Disclaimer: I donot own Halo or Mass effect
Chapter 8: Two heroes
Citadel council, Council chamber
The 3 councilors Tevos, Sparatus, Valern were discussing about the recent events, the spartans. Though they let them go, they were still wary of them and even more troubled with the possession of an AI that exhibits human behavior. They felt the spartans were not completely honest with them. The technology, their ship, their weapons, armors and even their augmentations are so strange. Now they are even more frustrated with the recent events. The news of the collector fight had reached them through thessia command.
"You know!? we shouldn't have let those strangers to become freelancers in our galaxy and to top it all, they have a lifelike AI with them!" yelled sparatus in frustration. He never trusted those spartans. Nylis might have confirmed their words, but he still dont trust them.
"I accept sparatus, but we are faced with an even more troubling information. The spartans and our captian nylis had encountered what we knew as myths, The collectors. And above that, she had departed from the spartans to get the information to thessia command" said Tevos changing the subject. This news was not only confusing but frustrating as well. The council never believed in collectors or reapers.
"Then she must be ly-...did you say she left the spartans!?" asked Sparatus in shock and tense to which Tevos nodded. The threat of the collector was overshadowed with these new found trouble of free lancing spartans. Valern remained silent for the whole time thinking about something else.
"Is she mad!? Or the spartans should have corrupted her to escape our watch. Either way, we are in for great trouble!" said sparatus angrily.
"Words can lie sparatus, but not the asari meld" said Tevos to which he became silent. Then she continued to speak.
"The spartans and nylis managed to resque some alliance soldiers, colonists of fehl prime and one of our people named treeya from a collector vessel" explained Tevos.
"Is this some new found loyalty to the spartans Tevos?, for saving one of your people that you are ready to believe them?" asked sparatus questioning her motives.
"By the goddess! just let me speak councilor! Treeya has relevant data about the collectors in her omni-tool and to top it all, The melding showed she was telling the truth and that she knew the secrets of who the collectors really were" said Tevos which made the other councilor's face to get serious. She was awefully calm after learning all the information that treeya provided. She never believed in collectors or reapers. But after learning the truth, she came to the conclusion that they were already past getting afraid or angry and that it was their time to act.
"Huh! Till yesterday, We were in agreement to never to talk about them. We agreed on how much they served as a conspiracy and lame excuse for wrong doings. Now you, the asari councilor is taking it as fact. Why?" asked Sparatus now thinking Tevos had become crazy. This irritated Tevos even more, but Valern chose to speak.
"The possible answer is that we had been ignorant of their existence" which shocked both Tevos and Sparatus. Tevos was wondering if the salarian already knew anything about them. Sparatus felt like he too had gone crazy.
"What did you say valern?" asked sparatus.
"I'm saying that the collectors are real and were indeed abducting humans for 2 years" said valern which made their eyes to widen. Both looked at him like they were looking for an explanation. He noticed their reactions and started speaking.
"One of our STG spy satellites in the terminus systems took a recording of this incident" said valern accessing her omni-tool showing them a video in a near by big display. The next thing they saw simply made their jaws drop and eyes widen. The video showed a strange ship leaving a planet and suddenly getting shutdown by what appears to be an EMP in the orbit by this massive UNSC vessel. Then a small drop ship from the UNSC vessel entering the strange ship. Then after sometime, the departure of human colonists in 4 strange stealth class frigates. Finally the return of the drop ship. But what they saw next was mind blowing to them. The massive ship fired what appeared to be a slug accelerated at high velocity. That one slug bypassed its barriers like it was nothing and tore the ship to pieces.
"Spirits! Their ship is highly powerful. To say that this UNSC technology puts our fleet to shame." exclaimed sparatus with his eyes widened. Tevos was still searching for words to explain what she had seen. Valern though surprised with their technological might kept his expressions within himself keeping his fingers over his chin wondering if the spartans had already found the spy satellite and simply chose not to interfere.
"Our STG spy network is a force to be reckoned with" said valern as a statement which both the asari and the turian acknowledged. They realized that all they saw were indeed true and it came from one of the councilor himself and from a race whose spy network strength are un-paralled. Tevos and sparatus frowned at this new found feed. Sparatus who always doubt everything even though it played well to his advantage, realized that the council is not aware of much events in the galaxy though ruling for centuries.
"So many years we had been in illusion of how the galaxy appeared to them from what it had truely been" said sparatus so sad like the council failed to do what was necessary.
"I agree with you sparatus. Seems our spectre was right after all and it was our own mistake for not helping him that forced him to join the terrorists" said Tevos with equal sadness. Valern didn't speak.
"Now I'm wondering if shepard was also right about the reapers" said Tevos which brought their attention
"Tevos, Shepard might be right about the collectors at least now, with the evidence, but that doesn't mean the same about the reapers. We have no evidence on that. The ship that attacked the citadel 2 years ago is not a reaper as what shepard said. We agreed that it was nothing but a geth ship" said sparatus in a way to make sure the others agreed on that.
"Maybe, but what if that too turns out to be a nasty surprise? Then it will be in all our head. Let us leave that for now and consider the situation at hand, Dont you think we have to inform councilor udina about this?" asked Valern which took the other 2 councilors a step back.
"NO! Listen, I dont sound selfish, but...Do you know how deep the council structure will be broken if others learned of this truth?...The next thing we'll see is a mass rebellion against us...Everyone will lose the faith in council to whom we fed our beliefs" said Tevos tensed, not amused with valern's idea.
"Then, are we going to simply stand and watch?" asked valern furiously
"No. We will act when the time's right" said Tevos trying to calm him down.
"Tevos is right Valern. Ok, I get it. we made a mistake being ignorant. But that should not become our end. Instead we can silently focus on any new threat that can possible emerge in the future...Even if it's about reapers" said sparatus thinking that public revelation of this incident is more dangerous than reapers.
Valern simply looked at both. Deep inside him, even he knew that's the fact. But also he felt that it should have been their duty protecting others when needed and now that they had failed. Their ignorance had caused humans to lose a lot of people in 10 colonies. But just like they mentioned, it is indeed dangerous if they let this information slip out.
"You both are right. This may raise some moral issues and above all, shepard is doing fine against the collectors. And then we have these spartans who prove that collectors are no match for them. If shepard meets them, together they can put down this threat." said valern.
"But these spartans though humans are strangers to this galaxy. Why do they help us? Why do they risk themselves with this threat? Do they have their own agendas!? Also what about the AI they possess?" asked sparatus with doubts.
"We will deal with the AI issue afterwards" said Tevos
Even after producing the evidences, the 3 councilors were still wary of them and found hard to believe that they emerged from another reality. Still they sometimes felt themselves stupid to have believed their story. But on the other hand, the unknown technology they possess that doesn't base any eezo kept tinkling their mind. Also they were slightly infuriated that the spartans refused to share their technology.
"The only answer for now is that so far, they never showed any hostile intentions. They just saved a human colony. Though letting them to be free lancers is still troubling, i think there are bigger things that require our attention, isn't it?" said Tevos.
"You are right. These spartans though loyal to their organization not native to this galaxy, Still willing to help the others. In simple words, They are just doing their duty as soldiers just in an unknown domain." finished Valern. Sparatus hesitatingly acknowledged. Infact he was tempted to order his people fleet to capture the spartans and their ship with brute force necessary to study them. But he doesn't know that their ship is capable of cleansing a planet. The councilors finished their debate. Udina was not present as he was busy with anderson in the human embassy office.
Normandy SR-2
Mean while,
When commander shepard made his alliance with the cerberus, much was kept from him even by the alliance people and the council. But the news surrounding him spread like wild fire to the whole galaxy. After playing dead for 2 years, life was so hard for him when he was resurrected by cerberus. Some even went so far to call him humanity's traitor for keeping what appears to be a temporary alliance. One such person was this alliance marine and a woman he once loved and cared deeply, Operations chief Ashley williams.
When shepard was on his mission to horizon after learning from illusive man about the collector's possible attempt to abduct the colonists there, He went on to investigate the situation and found the collectors had already beat them to the colony and were about to pack the other humans in the pods. Shepard and his crew though managed to save few, couldn't save everyone. This is when he saw ashley which not only surprised him but also his feelings for her once again awoken seeing her after 2 years. Ashley reflected the same but was deeply disappointed with his misplaced loyalty towards cerberus. She even called him traitor though she hesitated that broke shepard down. But he knew that he cannot let his feelings jeopardize his mission to save the humanity from the collectors.
Currently, The normandy is headed towards a mass relay that will take them to dholen system. He's on his mission to recruit his quarian friend Tali zorah. Commander shepard went on to see garrus in the ship's weapon system room to have a chat with him.
"Hello shepard! need me for something?" asked his long time friend.
"Nothing garrus. Just came to see you..." said shepard with a little bit of sadness in his voice. Garrus noticed it.
"But your face tells a different story shepard. Are you still thinking of what ashley said?" asked garrus correctly guessing over his thoughts. If someone's capable of predicting shepard's mentality, It's garrus vakarian.
"I won't lie" was shepard's response which garrus confirmed what he thought was true.
"Shepard, Ashley just spoke out of her loyalty to alliance, but that doesn't mean she hates you. It's because she cared so much for you, she is disappointed"
"*SIGH*...But she called me a traitor!...Sometimes i too feel like that" said shepard frowned.
"This isn't the shepard i used to know! The commander i knew never let his personal feelings interfere with his duties. You dont have to regret anything shepard. You joined cerberus because when you warned others of the real dangers that lay ahead of us, everyone ignored you and pay the price for ignorance. You and cerberus share a common goal but not common agenda. You do this for the galaxy's well being whereas cerberus see these collectors and reapers as a hindrance to their malevolent dominance" said garrus comforting him. Shepard thought for a moment and realized garrus was indeed right. He's fighting for everyone. He remembered liara's words
"Let's just hope the galaxy's worthy of your efforts!"
"You are right. People are sloppy, but they deserve better. Thank you garrus for reminding me what am i fighting for" said shepard clearing his thoughts cheerfully.
"Hey! That's what i'm here for" said garrus with a shrug. Then joker came over the comms.
"Commander, We are near the relay and we're gonna make a jump in about a minute."
"Roger that joker"..."EDI, ask miranda and mordin to suit up and wait in the hanger bay"
"Yes shepard"
"Garrus...you're gonna come with me too, so suit up and wait with the others" ordered commander to which he nodded.
"It's been a long time since i saw tali. Hope it gets better" said garrus to which shepard nodded and left. Garrus too left to suit up and wait in the hanger.
So far shepard had completed almost all his missions. He has recruited everyone except tali. Also admiral hackett asked him a personal favor to resque an alliance operative kenson from the batarian controlled viper nebula. Then his main mission to acquire the reaper IFF module from an ancient derelict reaper to safely navigate through the omega-4 relay.
Shepard went to his cabin to suit up. He wore cerberus 'Ajax' armor and then went to the armory to load up his Revenant assault rifle, M-920 Cain and M-22 Eviscerator shotgun. Shepard being a vanguard class fighter also makes him a more powerful biotic. After loading up his weapons, he went to hanger bay to meet his team members who's gonna assist him in this mission.
"Commander, we've jumped into the relay and will be in the destination in few minutes" said joker over the comms.
"Thanks for the info joker" said shepard.
"So shepard, what's this about?" asked the second in command, Miranda lawson.
"Illusive man sent a dossier on someone from the planet we're headed to. But luckily, it's none other than who we met on freedom's progress"
"That quarian friend of yours?" asked lawson not shocked as illusive man himself had the quarian's dossier.
"Yes. It'll be good to have a tech expert among us. We'll need all the help we can get" said shepard.
"We are exiting the FTL...What the hell!" said joker in shock.
"What is it joker?" asked shepard
"Shepard, our sensors have picked up an unknown vessel near by the same planet we're headed to...and it's...big" replied EDI
15 Minutes before Normandy SR-2's arrival...
The Dawn exited the slipspace in the dholen system 5000 kms from the planet where they read lifesigns.
"Wow! The solar output is high enough to erode our ship's hull if not for the energy shields. Also it's too bright than usual...Activating solar filters" said cortana bringing up the filters that suddenly enveloped the glass windows in the bridge to decrease the brightness.
"Cortana, tell me what information you have on this star" said chief. Then a 3D holo display of the star appeared in front of chief.
"This star is a young one and with reference to the existing data on these star classes, The core should sustain fusion for at least another one billion years. But the core of this star is so massive such that it's gravity force is powerful enough to create very high rate of fusion, which means it's burning hydrogen faster than a normal star" explained cortana for which the blue team got the whole picture.
"Thus a premature aging into a red giant" finished chief to which she nodded. But what really trouble them is that there are life signs in one of its planet and that they only got 2 more days.
"What about the life signs we see in the planet?" asked linda pointing out the haestorm.
"I'm detecting quarian life signs in that sector and...also some robo-...Shit! Its the geth!" said cortana tensed and also showing the display of haestorm's surface where they detect those life signs. The word 'geth' sounded an alarm in the blue team's mind. They were wondering what the quarians and the geth were doing in this soon to be destroyed system.
"Quarians and the geth! I think it's not gonna end well. We better get down there and warn them" said kelly. Chief took a moment to think but fred spoke suddenly.
"Chief, our sensors are picking up a ship of unknown origin approaching our position in FTL" Fred's terminal showed the image of the ship. As the ships in this galaxy travel at FTL in the normal space, Their sensors can pick up their signature even at FTL. Then the ship's 3D display popped up in front of chief.
"That ship's smaller than our sahara heavy prowlers!" said cortana. Then after 5seconds, the ship exited near by the planet but far from the UNSC ship. Everyone saw the ship in detail. To say that they were quite impressed.
"The ship's small, but it's arsenals say otherwise! This must be some one-of-a-kind vessel" said linda.
"Cortana, what about it's crew? Are they-" asked chief to which cortana immediately gave the answer.
"It's the humans!...But the ship's design is familiar. I think i've seen something like this in the codex. Gimme a moment..." said cortana started analyzing for relevant datas. Finally she found the answer she looked for and turned to chief with a smile of amazement.
"Chief, This vessel!...It's the Normandy. An alliance-turian joint operation vessel commanded by none other than the guy, Commander Shepard!". Everyone looked at cortana. Finally they are relieved that they had come into contact of the very person who saved this galaxy 2 years back.
"It's been three days since we came to this reality. And now, we had found someone exactly who's gonna help us in accomplishing our mission" said chief to which others nodded. They were sent from Iridescent to do something unimaginable, but here they are now moments away from attaining their goal. If the spartans want to help this galaxy, Then they need to meet this person who had already faced the inevitable threat.
"But it's slightly different and bigger than the one in codex" said cortana in confusion. Chief and his team felt that this could even be a trap, but they were unsure.
Normandy SR-2
EDI just told the crew that they had detected a massive ship holding its position few hundred kms from their position and also that it's design is of unknown origins.
"What kind of ship is that? Is it the geth?" asked shepard. Others were curious too.
"Negative. Man!...the sensor readings just blew up the sky! Commander...the ship's reading 5kms long and not a trace of eezo in it! said joker over the comms so shockingly. The crew was thrown back with this information. Their eyes widened with disbelief.
"What the shit! There's no way a ship that long can run with eezo not without getting bankrupt" said garrus.
"How!? A ship 5 kms long without eezo!?" miranda gasped in disbelief. She knew that cerberus haven't involved in any unconventional projects. She started to wonder and at the same time feared if they got into first contact with a new race.
"Hmm..intriguing! eezo, heart of the galactic civilization, but the new ship powered without it? only one possibility...An extra galactic species." said mordin after analyzing the situation. Though this sounded crazy, they too felt the same thing.
"Let's not jump into conclusions mordin" said shepard. He's slightly tensed with this new ship especially with it's size and it's lack of eezo. Everyone in the galaxy knew that eezo being limited, The size of ships too. Hence any ship bigger than the permitted limit can never use eezo cores. The factors are its consumption rate, cost and it's availability.
"Try establishing contact. If they are not hostile, then we can have a meeting or...We take them out" said shepard.
"Roger that commander" replied joker.
"Team, it looks like tali has to wait for some time" said shepard. Other were thrilled at the same time tensed with this.
UNSC Imperial Dawn
"Chief! They are hailing us" said kelly. Chief looked up seriously.
"Cortana, is their comm channel compatible us?"
"One moment..."..."Finished channel decryption. New algorithms defined. You can respond now" said cortana. Then everyone heard a male voice speaking from the comm.
"Attention unidentified vessel! This is flight lieutenant Jeff moreau of the Normandy SR-2. We thereby ask you to identify yourself".
Chief decided to speak after a pause.
"This is Master chief petty officer spartan 117 of the UNSC Imperial Dawn. I need to speak with the commanding officer of the vessel" said chief expecting a positive reply.
Normandy SR-2
"This is Masterchief petty officer spartan 117 of the UNSC Imperial Dawn. I need to speak with the commanding officer of the vessel"
Joker was wondering what this fuss was all about. He looked at the hologram of EDI to his left expecting her to say something. But they were very much surprised to hear a human voice and even the rank sound like human navy. That also brought a shock to their faces. They had never heard of any UNSC and spartan.
"UNSC? Spartan? From what hell-hole did they come from!? EDI, do you have any information on this UNSC and spartan?" asked joker in confusion.
"No . This faction is new and also there's no information on spartan except that they are ancient greek warriors from the city of sparta" said EDI in a flat tone with little humor. Joker simply nodded his head with a smirk.
"But it seems that they dont show hostile intentions. Though it's advisable to learn what race they represent" said EDI
"Yeah mum!" murmured joker and then spoke over the comms.
"Before that, We need to know what species you represent" said joker. After a pause, he got the reply.
"Humans. And also we would like to meet you aboard our ship" This was shocking for them as these strangers are humans. The only humans in this galaxy are pirates and the systems alliance. There's no UNSC or spartans which was quite disturbing.
"I'm sorry..sir?...But that decision lies with our commanding officer. Give me a minute" said joker.
"Very well " said chief. Then joker spoke to commander.
"Commander, we just talked to these...people in this new vessel. They are humans from a faction they call UNSC" said joker. Shepard and his crew were surprised and became silent.
"What!? They're humans? But we dont know any UNSC" said miranda lawson frustratingly. Garrus and mordin nodded in response. Shepard didn't want think hard.
"Joker, what are their intentions?" asked shepard.
"They didnt show any hostility and they are asking you to meet them aboard their ship"
There was a slight tense among the crew. They were wondering why they asked them to meet willingly. But shepard is very much eager to meet them as much as he wanted get this over with as he already got a mission to do.
"Patch me through joker, I wanna talk to them" said shepard.
UNSC Imperial Dawn
Chief and the blue team were waiting for the reply and finally the person they were eager to see talked.
"This is commander shepard of the Normandy SR-2. I heard you wanted to talk to me aboard your ship"
"Indeed commander" said chief.
"Very well. How are we suppose to enter your vessel?" asked shepard.
"Bring your vessel towards one of our hanger bay. We are sending you a homing beacon for directions". There was a moment of pause.
"What? Did you ask me to bring my ship in to yours?" asked shepard with a tone of surprise.
"Of course commander. Our hanger doors can let in vessels bigger than yours. So just follow the signal. We'll be waiting for you" said chief.
"Well...So be it" said shepard and with that the comm was cut.
Normandy SR-2
Shepard asked EDI to have all the recruits to come to the hanger. After sometime, the remaining team members jacob, jack, samara, thane, grunt, zaeed, kasumi came to the hanger.
"Shepard, what's this new big ship i keep hearing about?" asked Thane. Shepard talked after a sigh.
"Guyz, it looks like we got a first contact scenario"
"What!? Who are they?" asked kasumi
"We have no idea, but they call themselves humans" answered garrus
"Humans? are they alliance or any pirate groups from the terminus?" asked grunt with a grin like he was waiting for a fight.
"No. But there's one way to find out. We..uh...I've been invited aboard. But i want you all to assist me...in case..."
"We understand shepard" came the asari voice which was samara.
Jacob didn't speak up but in his mind, he was interested in meeting them. Jack, she looked like she never cared about the situation but will be ready throw shit if needed. Zaeed simply stood besides shepard.
"Shepard, I hope you know what you are doing? We dont know anything about them" said miranda worried.
"That's the reason why i want to get this over with...Joker! follow the signal, bring us inside that ship" ordered shepard.
"They say they are humans, who could it actually be?" asked mordin in confusion.
"Yes shepard, Just hopin it doesnt turns out to be a nasty surprise" said garrus
"Just one way to find out garrus. Everyone! be ready" said shepard.
Normandy cockpit...
"Holy hell! Look at the size of the thing!" exclaimed joker following the signal to the hanger. Joker was wondering if it's really a human ship as they say.
"Mr. Moreau, I'm detecting a power source in the ship that equals the output of a red super giant and also a lot of gravitational distortions somehow connected to its propulsion systems" said EDI which made joker to pause running his hands over the computer. He stared at EDI with the information.
"Gravity distortions! Those things involve use of Eezo. Either you are wrong or these mystery jar heads should have lied"
"I just tell what i see " replied EDI calmly. Joker then continued using his terminal. He's totally dumbstruck after getting a closer view of the ship. His eyes widened and jaws dropped in disbelief. The hanger door was big enough to fit a vessel bigger than normandy. He then talked to shepard over the comms.
"Approaching the hanger commander"..."Shit! it's bigger!" thought joker.
"Roger that joker" replied commander.
UNSC Imperial Dawn
The UNSC people received a transmission from the normandy.
"This is lieutenant jeff moreau to the UNSC. We are approaching the hanger"
"Roger that lieutenant. We'll meet you there" said chief then asked cortana to pop up in the hanger.
"Alright team. Let's welcome our guests" said chief. Cortana vanished into the projector. The blue team left the bridge and went to the hanger. They also loaded themselves with the weapons. Others carried their usual weapons but chief carried a Z-130 DE rifle, 2 type 54 DE pistols. Everyone went to the hanger. The blast door opened and the hard light barrier was disabled.
"Normandy you are cleared to enter" said cortana.
"Affirmative" came the joker's voice.
Everyone watched the vessel enter the hanger. It was quite small compared to the sahara heavy prowler. Then it touched the ground facing the spartans. The hard light barrier was engaged to seal the bay. The Normandy's hanger doors opened and out came 10 people. One was wearing an armor, other one was a turian which they identified from codex. Then a salarian but was wearing a professional doctor suit and at last a woman dressed like an operative. Following them were an asari, 3 humans, a krogan, a drell. The blue team were exchanging looks. They never expected this many people, but could sense that it was for shepard's protection.
The crew were looking around the hanger to see drone like machines flying here and there. Also they saw a big vessel, bigger than normandy a 50 mts above their head. They didn't get to see the huragoks as they were in the engineering. Finally they had a clear view of 4 towering figures in a strange armors. One was even taller than the others with totally different armor, matte black with dark blue line profiles and helmet with golden yellow visor. Everyone were astonished with what they just saw.
"Now, this is what i call 'Real power'" said garrus looking around eyes widened. Others nodded at him. Shepard removed his helmet. The blue team got to see his face finally. He was young man in his early thirty's.
"Welcome aboard. I'm master chief petty officer spartan sierra 117, acting captain of the UNSC Imperial dawn and this is my team" said chief giving his hand for a shake.
"They are big! are they really humans?" shepard thought out loud. Then he warily shakes hand with the gigantic figure that greeted them. Others were tensed to see these 4 humans so big.
"Commander shepard of the systems alliance or former commander of the alliance and these are my crewmen" said shepard.
"To say that you really got a nice tech with you" said kasumi crossing her arms.
Garrus was staring at the 4 figures who appeared unusually big but more human to him. Mordin in fact was processing over 100 possibilities of who these people might be and how they are in possession of this strange technology. Miranda was having a detailed look of everything she can see in the ship including the spartans. She was wondering the same, who they were, where do they come from and most of all, their technology. With her experience as a cerberus officer for a longtime, it weren't difficult for her to realize that everything these people possess doesn't match anything native to this galaxy. She was in fact recording their encounter secretly to send this to the illusive man. Others were simply looking around.
"At last we meet" said fred
"You look like you knew us while we know next to nothing about you" said shepard raising his eyebrow.
"How did you get a ship this big without eezo and why do you call yourself spartan?" asked miranda suspiciously.
"Shepard said you people are from a faction called UNSC and it was evident from the ship's name being written in English clearly shows that you are humans. But, humans dont have anything called UNSC or the spartans?" said kasumi. There was slight pause. The blue team was looking at them and were exchanging looks among them. Then chief spoke up
"I'll just give a short note on who we are" said chief. Others felt the same as they already got a mission to finish. Shepard gave a nod to proceed.
"Just like you said, There's no UNSC in this galaxy" said chief which alarmed the others.
"What do you mean not in this galaxy? are you extra galactic?" asked samara widening her eyes.
"Bullshit! Shepard, I'm not buyin this crap. These freaks look like clowns in a fancy armor and say they are from another galaxy. Dont tell you believe that!" said jack with utter disbelief and dis-respect in her voice. Shepard and the other crew members were stunned and tensed with jack's rubbish talk.
"Ah, come on jack! Dont start another fight!" shepard thought frustratingly. The blue team on the other hand were staring at her.
"You seriously need an attitude adjustment kid" said linda in a threatening voice. Jack was thrown back with the way they called her.
"Jack, I don't want you start another fight..." said shepard to which she nodded hesitatingly.
"Right, I'll get to the point. You say you are from another galaxy? Are there humans in another galaxy?" asked shepard with seriousness.
"We're from the milky way galaxy, but from another reality" said fred. There was an absolute silence for a moment. Everyone were looking at them in disbelief. Some started to think that jack might be right.
"Another reality? you mean alternate universe?" asked mordin with his hand on the chin to which chief nodded.
"Mordin? you are not surprised with that!?" asked shepard in slight disbelief.
"1000 years ago, our scientists postulated a theory of extra dimensions which are in fact universes like ours with events that totally differs with new and unknown possibilities. But they immediately rejected it not wanting to cause a stir in the scientific community"
"Then it looks like your people were right" came a woman's voice and then everyone looked over the pedestal to their right where everyone saw a blue colored hologram of a woman in her twenties standing naked and digital codes and circuitry runner over her. They were stunned after seeing her. At first, everyone assumed it as some VI but soon turned away that thought as it was something else. Everyone turned to the blue team for a response.
"That's our AI" said chief
"You got an AI on board!?" asked miranda in shock. Though they were familiar with EDI, they had never seen an AI that looked very much alive.
"Hi, I'm UNSC AI CTN 0452-9 but you can call me cortana" said cortana crossing her arms with a smile.
"Uh..chief?..mind if i call you that?" asked shepard.
"That would be fine" said chief
"AIs are banned in our galaxy" said shepard and even couldn't believe he's saying that having one in his own vessel.
"I keep hearing that a lot. Listen your problem with the geth dont have any thing to do with us" said cortana
"AIs are like a family in UNSC and an integral part of our UNSC military" said kelly.
They were astonished with the reply. They were shocked that these people knew very much about them. They also couldn't believe that AIs are like a family to them while their galaxy had banned the production of AIs because of geth. Miranda was very much excited with the AI as it would please the illusive man in ways unimaginable.
"So you know a great deal about us. What is this you call spartan?" asked miranda suspiciously and secretly recording everything.
"Spartans are elite soldiers under the UNSC naval special warfare. We are augmented super-soldiers created to fight extreme level threats in the galaxy. And yes, we had access to the information archive you call 'codex' by which we learned everything" replied chief. Everyone were taken back with the information that these spartans are super soldiers. Shepard became cautious and others got slightly tensed and realized that they pack a punch if provoked.
"We also had a meeting with the alliance command on earth. We just gave them everything they need to know about us" said linda.
"You met the alliance on earth?" asked shepard.
"Yes. We talked to this admiral named steven hackett" replied cortana
"Hackett? How come i didn't know that? How long and how much had been kept from me!?" asked shepard angrily.
"Just one reason. You are working for the cerberus" replied chief which shocked everyone. There was a pause.
"How do you about cerberus?" asked garrus with his eyes widened.
"We were told about them. Also we were told you commander, are taking down an alien faction called collectors" said cortana. Shepard and his team members were stunned with much of their knowledge about this galaxy. Miranda from their reply figured that these spartans had been fed with exaggerated informations about cerberus.
"Shit! How much do they really know? Could we really trust them?" thought shepard with tense.
"Commander, We'll tell you everything about us, but not now. First, we need to save those present in this planet" said chief
"What are you talking about?" asked miranda. Cortana brought a hologram of the star system they are in and started to speak.
"We detected an anomaly in this star. It's prematurely aging into a red giant and that's about to happen in 2 days. We scanned the planet and found that there are some quarians and geth forces present in this sector" said cortana highlighting the planet's region.
"My god! A quarian friend of mine is on the surface" said shepard in a raised voice.
"Then we better hurry coz all the planets are gonna die in 2 days" said chief which tensed everyone.
"Garrus, Mordin, Miranda, We'll go down, extract tali and get the hell outta here!...Others get inside the normandy and wait in the orbit" ordered shepard to which they obliged. The normandy got out of the dawn and only shepard and the other three were present.
"Commander, we'll assist you in the surface" said chief
"No! we dont know you. what's th-..." miranda asked and was cut by shepard
"Miranda, we need all the help we can get.." "Chief, we are grateful for this" said shepard. Miranda didn't like this. The blue team nodded. Chief then grabbed cortana's chip and placed it at the back of his helmet. They were wondering, what he was doing.
"We'll get to the surface in one of our pelicans" said chief and then a pelican came near them from the top from a magnetic anchor. Everyone boarded and chief went to the pilot seat to fly the pelican. Then they left the dawn and the hardlight barrier was raised. Cortana then put the ship to lock down. Miranda was staring at the spartans from her seat.
"The reality you come from? You people don't use mass effect technology right?" asked miranda trying to learn everything about them.
"Yes and from our little experience, your techs are less efficient than ours though having quite few advantages over ours" replied kelly. This caused miranda to raise her eyebrow in suspicion.
"Really! what makes you say that?" asked garrus with a smirk.
"You will know when we get down there" said fred.
"If it's really effective as you say, then cerberus might greatly benefit from you people" said miranda straight forward. The 3 spartans were exchanging looks. Shepard was tensed and felt the situations getting out of hand. He spoke immediately.
"Miranda! We got a mission to concentrate. Why don't we talk about this later?" said shepard in a pressing tone. As he was wearing his helmet, she couldn't see his expression. She nodded in hesitation.
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