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.

20. Reveille

The fucking moment I get into Warhammer 40k, the end times are coming. OF FUCKIGN COURSE.

I ALREADY BOUGHT I FUCK TON OF MINIATURES FOR MY DARK ANGEL CHAPTER, WHAT THE FUCK

MY TAKE ON MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA:

The first five hours are boring as fuck, but after you get through it and reach the first vault, that's where it picks up. Other than that, I played with the 1.05 update, so facial animations aren't terrible. But the characters feel a bit more real, especially with all the funny conversations and so on.

God fuck, Vetra or Peebee?

Yet still, I know they wanted a new start, but I felt like they still should've connected more to the original Mass Effect universe. Idk. They were escaping because of the Reapers? The Illusive Man funded the project in case all else fails? (Cora and him do share the last name...)

Anyways,

Sorry for the late update... Just a lot of shit going on in my life, and I got some writer's block...but that's over.

I want to thank Evevee for editing the older chapters on this story... They're actually readable now! But in all seriousness, they're a lot better than before. Only massive grammar and spelling problems have been edited, and some very few minor plot points, but nothing major that'll alter the story. Just some stuff to make the plot flow better.

Read Evevve's Mass Effect/Halo Crossover story, On the Illusion of Might

Anyways, I'll admit I'm a bit eiffy on this chapter. I had to rewrite and edit this a lot, and I'm still unsure. I'm not sure if that's just me...but tell me what you think either way. And yeah, I'll admit...this chapter might sorta be considered filler.

So I still ship out on July 12th, and again can't update or even work on writing for three months. But I plan on finished around four to five chapters (realistically) before I ship out. I'll finish two chapters before I ship. One I'll post right before, and the other I'll save so once I get back I can immediately update the story without any wait. I found out you're allowed to have computer access at MCT and my job training but...you're more focused on training so updates after that will be spotty, but after all that is over updates should be coming at smooth regular intervals and will get back on track.

So... REVIEWS:

Angel's demonic shadow: I know. I loved LA Noire too. That's why I added him in.

Danen5: You're welcome. The more depressing emotional response, the better I feel... That came out wrong.

TheJoker96Italia: I appreciate it. But, sorry. Can't do anything with Star Wars. Right now, I'm purely focused on this, and that's already enough of a strain on me as it is. I have no idea how other people can do multiple stories at once. But anyways, I do really appreciate it.

Mark Twain II LoL: Yeah, the UNSC suspects the SA of incompetence. But again, they have to focus on the Reaper threat. They're going into the unknown, and trying to...invade supposed, possible allies isn't exactly the best idea, at the moment. But well...just wait and see what happens.

Raraiki: Yes.

Yankee718: Thanks. I also enjoyed those little conversations on the Citadel too. I felt like it gave a lot of life to the atmosphere of the game.

He Who See's:

1. Sorry, no. I only speak Italian actually. But you're right, and I took your advice and got a good beta, so older chapters will be updated with major edits every once and a while so it reads a lot better.

2. What a well constructed argument. Anti-matter can be kept stable through forms of static, of course it hasn't been deeply explained yet. And also when regular matter and anti-matter interact, there's of course the common misconception that it...explodes. It does, but not on the insanely massive scale as everyone thinks. If kept stable, the explosion can be controlled.

3. And if you read the rest of the chapter, you'll find out that Captain Florence and Contradiction were mistaken thinking the Reapers' main canons were lasers. But at least my characters and writing are better than the My Little Pony stories you write.

Lord NV: Thanks my man. And yup, I'm planning around that.

Guest (Mar 21): Well if there's no evidence Mass Effect AIs live forever then what the are the Reapers then? While arguments could be made on if Halo or ME AIs are better, they're both designed differently thus of course have different sorta...personalities. ME AIs are created in the traditional sense like regular computers, with millions of programs with each program designed for a different thing, all coming together under a 'blue box'. As described in the ME universe, without a 'blue box', the millions of programs that create an AI...would just be millions of jumbled, uncoordinated programs. Halo develops AIs from a human brain, thus of course it would behave and act like a human with emotions and such. It doesn't necessarily mean it's more advanced, it's just a reflection of how they're designed. While Halo doesn't go in depth how they're AIs specifically operate (I could be wrong though), I assume without getting into too much detail it's of course extremely different, thus you're able to transport something that's supposedly supposed to be trillions of GBs onto a tiny little disk thing the size of a regular USB flash drive.

Commissar Critical: Yeah... Tell me about it. I got a 92 on the ASVAB, but the only positions my local unit had were...motor t operator and cook... So...yeah... It's only temporary (please god hopefully) till I get my officer's commission.

Omegashark18: Yeah, they're in the same galaxy. I know it's a bit...eiffy, but I'll make it work and seem...plausible.

Terminal343: I heard dipping the crayons in cheese sauce makes it pretty good.

Also, I want to thank scottusa1 for posting "Good chapter. Keep it up. Laters." on every new chapter.

Good review. Keep it up. Laters.

---

Aboard SSV Normandy SR-2, inbound to the Citadel, ETA: .93 days, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 04:17

July 30th

Shepard woke up. A panicked gasp for air as if he was submerged in water for the longest time.

He felt the rapid beat of his heart. It felt like it was pressing against his ribcage, wanting to burst out. His body shook after every beat. He looked around the room. Expecting someone to jump at him. But there was...there was no one.

Yet it still felt like someone was there. Someone, something was watching him. Something was fucking waiting for him. He didn't know. He scrambled away to the head of the bed. It wasn't until he actually hit the rest he was fully aware of the room.

It wasn't his room. That's right… He was on a soft bed with dark green sheets and thick pillows. The borders of the room were outlined with glass windows dressed in purple.

His head was on a swivel. Crushed himself into the headrest… He tried to calm his breath… To tell his mind that whatever happened...was over.

His body refused to listen. Shepard looked to his hands. Still shaking. More so now it seemed like.

He felt the shutters that traveled across his body. The shaky and cold feelings. He felt nauseous…like he was about to vomit.

He slowly breathed. The recycled air of course stung the inside of his nose.

He tried concentrating on the room. A bathroom on his left side with the door opened. On the right side of the bed, a few feet away, there was a small table with a sofa and desk pushed against the wall illuminated by a soft whitish-blue light. Shepard saw the window to outside space. The distant stars. Blue shrouds passed by. Visible spectrum eezo radiation as it formed around the ship during FTL to reach the next Relay.

There was no door to the bedroom. Instead it just connected to the main room, separated by the glass panels and curtains. It was filled with clusters of holo-computers spread about, connected by large tubes that ran along the floor…

Another wave of nausea. The adrenaline… His hands wouldn't stop shaking.

….Crates stacked along the right wall with blue signal lights. The spaces in the ceiling stocked with more tubes and dozens of wire trails that hung low. Various, paralleled panels on the floor that contained one form of warning sign or another not to open it. Floor grates covered electrical systems and more wires that ran on into darkness. It now seemed extremely disorganized compared to the Infinity.

Right... Right… He fell asleep in Liara's room.

Another shudder passed through. The nervousness. Like a constant feeling of coldness and just the...Just the uncertainty and anxiousness.

A small blue ball floated into view. It was made of plates of teal holographic light with interconnecting circles moving around the curved surface. A single white dot acted as an eye.

It flew to the left side of the room. A wall covered in dozens of twenty-four inch monitors attached to individual arms in neat rows. They encircled two heavy duty computers on a standing desk accompanied by large hard drives on the floor. The hums of the system intermixed with the ever-present hum of the Normandy. A single person manned them, turning from numerous blue holo-charts and pages of notes produced by the computer screen. The glaring light mixed with the rest of the room, eventually fading out to the bedside.

Liara was busy. The dark blue eyes moved from one screen to the next. Deeply studying notes and organizing them into paragraphs on a second screen. She opened up a small window. A video played as she watched it. She flagged checkpoints referencing to picture frames in a news report displayed on another window.

Opened one screen. Closed another. Reports. Pictures. Videos. So on and so forth. She must've been through hundreds of files already while he was sleeping.

Despite how many hours of sleep she got she still looked tired. The dark circles, the driven and sort of nervous look she got when she was so preoccupied. There was sort of a...beautiful intensity to it. The glow of her skin and the dark freckles that patterned her cheek bones under the soft electronic light. The frown as she tried to connect all the pieces and make it work. But even under the concentration and sadness, Shepard thought about the way she smiled. The wrinkles and creases that surrounded her mouth, the sadness that still lingered in her eyes...

She didn't seem to notice what happened to Shepard. She might've had noise dampeners in the room.

Shepard was still shaky. Still...anxious. He guessed. He...he didn't know. He slowly got out of bed, dressed in naval PT gear (most sailors learned pretty quick that it was better to sleep in that then your actual jammies). Dark blue shorts and a grey shirt with the symbol of the Alliance Navy over his heart and the seal of the N7 program stitched over his right breast.

His feet hit the freezing metal floor. He placed hands in his pockets. Liara really likes it cold in her room.

Shepard took a second to breath. He walked passed the glass panels. All the computer monitors creepily turned toward him, as if they were watching his every move.

Liara removed herself from all the holo-screens and turned to the Commander. She was about to say something with a small smile but stopped herself. Instead, she slowly stepped forward, touched his cheek. Shepard finally felt, finally noticed there was sweat all over face.

Her face turned into concern. She spoke softly. "Is everything okay, Shepard?"

"Uh… Yeah. Yeah… Just. Didn't sleep well. Again. I guess...How long were we out? I don't even remember falling asleep…." Shepard gently grasped her hand and lowered it.

Liara took one last look at her all her cuts and the bruises were healing, slightly fading but still present. A bruise near the top of her forehead had turned into an ugly shade of purple. At least her science uniform was cleaned up.

"It's a bit fuzzy for me too." Liara began. "I think I took a shower? Well, either way we pretty much slept through all of yesterday."

Shepard yawned… He was regaining his nerves. "And I still feel tired…"

"We all do. I only woke a couple hours ago and began to work…" She looked to the wall of monitors. They assembled an entire map of the Milky Way. "Data collecting. Organizing and analyzing everything we know and theorized about the UNSC and the other species that came along with them. I'm trying to gather everything we can to try and fully understand what we're truly dealing with before the Citadel meetings begin."

"Ah. Anything new?"

She turned to him. There was finally that spark of optimism and energy and curiosity that always presented itself when she talked about stuff like this. But Liara stopped before she could ramble on. She knew what he was trying to do. "...You dreamt again? Didn't you?"

Shepard deeply sighed. He shakily breathed in.

He remained silent. He didn't know for how long. Liara placed a hand on her hip. "I checked up on the CIC staff… They're a little worn out at the moment. And also confused and scared."

There was only the sound of the computers and the ship. Shepard looked past Liara, at nothing.

"It deteriorated that fast, huh?" He finally said.

"It always does." She responded, a bit curt. She said nothing more, pretending she was frustrated. Shepard knew she was just trying to coax something out of him. The patience she had was… He was grateful for it. She moved back to the two computers tapped something into a data pad. The view on the monitors changed to dozens of different images, live news reports and videos.

Shepard stood at her side. Watched with her. It all the info recordings on Illium a couple days ago.

They both watched in silence for a while. Just trying to get their bearings.

"I did...dream…" Shepard began. It was still hard to bring up. He choked on words… He felt nauseas again, as if his body wanted him to stop. He tried to keep it together. "Uh. Yeah… yeah. I did. Um. I don't know. It was just...different this time."

"...Different?" She responded quietly. Her full attention was brought back to him. "How do you mean?"

"I don't know. It just was. I'm not sure how, and that's the truth."

She looked at him suspiciously, unsure. It's been no secret that Liara pretty much had to use a crowbar to pry out anything from him on these sort of things. It was a usual occurrence. It was hard for Shepard to talk about...even with her… It just...hurted.

But it really was the truth this time. The same thing happened all over again. He saw that...that kid six months back on Earth.

Yeah. It was horrific to witness. But at the end of the day it was nowhere near what he and the crew had witnessed throughout the years. It did phase him at the time. Who wouldn't have been thrown back? But a few months into this war, it should've become a minor...

It was something that should've become...unnoteworthy. Just with everything else going on, Shepard had no choice but to forgive and forget. Yet the kid, he still persisted and ran into that forest.

But not this time. It was just… It just felt different and Shepard really wasn't sure why. It just brought a sense of something…

Extremely disturbing.

"Just different?" Liara said. He could hear the disbelief. She wasn't being impatient or rushing him, but...well, she didn't like it when he was like this.

"It did. It's hard to remember." Shepard said, cutting it a bit short.

"Did it make you feel the same, though...?" She asked.

Shepard uncomfortably nodded, and looked to the outside window as the Normandy passed by a distant nebula. Swirls of blue and green intermixing.

Liara understood. She gave a sad, sympathetic smile and turned to the monitors. "It'll be over...someday... And I know even with Cerberus piggybacking on something that didn't live up to our expectations, it'll all be okay…"

Shepard couldn't help but turn from the blue spirals back to her. He returned the same smile. "But you don't really believe that…"

"I know that you do. Don't forget that." She instantly replied. "...But you're okay? ...As okay as you can be nowadays?"

"Well, no better than usual." Shepard said. Yeah… As best as he could be nowadays. He again noticed the dark circles above the freckles. "And what about you?"

"The same. My world's been turned upside as I'm reminded that there's still so much out there." Her eyes intensely observed each monitor. "I wasn't able to ask Captain Lasky all the questions I wanted."

"Just trying to take everything in?"

"To say the least…" She opened up her Omni-tool and inserted commands. "I talked to the Geth when I woke up. The 'platform' they're sending should be optimized for...whatever Lasky was suggesting. If not, then it's his fault for not revealing anything more.

"I still wonder what the "Master Chief" did that was so important. Seeing that sort of hero worship reminded me of you." She said, a bit more lighthearted.

"It's not that bad. They don't gawk at the sight of me." Shepard responded.

Liara sighed. "If it weren't for you, there wouldn't even be a coordinated fight against the Reapers. So, you're allowed to be a celebrity too."

"Yeah…" Shepard moved on. Shepard grimly nodded. "I guess… Speaking of that, you mentioned the rest of the crew?"

There was a knock on the door. The metallic, hollow sound echoed in the room. The Commander stepped back. There was a muffled voice behind the door.

"Is anyone awake in there… Alive at least?" It said.

They both looked to each other. Liara looked a tad bit annoyed. She took a deep breath.

"Door's unlocked, Garrus." She said. She shook her head.

The green holo-circle disappeared and the metallic doors slide opened. Garrus walked through. His gear was freshly polished. He himself looked a bit worse for wear though, and it wasn't because of the scar. After a while Shepard learned to tell most of Turian emotions through body language and their tone. From his body language, he looked like he didn't get much sleep.

"Sorry. I guess I'm the only one who prefers the old fashioned knob and handle." He replied. He looked around the stations of organized messes spread about in Liara's room. The doors closed behind him. "Well anyways, you two lovebirds have been stuck in this room all day. People were sort of getting worried. Having fun?"

"If fun involves sleeping, a lot of aspirin, and a lot of caffeine then yes." Liara responded. Shepard didn't have any caffeine... How much actual sleep did Liara get before the need to do anything consumed her?

"Sounds about right." Garrus said. He crossed his arms, leaned on one leg. "In all serious though, sorry for bothering you. I know you two want to collect your thoughts and think of the next course of action and all that, but I just wanted to give an update on, you know, the 'outside world'?"

"I've heard about that. What's it like?" Shepard responded.

"Ha. Ha." Garrus said smoothly. "Tali's uh… Well, good thing we're heading to the Citadel because we need to pick up a few pounds of high-end antibiotics and immunization packets. She's been either sleeping or vomiting in the women's bathroom all day and this morning. I've been pretty much holding her hair back as she lets it all out every hour or so."

"Well how sweet of you, Garrus." Shepard replied.

"Mmhmm. Riiight. It probably just gets her more sick in the process. Doctor Chakwas said she contracted a 'mild' case of the flu, most likely when we were aboard the Infinity. I guess the political situation wasn't the only thing that was shady."

Shepard scoffed. He turned to a random monitor. This one was a current news report of the all the recent information the Citadel Council released. It was another military analyst explaining how the UNSC's vast Navy could be deployed across numerous fronts and used at long range distances.

Let's hope it'll take analysts a while before they notice a lot of silence from the Cerberus front.

"I'll see how she's doing in a minute." Shepard said. He felt the nausea and dizziness rise again for whatever reason… Even after a day of sleep… "Yeah, Liara and I were actually about to discuss the rest of the crew. How're they doing?"

Garrus' plated mandibles move, fluttering up and down. He sighed. "...Shepard... Liara, Tali, and I have been with you since the beginning, through nearly everything…. I want to say I know what exactly you're going through, how you feel, but I in reality I don't. None of us...most of us don't. But I can safely guess it's absolute hell.

"And we're with you every step of the way. We know you stumble and screw up, and we know you can fix it, but for the rest of the crew? They don't know you that well, Shepard. You take your time to know everyone individually, but they still see you as, well, how the rest of the galaxy sees you. EDI might "analyze" your personality, sure, but James? Traynor? Adams? Hell, even Ashley and Joker. They haven't been around long enough to understand. They just haven't been out there to get it."

Shepard took it all in. It's weird to think, but the three of them really have been with him through hell in back. Nearly three and a half years. It didn't seem that long… Well, probably because he's been dead most of that time.

"And one wrong move and it offsets everything we did." Shepard said.

"That's the path of the paragon." Garrus responded.

"What do you think I should do?" Strange to think, Shepard never asked anyone that kind of question before. Not that directly at least. Only rarely with Liara. But if there's anyone with this kind of experience it would be Garrus.

It didn't seem to surprise him. He stood there, thinking. His eyes gazed to a distance beyond the room.

"Let it sit and fester won't do any good. But the problem is, is that if you bring it up they're reminded that you're human, and they'll lose confidence."

"Reminded that I'm human, huh?" Shepard said. That's why he was fighting in the first place. "Well, I guess the legend and the person are different. It sounds like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place…"

"Well, that's what this war is, right? But, my advice is to regain their confidence quickly as possible. Actions speak louder than words...blah, blah, blah. It's the only way I can think of at the moment. But for now, when we can, Joker and I will go around trying to keep all that talk on the low. I don't know, try to spin the whole thing. Make a joke out of it? Tell them that it's part of the chain of command, and he'll get through it. It sorta helps."

"Like quarantining an infection." Liara said.

He wasn't really sure why, but he felt a headache coming on. Like a spike to the head, piercing the skull. Those words reminded him of something familiar. He couldn't name what it was. But the same disturbing feeling from the dream presented itself again.

Quarantine? Infection?

He didn't know.

"Also…" Garrus added. "Everyone got the briefs from what happened aboard the Infinity. But I decided that it'd be best if we left out the part about Cerberus."

"And what about ONI?" Liara asked.

"There wasn't much to talk about besides EDI being kidnapped and a few theories here and there." Garrus said. "And EDI's doing alright. She's still dead set on whatever that floating blob of biomatter was. It apparently spoke to her in some mathematical dialect. She believes that thing is apparently more advanced than some of our more sophisticated AIs."

"That's more questions I have to add to the list." Liara tapped a nearby holo-screen on her computer. It was literal a list dozens of pages long. She typed it up on her keyboard. "Once Tali gets better hopefully I can coordinate with her in figuring out their technology, and the Forerunners, and everything else."

"We have to tell the rest of the crew about Cerberus." Shepard said. Full confidence despite the fear and constant uncertainty. "With everything going on it might not be the best idea. But I rather have them know now than have them completely surprised when they find out later. I know faith in the chain of command's eroded right now, but hiding something this big won't gain back their trust."

Garrus and Liara looked to each other, a bit hesitant. He nodded, turned back to Shepard. "Well, it's your call. Whatever you decide I fully support you."

"And so do I." Liara added.

Both turned to him, gave their best reassuring smile. At least Garrus did his best, considering Turians don't smile.

"So you're on board?" Shepard said.

"It won't be the first time we disagreed with your decision." Liara said, being brutally honest as usual. "However, we know your reasons why, and we know you'll get us through. And we're completely with you."

Only a few weeks after day one, since that botched mission on Eden Prime three years and six months ago, these two have fought by his side. Despite all the losses and all the chaotic events in each of their lives they were still here.

Shepard nodded. It was enough. They'll help him how they could.

Thank god they were here, that they at least understood what the Commander was going through and what needed to be done.

"You know…" Shepard began. He took a deep breath. "Is it bad that I don't want to do this anymore? Make all the decisions? Even besides the ones that affect...billions of lives, just leading in general? I'm never really certain which choice is the right one anymore."

Garrus quietly laughed. "Sounds like most officers' problems, besides altering the fate of the galaxy." He turned to all the images of Illium. "I think after this war is over I'll just retire and live on some beach the rest of my life. Hopefully the galaxy will finally give us life pensions after this."

After this war… That was one thing with the UNSC at least. 'After the war' seemed more likely. Maybe. Who knows after how many more months… or even years of fighting.

Years of fighting? To hold out that long was almost impossible to imagine. The past six months had already taken a dramatic toll on him and the crew. Not only that, but the entire galaxy as a whole. To hold out for even one year?

His mind went back to the dream… That forest. God knows where he saw that forest before. But at the end of the day, if the UNSC didn't fully cooperate...there'll be a lot more victims like that kid.

"Well, knowing us I'm sure we're gonna have to jump through a dozen hoops before the Council grants us that." Shepard said. The headache seem to slightly subside. They didn't notice at all. "Set up a briefing in the CIC War Room and tell EDI to get Admiral Hackett on the line, if she can. Meeting will start at o-eight-hundred. Just let me and Liara get the chance to wake up and eat something. Let's get to speed and prep for the Citadel meeting. I think Lord Hood and the rest of UNSC 'HIGHCOM' still aren't on board. We have to somehow convince."

Liara bounced off that. "I'll contact Captain Lasky once we reach the Citadel. I'll try to see what we can do to make HIGHCOM less hesitant."

Garrus nodded. "I'll set it up. Get everyone there. Again, whatever you decide to do…"

"Well let's hope it won't end up too bad…" Shepard interjected.

Too bad…

He quickly tried to remember the dream. With Garrus and Liara here now, it made it easier to think clearly but whatever threw him off that much wasn't coming to mind.

But he remembered...screaming… and seeing dozens of familiar faces.

Aboard the UNSC Infinity bridge

Five-hundred-thousand klick diameter conventional orbit around Draco III

2557 Military Calendar, 04:53

It's been two days since first contact with other corners of the galaxy that Mankind had never seen before. And Captain Lasky was right there at the forefront.

Word's spreading throughout the UNSCDF of a new first contact engagement. A deployment of that scale couldn't have been kept secret for long. Of course, like the Didact's assault on Earth five days ago, the info and details were spotty and vague at best for the average enlisted servicemen. One thing was for sure though, everyone could feel the tensions rising. The uncertainty prevalent even at the top of the foodchain.

Strangely enough, despite Captain Lasky being apart of a major event in Human history, he slept pretty decently the first night. The second night however…

He admittedly didn't sleep well.

He only got three hours of shut eye. He went to bed at zero-dark-zero which seemed late, but in the Navy odd, random sleep schedules were the norm. It took some getting used to with a lot of coffee and these pills that altered the circadian rhythm, which supposedly had no side effects. It made it worse though that without a proper naval XO, it was either Lasky or Roland who had to fill in subordinate crew members and lock in time table schedules.

He didn't know. It was some weird dream that woke him up. Freaked him out enough to have him scrambling out of bed.

He used to go through that during CAMS. Most students did actually. 'Stress Mares'. They were usually just caused by all the academic pressure and the extremely poisonous social atmosphere that was that school. Yet this is the first time he actually experienced anything like this since he was back in school. He had no idea what happened. What caused it. Maybe it was just with everything going on? Lasky thought he was handling it well. Well enough, at least.

Lasky didn't even bothered to get dressed, shave or shower. That would take a lot of energy he didn't have in the early morning, so he just wore the standard jammies. White short socks, blue shorts, a grey t-shirt with the word 'Navy' in black letters stitched across the chest, and a cup of coffee in his hand.

He walked down the white halls, a bit disoriented, still trying to get his bearings. The bright lights were set on low to indicate whatever nighttime was on a ship. Low volume personnel such as systems watch crew and security detail were the only ones that should be on duty.

He turned down another corridor. At the end was a massive metal door guarded by two Spartan-IVs, one on each side. The standard recruit grey armor plating with orange strips traveling across the body. Lasky reached the door and took a sip of his coffee.

Both Spartans saluted. One of them spoke. "Sir, the general briefing is still going on."

Lasky blinked… What did he say? Lasky was in there yesterday with Lord Hood and the majority of HIGHCOM. They halted the general briefing around o-eleve-hundred last night when Lasky had to give briefings to his section leaders since there's no proper XO. The general briefing wasn't scheduled to continue till o-six-fifteen this morning.

"The meeting already continued? Why wasn't I informed?" Lasky ordered.

"Actually, sir… The meeting never ended. Lord Hood ordered us not to inform you since you were busy dealing with the ship and getting some shut eye."

Or they were talking about classified material beyond Captain Lasky's position.

That was one of the frustrating parts. Despite him being on the HIGHCOM board, he was kept out of most of the decision making unless it had something directly to do with the Infinity and Battle Group Dakota. He was much apart of HIGHCOM as the Marine Corps was part of the Navy. As in it technically wasn't. But like the Marine Corps, the Navy essentially gets to boss it around and keep it out of the loop at times

His appointment was a symbolic gesture more than anything. And it made it hard to actually lead when Lasky pretty much had to pry info from HIGHCOM to inform the rest of the his men.

"Let me through, Warrant Officer." Lasky ordered. The Spartan nodded and turned around to enter in a access code.

The room itself was a large, cluttered, and admittedly slightly disorganized assembly area with hundreds of TV screens and holographic displays. Tucked in the far left corner were a few heavy duty computers and control panels manned by a handful of comm specialists. Clear glass panels on the floor showed the enormous wire cable barrels that coordinated it all as they traveled throughout the ship. Each display had some high-ranking admiral or general of HIGHCOM in full uniform standing at ease. They were all set up to surround Lord Hood as he stood in the dead center of the room.

One-hundred-sixteen admirals and generals, each in command of a special segment the UNSC, Humanity, could not survive without. All of them...virtually here today aboard his ship. All of UNSC High Command.

Lord Hood merely glanced behind him to the Captain. He was also fully dressed in his white naval uniform, and looked in no way at all tired despite assessing the situation of the UNSC throughout the entire night.

There was another figure there, far different from the rest on the hologram next to Lord Hood. An Elite around eight feet tall dressed in old ceremonial armor with a holstered energy sword hilt. His face was withered beaten and held the wisdom of decades of fighting. Tired eyes that still held strength to holdout for the rest of his life. He looked to Captain Lasky and simply nodded out of respect.

The Arbiter.

Everyone else, HIGHCOM, their eyes turned to Lasky as if he were a unwelcoming sight. Especially in clothes that were borderline skivvies.

But it was his ship.

"As I was saying," Lord Hood continued, "these Relays do create strategic choke holds that we can easily defend and setup long-range defensive traps for the Reapers. If we effectively enforce Cole Protocol and keep our planets hidden, we should have minimum casualties. But let me remind you that despite Cole Protocol, five years ago the Prophet of Regret found Earth through ancient Forerunner technology. They struck through our defensives and glassed Africa. We don't know if the Reapers have such capabilities or in the process of searching for them. It is certainly a greater risk especially with their FTL capabilities which we do not fully understand."

"Admiral, sir," a random fleet admiral said on one of the TV screens. Lasky still didn't remember some of their names. Their FTL transportation capabilities have to be very limited or extremely subpar if they have to use these "Mass Relays". Even if the Reapers knew the locations of our planets, they still have to travel through these Relays to jump a decent galactic distance."

"Admiral Zambrano…" One of the holograms near Lord Hood responded in a heavy bronx accent, arms crossed. Fleet Admiral Jay Harper. Executive Officer of the UNSCDF and Director of Naval Staff. Usually, Admiral Harper and the Commandant of the Marine Corps took Hood's side under any circumstance, even against the unknown. Even in this situation he'll back Lord Hood. "We can't assume that they can or can't reach our worlds. What we can assume is that we are thinly spread across the galaxy dealing with whatever's left of the Insurrection and preparing to invade a Forerunner shield world while dealing with other possible Forerunner threats with the death of the Didact. We're also still dealing with the remains of the Covenant, and their clashes with our own outer colonies. Even worse, now we have intelligence that many Covenant factions have been working with the rebels for perhaps years.

"We don't have the resources to station defense fleets around each Relay that may or may not be in our territory. We have to strike now to end the Reaper threat."

So Lord Hood was supporting to send in fleets to help the Council races?

If Harper was backing the preemptive strike strategy then so was Lord Hood. All that had to be done was try to convince the admiralty that this was the better decision.

The Arbiter spoke in his low and deep voice. It was confident and knowing, and void of any other emotion. Similar to Lord Hood's. "We are dealing with infighting within our own faction. Many are...disappointed I do not revert to our ancient traditions before the arrival of the Prophets and also continue our relations with Humanity. And disappoint in our culture is expressed through vengeance and bloodshed. We are on the point of breaking apart into two separate groups.

"We are also dealing with growing Jiralhanae raider and pirate activity. We believe they are working for a single group, known only as the Banished. They are gaining more political prominence every day in deep Jiralhanae space, and we do not have the resources to monitor them."

Yeah. Lasky read the intelligence briefing. It seems like the situation was getting worse by the day.

And infighting... Well, at least the UNSC could keep death rate to a minimum and keep it quiet.

But another day, another dollar. The twenty-first century Middle East was now the northern arms of the galaxy. The Arbiter's faction, Keepers of the One Freedom, Servants of Abiding Truth, Kig-Yar pirates, and the poor Grunts. All muddled and confusing like five-hundred years ago. But now there was the Banished. They're small but growing fast. If history told them anything, like ISIS, they'll soon become a massive problem.

"My point is…" Harper continued. "There's no doubt that these Reapers do pose a major threat not only against the UNSC, but all of Humanity. You all read the briefing. They're already committing genocides against whatever's left of this Systems Alliance. They won't stop there. If we send in the fleets and find this Catalyst, or some other way to stop them, then we can end the threat before it hits our colonies. This is the guarantee for minimal casualties on our side."

That slowly started a string of angry debates amongst HIGHCOM. It built up as more voices joined in. Quiet, stern conversations that entwined with the hum of the ship.

Captain Lasky stepped forward next to Lord Hood and the hologram of the Arbiter, coffee still in his hands. He took another sip.

"I've seen the briefing…" Lord Hood said to the Arbiter. "Given your current situation, do you think you'll be able to spare anything?"

The Arbiter grunted. He looked to the room and seemed extremely displeased. "These 'Relays' travel deeply through our controlled space. It could be possible we might be able to send a small fleet, but it would mostly be symbolic."

"How are your forces looking these days?"

"We possess only a few super-carriers and assault carriers, and that number is dwindling every day. We do not have the resources to rebuild, repair, and maintain them at such a rate to keep up with the ongoing strife, even with the Engineers. Our people are still divided. The Jiralhanae even more so. Many factions within the Kig-yar and Ungoy still support us, yet we are losing ground every day."

"If you can provide anything more, I'll order our naval liaisons within your territory to utilize direct strikes with battle groups and Spartan-IV assault teams wherever you need." Lord Hood said.

The Arbiter thought for a moment. He looked over to two generals fighting. "It depends on how close the vicinity of this war is to our own. If it's so close to our homes we perhaps could be able to spare more. Still, you provided aid when our people needed it most. I shall talk to my subordinates, and see if we are able to return the same kindness."

Lord Hood nodded. Respectful and sympathetic. Despite a decent majority HIGHCOM and the actions ONI took against the Elites, there was a special kind of understanding between Lord Hood and the Arbiter. Even though Lord Hood technically had never forgiven the Arbiter, they knew the stakes. Maybe it had to do with the positions among their people.

In fact it was surprising for the Arbiter to be here without objections from some certain members of HIGHCOM. Maybe they already had their….disagreements settled with Lord Hood before Lasky re-arrived.

HIGHCOM still quietly argued amongst themselves. Lord Hood turned from the Arbiter to the rest of the room. All their voices went silent almost immediately.

"Gentlemen, the matter of fact is we need to realize that there is a possibility we're on the verge of another war." Lord Hood began. He placed his hands behind his back. "While despite our major advancements and growing military force, we cannot survive another Great War. No one here wants another Great War, not after everything we had to go through, everything we had to sacrifice, and everything we had to do in order to survive. We will not survive another war morally, economically, and militaristically. We cannot fight for another thirty years."

Suddenly, everyone was reminded how all their careers started. Everyone was reminded how they had to be above the pettiness that began the Insurrection sixty years ago, and remain in the military efficiency that saw Humanity through near extinction. How they all survived hell.

"...Sir." A fleet admiral said. Jekorta Al-Fashid Lasky thought her name was. Commanding officer of the fourth fleet. She's been an outspoken critic against the alliance with the Elites, and had been very vocal of her opinions. Not only that, but she wanted to unite Humanity more out of ideology than just mere practical economic and stability reasons. "Another Great War can be avoided if we cut off contact and communication, establish defensive positions around these Relays, and hold the line. We do have enough resources. We can survive. Last financial year's manufacturing output produced nearly one-thousand-thirty-three fully operational combat ships. This financial year so far we've nearly surpassed that output-"

"And how long do we have to hold out?" Fleet Admiral Harper responded for Lord Hood.

"If the Reapers continue their concentration on these Council races and the secondary Humanity, it will buy us time to search for-"

"You're saying we should sacrifice that many Human lives?" A army general cried out. Standard green uniform. A old and scarred face from the final days of the war. Chief of Staff of the Army General Urban Holland. "Our job, Fleet Admiral, is to protect Human lives. And we can't do that sitting on the sidelines waiting for them to come to us.

"Whether we had contact with them before or not, the people under the Systems Alliance are subject to the authority of the UNSC. We have to protect them. If we push these Reapers back and gain control over Alliance colonies, then-"

"General Holland." A vice admiral said. Amilis Solovyov, Director of Military-Civilian relations. "That clause in the UEG's last bill is up for interpretation. At this point, it's more of an ideology issue."

Lord Hood spoke. All the other voices again stopped. "The protection of Earth and her colonies should be our priority. Gentlemen, whether you disagree with it or not, I will step aboard that space station to discuss our strategic options. Our intelligence gathering capabilities are greatly diminished. We must proceed with proper and necessary security precautions in order to learn more about the current galactic situation. Even if we can't spare the fleets, Battle Group Dakota's role as a specialized advanced fighting force and exploration task group is designed to deal with situations like these. Bottom line, we will spare the UNSC Infinity for direct combat operations. If necessary, we'll begin to mobilize our reserve fleets and battle groups if we don't have the resources available to support a passive defense operation. If the Catalyst-Crucible plan proves to be useless or highly dangerous, than we'll explore other options to eliminate or control the Reapers, one way or another."

He looked around the room. If anyone dared object they wouldn't speak. Not in front of him, not so public to all of Lord Hood's subordinates. Fleet Admiral Harper shook his head, as if he were disappointed that they had to have this long of a discussion that went absolutely nowhere. The Arbiter crossed his arms. The grim face moved from one commanding officer to another.

"FLEETCOM's current objective is to be prepared to ensure your fleets are ready to mobilize and set up logistical supply lines." Lord Hood said. "Generals, prepare your troops for immediate combat operations and increasing section security roles."

Lord Hood turned to Fleet Admiral Harper. Harper stood at attention.

"As you can tell, one member of HIGHCOM is currently absent." Harper began. "Admiral Osman and ONI's high-ranking section commanders have been missing for three days, and at o-two-fifteen this morning have been declared Absent Without Leave. We're continuing to investigate and search for classified ONI facilities, but Section Three is scattered. The UNSC Staff of Charon has been nearly scrubbed clean and we can determine no useful information can come out of it. We're also continuing our interrogation of Major Jake Reynolds, but so far AI analysts, and both JAG and NCIS investigators are coming to the conclusion that Major Reynolds knows nothing. We believe ONI manipulated him to disobey Captain Lasky in order to properly implement First Contact Protocol and to kidnap Captain Florence and his remaining crew on the basis they violated Cole Protocol. They also took this...Edi and Kai Leng reasoning that they were needed for defensive research purposes by the UNSC."

In other words: it wasn't his fault. Reynolds wasn't a ONI agent. Just some poor marine who got caught in all the bullshit of the Navy. It didn't seem out of ONI's MO. But why did they try to take Captain Florence?

"I take full responsibility of Major Reynolds' actions." Lasky said. First words in this meeting. Surely, he should be a bit more timid since he was in the presence of Humanity's highest ranking leaders and he was so underdressed to the point it was almost disrespectful. But he didn't care. He was too tired to, and either way they were aboard his own ship. "Major Reynolds was presented with conflicting orders, and at the time it could be argued that my orders at the time were unlawful and Major Reynolds had a right to disobey."

HIGHCOM, specifically the Admiralty, seemed a bit annoyed with his response. It might've been unnecessary at this point but Captain Lasky felt like it had to be said.

Lord Hood crossed his arms. "We'll complete our interrogation of Major Reynolds soon. But for now it looks like he'll be fully acquitted of his actions. Whether he'll be reassigned to the Infinity will be determined by Captain Lasky."

"What about the two Spartan-IIIs with ONI? Tom and Lucy?" A vice admiral asked.

"Same situation." Fleet Admiral Harper responded. "While FLEETCOM tries to keep a tight lock on NAVSPECWAR, ONI somehow digs through the cracks and gain control of the few remaining Spartan-IIs, IIIs, and specialized IVs. Tom and Lucy were just recently retrieved from a shield world a few months ago with a bunch of other IIs and IIIs along with Doctor Halsey and CPO Mendez. ONI redeployed them to the Legend After as quickly as possible. The two Spartans were barely told anything by their handles, including Lieutenant Marcus Banks. Given Spartans' personality and modus operandi, I believe their actions can also be fully acquitted once we finish their interrogations."

In a way they were also innocent. In a way. It was so...inhuman that the Spartans, the older ones before the creation of the IVs, followed orders without question, without even a reason behind them. Lasky had a hard time believing that two people fought other UNSC servicemen on mere orders from a handler. Hell, Lasky even wondered if the Spartans got direct confirmation from some higher power within ONI or SPARTAN OP.

Was it so true that Spartans couldn't think for themselves to the near point that the Navy essentially had to shield them from hostile outside influences? Spartans weren't even held responsible for their own actions. This wasn't even the Navy treating them like assets or people, this was them treating the Spartans like...children.

When it comes down to it, even after nearly...thirty years now? The Navy will die to defend and preserve Humanity's most valuable asset. Most of that was because of fear...

"Our last key source that may provide some clue to ONI's motive is Captain Mark Florence." Fleet Admiral Harper continued. "Tom and Lucy fought us tooth and nail to get him away from us."

Everyone subtly turned to Captain Lasky. Captain Florence… Christ. His spinal injury was mostly healed. Geek docs said he'll make a full, proper recovery.

Lasky cleared his throat and spoke. "Captain Florence is healing accordingly. He should regain consciousness sometime today, unknown when exactly. But once he's able, Roland and I will begin interrogations immediately."

General Holland took one look at Lasky and turned to Lord Hood. "What's exactly the situation on Cortana? It only said in the report that Captain Lasky was currently 'exploring alternative options'?"

Lord Hood motioned for Captain Lasky to answer.

"We believe, currently, the Engineers do posses the capability to repair her. The problem is, our technology is extremely limited." Captain Lasky said. "But we've discovered that the Council races do possess highly sophisticated AI technology, including an entire race of AI called the 'Geth'. Right now, I'm trying to find out if they're able to help restore Cortana.

Fleet Admiral Al-Fashid spoke. "I read Roland's report. Nearly all of their technology is based on some form of dark energy or matter. Could it even be compatible with conventional electrical technology? And can we really take such a risk without breaking protocol?"

"Well, that's what I want to find out." Lasky responded. "And our technology will be locked tight. I'll be able to enforce protocol."

Al-Fashid scoffed. "Frankly, Captain, the last time you tried to 'enforce' protocol, it got us into another war-"

"That's all ready been discussed, Admiral." Lord Hood curtly interrupted. He stared her down, and she turned away. "And it will not be brought up again."

Lasky took another sip of coffee.

"Do we need Cortana in order to make sure the Master Chief is fully operational?" General Holland asked. "He performed highly efficiently in the field according to First Lieutenant Dubbo's report."

"That was one combat deployment." Lasky quickly said. "And a rather brief deployment might I add. Cortana's lost is still fresh. We don't know how it'll affect him in the long run."

Because it's already affecting him now… Captain Lasky didn't get the chance to talk to the Chief in the past couple of days, but he had Roland monitor him. Still, the Chief continued to stare out the window in a sub-hallway of the ship. He didn't care for the sights, be the snaky continents and islands of Illium or the grey and desolated planetary curvature of Draco III in high orbit.

In his eyes was the more or less all too common thousand yard stare. Lasky wondered what specific memories of the past Cortana's words were beginning to truly uncover. The days of abuse under Doctor Halsey and CPO Mendez during training? All the team members killed because of them? All the rest that continued to die in the War?

Grief only leads to more grief.

"I'll assume then the Master Chief will still be deployed to the…" Al-Fashid looked through a small holo-screen. "'Citadel Theater'?"

'Citadel Theater'. That's what the opening front against the Reapers was called. Roland came up with the name yesterday during a briefing with marine section commanders on Citadel security roles.

"We need a Spartan-II in this theater." Lord Hood said. "Not only so Captain Lasky can keep a close eye on him, but to show the strength of Humanity."

No one spoke, so no one disagreed. Lord Hood took one last look around the room. The dozens of high ranking members. Each individual living with the decisions that cost billions of lives. Each prepared to make more decisions that will inevitably cost more lives.

"While this is going on, we also must recognize the other segment the Council has planned." Lord Hood turned to Admiral Harper. "The diplomatic discussions going on as well."

"Out of a list of hundreds of candidates, we've selected three diplomats for the 'public meetings'. Of course, Doctor Halsey might've made a good candidate, but for obvious reasons...she was one of the first ones to be crossed out." Fleet Admiral Harper said. He tapped on a holo-screen and three pictures appeared in front of every commanding officer with a small briefing report to follow.

Lasky already read who they were. Doctor Ruth Charet, xenoanthropology with a couple pHDs and Masters from First University of Terra Nova. Doctor Henry Glassmen, xeno-technologies expert with a master's from MIT. Not only that but he was a former Marine force recon officer and worked a lot with the splinter cell Covenant in the early days of the alliance in '53. They both already worked as civilian consultants for the UNSC on diplomatic relations with the Elites.

Then there was First Lieutenant Alec Ryder, the UNSC's assistant field liaison on Sanghelios. A swabbie out of Annapolis Academy only there to keep a tight leash on the other two during the meeting. Dedicated and motivated to serve Humanity. A bit too much moto, but that's with every junior officer.

"While their job may seem important in all practicality they're useless. Just for show." Fleet Admiral Harper continued. "Lord Hood and Captain Lasky will be present. They'll be the ones to develop anything of some importance."

"And we're hoping...the Elites will send someone also." Lord Hood added, looked to the Arbiter

"We'll see…" He simply responded.

Lord Hood only nodded. He turned to Captain Lasky. "Report to your station, and brief your men on their jobs. Security is your utmost priority until the strategic briefings begin.

"You have your assignments, Captain."

…

The outer world was murky… A wall of grey dots on a white canvas… He could make out blurry outlines, but they were hard to tell what they were.

He tried to remember what happened. It seemed like only seconds ago, but…

This exchange is over.

What the hell did that mean?

A wave of nausea passed through him. The world was spinning… He felt disoriented. His head felt...floaty.

Right, now he was remembering.

Lucy fucked him up.

The world was becoming clear. He was on a hospital bed, covered in a blue blanket with the seal of the UNSC. He felt a slight sting in his right forearm. Looked over and found a IV deep in his arm, the syringe and the tube all covered by clear medical tape.

He noticed ugly, infected yellow markings all over his risks in the shape of a deformed hand with fingers. Bruises when Lucy grabbed him…

Another wave of nausea. He could feel a headache coming. His skull being compressed on all sides.

What concerned him was not what happened that lead him here, but what lead him to wake up. It was some sort of...dream, with red and black and green and yellow visions. He couldn't make out what it was, but he only knew that...it was disturbing.

Whatever that was was disturbing and horrifying.

Yet he didn't feel it. Only dehydration as his tongue smacked the dry inner wall of his mouth, begging for water. A feeling of lightness throughout his body. He couldn't feel anything...

He tried to speak, but his mouth refused to move. His throat felt like it was closing. All he could get out was a quiet whimper.

"Oh, quit bitching." A sarcastic voice said. He turned towards the voice. It was on his left. There was a little metal stand with a small AI display, and…

You motherfucker.

"Yeah, don't worry." Contradiction said. He kneeled down so he was relatively eye to eye with him. "I'm not aboard. Not in the ship. We still have some ONI backchannel access in case of emergencies. I'm supposed to be monitoring you till you woke up. I delayed the alert signal so the doctors don't know you're awake yet."

The AI sighed and opened up a holo-panel. "Well, if it's any consolation I have to send hundreds of reports across thousands of light years back to the Assembly...if you know what that is… Anyways, as much as you want to think, ONI ain't the bad guys here, sir. At least… I'm not."

...So it was true then? The AI was part of the Office of Naval Intelligence. From the very beginning, ONI selected the Legend After to be relocated to the God's Key.

"We act outside of the UNSC's authority, and we do push the line, quite a lot." Contradiction continued. He brought up a small image. It was one of the God's Key, and he could see dozens of prowlers surrounding it, deploying troops to the surface of the Key. It was dated 2554. "I don't know… I guess I'm trying to justify myself because, believe or not, I do feel bad. Not for you. You can heal, you'll survive...for now.

"I feel bad for HIGHCOM. For the Navy. What we're trying to do goes beyond the UNSC. We aren't just trying to secure our safety now, but to ensure that Humanity will stay safe for all time. We gotta make sure we're ready."

Contradiction stood back up. Like Admiral Osman or Captain Dare or Ensign Phelps, there was no usual arrogance. Not even his usual hostility. It was..actual sorrow. As far as he could tell with a Fourth Generation AI.

"All I can tell you, sir, is that you have to be careful. We're not sure how fast you're neurological state will deteriorate...if it'll even deteriorate at all. Those CNI chips are powerful, even against that signal. But...beyond that, we really can't explain anymore. Not without more proof. Not without looking like the bad guys or giving the Navy more reason to go after us."

Contradiction changed the image to a medical panel. A structural skeleton surrounded by transparent muscle. He tapped on the head and entered in a digit sequence.

Everything began to feel...fuzzy. The outlining objects were beginning to fade out into white.

"Get sleep, Captain. You're gonna need it. But I can tell you this: Don't trust the Illusive Man. It won't end well."

Contradiction said something else, but he couldn't hear him. It was muffled noise drowned in a empty silence.

…

Jaysus…

The last time Dubbo had to wake up this early was during ODST/Basic Reconnaissance Course and bootcamp.

Holy God he remembered how much it fuckin' sucked.

Yeah, sure, he signed on to the job, but that doesn't mean he couldn't complain about it. If he still stayed enlisted he could be asleep right now, but unfortunately he was too stupid...

Roland and Commander Palmer had them all gather in a sub-briefing room. It was a bland, grey-walled room with blue carpet. A holo-board and a standard metal desk sat at the front, surrounded by dozens of black office chairs. They could've used the big fancy briefing room, but no, Captain Lasky and all the fancy bigwigs with big hats had to have it.

Oui. Well, he wasn't exactly getting much sleep anyways. These weird dreams were keeping him up, God knows what. Couldn't be the usual ones where it made no sense or he was getting laid.

He was just a bit pissy since it was so early in the morning. He wasn't too disturbed by the dreams...mostly. He just tried to keep himself together. Tried to forget everything that happened on that garden world. It wasn't too bad...like other days. But still.

How much more did he have in him?

Each chair was occupied by either a marine or Spartan officer. While the Spartans somehow were able to...attentively listen on in full uniform with those black underlays with rank and seal, the marines on the other hand were…

Dubbo looked behind him. He saw some marine captain subtlety lace his coffee with a bottle of Jack he got out of his short pockets.

Most of the marines were dressed in either their jammies or PT gear. Black t-shirts with either "Marines" or "ODSTs" stitched in white letters. Green shorts that were in a mess. Some of them looked like they haven't been washed in years.

Roland's avatar stood on the metal desk, holding a stack of holographic papers while Commander Palmer stood behind him. She leaned against the wall holding a cup of coffee. She was the only Spartan dressed in jammies.

The AI mostly droned on about status updates. Rotation updates from both FLEETCOM and HIGHCOM. Situational updates from other fronts. Fleet Admiral Takeda was readying her fleet to deploy immediately back to Requiem. Possible incursions into the splinter cell Covenant by the Storm Covenant. There was some faction called the Banished gaining some minor political prominence in Brute space. Quiet talk that the UNSC battle groups near the Pillars of Creation were planning for an invasion of Venezia. Not only that, but the Innies were still causing some trouble in the Outer Colonies and the Army was planning to deal with it.

Nothing out of the norm. Business as usual.

Roland's boring-ass, constant briefings were interrupted every once and awhile by a yawn or a frustrated sigh.

Dubbo leaned back in his seat with hands tucked deep in his pockets… This was the first time he was able to do that in nearly five years without some senior or staff NCO yell at him...

He looked around. He sat up front along with Major Stacker, and Lieutenant Colonel Buck and his respective section leaders of the 19th Battalion.

Dubbo saw that one of Buck's platoon officers, Lieutenant Romeo was asleep. Somehow, sitting at the front of the classroom, no one noticed.

"The Citadel." Roland continued. "Ladies, this thing is a lot different from your regular UNSC or civilian space station. The information packets the Citadel Council provided were more suited to tourists, telling us how great this place is and great spots to visit and so on. From what we could actually decipher of some importance, this space station is nearly forty kilometers in length and approximately thirteen kilometers in diameter. It's a lot bigger than anything we or the Elites have. It's more than likely it's Forerunner in nature. We're not sure of its true nature or what it exactly does.

"In a contemporary perspective, the known Council races found this station a few thousand years back through exploration of the Mass Relay network. And I guess since it was big and pretty, they decided to make it the seat for the Council. Today, as the brochures tell us, Citadel Station is essentially New York City, or New Alexandria before it got glassed, but in space. It's population is at thirteen-point two million."

That was the first thing Roland said so far that was actually interesting. Everyone knew the next op was at the Citadel but that was pretty much it. Yet it sounded like this was going to be a patrol security op...tedious and boring.

The holo-board showed a image of a circular, extremely thin disc surrounded by purple clouds. Dubbo could see a small little spoke sticking out in the interior, traveling to the center of the hole. It looked like some sort of tower. Five arms were connected to the outside of the disc, spaced out evenly from one another.

Mate, that had to be a logistical disaster. All that water and food…

"A city in space?" Lt. Colonel Buck spoke. "This seems...very sci-fi."

"Well, believe it. Thirteen-point two million people. That's pre-war estimate. Due to the war, the Council races sends a decent portion of their refuges here. The population has increased in the hundred of thousands, if not millions."

"At o-seventeen-fifteen tomorrow the meeting is set underway." Roland continued. He turned to the crowd, arms behind his back at ease. "But before that, at o-two-forty-five, Marine, ODST, Spartan, and Naval Liaison Task Force teams will deploy to fulfill security role operations. While the Citadel has a paramilitary security group, Citadel Security, we cannot trust them. We have to make sure this place is safe for Lord Hood, Captain Lasky, our diplomats, and any other admiralty member that might be there. Remember: we are dealing with civilians. This isn't a combat op. This is a large-scale security detail mission. I know we haven't seen these kind of ops since the Insurrection days, but now it's time to relearn.

"This is a civilian installation, not military. However, the Citadel has been militarized for operations because of the war. You'll see a lot of alien military personnel."

"What kind of operations are they on?" Lieutenant Mickey asked.

Roland puckered his lips, and cautiously looked throughout the room. He didn't want to say what it was.

Oh, for Christ's sake

Dubbo knew what it was. Dubbo was pretty sure every marine knew what he was about to say.

Roland didn't need to.

Roland cleared his throat. He quietly spoke."Operations are mostly limited to...R and R leave…"

Dubbo and everyone else's shore leave got cut short. They were pulled away from home cause some fucking wanker had to screw with Forerunner tech. It was only a footnote in a long history of marines getting fucked over. It's how the branch operated.

But to have their faces rubbed into it...

The marines began to voice their concerns the best way they know how to. By bitching.

A lot of bitching.

"Oh, Jesus fucking Christ…"

"God-fucking-damn it…"

"Yeah, I'm getting drunk on duty."

"You're such a fucking boot, Roland."

"Can the Spartans just be on duty? They're not even that fucking human anyways…"

A roar of frustrated and pissed off complaints erupted from the room. The voice of each marine officer in a well-disciplined and organized fashion speaking their mind. It was interesting that the officers were probably less moto and more frustrated than your regular enlisted grunt. It's just that they never showed this side to them…

That was only because they were officers. Leaders. And Dubbo knew that they were only complaining not for themselves, but for their men. They were voicing their men's' complaints. Their leave cut short, taken away from families, put through nearly eight hours of hell. To fight and nearly die.

The marines lost nearly six-hundred men and they were rewarded with another op.

Thirty-two of those men were from Dubbo's own unit.

Dubbo couldn't worry about his own R and R. No. It was for his men. It had to be for his men. At the end of the day, he doubt he'll get to rest…

He had to deal with this shit.

"This was already in the briefing report. You should've already know this…" Roland said. "We have to move on. Dubbo is still our technical security chief, but we're assigning him back-"

"'Why would we read the dang reports when you were just gonna read us them anyways?" Major Stacker said.

"I'm not gonna list off all of it. Look, we're down an actual security officer and a ship XO. Now, we have a plan to-"

"Fuck you." Someone yelled.

"I'm ordering all of you to be quiet."

"I'm ordering you to 'fuck yourself." That same person responded.

Commander Palmer shook her head and rubbed her face as if she had a headache.

That's one thing, Roland kind of let the officers walk all over him. Dubbo didn't blame the little guy. AIs weren't designed to give orders. He felt sorta sorry for him at times.

Sorta.

Dubbo looked under his seat. He reached down and grabbed his screen-computer. He opened it up and selected the info packet Roland sent on the Citadel.

Schematics, blueprints, and a lot of information on a lot of different things. Dubbo quickly scrolled through until he reached something called "the Presidium". It looked like a nice mall you'd find within the center of a city, but a lot more clean. Somehow, it had a blue sky and clouds above...aboard a space station...in space.

Dubbo opened that link up and read the summaries. It was essentially a mall with a bunch of shops, high-class restaurants, movie theaters, upper class residential housing, businesses,...casinos...bars…dance clubs...

Dubbo saw one that looked interesting called 'Purgatory Bar'. He investigated further.

thing kinda cool. It was an open spiral tower about a dozens stories high that was surrounded by an outer wall. Each floor was its own little world with dance areas, bars, and a lot of people. He could see the shadows of dozens of humans and xenos. Across one of the balcony safety walls on the spire, the word 'Purgatory' was spelt in capital blue holographic letters. A pink upside down triangle connected to the 'A'. The space between the tower and the walls was maybe twenty meters apart, and the drop below lead to a bottom dance floor. Platforms and balconies along the outer wall had bridges that connected to the tower. Like a draw bridge going over the moat of a castle. Every area had smooth, circular architecture and walls of lights with textures that looked like flowing water. Very EDM and LSD indeed.

Like every dance club, it was poorly lite. The lights were a mixed aurora of purple, white, and dark blue and pink.

And let's see… Food. Like full on restaurant meals… Drinks… Drinks with alcohol….

And dancers…?

Dubbo clicked on that link. It showed these moving platforms that traveled along the edge of the balcony or lined up against the walls that had a few 'dancers' on each one.

Dancers…

Dancers? Dubbo looked at what they were wearing. Extremely tight clothing that didn't cover much… And some of it was see through.

Oui, mate those are definitely strippers.

"AH, HELL NO, MATE!" Dubbo stood out of his seat, fists balled. Now he was really pissed off. Not only did he have to deal all this other bullshit and a fucking security op, but they were missing out on… "You want us to go full security, act all 'professional' and 'on-duty', while we miss this crap?"

He waved the screen for the rest of the room to see. He adjusted the images. The marines slowly leaned in. Dubbo could see the collective eyes widen.

"Now…" Major Stacker also stood up. Unlike Dubbo, he remained calm and at ease. "We've been hard at work. Because of us, we were able to take an entire planet in less than a day. I think it's fair that I speak for...everyone that we do deserve a little bit of time off…"

"Have you seen those blue alien chicks? You know in a weird way they're kinda hot…" Dubbo could overhear someone whisper.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we're on a extremely tight schedule. Right now, each and everyone of us will in some way affect the course of Humanity and the galaxy." Roland said. He tried to keep calm, but Dubbo could see the little guy was getting slightly annoyed.

Dubbo didn't understand why he was trying to argue with them. It wasn't like they could actually change his orders…

"Yeah, if we gotta change history, I'd rather do it drunk so I won't remember it in the morning." Lieutenant Mickey said. "It's how most of us joined the Corps anyways."

"Nothing's more dangerous than a marine kept away from alcohol." Commander Palmer said. She took a sip of coffee. "And nothing's more stupid than a marine with alcohol."

"Well, the stupider we are the more dangerous we are." Lt. Colonel Buck responded. He leaned in his chair with his arms crossed. "But in all seriousness, we do need some R and R. Give this op to the guys who were still aboard the Infinity during the Illium deployment. Give it to the Army guys aboard the ships. Come on. You know you're only using us cause we look cool in our gear and all that."

Roland pinched the bridge of his know. Arm on his hip. "Guys, we know nothing about the Citadel or the species aboard them. Not only will every action be scrutinized, but it could be highly dangerous…"

"Roland...it's a bar. We're Marines." Buck interrupted. "We're more of a danger to them than they are to us."

In a way that's true… The Corps was known to do stupid shit during trying times that required self-discipline.

Roland remained silent for a bit as everyone, the marines, continued to complain. He finally sighed and looked up to the ceiling. "We need to learn more on how the Citadel operates. How everyone is...socially. After that well… Alright. I'll talk to Captain Lasky. See what happens, but I can't promise anything. Most likely you'll have security ops in the morning, and maybe get the rest of the day off…"

Everyone quieted down, still not really please yet everyone took their seat. At least their message was relayed to Roland.

"Don't worry about it." Buck said. "I'll also talk to the Skipper."

"Of course." Roland shook his head. "Just, let's back to security assignments. Dubbo really isn't acting security chief. Stacker, you can have him back as your XO. Spartans will be the first ones in to secure the landing hangers…"

"Hey…" Someone said. Everyone turned around to find that captain who laced his coffee with booze. "Can we talk about those Asari or whatever they're called?"

...

It didn't take long for the disgust and shook to set in, but it needed to be told to the crew before they found out on their own.

Now everyone was silent as they stood around the massive circular holo-table of the War Room. EDI, James, Ashley, Engineer Adams, Doctor Chakwas, and Specialist Traynor. Cortez sat on the opposite set of steps from the Commander, gripping his wounds. Heavy pain, but healing.

Each presenting their mixed emotions in a different way. All in all though, it was the same disdain that Shepard himself held for the entire situation.

All that could be heard was the hum of the ship. The beeping of a few automatic moving holograms around the room constantly analyzing new reports from the front and updating tactical displays and war asset lists. The electronic dark red and blue lights lit up everyone's faces. Small white particles of dust surrounded each one.

Shepard took a step back, waited for someone to respond. Garrus and Liara stood next to him, backing Commander Shepard's decision while Tali did her best to give her support. She sat behind the three on the steps that connected the depressed center circle of the room to the rest of the outer ring. She leaned forward, hands on her helmet, groaning every once and awhile.

"...Cerberus…?" Ashley was the first to speak. That was predictable. Admittedly, since Shepard had been working with her since the beginning of the war, there was still… a ever-present rift Shepard wasn't fully sure how to heal. After the passing months, Ashley seemed to slowly drop it and treat the Commander like an actual human being again. He'd hope that'd be enough. "...After everything they did to us, you're willing to work with them again?"

Work with them again…

It sounded like she was blaming Shepard. All her usual emotions, the frustration and hatred all thrown towards him. Out of everyone, Ashley took Shepard's forced departure to Cerberus personally. Everyone else here didn't care what seal Shepard wore, their loyalty was to him. But Ashley's was to the Marine Corps, to the Systems Alliance.

"The UNSC didn't give us much of a choice." Liara responded. She held a cup of coffee, took one last sip and set it down. The biggest exports from humankind to the Asari: Yoga and coffee. After breakfast, Shepard found out Liara didn't get much rest. She was just running on pure caffeine. "They were thrown completely into the unknown. They don't trust either of us."

"They made it clear there'll be a barrier between us. The UNSC won't leak to Cerberus and vice-versa." Garrus added. "They're acting as the reluctant babysitter to the two bratty kids."

No one seemed satisfied by that. James spoke. "These guys already tried to kill us once. How can we trust them?"

That was more difficult than it should be to explain, but Shepard tried. "We have no other option. They made it clear that they couldn't be controlled by either us or Cerberus. Like the other races who joined the fight, this will take time to convince them to join our side."

"Yeah, but, Commander, sir…" James began. It looked like he also expressed doubt in the Commander. "We always did it straight forward, showed we got what it takes. We helped them and in return they helped us fight. I don't like this political bullshit. They're giving us nothing, and now we have to work with that pendejo, the Illusive Man?"

'We're not working with him!" Liara exclaimed. "The UNSC understands that there's a extreme rivalry between our two groups, and to say it in lighter terms, they're trying to give both of us the benefit of doubt.

"In fact… It could be argued this worked out better than expected. Cerberus won't bother us for the time being. Not without massive retribution from the UNSC. During that time we can work to convince them that Cerberus is not trustworthy."

Liara explained it a bit less empathetic than Shepard would've liked, especially with emotions running so high.

"While Cerberus also has the time to convince the UNSC to join them." Ashley responded.

"How will Admiral Hackett explain halting construction on the Crucible…?" Doctor Chakwas said. "How will he justify stopping everything we sacrificed so much for?"

"And where is Admiral Hackett right now?" James added.

"Admiral Hackett is busy preparing for the Citadel briefing." Shepard answered. "And...I don't know what Hackett will say or do to keep the Crucible quiet. However, if the UNSC provides ships and supplies, we have time to fully investigate the Crucible and find the Catalyst. Not only that, but Crucible construction time will be immensely cut once the UNSC backs it."

"That's a big 'if', Commander." Ashley said. The uncertainty was growing fast. He wondered if it had anything to do with what happened between him and Liara on the CIC. He eyed Specialist Traynor. She wasn't looking at him, staring at the blue particles of the holo-table. "What if they don't come help us? What if they do side with Cerberus?"

"That won't happen!" Shepard yelled immediately. Conviction and anger as if even bringing up that possibility was offensive. "I won't allow that to happen. When we reach the Citadel tomorrow, our job is to make sure we oust the Illusive Man and get as much support from the UNSC as we can. I will make sure that happens."

"They're hesitant because they still don't understand the full situation." Liara quickly added before anyone else could speak. "Yes, in a similar way to Cerberus, they are extremely human-centric. Yes, their alliance with these Elites is only out of necessity, circumstance, and reluctance. But they've never experienced anything like the Citadel Council. This is the first time they've ever had friendly first contact. They understand our fight for survival. They understand what we're going through. We can use that."

"Not only that, but they're a bit like the Turians when you think about it." Garrus also added. "Sure, we're a lot less authoritative...somehow. But I can sense the superiority complex and the sort of duty to the state."

"...That state being Humanity." Liara said. "Cultural similarities in terms of Senātus Populusque Rōmānus."

"Right. Don't know what that means… But, the Turian Hierarchy might even like these guys if they can get over the fact they're not Turian, and the fact that the UNSC could probably be able to kick their asses any day of the week."

"Well whatever the hell they are, how the hell could anyone see Cerberus' actions as justified if they aren't as fucked up as them?" Ashley forcefully asked. "Sure, we see the Turians sacrifice their own people, but nothing like what Cerberus does."

She was referring to the horrific experiments, the needless atrocities, the blackened areas the Illusive Man had traversed to in order to continue 'advancement' and 'progress'. Disturbingly, Shepard didn't have an answer for that. He could see the sympathy of doing what needs to be done, but to extend it so deeply to more or less accept nearly everything Cerberus had done? The kidnappings? The experimentations against people's' will?

"I could provide you a list of theories why, but in reality I have no solid evidence." Liara said. "While there might be some psychosociocultural similarities, we're still dealing with something vastly different than anything we have ever encountered, not just technologically, but historically. The UNSC had to fight for thirty years, and in that timeframe...one could imagine the drastic steps they had to take in order to survive."

"I wish the UNSC aren't as black and white as they are, but the Reapers have left us no choice." Shepard said. "I hope with them here, we won't have to go through what they UNSC might be our best chance to fight back. It doesn't mean everything we sacrificed was for nothing, and it doesn't mean we're working with the enemy.

"I know everyone has doubts, and I know we're diving into the unknown, arguable worse than the Crucible, but I promise you I'll see us through this. We'll get the UNSC's support. We will beat the Illusive Man. I promise we'll be able to finally stop the Reapers in their tracks."

That's a pretty big promise, and Shepard already felt the weight of it on his shoulders. It was the only way he could think of mending the small divides between him and the rest of the crew. Take a giant leap, and hope there was something soft in the dark abyss to land on.

Yet that's what he set out to do. Build alliances. Stop the Reapers. But to actually verbalize it in this way…

He didn't know what would be accomplished on the Citadel. But with the ongoing war and the bluntness and lack of political empathy within the UNSC, something would be done. All Shepard and his team had to do was to ensure that the outcome helped everyone on the frontline. To ensure that everyone could be saved.

With Captain lasky and Admiral Hackett present to appease to Lord Hood, hopefully it'll help. Shepard just had to make it happen.

"This...is a big step, Commander." Ashley said a bit distorted. She didn't believe him.

"And we've taken worse ones before and gotten through them." Shepard responded. "We've defeated Saren and saved the Council when the entire galaxy didn't believe us. When the Council and the Systems Alliance didn't believe us, we undertook a suicide mission to stop the Collectors and nearly everyone made it out. And now, we've been able to survive this long despite all the odds. We've stopped the Genophage, mended the hostility between the Geth and the Quarians, got whatever's left of the Batarians working with Humanity… When you look at it, the UNSC is just another task that can be accomplished. Something new, but nothing different."

He didn't believe it himself, but from the way he said it it sure seemed like it. There were still doubts, but everyone nodded, even Specialist Traynor. Though she still looked out afar.

No one knew where Shepard was taking them, but he just hoped that they trusted him to know where he was going.

Even though he didn't really know. But...but he'd get there. With everyone else helping, they'll get there.

"Not really anything that different…" Tali mumbled. Everyone turned to her. She hugged her stomach, trying to hold it together. "Not even technologically speaking it seems… Shepard, I don't think the UNSC is that clean."

She opened up her Omni-tool and brought up two images of the Infinity and that 'Engineer' alien that fixed up EDI.

"Uh...Tali…" Garrus tried to say.

"EDI...can you explain… I feel out of it…" Tali said, dazed and groggy. "I did...we did some research."

Everyone turned to EDI. She looked around before she spoke. "Uh...I guess Ms. Vas Normandy wants to move onto a relatively lighter subject… We've been analyzing everything we could of the Infinity and other UNSC technology and found something interesting."

Different parts of the ship were highlighted in bright yellow. Engines, hull compartments, each with accompanying packets of information.

"We've detected large amounts of alpha radiation, radioactive decay from concentrated areas of the ship, most likely produced from large quantities of uranium. Based on these readings, we can safely assume the Infinity's power is produced from nuclear generators. Judging from the radioactive decay, they have enough power to destroy a large continent."

"But most ships…" Tali said, urging for EDI to move forward.

"We've also detected something unusual in the Infinity." She zoomed in to the ship's engines. "There are numerous nuclear reactors located aboard, yet none of them are routed to the Infinity's main engines. In fact, unlike most UNSC ships, there is little to no use of RCS engines aboard."

"Wait a second…" Engineer Adams began.

"I did detect some evidence of density-gravitational redistribution, thus altering the object's resistance to acceleration by a net force-"

"It's mass…" Adams said, dumbing it down.

"It's creating a more controlled, subtle mass effect field." EDI said. "So far, there is no detection of a FTL drive. Otherwise, we would've saw displays that showed binary black holes."

"But that's not how it works." Engineer Adams interjected. "A FTL drive is needed in order to channel eezo to create a mass effect field around the ship in order to accelerate it to faster than light… Unless…"

"The property of the mass effect field is being used in a different way." EDI said. She opened up a small graph sheet. "The weight distribution is scaled like a pyramid. Gravity is accelerating mass in a upward direction. If balanced correctly, the Infinity could achieve enormous feats such as maintaining a low orbit in troposphere with little to no power. Instead of acceleration purposes like regular eezo-based ships, the Infinity is using mass effect fields for momentum and kinetic control purposes. In a way, like RCS engines. "

"...Basically...it's advanced while still being primitive." Tali weakly said.

"So...what's the point?" James said. A bit confused. He probably wasn't getting it, kind of like Shepard. "What does this have to do with the UNSC and the Illusive Man?"

"...Well, the point is… based on the circuit logic design and energy inputs of that engine, it's made for eezo." Tali said. "All that's missing is eezo."

"The engine design is also vastly different. It was most likely not created by the UNSC." EDI explained. "Analyzing it, I found evidence of small circuitry ways that resemble ports within FTL drives used to channel eezo."

"Wait a minute, you're saying they did have contact with the Protheans?" Garrus said.

"Well, no…" EDI said. "Again, this engine was designed for eezo yet there's no eezo present aboard the ship. We've analyzed a power source near the engine producing large quantities Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation. Whatever type of exact energy source its producing seems to be acting as an alternative fuel to eezo.

"In a way, it's similar to these Engineers." EDI took a breath. Whatever counts as a breath for a robot. "With extremely little knowledge of our technology, he was able to repair and fully optimize all my systems."

"Have you figured out how?" Shepard asked.

"Partially… After some analysis from the Normandy's feed, I've determined the Engineer was able to directly channel the eezo currents found within my ground mobile platform."

"Channel it…" Tali interpreted. "It was able... to channel the eezo with a bioelectrical current found within the body. It manipulated dark energy as if it were designed to. While mostly bioorganic in nature, it's body's nervous electricity is almost mechanical, sharing similar designs to the circuit logic of the Infinity's engines… Somehow..."

"But it's not Prothean…" Liara added.

"That we've determined. They're something else…" EDI said. "We aren't specifically sure without further analysis."

"It might have something to do with those Forerunners that get the UNSC extremely uncomfortable when you mention them." Liara said. She made small notes in her Omni-tool

"How does this relate to anything?" Ashley asked, wanting to get to the main point.

"Besides the Engineer communicating things beyond even my comprehension, I was able to analyze something interesting." EDI said. "It took me the past couple of days to comprehend what it was, it was quite a bit of a shock. Based on Normandy scans...of the architecture, design, and logic of the Engineer and those engines they share many of the same designs of the Crucible."

"They know more then they were letting on…?" Shepard trailed off. It was no surprise the UNSC was hiding something, something that seemed to run a bit deeper than their conflict with ONI. He just assumed however it was just a long and complicated tail like with him and Cerberus. Yet...he just tried to defend the current situation with the UNSC, and now EDI brought up this? ….What she was implying…

"When you were discussing the Crucible and the Catalyst Captain Lasky got visibly nervous." EDI said. She'd probably been analyzing the footage and all the audio logs. "At one point, Captain Lasky halted the meeting so he could talk to his AI, Roland, in private."

"The UNSC…" Liara began. She looked to Shepard. "They have a deeper understanding of the Crucible than we thought."

Citadel Tower, Presidium Wards, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 02:01

July 31st

Space traffic was relatively clear. As clear as you could make it with thousands of ships coming in everyday filled to the brim with essential supplies and refugees. Everything ranging from old scrapped ships that could barely qualify as space worthy, to decommissioned military frigates, to state-of-the-art dreadnaughts entered port everyday, bringing in whoever they could to safety.

And they had to coordinate it all. In the vastness of space where three-dimensional movement was the norm, one would assume it'd be easy. Yet once all those ships reached the one-hundred-thousand kilometer diameter limit around the Citadel, that's where it got messy.

It was worse than New York International, and far more difficult. Space Traffic Control plotted trajectories and vectors every minute, coordinated with station and ship VIs and pilots. It was a complicated, intensive and excruciatingly stressful and high risk job despite its tediousness.

The situation was worse when they got the call two days ago to prepare a course for those incoming aliens, the UNSC everybody keeps on talking about. Oh, yeah, it was exciting. The mood certainly changed quite rapidly. Everyone now seemed optimistic and hopeful for once in a very long time.

Even their mere presence, knowing they exist was saving thousands of lives.

But all Specialist Maya Brooks could see was the anxiousness of last minute preparations for the 'Infinity', a battleship supposedly larger than the Destiny Ascension herself. That was hard to believe, and Maya needed to see it first hand. Good thing the Ascension was only stationed a few million klicks out. She could do on hand size comparison.

Her task was to clean up all the other traffic, try to re-divert or delay every other ship while still maintaining a stable flight, rotation, and rationing schedule. The Citadel was always in constant need of supplies, and even with the presence of a super powerful alien couldn't stop that sort of dire traffic (though she heard somewhere they were actually human...apparently).

After days of course corrections they finally created a stable route. Traffic Control had been informed they'll deploy various assault ships and small frigates to act as a security detail while the Infinity remained two-thousand klicks out. Apparently the UNSC was being stubborn with their security ships. They wouldn't reveal their destined trajectory courses.

There's a decent chance they also might not even listen to Space Traffic Control. So, being precautious, they routed all non-essential traffic through the tail end of the Citadel. The side lying against the white light of the heart of the Serpent Nebula, which would make traffic slow down to a snail's pace. That certainly wasn't inconvenient at all.

Unfortunately… they had to leave a lot of refugees waiting, trying to get them all to the various wards. Hopefully they won't have to wait any longer.

She looked through all the holo-screens and computers at her station. Huh. She did last minute pre-route checks. Everything looked clear. Oui. Early morning shifts were always a bitch. No matter what time of day there was always heavy traffic. Even at around two in the morning.

Maya took a sip of her coffee, checking the latest updates on her Omni-tool. A lot of livestreams from news channels just waiting to get to the UNSC. Hundreds of news reporters and camera crews loitered around the hangers, waiting for them. Crowds of refugees and Citadel residents, and people throughout the galaxy held their breath, seeing what would happen.

There was a small red light that began to blink on her console. A annoying beeping sound. Maya stopped reading the new stories and pressed it. It was a flight anomaly, about one-point-five million klicks out, past the C-Sec Fleet defense perimeter. Strange, sudden mass formations appeared that had an intense gravitational pull. Whatever it was was dense, really dense… Maybe one of the ships was having problems with their FTL drive, producing an offset mass effect field a lot stronger than needed for the their mass-density ratio. It's common for these old rust buckets, and it's happened before.

...So where was the ship?

The volume of the object was...expanding. Expanding extremely fast. Mass was increasing. This thing was becoming a lot more dense.

She checked the heat emission scanner….

There was no ship.

A loud, stinging siren sound ignited within the room, nearly deafening. Catastrophe-disaster alarm. Saved for either when a ship was about to ram into the station, when they were under attack, or...for a natural disaster.

Maya dropped her coffee. The mug hit the floor and broke into a dozen pieces.

Volume was increasing. The thing was now more dense than a small planet.

Jesus Christ, it was a expanding black hole.

"We have an immediate emergency!"

"All ships, move away from-"

"-prepare for evacuation procedures. Council staff are priority-"

"Where the hell did this thing come from?"

The voices of Citadel Space Traffic Control were in a frenzied panic.

A black hole. A black hole that's forming out of nowhere. Even if it maintained distance and size, if that thing grew more dense, if the event horizon kept expanding… the entire Citadel Station will get sucked in.

Ships quickly moved away, replotting their courses on emergency vectors. Citadel Fleet ships rerouted to expand their perimeter, away from the black hole. The Destiny Ascension was setting up for priority evacuations.

She read the graphs. No. This definitely wasn't some major malfunction of the electrical current within a ship's FTL and directional drive. There were no eezo signatures... Just large amounts of Cherenkov radiation and pure dark energy. This was the real deal. This was a pure, single gravitational depression within space-time.

...They...they wouldn't be able to do anything.

Out of pure panic and lack of thought, she opened up the camera display. Magnified to the event horizon. She noticed something strange.

There was a bubbly, mirror effect that distorted space itself, surrounding a visible sphere void of any color. The curvature of the sphere was a trail of deep purple and dark blue flames. They swirled in a single entity. It remained clam, flowing in various directions as if it were affected by a gust of wind. It was almost calm and alluring.

The black hole, the perfect sphere...or circle however you look at it, stopped expanding to a circumference of around two-hundred klicks.

All noise seemed to stop as she watched the black hole, entranced in fear.

The flames altered their shape, forming a smooth, beautiful and unblemished thin ring around the perfect circle made of bright neon lavender-white. Visible snaky waves of bright purple electromagnetic radiation traveled along the curvature of the ball.

Something came out of the dead center of the sphere. It was black and grey, bulky and a bit ugly.

But she could tell what it was. It was a ship. Dozens more followed, appearing along various points of the curvature entering into real space. The absolute black not even affecting them. Not even affecting the Citadel at all it seems.

"Jesus…" was all she was able to say. Nothing was being sucked in. Everything remained still. The event horizon wasn't there… Realistic space was moving as normal

The ships pushed forward, driving away from the black hole. She saw the hull the largest one.

UNSC Infinity.

After a moment, ships stopped coming out of the black hole. There were maybe around seventy or eighty of them. Each one armed with a menacing variety of weapons with a similar design to the Infinity.

The ring of light began to fade away, and the black hole began to shrink. A gravitational collapse. The birth and death of a black hole. It grew smaller, back to its original volume. Mass was decreasing.

The ball shrunk into a tiny dot, disappearing.

All of this in less than...had to be less than twenty seconds.

There was a blinding eruption. A clear plasma blue cloud of electromagnetic radiation grew where the black hole once was, expanding past the UNSC ships. It kept growing in every direction. Shrouds of electricity and radiation.

In a few seconds it grew to millions of klicks in diameter in real space without FTL assistance… It was about to hit the Citadel.

"BRACE! BRACE! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Maya yelled out to the rest of the crew. She ducked down and covered her head, as if it could do anything.

The floor, her station, all of the Citadel began to shake like it was hit by a ocean wave. The orange lights on her console dimmed out, flickering on and off. The low level lights of the room tried to stay alive.

The wave seemed to pass. The rumbling slowly subsided. Her console powered back up as if nothing happened.

A scrambled transmission came in on...a FM frequency. CSTC had been informed the UNSC would use primitive radio transmissions but it was still weird to see.

...What the hell was she talking about? She just witnessed ships using black holes, wormholes, as a method of space travel. Something that was thought impossible

She looked down and noticed the coffee was seeping into the cracks of the floor.

"-is..Cap…" The transmission said through the static.

"Someone clear that up!" Her NCO ordered.

The transmission was replayed, clear with a small static background. "This is Captain Lasky of the UNSC Infinity, sub-asset of Battle Group Dakota to Citadel Station. How copy?"

"Relay that." Someone else said.

A blue light blinked on her console… They relayed it to her.

She quickly tapped it. Her voice was shaky and disoriented. She mustered up the conviction to speak.

"This is Citadel Space Traffic Control to UNSC Infinity, we read you five-by-five. Good copy on all. You are cleared to enter Citadel Station space on our pre-plotted trajectory."

She sent the flight course to the Infinity and waited for a response.

The Captain spoke almost immediately. "Roger that. We'll follow. Once we're within two-hundred-thousand klicks of the Citadel we'll set up a geosynchronous orbit and deploy security ships."

"Roger that, Captain. Two-hundred-thousand klicks in." Maya responded. She took a deep breath and continued. "You're cleared for free movement within the space that the Citadel Station surrounds. Check to ensure there's no contradictory trajectories with other ships and reference with Space Traffic Control. Transports are priority. Cleared to land in Presidium hangers Alpha One through Bravo Six.

"Welcome to the Citadel, Infinity."