In Infinitum

Part III
Chapter 21
Advancements

Planet Vasili, Ghost system within Aurora Cluster. SPARTAN IV training and augmentation facility AKA HARVEST base. 2100 Hours. 3 months later.
Doctor Catherine Halsey typed furiously on her console with purpose. Her face was wrinkled with concentration with a bit of annoyance as she watched the data scroll across her monitor. She bit her lip, leaned back with a mutter, "Damn, it's bad enough the data is heavily encrypted…"

A shadow covered man appeared next to her. Holographic and only the size of Halsey's hand, just a shadow in a man's form. No eyes or mouth, this was Shade. "I would offer my help, doctor, but I'm currently sorting through several encrypted messages, running seven training simulations and watching over the MJOLNIR VII caskets."

Halsey blinked and turned to Shade, staring at his form. "You're doing all that?" she asked. She knew Shade loved to multitask itself, but he had never run all that at once before.

"Yes, it's a bit of a strain, but, I'm managing," Shade's tone was smug, "Sadly, that leaves you on your own. But, if your interested, you're about to receive an encrypted message from Arcturus, enjoy." as soon as he faded the message appeared on Halsey's monitor.

Halsey's brow furrowed as she scanned it, then sighed and pressed the open key.

/Message Content/
To: Catherine Halsey.
From: Admiral Hackett.
Subject: Scanning results.
/File start/

Doctor, as per your request upon your reading of the Spirit's missions logs and fears of possible Flood activity. We've scanned every planet in the system and checked neighbouring planets for anything. Our results have come back negative, there are still five pods unaccounted for from the Spirit, but those that were found were clean sides a few bodies. The logs also said the Spirit had been adrift for two hundred years? How is that possible. Your timeline puts its disappearance at twenty years before.

Also, to add to this message. The Spirit is now fully operational. It's decks had been cleaned, scanned again and scrubbed once more for added caution, no signs of Flood activity. Are you positive this wasn't just mutiny? Or something else? But that's it for now. I'm sorry if your disappointed, Halsey.

PS. We look forward to your report on SPARTAN IV.
/END FILE/
/END MESSAGE/

Halsey sighed and leaned back. Her report on SPARTAN IV would be shining at least, all candidates had passed and survived the augmentation process with no side effects side a few headaches that came with the increasing of their nervous systems and reaction times along with their eye enhancements. But, after a month of light lifting and getting used to their "new" bodies the candidates had become something more than she dared hope.

Also, every Spartan-III had entered for their own augmentations as well. Each was now as powerful and fast as their S-II counterparts, though slightly taller they still didn't reach the norm of seven foot tall that S-IIs were, they did top out at six feet.

Well, all but two Spartan-IIIs had joined the SPARTAN IV program. Tom and Lucy, The first was still hunting for the second last she heard and the second was still in the clutches of Cerberus. Despite their best efforts, they could never catch whiff of the shady organization, somehow, Tom had come close several times.

Halsey blinked, then shook his head. She knew why Tom came so close, hunted so hard and why he was willing to leave the Alliance, become a Spectre and cut almost every tie to them. Halsey knew it, Tom was in love with Lucy. She doubted he'd ever realize it but he was and Halsey pitied him for it.

Rules, regulations and combat. Spartan's comprehend these like a normal human understood that they moved their body, but anything beyond those was "open" ground for the Spartans and in Tom's case she knew that the Spartan would never come to terms with his feelings.

Swiping those thoughts aside she refocused on her work. "Shade, what is One. One seven's current schedule?" she asked as she typed.

"Doctor," Shade appeared again. "One, one seven is currently in a training exercise in wilderness area B-seven, he's facing Blue team." He paused, then with a smirk in his words he finished. "It should be interesting to observe."

"Stream live feed to my monitor, Shade."

"At once, Doctor," Shade waved his arm. The screen on her monitor switched to a wide view camera that showed some shrub, a few trees and grassy grounds. It rotated slowly until it caught several armored figures, four of them. This was Green team and it was the one Shepard commanded.

Green team was headed by another top-class soldier. Zachery Alenko, he had been offered a spot inside the Spartan-IV program and he accepted near instantly, apparently time with Mark and Kelly was enough to show him how being a Spartan was very good for ones combat skills. Alenko had quickly become Shepard's "rival" in the program and they were always at odds during exercises.

Arcturus Station, Arcturus Stream. 2100 Hours.
"The hell do you mean it went quiet?" Major Antonio Salvador growled to Lieutenant Haverson at the sensor probe station. "How do seven stealth transmission probes just "go quiet"?" he asked with further acid.

"Sir!" The Lieutenant sputtered, "I don't know, they just stopped sending signals and I'm getting weird readings!"

"Weird readings?" Salvador raised a brow. "Weird… how?"

"Well, Batarian com traffic in that area is… well, gone. The whole system went dark an hour ago, now its just white noise," Haverson turned to his console. "No transmissions have since been intercepted… or even detected. Probes went silent five minutes ago," he reported. "I honestly have no idea what to think."

The Major went silent and considered the possibilities, they still had a month before the Reapers supposedly arrived, then again,. The eggheads could be wrong with their math. "Open a channel to Admiral Hackett, tell him to get to a shuttle and set off for Earth." He ordered.

"Sir? Why?" Haverson turned to away from his console.

"Because it Ensign Dominic would look more accurately at his console," Salvador growled to his crew as he turned to said Ensign and gestured sharply at the screen. "The signal was backtracked to us!"

The crew blinked. Then paled and turned to their screens when alarms blared over the entire station. "FTL signatures! They match Reapers!" Haverson cried.

"Estimation on the arrival?" Salvador replied.

"Now, sir…" Haverson whispered and hung his head.

"Viewscreens! And where is Hackett?" Salvador shouted, moving to his command chair and leaning back into it. The screen switched and a fleet of insectoid machines exited FTL drive through the Relay, he narrowed his eyes and did a quick count of their numbers. Fifty-nine of them all barrelling for Arcturus.

"All hands to combat stations, arm Station defenses and tell the fifth, sixth and seventh fleets to engage them! Have the forth fleet escort Admiral Hackett out of here!" Salvador stood and stared hard the Reaper images. "Come and get us."

The crew snapped to their duties, sweat began to gather on their foreheads.

"Shouldn't we be evacuating?" One of his crew asked.

"Not until Hackett is away, his life takes priority," The Major replied before turning back to the images. Besides, this is personal. He thought, clenching his hands tightly into fists. "Give me a tactical map, Ensign." He said, voice level. He wasn't panicked, he wasn't afraid. He was pissed and it was all focused on killing the Reapers.

"Aye, sir."

The screen was replaced with a holographic map of the area. He was as the blue outlined Alliance ships of the three fleets advance on the Reaper fleet, One hundred and thirty-five against fifty-nine? The Major seriously hoped those were good odds. But he had been there on the bridge of a ship when they had fought Sovereign, that Reaper had inflicted heavy losses on the Alliance fleets alone…could they do this?

No! No doubts, not for Angelica. He didn't turn to his crew when he said, "All ships are to focus fire on the smaller ones first," He gestured to some of the smaller Reapers of the fleet which appeared to be speeding up to meet the Alliance ships head on, the larger ones lagged behind. Their back's spread and revealed massive red eyes… energy gathered at those eyes.

"Weapons heating up," Haverson muttered. "Sir, they're targeting us… the larger Reapers are target Arcturus!"

Major Salvador growled. "Have the SSV-Gettysburg, Manila, Alias and Capetown take the blows!" he barked. "And dump power from our lesser systems to charge the MAC gun. Lets put those tax dollars to work!"

The Station had been outfitted hastily over the last few months with a MAC cannon that fired 2000 ton of metal at speeds that, if they were using Eazo based tech, would have turned Arcturus into a slab of melted metal. Now however, it would prove their greatest tool.

"Sir?" Lieutenant Haverson turned on his chair. "Take the hits?"

"Did I stutter? Yes! Order them into the coordinates of those beams paths!" Salvador watched as the beams sheared forward like a rapier strike. One cut across the station's out stretching "arms". Heat bloomed, then the arm was severed before it exploded in shards of heavy metal and white hot shards of steel.

"Sir!" The Lieutenant quickly moved to follow the order.

Salvador watched the tactical map. The other four Reapers fired their weapons, two fleet ships, ones he had not designated, moved into their paths. The beams sheared through their kinetic barriers and them ships themselves. Two frigates detonated in the dead of space, but they had stopped the attacks.

"Cannon is at full charge!" Ensign Michigan called.

"Sir, Sixth fleet is reporting heavy losses…" Haverson said from his station. "Hackett is aboard the Lights Out and moving with the forth fleet out system where they'll circle around to the Relay."

"Good," Now Hackett was out to safety, he had to keep the Reaper's attention. The Tact map flickered when the station bucked from another slash of the Reaper's main gun. "Firing solution, I want this one…" he tapped a Reaper on the map. "Target, fire in three seconds."

"Sir!"

Motes of fire exploded across the space in front of Arcturus Station. A line of ships had been slashed by multiple pulse lasers from the smaller Reapers who were now going in for "close" range combat. The larger destroyers however sped up, they were coming right for Arcturus. Seems they understood the station was the command and control center of this battle.

"Sir! The sixth fleet is down to twenty percent fighting power! Fifth fleet is moving to reinforce!" Haverson called.

"Alright," Major Salvador knew this was bad. Their fleet was being sliced and diced out there, the Reapers were just too strong. Even outnumbered two to one a single Reaper was worth five of their ships. "Fire the cannon, now Lieutenant!"

A solid thump sounded out through the hull of Arcturus as the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon fired its 2000 ton payload. The round streaked across the darkness of space in a light of blueish yellow, Salvador watched as it impacted the target Reaper which such force the Kinetic barriers didn't fail so much as shatter, the round tore the Reaper apart with such kinetic force it split into two.

The round, much to the awe of the crew, continued forward where it sheared through another Reaper, not enough to bisect it like the first, but it was definitely not going anywhere fast. The round then stopped after it slammed into a third target, making its barriers fail and leaving a huge "crater" in its hull. The round was now a massive slab of crushed metal that was stuck it and made the Reaper spin backwards from the force of the impact.

"Holy shit…" Haverson whispered. Then cheered along with the rest of the crew. They had just killed two Reapers and severely damaged one. Their cheers grew louder when both the pierced Reapers exploded.

"Settle down! We still have a fleet of those things left!" Salvador growled and went back to the map. He felt accomplished, but not much so. He watched as the Reapers began to distance themselves from each other. "They're spreading out…" he whispered.

Of course they were, any fleet worth its salt wouldn't allow for another hit like that to happen. "Time till next shot?" he asked.

"Two minutes, sir!" The crew was more lively now. Revelling in their small victory, "Sir! Reaper fleet is spreading out and half of the smaller ones just broke off from the battle and are flying past the fleets right for us!" He frowned. "Damn… that didn't last long."

"They're machines." Salvador muttered. "They don't feel fear." He pressed a button and opened a com to the hangers bays, "All fighters, launch! Buy us as much time as you can to get another round off from the cannon!"

He watched as several hundred fighters broke off the various launch bays and moved to meet the Reapers who were closest. "Call some ships back from the Seventh Fleet to intercept those Reapers while they're busy with our fighters, power up the Thanix turrets and dedicate a quarter of our power output to recharge the cannon." He turned to the Lieutenant, "Double time!"

If those Reapers got too close the MAC gun would be useless. They couldn't win this fight, but goddamnit he would give the Alliance the knowledge that these sons of bitches could die just as easily as anything else if you used the right tools.

"Mac gun at full charge!" Haverson said, "Awaiting target."

A flash cut across the bridge view screen, the hull shuddered and someone yelled, "Reactor one is hit! Its going critical! Losing power to decks four through eight, hull breaches detected… trying to cool it down!"

Salvador gripped the edges of his chair and looked at where the shot had come from. It had come from extreme distance… he moved the map with a flick of his hand and saw it was from the back of the Reaper fleet, a massive Reaper that dwarfed the others beside it, its eyes glowed a demonic yellow and it's back opened to reveal that same red "eye" of the main gun. It charged again… and a red beam slashed across Arcturus, two frigates and vaporized any unlucky fighters who were between it and Arcturus. The Station shuddered again at the impact, more alarms blared and reports of further breaches in their hull.

"Haverson! Target that furthest target before it snipes this station into oblivion!" The Major ordered as he tapped a few keys on his control. That Reaper was obviously a big player in their command structure, it was massive. Had to be a capital ship of their fleet, Hell. Maybe it the leader of the whole damn reaper race!

"Solution in, firing cannon!"

Another thump sounded through Arcturus, this one was also accompanied by the sound of twisting metal, the hull of the Station was in bad shape. Haverson and the entire bridge crew watched on their view screens as the round moved towards the large robotic insect. Then their expression fell when five Reapers moved on an intercept course to block the round, three bunched up against each other, belly to back and the other two listed behind their shield formation as backup to stop the round.

It impacted, this time it bisected both Reapers up front and then sent the last backwards into the other two, who quickly used their combine weight to stop it from rolling into the larger unit. Salvador frowned, had they learned that tactic when the Alliance used it? Or did they always know, just never had to use it? He didn't dwell too long.

"Recharge cannon!"

"Can't sir, reactors are too hot, if we pull them for power to recharge the guns they will go critical and the entire station will be destroyed." Haverson replied, sweat ran down his face. The normally cool temperature of the room was now hot, loss of environmental controls likely occurred without their knowledge.

"Fine then," The Major sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Powerdown Thanix turrets, shut down all power other then to life support, cannon and the bridge here," he replied. "Then prepare for EVA, get to the hanger bay and launch out the shuttles, get to a frigate and board the Commonswealth. You're abandoning the Station."

"Sir, what about you?" Haverson muttered while the rest of the crew stood to follow their orders… and of course to not die.

"I'm staying behind, transfer firing and power controls to my chair," Salvador cracked his neck and steepled his hands together. "Now get going, Lieutenant."

"Aye, sir…" Haverson signed, he knew he couldn't force the Major to leave with them, he knew that look of burning hatred in his eyes. It was the sight of a man out for revenge.

He left the bridge and Salvador was alone. "Alright, you son of a bitch, I'm bringing you down." He muttered, glaring at the image of the large yellow eyed Reaper. His console beeped, he rerouted the power keeping the stations point defense turret and thanix guns warm. The MAC gun read fully charged and loaded.

He watched as the large unit charged its laser, it was targeting the station. Good, Salvador smirked. Then… he fired as the Reaper did.

The MAC round and laser passed each other in the blink of an eye. They sped towards their targets, Salvador closed his eyes as the beam struck Arcturus, slicing across it and leaving the bridge he sat in nothing more then a melted piece of hull. The MAC round slammed into the larger Reaper, its barriers flared, shattered and it bumped backwards with a crater in its upper right back where the round had impacted. It steadied itself, then watched as fiery explosions moved through the station, then the station blinked out of existence in a massive ball of flame and heated metal.

"I am Harbinger," The Reaper growled over every human ship com as the station exploded. "And I am your salvation, through destruction!"

He turned, listed away from the battle alone and moved back towards the Relay… catching a glimpse of a small Alliance fleet slipping through it. If Harbinger had eyes, they would have narrowed.

The Alliance fleets broke formation, turned and made best speed out of the system so they could circle around and make it to the relay. No more then forty-seven ships remained operational, most with extensive damage. They had inflicted twelve casualties to the Reaper fleet. A crushing defeat in the opening battle against the Reapers.

Vasili. Wilderness training zone B7. 0320 Hours.
Shepard ducked low in the brush, his SPI-Mark III armor blended perfectly with the brush he and his team lay prone in. Their Banshee Assault rifles had been programmed into "training" mode, the rounds no longer impacted with lethal force once the target's shields went down. So there was no chance of accidental deaths during exercises.

That didn't mean the rounds stopped firing though, when the shields went down the weapons still fired with painful force. Often enough to knock a man down with repeated fire, sniper rifles outright knocked you onto your ass if your unshielded form gets hit the armor.

He looked to his HUD and watched his three teammates bio signs. Each was green, their pulses were higher. They were excited and he understood why, this was another match against Blue team, Alenko was always a challenge for their team since the program had begun, Alenko had beaten Shepard in Hand-to-hand combat the first day after augmentation rest. Then Shepard defeated Alenko in a team exercise the next day.

It had increased from there. They were always trading wins with the other.

"What's our plan today, Shep?" A voice from his lower right. It was Valerie-147, to her left were Connor-005 and James-214. Each was adorned in SPI Mark-III armor that currently had the Av-Cam active, only reason Shepard knew they were there was because his motion sensor alerted him to their presence.

"Not sure, Alenko hasn't prodded our turf yet," Shepard replied through the com, scanning the ground ahead of their position. No trees ruffled unnaturally, grass didn't crunch and there was birds singing. Nothing was there it seemed. "Alright, Val. Move up and assess the area ahead, there's a rock grotto a few dozen meters ahead, good place for an ambush. Connor, you and James circle around to the left at a distance to cover her." Shepard paused, "I'll go right on overwatch."

Three light blinked green on his HUD. Shepard smiled.

Green team dispersed to get a move on their orders. Soon, they left Shepard's motion sensor range and finally disappeared like ghosts into the forest, standing Shepard moved to fulfill his own side of the plan. He knew he could count on Valerie and the others, for three months they had done this together. They had been put together at Augmentation as Green Team and Mendez had beaten into them that they had to be more family then fire team.

They had trained together. Bunked together, showered, eaten and lived together for three whole months. What normally took years they had done in three months, he knew their habits and how they would react in most situations. Connor was their sniper and James was their hand-to-hand expert. Shepard was their leader, that meant he had skills in all their fields, but unlike them. He specialized in nothing. He was the one who decided their moves and fate in combat.

He watched as a brief flicker of light. He knew it was Valerie from its cautious movement speed. She edged close to the cave, which was essentially an underground spring, it was a small, deep lake in a cave. The only ways in were through the ceiling where Valerie was and the main entrance half a kilck away.

Valerie's light winked green. The grotto was clear. She gripped the edges, disengaged her Av-Cam and jumped into the grotto, her feet landed with a thud and she raised her Banshee to scan it further. No flickers of Active Camoflage.

Before she could give her team another green light there was a soft clang in the darkness of the entrance tunnel. She turned, raised her Banshee and watched as a small, metallic object streak towards her. A grenade.

She raised her hand with the speed of a lightning bolt and slammed her forearm against it, sending it to the far side of the rockwall, it exploded in a hail of shrapnel that shook her insides. Before she could retract her arm she was pelted with weapons fire, three Banshees combined their fire on her. Her shields held a second then died and she felt the pain of repeated "flat" rounds impacted her chest, arms and legs and she flew back.

She curled and tried to drown out the pain as the rounds stopped, she forced her eyes open and saw Blue Team appear, their active Camoflage replaced by their energy shielding. At head of three was Blue team's leader, Alenko. His Banshee stayed on her a moment, flashed once and she curled again when it impacted her solar plexus with enough force to empty her lungs of air.

"Shepard and the others won't be far off," He said to his team and gestured them into the pool. They jumped inside the cold waters and dove under, their SPI armor was airtight and allowed forty minutes of breathing before they needed fresh air.

Green team had heard the gunfire and rushed to their teammate's aid, by the time they peered down into the grotto Blue Team was nowhere to be seen, just their curled up teammate and the sloshing pool of water.

Shepard frowned, Blue Team wasn't so sloppy as to jump into the water so much that it made the water slosh… that was Alenko's style, think the Commander wouldn't suspect something obvious. But, Shepard wasn't feeling like being tricked, he flashed the red light and the three members of Green team opened fire on the pool.

Splashes of water peppered the pool's surface, a shield flashed and it was enough for Shepard to know they had done what he said. "Get a grenade in there before they go deeper!" he barked to James.

James primed a frag, then tossed it hard into the pool. It sunk four meters, then exploded. Spikes of water soaked his armor and they ceased fire.

A voice broke into their com. "All teams, return to the briefing room, there's trouble. Double time!" Mendez's voice was stern, grim and edged.

Shepard frowned, then turned to Connor. "Collect Valerie, James. Lets double time it back there before he…" Shepard pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Blue Team's sniper, York-271, sprinted through the thick forest with purpose. This had become a race to the extraction zone now, he knew the other teams would be racing too. They had all adopted the Spartan mentality of "Winning is everything" as childish as it was, it was also… fun.

James and Shepard nodded, then turned and sprinted after York. Slinging their weapons onto the backs and doubling their pace. They both topped fifty-seven KPH, slowing down to turn and sometimes speeding for a straight away. Shepard never felt so fast, so light and so powerful in his life. He loved it.

"He's too fast!" James growled through the com, strain in his voice. He was pushing himself.

"He just planned which path had the least resistance, we slow every time we have to jump a root!" Shepard replied, then leaned forward. Overtaking James and soon, he could see York's back. With renewed purpose Shepard pumped his legs harder. He checked his speedometer. He was just short of sixty-one KPH and his legs burned.

The extraction field was in sight. York turned his head and Shepard knew he must have seen the blip on motion sensor, if You hadn't been wearing the visor on full polarization Shepard would have seen the smirk on the other Spartan-IVs face.

York pushed his own body as well. Shepard still caught up, they matched their speeds and York pinged Shepard. "Looking a little tired, there, Commander." he took a breath, "Maybe you should take a seat?"

"I will when I beat you," Shepard replied and took his own rapid series of breaths.

Before York could reply a shuttle swooped down onto the extraction field. The door opened and revealed Commander Frederic, the Spartan-II stood with his arms crossed and watched as the two "fresh" Spartans slowed from their impressive run and stopped short of the shuttle. They saluted.

"At ease, where are the rest of your teams?" Fred asked, stepping aside and gesturing them on board.

"On the way." Shepard replied, glancing over his shoulder in time see James clear the forest. Not fifteen seconds sooner did Valerie, Connor and the rest of Blue team appear. Each was in a steady sprint, except Connor who was jogging since he was still carrying a stunned Valerie. "See?"

"Indeed, pile in Spartans! We've got new orders from Alliance Brass!" Fred shouted.

They followed the order. The door slid closed and the shuttle took off towards the main complex, A short ten minute flight of silence before they set down and were all quickly marched out towards the amphitheatre where they normally were briefed/debriefed between training exercises.

At the head of the large room was Halsey and Mendez, Fred joined them shortly after he walked inside. Shepard didn't like the look on the first two's faces, Halsey's was oddly pained and Mendez's stony expression seemed more grim than usual.

Halsey spoke into a microphone, her voice echoed through speakers placed around the room. "Spartans, there is no easy way to say this. But it must be said, Roughly seven hours ago all contact was lost with Arcturus station. Before an investigation could be launched, remnants of the fifth, sixth and seventh fleets reported back to Earth with reports that the Reapers had arrived at Arcturus in force. The station was valiantly defended, but ultimately fell."

Those words hit Shepard like a round to the chest. Arcturus had fallen? So quickly? They should have had more time before the Reapers arrived. Someone dropped the ball here, he forced his anger down and listened when Halsey continued.

"With that information, every Fleet in council space is massing at their individual borders to prepare for any possible invasion force," She explained and tapped a key on the podium. A holographic list of names appeared with three rows. Each was marked overhead as "Theta" "Delta" and "Omega"

"This program lists at three hundred candidates, all of you have survived augmentation, passed general training and have evolved into top killers with further enhanced skills thanks to Mendez, you are each a Spartan." she looked them over. Some were old and grizzled, some were young and serious. But they were all still Spartans.

"Now, with the arrival of the Reapers, we're moving the series four program into its final phase, MJOLNIR, the Alliance only spent a small amount of credits into producing more ships, we've instead funnelled most of it into this program's greatest tools." she gave a nod to Mendez, who took the stand.

"Spartans. Your going to be sorted into three Companies of one hundred per troop, you'll be shipped off into the battlefield soon." he looked them over, "I've had the honor of training every generation of Spartans to be created, I'm proud of each and every one of them. And of you all."

He saluted once, then finished. "Now, report to your company Barracks, you'll be receiving your armor when your team names are called, dismissed!"

The Spartans all stood, some were slower. Arcturus had hit them hard alright. Shepard understood that, did Hackett make it out? He worried the Admiral had been killed. But he pushed it back, there wasn't anything to be done but head back to their barracks and wait to be given their armor… wait, all of them? Halsey had produced three-hundred suits of MJOLNIR armor? Anderson had told Shepard the armor was very expensive to produce, so expensive that Halsey said that if she had spent the amount it took to make them her universe would have had a new battle group flying around.

Where did she get her funding for something like that, if forty or so suits cost as much as a small battle group of starships. Shepard could only imagine how much these three-hundred newly developed suits cost the Alliance. But, he found it oddly endearing too. Halsey wanted the best for her Spartans, always seemed to trying to give them everything.

Then again, he understood why. She had taken their innocence, their childhood and replaced it with war and killing, something he didn't approve of, hell, he condemned her for it when he learned of the creation of the series II program. But, now… he understood. She was the one who made the hard decisions and lived with the guilt. Mendez got to be proud, Halsey got to blamed.

He sighed and was joined by his team, Valerie looked sour in her armor. Her expression through her unpolarized visor was hint enough, "Arcturus… gone, I can't believe it…" she said.

"I know…" James muttered from her side. "My cousin was posted there."

Connor and Shepard stayed in silence. Before Connor voice Shepard's thoughts, "We'll make them pay." He said from the rear, "We'll make those Reapers pay for everything!" he shouted loudly.

"Hoo-ah!" the Spartans echoed together. Shepard smiled, yes, they would make them pay alright.

End of chapter 21

There it is, Reapers have entered the fray and it's going to get hot really quickly for the ME universe, also, creepy crawly flood abound… being creepy. Now, thanks to everyone who reviewed, I love reviews. They make me feel nice and warm and push me to type more.

Also, how as my space battle telling? I've never done much of it. So I'm curious if I did well… or horrible.