New Author's Notes: Well here is the re-written version chapter two for the Halo/Mass Effect crossover 'From Hell to Hell.' I fixed several errors, added a few things, and changed a few aspects. Now this covers where Master Chief meets Shepard and his team. I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect. Halo belongs to Bungie or 343 Industries now, Mass Effect belongs to Bioware. Enjoy the chapter
Old Author's Notes: I am calling Shepard's first name John because that is the default name I won't using his name that much though so there won't be any confusion
Chapter 2: The Lost Get Found
Normandy SR-2, Captain's Cabin
Commander John Shepard, Savior of the Blitz and former Spectre for humanity, was actually quite satisfied at how well things were going on the recruiting mission. So far, he had gone to Omega and ended a disease killing anything that wasn't human or Vorcha, while recruiting the Salarian Doctor and former STG Mordin Solus who was essential in repelling the Reaper threat. While on Omega, Shepard recruited the Turian Archangel who turned out to be his old friend and comrade from two years ago Garrus Vakarian, a former C-Sec officer and professional sniper. When the two were reunited, they made a huge dent in the operations of the three biggest mercenary companies, the Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and the Eclipse. And finally he recruited Zaeed Massani, an experienced, violent, and lethal mercenary who shoots first and gets paid upfront.
The Normandy SR-2 was now headed towards a Blue Sun prison ship called the Purgatory, to recruit a very powerful biotic. Unfortunately, the strong biotic was also one of the most dangerous convicts named Jack, but was also known as Subject Zero on the dossier.
Joker piloted the new and improved ship of the Normandy to a Mass Relay closest to the Purgatory, which meant it would be a little while before they arrived to recruit Jack. So Shepard had some time to kill, and to kill the time he decided to catch up on much needed sleep. The second his head met his pillow on his comfy bed, EDI, the artificial intelligence of the ship, voice's rang through the room that belonged to the Commander.
EDI spoke in a monotone but female voice,
"Shepard the Illusive man requires a meeting with you"
"Perfect" Shepard thought with sarcasm,
"I will be right down EDI."
With a loud and irritable groan, Shepard got up from his bed and walked to the elevator, he tried his hardest not to trudge. Shepard went from the first floor to the second and exited the elevator. As he got out Shepard nodded or said "hi" to any passing fellow Cerberus crew Commander also acknowledged Cerberus Operative Jacob Taylor in the armory when he passed by, trying to keep his posture.
Shepard entered the meeting room and suddenly the large rectangular table in the room descended into the floor. An orange light enveloped the former Spectre and before he knew it Shepard was before the Illusive Man, who was smoking a cigar and sitting in his usual chair.
The Illusive took a puff from his cigar,
"Shepard how goes the mission?"
Shepard folded his arms across his chest and had an unamused look on his face.
"It was going great until you interrupted my mission on another recruit. Is there something important you want to tell me or can we both get back to business, I save the galaxy and you sitting on your ass."
Illusive Man didn't show any hurt from the comment the Commander made, instead he actually smirked at Shepard's attitude,
"Now, now Shepard no need to be hostile. All I want from you right now is to go on a simple investigative and reconnaissance mission for me."
"If it is so simple then why send me and not some other Cerberus agents; I am kind of busy in case you have forgotten already." The former Spectre replied with a little anger in his voice.
Illusive Man took another huff from his cigar,
"I haven't forgotten but let's get to the matter at hands. Cerberus has detected a distress beacon from a ship of unknown origins." The Illusive Man's bright blue computerized eyes studied Shepard, to see how the hero of the Citadel would react to such strange news.
Shepard eyes widen a little after he heard about a ship that even Cerberus didn't know everything about.
"Go on"
The Cerberus leader smirked slightly on how he gained the soldier's attention. He knew he had the Commander hooked.
"We need you investigate this anomaly and find out what it is and possibly salvage anything that looks important. I imagine since the ship is of unknown origins, it must have some valuable equipment. It would greatly aid Cerberus if something is found."
Shepard brought his hand to his mouth in a thinking position to give some thought on the Illusive Man's mission. It didn't take long for the hero of the Blitz, to come to a conclusion.
"Alright, I will do it, but try not to waste my time anymore with any more simple missions. The Reapers are the main concern." The hero of the Blitz spoke as he hoped that he could finally get the weight off his shoulders that he owed Cerberus
"Don't worry Shepard, I am sure we will be doing business sooner than you know. I sent the coordinates to the mysterious ship, to EDI already. Get the job done Shepard." When the Illusive Man finished his sentence he smoked his cigar once more and he then he ended the communications between him and Shepard.
Shepard blinked to adjust his eyes.
"EDI, plot a course for the destination with the coordinates the Illusive Man gave us, we got another mission." Shepard said.
"Roger that Shepard changing course." EDI's voice rang through the room, as she obeyed the orders.
The Normandy SR-2 changed course, much to the discomfort of Joker, and was now headed towards their new objective.
It would be four hours until they would arrive at the destination, so Commander Shepard took a three hour nap, and had an hour to discuss a mission plan and tactics with his squad. The Normandy's captain was going to bring his whole squad with him which consisted of Miranda, Garrus, Jacob, Mordin, Zaeed, and himself. Shepard decided to bring the whole team, as he wanted to sweep the entire ship as quick as possible. The team would then explore the ship and find anything useful on the ship like history logs, equipment, or even weapons.
Few Hours later
The Normandy SR-2 soon arrived at the mysterious ship. Joker flew the Normandy very close to the ship, close enough to where everyone was able to see the ship through port side windows. When the crew looked through a window, everyone was completely shocked at what they saw.
The ghost ship floated aimlessly in space, with small debris around it. The ship itself was large, grey, blocky, and looked very much abandoned. The strange ship was much bigger than the Normandy as well, to where it dwarfed the Normandy SR-2.
Joker piloted the Normandy to where it circled around the anomaly ship, and it was then that everyone saw that the ship had letters written on the side that were actually in English!
But the thing that surprised the Cerberus crew the most was what was actually missing from the ship! The ship was completely cut in half like if it was butter that got cut with a hot knife. The hole on the ship was big enough swallow up the Normandy whole. Many Cerberus crewmen talked amongst themselves where said things like
"What could have done this to a vessel like that?"
"Is there a weapon that could do that?"
"Where is the other half?"
"Who owned the ship?"
Shepard walked up to the cockpit of the Normandy, where the helmsman, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau was stationed. He was able to get a good look of the ominous ship that floated in the dark space, through the windows at the cockpit.
"Is anyone else kind of creeped out by that thing?" Joker asked not taking his eyes off the ship but was still able to pilot the Normandy.
"EDI, what can you tell me about the ship?" Shepard asked.
EDI's bright blue orb shaped avatar, popped up on the console near Joker's left side.
"I am not picking up any signs mass effect fields or Element Zero. It is unknown how the ship was able to run without those components."
Overhearing the A.I, Garrus coughed up from the surprise and then walked up next to Shepard in the cockpit.
"Wait, that ship has no eezo! It dwarfs the Normandy! How does it even run?" The Turian exclaimed leaving a gaping hole with his part flesh part cybernetic mouth.
The rest of the squad walked up near the cockpit, ready for the mission.
"English text written on the vessel, possibly human origin." Mordin said in his usual fast paced tone.
"Maybe the Alliance made it?" Jacob asked with his shoulders raised in a questioning manner.
"If the Alliance made it, Cerberus would have known it about it, even before it was made." Miranda spoke up with her hand on her hip.
"Alright everyone lock and load we got a mission!" Shepard declared while he tried his hardest to not be surprised and stay focus on the mission ahead.
The six person team then loaded up into the Normandy's shuttle in the cargo bay and they departed for unknown frigate. Unbeknownst to them that what lied inside the ship, was already expecting them.
Inside the UNSC Frigate the 'Forward Unto Dawn'
Inside the legendary ship a light blue beam flickered on a pedestal, soon parts of the frigate came alive once more. The UNSC Artificial Intelligence that came online was named Cortana. She successfully turned on parts the ship without much trouble, but what she needed to do was awaken the sleeping metal giant inside the cryotube. So she began to her to speak her FAITHFUL guardian.
"Chief! John, wake up! I need you! Wake up John! Chief!"
The Spartan stirred in his cryo slumber, which shook off some of the frost from his MJLONIR armor. Finally, the Master Chief woke up and activated his helmet's lights. In the blink of an eye he threw open the frozen glass door of the cryo pod and leaped out of the pod that once contained him. John latched onto the pedestal and looked at Cortana, while he floated in the ship where there was no gravity.
"I'm here." He said as got in front of his A.I.
"Chief, we've got company and some of them don't look human!" Cortana spoke with a little worry in her voice.
Chief activated his magnetic boots on his armor, to stick to the floor since they were still in zero gravity, and looked at his last known companion.
"Is it the Covenant Separatists or the Insurrectionist?" The Spartan questioned as tried to think of what faction that could compose of alien and human team.
"Negative, they don't match any bio-signatures we have ever seen, though one of them looks like an Elite while the other looks like a Prophet. All of them look to be well armed and the ship they have doesn't match anything within the UNSC or Covenant." Cortana said as she scanned the intruders through what was left of the power system within the Dawn.
The Master Chief thought of what to do of this situation and he came up with a plan.
"Try to lead them to us and if they ask any questions, answer only basic information" With that said Spartan-117 went over to pick up the MA5C Assault Rifle he placed near cryotube before he went to sleep. Chief checked the ammo and saw that it still had a full clip in it still, it wasn't much but it would have to do. He then went to find a place to conceal himself from the visitors.
"So are we going to greet out guests with your charming personality or are we going to do the same old Spartan tradition, guns blazing."
Master Chief said only one word.
"Both."
Back with Shepard and his team a few minutes earlier
The Cerberus Kodiak shuttle landed inside the gaping hole of the ship and the shuttle's door opened up revealing the six members. All of them activated their magnetic boots so they can walk freely among the ship. Everyone was also sealed up in their suits or carried breathers, so they would be able to breath along the trip.
Shepard turned and spoke to his teammates.
"Everyone stays together so we can get through this quick."
The squad simply nodded and followed their Commander's orders and began exploration of the ship. Each Normandy team member carefully looked around the strange ship, each one of them held their own specialized weapon in their arms.
"Looks like someone left the lights on." Garrus observed as their was somehow power in the ship.
"How the hell is this stuff working when half of the bloody ship is gone?" Zaeed said outloud, on what was everyone's minds.
"Alternative power supply, back up generator. Curious to how its working without eezo. Would very much like to observe." Mordin spoke with a scientific curiosity.
"Cerberus could use something like that. We need to find it and get it aboard the Normandy." Miranda said.
As they continued their mission they didn't find much, just a few empty rooms and halls with debris floating around in the ship. But as they got deeper in the ship, things were different like how they noticed arrows on the floor that pointed to some doors and hallways with words written in English on them like 'Mess Hall' and 'Crew Quarters'. They searched the rooms, but didn't find much except more evidence that it was a human ship as it had human food in the cafeteria and pictures of humans.
"Does the abbreviation, U.N.S.C. mean anything to any of you?" Jacob asked when the squad left the crew quarters area.
"I found it on some clothes and dog tags back there, but none of them completely spelled it out." Jacob continued.
"This must be a military ship since there is dog tags on it." Shepard said with observation.
"Or they had mercenaries aboard." Zaeed added as he recalled that some mercs kept their dog tags even when they left the armed forces.
"Does anyone else get the feeling that we are being watched?" Garrus said with unease as he looked everywhere to see who could be watching them. His finger was now closer to the trigger on his M-92 Mantis.
"Yeah, something doesn't feel right." Jacob agreed, as he held his M-22 Eviscerator tighter.
"Keep your eyes up, something could be waiting for us here." Shepard cautioned everyone.
The team agreed in unison and walked further in the ship.
The squad soon reached an impasse as there were two different routes with arrows on the ground. The arrow on the left said "Cryobay" and the one on the right said "Armory".
In a brief moment the former Spectre then came up with a plan.
"Alright we are going to have to split up from here. Garrus you take Zaeed and Mordin and go to the cryobay and find what you can in there, while me, Miranda, and Jacob will go to the armory and try find what type of weapons these unknowns used."
"Put me with a crazy merc and a doctor that doesn't shut up, why not give me a dog that is scared of everything and a hippie that eats a lot." Garrus said with sarcasm.
"Shut it, split lip. I'm not happy working with your sorry ass."Zaeed growled in anger.
"Both of you calm down. We won't get anything accomplished when we are at each others throats. Just look around and you guys will be fine."
Garrus sighed.
"Alright let's move radio us if something comes up."
"Same goes for you." Shepard replied to his comment.
Now the teams were divided and were headed their separate ways. Garrus and his team were near the cryobay, and when the door to the cryobay opened, they saw quite a surprising sight. The room was freezing, and snow was fall everywhere with piles of snow under the lined up cryo pods.
"Snow? What kind of goddamn ship is this?" Zaeed asked as he watched the snow float without gravity.
"Leakage from cryo pod, most likely. Cause snow droplets and temperature. Common occurence in damaged ships." Mordin answered.
"Rrrright, spread out and yell if you find something interesting." Garrus said.
The small three man team spread out and searched the cryo bay. After a few minutes of searching, they spotted a glowing terminal in the middle of the cold cryo bay. The three commandos headed for the strange light and soon a blue glowing form of a human female popped up from the terminal.
"Welcome to the cryobay of the UNSC frigate, the Forward Unto Dawn. I am CTN 0452-9, but you may call me Cortana, how can I help you?" She said in a monotone voice.
"A V.I.? This may help us explain what happened to this ship and its crew." Garrus thought to himself.
Garrus brought his hand up to his trademark Kuwashil visor to message to his superior officer about the V.I.
"Shepard, we found a V.I. on this ship. I am going to start asking it some questions that could explain some of the origins of this ship."
"We are on our way to you, we couldn't open the doors to the armory anyway, they seemed to be locked." Shepard answered back through the radio in his helmet.
"We will meet you here then, Shepard." Garrus then turned to the V.I. known as Cortana with some questions running through his mind.
"What is this UNSC?"
"The United Nations Space Command is a military branch of Earth and all of the human race's colonies." Cortana spoke as like if she was a dumb A.I. to sell the deception.
Garrus was shocked to hear about this UNSC for he has never of a military name like it, but proceeded to ask questions. He would indeed need to ask it the V.I. more on the issue, but he had to deal with more pressing issues.
"What happened to the crew of this ship?"
"The crew of the Forward Unto Dawn had been evacuated to ensure their safety from the [CLASSIFIED] threat.''Cortana replied to his question with a simple answer.
"Wait, what was the threat?"
"[CLASSIFIED]"
Garrus was a little taken back the response, but continued to question her.
"Alright then, what happened to this ship?"
"[CLASSIFIED]" Cortana repeated.
Zaeed, who was now pretty angry from not finding out what happened much from a malfunctioning V.I. and that they wasted so much time on a ghost ship that could have been just a floating piece of junk, made him furious. He them walked up to the program.
"Tell us what happened to this god damn ship!"
"[CLASSIFIED]"
"Unclassify it then you stupid machine!" The merc yelled as he tried his best to not blow up the annoying program into oblivion.
"[CLASSIFIED]"
Zaeed then raised his gun at the uncooperative V.I.
"I will classify you, bitch!"
But before he could pull the trigger, Cortana spoke in her natural voice, and raised her hand to Zaeed.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Cortana warned.
The three Normandy commandos were taken back that the V.I. was now speaking like a normal person. But Zaeed still was pretty pissed at it, so he pressed on.
"What! And who is going to stop me?"
Cortana then pointed her finger behind him.
"He is."
Zaeed turned around, and suddenly two metal boots slammed into his chest and sent him flying across the whole room, where he hit the wall hard, at the end of the cryoroom, which knocked the mercenary out cold.
The green being then jumped down from the ceiling and ran at Garrus. Before Garrus could shoot the speeding green demon with his sniper rifle, he was punched in the stomach the hardest he has ever been in his life, knocking the breath out of him within his helmet and then passed out.
Mordin aimed his M-4 Shuriken submachine-gun at the green goliath, but the armored being simply kicked Garrus's body. Garrus's unconscious body flew and hit Mordin, which knocked him down on his back. Even though Garrus was knocked out, his magnetic boots were still active and connected to the floor when he hit Mordin, so it kept Mordin pinned to the ground. The Salarian doctor noticed the giant green sprinted at him at an incredibly speed, so Mordin threw Garrus's unconscious form, off him, but was got off guard at what happen next. The humanoid creature picked up Mordin by his head and slammed him down on the ground hard enough to send Mordin Solus in a unconscious state.
Master Chief's POV
Chief looked around at what damage he had caused. He looked at the strange two aliens. Cortana was right, as one looked greatly similar to an Elite and the other skinnier one looked like a Prophet.
"Wow, you didn't even need to use your Assault Rifle, too bad because you love that gun, oh well you saved bullets." Cortana said when she looked at Chief's work.
When the Spartan fought the three strange intruders, he knew he could have killed them with his bare hands, but he had held back his strength so he could keep them alive for interrogation.
"Chief! Three contacts coming in." Cortana exclaimed.
The Master Chief simply nodded and went to hide once more.
Normal POV
Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob walked into the cryobay only to gasp at what they saw. All three of their teammates were somehow out cold and no threat was there to cause all of it. Garrus, Zaeed, and Mordin all hard trained and deadly individuals were on the spread out on the floor and not moving.
"What could have done this?" Shepard said to Miranda and Jacob.
Before everyone was able to pull out their respective weapons and find out who harmed their comrades. A strong and threatening voice spoke behind the three Cerberus humans.
"Me".
Shepard then felt the barrel of a gun on the back of his head and heard the voice speak once more.
"Put your hands up and turn around."
Shepard and company cooperated and slowly turned around with their hands in air and were once again surprised at what they saw that the ship contained. There they saw a giant seven foot humanoid figure clad in dark green armor with a gold visor that showed their reflection, where his eyes should be, and he was pointing a strange gray gun at them. Commander Shepard wasn't really sure to what make of this situation.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" Miranda demanded instead od asked, even under the stressful situation.
Then finally Jacob spoke to possibly to ease the tension in the room.
"Damn."
New Author's Notes: Well I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I fixed several errors. The rewritten chapter three will be up soon.
Old Author's Notes: Well that was chapter two, I really liked this chapter since it is the first meeting of Master Chief and Shepard. This was also a good chance of me to do a combat scene and show John-117 is a boss.
Hoped you enjoy this chapter and REVIEW!