A/N: This is to the author 'Fer82'- This is the 2nd biggest review i read next to sparta47's. First of all, the 'Dawn' is made in forerunner facility, but not a forerunner ship. It's a replicated design of ancient human capital ship (courtesy: Halo 4 terminals). MAC being a kinetic bombardment weapon is no pushover and it's the only UNSC ship board weapon. As for the other things you noted, I'll do my best.

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass effect.

Chapter 12: Know your role

The spartans woke up the next morning at Earth STD Time: 05:30 in their base. The sunlight touched the horizon. They carried out their usual routine work like jogging, exercise, weight training etc.,. As for then, the spartans were the only occupants so the place remained calm and cool. The base was constructed for both military operations and required civilian comfort. Though the spartans are super soldiers, they are still humans and they need to stay fit and take care of their health just like ordinary soldiers do.

After their routine, they had a quick shower and breakfast. Cortana made sure that the base also contains normal civilian food supplies instead of standard UNSC rations. The spartans had oatmeal, toasted sandwiches, eggs and a special fruit native to that planet. According to cortana, that fruit is simple fleshy under class 'POME'. It has all the essential nutrients and also just one fruit is enough to gain more energy for a day. Also she warned that consumption of more than one per day would cause excessive secretion of pancreatic juice and erosion of intestinal wall.

After their routine, they put on their MJOLNIR armor using the armor refit/removal drone and decide to take a tour to explore the base.

The first place to visit was the under-ground command centre where the UNSC high ranking members brief mission parameters and conduct mission coordination.

These underground command centres proved vital during the human-covenant war. During the last battle of earth, a similar underground command code named 'CROW's NEST' was used by commander Miranda Keyes where sgt. Johnson, master chief, arbiter were briefed on their last stand by lord hood before forced to bomb the bunker when enemy forces infiltrated the bunker. There were also other bases such as SWORD and CASTLE on reach which was almost compromised by the covenant. One good thing out of these underground bases were that it's nearly impossible for the enemy to breach because fortifiations were better there than on the surface.

For their mission against the reapers and other enemies in the galaxy, their base should be strong enough to withstand enemy onslaught if the base's cover unwittingly gets blown up. The spartans were satisfied with the facilities in the command post coz they must be ready for everything.

The next place the spartans visited was the personnel quarters for both civilian and military. Cortana made sure that everyone who'll be arriving there felt comfortable in the base. This is to relieve the people from stress so that they keep going with the mission with greater effectiveness.

Next they got to see the fortifications. The whole base is guarded by 4 primary Z-8060 particle canons. Also other anti-aircraft defenses like 8 4-series MAC guns-4 on each cliff, Anti-craft missile batteries, super sentinels for engaging ground forces. Gondolas serve as transport between the two cliffs.

The next place is the R&D facility to research and develop new weapons and vehicles to combat the enemy.

Over all, the base though not 100% perfect still a better one. Another feature is that enemies cannot land directly on the base instead they have to infiltrate from outside, which will be so hard.

"This place is everything one could imagine. Shame! We didn't have anything like this in the days of the war" said Fred astonished with the base.

He was right in that sense as covenants were easily able to infiltrate UNSC planets that costed them billions of lives. If they had greater defenses, they would have had a hard time even touching the ground.

"Even if we did, we can be sure that there's always some group in the galaxy that wanted us as good as dead. Hell if we know if we are still allies with sanghelli?" replied Linda.

After the war, elites became allies yet there's still animosity between them and some faction of the covenant supremists group called the 'storm covenants'. They are led by an elite leader called Jul' Mdama.

"Hm! Always expecting the worst Linda?" asked Cortana from chief's speakers with a smirk.

"She's right. 32 years ago we never thought we would face such a crisis. 32 years after, we realize how fragile is our place in the galaxy " replied Kelly. Fred nodded in approval.

Chief was listening to their conversation. This reminded him of the early days of war. How they were conscripted by ONI to become something more than just soldier, a living weapon, How they fought against a superior enemy effectively though suffering significant losses, then their battle with flood.

There was one thing that even john accepted. Humanity's days of being in the sidelines were over. It was time they took greater responsibilities in their hands. He firmly believed that humanity must become more powerful if it's forced to fight another brutal war like it did before. Being a soldier, he contrarily believed that violence was never a solution, but should never hesitate to take life if the enemy willingly asked for it.

"Chief, What's your take on this?" asked Fred. Chief took some time to reply going down the memory lane.

"Our war with the covenant, flood, even the Didact proved that we humans are least significant. Covenants claimed 23 billion human lives, a 100,000 years ago Didact, alone managed to wipe the entire human race, flood managed to wipe the whole galaxy clean of all sentient beings and humanity's fate was always to take up the heavy beating. But one thing has never changed, we might have suffered many losses, but that never drove our spirit to fight. If not for the flood, humanity would have dominated the whole galaxy even a 100 millennia ago" said Chief

"Wow! We never took you for a philosopher" said Linda in a surprising tone.

That's true. Chief never talked much. He very much lived like a machine, simply taking orders and executing them, mission after mission. He rarely showed emotions like while losing cortana or his fellow spartans during the war. But everything he spoke was out of pure wisdom. 30 years of war, fighting different kinds of enemies gave him lot of experience.

"Whatever guyz! He's right. Anyhow, radical changes are needed in both our political and military structure to see through that" replied Cortana

"And all we have to do is keep waiting" said Kelly. Others simply nodded. This is when chief changed the subject.

"So cortana, how long will it take for our reinforcements to arrive? Do you think they would even come?" asked Chief.

Before entering the portal, radiance managed to send the Cortana's package to the UNSC to brief the situation. But they had their fingers crossed. On one hand, they had their hopes with lord hood choosing to believe and help them. On the other hand, Cortana's message could be simply downplayed by ONI as a ridicule.

"I'm counting on lord hood, but still no idea. It's been a month and not even a trace of their arrival"

"Or...They might have arrived already and must be stuck elsewhere" finished Fred.

"I doubt it very much. Even if they did, we must have easily picked up their signal" said Kelly.

"To fight the reapers, the whole galaxy needs to stand united. If they are capable of wiping out the whole galaxy, then we alone can do nothing" said Linda. Chief was thinking about something else in the mean while. He felt really odd about their situation. Actually he always felt odd since getting into this new universe.

"Huh, This doesn't make any sense" said chief which caught everyone's attention. They were staring at him.

"What do you mean?" Cortana asked. Chief then took few steps and then started talking.

"When we entered the portal and came out of it, we entered the same milky way galaxy but nothing like ours"

"Yeah thanks! But tell us something we dont know" said Cortana cutting chief off.

"I haven't finished yet" replied chief, agitated.

"Sorry caveman!" apologized cortana in a chuckling voice. After a moment of pause, he continued.

"Then we realized that we had arrived in an alternate universe where history is totally different with few exceptions. At first i was skeptical, but remember what deja taught us? Slipspace itself is a seperate universe with alternate physical laws, but that's not my point. Why would someone build a portal to another universe and most of all, why did the forerunners decided to meddle with the incidents happening here while they were already full on war? Most of all, why did we choose to come here while we still could have refused? No offense, but this is not even our universe, but still we came here" finished chief.

There was an absolute silence for everyone's been giving deep thought to his doubts. They started to feel the same. Even though the spartans managed to get a base, still the feeling of residing in another universe was always bizarre to them.

"For one month, we've been asking questions but no answer so far" said kelly. This is when cortana decided to speak.

"Alright, I can see that patience is really not the best suit to you four...But...Since you brought this up, I need to share something with you" said Cortana cryptically.

"What is it?" asked Fred.

"Another bed time story Cortana?" asked chief with a jest.

"No, unless it puts you to sleep. Now listen!" replied Cortana

"Right, what is it you want to tell us?" asked Linda.

"Actually, I managed to gather some historical information from iridescent regarding the timeline before forerunners and humanity, that is, everything before 15 million years" stated Cortana. Others were puzzled over this.

"What's that about?" asked Chief

"You all know about the race called precursors, right?" asked Cortana

"Yeah. You said that they were ones who created the forerunners only to meet the end by their very hands for favoring us" replied fred plain and simple.

"Simply put? yes, that's right. But did you know that their very existence even predates the universe?" asked cortana plain and simple. This was shocking enough for even the spartans to have a feeling of jaw drop and eye pop.

"Predates the universe!? You mean to saaayyy-..." Fred dragged his words

"Exactly 15 billion years before" finished Cortana.

"How's that even possible?" asked Kelly in absolute shock.

"If you take on the fact of big bang theory, then they should be dead during that event. Then how could they possibly create forerunners which is very recent compared to that?" asked Linda straight away what Kelly was trying to ask.

Others nodded in approval for that question. There was a pause and Cortana asked chief to get her out. Chief did so and Cortana jumped out of his palm and grew to a human size. Then she started speaking.

"*SIGH*...Before the birth of our universe, there were two races. One was the precursors and the other, I dont know"

"Why you dont know?" asked Chief

"Because there are no records of them, only bits"

"Both the races were technologically advanced and equal in power. But in terms of biological evolution, precursors superceeded them to the highest point called 'The Transentience'"

"Tra..trans..sentience?" staggered Linda in confusion.

"Its a 'God' like state. They can create new life forms and even manipulate their evolution as they wished. For this they use a concept called 'Neural physics' "

"Huh!...I'm gonna get drunk..."chuckled Fred like an ordinary human. Others were staring at him. True, this is a lot even for them. Then Cortana continued.

"So what do you know about them?" asked Chief getting to the point.

"Only that the two fought a bloody war that ended with the other unknown race's complete extinction"

"What happened then?" asked Kelly

"Lemme guess...After that, A big pork under fire, mug of vodka and butting their heads?" said Cortana sarcastically with a smile. Fred, Kelly and Linda were folding their hands and laughing.

"Human sarcasm! Looks like you inherited that too from Dr. Halsey, but can you give the real answer this time" said chief in a chuckled voice.

"oh!...Sorry!...Honestly? I dont know. The records are vague" replied cortana.

"There should be more" said Chief.

"Radiance told me that there's only one place we can get the complete history accurate with every second after second, The Domain"

"Well, we know about that on Iridescent" said Linda.

"But that's not the entire story about it" said Cortana. The blue team eagerly looked at Cortana.

"Forerunners mentioned something about that. The domain behaves like a living being's memory. Even they do not know of its origins. But those who had the chance to look into the domain had never been the same after wards" Cortana said with a seriousness.

"Why is that?" asked Fred with equal seriousness.

"Because the forerunners mentioned that the domain doesn't show you the records when you wish. Instead it shows just the required information relevant to the situation only when needed. Didact was one of the forerunner to have accessed the domain and also assumed that's the reason why he was antagonized by their own people. They say he became very much obsessed after entering the domain" said Cortana.

"Hm...Something's really fishy about that!" said Linda to which Fred and Kelly nodded. Chief was even more confused than before after listening to what Cortana said all this time.

"You can say that again" replied Cortana

"What's your point on this history lesson Cortana?" asked chief demanding a sensible answer.

"My point is...If the precursors are so advanced to exist even for billions of years...What's not to tell that if they had even found ways to travel between different universes?" said Cortana in a doubt. The 4 four had a seriousness in their faces as they were exchanging looks at each other.

"So you are telling that the mystery portal was constructed by the precursors?" asked Fred.

"Maybe. But the question is when and why?' asked chief

"It's the usual chief, 'Curiosity'...That's what drives all sentient beings. If they had almost 15 billion years of life time, they must have certainly explored the entire universe in the mean time. At one point their knowledge base should have reached the saturation and starts questioning the existence of the non-existent" replied Cortana which left the spartans confused.

"I mean to say, what if they had discovered the existence of this universe and constructed a means to travel between them?" asked Cortana. Chief suddenly came up with something which even he felt crazy.

"Cortana! If what you say is true...Are there precursors in this universe? Could they even be here by the time we are talking?". Others were stunned with his question but couldn't deny his logic.

"I have the same doubt. After all, if they had created those portals, they must have passed through it" said Kelly.

"Hm...from what we learned so far, there seems to be a missing piece of history between the precursors and the signal from this universe, we find it, we get to know what's really going on" said Fred to which others nodded in acknowledgement.

"Until then, what's our role here?" asked Linda.

"For now, It's to help this galaxy fight the reapers. But even I'm interested in finding the whole truth about this. Why don't we leave that to time? Sure the consecutive incidents will one day lead to the answers we seek" replied Cortana. The 4 nodded in acceptance.

" 'SIGH'...So what do we do now?" asked Kelly

"Sure we don't have anything to do today. Also after Shepard has beaten the collectors, We have to converse with them regarding the fight with reapers. Until then, why don't you four take rest? You had been in fight for so long. Too much of anything is good for nothing and that applies even for the spartans" said Cortana. Then she vanished into chief's palm.

"Right, why dont we do some reading? We got a lot to learn about this galaxy" said fred.

"Good idea. Cortana, keep your ears on for any important transmissions" said chief

"I'll let you know" said Cortana.

After they walked their way to their quarters to study a lot about the galaxy they are living now. But the spartans are made especially for war. Who knows? May be they could get something to tend to just after an hour of rest.

Meanwhile somewhere outside the galaxy...

"Roland! How could this be milky way? Aren't we supposed to be elsewhere?" asked Lasky frustrated.

"I dont know sir. But the star charts...you need to see this" said Roland first bringing the UNSC starchart.

"This is our star chart...But look at the starchart of this milkyway" said roland bringing up the new star chart. This quite shook them.

"What the hell!? There are no UNSC or covenant controlled space here!" replied halsey in shock.

This is when arbiter's hologram came online. He didn't look quite particularly in a good mood.

"Captain Lasky. We have a problem" said arbiter.

"I know Arbiter. You too are worried about this galaxy we're landed in" said Lasky

"Then I'll ask you straight away. How's that we landed in the same galaxy?"

"Not only that arbiter. This isn't the milkyway we know. There are no UNSC or covenant controlled space here" replied Halsey. Arbiter nodded his head frowned.

"Listen, we're not gonna get anything by asking questions here. We'll enter the galaxy and see if we can find anything or anyone or the masterchief and his team if they are really here" said Lasky with a slight frown in his face. Arbiter looked at lasky and nodded. Halsey didn't know what to say.

"Alright captain. I'll order my fleet to move in"

"I'll do the same. Lasky out" said Lasky and cut the channel. Lasky then turned to Halsey for any explanation.

"Dr. Halsey?"

"Captain, I don't know what to make of this. We had never been in a situation like this before" replied . This is when commander carter and Palmer came to the bridge.

"Captain. Where are we?" asked carter. Lasky sighed for a moment and then replied.

"The galaxy we are about to enter is milkyway". Carter and Palmer looked confused.

"Didn't you say that we're gonna ride to another galaxy?" asked Palmer.

"Yes. But the portal led us straight here. But the weird thing is, this milkyway is not the one we used to know"

"What do you mean by that?"

"There are no UNSC or covenant controlled space here. No reach, harvest, eridani" replied Halsey. Carter and Palmer looked surprised

"How's that even possible?" asked carter distraught by the news.

"We've decided to enter the galaxy and see for ourselves. At this point there's nothing we can do here" replied lasky.

"Very well, We'll wait in the spartan deck. In case of emergency, send the word" said Palmer to which Lasky nodded. Then Carter and Palmer left the bridge

"Roland, what's our ETA if we make a jump from here?"

"It would be one hour sir"

"Fine. I need you to put us somewhere within the rim, but far from the centre. Also send a word to arbiter and give him the coordinates to follow suit" ordered Lasky.

"Aye aye sir! Initiating random silpspace jump. Sir, Arbiter has acknowledged our message"

"Good. Let's vanish" said

Then the UNSC fleet and Arbiter's fleet jumped into the slipspace using random coordinates put by Roland.

Eagle nebula, Terminus...

The Eclipse and the Blood pack ships are stormed in the imir system. The pirates were smuggling tons and tons of eezo and iridium from the nearby planet for the highest bidder in omega. The eclipse fleet were led by salarian commander 'Yumik formin'. The blood packs were led by krogan 'Tantor qrask'. The blue suns, eclipse and the blood pack are the main pirate goups dominating the milky way piracy. They come directly under the control of the omega's pirate queen Aria T'loak. All she keeps are bunch of cut throats.

"What are you lookin' at pyjacks!? Get those containers loaded up fast. We need to deliver it in omega soon" roared the blood pack commander Tantor. All the containers filled with eezo and iridium are being packed up in the ships. The combined fleet strength of the eclipse and blood pack were around 46 ships. The reason for so many ships was simple, It was a big deal.

"Give me status report!" yelled Yumik.

"All containers had loaded up" came a reply.

"Fine, let's get the hell outta here" said yumik. This is when all of a sudden came a voice form the bridge.

"SIR!...Our sensors have picked up multiple gravity distortions 600 kms from our position"

"What!? What do you mean? Who are they?" yelled yumik.

" **STATIC**..This is Tantor. What the hell is happening out?"

"Dunno. Some unknown parties are trying to trespass"

"Then lets welcome those pyjacks with some fireworks!" said the krogan cut the channel.

"SHIT!"

"What is it?"

"Look at this. Never seen anything like these in any time. Also don't detect any E-ezo signatures" said a salarian in the bridge terminal.

Yumin took a look at the video feed only to have everyone in the bridge to drop their jaws and blink their eyes in terror.

"Holy shit! What are those things!? Ships!? yelled yumin.

...

Aboard the infinity, lasky was waiting for the fleet to exit the slipspace and get to see what's outside.

"Captain, exiting slipspace in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...' finished roland and after exiting the slipspace, what they saw next was shocking to everyone. They saw more than 40 ships in position near a planet. But were smaller than their heavy cruisers and infinity. But the unknown parties had few dreadnought class ships that spanned 1.07 kms.

"Hah! Looks like we've got an advanced civilization here!" said lasky in mild enthusiam after seeing a star fleet. He felt half a burden leaving his head. But still worried if this turns out sour.

"Comm! Try establishing contact with the ships. Use standard encryption" ordered lasky.

"And drop a search and rescue beacon here with high grade UNSC encryption. If Chief is here, he'll find us"

"Aye aye sir!"

"Sir, you need to see this" said Roland bringing up the holo images of the ships with some highlighted ripples at the rear end of the ship's image also projecting some physical data representing the ripples. Halsey was seeing that for all the time and elected to speak.

"Some kind of inertial space damp. A mass fluctuation at the frequency of several THz" said Dr. Halsey intrigued.

"Is that from their engine?" asked Lasky.

"No. But somewhere in the stern. Can't say what it is?" replied Roland.

" **STATIC**...This is captain Merrick of the UNSC Phantom Moon. We are awaiting orders to engage the unknown parties"

"Captain! Stand by for further orders. Don't engage the unknown fleet"

"Yes sir. Merrick out"

"Sir!, Those unknown ships are hailing us" said the comm.

...

"Fleet master! Our sensors have picked up 46 ships positioned 600 kms from us" said an elite.

"Who are they?' asked R' tas.

"Don't know. But their ships are well armed and reading several life signs aboard"

"Finally, someone who can answer our questions" said R' tas.

"Easy Vadum. They are completely unknown and we don't know if they are hostile or friendlies" said Arbiter.

"Arbiter, they are hailing us. But they use low grade encryption "

"Let us her then" said R' tas.

...

"Sir, There are 16 ships in total. But look at their size! Even destiny ascension is smaller more than twice the size their ship!" said a salarian in the bridge shocked to see the behemoths. Yumik was thinking of the possibilities.

"Who would have such big ships? Unless they are rich enough to drain the whole galaxy of Eezo reserves! And how did they use a portal to get here!?" yumik thought loud.

"**STATIC**"...Yumik! This is Tantor...What are those ships? Never seen ships this big!"

"I don't know. But we can assume that it's an unknown party. There are two different kinds of ships in their fleet. One group of 9 ships look more or less the same and the other 7 looks totally different. So it means..."

"It means we're dealing with two different pyjacks that needs to be taken down" replied tantor and cut the channel abruptly.

"Try contacting them" said Yumik to the comm.

...

"Sir! Those unknown ships are hailing us" said the comm

"Put them on a fleet wide transmission for the record" said Lasky. Everyone in the bridge were eager to listen to it.

"...This is captain Yumik of the Eclipse fleet...Identify yourself and surrender or you will be attacked"

Everyone heard a medium to high pitched voice in the comm channel that got everyone confused. Suddenly a low pitch animalistic voice came in the channel.

"This is Tantor of the Bloodpack. Surrender your ships or you will be crushed. State your business, Who are you?"

Everyone in the bridge were exchanging confused look. They couldn't figure a thing about who or what they are dealing with. They had never heard about these groups.

"Eclipse?...Bloodpack?...Who the hell are these assholes? The way they talked, they sound like local mercs or pirates" said lasky.

Of course, even in their world, they had encountered pirates. They were called Insurrectionists. But pirates is a wrong way of portraying them. Insurrectionists are private militia form the inner and outer colonies who opposed the UNSC government. They were more like rebels. But Lasky easily identified them as more than just rebels. He understood that talking with these mercs wont bring them much.

"Lasky, i don't think talking with them's gonna work" said halsey.

"But we're are not gonna pick a fight in an unknown place with unknown people" said lasky.

"This is captain Lasky of the UNSC. We are not hostiles and we got here through...strange circumstances. We can talk this over" said lasky. There was a silence for sometime. Then the salarian spoke out.

"If you want to talk, then surrender yourself to us"

"Listen, we are not a hostile force and we're not gonna surrender anything" said Lasky.

"You made your choice. Now prepare to die!" said the krogan Tantor in the comms and cut the channel.

"What the-...!?" Lasky tensed.

"Sir, those ships are turning their bow towards us!"

"Shit! Roland i need threat assessment. What about their weaponry?' asked Lasky.

"I've scanned the ships captain. They use similar mass accelerator weapons and torpedoes"

"Dr. Halsey? It's better if you get back to your quarters coz things are gonna get ugly here" said Lasky to which she nodded and left the bridge.

This is when Arbiter popped up on the projector.

"Arbiter!"

"Captain, it looks like they are hostile in nature. They are about to open fire on us"

"I know. My fleet is ready to counter attack"

"I will ready my fleet. But i'll wait for the enemy to open fire first" said arbiter.

"Fine! Good luck, Lasky out" Lasky then switched the channel.

"Carter?...Palmer?..."

"Captain, we heard the transmission. The spartan fire teams are ready to act on command" replied Palmer.

"Thank you Sarah"

"Roland, open a fleet wide channel"

"Yes sir"

"This is captain Lasky to the UNSC fleet. This is combat high alert! 46 unknown ships have targeted us, so be prepared to open fire as soon as the enemy return fire on us" ordered Lasky.

"Yes sir!...Acknowledged captain..." every captain in the fleet acknowledged.

...

The spartan fire teams were getting prepped on captain's order in the S-deck. Fire team majestic led by Paul de marco was checking on his team.

"Huh!...Looks like we got some nice ass kickin show" said De marco loading his BR85 Heavy barrel rifle.

"Who are these mercs? they just sound like big deal" said Hoya holding his helmet in his hand.

"Man! Can't believe we are in another galaxy! Is truly the Master chief and his team here? I would like to see them" said Madsen.

"Hold on pretty boy. We dont even know this place. So don't get you hopes high" said De Marco.

"Is it true that the spartan IIs were trained while they were kids?" asked Grant.

"Yeah...And our dear doctor Halsey was the one who recruited them" replied Hoya.

Thorne was looking at the data pad containing the map of new phoenix. He didn't mingle with his friends. He was staring at the pad. New Phoenix was his birth place and only a week ago, it turned to dust and ash by Didact's composer and he lost his family there. He then turned the pad and took his helmet in his hands and walked towards their team.

...

"I need the MAC guns ready. Roland, you-..."

"Sir! They are firing at us!" yelled an officer in the bridge.

"Dammit! shields?"

"Shields at 100%" replied the officer.

The holo projector shows numerous amounts of projectiles charging towards their ship. The 46 ships launched their mass rounds towards the UNSC and Separatists fleet.

The rounds closed the gap and hit the ships. The slugs accelerated by mass effect fields rained over the 2 fleet but only to be shrugged off by their advanced shielding systems as if it was nothing. The ships felt vibrations of the mass's explosions over the body but no damage.

"Sir! Shields at 96% and no physical damage detected". Lasky was stunned to hear this. After seeing rains of mass slugs charged towards them, Lasky thought his fleet will take a brunt of a damage. But now he got his hopes.

"It looks like ours can take a lot" muttered Lasky.

"Captain, I have the targeting solutions. Arbiter's fleet is moving into position to attack them" said Roland.

"Good, Lets show them what we got" ordered Lasky.

"All ships fire on my command" said Lasky in a fleet wide transmission. The pirate ships were loading their weapons to fire again.

"Fire!" ordered Lasky

In Shadow of intent...

"Fleet master! Shields at 96% and our torpedoes are online"

"Mark the targets and launch the torpedoes. Time to return the favor" replied R'tas.

...

In one of the pirate ships...

"Captain, Their ships use a more powerful shield than our kinetic barriers. Our attacks have not even made a scratch" said an asari eclipse merc.

"What!?' shocked yumin.

"Sir! They are firing at us" yelled another human eclipse merc.

In a fraction of second, 9 pirate ships were blown to bits and pieces.

"SHIT! They have taken down 9 of our ships" yelled the human merc.

"Yumik! I lost four ships! We need to fire the torpedoes!" yelled Tantor in the comm.

"FIRE ALL TORPEDOES AND BROAD SIDE CANNONS AT THEM!" yelled yumik. But before they could fire, they detected 7 energy projectiles coming towards them.

"Sir! Something's on our way" yelled the asari merc. Yumik saw through the window.

7 bright energy balls were flying towards them at high speeds. Before he could utter a word, the 7 cruisers in the fleet were etched away by the hot plasma bypassing the strongest kinetic barriers the cruisers possess. But the plasma were still energetic and carried greater momentum. 5 balls tore through the ships and hit another 5 ships hiding behind thus making a count of 12. 21 ships were turned to ash in mere moments.

"SHIT!...SHIT!...We lost 21 ships, only 25 are remaining. Their weapons are a lot powerful" yelled Yumik. Then in the open channel, yumik heard Tantor yelling at the remaining ships.

"FIRE ALL TORPEDOES and BROADSIDE CANNONS!...NOW!"

The 25 ships launched all their mass accelerators, broadside cannons and disruptor torpedoes. The rounds stormed towards the fleet, but to no effect. They only managed to drain 10% of their shields.

Captain Lasky then ordered to launch the rapier missiles at the remaining ships. The pirate fleet tried using their GARDIAN Lasers to evade the attacks. But unfortunately, the missile tracking system was overridden by roland himself thus countered the laser effects and brought the missiles to the fleet. Their ships lost their kinetic barriers in the explosions caused by the missile barrage.

Yumik and Tantor started to get panic as the situation got out of control. Yumik was wondering how weapons like that fire constantly without overheating. Also the absence of Eezo or Mass effect was troublesome, but now was not the time for him to research on that. And in seconds, after the missile hit, 9 more MAC rounds were fired by the 9 UNSC ships that tore through the pirate vessels destroying 9 more ships. Only 16 more ships remain.

Yumik and Tantor decided that they wont stand against those unknown fleet. They decided to retreat so both ordered their remaining ships to turn and jump into omega.

The UNSC and Separatists observed their retreat. They didn't want anyone to escape, so Lasky ordered his ships to fire the MAC while Infinity fired the energy projector. Meanwhile Arbiter asked his fleet to fire their Energy projectors to hit them before they escape. They instantly managed to destroy 14 ships but unfortunately 2 ships escaped the space by FTL.

...

"Report" Ordered Lasky.

"All ships are fine captain, no physical damage and casualties" replied an officer in the bridge. Lasky then contacted Arbiter and he appeared in the Holo table.

"Arbiter, how's your fleet?"

"We are fine Captain, Thanks. But cant say the same for those honor-less pirates" replied the arbiter

"But still we missed 2 of them" said Lasky.

"Dont worry. They might have gone to lick their wounds. Now what do we do, captain?"

"I have dropped the search and rescue beacon for the Master chief and his team. We all have lots questions to be answered, About this place, about those unknown enemies, the strange technologies they use" said Lasky.

"Do you think the spartan and his friends are here? I mean, how long are we going to wait here?" asked Arbiter.

"We'll wait until he shows up. We used the same portal he used. So he must be here somewhere. But he needs time to intercept the message"

"Until then?"

"Until then? Like it or not, But we have to stay here. After what we have seen, learned and experienced, I don't think that roaming this galaxy on our own is a good idea" said Lasky. Arbiter thought for a moment and understood the logic in Lasky's words.

"Very well captain. We'll stay here and hide ourselves as far as possible" said Arbiter and he cut the channel.

"Strange, those ships used a different kind of FTL. It was not slipspace. It's like they used it in the normal space itself" said Roland.

"We'll see to it once we find the chief" said Lasky, standing in a comfortable posture giving a thought about what just happened.

...

In Spartan's base, Titan nebula...

The blue team spent next 6 hours in their quarters, seated and the four were still in their armors except the helmet. They in fact studying a lot about this galaxy, it's civilizations, cultures, technologies etc.,

"This mass effect concept is quite interesting. The way the element they call 'Eezo' can be used to manipulate gravity is astounding" said Fred.

"Yeah. Looks like every thing ranging from basic households to starship weaponry use this technology" replied Kelly.

"Next is their 'Omnitool'. Looks like it can virtually perform every operations even micro fabrications" said Linda.

"But the people here thinks that the mass relays were constructed by these extinct race they call 'protheans' only the fact is that they are not" said chief.

"And they wont realize it until the reapers knock their front door" replied fred.

"You know? One day we must try one those technologies to feel it ourselves-..." kelly talked immediately interrupted by cortana's emergence from the nearby pedestal.

"Guyz!"

"What is it Cortana?" asked Linda.

"Listen - To - This!" said cortana pressing her tone with both shock and smile. Everyone came closer to her pedestal. Then Cortana brought a hologram representing a transmission. The transmission played...

"*STATIC*...This is Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity and the eight fleet. This is to any UNSC personnel in this galaxy. We are in need of immediate search and rescue...I repeat...This is Captain Thomas Las-..." Cortana ended the transmission after it started to repeat.

The blue team were absolutely stunned with the transmission. Finally, they got what they were hoping for after a month long wait. Keeping their fingers crossed, now they felt relieved after hearing from their own people.

"Huh! Thought they would never come!" said Fred.

"But now they have! Cortana, can you locate the origin?" asked Chief.

"I already did. Their transmission came from here" said Cortana bringing up a holo image of a star system.

"It's in the Eagle nebula" said Cortana.

Everyone were exchanging looks in surprise. Finally they turned to their leader. Chief traded looks with each of them for quite sometime gathering his thoughts and finally spoke.

"What are we waiting for?"