Operation Noah

by Azrael The Deplorable

Join Black and Blue team on a journey on Maethrillian to help end a galactic genocide of a neighboring galaxy to secure Forerunner artifacts, tech, and ships. Will they succeed in ending the Reaper menace alongside with the help of Commander Shepard and crew? Or will there be more bodies for the grave? Disclaimer I do not own Halo or Mass Effect.

6. Chapter 6

Halo X Mass Effect Crossover

I do not own Halo (Microsoft/ 343 Industries) or Mass Effect (EA/ Bioware).

Operation: Noah

Chapter 6: The Old and the New

AN: I have two changes to the story with the Precursor's name change to 'Iconic One' and there being Forerunner Promethean soldiers with the rest of the Promethean varieties. Sorry for being such a late chapter of at least one per month, but my school work, other projects, school projects, job searching, and other miscellaneous things has thrown a wrench into my updating schedule. Please note that some of your reviews are sometimes right on the mark, but it will be answered in the very next chapter. It is always okay to ask questions and criticize my work; furthermore, to the guest reviews, I could have PM your questions, but you are not logged in or created an account. If you are a Guest, I urge you to create an account, so I can answer your question directly and not in the reviews sections or Author Notes of the next chapter. Thank you.

Guest: Offensive Bias is in his chassis, not humanoid. It would be appropriate for Ancient Humanity to be an "Ecumene" or Empire *Before* the Human-Forerunner war. After? Yeah, it would most likely (Definitely) be a Stratocracy during the war between them. The next part will all be explained in this chapter. The Heavy fleets are mostly composed of Battleships and Dreadnoughts for the interception of the Forerunner space station and scouts. Note: No one asked how the Human Stratocracy heard the Slipspace ruptures up unto now. Void was going around the galaxy studying things and upcoming species. They had some help ;). More stuff that will be explained in this chapter.

ArcheronVolistad: It's really to give you a sense of familiarity with what the ship looks like. Then again, why is the Ur-Didact flagship is so special, outside Master Builder Faber is a friend. They built ships as big as PLANETS! So then, why is this ship so special. To be honest, I think it's just to make a 'unique' character that 343 Industries just came up with. Then how will the UEG/UNSC due maintenance on them if they have Hardlight version of UNSCNV ships? The Forerunner technology they left behind is for Humanity, but I'm sure Hardlight technology and understanding are beyond the UEG/UNSC at the moment. Having ships with a super advanced version of Covenant Laminated armor? I think it is well within the capabilities of ONI to reverse engineer the ships they will be given especially with Offensive help and the Forerunner Capitol, Maethrillian. The rest is my bad I forget some little details now and again.

kamikage86: I saw them! They were awesome! I'm going to include Ancient Humanity, but not yet. ;)

Halo Star Wars X-over fan: I'm sure I PM you why that is wrong. On another note did you even PM back? You seem like a person that likes to be on site. Do you have any option for my upcoming Halo/Monster Musume/M.G.E./Star Wars/ Mass Effect crossover? It's going pretty well. I have it as a four-stage event with Halo/Monster Musume/ and M.G.E. being the first 30-40 chapters, then 30-40 chapters of Stage-1 and Star Wars, then Stage-1 & 2 with Mass effect with 50-60 chapters (Includes Pre-ME:1, ME:1, and ME:2). Then Stages-1,2, & 3 with the Grand Finale. It's going to be pretty epic, but that will have to wait with the Mass Effect remake being the most supported. The Rise of the Terran Empire Stage-1 is 50% completed with chapters ready to be typed. PM me if you wish to know more on these two projects or my other two. Shadow Walker of Fire is my most vocal supporter of the ME remake. Note; none of the chapters of the super cross-over are in anyway finale.

: John is military to a 'T'. Reporting his troops & ship numbers are just to build some trust and let them know that they won't try anything. But, of course, we know better. Right?

Unknown ship to Tikkun system, Maethrillian anchored location

"What do you mean there aren't any Forerunner life forms on the space station," yelled a very anger High Lord that Iconic One could actually be right about the Forerunners, They succumb to the Flood or succeed in the destruction of the parasite's advance with a great cost. The price of victory against them was very severe.

"There are none, My Lord. We have registered only human, turian, asari, and quarian life forms, My Lord," answered the ensign.

"My Lord! We have the High Admiral of the San'shyuum fleet on the horn," stated the comms. officers.

"On screen," order the High Lord in the hidden anger, disguised in professionalism as he presses the button on his command chair to answer the call from their life-long allies.

"High Lord Denstak. There is supposed to be Forerunners on the space station, yet my ship's intelligence and sensor array officer state that there are no Forerunners on it. Can you explain?" questioned the very angry, but professional San'shyuum.

"I believe your Intelligence has already informed you that there are no Forerunner lifeforms on the station at all, right?" asked the High Lord Denstak.

"Yes; however, this can't' be right. This space station was their capitol of the Forerunner Ecumene!" yelled the San'shyuum High Admiral.

"We did detect eight unknown augmented humans with some of our own early augmentations procedures with a lot of Forerunner augmentations," stated the High Lord's Intelligence.

"Humans? As in our Human brothers and sisters, won the war with the Forerunners and the Flood!?" questioned the surprised High Lord of the ramifications of this, if true.

"Unknown, and unlikely. The likelihood that we won the war on two devastating fronts, unlikely. Unable to go further with scans. I am being blocked by a Forerunner Ancilla. We will be dropping out of slipspace shortly, My Lord," stated the Intelligence.

Maethrillian, Councilor Room 027

"Okay? Military protocol. There is WINTER CONTINGENCY. It is the event of an imminent Reaper invasion of a star system. HARVEST CONTINGENCY is active when the Reapers have successfully assimilated more than ninety percent of a planet's inhabitants and the authorization of mass orbital bombardment and the usage of WMDs to destroy any Reaper troopers, ships, and future assets. There are others, but those do not pertain to you directly for now and in the future," stated Cortana as Offensive rushes off to do who knows what.

"You still use WMDs?" asked a very surprised Ashley.

"We are much more advanced than you are when it comes to our nuclear arsenal and our liberal usage of them," replied Cortana.

"You use nukes in combat!?" questioned a shocked Liara in the barbaric ways of the UEG/UNSC.

"It's just space, Doctor. Unlike your warships, our warships are built to shield ourselves from any radiation from nuclear detonations. Planetside? Nothing we can't terraform to get rid of."

Shepard's team were taken back by this admission to the use of WMDs in space combat AND planetside. Of course, the entire galaxy has the clearance to use WMDs against the Reapers, but for the most part, their nuclear arsenal was dismantled before the invasion or destroyed by the Reapers. There were attempts to mount nukes on to frigates and destroyers to ram into Reaper formations; however, when they inevitably get closer to the Reapers, the ships run a higher chance of being shot down and failing to detonate close enough to deal thermonuclear damage to the shields and leaving it vulnerable to attacks.

"And your plans for military support in the war," questioned Commander Shepard.

"Our first plan of action is the liberation of Palaven from Reaper control in Operation Bird's Eye View, and Operation Birds' Nest for the liberation of Taetrus," stated Cortana seeing Garrus eyes light up.

"Why not Earth we are both humans, so why not liberate Sol first," questioned Ashley very hastily.

"There is a forty-one percent chance that the other species would see this as the Alliance hiding or holding back forces in the fight for survival against the Reaper threat, Pseudo-reclaimer," answered Heirloom of Life.

"The Turians are the biggest military threat to the Reapers right now. If it was liberated, It would be a major morale boost for your armed forces. We already knew you have a major distrust in Ancillas. If the liberation of the system and the neighboring star systems goes as planned, then we would be looked at more favorably even if we're mostly composed/ of A.I., pseudo-reclaimer."

Ashley said nothing in return as that was the asshole spikey-head Councilor's idea on all this. Suddenly some super advanced race from the outside of the galaxy comes in saying that they would save us and the galaxy from extinction, because of religious purposes. To add to it they were humans with multiple advance A.I.s on them with a space station bigger than some gas giants, ships of devastating firepower, an army advance enough to rule the galaxy with a iron fist, and the everlasting idea of the Councilor thinking that the Alliance is hiding some very valuable assets for last-minute counterattack on the Reapers. It's not true of course, but when did he ever listen to someone that's not him?

"I'm absolutely sure that the Turian Hierarchy Military High Command would love that and would be forever thankful for it. The rest of the galaxy will most likely want to know the rest of your plan for the liberation of the systems of other species. I'm sure the batarians would basically demand you to help them if they don't get their way," said Garrus.

"They will have to get in line. Next would be the surrounding Turian, Asari, and Human colonies. The Batarians will have to actually have to let go of their remnant slave trade to protect themselves," responded Cortana with contempt.

"They're still active in their slave trade!?" shouted Shepard in a twist of shock, rage, and amazement. "Must not be too bad if they can still go on slavery runs!"

"Their not, Commander. Just keeping what few slaves they have left doing the hard work or ... other things," stated Cortana frowning at the last part knowing during wartime, men like the Batarians like to spend most to all of their free time doing something 'fun'. That always involves a woman, a non-consenting woman.

"I know what you mean by 'other things'. I knew I should have killed that no good bastard Balak when I still had the chance! The things I'll," said Shepard as she was interrupted by Garrus. "I believe that answers all of our questions for now. I believe everyone here, including himself, would love to get a tour of this space station

"Yeah, I think I got hit in the last part of our battle with the Reaper. I really need to do some suit maintenance. A... Ancilla I would like to use your medical facilities. Can you take me to the closest one?" asked Tali to Heirloom of Life trying to distract Shepard before she loses it.

"Just follow Helix Sole. She will direct you to the medical facility, Admiral Zorah," answered Heirloom of Life. "She will personally lead your destination on Maethrillian. This meeting is adjourned. We will be recharging our drive core to jump to the Citadel in the next hour."

With that, the Spartans got up from their sits ready to leave through portals as Liara calls out to them, "Wait! I wish to clear up some of your," said Liara as they walk through the portal and closing behind them. "History," finished Liara in disappointment.

"I don't like this, Shepard. They are all a little too quiet for my liking," stated Ashley in a hint of concern.

"Yeah, I can see that. The more pressing issue I have is they really didn't clear things up with their history," replied Shepard. "More so, on themselves."

"The only thing I'm looking forward to is their weapons! They got to have some powerful shotgun or something. I would love to test out for myself," stated James as everyone leaves the room and is greeted by Helix Sole and open portals. "Lieutenant James Vega the far right portal will take you to the Armory and you are allowed to test any weapon to your liking. Take note that all weapons will not leave the armory and firing range. Admiral Tali'Zorah, the middle portal will take you our medical facility. The rest of you will take the far left portal to our 'museum'. I will clear up a lot of our history on arrival, Dr. T'soni," said Helix Sole as she goes through the far left portal. When she went through Shepard spoke up, " Garrus go with James, Ashley, you're with Tali. I will be with Liara."

Everyone nodded in confirmation and went through the respective portals with their teammate following suit. What they didn't know was the constant calls from the Quarian Admiralty on the arrival of around eighteen thousand vessels of immense size. Popping into the system like the Maethrillian did not too long ago. The Quarians were panicking and ready to fire upon the intruders, while the Geth just try to analyze the situation, identify the intruders, tag it's threat-level, and neutralize the target. Conclusion? Do not agitate the intruding ships.

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

"If what Destroyer #089671 is correct then, these interlopers will be worse than the other before. They need to be stopped before they do anything critical. Their interference will cost us the cycle may be the whole cycle entirely."

"If they are helping Shepard, then they will be arriving at the Citadel soon. You must go silent for the remainder of the cycle. They can't be allowed to find the processors on the Citadel."

"I know. I'm shutting down any processing units that are not essential to the maintenance of my space station. Their movements must be monitored. Interference from them will be fatal."

"Then we need to make our ascension process faster."

Maethrillian comms. suite with the Human/ San'shyuum Fleet

"This just keeps getting more and more interesting, huh John?" questioned Kelly as they are greeted by the hologram of High Lord Denstak and the San'shyuum High Admiral.

"Yeah," answered John almost annoyed by the sudden appearance of an Ancient Humanity/ San'shyuum fleet. The history between the Forerunners and this Humanity is very sour history. It's surprising that they didn't just open fire immediately on them. It would be a one-sided massacre.

"That is an understatement, John. Just think of all of the lost history they could share with us!" stated Cortana just thinking on all the 'missing' gapes in the pre-Human-San' shyuum/Forerunner/Flood War. Almost nothing is known before that war, but it is known that they were a tier 1 with the exception of an advanced understanding of slipspace travel.

"We will share our history in time, Intelligence. Now, we like to know of your intentions here with this Forerunner Intelligence and their Capitol," said Denstak in an almost demanding like voice.

"We came here to gain control of the Forerunner Capitol and Forerunner built UNSC ships, sir," John-117 in his crisp military tone. "To gain the Capitol and the ships, we were asked to travel to a neighboring galaxy to destroy the Reapers and uphold The Mantle of Responsibility."

"Yes, to uphold the twisted ideals of the Forerunners version of the Mantle. The Human-Covenant war? Tell me about it, Spartan."

"During the year 2525 the colony world of Harvest, first contact was made with a Covenant warship and dissolved into bloodshed. Contact with Harvest was lost and days later a battle group found the colony world partly glassed and a message was to the battle group," stated John as the Cortana played the message. "Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments."

"That was the start of the Human-Covenant war and resulting in the complete loss of the colony world and many more to come. The war lasted for twenty-seven years and took the lives of billions of civilians and military personnel, destruction of hundreds of worlds, almost the complete galactic annihilation twice by the firing of the Halo Array, almost successful releasing of a Gravemind, and an attempt to digitize the entire galaxy. The last one was a plan by Ur-Didact to eradicate the human population, but was stopped by Offensive and imprisoned in a cryptum," finished Cortana.

"The San'shyuum was the leaders of the Covenant? What has happened to them?" question the San'shyuum with his hands rubbing his head as he felt a headache coming on.

"The San'shyuum was the leader and or Prophets of the Covenant. They lead the Covenant on the religious side in the worshipping of the Forerunners," said Cortana as the San'shyuum groans pain of his peoples very notion of worshipping the very ground the Forerunners walked on. It was disgusting and shameful. Offensive with ready access to the domain would fill in the gapes of the devolved San'shyuum history, "When the San'shyuum enter the age of space they went to war on the usage of a crashed Keyship containing the core piece of Contender-class Ancilla Mendicant Bias. The Separatists (Reformists) won and activated the Keyship and blew a chunk of their homeworld into space, and resulting in the destruction of it years later. They on a... crusade across the galaxy gathering Forerunner relics and species to join their religion. Resulting in the formation of the Covenant Order. When their High Charity, their mobile home and Covenant Headquarters, was besieged by the Flood Gravemind and crash landed on The Ark. Most San'Shyuum that were on High Charity died and were consumed into the Gravemind's intelligence. The few surviving San'shyuum are not enough to repopulate the species."

The San'shyuum High Admiral groaned in annoyance before speaking,"*Sighs*. The damn Forerunners are still so incompetent that they just leave military equipment and hardware for anybody to just use, Intelligence? Did the Forerunners not learn from the Beron incident or the Neelvulls, Gruukkeks, and the Vraeqreaxs on finding their supposedly 'inoperable' ships and effectively using them to exterminate twenty other species for their resources, worlds, and technology! All of the supposedly high and mighty talk of being the ones to upkeep the Mantle of Responsibility, there is a lot of loss life under your care!" stated an over angry High Admiral as his close friend Denstak not daring to interrupt it.

"Yes, we have made many mistakes. I cannot say that my makers have really learned from their past mistakes, but I shall atone for their sins for helping ones that should have been the Keepers of the Mantle," answered Offensive in a humble voice. The Forerunners were quite lazy when it came to Military hardware when they got into being the sole inheritors of the Mantle. If a ship, vehicles, or whatever stop working they would run just throw it away. The conditions to throw away such pristine warships was mild and easy at best and just intermediate at worse. It would not be that hard to fix. Then there was the Flood outbreak of Installation 05 that went by for the next ONE HUNDRED MILLENNIALS! (AN: I find it quite stupid that for some reason the containment breach of installation 05 went undisturbed for one hundred thousand years with no action taken. Something like that should be monitored by an Overseer of all the installations. Like, maybe an Artificial Intelligence that can command entire fleets with ease and reach these installations without issue. I don't know, just food for thought. end of rant.) Offensive, of course, didn't tell them that. It would only diminish what little faith he had in his makers.

The San'shyuum Admiral only scoffed in disgust as High Lord Denstak spoke up, "Thank you for your explanation, but I wish to warn you of the Reapers and possibly the resurfacing of the Flood."

Maethrillian Armory/Shipyard

"This a UNSC sniper rifle!?" exclaimed Garrus as shocked at the size of the M-99 Stanchion AT SRS and the SRS99-AM.

"That is correct General Vakarian. Both weapon systems operate on gauss based weapon system to magnetic propel a tungsten carbide round at one hundred fifty kilometers per second for each rifle," explained Helix Sole.

"How's that even possible? You will need a mini reactor to even get one shot at that speed and the capacitors for it would need to hold the charge and handle at a constant rate without the need to recharge. Then you'll need to worry about the weapon overheating! How do you do it?"

"We use microvoid reactors to power the systems and supply the capacitors at a constant recharge rate upon use. Special Forerunner grade coolant is used to keep the heat to a minimal," answered Helix Sole.

"You said that the weapon systems fire tungsten carbide rounds? Are there anything special about the round," asked Garrus as he picks up the SRS99-AM rifle. He only overlooks the M-99 Stanchion SRS for later.

"That sniper rifle... BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!" said Helix before rounds were fired down range by James.

"Woohoo! That was awesome! I didn't feel a thing of recoil! what is this?" exclaimed James in shock of the UNSCDF DMR.

"That is the Reclaimer Military Armed Forces Designated Marksman Rifle. It fires AP tungsten carbide rounds at one hundred kilometers per second," replied Helix as Garrus picks up the sniper rifle and takes aim at the target center mass. BOOM!

"Do all of your weapons fire projectiles? Anything that is energy based like that one warship?" questioned James.

"Yes, Of course, pseudo-reclaimer," answered Helix as a wall of purple, Greyish glowing orange, and more UNSC like weapons appeared on the next the UNSC projectile weapons.

Maethrillian Medical Facility-A203 Wing A

"This place seems pretty empty for the space station of this size," commented Ashley in suspicion of it being largely uninhabited.

"It was abandoned one hundred thousand years ago. And I was waiting for the Reclaimers to find it in the Scutum-Crux arm," replied Helix. "This is the room. If you will be trying the sterile field generator in the back right room. You can run any amount of tests on it as you wish."

They only just got out of the portal to a large blank room of glowing greyish-blue walls with a lonely floating medical bed in the middle of the room. Nothing else was in the room to the surprised of Ashley and Tali. They figured that if they were this advance, most injuries could be in and out in no time at all.

"Why do the Forerunners call them that? Reclaimers," asked Tali as she makes her way to the designated room. "And assume that your little nosy A.I. friend Void did his fair share of spying on my people?"

"You need not fear Admiral Tali'Zorah. We already have the generator set to cleanse any bacteria to would do harm to your physiology or your people. I have taken the liberty of giving you a dose of bio-solve and water for the infection you have now from you discarding your suit on Rannoch."

Tali flinched at that last part. To see a Quarians face is a very intimate act with family and a mate. It didn't even answer her question, but that last little tidbit spoke for itself. She would say something but was cut off by the A.I. ," Think of Bio-solve as our galaxy's medi-gel. It will be easy to grasp."

"And what is the sterile field generator? Does it do what it says?"

"Of course! It eliminates any and all foreign microbes of any species. Reclaimers have allowed your galaxy to have the Reclaimer version of the generator if the alliance is accepted."

"That would do some good for the people of the galaxy. Question, what makes these humans worthy of the Mantle? The Forerunners could be space faring for millions of years while the UEG has only been space faring for a couple of centuries. Why would they give this religious thing to a non-space faring species?" questioned Ashley doing what Shepard said to do or didn't. There was a slight cue of them separating to investigate. Tali, of course, entered the room without incident. (A/N: Tali is not taking off her suit just test with the bacteria that is known to have infected and killed Quarians in the three hundred years in space.)

"Morals. My makers were too lenient in some cases and extremely spiteful in others, and at other times lazy and haphazardly pass judgment on the enforcement of the Mantle of Responsibility. There are many things my makers didn't do and should have done. Mostly the fact is the Mantle got in my makers' way of decision making," replied Helix. "As for giving it to a non-space faring species. My makers thought it would be better in their hands then my makers'."

"What happened to make them choose? You can travel to other galaxies and definitely quickly travel across your galaxy. Why not choose a present space-faring species?"

"We would if all of them were not devolved or even alive after the Forerunner-Flood War and not abuse the power we would give them. They would, just like my makers did upon them, they will do upon others. They were devolved into their most primitive state and resettled on their homeworld. Most had too little of a population to even merit saving, but the Librarian tried anyway. They still live; however, some of the species didn't get past the pre-space age, or the Nuclear age twice. It was a dark time and terrible stain on my makers' history."

Ashley is visibly shocked by this information. To devolve and make an entire species sent back to their most primitive times is downright terrifying. 'Just great! A species that can and will do some of the most heinous acts to you. They can easily be worse than the Reapers ever could dream of! They are almost playing a godly role doing what they did to the other species.' thought Ashley.

Maethrillian 'Museum', Forerunner History

"You did what!?" yelled a very shocked Liara on how the Forerunner Ecumene ruled over the other species. It was harsh and unforgiving if you got on the bad side of the Forerunners.

"It was one of many things my makers regretted to do on the species they ruled over. There was some that challenged my makers' rules of the Mantle, but it will all fall on deaf ears. As long as they didn't interfere with my makers' plans for the galaxy. There were some species like your own Batarians, Krogan, and Turians running about enslaving and exterminating other species. With or without the technology that was decommissioned into their campaigns. When my makers found out about this my lives were lost, species extinguished, and the Forerunners devolving the few species that took part in the violations of the Mantle while others were given the death sentences for their crimes. Then after the Flood-Forerunner war, my makers had to devolve a few species that would live to rule the galaxy with an iron fist, and not the humans we wanted to uphold the Mantle of Responsibility. My makers took steps on how it will be done to ensure that they were the ones to rise to the stars," replied Offensive.

"But to do that to any species is monstrous!" yelled Liara in shock and disgust. "I know to punish the species for all of their wrongdoing, but to exterminate and devolve a species!? That too far!

"Is your Council any better?" asked Offensive.

"Excuse me?"

"The Council sterilize the Krogan even after they won the war. They couldn't bring themselves to force the Krogan to the table for surrendering to them. Did they even try to get the Krogan back on track as an actual species that doesn't have they're entire existence centered around war? And the Rachni. The only reason the Asari or the Salarians still exist is by the fact of a stronger and a more militant species can actually defend itself and its territory. Any military competent species could easily topple the Citadel Council. Even the Batarian Hegemony was planning the same thing in the turn of the century."

"The Krogan.," said Liara before she was cut off.

"And the exile of the Quarians. If I told you that the Councils decision to exile them and ban them from colonizing future colonies was nothing short of a political decision that would indefinitely kill off the species very very slowly, and very very painfully?"

"Uh uh, I didn't know all of that!? B bb but how?"

"Asari. I am the most advanced A.I. of this galaxy and the next. And my makers sent Eye-of-The-Void to monitor this galaxy. Every government's dirty little secrets are known to me, Asari. Cease your transgressions on insulting my intelligence."

"Uh yeah, the Human-Covenant war? What made the Spartans be such strong-silent types?" asked Shepard with Liara still silent and processing what she was told.

"The Human-Covenant war started in 2525 on the planet of Harvest, during a First Contact. It turned bloody as the Covenant glassed the colony world with the message, 'Your destruction is the will of the gods. And we are their instrument.' is the first thing the Covenant Empire said to the Reclaimer Government. And it started the greatest lie in the known galaxy, that the San'shyuum were to inherit the galaxy and not the Reclaimers. This knowledge resulted in the failed extermination of the reclaimers and near total destruction of the Covenant Empire and the extinction of the San'shyuum, almost. Billions dead, hundreds of worlds lost, and scars that won't fade in near future," said Offensive as the wall behind his chassis shows pictures of the Great War. It was horrifying. The mutilated bodies dotting the landscape, glassing beams striking down from the heavens, and zooming out to the complete destruction of the world. "The result of blind obedience of false religion. The Spartans were there for the first battle of Harvest all the way to the Reclaimer homeworld, Erde Tyrene, Earth. They fought in hundreds of battles, operations, and other things that are covered in black ink. Note, that the casualties of the Reclaimers were mostly civilian. The Covenant Empire wish to kill any reclaimers on sight. That is why they are so quiet, so isolated. There wasn't much downtime between brush fires to rest and make friends. It was a brutal unforgiving war. That is why they are like that which you see them as. Did I answer your question," finished Offensive Bias?

"Uh yeah just about. Tell me about the Flood, what can I expect of them to do if we ever to encounter them," questioned Shepard a little bit disturbed at the history of the Spartans and the Human-Covenant war.

"They will invade your central nervous system and assume control of your body while in great agony," replied Offensive as he shows a human soldier and a Sangheili being converted into flood foot soldiers. Shepard and Liara watched in horror as the flood infection took over their body and twist and contort and disfigure the bodies into disgusting green abominations. "When the Flood reaches a suitable amount of 'organic matter'. They have the unique ability to gain all knowledge of the absorbed matter, with the added benefit of sharing the knowledge to all other absorbed forms.They will form a Proto-Gravemind to coordinate its forces better than their feral stage forms. Then the dangerous Gravemind of the capabilities to grow new Flood forms, create ships, firearms, etc. Then the final and most deadly stage, Keymind," said Offensive in the unease of even mentioning The Primordial One. It was a pain to deal with this Precursor. "The Keymind has a unmatch processing power that even I would have trouble keeping pace. It can interface with A.I.s and infect them with the Logic plaque, control over slipstream space, distort space and time, and telekinetic abilities that are considered godly. In the event of a Flood infection of a planet the standard protocol is to cleanse the entire planet and blockade the entire system."

Shepard and Liara were silent on the explanation of the Flood, no. It was the pictures and videos that played in the background of Offensive Bias. A Flood Gravemind was talking to a smaller version of the Master Chief and a Sangheili. It's eyeless maw sending shivers down both of Shepard's and Liara's spines. Then the pictures of what a flood infected world looks like and all of its dangers of pulsating landscapes, tentacles grabbing any prey unlucky enough to get too close, and other monstrosities. It was truly an enemy that one shall not wish upon one's worse enemy.

"I believe that is enough for today. I believe Lieutenant Vega and General Vakarian are having fun in the armory."

Maethrillian Comms. Room

"It only ended ten thousand years. We are still recovering from the One and a half Million long war. Even now we are just getting to this side of the galaxy to sweep for possible remnant flood forces out here. The Terminus systems and the Attican Traverse as the rest of the galaxy calls it, still could house unknown flood worlds," stated High Lord Denstak on the most devastating intergalactic war that will ever happen in a long time.

"Wow. Just wow," said Cortana in shock not daring to interrupt his story on the entire one and half millennia war with the Flood. "I can't believe your people went through such a war. Your government must be governed by the military for a never extended time," said Cortana thinking they adopted the Stratocracy form of government.

"Yes, Intelligence. Up until recently that we have handed the emergency powers back towards elected powers of the populous. They wished to be completely demilitarized, but I said otherwise to clear the entire galaxy of the Flood while the Iconic One does what he does best," replied High Lord Denstak.

"I assume the Precursors fighting the Flood was incredibly difficult to fight each other. I hope There isn't any massive group of Keyminds hiding out in the in these sectors of space, right," question Offensive in an unheard amount of worry, but none heard in his voice.

"No, intelligence. We destroyed the last known 'Keymind' millenniums ago and your so-called Gravemind nearing the end of the war. Now we are making sure there aren't any leftover Flood spores out there."

"Isn't the Flood just corrupted Precursors? Couldn't they just detect them by using their neural physics?" asked Heirloom of Life.

"Yes and no, Intelligence. They can try to detect them, but they will just mask their signature from detection. The lower The Corrupted's' intelligence the easier it is for us to find them. But it's still isn't easy as they could be mistaken for natural life-consuming animals or plants, but still possible to detect. Now it's just finding them. In the same one thousand light years, the radius can be detected with ease. At this point, we can handle it with little issue. No need for the Precursors to get involved" stated the High Admiral Ord Brunst.

"If your here to do the work of the Mantle then watch yourself, intelligence. If the Reapers get a good read on your position they will try going FTL right into you. It will hurt really bad and they will most likely try to do the same with their mass relays. Throwing any projectile they can get their hands on at you."

"On another side note. Why haven't both of your species and the Precursors deal with the Reapers before now? You seem to have some combat experience against them, so why do the Reapers still exist?" questioned Offensive in suspicions of something else is happening.

"The war with the Flood was a much more pressing issue on our minds. After the war, however, was a bit different. The Precursors wish for the species of the galaxy to defeat them themselves. The Reapers would have cleaned the entire galaxy of life before the Protheans were next. So they created the Protheans and the other species of the last cycle and made the species of this one. They wish to test every species for the right of existence and the right of the Mantle. This plan was long thought up before we even came here," replied the Ord Brunst.

"We still don't know how long the Precursors and the Flood had been at war. Or when this third humanity popped up into existence. We think they planned this for a long time, but we don't know for what. We think it's for the right to uphold the Mantle we just don't know which, Humanity, or which species shall have such a title," answered High Lord Denstak.

"This has been enlightening, but will there be a point in time that we will be called to take part in anti-flood operations," asked Margaret.

"No, Spartan. We have it from here just take this from our Intelligence to communicate with us in the emergence of a Flood outbreak going interstellar and reaching any higher intelligence," stated Denstak as his ship's intelligence sent Offensive the emergency access codes for Flood outbreaks to speak with any Fleet commander of the Human Republic (AN: It would most likely stay a Stratocracy type of government post-war-like in more realistic fanfictions, but this isn't about Ancient Humanity. Just the Spartans and the Mass Effect universe trying to stop the Reapers from harvesting the galaxy).

"Another question. What is Humanity's original language? We think it was Latin, but little is known for the entire language. Can you fill us in on it?" asked Cortana.

He didn't answer her, but she did get a load of language data to her with a lot of instructions and usage of words, junctions, and among other things. The UEG/ONI philologists would kill to get the original language of humanity to use to teach to children and adults. Latin was basically a dead language that no one spoke, but people until today could only use it for short phrases like, 'Ex Obscuris Lux' as 'Out of Darkness, Light', or 'Condemnant quod non-intellegunt as 'They condemn what they do not understand'.

"Thank High Lord. One more thing, your military is not like the Forerunner Military to leave military equipment laying around for anyone to use?"

"No, intelligence. The Forerunners most likely destroyed everything they came across that was occupied by us."

"I believe we spent a bit too much time on trivial subjects. There are Reapers out there that need to be stopped with their Ludacris plan of cleansing the galaxy of all life to cease the synthetics from killing organics. We shouldn't keep Shepard's team and the Citadel Alliance waiting," stated Offensive as the entire team is now at the armory testing weapons.

"Yes. Politics" sighed Kelly. "Where are they?"

"The Armory they are currently discussing our history, technology, and etc. Lieutenant James Vega is quite fond of the Covenant Order Needle weapons and General Garrus Vakarian is having fun with the Covenant Order Plasma Lance Focus sniper rifle, Reclaimer. They also asked to use them in upcoming missions. As told, only the Reclaimers can approve of it," answered Helix.

"Denied. If they will be working directly with us then they will only get to use them for that mission," stated John.

"We should be leaving. The Geth and Quarians are growing antsy towards our presence. Until we meet again Spartans," said High Lord Denstak as he leaves and cuts the feed with his San'shyuum counterpart.

"How are the system's inhabitants taking the Ancient Humanity/ San'Shyuum fleet?" asked Margaret.

"Not well for the Quarians. The Geth are taking it in strides. The Quarian Admiralty is trying to establish comms. with the Normandy and us. Most likely for answers and demand audience with us. We will ignore them for now and we are blocking any attempts at communications."

"Cortana?" asked John.

"Wasn't my idea, but we still shouldn't keep Shepard's team waiting."

Maethrillian, Armory/ Shipyard

"Spirits! That all happened in there galaxy!? Spirits!" exclaimed Garrus in shock of the history of the Forerunners and the UEG/UNSC.

"Yeah. Fucking Loco shit. They did that to their subordinates after the Forerunner-Flood war!? Loco! Just Loco!" exclaimed Vega in shock with Garrus.

"We should keep an eye on them. They should not overstay their welcome here. They get in and get out as fast as possible. The one thing I don't want, is them to get some ideas in our time of need," stated Ashley.

"Yeah. Did you see their weapons!? Check this out," said Vega getting a purple weapon with strange needles pointing out of the weapon. "This baby right here is the Type-31 Needle rifle. It's a Designated Marksman Rifle with a twenty count Blamite Crystalline rounds that explode in large quality. Check it out!"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BOOOOOMM! was heard as James fired the needle rifle down the range of the firing range of a target and explodes as it gets into a little cluster.

"Nice huh! Then this," said Vega as he gets another rifle like object from the table, "This baby is the Type-51 Plasma Repeater. Garrus over there is holding the Type-52 Focus Sniper Rifle. Check it out!" said Vega as he hands the Repeater off to Ashley.

"Not surprising that they have energy based, but to have it hand handled! That shouldn't be possible! Tali, You were with them medically. What did you see? What did they tell you?" questioned Liara as she almost begs her to tell her a secret like a school girl.

"Nothing much, but the sterilizing field generator is amazing! It does what the name says, sterilize the local area of any bacteria, disease, or virus. I would kill to get the schematics of it. The Admiralty Board would try me for treason if I didn't try to get my hands on it. Then there is this," said Tali reaching for the cylinder like container. "This is Bio-solve. This is their version of medi-gel. The A.I. *cough cough* said I should take some with water. I *aaaaachoooo!* *aaachooo!* BOSH'TET! Now *sniff sniff* I'll need to clean my air filters and mask. Ugh *achoo*! I should really get back to the Normandy. Helix.." said Tali as she already receives her answer.

"Please, Admiral Zorah. There will be four portable sterile field generators are waiting to be transported on to the Normandy," answered Helix Sole. Tali said nothing and just walk through the portal again and left the others behind.

"This is pretty weird. The silver and blue is nice and all, but the shape doesn't make it look like a rifle I've seen before," said Ashley putting it to her shoulder and firing it repeatedly in bursts.

PEW PEW PEW PEW! PEW PEW PEW PEW! PEW PEW PEW PEW! (AN: I know, stupid laser sounding noise I know okay.)

"How does this fare up against shields?" asked Ashley, "And is this thing coilless?"

Garrus was the one to answer, "Yes. It is absolutely devastating towards their Energy shielding. Oh did I tell you they Energy shields? They have them. Our shield? Let's not get into that part."

"It's not pretty at all. Imagine if your ceramic armor was now made of parchment paper and you get hit with the Plasma Repeater, not pretty and it's quick. If they miss, you will be in agonizing pain until death or medical treatment," finished James.

"Was there any inconsistencies with their story?" questioned Shepard as she eyes the weapons on the table for ease of use if any hostilities happen.

"No. Nothing we could tell. If you could tell if an A.I. was lying," answered Garrus still holding the quite heavy UNSCDF gauss sniper rifle.

"Commander. We need you to call the Citadel Alliance to clear an area of three hundred thousand kilometers on the system's border. Notify them of the radiation of slipspace portals," said John.

"EDI? Did you get that?"

"Yes, Shepard. Already sent. I'm not getting a confirmation from the Quarian Admiralty Board," answered EDI.

'Probably still slack-jaw from the gigantic space station,' reasoned Shepard. "We will continue without them. We're leaving. Helix?"

"Worry not, Commander. We can arrive at the Citadel in seconds."

EDI quickly received a message from Councilor Tevos on where they should arrive at to not scare the populace and the channel for Council members private communications. EDI forward it them Helix and in turn, gave them to Offensive. Shepard and her team said nothing, but James continued to tell the them about the Weapons of the Covenant Order, UNSCDF Gauss and Laser rifles, and Forerunner Hardlight weapons. All in all their weapons were terrifying in its effects on targets. Needless to say, they weren't very happy to be outmatched, but also scared if they ever get into their weapon's crosshairs. Helix said they had vehicles that had similar weapon systems in place with Heavy Redundant shields and Laminated armor. John told Helix to cease and desist in the detailing of vehicles' components and manufacturing of said vehicles, weapons, and ships. Just tell them we have vehicles and et cetera for a military campaign. The Quarians were still trying to contact the Normandy on the appearance of the massive fleet of warships. While the Geth were already told who the ships belong to by the end of the High Lord and Admiral has left. Thirty minutes later Maethrillian and her small fleet entered slipspace, heading straight to the Citadel with a Geth fleet heading to the Relay in suit of cooperation of upcoming operations. The Quarians would follow suit, but they were in the seeing distance of their homeworld for almost three hundred years that laid out of their reach. The less Geth in the system the better. The Admiralty wanted answers on the unknown ships to the Conclave, but not yet. They should head to the Citadel to request the attendance of Spectre Shepard.

Citadel Council Chambers meeting room-A, Minutes before arrival at the Citadel

"How can you trust these unknown with anything they say? This all can be a Reaper trap, Tevos!" stated Spararus strongly.

"Sparatus. We need help pushing back the Reapers. Our worlds burn as we rush to finish the crucible. The longer this goes on, there won't be a galaxy to save. I have faith in Commander Shepard's decision to accept these outsiders' help. She hasn't failed us yet," said Councilor Tevos nervously. She couldn't admit that he could easily be right. Thessia is now firmly in the crosshairs of the Reapers and the Matriarch Council, or what's left of it. Was right now pressuring her into accepting any help she could get to keep Thessia and all of her colonies out of harm's way. Accepting the temporary Alliance with the UEG/UNSC was paramount. She was told to accept anything that is considered acceptable to the Asari populace. She was basically just a 'Yes man'. The Admirals and Generals were the ones with the real power now, regardless of species (Wartime powers).

"Both of you are right. Must complete the Crucible as fast as possible, while making sure that we have resources to build it and keep our militaries afloat and moving. If a massive and sudden force is to attack our military force it would be devastating. A major relief of the pressure that the Reapers are applying would go our way by lightyears. I would recommend we accept, but keep eyes close to them. Possibly in system," commented Councilor Valern. "Could gain new technology if lucky. Traveling through intergalactic space must be consuming a lot of their resources, could supply them with our own. More beneficially their own system. Boltzmann system is an obvious choice, Admiral Hackett."

"Already sent an approval. Just don't try anything stupid. We're dealing with highly advanced Artificial Intelligence. I doubt that the STG can effectively outsmart them to steal any weapons on their person," stated the Alliance Admiral with a bit of a heavy hand to not try to steal from them.

"The STG can be quite resourceful when it's needed," replied Valern.

"Right now we can't afford to open a war on multiple fronts."

"They know that. Must get some idea on their FTL drives. Intergalactic travel extra complicated. Fuel, food, materials, minerals, and other things not known to us will be needed. A symbiotic relationship is a good way to get some of their technology. Very valuable, if we win this war."

"I agree with Admiral Hackett. Spying on them could jeopardize what we could get out of our alliance. We need these 'Spartans' on our side, Councilor. I would advise that STG continue on their studies of Reaper movements and ambushes," stated Tevos firmly.

"Are your military leaders able to be reached on such short notice, Councilor," asked Tevos to Sparatus and Valern.

"Yes. And they voice the same concerns that I do. It is too convenient for their arrival," answered Sparatus.

"Yes. Dalatrass Linron and our Admirals and Generals will be attending the meeting in person," answered Valern as their respective Omni-tools pinged.

"Councilors and Admiral. The Spartans should be arriving," said the comms. specialist when a blaring alarm in the background goes off. 'Radiation Detected! Radiation Detected! Radiation Detected!' "That must be them. I'll you a visual Councilors, Admiral.

Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Traffic Control room-A019

Belizea Connie was quite nervous right now with very strange orders of clearing out an area of three hundred thousand kilometers for an untold reason on the very edge of the system. Just nearing interstellar space where a lot of radiative materials would float in the void of space. Nicely tucked away from civilian scanners, eyes, and out of the way of shipping lanes, but that was not easy in the Citadel Council's darkest hour. Then she was told from her superior to watch out for radiation and very high levels of it, specifically wormhole radiation. She didn't know what this was all about, but just what she was told to do. Then she was sworn to keep anything she detected a highly classified secret, if not she has officially forfeited her life and was ordered to be executed on sight. She and almost all of her colleagues all agreed to the form of silence. She of course agreed, she had a family that was made homeless from this war, no, genocide is what it is. Then to make it worse her human husband was M.I.A. and he was somewhere in Turian territory or their homeworld fighting with the Reapers. The Citadel has never been busier than this, even in a time of war. She could no longer go on break to her favorite lunch spot, Mr. Johnson's Fish & Chips. Now she must eat just feet away from her post and have to deal with not having fish & chips for lunch. 'I really miss you, honey,' whispered Belizea as she holds their wedding photo. She loved that family of his, they were...

"Radiation Detected! Radiation Detected! Radiation Detected!" screamed her console, making her almost jump from her chair. She quickly shoved the photo back into her shirt and check for what was making the radiation and if any civilians were in the area. Thankfully there was not any in the surrounding area when a voice came through the comms. with a HUGE PLANET like object coming up on scanners.

"This is Contender-class ancilla Offensive Bias. Fleet Commander of Freedom Breathes Everlasting Life of the Forerunner Capitol, Maethrillian. We will be waiting for your arrival or request to dock."

That message was of course not open to the public and was broadcasted on the Council's private channel. 'What the hell is an Ancilla!? Is it an A.I.!? It's in charge of a Fleet!? And what in the Goddess name is the 'Maethrillian'!? questioned Belizea in shock. Then she brought up her cameras to the designated area where all the radiation was coming from. Her eyes almost popped out at the sight of the planetoid and the neighboring ships. Some the size of corvettes and frigates, while others were Super-Dreadnoughts and Mega Dreadnoughts at six kilometers long. What has she got herself into now?

Citadel Council Chambers, meeting room-A Arrival of Maethrillian

Almost at the same time, the Comms. Specialist brought up the visuals of Maethrillian and all of her beauty and her detachment fleet. In a chorus of spiritual cursing the Councilors, Admiral Hackett, and the Comms. Specialist said 'By The Spirits!', or 'By The Goddess!'. Then a loud voice came over their provided comms. channels, "This is Contender-class ancilla Offensive Bias. Fleet Commander of Life Breathes Everlasting Victory of the Forerunner Capitol, Maethrillian. We will be waiting for your arrival or request to dock."

Councilors and Admiral Hackett didn't respond to the request but just stared at the planetoid space station they called the Maethrillian. Tevos was the first one to speak.

"Comms. specialist, get me a line to Offensive Bias and Maethrill l...l...ian," stuttered Tevos, now scared of the Spartans and the Forerunners. She was expecting something that was twice or three times as big as the Citadel, not something that would make it look like a small frigate.

"Uh uh uh yeah, yes Councilor," stuttered the Comms. specialist gathering her wits back. "Here it is."

"Councilor," replied Offensive.

"Uh Hello. I am Councilor Tevos, of the Asari Republics. With me are my fellow Councilors, Councilor Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy, Councilor Valern of the Salarian Union, and Admiral Hackett representing the Human Systems Alliance. We humbly welcome you to the Citadel."

"Thank you Councilor for the warm welcome. I and the Reclaimers are people of action and few words. We wish to just go straight to the point of things."

"Yes, a Military Alliance!" exclaimed Tevos, now having the fear of an A.I. on the Citadel grow. But what choice did she have? "We would love to visit your, uh beautiful station, but some of our leaders will need Quantum communication devices."

"Worry not Councilor, we have already fix that problem. Do you wish to have a tour of The Forerunner's Capitol, Maethrillian?"

"Unfortunately no. We are pressed for time, Offensive Bias."

"Do you and your fellow Councilors wish to speak with Commander Shepard. I'm sure she will have something to say. "

Undisclosed Location, Cerberus Space station.

"Sir?" asked a Special Agent.

"There has been an unexpected development. We intercepted communications between Commander Shepard and the Council on an Alliance with an intergalactic species or species. Just a couple days ago there have been some whispers about a space station call Maethrillian coming to the Citadel. You are to lead a team of infiltration specialists to find the technology that gave them the ability to travel the intergalactic void. Inspect everything they have on that space station. Unfortunately, it will be arriving any minute now. Hopefully, the Council will be there usual selves," said The Illusive Man.

"Full of red-tape and two thumbs up their asses," stated the Special Agent.

"On to another note. The species on this Maethrillian are Human ."

"Sir? How is that possible?"

"Unknown. Little to nothing is known about them, but their technology can cross the void of intergalactic space. Technology like that is invaluable."

"I understand, sir."

"Dismissed," ordered the Illusive Man as the Special Agent cut the line and he went back to enjoying his fags and whiskey.

Andromeda Galaxy, UNSCNV Infinity-Class Supercarrier Infinity, S-Deck

"She is only out here, because of me. We are soldiers, not executioners," stated Captain Lasky to Commander Palmer.

"Halsey knew what she was doing. She made her friends with Humanity's sworn enemy," replied Palmer firmly root in Admiral Osman's order.

"I'm serious! We shouldn't have to execute a civilian. Jul 'Mdama most likely tried to capture Dr. Glassman for whatever knowledge he knew. Or to some Forerunner tech."

"No, but it has to be done," stated Palmer just as firmly as before. "And I don't trust anyone else to do it right," Palmer finished.

"There must be another," said Captain Lasky as he was cut off by Palmer.

"I know Tom. And I won't see you court-martialed over that woman."

"Stand down, Spartan!" order Lasky. Sarah was taken back by this. He never just called her spartan, but Commander Palmer, Spartan Palmer, or Sarah. He was serious.

"Orders are orders, Tom. This isn't my first rodeo," said Palmer softly as she puts on her helmet and heads toward the Pelican Bay. She was a bit hurt by his words towards her.

"I don't suppose it is," said Lasky as Palmer leaves from earshot distance. "Roland. Where is Fireteam Majestic right now?"

"They have successfully regrouped with Spartan Thorne and Dr. Glassman near the place Jul 'Mdama was last seen," answered Roland. "Captain? What are you doing?"

"Relay new orders. Regardless of their condition. Kill Jul 'Mdama, Detain Commander Palmer from conducting an illegal assassination, and destroy or capture any Forerunner technology Jul 'Mdama wishes to get his hands!"

"Captain!? Admiral Os," Roland as he too was cut off.

"I gave you an order Roland!"

"Yessir!"

Lasky nervously makes his way back to the C.I.C. muttering to himself, " Please god let me be right."

AN: OOOOOOHHHHHHH so the plot thickens. I know people will question the Precursor-Ancient Humanity-San'shyuum/ Flood war. Precursor versus Precursors would be absolutely devastating and destructive. How did the flood not just do as their name implies? You know how the Precursors has an advanced understanding of Neural physics, right? I would be hard press to spread out like how it wants to but would be caught every time the Keymind tried. Of course, some would slip by, but that is rare. They would, for the most part, be equals and try to kill each other. The Keymind thought it could just outlast them. Then Humanity and the San'shyuum showed up on their radar and destroyed ten Flood worlds. Then came the mad dash to finish the fight, but couldn't cause they couldn't escape the Precursors and their allies. It was a wild rollercoaster of back and forward. And only recently did the Key mind slip up and died. With no Keymind, they were down to Gravemind status, and that didn't last too long. With no Gravemind or a Keymind Flood, forms were easy pickings. Now to the present. Flood spore-infested worlds are in and around the Attican Traverse space and in the Terminus systems. Sparatus is still being an ass. Maybe when they meet, He'll rethink it on the Liberation Palaven, Taetrus, and other colonies. Offensive knows a little too much about the Citadel Council for there comfort, two gigantic spaceships and more to build (The Domination-Class Super Heavy Battleship and the Hybrid Fortstress/Infinity- Class Supercarrier). How will the populace and the Council react to them allowing civilians on to Maethrillian? Will the populace be in an uproar of A.I.s having such a space station, ground forces to invade any planets, weapons to mass slaughter entire armies, and a fleet capable of completely annihilating any challenger. Well, you just have to wait and see. Next Chapter, Storming the Beach.

Azrael The Deplorable Out!