Disclaimer: I donot own Halo or Mass effect.
Chapter 6: Face your new enemy
After 32 hrs, The Dawn exited the slipspace nearby the planet they identified in the Titan nebula. The ship is facing the edge of planet's bright side. It was a pleasing view.
"Status report?" asked Chief
"The propulsion engines doing good, but the slipspace drive" told Linda not amused with the readings, which then was continued by Cortana. She appeared from the pedestal.
"The slipspace drive need some maintenance Chief. The huragoks are on it. We pushed it too hard. We are not gonna use it until the huragoks are done" finished cortana. That was quite bad news for the crew as they cannot do FTL for sometime. Chief sighed at this.
"Look at the planet!" said Fred seeing through the glass window. Everyone looked at it. The planet reminded John of Eridanus even though he lost most of its memories. The crew were stunned with its beauty.
"Cortana, before we land, I need full details on this planet" said Chief. The crew already saw the beautiful planet from the bridge's glass window.
Captain Nylis after becoming the captain of the fourth fleet, she had traveled to almost every star cluster and participated in missions, even the terminus. But, as terminus systems are not under citadel jurisdiction, she only had limited access to it. She was surprised to see that a planet so rich in resources hadn't been found by anyone for a long time. She's also not amused with the idea of these outsiders mining its resources.
"Chief, the planet has higher amounts of iridium, osmium, rhodium, gold, palladium, platinum, titanium, magnesium...even more. Also different salts of nitrates, phosphates, sulphates, perchlorates, several hydrocarbons both aliphatic and aromatic. We also have radioactive elements like Uranium-238, plutonium, curium, neptinium, thorium, radon and many more" said cortana then bringing up atmospheric data.
"As for the atmosphere, It's same as earth. We have all the gases including the inert ones"
"Fine. But we need to find the right spot where we don't have to burn down trees and disrupt the ecosystem" said the chief
"Actually there's one, in the south east region 100kms below the equator. The 400 mile radius is composed of only rocks. That's a best spot" said cortana marking the spot in the hologram..
"Wait! Chief, you need to understand that this planet is in the terminus systems. This region of galaxy is not under the jurisdiction of the citadel" said Nylis seriously.
"So do we" said Kelly turning to Nylis which slightly irritated her.
"I am not gonna let you outsiders to exploit our resources! This is our galaxy! You just cant claim yourself a planet without the authorization of the council" yelled Nylis which was a little troubling to them. Chief stood out of his seat and started talking to her. Though Nylis was clear with her message, insider her mind, she regretted for yelling at a massive figure. There was a slight pause. Cortana and the team members were looking at chief as to what he's gonna say.
"First, We come from the same Milky Way. Second, You yourself said that this region doesn't fall under the citadel's watch. Third, I've seen your council's way of dealing with 'Requests'" said Chief in a tough deep tone that sent slight fear to Nylis.
"You know nothing of our council. They help everyone in need!" yelled Nylis when chief verbally assaulted the council.
"Then what about the council's denial to help the alliance soldier named Shepard to fight the collectors?" asked chief raising his tone. Nylis was awestruck with his question and there was a silence. She never thought this man knew about commander Shepard or the collectors.
"Who told you that!?" asked Nylis in annoyance.
"A nice man in the citadel told me that" replied Chief without giving out Anderson's name. Others were looking at them as if to be prepared to stop them if the situation gets more meaner than a mere conversation.
"Collectors are just myths! No one has seen them!" yelled Nylis.
"Yes, because humans are the only one suffering their onslaught! Would you say the same if it were your people? I have heard the way council treat the humanity. They may have a spot in the council chamber, but never among them" said Cortana deciding to interfere this time. Chief, his friends and Nylis looked at her. Nylis was shocked to see an AI reasoning for humanity. Now she really feels hard to find words to speak. Chief and the others had read the codex and learned about each and every incident including the battle of citadel in 2183. Even after Shepard chose to save the council in humanity's place, there were not that much grateful.
"Humans are arrogant!" said Nylis in a pressing tone and anger. Chief saw her and spoke after a sigh.
"Listen captain, We had read about the terminus sector and how council doesn't interfere or even give a damn about what goes here. So, technically, you can't reveal this information and even if you did? The council won't interfere. So save your energy" replied the Chief in a calm voice.
Kelly, Fred, Linda and Cortana too kept themselves cool. They are spartans, quickly adapt to new knowledge and situation. They knew that while trying to establish a base, they might face such a hindrance from anyone. That's why Cortana chose a fertile world in the galactic border.
Nylis stared at the spartans but she herself knew that what Chief said was true. If they choose to live in the terminus, then they do it at their own risk, something that was clearly stated by the councilors themselves.
"That's right. So basically, This place don't even belong to you. Besides, we need a place to settle down and we are not gonna terraform this whole planet as you would think. We are just gonna put a base down there" said Fred.
"Listen chief, it might be hard for you accept. But, there are no collectors. That's the truth and you will see to it" said nylis to which chief nodded in disapproval.
"This galaxy is ignorant of the coming storm" thought the chief and changed the subject.
"Cortana, we'll setup the base in that region. I'm seeing large hills. It's a good hideout"
"Yes chief. I'll send sentinel constructors, assemblers and retrievers to get the job done. I've finished the designs and the sentinels are uploaded with the design data. They will finish the base in 25 days"
"What are these sentinels?" asked nylis in confusion.
"Sentinels are forerunner constructs that are designed for specific purpose. These are usually controlled by AIs. They do a variety of work ranging from guarding a place or an object to terraforming a planet" replied cortana. Nylis had her eyes widened after learning about the sentinels. She already saw the information about fore-runners, their technology and capability both in the video and meld. Nylis thought of giving the datas regarding sentinels to the asari command and council. She couldn't imagine the possibilities. The asari can build one like these to colonize planets easily. But she knew next to nothing about them.
"But how are you in possession of those? Aren't these created by the ones you call forerunners who now don't exist in your reality. Without them, there's no way you could get these" said nylis wondering how the spartans got a working forerunner tech in possession.
"Those are highly classified" was the plain response from chief.
"If you give us the datas about these sentinels, The galaxy could benefit a lot from it" said nylis trying to convince the spartans.
"We already told you we'll not share our potential technologies we possess" said Linda in a way nylis heard it right. Nylis was slightly frowned at this reply but was confident that she will succeed sometime after and decided not to stir up the situation.
"Chief the sentinels are deployed. The retrievers will mine the resources and constructors, assemblers will build the base in 25 days" cortana said
"In the mean time. what do you suggest cortana? asked chief
"How about we find another planet and have a nice stroll in the beach!" said fred turning to everyone relaxed and amused. Others were staring at him. Actually linda and kelly liked that idea. Chief didn't respond to it while nylis remained silent.
"You are awfully relaxed fred!" said cortana with her arms crossed. Then suddenly kelly spoke up when a new display popped up in her terminal.
"Chief! i'm picking up a transmission...its from the comm-bouy besides the mass relay in the nearby system" said kelly after she saw the display on her terminal showing the raw data.
"Who is it?" asked chief
"Isolating and clearing up the signal" said cortana. Then everyone heard a broken transmission with lots of static which sounded more human.
"Th...is...liet...nt...jam...ga...from...th...co..ny..fehl prime...th...collectors...th..re attac...ng us...we request...lp..."
"It's not clear. But i heard something like fehl prime and collectors." said the chief
"Fehl prime!? that's a human colony in this terminus" said nylis in slight shock. But even she heard the transmission say 'collectors'. She started to have doubts regarding their presence and thought that it could be some trap.
"I also heard 'collectors' " said fred to which others nodded except nylis.
"Looks like it's a distress call. This fehl prime colony is being attacked by collectors" said the chief, getting the picture.
"I've traced the signal's location from the comm-bouy. It's 60 light years from here" said cortana bringing up the holo of fehl prime in front of chief.
"Something's scrambling the comm in the planet. We better go and check it" said kelly.
"Wait! what if its a trap?" asked nylis still refusing to believe the collectors.
"If its collectors abducting the humans in that colony, they need our help. If its a trap, we'll make sure they fall into it." said chief plainly
"Cortana, initiate slipspace rupture to the location" ordered chief to which cortana nodded and entered the coordinates and engaged the slipspace drive. The ship entered the slipspace and the portal closed.
"Team! lets get locked and loaded. This is our first contact with a human colony and the collectors" said the chief and the four went to the armory to pick their desired weapons. Chief carried a MA5D guass rifle, type 57 carbine and a pair of type 54 pistols. Fred carried MA5D and M45E shotgun, Linda carried 99C series 2 sniper rifle and type 55 rifle. Kelly carried a MA5D and a pair of type 54 pistols. Nylis was in her default military suit with her usual weapon, avenger assault rifle and acolyte. They were all waiting to exit slipspace. All the five went to the hanger.
In the matter of minutes the ship exited the slipspace 30,000 kms from the planet. Then nylis spoke
"I cant believe i'm doing this! I was sent here to monitor you and give reports to the council. I'm sure that this collector thing is a trap!" said nylis not liking the situation.
"If you are afraid, stay here! but stop whining!" said linda annoyed with her. Nylis gave a fiery look but there's nothing she can do about it now. Cortana immediately popped up from the holo-pedestal.
"Guys! You need to see this" bringing up the region where the distress call originated. She then brought up the holo image of the scanned region.
"I scanned the whole area where the call originated. This is what's been happening" said cortana bringing up the holo display of a strange ship with hull looking like rocks and a circular rotary section and metallic structure at the rear end. Nylis was confused with the ship. She had never seen anything like this.
"By the goddess! what is tha-...Is that a ship!?" asked nylis stumbling with words.
"Chief, the ship is leaving the surface. It's a human settlement but now that region is empty. Also i'm detecting lots of humans and unknown life signs inside the ship" said cortana
"Unknown? could they be collectors!?" asked kelly
"Don't know. But they dont match anything we've seen in the codex" said cortana which was troubling for nylis as she started to doubt the reality.
"Cortana, what can you tell me about the ship?" asked chief
"I tracked its ascend. It's current course will put it straight into our line of sight. Also the ship uses a form of shielding system called 'Kinetic barrier' but stronger than other ships in this galaxy. But it's not powerful like our energy shields" said cortana which was shocking for nylis as she heard that their shielding are not advanced as UNSC. Also she's tensed with this new ship.
Chief, having fought a war for 30 years mastered all the fighting strategies, even the unconventional ones. He is now planning to stop the collectors.
"Cortana, can you disable the ship using EMPs?" asked chief
"Yes, 2 EMP mines can disable the whole ship and fry their internal systems"
"Then setup EMP mines to their position. When they come, they wont know what hit them. Also engage ship's stealth system. They should not find us" said chief
"Then we'll infiltrate the ship silently" finished fred to which the team nodded in approval. Nylis was stunned with their plan.
"You are going to enter the ship!? are you mad!? who knows what's inside that thing!" yelled nylis.
"Listen, the situation's a surprise to you, but not to us. If you want, you can come or stay here" said chief clearly. Nylis thought not to go with the spartans but she's even more afraid to be here alone with the sentinels moving here and there.
"No time to waste! Cortana, launch the mines" said chief to which she nodded and activated the launchers. 2 EMP mines flew from the ship's mine launchers and held their position against the collector ship.
"Ship's approaching the position in 5...4...3...2...1" finished cortana.
When the collector vessel entered the mine spot, the mines launched a powerful radiation pulse from the ship's left and right side near the rear end. The ship suddenly lost it's power and the drive core failed. All of their systems shutdown and now stranded blind helplessly. Dawn disengaged the stealth as they can't see them now.
"Chief! The EMPs did their job. The ship's power systems are offline and also their entire computer terminals have short circuited. But they will recover from it. We have to get in there and out fast" said cortana. Chief then took cortana's chip and inserted it to his helmet.
"So...dont you think we are about to prove something that the whole galaxy denies!?" asked cortana in his head.
"They'll never learn!" said chief to which cortana gave a sigh in his head.
"Alright team! We'll take a pelican and then board their ship. Our priority is to look for human survivors and engage any hostiles" Chief said out loud to get a response from the team. Then chief prepped the pelican and the others boarded it. The hanger doors and the hard light barrier was disabled. Then chief started the engines and flew it towards the collector vessel. The ship was put to lock down by cortana.
They reached the side of the ship's hull. The ship was big to match the alliance dreadnought. Then chief entered a opening he saw that was big enough to fit the pelican. He landed onto the ground and the back door opened. The chief and his team came out holding the weapons in their hand. Chief held on to type 57 carbine, kelly with dual type54 pistols, fred with shotgun and linda with sniper. Nylis was holding her acolyte. They started moving inside. The walls had both rocky surface and as well as polished dark golden surface. The place looked like insect colony.
"Look at the interior design!...it's feels more organic than just simple construction materials. Wonder what's deep inside the ship!" said cortana. Nylis was silent for the whole time trying to process what she's seeing. She's almost convinced about the existence of the collectors.
They walked along the pathway they saw. It was some what narrow. But still their comm are scrambled inside for unknown reasons. Then everyone proceeded through the hallway and stopped suddenly. There was a human body in the floor. Everyone went near it. Chief knelt down to take a look. The helmet visor displayed the 3D scan of the body and identified the injuries.
"Chief, he was shot down. But no sign of bullets" said cortana
"Directed energy weapons, maybe?" asked linda
"Could be. Team...stay sharp!" said chief stood up and the team proceeded further.
They also saw strange pods that can carry one person. But they saw a lot of those.
"Why there are so many pods?" murmured Nylis. All of a sudden, everyone heard wing flaps at a high speed. Turning around, they saw mysterious biped aliens landing on the ground and started shooting at them.
"CONTACTS!...everyone take cover!" yelled fred and they all took cover behind, what looked like a barricade. The collector soldiers were shooting at them with their version of assault rifle. Chief then started shooting his carbine. The plasma coated kernels drained their barriers in just four shots and then pierced their brown armored hide like it was nothing. The aliens screamed in pain and died. There were 7 soldiers in total. Both were exchanging shots. The ammo from collector rifle made the blue team's armor to glow in golden energy with chief's in golden-orange color. Nylis was stunned with the energy from their armors. She guessed that it should be the energy shield. The blue team used their weapons and laid down rains of ammo that splattered the collector bodies. Nylis couldn't believe what she saw. Her jaws dropped and eyes popped with the power of their weapons. Before she could even fire her weapon, the 7 soldiers were dead.
"By the goddess! what kind of weapons are those?" she thought out loud and also slightly frightened to see these new creatures. She finally came to a conclusion that the collectors were real.
Chief and the others moved towards a dead collector being. After chief took a scanning look at it, the visor displayed the 3D image of the collector body and showed the genetic and physiological data which cortana picked up through him.
"Check that...The body looks like a cross between organic skin and mechanized suit" said kelly.
"Yes. Its a bio-mechanical skin but acts like an actual flesh. Also i am seeing lots of cybernetic implants in each and every part. Looks like they are just organic killing machines created and controlled by someone or...something" said cortana wondering their nature.
"So, these must be the collectors, i guess. Linda, get to a sniping position and cover our six while we make the front assault. Others stay with me in a range" ordered chief to which everyone nodded. They were moving in a diamond formation with linda as their sniper support. They proceeded towards another hallway. It had 2 blast doors, one in the front and another in the side of the room that can be reached through a short slope.
"Chief! i'm intercepting a faint signal that matches alliance frequency from the door on the side" said cortana
"Must be the ones who gave the distress call" replied chief. Suddenly several collector foot soldiers and 8 bulky creature that was holding what looked like a hand cannon landed there. They started shooting at them.
"Team! take cover and open fire!" ordered john. Everyone took a covering positions and started shooting at them. The bulky creatures shot cannon rounds that sent multiple explosions to the ground to their positions. To the spartans it did little damage but proved a valuable distraction as it blinded their position with dusts. Chief saw this and decided to ambush them. He entered the spartan time where everything slowed down. He holstered his weapons and activated his right hand wrist energy sword. Then charged towards them at blinding speed and was also using his force field projector from his left hand to ricochet the incoming projectiles. Some even flew back at them. After getting to their centre, john swung his sword over the collectors slicing their bodies to shreds and burning them one by one in a fluidic movement. Nylis was dumbstruck to see the chief reacting with lightning reflex, thanks to his promethean augmentations that made him a lot stronger than the regular spartans. In matter of seconds, he finished of the bulky creatures that made easy for his team to take care of the soldiers. The collector soldiers started shooting at their nearest foe, the chief. But he held of easily using his force field while his team took them one by one. This is when the strangest thing happened that stunned everyone.
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!" came a deep and hard growled synthetic voice when suddenly one soldier was slightly lifted in air with his body mutating into fire like texture and eyes glowing bright golden yellow. It suddenly stopped firing waved its hand to stop others to fire too. This act confused the spartans and they too stopped firing and slowly moved toward chief pointing their guns towards them. Nylis felt a chill in her spine as what she saw was pure horror. She was standing besides the spartans in absolute fear.
"Chief! This soldier...Its implants are flared up like anything. It looks like something has possessed it!" said cortana seriously. Chief listened to cortana and stared at the possessed soldier.
This is when the mutated soldier started to speak.
"4 humans and one asari" said the soldier that was confusing for the blue team but nylis was shocked with that thing recognizing her kind. The collector was able to identify the genetics in the spartans but couldn't understand the augmentations and armor specs because cortana sensed the being trying to infiltrate their armor and cybernetic systems to learn everything, so she used her mainline programs to prevent that and at the same time hiding her presence.
"I had been watching you since your arrival. It is interesting that i cannot recognize your augmentations and armor variants" said the collector refering to the four spartans. It was quite alarming.
"Who are you?" asked chief in a deep tone demanding answer from it.
"We are the 'Harbinger' of your destiny, evolution and survival!" replied the collector. They were confused with its reply as it didn't make any sense to them.
"What do you want with the humans?" asked linda
"This harvestation cannot be stopped. The cycle will continue just as it did for eons! and you will be first and last to witness it"
The word 'cycle' clicked everyone's mind with the cycle of extinction every 50,000 years.
"Uh..Oh!" cortana jerked in chief's helmet now knowing that what it is exactly.
"So you!...are responsible for the cycle of extinction every 50,000 years!" said chief raising his voice. Nylis was confused with what chief meant.
"The harvestation is your only option of survival! Those who resist will only meet inevitable death. You can't stop the cycle...you can't stop us! we will return from the darkness and fulfil our purpose" replied the collector.
"Did you say that you had been watching us since our return?" asked fred
"We noticed your presence. The technology you carry is not of this galaxy's origin which makes you four unknown variables. For your arrival is a mystery, You will be captured and analyzed to correct our course of action!" said the collector. The other collector soldiers now aimed thier guns at them. The spartans knew of its intentions. Nylis was really troubled with this.
"Enough with your crap! Stop this or you will get to taste the hell!" threatened chief.
"Your petty threats are irrelevant! You can only destroy the host, but not us. You will change nothing!...Now surrender or die a painful death!" with that said the possessed collector sent a energy blast over the spartans. Though the energy shields shrugged it off, the force sent them few steps back made them grunt. Immediately they started shooting at them. Nylis used her biotic shields to protect herself but she couldn't hold on for long. The spartans energy shield were degrading slowly. The collector weapons are not that effective against them. Chief and the others immediately took their guns and stormed them with bullets and super-heated plasma kernels that pierced their bodies and incinerated them. All the collectors are dead in minutes. The possessed collector simply turned to dust. Nylis started to freak out. The captain of the asari fourth fleet having fought countless pirates was not used to this kind of threat.
"Oh No! The collectors!...The reapers!...Shepard was right after all!..We can't stop them!"
"Snap out of it Nylis!" yelled the chief. The frightened look still in the asari's face.
"It's not over yet!...At least we got the picture of who's behind this. We will stop this!" said the chief. He realized that though asari having fleet strength, ground strength, biotics, they will fear of the unknown. Nylis might me reputed among her species, but even she can be engulfed in fear.
"Are you mad! if they are capable of destroying all life in the galaxy, we can't stop them!"
"Listen, we are not new to this kind of threats in our reality...We have seen and even stopped the forces that threatened the galaxy. When i say we will stop them...I mean it" chief said in a pressing tone that somehow convinced the asari. His words though not helpful but were encouraging.
"There are a lot of things you dont know about us" said kelly.
"Chief! We need to save those colonists. They dont have much time!" urged cortana
"Let's go team! we have humans to save from these collectors" said chief getting a nod in response and they started moving towards then opened door. It led to another hallway.
They suddenly heard howling sounds which turned out to be human like beings. This reminded chief of the flood infected human forms. They all ran towards them. Chief immediately stormed at them and performed a shock wave attack to the ground creating a powerful tremor that knocked all the husks out. Nylis was amazed with the chief's armor capabilities.
"Are they humans?" asked fred wondering.
"Looks so. These collectors must be turning them into monsters. we have to stop them soon. come on!" said chief. Everyone walked forward and cortana spoke up.
"Chief! I'm detecting human life signs in the next cell"
"Then lets go help them" said chief and all the five moved towards the next door.
...
"Shit! Essex, we need to spread this antidote to free the colonists" yelled lieutenant James vega of the systems alliance hiding behind a barricade evading collector's attack.
"Messner screwed us up! Now we are left alone" yelled another soldier named Milque.
"Now we have the power cell that brood gave us before dying. Essex, charge your biotics with this. I will need your help in getting the canisters to the pod tubes" said vega making a covering fire at the collectors from the barricade.
"Nice plan. But even my biotics can't handle this much fire power" said Essex.
"Fuck! then we are screwed up here!" yelled milque.
This is when the door in their back opened and came a swarm of heavy bullets and plasma kernels that started to incinerate the collector forces and tear them apart. The three soldiers turned back and saw 4 massive armored figures and an asari. The weapons carried by the four looked strange to them. They were awestruck with their weapons and their armors who were tearing the collectors like tissue papers. They also witnessed their armors surrounded by a golden field that repelled the collector shots. They were intimidating enough that one of the three raised his gun towards them thinking they too were hostiles. Chief then knelt down next to vega while others were firing at the collectors. The blue team saw numerous pods that held paralyzed humans.
"Are you an alliance soldier?" asked chief
"Wha-...! yes..lieutenant James vega...and who the hell are you people!?" asked vega loudly with little fear.
"Easy lieutenant! Listen, i will play your questions once we save these colonists and get out of this ship!" said chief
"You're here to help us!?...go blow yourself!" said milque loud enough.
"Listen to them, if you wanna live.!" said Nylis. Others wondering what an asari doing with them.
"If you want your asses to be saved, do what we say!...or you're welcome to rot in this hellhole!" yelled linda while firing at the collectors.
Vega thought for a moment analyzing their situation and found no option but to do what they ask. He spoke to the two then.
"Listen, we dont know who they are, but they're helping us. Its better to follow their lead until we get ourselves out of the ship...is that clear!?" asked vega. Though hesitant, they too knew they wouldn't survive, so they accepted.
"Fine. But sir, these colonists are paralyzed by the collectors. We need to get this antidote to those pod tubes to free them" vega showed the antidote and the pod tube port.
"Vega! what of that bastard and treeya!? he took her somewhere! we cannot lose treeya!" said Essex which made vega to slightly frown.
"Listen, i'll look for them. My team will get the antidote to the tubes...okay?" asked chief. Vega nodded in response.
"Kelly! Take this antidote and place in the pod tubes. I'm going to look for their other team members" to which she nodded in response and took the antidote canister.
"Cortana! mark the pod tube location to kelly's HUD" said chief
"I've already done that chief. Let's go find the two members" cortana replied . With that chief moved forward firing at the collector hordes and then moved backward to the left of their position where he spotted an open door. He entered and the door closed behind.
"Hoh! that was close!" said cortana.
"Can you spot any human life signs from here?"
"Yes across 4 rooms, one level down" replied cortana. Chief then switched to promethean vision which scanned through everything revealing objects behind the wall. Then he saw the floor which in fact revealed 2 tiny people a level down from his position. He zoomed in to get the clear view. He identified one as human and another as asari. Switching back to normal vision, cortana marked the location in his HUD. Then they proceeded forward.
After opening the first door, there were 12 collector soldiers and 6 scions. Chief activated the camouflage and silently got to a right position behind a barricade. Then disengaged the cloak and started firing his MA5D rifle. The gauss rounds tore through their armor depleting their barrier in few shots. The soldiers screamed in pain and died. Others started shooting him. Suddenly chief opened his palm and a mini slipspace portal opened spawning a plasma grenade in his hands. The portal immediately closed and chief activated the trigger and threw the grenade at the collectors. After 3 seconds, a fiery plasma explosion engulfed 5 collectors and 2 scions and turned them to dust. One of the remaining soldiers got possessed and turned into a fire like being.
"ASSUMING CONTROL" again came the synthetic voice.
"Chief! he's back...take him out" said cortana
"You persist against the unstoppable force! surrender human!" said the possessed collector.
"Not today!" said chief out loud and started firing at him. It sent an energy blast just like before. But the armor's energy shield can take a lot more than this. Chief grunted at the force caused by the blast and unloaded the ammo from his guass rifle at it. The collector was killed and turned to ash saying something.
"You can kill them, but not us!"
Chief then fired his rifle at the remaining collectors and killed them all with ease. There was a foul smell of burnt collector bodies. Chief then entered the next three halls and fought hordes of collectors. Chief used the shockwave ability to create tremors that knocks the collectors down. Also entered spartan time and used his wrist energy sword to slice the collectors to pieces and burn them with the heat of the plasma. The rooms were filled with torn pieces of collector bodies and ashes. He deactivated the sword and switched to the assault rifle and went near the final door.
...
"By the goddess! why are you doing this messner!?" asked treeya in terror.
"I just need information about the collectors. This prothean archive can give me what i just need" said messner in a sinister tone. Messner is a cerberus operative hiding covertly in fehl prime. The human colonists were forced by him to use the archive but were burnt with images and they died. But asari being naturally gifted psychics can do this with little difficulty.
"Now access the archive and give me the information. I may spare you" said messner. Treeya had no choice but to do what he says. She succeeded in accessing the archive and saw everything regarding the prothean's last stand against the reapers and their failure. Then getting captured and mutated extensively as the reaper's indoctrinated slaves, The Collectors. She also found their plan to harvest humanity to create a human reaper in their home world. She was forced to reveal those information to messner and he recorded everything in his bracelet. Then suddenly the room's door was blasted away. Messner immediately aimed his gun at the entrance. From the smoke, he saw a massive 7'3" armored behemoth that sent chill to both their spines. Treeya's face was filled with terror. The cerberus agent was sweating after seeing him keeping his gun aimed. He had never seen anyone this big and the armor and his weapons were alien to him.
"Who the hell are you!? yelled messner
"That depends on what you're about to do next. I'm either your friend or your worst nightmare!" said chief in an intimidating voice that sent terror in his face.
"Wow! you really pissed him off! you know!? now-a-days, you have improved very well in threatening with words" said cortana chuckling in his mind. Chief didn't respond to that. Without a second thought the cerberus agent started shooting him. Chief simply raised his left hand to bring a force field that ricocheted the projectiles.
"What the shi-..!?" before he could finish, chief shot his head and the flesh from his head splattered. This sent fear to the asari standing next to messner's body as he was walking towards her. She was stunned with the strange technology he possessed. She took messner's weapon and aimed at him. Chief lowered his guard and started talking.
"Are you alright mam?". Treeya was convinced that he's not an enemy though she's confused as to who he is. She had never seen anyone like him. But his voice was clear enough to identify him as human.
"ye-..Yes. I'll be...thanks! but, who are you?" asked treeya in confusion.
"You can call me chief for now. I'll explain everything to you once we get off this ship, okay!?" asked chief to which she nodded.
"But! how did you know he was an enemy?" wondering how this strange man knew she was threatened.
"I was watching this guy threatening you to get information, which brings me to my next question, what is this archive he was talking about?"
"It's the truth about the collectors. I'll tell you after we get off this ship. By the way my name is treeya" said the asari to which chief nodded in acknowledgement.
"Others are waiting for us. Let's go!" said chief and the two left the room.
Both regrouped with the vega and the blue team members. Chief saw the colonists were free and most of the collector forces have been obliterated. The colonists were staring at the spartans and even more at chief, but he didn't bother. Vega, Essex and Milque were happy to see treeya alive. Vega and treeya shared a hug in joy and then saw Nylis which was surprising.
"Captain Nylis! It's surprising to see you" said treeya.
"I'm with the spartans to monitor them as per the orders from the council" said nylis which was quite surprising especially the word she used to call them, spartans.
"Spartans!?" asked treeya raising her eyebrow.
"I'll explain you later" finished nylis.
"Thank you sir! whoever you people are..we owe you a lot!". Chief simply nodded in response. Kelly, Fred and Linda were checking on the colonists.
"That's a scary piece of technology you and your team carry! if we had something like this, the collectors simply would have taken their sorry asses back to where ever they came from!" said Essex out loud in amusement. Chief simply stared at him.
"By the way, I'm Essex and that is Milque, you already know vega" said essex to which chief only nodded.
"You know! Everyone wants to lay their hands on us and our tech. They are worse than the reapers and collectors!" smirked cortana
"Cortana!"
"Alright caveman! I'll leave this to you"
"We have one more thing to do" thought chief which cortana remembered. Chief then turned to vega and talked.
"Lieutenant, we have 4 heavy prowlers in our ship. Each can carry 120 passengers. Its enough for those colonists to take and drop them to the surface" said chief. Vega and others were shocked to hear those spartans own a ship. Chief signaled cortana to bring the prowlers.
"That would be nice. And we are suppose to report to the alliance command on earth." said vega.
"We can take you there. Anyway, it would be a nice opportunity to meet your alliance personnel" said Fred to which they nodded.
"Wait! what happened to messner?" asked Milque.
"Dead..This person saved me from him" said treeya refering to the spartan.
"Huh! That cerberus son of a bitch got what he deserved!" said Essex
"Alright let's get to the evac point. Follow us" said chief to which his team nodded and walked with him. The alliance crew and the colonists followed them. The colonists were talking among themselves about these armored giants.
At the entrance, they saw 4 large ships of unknown design and classification flying towards them.
"What the hell is that!?" asked Vega. Others were staring at the approaching ships in awe. They have never seen anything like this. Vega was wondering if the prowlers that's gonna rescue them is this big, then he couldn't imagine about the ship they told about. The pelican chief and his team used to enter the ship was near by them, but cloaked. The prowlers turned and opened the doors to let the colonists in. After all the 4 prowlers were filled, they flew to the planet's surface.
"So how are we gonna get out?" asked Essex to which chief pointed out his left. They saw nothing, but suddenly a gunship appeared out of cloak which stunned everyone. Treeya started to wonder about the technologies these mysterious people possessed. Everyone boarded the pelican and they reached the dawn. The crew's jaw dropped after seeing the ship.
"By the goddess! There's no way a ship this big can be built!...not without indefinite quantities of eezo to power it which would eventually bankrupt even the richest organization" Treeya thought out loud. Others couldn't even find words to explain what they saw. They also saw the ship had no trace of human architecture.
"Are these people humans!?" thought Milque intrigued with the ship's design. They finally entered the hanger and the pelican touched down. The crew came out to see drones flying here and there. They were wondering what they were. The prowlers also returned to the ship and all the hanger doors are sealed.
Then chief took cortana's chip and placed in the pedestal.
"Cortana, blow the ship!" said chief. Others were wondering to whom and what he was talking about except nylis. The dawn then aligned itself to face the collector ship.
"Launching MAC round from MAC 1" said cortana, with only the voice coming out. They couldn't locate the source.
Then a 850K-ton slug was launched from their at the blinding speed that tore the collector ship to pieces in a single shot. From the hanger it was clearly visible.
"Holy fu-..! There's no weapon in the galaxy that could do this much devastation. Our fleets mass accelerator can barely touch the hull!" shocked Milque. Others had the same expression in their faces.
"Who are you people!? Are you humans? Your technologies, ships, your size...weapons!...They dont follow our standards!...Collectors had abducted 6 human colonies in total. They couldn't be saved. But you came then, saved us and tore their ship apart!" exclaimed Essex.
"They are humans" replied Nylis.
"Captain Nylis, you owe me an explanation." said treeya.
"I will tell you about them, but first we need to go to thessia and tell the command what's happening. It's about time they learned the truth!" replied nylis, now turning to chief.
"Chief, I think it's time to part ways"
"I get it and you are doing the right thing. Remember, this isn't over and don't lose hope. If you need help, we will be there!" said chief to which nylis nodded with a smile. She also asked chief to give her and treeya a ride to thessia to which he nodded.
Then nylis talked to treeya and explained about them. She was absolutely shocked. Even the alliance soldiers were listening to them and were equally troubled with this.
"Holy Shit! I always thought that stuffs like alternate realities are movie fictions!" vega said out loud. Others were equally stunned with this information. But they realized it's all true when they learned about their ships, weapons, armors and their independence to 'Eezo'.
Nylis also explained them about the spartans, their history, their reality's galactic history, The faction UNSC etc., They dont know how to react at the information that the 4 massive figures are augmented humans called the 'spartans'. But they see why. They had fought the toughest war and even turned its tide to humanity's favor though few in numbers. The alliance soldiers and the asari treeya were thinking of the possibilities of such technologies in this galaxy. They wondered about the outcomes, especially not needing to rely on mass relays. But they knew the spartans aren't gonna give them just like that.
The blue team and the 3 alliance soldiers went to the bridge. Chief then sat in his chair and others went to their terminal. This is when cortana showed up from the holo pedestal. The alliance soldiers were shocked to see this strange blue holo-graphic figure.
"What the hell is that!?" freaked out milque
"Hi! I'm UNSC AI CTN0452-9 or you can call me cortana"
"Wha-..! Is that an AI!? I dont know how long you've been here, but AIs are forbidden in this galaxy" said milque quite tensed. But the three find its appearance attractive.
"Yeah! I here that a lot" said crossing her arms. They were shocked to see it behaving like a human.
"She's quite a chick for an AI!" whispered vega to essex to which he gave a smile.
"I heard that too!" cortana raising her eyebrow to which they became dumb.
"Cortana, set a course for thessia" said chief to which she nodded and entered the coordinates. Then the alliance soldiers saw the ship entering slipspace which made their eyes widened. In minutes, they reached the place far from thessia to hide themselves.. Then chief spoke to the 2 asari in hanger through intercom.
"We have arrived 100,000 kms from your home world" said chief.
"We'll take care of the rest" said nylis and contacted her fleet to pick her up. After sometime, a ship from her fleet entered dawn's hanger. Nylis and treeya boarded it and the ship flew away from the dawn. Then the hanger doors are closed. Nylis then spoke through an holographic image in front of chief.
"Thank you for this second chance. We will not waste it" said nylis to which he nodded and then the comm was terminated.
"So everything went well! for now. So where are we heading next?" asked kelly. There was a slight pause. Everyone were looking at him for reply. Then he spoke.
"Earth!"
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