Chapter 1
The Accident
Edge of Beta Centauri System
SSV Marathon Fields
Commander James Clark
"Is the Phase-Gate fully operational," James asked his tech officer who was typing away on his interface.
"Yes sir, feeding it data now, we can have the fleet jump through soon." He reported.
James sighed and slumped down in his chair hearing that, Rear-Admiral Grissom would be pleased which was a rare thing for the sullen man, the Marathon Fields was a Corvette serving in the Exploration Fleet lead by Grissom who was selected for his role in the Charon Relay first use and he had been selected for the honour of activating the Phase-Gate and of course would be the first vessel through.
Well technically they were the 1st Explatory Fleet, there were two smaller fleets out there activating Phase-Gates and finding worlds for humanity to colonise and relieve the pressure of overpopulation from Earth.
"Phase-Gate coming online in 3...2...1. Activated." The announcement made him look back out to where their Phase-Gate was in front of him.
It never grew old watching these ancient and powerful machines stir to life, first blue lines lit up on the outside and then the Element Zero core lit up and began to shine, the arms around the core began to whirl around. The Phase-Gate was now fully activated and it was one of the better ones which did not become encased in ice or serve as the core for a small planetoid which usually meant they had to wait for the debris field to clear before attempting a jump.
"Right Helmsman take us on through." He ordered. "Send a transmission to the Rear-Admiral we're heading through now."
"Message sent." His Commsman reported right after.
The Marathon Fields approached the Phase-Gate and he watched as the arms around the Element Zero core began to spin faster and faster as they got closer and the Helmsman fed all the data to the Phase-Gate he could see the bubble of Element Zero begin to surround the ship.
"Prepare for the jump in 3,2,1 go." He said and then there was a shudder and in the next moment they were propelled through what the egg-heads called a mass-free corridor, all he knew was that the Phase-Gate made them ship lighter than light and shot them like a bullet through space.
It was a relatively quick journey compared to the jump to get to the Beta Centauri system and within a few minutes, they were now the first humans to lay eyes upon the not yet designated cluster.
"Drift just over 3500k, all other systems normal." The Helmsman reported.
3500k out from the Phase-Gate, one of the biggest problems that the Systems Alliance had right now was the relative inaccuracy of using the Phase-Gates, they would always be a fair distance away from where they intended to arrive, it was one of the bigger problems they had and there were scientists on Earth and Mars walking around the clock to try and build more efficient Element Zero Ship Cores for better travel.
"Begining Scan Captain." His XO Lucian Brooke said while at his post.
"Do the usual, Minerals, Element Zero and artificial structures," James said as he took a look out the window.
The Systems Alliance was expanding faster and faster each month and there was a great hunger for more raw material, metal ore to be processed, Element Zero for making more ships and of course the most important garden worlds for colonisation, even now Earth was still very overcrowded and even after moving a portion of the population to Mars and the colonising fever that took over the population there was still far too many people on Earth.
"Initial Scans show a single star and 6 planets, looks like three gas giants and 2 terrestrial worlds along with a small micro-planet closest to the star." 2nd Lieutenant Cara Micheals reported.
They flew through space at a quick but cautious pace and soon passed one of the huge gas giants and one of the normal worlds, it had an atmosphere but was far too cold for human habitation being so far from the sun and seemed to have frozen seas.
"Captain I've got a strange reading on here," Lucian said with a tremble in his voice.
"What is it?" He asked and walked over to him, Lucian was usually unshakeable but to hear him now.
"Artificial structure drifting just out of the gravity of the 4th planet well, I'm picking up some strange radiation along with readings similar to nuclear fusion reactors," Lucian informed him.
"Aliens," James said in shock.
There had never been a single reported instance of sentient or sapient Aliens by the Systems Alliance, they had of course discovered animals and bacteria and the like from the various planets they scanned and colonised but there had never actually been any space-faring communicable species encountered.
"Think it's Prothean?" One of his Coms-Officers asked another.
"Who knows." Was the short reply from her co-worker.
James snapped out of his shock after that short exchange, "Take us in slowly and be prepared to make a sprint back to Gate." He ordered.
"Aye Aye Captain." Was his Helmsman's reply and thrusters went slower but they approached the unknown object.
They soon came up to the fourth planet in the system and it was a smaller gas planet that was bright green with what the scanners said was methane and a mix of others swirling similar to Neptune.
But then it came into view a huge hulking block-like ship it was more than twice the size of his own there were lights that he could see but apart from that, it was silent.
"What am I looking at here Lucian," James asked eyes wide.
"Scanners say it's 1,192 meters long and 293 meters wide, an estimated mass of around 100,000 tons and seems to be made of some altered form of titanium alloy. Can't detect any major power it seems dead in the water running on fumes." He reported quickly.
"Jesus Christ it's bigger than our dreadnoughts," Cara said also looking at it.
"Hey what's that on the side." Their second Helmsman Sarah Thompson pointed out.
There on the side of the ship was English words 'UNSC Shine Bright' written in white paint and standing out starkly from the dark titanium surrounding it.
"What the fuck." Lucian summed up everyone's thoughts perfectly.
"So you think that conspiracy's true then." The Helmsman asked.
"Fuck of Zhi there's no way we're the ancient aliens." Jake the other Helmsman said to his counterpart.
"I see some pretty big fucking proof here." He pointed out and James had to admit it was convincing seeing this monolithic ship just drifting in space.
"Return to the fleet ASAP, Grissom has to see this." He ordered.
"Are you sure Captain I mean look at this thing," Cara asked.
"Double Time people, I want the First Fleet in here ASAP." He said with far more authority and held back a smile as discipline kicked in and they went about their respective tasks.
James took a seat and began to contemplate just what they had found, He did not recognise the designation UNSC it seemed to come from something related to the United Nations but the actual UN had no true power in space and everyone would know if the UN commissioned a Ship especially one as large as that monster. Shine Bright was a strange name for a ship as well Alliance policy was usually based around battles, people and mountains not something more poetic like Shine Bright.
"Argh," He groaned this was not what he wanted from this expedition, it was supposed to be simple and clean get in the system identify anything the Alliance wanted and then report back.
This was so far out of his purview all he wanted to do was pass it up the line and let Grissom deal with it.
James did not know at the time that the discovery of this ship would bring forth a second great technological leap forward for humanity, the System Alliances would only go from strength to strength all from this single ship that should never have existed in this universe, to begin with.
And he would be regarded as a hero of humanity for simply doing his job and stumbling upon it and then kicking it up the ladder for others to deal with sometimes it does not take a great man to change the universe only a competent one.
Earlier Elsewhere
Newly Discovered System
UNSC Shine Bright
Captain Richard Kirk
"Have you got anything on your radar?" Captian Richard Kirk asked one of his crew.
"Nothing sir, it looks like we're the only ones out here." She replied looking carefully at her screen.
"Good, now we as asked and scout the system and check for any Covenant HVTS or planets with raw material." He commanded. "Take us in for deep scans."
"Aye Aye sir." His well-disciplined crew reacted and there was a muffled boom as the engines roared to life properly and began to propel the Marathon-class Heavy Cruiser through the void.
It was a mission specifically requested by HIGHCOM based on a report from ONI, he was specifically looking for Forerunner ruins after an ONI probe detected a transmission from within the system, though it was disguised as a mission for acquiring materials for the war effort which was technically true though not in the way his crew thought.
He and his ship had been chosen because he could keep his mouth shut and had the discipline to flee from the Covenant if there were any present. That was why only his ship had been dispatched if there were Covenant he could report back what they were doing and if it was an ambush then they only lose one ship to the bastards and of course there was no AI present either to make sure they would get nothing.
"Anything so far?" He asked looking over the huge gas giant they were passing.
"Detecting a massive amount of Hydrogen from the one we're passing now." Another scanning officer replied and sent the results directly to him.
He scrolled through the information and nodded. "Good now take us to the solid planets further in."
It was a silent journey as the various crewmembers reported to each other about what they were detecting
and of course keeping a vigilant eye on the radiation signals to make sure that no one else was jumping into the system from Slipspace.
"Sir detecting a faint signal, not on any records we have." His chief officer reported.
"Location." He said standing up and walking over to her.
"Third planet in the system, it seems to be coming from the magnetic north." She reported.
"Take us in carefully helmsman." He said and walked over to the battle screen." And keep an eye out for Covenant. We are on high alert now."
"Acknowledged." The Helmsman replied.
The next hour was tense and everyone was high strung, the Marines were on full alert along with the two squadrons of ODSTs that he had been assigned and even more importantly the 4 man squad of Spartan-IIIs that ONI had given him, though they had the mission to retrieve any Forerunner artefacts that were discovered they also had the secret orders to scuttle the Shine Bright and attempt infiltration of the nearest Covenant ship in case the worst happened.
"Anything more concrete?" He said while scrolling through the mission brief with his tablet, it was still amazing to him that all of human history along with a whole lot of other things could be stored on something that he could fit in the palm of his hand.
"Yes, sir it's alien in origin and it's not Covenant, but that's all we know." She said and looked to him for orders.
"Take us in and prepare the Pods for an orbital drop, I want an ODST and the Spartans ready for deployment directly on the source of the signal." He said and put the tablet down and turned to the empty battle display, all it was showing was his ship and the planet.
"Keep on the lookout for Covenant." He said though it was redundant since now the ship was on high alert and every single one of them were on duty by now.
"Sir Fireteam Bastion and Fireteam Spartan are ready for deployment." A Com-Officer reported.
"Good they'll deploy on my mark." He said and returned to his chair and picked up his Datatablet and began an internal countdown as the Shine Bright moved into position above where the signal was coming from.
"Okay ready and ..." Before he could finish an alarm blared throughout the entire ship.
"Slipspace Ruptures detected, Covenant Ships ID'd Captain." His XO Shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Prepare a blind jump Cole Protocol is in effect." He ordered right after.
"Preparing 20 seconds to jump." His Nav-Officer said.
"How long until Covenant contact?" This was the biggest question on everyone's minds.
"Approximately 30 seconds going by their current speed." Was the answer that made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
A 10-second gap was the difference between life and death especially when comparing the UNSC and Covenant ships, and when Richard looked back at his Tac-Screen he counted at least fifty Covie ships and there was a super-carrier leading the charge so to speak and he could see as the red dots began to multiply as the Xeno scum began to deploy their space-borne fighters.
"That signal from the planet has just changed, its frequency and power have increased. I can make out some sort of message." She said and then the entire ship seemed to shake and a voice echoed out.
"MENDICANT BIAS YOU SHALL WIN NAUGHT BUT BLOOD AND RUIN HERE!" The voice screamed out, it was not human but it was translated perfectly.
"Massive Slipspace rupture detected on the planet, we're 10 seconds out and this is gonna disrupt us." She shouted desperately.
"Keep on the course either we die to the Covenant or we risk dying to escape." Richard maintained and then the confirmation came that the Drive was ready.
"Enter Slipslace, randomized vector." His final command.
The planet began to crack and get sucked into a huge Slipspace rupture that erupted from within itself, the last thing Richard saw was the mantle and core become consumed just as they entered into the same dimension.
The UNSC Marathon-Class Cruiser Shine Bright would be considered lost with all hands by UNSC HIGHCOM, ONI would later send a Prowler into the system only to discover a destroyed planet and a Covenant Fleet picking at what was left.
The true fate of the Shine Bright would never be discovered in this universe instead they would serve as a great boon to their counterparts in another universe.
AN:
Hope you all enjoyed this, If you're wondering why I haven't put this in the Mass Effect/Halo crossover section my reason is simply that the part you just read is the last of what we will see of the Halo Universe, all that's changed is a single ship from Halo got bumped into Mass Effect and that is it, and I do want to state unambiguously that the entire crew of the UNSC Shine Bright are dead, the jump into Slipspace while a huge rupture was right by them compromised the random jump they were making and they died.
Now if you're a fan of my other stories you might be shocked that I've created this story instead of updating my other ones, to be honest with you all I have completely lost interest in Naruto and have no motivation to write for it any more, I do have like half a chapter of it done.
I think I will upload the last few chapters I have done and then release the story plans I had for them and put them for adoption.
Now for the Mass Effect fans, This will be sporadically updated as I now work 45 hours a week and also I am in the middle of writing my own original story so that always takes priority. Also, Phase-Gate is an early term for the Mass Relays according to the Mass Effect Wiki so that's where that comes from.