(Note)
Here is chapter three for you all to read, sorry for the "Wall of DOOM" paragraph separation problem, it should be fixed by now.
Anyways we have arrived at the point of time where keeping the Chief asleep for much longer just wouldn't make much sense now would it?
Besides there is something fishy going on in one of the crates that the covenant separatists had stored in the pelican bay… what could it be? Read and find out!
I do Not Own Mass Effect or The Halo Franchise. Both Universes Respectively Belong to Bioware/EA and Microsoft/343 Industries. Anyways ON WITH THE STORY!
Cortana had spent the past two weeks reviewing everything that was taking place, in this new galaxy, that she and her companions had found themselves in.
While she was busy spying, she had the Huragok finish the armor repair stations and ready the med bay. When that was done she sent it to sort the raw materials the sentinels had brought back to the Dawn's vehicle bay.
With these new materials, she calculated they would finish all needed repairs to the Dawn within three months. She had decided to slap a makeshift bridge onto the hull where the ship was sliced in two, but to build it; she would first have to seal all the decks that wouldn't be connected to the new bridge she had designed.
Of course all of these things would take time, and since all decks where sealed, except the frontal middle and upper decks, which were all immediately connected to where the ship had been sliced in half.
Having collected all she needed to know in order to have her and the Chief gauge their standing in this reality, she began the slow version of the wake up cycle, to awake the slumbering green giant.
While the twelve hour long thawing process was in its beginning stages Cortana notified the Huragok to be in the medical bay in eleven and a half hours, while she began the compilation of the info, that she knew the Chief would want to hear, along with anything else the Chief may need to know.
The basics on each race in this odd galactic community were way too easy to find, Cortana found the codex they used to be a major security risk. Any invading alien force just needed the content of the codex, and Boom they had coordinates to every system and world the "Citadel races" had.
Cortana found that the Quarians, Geth and Krogan were much more difficult to learn about, while the Salarians, who claimed to be the "ONI" like group, in this citadel governmental body, were no match for her hacking abilities.
The Turians with their proud hierarchy were not but toddlers in comparison to the UNSC army or the Sangheili's feudal keeps system. Their greatly bragged military might was all drill formations, pomp and ceremony, political propaganda was their game and they played it well.
The Asari were very good diplomats, using trade, better tech and economic power as effective weapons, which if given enough time could be devastating. Being a mono gendered female looking race able to mate with almost all other sentient species kind of helped in the diplomatic relations gig as well.
The Salarians were the shortest lived species on the citadel council, and were very smart for their short life spans. They lived off information, but unlike the Huragok the salarians understood greed and used information like currency, the more you had the richer you were. The STG's feats in combat behind enemy lines were respectable.
Whilst their willing creation and maintenance of the genophage at the council's request, coupled with their unethical experiments on sentient beings gave Cortana pause… she did not like this.
Overall Cortana knew that it was the Salarian's and Human Information gathers she'd have to be worried about when Galactic sightings of the Master Chief or of the Foreword unto Dawn, started the rumor mills wheels turning…
Them and some group run by a being called the shadow-broker, an information selling faction that was in the shadows, Cortana decided to research them later.
The systems alliance was a major disappointment for Cortana, while some humans and military leaders had the fire and drive of the men and woman of the UNSC there were very few of them.
Most of the humans of this galaxy were more timid, and with the human government trying to gain power through the council races, by requesting a council seat, they were becoming more and more dependent on the other races.
The humans who opposed this reminded Cortana of the UNSC outer colony terrorists, while the pro human military groups such as Cerberus; another group to be wary of, reminded her greatly of colonel Ackerson…
This did not sit well with Cortana, and she wasn't even considering the total lack of protection for the new colonies they were establishing on the fringe of the terminus systems and in batarian contested space no less… this would not do.
There were other races on the citadel but they were not galactic powers, and most were client races… stuck in a gilded comfortable cage of slavery through regulation, trade and politics.
The Batarians… Cortana was not happy to learn of their "Cultural Heritage" the way the council had dealt with them, sickened her to no end. Her hacking had already showed that deals had been made to increase the power of various political leaders, where an entire colonial outpost had been left undefended for the batarian Hegemony to enslave by using "Third" party batarian pirates… Cortana knew, that both her own and the Chiefs conscience would not allow this to continue.
The Quarians were an interesting bunch, Cortana found their story somewhat relatable to the UNCS civilians, who had fled their doomed worlds, fleeing the covenant onslaught and learning of the loss of their home planets.
Cortana could not blame the Geth for defending themselves from destruction, but the latter Quarian generations did not deserve their current plight.
The fact that Council law that banned AI's for no solid reason other than unfounded fear, which forced the Quarian people to immediately attempt the destruction of the Geth, despite no sign of hostility from said AI collective, was not lost on Cortana.
And then the Citadel council immediately abandoned the Quarians, despite following council law, ignoring their dire situation, spitting on the Quarian name and denying them any help, resources or worlds to settle on, for over three hundred years, all but outright dooming the Quarian migrants to a slow extinction, this made Cortana burn red in anger.
she immediately thought out a plan, which pertained to placing the partial blueprints for the UNSC medical sterile field generator, in some recently deceased Quarian scientists files, and leave a bread crumb trail for someone to find it, making it easy to finish designing and manufacturing it for the Quarian people.
She would ask the Chief later if she could do the same with some immune system boosters; in the mean time, she decided to look at what the Quarians had built… the Geth.
The Geth were the hardest for Cortana to learn about, she had searched the military channels patrolling near the Perseus veil, where she had found the Geth had listening and spying programs, she'd followed ones trail into the Geth network and snuck out copies of their files. Cortana was impressed, they were building a Dyson sphere around a sun in order make a near eternal computer to live in… it would be finished in a half million years… Cortana had to hand it to the Geth; they were patient efficient and observant.
She would have added the term "unified" to the Geth's repertoire, but they had recently had a split. Some strange rather concerning files, on what they called the "Old Machines." Stated that a splinter group of the Geth collective had split off and followed one of these "Old Machines" Called sovereign, the splinter faction having been convinced by this ancient machine, along with what the remaining Geth called a "Prophet" or "Puppet of the old one" accompanying it… it was some Turian named Saren Arterius.
Shoving that to the "research the crud out of later" box in her mind, Cortana continued her analysis.
The Krogan were like a perfect mix of the Sangheili, Brute and Unggoy races. Making a warrior culture that Cortana found had refreshingly similar parallels to some of the ancient earth and Covenant Separatists traditions.
The Krogan way of life, was the simple and logical male dogma of "if it isn't broke don't fix it" mixed with the caveman mentality of "the strongest survive…"
This was surprisingly countered by the near literal worshiping of the females whose word was law. And the utter gentle care for the very young before they reached their teen years, having come of age to face the ritual for adult hood.
Cortana respected the old Krogan society's way of living and honor bound fighting, but she frowned at the newer generation's violent ways… too few of the Krogan were holding to their original culture and many were becoming ruthless guns for hire… She hoped they had a Sangheili Arbiter like leader to unite them soon… or this genophage problem would end their race.
The Genophage… Cortana glowed red as she learned of what it was and who ordered its use… She Was Righteously PISSED OFF! The fact that the Citadel had secretly ordered the continued evolution of it, so the Krogan could not adapt and survive it before going extinct, angered Cortana to the extreme.
Cortana immediately set the goal of designing a cure that allowed the Krogan offspring to not be born dead, yet slowed the females reproduction rate. So that the Salarians wouldn't notice until it was too late for them to purge those carrying the cure, and the Krogan wouldn't overpopulate. She added it to her "do on spare time and clear with The Master Chief before using" list, next to her sterile field generator scheme, and then she continued her analyses.
She wouldn't trust the citadel with the Dawn or any of her universes technology, much less with her crewmates, Cortana knew the Chief would wholeheartedly agree. It seemed the Citadel races had no moral ground, dooming three races the Quarians, Krogan and Rachni, to extinction. Unless something happened the two remaining races would die out;
The files on the orphans in the citadels ducts and sewers weren't helping the councils case either.
After reviewing the territories of the known galaxy, followed by examining other life forms that were not sentient but still dangerous, she realized thresher maws were interesting creatures. Cortana Came to the conclusion that this galaxy was all grey areas with very few discernable good vs. evil active conflicts, well she figured that the Chief would want to change that.
As she compared history and notes on technology the denizens of the galaxy used. She did not like what the evidence was pointing towards… all the races used the same tech before discovering the others, the space travel system called "mass effect relays" based off this technology was fast but limited… and made invasion of a weaker species extremely easy to do, the Turians client races could attest to that.
The element zero Technology, the Citadel, the Mass Relays… all were far too convenient for her liking. The archeological discovery of ruins on planets in fifty thousand year increments, did nothing to help ease her mind… she pulled the Geth file on the old machines and the Protheans out and compared notes… all the puzzle pieces fit together to form an extremely ugly picture… not as horrible as the flood or the halo array, but still it was bad.
They had ended up in an alternate Universe, right before the "wheat" was brought into harvest, the "Wheat" being galactic civilization. The technology that was so convenient was a Trap of epic proportions… and these "Old Machines" called reapers by the Prothean archives the Geth had decoded, were the farmers who reaped it.
"Oh great another galactic threat me and the Chief have to face… well you know what they say…" Cortana put her avatars hands on her hips "Third times a charm".
Despite appearances Cortana was not pleased… not pleased at all. She relayed the info to the Huragok, who also expressed his displeasure. They could not sit by and do nothing… not while this galaxy was threatened and human and alien woman and children were enslaved by the Batarians and murdered or taken advantage of.
The Chief would be awake soon… they couldn't hide away and do nothing for those innocents being slaughtered… but they couldn't reveal themselves to the powers that be either… that would also tip off the reapers…
So they would do both, ooh she liked that idea.
These "Reapers" had the ability to influence organic minds according to the Geth, which would explain a lot of the citadels laws and past choices.
The Quarians were too technologically advanced and were considered a threat so the reapers influenced the citadel to Ban AI and outcast Quarians during the Geth crisis.
The Krogan were too warlike, stubborn, powerful and numerous, so the reapers overseeing the cycle influenced their fall from grace, using the genophage as a way to keep the Krogan down and a non-threat to the upcoming harvest… the same went for the Rachni.
Geth files stated that the Rachni queens resisted reapers influence, so the reapers used the impressionable hatchlings and worker drones to cause war, and eventual Rachni extinction, at least they were supposedly extinct, the Geth thought some might have survived.
Cortana now decided that the Dawn and her Crew had a new purpose in existence… to spite and befuddle the reapers, piss off the Citadel Council, destroy the Batarians and any other group that broke the UNSC moral laws of conduct. Ooh they were so going to war once her Spartan awoke and learned what she had researched… after all of that they would find a way to go home.
This Galaxy wouldn't know what hit it!
An alert from the Huragok shook Cortana from her righteous if somewhat childish mental rant, it stated that it was at the medical bay and Cortana sighed as she waited the final thirty minutes for her friend and comrade to wake up and kick butt.
She hated waiting without having anything to do.
She spent the next twenty five minutes working out her plans to assist the Krogan and the Quarian peoples in better detail, waiting the final five minutes by watching the frost disappear from her Spartans cryo-pod.
Slowly the systems monitoring the Chief's vitals showed him coming back from dreamland, and he began to stir slowly the wake up stimulants worked their way through his body and he became still as stone, then his eyes snapped open, and he left the cryo pod.
"Cortana… Status report" he ordered as he walked over to her pedestal. "Sure thing Chief, first let me just say I've missed you, second let me state that your luck is both incredible and horrible at the same time." She stated.
"Explain" he simply replied, 'well he asked for it' she thought, "Ok Chief, through a set of extraordinary circumstances after we survived the Halo firing and Ark portal, and you went into cryo." She smirked, "I unintentionally activated an upgrade, which was gifted to me by a powerful forerunner AI, without my knowledge, I might add."
The Chief tensed slightly, "And no you caveman I am not compromised, it stops rampancy, and it lets me choose whatever I do, and I choose to stick with you." The Spartan relaxed a little, "also the forerunner artifacts in ONI's lab on the upper deck, turned out to be forerunner repair drones and sentinels." The Chiefs helmet perked up, "they were easy to utilize and started basic hull repairs to get atmosphere in here."
Cortana smiled and said, "We should have the last parts of the hull, where we were cut in half covered, and a new bridge constructed in two and a half months."
Cortana's grin threatened to split her avatars face, "by the way I found a stowaway in the mess hall." That Caught the Master Chiefs Attention, "By your current facial features I can assume it wasn't flood or some other hostile," he said.
"Yep," she replied, "it was a Huragok, and after getting him to the engineering deck, we pieced this half end of a ship back together." She smiled, "went as far as building a forerunner style makeshift slip-space drive."
The Chief straightened up and asked, "Is it tested?" Cortana replied "I already used it once, it performed perfectly, it's been nearly a year and I have almost got this ship battle ready again, welcome back Chief."
The Spartan nodded his head, "so… when are we headed home?" there was a moment's pause and Cortana looked down at her avatar's toes…
"John… We can't… We can't go home, not unless we can rip a hole in-between universes," her avatar started shivering, and she had a fleeting question of if AI's could cry, pass through her mind.
The Spartan leaned forward slightly over the pedestal and simply said, "Cortana…" she looked up at him and told him everything she had learned, of a galaxy they didn't know, a humanity they couldn't rely on, the Quarians and Krogan, the undefended colonies, the upcoming harvest by the Reapers, the Geth, the Batarians, the Citadel and everything else she could, her growing fear had finally caught up with her.
She spoke for hours and he stood there and took it all in. a silent solid dependable rock, unmoving in the seas of change, immune to all but time itself, Her now self-appointed guardian and defender, Cortana finally stopped talking and her Spartan simply stood there and let her regain her composure.
"Chief… what will we do?" she asked staring up at his golden visor.
"Relax, we will find a way to go home, and when we do, we will take It." she slightly shook her head and replied to his calm answer.
"Don't make a girl a promise you know you can't keep, Chief."
He looked down at her avatar his posture and aura that of solid confidence and belief in that they would make it home. "You know me," he said, "when I make a promise..."
She looked up at him with relief, pride and a hint of childish awe in her avatars eyes; "You keep it" she finished for him, followed by her relieved smile.
After she had recovered, Cortana returned to her old self and ordered the Chief to medical, then they had removed the armor and told the Huragok to repair it and upgrade what it could, they simply chatted on what the future would hold for their ship and themselves.
The Chief decided to enjoy eating a hearty meal, his first since leaving for the ark, after he finished, the Master Chief donned his armor and prepared to sort the armories in the forward half of the ship. They had only recently been pressurized, their contents were mixed and scattered.
Cortana spent her time talking with her Spartan and the Huragok, whilst bringing more ships systems online. Within two months all would be ready, the Chief was avidly against staying in cryo.
He'd willing agreed to her plans to be a thorn in the side of this galaxy's powers that be. He would be a harbinger of doom to those who preyed on the weak… a guardian of innocents, an unknown defender, something he and every other Spartan had always been, until ONI had revealed their existence to boost morale in the UNSC.
It would be putting his feet in a familiar role… one he cherished greatly.
The current enemies he would face were pitiful in comparison to the hordes of covenant and flood he had fought and slaughtered, he would be an unstoppable force, instantly appearing like a spirit of death and disappearing even faster after his work was done.
Cortana had already left a list of pirate scout posts and staging areas that would be his targets, it would strategically weaken pirate activities against the Systems Alliance, and in a months' time he would be ready to commence operations.
But unknown to either the Chief or Cortana, they were not alone…
In the farthest corner of the pelican bay, behind a Sangheili drop ship, out of sight from any cameras, something shook…
A strange eight by ten foot crate shuddered…
The battery array connected to the portable covenant cryo-stasis transport container, was drained nearly dry… it had activated an emergency release to save the lives of its contents…
Within its Crate hundreds upon hundreds of small creatures swarmed to consciousness… they were hungry and had not eaten in a long time…
The creatures came to a conclusion; they had not been awakened when they should have… Their Arbiter had commanded them to serve under the humans as combat support… Were they even at the Ark?
The vote was unanimous, a decision was reached among the swarming hoard, no more Questions! Time to find ANSWERS!
And with a mighty low vibrating hum of agreement a pair of Mgalekgolo bond Brothers Smashed through the cryo-stasis transport crate and assembled into their respective forms, around their armor with its mighty shields and cannons.
Twin vibrating roars of their displeasure sound throughout the ship; letting all others know of their confusion and displeasure, the two 13 foot monstrous titans stood in the midst of the empty pelican bay, with only the two phantoms and the four remaining pelicans to give them company…
Meanwhile the Chief was armed and sprinting for the cryo-bay to protect Cortana from any and all attackers; the Huragok was floating daintily on its way to the pelican bay with naught but curiosity…
And the afore mentioned Cortana was simply staring with disbelief written across her mind as she watched through the cameras, the twin titanic brothers seemingly appeared from nowhere and now waited for one who could enlighten them as to why they had overslept…
The doors to the pelican bay opened and the dual titans raised shields in readiness for total war… only to lower them at the sight of the Huragok…
Cortana snapped out of her shock and rerouted the Chief to the pelican bay stating that the covenant separatists forgot to retrieve some cryogenically frozen Hunters… a pair of very pissed formerly cryogenically frozen hunters…
Upon his arrival the Spartan stared at the two massive creatures… noticing the Huragok floating between the two and repairing any damage to their armor…
Both creatures turned to the Spartan and stared at him, as he tensed… "Demon," they spoke as one. "The Forerunners ever inquisitive creation," the duo both gestured to the Huragok. "Has informed us of all that has passed…"
The two conglomerate of creatures made for war, took to one knee and set their thick shields to the ground beside them… again together as one being they spoke "This bonded pair was there with our Arbiter in the beginning…"
"It was we who fought beside our Arbiter at the second great ring. It was we who held the brute reinforcements from the control room on the second Halo, while our Arbiter allied with humans and fought the traitorous brute Tartarus."
"We were the first to fight for the separatists, we were to fight glorious battle at the ark… but we were never awoken… we have learned of your time with our Arbiter from inquisitive creation…"
"We rejoice that Arbiter is home to unite our peoples together, until home we go… we shall fight by your side… in your service… for our Arbiter followed you in battle, thus then shall we do so AS WELL!
With that last roar the titans remained silent… the Spartan heard Cortana in his helmet, confirming their allied and friendly status… slowly he placed his weapon on his back, and removed his helmet.
Staring unblinkingly, at the Massive Mgalekgolo pair, the legendary Spartan spoke. "While we search for a way home, we will be hunting down those who prey on the weak and enslave youngling lives, we may also face a threat that harvests galactic life… can I depend on your loyalties until the end of our travels?"
With a Mighty roar the Mgalekgolo brothers responded "Until the End, And beyond the End, We Stand with the Demon, Slayer of prophets, destroyer of rings and worlds, we pledge our Loyalty to our Arbiter's friend and ally!"
With their commitment clear, the Spartan spoke, "then have the Huragok tend to your gear, and eat what food you need." He turned to leave; placing his helmet upon his head, at the doors of the pelican bay he turned his head to look over his shoulder and spoke.
"Ready yourselves, for we have work to do."
(Note)
Finally have that done… rushed the typing of this chapter did it in seven hours… my typing skills have started returning to me! My words per minute have increased! Anyways hope you all enjoyed this chapter, see you all at chapter four! This is Gabenator5 signing off!