light in the bridge changed from the artificial lighting to being flooded with a cool blue glow from the nebula before them.
"Roland, scan that cloud, what did the Forerunners do here?" Lasky barked instantly. He glanced over his shoulder to Halsey who'd stooped over the tactics table and was tracking her finger over the data that was being fed to it.
"Captain…" Halsey's voice came out stunned and amazed all too similar to how she'd sounded upon the first contact with the reborn Cortana. The tone sent a chill down Lasky's spine and put him on edge.
"What is it, Doctor."
Lasky glanced to the Master Chief whose authority laden tone asked his maker. He loomed over her for just a moment, with Buck, Tanaka and the Salarian alien behind him, before taking a long stride toward the forward view screen.
"There's a structure in the cloud. It's enormous!" Halsey's eyes were wide and her voice breathless.
"Bit of an understatement, Doc," Roland agreed with her summary with his arms crossed and a nod.
Lasky paled and didn't take note that the Chief didn't show a shred of concern. His eyes widened in a stroke of fear as his mind jumped to conclusions, "A Halo…"
"No Captain," Roland instantly answered to divert the Captain's fear. "It seems to be a Shield World. Mass readings indicate one AU diameter."
"One AU! Incomprehensible!" Mordin declared with his mouth slightly agape. He looked pointedly to Halsey, "One AU in diameter? How? A planet half the size of a solar system!"
"Take us in." The familiar gravelly and commanding voice of the Master Chief spoke, ignoring the amazement Mordin was exuding, figuring the best way to educate the Salarian in the way of the Forerunners constructive capability was for him to see it first hand.
Roland glanced from the Master Chief's back to the Captain. Lasky gave a nod of confirmation, and the ships thrusters kicked the Infinity into motion.
"Distance to contact with Nebula one hundred kilometres – ninety – sixty – forty – ten – Contact." Lieutenant Jett counted down from his station unnecessarily as everyone on the bridge kept their gaze fixated on the glowing blue and red cloud of gas they were approaching.
The ship submerged itself within the cloud of gasses, and the light within the bridge softened. "Readings put the structure at one thousand klicks."
No one responded to Roland and simply opted for staring out the view screen at the visually impenetrable cloud that surrounded them. The still mass of red and blue streaks lulled them all into an eerie sense of calmness in light of the unexplored mega structure that they were approaching. A moment later the light shifted again as the Infinity nosed out of the gasses and was treated to the view of the vast, sprawling, expansive surface of metal shield world that extended beyond their field of vision.
Concentric overlapping rings made up its surface, broken in pattern only by the massive glowing blue-white energy portal which bore a concerning resemblance to Requiem's entrance, albeit it on a much larger scale.
"Roland."
The AI directed his projection on the tactics holo-table to the Master Chief's back, similarly to the rest of the inhabitants of the bridge as the Spartan II exerted his influence over them. His helmet turned slightly to the left to reveal a sliver of his visor, enough for the man within to confirm that the AI –and everyone else- was paying heed to him.
"Take us through the portal."
The AI paused for just a moment, recalling the recent history of Requiem, before nodding and sending through the control directives to the navigation computer. The ship reacted instantly as it changed its orientation to point up at the portal and accelerated.
"ETA five minutes at intercept speed," Roland advised with a nod to his usual commander.
"Good," Lasky reasserted himself with a nod to Lieutenant Jett. "Slow to docking speed five hundred meters out."
"Forerunners built on astronomical scale!" Mordin whispered excitedly as he shuffled up next to Halsey seeking her expert opinion and knowledge.
"Yes," She agreed. "If there are no slip space bubbles within this shield world then this will be the second largest one we've discovered."
"Let's not forget the Halos or the Ark, Doctor," Lasky added with a grim expression without his eyes leaving the growing portal ahead.
"Will there be Forerunners inside?" Mordin continued with excitement in his eyes.
The question brought a frown to the faces of everyone present at the possibility. That these Forerunners had completely escaped the Flood and the Halos by accident and had obviously committed their time here to build a new home that wouldn't interfere with this new version of the Milky Way they'd stumbled into.
"No," The Master Chief answered after the moment of silence stretched on. "They probably built this for us and then removed their suits."
The frown on Halsey's face grew deeper at the all too sure sounding answer, "How could you know that? Why would they do that?"
"There was division in the Forerunner ecumene, the Builders and Lifeworkers wanted to see the end of the old rates and assist Humanity. They made this knowing we'd arrive." John answered calmly, not shifting his posture from observing the portal ahead.
Halsey pursed her lips and let her mind flick back to an hour and a half earlier to when she'd briefly spoken of the Librarians forced evolution of John, and the knowledge it had instilled in him. "I do not see how they could know of us coming here?"
John looked over his shoulder again and withheld the desire to shrug. He truly didn't know, he was operating on an instinct that he'd learnt to trust unequivocally. And that the knowledge imprinted from the Librarian had permeated that trait. "The Domain might exist here too. The Precursors might have been here."
There was no imparted knowledge of that for John to fall back on, but flashes of memory about the Precursors and their Domain struck through his mind. Knowing that the Domain was the absolute pinnacle of their technology, he had trouble believing that the Forerunners were able to kill them and that they were more than capable of simply merging their essences into the Domain or even escaping to other realities. His eyes widened at the thought, and he turned his posture to more fully face Halsey.
His growing sense of ambition toward his vision of the Mantle guided his words, "The Precursors brought us here. They want us to take the Mantle in this Galaxy."
"Isn't that going a bit far, Chief?" Lasky asked his small grimace the only true answer to the Spartans impassioned words.
"Isn't this Mantle of Responsibility an Imperial power?" Mordin followed up instantly, his expression suddenly more guarded. "You spoke of how these Forerunners held it earlier."
John looked to the deck and shook his head, clenching his jaw as he did and looking inward to the emotions that weren't his own still surging from Forthencho's former presence within. "The Democracy of the UNSC is what the Mantle should be. We can make that."
Silence was the immediate answer, making John look to Roland. "Did the Ancilla record how many Reapers there are?"
Roland nodded and looked from Halsey to Lasky, "Around thirty thousand, various classes, at least one thousand of their Sovereign class ships."
John's golden gaze travelled from Halsey to Mordin to Lasky. "We can't beat all of them on our own, which means we need to fight with the other species here. How much will be left at the end of this? It's our duty to lead this galaxy."
More silence was the answer to the legendary Master Chiefs frighteningly grandiose and equally harshly honest words.
"Slowing to docking speed!" The Lieutenant announced, drawing all eyes back to the looming portal which was now all that was visible through the view screen.
"Take us in," Lasky commanded, all too happy to divert the conversation away from the Master Chief's prospects, mere years earlier the UNSC had been struggling for survival, and now they'd finally been rebuilding their empire, the idea of galactic stewardship exceeded his current perspective.
The ship held its speed and proceeded into the shimmering blue-white field of energy. The entirety of the Infinity passed through the portal within seconds and was soon bathed in warm yellow light as it appeared in blue skies far above a glistening silver city.
It was surrounded by bright green plains, reaching forests and rolling hills and mountains in the distance, all of it somewhat shrouded by picturesque white clouds lazily drifting beneath them
"Portal structure behind us is still active, looks like a permanent doorway in and out," Roland crossed the first possible concern off the list, bringing a holographic depiction of a tower structure from directly below them up with a stream of energy flowing from it into the sky.
"Contacts!" The Lieutenant quickly called from his station.
"Battle stations, now!" Lasky roared in panic as he quickly turned to the tactical table to see what was headed their way.
Halsey quickly held up her palm toward the Captain, and nodded through the view screen at what appeared to be a swarm of metal spiralling toward them, "They're Constructors, Captain."
Lasky let out a long breath to relieve the fight or flight instinct that had taken hold of him and shook his head to try and rid himself of the anxiety that had been ruling him since the beginning of the Cortana's rise back in their home galaxy. "Roland, what readings do we have?"
"Not much, Captain." The AI answered with a shrug, and a nod passed the Master Chief to the swarming mass of constructors out the window. "There are one hundred thousand of them in that formation out there; I'm tracking more than a dozen just like it in the immediate area."
"And that city down there?" Halsey asked, nodding to the rendering map on the holographic table.
"Plenty of life on the bio scanners, but nothing in that city; if there are Forerunners here, they aren't awake."
"Surface information?" Lasky followed on tactically with his eyes seeking the horizon that arched upwards in all directions until it disappeared into the cloudy blue skyline.
"Looks like the entire interior surface is habitable from what I can scan from here. I'm betting there would be a Cartographer down there though with a full read out of the place." Roland answered with a shrug.
"Take us down, we've found our new home," John advised with a resolute nod toward Lasky.
The Master Chief's assuredness relieved Lasky of a large portion of the anxiety that he was battling, and Lasky let a small smile take its place on his lips. "You heard him, Roland. Prep research deployment and send word to Prowler One to deploy and begin internal mapping. We're going to start making a home out of this place."
XX February 3rd – 2186 – Citadel Presidium
"Well, Commander Palmer, you've certainly upset the balance," David Anderson nodded to the finally unarmoured but still towering sable haired women to his right as they navigated past a group of excitedly chattering Salarian's along the Presidium sidewalk on their way to the embassy bar.
Sarah narrowed her eyes at the wiry aliens in natural suspicion but kept her attention on her guide as they took a left through what appeared to be a kind of waiting area and proceeded up a flight of stairs. "I'm told that Spartans are good at that."
Anderson chuckled, "The Chief sure was a shock to the system too. Gotta say though, he helped Shepard more than my people did, and he saved a lot of lives by doing that."
Sarah looked down at the man and let the shrewdness evaporate from her attitude for the pride and inspiration that the Master Chief granted all Humanity to become visible in her eyes, "You've got no idea, Anderson."
"So it was a really big war then?"
Sarah clenched her jaw at recalling the all to recent war and nodded, "Yeah, hundreds of worlds lost, billions of lives, our empire reduced to barely a hundred colonies."
"And the Master Chief finished it? Saved everyone?" Anderson continued on as they took another left into the café styled bar. He nodded toward the balcony by way of direction and proceeded ahead of her through the tables and selected one at the corner of the balcony with six empty chairs around it.
He took one and Sarah naturally took the seat opposite it, glancing around from the three other occupied tables to the man at the bar watching a wall mounted news screen.
"Yeah, Chief and Cortana, his AI, helped break the Covenant apart, then formed an alliance with a former enemy. Then with that former enemy stopped a Forerunner super weapon from wiping out all life in the galaxy, ended the Covenant – sort of," She amended with a furrowing of her brow, knowing all too well all of the warring factions of the Covenant that remained. "Stopped the Flood and then eventually stopped a Forerunner that wanted to wipe out Humanity."
"The Flood?" Anderson asked, not being familiar with the name. "And I thought you said that all of the Forerunners died?"
Sarah retrieved a small data pad from her pocket and placed it on the table, then awkwardly activated the omni-tool on her wrist for inspection. "Roland, explain the Flood and the Forerunners to Anderson."
"Aye, aye, Spartan," The AI's voice answered from the device on the table top.
Sarah looked to Anderson and then back to the omni-tool uncertainly. He quickly understood the question and reached over the tabletop and touched a finger to the central display button in the middle and a small holographic screen expanded from it. "The bartender will see your diplomatic status on this."
She nodded in thanks and stood from her seat and made her way toward the barman whose attention was still solidly on the screen behind the bar. As she drew near she picked up the face of a scruffy haired man on the screen with the Citadel news logo stamped on the corner of the feed, "And in most recent Citadel news, new diplomatic ties have been made with a – Uhmm," he paused and looked down at something off screen. Sarah concluded that it must have been his prompter and he was rereading the point that explained her people's origins.
"-With a new Human race, this UNSC group of Humans are somewhat different from us and have extra-reality origins. This has been confirmed by the Citadel council," He fumbled with his words, obviously not sure of himself in this strange reading of the news. "These Humans appear very similar to us but are apparently of a generally larger structure as described by the Councils first contact meeting with them. The UNSC has now made a formal alliance with the Citadel species."
Sarah withheld a smirk as she entertained the thought that such a clumsy telling of the news would have earnt that man a social media joke-storm back on any UNSC world.
Sensing her presence, the bald bartender spun around with a welcoming smile to take her order. His eyes quickly tracked from her face, down her body covered in her under armour gel suit, to her long legs dressed in standard UNSC fatigues. He clearly put two and two together instantly and looked back up to her eyes, "Well you lot get around quickly! How about that! A human from a different reality in my bar!"
Sarah did her best to turn her natural cringe into a small smile and nodded, "Yes, we are seeking to integrate as best we can. May I order?"
"Sure, sweetie! What'ya want?"
Again, Sarah suppressed her cringe at the degrading way of having been referred to and focused on the idea of a diplomatic incident being a bad thing. "Do you make fresh coffee here? Espresso coffee?"
"Course' we do, what'll it be sweetie?"
Sarah imagined her inner-self laughing raucously at the man's temptation, imagined herself slapping him across the face with an open palm strike hard enough to throw him into the wall for the way that he was speaking to her. But she entertained the idea only within her mind, and externally maintained her composure. "A triple shot long black with a side of milk."
She held up her omni-tool ready to show that as a diplomatic VIP she was exempt from paying, and the man smiled and nodded and tapped the string of numbers that her omni-tool displayed into his own before turning away from her toward his espresso machine. "Coming right up!"
She turned away from him and made her way back to Anderson, letting out a long sigh at the exchange that had ground against every nerve in her being. "I could never imagine a civilian speaking to any service member that way back home." She declared as she reseated herself and shook her head.
Anderson gave another short laugh, "Yes, Master Chief expressed that the UNSC was a bit more –" He paused and looked up in thought, "-Professional -hard edge, in the day to day conduct."
Sarah shook her head at all of the small first-hand examples she'd seen since arriving that exhibited the surprising amount of difference between the native Humanity and her own. "So Roland filled you in?"
"Yep, Spartan."
"Basically," Anderson agreed with Roland's more casual answer. "So the Chief is more than just a hero."
Sarah nodded in agreement and thought. "It's hard to put into words. He saved our species and went through hell his whole life for that…" She pursed her lips and similarly to how Anderson had looked skyward in thought. "Captain Lasky – You'll like him when you meet – He's a great Captain. Everything a UNSC officer needs to be and more, but some things have changed in the Chief, I think. I think it will more than likely be the Chief who leads us as a people than the Captain."
"How will Lasky feel about that?" Anderson immediately asked, imagining an internal power conflict.
"Captain doesn't speak a whole lot about his past, but the Chief and his Spartans actually saved Lasky back at the beginning of the war when they were just cadets. I think Lasky will be okay with the Chief being in charge." The Spartan woman nodded thoughtfully.
"We'd all be okay-" She paused as the barman approached with her steaming coffee and placed it in front of her with a small shot of milk on the side.
"Fresh blend from Guatemala!"
Sarah nodded in thanks and the barman left. Anderson looked to the somewhat confused look on her face and nodded to the retreating worker, "This place is actually a coffee hotspot, believe it or not."
The quirk in Sarah's lips was her answer as she retrieved a sugar satchel from the middle of the table and emptied it into the almost black liquid and turned it with a teaspoon before adding the milk. "Actually have pretty good food and coffee on the Infinity. But it's not like this fresh stuff," She explained as she took a long breath of air from above the cup, absorbing the scent.
She raised it to her lips and sipped carefully, a look of relaxed delight taking hold of her in immediate response. "Sorry, I was saying about the Chief. We'd all be happy to defer to him if he wanted to step up into that role."
"Well, the Alliance are your friends in the long run. Some of the observations that Spartan Vale and Roland made about what's happening to the Alliance are uncomfortably true. We would like to see the status quo change with your people here."
Sarah nodded in appreciation at Anderson's concession and recalled Vale predicting he'd say as much earlier that morning when she'd removed herself from her suit aboard Strident One to spend the day being the diplomat.
"And the others?" She asked.
Anderson nodded over her head, "Looks like we'll be finding that out now."
Sarah pivoted slightly in her seat to see Valern approaching, his hood draped over his head as far as possible to hide his identity from any members of the public who might feel invited to encroach upon their meeting. He drew closer and nodded to them, "May I?"
Anderson gestured with a nod to the chair at the end of the table, and the Salarian drew it back and took a seat. He shook his head, looking from Sarah to Anderson, and shook it again as he released a frustrated sigh, "Your arrival has triggered some frightening things, Commander Palmer."
"How so?" Anderson asked in Sarah's stead as he picked up an uncomfortable vibe from Valern.
"I've just come from a meeting with Tevos and Sparatus-"
"- You have your council meetings without the Human member present?" Sarah asked with a frustrated look on her face.
Anderson held his palms up to her, "They have since I was sworn in. They don't adapt to new members quickly, or anything quickly for that matter."
Valern shrugged at Anderson's defence of the action and looked into the Alliance officers eyes, "Councillor Tevos revealed that the Asari Republic have been keeping some intact Prothean beacons hidden for their own study since their first space flight. Sparatus accused the Asari of being treasonous."
"And what did you do?" Anderson quickly asked before the Salarian could possibly steer the conversation in a different direction.
"I let it be known that the Salarian Union is aware of the Turian Hierarchy's black budget fleet spending, and that their military strength is exceeding the Councils regulations." Vallern immediately answered with a shake of his head.
"Some Alliance you all have…" Sarah muttered with a frown into her cup as she took another long sip.
Valern gave her a pointed look with his own frown before the expression fell from his face, and he simply shook his head, "The Council has been misguided from the beginning…"
Anderson scoffed and shook his head, "Don't get me wrong, I've got Turian friends, but the placement of Turians within the Citadel structure is ridiculous. How could you allow them to attack an unknown species on the first contact for violating laws that weren't even known?"
Valern nodded, "Yes, your First Contact War, was a wake-up call to the Salarian Union and the Asari Republic about the troubling nature of the Turian Hierarchy's aggressive nature. But I have been contacted by the Dalatrass Linron, she would very much like to make formal bonds with the UNSC free from Citadel interference."
"What are you saying?" Anderson spoke before Sarah could, with an incredulous expression, "That the Council will be disbanded?"
"It could possibly be," Vallern conceded. "Things have always been fairly close between the Salarian Union and the Asari Republic, and we have long thought that they might've been hiding Prothean technology. The Dalatrass was not very bothered by that, but things with the Turians have been causing friction for a long time, things have finally reached boiling point, and it's making the Citadel power obsolete."
Anderson's eyes went wide in surprise and amazement at the fact that such a powerful alliance was breaking so suddenly from several simple revelations. It exhibited the fragility of its founding to begin with to the military man turned politician.
"Why would this Dalatrass want to make an alliance with us so bad? She can't know anything about us," Sarah finally answered after a moment of observing Anderson's shock and Valern's resignation to the fact.
Valern openly smirked at Sarah and chuckled, "Just because we aren't as advanced as you, don't think us stupid."
Sarah frowned and glanced to Anderson who shrugged.
"Three of your warships arrived with no eezo readings. Heat signatures and the scans that were able to get a read on your vessels identified a different kind of shielding to what we use and high yield weaponry. Your vessels would be classified as Cruisers by our normal tonnage, but we heard you refer to them as Frigates," Valern began with a smirk.
Sarah held his gaze and nodded, "Go on?"
"You and your team in full armour exited and we can simply observe that your armour is much more advanced than ours. And that you are also much larger than all of us, considering your familiarity with Anderson, I would conclude that your physical size is not natural, and given the lack of eezo on your or your ship, I would assume you have a different form of FTL to us. Then diplomatically you set yourself apart whilst also offering your support; all of this is a symptom of a very technologically and societally advanced civilisation," Valern explained with shrewd eyes.
Sarah pursed her lips in thought and nodded slowly. "Captain Lasky will just want to have the most effective alliances possible. Organise with your Dalatrass for a meeting. The Captain wanted to make sure everyone would be ready to face these Reapers, so whatever has to be done."
Valern smiled, stood, and reached over the table, "As you Humans do," He said, offering a diplomatic handshake. Sarah took it first for a brief shake before Anderson received it next. "To the future," Valern concluded with a smile and a nod before turning away from them and making a beeline for the exit.
Anderson shook his head at the departing Salarian and looked to Sarah. "To think that such simple things could pull the Council apart. I'll organise these talks with Admiral Hackett."
"Noted," Sarah agreed and slid her data pad back toward herself.
"UNSC making more trouble," Roland voiced from the device.
Sarah imagined the smirk his avatar would be wearing and smirked, "Think Chief and Lasky found the Forerunner ship yet?"
"I'd say so, Chief has a pretty good track record of finding Forerunner stuff," Roland agreed. "Admiral Anderson," The AI decided to refer to the dark skinned man by his former Alliance Rank rather than his Council one, "What happens if the UNSC upsets the political balance of the Alliance too?"
Anderson pursed his lips in thought and shrugged slightly, "One way or another, the Reapers are going to change everything, we'll do what we have to do to survive as a species."
