Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my remastered Halo - BattleTech/MechWarrior crossover. Thank you for the support that I have received thus far. I deeply appreciate any feedback that I can get. This chapter will be some more exposition, but the plot now thickens. I can't wait to write the next chapter and publish it.

As always, leave a review and enjoy!

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

Reach

SLDF MOB Delta

July 28th, 2552

Chernenko wiped his hair as he sat down in the meeting room inside of the MOB he was at, along with the Elstars that had been present at the defense of Sword Base. It had been a couple days since the attack, and it was only until now, after he had finished a number of critical details, that he was able to host a meeting with the men that had been present at Sword Base. The meeting in question was being held to analyze the Covenant's main ground capabilities, now that SLDF forces had engaged them proper, in order to come up with strategies to defeat them in the most expedient and efficient manner possible.

Now that he had finished up some other important pieces of work, he was able to find out what the Clan Wolf Elstars knew. Normally, they would report to their Star Captain, who would relay the information they would share to the SaKhan, but these were unusual times. As such, he had felt it was a necessary change for the Elementals to inform him, but only this once. After that, the normal chain of command would be observed.

There was also another individual in this room. He was slightly taller than Chernenko, but the main differences were that he was bald, with not a single hair on the top of his head. In addition, he had dark brown skin and dark brown eyes to go with this as well. This was General Oliver Norman, and he was Chernenko's equivalent in terms of rank; he was also his equal in terms of reputation, as he had won recognition and fame during his daring assaults against the Clans during the Clan Offensive.

Personality wise, he was a quieter individual, only speaking when necessary, such as during strategy making sessions and intelligence operations, like this one. Until now, he had been busy making sure that the SLDF had sufficient bases with which to operate. Now that he was available, he had decided to oversee all SLDF ground operations against the Covenant, having studied the UNSC's past engagements with them.

As the two sat down, with the door closing behind them, Chernenko took a look around at the meeting room. Aesthetically, it closely resembled the meeting room he had been inside at Sword Base, but with some differences. For one, the security measures in the room were well beyond what ONI would be able to penetrate, a precaution that had been taken since he suspected that ONI might attempt to spy on them to gain critical information on their military technology and forces. In addition, it was to prevent the Covenant from spying on them as well, as he suspected that they would be paying a lot more attention since their encounter with the SLDF and it's military forces. As such, the room had been made secure enough that one could fire an Advanced Autocannon/20 in here, and no one would know.

As soon as he was seated, General Norman cleared his throat and said, in a much deeper voice than Chernenko's own, "Gentlemen, welcome. As you know, the Covenant attacked Sword Base and were driven off thanks to your efforts. Given that this was the SLDF's first 'official' engagement against the Covenant, I called this meeting to determine their capabilities against our own forces, as well as to determine strategies to get around them. With that being said, a tactical assessment is in order. Alex, you have the floor."

"Thank you, General," Alex nodded. "During our very first engagement, we were able to get an idea of the ground strategies that the Covenant employed against us. From what I can tell, the Grunts are little more than cannon fodder, sent by the Elites in order to get us to waste ammunition. This suggests that there is likely a caste system inside of the Covenant itself, as I did not see Grunts that were of a rank higher than their equivalent of Point Commander."

"So they are used as expendable troops to soften up attackers before the more skilled soldiers come along?"

"Yes, General."

"What of the Skirmishers?"

"I can explain that part easily," Hoskin, who was present along with Shaw and Alberty, added. "The Skirmishers are a sub-species of the species the Jackals belong to. During the battle, they used their stamina and agility to their advantage, often jumping up on ledges and rooftops in order to gain a better firing angle. They are more skilled than the Grunts, but they are easily killed.

"The Jackals are an interesting case. From what I can tell, their primary tactic is to use large, gauntlet mounted shields in order to protect themselves from enemy fire, while using shaped cutouts on the shield to fire their weapons at us. They combine this to form a phalanx wall that allows them to lay down covering fire on us. Fortunately, a well thrown variable mode grenade is more than capable of blasting the entire phalanx apart."

"So they are the main ground troops along with the Grunts?"

"Yes, General."

As he heard this, both Norman and Chernenko began to come up with a tactical assessment of the Covenant himself. Apparently, they send the more expendable troops against us in order to soften up the defenses for the main ground attack. An interesting strategy, but it is not very well thought out when engaging an enemy that is at near technological parity with them. It is simply too inefficient, not to mention morally degrading. Nodding his head, he asked, "What about the Elites?"

"They are the main attackers," Alex replied. "The Elites remind me a lot of Clan Warriors like myself: highly trained, well disciplined, and highly fanatical to their cause. They do not surrender and they do not stop fighting until the enemy is dead or they fall in battle. They remind me of Clan Jade Falcon before the Battle of Toland, as they were highly confident. For the most part, they seem to only use tactics when it suits them, often using brute force when other tactics will work better."

"They also have a ranking system as well," Ward added. "According to the intelligence the UNSC provided us, they have six ranks in total: Minor, Major, Captain, Ultra, SpecOps and Zealot. The Minors are more like footsoldiers, common infantry, while the Majors are similar to non-commissioned officers. The Captain and Ultra ranks are similar to commissioned officers, while their SpecOps are likely used for missions requiring speed and stealth. That leaves the Zealots, who are the highest rank in the Sangheili military hierarchy, as far as we know, and as the name implies, they are extremely dedicated to their cause. They were the ones that engaged us at Visegrad Relay."

"I see," Norman remarked. "What about the larger creatures that the SLDF infantry encountered."

"I can explain that," another voice added. Moments later, an SLDF Corporal walked into the room, with the automatic door sealing behind him. "Sorry for being late. I was dealing with some issues at the dormitories. Don't worry; they've been sorted out and I'm available now." Clearing his throat, he said, "The larger creatures we encountered are called 'Hunters.' A Marine by the name of Chips Dubbo informed me of them; they're basically walking tanks, with thick, starship grade nanolaminate for body armor and a massive cannon on their right arm. Fortunately, SRM's are capable of penetrating the armor and destroying them."

"Good," Chernenko nodded. "That means we don't have to resort to using more powerful anti-tank weapons. What about their vehicles?"

"Their vehicles are highly advanced in terms of propulsion," Alberty answered. "UNSC intelligence believes that they use a form of anti-gravity propulsion to move around at high speeds, though they are slower than SLDF vehicles of the same weight. They are armed primarily with advanced plasma weaponry, with the larger ones using some kind of plasma mortar to engage enemy targets. It is highly damaging against UNSC vehicles, but our IFV was able to take a direct hit with only mild to moderate armor ablation."

"So their weapons are not as effective at stripping off armor?"

"Yes."

"I see," Norman nodded. Looking around, he said, "We'll reconvene at a later time. Dismissed." With that, the Elstars and the SLDF Corporal left the room. As soon as they were gone, he said, "I take it you got everything, Agent Stennings?"

As soon as he said this, part of the room changed, until a man wearing a full Stealth Suit was standing in the room. Stealth Armor was one of the most useful pieces of equipment in the SLDF, and with good reason. Stealth Armor worked by scrambling the electronic signature of a vehicle or a wearer, while distributing their thermal signature to make them disappear against a thermal background. In addition, the use of advanced mimetic programming allowed them to disappear against a background, regardless of where someone was looking.

The figure removed it's helmet, revealing a man with somewhat gaunt facial features, dark brown-black hair and pale blue eyes, who Chernenko immediately identified as Agent Stennings of the SLIC. The Star League Intelligence Command, or SLIC, was the SLDF's primary intelligence gathering branch, with it's founding members formed from the AFFS DMI (Davion Military Intelligence) and the MIIO (Ministry of Information, Intelligence & Operations), before eventually recruiting the top agents of the other Great Houses intelligence branches.

Charged with infiltrating the enemies of the SLDF, while gathering actionable intelligence on them, they were the early warning system and first line of defense against enemy aggression. Chernenko could recall at least eight times where they had successfully prevented an assault on the Star League itself. Their recent successes had allowed for victories at major planets, such as Toland and Beta VII. Stennings in particular, was one of their most successful agents, and was personally responsible for assassinating the Khan of Clan Smoke Jaguar, while foiling dozens of Clan military attacks.

As soon as the helmet was off, he said, "Yes, sir. I got every detail."

"Good," Norman nodded. "Still, the Elementals knew you were there. Alex actually glanced at where you were before nodding in respect."

"I know," Stennings nodded. "Alex has done some work for the SLIC, so he knows the tricks of the trade, though not as well as I do. I actually like it when he knows that I'm in a room. He and I have a competition of sorts."

Chernenko and Stennings both laughed at that. While they were from different parts of the SLDF, and had different experiences, they were good friends, and Chernenko had saved Stennings life as many times as Stennings had his, with Norman doing his fair share of saving both of them from getting their asses burned. Bringing the laughter to a stop, Chernenko said, "You said that you had some vital intelligence for us to see. We're in a highly secured room, so you can tell us."

"Good," Stennings replied, "because our newfound enemy is growing more devious by the moment. This intelligence is sensitive enough that I decided to use paper and ink instead of the more common electronic forms of transmission." Pulling out a manila folder, he placed it onto the table before sliding it to Chernenko and Norman.

The manila folder was marked Urgent: Ultra Top Secret on the bottom, while the top had the words Operation: FARSIGHTwritten in black, bold letters. As Chernenko opened it up, Stennings said, "That is the result of Operation: FARSIGHT, which we conducted when we began picking up some anomalies in our sensor equipment."

"What kind of anomalies," Cherneko asked.

"We detected what appeared to be an electronic 'dark zone' in orbit around the planet of Reach. Given that this has never happened before, we did a diagnostic check on the ship that detected the dark zone, the SLS Ulysses. When we found that the sensor suite was working properly, this raised a chilling possibility: that the Covenant might be making use of advanced Stealth technology in order to disguise the actual strength of their military forces on Reach. I ordered an immediate investigation into this anomaly."

"And?"

"We found a large, 28.9km long area that was an electronic dark zone. To confirm that this wasn't just a flaw in our sensor suite, we performed a full thermal scan of the area. The photographs in that file show what we found."

As he said this, Chernenko pulled out one of the photographs. The first was an electronic map of all LEO (Low Earth Orbit) areas around the planet of Reach. Most of the photographs showed nothing out of the ordinary, but the last one showed what appeared to be a blank spot in the photograph, a blackened area compared to the dull blue coloring that was a result of the scanner at work. Intrigued, he pulled out the thermal images that the SLS Ulysses had taken.

As soon as he did that, he saw what Stennings was referring to. There was a massive, 28.9km long splotch of space that was far hotter than the surrounding background radiation. Where the background radiation was just a few Kelvin above Absolute Zero, there was a 28.9km long splotch that glowed bright yellow against the almost pitch black background of space.

That is no natural object, Chernenko thought. Someone built this, and since we know that the UNSC does not make use of Stealth technology, that can mean only one thing: The Covenant. As he came to this conclusion, a horrible sinking feeling formed in his gut. If the Covenant had been here when the SLDF arrived, then it was likely that they had been spying on the SLDF all this time. "Fuck," he growled quietly. "The Covenant must've been spying on us all this time."

"That was our conclusion as well," Stennings nodded. "We also found something else that is worrying." Looking at one of the photos, Norman noticed that Stennings had marked this particular photograph. It appeared to be part of the Viery Plain that Chernenko and Alex's DropShips had landed at during First Contact with the UNSC, but something was off. There were areas that held an abnormally low electronic signature, compared to a similar photo taken the day they had arrived over Reach. "We found similar electronic dark spots on the planet of Reach as well."

"What is your conclusion?"

"My conclusion, sir, is that the Covenant arrived at Reach and immediately cloaked, probably quickly enough that our sensor operators brushed it off as a ghost contact. It is my belief that the 20km long anomaly is actually a Covenant WarShip that has been supplying the Covenant forces on Reach with soldiers and supplies, while remaining cloaked to prevent the UNSC from finding them. These electronic dark zones are likely being used to disguise large scale Covenant troop movements in preparation for a full scale invasion of the planet."

"Shit," Norman breathed, shocked by what he was seeing. The Covenant have been here all along, ever since we arrived, and they've been doing this without us knowing about it. He cursed himself for not being more vigilant, but then he relented. The Covenant use technology that we're only just learning about, so it's not surprising that we would miss something like this the first time around. What worries me is what happens if we destroy this WarShip. Do they have reinforcements waiting for that particular moment? How large is the inbound enemy WarShip fleet? Can Reach's defenses hold out against them?

All of these questions bombarded his mind as he raced to find a solution for what was going on. Then it hit him: if he told the UNSC what they had learned, no only could they work together on a joint operation, they could also built their reputation with the UNSC. ONI cannot be trusted however, he thought to himself. They would keep this information secret from even their own superiors. I know what I have to do. Clearing his throat, he said, "Thank you, Stennings, for bringing this information to me. Given that we are in an alliance with the UNSC, it will make us look good if we bring this information to them immediately."

"What's your plan, sir?"

"I will hand deliver this information myself. It is too sensitive for anyone other than me to deliver, plus it will make us look concerned and cooperative to the UNSC. While this is going on, I want you to begin offensive and defensive counterintelligence against ONI immediately. Talk to whomever you have to, do whatever you need to. If we can get moles and sleeper agents into ONI, then we stand a good chance of preventing them from being able to do the same to us. I also want as much information as possible on ONI, as well as the Spartan II's that they employ. The more we know about those two things, the better off we will be. Also, I am promoting you to Acting Director of the SLIC personnel in this fleet. We don't have an official leader, so you will be that leader."

"Is there anyone else more suitable for the job?"

"No."

"Well, if I must, then I must. I will organize our resources and go to work infiltrating ONI. It won't be easy, but we can get it done. If we can infiltrate the Great Houses intelligence branches and leave them none the wiser, then we can do the same for ONI."

"Excellent. Dismissed." With that, Stennings left the room, while Norman prepared to leave for Sword Base. Once we get this information to our allies in the UNSC, we will be able to more effectively counteract the Covenant's forces on Reach. We might even drive them out of the system for good. Turning to Chernenko, he asked, "Can you prepare the fleet in the event naval operations have to be commenced?"

"Yes," Chernenko nodded. "I will have the WarShips prepare for combat operations. Besides, I believe it's time that the SLDF Navy flexes it's muscles and shows the Covenant how we fight in space."

"I agree. Give 'em hell, Admiral."

"The same to you, General."

. . .

What Chernenko and Norman didn't know, was that their guess that the Covenant had been spying on them was correct from the start. Standing on the Bridge of the CSO Long Night of Solace, Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee looked out over the Human controlled world that his ship was orbiting over, his mandibles pursed in a thoughtful expression was he gazed at the planet. So far, they do not suspect that we are present in this system, he thought. For a species that seeks to protect this planet, they are very ignorant when it comes to learning of our presence. Indeed, it had been a couple days before the Humans had learned of the Covenant's presence on this planet, and by then, the stealth pylons had already been built and erected.

His mind drifted back to a few days ago, when the Fleet of Valiant Prudence had arrived in this previously uncharted star system. He had been deeply surprised when he learned that there were Humans present on this planet, something that had not been foretold. In addition, there was a massive military fleet, which told him that this was probably one of Humanity's most developed colonies. As such, he had ordered the fleet to begin preparations for an assault on the Humans here. Perhaps when the Humans have been eliminated, I can find the Forerunner artifact that is located underneath the Capitol of this Human controlled world. That will show the Prophets that I am not unworthy of the Great Journey.

As he thought this, though, his eyes drifted to a few glyphs on the Luminary that had been present even before his fleet's arrival in this system. When they had first arrived, he had immediately ordered his men to cloak their fleet, so that the UNSC wouldn't be able to find them. While this was successful, he had been surprised to learn from one of his men that not all of the human attack ships were from the UNSC. There was a cluster of roughly 250 warships that were not of UNSC design, though it was clear that they were Human in origin.

His expression became one of thoughtfulness and worry as he looked at the unknown glyphs. When he saw the unknown glyphs on the Luminary for the first time, he had ordered a probe to clandestinely scan the unknown Human warships to get an idea of what their armament was. To their surprise, the drones weren't able to determine the new warship's armaments. According to a diagnostic, it appeared as though the armor on the unknown warships was designed to defeat scanning entirely, which had him deeply worried as a result.

I do not know if their weapons are more powerful than what the UNSC uses, he thought to himself. Should we begin an engagement against them, we will have to be highly cautious. Fortunately, he learned that only half of the unknown warships were designed for combat, while the rest appeared to be support warships, with fifteen appearing to be mobile shipyards of some kind, indicating this was a fleet that was meant for patrolling the vast reaches of deep space.

Either way, he thought, I do not want attack this fleet, only to find that it is far more capable than the other Human ships without proper intelligence first. An intelligent warrior only attacks his enemy once he knows the capabilities of his enemy in exacting detail. As he thought this, he heard a sound from behind him. Turning around, he watched as a Sangheili Zealot approached him, bowing a moment later. "What is it," he asked.

"I have failed my mission, Supreme Commander," The Sangheili said, his head bowed in shame as he spoke. "I attempted to infiltrate the strange Human's military compound. Unfortunately, they were far more vigilant than we believed them to be. They killed one of our own and gravely injured another. We were forced to retreat. I have failed you, Supreme Commander; I do not believe I am worthy of the Great Journey." Again, his head bowed in shame at the end of his report.

Normally, 'Barutamee would've been quite angry if he learned of this failure, and would've stripped that Sangheili of his rank. Instead, he placed a hand on his brother-in-arms shoulder and said, "While you have failed me, fellow warrior, you have not become unworthy of the Great Journey. You were tasked with finding out what you could about a new Human faction, who's capabilities we do not fully know yet. In fact, you have done well by returning. Now we know that these new Humans are highly vigilant, far more so than the others. It is alright to feel shame at failure, but do not let it define you. After all, how could you have known that they were so vigilant?"

When he said this, the other Sangheili's eyes lit up with surprise, as well as relief. "I… thank you for your kind words. Still, it saddens me that some of my brothers-in-arms are dead now. I should have been more vigilant. If it had…"

"Would it have made a difference?" When the other Sangheili shook his head, 'Barutamee said, "Then there is no need to shame yourself for a lack of vigilance. You did what you could; not many other warriors can say the same. Now that you have returned, do you know more about these unknown Humans, other than that they are highly vigilant?"

"Yes," the other Sangheili nodded. "These new humans appear to be armed with a plethora of weapons. Most of their bases are well armed with what appear to be wall mounted turrets of some kind. Their scanners must be highly refined, as they detected us even when we were cloaked."

"I see. What of their infantry?"

"They are well armed and armored. Reports from other forces that engaged them before they were neutralized indicated that their armor could withstand far greater punishment than our own, even though our armor uses highly advanced materials in it's design. They also use a mixture of what appear to be laser and projectile based weapons." As he said this, he uploaded a short video feed of the failed infiltration mission.

'Barutamee watched as the Zealots, as per their orders, approached the new Human base from behind a small outcropping of rocks in order to prevent themselves from being detected. Once they came to a stop, they engaged Active Camouflage before moving towards the edge of the outcropping. Once they were there, they immediately began making their way towards the base.

As soon as they did that though, all hell broke loose. On the feed, he watched as the Zealot infiltration team was immediately targeted by the base's defenses, with what appeared to be hypervelocity cannon shells being fired in their direction. The Zealots attempted to fire back, only for a ruby red laser beam to down one Zealot's shields, before he was hit three times with projectiles, with one of the rounds appearing as a green trace in the footage.

The rifle rounds must've been quite powerful and advanced, as the projectiles punched through the Sangheili's armor, presumably exploding inside judging by how much the Sangheili's torso bulged with each shot. Said Zealot toppled to the ground dead, his chest punctured with three holes where his hearts were located at. Realizing their losses would soon mount, he watched as the leader, the same Sangheili in the room with him, ordered them to retreat, with the feed ending moments later.

Turning around, he said, "This is worrying. How did they detect you and your men when you were cloaked?"

"That is a question that I am still searching for answers to," the Zealot replied. "If I had to guess, and I detest guessing, their sensors must also be designed to scan for a targets infrared or ultraviolet signature. Active Camouflage only counteracts visual scanning, but it also only partially counteracts motion tracking and other forms of electronic detection. If that is the case…"

"Then our other operatives are vulnerable as well," 'Barutamee agreed. "If that is the case, then we must be highly cautious around these new Humans." Turning to the Zealot, he said, "Since you took every precaution, I will not demote you to the rank of Captain. It appears that the new Humans are highly vigilant, enough so that they have modified their defenses to detect even cloaked Sangheili. Get some rest and report to the Bridge tomorrow. I want you and your team to protect the stealth pylons. If the Humans can detect our forces even when cloaked, then it stands to reason that they can detect the stealth pylons as well."

"It will be done," the Zealot nodded, bowing before turning and leaving the room.

As the Zealot left the room, 'Barutamee turned his gaze back to the unknown glyphs, both eyes peering at them intently. I do not know who you are, he thought, but I will find out sooner or later. You will find that this Helioskrill is far more intelligent and cunning than you realize.