Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Mass effect.

Chapter 5: Learn the truth and make decisions

UNSC Imperial Dawn

Chief, Cortana and the blue team members took a look at the citadel. Though not impressed, still they had to give credits to these protheans to build something like damn big like this. A holographic image of the citadel was projected in front of the chief and relevant data projected around the image with arrows.

"Hm, quiet a place. Linda, can you give the exact astrometric data of this station? " asked the Chief.

"The map indicate this region as the Serpent nebula, located at a -1.7 degree vertical deflection from the galactic plane" said Linda.

"Wow, the plasma radiations from the cloud are pitching out of the display. The hard light shields are filtering the high energy particles with little interference in the sensors"

"That's why I rerouted an additional 3.5% power to the holographic imaging systems for better convergence" replied Fred.

Cortana was silent for a long time. While she managed to get a glance of the station from an information bank in the Asari fleet, this was when she got the live view. Every one stared at the station in front of them and shared their opinions.

"These protheans must really be creative to build something like this" spoke Linda-058.

Then Chief took Cortana's data chip and inserted it at his helmet's back.

"Cortana?" asked chief to which she replied that she's fine. Chief was worried about her since she saw the mass relay.

"So let's get down there and see it to ourselves" said Chief and turned to walk only to be stopped by Fred with his left hand in the middle.

"Chief, I hope we stay silent and not attract to much attention. From what we have seen so far, it makes much sense that people here are just gonna freak out when they see us" said Fred. The others acknowledged his point.

"That's right. We will draw quite a crowd even if we stand there for an extra minute in additional" said Kelly.

"Our job is to meet the council and get outta here. Like you all, I too don't want this to happen" replied Chief in assurance.

Then he ordered his team to load themselves and get to the hanger and board a pelican. Cortana found that the dawn is too big to be docked into the citadel bay. So she suggested a drop ship to be good enough for drop and pick up.

In the armory, There were variety of weapons. The MA5D Gauss assault rifles, M739 gauss LMGs, 99C series 2 Anti-material Sniper rifles(gauss variant), M45E tactical shotguns, Type54 DE pistols and type55 DE rifles, Type57 covenant carbines, Type50 DE heavy rifles, Type52 special application rifles, Fuelrod guns and forerunner weapons that include Z-130 DE rifles, Z-250 DE engagement rifles, Z-390 anti-material High explosive rifles, Z-750 special application sniper rifles. Covenant plasma grenades, UNSC incinerator grenades, energy swords.

John carried a MA5D and type 57 carbine, a type 54 plasma pistol in the right thigh with grenades in the slipspace. Kelly carried dual M739 LMGs and one type 55 DE rifle. Linda carried a 99C sniper rifle and an LMG. Fred carried a M45E shotgun, a MA5D rifle and an energy sword.

The 4 asari were already waiting in the hanger. The blue team arrived and Cortana brought a D79-TC pelican to the ground. D79 model carries advanced tech and Chief and Cortana saw it's use the first time aboard the Infinity at Requiem. Then the blue team and the 4 asari boarded the pelican and the door was closed. Everyone had their seats and Chief was the one to pilot the drop ship. Cortana commanded the sentinels to be armed within and put the entire ship to complete lock down.

There's also a special communicator within the spartans MJOLNIR armor that allows Cortana to connect directly with the ship from inside the armor. The spartans can too do that with out Cortana. This would serve them well in all contingencies. Cortana made sure the weapon systems are online and functional when needed.

Chief flew the drop ship towards the citadel docking bay. "This is Spartan-117 to citadel command. We are approaching the docking bay in a drop ship"

"Roger that"

Then the C-Sec captain Bailey was ordered to escort their new guests. Captain Bailey took 2 human and 2 turian officers with him to the docking bay.

The drop ship slowly touched directly the floor space of the dock besides the place where a frigate like ships could fit well. Then the back door opened and out came the 4 asari and then the blue team. By the time, they all got to see a welcome party approaching them and stopped at a certain distance.

Captain Bailey and the guards just stared at the 4 massive figures that walked towards them with Chief being more intimidating. The guards were slightly tensed after seeing them. They saw those armored people carrying unknown weapons with them on their backs and thighs.

Chief identified 2 humans and 2 aliens which he remembered as turians from the codex with their avian like appearance. The spartans's helmet visors immediately scanned the turians simply when they stared at them for 2 seconds and displayed all the biological information. They could see the bird like tissue structures and the body shape and the skeletal arrangements. Their 4 jaws reminded them of their now Sanghelli allies though vaguely in their resemblance. The muscle mass suggests that they are not as strong as the sanghelli. The guards carried their version of assault rifles just like captain Nylis and her escorts. He assumed it to be standard issue for the soldiers and security forces alike.

"Hello Sir, I'm captain Bailey of the citadel security forces" lend his hand with slight tense.

"Master chief Spartan-117, you can call me chief. This is my team" giving a light hand shake to bailey

"Well chief, I take it that spartan-117 is your code name?" asked Bailey to which Chief simply nodded.

"Very well. Admiral Anderson asked me to escort you all to his office" said bailey to which Chief and his friends nodded.

"And captain Nylis? Councilor Tevos would like to meet you in the chamber"

"We'll be right away" said the captain and she and her escorts left the place to meet with the councilor.

"Chief, before getting to the embassy, We need to confiscate your weapons as per the citadel regulations"

"That's not gonna happen! we-" said Kelly in a raising tone and pointing her finger towards him, but immediately cut by the chief. The guards were looking at her, alerted themselves by holding the weapon's grip so tight. Though Bailey wasn't amused with their hesitation, he understood that kind of usual reaction. It may come from anyone. But the captain and his guards had a slight doubt that these people might not be from around here.

"Wait...Captain, you need to understand that this is a first contact scenario for us and also we're new to citadel. We need to keep ourselves armed should anything happen to us." explained Chief. Bailey was confused with the term 'First contact'. He wondered how the hell they never got to know about the citadel before as the whole galaxy's under their watch. Still anyhow, Bailey pressed this matter against them.

"I'm sorry sir, but it's our rules to be followed. And don't worry, you wont run into trouble on my watch" replied the C-Sec captain. This time, Cortana spoke to Chief through the internal speakers.

"It's okay Chief, give them the weapons. We can always get it back" said Cortana in his head. Chief was worried about the technology falling into their hands. But Cortana convinced him to do it. When they learned about the technology they used, the blue team was already worried about those specific groups who would eventually be interested in their technology as the parties in this version of the galaxy they are present don't use stuffs related to the UNSC, Covenants or Forerunners, instead heavily relying on this mass effect especially the reverse engineered Prothean tech.

"Alright. But we need those back in one piece and we wont remove our armors as they are an integral part of us" said the chief in a clear voice. The guards recognized that statement more as a warning than a request.

"Fine enough" sighed bailey. Then Chief's team members spoke to him through the suit's internal comm.

"Chief, you really wanna do this?" asked Fred - 104 concerned.

"I don't like this one bit. What if they figured out our weapon systems?" asked Linda.

"It's okay team. We need to respect their rules and something tells me that it would be a hard time for them to figure it out" replied Chief.

Then the blue team gave their weapons to the c-sec officers. They grunted in response at the weapons weight but giving them credit for hefting such weapons. The officers found them to be strange as no weapons profile matched any standard issues. Some rifles were even warm that looked different from the category of other weapons they carried. Bailey wondered how these people were able to carry this much of weapons with ease while they felt difficult to move it even to a short distance.

"Alright, now with a quick medical scan, let's move to the admiral's office." said bailey opened the omni-tool and made a quick medical scan of the four and sent it to the councilors terminal. Bailey is given an advanced savant X omni-tool which can perform a good medical check up. But even with that, Bailey scowled a bit at the difficulty of the scanning process. Three times, it failed to scan the people and it annoyed him a lot.

"Damn thing just wont work!" gritted Bailey hard pressing his omni-tool.

"Somebody's in trouble it seems. Before this becomes another problem, I'm gonna let the firewalls down in your armors for the time being. After the scans are complete, I'll raise it again" said Cortana. The blue team gave a green acknowledgement signal with in their suits. Then she let the firewalls down and there was a ping from the captain's omni-tool indicating successful scanning.

"Hah, Bingo! Gave me a headache for a moment. This thing's new and the higher ups will charge my ass if this thing breakup" chuckled Bailey.

"Is the medical scan over, captain Bailey?" asked Chief.

"Wha-? Oh yeah, it's over. Just have to send it to the-...Done. Let's go" replied Bailey who just sent the reports to the councilors terminals.

The spartans then followed him to the human embassy.

On their way, they saw different species apart from humans which they identified from the codex as volus, elcors. Also there were turians, salarians and asari. They also saw a strange quadrapeds in a bio-mechanical arm working on terminals. When asked about them, Bailey explained that they are keepers, maintenance beings of the citadel. Bailey took them in a sky car to the human councilor's office.

The spartans learned about the salarians and it intrigued them. They had slender body and fast running mouth. Also their 40 year life span indicated that they had extraordinary metabolism going inside their body. But the same metabolism hyper accelerated their brain development and are thus generally considered to be the people of highest scientific brilliance. Also, others feel that they usually show their different emotions alike with little variance to notice.

They also studied about the Volus who served as the first client race for the council. They reminded them of the covenant grunts. They use a similar breather suit all the time as the atmosphere is incompatible. They gave credits to these species who control the largest finance section of this galaxy though wondering they never got a seat in the council.

And then this huge 4 legged Elcor. The spartans assumed them to be from high gravity environments. This reminded them of the early science lesson they had on reach that high gravity environments tends to support species of high strength and weight.

While flying in the skycar, Chief happened to see the real Hanar which he saw only back at the data-pad.

"What can you tell me about those creature?" asked Chief. Bailey looked at the spot where the man pointed his fingers to only to see the hanar. Bailey looked at the armored people confused with their question as the hanar are a common species found in the galaxy.

"Well, those jelly fishes are the hanar but we call them religious criers. These things worship the protheans like they are gods. There is some level tolerance with these bastards with the others. Still, they are peaceful and quite most of the time. But never mind the killer grip they got under our noses" explained the captain. The spartans chuckled among themselves when they heard him say these species worship protheans as gods.

This very much reminded them of the covenant who worshiped the Forerunners as gods and idols but also brought a total death to humanity. The blue team quite figured out that hanar's religious enactment was peaceful which they appreciated but never bothered.

Finally, the sky car reached the embassy quarters.

"Here it is, people. To the right side is the human embassy and external affairs" said Bailey as everyone got out of the sky car.

The spartans got to see the surrounding area. There were statues, pool of water and fountains. People of all the races walking here and there, talking. There was this peace they saw in the atmosphere. They even spotted a human couple seated in the chair with the man holding a baby in his hands. Even with all their indoctrination, This view was the rarest of the sight they held on to as it is highly improbable they would ever see it again, given their mission.

Overall, John and the other spartans made a 90% conclusion by themselves that this galaxy is not theirs yet being called the Milky way, hence a proof that it is indeed an alternate universe or a version of the place they originally come from. This time they acknowledge it with little hesitation. All they need to do is get a confirmation from Cortana.

The chief and the others turned left behind the embassy reception area and entered a big hall with a long table and 3 holo terminals. The other end of the hall had a slab above which it is an open space completely. They were able to see the sky cars flying above the ground and also people walking in the ground pathways. It was another pleasant view.

"Admiral Anderson's in the council chamber with Udina. I'll send them a message and they will come here shortly" said Bailey sending them a message and leaving the hall.

The spartans then relaxed themselves for the moment walking slowly around the hall to every corner taking a good look at the place.

"Chief, I need get myself out. Would you?" asked Cortana. Chief extended his right hand palm and Cortana's avatar projected out and then grew to regular size. the blue team wondered why she wanted to get out.

"Cortana. I wanted to ask you something regarding your reaction in the ship while we were talking with the Asari captain"

"I know Chief. That's why I came out. I need to tell you something, people" said Cortana keeping her face serious.

"Is there a problem?" asked Kelly after looking at Cortana.

"Well, there is" replied the AI. The four glanced at each other in confusion.

"Alright, spit it out" said Fred.

The four were eager to listen the AI. Chief in particular felt a sense of trouble in her. Cortana relaxed herself and then spoke,

"When we stayed near the mass relay in the Asari space before jumping to the citadel, I was able to interface with the relay's deep computer system. Actually that system is well hidden inside the structure so that no one can find it."

"Okay. What did you find out?" asked Chief dragging his words

"From that relay, I were able to instantly connect with another relay in a distant cluster. The whole galaxy has a network of mass relays"

"You mean there are lot of it?" asked Kelly

"Yes. These relays in fact communicate with each other, sending and receiving information regarding whoever's using the relay for FTL jump and stored in the relays deep computers like a record. I don't know for what purpose. Also when I temporarily entered the network, I found these relays have a master control, a junction which itself is another mass relay from which all the relays in the galaxy can be controlled."

"Like the Ark controlling the halo arrays?" asked Chief getting the analogy.

"Precisely. When we entered the citadel space, I identified an exact match with the master control signal. It originates from the citadel"

This news was terrific for the spartans as that meant only one thing.

"Cortana, are you saying that this citadel is the master control relay!?" asked Chief in a serious tone.

"That's my point John. But at present, there's no link between the citadel and the relays. Only my search from the relay led me to this place. And there's even more to it"

"Looks like we got a lot of surprises. Okay, go ahead" said Fred to which everyone simply looked at him and then turned towards Cortana.

"All the races in this galaxy thinks that the protheans were the architects of the mass relays and the citadel"

"I know that from the codex Cortana. what's your point?" asked Chief.

"That's absurd John. Mass relays and the citadel are not the feats of prothean engineering. They merely just found them 80,000 years ago just like the Asari did after that. Protheans used these relays to advance themselves for the next 30,000 years before they vanished. According to the datas I found, These relays and the citadel were in this galaxy for almost a billion years"

This information sent shock to their faces. They couldn't believe that these artifacts are almost a billion years old. An hour before, they all assumed that this place was prothean tech as what they read in the codex and the statements given by those Asari.

"Okay, this is weird. You say that everyone in the galaxy is deluded with their assumptions?" asked Linda, brooded to which Cortana nodded.

"Guys, I also found something else" Cortana said. The spartans blinked wondering what else she had got.

"When I got myself caught in the closed loop of the galactic relay network, I found one control relay which is the citadel, but there's also another end point for this network" said Cortana.

"What end point is that?" asked Kelly.

"You won't believe this! The end point is in the dark space, the void outside the Milky way" replied Cortana. This stunned the spartans.

"Why would a signal go out of the galaxy into the dark space?" asked Fred in a haunted tone. The spartans knew of a place that existed far outside the Milky way. A facility called the 'Ark', constructed by the forerunners. They were wondering if there's anything here similar to the ark that receives and sends signals.

"That I do not know, Fred. But that signal to the dark space is bidirectional from this point" said Cortana.

"Point?You mean the citadel? The citadel sends and receive the signal from the dark space?" asked Chief on a hunch after compiling the information that Cortana told them.

"Yes. But I have no idea who or what transceive that signal out in the dark space is a mystery" replied Cortana. The spartans though felt unnecessary with these facts, still there was a feeling that this might be an important discovery, a puzzle that needs to be solved. Also they felt this could be somehow tied to their mission unknowingly.

"Wait, you said that the relays have hidden computer that stores data. If this signal is tied to the relays somehow, are there any records of it's existence?" asked Chief. The others were wondering what the Chief was trying to get to. Cortana grinned at his question.

"Hm, I was expecting that question. Yes, there are records of the previous use of signals not just once, but a 24000 times. The time span between each use is 50,000 years" replied Cortana. This stunned the spartans.

"24,000-...50,000 years-...That makes 1.2 billion years in total" replied Fred in a serious yet, deadpanned tone.

"But what does that mean?" asked Linda.

"Also the currently galaxy states that the protheans mysteriously vanished in the same 50,000 years back" said Cortana.

Chief made thousands of cross references with the overall information he had acquired, to find a possible connection between them, a small, but a powerful one. He slowly walked around them in deep thought while the others looked at him.

"The monitor in Iridescent said that there was a signal that originated from the portal which the librarian picked up and recorded. It was recorded 3 times in history with the last one being recorded while you were there" said Chief beginning his presumption.

"And the librarian stated that the signal mentioned about a war and galactic annihilation. Here we have a possible positive ID for the same 50,000 year old pattern for the signal, which Cortana found out from the mass relay network" said Fred who picked up where Chief left.

"So the question stands here. Is this the pattern what the librarian recognized way back? The galaxy wide annihilation every 50,000 years?" asked Kelly.

"If yes, then who sent the signal? Clearly the signal we received in our place is not the one that goes into the dark space. But it's clear enough that someone sent it so that anyone might respond from our place and that's exactly what the librarian did, record what she experienced" said Linda. But Cortana stared at Linda in confusion which she noticed.

"What?" asked Linda.

"Our?...Place?" asked Cortana who was ambivalent with her words. The spartans understood her confusion and decided to clear that part.

"Actually, we just presumed where we could be exactly based on the information we gathered about this galaxy" said Kelly.

"Cortana, we believe that this Milky way might be an alternate version of the place we come from" said Chief. Cortana's face turned surprised and was amazed with the spartans assumptions.

"I never thought you would be into such things!" said Cortana smiling at them.

"But that's the only explanation that kinda made sense" replied Kelly. Cortana was speechless. She wanted to tell the same but abstained herself from doing as she didn't know how they would react.

"Actually, you won't believe this but that's the truth people. We are indeed in an alternate universe, no doubt about that" said Cortana wide eyed. The spartans were little surprised as they already had their doubts. Now felt relieved that it was confirmed.

"So that portal we came through is not a gateway to another galaxy, but to another reality" said Kelly in realization.

"Who do you think would have built something like that? And why did they build that? Not the forerunners. Because the librarian herself didn't know, right?" asked Fred.

"May be or the librarian might have known yet concealed that part of the truth" replied Chief.

"If she truly wanted to help, then she must have never concealed anything. Maybe she never knew including the monitor" said Cortana

"Whatever, one thing is clear enough for us. This alternate universe Milky way is threatened by an unknown force and the forerunners from our place wanted to help. We accepted to help no matter the place" said Chief who wanted to conclude this conversation.

"Out mission got a new insight. First to assess the unknown threat, then to find who built the portal" said Fred. Others nodded in approval.

"Is there any way we could get back to our place?' asked Chief.

"The portal we entered seems to be a one way route. But if i am correct, then there should be another artifact that could take us home. I've already gathered data regarding the portal's nature, the gravity field and the artifact's nature to look for another object like this. but it will take time. until then, we are struck here.' said Cortana with a sigh.

With that they finished the conversation. It was a lot for them to process. It will take time for them to get going with the facts. Suddenly they heard 2 men talking by the entrance. Cortana immediately vanished in to chief's palm. The door opened and out came a man in his commanding officer uniform and another in a rich pale yellow suit that revealed him as a politician.

"I told you Anderson! The situation has got ou-" suddenly they cut their speech after seeing 4 towering humans in a armor with the tallest one looking more strange. They suddenly stopped and then started walking slowly towards them.

"Oh, Hello! I take it you four are our new guests" Udina asked with tense in his face as he felt the 4 towering humans pack quite a punch. The two saw them wearing strange armors that doesn't match any standard alliance hardsuits.

"I am councilor Donnell Udina and this is Admiral David Anderson of the Systems Alliance"

"Master chief spartan-117 and this is my team" Chief and everyone said giving a salute to Udina and Anderson. Anderson saw this and assumed they are soldiers and even their body language exhibited the militaristic fashion. Udina and Anderson returned the salute. Then Anderson was the first to speak.

"Chief, if I can call you like that?"

"That would be fine councilor"

"Very well then. You have got a massive ship with you and most of all, you didn't use a relay to get here" to which Chief didn't respond.

"And you call yourself spartans. what does that mean?" asked Anderson. There was a slight pause.

"We are soldiers trained for naval special operations" replied the Chief bluntly.

"I see. Now we will head to the council chambers. The other councilors wanted to meet you all and are already waiting for you. We will then discuss the matters" said Udina. The blue team gave a nod in response.

They all left the embassy hall and reached the council chambers in the presidium through the elevator. On their way, the blue team noticed lots of different aliens and even humans giving a bizarre look at them. But Chief and the others didn't care as they are already used to it. In UNSC all the civilians and even the ODSTs see spartans as freaks and reckless killing machines.

...

Council chambers...

Finally they reached the council chambers. It was a huge open space with lot of audiences standing in the upper deck. The blue team, udina and Anderson walked from the elevator and stood at the end of the pathway. They all saw 3 councilors(1 asari, 1 turian, 1 salarian) standing in front and on top of what appears to be small tower. The blue team also saw captain Nylis and her 3 guards. They nodded at each other in acknowledgement.

Chief was still having a sense of danger in this place. He see a lot of people in the council chamber looking at them.

"Chief, you don't have to expect dangers all time" said Cortana in his head with a smirk.

"You will never know" said the Chief.

Cortana then convinced the Chief to play this soft to which he mentally sighed. The councilors saw 4 massive beings walking towards them. Out of the four, three had armors that looked different yet with the same architecture and a mild difference in textures and color density. The fourth person was different who stood 3" taller than them, wore a matte black armor of quite a different design while the outline was same as the other three armors. The black armor had a highly elegant and fluid architecture with lots of curves and bends. The armor also appeared whole from neck to toes instead of separate parts like the other three.

The councilors and the other audiences stared at the 4 massive figures intently. The councilors were mentally calculating the lvel of technology the armor might carry as they appeared no standard made.

The Asari councilor then spoke first and the other audiences remained silent.

"Thank you councilor Udina and Admiral for bringing them" said the asari councilor

"Greetings! I am councilor Tevos. This is turian councilor Sparatus and That is salarian councilor Valern" everyone nodded in acknowledgement.

"This meeting has been called upon the arrival of the strange massive ship to the citadel space unnoticed and its apparent owner, Master chief Petty Officer and his team"

"So chief, do you mind calling you like that?"

"No councilor"

"Fine. Captain Nylis told us everything regarding your first contact with them. She told everything about your ship, its arsenals and the technology it carries. It's a bit concerning"

Then the turian councilor decided to speak for the first time.

"What race do you represent, chief?" asked Sparatus.

"Humanity" replied the chief.

"But the alliance doesn't carry ships crossing the Farixen treaty limits and technology never before seen are being used by anyone. To be sure can you at least show your faces?" asked Valern speaking for the first time.

Chief and his friends were looking among each other and then decided to remove their helmets. Kelly, Fred and Linda removed their helmets and revealed their human faces, 2 female and 1 male. They look normal. However chief was quite reluctant because of his eyes. It may cause a stir in the situation. But to gain their trust, he knew there's nothing he can do other than do what they ask. Finally John removed his helmet and revealed his face. He had a short flat top brown hair cut with the sides shaved. His face was ghostly pale with some scars and rock chiseled. Anderson just by seeing his face found that this man had fought in wars for a really long time and also had taken a fair share of losses. But everyone were intrigued with Chief's yellow-orange Iris of the eyes and is faintly visible even amidst the ambient light. This made Chief to stand out in the group.

"Why does the Chief has different eyes? Yellow-orange? Should I have to believe that you are humans just by outward appearance?" asked Sparatus with his face widened in suspicion.

"We are humans, councilors. My eyes are just because of the specific genetic strain I carry. Nothing beyond that" said the Chief. If Chief could read Sparatus's expression, he knew that he didn't believe that.

"But C-sec captain Bailey's medical scan showed heavy augmentations that are in perfect violation of each and every citadel regulation concerning the bio-enhancements" said Tevos which caught the other two's attention.

"Augmentations? You mean artificial genetic enhancements?" asked Valern tensed. Citadel has lots regulations when it comes to bio- enhancements.

"Yes" replied Fred.

"Then you should know, that there several protocols to be followed concerning the genetic engineering. Your medical scan shows that you seemed to have been enhanced to act as a weapon. Ever thought about the repercussions?" asked Sparatus. Fred's eyes narrowed in confusion and turned to look at chief.

"Your armors, your weapons, it doesn't match any standard alliance designs and also your ship. It's massive and didn't use a mass relay to enter the citadel space. Why shouldn't we think that this is some alliance's secret science project?" said Tevos.

Anderson immediately stepped in and talked. "With all due respect councilors, Alliance was never involved in any project like bio-augmentation or the armor technology like these. We are so much in the dark just like you are"

"Even if we choose to believe you, a medical scan reported that these spartans were subjected to high level genetic augmentations, especially the Master chief. Reports indicate that his muscle fibers are strong enough to rip apart 2 krogans at a time and also these spartan's bones are near unbreakable. This is against every council protocols concerning biological augmentations" said Tevos

Fred, Kelly and Linda were surprised that the bio-enhancements were a moral problem even in this reality. They knew how the spartan II project caused a stir in the public. While posing strict laws for enhancements is a good thing to avoid illegal experimentation, The blue team found their views on body enhancements too weird because spartans were the result of contingency measure against the covenant and insurrection.

"Also they call themselves spartans and that they are special naval warfare group" Sparatus continued.

"Councilors, Why don't you ask the persons in question?" said Udina now everyone looking at the blue team

Chief mentally gave a sigh and started to speak after being flooded with questions.

"I can show you some unclassified video files regarding our history. I am sending you the video now. Keep your omni-tools open" said the Chief and immediately signaled Cortana to transmit the files to everyone in the council meeting. Suddenly their omni-tools flared up with a large display. What they saw next amazed everyone.

The video shows the origins of he United Nations after the WW2. Then humanity conquered the Luna followed by their settlement in the first outer planet, Mars in 2060. By 2080, humanity colonized all the Jupiter moons called as 'Jovian moons'. Then by 2160, political and economic tensions rising between Russian communists group formed by Vladimir koslov and Unified German groups called 'Frieden' regarding control for the Jovian moons called 'The Jovian Moon Campaign' which led to the fight between them in south America called the 'The Rain Forest Wars' in 2162. In this ensuing war, The United Nations Space Command was created in 2164. It was followed by fall of both the groups and thus the 'Treaty of Callisto' was signed between them on the moon Callisto.

In 2170, The Unified Earth Government was formed as a governing body for all the human colonies. Under UEG, Humanity colonized numerous exoplanets in outer solar systems. In the wake of 24th century, the first Faster Than Light travel was discovered by 2 UNSC scientists, Tobias Shaw and Wallace fujikawa called the 'Slipspace' in 2310. With that Several frigates, cruisers were manufactured and colonization of nearest exoplanets and planets in the distant star systems were effected giving rise to inner earth colonies and outer colonies. By 2490, Eight hundred planets were colonized by UNSC in the Orion arm of the Milky way, placing individual strongholds in all these planets. With this, the planet Reach became UNSC's primary naval yard and training academy base for humanity.

The 2490-2537 period suffered a big civil war called the 'The Insurrection'. Fights broke out between inner colonies and the outer colonies. When all seemed to slowly get under control, humanity faced its first dangerous enemy, 'The Covenant'. They are theocratic alliance between several species. Humanity's first contact with the covenant on Feb 3, 2525. In the first contact, they lost a whole planet, Harvest. This was the beginning of the 30 year Human-Covenant war. The Office of Naval Intelligence initiated the SPARTAN program under the banner 'ORION Project' but was soon abandoned as being cost ineffective. It was an effort to create biologically and cybernetically enhanced super soldiers. This was a course of action took by UNSC only to suppress the rebel wars in the inner and outer colonies, but soon became a tool of warfare in fighting the covenants. Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey was the brilliant mind behind the SPARTAN program.

The next video feed shocked everyone.

The Spartan-II program was initiated by doctor Halsey. For that, she had ONI agents kidnap several kids at age 6 from their homes that included the blue team members and replaced them with flash clones that would die one day of natural causes. Then these kids were trained in a distant facility by then trainer chief petty officer Franklin Mendez. His training was very harsh but the kids saw him as a father figure and Halsey as their mother. John-117 was among them. Everyone saw greatness in him. He was always special to Halsey. At age 14, they were subjected to Spartan-II augmentations where out of 75 only 33 survived with success. Then they were given their first MJOLNIR Mk IV armor and were deployed in Eridanus to suppress the rebels. But it was then they encountered the covenants. Though few in numbers they turned the tide of the human-covenant war but not without losing a fair share. Covenant hunted down humanity planet after planet to the edge of extinction. Everyone in the council chambers saw humans brutally killed with no difference b/w men, women and children. This horror made most to weep in sorrow.

Then they saw John-117 fighting war after war from 2525, losing friends, those under his command he cared the most, still never giving up and rise even more strong to crush the enemy. Then videos of the forerunner artifacts found by them, fall of Reach, battle of halo-04, battle of earth, battle of halo-05, War with the flood parasite, Battle of Ark and humanity's victory in the 30 years war, breaking up of covenant, humanity's alliance with the sanghelli separatists, their eventual rise again as a galactic power. Followed by battle of requiem with the return and death of a rogue forerunner.

...

With this, the video feed ended. The 4 councilors, Anderson and everyone in the meeting remained silent for quite sometime. They couldn't believe what they saw. They don't even now whether to believe this or not as they are total unknowns, even a video evidence is hard to believe. Anderson on the other hand though had his own suspicions, still he took their video for real evidence. As the earth never experienced anything like this and even their humanity is unlike anything they had seen. If that was true, They he really felt respect for those battle hardened veterans. The 4 spartans being alienated to them was more than enough for Anderson to believe their stories.

"Chief, Let's just say I believe it, but there's an issue that doesn't make any sense. The current year is 2185. But the videos show events up to 2557. How's that possible? Or the right question is, Are you spartans from the future? Even then, there were no such thing called covenants, forerunners or this UNSC in the MilkyWay" Asked Tevos with seriousness in her face. She even got slightly irritated if the 4 unknown were in fact playing them.

"No we are not from the future, madam councilor" replied Linda.

"This can mean only one thing. They must have forged it up. These UNSC must be some rogue human faction hiding from our sights and now decided to show up to fuel their agenda" said Sparatus still in disbelief.

"Your disbelief is not our problem" said Chief plain and simple.

"But take a look at their technology, That could be made as a justification" said Valern with his fingers over his chin.

"Your councilor is right" suddenly came a female voice out of nowhere. Then chief opened his right palm and out came Cortana's AI avatar smiling and jumped out to grow in to a normal human size. Everyone was stunned to see the holographic avatar of a young girl with circuits in her body.

"Hello, I'm UNSC AI CTN0452-9. You can call me Cortana"

"What th-...You have brought an AI with you!? Into the Citadel!?" yelled Sparatus. The Councilors were already briefed of this AI housed in their ship and it's nothing like an AI they have ever seen. Tevos was tensed a bit kept her head cool. Anderson and Udina started to fear the situation is getting out of control.

"Are you mad!?" Sparatus yelled again

"Chief, AIs are prohibited in this galaxy and for breaking this law, you will suffer the same way like the quarians" said Tevos. The blue team were slightly tensed as Chief felt the situation is getting out of their hand. If they are threatened, they don't have any weapons with them. But they have a few tricks up their sleeve to stun their asses.

"First, I have a name. Use it to refer me. Is that clear?!" said Cortana in a pressing tone. Others were shocked to see the AI interacting like a human. The other audiences in the chamber raised their eyebrows at the sight of the AI that looked more like a human, with digital line flowing through her despite her naked appearance.

"Second, We know about your war with the AI race you call the 'Geth' created by the 'Quarians'. I'm not like them. Perhaps, its the quarian's fault to create AIs with networked intelligence which is always a problem. Networked programs have higher processing power and greater learning capacity. Geth are not some individual robots, but a single hive mind in several bodies"

But Sparatus was out of his element and the anger muzzled out of his bird head.

"I don't care what you say AI!...GUARDS!" yelled Sparatus which shocked Tevos, Valern, Udina and Anderson. Suddenly citadel guards surrounded the spartans with their weapons raised at them. The spartans and Cortana were wondering why these people use unnecessary violence when there was no need for it.

"Your weapons cant take them out" Cortana said casually. The 4 spartans weren't afraid of that as they had fought lots of covenant surrounded them like this far outnumbered. The councilors were surprised with their casual behavior with no fear for what lies in front of them. The next thing they saw terrified everyone in the council chamber.

Chief gave a 'Go Ahead' nod to his team. The three quickly raised their hands and a MA5D gauss assault rifle came out and assembled out of no where from a small blue energy portal like field. Immediately they raised their rifles towards the C-sec guards who were stunned with what the spartans did. The spartan's suit had miniature slipspace containers that can store extra arms and ammo in the specified slipspace coordinates. Chief didn't take his weapon as this show off was more than enough to catch them off guard. Udina and Anderson snapped out of the miracle they saw and finally spoke up to ease the situation.

"Councilors, I don't think there's a need for violence in this situation. Clearly you saw what they did. A weapon appeared in their hands out of nowhere like magic and god knows what tricks still they hold up their sleeve" said Udina in a yelling voice. The 3 councilors were having their jaws dropped at what they saw. Sparatus though angry, was slowly getting tensed of these spartans. No one in this galaxy has done something like what these spartans did. But he acted tough anyway.

"Chief, Ask your team to lower their weapons and surrender your AI to us. Also you will be taken for further interrogation" said Sparatus that only got a chuckle from Cortana. She knew Sparatus was simply playing tough to keep the situation under their control.

"Councilors, you will seriously regret that" said Chief that made councilors paralyzed. But Valern and Tevos were smart enough.

"Sparatus, Udina's right. There's no need for violence. Perhaps don't make another first contact with new humans messy like it happened along time before" said Tevos and Valern nodded in approval. Then Tevos signaled the guards to leave. The spartans lowered their guard. Sparatus didn't like this and was infuriated.

"Chief, what was that your friends did. How did a weapon came out of no where?" asked Tevos. Chief decided to give the real answer as he figured out that this reality's people think that's a magic realizing their technological inferiority. Cortana felt what he was thinking and agreed to this.

"That's a slipspace container, where we store our arms" said Chief and continued by Cortana.

"And that's the same we use for faster than light travel"

"Like the portal your ship used to enter the citadel space!?" asked Anderson in shock. The councilors were dumbstruck with the fact that these people are using a separate region of space for FTL and storing items. They felt like they were watching a sci-fi movie.

"Exactly and the UNSC use lots and lots of AI like me" replied Cortana

"They are an integral part of our society and your bad history with the geth is not our problem" said Kelly out cold.

Tevos and Valern were thinking about their conversation where as sparatus was still suspicious.

"Ok, but you hadn't yet explained where you are from. If you don't belong to any of us, provided the only surprise is that you are humans" said Tevos.

"As you asked before, we are from the year 2557. But not from this Milky way" said Chief. The others failed the grasp the meaning of 'THIS'.

"So, you are from different galaxy following different time standards? but still that poses another question?" asked Valern where Udina picked up.

"Yes, of course. Humanity were born in Milky way. Then how it's possible for us to exist simultaneously in another galaxy with out being transported from here, something which didn't happen to my knowledge?"

There was a slight pause. Then Chief spoke up.

"We are neither from the past nor another galaxy. We are from another universe" replied the Chief. There was absolute silence in the chambers. If the spartan could read the turian face expression, he was incredulously looking at them in disbelief.

"What? First you showed us something and now you are telling, you are from another reality! It's like hearing a movie vid and I'm not buying it!" said the turian annoyed even more.

"Chief, I take it your people are from an unknown faction evident from the technology you carry. Another galaxy? Okay. But another universe? Do we look like stupids to you?" asked Tevos raising her eye brow in disbelief.

"Chief, please tell the truth or I will be the one facing the music afterwards as you are all humans and I, being a human councilor" pleaded Udina. Anderson was quiet all the time, his mind in utter surprise. This is not something he used to see everyday. Chief traded looks with his friends and at last with cortana who gave a smirk. Valern was thinking meanwhile suddenly dragged by the researches made by ancient salarian scientists a 1000 years back regarding alternate realities and parallel universes. Finally he spoke up.

"No respective councilors. A 1000 years back, our scientists did some research on possible existence of alternate universes. Originally they were trying to solve, why all the matter dominates this universe with no trace of even residual anti-matter that was once in higher number during the big-bang. They thought that anti-matter could have left our space to form another universe. But, that was soon dropped as they couldn't find any evidence for that...Until now" said Valern. Everyone were staring at him in shock.

"Actually, the same goes in our reality too. We don't come from an anti-matter universe like you said. What your scientists spoke is that a universe separated only by space. But we come from a universe that is separated by space-time and probability. Our universe never had anything like what your universe has" explained Cortana. This gave Valern a better understanding of who they are.

Tevos was simply staring at the AI. She was stunned to see the AI looking more human in appearance and it's behavior and humor are too similar to a human. Even the geth being AI are not this alive. Sparatus still nodded in dis-agreement. Udina figured much from the AI and Valern's conversation that the spartans were indeed from another universe.

"If you are from another universe, What business do you have here? How did you get here?" asked Sparatus with annoyance and feeling ridiculed for asking such a question.

"Now that is the right question councilor" said Chief. Cortana then brought a hologram of the artificial portal they used to get here. Everyone were staring at it.

"In our universe, we found this strange artifact which is an artificial portal created by some unknown. From our universe time scale, this artifact was emitting a strange signal for more than a 100,000 years measured from the readings. We were sent to investigate it. The portal was highly stable to carry any number of ships. But the portal's gravitational field was too powerful and we got caught in it. After we exited on the other side, we found we landed on the same galaxy, but not ours anymore" explained Cortana with out giving out full information. Part of what she said was forged by her.

"Did these forerunners you mentioned in the video built it?" asked Tevos.

"No, it's a lot more ancient than them and honestly, we don't know anything about it other than it pulled us into another universe" said Cortana.

"With all due respect Tevos, do you believe these people? What if they are some rogue faction we don't know, waiting to strike us during our shut eyes?" asked Sparatus. This started to annoy the spartans and Cortana.

"There is one way to find out. We can have an asari to perform a mind meld with Master chief to confirm this theory" said Tevos. Valern accepted this. Now Fred, Kelly and Linda were tensed.

"What if they forge the events?" asked Sparatus in suspicion.

"Asari can tell whether the memories are true or mere creation" explained Tevos. Thanks to the promethean augmentation, the promethean nano bots in the brain can be given command to lock down the specific portion of the memories or transfer it to deep sub-conscious layers.

"You mean the asari's way of telepathy!?" asked Fred

"Yes. I'll have captain Nylis to perform the meld" said Tevos. Then she called Nylis and asked her to come to the council chamber. After 10 minutes, she reached the council chambers and watched everyone looking at her. She also saw the spartans and that AI surprisingly in a grown up sized form. She could see that the meeting had not yet over.

"Councilors" saluted Nylis. She haven't seen the spartans face and got to catch a glimpse and looked young and energetic. But Chief's face was the most intriguing thing. He had a chiseled rectangular face with short brown flat top hair and his eyes iris?...It was a mild yellow orange which is an unlikely color for any species and she took a step back after seeing it wondering the possibility. Then her thoughts were broken by the councilor's voice.

"Nylis, I called you here for an important job. The spartans and their AI have explained everything about them. She then explained to Nylis everything what the spartans told. Even she felt overwhelmed with the information.

"Let me guess. You want to perform a mind meld with the Chief to confirm it?" asked Nylis sensing where the conversation is going.

"Yes and you are one of the few I trust the most. So I ask you to do it, so that the issue may be settled" said Tevos. Nylis thought for a moment. Even if it's a great gift, still it tires one's mind. But she accepted it any way.

"I will do it" said Nylis. Linda, Fred and Kelly were tensed at this. They already learned about asari mind meld. They feared, she would see everything. But John's gotta surprise for him.

"But I need the proper consent from the person I wish to meld" said Nylis. The three spartans and Cortana turned to face the Chief.

"I will allow the captain to do it" said Chief. Nylis nodded and walked near him.

"Now that you have he consent you sought, why don't you begin?" said Sparatus. Nylis nodded in approval.

She then held Chief's hand. "Chief, take a deep breath and clear your mind...and embrace eternity" said Nylis but suddenly she felt a slight pain in her head and all she saw was void engulfing her mind, she felt as if she was overloaded. Immediately she broke the connection and took a heavy breath. The councilors were terrified as Nylis collapsed to the floor. Udina immediately picked her up. Except Chief, others were equally surprised at what happened.

"Captain, are you all right?" asked Udina to which she nodded yes.

"What the hell just happened!?" asked Sparatus.

"That wasn't suppose to happen" said Tevos in shock. Nylis spoke staggering.

"His mind...It's something else...I only saw a void that engulfed my own mind before I collapsed. His mind is able to resist my psychic intrusion. It's unlikely for a human and unlikely for anyone" said Nylis.

'Wha-?..But how?" asked Valern with eyes widened.

"My augmentations are unique. I have the ability to resist any intrusion. But I can allow it at will" said Chief. But only because of the unique promethean ability. If not for that, Nylis would have succeeded.

"Captain Nylis? Can do it again now?" asked Chief. She's frustrated as melding requires great deal of stamina. Anyhow she accepted. She again held the Chief hands and started the meld, but this she succeeded. She saw flooded memories of the spartan. She realized that chief is a warrior. She also witnessed every single incident she was explained by the councilors. But unknown to her, Chief locked some portions of the memories away. Finally she released herself. She looked at the councilors.

"Nylis?" called Tevos.

"It's not forged. Everything they said is absolutely true" said Nylis. This relieved everyone. Though Sparatus still suspicious, he took the asari's word for it. Now that the situation had been settled, Udina was very eager to ask this question.

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Udina. The spartans themselves expected this question from these people.

"Until we find our way home, we are struck here" said the Cortana

"Regarding that what have you planned on doing in this reality?" asked Tevos.

"Certainly, this is something new we had ever encountered" said Sparatus.

This is when Udina got very much tempted to recruit these spartans in to the Alliance. He thought by recruiting them, the alliance could learn and replicate the UNSC technology. With that, Humanity could leap forward to centuries and become one of the most powerful races in the galaxy and Udina was not ready to let this opportunity slip by.

But not only him, The councilors were discussing among them regarding what to do with the spartans. If they join the council, They can get their hands on the technology they possess and there's no telling what will happen next, Council can dominate the galaxy. Sparatus was interested in learning the weapons both carried by their ship and by them. This will make the turians an unstoppable force both in terms of fleet strength and soldiers. Tevos was interested in the spartans, their armors and augmentations especially with that of the master chief. Valern was interested in the concept of 'slipspace'. Being not only a powerful FTL travel method, but also they don't have the limitations of the mass relays. And the next thing is these powerful ancient race they call as 'Forerunners'. From what the spartans had shown them, Their technological advancements have no boundaries for they managed to construct artificial planets, rings they call halo array of massive size, A space station equivalent to the size of the Jupiter. If the salarian STG can get more information on them, they could do lots of researches to try replicating them, at least one of the many. But if there's one thing everyone were interested, it's the AI Cortana. They wished to study her to make their own versions of AIs more effectively. It might be a widely known fact that the citadel had ban the use of AIs. But if there could exist an AI as human as it looks without hiccups, then they should do it with out letting others know.

"There might be no UNSC in this reality, But we are still bound to its protocols"

"So what have you decided, Chief?" asked Valern with eagerness. But the Spartan's decision was a total disappointment for everyone.

"We thereby will not interfere with the council's business and will stay neutral. This is not even our place, so we'll will remain isolated until we find a way back. But we are soldiers and its always been our duty to protect humanity which we will do the same here and also we'll help the other races too if the circumstances really wanted our interference" said the Chief in a clear commanding voice to which his friends nodded in approval. Anderson found it intimidating.

He respects the spartan's decision of being a soldier and protect the galaxy even when not belonging to it. His face started to frown slightly, thinking that if Shepard had met the Spartans, With their technology and power, spartans would have aided him in taking down the collectors. He would have never needed the help of the cerberus. But Anderson knew that he is past that and had already joined the cerberus. But at least he could ask for help in the future regarding this issue.

"But, what would you gain by being isolated? You wont have access to any of the resources. Being a part of the council will get you lot of privileges. A mutual trade could do just fine" said Tevos trying to tempt the spartans to join them. But the spartan's reply was negative and a straight shot in to the councilor's face.

"That's very generous of you, but no. We are here by accident and by no means we are gonna take sides. Besides, we spartans are trained especially for ultra high risk operations. Working with you will be productive for neither of us. Our way of leading ourselves is totally distinct from yours" said the Chief after a slight pause. This was a total disappointment to the councilors. But Chief anticipated this kind of moves.

"We are not extremists or bigotry as many of you would think, but that's not the truth. We are enemies to no one and like we said, our presence is not under your jurisdiction and we'll stay neutral and not interfere in your affairs, that includes trading of any of our technologies" said Fred clearly making a statement.

The councilors frowned at their decision of not joining them. Chief and his team then put on their helmets.

"But we assure, you wont have any problems from our side. But if we are threatened? Hm, they are certainly welcomed to try" said the Chief in deep tone which sent chill in everyone's spine as these were not petty threats. The spartans mean it.

"That seems like a threat! You WILL NOT start a fight under our watch!" yelled Sparatus.

"We never intend to" replied Kelly.

"Well enough. But still you are new to our place and it's our regulations by which we must keep an eye on the new comers" said Udina.

"Yes and one more thing spartans. As you had decided to join neither galactic party. You should know that you will live here at your own risk. There are many organizations and unlawful mercs that will try to get their hands on you and if that happens? You will receive no aid from us" said Tevos. The spartans felt offended yet they expected this statement from them, but also understood as they knew how they abandoned the quarians and also the fact that the spartans don't need their help and that it's the other way around.

"We understand that councilors" replied Linda.

"Very well. Then let's make a deal. Send captain Nylis T'Halyt with us. She could serve aboard our ship and report our actions to you in a timely basis" said Cortana to which the blue team accepted. The councilors thought for a moment and decided to take their request as they saw no harm in it. It would also help gain confidence that their decisions had not brought any problems to their head.

"What do you say Nylis? Are you willing to do this?" asked Tevos. Nylis thought for a moment and then accepted the offer.

"Then it's done gentlemen. Wait for the spartans in the docking bay Nylis, while they have a short tour in the citadel" said Tevos

"Thank you councilors" said the Chief

"Then this meeting is disbanded. You may go spartans" said the turian councilor and with that, everyone left the place. Anderson escorted the Blue team back to his office while Udina told that he had to talk with the councilors in private. Nylis made her way to the docking bay.

...

Human embassy...

Back in the embassy, The blue team and Admiral Anderson relaxed themselves a bit after facing the music for 2 hours. Anderson's might not have a good day, but it didn't turn into something worse. When the spartans revealed themselves that they are indeed humans and when the council accused them for developing illegal weapons, Anderson thought that his day could any worse. He knew even if the humans were given a seat in the council, They other councilors always worked hard to find a loophole to berate humanity. Today's incidents could have been a great catalyst for that. But by god's grace, that never happened and the spartans managed to make the councilors believe them.

"That was one hell of a committee. For a moment, I thought that humanity had to face another big war after Shanxi. But thanks to you, whoever you are, left the council with many other after thoughts" said Anderson after sighed in relief.

The spartans and Cortana had read about the battle of Shanxi where the human first contact with the turians ended up pretty much like the Human-Covenant war, but on lesser magnitude. That incident left a scar on both the sides and if not for the council, that might have got worse.

"We read about this council in the codex before we headed here" said Kelly.

"Then you must have known their die hard habit of occasionally ditching those who asked for help" said Anderson mildly irate. The spartans can understand his frustration as they had read about the council and their attitude. They only wanted to hold on to their power.

"How the people of this galaxy tolerate their rudeness? Are all of them like this?" asked Fred.

"Well, not everyone. Only 10 in millions like these people. No matter what, I don't admonish them completely. At times of crisis, they made critical decisions in the past that keeps this galaxy spinning without trouble even today. But-..."

"But still they want others to play ball with them and wanted the galaxy under their control" finished Chief to which Anderson nodded.

"I can even cite an example where the Council abandoned humanity when they should have considered the problem seriously" said Anderson walking over the balcony with his hands on the back. The spartans seemed to get interested with the way he said that.

"What do you have in your mind?, Sir" asked the Linda seeing the trouble in Anderson's face. He turned to face the spartans, sighed and then spoke.

"For the past two years, a mysterious race called the collectors were targeting human colonies. So far they have abducted a large number of our people from 6 colonies in total. Only few have witnessed their presence and few even talk about it"

The blue team and Cortana were blinking as they had never heard of the collectors in the codex, but this had piqued their interest very much.

"What do these collectors want from humans?" asked Linda.

"So far, we know next to nothing about the collectors or their intentions. But their targets for 2 years had only been humans"

"Is anyone looking into that issue?" asked Chief.

"Commander Shepard of the systems alliance navy is the only person who's looking into this. Hell! I wanted to help him, but both the alliance command and the council had my hands tied" Anderson said this with a frustration.

"Wait. I've come across that name in the codex. Isn't he the first human spectre? Also we heard that he's kind of a galactic hero who saved the citadel and the council from a ship called sovereign 2 years back" asked Cortana from chief's helmet. He looked at Chief trying to find the source of the voice, but he found out that it was that AI the spartans had brought with them. Chief then lifted his right form arm and opened his palm only for Cortana to appear above.

Anderson nodded in acknowledgement. Chief also read about this Shepard. He's is really impressed with his records. His solo stand against the invaders of skyllian blitz, his heroic acts in saving the citadel and the council gained quite a respect from him.

"Why no one's helping him?" asked Chief.

"It's because he's working for a covert human centric group called the 'Cerberus' to take down the collectors. They are a rogue faction of humanity who commits nothing but crimes in the name of humanity's greater good. But it's not Shepard's fault. The council denied him help calling the collectors as myth. But cerberus is committed in stopping these collectors"

"Just how much of a threat are these collectors?" asked Fred

"They are a threat to everyone, that's for sure. But shepard found that even they are just an indoctrinated servants to the most dangerous race called the 'Reapers'"

Blue team and Cortana were stunned to hear this. It had only been a while they heard about the collectors and the name 'Reapers' confused them even more. But Chief felt something in his mind when he heard the name reapers as if the worse was waiting to happen in the future.

"Reapers!?" asked Cortana in mild confusion.

"Reapers are the ancient sentient race of machines who are a threat to this whole galaxy. Shepard is the only one who had seen them, talked to them and even helped in killing one of them"

This was a critical information for them as they have learned of a new race that threatens the galaxy. The Spartans slowly felt a connection between their actual mission and this Reaper threat.

"On one of our colonies, Eden prime, Shepard encountered a prothean beacon. The beacon filled his mind with visions of chaos and destructions. Then on planet virmire, he encountered another beacon which gave him a clear message. The beacons are set up by protheans as a warning for the reaper threat. The protheans were wiped out by the reapers 50,000 years ago. They made sure that future races would be careful. Shepard after becoming a spectre was tasked to hunt down another rogue turian spectre named Saren Arterius who was in control of a flag ship named 'Sovereign'. At first everyone thought it was a geth dreadnought ship. But only shepard knew the truth"

"What truth?" asked Kelly

"That the sovereign is an actual reaper"

The spartans and Cortana never expected this. They couldn't believe that the reapers had already tried to invade the galaxy.

"What? But the images in the codex showed sovereign as nothing more than a big ship looking like a cuttle fish!" said Cortana.

"Huh, It's not a ship, Cortana. That's a reaper in the size of a ship. If not for Shepard, they would have obliterated the galaxy 2 years back. But the council is too blind to see this truth. They call the reapers as myth and nothing more than a Saren's make up to cover his crimes. I'm afraid this truth will die with Shepard and reapers are going to give us a big surprise in the future." Anderson said in a sad tone.

"But right now, the reapers are not an issue. The collectors are" Anderson said.

Chief, his friends and Cortana finally got a clear picture now which didn't make any sense right from the beginning. Now they almost know why they were sent in to this reality to help this galaxy. The librarian wanted to save this galaxy from the potential threat of the 'Reapers'. Chief determined himself that he will make sure they succeed in this mission. The one other thing they had to find is who built that portal that brought them here.

"Chief, I think-" said Linda before being cut by chief

"I know" said Chief nodded in acknowledgement.

"Don't worry admiral. We said we would never interfere in anyone's affairs. but we are still soldiers and have duty. We will look out for these collector attacks and make sure the human colonies are safe" said the Chief which surprised the Admiral. He never expected this generosity. He was quite amazed with the spartans sense of dutifulness and good sense of justice.

"Thank you Chief. There's nothing one could ask for more than your non-obligatory help" said Anderson with a smile to which Chief slightly nodded.

"One last thing. What ever you said to the councilors and all those things you showed them?...Are they real?" asked Anderson with a smirk. The spartans looked at him tilting their heads, let an evasive smile. Cortana folded her hands and nodded disapprovingly.

"Whatever we said are true. Thought you believed us" shrugged Chief.

"I do. If you never had those technologies or that out of proportion ship, surely somebody would have taken you for borderline insane and got an admission in the asylum" replied Anderson with a cocky smile.

"Though I should say that you people were inducted into the life of military at 6 when you should be enjoying your lives. Aren't you bothered by it, by all those horrendous procedures you were subjected to?" asked Anderson who had this issue lingering his mind. Cortana's face turned despondent as she didn't want to talk about this. When she and John began working together, Cortana learned what had been done to the kids and vehemently hated for what happened to them. From that day forth, she became more protective of John and had a soft corner over the spartan IIs in general.

"Many would call that immoral, but at times such as those, people go for the unconventional tactics as a last resort. We don't regret this, instead see a chance to be more than just human and be the front line defense of humanity" replied Fred to which John, Kelly and Linda looked at him and acknowledged his point with little pride.

Anderson didn't know anything about this, but he expected a response like this from them as soldiers. After all, that's what every soldier have in his mind. The cause they were fighting for.

"Well, I don't mean to pry. If I were in that situation, I would have done the same. No matter how you fight, A soldiers death make sure the safety of the thousands" said Anderson. The spartans and Cortana looked at the admiral with a considerable level of respect. The spartans acknowledged his statement and those were words from the mouth of a soldier who have had his fair share of the days.

"Alright, let's not dwell much into that. Until you figure a way to get back to your place, have a nice day" cheered the Admiral.

"Thank you sir, Admiral" saluted Chief. Anderson smiled and nodded.

"And by the way, This citadel is a big place. Feel free to roam and there are a lot of exciting things you could check out, provided you guyz are interested. Not to mention the C-sec got their eyes on you and the public stare" said Anderson while getting to his table to work with the personal terminal.

"Sure we will" replied Kelly for which the others looked at her. She knew the meaning of that gaze but didn't mind it.

The spartans then left the embassy. Cortana managed to get them the map, hence it was easy for them to pick the correct route.

The blue team left the area, grabbed a sky-car and left to C-sec HQ.

...

There they met C-Sec security and science officers to get back their weapons. The officers who had been analyzing the weapons were stunned with its operation and design. Limited ammo but deadly. They were shocked to see directed energy weapons and plasma weapons which are thought to be infeasible and impossible.

To operate their rifles with directed energy would mean extensive use of Eezo core that would also be inefficient and they don't have enough cooling power to convect the heat out. Even the Gauss technology they use in projectile weapons were found to use lots of power and thus more heat generation. Still, the weapons had a great cooling unit which the officers didn't understand.

The blue team watched the officers having a tough time figuring out the weapon's efficient functionality. They were waiting patiently until the breaking point.

"Alright, we need those back" said Chief standing behind a human officer who was trembled to see a 7'3" massive figure behind.

"Well, of course, I don't think we would need this anymore" said the officer stumbling and got out of the way. Then he passed the weapons to his friends and took his own. After holstering the weapons, Chief and his friends got their weapons back and used an elevator to get to the docking bay.

There Nylis was waiting for them.

"So, how did the meeting go?" asked Nylis.

"Just as usual. I think we can leave this place" said Chief to which she nodded.

Chief waved his hand at the asari to get her inside the pelican. Then he flew the pelican into Dawn. Inside the ship, Sentinels started moving here and there on Cortana's commands and the huragoks went to the engine room. Chief, his team and the asari went to the bridge. Chief sat on the captain's seat and put Cortana back into the pedestal.

Now that the important phase of the plan had been done and done, it was time for them to enact the next stage, that is finding a suitable place to live.

"Cortana, first we need to set up a base. Look for any habitable, uncolonized planets" said Chief

"I've already done it Chief" said Cortana bringing up a hologram of the Milky way in front of him. Then she marked a cluster just below the galactic rim. Then it zoomed to a star system. It consists of a G-class star similar to SOL sun with 4 planets orbiting it. The 2nd planet is exactly at the same distance as earth.

"This is a system in the Titan nebula similar to our SOL. There are 4 planets orbiting a G-class star with the 2nd one being habitable" then Cortana zoomed towards the planet.

"But that system is in the terminus region and also you dont find anyone in there" said Nylis.

"That's exactly what we need. The planet's 1.35 times the size of earth, 1.3 times the gravity, correct position from the star to support life" said Cortana

"What about the atmosphere, resources?" asked Chief.

"Pressure at the surface-1.3 bars, temperature below the equator is 23 degC. Planet has a rich Oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere which means, we can see lots of floras and faunas. Also traces of other gases just like earth"

"Perfect for sustaining life" said the Chief

"What's the ETA from here?" asked Linda

"It's 35,000 light years from the mass relay data" said Cortana

"4-5 relay transitions has to made. In conventional FTL, It will take centuries for us" said Nylis.

"What's the maximum output of our slipspace drive?" asked Chief

"The forerunner crystal can be stressed to maximun effectiveness of 25,000 light years a day but after that, a full scale maintenance would be required or else we would run into a serious trouble"

Nylis was stunned and couldn't believe what she heard "What! you can do that much distance in a day!?" asked Nylis in shock as their FTL will take centuries to reach it. She had already seen the slipspace functions in Chief's mind during the meld to prove the council that he's telling the truth. But it never occurred to her that it was highly efficient.

"Yes and it will take approximately 32 hrs to reach that planet." finished Cortana

"Then do it. Team, let's get ourselves a new base of operations" said Chief. Cortana smiled at chief, and then entered the coordinates to that planet. The dawn after leaving a safe distance from the citadel, performed the slipspace jump.

...

Don't forget to review.