Xypher 1: Not 'only' Didact's memories. And except the change in his eyes, he stays human. Cerberus will no longer be Cerberus.

Fer 81: I'll consider your advice.

For those confused with this new enemy, It is indeed the 'Flood'. The combat forms are of the ancient races that lived in this universe.

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

Chapter 17: That strange Calm before the Storm.

Blue team and Cortana, after giving a briefing on the situation here, they had them settled in their places and wait until Alliance soldier Commander Shepard and his team gave full info on the reapers.

Chief once again had that weird feeling but this time, its more than just voices. He actually saw things as if he were there for few seconds. In the first vision, he was holding a particle rifle and saw a creepy darkness in the front where something lurked and roared at them. A soldier who wore a silvery armor which also had a pair of twin red lines in their helmet, nearby him yelled of their presence and also called him 'My Lord'. He didn't know who it was.

In the second vision, he found himself in a starship. He was looking at a large hologram of a planet and several ship in bound. He then said something about clogging defenses after 53 years to a nearby soldier who was floating carrying a long weapon. While it was slightly familiar, it never made sense to John.

After 13 long hours, everyone had quite settled down. It was 21:00 PM night, thus not much of an activity. The people even quickly acclimatized to the base's comfort. Of course, a lot of forerunner touch, it would be comfortable. Cortana analyzed the forerunner architectures and found it more sophisticated. Even the mere sight of it get anyone possessed.

At present, John and Halsey walked over the pathway to her private quarters. The paths were lit with lights. After a few minutes of walk crossing the road, they reached a series of small buildings which are nothing but the officer's quarters. After John escorted Halsey to her quarters, he used the console to open the door.

Once inside, Halsey was awestruck with the room's majestic look with couch, counter, tables. Also it was very well equipped to suit a scientist. She raised her eyebrows and let a whistle.

"Wow, This is really great. Thanks to you both" said Halsey turning to him. Chief simply nodded. She managed to see an advanced coffee maker machine upon the counter and a food slot machine with advanced controls. She managed get a cup nearby and fill it up with coffee.

"*SIGH*...I started to feel tired" said Halsey and took a she turned to Chief and talked.

"Alright, now that we are here, It's time to tend to your problem. What happened to you back there?" asked Halsey. This was when Cortana spoke to Chief privately.

"Chief, get me out of your palm" said Cortana. Chief without uttering a word, opened his right palm and Cortana's avatar jumped out and grew to human size. Halsey saw this calmly.

"Doc, I'm about to reveal a highly sensitive information to you, but I need your word that it won't slip out" said Cortana seriously. Halsey's eyes shrunk in suspicion. But she can be trusted with a confidential matter, besides she is one of the few, the spartans highly trusts.

"Right, whatever it is, it won't leave this room" Hasley swore with honesty. Cortana nodded and proceeded. She then slowly walked in between Chief and the doctor.

"While me and the blue team were at Iridescent, John underwent an additional augmentation" said Cortana which stunned the old doctor.

"WHAT!?" yelled Halsey in a low distressed voice. John and Cortana stayed silent over her question.

"That's why he's suffering from headache? For how long?" asked Halsey. This time Chief spoke out.

"It wasn't an headache. That was just a side effect" said Chief which confused her. Besides, even Cortana didn't know what it was this time.

"What are you saying Chief?" asked Cortana.

"It was a vision" replied Chief. Halsey and Cortana blinked in dilemma.

"What sort of vision?" asked the doctor. Chief then walked slowly around a table trying to remember what he saw. After a few seconds, he talked.

"It was like I was there in those visions for 5 seconds. At first, I was standing holding a weapon, with lot of armored soldiers near me staring the darkness in front. Then I was on a ship and there was someone beside me. I felt like I said something" said Chief turning to see Cortana and Halsey looking stupefied, "And then, nothing. The vision ended" said Chief.

Even for Cortana who already knew Chief's problem, the visions are a troubling fact. At first, she thought, it was only voices in his head. Now she felt the situation has got worse...or maybe not. Halsey never knew anything about this, so she was just stunned, but also annoyed as she was kept in the dark.

"At first, Chief had these strange voices going on in his head a couple of times, but now it looks like he could see things. This issue, it's getting complicated over time" said Cortana running her fingers over her temple. Halsey then further queried them. She nodded her head dismissively in disbelief and sighed.

"Right, This is something new to me. Maybe a full scale reading of John's anatomy, genetic data and neural mapping might help me identify the problem" said Halsey turning to Chief, "John, what is this augmentation you received?". Cortana answered for the Chief.

"Doc, I have compiled gigabytes of information you need to see through. I am sending it to this personal holo-terminal. You can download it to your data pad and read" said Cortana sending the information package to the holo terminal in the room corner. Halsey turned to look at the terminal that beeped.

"So what is this package?" asked Halsey.

"You see it for yourself. Not only John's medical scans, but a lot more that you should know, information more dangerous than WMDs. Take your time and once you are done, call us" replied Cortana.

Halsey shrunk her eyebrows, puzzled and then nodded. John's new augmentation was truly unsettling. She already have her regrets in ruining the lives of 75 kids in the name of humanity's greater good. This further mutations would only force her to show further contrition. But right now, she has to focus on the problem at hand.

"Fine, I don't know what you have in store for me. But I'll go through everything you gave" replied Halsey.

"Then I think it's time we left this place. We are going to see Jorge" said Chief and Cortana vanished into Chief's palm. Halsey nodded in acknowledgement. Then Chief left the doctor's quarters.

Doctor Halsey finished her coffee and placed the cup upon the table and stood like a statue, her face expressing grievance. She then kept her hand across the temples and nodded dismissively.

"Dammit! What had John got himself into?" thought Halsey. She then turned her face to look at the terminal at the corner of the room. There was her new data pad upon the same table. She took the pad in her hands and then walked over the holographic terminal.

She then tapped a few commands in the data pad and resulted in successful interface with the terminal. She then moved towards the couch and sat freely. She then saw a new package being received in the data pad. She tapped into the package to reveal the file name, 'Cortana's Testimony'.

"Alright, let's see what the testimony is about" she muttered to herself. She touched the file which then opened to show a lot of information titles indexed by numbers.

"Wow, that's a lot!" said Halsey and then scrolled the list to see the titles. She immediately caught sight of some peculiar titles. Her face let a quizzical expression.

"Ancient human-forerunner history!?...Does it have anything other than what I know?...Forerunner rates and politics?...Huh, she quite obsessed. But still I can read it afterwards" muttered Halsey with a chuckle. She continued scrolling. She then caught sight of what she looked for.

"John-117's biological and genetic profile...What's this?...The real secrets behind the Spartan II's?...Hm, I'm their creator and there's no secret about my program than what I contributed" muttered Halsey, but grew suspicious. These headlines urged her eagerness to study everything. She then touched the John-117's profile.

"Let's see what happened to John" said Halsey. The title block opened up all the information within. Halsey patiently read each and every lines of theory and also got to see many image segments of John's anatomy.

The truth is, each and every line she read and every image she viewed struck her mind and body like a 100 mega volt lightning. Her face turned dreaded and her eyes widened in confusion, offensive every passing second, her heart beat rising up, her body posture turning uncomfortable, her fingers scrolling the details in the data pad rapidly fast. She interjected at a low stressed tone,

"OH...MY...GOD!..."

...

Unknown place, Unknown time...

Kai leng was walking along a path he never understood. He was hastily turning his head all over the place to find where he was. But his attempts were futile. There was nothing but a dim opaque light surrounding with no sense of direction or start and end point. There was this vacuum infrasonic 'hum' sound throughout and the other was his heartbeat.

"What the hell is this place?" said Kai leng loud, but didn't echo anywhere. He was feeling tensed.

"What were those creatures? First, I was fighting them along with my men and I was or thought I was killed by them. Now I am here...*GRUNT*"

He then proceeded to walk forward. The light had this faint effect of moving back and everything was nothing but a mirage. He was walking and walking with nothing in the front but the same dim light. He felt he was not gonna reach an end to this path and started to loose patience.

"WHERE-THE-HELL-IS-HERE!?" yelled Leng. But this time, he received a response in the form of a deep grim laugh. Leng suddenly stopped and his body became stiff and alarmed of a presence. But weird, he didn't sweat.

Suddenly, Leng managed to see a distant faint shadowy figure, more like a humanoid walking towards him. It was huge, but gradually it's size reduced as it approached him. Leng was staring at the figure. At that instant Leng recognized that the place he was standing in was not a real place.

But now, he decided to take care of that approaching figure, with it's edges slowly becoming clearly visible. He was prepared to face it.

...

Chief left the doctor's quarter and was walking adjacently near the series of small buildings. He then suddenly stopped and tilted his head down a few degrees. He and Cortana gave all the information to Halsey. He acknowledged the fear, how Halsey would react in the light of these new information.

"Cortana, How do you think Halsey's gonna take this?" asked Chief.

"The package I gave her? Chief, we just gave an important piece of information. This is something we all, including her must know. This information could just propel humanity to unprecedented heights" said Cortana.

"I know. But, this information is safe only in the right hands" said Chief who believed the exact same thing.

Chief's wariness was more directed at ONI, coz the spartan IIs belong to the ONI section 3. And because of that, John and every IIs have quite a knowledge about how ONI thinks and works, in and out. Of course, ONI contributed a lot during the 30 years war, but their approach to any problem though seem desperate for an outside observer, had truly always been controversial. But there are things that John never knew like ONI secretly helping covenant loyalists to escape Arbiter's forces and even went so far as to try and destroy the Sanghelios itself in 2553. But ONI failed to do that, more precisely Admiral Parangosky who was the then CIC of ONI. John is a man who values friends as much as his loyalty to his duty as a soldier. Ever since the incidents on the Ark, John and Thel viewed each other as comrade in the battlefield and personal friends outside. If he ever come to know of such ONI's acts in the future...The situation becomes unpredictable.

"Chief, I still stick to my opinion about doctor Halsey that she's a condescending bi***. But trust me when I say that there's no better human at keeping secrets for good, than the doctor" said Cortana which made John to raise his eyebrow and let a faint smile at her reference. It's true that Cortana hates Halsey for what she did to the IIs as kids. She felt that halsey ruined their lives. But John and every IIs accepted their fate and even embraced it as a chance to be something larger than life.

"Whatever you say" said Chief and then started walking again and reached Jorge's quarters. He used his knuckles to knock the door.

"Who's it?" came a voice from inside.

"It's me" Chief replied. "Chief! Wait a second" came a female voice. He easily identified it was Kelly's. Then the door opened to reveal Fred, Kelly, Linda and Jorge with their helmets out and seated in strong chairs.. Chief didn't expect his team here with Jorge, but decided that too was for good. Chief stepped inside.

"Good see you brother" greeted Jorge. It looks like after staying the same since rough times, conversing with his own brothers and sister's brought the calmness out of him.

Chief nodded and took a seat besides Linda and removed his helmet. Jorge instantly got to see his chiseled rectangular face with short brown, flat-top haircut, especially his luminescent yellow orange iris. Jorge's face turned quite serious and spoke in his native Hungarian accent.

"Whoa Chief, What happened to your eyes? Are you alright?" asked Jorge. Fred, Kelly and Linda immediately turned to look at Chief and were staggering with their thoughts as to what to say. But Chief interrupted their thoughts.

"It's a long story Jorge, One for another time when we are free. But apart from that, I'm fine. Besides, I came here to talk to you" said Chief diverting the subject. Jorge nodded and spoke.

"Then let's talk. I was talking to them until you came here" said Jorge.

"I wanted to know how you escaped Reach 5 years back" said Chief which drew a wary attention from Fred, Kelly and Linda. Jorge's frowned as Chief simply asked him to recap the nightmares he suffered and post traumatic stress he had till a few weeks ago.

"Chief, please" pleaded Kelly.

"I'm asking this because I need to know. I have a proposition for him" replied Chief turning to Jorge. Jorge though frowned was wondering what his proposition was.

...

Kail Leng saw the approaching shadowy figure. It's size gradually reducing and it's humanoid features started to reveal. But as it came more closer, it appeared more human. Kai leng blinked at the figure. He identified more human nature of the figure.

The figure was now just a couple meters away and Kai leng was stunned to see the figure as it was nothing but his own reflection. Except the reflection is not that form a mirror. Leng was standing still, but the figure covered another meter distance closer to him.

"You look like me but you are not me. Who are you?" asked Leng in anger. The figure stared at him and then smirked. He was annoyed and yelled again.

"Who the fu-...?" asked Leng immediately cut by the opposite Leng just with a hand rise and the palm facing the real Leng's face. He stopped and after a second, the reflection dropped his hands down. Then it spoke in a slightly different simulated voice.

"I am not you. I am the voice of vengeance. I...am the controller of your mind" replied the reflection. Leng didn't understand a thing, but something about the mind made him attempt a guess.

"Mind? So...This is all happening...In my mind? Who are you?" asked Leng awestruck. The reflection stretched it's neck to free the stress and replied.

"I am an echo of many that lived for eons. Resonance is the key and I am 'The Key' to the mind...I AM the 'KEY MIND'" said the reflection. Kai leng didn't understand a thing.

"What kind of sick blabber is this?" asked Leng irately.

"I don't have to waste my time with you, primitive. For I'll get what I need" said the reflection.

His reflection was looking same with same voice and slang. But the statements were poetic and inhuman.

"You dare!...Calling me a-...AAAAAHHHHHH!" Leng suddenly yelled, flinching in extreme pain. He knelt down, holding his head tight and letting loud grunt. He felt his brain being drilled through his skull. His cybernetic implants didn't do much. It was more of forced intrusion. He felt something was scanning his brain for memories. Slowly the sensation of vertigo rose, getting crippled and the fact of the matter was, he knew he was losing control of his own body and mind and couldn't do anything about it. He realized that whatever intruded his mind, it left only his personality intact for the time being. He also found that those implant offered no resistance like it wasn't even there. Now he truly realized that something's messing with his brain.

Now Kai leng felt only confusion and frustration. He had never been in or seen such things like what he's going through.

The reflection simply stared at nothing, tilting it's head down. After a few seconds, it smirked and then slowly walked around the real Leng in circle.

"Hm...Cerberus...A splintered body committed to serve humanity's ascendancy?..."

There was a pause.

"Nooo...**ECHOES**...You are not like what we have seen at the 'Other' place...But a lot of resources...Hm hm...Lots of life to consume...Then it's time to release my 'Instruments' that will begin the harvest which was patternly in progress even before we came here" said the reflection to itself. It obtained every piece of information about the cerberus. It shoved aside the unwanted memories as it wasn't interested in those.

But suddenly, it managed to hack into another confidential information, information about the recent events. It didn't expect to see this and found it impossible to be there.

"What is this?" excitingly asked the reflection.

...

The Blue team and Jorge were seated in Jorge's quarters. Chief asked Jorge to tell him exactly how he escaped reach 5 years back. Chief knew how difficult was it to remind the nightmares back, but he had his reasons. Jorge frowned, but decided to tell anyway as nothing's gonna change and he was already 5 years past that.

"Jorge, don't get me wrong. I'm asking this for a nice reason" said Chief. Jorge sighed a bit and stared down for a few seconds.

"Jorge?" called out Fred.

"At the end of the 'UPPERCUT', After I used the makeshift slipspace bomb to destroy the supercarrier 'Long night of solace' along with the whole fleet, I thought I was done for...But no" said Jorge with flashes of memories moving at a faster pace.

"What happened?" asked Linda.

"The corvett in which I carried the bomb sheared into half and with me inside along with some debris of the carrier were thrown out in proximity to the outer colony of Lambda aurigae system far beyond, stranded in the nebular space with no means of communication, not even to send a distress signal" explained Jorge.

"How long before someone found you?" asked Kelly.

"For 60 days. And then I heard a lots of hum in the space which were nothing but alien vessels. I assumed it was the covenant, but it wasn't. They were a separate Kig-yar and Unggoy mercs in ships in the size of UNSC frigates but well armed" said Jorge.

"What? How did they get to the outer colony?" asked Chief with surprise.

"They didn't come for the colony. They were tracking the automated distress beacon, the corvett sent while dropping out of slipspace. With no means to contact anyone and planet to settle, I did something I regretted the most" said Jorge. Fred understood the meaning. He knew what anyone would do in that kinda situation.

"Don't say you struck a deal with them" said Fred with a smirk. Jorge wasn't surprised.

"I'm not surprised, you guessed it right. But that's what I exactly did. Again, I had another plan in motion" said Jorge.

"That you were trying to deceive them to get your hands on their ships to get to a UNSC colony?" asked Chief. Again Jorge wasn't surprised. Spartan IIs always had that weird telepathic link among themselves such that, one would correctly predict another's thoughts.

"Exactly"

"What about the persuasion?" asked Linda.

"At first, their motive was to kill me. But I wasn't afraid. Because for every spartan, his body itself is a deadly weapon. But even that weapon has limits. The mercs were armed with military grade weapons and outnumbered me by 100:1. Even if I manage to kill them, the other ships won't hesitate to take out their own if an enemy has infiltrated them. That would be counter productive. I needed their resources" said Jorge.

"What did you do at last?" asked Kelly.

"Ha ha...I said that I could get them valuable resources from a UNSC outer colony's abandoned mine, and it took time to convince them. I asked ration supplies and what ever I can from them to sustain myself. They accepted my offer. The negotiation was successful, but they proved they are un-trust worthy bastards" said Jorge with disgust.

"What happened?" asked Fred.

"Their fleet secretly took me to a covenant loyalist group in another system to exchange me for lots of money, weapons and resources" said Jorge.

"Huh, We were always high valued by the covenant because of our abilities. Sure they did wanna get their hands on us" said Chief.

"Yes, But fate turned sideways on the mercs" said Jorge enthusiastically. The blue team wondered what happened.

"When the mercenary fleet made contact with the covenant fleet, instead of a deal, they got one hell of an arse kicking" said Jorge.

"Did the covenant attack the mercs?" asked Kelly.

"Yes, they sent lots of boarding parties and the next thing you know...There were total chaos and these mercs had to deal with the militiristic forces and almost forgot me. This is when I took chance and I made kill counts as much as I can, The covenant took maximum prisoners with them. I managed to secure the vessel" said Jorge.

"Then escaped to a nearest UNSC world?" asked Chief.

"I tried to use the slipspace engines, but one covenant cruiser disabled the vessel's drive. So I was forced to use the sub light propulsion at full power, thanks to then still intact reactors. I had to evade the fleet's plasma projectiles manually and finally got out of their sight and too weird, they didn't bother to follow me. That was the reason It took me 6 months to reach the nearest UNSC inner colony world" said Jorge.

The blue team understood how hard was to Jorge, to be trapped alone in a spider's nest. Even though spartans were trained to be effective in high risk situation, that would still take some toll on them. To maintain operational efficiency, they don't dwell on good and bad and focus only on mission. But in Jorge's case, he was broken because of the covenant's glassing of Reach, his home world while he must have certainly not suffered from the events followed. But Chief needed to know Jorge's present mentality.

"I know how hard was it to be trapped and isolated 8 months" said Chief

"I was never hurt by those incidents. What really shook me was when the covenant bastards glassed Reach. But I am even past holding that grudge anymore as things changed a lot after 5 years. Yesterday's enemies are today's allies. Besides, you would not know the difference between right and wrong when you are misled" said Jorge feeling no regrets or anger.

The blue team was quite happy that he still remained an un-distracted effective spartan II, especially Chief was more than satisfied as he was about to speak then.

"Jorge, if you aren't traumatized by those events and believe that you are still 100% combat effective, You are not objected to take part in high risk missions?" asked Chief. Jorge was confused with his ridiculous question.

"That's a ridiculous question, Chief. I am born ready to do what we spartans do best!" said Jorge loud. Chief recognized the confidence without intimidation in his words.

"Then I gotta be honest with you. See, There's not much of us left. As of now, there are only two spartan II fire teams still intact. Us and the other team, Red. But Everyone's uncertain of the crew of 'UNSC Spirit of Fire'" said Chief.

"Jerome, Douglas and Alice were assigned to Captain Cutter and his crew for a campaign at Harvest by 2531. That's the only official and the last record of Spirit of fire" said Linda.

"No one knew what happened to them?" asked Jorge.

"As of today, the ship and it's crew are listed MIA. There were no further records of their activity at Harvest. When a ship goes missing, only the Highest ranking member of the UNSC HIGHCOM, i.e., Lord Hood will order a search and rescue under the salvage directives" said Fred.

While there are many spartans from the IV program now, still IIs were the heroes of humanity. Their dwindling numbers are nothing but gifts for their contribution in humanity's survival.

"But Chief, why are you asking this?" asked Jorge shrinking his eyebrows. Chief took a few seconds to reply.

"I'll get this straight. What do you think about joining the blue team?" asked Chief. Everyone were stunned at the question. Their eyes widened in this unexpected surprise. Of course, it would be surprise because Jorge-052 was also called Noble five. He was a part of the prestigious spartan III Noble team where he was the only II and still considered himself as Noble five even though the team ceased to exist after the fall of Reach. While Fred, Kelly and Linda knew him as a spartan II brother, they never worked together as team, so they found Chief's proposal interesting and enthusiastic.

"Uh...It is an interesting offer, but-..."

"But you still see yourself as Noble five, I know" finished Chief. Jorge's face expressed uncertainty.

"Then this is not something I can do it right away. I need time to think about it" said Jorge.

"You take your time, Jorge. But you know that we are the only spartan IIs left as of now. We are here in an unknown yet same place to combat a galactic threat. It is time we fought together as a spartan II team just like before" said Fred. Jorge found Fred's words reasonable. A spartan II team had always been successful, no matter the cost.

"Think about it Jorge. You are the only II left here, alone. Commander Carter along with Commander Palmer lead the IVs in Infinity. If you join us, we could be an effective team. Besides, you have your own skill and way of accomplishments just like we do" said Kelly.

Jorge started to think about it. What they said was true. Like it or not, there's no Noble team now, but he has the honor of being one of it's survivor. He can still honor the fallen by again working with the team of his own brothers and sisters and do the best. At last, there's not much he can do if he stayed alone. So he made his decision.

"So Jorge-052? You in or not?" asked Chief who along with the others stood up and Chief extended his hand for a deal. Jorge stood up too looking at Chief's hands. He then nodded in acceptance and shook his hands.

"Alright Chief, I will join the blue team...Back on line, brother" said Jorge giving a smile. Chief returned a faint smile.

"Then it's official. Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052 is a member of Blue team" said Fred. Chief then used his left forearm computer and added Jorge's Bio and Comm profile. Others did the same.

"I'll relay this information to Captain Lasky. You better tell this to commander Carter, being your ex-leader of the Noble team" said Chief to which he nodded. Chief then put on his helmet back and spoke to Cortana was listening the whole conversation.

"You are good at persuasion. It's glad to have Jorge in your team" said Cortana to which he mentally nodded. Chief then proceeded his next step.

"Cortana, Can you upgrade his armor and install mods like what you did for my team?" asked Chief. Jorge raised his eyebrows.

"Sure, I'll get it done by tomorrow" said Cortana to which he acknowledged.

"Well then, it's already 11:30 pm. We'll have some sleep and see through the work tomorrow" said Jorge.

"Right, then see you later" said Kelly to which he waived his hand.

Then Chief and others left Jorge's quarters and went to their own place. There they used the drones to get their armors out. Then they went to sleep. They must rest while they still can as there won't be anytime in the future, 'A war is coming'.

...

The Leng's reflection was razing the original Leng's mind for information and he stumbled upon something it never expected. There were information about 'Slipspace', unknown human and Alien faction with strange technology, strange arsenals etc.,

"That's impossible. This can't be-...No, It's possible. They must have found it. And through the gateway we created a long time ago, they must have crossed the territory" said the reflection. Kai leng couldn't hear a thing as he already appeared to have fainted.

"Things have changed. We need to do some more. Human, You have outlived your purpose. But still you will be useful to me. From now on, It's no Kai leng. It's 'US' " said the reflection after which immediately actual Leng's body disappeared from the place. It was now only the reflection, the key mind.

It was absolute chaos with deadly creatures swarming the area. Kai leng and every others were killed by them and then they slowly started to mutate. Kai leng whose face and body mysteriously didn't mutate.

But he who was lying down, suddenly opened his eyes and plucked his delumcore head gear and threw it away only to reveal his sage colored eyes and sage mist coming out of his mouth. He then slowly lifted his body to a standing position in a levitating manner. Then he stretched his neck, hands and legs to relax his body from stress. He was looking around to see the creatures running past him. He then lifted his arms to take a look at it and spoke,

"A primitive host, but enough to carry out my plans. Let's sweep this place off and go get the king fish" said Leng(the key mind) which had replaced Leng's personality in a slightly distorted voice. He then ran along with the creatures to the place where there were drop shuttles that escorted Leng's company. He saw the crew was dead already and assimilated by the creatures.

"Dammit Mac! What the hell's goin on down there? Lieutenant and his company are not responding to our calls" said the helm 1 in the cerberus cruiser.

"I know. Also check this out, the terrain imaging shows that mist is expanding. What do you think is down there?" asked helm 2.

"I don't know, but shit's real crazy and that much I can clearly understand" replied helm 1. The cruiser pilots lost their track within the mist and stayed that way for almost an hour.

Kai leng launched a drop shuttle and flew above the ground. The key mind which claimed to have replaced actual Leng's personality in fact copied it to it's own neural network before replacement. It means, whatever this key mind is, it can perfectly mimic his personality in Leng's body without raising doubt. But he must cover his face or else it will easily let others to find out. This key mind had one goal, to find this cerberus's hideout and do what it had planned to do.

"Lieutenant Leng to the Cruiser, We have code red situation. We need to get off this place quickly" said Leng.

"Roger that Lieutenant. Opening the blast door for shuttle entry" said Helm 1.

"What happened to your voice Lieutenant?" asked Helm 2. Leng was silent for a moment and was figuring out how to respond.

"Helmet equipment failure and we were attacked. I'll explain this later, Leng out" said Leng cutting the comm.

He then took a cerberus centurion helmet in the adjacent seat and wore it and sealed completely to hide his face. His shuttle reached the cruiser and entered through the open bay door and landed inside. He exited the shuttle only to be greeted by five armed soldiers.

"Sir, we lost contact with your company" said soldier 1.

"We have no time to talk. The whole place down is swarmed with unknown creatures. I was damn lucky to get myself not killed" said Leng.

"Should we launch a counter strike?" asked another soldier.

"Soldier, it literally took only a minute to take my team down. We need to warn the Illusive man. Now get prepared" ordered Leng to which the soldiers saluted and paved way for him.

Leng after a few minutes, reached the bridge to converse with the pilots.

"Helm? Set course for Cronos station. We have a grave situation down there that required Illusive man's prompt attention. Now before asking unnecessary questions, get us the hell outta here!" barked Leng. The helmsmen shivered and nodded in fear. Then flew the cruiser out of Lethe.

Leng then walked out of the bridge and reached his quarters in an elevator. He entered the room and then opened his helmet. instantly fresh air entered his lungs. He started to grunt and gritted his teeth. Then he opened his sage green eyes and spoke to himself.

"Not much in this host's memories. Maybe this Illusive man human can give me more" said Leng(Key mind) to himself. and was staring at the space before him.

...

Normandy SR-2,

380, 000 kms from the Omega-4 relay...

Shepard and his crew had obtained the reaper IFF and fought a never before seen enemy on a dead reaper. They barely escaped with their lives and in the process, EDI's shackles were removed. Then she worked to install and synchronize the IFF with the Normandy's systems.

EDI called out Shepard, Miranda and Jacob to the comm room. The three moved to attend EDI hail.

"EDI, what for you called us three?" asked Shepard.

"Commander, I have successively analyzed the reaper IFF algorithms and managed to install it" said EDI. There was a moment of excitement among the three. This was the time they all waited for. Now all they had to do was to hit the collectors to their place.

"Then I think we can assemble the team and starts the ops" said Miranda.

"Wait. I need to tell you something" said EDI in a serious tone.

"What is it?" asked Jacob

"While I studied the IFF, something wasn't right" said EDI.

"Was the module corrupted?" asked Shepard confused.

"I wouldn't say corrupted. But there seems to be a flaw. The IFF functions with the mere logic that if successful acknowledgement is made between two reaper ships, then its friendly or its a foe, that simple" said EDI.

"Are you saying there's a flaw in that logic?" asked Miranda.

"Yes, the IFF's past recorded data shows that the reapers had been mysteriously subjected to a logic flaw by unknown means. It has turned into something ever changing like a biological mind" said EDI. This made the three to feel bad about the growing situation.

"You mean to say that-..." Jacob dragged his words,

"I say that I don't know if this IFF will work to our favor or not. I managed to use my anti-reaper cyber warfare suites to isolate the flaw but I can't do anything more than that. It's more complicated to a point that I may only decipher 12% of flaw in 10 years, 83.33 years for 100%" said EDI which stunned everyone.

"Good God! We don't have that much years to stop the reapers. We can't delay the collector mission. We have invested a lot in this" said Shepard hesitatingly.

"Shepard's right. But EDI, what do you suggest?" asked Miranda feeling despondent with EDI's facts.

"We can still succeed. Even if the IFF fails, I can mimic a similar IFF signal through Normandy by using the reaper IFF codes embedded into the carrier wave" said EDI which quite relieved them of the stress.

"Huh, at last a good news. Commander?" called out Jacob. Shepard was analyzing the situation, how to approach this mission. Then he snapped out of the thoughts and spoke with a clear mind with one goal.

"Get ready and ask the others to do the same" ordered Shepard.

"Aye aye commander" replied Miranda and they both left the briefing room. Then Shepard called out Joker.

"Joker, get to the omega-4 relay. It's time to begin the mission. What's the ETA?" asked Shepard.

"Yes commander. ETA to omege-4 is 2hrs30minutes. Let me notify you when we pass through" said Joker. Shepard acknowledged and cut the comm.

"EDI, get me Illusive man" said Shepard.

"Yes Shepard" said EDI and the tables shifted and a orange scanner scanned Shepard. After a minute, Illusive man's hologram appeared before him.

"Shepard" greeted the Illusive man with a cigar in his hand.

"We got everything we need. We are about to begin the mission in 2hrs" said Shepard.

"Then this is the moment Shepard. We are going to show what we are capable of to the collectors and reapers. You are about to achieve something that no human, no being achieved commander. I was right to bring you back for this mission. Only you can lead an effective team, enter the enemy's lair and beat them. I never underestimated you" said the Illusive man.

Shepard recognized the flattery in his voice, but he knew that he had to try a lot harder than that to trust him.

"Flattery aside, Illusive man. Once we destroy the collector's home world, we would have the dragged the reaper's attention" said Shepard, which made Illusive man's face quite disappointed and annoyed but tried hard to hide it.

"Shepard, keep the comm intact all the time. I may need to know the instantaneous progress. it's too important for me" said Illusive man. Shepard folded his hands and raised his eyebrow.

"Don't trust me Illusive man?" asked Shepard. Illusive man kept a collected face and had a smoke.

"Shepard, there are something's I can't explain right away. You need to understand, that I have invested a lot in this. So I must know how this plays out" said Illusive man but his tone had a concealment. He knew he was lying in that regard, only that Shepard didn't know.

"Right, I'll keep in touch" said Shepard

"Good luck Commander" said Illusive man cutting the QEC. Shepard got out of the briefing room. Then he went to his quarters by taking the elevator.

After reaching his quarters, he turned right to see a picture stand. He walked slowly near it and took the picture, it revealed the picture of Ashley Williams.

His eyes were fixed on that picture and there was a moment of nostalgia. He reminded himself of how he met her first on Eden prime, then saving her from the prothean beacon. Then mission after mission in chasing Saren, Shepard openly spoke and expressed his feelings for her and she returned the same. Then he remembered the night, they had love and their eventual meeting after 2 years and how things didn't play out well this time. But Shepard received an e-mail from her stating that she was sorry for her behavior on Horizon. Liara's words echoed, "Let us hope the galaxy is worthy of your efforts". He was not only fighting for the galaxy, but also for those he love and care the most.

His mind was clear. He knew his goal and ready to strive to win the war. He placed the picture back on the table and equipped himself with Blood dragon armor. Then he reached the CIC and got to the weaponry. He then equipped with Revenant assault rifle, geth shotgun, Phalanx pistol and Arc projector.

He then saw Jacob loading himself with his guns. After arming himself, he walked near him.

"Jacob"

"Commander?" asked Jacob holstering his shotgun.

"Ready for the mission?" asked Shepard.

"Yes commander" replied Jacob. Shepard nodded in acknowledgement.

"See you later" said Shepard who was about to leave the weaponry.

"Shepard, wait" called out Jacob to which Shepard stopped and turned back.

"Thank you for helping me out and everyone with their issues" said Jacob.

"My crew's morality comes first, Jacob. I did what I had to keep my team effective. Glad that I was able to help you with your problems" said Shepard, cheering Jacob.

"If we get out of this alive, I'll buy the first round, Deal?" asked Jacob. Shepard nodded and left the room.

2 hours later...

"Commander, we approaching the relay in 5...4...3...2...1" said Joker and Normandy slowly got charged by the red eezo core of the omega-4 relay. Shepard reached the cockpit, standing near by Joker. The Normandy was cruising at super luminal speeds where everything appeared blurred.

"Exiting in 3 seconds" said Joker. After 3 seconds, the vessel exited FTl and immediately was exposed with a voluminous amount of debris floating.

"HOLY SHIT!" Jerked Joker who ran his hands along the console to fast maneuver between the debris field.

"Shepard, metallurgical scans shows that some of these broken ships are more ancient" said EDI.

"Joker, be careful. Look for the gaps to pass through. We can't let it hit us" said Shepard. Joker was cruising through the gaps and then they all got to see something in a far distance.

"What the hell is that!?" exclaimed Joker.

...

A/N: Cerberus is coming to an end. From next chapter, the war begins.

Hope you enjoyed it!