Turns out I was disappointed once again. The elevator was taking a long time. And who knew what else was waiting for us at the bottom? With the long wait, I decided to talk with Saria some more.

"Saria, you got any info on the weapon schematics?"

"Yup. While you were talking with Admiral Boondoggle up there, I was searching the extranet for parts that might work in the guns. We're in luck. It turns out, most of the parts that we need for the turrets can be fabricated through Omnigel and an Omnitool, both of which we should be on our way to get now. However, due to the different nature of the charger and the other weapon, we need specialized equipment. Some of the stuff is fairly easy to get here, others? Not so much. I went ahead and made a list of the specialized parts that we need, or, failing that, the resources that we need to make them from scratch."

"That's great. Thanks. Now we know what we need."

With the conversation finished, and the elevator ride almost over, I didn't have long to wait. Almost at the bottom, the wall outside the clear, curved door gave way to glass. We were descending into a large, open room, at least several floors high, and directly opposite us was, surprise surprise, another elevator. Seems whoever designed the place had no idea of the meaning of the words 'impractical' or 'excessive.'

When we got down to the bottom, I could see a fairly large amount of people. One stood out, a human with a drone of some kind floating next to her. Great. A camera. I hate reporters. They never get the story right, and usually manage to twist everything I say. Eventually I just gave up.

The door opened, and my fears were confirmed. The reporter started calling Shepard's name, in true reporter fashion. Seems like Shepard hasn't reached the level of hate I have for reporters yet. Shepard walked up to the reporter, and the reporter took that as her cue. I took it as my cue to wander over to the other side of the room. With my hearing, I could still hear them, but they wouldn't notice me.

The reporter introduced herself. "Khalisa bint Sinan Al-Jilani, Westerlund News. Would you answer a few questions for our viewers?"

Shepard seemed a bit hesitant. "What do you want to know?"

The reporter just continued on. "You've been given a unique position to represent our race. People want to get a sense of how you'll do that." That earned a snort from me. I could already tell where this was going. Shepard still seemed a little hesitant. Tali just seemed confused at what was going on, and alternated between looking at Shepard, and looking at me, before deciding that she didn't want to be a part of this, and walked over to me. We both just stood there, listening.

Without warning, the reporter brought up what I assumed was an Omnitool, and the camera drone lowered a little bit, shining a light in Shepard's face. Classic interrogation technique. Catches the victim off-guard. The reporter clearly wanted something, and an honest story wasn't it.

"Humans have been trying to get the respect of the galactic community for 26 years. With that in mind, what are you're feelings on being the first human SPECTRE?"

Shepard kept calm. "The SPECREs represent the best of every species in the galaxy. To be asked to join them is an honor." Almost exactly how I felt when that ONI spook approached me about the Spartan IV program.

The reporter didn't let the topic drop. She was fishing for something. "Some have said that your appointment is the Citadel 'throwing humans a bone.' Have you encountered any situations where the Citadel asked you to put their needs before the needs of Earth?"

Shepard was obviously skilled at a poker face. If she was annoyed, she didn't show it. "The Council is concerned with the needs of the whole galactic community. We're part of that community now. Our needs are on their agenda, but we're one of many. " Privately, I thought that was a bit idealistic, but hey, I may be a bit prejudiced from the very similar alien society that deemed us sin incarnate and burned our planets to cleanse them of our 'filth.'

The reporter was surprised. "You really do believe that, don't you?" Shepard gave a slight nod, and the reporter dropped the subject. "You've been given command of an advanced human warship for your missions. Is there anything you'd like to say about it?"

"Actually, the Normandy was co-developed by human and turian engineers." Shepard couldn't seem to let this drop. "It's design incorporates many new innovations. All of which are classified, I'm afraid."

"So the turians have knowledge about the Normandy that is being kept secret from the Alliance public? Do you

"It's not a warship. It's meant for other purposes than upfront slugging rounds at the enemy. Do you think it was appropriate to hand over the Alliance's most advance warship to the Citadel?"

"I wasn't aware the ship had been 'handed over' to anyone. I'm in command, and last time I checked, I'm human. Same goes for my crew. And it's not a warship."

"What do you mean, it's not a warship?"

"It's meant for something different. Due to the innovations, still classified, it can do things other ships can't." It was clear Shepard, no matter how calmed she seemed, both in appearance and voice, it was clear the reporter had gotten on her last nerve.

"Human, yes. but you do work for the Citadel now, Commander. One last question, Commander. Rumors back home say you're hunting a "rouge SPECTRE" named Saren. Do you have any comment on that?"

That was the last straw. Shepard was done. "Hold on. It's pretty clear you have an agenda here. I'm not going to be a part of it. Excuse me." With that, she walked away. Shepard may have not said it out loud, but the reporter got the message.

"You can't just walk away, Commander. The public has a right to know!"

Shepard either didn't hear, or didn't care. She looked around for a second, then walked over to us. "Hey, thanks for leaving me out there to dry." Her comment was underlined with a playful glare into my visor.

Tali just shrugged, but I held my ground. "Reporters are high up on my list of things I hate. They may be under the Flood, the Covenant, and politicians, but they're still over running out of ammo."

She just looked at me for a second, then glanced at Tali. After a second passed, she just sighed and shook her head. "Figures the two people I bring with me when I have to face an admiral and talk to reporters are the two people on my ship who don't show their faces." That earned a small chuckle from me.

"So, now that the sidetracking is over, let's head to the markets. First, we need to get Thompson here an Omnitool. After that, who knows?"

I spoke up. "Actually, there a few things I might need. Mostly parts and other resources. Spare parts for fixing the Warthog, maintaining the turret, stuff like that."

Shepard thought about it, then nodded. "More firepower never hurts." She walked over to a terminal, and hailed a cab. We all climbed in, and I noticed there was no driver. Must be automated.

When we were all settled in, and the cab started off, Shepard turned to me. "So, Nick, do you know exactly what we're doing?"

I answered with a shrug. "Something about hunting a rouge SPECTRE?"

"Yes, but there's more. "

"Isn't there always?"

Shepard gave a short chuckle. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Anyways, this rouge SPECTRE in question wants to bring back a race called the Reapers, being intent on destroying all life in the galaxy."

I sighed. "Why is it alien maniacs always want a way to quickly kill everything in the galaxy?"

"You speak with experience."

I nodded. "Might as well add it to my job description at this point. Spartan Nick Thompson, Savior of the Galaxy."This caused a giggle from both Shepard and Tali, who was sitting in the back. "Yeah, I have experience."

The cab ride was over fairly quickly, and before I knew it, we were in the markets. It was simple getting me an Omnitool, and while the others wandered around, looking at the stock, I took the time to figure out the Omnitool and talk with Saria.

"Saria, can you access the Omnitool?"

"Yeah. It's integrated into the armor computer systems, meaning I can get access easily."

"Good. Get that list ready. I'll give it to Shepard."

I made my way over to Shepard, and looked over her shoulder to see what she was browsing. It was a selection of weapons. Weapons of the same type that were magnetically attached to her back.

"Shepard, why are you looking at weapons? Don't you already have perfectly working ones? In surplus, if Ashley can give me a spare shotgun?"

"Yeah, but these are better. Overheat slower, do more damage."

"Wait. The Alliance doesn't give their soldiers top level weapons?" She nodded, hesitantly. "And the Council? You are a SPECTRE."

"Council SPECTREs are expected to be able to buy their own equipment with no help from the Council."

"What."

Shepard sighed, shaking her head. "I know. Stupid rule. Why are you asking all this?"

"I'm used to top quality equipment. Fighting a loosing battle for survival for nearly 30 years tends to get the politicians' priorities in check. Anyways, I came over to tell you that I figured out the Omnitool, and managed to get a list of the supplies I need."

"Great. Send it to me, and I'll see what we can get."

I nodded, and typed out a few things on the Omnitool, masking Saria's sending of the data. Shepard looked over the list for a minute before looking up at me, eyebrow cocked in an obvious question.

"Some of this looks rather ... exotic for an old machine gun."

"It's more complicated than you think. Sure, it may not have a mass effect core, but it still has to have a rapid firing mechanism and motors for rotating the barrels to help cool them down and manage heat. And this all has to happen in sync, or the gun shreds itself. I also have a few other projects I want to work on putting together, mostly other guns and things like that."

She nodded. "I'll see what I can get."

"Thanks. Priorities are marked on the list."

We spent some time in the markets, finding most of what I needed, both parts and raw supplies. Sure, some of the things might end up a bit more boxy and cumbersome without the proper tools, but it would get the job done. Mostly.

While we were looking for supplies, we came across some guy who seemed to know Shepard. "Commander Shepard? It's me, Conrand!" She sighed, and as she walked over to the man, I heard her mutter under her breath, "Not this guy again."

The exact details of the conversation escaped my attention, I was browsing a store at the time, but it ended with Shepard posing for a picture. Finished looking, I walked over to her. Tali made her way over as well.

Shepard looked at us, then at the retreating back of Conrad. "Well, that's over now. We get everything?"

I checked the list. Saria had helpfully crossed out everything we had gotten. "Almost. Just missing a few things."

Shepard nodded. "That's good. We'll head up to the market on the Presidium. I wanted to head up there anyways."

She led the way to another cab terminal, and we got in. The ride went quickly. We we got out, I took a look around, and didn't like what I saw. Shepard must have noticed some unconscious tensing on my part, because she turned to me and asked "What's wrong? Crowds getting to you?"

I took another look around. I hadn't even noticed them the first time. "No. I don't like this place. Brings back bad memories." At least you can't see the other side of the ring overhead.

"What memories?"

"Pain. Death of friends. Weapons of galactic scale mass destruction. Unimaginable horrors."

She seemed stunned for a moment. "Oh. Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, probably. Just as long as someone doesn't start rhyming in my head about sins and other nonsense."

"Good. Markets this way."

I followed after the other two, still tense. I didn't like this place. Reminds me too much of a Halo. Luckily, we didn't need many parts, and they were easy to find. Just as we were about to leave, a turian in black and blue armor walked up to us. "Commander Shepard? The Council wishes to see you."

She looked confused. "I just talked to the after picking up T'Soni on Therum. Did they say what they want?"

The turian shrugged. "No. Just that you were supposed to bring the human," he gestured to me offhandedly. "With you. They didn't say anything else." The message delivered, the turian walked away.

I sighed. "Well, there goes escaping notice. We might as well get this over with."

Shepard nodded in agreement. "Might as well. Let's go. The elevator up is not far."

Great. Another elevator. When we got to the base though, I was confused. There were no guards, no anything to stop the general public from entering the elevator. "Wait, does this go all the way up to the Council chambers?"

Shepard seemed confused. "Yeah, why?"

I looked around again. "No guards or anything?"

She just shrugged. "The Council isn't exactly known for making the best decisions. Come on."

I shrugged as well, and entered the elevator. Thankfully, this elevator seemed to go faster, though it still took a minute to get up the tower. Once we got to the top and out, I was even more confused. It was a large, wide open room. Must be a waiting room or something, the equivalent of waiting out on the steps of a building. I shrugged again, and followed Shepard. On a whim, I looked up, and couldn't believe my eyes. There was a line of skylights running the entire length of the room. Shaking my head, I climbed the steps after Shepard, and found myself on a short narrow walkway, a glass floor below, and under that, a small garden or park. Directly across the gap, three aliens were standing on a raised platform, and directly behind them was a massive wall of windows. Turns out the Council was stupider than I thought. There was no one to block entrance to their main meeting chamber, and said chamber had a large amount of extremely vulnerable windows. If someone wanted to take out the Council, it wouldn't take a top SpecOps strike team, merely one frontline troop with a good tactile sense. I shook my head, forcing their stupidity out of my mind. That was when I noticed the two humans already there at the end of the platform.

One was obviously military, dressed up in a uniform resembling the one the admiral from earlier was wearing. The other one, I wasn't so sure. He was wearing a white uniform of some sort. I couldn't tell what he was, until I saw the gleam in his eye. I settled on either corporate executive, or politician. I like neither.

The military one was patiently waiting for us. The politician was waiting for us, if you count yelling at the Councilors, specifically the turian Councilor, as waiting.

"This is an outrage! First you don't step in when the geth attack Eden Prime, and now you accuse us of having a super-soldier program behind your backs! Who do you think we are, batarians?!"

Shepard gave a small sigh, and muttered something I barely made out. "They never wait. Only time they wait is when I have the evidence."

As we stepped up, a little behind the officer and the politician, the turian made to give his reply, but was cut off by the asari.

"Ambassador, all the evidence points to a human super-soldier program, most likely sponsored by the Alliance. There is a self-proclaimed human super-soldier standing right behind you now."

The ambassador turned to look at me for a second, before turning back to the Council. He started to say something, but I cut him off. "If I may interrupt, Ambassador, the evidence points towards that only because you don't have all the evidence. As for how you learned of me, am I correct in guessing that Shepard sent a report to Alliance brass after she picked me up, and the salarian STG managed to intercept it?"

The salarian was the one to answer next. "That is correct. But it seems Commander Shepard left a lot out of her report."

I nodded. "I thought so. Ambassador, you may leave, now that the accusations are being settled, and you now have the answer of why you were accused."

The ambassador turned to me, eyes wide. "But I'm the human ambassador," he sputtered. "I represent all of humanity to the Council."

"No," I returned, slightly more annoyed than my ability to keep my voice under control. "You are the ambassador of the Alliance, the major government of humans, not all of humans themselves. It's just that up until now, all the humans have been part of the Alliance. You have no hold over a soldier in the military of a government that has spent nearly 400 years in space. You. May. Go."

The ambassador sputtered a little more, then turned on his heel, and marched angrily out of the room.

Saria choose that moment to speak up, at least, inside my helmet. "That wasn't a good way to make friends."

I just gave back a clipped response. "I don't like politicians."

She shot back, "Who said I was complaining?"

I turned back to the Councilors. "There. Now that that's settled. Anyways, I'm not from this universe. Where I'm from, humanity had over 800 colonies and went nearly 400 years in space before meeting another species. We have more advanced technology than you in some areas, less advanced in others. Our ships are much bigger, and we don't use eezo, but they were also a little slower. At least, before the war. And as for the super-soldier issue, I'm not even the first type of supersoldier the UNSC has created. Now that the greatly cut down overview is over, are there any questions?"

The asari was first. "400 years and 800 colonies?"

I nodded. "The UEG and the UNSC, it's military branch, were formed in the late 2160's, early 2170's. The year is now 2558."

The salarian was next. "Advanced technology, and no element zero?"

"We haven't discovered element zero in my universe, if there even is any to discover. Our FTL works by opening a small wormhole to another dimension, one with ... different, if not unstable, laws of physics. We don't actually travel faster than light, we just temporarily go somewhere where light is either faster, or that law of physics just doesn't apply."

The asari cut in again. "How did you get 800 colonies without mass relays?"

I shrugged. "We can move fast, it's just that travel time is months, not hours. We also have better terraforming technology I guess."

The turian was next. "You said something about a war? And there are other types of super-soldiers?"

I paused. "That is a long, connected story. Lets start with the super-soldiers first. The first super-soldier project, Project Orion, also known as the SPARTAN Program, was mostly a failure. High mortality rate for slightly enhanced abilities. Later, the UNSC was having some trouble with a violent Insurrection. I know what you're thinking. That's not the war I was talking about. Anyways, they realized they were going to loose if they didn't take some harsh action. So they created a new super-soldier program, the SPARTAN-II Program. It was hugely successful, just not in the Insurrection. Only problem was the ... questionable ethics involved in the program."

The turian spoke up again. "'Questionable ethics'?"

"The program got its recruits by kidnapping young children. Anyways, like I said, the program was a huge success. A lower mortality rate than the Orion program, but still fairly high. The soldiers got heavy implants and augmentations, allowing them to perform way higher than normal humans. Then came the war. Around the time they got their augmentations, humanity made first contact. While you may think the humans here got a bad first contact, trust me. A three month battle for a single world was nothing compared to what we went through. Just to put it in perspective, here: three month long small battle, a fair amount of casualties. Back home: from 800 plus colonies to only Earth and a few other scattered colonies missed in the war. Uncountable death toll, partially because no one really wanted to know the numbers. Humanity decimated, yet we were still the 'victors' of the conflict."

The Councilors seemed stunned for a moment. The asari was the first to find her nerve. "Goddess. So many dead, so many colonies lost, and you won. What happened?" It came out a whisper, like she was afraid to learn the answer.

"First contact was with not a single race like the humans versus the turians here. We met a whole government, very similar to what you have set up here, no that I think about it. Three main rulers, each race in a different "place" in the society. Only difference was that there was just one race on top. Anyways, almost immediately after contact, the Covenant, that was what they called themselves, destroyed the colony they found. When I say destroyed, I don't mean bombing it like the turians did to Shanxi. I'm talking about bombarding the surface of the planet itself with heavy plasma weapons, burning the surface until nothing remained but glass"". The Covenant was highly advanced technology wise, most of their technology was based off of the highly advanced species that came before them, like with you and the protheans. Hey, look. Another similarity."

The Council just seemed more stunned. The turian was the first to speak this time. "Spirits, why would they do that?"

I continued. "Unlike the humans here, who had their 'war' happen because they got caught opening a relay, we did nothing wrong. We didn't find out until much later exactly why, but the Covenant leadership, the High Prophets, declaired us the epitome of unholiness. They were a highly religious society, worshiping the Forerunners, the species who came before them, as gods. They declaired us unworthy of existing, and so our colonies had to be burned clean of our 'filth.' We found out afterwards that this was actually the exact opposite. The Covenant religion says that the Prophets are the chosen of the Forerunners, and that they will lead their followers on a 'Great Journey' to transcendence. Everything about their religion was either wrong, or a lie. It wasn't the Prophets who were chosen by the Forerunners, but humans. The 'Great Journey' wouldn't lead them to transcendence, it would just kill all sentient beings in the galaxy. Truth's 'wisdom' was based on lies and falsehoods."

The Councilors seemed to be handling themselves better. Probably gotten stunned too ,any times to feel it. The salarian was the one to clarify this time. "What do you mean that their 'Great Journey' would kill everything?"

"I'll get to that. It's all part of the story. After first contact, nearly 30 years of war followed. We were outmatched, and the Covenant were burning our colonies, one by one. We could hold the ground planet side, push them back and maybe defeat them, mostly through the help of the Spartans, the super-soldiers. They were the major hope. It wasn't a war to take back a colony, or punished the wrongdoers, it was a war of survival. So they created another SPARTAN project, the SPARTAN-III Project. This was probably the worst 'success' of the Spartans. The Spartan IIs, though highly effective, were also highly expensive, in training time, the augmentations, and their highly advanced armor. The SPARTAN-III Project's goal was to make Spartans cheaper. Only problem was that they knew the IIIs would mostly be subpar of the IIs, so most of them were trained and sent off, en mass, on essential suicide missions. They were not expected to survive. The sad part is that without them, we may not have survived.

"The war generally filled the same pattern. The Covenant would come land troops on one of our planets, us ground pounders would duke it out with the Covie land forces, maybe win, maybe loose, while the fleet got their asses kicked, trying anything they could do to stall them, save as many civilians as they could. The Covenant was too advanced. They had shields, they could withstand a couple hits from our MACs, while we didn't, and could only stay in the fight limping if their plasma torpedoes missed critical components. No matter how well we did on the ground, they would just retreat, and glass the planet from orbit.

"The war went on like that for 27 years, not really breaking the pattern much, at least until Reach. Think. What's your closest military outpost closest to your homeworld, but still in another system? That was Reach to Earth. It was also the biggest military outpost outside of Sol. The Covenant had skipped several colonies to get there, but when they did, they got a fight. It might have been the most disastrous defeat in the war for the UNSC, but the Covenant didn't get out so well either. The UNSC fleet was partially destroyed, and scattered due to the Cole Protocol."

The turian interrupted me again. "Cole Protocol?"

"Military order. To keep the Covenant from finding our colonies easier, and to keep them from Earth for as long as possible. If you are facing a Covenant fleet, you have to be ready to purge all nav data from the ship's computers, and AIs hav-"

The turian interrupted, nearly shouting, "AIs?!"

I sighed, and nodded. "AIs, but different from the geth. Based of a model of a human brain, they were essentially digitized humans, and thought of themselves as human. Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted. Nav data purged on defeat, AIs have to self destruct to prevent Covenant capture, and any ships fleeing the battle have to jump out on a random vector, away from any remaining human held worlds."

The turian, seemingly the militaristic one of the three Councilors, cut me off. "You not only let your ships flee, but inspire it in defeat?"

"It was a war of extinction. When faced with extinction, nearly any option is preferable. And it was less of fleeing the battle, more of retreating from a loss. Anyways, after the fall of Reach, that was when the interesting things started happening. All of this is highly classified, however. None of this goes to the crowd, and none of this leaves this room." I turned to glare at the hovering drone, very similar to the one the reporter from earlier was using.

Once all of the onlookers were gone, I continued the story. "Fleeing the fall of Reach, one ship, the Pillar of Autumn, found an ancient Forerunner artifact. A Forerunner artifact the size of a small moon. It was a massive ring, a Halo. We we managed to destroy the ring after finding out it's function. To kill all sentient life in the galaxy. The Forerunners had created it, and the six others in the ray, as well as numerous shield worlds and a massive Ark, outside of the firing range to shelter the inhabitants, to stop an ancient evil, too horrible to describe. There were only seven human survivors, and the ship's AI. Me, the legendary Spartan-II known only as the Master Chief, a critically wounded Spartan-II in cryosleep to keep her alive until medical attention, two other soldiers, a pilot, and a lieutenant in our equivalent of the STG. We managed to hijack a Covenant battleship, head back to Reach, pick up a few others that survived the glassing, take out a Covenant fleet almost ready to attack Earth, and get back to Earth with warning of the Covenant ready to attack, the Halo Array, and the evil it was designed to face.

"Then the Covenant attacked Earth. We managed to just barely fight them off, and follow them back to another Halo. We stopped them from firing the Array, without blowing it up, and managed to get the Elites, the main warrior race of the Covenant, on our side thanks to a one-two punch from the Prophets in the form of exposing their lies, and the Prophets betraying the Elites.

"Then the Covenant came back to Earth, and dug up a Forerunner device, buried near Voi. It turned out to be a portal to the Ark, the main place to fire the Array from outside of the area of effect. We followed the Covenant through, and stopped them from firing the Array, but we were followed by the evil, which the Covenant had unintentionally awakened on both rings. We came up with a plan, and with just 4 of us and the AI, we were able to stop the evil by firing a replacement ring that the Ark had been building before it could be connected to the Array. We all made it back to the ship, but the Master Chief and his AI were lost before they made it all the way through the portal. They survived, but we didn't find them until years later.

"With the Covenant leadership dead, the Covenant was broken, and humans were the 'winners', at great cost. That's where the latest super-soldier project comes in, the SPARTAN-IV Program. I am a Spartan-IV. The program was created after the war so that we have troops who would be able to fight back and hold the line in case something like the war ever happens again. That answer all your questions?"

They seemed thoughtful for a moment, before the salarian spoke up. "What was that 'ancient evil' you kept talking about?"

I shuddered. "An evil so horrible, it inspires fear with its name. I've seen grown men, strong soldiers, babble in fear and cry for their mothers, trying to kill themselves. It doesn't help."

The Councilors were quiet for a moment, before looking at each other, and nodding. They turned back to me, and said something I had hoped they didn't, but had suspected they would. It was the asari acting as spokesperson. "We would like to believe you, but we have little proof beyond your own words, and the vid you arrived with. We're sorry, but there is only one way to be sure."

Hey there, finished this one a little early, so here you go. I also got a new vote for you guys.

Vote #5: Melding

The Councilors' "only way to be sure," is to have an asari meld with Thompson to see if he's telling the truth. This may or may not happen though, honestly, it can go either way. Thompson knows he's seen things that could drive anyone else insane, so he's against it, not to mention doesn't want an alien poking around in his head. He's already got an AI in there. Will he succeed in talking the Council out of their plan?

Vote Closed.