Alternate Past: Uncertain Future Mk II

A/N at bottom

Chapter 18

Fragile Peace: Division and Unity

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

-Sun Tzu

Within Citadel Council territory, only four solar systems are more heavily defended than the Citadel Station left behind by the Protheans. Trebia, Aralakh, Pranas and Parnitha: the four homeworld systems of the standing Council. Since the invasion of Trebia by the humans, each system was defended by no less than an entire armada of spacecraft ; consisting of literally hundreds of warships, and a litany of both space-borne and planetary defenses.

And the humans were battering these aside like they were nothing. Leading the charge were the three monstrous ships, the newly designated Fortress-class vessels that had made their first appearance at Palaven. Fortress-class, it was a designation that no one in Council space ever thought would be made real. A ship that dwarfed even the largest of dreadnoughts, there would be a mobile command center, capable of withstanding virtually any assault and returning the favor tenfold. It was thought to be impossible due to the fact that even if it was built, using Mass Effect technology as an FTL-drive would have made it impossible to function, and thus pointless to build. And the humans had shattered that notion.

The three were plowing through the enemy fleets as though they were mere inconveniences. In some cases, quite literally, as ship after ship was rammed by the Fortress-classes, the shields of the human ships shimmering gold as the Citadel warships shattered against them. Those that weren't simply run over, were wasted by their weapons or their escorts. Picking off ship after ship before some could even fire a shot. Leaving behind a field of wreckage and dead in their wake.

Then the titanic warships reached their targets, Thessia, Palaven, Tuchanka, and Sur'Kesh, it didn't matter which world it was, the results were all the same. All four worlds were being attacked simultaneously. The homeworlds of the four Council Races were the most heavily populated and well defended in all of Citadel space. Yet the fortress class vessels showed no hesitation before attacking the worlds in question. Presenting their broadsides to the planet, turning their guns planetside, before pummeling the its surface, before moving around the planet. Targeting a major city with every strike, murdering millions, if not billions in mere moments.

But eventually the space forces of the Council rallied. Starting to take down the monstrously powerful human warships through sheer weight of numbers. Many of the valiant crews using their ships themselves as weapons. Ramming the UNSC warships at faster than light, as many engaged their Mass effect cores and armed all their ordinance, the smaller ships finally beginning to fall and join the dead all around them. But for every, one UNSC ship that they destroyed, another dozen Citadel were lost. Destroyed before they could ever reach their targets, sometimes taking out their allies with them. And the Fortress-classes were not even slowed. Their shields finally weakening under the sheer force of numbers firing upon them, in same cases actually snapping under the strain, but even then, their hulls were barely suffering a scratch.

Finally the Council dreadnoughts themselves launched suicide attacks against the human juggernauts, firing thousands upon thousands of nuclear missiles at the Fortress-class warships, ignoring all others, just before they themselves rammed into them at FTL speeds. The gigantic UNSC vessels finally starting to show visible damage as sections of the hull were aflame and great pieces began to flay off those that had lost their shields.

But the humans were at least as merciless as they were powerful. When the their mightiest warships began to take damage they unleashed their trump cards. The lead ships at each system fired a single shot at the homeworld itself, before all of the human ships disappeared in their strange FTL.

In an instant, the orgy of explosive destruction reduced the homeworlds to nothing but fragments, and destroying the surrounding Council fleets in the process. The humans leaving nothing but ruins in their wake. As they prepared to do the same to the rest of the Council worlds.

"And that's our worst case scenario." Senior security advisor Saren said as the audio/video presentation ended and the Councilors, and their advisors, looked back at him in horrified disbelief.

"By the Goddess…" Tevos managed to whisper, summing up what all of them felt. When they had asked Saren, who had moved from being advisor to the turian Councilor to being Security Advisor for all of the Council fleets, to show them what would happen if the Citadel Races, as they were now, went to war with the humans. None of them had expected this. "That doesn't seem possible. To have a warship that is both that large and powerful. Just how accurate is this, Saren?"

The only reason why none of them were calling out Saren on his presentation, calling it lies and pro-human propaganda, was his reputation and their own personal relationships with him. Everything about the turian would describe him as being pragmatic and not one with a flair or desire for the dramatic. Hence, why they, for the most part, accepted what he had shown them.

"Admittedly, that is unknown. Everything shown was extrapolated from my brother's flight recorder data from when he first encountered the humans, and from the human invasion of Palaven. We scaled their weapons and shields strength based on what we know and the assumption that size directly correlates to their power." Saren explained.

"But what about their fortress-class warships?" Valdn asked, "Surely they can't have that many vessels of that magnitude?" a hopeful tone to his question.

Saren shook his head. "We know that the humans have at the very least three Fortress-class vessels. And there is no reason to believe that they can not create more." He rewound the video to show the massive warships again. "If we were to judge their capabilities on building more of these vessels based on their reparations that they have given us over the years, then it is easily within their capabilities."

Councilor Tevos had nothing to say in response to that. For the first time ever, she really considered the idea that Aethyta might be right. Forcing the asari to give up their peaceful ways seemed like a relatively small price to pay if it could help prevent such tragedy.

"Do you have any, suggestions? As apparently our fleets are woefully inadequate, if your projections are even slightly accurate" the salarian Councilor coldly asked, as faint hope gave way to greater fear.

"Just one." He replied. "The reason our forces are so completely outmatched ultimately isn't because of size or power, it is because the humans can essentially send their forces anywhere in our territory and we can't do the same. We need to explore every alternate method of FTL available. As long as we're reliant on the Mass Relays, we are hideously vulnerable to any galactic power like the UNSC that isn't."

Saren's words hit his audience like a stun grenade: shocking then all speechless. Of course they had been researching Slipspace FTL for years, ever since encountering the humans and their version of FTL. Both as a way to understand and counter their human rivals/enemies. But only as a military weapon, Saren seemed to be saying that their very societies needed to give up the Mass Relays, which were one of the cornerstones, perhaps THE cornerstone, of galactic civilization as they knew it, not even Aethyta had ever seriously considered anything so radical.

"You can not be serious?" Wrex asked. Even as pragmatic he was, the very idea seemed ludicrous to him. "There is a reason why we use the Relays, they-"

"Are a crutch that we should have tossed away ages ago." Okeer interrupted, drawing attention to him. "The turian's right. We've been relying on these Relays like a whelp that hasn't left its broodmother since we started. Using what the Protheans left behind instead of standing tall on our own achievements. If you ask me, its been a long time coming."

Saren nodded his thanks to the krogan scientist for the support. "I should clarify that the human's advantage is only in the strategic sense. Tactically, our forces are more than sufficient to overwhelm them in a conventional engagement." Seeing some of the confused looks he was receiving, he elaborated. "The losses we would suffer would be devastating yes, but as you saw in the video, our numbers will overwhelm them. If they were reliant on Relays much like we are, then our forces would eventually win. It's the human's abilities to simply bypass every single defensive line we can muster that is the problem."

"But, reality being the bitch she is," Aethyta added, "Right now , to actually protect ourselves; we would need what amounts to an armada at every single world, otherwise all of them would be easy pickings."

"Exactly-exactly how many warships would we need?" Tevos asked with uncharacteristic timidity. Feeling scared and afraid in a way that she hadn't in centuries. Taking her first tentative steps into the new reality she found herself in.

"A minimum of eight hundred, optimally ten hundred." Saren answered, making all of the Councilors, Tevos especially, pale more so than they already had. "Per system."

"I've run the numbers Councilor Tevos, your people could do it if you made a commitment to your military that the asari haven't done, since the Rachni Wars. You are the richest and most numerous species in the galaxy. Frankly you could have had a fleet more than twenty times as large as what is out there now, alone, by now if you had simply kept building warships at a steady pace between now and then" Saren replied.

The truth was, with the head start they had had, being perhaps the first race in the galaxy after the Protheans to achieve FTL and begin exploring other solar systems, the asari could have conquered the galaxy, or at the very least made a decent attempt at it. But whether out of apathy, morality, laziness, or simple cowardice, they had never really capitalized on that opportunity. Now the asari were being threatened by young upstarts, specifically the humans. And if they did not become aggressive now they might have no alternative but to submit to the newcomers.

"I-I…" Tevos was speechless, not because she was in shock, least not totally. But because he was right. Aethyta had been calling for this for ages, and this meeting just hammered in that point even more. She suddenly slumped in her seat. "Doctor Solus, if we are going to do this, have you made any progress in your studies of Slipspace?" She asked, all but admitting defeat and submitting to the larger consensus.

"Progress has been...problematic." Mordin replied. "Slipspace is inherently difficult, if not near impossible to understand. Finally interpreted the probe data we have gathered. Slipspace, is where the laws of physics only partially apply. Appears to have their laws when it comes to reality. Progress also slow because of loss of engineers tasked with operating slipspace engines. Several have simply vanished. No kidnapping, simply gone. But, still. Progress." He smiled at them, pleased at all that some advances had been made.

All of them shared trouble glances at how the doctor had so casually passed off what was apparently a regular violation of the laws of physics and disappearances. Still, they kept their wits about themselves. "What about your idea of destabilizing slipspace portals? Making it impossible for them arrive here at all by that method." Councilor Cicero Valon asked.

Mordin's smile quickly faded. "Initial analysis was completely somewhat right. Figured out a means of doing so for our own prototypes. Portals became too unstable for probe to enter slipspace, but is pointless, I'm afraid." he replied to the turian Councilor.

"Excuse, but did you just say the technology works but is pointless?"

Mordin nodded. "Yes. Have already done covert tests, to see if any affect on human portals. None could be found. Seems they have already developed countermeasures long before our encounter."

"Then you're not working hard enough!" the turian Councilor replied angrily. Everyone looked at Cicero in surprise, since he had been relatively calm this entire time. Until now that is. "It's been years, years! Since we've encountered the humans, and you're all telling me, that even now we're still just as, if not more, vulnerable as then!"

"Unfortunately Councilor, up til we met the humans we were almost completely dependent on Prothean based technology. We thought it was the best and all anybody needed. The humans proved to us how dead wrong we were and now we're still scrambling to cope." Saren admitted.

"Have we had any luck getting those imperious New Covenant bastards to give us Slipspace technology?" Aethyta asked crudely, though her sentiments were shared by virtually everyone there. The New Covenant had been making efforts to try, on some scale, integrate themselves with Citadel society. Citizens and traders coming to various points of Citadel space, mainly the Citadel itself. For the most part, the civilians were like any other; cautious but integrating just the same. The same couldn't be said for when it came to diplomatic relations, specifically trade.

The New Covenant adamantly refused to allow the trade of any and all knowledge of Slipspace and related technologies, along with any sort of weapons technology. Including the means to weaponize plasma. Other technologies, such as plasma batteries and reactors, raw materials and other such things, were allowed. They had even parted with normal space propulsion engine schematics, to an extent. But no matter how much the Council tried to persuade them, the New Covenant stood their ground.

"Unfortunately, no. I think they realize that once we have Slipspace we would at least be their military peers...and they have enough problems already where the humans are concerned." Saren replied, drawing on what little was known about the New Covenant.

"Well, at the very least there is some good news for all of us." Saren mentioned. "The quarians seem to have, to the best of our knowledge, vanished. No one, not our fleets, the Terminus or even the Shadow Broker have seen the Migrant Fleet for months now. At the very least, that is one less problem we all have to deal with, I would think." That received some appreciative nods. The quarians were a problem that no one liked dealing with, after all. They were the scavengers and pests of the galaxy.

Silence soon took over the room, no one having much else to add.

Cicero sighed. "Tevos, your people had better start doing their part soon. Something tells me that sooner or later, someone is going to make a move. And when that happens, the asari better be standing alongside us. Or you may very well find yourself standing alone." With that said, he rose and left the room. Little did they realize, the humans already had.

**APUFMKII**

For the first time in centuries the military garrisons on the batarian homeworld felt threatened. Confusing reports of power outages, cyber attacks, and bombings were coming from dozens of locations all over the world. At first there didn't seem to be any pattern to the attacks, but then a senior officer realized that they all seemed to be occurring near military depots.

Drawing troops away from their stockpiles of weapons and other supplies as they were stationed to guard the attacked zones. Leaving the depots themselves vulnerable to attack. The senior officer suspected that this was a prelude to some larger attack, perhaps even on the depots themselves. But when he had brought up his theory to his superiors, they had fallen on deaf ears and been told that if he suggested something so outrageous again, he would been sent to guarding the slaves in charge of the waste management facilities.

The captain in question knew he was right. But 'troublemakers' were punished harshly everywhere in the Hegemony, even the military. So he decided to drop the issue. FIguring that in the long run it probably wouldn't matter that much anyway.

Inside one of military depots, several guards were huddled around a table playing cards. Their backs to the wall of monitors behind them, which were linked to the dozens of cameras positioned around the base. It wasn't not as though they had to actually keep watch, after all this was the heart of the Hegemony. Who would be crazy, stupid or foolish enough to attack a military stronghold?

Had they been watching, they might have learned just who. On one of the camera's, a guard was patrolling the perimeter. Rifle on his back, with a bored look on his face, he was walking towards a stack of crates in hopes of catching a quick nap. Shuting off his radio as he walked. As he got closer, a shadow followed him. As the guard rounded the crates, out of sight, the shadow jumped forward, covering the guards mouth and stabbing him through the back and right into his heart. The guard barely made a sound.

Around other points of the perimeter, the remaining guards were taken down similarly, their bodies taken out of sight of the cameras. Those inside the depot proper still blissfully ignorant. More shadows entered the perimeter, quickly and quietly taking out any roving patrols. Silent gurgles, soft puffs, quiet splatters and hissed whispers were masked by the wind and the footsteps of the patrols as they were taken out one by one. Until the only ones left were inside the buildings themselves.

Outside, a salarian ran for a panel. Breaking it open, he sliced open a few wires before connecting them to a device on his person. Placing the wires along with the device back inside the panel, he closed it. The central, and only, building had three entrances. At each, three people were positioned to the sides of each. Mainly turians and asari, along with a single drell, all of them waiting for the command. At one of them, John Doe, Jella Korragan and Cara T'Val waited for everyone else to get ready. Receiving the confirmation, Doe activated his comm. and whispered. "Take take take."

The salarian from before tapped his omnitool. The panel surged as the aptly named Sponge drained all the power and redirected it to its ECM jammer, disrupting all communications that hadn't hardened themselves against it. Inside the building, everything went dark. The guards inside looked at the lights before grimacing in pain as their radios squealed before they could shut them off. "What in the world was that?" One of them demanded, before moving to the terminal and trying to turn on the emergency power to no avail. Snarling, he ordered, "Grab your guns and find out what's going on! And someone get to the barracks and wake up the meat shields!" Referring to the new recruits, who, more often than not, ran headlong into danger rather than being sensible and using cover.

Larak Groto was rudely woken up mere moments before rebels stormed the room. Like most people in the barracks Groto was a new recruit who had never seen actual combat. Guard duty at the weapons depot being considered an easy job, so new recruits were often assigned there.

Groto had no way of knowing that even as he regained consciousness his senior officers were being butchered by a Spartan and the human's bloodthirsty comrades. That the lieutenant in charge of the facility had tried to take the rebels on alone when they cornered him, and had been stabbed and shot roughly a dozen times.

Groto didn't even hate aliens or own any slaves. He was just a poor boy who had joined the military in search of a better life. Trying to grab some clothes, he tripped as he attempted to put his pants on, falling face first to the floor. Then bullets started tearing through the thin walls, killing the rest of his bunkmates still on their feet or in their beds. He ducked down, hands over his ears trying to block out the screams and gunfire, where a more experience soldier would have immediately reached for his gun.

Finally Larak Groto realized the gunfire had stopped, only to realize that all of his comrades were dead. Thanks to either fate or dumb luck none of the many bullets being fired into the barracks had hit him. Now he was the only one left.

"Please think I'm just another corpse on the floor." Larak hoped.

As he silently begged for his luck to keep holding out.

Then he saw a pair of ragged old boots, as one of the rebels found him. He looked up and saw an asari who looked almost as scared as he was. Unsteadily pointing a gun, that he recognized as an officer's weapon, straight at him.

Cara T'Val felt sick to her stomach. Ever since she had been captured by the batarians months ago she had harbored fantasies about getting back at them. But the reality didn't live up to the fantasies.

Batarian soldiers died just as messily as slaves, and there nothing honorable or glorious about sneaking up behind people and stabbing them in the back. She had not even used a weapon yet, trailing along after the other rebels. Feelings increasingly uncomfortable and upset, especially after Jella handed her a gun that she looted off a fresh corpse.

"Please no...I've never hurt you I've never hurt anyone." Larak begged as he looked at Cara. Hoping to find some mercy in the the heart of the pretty young asari.

Cara was conflicted. Either she let him live and go off to do who knew what next, or kill him now and end him. Her hands shook, but not enough that it would throw off her aim so much, and they both knew it. Did she really want to do this? The soldier before her almost was a kid. Before she could decide either way, Jella came up behind her. "C'mon sweetie, we got to-Oh? What do we have here?" She asked, seeing Larak on his knees. "Well c'mon then Cara. We got to finish up here. Kill him and lets get moving."

"I've...I've never killed anybody before..." Cara confessed.

Jella put her arm around the asari in a companionable gesture as she said "I know you're afraid, you're thinking what if he doesn't deserve it? But I know what men like him are like, he'd have you on your back and screaming as he had his FUN if we gave him half a chance."

It didn't even occur to Jella that the male in question might not be a rapist. As far as she was concerned the supporters of the Hegemony, especially the males, were all evil. She had seen what happened to asari sex slaves in the Hegemony, one of her previous owners had had one, and she thought Cara deserved to know what the other side was like.

"But-but..." Cara protested weakly.

Jella responded by kicking Larak in the groin and then tying him up as he laid moaning on the floor. Telling Cara "if you really really want...I'll show you what men like him do to girls like us...but I warn you child you can't unsee it afterwards."

"You would let me into your mind?" Cara asked in surprise, after all they hadn't known each other that long.

Jella Korragan knew John Doe would object. Saying that she was taking too much of a risk on a girl that they barely knew. But Jella felt as though she had been living a borrowed time ever since she killed her last master and ran away. Besides, she liked Cara.

Cara showed just as little hesitation. She considered Jella the closest thing she had to a friend at the moment, moreover she was attracted to the fearsome batarian female. Hoping that a meld would allow her to finally understand Jella.

"Embrace Eternity." Cara murmured as she put her hands either side of Jella's face.

The images that she saw were horrifying. Experiencing Jella's memories of being beaten and raped. Used as nothing more than a tool of somebody else's pleasure. But the thing that really stuck a cord in Cara were images of the asari that had been Jella's fellow slave. Seeing the asari stripped, degraded, and violated. Growing ever more hopeless and withdrawn as time went by, until the maiden finally took her own life.

It was all too easy to imagine herself in that dead asari's place. Because Jella had already imagined Cara being treated that same way.

'That's what would have happened to you if I hadn't rescued you...that's what this boy would still do to you if we gave him the chance' Jella told Cara while their minds were still linked, her words empowered by the force of absolute conviction.

As the meld ended Cara raised her weapon.

"No, please no." Larak Groto begged.

But Cara didn't hear him, images of rape and torture still running through her mind. She shot him in the chest, killing the soldier instantly. But then she shot him again, and again, and again, until she was out of ammunition. At that point, Jella handed the asari one of her knives and then she started stabbing poor Groto's corpse.

John Doe entered the room just as Jella Korragan was helping Cara mutilate the young soldier's corpse. Disgust was all he felt at the sight. He understood that there would be anger and bloodlust that he would have to curb, but he didn't expect Jella would influence others to do the same. Even when fighting the Covenant, back during the Great War, he dealt out retaliation by killing as many as he could, not mutilating their dead. He had already talked to Jella several times about this. Now he was seriously contemplating replacing her with someone less sadistic than she is. They had not yet reached the point of no return on that quite yet. Her face was well known among the slaves, but it would very easy to shift that worship to someone else. His own 'face' was also getting some notoriety. Whispers of an armored 'Demon' had been going around since they attacked the auction some time ago.

"Korragan, T'Val!" The authority in his voice alone prompted the two to stand up, hands at their sides. "Korragan, I've already discuss this with you. You know we can't have this movement be seen as anything less than a Revolution. This can and will jeopardize that. Either curb your bloodlust or I will do it for you. Is that understood?"

Jella nodded, the grin on her face from her act not having faded in the slightest. When Doe looked at T'Val, the same grin was plastered on her face but it was more subdued. He resisted the urge to sigh. "Police these bodies and get outside. We're moving everything we can, now. Before someone realizes the depot has gone silent." He left the two after that, to direct the loading and looting of the more valuable and useful ordinance stationed here.

At a dozen other depots similar to this one, similar raids by other cells were being conducted. Some, like this one, quietly taking out the guards and now looting at their leisure, others engaged in fierce firefights with the guards. And some had failed entirely, the cells either wiped out to a man or captured. Out of the thirteen raids, ten would succeed, with the Rebellion losing a total of thirty two men and women, out of the hundred or so involved. The result of raids were two fold: the Rebellion was armed with the Hegemony military's own weapons and gear. And a clear message to everyone on Khar'Shan, one that would be heard by all: The Rebellion Still Lives!

**APUFMKII**

Doctor Alan Morgan Denton was starting to genuinely hate his job. Before life used to be so much simpler for him when he was only tasked with studying and reverse engineering Forerunner technologies. But with his "incredibly display of diplomacy and politics" during the negotiations with the Citadel Council all those years ago, he had been made in charge of all diplomatic relations between the UNSC/UEG and the Citadel Council.

On the surface his main task was easy: avoid war, or tensions that could lead to war, with the Council Races. But Denton also knew that ONI was directly undermining a Citadel species in order to overthrow its government and install a 'friendly' one to replace it. Actions that could easily provoke a war, and which violated the very treaty that Denton himself had negotiated.

But that wasn't the problem, at least not yet, once the Council Races realized what ONI was doing through, it would be a different matter. What was the problem was the sheer number of requests and complaints he received day in and day out. Everything, ranging from trading routes approval and requests for starcharts, or humans violating one or several laws while in Citadel space. The sheer amount of paperwork was what was getting to the good doctor and ambassador. And that's was the Citadel Council alone. Not helping matters was that he was also made in charge of diplomatic relations with the New Covenant. All the fires that ONI sparked, he was tasked with stamping them out before they could grow.

At this point Denton was far more concerned with the New Covenant than he was the Citadel Council. Despite the fact that ONI continued to spy on and interfere in the affairs of the races of the old Covenant, the ambassador was hearing less and less from the Arbiter and his ruling Council. Nobody else in the UNSC in general or in the Office of Naval Intelligence in particular seemed to think much of it, but to Denton it appeared as though the New Covenant was slowly giving up on diplomacy with humanity.

'We hate them because they almost wiped us out and they have put up with a lot of shit from ONI's attack dogs because they feel guilty about it...but how long until that guilt is overcome and erased by anger if we keep hurting them?' Denton asked himself, feeling as though he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Then his train of thought was interrupted by an aid rushing into his office, which was one of the most secure on Earth. The young man urgently telling his boss, "Sir you've got to see this!"

"What is it?" Denton asked irritably, annoyed at the interruption.

"News from Jarum, sir." the aide explained as he handed over a report.

Denton perked up as he heard that. When the issue of how to actually get the reparations, in the form of raw materials, to the Turian Hierarchy had come up, the turians had refused to allow any UNSC vessels near the heart of their territory. So the small colony of Jarum, settled by a group of asari and turians less than a century ago, on the edge of Hierarchy territory, had been selected.

As the only Citadel world that humans could legally and publicly come to on a regular basis, a shipping hub, because of the reparations, and a center for legal and illegal trade between humans and members of the Citadel species, Jarum was an increasingly important and prosperous world. With an ever expanding population, including many humans that were permanent residents in all but name.

'I hope its not just another boring trade dispute.' Denton thought as he was handed the report. Then he started to read, and found himself wishing it was just a trade dispute.

As he read the report, going down line by line, the tension in the room seemed to grow a hundredfold. To the aide that had brought the report, and others like him present, the very air itself seemed to grow heavy and became harder to breathe. And imperceivable aura seemed to radiate from the good Doctor. "Just...how accurate is this report?"

Stuttering, the aide tried to reply."S-s-sir, the uh-" The aide gulped before continuing. "The communications department has confirmed the transmission sir. One hundred percent authenticity. No signs of infiltration or alteration." He, along with everyone else was wondering just what the report had said, for it to obviously affect the good doctor so much.

Finally the young man couldn't contain his curiosity, blurting out, "What is it sir? Can I help?"

"Can you help? Yes…yes you can help; bring me everything you can find on Thomas Zacharia Bluestone. He's a security guard on the Merry Traveler; one of the freighters we hired to deliver raw materials to Jarum" Denton replied distantly, as though his thoughts were elsewhere.

"Why? What happened to him?" the eager aid asked.

"The local authorities have arrested him for raping an asari." A few audible gasps and sharp intakes of breath could be heard, as they more or less understood what that could mean. Aside from an obvious breach of integrity, Citadel laws more or less mirrored the UNSC/UEG's law when it came to rape. In fact it could be said that the UNSC/UEG had more strigent laws.

Looking back at the aide, who was staring at him, wide eyed and slacked jawed, he shouted, "Well what are you standing around for! Get moving!" The aide all but bolted as though struck by lightning, chattering into his earpiece in trying to obtain the necessary information.

As Denton watched the retreating aid, he turned back to the report, reading it in detail again. Apparently, the local authorities on the colony had arrested Thomas after someone had informed them of his triple act of stupidity.

First, he had raped an asari, and not only that, the asari in question had been a minor by her species standards. According the report forwarded to him, she was in, by human years, in her early eighties. For the asari, that was the biological/physical equivalent of a human teenage, being about thirteen years old, sixteen at best.

Compounding that stupidity was that the fact that either he, or someone else, had recorded the entire damn thing. From the moment, they were planning it after spotting the girl, to after they had committed the crime. The video itself had been attached, and by the slurring of Thomas' words, was clearly drunk and alone, based on how the camera was unsteady.

The video showed Bluestone's act in all its gruesome detail. From the way his victim had begged to be left alone, and later to simply be let go, to how the thug had gotten obviously turned on as he beat and violated a blue girl half his size. Ending with the image of the asari lying in a pool of her own tears in the cargo bay of the Merry Traveler, where Thomas had taken her.

In fact, the video was the reason that Thomas had almost instantly been caught. The security guard had tried to use the extranet to send the video to his friends, and had accidentally sent it to everyone in the local network. Including the victim's mother, who worked as a police officer on Jarum.

Less than an hour later, Thomas Bluestone had been arrested and literally thrown in jail. Landing in his cell with bruised ribs, a broken arm, and a black eye. Under most circumstances such obvious police brutality would bother Denton, but this time he found himself unmoved by the human's plight.

'God, she looks younger than my niece.' Denton thought as he looked at images of the victim. One from before the rape, taken at a recent birthday in fact, and one from after. In the first image, she appeared happy, surrounded by fellow asari, who like her were just starting to develop curves as they left childhood behind. In the second, taken after she had been rushed to the hospital, during her medical examine, she was tear stained and bruised, with a dead look in her eyes.

"Wait a second...how did we even get these hospital photos?" Denton asked the universe at large.

"It says that our agent on site, hacked into the hospital computers" his aide admitted.

Denton sighed as he thought 'you know, if I were on the Citadel Council I would probably think we were bad guys too. Sometimes I think Parangosky rejects any field agent who can't act like a bad movie villain.'

"What's the reaction like on Jarum?" Denton asked wearily.

"Small riots, minor fights and altercations breaking out across the colony, but most of the humans on the colony have either retreated into space or the UNSC/UEG compound." Was the answer. "Quite a few scraps have broken out, but nothing more major than some broken bones and a concussion or two. The colonial police and magistrate are actually doing their jobs and trying to maintain law and order. Already they've stopped at least two attempts to kill Mr. Bluestone."

Pinching his eyes, he asked, "What about Mr. Bluestone himself? Have the Citadel or Colonial authorities tried to contact us? I assume that this is only from our boots on the ground."

"Yes sir, they have. Local and Citadel authorities are saying that he will be prosecuted under their courts and laws." The aide didn't say anything else but the underlying threat was apparent. Either the UNSC/UEG lets it happen, or risk the consequences. "The local JAG is requesting orders on how to proceed sir."

Denton was sorely tempted to tell the man to do his job and figure it out himself (after all, Denton wasn't a lawyer), but he knew the man couldn't be expected to understand the geo-politics involved. It should have been a simple case of rape, but all the tensions between the Citadel Council and the UNSC made it more. If they tried to take over the case, the Citadel races would see it as humanity protecting their own, no matter the circumstances. And even if they convicted the man, any sentence would probably be seen as the humans being lenient.

And quite personally, seeing the evidence, Denton couldn't give a damn about this Mr. Bluestone. It was as though the man embodied some of the darker aspects of human nature to the point it sickened him. And considering Denton worked with ONI the majority of his professional life, that was saying something. With the Great War, the morals of humanity when it came to their fellow humans, had skyrocketed. Showing respect and tolerance to each other on a never before seen scale. Crime within the colonies during the war, had dropped to near non-existent levels, as people were more focused on keeping the war effort alive than petty rivalries and now-forgotten feuds and hates. If they brought Thomas back into human space, the moment word of his crime got out, there would by lynch mobs and protestors within hours, if not minutes.

Nearby, listening intently was Serana Ke'dar, Denton's go to for when it came to diplomatic relations and suggestions regarding New Covenant. The female sangheili's head cocked to the side as she considered what she was hearing. Officially, she was no longer part of the UNSC proper, her contract of service having finished some time ago. Instead on loan to the UNSC by New Covenant at Denton's request. She had been tasked as Denton's go to person for when it came to advice or information when it came to dealing with the New Covenant. Partially because of what she was, and partially because of her service of the UNSC. Though it was rumored that the doctor had also done it for, less than professional reasons.

"Contact the JAG at the consulate and tell them...tell them...Tell them to provide full-cooperation with the local officials in the trial and prosecution. Give them everything they ask for. They want the ship, give them the ship. They want to hang him, they give them the rope. If they want to fucking crucify him, they hand them a damn cross!"

**APUFMKII**

On the far edge of New Covenant space, closer to Citadel territory than the UNSC, ONI listening station Davidson kept watch. Listening on both New Covenant and Citadel transmissions. The station itself was an old one, built shortly before First Contact at Shanxi, and right into a rather large asteroid. It was meant to keep tabs on any communiques between the two factions, and monitor any changes or potential alliances being made. Making it one of the most nerve wracking, and oxymoronically, easiest jobs in ONI.

The simple knowledge of being sandwiched between two potentially hostile factions was bad enough, but considering its distance from UNSC space only made it worse. Still, it wasn't as though anyone could find them. The finest sensor-jamming technology the UNSC could muster, along with reverse-engineered active camouflage technologies, made the base all but impossible to find. Which was a necessity since it was not purely a listening station. It was a small base, where ONI agents could rest, resupply and head out on missions to either territories.

Some of ONI's greatest raids against the New Covenant had been launched from Davidson. Including the ones that had all but devastated their few remaining shipyards, outside of their home systems. It was perhaps the most important facility in Admiral Parangosky's campaign to keep the New Covenant weak. With secrecy as its greatest weapon and protection.

Least, that was what the humans had assumed.

Beyond the station's sensor range, it was being watched. The station relied mostly on dead-drops and passive listening, along with tapping into communications lines to carry out their task. Active radar or sensors were usually off to reduce the risk of detection. A procedure that had carried on well, for a time. Should it ever be detected and found however, it was not without it's own defense. A HORNET nuclear minefield was laced throughout the asteroid belt and the space around it. The mines themselves always being rotated out to ensure that their stealth coatings were never compromised. Several of the larger asteroids were little more than automated gun batteries, along with the base itself, designed to shoot down Banshee fighters, Phantom and Spirit dropships, but nothing larger than a Lich. Complimenting all this was the three YSS-1000 Sabre fighters within the base proper. None of which, had seen any action since their deployment to the area. Even the Sabre's had been built from parts brought to the station.

On the bridge of his ship, Thel Vadam eyed the ONI base balefully. Knowing that even as his people had fought and died to assist the humans against the Citadel Council, this place had been in operation. A metaphorical knife repeatedly stabbed into the back of the New Covenant as they helped their human 'allies.'

The leader of the New Covenant turned to Admiral Rael'Zorah as he murmured, "This had better work." The quarian's fighter design, when what few engineers the Covenant still had took a look at them, were dumbstruck. Mainly at how it managed to be so advanced, yet so primitive at the same time. Massive redesigns had taken place, and the size of the fighter upscaled to the point it was almost double the original size, now just barely bigger than a Seraph fighter. The main reason all that space was needed was for the required systems to mount a plasma weapon, in this case, a Banshee's plasma guns and fuel rod cannon. All of this had taken almost all the time the Arbiter had given them, leaving barely enough time to build the fighters. A good portion of the plasma weapons systems had simply been inserted into the craft and design, and were not totally integrated into the design. There was a lot of room to make the craft more streamlined and efficient, but for now, this would be a good test to see if any level of combining the races of the two technology would actually work. All the actual work had taken place on the Arbiter's ship as he was not willing to risk any of his people's technology being stolen from him, a condition the quarians had accepted without protest.

All the systems seemed to be working well. But now came the moment of truth. Demonstrating whether or not the Quarian built fighter could stand up to what the humans had to use against them.

The Arbiter honestly wasn't sure. He knew using the Quarian fighters against Davidson was a gamble. But he was desperate, using his fleet to eliminate the base would change nothing, ONI would simply build a similar one somewhere else in his territory, he needed a game-changer, and he was hoping that that's what these fighters would be. Something that the humans would not be able to find a counter against, for a while at the very least.

After all the preparation and planning, one word set the irreversible events in motion.

"Begin." From the hangar's below his hooves, brand new fighters, seven in all, burst forth before banking in the general direction of Davidson station. As they came closer, approaching the detection range of the mines, each ship was coated in a blue aura, their mass effect drive cores charging, dark energy working its magic.

Then, in an instant, the ships lurched forth, blazing past the mine field and right into the heart of the asteroid field in streaks of sapphire. The Sangheili veterans piloting them paused for a moment, paralyzed by how fast the ships had gone, before remembering their objective, and flying forth towards the ONI base. Launching fuel rod shots before cutting loose with their plasma cannons.

On the station itself, no one was even aware their perimeter had been breached. Filing reports, eating, talking to their colleagues, doing basic maintenance, and in general treating it as another boring day at an isolated military base. Completely oblivious to the danger.

At least until until the first of the fuel rod shots made the station shudder, simultaneously silencing the station as a Sangheili pilot had been lucky enough to target the station's long range transmissions.

As the new fighters peeled off to avoid becoming a part of station by crashing into it, the station's defenses began to come online. But the fighters were literally moving too fast for the automated weapons systems to target them, humans had not even known that FTL in real-space was possible when these defenses were designed, so they were ill equipped to deal with it in combat. Just as the fighter's were about to be locked on, they engaged their drive cores once again, becoming nothing more than sapphire streaks, jumping into FTL and out of range. The defenses rotating madly, trying to find their targets or firing off into empty space.

The fighters soon turned and jumped back into FTL, back towards the station. Firing off their weapons, blowing great chunks of the station before jumping into FTL once more. Again and again they did this, hitting the station and blowing it apart then leaving before the fighters could be targeted.

The ONI personnel died without ever realizing how they were being attacked. Dying in confusion and fear like so many of their victims. Davidson coming apart in a fiery explosion as the fuel rods ignited the onboard munitions and sent the fusion reactor into a wildcat destabilization. The Sabre fighters on station never having a chance to even leave their hangars as the second run had seen the fuel rod cannon shots land directly in the hangar and blowing up the Sabres just as their pilots were boarding them.

Just as the seven fighters entered FTL one last time, the station and the asteroid it was built into, was engulfed into a massive fireball, fading out as quickly as it came, taking a good portion of the belt with it. The remote guns went dark as their broadcast power was cut off, and the minefield began to self detonate, no longer detecting any remaining UNSC presence.

"Victory...victory against ONI without any casualties on our side." the Arbiter stated proudly. His flagship advancing towards the location of the former base so that he could see it personally, if he so wished.

As Thel looked upon the remnants of the base that had represented ONI's murderous treachery against their allies, he felt a deep satisfaction. Thinking that here was the key to victory, here was the key to a fresh start, and here was the key to the rebirth of a once great people.

'And perhaps more than one people' the Arbiter thought as he looked at Rael'Zorah, the only Quarian on the bridge of his flagship, but as far as Thel was concerned, the most important person, other than himself, there.

"Tell your people that the Quarians have more than proved their worth with these new ships...you and yours are welcome in our Covenant."

Had Rael been one to not care about dignity, he would have gotten on to his hands and knees and thanked him profusely. As it was, he nodded. "Many thanks, Lord Arbiter." He had heard others refer to the Arbiter as such prior. He did not realize that Thel was no longer paying attention to him, instead focused tightly on the gap that was once occupied by ONI.

Outside of the New Covenant ships, what was left of the ONI facility, and personnel, slowly cooled. Reaching the icy temperature of deep space as their killers congratulated themselves. But neither the living nor dead truly understood what had been started here. As the New Covenant began the first phase of striking back at the humans that had tormented them for years.

**APUFMKII**

Deep within UNSC/UEG territory, the events of the joint Quarian/Covenant fighter program had finally come to humanity's attention. On board the UNSC Point of No Return, the first and only meeting of all of ONI's highest commanders was taking place.

One man managed to express the feelings of the entire group, as he bluntly stated, "No warning no sign of what destroyed Davidson...what the fuck happened?" Enter newly anointed Vice Admiral Alex Halabi. The man had been part of ONI for a while, but only been brought into the 'Inner Circle' as it were recently, thus did not have the respect of his peers, but behaved like he did.

"It wasn't the New Covenant fleet...the station's sensors would have picked them up long before they could destroy Davidson" the vice-admiral nominally in charge of ONI's campaign against the New Covenant stated confidently. But his words didn't inspire much confidence, perhaps because Parangosky played such a direct role in leading the campaign that he had little to actually do most of the time, in fact, many in the room suspected that Parangosky had appointed the man to that position just to use him as a scapegoat when the campaign was inevitably brought to light, the head of ONI certainly had no respect or fondness for him.

"Who could have done this?" Admiral Parangosky demanded to know, having not even bothered to look at the vice-admiral as he spoke. "How could something come in and get so close to one of our listening stations without them knowing about it, let alone destroy the station before it could send word?" ONI had only recently learned of the station's destruction when they had failed to report in on schedule and a Prowler had been sent in to investigate. Only to find the station itself completely absent.

"The Citadel might have been able to." Captain Gibson replied. The man was in charge of most, if not all, of ONI's wetwork operations. Aside from being Parangosky's closest ally, he had also been studying Citadel technology in detail, along with the tactics used during the few skirmishes the UNSC had had with them. "The methods used fit their modus operandi: jumping in, hitting hard, and then jumping out before we can try and get a lock on them."

"Warships belonging to the Council Races could have arrived at the edge of the system just outside of Davidson's sensor range and then made a short FTL jump to attack the base at point blank range, destroying Davidson before it could defend itself or even send out a distress signal...Of course all this is assuming that there's a Mass Relay in the area that we don't know about." he continued in distant tones. "What doesn't make sense is how fast they took out Davidson station. They used antimatter bombs and hyper-accelerated slugs, but standard containment protocols should have ensured against a wildcat destabilization of the reactor."

"And if their isn't a Mass Relay nearby?" Osmin asked.

"Then...I don't know" Gibson admitted.

"I think were all ignoring the obvious possibility." Ambassador Alan Morgan Denton, who had been summoned away from urgent business on Earth to attend this meeting, and now found everyone seemingly ignoring him, said loudly.

"And what is that?" Ackerson replied snidely.

"That we've finally provoked the New Covenant to the point where their striking back and the reason that we don't know what destroyed Davidson is that they developed something new" Denton answered coldly. Denton, as much as he wanted not to be, was still a part of ONI, Section III. Unlike his peer Halsey, who had somehow managed to separate herself from ONI, or at least Section III, and refused to reveal how she had done so. When ONI came knocking, this was one time he couldn't simply shut the door in its face.

"Something new...bah...the Elites have no imagination or subtly that's why we won the Great War" Halabi blurted out contemptuously.

Denton snorted, "Then you are a greater idiot than I could have ever expected." Halabi sneered at the professor, but held back the urge to try something. Not that it would have done much good anyways, seeing as he wasn't really here. Instead it was a new form of communication. Something Denton called, 'Quantum Entanglement Communication'. It was still being prototyped, but it had been reverse-engineered from the Forerunner archives, and was apparently, impossible to trace or wiretap. "I'll assume you don't know the details so I'll explain. We didn't win the war. In fact, humanity was lucky to have survived the war. That only happened because of a quintillion to one chance that our race was chosen as inheritors of the galaxy by the Forerunners, and the odds increase only more that the Old Covenant was torn apart by civil war from the revelation. If that truth had never been told, humanity would be extinct, or at best, surviving on an INF."

Most of those present nodded at the truth of Denton's words. Unlike the general public, which had been fed propaganda about humanity's 'glorious victory' over the Covenant, those who had actually led operations during the Great War knew that humanity had simply won by default. That the Spartans and all other wonder weapons, unconventional tactics, and acts of heroism humanity had deployed against the enemy had never been enough. But a few of the younger people present seemed troubled by his words. Having soaked up pro-UNSC/anti-Covenant propaganda as children, and coming of age in an era where humanity's fortunes only seemed to rise.

But there was something about Admiral Parangosky's reaction that troubled the doctor. A dark expression that ever so briefly crossed her face at the mention of human weakness during the Great War. However, Denton decided that it wasn't immediately relevant, so he continued with his line of thought.

"But still, the Covenant aren't capable of something like, technologically at least. We know what to look for now, when it comes to their stealth technology. Not to mention that we know just what to look out for when it comes to their infiltration tactics." Denton continued, "And far as we've known, they've yet to apply active camouflage to any of their ships, like we have to some of our Prowlers." He activated his omnitool and brought up the sensor data recovered from the site. "From the data collected, it is obvious the station's fusion reactor went rampant and vaporized almost everything in a forty kilometer diameter sphere. Engulfing the station, the asteroid and some of the space around it. Based on lack of Sabre debris, they were most likely caught in the blast. But here's the kicker, they may never have left the station, due to lack of any debris. Whoever did this, hit fast enough and hard enough, that the never had a chance to fight back."

An uneasy silence permeated the room. Ever since the Great War, like so much else, the UNSC had done all that they could to ensure that they would never be caught off guard again. The very suggestion that a race had a means of silently infiltrating then destroying a UNSC asset, even if it was only a listening station, was unsettlingly to say the least. They had been working on counter-measures to the Citadel Council's real-space FTL drives, and their combat applications, but had yet to find one outside of the new Babylons, increasing the number of auto-cannons on ODPs and ships and new tactics.

"Any suggestions as to how this would be possibly then, Alan?"

"Just two, and both of them seem ridiculous, even to me." He paused, the others waiting for him to continue, till least one of them lost his patience.

"Well? Out with it then!"

"Don't get your tits in a twist Hal, I'll tell you. Either the New Covenant and the Citadel Council are working with each other, unlikely as neither of them are willing to trade anything regarding space-faring tech, or the Covies got their hands on Citadel tech and reverse engineered some.

Ambassador Denton's words hit the room like a bomb, stunning everyone into silence. Ever since the encountering the Citadel species the ultimate nightmare scenario of humanity's military strategists had been fighting the New Covenant allied to the Citadel Council. With access to the vast resources of the Council Races the New Covenant's military and economy could get back on its feet. Moreover, armed with the old Covenant races mastery of Slipspace technology, the vast fleets of the Council Races could attack Earth and the other centers of human power directly.

Then after gathering her thoughts, the head of ONI addressed everyone present.

"We need to see if there's any truth to Denton's theory...have all our assets search for any links between the Citadel races and the New Covenant...we also need to do everything we can poison relations between the two powers and improve their relations to us."

"A good way to do that would be to cancel Operation Spartacus...it can only hurt relations between humanity and the Council Races when they realize what were doing" Denton added.

But as usual, there was no compromise in Parangosky, who bluntly told him "we have invested too much into the Operation to cancel it now…besides its too late...the next wave of reinforcements and supplies have already been sent and Spartacus is just entering its next more public phase."

Ambassador Denton simply sighed in response. The truth was he had expected an answer like that. Knowing what kind of woman Parangosky was. But he also knew that the fallout from Operation Spartacus was liable to be much bigger and nastier than virtually anyone involved suspected. And as usual, it would be up to him to clean it up.

'I wonder how hard the krogan Councilor will punch me if I tell him were taking the whole Hegemony away from the Citadel?' Denton asked himself. Hoping that he wouldn't have to deliver that particular message personally.

**APUFMKII**

"Long has it been, since we have taken newcomers into our fold! Into the guiding arms of our Covenant!" A sangheili garbed in religious robes voiced from his podium, temporarily erected in the Council Chamber, his robes marking him as a Prophet. The bleachers filled by the Covenant Council, minor political leaders and the like. "What we once thought to be the beginning of the end of our Covenant, has proven to be our salvation!" The Sangheili continued, he was flanked by the Arbiter and several other higher ranking members of the Council, while up and down the Chamber floor, beneath the bleachers, two rows of red armored Honor Guards, armed with energy staves.

Outside, on projections and screens outside the Council chambers, and scattered across all of High Charity and the territories of the New Covenant, citizens from all walks of life watched. Listening intently and assessing the quarians from what they could see.

Before them were the four quarian Admirals and their families, standing, to most eyes at least, proud and tall. Whilst in reality, they were just overcoming the shock and awe they had felt upon seeing the New Covenant Capital: High Charity. Along with as many of their population that could fit within the Council chamber on the floor below. A paltry number, but they had been told that the effort would make all the difference. Just in case however, many were also standing amongst the crowd, outside the chamber.

When the admirals had first asked, just how they were going to bring the quarians and the Migrant Fleet to the Covenant, the Arbiter had simply replied: "They will come to us." And it did. For centuries, the quarian people had thought that the Citadel Station made by the Protheans, was the greatest artificial construct of all time. High Charity quickly destroyed that notion. It was over ten times the size of the Prothean construct, and there was also one great big difference between the two: High Charity was mobile.

When it had arrived, hundreds if not thousands of Covenant warships ripped their way into real space, preceding the sudden arrival of the station itself. But the shock hadn't ended their. Upon entering the station, they nearly fainted at the massive city within. Levels upon levels, there were even portions dedicated totally to botanical gardens and livestock. Something that would never happen on the Citadel.

They were brought back as they heard the last few lines of the Prophet's speech. "Let us recite the words that forged our Holy Covenant, to commemorate this event!" The quarians present also readied themselves. Before this initiation into the Covenant, Thel had told the Admirals of how this invitation would go, and if they were to join in this recital, it would make their acceptance go that much easier.

As one voice, they all spoke:

"So full of hate were our eyes

That none of us could see

Our war would yield countless dead

But never victory

So let us cast arms aside

And like discard our wrath

Thou, in faith, will keep us safe

Whilst we find the path."

Thel repressed a smirk, the quarians had recited the lines with perfection. No hesitation, no incorrection, it was as though they had been part of the Covenant for millennia. It had obviously surprised several of the Councilors, and many of those of present. The Prophet however simply smiled in joy and pride as he continued, "By our Faith, we looked back into our past, to try and find that which would save us from degradation. A faith that was weakened and nearly broken by the Great Revelation, and the Betrayal of the Heretics! But still we believed that the Gods would aid us, and so they have!" With a grand gesture, he motioned to the quarians, "These are those that would join us! Though they appear frail and weak, they are far stronger than many others! What would have shattered and broken our Holy Covenant, they have not only experienced, but endured." The Prophet paused, gesturing to one of the Admirals to come forward.

With little hesitation, Rael stepped forward, moving to behind the podium. "My people, we are the quarians, for centuries, we have lived without a world to call our own. Shunned and oppressed by those we once thought to be our allies. Cast out like vermin to die in the cold void of space. But we did not. We endured. We did not give our betrayers any glory by succumbing. We refused to lay down and die! Scraps and refuse was our resource, time and ingenuity our savior, and now we have found, our salvation!" Thel felt a massive hand on his shoulder, looking behind him, the Prophet gave his race's version of a smile and nodded. A sign for Rael to step down.

"You have heard their words, you have seen their plight. Are there any among you that would deny those them our salvation?" A resounding "No!" was the answer. "Then let us mark this day, as the Homecoming of the Machinists! And the Start of the Tenth age of Reconciliation!"

Again the crowd cheered, shouting again as one voice, "The Third! Humility and Brotherhood!"

As the cheers filled the air, the quarians, for the first time that many could recall, felt proud and held their heads up high once again. For what seemed like forever, they had been regarded as thieves, outcasts, and exiles by virtually all who knew them. Treated with a mixture loathing, pity, and contempt by almost everyone they encountered. But now perhaps the most powerful leaders they had ever met in history were calling them a literal gift from the gods. It was a shocking yet pleasant change of pace to say the least.

However, good it this was for the Quarians and the New Covenant as a whole, their enemies would be shocked and dismayed to learn of this development. For both factions, their enemies had prayed, and in the case of some, actively sought for their ends. Instead, they had brought together the two factions who were in the most desperate need of what the other offered. Accidentally creating an alliance that would rock the galactic balance of power to its core.

"The sum, is more often than not, greater than its individual parts."

-Unknown

A/N: (Follower38):

Right then, I assume that those of you reading this have issues with some of the events in the chapter or are simply curious. I will do the best that I can to answer them. First off, the Citadel Council's projections, they are based off the knowledge from several years ago, and almost everything is speculation are worse, an educated guess at best. The slipspace jamming tech obviously will not affect human slipspace drives, nor will it affect Covenant slipspace drives.

Af for the events of the Rebellion, its going to show both the worst and the best of how this operation can and will go. More active human involvement will be happening here. As for the Bluestone debacle, simple human arrogance, stupidity and general scumbug behavior. Denton is going to basically bend over for this because this is something that Denton can't allow to negatively affect the UNSC, as he is doing his best to foster better relations at almost any cost.

As for the quarian/Covenant tech, it's the best result type deal. Quite honestly, we probably accelerated/stretched it to near unbelievable levels but it's a necessity for the story. And it's not exactly perfect. More on it will be expanded upon in the next chapter. As for the scene where the quarian's joined the Covenant, there is absolutely nothing anywhere, either canon or fanfiction on how new races are inducted, so obviously I took several liberties.

If any of you still have any issues, please state in a review and I will either try to explain why that is, or like some of you can attest to, thank you for pointing out the error.

Speaking of reviews, I request that any of you willing, be more detailed. What did you like, what you did, what you would like to maybe see, etc etc. And no, this is not "Don't give review details and I won't write" type of deal. I don't do that. I'll keep writing, and posting, as fast as I and my co-writer can manage. This is just a small favor I'm asking for.