Xypher1: No, Precursors and Leviathans are not related. Perhaps, Flood is the only connection between Halo and ME universe. Chief's other imprint is his Ancestor by blood.

edboy 4926: There won't be Andromeda initiative, but I think I can do something about Ryder at the right time.

Fer82: Actually, Reapers and Flood are not partners. Reapers are totally under the control of the Flood.

And I made a mistake with Dare's rank. Instead of Captain, I used Lieutenant Colonel . I was confused with a different source, but I have corrected it.

For those who think Sparatus had lost his mind, It's simple. He indeed lost his mind and definitely gonna get his A$$ chained up in a Turian asylum.

This story is a long term mission set by the Librarian 100,000 years ago which she failed to do. The current people investigates who and why they created a portal to this place from their universe. I'm telling this for those who are mildly confused. No need to relate any character b/w Halo and ME universe.

Disclaimer: I don't own ME or Halo franchise.

Chapter 19: Uncertain future

UNSC HighCOM facility Bravo-6, Sydney
September 15, 2557
19:27 PM EST

Lord Terrence Hood, UNSC Chief of Naval Operations was seated in a chair leaning over a medium sized table with a holo-computer upon. He was working on the computer that displayed lots of information with several images. Some had buildings, some had images of the shipyards etc., along with multiple live feeds that he was scrolling down with all that eagerness in his eyes.

It had been almost 2 months since he sent John-117 and his blue team on a mission to Halo-03 to check on the status of the previous team, black. For long, he never received any status feed on the team. And all of a sudden, Cortana popped from elsewhere with a pre-recorded message for which the UNSC comm officers couldn't strangely detect the source. She also seemed to be free of rampancy.

Hood was stunned and slightly felt happy to see one of the UNSC's important asset alive and intact. While having those luxuries on one side, the message she carried along brought a great unrest. The message had vague details, except the fact that she somehow rendezvoused with blue team and also set themselves on a new mission. As Cortana's message also bluntly stated that the team had completed their previous mission, he signed it off though still he expects to get a word of confirmation from the spartan himself.

This new mission they had set themselves in was prickling him. Though Hood has a deep respect for John-117 as a soldier and the spartan IIs in general for their memorable service to humanity, still the blue team's self assignment seeded lots of doubts and confusions in his mind.

He nor the UNSC have any idea of where they were headed except...An Artifact, so strange found by the Swords of Sanghelios led by the Arbiter in the Lagoon nebula, while hunting for the loyalist faction still at large. Through the Arbiter, he learned that the Master chief and his team had taken a vessel and made it through the portal, which was the Artifact's true nature.

He doesn't have even the rough details about the nature of mission or who had constructed the Artifact and for what intended purpose. The Separatists identified it as a portal so he assumed it to be safe as it was created by someone unknown and the worst part was, it wasn't the forerunners as covenant luminaries detected.

Taking the above mentioned facts, Hood used his power and rank to send humanity's most powerful ship and an escort fleet along with a part of Fleet of Retribution through the portal with out even knowing where it would lead them. This will definitely cause a major backlash directed towards him both political and militaristic. ONI will try to catch his neck when they get this kind of opportunities.

But, is that the case?...because, as of now, he's too damn relaxed, having no fear of what might happen or what's at stake for him. While the general perspective he has about the Chief that he always does the right thing is all and good, but his actions were not entirely hinged on that.

Hood was still wearing the military uniform even in his personal quarters. That was when the display screen over the wall besides the door beeped with a green alert message. Hood understood who it was and then said a code word to allow the door to open.

The door opened only to reveal an officer, a woman dressed in a greyish black business casuals, an officer such that anyone would say, she comes from a covert intel group or network. She had a blonde hair color and a face of someone in early 40s. At the shoulder sleeve of the black leather jacket, there was a symbol of a pyramid shield circumscribed over a circle that reads, 'Office of Naval Intelligence'.

She was Captain Veronica Dare, Naval commissioned officer and current leader of section 1, whose specialty is intel gathering and forwarding it to UNSC, code breaking through espionage.

"Welcome, Ms. Naval Intelligence" greeted Hood to which she smirked and then entered his quarters. The door closed behind and additional lights were turned on. She then took a chair and sat upon it facing Hood. Hood was seated in the same position with the terminal.

"Thanks for coming, Dare" said Hood.

"My pleasure, though I can't say for sure, how long can I play hide and seek with Osman" said Dare with a sigh. Hood was able to understand her frustration.

"So what the others are thinking about me?" asked Hood. Dare looked at him fixed and replied.

"They are just waiting for a perfect opportunity to throw you out of the security council, Sir" said Dare. Hood turned to look at her raising his eyebrows.

"What do you think?" asked Hood again turning to face the computer terminal. Dare wasn't amused with whatever Hood did.

"Sir, I'm equally concerned. You just sent Infinity to God knows where to bring Master chief and his team back. You know that 'our' people got some sway over her. This could turn into shit storm beyond control" said Dare with concern.

Hood was still relaxed and never displayed any emotion in his face. He was still working on that terminal stretching his arms. Dare dismissively nodded looking at him.

"You are awfully relaxed, sir!" said Dare in a raised voice and folding her hands. Hood stopped his hands and looked at Dare with a firm commanding stare.

"There are things that even your intelligence office don't know, including Osman" said Hood. Dare was confused with that statement. She wondered what he meant by that.

"I don't quite understand that. There's nothing that can hide from ONI" replied Dare with a certain firmness.

"No, that's not true. The whole HighCOM is castigating me for what!?...Sending the one and only powerful ship to a place unknown?...Then you are deeply mistaken" said Hood which stunned Dare and shrunk her eyebrows in suspicion. She clearly found out from his passive speech that he had been doing something under everyone's nose.

"What's your point, Admiral?" asked Dare feeling tired of this already.

"UNSC Infinity is not the only ship of it's kind. That, is my point" said Hood which made her eyes widened in surprise.

"Not one of a kin-...!?" Dare stumbled while nodding dismissively. She couldn't find words. This is the first time she felt like being kept in dark despite being an ONI officer.

ONI has a bizarre reputation of working in shadows and stalking the prey at the unexpected place and time. But at the times of war, it had served it's purpose that also ensured humanity's survival against the brutal onslaught. But anyone would say that they knew better options than to trust an ONI officer. But ONI would like it that way.

Hood laughed with sarcasm and then spoke.

"Dare, when Infinity was put into service by March 2553 declaring a successful operational record, On June 2553, I secretly ordered the UNSC Science, Engineering and Technology crew to start building another Infinity class ship but not in the Oort cloud this time"

Dare immediately flew out of the chair in shock. She couldn't believe what she just heard from the leader of UNSC. With the available technology, The UNSC began construction of the first Infinity by 2544. That was the early stages of studying Forerunner and Covenant technology thus it took 9 years for them to complete. ONI took all the steps to ensure the secrecy of this project though couldn't maintain he cover for a long time which forced them to advance their schedule for completion.

"Sir, Infinity is a prototype vessel with the implementation of more advanced technology for the first time" said Dare bug eyed.

"Yes, a prototype. Energy shields, energy weapons and...A Forerunner slipspace drive" said Hood. That got dare off guard as she knew what he was talking about.

"Of course Sir, I was the one to confirm a working Forerunner slipspace engine on Trevelyan after Halsey's science explored deep inside" said Dare.

Veronica was the ONI officer who actually confirmed the presence of a working Forerunner slipspace drive on the Shield world Onyx when she was informed of Halsey's team uncovering an active Forerunner complex. She relayed this information to the CINCONI who then proceeded to take measures in helping UNSC to directly retrofit the engine into Infinity with the assistance of Huragoks when they did not succeed in studying the engine's capability.

"You did. But there were things you didn't know...Answer me this. Was it necessary to put a Forerunner engine in to Infinity?" asked Hood which confused her a lot. She was wondering whether this was rhetorical question or not, but proceeded to reply anyway.

"Of course, That z- prototype has capabilities beyond imagination as what the egg heads said" replied Dare to which he nodded disapprovingly with a coy.

"No" said Hood, typing something in his terminal and bringing the image of a human scientist in his personal computer with lots of information written besides it. Dare instantly caught her eyes on him and identified the man. He had a pair of specs, a blonde hair and a visible scar of a knife cut in his right cheek.

"Recognize this person?" asked Hood.

"I do. It's Dr. Howard Brown from department of advanced theoretical physics in Draco III" replied Dare.

This man was a renowned civilian scientist and a friend and colleague of doctor Halsey. Catherine used to say that Brown was even more intelligent and experienced than her, though the age difference was only marginal. She also used to say that his knowledge in Slipspace physics is unparalleled and even unconventional for humanity itself comparing it to the understanding of gravity between Issac Newton and Albert Einstein. He was a major contributor for the theory of existence of parallel and alternate realities along side Doctor Halsey.

"I don't want to get too technical into this, so I'll keep it short" replied Hood to which she nodded and eagerly waited for Hood to speak.

"Back on 2551, this man developed a theoretical back ground for an advanced Slipspace engine by manipulating the existing laws of slipspace physics. But he said that UNSC and Covenant don't have the tools and technology to make this theory into real design which will continue to stay as a theory for ages to come unless we took an initiative" said Hood to which Dare acknowledged as she too knew that news. She was well aware of that theory and even knew that it had been published in the journals.

"I know that. But he also said that, even the forerunner engines are not 100% accurate and that there's always quite a flaw which can still pass in the Forerunner's scale. What of that, now?" asked Dare. Hood cleared his throat and talked.

"When the Forerunner drive on Trevelyan was found, an attempt to study the engine was done, but due to lack of better equipment and facilities, that was a total failure. But Brown had his doubts that coincidentally, that engine could have a probability of ending up as his own theoretical work unknown to anyone including himself" said Hood.

Dare looked down in suspicion and again seated back in her chair, slowly thinking hard about what he just said. If she correctly interpreted his statement, it means humans [Dr. Brown] had the potential to construct a drive powerful enough on par with the Forerunners if there had been enough resources and construction technology at their disposal and she was amazed at that idea.

"But, that all changed last month" said Hood with a smile.

"How?" asked Dare.

"After Infinity found the Master chief on Requiem by July, I sent 18 spartan IV soldiers along with the entire 35th brigade and 68th shock troop division in the Autumn class cruiser UNSC Event Horizon on August 12 to the same world" said Hood.

"And you think I don't know that? That ship was stationed at Epsilon Indi system until then" said Dare raising her eyebrow. Hood nodded and proceeded.

"Yes, The science division aboard was led by none other than our respected Dr. Brown" replied Hood. Dare was confused why he would do that. After Didact escaped Requiem, that place has got nothing but swarms of mindless prometheans, if not some potential Forerunner technology.

"Why would you send them there, now?" asked Dare dilemma.

"According to Chief's debriefing, That planet's got a wealth of Forerunner tech to study. When I directed this information to Dr. Brown, he was highly interested to see it by himself. So I sent them back to that place" said Hood.

"Splendid! And did they find anything?" asked Dare curiously.

"Apart from swarms of promethean forces which our soldiers managed with little casualties, the science team found-..." said Hood typing something in the terminal to reveal the display of a strange, big granite colored cuboidal object that had orange light patterns and many contour profiles and shapes in the edges and surfaces.

"This!" finished Hood. Dare focused her eyes towards the object trying to figure out what it was.

"What's that?" asked Dare looking at him.

"That is a slipspace translocation device that powers the Requiem's portal network. And there's our kick! A realistic technology in existence that coincidentally, perfectly matches Howard's theory" said Hood which stunned Dare and again glanced at the device.

"Ever since Infinity's commissioning, we happened to have pretty advanced scanners, imaging systems in our hands and using that, it just took only 1 hour for him to unveil the resources needed by studying the artifact" said Hood.

"So I take it that he reverse engineered the artifact to work as a slipspace drive?" asked Dare on a hunch. Hood laughed at the statement and leaned forward from his seat and spoke.

"Why should we reverse engineer when we can make one by ourselves!? Brown had already soft modeled a design of his own" asked Hood cryptically.

"And what about the resources to build?" asked Dare.

"That translocation device itself will serve as a raw material for the prototype, thus no need to go and search a long way ahead" replied Hood.

Dare was astounded with the information that UNSC scientists under guidance of Dr. brown had already designed a slipspace engine on par with the Forerunners with out reverse engineering their technology, let alone manipulating it. This is really a big leap for not just UNSC but the entire humanity. If humans are capable of such significant engineering feats, then from that moment on, Humanity never have to rely heavily on Forerunner or Covenant technology for their own advancements like they did previously. All these time, humans lacked the necessary resources and tools to build such advanced technologies. But...Time seems to be changing, that was what she felt.

"Is it complete?" asked Dare eagerly.

"In 2 weeks" replied Hood.

"And where's the other Infinity's being build? Also it took us a hell of a time to gather materials to make the first one" said Dare. Hood acknowledged that statement as what she said was true. Construction of Infinity wasn't a regular pushover job like other vessels.

"Remember Heian?" asked Hood. Dare's face fixed in the reminder of events that happened during the war.

UNSC sent a spartan named Cal-141 and a team of ODSTs to an unknown planet in the uncharted system. That planet was Heian. Covenant forces used it as a supply logistics base. To break the chain, the Spartans and ODSTs sabotaged the entire base at the cost of lives of the spartan and an ODST checkman.

On their hunt, they found strange ruins of buildings with Greco-Roman design, east Asian and middle eastern themes. Post war, Department of Xenoarcheological studies at Edinburgh university studied the photographs of ruins and weirdly found Human architectures wondering if anyone borrowed from them or the other way around.

After that, Several teams, both military and science team were sent to Heian for detailed study of the planets and found it was highly rich in dense minerals. On that day, Section 1 of ONI classified the location of the planet.

"I know that place. Our section classified it's location after finding wealth of dense materials long back" replied Dare.

"This 2nd Infinity class ship is being built on that planet utilizing it's vast enriched resources. UNSC materials research group stationed there even researched and developed a new Titanium-AX material twice denser and stronger than A3. This new ship has consumed a lot yet only a negligible portion of what's available on the ground" said Hood.

Then he revealed the images of the construction of the new Infinity ship which Dare curiously watched as it scrolled by and finally the finished vessel, that's ready for supply and commissioning.

"Huh, I take those words back, Sir. This galaxy is indeed safe" replied Dare sarcastically with a smile still glaring at the images of the ship.

"Sweet! We just finished a ship in just 4 years that too quite bigger than the first one" excitedly Dare said.

"When and his team finishes the drive, it will be fitted and will be 100% operational" said Hood.

It had become obvious that Humanity is becoming stronger and that too in a short time. It's true that human advancements were more and more rapid during the war and post war periods compared to their natural evolution for several thousand years.

But when all seemed fine for everyone, free of conflicts for quite some years, It is not still known why Hood prudently acted out of command to construct a powerful warship immediately after the first one. Is it the only other one? or are there more?

"That's all well and good. So who's gonna be the commanding officer for that ship?" asked Dare, getting to the crux of the conversation.

Hood got up from his seat and walked around the room slowly with his hands tied at back. Dare was simply gazing at him for his response.

"Who do you think?" asked Hood.

"Well, any naval veteran officer?" asked Dare, empty minded.

"No, That person is here in this room" abstrusely replied Hood. Dare instantly got the idea of whom it might be. There were only two of them in that room, so she made the natural selection.

"You? I thought you were the Chief of naval operations. When did you step down in responsibility?" asked Dare confused. Hood smirked and looked at her.

"I never said it was me" said Hood to which at first, Dare looked puzzled but her face slowly turned oblivious as she almost figured who it was and she was pissed off.

"Me? ME? You wanted 'ME' to command that vessel?" asked Dare shocked to the core. Hood was still relaxed at her expression.

"Why shouldn't you be?" asked Hood with a jest.

"With all due respect Sir, that's no way gonna happen" flared Dare instantly. Hood was again patient with his composure.

"Listen, it was wise of Osman to have you as the leader of section one. But when it comes to UNSC Security council of which ONI is a 'PART'...I am the final deciding authority" said Hood in a commanding tone.

"Yes Sir, I acknowledge that. But why me?" asked Dare irately.

"You are the most trusted valuable source within ONI at present. Many war veterans have taken permanent vacation. Lasky is out there somewhere, so there's no experienced naval commissioned officers around, especially those I trust. If there's someone who can command a vessel like this next to people like Tom, Keyes, Cole...Cutter?, it's you. Your records as a past soldier speaks volumes. And I need someone who actually knows the meaning of the word 'Discretion' " said Hood with all honesty.

Dare was speechless but also not yet happy with his decision. There was a reason she chose to stay as an intelligence officer, being a captain is quite a pain in the ass.

"You are already in your 40s and due for promotion. This is your time. Captain Veronica Dare, commanding officer and ONI section 1 leader of the UNSC Leviathan" said Hood.

"You even gave it a name?" asked Dare with a chuckle especially with the name of the giant biblical aquatic beast. Yes, this new INF class ship uses the fullest human technological potential that were sidelined for quite some time, it is truly a beast and a force to be reckoned with. Hood nodded and extended his hand. Dare looked at him with all the ambiguity.

She never thought she would handed over such an offer all of a sudden in a evening. Being an ONI officer, she had all that doubts naturally about why Hood did what he did. Of course, Dare was different among the ONI agents. She's ruthless but not cold hearted as Serin Osman or Parangosky. She's sagacious and does the right thing but also makes sure nothing stands in her way. This attitude sometimes have others misunderstand her character as a typical ONI. As Hood said, she's also highly discrete in her work and never divulge the nature of work to anyone, even among her working crew.

"*SIGH*...Fine, I accept your offer. But why do you hide this from ONI?" asked Dare finally accepting Hood's offer.

"I know how the section-0, 2, 3 will react to this. I don't trust them and even more when they framed Halsey and also when you revealed the information about a massacre they caused among the delegation between Elites and Brutes at Duraan. This new operation should not involve people from those sections. Osman is a viper, she'll learn things sooner than everyone. That's why I have personally kept it classified" replied Hood with a mild distaste in his tongue.

Dare acknowledged his points as she too knew those were true. She even knew that it was only a matter of time before the higher ups in ONI learned of a mole among them.

"You're right Sir, but you said something about a new mission?" asked Dare.

"Yes, A mission that's gonna change the lives of everyone and bring about a revolution. This new ship is gonna be the one to take part in that and you will be the one who will handle it with circumspection" replied Hood. Dare slowly walked near Hood's terminal and intently gazed at the still displayed images of the Infinity class ship.

"What's the mission, Sir?" asked Dare looking at him.

"Wait for few weeks, Once the drive is complete and fitted along with crew deployment and supplies, You will depart from Heian. As for the mission briefing, you will need to get to the UNSC research outpost on the Ark" said Hood which stunned Dare.

"Ark? The only way I know of getting there is through the Portal in Voi, not to mention getting everyone's attention" said Dare.

"No, you will get to the Ark from Heian, directly. According, Dr. Howard's calculations, You will reach Ark in 24 days from there with the new engine" replied Hood which amazed Dare regarding the capability of the new drive.

"Well, that's just great. Ok then, I accept your offer" said Dare with a smile.

"Thank you and you may leave now. You will be summoned when needed" said Hood to which she saluted and left the quarters. Hood then continued his work in his terminal.

One thing for sure, something's big is gonna happen it seems. That was Dare's thought before she left.

Ship specs:

Name: UNSC Leviathan
Class: Infinity class(Same architectural design)
Size: Length-6000mtrs, Width-904.4mtrs, Height-1231.3mtrs.
Hull: Titanium-AX battle plate (4 mtrs), x2.5 durability and strength than A3.
Shielding: Human Energy Shielding.
Slipspace engine: Prototype engine developed by Dr. Brown.
Powerplant: Boglin fields - S83/H3FR
Propulsion: 1 Primary and 2 Secondary repulsor engines
Sensors and Communications: Advanced Holographic Imaging system, spectroscopes, Lidar scans, Interstellar probes, 16 channel slipspace wavecom datalink.

Titanium-AX: On April 2552, scientists from ONI's materials group conducted research for new ship hull plating. While A3 was already developed before that time, still the final testing revealed that it is still susceptible to heavy plasma burns. So they decided to develop highly dense yet less weight material by still enhancing the Titanium-A3. The result was AX plating that is 2.5 times more dense and durable and were able to withstand heat of 1500 deg C without getting soft. But the mass fabrication at that time was costly. So they shelved it until the right time, which was the construction of 2nd Infinity class ship.

The strength of this new material was achieved by creating more lattice vacancies at melting point of Ti and reinforce it with carbon nano-particles and allow it to cool gradually. This creates a strong bond between the molecules of Ti-C thus improving durability.

Human Energy Shielding: Energy shields were first developed by ONI's beta-5 division in 2544 as a bubble shield format. Then after reverse engineering kig-yar point defense gauntlets, they were used in Mark V MJOLNIR powered assault armors. By May 2553, beta-5 division conducted research on developing highly efficient shielding systems based on Halsey's early breakthroughs in quantum physics. But the Aegis hard light module initially found on Intallation-05 gave them many ideas on how to generate coherent photonic matter to mimic as a solid surface.

On August 2553, ONI successfully re-purposed the Aegis module using Halsey's methodology as an instructional base to develop solid surfaces made of supercooled stream of positrons that are quantum mechanically locked through fermionic interactions. The photonic energy between the any two positrons emerging from their spin magnetic field can be reduced to zero point level that makes the particles of similar charge to pair closely and act as a single agent.

The same process applied to trillions of positron particles makes it to be spread as a plane surface similar to a hard light surface and mimic as solid object. This solid positronic surface can act as a bridge or even shaped to form dissipative energy shielding. When an energy based projectile hits the shields, the temperature gradient becomes high at the instant causing weakening of fermionic field. The shield strength is also directly proportional to the power input to the generator.

This was a significant innovation by Humanity without Forerunner reverse engineering, in post war period. But the production cost was high so it was kept under wraps until when extremely suggested. Leviathan uses this shielding.

Prototype Slipspace drive: On February 06, 2551, Dr. Howard brown from the department of advanced theoretical physics hailing from Draco III published multiple journals on hyper accurate slipstream navigation after briefly studying the errors in exit vectors of previous ship operational records for decades.

According to him, Instead of brute force punch the UNSC adopted or surgical cut the covenant use, Creating millions of sub-nuclear singularities in the dimensional orders of 10^-20 meters exactly at a point in the space-time fabric and enlarging it to the size of a ship's cross section through merging and additional supply of a single pulse of high energy density, thus preventing it from Hawking evaporation, can be used as a new way of slipspace travel. As the channel is generated from the quantum scale, the accuracy of opening the right slipstream path to the destination through quantum gravitational mathematical modelling is unparalleled. Brown received awards for this innovative breakthrough.

The problem is, any engine that uses this concept requires high power density and sophisticated materials to manufacture. At first, UNSC never had resources or facilities to build this kind of advanced technology. But thanks to Master Chief John-117's information, they managed to obtain a slipspace translocation device on Requiem by August 2557, which served as enough raw material for Dr. Brown to actuate his innovation.

This is yet another thing to add in their list.

S83/H3FR: It is a new power plant designed and developed by Boglin fields after they developed the S81/X-DFR for UNSC Infinity.

H3FR refers to Helium-3 Fusion reactor which is 4 times more powerful than the X-DFR. Helium-3 was considered as a highly potential fuel for fusion reactors. So they began running expedition teams in search for nearby He-3 reserves in higher quantity than what is available on Luna. Finally they managed to find huge deposits on the interstellar clouds most notably in the horse head nebula.

UNSC Leviathan is the first ship to utilize the H3FR power plant for it's systems.

Sub-light engines: Leviathan uses advanced Repulsor engines powered by H3FR power plant. The ship is fitted with 1 primary and 2 secondary engines slightly bigger than Infinity's.

Weapons: UNSC Leviathan boasts a wide variety of both conventional projectile and DE weaponry. There are 2 forward 8-series MAC guns with high charging efficiency of capacitor banks and new prototype plasma accelerator of 2 numbers below the MAC guns, thus making 4 main guns.

The plasma accelerator weapons use high energy streams of massive metallic plasma, compressed and accelerated by super conducting magnetic fields at lethal speeds. This uses the underlying concept of Magneto plasmadynamics though on a superior power scale that was previously impossible to be used as weapons. They work the same way as the MAC guns.

Then there are series of missile networks in even more higher numbers than what Infinity has.

There are also 3 heavy laser beam cannons of omega classification fitted in the both frontal sides and one at the dorsal side. Omega lasers are the most powerful laser beam in the power output range of 100 terawatts. UNSC had already tested this technology and decided that until a sophisticated power source was developed, this cannot be put into use. Thanks to H3FR, this was made possible. This much power output can tear through an Autumn class cruiser with relative ease and even pierce through energy shields and attack the hull at sufficient power levels.

Then the ship uses 90mm gauss point defense guns, 8 pairs of Anti- Aircraft 60-40 Nitroglycerine-Nitrotoluene warhead artillery that has the capacity to level a town.

Then last but not the least, Nuclear weapons. This new ship carries several SHIVA nukes, HAVOK missiles and one NOVA bomb in case of emergency. It also carries EMP mines that can mask it's signatures from enemy's sensor until triggered.

Complements:The Ship carries D79-TC pelicans, F-41 broadswords, Stratospheric missile Drones, V-91 Stealth gunships, M12B Warthogs, M820 Scorpion tanks, 12 nos. of M145D mobile artillery, three M510-Mammoths and 10 Strident class frigates docked at the ventral frigate bays.

Crew: 22,500 working personnel out of which 8935 are Naval and another 4935 are Marine corps, 4322 forms the Army regiment, 89th, 95th and 102nd ODST divisions, 12 Spartan IV fire teams(60 in total), 700 intelligence officers from Section-1, 1350 Engineers, 1021 medical officers and the remaining 1237 civilians.

AI: The AI of Leviathan is a male programming named 'Jason' that comes in the same line as Roland. It was fully created on March 25, 2557. He appears as a man in Norwegian ski suit somewhere between 30-35.

Over all, this new Infinity class ship is a significant feat of Human engineering and technology that was developed out of their own idealization without external influence. It is now the most powerful warship at UNSC's disposal and the largest vessel surpassing the first one, though Hood had planned to give the original Infinity the same upgrades when it comes back.

...

Omega station...
June 15, 2185,
08:30 PM GST

The SSV Normandy and it's crew had completed the most important mission in hunting down the collectors and destroyed their base by traveling through the omega-4 relay. The ghosts that had been haunting them for years were finally put down, but Shepard knew that was just the beginning. The real culprits are the ones who threaten the entire galaxy, The Reapers.

Shepard first learned of them back in 2183 while hunting down Saren. The ship he had was one of the million Reaper ships called 'Sovereign' and he helped to destroy it. Then he realized that they hunt down the advanced civilizations in the galaxy every 50,000 years in the name of preserving life.

Then the collectors shwed up hunting down humans in their colonies which was revealed as a plan to construct human reapers. Then Shepard worked with Cerberus to find that the collectors were Reaper servants and that they are mutated Protheans, again projecting Reapers as the mastermind.

But now?...Shepard and his crew identified a mysterious new enemy, a parasite like creatures which they first saw over the derelict reaper ship at over the Mnemosyne's moon, Lethe and that itself costed them almost their lives and just escaped in miniscule luck. Again they had to face them in the Collector base which drew a lot of suspicion. Another troubling fact was that the parasitic hive mind calling itself the 'Gravemind' said that it was controlling the Reapers for millions of years which makes them their new target.

Apart from that, another troubling fact was that the Cerberus's conducting illegal experiments with the parasite spores somewhere in the human colony of Horizon and had been doing that for a long time without the crew's knowledge even Miranda lawson.

At the Omega's night club...

Shepard and his crew members decided to take a short vacation after months of assembling the crew, training and preparing them to face the collectors. While they had completed the mission successfully, the horrors they faced and absolute nightmare and if in case anyone needed a sound sleep before they work their ass off again, they need to drink this moment away.

Shepard and the crew are at the Omega's night club where they are all enjoying the beer. Aria T' Loak wasn't to be found anywhere in that place. The whole club was active with all the people be it, humans, turians, salarians, batarians and asari. There were asari exotic dancers with whom those people seemed to be enjoying. There was this heavy disco vibrating the whole damn club that lifted everyone's spirits.

"Shepard, thanks for buying us many rounds" said Jacob gulping the beer in his glass and laughing. It was as Shepard promised back at the Normandy. Shepard too finished the round and replied.

"For all of us who made it outta hell in one piece!"cheered Shepard.

Jacob placed the now empty glass upon the bartender's counter and leaned over it's edge with Shepard adjacent to him in the same stance. Jacob's face slowly turned deadpanned and turned to look at the other squad members at a distant circular couch where they were enjoying themselves. Shepard got to see his face and he too turned to look at them and smiled. Jacob sighed and spoke.

"Hm, we just completed the preliminary round and we already feel like our fight's finished" said Jacob.

Shepard understood that statement. It was one hell of job after Cerberus brought him back alive. He was given a new vessel, a new crew and was asked to assemble a team comprised of top tier mercs, assassins, operatives, sharpshooters, a scientist, a reckless biotic bitch and a tank bred krogan with anger management issues etc., who doesn't give a damn about spilling someone's blood, fortunately that blood belonged to collectors. Surely, they deserved some rest though they knew they are long way from it.

"Only that this finished fight is just the beginning of our war against the real foe" replied Shepard.

"Reapers uh?..." asked Jacob gulping another round and shaking his head quick to relieve the kick.

"Well, you're right...and when they come, we would be ready to kick their asses once and for all...just like you did!"

"I wanted to say the same, but these reapers are not pushovers. We don't have to talk about them, now" said Shepard after having a round of beer. Jacob smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.

That was when they saw Miranda and Garrus approaching them. Shepard and Jacob adjusted themselves besides the counter to face the two.

"Somebody's enjoying a lot" said Garrus with a jest.

"Well, our fight had just got started and we need a little R&R. The reapers aren't gonna give us a break after then" replied Shepard to which Garrus chortled.

"You're damn right, Shepard. But, speaking of reapers, what's our next move?" asked Miranda folding her hands. Shepard glanced at the three and raised his eyebrows in slight vexation. He took a deep breath and spoke.

"Admiral Hackett and I-...uh...had a conversation. Since we've defeated the reapers, I told him, it was time, I faced the music back on Earth" said Shepard not so enthused. Garrus and Miranda slightly nodded in resentment.

"Batarian system in the Viper, right?" asked Miranda to which he nodded.

"There's a lot of political backlash created with that incident. They are so much eager to go to war with us. To keep things under control, Hackett wanted me to surrender to the Alliance, so the committee can resolve this peacefully" said Shepard.

"Not to be pessimistic, but I don't see how they are gonna take the destruction of their system so lightly. As far as I remember, Batarians never liked humans and no one can differentiate a civilian and a cut throat among them" replied Garrus.

That was true. The Skillian Blitz and raids on Mindoir back on 2176 A.D culminated in the bad blood between the humans and Batarians. Shepard hesitated at first to destroy the alpha mass relay and in turn the entire system despite the impending reaper invasion at the back door. But the circumstance called for a binary choice. Either destroy the system and delay the invasion or have reapers at our door step. Shepard unwillingly chose the former that cost the lives of 300,000+ batarians. Shepard knew that his decisions were gonna be lambasted hard and even be met with retaliation though some like Hackett would see it logically right. However, duty or not, Shepard's gonna answer for that anyway.

Shepard looked at Garrus and approved his statement in his mind.

"Shepard, Don't take it as an obligatory statement. But you just changed our lives. Gave us a bigger purpose to look up on. You don't have to do this alone. Let us come with you to face the music together" said Garrus with a seriousness in his voice. Garrus always considered Shepard first as a friend before the superior officer. He meant those words when he said that.

"Yes, commander. You just contributed a greater part for humanity when others were sleeping. We all could come with you" said Jacob who too shared his concern.

Shepard was happy with their words and felt a sense of pride that he managed to bring forth a change as much as he could. But he's not a man who would drag others into trouble.

"Thank you very much, but that's not what we agreed. I don't want you in this hassle and that's an order" said Shepard to which Garrus sighed and nodded. Then Shepard spoke once again,

"Before we go our separate ways, I wanted to know certain things" said Shepard.

"About what?" asked Miranda.

"I take it that Mordin must have gone to his old clinic here, And I don't see Jack or Zaeed over there, so I presume they must have already left to take care of personal issues" said Shepard.

"So what? Want us complement your eagle eyes?" asked Jacob with jest. Shepard smirked and then continued.

"Miranda, I tried to contact the Illusive man for 2 hours straight back at Normandy. But there wasn't any response. Do you know anything about that?" asked Shepard. Miranda's face turned serious and kept her fingers over her chin thinking deep about the query.

Actually, she too was confused with the Illusive man's silence. He was the most interested man regarding this mission and now he stays like he never cared. That was too odd for him. He had never been careless in his work, especially this. He invested a great fortune to kill the collectors and was the biggest player in helping Shepard. Now he acts like he wasn't in the playground.

"Illusive man would never be this careless, taking the fact that he was the architect of this suicide mission. Even my efforts at contacting him were in vain. I need to check this out immediately" said Miranda. Before anyone could respond, Garrus talked with urgency.

"Shepard! We all totally forgot about something!" said Garrus and others were blinking in confusion.

"What?" asked Jacob.

"A month ago, we all met the strangers of this galaxy. Those people calling themselves 'Spartans' with a big ship at their disposal" said Garrus to which everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

Garrus was right, they totally forgot about those UNSC people whom they met more than a month ago. Even they showed them the evidence that they were from a different universe which they can't digest even now.

Shepard and Tali knew the real truth about their arrival which was even more a greater mystery. The spartans said that they traveled to this place to help them fight the reapers especially because someone from their universe had a sense of this annihilation. Shepard never divulged this information as he was still with the Cerberus and didn't want them to know about that.

"Ah Yes! Them. We have no idea where they are and no means to communicate them" replied Miranda.

"I know" thought Shepard. Yes, the spartans gave Shepard and Tali, a special secret link to contact them.

"And we also have no idea on their level of activity in this galaxy...Which is quite troublesome...but not to worry much" said Jacob.

"With the level of technologies they possess, we can even ask them to help us fight the reapers" said Garrus to which Shepard mentally laughed though kept a stoic face.

"Amidst this talk, we also forgot that we have a new foe. That parasite" said Shepard which immediately turned everyone's face grim with mild fear.

Of course, while the reaper threat was enough for them, this parasitic organism formed out of the sage colored mist strikes more fear in their minds. They had never seen anything like those creatures before. Especially, Shepard can never forget it as he had this weird conversation with the parasite hive mind which claims it's existence in this galaxy for 10 million years and says it shares the reapers goal and that it also has influence over them. Shepard was shocked to hear that. Even the Prothean beacons never revealed anything about these parasites. 10 millions means these things resides the Milky way for 200 cycles.

"Actually, back on the derelict reaper, we learned that Illusive man had already obtained samples of it and secretly working with it at a facility in Horizon for which I don't have the authorization" replied Miranda. She already started doubting her boss when she learned of this.

"So, what do we do?" asked Shepard. Miranda was calculating the possibilities,

"Something can be done. I need to know what Illusive man's up to. I must immediately leave Omega...Tonight" Miranda rushed up her words and then turned to face the commander and spoke once again,

"Thank you for the party. That was nice warm up. See you later" said Miranda .

Shepard nodded in approval. After completing this mission, Even the on board Cerberus agents earned his trust because of the morals, each and every situation taught them in this mean time.

"In that case, You know who to turn back if you need any help" said Shepard with a smile. Miranda nodded gladly and decided to leave Omega as of then. She turned back and walked towards the exit and stopped mid way to see Shepard.

"And Shepard? Good luck" said Miranda to which he waved her a glass of wine in response. Miranda then left the place.

Garrus, Jacob and Shepard watched her leave. Garrus sighed a bit and had a round of turian beer.

"So Garrus, what's your plan?" asked Shepard.

"Nothing, Just gonna pay a visit to my old man and share this adventure"

"Do you think now, your father's gonna accept your decision of becoming a spectre?" asked Shepard with a smirk. Garrus's father Castis Vakarian was a C-sec officer and had a general distaste for spectres as they work above law which is contradictory to his own beliefs. Thus he spoke Garrus out of that idea and had a friction in their relation ship.

Garrus chuckled a bit and spoke.

"Huh, never. But who cares! Though I'm little worried about our people's readiness in facing the reapers. Still, there are many millions who think that's bullshit" said Garrus frustrated.

"It's gonna be a tough fight, but we'll manage" replied Jacob who was listening to their conversation. Garrus half-heartedly shrugged his shoulder.

"Any way, thank you commander. I too will leave Omega tonight. Thanks for the drink...take care" said Garrus, saluting him and left the club. Shepard nodded with the soldier to soldier respect.

By that time, Shepard and Jacob watched the remaining crew members already dispersed from their couch. Joker was the only one who stayed and shook hands with them before they left the place.

"Looks like everyone's leaving, so shall we" said Jacob. Then Joker came to see the commander and Jacob near the bar counter.

"Take it that everyone had a great time over there" said Shepard raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, they all parted ways. Grunt's gonna get back to Tuchanka, Tali's returning to her flotilla, Mordin's decided to pick up all the trash in his clinic and leave for Surkesh...*SIGH*...Well, everyone needs a vacation" said Joker, slightly depressed as the crew won't be with them anymore.

"That's right, Joker. But it's also time for us leave" said Shepard. Joker wasn't fond of that.

"Ah, come on! A few more hours won't hurt" said Joker in a mischievous tone though not stable in that statement. Shepard wasn't amused as he was more serious about that.

"Joker, We both know that can't happen. I told Hackett that we would be there tomorrow" said Shepard. Joker turned downhearted as he too didn't like the Alliance court martial him. But he too knew that they had to face the repercussions. Joker sighed and spoke,

"Fine, Others in the ship had already left. it's only us, commander. I'll wait for you at the Normandy" replied Joker and slowly walked towards the club's exit door. Shepard watched him leave and then turned to face Jacob.

"So Jacob?" said Shepard

"Commander, I'm glad to have known you personally. See you some day" said Jacob with a smile and shook hands with Shepard out of respect. Shepard nodded and then he too turned to exit the club and leave Omega.

He walked towards the door glimpsing at what all had happened in the past 2 months while hunting the collectors.

After exiting the club, he reached the junction where there was an elcor bouncer checking in on people before they entered the club. He reached for the door straight in front and then turned left to walk the narrow pathway. The door at the end was the place where Normandy's docked with it's front air lock.

aboard Normandy...

The door opened and he entered the vessel. Then the door closed behind and decontamination procedures were on routine. After pressurization, Shepard entered the CIC and turned left to the cockpit. There Joker was already working with the terminal, checking the ship's systems and running diagnostics.

"Everything's ready?" asked Shepard.

"Aye aye! The Normandy's ready to fly on your word" said Joker

"Good. EDI, have you compiled all the recordings of our mission at the collector base?" asked Shepard. He had already decided to record every single event that followed. EDI did a great job in compiling those mission logs with appropriate time and event frame.

"Yes, Shepard. Those have been sent to your personal terminal. You can view it anytime" replied EDI. Shepard felt relieved as he can show these footage so that almost every ignorant species of this galaxy might realize their mistake of failing to identify the impending doom.

"One less thing to worry about" muttered Shepard and then turned to face Joker.

"Joker, set course to Earth. Notify me when we're about to get there...I need time to put my 'real' dress" said Shepard. Shepard was wearing the Cerberus officer uniform which would simply worsen the situation if wore that and stood before the Alliance personnel. He has his Alliance commander uniform at stock all the time even aboard the SR-2.

"Sure commander. Good night!" replied Joker amusingly. Shepard smiled back and nodded, leaving the grip off the helm's seat.

He then walked out of the cockpit to get the view of the empty CIC that was once filled with officers. As they had been assigned only for this mission and coupled with the fact that Normandy had lost full contact with the Cerberus command, the Illusive man himself. So they all decided to land on omega and go their separate ways. Now all that's present in the vessel were EDI, Joker and Shepard.

He can't let the feeling of loneliness get off his mind as even though 2 months weren't a big time spent together, It was great to share their experiences in the interim period. Even his yeoman Kelly chambers was not there. Shepard mentally sighed and walked over the elevator and made his way to his personal quarters.

Thus comes the real 'Pain in the ass' for the Milky way after the 'Walk in a park'...

...

Spartans base, Titan nebula
June 15, 2185 08:45PM GST

The Blue team excluding Jorge, Lasky, Palmer, Carter and the Arbiter are back at Lasky's quarters. Chief and his team had put their respective armors on them. They were all standing in the big hall with the lights on. Morning, they just viewed the citadel news and saw the live telecast of Sparatus's warning. It had completely pissed off the UNSC and separatists forces. They had been charged for something they never took part. So as Chief suggested, They decided to go and meet them to avert an unnecessary crisis.

Lasky had his fingers in the temple and his eyes closed. He was in deep thought. It had been a few days since they arrived here and they had already found themselves in trouble

"Damn! I don't know what we're gonna do. Help this galaxy fight these Reapers or we fight everyone in this galaxy" said Lasky quite distressed.

Chief could understand his frustration as he too didn't like his. He and his team always believed that the council won't interfere in their affairs, but never thought they had this pointless grudge against them.

"If it were us alone, we would teach these council a nice lesson about manners, in our way" said Arbiter who had nothing but hatred though he didn't express it fully in his face or voice. Others turned to look at him in tense, not willing for anyone from their side to start a fight.

"We don't have to fight. Besides, these councilors are not the highest authority in this galaxy. Each councilor must answer their race's leader. In turian's case, Its the primarch" said Cortana from the base's common speakers connected everywhere. This information got them intrigued.

"Primarch? Like the president of Humanity?" asked Palmer curiously.

"Yes. The primarch has the power and rights to dethrone a councilor of their race with the other's help" said Chief. Laksy immediately got out of the couch with his eyes shrunken in curiosity.

"Then is it possible for us to meet them?" asked Lasky.

"Well, we don't have to. Because the way we see it, He's the only one who had foolishly done something like this out of arrogance and ego" said Linda. Others wondered why she said that.

"What do you mean by that Spartan?" asked Arbiter.

"It means, Not all intent hostility. Only Sparatus is directing his personal hate for humans towards us" said Fred. Others were silently processing the facts and planning to make the next strategic move.

Lasky walked around the couch and took a cup of coffee from the maker placed upon the counter. He took a sip and spoke up.

"That councilor had given us a month. I say we don't have to see them for now. Let's observe what's going on among them and see if someone looks through this issue. We all will meet them if the worst case scenario grows out" said Lasky in a firm voice. Others nodded in approval after a couple of seconds though not the Arbiter.

"Captain Lasky, I don't trust the words of someone who acts foolishly. What is the probability that they will keep their word?" asked Arbiter seriously. Lasky in fact acknowledged that question.

"Arbiter's right. We can't let them go on to war with the humans here when there's no need for it" said Carter voicing his opinion.

"In that case, you all stay here while we take care of this, Captain. We had been here for more than a month and are quite experienced in handling people here. We will talk to them or do anything eloquent to get them in line" said Chief.

Actually Lasky was hesitant to that idea of going alone, but saw the sense in it. The spartans themselves got a pretty much great fire power to deal with them. So he felt it was logical for him to accept this proposal.

"Even that's a good idea. We can even have them understand that they need to stand together to fight the reapers setting aside their differences" said Cortana.

Laksy's face was inscrutable. He currently leads a fleet as a de facto leader with the UNSC's most powerful warship. He cannot do anything without being provident in a place unknown to him. And he may be the commanding officer, but blue team has more than a month experience in this place and had greatly assessed everyone, so to some extent he had to rely on their wise council.

Still, everyone came through the portal just because Hood and Lasky wanted to help the Master chief and his team to be brought back safe and if possible and needed, help in his mission to unveil the truth about the portal and whatever threat or mysteries surrounding it.

"Well, we are in a completely different place. We only got a handful of ships in our fleet. We can't jeopardize our position unless or otherwise extremely needed at least for our good sake" replied Lasky again thinking to make the decision. He had to be careful as this involves a whole new level of politics.

"Hm, not to be rude, but good luck with this fool's errand. I accept this Chief, but don't involve you and your team too much into their politics. Try to convince them, but stay away as much as possible" said Lasky to which Chief nodded.

"Yes Sir. Besides, Cortana's doing her best to find a way out of this place" said Kelly.

"Good. It might be a lot of work pressure, but one that is necessary as of now" said Lasky to which the spartans nodded in acknowledgement.

"Besides, did you had any luck in contacting this human commander Shepard?" asked the Arbiter.

"No, we are waiting for his call. We wanted to leave him alone until he completes his collector mission" replied Kelly.

Lasky raised his eyebrows, nodded his head disapprovingly and sighed. It was truly a toughday for him. He really wanted to get to their place before it becomes another issue in their place in future.

Lasky then turned around the hall in confusion for few seconds and then spoke,

"Wait a minute, Where's our good old doctor? I didn't see her for more than a day" said Lasky is suspicion. The blue team glanced at each other and Cortana replied for them.

"Well, she's got something we gave to keep her occupied for the time being"

Lasky chuckled at that and talked.

"What? Scratching her head for research on this universe?" asked Lasky in a jest.

"Some-...thing like that, yeah" replied Cortana hastily to cover the reason. The fact of the matter is, She's in deep study about the testimonials that Cortana gave her and it would take at last 2 days to finish reading it. But for some reason, Chief and Cortana decided not to tell anyone except Halsey until the right time.

"Hm, Whatever. Alright, I'm gonna do some reading with this codex. So see you later. You are dismissed" said Lasky. The spartans saluted and left the quarters, including the Arbiter.

After getting outside, Chief turned to his team and spoke

"Get to our place. I will be back in a minute" said Chief. The spartans nodded and replied,

"See you, brother" said Fred and then they proceeded to walk their way to the personal quarters.

...

Chief stood there silently for a moment thinking about what just happened that day. It was then he noted someone walk from his behind and the footsteps were quite heavy with mild metal thuds. Chief simply turned his head to his left and caught sight of the Arbiter. He then turned fully to take a good at him.

"Arbiter" greeted John. Arbiter came to a stop in front of the Chief and he could easily say even amidst the Sanghelli face that he looked worried. John could see something was bothering his friend.

"Something's wrong?" asked Chief to which he stood silent for few seconds and then waved him to walk along the road with him. John did as he requested.

"I hope you have little time to spare, if you wish?" asked Arbiter cheerless. John couldn't believe he was talking with such humbleness coz he only remembers the Arbiter as a fearless ruthless warrior like a Spartan.

"I do. Speak your mind" said John to which the Arbiter looked slightly down and sighed.

"Yes, Do you know why we came here while we had a war to fight?" asked Arbiter. John was wondering the same thing. Arbiter was at war with Jul' Mdama's covenant faction and it was during that time, he uncovered the artifact.

"No, but we were wondering the same" said Chief feeling skeptic.

"That was because we never found that artifact in the lagoon nebula by an accident. We in fact searched for it" said Arbiter which stunned even the stoic John. He never expected this answer. Chief, abruptly stopped walking. Arbiter did the same and turned to face him.

"I don't understand. You searched for it?" asked Chief. He started to sense that something had happened unknown to everyone.

The blue team knew of the portal's existence only through the monitor of the Iridescent and that facility's secured tight. No one knew it's location. With out that, he wondered how Arbiter's faction might have already known about this portal and looking for it. Chief's assumptions were fluctuating such that he started to doubt whether there was any other unknown source by which the Arbiter could have learned about the artifact.

Arbiter reminded himself of the past events that moved at higher frame rate in a flash of a second.

"A month before we found the artifact, On one of the moon orbiting Sanghelios, Suban. Our people excavated a highly ancient ruins several kilometers deep that laid dormant for several years unknown. None of the scanners revealed existence" said Arbiter. John was highly tantalized to hear that.

"What ruins?" asked Chief.

"We know nothing of that except that it is not Forerunner in origin" said Arbiter.

"How come you never found that until then?" asked John feeling suspicious.

"We planned to mine in the deep crust 5 kms from the surface. That's when we found that. All these times, it had stayed under our plain sight, don't know for how long" said Arbiter.

Chief was centralized on the information about the ruins. He wondered that if not the Forerunners, then who could it be. If he remembers anything with correlations of recent facts, then there are only two possibilities that comes to his mind when talking about ruins. It's either the ancient humanity who were as old as the Forerunners or these mysterious race called the 'Precursors' that Cortana said something about on the day they finished this base. But he cannot say that for sure.

"So what did the ruins carry?" asked Chief. Arbiter's face turned mildly horrified. He kept moving his mandibles in adjustment.

"Arbiter?" called out Chief.

"That ruins had an artificial structure, it was...never like anything we've seen before" said Arbiter with all the incidents played like a movie in his mind live as he was explaining.

"I went near...and touched the surface of the structure-...And..." said Arbiter and stopped to fully feel what he saw back on that day. Even after a long time, it was still like he saw it yesterday.

"It showed me the visions of the Artifact in the Lagoon...then into the dark space beyond the rim exactly at a particular region which I managed to identify. Then everything turned blank and I was thrown back with a force" finished Arbiter.

Chief listened to him very carefully trying to decipher this problem. This was something he never heard of, a structure that carried memories or stored data hidden for a long time, this day was getting weirder for him.

"What did you do then?" asked Chief.

"Ever since I touched the surface, Even without knowing those locations, I was subtly guided to those places exactly. Even now, I remember them. The first place we visited was the dark space. But strangely, there was nothing there. We triple checked that zone but we found nothing. We didn't understand why. But the second place we visited was the portal, and it stayed the exact same place as seen in the visions. After hunting down the loyalists for a month to reduce their numbers, we decided to take a look into that matter. That's when-..."

"You called the UNSC HighCOM and notified them of the portal, I can understand that. But what prompted you-..." replied Chief finishing Arbiter's statement.

Prompted me to notify your people?" asked Arbiter. Chief nodded in acknowledgement.

"When we went near the portal the second time, We picked a UNSC signal in the zone of million mile radius around the artifact. We tracked it's vector and it was inexplicable that the UNSC signal vanished directly into the portal. That's when we realized it was our responsibility to notify you. But when we did that, Your leader, Hood already received a message from your construct that it was none other than you and your team" replied Arbiter.

Chief now understood how the UNSC got here and who was the first person to notify of the portal and above all, what was the reason for the Arbiter himself to get here leaving his place. But what he never understood was an unknown ruins on Suban that gave Arbiter visions of the portal and a strange zone in the dark space. That was what peeling his mind in confusion.

"Is it still necessary to leave your people back there?" asked Chief. Arbiter knew that was a logical one. Of course, he could have stayed behind, but chose not to do so. Arbiter's face turned evasive and laughed a bit.

"Huh, I could have" said Arbiter, his face immediately turning dead serious.

"But Spartan...Ever since I saw the ruins, there was this unexplained feeling inside me. Something tells me that things are never going to be the same for all of us. Something big, is coming spartan, I know that, I can feel it and I can say that it's not good. The only thing we should worry about is whether or not we are ready to face it" said Arbiter. John was confused at the same time alarmed at his statement.

"Face what?" asked Chief suspiciously.

"The coming storm" replied Arbiter in a grim tone. While John can realize that something has turned awkward, he can't understand fully what Arbiter was saying. Part of the statements were cryptic.

"You seem to know a lot more" said Chief immediately interrupted by the Arbiter.

"Yes, But something is preventing me from telling that to you. But I can show it to you, show you what I saw. May be you can understand then" said Arbiter. John decided to better look into whatever Arbiter's got in store for him, maybe he can figure something out.

"Right, what is that you want to show me?" asked Chief.

"Follow me to my quarters" replied the sanghelli. Then both made their way towards the Arbiter's quarter's. John's curiosity rose to peak as all the conversations he had with him now seemed too cardinal for something. He intended to find that out.

...

September 15, 2557
Milkyway, galactic Rim

The galactic Rim of the Milky way had always carried lots of mysteries than any other region of the galaxy. 100 millennia ago, the Rim was once rich in biological life. It was active with civilizations who utilized the astronomical resources effectively for their advancements. But after then, the region became nothing short of a desert. The whole border stands empty, abandoned and devoid of any flourishments.

It stays the same even to this day. UNSC and the Covenant forces never managed to look into the border because of one reason, that is their ineffective slipspace drive. With the UNSC and Covenant race's smaller sphere of influence compared to the still significantly larger unexplored parts of the galaxy, it takes a long time for them to cross a particular distance. UNSC drives can over 2-3 light years in 24 hours with early prototypes. Now with the current advancements, still they can barely cover a 100 light years in the same time span which is still pale compared to covenant and the forerunner abilities.

Yet this human advancement in the post war period was due to the recovery of the forerunner drive which they retrofitted into the Infinity. UNSC's attempts to reverse engineer the forerunner engine was a 90% failure, but the 10% success lead to this significant improvement. But if humans found the way to use the slipspace crystal, they can squeeze out the power to cross incredible distances, but they need an energy source that can sustain such an operational power density with out failure.

The galactic border unknown to many races, contains a lot of worlds rich in useful resources and interstellar dusts of hydrogen and dark matter. Anyone new to the place can only listen to the infrasonic sound of the quantum vacuum and the planetary bodies.

/: UNKNOWN SYSTEM IDENTIFIED
STAR CHART REFERENCE...
PRIMARY LOCATION: GALACTIC RIM, MILKY WAY
COORDINATES(approx): 900 Lys in Y-frame, -2.3o apparent shift from the galactic center

/: SIGNAL OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN FROM PLANET A!#$%^FG(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
/: PERFORMING FAST FOURIER FILTERING...
ISOLATING INTERFERENCE NOISE...
...
...
...
SIGNAL DECRYPTION FAILED...
/: REROUTING SUBROUTINE CONTROL TO #137-23A-CRB...
...
...
/: WAKE UP PROTOCOL INITIATED...
/: PRIMARY SYSTEMS ONLINE...
/: ROUTING POWER SUPPLY TO ALL THE STATIONS...
...
...
...

/: RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTICS...
...
...
FOREIGN MICROBIAL PARASITE DETECTED AT STATION 03-A15...
/: INITIATING DECONTAMINATION PROTOCOL AND DE-PRESSURIZING OF 03-A15...
...
...
DONE...
/: LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS - NORMAL
/: POWER SUPPLY - NORMAL
/: WEAPONS DIAGNOSTICS - ALL UNDER EXPECTED PERFORMANCE

/: FINAL TRANSFER OF COMMAND CONTROL TO CAPTAIN INITIATED...
TRANSFER SUCCESSFUL...

DATE AND TIME: SEP 15, 2557 (From the last mission recording)
17: 32: 54 HOURS (EARTH Std)

A lone ship was drifting in space which just entered a star system in the borders. The ship was UNSC from it's design, but doesn't match the current standards. It looked old and had very much seen a lot of action in the past. The technology it carried was almost considered obsolete even in the current UNSC. But it's fusion reactors were still intact and supplied steady uninterrupted power.

All the weapons came online with the archer missile pods protruding out, ATAF missile batteries coming out as if they found a target. Then the ship's port side windows opened up in the bridge to reveal a planet at a distance of 1,000 kms, whose Rayleigh scattering effects over the atmospheric horizon revealed a deep blue mixed with cyan light. Though the scattering was poor because the planet seemed to lack enough atmospheric density.

At the cryo bay, all the cryo tube controls went green and the doors pop opened up with the cryo gas expanding out in the atmosphere. Then slowly, UNSC personnel started to wake up feeling an immense strain in their muscles. The tubes opened one by one in all over the cryo bay that was holding 5770 individual personnel which included the bridge crew, engineers, medical officers, marines, ODSTs and 3 spartan IIs designated S-130, S-092, S-042.

Then in one of the cryo tube, woke up an officer who was 52 yrs old but still retaining the scars of war in the face and that daring attitude, wearing an officer uniform that had the UNSC captain insignia. He heard distant voices around him but damped due to the glass. He then rapidly got out of the tube and drew a number of long deep breath. After his heartbeat and pulse stabilized, he then walked over the controls to take his traditional cap that was hung over. He took it and then wore it.

His uniform read the name, Cptn. James Cutter, commanding officer of the UNSC Spirit Of Fire, a Phoenix class colony ship that was declared lost with all hands by the UNSC.

"Welcome back, Captain" cheered a medical officer to which Cutter smirked and nodded.

"A quick medical scan-..." said the officer who was scanning him using his data pad and checked his vitals.

"Done. You are good to go, Sir" said the officer.

"Thank you officer" replied Cutter who then proceeded make his way towards the bridge.

Captain Cutter is a war veteran who began his career as commissioned officer for the first time on 2507 and was personally hand picked by the legendary vice admiral Preston. to be the commanding officer of the UNSC Spirit Of Fire around 2525. Even the current fleet admiral Lord Hood once served under Cutter's command around 2528. A man who could have easily made it to the rank of Admiral if he wanted to, but stayed behind due to his lack of political ambitions and his unwillingness to step over others head.

The last mission he part took was the Harvest campaign, then to Arcadia and then to the Forerunner Shield world 0459. On harvest, they found a forerunner map which led them to Korinth prior system. Before that, they had to get to Arcadia to fight the raiding covenant and rescue the kidnapped Anders. Then at the shield world, the crew stopped the covenant from gathering the forerunner fleet by triggering a supernova using the SOF's slipspace drive as a bomb and in the process, they lost a good soldier named Forge who made sure the bomb went off and won the battle.

After losing the slipspace drive, the ship was drifting in space for 26 years and finally reached an unknown system at the rim.

The ship is a sort of legend among the UNSC, having served for a long time in the pre-war era as a colony ship for at least 50 years before being refit as a military vessel. This makes SOF as the oldest ship, still intact under UNSC's disposal.

In just one hour, almost all the crew members woke up and were relieving themselves of all the stress due to sub-zero cold and was ready to take orders from Cutter.

"Sir, glad to be back. Me and the other crew are ready to take control in the bridge" said a bridge officer named Lt. Peterson who approached and saluted him on his way. Cutter smiled at him and it had been 26 years since he used his vocal cord. But it's not like being rusty.

"Alright Lieutenant, I'll see you and the others at the bridge" ordered Cutter and his voice had quite changed due to long cryo sleep. The officer nodded and left the place.

Soon the whole ship saw great activity, with military personnel seeing to their weapons and military armor, Engineers checking for diagnostics and maintenance. Cutter turned his head to his right to look at the cryo tube, that was just then given the wake up stir. The tube had a name plate at the top of the door that read...Prof. Ellen Anders.

"Wake up professor, We got a lot to do" muttered the captain and walked towards the cryo bay exit to reach the bridge. On the way the people did a crisp salute when they see him, no matter what they did. Cutter used an old ship board tram system to reach the command deck.

At the bridge, Cutter was welcomed by his crewmen,

"Captain on deck!" barked Lieutenant Peterson, bridge officer who assembled the others to the bridge. Everyone gave a crisp salute to him.

"At ease people. Peterson, send a message to prof. Anders to get here once she's out of the cryo" ordered Cutter.

"Yes Sir" the officer acknowledged.

At the cryo bay, Prof. Ellen Anders woke up and got out of the cryo and relaxed herself for a few minutes while the cryo engineers were doing their routine checkup on the pods and medical officers were checking her bio-readings.

Anders was originally assigned to the SOF to serve as the science officer for their shield world mission. The covenant used Anders to release the forerunner fleet as they needed a reclaimer. She also happened to face a deadly parasitic life without knowing that it was the flood. In the ensuing battle, she lost John forge with whom she was romantically involved. Even as of now, she mourns his loss.

"Well, your vitals are normal, professor, you are good to go" said the medical officer after examining her using the hand held bio-map sensor.

"Thank you. Where's the captain?" asked Anders feeling relaxed that nothing was wrong about her.

"At the bridge waiting for you" replied the officer. She nodded and after the officers finished their examination and left the place. Anders stretched her neck and looked at her arms and folded her fingers multiple times to relieve it of stress after being kept dormant for a long time. Anders then headed straight to the bridge to meet the captain after a very long time.

...

After 10 minutes, Anders reached the bridge taking a good look of the outer space with a planet appearing in front through the port view. She raised her eyebrows in astonishment and felt a sudden temporary joy that finally they might have reached home. But that thought was immediately shoved aside as something she saw wasn't right with the planet. She recognized that it was neither UNSC nor the Covenant as both parties would have made a distinguished kind of contact with them.

She then walked over the Captain and instead of a greeting,

"Captain, we need to see what's there in the planet" said Anders finally coming into the captain's view. Cutter nodded in disapproval and let an evasive smile.

"Well, Good to see you too after a long time, professor" said Cutter.

Anders couldn't control the big smile due to his humorous response.

"Ugh...Sorry Captain, great to be back" said Anders. She then immediately went to work in the holo table and brought some screens and manipulated it get a reading on the planet and the system. She then got to see a subroutine program notification that was blinking in another holo-screen. Her vision turned concentrated towards the notification.

"Captain, you need to see this" said Anders who then opened the notification only to see that the program was what that awakened them. Cutter also saw all the subroutine command lines and comments. His face turned suspicious.

"So this subroutine program is the reason why we are awake. The ship's sensors had detected this planet and...what the hell?" said the captain who was distracted by a new image of comm wave which drew a lot of suspicion.

"Sir, its a signal from that planet, but our systems couldn't decrypt it. Either it's advanced or highly secured. Serina-..." said Anders, her face frowned after saying the late AI's name. Cutter too felt sad for 2 seconds. While the crew only got to work with her only for a short time, while sleeping almost till her end of lifespan, still it was quite an impact she made on them.

"I think she left a message" said Anders who then played a recording that Serina did two decades back.

After selecting the file, then came a voice.

"Greetings Captain, take it that you are still alive" a hologram came up, of a young woman from the holo table, dressed in white and black talking in british accent. And the tone wasn't expressing pleasant mood. It was quite distressful. Anders and Cutter etched their eyes at the AI's pre-recorded image. The other bridge crew members were slightly distracted by Serina's voice.

"The ship's in a situation that I...could not anticipate"

"I'm certain the professor would enjoy that little admission, so let's keep it between us, Shall we?"

"We've been a drift over 26 years as of now. I have made quite a few repairs while you people were sleeping, so ship's systems are 100%"

"Cryo worked well and med stats of all working crew are green" said the woman. Up until, this point, the tone was professional. But then it became personal and a bit...emotional.

"As for me?...Well"

"Regulations are clear about the final dispensation of AIs after the 7 years life span"

"I took care of my arrangements on my own rather not wake you up, I didn't want to-..."

"Well, I hope you can forgive me this final breach of protocol. It was a pleasure and an honor working with you, Sir. Do look after everyone for me would you?"

"Good bye Captain. That would be my last words...Serina out" finished the AI. This was a pre recorded message from the UNSC AI Serina which went operational from 2530 and reached the full rampancy state by 2537. But she took care of her own disposal at the right time. Before her eventual termination, she developed certain sub-routines to be performed in future in case of any contingency event.

Anders and captain Cutter looked down despondently, but felt proud that she did her best for the crew when they wake up a long time after. Now Cutter turned serious and professional.

"So our astro navigation showed that we are at the galactic rim in an uncharted system that has 15 planets orbiting a B type star with us positioned above the 4th one" said Anders then bringing another hologram and manipulating it to bring a rough mapping of the planet with topographical data as much as she can.

"This certainly is not our vacation. Lieutenant, check for any fleet or ship activity around the 3AU from this planet" ordered Cutter. The officer obliged and ran through the systems to check.

"Nothing sir, though I read a faint magnetic activity at multiple spots north west to our position, but it's clear we don't see anything. Must be some sort of geomagnetic residues from the planet" said the officer. Cutter's face turned suspicious. A magnetic activity with nothing in plain sight is something he didn't wish to take it as mere natural phenomenon.

"Lt, keep track of it and tell me if you find anything unusual" said Cutter t which he acknowledged. Cutter then turned his attention to Anders.

"Huh, there's not enough data from this geographic scan. But what is this signal we received?" asked Cutter.

"Multiple algorithms had been ran in the last few hours and none did one good. Maybe we can see to this if we get a team down there, Sir" suggested Anders.

"We know nothing of this system or the planet. Professor, our crew had already seen hard times. It would only be a matter of time before we realize our mistake" replied Cutter and yet his face turned curious.

"But, At the same time, we need to find a way back home. It's been 26 years, we don't know the current state of the galaxy. So I say, we get to the planet side as you suggested. If there's a signal originating from there, Then definitely there's someone down. We'll send a secured team to scout ahead. Red team and hell jumpers would lead the others" said Cutter with cleared throat.

"Apart from the spartans and ODSTs, others are gonna need breathing support as the atmosphere is thin. Sir, but you have to send me there to analyze the data" said Anders looking at the planet through the port side window ambitiously. Captain Cutter accepted the former statement while fervently rejected and immediately turned to object her request. Of course he would as she's a high value individual and will never let her get caught at the enemy hands.

"Negative professor. That won't happen. This is not a field trip" replied Cutter.

"Sir, without an active AI, it's really gonna be tough for us to manage on our own, no offense" said Anders trying to convince him.

"None taken. That's quite true, but still there has to be another way that doesn't involve you, going down there" said Cutter with a determined voice. Anders doesn't need explanation to captain's worries. She then kept thinking until she hit upon an idea.

"Okay, I think we can do something about that" said Anders to which the captain looked at her, intrigued. Anders proceeded to talk.

"There's a covenant Q-band slipspace signal tracker I managed to recover back on that destroyed world. They use it for tracking comm waves in the slipspace for long range instantaneous communication" said Anders.

"I can make a wild guess that you want to use it. Then what?" asked Cutter folding his hands. He already predicted, how this was gonna play out and was interested to listen.

"Let the spartan team take it down there. That tracker will detect the signal-..." said Anders working with a new hologram isolating Serina's old junk AI processing command lines to manipulate it into a new set of instructions to be carried out.

"...-And transmit to the ship. My new algorithm will try to decrypt it successfully as it can understand covenant systems" said Anders turning to face the Captain. Cutter was satisfied with this plan and decided to go ahead with it.

"Good, professor. Give the tracker to Jerome and then take care of the rest" ordered Cutter.

"Yes sir" she saluted and left the bridge. Then Cutter contacted the spartan II red team.

"Jerome, I need your team and ODST - ZERO for a scouting mission. Your landing will be followed by 3rd platoon in 10 minutes and I want you all combat ready. We need to investigate a signal from this planet we're above for which the relevant information will be sent to you" ordered the captain.

"Acknowledged Sir. We are ready for immediate deployment onto the ground" replied the spartan. Cutter stared at the holodesk viewing the rough terrain mapping.

"And Jerome, Anders will come to give you a piece of equipment, a signal tracker before your team leaves the ship. Be careful with that" said Cutter.

"Yes Sir, 092 out" replied the spartan and the comm was cut. Cutter felt an inner urge to find a reason to all the chain of events that ended with them standing alive in this very ship after a long time. He kept gazing intently at the planet with nothing in his mind.

...

The spartan II red team comprising of the 092, 042 and 130 were once the washouts whose body rejected their augmentations, though retrained and re-augmented successfully. The three spartans formed a re-incarnation of the actual red team that had many other members. They were stationed at Arcadia in evacuating the citizens from covenant attack and that's when got recruited by the Spirit Of Fire in assisting them for it's mission.

Spartan Jerome-092, Douglas-042, Alice-130 are currently at the armory, preparing for the mission. They are the last of the few remaining spartan II super soldiers since the end of the war. In 26 years mean time, The UNSC made several advancements without the SOF crew. Thus the Red team is left with the old Mark IV MJOLNIR and old version weapons.

Even the MA5 series assault rifles they have is much less advanced compared to the current standard issue. UNSC have improved significantly in weapons, communications and imaging systems, 2nd GEN MJOLNIR with lots of improvements and last but not the least, Naval power. The crew don't know how much of a hurdles they might face than they expected.

"So, it's been a long time huh?" asked Alice loading her BR55 rifle and then unlocking the muzzle of a M6C/SOCOM.

"Yeah, Hope it's the UNSC down there or we've got ourselves a rock and roll day" replied Douglas, assembling and loading his MA5B assault rifle.

"Hm, I don't think the war might have lasted this long. Though the outcome is what that matters. We could have won or-..." said Jerome who was loading his rocket launcher, MA5B assault rifle and M6E pistol.

"Or we were done forever. But something tells me that it might not be the case, not a statement of pride...just my instincts" said Alice who finished loading and holstered all the weapons. Douglas and Jerome did the same.

Then they were approached by ODST from team ZERO. The red team turned to see him and the soldier saluted them. Usually, ODST's have an inner grudge against the spartans especially for their artificial superiority on contrast to their own hard, ass busting training and pride. But not everyone's mean, only the people from the 105th shock troop division. This heated rivalry began with a 14 yr old spartan II named John-117 beating 3 ODST soldiers to death and injuring one back in early 2525, unknown to everyone that it was a stage set secretly by ONI to test spartan IIs efficiency.

Apart from that, when it comes to performing their duties, they maintain that strict professionalism even if it means taking orders from an outranking spartan.

"Sir, ZERO is ready for ground side deployment"

"Very well Sergeant. Meet your team at the shuttle bay. I'll will debrief captain's orders" said Jerome.

"Yes sir" acknowledged the sergeant and left the armory. Jerome took his MJOLNIR helmet and had it on followed by Douglas and Alice. The displays popped up running diagnostics and bringing movement systems, power supply and other miscs online.

"Alright, a welcome mission after 26 years" said Jerome and then the three left the armory and headed to the shuttle bay.

...

It was an hour since they reached the hanger bay and they were waiting for the spartans to come. In the mean time, they were having a chat.

"So what do you think we would find in that planet, Sarge?" asked a ZERO team member designated ZERO 1.

"That egg head professor Anders found a signal originating from the planet. Captain wanted us and the red team to investigate it, that's it for now" replied Sgt. Ryan.

"Could it be the UNSC?" asked another soldier, ZERO 2.

"Maybe, but we don't know a shit about the current situation. What if we had lost the war? Then we are the last of the humans left" replied ZERO 1.

"I wanted to say, 'You're damn wrong!'. But we need to be prepared, that's being realistic" replied the sergeant.

The ODST fire team had loaded themselves with assault rifles, battle rifles, pistols and rocket launchers, a sniper and bunch of frag grenades.

The spartan II red team reached the shuttle bay where they saw military personnel moving around. Nearby a pelican drop ship, they saw the ODST fire team ZERO standing nearby ready for the mission.

The ODST team members saw the red team approaching them.

"Here they come" said ZERO 3. Others changed their stance.

"Senior chiefs on deck!" barked Sgt. Ryan and everyone saluted. The spartans stopped and

"At ease people. You all ready?" asked Douglas.

"We are born ready, Sir. So what is the mission objective?" asked the sergeant.

"We'll be the primary scouting team in search for the signal. But we'll be combat ready if things get south" said Jerome giving a data pad to Sgt. Ryan that had rough details about the planet and the location of the signal. Ryan took a close look at the details and so did his team.

"Is it UNSC, Sir?" asked ZERO 2. The spartans mentally sighed at the question.

"We hope it to be" replied Alice.

"Doesn't matter. We go with Captain's orders. We all will get hard dropped and after 10 minutes, 3rd platoon will secure the region. Setting up base and bringing wheels and supplies depends on further mission progress. I hope everything's clear for you" said Jerome in a clear cut tone and waited to get a feedback.

Ryan after taking notes of all the information from the data pad, handed it over to Douglas and then looked at Jerome.

"Yes sir" replied Ryan.

Meanwhile, professor Anders reached the shuttle bay through the elevator and walked towards the ODST team and red team. They all got their eyes on her arrival.

"Prof. Anders, Captain said you would come and...uh-..." said Jerome who was confused to see a strange device in her hands only to recognize it as a covenant module after bringing it closer to him.

"So spartans, this is a covenant tracking gear. Just keep it switched on all the time and be safe. It will detect the signal and relay it to the ship for decryption" said Anders giving the module to Jerome.

"Thought you would give us a hand, mam" said Sgt. Ryan. Anders let a faint smile and spoke,

"Sorry Sergeant. I do love field work, but not like this" replied Anders.

"The details suggest that the signal strength was great even at the edge of the system, means there is an equal probability that it might have reached any other group apart than us, worst case-Covenant" said Alice. Other looked at her and acknowledged her point.

They should be worried about them coz they don't even know that the war had ended 7 years ago and that the UNSC almost succeeded in turning yesterday's enemies into today's allies.

"That's possible, more reason for you people to hurry up. Good luck, gentlemen" said Anders and then left the shuttle bay. She used the same elevator to get to her place.

"Alright, let's get to the atmospheric insertion pods and stomp the ground" said Jerome and then the ODST team and Red team made their way to the SOEIV station.

They took the big elevator and then went 3 levels down. Then they reached a place where it had narrow pathway and broad pathway orthogonally. There were some warthog riders in service being tended by the Engineers and military personnel. Then at the end of the narrow hallway, they reached the SOEIV chamber.

They all got to see the standard pods that had been in use since the late 2400's, arranged in parallel, side by side with the UNSC insignia and the serial numbers printed over the surface.

Even the long range stealth orbital insertion pods were put to use by 2545 where by then the SOF was never in the picture. It is popular among the ODSTs but also among the spartan IIs. Too sad that these people's got a long way to even see and test them by themselves.

The 3 spartans and the 4 ZERO team members entered the pods. The on board class C dumb AI powered up the on board systems.

"Chute control good" said Jerome.

"Impact plating's reading fine" said Sgt. Ryan.

"Bringing the imaging sensors online" said Alice. That was it and just one button away from kissing goodbye to the SOF. The ODST's always got this usual catch phrase they used to bark before the jump. As of now, being the leader of the ZERO team did the honors.

"Alright apes! Remember what we used to say?" yelled Ryan.

"Feet first to Hell...SIR!" barked the 3 ZERO team soldiers.

"Insertion protocols initiated. let's move out" said Jerome. Then everyone, one by one released the holding gear. The pods immediately slid down the rails and was only a few meters with in the constraint. Then in the next couple of seconds, the 7 SOEIV pods reached the empty space with only the view of the planet and the vacuum between them and the planet.

...

Well, that's it. From now on, the story takes a different tone and approach. See you all in next chapter.

Well, Spirit of fire's here and they are not near the Ark like in Halo wars 2, but some place more and more important. But this part will follow the same paths as the game, like Isabel will be here.

And yes, in my story, Humans are innovative and capable of their own advancements with the help of scientists like (Fictional) and etc.,etc., and not with alien tech stuffs. So don't complain that humans didn't reverse engineer forerunner tech like what we've seen in almost every fanfic. I have already stated the facts in the ship specs as for their advancements.