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
Chapter 3: The Master Chief is Onboard
Cryo-room, UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn
Shepard turned his attention to the giant being in green armor that had him and his two squad members at gunpoint. Their adrenaline was high from the tense situation and deadly silent. They had faced similar events at being held at gun point and if there were a few things he had learned from them, it was to have a quick trigger finger or a good choice of words.
"My name is Commander Shepard former Alliance solider and former Spectre. We mean you no harm. We came because we heard the distress the beacon. Can I get a name from you or a race?"
Despite the one who held the gun, John-117 was at a disadvantage from what he had heard from the human. The Master Chief was confused, he had never heard of this Alliance or the rank of Spectre, besides the vehicle the Elites or Brutes usually drove. The first thought that came to mind was that he assumed the person tried to lie to him so he could stall for a reason. But, Chief felt something strange stir in his gut something that told him that the person wasn't lying. And one thing his old mentor and father like figure, Chief Mendez, had taught him was to always listen to your gut.
"Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117, human."
"Wow this guy is human? He is so huge though, and never heard of a Spartan rank? He sounds like a military man so talking to him might be a challenge, but I still didn't get a name." Shepard thought to himself in confusion.
"Is there any chance you can give me your real name? It might make talking a little easier." Shepard asked as he hoped to disarm the stressful moment.
"No." the Spartan simply replied.
"We're wasting time here, Shepard." Miranda said in an irritated tone, while she kept a venomous glare at the green goliath, but did not lower her arms.
Shepard squinted his eyes to see if he could see past the golden visor of the one known as Master Chief, but it was of no use as all he got was a golden reflection of himself.
"What's this 'Alliance' or 'Cerberus?' What happened to the UNSC? Are you apart of the Covenant Separatists or the Insurrection?" Master Chief asked, as he kept his finger ready to pull the trigger on a moment's notice.
He has never heard of the Human System Alliance? Where is this guy from? Is he actually human? Shepard's mind boggled with questions. There were so many that his head began to hurt and being held at gunpoint didn't help the migraine.
"Okay, I have never heard of this 'UNSC' or of any 'Separatists' or "Insurrection. But look, I told you we came here in response to the ship's distress beacon and we mean you know harm. We can keep talking on this dead ship or we can provide you transport in my ship that works." Shepard waited a moment, as he looked for some kind of reaction from the metal giant, which was a little hard trying to read the man since the Commander couldn't look the Spartan in the eyes with his reflective visor.
"I would like to also check on my crew that you just knocked out. Any particular reason why you did that or why were you hiding?"
Chief lowered his assault rifle slightly, though he was very capable of pulling the trigger if needed to.
"They were about to attack vital cargo, I didn't want anything happen to it. I didn't kill your allies, they were kept alive for interrogation." Chief informed.
"Interrogation?" Jacob said out loud in disbelief.
"That doesn't explain why you were hiding." Miranda said with her Australian accent, but the tone sounded almost like if she accused him of something.
"The first time we had encountered unknown aliens, they didn't respond to us very peacefully." The Spartan replied.
Shepard, Jacob, and Miranda all three exchanged quick glances between each other, as the statement raised more questions than actual answers. But then the former Spectre spoke up.
"So what do you say? Do we have a deal?" Commander asked though he didn't lower his hand for a handshake, in case Master Chief would mistake it for a hostile move.
The Spartan stood there like if he was deep in thought, but he did eventually come up with an answer.
"I will go with you, but I will need to gather some of my equipment. You can take whatever you want as long it isn't a weapon, and most of the doors will be unlocked."
Both Jacob Taylor and the former Spectre were slightly relaxed from the news, but as for Miranda... well she still looked somewhat agitated. All three humans lowered their hands gently, but kept their eyes on Master Chief.
Despite the fact that he did not trust him and the situation from earlier, Shepard couldn't help but to feel amazed about the guy. Master Chief was able to knock out three of his armed squad mates within a few seconds with his bare hands, Shepard knew he did it with his hands, otherwise there would be smoking bullet holes in his companions. Plus the sizeable fist and boot size dents in their armor supported his evidence. It was also harder to knock out or stun than kill someone, but that man did it without getting harmed at all.
Though the soldier just pointed a gun at his face and threatened to shoot him, and fought his squad mates, Shepard had thoughts about recruiting the Spartan for he was an excellent combatant and he was going to need all the help he can get against the Collectors. Yeah it seemed crazy to recruit the person he just met, but after he read some of the dossiers of the other potential recruits... well they seemed even more insane than the Master Chief. Shepard wasn't looking for friends, he was looking soldiers.
The Spartan walked over to a pedestal in the room, removed a chip that glowed and flickered with a light blue color, and placed it in his helmet.
"Alright, I will have my ship dock with yours. I'll be waiting to greet you when you're ready." Commander Shepard casually informed the Spartan.
The Spartan only gave a slight nod in response and made off down the corridor. He left the former Spectre to take care of his unlucky commandos.
The hero of the Blitz moved to go help his unconscious team, fortunately the zero gravity would no doubt make the it easier moving them around. Both Miranda and Jacob, realized that the danger was now over, and turned to help him. This day might had gotten even better if he can recruit this soldier to their cause.
Jacob Taylor went to help the unconscious Zaeed Massani at the end of the room, while Miranda Lawson went to help Mordin Solus, who was knocked out in the middle of the room. Both Cerberus operatives applied some medi-gel to their unfortunate allies, to heal their wounds.
Miranda watched with icy eyes, as the man in the dark green armor left. Her curiosity screamed at her to find out who or what he was, and find out what made him capable enough to knock out Garrus, Mordin, and Zaeed at once. Miranda got up and started to trail the mysterious person at a fairly good and unnoticeable distance.
"Shepard, I am going to... take care of something." Miranda said as she nearly walked out of the cryo-room.
Commander Shepard had a pretty good idea Miss Lawson was about to engage in something that had to do with Master Chief. Though he knew Miranda was a very capable woman, he wasn't entirely on board with the idea of her trying something that could enrage a person that knocked three of his teammates with ease.
"Miranda, I don't thin..."
"I'll be fine, Shepard." Miranda interrupted as she left the cryo-room and followed the Spartan.
The former Spectre sighed, as Miranda Lawson was almost impossible to stop when she had her mind set on something. But he really did not want to end up with four wounded and unconscious squad mates, or even possibly a provoked person that might just go on a killing spree. But somehow he knew in his gut that Miranda would be okay. So he let her go and tended to his injured squad mates.
With Chief and Cortana aboard the Forward Unto Dawn near the armory
"Thanks for saving me again, Chief, but I don't like the idea of calling me cargo, it makes me feel fat." Cortana pouted inside Master Chief's helmet.
Chief was happy to hear that the A.I. was okay and not harmed from the man he kicked across the hall of the cryoroom.
"I didn't want to reveal you, otherwise they might had taken you and then I would had to kill them." Master Chief said as he walked through the halls of the Dawn.
"You really are a caveman sometimes, you know that right?" Cortana joked with the hero of humanity.
Suddenly, John-117 noticed a dot on his motion tracker that said something was not too far behind him.
"Looks like we got a follower on your six." Cortana chimed in through the MJLONIR helmet.
Master Chief kept walking with his helmet pointed straight in the direction of the armory. But he did looked through the side of his helmet to see who followed him. The person stuck to the shadows and dark areas of the halls, and hid behind corners and walkways. Despite how dark it was, Chief was able to see who was the one who stalked him. It was the human woman who that was with the other two men from the cryo-room.
"I'll lock the armory door, when we get through. Wouldn't want her to take a few of our toys, now would we?" Cortana said with confidence.
The duo finally reached their destination, the armory. With what little power left in the UNSC frigate, the metal door to the armory slid opened automatically. When the Spartan walked through, the doors closed on their own. But the greens lights on the armory door switched to a bright red, to signify that the door was locked.
When Miranda Lawson saw that the color on the door had changed, she knew something was wrong. Once Miranda knew she wouldn't get caught, she moved to the door in a silent manner. Unlike the soldier, the door did not open automatically for the Cerberus officer. Miranda stepped back and studied the door for any hints to open the door.
On the left side of the door, Miranda noticed a control pad with a set of buttons. Miranda smirked with satisfaction, and then pressed a few buttons. But unfortunately for her, the door then not open. Miranda tried at the controls a few more times, but she did not succeed. She then activated her omni-tool to bypass the door's security lock, but even that failed her as, for some reason her omni-tool couldn't even make a connection to the slammed a balled up fist in anger on the control pad.
"Bugger!" Miranda quietly swore in a whisper.
Like before, Miranda stepped back and studied the door once more, to try to open it, but this time there seemed to be no other way. For a second and a second only, Miranda thought she could blast or pry the door open with her biotics. But she brushed off the idea, when she realized she could possibly destroy the equipment or alert the man in the dark green armor. The Cerberus officer folded her arms across her chest as she was annoyed in her predicament.
But it was then a devious smile formed on Miranda's near perfect lips when she recalled that the green armored person said he was left to grab some equipment, and they were about to give the person a ride on their ship, Cerberus' ship.
"He would be bringing the stuff right to me. I just have to think of a more... conventual means of getting them without him knowing." Miranda thought to herself in a clever manner.
In her moment of victory, Miranda unwillingly looked to the floor, where she noticed a green arrow that pointed to the closed door in front of her.
"Bloody hell!" Miranda Lawson swore as she realized that she missed her perfect opportunity to collect a few weapons to send back to Cerberus, and learn about them and possibly mass produce them for humanity's gain.
But Miranda calmed herself. She was a patient and smart individual, so she would wait and plan on how to get her hands on the weapons that the Master Chief would bring. Of course she now knew that she would have to be more careful, since he could possibly use the weapons against her with lethal force.
So Miranda unfolded her arms, and left to board the Kodiak shuttle that would take her back to the Normandy SR-2.
But if one listened closely, they would had heard a female A.I. snicker behind the closed door.
In the Forward Unto Dawn's armory
"That should hold her off for a while." Cortana gloated inside Chief's armor.
Usually the weapons were on racks and cases, but with the Dawn in the shape it was in now and the zero gravity, the weapons floated aimlessly around the room. There were some Covenant weapons that floated around as well, they most likely came from the Arbiter and the other Covenant Separatists that were on the frigate that aided them on the Ark.
"You might want to pick up mainly Covenant weapons, I scanned their armor and weapons and they seemed to be made of some sort of dark energy type. They have their own personal shields made from the same material, but don't worry your shields are better than theirs. Their shields seem to have a kinetic barrier that protects them against bullets and other small projectiles but not against extreme temperature, toxins, or radiation. So Covenant plasma technology should be really effective against their shields and armor."
Chief sighed. He prefered using UNSC technology since he grew up with those weapons, but a Spartan was more than capable of adjusting and was very good at adapting.
Spartan-117 started to get some duffel bags and some backpacks and loaded them with many Covenant weapons and a few UNSC weapons like the SRS99D S2 AM Sniper Rifle, 319 Individual Grenade Launcher, and the M41 Surface to Surface Rocket Medium Anti Vehicle Assault Weapon Rocket Launcher, and one of his favorites and probably the most deadly the M6 Grindell Galilean Nonlinear Rifle Spartan Laser.
He also grabbed several Covenant weapons, such as the Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol also known as the Plasma Pistol, the Type-33 Guided Muntions Launcher otherwise known as the Needler, the Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon called the Fuel Rod Gun, and several others.
Chief grabbed a few repair kits and power packs so he could keep his MJOLNIR armor in check for a while. He also grabbed many grenades like fragmentation, plasma, spike, and incendiary grenades.
Master Chief grabbed as much ammo as he could for the UNSC weapons and the Covenant weapons, as well as a few battery packs to recharge the Spartan Laser for a few more uses. Chief knew he had enough ammo to last for a long time, but there was no guarantee he could find more ammo anytime soon.
The Spartan was about to finally leave the armory with several duffel bags and backpacks, but was stopped when a floating datapad bumped into his helmet. Chief dropped one of the many bags from his hand and grabbed the pesky datapad.
"The datapad still has power, how about we read few entires. Maybe there is something in there that can help." Cortana advised as she was mainly curious what the datapad said on it.
John did as he was instructed and activated the datapad.
Private First Class Chips Dubbo
Yeah just got done loading some of the weapons that Commander Keyes told me to stack up on. We are really bringing in some of the big guns to this 'Ark' place. And it's not just us, the squid heads are loading some of their guns too. I'm still not use to these guys being on our side, and neither is everyone else. We just mainly keep to ourselves and pray that we live to see another day. But hey, at least they are shooting at us anymore.
Still there was one gun that I haven't even seen before until now. I guess those damn squid heads were working on another gun, even though they don't have their Prophets to make their weapons for them now. I heard from a couple of Elites say that it was supposed to be the updated version of the plasma rifle. Who would hav thought, that they would had come up with something better than the plasma rifle?
I guess they are calling the gun a storm rifle, kind of suits it because the gun is pretty slick looking. Me and a few of the guys want to go shoot it, but Sargent Johnson said that if we even touched the trigger on the gun, that he would let us go a round with a Hunter with us armed with only a rubber band. Would the Hunter even feel the rubber band? Apparently, the gun was a prototype and was the only one aboard the Dawn. Some of the Grunts said it was for when all else fails. I don't blame them, damn Brutes are really pushing us after New Mombasa. So the Storm Rifle was moved to a special container in the armory.
Well I better get ready, a lot of us have to help Chief push our way into the Ark's Cartographer. Thank god, I get a Warthog with a gauss cannon on it this time.
End Entry
Once Chief read over the datapad's entry, he let go of the datapad, where it floated in the armory once more.
"We should find this Storm Rifle. Since no one else is using it, we should give it a few proper test runs." Cortana said in a sly voice, where she hinted on what to test the new Covenant weapon on.
"Agreed." Master Chief said in monotone.
"I will look through the Dawn's databanks to see what I can dig up on this new gun."
The Spartan scanned the room, and it only took him a few minutes to spot the case strapped down to a shelf. Chief effortlessly removed the straps, and picked up the case. When he opened the case, the weapon was about to float away, but John was quick to grab it. Chief looked at the storm rifle, and examined it.
The storm rifle was a two handed weapon that was dark blue in color. The gun itself looked like a cross between the Covenant carbine and the plasma repeater, well it mostly looked like the Type-51 Carbine, but with a different stock and a dark blue color.
"Hmm, I did find some interesting data about the Storm Rifle. It is called the Type-55 Advanced Directed Energy Rifle, otherwise known as the Strom Rifle. It is in fact supposed to be the successor to the Plasma Rifle where it has several modifications such as a modular coil set, a high-mounted cooling shroud, and an extended barrel. All of the changes contribute to a greater overall performance in the field than the Plasma Rifle. As the name hinted, the fully automatic weapon unleashes a 'storm' of projectiles upon firing, which is rapid and deadly at a close to medium range." Cortana informed.
Spartan-117 shifted the weapon around in his arms, to feel weight and handle of the Storm Rifle. The Covenant automatic rifle felt great and light in his hands. Chief noticed that there was a heat display near the back of the gun similar how the ammo count was on the MA5C Assault Rifle, unlike the plasma rifle.
"I don't think the Elites are going to be using it anytime soon. We should bring it with us, it would be a great souvenir." Cortana suggested.
Having felt satisfied with the Covenant weapon, the Spartan supersoldier holstered the storm rifle on the magnetic plates on his back.
The Master Chief had everything packed and was ready to depart from the ship, though he felt like he was leaving something behind. Maybe it was the memories that he had made on the 'Forward Unto Dawn.' It had been commanded by Commander Miranda Keyes, who flew it to the Ark and the reconstructed Halo Installation 04. The warship had also been the Spartan's resting place for who knows how long they had been there. Then a thought occurred to the Spartan.
"How long have we been here?" John-117 asked Cortana.
"A year, John." Cortana said almost sadly.
Master Chief stopped and looked at Cortana with concern.
"Cor..."
"Don't worry about me, John. I... I don't think I have reached Rampancy yet, but I am not completely sure anymore. But right now you are my main concern and I have something to say that may be hard to accept." Cortana replied in a dreary tone.
Cortana acted as if she could take an actual deep breath and sighed.
"Chief, I think we are in an alternate reality."
Spartan-117 was surprised at her accusation. It was something he would had never expected in his entire life despite the drastic things he experienced through his Spartan career.
"What do you mean?"
"When we left the Ark and activated Halo, it must have caused some sort of reaction to the Slipspace portal we opened when the Dawn split in half. The portal was unstable... the possibilities of what could have happened were endless. My guess is that it shot us somewhere else. This is another galaxy or maybe an alternate reality." Cortana explained, though she herself was unsure of what transpired when they left Installation 00.
The Master Chief did not respond to Cortana, it was just to hard to believe. The concept seemed almost impossible to grasp. He stood there in silence in a state of confusion and some despair. But Cortana continued.
"Well as I scanned their armor and weapons, I picked up that they have a portable computer like device on them called an "omni-tool", which has many functions like a translator and hacking, but what I found on them that were most interesting was an information page called a "Codex". This Codex showed me that this reality is similar, but also greatly different from ours."
Chief was very curious about his trusted A.I's ideas and discoveries.
"How so?"
Cortana began to explain to the confused Spartan about the history of this universes' humanity, like how the humans had a huge technology jump by finding a cache of mass effect technology on Mars from an ancient and advance race called the 'Protheans' who seemed similar to the Forerunners. How the massive construct called the Citadel was founded and the alien species that occupy it like the Asari, Turians, Salarians, Volus, Drell, Hanar, and so many more. There was also additional information like how the synthetic race the Geth came to be, and past wars like the Rachni war and the Krogan Rebellion. There were even some files on the people they just met.
The man in the dark grey armor with a red mark going down the right arm with the abbreviation N7 was Commander John Shepard. Shepard was the graduate of the Human Systems Alliance N7 special forces program, who fought off a battalion of Batarians by himself during an event called the Skyllian Blitz, became the first human Spectre of the Citadel Council, and saved the Citadel from a rogue Turian Spectre named Saren Arterius and a race of artificial intelligence called the Geth. But one of the most strangest news about Commander Shepard was that he apparently died from some attack on a ship called the Normandy.
As he looked at the codex on Shepard's apparent death, it got Sierra-117 thinking how had he been in front of him earlier and talked to him? But then again, ONI had done some mysterious things like covered up or faked deaths on several occasions for secret activities and operations. Plus Shepard said he was working with Cerberus so that could have been the case, as so far they seemed incredibly similar to ONI from what he read in the Codex.
Though he didn't show it, but the Master Chief was utterly lost. He just couldn't believe that he was in another universe or how to get back to his or even what to do now. He had no idea where he was or where to begin. He would had have an easier time if he was back on High Charity and going through all of the Covenant and the Flood again, than the situation he was in now. The Spartan supersoldier had no orders or missions and now he was lost in a place that nobody could help him with. He was bred for war, but there was nothing for him to fight. He had no idea what to do.
Cortana's voice finally got him to focus once more.
"Chief… I think we should head to that shuttle that the 'dead man' told us about and maybe then we can figure something out."
When John heard Cortana's voice, he slightly perked up. He knew that he wasn't at least alone in the different universe and had his closet friend to help him out through their struggle. So the Spartan and the A.I. started to head to the shuttle that was docked at the 'Forward Unto Dawn'.
Master Chief took one last look at the armory when he was on the other side of the door. He lingered at the view as he knew that he was about to leave the last thing that was the closest to anything of a home from his universe. The memories seeped through the Spartan's brain through all the moments he spent on the Dawn.
"Come on, John. They won't wait forever." Cortana said though her words almost echoed through his mind.
Chief slowly turned and made his way towards the shuttle, still as a confused and lost supersoldier.
On the "Forward Unto Dawn" the cryoroom, while the Master Chief was in the armory
After being treated with medi-gel and shaken by Shepard, Garrus Vakarian finally woke up.
"Uh… what happen…" Garrus said tiredly as he shook his ached head.
"Well, you got the crap kicked out of you, and so did Mordin and Zaeed." Shepard laughed at one of his best friends.
"Uh?... Wha?...Oh yeah, well there was this giant muscled up green thing that was ten foot tall and it kept on screaming HULK SMASH HULK SMASH! An.. an… and there were about a hundred of them, Mordin went down first and then Zaeed, I took out about seventy-five of them by myself while pulling the two to safety and then…"
Shepard interrupted his friend that slightly exaggerated.
"We met him after the beating you took."
"Oh… well that was kind of embarrassing. Wait! Where is he at? Did you beat him?!" Garrus shouted while he looked around to see if the deadly green giant was nearby.
"No he actually got the drop on us too, it is just we didn't make him mad or anything. We talked to him and said we will give him a ride. He also said that you provoked him about 'attacking vital cargo?' Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Right now he is grabbing a few things from this vessel."
"The V.I?" Garrus thought "or was it a V.I? At the last second it acted a little abnormal for a V.I."
"Seriously Shepard? The people we find are getting stranger by the next. Are you sure we can trust him through the ride?"
"We will keep him under watch, but we could still help him."
"Well as long he doesn't attack me again, then I will live."
"Any idea what the vital cargo could be?" The hero of the Blitz asked.
"I got a hunch, but lets talk about it later when we are back on the Normandy. Can't trust that anything will jump out again." Garrus said as he kept his senses on alert.
"Okay, but you should head to the med-bay and see Dr Chakwas on the 'Normandy.' You might want to get checked for any other injures, since you do have a huge dent in your armor with the shape of a fist." said Shepard with a little chuckle.
"Yeah I will have to get that dent out. But before I go, there was a sign on the floor that said 'vehicle bay' I want to check that out first. You know, see what I can find in there." Garrus said as he silently hoped that Shepard would let him off the hook.
"Alright, but I am sending Jacob with you just in case you get jumped again." Shepard laughed a bit.
"Thanks, but I don't know if sending Jacob with me will help because if one of those things took three of us down then two won't make it any harder for another." Garrus replied with logic in his words.
Shepard sighed and smirked at the Turian's stubbornness.
"Just go before I change my mind."
Garrus got up successfully, but he failed when he tried not to grunt from the pain. The Turian walked up to Jacob and both went to the room that was known as the vehicle bay.
On the bridge of the Normandy SR-2
As usual, Joker sat at the cockpit when he piloted the Normandy. When he got bored he would either argue with EDI, check the ship's functions, or browse the extranet for some rather interesting sites, but something out of the ordinary caught Joker's eye from a monitor. What the pilot saw was a seven foot guy clad from head to toe in dark green armor that he had never seen the likes of before. He also carried a huge amount of bags. A normal human shouldn't have been able to carry that much weight, but this guy was carrying them as if they were nothing. So Joker began a message to Shepard.
"Uh Commander… there is a jolly green giant waiting at our door and by jolly I mean scary, any idea why is he here or what I should do?"
"Let him in Joker, we are giving him a ride and he could possibly be a new recruit." Shepard radioed back to Joker
Joker sighed.
"Commander, I know the guys we are picking up are tough, but this guy could be part of the lost royal family of badasses. He looks like he can take down a heavy mech all by himself with no problem. Are you sure about letting him aboard?"
"After what he had done to Zaeed, Garrus, and Mordin I think he can go toe to toe with a heavy mech and that is why I am going to try to convince him to help us. So open up the hatch and let him through."
"Alright Commander, but if he ends up killing me I am coming back to haunt you!"
Shepard couldn't help to smile at Joker's humor.
"Okay Joker, Shepard out."
In the vehicle bay aboard the Forward Unto Dawn
Jacob and Garrus looked around in the large and dark vehicle bay. After what they saw from earlier on the unknown ship, they were excited to see what they would find in the vehicle bay. There was an assortment of vehicles that looked human made while there were some they have never seen the likes of. But at the moment, both of them walked through the large vehicle bay, almost in a casual manner.
"I'm surprised that you are up and walking around so soon, after the beating you took." Jacob said, as he tried to make small talk.
The Turian merely shrugged his shoulders.
"Nothing really comes close to the time I cuddled a missile." Garrus said sarcastically, and then gestured to the artificial gaft and cybernetics on the right side of his face.
Jacob chuckled a little.
"Good point."
"But, I will be sore for a few days." Garrus mentioned as his body started to already to ache.
"So how did it go back there? You know, with the guy we just picked up?"
"I... uh... rather not talk about it." Garrus said a little embarrassed as he thought about how the Spartan jumped him.
"That bad, huh?"
"Well, it wasn't fun that was for sure."
"I can imagine that." Jacob replied.
It was then that the Turian spotted something from the corner of his eye. Garrus then turned to look at a very strange vehicle that did not look to be human made.
"Are you sure that this ship belonged to humans?" Garrus asked.
Jacob turned to where had Turian looked, and what he saw rather surprised him as well.
"Woah." The Cerberus operative simply said, in awe.
The two walked up to the abnormal vehicle and examined it. The vehicle was dark purple, had a curved bulbous front and one seat on it. There were two wings near the front, and ahead of the wings, were two square objects that looked like some sort of weapons.
"Any idea what it is?" Garrus asked as had no clue what the thing really was.
"I don't know, it definitely doesn't look it was made by humans." Jacob said through careful observation.
"I don't think there is any species that made a vehicle like this." Garrus answered in disbelief.
A thought then occurred to Jacob. It was a crazy thought, but it seemed rational on how to learn about the vehicle. He walked up to the vehicle and brushed his hand on it, and felt that the machine had a cool sleek surface.
"Hey...uh... do you think I should get in it?"
Garrus shifted a little, unsure about Jacob Taylor's idea.
"If we knew a little more about it, then I would say go for it. But since we know next to nothing about it, I wouldn't." Garrus suggested as he somehow knew that he was going to get a lot more bruises at the end of the day.
"Yeah, good idea." Jacob complemented.
The Cerberus operative stepped back from the dark purple machine and looked a bit farther in the vehicle bay. It wasn't long before Jacob Taylor's eyes settled upon a large vehicle that looked similar to a military tank from the twenith century.
"Now there's something that looks a little more familiar." Jacob said with a little excitement as he looked at something that looked more human made.
Both Garrus and Jacob strolled over to the large grey tank. The tank was very large, maybe around thirty or thirty-three feet in length. It was colored in a light shade of gray, with one white streak on the right tread of the tank. And unlike the older versions of tanks, there were four treads on the sides of the tanks where the wheels were, most likely for easier means of travels on multiple terrain types. There also seemed to be a machine gun turret in the middle of the tank for a second gunner. The cannon was not on the front like other tanks of back then. Instead it was mounted on the back. With the turret hanging over the vehicle and the treads extended outwards, it almost looked like a Scorpion.
Jacob blew a sweet whistle when he stared in awe at the war tank.
"Man, look at this. This looks the tougher version of the tanks from way back." Mr Taylor then examined the long cannon on the war machine. "I bet this thing is packin some real firepower. Wouldn't mind taking it for a spin."
"This thing does look tough, but I think I prefer the Mako. The Mako looks a lot faster and maneuverable. I may had a lot of terrifying times in the Mako with Shepard behind the wheel, but it got the job done." Garrus said with a shudder and a shiver as he recalled all of the crazy stunts and driving Shepard did in the M35 Mako.
"I don't know, I mean look at all the armor on the this thing. And the turret seems to turn all the way around. This tank looks like it can take and dish out some serious damage." Jacob replied still in awe with the tank
Garrus then chuckled.
"Good thing Wrex isn't here to see this. I'm sure we would all be blown to a crater by now." Garrus said as he remembered his old deviously perceptive Krogan teammate from when they chased Saren.
When Jacob finally tore his eyes from the tank, he decided to look around more in the vehicle bay. It didn't take long for Jacob to spot a vehicle that had four wheels, was painted army green, had a huge turret on the back of it, and a painted-on logo: UNSC.
"Wow look at this thing." Jacob Taylor said as he admired the strange, but interesting vehicle.
"Looks kind of primitive with wheels on it and no hovering abilities. Kind of reminds me of a smaller Mako." Garrus said as he walked over to it.
Jacob got by the driver's side and examined the inside of it and then he found something interesting.
"It says in here that it's called a 'Warthog'."
Garrus would have raised an eyebrow if he had one. "You mean the pig like animal on your home planet Earth, why call it that? If anything it looks like that feline animal on your planet uh what is it called… Oh! A puma!"
"What?! How does it look like a puma! This thing has tusks on the front of it, what other animal do you know has tusks!" Jacob turned and said with a loud and surprised voice.
Garrus thought about Mr. Taylor's response and dug deep in his brain on what he barely knew of Earth's animals that had tusks.
"Well there are those other two animals from your planet the Elephant and the Walrus, I don't see why they don't call it one of those. Actually this thing looks more like a Varren, so why not call it a Varren?"
"Those are stupid names for a jeep!" Jacob coughed.
"You know what? Not only do I have to be checked for bruises, but arguing with you is giving me a splitting headache. I'm heading to the med-bay." Garrus said as he made his way back to the Normandy.
Few Hours later back on the Normandy SR-2
After a couple of hours that were spent on the ship wreckage, Shepard gave the call sign that it was time to leave. The team gathered at the Cerberus Kodiak shuttle and shared what they had scavenged. They didn't have much, just clothes and some metal material, since most of the vital doors were locked such as the Armory, Medical Bay, Engineering, and a few others. There were a few interesting finds, such as a few datapads, but there wasn't much to get from them besides some strange entries.
Everyone was bewildered about their recent find. How there was a ship that did not run on eezo and was torn in exactly half, full of items that hinted of another human group or possibly a military government called the UNSC and something else called the Covenant stumped them all. Then there was the lone survivor clad in dark green armor that was apparently called a Spartan and was in fact human. No one knew what to make of it, but what they did know that they would be able to discuss it on the Normandy with their new passenger.
It was a short ride to the hangar of the Normandy in the Kodiak shuttle, but when the shuttle descended into the hangar they saw a unusal sight. The Spartan was in the hangar with large amount of giant bags and backpacks on him. The Spartan was armed with what looked like curved handle bars on his sides and another gun on his back that looked completely foreign to all of them. He quietly stood as still as a statue, like if he had been waiting on them in the hangar.
Everyone stared in an awkward silence at the Spartan that almost seemed frozen in place. The awkward moment seemed like it lasted forever until Shepard thankfully broke it. Shepard turned and looked at Garrus, Mordin, and Zaeed.
"Why don't you three head to the medical bay. Dr Chakwas should be able to patch all of you up." Commander Shepard suggested, all the while he tried to lighten the tense mood.
"Are you sure, Shepard? This guy packs a punch." Garrus asked, concerned for his friend's safety.
"Kicks pretty hard too." Zaeed added in as he felt the large bruises that were on his chest under his armor.
"Recommend extreme caution." Mordin said as well in his usual rapid tone.
"We got it covered. Just get up to the medical bay." Shepard finished with a small smile tugged at his face.
"About God damn time." Zaeed complained as he, Garrus, and Mordin all slightly limped out of the Kodiack shuttle.
They walked past the Spartan and headed to the elevator, while Shepard, Jacob, and Miranda stayed.
Master Chief watched at how the three walked to the elevator, but stopped when Shepard, the woman, and the African American male walked up to him. Chief then kept his focus on the trio in front of him.
The former Spectre looked up at the Spartan, only to have the Spartan look back at him and saw his golden reflection in the visor again. The Spartan had such a robotic look and emotion, it was like if he was staring at a Geth Prime in the glowing blue eye. When he looked through the Spartan's gold visor, he noticed Miranda's reflection and saw the look that she gave the Master Chief. Shepard knew the look that Miranda gave him, she no doubt had her eyes on the bags he carried, It was easily predictable that Miranda would try to get a hold of the equipment and technology that the Spartan had on him, and a gesture that would surely provoke the Master Chief. The Blitz hero knew he would have to deal with the issue soon, before a fight would start.
"Looks like you brought enough weapons for a war." Shepard smiled, but the Spartan just stared, "You can take everything and put it in the meeting room so we can have a private discussion. It is on the second floor, the middle door behind the elevator."
The Chief simply nodded, picked up his bags and headed to the meeting room. Shepard once again saw that Miranda still had her icy blue eyes on the strange soldier.
"Don't try anything Miranda, whatever he has belongs to him."
"Commander," Miranda stated, "The Spartan is not to be trusted aboard this vessel, and someone will have to keep an eye on him." Miranda did not reveal the whole truth in her plans.
The Cerberus officer then made her own way to the elevator to follow her own agenda.
"Commander, I think we both know that Miranda has more ideas than we know of," Jacob added in.
Shepard sighed and walked off to the elevator to attend the meeting room to talk with the Spartan.
Meeting/Comm Room on the Normandy SR-2
Commander Shepard and John-117 were in the meeting/comm room just staring each other down, both waiting for either one of them to say the first word. The former Spectre knew it was a losing battle, as from what Shepard learned earlier that the Spartan waited on him and his team in the hangar the entire time they salvage. Plus the Spartan didn't show any emotions, he could actually give the Elcor a run for their credits. Shepard exhaled and started the conversation.
"Where are you from?"
"UNSC controlled space in the year 2552."
"2552?" thought Shepard, with his eyebrows raised in surprise "Is this guy from the future? It might explain why his ship doesn't have eezo. But how did he get here in the past?"
"You should know that the current Earth date is 2185, and what is this UNSC? I am a military man and I have never heard of it?"
"It might be a hard truth to swallow, but I think we should tell him about our 'theory'. Just repeat after me." Cortana said within the MJOLNIR armor where only Master Chief could hear.
"The United Nations Space Command, formed in the year 2163, it served as the military branch from where I am from. I am currently browsing your extranet databases, and codex and I believe I have found an answer to many of your questions." said the Chief, though he actually repeated from what Cortana told him.
"And what is that?" replied the Commander while raising an eyebrow at this excuse.
"I believe I am from an alternate universe."
After the Citadel hero heard the news, his facial expression changed from surprised raised eyebrows to alook of disbelief.
"Well, that is a new one, but as crazy as it seems it kind of explains why you don't need eezo for your ships or why you haven't heard of some our organizations or why we haven't heard of yours. Is there any proof you can show me? " Shepard asked of what he thought might be a crazy lethal person.
Thankfully, Cortana had prepared for this. His MJOLNIR armor had extensive data logs of all of his past missions and experiences, and she could get access to these whenever she wanted. Of course she edited the videos to where they cut out classified information such as herself and the Halos.
"I have video logs stored within my armor. If you would allow me to use some sort of video projector, I can show you.
"By all means, whatever is necessary to show me that you are honest." Shepard replied, as he held out his hand out as if he was welcoming someone in his home. The Chief placed his hand upon the controls, and the holo-projector came to life.
PLAY VIDEO LOG (2552 Cairo Station)
Master Chief sprinted through several halls at an amazing speed. The metallic structure in the rooms and halls greatly emphasized that wherever Chief was, seemed to be military in design.
The Spartan ran inside a room where it had eleven strange creatures inside. Eight of them were stubby little beings that had inhaler objects and tanks on the back of them and some of them were holding green pistol like weapons or curb shape object with purple needles sticking out of it.
The other creatures were eight foot with four mandibles on their mouth, dark skinned and had muscles that would make some bodybuilders jealous. Two of them wore blue armor that covered the chest, arms, knees, feet, waist, and head. The other creature's armor was red and all three had weapons that look similar to the green pistol, but they were glowing blue and bigger in size.
The Spartan was armed with SMG's in each hand. Chief raised his dual weapons and held down both triggers, which released a hail of bullets on one of the taller creatures in blue armor. The gunfire flew in the direction of the lizard like alien, but they only met a blue energy field around the alien. The bullets continued to slam into what Shepard assumed was an energy shield, until the shields flashed and disappeared. The split chinned creature roared in anger, while the other aliens shot their own respective weapons at the Spartan. The energy weapons fired what looked greatly similar to concentrated plasma. It splashed onto Chief's own energy shields, doing a great deal of damage.
Within a moments notice, the Spartan dove for cover behind a metallic rail. The aliens continued to fire their plasma weapons at the Master Chief, but they only hit the Spartan's cover. Chief looked at his HUD and saw that his energy shields were already down to forty-five percent. Then Chief dropped one SMG and threw a frag grenade at the aliens. The aliens must have seen the bomb land at their feet, as they let out screams before the explosions. When the weapon exploded, it took out six short creatures and the one tall shieldless split lipped alien.
Chief then ran up to the red armored mandible alien much to the mandible creature's surprise, he picked it up with his left arm by the shoulder. Chief then brought his SMG to the lizard like warrior's stomach and held down the trigger, which shot it continuously in the belly until the gun clicked. Chief kicked the dead enemy's body at the last blue armored creature and threw a plasma grenade at the fallen squid faced alien. It exploded in a bright blue explosion, which killed the last mandible creature there.
Master Chief then saw the last two small creatures aim at the Spartan from his left side and the right. John then picked up the stubby alien on his left with an arm and the creature on his right with the other arm and brought both creatures in the air. He slammed both of their heads together, caving their skulls under his strength. Chief then sprinted to the spiked dark blue object and placed his hand on it, which caused a light to blink on the strange contraption.
Sierra-117 spoke to what seemed like nobody and said,
"Sir, permission to leave the Station."
"For what purpose Master Chief?" An elderly but authoritative voice said over a radio. Unknown to Shepard that the elderly voice belonged to Lord Hood.
"To give the Covenant back their bomb."
"Permission granted."
Shepard watched in disbelief, as he saw the Spartan drag the spiked dark blue weapon off the deck and into an elevator. Shepard was confused, until he saw Master Chief drag the bomb to what was the air-lock. Chief pressed a button, which opened the doors to the air lock, where the vacuum of space sucked everything into the cold depths of space in the midst of a large space battle over Earth. The bomb flew out of the station, as did Chief. The Spartan latched onto one of the many spikes on the dangerous explosive and glided through a huge space battle, avoiding any incoming blasts.
Commander Shepard was utterly shocked at where the Spartan and the bomb were headed to in the space battle. The Spartan glided towards the biggest ship that Shepard has ever seen. The ship was silver in color and bulbous in appearance, but the sheer size of the ship was what really grabbed the ex-Spectre's attention. The ship easily dwarfed the Asari dreadnought, the Destiny Ascension, several times over, and that was the largest ship in the Citadel's navy. The Commander couldn't help but to think that ship was rather majestic looking, and on the side that the Spartan had to be crazy to take the ship head on.
The large ship fired off a bright white, pinks purple beam at the Spartan, but thankfully it missed small target. A frigate ship, that looked greatly similar to the torn ship where they found the supersoldier, flew between the Spartan with the bomb and the bulbous ship. The grey bulky vessel shielded the Spartan from another plasma beam, but the frigate burst into flames. Chief then entered the large silver ship, while he still held onto the bomb. Chief told the Commander that the warship was called a Covenant assault carrier. With the bomb, Chief slowly drifted to some sort of power core and activated the bomb. He launched himself off the explosive, which detonated soon afterwards. Chief drifted into the space battle over Earth once more.
Soon the giant ship exploded into blinding blue flames and knocked the Spartan on another frigate, with bold white letters written on the side that said "In Amber Clan".
...
Fast Forward...
...
2552 (Crow's Nest, Africa)
Shepard watched at how the video fast forwarded to a different event and location. Shepard's mouth almost dropped when he saw the scene that the Spartan was at on the video... Africa, that meant he was on Earth. Shepard saw through Master Chief's point of view that he was on some sort of flight deck in an old fashioned human military base that looked to be built in the twentieth century.
Some more footage played that showed the Master Chief on other missions even some fighting alongside of one of the giant four mandible creatures in sliver armor.
End Record
The Commander stood there thinking about what he saw. Shepard did not expect to see a different hostile alien organization, a different human race, even a different Earth, on the videos that he just watched. The humans looked so similar to the humans of his era, and the Earth looked almost like his Earth, but even then there were many differences. His Earth was filled with buildings and skyscrapers, full of life. But the Spartan's Earth looked war torn from the intense battles with the alien organization. The Africa on Chief's Earth looked almost wiped out. He had gained a whole new outlook on the Spartan.
"He has been through so much and lost so many people. He keeps on fighting, but now he has nothing to fight, well maybe I can give him something to fight." Shepard had now wanted to know what so many other people wanted to know, who was the man behind the helmet? He had to look him in the eyes so he could trust the guy.
"There's another thing I want to ask you before I can trust you more," said the ex-Spectre. He had said these words quite nervously, but was excellent in hiding the emotion. "I want to see your face."
At first the Spartan did not respond or even move, his helmet pointed directly at the Commander's face. Finally, after what seemed to be hours, the Chief placed his hands upon his helmet, gave it a twist, and then a hiss was heard. Master Chief removed the Mark VI MJLONIR helmet.
"Whoa! That is a little unexpected" thought a surprised Shepard. The Spartan's face was ghostly pale and muscular, but also average looking with brown hair and eyes, with some scars on his face. His eyes were hard, revealing no emotion but full of depth and mystery. He may have been average looking, but he could definitely grab a girl's attention.
"Are you satisfied?" asked the helmetless soldier with his gravelly voice.
The Commander simply nodded and the Chief quickly put his helmet back on. Shepard knew that this was the moment to try to recruit the super soldier to fight against the Collectors.
"With your war over, what will you do now? We can try to find you a way back home, but it may take awhile," stated the hero of the Blitz.
The Master Chief shrugged his shoulders.
"You said that a Spartan's goal was to protect humanity at any cost, right?" The Spartan nodded at this. "Then continue that here, in our universe. Human colonies are being abducted by a race called the 'Collectors'. My team and I are going to stop them, but we could use your help. So will you help us in the good fight, the fight for humanity once more?" Shepard let his hand stretch out.
"This man was a soldier to the core and he needed to fight." Shepard thought with confidence.
"This isn't my universe, but I had promised to help humanity at any and all cost." There was a brief pause before John-117 finished with, "I'll do it." replied the Spartan as he grasped the hand of the other galactic savior.
"Thanks Chief. I'm glad you are up for this, but we will still try to find you back to your home. Now that this is done, we need to find you a place aboard the ship." Shepard said with a smile, glad that he was able to recruit the Spartan.
"EDI we need to find our new member a room. Are there any open?"
EDI's form popped up on a pedestal
"The room that seems big enough for our new arrival's equipment is the cargo room."
"Is there any other room available that could fit or maybe we can put his stuff in the armory?" Shepard asked.
"The cargo bay will work." Chief replied.
"So I've got to ask for the safety of everyone on my ship, why bring all the weapons and the other strange technology?"
"I needed to bring all of my equipment with me, because some of it has vital information from where I come from. A few of my weapons can also be quite effective here." The Spartan answered truthfully.
The Commander then answered, "Sounds reasonable. EDI plot a course for the 'Purgatory.' We got to recruit a convict."
Finally this chapter was a long one and now it is time to show what the Chief can do against the Blue Suns and I got a lot of cool combat scenes coming up REVIEW!