An Evolved Halo Effect

by FallenDispair

A crossover of Mass Effect and Halo. I'm combining my two stories An Iron Effect and Halo Evolved. The Forerunners were masters of Mass Effect technology 100,000 years before being destroyed by the Reapers. In an effort to defeat the Reaper the Forerunners created new technology not dependent on element zero. Reseeding the Halo species with technology/resources. Better sum inside.

An Evolved Halo Effect

Authors Notes: I'm mixing and combining my two stories into a new universe; An Iron Effect and Halo Evolved. Keep in mind that Halo happens just in the Orion Arm that makes up 3.5% of the Milky Way galaxy while Mass Effect only makes up 1% of the galaxy. What doesn't make sense about the Halo universe is that 7 Halos wipe out all sapient life in the entire galaxy when 3 out of seven are found in just 3.5% of the galaxy. 100% divided by 7 Halos equals about 14.285% of the galaxy, so only one Halo Installation and the 00 Installation that resides outside the galaxy should have been found.

So to make the Halos work for my story they'll only be 350km in diameter(3.5% the size of the original Halos that are 10,000km), 11.13km(original is 318km) wide, and 780.5 meters(Original is 22.3km) thick-which is still like 48 times bigger than ME's Citadel that's only 7.2 km in diameter with 17 km ward arms. The full explanation on what my versions of the Halos do and why is inside the story. I'm also making the Infinity supercarrier: Length- 28,960 meters; Width: 11,446 meters(Same as Covenant supercarriers)

Going off of Halsey's Journal, human population is around 39 billion. With around 18.5 billion killed during Human-Covenant war, meaning around 20.5 billion humans left. Meanwhile, fan estimates of Mass Effect species can range, but considering the fact that there are suppose to be trillions of lives in ME, I went with Fextralife's Erez Kristal's estimates:

Asari around 231 billion

Elcor around 27 billion

Hanar is 30 billion

Drell 11 billion(pre Hanar rescue and population decline on dying homeworld)

Turians around 225 billion

Volus around 120 billion

Batarians around 200 billion

Salarians 140 billion

Geth 7 billions; seeing as the Quarians use to have a population of 10 billion I figure the Geth had to have around the same amount to slaughter them down to just 17 million, subtracting losses incurred during conflict.

Krogan 3 billion

Quarians 17 million(after geth slaughtered them and took their homeworld)

Yahg 1 billion(still trapped on homeworld)

Raloi 10 billion

Vorcha 12 billion

With Covenant populations I've searched around but I haven't found any exact numbers, but figuring that the Citadel races have been exploring space for 2,000 years and the Covenant for 3,000 years, the Covenant species should be larger. Keep in mind that even though humans killed a lot of covenant soldiers they didn't destroy any of their colonies or homeworlds. Here's what I'm going with:

San'Shyuum: less than a thousand hiding in space(Destroyed homeworld and slaughtered after Great Schism)

Sangheili: 350 billion

Unggoy: 420 billion(High birth rates like Krogan, but no genophage. Though their populations are controlled to prevent overpopulation.)

Jiralhanae: 20 Billion(most destroyed during Great Schism. Few packs still loyal to Sangheili shipmasters and rogues still trying to destroy humanity and activate Halos with die hard extremists of Covenant remains. Rest on their homeworld.)

Yanme'e: 280 billion

Kig-Yar: 208 Billion

Mgalekgolo: 1 Trillion(small worm like creatures that require massive numbers to create Mgalekgolo)

Huragok: less than 1 billion

That make for 3 trillion 309 billion and 67 million lives not counting geth in this universe. Fits the trillions of lives at stake now.

To make this story work and because it has always annoyed me that Batarian space is practically inside human space, the Kites Nest is moved over between the Eagle Nebula and the Omega Nebula in the Attican Traverse. If they really were always so close to Humanity, why didn't they ever run across us for the two thousand odd years they were exploring space.

Chapter One: An Unknown History & Contact Esan

Approximately one hundred thousand years ago the Forerunners were a highly advanced and ancient Tier 1 species whose empire, the Ecumene, was spread across three million fertile worlds in the Milky Way galaxy. They believed themselves to be the masters of the galaxy with only prehistoric Humanity and San'Shyuum standing on the same level, but beneath them. They had mastered mass effect technology to a degree that no other civilization had before or ever since had. Their gunships could move at faster than light speeds even in a planet's atmosphere. Armor that allowed their soldiers to move at faster than light speeds on the battlefield.

The Forerunners' biotic abilities allowed their soldiers to pull down heavy gunships with ease and create singularity fields so strong they could reduce a 50 ton tank into a marble. Their usage of mass effect fields allowed their ships to travel 30 light years per day-the same speed as the Reapers. It wasn't until the arrival of the Reaper that they realized they weren't masters of the galaxy.

The Citadel and the Mass Relay network that made up the core of the Forerunners' empire was a trap. Most of their technology was based off the Reaper's technology and with the relay network under Reaper control they never could have won. Especially with the Reapers most damning weapon used against them, the Flood- a biological weapon made by the Precursors that were harvested 50,000 years prior and had done some genetic engineering on the primitive Forerunners.

The Forerunners had a plan to both survive and ensure their victory in the next cycle. To do this they had Humanity and the lesser races throw themselves at the Reapers in force to slow them down as they built the Halos and used the recently discovered slipspace travel to replace the use of Mass Relays.

The greatest achievement of the Forerunners before the Reapers showed was the discovery and use of slipspace. Though, at the time, most of the Ecumene empire ignored the discovery as being pointless, along with many of the scientific communities' technologies that revolved around creating artificial suns and manipulation gravity, when they already could do such things using element zero.

During the century that the Reapers harvested the other species and many of their own populations using the Flood to speed up the process, the Forerunners focused on the once shunned technologies. Creating new spaceships that didn't need element zero and used pure energy and hardlight as weapons instead of mass accelerator cannons.

While the other lesser races and even large portions of their own were being harvested, the Forerunners had created Installation 00 or the Ark. The original concept was to use the entire Halo Array to wipe out every last Reaper in the Galaxy by eliminating all element zero and sapient beings(Reaper Flood weapon) in the galaxy. That would also mean destroying themselves in the process, but they figured a way around that.

The Forerunners took each of the other species genetic material, and stored them in the Ark for reseeding. Then once the Halo Array was fired they'd be reseeded on their homeworlds in a primitive state by the Ark. That way, even if the Reapers found them, they'd see them as being too primitive to harvest. While the Forerunners would stay safely shielded from the Halo's effect on their Shield Worlds.

With the time it took and their every decreasing resources at the Reapers' hands they couldn't accomplish their main goal. Having created all this new technology-not using Reaper based technology- only in the last century of their existence, they didn't have the time and resources to scale the Halo Array for the entire galaxy. They altered their plans by having the Halo Array sized down-350 km instead of 10,000 km- and focused on a mere 3.5% of the Milky Way Galaxy. Which makes up the Orion Arm that houses Humanity's new homeworld Earth, and the San'Shyuum, Sangheili, Kig-Yar, Jiralhanae, Mgalekgolo, Yanme'e, and Unggoy species' homeworlds. A dozen other lesser species had to be left out along with millions of Forerunner colonized worlds.

The Halo Array would remove any hidden Reaper forces and their Flood weapon that may be keeping watch over the next cycle, along with all element zero and the technology that relies on it. Meaning with the destruction of the Reapers and the Mass Relays in the effected area-3.5% of the Galaxy-the Reapers believed that the Forerunners Halo Array was a weapon that destroyed a portion of the Galaxy in a desperate attempt to kill them. Fortunately the one system in the area they traveled to using conventional FTL to confirm their theory was destroyed completely. The Didact had sacrificed himself and his fleet to destroy the relay with all the Reapers there to keep them from finding the Ark before the Halo fired.

After exhausting all other options, the Forerunners decided to activate the Halo Array after a little over a century of war, near the end of the Reapers harvesting of their cycle. With their newly created technology that isn't reliant on element zero and Reaper technology, they'd be able to defeat them in the next cycle. The Forerunners and most of their subservient races would reclaim the entire Galaxy over the next 50,000 years.

Unfortunately indoctrinated forces, Flood, and their own AI creations turned on them(corrupted by Flood), removing their protection on their Shield Worlds and using their own defenses against them. The Forerunners were barely able to stop the Reapers from uncovering their plans at the cost of most of their lives. A limited number of Forerunner survivors were able to take refuge on Installation 00 outside the Orion Arm and the Array's effect. Then the Librarian activated the Halo Array to complete their mission and prepare the species they were able to save to combat the Reapers.

As the most prominent Forerunner Lifeworker and only leader left-the Didact's wife-the Librarian chose humanity to be the ones to reclaim their technology and lead the others to combat the Reapers. With limited numbers and knowing their end to be near, she left behind personality impressions of herself in various installations to guide humanity. She also believed that she and her people deserved their fate of dying out for meddling with so many other species. Acting like gods and altering their very DNA to make them slaves of the Ecumene empire. Sometimes completely erasing an entire species from existence for challenging them.

The Librarian committed the last vile act of altering another species' DNA to ensure Humanity could use all of their installations and technology. Being genetically recognized by the Sentinels and any of their intelligences as the Reclaimers of the Forerunners. That way they'd be guided to one of her personality impressions and lead down the path to destroying the Reapers. Unfortunately, with the Reapers ability to control even AIs-though with much greater effort than organics, none of the still functioning intelligences have access to any other data than what is directly involved with the maintenance and usage of their instillation. That way they can't lead the Reapers or their Flood weapon to other instillations if captured and indoctrinated.

After activating the reseeding process on Instillation 00 and over seeing the newly populated worlds, the remaining Forerunners went on what they called "The Great Journey" to repent for their sins and failures. They left behind an archive on multiple storage devices so others would learn from their sins and failures. Unfortunately the San'Shyuum would misinterpret their archives as reaching Godhood like them by activating the Halo Array. That would eventually be the basis of the creation of the Covenant and the reason behind their attempts to wipe out Humanity.

As the reseeded species in their own pocket of the Galaxy developed without the knowledge of Mass Effect technology and some with the religious devotion of the Forerunners, the next cycle came and went. They were completely ignored, having been believed to have been long dead and in a part of space that was destroyed by the Forerunners in their war with the Reapers. Plus, with no Mass Relays, their primitive pre space flight selves were never discovered by the Prothean Empire that ruled that next cycle before being destroyed 50,000 years later.

Humanity eventually grew by discovering slipspace travel (Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines) and forming the UNSC-United Nations Space Command- to colonize "new" worlds. Spending over three centuries of space exploration ignorant of alien life and Forerunner technology-3,000 years behind the Covenant. Even without Forerunner technology humanity created Slipspace Gate systems to allow near instantaneous travel from one system to the next. This is done by connecting two points through the slipspace current's slipstream with two gates.(Kind of a mix of ME's relays and Cowboy bebop gates) All of which are controlled by Arcturus Station-a 30 kilometer diameter Stanford Torus-type space station with a population of 270,000 and holds the current Alliance Parliament and HSA Navy's top brass.

There are two large gate hubs in human space; the first and smaller one is in the outer edges of the Sol system where Earth resides, they connect to all the inner colony systems and the largest hub in the Epsilon Eridani system where Reach resides. Reach's hub network connects back to the Sol system and all the outer colony systems. It's due to these massive rings, that have an overall diameter of 16.7 km, the need for cryosleep is almost nonexistent by 2425 A.D. Only exploratory vessels searching for new systems and pirate/smuggler/terrorist/criminal vessels avoiding controlled transit still use cryosleep.

Humanity suffered it's first Galactic war in 2454 A.D. called the Insurrection War. It was a massive affair that had nearly all of the outer colonies and several inner colonies turn against the UEG and UNSC. Most people were on the side of the Insurrectionists, feeling bad with how the rebels were being told how to live their lives-what jobs to take, how many children they can have-by CA bureaucrats, often heavy-handed proxies of an Earth-based government with increasingly poor understanding of the colonies' unique challenges. What started out as a political movement eventually moved to violent hits on military targets and CA sympathizers. Then with the UNSC beginning it's counterinsurgency operations, more and more innocent people got caught in the crossfire.

It wasn't long before it turned into a civil war that split humanity and the UNSC in two for 50 years. Several colonies were utterly decimated during the war and over three billion lives lost, but it wasn't until the attack on Earth that the UEG and the UNSC finally started to bend on the issue. Several area's that use to be democratic nations like America, England, most of Europe really, and Japan began an uprising against the then tyrannical UN that had replaced them centuries beforehand.

With their own necks on the line and Reach acting as the Insurrectionist's main base with its own shipyards and hub of Slipspace Gates, the UEG and UNSC offered a truce. They restructured the entire system along with Insurrectionist leaders Colonel Robert Watts and General Howard Graves to create the HSA in 2504 A.D. That was the official end of the Insurrection War, but terrorists that carried that name said otherwise.

The Alliance Parliament that was created in the forming of the HSA gives every colony an equal voice in how all of human space is run through elected officials from each colony. Every human world(with a minimal population of 1 million) gets one member to represent them, even Earth only gets one. In addition to voting for their representatives, all of humanity votes for the Prime Minister that runs it all. The individual that runs for the most powerful political position in Humanity are not allowed to have an attachment to any one colony world or system to ensure equal treatment of all humanity.

There are a large number of requirements needed to become the HSA Prime Minister. Such as a full understanding of galactic politics, economy, and commerce. Plus experience in government, like having been a mayor, governor, member of Alliance Parliament, military, or even lower ranking bureaucrats within the galactic system. The Prime Minister can make executive decisions during emergencies or when the Parliament is in a deadlock. The Parliament can veto any decision the Minister makes with a 2/3's majority vote and impeach with 3/5's vote to remove said individual from office.

Even though the mass majority of the Insurrectionists agreed to the new governing system, a minority refused to accept being under the HSA's rule. They held out in asteroid fields throughout the outer colonies and attacked colonies by bombing civilian centers filled with sympathizers and traitors to their cause. They wanted all the outer colonies to be separate and individual under their own rule, not "a new UNSC that just looks different."

Colonel Robert Watts had personally went to negotiate with the new Insurrectionists' leaders to end hostilities and the war as they had agreed upon. The Innie fuckers publicly executed him as a traitor and stated that the war will never end until they are free. That was a massive backfire on their part as half of the few that agreed with them left due to their loving allegiance to Colonel Watts.

All of humanity saw them as just terrorists and crazed radicals that didn't hold the noble beliefs that the Insurrection originally held. They only got weaker and weaker until finally being completely wiped out midway through the Human-Covenant war when they tried to join the Covenant. They actually aided them in finding human colonies to destroy and assassinating HSA officers.

The HSA replaced the UNSC or more accurately, they changed their name, policies, and merged with Insurrectionist forces. Combining both their fleets to make the HSA Navy Fleet: 37 dreadnoughts; 28 carriers; 1,560 cruisers; 3,120 destroyers; 12,480 frigates; and 24,960 corvettes, making a total of 42,185 warships spread out over hundreds of colonies and 55 systems.

As agreed upon by Parliament and HSA Navy's top brass, every system gets a Fleet consisting of one capital ship, dreadnought or carrier; 24 cruisers; 48 destroyers; 192 frigates; and 384 corvettes, for a total of 649 warships for their protection.

Fifty three systems have 34,397 warships patrolling their areas, leaving 7,788 warships split into two groups of 6 fleets. One group of 3,894 warships separated into 6 fleets reside in the Sol system and the other equal size group of 6 fleets are in the Epsilon Eridani system. They protect the Slipspace Gate Hubs while allowing them to offer up any and all additional support any system may need if attacked. Also swapping out fleets for refit and refuel regularly, typically by rotating 3 fleets at a time, leaving 3 to protect the hubs until relieved fleets arrive.

Just about every destroyer/frigate/corvette class ship has the Insurrectionist design from the war. They have a sleek black jet look based off ONI Prowlers, but outfitted for combat. (Think ONI Obsidian-class Heavy Prowler but in the UNSC size profiles.) The Insurrectionists at first couldn't go toe to toe with the UNSC, so they had to build ships that hit hard and moved fast for gorilla warfare tactics. They have half the thickness of Titanium-A armor plating augmented with a refractive coating capable of dispersing a limited amount of energy strikes; a way to combat Stark Industries new Pulse Bolt Torpedoes that were made to combat the Insurrectionists shielding technology.

Then the Insurrectionists stole the torpedoes' design from the UNSC and reworked the technology to create the DEC-Directed Energy Cannon- that can gut even a UNSC cruiser in one shot. Add in their vastly superior speed and stolen ONI stealth tech, they were silent hunters that hit a target and left before the enemy knew what hit them.

The DEC became the HSA's warships primary weapon that has magnetic coils lining the inside of the cannon increasing the energy beam's kinetic energy, while stabilizing and increasing its range with a standard destructive output around 190 to over 500 kilotons TNT-equivalent per shot( The only drawback is that it can only fire once every 60 second. Due to this extremely huge handicap-that makes missing deadly in ship to ship combat- it was enhanced with a smart warhead that follows a locked-on target. The 20 kilo warhead is shaped like an arrowhead with four tail-fins that use magnetic fields to hold and guide the beam. Thus allowing it to turn, curve, and swirl to ensure it hits its target 90% of the time.)

Standard HSA Warships:

Obsidian-class Heavy Corvettes:

Measurements:

-Length: 391 meter;

-Width: 196 meters;

-Height/depth: 98 meters

Engine unit:

-Arc Reactor Drive

Slipspace Drive:

-Stark V677 Shielded Slipspace Drive

Shielding:

-Grade 3 shield

Hull:

-Laminated shell

-Layers of titanium-A4

-Layers of AEGIS

-Thermal energy absorbing layers

-Kinetic absorbing layers

-Aero gel layer

Sensor systems:

-AN/SPY-9 PAVE HOUND Active Electronically Scanned Array RADAR

-AN/SPY-7 PAVE SAW Radio Telescope

-AN/SSS-19 REARGUARD Electromagnetic Array

-An/SVS-68 Optical Telescope

-AN/SSQ-23 Sensor Network

-AN/SSD-129 PAVE RAVEN

-AN/SPQ-111 PAVE HANNIBAL

Targeting systems:

-Multispectrum Optical AI assisted camera network

Navigation System:

-AI assisted Slipspace 'MAZE' directional router

-AI/Manual driven computer supported pilot systems

Avionics:

-AI Assisted ADIS

-QEC communications dish

-Slipspace LASER communication systems

-War Net Integrated computer

Countermeasures:

-Firestorm Close-in Weapon System

-Thunderstorm Close-in Weapon System

-AN/SLQ 115 HARLEQUIN Decoy Launcher

-AN/SLQ-221 DOPPLEGANGER Array

-AN/SLQ-301 PAVE KEEPER

-AN/SLQ-340 PIRATE Torpedo counter guidance system

-Emergency Thrusters

-AN/SLQ0-157 PAVE PALADIN

-AN/SLQ-161 PAVE RAPTOR

-AN/SLQ-1011 PAVE FAITH

-Active thermo-optical Camouflage field

-Maintenance free RADAR/QEC absorbent coating

-Infra-red suppressors

-Texture buffers

-Engine Baffles

-Heat sinks

-Radiation sinks

-Magnetic Suppressor

Armaments:

-DEC(comes out from underneath bow like ME2 Normandy) yielding 192 kilotons damage

-6 Archer Pods(24 Pulse-bolt missiles per pod)

-14 Windstorm Close-in Weapons Systems

-7 Laser point defense guns

-7 Thunderstorm Close-in Weapon system

-17 XEV11-Firebreak Nonlinear Pulse-bolt Cannons

-4 Mine Launchers, 6 M612 Tactical Sonic Mines in each

-12 RSM-107 Vagrant Tactical Weapon Platform

Complement:

-4 Pelicans or 2 Auriga-class Light Prowlers

-8 RQ-104 Kilijes

-Other Satellite and Drone modules, such as Black Widow or STARK satellites

-40 Marines

-15 Sailors

Other Systems:

-Warfare Control Systems

-Counter Ordnance Deterrence

-Electronic Countermeasures

-SOIEV Deployment System

Obsidian-class light Frigate:

Measurements:

-Length: 478

-Width: 152 meters

-Height: 112.3 meters

-Mass 0.93 million metric tons

Engine(s)

-2 OKB Stark 56K Arc drives

Slipspace drive:

-Stark FTL-290C

Shielding:

-Grade 5

Hull:

-Laminated shell

-ARGIS tile insert

-Thermal energy absorbing layer

-Kinetic energy absorbing layer

-Gravitational Buffer

-Aero gel layer

Armament

-DEC yielding 256 kilotons damage

-2 T-2 Arc Pulse cannons

-16 M58 Archer pulse-bolt missile pods

-76 M340A4 Pulse-bolt missile pods

-6 laser Point-defense guns

-52 M710 DEW(Directed Energy Weapon) point defense guns

Complement:

-200 Marines

-64 ODST

-6 D79-TC Pelicans

-12 Sparrows

-6 M44 Hammerheads

-24 SOEIV drop pods

-2 D96 Albatrosses

-3 ONI spy drones

Crew:

-250 sailors

Obsidian-class Destroyers:

Measurements:

-Length: 485 meters

-Mass: 1.8 million metric tons

Engines:

-4 primary Arc drives

-4 secondary Arc drives

Slipspace drive:

-Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine

Shielding:

-Grade 6

Hull:

-Laminated shell

-AEGIS tile inserts

-Thermal energy absorbing layer

-Kinetic absorbing layer

-Gravitational Buffer

-Aero gel layer

-Nano repair layer

Armament:

-DEC yielding 320 kilotons damage

-2 T-2 Arc Pulse Cannons

-26 M58 Archer Pulse-bolt missile pods

-4 Laser defense guns

-3 Shiva-class nuclear missiles

Complement:

-50 Marines

-2 D77-TC Pelicans

-4 D75-TC Pelicans

-2 Hornet(Titanfall) fighter squadrons

Crew:

-250 sailors

Halcyon-class Cruisers:

Measurements:

-Length: 1,171 meters

-Width: 352 meters

-Height: 398 meters

Engines:

-Stark's Starfire-IV Arc reactor

-R7 thrust couplings(8)

-Emergency thruster

Slipspace drive:

-Ocotavious Engineering's SED-2250X(Series VII CODEN)

Shielding:

-Grade 8

Hull:

-Titanium-A battleplate

-Laminated shell

-ARGIS tile insert

-Thermal energy absorbing layer

-Kinetic energy absorbing layer

-Gravitational Buffer

-Aero gel layer

Armament:

-DEC yielding 384 kilotons damage

-4 Shiva-class nuclear missiles mounting 30 megaton HAVOK warheads

-32 M58 Pulse-bolt missile pods

-8 Mark 33 Spitfire naval laser gun batteries

-6 M66 Sentry pulsecannon turrets

Complement:

-5 GA-TL1 Hornet fighters(Titanfall)

-12 D77-TC Pelicans

-2 D96-TCE Albatross

-20 M808B Scorpions(DEC, shielding)

-60 M24 Warthogs(same body but fully covered driver seat, shielded, hovercraft)

-10 M44 Hammerheads

-20 M34 Sparrows(Destiny S-34 RAVENSTEEL) with forward pulse-laser turrets with 1,000 rpm

-5 Titans

-216M8823 SOEIV drop pods

-1000 naval

-800 marines

-400 ODST

-1 Unggoy Infantry Battalion

-Widow(Titan transport vehicle)

Phoenix-class Carrier:

Measurements:

-Length: 2,500 meters

-Width: 800 meters

-Height: 689 meters

Engine:

-6 Stark Arc Reactors Jupiter-1(primary)

Slipspace drive:

-OKB Karman 12F(CODEN Series V) Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine(reverse engineered from covenant slipspace engine)

Shielding:

-Grade 9

Hull:

-Titanium-A battleplate

-Laminated shell

-AEGIS tile inserts

-Thermal energy absorbing layer

-Kinetic absorbing layer

-Gravitational Buffer

-Aero gel layer

-Nano repair layer

Armaments:

-3 T-6 Arc Cannons

-10 Pulse Laser batteries

-24 M42 Pulse-bolt missile pods

-40 M800 DEW point defense guns

Complement: 12,350 total personnel

-3,500 naval personnel

-Spartan-II Red Team

-6,000 Marines

-1,000 ODSTs

-2,000 HSA Unggoy Troopers

-10 D20 Herons

-6 D96-TCE Albatrosses

-70 D77-TC Pelicans

-D81-LRT Condors

-B-65 Shortswords

-Hornets(Titanfall)

-Widow

-AV-22 Sparrowhawks

-56 D82-EST Darters

-EV-44 Nightingales

-SOEIVs

-Quinjets

-20 Titans

-Sparrows(Destiny)

-M44 Hammerheads

-178 Warthogs

-Scarabs(post Human-Covenant war)

-93 M808B Scorpions

-600 M8823 HEV drop pods

Titan-class dreadnought:

Measurements:

-Length: 7,234 meters

-Width: 1,201 meters

-Height/depth: 891 meters

Engines:

-7 Stark Industries Model-J Arc Motors

-18 maneuvering repulsor engines

Slipspace Drive:

-Watershed Division AX-9 Slipspace drive

Power plant:

-1 Stark Industries XX-1 Arc Reactor Drive

-4 Stark Industries FF-203 Arc Reactor Drives

Shielding:

-Grade 10

Hull:

-armor plating is 11.8 meters thick Titanium-A3 battleplate augmented with refractive coating

-Laminated shell

-AEGIS tile inserts

-Thermal energy absorbing layer

-Kinetic absorbing layer

-Gravitational Buffer

-Aero gel layer

-Nano repair layer

Sensor systems:

-AN/SPY-9 PAVE HOUND Active Electronically Scanned Array RADAR

-AN/SPY-7 PAVE SAW Radio Telescope

-AN/SSS-19 SAFEGUARD Electromagnetic Array

-AN/SSS-19 REARGUARD Electromagnetic Array

-AN/SLS-12 HORNET LIDAR

-AN/SVS-68 Optical Telescope

-AN/SAS-67 Infrared Telescope

-AN/SSQ-23 Sensor Network

Targeting Systems:

-Multispectrum Optical AI assisted camera network

Navigation System:

-AI assisted Slipspace QEC directional router

-AI/Manual driven computer supported pilot systems

Avionics:

-AI Assisted ADIS

-QEC communication system

-Slipspace QEC communications system

-War Net Integrated computer

Countermeasures:

-Firestorm Close-in Weapon System

-Thunderstorm Close-in Weapon System

-AN/SLQ 115 HARLEQUIN Decoy Launcher

-AN/SLQ-221 DOPPLEGANGER Array

-AN/SLQ-301 PAVE KEEPER

-AN/SLQ-340 Pulse-Blot Torpedo counter guidance system

-AN/SLQ-1011 PAVE FAITH

-Emergency Repulsors

Armaments:

-2 Mk. IX Tempest Super DEC(capable of 500 kilotons of damage)

-6 Mk VII Cyclone DEC

-2 T-6 Arc Laser Cannons(Arc cannon capable of destroying unshielded cruiser, only found on dreadnoughts, requires its own Arc reactor) 1 on the port, 1 on the starboard sides of the ship

-4 T-4 Arc Laser Cannons(capable of destroying unshielded frigates, found on dreadnoughts/heavy cruisers) 2 on the port and 2 on the startboard

-420 RSM-131C Archer Pods(24 missiles per pod,10,080 in total)

-400 RSM-294 Widow SOCM Cells

-40 RSM-103 Wayfarer Tactical Weapon Platform

-165 M41 Monarch Light Cannons

-71 M54 Lancer Cannons

-13 M45 Renegade Heavy DEW

-200 Windstorm Close-in Weapon System

-100 Laser defense guns

-100 Thunderstorm Close-in Weapon system

Complement:

-1 Marine Expeditionary Unit

-6 F-419C Saber

-6 F-41C Broadsword

-4 F-406 Katana

Throughout the Insurrection War mankind's weaponry and technology jumped forward out of necessity and competition. Leading Humanity to rise to the lower end of Tier 2 status with energy weapons, shielding, near instantaneous and accurate space travel, and QEC allowing near instantaneous communication through out human space.

The portable man used energy weapons use coolant mags with arc reactor powered guns or power cells with limited energy. Every directed energy weapon can fire without coolant mag, but will overheat much faster.

-Izanagi's Burden(Destiny): 4 per coolant mag with option to spend entire mag for 6 shot worth of damage; 4,000 rounds total from miniature arc reactor.

-Hard Light(Destiny) Pulse Bolt Auto riffle: 600 rpm, arc reactor powered, good for 25,000 rounds, coolant mags that allow nonstop fire for 100 rounds that are over penetrate armor piercing disruptor rounds that discharges arc electrical current to drop shields within 5-10 rounds depending on shield strength and accuracy, can punch through Jarnbjorn armor in 2-5 rounds; has energy cannon underneath barrel that pulls from the main reactor and smaller secondary reactor.

-M-20 SMG(Halo): 12,000 armor piercing disrupter rounds, 120 rounds per coolant mag, 920 rpm, loads horizontally and is ejected by pulling back on front grip.

-M-7 Crusader(ME3): fuel cell clips shaped like shot gun shells with five shots per, 10 loaded max with pump action to change cells, max range 50 yards.

-M-2 Nemex(Altered Carbon): energy pistol, revolver based off 21st century Chiappa Rhino, high capacity fuel cell instead of six cylinder loader with 50 shots per cell, charges on Jarnbjorn harness, drops shields in 2 shots.

-M-7 Typhoon(ME3) Full-Auto Light Machine gun: 1,000 rpm, incendiary explosive rounds, 1,000 round mag, will explode if overheated without coolant mag, twice the size of the Hard Light, total charge of 50,000 rounds.

Mjolnir armor became standard HSA armor(Half the shield strength and titanium armor thickness of Spartan II Mjolnir armor; doubles users strength, speed, and reflexes; armor is coated with refractive coating that can repel a limited amount of energy) with SAM implants to aid in their usage, along with the connection Pilots have with their Titans(TitanFall).

SAM, or Simulated Adaptive Matrix, is an artificial intelligence that is integrated into every service member in the HSA through highly complex neural laces with built in crystal matrix that houses the AI implant at the base of the skull and along the spinal column. The SAMs are fully connected to their human hosts in a symbiotic relationship that boosts human physiology while allowing the AI to sense the world through them.

The connection gives the AI full insight into the host's physical and mental states, while allowing it to generate and alter electrical signals along the host's neural pathways that the body processes as it's own. This allows the SAM to provide it's host with advanced situational awareness, problem solving, and tactical enhancement.

SAM also has access to the host's memories and thought process, only being able to enhance recall and cognitive processes while storing visual feds from missions that can be downloaded for replay. Some soldiers have abused this function by recording sexual experiences along with the sensations for reliving the moment, and exchanging or selling them with others

SAM starts off as a "dumb AI" when implanted and grows in complexity and ability as it learns from its host's experiences. The symbiotic connection removes the problem of rampancy that is common in all AI's, but at the cost of being able to separate from its host. Both host and symbiotic AI become so entwined with each other that neither can survive without the other.

The host's entire body is enhanced by the AI; from muscle growth and strength; to their cardiovascular system; immune system; reflexes; cognitive abilities; eye sight; and overall health are maximized and controlled with pure efficiency making them almost superhuman(Think the very best abilities humans ever had, like fastest/strongest record holders wrapped into one.) Soldiers with implanted SAMs can deadlift a maximum of 1,104.52 pounds(Hafthor Bjornsson) and run 27.8mph(Bolt).

Losing the AI after becoming so dependent on it can cause long lasting negative effects on the body and even death, while the AI will begin rapid degeneration of its core programming systems. The short and sweet of it is that when one of them dies, then they'll both die, making them one symbiotic entity that enhances the other. Some memories can be recovered from SAMs after the host's death, as long as the crystal matrix is still intact.

The SAM has been in service since the UNSC first started using them in 2467 and became a mainstreamed piece of military augmentation equipment ever since. They tend to grow more capable over time through the shared experiences of their host, but are still limited. Their primary objective is the survival and enhancement of their host, with a large assortment of combat programs-both physical and cyber.

SAMs have a black box firewall that'll temporarily shut themselves down when successfully hacked. By doing this the SAM prevents anyone from shutting down a persons body, like stopping their heart. Soldiers are left to decide the SAM's gender and voice during start up after the implantation procedure. Even though they can't change their settings after growing in complexity, they never grow a true consciousness to become a fully evolved AI like "Smart" AIs.

Mankind's dependence on AI grew even further with fringe groups fearing the increasing combination of man and AI. Some violence and protest were common for awhile, but eventually gave way to the threat of the Covenant and the vital support AI's gave in saving humanity.

In 2525 a Covenant vessel-Minor Transgression- made first contact with a human freighter-Spark of Life. The Kig-Yar run crew attempted to steal Forerunner artifacts only to be capture by the reserve unit Captain James Raiden. A legendary Titan Pilot dubbed "Lightning Bolt Raiden" had subdued the entire crew without killing anyone. Though he did get a nasty mind link with a Huragok-Lighter Than Some- as it attempted to connect with his SAM.

As painful as the experience was, it allowed James to communicate with Lighter Than Some and, with his SAMs help, the entire Covenant language. Thus getting deacon Dadab to tell him about the Covenant and the Forerunners. Allowing Admiral Cole to persuade the Kig-Yar Ship Mistress Chur'R-Yar to flip on the Covenant in exchange for protection.

Admiral Cole was also able to convince Deacon Dadab that Humanity, being recognized as relics, are a chosen species to find the Halos. Getting him to relay a message to the Ministry on High Charity to meet with them on Harvest to forge an alliance or come to some sort of an understanding.

Unfortunately the San'Shyuum that'd eventually become the Hierarchs learned that Humanity was the chosen masters of Forerunner technology and rightful reclaimers to the Halos. To protect the Covenant from falling apart -once learning that they all couldn't ascend to Godhood like the Forerunners, and that their great journey was a lie- they ordered the extermination of Humanity. Claiming humans to be unclean and as affronts to the Forerunners they must be cleansed from the universe.

The Rapid Conversion and it's six ship escorts-mostly CRS-class frigates & DAS-class storm cutters- with Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar crews, to keep the Sangheili from learning of the reliquary, had made contact with Humanity on Harvest first. They had confirmed the reliquary and the Jiralhanae Chieftain Maccabeus had joyously stated that the humans were artifacts that'd lead them to the Halos.

Maccabeus was a devout follower of the Great Journey and with both Deacon Dadab and the newly appointed deacon of his ship, along with a full complement of soldiers and Huragok to repair his cruiser, and the translation of the luminary, he believed it. He also messaged back that the humans had an entire fleet protecting the system and were about a Tier 2 society.

To cover up the truth the Hierarchs sent a fleet twice the size the luminary readings showed humanity to have and ordered the ships they sent there earlier destroyed. Stating that they had greatly sinned by destroying artifacts and aiding the filthy humans, but they were just covering up their sins. Maccabeus and his battle group knew too much, yet, the Hierarchs still gave them the order to destroy the humans.

An attempt to get them to be some what useful by attacking what they believed to be the human's homeworld and distract their fleet, possibly getting the humans to do their dirty work for them. Maccabeus refused to follow his orders after conversing with his ship's Deacon, coming to the decision that destroying artifacts that are a chosen people by the Forerunners is the greater sin than disobeying the Prophets.

With Maccabeus's warning, Admiral Cole was able to call in reinforcements and fortify Harvest before the attack. Once the Covenant Fleet lead by the supercarrier flagship Long Night of Solace arrived and engaged the 2nd Fleet of the HSA, three additional fleets arrived under Admiral Margaret Parangosky to surround them. Despite the disadvantage in numbers the Sangheili Ship Master refused to yield. The Long Night of Solace was able to destroy an entire fleet worth of ships, including a Titan-class dreadnought, before being disabled by the suicide charge by the HSA Normandy.

The newest model frigate had both optical and sensor stealth systems that allowed it to sneak through the Covenant fleet and ram into the supercarrier's energy projector right as it's shields lowered to fire. Almost the entire front end of the supercarrier was destroyed and it's propulsion systems and slipspace drive were inoperable. While dispatching the remaining covenant fleet, all of them refusing to surrender, insertion pods deployed thousands of Marines and ODSTs to take the crippled supercarrier.

During the assault by Covenant forces, several of Maccabeus's ships were destroyed by covenant fire. Only his cruiser and two crafts from his battle group were saved, thanks to HSA protection. Unfortunately, Maccabeus's nephew Tartarus blamed his uncle for their losses and the Jiralhanae's eventual fall in the Covenant's hierarchy by not following the Hierarch's orders. That they never should have believed an Unggoy Deacon over the Prophets and destroyed the lying filthy humans. The injured Maccabeus-having been injured by a glancing blow from the Night of Solace's main weapon-was defeated by Tartarus.

Under Tartarus's command Rapid Conversion began offloading troops and glassing Harvest. A rural area outside of Harvest's defenses was glassed before Rapid Conversion was brought down by a boarding party under Sargent Avery's command and AA guns. Tartarus was able to escape by taking a drop ship and boarding the DAS-class storm cutter still under HSA protection and fled through slipspace.

Outside of the Covenant's supercarriers the HSA Navy is able to go toe-to-toe with covenant ships, but after being informed by Chur'R-Yar that the Covenant's Navy is about 5 times larger than humanity's-approx. 210,925 warships, they still had to abandon Harvest. Though, thanks to their victory, they had more than enough time to extract all inhabitants-minus those killed by Tartarus's assault-Covenant ship technology, prisoners, and new allies.

With Covenant technology, most notably their slipspace drives that allow for extremely precise and fast travel-can appear within a planets atmosphere and travel 1,368 light years per day-HSA's ship's were improved. Hyperscanners, luminary, and vastly superior slipspace engines were incorporated into their designs. This allowed for destroyer and below crafts to jump into the middle of covenant formations and unload full payloads of destructive force before jumping away again. A tactic that turned the tide in several space battles when Covenant forces overwhelmed them with seer numbers.

The second Orion program or renamed Spartan II program was instituted in 2528 to combat the Covenant's superior forces-mostly Sangheili, Brutes, and Hunters. It was conceived by Dr. Catherine Halsey of ONI Section III's Special Projects Division as the successor to the ORION Project that created the SAM implants, Jarnbjorn armor, and Titans of the Insurrection War. The project was granted 300 candidates chosen from cadets with the desired genetics, even though Halsey's data suggested that children around the age of 6 would be the superior option.

While the cadets were outfitted with Halsey's new SAM implant that allowed the use of smart AIs like Cortana, Tony Stark was developing the Iron suits. With the superior implants, AIs, and medical pods-DBZ in appearance with synthesized stem cells and medical nanites controlled by an AI-the fatality rate of the enhancements dropped to 20%. So after the extremely painful procedures-which weren't suppose to be-only 60 candidates died and 22 were crippled, leaving 218 successfully created Spartans.

These superhuman Spartans were then outfitted with the newly designed Iron suits-800 armor powered by the newest and most powerful Arc reactors used in suits, twice the size of current issue chest piece arc reactors used in standard Mjolnir armor. These arc reactors allow for sustained flight, 50 ton lift capacity, repulsors, various modulated weapons, further enhanced reflexes, greater shield strength, and a layer of repair nanites to repair all suit damage. Their are three basic styles of the Iron suits; Iron Man/Maiden, War Machine, and Iron Hunter-stealth tech that camouflages the individual both visually and on sensors. Considering that each suit cost roughly 7 billion, it won't be standard issue anytime soon, if at all.

Under Deacon Dadab large numbers of Covenant were converted to his religious belief that the Prophets are demons trying to destroy the rightful leaders of the Great Journey-humans. Hundreds of thousands of Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Huragok, and even a few Sangheili joined the True Covenant to aide the HSA and protect humanity. With the discovery of a Halo Installation and a shield world, along with the truth that the Hierarchs tried hide, the True Covenant grew in size and became POMOR- the Protectors of the Mantle of Responsibility.

With the knowledge that the Halos are actually weapons that wipes out all sentient life in all of their colonized space-effectively killing all of their species-and that humans were chosen as the Reclaimers to protect the Galaxy, many Covenant believers switched sides.

Some of the Flood weapon-damage from the halo firing and rampancy of Forerunner AIs lead to the loss of Reaper knowledge-that was being studied on the Halo Installation got free from Covenant forces, rapidly turning them into reaper forces with infectious nanite spores- Reapers not being known to them, thinking that its just the Flood that destroyed the Forerunners. Controlling and altering various species with cybernetic implants, converting the living and dead into machine-flesh hybrids.(Think Reaper-fyed Flood monsters with more Flood mutation with less reaper tech-about 25% Reaper tech 75% Flood monster)

Fortunately, without a capital Reaper ship the Flood weapon's intelligence was greatly limited and couldn't communicate with the Reapers. Though, they did grow in intelligence with every harvested being and began to act more capably, forming a Gravemind. Trying to find other worlds filled with intelligent life and simply do as they were created do without the guidance and control of the Reapers.

The destruction of the Halo Installation by Master Chief John-117 was able to stop their spread in 2552. That was the same year that the Covenant met its greatest defeat on Reach. By that time humanity had lost half their outer colonies and a third of their Navy. When the massive fleet of Covenant war ships arrived with several supercarriers and thousands of warships, outnumbering the HSA's Navy 3-1.

With the Navy forces around Reach down to a third, all its orbital platforms destroyed, and the Pillar of Autumn fleeing with Master Chief John-117, all seemed lost. Then out of nowhere arrived a Forerunner fleet lead by Captain James Cutter on the Spirit of Fire. Dr. Anders with Serina and covenant separatists-mostly Huragoks-helped them learn how to fully control the Forerunner technology on the Shield World they found in 2541 AD. Once the Spirit of Fire received the fleet wide order to converge around Reach for an impending Covenant invasion, they decided to use the Forerunner fleet instead of just going with their battle group.

Arriving late into the battle turned out to be a blessing as the Covenant had left their rear undefended, having for the first time secured humanity's Slipspace gates in the system and thought they didn't have to worry about large reinforcements arriving. The power of the Forerunner dreadnoughts cut clean through even the Covenant's supercarriers in one shot. Being completely overwhelmed from behind and the sudden push by HSA Navy forces in front of them, the Covenant's massive fleet fell.

With the superior Forerunner fleet at their command, the HSA decided to go on the offense for a change. Once they reestablished control of their Slipspace Gate Hub around the system they pushed to destroy High Charity with the Forerunner fleet as the tip of the spear. Sleeper agents on High Charity have been secretly giving humanity its location, but do to the size and power of the fleet protecting it, the HSA believed it to be too costly to destroy until then.

With the destruction of the halo installation, Thel 'Vadamee was striped of his position and tortured by Tartarus. The Hierarchs-Truth, Regret, and Mercy- gave him the chance to become an Arbiter instead of being killed. Taking the mantle of Abiter, Thel Vadam quelled several rebellious elements and acquired 343 Guilty Spark. Ignoring his own fellow Sangheili telling him about the Prophets lies and the truth around the Halos.

After the assassination of the High Prophet of Regret and the Arbiter retrieving the Index with Miranda Keyes and Johnson, Tartarus reveals that the Prophets have ordered the annihilation of the Sangheili. Then he proceeds to send the Arbiter falling down a deep chasm. In the bowls of the Halo-found by Regret after fleeing from his failed attack on Earth-both Master Chief and Arbiter are brought together by the Gravemind.

The Gravemind reveals to the Arbiter that POMOR is right, the Great Journey is a lie, and sends the two soldiers to different places to stop Halo's activation. The Master Chief is teleported to High Charity as the Covenant falls into civil war. It's a three sided fight between the Brutes side of the Covenant, the Sangheili's side of the Covenant, and POMOR sleeper agents. The Flood-infested In Amber Clad crashes into the city, the Prophet of Mercy is consumed. The Prophet of Truth sends Tartarus to the Halo with Keyes, Johnson, and Guilty Spark to activate the ring. Master Chief follows Truth aboard a Forerunner ship leaving the city.

On the surface of Halo, the Arbiter joins forces with Johnson and confronts Tartarus in Halo's control room. When the Arbiter tries to convince Tartarus that the Prophets have betrayed them, Tartarus instead activates the ring, and a battle ensues. The Arbiter and Johnson kill Tartarus while Keyes removes the Index; the unexpected deactivation sets Halo and all the other rings on standby for remote activation from the Ark.

Meanwhile, Truth's ship, with the remaining Covenant Fleet, arrives at Earth, and Master Chief informs Admiral Hood that he is "finishing this fight." Back on the High Charity, with the arrival of a HSA fleet armed with Forerunner warships and their deployment of troops and Titans, the Sangheili faction and the POMOR faction joins sides with the HSA to defeat the Brutes side and destroy the Gravemind. The Gravemind highjacks a Covenant supercarrier-getting a lift from fleeing Prophets-and heads towards Earth as the HSA fleet finishes off the last of the Brutes covenant fleet.

The Master Chief arrives on Earth in east Africa, where he is found by Johnson and the Arbiter. The Chief and company return to a HSA outpost where Keyes and Lord Hood plan a final effort to stop the High Prophet of Truth from activating a Forerunner artifact the Covenant took from their excavation team-having discovered it several months ago from a Forerunner artifact buried on Reach. The Chief clears anti-air Covenant defenses so Hood can lead the last of Earth's ships against the Prophet, but Truth activates the artifact, creating a slipspace portal which he and his followers enter.

A Flood-infested ship crash-lands nearby; the newly allied Sangheili Covenant on High Charity along with HSA fleets fortified with Forerunner ships arrive and vitrify the Flood-infected areas of Earth, stopping the threat. The Chief, Arbiter, Elites, Johnson, Keyes and their troops follow Truth through the portal. Joining them is 343 Guilty Spark, who aids the Chief as he has no function to fulfill after the destruction of his ringworld.

Traveling through the portal, the humans, POMOR members, and Sangheili discover the Ark, far beyond the edges of explored space. Here, Truth can remotely activate all the Halos. The Flood arrives aboard a Supercarrier in full force, beginning to infest the installation. Truth captures Johnson, as he needs a human to use Forerunner technology. Keyes is killed attempting a rescue, and Johnson is forced to activate the rings. Gravemind forges a truce to stop Truth and defeat the remainder of his army, rescuing Johnson and halting the installations' activation. After the Arbiter kills Truth, Gravemind turns on the Chief and Arbiter.

The Chief, Arbiter, and Guilty Spark discover that the Ark is constructing another Halo to replace the one the Chief previously destroyed. The Chief decides to activate that Halo; the ringworld would eliminate the Flood infestation on the Ark while sparing their species at large from destruction in the Halos range. Seeing as Cortana-Chief's enhanced SAM-still has the Activation Index of the destroyed Halo, they head straight to the Halo as the combined HSA/Covenant ships destroy the flood-infested supercarrier.

Arriving on the new Halo, Cortana warns that Gravemind is trying to rebuild itself on the ring. The Chief, Arbiter, and Johnson travel to the Halo's control room to activate the ring. Guilty Spark explains that because the ring is not yet complete, a premature activation will destroy it and the Ark. Not wanting to risk the Gravemind from spreading the Flood throughout the galaxy, Johnson ignores his warning. In response Guilty Spark attacks Johnson, badly wounding him, but thinks to his SAM and Mjolnir armor he survives.

After the Chief destroys Guilty Spark-having long since gone rampant- he activates the ring and they escape the ring's self-destruction on the HSA frigate Forward Unto Dawn(Cannon look). However, the force of the Halo's blast causes the slipspace portal to collapse, resulting in only the front half of Forward Unto Dawn, carrying Arbiter and an unconscious Johnson-who's being treated in a Med-Pod, making it back to Earth.

A memorial service is held on Earth for the fallen heroes of the Human-Covenant war, during which the Arbiter and Lord Hood briefly exchange words regarding the fallen Master Chief. After the memorial service, the Arbiter and his fellow brethren depart for their home planet at the helm of the High Charity.

Meanwhile, the rear half of the Forward Unto Dawn drifts in unknown space. Cortana drops a distress beacon, but acknowledges it may take years before they are rescued. Fortunately the Forward Unto Dawn was one of the few HSA ships that still had cryonic systems-having been decommissioned after the Insurrection War but ended up being quickly refitted for active combat during the Human-Covenant War, so they both went down for the long sleep until rescue arrives.

Over the next ten and a half years the HSA's POMOR covenant species unites with the Arbiter to reform the Covenant, becoming the Protectorate. They take up the responsibility of protecting the Mantle that humanity holds in protecting the galaxy. The new Protectorate believes that the Forerunners gave them The Great Mission to aid humanity in protecting the galaxy.

Though, they ended up having to fight a few splinter groups lead by the remaining San'Shyuum, but with the HSA and ONI support they end up killing them all off with minimal losses. ONI had actually pretended to aid several splinter groups to locate their hidden assets and bases. Even with the trap with the Prelate to kill the Arbiter, which failed and showed the Arbiter that female Sangheili can fight, nearly a third of the Covenant's full forces remained.

Several Kig-Yar controlled covenant vessels disappeared during the conflict, most likely taking up their pirate roots. Several scout ships from the HSA & Protectorate have had several sightings of Covenant vessels in remote systems that had been abandoned during the Human-Covenant war. They were quick to flee upon the arrival of their scout ships.

Even though most looked towards the Arbiter as the new leader of the Protectorate, he takes the mantle as the leader of the Swords of Sangelios. After a few skirmishes between several keeps on Sangelios, the Arbiter came out on top and leads all of the Sangheili. To prevent the Great Schism and the rule of humanity ending up like the Prophets, a council composed of three representatives of every species-humans included-, rules the Protectorate on High Charity.

The Protectorate is now considered the center of galactic politics, every species has regained control of their worlds and original colonies. All contribute to the Protectorate in the pursuit of protecting the galaxy and preventing the likes of the Human-Covenant war from happening again. With Lighter Than Some's aid the Huragok stayed with the Covenant turned Protectorate and the HSA, serving as engineers on all of their ships and space stations.

Seeing as the Huragok don't have any interest in politics and don't have any representatives, the first galaxy wide law passed was the protection of the Huragok. No one in the galaxy can harm any Huragok for any reason-other than being lethally attacked by one, which they simply don't do-and any who do so will be arrested and punished by Protectorate forces. Simply hurting them in non-lethal ways can be met with heavy fines and years of incarceration or hard labor. Killing a Huragok is an immediate cause for execution, pending investigation, trail, and judgment if needed.

With human aid as Reclaimers, all field engineers are replaced by Forerunner Sentinels or trained military personnel with the right expertise. Typically, in the field of combat, a Sentinel is paired with a combat engineer's SAM. On ships and space stations Sentinels are under the control of the AI assigned to said ship or station.

Only a small minority of Brutes clans that proved themselves loyal to the Sangheili during the Great Schism stay apart of the Protectorate. The rest were hunted down and slaughtered by the Arbiter and Protectorate forces, leaving the bulk of the Brutes that are still alive being quarantined on their homeworld.

As a sign of progress and new cooperation between Humanity and the Protectorate-formally Covenant- species, the High Charity and Protectorate Fleet are located in the Epsilon Indi system near Harvest. The sight of where the Human-Covenant war started has become the new center of all galactic politics. Harvest is even being reterraformed by multiply species, mostly humans-seeing as Harvest was originally theirs.

In an effort to better protect the galaxy and encase there is more Flood out there, a joint Protectorate-Human science team returned to the Ark. Once arriving they found significant damage to the Ark, but no signs of the Flood. With thousands of Huragoks and the best engineers humanity could offer, they repaired the damage to the Ark. Though mostly restored, several areas are still in need of repair before being fully activated. But as far as the Covenant and Humanity are concerned, the use of the Ark is an absolute last resort. Their best minds are studying the Ark in the hopes of altering it to destroy just the Flood, or at the very least create more powerful weapons to defeat the Flood conventionally.

The HSA used a lot of Covenant and Forerunner technology in the construction of the HSA Infinity that had been secretly under construction for the past twelve years. The Infinity is humanity's first supercarrier-class ship equaling in size to Covenant supercarriers. Even though it's a HSA ship built for battle, it also has the capacity for long-range exploration and diplomatic roles upon making contact with a new species. It also has an entire deck/docking bay dedicated to creating slipspace gates that'll connect back to the Epsilon Indi system. The Infinity is Humanity's contribution to the Protectorate Fleet and thus is multicultural with the sole purpose of exploring and colonizing the rest of the Milky Way galaxy.

Unknown to the Protectorate, several Infinity-class ship are being built by the HSA in secret. Humanity will never allow itself to be caught off guard again.

Once they find a system with habitable worlds, the Infinity will construct the slipspace gate that'll then be synced with its pair-through quantum entanglement-back in the new Gate Hub in the Epsilon Indi system. Several Gates have already been made that connect with various species core systems, like Sangheilos, around High Charity.

HSA Infinity-class supercarrier:

Length:

-28,471 meters

Width:

-10,166.5 meters

Height:

-5,206 meters

Mass: 4,535,000,000 metric tons

Engine Units:

-XR2 Stark Arc Fields: S81/X-DFR

-3 primary Super-heavy repulsor engines(Covenant design), 2 secondary repulsor engines

Slipspace Drive:

-Mark X Stark-Borer/Z-78720HDS(1,368 light years per day)

Power Plant:

-Quad Arc Reactor

-ODSY Drive System- an electromagnetic ram-scoop will gather hydrogen from the Infinity's surroundings, converting into fuel for the Infinity's reactors as needed.

Shielding:

-MG-44 Heavy Dispersal Field Generators-equal in strength to Covenant supercarrier shields

Armor:

-490 centimeters Titanium-A3 armor

Hull:

-Laminated shell

-ARGIS tile inserts

-Thermal energy absorbing layer

-Kinetic absorbing layer

-Gravitational Buffer

-Aero gel layer

Nano Repair Unit:

-Nanites will break down all non-essential material to repair hull and critical systems, giving the ship 128 kilotons more damage resistance

Sensor Systems:

-Long-range hyperscanner

-Luminary

-Radar

-Spectrocopes

-LIDAR

Armament:

-2 Energy Projector(Covenant design 1 on bow, 1 on bow flank)

-4 CR-03B Series 8 DEC (2 stern, 1 port, 1 starboard) 256 kilotons damage per shot

-1,750 Plasma Turrets(Covenant design)

-1,250 M75 Pulse-bolt Missile Pods, 30 per pod

-2,500 M96 Pulse-bolt Missile Pods, 20 per pod

-4,150 Pulse Lasers

-50 Dorsal Mark 2551 DEC network

-425 Dorsal Anti-Aircraft Laser network

-950 Dorsal M97 Guided Missile Weapon System network

-15 HAVOK Anti-mater weapons

Complement:

206,371 personnel:(Same as Covenant CSO-class supercarrier)

-51,750 Navy(mixed HSA-31,225 and Protectorate-20,525)

-8,500 ONI

-1,230 Huragok engineers

-1,200 Swords of Sanghelios

-40 Pilots(Titanfall)

-37,000 Marines(HSA)

-25,516 Army(HSA)

-[Redacted] Spartans

-30,000 Protectorate(Covenant species)

-23,750 ODST

-15,000 Air Force (mixed with most being Human)

-12,385 civilians(mixed species)-run hydroponics deck, manufacturing, and entertainment deck(off hours only for servicemen)

Ground Vehicles:

-50 M510 Mammoths(shielded, mini-DEC)

-560 M24 Warthogs(same body but fully covered driver seat, shielded, hovercraft)

-1,120 M34 Sparrows(Destiny S-34 RAVENSTEEL) with forward pulse-laser turrets with 1,000 rpm

-1,080 M44 Hammerheads(ME but not run on eezo)

-40 Titans(Titanfall but Arc reactor powered and Directed Energy Weapons)

-150 M820 Scorpions(Shielded, DEC in stead of chemical cannon)

-150 Type-58 Wraith

-10 Type-47 Ultra-Heavy Assault Platforms "Scarab"

Aerial vehicles:

-40 D96-TCE Albatross(Shielded)

-375 D79-TC Pelicans(Shielded)

-187 Phantom Drops Ships

-186 F-41E Broadswords

-157 SX-class Seraphs

-195 GA-TL1 Hornets(Titanfall)

-10,645 M9407 SOEIV drop pods

-1,620 M8823 HEV drop pods

-15 Obsidian-class light frigates

-10 CRS-class frigates

Additional:

-QEC deck with multiple platforms for complete communication with entire HSA systems

-Hydroponics that allow self sustaining with little to no need for supplies

-A deck that houses separated sections of Slipspace Gate for construction upon finding new habitable system

After being fully prepped, stocked, and ready for a full long term exploration mission, the HSA Infinity received a HSA coded distress signal coming from deep-unexplored space. With careful examination of the signal, they found out that it came from Forward Unto Dawn, meaning that Master Chief was still alive. Thus the Infinity's flight plan was diverted to first rescue Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, before continuing on with its exploration mission.

---

(Story Start)

Salvage vessel Ditrinis, Outside Fathar system, Omega Nebula, 1913 C.E.(Council Era)

Lidalo M'Loyma is a 671 year old Asari in her Matron years with a light purple-blue skin tone and red facial markings. She's currently at the controls of her salvage liner chasing down an unknown distress signal in hopes of salvaging a wrecked ship. It was only dumb luck Lidalo found the signal in the first place. It was received while randomly scanning outside the system, away from explored systems in the nebula. With luck the crew of said ship will all be dead and the ship in moderate condition. Lidalo for once wants an easy paycheck, one she desperately needs after losing her life savings on a rigged pit fight on Omega.

What was suppose to be a sure thing, Thresher the uncontested champion of varren fighting pits, fell to a newcomer, Razor, that was half Thresher's size! She should have known something was up when Dredtar's most trusted lieutenant, Aria T'Loak, along with the major mercenary groups on Omega, were betting against the house favorite with 20-1 odds in its favor. By the Goddess she got played, along with the mass majority of bettors that day. Nothing new on Omega, so long as one makes sure to give a cut to the current ruler of Omega, a Krogan warlord named Raik Dredtar(Patriarch).

370 years of saving and credit pinching lost in a matter of minutes. Lidalo was told that she was lucky as most of the other bettors lost everything and more. Some having to be sold into indentured servitude-slavery-to cover their debts, working on Omega's eezo mine or sold off to the Batarian Hegemony. Asari are prime targets for slavers, seeing as her people have a thousand year lifespan. They can be passed on to several generations of Batarian families.

Seeing several of her own kind being rounded up that night cycle, some fighting to the death-realizing that death would be better-made her feel better about her loses. She was at least free and still had her freighter for salvaging wrecks for profit, so she will eventually regain her losses. It's all a bitter reminder that even though independent colonies are free of governmental control, they have less protection and are the primary target for pirate gangs and slavers.

The bright side is that Lidalo's home is Esan, a 149 year old independent asari colony in the Terminus systems with a population of 7,464,850(Illium has a population of 84,950,000 over 569 years, that's 149,297 per year. But factoring in that Asari colonies are slow to population growth, Esan needing almost a century to start getting those numbers of population growth). Thus, Esan is too heavily protected for even the combined might of all the largest criminal organizations to successfully hit.

Esan's naval forces consist of 1 heavy cruiser; 36 frigates; and 52 corvettes, not to mention a shit ton of AA guns on the ground encase someone gets past all those ships. The last raid on Esan was over a half century ago and ended in the slavers never even making it to the ground. Over the last hundred years, Esan has built up a sizeable anti-aircraft defense system and fleet presence to discourage all the Warlords of the Terminus systems.

Lidalo gets a premium on salvage from Esan Defense Force-EDF-for any spacecrafts that can be repaired and outfitted for combat. She personally found the turian heavy cruiser-a refitted mothballed Turian warship used by a merc group-that is currently used as the capital ship of Esan's navy. For some unknown reason she found it floating near the Far Rim with minimal damage and no corpses. She suspects Geth, seeing as the Far Rim is near the Perseus Veil, but that doesn't explain why there were no bodies. Usually the geth send ships foolish enough to enter the veil back with the slaughtered crews as a warning to stay away.

Regardless of the reasons, Lidalo made a small fortune from that single salvage operation. A fortune she just recently lost and will hopefully recoup with this next salvage operation. The cursory scan of the object places it around 240 meters in size, possibly being a light frigate. It won't get her as much as the cruiser she found before, but it'll get her nice chunk of credits. The EDF is always looking for more ships to increase the size of their navy. She knows for a fact that Esan is currently negotiating with the Asari Republics to buy their out of service warships.

A friend/booty-call of hers is an assistant for the Governor of Esan and filled her in on the negotiation during their pillow talk. It's no secret that independent asari colonies make backroom deals with the Republics to give them exclusive buying rights to their resources, usually in exchange for protection in the form of "retired" asari commandos and huntresses. They tend to work as the colonies' security forces to defend against pirate/slaver attacks. Seeing as Esan is a gold mine of raw minerals; such as palladium, platinum, and iridium; thus making it a major mining colony of the Terminus systems, they have significant protection.

Every last leader of the EDF is "former" asari military, even the governor is a Matriarch that came from the Republics lower echelon of Matriarchs. Of course their is no official way to prove that the independent colonies still technically work for the Republics and even a few like Illium have become truly independent-though the Republics get first crack at any newly developed tech and resources Illium has.

Everyone in the galaxy sees the asari as the calm polite diplomats that helped creat the Council, but they fail to see the darker aspects of her people's society. Only the salarians are wise to asari underhanded tactics and masterful manipulation of politics to increase their power in the galaxy. The truth is her people are just as cut-throat as the any other species, they just have the patience and skills to hide them from view. Even the Salarian STG has rarely uncovered the Republics shadier actions, usually using the knowledge for their own species political gains.

It sounds great for the core of asari society, but not for those that actually live on an independent colony. They are treated as laborers that only serve to better the Republics standing, no career politician wants to be assigned as an independent colonies' governor. They know it is the end of their careers and that they will never go up the line of power. Plus the danger is massive when compared to living in controlled asari space, even colonies on the edge of council space is far safer than the Terminus systems. They get protection from the asari navy or the Turians, while independent colonies tend to be left to look out for themselves.

That's all fine and well for Lidalo, it's the smug attitude from asari that live on official colonies that bug her. They act like she and every independent colonist are dirty little peasants that are beneath them, even though they contribute heavily to Asari expansion and wealth. The inner core colonies near Thessia live rather lavished lives off the backbreaking labor of farming and mining colonies like Esan. Yet, they are treated like second class citizens and are sneered at by the asari from those inner colony worlds.

It's why Lidalo likes going to Omega, even if they treat you like dirt, at least they don't act all high and mighty about. Sure they'll use their power and influence to take what they want, but they don't pretend to be perfect, all powerful, superior beings that were born better than you. Everyone in the Terminus systems knows that whoever has the most fire power rules and that it can change at any moment. Countless warlords have ruled as the top criminal force in the Terminus, to only be replaced by another more powerful warlord down the line.

The short of it is that they are ruthless and cruel, but are real about who they are. They don't pretend to be friendly and corporative while stabbing you in the back. They'll just stab you and take your stuff, usually with a grin and laugh, but it's honest. Sure, Lidalo got screwed by a fixed fight, but that's expected on Omega.

That's not to say her people don't truly enjoy the adding of new species to the galactic community and maintaining peace. But it's mostly done out of her peoples' own over inflated ego and continued need to prove their superiority to the rest of the galaxy. It all adds to maintaining her peoples' guise as a 'noble race' that guides galactic civilization. There are plenty that actually believe in the whole "It is the Asari's mission to help the other species and ensure galactic peace.", but the higher echelon of the Republics are all about ensuring the Asari stay as the most advanced/powerful species in the galaxy.

It is why Lidalo joined up with the Esan colony group, even though they work to support the Republics, they don't officially work for them. That's why the colony life on Esan is so open and free of all the classism in typical asari society. Also, if they produce enough and become as profitable as Illium they can look to other clients and get the Republics to come to them for more. Getting them to cough up more credits or protection for Esan, which if the current negotiations going on are any indicator, will be soon. A select few have cut all ties to the Asari Republics and Esan is considering to do the same, threatening to do so if need be in the ongoing negotiations.

Lidalo doesn't really care about the politics of it all, but is concerned that with a steady supply of higher grade ships Esan won't need her salvage anymore. All the more the reason to quickly snag this new ship salvage, even though it's coming from outside the Farthar system in a direction devoid of any nearby systems or relays. Maybe a failed relay jump that dropped them out in the middle of transit to the Omega relay. Considering the unfamiliar alien signal coming from the distressed vessel, it's probably from a new space flight species that hasn't mastered the usage of the relay network.

The bright side of that is that the ship will most likely be intact with minimal damage to its drive core, but the crew will most likely still be alive. She'll miss out on the salvage, but the Republics tend to offer up a nice finders fee for giving them the discovery of a new species. Though Esan's governor will most likely take the credit for finding them, Lidalo will be given some hush credits and if she plays her cards right, an exclusive salvaging contract.

So either or is ok, but then there is the off chance that this is a trap. Several criminal groups are known to set-up fake distress beacons out in the middle of nowhere to lure unsuspecting ships into a trap. Taking their ship and either killing the crew or capturing them to sell into slavery. With practically nothing left in her accounts, Lidalo is going to have to take that risk and hopes it all works out for the better.

A signal goes off on her console, informing her that her vessel is exiting FTL near the distress signal. In a flash her freighter appears out of FTL a few thousand kilometers away from the unknown crippled vessel. Typing in a series of commands into her console a deep scan of the unknown vessel is performed by small probes released from her freighter's cargo bay. Two orb like probes the size of a person zips towards the half of Forward Unto Dawn and begins scanning the wreckage.

Up on Lidalo's main screen a 3D image of the vessel is constructed from her probes' scans while she focuses on her ships sensor. She's already had her ship's VI maneuver her ship for a quick FTL jump, prepared to quickly flee upon picking up any other vessels in the area. The Ditrinis isn't capable of combat, fitted with basic kinetic barriers and defensive laser systems, she can only tow wrecks for salvage.

The Ditrinis has towing cables that attaches to the outer hull of other vessels and releases a fine-tuned mass effect field that allows her to haul wrecks that are several times the size of her own. It allows Lidalo to run a side business of towing broke down ships back to a nearby port for repair. Not nearly as lucrative as salvaging entire ships for resell or breaking them down for parts, but it's a steadier stream of income. Though she only takes tow jobs from trusted sources like independent colonies or council/government/civilian vessels. She'll never tow an unknown vessel or criminal group. Answering those calls is a good way to end up dead or enslaved.

Seeing no abnormalities or other signals appear on her sensors, Lidalo switches her attention to the 3D hologram of her new salvage. It appears to be only the aft half a ship(aft of the old UNSC Forward Unto Dawn), as if something tore it in half and tossed it away from the forward half. The wider blocky half with thrusters seems to be narrowing towards the missing forward half. The part that got her attention are all the armaments it has. Add in the thick armor to its hull and she can assume that it might have been a military vessel-a cruiser based off of its size-that got destroyed and drifted away from its destroyed half.

Seeing as it's just half a ship, she'll be scrapping it for parts and raw materials. All the missiles, lasers, and even the ship's functioning weapons systems will sell for a much higher price than just the mostly titanium vessel. In the Terminus, even outdated or partially damaged military armaments sell for a high price. Newly forming gangs or independent colonies will pay good credits for them. So, even if Esan's EDF doesn't want them, there are plenty of others on Omega that will.

With the scan done, Lidalo also takes notice of a partially functioning unknown type of fusion power coming from what she can only assume to be the ship's power core. The readings are fairly high and suggest that whatever type of fusion that powers the ship is unlike any of the fusion reactors modern ships tend to use. That'll be yet another boon to her find. New advanced technology is highly sought after and will sell for an enormous amount of credits. Well, based off the scans, this alien fusion reactor is generating even more power than modern cruisers, even though it's only working at partial capacity.

"Thank the goddess.", Lidalo utters out in a joyful sigh as no life signs are detected. With no surviving members of its crew, Lidalo can salvage the vessel anyway she chooses. Knowing that even if Esan doesn't want the ship's weapons, they'll jump at the chance to get their hands on its fusion reactor. Reverse-engineering its design and creating a more powerful fusion reactor will skyrocket Esan's wealth, or the Asari Republics. If they don't think their scientists can do it they'll sell the reactor to the Republics for more protection and higher rates on their goods.

Lidalo won't get even a fraction of what they'll make from the reactor, but it'll be more than enough to recoup her losses. Besides, she doesn't have the resources or expertise to reverse-engineer the tech and sell it on the market. She'd be killed trying out in here in the Terminus systems, having to find investors and skilled scientists would make her an easy mark. They'd just kill her and take the reactor for themselves, less people to split the profits with. She's better off making quick safe credits than risking it all for a fortune. Maybe she would have in her maiden years, but she knows now that the risks are too high.

Activating her towing cables' mass effect fields, surrounding the alien vessel in a protective field that lowers its mass, she then proceeds to plug in the navigation coordinates to Esan. With tech this advanced, it's safer for her to sell it to her trusted sources on Esan than risk the seeder ones on Omega. Besides, Esan is closer and she feels like messaging her friend for a celebration at a local club. Hopefully ending in her bedroom for a more private celebration.

Once her vectors are confirmed, the probes safely stowed away, and double checking the towing lines to make sure the salvage is secured, Lidalo jumps to FTL towards Esan. Things are finally starting to look up for her again. Getting out of her chair to stretch, Lidalo leaves the piloting to the VI and decides to shower before taking a nap. It's several hours before the Ditrinis makes it to Esan at standard light and with no other crewmembers and automated systems running most of the ship-saves her from splitting her profits with others, she'll just sleep the time away. She's been on edge since losing her nest egg on Omega and hasn't been able to sleep very well for the past several cycles.

---

Aft section of Forward Unto Dawn, 2563 AD

Inside one of the cryo chambers is the now thawing Master Chief, Cortana has begun waking her human host after detecting the scan. Being a SAM-even a smart AI SAM-Cortana ended up going into cryo-sleep along with John, leaving only the basic functions of her programming active. Thus keeping a watchful eye on John's vitals and keeping contact with the distress beacon encase she is needed.

Upon detecting the alien scan and attachment to the hull, a subroutine woke Cortana from her sleep. Unlike organics, AI don't need anytime to adjust from cryo-sleep, so she was able to immediately react to the foreign presence. Cortana began to wake Master Chief while subtly hacking the alien intelligence that was scanning Forward Unto Dawn. Even though the alien intelligence was completely unfamiliar to her, its processing speed and abilities were so pitiful-even worse than the dumbest of dumb AIs-she was easily able to sneak into the alien's ship systems.

In the time it took for Cortana to search the unknown vessel's systems, find its codex-filled with basic information on all known aliens and their languages, a star map, and info on the unknown dark energy readings called element zero, John was just starting to wake.

"John. John. Wake up John! Chief! You need to wake up now!", yelling at him while increasing his bodies adrenaline and boosting his neurotransmitters to get him moving.

John replies groggily, "Cortana? What is it? Are we being rescued?", the fog on his mind and stiffness of his body quickly fading thanks to her.

"Not exactly John."

"Then why did you wake me?"

"An unknown alien vessel has scanned us and is currently towing the Forward Unto Dawn to a nearby system. I figured it was best to wake you before we arrived at these alien's home. But if you're still tired I can put you back into cryo and leave things to chance.", she sarcastically replied.

"No. I'd rather not risk it. What do you mean by unknown alien vessel? Are we dealing with a new Covenant design or a Forerunner ship?"

"From what I can gather from their ship's systems and a pitiful AI, if you could even call it that, it's not apart of the Covenant. The ship design and language is unlike any I've encountered from the Covenant or Forerunners.", Cortana answers as Master Chief pulls the emergency release valve and floats out of the cryo chamber.

"Uhgg. What's this ringing my head?", a sudden sense of vertigo and humming like thump hitting his skull.

"It's a side effect from what the alien codex, like a lexicon and data module, refers to as a mass effect field. The ship and the towing cable seem to use element zero-a form of dark energy I've never encountered before-to lower the mass of objects within a field to allow for a type of FTL travel. Currently all of the mass on the Forward Unto Dawn, including us, is being lowered to an unimaginable degree."

Using his suits thrusters and repulsors to maneuver himself to the ground, where he magnetically attaches his feet, he responds, "Is that something to be concerned about?"

"No Chief. Besides the uncomfortable feeling and lower mass, there is nothing wrong with your body. I'd never let anything hurt you as long as I can stop it."

"I take it that means you have control of the alien ship and can power down these mass effect fields when ever you want to."

"Yes John. Like I said before, these alien's intelligence is pitiful and taking over the ship's systems was easy. Honestly, a civilian dumb AI could have beaten this poor excuse of an intelligence and I'm somewhat hurt that you still doubt my abilities.", mocking hurt in her tone.

"Never even crossed my mind Cortana."

With a playful tone she replies, "Oh, I know everything that crosses your mind John. Even the little fantasies you'd rather keep to yourself. Like the one with you and Kelly in the-"

"Cortana. The alien ship that captured the Forward Unto Dawn and our destination takes precedence.", John admonished her, having long since gotten use to Cortana's teasing over the years.

"Relax Chief. You know I can multitask like no other and thus, I have the situation under control."

"Of course, but I'd rather focus on our current situation. I can't multitask like you can."

"I know, I know. You'd be helpless without me."

"Cortana."

"Ok. I'll slow down to make things easier for you. The ship's FTL systems is completely different than our own and I can't drop us out of FTL while the flight controls are locked."

"Different? How is it different? Are we not in slipspace?"

"Exactly John. The vessel doesn't have a slipspace drive and can't move through dimensional space. It uses the mass effect fields to move through space by lowering the ships mass to a point where velocities faster than the speed of light are possible. There's a drive core filled with dark energy that when exposed to electric currents generate those fields."

"Can't you just cut power to the drive core to stop the fields and exit us out of FTL?"

"In theory yes. But doing so in the middle of FTL could cause a sudden shift in mass and speed so extreme that the ship and everything effected by fields could be torn to pieces. Which that constant ringing you feel means us as well."

"Ok. Being torn to pieces is not an option. So can we at least board the alien ship and take it over?"

"Not while in FTL I'm afraid. There's a second field surrounding the Forward Unto Dawn that is keeping us trapped inside while simultaneously lowering our mass as the alien vessel pulls us along."

"Then lower just the second field trapping us and I'll board the vessel pulling the Dawn."

Cortana admonishes, "The half of Forward Unto Dawn is nearly twice the mass of the ship pulling us. Dropping the field would cause the cables to snap, possibly damaging the alien vessel, and we-along with the Dawn- would fall out of the mass effect field surrounding us."

"Then we'd be torn to pieces as our mass and speed would suddenly change at a rapid pace from being flung out of FTL speeds. Killing us in the process." John finished.

"That's not entirely accurate, but close enough to what would happen. Unfortunately, as long we can't reach the controls of the ship towing us we can't escape yet."

"Isn't there something we can do to unlock the controls from here?"

"I'm afraid not Chief. The vessel has a built in safety feature to prevent theft and sabotage by locking the controls and flight plans when the owner is not at the helm. Without their biometrics and passcode even I can't hack in."

"Something you can't hack your way into? That's a first.", his tone a bit disbelieving.

"Hey! It's not my fault. Whoever built this ship had the foresight to hardwire their controls so only manual access can effect the ships flight systems. Not even a million AIs like me could take full control of this vessel wirelessly. Hell! Even Covenant ships required you plugging me into a hardwired connection point aboard their ships. And I'd still need to be directly connected to the bridge to take control of their ships."

"Relax Cortana. I was just joking. I know we need to be on the ship's bridge for you to take it. It's just that we can't get to the ship's bridge while in FTL, but the only way to get out of FTL without killing us is to get to the bridge."

"Oh great. A paradox. Just what we need.", Cortana's tone laced with sarcasm.

Master Chief sighs before suggesting, "We'll just have to wait until the ship reaches its destination, wherever that may be, and drops out of FTL. Then you take down the field holding the Dawn and we'll commandeer the vessel. From there we can figure out a way home."

"So we're winging it again huh? Ah well. It has worked for us before and with your luck we just might pull it off.", less sarcasm in her voice, but still present.

Experience had proven that even though Master Chief's luck helps them survive, it first makes things much worse. Usually by large forces of aliens or mechanical robots-sentinels mostly-trying to kill them as they escape while blowing something up-that also nearly kills them. Sometimes it is hard to tell if his luck is good or bad. After all, none of the other Spartans and their SAMs end up doing even half the things they have. Then again, most of them are dead, so it must be good. Right?

On that note, Cortana responds, "I'll run a full diagnostic work up on your suit and scan for a working charge station to replenish its arc reactor. One moment. All systems functional. Arc reactor down to 13.29%. Head to the second door east of our position and go right down the corridor. I'll mark a nav point on your HUD and highlight the fastest route to the charge station."

"On it"

---

EDF Teukria Orbiting Esan, Farthar System, Omega Nebula, 1913 CE (Several hours later)

Captain Jonix D'anis is an asari with dark purple skin, white facial markings, commando leathers, and a few decades away from entering her matriarch stage. She's a 'retried' navy captain that use to run patrols along the edges of asari space. That was until she was reassigned to officially retire and join an independent colony effort in the Terminus systems as its security detail.

It didn't surprise her she was chosen to be apart of an independent colonization effort in the Terminus systems. She's got over 400 years of experience in the Navy and has fought in multiple skirmishes against various criminal elements dumb enough to attack asari space. Usually Navy officers of her skill and experience are kept closer to Thessia, but she had a bad habit of arguing with her superiors. Jonix also never played the political game of kissing the right matriarchal ass to get ahead.

Thus she had just the right amount of ability and lack of connections to be an ideal candidate for heading up a defense force for an independent colony. Even though she has been repeatedly reprimanded for insubordination, it has always been about the ineffective manner in which the Republics guard their smaller colonies. She actually got into a screaming match with a rear admiral about allocating more naval power to their colonies along the Attican Traverse. That they rely too heavily on the Turian Fleet to protect Council Space and often leave their smaller-less producing-colonies vulnerable to repeated attack.

Jonix was just accused of being too much like her Turian father and should leave the decision making to the Matriarchs. After all, every asari citizen voted for the current leaders in charge of their e-democracy, including those from the smaller colonies. As if the mass majority could ever be wrong or buy into the lies of a politician needing their vote.

Admittedly she does tend to think along the lines of a Turian, her father would always talk about the ever increasing size of council space and how the Treaty of Farixen prevented the Turian Navy to grow proportionately with it. She can still remember his rants of how there would be too many colonies and not enough fleet to protect them. Leaving the less valuable colonies to defend for themselves as they would be preyed upon by the criminal groups of the Terminus systems.

Don't even get her started on how her father would go off on how stupid the Council was in choosing to ignore the Terminus systems. Letting them continue to grow and become bolder in attacking the Traverse. That it would only be a matter of time before the Terminus grew too big to suppress and would eventually breakout into a full scale Galactic War. Sure, they'd be able to keep them in check for the next couple of centuries, even a full asari lifetime, but it won't last when the council restricts the Turian Navy to simply maintaining its current size instead of building it up as they grow.

When the Terminus has a large enough force and the right leaders, either agreeing to work together or one taking control of them all, they'll invade council space. That is where her biggest point of contention came from, that the Asari Navy should be increasing its size to better protect Asari and Council space. But too many Matriarchs and Salarian Dalatrasses don't want to waste their resources while allowing the Turian Navy to grow in size. They claim that increased military presence only increases the eventuality of war, not preventing it.

Jonix would have believed that if it wasn't for the continued attacks on small colonies by, not just criminal groups like pirates and mercs, but by the Batarian Hegemony. They are a minor council race-they don't hold a seat on the Council-that continuously attacks the other ones. The largest, but nowhere the most recent, attack was when a Batarian fleet bombarded the salarian colony world of Mannovai. The Batarian Hegemony actually attacked an established council races' colony and all they got was a slap on the wrists in the form of fines and trade penalties.

The Turian Hierarchy wanted to respond with military deployment and war. Stating that the Hegemony has repeatedly proven themselves to be hostile to their fellow council races and unfit to be apart of the galactic community. That if they don't at least make the Hegemony wary of attacking them they will continue to do so. Unfortunately her people's unwillingness and the salarian's fear of war prevented the Turian Hierarchy from putting the Batarian Hegemony in check. The footage of that Council meeting shows the furious face of the Turian councilor and the smug face of the Batarian ambassador.

Jonix and several other military officers that have to deal with the Hegemony's attacks realize that moment was when the Batarian Hegemony knew they could do whatever they wanted-to a limit. They only attack colonies in the Terminus systems or act through slavers to hit council colonies in the Traverse. To be honest, she's more afraid of a batarian fleet attacking Esan than any Terminus group. They can and have handled pirate gangs and mercenary groups before, but a military action from a species' fleet like the batarians would be too much for any independent colony to handle. Not even the mass majority of small to moderate colonies inside Council Space could survive such an attack. Only the threat of full military action from the Council Fleet and Turian Heirarchy keep them from doing so.

Jonix is going over her scouts' reports on any activity in and round their system, sipping a hot cup of Thessian tea. The bluish liquid has a calming aroma that helps her get through reading the overly detailed reports that boils down to no activity detected. Most people would just skim through them and get to the end where it actually says no activity detected, but Jonix knows better. The boring routine tends to make even the most diligent individuals sloppy, thus she makes sure to thoroughly read every little detail in the reports. The tiniest reading that could hint at something more, an anomalous signal, or even suspect trade vessels arrival and departures from their system.

Captain Jonix double checks them all and even assigns a small watch group to follow up on the ones that don't feel right to her. Most of those come from the reports around Omega, a bit of justified paranoia about the cesspool of a station. The one that gets her immediate attention is the increased number of Batarian slaver/drug runner vessels using the relay. Not that their presence around Omega is odd, it's actually typical for their types, but the rapid increase of activity over the week is. Nearly a 300% increase in Batarian 'criminal'-the same way Esan is an 'independent' asari colony-vessels is too out of place.

The scout simply suggests in their report that the Hegemony's criminal groups most likely made a huge score or are about to. Increased readiness is advised, but no real threat to the colony is believed. Even all the Batarian gangs combined wouldn't have enough Naval power to take Esan. But the creeping feeling in Jonix's gut tells her otherwise. This seems like a probing action before full deployment of their main forces to gage her response time and patrol formations. Just because the batarians are crude doesn't mean they are stupid.

Jonix quickly curses before tossing her cup of tea aside and pulls up a previous report from a few days ago. Their was an incident where a small drug runner's vessel entered the system and fled once detecting the small fleet of ships around Esan. She had written it off as a new drug runner not familiar with Esan's defenses thinking they could sneak in and start up a drug operation on Esan. Several other small time start-ups had made the same mistake before over the past century, but this last one is nagging at her.

Finding the report, her heart sank as the report confirmed that the drug runner was apart of an unaffiliated Batarian gang. A typical Batarian black op ploy when doing a work up on a potential target, they've always hid their underhanded actions through criminal groups. Honestly, most Batarian slaver/pirate/mercenary groups are actually black op strike teams working for the Hegemony.

With that realization, Jonix activated her Omni-tool while rushing to the elevator, heading to the CIC, barking out orders, "Mobilize the fleet! Ready all defenses and call up the militia! Begin evacuating civilians to the mines! Prepare for system wide invasion!"

Just as the order was given and the elevator door closed, an entire Batarian fleet dropped out of FTL in the system, 10,000 kilometers outside their formation. The dreadnought had an escort of 20 cruisers; 160 frigates; and 320 corvettes. They were moving in a V-formation with their dreadnought falling back into the rear, lining up their shots with Esan's defense vessels.

The elevator shook terribly as round after round of 20 kilo slugs slammed into their ship's kinetic barriers, the motion dampeners not being able to fully compensate for the force of the Batarian's attack. Jonix was forced to hold on to the walls and desperately try and stay upright as she was violently thrown around. Mercifully the elevator opened up after a few seconds.

Unfortunately, the scene before her was a nightmare. Sparks and fire were erupting from multiple consoles, with various members of her bride crew laying dead on the ground or hunched over in their chairs. One especially large explosion shook the entire ship, tossing Jonix to the ground as she approached the main holo screen.

Screams of injured and frightened asari filled the recycled air along with electrical shortages and explosions. Jonix's vision was blurry and her head throbbed, having collided head first with the safety railing surrounding the holo console. Blood was seeping down her fringe from an open gash and smoke started filling her lungs with the wretched stench of burning flesh and metal.

Coughing to clear her lungs and placing a hand to her gash, Jonix demands, "Status report!"

She's desperately trying to control the chaos around her, as she's been trained to do and has done in the past. The first step is getting her crew to focus on the task at hand and get them to fall in line with their duties. Pushing aside the death and carnage surrounding them.

Various crew members with functioning consoles answer out:

"Kinetic Barriers are down!"

"Multiple hull breaches!"

"Life support is critical!"

"Drive core failure imminent!"

"Main power is gone and reserves are falling fast!"

"Main cannon is nonfunctional!"

"I'm not getting any responses from any of the other decks!"

All that information was just white noise to Jonix as she saw the Batarian fleet on the holo console. Esan's entire defense fleet was already in pieces and her vessel was about to join them in the void. All she could mutter out in response was, "Goddess." right before their entire bridge was completely consumed in fire. The Batarian Dreadnought had scored a direct hit on their bow and without its barriers, the Teurika simply exploded into pieces.

In less than a minute, the entire Esan Deffense Fleet protecting Esan fell to the Batarian fleet. The EDF had kept every major merc and pirate gang in the Terminus from even attempting to hit Esan for over a hundred years. Yet, a single military fleet was able to crush them before they could even respond to their presence.

---

Salvage vessel Ditrinis, Fathar system, Omega Nebula, 1913 C.E.

Lidalo was rudely awoken by the alarms blaring, having overslept she missed the Ditrinis dropping out of FTL near Esan. That damn buggy VI should have woken her up before entering the system. Lidalo swears that she's going to replace it as soon as she gets paid this time.

"Silence the alarms Tala! It's just the EDF Navy reacting to our presence because you forgot to wake me before entering the system! Again!", Lidalo irritably yelled out, a migraine starting form from the blaring alarms.

Lidalo's orders went unanswered as the alarms kept on screeching, to her continued discomfort and building rage. The VI must have crashed or has a bug in the software for no VI disobeys its owners commands. They can't even conceive the thought of disobeying an organics' orders if they are authorized to give it said commands. Unless it went rogue due to a virus or degraded software. Tala is a century old VI and has been starting to have trouble with its updated software and run times.

"Damn piece of junk. I'm so deleting you and upgrading to newer model VI as soon as we touch down on Esan. You here me Tala! Shut off the alarms now or your virtual ass is going to be virtual dust!", Taping away at her Omni-tool to try and patch into the ship's systems directly.

The alarms suddenly go quiet, getting Lidalo to say, "About time Tala. I feel like my fringe was going to exploded."

Instead of the emotionless simulated asari voice she programed Tala with, an unfamiliar voice filled with snark responded, "Sorry but Tala is already virtual dust as you put it Liadlo M' Loyma. Did I pronounce that right? Your language is new to me and even though your codex gave me the correct translation software I've never spoken it before."

"W-what?! Who are you and how did you get in my ship?!", Lidalo asked out in a mix of rage and fear.

"I'm Cortana and what do mean how? You brought me on board when you decided to snatch up my ship. I don't like being kidnapped miss Loyma. The courteous thing to do when responding to a distress signal is to rescue the endangered crew. Not take them for a ride without so much as a how do you do.", Cortana answered playfully.

Goddess! There were aliens on board that torn apart ship! But her scans didn't show any life signs. Damn Tala! Lidalo really should have replaced it years ago. Now her cabin's door won't open and none of her Omni-tool's override codes are working.

Explaining herself, Lidalo replies, "Look, whatever you are, I didn't mean to kidnap you. My damn VI Tala must have failed to pick up your life signs. That's all. So just let me out and we can discuss this like rational beings."

Cortana responds, "Relax. I have every intention of letting you out. After all, I need you to physically unlock the ship's main systems so I can get John and myself on board. Then we can have that nice civilized chat you want. Besides, it wasn't Tala's fault she didn't pick up John's life signature. We were in cryosleep awaiting rescue. No body heat and John's vitals were practically nonexistent."

Lidalo asks in confusion, "Wait. You're not already on board? But? How are you-"

"Simple really. Your VI as you put it, was extremely weak and boarder line useless in stopping me from hacking my way into your ship's systems. Though I do have to give you some credit for hard locking most of this ship's primary systems. Otherwise this conversation would be happening at gun point as you explained your actions to us in person.", Cortana answered.

Lidalo took up a defensive posture as her biotics flared around, "And what if I refuse to let you hold me at gun point?! Like you said, you're not on board yet. So I highly recommend that you start asking nicely if want me to let you aboard. I can just rip the door open with my biotics and destroy your junkier of a ship with my ship's weapon systems.", her tone getting dangerous.

"Hmm. You're manipulating dark energy within your body. That must give you quite the edge in combat. But, still a pointless endeavor on your end. I can simply shit down your ship's main power and life support. Then you'll simply freeze or suffocate to death and then we'll just force our way in. Honestly, if it wasn't for first contact protocol and John's insistence I would have already done just that. Oh! And by the way, I already control your ship's meager weapon systems.", Cortana's cold calculated tone echoing around Lidalo.

Cortana has never taking kindly to anyone that'd threaten John and by extension, herself. After all, if John dies then so will she. Plus after all these years together fighting against the Covenant, Flood, and rogue AI Forerunners she has come to really care for him.

Lidalo deflates, her biotics dissipating as she replies in defeat, "Fine. You win. Just open up the door and I'll unlock the ship's main systems."

Cortana smugly responds, "See. That wasn't so hard. I'll-Oh no! John!" a sudden deafening explosion roars and the enter ship shakes something terrible.

A Batarian frigate just blasted the rear of the Ditrinis with a MAC(Mass Accelerator Cannon) round as it approached. The towing cables snapped as the Dawn was flung away from the Ditrinis, disabling it's drive core in the process. Some of its atmosphere rushed out from the destroyed hull until the emergency bulk heads auto drop to seal the leaks and stop the decompression of the ship.

The main light blinks out, darkening Lidalo's cabin before emergency lighting kicks, giving it an ominous low red glow. Lidalo herself is climbing back out of her bed, having been tossed back into it from the force of the explosion. A lucky break that doesn't really amount to much when her vessel has just been crippled. She knows that the EDF will fire on any unscheduled arrival in the system, but they know her ship's signature. As a salvager her arrival times are sometimes off, but that's something they've long since gotten use to.

Why have they suddenly fired on her now? They wouldn't. Unless that Cortana alien wasn't responding to their hails. They might have assumed that the Ditrinis was captured and is being used to sneak criminals onto Esan. So they disabled her ship and will board to assess the situation. Lidalo doesn't know if she should be happy that they arrived to help or pissed off that they just wrecked her means of making a living.

Her assumptions about commandos boarding the Ditrinis are confirmed when she hears and feels the thud as a docking tube connects to her ship. Soon she'll have to explain everything to a squad of armed asari commandos, but at least she's no longer under the threat of an unknown alien that hacked its way into her ship's systems. Lidalo can hear the thudding foot falls of boots as they approach her cabin's door.

Not wanting them to torch their way through her door, seeing as it won't open while on emergency power, she moves to pull the emergency release. She slides back a panel to the right of the door to reveal a handle that's in the up lock position.

Not wanting to be shot by surprised commandos on the other side of the door, Lidalo shouts out, "Stand back! I'm going to open up the door! Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!", pulling the handle down to release the magnetic lock holding the door shut.

With her arms already raised, Lidalo steps out while saying, "See. I can explain why-", her throat locks up as her breath catches in her lungs.

Instead of a bunch of leather clad asari there are a dozen Batarian soldiers with riffles pointed at her.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? An asari on her way home. Heh heh. Looks like we lucked out this time.", a rough deep guttery voice let out.

Another Batarian soldier comments, "That we did sir. A real fine one at that."

"And here I thought that we'd miss out on the perks of hitting an asari colony when we were put on patrol duty.", several Batarian soldiers joining in on a dark chuckle.

"Hey now! Officers go first. You grunts will have to wait your turn.", the squad's commanding officer ordered, his sharp needle like teeth in full view as his grin nearly split his face.

Lidalo knew exactly what was awaiting her. A bunch of Batarians taking turns with her at gun point. She doesn't have long to act. Either she unleashes a powerful shockwave and dies fighting them, or simply lets them drag her back to her bed and tries to live by not resisting. Seeing as they are just low ranking soldiers of their caste system they can't afford slaves, so this is their only chance to play with an asari. One they won't let pass up.

From what they said, Lidalo can't hope for any EDF forces to rescue her. If they are patrolling Esan's system, then they've already crushed the EDF's Navy. Based off their armor, Batarian military standard issue with correct and in full display markings, the Batarian Hegemony just annexed Esan. And seeing as this is the Terminus Systems she can't hope for a righteous individual to just appear and save her.

As the Batarian officer holsters his riffle onto his back and moves to enjoy himself, Lidalo tenses as she prepares to unleash every bit of biotic power she has. Long ago she had decided to fight to the death than be some Batarian's play thing. Having seen so many of her kind being thrust in such horrid bondage out in the Terminus systems. Her entire body flares with dark energy, purple hues of rippling energy surrounding her as she moves to lunch a wide spread shockwave.

The Batarian officers four eyes widen as Lidalo's right hand swings up ward(kind of in a bowling motion), surprised that the frightened asari that appeared behind the door was actually putting up a fight. So engrossed in getting to have some fun he forgot to drug her or at least put a biotic dampening collar on her first. As a freight train of dark energy washes over him and his men attempting to shoot her, Lidalo jumps backward to try an find cover.

The squad of armed soldiers are tossed around like rag dolls as they are hit by an unstoppable force of dark energy, slamming them into any nearby surface. The sounds of their hard suits hitting metal reverberates, but not nearly as satisfying as the crunch from the officers neck cracking as his unprotected head slams into the ceiling. The sudden noises get the second squad of Batarian soldiers near the flight controls to whip around in Lidalo's direction, their weapons raised.

"Bahak! Bahak!" they scream while unleashing a hellstorm of grain sized tungsten rounds at the scampering asari.

Lidalo just barely made it behind a partitioned wall, a few rounds bouncing off her biotic barrier as she desperately dragged her self into cover. She's leaning against the walls edge waiting the couple of seconds she need before firing another biotic attack. Erecting a barrier and unleashing a shockwave simultaneously pushed her abilities and extended her cool-down time.

Lidalo's no commando, but it's apart of basic asari education to train their biotic abilities. She did so well in school that the military wanted to recruit her, but having just hit her maiden stage she refused. Wanting the usual time maidens get to explore and mature in the galaxy for a few centuries. By time she had her fun dancing in clubs and mating with various species she had found her passion for salvaging and never enlisted.

Lidalo could hear a break in the fire and peered out to see them slowly advancing while spreading out, not wanting to get taken out like the first squad. Though, several of them are already getting back up and moving back to let their shields recover. Not wanting them to get that time, Lidalo throws a singularity into the middle of their fleeing formation. The unshielded survivors of squad one start screaming as they are helplessly lifted into the air and swung around the swirling ball of gravity. But that was just the setup, Lidalo finishes with a warp that collides with the dense gravitational dark energy, causing a biotic explosion. Thus, killing the four helpless fools of the first squad.

Catching her breath safely behind the wall, Lidao waits to unleash her next attack. Unfortunately, the second squad of soldiers aren't willing to give her that time. One of them primes a grenade and tosses it into the cabin near the wall Lidalo is using for cover. Seeing the dusk shaped charge land to her left, she quickly runs to the other side of the room and leaps to get behind her bed. Hoping that the thick metal frame can shield her from the blast.

The explosion from the grenade slammed Lidalo's careening body into the wall, overshooting her target. Her barrier was able to absorb enough of the kinetic energy to save her life, but her legs received some minor burns and shrapnel damage. Plus the collision with the thick metal hull cracked her ribs and forced all the air out of her lungs. Leaving her gasping for the smoke laced air as she tries picking herself up off the ground, only making it to her hands and knees.

Every breath of air feels like someone is jabbing a knife into her side. Lidalo's arms are straining just to hold her and her legs burn something fierce. A small pool of purple blood is collecting around her feet from the deep gashes all along the soles her feet and calves. Even with the ringing bouncing around in her head from the explosion, Lidalo can pick up the distressing sound of heavy booted foot falls.

The second squad of Batarian soldiers are moving in to finish her off. Or, at least that's what she hopes they're planning to do with her. The alternative isn't something she wants to contemplate. Yet, as the numerous foot falls get closer, she can't help but be frightened by the prospect of those four eyed bastards roughly, and presumably as painful as possible, use her for their pleasures. In her weakened state she doubts she'll even be able to put up even the appearance of a struggle.

Hot tears start pouring down her face as she starts giving into the inevitable that awaits her. Lidalo had always assumed she'd be the type of person to face her death without fear or any tears. Unfortunately, it's not something anyone can know until they are actually facing it. It'd be easier if she didn't have face the facts that she'll most likely be debased and violated repeatedly before finally dying.

Men of the other races are fortunate that they never have to worry about that particular fear, unlike the females of their races and her entire people. The added threat that every women faces in both everyday life and in combat that no man even conceives as a possibility.

And now...it's most likely what she'll be forced to endure before they do her the courtesy of putting a bullet in her skull. The thought of biting off her own tongue crosses her mind as she can practically feel them standing over her. Not wanting to give the Batarian bastards the opportunity.

Before Lidalo can decide weather or not to go through with ending her own life, a beam of blue energy liquefies one of the Batarian soldier's head. Before anyone can respond to the new threat a barrage of rapid fire rounds of energy rip apart the remaining batarians. Their kinetic barrier only offering up a slight resistance before giving way to the heated energy rounds coming from the mini-gun mounted on an eight foot metal man's left shoulder(Think War Machine in Spartan colors and helmet).

Shocked at the merciless display of overwhelming firepower the metal behemoth unleased upon the Batarian troopers, Lidalo just collapses against the wall she had been thrown against. The right side of her head bangs against the metal wall, keeping her somewhat upright, as she stairs at the hole ridden bodies of her would-be murders. A mixture of disbelief and relief fill Lidalo at the scene sprayed around her cabin. Most would be too disgusted by the gory sight, but having been facing much worse herself, Lidalo has no sympathy for the butchered aliens.

"Miss Loyma? I asked if you are alright? Is the translation software not working Cortana?", the metal man's voice booms out from it's visored helmet.

Lidalo reacts for the first time to her unknown savior by slightly rotation to face it, her back against the wall to keep her up.

Cortana chimes in over the ship's speakers, "The translation software is working just fine Master Chief. The alien, well this one is called an Asari if the codex I downloaded from this ship is correct, just seems to be in shock. Most likely from the grenade it took to its legs. Or did you miss that particular detail Chief?"

Seeing the purple liquid spilling out of the gashes on the alien's legs, Master Chief moves to kneel besides Lidalo, "That looks bad. Hold still. I have some Medi-foam(works like medi-gel from Mass Effect and applies like bio-foam from Halo). It should help with the pain and stop the bleeding.", having long since found out during the Human-Covenant War that Medi-foam works on all species, he doesn't hesitate to use it on Lidalo.

"Wait?! What-", is all Lidalo get out before the Medi-foam is sprayed from a cylinder in the alien's hand onto her legs. A stinging sensation catches her breath as the unknown substance makes contact with her wounds. Which is quickly replaced by a numbing sensation that cools her burning legs and alleviates her pain. As the foam conforms to her legs and solidifies, it is sanitizing, healing, and sealing the open gashes on her legs. Using up all the Medi-foam in the canister, Master Chief tosses its used remains to the side, slopping in a pool of blood and guts near a dead Batarian.

Liadlo sighs out in relief as the burning pain that's been coursing through her legs finally cease, allowing her to ask, "Are you the alien I accidently took for a ride?"

Cortana is the one to reply, "I thought that'd be obvious by now. But considering what you just went through I'll forgive your lack of attention in the matter."

John decides to be more vocal, "Enough with the banter Cortana. We need get moving before the alien vessel attached to this one realizes its men are down. We won't survive taking direct fire from its main cannon. We only just narrowly survived a glancing blow."

"Relax Chief. I've already patched into their communication and I'm sending them false reports that everything is under control. They think their soldiers here are still searching this ship.", Cortana responded.

Lidalo asks, "Wait. Where is this Cortana person at? Or is this chief person the one that's missing?", confused at hearing two voices but seeing only one being.

"We're both here. Cortana is my AI partner and is always with me. Now we need to get moving and secure the enemy's ship if we want to make it out of here alive.", Master Chief explained.

Lidalo replies in shock, "An AI! That's-Forget it. It's not important right now. We have bigger concerns at the moment. But I don't know why you'd need my help to take the Batarian's ship. Not that I'm not grateful for the rescue, but you can clearly handle things on your own.", pointing at the shredded remains splattered all about.

Cortana answers, "It's true that we can handle the combat on our own, but the Chief here didn't want to leave you behind. He's a softy sometimes. Plus your ship has been crippled so we can't use it and I figure that you'd be more familiar with the Batarian's technology. You can help us pilot their ship once we take it. Huh? I guess you are useful."

Master Chief adds, "With hundreds of these aliens' ships in the systems it's best if we leave as quickly as possible. First contact protocol doesn't fully cover this particular scenario, but I figure that you did technically save us. And seeing as the other aliens have proven to be hostile I'll take your side on this matter. Once we've secured their ship we'll leave the system and Cortana will use their communication systems to contact our species."

Cortana continues, "Hopefully we're not too far out and a HSA vessel can picks us up. We'll let you keep the Batarian ship once our ride arrives."

Lidalo replies, "That sounds all well and good, but what if you can't reach any of your kind? This the Terminus systems filled with independent colonies and criminal gangs. No one helps anybody out here with out getting something in return. Esan, the asari colony I live on, is currently under Batarian control now, so I can't give you shelter."

"Do you know of any non-hostile groups that could help us?", Master Chief asked.

Cortana is the one to answer, "Yes she can. Based off the codex from her ship there is a galactic community call the Citadel Council that deals with such diplomatic matters."

"Citadel Council?"

"They're a multi-species government that controls a portion of the galaxy and creates laws to maintain peace between various species. They're like a good version of the Covenant Chief."

Lidalo cuts in, "Yes. We can head to Citadel space and receive aid from their fleet. My people, the Asair, in particular will want to speak with you. The Republics and the Council love adding another species to the galactic community, so it should be safe for you there."

Master Chief comments, "They'll also help with rescuing your colony from these... what do you call them? Batarians? Right?"

"Yes. Ah. No. They are Batarians, but Esan is an independent colony in a section of space not under Citadel control. They won't risk war with the Terminus systems to rescue a colony that chose to live outside Citadel space and their laws. Which includes their protection. It's why the Batarian Hegemony attacked Esan. They can take our colony for themselves and our people as slaves without risking war with the Citadel.", Lidalo explained.

"Alright. It's decided then. Lets get moving. Can you stand?", the Chief responded. He'd be more sympathetic to the aliens' plight if it wasn't for the fact that time is a factor and that he's personally seen entire worlds glassed by the Covenant. It's hard to feel bad about an alien colony being taken by another species when he's spent decades fighting aliens trying to exterminate his entire race. They might not live well, but they won't be outright killed for simply existing like humanity was.

Lidalo is somewhat taken back by the alien's callous tone about her people's suffering, but realizes it's to be expected. Most aliens tend to lookout for themselves and whatever it is, it doesn't have any ties or responsibility to her people. Beside, it did just save her and is planning on helping her escape the Hegemony's annexing of the system. So, it's not entirely heartless.

Seeing the large armored alien's hand being offered to her, Lidalo takes it and struggles to get up. The burning sensation that had faded came back, at a much less intensity, making her waver as she stands.

"It might hurt, but I can stand. Lets get out of here before they figure out we're still alive.", Lidao grunts out.