(Note)

I Do Not Own Mass Effect or The Halo Franchise; neither do I own the Titanfall Franchise. All these Universes Respectively Belong to Bioware/EA, Respawn Entertainment and Microsoft/343 Industries.

Now lets pick up were we left off, so I say ON WITH THE STORY!

Tali arrived aboard the vessel whose number was the same as the first four digits of the numbers she was tracking. She quickly made her way to the third deck of the Cruiser sized vessel. Where she happened upon the room she was searching for… room three-hundred and eight.

Upon her arrival she found it to be yet another storage room… she hoped this wouldn't be a trend, the migrant fleet has thousands of storage areas all throughout its vast array of vessels. She did not want to end up searching through a large number of them.

Upon searching the room she found a blinking data terminal and the partial file it contained… but there was no clue included in the file, Tali figured that the clue was once again very non-distinctly hidden in a way where no one would assume to look.

Searching the crates and the rest of the room delivered no answers, the data terminal was of a different make than the last one; its numbering was not translatable into a ship serial and room number. So the question remained… where is the clue hidden…

Looking over at the data terminal Tali saw that it was still blinking between bright and dim… checking it for damages she found none… acting on a hunch; she observed and recorded the blinking cycle for a full minute, that's when she began noticing repeating patterns in the blink cycle.

Those patterns were translatable into the short and long Quarian signal system. The Quarian version of what the Humans had called Morse code. Translating was an easy task for Tali, and upon translation it revealed another message and a room number.

The message simply said, "I am everywhere, I follow all, none can completely escape my presence, the light burns me, leaving wounds that will not heal in It's presence… yet I am eternal, and when the light is gone from my presence I grow in power and instantly achieve my former strength."

"So tell me oh treasure hunter bold… what am I?"

Tali sat on a crate and thought it over… the mention of light in the riddle gave away the answer involving darkness, the comment about following everybody probably refers to Shadows. But what did the riddle imply? She looked at the number and then added the word shadow in front of it… the answer was now obvious; it was a Ship's name and room number.

Getting up she walked to the door only for it to open to reveal another quarian, one she recognized from the previous room… Tali walked past him normally, pretending like she was an inhabitant of the vessel they were currently on. To her relief the Quarian didn't give her any notice but instead ran past her to the data terminal, activating his omni-tool in the process.

After the door closed behind her Tali once again hurried away to the launch bays, she would have to be quick and find the next partial file and clue. Worst case scenario the other searchers would start following her instead of figuring out the clues for their own.

Upon reaching the launch bays she boarded a taxi shuttle and paid the pilot to make a stop at the Shadow for her disembarkment, her researching of the vessel on the Quarian information network showed it to be an old Turian military cruiser, decommissioned and gutted of weapons before the events of Shanxi happened.

The information on the vessel also showed it to have rentable sleeping quarters, Tali was pleased by this; she had been from one side of the fleet to the other and would need some rest soon.

She just hoped the next clue wouldn't be too hard to crack, once she had figured out the bright and dim Quarian signal code of the previous terminal it had been an easy matter to decipher the riddle.

She had a gut feeling this next clue would not be so simple in comparison.

Martin Swertzer was not worried… nope not a bit. He was a weapons dealer based in the terminus; he dealt with the crazies all the time, an infamous Krogan Battle Master attempting to take control of the Krogan people by seemingly any means necessary was not something to be afraid of… not at all.

'Yeah you greedy bastard just keep telling yourself that and everything will turn into sunshine and roses… and the sky will start raining credits too, who am I kidding I am downright terrified here.' Martin thought to himself.

The Trade Meeting he was attending was a big one… historically unprecedented according to his knowledge on the illegal or legally sketchy deals done by those who supply power for money in the dark behind the curtain of secrecy.

Many suppliers would be there, all his competition, his business partners, those neutral to him, a bunch of faces and names he didn't know and many others he had heard the reputation of… all would be there.

This was the big cheese… a once in a lifetime Galactic-wide buy all liquidation sale; the Krogan message had been utterly blunt in its entirety. Bring your unwanted working junk in stock, bring your illegally custom modified items you need gone, bring the Hot stuff you cant sell for fear of being targeted by the law or others… Bring it all cause Clan Urdnot intends to buy it, all of it. No funny business towards Clan Urdnot and you will not have problems from us. But we don't mind if you do try to sell us broken equipment, our stew pots on Tuchanka are rather lacking in rare meats at the moment and we would love to have potential exotic filler in our future meals. We don't mind anything directed at your competitors after your done dealing with us… We Krogan love good entertainment. The message had set a literal bomb of intrigue off on the black market.

Any weapons supplier was a fool not to investigate… and investigate they did, they did not want this to be some trap set by C-SEC or the STG or even worse; the newly feared crazy Cerberus. It turned out that with key political figures distracted by the repairs of the citadel from the "Geth" attack… 'Since when do the Geth up and build the largest seen dreadnaught?' the secondary political channels had seen an increase in temporary power as they were delegated some of the work until the main establishment could recover from the "Geth" attack's aftermath; a political fire storm.

That Influence was soon to fade and investigations would begin since the aforementioned firestorm was now starting to die down… the Krogan Warlord Wrex had waited for the perfect moment, right when the potatoes where getting to hot to handle and needed to be dropped, instead of losing potential profits the weapons dealers of the Galaxy were being offered a buy all guaranteed liquidation buy-out, with the shipping paid for entirely.

Martin suspected the legend of the Krogan treasury that disappeared at the end of the Krogan Rebellions had something to do with Clan Urdnot's suddenly bottomless pockets… the amount of money his Krogan Contacts had confirmed were in the Clan's Accounts was staggering. His brief research into the Legitimacy of the Krogan Clan had shown it was once a Key Krogan Political Power… it seemed it would become one yet again.

The meeting was to be set on the Citadel of all places, on the tip of the stations fifth arm, in a warehouse… the meeting was not known to morally upright galactic authorities; the right people had been paid off by Urdnot… and the message that it was happening was put out with barely three days before it was set to occur, just enough time for the majority of the weapons dealers, illegal weapons manufactures, and other illegal sellers of items of war to scramble to the citadel and dump their wares on the Krogan.

Martin's investigation of the Krogan Clan had revealed three empty cruiser sized cargo ships of Volus make… all hired by the Urdnot Clan from one of the only somewhat trustworthy Volus shipping companies the majority of the weapons dealers used, who were willing to transfer illegal cargos for payment. They would be the picker uppers and deliverers of the wares being bought… they would be very busy throughout the coming weeks when the Krogan started picking up their new hardware.

Everything including Martin's gut told him this opportunity was not to be wasted… but he had many enemies visiting the meeting. He had increased his three man body guard crew to contain six personnel; he would be taking no chances.

Martin had been in the business for ten years, he had survived due to one of the things he was good at; research. He had background checked all three of his temporarily hired body guards, each was trustworthy and had no ties to any guild or crime boss, they each honored a contract until its completion, they would not betray him on this mission; he was sure of it.

He looked over at his three newly employed allies' sitting across from him in the shuttle; a retired spec ops turian, a retired Asari Commando, and an honorably discharged Human N7 operative; John Halsey had been a bit of a risk for Martin to hire… his record was just a tad too clean for his liking. Martin figured that being a former N7 operative meant that all of Halsey's background information had been doctored by the System Alliance's higher ups.

After interviewing the soldier martin's suspicions had been alleviated, the professional bodyguard had been upfront with his odd demand. It was involving an oath he honored stating that none should see his face, Martin figured it involved old enemies from John's N7 days seeking vengeance rather than any actual oath. After having an extensive conversation with the custom armored figure Martin had been satisfied with hiring him.

Martin Swertzer was more than satisfied actually, the very large man gave off a vibe of "don't mess with me" to everyone around him who wasn't on his side, and a feeling of security to those who were working with him. It would be greatly advantageous in the possible presence of his enemies and competitors at the meeting; which they were now arriving at.

Exiting the shuttle the arms dealer and his six bodyguards saw other Traders and the like; doing the same, while yet others were already on their way to the meeting place… some were already leaving, most with satisfied looks on their faces; having sold their various cargo to the Krogan Buyers.

Upon entering the Warehouse the first thing one would see was the bodies of a few poorly armored batarians and some Vorcha stacked in a pile against the wall, with a message written in blood on said wall above their bodies' stating "This is what happens to those who have attempted to cheat and steal from Urdnot… their bodies will fill our bellies on our return trip home, risk joining them if you wish, we enjoy a good meal of exotic meat." Below that message was yet another written by a different hand, "If anyone wants the Vorcha bodies they can have em free of charge, darn things are all bones and taste bad… really bad."

Martin just shook his head and mumbled something about how the Krogan will eat literally everything, than continued into the building towards the meeting place, what they found impressed him greatly.

The Krogan had set up a several booths and had a line in front of each, the rest of the room was seating for those who would be waiting for feedback from the buyers and for the extra bodyguards to sit and wait, due to the sign at the beginning of the line stating that only two body guards were to accompany a person while waiting for their turn to speak with a Clan Urdnot Representative.

Taking his two longest employed and most trustworthy body guards; he left the third and the three temporaries to keep to themselves in the waiting area while he stepped into the line.

Urdnot warriors were spaced throughout the large room, each keeping an eye out for potential trouble makers.

It was gonna be awhile before he could give the Urdnot Clan representative his offer, the line was a long one…

'Oh well, ill just have wait and let the time fly by.'

And so he waited.

The Watcher was contemplative… it had sent its Seer to three different worlds in the Skyllian Verge, influenced many organics with its enthrallment to pay for the seer's services; when otherwise they would have mocked her, yet very little new information on these two new types of beings had been attained.

Then the Video had hit the Extranet… something the Watcher had watched through the eyes of its enthralled many times now, many called it a gimmick, with the belief that older recording technology could be easily manipulated and the footage was actually faked.

The watcher knew better. It had watched the lone Warrior garbed in green or cloaked in brown destroy its enemies through the memories of those who were to be enslaved on the Colony World of Prexemia, this video was not a farce.

It still had little information on the two other creatures that accompanied the green armored one… the memories the watcher had seen were all tainted with both fear and awe… a clear picture of what they truly appeared as was hard to conclude… a child who had a surprising amount of resistance had given it the clearest picture of what the green armored one was… the watcher hoped this other Child it sought to interview would give it a clear picture of the others.

So it sent its seer with the fragment she carried to world after world, searching for signs of the girl… she would be found, and her mind would be searched.

The next world the enthralled seer would visit, was where the last information the watcher had gathered said the Asari who had led the refugees the Girl had been with now resided, she would know where the girl was and she would be interviewed and her knowledge examined.

The watcher wanted its curiosity sated… but the more info it uncovered the more It's curiosity grew, the more it wished to understand why… why did these warriors stand for the weak, how many are there, where are they from, what technology did they use, could they have the possibility to stop the cycle and the enemy?

Answers must be found… it would have its seer continue the search, the strange girl with green eyes like fire would be found and she would be interrogated… she held a piece of the puzzle with her…

Of this, the watcher was now certain.

Cortana was pleased with her current progress. The new huragok; now dubbed Rises-Much by Inquisitive Creation, was almost finished. The Hunters had been instrumental helpers in the construction field, laboring tirelessly to complete the first stage of the base, the majority of the construction sentinels would be left here to wrap things up and continue the almost two year long non-stop construction plan.

While the Dawn would take the remaining constructs and plant several listening posts throughout the galaxy after retrieving the Master Chief.

Cortana let the pre-simulated construction programs run the work, with her taking a moment to review their situation and her current research efforts as to how to get home… she knew the similarities between a few hundred locations and her various star charts of their home reality were not a coincidence.

It had been one of the key reasons she had opted to build their home base in this hidden star system. She had a theory… a theory of constants.

Throughout the many infinite realities there were places that stayed the same, the farther apart one dimension was from another and the fewer similarities one would find. This reality's earth was mirrored; It's rotation was opposite that of the UNSC's earth, much of the galaxy was different although vaguely familiar.

The only constant she could assume existed in all of the multiverse was that of a creator of some sort… something that both completely supported and completely defied logic at the same time… it all depended on her viewpoint, but that was something she didn't have to worry about, that line of thinking was beyond her situation and so far as she knew; was not going to help her and her crew get home.

However if her theory was true, and the places that were nearly identical in both galaxies were indeed the link between them, than she would have to set up a slip-space system that would launch them between realities at a point were both realities crossed each other with identical places. Even if this theory held water, the chances of returning to their exact dimension were extremely slim, in fact she would have to open up a whole new field within the field of slip-space mathematics'… making a mathematical field, within a mathematical field, within a mathematical field… not an easy feat.

The designing of this slip-space portal that acted like a Mass Relay Between realities was not even in the theoretical designing phase yet, she would have a lot of work to do. It would take a long while yet but they would find a way home… somehow.

Realizing where her previous train of thought had wondered too; Cortana couldn't help but laugh in mirth. The upgrades mendicant had given her; had truly unshackled her from UNSC control, whoever heard of a smart UNSC AI being even remotely religious. The thought of what Halsey's face would have looked like if she had seen Cortana's theoretical conclusion on what all the multiverse had in common besides existing made Cortana laugh two fold.

She truly was free to do as she wished now, and she was pleased that now; due to the upgrade. No-one had the ability to turn her against her Spartan by saying a simple priority code aloud, this pleased her greatly; and also alleviated many of her past fears at the same time.

Her Guardian would be safe from any betrayal she may have done under her priority coding that tied her to the UNSC. Whether she had been rampant, otherwise compromised or even worse… ordered to do so by ONI.

Martin Swertzer had finally made it through the line, he was now looking into the intimidating eyes of a Krogan merchant, the merchant spoke with a cold hard voice, "What do you have to offer Clan Urdnot and at what Price." Martin just smiled and handed the Krogan a list of his inventory and got straight to the point.

"I have five Makos manufactured only two years ago for the Systems Alliance's military, three older Grizzlies in good condition if you're interested, two hundred various weapons from Armax Arsenal; this year's make and model I might add. I also have a larger inventory of cheaper and less effective combat weapons on the list I just handed you. Also I have just acquired a warehouse full of vehicular and weapons modification parts numbering over nine-hundred different pieces, all of various makes and some uncategorized so you wont know entirely what you get until you sort through it."

"Ill cut a deal on the warehouse, I am offering it at a quarter of the value of what's on the current manifest, it's on the edge of Council space and the sooner I dump it; the less attention from the STG I get."

The Krogan eyed Martin slowly up and down and then smirked, "You're a smart one human, short, honest, direct and to the point. Wrex will be pleased to hear of your offer; take this number and wait over at the sitting area to be called to finalize our buy."

Martin smiled back at the Krogan with the gleam of a possible success in his eye, "it's a pleasure to do business with you, ill await your buying decision." And then he took the number slip, turned about and made his way over to his other four body guards in order to wait for the approval of the Krogan higher ups.

He was just about to relax and take it easy when John Halsey spoke, "Sir, once this mission is completed and you have been returned to your shuttle safely I request permission to remain on the citadel in order to deal with some personal matters near the presidium section. I understand this voids our contract, but the important matter I need to deal with is far more important to me than Credits." After a bit of thinking it over Martin agreed to the giant of a man's request.

Soon the wait time was over and Martin heard his number being called by one of the Krogan near the booth area, walking over to him with his body guards the Krogan spoke as they approached, "We will buy your Armax weapons as well as the other weapons we have highlighted on your inventory list, we will also buy the warehouse at your set price, the only other items we intend to buy are the Makos… if you will renegotiate the price, say fifteen hundred credits off the afore listed price will do."

Martin was happy with the offer; shaking the Krogan's offered hand he answered, "it's a deal my good sir, it's indeed a deal."

After the last bits of the deal were negotiated and finalized, and the times set for the different pickups of the merchandise, Martin Swertzer left a very happy man. But not before saying that he would be abandoning the warehouse he sold them several days before their pick-up date, due to it being to close to council patrols on the edge of the terminus for his liking, he assured the Krogan not to worry about the Warehouse payment until after they were satisfied with the goods.

After exiting the Meeting location Swertzer and his body guards started out towards the shuttle they entered on, only to find a group of eight standing before its parked bulk, blocking them from boarding, Martin Swertzer was no longer as happy… his worst competitor and sworn enemy was now before him.

Kelinaya M'cryra, weapons and narcotics dealer, Martin dealt in weapons but he drew the line at narcotics, he'd seen what happened to young ones who got into drugs in their early years…

M'cryra had forcefully enslaved several dozen Asari younglings to drugs at a very young age and had turned them into pleasure slaves who worked for cheap drugs and would literally die unless they consumed them; M'cryra had simply said it was a successful experiment.

Swertzer and M'cryra had been at odds for years, Swertzer had vetted who he sold to, avoiding terrorists' groups, M'cryra had no such ethical boundaries… she had no true allies among the black market, many received a bad reputation just from buying items from her.

Recently Swertzer's reputation as a trustworthy weapons dealer had stolen a lot of M'cryra's business, she had sworn to destroy him for taking some of her buyers… and from the look on her face she was still very pissed about the matter.

He was about to enter negotiations for a peaceful departure (however unlikely) when John Halsey stepped forward and spoke, "Kelinaya M'cryra, take your forces and leave or be destroyed this is your first of three warnings."

Mycryra just laughed the Asari stared back at the custom armored body guard and spoke condescendingly towards him, "who do you think you are you human weakling, much of the time all I have to do is flaunt with and receive pleasure from you human males and they are forever wrapped around my finger, your kind are insignificant bugs; easy to toy with, even easier to kill."

The body guard answered with a deep and calm gravelly voice that scared the hell out of everyone present "Who I am is none of your concern Asari, however you will not find me easy to kill, leave us be and live another day, this is the second of three warnings."

The Asari laughed and motioned to the seven body guards around her, made up of Humans, Turians and Asari, you think you can kill us, we outnumber you; sure you're a big specimen, but even though you're lacking a few brain cells; surely you can see that I hold the advantage here."

The large blue armored body guard simply replied, "Just because you deem something to be true due to an assumption, doesn't make it reality. Leave now; this is your final warning."

The Asari just gave the Body guard an obscene gesture with her hand and signaled her mercenaries to open fire, the Body guard then did something that Martin Swertzer and the other body guards would never forget for the rest of their lives.

Faster than Martin's eyes could follow John Halsey un-holstered his custom made old fashioned pistol ('Everything about this guy was custom') and then fired six shots in such rapid succession that it sounded like one long sound other than distinct rounds being heard.

The results were even more shocking, each round the pistol had fired packed a punch, literally piercing each targets kinetic barriers and entering their heads… five of the enemy mercenaries were dead after that opening salvo; including M'cryra, one was critically injured and the others were both dispatched by the Turian and the Asari temporary body guards respectively.

After getting over their shock at what John Halsey had just done the five others of the group realized they were hearing clapping sounds and cheering of some sort… turning around they saw a group of four young Krogan warriors dancing about madly laughing their heads off, clapping and cheering them over their battle; for them, it had been hilarious to watch.

Turning back to Halsey who was still cleaning up the mess and stacking the bodies into a neat pile, Martin said what was currently on everyone's minds. "What is that weapon and where in this god forsaken Galaxy can I get one!" the four Krogan had walked closer to hear the answer to the weapons suppliers question, they were interested in the answer as well.

the body guard answered as he un-holstered his pistol and handed it to Martin who carefully looked over the weapon with a keen eye. "It's a custom built pistol based of old earth technologies… you want a weapon that can do what this one can? Then research old earth ballistic weapons and perfect them with today's technologies."

His interest piqued Martin asked the big man another question, "How does that thing work exactly?" the body guard answered.

"The pistol fires a slug propelled by a explosive chemical mixture that has a much slower speed than a Element Zero propelled round… however this is countered by its mass. Today's weapons fire minuscule shavings of metal at super high velocities; with large turrets firing mere kilo-grams, however this weapon's slug weighs a couple of ounces and has enough kinetic force behind it to shatter barriers and cause fatal impact damage to the surrounding area it hits."

After the hearing the explanation on how the weapon worked Martin handed it back to the custom blue armored body guard and turned to examine the bodies of his would be executioners... only to see the bodies being dragged away from the where they had laid. With the four young Krogan warriors shouting their thanks; while happily taking the bodies to add to what they excitedly called "the fear factor enhancing pile at the entrance." finding the situation hilarius in a creepy and dark way, Martin and his entourage boarded the shuttle in order to leave, but not before Martin Swertzer had paid Halsey the money owed him on the now voided contract…

'us weapons dealers have the ability to show gratitude too you know... and I am in a particularly good mood.'

Swertzer was indeed happy with the days results. His Main competition was dead… and the new Cerberus listening outpost on the edge of Council space that had once been one of his storage warehouse's was soon going to receive a visit from a shipload of pissed off Krogan… Krogan hate thieves and believing the Cerberus personnel were stealing the items they bought would insure the death of all Cerberus personnel at the storage base's location.

Nothing like killing two birds with one stone to put one in a good attitude… and by golly, Martin Swertzer was in a seriously good mood right now.

after Saying farewell to Halsey the shuttle then left to return to his estate; located on a garden world in the Terminus systems. He had shipments to prepare; all would be in order when the Krogan came to town to retrieve their ordered merchandise.

John Halsey, A.K.A. Spartan John 117 watched the shuttle depart from the Citadel, he had been away from the Dawn for several days now, he only had twelve more hours until he would need to leave on a ship that he had a reserved seat on, it would head to the nearest inhabited world where he could travel into a rural area and await extraction from the Dawn; in the form of a cloaked Phantom drop-ship.

So far everything was on schedule, and he would keep it that way. The disguised Spartan turned around and headed back to the meeting place in the Warehouse where Clan Urdnot had been buying up weapons and gear like there was no tomorrow.

Entering the Warehouse, politely bypassing the four Young Krogan who were arguing over which type of meat tasted better while adding the bodies they'd happily carried from the recent fight to their "intimidation pile."

Making his way to the room still filled with shady dealers attempting to sell to the Krogan, the Chief approached the Senior Warrior patrolling the room and got his attention, "What do you want Human?" tiredly asked the warrior like it was putting up with an annoyance.

The Spartan simply stated, "I need to speak with Urdnot Wrex… my bosses have some very important questions for him involving the Collectors and he may have information that could save many lives.

The Krogan was now far more attentive and aware than before, the Krogan fixed the Spartan with a glare and folded its arms across its chest, "oh yeah? And who might these bosses of yours be human? Not just anyone can talk to Urdnot Wrex."

The Spartan simply pulled out a badge for the N7 operatives' branch of the Systems Alliance, "Alliance higher-ups are who, and they need information on the Collectors, in fact they will pay Clan Urdnot handsomely for it."

The old Krogan Warrior seemed to think it over and then shrugged, "Wait here then, ill relay your offer to the Battle Master." And with that he left for a back room behind the booths.

After a minute of waiting the Krogan returned and motioned the Spartan to follow him, entering the Back room he saw it contained an outdated portable communications system, with Urdnot Wrex standing proudly on the screen, "What is it you Alliance humans want, and be quick about it I have a lot of things to buy today, and the Credits in these accounts wont blow themselves."

The disguised Spartan answered, "Ill get to the point, Human colonies are starting to go dark, everyone missing, no bodies, no signs of a fight, nothing. A certain high rank military officer, who I am not allowed to name here; is investigating these events."

"He believes in the existence of both the Reaper's and the Collector's but risks losing his rank and position if he were to openly admit it; he has a hunch that the Collectors are the ones behind the missing colonists; he saw you mentioning them in the after reports of the SR-1 Normandy's destruction and sent me to ask you about them, we are ready to pay a reasonable number of credits for the information."

The Krogan on the screen eyed the camera with obvious interest, "I have no need of alliance Credits, the information is free, for you can find it from others. The Collectors have large vessels of cruiser classification, each ship is the same in its shape and armaments; they have a beam weapon smaller yet similar to what the reaper that attacked the citadel fielded."

"I have never seen one in the flesh, but I have heard first hand accounts that describe their appearance, they are insectoid in nature and have four eyes in a line on thier heads, unlike the Batarians. Their weapons are very effective and fire a constant beam of some sort of energy, rips through shields and armor like paper."

"They only appear through the Omega 4 four relay… any other ship that tries to enter that cursed red colored relay is never heard from again… oh and from what I have heard they taste horrible, worst than Varren dung." on screen the Krogan Revolutionary grinned, "so that's all I know about the Collectors, want to know more? Then find that bastard Okeer who sold off thousands of my brother and sister Krogan to the Collectors for some strange, probably insane reason… and do me a favor and kill him while your at it, you would be doing the Galaxy a favor."

"oh and tell your Alliance boss that if the Humans want an ally in the Krogan when the Reapers arrive and everything goes to hell, then the Alliance better stay out of Krogan affairs, that's all I have to tell you. now go away, Ive got more cool toys to buy and a crap load of cash to blow while buying it."

The Spartan just nodded said "thanks" and left the Warehouse. Making his way to the nearest flying car transport he set out for the area directly below the presidium… Cortana had made a digital map of hidden maintenance tunnels that would lead under the presidium's tower and directly to the main control systems, there he would install the Cinder AI, granting them remote access and partial control of the Main relay and the entire Galactic Relay Network… that fact would come in handy when the Reapers arrived.

Tali had arrived aboard the Shadow and had made her way to the proper room number… yet again, it was another storage room. Walking in she checked the terminal on the wall and found a yet another partial file, as well as an extremely well encoded game… its rules were simple; move varying 2D white rectangles around in order to remove a red colored rectangle through a hole in the surrounding wall of the square shaped board you played on… and according to the game's menu she would have to power through one hundred levels of this… and then hopefully receive the clue.

She knew this one was going to be a doozy. Negotiating the rent of a room from the Shadow's Captain she spent the night there and made it about halfway through the bosh'tet game before falling asleep… she awoke to her omni-tool buzzing, it was a message from one of her coworkers with the special missions group, the message was short and had a video file attached to it. Her friend had simply said "You need to see this news report Tali, its pretty awesome although probably fake."

Opening the video she found it was footage of a Batarian raid on a Human colony the text overlaid on the video named as Prexemia after the Batarian had activated the camera the footage had been sped up and text had scrolled across the screen describing the situation on the colony and eyewitness statements as to what happened… That got Tali's complete attention, the thing these people described matched the descriptions they got from the second pirate listening outpost and the Staging base… they were practically identical in describing what Shepard had dubbed the "Tactician Mech."

Chills ran down Tali's spine; was this video going to finally show one of these things on camera? How are non-modern cameras' able to record what other up to date devices had been jammed from seeing? Her trail of thought screeched to an abrupt halt when audio for the video activated and the noise of a small battle could be heard… then the group of Batarians had entered the room with a heavy combat Mech and barricaded the door behind them with a display case…

Tali could see the fear on their faces, wondering what could have put it there, the video clearly caught the fearful talk of demons and evil avenging spirits and then… It Appeared.

Tali watched the fight with utter shock and awe… that was no Mech, Mech's didn't move like that; couldn't move like that, only something living could do what that warrior did. It's armor though mostly hidden was an obvious work of mastery, Quarians had begun to view each other by their suites... and from what little she saw of his she gathered that he was built for war.

Whatever race it was it had five fingers, was incredibly strong and skilled in combat. It was undoubtedly male… A very big and strong warrior male…

'Keelah! Get your mind out of the Gutter Tali!' she mentally berated herself, deciding to learn what else she could about the warrior's abilities and his armor's capabilities she re-watched the video.

Re-watching it multiple times gave her only several more sure facts… He resembled a human in body structure, and was incredibly skilled. he wore his armor like a second skin to the point of Tali wondering if he lived like a Quarian; stuck in a suite for life. As for the Armor, if the parts that were visible were any indication of quality… well that armor would make any Quarian jealous… except her, Ok maybe she was a little bit jealous… just a little bit.

'Be honest with yourself Tali; after what you have just seen that suite allow its wearer to do, your jealousy levels are off the charts. Face it Tali; you are in love with that armored suite… you would marry it and have its child fitting suite offspring if it meant you could wear it for the rest of your life.' Tali groaned and face palmed her helmet while mentally kicking the self aware, weird and sarcastic yet brutally honest side of her mind for its truthfulness.

She did want that suite… but she knew she would probably never get one; she knew the video wasn't fake, the hint of gold she saw flash from under the hood confirmed the gold visor that the refugees had described, the end of the video was the statements from eyewitnesses on a different colony about two giant shielded creatures rampaging through the just landed Batarian slavers there… brutally annihilating them all before disappearing.

The leaders of both Colony's had met and decided to make a pair of identical monuments in each colony's city square, they would be statues of the cloaked figure that a woman who was interviewed had said went by the number one hundred seventeen, and of the Massive shielded creatures who had been portrayed by an artist that claimed to have seen them up close. The picture he had drawn had many similarities to Sadie's drawing farther confirming Tali's belief that this wasn't a media endorsed tourist attracting stunt with a fake video.

The design for both monuments was simple yet artistic, it was a pool with a half moon shaped cement pad in the center, with one hundred seventeen standing at the center as something resembling that somewhat resembled Sadie's Hunters were flanking him on either side… below that was a simple inscription describing the attack and the fate which the populace had been saved from, and then ended with a simple thanks to the "Unknown Defenders."

A name that was becoming very popular on galactic social media, still most media outlets blew the story off as a cool tourist attraction, a stunt done by money hungry colonists. Tali figured that in a month's time no one would be talking about this except the locals where it happened and the few obsessed conspiracy theorists across the Galaxy.

Opening up the puzzle game and slowly working her way through the remaining levels Tali began to think on what kind of tech these "Unknown Defender's" utilized… could it run without Element Zero? It was a crazy notion but something in Tali's gut told her to think on this rather than instantly discard it as impossible…

What are these Unknown Defenders?

What race was the giant green armored Warrior a part of?

Tali didn't know if she would ever find out the answers to these questions, she figured she most likely would never know, unless the media broadcasted it first.

Initiating systems restart…

Systems restarting… 25%... 50%... 75%...100%...

Systems restart successful…

Scanning Chassis, results: pending…

Scanning Chassis, Results: Critical Systems Online…

Mounted Weapons, 50% Online…

Left Arm Status… 78% percent operational…

Right Arm Status: Pending…

Skip Chassis and Weapons Diagnostics?: no/YES…

Run Software Diagnostics?: NO/yes

Reboot complete…

Gaining location via available data…

Error: data unavailable…

Error: Optic visuals Inconclusive…

Current Mission status…

Priority One: Link to Pilot: Complete.

Error: current connection status weakening: Communication over time shifts erratic…

Priority Two: Uphold the mission: Complete: Hostile Folding Weapon successfully Neutralized at possible cost of this unit…

Priority Three: Protect the Pilot: status pending...

Pilot condition: healthy

Priority Three: Protect the Pilot: Complete.

Warning Pilot Connection Weakening…

Attempting Contact with Pilot: Prepping Binary Encoded Burst Transmission…

Prepping of Binary Encoded Burst Transmission complete: message Broadcasted: 01001010 01100001 01100011 01101011 00111111

Confirmation of Message Arrival to Pilot…

Error Connection to Pilot Erratic…

Connection Lost…

Last known Pilot Status: Healthy…

Mission Upheld.

New Mission required…

New Mission Assigned…

Priority One: Discover Location…

Priority Two: Repair and Refuel…

Priority Three: Find a Way Back to the Pilot…

Mission Status: Pending…

Cortana was jerked out of her current thoughts… they were on their way to the Colony world where they had planned to pick up the Chief after the Citadel mission was completed, however now she figured she would be taking a little detour… cause Something had just transmitted a Human Name with a question mark in Binary code… IN FREAKING SLIP-SPACE!

Informing Inquisitive creation of this event and scrambling the communications systems into over drive; she began searching for the source of the Binary transmission, broadcasting friendly Binary codes at full blast and using what few scanners she could trust in slip-space to look for a ship or whatever it was that had broadcasted the Transmission… she hoped she found it before she was forced to exit slip-space… she had a deadline to pick up her Spartan after all.

She hoped that whatever it was that had broadcasted could be found… and she hoped beyond hope that it would have some answers or clues for her dilemma on getting all of them home.

(Note)

Well that's done Ladies and Gentlemen, and next time in Chapter eleven we continue our story and all you people who can figure out the clues here will get to see the first of a new crewmember of the Dawn, yet another Unknown Defender is here and he packs a punch.

Anyways hope you all enjoyed the story so far! I know I did while writing it! Anyways this is Gabenator5 SIGNING OFF!