Mass Effect: Forward Unto Dawn

by WildcatWarrior67

Spartans never die. They're just missing in action. At least, that's how the saying goes. But for the Master Chief and Cortana, they're no longer missing. Awaking in a different universe, the two of them will uphold their oath: to protect Earth and all her colonies. Only it won't be from the Covenant this time. And just who is this Commander Shepard they'll be working with?

1. Foreword

Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo franchise or the Mass Effect Franchise. All non-original characters belong to their respective publishers. Any original characters are mine; please ask for permission to use them. Any similarities between characters in this story (including names) and people in real life are purely coincidental unless specified otherwise.

This is going to be my first time writing fanfiction. This "chapter" is just some information and background about the story. Feel free to skip it.

Inspiration:

I have read a lot of Mass Effect and Halo crossover fanfiction, both with each other and with other franchises. I have played all of the Halo games, read a few of the Halo books, and have recently started playing the legendary edition for Mass Effect. I will be relying on the wikis for most of the information used in this story. This story is directly inspired by "The Fighting Spirit" by smart grid, but with Master Chief and Cortana in place of Jorge (observant readers will note this foreword has the exact same format as "The Fighting Spirit"). Most crossovers involving Chief tend to put him in during ME2, so I want to do something with him being there at the start of the trilogy.

General Facts:

A lot of people tend to make the Halo universe seem like a Mary Sue compared to the Mass Effect universe. I want to try to avoid that, and please let me know if it seems like I'm making Chief and Cortana out that way. While Master Chief is superior to a good portion of the ME universe when it comes to combat, reflexes, armor, and tactical skills, he knows next to nothing about how to function in general society or interact meaningfully with non-Spartan military personnel. Cortana will do her best to help him, but it will take time for him to adjust.

Master Chief isn't going to be the SPECTRE. He's not going to be leading the team. That responsibility is still going to rest with Shepard. He's a companion, and while the story wouldn't be the same without him, he's not the one driving it forward, nor will he be fixing everyone's problems. He also won't be going on every mission, but Shepard will be bringing more than 2 companions on missions.

I'm going to try to characterize the cast as close to the games as possible, but I've never done any of this before. If I get something wrong, please let me know.

Romance:

Not a chance. Too many ME x Halo crossovers feel the need to have Chief fall in love with Shepard. He won't be falling for her or anyone else for that matter. Although there is the whole "suppressed sex drive" thing for Spartans (which is contested at best), there just won't be any romantic feelings from him towards anyone else. Some characters may exhibit feelings towards him, but they will not be returned. I'm probably going to do Shep x Liara, but as Chief/Cortana are the main characters, I won't be going too in depth with it.

Technology:

Obviously, Chief has his Mjolnir Mark VI (H3 style, no nanomachines). Comparing shield strength from ME to Halo is contentious at best, so I'm saying that Chief has mid-tier shields. Better than the low-level stuff from the beginning of the game, but not quite up to end-game shields. However, Mjolnir shields recharge faster than kinetic barriers, and block energy weapons, so Chief has that going for him.

Without shields, Mjolnir is made out of starship-grade titanium (and other metals). This means that even without shields, not much is going to hurt Chief unless it's energy weapons or dedicated anti-vehicle weapons.

Speaking of weapons, the Systems Alliance will be recovering the Dawn with a mostly full complement of UNSC weapons and some Covenant ones (Johnson brought them aboard during Halo 3). I'm not sure on how many weapons of each type will be recovered, but Chief will be bringing 1-2 pieces of most UNSC weapons aboard the Normandy (the Alliance has set up a small facility to manufacture ammunition for him which will be replenished at the Citadel) along with 1-2 examples of some Covenant weaponry (until the Alliance figures out plasma weaponry, these weapons are non-replenishable, so their use will be reserved for emergencies). As for weapon strengths, once again, I'm going to say that UNSC weapons are better than starter ME weaponry, but not as good as end-game stuff. They will struggle with kinetic barriers, but will be able to handle armor once the barriers are down. Covenant energy weapons will tear through ME armor and shields, but again, they aren't replenishable.

As for Cortana, she is likely superior to any VI and will make electronic warfare easy. At the same time, she won't just be able to instantly do anything. Once Chief has an omni-tool, then Cortana can go crazy within limits. Chief won't be an engineer or sentinel, so Cortana will be limited to radio traffic and computer systems.

If anyone feels I'm writing either ME tech or Halo tech wrong please let me know.

Update Schedule:

I'm currently a college student trying to maintain grades, as well as earn a scholarship for ROTC. Additionally, I'm going to be working a job this winter break and again over summer. Updates will be infrequent, mostly relating to how busy my schedule is.