A/N: Welcome one welcome all the next chapter of Halo Mass Convergence has arrived! I am still alive (Just barely)! Sorry it arrived a little later than planned.
I am sooooooo sorry about how late this is coming out. I recently started two jobs and I have just been so exhausted that I have found very little time for writing.
Reviews, In order of oldest to newest.
MarauderPrime12: Thanks, kinda just got tired of all the negative reviews about people yelling at me about how Turian ships can't destroy UNSC vessels. Thanks for the review and hope you stay with us!
Ferox Pretorius: I'm gonna mix your two reviews to one response hope you don't mind. Well, everything I have read put it at 64 kilotons for the Great War. I will be sticking with that but almost every ship now does almost 20 more kilotons and does use the Modified MAC.
Now about bigger ships having bigger outputs. I agree that can happen but would take longer for the reactor to charge. After the Great War UNSC realized that they needed to pump out more MAC rounds onto one target so they try and keep the charge as short as can while maximizing damage. This is my logic and kind of the logic of militaries as a whole. Hence why our nukes are actually multiple smaller nukes launched from one missile.
Also Pheonix class colony ship MACs were actually not that powerful since they were grafted on in a sense. The Spirit of fire had three low-yield MACs that probably couldn't do much to an enemy ship.
Now the Infinity can one shot almost any ship out there, it was able to put a hole into a Forerunner vessel. Thats no small feat. Thanks for the help and the review.
Knight5946: Thanks for the review. Kinda figured with ONI helping find them Cerberus would kind of stick out compared to the shady spooks.
Zeus501: Thanks for the review! And thanks for sticking around. Nice example and its actually a good way to think of it. The main story will be continuing and you will just have to wait and see. Already have had a lot of OCs given to me and I got to place them in their respective places.
Guest: I have a reason I did what I did. Showing what Shepard can do as well as introducing the new characters. The new characters get more depth in this chapter as I don't overly focus on OCs the chapter they have been 'released'. This has been shown in all my previous chapters. But rest assured now that Shep is out of action for a mission or two the others get to shine. Now the Chief and Cortana will be having their own little arc, and it really depends on your Shepard. But the good Commander didn't become a Specter for just being able to talk. Now...Spartans with Biotics...that is kind of a hard thing to think of since to be a Biotic and Human, you have to be exposed to Eezo in the womb. And the reaction with the augmentations might be disastrous.
Guest: Uhm, I'm guessing you hit caps lock by accident. But the Systems Alliance will be a little dependent on relay travel as I mentioned the cost of Slip-Space drives is expensive and so they will only be getting a few Slip-Space capable ships.
Smilix: Well, since this is my Fanfic I can't technically be wrong but I see what your talking about. Now I can't find those numbers anywhere so I can't really verify the information. Everything I have seen says they have a long recharge time and I made my UNSC ships have the charge time stated. I would love to know where you got that information though.
Prometheus-G747: Thank you! Ill look into it. Now there are differences of course, the UNSC isn't battling at the speed of light so these weapons are more effective. Thank you again!
Digitabulum: Yes it is, and yes I answered this in a PM since you asked me but others might be confused too. The Original Infinity was indeed 5.6 Kilometers long. That Infinity was destroyed in my timeline and will be elaborated on either in this chapter or the next. The new Infinity is actually an Infinity II Class Command Carrier. There is only one Infinity II and two Infinity I class Super Carrier. Hope this clears things up!
Kieran Johnson: Well, its not been a few years. Its been 20 years after the Human Covenant War ended. And the CIS and the UNSC fought together in a war bringing more acceptance for Aliens. The joint colonies have also done this. But yes the Turians are an unknown and are always being watched. The ship itself will have plenty of countermeasures in case Admiral Dexiion attempts to betray the UNSC.
Thank you all for the reviews I hope I was able to answer your questions.
Now on to the Story! With Shepard on the mend and a Reaper plot unfolding how shall things go for the Galaxy! What new terror has arisen in the Galaxy and will the Normandy be called to help?
Like always please fav follow and review it really inspires me seeing those notifications! Please enjoy Chapter 16, don't forget to Favorite and Follow if you enjoy! And please leave a review! (And please no just blatant your an idiot your story sucks shit fic reviews, those don't help me to become a better writer and it just puts me down and makes me not feel like writing which makes everyone who enjoys the story suffer)
CSS Normandy
Cargo Bay
/*\
The Master Chief put his weapons away after carrying the Commander aboard the Normandy. He had to admit she was tough, not many people can survive a starship crashing on top of them.
Cortana popped up on his hud. "The commander was impressive, she has extensive Cybernetics and light gene augmentation. I dare say she would have made a perfect II don't you think Chief?"
He nodded as he thought about the attack on the Geth base, she was an efficient leader.
-Begin Flashback Sequence-
Chief looked at the door in front of him. The strange metal looked strong but he doubted it could stand up to him. The ODSTs had created a perimeter and were eliminating Geth Drones that were coming in.
Chief took a step back and kicked the door in the metal bending and the door itself coming out of the doorway. He stepped into the room firing the MA5E's plasma firing mod dropping the Geth that were in the room. The ODSTs followed him in taking cover behind the door frame as the Chief took note of his surroundings.
This seemed to be a vehicle bay of some kind as there were Geth Hovercraft, Armatures, and two dropships. Sarge whistled with a smile. "Now would you look at that, all these toys to blow up, BIGS! Satchel Charges."
Bigs nodded and handed Sarge one of the explosive charges while the Chief put Cortana onto the Geth Warheads. "Can you interface with these?"
The A.I. smirked and snapped her fingers activating the warheads. "Please...these Geth are nothing compared to me."
The Chief nodded putting her back into his helmet. "Sarge we are moving on, we got these warheads rigged to blow, should help destroy the base."
"Roger that Chief!" Sarge said readying his M7S as Chief opened the next door. The room was a long hallway with several Geth at the end behind several barricades.
Sarge raised his M7S and began to fire at the Geth constructs. "Contact front! My count is five!"
The Chief primed a grenade and tossed it towards the Geth defenses. It bounced off the wall falling perfectly behind the barricades before it detonated taking the Geth with them. "I count zero." Master Chief retorted as he shouldered his rifle.
Bigs walked up his SAW lowered. "Did the Chief just...make a joke?"
Cortana popped up on his HUD with a smirk. "I think Fred has been rubbing off on you."
"Yea, I think he has...these last twenty years has had an effect on us all." He walked ahead of the ODSTs using his advanced rifle to tear through these Geth platforms like they were Swiss Cheese.
He was reloading the energy cell when Team 2 came over the radio, specifically Jacob. [This is Team-2 We need help, Geth have us pinned down with a trio of Geth Primes!]
Chief turned to where the ODSTs were running up to meet him. "Sarge take your squad and assist I will continue to create a distraction to draw more Geth from the other teams."
The ODST nodded and gave a few hand signs before running of to Team-2s position.
Cortana popped up once more. "What is going though that head caveman?"
Chief said nothing as he started to gently toss a grenade up in the air as he rested the rifle on his shoulder while walking down the hall.
Cortana gave a chuckle reminiscing of a similar occurrence back on the Pillar of Autumn on the first Halo.
"Thought you would shoot your way out?" She asked with a smirk.
The Chief shrugged and replied calmly. "Thought I would change things up a little."
Their conversation was interrupted when three squadrons of Geth rushed into the hallway, Chief looked them over and thumbed the activator on the Plasma Grenade.
"Bet ya can't stick it."
-End Flashback Sequence-
Chief was brought out of his thoughtsTali, "Chief are you ok? I have been trying to get your attention."
He nodded at her before replying. "Apologies I was lost in thought, was there something you needed ma'am?"
"Well, for one you can call me Tali, and two...Thank you for stabilizing Alexia and making sure she got on the ship safely." The young Quarian said wringing her hands nervously.
"I was just doing my job ma'am, there is nothing to thank me for." He said pulling out his weapons to do a post mission weapons check.
Tali gave a soft sigh and her shoulder dropped relaxing slightly, it was imperceptible to most, but Chief wasn't most. "I know you care about her, so instead of coming to me and thanking me. Go be with her." The Chief said his eyes never leaving his weapons.
The young Quarian nodded running to the elevator to go be with Shepard.
"Since when do you give advise like that John?" Cortana asked him a little bit of confusion in her voice.
Chief stopped his maintenance if but for a second, but just noticeable for a Spartan or an AI. "Cause I've been there before."
CSS Normandy
Med-bay
/*\
Alexia groaned as she tried to pull herself up into a sitting position the pain in her side excruciating. She was determined to be able to stand by the time they got to the Migrant fleet. She gritted her teeth pulling herself up again to which she got a little further this time before she was gently pushed back.
Shepard opened her eyes to see Major Selvina Cross looking down at her with a death look on her face. To say it scared her was an understatement. The woman outright scared her to death.
"Commander...what did I tell you..." The Major said in a soft gentle tone but for some reason it just bit into her. It was similar to how one of her old drill sergeants acted when he was angry. He didn't yell, he just sat there staring and said with a soft tone that made you feel bad. All it took was for him to say 'Hmmm, Interesting'.
She sighed as the shiver went down her spine at the memory. "You told me to lay down and not to move..." She said softly admitting defeat to the white haired woman.
Alexia laid back and looked at the Major, she didn't get much of a look at her last time so she was trying to get a read on the woman.
She was slightly shorter than herself, maybe 5'4'' or 5'5''. She had an athletic build and seemed like she could hold her own, and considering the cannon of a pistol, the ancient looking grenade launcher on her desk, and the Sangheili Zealot Helmet also on her desk, she probably has.
The Major turned towards her, the cold look replaced with one more caring and gentle. "Now, if you keep still your accelerated healing and the nanobots should be able to fix the damage in time for the trial."
Shepard sighed while nodding. "Alright doc..."
Major Cross eyed her for a second before nodding in approval before walking over to one of the medical devices and she seemed to give Lieutenant Kai's rear a small squeeze as she passed her.
Alexia closed her eyes trying to get some rest so she can be able to defend Tali.
CSS Normandy
Cargo Bay
/*\
Gunnery Sergeant Kosanke grunted as she used the wrench to adjust something on the Mako's undercarriage. The suspension had taken some damage during the mission so she was trying to get it fixed and calibrated right. She stopped for a second and started to think about the mission. It went south pretty quick. The Geth Cruiser made the whole mission FUBAR.
-Begin Flashback Sequence-
Charlie looked around at the setup. They had weapon emplacements all over the staging ground. The courtyard consisted of eight buildings. four towers like structures in the corners which she set up the M-247 GPMG in. They fired lighter rounds but with overlapping fields of fire not much would be able to withstand the fire. Two of the M-247H were at the corners of the Normandy's offloading ramp, the other was in what appeared to be a shop behind the counter.
The AIE-486H was in the center of the courtyard put on a makeshift rotating defense barricade to protect the gunner from fire (Think the rotating turret on the armored Humvees).
She had thanked the Engineers tremendously for whipping that up so quickly. The two plasma cannons were currently in the corners of the courtyard. (Halo 2 plasma turret).
Davidson radioed in. [Ma'am we got a problem, Geth Cruiser inbound to our position at high speed].
[Roger that Davidson, get ready for combat, Joker radio the commander and activate the active camo to hide the Normandy]. She ordered while raising Bertha.
The Normandy's security detail took cover in a building while Miranda and Kasumi set up at the bottom of the ramp their SMGs at the ready.
Her men were rushing towards their turrets and defensive positions as the Geth ship dropped off two large walkers and three dozen Geth troops.
She took cover and started firing at the approaching Geth the heavy rounds breaking the shields of several of the Troopers before they started firing at her forcing her into cover.
[Hold! Don't fire just yet. Let them get drawn in then open fire with everything you got!] She ordered her Marines as they all took positions and readying their shots.
She saw Davidson ready one of the new M-57 Pilum rocket launchers. Unfortunately they only had the one.
Charlie peeked out briefly and saw the Geth entering the Courtyard. [Now! Fire everything you got!] She stood up firing her massive weapon which shredded the Geth shields and synthetic bodies.
Davidson fired both rockets at the Lead walker bringing it down before it had a chance to react. The turret operators turned their weapons to the chokepoint and soon the entrance to the courtyard was flooded with high velocity explosive rounds and some plasma.
The Geth were falling to pieces but they were smart enough to stop using the chokepoint. Soon enough they were coming through every door into the courtyard. The central turret was swiveling all over the place sending its rounds in every direction to hold off the Geth.
She smirked watching all the Geth fall but a crashing sound wiped it from her face as she turned to face the Geth Walker. It fired its main gun blasting her off her feet, she groaned looking up as the walker charged its gun again aiming at her. She said a small prayer as she raised Bertha aiming at the colossus' head, she pulled the trigger and heard the heart wrenching click of an empty magazine.
"Shit..." She sighed closing her eyes and hoping it would be over quick. She heard the explosion and felt heat wash over here and some small pricking sensations. She opened her eyes and saw the destroyed walker. She also saw an uncloaked Normandy with one of the Pulse Lasers smoking.
"Fuck...my lucky day." Charlie said with a smile giving the Normandy's cockpit a quick salute before reloading and turning to the remaining Geth. "And your unlucky day!"
-Begin Flashback Sequence-
{I almost died...} she had lost herself in the thought she didn't hear someone trying to get her attention until she felt a light kick to her foot. She rolled out from under the Mako and saw the Turian Garrus looking down at her.
"I don't know if you were told, but calibrating is kinda my thing on the Normandy." The Turian said as he leaned against the APC.
She smirked and looked at him and gave him a wink. "Well, why don't you join me, I am sure there is plenty 'calibrating' to be done."
Garrus' jaw dropped slightly as he slid under the tank with her, his expression was priceless.
CSS Normandy Bridge
/*\
Joker worked tirelessly at the Normandy's controls, not only cause he enjoyed flying his baby but to keep his mind of the previous mission. It went to shit real quick, first the cruiser. Then the landing site gets attacked, hell we almost lost the Gunnery Sergeant, and now Shepard is in the medbay.
-Begin Flashback Sequence-
Joker looked at the battle before him and tried to think of somehow he could help. He watched the turrets blasting Geth troopers left and right but the remaining Colossus stood over the Gunnery Sergeant about to blast her to oblivion.
{What can I do! WAIT! I know!} Jeff started manipulating the controls and brought the Pulse Laser Cannon to bear and fired it at the Colossus. The weapon designed to go against fighters and Corvettes ripped through the Walker with one shot.
Firing the weapon disabled the cloak but without the Walkers the Geth had nothing to damage the Normandy. The Gunnery Sergeant gave him a small salute before turning back to the Geth.
He sighed and relaxed in his chair a little. It didn't last long though, as soon as his head rested against the chair his radio flared to life and Tali's desperate voice came over the comms. What she said made his heart drop. [Normandy! We have priority pick up! Shepard is down!]
-End Flashback Sequence-
Unnamed System
Asari Space
/*\
Matriarch Tel'Dar was worried, her daughter failed to call her. It was so unlike her, and when she tried contacting her excavation camp she received only silence. She knew she should be focusing on the Systems Alliance leaving the Citadel like the other Matriarchs but her daughter was her everything.
She gathered her Commandos and quickly headed to the planet Lonora was working on. It was recently brought into Asari space and had some Prothean ruins on the surface.
The Matriarch adjusted her old Commando armor while checking over her Disciple shotgun. She hadn't used a weapon in years but if something had happened to Lonora she was going to rip those responsible apart with her biotics.
She turned her radio on to communicate with the other two shuttles. [We will be landing just outside the excavation encampment, I want you all to spread out and secure the area, priority is survivors.]
Her Commandos gave quick acknowledgements as the three shuttles landed around the camp and the thirty Commandos rushed out their weapons raised. The camp was relatively small, three two room prefab structures and several old fashioned tents. What they found in the camp was not a pretty sight.
Asari blood was everywhere, they found Asari limbs and bodies ripped apart. One of the security detail had what looked like ice crystals jutting out from her abdomen. Dolorana didn't see her daughter anywhere but with the carnage she was seeing, she was loosing hope quickly.
One of her Commandos walked up to her. "Matriarch we found a video recording by your daughter."
Matriarch Tel'Dar turned quickly and walked over to the small console activating it. Her daughters face came up and she looked so excited. "I believe the Protheans were studying something here, some of their notes talk about some ancient temple if my translations are correct. This is so exciting! I get to study something the Protheans did! I am heading up the mountain tomorrow! Lonora signing off!" The message closed and the prefab was silent again.
"Well lets head up the mountain, there may be survivors up there." The Matriarch ordered as she looked up the mountain. A storm seemed to be forming at the peak which was an unsettling omen. No matter, she was going to find her daughter.
Citadel
Presidium
/*\
Hundred of people were currently outside the Human embassy demanding to know the reason the Systems Alliance was leaving the Citadel. All they received in response to their questions was that the Council was not concerned with Humanities safety. The Embassy Plaza was so packed that armed guards were escorting Humans and their families into the Embassy before heading to Humanities private dock.
Already a majority of Humanity had left Citadel space, though there were quite a few staying. Ambassador Donnel Udina looked over the crowd frowning, they fought so hard to become a member of this council and for what...to leave it so quickly.
As he looked at the crowd they seemed to be getting rowdier, there might be a riot soon. "Alessa what is the current percentage of families not in the Embassy or docks?" He asked his assistant.
"There are currently only two families left that haven't arrived, shall I get a guard detail to find and escort them Ambassador?" She reported and asked him to which he nodded, he wanted off the Citadel.
"At once Ambassador." She bowed her head a little and left his office leaving him to his thoughts.
He put his hand to his chin in thought wondering where everything had gone wrong, that's when he scowled. "Shepard..."
Omega
Afterlife
/*\
Shipmistress Chur'R-Yed stepped off the black Phantom and looked around at the Station she was in. It had a familiar atmosphere to T'vao which made her grin. Her escort of four Ibie'Shan with point defense Gauntlets, three Ruutian sharpshooters, and her three T'vaoan 'Honor Guard' as she called them. She also had two of her Spec-Ops T'vaoans shadowing above her.
One guard at the dock tried to stop them but was quick to back down after hearing the snarls of her men. She motioned the forward two Ibie'Shan to step aside as she approached the strange four eyed alien, the creature was human in shape but undoubtedly uglier. "Where is Aria..." She had no nonsense in her voice giving a small satisfied growl when he pointed to a building with electronic flaming billboards.
Chur'R-Yed and her guards approached the building but again were stopped, this time by a massive quadrupedel alien. "Authoritative, sorry I can't let you in." The thing said in a monotone voice.
"I am Shipmistress Chur'R-Yed, I have a business proposition for Aria T'Loak, and if you stand in my way I will show you what your insides look like Quadruped." She hissed at the annoying alien.
The Alien appeared to want to say something but stopped as its arm glowed orange. "Disgruntled allowance, you may enter Aria is interested in your proposal."
Chur'R-Yed passed the alien her guards close behind and the imperceptible ultraviolet laser left the Quadrupeds forehead as her Spec-Ops guards found a way to sneak into Afterlife. Chu'r-Yed's eyes narrowed when she entered the crowded bar, she hissed an order and the two leading Ibie'Shan activated their point defense gauntlets an acted as way to part the crowd.
Some of the crowd looked at them in fear as the group came through. The bar patrons quickly parted before the Kig-Yar guards and Shipmistress as they quickly made their way towards the back of the bar where Aria was located.
Two of the four eyed aliens stopped them at the base of the stairs. "Your guards have to stay here before you can meet Aria."
Shipmistress Chur'R-Yed's eyes narrowed at the four eyed alien before giving a snarled order, besides her Spec Ops guards were still hidden. One of the four eyes escorted her up into a lounge where there was many guards, mainly the four eyes but also a couple strange avian looking species.
What surprised her was the blue Human looking alien sitting on the couch. It had the body of a Human female with some kind of head tentacles or fringes on its head. It crossed its leg looking at her "So you are the one causing all the comotion."
"Indeed...I am Shipmistress Chur'R-Yed, I am the commanding Officer of the Jewel Of T'vao." She said giving a small bow.
Aria crossed her arms. "And what do you want with me? Apparently you have been determined to come to see me."
Chur'R-Yed gave a a Kig-Yar smile. "Well...you see my ship has better weaponry then yours, we seek employement."
"And why should I pay you, I have many pirates and mercs already on my payrole." Aria leaned back eyeing her.
Chur'R-Yed gave a whistle and her T'vaoan spec-ops uncloaked while her other T'vaoan guards used their jumping agility to get into the booth quickly disarming Aria's guards while the rest took positions on the stairs preventing reinforcements. "We are agile and adaptable, our subspecies fill into military roles well. I also have a few Sangheili, Jiralhanae, and Mgalekgolo on my ship."
Aria looked at the Kig-Yar surrounding her and started to clap. "You have impressed me Shipmistress, fine you have your contract...The other merc bands around here will think twice about crossing us now."
Chur'R-Yed smiled and puts her hands behind her back as she called off her guards. "Let this be a profitable venture for us both and may our coffers be filled past its limits."
Classified Planet
UNSC R&D facility
/*\
Work on the new ship was going by surprisingly fast. The new Alliance engineers knowledge of element zero systems were crucial in the development of the Hybrid ship. They were using the salvaged main gun from the Palavan's Pride as the base for the ship. The original design to make a Halcyon like Cruiser were quickly scrapped cause they wanted this to be unique.
Salvaging the main gun from another of the Turian's 'Dreadnoughts' they gave the ship two of the new Hybrid Magneto-Mass Accelerator Cannons similar to UNSC Destroyers but with more of a Frigate design. They decided to give it armor similar to a Destroyers as well, and at just under a Kilometer this was the largest ship with a Frigates design. (I based this ship on the design for the UNSC Warrior by Splinteredmatt.)
Doctor McKay smiled looking over at the Skeleton of the CSS Warrior, the first in a new generation of Heavy-Destroyers. So far in small tests the hybrid Cannon functioned as they hoped. Fire rate a little slower then the Citadel Cruisers, with the kinetic punch just short of the Magnetic Accelerator. Unfortunately this will likely be the only one of its kind for a while as the ship is costing enough for two battlegroups.
He watched one of the Huragok manipulated the wiring into place on the superstructure. "Well Halsey let's see you beat this!"
UNSC Infinity
Halsey's Lab
/*\
Hasley looked up from her work as she got a shiver down her spine. Seeing nothing in the room she looked back down at her work. She had been working nonstop on Element Zero applications as well as other things. She had already come up with a new rifle that used one of the Mass Accelerators to launch a shard of metal encased in Plasma that never had to reload. "I think I will call it the Marauder Rifle." She said smirking as she put the final touches on the design before putting it into her pile of finished designs.
The pile was already two feet high and she hadn't started more than 5 hours ago. She sipped her coffee grimacing at it being cold. It was then two ideas came to her. One was exposing Mgalekgolo colonies to Element Zero to make Biotic Hunters, the Lekgolo worms were highly adaptable being able to survive in almost any environment, it would be the quickest and easiest way, other than exposing the Unggoy, to get the CIS Biotic units. Her other idea was a way to predict where the Reapers would arrive, if the Citadel is a giant Mass Relay, then there must be another Citadel Relay in dark space for the Reapers to use if they found out where that relay was then they could find out where in the Galaxy they would arrive.
She grinned already finding an edge against the Reapers, now they could plan a trap, she sent a message up to Lasky about her plan before looking down at the designs for a combat mech to assist Marine squads.
Unknown System
Pirate Base
/*\
Kromo Ghef'bess sighed as he looked over his sensor station to look for incoming ships. It was pointless anyway, this system was off the beaten path as they say. That and the two cruisers in orbit guaranteed that the base would be safe.
He was about to get up when alarms sounded from his console. Kromo grumbled sending a report to the ships about the vessel. Looking over the readings he scoffed, the vessel was a Frigate, only 150 Meters in length. The scans showed it had an unusual design being designed similar to a dagger.
Kromo smirked as he watched the two cruisers move in to intercept the Frigate. The ships were some of the newest from the Hegemony so they should be easily able to destroy the vessel.
He leaned back in his chair ready to watch the slaughter when the Frigate opened fire at the Cruisers with some kind of Mass Accelerator. Kromo was sure the Cruisers would survive but was shocked when the three rounds the Frigate fired completely annihilated one Cruiser. He swallowed watching dozens of missiles launch along side smaller broadside guns firing at the other Cruiser.
"By the pillars." He softly let out while he hit the emergency alarms. It was then the vessel transmitted a message across the system.
"This is the CIS Corvus Class Corvette Versio, Surrender or die." A male voice declared that made Kromo shake slightly, {So much for the latest Batarian technology}.
Unknown System
CIS Corvus class Corvette Versio
Above Pirate controlled planet
/*\
Captain Cameron Daerieth sat at the bridge of the newest class of vessel designed by the UNSC. It shared a similar design to the Halberd Class destroyer with the dagger like profile. The Mini-MAC sitting at the front of the ship proved valuable since it could fire much faster then a Standard MAC and be attached to smaller ships. He smiled as he watched the missile pods retract into the superstructure as well as the Pulse Lasers deactivating. (The Ship is the Star Wars Raider Class Corvette, Specifically the design of the Corvus under the command of the Rebel Alliance in BF2)
"Report!" He commanded to his bridge crew who was already prepared.
His 2IC faced him and read the status off her data pad. "Sir, both enemy vessels destroyed, second contact fired two rounds at us, shields are at 32 percent and regenerating." She pressed a button on the data pad flipping to the next report. "Also, enemy base is localized, arrogance most likely, ODST drop recommended."
He stroked his chin in thought, while this was only a corvette with a small hanger, they installed an extensive drop bay for operations such as this. "Do it, I want ODSTs out of their tubes in Twenty mikes." He ordered putting his hands behind his back as she saluted.
"Aye aye Captain." She moved swiftly across the bridge delivering his orders. Captain Daerieth smiled, his crew was professional, his ship in top condition, he was ready for anything. He looked out the view port at the dark desert planet they were orbiting. {A new world for the CIS}
CIS Corvus Class Corvette Versio
ODST drop bays
/*\
Colonel Elrad Davidson looked over the ODSTs grabbing their gear. He had twenty ODSTs under his command his unit was called the Deathmakers, he personally worked with Delta squad. Each squad was made up of five individuals, each having their own specialty. Alpha consisted of mainly stealth Operators, they tended to be quiet and worked well individually, kinda made sense their leader was Sergeant John 'The Rookie' Daniels (His initials are JD and thats all we know).
Bravo were heavy hitters, carried more explosives then the rest of the Deathmakers combined. Charlie were our marksmen, none of them carried a weapon that fired faster than three round burst which at times could be limiting but they never missed a shot. Delta were the jack of all trades squad, each of them had a specialty.
Corporal Tia 'Trig' Durer was their designated marksmen, Lance Corporal Viktoria Natraski was their combat engineer, Lieutenant Nathanial 'Prime' Ponce was there demolitions and heavy weapon expert, Staff Sergeant Lilian Verbeck was the CQC expert and there was something strange about her, she always seemed to know what you were thinking.
[Alright Deathmakers in your pods we drop in five!] He ordered over the radio as he himself got into the pod attaching his MA5B-2 onto the weapon rack. Colonel Davidson closed his pod doors and watched all his troopers get into their pods.
[Remember troopers, this base is mainly occupied by a species called Batarians.] As he said that the Pods HUD brought up a picture of a standard Batarian.
[Ugly fucker ain't he? Or is that a woman?] One of the troopers responded getting a quick order to shut it from his Sergeant.
Davidson sighed, {unprofessional but they got the job done}. [Alright, the Batarians are a slaver species, so watch your fire, Rules of Engagment are as follows, any non-batarians that do not directly engage you are to be considered neutral and to be moved into a secure area, all Batarian contacts are to be eliminated, any other hostile aliens are to be eliminated, Do you get me Deathmakers!]
He received a chorus as a response over the radio [WE GET YOU SIR!]
[Good troopers.] He looked at the timer to see how long they had.
Time to drop ETA 10 seconds
{Another drop closer to retirement}
9 seconds
8 seconds
7 seconds
6 seconds
[Remember the Dead Troopers!]
5 seconds
4 seconds
3 seconds
2 seconds
[BUT FIGHT FOR THE LIVING!]
1 second
-Start Playing Klendathu Drop-
DROPING-Have a nice flight!
At that the drop bay disapeared and the vastness of space, the planet, and the other pods was all he could see.
The Versio's AI popped up on his pods HUD [Detecting anti-air defenses inside the base recommend evasive maneuvers.
[You heard him Deathmakers, activate maneuvering thrusters, dodge the triple-A fire but remember your landing zones] He got green acknowledgement lights across his board and watched several pods RCS thrusters activate and start dancing around the triple-A fire.
[Versio this is Colonel Davidson, requesting Jericho strike on the base to soften the anti-air up over.] A few seconds passed before he got a response.
[Roger that Colonel, Jericho is on the way.] As the sentence finished a missile shot past the drop pods going down to the planet before separating into about 50 smaller missiles.
After the missiles hit their targets the Triple-A stopped which caused the Colonel to breath a sigh of relief, too many good ODSTs die before they even hit a planets surface.
As they entered the atmosphere and he watched the flames of re-entry lap at the door he toggled his radio again. [Alright Troopers here we go! Remember your training and you will make it back alive!]
He felt his pods chute open and he tightened his grip on the joysticks. [And don't forget troopers! We are the bringers of Death, we will show these slaver scum what it means to be O! D! S! T!]
[OORAH!]
His pod breaking rockets ignited slowing him down before his pod slammed into the ground, not a second later he popped his hatch jumping out. {Its play time}
Cerberus rally point
Horse Head Nebula
/*\
The Illusive man sat in his office at Cronos station looking over his massing fleet. He took a long drag on his cigarette before contacting the dreadnought of the Fleet commanded by General Oleg Petrovsky.
The Generals hologram appeared before him. "What do you need Illusive Man?" The General asked stroking his beard.
"I need you to secure the system around the dead Reaper we discovered, we know Shepard will go there to acquire the Reaper IFF. We need to get her and the Normandy back." TIM said taking a long drag on the cigarette before sending the General the coordinates. His eyes looking at another screen seeing his personnel numbers which brought a small smile to his lips.
General Petrovsky looked over the data briefly. "Rules of engagement sir?" He asked already thinking of a plan to subdue the Commander.
"Kill everyone, capture the Normandy and Shepard. Try and keep the technology aboard the Normandy in one piece, they may give us an edge." He lit another cigarette exhaling the smoke in a thick cloud.
The General nodded slowly, before asking slowly. "What is my resources for this operation?"
The Illusive man looked the general in the eyes unblinking. "Unlimited."
Horse Head Nebula
Cerberus Cruiser
/*\
He looked normal, inconspicuous. The man looked ordinary, nothing that seemed to stand out about him. He was 5'4'' black hair with brown eyes. His glasses were older style but didn't stick out. He looked like he belonged here even though he didn't.
Lieutenant Barkclay looked around nonchalantly he couldn't break his cover. ONI wanted a man on the inside of Cerberus to relay information to them. Getting into Cerberus was easier than he anticipated, as well as their security was mostly automated mechs and implanted humans.
{These guys were supposed to be the Systems Alliance version of ONI? Its kinda pathetic...) He went into a comms room and inserted a communications router into the main hub, now all Cerberus comms going through this Cruiser would be routed to ONI so they could have constant intel on this pathetic excuse for a clandestine organization.
He heard someone in the hall walking towards the comms room so he activated his active camouflage module to slip out unseen. As he passed by two Cerberus personnel he smirked as he slipped into a restroom deactivating the camo. "Too easy."
Galaxy Gate Defense
Fleet Logistical Center
/*\
Latus Murlinus sighed as he watched over the fighter combat air patrols around the area. The Turian was happy his petition for this job placement was accepted his place was fleet logistics and it suited him.
He looked over the relay as he sent orders to a squadron of Longswords to return and refuel. The CIS called them Galaxy Gates, and he kinda liked that better than Mass Relay. Latus sighed happily as he routed a flight of Broadswords to dock with one of the Autumn Class Heavy Cruisers. He scoffed, what normally would be a very large Dreadnought was only a Heavy Cruiser now.
"Hey Corporal Philips mind of I get a cup of Coffee?" He asked turning to the duty supervisor to which he got a thumbs up as the Corporal was reading a datapad.
Latus stood up handing control over to a Sangheili and was about to go to the break room when alarms sounded across the station.
"Attention all hands, Galaxy gate showing unusual activity, Condition Red all hand man your stations." The stations AI said over the intercom.
All thoughts of coffee were pushed out of his head and he leaped back to his station. [Longsword squadrons Echo-2 I need you back in the void now, Broadsword flight Epsilon-22 negative on that docking.]
From the Relay he saw five flashes and the most unusual ships he had ever seen appeared. They were the size of Dreadnoughts but they seemed like rocks with metal welded on, or some kind of insect hive. The ships didn't have much time to process the defense fleet when five of the Thirty ODPs fired. Four of the ships instantly went up as smoldering wrecks while one was only clipped but still crippled.
The remaining unknown ship fired a beam of some kind that struck one of the defense stations but couldn't penetrate the shields before another ODP had re-orientated and fired making the ship explode. The battle took less then a minute by his count, and only six of the stations were used. It would have to be a massive fleet indeed to take this defense group out.
"By the spirts..." He sighed looking at the efficiency of the CIS.
The large Sangheili slapped him on his back. "Do not worry Turian, it will take more than some asteroid ships to take us out to meet our makers."
The Turian looked at the Sangheili, he had seen battle if the scars covering his face were anything. Latus nodded before turning back to his console. "Longswords Echo-2 and Broadswords Epsilon-22 you are free to dock and refuel."
Dark Space
/*\
Harbinger watched in disdain as the last of his Collector attack force was destroyed, all within a minute of exiting the Relay. His plan was to hopefully remove some of these unknowns from the field but they have proven quite resourceful.
While the attack failed, they did find out useful things about this new opponent. Such as their lack of Element Zero, this was troubling. Only a couple races have ever broken the mold created by the Reapers. The Precursors and the Forerunners both of which nearly caused their utter destruction.
Looking over the data again he realized this new meddler was not as powerful as the Forerunners and the Precursors though those stations would need to be dealt with...the Cycle likely would continue.
"Implement Cycle Resurgence Protocol" Harbinger declared to the Reaper fleet. There was no sound but five Sovereign class Reapers and 10 destroyers turned around and started heading to the nearby Galaxy just in case the Cycle is broken.
Harbinger continued to calculate the odds and likely they would come out of this victorious. These new beings were not the Forerunners, nor were they the Precursors, they were just some upstart ready to be uplifted to perfection.
They would fall.
A/N So this chapter is done and it is the Longest at 7,876 words! Sorry it took so long to get out, decided to give you one super long chapter instead of two normal chapters as a Christmas Gift! So Merry Christmas! Also 219 Reviews 526 Followers 390 favorites and over 142 thousand views! Also three communities (still surprised about this)!
^So I am still super sorry about how long it took me to get this chapter out.
Merry late Christmas I guess Haha! And also Happy Early Valentines day! Also I had a lot more planned out for this chapter including all of Tali's Loyalty mission as well a few other sections including the Pirate base ground assault but I cut those out and they will be in the next chapter. I bit off a little too much this chapter, so many ideas rushed to me.
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So...One thing I would like to discuss is my biggest gripe about Mass Effect (There are many but this one is quite noticeable to me) That grip being the LACK of Sentient species in the Galaxy. Now Halo only takes place in one small portion of the Galaxy yet has the same amount of sentient species as Mass Effect does.
Now...I wouldn't mind this if it wasn't for the fact that the Mass Relays are supposed to advance species forward, I would have expected more species than just the ones we got.
I know I have already added two new species to the United Galaxy, but I am putting out a poll to add /TWO/ more. These have to be non-humanlike (Human-like being Asari, Twi'lek, Zabrak, Klingon etcetera etcetera.
Now some of the species I was thinking.
Asgard (Stargate)
Forth/Fourth (Starship Troopers RPG, Asgard with serpent tails instead of legs)
Unas (Stargate)
Ptolemaics/Skinnies (Starship Troopers RPG)
Skitters (Falling skies)
Yautja (Predators)
Harvestors (Independence Day)
OR if you guys come up with one I haven't listed that isn't human like Ill do the research into it. I chose two cause I think that will round it out well. Definitely not as numerous as Star Wars or Star Trek but the Galaxy has also gone through Extinction cycles so it is safe to assume that there isn't that many out there.
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Would Love to thank several Deviant artists! Their designs inspired some of the ships here as well as getting me in the mood to write! Thank you SplinteredMatt and Euderion!
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Again to reiterate don't forget to Favorite and Follow if you enjoy! And please leave a review! (And please no just blatant your an idiot your story sucks shit fic reviews, those don't help me to become a better writer and it just puts me down and makes me not feel like writing which makes everyone who enjoys the story suffer)
And all of you down be afraid to PM me. I do take everything you all say into consideration! I also love discussing things with y'all.
Again Hope you all enjoyed! And as always have a wonderful Day/Night/Evening/Morning and have a wonderful Holiday season!