Quick Glossary

AESIR; Named for the Nordic gods of warfare and power these humanoid robotic drones serve as replacements to the dated and faulty LOKI mechs. Drawing on inspiration from the tales of the 'Morning War' and the victorious geth these drones are networked and each platoon is controlled remotely by specially designed AIs. These armoured golems are usually deployed on planets where long term organic troop deployment would prove too difficult logistically. Many are also used in Special Forces Training as their size, durability and physical capabilities allow them to serve as effective stand-ins for powerful Xeno species such as jiralhanae or krogan.

VANIR; Named for the Nordic gods of wisdom and agriculture the civilian version of the AESIR function as land workers and maintenance personal within hazardous locations. While primarily utilised by UNSC/UEG overseen farms or facilities some affluent citizens have begun to use them, finding the increased efficiency and output well worth the price of purchasing the advanced mechs.

LOKI; Outdated and poorly coded mechs developed by humanity in the early 2700s. Their name, an acronym created from the names of the four man team who designed the LOKI, proved prophetic as the mechs poor coding [even when compared to the work of the less AI savvy Relay Races]often caused the machines to malfunction and turn on any around them. Now only seen on Independent Colonies or in the backrooms of Terminus System bazaars these cheap and expendable mechs are viewed by those who face them the same way krogan view vorcha in the Blood Pack.

Another chapter, another attempt to entertain you all. I honestly do not have anything else to add, so on with the show!

Halo belongs to Microsoft Studios

Mass Effect belongs to belongs to Bioware

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XX Wreck Of The Ruthless Domination; Orbit Of Jupiter -2775 XX

The Ruthless Domination, an old scuttled jiralhanae vessel whose design dated back to the Human-Covenant War, had been recovered by the UNSC in 2743 following the brutal battle above the sangheili controlled Prospero. While the ship provided very little in the way of new data, or the slow evolution of jiralhanae technology following the Covenant collapse, it did provide a useful venue for training UNSC forces for operations inside jiralhanae vessels... Training that could also prove useful should certain sangheili factions ever grow too powerful.

It was aboard the Ruthless Domination that the last series of tests would be carried out to determine the future for each of the ODST trainees. While it was or less a given that anyone still in the program was guaranteed to be made a Helljumper which battalion of the 105th Marine Expeditionary Unit they'd be assigned to. Only the very top of the graduates would even be considered for the 7th Shock Troops Battalion, traditionally the best of the best of the best. That was why every suit was wired with state of the art sensors to monitor the wearer's performance. Why the entire ship was rigged with hundreds upon hundreds of cameras streaming footage from a multitude of angles to the top strategists, data analysts and military veterans the UNSC had.

Eight teams, each consisting of four trainees, would be sent to board at different breech points. Each team had to successfully falsify access codes, move through the ship facing against AI controlled AESIR mechs and compete against each other to capture either a HVP or crucial data from the ship's bridge. The AESIR carried training weapons modelled after standard Jiralhanae Empire equipment, although with the lethality toned down, and were under the control of highly effective AIs whose sole purpose was to perfectly mimic the tactics jiralhanae security would employ to stop boarding parties.

Shepard's assault team was to gain access via one of the docking bays. While it meant they had the easiest access point they were also looking at some of the heaviest resistance once detected inside the ship. Fire team Charlie, team names having been plucked from the phonetic alphabet, was comprised of Shepard himself and three others.

Charlie-One, big guy who'd been assigned the CQB armour variant. Guy was designated leader for this mission. Shepard didn't know him, didn't know any of them actually. Everyone's IFFs had been overridden and radios distorted voices so no one could recognise anyone they'd worked with on their team before, to test how quickly squad cohesion could form, as well as to prevent anyone recognising someone on another team, in case friendship caused hesitation.

Charlie-Three was the team's specialist, she'd been given a special HOLOPAD loaded up with software programs designed to hack the simulated jiralhanae computers. She had the same basic BDU as Shepard and but only carried a MA-SSG and a MA-PDP. Guess she was planning to stealth as much as possible… That or she employed the age old tactic of using a dead alien's gun to kill his buddies and didn't want to be too weighed down.

Charlie-Four was the one that worried Shepard the most. Decked out in a CQB suit like Charlie-One the guy was moody, abrasive and slightly bloodthirsty. His choice in load out didn't inspire much confidence either; a PDP and ICW sure but in place of the standard issue SSG the crazy bastard had picked a MA-TS8g. Sure a shotgun was nice to have in a crowded corridor but they were meant to try and avoid detection as long as possible!

"Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name-" Shepard started muttering as their shuttle began its approach and Charlie-Three started transmitting the codes to get them aboard.

"Shut it Two!" Charlie-Four growled.

"Coming in on approach… Looks like the battering the ship took from the sangheili took out their sensors." The pilot of their shuttle said over the radio, reading off some script that gave backstory to their 'mission'. "I'm gonna swing around, approach the airlock from the beneath… ETA ninety seconds."

"Roger. Three, start-up that hacking program." Charlie-One ordered as he drew his SSG and ran a final systems check on his suit.

Finishing his prayer Shepard sent a withering glare at Charlie-Four before doing the same. As they neared the airlock the pilot sealed off the cockpit and opened the bay doors. As oxygen and pressure met void Charlie Team activated their magnetic boots to avoid being sucked out as the void attempted to be filled. Taking two or three deep breaths Shepard eyed the top of his suit's HUD, eyes fixed on the icons that confirmed enviro-seals were holding and his internal air supply was good.

"Fuck I hate EVA." Shepard muttered as the shuttle levelled off and the team disengaged the magnetic locks, kicking off and drifting towards the jiralhanae cruiser's airlock. Flipping himself as he closed in Shepard reactivated the locks and adhered himself to the cruiser's hull, the rest of Charlie Team doing the same.

"Running bypass." Charlie-Three said quietly as he HOLOPAD flared up. Triggering his own, currently in camo-mode, HOLOPAD Shepard ran a program to detect and copy the bypass. Sure it most likely wouldn't work on a real jiralhanae security system but it could serve as a starting point for such a program.

"C'mon, come on." Shepard hissed as Charlie-Three took far too much time for his liking. Sure the ship's sensors had been damaged but that didn't guarantee they couldn't detect something attaching itself to the hull. The longer they took out here the more likely they would be detected.

"Got it!" Charlie-Three hissed as the airlock slid open. Dropping into the opening first Charlie-Four wasn't quick enough to adjust himself before the ship's artificial gravity field exerted itself and pulled him to the floor.

Sharing a silent chuckle with Charlie-One Shepard and the missions CO stowed their SSGs, crouched to grip the edges of the airlock and swung themselves in. Twisting and landing perfectly. Charlie-Three simply pulled herself in, since she'd been positioned 'beneath' the airlock.

"Up you get." Shepard snickered, more to himself that to the team, as he reached down and pulled Charlie-Four up by his chest plate.

As Charlie-Four sealed the outer lock and pressurised the airlock Charlie-One, Charlie-four and Shepard readied their weapons and took up formation. Charlie-One was on point, following UNSC doctrine that stated commanders led from the front, while Shepard and Charlie-Four took up positions on his left and right respectively so Charlie-Four was in the rear. Normally Charlie-Three would have taken the right with Charlie-Four in the rear but since she was the one with the codes she was the one who got the only slightly safer position.

Opening the door separating airlock from ship proper the squad was confronted with their first glimpse at the enemy AESIR. A little under Seven foot tall and designed to mimic the basic human shape the AESIR mech was an imposing sight. Polished off-white armour, onto which someone had stencilled the call sign for whatever alien race they would be mimicking, topped by a narrow 'head'. A thick vertical black visor ran the length of the head and made most people think the AESIR's sensors were contained there… Truth was the 'head' was just to make them look more human and less intimidating to regular people, all processing systems and sensory technology was stored beneath the chest plate's thick armour.

Charlie-Four raised his shotgun but thankfully Charlie-One and Shepard got their SSGs up faster, peppering the unaware hostiles with smg fire. After a quick burst each the mechs dropped their SIM-weapons, designed to mimic the shape and velocity of enemy weapons but without the lethality, and simply crouched down 'dead'. To compensate for the reduced power of the mech's weapons coding in their armour would register a kill if their shields dropped too low, somewhere around fifty to fifty five percent.

Pushing forward the team moved into the long corridor and scanned both directions, Charlie-One and Shepard checking to their left while Charlie-Four and Charlie-Three checked the right. When both sides confirmed it was clear Charlie-Three pulled up the Intel she had and plotted a course to their goal.

"Three decks up and towards the bow, access point for the ship's Nav-charts." Charlie-Three informed them as she transmitted schematics for this class of cruiser, a small marker tracing the most optimal route. "HIGH-COMM suspects the Brutes have shipyards hidden just outside one of their systems in dark-space. Wants access to the log so we can pinpoint the location."

"Couldn't just say 'here is the final test, be first to download the cookie recipe', could they?" Shepard mumbled as the team moved up the corridor, Shepard taking point along the left wall with Charlie-Three behind him. Charlie-One had Charlie-Four watching his back.

"What's the BS excuse to say why we have to fight the other teams anyway?" Charlie-Four asked casually.

"Each team is to consider itself the sole UNSC team running this mission." Charlie-One explained quietly. "Everyone else is to be treated as either an Insurrectionist or ONI."

"ONI?!" Charlie-Four snorted loudly, causing Shepard to pause mid-step to glare. "Don't tell me you believe that crap about a secret group of extremists running around sabotaging our attempts at peaceful, long-lasting coexistence with the aliens?"

"Yeah, that's just crap HIGH-COMM makes up to cover up Black-Ops against the Elites and the turians." Charlie-Three added, although this time Shepard didn't acknowledge the loud chatter. He just silently fumed and swore that if any of them cost him top marks he'd frag them.

"Shut it!" Charlie-One snapped as the approached a pair of doors.

Shepard and Charlie-One took up position crouching against the door frame while Charlie-Three and Charlie-Four crossed the door to take up position on the far side. Charlie-One sent countdown across their networked VISRs. In perfect sync the doors were opened and the four candidates swept into their respective rooms, scanning for hostiles.

"Clear!" Charlie-Four's deep voice boomed.

"Clear!" Shepard sent through their radios, so as to try and avoid alerting the entire ship.

"WARNING! WARNING! HOSTILES DETECTED ON DECK SEVEN!"

The voice of what was meant to be a jiralhanae Alpha, but due to the AESIR's limited vocal rang sounded like a Texan in a trash compactor.

"You stupid son of a bitch." Shepard growled as he rounded on Charlie-Four.

"What'd you call me?!" Charlie-Four snarled back, adjusting his grip on the shotgun threateningly.

"That isn't about us." Charlie-Three cut in before things could escalate. "We're on deck thirteen."

"That means one of the other teams has been spotted." Charlie-One growled before switching to his ICW. "Hostiles will be converging on heightened alert and trying to converge on the guys up on Seven… We're moving quick, we're moving hard. Stealth takes a backseat to completing the mission."

"Great." Charlie-Four said with a bark of laughter, pointlessly cocking his shotgun as they moved out.

XX Wreck Of The Ruthless Domination, Deck Ten; Orbit Of Jupiter – Fifteen Minutes Later XX

Charlie Team and managed to make it about four minutes before Charlie-Four had spotted a AESIR, stencil reading 'Drone', and opened fire. That of course alerted every other hostile in the vicinity and got the 'Jiralhanae Alpha' to announce their location on deck thirteen. What followed was a large number of the mechs diverting towards them and a prolonged fire fight breaking out.

If Charlie-Three hadn't located those access tunnels, giving them a means to slip away and start ascending, then Shepard knew they'd have been registered dead and he'd have been penalised for the stupidity of Charlie-Four. As it was Shepard was mentally weighing the pros and cons of 'accidently' downing Charlie-Four. How bad could they penalise him for a friendly fire 'accident'?

"Humans!" The distorted metallic voice of an AESIR rang out, alerting Shepard and the team to a group of mechs moving up from behind. These ones carried SIM-Weapon versions of those jiralhanae shogun/pistol things and had the word 'Brute' across the chest plate.

"Dammit." Shepard hissed as he shoved Charlie-Four back into cover and then rushed to take shelter in a doorframe. Unclipping a grenade, actually a little ball that would beep a few times then send out a radio signal to let the mechs it 'exploded', Shepard armed and rolled the mock-explosive down towards the advancing mechs.

Three of the mechs dropped their guns and crouched, 'dead', while the others made exaggerated staggering motions. Charlie team opened fire, finishing them off. Moving forward the team reached their goal, the ship's AI core. As the doors slid open a bulky staff shot out and struck Charlie-Three, a distortion at the impact point knocking her off her feet. A single AESIR, the word Alpha across the chest and forearms, emerged carried a 'boom-tube'.

The boom-tube had been an early experiment, to see if eezo based tech could be used to reproduce the signature jiralhanae gravity hammers. Unfortunately power requirements, and recoil strong enough to shake the muscle off the bone, meant it never went beyond early testing… At least until someone had the bright idea to use it in training as a sub for actual gravity hammers.

Charlie-Three was out, her suit would have definitely registered that as a fatal blow. That meant that Charlie Team was a member down, facing a stand-in for a powerful and experienced jiralhanae and had no hacking specialist to recover the data.

"Crap." Charlie-Four gulped, all his bluster and bravado gone. All three remaining members of Charlie Team opened fire; overheating their shotgun, ICW and SSG respectfully.

The AESIR crouched and Charlie-One moved to check on Charlie-Three. Charlie-Four moved into the core chamber and swept for other hostiles. Shepard stayed in position, glancing back and forth trying to cover both.

"Dammit, no chance to recover the data now." Charlie-One sighed. "Best we can do it use explosives, make sure the Insurrectionists can't get the data themselves."

"Got it." Charlie-Four yelled and readied a grenade.

"Delay that." Shepard barked as he moved to where Charlie-Three had decided to take a seat and relax. Firing up his HOLOPAD Shepard began to hack the encrypted codes and bypasses Charlie-Three hand been given for the mission. "I can take the codes and get us the data, just cover me for a minute."

"That isn't your job, you're just a rifleman… How the hell do you know how to do that?" Charlie-One asked dumbfounded.

"Reds, Penal Squad, correspondent's courses…" Shepard shrugged, listing all the areas he'd learned to commit cyber-crimes and how to override security protocols.

"Am I blowing it up or are we gonna wait on Two there to steal Three's diary?" Charlie-Four spat. He wanted to blow up the data, even had his grenade ready to render the console useless.

"If he can get us the data, we complete the mission proper." Charlie-One decided as Shepard finished retrieving the needed codes. "Sorry Three, want a 'viking funeral'?"

Charlie-Three just shrugged, stretched out her legs to get comfy and pulled an honest-to-goodness paperback novel from one of the compartments in her breastplate. Taking that to mean 'sure, why not' Charlie-One armed one of the grenades and retreated into the core before the fake bombs went off and radioed out the damage.

Advancing to the console from which he should be able to retrieve the data Shepard began running the bypass. About thirty seconds in a voice rang out from down the hallway they'd just come up from.

"Dead Brutes, unknowns ahead."

"Shit, one of the other teams." Charlie-One hissed as he dove for cover behind a terminal, Charlie-Four joining him and swapping out for his ICW. "Two, how's the download going?"

"Haven't even breeched the coding, hacking protocols we got suck." Shepard radioed back as he adjusted his position and used the console for cover.

"I say we set off some grenades to trash this stuff, take out the Innies while they're startled and make a break for it." Charlie-Four growled. "One, get on the horn and call in our evac."

"ETA for access about ninety seconds, complete download sixty." Shepard reported. "We can do what dumbass over there wants too, we can hold out for about two and a half minutes to get the data or I can stop the hack and just enter a virus to wipe everything… Stops the other teams and lets us keep our grenades."

"Keep hacking… But have that virus ready." Charlie-One ordered as he readied a grenade. Tossing the grenade, to scatter the approaching team, Charlie-One and Charlie-Four leaned out of cover and began suppressing fire.

Shepard didn't bother opening fire, his location didn't give him a good angle to fire from and he needed to get the data. As he prepared his data wiping virus Shepard started up several other infiltration programs he had to target firewalls and encryptions he hadn't breeched with the codes Charlie-Three had, anything to speed up the process.

Shepard had to suppress a groan when he finally got through and found that all the data was written in whatever you called the old Covenant language. Firing up a translation program Shepard began searching for anything linked to NAV-data.

"C'mon, come on… Got it!" Shepard laughed before quickly uploading the virus. Opening up the schematics Charlie-Three had given them earlier Shepard looked for a good escape route. "One, we got an airlock located on deck six. Sending you schematic location, arrange for evac there."

"Received and understood, got a route?" Charlie-One asked.

"Yeah… back the way we came." Shepard admitted as he ghosted up to the door frame and prepped another grenade. "Fire in the hole!"

He deliberately said it loud, alerting the other team and sending them diving for cover. With the grenade bouncing down the hall Shepard, Charlie-One and Charlie-Four could pick line up their shots without risk of being hit. Once the grenade 'went off' and the other team, Golf Team according to IIFs, emerged from cover Charlie Team took them down.

"Right, calling evac." Charlie-One told them before running through whatever script he'd been given to use if the team made it this far. Once he had confirmation evac was on its way Charlie Team pushed forward, heading back towards those access tunnels.

Five close to ten minutes later Shepard was bypassing the airlock security protocols while Charlie-One and Charlie-Four provided covering fire. Enemy forces were approaching from both directions, AESIR on the left and another team on the right, and Shepard was having trouble getting the hacking programs to work properly. Finally getting the doors open Shepard yelled as his squadmates and stepped in.

"Switch to internal air, magnets on… Opening external doors." Shepard ordered as he sealed the internal doors after Charlie-One and Charlie-Four entered.

Leaping out into the deep black void of space Shepard watched their escape shuttle open its bay doors and level off ahead of them. Once he was close enough the magnetic booths kicked in and dragged him down to the floor of the shuttle.

"Everybody in? Good, we are out of here!" The pilot called over the radio as the doors closed, the rear compartment re-pressurised and they sped off to report a completed final test.

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If anyone was wondering, Charlie-Four was a bit of an ass on purpose. He was one of several actual ODSTs seeded into the final exam to run interference and make things even more difficult. Some teams got tech specialists [like Charlie-Three] who would deliberately screw up the hacking on occasion or take their time. Some got leaders who made bad calls just to see how the others deal with things going FUBAR and teams like Shepard's get a belligerent asshole who made team unity and stealth difficult. Shepard broke Charlie-Four's nose when he was told and threatened the vet to never 'risk a mission or my squad again', which actually earned him some points.

This chapter went through a massive restructure just before I wrote it. Originally the final exam would have seen all teams working together to breech an enemy stronghold [staffed by actual ODST armed like Insurrectionists] but I decided I'd save the layout for a later scene. So I reworked it a bit, introduced the mechs that will serve a role later and gave the first real hint at what became of ONI.

I'm dyslexic, so please point out any mistakes in spelling or grammar [I spell things the way they do in England and Ireland, so some things may look off to Americans]. Please leave your opinion via review or send them via PM, I'd like to know what you think.

Well, I think that's everything I've gotta say so, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

This is Highvalour saying bye and thanks for reading.