The Reclamation

by Fade Maybe

Through ONI's manipulation, the UNSC stumbles upon a Mass Relay and is dragged into a new war. They'll discover the battered races of the Citadel, the political intrigue of its factions, and a second group of humans governed by the Systems Alliance, divided by Cerberus, and lead by Commander Shepard. Yet no one can stop what is to come: the Reclamation, and the death of the galaxy.

4. Cole Protocol

Aboard UNSC Legend After, bridge

Garden world surface

2557 Military Calendar, 09:15

Mark had to wake up on his own. A knife of light and blurry vision stabbed his brain as he opened his eyes. He felt something lodged in his right arm. The skin around it was numb and convulsing. His lungs had trouble expanding, probably a side effect from its strange use under increased gravitation. Most of the ceiling covering had fallen off, revealing the clusters of broken wires and other destroyed systems.

He lifted his head. The bridge was littered with wounded and dead as the few able-bodied tried to tend to them. The survivors were merely astro-navigators and mathematicians, only able to insert the ugly yellow-greenish tint of biofoam in gaping holes and try their best to monitor heart rates. Contradiction's avatar stood on the holo-table, arms crossed with a blank expression.

"Ah, Christ, sir, you're awake!" Morganson said. She scrambled over and held out her hand to the Captain, helping him up. "Contradiction is trying everything to get ship defense systems online but he isn't having any luck. Most of the crew got out in time, 'cept for a few of us on the bridge and some others. There's about thirteen of us left, including two Spartan. Five of us are wounded."

"How long was I out?"

"About ten, fifteen minutes?"

Mark looked to the bodies. Most had died by some form of blunt-force trauma wound when the ship crashed.

You never really got fucking used to it. Five years ago during the War you always saw the piles of burnt bodies and the dead scorched with plasma wounds. It became this painful numbness that never subsided.

Five years? Five years since the last major attack against Humanity - well, technically three days, beside the point. - five years since carcasses filled up ships and streets. Five years since Mark had to witness mass killing.

He tried to shake off the dizziness, vertigo, and other illnesses associated with a crash landing.

He had to ensure everyone else made it out here alive. That Cole Protocol was enforced. That's all that matters. That didn't even cover the wounded. Two of them were in critical condition and needed medical attention soon. Hell, they might not be able to move them in their condition.

"What about the other pods? Did you get contact with them?" Captain Florence finally said.

Contradiction looked to the Captain, "no such luck. By the way, thanks for asking how I was doing. Anyways, there's a lot of interference. Crosses of signal floods on encrypted channels and those gravitational depression waves make it hard to scan anything. I did have pod trajectories calculated before launch but with no available intel on planet topography, there might be slight variations. Nothing to major however.."

"Are you suggesting that we abandon ship to search for survivors?"

"Well, Captain, this ship was outfitted for border patrol. We don't have any ground assets besides a few Warthogs and the standard required infantry armaments, which God knows how long it will last out here. But either way, I'm reading little squid bastards all over the place. Four total. They're one-hundred-sixty meters in length, one-hundred klicks out from the ship. They're approaching...on foot... ETA: twenty-seven minutes?"

"What? Why the hell didn't you mention it before?" Morganson said.

"Nuclear reactors aren't responding. The ship and I are running on conventional alternate current at a couple dozen gigawatts., It ain't exactly enough to power a warship which requires a few million times the energy created by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Right now, I'm using most of that electricity to prevent the nuclear reactors from going nuclear. Because of that I only have short distance radar."

"First priority is Cole Protocol," Captain Florence interrupted. "No way in hell we're letting a ship, man, or fourth generation AI fall into enemy hands. Contradiction, what's left of our nuclear stockpile? Can we use the nuclear reactors?"

"Ah, I like your thinking, Captain. We have enough Shiva-class and HAVOK tactical nukes to level a planet fifty times over. A few Shiva nukes will do the trick. I can hard-seal the trip' nuke reactors with the emergency lead casing to prevent a large fallout spread and concentrate the blast. Fallout spread will be limited to a few dozen klicks tops. Nothing I can do about the EMP spread however. As long as we have the power on low we should be fine, and our boys' communications systems are built with a higher electrical input to purposely combat EMPs."

Mark looked to the crew. "Right. Morganson, call the other personnel. Try to move the wounded, including the critical ASAP. We have no choice and we aren't leaving them behind. We'll meet up in the armory, gear up and stockpile as many weapons as we can, then load up in two Pelicans. Morganson, your Pelicans will be loaded up with wounded survivors. I'll take the other Pelican with the two Spartans. We'll use mine to try and load up other survivors at the pod landing sites. You stay on my ass in a safe holding pattern when we touch down at the pods. Try to provide limited fire support."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

"Contradiction, get those pods on frequency and raise the hell out of every UNSC encrypted channel. We need to get a full threat assessment back to Earth and find a way out of here. We also need to find a safe place to hold out, gather our survivors and resources and hope to Christ we can find a way to get home."

There was another possibility... If there was no ride home then it was their job to ensure that whatever, whoever these aliens were, weren't a threat to Humanity.

"Contradiction, stack up a few HAVOK and Shiva nukes for transport. We might need them."

"Aye, aye, sir. There always something that needs blowing-the-fuck-out of."

…

The seven sailors loaded up the wounded as they complained through groans and screams. It wasn't pretty, constantly reapplying biofoam to hold the criticals together. Blood dripped from the Pelican's cargo hold and the air was filled with panic.

God knows how long they'll last without medical attention. They were barely being held in one piece.

The Captain tried to ignore it, focusing on his weapon. A BR85HB SR Battle Rifle. Orange and grey, completely shiny and never been fired once (Christ. It didn't need to be reoiled did it?) It wasn't Mark's favorite choice but there was no time. Mark like all naval personnel was fully trained in small arms, Human weapons at least. Whether that be to repel enemy boarders or to defend yourself on a hostile world like this.

He placed the weapon on the magnetic seal on his back, covered by a black naval combat dress uniform, standard. Two other people were in the armory while the others loaded up.

"You sure you can handle that weapon, Skipper?" One of the Spartan-IIIs said. He was dressed in blue MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor with a spider-like visor tinted yellow. He towered above Mark, standing around six foot six

That was something Mark found odd. When Morganson said 'Spartans' Mark assumed it was the few Spartan-IVs that were aboard on the Legend After and listed on the crew manifest. Every ship possessed at least a few Spartan-IVs ever since HIGHCOM decided to switch Spartan production from quality to quantity. He would've definitely noticed if Spartan-IIIs were aboard his ship. And if he didn't notice, the crew would surely tell him sooner or later.

They were just there? When Mark quickly asked Morganson about it she was just as surprised as he was. A ship on patrol, suddenly pulled out by ONI to investigate a Forerunner artifact packed with two Spartan-IIIs, unnoticed by any personnel? That means they were either stowaways or ONI had agents on his ship to conceal them.

Both ideas were frightening. It meant that this whole thing was planned….

So did that mean ONI knew about the artifact beforehand?

No. There was another reason the Spartans were here. Mark wasn't exactly on ONI's good side, far from it…. But, he didn't think he was worth two Spartans.

"Three-round burst, thirty-six rounds per mag, gas-powered, seven-point-six kilograms in weight." The Spartan said as he grabbed a rifle and placed it over his shoulder. Mark noticed the tag on his collar read Tom-B292. "Am I right?"

Tom looked at the other Spartan. Her name was Lucy, who even by regular human standards was short at only five foot two. She just shrugged under her green armor.

"That sounds about right," Mark said. He guessed there was time for fear later. For the moment, from what he could tell, they followed his orders. Both saluted when he met them, both gathered weapons and nukes at his orders. It would due. "I'll assume one of you can fly a Pelican?"

"Aye, aye, sir. It's kinda a sixth sense to me." Tom said.

"Good. Lucy, you'll be backdoor gunner. Contradiction, how do the Pelicans look?" Mark looked to the AI as the Captain took him out from his strapped pocket. A small avatar displayed on a holo-data chip. Almost billions of compressed files and data on a single piece of silicon.

"Good, sir. A little bent out of shape from the crash but airworthy nonetheless." He said.

"And initiation of Cole Protocol?"

"Aye, aye, sir. All system files, UNSC data, operating systems, navigation, vids of pornographic nature - all of it - has been deleted. Triple reactors sealed up, slipspace drive deactivated and torn apart. Shiva tactical nukes are hot and ready to on your command to send this ship to hell." Contradiction smiled. "I also finally found a voice in the chaos. UNSC E-band frequency, coming from a pod about twenty miles out, near the alien city."

The AI tapped on a screen and a deep voice played. "This is Lieutenant Marcus Banks of the UNSC Legend After, can anybody read me? We're being attacked by unknown hostiles, I have multiple casualties and a critically wounded. Our coordinates are zero, five, zero. We crash-landed near a large alien city. Can anyone respond?"

"That was three minutes ago. It's replaying on a loop." Contradiction said. "We're only getting input. I can't get a connection."

"Are they hostiles from the squids or the other ship design?"

"Unknown at the moment, sir. They report that their weapons are….surgically attached to their hands, dressed in black and red combat armor."

"Okay... get loaded and ready to rock and roll. They'll be our first stop."

The two began to walk out. Florence grabbed Lucy's shoulder pad before she could exit, his hand was freezing under the metal armor.

"Lucy, your armor is more compatible with data chips, and a lot safer than a pocket; I need you to hang on to Contradiction." Presenting her the chip, Contradiction disappeared. The chip only showed the small blue holographic circle.

No response. She took the chip and inserted it into the slot at the back of her helmet.

"Oh, your armor is quite…cozy." Contradiction said

Lucy's visor turned visible and Mark could see her brown eyes widen slightly at what Contradiction said.

"He's just…joking, you know?" Mark said, awkwardly smiling at her.

Contradiction replied. "Right. Don't worry. I won't fuck around too much in here…"

"Shut it and get to the pelican. We'll sort this out later." He said

Lucy nodded. She ran out of the room, leaving Mark alone. He turned to the rack filled with dozens upon dozens of weapons that will soon be turned to radioactive rubble in the next few minutes. He grabbed another firearm, a M7/Caseless submachine gun. It had the same onyx black design the UNSC had been using since the Great War. At least one weapon will be saved out of the rest.

He wondered how long this crew would last. They shouldn't even be out here. He made the decision to move forward with zero forethought. And when they were about to blast from the God's Key his mind finally took over after its...blankness. It just stopped…the whisper.

...

A sudden jolt downwards slightly lifted Mark in the strapped seat. The heavy turbulence eventually subsided. Lucy was leaning against the door. The M247H machine gun was next to her.. Morganson's shuttle followed closely behind Mark, carrying the rest of the sailors and wounded.

Mark stood up, maintained balance as he began to pull out stretchers and medical equipment from the compartments above. He laid them down neatly, looking at Lucy.

"Nukes detonated. It'll be a few moments before we can see if anything survived, but the gravitational depressions from the squids sure are a lot smaller I can tell you that." Contradiction said from Lucy's helmet. "EMP… passed, all systems functional and responding.

"What about fallout?"

"I've stalled it. It'll take a couple hours to spread to about fifteen klicks. However, wind direction is running opposite, thank Christ. It'll spread away from the alien city and any other pods; and soon enough form a straight stream. So minimal damage has been achieved"

"Good work." Florence said. Cole Protocol was fully enforced. For the moment, Humanity and the location of Earth were safe.

There was another moment of quiet as Mark took out more equipment. Lucy just seemed like a mannequin, remaining absolutely still.. She didn't even seem to be breathing.

"Hey, Lucy. No offense, but uh, shouldn't you be taller? I mean, for a Spartan-III, you know?" Mark said to Lucy.

She only shrugged in response.

Alright. Cool.

Mark equipped standardized breathers and full gear the marines use in hazardous world deployments. From Contradiciton's reading, the planet contained twenty-four percent oxygen and seventy-five percent nitrogen, very similar to Earth. It had gravitation slightly above that of the homeworld, at about one point two gravitations.

It was just a protocol precaution. The air could contain a number of diseases, or fungi, or whatever. Yeah, sure, it doesn't make sense however. How can a disease immediately spread to an unknown biological host without any previous contact without decades of evolution? No parasite or virus was able to bounce that obstacle. But you never know with unknown biological life.

"Cap, approaching the crash site. One klick out. I got a full horn with Lieutenant Banks on the short-wave." Contradiction said.

"Roger that. Get him on the horn. Tell Morganson to maintain a klick altitude orbit around the crash site."

"Copy."

Lucy pulled out the holo-chip, displaying the avatar as he opened up a screen and typed in the code for the E-Band frequency.

Lieutenant Banks' voice began playing. "-fucking Christ. Can anyone hear me!? I have multiple wounded and under heavy fire from unidentified hostiles. Someone, anyone, respond goddamn it!"

Heavy fire control in the background. The Lieutenant was panicking.

Captain Florence responded, "Lieutenant, this is Captain Florence. We have a Pelican transport inbound. How many survivors, hal copy?"

An explosion rang before the Lieutenant spoke. "Roger that, Captain. Thank God. I have two dead, and five injured. One of them is critical. Those red bastards are gaining ground. We need evac immediately, Captain!"

Mark told them they'll be on their way then told Tom in the cockpit to drop down and provide fire support. Lucy returned the holo-chip back into her helmet securely for combat, sealing it up and shutting out the slightly pestering AI.

"Spartan, grab the gun, provide suppressive fire." Mark said.

She nodded, pulled out the M247H. She cocked the gun, making sure ammo was set and in place.

Another wave of gravitation as the Pelican decreased from subsonic speeds to less than twenty-five kph.

Mark hanged on as the Pelican's motion was interrupted violently. Explosions tried to penetrate the metal sanctum. Red lights ignited outside the cockpit window. Soon enough, the cargo door opened to reveal the world of rolling hills and grasses carved with trenches and craters.. Lucy's weapon fell with the door, controlled by the Spartan as she started to open fire without hesitation upon red figures below.

The captain climbed forward. The Pelican's nose dipped, forcing him to crawl towards the door. He reached the opening, picked himself up with both weapons slung across his shoulder. He used both hands to grasp onto the leaning rail and looked out onto the battlefield.

The squids were climbing above a hill, surrounding a crashed pod that was nestled in a small clearing. Small arms fire of red lasers exchanged with the yellow lights of bullets. The Pelican encircled the wreck, getting closer to the surface every passing second. Tom fired off missiles in support, leaving only fires, craters, and the dead bodies of squid soldiers.

The only reason the Captain assumed these bastards were squid was because of the color schemes. They were dark red and black, similar to the squids who engaged the Legend After. But, for all he knew it could be a completely different species.

The squids were an abomination of morphed armors covering a tortured and destroyed body that didn't seem alive. They held what looked like surgically attached weapons firing black and red bolts. They had a multitude of eyes, each screaming for death and a large mouth opening only unto a blue abyss. Their bodies were humanoid, with a bloated stomach covered by a single metal covering making it look similar to a pressurized seal. They received fire support from crawling sacks held up by bug-like legs. The sacks themselves were held together by a harness. At the top of this harness was a heavy gun firing off rounds and producing a deafening roar. In the distance, the burning ruins of the city and the beginning formations of rain clouds raged against the rising sun.

The Pelican hovered over the earth a few feet, straying a short distance away from the crash site as Lucy unloaded round after round. Squids fell one by one and those crawling sacks burst, leaving only biological chunks and some type of liquid. Small metal spiders crawled out of the remains.

Mark jumped off the Pelican when it was a safe distance from the surface. He unholstered his battle rifle. He stayed low, moving forward and reaching the back of the crashed pod.

Only three men were able bodied. Two marines and an engineer sailor. Both marines sat against a mound of dirt that connected to the edge of the pod with one soldier firing off a SAW machine gun and the other providing fire discipline with a battle rifle. Inside the pod the bodies of the wounded crowded the floor. They were each given the standard morphine and biofoam as the engineer guarded them. The dead were held in black bags.

"Lieutenant Banks!" Mark yelled as he ran to their cover, jumped onto the dirt mound next to the marines. The one holding the SAW turned towards Mark, rolled over the other marine to yell face to face with the Captain. The other marine provided covering fire as the Pelican returned to the air to hold off the approaching squids in a circular holding pattern. Lasers flew by, some hitting the dirt mound and causing specks to fly.

The Lieutenant grabbed Mark by the shoulder pad, pulled him closer. "Captain, sir! Thanks for getting us the fuck out of here! Wounded are mobilized to go, but we got one bastard we can't move or else we'll kill him!"

"What's his injury!?"

"I don't fucking know, sir! The other wounded got injured during the crash, our trajectory was fucked! This guy got shot in the chest by one of their laser rounds; we had to get his armor off quick! The shit kept burning through, reached his chest and burnt one of his lungs open! The biofoam is the only thing keeping him in one piece at this moment! If we move him, the foam might become unstable!"

Mark nodded, activating his comm and getting a line to the Pelican. "Tom, get the Pelican back. We're moving the wounded! Get the cargo door as close to the pod as possible!"

Tom broke the Pelican from its orbit, moving towards the pod as Lucy still provided covering fire.

Mark rose from his position, aimed down the scope of the rifle and pressed the trigger. The recoil bounced against his shoulder after the release of each three-burt round. Lead powder and gas burned his nose. He first targeted a big mouth, released shell after shell directly in the blue abyss. The body fell to the ground and startling turned into ash. The rifle rubbed his shoulder raw. The Pelican landed and shakily backed up towards the pod. The bursts of red lasers against the hull of the Pelican increased as it got closer and closer.

Lucy exited the Pelican, moved towards the other side to help fend off the squids with a MA5D. Mark entered the pod and grabbed the wounded by the armpits, dragging them onto the metal doors of the Pelican and deep within the hold. Banks and his men joined him. The stretchers and medical equipment wasn't needed, scattered across the floor in an unorganized mess. All that was left now was the critically wounded marine. He was a corroding body held together only by biofoam. Still, because of the foam he's still breathing. The green armor laid next to him, bloodied and blackened holes dotted the metal exterior

"Alright, grab a stretcher, we have no choice." Mark ordered.

Both marines grabbed a stretcher, pulling it from the Pelican. The engineer joined them, and soon enough all four of them surrounded the one.

"Captain, you might want to hurry up." Tom said through the comms. "Hull is cracking up."

"Raise his body up on three so we can move him onto the stretcher." Mark said. He reached down and grabbed his shoulders while everyone else grabbed an end. The engineer held the stretcher ready next to the body.

"Three.

"Two.

"One."

Mark used his strength and lifted the body. All of them quickly and unfortunately placed the body roughly on the stretcher. The marine screamed in pain as Banks' men carried him to the Pelican.

"Lucy, let's go. WE ARE LEAVING!" Mark ordered. He jumped onto the Pelican and grabbed the machine gun's stick.

The Pelican twisted, causing its four engines to turn towards different directions at the dropship lifted into the air. Lucy ran towards the lifting Pelican. She jumped on, grasped the edge of the opened cargo doors and quickly lifted herself up without any assistance.

The Pelican gained altitude, leaving a strengthened force that tried to bring down the Pelican. Mark offered the gun to Lucy as he checked on the wounded.

Christ. Another encounter. More info to file with FLEETCOM.

Something emerged from the rolling hill. It was the size of a Hunter and was just as pissed off. It had a bare spinal structure with skeleton-like horns breaching its back and leaving holes within the skin. An overextended claw connected by black tubes was in place of what should've been its left hand. The only thing that connected the body to its head were three pipes made of flexible metal tubing. There was no lower jaw as far as Mark could see.

Two specks of white light enacted as eyes. Dark, ugly purple armor covered its midsection, giving the monster size. This similar jagged and bulky armor scheme covered the creature's shoulders and leg coverings. What should've been skin was pure red muscle.

This monster sprinted across the battlefield towards the Pelican at incredible speeds. When it gained enough velocity it jumped towards the ship.

It grabbed the cargo door, causing the ship to drift off course. The thing tried to lift its claw toward the door. Mark pulled out his M7 and tore away the flesh of the hand with every shell. Lucy abandoned her post, pulled a grenade from her belt and threw it towards the bastard.

The explosion tore apart the face and body of the creature, leaving it to fall and crash into the grass. The fucker was still alive. Itquickly regained footing and chased after the Pelican in vain. The transport lifted back to its original position in the air, traveling faster and faster with cargo doors closing for safety.

"Welcome to Vietnam, Captain!" Contradiction said through the comm link as Mark fell to the floor. He was caked in sweat.

Aboard UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle, 9,000- kilometers within Illium orbit, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 09:25

The dropship made its way toward Illium unnoticed, passing by countless battles between individual ships. Shepard stayed within the cockpit, hanging on to the rails as Cortez maneuvered the shuttle with the orange flight controls. The ship rocked against the inertia dampeners as they were pulled in by the planet's gravitational influence.

"Shepard, I've got Reaper signatures surrounding the ship." Cortez said. He displayed a monitor on the control panel. The hulking ship was entrenched within the scarred rolling hills that surrounded Nos Astra. Four Reaper destroyers, pathetic compared to the monster, climbed around the ship. They used their magnetohydrodynamic cannon as a drill to cut through the armor of the ship. They began cutting through the ship's hull name, gashing across the acronym UNSC.

It looked like they were having trouble however. A few moments later a Reaper capital ship landed near the Legend After, ground shaking under its tendrils to provide support.

It stood up from the kinetic impact, readying its spinal cannon

"Damn it, they'll be eaten alive down there." Shepard half-yelled. "How long till we get to ground?"

"A few more minutes. I have to maneuver around detection from the Reaper AA defense network. Either way, the drop zone is too hot. I can land you a couple kilometers out…Wait, wait, wait, standby. I'm picking up dozens of concentrated radiation signatures, gamma. Sudden pre-dispersion, oh shit!"

Cortez hard-banked left from the intended drop zone on the planet. Before the monitor shut off there was a brilliant flash of white light that completely engulfed the Legend After and the Reapers. The shock wave reached the shuttle, overriding any inertia dampeners and shaking every metal component of the ship.

The shuttle lights flickered on and off and there was a massive kinetic holt near the left side of the ship. The first feeling was in Shepard's stomach. A feeling of freefall.

"Shit! EMP! Eezo electrical current is surging out, mass effect field is increasing!" Cortez yelled. "We're going in like a rock. The engines are just for control. I'll try to stabilize the current. Hang on. ETA till atmosphere: fi-"

Everything that wasn't bolted down immediately began to float in the empty spaces of the shuttle. There was a loud screeching sound as the shuttle fell through the atmosphere. Shepard turned back to Liara and Tali. Both we floating in the air as they held onto the ceiling handles.

There was a violent jump, flinging Shepard like a ragdoll. He hit the ceiling. Shoulder first. His armor protected against most of the impact. He fell onto the deck immediately.

He didn't know where Liara and Tali were at. Cortez was still trying to manage the shuttle, orange lights fading away. Liara's foot accidentally hit Shepard in the face. Blood dripped down from his nose.

The next thing Shepard knew they were floating within the cargo hold again, reaching higher and higher towards the ceiling.

"Brace for impact!" Cortez yelled

Another hard crash. Shepard flew straight towards the deck and met the grey tiles body first. It was worse than being hit in the stomach by a Krogan. He got the wind knocked out of him. He panicked as he tried to breath. There was an incline, a rolling hill probably, throwing Shepard one last time. He slid towards the cockpit then back down towards a tear in the ship's cargo hold.

The cargo hold barely held in one piece. There were holes all over the metal paddings and a large gash across the left door that revealed a huge chunk of the outside world. Supplies littered the floor along with chunks of metal and misplaced seats. The windows were shattered, heavy duty plastics in crumbly pieces.

Blood was smeared across his mouth. His shoulder and stomach stung. His back was sore and felt sort of funny. Other than that however the armor took most of the impact. Still, he felt the combat mold specialized to his body type lose its grip. Armor parts began to sag. It felt extremely heavy, unbearable and almost crushing as more weight was seemingly added to his shoulders. The Omni-computer within his left hand began to sting slightly like a bug bite.

He stumbled a little. It became harder to move.

Liara looked okay, thank God. She was leaning against the right wall, shaking as she stood up and used both arms to grip the railing and balance herself. Tali was upside down on the opposite wall. She readjusted herself, hitting her side against the floor.

"Keelah, that's the third worst landing I've ever been in." Tali said. She had a hand on her visor as Liara helped her up. "Uh, I think I'm going to vomit...Oh, I think the mission got a bit more complicated."

"Sorry…ah, the shuttle was a rock with control. I tried to do the gentlest landing arc I could, but well…voltage surge caused an increased mass effect field. The ship couldn't take it…." Cortez began. There was blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His legs were under a collapsed control panel.

" Let's get Cortez out of there." Shepard said.

Liara tried to apply medi-gel, only to find an Omni-tool that jittered and flickered on her arm. It died, leaving a brief electric burst. Shepard and Tali pulled out Cortez, panel falling apart under empty spacing. Cortez screamed out, gripping his leg. Shepard saw something jut out under his outer armor pads.

They laid him on the uneven floor. Liara kneeled next to him. She gently placed pressure on Cortez's chest, causing a wave of agony as he pushed her away and breathed in and out in a panic. His hands gripped his clothes.

"Broken ribs. He must have hit his chest on the panel during the crash." Liara said.

"Yeah. Again, sorry about the terrible landing." He said through the pain

"You did well. We're alive, and, well, we made it to Illium." Shepard said. "What the hell kind of bomb was that?"

"Nuclear bomb. Nuclear explosion. Definitely nuclear. Electromagnetic radiation on this scale could only be produced by such a weapon." Tali said in a sickly voice. "That had to be a yield of a couple hundred megatons at least. On a garden world like this the fallout could be catastrophic."

"Extremely old. Very primitive." Liara said, getting back on her feet. "They're banned by the Citadel conventions.

"What the hell," Shepard began. The aliens just broke one of the most sacred laws of galactic warfare (as regulated by the Citadel). The prohibition of use of nuclear weapons on a habitable garden world. Sure, Earth has withstood multiple uses of the atomic bomb but nothing near the yield of modern weapons. Still, these aliens didn't know.

"For now we have to worry about the fallout zone. And the city." Shepard said.

"No…" Cortez stopped for a brief moment, grunting in pain as he grabbed his leg. "I tried to navigate outside the possible fallout zone. We're…on the other side of the city, about fifty-one miles away from the crash site."

"Good job, Cortez. Really saved us there." Shepard said.

"As for the city, the fallout will most definitely affect people within. How long it will take and its effects to set in depends on the bomb's radiation yield. But, luckily, if it were thermonuclear we'd already be dead." Liara said. Always the optimist.

Shepard looked to Tali. "Noted. Can you get our communications back up? We have to contact the Normandy or anybody for that matter and warn them."

"The EMP surged up the electrical current holding the Eezo together. I can't fix it without proper tools. Hang on, the current was disrupted. If I can just find two conductors and an origin point, so to establish a commlink." There was a spark of electricity. Tali grabbed her hand and held it to her body. "Bosh'tet. There. That should do it for the moment. Make it quick."

Before Shepard could even speak through his link Joker burst through word after word. "-can…oh, oh, thank God, Commander. We've been trying to contact you all day."

"Joker! Good to hear your voice. The explosion sent an EMP, crashed our shuttle on the other side of the city. Cortez is hurt bad. Most of our electronics including armor and weapons are down. Can you get James to fly down with the spare shuttle for casevac and resupply?"

Joker didn't even seem to acknowledge the Commander. "Sir, something huge just came out of Relay. It…Holy mother of... The thing just rammed into a Reaper! It literally rammed the Reaper! It literally went right through a Reaper! The thing is in shreds! Holy shit…I…

"Joker? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Jesus, how the hell can it...?" There was no more chatter. Then EDI's voice came online.

"Shepard? Joker's having a small panic attack and I can't blame him. Ten new contacts came out of the Relay. They're unlike any of the architectural structures of the original three ships." After the brief meeting with Admiral Hackett both Liara and Tali tasked EDI to carry out analysis and cross-analysis on pretty much everything known about the new contacts. "Joker is wrong, these ships aren't huge they are massive. Larger than the Legend After, Destiny Ascension or any Reaper ship known in the galaxy."

Hearing the size of ships affecting EDI so much to the point where she spoke more human frightened Shepard. Nothing can be larger than the Destiny Ascension.

"They attracted the attention of almost every Reaper in the solar system. The contacts are… as Joker would bluntly say, "swatting them like flies". However they are tremendously halted on their trajectory towards Nos Astra. I don't know for how long. As for resupply and casevac, the Normandy can't get a trajectory with those ships in the way-" How big were they?! "- without risk hitting them or having contradicting trajectories, and I have to stay to monitor and gather any information I can, as requested by Doctor T'Soni-"

"EDI, belay that order-"

"Fine. But that doesn't change anything, Shepard. From my calculated trajectory those ships are on a direct course to Nos Astra, directly into the Reaper AA network. I can launch the shuttle, but it doesn't have the stealth capabilities to get by the contacts or the main network area. And either way, there's no telling what those ships are capable of. I'm contacting nearby local Alliance assets. Cruiser SSV Cairo is nearby and currently readjusting trajectory that is perpendicular to your position. I can have them high-orbit strike-drop ground transport and repair supplies before those new contact ships get there."

"Alright. Do what you can" Ground transportation. Shepard already had a feeling which vehicle Cairo was going to drop off. "What about the Legend After? Were there any survivors in the explosion? Will the fallout reach us or the city?"

"Negative, Commander. I was keeping a tight watch of the ship. Before the explosion two shuttles exited and headed eastwards towards the city at subsonic speeds. I was going to contact you, but the EMP happened. The fallout zone is also contradicting my current data. The radiation is less than sixteen kilometers in diameter and blowing away from the city due to wind currents. They must've contained it somehow."

That was a relief. Not only for Shepard's squad but for the city. Maybe these aliens weren't as brutal as Shepard first wanted to perceive them. They had some insight at least.

"Good. I'll have Tali on the line with the supply list. We'll wait for the shuttle."

…

The memories came flooding back. The M-35 Mako bounced at every small rock and hill like a beach ball. Inertia dampeners barely holding off the outside forces as Shepard tried to maintain a straight path. The sound of the engines at first surprised the Commander then quickly became white noise just like under the days of the SR-1. Trenches, craters. Hell, eighty-nine degree hills were no match for the LAV.

Tali did her best to reconfigure direct energy currents and stabilize electrical currents in their gear. Liara tried to tend to Cortez. He was a bit better than five minutes ago and quiet under sedative treatment.

Shepard twisted the bulky handles, something almost identical to the steering wheel of the transport car in that old, corny movie Aliens that Shepard used to watch as a kid.

The clouds formed quickly. They blocked out the sun and connected to the mushroom cloud where the Legend After once was. The rain remained constant. It formed into a majestic curtain of mist in the distance. Hopefully the rain wasn't acidic. Or radioactive.

No Reapers in sight. It was possible they were deployed to the Legend After's position to secure whatever was left or to set up counter defenses in preparation of the ten alien ships.

Soon enough Tali and Liara joined him. Tali barely managed to stabilize Omni-tool to reset the other currents.

"Never thought the mission would go like this." Shepard said.

"Yeah, says the one who won't be sick for a month. And I'm not sure whether it's from exposure, the crash, or this bouncy ball known as a tank." Tali said with mockery and spite.

"How are you doing speaking of which?"

"Hot. It is very hot, Commander. The suit's mechanical systems took effect when electronics failed. I only had a few minutes of exposure. But this thing is locked tight, and there's no air-conditioning. At all."

"Well, it could be worse, right?"

Tali didn't respond for a moment. Shepard briefly turned around to see two patronizing white lights. They turned back to their Omni-tool. "Nukes. A couple hundred megatons is nothing compared to the damage dealt with modern kinetic weapons. But why use such a weapon with their advanced technology? Not only that, but on a garden world?

"As much as I hate to admit it," Shepard said, turning back to the controls, "it was effective. However I wonder if they think it was worth it. There's a war, but there's also a future to think about..."

Another set of rolling hills. The city seemingly kept a constant distance despite the closing gap.

Liara spoke, "undeniably, it was effective. The Citadel ban went out the window when the Reapers came; we've just never used them because we didn't think they would have this effect. Within exosphere, the bomb's intensity is heavily decreased..." Liara trailed off, looking through the cameras at the mushroom cloud. "But Tali is correct. Their main cannon's kinetic velocity would surely upset and render nuclear bombs useless in space and on the ground. Unless maybe they hold on to atomic weapons for some special purpose that's beyond me. If they had to use it against another type of ship, others like theirs say…

"Speaking of which now we have ten larger ships. EDI didn't say how large, but we can assume something sane…as sane with a ship larger than Destiny Ascension."

"How sane?" Shepard said, looking ahead towards the finite plains transforming to the blue waves of the sea. Over those waters Reaper ships were engaged by fighter and interceptor squadrons.

"Well, let's say our hype is correct. This…UNSC has already demonstrated they possess a handful of powerful frigates. Say they had even more… One-hundred, let's say, some even larger and more powerful, at the least-"

"At the least?" Tali interrupted, turning towards Liara. "You're not suggesting they've built more powerful ships than the Legend After and…whatever might be those ships up above? It's ridiculous enough and insane as it already is. They have to build some new material, maybe altered titanium or layered graphene that still keeps the carbon in its two-dimensional shape. They had to find something stronger than Reaper foundational structures in order to maintain a ship larger than two kilometers. Or…uh…" She stopped for a moment, leaning against her hands and breathing in. "It's like a sauna in here. Uh… anyways, zero-gee force would basically be holding the ship together at this point. It'd be fun seeing a… seven-kilometer say, or even a five-kilometer ship perform a hard gee maneuver."

She began to laugh at herself. It seemed more funny to her than the other two. But it stopped.

The first thing was a sudden feeling of lightness. The Mako became a lot harder to control than it already was to. It veered off course and pulled backward like it was being sucked into something. There was a slight yet constant vibration. There was a large burst of sound, a decrescendo of something similar to an explosion. It sounded like it was right next to Shepard, nearly deafening him. He almost lost focus.

The grey light blackened and left the surface barely visible. Something passed overhead. It was a wave of purple lights on a curved, elegant purple metal connecting seamlessly in one piece. It suddenly depressed into a thinning connector that displayed rough insides, like the surface of a computer chip. The metal then stretched into an oval shape with randomized, symmetrical sets of elegant coverings and more rough sections surrounding patterns of blue and purple light with a pink circle in the center of the oval. The end tail was a set of bright blue engines followed by a tail piece.

Beforehand, Liara set the Mako to pick up FM broadcasts just in case the aliens sent out radio waves. A voice played, deep and commanding.

"Hail Humans, and take heed! This is Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum of the Shadow of Intent. Stand by as we clear the area. We shall deploy troops to your coordinates' momentarily. Prepare for evacuation!"

Aboard UNSC Infinity

200,000 kilometers over Earth

2557 Military Calendar, 09:52

Lasky only had a few weeks experience commanding the Infinity before the battle over Earth and the Master Chief's re-arrival. It was just official. He's now the captain. The crew knew him well, but still. It was crushing to command one of Humanity's greatest achievements along with fifty-eight of the most advanced warships the UNSC has to offer.

What didn't help was the time frame. He could see the look of disappointment of the bridge crews' faces when Lasky told them they had to redeploy. Marines, Spartans, ODSTs, and other personnel were called back immediately from all over the globe. He tried switching out personnel under E-4, but there wasn't enough time to move everyone and it wouldn't be fair to the others. So Lasky filled in any gaps left from Requiem with fresh troops.

Christ. He didn't even have time to pick out an executive officer. Commander Sarah Palmer will suffice for the moment. But he needed an experienced naval officer, not a ground soldier.

"Calculations set to the God's Key. Battle Group Dakota will take about two hours to reach the location. We received the Bar Fight's AI mathematical report on locations. We're still trying to have a set distance differential calculation, but wherever they were sent is far out of Orion's Arm. The reports indicate the God's Key transportation system is near instantaneous, even faster than the Infinity's slipspace drive. It's the best option, Captain, though admittedly dangerous." Roland reported. Displayed on the massive holo-table of the Infinity bridge.

He was the Infinity's new AI. Fourth generation, brand new off the line. His avatar was yellow with a bulky body dressed in a World War II bomber uniform. Lasky and the little guy got to know each other. He was alright, if not slightly annoying at times. Nothing too bad.

Lasky thanked the AI, turned from the table and looked out the bridge viewing glass. Stars all spread before them.

Crew members handpicked out of the elite veterans reported to their stations. All stations reported green and combat ready. Sectors and divisional operations were set and communications were charged back to HIGHCOM.

The flight deck was crammed with dozens of Broadswords, Short Swords, Longswords, a multitude of drone types, Pelicans, Heavy lift pods, Albatrosses, Falcons, Hornets, Hawks, Vultures, and ten Strident-class heavy frigates. For ground armaments, there were fifteen redeployable firebases along with Warthogs, Scorpion tanks, Elephants, Mammoths, Cobras, Cyclops, Mantises, Wolverines, Rhinos, Grizzles, Mongooses, and Gremlins. There were also specialized slipspace beacons aboard, ready for deployment to create connections between the outlying fleet and both FLEETCOM and indirectly with HIGHCOM These were built for long-range communications, but it had never been tested at this distance. Hopefully it'll work and the fleet won't need to constantly send a report ship in and out.

Along with the vehicles, there were six-thousand twenty-one marines already aboard the Infinity, plus another fifteen-thousand aboard the other ships. Supporting them were five-hundred ODSTs cramped in the Infinity's drop bay along with the ten thousand men of the 19th Battalion. For the bulk invasion force, two army divisions made up of about two million soldiers were stored in Admiral Alvares' fleet.

This formed up the entire group about to head into the breach. Longswords scouted the slipspace route ahead. Admiral Alvares and her Ninth Fleet lagged behind, consisting of about one-hundred-twenty ship mostly made of older variants such as the Marathon-class cruiser headed by a Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser.

Nearly all fleets of the UNSC, save Battle Group Dakota, still relied on the technologies of the Great War. Newer ships were being added as fast factories could make them until older variants were no longer needed for service. Very soon, HIGHCOM hoped the Marathon cruiser, along with many other older ships including the Valiant-class will be replaced by the superiorities Battle Group Dakota held. Yet that day wasn't there yet, with the inferior fleet assigned to guard the God's Key while Lasky took to planetary engagement.

"Admiral, this is Captain Lasky. Our boards are green and we are prepped for launch. Hal copy?"

"Roger that, Captain. Fleet is prepped. Push through and complete the objective to draw their fire while we set up on the other side. Rules of engagement are clear: All squid targets are to be eliminated with extreme prejudice, leave out the other race. No contact until Lord Hood arrives."

"Infinity copies. We'll push on through, Admiral." With that, Lasky cut the line.

He turned to the crew members and operators of the ship. They stopped to hear what he had to say. "Alright ladies, board is green and we're good to go. Prep all shields and lock everything down. I want engines raised to point zero one percent light speed, velocity decreased to optimal levels once we are near the God's Key. Mission is a go!"

"Hooyah, sir!" The crew yelled in response. A crew ranging from weapon technicians, mathematicians, astrophysicists, astro-navigators, electrical technicians and engineers to radio operators. All of them sprinted from station to station making last minute preparations.

The room was shaded in a red glow. A small and constant beep of the jump alarm rang throughout the ship. Lasky's lungs constricted and breathing became ever harder with the engines pushing forward.

It'll take two hours to clear the sol. system, relative to Earth at least. But with the new tech it varies. In a good way. It'll just be thirty minutes from Lasky and the crew's relative perspective. From there, Roland and the astrophysicists will take care of the slipspace jump, and relativity will no longer become a factor.

Before they jump system however, Lasky needed to speak with the Chief.