A/N: Still on a damn big roll, so much so that I can't even think of anything clever to right in these notes. But this ain't about my not knowing what to write, it's about getting the next chapter to you guys. So here it is.

I own nothing

Everyone was assembled in the briefing room again. But this time me, Kat and Emile were standing at the head of the room. The screen behind us showing the Covenant ship that we were now getting close to.

"So what's the situation?" asked Ashley. "The ship that we are now enroute to is a Corvette class Covenant ship. According to Joker, the engines are badly damaged but in the process of being repaired. We don't know why this thing is in this galaxy, but we need to make sure it doesn't escape." I said.

"That things as big as a dreadnaut. How much damaged could it cause if it reached a populated colony?" asked Kaidan overlooking the ship over. "This thing could glass an entire colony in a matter of minutes. And for good referance, this is the smallest class of ship in the Covenant fleet." said Emile. Everyone went wide eyed and shook a little.

Shepard addressed us, "What should we expect on board?" Kat took over from there. "There are many species in the Covenant ranks." the screen showed an image on an Elite. "The Elite's are the ones in command. Their intelligent, quick, and some have active camoflage making them stealthy as well."

An image of a Brute appeared. "Brutes are mostly muscle, but very strong and formidable. A berserking Brute could knock around a squad of Marines with little effort." The look in Wrex's eyes turned fierce, he saw a challenge.

The image changed showing a Skirmisher and a Jackel. "Skirmishers and Jackels are cousins from each other. The Skirmishers are fast and agile, and are prone to use long range weaponry. The Jackels use energy shields and usually make barriers making it difficult to shoot what is behind them."

Next came an image of a Grunt. "Grunts are the Covenant's cannon fodder. Their weak individually, but pose a threat in large groups. They are forced to wear a special mask and pack so they can breath in methane since their bodies can't accustom to actual oxygen."

Kat looked to everyone in the room, "The Covenant use plasma based weaponry. I don't know how well your barriers and armor will handle them, but be on guard at all times."

Everyone glanced at one another for a few moments. "What's the plan?" asked Heller. "Everyone is going in." I said stepping back in. "We are pulling out all of the stops on this. There will be two teams; Shepard and I will lead the first, Kat and Emile the second. We know the most about what the Covenant can dish out, so Shepard has allowed us control of this mission."

Shepard stood up then. "Yuri, Ash, Wrex, Tali, Soap and Liara will be with us in team one. We will head to the bridge. The rest of you are with team two. Head to the engineering deck and secure it. We aren't taking any chances on this people, be ready for a fight. We cannot let that ship reach a populated area."

Everyone got up and went to prepare. Shepard glanced at me, "What are our chances?" I sighed, "Me and Jorge crippled that Corvette with a squad of Marines, and took out a shit load of Covenant on the inside. As long as we stay alert, we should do alright."

She nodded and went to prepare as well. "You think he's on that thing?" asked Emile. "One can hope Emile." I said leaving the room with them in tow.

X

Joker managed to get us all close enough to the ship to board it safely. Once inside everyone looked around in awe. "This...I can't even begin to describe this..." said Kaidan. "Spirits, this has to be the most advanced ship in the Traverse. None of the ships out there are even close to being like this." said Garrus.

"Time to split up." I said getting their attention, "Me, Kat and Emile know the layout of this kind of ship really well. Be ready for anything, who knows what these bastards might throw at us."

We sepearated into our designated groups. Mine and Shepard's team began the uneasy trek to the bridge. "Signs of fighting." said Ashley pointing out the bullet holes, plasma burns and blood. "Yeah. Lost some good men trying to take the bridge the first time." I said lowly.

The place was quiet. Save for the light hum of the various equipment around us. "Team two check in." said Shepard. "Nothing on our end. How about you guys?" asked Emile. "Nada, where do you think they are?" I asked. "Best guess, probably holed up on the decks we're heading to. Stay frosty guys." said Emile ending the link.

"What could be worse than aliens capable of killing you when you least expect it?" wondered Soap. "Expecting it, and unable to stop it." said Liara.

"Contact!" shouted Ashley. We all snapped to attention and aimed our weapons in the direction she was pointing. Something hid behind a weapon crate ahead of us. We waited, breathing held as we prepared for what came out.

Slowly, a light blue and pink tentacle came out and grabbed the side of the crate. I started to lower my weapon, "Wait! Put your guns down." I said making everyone looked at me shocked. "Trust me." I said laying my rifle on the floor. Hesitantly, the others followed.

A light blue snake-like head with six black eyes came around the crate and looked at us. Then the rest of it's bulbous form appeared. "What in Keelah..." Tali said in awe.

The Engineer slowly floated to us, head tilting from side to side trying to understand what we were. I removed my helmet and set it down, "Easy fella, we're not gonna hurt you." I said softly. The Engineer made an echoing sound in response.

I reached out with my hand. The floating pink creature shrunk back making me pause. Slowly, the Engineer reached it's head out and I stroked it making it coo happily. "He means us no harm. This is an Engineer. Their race was enslaved by the Covenant to make repairs to their ships and technology. Their like living databanks, anything and everything you would want to know about the Covenant is right inside this guy's head." I said still petting it.

Shepard reached out and the Engineer looked at her before allowing her to pet him as well. "He's kinda cute. But man he stinks." said Ashley covering her nose. "Thats the understatement of the year." said Soap cringing. The Engineer looked over at Tali and hovered over to her.

It's tentacles reached out and slowly caressed the sides over her visor. "Xero." She said quivering a little. "It's okay Tali. He's just figuring out what you are." The creature examined her visor and helmet for a moment before hovering over to Wrex.

"What are you looking at gasbag?" he grunted out. The Engineer tilted it's head, then reached out and took his shotgun and started to disassemble it. "Hay!" Wrex went to draw his pistol, "Wrex wait!" I shouted. After the creature tinkered with the inside of the weapon, it put it back together and handed it back to the warlord.

Wrex looked it over a second. "I've been having trouble with the heat sink injector in this thing for a while now. How did he..." "Their a quick learning race Wrex." I said smirking.

The Engineer floated over to Liara who smiled at it. She held out her blue hand, the creature looked at it before pressing it's tentacle against it, cooing happily before floating back over to me and Shepard and tilted it's head.

"Do you think he can lead us to the bridge?" she asked. I looked at the creature, "How bout it little guy. Can you take us there?" It made a kind of squeeking sound before turning around and floating down the corridor. It looked back at us before going forward again. "He wants us to follow." said Liara.

We began following it, I activated my comm. "Kat, Emile, we've encountered an Engineer." "Same on our end...you won't believe this." said Kat. "Try me." I replied.

My omni-tool came on showing a vid screen of what my fellow Spartans were looking at. Inside of what looked like a store room, was a large collection of purple and pink eggs lining the floor. Above them, a few Engineers floated keeping watch. "This is unbelievable." said Kaidan from the screen. Garrus was starring with his mandables out wide as another Engineer examined him.

"Remember guys, their not hostile. They could actually help us in the long run if we need it." I said. "Got it. Good luck out there." said Price as the link ended.

I looked up and saw our Engineer infront of me examining my omni-tool curiously. Running it's tentacles over the orange projection for a moment, it turned and continued to lead us to the bridge.

X

I was starting to get confused and concerned. We traversed the whole length of the ship and hadn't found a single Covenant soldier the whole way. Not even bodies. But there were signs of combat, both recent and old.

Soap bent down and dabbed his hand in the small pool of neon blue blood, "It's fresh. Not even a day or so old." he said wiping it off on his armor.

"What's this?" asked Tali. She had picked up a small device that was laying in the corner of the room we were passing through. I looked it over before smirking, "I'll show you." I took the device and fastened it to her forearm. "Now, hit that red button that's on it."

Tali looked at the device and hit the button. A glowing blue shield suddenty snapped into existance making everyone jump a little. "It's a Jackel's energy shield. Annoying when they use it. Effective when we do." I said smiling as Tali looked the shield over before deactivating it.

"Over here!" shouted Liara. She stood by a locked door with the Engineer while it disengaged the lock. The center of the door turned from red to blue and slid open. We readied our weapons and made sure the Engineer was out of harms way before storming into the bridge.

All of the terminals were activated and glowing. No bodies and no Covenant. "This doesn't make sense." said Shepard. I looked across the room and saw the hovering Captain's chair positioned away from us, something was in it. Drawing my pistol, I slowly crept up to it. "Alright split lip, turn around or I'll blow what brains you have out of your head."

"You wouldn't hurt a brother now." the chair spun around, "Would you?"

I yanked my helmet off to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, "Jorge!" The large Spartan stood up, his armor caked in dried Covenant blood. "It's good to see you again Six." He looked passed me at the rest of the team. "I think I need to be filled in." I nodded, "We'll have to gather the rest of the team."

He raised an eyebrow, "There are others?" "Yeah, Kat and Emile are with them." I said smirking. "Good to hear you all made it. What about Jun and Carter?" I sighed, "Jun stayed behind on Reach to protect mom. Carter...didn't make it."

Jorge blew out a small breath, "He is at peace." I activated my comm, "Kat, Emile, get up here to the bridge with everyone else. I think your gonna love who we found."

X

When we all regrouped on the bridge Kat and Emile were glad to see Jorge alive and well. Apparently after the ship imploded it was sucked into this universe from the rift it made. Being the only Spartan on board he wiped out all the remaining Covenant resistance that was left, he was the only one alive on the whole ship except for the Engineers.

After filling Jorge in on the events that occured after he vanished. The Normandy's crew came onto the ship and could only stare in wonder at everything around them. It was like watching little kids going to a museum for the first time.

Joker was looking around the bridge in complete awe. "Man...this things better than my baby!" he said from the captain's chair. Dana was sitting in one of the chairs in the front of the room, "Very advanced. Although it's hard to understand the insignias."

"You'll get use to them. Understanding Covenant tech is one field I was able to understand. I'll just have to create a deciphering program for our omni-tools." said Kat from another terminal.

"What's the rundown Jorge?" I asked. "The ship's almost completely repaired. The Engineers have been working hard to fix the damage that occured during the fight." he replied. "But the shields, weapons and slipspace drive are all online."

"Armory?" I asked which caught Garrus, Wrex and Ashley's attention. Jorge smirked, "Fully stocked." he said leading us down a corridor and into a very large room with weapons lining the walls and multiple weapon crates everywhere. "Damn!" Ashley shouted looking each of the alien weapons individualy.

Garrus picked up a needle rifle and looked down the sights. "Impressive." He said checking the needle canisters that were it's ammo. Wrex hefted a Brute gravity hammer, "Heh, these freaks really knew how to make weapons."

I looked around the room impressed. "Any surprises in the cargo hold?" "Three phantoms and four banshees." Jorge replied as we went back to the bridge. "I also managed to get the three surviving Sabers and the one pelican into the hanger."

"Sounds like a well equiped vessel." said Shepard coming over to join us. "And it's ours." said Emile. "He's right, we can't leave this kind of thing for mercs or pirates to get ahold of. And we need all the help we can get against Saren." I said in honesty.

"What about the Normandy?" asked Joker. "There are gravity teathers that can attatch to another ship to hold it in place. We can bring the Normandy with us." said Kat from her position. I looked at her, "How long before she can fly?"

"At the rate the Engineers are going, combined with the efforts of the Normandy's crew, two days." she replied. Shepard thought for a few moment's, "Alright. Let's get to it. But we'll need to take it slow sense we don't understand the Covenant's technology."

I smirked, "That's why you got us Commander." I looked back at Kat. "What's the name of this boat anyway?" She did a brief search, "Spirit of Solace"

X Tali's POV X

I couldn't begin to explain how amazing this ship's engines were. Me and the rest of the engineer team from the Normandy were learning what we could from the Engineers. The creatures may not have smelled...decent. But they were innocent, and I couldn't help but find them cute and very helpful.

Currently I was working on a terminal that was connected to the slipspace drive. It was unbelieveable, a way to travel from system to system without the use of mass relays. Any ship manurfacturing company in the Traverse would kill to have this technology.

It was a good thing Kat had reprogrammed everyone's onmi-tools to decipher the Covenant's language to make it easier on us.

I heard a low coo next to me and saw the Engineer that we first met after coming on board. "Hello." I said petting the side of his long head. The creature seemed to purr at the attention. For some reason he had made a bond with me, it followed me everywhere helping me where it could.

Before I could go back to work, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. "Hay Tali. Working hard?" I smiled at the sound of Xero's voice. "Yes. This technology is beyond anything anyone has ever dreamed of. The fact that it is now at our fingertips is exilerating." I said feeling excited.

Xero chuckled. "I got you something." he said sweetly. "Oh? And what is that?" I asked smiling. One of his hands left mine and came back infront of me holding an OSD. "I had Kat download the skimatics for Covenant weaponry, shielding, and slipspace drives into this. I thought it would make a good pilgramige gift."

My heart beated faster as I held the data files in my hands. "X-Xero! This is..." I spun around and hugged him tightly. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me, "I thought you would like it."

It was then I was struck with fear and sorrow. Xero felt it and pulled back to look at me, "Tali? What's wrong?" Tears started to fill my eyes. "My...pilgramige is complete. After the mission with Saren...I have to return to the Migrant fleet." Xero held me again as I started ro sob.

"Hay, it's alright. No matter what happens, I'll still be here for you. We'll figure something out." he said with warmth. I looked up into his eyes, cursing my visor for being in the way. I wanted to confess everything to him. Give him my heart, my soul, everything. Xero was such a kind and gentle soul. I may sound selfish...but I can't stand to think of what would happen if he wasn't here with me.

Our eyes remained locked. It felt as though we were peaking through into each other's souls. I would tell him...hopefully soon. I'd find a way to get out of this suit. I wanted to feel his skin on mine, his lips on mine.

Our moment was broken by the sound of odd clicks. We looked over and saw the Engineer looking at us curiously with it's head tilted to the side. We couldn't help but laugh.

X No One's POV X

Two days had passed quickly, and the Spirit of Solace was ready for space travel once again. Joker and the Nomandy crew went back down to the other ship to make sure nothing bad happened when they attempted a slipspace jump.

On the Solace's bridge. The team had all gathered and prepared themselves for the jump. "Everything's green across the board." said Kat. "Coordinates for Feros locked in. Slipspace drive activated." said Juno. She had been a quick study with learning to pilot the large ship, and she was more than prepared for it.

Shepard sat in the captain's chair with Xero standing next to her grinning. "Slipspace drive activating in three." "Everyone better hang tight." said Emile chuckling. "Two." "This better not damaged the Normandy." said Joker over a comm link. "One."

The nose of the ship started to spark. A portal of pure energy started to envelop the vessel before it blasted into the void with speed that trumpted the mass relays.

Everyone on the bridge starred at the slipspace tunnel outside the ship. "How long before we reach Feros?" asked Shepard. "The destination marks the time it'll take to get there." said Kat. "And since we were already close to Feros to begin with, we should arrive-" Xero was cut off when the ship came out of slipspace and showed the planet before them. "Now." he finished with a smirk.

Kat hit a few buttons, "Joker, how's everything on the Normandy?" she asked. It was silent for a moment. "That shit was awesome!" he exclaimed. They all couldn't help but laugh.

X Xero's POV X

After everyone except for a handful of crew members got back on the Redemption, Shepard looked at the planet Feros through the large viewport. "Zhu's Hope, this is the SSV Normandy requesting a landing zone." said Joker at the communications terminal.

Their response was static. "Zhu's Hope this is the Normandy please respond." again static. "Comms must be down." said Heller.

Me and Shepard were looking at the holographic display of the planet that was in the center of the room. I couldn't help but feel dread creep up my spine. I know what we were suppose to expect down there. But something felt wrong...very wrong.

"We should go in on the pelican. Quick and mobile is the best course of action." said Kat, Shepard nodded. "Alright, Xero, Kat, Wrex, Jorge, Ash and Heller meet in the hanger."

"Looks like we're going right back into the fight." said Jorge hefting his heavy gun. It was amazing that the combined efforts of Kat, Soap and Ashley had made the thing adaptable with a large internal heat sink. But it still needed to be tested to checkout what it could do. What better time than now?

We all assembled by the pelican as Shepard started the brief rundown. "Since we lost all comms with the colony, our first objective is to re-establish contact with them and find out what is going on. We'll go on from there." With collective nods we all piled into the dropship.

Kat took the pilot's seat and activated the thrusters. I jumped into the co-pilot seat just as we pulled out of the Solace's hanger and headed for the planet below.

"Commander, we may have lost contact but we're picking up some very strange lifesigns on the surface." said Joker. "What kind of lifesigns?" asked Shepard. "That's just it, their not reading back anything that is known. Becareful down there." said the pilot.

That feeling of dread came back. "Bad feeling?" asked Kat. "More than bad. Kat...I don't think we're going to like what we find." I said lowly. I still couldn't explain it, but something felt off about all of this.

X

After making it through the atmosphere, Kat flew the pelican into the docking area of the colony and touched down on one of the platforms. The hatch opened and we all filed out weapons ready.

Immediately, we all knew something was off.

Green fog seemed to be everywhere making it hard for us to see. Everyone pulled on their helmets to be safe before we continued on. "What is all of this?" asked Ashley. "Hell if I know. But we need to find the colony, so lets move." said Shepard

We treked through the fog, being careful not to trip or fall over something. My foot kicked something. I bent down and saw shocked to see a Geth Trooper. The thing had been torn to shreads, it's metal body looking like tin foil being torn outward. "What happened to it?" asked Shepard.

Jorge knelt down and looked it over, "Something strong tore into it pretty good." He looked next to it's body and we spotted a pool of dark green blood. "What ever attacked it got hurt though." he said standing back up.

The sound of footsteps caused us to raise our weapons. A man came running to us from the fog, he was battered and bleeding from multiple wounds. But he ran as though the devil was after him.

"You have to get out of here! The monsters are everywhere!" My eyes widened at the nostalgia of those words.

Suddently, a small green form latched onto the man's chest. "NO! NO PLEASE KILL ME!" He screamed as the small thing burrowed into his chest and forcing him to the ground.

We all watched in horror as the man's body began to twist and rip. Large clawed appendages burst from his arms and tentacles tore from his chest. His head violently snapped to the side.

The thing he had become staggered to his feet and turned to us. I heard Shepard and Ashley gasp in horror and disgust. The creature staggered to us, it's appendages swaying from side to side.

It let out a loud shreak-like roar before charging us.

Our weapons roared as the slugs ripped through the thing's flesh. It's arms were blown off but it kept coming. Wrex pulled his shotgun and blasted it in the chest blowing chunks across the ground. It staggered a bit, then collapsed onto the ground.

Ashley ripped off her helmet and puked off to the side. "What the fuck is that thing!" she screamed afterward. Me and Kat examined the body, exchanging a knowing glance. "What is it?" asked Shepard.

"We need to get out of here." I said standing. "What about the-" "NOW!" I roared cutting Shepard off and started running back to the pelican, the others right on my heels.

We didn't make twenty feet before I made a dead stop.

A large group of the creatures formed a wall between us and the pelican. I heard the others activating their weapons behind me. "What are they?" asked Wrex. I gripped my assault rifle tightly, before speaking the two words that terrified me to the core.

"The Flood."

A/N: Guess everyone's getting in on the interdimensional party. Next update around the corner.