Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect franchise.
Chapter 13: Reconciliation
Omega space station (10 hours after the terminus incident)...
Aria T' Loak, the omega's pirate queen was sitting in her couch leaning her head back with her eyes closed. and hands spread to her sides. Her usual batarian and turian guards were standing with their assault rifles guarding her. Asari dancers were performing their pole dance bending their curvy bodies and other folks were enjoying it, A perfect night club. Aria was in fact peacefully listening to the club waltz.
Bray, a batarian assistant entered the main door to the afterlife passing the elcor bouncer. He seemed to be in a hurry. He ran into the main club, turned left to see aria T' loak. He reached aria but was gasping for breath. Aria didn't notice that. After few seconds catching his breath, he spoke.
"Aria! We got a problem" said bray still slightly gasping for air.
Aria lifted her head calm and cool with her face showing irritation.
"Bray! You fuckin dare disturb my peace!" yelled Aria.
"Bu...But! i said we got a problem!" said bray raising his voice.
Aria got out of her couch and slowly walked.
"Shit happens everyday, bray. And it's something i deal it like i have my breakfast and beer!" said Aria not truly understanding the depth of the problem.
"Huuh!...But not something like this!" Bray replied, showing her a data pad.
Aria looked at the data pad for quite sometime and then she took it from him. It was in fact a report of events from the eclipse and blood pack fleet she sent for mining iridium, Eezo and platinum in the terminus.
She started reading the reports and it went like...
/: Galactic std time 8:00 AM
/: Event: Mining Minerals: Iridium (Qty-600tons)
Platinum(Qty-820tons)
Eezo(20 Std loads)
/: Galactic std time 12:00 PM
/: Event: Mining Status: Aria asked us to scratch everything possible from the region.
Almost 60% of the work completed
Aria stopped reading and looked at bray and spoke
"So, this is the job i gave those people. It seems they have finished it. How this is a problem?"asked Aria in slight anger.
"You haven't read it completely" said bray. She at him for a second and then she continued to read.
The further reports she read made her feel like a big rock dropped on her head. Her face turned from anger to frustration and irritation. She was glancing at it fast and threw the data pad in his face in anger.
"What the hell is this!? I gave a job to that salarian and that krogan with 46 ships and they return empty handed!? What's this attack they had mentioned here?" asked Aria totally pissed off.
"I'm sorry! but only yumik and his very ship returned from the terminus...by luck!" said bray, his voice trembling in fear. Aria's eyes widened after what he said.
"Only one!? what about tantor?"
"SS..Sorry. He perished with the 45 ships" said bray with his face frowned.
Aria tightened her fist in anger and faint blue energy surged around her. But for a moment, she closed her eyes and calmed herself down. Then she spoke again. She knew her aggression not gonna solve anything.
"Who attacked them?"
"Yumik said the attackers claimed they were from...uhhh...U..N..S..C? Think so" said bray trying to recall what yumik said.
"UNSC? What is-...Wait, That rings a bell!...Are they humans!?" asked Aria in shock
"Yumik wasn't sure. But he said they sounded like humans" replied bray.
"Where is yumik now?"
"He and his survived crew are in the clinic. They suffered injuries in the fight" replied bray.
Aria simply stood silent for quite sometime. Even she doesn't meddle in humanity's business, she still possess profound knowledge of the galactic community. Though staying away from the alliance, she knew them very much. As far as her memories go, she had never heard of this UNSC in the alliance.
But suddenly, something stirked her mind with a blow. She recalled the recent incidents regarding an unknown giant ship belonging to an unknown people that appeared in this galaxy a month ago. She also recalled that they visited the citadel and met with the council and the news of their presence spread like a wild fire. She finally figured out who might it be.
"SHIT!...Must be them" said Aria.
"Who?" asked bray.
"Do you remember the recent incidents? A strange ship that appeared outta nowhere a month ago in the galaxy who even met with the council...Hm...What did they called themselves?...Spa-...Yes! Spartans and from the UNSC" said Aria.
"Ah! yes! Them. Even they carried strange technologies with them. Now the whole galaxy knew of their presence"
"So they decided to get in my way, Huh? They will regret it!" said Aria gritting her teeth.
"Actually, Those spartans didn't involve in this yet" said bray which made Aria to turn instantly in shock.
"What do you mean, they didn't? Didn't you say UNSC, bray?" asked Aria.
"Yes, but i never said it was the spartans" replied bray. Aria raised her eyebrow and folded her hands.
"What are you getting at?"
"Actually, everyone knows that the spartans have only one ship with them. But yumik said there were 16 ships that attacked them" said bray that stunned Aria to the core.
"16!? Bray? you are starting to piss me off" said Aria in deep agonized tone.
"Listen, yumik said there were 16 ships out of which 2 were so big like the one those spartans have" said bray. Aria's face turned to frustration. She never expected anything like this. As everyone got used to the fact of those spartans presence, she thought they just crossed her line. But now, it looked like as if she got hammered.
"16 ships that belonged to this UNSC?" murmured Aria to herself in absolute shock. She nodded her head in disappointment.
"What's the hell's goin on!?" thought Aria.
There was a man dressed in a brown jacket with white inner shirt and jean pants. He had a brown hair with a mustache and a goatee. He finished having finished 3 rounds of beer standing in the bar near the Aria's lounge. He was in fact eavesdropping on the Aria and his assistant bray's conversation. He maintained a calculative. He was infact recording everything in his omni-tool.
"Hm, That's interesting" the man said and he left the bar.
...
Aboard Infinity (1 hour after the terminus Incident)...
Captain Lasky was having his hot chocolate in his cabin and he's been here for 3 hours. Things were rough until they finished of the unknown pirates or whoever. Lasky kept his palm over his forehead and closed his eyes, thinking about the recent events.
"First, an unknown portal, then a galaxy that looks same as the milky way, now fought some unknown fleet claiming to be pirates! What the hell just happened? Hope chief and his team have the answer we need...*SIGH* " thought Lasky
Suddenly the video screen in front him glowed and he saw palmer.
"Sarah! please, I'm in no mood of talking, Already having a rough day!" said Lasky feeling tired.
"Hah! And you're not the only one Tom! But we need you in the CIC. Looks like we've hit upon something. Also Arbiter will participate in the council"
"Arbiter? Is he coming here?" asked Lasky suddenly getting up.
"No. Only his hologram"
Lasky was silent for sometime. He really hated the day. He thought he knew what he was getting into, but now it looks like he's neck deep into the unknown. All he wanted now was to see the chief and his team assist him and get off the place. But he now commands a fleet and there's no compromise when duty calls.
"Right, I'll be there in a minute" said Lasky to which Palmer nodded and the terminal was cut.
"Now what!?" thought Lasky with a slight grunt and left his cabin.
He was on his way to the CIC. He took the tram system. The marines and other officers saluted him on his way. He then finally reached the CIC. The door opened and he entered the CIC. He saw everyone were waiting for him.
Carter, Palmer, and Arbiter's hologram were waiting for him. The 2 spartans gave a quick salute.
"At ease!"
"Captain" nodded Arbiter
"Good to see you Arbiter. So, care to tell what's this about?" asked Lasky.
"Gladly. Roland?" called on Palmer. The infinity's AI appeared at the middle of the round table. The CIC was big enough to fit everyone.
"Captain, I'll get to the point" said roland with his holographic face serious. Lasky wondered what it could be.
"The 46 ships we engaged? Their crew are totally a new faction. Alien beings we've never seen before"
"Do you mean to say we are dealing with a first contact scenario?"asked Lasky.
"In a way, Yes. But there's something else" said roland to which others listened carefully.
"We didn't destroy their entire fleet. 2 of their ships escaped. But before they could, i managed to infiltrate one of their ship's mainframe using the ship's cyber warfare suites. You won't believe this! But this is what we found" said roland bringing up multiple holograms big enough in the room for everyone to see and interact.
"What are these datas? And what did you do to the ship from which you got the data" asked Carter.
"This is an information archive designated 'The Codex'. I found this codex has every information about the milky way galaxy. But that ship, i scrambled their engines, so should have exploded by now"
"What can you show us from this codex?" asked .
"Our preliminary scans were right. This galaxy is indeed Milky way, but not the one we know"
"In what way?" asked Palmer.
"One of the information is that this galaxy doesn't have the covenant species" replied roland which stunned everyone in the room. They became speechless.
"Wha-...What!?" asked Lasky in shock.
"Is this information reliable, construct?" asked Arbiter who was absolutely shocked by this.
"Nothing's fabricated if that's what you are asking. I'm just merely showing what's in the codex"
"If there's no covenant, Then who lives here?" asked Dr. Halsey doubts and confusion eating her mind.
"These" roland started to do a slideshow of the different species with their names, "are the races that occupy this galaxy". Images and information of Asari, Salarians, Turians, Volus, Drell, Elcor, Hanar, Quarians, Humans, krogans were slowly played out by Roland, including the citadel and it's council.
Everyone slowly got to see the information clearly. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"Wait! Maybe they could have resided in the other part of the galaxy we haven't yet explored" said Lasky. Others gave a supportive look towards him.
"Do you have this galaxy's star map?" asked Arbiter.
"I got everything from their mainframe" said roland.
"And captain, I know you would say that. But unfortunately, it's not true"
"Now, This is our galaxy" roland said bringing the hologram of their milky way. "And this is the milky way we are in" said roland bringing the hologram of the new milky way.
Everyone got to see the two galaxies. Both were 100% identical.
"Can you cross reference the star charts?" asked Carter.
"That's what i'm going to do" said roland. First roland highlighted their milkyway with the total number of star systems occupied by both humans and covenant species.
"These are the systems occupied by us". Then roland highlighted the new milkyway with star systems occupied by these new species. Everyone including the Arbiter were shocked to see that.
"Roland? I got one word for this. 'BULLSHIT' " said Lasky out of frustration. Roland folded his hands and nodded in disappointment. Dr. Halsey was silently running her eyes over the 2 star charts. She was stunned to see that.
"There is an 80% match. Most of the systems we occupy are occupied by those same species" said roland. Others were stunned with what roland said. They couldn't believe that this galaxy is not only the milky way but also no races they knew exist here.
"Construct, that system? it's ours, Urs. But you have marked it occupied. What is the meaning of this?" asked Arbiter in slight tense seeing his system's been occupied here in this galaxy, coz roland said there were no covenant here.
"That's not your system here. In this galaxy, the name of that system is...ugh...Boltzmann?" said roland raising his eyebrow in confusion. He then turned towards others sharing a look of confusion.
"That's a human scientist's name!" said dr. halsey with her eyes slightly widened.
"If it's named after a human, then humans live in this galaxy. Even in the same Sol or somewhere else" said Lasky.
What they learned so far was truly intriguing, confusing and mind blowing. Lasky's face frowned. He couldn't understand what truly happened after they went through the portal.
"Actually, I came across this human faction called the 'Systems Alliance' in the same Sol system. It is true that humans live here and also they have conquered many exoplanets" said roland.
"But i don't recall humans go by that faction name! How could it be?" asked Palmer surprised.
"That's not the entire story. This is quite shocking. Do you know what galactic year is this?" asked roland. Everyone looked puzzled.
"2185 A.D" replied roland.
"WHAT!?" yelled Lasky, Palmer, Carter in unison with shock.
"Construct? Are you saying that we have traveled to the past?" asked Arbiter.
"Arbiter, do you think in the past humans had any group called 'systems alliance'? No! And this system 'Boltzmann'? Our records show that no star system in our galaxy goes by that name! And also your people have occupied the 'URS' system for several millennia located in the same region. The records in this galaxy shows that 'boltzmann' is currently occupied by humans!" explained roland in raised tone.
Others were stunned with the information. Different thoughts spun in their heads but couldn't find any solution. Dr. halsey was walking here and there crushing her mind for an answer. But something crazy hit her mind.
"Wait! This is milky way but, unlike ours. The star charts are same but occupied by different new and unknown races. Also the galactic year in here is 2185. Is that even possible!?" asked halsey with her face surprised as if she's got a crazy idea. Others got her attention.
"Could it be that we are in an-..." started halsey slowly picking her words.
"Alternate reality doc!?" asked roland exactly what she had in her mind. She nodded 'yes'.
"I knew you would say something like that!" said roland.
"Alternate reality? You mean to say history got manipulated?" asked Palmer. Of course they knew the sci-fi stuffs like the alternate reality for which no proof had been found yet.
Lasky, Carter and Arbiter didn't know what to say. At this point, they are ready to believe in anything instead of rounding up with no answer to their situation.
"Dr. Halsey?" called Lasky in desperation.
"First you need to understand that 'it doesn't mean that something's not there just because we don't see it!" said Halsey.
"So you believe this to be an alternate reality stuff?" asked Lasky.
"Slipspace anomalies can have unimaginable amount of effects. It can lock a ship in a closed loop situation, It can trap a ship in a different dimension, it can cause people to simply vanish or even transport any matter back through time or even cause a 'causal loop' " explained Halsey.
"Yes, I have read a lot of early days reports regarding these accidents. But what about now?" asked Lasky.
"Alternate realities are created when a history that is, the past is manipulated that leads a new chain of events and incidents and a new future" explained halsey.
"Doctor Halsey may be right. The forerunner crystals we found in the menachite complex of your planet reach caused a certain spatial and temporal anomaly in my flagship while we made a jump. Two of my elite zealots vanished from my ship who were present near the drive chamber. If that is possible, then this can be too" explained Arbiter.
"But this is not the case of alternate realities" said Halsey.
"How do you say that?" asked Carter.
"We all saw what this galaxy possess. It's the same milky way, but nothing is consistent with the place we come from. So this is not some manipulated history. We are totally in a different universe" finished Halsey which made everyone to become dumbstruck.
"Can you elaborate?" asked Lasky.
"It's simple captain. Universes that evolve in a different path. A place created out of multiple choices and probabilities. In the early 21st century, some physicists believed that a powerful singularities like the super massive black hole in the galactic centre can actually connect our place to different parallel universes. May be today we might have actually proved that theory" explained halsey.
"But we didn't come through a blackhole doc. It was an artificially created portal. We all saw the massive structure in the lagoon nebula" said roland.
"And that's were the answer lies, roland. If we are indeed in the parallel universe and that artificial portal led us here, then all these mysteries can be solved if we know the portal's true nature" said halsey.
"Arbiter, You said that the portal was not forerunner in nature, didn't you? Who might have built it then?" asked Lasky.
"I'm not sure captain. At this point, I believe the spartan and his friends would have learned something" replied Arbiter.
"He's right. Until we find the chief and his team, there's nothing we can learn here" said Palmer.
"And is it even safe staying here?" asked Carter.
"We are at the edge of the galaxy and the scan shows only minor activity in this region. We all hope that the chief gets the message soon" said roland.
Everyone were relieved to hear that but it will take sometime for them to process everything they learned so far. Until the blue team reaches them, they have to keep waiting.
"Alright, let's stay here. Thanks for attending the council Arbiter. Everyone dismissed" said Lasky. The holograms were turned off. Others left CIC to their respective places. This was one hell of day for them.
...
Valhallan threshold, (10 days after shepard and co., met the spartans near haestorm)
Commander Shepard and his team were in the quarian flotilla and are in the key ship in the valhallan threshold. Shepard's quarian friend Tali' zorah was accused of a crime by the admiralty board that she illegally sent few geth parts to her father Rael' zorah, a quarian scientist to the lab ship. Shepard decided to help his friend.
Shepard, Tali and Garrus walked inside the hall way. There were some quarian soldiers staring at them.
"Commander shepard, Ms. Tali'zorah" said a soldier.
"We are here for my friend's trial" said shepard.
"I know. The admiralty board is waiting" replied the soldier.
"Then lead the way" said shepard. The soldier nodded and walked up front. The three followed them.
"Tali, don't get me wrong. But did you really send the geth parts to your father?" asked garrus.
"Garrus, I can assure you. Those geth parts are useless to a point that you can only dig up few scraps of credits in the omega market and then again, selling geth parts are illegal throughout the galaxy" replied Tali.
Tali knew she didn't do anything wrong but still she's tensed to face the music. Tali might be a skilled engineer, but when it comes to the matters of judiciary, she's frightened as hell.
"Don't worry Tali, We'll get you out of this" shepard comforted her. Tali nodded with a smile which they can't notice under the mask.
The soldier stopped moving and pointed them towards the main hall.
Shepard, garrus and tali walked and turned to the main hall. The first quarian they saw was Admiral Shala' Raan, Tali's aunt.
"Aunt Shala!" said tali loud in happiness. The admiral turned towards her.
"Welcome, Tali' zorah vas normandy!" replied shala.
"It's good to se-...Wait! Vas normandy!?" asked tali in confusion. She was wondering if her true title had been stripped off.
"Yes. The admiralty decided to strip you of your title and respective accommodations" replied shala.
"And you didn't stop them!?" asked shepard in surprise.
"I'm sorry commander. But the odds are stacked up against tali" replied shala.
"My ass! Do they really have the proper evidence to accuse her?" asked garrus in slight anger.
"Just what is necessary. Still I believe in you, Tali. But one thing that eats me away is that, how the active geths got to the lab ship? You said you only sent useless geth parts" replied shala.
"I dont know aunt shala. I just did what my father requested" replied tali.
There were other prominent admiralty members in the main hall. Admiral Han' Gerrel, Admiral Daro' Xen, Admiral Zaal' koris and to their surprise, there was Kal' reegar.
"And one more thing. As you are named 'vas normandy', your captain will be the one to stand up for you" said Shala.
Shepard and garrus didn't quite understand the statement.
"What does that mean?" asked shepard.
"It means shepard, you will act as my advocate" said tali which shocked shepard.
"Ughh!...I didn't expect this...Fine, I will do it for you" said shepard. Tali nodded in acknowledgement.
"Then, let the trial begin" said shala.
In a few minutes,everyone gathered at the centre of the hall with the 3 admirals standing asthe judges.
Shala' raan begins by saying that tali was accused of bringing active geth parts to the flotilla. She rejected by stating that her father only asked for useless geth parts and also she double checked everything before she sent it to her father in the labship. Shepard argues that tali always put forth the migrant fleet's safety first and that she would never commit such a crime.
Koris tries to blame tali but Xen comes to tali and shepard's defense. The admirals also mentioned that the geth had killed everyone in the labship including her father. This stunned all the three. Tali became frowned with the information. But shepard says that if the geth are still active, they must be eliminated and the lab ship should be secured. After giving a brief thought, they decided to permit shepard, tali and garrus to care of that. And also stated that if they die, tali will be posthumously pardoned.
Then the three talks with different admirals to share their opinions. Koris was too offensive towards tali and even stated that they will take back rannoch by force when shepard asked them about the quarian's situation. Xen was supportive to tali and even said she's ready to take back geth under their control as they were their creation and their responsibility. Shala' raan stayed neutral in her opinion but can always be counted to do the right thing. Kaal' reager was supportive to shepard and tali as they saved him at haestorm. He said that if tali needs someone to voice their support for her, they can count on him. This made tali to feel happy and relieved.
Then shepard tali and garrus took off to the lab ship to secure it. After reaching the lab ship, they managed to fight off all the geth forces. Then they found the body of Rael'zorah. Tali was heart broken at the sight of her dead father. She never thought that it could have been this serious.
"Dammit!...Father!...What have you done?" Tali wept. Shepard and garrus comforted her.
"Hey, Tali. It's okay. Maybe your father never knew he had this coming" said shepard.
"You are right. There's nothing we can do. Let's check on his omni-tool" said Tali.
Tali' zorah's omni-tool blinked and interfaced with her father's module. Then she downloaded a footage showing her father's recording.
"Initial scans shows that the intel-networks can be recovered but still need other soft memory and processing module to complete the geth project" Rael'zorah's video was played.
"Shepard! This isn't right! My father?...He?...I assumed he was working on a new weapon to combat the geth"said Tali who was tensed and confused after watching the video.
"Listen, we'll enter the core chamber. We may learn what truly happened. We can't jump into conclusions with this footage" replied Garrus.
"He's right. Let's move in" said Shepard and the three moved in further.
They finally reached the core chamber. There were 3 get primes in the room. Tali used her overload ability to fry the prime's shields. Then Shepard used the shockwave biotic ability to stun the primes. Then they open fired and killed all the hree primes.
"That's it" said Garrus.
"Shepard, there's a terminal over there. Let's check that" said Tali. Shepard nodded and the three went near the terminal.
Shepard used his omni-tool to download the content from the terminal. Then another Rael'zorah's footage was played.
"The memory and post-processing modules are intact. Individual geth platform shows significant growth in neural network" said Rael'zorah.
"Dr. Zorah, if this works, We may finally set things right. The geth will be back under our control" said another quarian scientist.
"What about your daughter? Does she know this?" asked a quarian engineer.
"No, we cannot drag Tali into the politics. whatever we do, it's only us...*SIGH*...I promised my child that I'll present her our home" said Rael'zorah, then suddenly
"Wait! this can't be!"
"What is it?"
"I'm reading some kind of network hosting"
"What? We never developed any networked intelligence platforms!"
"SIR! Scans shows hyper neural net growth and terabytes of data sharing...SHIT!...They are online! they are getting up...Stop them!...STOP THEM!...*GUN SHOTS*...*STATIC*..." the footage ended.
The three were silent for a time, stunned and shocked with what they saw.
"So basically, my father was rebuilding the geth to find a way to bring it under their control" said Tali frowned.
"He wanted to take back control over geth, so that your people can force them to leave your home world" said Shepard.
"When the board learns of this, they will posthumously strip him of all the titles and exile him. But his intentions were good. He only meant the welfare of our dying race. Too sad that things didn't work right for him" said Tali frowned over what she learned.
"Shepard? What are you going to do?" asked Tali now tensed about shepard's decision.
"I...I don't know yet. We'll get to board first. then let's decide" replied shepard in dilemma.
"Whatever, I hope you will do the right thing" said Tali. Then everyone left the place.
After taking back 'Alarei' the labship, Shepard, Tali and Garrus returned to the key ship to visit the admiralty board.
The four admirals and every other quarian including veetol' nara and kal' reegar were relieved to see them back safe and sound.
"Sorry, We're late" said Tali.
"We have taken 'Alarei' back to our control" said Shepard.
"Thank you commander! I was worried for a moment" said Koris.
"So, Did you find any evidence for what happened in the labship to support your claims?" asked Shala raan.
There was a moment of pause. Shepard and Tali shared a glance at each other's face. Then Shepard walked up front.
"Shepard!..." whispered Tali in tense.
"So? This is all about your people going to war with the geth, not your people's welfare!" yelled Shepard.
"So, i take it that you don't have the evidence. In that case..." said Koris and shepard interrupted immediately.
"To hell with this! Tali saved your lives people, more than you can remember. She helped me stop saren and geth, she's helping me stop the collectors. She helped you in haestorm! And all you do in return as a favor is charging her with petty crimes!?" yelled Shepard.
The other quarians were murmuring among themselves. The suddenly Veetor came and talked
"Yes, Shepard's right! Tali saved my life on freedom's progress. I stand for her"
"And me too! Tali did a lot of favor to us people that you assholes ever did! Shit! I'm sick of this. If you are gonna exile tali, then you have to exile every single person standing here for her!" said Kal' reegar as if warning them.
The Admirals took their time to pass judgement. They were thinking about what these people expressed. Then they activated thier omni-tool and passed their judgement.
"Tali' zorah, As there are no evidence that point your crimes, we thereby clear you of all charges. You are free to go, Tali' zorah vas normandy" said Shala raan passing the final judgement.
"Thank you commander, for standing for one of our people" said Xen.
"If you are truly thankful, then don't throw your lives away in the geth war! Listen, the reapers are coming and we'll need your help in repelling them" said shepard.
"We'll consider your advice, commander shepard" replied Koris.
Then the board was dismissed. The crowd was disbanded. Shepard, Tali and Garrus exchanged few words with the 4 admirals, veetor and reegar. They talked about the war with the geth and shepard's claim about reapers arrival. They took 20 minutes to have conversation with everyone, then decided to leave.
"Alright friends, if there's nothing else, then shall we? Those Thannix cannons needed some some calibration in the normandy" said Garrus with a faint laugh.
"That sound like you! Alright let's go" said Tali. Shepard nodded and the three went.
"Joker? We are coming in" said Shepard.
"Aye aye! Commander" replied joker.
"Shepard!" Tali called out as if terrified.
"What?" asked Shepard in tense.
"We forgot to mention the admirals about those new peoples with strange technologies we met near haestorm" said Tali.
"You mean those people called 'Spartans' of the UNSC?" came a female voice behind the three. Shepard, Tali and Garrus were freaked to hear that. The three turned their heads instantly in tense to see none other than the Admiral Shala raan.
"Aunt Shala?...But..." staggered Tali.
"How do I know? We got the information from one of our people working in Illium. Those people had indeed grabbed the attention of the whole galaxy" replied Shala.
"Hmm, Interesting! They claimed to belong to a different universe. I can simply say in human words 'BULLSHIT'. But we got the information on the technology they use. No mass effect principles, weapons both conventional and unimaginable, strange armors, incredibly powerful and a very large ship that can never be constructed by any of the species in the galaxy..." said Shala keeping her finger in the chin part of her helmet.
"We actually met them near haestorm. They aided us in eliminating geth and rescue Tali" said Shepard.
"Why!? Even if what they said is true, Why would they help us unknowns?" asked Shala in surprise.
"Actually, they said they came here only to help us fight the reapers" replid Garrus.
"WHAT?" shocked Shala.
"At first, even I thought they were lying. But they showed us some proof and it appears that they were telling the truth" said Shepard.
"But, Why would they help us? Why did they even came here?"asked Shala.
Shepard came close to Shala slowly and talked.
"Admiral, I'm going to tell you something. Those spartans actually hold a base in a planet for which I have the coordinates. They actually gave me and Tali their location and also asked Tali to give the location to you people" said Shepard.
"Why? What's the point?" asked Shala.
"Aunt Shala, They said, once my mission with shepard is over, They wanted to meet the representatives of certain races in their location. But until then, you need to keep it a secret" said Tali.
Admiral Shala Raan was a reasonable woman among the quarians. She always thinks more than twice before making a decision. She gave a thought on this. On one end, she's afraid if those strangers have their own agenda. On the other end, Shepard and Tali had already met them, so she can take their word for it. Besides,she wonders why those spartans wanted to talk to this galaxy race's representatives.
"Fine. So be it" said Shala.
"Thank you Admiral" said Shepard.
Then Shepard, Tali and Garrus boarded the normandy and left the quarian flotilla.
...
Omega station...
Jones, is a cerberus operative and has a house rented in omega. He use that place to carry out his ops whatever cerberus command throws at him. He possess some of the advanced gears that cerberus provided him including a portable QEC.
He then sat near a computer. He then started working on it. He was infact creating a fake eclipse profile of himself carefully that no one can notice it. Cerberus's high level encryption are hard to break. So he doesn't have to worry about blowing his cover. After fifteen minutes of work, he finally created his profile and then uploaded into his omnitool.
He then left his apartment and headed straight to the clinic. After the bio-virus attack, some places had been quarantine including the one to the clinic. But after, doctor mordin solus devised a cure, the virus was rendered harmless and the quarantines were removed.
Agent Jones entered the clinic which is now operated by Mordin's assistant, Daniels. At the entrance, a turian guard was standing and stopped.
"Ahem! Who are you?" asked the guard.
"I'm jones, Eclipse operative on behalf of Aria T'loak. I'm here to question the Eclipse ship captain Yumik" said Jones.
"Your identity proof?" asked the guard.
He then tapped into the omni-tool and displayed the identity. The guard took a close look and seemed to be convinced.
"Right, Yumik's in ward. That Salarian's pretty scared!" said the guard.
"That won't be a problem. Just here for questioning" said Jones. The guard gestured him to move in.
Jones searched for the ward 3. He found it and entered the ward. There he saw a lone salarian. He assumed him to be Yumik. He then approached the salarian.
"Yumik?" asked Jones.
"What? Who? I don't know! Leave me!" replied yumik terrified.
"Whoa! Easy pal! I'm eclipse agent!" said Jones. The salarian appeared to be relieved and took a moment to calm down.
"Huh! It was truly a bad day for me" said yumik
"Listen, I know that you and 45 other ships were attacked by an unknown ships" said jones.
"Shit! did you say attacked? Dammit! it was a slaughter!" said yumik gritting his teeth.
"Aria sent me to gather any evidence regarding this attack. Any footage or what so..." said jones.
"Aria sent you?"
"Only for the evidence"
"Hah! I knew that bitch doesn't give a shit even if we are dead. She'll simply find a replacement" thought yumik "Fine, Here is the data in my omni-tool. A complete recording" said yumik.
Jones's face turned more curious. Yumik then sent the package to his omni-tool. After complete transfer, he turned it off.
"Alright yumik, I gotta give it to Aria soon or she'll have my head. Sooo..."
"Fine, see you later" replied yumik.
Jones nodded and left the clinic in a hurry.
He then went to his apartment and then locked the whole place to prevent any guests from entering. He sat down in front of his computer and turned it on. Then he connected his omni-tool to the computer to upload the video. After completing the upload, He then played it.
The video played everything from the arrival of 16 ships from what appeared to be a portal. Then a fight between the 46 mercenary ships and 16 unknown ships. The decimation of 45 ships by those unknown parties using strange ship board weapons which then ended with the escape of one mercenary ship.
Jones was shocked to see this. He couldn't figure out anything about those unknown ships. But from the earlier reports, he could see those ships use the portals just as what the spartan's ship used who came to this galaxy a month ago. But he felt his mind sundered after watching this.
"Illusive man needs to know this!" thought Jones.
Then he setup the portable QEC and created a channel to the Illusive man. After sometime, the Illusive man appeared in the video screen, live smoking a cigar.
"Jones! I assume you've called me for an important matter" asked the Illusive man.
"Yes sir! I have a potential intel in the form of a video footage" replied Jones.
"What is it?" asked Illusive man now curious.
"It's something related to those spartans and the UNSC" replied Jones. The Illusive man gave a curious and confused look. He then took a sip of his expensive wine thinking for quite sometime about what to say.
"Alright Jones, Send me the package. I'll take it from here" said the Illusive man.
"Yes Sir!" said Jones and then he uploaded the video package from his omni-tool through the QEC. In a few seconds, Illusive man's terminal beeped. He then took a look at that.
"I received the package, Jones. And i think it's not safe for you to stay there any longer. Pack your things and leave omega" said the Illusive man.
"Will do sir" said Jones and closed the terminal. As his job was over, he then prepared to leave the place leaving no trace of his presence.
...
Aboard the UNSC Infinity, Terminus borders
Captain Lasky was in his cabin scrolling over his data pad reading the codex. He was truly astonished with the facts.
"Jesus! Is that even possible? Shit! What have we got ourselves into?" thought Lasky. He continued reading the codex when suddenly Roland, infinity's AI popped up.
"Captain, you need to come to the bridge. This is getting interesting" said Roland.
"Roland, I'm not interested in your suspense thrillers" said Lasky with a jest.
"Well, I can clearly see that you are in the mood for jest. But Sir! This is important" said Roland with a serious face.
"Alright, I'm coming" said Lasky prepared to leave the place.
"Palmer, Carter, Jorge, Halsey are already there" said Roland. Lasky paused for a moment and turned to face Roland in confusion.
"Everyone?" asked Lasky
"Yes Sir! it's an emergency. Lasky was silent for a moment and then left his cabin.
He took the elevator to the CIC deck and then from there he reached the bridge.
"Captain on deck!" yelled Carter and everyone snapped a salute.
"At ease. So what's this about?" asked Lasky. He then noticed Arbiter's hologram.
"Arbiter! you decided to join us?" asked Lasky.
"No captain. But your construct insisted" replied Arbiter. Then everyone looked at roland for an explanation.
"Actually 10 minutes ago, I picked up gravitational echos 500 kms east of our fleet's poition. it's a -..."
"A Whisper! My goodness! It's impossible!" said Halsey in shock.
"What's impossible? what's this whisper?" asked palmer.
"A whisper is a preceding echo that's released in the space"
"And what it precedes?" asked Carter.
"A Slipspace rupture" answered Roland. Everyone were shocked to here this. A slipspace rupture in this universe will be the last ting they would expect.
"A slipspace rupture? That can't be right. We are in a different universe and everyone in this galaxy seems to use this 'Mass effect' technology for FTL as what is given in the codex" said Lasky.
"But whisper is an effect associated with slipspace" said Roland.
"So construct, Are you saying that the whispers are due to the fact that someone is about to exit the slipspace? Here? Can you set the countdown timer for exit?" asked Arbiter who is surprised with the fact.
"Sure. I've calculated the signal approach strength. Iniating countdown timer" said Roland and a hologram displayed a timer and it started from 2 minutes.
"2 minutes...Wait! could it be them?" asked Jorge
"Who Jorge?" asked Carter.
"Come on! It must be the blue team. So they are here!" said Jorge who's equally surprised. Others were stunned with what Jorge asked. But they also thought of that possibility. If this is indeed another universe, then anyone using slipspace must be their own.
"If it's them, then we all have one hell of a welcome party waiting for them!" said Lasky who was enthusiastic.
"Then we all get ourselves back home" replied palmer. Then suddenly an officer spoke up.
"Sir! Slipspace rupture detected!" yelled the officer.
"Roland!?" called on Lasky with seriousness.
"Bringing up the scans" said Roland and brought a live holographic footage at the exact position.
The next thing everyone in the bridge saw made them to be flabbergasted. They were shocked to see a strange deep blue black colored ship exiting the slipspace.
"My god! Whose ship is that? The profile doesn't match any UNSC or covenant vessels!" said Dr. Halsey.
"Captain? That ship, our ship's sensor read it 5kms long and picking up a massive energy signatures in the ship" said Arbiter. Arbiter's ship sensors picked up the approaching vessel and had scanned it throughly.
"Captain! Incoming transmission, UNSC encryption" said a comm officer.
"UNSC? Put it on!" said Lasky. Everyone were eager to listen to the transmission. After a couple of seconds, they heard a voice.
"This is Masterchief Petty Officer Sierra-117 of the UNSC Imperial Dawn to the Infinity, Do you read me? over" The transmission ended.
Everyone cheered loud in the bridge after they heard the voice of the legendary spartan of the UNSC.
"YEAH!" was the roaring voice in the bridge.
...
A few minutes ago...
"Cortana, What's our ETA?" asked Chief.
"Its 2 minutes chief" replied cortana.
"Man! I just can't believe we are finally going to meet the UNSC" said Fred.
"Well, It looks like we are one step closer" said Linda.
"The true work is only about to begin. We need to stop the reapers and above all, we need to learn about that portal and who sent the signal from this place" said Kelly.
"Kelly's right. Something tells me both the missions have some sort of connection" replied Chief.
"Guyz, Exiting slipspace in 5, 4 ,3 ,2, 1..." Cortana finished the countdown.
The Imperial Dawn exited the slipspace and saw a planet. But the next thing they saw to the left side of the planet was an astonishment.
"We did it! It's our reinforcements" said Cortana with happiness. Then she brought the holographic image of the UNSC and Covenant ships in front of chief. They were surprised to see Arbiter's fleet here.
"Wait! What's arbiter's fleet doing here?" asked Chief. Chief knew that after the covenant war, Arbiter had a job of hunting down the mercenary groups and covenant supremists and take back the whole sanghelios. Arbiter's presence here puzzled him.
"Well, we'll know when we talk to them" replied Linda.
"Cortana, get us closer" said Chief. Cortana brought the ship closer to the UNSC and Covenant fleet. Then he opened the comm channel
"This is Masterchief Petty Officer Sierra-117 of the UNSC Imperial Dawn to the Infinity, Do you read me, over..." There was radio silence for a few seconds. Chief and his friends shared a look.
"This is Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity. It's good to here from you Chief" came a voice.
"It is good to see you spartan" said Arbiter from another channel.
"My pleasure Arbiter"
"Captain, Permission to enter Infinity's hanger bay" said chief.
"Permission granted. See you at the hanger. Lasky out" said Lasky and the channel was cut.
"Good. Cortana, take care of the ship. Team, let us teleport into their ship's hanger" said Chief to which others nodded.
"Is the distance safe, cortana?" asked chief
"Don't worry. It'll be fine" said cortana.
Then the blue team used the gravity lift to reach the civilian deck where the space is so big. Then after standing side by side, chief gave the order to teleport them.
...
Meanwhile in the Infinity hanger...
Captain Lasky after giving permission to chief to enter the hanger, He along with Halsey, Palmer, Carter, Jorge went to the hanger to welcome the spartan and his team for whom they had waited a long time.
Everyone reached the hanger. The hanger bay door was kept open to allow chief's transport while maintaining the artificial gravity and energy field to hold the atmosphere. Everyone were eagerly waiting for the chief to come.
They were waiting but they see no sign of approach of chief's transport. But suddenly, the space nearby them glowed with golden light looked as if spinning so fast. Everyone started to tense after what they saw. After the lights dropped off, four massive figures came out, but familiar ones. 3 were wearing the known UNSC MJOLNIR Mark VI. But the one in the front standing 7'3" was wearing an armor of unknown design. It had the outline of MJOLNIR Mark VI. but the color was black, Texture was better and had a fluidic armor design for smooth aerodynamic flows. The armor looked unlike anything they had seen before. Also she and everyone else were surprised to see their entry. They thought they would come in a pelican, but this was unexpected. Everyone clapped their hands to chief and his team's arrival in enthusiasm.
Lasky was staring at them in surprise. Halsey was happy to see her children back but also confused with chief's appearance. Even she had never seen anything like this before. Palmer was looking at the spartan IIs in admiration. Carter was pleased to see the chief and his team back. Jorge was gald to see his spartan brothers and sisters back.
The 4 spartans, the blue team walked up front and came near Lasky. Then the 4 saluted at captain and Lasky returned the salute back.
"After been through hell for a long time, It's finally good to see you and your team chief" said Lasky with a smile.
"Likewise sir" chief shaked hands with Lasky.
"By the way, What was that!? I thought you were gonna come in a pelican, but this is..."Lasky said in astonishment.
"That's teleportation" replied Fred.
"John, Fred, Kelly, Linda! I am happy to see you all!" said Dr. Halsey with both sadness and happiness.
"It's nice to see you doctor" said Linda. For a moment, The spartans felt happy to see her mother figure.
"By the way john!, that was a dashing entrance. And this armor, Where did you get this?" asked Halsey astonished with chief battle armor. She identified the Mark VI outline, but the armor as a whole was totally something else. The design didn't have a human touch. But chief kept silent and didn't answer to that.
"Yeah. And that ship of yours? It's even more strange! Where did you get this and why are we here?" asked Lasky pouring out the questions.
"Wait, Is cortana with you?" asked Halsey. This grabbed everyone's attention.
"Yes and she's in the ship. But i can show you" said chief and opened his palm. he than called out cortana and she appeared in chief's palm. Everyone were stunned to see her. She was wearing some sort of formal clothes. Even halsey was shocked to see a different cortana.
"Hello doctor Halsey" greeted Cortana.
"Greetings cortana! You look...different!" said Halsey in confusion.
"I am cured of my rampancy. But that's a story for another time" said cortana.
"She's right. Sir, We need to get off this place. It's not safe here" said chief with cortana vanishing from chief's palm.
"But chief, What is this place we've got into?" asked Laksy.
"We'll explain everything from the scratch. But you all need to get to these coordinates immediately" said chief opening his left forearm mini holo-computer and tapped some keys and sent coordinates to their base's location.
"That's the slipspace coordinates to our safe location. Let's go there and we'll tell you everything. Every minute we stand here is a problem for us" said chief. Lasky wanted answers, but chief was right. First they need to get to a safer location.
"Alright chief. Then we'll meet there" said Lasky. Chief and his team saluted the captain and they teleported to the dawn.
Lasky looked at everyone for a moment. But this time with confidence and hope as he finally met the chief and his team. So he felt things are gonna be alright.
"Roland? Get us to these coordinates, ASAP!" ordered Lasky.
"Yes sir!" said Roland. He received the coordinates from Lasky's personal data pad. He also gave the coordinates to Arbiter's fleet to follow them. Then the UNSC eight fleet, Arbiter's fleet of retribution jumped into slipspace to those coordinates and vanished from that system.
...
Somewhere in the inter-galactic dark space...
In the unknown depths of the dark space, There lies a large artificial structure, 6 times the size of a UNSC orbital defence platform. The space station is dark and life less. But suddenly, the lights start to glitter all over the structure one by one. Distant mechanical humming sounds can be heard. Then a voice...
"Hm Hm Hm..." came a very deep rough growl voice possibly from an organic being in the station.
Then, a loud screaming roar that lasts for 2 seconds...
...
A/N: Don't get confused with the timeline in this chapter. It is exactly what i have mentioned. As for the mass effect content, everything will be bland for now. In depth exploration will be given only from mass effect 3 part.
And with the reconciliation of the blue team and the UNSC and Arbiter, the threats arise.
As for Spirit of fire and Everest, I will give a thought to that.
