A/N Well I have finally found a beta. Ill let you know in future Authors notes when these can be expected to be posted. And whether or not its worth your time to re read. Polls are still open for anyone who still cares. The one that is currently up will be open till until friday while with the next one appearing for the week after. I apologize for any confusion this has caused as I was unaware that you can only have one poll at a time. Please forgive me and vote. Next few chapters will remain chief centric but Shepard is coming so bare with me. Also thinking about axing the prologue all together. Either that or its getting revised but something has got to be fixed with it. If it Gets the Axe then everything about it should be considered null in void. As I Do not feel it flows well with the rest of the story. Rest assured that doesn't mean this is going to get turned into a time travel or dimensional story. It will just allow me to pen the story behind the origins of the two factions easier and with less mess involved for all.
It all came back slowly, like it always did. First thing that you got back was feeling. His whole body felt like it had been numb. That pins and needles prickling sensation. After that came noise. First it was muffled and sounded far away . Then it would begin to echo. Almost as if your ears had water in them. Then all at once it was clear as a bell. He heard the container lid slide open. Then opened his eyes to see it. He sat up in his cryo tube. Working the kinks out of his shoulders. He looked over to a pedestal. Fully expecting an explanation for his impromptu wake up call. When one didn't come right away he became slightly worried. "Cortana?" he asked groggily. She materialized on the pad instantly. Her bright colorful appearance hurting his eyes even through his visor. Something seemed wrong with her. She was fidgeting. Her eyes darting back and forth as if she was actually worried about something. This was not normal behavior. Especially for an A.I.
"Get up Chief, I don't have much time to explain. I have managed to get us back to civilization. But where still far from home."
The Chief stood up as ordered and tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "where are we then. If not home"
"I'll explain as much as I know as we go but right now we have to go. There are several warships surrounding us and armed personnel waiting as an escort. We are going to meet there government leaders."
"They want to meet with me. Why? What is all this about Cortana?" The chief spoke in an even tone that held only the slightest hint of confusion
"No time, Get over here and yank me. I'll explain on the way."The Spartan immediately did as commanded. Pulling a small chip from the side of the platform and inserting it into the back of his head." He was immediately assaulted with a headache as she fed him information on what was going on. Directly downloading things from her programing to his head. It gave him migraines that could last weeks and was something she reserved for dire emergencies.
The situation was nothing if that. He was a little shocked at the brash decision she made by taking the mass relay. A device that had proven untrustworthy in the past. It made him a bit worried. Cortana was nearing seven years. That was the life cycle for an A.I. He normally had high confidence in her reasoning but pulling a stunt like this made him question her abilities.
He found it amusing that she had actually been worried enough to use his own voice to prevent herself from discovery. It was amusing and a little off putting. This was another sign that her rampancy was drawing ever near. However he needed her far more than he liked to admit. Destroying her would make the situation far worse than it already was. So for now he would have to risk it until he could figure something out.
His walk to the docking bay was a silent one. He was contemplating his options. He was admittedly a tad nervous. He was outnumbered. He could not afford at this point to make enemies. That being said he was not sure how much information he could give up. Seeing as that may be his only bargaining chip. He was unsure as how to proceed. In some ways this was worse than fighting. The covenant was something he could handle. Point the gun. Pull the trigger. Repeat until nothing is left standing. This was different. Something far more sinister. This was politics.
"Chief we need to get a few things straight before you meet with these people. They are the leaders of a galactic civilization. You need to be civil with them. We are low on supplies and are ship is in need of some major time in dry dock before we can even consider trying to get home. We are going to need bargaining chips. I have a list of all non classified patents that exist on the ship. As well as a few less important ones that are. What we need is simple. Ship repairs. Offer whatever you have to to get it just get it. And..."
"Understood Cortana." The chief felt slightly annoyed with her remarks. His main purpose was to fight but he was much more than just a simple soldier. He was a spartan, once more he was there leader. He had been trained in more than just simple combat tactics. He knew how to negotiate. He understood what it was to have tact. Though it was true that he had not exercised those skill in a fairly long time he still was certain he knew what the hell he was doing. What right did she have to treat him like some wet behind the ears private.
In the time that she had lectured him he had reached the Hanger bay and proceeded to activate the outer door opening. The doors came open with a slow mechanical hum and the chief Gasped. There he saw something roughly the size of a covenant cruiser. The thing was massive and alien in design. Having four wings poking out resembling a cross hair. In the middle there appeared to be an oval shaped indentation the interior of which was glowing blue. That while impressive was nothing compared to the giant space station in the background. Its shape vaguely resembled the Ark. However ,where as the Ark was much larger and more terraformed, this place was like a massive city. Four elongated panels that extended for miles held large looking cityscapes connected at the center by what appeared to be a small habitation ring very similar to a Halo. It was then that he also noticed a shuttle approaching flanked by what appeared to be four military fighter aircraft. That must be the escort.
"Chief there is one more thing I forgot to mention. This place does not look kindly on the use of A.I. Its illegal in fact. So it would probably be a good idea not mentioning me at all if possible."The mans face grimaced behind the helmet. Things where getting far too complicated for the Spartans liking.
The small Asari Shuttle shook slightly as it made its way toward the unknown vessel. There was a nervous tension among the soldiers as they flew towards the unknown craft. None more so than Dilana V'Jore. She didn't have nearly as much experience as the others had in terms of combat as the rest of the group. She had gotten assigned to The Ascension more from her mothers string pulling than her combat finesse. Something she was often teased about by her fellow Commando's.
There was none of that now though. The air was tense. They where all on edge and that bothered her more than the teasing had. These were elite huntresses. They had faced the toughest things this galaxy had to throw at them and came back victorious every time. No she much preferred the teasing. She supposed it wasn't that shocking though. They where facing something far scarier than anything they had ever faced before. They faced something that could be as great and as terrible as one imagined. They faced the unknown. Even her mind, from what little she known of combat, had jumped from one possibility to another, each one more frightening and horrible than the last. The others had faced horrors far beyond what her imagination could grasp. She shuddered as she thought of the things they where thinking of.
She was brought out of her musings by the pilots gasp. She looked up from the floor in time to get an eye full of the ship they where about to land in. It was fairly large. Roughly the size of the Cruiser. It was defiantly a warship. Its appearance was not made to be pleasing to the eyes. that was for sure. It was grizzled looking. Its surface baring the scars from combat. As her eyes examined the burn marks she had to wounder what in kind of weapon could cause such large burns. Lasers were the most likely culprit but the radius was far too large and the marks where not as uniform as they would be. The ship came to the back end and began to land in what appeared to be a large hanger.
The shuttle door opened with a small hiss as the outer door slid open. Revealing a sight that while not nearly as horrible as she had imagined, was still fairly intimidating. It resembled themselves. Though it was much taller. It was covered in armor that looked more beat up than the hull of the ship. His helmet had a visor that she could make out her reflection in. Her purple skin and slanted eyes being distorted both by its color and indentation in the glass itself. The thing looked at them and nodded before approaching them. Her captain Raila Van spoke softly.
"We are your escort to the council chambers. We request that you please relinquish your arms to us for the time being. They will be returned to you once you have proven yourself to be of no threat." He seemed to accept it and pulled what appeared to be a pistol from his side. As well as an assault rifle from his back. He also handed them a large heavy looking weapon which she was not sure what to make of as she couldn't get a good look at it . He pulled multiple objects from his belt. She assumed they where grenades, The last thing he handed over was a knife that sat in a built in hilt on his other hip. It was at least a foot in length and appeared to be very sharp. It had what appeared to be blue and purple stains on it. She could only guess what kind of creatures blood it was. However there was still an odd looking device clipped to his belt that he made no move to hand over. This did not go unnoticed by the Captain.
"This is not a weapon. It is a force field generator. I would prefer to keep it." His voice was low like gravel. And sounded more like an order than a request. Captain Van looked conflicted before she finally nodded her head. A little diplomacy never hurts. She heard the woman udder in her head as she had done a thousand times before.
he man ducked into the now very cramped shuttle. It was going to defiantly be a tight fit. That was when a look of pure evil crossed her captains face.
"alright it appears that our guest has brought up an interesting problem concerning space. One of you is going to have to sit on top of him. You wont mind will you?"
She asked, leveling a look to the green armored man that made her shiver. Apparently she was more soar than she let on about him keeping the weapon. That or it could be that she wasn't too found of being ordered around either. In her musing she had not noticed everyone else adopting the same devilish smirk. "How bout you rookie. Your the smallest and should be the least burdening." She blushed and stuttered but it appeared that her captain wasn't kidding. She shied. Moving slowly towards the stranger before sitting down on top of him gingerly.
The male stiffened instantly. He must not be used to touching others. This made her think more. Was he ugly. Well that was relative. He could be handsome by there standards but still ugly to his species? What did he look like anyway? His ship had human lettering on it? Could he be human?
Her musings got the better of her once again as a throat cleared. She turned her head and noticed that she had been leaning against him and her face was rather close to his. Well it was really more his shoulders but he seemed uncomfortable all the same so she repositioned herself with a frown. This was going to be a long ride.
Outside the rim of the milky way galaxy lay a small fleet. It consisted of large oblong ships with smooth hulls of metallic gray. They where sleek and curved. Looking more like abstract art than space fairing vessels. Inside the lead ship sat a large ape like creature. He had a snarl on his face as he contemplated there latest defeat.
"The Great Journey has been stolen from us as has our homes. We will find a way back. And when we do. We will crush them and all who stand with them. We will burn there homes and glass there worlds until not even there chard skeletons remain. If it takes the rest of my days and all of my life I will. Make. Them. Pay." The large ape snarled slamming his fist into the chair in which he sat breaking the metal arm with little effort. It was at that point that a small creature in black armor began shouting excitedly in a shrill excited voice.
"Lord Brutus we have found an Ion Trail that matches the Human Vessel. Its faint but it doesn't appear they have gone into slip space. We can follow it and finally kill the Demon."
The Brute smiled. Distorting his face into something out of a child's nightmare.
It appeared the Prophets where smiling on him yet again. "Set a course. I want the Demons head!!