Author's Note:

Hey guys and girls. As always thanks for reading; reviews are always welcome so please write any thoughts you have. I am happy to steer the story in a new direction if I hear enough from you all for it.

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The room he was in was bright. Very, very bright. It reminded him of the augmentation room he had journeyed through before he was made a true Spartan. He felt it would remind him of a hospital, but he fortunately had spent little time in such places. He was glad he hadn't spent time in rooms like this. The white and grey walls were less than welcoming. Instead of dwelling on his surroundings, he just listened to the conversations of the strangers around him. He was comfortable resting on his new bed for the time being; he felt as though he had just run 50 miles, and drank a whole bottle of whiskey. No need to reveal his consciousness just yet…

.

"Commander, I have attempted to scan him for any indications regarding his medical condition, but like Mordin, I haven't had any success. The armor he's wearing is proving difficult to even discover a pulse through. All attempts I have made to inject any type of medicine have alerted the onboard AI, in which case several red warning lights flash around him. The one time I ignored this, the needles simply broke on contact, even with the thinnest pieces of material around his hands. For your information, I was using high-strength, mass effect treated titanium that could normally pierce bone." Doctor Chakwas was getting frustrated with her new patient. He appeared fine, but still had not awoken. Her attempts to spur his awareness were fruitless.

"He has to wake up at some point. The onboard AI wouldn't be protecting him so much if he was in a dangerous coma; it would more likely be asking for our help. I don't see any other option than to sit here while he recovers from whatever happened to him. I don't expect any of you to stay, but I'm going to wait a few hours, and see what happens" responded Shepard.

Looking around at the rooms occupants, he saw Mordin, Garrus, Kasumi, and Jack. Doctor Chakwas had returned to her desk and was searching for other possibilities she had overlooked the past few hours. Mordin was back to examining his omni-tool, going over the data he had compiled while on Canalus. Garrus was simply relaxing on one of the medical beds, waiting to meet the Normandy's newest member. Kasumi couldn't stop staring, completely awestruck; it was as if the new human was some kind of alien she had never seen. Jack…..Jack was simply bored and wanted to see this "giant" that so many of the crew members had been talking about. Kenneth's loud mouth down on the engineering deck had originally grabbed her attention.

"I'm sick of waiting around, Shepard. When's this guy gonna decide he's sick of sleeping? I'm supposed to be meeting Grunt for a game of Skylian Five." The biotic convict was more than agitated at the pace of his recovery, and as always, happy to express her anger.

"Take it easy, Jack. He'll get up when he's good and ready. If you really have somewhere to be, I wouldn't be waiting around for this guy as long as he's just a paperweight. If you're really so interested in him, EDI will notify you once he regains himself. Otherwise, don't crowd in here if you're just going to complain about something we can't change." Shepard may appreciate Jack's talents, but her personality was still annoying and difficult.

With a look of disgust and anger, Jack stormed out the room and made her way for the ship's elevator, slamming the button for engineering.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, don't you Shep." Kasumi was smiling next to him, always ready to lighten the mood. "I've got to give you credit, though. This guy seems pretty impressive. It looks like he might even be able to pick a fight with Grunt…and walk away alive."

Shepard laughed at his Japanese friend, happy to have her with. Despite her young age and seemingly naïve and unprofessional personality, Kasumi was actually quite intelligent, especially aware of her surroundings and the people in it. But she was never formal, and proud of it.

"It's been twelve hours since the energy spike was originally recorded by the Alliance patrol. I doubt this guy is going to be sleeping any longer than that. We'll get to talk to him soon enough."

.

"Leliana, you have my armor's external audio processing unit off right?"

'I guess it wouldn't matter, now that I decided to open my mouth…'

"Please Noble Six; do you really think I'd be so careless? I knew once you woke up you'd want to discuss a few things privately with me. You were brought onto this ship roughly four hours ago. To be exact, 253 minutes and 16 seconds. This crew rescued you on a seemingly desolate planet. And it's a good thing they did; your armor's air supply was running dangerously low by the time we were in their shuttle craft. As you may have noticed already, there are two new aliens I have yet been able to identify. They were with the shore party that brought us onboard here. In addition, another member of the team was a much larger alien, but I have not seen him in here since we were recovered. Also, the markings on crew uniforms are not in any registry I have in my data core."

Six looked as best he could without turning his head and alerting the room's occupants. The alien standing to his left was a little taller than most humans, though it looked like Six would still look down at him. He was very slender, with long arms and only two fingers and a thumb. He was dressed in a white outfit with some red and black trim, and the coat tails made it appear as if he was some sort of scientist. The alien's head was slightly bulbous, with two large, black eyes. He looked a bit like an overgrown salamander to the Spartan. The numerous scars across his face made it appear as if he was a member of a combat organization during his lifetime. The second alien in the room was noticeably larger, although no taller than the first alien. He was wearing a set of combat armor, black and blue in color. It looked like it was better than even an ODST's setup. Of course, it wasn't in comparison to the MJOLNIR Noble Six was wearing…. It was pretty beat up, however, as it had some gashes on the right side and a hole in the neck guard. The alien himself had what appeared to be metal plates over his face and part of his neck, a light grey color. A large area of his face on the right side had taken some pretty bad damage; his cheek and neck had a soft medical fabric attachment, and part of his mouth was badly scarred. Six also noticed the mandibles on each side of the alien's face, reminding him a little of an Elite.

'Dammnit, I mean Sangheili! Ugh…at least I can try and be respectful to their race. They aren't so bad now anyways. They like killin' Brutes as much as any Spartan.'

"Leliana, you've been watching these guys longer than I've been awake. I still see humans in here, so I'm not terribly worried we're going to have trouble. Have they tried doing anything to me since they brought me on here?"

"Not in the manner you are implying, Noble Six. While the amphibian-like creature tried to access my systems multiple times on the planet surface, it was completely harmless. He was only attempting to get a reading on you and the armor. The human doctor in the room here also attempted several medical scans, but your armor kept almost all of the scans from gathering any useful data. My own scans of you have not detected anything urgent, although you could use a meal. A meal these people would likely be happy to feed you. And a shower… I don't see the point in waiting around any longer. I would recommend slowly getting up; we don't need to startle them, or make them wonder if you've been awake longer than just now…"

Six smirked a little at the last thing she said. She was right, like always. Now would be as good a time as any to introduce himself. Slowly, he raised his upper body from the medical bed he was in, grabbing the attention of the room's other occupants rather quickly. He cracked his neck, trying to play the part of injured soldier more accurately. He turned on the bed and placed his feet on the floor, still remaining seated on the bed. The others in the room waited, making it clear he was meant to the first to speak.

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"Lieutenant B-312, Noble Six, of the SPARTAN-III program, sir. I suppose you have some questions for me. And I have a lot more for you than you would might think."

The human male that walked over to Six looked him right in the eye. Well, right in the visor, to be more specific. He was dressed casually, but he held himself with confidence. He looked like an officer, one that demanded respect simply by being there. Probably the captain of this ship.

"My name is Commander Jonathan Shepard, I command the ship you're on now, the Normandy SR-2. We found you on a backwater planet named Canalus, and rescued you from a group of Blue Suns mercenaries. Hope you didn't have any plans on the surface, lieutenant."

"Heh no, and thanks commander, it's a good thing you found me when you did. My AI just informed me that I was running very low on air, so I might have suffocated before long if you hadn't shown up."

"Wait, you can talk with the AI in your armor?" The tall alien wearing the blue armor sounded more worried than surprised.

Six moved his head back slightly in surprise, then reached to the side of his helmet and removed a small chip and held his palm out with it. A young woman appeared in his hand, to the surprise of everyone else in the room.

"Hello everyone, my name is Leliana, UNSC serial number LIA 0452-7, and I thank you for saving my protector. I apologize for ignoring you until now, but I wanted to wait for the lieutenant to wake before speaking with you."

Noticing that everyone in the room had tensed up at the sight of Leliana, Six decided it was a good time to start asking his own questions. "Where exactly are we?"

"Currently we're in FTL, en route to the Crescent Nebula's mass relay to jump us to the Citadel. You don't know what any of those are, do you?" Shepard looked at the lieutenant and was not surprised to see him shrug. "I had a feeling you weren't in that cave to take a nap, lieutenant. I think if tell us your whole story, we can figure this problem out."

"Sounds fair to me, commander. I was at an ONI research facility in Berlin. We were…"

"Wait a second, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but what's ONI? I've never heard of it. But said you were in Berlin, Germany, correct?"

"Ugh, yes sir. The only Berlin that I'm aware of… ONI is the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence."

"There, you mentioned this UNSC your AI did, too. What is that? And what were you researching at this facility, lieutenant?"

Surprised by the commander's quick questioning, he just answered to keep things moving. "The UNSC is humanity's central government. The United Nations Space Command. And we were researching teleportation technology. We had tried reverse-engineering an artifact we discovered on a colony to make instantaneous travel between locations with any amount of distance between them. Doesn't seem to have worked correctly, heh." He scratched his head at the last thought. "I guess this is a good time to ask what year it is. The head researcher at this facility warned me there was a possibility of inter-dimensional time travel. I thought she was just trying to scare me."

"I can't clarify what dimension you're in. Whatever that even means Six, but it's the year 2185. How does that sound to you?"

"Well, I'm not as shocked as I probably should be. But 2557 would have sounded a little better to me. June 17th to be exact, sir." Six just sat there, thinking about what would happen next.

Shepard was surprised at how calm the new lieutenant seemed. Of course, he had a helmet to conceal his facial expressions, and he lacked the energetic body language of Tali to reveal anything useful. He figured the soldier was a member of some Special Forces unit. Maybe he was trained to take tough news in stride.

"Maybe you were just thrown back in time, Six. Do any of the surroundings seem relevant to the late 22nd century to you?"

"Sorry sir, but no. You're two alien buddies here don't even exist where I'm from. You guys don't seem hostile; so are you gonna introduce yourselves?"

"Shocking suggestion, would never dream of attacking you! Unless of course, you attacked first. Then, wouldn't hesitate." The salamander looking alien seemed insulted at the very thought of unprovoked violence. "Professor Mordin Solus, Salarian, Normandy Chief Science Officer. Biologist, chemist, among other things." The professor waved his hand in the air during the last thought, then lowering it to Six's reach for a handshake. Six was surprised at the gesture, almost forgetting to accept.

Six then turned to the taller alien next to the professor.

"Garrus Vakarian, I'm a Turian. Used to be part of Citadel Security, but I suppose that wouldn't mean anything to you, would it? You'll learn about it soon enough, I bet. The commander and I go way back, joined his team a few years ago. On the Normandy, I'm in charge of the weapon systems, and you look like someone who'd be interested in that." Six nodded his head firmly, ensuring his excitement was shown. "Since I actually believe your story of inter-dimensional travel or whatever, and don't think you're some raving lunatic, I'll show you the armaments once you get settled in."

Next, the senior member of the group stood up from her desk and calmly walked over. She seemed to be in her late 50s, though the years had been kind to her. Her short, silver hair was quite beautiful. And perfectly cared for.

"It's wonderful to meet you, lieutenant. I'm Doctor Chakwas, the Normandy's medical officer. You had us a little worried for a bit, but I'm glad to see you're awake now. I still expect you to remove that armor soon so I can do a thorough scan of you to see if you suffered any damage. And I don't care if you're 'just fine', the commander will back me up on this." Chakwas added the last thought when she saw Noble Six shaking his hand. Shepard simply shrugged at the Spartan. While he, without a doubt in the Spartan's mind, had the respect of his crew, the doctor didn't hesitate to perform her job.

'She must have been a military doctor for a long time; if not her entire career…it's good to see her take charge, even if it might get annoying at some point…'

Next, a small woman wearing black and grey approached. Six noticed she had a few very intricate make-up designs on her lips. She also wore a hood, shadowing much of her face.

"And I'm Kasumi Goto, at your service. Pleased to meet you, big man. I'll pick up some tech for you from our galaxy when we reach the Citadel. You might as well get used to being here, it doesn't seem like you can just flip a switch to get home."

"That's very nice of you Miss Goto, but I don't expect anyone to purchase things for me. When we get to this 'Citadel' of yours, I'll figure out what my next move is." Six was flattered by the young girl's willingness to help him, something he didn't receive much during a life in the military.

"Kasumi wasn't planning on purchasing any of it, Six. She's our resident thief, and a damn good one. But now that you mention you don't have a place in this galaxy, I'd like it if you stayed with us for a while. I don't know what your combat abilities are, but having an onboard AI and the advanced armor you're wearing makes me assume you're a member of a military organization, probably some sort of special forces unit? Plus, it won't be easy just becoming part of our society."

Before Noble Six could answer any of the new questions, the only person he knew in this new galaxy decided she had been left out long enough.

"Speaking of the onboard AI, I am right here, you all know?" Leliana was still in Six's hand, impatiently tapping her holographic foot. "Were you just planning on introducing yourselves to Six while I had to stand here and watch?"

The AI herself was enough of a startle to the occupants of the room, but she so passionately entering the conversation was simply something they couldn't even begin to plan for.

"Well…ugh…we didn't think we needed to say anything to you. We aren't too familiar with AIs here…" Garrus rubbed the back of his neck, still uncomfortable around the new AI.

"You don't seem too familiar with manners either, Turian. Care to explain to me why everyone here is so nervous around me? Does this ship even have an AI?"

"I would be glad to assist you, Leliana." The hologram stand by the medical bay's door lit up with a light blue image of a sphere, held up by what looked like its neck. The sphere was pulsing gently, and a white mouth flickered open and closed while speaking. "I am the Normandy's artificial intelligence, the Enhanced Defense Intelligence. The crew likes to refer to me as EDI. The galaxy we live in is very reluctant to use and distribute AIs, as most instances of creation have resulted in the deaths of organic beings. Virtual intelligences are much more commonly used; as they are not self-aware, they are considered far less dangerous than an AI like you or me. I am actually installed in this ship illegally, but our mission deems me necessary."

"You don't sound very emotional, EDI. Are you a 'dumb' AI?"

While EDI didn't convey emotions like an organic being, even a senile Hanar would have been able to notice that she was slightly offended by the accusation. "I beg your pardon, Leliana?"

"It's not an insult EDI. I just wanted to know the level of design you are built to. But since you don't seem to understand my question, I will assume you do not designate AIs the same as the UNSC. To clarify, I am a 'smart' AI, capable of learning and understanding information in a limitless number of fields. A 'dumb' AI would mean you were only capable of learning more in the field specific to your design, like military strategy, or a scientific study. I hope that removes any offense you may have taken from my question."

"That is…understandable. Thank you for clarification Leliana. I look forward to more conversations in the future." EDI's holographic image then flickered out with a pleasant sound.

Shepard, always able to adapt to new situations, only chuckled with the conversation he was hearing. "Well, before we get into any more fights, I suggest everyone return to their stations for the time being, until we reach the Citadel. Noble Six, I'd like to speak with you and Leliana in the starboard observation deck for a bit. I believe you will have many questions about the galaxy you're in now, and I would like to ask you some more questions. I'm sure you would be happy to know about everything you see here." Shepard motioned for Six to follow him through the doorway.

"That would be just fine, sir. Doesn't seem like I have much of a choice anyways." Why don't you lead the way, and we can discuss whatever you would like."

Shepard nodded in agreement, turning to walk through the doorway. During the quick trip to observation, Six noticed several humans relaxing in what appeared to be the mess hall. Based on the number of seats in the area, the Spartan guessed the Normandy wasn't a large vessel. Since they located him on what they called a 'backwater' planet, maybe the ship was designed for recon. With his advanced MJOLNIR armor system, he was able to hear several crewmembers whispering about him from various areas of the mess hall.

'That guy's big! You think he's even human in there?'

'Check out that armor, that suit has to weigh more than a Krogan!'

'Is he even going to take it off? We're not in a damn combat zone on the ship…'

Six chuckled quietly to himself, happy that the worst thing he heard was criticizing his apparel. While he was never xenophobic, even during the war, he was happy to see that most of the crew appeared to be human. The ship definitely wasn't big enough to be designed with Sangheili or Lekgolo in mind. Maybe they weren't even in this galaxy…

When they turned the corner, the next door opened and the Spartan was greeted with a pleasant view of space, separated by only a few inches of glass. He noticed the blue shimmer around the hull instantly; this ship definitely didn't use a slipspace drive.

"Now that we can talk without half my crew slamming you with questions, let's start off with you, lieutenant. Why don't you ask a few questions before I do? You obviously have the most culture shock of the two of us" Shepard sat comfortably on one of the couches, waving Six to make himself at home. When he simply put his hand up to signify his desire to stand, Shepard remembered something Mordin had mentioned. "I'm guessing with that armor you're used to standing. Don't worry lieutenant; the seating anywhere on this ship was designed with weight being a factor. Krogans, one of the aliens in this galaxy, weigh about the same as you when wearing armor. Take a seat, we might be here a while."

Six nodded silently and slowly sat down on the parallel sofa from the commander. He was surprised when it didn't collapse under him, comfortably supporting him. It was a very welcome surprise.

"The first thing I noticed looking out the window was space. It may sound odd to you commander, but I'm not used to it. We use something called slipspace for FTL; it literally tears a whole into space and we can bend the laws of physics for whatever has a slipspace drive. Usually there isn't anything besides darkness in FTL, since we aren't actually in normal space. It's nice to see something out the window for a change."

Shepard smiled at his guest. At least Noble Six was looking on the bright side of things. "Our FTL is based on technology of a long dead race. We use something called element zero to create a mass effect field around an object, allowing us to lower the mass of something until we can accelerate to FTL speeds. Travel around the entire galaxy would still be impossible, but we also have objects called mass relays scattered throughout the entire galaxy. They allow us to instantly jump from one to another, but no organic beings created them. They are far older than we even know, probably hundreds of millions of years old. A race of sentient machines called Reapers created them as a trap for organic beings, but that's something we can discuss another time." Shepard made a quick nod to leave the topic closed, and he was happy to see the lieutenant had no problems complying. No sense in putting too much on his plate. "What else do you want to know?"

"Based on the casual clothing you have, and the variety of aliens on your crew, it doesn't appear this is a standard military operation. What is your team trying to accomplish? Save the galaxy and all that?" Noble Six has never been good at keeping his mouth shut, and now wasn't any different. He picked more chattiness up from spending too much time with Jun.

"Actually Six, you'll be surprised to hear we are doing something like that. A race known as the Collectors are targeting entire human colonies, and we guess they've taken at least tens of thousands so far. They have small robotic drones capable of inflicting prolonged incapacitation to subdue the colonists, and advanced comm jammers to isolate the colonies before attack. My team and I are going to find a way and stop it. To answer your other question, this actually isn't a military operation at all. I'm working with a covert human organization called Cerberus. The Alliance and Citadel, humanity's galactic government and the greater galactic community's government respectively, are ignoring the abductions. Cerberus isn't a very reputable organization, but they are the only ones willing to help, which is why I'm working with them…for now. I can tell you more about it another time. And that brings me to my first question for you: what sort of military training do you have?"

Noble Six simply laughed at the question, even if he knew the commander had no idea who or what he was. "Sorry commander, but I just couldn't help myself. Like I said earlier, I'm part of a military training program that creates SPARTAN-IIIs. We begin training at a young age; I was six. Around the age of 14 we undergo extensive genetic augmentation. Unlike the SPARTAN-II program before us, we had a near 100% success rate; only a select few individuals died or were rendered combat ineffective…the IIs suffered more than 50% casualties during augmentation. After the augmentation, we are given our combat armor. The one I am wearing is the MJOLNIR Mk. VII, developed just in the past year at an ONI facility in Essen, Germany. I don't know what your combat armor systems are capable of, Commander Shepard, but the MJOLNIR system has full shielding, heavy reinforced armor plating, AI transfer protocols, atmospheric reentry capabilities, limited shield shaping, onboard medical programs, and EMP resistance, just to name a few. Reaction times are also greatly enhanced, thanks to onboard AIs and the crystalline layer between the internal padding and armor components. Between the armor and my own augmentation, I can react about five times quicker than normal humans. Actually, if a normal human like yourself even tried wearing this armor, you'd be rewarded with broken limbs and severe muscle extensions from the swift movement… I'm also guessing you didn't just want to know all this for fun?"

Shepard has originally intended to steer the conversation towards his next goal, but something Noble Six mentioned wouldn't escape his thoughts. "You started training at the age of six? Were your parents in the military or what?"

"Uugh….no. The SPARTAN-III program was started out of necessity from the war with the Covenant. It was an alien religious conglomerate in my galaxy. In short, they tried to exterminate humanity; we were deemed unworthy, or unclean, or whatever. They spent 27 years trying to kill us. Towards the closing days of the war, one of the most important alien castes in the Covenant, the Sangheili, defected and joined humanity with groups of some of the other aliens. Turns out, humanity is the inheritor of their gods' legacy, and the Covenant leaders knew it. Only three hierarchs made the decision to wipe us out. All because they were worried about their authority being broken. The Sangheili helped turn the tide and we won the war. But I'm getting off track; the SPARTAN-IIIs were made to combat the Covenant. All subjects were orphans, victims of the Covenant war machine. We were given the choice to join and avenge our families. We were young, and we didn't know any better at the time, and I know it isn't pretty or nice, but humans literally wouldn't be alive in my galaxy without us. And I wouldn't change it, ever."

Shepard nodded in acknowledgement. Like the Spartan said, it was necessary. It didn't sound like his leaders had many choices. Besides, how many times had he done what's necessary during his military career? "Since I doubt your actual name is Noble Six, I'm guessing it's your call sign. Since you are numbered six, does that mean you have experience with a team?"

Six's good mood was quickly ruined with the memories that flowed through him. Jorge, Kat, Carter, Emile… He simply sat still, silent for almost a minute, before he could even try to answer the commander.

"Yes, I have worked on a team. I'm sorry for being rude commander, but I'd prefer to leave that topic closed. I assure you my combat skills are more than adequate, even for a specialized mission."

"Fair enough, lieutenant. I don't need to know your every detail to understand what you're capable of. But answer me this: are you comfortable joining a new team?"

The question hit him like a brick. He knew he wasn't getting home anytime soon, and he did miss the company of the former Noble Team. Even though the scars on his heart weren't even close to healing, he saw the benefit of working with new people. People he could still protect. "Without hesitation, sir. I seem to be stuck here, anyways. And while we may have just met, you seem more than a capable leader. I hope you can prove me right. What do you have in mind?"

Shepard simply smiled from what he heard Noble Six say. The Normandy might just be able to pull the mission off. "Take a look around the ship, lieutenant. I'll make sure everyone knows you're part of the team now. We'll figure your sleeping arrangements out later. Head up to the armory when you're done; it's on the second deck."

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Noble Six had spent the past hour in the Normandy's armory, making himself familiar with all the new toys he'd get to play with during his new mission. Collector's, Reapers, Blue Suns mercenaries…he didn't understand any of it yet. But he had time to learn all that later. He just needed to learn how to shoot them for now.

"Alright, lieutenant. Now that you've had some time to familiarize yourself with all the gear we have on the Normandy, let's get you set up with a few weapons for you to keep in your own locker. Let's start with the assault rifles; why don't you pick one of these here." The Normandy's armory chief led the Spartan over to a table in the middle of the room, decorated with several makes of assault rifles.

"I think I'm going with the Mattock, Jacob. I'd rather have the accuracy. I can deal with any enemies that get too close for this to be effective." He lifted the large, beige rifle in his hands, and with the press of a button, it collapsed into less than half its normal size. "That's going to take some getting used to, but it's more than welcome." The Spartan was so happy he would be able to carry more than two weapons into combat. It was a dream come true.

"Yea, ha ha. I thought you might like that. That AI of yours downloaded some weapon schematics to my omni-tool so I could see what you're used to. Plasma weapons, huh? Sounds interesting." The African-American male showed a look of interest and excitement, unable to maintain his usually strict military demeanor.

"Yea, most of them are. After our war with the Covenant, our new allies shared weapons designs with us, and we implemented them over the past several years. Hopefully Leliana will be able to provide you some schematics for upgrades, maybe even new weapons? We'll just have to see."

Leliana's hologram on the table appeared then, eager to join in the conversation the included so much of her. "I'm still going over all the information EDI gave me, but the least I can do is help construct plasma grenades for the ground team. I'm sure you'll find those very interesting Mr. Taylor. They emit a small cloud of plasma to stick to targets like personnel and vehicles, yet won't stick to surfaces like walls or trees."

"That does sound fun, Leliana." Jacob smiled with the endless possibilities going through his mind. "Even if the rest of the crew is jumpy around you, I'm sure glad you're helping us."

"Speaking of which Jacob, how come you seem so comfortable around me? Everyone on this whole damn ship besides Commander Shepard thinks I'm going to eat them or something."

"Well, you already know why AIs are feared in our galaxy, I don't need to go over that again with you. As for me, the lieutenant here seems like a no-nonsense soldier, even if he is sarcastic and won't keep his mouth shut. If he trusts you so much, that's all the evidence I need to not worry about you."

"Can't keep my mouth shut? I let you two have that whole conversation without interrupting!"

Jacob simply laughed at the Spartan, quickly relaxing from his usual tempo. "I think someone is getting anxious to pick their next weapon. Right over here lieutenant and we'll get you set up with a sniper rifle. We've got a few choices for you, and all the rifles are suited for different situations."

Noble Six eyed each rifle carefully, remembering the performance of each one from what Jacob had told him earlier during his visit. "This blue and gold one, the Incisor right? I like the idea of rapid fire in a three-round burst. I'll take it."

"Sounds good to me, sir. Come over to this table and we can get your sidearm. I'd recommend the Phalanx. I got them from a few friends of mine still in the Alliance military. Highly accurate, and each slug has enough stopping power to make a Krogan think twice about charging."

"Perfect. The pistols I'm used to in the UNSC were similar: smaller clips with large rounds. I'd rather make my shots count."

"Good to hear. Right on this table we have out shotguns. Mostly standard fare, but we do have a few Eviscerators that we 'borrowed' from some mercenaries on Omega. They aren't legal in Citadel space, but I doubt you're concerned with such things."

Six nodded, barely able to hold back his excitement at the highly-lethal weapon. It brought him back to his days of suppressing insurrections single handedly. "These are the ones with aerodynamic serrated shreds? A shotgun with accuracy is perfect; I like to fight close."

"Glad to see you're happy with it. The next choice is something I think you'll be very excited with." Jacob walked over to a larger container on the side of the room, holding some very unique, and expensive, cargo. "Normally the commander and Grunt are the only ones to carry heavy weapons into combat, but based on what you told me of your combat abilities, I think you deserve to be the third. The choice of weapon is yours Spartan."

Six looked down at the container before him, feeling like a kid in a candy store. A candy store that he owned. Several models were in front of him, each one with unique abilities and benefits. He looked at them all, resting his sight on a beautifully polished weapon that almost looked like some sort of mining equipment. "This one, the Cerberus Arc Projector. Sounds like I could have some fun with it." He smiled while thinking of what he could do to some bad guys with it. Before he could start talking again with Jacob, he was interrupted by a voice over the ship's internal speakers.

"Jacob, it's Shepard. We're just about to hit the relay to take us into the Citadel. I think now is a good time to let our newest team member make his way to the bridge. I think he and Leliana will be more than happy to see a mass relay in action."

"Well, you heard the boss Six. Better get up to the bridge. Brace yourself for the ship's helmsman, Joker. He's always ornery and doesn't hesitate to throw puns at anyone. Don't think that armor of yours is going to stop him. And I'll get all your gear setup and ready by the time you have your first mission."

"Thanks for the help and heads up, Jacob. I look forward to some action soon." They both nodded politely and Six made his way to the Normandy's cockpit. While walking towards the front of the ship, it really hit him how small the ship really was. The Normandy probably wasn't any longer than 150 meters and they classified it as a frigate. UNSC frigates like the Grafton and Saratoga were almost 500 meters long, and had significantly more mass. The spaciousness inside was welcome, though. UNSC ships were filled with equipment and personnel. Finding his way to the bridge, he was surprised to find the Turian, Garrus, waiting for him.

"Noble Six, good to see you. Hopefully that little trouble between me and your AI won't ruin your impression of me. I'm glad to have you on the team, if you can only do even half the things Shepard told me about you." Garrus extended his hand to the Spartan, who took it and firmly shook to ensure no hard feelings were kept. "Anyways Six…wait, is that what you want us to call you? I'm fine with it, but seems like you would rather use your name…"

"Don't worry Garrus. I've used this call sign for almost five years now. Spartans don't usually share their given names with anyone besides other Spartans, even friends. If Six gets old, you can just call me lieutenant."

Garrus shrugged in response, realizing the Spartan wasn't going to tell him anymore. "Works for me. But back to the reason I'm here; when we dock with the Citadel, Shepard has some of his own business to take care of with Councilor Anderson. At some point I'm sure you'll meet him, too. In the meantime, he wants me to show you around the Citadel a bit, introduce you to how things work. We'll also pick you up an omni-tool and a galactic codex. Your AI…err…Leliana, can help you with both once they are installed into that armor of yours. We should only be spending a few hours, and since you aren't even registered in Council systems yet, I wouldn't recommend taking any weapons, even a sidearm. I doubt anyone will pick a fight with you anyways."

Before Garrus had a chance to tell him anymore, former Alliance Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau interrupted him. "Hey Six, if you're tired of listening to our resident hot head, we're about to hit the relay to take us into the Citadel. It'll give you a chance to see how we get around all futuristic like in our galaxy."

Garrus was about to snap back at Joker, but realized it would only give the pilot more ammunition. He looked at Six and nodded for him to look out the window. Walking up to a view port, the Spartan could barely believe what he was looking at. Right in front of the Normandy was a massive object; it sort of looked like a smooth tuning fork to him. In the center of the object was a massive blue ball energy, with two rings swiftly circling it constantly. The Normandy flew alongside the relay and was suddenly enveloped in a bright white and blue cloud, and even through the emptiness of space, the lieutenant could've sworn he heard the crack of electricity. Just as soon had the Normandy flown alongside the relay, they were now in a nebula, a mix of purple and white all around them. That's when Noble Six got his first look at the Citadel. Since he had never seen the Covenant's High Charity, this was by far the largest space station he had ever seen. If you could really call it that.

"That thing is massive! It isn't even a space station, it's a city…" Six was completely taken back by the sight before him. The five ward arms each boasting their own metropolis, all connected to the Presidium ring. It didn't look anything like a Forerunner construct, at least the ones he had seen. Whoever built this must be advanced.

"I'm guessing you don't build things like this where you're from, do you?" Garrus couldn't keep the smirk off his face while he said it.

"Well, the Covenant had this planetoid space station, High Charity. It was over 350 kilometers tall, and was much more rounded. The Citadel wouldn't even compare to it. But I never saw it; it was destroyed shortly before the war ended, and I wasn't present at the battle. But this station is the biggest I've seen in person." Six was still impressed by the Citadel, even if he knew his galaxy was capable of a bit more…

"350 kilometers? Damn Six, you certainly know how to do it right in your galaxy. But we didn't build the Citadel, we just found it. The Reapers built it, but most people in the galaxy think the Protheans did. I'll tell you more about it sometime over a drink. But it sounds like we have a lot to share, you know, since you're stuck here anyways."

Six smiled at the friendliness and humor from his new Turian squad mate, but quickly became more solemn as it really sank in when hears someone else say he was stuck there.

'I guess if I'm stuck here, I might as well have some fun. Speaking of drinks, you got bars on this station of yours, Garrus?"

"Are you kidding me, Spartan? This station has some of the best booze you can ever hope to get your hands on! Like I said before, though, we don't have more than a few hours. We need to get you some new equipment first. But I'll tell you what; once we get your stuff, we can swing by one of the convenience shops and pick up some drinks to bring back on the Normandy. The rest of the crew would be happy to have it, too. Oh, and just so you know: Turian physiology is a little different from humans and most of the other races."

"Just a little different, you walking bird?"

"Very funny Six. I mean life on our home planet is built on dextro-amino acids. We can't eat the same thing you humans can, and vice versa. You try and drink some of the beer I bring back on the ship, and you'll have your face in the toilet even faster than you could if you were trying. Don't worry though; all food sold on the Citadel is clearly labeled for what races can consume them. And I'll be with to keep you company."

"Hey, if you're finished Garrus, we just docked with the Citadel. You can go now. Have fun trying to instate that seven-foot walking tank into the systems at C-Sec. I hope you still have some friends on the inside." Joker was even more agitated than usual. Maybe he was just jealous he didn't get any time for shore leave.

"Alright Six, we might as well get a head start on Shepard. He won't be with Anderson long. I have a feeling we're going to have some trouble getting you in anyways…" Garrus looked down at the walkway and shook his head as the two walked into the decontamination chamber.

'This is going to be a mess with C-Sec' the Turian thought to himself.

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Author's Note

Phew! Almost done with getting Noble Six settled into his new galaxy. He'll still have catching up to do throughout the story, but aside from meeting a few new squad mates, he's ready to go. The next chapter is going to get a lot more exciting, I can promise you that. Six has to show off his combat skills to the team!

Like always, please leave me comments and messages with your thoughts on the story. Feedback keeps me motivated to write more!

And for those of you wondering, Six's whole history regarding his escape from Reach and feelings for each of his old team mates will be explained, piece by piece. No one in Mass Effect knows what Reach is, so I have a feeling a very specific Quarian will have to ask what he blames himself for so much…

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Revision Notes

Thanks to undyinghunter and Robo Reader 21, I revised a few lines to follow Halo canon properly. Noble Six was not abducted like the SPARTAN-IIs, and I changed it to list him as a vengeful orphan. And I originally had Six telling Shepard that he had cybernetic augmentations, and fixed it to the proper description of genetic augmentations. Any more mistakes like this that you find, please let me know and I will fix them quickly.