Hello again, everyone, and welcome to my Halo - MechWarrior/BattleTech - Mass Effect multicrossover. The plot is about to thicken with this chapter, and I don't think you'll be disappointed either. Thank you for your continued support of my crossovers, and I hope to see you on the other side. As always, leave a review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo, MechWarrior/BattleTech or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, Electronic Arts, BioWare, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs and Piranha Games Inc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.


Unidentified Ship

En Transit to New Star System

January 20th, 3081

Onboard the ship he was on, Tarak quietly sat in the chair that had been constructed for him inside of the ship, a bored expression as he looked through the fingers on his hand into the rest of the chamber. It had been a successful mission, as far as he knew, and that was the kind that made him very pleased with himself and his capabilities. A fitting means of revenge after everything the Star League did to us, he thought.

Taking a moment to sit up, he looked around at the chamber he was in. The chamber he was in was fairly small, with blue-black walls that seemed to absorb any trace of light that came inside of the chamber. The roof was well above his head, and the confines of the room was narrow, with some of the amenities that he needed currently in order to survive inside of the ship. He was currently sitting in a chair that the machines that were onboard the ship had built for him, along with crew quarters and other areas needed for organic beings. As for himself, Tarak himself had been modified extensively. His legs had been replaced with synthetic, digitigrade versions that used artificial muscles, along with his arms and most of his upper and lower body used cybernetics that had replaced his organic components. Only small portions of his body remained organic, with even his brain being heavily modified with cybernetics. Looking at his fingers, he smiled when he saw the sharp talons that had replaced his fingers.

All of this was due to their benefactor, whom they were currently inside. Sovereign, Tarak thought, a smile on his face as he recalled what had happened after the war with the Star League. He was one of the few mercenary company leaders that had survived Operation FRACTURED TERMINUS, the Star League's successful attempt to invade and conquer the Terminus Systems, having been out of the Terminus on a business trip when the Star League invaded, blockading all Mass Relays in the process. He'd been forced to sit back and watch as the Star League, using it's highly advanced technology and well trained personnel, tore through the Terminus Systems as though they were a tornado tearing through the Kar'Shan Wastes that surrounded each city on the Batarian home world. Seeing his people being reduced to scraps or imprisoned for various crimes by the Star League had broken his heart, and made him want to seek justice for what he felt was a crime on the Star League's part.

Then he had met the machine that he was inside. It had happened over half a decade ago, when he was on a cargo freighter that was being protected by what remained of the Blue Suns Mercenary Corporation, the merc company that he had led in the Terminus Systems. During a routine core discharge, the pilots of the ship had detected a strange energy burst that came from the other side of the planet, on it's nighttime side. Curious, he'd ordered the pilots to fly over to that area, where he'd encountered the machine that would soon become his benefactor. When he first found it, he was extremely nervous, as he wondered if the sapient machine would crush him like a bug, or have little, if any, interest in him. He'd been pleasantly surprised, however, when the machine, which introduced itself as Sovereign, told him that it was interested in knowing what was going on in the galaxy at large, having gained little, if any, information on the Star League and it's military capabilities. Having seen first hand what the Star League was capable of, Tarak had gladly enlightened it as to the Star League's capabilities, from their advanced means of FTL flight, to their extremely advanced military technologies that he'd seen thus far. As a reward for his willingness to share information, Sovereign had promised him what he had wanted for a long time: revenge against the Star League. Still, even it knew that the Star League was significantly more advanced than it was, and that any attempt to capture Star League technology would end in failure due to numerous security measures.

All of that changed, however, when they met their other benefactors, a fact that he was reminded of when someone walked into the room that he was inside. A moment later, he heard a deep, feminine voice say, "We identified the ship that landed at the colony, the SLS/HDF Normandy. It was under the command of Captain David Anderson. They managed to save the colony."

Damn, Tarak thought when he heard those words. So, the illustrious Captain Anderson manages to save the colony. Hhmmm, the man is far more capable than I thought he was; it seems as though Sovereign was right to warn me not to underestimate my enemies. I owe it an apology. "And the Beacon," he asked, curious as to what had happened with it.

"One of the Humans may have used it," the voice replied.

As soon as he heard that, Tarak immediately sat up in his chair, disbelieving what he had heard for a moment. When he realized that it was true, he began to see red; anger and rage began to boil inside of him, a fiery hot sensation that roiled and suffused his entire being. It cannot be, he thought as he began to hyperventilate. It cannot be! This cannot be allowed to happen! They will find out too much about our plans! Roaring loudly in anger, he swiped outwards with his cybernetic hand, smashing a bottle against the wall, before lashing out again at another container. Stomping up to the other benefactor, he took a hold of her elongated head, before stopping himself. Looking at her, he sighed as the rage he felt left his body, before letting her go. "This human must be eliminated," he growled. "Do they know that your people bypassed their security measures?"

"No," the being in front of him replied. "They do not."

"Good. Then perhaps we might be able to salvage something from this after all." With that, he left the room, leaving his other benefactor to look on after him. As she left, a slight glint of light passed through the chamber, revealing one of her slit eyes and mandibles before cloaking the place in darkness once more.

. . .

SLS/HDF Normandy

En Route To FedCom Space

January 20th, 3081

Shepard groaned as he slowly came to, his bleary eyes squeezing themselves shut as light assailed them, causing slight aches as the muscles attempted to compensate for the light inside. Reaching up with a hand, he began to rub them carefully as he slowly sat up on his cot, winching as aches and pains zinged through his body like HEAP bullets. Groaning loudly, he forced his eyes to open wide, ignoring the silent complaints that they sent his brain. Looking around, he found that he was in the Medical Bay onboard the Normandy, which was a bit confusing given what he could remember. Then it hit him. The artifact, he thought, remembering what had happened before he lost consciousness. It must have knocked me out.

He groaned once again as he remembered what he saw after he lost consciousness. As soon as the artifact had exploded, he'd been rendered unconscious, with his body shutting down in an attempt to preserve the last flicker of life and hope. While his body might've had noble intentions, his mind had been assaulted with a number of violent images, images that seemed to be straight out of something from a book steeped in Lovecraftian Horror. What did I see, he thought, confused as he tried to sort out the memories of what he'd seen. I thought I saw synthetic machines of some kind, slaughtering and butchering people like they were cattle to be eaten. I saw worlds being ripped apart by some horrific foe. What happened to them and more importantly, what happened to me? Am I going insane; is my mind being damaged by this knowledge. A quote from H.P Lovecraft, the father of Lovecraftian Horror, popped up in his mind a moment later, 'If I am mad, it is mercy. May the gods pity the man who, in his callousness, remains sane to the horrid end.'

All thoughts of whether he was going mad or not were banished when a woman's voice cut through the air. "Dr. Chakwas, Dr. Chakwas! He's waking up!"

Looking up, Shepard found himself looking at a beautiful young woman that had brown hair, bright green eyes and a tanned complexion from life on high radiation planets. She was wearing a white and blue, form fitting, SLDF medical uniform, standard issue for all medical personnel working in the SLDF. The name tag on her chest identified her as Dr. Chakwas; when Shepard saw the name, he immediately knew who he was talking to. Dr. Elizabeth Chakwas, or merely Dr. Chakwas as she preferred to be called, was one of the most experienced SLDF Medical Officers in the entire Star League. While she looked like she was in her late twenties to early thirties, Shepard knew that she was actually eighty four years of age, her youthful exterior the result of the Inner Sphere's advanced genetic and nanotechnological augmentations, which were responsible for increasing the lifespan of Terrans to roughly 590 years of age. As a result, while Chakwas didn't look a day over twenty eight, she had far more experience than people of that age group, particularly in the medical field. Looking at him, she said in a British accented voice, "You had us worried there, Commander. How do you feel?"

Hearing the concern in her voice, Shepard took a moment to diagnose his current condition. "Minor throbbing," he replied, "nothing serious. How long was I out?"

"About thirteen hours," Dr. Chakwas replied. "You were rendered unconscious at roughly 1830 hours, local time. That means that today is the 20th of January, with the time being 0630 hours, ship time. We had to MEDIVAC you to the Normandy for treatment. Staff Sergeant Ashley Williams was quite helpful in that regard."

"Ashley," Shepard asked. Turning around, he was surprised to see her onboard the ship. "What happened," he asked. "I remember being held in the air by the artifact, then losing consciousness moments later."

"The artifact exploded," Ashley replied. "Some kind of system malfunction from the looks of it. It happened when I was walking away from the artifact; I went to examine it, but decided against it. I was retreating to your position when it activated for some reason. I screamed for help and you managed to fling me away from it." Looking down with an ashamed expression, she said, "I'm sorry that all of that happened. I didn't mean to do anything; I just wanted to take a look at it."

"It's alright," Shepard replied, knowing that he felt the same fascination for it as well. "It's not your fault; you had no way of knowing what would happen. If anything, your walking away from it means that you listened to your better judgment. Besides, that's technology that's well over 50,000 years old by now. We have no idea of what the Protheans were capable of doing." When he said this, a smile appeared on Ashley's face, relieved that Shepard didn't blame her for what happened. Looking at Chakwas, he asked, "How far away from it was Ashley when it activated."

"A good ten meters," Chakwas replied. "That's well over the recommended five meters that SLDF regulations recommend, regulations that will probably be updated given what happened. In other words, Ashley was not in violation of the regulations at all. Once she and Kaidan called for EVAC, we brought you here for treatment. As for the artifact, I'm not sure if that's what happened, but since it's been destroyed, we may never know what happened at all."

"Thanks," Shepard replied. "I appreciate it." A frown developed on his face as he remembered the visions he'd seen. "Did anything unusual crop up?"

"Yes," Chakwas replied. "When I scanned you, I noticed that you had anomalous beta waves, consistent with temporary neurological damage caused by minor concussions. I also noticed a significant increase in Rapid Eye Movement, signs of intense dreaming. Given the amount of abnormal brain waves that you had, I think what happened was your brain was attempting to process new information."

"You're right about that," Shepard replied. "I saw… I'm not sure what I saw. Death… destruction… nothing's really clear. I just hope I'm not going insane is all; that would be a damn shame after everything I've been through."

"You're not," Chakwas replied. "One of the clearest signs of insanity is being unable to differentiate fantasy from reality, and you can clearly differentiate between the two. Like I said, that artifact must have, in some way, uploaded information into your brain, information your neurons are trying to process and catalog. By SLDF regulations, I'm required to put this into my medical logs, though I'm certain that the damage isn't permanent. From what I can tell, now that the readings are normal, I believe you're going to be fine." As soon as she said this, the door opened, admitting Saren and Anderson inside of the Medical Bay. "Captain, Lieutenant," Chakwas greeted.

"How's our XO holding up," Anderson asked, concern written onto his face.

"He had a rough time, neurologically speaking," Chakwas replied. "Fortunately, though, the damage was temporary, and his brain waves have returned to normal. While I do recommend medical checkups every now and then, I believe the Commander's going to be fine."

"That's good to hear," Anderson replied. "Mind if I talk with Shepard in private?"

"I don't mind if I do," Chakwas replied. With that, she motioned for Ashley to leave with her. As she left, Shepard noticed that Nihlus was inside the Medical Bay, as well, with a number of bandages and IV's feeding medical nanites into his body. A few moments later, the door closed behind Ashley, leaving Shepard alone with Anderson, Saren and Nihlus.

"I heard you had a rough time on the planet," Anderson remarked.

"Not completely true," Shepard replied. "The attackers were using technology less sophisticated than we were. We were able to take them out quite easily. Still, I don't like seeing civilians die."

"Neither do I, Commander," Anderson replied. "Those people were taken by surprise. If we hadn't gotten there when we did, there might've been more casualties. I also brought Ashley onboard the ship and put her into the crew roster."

"She's a good soldier," Shepard nodded. "She'll make an excellent NCO on this ship." After a moment, he asked. "Captain, with all due respect, you look worried. Is something wrong?"

"Yes," Anderson replied. "I won't lie to you, Shepard. Nihlus was badly injured, and the Prothean artifact was destroyed; the Star League and Council's going to want answers. Before you say anything, though, I reviewed the combat footage from your helmet camera. I know that you completed your objectives to the best of your ability, even showed valor when you rescued Ashley from the artifact. They won't be angry with you in any way at all, I know that much for certain. I also know you have questions to ask, after what happened."

"You're damn right I do," Shepard growled. "No offense intended, sir, but the SLIC and DCCA dropped the ball on this one, and innocent people died because of it. What the hell happened? What was that giant ship, and who the hell felt that I didn't need to be told about it before the mission began?!" He glared at Saren when he said this.

"Calm yourself, Shepard," Saren said, raising his hands in a placating manner. "I was left in the dark as well when it came to the identity of that ship, a mistake that the SLIC has corrected now, given that an Inner Sphere colony was attacked. As a result, I've been cleared both to know and to tell you what has been going on for the past twenty two years in the SLIC." Clearing his throat, he said, "What I am about to tell you must not go beyond the confines of this room. Am I understood?"

"Yes," Shepard replied.

"Good," Saren nodded, having known that Nihlus was still unconscious from his brush with death. He also did something with his Omni-Tool, causing what Shepard could tell was a localized EMP, after which he relaxed. Pacing back and forth, he said, "Over twenty two years ago, as you know from history textbooks, the Star League discovered a Prothean ruin on the Federated Commonwealth, which led to the discovery of Element Zero in the Star League." Clearing his throat, he said, "What they didn't tell you, however, is that they found something in the Prothean Memory Core, something that has put the entire Star League Defense Force on high alert for the past twenty two years."

"What would that something be," Shepard asked.

"The Reapers," Saren replied. When he said that, it was as though the entire room darkened slightly, as though the very name was enough to cast a dark feeling onto the place. When he heard that, Shepard felt as though Saren had mentioned some species out of Lovecraftian Horror.

"Reapers," Shepard asked.

"Yes," Saren replied. "According to the Prothean Memory Core, the Reapers were, by Council standards, a hyper-advanced race of sapient machines that invaded the galaxy over fifty thousand years ago. The Memory Core indicated that the Reapers wiped out the Protheans before retreating into extragalactic space, also known as 'dark space.'" Using his omni-tool, Saren projected an image of the squid-like ship that Shepard had seen leaving the colony. "This is what they look like. According to scans by the Normandy's sensor suite, the Reapers are, on average, roughly 2.1 kilometers in size and are shaped like a squid from Terra. Scans indicated that their primary armament is a series of powerful laser emitters that are capable of tearing through a Council ship, while moderately damaging the shields and armor on a Star League ship of the same size. We've also learned information that the Protheans either recorded and was lost, or information they didn't know: the Reapers appear to be a combination of organic tissue and cybernetics, all blended together to the point where they appear to be a near-perfect fusion of metal and flesh."

As soon as Saren said this, Shepard realized what he had seen in his visions. "The visions that the artifact induced," he remarked. "I understand now! I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers!"

"Correct," Saren replied. "The Prothean Memory Core also alerted us to a danger that is ubiquitous with Reaper technology. According to SLIC Agents that were investigating the 'Leviathan of Dis', which we know know is a dead Reaper, the Reapers constantly project a quantum field that is capable of causing electrochemical and quantum alterations inside of a living organism's brain. It doesn't affect animals, but scans of people near the artifact indicate that the field gradually alters a person's neurological structure, as well as their consciousness, which is also a quantum field. Eventually, a person might do the Reapers bidding without even knowing about it. The process is, thankfully, slow, often taking weeks or months depending on how strong that person's willpower is, but if no course of action is taken then the process is absolute."

"Can anything reverse it? I don't want my brain to be altered by some ancient machine."

"Yes. One volunteer SLIC Agent was near the Leviathan of Dis for over two months after we recovered it from Kar'Shan. Are you familiar with the Sangheilian known as Bero 'Kusovai?"

"Yes."

"You might want to reconsider that. As you probably know, Bero is the only Sangheilian to survive infection by the parasitic organism known as the Flood, but he's also the only individual who successfully rejected the parasite. In the process, according to Bero, a member of an alien species that created life in the UNSC's universe, known as the Primordial, influenced the infection, causing Bero to not only survive the process, but to gain some of the powers of the Precursors, the species that the Primordial belonged to. When he was temporarily overtaken by the Gravemind, Bero says that the Primordial not only rescued him, but expanded his mind as well as his abilities, making him, and later his wife Riala, the most powerful beings in their reality. One of the abilities that Bero has is full immunity to alterations to his consciousness, as his quantum field is constantly fluctuating and resetting, preventing any influence from the Reapers from becoming permanent. He can also remove this alteration, which we call 'Indoctrination', by entering a person's mind and destroying it."

"Does this field go away when they die?"

"No. It doesn't. Even 'dead' Reapers project this field."

"Then how come people haven't been indoctrinated?"

"Due to a modification we made to the helmets that all SLDF personnel wear when on duty. As you know, the armor that all military personnel use are Neurohelmets, since our technology requires the use of a brain-computer interface in order to function properly. When we discovered this indoctrination, we modified our Neurohelmets based on feedback from Bero in order to block out this quantum field, not an easy task, but we succeeded."

"So, you think these Reapers might be coming back someday," Shepard asked.

"Not might, will," Saren corrected. "According to Dr. Liara T'Soni, an Asari scientist that has been working with us, the galaxy that we live in right now is being subjected to a cycle of growth and destruction. Every fifty thousand years, the Reapers come and destroy any civilization that has grown along the Mass Relay network. Once that civilization is destroyed, the Reapers retreat into dark space and wait for the next civilization to reach that level of advancement before coming in and destroying it as well. Why they do this, we don't know, but we do know that it's been over fifty thousand years, meaning that the Reapers are going to come back soon and attempt to restart that cycle. Our guess is that the Reapers created the Mass Relay network into tricking any species into following only that technological path. We also have intelligence that suggests the Citadel is an advanced Mass Relay that leads to where the Reapers are hidden in dark space, though that has yet to be confirmed."

"Shit," Shepard remarked as he realized what was going on. "The Council Races! They use the Mass Relay network all the time. All this time, the Reapers have been funneling them along a certain technological path, making it easy for them to harvest, yes I say harvest, each species! If they come back now, they could destroy the entire Citadel Council in a surprise attack!" After a few moments of pacing, he asked, "Why haven't we been funneled along that same path?"

"Nature," Saren replied.

"Excuse me," Shepard asked.

"Mother Nature," Saren replied. "While the Reapers are a 'hyper-advanced' species of cybernetic organisms, they aren't perfect, and they certainly cannot control natural events as you and I know them. From what we can tell, there used to be Mass Relays leading to Earth and a number of star systems in the Inner Sphere. Over those fifty thousand years after the Protheans were destroyed, however, we believe that comets, supernova, and other preternatural events destroyed the Mass Relays in our region of space, effectively cutting off the Orion-Cygnus Spur from the rest of the Mass Relay network. This has allowed Humanity to evolve and advance it's technology in a way the Reapers never expected in the first place; because of that single fact, Humanity has developed technology on it's own merits and success, not the Reapers or any other species connected to the Mass Relay."

"I see," Shepard remarked. "If that's the case, then how was the Reaper at Fuchida IVb able to disable the defense systems."

"It wasn't the Reaper, per se," Saren replied. "It was one of their newest benefactors: the Storm Covenant."

"Storm Covenant," Shepard asked.

"Remember the Interuniversal War," Anderson asked. When Shepard nodded, he said, "When the Covenant's ruling leaders were defeated, and the entire Covenant reformed by Thel 'Vadam, there were factions within the Covenant that were either still devoted to the use of the Halo Array to achieve apotheosis, or were disgruntled by Thel's acceptance of Humanity as an ally. One of those factions, the Storm Covenant, was created by Jul 'Mdama, a Sangheilian that was not only a high ranking member of the covenant, but one of it's best tacticians. I know of this because his wife, Raia 'Mdama, divorced him when she learned that he still wanted to continue the war, when she wanted to live in peace with her children."

"We believe that the Storm Covenant has been investigating and searching out Forerunner artifacts in order to use them offensively against the Star League and the UNSC, whom 'Mdama believes are responsible for the destruction of the religion he believed in," Saren added. "The same goes for the Batarian Hegemony, as members that are still on the loose believe that the Star League is imperialistic and wants to conquer all of the galaxy which, while it could be done, is absolutely ridiculous since we don't have any plans of the sort. One of those Batarian terrorists is Tarak Belmont, a former Hegemony soldier that formed the Blue Suns Mercenary Corporation. Our intelligence sources indicate that Tarak discovered Sovereign, the Reaper that I showed you, made a deal with it while doing the same for the Storm Covenant, allowing the Reaper to gain access to Forerunner technology, allowing it to succeed in the manner that it did while bypassing our detection networks completely. In other words, we have an existential threat on our hands to deal with."

As he paced around, Shepard began to think. This was bad news; if the Reapers got their hands on Covenant or even Forerunner technology, it would allow them to continue the Cycle unabated. Even the Star League might be powerless to stop them in their goals if they succeeded. That meant one thing. Looking at Saren, he asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"Report to Olympus Station," Saren replied. "That order comes directly from the First Lord of the Star League, the House Lords of the Inner Sphere, Periphery, as well as the Ilkhan of the Clans. Once you have arrived at Olympus Station, we will invite the Council to come to Olympus Station and discuss why a Hegemony terrorist based in Council Space attacked the Star League. Should all go well, the Council will not interfere in our efforts to hunt down and terminate Tarak, once we've pumped him of all the information we can get from him that is."

"Understood," Shepard nodded. "I'll find some way to bring that bastard down, and make him pay for all the innocent lives that he destroyed."

"Indeed," Saren nodded. "You won't be alone on this mission, Shepard. The Storm Covenant have, by assisting Sovereign, also declared war against the Star League. Sierra-117 and other members of the UNSC and Covenant will work to assist you. Be careful, though, Shepard. Don't allow revenge to be the sole motivator for this mission, otherwise you'll be no better than Tarak. Still, I appreciate your enthusiasm for your newfound assignment. Just remember: you're not Tarak. Do not become him."

"I intend not to," Shepard replied, a statement that he firmly believed in.

"Good," Saren nodded. "I'll continue talking with my superiors in the SLIC in order to determine a course of action for dealing with Tarak, should the worst come to worst. In the meantime, you have your orders. Good luck." With that, Saren left the room, leaving Anderson and Shepard inside.

"Sounds like the SLIC is agitated," Shepard remarked.

"They are," Anderson nodded. "The SLIC prides itself on being the most sophisticated and experienced intelligence agency in the Inner Sphere. To suffer a blow like that is a humbling experience. Needless to say, they won't let a mistake like that happen twice. Still, we have our orders and I intend to carry them out."

"The same here sir."

"Then we're on the same page. Head up to the cockpit where Joker is at. I want a status report on our arrival at Olympus Station. Dismissed."

With that, Anderson left the room, with Shepard following closely behind as well. Turning towards the elevator, he stepped inside, pressing a button that allowed the gravity lift to take him up to the CIC. Once he was there, he walked up to the cockpit. Apparently, Joker was anticipating his arrival, as he turned around and smiled. "About time you got here, Commander. You're about to see those taxpayers finds paying off." Shepard smiled at that. Joker was completely unflappable, it seemed. As soon as he said that, Shepard watched as the exterior of the ship flashed blue-white once again, as the Advanced K-F Drive launched them to the other side of the Inner Sphere. Coming out of Hyperspace, Shepard could see that the system they were in was the Tharkad System, which was the former Capitol of the Lyran Commonwealth, which was now an integral part of the Federated Commonwealth. As they flew along, he thought he noticed a structure off in the distance; the deck shuddered slightly as the AEZC on the Normandy fired up, allowing them to travel at FTL speeds in real space. When they came out of FTL flight, Shepard was greeted with a sight he would never forget in his entire life.

It was a truly massive space station, far larger than anything that the Council could ever build, design, or even dream of in the first place. At over 120km in diameter, Olympus Station was the largest megastructure that the Inner Sphere had ever undertaken; not even the Star League before the Amaris Civil War had created something that was so grand and unique throughout the Inner Sphere. The space station was shaped like a miniature Dyson Sphere, with the exterior being covered in millions of tons of Hyper-Advanced Lamellor Ferro-Carbide Armor, providing it ample protection from anything that might decide to impact it, be it an asteroid, a WarShip or a Mass Driver slug. Providing greater protection was the new and proprietary Gaia Energy Shield Generator, which effectively added another several million tons of armor to the station itself. Shielded and armored portals leading into Olympus Station dotted the sphere here and there, and Shepard could see a myriad number of defenses on the planet, from Ultra-Naval class weapon systems, to ODN networks that were built into the station's hull, as well as ODN platforms that surrounded the station. What also made Olympus Station so unique was the interior of the station itself. Just like a Dyson Sphere, the interior of the space station was hollow, with all of the habitation taking place on the interior side of the actual sphere itself. Ships that wanted to land at Olympus Station would fly in through one of the many portals on the hull of the station, before taking up a holding pattern on the inside the hollow core of the structure. On the surface was a literal microcosm of life, with large, well planned urban areas, combined with large sections that were devoted completely to plant and animal life, ranging from the familiar to the exotic. The urban areas were also teeming with life, with people that came from all sections of the galaxy coming here to live and to work, with many more coming to marvel and ogle one of the Seven Wonders of The Inner Sphere.

All of this, however, was possible thanks to the Inner Sphere's study of Forerunner technology. According to SLDF scientists, the Forerunners were extremely experienced at creating Dyson Spheres, which the Forerunners called 'Shield Worlds.' One notable example of a Shield World was Onyx, known by it's SLDF designation of 'Research Facility Farragut', which was where the bulk of Star League and Great House research into Forerunner technology took place. Given how advanced the Forerunners were in terms of technology, it was a sensible choice to study how they created their megastructures. It was thanks to such research, in fact, that Project OLYMPUS had succeeded so well. When the project was completed and opened to the public, there was a massive amount of people that were were in shock and awe at what the Star League was capable of, with many believing, and rightfully so, that the Star League was well beyond it's rival factions in terms of technological sophistication. Given it's purpose as the mobile Capitol of the Star League, it made sense that it would be the Star League's greatest technological achievement. As they flew closer, Shepard could feel his jaw dropping open for the first time in a while as they approached Olympus Station. Looking around, he could see dozens of SLDF WarShip fleets that were semi-permanently stationed around Olympus Station, including the three massive ships that the Federated Commonwealth had created, the Guardian of Liberty, Guardian of Freedom and Guardian of Justice. "The Guardian of Liberty," Kaidan, who was also in the cockpit gasped. "The flagship of the 1st Naval Fleet of the SLDF and FCDF."

"Amazing," Ashley gasped. "I've heard about Olympus Station, but I never thought I'd live long enough to see it. What a truly awe inspiring structure."

"I know," Joker remarked, similarly mesmerized by the structure itself. "The Star League's greatest technological achievement yet. A 120km large megastructure that serves as the Star League's mobile Capitol. It also has the nickname of 'Unity Station' by it's residents, since people all over the galaxy now come here to work and live there." Spotting the Guardian of Liberty, he said, "Now that is what I call a WarShip, not the Asari Republic's dinky little Destiny Ascension. Compared to the Guardian of Liberty, the Destiny Ascension doesn't even hold a match, let alone a candle or a lamp to it."

"Wow, look at the Mass Drivers on that thing," Ashley remarked. "Those guns could rip through any ship in the entire Covenant fleet!"

"Good thing it's on our side then," Kaidan remarked.

"Agreed," Joker nodded. Clearing his throat, he said, "SLS Olympus, this is the SLS/HDF Normandy. Requesting permission to enter the station. Over."

"SLS/HDF Normandy, this is OSSTC (Olympus Station Space Traffic Control). Stand by for confirmation." There were a few moments of silence, then he heard, "SLS OSSTC to SLS/HDF Normandy, you are cleared for entry at Entry Bay 45 Beta. Proceed on the flight plan sent to you. Any deviation will result in all weapons being locked onto your WarShip."

"Affirmative," Joker replied. "Programming autopilot with flight plan now." Pressing in a few buttons, he programmed the autopilot on the Normandy with the flight plan sent to him. "Autopilot programmed. We are moving to destination. SLS/HDF Normandy out. Over."

"Affirmative, Normandy. OSSTC over and out."

With that, the others watched as they flew towards the Entry Bay in question, which was a shielded entry bay who's armored doors were currently open. Flying through the Entry Bay, they flew into the interior of the micro-Dyson Sphere, before the autopilot had them enter a holding pattern in the hollow core. Looking around, Shepard could see large patches of vibrant green, as well as large patches of gray, with each patch indicating a garden or urban area of the station itself. "Wow," was all he could whisper as he looked around at the parts of the interior he could see. Moments later, the ship banked as Joker received further instructions from OSSTC. Flying towards one of the urban areas, they quickly entered a Docking Bay that was built into a ShipYard that extended towards the core from the interior surface of one of the urban areas. As they docked, Shepard began to think. Watch out, Tarak, he thought. The Star League is after you, and we won't stop until you've been brought to justice for your crimes. It's not a matter of if now, it's a matter of when.