Archive of Our Own ^beta

So I see you all enjoyed our opener to this gargantuan story.

Well I hope we can continue this trend with this one cause we're getting started now.

A lot of questions have been asked with many to be answered as the story goes on. This is gonna be a long haul, let me tell you.

We have a lot of work cut out for us and with how much we have to write, I'm just aching to get to it.

That means there is a lot to do right now.

Let's get to it.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 2: Where it begins.

Journal Entry IV

The start of this century… is difficult to comprehend in hindsight.

It feels so distant. all things considered now. We had done so much in such a short amount of time that it felt like centuries of work.

What should have been a start to a new era to prosper and grow is now a start to conflicts.

It just happened all so sudden.

The growing threat of our own kind was enough of a catalyst to begin the more… immoral decisions.

Was it fate? Was it destiny? Eventuality or the inevitable?

It is strange really. A rare instance of me being speechless.

I guess that's what happens when I get too sentimental about the past.

All my choices and my decisions, my experiments, my programs.

Excuse me.

I didn't mean to ramble.

I know few if at all would read this but at the very least if anyone would, they wouldn't want to hear my meaningless drivel of my emotions acting up.

The start of the 26th century was the beginning of shifting times for the UNSC, her allies and the galaxy as a whole. One would say it took some time getting there but as we learned that we're not alone, the entire universe is always shifting whether we know it or not.

It was only a matter of time until it just caught up to us.

End of Journal Entry.

2500: Kuat is discovered and also becomes a major shipyard world by the UNSC.

UNSC Roadrunner

Vice-Admiral Dodonna stands at the bridge of the frigate, overlooking the construction of a brand new shipyard that would serve the UNSC and her allies in their expanse of the stars.

It would also be a major boon in the coming conflicts in regard to the damn Insurrection.

He saw ships of Mon Cala, Human and Wookiee design all flying about in tandem with one another as space elevators were built to link up with the ring that would be constructed around the planet.

The Vice-Admiral couldn't help but praise the UNSC's luck in finding allies such as the Mon Calamari.

Their expertise in ship building was beyond astonishing.

The old shipyards they once had have undergone extensive reconstructions thanks in no small part to the Mon Cala.

Though building ships the size of cruisers, frigates, corvettes and so on would take time, having three species working together for such an objective would cut the time down drastically.

From certain estimations from a few scientists, the UNSC would have upwards of perhaps three to four thousand star ships within the next two decades. Maybe even more.

Corellia, Mon Cala, Bestine IV, The Bilbringi system, Byss and now Kuat serve as the primary Shipyards for the United iNtergalactic Space Command.

And thanks to the addition of yet another shipyard, the production of star fighters was on a steady upward trajectory.

Already a few thousand had been made.

X-wings and Arc-wings.

The first in a line of starfighters that would serve the UNSC from here until the end.

It is a shame though.

In a few hundred years, humanity had expanded rapidly across the stars with many colony worlds settled upon with the numbers up to 1100 by this point when adding the colonies they now shared with the Mon Cala and Wookiees.

And yet, in all their advancements and capabilities they still could not stop the inevitable universal pull of conflict.

It was almost frustrating by this point.

Regardless, there was work to be done.

And Vice-Admiral Dodonna would see it through to the end.

2501

May 29: John Forge is born on Earth.

June 2: Skirmish at Theta Ursae Majoris

*This is Breaking news with Gjool Menya and Roy Barton.*

A human male in his mid-thirties with a Mon Cala around the same age sat within a newsroom facing a camera.

"Good evening." Gjool, the Calamari addressed the camera straight away. "We have recently received word of a skirmish that has recently occurred with the Theta Ursae Majoris System between UNSC forces and the growing insurgency spread out through the out colonies."

"This is the third recent skirmish between the two forces within the TUM system." Roy spoke next. "Naval reports that Vice-Admiral Preston Cole was the one in command of the UNSC Destroyer named Gorgon was seen engaging in the identified Insurrection Charon Class Light-frigate of the Bellerophon yet it's captain has yet to be identified."

"This is only the most recent battle between the growing Insurrection and the UNSC, with many wondering when will the ceasefire occur as the conflict has been ongoing for seven years now." Gjool stated.

"Many have wondered if autonomy should be given to the Insurrection yet the UNSC, MCC(Mon Cala Coalition) And Wookiee Leadership have argued strongly against such an idea due to the outer colonies holding such importance in regard to raw resources and goods."

"Some have stated that had there been a compromise made, this unofficial Civil War may not have occurred yet that remains as speculation up to this point."

"With Insurrection growing with the number of casualties increasing with it, the UNSC have yet to declare formal war or a state of emergency."

"And in light… Excuse me. We have just received word from UNSC officials that the Insurrection controlled Frigate has fled the battle with the UNSC Gorgon being sent to repairs."

September 3rd- A young Catherine Halsey continues to defy educational standards at Endymion Gifted, the Koletre-Browning University's Dean of Biological Science funds her education and relocation to the university on Circumstance at the age of Nine.

September 15th- Future Admiral Gial Ackbar enlists in the Mon Cala/UNSC Navy, quickly rising through the ranks as a promising Navy operative.

2502

March 13: Jerald Mulkey Ander, the leader of the Secessionist Union on Harvest, is assassinated by Avery Johnson as part of Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE.

May: The UNSC Gorgon is damaged in the Skirmish at Capella with Insurrectionist forces, resulting in the deaths of 32 crew members and requiring her to be laid up in a space dock for one month for repairs.

November 9: Preston Cole writes to his brother Michael, informing him that he has married Lyrenne Castilla, and that she is pregnant.

2503, June 13: Admiral Harold Stanforth sends UNSC Transmission 08871D-00 to Preston Cole, informing him that his second wife, Lyrenne Castilla is a high ranking Insurrectionist leader. Cole is given three hours to bring her in but finds that she has already fled.

August 13: Ellen Anders is born on Arcadia.

2504

January 2: A battle takes place in the Theta Ursae Majoris System between the UNSC and the Insurrectionists.

June 19: James Cutter is sent to the Officer Candidate School where he was taught Command and Navigation.

2506

February 5th: Zaeed Massani is born.

March 19th: Orion Project the first attempt by the Colonial Military Administration to create and train teams of super-soldiers for covert military operations in the Outer Colonies—is deactivated. Though the soldiers were effective, their abilities fall short of original expectations, and they are far too expensive to develop and field. The soldiers in the program are reassigned to various special operations units.

July 4th: The first successful cloning of a full human brain is performed.

August 23rd: Fondor is discovered and turned into another major shipyard world for the UNSC marking shipyards up to seven.

2507:

UNSC Colony Circumstance, Koletre-Browning University.

It was a traditional college room with multiple elevated seats within a circular room all facing in the direction of a single desk before multiple black boards and holo-displays.

Currently, there were displays of the human anatomy though in a digital sense as in actuality it was an AI that the class was studying.

Before the class stood a young man with brown hair and blue eyes with a fair complexion. There was a slight ruggedness to him, indicating a more battered or seasoned individual if one could call him that.

The trained eye of a marine or ODST would spot a soldier when they see one.

Though he was no ordinary soldier so to speak.

No he was a unique case amongst most UNSC personnel.

*THRRRRRRRRRR*

The class looked up from their work, hearing the sound of the bell indicating that class was over and it was time to move on to their next lessons.

They began standing up out of their seats, packing away their books and data pads whilst their professor spoke up.

"Alright students, remember you have finals coming up and once again I would like you all to thank Mr. Alec Ryder on your way out for being today's guest speaker." A Mon Cala Professor said as human, Wookiee, and Mon Cala students filtered out of the classroom, thanking Alec Ryder.

Alec, former Orion operative as of last year was honorably discharged from service due to not bringing in the results the UNSC wanted. He was a bit miffed but could understand their reasoning so to speak. Most of the operatives that had undergone the experimental augmentation wound up having their bodies rejecting the invasive substances.

They were just too developed and it proved to be a danger so to speak as several had begun developing symptoms of degenerative conditions that led to a litany of physical and mental problems for some of the personnel that volunteered.

Thankfully, he was not one of them.

After being released from the UNSC, Alec pursued AI advancements seeing how important they can be in the field of battle and helped reduce lives being lost to the insurrection. He can attest to this as they had been instrumental in several conflicts against the Insurrection, one of which was during Operation CHARLEMAGNE in later 2497.

As he was packing away his equipment, one young student approached him from behind.

"Excuse me, Alec Ryder I presume."

He turned to see a young teen human, female with jet black hair and silvery blue eyes.

"Yes that would be me." Alec said with a nod. "May I help you with anything? The presentation is already over miss… "

"Halsey, Catherine Halsey."

"Halsey?" Alec repeated, deep in thought for a moment. "You mean the same Halsey that has been the talk of the school ever since I stepped foot on the university? That Halsey?"

Halsey only smirked slightly though she nodded with a slight reverence in her tone as she addressed the former Orion Candidate. "I'm very impressed with your work on the AI coding matrix. It sounds far more complex than most of what I've read as of late."

Alec shook his head with a rueful smile. "Only in theory seeing as the technology is limited at the moment. There are several key components my work is missing for this to be applicable."

Halsey hummed aloud. "What if I were to tell you that your theory can be possible."

Alec, who had finished packing away his equipment, paused in placing his bag upon his shoulders and turned to the young student in a confused expression.

"What do you mean?"

2508

April 1st

He stood facing the ship that would take him from home by himself.

For the most part.

"Are you sure about this son?"

"You can always wait another year, Franklin."

Franklin Mendez smiled, despite himself.

He turned back towards his parents, both of whom were here to see him off. He had enlisted within the UNSC and would be departing from his home of Sigma Octanus IV. His ship would take him to Reach, the military capital of the UNSC.

Though the planet itself has many shipyards to boast, it was not a designated shipyard planet. Reach was the planet where quite literally anything and everything in regards to warfare would be developed. Marines, ODST's, Special Ops and many other military and naval units conducted their training there along with multiple weapons manufactures and industrial complexes mixed in with the agricultural aspects of the planet.

There's a reason why Reach is often called the sister planet of Earth.

"I'm sure about this mom." Franklin said determinedly. "I know my calling when I see it."

He had long since gotten permission from his parents in regard to enlisting in the UNSC. They promised him upon reaching the age of sixteen, he was allowed to enlist.

That was now eleven days ago.

He had been prepping for the duration of that time, spending his last few days with friends and family as he knew it would be some time until he would see them all again.

His father, while saddened to see him go at a young age nonetheless encouraged his boy to pursue what he believed in.

The two had silent moments together, hunting, exercising and such as the days went by until his time to depart from home.

His mother of course was a slightly different matter.

She didn't wish to hinder her little boy but she didn't wish to let him go. She had hugged him goodnight every single day since his birthday for minutes upon hours.

He could understand her hesitation of letting him go.

But still, she would not discourage hi,.

Delay him maybe but not discourage.

"Rawr."

Franklin smirked despite himself, looking over to his Wookiee friend that stood with several of his other friends that had come to see him off.

"Don't worry fuzzball, it's not that you're gonna be alone." Mendez remarked making several of his friends chortle aloud.

"It's not that, Franky." A Mon Cala friend stated. "It's just that Racca is upset that he won't have a proper partner to wrestle with anymore."

"Oh is that it?" Franklin said with a dry, joking tone. "I'm just your favorite punching bag?"

"Grr, Grr, Grr." Racca the Wookiee shook in laughter.

He stepped forward to his friend and from the belt strapped around his shoulder pulled out an intricately designed knife.

A Ryyk blade.

Or dagger in this case.

Racca held it out for Franklin to take which he did.

He stared at it in slight astonishment, taking note of the design, metal and the many carvings ingrained into the blade and handle itself.

It was his friend's insignias.

Mendez smiled again.

"Oh, look at that." A Male human friend joked. "Franklin Mendez smiled more than once in a single day. Somebody mark the fucking calendar."

"Piss off Merv." Franklin shot back.

Their little exchange was abruptly cut short by the announcement of the departure of Mendez's' ship that would go to Reach.

Franklin sighed, steeling himself a moment later.

"There's the music." he said to those gathered with many holding solemn or saddened expressions.

"Take care Franky."

"Be sure to write."

"Or Visit at least."

"Ragh."

"Yeah, what he said."

Franklin only nodded with a slight smile before turning to his parents.

No words were needed as the family embraced in one final hug, pulling away after a few moments.

His mother planted one last kiss upon his cheek with his father simply patting him on the shoulder.

It was time.

With one last look at his friends and family, Franklin Mendez swung his bag over his shoulder and went towards the ship that would take him to his new home.

2509

May 9th: Annaxes is discovered, making it the last major shipyard world for the UNSC. All eight shipyards would play pivotal roles in the coming conflicts for the duration of the century.

August 8: Dr. Catherine Halsey makes the first entry in her journal following her enlistment in ONI's service and arrival on Reach

August 15: Thomas Lasky is born in Tricode Village, Mare Erythraeum on Mars.

August 22: Edward Buck is born in New Albany, Lombard, on Draco III.

By this year, many rebel cells had combined under the leadership of Robert Watts, proudly referring to themselves at the United Rebel Front.

Journal Entry V

It is a strange concept looking back on this year in particular.

From 2510 up to the end of 2526, many key individuals would be born within this timeframe with several others that had been born decades prior being associated with them due to the role they would play in the decades to come.

Such a simple yet effective title and it took nearly 565 long years to at last have a new group that would be dubbed the "Greatest Generation".

2511

January 3: All data pertaining to the planet Onyx is deemed classified.

February 15: Dr. Catherine Halsey delineates the fundamentals of the SPARTAN-II program, specifically her refinements in relation to the ORION Project.

February 23: Dr. Halsey learns of a terrorist with the Freedom and Liberation Party that detonated a commercial nuclear explosive in the Haven arcology and proceeds to log this in her journal.

March 5: Jorge-052 is born in Pálháza on Reach.

March 7: John-117 is born in Elysium City on Eridanus II.

March 19: Linda-058 is born on Verent.

April 3: Fred-104 is born on Ballast.

April 21: Douglas-042 is born on Asphodel.

May 8: Jerome-092 is born on Minister.

May 16: Caleb-095 is born in Newport on Luyten.

July 10: Samuel-034 is born on Harvest.

July 17: Alice-130 is born on Passage.

July 30: Dr. Catherine Halsey outlines the basis of the piezoelectric mechanical enhancement of what would become the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor.

September 8: Dr. Halsey writes down her thoughts regarding the recent breakthroughs on human neural cloning in relation to the flash cloning of the SPARTAN-II candidates. She informs Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth that the project will proceed to the candidate procurement stage.

September 15: Naomi-010 is born on Sansar.

September 21: Kelly-087 is born on Imber.

October 19: Kurt-051 is born in Mira on Circumstance.

October 22: A report is made onForerunner artifacts that are found during routine excavations in an area designated Zone 67.

Most of the future SPARTAN-IIs are born in this year.

Journal Entry VI

This year… is where it all began for them.

Though they didn't know it. The individuals that would eventually be chosen were unaware of the genesis in the making that had been undergoing extensive planning for Six Years.

And they were only the first.

I had originally intended it to be extremely selective but I was fortunate enough to have at least been able to choose once.

When dealing with ONI, singular made choices were often a luxury not to be overlooked or taken frog granted. Upon receiving such a matter, I got to work right away making sure that I would pick the very best.

The genetic code, the DNA, the make up the physiology, everything was taken into account.

These Spartans would be the finest human specimens the UNSC will ever produce. Or ONI if you wish to be more technical.

The journey was long but in my heart, I don't regret any of it. The pain, the trials and tribulations that came with it reinforced my resolve.

Everything they endured would not be in vain.

I made sure of it.

End of Journal Entry.

2512

October 25: Wedge Antilles, Future Ace Fighter Pilot is born.

2513

January: The United Rebel Front retakes Eridanus II.

June 19: Dr. Catherine Halsey decides upon the final name of the SPARTAN-II program, up until tentatively referred to as "ORION Project Generation Two".

Latest possible release of Pelican and Warthog series to the UNSC.

2516

July 19th: The UNSC Hammerhead Cruiser officially entered service. First Dozen unveiled from Mon Calamari shipyards.

-Mon Cala-

Vice Admiral Preston Cole stood within one of the observation decks of the shipyard ring around Mono Calamari, watching the dozen Hammerhead Cruisers on their first voyage through space.

These were a uniquely designed brand new style of ships that reflected the ingenuity of all three species of the United iNtergalactic Space Command all coming together to make something new.

His face was stoic, unreadable yet within his eyes were a sense of exhaustion.

He would have figured that after learning of his wife's disappearance and her being an Insurrectionist leader, his career would have been shot down in flames. However, the UNSC command opted to keep him as he was deemed too valuable of an individual to be disregarded and discharged.

So, Cole pressed on, serving the UNSC faithfully whilst keeping a lookout for his wayward Insurrectionist wife.

Of course he'd fall in love with the enemy.

The universe loved its ironies at times and playing jokes on the larger galaxy at whole. He was happy, fleeting as it was.

"What's on your mind, old friend?"

Cole didn't have to look behind him to see who it was that had walked over to speak with him.

"Nothing, Raddus." Cole stated calmly.

Raddus snorted. "You can fool most of our colleagues with your aloofness but not me, Cole."

Rear-Admiral Raddus was an old Mon Calamari friend Preston had made at the start of his UNSC career, the two having been friends for twenty-two years by this point.

Meeting in 2495, the two at first had a bit of a rivalry with one another in their fledgling careers yet soon grew to realize the unique chemistry between each other brought out the best in one another.

After discovering their love for unorthodox tactics, being in the thick of action and some grade-A bourbon, the two enjoyed a roaring friendship for two decades now.

"What is it, Cole?" Raddus asked calmly. "I've seen that look too many times to know that something is bothering your thoughts."

"Just thinking about where to put my farm, Raddus." Cole replied evenly making the Mon Cala snort in derision.

"If it's about Lyrenne then.."

"Don't Raddus." Cole's tone was sharp. "Just… don't."

Raddus however was not to be deterred.

"There's still no sign of her." He stated. "I've looked through datafiles, reports, briefings and-"

"You realize what shit luck I have with women and kids?" Cole dryly cut him off.

Raddus felt for his friend. He truly did.

An esteemed strategist, tactician and war hero, Cole had done a great deal for the effort against the Insurrection.

In almost every single battle after the disappearance of his wife Lyrenne, Preston had single handedly changed the tide on several occasions with effective and brutal victories.

The Insurrectionist forces that he had engaged had either suffered devastating losses or were completely driven from the system until returning after hearing of Cole's departure.

When UNSC high-com learned of his marriage to Lyrenne, he was interrogated thoroughly yet with Raddus' intervention as well as their personal friend Vice-Admiral Michael Stanforth along with Cole's personal military record, they were able to preserve his rank and reputation. Most just chalked it up to the stress of war and combat to his misjudgment but even then, Raddus knew that Cole was simply looking for happiness.

He just wanted to settle on a farm one day, beneath the stars of a planet that were not of Earth's origin.

"Have you heard from your kids?" Raddus asked.

"Well, of the five, four seem to be doing alright." Cole somberly stated. "The other… probably enjoyed their thirteenth birthday by this point."

Raddus patted his friends back.

"You'll be alright, Cole." Raddus said. "I've got your back."

Cole remained silent, giving his Mon Cala friend a silent nod of appreciation.

"How's Ackbar doing?" Cole asked after several minutes of silence.

"Well enough." Raddus said approvingly. "Promoted to Captain recently though I give it another two years or something along those lines before he breaks into the admiral ranks. The Navy will be in good hands for the next few years."

"Seems to be." Cole said. "Heard from Cutter that we got a couple of 'Super Rookies' on our hands."

"Oh? Any names I might know?" Raddus inquired.

"A Jacob Keyes, I think his name was." Cole said. "Heard he can be a bit of a reckless one. But his tactics and strategies are sound."

"Kinda sounds like us." Raddus remarked. "Gial mentioned this Wookiee that he had met earlier who seems to hold a lot of potential. Says he's gonna be made a captain soon after two years of service."

Cole simply nodded again. The UNSC has been building up arms as they usually would but the threat of the United Rebel Front was becoming drastic and dire. They needed means of countering these Insurrectionists sooner than later.

The advent of the Starfighter corps was a great shift in the tide with the UNSC holding mostly superiority over the URF.

But they were tenacious and difficult to quell.

When one was crushed, another would simply rise up to take its place.

Dodonna and Hackett spoke of Gilad having success with the Rebels in his sector but they persisted in their efforts against the UNSC.

It was getting out of hand with casualties beginning to mount on both sides.

But…

Cole couldn't deny a lingering feeling of dread.

Everything that had been happening was nothing new in regard to human history.

A small force uprising to secede from a government they no longer wish to affiliate with. Nothing new there.

Yet Cole couldn't shake the feeling that the UNSC was on the precipice of all-out war.

It was unfortunate how right the Vice-Admiral was though against a much more different enemy.

2517

August 16th

Catherine Halsey stood within her workstation, overlooking her work with a diligent and razor focused demeanor.

These past six years have been one of the longest in her entire life.

It all went by like a blur as she was overlooking her results right now, but during that time…

She found them. All of them.

Though only half could be used, she'd make sure this half would be pushed and trained to their absolute limits and beyond.

Halsey only hoped they were prepared for these coming years as she would like to believe.

Her team had been handpicked and assembled.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez will be the Commanding Officer of this program and head trainer. Perhaps one of the absolute finest soldiers the UNSC had ever produced. Enlisting at a young age, Mendez's files showed him as a soldier with skill far beyond his peers. His hand-to-hand combat is regarded as the absolute best and after besting their next candidate in an all-out spar, it was deemed so by all of ONI and the UNSC.

High Chieftain Tarfful of the Wookiee brotherhood. He has nearly a hundred years of experience under his belt and is a fierce warrior who has been leading his people for decades. He had trained many UNSC personnel, regarded as a legend among the navy with many high ranking Humans, Wookiees and Mon Cala having had their tutelage directly under Tarfful. The first man to beat him was none other than Mendez with the Wookiee Chieftain bestowing upon him his Ryyk blade and exclaiming him to be his sworn brother.

To ensure this little detail, Tarfful showed his cultural awareness by utilizing the ancient Japanese ritual of exchanging Sakazuki cups. From then on, both were brothers in the human and Wookiee sense.

It still surprises me how the Wookiees integrated that facet into their culture yet it fits them quite well.

Now that we have our two heavy hitters that would "whip them into shape" as the old adage goes, we have our more intelligence based members in this program.

Aside from myself, ONI has kept their alliance with the Kaminoans strong with the long necked species providing them one of their absolute best geneticists.

Taun We, the administrative aid to the Prime Minister of Kamino himself was given to us.

She is like all her species, tall and slender with some stating she holds a more elegant and refined beauty to her. Soft spoken and gentle in nature, she is the ideal individual needed to provide the Spartan trainees with the necessary nurture to help them overcome internal strife whenever Mendez or Tarfful wouldn't cut it. Her coordination and planning skills are unparalleled, even by AI standards. Mapping out the natural means of pushing the candidates beyond what they're capable of at the right point in time.

With her, the later phases of the program may prove more fruitful than anticipated.

The last of Halsey's assembled crew was an AI of her own personal design named Deja.

A more higher functioning dumb AI then most, Deja has the figure of a Greek Goddess being barefooted while garbed in a serene white toga, golden band around her head and cascading black hair. How apt that she would resemble a woman of the time in which the program is named after.

Halsey looked over the 150 individuals that were found before marking the 75 chosen candidates and dismissing the other half.

These 75 would be her Spartans.

They would be the key to salvation for the UNSC. For humanity, the Wookies, Mon Calamari and possibly the Kaminoans if they ever get involved.

For a brief moment, Halsey recalls the moment that solidified her decision for this program.

There is an ancient saying.

"The beginning of wisdom is ignorance."

So where do we begin to create the ultimate warrior?

With innocence.

He was rough, so to speak.

Though he was fierce. Determined and unyielding, he was exactly what she was looking for when she started this program and then some.

Halsey knew she had to do this. For the first one at least.

Franklin however chose the slightly alternative route after being talked into it by Tarfful.

They had seen at least several dozen of the candidates, maybe about 36 or more.

Each one made sure to spot what makes them excel and how they can use what they saw to push them past what they presume themselves to be capable of.

They were already working ahead of time.

She knew she had made the right choices with those two.

Does she have regrets? Yes, of course she did.

But now was no longer the time to dwell on these matters.

Now… it was time to get to work.

September 23rd

Catherine Halsey stood within the center of an amphitheater with Tuan We at her right and Deja at her left.

Mendez and Tarfful stood toward the staircase off the theater to the far right, with all five individuals facing the newly assembled 75 Spartan-II's.

They were all here, ready to begin the arduous process of molding them into the eventual sword and shield of the UNSC.

Before she had arrived, Halsey had read the reports of all the procedures of their abduction and was pleasantly surprised to see some were already displaying traits that were quite unique then how most six year old's reacted.

The one with the blue hair, 087, had apparently dodged her abductors for nearly six-hours until she had come out and believed it to be a game of hide and seek due to her birthday.

Another, 006, had attempted escape twice on his way to Reach. They had a tricky one on their hands.

No matter, they were all present and accounted for.

These 75 will become what ONI had asked for.

Halsey hears their confused murmurings, nervous tones and wants to go home.

She quashed any rising feelings of guilt and stood up straight with her hands behind her back.

"Per Naval Code 45812 you are hereby conscripted into UNSC special project codenamed Orion-II also known as Spartan-II." Halsey spoke in a controlled and professional voice. "Your parents are gone. The planet Reach is your new home. Your fellow trainees are your new family."

The kids all looked at one another in blatant confusion. Some were curious and seemed open to the idea. Others, not so much.

"Each of you have been hand selected and called to serve." Halsey went on, regaining the attention of the candidates. "Your bodies are already faster and stronger than other children. And we are going to make them even better."

The children were unsure of what to make of this declaration.

They were always faster and stronger than most kids their age, but this lady just told them that they would become even better. How?

There was a Wookiee on the stage with them. Would he help?

Everyone knows that Wookiees are the strongest species they had ever encountered in space.

Then there was that long-necked alien standing next to the lady. Some recognized her species, others, not so much.

"Children."

The long necked alien spoke in a calming and kind voice. It was almost in a motherly fashion.

"I am Taun We. Please follow me to the mess hall." She spoke elegantly. "I shall have you all fed before Chief Mendez and Chieftain Tarfful will take you to your sleeping quarters."

Choosing not to say no to a free meal, the children all filed out of the auditorium and followed after Taun with Mendez falling in line behind them.

Deja blinked out from beside her and Halsey let out a haggard, shaky sigh.

There was a shiver down her spine with her covering her mouth with a hand, eyes closed. She trembled slightly until she felt a warm hand upon her shoulder.

Looking over, she saw Tarfful gazing at her with worry letting out a questioning growl.

She blinked, realizing she had tears formed on the corner of her eyes and quickly wiped them away.

"Apologies, Tarfful, I didn't mean to-"

"Raaww re." Tarfful cut her off.

She silently stared at the Chieftain before a small smile wormed its way onto her face.

Leave it to the fierce, warrior bound Wookiees to be the gentle softies they really are. It was a running joke at how easily a Wookiee could cheer up just about anyone with a few selective and considered words.

"You're right." Halsey remarked. "I made my choice now and I shall see it through to the end."

There was a snort from Tarfful making Halsey chuckle, reaching up to pat his hand appreciatively.

"And I am thankful I'm not alone."

Journal Entry VII

Tarfful was a godsend every time I think about him.

Looking back on him, he made sure that I pressed on no matter how guilty my consciousness weighed upon me.

Like he told me the day we began, this was something he and Mendez would share with me.

The burden of creating our Spartans.

I am more thankful to Tarfful than ever after everything we had endured.

He went above and beyond what was asked of him.

But I'm once again getting ahead of myself.

I'll elaborate more at a later time.

For now, I just wanted to make sure that Tarfful was recognized by all of the UNSC and galaxy.

Taun We was the motherly figure and older sister to the Spartans with Mendez as the father.

Tarfful was their big brother who saw them through to the end.

Each and every one of them.

And I couldn't be more thankful to him,

End of Journal Entry.

So, I've seen those reviews, I've seen those questions and it fills me with delight and glee at the coming prospects that BSX and I are gonna explore.

I firmly believe you will all be pleasantly surprised within the next two chapters.

I do love the approval so many of you had that we started with Wookiees, Kaminoans and Mon Calamari as the species humanity would meet first over the more entirely humanoid species of the Star Wars universe with headpieces.

BSX and I felt that having them meet the usual species that many of you listed out as their first encounters may come across as missing opportunities to have unique interactions and such with such a diverse cast of aliens from the Star Wars universe. That's not to say they're not in this one. It's just we have a lot planned with our selection of species.

We made sure to list out the species from each franchise, link them together with their distinct histories and relationships with some future species… that I will not divulge about right now cause I want to leave you guys wanting more.

BSX: Your question regarding the Force, Jedi, Sith and droids. They will not be making appearances in this story at ALL. The narrative we want to tell is that of Halo and Mass Effect lore, some Star Wars elements we will be borrowing from and some will not.

FMW: And in regard to the star wars elements, trust me when we say this, they will be used as effectively as possible with a grand scope in mind. We're taking this story and it's trajectory very seriously with how much planning has gone into it.

BSX: As for blaster technology for those who are wondering, that too won't happen either instead the Starfighters the UNSC have will use armaments that the YSS-1000 Sabre uses. Shields will come later, way later.

So yeah, that's all we got for you for now.

If you have any requests or questions, feel free to ask me or BSX as we'll answer to the best of our abilities.

No spoilers obviously cause dur.

Other than that, thanks for reading folks.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Alright, so, moving right along thanks for those reviews some made me chuckle especially the UNSC bit and I stand by it cheesy as it is

Now there are some species that have been brought up like the Quarren and Trandoshans. They were intentionally omitted from the story as a whole as they were not a part of the story we wanted to tell.

As a whole, BSX and I have selected twelve species from the Star Wars franchise and integrated them into the main story. We feel with the several dozen species we have within this story, it's enough to tell as cohesive a narrative as we can.

We have, let's just say, a lot of content.

Some of the reviews I saw got me jittery with excitement cause I cannot wait to get to the crazier aspects of this story with BSX.

It's gonna be awesome.

So let's not waste any time then.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 3: Everyone has their first steps

2517

September 24th

This was day one of the Spartan-II program.

The day their new lives began.

They were split into various teams of three to five, all having differing colors.

Blue, Red, Green, Gray, Black and so on.

Their first set of lessons involved basic training, 100 sit ups, pushups, crunches and pull ups followed by a 5 kilometer run.

They were introduced to their teachers, Taun We and AI Deja who introduced them to Sun Tzu and his famed book the Art of War wherein every individual received a copy to be read, studied and understood front and back.

On top of that, they had learned why they were being called Spartans to begin with.

Deja recanted the tale of Thermopylae, wherein a few hundred Spartans withstood the might of thousands if not millions of soldiers.

This of course made them all cheer and grin at the prospect of being molded into the namesake of their program.

To be able to withstand so much with so few.

The entire first day eventually culminated into the trainees running up a hill to ring a bell with their assigned teams.

It ended with this current situation...

John fell hard to ground, confused.

He had gotten to the top of the hill first. Why was he the one being punished?

The other two kids, the girl 087 and the boy 034 were looking down at him with very upset faces. Chief Mendez stood over the trainee, holding him down with his boot and a look of disapproval on his face.

Tarfful the Wookiee chieftain barked out, shooing the other trainees away save for 087 and 034.

"I don't understand." A young John said in bewilderment. "I got to the top first."

"You got to the bell first." Mendez acknowledged. "But your team came in last. And you don't win unless your team wins."

Removing his foot from John's chest, Mendez walked away with 087 and 034 leaving their teammate behind.

117 lay there on the ground, unmoving and staring up at the ceiling with a defeated expression. Upon replaying the reasoning behind his loss today, John realized he had no one else to blame but himself. Chief Mendez was right.

He lost because he failed to work with his team.

"Hey, you alright?"

John tilted his head up and saw the team leader of the group that had placed first. He saw the number 051 on his tank top.

The boy was his age, as was most of the other trainees with buzz cut brown hair and hazel eyes.

051 held out a helping hand which 117 accepted.

"Thanks." John said appreciatively.

"No problem." 051 said cheerfully. "I'm Kurt."

"Um… John." 117 said.

"Saw you running up the hills really fast." Kurt remarked with a look of awe in his eyes.

"Yeah but I still ended up losing." John said bitterly. "I left my team behind."

"Well just say sorry then." Kurt stated as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

"How can I say sorry to them?" John stated in a dejected manner. "Because of me, they can't eat."

"Then you can have some of mine and give it to your team." Kurt said with a cheerful grin.

"Wh-what?" John was certainly surprised by the offer. "Why would you do that? Won't you get in trouble?"

Kurt however shook his head and waved John off.

"I think we should all help each other." Kurt said, grin still in place. "Remember what that lady said? We're all a family now. That means we look out for each other. No matter what."

John had his head down for a moment before he himself had a small smile.

"Thanks Kurt. I'll pay you back somehow." John said with 051 merely grinning again and patting 117 on the shoulder.

Entering the mess hall a few minutes later, 117 scanned the various tables of the 75 other trainees seeing most sitting with their teammates.

Spotting who he had been looking for, John walked over to them both who were sitting alone with their heads hung low.

"Hey guys." John said softly, making them both look up to him.

087 and 034 only scrunched up their faces in distaste at the sight of their team leader.

"What do you want?" 034 asked with a bitter voice.

John held out a small bag that he was carrying behind his back and set it down. It was revealed to contain two loaves of bread with a few crackers.

"I'm sorry about today." John said straight away. "I know it's not much but-"

"Thank you." 087 said with a pleasant smile.

Even 034's expression became more neutral yet it was slightly guarded.

"I… I never introduced myself properly." 117 said. "I'm John."

"Kelly." 087 said.

"I'm Sam."

Sitting down with them, they ate their small little meal in silence.

"About today guys, I should have helped when you asked Sam." John said after a few moments. "It's cause of me that we didn't get to eat."

Sam didn't respond, munching on his bread until he said calmly. "It's ok John. This is our first day."

"It won't happen again." John assured a moment later. "Promise."

Kelly only smiled at him with Sam nodding.

"We can be friends… I mean if you want." Sam shrugged noncommittedly. "It'd be no big deal."

Kelly only nodded in approval. "Sure."

John was also pretty happy. "Yeah, Friends."

September 28th

The first four days of training were as arduous as Mendez and Tarfful promised them to be.

Day in and day out, it was nothing but PE and classes.

Since that time, John-117 had held true to his statements from before to Sam and Kelly and had made sure to never leave them behind.

They had rung the bell now together every time, coming in either third or second for the most part with today being the first time they came in fourth.

Red Team had stepped up with their leader Jerome-092 managing a daring full frontal charge with his teammates Douglas-042 and Alice-130.

Green Team had Kurt-051 leading them and they had come out on top the first three days.

Currently, John, Sam and Kelly were sitting with some new friends they had made the other day during a training exercise yesterday. Frederic-104 and Linda-058.

The five were joined by several other trainees being Fhajad-084, Jorge-052, Leon-011 and Riz-028.

They were all chatting and conversing with one another until they heard a commotion from the front of the cafeteria.

Many looked to the front to see a young boy being dragged away by two other officers, the kid kicking and squirming the entirety of the way.

"Who's that?" Linda asked aloud, curious.

"I think that was Jai." Leon answered.

"Jai?" Linda repeated.

"Oh, you mean Jai-006." Sam spoke up with a shake of his head.

"What'd he do?" John asked.

"Tried leaving the compound." Sam answered with a shrug.

"That was him?" Fhajad said in a surprised tone.

"I heard he got pretty far." Riz stated. "But they caught him eventually."

"Why would he try to leave?" Kelly asked.

"He doesn't want to be here I guess." Fred remarked with a shrug.

Over with the near escapee, he had stopped struggling at last allowing them to drag him to his quarters.

All the while, the young Spartan-II had his eyes dart about his surroundings making sure to take note of windows and certain angles as well as cameras within every hallway.

A small grin began appearing on his face as he already had a few new escape plans in mind.

October 25th

The trainees were running up a large hill they dubbed Little Everest.

It was one that they had been taken to from their usual training facility up to here, the key point of this training being exposed to new environments.

With them was Chieftain Tarfful, roaring and barking at them to pick up the pace as he went from running beside them to swinging through the trees on the mountainside.

It was blisteringly cold but the enviro suits they wore managed to keep the cold out to a degree.

Intentionally.

They had to rely on constant movement to keep themselves warm lest the cold gets to them first.

It had already been a month now and they were beginning to get accustomed to their usual training. Of course, upon seeing this, Mendez and Tarfful completely flipped it around for them, basically setting them back to square one.

But they wouldn't do this on their own.

They made sure to support one another and push each other forward.

John-117 and Kurt-051 especially stood out for the first day, having themselves constantly speeding up or slowing down even to their own detriment in order to make sure no man gets left behind.

Several other Spartans had stepped up in their own manner, assisting their brethren in the way they knew best.

Will-043 was constantly making jokes and quips while coming up with riddles on the spot with Sam-034 joining in on the fun a few times.

Grace-093 and Jorge-052 were the calm and collected, gentle ones who spoke softly though encouragingly to their brothers and sisters.

Douglas-042 appeared to be completely nonplussed and utterly determined, constantly stating that they would overcome this mountain because they had beaten the last training regime. Getting used to and conquering Little Everest was only a matter of time.

November 19th

A lone Spartan-II sat upon a tree stump at the edge of the compound, looking up to the sky. He had jet black hair and brown eyes with a light scratch on his chin.

The sun was already setting by this point but the young trainee didn't care that much.

The light of the sun near Reach reflected perfectly off the sleek X-wings that zoomed by.

He grinned up at them, taking a bite out of his meal.

"Daniel-116, why are you out here and not in the mess hall with the others?"

The young Spartan jolted from the tree stump he sat upon and jumped up, standing attention.

"Sir."

Chief Mendez eyed the boy, looking from his form to the food he had taken from the cafeteria to here.

"Spartan-116, you did not answer my previous question." Mendez stated giving the boy a sharp gaze.

"I was enjoying the view, sir." Daniel-116 replied in a professional manner.

Mendez raised a confused brow. "Enjoying the view?"

Daniel simply looked up at the sky with Mendez following suit, just in time to see a few X-wings fly by with Arc-wings and several pelicans as well.

"The ships?" Mendez said.

"X-wings." 116 clarified. "I've always wanted to fly one."

Mendez regarded the Spartan-II, expression solemn.

It had been two months since the start of this training and like Halsey and Taun We were led to believe, many of the trainees were getting accustomed to their training regime.

And yet, they still displayed actions akin to children.

It's easy to forget at times they have these moments.

"You wish to be a pilot, 116?" Mendez inquired.

"I've always wanted to fly." Daniel stated with a grin. "With X-wings I can."

Mendez found himself smirking slightly. "Do you now?"

116 nodded when his face scrunched up in thought.

"Will we be able to learn how to fly?" Daniel asked after a moment.

Chief Mendez hummed to himself. "That remains for me to be seen, 116. Next time you leave the Cafeteria, report it to an acting Officer."

Daniel simply snapped into a salute. "Sir!"

"As you were Spartan." Mendez said, walking away from the lad who seated himself back on the tree stump with the Arc-wings passing by this time.

December 25th

Tarfful roared aloud in pride at the sight of the 75 trainees all panting in exhaustion though they remained standing.

It was a grueling sparring session with teams of five all attempting to bring down the Wookiee Chieftain with each one suffering defeat.

This was to be expected of course as Tarfful was a warrior renowned among his people as well as many human and Mon Cala marines and soldiers.

But these kids, while they had each lasted no more than a few minutes each was all he needed to see. It spoke volumes to him to see his trainees displaying such potential and progress in only three months' time with their tenacity coming through.

They were battered and bruised but not beaten.

Each made sure to lean or support one another to keep themselves standing.

Tarfful snorted in approval beginning to break down each team and each individual on their fighting styles, approach in taking him down, where they excelled and where they needed improvement.

They all listened in rapt attention with their older Wookiee brother making sure to point out every single one of them before proudly proclaiming them to have greater destinies ahead of them.

The Spartan-II's only hoped they would live up to their trainers expectations.

John 117

Blue team mission repo-

Journal entry 1

I was told that this may help in having clear thoughts.

Mendez and Tarfful told me that it was a mission report and catalog of my progress.

They encouraged the rest to have the same.

Personal thoughts and all I guess. Don't really have much.

...

Sam is my best friend. First thing that came to mind really since they mentioned personal thoughts and all.

He and I just know how to work with each other. It's really funny.

We didn't get off on the best foot but I'm glad now he trusts me so much.

The other Spartans are pretty nice too. Kurt and Jorge are always helping everyone they can, same for a few others.

Kelly and Sam are always with me. Sometimes Linda and Fred join in too for training missions.

I… don't really know what else to say.

It's been three months so far and every day and night, Mendez lives up to what he told us on his first day.

It would be nothing but training.

Guess that's all I can think of for now.

End of Journal Entry.

Jai-006 Journal Entry 2

Today marks my… eighth time I tried getting out of here.

Adrianna and I make it a game now.

It's really funny seeing how the guards and officers get all confused whenever they lose track of us.

Wonder how else we can get out of here?

There's a lot more openings then they realize.

Just the other day, Adrianna pointed out a blind spot in between the hallways that exit out of the cafeteria from the south entrance.

We'll try that one next.

End of Journal Entry

Sam-034 Journal entry 1

It's funny seeing John try to figure out what to say for his journal entry.

Mendez and Tarfful all encouraged us to have one.

Sounds like fun really.

Can let loose without anyone peeking in unless I let them and those I would allow are a pretty small crop.

Training's been going well enough I suppose.

Tarfful thrashed us something special when we went up against him. I saw it eating at John. He really wanted to win. Hell I did too.

But how in the hell are we supposed to do that with a Wookiee Chieftain?

They're like the best of the best in the UNSC. I think only the ODST's and Mon Cala knights come close to them in combat.

Maybe with all this training we'll eventually get to beat one.

I hope.

Still, least I got my brothers and sisters by my side. Figure we'll get through anything together.

End Of Journal Entry.

Mendez Mission report #16

The training is proceeding at an admirable rate.

The Spartan-II's have been proceeding at a steady pace and already they've been displaying great progress on varying fields.

117, 051, 116, 051 and 084 have displayed great aptitude in effectively leading their squads and the other Spartans in most circumstances.

104, I've noted, seems to be intentionally holding himself back. He is more subtle in his approach until I placed him in his own squad where he performed with a tactical and proficient mind which led his team into finishing second, just behind Green team. I'm keeping my eye on him.

037 has shown an aptitude for leading in the middle of combat taking note of his surroundings and pointing out flaws in attack patterns.

028 is focused and razor sharp in her training, a more subdued 130, who appears to completely thrive in this training.

043 and 042 work well with 052. Some may even call them the moral center of the Spartan-II program along with 051. 141 shares similar traits as well.

Of them all, the main problem children appear to have is 006, 111 and 120.

These three have caused many headaches for a majority of the officers, security guards and drill sergeants involved in the program.

Trying to curb these rebellious traits appeared to have backfired with them only trying harder to get themselves out of the base.

Their resolve is rather admirable if it wasn't so insubordinate.

134 has shown that he can step up when the usual squad leaders are not around to assist, going off of prior orders and formulating logical conclusions.

The rest of the Spartans have yet to show any other distinguishing traits among themselves but if what I have spoken of is any indication of what is to come, they just haven't developed it yet.

End of Mission Report.

2518

May 13th

Daniel-116 grasped the controls of his simulated X-wing with a manic grin.

He was leading Silver Team in this training op with Yumi-124, Nicole-121, Caleb-095 and Joyner-118 as his squad.

Currently, their objective was to take out the enemy fighters of Green Team composed of Kurt-051, Will-043, Musa-096, Joshua-029 and Rene-081.

Grinning maniacally, gunned his thrusters with his squad mates right on his tail.

"Yumi, Caleb." 116 sent out orders. "Chandelle turn, 081 is lagging behind. Nicole, stay on me. Joyner, gun ahead for a ram. See if you can scatter them."

Off to the side, the rest of the Spartans watched the simulated dogfight with Mendez, Taun We and Tarfful observing next to them.

"It appears that Daniel is enjoying this simulation." Taun noted in her soft voice with Tarfful growling out an agreement. "Indeed."

"That remains to be seen, Chieftain." Mendez said calmly, though his eyes trailed over an impressive J-turn 116 had pulled off managing to take out 095.

He was truly excelling as a pilot, far more than his brothers and sisters and seemed to be completely at home in a cockpit despite this only being their fifth simulated piloting class.

116 was a natural leader, similar to the other standouts yet to Mendez there was also a missing ingredient he felt that didn't allow for Daniel to truly stand out.

Looks he had found his calling.

Daniel-116 Journal entry 9

We got to fly again today.

Not officially.

Chief Mendez and Tarfful told us that wouldn't be until we're a bit older and our bodies a bit more developed.

But it was amazing. Simulated or not, I just felt it in my bones.

I need to get into an X-wing or Longsword soon.

End of Journal Entry.

August 11th

Deja and Taun We were standing before the 75 Spartan-II's covering their next set of lessons.

They had gone over Sun Tzu and the Spartans of Thermopylae extensively by this point and had moved on to another religion and pantheon almost exclusive to the art of combat itself.

Norse Mythology.

"From the history of your people, dating back thousands of years, by this time there was the old belief of the warrior's death." Taun We recited, her gentle voice holding their attention. "They trained themselves every day in hopes of one day proving themselves to be worthy of ascending to the greatest plain of existence within their pantheon. The halls of Asgard where the warriors dined until Ragnarok, Valhalla."

The students were intrigued greatly by this with 037 saying 'Valhalla' under his breath in open wonder.

Taun We Progress report #18

The children are coming along very well.

They soak up everything we teach them with a great vigor that pleases me.

Each of them holds so much potential just waiting to bloom.

I am rather adverse to what we must do to achieve results but it is nothing my species has not done before.

ONI shall get the soldiers they wish for and we will continue our experiments.

When we had first met the UNSC with its three species, we were rather hesitant to engage with them yet they proved amiable and peaceful enough where we could at least have trade and a few projects we can work on together.

Then came the discovery of the genetic diversity Humanity possessed and to a lesser extent the Wookiees and following after came the secret agreement between my people and ONI.

There was much that was promised in secret but I was not expecting human children to be some of our test subjects.

After Orion, we knew there would be an attempt again at creating enhanced and augmented soldiers. The idea was too good of a concept to pass.

Imagine my surprise when it was the humans that came to us and showed that children were the best course of action.

It was agreed rather quickly but now… I cannot deny that I am growing attached to these young Spartans.

I wish for them all to succeed.

The blueprints of things to come…

I shall not fail in these endeavors.

End of Progress Report.

December 10: Dr. Catherine Halsey makes an entry in her journal where she identifies four Spartan-IIs that she, Tarfful and Franklin Mendez agree are the best candidates for leadership out of all the children in the program. Those four are Kurt-051, Jerome-092, Frederic-104, and John-117. Mendez is leaning towards Kurt but Halsey is confident that John is the best choice. Taun We points out Daniel-116, Leon-011, Margaret-053 and Jai-006 as potential leaders as well though Halsey notes that perhaps only 011 can be regarded on the level of the first mentioned four and 116 to a degree as he along with 053 and 006 seem more towards specialized teams and leadership roles.

Jerome-092 Journal Entry 11

It's already been a year since we began our training.

Our previous lives all feel like a distant and fuzzy memory by this point.

We've been put through the ringer today… but it ended on something really special.

A ceremony that Mendez and Tarfful held at the top of Little Everest.

December 31st

Chief Mendez and Tarfful all stood before a roaring bonfire with all 75 Spartan-II's sitting around them all.

There was an elaborately made table with 75 red cups with a giant bowl in the center of it all.

The kids gazed upon the setup with obvious confusion whilst Mendez addressed them all.

"Trainees." Mendez said aloud. "This past September was your first year anniversary into your steps in becoming Spartans. You have all had your failings but in those failings, you have shown exemplary and considerable improvements by leaps and bounds. I know I speak with great confidence on behalf of myself and Tarfful when we are proud to see you all perform as well as you have in such a short amount of time."

The trainees couldn't help but shift about with proud smiles and expressions at hearing their father figure and brother figure show such satisfaction at their progress.

Tarfful stepped forward, growling and moaning with a thump upon his chest which made the children sit up straighter.

The Wookiee chieftain singled out several Spartans that had been performing admirably these past few days before going over their accomplishments altogether.

Walking over to the table setup, he barked and growled with the kids beginning to stand up and approach the table each taking a red cup with curious expressions.

"These," Mendez pulled out a red cup of his own from within his uniform. "Are Sakazuki cups."

The kids looked at him inquisitively.

"From the Island Nation of Japan, there was an ancient tradition exchanged between individuals who held such close bonds that blood did not matter to them." Mendez said, going over to stand with Tarfful who now held his own cup. "Thus, the creation of a ritual of brotherhood was made. The exchange of Sakazuki. With these cups, an invisible bond, a brotherhood is forged. A sworn brotherhood that no matter where any individual is, they would be sworn brothers and sisters. Distance and blood is meaningless. They would be bonded in siblinghood until death claims them. You have all earned this right."

It was a strange affair as it was the first jumbled one so to speak since their first day of training.

Eventually, each trainee held a small red cup with some sake in it and they all held it up in the direction of Mendez and Tarfful.

A few of them clinked together, a few cheers were made until they downed them all.

Tarfful chuckled aloud, shaking with laughter at the site of the many faces that squirmed at the taste of alcohol.

Some trembled and shivered about while others shook their heads. Some made indescribable faces with a few coughing and hacking after drinking their sake.

Still, the feeling of camaraderie and brotherhood/sisterhood a few moments later… took a bit longer to be felt as they were still recovering from the sake.

Even Mendez couldn't help but be openly amused by their behavior.

And just like that, we were all sworn brothers and sisters.

It was strange at first but… we did feel it.

We had always in our thoughts felt it after the first year of training but to have it so openly declared felt really liberating.

We were now all officially family.

And we were gonna look out for one another until the end.

That much we all promised ourselves.

End of Journal Entry.

2519

February 3rd

Kashyyyk, Shadowlands

The Shadowlands, also known as the Shadow Forest or the Nother World, is the dark ground level of the forests of the planet Kashyyyk. The land is dark since the sunlight could not reach it through the tall trees and the rich foliage.

The Shadowlands were a dangerous place, inhabited by savage beasts and floral, Wookiees visited only for ceremonial reasons, such as rites of passage. Famous Wookiees would often go there to prove themselves against the forest's strong, natural obstacles. It was also a place of exile.

That all changed when the Wookiee made first contact with humanity, humanity did extensive studies cataloging wildlife, floral, and the researchers was a retired Marine who noted that ancient Wookiee warriors would come to this place to test their worth and come out stronger. With that in mind, he believed that this location can be an ideal place to train humanity and its allies to their fullest potential.

Chief Officer Mendez stood at the front of the forest with Chieftain Tarfful by his side as the Spartan-II's were aligned before them.

"Trainees." Mendez spoke aloud, making the conscripts stand at attention. "Welcome to Kashyyyk. Home to our eternal brothers in the stars, the Wookiees."

Tarfful roared aloud with pride.

"This will be the next phase in your training." Mendez said in complete seriousness. "This…" Mendez gestured a handout to the forest behind him. "Is the Shadowlands. A fable area within Wookiee customs and culture. And as of recent, humanity and the Mon Cala as well. This is where the mettle of the best and most skilled that the UNSC has to offer is tested. A very select few are picked and even allowed to undergo training within this hellscape."

Mendez began pacing back and forth, eyeing each Spartan individually. They were tense and dare he say it depending on the look in their eyes, nervous.

Good. a fearless soldier is a stupid one.

When not molded or trained properly, fearless soldiers were a detriment to any unit and any army.

Bull headed and rushing right in with no wherewithal to care for him or herself nor their comrades.

These kids may have endured much and have gotten to a point in their training where they could be considered leagues above most.

But in the end, they were still kids.

And this forest has instilled the fear of God for most that have not survived its hellacious terrain.

"Tarfful and I have discussed much on what it is we should do." Mendez went on. "And we have come to an agreement."

Mendez pulled out a datapad and flicked it, holding it out horizontally.

A holo-image of a distinctly gargantuan tree was shown to them.

Tarfful growled out as to what it was and their objective. Get to the Origin Tree in the center of the Shadowlands.

"You have two weeks." Mendez stated. "Each of you will receive a map of the area and all seventy-five of you will reach the center. Together. This isn't a team oriented competition. This is a unit training operation. All of you either succeed or none of you do."

Tarfful growled aloud and two Wookiees suddenly appeared from the trees nearby carrying large crates. They set it down and opened it to reveal multiple tools inside.

Lighters, knives, binoculars, rope, essential survival tools.

"Each of you is to select one tool from these crates and one only." Mendez instructed. "Make sure you select those which can be useful and prioritized for your weeklong mission. This terrain is deadly and dangerous with only the best entering for a reason."

The kids all lined up and one by one grabbed a tool that they would use for this training mission until all 75 had one.

"You will be separated into 15 groups of five and are all to reconvene and make your way to the Origin Tree." Mendez said. "Good luck, Spartans."

A convoy ship picked up the Spartan-II's and began dispersing them throughout the Shadowlands with Mendez and Tarfful watching on.

"You think they're ready for something like this?" Mendez asked quietly to his sworn brother.

Tarfful whined and moaned with a snort.

"Yes, but two years isn't two hundred." Mendez countered. "They're not like you."

Tarfful let out a guttural huff with a gleam in his eyes.

"Well I hope they survive then." Mendez remarked. "Afterwards, we'll see if they'll be better than you."

Over with some of the Spartans, the first batch was dropped off.

Kurt-051 with Will-043, Linda-058, Riz-028 and Adrianna-111.

"Alright you guys, let's have a look at what we all got." Kurt said straight away with the other four pulling out the tools they had taken with them.

Kurt had out a small booklet, Will a bowie knife, Linda some elastic looking rope, Riz a lighter and Adrianna some binoculars.

"Alright, alright." 051 said aloud, rubbing his chin as he looked over everyone's items. "This will make do for now until we get more when we re-group with everyone else."

"What's the book for, Kurt?" Will asked. "Crossword puzzles?"

"I could go for some." Kurt said with an amused chuckle. "No, this is a small little guide to all the flora that can be found here. Poisonous, edible, useful, everything that can be used in our benefit for our time here."

"Whoa." Riz said with a grin. "Nice choice, Kurt."

Kurt only grinned bashfully. "Since we're on the ground now, let's get moving to find the others. Adrianna, think you can scale this tree here and give us an idea where we are?"

"Can I?" Spartan-111 said with a challenging look, running up to the tree and beginning to climb it with ease.

"And don't wander off." Kurt said aloud. "This isn't the place for what you and Jai usually do."

"I'm not that stupid, Kurt."

"I know, just checking."

Elsewhere, another group of Spartans had been dropped off with them gauging their environment.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Sam-034 said aloud.

"We're in the shadowlands, Sam." 034's best friend said, nudging his side. "You're supposed to feel like that."

"Where do you figure the others are?" Jorge-052 asked softly.

"They're scattered." John stated. "So we'll need to find a way to reconvene with everybody."

Fhajad-084 hummed aloud in thought, pulling out his map of the Shadowlands. "If I were to have a hunch for a good rendezvous point that everyone would agree on…" He gazed over the map for a moment. "I'd wager it to be near the start of the Forest Trench."

"That seems like the most optimal place." Cal-141 said in her soft tone.

"Let's do an equipment check before heading out." John ordered with the team doing just that.

Throughout the Shadowlands, the 15 teams of Spartan-II's went over what each one had individually selected and plans were made.

They all began their trek through the dense swampy forest, trying to stay out of the boggy marshes.

With John's team.

"Think they'd hear me if I call out to them?" Sam asked his friend, making John snort.

"What? With your god awful owl?"

"Hey, I figure I'm getting pretty good at it." Sam defended jokingly.

"If good stands for an Owl choking on a rat then mine must be perfect." Fhajad shot back.

"You guys are no fun." Sam grumbled though he smirked all the same.

"Pretty sure the Shadowlands isn't the ideal place for fun." Cal stated.

"It's seriously lacki-"

The group was suddenly shoved out of the way by Fhajad with something much bigger sailing over them.

They all quickly scrambled to their feet upon seeing what it was that attacked him.

A particularly large spider.

"What is that?" Cal asked in slight alarm.

"A local." Fhajad said.

"Scatter." John ordered with the five running about in different directions just as the spider creature launched a web at them.

John had grabbed a stick whilst Jorge stood behind Sam who had brass knuckles.

Fhajad had a stick as well as he chose thick rope as his tool with Cal having to stay back as she had a medpack on her.

"Disorient it." John instructed. "If we can take out its legs and eyes we can kill it."

The spider-creature hissed out, snapping as it reared itself up and charged forward at John.

"Crap." Sam growled out, running towards his friend who had jumped out of the way.

The Spider missed, looking around in time to get one of its eyes punched out by 034.

Sam was nearly punctured by one of its spiny legs as Jorge had made sure to stay close to Sam and pulled him away in time.

The Spider was growling, looking about wildly as if trying to decide on which of the kids should it kill first.

The five were all tense as the sider once again prepared itself to charge at them when it paused at feeling several large rocks bounce off its head.

Looking up, the Spider seemingly froze as a particularly large log of wood fell from above and crushed it to death.

Bewildered by these fortunate set of circumstances, the five looked up to see a few figures far above in a tree all waving down at them.

Squinting his eyes slightly, Sam grinned a moment later upon seeing who it was.

"Kelly." Sam declared aloud with relief. "I think I see Vinh and Ralph up there too."

A moment later, a long piece of rope was tossed down though it didn't reach them entirely.

"Help me up there guys." 084 said, holding up his piece of rope. "Figure I can connect it and we can get up there."

After a half hour, John's group had climbed up to where Kelly was waiting for them with nine more of their brethren.

"Glad to see you're all alright." Kelly said, patting John and Sam on their shoulders doing the same with Cal, Fhajad and Jorge. "I was terrified when you were fighting that spider down there."

With Kelly was Vinh-030, Ralph-103, Joshua-029, Anton-044, Kirk-018, Mike-120, Nicole-121, Joseph-122 and Solomon-069.

"What was that thing anyway?" Sam asked, looking to the others. "Anybody know?"

He got negatives as a response.

"So I guess that makes fifteen of us now." Joseph said aloud.

"A fifth of our group entirely." Fhajad pointed out.

The enlarged group had hoped they could find their comrades sooner than later.

And speaking of comrades.

Off in another corner of the area just a few miles away from them was a group of ten Spartan-II's.

Among them was Jerome-092 who was leading Alice-130, Jai-006, Joyner-118, Carris-137, Randall-037, Cassandra-075, Rene-081, Victor-101 and August-099.

"You've been reading that manual for a while now, Randall." Jerome said aloud, the group traversing through what was now identified as the Forest Trench. "Anything useful on it we could use?"

"Mostly for the wildlife." Randall said, turning the page. "Some really freaky creatures they got running around in here."

"Any in particular we should look out for?" Joyner asked.

"Got a few." Randall said. "Flame Beetles, Slyyygs, Mykal. Though I'm partial we try to avoid these spider like one's called the Wyyyschokk."

"What's so bad about them?" Jerome asked with 037 elaborating on them.

Wyyyschokks are both highly intelligent and extremely hostile. They could ensnare prey by casting webbing at them from a distance and would often wait to ambush their prey by attacking them from above or below. A notable subspecies is Albino Wyyyschokk, faster and more aggressive than normal Wyyyschokks, these massive spiders were found in dark, subterranean areas where they could live for centuries. The species was capable of spitting venom, which it used to disable its prey before feeding on their brains.

"They sound like fun." Jai-006 remarked.

"Coming from you Jai, I'd believe it." August stated.

"Any of those you think we could eat?" Alice inquired, making a few jolt.

"Why in god's name would we eat any of these things?" Cassandra asked with an incredulous look.

"Actually…" Randall brought up his guide again. "According to this right here, the Mykal are considered delicacies among the Wookiees."

Upon showing what it was, Randall got varied faces.

"The Wookiees eat that thing?" Cassandra said in slight discomfort.

"Wookiees can eat anything." Victor said. "You've seen how Chieftain Tarfful can get when he's hungry."

"Well if they can eat that, figure we can too if we're lucky enough to take one down." 137 stated.

Jerome only gazed at the picture in thought when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was Jai looking ahead with his eyes squinted before a grin began to form upon his face.

"I found Adrianna." Jai declared aloud.

"How'd you go and do that?" Jerome asked in slight surprise.

Jai only gave him a coy grin. "We have our ways."

-2 days later-

The first 48 hours were a mixture of strenuous trial and tribulation. It had taken 12 hours in total for the scattered Spartans to finally link up entirely.

And then another 36 hours just to find a place secure enough for them all to get some proper rest.

If they assumed that dealing with the wildlife would have been their primary adversary in this jungle, all suffered a rude awakening via the various plant life found in the Shadowlands.

Jaw Plant, Lung plant, Orga, and Saavas just to name a few of the deadly foliage found scattered throughout the jungle swamp.

They were lethal and dangerous each within their own right, nearly killing several of the Spartans had it not been for the others ready to rush right in to save their brother or sister.

It was a stressful two days.

But thankfully, they were all getting some much needed rest.

Well… most of them.

Atop a platform elevated from the ground that overlooked the small encampment they were using as the resting area, the growing leaders of the Spartan-II program all sat around a smaller fire then the one down with the others.

John, Jerome, Kurt, Fred, Daniel, Leon, Margaret and Jai sat around the fire as they went over what they should do for this training op.

They were currently eating some freshly picked Mushblooms that they found around the area they set up camp for.

Thanks to Kurt's guide of the flora in the Shadowlands, they were able to deduce what was edible in this forest.

"We're here." Daniel said, pointing to the center of the Forest Trench. "If we wanna get to the Origin Tree we first need to get to its lake."

"What's the distance we're looking at?" Leon asked, kneeling next to 116.

"From where we are right now… I'd say about a dozen or so Clicks. Maybe more." Daniel answered.

"That doesn't seem too bad." Jerome remarked, rubbing his chin. "If we don't run into anything on the way."

"Which we definitely will." Kurt stated with a grim tone.

"So what's our play?" Margaret asked, eyeing the rest of the team leaders.

"We'll need to stock up on what we can with everything around us." Fred said. "I figure we can fashion some spears and if we concentrate on it, maybe a few bow and arrow sets as well."

"You sure we could pull something off that complicated in a short amount of time?" John asked.

"I'm not." Fred admitted. "But we need preparations at least. Tarfful showed us how to craft weapons and this is our chance to give it a try."

"We'll have to try it regardless." Jai said, speaking for the first time since this little meeting was gathered. "I'll take Adrianna and Mike with me tomorrow and any volunteers to scout out and grab whatever we could find that could be useful to us."

"What can we find out there that we could use?" Daniel asked.

"We got pointy sticks now." Jerome said, holding up his own spear. "Figure we could get some more."

Leon gazed upon the team leaders, stopping on one in particular. "You alright Kurt?"

"Hmmm?" Kurt blinked out of an intense gaze. "Oh, sorry about that."

"What's up, Kurt?" 011 asked.

"Nothing, I just… had a weird feeling about this place is all." Kurt said with a hum.

"What like… that "funny" feeling you had last week in training?" Margaret asked with Kurt tilting his head from side to side.

"Something like that, yeah." Kurt said.

"Is it a good one or a bad one?" John asked.

Kurt didn't answer at first, looking up at the sky. "Guess we'll have to find out."

-8 days later-

"MOVE, MOVE." John yelled aloud, the entirety of the 75 Spartan-II's running as fast their legs could carry them.

Pursuing them was a swarm of Wyyyschokks, being led by an albino one that was ahead of the large group of spiders.

The Spartans were all ragged, dirty, cut up and exhausted.

They had been enduring the trials of the Shadowlands for 13 days now and they were now on their 14th day. The last day of the two week goal that Mendez and Tarfful had set for them.

The Origin tree was straight ahead. They just had to climb the damn thing.

As they drew closer to the roots of the tree, Sam-034 spotted a familiar sight to them up to this point.

"Jumper plants, straight ahead." Sam said aloud.

"They're called Lung Plants, Sam, get them right." Kelly said, rushing past him.

"Come on, they're gaining on us." 028 said, running towards the Lung Plants with the others.

"Form up a perimeter." Jerome ordered, those who reached several of the Lung plants making a barrier while the rest catching up were sent ahead to use them.

As the Spartan-II's began using the long plants to jump ahead to higher parts of the tree to get away from the Wyyyschokks, the ones that remained used spears, bows and arrows along with other makeshift weapons in holding back the spiders.

Some had large pieces of bark from the giant trees, managing to carve them into shields of sort as they used them to bash the spiders back while the ones behind them stabbed at their eyes with their crafter spears.

In essence, those defending in the perimeter were utilizing a shield wall to hold back the spiders like many warriors of old from Earth's ancient history.

"Guys." Sam said aloud. "We can't hold them like this for long."

"We have to." Kurt declared. "Otherwise, they'll just chase after us up the-"

*BOO WOOOOOOOOO*

Suddenly, from above, a giant shadow appeared which caused many of the Wyyyschokks to panic.

A moment later, a gargantuan avian creature landed before the Spartan-II's and promptly snared up several of the spiders with the rest beginning to flee.

"What the hell is that?!" One of the Spartans cried out in complete shock.

"It can't be." Kurt muttered. "They're supposed to be a myth."

"We can talk about it as sure as we're safe." Jerome said, the Spartans all scrambling to safety.

They were all soon resting within an opening platform. All were either laying down, leaning on or seated as they tried catching their breath.

"Ok…." One of the Spartans was on the ground. "Now… can anyone… explain to me…. What that giant bird was supposed to be."

Nobody responded at first though several looked to Kurt who had the animal guide that Randall had taken in his hand.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but there's no doubt about it." Kurt opened it to a particular page. It displayed the large avian creature that had unexpectedly saved them moments ago. "Shyyo Bird. They are perceived as protectors of Kashyyyk's native Wookiees and Wroshyr trees. Sightings of the bird were known as being a guarantee of peace for the viewer."

"So does us being alive count as peace?" Fred remarked with a dry tone.

"Well, we are breathing." Sam added. "So does that count?"

"Why'd that bird even save us?" 093 asked.

"It eats those spiders." 037 stated. "And we had an entire buffet follow after us."

"I think..." Maria-062 spoke up. "That we should just be happy we got such a lucky save. Let's finish this mission."

With no one offering any counter arguments, the 75 Spartan-II's shakily rose back to their feet and pressed on.

The sun was setting by the time they had reached their marked destination.

It was a Wookiee made platform where Chieftain Tarfful with Chief Mendez awaited their arrival.

Both could hardly suppress the looks of pride upon seeing the entirety of their trainees arrive on the last day just in time before Kashyyyk's sunset.

They were soon well rested, fed and were clothed in proper clothing once more and were now within a ship that would take them back to Reach.

"Spartans." Mendez said aloud, walking in front of them with his arms folded behind his back. "I must say that you have all performed in an exemplary manner these past two weeks. You have survived one of the harshest known environments in the entire galaxy with ingenuity, tenacity, unwavering determination and conviction to see it through to the end."

Tarfful let out a few barks, roars and growls of open pride as he regaled them with the tales of the fabled Wookiees that had survived the Shadowlands as well as the recent string of extremely skilled humans and even rarer selection of Mon Cala.

"You have done beyond what we had expected and then some." Mendez said. "Your first outing into the Shadowlands was successfully accomplished with flying colors."

"Sir, permission to speak freely sir." Jerome spoke up.

"Go ahead Red Leader."

"First Outing, Sir?"

Mendez and Tarfful exchanged knowing looks with the latter huffing in amusement.

"That's right, Red Leader." Mendez stated. "First outing."

Behind their two commanding officers, a display appeared of the map of the terrain that they were given. The map then began to zoom out to show a much larger forest and chunk of land that was under the label of the Shadowlands.

"You didn't think that was there is to the Shadowlands, did you?" Mendez asked with a gleam in his eyes. "What you all did was beyond impressive for individuals your age. But that was only one portion of it. The easiest one for that matter."

There was an audible sound of several of the Spartans gulping at the prospect of taking on the rest of the Shadowlands when the part they had apparently survived was crazy enough as is.

"We will all return here one day." Mendez declared. "But that will not be for a long time. Until then, we have many more years of training ahead of us to prepare you all for that day. When that day comes, each of you will conquer the Shadowlands as fully fledged Spartan-IIs."

A feeling of fierce determination was felt from the Spartans with Tarfful nodding in approval.

For now, they had completed the most dangerous training regime up to date as of right now.

They could take great pride in the fact that they could now be considered among the best of the best, even if it was only one portion of the Shadowlands.

Next time, they'd conquer it all.

Kurt-051 Journal entry 23

I figure if there was any time to have one, it should be for what me and my brothers and sisters managed to accomplish in this past training mission.

The Shadowlands was a place we had heard about and it was mentioned several times during our lessons.

But to actually enter the place and survive?

It's not much, and honestly, I don't want it to be.

But I'm proud of what we were able to do these last two weeks.

With this, we can overcome anything.

I know it.

End of Journal Entry

Linda-058 Journal Entry 34

Training went on as per usual.

It's been two years officially yet feels far longer than that.

The days feel random at times.

Some feel like a blur while others appear to stretch on.

We don't really mind it.

We have each other.

Gray Team has been getting separate training however due to their behavior. I'm not surprised with how many times they've attempted to escape by this point.

At first I thought that they really wished to get out of this program but recently, Sam and Kurt told some of us that they do it for the thrill.

Thrill seeking Gray team, the… outliers if you could call them that of the program.

Other than that, we've moved on now to emphasizing our specialties.

It feels natural holding a Sniper Rifle. Like a missing limb I never knew I wanted…

I think I'll go practice again.

End of Journal Entry.

Anton-044 Journal entry 16

I don't do a lot of these that often but I feel like for this one, it's worth it.

We just got back from what was basically our vacation.

After being dropped off on the colony world of Emerald Cove, we stole Mendez's air tanks to survive and found an island where we spent a week making bonfires, baking clams and other sea life and even surfing.

It was… really great to actually relax.

We didn't realize how much we needed it but…

Maybe after another few years we can come back again.

That island is ours now.

We marked it with our numbers and team emblems.

If we ever don't, least we still had a grand time.

End of Journal entry.

Catherine Halsey, Program Journal entry #47

They are coming along as expected.

Feels like that's how I open every one of these reports but in all honesty, it feels natural.

I was not expecting the Shadowlands however.

When Mendez and Tarfful informed me of their next training mission, they hardly gave me room to question them.

They simply packed the necessary equipment and left Reach the next day.

This certainly wasn't in my program but… after seeing just how well they had improvised and survived the Shadowlands, I couldn't begin to express my pride in just how far they had come.

And I knew they were only going to get better from here.

Hearing that they had actually gone on a vacation to Emerald Cove was also another more amusing surprise if anything.

No disciplinary charges were needed.

They had earned that much after their ordeal on Kashyyyk.

End of journal entry.

Mendez Mission Report # 32

The Spartan-II's are truly beginning to live up to their namesake.

Their performances in the last few tests were exactly the boost they needed in stepping up their capabilities.

The Shadowlands have proven that not only can they reach the limits has been set for them, they can surpass them.

Surviving for two weeks and creating the tools necessary for survival shows that even with hundreds of years of technological advancements, the ingenuity and instinctual need for survival is strong and present in these Spartans.

These will wind up being the finest soldiers the UNSC will ever see.

There is also the matter of Emerald Cove.

It is difficult not to get a laugh out of the thought that they would go so far as to steal my own air tanks to survive my sabotage.

Then to go and get some free time for themselves.

Tarfful couldn't stop laughing upon finding out what they had done.

Hell, even I couldn't hold down a smile.

They even went out of their way to get the Chieftains favorite meat and my favorite brand of cigars, Sweet Williams.

Guess they earned that reprieve in more ways than one.

End of Mission report.

Tarfful Mission Report.

The pups grow stronger with each passing day, week, month and year.

Each one has grown into their roles, picking up on what we have taught them and begun showing their fields of specialty more openly.

It is good to see that while they are united under the banner of Spartan, they are all still capable of displaying their own individuality.

When I was called upon for this program, I was hesitant and unsure.

But after seeing what we have with these pups, I believe the future of the UNSC is secure with them. Our brothers and sisters among the stars and allies of the Mon Cala will one day look back on these Spartans as the greatest heroes this galaxy had ever seen.

End of Mission Report.

2520

UNSC Colony world Biko.

August 2nd.

Biko Colonial Hospital.

Within a spacious room rested a single woman within a hospital bed. Her hair was jet black with hazel eyes and skin like porcelain. In her arms rested a newborn baby, sleeping peacefully.

The woman holding the baby was silent, a serene smile on her face as she gently rocked her newborn daughter in her arms.

She was humming quietly, making sure not to wake her child.

A moment later, her ears picked up on a soft knock at the door.

Looking up, she saw her door open with another woman walking in with a man. They were carrying a few small bags with some balloons.

Well… mostly the man.

The woman was carrying something much heavier on her.

"Janet." The resting newly-minted mother said in a soft voice. "How are you?"

"My feet are killing me." Janet whined, resting her hand over her baby bump. "I just want our baby boy to be out already. You should know how annoying that is, Wanda."

Wanda only smiled knowingly, turning to Janet's husband.

"How's she been treating you, Reggie?" Wanda inquired.

Reggie only shrugged, walking over to set down the gifts and balloons next to Wanda's bed.

"Well, she throws up often and complains about back pain every other day of the week." Reggie listed off. "Other than that, she's great."

Wanda only chortled until she heard a soft whimper.

Quickly looking down, she saw that her daughter had awoken with her bright silver blue eyes staring up at her.

"Hello little one." Wanda said lovingly. "I have a few new friends I would like for you to meet."

Both Reggie and Janet stood to Wanda's side as she displayed her newborn daughter to them, the latter of which cooed in adoration.

"Oh, she's so precious." Janet gushed. "What's her name?"

"Miranda." Wanda answered. "Miranda Lawson."

"She's beautiful." Reggie said kindly. "July 30th right?"

"Yes, three days ago." Wanda said, carefully holding her daughter out to Janet. "Would you like some practice?"

"Yes please." Janet said, with as much tenderness and cautiousness as she could as she took Miranda into her own hands.

The baby girl stared up at Janet with open curiosity, making a few noises of confusion.

"Hi there." Janet said with a beaming smile. "I'm Janet, your new auntie. You and I are gonna get along wonderfully. Say hello to your Uncle Reggie."

Janet then passed Miranda over to her husband with the man taking the little bundle in his hands.

"Hey Miranda." Reggie greeted with a kind tone. "It's a pleasure to meet my new little niece. Hope you get along with our own soon to be new arrival."

Reggie crouched lower to his wife's stomach, holding out Miranda towards it.

"You'll be meeting your new friend pretty soon yourself." Reggie stated with a wide grin.

"I'm glad that Miranda won't be alone." Wanda said with a relieved expression. "Have you decided on a name for him?"

"Yup, Carter." Janet said, resting her hand against her stomach.

"Doctors told us we should be expecting him later this month." Reggie said, handing Miranda back to her mother. "They're saying by their estimates to be around either the 26th or 27th of August."

"Where's Henry?" Janet abruptly asked. "Has he been here yet?"

"We had a conversation the other day." Wanda said offhandedly. "He's off world for the most part right now."

"Couldn't he make it back for the birth of his daughter?" Reggie asked with a disapproving look.

"Reggie, you know how busy of a man Henry is." Wanda pointed out.

"Yeah, but having a family is just as important a job as the one he has." Reggie countered with his arms crossed to display he wouldn't budge on this matter.

"Reggie." Janet scoffed at him. "Now isn't the time for it. Just be happy Wanda finally had her daughter and be glad for it. You've got a niece to take care of now."

"You know she's not really our niece, right Janet?" Reggie countered though there was no denying him being happy all the same.

"Oh hush, Reggie." Janet said, seating herself in an empty chair beside Wanda's bed.

Later this very same year, many individuals were born that would one day play a role in the coming conflicts to come during this century.

Future Spartans and other key individuals who would change the foundation and future of the galaxy itself.

All the while, the training of the first class of Spartan-II's continued on with the trainees becoming stranger, smarter and faster as the months went on.

Insurrectionist activities increased with the advent of full-blown civil war drawing closer and closer.

In preparation for the future phases of the Spartan-II program, Taun We began her work ahead of time with her contacting her team on Kamino to begin the next steps as they had discussed with Halsey years prior.

While life went on for the UNSC, other civilizations and empires were having their own conflicts and problems that would one day collide with the rest of the galaxy as a whole.

For now, those were years away, close as it may be.

Whew, alright, this was a marathon sprint but damn happy that it was done so quickly.

There was so much more that could have been done in this chapter but I figured we can save that for another date and time.

Not much that I could think of to say really other than what to expect next time.

The part of this crossover I bet some of you have been wondering about and what Bullet and I will address next time.

BSX: Were finally diving into the Mass Effect species perspective and timeline of events. What SW species have joined the Citadel will very much surprise you.

Yeah, we got some real special surprises in store for you guys.

BSX: Two things I like to address, one is questions about UNSC Fleet composition and numbers, all will be revealed in due time and the roles they'll play. Second is the Shadowlands route if you haven't noticed it is from Jedi Fallen Order for those who are wondering. As for lightsabers making appearance, that's a no unfortunately, sorry for those who wanted it but like I said the Jedi and Sith won't make appearances and Kyber crystals don't exist in the story.

So other than that folks, we'll see you next time.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Alright you guys, hope you're ready for this one.

Cause I am confident that not many have tried this before nor thought of it. See, when BSX and I were developing this crossover we had to think really long and hard on how to distinguish this from others. We knew this couldn't be a simple one so there was experimentation and ideas thrown around until we began to formulate what is to come.

And I can tell you this, without a doubt, I think this one will be special. I whole-heartedly believe that. The last few stories that I've been writing with BulletStormX and Jebest4781 have been some of the best chapters and work I've made.

Working with them both has allowed me to publish newer stories, explore ideas I've been wanting to try out as well as churn out chapters repeatedly. I think in total with everything I've written combined with Jeb and BSX I've gotten out… like 70+ chapters from multiple stories.

It feels really damn good to have two comrades that I've been able to work with and we've gotten so much done in such a short amount of time this year.

So other than this mushy crap about me being really thankful for the friends I have on this site, let's get on with the show.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 4: There's more than one

Journal Entry X

Sometimes, we tended to forget just how small we were in the grand scheme of things.

While we were just getting ourselves out of our caves, some had already reached the stars.

While we continued wallowing away in self internalized war, Faster Than Light travel was discovered by a few.

When we were just industrializing, Empires that had been forged centuries prior were enjoying a Millennia of prosperity even with the conflicts that they had faced.

When we had met our allies in the stars, the other players were set.

We just didn't know it yet.

It is astonishing when we look back on just how little we had colonized in retrospect. Many were astonished by our number of worlds though we ourselves were equally as fascinated as them as they were of us. Different reasons naturally yet…

To think of how more connected we were then we had first presumed.

Meeting them among the stars was an eye opener and one of the first steps to our future by looking to the past.

Oh… it appears I've rambled off once more.

End of Journal Entry.

Formation of Councils and Empires

Legends

BCE - Before Current Era

FCE - Formative Council Era

On the other side of the Galaxy, in a world rich with an element that releases Dark Energy which in turn allows for unusual capabilities in terms of technology as well as personal capabilities that an entire species would develop. A special ability if one could call it that.

This special ability was named Biotics which allowed those with an aptitude for it to manipulate and create "Mass Effect Fields" from the element that releases this Dark energy.

As for a deeper explanation of what Biotics are, rather than the scientific term used, it is better to describe what it can do. Biotic individuals can knock enemies over from a distance, lift them into the air, generate gravitational vortices to tear obstacles or enemies apart, or create protective barriers along with a plethora of other capabilities that had been developed over time.

This species for the most part always had a natural aptitude for these Biotic capabilities.

Though the name of the species proper… has been lost to time.

They are all descendants of the same ancestor but as to who or what it was, they are finding it difficult to discover.

What they do know is that this ancestor is a bipedal individual. Two arms and legs with five fingers on their hands and feet.

Their overall body structure is the same yet…

Overtime, or perhaps from the beginning there have been four distinct variations of this species.

Their head pieces.

One possesses semi-flexible cartilage-based scalp-crests that look as though it is slicked back with a singular "tip" wherein all the "strips" meet. "Crest-Heads" was a nickname they had developed in between the four variant species.

Another has something that is referred to as Lekku, two or sometimes four protruding tentacles of sorts that would resemble tails from the head. They had a distinct variety of skin tones from dark blue to searing red and their nickname amongst the others were the "Tail-Heads".

Then there the ones that had Lekku of their own yet were distinctly different from the previously mentioned variant.

These "Lekku" were a part of large crown/horn-like projections from the top of their heads called montrals with patterns upon each of them. These horn-like protrusions upon their heads had also given them a unique passive ability of echolocation which allowed them to sense objects and movement that were in close proximity to one another.

The nickname this variant carried were the "Horn-Heads" or "Crown-Heads".

The last of these variants were the ones that were believed to have resembled the lost ancestor the most.

They, like the rest of their kind, were basically the same in a sense save for their "headpiece". The fur that they possessed or hair as it is called. Long and flowing or short and quaint with usually two shades. Red or blue.

"Fur-Heads" was their nickname.

Now, each of these four were unique and distinct enough for them to be considered their own species yet they were all categorically under the same branch. Much of their genetic makeup was exactly the same, matching one another from 95.2 to 99.1 percent.

Most of their intellectuals round it up to a hundred.

Each child that is born can actually be any one of these four showing just how deeply intertwined they all were with one another. A "Crest-head" and a "Tail-Head" can have a child that comes from either of the two's variations or one of the other two being a "Horn-Head" or "Fur-Head".

Yet there are two specific unifying aspects that categorize all four of these variants under the umbrella of one species.

They are a race of one gender. A race of all females.

Since the name of their ancestor has been lost to time, they had given the four variants their own names of identification.

The Asari. The variant with the crest-shaped head where their skin tone is a variety that ranges from shades of blue to violet and at times teal complexion. They are the most in tune with Biotics as they are the ones who have the most natural born users of this unusual phenomena.

The Twi'leks. The "tail-heads" with a wide variation of skin pigmentation that covers practically every color on the spectrum from red, blue, yellow, green and so on. A unique trait among them is a sort of special communication they are able to perform among their variant to the other four that is special only to them.

The Togruta. The variant with the horn protrusions and passive echolocation, they have a more limited pigmentation then the Twi'lek but have far more than the Asari and the last of the variations…

The Zeltron. Their skin pigmentation is limited like the Asari, though in their terms it's between bright pink to a deep crimson. Their hair is usually blue or red yet some have an extremely rare case of brown. Out of the four, they are what could be described as rather tech savvy yet are also the most sensual. Of the four, they possess a special ability in producing Pheromones that accentuate and amplify their attraction to others with some using Biotics as a means of completely ensnaring the source of their desire completely to them. They are perhaps the most emotionally outgoing of the four.

Some have taken to calling themselves the TTAZ(Togruta, Twi'lek, Asari, Zeltron)(Pronounced Ta-ahz) race for short.

Yes, these four mono-gendered variants all stem from the same world known as Thessia.

They have a long history, as do most sentient species across the galaxy and were among the first within the Milky Way galaxy that achieved space-travel.

Much can be achieved within the life of one of these fine ladies as they all share the secondary uniting factor of their species.

Their incredibly long lifespans.

This entire race has the capability of living upwards of a thousand years, possibly even more.

Many of those that have reached the thousand year mark or are close to it are revered for their centuries of growth, knowledge accumulation and experience.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves for the time being.

Much can be discussed about them when the time comes.

For now, let us delve into the time of expansion and development in other parts of the galaxy.

Within another sector of the galaxy, an ancient race that had just gotten through their long drought of technological stagnation achieves space travel.

Elsewhere, a warrior-based society was expanding within their own territory and means of FTL with colonization of dozens of worlds.

This species that would eventually be given a more distinct name by another species thousands of years later on down the line.

But before then, they were simply called the Sangheili.

Physically imposing beings, they typically stand more than a foot taller than the average human. They are vaguely reptilian in overall appearance, with leathery skin, reverse-jointed legs and sharp claws and teeth. Their large hands have two fingers and two thumbs. Their most distinguishing trait is their jaw structure, which is made up of four separate mandibles attached to their face.

Honor bound warriors, they had lived a life similar to that of the chivalrous knight or ancient Samurai of human history.

They continued to govern themselves until coming into contact with another space-faring species.

This meeting is one of many that would fundamentally shape and change the galaxy in the coming Millenniums.

938 BCE/582 FCE - A species known as the San'Shyuum being led by "Reformist" within their kind arrive upon the frontier world of the Sangheili called Ulgethon. The San'Shyuum utilized technology that is considered holy to both species yet the Sangheili view their usage of the technology as blasphemous.

A collection of heads were sent to the reformist San-Shyuum with the message clear.

This event sparked the War of Beginnings.

Between 938 BCE/521 FCE - As war waged on between the San'Shyuum and Sangheili, the TTAZ species achieved FTL via strange devices known as the Mass Relays. Finding a strange colossal station, the Asari make contact with strange aliens known as the Keepers that maintain the structure now called the Citadel. They quickly establish a working government upon the Citadel.

876 BCE/520 FCE - The Asari make first contact with a new alien race known as the Salarians. The Salarians are a bipedal race of amphibians, with tall, elongated bodies well-suited for their high metabolism, and skeletons composed of more cartilage than those of the TTAZ race. Their heads are long and thin and have a pair of horns protruding from the top of their skulls. Skin varies in color, from bright reds and greens to the more common shades of blue or grey. Their blood is a greenish color.

Intelligent with fast talking speech and an equally fast metabolism, the Salarians soon establish diplomatic relations with the TTAZ race.

856 BCE/500 FCE - The Citadel Council is formed. The Togruta/Twi'lek/Asari/Zeltron and Salarians together colonize the Citadel and establish it as a center of the galactic community, led by the Council. This year is also known as 0 GS, the beginning of the Galactic Standard (GS) timeline.

As a gesture of openness with their new all-female allies, the Salarian Union opens the records of the League of One. Under threat, the League responds by assassinating every member of the Union's inner cabinet; Special Tasks Group operatives then hunt down and eliminate the League.

852 BCE/496 FCE(ME) - The Sangheili-San'Shyuum war comes to an end, and the Covenant is formed with the creation of the Writ of Union. The first Age of Reconciliation begins.

851 BCE/495 FCE(ME) - Sangheili opposed to the Writ of Union rebel against the Covenant. Ussa 'Xellus, a Sangheili that led the opposition created the Ussan faction. He takes with him 400 Sangheili and settles upon a Shield World for sanctuary away from the Covenant.

800 BCE/444 FCE(ME) - Upon the planet known as Duro, the native species named after the planet, the Duros have been space faring for a number of decades up to this point. They are a race of bipedal humanoids with smooth blue-green skin, red eyes, lipless mouths, long thin noseless faces and green blood.

Pilots and explorers, they had rapidly colonized their sector and after some time were hungry for more exploration.

They had uncovered a Dormant Mass Relay on the edge of their sector, sending them straight towards the doorstep of the Citadel.

The Duros Expansion meets the Citadel and establishes diplomatic relations.

795 BCE/439 FCE(ME) - The Duros Expansion joins the Citadel Council due to their expertise in navigating uncharted space and cache of Element Zero leading to economic and technological boon.

789-784 BCE/433-428 FCE(ME) - Taming of the Lekgolo: the Lekgolo are discovered and incorporated into the Covenant.

656-649 BCE/300-293 FCE(ME) - The Volus began exploring and colonizing the stars shortly after discovering FTL.

Sometime after around this year, first contact is made with the Volus. Eventually, the Citadel Council commissions the Volus to draw up the Unified Banking Act, which establishes a standard galactic currency known as the credit and links all galactic economies.

Elsewhere within another undiscovered sector in space, another race was undergoing their own set of conflicts.

This race is known as the Turians.

Typically standing over six feet tall, they have two long, proportionately thick fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand each tipped with talons and a set of mandibles around their mouths. The most distinguishing feature of Turians is their metallic carapace, which contains trace amounts of thulium. This is an evolved trait that acts as a defense against the greater levels of solar radiation that penetrate home world's weak magnetic field.

As the formative years of the Council were occurring, The Turian Unification War occurs. The increasingly isolated and xenophobic colonies on the frontiers of Turian space go to war with each other. After years of fighting, the Turian Hierarchy sweeps in and pacifies the remaining factions. Animosity between Turian colonies continues for decades.

All the while, The Council grants the Volus the honor of being the first non-Council species with an embassy at the Citadel, rather than a Council seat.

In between this time, first contact is made with a race called the Batarians. They are granted an embassy a century later.

A few years later, the TTAZ discovered the Elcor home system and helped the Elcor locate and activate their nearest mass relay. "Within one Elcor lifetime" they establish a regular trade route to the Citadel and are granted an embassy.

First contact is made with the hanar and another technologically oriented species called the Quarians.

Possessing an endoskeleton, lips, teeth, and two eyes with eyelids and tear ducts, they also have three thick fingers on both hands which include a thumb, an index finger, and a long finger, similar to the middle fingers for the TTAZ species as well as three toes on each foot. Their lower legs are bowed backwards significantly, compared to TTAZ. Aside from hands and legs, their general body shape and sexual dimorphism is similar to TTAZ though only on the female side. Male Quarians, however, appear to lack a third toe.

Both races are later granted embassies.

Within another sector, another race that has been space faring encounters the Turians.

They come from the planet Dorin and are called the Kel-Dor or Kel-Dorians led by their government called the Kel-Dor sages.

The Kel Dors were a tall race, typically of the same height as Turians though slightly shorter at times. Their skin ranged in pigmentation from peach to a crimson red. Most had dark, black eyes, although some were born with silver irises, a mark that was often seen as an affinity for Biotics.

The species had unique facial structures compared to most. Their noses were described as falling short of becoming a beak, with a gaping opening that descended to the mouth, a toothless chasm with drooping fleshy strands. In place of teeth, Kel Dor had an upper and lower hard-palate, visible only when they pulled their lips back. Framing their head were extrasensory organs which terminated in small black tusks.

Due to their home planet of Dorin having a unique atmosphere composed of helium and a gas unique to their world, the Kel Dors were forced to wear an antiox breath mask and protective goggles whenever in atmospheres of a different composition. This equipment protected them from carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen, which were fatal to a Kel Dor. The breathing mask also helped to amplify the Kel Dor's voice, as they were forced to shout to produce any sound when out of their native atmosphere.

At first, relationships were tentative and slightly difficult due to communication being hard to convey but upon learning that both species share many similarities in culture and government rooted in justice, duty and service to the community and one another overall, the Kel-Dor and Turians enter into a formal alliance lasting well into modern times.

648 BCE/292 FCE(ME) - Janjur Qom is destroyed by a natural stellar collapse and High Charity becomes the surrogate homeworld of the San'Shyuum. The Dreadnought that was present at the time of the War of Beginnings is made into the centerpiece of the capital.

Council Era - War and Rebellion (1 CE - 900 CE)

357 AD/1 CE - The Rachni Wars: The Rachni, a species of highly intelligent hive-minded insects, are discovered when a Citadel expedition opens a dormant mass relay leading to their star systems. The Rachni prove to be hostile and begin a war with the rest of the galaxy. Negotiation with the Rachni queens is impossible because they cannot be contacted in their underground nests on the toxic Rachni worlds.

436 AD/80 CE - The Rachni Wars continue. The Salarians make first contact with and uplift the primitive species called the Krogan, manipulating them into acting as soldiers for the Citadel Council. The Krogan prove able to survive the harsh environments of the Rachni worlds and pursue the Rachni into their nests, systematically eradicating queens and eggs.

656 AD/300 CE - The Rachni are declared extinct. In gratitude for their aid during the Rachni Wars, the Council rewards Krogan with a new homeworld. Free of the harsh environment of Tuchanka, the Krogan population explodes.

656-1056 AD/300-700 CE -The Krogan race begins to expand exponentially, colonizing many new worlds. Growing concerns about their expansion lead to the founding of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel. In the year 1049 AD/693 CE, Beelo Gurji, a Salarian operative, was appointed as the first Spectre by the Citadel Council.

During this tumultuous time, the Covenant discovered a race of primitive savages known as the Vorcha and due to their unique biology and aggressive behavior are incorporated into the Covenant.

1056 AD/700 CE - The Krogan Rebellions.

Krogan warlords leverage veterans of the Rachni Wars to annex territory from other races in Citadel space. Eventually the Council demands withdrawal from the Asari colony of Lusia, but the Krogan refuse. A preemptive strike is made on Krogan infrastructures by the Spectres. The Krogan Rebellions begin.

The Citadel Council makes first contact with the Turians and Kel-Dor around this time and persuades them to aid in the war. After the Krogan respond to the initial Turian/Kel-Dor offensive by devastating Turian colonies and an attack on the Kel-Dor homeworld with weapons of mass destruction, the Turians and Kel-Dor vow to stop the Krogan from ever becoming a threat again.

Sometime after the dual species join the galactic community, the Volus are accepted as a client race of the Turian Hierarchy with the Elcor falling under the Kel-Dor Sages.

Around this time, a Krogan by the name of Nakmor Drack is born.

1066 AD/710 CE- Realizing that the Krogan will never give in as long as they can replenish their fighters, the Turians unleash a Salarian-engineered bio-weapon known as the genophage on the Krogan. The Krogan population starts its decline. Kel-Dor and Turian relations greatly strained due to the use of the Genophage with the former finding the action a serious breach in justice and duty as condemning a species to eventual genocide is no better then what they had inflicted upon them. Though tensions were raised, it was difficult to dispute at the time. Salarians discretely held a meeting with the two species revealing that the Genophage was not a sterility weapon just a birth rate monitor. They make the argument that this will not kill the Krogan outright but keep a manageable enough population where they won't be as large a threat as they were.

Both sides are pacified and overtime, relations between Kel-Dorians and Turians return to normal.

1112 AD/ 756 CE - The Yanme'e and Geonosians are incorporated into the Covenant.

1156 AD/800 CE - The Krogan Rebellions end, though scattered Krogan insurgent actions continue for decades. The Turians fill the military and peacekeeping niche left by the decimated Krogan.

The Kel-Dorians versed within the abilities of Biotics by this point have developed a multitude of esoteric and properly unique capabilities. Multiple academies are opened to those willing to learn, becoming disciples or the Kel-Dorian sages called them, Padawans underneath veteran Biotic users to expand their abilities with Biotics.

The Citadel Conventions are drawn up in the wake of the conflict.

Council Era - Expansion (900 CE - 2157 CE)

1256 AD/900 CE - The Turians and Kel-Dorians are granted seats on the Citadel Council in recognition for their service in the Krogan Rebellions.

1342 AD/1183 CE - The Kig-Yar are discovered and form an alliance with the Covenant.

1552 AD/1196 CE - The San'Shyuum begin searching for lifespan augmentation methods.

2111/1755 CE(ME) - An Asari Matrons' three daughters are diagnosed as Ardat-Yakshi. Two accept exile, but the third flees. This Asari by the name of Samara renounces the ways of the TTAZ Rangers, takes the oaths of the TTAZ Justicars and pursues her errant daughter for the next 430 years.

2142/1786 CE - The Covenant incorporate the Unggoy into their society

2238/1880 CE - An ambitious Asari by the name of Aria T'loak with an equally dangerous and well versed Biotic Red skinned Twi'lek simply named Talon arrives on Omega, a space station in the Terminus Systems regarded as the region's nominal capital. Aria is hired by the station's warlord as an enforcer and quickly becomes one of his most trusted lieutenants. Talon becomes the most renowned Assassin in the Council galaxy.

2251/1895 CE - The Geth War

The Geth, machines created by the Quarians as a source of cheap labor, become self-aware. Fearing a Geth uprising, the Quarians begin dismantling them. The Geth revolt against their Quarian masters. In the resulting conflict-known to the Geth as the Morning War-the Geth systematically drove the Quarians from their own worlds. The surviving Quarians are reduced to living as spacefaring nomads aboard the Migrant Fleet. Contrary to expectations, the Geth do not venture outside the former Quarian systems into wider Citadel space, instead isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy behind the Perseus Veil. As punishment for creating the Geth, the Citadel Council closes the Quarian embassy on the Citadel.

2277/1921 CE - The Geth begin construction of a mega-structure designed to house and simultaneously run every Geth program in existence. Completion of the mega-structure, which would allow the Geth to maximize their collective processing capacity, is the long-term goal of Geth civilization.

2336/1980 CE - The Drell made first contact with the Kel-Dor around this time. With their homeworld Rakhana severely depleted and no spaceflight capability, the Drell were poised for a massive population crash by 2025 CE. Agreeing to help, the Kel-Dor mount a large-scale rescue operation and evacuate the entire Drell population to their various colonies, over the following decades. The Rakhana eventually would perish and be considered lifeless.

Due to this action, the Drell swear everlasting debt towards the Kel-Dor with the species taking them under their wing. Much of Kel-Dorian society and culture is incorporated into their own way of life.

Many Drell Sages rise during this time.

Aria T'loak assumes control of Omega after defeating the space station's previous warlord in single combat. She mockingly bestows the title "Patriarch" on the broken Krogan, and uses him as a reminder to her enemies of her power. Talon is her right hand enforcer and secret lover.

2370/2014 CE - The Citadel Council discovers Batarian Slaving operations being conducted against multiple species across the Citadel space.

They are stripped of their embassy and banished from Council space.

Slaving raids begin to be openly conducted by the Batarians though they are mostly beaten back.

2433/2077 CE - An Asari that would come to play a pivotal role in the coming 26th century and held in the same Generation as the "Greatest Generation" by the name of Liara T'Soni is born.

2443/2087 CE - A Togrutan and Twi'lek that would later be a part of the "Greatest Generation" were born around this time.

2481/2125 CE - The Yahg, an intelligent pre-spaceflight race, are discovered on the planet Parnack. Ambassadors representing the Citadel Council arrive on the planet and attempt to open diplomatic contact. After the ambassadors are killed by the predatory Yahg, the Council ceases all contact with the Yahg and declares Parnack off-limits.

Not long after the Yahg are discovered, one Yahg is captured for the most influential individual in the realm of information known as the Shadow Broker, to study. With the Broker's assistance, the Yahg rapidly ascends within the Broker's organization as "Operative Kechlu". Eventually, the Broker becomes wary of "Operative Kechlu" and attempts to have him terminated, but the order is sent too late. The Yahg assumes the mantle of the Shadow Broker and directs the organization for the next sixty years.

2492/2136 CE - The Jiralhanea are discovered and incorporated into the Covenant.

2495/2139 CE - Saren Arterius is born.

2499/2143 CE - While on the fringes of a patrol, several Turian and Kel-Dorian ships encounter a set of pirates that attack their fleet. Knowing they are from the neighboring system of Terminus. Chasing them off, the fleet chooses to pursue and eventually follow this ragtag group of pirates to an asteroid field.

Engaging in a brief skirmish, one of the ships struck what appeared to be a frozen asteroid.

Only it wasn't any ordinary asteroid.

The ice around the asteroid began to come apart, seemingly "activating something" within the frozen rock.

Spots of light began emanating from this strange asteroid, evaporating the ice around the rock. The Turians and Kel-Dorians who saw this later described it as some sort of rocky growth, as if they were looking at a fleshy unidentifiable piece then a ship.

The strange object began rotating in the middle of the skirmish, rotating faster and faster with much of the fighting ceasing. After it gained enough speed, it began to spray thermal fire that melted through ship defenses with ease catching many off guard.

Those that remained were ordered to pursue at all cost.

Though it was difficult slightly to navigate through the lawless Terminus System, the frantic rate that the Turian/Kel-Dor fleet moved about put many off guard and unnerved leaving them alone entirely.

When getting to the edge of the galaxy, so to speak, all efforts in pursuing the unidentified ship were halted and abandoned.

The report ended with a Turian Captain stating, "Any ship that wants to commit suicide in that great void is not worth our trouble".

2502/2146 CE- Thane Krios is born

2504/2147 CE - In a joint collaborative effort in mapping out more of the galaxy, a team of top scientists led by Duros and Salarians were attempting to discover other sentient life via communication and radio waves.

Though unsuccessful for a majority of the project, one team reportedly made contact with an unknown frequency that seemed to stem from what the Council had dubbed Frontier/Wild Space.

Upon learning that this was true, many had attempted to get into proper contact with this unknown species. After several weeks of monitoring what appeared to be communication waves, it stopped, abruptly cut off.

Attempts were made at re-establishing contact or monitoring of this unusual radio/communication but all resulted in failure.

This was dubbed the lost contact mission.

Many within this team hope to one day in the future establish proper contact with this species in wild space.

2508/2152 CE- Thane Krios is submitted for training as an assassin.

2510/2154 CE - A Jiralhanea that would carve out a piece of the galaxy for himself by the name of Atriox is born.

2511/2155 CE - Saren Arterius is promoted to active service in the Turian military at the age of 16.

2514/2158 CE(ME) - A Turian that would one day come to play a pivotal role within the galaxy at large as well as one that would be a part of a group of individuals later dubbed the "Greatest Generation" by the name of Garrus Vakarian is born.

2515/2159 CE - Saren Arterius becomes the youngest Turian to be inducted into the Spectres.

2521/2165 CE - A Quarian by the name of Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya who would be a part of the "Greatest Generation" is born.

2525/2169 CE

A lone Asari stood at the front of a building within the Citadel with a slightly forlorn and sad expression.

She held a datapad in between her hands and she sat upon a bench with her head down.

She had been waiting here for some time by herself now and she was getting slightly anxious.

Many citizens passed her by, not giving her a look at all which she was rather pleased about. She wasn't all that good with crowds as of this moment.

She honestly would rather be in a cave right now, excavating the lost history of-

"Liara!" A loud, familiar voice exclaimed from the crowd.

Blinking, Liara T'soni looked up in time to see a Togruta with orange skin running towards her with a Twi'lek that had a shade of deep blue.

Smiling happily at the sight of the two, Liara got up in time as she was nearly tackled back down to the bench by the two who had jumped at her with flying hugs.

Straining slightly, Liara laughed lightly a moment later and embraced the two back in a warm hug.

"Ahsoka, Mission." Liara said kindly. "I've been waiting for you two."

"Sorry Liara." Mission Vao, the Twi'lek said straight away with a sheepish expression.

"Ahsoka and I got a bit nervous before coming here and got a little hungry as well."

The Asari chuckled lightly at the answer she got. "You both were nervous, so you chose to eat it away? What kind of response is that?"

"Our kind of response." Ahsoka Tano piped up with a puff of her chest and hands on her hips. "A good stomach is a full stomach to get you through the day."

"I thought it was an empty stomach is a hungry stomach to strive for more?" Mission said with her Togrutan giving her a flat look.

"That's what Master Secura told us when it comes to learning." Ahsoka reiterated.

"So are you two ready?" Liara asked anxiously.

Both girls gazed upon their Asari friend with hesitant expressions before nodding with confidence.

"It's time." Ahsoka said with a determined face. "My mother always told me the time would come and Aayla taught me much in the academy but it's here where I can learn the proper skills for Biotics to become a proper Ranger for our people. She recommended us to Sage Master Plo Koon! Can you believe it?"

"Plo Koon?" Liara asked in open astonishment. His name was known very well amongst many proficient Biotic users with him being one of the few to attain the distinction of mastering the extremely rare ability of Biotic lightning.

Mission Vao shook with excitement.

"It's gonna be amazing." She said, bouncing on the spot. "I can't wait to learn under him."

"Well I wish you both luck." Liara said with a slightly saddened smile, something her two dearest friends easily picked up on.

"Ah Liara." Ahsoka gave her an understanding look. "We're not gonna up and stop talking to ya. You're still our best friend, you know that right?"

"Yeah." Mission chipped in with a wide grin. "What would you do without us? Who else can pull you away from your caves when you need fun?"

Liara found herself chortling a moment later.

Though the three of them were maidens for the most part by their species standards, Liara was older than the two by ten years. It wasn't much when you consider their thousand year lifespans yet they looked up to Liara as if she were their older sister.

They had been together for nearly 50 years up to this point and now was the time for them to start branching out and getting out into the greater galaxy at large.

Mission and Ahsoka were always the more adventurous of the trio whilst Liara preferred her studies of ancient texts and societies.

But they had resolved themselves to always stay in touch with one another no matter how far apart they would get and always remain steadfast friends and sisters.

"Good luck you two, again." Liara said, going in for a tight hug. "I hope I hear all about your wild adventures and accomplishments all over the galaxy."

"And good luck to you, Liara." Ahsoka said, hugging her tightly with Mission.

"Yeah, we better see your name all over those science channels about the crazy discoveries you've made." Mission stated.

"Those are scientists, Vao. I'm an archeologist."

"They'll still probably throw you into the same channel." Mission countered and Liara was hard pressed not to disagree.

"You're probably right." Liara admitted, sharing a laugh with her friends.

After speaking with them over various topics and such, Ahsoka and Mission wave their friend goodbye as they face the academy of the Biotic Sages and entered the large building moments later.

Liara lingered there where they had said their goodbyes for a few moments until she herself departed.

While on her way to her destination, she brought up her datapad and turned on the screen which revealed to her the contents that would be the focus of her objective.

It was a group of young and up and coming intellectuals being recruited by elder explorers, scientists and archeologists that were gearing up for a long 3 decade excursion to begin the process of expanding their knowledge of the rest of the galaxy.

While much was found within their corner of this galaxy, a majority of this collection of stars, planets, dust and dark matter still had yet to be explored.

There was an entire frontier out there waiting to be discovered.

And she would be a part of the group that she firmly believed would discover new relays, new systems, new planets and above all else. New sentient life.

If only she knew… just how much of a wakeup call the Citadel would be facing in the years to come.

The Stage is set.

The coming decades of tumultuous changes and conflicts.

The factions have been set.

Humanity, Wookiees, Mon Calamari, and Kaminoans under the umbrella of the UNSC(United iNtergalactic Space Command).

The Citadel and all of its species. The TTAZ(Togruta, Twi'lek, Asari, Zeltron), Salarians, Turians, Kel-Dorians, Duros, Volus, Elcor, Hanar, Drell, and Keepers.

The Empire that is thousands of years old up to this point, the Covenant. The San'Shyuum, Sangheili, Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Jiralhanea, Lekgolo/Mgalekgolo, Yanme'e, Geonosian, Huragok, and Vorcha.

With the remaining outliers of the Quarians, Geth, Krogan, and Batarians.

All of these different species.

All of these different ways of life, culture, beliefs and government.

All would eventually meet and clash.

Though there were some years out in regard to certain organizations, their meetings are Inevitable.

So, this one was a lot easier to be done simply because much of it was already pre-planned and made months in advance by myself and BulletStormX.

We had essentially written out a rough outline of our story overall that would get more comprehensive and detailed as the chapters came out and time went on.

It was difficult but it is paying off in dividends.

BSX: As I said before, making the timeline to where the Halo timeline correlates to the ME timeline took days to work out and compare notes to finally get what you see here.

FMW: So as you all saw, yes, the Twi'leks and Togruta are in the story though I bet none of you would have guessed that they were gonna be a part of the Asari species. I kind of correlated that to their unique head designs. The Zeltron were added as well due to their sensuality and skin pigmentation being similar to that of the Asari to a degree as well as them playing a slightly subtle important key role later on down the line. Like way later. Now you're probably wondering why we chose to have the Twi'leks, Togruta and Zeltron be all female. Well, when you think about it, who are some of the most  famous members  of these species? Come on, take a moment. Yeah, exactly, mostly females.

BSX: The Kel-Dor and Duros were the choices me and FMW narrowed down too for importance of what they contributed to the story such as the Kel Dor being the ones to uplift and save the Drell population from extinction. A lot more Drell are running around now. The Vorcha being integrated into the Covenant made sense to both of us since half of the Covenant are bloodthirsty savages(not all of them).

FMW: And as for the Geonosians, they may have been one of the last minute add ons before the start of this story but when you compare them to the Drones(Yanme'e) they were another obvious choice for the Covenant.

BSX: As you saw Mission Vao and Ahsoka along with previous timeline hints of SW characters, that means we're bringing all characters from different eras and time periods of Star Wars history. I mean ALL of THEM, both legends and canon characters will be making appearances here and there. As for who they are, you'll have to wait and see.

While you guys won't be getting all of the Star Wars characters you know and love, with the variety of species we've chosen you guys will be getting a huge swath of them in the coming chapters.

So thanks again everyone for reading this gargantuan undertaking.

We'll try to update as frequently as we can either once a month or once every two weeks depending on other stories and schedules.

This, like Spirit Unto Dawn has been greatly planned out and you guys will see a grand finale when the time comes.

Until then, stay tuned for more.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Alright, loving the reviews and the excitement with all the factions being established.

There's a lot to cover, a lot to do.

Some reviews and questions BSX and I will address towards the end of the chapter in the closing AN.

There are those reviews who made it sound like ring announcers and that got a laugh out of me. Possibly Gigan and Shadowwolf, you guys are awesome.

Now then, let's get on with the show.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 5: Prelude

2521/2165 CE

January 25th

Kamino

Su Des Facility.

Upon the endless watery world of Kamino, a lone facility stood far above the waters below.

It's appearance was dome-like, having multiple landing platforms and the numerous buildings either conjoined or connected via bridges.

The planet of storms lived up to its name as violent winds and crushing rain buffeted the lone structure yet it stood strong and unfazed against the raging storm.

The Kaminoans had long since adapted to their thundering and stormy home with their cities all built to withstand the endless rain and winds that were a constant on the planet.

While the outside was dark and turbulent, it was the exact opposite within the facility of Su Des.

Pristine, calm and clean halls were what was the norm of most of the facilities and even cities of the planet of Kamino.

Within the halls of this facility, a lone Kaminoan was walking in a slow stride though her long legs made it seem as though she was moving at a faster rate.

She was humming an unusual tune to herself, certainly out of character for the cold and more emotionless state her kind usually displays.

Taun We has become something of an oddball amongst her species though that is to be expected if one takes a moment to think about it.

For the past few years, nearing a decade now, Taun has spent a majority of her time off planet and in the presence of other sentient species.

Sentient species that display their emotions more openly and willingly, not like the Kaminoans.

She had been exposed, for lack of a better term to a broader perspective.

Whilst she had retained a great deal of her usual calm and collected self, Taun would be seldom pressed if she were to deny that she had changed in these last few years.

Especially now with what she has been selected to work on.

Striding towards a door at the end of the hallway, she stopped before it as it opened for her entry.

Stepping inside a darkened room, upon detecting her presence, lights began flickering on to reveal her laboratory.

The room was circular for the most part with a wholly unique design in a manner of speaking. There were black chalkboards that lined the walls save for the center that was adjacent to the door.

Multiple operating tables with various assortments of medical tools and chemicals.

One might assume this to be an emergency room given the overall look yet this room was being utilized for something far more… considerably amoral.

On the opposite wall that was adjacent to the door were a series of large tubes filled with a blue liquid with various pipes and contraptions connected to them. The interior was empty for the moment though not for long.

Going over to an elevated terminal that was in the center of the room, Taun placed her hand against the center with a light scanning her hand for a brief moment.

A chirp of identification confirmation made a large screen appear before the Kaminoan with a human woman waiting on the other end.

"Catherine." Taun said pleasantly.

"Taun." Catherine Halsey greeted with a friendly smile and nod. "Hope your trip back home wasn't too troublesome."

Taun shook her head. "Not at all. I am simply glad to be back here."

Halsey's expression fell slightly. "Yes. I wish it was at a later time though."

"We both knew we would have to start eventually." Taun said, walking over to several stations and activating functions and other systems. "This was only a matter of time. Better to do it now then withhold for a later date and time."

Halsey sighed in resignation on her end, body slumping slightly. She stayed that way for a few seconds until her expression became solemn and determined a moment later.

"Agreed." Halsey stated with conviction. "Have you received them yet?"

"They had arrived shortly before my arrival." Taun We answered, going over to the large tubes with a control panel next to them.

Inputting a series of commands, hissing steam and air came out from several of the pipes and bubbles formed from below within the tubes.

Several moments later, four bodies floated up within the tubes with them being completely still and unresponsive.

The four bodies were John-117, Kurt-051, Jerome-092 and Frederic-104.

Or they were imperfect copies of them.

These were flash-clones that were made a week ago by the UNSC, specifically created by Halsey and Taun.

They were the most advanced version of a Flash-clone, combining the expertise of the Kaminoans and ONI's best scientists to produce them.

Though as new a version as they were, there were still several key problems that persisted from the last generation.

Their cellular and internal makeup was incomplete.

On the outside, the four inside the tubes looked like exact copies of the Spartan-II's they were cloned after at the current age and stage they were in the program.

This was to be their next step in creating the perfect super-soldiers that Halsey had drawn up. Going off of what was attempted decades ago between the Kaminoans and humanity for the Orion project, Halsey believed that it wasn't ambitious or risky enough.

Years ago, when Halsey had first learned of the Kaminoans natural inclination towards genetic conditioning and manipulation she approached Taun We directly and showed her the plans she had.

It was different to say the least.

In the short amount of time that the Kaminoans had known the UNSC, they had found each species to be unique and strange in their own right.

The Mon Calamari were ones they could relate to, to a degree due to their aquatic capabilities and similarities in how their worlds are overall. There was of course a slight barrier due to the Calamari having a love of fine arts and culture as well as expressing individualism and creativity.

A trait that is shared by both the Wookiees and Humans as well.

Wookiees always held a wariness towards the long limbed species as they found their cold and aloof personas off putting.

Humanity was a rather mixed bag to say the least. They were all encompassing on many aspects from the perspective of the Kaminoans, finding them both intriguing and wary.

And from a species that was so emotional and rebellious to a great degree, Taun was certainly surprised that one would approach her species in doing something humans would find appalling.

Currently, Taun was about to undertake the next step in this "Appalling" program as she had the container holding the 092's flash-clone drain itself of the gelatinous fluid within. Several mechanical arms descended down from above and opened the tube, delicately lifting the body over to an operating table and setting him down.

Taun We loomed over the flash-clone with Halsey watching from her end with baited anticipation.

The Kaminoan geneticist looked over to her scientist human counterpart with Catherine sighing shakily, nodding in consent a moment later.

Looking back to the 092 clone, Taun's gaze lingered upon it for a brief moment before speaking up.

"Initiate procedure OCR-23." Taun said aloud.

Immediately, several compartments opened around the sides of the operation bed. Two mechanical joints tipped with drilling needles came out from the compartments.

Beside the bed was a heart rate monitor that also displayed the internal workings of the clone entirely.

Both were angled on either side of the clones temples with the needles beginning to spin rapidly. They drew in closer and closer to the 092 clone, Halsey holding her breath until the metal needles pierced the flesh.

They drilled into the temples of the clone with the copy not responding for several minutes.

Suddenly, without warning, the clone's eyes snapped open revealing them to be bloodshot red. 092's flash-clone yelled out in complete and utter agony, writhing in agony and pain even with the needles still embedded into his head.

Blood began seeping out of his eyes and after several more agonizing screams, the clone jolted and slumped upon the bed.

The sound of the heart flatlining was heard, the long whining sound that signified the death of the clone reverberating against the walls.

Halsey leaned back in her chair, trembling hand over her face to hide her pained and terrified expression.

Taun stared at the dead clone. "Subject 092-1 deemed unsuccessful in augmentation of Occipital Capillary reversal. Results. Death."

She turned to Halsey who still had her hand up and was now shaking all over.

"Catherine." Taun called to her gently. "We knew that the starting stages were going to result in immediate failure. It's what we do with the time that we have that will decide upon the fate of the true Spartan-II's when the time comes. We still have time to make this better."

Taun wasn't going to lie. She knew the procedures were more than likely going to be imperfect.

There are far, far too many variables to consider when going into such an intrusive and dangerous procedure wherein one is basically rearranging how a body functions forcibly. The margin for error was quite present.

"I know, We, I know." Halsey said softly, rubbing her eyes for a moment before exhaling to steel herself. "Prepare the next clone for CCO-8-3."

The tube containing 051 was next.

-Several days later-

To say that the past few days were stress inducing would be an understatement for Halsey.

They had started the experimentation phase of the Spartan-II's program regarding augmentation and thus far were met with failure after failure.

She had expected this of course. Halsey knew that she was hoping for far too much at this early stage.

Most of the children had turned ten or were turning ten this year and they had yet to hit puberty.

Both Taun and Halsey believed that the augmentations were best designed to be implemented sometime after the children began hitting their growth spurts.

If it was forced upon their bodies now at such a young age, the augmentations that would accelerate their growth in terms of muscles, nervous system, height, skeletal structure and so on would simply result in their bodies being torn apart from the inside out.

Not exactly the result Halsey would like and one that ONI would approve of.

That didn't discourage Taun and Halsey from trying to grasp these augmentations now.

Each one was highly dangerous in their own right as they had accounted for numerous aspects of these augmentations that would undoubtedly come into play.

When she had drawn up the Augmentation process for the SPARTAN-IIs, it was divided into two parts.

One was a more physical and highly intrusive set of surgical procedures and the other was an equally dangerous series of injection procedures.

From what Halsey and Taun were able to gather along with several other surgeons that were working on the process, the surgeries were highly risky, intensive, and required special medical talent. Their safety and effects varied substantially from subject to subject, with the benefits and risks varying with the surgeon, the surgical conditions, and the state of the patient.

Then came the Chemical augmentations.

They were to be applied by working on a molecular level, targeting molecules within the body and then altering them to begin a growth process of targeted tissues. Although the chemicals work on a molecular level, they do not work on a genetic level, as targeted mutagenesis is impossible using chemicals alone.

This proved especially challenging for one such as Taun as they were Genetic geniuses in terms of manipulating genes. However, going over the chemical augmentations and the means in which they were to be applied, Taun realized that even if they tailor made the chemicals to be based upon every single individual that would receive them, the results would still be unpredictable. The chemical augmentations primary risks were dependent upon the subject's genetic background and how they adjust to the alteration of cells and molecules and to a more physical point, tissue growth.

Taun suggested extensive Gene Therapy in the coming years to better prepare the Spartan-II's for their eventual Augmentation, something Halsey agreed on entirely.

She could only hope that the Spartans would be ready for something like this when the time came.

They were being drilled that so long as a situation was in their control, they were able to win at any given situation. If they can adapt, they can win.

This was something outside their control entirely.

The survival of their lives when the time comes would be completely in the hands of Halsey and Taun.

And she would not fail them.

October 15th: Halsey took the time to muse somewhat in her journal on the vulnerabilities created by the standardization of operating systems, highlighting the recent disabling of a patrolling destroyer by a terrorist who hacked its code. Given that the UNSC, conversely, had not had much success penetrating the homegrown collections of software employed in the Outer Colonies, she concluded that the time had come to think outside the box as far as programming practices were concerned. She had spared no resource in the development of routines that allowed the newly-operational third-generation A.I.s to penetrate any system software. Additionally, they had already learned to mutate and defend established UNSC operating systems from attack, a side effect of the routines which Halsey found serendipitous.

2522/2166 CE

Earth

March 19th

A lone man sat outside a room within a white hallway where there were other people going about their business, leaving the man to stew in his thoughts.

Or more like tremble with anticipation and fear.

Currently, he was in a hospital, one he damn near sprinted to upon receiving word of his wife's admission into one.

He was glad that his friend David was on leave at the time here on Earth or he may have found out at the last possible second all together. His wife would have killed him.

…

Alright, not kill him, but still he'd rather her not face this alone.

Until he was promptly shoved out of the labor room, forcing his wife to face it alone.

So here he sat within this hospital corridor, waiting and jittering about.

This was how he acted until…

"You know your leg is gonna snap clean off if you keep shaking it like that Gerald."

Blinking, Gerald looked up with his face breaking into a wide grin upon seeing who it was.

"Marcus." Gerald said with a boisterous tone, standing up out of his seat and walking over to embrace his friend in a hearty hug. "What're ya doing here? Vanessa?"

"Yeah, Vanessa." Marcus confirmed for him. "Just being checked up on. She should be expecting our kid within a month or so. How's Inna?"

Gerald slumped in a dramatic fashion.

"In there, right now."

Marcus laughs aloud, patting his friend upon his shoulder.

"Chin up, Gerald." Marcus said. "Give it another few minutes, and then you're a father."

"I just don't know why they won't let me in!" Gerald exclaimed in annoyance, completely ignoring the looks he was receiving from the other people and several Wookiees within the hallway. "God knows how many times a husband was present for their kids. But noooo~ for some dumbass reason, I can't be in there."

"Well if you're stressed out that much, I think you're on the right track to being a good father." Marcus assured.

"You think so?"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

The flat look he received from Gerald was enough for Marcus to laugh again.

"Oh yeah, Dad made sure to send these to me when he had the chance from Meridian." Marcus said, reaching behind his back and pulling out a set of cigars.

"Sweet Williams?" Gerald said in disbelief.

"The very best." Marcus remarked with a wide smirk. "Old pa had to pull a few strings but the name Williams has some major pull still."

Gerald chuckled as he took the Cigar graciously and pocketed it for later.

"Decided on a name yet?" He asked his friend and fellow Father-to-be.

"Yeah, Vanessa strong-armed me into Ashley." Marcus revealed.

"Ashely?" Gerald said aloud in thought. "Wait… is it cause you and her did it near-"

"Don't." Marcus Williams cut him off with a half-lidded stare. "Just… don't."

His friend had a mischievous grin appear upon his expression seeing his friends annoyance.

"Bet that meadow was mighty comfy beneath you."

Williams' face scrunched up before he found himself smiling.

"It was actually. I forget that when she lets loose, she can be a bit of a screamer."

"Don't remind me." Gerald said.

Marcus was about to make a witty comment when a Mon Cala doctor appeared.

"Mr. Gerald?" The Doctor said aloud with the man looking over to him.

"Yes?"

"This way please."

Tensing up, Gerald looked up to Marcus who only smiled encouragingly.

"First dibs on seeing your kids, Sheppy." Williams stated, clapping his friends shoulders. "Go on."

Gerald only nodded, following after the doctor and entering the labor room where he saw his wife holding two bundles in her hands.

She looked tired but positively radiant with the loving smile she held as she looked down at her two children.

Silently, he walked over to his wife and stood by her side placing a chaste kiss on her temple.

"Inna." He said lovingly. "They're beautiful."

"They are, aren't they?" She whispered reverently.

Gently, he placed a hand beneath the head of the closest babe at his side while looking over to the one opposite to him.

Chuckling softly and wiping away some tears out of the corner of his eyes, Gerald was positively beaming as he managed to sit down upon the bed with his wife and held his family close.

"Hey there kids." Gerald said quietly. "It's your dad saying hi to you both for the first time."

The babies shifted about with both slowly opening their eyes and gazed up at their parents.

"Welcome to the world, Michael and Michelle Shepard." Gerald declared.

Sometime later within the month of April, an individual named Kaidan Alenko was born on the 4th.

Ten days later on the 14th, Ashley Williams was born to Marcus and Vanessa Williams.

December- After multiple Flash Clones, Taun We and Catherine Halsey make some headway with their Augmentation pre-implementation.

The success rate for survival increases by 12% leaving a 53/47 chance of survival.

2523/2167 CE

March 11th- Emile-A239 is born.

May 25th- Scott and Sara Ryder are born to Alec and Ellen Ryder.

June 8th- Fifth batch of Flash Clones involving Augmentations deemed 61/39 chance of success rates.

August 7th- Jennifer "Jack" Tayler is born.

October 25th- Jacob Taylor is born.

Spartan-II's in their sixth year of training. Entering their own early stages of puberty which will be the most critical time for Taun We and Halsey to get the Augmentation processes down as best as they can.

During this time, the next batch of Flash-clones undergo the augmentations though the results had ended up the same as earlier in the year.

2524/2168 CE

February 28th- Jun-A266 is born. Second batch of Flash Cloned experimental Augmentation experience similar results with only a ten percent increase of survival rates likely.

May 3rd- James Vega is born.

Around the same time, Catherine Halsey was reunited with the newly promoted Captain Keyes within the University of Calippus.

They would later conceive a child.

2525/2169 CE

January-31st - On the world of Jericho VII, in the city of Damask, a boy who would be a part of the "Greatest Generation" with the future callsign of Noble Six is born.

February 1st

Kashyyyk

Rryatt Trail Gates

Seventy-Five Spartan-II's stood at the entrance that represented their final test.

After eight long years, it was time to see if all that training all the pain they had endured to get them to where they were right now paid off.

Accompanying them were their commanding officers and trainers, Franklin Mendez and Chieftain Tarfful. By their side was their "caretaker", so to speak, Taun We who had been unusually inconsistent whenever she was around for the past two years. The last two months especially as they had seen her a grand total of four times and even then, it was only for a brief few minutes.

Yet they had picked up on something unusual every time they saw Taun and whenever she was among them.

There was this look that she would give to each and every single one of them. This look of unyielding determination that they couldn't quite describe.

She was always soft spoken, kind and gently with how she was around them like their older sister.

These past few interactions had made some of the Spartans begin to slightly worry about Taun's behavior and had questioned on several occasions if she was alright.

Kurt, Jorge and surprisingly Sam had been the main three to ask her this question directly.

She had calmly brushed them off with a prolonged placement of her arms upon their shoulders with her displaying an extremely rare smile.

There were a record few times they had seen her smiling, something she did even less then Chief Mendez.

The only notable time she smiled that came to many of their minds was the incident with Carris-137 in 2520 involving her accidently killing one of their handlers.

137 was so devastated by what she had committed, it took her a while to get over the action with Taun managing to break through to her.

"It shows that you have a good heart and will never lose your humanity."

Those words resonated with Carris and being that most of the Spartan-II's were present for them, it had the same effect on them.

To think that a Kaminoan would be the one to say that to them truly struck a chord.

Now… they were still trying to deduce her sporadic appearances and strange gazes.

Margaret-053 of Black Team noted it may have to do with the prolonged absence of Halsey which many had agreed to.

Aside from Taun We's extremely rare appearances, Halsey was hardly as present as Taun was.

And by hardly present, they had only seen her face once over a transmission as she had instructed them and informed them that in the coming months would be the final stretch of their training. She was preparing something and the Spartans had no idea as to what that may be.

Regardless, they pressed on with their training.

Mendez and Tarfful made sure to push them to their absolute limits and had them forcibly go beyond them.

Tarfful had even roared aloud something about "Plus Ultra", whatever that meant.

And now they were here.

Their ultimate last hurdle for their training.

Well… Step 1 of 2 of their last hurdle as Mendez aptly put it.

And what a hurdle it was.

Back into the Shadowlands.

Only this time there was a large distinction from their last time here within this landscape.

From what they had been able to gather due to where they had been dropped off at, it was clear to them that their end goal was to get to and survive the true Shadowlands all with a goal in mind.

Rather than just survival, Tarfful had spoken of a specific goal in mind.

Each Spartan team has been given dots on the map of the Shadowlands for each individual team. They are to retrieve what is found there and be brought to the top of the Tree of Origins.

How they are to collect these items and objects is entirely up to them.

Each team can either do it by themselves or work collectively overall.

For Tarfful and Mendez, it didn't matter.

So long as they get it done.

"Spartans." Mendez said aloud. He no longer called them Trainees by this point. "This is where Tarfful, Taun and I will leave you to the gate guardian of the Rryatt trail. This… is your final mission. Your final task. Listen to what Krepauk has to say and listen well. Commit his words to memory as you have done with everything we have taught you."

Tarfful roared aloud several sentences of his own to bolster their resolve and encouraged them to become greater than they already were.

Taun simply said that they will pass and she will be waiting for them by the end of it all.

All seventy-five stood straight, firm and tense with anticipation.

They were ready and will not fail.

The trio that had accompanied them stepped back when a Wookiee came up to them riding atop a large quadruped reptilian that could be described as slightly crocodilian in appearance.

This was the Rryatt Gate Guardian Krepauk and his mount was a sacred creature to the Wookiees known as a Katarn.

Katarns had slender bodies with rodent-like tails, and narrow faces leading back to a cartilaginous ridge protecting their neck and shoulders. Their paws had opposable digits, and their lower limbs were covered with sharp spurs, both of which allowed them to climb and hang from the branches of the giant Wroshyr trees.

Tarfful whined and growled several greetings at the Gate Guardian with Krepauk pounding his chest as a show of respect and promise towards the Chieftain and friend.

With Krepauk now alone with the Spartan-II's, he jumped down from his Katarn and regarded them all.

Krepauk then began to speak to the Spartans, telling them how he had heard much about them from Tarfful and the potential they possessed.

He recognizes it and states that this is where their potential will be brought out to its fullest capacity.

The Wookiee went on to describe the trial overall with the five paths that they were to undertake in the coming month.

They would be starting with the safest area, the Common Paths atop a series of hills. They would then move on up to the High Grounds which contains dense foliage that would eventually lead them to the Wroshyr canopy.

The last two parts would be the most exceptionally dangerous.

The Web weaver path which was home to an exceptionally large population of Wyyyschokk, something that made several of the Spartan-II's grumble in aggravation at facing those multi-legged bastards again.

And last, but especially not least, the Shadowlands proper.

The most dangerous and fiercest area where only the best of the Wookiee warriors along with a number of exceptionally deadly creatures. Terentateks, Gúta, Tuk'ata, Gundark, Vornskr and Maalraas just to name a few.

And some of these weren't even native to the Shadowlands.

They had been taken from other colonial worlds that had jungles in them and brought here by the Wookiees for the purpose of creating more elite warriors and pushing the Wookiees to greater degrees of skill.

It was always still a funny thing to consider for many of the UNSC.

Though large and intimidating, Wookiees for the most part were calm, cheerful and quite lovable towards many. People tend to forget just how dangerous and skilled a Wookiee is in combat.

It's why many within the UNSC respect them so much.

Krepauk finished his "presentation" of their final trial, informing that from here on out, they were on their own.

They were to complete their assigned tasks or die trying.

The gates before them opened and with their tools that were given to them in hands, the Spartan-II's ran in at full speed with the intent to win.

-Two Weeks Later-

"TAKE IT DOWN, TAKE IT DOWN!"

"GRAB THE ARMS!"

"SAM, DOUGLAS! OVER HERE!"

A motley crew of about fourteen Spartan-II's were currently engaging a particularly large creature that had multiple limbs with blood red skin.

This was a Gundark.

It roared and thrashed about, tossing two of the Spartans away though two of its arms were quickly tackled and held by another seven.

"Keep it secure!" Fred-104 roared aloud, grasping onto the Gundarks upper right arm with all of his might.

"Trying." Alice-130 responds, holding it with one arm while embedding her combat knife into the creature's forearm.

"Tackle it!" Leon-011 yelled out with him, the other two standing Spartans and the two that recovered from being tossed all running at the Gundark at full speed.

The advent of five Spartan-II's jumping atop the Gundark was enough for it to topple over onto its back.

The other nine that had been holding the arms down pinned it with all their weight. The rest scrambled up and collectively stabbed the creature at once in the head.

It let out a gurgle of resistance and pain, blood pooling out of its mouth before it slumped over in defeat with death claiming the Gundark at last.

The fourteen Spartan-II's slumped in relief and exhaustion, all breathing heavily after this little ordeal.

Their clothes were in tatters, injuries riddling their bodies with bandages covering most of them.

They had been separated from the other Spartans, though this was intentionally done as to find the objects that had been scattered throughout the Shadowlands for each team to retrieve.

This group is composed of Blue, Red, Omega and Gold Team.

John, Sam, Kelly, Fred, Linda, Jerome, Douglas, Alice, Jorge, Leon, August, Robert, 073 and Cassandra-075.

Silver team was off somewhere with Green Team.

Gray team up and disappeared as they usually do.

Black team is supposed to be with Alpha and Gamma.

The others were all mixed up altogether.

This was a rather trying time to say the least.

Their first week was relatively simple all things considered.

Kurt-051 believed that since they were headed into the Shadowlands, it was unnecessary to engage most of the wildlife and stick to subversions and hiding in order to avoid them.

It was unanimously agreed upon.

The Common Path and High Grounds were cleared with relative ease, each one taking about two days to cross through.

Tarfful's training in being maneuverable paid off in spades when swinging through the trees.

The Wroshyr Canopy was where things started to get a bit more trickier, with 051 essentially taking point with the best spotters of the group.

Kurt would always make sure to tell them to lay low whenever a creature that he perceived as a threat was nearby.

It was one of his "funny feelings" that he got and had as if magically developed over the course of these eight years.

This was one of Kurt's greatest personal assets, with his "funny feelings" having allowed him to avoid traps, perceive when something bad was about to occur or when his team was about to get attacked. He had competed with John, Jerome, Fred, Leon, Margaret and many of the other team leaders with him coming out on top more often than not.

It appeared that Kurt's "funny feelings" were just as potent and useful as John's indescribable lucky streak.

With Kurt's "enhanced" perception, he was able to navigate them all through the Wroshyr Canopy relatively unscathed for the most part.

There were several run-ins here and there with some of the local and newer native wildlife but they got away for the most part. They cleared the Wroshyr Canopy on their seventh day.

But then they entered the Webweaver Path.

And that was when things started becoming more hectic.

It was as if the Wyyyschokk had been waiting for six long years for this moment and came down upon the 75 Spartan-II's with a burning vengeance.

They had to endure a week through the Webweaver path, surviving encounter after encounter with swarms of Wyyyschokk spiders by the skin of their teeth.

That path really was their turf.

After surviving that ordeal, they had entered the Shadowlands proper.

And it was as hellacious as they expected it to be.

Less than an hour into the darkened ground level of Kashyyyk were they attacked by a cavalcade of creatures, as if the bastards were waiting for them.

By day's end, the Spartan-II's were nearly spent as they had spent nearly eleven hours running, attacking and killing so many of the creatures that inhabited the Shadowlands, they barely had enough energy to find a secure enough area in between some tightly packed trees for cover.

Most were certainly thankful of their intuition and foresight that they would all one day return to this madness so they had studied extensively on all the vegetation and wildlife that could be found here, both old and new.

It paid off, for the most part.

They knew where to strike most of the creatures and the fastest way to kill them.

If only there weren't so many of them.

Now, this was day 18 on the 18th of February.

They had ten days left to retrieve the items and complete the training course.

Honestly, it was looking more and more like survival but really that's what they've all been doing since they started those eight long years ago.

Some had turned 14 with others soon about to become 14.

"How much further to your location, Jerome?" John asked, Red leader pulling out his map of the Shadowlands.

They were tired but not exhausted. Not yet.

He took a moment to look the map over, squinting at it before looking around until he seemed to find what he was looking for.

"Up there." 092 said, pointing on high.

Everyone else turned to look up at where Red Leader was pointing at and they saw a brown bag that was strapped to a tree trunk.

"What's that supposed to be?" Sam asked aloud in bewilderment.

"It's a bag of some kind." Linda noted.

"Yeah, but what's the point of that?" August asked. "Is that what we're after?"

"Seems like it." Douglas said, gazing at the map over Jerome's shoulder. "It's marked directly where our objective is."

"Alright." Robert shrugged. "Let's get 'em."

"Let's get 'em?" Cassandra repeated with a quirk of her brow.

"What?" Robert-025 said in a defensive manner. "Aren't we trained to scale trees like that? We have a Wookiee Chieftain as one of our Commanding Officers."

"Alright, enough." Jerome said with a tinge of amusement. "Let's get them down."

With some well-timed planning, movement and such, the Spartan-II's retrieved the bag and were back on the ground.

They were huddled around 092, 130 and 042 as they opened up the bag to reveal the contents within.

"Rocks?" Sam said aloud in open confusion. "Chief Mendez and Tarfful sent us in here to get some rocks?"

Many of the Spartan-II's were frowning as they regarded one of the rocks that Douglas had pulled out to examine in his hand.

"Sure doesn't look like a regular rock." 042 noted, tossing it towards Fred who caught it and examined it.

"It's… metallic." Fred said after a moment, feeling it out with his hand.

"So it's a metal then?" Linda asked.

"Guess so." Alice said, holding her own piece.

"What do you think it's for then?" Leon asked, holding out his hand for one rock with Jerome placing it in his palm.

"No idea." Jerome admitted. "John?"

117 had a shrug of his own. "Don't know metals all that well. Yumi and Li have a better understanding of it then all of us do."

"Wish they were here right about now." August stated. "They probably have an idea what these are for."

"Whatever it is, Mendez and Tarfful expects us to get this done." Fred stated.

"He's right." Leon said in agreement. "We should get a move on. Omega's isn't far off from here."

The others nodded, gathering themselves and any equipment that was lying around after the battle with the Gundark and ran towards the direction of the next bag.

Elsewhere, another group of Spartans were currently recuperating after an intense skirmish with a Katarn.

They were aware of the importance of the Katarn by this point and had opted for restraint over killing it, knowing that the creature would eventually break free. All they needed was to grab the bag for Bronze Team and book it out of there.

Bronze team had been accompanied by Green, Silver and they had run into Yellow team.

This group of Spartan-II's was composed of Kurt, Will, Fhajad, Musa, Joshua, Naomi, Li, James, Yumi, Joyner, Nicole and Daniel.

They were currently seated upon some rocks, elevated dirt mounds and a tree log.

Yellow team had gotten their bag of metal rocks with the group now examining the unusual items they were tasked with retrieving.

"So…" Daniel leaned forward from his seat atop a rock. "Yumi, Li. The two of you know metals better than we do. Any idea what these are for?"

"Got several I can think of." Yumi muttered, holding a metal rock close to her face. "Li, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

Li was silent for a few seconds until nodding. "Yeah, I think I have an idea why this specifically."

"And?" Nicole said aloud, speaking for the others. "What is it?"

Yumi tossed her rock back to Daniel who caught it and put it away.

"We're in the Shadowlands, right?" Yumi pointed out. "We've been reading a lot about this place cause we knew we'd probably come back here one day."

Most of the group silently nodded with Li now speaking.

"And aside from being extremely dangerous, what else is the Shadowlands known and used for?" Li asked looking at the group expectantly.

"This…" Fhajad hummed in thought. "Is a proving ground for young Wookiees. Where they become proven warriors to their people."

"Exactly." Li said with a small grin. "This is the proving ground for Wookiee warriors. ODST's and other skilled human marines and some Mon Cala have also been taken here to prove themselves."

008 pulled out one of his rocks and held it up.

"Within ancient customs still practiced by some today, the Wookiee is to forge a Ryyk blade of their own to signal their transition into adulthood." Li said with a widening grin. "This is our trial to adulthood. With these metals, we will be forging our own Ryyk blades. And since I've read there aren't a lot who possess Ryyk blades."

"Whoa." Kurt couldn't deny the smile growing on his face. "That's awesome."

"It is, isn't it?" Yumi remarked. "So we have two with us."

"We' need to get Silver and Green Teams." Joyner pointed out.

"Ours is a bit of a distance." Fhajad stated, pulling out his map.

Daniel had done the same, holding his map in hands and going over to 084.

"From the looks of it…" Daniel looked between both maps several times. "Ours is along the way to Green Teams'."

"Perfect." Kurt declared. "Then we can knock out two birds with one stone. Let's get going everyone."

-6 days later-

"GRAB IT JOHN!" Sam bellowed out, while using a rock to literally bash a Gundarks eye in.

John-117 was perched upon a branch and jumped forward with a Gundark narrowly missing him from behind.

He snagged the bag that was intended for his team and latched on to the adjacent tree before having to literally drop as the Gundark that had pursued him jumped at him.

Falling to the ground, John quickly grabbed a branch to perform a spin and flip in the air before landing with a slight wobble.

The Gundark that had been chasing him crashed to the ground in a daze as it had struck its head against the hard tree trunk that had held Blue Team's metal rocks.

Earlier, Omega had gotten theirs as did Gold and earlier the other day, they had linked up with Gamma, Alpha and Black Team with them having retrieved their own metals.

Retrieving this bag had been particularly bothersome in an indescribable sort of way.

They had somehow travelled past a nest of Gundarks on the way to Gold teams objective, with them having killed at least four of them before running off after retrieving the bag.

But upon linking up with Black, Alpha and Gamma teams, they were suddenly attacked by Gundarks again.

The very same Gundarks that were a part of the nest Blue, Red, Gold and Omega had fought off just two days prior.

Since then, they had been fighting and running from the surviving Gundarks that appeared to be determined to kill them.

What was worse was along the way, other predatory and dangerous creatures had joined in on the chase. Terentateks, Gúta, Tuk'ata, all these bastards were pursuing the Spartan-II's.

It was a damn nightmare.

This truly was the absolute most dangerous part of the Shadowlands.

"John got our bag." Kelly said aloud.

"Good, then we can get the hell out of here!" Otto-031 of Black team yelled aloud as he aided Margaret and Roma-143 in killing a large Gúta having had to use vines and rope to trip it up.

The Spartan-II's all began a mad dash to escape the area using makeshift tools that held grains of dirt and sand to throw at the pursuing creatures in attempts to blind them.

Keiichi-047 specialized in understanding chemicals better than most of the other Spartan-II's. He had done extensive studies upon the flora and plant life of the Shadowlands.

Upon arrival, Keiichi set about crafting multiple spears and had managed to make several arrows and a bow. Finding the flora he was looking for, Keiichi laced several of the spears he and his team had made with sap and powder from the foliage.

Their weapons were now laced with deadly poison that would take down even the largest creature that resided within the Shadowlands.

The large group had used up the last of their poison tipped spears and arrows, at long last getting away from these rampaging beasts.

The day had been won.

February 26th

They were ragged, covered in scratches and bruises with a majority of their clothes torn up with some having been gone altogether save for their privates and a few other areas.

But they did it.

All 75 Spartan-II's had at long last survived the hellacious ordeal of the Shadowlands and had gathered the bags of metal rocks that Mendez and Tarfful had set up for them to retrieve.

They now stood assembled at a hut that had a Wookiee standing before it with his arms crossed in approval.

This was Gorwooken.

He had been told to await their arrival and huffed out in amusement and an impressed tone of how they were earlier than expected.

After they had all managed to catch some proper respite as the Wookiee assured them that they were safe within this area, Gorwooken guided them towards an elevator that would take them up all the way to the top of the Origin Tree of Kashyyyk.

Soon, the 75 Spartan-IIs were taken up to a platform that was high atop the Origin tree.

Waiting there for them was Mendez and Tarfful, both of whom sported proud expressions as the Spartans all filed in and stood at attention.

"Trainees." Mendez said aloud. "Can't call any you that ever again. You are no longer Trainees. Not cadets or privates for that matter. Now, each and every one of you are Spartans."

Tarfful barked aloud, exclaiming in pride that they had done what they were told to do with flying colors. Each injury that would become a scar signified their willingness to fight through any ordeal to get their task done.

They had all arrived here together, as one.

Utilizing every skill they had, collectively and individually, they had retrieved the metals that they will now use to forge the traditional Ryyk blades.

It was a strange feeling for the 75 Spartan-II's, as if all their exhaustion and pain they had accumulated seemingly disappeared.

"Words cannot express how much pride I feel in seeing you all achieve this momentous task." Mendez declared. "You have all shown the capacity to go beyond what is asked of you and now stand among the absolute elite of the entirety of the UNSC. Whatever happens in the coming days, never forget what all of you have accomplished here."

They stood at attention, snapping to a salute and all bellowing out unanimously, "SIR!"

None of them had truly considered the tone in which Mendez spoke with that last sentence. None of them cared at that moment.

All that mattered was the level of recognition they were receiving from Mendez and Tarfful and the creation of their own Ryyk Blades.

If only they knew the ordeal that was to come in the next few weeks.

And if only they knew that this would be one of the last times that they would all be able to stand together as brothers and sisters with their heads held high.

For all the while, during their final test within the month of February, the galaxy was in motion.

On the third of February, the UNSC had abruptly lost contact with Harvest. On the ninth, a boy with the initials of JD was born in the city of Crisium on Luna.

February 11, the UNSC made contact with an unknown ship and on the 28th of this month, Catherine Halsey had given birth to her daughter.

The month of February within the year of 2525 was the beginning of a colossal tidal wave that would come to sweep across the galaxy in the coming years.

Many just didn't know it yet.

March 9th

Kamino

Su Des Facility

Halsey's office

Today was the day.

The culmination of eight years would be put on the table on this day. In a figurative and literal manner.

The Spartans, her Spartans were about to undergo the most strenuous and life-threatening ordeal of their entire life. And this was after what they had just endured and accomplished in the Shadowlands.

Of course this would occur just nine days after the birth of her daughter.

She shook those thoughts and pushed them down.

Now wasn't the time for such hesitation.

When history shows what she had been done to be necessary, she, along with those involved would be absolved of her sins.

Going over the coming procedures, she reviewed each and every augmentations that would be surgically and chemically implanted into the Spartans.

Each one was just as dangerous as the last and no amount of testing and experimentation on flash-clones had been able to assuage Halsey's fears.

They had gotten much in terms of advancements in terms of survivability rates with the Spartan-II's but it came at the cost of many screams of terror and unbearable pain that she and Taun had conducted.

Though they were only flash-clones, those screams may become reality within the coming days.

Letting out a shaky sigh, she began reviewing the augmentations individually.

The holo-file that was displayed before was labeled Project: ASTER.

She opened the file and upon reading the first one, Halsey found herself smirking in slight amusement.

-Flashback-

Halsey was reviewing the augmentation procedures within her office when Tarfful entered.

"Tarfful?" Halsey spoke up in confusion. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

The Wookiee saw what she was working on and let out a small shaking chuckle.

He growled out the coincidence in what she was looking over. He apparently wished to discuss the same topic with her.

Confused slightly, Halsey simply watched as Tarfful approached her desk and walked around to stand by her side.

The Wookiee Chieftain reviewed the augmentations for several moments before pointing to one in particular.

"Graar Raa." Tarfful declared much to Halsey's bewilderment.

"Change it? Change it how?"

Tarfful let out a series of growls and moans for his reasons.

"Tarfful, I don't think you understand that-"

He cut her off with a bark that said, "I know exactly what it does and why they need it". Tarfful rumbled about not liking one of the side-effects.

Halsey blinked. "That's what you don't like? Tarfful… I know that what we've done is something that is beyond anything that can be defined as immoral-"

Once again, Tarfful interrupted the coordinator of the program with a statement that made Halsey pause in her thoughts.

"Happiness?"

Tarfful said what had been reiterated to the Spartans themselves on numerous occasions by this point.

Soldiers they may be, they were also still, very much human.

And in the eyes of Tarfful, they were making them commit to a life they did not choose and on the offset chance that they have an opportunity for their own choice of happiness, they deserved it.

Something Halsey wholeheartedly agreed to.

-End of Flashback-

Since then, she had been going over how to make the alterations needed without raising any suspicions from ONI itself.

It was rather tricky to say the least due to the importance of this particular augmentation but after implementing a discreet chemical within it, Halsey was confident that this would work.

Catalytic Thyroid Implant, the first of the Augmentations.

A platinum pellet is implanted in the left thyroid gland; this pellet contains a human growth hormone that is released into the body to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. As the hormone is released into the body the pellet dissolves and is absorbed, the hormone targets and stimulates the growth of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers, effectively producing significant gains in muscle mass. The hormone also targets osteoblasts to help boost bone tissue formation and effectively strengthen the bone structure.

This was chosen first as it was ideal to be given to the Spartans during their fledgling stages of puberty. It was meant to be given at this stage within the Spartans lives as they already were undergoing a comprehensive diet and physical regime that would allow them to facilitate the effects of the growth hormone to its fullest potential. With this, they would grow dramatically in height and increased muscle mass to a significant degree.

The drawbacks of this augmentation may have a 0.5% chance of elephantiasis.

If this is not to occur, that's where the next procedure comes in. The muscular enhancement injections.

In addition to the growth hormone catalyst, a protein complex is injected intramuscularly that targets the muscles' intracellular molecular machinery to help increase muscle strength and endurance. These injections target the muscles' molecules increasing the density of the connective tissues and fibers, the more visible result being the muscles quivering and contorting over one another, making connecting tendons stronger and decreasing lactase recovery time.

This chemical injection is meant to override the GDF8 protein, known more commonly as myostatin which would limit the muscle mass within the Spartan-II's to a certain size under normal circumstances.

After extensive research and constant do overs, what was originally a 5% of subjects increasing fatal cardiac volume was slashed down to 2.2%.

Then came the Occipital Capillary Reversal surgery which was one of the most dangerous of the augmentations.

Surgery is performed on the occipital lobe of the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain; the occipital lobe is the visual processing center of the brain, containing most of the anatomical region of the visual cortex. The surgeon performs a procedure on the capillaries, the smallest of the body's blood vessels, to reverse the direction of blood flow in each capillary to boost the blood flow beneath the rods and cones of the subject's retina. The rods and cones of the eye are light-sensitive receptors located in the back of the eye. Together they are able to detect movement, light and color, and relay that information back to the brain. This procedure has a secondary step meant to be compounded upon with the inclusion of a bionic optical lens implant that re-engineers the eyes. In turn, the Spartans in theory should have a marked increase in perception on a litany of levels one of which is supposedly having near perfect eyesight in the dark. After many years of application of Flash-Clones, the risks were cut down from 11% to 7.8% from getting permanently blinded.

Followed by this surgery came the most dangerous of all the augmentations.

The Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites.

The nerves of a human being and frankly every sentient species, while extremely good at transmitting chemical messages across the body were still very much limited. This of course came from natural limitations and such in all materials, even ones that are electrically conducted.

Their nerves are essentially replaced with a nano-particular superconductive material that would carry the chemical signals significantly faster than the previous dendrites. There are also alterations of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. It is believed that once this is done, the reaction time of the Spartans should skyrocket by 300%.

Of course, the one with some of the most significant of enhancements is the one with the greatest risk factor. This one they had tried to mitigate in terms of risks, succeeding in reducing from 12% to only 9.8% of contraction Parkinson's disease and Fletcher's Syndrome.

Ironically, the most gruesome of the surgeries in Halsey's opinions had carried one of the lowest of risks after what she had been able to pull off with Taun We.

Carbide Ceramic Ossification.

The candidate's bones are exposed via surgery or procedurally sequential surgeries. An advanced carbide ceramic material is grafted onto the skeletal structure to begin assimilation into the upper layers of each individual bone. This should, in theory, result in the bones being virtually unbreakable. The coverage of this procedure does not exceed 3% total bone mass due to significant white blood cell necrosis: effectively, the carbide ceramic can only comprise a thin outer "shell" bonded to each bone without interfering with bone functionality as organs.

They had cut the dangers of this procedure from 4% to 1.7% from getting possible bone mutation or worse, pulverization.

After going through all the numbers and combining the percentage of all the risks into one, Halsey saw that in total, there was a 22% chance of the Spartans either rejecting the augmentations…

Or worse, perishing from them.

Making all the training they had undergone all be for nothing.

So now they run the risk of every Spartan having either a 1 out of 5 chances of surviving to 1 out of 4 or even 3.

Taun had constantly reminded Halsey of how each one would take to the procedure extremely differently from one another. So it could be all over the place for all that she knows.

Stress couldn't even begin to describe what she was going through.

Suddenly, she heard a voice via the intercom.

"Halsey." Taun's calm voice chimed in. "They have been prepped and ready. It is time."

Exhaling shakily, Halsey stood from her chair and walked out of her office.

This was it.

-Su Des operation room-

The room was curved, looking like an enlarged hallway so to speak.

75 operating beds were sticking out of the walls with multiple medical and operating tools.

Above it all was an observation deck wherein Halsey would watch the procedures with Taun We at her side.

Deja was also present with the trio looking down below as the first set of Spartan-II's were sent in for the augmentation procedures.

Each one of them was marked in where each surgery was meant to take place.

Halsey didn't realize she was trembling slightly in an overwhelming degree of anxiety and fear.

One by one, group by group, all 75 were sent to their individual operating table and were placed under sedation several moments later.

She recalled the conversation she had with them all prior to this.

Or really, the single question posed by one John-117.

"How do we succeed in this coming mission, sir!"

His question echoed in her mind with the gruff, laser-calm voice of Mendez floating within her head.

"Hold fast Spartans. And survive."

The surgeries had begun.

May god have mercy on all of them.

-Scene Cut-

…

…

…

The pain!

The pain was beyond excruciating.

Their spines were burning. It felt like glass was cutting their skin to ribbons only for them to still be alive.

Consciousness waned back and forth with pain forcibly awakening them only to override their nervous system and knock them into unconsciousness once more.

Their blood vessels were molten and bones felt like they were being individual pierced by metal needles.

Everything was hurting in such ways that it couldn't begin to be described.

Wait…

No! NO!

What was happening next to him?!

Why was there so much blood?!

He isn't moving!

Save him!

Sa-

*GASP*

John-117's eyes snapped open only for him to wince and close them quickly.

His body refused to respond to his demands for movement for several seconds until he brought up his hands to his eyes.

Everything was burning, aching or both.

Slowly, he sat up and opened his eyes with them adjusting to the strange new sensation he had upon opening them a moment ago.

John held up his arms, taking note of the multiple surgical scars that were all over his hands and arms as well as his legs and body entirely.

Looking up, John saw multiple operating beds vacant save for a select few that were still occupied by his Spartan brothers and sisters.

He saw one not far from his own that still had someone on it, with his voice coming out slightly hoarse as he called out to her.

"Kelly."

"John."

117 looked over to see his best friend Sam walking over to him in a rather slow manner.

"Sam." John said in relief. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"I… I'm not entirely sure." Sam admitted nervously. "I woke up first and was taken away by Chief Mendez to recover in a more secure area."

John looked down at his lap, then back over to Kelly followed by the other still sleeping Spartans.

"Are you alright, John?" Sam asked, placing a tentative hand upon his brother's shoulder.

John's shoulder twitched making 034 recoil slightly with an apologetic look.

"I… think I'm ok." John said slowly. "Everything just…"

"Feels different." Sam said expectantly with John nodding.

"Where are the others?" John asked.

"I've only seen Linda and Fhajad so far." Sam answered in a slightly dejected manner. "Mendez just let me come in here cause I wouldn't take no for an answer. Had to see how you were doing man."

John gave his friend an appreciative smile, carefully maneuvering himself to stand.

Cautiously, John felt his entire body strain as he got to his feet keeping his hands on the bed as support.

"Wha-what'd they do to us?" 117 asked, holding up his hand and flexed it twice with an uncomfortable pain with every bent muscle.

"Changed us, that's for sure." Sam stated, looking past John at Kelly in concern. "Come on, let's get you changed and rested up properly."

March 25th

It was… well, it couldn't be described to them.

Though it was so few, they were still their brothers and sisters.

They had at last learned what they had done to them proper.

Biochemical and biomechanical augmentation.

Out of the 75 Spartans who went in, 55 had survived the procedure entirely.

Four were unfortunately crippled and by the looks of it in a grotesque manner. Eight were dubbed "washouts" as their bodies had apparently rejected most of the augmentations yet there were some noticeable differences.

However, to them, it was the eight Spartans that had perished in the procedure that had them shaken to their core.

They were dead.

And there was nothing anyone of them were able to do to save them.

This didn't make sense. How could this have happened?

Were they not supposed to look out for one another? Were they not supposed to see this training to the very end?

Why couldn't they have done anything?

The team leaders, particularly 117, 092, 051 and 104 were exceptionally hard on themselves as well as furious over the outcome.

They had practically demanded Mendez, Tarfful, Taun and Halsey in telling them what happened.

All they told them, Mendez really, was that this was beyond their control. This was a battle that could not be won on strategy or tactics.

But on chance unfortunately.

The fact that while there were some that didn't get the augmentations, the fact that 67 out of the 75 were alive was a true miracle.

And the 55 that were properly augmented showed a testament to their fortitude that would be unmatched by any and all within the UNSC.

So that left the question.

What now?

For that, Tarfful had an answer.

April 5th

Kashyyyk.

The fifty-five augmented Spartans stood around in a large circle with their twelve un-augmented Spartan brethren in attendance as well.

Halsey and Taun We stood in the background while Tarfful and Mendez stood in the center of the Spartans.

"Tonight." Mendez spoke in a low voice. "We honor our fallen brethren."

Within the center of this large circle were eight small pyres that held eight individuals in naval uniforms.

The fallen.

"Though they did not survive in body, they survive in spirit." Mendez said.

At the head of each pyre was each individual Ryyk Blade that they had constructed here on Kashyyyk. They were embedded into the ground, marking the final resting places of their comrades.

"These past eight years have proven to me, to Tarfful, to all the UNSC that the future of peace and of our people are in firm hands." Mendez said to all the Spartans who were silent.

Their eyes were only on their dead siblings.

Tarfful growled with a tone of sorrow and somberness as each Spartan held up a torch that Tarfful proceeded to ignite with his own already lit one.

The Wookiee Chieftain went on to tell them all of the sacred bond they would all share to their last day, how it was forged in trials such as the ones they had endured here and will only strengthen as the years go by.

Though the Spartan-II's called Reach their home, Kashyyyk was a close second.

This is where they had their final training op before their augmentation.

The area they now stood in for the proper funeral of their fallen would now be a sacred sight for them and them alone.

To honor the last time all 75 Spartan-II's stood together in victory.

Together, the remaining sixty-seven all converged at once and held out their torches.

The pyres caught fire and moments later, eight roaring fires were before them.

It was completely silent other than the crackling sounds of flames consuming the dead.

No words needed to be spoken for this instance.

Not a word.

October 7th

It had been several months by this point since their augmentations.

They had all been sent on multiple missions, taking down Insurrectionist nests, strongholds and leaders.

It had taken some time after augmentation to adjust to their new bodies. Headaches, blood coming out of their eyes, vertigo, perception changes and body aches persisted in the weeks to come.

But eventually, they adapted.

To say that they were superhuman would be undercutting it.

Halsey, Taun and Mendez commented how they had completely surpassed all of their expectations.

Tarfful had noted with a keen eye that they had gotten these augmentations around this stage in their lives for a reason.

It is believed that as time would go on, they would get better adjusted to these new enhancements and possibly get stronger, faster and so on and so forth.

It was… amazing.

Spartan's like Douglas, Jorge and especially Sam became stronger than ever with 034's strength being unrivaled.

Kelly was completely untouchable in her speed.

Riz-028 commented on how things just snapped into focus almost instantaneously for her.

Their reaction time, speed, everything, everything had changed.

And today… in more ways than one.

John was with Sam in the gym, spotting for his friend who was currently bench pressing 1200 pounds. A new record for him.

"Aw man." Sam commented with a roguish grin. "I'm finally starting to break a sweat here. Forgot what that was for a moment."

John only grinned in amusement at his comments.

"Want me to make it harder?" John asked with a glint in his eye.

"Sure, I could use a challenge." Sam remarked smugly.

John only placed his hand on the center of the bench press bar Sam was holding up and began to push down.

Sam jolted slightly in shock before gaining a challenging smile and began to push back with all of his might.

The two were so focused on this little contest, they didn't notice their teammate walk in.

"John, Sam." Kelly called out to the two, making them both stop and look up at her.

"Kelly?" John said.

"Something up?" Sam asked with Kelly nodding.

"Come on." She gestured for them to follow. "Halsey and Mendez called for a meeting."

Sharing a look between each other, John and Sam set the bar down and quickly followed after 087 to the amphitheater.

There, they saw most of the other Spartan-II's being assembled, some coming in from other doors.

At the center stood Halsey, Mendez, Tarfful, Taun and a Navy Vice-Admiral they vaguely recognized.

Hieronymus "Harold" Michael Stanforth.

With him was a Mon Cala Navy officer as well whose expression was grim and shaken.

The two were in deep conversation with Mendez and Tarfful, not even acknowledging the newly arrived Spartans for the most part.

Blue team sat itself down next to Gold team and Green team.

"Kurt, Fred." John whispered to them both. "What's going on?"

"No idea." Kurt stated with a troubled face.

"Maybe Insurrection?" Fred suggested. "We did get one of their leaders recently."

"Maybe…" John said. "Seems big if we got a Vice-Admiral and Captain here."

"Whatever it is… I got a bad feeling about this." Kurt declared, making most of those who heard him shift about with great discomfort.

Kurt's "feelings" were almost never wrong.

After the commanding officers appeared to have finished discussing whatever it was that demanded such serious expressions, the Vice-admiral stood at the front of the stage.

The Spartan-II's immediately saluted him.

"At ease Spartans." the high ranking officer said. "I am Vice-Admiral Stanforth for those of you who don't know me."

Stepping to the side slightly, a planet was then projected in between all the adults on stage.

"This is Harvest." Stanforth revealed. "Joint colony world with our Wookiee brethren, population 3 million. A peaceful and productive farming world."

Next to the planet an unidentified ship then appeared.

"On February Third, 14:23 hours, the Harvest orbital platform made long range radar contact with this unknown ship." Stanforth's tone shifted into something much more subdued. "After that, all contact from Harvest was lost for a number of days. Command had assembled a battle group."

They were then shown a first person's view of the arrival of the battle group with them seeing a scorched planet.

"What they found was all that was left of Harvest."

This certainly was news to them, making many widen their eyes in slight disbelief.

Three million lives lost? What in the world happened?

"The colony was burnt to ash, the surface practically molten with power the UNSC has never seen." Stanforth said, tone becoming more grim by the second. "Then, they encountered this."

They now saw the ship from before more clearly and defined.

It was large to say the least and really… purple.

"A starship of unknown design belonging to a species we have not yet encountered."

The Mon Cala Captain then stepped forward.

"Our battle group was assaulted moments later with the UNSC Heracles and the MC Spearhead being the only two survivors." The Captain said.

"What we have learned is that these aliens are not here to be reasoned, bartered or negotiated with." The Captain's eyes were fierce to say the least. "They have made their intentions clear when the surviving crew of both ships returned with this message."

What the Spartans saw was a shadowy figure that spoke in a disdainful and menacing tone.

"Humans… your allies, the Wookiees and the Mon Calamari as they are called. Your destruction is the will of the Gods...and we are their instrument."

The message ended with Spartans sitting in stunned silence.

This… was not at all what they were expecting.

To encounter a new alien race that would declare war so openly and suddenly…

Everything… everything had changed.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it is time. Time for a very,  very  long war and one of the longest undertakings BSX and I are gonna go through.

Everything starts here.

We have had five chapters of buildup and in the next chapter, the opening salvos of the war. Much to do with us now having to handle the perspective of multiple individuals but hey, we've been planning for this for some time. Now is that time for the first war of our story.

BSX: Yeah, everything's coming together as planned, as we said before. We have issues to address.

FMW: Yes indeed. Now, first off, looking at some of the reviews a question of shields was brought up. As of this moment, the UNSC DOES NOT HAVE SHIELDS…. YET. This is something BSX addressed in a previous chapter but it seems some didn't get the memo. So here and now,  right now  for this moment, no shields on the UNSC ships. Some of you may not like it, but we decided on this  months ago.

Next up, no Kaleesh. Like we said before, the races had been decided upon before we began the story. There will, as of this moment, be no other races to join into the story. If there are that we decide upon, it will be for MUCH LATER.

BSX: I need to reiterate what I said in the last chapter because I screwed up what I was trying to say. I did say that we're taking characters from all Legends and Canon material but I wasn't specific on it. What I meant is we're taking some characters here and there from different eras of Star Wars especially the SW species side of things. We wanted more SW species representing the story so we're pulling different characters from legends and canon so that they exist side by side.

FMW: Yes, so for someone like Revan to show up… no promises as of yet as we have not discussed him for the most part and for now, don't hold your breaths. Not that he's off the table, just into consideration until further notice.

Next up is the augmented Spartans. That's something we did discuss extensively and decided on 55 long ago. Yes I understand that some wanted all 75 to survive but those that didn't make it was an important moment for the lives of the Spartan-II's. There's a lot of characters we have to juggle in this story from the Spartan-II's to the coming 1000+ Spartan-III's, the Mass Effect characters, the Star Wars characters and other Halo characters. You get the idea.

So, next time, the opening salvos of the war.

The list of ALL THE SHIPS that the UNSC currently has meaning all the human, Mon Cala and Wookiee ships will be listed out and the 55 named Spartan-II's that survived the Augmentation.

Until next time everyone.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

War has begun.

The UNSC Covenant war is underway and thus, the galaxy shall never be the same.

And we have a lot to do my comrades, a lot.

Too much to do other than to say, let's get to it. There is a war to be fought.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 6: Opening Salvos

2525/2169

Journal Entry XI

It's always such a strange reality when looking back on this year.

While each one after was as dramatic as the next, some mark this as the ultimate catalyst that led to the current state of the galaxy.

And most would agree to this sentiment.

Everything after this year fundamentally changed so much.

Any and all events from all perspectives and sides would be inexorably linked to this year that started it all.

End of Journal Entry.

February 3 rd

Reach

CASTLE Base

It was business as usual for one Vice-Admiral Preston Cole.

He had just finished putting down another blasted Insurrection movement, this time on Reach which many within the UNSC did not take too kindly to such a matter.

Bastards tried getting their hands on one of the UNSC's newest creations, one that would undoubtedly be a gamechanger when deployed on the ground.

Though it was still in development back at the Kuat Drive Yards, this gigantic tank on wheels will be sure to send any and all Innies running to the hills.

Gazing over to one currently being constructed, one could not help but marvel at the size of this new gargantuan beauty.

Standing at 30 meters in height and stretched to nearly 50 meters in length, the HAVw A6 Juggernaut tank was a beauty to the eyes of the UNSC.

Large, lethal and loaded with so many functions and capabilities, the Juggernaut is an apt name for the tank as it is as various on terrain as it is in lethality.

It had taken some time in creating this tank as it had undergone, if one can't tell by the name, five previous variations that had varying degrees of success.

The one that came before the A6 was the A5 Juggernaut was the closest one to being put into service by the UNSC about ten years ago but it proved to be unable to sustain itself in the long run of a conflict. Afterwards, it was back to the drawing board.

And at last, after ten long years of blueprints and ideas being thrown around they had at last gotten the proper construction of a strong, durable and long lasting Juggernaut that can go straight into the heat of battle. Nothing short of a nuke would be able to stop this behemoth. Figure of speech of course.

They should be entering service within the next few months or year more likely, give or take some change. Kinks needed to be worked out of course but once done, it will undoubtedly be a formidable force on the battlefield.

"Cole!"

Preston turned and found himself grinning slightly at the sight of an old friend he had worked with in the past.

"Shepard, the hell are you doing here?" Cole greeted the ODST Captain with a boisterous tone.

"Just got reassigned here is all." Gerald said with a shrug. "Inna says hi by the way."

Cole nodded. "Good to hear. And the kids?"

"Energetic without any intentions of ever dropping." Gerald remarked, pulling out a photo from his pocket and held it out for the Vice-Admiral.

Taking it from Gerald, Cole looked over the photo and smirked slightly.

The two certainly inherited their father's wild spirit from the looks of how they were caught in the picture.

In it was their father, laughing loudly as he apparently was being tackled from behind by a young boy with short brown hair and was covered in mud. The father's arm was being pulled down by a girl with red hair that was equally as muddy as her brother.

Michael and Michelle Shepard were certainly as hyper as their father it seemed.

A brief sense of regret welled up from Cole though he repressed it for the time being, handing the photo back to its owner.

"How old?"

"In a month, four if you could believe it." Gerald remarked, gazing at his kids with a fatherly love before pocketing his photo.

"So reassigned eh?" Cole said, the two beginning to walk down a corridor of the base. "What unit?"

"Boomerang Company." Gerald said with a proud grin and Cole could understand why.

Among the many marine and ODST companies, Boomerang was ranked among the best of the best if not the very best that the UNSC has to offer.

To be listed among them is a very high prestigious honor though with someone like Shepard's track record, he more than earned such a reassignment.

"Heard you recently took down another Innie unit here on Reach." Gerald brought up.

"Got pretty bold if you ask me." Cole remarked. "Attacking the heart of humanities military? Ballsy but incredibly stupid."

"Yeah, especially with a big guy like you around." Gerald stated patting Cole's back.

The two soon arrived at one of the Comm rooms of CASTLE base, many terminals and areas being manned by officers and personnel of the UNSC.

Some had stopped their work to salute Cole and Shepard where others were so engrossed in their work, they barely noticed them.

And by then, the two would have passed by as they were chatting with one another.

*THUMP*

The two halted in their tracks, looking over to a Wookiee pair and a human around a holodeck where one of the Wookiees was growling in frustration, fist having hit the table.

"Everything alright over here?" Cole asked, walking over to them with Gerald by his side.

The trio saw the two men of higher rank and quickly saluted.

"Sirs, Milo Jenkins." The human introduced himself. "This is Berraken and Shiffooora."

The two Wookiees growled aloud in greeting.

"At ease." Cole instructed. "Mind telling us what that was just now?"

Berraken, the Wookiee that had slammed his fist down on the holodeck, moaned out an apology as he cited frustrations with communications.

"What's wrong?" Shepard asked.

"That's just it, we don't know." Milo replied with an annoyed tone.

Shiffooora whined and warbled about losing contact with a colony world and how she and her two friends were having difficulties re-establishing contact. The Slip-Space buoys were intact, both short and long range yet they were receiving nothing.

"Any idea what could have caused this?" Gerald asked, walking over to the holodeck now intrigued as to what they were dealing with.

"Not sure Captain." Jenkins admitted. "We've been trying for about an hour now. Checked over previous transmissions and communications that had been sent in and out of Harvests system. Madrigal is the only other closest colony to Harvest and they've reported the same problems still."

Berraken spoke up, bringing up several of said transmission and isolated one in particular.

Something about an unknown, unidentified contact.

Cole and Shepard shared a look with one another.

"A contact of unknown origin?" Gerald said for clarification.

Shiffooora growled out in confirmation, stating that after that they had heard nothing. She said they were planning on bringing it up to someone with higher rank within the base.

"Well, you got 'em." Cole said. "Show us everything you've gotten down so far."

February 23 rd

Harvest

It was destroyed.

Turned to ash in a matter of a few hours, possibly even less than that.

The city of Gladsheim was completely destroyed with all of its inhabitants having been killed.

To say that one Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson was furious would be an understatement.

Seeing how there was literally no one left and that these alien bastards were the ones responsible for such an atrocity lit a fire under his ass.

Currently, he was with an old friend and fellow ORION project member Sergeant Major Nolan Byrne.

With them was a small unit of Harvest's local militia, a mix match of humans and Wookiees.

After initial meetings between these new aliens broke down, battles began erupting across the planet with the entire planet now fighting off this new threat.

From what they had gathered from their first meeting, this conglomerate of aliens called themselves the Covenant.

And from the looks of things, evolution wasn't too kind to any of them in terms of the looks department.

Or in case of the particularly large, brutish ape-like species, smell either.

Right now, they had just cleared a small company of those bird-like aliens known as the Kig-Yar and those stubby, shorter ones called the Unggoy.

The planet was undergoing evacuation, this op being labeled a top priority until they could get in contact with the rest of the UNSC fleet.

They needed to know just what in the hell was going on here and fast.

"Johnson." Nolan called out to his friend. "Scouts detected movement up ahead."

A Wookiee in their ranks roared aloud, gesturing over to large grass growing nearby.

"Good thinking, Chock." Avery said in approval, gesturing for the rest of the squad to make for cover as they heard chatter that wasn't anything like Human or Wookiee speech.

The unit waited within the grass, the alien languages growing closer and louder.

Johnson and Byrne soon saw a small group of those Unggoy and Kig-Yar that they had encountered and killed just now being led by one of those large brutish apes.

Byrne recalls them being called Jiralhanae.

But with them were several new aliens that they had not encountered at the start of the meeting.

They looked feral and downright savage to say the least.

Burning red eyes, sickly yellowish-brown and burnt looking with sharp clawed hands and an equally sharp looking set of teeth.

"The hell are those supposed to be?" Johnson asked in a low voice though he didn't expect an answer.

"How many aliens are in this fucking Covenant?" A marine whispered out; a sentiment shared by most of the unit.

The group drew closer, now seeing a bunch of their dead comrades.

The largest of their group began barking out orders in its language, the other smaller aliens got to work.

They had begun picking up the leftover weapons and moving around the bodies of their deceased.

One of those savage looking aliens came up to one of the dead Unggoy with an unpleasant gleam in its eyes.

Abruptly, a live Unggoy ran up to the feral alien and shoved it away from the deceased with the burnt looking alien growling in response.

The large brutish one roared aloud in annoyance, dispelling what might have been a confrontation.

Within the fields, Johnson looked behind him. Holding out his hand, he held up two fingers before changing it into a circle clenching it a moment later and pointing it at a small cluster of the aliens.

Looking over to Chock and another Wookiee, he pointed to his eyes and then pointed at the largest of the aliens.

They all nodded with Johnson holding up three fingers… two… one.

An Unggoy held up a blue sphere and pocketed it, going over to a group of other Unggoy.

A moment later, in between the small group, a dark greenish sphere rolled in between the small group. One picked it up and examined it for a mome-

*BOOM* *BOOM*

"GO!"

Suddenly, the small contingent of Covenant suffered from losing half their numbers via grenades. From the fields nearby, humans and Wookiees popped out and assaulted the contingent of the enemy forces.

Both Wookiees with Sergeants Byrne and Johnson ran for the largest of the group, the brutish alien roaring aloud in a challenging manner.

They ran straight at the Jiralhanae, unloading everything they had in their arsenal. While he seemed to soak up the lead bullets with ease, it appeared that Chock's bowcaster was the only weapon that actually made him stagger.

Even then, that didn't appear to be enough due to brute still standing.

The Wookiees roared aloud, now sprinting at the Jiralhanae who had readied himself as the two furry enemies drew near. Johnson and Byrne fired at the ape-like alien to keep its attention as Chock lunged forward.

He tackled the alien, making him stumble only for the back of his neck to be grabbed and flung aside with astonishing ease. The other Wookiee ducked beneath a wild swing yet was surprised by a powerful knee strike to its face. The Wookiee warrior fell to the ground, the brute ready to stomp his opponents face in.

The Jiralhanae's eye was then suddenly shot out, the brute roaring aloud in pain. It looked over to see Johnson with his weapon raised.

Then, without warning, a silvery blade came out of the Jiralhanae's chest.

Chock had recovered and ran up from behind to pierce the larger alien with his Ryyk blade. Only instead of killing the ape-like alien, it instead seemed to only further enrage it.

The large foe whirled round with a surprising speed and had its hands clamped firmly around Chock's neck.

Chock immediately began to feel air escaping from his lungs, desperately clawing and punching the Jiralhanae's arms in a vain attempt to release him. Just as he was about to succumb to the choke hold, another Ryyk blade went through the Jiralhanae.

Only this time, it was from the back of his head.

Twitching for several moments, the Jiralhanae fell to the ground dead with Chock gazing at his savior.

He grunted out a strained thanks to his Wookiee comrade who assisted him to his feet.

"Fucking hell, that is one tough bastard." Johnson remarked, going over to the two.

Both Wookiees couldn't help but make sounds of agreement, troubled by just how much of an effort they had to put in to taking down one of these newer aliens.

Over with Byrne, he was checking up on the rest of the militia that had taken out the rest of the Unggoy, Kig-Yar and one of the new savage looking aliens.

"The hell are these fuckers supposed to be?" A soldier asked, kicking one of the dead feral aliens' arms.

"No idea." Another said.

"Feels like that's gonna be a common saying for now." Byrne remarked. "Come on, we've stayed here long enough. If these bastards are in contact with each other, then they'll know that something happened with this unit."

The Sergeant then looked over to Johnson.

"Avery, we ready to move out?" Nolan called out to the fellow ORION member.

"Yeah." Johnson declared, slamming a new magazine into his Battle Rifle. "Let's go kick some ass."

October 7th

Harvest… has been abandoned.

With the Covenant's overwhelming numbers and superior technology, whatever UNSC forces were left upon Harvest were either evacuated or killed.

Though it was mostly killed then evacuated.

Three million to be confirmed dead.

The loss was beyond devastating.

A portion of the planet had been burnt with the landscape becoming completely unrecognizable.

Whatever UNSC forces that had survived had brought with them a message.

A message and proclamation of war.

Rapidly, this message began to spread amongst the UNSC and without a doubt, to the civilian populace.

For the time being, most would try their best to quell the spread of such news in order to better gauge as to what they were dealing with but this would eventually have to be known.

Currently, calls and transmissions were being sent out to multiple high ranking officials within the three alien coalition of the UNSC.

What was broadcasted was plain as day.

A declaration of war has been made against them by this Covenant and that this was something marked as a priority-0.

Full mobilization was in effect.

October 31 st

Reach

Fleetcom

Within a large auditorium, a number of high ranking and known individuals were all filing in.

Members from all walks of the UNSC were in attendance as they had been vaguely briefed as to what it was they were being called in for.

To receive such grave news of a Priority-0 across the board was something to be taken seriously of the highest regard.

Everywhere one would look, they would be able to recognize a number of high profile individuals that have gained a significant reputation or one who holds a high position in their species.

On the human end, nothing short of some of the very best were in attendance.

From some of the Vice-Admirals such as Preston Cole, Gilad Pellaeon, Steven Hackett, Harold Stanforth to high ranking admirals like Jan Dodonna.

There were young Captains and Commanders as well.

David Anderson, James Cutter, Terrence Hood, Richard Wallace and Adar Tallon were among the human side with the UEG president in attendance with the current Fleet Admiral Lord Jon Grissom.

On the side of the Mon Calamari King Yos Kolina, The Head of State of the Mon Cala government and Commander-in-Chief of the Mon Cala military was in attendance along with a litany of other high ranking Mon Cala officials.

Cha Niathal: Fleet Admiral of the Mon Cala Navy, she is in charge of the operational command over all Mon Cala armed forces. Uryta Gill, a male Admiral Mon Calamari who is in charge of the Mercantile Fleet. Two other admirals of the Mon Cala were present being Zo Ryda and Keya Tak.

Of the Vice-Admiral ranks, Gial Ackbar, Grell Raddus and Dol Narlock along with Gral Merai, the Commander of the Mon Cala air force.

General Var Suthra and his retinue of officers rounded out the ground forces of the Mon Cala and Alin Eerin was present, being the head of the Data Seekers of her people.

The Wookies were here in bulk as well with their king, Grakchawwaa present as the representative of Kashyyyk Royal Families.

Tarfful was in attendance as well as the Commander-in-Chief of Kashyyyk's Armed Forces.

Multiple generals had been called in.

Salporin, Tyokka, Harrgun, Merumeru, just to name a few Generals and Lieutenant-Generals.

Even members of the Wookiees within the UNSC navy were here. Vice Admiral Joshk, the highest rank to be achieved in the Navy by a Wookiee seeing as they themselves have stated to be more of a ground oriented species of combatants. With him were two Rear-Admirals named Chiwk and Borr along with a rising up and comer named Grun Whell.

"Order." Fleet Admiral Jon Grissom said aloud. "This meeting is now effectively called into session."

The entire auditorium went silent as Grissom took center stage.

He stood before the large assemblage as a planet was projected before them all.

"Eight months ago, we lost contact with the colony world of Harvest." Grissom said, the audience silent as they listened attentively. "Earlier transmissions displayed UNSC personnel detecting an unidentified ship of unknown origin within the system and had moved to intercept it. From what we have been able to get from our AI on Harvest, this ship belongs to a conglomerate coalition of aliens that call themselves the Covenant."

There were murmurings and whispers between the assembled though Jon went on.

"We had attempted at First-Contact though the initial meetings were hostile. While at first we had thought this to be a vessel perhaps constructed by the Insurrection. The ship was ambushed though they were beaten back with ease. Upon realizing that this was an alien ship with new sentient species, the attack was called off. An attempt was made at proper first-contact meetings but most of those that had met with a group of these new species were killed off. We soon got this message."

A video was played by one of the aliens wearing robes and an elaborate headpiece.

"Your destruction is the will of the Gods… And we are their instruments."

The message ended with a very disturbed and troubled audience.

"This Covenant has made their intentions clear. They do not wish to negotiate or make peace with us. Their mass slaughter of the three million colonists on Harvest made that very clear."

A sense of shock with underlying outrage was present amongst all that had gathered, the humans glaring, Wookiees growling and Mon Cala trembling with anger.

So much loss of life in such a sudden instance.

"To put it plainly, from what we have gathered now, the only response we can have is the advent of mobilization and total war." Grissom stated in a grim tone.

Some however weren't as adamant.

"We have enough dealing with the Insurrection."

"Was there truly no alternative to peace?"

"Can we attempt a negotiation with them?"

"Negotiation?! They just wiped out three million civilians with now warning!"

Suddenly, a loud slam was heard from the Wookiee side of the assembly effectively silencing all other conversation. King Grakchawwaa rose from his seat with all eyes turning to the Wookiee king who held a fierce expression.

"GRAAAARR RAAA."

There was a brief silence in the air before many began banging their boots against the ground or the railings in front of them. Upon hearing the Wookiee kings declaration, there really weren't many who had the heart to disagree.

His statement was simple and straightforward.

'My Decision? War against the Invaders!"

November 1st

Formal declaration of war announced by the UNSC towards the invading alien empire known as the Covenant.

Mobilization of all fleets, battalions, squadrons, legions and such in effect.

News of the Covenant begins to spread throughout the inner colonies.

Conscription now in effect.

Covenant aliens are identified.

San'Shyuum appears to be the overall leader of this empire. Sangheili and the Jiralhanae are the main muscle and strength of the covenant. Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Vorcha, Yanme'e and Geonosians make up the general populace of the Covenant with another set of species called the Huragok and Lekgolo.

In the aftermath of the meeting several promotions were made.

Of note was Cha Niathal being made Supreme Allied Commander of the entirety of the UNSC forces.

Three new Admirals were promoted being Gial Ackbar, Grell Raddus and Preston Cole.

Multiple fleet compositions were underway with every manufacturer upon every colony being sent instructions to begin focusing exclusively on building any and all weapons, vehicles and equipment for the UNSC.

Nothing was off the books.

Especially…

November 27 th

UNSC Commonwealth

Within the Paris-Class Frigate, fifty-five augmented super soldiers were either resting, training or for some maintaining their equipment and Ryyk blades.

They were en route to a planet called Chi Ceti where the final phase of the Spartan-II program would be put into effect.

What that would be is up in the air for the time being but they simply awaited their arrival to Chi Ceti.

The only Spartans missing as of right now were 117, 092, 051, 104 and 116.

Everyone else was simply waiting for their arrival at Chi Ceti.

Though they didn't need to say it, there was an underlying tension in the air that was shared between the Spartans.

It had been over a month by this point since they had been informed of this new foe that threatens the UNSC and they had yet to make any move against them.

All that they were made aware of was the mobilization of the UNSC fleet for the most part and how several dozen colonies have been put on high alert. Since then… nothing else other than training regiments as Halsey and Taun have stated they need to become more accustomed to their augmentations.

They said something about their acclimation to be critical for the upcoming phase.

"Hey guys."

Everyone turned to see the five team leaders return.

"Does Project Mjolnir mean anything to you guys?" 117 asked straight away.

"Mjolnir?" Sam repeated. "Sounds kinda familiar."

"That sounds Nordic." Riz-028 brought up. "Randall always talked about it."

"I remember." Will-043 with a snap of his fingers. "Mjolnir is the mystic hammer used exclusively by Thor. He's the only one worthy to wield the hammer."

"You gotta lay off those comics, Will." Anton remarked.

"Never." Will declared plainly.

"So we'll be getting something that only we could use then." Frederic surmised with a thoughtful expression.

Before they were able to discuss this matter further, Captain Wallace of the Commonwealth was heard over the intercom.

"Attention all hands, we are now exiting Slip-Space."

The Commonwealth exited Slip-Space though it didn't come alone.

With the Commonwealth was another Paris-Class Frigate called the UNSC Spearhead and a Mon Cala MC40A Light Cruiser Drifting Wave.

It seemed a bit much to be having three frigates/cruisers all travelling in tandem with one another. But war had just been declared.

And after the initial encounter with this new enemy at Harvest, it was better that they travelled in numbers then just one frigate.

"Spartans." They heard the voice of Halsey ringing through the intercom now. "Make your way down to the hangar bay. Pelicans have been prepped for our arrival."

"You heard her." Jerome said aloud. "Let's move out."

The large group of enhanced superhumans made their way down to the hangar bay of the ship, spotting Halsey and Taun We waiting for them with the Pelicans that would take them down to Chi Ceti IV.

"Spartans." Halsey greeted. "Climb aboard. It's high time you all find out why you were brought here."

Just as they were approaching the pelicans, the alarms of the Commonwealth began blaring.

Everyone was immediately put on alert, hearing an announcement over the intercom.

"All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill. Unknown contact has just exited Slip-Space."

Those within the hangar turned around to the exit bay in time to see a large, purple, curved and sleek ship pass in between the Commonwealth and the MC40A Light Cruiser.

"Whoa." 116 muttered below his breath.

"Doctor Halsey." Captain Wallace's voice chimed in through her own comm link. "I would advise you to not get out there. This ship is only a thousand kilometers and if it sees you exiting the Commonwealth, you'll get shot out into the void."

"Apologies Captain Wallace but we must get down to the surface." Halsey argued strongly. "Down there is the tipping point we need if we are to survive this battle… and this war."

That… certainly wasn't something the Captain of the Commonwealth was expecting.

Before he had the chance to respond, another Captain in his stead did.

"This is Captain Gilbi Vrambu of the MC40A Drifting Wave. My Cruiser and UNSC Spearhead will provide cover for you and your Spartans, Doctor Halsey." The Mon Cala Captain declared fiercely.

Smiling to herself, Halsey looked to her Spartan-II's.

"You heard him, Spartans. Let's not let their distraction go to waste."

The Spartans quickly piled in and the Pelicans flew off towards their destination.

All the while, the light cruiser and Paris-class Frigate moved in to engage the much larger ship as they fired off archer and concussion missiles.

The covenant vessel however, appeared to have something that the UNSC was sorely lacking.

Energy shields.

It took all the missiles that were sent by the two ships with ease, soon unleashing a torrent of missiles and projectiles of its own.

The ships were struck hard, damage visible with scorch marks and for the UNSC Spearhead, a breach as well.

The Commonwealth, all the while, readjusted its trajectory. Once it aligned itself, the ship's primary weapon began to charge.

The Magnetic Accelerator Cannon. Though there is a long winded, detailed explanation of the function of this weapon most would just simply state the MAC fires a metal slug at high velocity.

The first round smashed itself against the shielding to no avail. Yet the second one.

The second round punched a hole clean through the ship. It remained active and seemed virtually nonplussed by the damage, however it changed its course and moved away from the three ships that surrounded it.

It began firing off multiple missiles to stave off the three ships before it seemingly fled via a Slip-Space portal.

Within the ship, Captain Wallace narrowed his eyes. He looked over to one of the personnel on the bridge of the Commonwealth and the Navy officer nodded.

"Captain Gilbi, Captain Mason, do you have any sign of the enemy ship on your radar?" Wallace asked. "Any slip-space rupture?"

"Other than the one we just saw, no." Gilbi replied.

"That was instantaneous." Captain Mason of the Spearhead stated. "How'd they do that?"

"It appears that their Slip-Space understanding exceeds our own." Gilbi noted.

That was an unsettling thought but Wallace had to remain calm.

"Stay on alert." Wallace instructed. "No telling what exactly we're up against."

With the Spartan-II's, their ships neared a landing platform of the Damascus Materials Testing Facility that was stationed upon Chi Ceti IV.

They quickly filed out of the pelicans and followed Taun and Halsey into the facility and were soon standing within a large room.

As the room lit up, Halsey and Taun stood before the Spartan-II's on opposite ends of a hinged door.

Having all Spartans within the room, Halsey held out her hand to the door on the floor.

"This… is Project Mjolnir."

The hinge door opened with a platform rising up from below.

On the platform itself however was a large assortment of what could be defined as armors of some kind, each seemingly bulky yet also slim in design.

They were all identical for the most part, having the same design overall and look with all of the armors having an iridescent green color. The main distinguishing trait that could be visibly seen on the armors were that each one possessed a number on the left hand chest area.

The numbers of each of the Spartans that had been gathered here today.

"Spartans." Taun began in her serene voice. "While you have all made great strides with your augmentations; this is the other half of the equation. This is our force multiplier for all of you."

The augmented superhumans listened attentively as the two doctors began describing the armor and its details.

The armor's outer shell is composed of a multilayer alloy of remarkable strength which has been augmented with a refractive coating capable of dispersing a limited amount of energy weapon impact. Underneath the alloy shell is a thick black armored titanium nanocomposite bodysuit and underneath that was a gel-filled layer. The gel layer regulates temperature reactively changes its density in a few seconds. The inner skinsuit is made of a moisture-absorbing synthetic material linked to an environmental control computer and the occupant's special-issue neural interface.

This network translates electrochemical signals to digital code and routes them through an interface connection at the rear of the skull. Through this interface the user's thoughts commands the armor's movement and weapons and input from the on-board sensors comes directly to the user's mind. The synthesis of machine and mind is so fast that it is almost impossible to chart the reaction time.

Sandwiched between the external armor and the internal padding is the most devastating weapon the suit carries: a layer of polymerized lithium niobocene, a form of reactive metal liquid crystal. Woven by molecular tools into a super-dense layer, this layer is amorphous, yet it amplifies force, doubling lifting capability and increases reaction time by a factor of five.

"So these suits amplify our strength?" Frederic asked in slight astonishment.

"Indeed it does, Frederic." Halsey said with a small smile.

"I think I'm in love…" Sam muttered in open awe, a wide grin appearing on his face.

"Those that have tested the suit realized the system is so reactive that normal human beings cannot use the suit without injuring or even killing themselves." Taun said with a grim tone. "There had been several who had volunteered themselves in testing these suits' capabilities only to have all their bones broken and muscles torn. Only one survived but was unfortunately paralyzed from the experience."

"But you are not normal humans." Halsey stated firmly. "You have all undergone the skeletal, neural and muscular augmentation and should be able to safely operate the suits here."

A silence loomed over the Spartans for a brief moment.

"Now, I will need a volun-"

"I'll do it." 117 stepped forward without a moment of hesitation.

Halsey gave him an expectant look. "I figured you would, John."

John looked back to Blue Team with Sam only nodding his head while Kelly showed a brief flash of concern.

A few minutes later, the rest of the Spartans watched as John was outfitted in this armor with several scientists placing the pieces around him. Each piece was fastened onto the black nano bodysuit.

Once every piece save for the helmet was placed on, everyone waited with bated breath.

"Move very slowly." Taun instructed. "Your body and the suit must adjust to one another."

"The armor cannot be powered down nor the response scaled back." Halsey added with a touch of anxiety in her tone.

Slowly raising his left hand, he cautiously flexed it several times.

"It's shifting." John noted.

"That would be the gel-fill layer adjusting to your body shape." Halsey informed him. "Now, are you ready for your first step?"

Exhaling to steel himself, John silently nodded his head.

Lifting up one leg, 117 took several steps forward appearing to grow more comfortable after every step.

"It's… lighter than I expected."

"That's what we were hoping to hear." Halsey said, looking over to Taun We who held out a helmet for Blue Leader.

Though the standard height of a Kaminoan was usually between 2.2 to 2.4 meters(7'4 to 7'8), Taun stood at an exceptional height of Eight foot Two inches.

A full head taller than John within his new armor.

Yet due to his height increase, Taun didn't need to lower herself in order to place 117's new helmet upon his head to complete the Spartan-II's look.

"Well," Halsey said with an expectant tone. "How do you feel, John?"

After a moment, 117 stood straight with a posture of confidence. "Like I was born to wear this ma'am."

Upon hearing this proclamation, there was a swell of anticipation that permeated among the Spartan-II's as now they wanted to get inside their own set of armor.

Soon enough, every single Spartan was outfitted with their own set of Mjolnir and each one of them felt the difference that their armor provided.

Everything was elevated, their senses, their strength, their speed, dexterity, etc.

The heavy hitters such as Sam, Jorge, Douglas and Will were exercising their strength by punching through rock after a series of well-timed strikes.

Kelly, along with Riz, Caleb, Jerome and Alice found themselves running faster and faster upon treadmills with them not breaking a sweat.

To say that the results of their fusion with the Mjolnir armor was what Halsey had envisioned was an understatement. Most were already outperforming their original predictions.

However, this showcase came to an end when Captain Wallace contacted Halsey.

"Doctor Halsey." The man sounded rather strained. "The Covenant ship is retreating but it's hammered us hard. If we stay here any longer, Spearhead is gonna get destroyed and I know the Commonwealth will follow shortly after."

"Ma'am." John stepped forward. "Let us take a shot. We're the best possible option, you're only option right now. We're ready. And you know it."

Halsey hesitated briefly. "Godspeed John."

The Spartans knew that the usual guns blazing tactic would not work.

They'd have to use a different approach.

Scalpels, as they were once referred to as. Surgical soldiers that could decimate forces from within.

This was to be their first engagement, so the Spartan-II's would go out swinging.

Blue Team and Red team would serve as the infiltrators.

However, upon getting readouts from the ships that had brought them here they noted that the shields, while up, needed to disperse to a degree to allow turrets and missiles to be fired out.

That's where Silver Team comes in.

Daniel, Yumi, Joyner and Nicole would serve as distractions for the Covenant while the two infiltration teams would get into the enemy ship.

And how would they be doing this?

"Oh… my God." 116 said with complete and utter joy.

Within a separate hangar bay of the Damascus facility were a dozen brand new starfighters that the UNSC had just put into service last year.

The beautiful RZ-1 A-Wing Interceptor.

"Oh boy." Joyner remarked in complete amusement. "Here we go again."

"I'm glad you like it, Daniel." Halsey said with a sly smile. "These ships are tailor made for speed and can work in tandem with your suit for performance enhancement within space. The A-Wing has an experimental countermeasure system that can be useful for this engagement. The Miradyne 4X-Phantom short-range sensor jammer."

By this point, Silver leader and even the rest of his team were itching to get into these new ships.

"Oh my God, get a room already." Sam said with a wry tone, chuckling a moment later at the giddy nature 116 displayed upon plopping himself down into one of the A-wings.

The starfighter was armed with Two M1024 ASW/AC 30mm MLA cannons and twelve sets of concussion missiles that 116 knew he had to use wisely.

Yumi, Nicole and Joyner soon entered their own A-wings whilst Blue and Red Team entered into a Pelican for themselves.

A moment later, all five spacecraft were in the air and flying up past the planet's surface and into space.

Upon exiting Chi Ceti's atmosphere, the ships were greeted to the sight of three UNSC ships way away from the Covenant Vessel.

"All I'm saying is you could have had Green and Silver team handle this." Sam-034 remarked from the co-pilot seat of the pelican.

"You guys are kinda in the way." Yumi said from her A-wing.

"Do you want me to turn this ship around?" 117 asked Sam in a jokingly reprimanding manner. "Pretty sure Red Team wouldn't like that."

There was a small chuckle shared between the ten Spartans before they got much more serious.

"So how are we doing this, John?" Jerome asked straight away.

"We can't brute force these guys with what we have right now." John stated. "So we'll need a more steady and precise hand."

"Scalpels." 092 stated getting a nod out of Blue Leader.

"Right." John said. "They'd be on full alert if three large frigates would be coming in from all sides. But I figure with four smaller ships, they wouldn't take us as seriously…"

"But would be distracted enough for us to get into their ship unnoticed." Jerome finished with John nodding at Red Leader.

"You'll get your entry, guys." Daniel-116 chimed in from his A-wing. "These Covenant bastards won't know what hit 'em."

"One question." Sam spoke up. "How exactly are we gonna take out that ship?"

"So glad you asked, Sam." John remarked, walking to the back end of the ship to a panel and compartment. Inputting a command code, a cylindrical item popped out with a red tip that John grabbed and held out to 034. "You're favorite, courtesy of the Commonwealth."

"Oh this day just keeps getting better." Sam declared with a wide grin beneath his helmet.

"Why'd you have to go and give him that, John?" Kelly asked in amusement.

"Now he'll never let go." Douglas-042 joked.

"Oh please." Sam retorted with an equally entertained tone. "You guys are just as gung-ho as we are."

"Guilty." Alice-130 said without hesitation.

"Now if Grace were here…" Sam left the question hanging, knowing that when it came down to explosive 093 was unmatched.

"We're coming up on the enemy ship." Daniel-116 said through the comms. "Moving to engage in 10."

"You heard Silver." Jerome stood from his seat. "Let's get ready."

"We're only going to have one chance at this." John stated. "We may not get another opportunity."

"Which means we won't mess up." Sam declared, thumping his fist against John's shoulder in an assuring manner.

"We better not." 087 said aloud. "Pelicans on autopilot now."

The six Spartans armed themselves as they stood at the back of the Pelican, Blue Team up front Red team behind them.

"We're going in." Daniel announced.

Out in the void of space, four A-wings zoomed past the pelican with their trajectory in line for the Covenant ship.

Several moments later, missiles and other projectiles were launched in response to the oncoming starfighters.

The four starfighters broke formation and effectively avoided the missiles with lightning speed.

116 and 124 pushed their thrusters forward, increasing the speed of their A-wings.

They got in close to the ship, skimming along its hull.

"Turrets." 116 pointed out.

"I see 'em." Yumi said, firing a pair of Concussive missiles.

The two projectiles struck the turrets, heavily damaging them though it appeared not to take them out of commission.

This was quickly rectified by Daniel utilizing his own pair of Concussive missiles, this time destroying them.

Joyner and Nicole zipped by, firing rapidly at the Covenant ship with multiple turrets facing the direction of the small fighters that were flying rings around the ship's defenses.

Within the Pelican, the two Spartan teams saw their chance and propelled themselves straight out of their own ship and into the void.

They drifted forward, unperturbed by the zero-gravity they found themselves in.

All that mattered was getting to the ship.

Their suits had built in thrusters, allowing them to manage their acceleration as they drew closer and closer to the covenant ship.

Silver Team was zipping back and forth, managing to shoot down several turrets with strafing runs. The ship was much more durable then it initially appeared. Still, the fact that the ship was taking damage from their own showed it wasn't as indestructible as it appeared to be.

That and the gaping hole made by the MAC round also proves that theory.

Red Team soon diverted themselves away from Blue Team, going for the bottom entry of the hole made by the MAC round. The shield was in constant fluctuation due to Silver Team which meant that there were multiple openings for the two teams.

Thanks to Silver, Blue and Red face little to no defensive fire from the ship with all six entering inside the Covenant ship with no issue.

John, Sam and Kelly touched down into the ship of the Covenant within a corridor, all three immediately entering into a three-way back-to-back formation with their weapons raised.

"Clear." Sam said.

"Clear." John stated, with the trio momentarily relaxing though still remaining wary and tense.

"Red Team, come in."

092 responded a moment later. "This is Jerome. All Spartans accounted for. What's your status?"

"Probably the same as yours." Sam remarked. "In an alien ship of unknown origin and design."

"Very funny." John said with a shake of his head. "Keep contact to a minimum. Radio in only for intel and position."

Blue team got a green blinker within their Heads Up Displays from their helmets, signifying Red team got the message.

Sam and John walked forward, Kelly covering the rear as she kept an eye on anything that may sneak up on them from behind.

"We can't be walking around in an alien ship blind." Sam commented.

"Hard to say what we can do." Kelly stated. "I've got radiation readings coming from all over the ship. But the biggest one to note is coming from the ship's center."

"Could be the ship's reactor." John surmised with both his partners agreeing.

They were nearing a branching hallway and from their readings being shown to them via their HUD, that was the direction of the largest source of the energy reading. The ship momentarily shook, the sound of defensive fire being heard.

"Looks like Silver Team is still playing out there." Sam remarked.

"Then we better get moving." John said, now facing the hallway. "Sam, take point. Kelly, you'll be in the middle and I'll bring up the rear."

Getting into formation, Blue team walked down the rather claustrophobic hallway until coming before a door.

Sam and John turned their backs to Kelly, making sure to keep her covered whilst she gazed at the door before looking to the sides.

Finding a holographic panel, she stood before it and cautiously raised her hand up and pressed it against the panel.

A moment later, the door opened for the team, allowing them to continue forward.

Suddenly, they heard soft pattering on the floor and out in front of them walked a short stubby bipedal alien that certainly was not one they were accustomed to.

There was an awkward silence for the briefest of moments until the alien let out a panicked cry of fear and grabbed a sidearm.

It only managed two shots of whatever that energy substance was before it was gunned down by Blue Team.

"So they're not bulletproof." John said. "Good to know."

"Think we should've tried communicating with it?" Kelly inquired.

Sam scoffed. "This one understood us just fine."

John walked up to the dead alien and picked up the sidearm that it used, examining it a few seconds before placing it on his thigh. Looks like they can be magnetically attached to their armor.

Convenient.

"Red Team, what's your status?" John asked through the comms. "We just took out an enemy."

"Similar on our end." Jerome responded.

Over with Red Team, they were examining the corpses of two winged aliens that were lanky in appearance with a slightly insectoid look to them.

"What'd you encounter?" John asked with Douglas grabbing one of the insect-like aliens.

"These guys have wings." Douglas noted. "Big ones, big enough for flight."

"They look insect-like in nature." Alice-130 noted, prodding the tip of her DMR against the other dead alien.

"So~ flying bugs?" Sam said. "Anyone bring any pesticide?"

"Very funny, Sam." Jerome said. "We're on our way towards a large radiation reading that seems to be at the center of this ship."

Over with Blue Team, they rounded about a corner to spot no enemy forces.

"That's where we're headed." John stated. "We'll rendezvous there and plant our little present before baling out of here."

"Agreed, see you there Blue Team."

The comms went silent, Blue Team continuing their traverse through the ship.

Eventually they entered a room that was a bit to… foggy for their liking.

The three were instantly on alert as they felt their enhanced senses register heavy footsteps.

John's left eyes twitched for a moment before squinting as he saw an unusual shimmer in the air that seemed to be a shape of some kind.

Raising his rifle, Kelly and Sam followed suit a moment later with all three pointing at the now more noticeable shimmer that faded to reveal them to an armored alien.

The alien was physically imposing, standing slightly taller than them. It appeared vaguely reptilian in its overall appearance, with visible leathery skin, reverse-jointed legs and sharp claws and teeth. Its large hands have two fingers and two thumbs.

Yet the most distinguishing trait was the jaw structure, made up of four separate mandibles that seemed to be its mouth.

It growled challengingly at the Spartan-II's and whipped out its right hand. A two pronged energy sword burst out from a now noticeable silvery hilt held in its hand. In the other hand was the weapon John had recovered from the smaller alien from before.

The alien roared aloud, running towards them in a full sprint with Blue Team unloading their bullets upon the alien.

Blue Team instantly took note of the bluish shimmers that appeared to surround the alien, seemingly absorbing all the bullets. However, this shield that surrounded their enemy appeared to burst after several more well placed shots.

Suddenly, the alien shot off one of those energy bolts from its other weapon.

"JOHN!" Sam cried out, shoving his friend to the side when the energy bolt struck the Spartan-II.

Sam however wasn't out of the fight.

Twirling down to his knee, he pulled out his Ryyk blade which was the size of his forearm.

The alien gazed upon the Spartan-II and for a moment paused before it growled with what appeared to be an accepting challenge.

It swung its energy sword several times at Sam with 034 ducking and dodging each one until he foolishly tried parrying the aliens blade with his own.

Though it seemed to hold it off, when Sam held up his Ryyk Blade he gasped in abject horror.

The tip of his blade was chipped off!

"Dammit." Sam exclaimed. "I just had this damn thing polished."

In a stunning display of speed, Sam lunged forward at the alien, catching it off guard and plunged his chipped Ryyk Blade right into the aliens neck.

It gurgled out in shock yet strangely, acceptance as it fell to the floor, dead.

"Sam, are you alright?" Kelly asked in concern.

"No Kelly, no I am not." Sam grumbled holding up his Ryyk blade. "I made this with my bare hands on Kashyyyk and because of this bastard here, it's ruined."

"Your suit seems alright." Kelly noted, patting the scorched shoulder pad of his armor. "No breaches or anything. Must have been a graze.

"Sam, what you did back there was stupid." John said aloud in slight anger. "What if you got hit somewhere else?"

"Come on John, like you wouldn't have done the same for me." Sam said with a knowing tone. "Least it wasn't the chest like before."

John knew he couldn't really dispute that statement, a phantom feeling appearing over his chest where he had been shot a few months earlier.

"Keep it to a minimum then." John groused out, elbowing his brother half-heartedly. "We can't lose our sense of humor you know."

"You have Will and Douglas for that." Sam countered, the trio resuming their pace through the ship. "Hell, I'm pretty sure Kurt has a booklet of his own material with how he acts."

"Alright you two, enough of that." Kelly said good naturedly, an underlying tone of relief knowing that Sam was alright.

Eventually, Blue team arrived at what appeared to be the center of the ship.

The radiation that they had been following all came from here directly.

"This is it right here." Kelly said determinedly.

"Where's Jerome and the others?" Sam asked aloud.

John immediately contacted them. "Red Team, this is Blue Leader. Do you copy?"

What they heard on Red Teams side of the comms was gunfire and aliens shouting.

And from where they stood, it wasn't too far.

"John." Jerome was heard, grunting as there was an unrecognized sound of panic from what must have been one of the aliens on the ship. There was a sickening crunch followed by a breath of relief.

"Start prepping the bomb. We'll link up with you in a moment."

John only looked over to 034. "Sam."

"Got-"

"I'll go." Kelly declared. "I'll get there faster than you two."

The two knew better than to argue with Kelly because every Spartan was well aware of her being the absolute fastest Spartan out of them all, both pre-augmentation and post-augmentation.

Kelly dashed forward in the direction of gunfire with John moving to prep the nuclear bomb with Sam keeping watch.

087 rounded about a corner and instantly ducked as the body of a bird-like alien sailed overhead.

"Oops, sorry Kelly." Douglas said sheepishly, another one of those aliens he just threw in his hands.

"Behind you!" Kelly cried out with 042 dropping down as more of those energy projectiles were fired at him.

087 switched from her shotgun to her pistol and fired a clean headshot at an insectoid alien.

Over with John and Sam, the bomb had been armed.

"How long do we have?" Sam asked.

"Two minutes." John declared. "We're gonna make a run for it out of here."

"What are we waiting for?" Sam asked.

"Jerome." John said, with he and Sam beginning to run out from the room with the bomb. "The bomb has been armed. We got two minutes to get the hell out of here before this whole place blows."

Red Team with Kelly had just finished taking out the small force of aliens that had hindered them from getting to the ships reactor.

They looked up in time to see John and Sam come around the same corner Kelly had come from.

"Go!" John yelled out with all six Spartans now breaking into a sprint.

They ran as fast as they could and soon saw the hole of the MAC round that Red team had used to enter the ship.

Getting to the hole, the Spartans leapt out of the ship into open space with one of Silver Teams A-wings swooping by.

"Daniel, you're still fighting out here?" Alice asked, slightly incredulous.

"They've barely touched us." 116 declared, performing an axle spin to confuse two missiles pursuing him into ramming into each other.

"Then can you guys give us a ride?" Sam asked. "The nuke is primed and ready."

Spartan taxi service coming right up." Joyner remarked, pivoting her ship around with the other three A-wings doing the same.

They flew at high speeds towards their Spartan brethren, slowing down for just enough of a moment for the six of them to grasp onto the wings of the ship.

All four then throttled their thrusters at full power and flew away from the ship at full speed.

A minute later…

*BBBVVVVVVOOOOOOO*

The Covenant ship that was strong enough to take on three UNSC ships with ease was good and destroyed.

Within the three ships of the UNSC, the crew saw this and began cheering aloud in victory.

Down below on Chi Ceti, Halsey, Taun and the rest of the Spartan-II's stood on a landing platform gazing up at the skies.

The moment they saw the large explosion followed by the confirmation of the Covenant ship being destroyed with the Spartans accounted for, the Spartan-II's let out cheers of their own.

Taun smiled serenely with Halsey letting out a shaky breath of relief.

"They did it." Halsey said below her breath.

This was their first victory.

Harvest may have been their first loss but this day here just proved that this new threat wasn't invincible.

They can be fought and can be beaten.

But what would it take for them to be beaten back entirely remained the unasked nor unanswered question.

The Spartan-II's performed beyond their initial believed capabilities.

With this victory here, Halsey was absolutely certain now of Humanity's future and the UNSC's future overall to be secured.

If only she was to be made aware of the blood that would be paid for such security.

All the while, as war was ramping up on this end of the galaxy…

On the other side…

Citadel

Biotic Sages Academy.

Ahsoka Tano, proud little Togruta that she tended to be found herself flat on her back staring straight up at the ceiling.

Groaning, she sat up in time to see her friend Mission Vao be flung to the side. The blue Twi'lek fell on her side and slumped over on her back.

"Come on Master Plo, can't you lighten up just a bit?" Ahsoka asked with a slight whine.

Their Kel-Dor teacher straightened out his posture and couldn't help but release a small chuckle.

"Apologies, little 'Soka." the Kel-Dor master sage said as he walked over to his pupil and helped her to her feet. "But you will never learn proper defenses in that manner."

"But I thought we were learning about Biotics." Ahsoka said with a huff.

Though she couldn't see it due to the mask and goggles, she could feel the amusement radiating from her teacher.

He went over to Mission who sat up with her hands upon her dazed head.

"Being naturally Biotic doesn't mean that you should allow your own physical body to be as weak." Plo said, kneeling down to assist Vao up to her feet. "The two work in tandem. When both mind, body and soul are in harmony, in balance with each other, your capabilities will grow beyond the limits that you yourself believe to be capable of."

Ahsoka wanted to argue but when it came down to it, Plo was a master at Biotics.

While the TTAZ species were all natural born Biotics, the Kel-Dor have proven to have a much deeper and nuanced understanding of Biotics that no other species could comprehend.

They were able to create and conduct astonishing abilities with their biotics as well as spot those who have a wholly unique ability to themselves. Such as Plo Koon's astonishing ability to manipulate his Biotic fields in a manner wherein the vibration that he conducts within the Biotics creates the visual sensation of lighting.

A true master of his craft.

Since they had become a part of galactic society, many students have risen to prominence all thanks to the teachings of the Kel-Dor sages.

Biotic meditation, repulse, lightning, bonding, enhancement and even more stunning and unheard of abilities such as healing and stealth or concealment.

These abilities were truly astonishing yet an extremely select few were able to even scratch the surface of these powers.

Plo Koon firmly believes that both Mission and Ahsoka were two who had the potential to bring out their latent talent for Biotics and tap into one of these extraordinary Biotic powers.

"You two both have a long journey ahead of you." Plo said, having the two standing side by side while having a hand upon one of their shoulders. "But in time, I know you both will accomplish great things. Not just with biotics."

"Easier said than done." Mission remarked with puffed out cheeks.

"Come now." Plo said, patting Vao's head. "What happened to all that confidence? Stating the next time you'd see your friend… what was her name again? Liara, correct?"

They both nodded.

"The next time you'd see Liara that you'd show off all the amazing tricks that you learned from your master."

The two young girls(young being somewhat loose here considering their decades old) had their heads hung low until they looked up at their teacher with fierce expressions.

"You're right!" Vao said with a determined exclamation. "We won't fail here."

"Yeah." Ahsoka threw her hand up. "Liara expects us to be masters and we expect Liara to make the find of the century."

Plo nodded his head approvingly. "Then come along you two. Once more."

Both got into their stances and charged at their Kel-Dor master.

Elsewhere, within Citadel space, one Liara T'soni wiped sweat away from her forehead after exiting the cave of an excavation site.

Though she was but a novice in this field, she was taking everything that was being shown to her in stride.

Her mentors had been showing her the basics with them having a more hands on approach rather than just having her stand behind them while they dig up archaeological finds.

Right now though, lunch was in order.

Most of the excavation team was present as all began to seat themselves down to eat and chatter amongst one another.

Liara sat between a Salarian and Twi'lek.

Opposite to her was a Duros, Asari, Kel-Dor and on the far end of the table, a Turian, Asari, Togrutan, Twi'lek and another Salarian.

"Whew." The Asari in front of Liara let out a tired sigh. "I'm glad what we found but did it have to be in such an enclosed space. Why couldn't it be in the middle of an open field."

"Ah it ain't that bad." The Duros Archaeologist said with a shrug, drinking his beverage. "I've dealt with worse."

"What's worse?" The Asari asked with a flat look upon her face.

"My buddy and I," The Duros gestured to the Turian over on the far end of the table who was conversing with the other Salarian. "Had one place next to an active volcano. That place was scorching hot."

The conversation between them all was all over the place.

Some spoke of the excavation, the significance of it, what it might hold and if it has any connection to the Protheans.

Others spoke on casual matters, life stories and such.

One however had a datapad in his hands and was mumbling constantly under his breath with his eyes darting back and forth on what he was analyzing.

"Wuran?" a female voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm? Hmm?" Wuran the Salarian looked up from his datapad and over to one concerned Liara T'soni.

"Yes Liara?"

"Are you alright?" The Asari asked. "You seemed troubled."

"Troubled? Troubled? No, no, apologies for making you believe so. Merely curious and intrigued." Wuran clarified his current state of mind.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Liara asked with interest.

"Data coming in from energy readings." Wuran stated. "Personal hobby. Multiple facilities and stations throughout Citadel space that monitor many things within our galaxy. Energy readings always been a fascination with me. Gamma, nuclear, Eezo and such."

Liara wasn't as versed, if at all really, with energy readings but Wuran's excitement was slightly infectious.

"Did you find something of interest then?"

"Yes, yes, very much so." Wuran nodded vigorously. "Salarian station with relative on it sent me these today."

He showed Liara a series of charts and graphs that she didn't quite understand. All that she was able to tell really, if she were to make an educated guess was that for the most part, all the graphs and charts displayed steady energy signatures.

All but the last one.

This one was… well, all over the place if that's how she would describe it.

"What is it exactly?" Liara asked.

"Unknown." Wuran answered with an excited grin. "Unknown energy signature perhaps means unknown life. This was detected outside of Council space. Outside known relay territory. Know what this means?"

Liara frowned in thought.

Unknown life?

The last few times the council had dealt with new life has positives and negatives in successive order.

The Rachni led to the Krogan which in turn led to the Turians and Kel-Dor followed by the Quarians who inadvertently unleashed the Geth having their embassy banned(which many had mixed feelings on) and lastly was the Yahg.

It hasn't been smooth sailing in the expansion across the stars though none expected there to be.

They hadn't done much in the realm of expansion since the Yahg and that was several decades ago by now.

However, there have been rumblings going around about the idea of going into the great unknown once again even though the Yahg incident was only four decades ago by this time. Many believe firmly that the rest of the galaxy with other life, perhaps more friendlier life, was waiting to be met and join galactic society.

There's also the advent of resources.

While many have projected the use of Eezo along with many other resources not running out any time soon, they are still a growing society. They need to expand.

Species such as the Duros were anxious to get out there once more, naturally inclined with their love of exploration and space travel.

Others like the Turians and Kel-Dor expressed equal interest, same as the Salarians and some of the TTAZ as well.

Growing more interested as she thought many of these details over in her head, Liara propped her elbows against the table and leaned over to Wuran.

"What can you tell me about these energy readings?" Liara asked, Wuran's grin growing.

"Recent finds." Wuran stated. "Fringes of Turian, Kel-Dor and Salarian space primarily, these energy readings match little to no other from what we understand. Perhaps something but we have yet to find it. Only been studied for two decades and readings becoming more frequent as time goes on."

"How frequent?" The Duros opposite to the two overhearing this conversation now piped in with intrigue.

"First time detected in 2146." Wuran explained. "At first, many believed to be an anomaly. Spacial event of unknown origin or understanding. Next year, several more similar readings fluctuate on energy output but many correlations found. Year after, doubled and these readings have only increased overtime. This year, most we have ever recorded."

"So do you all have any ideas on what it is?" Liara asked.

"Many theories, many guesses, though no conclusive answers as of yet." Wuran admitted. "But, stirrings within multiple fields who have been shown these readings expressing desires to go out to find the answer for themselves."

The Duros hummed aloud with a thoughtful expression. "Sounds like fun. I wouldn't mind going on an expedition into the unknown."

"Many variables. Many choices and possibilities." Wuran rattled off in his species' usual rapid speech. "But certain Relays that could lead us out there are being scouted now. Believe that they be the key to getting to the source of these energy readings directly."

"Relays have been scouted?" The Kel-Dor of the group asked inquisitively.

"Areas and locations believed to hold relays on the other side, yes." Wuran confirmed. "Some designated already. 343, 314, 791, 616 and so on."

"Really?" Now the Twi'lek showed interest. "You got the go ahead to reveal such information to us?"

"Merely hypothetical in nature." Wuran said. "Until confirmation needed, all baseless speculation until then."

Until then…

Those two words hung in the air, especially over Liara.

She couldn't help but now be pulled into this idea of going out and exploring the unknown corners of the galaxy.

The mystery was tantalizingly close and yet so far by the manner in which Wuran described it to be.

She was pretty satisfied with what she was doing right now.

Still, the idea of going out to meet other new intelligent life was not something she'd pass up on. Socially awkward as she may be.

For now though, she was happy with where she was.

If whatever it was that was out there would eventually make its way over to here, she'd hope they'd be a friendly people open to the idea of exchanging culture, ideas and technology.

Or maybe they could do that instead.

Who knows? The galaxy was a large place after all.

And done folks, that's another chapter in the books.

The start of the Covenant war while the Citadel species continue their blissful ignorance as another part of the galaxy is ramping up for a long and bloody war.

First things first.

It's the start of the war so BSX and I have listed out a LOT of crap for you guys to have to understand the standing of the UNSC.

BSX: All I gotta say is thank you for the continuing support and work really hard on researching some aspects that you'll see in a moment as you continue to scroll down.

UNSC Ships at the start of the war.

Marathon-class heavy cruiser

Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser

Mako-class corvette

Prowler class

Stalwart-class light frigate

Charon-class light frigate

Paris-class heavy frigate

Halberd-class destroyer

Hillsborough-class destroyer

Diligence-class destroyer

UNSC heavy destroyer

Punic-Class Supercarrier

Orion-Class Assault Carrier

Epoch-Class Heavy Carrier

Mon Cala

MC80 Home One Star Cruiser

MC80 Liberty type Star Cruiser

MC80 Evacuation Cruiser

MC80b Star Cruiser

MC75 Star Cruiser

Recusant-class light destroyer

MC140 Scythe-class main battle cruiser

MC30c frigate

ShaShore-class frigate

MC40a light cruiser

Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (stocky)

Wookiee

Valor-class cruiser

Kumauri Battleship

United iNtergalactic Space Command Joint ships.

MC90 Heavy Class Star Cruiser

UNSC Hammer head

FMW: Yeah, we really wanted to make sure you guys get a full picture idea of the strength that the UNSC has at their disposal. While the war is gonna be insane as it was in Halo itself, the Covenant is gonna find a much more fierce and determined foe then they had faced within the original Halo Canon. Bullet, kindly tell our good readers the number of warships the UNSC has at their disposal.

BSX: As of right, the UNSC has about 6067 ships at their disposal. It was hard to determine what Fleet strength pre-war the UNSC had in canon but I have estimated and used the canon number to double with Humanity's allies such as Mon Cala and Wookiee.

FMW: Yeah, we're not gonna be playing on the low end. The battles BSX and I have planned out are gargantuan in scope and size. Befitting that of sci-fi franchises like Halo, Mass Effect and Star Wars.

And to cap it all off...

Here you guys go. All 55 Augmented Spartan-II's painstakingly numbered to be sure.

This list took fucking forever cause I lost track a few times but here we all are. And to some of you more aficionados in Halo, AU folks. Differences abound.

1. James-005 2. Jai-006 3. Li-008 4. Naomi-010 5. Leon-011 6. Kirk-018 7. Daisy-023

8. Robert-025 9. Riz-028 10. Joshua-029 11. vinh-030 12. Otto-031 13. Sam-034

14. Isaac-039 15. Douglas-042 16. William-043 17. Anton-044 18. Keichi-047 19. Kurt-051

20. Jorge-052 21. Margaret-053 22. Linda-058 23. Malcolm-059 24. Maria 25. Sheila-065

26. Soren-066 27. Solomon-069 28. Cassandra-075 29. Arthur-079 30. René-081

31. Fhajad-084 32. Kelly-087 33. Jerome-09 34. Grace-093 35. Caleb-095 36. Musa-096

37. August-099 38. Victor-101 39. Ralph-103 40. Fred-104 41. Adriana-111 42. John-117

43. Mike-120 44. Joseph-122 45. Kai-125 46. Oscar-129 47. Alice-130 48. Vannak-134

49. Carris-137 50. Cal-141 51. Roma-143 52. Nicole-121 53. Yumi-124 54. Daniel-116

55. Joyner-118

So there you guys, we have the UNSC corner established.

Next time, we'll meet up with the Citadel side of things.

Until next time.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Thanks for all the reviews and feedback guys. And woops. Meant to put down Maria-062. There.

So we have our ships, we have our current crop of Spartans and we have the UNSC.

But lest we forget, they are not the only faction in this galaxy.

When I say I am just jittery with excitement, I'm underselling it. I cannot put it in words as to just  how  long I've wanted to write this particular crossover. In terms of a timeline, it's close to around 8 years by this point. Yeah, it's been that long.

Anywho, let's not lollygag any longer around here.

On to the show.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 7: Ignorance is Bliss

Their crusade is upon them.

The war of salvation has begun.

The Covenant shall burn the heretics for their blasphemous actions against their holy figures and they shall know damnation.

The Great Journey, their path to Godhood. This is one of their many steps as the Noble Hierarchs have marked this new age as the Age of Reclamation.

They would know the folly and transgression for their heresy and see the light of the Covenant reign down holy righteousness upon them all.

Our time has come to truly prove ourselves worthy of the Great Journey.

These humans shall know only death and suffering.

Those that have allied with them, the Wookiees and Mon Calamari will suffer the same fate. Heresy will only lead to their own damnation upon this mortal plane.

We are the right arm and eternal swords of the Covenant.

We shall uphold our oaths and writ and purge this galaxy of any who prove to be blasphemous.

As is our way.

Upon the planet of Sanghelios, multiple clans with their thousands of members and retainers outfitted themselves for war.

Our holy crusade has begun.

Plasma swords were ignited all being raised above their heads as war cries reverberated across the planet of their culture, ancestors and people.

The Age of Reclamation has begun.

2526/2170

Citadel

Council chambers.

She was alone for the most part.

She knew her fellow council members and colleagues were outside the room or in other parts of the Citadel Tower.

Frankly, she was glad she could have some time to herself.

Politics… are draining to a maddening degree at times.

This council meeting wasn't really all that important in hindsight, it's just the chore of it that can get to one.

Tevos may be a few centuries old by this point, passing the seven hundred mark a decade ago but politics have the innate ability of rearing its head and reminding her about how trivial certain things are.

Honestly, Sparatus is as stubborn as they come for a Turian. Bull-headed, cocky, and prideful of his heritage.

They were discussing simple matters.

About resource management.

Yes it's important but for Goddess sake, it was for the Eezo mines that the Volus managed that they had decided upon years ago.

Why must certain Turians be so stubborn?

Sparatus was only balanced out by the Kel-Dorian Councilor Gnost-Dural. A consummate student of history, Dural was always one to use history first and foremost as the basis of his decisions. He's also a skilled Biotic user to the degree of a sage. And a dear friend of hers.

"What's on your mind?" asked a familiar female voice.

Tevos lifted her head up to gaze upon her other close friend in the council and someone she has known for nearly 400 years by this point.

Her skin was blood red and her montrals were marked with white markings and grey stripes. Eyes the color of a dark grayish blue, rather than the usual council clothes that most would wear, this Togruta was garbed in the brown robes of the Kel-Dor sages.

Shaak-Ti was someone that Tevos had relied upon for centuries by this point, one of the closest friends she has ever had.

Calm, quiet and reflective, Shaak-Ti was sharp with her skills as she was with her mind, wit and words.

Formerly a TTAZ ranger, she eventually became a respected politician earning the title of councilor after a hundred years.

The day that happened, Tevos had never felt more relieved.

Not to say that Ti was biased.

Her time as a ranger and tutelage under the Kel-Dor Sages have made her a well-rounded and naturally open minded individual that soaks in knowledge like a sponge and tries her hardest so that all sides could come to a unanimous compromise.

"Shaak-Ti." Tevos greeted kindly. "Apologies. I did not see or hear you come in."

"I don't blame you. It appears much is troubling you." Ti pointed out.

"Not so much trouble." Tevos admitted, leaning back into her seat. "More… just tired. Today's meeting felt… uneventful to say the least."

"Perhaps." Ti nodded, going over to an empty seat next to her and sitting down. "Or maybe we are just trying to find out what to argue about next."

"There seems to be plenty of it." Tevos remarked.

"But for what exactly?" Shaak-Ti inquired. "Much has not occurred since the Yahg incident."

Tevos couldn't help but shift about in her chair in an uncomfortable manner.

It had only been over forty years by this point but the memory was still quite fresh in the eyes for a species that can live past a thousand years.

All those ambassadors she had sent to their deaths.

Her friends and fellow council members have stated before that the fault was all their own.

But in Tevos' mind, she was the one who initiated the meeting. She helped in choosing who to send to meet with the Yahg.

And none returned.

Though the entire council at the time took the blame upon themselves, Tevos always kept that mistake to herself.

Never again.

"I do not know by this point, Shaak-Ti." Tevos said after a moment of silence. "I feel as though we're not looking for reasons, we're looking for excuses. Excuses to argue and complain. I understand that the galaxy is constantly in motion but for once I feel we are at a standstill."

"There is the expedition team we had sent out recently." Shaak-Ti brought up.

"Ah yes." Tevos nodded. "And what of them? Have they found something galaxy shattering?"

The Togrutan Councilor only chuckled aloud. "I never pegged you for one who has an interest in history Tevos. Even after all these centuries. Gnost-Dural would love this conversation right about now."

"I can enjoy history." Tevos argued jokingly. "Have you not forgotten all the classes one must take?"

Shaak-Ti smiled at her friend. "Perhaps an escort can join the expedition. We can bring that up for our next meeting."

"A defense fleet for an expedition?" Tevos muttered. "That would seem like an unnecessary waste of military resources."

Her friend chortled. "You sound like a Turian now."

"Being around so many Turian councilors after so many years, you pick up a thing or two from them." Tevos remarked in a wry tone.

"Clearly." Shaak-Ti conceded. "Still perhaps it would be necessary. Our recent expedition force was sent out on the fringes of secure Citadel space. There's many dangers to be presented there."

Tevos crossed her arms in thought, mulling over Ti's words. There was merit to them so to speak.

The outer borders of the Citadel space is tenuously protected at best with many bounty hunters, raiders and pirates that tended to patrol that area with their fair share of smugglers.

"Maybe." Tevos considered it. "Have they found anything of note?"

Shaak-Ti held up her arm, bringing out her Omni-Tool as she began going over the recent findings that she had received.

"They have found the ruins of a structure that is not Prothean."

"Not Prothean?" Tevos said in slight surprise. "What did they find?"

"What is found on a few other planets. The structures of those that preceded the Protheans." Shaak-Ti stated making Tevos frown.

Those that preceded the Protheans or simply, the Predecessors as they are called by most of the Citadel species. Those structures and what many assume to be their technology has been found on a litany of worlds.

The most profound thing about them was their locations being upon the homeworld of nearly every species within the Citadel species save for a select few such as the Quarians and the Krogan. They have been studied for centuries yet somehow; nothing could be uncovered about them.

Many had figured this to be technology of some kind which means it could perhaps be reactivated. Others figured it to be a waste of time, especially after the advancement of many races via the Mass Relays.

Over time there were some attempts at research and trying to understand just what these unusual predecessor structures were but nothing came out.

Or… that's how it seemed to be.

When one would look over the files and findings of the structures, there was an unusual dismissive tone about them. How they are deemed inept and useless with nothing that can serve the greater galactic community.

Yet there were those who persevered and after centuries of study, managed to decipher the true name of the ones that had constructed these large structures.

The Forerunners.

The species that came before the Protheans.

Who or what they were had remained a mystery for thousands of years by this point to the races under the Citadel.

They really didn't see a point to studying them as much as there were the occasional few that advocated that they should put time into truly investigating just what these structures were.

It just never came around and there was a strange growing consensus as to why that is.

There was one extremely radical Salarian who with a Kel-Dor and Twi'lek made a claim that every time one distances themselves from the Citadel and the Relays, the structures of these Forerunners become infinitely more intriguing.

This was promptly and quickly laughed off as ludicrous sentiment.

However, there was an underlying support that many were unaware of.

"Do you have any idea what this one might be?" Tevos asked.

"I know only as much as you do, Tevos." Shaak-Ti stated.

Tevos slumped slightly in her seat. "Anything else of note or interest?"

"The Salarians and Duros have been advocating for another expansion out into unknown space." Shaak-Ti said.

"Again?" Tevos frowned. "Even after what had happened with the Yahg?"

"They appear more determined this time." Shaak-Ti noted. "Our fellow Salarian and Duros council members were all for it. They even managed to rope in Dural and even Sparatus of all Turians."

"Truly?" Tevos asked in surprise.

The Togruta nodded. "Indeed. Leontyne even expressed interest."

At the mention of the Twi'lek Councilor, Tevos couldn't help but have a more guarded expression.

Out of all the councilors, Tevos trusted Leontyne Saresh the least. It wasn't that she was necessarily bad per say.

Far from it with the way she championed herself for others but… she couldn't help but feel that Leontyne always had a more subtle, ulterior motive behind her words and promises.

Maybe it was her just overthinking things but she knew she wasn't alone when Shaak-Ti murmured to her that she'd keep an eye on Leontyne after she was selected to be the next Twi'lek council. That set the stage for her to always be wary when conversing with Leontyne.

If Shaak-Ti of all TTAZ was wary of someone, you know to keep your eyes open and guarded.

"And what of Leonie?" Tevos asked expectantly. "Where has she gone off to this time? Hat or shoes?"

"Hats." Shaak-Ti said knowingly with a small grin.

"Ah." Tevos nodded. "And how many has she collected thus far?"

"I believe the last count for hats was upwards of up to three hundred thousand." Shaak-Ti said in recollection. "As for shoes… a dozen or so away from a million."

"By the Goddess." Tevos remarked in amused astonishment. "Where does she keep all of that?"

"One could only imagine if they are being honest with themselves." Shaak-Ti said, thinking of their charismatic and eccentric council and species member.

Leonie was undoubtedly the most well known and most popular member of the Council and it was hard pressed not to see why.

She usually is found spending time with many of the Citadel races across the Citadel itself, enjoying lavish parties or going to those who are in need and simply being present for their issues.

She lives by the notion of what makes our people happy makes me happy.

Being an eccentric collector of materialistic items has seemingly endeared her to many as well, bizarre as that may seem.

Still, Leonie wasn't on the Citadel Council for nothing. She was an adept warrior, practitioner of arts, collector of one as well on top of having a keen understanding of people.

She had been one to always advocate what was best for all parties and had worked well with Turians and Kel-Dorians on many occasions due to their cultures and ways of life emphasizing the belief of the individuals helping the whole.

"Maybe we should consider rolling back the restrictions of Mass Relays." Tevos said, making Shaak-Ti look at her in slight surprise.

"Truly? You wish to do such a thing?" Shaak-Ti inquired.

"I… am slightly unsure if I were to be honest." Tevos said with her expression unreadable. "After the incident with the Yahg… I am still rather hesitant about the idea of going through more Mass Relays. We may stumble across more aggressive races. Or maybe we shall encounter benign and peaceful ones."

"We haven't expanded all that much." Shaak-Ti said with a small shrug. "Zul Hun constantly points out how little Citadel Space has expanded overall in the past few decades."

Tevos shook her head with a small smile. "Leave it to our Duros councilor to wish to expand and explore."

"It's in his nature as he enjoys reminding us." Shaak-Ti said knowingly.

Tevos thought on the matter for several moments, the idea of expansion and stretching out the borders of the Citadel.

Many of their best have theorized that they were in a sense of stability for the time being. Resources were constant and while there are the occasional immediate problems, there hasn't been much in the way of long lasting conflict for some time now.

There would of course come the time where this peace would come to an abrupt end as the universal laws of conflict would always rear its ugly head in the end.

Maybe it was better they face this head on… or maybe not.

The Rachni Wars, Krogan Rebellions and Yahg are enough of a deterrent.

And yet still…

The possibilities of meeting other lifeforms out in the galaxy still remain an intriguing and alluring idea.

After all, how else was the Citadel Council and their current way of life supposed to come into existence.

By taking chances and exploring the great unknown.

"Then shall we bring it up in the next Council meeting?" Shaak-Ti inquired. "I am confident at least three of our fellow Counselors would be more than up for the challenge."

Tevos chuckled, knowing all too well who would jump at the prospect of expansion and exploration.

"Perhaps we shall." Tevos said. "But first, I'd like to find something to drink to soothe my aching head from today."

"You can always meditate with me."

"Shaak-Ti, even you know that I only do that in my most desperate of times." Tevos remarked with a small smirk. "And that's not my current state right now."

"Good to know." Shaak-Ti rose from her seat. "If you'll excuse me, I shall be visiting an old friend."

"Give him my regards, won't you?"

"Naturally."

Citadel Biotic Sages Academy

A blue skinned Twi'lek stood from the sidelines, observing a class of two dozen and so making the same motion of a punch before their trainer off to the side let out a "HA" with the group immediately shifting their stance in unison.

Almost all of them.

"Mission." The Turian instructor pointed out. "Your right leg is off balance."

Said Twi'lek cursed under her breath, re-positioning her footing and displaying a more stable stance.

Next to her, her best friend shared a look with one another until their instructor once again made a loud proclamation making all perform a diagonal high kick and stomping their raised leg back down to the ground.

"They are coming along quite nicely." A baritone voice said from behind the blue skinned Twi'lek. "Your two students are coming along at an admirable rate, Aayla."

"Still have much room for improvement, Master Plo."

"There is always room for improvement." Plo Koon, Headmaster of the Sages Academy of the Citadel said with his arms crossed. "Though in terms of the TTAZ… you have the benefit of time."

Aayla Secura, Master Sage of Biotics and Ranger of the TTAZ army chuckled knowingly.

"And yet, even with all that time, some prove to be as inept in learning new things and end up stagnating themselves." Secura said with a knowing tone.

Plo merely nodded, observing the class as the instructor informed them to stand straight and collapse down and cross their legs.

"The key to Biotics within the way of the Sage is clarity of self with spirit, body and mind." The Turian said. "It is a foolhardy and short sighted view to see your abilities with Biotics as nothing more than just a tool and means to utilize this ability in your life to get what you want. But to truly become adept at becoming a master Biotic and a sage, one must let go of preconceived notions of Biotics and open themselves up to a greater galaxy of possibilities."

The Turian then closed his eyes and exhaled.

He sat there before the class for several moments until the familiar hue of Biotics appeared around him.

It seemed to permeate off of the Turian in a strange mist like fashion before items around him began to be encompassed by the Biotic mist.

Eventually, the Turian and several items around him began levitating with the avian-like alien beginning to float as well.

The class looked on in awe and wonder. Many had heard and seen holovids of this display of Biotic control but seeing it in person is another matter entirely.

After a few moments of floating in the air, the Turian pressed down and exhaled a calming breath. Opening his eyes, he couldn't help but smirk slightly at everyone's gaze upon him.

"Biotic meditation." The Turian instructor elaborated. "Created and perfected by my brother race of the Kel-Dor, it is one of the highest forms of Biotic control. The Nervous systems we all possess connect everything within our bodies and the Kel-Dor people have discovered a means in which all nerves are unified and work in tandem with one another to create a feeling of serenity. This is a technique only mastered by the most talented and persistent of those who wish to study Biotics. The Kel-Dor stages have deemed this the ultimate ability of Biotics as many have called it the culmination of mind, body and soul. The unity of all three that would make you above the masters. A Sage."

There was a great sense of anticipation among the students as they listened to the Turian Master regale them with tales of great heroism and overcoming adversity with those that had a complete mastery over Biotics. Abilities and tricks most couldn't even wrap their minds around.

It was at that moment that Plo Koon opted to make himself known to the class as his baritone voice was heard by all.

"Normally we would tell you this at the start." Plo Koon said, making many students gasp slightly before all bowed in respect. "But you are all ones that have either been recommended for this academy or trained with great tenacity to enter. After this day, your lessons shall increase tenfold and we Sages shall be vigorous in your training. This is the only time we are giving you an option now up front. Normally, you can leave at your discretion. But after this day… how many of you would live knowing you walked away from unlocking your full potential?

The assembled group of Biotic users stood fast and showed no signs of leaving after witnessing their Turian Master display such proficiency in Biotics and the Head Sage's declaration of training hell. They will not back down from it.

Seeing the results, Plo nodded with his arms behind his back.

"Very well then, let's begin."

-One Week Later-

Ahsoka Tano collapsed onto her bed with a sigh of complete and utter exhaustion.

Her friend Mission Vao was no better, only getting the upper half of her body onto her own bed with a loud groan.

"I thought I was in better shape than that." Mission whined aloud.

"Better shape?" Ahsoka asked in a low voice. "I didn't realize Master Plo was so fit. He beat us all without even using Biotics. It's not fair."

"I see you two are adjusting as expected." Said an amused voice from the front of their room.

Both turned to see a smirking Aayla Secura leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed.

"Aayla." Ahsoka said cheerfully. "I'd come and give you a hug but I think my legs will give out."

"I can't feel… anything." Vao bemoaned. "I'd rather fight a Thresher Maw then go through Master Plo's training again."

"It's only been two days." Aayla said with a laugh, seating herself on Missions bed as it had the most space.

"No, it's been a few months now." Ahsoka argued back. "These two days are nothing short of hell."

"Goddess, I'd never think I'd see the day where you two were so beaten down." Aayla remarked with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, have you ever done anything like this?" Mission challenged with Aayla giving her a slightly bland look.

There was a moment of silence until Mission conceded and had her face down onto her bed as she gave out a muffled scream of defeat.

Aayla only laughed at her younger student/friend's plight.

Suddenly, a whirring and ringing noise was heard from the lone table within Ahsoka and Missions room prompting them both to let out disparaging groans.

"Aayla, can you-"

The older Rutian Twi'lek already stood up and responded to the incoming call.

A holo-transmission of a young Asari appeared upon the table.

She looked up and smiled. "Master Secura, what a pleasant surprise."

"Hello Liara." Aayla greeted the Asari. "You know you don't have to call me that. It's just Aayla to you and the others."

"Force of habit, Ma- Aayla."

"How are you faring?"

"Well enough." Liara said. "I've been busy to say the least."

"So I've heard." Aayla said. "Hope you aren't working yourself ragged Liara. Not after what happened last time."

On her end, Liara's expression changed into one of embarrassment. "That only happened once."

"And as your older sister, I make it my effort to remind you three of all your mistakes and misgivings." Aayla teased.

Liara only huffed, crossing her arms and looking away in annoyance.

Though Aayla wasn't their blood sister by any stretch, she had been a part of their lives for nearly sixty years by this point having been an older sister figure to them for many decades. It wasn't uncommon amongst the TTAZ for close knit groups of friends to refer to one another as sisters.

While Ahsoka, Mission and Liara were only just about to break into their hundreds, Aayla was 336.

Nearing the start of her Matron phase of a TTAZ lifespan, Aayla was a Twi'lek that hailed from the TTAZ colony world of Ryloth.

At a young age, relative to TTAZ standards, Aayla was compelled to join the rangers at a young age having an aptitude for utilizing Biotics in a combative sense.

Sent to a Sage academy, she studied under the tutelage of several Biotic masters and Sages until she had met the newly appointed Sage Master Plo Koon.

Though she was older than him by a good few decades, he was without question her master, elevating her to the rank status of Journeyman within the Sages academy's.

Well on her way to being a Master.

It was during one of her personal Journeyman missions that she found herself on the homeworld of her people, Thessia.

During her time there, she had encountered three young children that were playing about in one of the gardens of Anerzesa.

An Asari was being pulled around by another Twi'lek and Togruta, both of whom were younger than their Asari friend and were eager to play.

They had run up to her at one point, Ahsoka nearly knocking herself against Aayla's leg.

And… it was strange at how well they had gotten along so quickly and easily. Both Ahsoka and Vao instantly recognized her as a ranger and were openly in awe of her. Liara was a bit more hesitant to get to know her but when Aayla displayed knowledge on history taught to her by the Sages, the young Asari was quick to warm up to her.

Since then, by a string of coincidences or one may even call it fate, Aayla would always encounter the three young girls until she had inexplicably been declared their older sister by Mission and Ahsoka.

Not that she didn't have anything wrong with that. In fact she found herself enjoying the title quite a bit and embraced the role whole heartedly.

"Where are Ahsoka and Mission?" Liara asked after a moment.

T'soni was met or heard, rather with two distinctive groans of pain and suffering.

Aayla stepped aside to reveal to Liara her two friends laying down on their beds with them having positioned themselves to at least be facing her.

"Goddess, what happened to you two?" Liara asked in slight surprise. She had never seen her hyperactive friends so stationary before.

"These two Padawans are discovering just how much Master Plo had been holding back on them." Aayla said with a teasing grin making both girls bemoan their situation.

"Everything hurts Liara." Ahsoka whined petulantly.

"I can't feel my… everything." Mission cried out overdramatically making Liara look at them both in bewildered pity.

"It couldn't have been that bad?" Liara said inquisitively.

"It's been only two days after the real training began." Aayla stated with a wry grin.

"Goddess." While Liara was sympathetic to the plight of her friends she couldn't help but have an underlying sense of amusement. Seeing her friends who usually had boundless energy, she found it hard to deny the funny scene before her. "Are you sure they can handle this?"

"Liara?!" Ahsoka and Mission both cried out in betrayal.

Several moments of silence passed before the group broke into a small laugh.

"How have you been Liara? How's the excavation coming along?" Ahsoka asked.

"There are several ruins we have found recently." Liara said. "And it is not of Prothean design."

"Not Prothean?" Mission repeated in slight confusion. "What else could it be then?"

"It's the other ruins. The one similar to Thessia and several other locations." Liara elaborated. "I believe they were called the… Forerunners if memory serves me correctly."

"Forerunners?" Ahsoka repeated, not exactly knowing what Liara was talking about.

"I have heard about this." Aayla said with a slight frown, thinking over the name. "Though much is not really known about them. What have you found Liara?"

"It wasn't much really." Liara admitted. "We're not entirely sure how it got here or how it works. All we have is going off of previous research and excavation. These Forerunners came before the Protheans by a good number of years, possibly 50,000. Maybe even more. They were advanced enough to colonize on multiple worlds though we haven't found much of them. Last we checked there had been only a few dozen worlds that were found to house these ruins."

"Anything special about them?" Mission asked, now becoming intrigued by all this talk of ancient civilizations.

"That's just it, there's only theories and speculations." Liara stated. "Much that we don't understand at all. No traces of Eezo, no traces of biotics. We can't exactly figure out what it was that made them space faring races. From what I had read up on them, most of the ruins that were uncovered were the furthest from Relays with perhaps one or two exceptions. Only Thessia has these ruins."

While the four members of the TTAZ race were having their conversation on the Forerunners, on the Salarians planet of Sur'kesh a young up and coming Salarian was diligently going over his own set of data in regard to this ancient alien group.

Though he had just broken through a decade old, by Salarian standards due to their short lives, he was nearing adulthood.

This Salarian was rapidly going over a litany of data pertaining to many species with him humming a jaunty tone that he had heard a Zeltron once sing. Currently, he was going over another recent string of energy readings.

They had been growing with a recent spike in the last year alone.

Whatever it was, he wasn't exactly sure.

None within the Citadel knew just what this energy was supposed to be. Even those not associated with the Citadel had no idea though there wasn't much to go off of. The best they had were the Quarians and they were mostly concerned with their self-preservation then researching energy readings that possibly served no purpose for their flotilla.

Still, this was immensely fascinating to research and learn.

Whatever this energy fluctuation and reading may be, it was coming from the undiscovered parts of the galaxy.

And quite frankly, Mordin Solus shares the Duros sentiment of exploration and discovery.

There were hundreds of planets inhabited by the sentient species within this galaxy. There was much that had been accomplished in these long Millenniums of exploration, expansion, war and peace.

Yet the fact remained that by many experts' estimations, the Citadel species had only explored perhaps ten percent of the entire known galaxy. Possibly more, possibly less but they were limited.

Mordin recognized it right away.

Advanced as they were, Solus was quick to realize that they were also limited. Their reliance on Eezo and the Mass Relays for interstellar travel hindered them to a grave degree.

When learning about the Forerunners, limited as the knowledge they have on them as it is, Mordin saw an ancient species that had successfully expanded across the stars without the reliance of the Mass Relays. Without the use of Eezo.

Many within the fields of xeno-archeology, science and interstellar travel chalked up the downfall of this race that came before the Protheans of their failure of not utilizing the Mass Relays or Eezo.

But Mordin had come to the conclusion that this was a fallacy and short sighted conclusion. How is it that the Protheans who were believed to have constructed the Mass Relays, who had also utilized Eezo also suffered such a sudden extinction?

The data just wasn't adding up.

Mordin had devised a thesis he had been working on that perhaps, these "Forerunners" utilized their own unique form of FTL before meeting their downfall by an unknown force or means. Similar to the Protheans.

It did not matter whether or not they used technology similar to one another, the Protheans and Forerunners were both extinct ancient civilizations that used different forms of advanced technology.

The Citadel inherited the Prothean technology.

Who's to say that another sentient species hadn't done the same for the Forerunners?

Perhaps there were other sentient races out there that had a more fundamental understanding of the Forerunners compared to the species known to the Citadel.

It was a Salarian who had managed to uncover the name of the preceding race that came before the Forerunners.

Then an Asari along with a Duros and a Kel-Dor had furthered research by uncovering that they were about 100,000 years old, possibly even older.

Yet… there was one piece of information that was kept from the public.

Nobody knew what it was but a Zeltron and Salarian had discovered another word that seemed extremely prevalent among the ruins.

Something called a Reclaimer.

This was certainly a fascinating word to be found among most of the ruins.

What could that possibly mean?

Reclaimer…

If one were to break down this word, the first part would be one of obvious interest.

Reclaim.

"Take back what is lost? Maybe, maybe. To return and take what had been scattered." Mordin rambled to himself in rapid speech.

With the word Reclaimer came the belief of something or someone coming back to take this technology or these ruins. But for what purpose?

"Loss of technology? Inheritance? War? Plague? Extinction?" Mordin continued listing off these possible theories, all the while comparing the energy readings to those that were recognized within the Citadel.

No matches.

Absolutely none.

This both frustrated and enticed the Salarian to a great degree.

He knew there were answers out there.

Mordin was absolutely positive there were. And he also knew that just by sitting around here he wouldn't be able to get those answers anytime soon.

He wasn't a TTAZ or a Krogan after all.

Mordin knew that the only way for him to get these answers was for him to go out there himself. He absolutely needed to go out into the vast unexplored parts of this galaxy.

"Mordin Solus."

The Salarian was so preoccupied with his own work he had failed to notice another Salarian had entered his workspace.

He looked up from his Omni-tool and saw a lightly green skinned Salarian standing a few meters away from him.

"Ah Rorwarth." Mordin greeted politely. "Apologies for not hearing you."

"None needed Mordin." Rorwarth waved off. "How goes your work?"

"Stagnant with no sign of advancement." Mordin stated though with no sense of frustration.

"A challenge then." Rorwarth remarked, earning a hum from his younger contemporary. "I've always known how much you enjoy such vices."

Mordin smiled a bit at that comment.

Rorwarth Gebano. 35 years old and a mentor figure to Mordin, he shared several of his own… eccentricities if you will.

Primarily their enjoyment of studying other species and humming differing types of music.

Rorwarth stood beside his younger protege, both overlooking the same set of energy readings that Mordin had been studying for the past few hours.

A comfortable silence lapsed between the two until...

"What if I brought you a different challenge?" Rorwarth spoke up after a few moments. "One that involves your work here."

Mordin blinked, slowly turning his head towards his older friend who kept his eyes on the screens with a small growing smirk.

He was unsure of what to say so the best that he could come up with was,

"...Meaning?"

Rorwarth turned to his younger colleague.

"There have been… rumblings and stirring going on within the Council." Gebano said. "The Council has yet to make it official. No public announcement has been made but it shall come to pass within the coming months, perhaps a year at latest."

Rorwarth brought up his Omni-Tool and sent a set of files to Mordins with him promptly opening said files.

Blinking, Mordin to a moment to read over the title that came with all these new files.

"Citadel Council Official Expeditionary Exploratory Force?" Mordin read aloud.

"Name is a work in progress but the groundwork has been laid out." Rorwarth explained. "Many have agreed after years of debating. It is high time we start doing what we have done best in the past. Explore and expand. Discover what is waiting for us out there in the endless void. We've grown bored of looking at the same star charts, traversing the same relays and systems and visiting the same planets. Conflict… will come but we are prepared. Now more than ever to show a unified front."

"How much is being put into this?" Mordin asked, rapidly sifting through multiple pages.

"No expense is being spared." Rorwarth stated with confidence. "We've learned from our past interactions with the Yahg, The Rachni and the Krogan. If we meet any hostile force out there they will be met by forces of our own. But the primary purpose of this is in the two E's. Expedition and Exploratory."

"Numbers? Staff? Personnel?"

"Within the coming days and foreseeable few weeks and months, many specific individuals will be approached." Rorwarth explained.

Within a docking port of the Citadel, a Zeltron was busy at work replacing an engine from a small fighter. She had black splotches all over her pink skin yet it did little in taking away from her alluring beauty.

Wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead, the Zeltron turned to see a well-dressed Turian standing before her.

"Deliah Blue?" The Turian asked with the Zeltron blinking in surprise.

"That's me." She confirmed.

The Turian had his Omni-Tool out a second later and sent her some files.

"Please Read this and don't speak of this until the selected date and time."

Bewildered, Deliah had no time to ask just what it was he was talking about as he walked away a second later.

Thrown for a loop, Delilah Blue quickly brought up her Omni-Tool to see just what it was she received. After several seconds of reading, her eyes widened to a great degree.

"They will be judged on merit, capabilities, expertise, talent…"

A Kel-Dor watched with his arms crossed as several of his students continued to practice with their physical exercise.

"Master Plo Koon?"

The Kel-Dorian Biotic Sage turned to see an Asari before him.

"Can I help you?" Plo asked politely.

"I have been told to bring you this." The Asari sent him the package she was charged with via her omni-tool. "Keep this under wraps until the date is officially announced."

"This is a massive undertaking that will involve our best."

A large camp of archaeologists were busy at work, excavating their latest find when suddenly, all of their Omni-Tools pinged aloud.

Confused by this, they all opened them up to find out just what it was that they had been sent.

"Liara!"

"I know! This is… by the Goddess this is…"

"We shall go out into the unknown as we have many times before."

A lone Turian had returned from a mission that he was directly tasked with by the Council.

This Turian was a Spectre and one of their best.

He had sat himself down in his favorite bar within the Citadel to relax after a strenuous ordeal routing pirates and slavers when…

"Nihlus Kryik."

The Turian turned around to see a Kel-Dorian standing before him.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Your next mission." The Kel-Dor stated. "Straight from the Council."

'Another mission?' Nihlus internally mused. 'So soon?'

Bringing up his Omni-Tool, Nihlus's jaw slightly fell open upon reading the contents of what he just received.

"When the time comes, you will be called upon." The Kel-Dor nodded, leaving the Turian to read the new mission he was to undertake in the coming months.

"And when the time comes that we meet other species? We will meet them with our best and brightest but toughest and strongest as well."

"Are you perhaps referring to the Krogan?"

Rorwarth snorted. "Perhaps. There was conversation of having the Quarians join as well."

"Truly?" Mordin asked in surprise.

"Yes. A lot of changes are going to happen within the coming years, Mordin." Rorwarth said with a fond tone. "Perhaps I'll live to see them all. Perhaps I won't. But what I do know is that you are going to be there at the front of it all. And when all this is passed on in history, I expect the name of Mordin Solus to be known for centuries to come."

"Oh do stay alive." Mordin pleaded jokingly. "I would very much like for you to see me in all my posturing and boastful nature. I'm certain the Salarians deserve to have one glory-hog at least in their lifetime."

Rorwarth chuckled, patting his friend/protege on the back with encouragement.

"I expect nothing less from you, my friend."

And there we have it folks.

Isn't nice how they're all so unaware?

How badly things are gonna get for them?

Gyahahaha.

Ah, things are getting interesting now. One side of the galaxy has just plunged itself into war.

The other… continuing their life of relative leisure, unaware of the conflicts to come.

Not much I could think of to say really in this note other than this.

It's not a Halo crossover if it doesn't got any Spartans. Star Wars addition there may be, but BSX and I have made it clear the kind of Crossover this is gonna be.

It's gonna be one outside the box and one that I believe hasn't been or is rarely told on this site. We want to tell different stories with as much creative freedom as we possibly have.

It's why we got ourselves a timeline for this particular story. To create a sense of order as events pass by.

So, me and BulletStormX wish you all Adieu. There's more chapters to write and Samurais to kill cause Ghost of Tsushima is fucking amazing.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Thanks for the awesome review guys.

But… I think I need to make this clear, here and now.

There's a lot of conclusions and reviews and such that kinda… jumped the gun and just flat out believed things are gonna go as expected. Some may go as it were others… not so much.

There's a lot that we have planned out and if you guys just jump to conclusions, you're kinda killing your own fun and expectations. Take it from me, I used to do the same and it is not fun.

Just sit back and read as the chapters come out. If things go up to your expectations and you're disappointed, that's fine. If not, and you were happy with what we had that's also fine. And also great.

Until that time…

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 8: The Second Year.

Journal Entry XII

It was honestly frightening and daunting just how quickly the war began to spread.

Within the first year alone, there had already been multiple engagements.

Harvest may have been lost but our retaliation against the Covenant would come swiftly. Chi Ceti IV was where we learned that this collective wasn't as invincible as we were led to believe.

Plasma… and very excellently crafted at that.

We had some advantages of course. In actuality, they outclassed several aspects of the Covenant.

But they… they had the numbers. They had three thousand years of interstellar travel compared to only our meager five centuries.

In all that time, none of us ever truly understood the scope nor the size of the Covenant.

We didn't realize how lucky we were when we began uncovering just how much the Covenant had been holding back.

Still… I'm most certain the best of the UNSC would have been able to take them out single handedly

End of Journal Entry.

2526/2170

March 1 st

Admiral Preston Cole stood before the window of his ship within the bridge, posture straight, hands behind his back and eyes filled with grim determination.

They had assembled a sizable fleet of ships to say the least.

Heavy hitters and the best that each species within the UNSC had to offer up to this point.

Preston Cole led his fleet aboard one of the most powerful starships the UNSC had ever designed. A carrier class ship that was commissioned in the late 25 century, thanks to the shipyards of Annaxes and Fondor they had churned out a few dozen of these with only perhaps a few more digits away from breaking into the early hundreds.

Massive in size, shape and presence, the newly created 4.5 kilometer sized Punic-Class Supercarrier lived up to its name.

This Supercarrier was armed with the most powerful MAC cannon at the UNSC's disposal, simply named the "Super" MAC. Along with the Super MAC came state of the art defense point Railguns, Archer Missiles, Gauss defense turrets and Mini-Macs.

Not only did it have the best MAC cannon the UNSC had at their disposal, it also carried with it a complement of six Charon-Class Light Frigates loaded into the specifically designed hangar bays of this Supercarrier.

And adding to this already stacked carrier, there was the complement of the latest line of starfighters.

Aside from the Frigates the ship was packing, there were dozens of X-Wings, Arc-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, Longswords(Nicknamed the D-wings) and Pelicans.

In regard to the name of this ship, being an Admiral, Cole went with calling this Supercarrier the UNSC Midway. Originally, that name was meant to go to a Destroyer but Cole felt it would go better with this ship in particular.

Along with the Supercarrier were three Valiant-Class Super-Heavy Cruisers, one of which was his original Flagship that he used during the Insurrectionist conflict. The UNSC Everest.

And this fleet wasn't alone.

Along with this fleet was none other than Admiral Ackbar's fleet of ships, fresh of the Mon Cala shipyards.

Ackbar led with his flagship, the newly created Viscount-Class Star Defenders.

A top of the line battleship, this was one of the latest ships within the Mon Calamari line of cruisers.

With a length of three kilometers and armed with some of the most powerful Railguns and Gauss cannons, the Viscount is one of the strongest ships the Mon Calas had ever designed.

The Viscount-Class UNSC Tsunami would come down upon the covenant as its namesake and take out these bastards.

Along with the Tsunami was the escort of three MC80B Star Cruisers, each at a solid 1.2 kilometers in length and 10 MC30c Frigates.

The large assemblage of ships were on route to one location right now.

Where this war started.

Harvest.

It had already been a year since the start of the war with the Covenant.

Since then, while it wasn't immediate, the full mobilization of the UNSC fleet was underway. Some planets apparently weren't made aware yet from what Cole has heard, astonishing as that may be. From what he understood, some of these planets were on the outer fringes of UNSC controlled space.

Still, regardless of those planets, the war was well underway.

Since Harvest, there had been sporadic engagements but each was no less as important as the last.

Though they had retreated from Harvest, a few months later they had scored their first victory against the Covenant within the Chi Ceti system.

It was emphatic to say the least, showing to all that while this foe was new and daunting, they were not invincible.

The Spartan-II's saw to that.

Afterwards, no less than a week after this engagement, Admiral Raddus scored another naval victory on the third of December during the Battle of Alpha Corvi II. Though less than two weeks afterwards, the Covenant found a Wookiee colony.

The Colony of Kantyyyn, a Wookiee-centric colony that had a population of two million Wookiees 500,000 humans and 230,000 Mon Cala.

All of which were killed and turned to ash and glass.

2525 ended with what was a month that many considered a draw.

The start of the new year was silent for the most part…

Until the 13th of February, the Covenant discovered the joint colony world of Bliss. 3.5 million Humans and Mon Cala perished in the Covenants scorching of the planet.

They had lost Harvest and two planets were burnt to the point of being uninhabitable.

Some within the UNSC were referring to the process as glassing due to the glassy looking surface that was left over after the Covenant had scorched the two planets to literal death.

Now it was their turn to strike back.

From scouts sent by Captain Grun Whell, the Covenant were still orbiting Harvest with a now reinforced force of about seven ships.

They would be met with a rude awakening with their arrival.

Cole's thoughts were interrupted via the Midways Smart AI Odin.

"Exiting Slip-Space in five minutes."

"Attention all-hands." Cole said a moment later. "Standby for battle stations. All Starfighters prep your fighters. Silver Team?"

"Yes Admiral." Daniel-116, Spartan-II of Silver Team responded.

"You'll be leading all squadrons for this engagement."

"Copy that, sir."

"Red, Omega?"

"Sir." Came the responses of the team leaders Jerome-092 and Leon-011.

"You Spartans will be a part of the ground engagement under Captain Gerald Shepard of Boomerang Company. There are two drop zones marked as priority targets. Clear those out for us to start landing more troops."

"Acknowledged sir." Both team leaders said.

Once the orders were given out, alarms began blaring as all ships were notified with the same broadcast.

Standby for battle.

Once the five minutes elapsed, the tears within space itself opened before all UNSC ships with them entering the Epsilon Indi System.

"All ships, call in." Cole announced.

"This is Admiral Ackbar of the Tsunami." The Mon Cala Admiral's rumbly voice echoed within the Midway bridge.

Grun Whell's loud roar from the Everest signified his ship was ready.

The rest were all accounted for, crew prepped and ready for combat.

They were drawing closer to Harvest.

"Cole." Ackbar spoke up.

"I see 'em." Preston said, narrowing his eyes as the projection before Cole highlighted seven Covenant Ships over Harvest and enlarging them for the Admiral to get a better look at them.

One was labeled as a super-destroyer, the first ship to ever be encountered by the UNSC from the Covenant.

Two kilometers in length, the ship certainly didn't lack intimidation.

With it were four of the identified CPV-Class Heavy Destroyers each being an even 1.6 kilometers in length.

There was a slightly smaller RPV-Class Light Destroyer, just a hundred meters smaller in length compared to the CPVs, though no less deadly.

However…

There was a new unidentified ship that stuck out like a sore thumb among the seven Covenant ships.

It was odd, to say the least.

At its center was a sphere being surrounded by two large… hangar bays, yes, those were hangar bays.

And it was quite massive compared to all the other ships. Their systems had identified the ship as being one with a length of 3.1 kilometers with a width at a solid 3 kilometers and height of about 1 kilometer. It's circumference… really didn't matter to Cole nor Ackbar as they had gotten a brief scan of the ship.

From what they were able to deduce, this must be some kind of carrier as they had picked up on multiple smaller vessels within the ship.

And whatever this new ship was, it was clearly important due to three of the CPV Heavy Destroyers moving to form a defensive perimeter around the ship.

The other CPV joined the RPV and Super-Destroyer in their advance on the newly arrived UNSC fleet.

"Alright you alien bastards." Cole muttered underneath his breath. "Let's see what you're all about."

The Charon-Class Frigates were deployed and moments later, a few dozen fighters that flew before the UNSC fleet numbered now in the one hundreds.

"This Admiral Ackbar of the Lance Fleet." The Mon Cala called out. "All squadron leaders report in."

Multiple X-wings, Y-wings, A-Wings, D-wings and Arc-Wings all formed up into varying strike formations.

Some were evenly shaped V's while others had fighters favoring a particular side depending on where they were in the large formation of Starfighters.

At the head of all the Squadrons were four X-wings and two Y-wings.

Daniel-116, leader of Silver team, was flanked by his teammates for this battle.

Yumi-124, Joyner-118, Nicole-121, Caleb-095 and Riz-028.

They would be covering the naval engagement of this op.

Red and Omega have the ground game, the teams being composed of Jerome-092, Douglas-042, Alice-130, Leon-011, Robert-025 and August-099.

"Admiral, this is Silver Leader, standing by."

To Silvers immediate left was a squadron of X-wing fighters number in the dozen.

"This Yellow Leader, standing by."

"This is Crimson Leader, standing by."

"Hawk Leader, standing by."

"Blue Leader, standing by."

"All Squadrons accounted for." Daniel-116 announced.

"Blue Squadron, Yellow Squadron, defend the fleet." Ackbar ordered. "Silver, Hawk, Crimson you press the attack. Keep the Covenants fire on your fighters. Take out turrets and engines. Watch your tails, there's no telling what the Covenant have up their sleeve with that new ship."

"Copy, Admiral." Daniel said, grasping both controls of his X-wing. "Alright fighters you hear 'em. Hawk, Crimson, form up behind us and get ready to enter the fray. Watch those pulse and torpedo turrets."

"Copy Silver Leader." Hawk-1 responded with him and his squadron of twenty five X-wings, A-Wings and Arc-wings.

Beside them was Crimson Squadron, another twenty five set of ships, primarily X-wings, D-wings/Longswords and Y-wings.

"Silver leader, they're launching fighters of their own." Riz-028 responded.

Sure enough, multiple starfighters were exiting the ships of the Covenant with the most coming from that new unidentified ship among the alien fleet.

The leading ship type were the ones that the UNSC had dubbed Seraphs.

For the most part, this ship was shaped in a piscine, teardrop-like shape which seems to aid in its ability to maneuver in zero-gravity. They were fast and could move about well enough as Admiral Raddus had reported but it appeared lacking certain areas via speed and was a tad bit less maneuverable than most of the UNSC's fighters.

With the Seraphs were the ships that ONI had identified last year as Banshees. Though there were only a select few that participated in the first battle of Harvest, they left enough of a mark to be remembered quite distinctly by those who had suffered under their barrage of fire.

This appeared to be a space-oriented variant. From what the UNSC had gathered, the back of the cockpit of the Banshee was rather wide open and exposed in comparison to the Seraphs. These however had enclosed ships and their two were angled more inward for a more streamlined design.

However, these two fighters were not alone.

With them was a flock of brand-new starfighters, or new to the UNSC fighters at the very least.

They were thin, needle-nosed with a bulb-like canopy that gave them a clear view of the pilots within the ships.

From what some of the UNSC pilots were able to discern, they spotted some Sangheili, Unggoy but primarily Geonosians.

"Those are new." Caleb said in a low tone.

"Stay Frosty." Daniel replied quickly. "The primary weapons look like they're situated on the interior tips of those needles."

"Needles?" Joyner remarked with a chuckle.

"What do you want me to call them?" Daniel retorted. "All Squadrons, brace. Let them pass in between us. Their plasma is effective but not as fast as the primary starships. Pick your targets. Arc-wing fighters, you're our eyes out here, call out patterns and bogeys. Those new fighters are being marked as priority targets. If you have a chance to take them out, do it. Rather not find out their capabilities."

116 got an acknowledgement from the squadrons as Silver Team accelerated forward before diverting into pairs of two.

A moment later, multiple fighters flew by one another dogfights underway with targets being pinged and pursued.

"This is Hawk-2, moving to engage."

"Murphy, you've got a bogey on your tail."

"Clean hit."

"Watch those new ships, they're fast."

"Crimson-5 is down, repeat, Crimson-5 is down."

"They're all over me!"

"Hold on Hawk-8, we're coming around."

"Watch your vectors, those needles can move around easily."

"Hawk-1 to Hawk 3, 5, 11, 12, 15 and 16 with me. We need to clear a path for our ships."

All this was heard over the comms by Cole and Ackbar as they observed the dogfight.

Ackbar was observing all this, taking particular interest in the Covenant destroyers that made sure to keep that new ship defended. Narrowing his eyes, Ackbar began looking around as he took note of the formation before making a decision.

"Cole."

"Ackbar?" Cole responded from the Midway.

"That ship that's behind those three destroyers, it's being defended quite explicitly. Almost like…"

"They're challenging us." Cole finished getting a nod from his fellow Admiral. "Then I say we meet their challenge head on. Attention all hands, prep for battle stations. Odin get the MAC ready. Let's show these bastards the fire we're packing."

"All ground units make way to your designated ships." Ackbar followed up with his set of orders. "Boomerang Company, prep your pods for a danger close drop."

The UNSC ships began moving and positioning their ships to face the Covenant ships with the opposing force responding in kind.

"Admirals, this is Blue Leader. Requesting permission to engage the enemy fleet."

Both Ackbar and Cole mulled it over for a brief moment before agreeing.

"You're clear to engage, Blue Squadron." Ackbar stated. "Keep your formations loose. Their defensive turrets have a wide range of fire."

"Watch those turrets." Cole added. "They can lock on to a target and pursue."

"Copy that."

Thirty UNSC starfighters broke off from the fleet and moved to attack the Covenant ships head on.

One was shot down right away by a stray plasma bolt yet the rest began harrying the multitude of enemy ships with lead and missiles.

The rest of the UNSC ships were firing off archers missiles and blasting away any enemy fighter that flew by their ship with the railgun turrets.

UNSC starfighters were meeting their match with those new needle-like ships yet it seemed they held the edge in speed and depending on the fighter, maneuverability as well.

They were slowly taking down the enemy ships bit by bit with the battle showing the UNSC's clear superiority in terms of starfighter combat. The Covenant appeared to only have three fighters in comparison to the five ships the UNSC have out right now.

With the smaller ships being taken care of, it left the much larger ships open to engage one another directly.

"Prime the MAC's boys." Cole ordered. "It's time we showed these Covenant bastards just who the hell they're messing with."

The UNSC ships began positioning their MAC cannons at their targeted Covenant ships.

"SIR." Odin suddenly yelled out. "I'm detecting multiple Slip-Space ruptures."

"What?!" Ackbar said aloud in surprise.

"Target those ships and fire." Cole quickly ordered. "Not taking any chances."

Upwards of a dozen MACs and Railguns were shot in rapid succession with each shot impacting the Covenant destroyers. Several had their shields absorb most of the blows until they appeared to have been overwhelmed, and sustained damage.

However, the 2 kilometer destroyer that the UNSC Midway targeted was completely and utterly destroyed.

The "super" MAC round fired from the Midway tore a hole straight through the ship and fractured it into two large chunks with smaller pieces idly floating about.

The Viscount Defender Tsunami's Railguns had also struck a series of critical blows upon its target of one of the CPV Destroyers.

After the barrage, the Covenant was down four ships.

Yet their victory was short lived as a half dozen slip-space ruptures appeared a few hundred kilometers behind the Covenant line of ships.

And from those ruptures came six more Covenant ships, five that were small in comparison to the gargantuan sixth ship leading the charge.

"Odin." Ackbar spoke up.

"Five CRS Light Cruisers with one CCS Battlecruiser." Odin answered straight away. "Raddus encountered them back at Alpha Corvi II."

"Our two Ships are still bigger than theirs but their plasma can melt through our ships with ease." Ackbar stated with a grim tone.

The comm chatter was then filled with warbles and growls of Captain Grun Whell aboard the Everest.

"Grun is right." Cole said. "We need to deploy our troops on the ground now."

"I'll move my portion of the fleet up to engage that unidentified ship." Ackbar said.

"Sirs, before you do anything else, there's something you need to know." Odin said, gaining both admirals' attention. "It took me a while but I detected some sort of transmission coming from that large ship behind those Destroyers. I didn't understand what it was but after the ships that had appeared here, it must have been sending out a call for help."

The six new ships appeared to be making a beeline straight for the circular one that still had two destroyers around it as protection.

"Change of plans then." Cole said. "Mark that new ship is a priority one target. We need to take it out now."

As the naval engagement raged on, within the interior of several UNSC ships, Pelicans were being loaded with marines while attaching tanks and warthogs for drop offs.

Multiple men and women with uniquely designed helmets were rushing towards specially made pods.

Drop pods.

That would send them all directly down towards the surface of Harvest.

The men and women entering these pods were known to the UNSC as the best of the best.

Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or ODST's for short.

"Boomerang company, move it!" An ODST Captain with red tinted armor yelled out to nearly 500 ODST's. "We got to show those bastards just who they're fucking with right now."

Humans and Wookiees with the occasional Mon Cala were quickly armoring up, loading on weapons and jumping into their drop pods.

With the ODST's were six outliers. Six behemoths that stood out from all the ODST's.

And by behemoths, they were even taller than most of the Wookiees. Each one stood between six foot 11 to 7 foot 4.

These were the Spartans of Red Team and Omega Team.

They were silent for the most part. Mindful only of their duty and objective.

Each one was armored up with Mjolnir armor though there were small distinctions between both teams and one another overall to tell one another apart.

Aside from each one having their number on their chest plate, each Spartan had an accent or flare to their armor in order to set themselves apart from each other.

Jerome had a red diagonal accent on the right side of his chest piece.

Douglas's right shoulder pauldron had the ancient helm of the Spartans colored red.

Alice had her shoulder pauldron simply be colored red with a red accent down the middle atop her helmet.

Leon had the omega symbol upon the back of his helmet.

August had the symbol on both her shoulders and Robert had his on his chest piece.

"Spartans." The ODST Captain called out to them. "Load up into your pods and get ready for the drop."

"Yes sir." Jerome said, the Spartans entering their designated drop pods.

Once inside each of their pod, their hatches closed tight with hisses of air coming out to signify that they were securely sealed inside.

"ODST's, this is your Captain Vaughan speaking." The ODST Captain spoke in a casual, almost civilian airline captain type of manner. "We're about to be going down feet first, right at the doorstep of our brand new friends in the stars where our objective will be to shove our boot straight up these Covenant Bastards ass's and give them a UNSC greeting the likes that they'll never forget. Or likely will considering we're gonna kill them all."

There was a small ripple of laughter and growls from the company as the pods jolted.

"ODST's." Vaughan said aloud, tone now intense and fierce. "WHAT'S OUR MOTTO?!"

"FEET FIRST INTO HELL SIR!"

The pods were then maneuvered from their docking bays towards the bottom of the ship. The sight of the naval battle over Harvest greeted the ODST's from most of the ships of the UNSC. fighters were whizzing by back and forth, left and right engaged in heated dogfights with multiple ships crashing into the larger ones or getting shot down and proceeding to fall and burn up in the atmosphere of Harvest.

Within each pod, there was a small set of beeps that signified the countdown before hundreds which turned into thousands of drop pods were jettisoned from the UNSC ships.

The pods were racing down straight towards Harvest.

"ODST's, we have two targets." Captain Vaughan spoke up through the comms as they were racing towards the surface of Harvest. "Intel gave us two locations that we need to secure in order to take the planet back on the ground while our boys in the Navy handle things up there. The ruined city of Gladsheim and a northern structure just a couple hundred clicks out from the city. Boomerang battle group 1, you're with me. Gladsheim is our target. Battle group 2, you're under Lieutenant Tavish. Red Team with me, Omega, Group 2."

The ODST's began adjusting themselves in mid fall, splitting into their two groups as the ground drew closer and closer.

Down below, many saw the scorched and glass plains of Harvest, each ODST being filled with a growing sense of unbridled and righteous fury.

Many began recalling the casualty report that the UNSC had shared after Harvest was taken.

Three million civilians were wiped out.

Most began clutching their controls or weapons tightly, with a breath of anticipation looming.

From the surface, it appeared that their incoming trajectory was noticed by the Covenant ground forces. Plasma was fired at them with some having been unfortunately shot out of the sky.

As they drew closer, the fire became heavier but they were all undeterred.

It was only a matter of seconds now.

Within one of the pods, one young man with a blank suit of ODST armor exhaled with his visor de-polarized. On the two screens in his pod's interior was a human ODST on his left screen with a Wookiee ODST on his right.

Though they were in separate pods, they all locked eye contact with one another for the briefest of moments until their eyes were obscured by their helmets polarizing.

The pod crashed down hard onto the ground and the young twenty year old man grabbed his rifle.

The hatch door burst open and he ran forward in a sprint, firing his rifle immediately as he was joined by dozens of other ODST's that were all firing at the large battalion of Covenant ahead of them.

Bodies dropped all around him yet he pressed on, firing his weapon with a great ferocity as the multitude of enemy species of the Covenant fired back.

His weapon was a personally customized HAR-5A Heavy Assault Rifle that had an extra kick in terms of caliber.

Each shot hit its mark with the aliens called Grunts and Jackals all falling with every bullet that tore through their heads and bodies.

They ODST's were running at full speed, tearing through the Covenant forces even though one after another of their own ranks died.

Each one fought with a rather extreme level of viciousness that made some of the grunts begin to flee in terror.

The fighting was fierce as it was sudden.

It was strange how they were told to capture the city of Gladsheim when the city itself was in ruins or simply glass. There was barely anything left.

All they were told was the sizable Covenant Force that had taken up defensive positions within the city ruins. And those early reports appear to be true as they kept running into wave after wave of covenant forces.

Yet they pressed on with a ferocious vigor.

Some of the Wookiee ODSTs showed this with fantastic displays of athleticism and strength. There were some that jumped forward, tackling down the aliens known as the Sangheili and killing them with intense vitriol.

"Move up that left flank!"

"Watch their fire!"

"MEDIC!"

"Come on you motherfuckers, COME ON!"

"Take down that turret!"

It was madness all around as the UNSC clashed violently with the Covenant, blood, lead, scorch marks and bodies littering the ground.

Yet the UNSC was gaining ground.

Within a specific section, three heavily armored individuals were carving a path straight through the Covenant.

The Spartan three man squad of Red Team was utterly decimating all that got in their way. They were a blur of death and slaughter, ruthlessly cutting through swaths of Covenant forces.

It was unreal in the eyes of the ODST's closest to them watching these giant soldiers completely decimate the Covenant.

The twenty year old ODST watched as the Spartan with the number 092 dashed forward and literally clotheslined one of those split-lipped aliens down before killing it with a shotgun round to the head.

This distraction served to allow for a wary Unggoy to fire its plasma pistol at the ODST, catching him on the right side of his helmet.

He cried out in anguish, hissing as he stumbled down to the ground while throwing his hand up to his helmet in a desperate scramble to get it off.

There was a familiar roar to his side followed by a crossbow being fired.

Getting his helmet off, he winced as his fingers grazed over his injury.

"Zaeed, you alright?"

"Graaa, Raaa!"

"I'm fine, Zaalbar." Zaeed Massani said in a gruff tone, standing back up to his feet with his assault rifle in hand.

The Wookiee growled in concern yet a slight shove from his friend was enough to make him stop for the time.

"Focus ya big carpet, we got a war to win." Zaeed grunted out, momentarily using his weapon as a baseball bat since he didn't have time to reload. He cracked an Unggoy atop the head before slamming a new mag into his rifle to resume fire.

Though the ground battle was bloody, it was effective as they noticed the changing tide of the fight.

They had lost a third of their numbers yet the Covenant were being pushed back.

It helped that Pelicans began coming in danger close to deploy marines, Warthogs, Mongooses and Scorpions just as the Covenant were preparing their own vehicles.

The small intense skirmish scaled into a full on proper battle with both sides inflicting heavy losses upon one another.

However, the sudden drop of the ODST's, their ferocious push through the Covenant and the Spartan Red team on top of the flow of reinforcements was proving to be too much for them.

All the while, in orbit, the battle raged on with several of the UNSC frigates having been destroyed and the majority of the Covenant fleet were now in shambles.

Thanks to the joint efforts of Ackbar and Cole, the Covenant fleet was whittled down and completely and utterly annihilated.

Omega Team and Red Team had soon reported victory in capturing the two staging grounds for the retaking of Harvest groundside.

This was the first counter-operation the UNSC had launched against the Covenant and it was deemed a victory within a few short hours.

The Second Battle of Harvest was theirs.

Marth 10th

The war has passed its first overall year.

The second is underway, the engagement and retaking of Harvest being the latest in what would undoubtedly be a long and bloody war. A sentiment shared by all within FLEETCOM and the UNSC.

As a result of the glassing of several planets by the Covenant, the UNSC ratifies the documents of WINTER CONTINGENCY.

Upon detection of Covenant forces nearby a UNSC controlled system or arrival at a UNSC plant, WINTER CONTINGENCY is to be declared.

Full mobilization of the planet's defenses and the immediate counter-attacks of Covenant forces on all fronts are to be declared.

This document was officialized and signed by dozens upon hundreds of high ranking UNSC officials from all four of its races.

April 20th

Circinius IV

Corbulo Academy of Military Science

The Corbulo Academy of Military Science. The academy where many high ranking officials within the UNSC be it military, political or business wise had their children sent to be trained in becoming commissioned officers within the UNSC.

Or in layman's term, a preppy school for kids whose parents have a lot of money and a lot of influence.

This is where, aside from training the future officers of the UNSC took place, some of the more newer and experimental weaponry and technology of the UNSC was to be tested. Well… one of the places at the very least.

Since first contact with the Wookiees, Mon Cala and Kaminoans, there has been an influx of new weaponry that were designed and tested in multiple sights. This academy was one of those sights. Pays to have rich parents sometimes. One tends to get all the goodies earlier than most at times.

Currently, a lone human male stood within the barracks of the Academy, going over inventory as that was his assignment for the day.

He was listing down the weapons the Academy had on hand, taking some time to examine some of the newer models that were officially entered into service not too long ago.

The HAR-5A Heavy Assault Rifle was the newest model within the MA5 series. These new Assault rifles were in essence a bulked up and more customizable assault rifle with an upgraded caliber round.

His team had used it earlier in training earlier today and they were damn effective. The rounds were armor piercing and shredded tree bark apart like no tomorrow.

There was also the latest model of the A280C Burst Rifle.

Developed by Humanity, the Wookiees and the Mon Cala, the Burst Rifle is the latest line of Gauss based assault rifles that were based off of the Wookiees Bowcasters. This new model is a fusion of the basic 7.62mm mixed with Gauss technology.

How they pulled that off was beyond this young man's understanding and reasoning.

All he knows is that they did it and it is a powerful rifle.

It is rather rare at the moment with those who had made this particular rifle stating that it should become more common within the next five years.

This along with the Westar 55 Heavy Pistol.

The old model was angular and boxy while this one is more circular and streamlined, specifically the barrel of the gun.

Next to these three new guns were the standard UNSC weaponry.

MA5 Assault Rifles, SRS99-AM Sniper Rifles, M392-DMR, the M45 and M90 shotguns, M6G handguns and so on and so forth.

"Heya Lasky, there ya are."

Thomas Lasky, son of Colonel Audrey Lasky looked up from his work and saw the cheerful face of one Michael Sullivan.

"Hey Sully." Lasky said in a monotone voice, returning to his work.

"Hey Sully." Sullivan parroted in amusement. "Do you have to make it sound like seeing me is a bad thing?"

Lasky smirked slightly, shaking his head as he closed the locker he was conducting inventory on to move on to the next one.

"Well, unless you're here to relieve me of my boring duty then…"

Sully only laughed. "I got something really cool to show you later."

"More of those forbidden vids?"

Sully chuckled once more, draping his arm around Lasky's shoulders. "Trust me, you're gonna wanna see it."

Lasky only nodded absent mindedly.

He eventually finished his duty and rather than going to see Sully, Lasky instead opted to go straight to his own room.

Sitting down at the desk, he brought up several files with a brand new one from his brother, First Lieutenant Cadmon Lasky.

The pride of his family, an ODST. one of the very best of the UNSC.

Opening the file, he saw the paused video of his haggard and tired looking brother yet he seemed in high spirits.

This was a stark contrast to the last video he sent in regards to the death of a squad mate and friend, Ridge. Someone that Thomas knew personally as well.

Playing the video, Thomas leaned back and listened as his brother regaled him with another one of his most recent missions.

"Hey bro." Cadmon said with a slightly strained tone but more upbeat if that was possible. "So the jungles have not been too kind but shit… we've been driving the Innies back for days now. It's fucking insane how much ground we've gotten back."

Thomas leaned forward with clear interest as Cadmon went on.

"We were getting hammered for a while until…" Cadmon then paused to look around for a brief moment before leaning into the camera in a conspiratorial manner. "Don't know whether or not I should be talking about this but we recently got reinforcements and Bro, these guys are something else."

'What did that mean?' Thomas asked himself internally. What wasn't he allowed to talk about?

"So these new guys come in and they're fucking huge." Cadmon said exaggeratedly. "I think one of them was like… 7 foot 2 or something like that. They were taller than some of the Wookiees we have on our squad."

Taller than the Wookiees?

"And Thomas… they're fucking crazy strong. And really, really good at fighting." Cadmon said, inclining back with an awed look in his face. "They tore apart the Innie lines like they were butter. All that ground we lost, we got back in four hours."

By this point, Thomas was completely enraptured by this story. Just who were these people that his brother was talking about with such reverence?

As if to answer his question…

"They didn't give us names really. Said they were uh.. Green Team and only referred to their call signs or numbers on their chests." Cadmon said with a thoughtful frown before brightening up. "Oh, there was one guy. The leader of this team. Said they were simply called Spartans and we could call him Kurt. Was really friendly with a lot of the officers. Even made sure I got some extra rest after today."

To say that Thomas was curious would be an understatement.

Just who were these… Spartans was it?

Lasky crossed his arms, momentarily pausing the video.

Spartans…

If he remembers his history correctly, Spartans were the ancient warriors of ancient Greece. They were a warrior culture, priding themselves on their battle prowess with their greatest known point in their history being the 300 Spartans that fought against the invading Persian army in the battle of Thermopylae.

A battle that is spoken of within all academies of the UNSC to this very day. Nearly 3000 years ago by this point.

He pressed resume, with Cadmon going on.

"We've got a long few weeks ahead of us but man," his brother sagged in relief. "I feel like with these new guys, we've got a fighting chance now." Cadmon gave him a cheerful smile. "Maybe I could get some leave soon to stop by and see ya buddy."

Though the message was old, both brothers snorted simultaneously.

"Yeah right." The Lasky brothers said at the same time, laughing a second later as if they were in the presence of one another.

"So, I'll be seeing ya Thomas. Duty calls and all. Miss ya man." Cadmon said, ending the video shortly thereafter.

"Miss you too." Lasky said quietly to himself.

April 26 th

The entire academy was in chaos.

Alarms blared, cadets were running, marines were shouting and pandemonium reigned.

What the hell was going on?

Thomas Lasky had a profoundly intimate moment just a few minutes ago with his fellow cadet Chyler Silva and now they were running towards the tether of the academy.

They had linked up with the rest of their squad, all screaming and yelling about in total confusion.

"Lasky. Chyler." A female Mon Cala with their squadmate Junjie Chen.

"Ibtisam." Chyler yelled back, the two running towards her.

"Come on you two, the rest of the squads near the entrance." Junjie said, the four running through the now increasingly crowded corridor.

Eventually, they all linked up with the entirety of Hastati Squad.

April Orenski, their squad leader with Walter Vickers, Dimah Tchakova, Michael Sullivan, Phillip Shere and Sean Kaye.

"Alright, everyone's here." April said in satisfaction though the worry for the situation at hand was written all over her face.

"What the hell is going on?" Lasky asked the million-dollar question. "Is it the Insurrection?"

"I have no idea." Sully said in obvious fear.

"Stay calm." Ibtisam said, placing a comforting hand upon Sully and Dimah's shoulders, both of whom nodded.

"What'd we do, April?" Vickers asked in a panicked tone.

"We stick together and wait online until we get to the tether." April said with Walter nodding.

Suddenly, crackling booms were heard from above making all within look up at the glass ceiling.

From the darkened clouds above, pods began falling from on high and crashing down around and within academy grounds.

Everyone then turned to look outside the windows lining the hallways and they saw armored humans and Wookiees begin to file out of the pods with their weapons drawn.

"ODST's?" Ibtisam said aloud in shock.

"What the fuck?" Walter added.

"Why are ODST's landing directly down here?" Sully asked, trembling now.

Lasky took a moment to look at his squad and then back up at the sky with only one conclusion coming to mind.

"It's because we're under attack." Lasky said, a sense of silent shock coming over Hastati squad.

"This is not good." April said.

"ODST's dropping in is never good."

They looked around at one another until Dimah spoke up.

"Guys, I can get us on that tether."

"No, we will hold our positions." April said with a tone that brokered no argument.

Dimah was about to leave them when Sully and Ibtisam grabbed her and pulled her in.

"What are you doing?" Dimah said in a scathing manner. "We can get out of her now."

"We're sticking together." Ibtisam said in finality.

"What she said." Sully said tone shaky but demeanor resolute.

Before Dimah could argue back, the tether doors closed with the lift going upwards. She gave them a furious look when the entire area began to shake.

Once more, all heads turned to the skies above and all saw some kind of vague outline of lights coming through the clouds.

At first, no one could identify or discern as to what they were looking at until it was made clear.

A strange ship of some kind had pierced through the clouds followed by two exact replicas just above it moments later.

These ships were unlike anything any of them had ever seen.

They were not human, nor Wookiee and certainly not Mon Cala or even Kaminoan.

In essence…

"What the hell are those things?" Lasky asked aloud in open shock.

No sooner did he ask that question did the ships do something that is quite frankly an image that would be ingrained within Lasky's mind for the rest of his life.

The large ship closest to them fired off some sort of energy beam that destroyed the Space elevator.

It swayed above them before it came crashing down and then…

They were running once more; screams heard all around.

Lasky's ears were ringing, finding himself on the ground with the rest of his squad all around him.

"...Sky! LASKY!"

*THUD*

The Hastati squad whipped around to see a body slump down on the ground.

In front of them, the academy grounds were hazy mist of dust and debris.

Gunfire was heard all around along with… indescribable noises.

An ODST pair of a Human and a Mon Cala were backing away when they saw a figure within the mist.

It was clad in some kind of armor with certain parts glowing.

As it walked closer, a two-pronged glowing sword appeared from its hand as the bipedal creature sliced through the statue of the academy in two.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Vickers asked in terror.

"Lasky, come on." Chyler helped him up.

They all stood around with a sense of total confusion and at a loss of what to do.

"What was that?"

"I don't know."

Then, a ringing from above transformed into screams of terror.

Lasky looked up with his face turning ghostly pale as bodies, literal bodies of all the people that were on the space elevator and possibly other orbiting platforms from above began falling!

The sickening sounds of bodies, blood and guts breaking and crumbling upon impact was sickening and enough of a motivator for them to start running again.

Hastati squad ran straight into a firefight with ODST's and marines firing and screaming all around.

"GRAAAA"

"LEFT FLANK, LEFT FLANK."

"I NEED AMM-GAK."

"WATCH YOUR SIX!"

"THEY'RE ALL OVER!"

Lasky was looking about wildly, momentarily losing his squad.

He heard his name get called out and he turned to see…

"Colonel Mehaffey." He whispered.

She was in her basic uniform with an SMG in hand.

"Lasky." She yelled out. "Get to the door! Go! G-AH!"

Suddenly, from nowhere, Mehaffey was struck by what appeared to be glowing needles.

Everything seemingly slowed down from Lasky's perspective as he watched his mentor fall to the ground. Upon hitting the floor, the needles literally exploded, taking her body along with them.

He began to look around, breathing heavily as his ears rang.

ODST's and Marines were firing from all sides at enemies that Thomas could barely make out.

He saw two Wookiee ODST's get cut down with ease by that same armored figure that sliced the academy statue.

"Thomas!"

Lasky's body jolted, Sully and Chyler by his sides.

"Come on man, we gotta go!" Sully said, pulling him along.

"Junjie?"

"Here!"

"Hastati, MOVE!" April yelled out, the entire squad reforming and running for their lives towards the dorms.

They eventually entered into the hallway with their dorms, taking refuge in Lasky's as it was the only one that was unlocked.

Once all inside, the squad took a collective breath of relief that they were alive.

"Wait." Junjie spoke up. "We're missing two?"

They looked around with them soon realizing…

"Oh fuck, where's Phillip and Sean?" Walter asked.

"They got shot down." Dimah said, shaking as she sat upon Lasky's bed. "I saw it."

They were silent, only breathing heavily when Dimah broke down into open sobs practically jumping into Sully's arm.

"Oh my God, I could've died." Dimah wept profusely into Sully's shoulder with him only holding her tightly as a few silent tears fell from the corners of his eyes.

"Colonel Mehaffey." Lasky said, expression turning green at the sight of her gory death repeatedly going over in his mind.

"It's a whole new war." Vickers said in abject dread.

"What kind of war was that?!" Ibtisam asked, shaken to her core over what they had just survived.

There was a lull of silence between them as they tried to calm themselves.

That was until a terrified scream that was quickly silenced caught their attention.

"That sounded close." Vickers went to look outside when Lasky stopped him and checked instead.

Peeking out of his room, Lasky looked down at the end of the hallway to see that bipedal armored creature with its energy sword piercing a girl.

It spoke in a language he could not understand, pulling its glowing blade out of the body and letting it slump over dead.

This…

This was undoubtedly a new alien of some kind cause it sure as hell wasn't a Wookiee or Mon Cala.

The alien looked around for a moment before it quite literally turned invisible.

Lasky backed away into his room.

"It's invisible." He whispered.

"What the hell's invisible?" Walter asked.

"One of those things is inside and it is invisible." Lasky said, raising his voice to get the message across.

The feeling of panic returned with an even stronger presence than before.

"What do we do, what'd we do?!"

"We gotta get out of here!" Lasky declared.

"What about that thing out there?" Ibtisam asked, scared beyond all measure.

"Shouldn't we stay here?" Dimah, still clinging to Sully.

"Where are we gonna go?" Junjie asked.

"No, no, no" Orenski stammered out. "We're gonna go to the training room, we're gonna get gacked up and get ourselves some weapons."

"I'll take point." Chen said straight away.

"Alright everyone." April said, with the squad moving about inside. "Get in line and get ready."

Once they were in position, April was right behind Junjie who looked outside into the hallway.

It was quiet, with no sound heard other than the ambience…

When the glass door next to their room was broken in.

"Now!" Junjie said, with the squad quickly filing out of the room and running in the direction away from the invisible threat.

They sprinted across the hallway, turning several corners until Junjie came to a halt raising his right fist up.

"Wha-?" Orenski was confused.

"JJ, why'd you stop?" Vickers asked.

Junjie Chen only stood, stock still with his breath trembling with a hot breath fogging up his glasses.

Behind him were his squadmates.

"Ru-"

Junjie was pierced by a two pronged energy sword with his body being held up into the air.

"JJ!" Vickers shouted in distraught terror.

"Run, RUN!" Ibtisam yelled with the squads fleeing for their lives as Junjie's body was dropped to ground like garbage by the invisible menace.

They miraculously made it to the training room, quickly sealing the door behind him.

April ordered Lasky and Ibtisam to get a distress beacon out while she and Chyler tried to get the weapon and armor lockers open.

They were typing in codes to get them open yet nothing happened.

"It's locked!" Chyler said in frustration. "My code isn't working!"

"What the hell." Sully cried out.

"Mayday, mayday, this is Cadets Thomas Lasky and Ibtisam. Mayday, mayday!" Lasky said frantically. "There's been an attack on Corbulo Academy, repeat, there has been an attack on Corbulo Academy. Does anyone copy?"

"Ibby?" Dimah asked in a soft, utterly terrified tone.

The Mon Cala only slammed her fist against the wall.

"There's no response or signal. Comms are down."

"I don't have access to the live rounds." April announced.

"I think the beacon tower is down as well." Thomas said in defeat.

Dimah only wept more, holding onto Sully for dear life.

"We're dead." Sully said blankly.

"No we're not." April retorted; hands raised up to her head. "Alright, there's gotta be a way out of this. Think, think, think, think."

Lasky and Ibtisam regarded the door.

"We can't stay in here, April." Ibby stated.

"We can't go out there." April shot back.

"Then what do we do?" Lasky asked when Vickers held up a tank of some kind and began bashing it into the lockers.

He kept smashing it into the lockers with the squad encouraging him on…

*BANG*

They jolted into silence as they turned to the door.

*BANG*

There it was again.

"Hide." April whispered.

They ran to the end of the room, Vickers breaking off to see if there was another way out.

Seeing none, he looked back to Lasky who was gesturing him over to join the rest of the squad.

*BANG*

The sound of the door being struck once more made Vickers stay in his spot as they now awaited the inevitable.

*BANG*

They pressed themselves up against the lockers with Lasky and Vickers looking out at the door.

*CLANG*

Both hid themselves as the training room door fell to the ground.

Heavy footsteps were heard yet they couldn't see it.

Lasky kept watch while trying to remain as hidden as possible.

Nearby, there was a bit of steam coming out of a dislodged pipe from the ceiling. The steam was then blown by a breath which made Lasky tremble.

Looking back out, he and Vickers locked eyes when the door that was blown off its hinges moved. They returned to their hiding spots, frozen on the spot.

More footsteps came after, appearing to go in the direction away from them.

Lasky steeled himself, looking to the rest and nodding, gesturing his head towards the door.

They begin crawling and moving about to get closer to the door.

Once within reach, they crowded at the corner they were crouching at.

"Lasky, go for the door." Sully encouraged.

"We can't leave Vickers behind." Lasky countered.

"Where is it?" Chyler asked with Lasky laying down on the ground to see underneath the lockers.

Close by was a puddle of water… which soon had three stubs of some kind step right on it with a footprint outline of some kind.

Shooting back up, Lasky was sweating profusely now. "He's right there."

The fear was palpable amongst the group.

Sparks flew out which fell over the invisible form of this alien.

An unusual hum was heard and the group saw the glowing two pronged sword.

They then heard some sort of static followed by an unknown language with the large alien responding in kind with its own alien dialect.

It was a series of warbles and what could only be described as worts and honks.

It decloaked, revealing itself to the group of terrified cadets.

The alien was tall, possibly the same height as a Wookiee if not more so. It had unusually jointed legs and what looked like four fingered hands.

"Hey!"

The group froze as they heard Walter announce himself to the alien.

"GUYS RUN!" He shouted, readying his makeshift weapon…

Only for the alien to whip around and fire at him with its other weapon, shooting him down.

Sully cried out to him which in turn, alerted the alien to their presence.

It slowly walked around the locker that they hid behind and stared down at them.

Once more speaking in that unknown alien language, it then did something… quite scary to put it plainly.

Something that sent a chill down their spines.

It laughed.

"GURK"

The alien then jolted; a fleshy sound of a knife piercing skin being heard from behind.

It proceeded to slump over dead and from behind was a large figure in green armor with the number 117 painted on the left side of its chest piece. Small lights turned on from the side of this figure's helmet as it turned to face them.

"We don't have much time." The armored figure spoke in a slightly gravelly voice. "Let's go."

The cadets all stared up at the… man?

Was it a man?

Cause whoever he was, he was massive.

*CLANG*

*THUD*

The entire group jumped in fear as they looked over at the exit to the training room in alarm.

They saw the figure of another one of the same species that this new guy took out and standing over it…

Was another large imposing armored individual that was taller than the armored figure with 117 on his chest piece.

This one had identical armor on yet the helmet was different as well as the number.

034.

'Numbers on their chests.'

The words of his brother echoed through his mind.

Were these the same individuals Cadmon spoke of?

What were they called again?

Spartans?

"Found 'em Chief?" the newly arrived armored figure asked.

'Chief' just nodded.

"What's the situation outside?" 117 asked.

"Ghost town." 034 said with a shake of his head. "No survivors."

There was a momentary pause, both looking over at the cadets that had now come out of their hiding spots with one of them going over to the recently fallen Walter Vickers.

"Blue-three inform Command 034 and I have six survivors." 117 began talking into his comms. "Take your team North. Rendezvous at Evac Alpha for Pelican extraction. We'll meet you there. Blue-One out."

"How'd you find us?" Lasky asked straight away.

"The distress beacon." 117 replied.

"Why'd you come for us?" Sully inquired.

"You were the only survivors." 117 said.

"In the school?" Ibtisam asked for clarification.

"On the planet." 034 this time spoke, tone dark.

A sense of indescribable loss and horror washed over the last six survivors of Circinius IV.

They were all that was left of the entire population of the planet?!

"We've got 15 minutes to get to the evac point." 117 informed them. "Armor up."

"It's… it's locked." Sully stammered out.

The two armored men shared a look before 034 proceeded to punch through the lock with ease and tossed aside the small doors to allow access to the weapons and armor.

Well, that's one way of getting past the locks.

A few moments later, the six cadets were equipped with the standard marine armor weapons in hand and sandwiched in between two gargantuan soldiers that led them down the darkened hallways of the Academy.

They were in tight formation with the lights of their weapons moving about as they were constantly looking around for anything or anyone that may pose a threat.

117 abruptly halted holding his fist up making the rest of them stop.

034 immediately went past them and stood by 117's side, the two sharing a look.

117 turned back to the cadets.

"Stay quiet." He instructed them. "Do not leave, no matter what you hear outside."

"Wait." Lasky spoke up. "Just… who are you guys?"

"034." Said the tallest of the two. "Blue-Two if you want."

"Chief-117. Or just Chief for short."

With that said, both turned and went ahead, their footsteps barely being registered by the cadets who proceeded to slouch slightly.

Ibtisam shook as she lowered her assault rifle and with her free hand leaned against a nearby wall.

Dimah basically made sure to stick to Sully who wasn't faring much better.

Chyler all but slumped down to the ground, breathing heavily.

"I knew those ONI vids were bad news." Sully muttered out.

"I don't think ONI has anything to do with this." Ibby remarked with a strained tone.

"Oh God." Chyler whispered out. "Everyone…"

Dimah shuddered, stifling a sob as she shook her head and tried to gain some control over herself.

"What the hell is going on?" Sully asked, slightly panicked.

"Sully, not now." Lasky chided.

"We're following giant robots." Sully said.

"No… not robots." Lasky said, thinking of his brother's last message before all this madness.

"Spartans."

"Spartans?" April looked at him. "You know what they are?"

"I have an idea." Lasky said vaguely. "I'll tell you about it… if we get out of here."

"Are they even gonna come back?" Dimah asked in a terrified whisper.

"They'll come back." Lasky stated in an assuring manner. "I believe them."

He looked to Chyler who looked severely distraught, several tears streaming down her face.

"You ok?"

Chyler hesitated. "I don't know."

"Hey, we'll be alright." Lasky said with more conviction now.

He reached over to a helmet lying beside her and placed it on her head.

She looked up at him in fear yet he remained resolute.

"We're gonna make it outta here." Lasky promised.

"Thanks." Chyler managed out.

All the while, gunfire was heard far ahead.

"Do you think they'll be enough?" Ibby asked.

The question went unanswered until they heard a loud banging sound with heavy footsteps.

Hastati tensed up in fear until they saw the two large forms of 034 and 117 return with them slumping in relief.

"Who's the best shot here?" 117 asked.

…

"You probably." Sully answered and 034 appeared to huff in amusement.

Chief looked at the cadets, glancing down at Lasky who had just strapped on a helmet for himself.

"Chyler is." Thomas said straight away.

"I'm good." Chyler nodded.

"I am too." April said soon after.

"Cadet Lasky, can you drive a warthog?"

"Uh…" Lasky stammered. "Yeah sure."

"Anyone else?"

"I can." Ibby said. "So can Dimah."

"Good." 117 said. "There's several Warthogs and Mongooses nearby. That's where we're all headed. Shooters on the left and right, drivers in the center."

"Don't wander and stay in formation." 034 added. "Stay close to the both of us. It's your best chance for survival."

They knew this was not to be a boast but a fact.

Getting into formation, the cadets followed the two behemoths out to the now deathly quiet academy grounds.

It was a haunting sight to put it mildly.

Everywhere they looked, only the dead could be found.

Fellow students, faculty with marines and ODST's littering the ground.

There were particularly gruesome and gory splotches on the ground from poor souls that fell from above upon the initial attack.

Humans, Wookiees and Mon Cala all around them.

Dimah had to close her eyes, lip trembling as tears streamed down her face upon once again realizing she could have been one of the dead on the ground.

"Sully." Lasky spoke up in a low whisper, making Dimah look back to her roommate. "Keep up."

"Come on Sully." April added.

"Sully." Dimah reached out to grab the back collar of his outfit and tugged him along.

"Where'd they all go?" Sully asked.

Then a purple needle was embedded into Sullivan's ankle.

He yelled out in pain, looking up to the one that had shot him with everything slowing down from the perspective of two specific soldiers.

Chief had shot his arm out in time with his armor absorbing the second shot of the enemy fire, shoving Sully to the ground.

"Get down." 117 barked out. "Sam."

"On it." 034 sprang into action with Chief, the two firing rapidly at the enemies while the cadets were hiding for cover.

"Move." Chief ordered. "Get to the warthogs. We'll keep their focus on us."

Lasky caught something out of the corner of his eye, watching one of their shooters get attacked from behind.

"Chief!" Lasky shouted, pointing towards that direction.

117 looked over in time to see a shadowy figure attack one of the enemies and kill it with what looked like a bowcaster.

"Go!" 117 ordered.

The cadets began running straight for the Warthogs, seeing them in sight despite all the commotion.

Just before they could reach them, a stubby looking alien was flung down before them with a sickening crack being heard.

A moment later, a Wookiee ODST landed before them with a roar of victory.

"Holy-" Sully was promptly dragged forward by Ibby and Dimah.

"Come on. We gotta move." Ibtisam said, getting to the warthogs.

The Mon Cala quickly looked to the newly arrived Wookiee. "Can you drive?"

The Wookiee warbled in affirmation, quickly going over to the driver's seat of one of the Warthogs.

Ibby, Dimah and Sully piled in and the gun was suddenly manned by 034 who began riddling the remaining enemies with lead.

Over in the other Warthog, Lasky got into the driver's seat with April and Chyler whilst 117 manned the gun to join Blue-Two in firing at the enemies.

"Drive."

Both warthogs were floored, tires grinding up against the ground for a few moments until they began accelerating and driving away from the academy and directly into the woods.

"Where were you the whole time?" Ibtisam asked their new Wookiee companion straight away.

The Wookiee barked and growled out on how his entire squad was killed and he barely survived by retreating into the woods. He was fighting off this enemy that was apparently called the Covenant within the woods until he heard the sound of gunfire coming from the academy.

"Well you're a godsend." Ibby said a moment later.

Their warthog drove behind Lasky's, turning to follow after them as they drove down another road. 034 informed them that their exit was up ahead.

As they were driving, both 034 and the Wookiees' heads twitched, looking back behind them at the darkened forest.

"What's wrong?" Dimah asked in worry.

The Wookiee growled to stay alert with 034 now moving the gun around.

"Chief, we got trouble."

"Do you have a visual?" 117 asked from his warthog.

"Nothing yet but I'm picking up movement." 034 said, tone grim.

117 only response was to tell Lasky to drive faster.

Suddenly, on the road ahead, a glowing blue sphere was thrown into the center of their path.

Lasky had to sharply veer the warthog out of the way as the blue sphere exploded, enveloping the left side of the warthog in a strange pulse of some kind.

Gunfire erupted from the two warthogs.

"Controlled bursts." Chief yelled out. "Don't spray and pray."

Those that were able to begin firing on all sides, managing to take out most of the enemies that resided within the forest.

"Chief." 034 called out to him with 117 wordlessly moving about to fire at a large cluster that 034 himself was firing at.

"Ah dammit." Ibby cried out as multiple glowing needles struck the hood of their warthog with another few clipping the front left wheel.

Lasky looked back for a brief moment and looked back in time to see another one of those alien creatures jump at the car.

A shot went off as he rammed right into it and crushed it beneath the warthog, screeching the car to a halt as the other one had basically stopped moving.

"Man the gun." 117 ordered April with the squad leader quickly taking his place on the turret as he jumped out and ran over to the disabled warthog.

"What's the status of the hog?" Chief asked straight away.

"Trashed." 034 said succinctly, jumping down from the gun as he flicked his hand up as a silent gesture for the occupants to get out of the warthog.

Only the Wookiee remained, opting to man the unoccupied gun as Dimah and Ibby helped Sully out of the car.

Sully was assisted to a nearby tree with Chief administering Biofoam to his injury.

"This should help you walk again." 117 said.

"Or at least limp really fast." 034 added, getting a strained chuckle out of Sully.

"You know how to cheer a guy up."

There was a brief lull as they patched up Sully.

"They aren't attacking." 034 pointed out in private to 117 within their helmet comms.

Before he could respond, Lasky began shouting in a distraught manner.

"Chief! Chief! Chyler's been hit!"

117 was by Chyler's side a moment later, with him helping the gravely injured cadet out of the Warthog.

The others save for the Wookiee and 034 surrounded them a moment later.

"Chyler!" Dimah cried out fretfully.

Ibtisam held her hand with Lasky on the other.

This moment was then interrupted by the sound of scurrying and screeches from all around them.

The cadets looked about wildly, noticing that the sounds were getting distant.

"They're… retreating?" Ibtisam said aloud in confusion.

"Why would they retreat?" April asked from the gun.

"John!" 034 yelled out with all heads turning to where 034 was standing and in the distance they saw a glowing green light.

"We're being hunted." 117 said grimly. He looked up to the Wookiee on the second Warthogs turret. "What's your name?"

Chewbacca

"The Pelican extraction point is just ahead, North of here." 117 said. "Get these Cadets to safety."

The now identified Chewbacca grunt out, jumping from the warthog and jogging over to the Cadets who were still fretting over their gravely injured comrade.

"Let's go Sam." John said quietly to his brother, the two running toward their new foe.

Back with the cadets, the Wookiee had joined them with the sound of roars now beginning to reverberate from the directions the two Spartans ran towards.

"What do we do?" April asked with Chewbacca answering.

"North?" Dimah looked about frantically. "Which was is tha-"

*GROOOAARRR*

They turned back and several of them gaped at the sight of a figure completely towering over their two saviors, standing at nearly five to six feet taller.

"Oh my God." Sully murmured out.

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Orenski said rapidly.

"Wait." Dimah said looking around. "We're near the blind."

"We are?"

"Yeah, it's on the way North."

"Lead the way, Dimah." Ibby encouraged her. "I'm right behind you."

April and Lasky placed Chylers arms around their shoulders with Chewbacca supporting Sully.

They moved as fast as they were able to, hearing gunfire and explosions going off from a distance.

Chyler moaned out in agony as they reached a stone structure with Lasky and April setting her down.

"Hang in there, Chyler." April said straight away as Lasky removed her helmet while checking over himself.

"Don't we have any more Biofoam?" he asked in desperation with the team only shaking their heads as the realization began to set in.

Lasky looked back down to Chyler who was breathing heavily and becoming paler by the second.

Wordlessly, she reached underneath her shirt and pulled out her dog tags. Tugging them off her neck, she holds them out for Lasky to take who was now having his own tears streaming down his face.

"It's ok, Tom." Chyler said kindly, voice steady despite her state. "I'm sorry."

"No." Lasky was torn. "Please."

Chylers hands became limp, falling away from Lasky.

Lasky only wept, holding on to Chylers dog tags whilst the rest had silent tears streaming down their faces.

They were so focused on Chyler, they had not realized 117 and 034 had returned.

117 had kneeled down to Lasky who barely even registered him.

"I'm sorry." Chief said sincerely.

There was a brief moment of silence until 117 returned his attention to the main problem.

"We'll need your ammo cadets; it took us everything we had to take that thing down." Chief said.

"We don't have anymore." Dimah said with a sullen tone.

Chewbacca grunted out he was empty as well, having lost his weapon.

Lasky however pulled out a grenade and held it up for Chief to take.

"Think that'll be enough?" 034 asked 117.

"We'll find out." Chief stated. "Get these cadets to the Pelican."

"What about you?" Ibtisam asked fearfully.

"I'll take care of-"

Chewbacca abruptly let out a roar for everyone to get down as a glowing green sphere impacted some of the trees nearby.

"Move, move!" 117 yelled out, the survivors scrambling to run as fast as their tired legs were able to.

Chewbacca up and hefted Sully over his shoulder with the Cadets, ODST and two Spartans running away from more explosive green spheres being lobbed at them.

They jumped over a small cliff, landing down on the ground and pressing themselves up against the dirt wall.

"Hey Kelly." 034 spoke through the comms. "Gonna need you to hold that pelican for us a bit longer."

"We're not leaving them behind." 117 said resolutely. "All of you, get ready to run for the Pelican. 034 and I will hold it off."

Before they could move, Lasky suddenly sits up and gets into a kneeling position.

"No sir… I'll be the decoy for you both."

"What?"

"Lasky, no!"

"AXIOS!" Lasky bellowed out, dashing forward at full speed.

He was running through the forest as fast as his legs were able to carry him, the sound of rumbling roar coming from behind.

Close to his right side to his back, the ground burst and shook.

Back with the others, the other creature that was pursuing them landed on the ground.

Without waiting, the two Spartans ran forward just as the giant alien fired its literal arm cannon at the running cadet.

It then surprised the two, swinging its large armored arm at them both and striking them away.

It then turned back to Lasky who was still running and prepared to fire.

However, the Spartans were on it once more with 034 pouncing on its shield arm and in a display of herculean strength held it down allowing for 117 to run up the arm.

The arm cannon fired another energy sphere in the meantime.

Chief kneed the head upon reaching it and maneuvered around the bulky frame of the alien and then shoved the primed grenade in between the exposed flesh.

The creature warbled, flinging 034 off of it before it blew up into thousands of fleshy chunks and blood.

The cadets gaped in shock save for April and Sully that were rushing over to the unmoving form of Lasky.

They rolled him onto his back, yelling and shaking him in hopes of getting a response.

His eyes suddenly opened, with him inhaling sharply and coughing.

"Oh thank God." Sully said, helping his friend up to his feet while the others joined in just as they heard the sound of engines flaring close by.

"There's our ride." 117 announced.

The group soon ran out of the forest into a clearing and saw a Pelican awaiting them with

Two more armored figures and two marines having a perimeter around the Pelican.

One of the armored figures that had the number 087 on the left side of its chest piece approached 117 and 034.

"We have six survivors." 117 said.

"I've alerted command." Was her response.

"Let's get out of here." 034 said, getting no objections out of his teammates with everyone piling into the Pelican.

Once all were inside, the ship ascended into the air and flew off.

As they got higher into the sky, the survivors of the academy looked out the yet to be closed hatch of the pelican and saw the horrific sight of the planet being burnt to glass before them.

The last of the Hastati squad all sat opposite the four armored individuals with Chewbacca opting to sit with them.

Lasky had his elbows leaning against his knees with April's glazed eyes staring out at the destruction below.

Dimah opted to lean her upper body entirely onto Sully's legs with him wordlessly taking her hand and both held onto each other tightly.

Ibtisam simply inclined her head back and began breathing as a means of trying to calm herself down after the nonstop adrenaline rush for the past few hours.

Chewbacca slouched forward, face in his hands as he trembled.

The cadets stared at him momentarily realizing that he, like them, had lost everyone he had known because of this attack.

They still had each other but this ODST was alone.

Everyone sat in silence for the most part until 087 reached for her helmet and took it off, a small hiss being heard.

The Cadets stared in bewilderment at the brown haired, blue eyed and pale skinned young girl before them.

A moment later, 104 had done the same, revealing a similar pale complexion having black hair with bluish-green eyes.

They looked no older than them for the most part.

Both turned to 034 and 117 who opted to keep their helmets on.

"H-" Sully stammered slightly. "How old are all of you?"

"That's classified." 087 said, almost robotically.

"Huh." Sully said, simply accepting that answer and pressing his head back against the wall while Dimah closed her eyes.

Lasky had sat back up, sighing tiredly and looked up at the armored figure opposite to him.

117.

The large man looked at the cadet and wordlessly held out something for Lasky to take.

Holding out his hand, Chief dropped a piece of some kind that Lasky realized came from the large alien that 117 and 034 had slain during his distraction.

"Well done, Soldier." Was all Chief said, making Lasky look upon him in slight awe.

It soon morphed into one of steeled conviction and determination.

One that held the silent promise for Lasky that he would not ever let this go or take what had happened here in vain or for granted.

He would prove that he would indeed live up to Corbulos academy's motto.

Axios.

I am Worthy.

May 3rd

Journal Entry XII

Looking back, there were years that always stood out from the others.

And when I do, the first five years I always see as nothing more than a prelude.

These opening years were just the first act.

The buildup for the ground swell of madness that would come at the start of the next decade.

Looking back, I recall the innovation this year had for the way we waged war along with our own advancements.

Alec Ryder… It's strange when I speak of people whom I consider friends but had it not been for my work with Alec, we would not be where we are today.

Our work with AI had at long last bore fruit with most if not all of the current AI the UNSC has created stemming directly from our work on this day on the third of May in 2526.

The expansion of AI lifespans from seven to ten years was groundbreaking giving rise to many standouts for the war that followed.

Versatility and creativity was greatly enhanced along with a whole host of other capabilities that would benefit the UNSC for decades to come.

One of the few early highlights of the war.

I wish we had more during those days.

End of Journal Entry.

October 21st

Admiral Raddus clenched his chair tightly, eyes narrowed as he analyzed the collection of Covenant ships before him.

There were twelve in total, compared to his fleet of forty ships.

He sat within Viscount-Class Star Defender named the UNSC Torrent.

Accompanying him were four Valiant-Class Super Heavy Cruisers, ten Wookiee designed Kumauri battleships between 800 to 1200 meters, five MC80 Liberty class star cruisers at 1.5 kilometers each, ten Sphyra-class Hammerhead corvettes ranging between 500 to 900 meters, and ten newly serviced Paris-Class frigate at five to six hundred meters each.

Facing this assemblage of ships was a Covenant fleet composed of three CAS-class assault carriers, four SDV-class Heavy Corvettes and five CRS-class light cruisers.

Their twelve to the UNSC's forty.

And Raddus knew that this was hopefully as evenly matched as it could be.

These Covenant ships have the unfortunately distinct advantage of being shielded where they only had titanium and metals that could only hold back the barrage of plasma for so long.

"This is Admiral Raddus of the Third Fleet. All starfighters and battlegroups report in."

He heard the growling of Wookiee battle group Beta call in from their starships.

The hammerhead corvette followed with the MC80 Liberty ships shortly after with Paris class frigates a moment later.

"This Gold Leader, Standing by."

"This is Red Leader, standing by."

"This is Blue Leader, standing by."

"This is Yoru Leader, standing by."

Narrowing his eyes, he watched as the Covenant ships drew near.

"Gold and Yoru Squadrons defend the fleet. Red and Blue Squadrons, engage the Covenant and clear a path for our starships."

"Copy that Admiral, this is Red Leader moving to engage."

"This is Blue Leader, moving to engage."

Raddus watched as upwards of three dozen starfighters composed of X-wings, A-wings, Y-wings and D-wings all flew headfirst into the Covenant fleet.

Plasma, lead and gauss began being fired all over the place with the UNSC starships launching missiles, firing up turrets and priming their Railguns and MAC cannons.

The Covenant cruisers moved in to engage the UNSC frigates.

Though they were comparably smaller in size, their plasma technology proved more than enough of an equalizer as it simply burned through the hulls of the frigates.

Gold squadron flew in to even the odds, harrying the ships as they flew under their shields and fired at specific locations on the ship.

Firing missiles and modified Gauss cannon that can rapidly fire, the starfighters whittled down the Cruisers defenses allowing for the frigates to angle themselves and fire their MACs.

However, it appeared that the Covenant had come prepared with their own set of starfighters sending out the Seraphs and the now identified Geonosian or Beak Wing Starfighter.

The ships flew in between one another, entering into fierce dogfights but once again, the UNSC had the upper edge with their pilots outmaneuvering and besting the Covenant fighters. If not for the cruisers adding additional fire power, the Starfighters would have taken less losses.

Raddus cursed under his breath, cursing both the UNSC's unfortunate luck and the Covenant's advanced plasma technology as he watched four frigates get torn apart by the cruisers.

If not for the Super heavy cruisers coming in to take out the remainder of the cruisers though two managed to branch away to get into the safety of the much larger and more imposing Covenant ships.

The battle was now engaged in earnest with Raddus coordinating attack patterns and strategies while suffering several more losses.

Three Kumauri ships were destroyed as well as two Hammerhead corvettes.

Though the UNSC was experiencing losses, the battle was still firmly in their favor.

They had taken out all five of the cruisers and one of the Heavy Corvettes which meant the Covenant fleet was at half strength.

Still, thirteen ships for Six was not a trade Raddus was proud of.

He sorely wished for the Supercarriers right about now as he recalled how Cole's were one hit kills for the UNSC at the retaking of Harvest earlier this year.

But he wasn't an Admiral for nothing.

Setting up a makeshift strategy, he had one of the Hammerhead Corvette that was severely damaged and on the verge of being destroyed and evacuated any survivors that it had.

The Dumb AI upon this damaged Corvette was then to make sure the thrusters were on full power and to guide itself directly into a Heavy Corvette.

Within the Hammerhead Corvette that would be colliding with the Covenant Corvette, all of its nukes were primed and ready to set off.

The Hammerhead smashed headfirst into the SDV and its thrusters flared at full power.

This Corvette was targeted in particular as a Y-wing bombing run had disabled its engines, leaving it floating aimlessly in the vacuum.

The Hammerhead began pushing the Corvette…

Straight into the path of one of the CAS assault carriers.

The large ship began firing with all of its defenses in an attempt to either stop the hammerhead or destroy the disabled corvette. Yet from UNSC starfighters destroying those defenses or them being unable to respond in time, the two corvette collided with the carrier.

A moment later, the nukes within the Hammerhead detonated, completely destroying all three ships.

The Covenant now had only four ships.

And they were the most powerful that they had.

But Admiral Cole had come to the conclusion before that overwhelming firepower is to be the best strategy against the Covenant. One that Raddus would employ with aggressive zeal.

The starfighters and support starships moved in to begin firing everything they had upon the remaining ships of the Covenant.

Raddus had his Viscount Star Defender move in, readying it's M1000 Railgun, aligning itself at the front of the closest CAS Assault Carrier.

The Mon Cala Admiral had his eyes trained against the shields of the carrier that were flaring up by the continuous barrage that it endured.

…

Until he saw it.

That brief flicker of the shields weakening and faltering under the prolonged fire.

"FIRE!" Raddus yelled aloud and the Torrents Railgun shot out the single glowing white shot that punctured a hole straight through the Assault Carrier.

The shield around it died out and the ships that were firing at it now had nothing to stop their onslaught.

This went on for the rest of the battle, having lost three more ships along the way until at long last…

The Battle of Alpha Aurigae was won by Admiral Raddus of the UNSC.

December 25th

Biko

It was Christmas day on the colony world of Biko.

Normally, there would be a largely festive feeling in the air despite the Rebel presence that had remained at large on the planet.

But for some reason, an unusual tension permeated the planet.

The Rebel front, while active still, had drastically reduced their attacks and campaign against the UNSC militia garrisoned here under Biko's Chancellor.

As a matter of fact, a majority of the soldiers on Biko were exceptionally tense.

They hardly spoke to any civilian nowadays and were acting as though an attack was coming.

Not just any ordinary attack, judging by their demeanors.

But one that could single handedly decimate whatever it was Biko had in terms of military might.

However, these thoughts and concerns weren't really in the mind of one six year old girl going towards a house with her mother and two year old baby sister.

She held her mother's hand with one hand while the other was carrying a small bag.

Within the other arm of her mother was her baby sister.

Somehow, the mother was managing half a dozen bags in her arms while holding both her daughters.

Eventually the trio of girls arrived at the two story house they had been walking towards the entire time.

The six years old mother knocked on the door and a moment later, it opened to reveal another woman who had a beaming smile upon her face.

"Wanda!"

"Janet." her mother said kindly, letting go of her daughter's hand to embrace the other woman.

Once pulling back, she kissed her two year old sister on the cheek before looking down at her with a wide smile.

"Miranda."

"Hi Auntie Janet." Miranda Lawson said cheerfully before laughing as she was scooped up in her arms.

Carrying her inside the house, it was filled with several other people who were all busy either cooking or talking with one another while setting a large table.

"Wanda, Miri, Ori." A man stepped away from the kitchen with a broad smile. "So glad you guys made it. Bowie, can you take over?"

"Rawr."

The man walked over to them, hugging Miranda and Janet followed by Wanda and her little sister Oriana.

"Hi uncle Reggie." Miranda said cheerfully.

"How are my favorite little nieces doing?" Reggie asked, ruffling her hair much to her annoyance making him laugh.

Setting the two girls down, the adults got to talking while Miranda walked towards the back of the house with Oriana in tow.

She knew exactly where to go, walking out into the backyard.

There, she saw a young boy her age sitting on a homemade porch swing looking up at the night sky.

"Carter." Miranda said happily, making the boy turn to her and smile brightly at her.

"Hey Miranda." Carter said with a calm voice, hopping down from the porch swing in time for Miranda to give him a tight hug.

He reciprocated the gesture with Oriana moving in to join a moment later.

"Merry Christmas." Miranda said happily, holding out her small bag from her hands with her friend only to grin.

He took the bag out of her hands and placed it on the porch swing with Miri spotting a small box resting there.

"Dad helped me make this for you." Carter said, taking the box and holding it out for her.

Opening the box, she saw it was a carved metal necklace into the zodiac sign of Leo and an emblazoned M.

"Wow." Miri said with wide eyed awe.

Carter's grin grew at seeing how taken his best friend was with the gift, going over to hop on the porch swing with Ori and Miri joining him.

The trio of kids sat upon the porch swing, looking up at the stars.

As the kids and their families celebrated the holidays…

They all remained blissfully unaware of the raging war that was playing out across the stars.

The war that would one day reach them.

But until that time, Miranda and Carter would continue living out their lives in peace on Biko.

Hey guys.

Yeah this was a bit of a long one considering it covered a year.

You guys have no idea how much longer it was originally intended to be. Like a solid… ten to maybe fifteen thousand words bigger.

I was gonna cover the main big battles and events in greater explicit detail but that would mean I'd be on this chapter for another solid month.

BSX and I want to get this up to a solid ten chapters before returning to our work on Spirit Unto Dawn.

We've both been very busy on our ends with other stories and ideas, him with Tales of Infinite Wars and me with Infinite Wars proper.

There's also the stories I work on with Jebest4781, both current and in development.

Lot has happened since I last updated this story.

Mass Effect trilogy remaster coming soon on top of Halo Infinite being delayed being the main two that strictly are associated with this story.

But the big one is, as you all are aware of, is the passing of the phenomenal actor Chadwick Boseman.

It is a great tragedy and loss that will be felt for us nerds the world over.

I have written out a proper tribute to him on Infinite Wars Chapter 44 with Jebest, so please check it out. RIP Chadwick, Wakanda Forever.

Other than that, there's a lot of reviews that I want to answer but that would lead to spoilers so gonna need to hold off on that.

There's a lot of awesome shit that BSX and I have planned out in the coming chapters once we kick it into high gear.

You might as well consider these ten chapters as a long set up cause shit is gonna go down once things start popping off. I just wish I could write at breakneck speeds every time I sat down at a computer.

Writer's block. It's a curse.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 9: Much To Do.

2527/2171

The Citadel

Within the Citadel Tower, the centerpiece of this giant alien structure, eight individual politicians were all gathered within a room seated around a circular table.

Within the seats were all the counselors that represented the races of the Citadel.

Well… those who have been awarded a seat on the council.

Occupying the seats were a Togruta, a Twi'lek, an Asari, a Zeltron, a Turian, Salarian, Duros and Kel-Dorian.

"So, are we all in agreement then?" The Duros Counselor asked, looking around the table.

"This is rather ambitious." The Salarian Councilor stated, crossing his arms in thought. "How many do you figure would be the appropriate number for such an endeavor?"

"We have already sent out a number of invitations and assignments for this expedition." Shaak-Ti, the Togrutan representative replied.

"We are taking no chances in this regard." The Asari Councilor, Tevos, declared. "After the Yahg debacle, we must not allow for such a tragedy to occur again."

"On that much we agree." Sparatus, the brand new Turian Councilor said with a nod. "But I must admit… the amount of individuals for this does seem a tad excessive."

"What's this? Are you losing your luster already, Sparatus?" Gnost-Dural, the Kel-Dor Councilor, inquired in amusement.

Sparatus stammered with his words, slamming his hands down emphatically.

"I just wish to exercise caution is all." He argued. "No need to rush so blindly into the unknown."

"We do need to make sure they are well prepared for such a journey." Leonie, the Zeltron Councilor said with a concerned expression. "I do not wish to lose our best and brightest so suddenly."

"We shall not allow for such a matter to occur." The Duros Councilor stated, tone firm and resolute. "With everything we have reviewed and studied, this will be our most ambitious work of our time. This force shall be going on this expedition for years. We shall not fail in this mission."

"Is everything accounted for then?" Leontyne, the Twi'lek representative inquired.

"For the most part." The Salarian councilor replied. "While our roster has been accounted for, for the most part, there are still ranks that need to be filled out, proper numbers, specific personnel, equipment, ships…"

As the Salarian Councilor rambled on, the others went back to the files that they all had, half listening to what the amphibious Councilor was talking about.

They were continually adding, removing and reviewing the large set of doctrines, rules and regulations for the upcoming foray into the unexplored regions of their galaxy.

No expense would be spared.

They would put their best and strongest foot forward.

After the Yahg, the Rachni and the Krogan, they would always make sure to display a strong front.

Gnost-Dural once said it best.

Leaders should not seek out conflict or war but must always be ready for it.

As the leaders of the Citadel continued their long planning stages, across their controlled regions of space, several areas were well underway in terms of preparations.

Certain planets and corporations were handpicked by the Council members to begin construction of ships, weapons, tools, kits, gathering of anything and everything that would be used for this expedition.

Multiple men and women from all the species under the Citadel were working hard on all sides.

Engineers were making state of the art ships.

Scientists were conducting various tests and experiments.

Soldiers were trained and performing routine ops to keep their senses and skills sharp.

Financial experts were keeping the flow of credits steady while making sure the Citadel economy remained stable.

Though it had yet to be announced, Citadel space was buzzing with activity.

Citadel Biotics Academy.

A lone Kel-Dor sage sat alone inside a room, cross-legged with his wrists resting upon his knees.

The Sage was breathing at a slow rate, inhaling and exhaling in a practiced manner.

Around his form, the air bent around him with the aura of his biotics surrounding his body. It slowly began moving outward to the circle of what appeared to be pebbles around him.

Inclining his head down, the Sage curled his hands into tight fists as his breathing slowed with his Biotics beginning to flare up.

The Biotic field began to ripple more in the air, expanding outward until it ensnared the pebbles around the Kel-Dor Sage.

Slowly, the pebbles trembled until they began levitating up off the ground with the Sage joining a moment later.

There, he levitated above the floor for a prolonged period of time with the pebbles surrounding him constantly rotating around his body. His Biotic field emanated in a perfect sphere until at long last, he began to feel the strain of his Biotics after such a concentrated and prolonged use.

Exhaling, the Kel-Dor Sage lowered himself back down onto the ground with the pebbles settling on the floor as they were from the start.

Rising to his feet, he looked over to see the entrance to this meditation room and in walked a blue skinned Twi'lek.

"Ah, Master Plo." The Twi'lek greeted. "I hope I am not disturbing you."

"Not at all, Aayla." Plo Koon waved off calmly. "I had just finished my meditation a moment ago."

He removed his mask for a moment to take a drink of water to refresh himself whilst Aayla opted to sit where her mentor sat a moment ago.

"What can I do for you, Aayla?" Koon asked after wiping away some sweat that had built up during his meditation. "Is there something troubling you?"

"Not troubling per say, Plo." Aayla said. "Just something I have been thinking about for a few days now."

"And what would that be?" Plo asked, beginning to brew a Kel-Dorian hot drink.

Aayla looked down upon the floor for a brief moment with a moment of hesitation.

"Well… I have recently been offered something quite… big, so to speak." Aayla began, trying to figure out how to properly phrase it.

Plo turned to her with an expectant demeanor to him.

"Are you perhaps referring to the Exploratory Expedition that is currently in the works right now?" Plo inquired, making Aayla blink in surprise.

"You were also offered?" Aayla asked with Plo nodding.

"And I have already accepted it."

"Really?" Aayla was certainly not expecting this… though at the same time, he is the premiere Biotic user in the galaxy.

Most everyone especially Biotic users know of the name of Grand Master Plo Koon. When it came to Grand Masters, the entire galaxy was aware of your skills and reputation. It comes with the title.

One doesn't become a Grand Master by inheritance. Since the Kel-Dor people brought their extensive knowledge and understanding of Biotics to the rest of Citadel space, there had been a number of Grand Masters that have come and gone each with their own legacy and teachings that were used well after they had either died or stepped down.

Great Masters such as the Salarian Lamor who created the exceptionally difficult ability of utilizing Biotics in a healing manner, a technique very few are able to utilize.

Or the Zeltron Grand Master Kiess Conius, advancing the concept of the ability of Biotic bonds wherein one can link themselves with those who don't have the capacity for Biotics.

And now, the latest Grand Master Plo Koon who had at long last mastered the fabled and apparently lost technique of Biotic lightning.

"What do you make of it, Master Plo?" Aayla asked inquisitively.

The Kel-Dor Sage hummed to himself, finishing his drink and pouring it into two cups. Picking them both up, he went over to his former student, holding out the cup for her to take which she accepted graciously.

"I believe it is an opportunity of a lifetime." Plo stated, seating himself in front of Aayla. "The concept of exploration is one that is fundamental to a Biotic Sage. It is an ever changing flow where one must constantly absorb new knowledge that will eventually come to benefit all."

Aayla relaxed slightly, taking a sip of her drink.

"What about you, Secura?" Plo asked softly. "It appears to be weighing on your mind heavily."

The Twi'lek Biotic contemplated for a brief moment. This was something that had been taking up much of her time, being a bit of a distraction from her usual duties and training within the Academy.

The way it was presented to her was rather unusual and vague. It was simply an asari that walked right up to her and told her to keep silent about this until told otherwise.

"I guess my main problem Master Plo is why did they choose me." Aayla stated after several seconds of thought.

"Hmm?" Plo gazed upon her. "And this troubles you?"

"Somewhat." She admitted. "This expedition… it's a massive undertaking from what I have been able to see."

"

"Indeed it is." Plo nodded. "The planning stages have revealed that much."

"Do you think three years is enough time?" Aayla asked.

"Perhaps this has been in preparation for longer than we had known and were only now just learning about it." Plo remarked. "But you didn't answer my question properly, Aayla. Why is it that you being chosen for this expedition bothers you so?"

The Twi'lek went silent, gazing down at the drink in her hand as the steam slowly wafted up from the cup.

When she was approached for this Expedition, it certainly caught her off guard and surprised her greatly. This was a monumental task and she was selected as among the first of many.

At the age of 337, she was still a maiden for all intents and purposes, being only thirteen more years of finally entering the matron stage of a TTAZ lifetime.

"I guess… I'm surprised I was even considered at all." Aayla finally said after a few seconds. "This seems like something that requires the best of the best if we're venturing out into the unknown like this."

What could be considered Plo's brow visibly rose.

"And you believe yourself unworthy of being chosen for this opportunity." The Kel-Dor stated rather than questioned.

"I am still only a maiden, Master Plo." Aayla said.

"With two hundred years of being a TTAZ ranger and ten being my pupil." Plo countered earning a gracious smile from her.

"Yes but…"

"Aayla." Plo spoke softly, baritone voice cutting through her thoughts. "This endeavor by the Citadel is one that requires the best that our galaxy has to offer. And the Citadel Council has recognized you as being among them."

Aayla frowned, still unsure of this with Plo now realizing he's going to have to pull out the big guns.

"Alright." Plo nodded. "I see how it is."

His former pupil gazed up at him in bewilderment.

"It appears you need reminding of just who it is you are." Plo said with him rising up to his feet. "You are Aayla Secura, Master of the Biotic arts and one of my finest students that I have had the privilege to teach within this academy. You may not believe you are special but your name will one day be etched within these academy walls and your actions shall be known until time itself is ripped asunder."

The Twi'lek Biotic could only stare up at her old master, gaping slightly at his rather dramatic proclamation.

"And you're time to make your name known throughout the stars is coming." Plo held out his hand for her to take which she did. "Now stand and hold your head up high. When the time comes, you will be among the first to journey out into the unknown. There will be a great weight upon your shoulders but you are my student. Which means I know you will be performing in an exemplary manner when the time comes."

The Twi'lek couldn't help but find herself gaping at the Grand Master who gazed down upon her expectantly.

No sooner did she begin to giggle, rising up from the floor with a happy smile now present.

"Alright Master Plo, I won't let you down."

Plo gave off a rumbling chuckle. "I believe it is more important that you do not let yourself down. Now come, it may be years off but we must begin preparing in our own manner."

"Yes Master." Aayla said with a bow of her head, following after the Kel-Dor to the training grounds.

-Scene Cut-

"Whew." A Zeltron with blue hair and light pink skin wiped some sweat from her brow as she resumed her work on welding together two panels while sitting atop the skeletal structure of a ship currently under construction.

Testing the metal by giving both ends several tugs and pulls, she gave a satisfying nod before moving on to the next set.

"Hey Deliah."

The Zeltron halted in her work, looking over to see a Turian with red facial markings on his face.

"Come on down, break time." He called up to her.

"I'll be down in a bit, Veltius." Deliah Blue, a Zeltron and one of the chief engineers that have been recruited for the Exploratory Expeditionary Force.

Upon accepting the offer, Blue was swiftly transferred off of the Citadel and on the shipyards of Ryloth.

She had been here for about a few months by this point, constantly working from one ship to another across the shipyards of Ryloth.

The colony world she currently resided on was one of the very first that the TTAZ race had ever colonized, having a long history with her people.

Aside from it being one of the most resource rich worlds in terms of minerals and metals, Ryloth, like the other colony world of Shili has been known to have a habit of producing especially tough TTAZ.

Though Blue was born on Zeltros, she was raised here on Ryloth by her mother.

At a "young" age, Deliah took a natural inclination toward engineering, having begun work on creating her own small engine at one point before her mother had sent her off to be taught properly.

She soon excelled in her field of expertise, having had many teachers in her 200 years of life.

Still in her youthful maiden years, Blue spent the majority of her decades on the out and about, drifting from system to system and accumulating a wealth of knowledge in terms of ships, machines, weapons and anything else that requires a steady hand and a lot of patience. From Mass Effect cores to engine thrusters and life support systems, Delilah Blue made sure to learn every nook, cranny and bolt of every ship and vessel she sailed upon.

Though she wore somewhat revealing attire, stitched on to the vest she always wore was an intricately sewn silk hood.

This was a personal possession of hers from the Quarian who taught her how to understand every single aspect of a ship to a micro level. She had perished two decades ago unfortunately but Deliah made sure to keep to what her fallen friend and mentor had taught her and to use it in every way she can.

Currently it was for the construction of a particularly large ship that would form as the flagship for the Expeditionary force.

It was to be called the Spire, a long cylindrical ship with backend having the small fins that most TTAZ ships possess. Of all the ships within Citadel space, this was to be the largest they had ever constructed.

2.1 kilometers long.

A ship that took the combined efforts of five of the council races and the client races.

This would be larger than the strongest warship the Citadel possesses, the Destiny Ascension.

Deliah snorted to herself at the thought of that.

As an expert in ship engineering, large and powerful as the Ascension was, Blue had learned to have a keen eye as to who really holds the military naval power between the Council races.

While the Kel-Dor have a strong foothold with a diverse array of ships, in terms of naval might, ingenuity and superiority in combat, it's a tie between the Duros and The Turians.

Both species have a natural inclination towards naval combat and tactics, with both possessing the largest of the fleets of the Citadel races. The Kel-Dor are a close second and have been hard at work in trying to strengthen their fleets for the coming Expedition.

They, along with the Duros, had even unveiled a brand new ship line.

The brand new 300 meter Pelta-Class frigates would be entering service at the start of the Expedition in three years' time. It was a multi-rolled ship made for light combat, escort and a freighter of sorts that would carry large quantities of supplies.

Along with the Pelta-Class frigate was the Duros Munificent-Class Star Heavy frigate. Much larger in size, above 500 meters longer then the Pelta-class, this frigate was designed for combat and troop transportation.

*Grumble*

Delilah rubbed her stomach, now realizing just how hungry she was after working on the ships for such a long time.

"Geez, Veltius is right." Delilah remarked. "I do get absorbed in my work sometimes."

Hopping down from her spot atop the ship, she began walking over to the outside cafeteria that had been set up.

There, she saw a multitude of species from all the Citadel sitting down to eat for the evening.

Over to the right of the area, Deliah spotted a trio of an Asari, a Kel-Dor and a Duros who were deep in discussion between one another all having either a datapad or their Omni-tools out.

These three were among the seven primary leaders that would oversee the entirety of the Expedition from their distinct positions.

The Duros of the group was Nensel Jul, the Leader of the Expedition. An expert in navigation and star charts, Nensel has long since been an advocate on going out into the unexplored regions of the galaxy. For years, he had worked with many individuals who shared his dream and ambition in striking out into the unknown having also constantly harassed the council. He had explored several undiscovered regions within Duros and Salarian space itself with his knowledge of star maps and the old Duros phrase of "Galactic wind". He had also worked with the head of the science division for the Expedition, Lumont Hayjer, a Salarian in charting out the ideal path for them to take when branching out into the unexplored regions.

Second to Nensel was the newly appointed title of Pathfinder, the frontline lead explorer of the Expedition. Our Pathfinder is an Asari Matriarch of 797 years old, turning 800 on the year the expedition was to launch. Matriarch Ishara is a veteran Ranger who was a graduate of the Sage academy who held a long history of combat before turning inwards for self-reflection and evaluation. For nearly two centuries, she spent a majority of her time meditating, learning and instructing many on the abilities of Biotics in various Academies across Citadel Space. A wise and aged Matriarch who has seen and accomplished much in her many centuries.

To her right was the Kel-Dor Naval Admiral Hetchkee who was to be the overall naval commander first the Expedition. A Biotic sage with exceptional piloting skills, Hetchkee was personally selected by Nensel as he had worked with him in the past before. A trained Biotic Master, Hetchkee's true calling has always been in a ship, leading in his personalized ship of the Liberator Class starfighter. Having been a part of the Kel-Dor navy for a majority of his life with 20 years of experience, Hetchkee was the ideal candidate to lead the naval division of the Expedition.

These three had been here since the announcement of the Expedition, planning, coordinating, recruiting and so on and so forth in preparation until the time came for their journey into the unknown.

Seating herself at a table, Deliah dug into her meal at a casual pace, not really minding the flavor much.

Not much to begin with really.

She should really consider packing her own lunches by this point.

As she dug into her food, Deliah took a moment to observe the group of people that had been brought on for this endeavor.

It was large to say the least, with engineers, soldiers, scientists and individuals of many skills being present.

Blue figured this would be a large undertaking, going out into the unknown. Naturally, they'd want the best to be a part of this experience. Though she herself is finding it hard to believe why they'd choose her of all people.

She's still in her maiden stages of her TTAZ lifetime and yet she was among those that have been chosen for this great venture toward the rest of the galaxy.

It was quite the surprise to be sure.

She was on the Citadel in the middle of a job when she was recruited.

Now she was on Ryloth helping prepare for the biggest undertaking in her and many others lives.

While eating, Deliah's mind began to wander, thinking of the great expanse of the unknown that they would go towards in the coming years.

What life would they find out there?

What species?

What technology?

Their culture, languages, way of life.

All of it was so tantalizingly close and yet oh so far.

A more sensual thought went through her mind, briefly fantasizing of perhaps encountering new aliens that may be quite handsome. The idea of meeting new species that would lead to an interspecies romance and affair would be quite the exotic experience.

Giggling to herself, Blue resumed her meal, her mind continuing to swirl with thoughts of what is waiting for them out there.

-Scene Cut-

-The Citadel-

He was inspecting his rifle that had just gotten a bit of an upgrade, testing the feel and looking through the scope several times to be sure.

"Spirits Lindros, you never fail to impress."

"You're one of my valued customers, Nihlus." The Turian weaponsmith Lindros responded with his arms crossed. "Gotta make sure I keep up to date with the best."

"And I greatly appreciate it." Nihlus declared, the gun shrinking down and being placed on his back.

The credits were exchanged along with goodbyes and Nihlus departed.

He let out a sigh of satisfaction as he had finally returned from yet another mission with this one being much more enjoyable then the last.

Rol-Nak, an old Kel-Dorian friend of his had finished conducting his training op with him and was soon to be nominated as a new Spectre.

The mission went off without a hitch, a quick two man bust of a slaving operation within Kel-Dor/Turian shared space.

No casualties with the duo being able to successfully rescue those that had been captured by these slaver scum.

If only they could do the same for the rest of Batarian space.

Those four-eyed slaving bastards have had their Hegemony untouched for the majority of these past few centuries and it was honestly rather infuriating. They had the manpower, the want and the need to take on this scum yet the council had chosen to allow them to fester in their squalor.

Bringing down the Batarian Hegemony was always a personal ambition of Nihlus, one he hoped would eventually see the light of day.

Who knows, maybe there is a species out there that can have the quads to do what needs to be done.

One can dream.

As he continued walking through the streets of the Citadel, a familiar voice from behind gained his attention.

"Well, well. Nihlus, glad to see you're back."

The Turian Spectre turned to see a familiar face, his face breaking out into his species equivalent of a grin.

"Saren!" Nihlus said aloud, walking over to his fellow Spectre, the two grasping arms in firm shake. "Spirits, I haven't seen you in months. Where have you been?"

"Spectre business." Saren remarked with a knowing tone. "You know how they tend to be."

Nihlus could only nod in understanding.

While he and Saren were Spectres, they operated completely independently for the most part as most Spectres tended to do.

Among the Spectres, there is no true ranking among them.

At best, those with the most experience are the ones that are considered to have higher "positions" and "ranks" amongst Spectres.

Other than that, all Spectres operated with full autonomy, answering only to the Council.

"So how long do you figure you'll be back on the Citadel for?" Nihlus questioned, the two walking side by side.

Saren shrugged. "Not entirely sure, truth be told. I was planning on seeing Desolas who is stopping by the Citadel himself."

"Desolas is stopping by?" Nihlus said in surprise. "For what purpose?"

"I think you might have an idea." Saren remarked, looking at his fellow Spectre out of the corner of his eye.

Nihlus only hummed candidly in response.

"And what would you think that would be?"

Saren 'hmphed' in amusement, taking a moment to make sure they were enough distance away from people.

"I've been hearing some interesting facts about this Exploratory Force and their plans in foraying into the unknown regions of the galaxy."

"So you have heard of it."

"Nihlus, what Spectre hasn't heard or even has an inkling of an idea as to what's transpiring." Saren rhetorically countered. "I'm astonished it hasn't been built up to such a maddening degree."

"They did speak on keeping this matter on a need to know basis until the right time." Nihlus stated. "Last I checked, they intend on letting the public know within the coming months."

The face painted Turian Spectre let out a thoughtful hum.

"If your brother has been called in, I may have an idea as to what they will ask of him."

"Oh? And what might that be?"

Nihlus gestured his head in the direction of an eating establishment with Saren following after him. They were given a separate table that was isolated enough where they can speak openly enough without anybody overhearing.

Once seated, Nihlus picked up where he left off.

"The Council has decided not to take any chances once this Expedition is underway." Nihlus said, elbows propped up on the table with his fingers interlaced together. "Councilors Gnost-Dural, Shaak-Ti, Donwal and Leontyne have agreed that after the last few species we had first contact with ended disastrously, they will not be caught off guard again. They're selecting the best for this Expedition. Not just scientists and explorers. But soldiers, naval personnel, pilots, the works."

"I see they've finally learned their lesson after the last few disastrous encounters with lesser species." Saren said derisively.

Nihlus silently looked down to take a bit out of his meal that had been placed before him.

"I wouldn't call it all disastrous." Nihlus said. "Save for the Yahg and Rachni, we have good first contact meetings for the most part."

"You would consider the Quarians, Krogan and Batarians among them?" Saren asked rhetorically.

"You know it's not as simple as you make it out to be." Nihlus countered. "The Krogan were done before our time and the Quarians were abandoned by us. The Batarians however… they could rot for all I care."

"You're willing to overlook the Quarians for unleashing the Geth upon the galaxy?"

"We could have helped them." Nihlus said offhandedly. "But it seemed the Council chose the cowardly route."

"Those vagrants needed to learn a lesson." Saren said darkly.

"So leaving them to the cold emptiness of space without a home is the answer?"

Saren only scoffed, not answering with Nihlus sighing.

"Let's not discuss this matter right now."

The older Spectre nodded, beginning to eat his own meal.

"Still, it's good to know the Council is thinking with their heads this time and not their blind optimism." Saren said. "It's time we show the galaxy that if they are to trifle with us, we are not to be taken lightly."

"Maybe." Nihlus murmured. "Maybe…"

"You still hold reservations?"

"Not on the Expedition." Nihlus said. "But on what we will encounter out there. We may get lucky and be greeted by a new species that wishes to join us in peace. Or we could encounter an entirely hostile race with technology far superior to ours and they could completely decimate us in war."

"Do you truly believe that?" Saren asked incredulously. "We are the most advanced collection-"

"That we are aware of." Nihlus cut his mentor and friend off. "We've been stuck here in our corner of the galaxy enjoying a blissful life of knowing we were the dominant faction. But are we really? The Rachni and Krogan proved how fragile we can be. And who knows how the Yahg would have turned out had we not cut them off."

Saren silently mulled over those words, finding it hard to find a justifiable reason to not worry. However, his former protege had a point.

There was no telling what they would encounter on the Expedition.

He knew in his gut that the Citadel would meet new space faring or even pre-space civilizations. That was just how the Universe was governed.

"Have you been hanging around Salarians again? Maybe some Duros?" Saren wryly asked after a moment of silence, making Nihlus chortle.

"I've hung around enough of both to have some of their tendencies rub off on me, unfortunately." Nihlus jokingly admitted. "Now I question everything to make sure I get the full picture."

"Least you're not foolish about it." Saren praised. "That's a far cry better than what I've seen and dealt with."

"I'll take that unusual compliment." Nihlus said, raising his glass with Saren doing the same.

As the two Spectres ate and caught up, another reunion was taking place in another part of the Citadel.

A ship arriving on the Citadel containing a great deal of tired but hearty scientists and archaeologists was back after an extended excavation to relax.

Among them was a young Asari Maiden who was gazing around the port that she had just walked on to.

It didn't take long for her to hear two girls call out her name and for her to have two bodies nearly tackle her to the ground.

This sensation, however, was very familiar to the Asari with her arms instinctively wrapping themselves around the two that had tackled her.

"Ahsoka, Mission." The Asari happily said, hugging the two close. "I've missed you both so much."

"How do you think we feel, Liara?" Ahsoka said, squeezing her Asari sister/friend. "All we've been doing is train, train, train."

"We needed to see you, so badly." Mission Vao bemoaned, rubbing her forehead against Liara's cheek.

Liara T'soni only chuckled aloud. "I see. So I'm just an excuse to get away from training."

"Absolutely." Both her friends said in mock seriousness.

Their Asari friend only laughed, tightening her hug on the two briefly before letting go.

"Come on." Ahsoka said, looping her arm with Liara's right one. "There's a new TTAZ restaurant that just opened up and I'm starving."

Leading the trio over to said new restaurant, the girls were soon seated and enjoying one another's company whilst digging into their meals.

"I hope you two have been enjoying your time in the academy." Liara said pleasantly.

"It's sooo hard." Vao bemoaned, dramatically leaning against the table. "Masters Plo and Aayla drill us day in and day out."

"Is it not the most prestigious Biotic academy in the galaxy?" Liara asked in amusement.

"One of them." Ahsoka said with her finger raised. "But I know for a fact that the best ones are definitely on Master Plo's homeworld of Dorin. I mean, have you seen their archives? They have scrolls that have been preserved for centuries!"

"That would be a fascinating journey." Liara admitted.

Much as many would claim that the TTAZ people were the most proficient in Biotics, everyone knew that the title of Biotic masters belonged to the Kel-Dor race for a reason. Extensive training, experimentation and a fundamental understanding of Biotics on the pragmatic, spiritual and mental level makes them the premiere Biotic users across the galaxy.

"But what about you?" Mission said, perking up immediately. "You've been digging in fields and caves for two years now. You must have found something to talk about."

"Aside from a few new Prothean ruins, there were several new dig sights around those indescribable Forerunner artifacts."

"Those again?" Ahsoka said in surprise, leaning back into her seat with her arms crossed in contemplation. "Wonder what they're all about."

"We've been trying to understand them for years." Liara said. "Though to no avail. Only a few things have come up and the main predominant factor is that these Forerunner ruins predate the Prothean more than a hundred thousand years ago."

"They're older?" Ahsoka said in slight surprise. "I never knew that."

"It is quite fascinating that their technology and structures are older than the Protheans." Liara remarked. "But we just can't seem to get them to work or activate."

"What do you think it is that's preventing this?" Mission asked with Liara showing that she was none the wiser.

"We do not know." Liara said. "Perhaps we can discover their lost secrets the more we dig."

Ahsoka and Mission only hummed in agreement as food was placed before them.

"Maybe we've just exhausted our areas here." Liara remarked, talking mostly to herself.

"So what're you gonna do?"

"I don't know." Liara said. "But our duty is to the Prothean excavation site. The Forerunner ruins come second."

Ahsoka hummed aloud in thought.

"What about the two of you?" Liara asked. "How has training been going under Master Plo Koon?"

"He's been ramping it up recently." Mission said with a puff of her cheeks, resting her chin against the table. "Told us he needed us ready."

"Ready? Whatever for?" Liara inquired, thrown off by such a statement.

"He wasn't really specific as to why." Ahsoka admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. "Just that he and Master Aayla are gonna be upping out training."

"And he was weirdly specific about it." Mission brought up, scrunching up her face in thought. "Something about us being ready in the next three years or something like that."

Liara couldn't help but freeze at the particular mention of the three years Vao just brought up for the training her two friends were to undergo.

"Wh-why did Master Plo say that time specifically?" Liara asked with her two friends shrugging in response.

Ahsoka and Mission both shrugged at the same time.

"Not sure but he did mention something about real challenges after those three years." Mission remarked.

"As if training wasn't challenging enough." Ahsoka said with puffed cheeks.

Liara glanced around for the briefest of moments, gauging to see if anyone was listening before she leaned forward.

"There's something I wish to tell the both of you." Liara said in a low voice, almost conspiratorial.

This of course caught her friends attention in an instant.

They seldom ever saw their friend behave in such a manner and whatever it was she wanted to say must be pretty serious.

"What is it?" Vao asked in intrigue.

"I am unsure if you are aware of this or not," Liara said, eyeing them both. "But there are some major developments occurring by the Council."

Ahsoka and Mission exchanged quizzical looks with one another.

"What does The Council have to do with this?" Ahsoka inquired.

Liara hesitated slightly before nodding to herself. "The Council is planning for an ambitious expedition within the next three years. An expedition into the unknown and unexplored regions of our galaxy. Within the next three years."

This got quite the reactions out of her two friends as their jaws dropped and eyes widened. Liara quickly tapped her fingers to her lips rapidly in order to remind them both to keep quiet about their incoming reactions.

"Are you serious?" Ahsoka whispered excitedly.

"Yes, and if I am to take a guess, Master Plo Koon is among those selected to go on this expedition." Liara said with a small smile.

"Goddess." Mission murmured. "So that's why Master Plo is ticking up our training, isn't it?"

"There is a likely chance." Liara agreed. "He is the Grand Master of the Biotics Academy on the Citadel and in Council Space. He was possibly among the first to be approached."

"But if he's been chosen, why train us up then?" Ahsoka inquired. "You don't think that…"

"He might be preparing you both." Liara surmised. "And taking you with him when the Expedition is officially announced."

"But why us?" both her friends asked at the same time.

Liara only smiled kindly at the two.

"I think it should be rather obvious." Liara said knowingly. "You are his prized pupils. The future of his academy and Biotics in general. Why wouldn't he take you?"

Ahsoka and Mission appeared quite bashful after hearing such praise until the latter's expression changed into that of curiosity.

"Say… Liara."

"Hmmm?"

"How do you know about this Expedition?"

"Oh." Liara flushed slightly at the question. "A majority of my team, during our excavation of the Prothean dig site was selected for the upcoming Expedition. They believed that since there is an assembled group of individuals familiar with excavating ruins and old technology, they may as well recruit the one's already on the job."

Ahsoka grinned at that. "Well, looks like you qualified by default cause of your talent."

Their Asari friend smiled kindly at hearing that while dipping her head down.

"Did…" Mission suddenly appeared hesitant. "Did you hear from your mother about any of this?"

Liara kept her head down as she shook it left and right.

"Haven't spoken to her in a while."

Ahsoka and Mission gazed upon their friend with sad expressions, both reaching out to grasp her hands.

Liara silently looked back up to them with a sad smile yet her eyes conveyed gratitude towards them both.

As the trio of friends conversed and ate with one another, within the chamber of the Council, they were ratifying and finalizing the long list of individuals that were to be involved within the Exploratory Expeditionary.

At the top of the list were the key individuals that they had listed down that would play major parts in leading the Expedition overall.

The Citadel Exploratory Expedition Leadership Council.

Nensel Jul The Duros Leader of the Expedition who is to coordinate the overall trajectory of their foray into the unexplored regions of the Galaxy.

Desolas Arterius, the Turian Military Commander of all Expeditionary Forces.

Hetchkee of the Kel-Dor armada was selected as the Naval Admiral with his partner Droyo Thaok of the Drell race as the Grand General.

For an Asari Matriarch, the venerable Ishara was selected to be the newly anointed Pathfinder of the Expedition Team. The title of Pathfinder meant she would be one of the leading figures in primarily meeting new species and either teaching them how to assimilate to the Citadels customs or learning of the cultures of the new species.

The Head/Director of Science was the influence mad Salarian genius of Lumont Hayjer.

And at last, the Captain of the Core Spire, the flagship of the Expeditionary force was the famed pilot and captain Pag'Hewu, a green skinned Twi'lek being a graduate of the Biotics Academy on the Citadel.

With this roster of some of the best of the best that represents the various Citadel Species, the Council had a growing sense of confidence and assurance as they at last finalized the Expeditionary Exploratory Force of the Citadel.

Whilst they knew others would join in their growing list of selected individuals, once this Expedition became public, there would be an influx of recruits and volunteers.

But for now, they were satisfied with what they have right now.

They would continue on with their daily lives, planning for the future and such, continuing to remain blissfully unaware as to the goings on within the unexplored regions of space from their perspective.

And speaking of which…

-UNSC Midway-

Admiral Preston Cole stood within the war room of the flagship of his fleet, the Punic-class Supercarrier Midway.

With him were several other high ranking Naval officers like his good friends Admiral Ackbar, Commander Raddus, Captain Grun Whell, and Captain James Cutter.

These five high rankings officers were gathered together after a brief but intense campaign over the colony world of Eden Prime.

Earlier in the month of August, Covenant scouts were spotted on the planet surface indicating a coming invasion.

This in turn led to the arrival of a sizable Covenant force which resulted in a heated ground engagement which ended up being a hard fought and bloody UNSC victory.

It was a welcomed victory after the devastating loss they had suffered on Alzoc III back in February of this year. The battle was two months long but all they had was 1 million casualties added to their growing list of losses.

This was a damnably hard war though that should come as an obvious expectation.

It's war after all.

Currently, they were discussing their next course of action primarily the trajectory of the Covenant and what they can do in countering their aggressive push across the outer colonies.

"We can only hold out for so long." Ackbar stated. "Too frequent of losses and not enough victories."

"Agreed." Raddus grumbled out. "Even with our victory on Eden Prime, we lost 40 percent of our forces."

"It's been primarily defensive." Cutter pointed out. "Every single engagement that has occurred was done on our turf. The Covenant always finds us."

Cole hummed aloud. "A telling sign that no matter how far we have come, there's still much we have to work on."

"Are there no means of finding them?" Raddus inquired. "We can't just allow them to keep stumbling upon one planet after another. Even when they lose, it really isn't that much of a setback if they are to simply move on and find another world."

Grun Whell let out several growls and barks which made the collective frown.

"True." Cutter murmured. "But that also exposes us to risk. Some of our best have deduced that any tech that's salvaged from the Covenant is traceable."

Grun continued on.

"It's only a working theory." Ackbar stated. "We won't know for sure for the foreseeable future."

"We don't have the luxury for relying on theories at this very moment." Cole said grimly. "They may come into play at a later time and date, hopefully sooner than later, but right now we need to consider more immediate actions."

The group continued discussing the matters of war, one of many across UNSC controlled space.

All the while, near the planet of Mars, ONI operatives with top scientists are studying a strange structure of unknown origin and design.

It is unlike anything they had seen before, at first comparing it to other ancient structures that had been uncovered scattered throughout the colonies.

But this one was distinctly different.

They just needed to figure out what it was.

And as many events were in motion at once, on the planet of Reach, a man of ambition gazed upon multiple video files that were captured and showed the escalating war across the stars.

In particular, he was reviewing the footage of specific individuals who were caught performing acts of strength, speed and superhuman feats across multiple battlefields.

The man sneered in contempt at the sight of them all.

He recognized her work.

Being someone who had multiple connections within ONI, James Ackerman was well aware as to what and who these armored beings were.

Being the liaison between ONI and the army allowed him such awareness of the more unethical aspects of ONI.

And that would be putting it mildly.

Ackerman had been well aware of the Spartan-II program for a number of years by this point, having heard some rather fascinating facts about them.

The man scoffed to himself,

These Spartan-II's were nothing more than prototypes to what will succeed them.

It may take another year or two, but Ackerman was completely confident in his work and that ONI will approve of it.

If they gave the approval of kidnapping children, then recruiting them, particularly those with nowhere to go, shouldn't cause that much of a stir either.

Alright, been a slight while but yeah, at last.

I meant to get this out way,  WAY  sooner but a litany of things got in my way.

For starters, new story I got with our comrade Jebest4781 called I'm Nobody which I want you guys to check out.

And second, I got a brand new job that's taking up a lot of my time right now and is limiting my writing process for the most part so I'll need a bit of time to readjust. Especially after the writing bender J and I went off for two months straight, getting 24 chapters out with 425K+ words in that amount of time.

After we decided to calm down and take a breather from our newest story, not gonna lie, coming back to this story and other works had made my brain go "Oh God, I forgot how to write this one".

So gonna need to just snap back into it really.

May take a bit of time but hopefully will get back into the groove of it. Spirit Unto Dawn is another story BSX and I will be returning to soon enough.

It's just that Bullet gave me a suggestion for a very short 8 to 10 chapter story that we will be getting to very soon which holds a great deal of importance once it's released so keep your eyes open for it.

On top of that, BSX had also concocted an idea wherein he, me and Jebest4781 will eventually get around to working on.

Lots of future projects and content in the works. All I ask for comrades is patience for good things come to those who wait.

Anywho, good to be back for the most part. Hope I can semi-update consistently with this one and my other stories and collaborations.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Sup ya'll, back with this one again, know it's been a while but hey, this one ain't abandoned.

Let's cut right to the chase.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 10: Innocence Lost

2528/2172

February 13th

"Admiral, the enemy ships are angling themselves towards our direction." a Human Lieutenant said from his post within the bridge of the lead ship of this UNSC fleet.

Standing before the window that allowed for this Admiral to look upon said enemy ships turning themselves in his fleet's direction. The Naval officer's eyes narrowed as he gauged at the oncoming force.

There were about thirty Covenant ships in total.

Five SDV-Class heavy Corvettes, Two Lucrehulk battleships, three CPV-Class heavy destroyers, upwards of eighteen CRS-Class light cruisers and leading the Covenant Fleet were two CAS-Class Assault Carriers.

Admiral Raddus of the UNSC had his work cut out for him.

This was a formidable Covenant fleet as they were facing off against one of the absolute strongest ships the Covenant had at their disposal.

For the past three years since the start of the war, the UNSC quickly learned how much of an advantage the Covenant had over them during naval engagements. Shielding, far more accurate slip-space capabilities and plasma that can tear through half their ships like a hot knife to butter.

However, whilst they had the distinction of overwhelming raw power, there were some key advantages that the UNSC held in regards to the Covenant.

First and foremost were the AI they had at their disposal which allowed for calculations and tactics to be made to the best possible decimal whenever they ran the numbers through their artificial heads. That and they can keep a majority of ship systems running which allows for the personnel of fleets to focus on the battle at hand without needing to fret over the functions of their ships.

Then they had their constantly upgraded Gauss and MAC Cannons that each ship is retrofitted with that can usually punch through an unshielded Covenant ship.

But above all else, one of the most defining features that the UNSC has that seemingly outclasses their Covenant counterparts were the UNSC's Starfighters.

Whilst the Covenant have a handful of ships that can be considered starfighters like their Banshees and Geonosian fighters, the UNSC has developed upwards of a dozen or so specified Starfighters with more in development.

Arc-Wings, A-wings, D-Wings, Pelicans, X-Wings, Y-Wings and the recently introduced V-19 Torrent Starfighters being the latest in the line of the UNSC Starfighter program: Alphabet Soup.

Many had tried calling it the W, or M or even V wing but for some reason, no name could stick so V-19 or Torrent Starfighter worked well enough.

Semantics aside, Raddus was going into this battle with upwards of nearly seven Hundred Starfighters to engage the Covenant forces.

The shipyards of Corellia, Kuat, Fondor, Anaxes, Mon Cala, Bestine IV, Bilbringi system, and Byss were working around the clock to produce as many starships and starfighters for the UNSC. Starfighters in particular had been getting a massive overhaul in numbers, ships being produced in the thousands on a weekly basis.

Granted, there were dozens of other planets that have large shipyards but the aforementioned eight were dedicated solely to the construction of starships and fighters.

So why this many starfighters?

Raddus looked over to his right and gazed upon the three UNSC Orion-Class Assault Carriers being surrounded by a dozen Stalwart-Class and MC30c Light Frigates.

He then turned to his left and gazed upon two more Orion-Class carriers and one Epoch-Class Heavy Carrier named Hammerborn.

Complementing the rest Raddus' fleet were several more other cruisers, mainly the MC80 Liberty Type Star Cruiser and the Marathon-Class Heavy Cruiser.

The rest of the fleet was made up of smaller destroyers and frigates and surrounding them and flying in between the large starship were the fully deployed starfighters ships all pointed directly at the Covenant fleet.

He had ordered that the fleet were to be segmented off into groups of twenty three attack packs and since he was the head of this fleet, he was the twenty fourth ship of attack group alpha.

Leading the UNSC Third Fleet aboard his Mon Cala flagship, the UNSC MC Profundity, it was a beautiful and sleek ship that emanated efficiency and strength.

A modified MC75 Star Cruiser that boasts a size of around 1.7 kilometers, this starship was one of the most powerful ships the Mon Cala had developed.

Holding three separate hangars, multiple railguns, gauss cannons, MK XV breakwater coil guns, a point defense missile system, Ion cannons and an experimental new type of Mac Cannon as its main weapon.

It was a dual 56A2F9 heavy Gauss Mac Cannon.

One of the strongest Mac's the UNSC had at its disposal aside from the ones found on the Punic class Supercarriers and Orbital Defense Platforms, these had been retrofitted to better fit into some of the smaller ships of the UNSC fleet.

And Raddus was ready to test just how effective this new MAC cannon was.

Running multiple scenarios in his head, he was well aware of the numerical advantage he currently held but he was no fool.

While he had enjoyed more victories against the Covenant in naval engagements than most in the UNSC, that didn't mean he was foolish enough to ignore his losses.

The Covenant held the power advantage for the most part and usually a size advantage as well.

The ratio in which ship to ship combat would be considered equal between both sides usually varied. But overall, the general ratio was either a 7:3 or 6:4.

And that was when the UNSC brought in some of their big guns like their supercarriers or the Viscount Cruiser.

"Attention all hands, you know your targets and you know the plan." Raddus spoke aloud, communicating to the entire fleet. "On my mark, engage the Covenant Fleet. All Squadrons Leaders report in."

"Admiral Raddus, this is Blue Leader Standing by."

"Shadow Leader standing by."

"Red Leader standing by."

"Green Leader standing by."

Several more squadron leaders all chimed in and all were accounted for.

Each starship had their engines and weapons all set and ready to their highest function.

The Profundity's AI, a Mon Cala wearing a regal outfit, spoke up.

"Everyone is accounted for, Admiral Raddus, waiting on your command."

Raddus steeled himself before nodding.

"Attack."

Instantly, all three battle groups charged forward onto the Covenant fleet.

Each starship unleashed a volley of gauss, Archer missiles, torpedoes and an assortment of other ordnance coupled with MAC and Railgun rounds.

Each battle group was assigned a number of designated Covenant ships to engage, one where each group were able to maximize everything they had that could overwhelm the shielding of the enemy ships.

What Raddus and many other tactically astute UNSC Naval officers had learned of is that while the Covenant had greater firepower on their side, the means in which they could dish out said firepower was rather limited.

Each Covenant ship has an effective range that covers multiple angles in which they can target the UNSC ships.

One might say they had all sides covered.

However, Gial Ackbar was the first to notice that the Covenant had some key distinct weak points in their ship designs. For starters, a majority of their underbelly had only turrets in terms of defense or rapid deployment of ships and highly concentrated plasma beams. However, that also meant a majority of the bottom portion of Covenant ships were greatly exposed to strafing runs by starfighters or direct assault from starships.

There was also the advent of their engines being relatively undefended. Easy pickings for Y-wing and D-wing bombings.

From the bridge of his ship, Raddus continued to observe the ensuing battle, watching as the five Orion-Class assault carriers and Lone Epoch heavy carrier converge on one of the two CAS Assault carriers.

Dozens of starfighters were firing all they had on this Assault carrier with small explosions going off on the ship with some being fighters that got shot down.

Raddus felt his ship shudder as the experimental Gauss MAC cannon was fired at a CPV-Destroyer. The round struck the broadside of the ship and tore through it.

A large purplish-red explosion was seen engulfing the destroyer before the ship itself was… destroyed.

Raddus nodded with a satisfied look, gazing over and feeling his lip curl in anger at the sight of two of his frigates being blown to pieces.

Yet the attack on the Covenant fleet held firm as the two frigates were quickly replaced by several others to fill in for the assault.

Raddus looked over that attack on the fleet and saw that thus far, seven of their ships had been destroyed.

However, the Covenant have already lost twelve with three more well on their way.

His divisional plan was working well enough.

As an Admiral and student of military history, growing up, Raddus was exposed to and educated on the great military leaders of all four species under the UNSC.

From the great Mon Cala Admiral Kroh Gudaal that innovated the Mon Cala naval tactics that allowed for rapid deployment to the Wookie chieftain Trror who led his tribe to establish the capital city of Kachirho of Kashyyyk.

But one military leader in particular stood out for him for his role in human military tactics that imitated and emulated to this very day.

A certain Second Lieutenant who rose to prominence around seven hundred years ago and fundamentally changed how humanity conducted their armies and his tactics are utilized, emulated and imitated to this very day.

Napoleon Bonaparte was truly a man ahead of his time and one of Raddus' personal favorites to read up on in his spare time.

His tactics of dividing up his army into separate corps was something he had always found ingenious and the versatility of how he dictated his men led to a slew of victories that are spoken to this day.

Raddus was utilizing his own variant in the division of an army in this very battle.

He knew that the Covenant ships outclassed him in power but the numbers and maneuverability would be their downfall.

When first being notified of this invading fleet, Raddus was quick to note their formation and how the CAS Carriers were leading from above and below the fleet.

A two pronged assault and defensive measure.

Impressive move to say the least.

But Raddus had seen this before.

Three years ago, in the opening stages of the war at the Battle of Alpha Corvi II.

So now, having familiarized himself with this formation, Raddus figured the focus on breaking down one Carrier and focusing on its flanks was the best means in which to take down this fleet.

*VRRRRRRRBOOOOOM*

And with the destruction of the sixteenth Covenant vessel, victory was well on its way.

Still, he had already lost eleven ships in this battle, one of them being an Orion Assault Carrier.

Regardless, the tide was in their favor.

"This is Admiral Raddus, press the attack." Raddus called out. "Blue, Green and shadow Squadrons, piercing swarm formation and target that Carriers engines."

"Copy Admiral." Came Blue Leaders' response. "All fighters on me."

Raddus watched as four dozen starfighters zoomed past his ship and made a beeline towards one of the heavily damaged CAS carriers.

The lead ship was an Arc-Wing with blue accents and gold trimmings on the edge, signifying Blue leader leading the charge.

The large collection of starfighters began angling either upwards or downwards, almost like it formed a web of sorts. The Starfighters went in a variety of directions yet each one was an intentional divergence as they all curved their flight path right towards the damaged areas of the carrier.

A slew of bullets, Ion torpedoes, missiles and Gauss powered shots barraged the carrier and moments later, the remaining UNSC carriers and heavy cruisers capitalized on the weakened state of the Covenant capital ship.

Multiple MAC rounds bombarded the CAS carrier from multiple sides, each projectile landing critical blows against the Covenant ship.

Moments later, a triple shot from an Orion Carrier, Marathon Cruiser and the Profundity decimated and eliminated the Carrier.

"Good shooting." A UNSC Captain aboard the Epoch Carrier boasted from his bridge.

"Keep up the attack." Raddus said. "Pincer formation now. Close in and hit them from all sides."

It was a cascade of explosions, Gauss and MAC rounds, ion torpedoes, archer missiles, Railgun shots and starfighter strafing that slowly whittled down the Covenant fleet. Several more UNSC ships perished in the attack but they pressed on, regardless of the losses.

This went on until at long last, the Profundity had the privilege of delivering the killing blow to the last ship that destroyed the Covenant fleet.

Raddus stepped back and sat into the center seat of the bridge and exhaled a long sigh of relief, grateful to see the battles end and to have been able to come out on top.

"Riptide." Raddus spoke up and in an instant, a small hologram of the Profundity's AI appeared.

"Yes Admiral Raddus?" Riptide said calmly.

"Losses." Raddus said slowly.

"We lost twenty two starships in total." The AI informed the Admiral who slumped slightly in his seat. "228 starfighters were also lost."

The Mon Cala Admiral slumped slightly in his seat as the scale of the loss weighed heavily upon Raddus' mind.

He had lost twenty two starships, some of which were cruisers and one assault carrier on top of a few hundred fighter pilots. Yes, the smaller and stronger force of the Covenant had been eradicated but at the loss of nearly a third of his own forces.

Still… they had won.

Decisively.

"Send word back to HIGHCOM." Raddus spoke aloud.

The battle for the XI Boötis A system was theirs.

May 19th

UNSC MC80 Command Cruiser Typhoon

A lone human male was currently seated at a small bench within a circular room within the Mon Calamari designed ship.

All around him were other humans, Wookies and Mon Cala each one fitted within similar armor save for a few key differences. Aside from the obvious variations to better suit the species, the armor was all relatively matching with only color markings and specific armor pieces in better distinguishing who belonged to what unit.

Aside from the matching armor sets, there was a consistent number plastered on some piece of the armor each soldier wore.

19th.

On this lone human's shoulder pad was where one could find this number.

The man had finished strapping in his armor and quickly grabbed his helmet with the yellow accent mark over it.

"Tarkov."

The young man turned to a Mon Cala tossing him his SMG which he caught out of the air and gave a nod of thanks to his comrade.

He grabbed some more ammo cartridges and placed them into his pack whilst going to join the rest of his Battalion.

Moments later, an announcement was heard over the intercoms of the ship.

"19th Battalion to your stations. Prepare for drop."

"You heard the Captain, move, move!" an older, dark skinned human shouted out and slipped on his helmet with many more doing the same as they began running towards the designated deployment bay.

Tarkov slid his helmet over his head with his helmet depolarized for the time being.

Entering into his designated room, a hundred other soldiers occupied this circular room with all of them entering into their drop pods.

Once all one hundred men and women were in their drop pods, the hatches all closed on them and a depressurizing sound was heard. The room then jolted and the soldiers felt the entire area shift about whilst the pods jostled about.

From Tarkov's perspective, he watched as the other pods were slowly roasted downward and they were soon greeted to the sight of a Naval engagement between a dozen UNSC ships and three Covenant Destroyers.

Down below was the planet that was currently contested between the two factions: the planet of Hat Yai.

Tarkov's eyes wandered over to the Typhoon he was being deployed from, watching as the bulbous "bumps" from the ship detached itself and flew over to specific areas for the deployment of the rest of the 19th Battalion.

It was one the ingenious designs of ships made by the Mon Calamari that had been implemented into all ships of the UNSC in one way shape or form.

When the Wookiees and Humanity had first met the Mon Cala, many commented on the strange bulbous lumps and bumps on their ships that seemed to decorate practically all of them. Some assumed it to be a design choice of some kind due to the aquatic nature of the Mon Cala and how their species evolved from the seas.

It wasn't until later did they learn that these lumps and bumps were actually areas that can be made into crew quarters, maintenance facilities and even act as detachable escape/transport/life pods.

Since joining the UNSC, this design has been slowly implemented into other UNSC ships where they too had this feature of detachable ship pods for ground deployments of escape pods. They can even fly themselves over to other UNSC ships and attach themselves to the vessel to compliment the crew or serve as a means of a boarding/raiding party against Covenant ships.

But one of the most ingenious new methods that were implemented into the UNSC navy was the use of the detachable pods during Orbital Drop Shock trooper deployment.

Whilst the starships would engage themselves against the Covenant fleets, these separate pieces would detach themselves and position themselves over strategic locations for ODST deployment. Rather than being reigned down to one specific location from one ship, they can now be sent out in waves or into scattered areas for more mobile units and an assortment of other uses.

Such as now.

Tarkov gazed forward where he saw dozens upon dozens of more pods from multiple other ships be positioned over Hat Yai, each containing at least a hundred or more ODST's.

The ODST's were considered amongst the most elite of the UNSC, composed of some of the very best humans and Wookiees with the occasional Mon Cala being amongst them.

They were known as the most tenacious, vicious, craziest and suicidal soldiers in the UNSC and the absolute best.

And they were about to test their mettle against the Covenant in full.

There had been other engagements against the Covenant before in these past few years but this was to be the first ground engagement wherein it was solely made of ODST's.

Upwards of nearly seven thousand ODST's were to be sent down to the planet of Hat Yai and take out a designated area controlled by the Covenant.

Their target?

A Covenant base that served as a staging ground for the invaders who intended on wiping out the planet's population.

The UNSC will not let that happen.

Tarkov watched as the first set of ODST's were launched and that was all the incentive needed as the hovering capsules containing the suicidal soldiers began sending them down to the planet below. The young ODST tightened up and waited for the beeping in his pod to subside before he too was set hurtling towards the planet's surface.

On his way down, he watched as starfighters were engaged in intense dogfighting with one another, a small feeling of satisfaction at watching the UNSC beat back the Covenants fighters.

As he drew closer to the Hat Yai's surface, Tarkov momentarily closed his eyes and readied himself for what essentially be his very first battle.

In an instant, he felt as though he were back in basic training with the rest of his squad.

His drill instructor screaming at him in Hungarian to drop and give him as many as he could until he dropped. Crawling through thick mud whilst live rounds were being shot at him.

Practicing a multitude of mock jumps to accustom his body to the intense pressure of landing.

He pictured himself atop one of the many walls he had jumped from and just before he hit the training ground, Tarkov opened his eyes at the last second just as his drop pods crashed into Hat Yai's surface.

His helmet became polarized and the hatch door burst open with him immediately running out to fire his weapon.

It was complete and utter chaos all around him as explosions, plasma fire and gunfire were going off in every direction.

He was around his squad, that much he was certain of.

"MOVE UP THE MIDDLE!"

Tarkov began sprinting, firing his SMG at several Grunts and Jackals, running by two ODST's pulling their injured comrade away into cover.

Starfighters zipped past above them to engage the Covenant forces up ahead that would only serve to slow them down.

He was breathing heavily but Tarkov pressed on.

A Wookiee next to him got a plasma grenade stuck to him and it dived down into a crater to make sure the explosion wouldn't get any other ODST.

Tarkov kept running, slightly behind a dozen other ODST's ahead of him when he was promptly smacked aside by a large muscular arm.

He flew through the air and landed on his back with his helmet flying off of him.

The panicked soldier looked up to see an armored Brute standing over him, roaring down as it stomped forward with the intention of finishing the ODST off.

Tarkov didn't miss a beat as he grabbed his SMG and began firing not at the Brute, but at what was flying down towards it.

The Brute roared once more and was about to kill him when an explosion of a Banshee behind it sent a large chunk right at the Brute's back.

It fell down to the ground in an instant and lay there, unmoving and dead.

Tarkov exhaled heavily, feeling pain on his face as he had received two large gashes.

One on his right cheek below his eye and one below his lip.

A moment later, a Mon Cala ran by him and reached out his hand for him to grab which he accepted and quickly placed his helmet back on and ran forward.

There was still a mission to complete.

Slamming in a full clip into his SMG, Tarkov sprinted forward, multiple ODST's by his side as they all made a beeline for the Covenant base that they needed to destroy.

Explosions went off around him yet he pressed on, momentarily going into a melee engagement as he pulled out his knife and jammed it through the head of a grunt.

He pulled his knife as he kept running, shouts and gunfire heard all around him.

"Target sighted!" Shouted one of the ODST's at the head.

"No shit!"

"Just get the damn charges ready."

Tarkov ran forward, gunning down several more Grunts and some Jackals as well.

Off in the corner of his eyes, he saw two Wookiees with a Mon Cala tackling a Brute down with a human jumping over them and jamming a grenade into the bestial aliens mouth.

A feeling of vicious satisfaction washed over him momentarily on seeing such gruesome actions but he quickly squashed that feeling and pressed onward.

Jumping over a Brute corpse, Tarkov joined a large contingent of ODST's who were making a dash for the base. As they ran forward, a quick run of Y-wing bombers flew past them and unloaded their payload that softened up the defenses of the base.

One flank in particular got devastated with many of the Covenant stationed there being engulfed in flames and shrapnel.

A Wookiee was roaring aloud, making a few gestures in that direction.

"We have our window right here! Go, go, go!"

It was practically a bull rush of ODST's, running and gunning at everything in their path as they began swarming the base.

Losses began to mount upon this rush yet those that remained alive just pressed on.

Tarkov was with his unit, having discarded his SMG by this point and got his hands on a DMR.

He was in the middle of reloading when he, like all the other ODST's, got the notification to begin evacuating the area.

And like that, it was a scramble to get as far away from the Covenant base as possible. Everyone was simply running away from the remaining Covenant forces, dropping grenades in their wake to disorient and slow down the enemy until they got clear of the base.

Tarkov was breathing heavily when once again, he felt the wind get knocked out of him.

Only this time he was sent flying far further than before and he landed hard on the ground. Grunting to himself, Tarkov forced himself up to his feet and looked behind him to see the Covenant base was now nothing more than a smoldering pile of rubble. Bodies littered the area now with many of the ODST's now cheering and roaring in victory.

Tarkov simply removed his helmet, gazing out at the destroyed Covenant base.

All around him were ODST's celebrating while he just sagged where he stood and closed his eyes to catch his breath.

When Tarkov opened them once more, it was dark out now with a few large bonfires being set up around the remaining ODST's that survived today's battle.

He stood with the surviving four thousand as they all gazed out at the fallen three thousand brothers and sisters that had been buried here on this battlefield.

Every mound either had the entire helmet or a piece of the armor worn by the fallen that was buried beneath the memento that represented those that had perished in the battle.

The surviving ODST's simply stood there in silence, helmets off and eyes upon the thousands of graves.

The UNSC had successfully repelled the Covenant forces.

But as it always was in a war, at great cost.

Regardless, the day was theirs. The battle was theirs.

Now they prayed and hoped that the war would be theirs in the end.

-Undisclosed date 2528/2172-

-Undisclosed location-

-UNSC outer colony-

The colony world was relatively small for the most part.

The key defining feature of it was the jungles scattered across its surface with a mountain range here and there.

On the planet's surface, deep within one of its many jungles was a single UNSC base or more so that it was a base that belonged to the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Within said base, in one of the many rooms it contained sat a middle aged man overlooking a series of files that had far more blank ink then the usual restrictive documents.

Then again, working for ONI means by default, every single file has blank ink.

Luckily enough, this particular individual had enough clearance where he was able to have full access to the secrets beholden to the files he possessed.

The man was reading over the contents, snorting derisively upon flipping over to the picture of a young woman around his age, if not slightly younger.

While he disregarded who she was overall, he was hard pressed to deny the intrigue he held towards the work she has done in these last few years.

The Spartan program had been a dazzling success overall but when one looks at their numbers…

It just wasn't enough to sustain the moment the UNSC had against the Covenant even after decisive victories.

That's how it had been these past three years. Trading victories and defeats back and forth in nearly every engagement the UNSC had with the Covenant.

The Spartan-II's couldn't even claim to have been able to beat the Covenant at every turn.

That sole privilege went directly to one Admiral Cole who had never lost a single battle against the Covenant. Shocking but ultimately a strong sense of pride one can get from Cole as a lone human with no exceptional physical augmentations or training being able to hold the distinguishable achievement of being undefeated in this war.

For now at least.

But right now, Colonel James Ackerson wasn't here to think on the matter of Admirals and ships.

He had gotten these files on what has been officially dubbed the Spartan-II program and was mulling over them for a number of days now.

Ackerson begrudgingly admitted that these Spartan-II's were fucking impressive to say the least.

The feats and accomplishments they have been able to pull off has been nothing short of astounding and miraculous.

But there is just not enough of them.

Fifty five augmented soldiers are not enough to turn the tide of a war.

If they are to survive and win this war, the UNSC will need to pull out all the stops from all their branches.

The Navy, the Marines, the Army, air force, starships, starfighters, guns, tanks, everything was needed to go above and beyond in order for them to win the war.

And the Spartans will undoubtedly play a key role in keeping the Covenant back and eventually drive them back.

So more are goin to be needed.

"Yovel." Ackerson spoke up and instantly, a Mon Calamari AI appeared on the Colonel's desk. It was garbed in clothes reminiscent of a Queens guard from Earth's old country of Great Britain though more in line with the Mon Cala appearance, if that makes sense.

Who knew fashion sense with other aliens would be so similar.

"Yes Colonel?" The Mon Cala AI asked.

"Record everything here and forward it all to ONI high command." Ackerson ordered, getting up out of his seat and making for the exit. "And prep my ship for departure."

"Yes sir."

2529/2173

The war goes well into its fourth year, escalation on multiple fronts.

UNSC suffers further losses with the loss of three human colonies, two Mon Cala, two Wookiees and one joint colony world.

Spartan-II Grey Team, deep in deployment behind enemy lines sends word back of a Covenant system of what appears to be shipyards close to several UNSC controlled systems. Two planets in particular dedicated to the construction of warships.

Catching wind of this, ONI sends in a Prowler to deliver several nuclear ordnance bombs in the form of NOVA bombs.

Grey Team deploys the NOVA bombs on the shipyard planets and several of the other occupied worlds and completely annihilate the Covenant presence within the system, rendering a strategic victory for the UNSC.

No casualties on their side and the first set of planets that they destroyed that belonged to the Covenant.

The Covenant hierarchy are in an uproar but must refrain themselves momentarily to regroup from such a crushing and sudden defeat.

UNSC preps for immediate counter attacks from the Covenant in light of such stunning victories.

June 1st

Reach

The recently promoted Admiral Dodonna stood within a large hangar bay on an elevated platform in a crisp military uniform, overseeing the construction of a Valiant-class super heavy cruiser.

This was the one of ten brand new heavy cruisers to be commissioned on the planet of Reach and that was just on this planet.

The UNSC colonies based solely around ship building were in a state of constant overtime with new hires being brought in almost daily since the start of this war.

By this point, they were completely and utterly mobilized.

Conscripts and volunteers had skyrocketed across various systems. Any and all who turned of legal age signed up for the UNSC almost as soon as they were able to.

Production of armor, tanks, warthogs and their variants, ships, guns, equipment, everything was being made at a near constant by this point.

Total war essentially though not really a surprise.

A conglomerate of aliens wish to wipe out the UNSC off the face of the galaxy.

So really it was an all hands on deck for the four species that made up this intergalactic community.

The lone Admiral stood there, watching over the construction when-

"Donnie!"

Jan rolled his eyes good naturedly, a small smirk forming as he turned to see a familiar friend of his sprinting up the steps and running towards him.

He was clearly excited and eager to see him.

And to Dodonna it meant that his old friend was here to see him with an idea in mind.

"Alright Remmy, what crazy new ship idea is it this time?" The Admiral asked straight away, making Rem Mirro falter in his step.

"Ah come on Donnie, why can't you think I'm here to say hi?" The eccentric Mon Calamari whined aloud.

"Because I've known you enough that when you come running, you got somethin' to show me."

Rem simply groaned aloud dramatically, arching his entire back with his arms dangling behind him.

Dodonna openly laughed, shaking his head at his close friends antics.

Mirro snapped back into a normal posture and held out a datapad.

"Well since there's no point in dragging it out, might as well show ya my new ideas." Rem spoke drably, eliciting more laughter out of his human friend. "Come on, Donnie, at least let me surprise you. Or you can pretend to at least."

"Yeah, yeah." Dodonna said in joking dismissiveness, patting Rem's shoulder whilst taking the datapad out of his hands.

Holding up the datapad to look over, Jan found himself blinking in surprise at Rem's latest project.

"What happened to alphabet soup?" Dodonna asked.

"Ah, right." Rem swiped his hand across the datapad to display the litany of future starfighters he was already developing before going back to the first screen. "Still workin' on them but got a couple of grander projects in mind."

"Clearly." Dodonna murmured, an impressed look coming over his face. "When'd you whip this up?"

"Two years ago." Rem said straight away. "Soon as the war began, I started thinking of other ships to design that could better counter the Covenants' own. When it comes to naval engagements, other than our cruisers and carriers, the only ships that really have done consistent damage are our fighters."

"So you're making more for more specialized roles." Dodonna remarked, getting Rem to nod.

"But we can also use more variety for our starships as well." Mirro said, now beginning to bounce slightly on the spot. "Especially if we can crank out a few new carriers to help in that department."

Jan hummed aloud, frowning slightly in thought.

"I don't know Rem." Dodonna said, making a face of uncertainty. "Seems like a bit of a tall order. I get the point of it but-"

"I understand your reservations." Rem said placatingly. "But when have I ever let you down?"

"Three times." Jan said flatly. "You-"

"Donnie~" Rem sounded like a petulant child. "I meant-"

The Mon Cala was cut off by Dodonna chuckling loudly, shaking his head with mirthful amusement.

"You're never going to let me live those days down, are you?" Rem pouted, arms crossed in a huff.

"No, it's too funny to let go." Jan admitted freely, looking back down at the datapad. "So these carriers… you think they'll help us out?"

"Every ship does in the end but confident in these." Rem assured him. "Already have the two shipyard colonies in mind. Kuat and Anaxes ideal locations due to shipyard rings specializing in larger starships."

"Was about to suggest those actually." Dodonna muttered. "So how do you want the presentation to go this time?"

Rem opened his mouth to answer when Jan jabbed a slight finger at him.

"No confetti."

The eccentric ship designer immediately deflated.

"Ah come on, Donnie."

"No. That's final." Jan said, walking away with his friend following after him. "Streamers is the best I can promise."

"UGH~" Rem bemoaned aloud. "Fine. I'll work with what I can get."

2530/2174 CE

January 9th

Eridanus II has fallen.

Glassed beyond repair with a majority of its population dead and buried beneath the glassy surface.

Within a cargo transport filled with fleeing civilians stood a lone boy who was no older than six staring out at the burning planet.

His gaze was blank and appearance was smudged and dirty. There were no tears, no signs of distress, nothing that revealed just what was going through the boy's mind.

To the untrained eye, one would be unable to discern nothing from this boy's frozen posture other than shock.

However, for one who possesses a keen eye, it was easy to deduce a sense of underlying rage that was festering within the young boy.

His eyes were laser focused and within his hands was the broken handle of what was a knife which was gripped tightly to the point that blood had been drawn. The boy's hand was shaking with barely restrained fury, not moving from where he stood as he watched his homeworld burn.

Within the recesses of his mind, he promised nothing but unadulterated vengeance against the Covenant. They would all die by his hand in one way shape or form.

If not all then as many as he would be able to get his hands on.

He swore it on the planet burning before him.

On the parents he lost.

On the brother who sacrificed his life to save his own.

The Covenant will pay!

February 3rd

*BOOOM*

"Keep your heads down kids!"

A young girl with jet black hair and porcelain skin clenched her eyes tightly as she held her younger sister close to her while the world blew up around her.

"Janet!" The older man who was with them waved rapidly. "Janet over here!"

The young girl with black hair looked up in time to see the woman whom she regarded as an aunt running towards them.

"Oh thank God." The man said, pulling her in for a tight hug. Pulling away, an alarmed expression replaced his relieved one.

"Wait, where's Carter?" The man asked in alarm.

"Reggie, he went back to find Wanda." Janet said in a near hyperventilating manner. "He ran back to Miri and Ori's home."

"He did what?!" The man shouted. "What is wrong with that boy?!"

"Reggie, we can't leave him."

"Obviously not." Reggie grunted. "Take the girls and get to safety. I'll get Wanda and Carter."

"But-"

Reggie didn't wait for a response as he deftly lifted up both girls and placed them in Janet's hands.

"Get to the evacuation point."

"Reggie-"

"Now!" Reggie shouted at her and sprinted away.

"Is mommy ok?"

Janet looked down at the two girls in her arms who were gaze up at her with terrified streaks of tears running down their faces.

She quickly gave them both a reassuring kiss on their foreheads and hugged them closely before turning to run.

"They'll be fine girls." Janet whispered. "They'll be fine."

Miranda only looked up at her auntie, fresh new tears streaming down her face as she clutched both the older woman and her little sister Oriana as tightly as she was able to.

However, as Janet was running, she was stopped when one of the monsters that were attacking jumped in front of her.

It was a large, apelike creature who looked down on the three humans with a malicious snarl that morphed into a hungry-like grin.

"I was just getting hungry." The large alien growled, drool dripping out of his mouth.

Janet's eyes widened, stepping back in horror.

The alien took a few steps towards her and in an instant, Janet spun about and ran from the beast whilst holding onto the girls as tightly as she could.

The creature only roared gleefully as he bounded towards them and caught up in a matter of seconds.

Janet screamed aloud as she was grabbed by the large brute and hoisted up in the air. Both girls fell to the ground and scrambled up to their feet.

They watched in abject horror at seeing their aunt struggle in the grip of this evil creature.

"You'll make for a perfect snack." The alien growled, inhaling the scent of the terrified human in his grasp.

"Not the children." Janet choked out. "Not the children."

The alien laughed, a vile sneer in place. "The children are just morsels that I can swallow in one gulp."

Janet simply began kicking at the creature's body to no avail which only served to make the alien chuckle at her futility.

"I like it when they fight." the alien said, saliva dripping out of his mouth. "Makes the flav-GACK!"

Janet found herself on the ground and the two young girls were staring up at the alien that something sharp protruding through its temple.

The two sisters couldn't quite see what it was that had stabbed the large alien from their angle but their aunt could.

A moment later, the sharp object was pulled out from the head and the alien fell to the ground to reveal the tallest human the three of them had ever seen in brownish green armor.

It towered over them all while flicking the knife it held to get the blood off.

The girls noted the gold visor it wore and a number on its chest plate.

095.

The large human raised two fingers to the side of its head and spoke in a male voice. "This is 095. Three survivors. What's your status 028? 081?"

While the three girls couldn't hear any response, the nodding of the tall man's head indicated that he was responding to whomever it was he was speaking with.

"Are there any more of you around?" 095 inquired, looking between them.

"Mommy." Miranda blurted out without hesitating.

"My son and husband." Janet croaked out, massaging her throat.

"Where are they?" 095 asked, grabbing the magnetically attached rifle he had from his back.

Janet managed to find the strength to stand and walked over to the two girls and wrapped her arms around them both.

"They're back that way." Janet's voice was strained as she spoke, still feeling the effects of that Brutes hand around her neck.

095's helmet tilted up to look past him and as he did, two more armored figures jumped down from above and landed behind him.

On their chest plates were the numbers 005 and 084.

095 nodded at them both with the two newcomers nodding back and then looked at the three girls.

"These three here and three others in that direction." 095 said.

"We'll take care of them." 084 said. "Get these civilians to the transport and off this planet. 028 and 081 are waiting for you there."

"Copy that." 095 nodded, looking back to the trio. "Come on, we're getting you out of here."

Miranda however wasn't so keen on leaving. "But what about-"

"We'll bring them back, kid." 084 assured, moving past them with 005.

Miranda looked between the two retreating giants and back to the one who saved her life who came up to her younger sister and easily picked her up.

"Can you walk?" 095 asked her aunt Janet who nodded and picked Oriana up. "Then let's move."

They broke into a jog or really, Janet was running whilst 095 appeared to be jogging and all around them, pandemonium continued to reign.

Miranda heard screams over laced with starfighters zipping by them from above and gunfire and explosions going off on all sides.

The young girl kept asking herself why this was happening, why were these aliens attacking her home and just who they even are.

She then thought back to her mother, her Uncle Reggie and…

Around her neck was a small locket which she held in her hand as she looked up to see X-wings and A-wings zip by with large transports following after them.

Yet as they drew closer, 095 lurched forward from being struck on his shoulder by glowing shots from behind.

"Miranda!" Janet screeched out in horror, running over to them.

095 instantly whipped around with his rifle in hand and proceeded to gun down an alien creature that appeared to have four jaws.

Yet as soon as that sole enemy died, several more took his place.

Without missing a beat, 095 handed Miranda over to Janet and reloaded his weapon.

"Your ticket off Biko is ahead." 095 said aloud. "I'll hold them off. Go now!"

Not waiting for a response, the tall, armored human dashed forward at inhuman speeds towards the alien invaders.

Janet merely stared in wide eyed astonishment before shaking her head and turned to run.

She ran a few feet when her eyes went wide, mouth open in a silent scream as she felt a searing pain on her side. A second later, she fell with Miranda and Oriana rolling onto the ground.

The oldest of the two sisters was the first to recover and saw her aunt lying on the ground, clutching the side of her stomach.

"Auntie!" Miranda cried out, rushing over to her with Oriana crying at the sight, running over to them both.

Janet struggled to look up, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes.

"Girls." She was barely able to speak. "Run. Please run."

Miranda shook her head rapidly. "No, no, no, no-"

She was cut off by her younger sister screaming and Miranda looked up to see one of those four jawed aliens standing over them with some sort of dual pronged glowing sword.

It raised its arm up, ready to kill them all when it was grabbed by someone from behind and was lifted up above the head of none other than 095.

The tall human let out a small grunt as he then smashed the head of the alien down to the ground with all his might.

Yet as soon as he had finished killing this one alien, two glowing blades burst out from behind 095.

"CALEB!"

Miranda turned her head to see two more armored humans sprinting at them at speeds she couldn't properly perceive. The one with the number 028 jumped and performed a drop kick that sent the alien that stabbed the tall human flying back.

081 tossed a grenade at the alien and it promptly blew up a second later.

"The civilians." the now identified Caleb spoke, getting one of his arms around 028's shoulders. "Get.. them… to safety."

"Don't talk right now, Caleb." 081 said, voice giving away that it was a woman. "Just breathe. We'll get you out of here."

028 gently lifted Janet up in her arms bridal style and looked to the two young sisters and got down onto her knees.

"Think you two can hold on from up here?" 028 asked in a kind voice, gesturing with her head to her broad shoulders.

Miranda wasn't sure of this but Janet managed to reach out to grasp the young girl's hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"Come on Ori." Miri said quietly, helping her little sister up first and then slightly struggling herself when 081 helped pick her up and plop her down on 028's broad shoulder.

"Let's move." 081 said, the odd group moving towards the evacuation transports waiting for them.

-Scene Cut-

Miranda Lawson sat in the small seat next to her Auntie Janet who was in a medical bed, fast asleep. Next to Miranda and on her to a degree was her sleeping sister Oriana.

The three girls had been evacuated off the burning planet of Biko and had been confined to a medical wing within an Epoch Carrier for the past several days.

They actually didn't know how much time had exactly passed but just that it had gone by.

It had just been the three of them. Miranda and Oriana completely refused to leave Auntie Janet's side and in the moments the older woman was awake, pleaded to medical personnel to keep the girls close.

Miranda blinked, feeling Oriana shift a bit and move slightly enough for her to free her legs.

Blood began flowing through them and the older sister hopped down from her seat and walked over to a nearby window. Currently, the ship that they were on was orbiting a planet with two large artificial rings with multiple ships under construction.

She momentarily recalled in passing conversation from the doctors about them going to a shipyard called cute ate or something like that.

Miranda didn't have time to dwell on it any further as the door to their room opened up.

In walked their Kaminoan doctor who had been watching over Janet's recovery and behind her was-

"Uncle Reggie!" Miranda ran at full speed towards the man who simply fell to her knees and opened up his arms for her to jump into.

Oriana jolted awake, sitting up and rubbing her eyes and moments later, she too registered the man who had entered their room.

"Uncle!" Oriana leapt out of the chair and ran over to join her sister in hugging Reggie who instantly welcomed her.

"Thank God." Reggie muttered. "Thank God you're all ok."

Both sisters held onto Reggie for dear life as they had tears of joy streaming down their faces.

"Where's mommy?" Oriana asked a moment later and Reggie froze.

Miranda also noticed someone else wasn't with him. "Where's Carter?"

Reggie slumped, arms loosening around the two girls as his head dipped down low. Wordlessly, he scooped them back up again and placed them back onto the chair they had been sitting on prior to his arrival.

He gave them both a strained and tired smile, matching his somewhat disheveled appearance now that they got a proper look at him.

Reggie then turned to the bed within the room and exhaled shakily.

"Janet." Reggie whispered, hand trembling as he placed it gently upon his wife's cheek.

She did not stir but her calm breathing was enough to assuage some of his concerns.

"I'm sorry, Miranda. Oriana." Reggie's voice trembled. "Your mother… didn't make it… and Carter… is gone too."

"Gone?" Oriana spoke up in confusion.

Reggie's eyes closed tightly with his fists clenching tightly.

"They're gone, Oriana." Reggie's voice barely came out of a whisper. He then turned to them with a forlorn look in his eyes. He crouched down to their eye level and placed his hands atop their heads.

"Your Aunt Janet and I… we'll look out for the both of you." Reggie said with complete sincerity. "We promise."

"But what about daddy?" Oriana couldn't help but ask with their "uncle" flinching and nearly snarling at the mention of their biological father.

"Your father," Reggie spat out viciously. "Has long since shown how much he "cares" for his two daughters a long time ago."

Oriana flinched at the man's tone.

Yet Miranda…

Her face was impassive and rather cold.

This was nothing new to her.

Though she was only ten years old, Miranda had always stood out amongst the kids of her age from displaying a level of basic and emotional intelligence to being a bit more athletic than most. She always felt like an outlier, having very few friends at the school she went to.

There was only one person she had always felt close to as he was the only one that not only kept up with her, but many times excelled against her.

Carter was someone whom she was with from the moment she could remember and saw him every day.

Aside from Oriana, her mother and Aunt and Uncle, she loved Carter more than anyone else.

And…

He is gone now.

A moment later, the ten year old calm face broke as fresh tears began pouring down her cheeks.

Reggie turned to the girl and simply pulled her in for a hug which she reciprocated with Oriana joining in a moment later.

Silently, Reggie vowed to look out for them both until his dying breath.

Memories flashed of seeing Wanda perish by the hands of one of those Brutes that were attacking Biko and his burning house collapsing before him with his son on the other side.

Those memories only made Reggie hold the two girls who were his nieces (daughters by this point) even tighter than before.

He won't lose them.

Never again.

Reach, Highland Mountains.

April 2nd

A lone Spartan-II stood on the edge of a nearby cliff and inhaled the fresh air of the mountainside before exhaling in a satisfied manner.

It was good to be back on Reach.

To every Spartan-II, Reach was their home. This is where they trained from sunup to sundown, honing their skills like a fine-tuned blade until it was sharpened to the point that it was able to cut through just about anything.

They had only been back here sparingly for only the briefest of times before immediately being sent out on another mission, another deployment, another campaign.

This was the first time in a long while since a Spartan-II had been able to be here for longer than three days.

He had been here a week now and it was greatly refreshing for him to just be home.

"Jorge."

The Spartan turned around to see Sam-034 coming up to him with an expectant look.

"Come on big guy, you can watch the sunset later." Sam remarked. "Lasts an hour anyways."

052 let out a small 'hmph' of amusement before following after the slightly taller Spartan.

Walking into a building, Jorge and Sam were greeted to the sight of a large number of Spartan-II's.

It was practically all of them save for a literal small handful who had been deployed behind enemy lines.

While some would perceive their lack of movement as a lack of excitement, for the Spartan-II's, they might as well be screaming with excitement and joy in being all reunited like this.

There were silent gestures conveying messages that only they would know of and were speaking in low voices to one another.

Overall, there was a buzz of energy shared between the Spartans that was palpable to say the least.

They had all been gathered at the Military Wilderness Training Preserve, one of the main areas that the Spartan-II's underwent their years of training.

So there was a wave of nostalgia washing over them all until-

"Spartans."

In an instant, all forty eight of the gathered Spartan-II's snapped to attention at the arrival of none other than Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez.

There was an underlying sense of… was it joy? Or Happiness?

Whatever it was, the sight of the man who directly trained the Spartan-II's made them stand up far more straighter than usual with their heads held high. Mendez' lip upturned slightly for a brief moment before returning to his usual stoic visage. Yet to the trained eye it was easy to spot the glimmer of pride and fondness he held at the sight of the Spartan-II's.

"At ease Spartans." Mendez said after a moment. "It's good to see you all assembled here today. I understand that Grey and Black Teams are on deployment, but still, forty eight of you being here is more than enough."

"Sir, permission to speak, sir?" John-117 spoke up with Mendez nodding at him. "What is the purpose of gathering all of us here?"

"You have all been brought here today for a rather momentous occasion of sorts." Mendez said, beginning to pace in front of the group. "Spartans, as you are well aware, the Covenant have us outgunned and outmanned three to one in this war. We may have gotten substantial victories but nearly several dozen worlds have already been claimed with only a handful being heavily disputed for."

The super soldiers all tensed up at this, hands curling up tightly. Most managed to hold back glares and flinched of anger save for some of their more abrasive brethren.

They have all seen the atrocities the Covenant have committed against the citizens of the UNSC, countless humans, Wookiees, Mon Cala and Kaminoans being killed by their hands. It only drove them further and further to kill as many Covenant as possible.

Mendez went on, rather in tune with the internal turmoil of his Spartans.

"You have all performed beyond our expectations and because of that, many owe their lives to all of you." Mendez stated, a hint of pride emanating in his voice. "However, the harsh truth of the matter is… that there aren't enough of all of you to turn the tide."

There was a sense of frustration on their end as they hadn't really considered that but when it came from someone like Mendez…

"Which is why we shall be undertaking a brand new initiative." Mendez announced, turning to the doorway closest to him.

A moment later, it opened up to reveal a man that appeared a decade or so older then Mendez in a UNSC uniform with two Wookiees, a single Mon Cala and the familiar sight of Tuan We, the Kaminoan doctor many amongst the Spartans regarded as an aunt. This new group approached the larger one and stood in front of them all.

"Spartans." Mendez said. "Colonel James Ackerson. These are Captains Fofforay and Woosara. Commander Gando and you all already know Tuan We."

The Spartans all saluted in perfect synchronization with Ackerson gesturing his hand down.

"At ease." the man said coolly, eyeing the super humans that stood before him.

He was silent for a few more seconds until-

"Spartans." Ackerson said, slowly walking down the line of Super Soldiers. "It has come to my attention that we are severely lacking in numbers in terms of your kind of soldier. Effective and powerful as you all are, fifty five is too small a number to turn the tide of the war in our favor."

The Spartans stood silently and diligently as the Colonel went on.

"But I had recently proposed a new program that will help… supplement this conundrum we face."

Behind Ackerson, the large blank screen lit up to show multiple images of different sets of armor similar to Mjolnir, X-ray scans of clearly augmented individuals and multiple rows of numbers.

"The Spartan-III program." Ackerson announced.

In an instant, difficult to discern as it may be, the Spartan-II's felt a measure of excitement reverberate between them all.

More Spartans.

The UNSC were at long last going to create more Spartans.

Though it had never been discussed or brought up, some of them had always figured that after them would come more Spartans. It only seemed like the natural course of action in the grand scheme of things.

They were trained to be the absolute best of the best in the UNSC and having more of them would undoubtedly strengthen the alliance of species that made up this government.

And with the advent of the Covenant war, this was something they had even openly discussed in private between each other whenever they had the chance.

How different could a battle had gone if they had more Spartans on the field.

In a number of engagements, at most, there would be fielded one or two entire Spartans squads with earlier this year on Biko being the first deployment where there were eleven of them on the field.

But now it was going to happen without question.

Ackerson went on.

"The Spartan-III program is both your successors and supplements. They will aid you and in time, become your brothers and sisters in arms." the Colonel said in a bit of a grandiose fashion. "All of you will contribute to this program. You will all directly train the recruits and help mold them to be just like all of you. I understand that the war takes precedent but so does this. Rather than having you all being cryo-frozen and woken up when it's convenient for us, you will now be in a state of rotation, being out on the battlefield whilst also training the next generation of Spartans. We have received devastating losses whilst also being able to inflict heavy casualties on the Covenants side. Imagine how much different the circumstances could be if we say had a hundred Spartans in one battle? Or even a thousand? Would they stand a chance?"

The Colonel frowned at the silent Super Soldiers. "I asked, would those Covenant bastards have a chance in hell if there were just a thousand of you?"

"NO SIR!" came the collective, near roaring response of the II's with Ackerson grinning in satisfaction.

"Very good to hear." Ackerson said approvingly. "Come the end of the month, the Spartan-III program will be underway. A new generation of super soldiers that will be joining your sides and trained directly under all of you. Dismissed Spartans."

Reach

April 25th

Chief Mendez stood within his personalized room where we will be staying in for a prolonged period of time once again.

He had just finished getting dressed in his standard marine uniform and was currently sifting through a datapad in his hand that regarded a series of tumultuous and dangerous training courses that many would consider to be insane.

Thankfully, this wasn't his first rodeo in insane training regimes.

Still…

He was greatly uncertain of this and slightly skeptical overall.

This wouldn't be like the first time where they would all be around the exact same age.

There were some differences this time around with some being older than the first group and more being even younger.

To be frank, Mendez wasn't quite sure if he was completely on board with such a thing yet at the same time there was a begrudging necessity for them.

Mendez looked down at his datapad and pressed an icon on the top right which closed all the files he was reading and reverted back to its first page.

On the front cover were the large bold words of the SPARTAN-III PROGRAM.

The Senior Chief Petty Officer held an expression of stoicism but internally he grimaced.

To be training children once again…

And these kids were a lot more different then the first class he had ever trained. From his initial observations of his new trainees, they were far more aggressive and quick to anger. There was a savageness to them that far exceeded that of the II's to an obscene degree.

If he were to draw comparison to the kids of the first batch of trainees known simply as Alpha Company, they reminded him a great deal of the old 20th century story Lord of the Flies.

He was skeptical in training these kids to say the least.

Yet, from a surprising source, Mendez found himself swayed upon hearing these words.

"These Spartans sound a lot more different than us. And actually a lot better." The petty officer recalled this brief conversation he had with Kurt-051 several days back.

"And why is that?"

"They have something that we didn't have when we were chosen to be Spartans. Motivation."

"Motivation huh?" Mendez muttered to himself. "We'll see about that."

Just as he finished that comment, he heard a knock on his door and a moment later, it opened to reveal the very same man he was just thinking about.

He wore a crisp and pristine white military uniform with the right portion of his chest being decorated with an assortment of medals and awards. Juxtaposed to the right side of his chest was the left which was relatively barren for the most part save for a single number.

051.

"Kurt." Mendez greeted with a respectful nod.

"We're all set and ready for you, Chief Mendez." the Spartan-II greeted. "We're all assembled in the amphitheater."

"Right then." The Senior Chief Petty Officer took his naval hat and placed it upon his head and moved to leave the room.

Kurt sidestepped for Mendez to exit first and fell into step behind the man that many of the Spartan-II's regarded as the father figure of the program.

Some of the Spartans had actually come up to Mendez before the first official meeting of the III's and had asked why was it that Halsey was not included in this program.

Mendez simply told them that she had a more serious objective for the time, focusing on developing newer models of Mjolnir as well as trying to understand how to use and emulate the Covenant technology as well as a number of other assignments. They would see her from time to time, just not having a direct hand in the Spartan-III program.

While they accepted the answer, what Mendez didn't tell the II's was Halsey's blatant disregard for the program.

She was fully aware that at one point that ONI would undoubtedly want more Spartans and the second class of Spartan-II's had already been in the works.

But many factors came into play that would undoubtedly delay the recruitment of such a class.

For starters, the obvious aspect being the required genetic material that was prerequisite if one were to be "recruited" into the program. Like the first class, the candidates had to meet a set of requirements in terms of physical prowess, mental ability and their gene code itself needed to be up to snuff to handle augmentations.

Then of course there would be the added years of training, shortened as it may be due to past experience coming into play.

And now of course there was the war which all but scrapped any and all future plans of Spartan-II's being produced.

But ONI found the work around with the III's and they'll gladly use the II's for this program.

Over in the assembly area, for those familiar with it, this was the same place that the Spartan-II's had first sat in when they were initiated into their new lives.

Standing in the center of the auditorium upon the raised platform were a few individuals who observed the seats filled with the first batch of recruits for the newly created program.

On the auditorium were the Wookiee Captains Fofforay and Woosara the Mon Cala Commander Gando and Tuan We, surveying the large group of "recruits".

Behind them were now the fully assembled fifty-five Spartan-II's who all stood at attention with their eyes firmly on the newly recruited Spartan-III's of what was labeled Alpha Company.

Both Wookiees conversed with one another, murmuring beneath their breath whilst conveying intrigue in being here.

The lone Mon Cala held a datapad in hand, going over a multitude of files that pertained to the reasoning as to why they were all here.

The Kaminoan stood close by to the humans, feeling a sense of nostalgia wash over her yet it wasn't exactly entirely pleasant.

Taun We was internally relieved to see the Spartans-II's that had been recalled back to Reach for this but she wasn't exactly excited for what they were about to do next.

She had always been a bit of a strange outlier in her species as many of her own kind had commented on Tuan's openness in forming bonds with those she was close with. She viewed Tarfful, Mendez and Halsey as close friends and the Spartan-II's were all sort of like sons and daughters, if not nieces and nephews to her.

To see such a larger group this time around…

Then again, the II's will also be playing a direct role in this program so at the very least she along with Mendez wouldn't entirely be alone.

Taun We stepped forward and regarded the large assembly of the 497 volunteering children for the newly instated Spartan-III program.

They were all young, with only a scattered few being no older than ten years old.

She always figured that she would be doing this once again. Tuan conversed with her friend Halsey on a number of occasions of the second class of Spartan-II's and how they hoped it would provide better results than the previous generations.

Not that the Spartan's they made were substandard, no.

The fifty five augmented Spartans performed beyond the expectations of what Halsey and Tuan initially believed them to be capable of. Every single test they presented before being officially deployed, they shattered their preconceived capabilities.

They were a dazzling success and had helped save millions of lives, turn the tides of battle and hold back the Covenant enough for many men and women of the UNSC to live to fight another day…

But they just weren't enough of them.

Fifty five Spartans were not enough to hold back an entire seemingly endless empire.

They needed more.

Which has led them to this point in time.

Chief Mendez had now joined them on the stage in the Amphitheater and faced the bleachers filled with children.

Children who are about to undergo the same training as their predecessors but from what Tuan had read up on, it was to be far more brutal.

Letting out a leveled sigh, the Kaminoan stepped forward and cleared her throat which was heard throughout the theater thanks to a small microphone attached to her.

"Greetings young ones." Taun We began softly. "And welcome to Reach. It is to be your home for the next few years as you have all volunteered for the Spartan-III program."

The large assembly of children listened to her in rapt, silent attention. Some looked behind her to the Spartan-II's, lingering on the enhanced super soldiers.

"I am Taun We and I shall be your caretaker, observing your progress and monitoring your health as this program you are all about to undertake will be extremely strenuous upon your young bodies."

The kids all shifted about, appearing nervous yet undeterred.

"You have been born into dangerous times." Taun We stated. "A sharp mind coupled with refined physical prowess can be the key to survival. But as often as not, it will be your inherent physical traits that win the day. And in this regard, you will be superior to your common soldier."

She watched as the children now leaned in, far more invested in what she was saying.

"For you are now Spartans, an elite soldier. Something truly special. Your weapons, your armor, and most importantly, your brothers and sisters by your sides." the kids all glanced at one another momentarily.

"And your older siblings that will teach you to become even greater." Tuan stepped aside, hand gesturing to the Spartan-II's who were all gazing back at the Spartan-III's.

"Your chief instructors." Taun nodded her head towards the two Wookiees and Mendez before placing a hand upon her chest and her other hand outstretched to Gando, the Mon Cala. "And we shall be your chief educators. But your predecessors shall be the ones to help you all tap into your greater potential."

Taun We stepped aside for several of the Spartan-II's to step forward and address the III's directly.

051, 117, 104, 092, 116, 053 and 006.

"Trainees." 051 spoke first. "I am Kurt-051. I have been selected as your primary Spartan-II instructor and will oversee nearly all facets of your training. I will not lie to you nor sugar coat what it is you're getting involved in. This training will be gruesome and test you in ways that many would deem unsuitable for one's so young as yourselves."

John spoke next. "But we are a living example that not only will you survive but excel and thrive. These next few years will forge you into the sword and shield of the UNSC, the homeworlds and all their colonies."

104 then stepped forward. "Next to you are your brothers and sisters, all of whom will be trained to learn to fight and possibly even die beside. But with this training, you will be a one man army."

"Never forget, you do not win unless your team wins." 092 now spoke. "Some may excel, may specialize in other fields but never forget that you are all a team. We are all here fighting the same enemy."

"Each team you are assigned to will be the team you shall have until it is time for your next steps." Daniel-116 stated. "But a true Spartan is one of infinite versatility and adaptability."

Margaret-053 was up next. "Your individuality is one of the greatest assets to a team so long as you remember that you're part of a squad."

"But above all else, it shall be your drive." Jai-006 finished up their collective speech. "You all have a want, a will and a need to succeed. Something far greater than your common soldier. And it's that drive that will help you achieve the title of Spartan. Just like us."

The alpha company kids now held a far more determined look in their eyes upon hearing all this, turning their heads to Mendez who now stood in front of them all.

"Trainees! Fallout!"

-Scene Cut-

All the while, as war raged on in one portion of the galaxy between two galactic civilizations, another was making preparations for an ambitious expansion into what they deemed to be the unknown.

The Citadel

2530/2174

The population of the large artificial structure was abuzz with excitement and anticipation as the Citadel Council had apparently an important announcement planned for today.

Many had gathered around one docking port in particular where it was clear as day to the large new ship that had been constructed by all the Citadel races in a coordinated effort of over five years. The ship was the largest to have ever been built, nearly 2.5 kilometers in size.

There were other ships built by the various species of the Citadel that were large in their own right such as the Kel-Dorian Ketara starship, eternal class or the TTAZ's own Destiny Ascension.

But none came close to the size that this brand new ship boasted.

State of the art technology complemented with the absolute best of the best within Citadel space to man this ship and its many accompanying vessels.

The crowd continued to grow as time went on, surrounding the port as well as an elevated platform with a number of chairs set up and a single podium.

The gathering of civilians were continually chatting with another, the excitement palpable in the air until-

"Ah, it is wonderful to see so many come together for this occasion."

All in attendance were effectively silenced with the arrival of the entire Citadel Council now standing upon the platform made for them. The eight council members stood in a line side by side whilst one of them was behind the podium, ready to address the assembled crowd.

"Greetings to you all." the Togrutan Counselor known as Shaak Ti spoke in a calm and serene voice. "It is a sight to behold to see so many in attendance here on this momentous day."

Behind Shaak Ti was the previously mentioned Council.

Tevos for the Asari, Leonie for the Zeltron, Leontyne for the Twi'leks, Gnost Dural for the Kel-Dor, Sparatus for the Turians, Dassid being the newest Council member as the Duros representative and Edall, the current Salarian representative.

Shaak Ti continued on, tuning out the chatter of the large crowd.

"As you all know, the goal of the Citadel is to keep the needs of our civilization and its people first and foremost." Ti's tone easily commanded the attention of all present and many listening in from many parts of the Citadel and the Citadel space itself. "For many years now, though small conflicts arose, we have kept a great deal of relative peace throughout our portion of the galaxy. But in that time came a feeling of growing complacency."

Edall and Dassid showed a clear sign of growing excitement as Shaak Ti went on.

"Which is why, for the past five years, we have undertaken the steps towards the greatest endeavor of our generation." Shaak Ti momentarily stepped back to glance up at the newly built ship that had been constructed.

"This new ship, this Spire is the culmination of all these years of diligent cooperation between all our races to create the flagship that will lead our civilization into the unknown." Shaak Ti stated. "The journey ahead is one that can contain endless possibilities but we are not so foolish as to not learn from our past mistakes. We will be taking the best from many fields of mechanics, science and even war that will lead us into the unknown and enlighten us to the larger galaxy that we have shut ourselves away from for far too long."

The crowd was now close to a frenzy of anticipation as they now knew a rumor that has been ongoing for these past five years to be true.

At first it was small, being extremely selective of those who were chosen to join this project. But naturally, those brought in grew over time and with it, the rampant rumors and ideas as to just what they were being recruited for.

Many speculated as to what it was that all these people were working so hard on.

Some believed it was the build up to a new fleet, others towards more outlandish projects such as the use of FTL without the Mass Relays.

And after all that, here it was in front of them all.

"We shall continue to do what many of our ancestors have done in centuries past." Shaak Ti stated. "Voyaging into the unknown, making the discoveries that would change and shape the galaxy as we know it. It will be difficult as it is dangerous. But we firmly believe that the rewards that can come with it shall be worth it in time. Species that we have yet to encounter, technology waiting to be discovered and new worlds for new homes for all."

Shaak Ti took a step back with a broad smile in place.

"I declare this to be the day that the Citadel Expeditionary Force begins its grand journey through the stars."

Cheers erupted from the crowd as all in attendance clapped, whooped and made an assortment of noises as the large Spire ship behind the Council appeared to fire up its engines and began powering up all its functions.

This would be the start of their Great Journey.

Rate Read and Review and As Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 11: Growth

2531/2175

Liara T'soni, personal audio journal entry number 1.

I know this isn't my fist personal log entry but I believe that this should be the first in my new one since I have been a part of this Expedition into the uncharted regions of the Galaxy.

Goddess, just saying that aloud still gives me chills of excitement.

Every time I think about the Expedition, a part of me still questions as to why  I  of all Asari were chosen to be a part of this massive undertaking.

I mean, I understand why I was one of the selected from a pragmatic point of view being a Prothean and archeologist expert and all but I'm not even in my hundreds yet. I'm still considered by many in TTAZ culture to just be a child.

Still, I can barely c-c-contain, oops, hold on a moment… Goddess, I can't even record this properly.

We've only just begun but already, we have discovered a new system with  two  garden Worlds! And the best part about it was that one had Prothean ruins whilst the other had another one of those strange Forerunner outposts.

Only this one was undoubtedly the biggest ruin or one of the biggest Forerunner structures we have ever seen.

And it was working!

...well somewhat.

There was a voice, we're not sure if it was a VI, a recording or… something else perhaps.

But what we do know is that when we attempted to activate or study whatever the structure was supposed to be, it scanned me and other TTAZ present and it said that we possessed an incomplete genetic code.

What could that possibly even mean?!

Does it have to do with the missing link on Thessia?

Or why the TTAZ are all only women?

I have so many questions that I can't even formulate them properly.

This entire expedition is turning out to be grander and more exciting than I anticipated.

And the best part is- OH!

'Sorry Liara!'

"Yeah sorry! Ahsoka and I are late for practice with master Plo."

Oh, I'll join you both then. Masters Plo and Aayla invited me to join in on your lessons whenever I have the ti- oops, one moment

End of audio log.

Liara T'soni, audio log journal entry 7

The establishment of our first base of operation is underway upon the first garden world we came across.

Due to Nensel Jul being the first to step foot upon the planet, he made the joking claim to have the right in naming the planet.

It was amusing to hear how many simply agreed and went along with it.

He is the Leader of the Expedition at the end of the day.

But in the end he settled on a name that many would call generic yet I feel it to be apt due to it being the first garden world and the start of this Expedition.

New Horizon.

I'm rooming with Ahsoka and Mission so it's been enjoyable spending time with them both at the end of every night.

Once the first base is established, we'll be continuing onwards to the next system.

We've already located the Relay that would take us into the next system.

Nensel and Lumont just wish to make sure that General Desolas finishes the security detail of the base defense and our fleet overall.

I've also had time to study the Prothean ruins we found on the first garden world and with our findings, we've learned more about their culture and civilization and we've made what could be a shocking discovery.

It appears that the Protheans have made reference to these Forerunners and in one drawing, it appeared that the Protheans had met these far more ancient aliens. Yet judging from its interpretation, they had more of an understanding or idea as to who or what these Forerunners were but I'm finding it difficult to decipher them.

Still, I have high hopes that something will come from these ruins that better explain both the Protheans and the Forerunners.

That Forerunner ruin is still working, we just don't know how to activate it properly or utilize it.

Most Prothean ruins that have been found in the past are usually always responsive and with the proper energy and tech work can be turned back on for use.

The Forerunner structure on the other hand is difficult to fully understand though it should come as no surprise due to how little we have done in our studies of these ancient structures.

It's frustrating as it is enticing. I want to know just who and what these Forerunners were and just why they created what was left behind and what caused their disappearance.

Perhaps this expedition shall be the key to finding these answers.

I hope I can- Yes? Oh already? Coming Ahsoka.

Oh my, forgot to turn this off.

End of Audio log.

The Citadel's expedition was in full force, having been traversing the stars for the last few months within their first new system through the Relay designated N-67.

The mission to chart new clusters of space for habitable planets presents a unique challenge. Meeting these challenges head-on is the finest the Citadel has to offer from scientists, explorers, and soldiers. Leading the charge is Nensel Jul, a Duros with an astounding record of venturing into occupied territories to help in leading many to find undiscovered worlds and resources that bolstered prosperity within each area he had gone through.

His right hand man or lady in this matter was a brand new position created for the purpose of being the leading vanguard on these unexplored worlds.

The Asari matriarch of the TTAZ race known to all as Ishara was the one selected for this endeavor.

A TTAZ ranger with an extensive background leading multiple troops into battle as well as forays into the Terminus System with TAZZ Commandos, Ishara is a battle hardened warrior with centuries of experience. But aside from being a trained warrior, Ishara is well versed in medicinal practices, specifically in the use of herbalism having been taught by a myriad of species with their knowledge of using plant life as medicine.

When down on the ground, Ishara is at the forefront, leading the ground force of the expedition at the head.

Along with her is her retinue of handpicked individuals that are a part of the Expedition, one of which was the head and director of the top scientists of this coalition being the Salarian Lumont Hayjer.

The Salarian was brilliant, even amongst his peers as a Salarian laser focused on his studies and "innovations" that he had contributed to the Expedition.

Though many considered them innovations, Lumont objected to these beliefs, stating that he merely adjusted and tweaked existing technology that would be retrofitted for the primary objective of exploration. That meant tougher kinetic shielding, higher processing power for most, if not all technology and a better recycling usage of Eezo should the worst happen.

While Nensel, Ishara, and Lumont dealt with the more exploratory side of the Expedition, several individuals were selected for military and organizational upkeep of this endeavor.

Now, whilst the Citadel Council would have it that they always put their best foot forward in meeting new species in the galaxy, history has cautioned them to at least be ready for battle should they meet a hostile race.

Thus, a selection of high ranking military officials from multiple branches were selected to handle the matters of the military side of the Expedition.

The first of these choices came as a recommendation and due to his own track record of Desolas Arterius being the supreme military commander of all Expeditionary Forces. He operated in directing all military forces of the Expedition with several individuals assisting him such as the Kel-Dor Navy Admiral Hetchkee and Drell general Droyo Thaok.

Being the Supreme Military Commander meant he worked directly alongside Nensel Jul and Pathfinder Ishara in coordinating the entirety of this voyage.

Of course, with all of these responsibilities, the primary ship of the Expedition known as the Core Spire needed a Captain on deck at all times.

Thus the famed, two century long pilot known as Pag'Hewu, A Twi'lek was selected for this endeavor by Nensel personally.

Now one would think that this seemed a bit excessive in having so many positions being filled with people of such particular skills and talents.

But the Council wanted this Expedition to be a show of unity between the multitude of species in Citadel space. The best of the best going into the unknown being entrusted with the future of their civilization.

They needed to put their best foot forward and display to whomever they encountered that they could have the chance to become a part of the larger galactic community. To add to something greater while becoming part of it as well.

But history has shown them not all races they would encounter to be benevolent. The Krogan, the Rachni, the Yahg and the unfortunate creation of the Geth have shown the Citadel time and again of the ever-present dangers lurking about every corner of the galaxy.

Which leads to having a more blatant showing of military strength, a combined military strength, something of which hadn't been done in centuries.

It was actually a downside of not having worked together as often as the races in the Citadel should have. The collection of species that made up the Citadel Council were more or less united but there was still a large degree of autonomy between the species.

Only the Turians, Kel-Dor and Drell have a semblance of coordination with each other in knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each species.

It was why those three were selected to represent the military branch of the Expedition.

Though Nensel was the overall leader of the Expedition, he operated directly with the military commanders of this assemblage in the overall procedure of this voyage.

The process of the Expedition goes as follows: the military branch would first enter through a Mass Relay in the new system.

This allows at least the first half of the Expedition, being the military branch, to be the first ones to face whatever lies on the other side of the relay. They make sure nothing ahead will endanger the civilian crew of the Spire in case such a threat does defeat the first half of the fleet.

They would engage any hostile forces, giving time for the Spire and other scientific and civilian vessels to make their escape. If no such threat poses a danger to the Spire and other half of the fleet then the military branch would send the all clear signal and the rest of the Expedition Fleet can come through.

Once the Expedition Fleet links up with the other half of the escort fleet, they would then form a defensive perimeter around the Spire to protect the ship if an unknown species does attack and prove hostile, then at the very least, the Spire would at least be shielded from enemy barrage.

When the Spire enters a system, they send out probes to map out the planets and mark which one should be the priority. Upon arrival, after the probe checks off on the planet being safe to enter or advising on taking precautions if needed, then they would proceed to the next phase.

The Pathfinder and a team along with a small arm escort would then land on the planet's surface and begin exploring and recording their findings. If any threat is present on the surface, then the Expedition Force would send in their Reactionary Force(their soldiers who are always ready and on standby to deploy) to go in and get the research team off world and fend off the threat.

As for the military Escort, to keep themselves at a state of pre-mobilized combat. Constant drills and exercises were conducted so that the soldiers were ready at any given notice since they knew by now how unpredictable first contact or space in general can be.

But only so much can be done doing drills and exercises as motivation is the most important part for a soldier's performance. To resolve the issue, Desolas, Hetchkee and Droyo decided to hold monthly war games onboard the Spire.

The best military units of the Citadel would go head to head to decide who is truly number one and the games help motivate soldiers to push and go beyond their believed "best" in hopes that they would excel from their initial limits to eventually prove themselves on the battlefield.

There is of course bragging rights and trophies that come with the units that prove themselves in the war games, so more motivation for the troops.

All the while, multiple research teams collect data and send it back to the Spire where scientists would process the information and catalogue it.

Once the surface of any new world that's discovered is thoroughly explored and a suitable spot for a base is found then they would call in the Expedition Force to set up a base and more researchers and scientists would be able to come down to the planet to further conduct research.

Overall, this was the basic outline that had been laid out for the Expedition though naturally they would also have to be flexible whenever the situation called for it.

What would said situation be?

Well they need to encounter such a matter and react accordingly for when the time comes.

-Scene Cut-

"What do you think this is?" Ahsoka Tano, Padawan learner to Biotics Master Plo Koon asked aloud as she held a yellow crop with small nubs in her hand.

A Salarian approached her with his Omni-Tool activated and raised it up to be on level with the plant the Togruta held in her hand.

"Hmmm, perhaps something that is edible on this planet." The Salarian mused. "Shape similar to several other fruits found on other garden worlds in Citadel space. Store it for later study. Several samples should do."

Ahsoka nodded and placed the yellow plant into her satchel before picking up a few more.

The planet of New Horizon was the first planet that the Expedition had chosen to "colonize" though really it was just the staging ground at first.

Two bases had already been established, one for civilian/scientific use and the other being for the military branch of this endeavor.

The Biotic Padawans, Sages, Masters and Guardians split their time between their training and assisting the Expedition in any sort of task asked upon them.

The Biotic Sages, when first crafting the many lessons of their organization, based it off the ancient Kel-Dor orders that was the foundation of the academies. Becoming a Master Sage was one of extensive practice, studies but above all else, service to the greater galactic community. It is through the varying degrees of service that Padawans and Guardians were able to forge their own identity as a Biotic user under the Sages and gain abilities unique to themselves.

When Plo Koon was asked to join in the expedition, he accepted the offer straight away, believing that this journey will be one of new discoveries not only for the Citadel races but Biotics themselves.

Many masters of the past of the Biotic Sages discovered the strange and esoteric abilities hidden with Biotics through voyages into the unknown.

Such as the Biotic bond, connections forged between those who have a deep connection with one another, something many TTAZ picked up on over time.

Or Plo Koon's own incredible ability to vibrate his Biotics to such a degree, he can generate lightning that can either subdue an individual into unconsciousness without harming them or kill them in an extremely painful manner.

So in this expedition, many Sages hoped for new scenarios that would be the genesis for newer Biotic abilities. A new way of commanding Biotics or even a means of rediscovering some of the old arts that have been lost to time.

Only by going on this new adventure will they find what they're looking for.

"Hey 'Soka." Said a miserable, familiar voice from behind.

The Togrutan Padawan turned to see Mission walking over to her, covered in dirt.

"Goodness, what happened to you, Mission?" Ahsoka asked in a small laugh which only served to further make the grumpy Twi'lek even more so.

"Let's just say that I got a little too… excited." Mission mumbled out, clearly annoyed more at herself than her friend now laughing at her.

"Yes, that's one way of putting it." Said Liara T'soni who came from behind Vao with a very amused smile in place.

"What happened?" Ahsoka asked with a giggle.

"We found some Prothean ruins not far from here." Liara revealed in an excited manner. "Pathfinder Ishara was with us and advised us to approach the structure with caution. That's when Mission-"

"I didn't see where I was going alright." Mission said irritably, crossing her arms in a huff.

"She ended up using all our water to clean her mouth out." Liara teased with a wide smile.

"I didn't think the ground beneath me would collapse alright!" Mission whined aloud, hanging her head in a dramatic dejected manner with her friends laughing at her plight.

"Come on then, let's get you cleaned up." Ahsoka said, wiggling her slightly dirt covered hand. "Been out here for a while myself, digging around in the dirt too."

"Please." Mission all but begged, following after her two friends as they made their way over to the civilian base.

There, they got themselves freshened up and soon were seated in the large cafeteria eating together.

"Urgh." Mission bemoaned, resting her head upon the table, idly munching on vegetation of some kind while idly poking at her meal. "Why'd Master Plo have to assign us to gardening?"

"I hardly think excavating a Prothean Ruin counts as gardening." Liara said in good humor.

"Yeah, I'm the one who was actually gardening." Ahsoka pointed out. "You got to go with Liara and uncover long lost history and technology. Speaking of, did you find anything there?"

Liara nodded, a small smile gracing her face.

"The Prothean ruin we found, while small, was akin to that of an outpost." Liara said with a growing sense of excitement.

"So what do you make of it?" Ahsoka asked, knowing this to be her friend's favorite topic in the whole galaxy.

"If this is an outpost, a base in which the Protheans used as their own in their foray into the unknown, it's as if we're following in their footsteps through our journey through the galaxy." Liara said giddily.

"The base was pretty big actually." Mission noted. "Just a tad bit bigger than the military base we had set up here."

"It is mostly buried though." The Asari of the trio remarked.

Ahsoka's response was only a good hearted snort. "Like that's ever stopped you before, Liara."

She only blushed bashfully at the Togruta pointed out the obvious with her. Though Mission had gotten dirty earlier, not by her own volition, Liara was the one usually who would wind up being covered from head to toe in dust, dirt and mud.

"So a Prothean Outpost." Tano hummed aloud thoughtfully. "Think we'll find anything useful there? Like a map or some sort of guidance cause if the Protheans made it this far out, they likely went further than us."

Liara nodded in agreement. "I believe we can at least salvage or decipher some of what has been left behind and then some. Lumont believes we can even follow the same path as the Protheans did and uncover more of their ruins."

Mission grumbled slightly. "So long as the ground beneath me doesn't cave in, I'm game."

Her two friends laughed at Vao's comment with the Twi'lek joining in a moment later.

"So, how has training been for the two of you?" Liara asked, digging into her own meal now. "Aside from helping where you can on the Expedition."

Both her friends shrugged.

"Master Plo is making us go through the basics for the most part." Mission answered. "He wants us to make sure our foundation remains strong and stable before going on to some more advanced techniques."

"Judging by the sound of it, you want to move onto the advanced techniques." Liara said expectantly.

"Yes!" Mission admitted aloud, unashamedly. "I wanna do the crazy thing that Master Plo can pull off already. I know we're ready, I just know it."

"Well Master Plo seems to disagree." Ahsoka drably said, resting her cheek in her palm. "I was never much of a gardener back in the academy and the number of plants I violently pull out from the ground sorta proves it."

"You two need not worry." Their Asari friend assured them. "Everything your Master seems to do is within good reason."

Ahsoka only matched Mission's earlier posture and slumped down onto the table with her cheek resting atop it.

"Come now you two." Liara encouraged. "You'll both have your chance."

"Our chance at what?" Vao asked for clarification.

"To prove yourselves, I guess." T'soni said with a shrug. "You are Plo's pupils after all. He wouldn't have taken on just anyone."

"But will we?" Ahsoka inquired. "This is only an expedition. Will we even run into anything out here?"

Liara gave her Togruta friend a befuddled look. "This is most certainly a surprise. Weren't you and Mission the two who were excited at meeting other species?"

"Took a slight downturn right now." Vao deadpanned, picking some dirt from behind her ear and flicking it away.

Liara only giggled and shook her head. "You two need to relax. We'll have enough excitement soon enough as is."

"How can you be sure?" Tano asked.

"History has a tendency to repeat itself." Liara said with a knowing look. "I pray that whatever new species we may encounter in these unexplored regions to be friendly and willing to become allies with us rather than fight us."

Both Mission and Ahsoka grimaced as they were all too aware of the history the Citadel has had in encountering new species.

It was close to about a 50/50 sort of split with their encounter rate being either openly hostile, eventually hostile or friendly.

The Rachni, Krogan, Yahg and Quarians inadvertent creation of the Geth have taught them to be far more cautious when venturing out into the unknown.

Sure the Citadel has incorporated many peaceful species in conjunction to these short four but they all left an irrevocable mark upon the galaxy that is still remembered to this day.

Some in the more literal sense as the species with elongated lifespans had some that were actually there to see it all transpire.

There was a reason why they had a military fleet leading the charge, much as the Core Spire was the flagship of the Expedition.

History has shown them that not all amongst the stars are friendly so if and more than likely when conflict rears its head, they'll be ready.

-Scene Cut-

Lumont, Director and appointed leader of the Science division of the Citadel Expedition was hard at work within his laboratory.

He had his Omni-Tool up whilst going through a multitude of data files ranging from Eezo readings to fauna, to wildlife to the layout of the system they currently resided in.

Thus far, in the eyes of many, the Expedition has been a rousing success in its early stages.

Two garden worlds with several Prothean Ruins and even one Forerunner ruin that was buried deep within one of the second garden world.

The Forerunner ruin in particular has caught the attention of the Science division of the Expedition as many bore witness to it seemingly activating and apparently scanning them all.

What intrigued him most of all was the focus it had on the TTAZ race and after the scan came a synthetic voice that stated that their genetic sequence was incomplete.

Now what in the world could that possibly mean?

What was missing from the TTAZ race?

That had been a burning question for some time now because with that one question came thousands more.

These Forerunners, did they know the TTAZ? Or better yet their ancestors?

They predated the TTAZ as a whole from Thessia, far before the Protheans with a number of the date readings they had conducted to show them to be over one hundred thousand years ago.

When one really thought about it, the TTAZ race was always an oddity of sorts amongst the galactic community.

Their home planet of Thessia, while rich in Eezo, has shown that in terms of archaeological studies of species of the past, next to no race on that planet has any sort of ancient ancestor with the TTAZ.

It was one of the great mysteries of the galaxy.

How was it that the TTAZ originated in Thessia when there are no known species that they can link themselves back to?

Every other species in the Citadel and outside the Citadel can easily track down the genetic links they had with the species of their planets from the ancient avian creatures of Palaven that Turian descend from to the extinct lizards of Sur'kesh, the Salarians home world.

The Duros have their more flat headed, large armed simian like ancestors and the Krogan had a number of large predators of old.

All these species had their ancestors.

All but the TTAZ.

Many had joked that the TTAZ had been taken from somewhere else and were just plopped onto Thessia to see what would happen.

Yet there was also the fact that all four variations of the species were all female.

Every single species that the Citadel has encountered and met had both male and females within them except for the TTAZ.

Granted, they were able to reproduce with just about anyone and everyone with the offspring always being a girl and the interesting feature being that the child could come out as a different variation of the four types of TTAZ. So long as there was even one ancestor that was either a Togruta, Twi'lek, Asari or Zeltron, there was a chance for them to come out different then their mother.

Quite frankly, even after so many centuries of studying, the TTAZ race seemed content really for the most part that they were a galactic anomaly.

In a smug way, it made them feel unique and stand out from the rest of the galaxy.

Lumont disregarded those thoughts for now and brought up something that Nensel Jul had given him at the start of this Expedition.

Many years ago, on the fringes of Citadel Space, a team of Duros and Salarian scientists were messing with radio and communication frequencies.

Some of these scientists were part of the Salarian STG and the Durosi black ops and they sometimes came to these fringes to monitor potential threats outside Council controlled space.

But there was also another purpose to this team.

To see if there was the possibility of reaching out and making contact to other species out in the galaxy they had yet to meet.

The Citadel had always been aware that while they spanned a decent amount of the galaxy, they knew that really, they had only explored less than ten percent of the cosmic cluster of stars and systems.

It was considerably large and they had been tucked away into one of its many corners whilst the rest of the galaxy was still out there to explore.

Thus the purpose of this Expedition.

Going back to the radio and communication frequencies, the scientists there had indeed established or at the very least detected a radio wave of unknown origin.

It didn't match any known radio wave that they had and after comparing it to practically every single one in Citadel and non-Citadel space, it was all but confirmed for them that this frequency came from a race of unknown origin.

They had desperately tried to establish some sort of link or contact with whoever it was that was on the other side but they kept failing.

This went on until the frequency was no longer being transmitted and any traces of it was gone.

Many speculated as to what had happened such as the race perhaps cutting themselves off or the origin had been destroyed.

Regardless of speculation however, they had failed to establish contact and this event was dubbed simply as the Lost Contact Mission.

Lumont pulled up a new file and his eyes narrowed in fierce determination.

Until now.

When they got to this new system, that old radio frequency, it had come back.

Not in the way that one would think of it being reactivated.

No, this new one that they had detected wasn't the same. But it was damn similar.

Meaning that they had inexplicably stumbled upon a possible trail that could lead them to this radio waves point of origin.

They may finally be able to track down this elusive species and meet them at long last.

In many ways, when one looks back at the Lost Contact Mission, it may perhaps be viewed retrospectively as the possible start point that would eventually lead to the creation of the Expedition.

All of these thoughts and ideas ran through Lumonts mind at a million miles a second as he began to review the frequency, muttering to himself repeatedly as to how they can trace this.

There had to be a way.

There always was.

He just needed to find it.

-Scene Cut-

UNSC Space

Reach

April 1st.

Chief Mendez sat alone in the office that had been his own since the Spartan-II program.

Simple, quaint, militaristic with a few pictures and personal flares of the Chiefs own to make it more for himself.

Behind him was a single large rectangular open window where he heard the sound of a few hundred feet running, kicking up dirt and mud.

"RRAWAWWAAAA!"

"NO SIR!"

Mendez idly glanced back, catching the sight of two Wookiees running alongside nearly 500 kids who were running hard and fast to keep up with their Wookiee drill instructors.

It had been nearly a year now, this month being that mark, since the Spartan-III program had been initiated with Alpha company as its first batch.

They had been training these war orphans day in and day out with Fofforay and Woosara covering their physical regimes whilst Commander Gando covered their strategic aspect.

Eternal Spring was created to be the official AI for Alpha being a Smart AI this time around compared to of the II's who was only a dumb AI.

Taun We was their teacher on a number of subjects from other forms of wartime strategy, unit cohesion and other basic education.

He of course played his part as well, being a part of a majority of overseeing the training of these new Spartans.

These were just one of the rare instances where he could relax and enjoy a glass of his favorite Reach Whiskey in one hand and Sweet Williams Cigar in the other.

In these times of war, a time of peace a luxury was a seldom prospect when day in and day out revolves around training and fighting for war.

This past year was yet another one of escalation.

The Battle of the Great Bear, having occurred back in December of late last year was a UNSC victory and a much needed one at that.

2529 was a year of defining victories for the UNSC.

Grey Team had discovered a system that was controlled by the Covenant, primarily Elites and Unggoy.

Deciding that it was time to give them a taste of their own medicine, the UNSC went about hitting each planet occupied by the Covenant with NOVA bombs. They made sure that none were left alive.

In the wake of a year of victory, 2530 was honestly a year of defeat.

Eridanus II and Biko were especially hard losses with nearly eighteen million casualties for the UNSC.

So to end on a UNSC victory was a needed boost in morale for their people.

And victory was attained by some of the best of the best that their coalition had to offer.

Admiral Preston Cole headed up the attack with Commander Anderson of the third fleet and Lieutenant-Commander Grun Whell, one of the few Wookiee officers who were Navy and not army.

The trio of naval officers led the spear headed attack of a Covenant force numbering in a dozen corvettes and cruisers with their thirty ships.

Though they suffered a third of their fleet being lost, it was still a decisive victory for the UNSC.

It was also a moment of success in the field of new technology and weaponry with the deployment of the brand new Ivan VDV mech that absolutely decimated Covenant ground forces once the last ship crash landed on the colony of Groombridge-1830.

After the battle, they had captured an elite warrior and interrogated him into why it was that their conglomerate of species was trying to exterminate them.

Turns out, it's a religious crusade, something that was spelled out to them from the start though it was difficult to believe in the beginning.

When the UNSC had heard this, it was nothing short of a feeling of burning frustration at the thought of being in a war that many believed was a part of their ignorant past.

To think they would be fighting in a war for survival over a religious reason…

It left a bad taste in their mouth.

Other than that, the Elite just let out a series of insults and curses and wishes of damnation upon humanity, Wookiees and Mon Cala.

One important thing that they did note was, while it was an offhand comment, it was a crucial piece of information that indicated a needed change in strategy.

The Covenant did not know the scope of UNSC controlled space.

They did not have a comprehensive idea of just how spread out the four species of the UNSC were. That meant that they had more time on their hands for full mobilization.

Being spread out across the stars, advanced as their technology has been, it still is difficult to have all 1200 planets of the UNSC in full mobilization.

Currently, only seventy percent of the UNSC has been fully mobilized and they've already been at war for six years now.

Granted, their shipyards were working at peak capacity, cranking out ship after ship but they needed all hands on deck for this war.

Even the insurrection has been called upon to aid in this battle.

Still they needed to get all their planets mobilized.

Knowing that the Covenant have no knowledge of the full scope of UNSC space is to be used to their advantage.

Other than the Battle of the Great Bear, there were two other great victories of note for the UNSC.

The first being that Harvest was at long last back under their control and all Covenant forces have been thoroughly defeated and expunged.

Second was their successful repelling of their enemy on the planet of Arcadia.

Both were hard fought battles but they led to decisive victories in the end.

Mendez hung his head upon reflecting on those two battles.

Great victories as they were, it came at a personal loss to himself and the Spartan-II's.

Though they have been listed as MIA, the entire crew of the Spirit of Fire has been listed officially as lost to all hands.

Among those missing was Red Team.

Jerome-092, Douglas-042 and Alice-130 were all gone with nary a hint or a trace as to where they could possibly be.

The Spartan-II's were all wrought with grief, much as they managed to hide it.

It was easy for those who knew them personally to see how much their disappearances affected them.

How stiff they were, the means in which they communicated with one another and to others.

The Spartan-III's had also changed, becoming far more tenacious, fierce and determined in their training.

They would not allow the teachings of Red team, brief as it were, to be thrown by the wayside.

Mendez knew that in a war, even super soldiers like the Spartan-II's would be lost.

But them being MIA gave the grizzled soldier a sense of hope.

A hope that they truly just were lost and that one day they would be found once more and brought back.

Shaking his head, Mendez downed his whiskey and finished his cigar before placing his cap on and standing up out of his seat.

He could mope about at the loss of those that he had basically raised into becoming the best soldiers of the UNSC.

Or he could follow the example of the II's and III's and make sure that their loss meant something.

Being a man of action and conviction, the latter was the only natural choice.

And with that, Mendez left his office to resume his training of the Spartan-III's

-Scene Cut-

Kurt-051 Journal Entry Number 79

Feels appropriate to do one now after nearly a year of neglecting them but again, the time and situation called for it.

We've been training the Spartan-III's for the past few months now and they have been coming along nicely.

These kids are something fierce, I can tell ya that much.

Always figured you need something special to be Spartan after when we got our turn of it. And it turned us into the men and women we are now.

These ones however have shown a will and want to constantly strive to be better than what they were the prior day.

They prefer the grueling challenge and training obstacles that nearly break their bodies.

We had to reign in a number of the more rowdy and "unstable" ones if we could call it that.

They're motivated. Words I told to Chief Mendez when the program was initiated.

Completely fearless.

We already got some standouts growing in this first batch.

Carter-A259 is a natural born leader and he's not the only one.

This one kid we have is laser focused with his training and when he's put in charge, one would think he'd be by the book. To a degree he can be but his ingenuity is something quite promising.

A067 is something special, I can tell that much.

There's many others that are starting to show a greater aptitude for a specific skill that differentiates themselves from their brothers and sisters.

Linda is having a field day with several in particular though A266 seems to be her favorite of the bunch. Real chatty that one but strangely, seems to balance out Linda's usual silent demeanor in a mission. It's like he was a missing mouthpiece she didn't realize she wanted.

A239 is a bit of a loose cannon with an almost unhealthy want to harm enemies in his ways but is fiercely loyal to his brothers and sisters.

When Fred took him under his wing, damn near hero worships our knife spinning Spartan.

The other II's are taking the training with great gusto and we can feel the resonating pride whenever we see them achieve greater scores and results day after day.

Damn proud of them all.

Of course… I wish all of us were here to witness their growth.

Jerome, Alice and Douglas have gone MIA with the UNSC Spirit of Fire recently.

We don't know what happened and mission reports have been sketchy at best.

Leon, August and Robert were the last of the II's to see them and reported being with them on Arcadia before they pursued a Covenant force to an artificial world of some kind though again not entirely sure.

We know they're not dead.

Damn sure of it.

Caleb was close to death but he toughed it out even with a number of his organs being burnt to near ash.

Thank God Halsey was not too far to save him from his injuries.

Him nearly dying… made us Spartans realize we're not as invincible as we began to believe ourselves to be.

We're gonna beat our younger siblings to their breaking points until nothing shatters their resolve.

It was shocking honestly to think at one point that they were meant to be expendable.

Mendez got his hands on the program's original intentions and I couldn't help but gawk at it.

Expendable Spartans? Spartans made to simply buy time and be disposed of so easily?

Never heard a more insulting proposition.

We Spartans were made to be the best, to be the sword and shield of the UNSC. To waste a Spartan is as disrespectful and insulting as calling a Wookiee's honor into question.

No, we Spartans will fight for each other and for the survival of the UNSC.

We've already seen enough humans, Wookiees, Mon Cala and Kaminoans get slaughtered by the Covenant.

We'll train up our new siblings to fight right by our sides when their time comes and beat the Covenant fuckers back to oblivion.

That much I promise.

End of Journal entry.

Fred-104 Journal entry number 88

The Spartan-III's are a lot more different then what we were when we got brought in.

Far, far more independent and yet, just like us are fiercely loyal to each other and to us.

Every order and obstacle we've given them they executed without question.

Course, I'm exaggerating on that end.

Some of the more levelheaded and inquisitive of the III's always asked for more details, more information.

Natural leaders or outside the box thinkers. A076 performed some sort of flanking trick that I never even thought of trying but he saw a method that it can be done and executed it to perfection.

Our little brothers and sisters are showing themselves to be fierce, motivated and as lethal as we were.

Hard to deny the pride I have every time I see them.

Rare as it is, whenever I'm with them, I wanna make the most of it.

They're our siblings now and when they enter the war in full alongside us, I  must  make sure they have every tool and training possible against the Covenant.

And apparently this is to be the first batch from what the program is meant to entail.

While… I'm not fully comfortable with the idea of bringing in more children for this program, I also understand the unfortunate need for it.

We may have gained a number of decisive victories in these past few years against the Covenant, we're also very aware of the fact that they still outnumber us five to one.

Outnumbered and outgunned as we may be, we're not gonna let them trample over us.

They have no idea the coming swarm headed their way and us II's are gonna be smiling with pride when we see our younger siblings deliver that reality check right to their faces.

End of journal entry.

John-117 Journal Entry Number 70.

The Spartan-III's have proven themselves to be ambitious and driven to live up to the standards we set for them.

They haven't hesitated once in taking on any and all challenges that we presented for them to overcome and even in failure, they refuse to quit.

There is a shared pride between me and the rest of the II's every time we see the Spartan-III's. We can't fully describe the feeling but seeing their progress gives us a drive to fight harder, push further for them and against the Covenant.

Some of the III's are anxious to get out as soon as they can.

It would only make sense.

The Covenant took everything from them.

They're driven by rage and vengeance. Potent but they can't solely rely on that.

Thankfully Kurt's been able to reign them in for the most part.

The emphasis on teamwork is showing a higher degree of success and a higher degree of competition between them.

Good. Mendez always said that the right competition brings out the best in all.

Some have taken the role of being older sibling figures quite personally though it should come as no surprise that Kurt would be at the forefront of them.

Makes sense in the end that he was chosen as the head trainer of the III's.

There's a number of standouts, each exemplifying qualities that make them stand above the others. In such a large batch, these trainees stand out head and shoulders above their peers.

While this company is a strong foundation, the standouts and their results remind us of our time during our training. Kurt and Mendez have taken special interest in these individuals though we all have in one way shape or form.

A067 is interesting to say the least. He doesn't think like the other trainees and is increasingly creative with how he goes about the multitude of scenarios we drop them in. He can be by the books yet still be able to operate on a different perspective that helps achieve more consistent victory than others.

A224, A259 and A336 are some of the standout leaders but others like A021 and A138 are showing a greater degree of promise as well.

Quite frankly, I am anticipating a greater deal of standouts to make themselves known as the training goes on.

We can only hope we can prepare them enough for when the time comes for them to join the war.

End of Journal entry.

Reach

April 5th

Within the primary facility that was centered around the Spartan programs, outside in the training grounds stood the entirety of the 497 Spartan-III's of Alpha Company.

Around them were Pelicans where the two Wookiee Captains were currently mulling about, loading crates filled with an assortment of military grade items.

The Spartan-III's were not facing them however, instead having eyes on the current instructor for this upcoming training exercise.

"Today is rather simple, Spartans." Kurt stated, standing before the large, divided up group of Alpha company with his arms behind his back.

Behind him were Green Team and a recently returned Blue and Silver teams from combat. They had just finished helping expunge remnant Covenant Forces from the Arcadia System.

"This exercise is about attrition to put it plainly." Kurt-051 began pacing before the Spartan-III's. "But naturally there comes a twist with this situation. As you are all aware, you have all been divided up into a number of different groups each with your assigned leaders."

It was then that Fred-104 stepped forward.

"Each of you have limited mobility and supplies." Fred carried on. "And not in terms of similarities. Some have more ammo but less grenades. There are those with deployable cover and others that can call in an airstrike on a number of individuals. A group may be provided better cover while another will be openly exposed to the terrain around them."

"This exercise is to stress the number of situations you will find yourselves in and how you will adapt yourselves accordingly." Daniel-116 now spoke. "Above all else, it's about maintaining order and discipline while understanding when the need to take initiative is necessary. Each group is composed of individuals with specialties so it is up to all of you in how you wish to conduct yourselves."

"The last team standing is the ones that will get the first dibs on fresh meals tonight." John-117 finished off the presentation. "You will be deployed across this training field and the time limit to this scenario is three hours. Additional deployment of equipment and resources will be scattered throughout the area and can be added upon depending on circumstance or those who have the capability in doing so. In the end, this is a free for all between the divided teams and the last one standing wins."

"You know the objective and you know your teams." Kurt spoke up. "Now prepare for your deployments. This may be your chance to strategize. You will find out your advantages and disadvantages once being dropped to your specific locations."

All 497 Alpha Spartan-III's snapped to a salute. "SIR, YES SIR."

"Get to it, Spartans." Kurt ushered them forward.

"Time to watch the show." Sam-034 said with an approving grin, looking to his Spartan-II kin. "Up for bets like last time?"

"Why do you insist on making bets?" Kelly-087 rolled her eyes good naturedly at him.

"Aw come on, Kelly." Joshua-029 chortled in good humor. "We used to do it all the time with food and whatever else we had back in basic."

"Already put a bet down." Solomon-069 spoke up with a small smirk.

"Who are you going for?" Yumi-124 inquired.

"A067." Solomon revealed. "Has a bit of a crazy streak to him."

"Oh him." Anton-044 perked up. "Yeah, heard about him. He's got some consistent results the way I see it."

"And I think the crazy streak is more reserved for A239." Linda-058 remarked.

"Savage is more like it." Joyner-118 dryly added in.

"I put my bets on A067." John-117 said aloud with a small smirk forming.

"Whelp, throw my hat in the running for him then." 034 said aloud with a wide grin, patting his best friend's shoulder.

Kurt rolled his eyes, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"I got mine on A224 or A259." The overall "director" of the program said confidently.

"Is it a funny feeling or just your own feeling?" Daniel-116 asked cheekily.

"Since when are they two separate things?" 051 asked in bewilderment.

"Since always." Sam answered. "Now come on. Let's see how these trainees do today."

-Scene Cut-

The large group of 497 trainees were divided into seven groups with the teams being seventy-one members each.

The leaders of each team were A259, A012, A067, A224, A336, A138 and A021.

All were deposited in locations that either had really good cover, no cover at all or a mixture of both with a number of advantages and disadvantages to each group.

In an instant, the seven selected team leaders went about organizing their groups into their offensive and defensive positions.

This exercise was a war of attrition so their focus was on making sure they were the last team standing.

A012 of Team One grabbed a DMR and slammed a magazine loaded with paintballs into it before turning to his large team.

"Alright everyone, listen up." he walked to stand in the center of the group. "We've got our advantage with the trees here and here and some long range weaponry at our disposal. Jun, you're on point. Pick the best three marksman we have in this group and set up long range cover for all of us."

"Roger that." Jun-A266 said with a nod, having already gotten his hands on a sniper rifle. He looked around for a quick moment and pointed to three other trainees and thumbed them to follow after him.

"We've got some cover here but it's not enough." A012 murmured to himself.

"Jace."

The trainee turned his head to face A203 who had a shotgun in hand.

"Jane?"

"We'll be outflanked if we huddle up here." Jane-A203 pointed out. "See that outcropping?"

He looked over to where she was pointing to and instantly noticed-

"Yeah that's a long line of cover over to our position." Jace noted, eyes trailing over the multiple rocks and trees that seemed to be a perfectly lined curve that would eventually reach where they had been dropped off.

"Which is what we'll use to our advantage." Jace stated firmly. "You and Hazel gather up ten men each and go around while I lead the main charge around the bend. A336's team looks to be the closest. We'll go in for a pincer. They're based around a contingent of boulders that look like we can scale. We take that, get some more maneuverability."

His team all either nodded or said aloud their affirmation of his plan and quickly got to work in getting themselves ready for the training exercise.

Over in another part of the valley, A224 was looking over everything he had at his disposal and nodded.

"Hazel?"

"Mm?"

"What do you make of this?"

Hazel-A302 stood next to A224 and squinted her eyes at the valley that they had been dropped off at before them.

"We have the most strategic position." She noted straight away. "High ground, optimal cover and perhaps some of the best equipment though that's just what we have. We don't know what the rest of the teams have so that means we all share the advantageous disadvantage of not knowing who has what until the exercise begins."

A224 didn't respond, taking in his unofficial second in command's analysis of their scenario and began running multiple situations in his head.

He looked around the valley trying to see who was leading the teams and could only make out A138 not far from where he stood.

Around 138 were the other trio of trainees he is most associated with and frowned.

Those four are amongst the best in Alpha company when it comes to unit cohesion so they would be marked as a priority target.

Then again, Cody-A244 would be a fool if he were to disregard any of the team leaders selected for this exercise.

He recognized it right away.

They were amongst the best natural born leaders of Alpha company and their older brethren recognized it.

Over with Spartan-A067, the young trainee was twirling a pair of Westar 55 magnums as he analyzed his team, their equipment, positioning and which team was closest to them.

They were amongst the most exposed, with little to no cover but that also meant that they had the most maneuverability.

If they knew how to use their environment to their advantage.

A067 glanced back at his team with the crates they were unloading, primarily having pistols with some makeshift rocket launchers, them being paint infused.

His team had the best in handheld ordnance and the lowest in basic firepower.

An odd combination but one he would make the most out of.

"Rex."

He looked over to A079 who had A344 by his side.

"Rico, Rosenda." Rex-A067 nodded at them both.

"So the three R's are all here and in attendance." Rosenda remarked.

Rex smirked slightly, nodding his head at them both before looking back to the valley.

"What's your game plan, Rex?" Rico asked, going up to stand to his left, Rosenda occupying the right. "You always seem to concoct some crazy plan."

A067 snorted slightly as he took in the area once more.

"We have little to no cover." he said straight away. "Though we have a lot of mobility."

"Closest places for cover is there," Rico pointed to a small outcropping of large boulders and rocks. "And there." he then gestured to a curved, steep hill."

Rosenda hummed aloud. "We can run as fast as we can to get there. But we'll still lose a good number of the team. Possibly a lot more if the other teams recognize how in the open we are."

Rex frowned hard before hearing a slight commotion behind them.

They looked back to see that one of the more younger members of Alpha had fumbled slightly and dropped one of the rocket launchers.

Yet rather than focusing on the launcher, Rex's eyes instead gazed upon the large assemblage of crates that were being emptied out.

He narrowed his eyes slightly before looking among the older and taller members of his team. And he had far more than he had fewer.

The age range for a majority of the Spartan-III's were between seven and ten when they had all been enlisted with around one hundred eighty something being four, five and six last time he checked.

Though if one were to look at them, many would assume these trainees to be far older than they appear.

They were taller, stronger, faster than practically all kids their age, human or Mon Cala. Only a Wookiee child would be able to keep pace with them by this point and that was only for now.

What the III's were unaware of for the time being was the amount of growth supplements that they had all been provided in their food and medicine. They had been taking it all in for the past year without knowing about it and the results were already starting to show.

Childish as some of them may look and act at times. being kids of course, this year has shaped and molded these 497 trainees into what will one day become Spartan Super Soldiers.

Those invested in them have put every night and day of their lives into making sure they would succeed and it helped that they themselves wanted to.

Revenge is a powerful motivation, one easy to feel even at such a young age.

Moments later, a loud ringing was heard across the valley, signifying the start of the training exercise.

There were some shouts heard here and there followed by the rumbling footsteps of 497 trainees all running towards one another.

Moments later, paintballs were being fired at from all directions as the seven teams engaged one another in a war of attrition.

From a secure bunker with a multitude of screens that displayed the "battlefield" stood the three Spartan-II teams currently on Reach.

They all silently watched as the training exercise commenced and the paint started flying about.

"Hmmm, A224 has a solid spread of his forces." Fred-104 noted, observing as A224's team was engaging A138's team.

"A259's working around A021's forces." Kurt added, watching the young boy lead a group of six others into a charge against a defensive position A021 had set up around their drop zone.

Sam abruptly began laughing uproariously with everyone turning to him.

"Sam?" John said in utter bewilderment at his friend's sudden laughter.

"You guys have got to see Rex." Sam said, pointing to the display screen in the center.

The Spartans all gazed upon what 034 pointed at and many eyes widened in astonishment and admiration.

"Well I'll be damned." Kurt muttered approvingly, nodding his head with a wide grin appearing on his face. "That is brilliant."

Several of the II's then grumbled upon realizing that they had lost one of the many bets that were made between them while 034 rested his elbow upon 117's shoulder with a triumphant grin.

The taller Spartan gazed at his normally stoic best friend and was pleased to see a small smug smirk appear on John's face as they observed A067 lead his team with the cover of the emptied crates that had been dropped off with them.

Back with said team leader, he was running ahead of the group with his chosen four man squad as they felt their crate rattle from being struck by multiple paintballs.

Eventually, they reached their destination and threw the crate down before getting behind it.

The rest soon joined in and a large set of crate barriers were established, being connected to clusters of trees that served as added cover.

"Set up a firing squad on the right." Rex commanded. "Bacara, Hal and Cody are at each other's throats right now. We can spring a quick offense and route them out. Grab whatever long range weaponry you can get your hands on. Short bursts of fire and then move up."

He got a resounding "YES SIR" from his team as they quickly began getting into their assigned positions and firing upon the other teams.

It was chaos on all sides as the number of trainees dropped sharply since everyone was firing at everyone else.

A012 led an insane charge straight into a firefight between A336 and A259, greatly disrupting the skirmish with A012's team gaining an advantage though were quickly stalemated when the other two team leaders reorganized and refocused fire upon his team.

A259 had soon sounded a retreat of his teams into one of the many clusters of trees in this valley and they ran across A067's team.

Rather than shoot at one another, A259 called out to A067 in a surprise move to call for a brief alliance.

A259 had done a head count and saw that even with their daring strategies and tactics that had helped in getting them this far into the exercise, he recognized both teams lost half their forces.

So a temporary alliance could work within their favor to help take out the competition until the time comes that they would undoubtedly fight.

A067 appeared to contemplate on this proposition for a few seconds until he nodded and he and Carter-A259 raged against the others in a united onslaught.

Hal-A138 was leading his team from the front, flanked by his three closest friends in the company.

This had become a common sight amongst the Spartan-III's as the quartet had a natural sort of synchronization that just snapped into place when they all met each other.

Hal-A138 was the natural leader of the group, Jensen-A140 being their tech expert and hacker, Aaron-A207 their marksman and Kenny or Kenneth-A262 was the demolitions expert.

Speaking of which.

"Boss, we've got Wolffe's team moving in to flank our left." Jensen-A140 said beside Hal who narrowed his eyes, taking stock of the situation.

"Aaron!" Hal called back to his team and a trainee garbed in red perked up. "Get two other snipers up on that ridge there and give some cover fire for the left flank. The Wolves are on the prowl."

"Copy that, Boss."

Hal then turned to A262. "Kenny, how many grenades do you have?"

"Enough to tie them together for a hail mary football." Kenny replied with a manic grin.

"Get ready to use it, we're going in for a charge." Hal commanded. "On my signal. Should give us some time if they're disoriented enough."

"Copy that Boss." Kenny-A262 said excitedly, running off to do as he was ordered.

Elsewhere, Cody-A224 was being whittled down by the combined efforts of Carter-A259 and Rex-A067.

He had his team retreat to the naturally fortified area of their drop point and was holding strong but he knew it would only be a matter of time until the two teams made it up the steep hill and took him out.

The young team leader peeked out over a rock and grit his teeth at the sight of two crates slowly moving the hill with a dozen trainees behind each crate.

Leave it to Rex to figure out a crazy usage for the crates like that.

He couldn't help but laugh aloud upon seeing his friend pull such a move and even now, he was amused.

Cody then looked over to see Carter-A259 directing his team up the middle, using the terrain as cover while they moved further up the hill.

Having the high ground had its advantages and disadvantages.

And Carter is taking a page out of Rex's book, having absconded an empty supply crate of his own and constantly moving it up as a makeshift barrier.

They were drawing in on two fronts and he had only two dozen comrades left on his team.

He needed to come up with a plan of attack to break out of this pincer and he needed it now.

Cody glanced back to his team and looked about rapidly to see if there was something that someone had that they were able to use.

His eyes landed on one of the more taller members of his team.

"Arnold." A224 called out to the trainee with A101 on his outfit.

"Yeah?" He replied in his accented voice.

"Grenades." Cody said, pointing down to the assaulting teams using the crates as cover.

A101 looked over from his cover and quickly connected the dots as to what A224 was insinuating.

"Copy that." Arnold unclipped a paint grenade from his belt and tossed it over to Cody with the two priming them at the same time before throwing them down towards the closest upside down crate.

"OH SHI-"

Was the last exclamation that was heard from the half dozen group of trainees that had their advantage turned against them.

"Ah crap." Rex said underneath his breath upon seeing that. "There goes that plan. Carter, change of plans!"

"Understood."

From the room where the II's stood and observed the training regime, small bets were being settled whilst they continued to analyze the ongoing exercise.

"Very impressive." Kurt murmured, a broad grin of approval on his face. "They've come far in only a year."

"Still have a lot left to do." Daniel-116 remarked with a slight hum.

"We will get it done." Joyner stated with determination.

"Speaking of." Kelly-087 spoke up. "We have our winner."

The II's all turned to see that at the end of it all.

"Well now, that's a surprise."

Standing in the center of the training valley were a dozen and a half group of trainees, all of which were cheering loudly for their victory.

In the middle of this victorious group stood a worn out but cheerful Volkov-A366.

"Very impressive." Fred-104 said in approval. "Pulled it out at the last second."

"Come on then." Kurt said, walking towards the exit of the room. "Let's not keep them waiting."

-Scene Cut-

On the same planet of Reach, within an isolated laboratory stood a young woman, 33 in age.

Though she was young, her eyes were those of a woman who may as well have been those that belonged to one of a hundred years of age.

She wasn't tired if someone were to assume that.

Not by a longshot.

No, Halsey simply possessed a burdened soul.

A soul wrought with purpose, ambition, drive and an overwhelming degree of guilt.

…

…

…

Ok, she was a little bit tired but then again who wasn't these days.

The UNSC has been at war now for six years and things have been only getting worse. Colonies continue to fall with mounting losses despite a string of successive victories.

They are holding back the tide best as they can with the men and women of the UNSC doing all they can to beat the Covenant back.

Everyone was doing their part in one way shape or form.

Like her for example in being here on Reach to at long last achieve something she had been hoping for some time now.

She-

"Doctor Halsey."

The architect of the Spartan-II program whirled around with a look of slight surprise on her face which bloomed into a small smile.

"John, Kurt, Daniel, it's so good to see you all once more." Halsey said pleasantly.

"Good to see you as well." 116 said, nodding at her.

"What are you doing here, Ma'am?" Kurt asked straight away. "Chief Mendez said you were on Kamino."

"I was." Halsey said. "But I have returned to conduct something I believe will be useful in future endeavors."

The II's were now intrigued.

Daniel opened his mouth to ask. "What is-"

The Spartan-II didn't get to finish his question as someone came out of a door right next to Halsey and the man was rather tall.

Rather muscular.

Rather augmented.

And quite frankly, rather familiar.

"Randall!" Kurt said aloud in surprise. "What're you-"

051 paused, taking a moment to look at his fellow Spartan-II candidate and realized something quite different since the last time he had seen his Spartan brother. He was now at eye level with him.

Kurt, Daniel and John pieced the information together with their eyes widening in realization. They looked back and forth between and beaming Randall-037 and a sly smiling Catherine Halsey.

"Ma'am…" Daniel nearly stammered out. "You-"

"It took a few tries but eventually, we got it right." Halsey said with pride, patting Randall's arm. "I was able to augment 037 properly so he can be the Spartan-II he was always meant to be."

Kurt let out a loud laugh, placing both hands on Randall's shoulders who chuckled at Green Leader's joy.

"It's great to see you as you should be, Randall." Kurt proclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "Just in time to. We've got some new Spartans we've been training up this past year. You should see 'em man, they're turning out to be more promising than anticipated."

"Really now?" 037 displayed genuine interest at the thought of other Spartans. "New Spartans?"

Halsey's mood died down a bit, watching as 117 held a small smirk in place.

"Our new younger brother and sisters, the Spartan-III'." John revealed, Randall gaining a wide grin upon his face at the thought of new Spartans.

"Yeah, they're in the middle of a training op right now." 116 spoke up. "Come on, I'll show ya."

116 threw his arm around Randall and guided him down the hall with Kurt following after them.

Halsey turned to leave when John spoke.

"Ma'am."

She turned to face him with an expectant look.

"Yes John?"

"I've been meaning to ask you something." 117 said, almost awkwardly as he seemed to hesitate.

Halsey always found this aspect that many of the Spartan-II's shared to be endearing considering just who and what they are.

"What is it?"

She tilted her head at seeing the Spartan appearing to try to form the right words.

"Is something troubling you John?" She asked softly.

"Not entirely, Ma'am." 117 said in an earnest fashion. "But… If I may ask you a personal question."

Now Halsey was truly interested. "And what may this question be, John?"

The Spartan-II didn't answer at first, standing before the architect of his program with a contemplative and slightly conflicted look on his face.

He stood in front of Halsey like this for a number of moments until he exhaled and looked her directly in the eyes.

"Dr. Halsey." John spoke in a calm and respectful tone. "The rest of us had heard from Chief Mendez and Dr. We but I would rather hear it from you."

Catherine remained silent, indicating for John to go on.

"Chief Mendez spoke of how you were unable to join us in the training for the Spartan-III's." John said and in an instant, he saw Halsey shift, her expression becoming more guarded and dismissive. "And I see that with Randall but still, it feels strange and rather incomplete without you being a part of it."

Halsey didn't respond at first, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she nearly sneered at the idea of being involved with the Spartan-III program.

"So… why did you not join us, Dr. Halsey?" John asked, gazing upon her with the genius doctor turning away.

Catherine felt conflicted now.

Had it been anyone else, she would have brushed off such a question with no regard for who they were.

But this was John asking her, one of her Spartans.

She always knew it would be difficult to keep things from the Spartans she helped create because they were a program veiled in secrecy.

She'd rather not keep secrets from her secrets.

"It's because they're not my Spartans." Halsey revealed, appearing to greatly surprise John-117 from the ways his eyes widened and body shifted slightly.

"Your Spartans?" John rephrased in bewilderment.

"Yes, my Spartans." Halsey reiterated with greater intensity this time around. "You, John, and all your brothers and sisters of the Spartan-II program are the best of the best in all of humanity, in all the UNSC. You had to be chosen meticulously for your genetic structure and makeup and that was only the first part of it. Each one of you displayed a unique quality to you all that we saw that would undoubtedly serve you in and out of the battlefield."

She then scoffed.

"Those children are to be used and thrown away. All according to Ackerson's design." Halsey spat out venomously.

117 took her anger in stride. "That's why it was taken out of his hands and placed into ours."

She looked up to him in confusion.

"I don't know if Mendez told you or if anyone from ONI spoke to you about it but the program has been changed from its original iteration."

"I am well aware of the change, John."

"I figured you would be." He conceded. "But still, Dr. Halsey, many of us want you to be a part of this program."

She didn't respond, instead looking down in deep contemplation.

"Doctor." John spoke slowly, methodically. "When you brought us in to become Spartan-II's, you spoke of bringing out the best in us, in becoming the sword and shield for the UNSC and making sure we would do everything in our power to safeguard it. Us training the Spartan-III's is a part of that purpose. You may not like Ackerson but he is not wrong when he told us just fifty five Spartan-II's would be enough to stem or even turn the tide against the Covenant."

He saw her scoff at this comment but he pressed on regardless of her reaction.

"We need more of us and this new program can help get us there. But instead of them being an expendable tool to be tossed aside after their use, we're making them indispensable for all the UNSC." John said resolutely. "I'm very proud to be a part of this as are the rest of us. But we all agree that for them to truly become Spartans like ourselves, it needs all of us. Including you."

Halsey bit her lip, a rare instance in her life in not knowing how to respond back.

"You wanted us to fulfill our full potential as Spartans." 117 stated with complete conviction now. "This is a part of it. Preparing a new generation to stand alongside us. We all want you to be with us when we turn our little brothers and sisters into Spartans like us, ma'am."

'Dammit John.' Halsey internally raged. 'Why'd you have to make an argument like that?'

She didn't have the chance to form a response as she watched him turn to walk away back towards where the III's were currently undergoing a lesson from Taun We.

The architect stood alone now in the hallway, with only her thoughts to keep her company.

With a sigh of resignation, Halsey turned to walk away from where her Spartans currently were with their young successors.

December 2nd

Kurt sat within an office that was given to him by Chief Mendez himself, seeing as how he was the primary Spartan-II that oversaw the training of the III's.

While he wanted to reject it at first, Mendez basically ordered him to have it so here he was, sitting behind a desk like every other high ranking pencil pusher in the UNSC.

At least he felt he was doing something far more useful in evaluating and training the future Spartans of the UNSC.

Currently, he was overlooking a series of results from multiple training ops the III's had conducted these past few weeks.

Suffice to say, Kurt was impressed by what he was seeing thus far.

These kids stumbled and failed quite often in the beginning though that was to be expected since a majority of them were still children. A few were no older than four going on five so the fact that they had managed to keep up with the entire company was astounding.

There was also a growing list of standouts within Alpha company. These few dozen stood head and shoulders above the rest of their brethren, displaying a greater degree of individual skill and capabilities in which they excel at.

Thom, Carter, Emile, Jun, Rosenda, Hazel, Rex, Cody, Jace, just to name those that he had just finished reading up on are some of the best of their class.

Natural leaders to those with specialized talents dealing with a number of fields that can be expanded upon in due time.

They held a number of advantages over the rest of Alpha and from what Halsey had discovered, though they don't have the genetic superiority the II's held, there were distinctions that displayed similarities to their predecessors.

Which means they held a greater degree of potential from the rest of their company.

'Thank God John convinced Halsey to join us properly.' Kurt internally mused.

The Spartan-II had been so absorbed in his readings that he had failed to notice a young woman no more than perhaps a few months older than he was entering his office.

Normally an augmented Spartans senses would have instantly picked up on such an entry. Yet 051 was zeroed in on reviewing the III's and their training results so the lady had to clear her throat aloud to gain his attention.

"Hmmm?" Kurt looked up from his data file. "Oh, sorry about that. Didn't realize someone had come in."

"No need for that sir." The young woman said kindly.

Kurt shook his head. "No need for calling me sir either. Just Kurt will do."

"Are you not a high ranking officer?" The lady inquired.

"Only when I'm on the clock." the Spartan-II replied cheekily. "What can I do for ya? Better yet, what's your name? Don't wanna refer to you as ma'am, you seem far too young for that."

The red haired woman giggled slightly and seated herself in front of Kurt's desk after the Spartan gestured for her to take it.

"Since you insist, my name is Kelly Chambers." She said cheekily.

"Well Ms. Chambers-"

"Kelly." She interrupted. "I'm still years away from any form of Ms. titles."

Kurt chortled. "Very well, Kelly, what can I do for ya?"

"It's actually what I can do for you si- Kurt." Chambers said chipperly. "I've been assigned to you by Taun We as your Yeoman."

"A yeoman?" Kurt repeated in confusion. "Why would I need a Yeoman?"

Kelly shook her head. "It isn't for you. It's for them. The Spartan-III's."

Kurt's demeanor shifted immediately, a more stoic expression appearing on his face as he gave Chambers a cold look.

The young woman's eyes widened considerably and flinched at the intense gaze.

"It's not in the way you think Kurt." Kelly quickly said. "Truly, I'm here to help you and only help."

051 silently regarded the lady before him for a few tense moments of silence.

"I take it that you have been informed of the Spartan-II's then since you are to be my Yeoman for the III's." Kurt bluntly stated.

Kelly didn't respond at first until she let out a shaky breath and nodded.

"So why did ONI bring you in then?"

Kelly blinked at that. "Didn't you hear me before? Taun We personally brought me in."

"Be that as it may, I recognize an ONI agent when I see one."

"Formerly." Chambers said with a greater emphasis in her tone now.

Kurt arched a brow at her response and it appeared to fluster the girl as she realized what she had done.

"I-I-" She stammered, shaking her head a moment later to regain a bit of her nerve from moments prior. "When I was informed of everything that ONI has done… had done and are doing right now, quite frankly, I wasn't sure how long I would last under something as… unethical as what they have done to you and your brethren. And to know that they're still doing it…"

"So why join such an endeavor?" Kurt questioned. "Why be a part of something so morally wrong in a time where morality is a fleeting commodity we can ill afford?"

"Because someone has to make sure those kids remember who they are before all this." Kelly's face changed into something quite fierce. "They… they're young, they don't fully understand what they have been coerced into, choice or no choice. They're still human in the end. And if I have a chance to help them keep their humanity then I shall be a part of this disgusting program if need be."

"I would have figured you would have reported this or at the very least walked away." Kurt remarked casually.

Kelly scoffed. "As if I would even be allowed to live should I step out of this facility with what I know."

Kurt let out a derisive snort at the comment with him nodding in agreement.

"To true that statement is, Ms. Chambers." Kurt said with a more good natured smile in place. "You want to do the good that's needed in this program. I can respect that."

He stood up from his seat with Kelly following suit. Upon seeing the disparaging height difference between herself and the Spartan-II, the Yeoman suddenly felt incredibly smaller than she already was before 051.

The Spartan saw this and chortled slightly.

"Then it's good to have you aboard, Kelly." Kurt said with his hand outstretched. "You'll make a fine addition to this program."

The redhead momentarily hesitates in taking the man's hand though for a more silly reason.

"I feel like if I shake your hand, you'll swallow me whole." Kelly murmured, garnering a laugh out of Kurt.

"Well I think it's easy for me to call you tiny when compared to me."

At that, Kelly couldn't help but smile up at Kurt with her shaking his hand a moment later.

"I look forward to working with you Lieutenant Kurt."

"No need for the rank, Chambers." 051 waved off. "Just Kurt will do."

-Scene Cut-

-Sol System-

Mars

The Red Planet.

Or formerly the Red Planet after its colonization by humanity.

Fourth planet within the Sol System and often regarded as the sister planet to Earth itself, Mars has long since been one of the strongholds of humankind and the UNSC overall.

In 2080, Mars became the first planet colonized by humanity, the first step into what was eventually the rapid expansion of the ambitious species.. Even before terraforming, Mars quickly became a major industrial hub in the Sol system. The city of Kenosha in the Tanais region has the distinction of being home to the UNSC Marine Corps' ODST headquarters.

As much as Mars has a storied and historic significance to humanity it also had the dubious distinction of being the first colony to rebel from Earth's control.

In the events leading up to the Interplanetary War in 2164, Mars harbored many activists and rebels who would later take part in the conflict. When the first shots were fired, many Martians joined the neo-Communist Koslovics. These revolutionaries were eventually put down in harsh crackdowns that followed the signing of the Callisto Treaty in 2170.

One part of Mars that's been in an area of interest for the past 451 years is the south polar region of Promethei Planum. It's known for its magnetic storms that constantly showers the region with dust clouds made up of EMP making any trips or expedition too dangerous without any knowledge of the land's layout.

Because of this it developed a 'Bermuda Triangle' reputation.

Recently satellites near Promethei Planum began reporting shifts in the weather and in a stroke of luck, the normally tumultuous region of Mars was experiencing a moment of tranquility.

An opportunity has presented itself and scientists scramble to quickly explore and catalogue Promethei Planum before the storms come back.

In that short amount of time, they successfully identified a structure of some kind hidden deep inside a crater known as the Deseado.

The structure was clearly one of alien origin and while at first scientists believed it to be that of the Forerunners as those had been the most consistent alien ruin found within both UNSC space and Covenant space.

But upon closer inspection and the data shown from the analysis done upon the structure, whilst there were some similarities, these ruins were distinctly different.

For starters, the Carbon dating of the structure only dates back to 50,000 years compared to the 100,000 old Forerunner structures.

So this was a relatively "new" structure when one looks at it in galactic times.

Of course there came a number of questions with the discovery of this new structure.

If this structure had been here for 50,000 years, what species would have come to their solar system? If it wasn't Forerunner, was it their evolutionary descendants? Or something else entirely?

Better yet, was the constant storm that surrounded the area perhaps made by this structure to keep it hidden or was it just a coincidence?

But beside that point, aside from the structure that they unearthed in the crater, something else was found with it.

A substance or energy cache of some kind that at first was registered to be an anomaly of sorts and one that couldn't be fully understood.

It matched no known substance on humanity's periodic table, nor any of the Wookiees, Mon Cala or Kaminoans.

After a multitude of studies and experiments done on this new substance, the one consistency that was found was the effect it had on other objects and items.

This cache generated a sort of energy field that whatever item it affected appeared to either lower or raise the mass of whatever object was within its vicinity.

Many scientists agreed that the cache of this strange substance would undoubtedly need a name of its own.

After much deliberation and discussion, due to the nature of this substance in the manner in which it affected objects, the name settled upon it was a strange one if not simple.

Element Zero.

Been a while again but with Halo Infinite either having come out or near out by the time of this chapters completion, figured we should get this chapter out by now.

Lots to do here since, yes, that's right, we're covering Halo Wars in these chapters.

So a lot that we have to do.

Don't forget about this being an AU so obvious different outcomes to… come.

And quick reminder.

D-Wings = Longswords in this story due to their shape resembling D's more than C's.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 12: Undying Spirit

Epsilon Indi System

Harvest

February 4th, 2531

Harvest comes into view, its surface covered in peaceful colors of green and blue.

A planet of bountiful crops and its namesake, Harvest.

This colony had a decent population who all lived in relative peace with little conflict or insurgency of any kind for the most part.

That all changed in the year 2525.

The UNSC came into contact with not one or two new alien species but an entire conglomerate that made up an empire.

The Covenant Empire.

For over a century, the four species that made up the UNSC had a multitude of luck when encountering one another in peaceful meetings that led to lasting friendships and alliances, young as they may be.

Humans, Wookiees, Mon Cala and the Kaminoans all proudly made up the UNSC that has spearheaded their civilizations the last few decades now.

With this new encounter, one would hope that it would be a continuation of their good fortune in meeting friendly or at the very least, amicable new species among the stars.

But such is the law of the universe and life itself, not all new things that are experienced or encountered for the first time can be good.

In a matter of hours, the Covenant ship that first arrived at harvest laid waste to the planet and its people. The ground troops went about a systematic slaughter of the citizens planetside and made sure to kill them all with ruthless efficiency.

That's where it began

The war that has now been ongoing for the past five and now six years.

For five years, now going on six, the UNSC and Covenant traded victories back and forth.

The first several years saw a string of victories for the latter with the former narrowly gathering a few for themselves though few were absolute.

2529 was a definitive year of UNSC victories with every battle and engagement ending with total victory on their side.

Yet even with these decisive wins over their enemy, last year was a time of great loss as several more planets fell to the Covenant.

The bastards just didn't seem to run out of ships or troopers.

Sure there were times where the UNSC had the upper hand against the Covenant but a number of factors prevented total domination against their adversary.

First and foremost being the numbers advantage that they held over the UNSC.

No matter how many ships the UNSC threw at the alien conglomerate, no matter how many ships they destroyed, more took their place with almost frightening ease.

Then came the fact that the Covenant had a litany of more advanced weaponry such as shielding and their advanced understanding of plasma.

Whilst the Mon Cala have been making great strides in creating more advanced ships in countering the Covenant, their damned plasma just tears through their own fleets like butter.

Nearly four hundred ships have been lost to the Covenant and that number grows by the day.

Though the UNSC always made sure to repay these defeats against the Covenant with a vitriolic rage that made it where a good chunk were pyrrhic victories at best.

It was all that they were able to do sometimes.

Faith held strong that they would be able to take on these Covenant bastards but a creeping underlying nervousness couldn't be denied.

This empire wanted no sense of negotiations for peace.

Just the complete and utter annihilation of the UNSC.

The extinction of four species off the face of the universe.

So all that they could do was fight to the bitter end.

"Captain's report, February 4th, 2531. Five years, five long years. That's how long it took us to get Harvest back..."

Several marines race through a battlefield within the remains of a destroyed UNSC city. A Marine dies when a nearby wall explodes from a passing Banshee's ordinance, and debris and plasma engulf him. The surviving Marines recover quickly and start to move forward.

"Go, go, go!"

They confront a Lance of Elites who are separated by a wall of debris.

A few of the marines yell out as they arrive. A number of Wookiees quickly join in and start to fire upon the Elites, only to be shot by a plasma bolt to the chest.

The rest, despite being outnumbered, manage to gun down several of the Elites, as another marine gets pierced in the shoulder with a needler round. Then a Warthog runs the Elites over. The camera then cuts to the rear of the Warthog driving through a battlefield with the gunner firing the turret.

Up above, ODST drop pods rain down from the skies and outcome the Helljumpers, the best of the best in the UNSC.

The tide of the fight swung in the favor of the UNSC now as they began taking out Covenant left, right and center.

"Keep firing!" A Mon Cala Lieutenant shouted, chucking a grenade at the oncoming Covenant forces.

Three marines fire their weapons, the last one firing a shotgun from the hip.

From above, a squadron of fighters zip by whilst several Pelican dropships arrive with several Warthogs racing through the drop zone.

UNSC Marines then pile out of the landed Pelicans.

Up ahead on the battlefield, a Wookiee pounced upon an Elite from behind with his Ryyk blade. The Elite falls down and is stabbed in the neck, killing it.

The fighting abruptly stops as cheers and hollers of victory were heard across the area. The UNSC had achieved victory, standing before a destroyed city with a burning Covenant Destroyer in the distant sky, multiple Starfighters being seen laying waste to the ship.

"At first it was going well..."

"Then setback after setback..."

An elite overwhelms a Wookiee and stabs it through the chest with its plasma sword.

Several Mon Cala and Humans are gunned down by a barrage of plasma fire.

The Covenant progress through Harvest became swift and decisive despite fierce opposition.

"Loss after loss..."

Two Covenant Destroyers begin to glass Harvest. Damage from orbital bombardment is visible, represented by several rings of burnt land.

"Made what was going to be a quick and decisive win..."

A wounded marine crawls through shattered wasteland with a dark sky and debris. The Marine attempts to crawl to a rifle lying on its side when a sword-wielding Elite approaches and impales him.

"Into five years of Hell..." The man giving his report let out a haggard sigh. "Of course, that's all Harvest really is today… It's Hell down there. Half the planet glassed into oblivion with the initial population all but wiped out. Three million dead in the span of a few days. But now it's ours again."

The partially glassed surface of Harvest is seen within the bridge of the Phoenix-class carrier; UNSC Spirit of Fire which was moving through debris in orbit.

On the bridge of the ship stood its Captain; James Cutter.

A career man of UNSC steeped in military tradition and discipline of which has been considerably tested upon the inception of this hellacious war.

He tilted his head slightly with a somber gaze as his eyes trailed over the wreckage surrounding Harvest on top of the partially glassed surface of Harvest.

Around the Spirit of Fire were a number of other ships that drifted through the debris field and were positioned in strategic placements around the Phoenix-class carrier in case of any Covenant surprise attacks.

He watched as Pelicans were dispatched from the Spirit of Fire, being joined by a number of other starfighters to act as escorts as they head to the surface of Harvest.

Cutter then looked up and spoke aloud.

"Serina, status?"

He was met with a response from the on board AI ship of the Spirit of Fire.

"Standard orbit achieved. All systems normal." Serina responded, her holographic avatar

Cutter nodded, taking a moment to glance around at the crew of the Fire currently on the bridge.

The hodge podge of Humans, Wookiees and Mon Cala all at their posts, attentive to their duty.

His second-in-command Enahn was standing between two humans, looking over an earlier report regarding something about several skirmishes involving remnant Covenant forces on Harvest.

He turned his gaze back toward the number of ships headed for the surface of Harvest and his jaw clenched slightly.

"Prep for pod launches, bring weapon systems online." Cutter ordered.

"Expecting trouble, Captain?" Serina asked with a knowing look.

The Captain's expression hardened. "Harvest may be ours again, but I don't think the Covenant appreciates that yet."

Just as he said that the entry to the Bridge opened and in walked Professor Ellen Anders.

"Professor Anders." Cutter greeted with a nod. "Nice of you to join us."

"Better up here than alone in my lab." The Scientist idly commented as both turned to face a holo screen of a gruff looking human close to Anders' age riding in a Warthog with a Mon Cala in the passenger's seat.

"Sergeant Forge, Sergeant Kitomag, report." Cutter said straight away.

"It's been a "party" down here Captain." Forge responded with a grunt of irritation. "Definitely plenty of bad guys down here, Captain. They're trying to bunker themselves down hard."

"We've noticed an increase of forces around the Ice." Kitomag added on. "They've found something in there."

Captain Cutter frowned, crossing his arms at that tidbit. "That complicates our mission. Anders, what have you got?"

The Professor instantly turned to the holo table in the center of the room and placed her hand atop it. It activated instantly and a few moments later, a holo display of the region of interest that the Covenant were currently residing in was seen by the two humans and AI.

"Captain, scans on the Northern Polar region show some interesting Covenant activity on the surface. There's some kind of structure down there." Anders pointed out, gesturing to the center of the map.

"What do you think they're looking for?" Serina asked.

Cutter leaned on the table, his eyes analyzing the map. "That's what we're here to find out. We are to bring Alpha Base up to operational status and take control of that site."

Anders nodded and moved to exit the bridge. "I'll get my equipment ready."

Sergeant Forge however had a different mindset compared to the Professors. "Lady, there's no way in hell you are coming down here on the first bird."

Anders rolled her eyes, opting to ignore the Sergeant and left the bridge.

"Sergeants pull back to Alpha Base," Cutter ordered. "I'm sending you some backup."

"Roger that, Forge out."

The Captain deactivates the map and returns to observing Harvest from orbit.

"So, nothing too difficult then?" Serina remarked.

James Cutter let out a tired sigh, becoming resolute a moment later. "It may be the key to this whole war in Serina. It's worth the risk."

He took a moment to gaze out upon the planet once more before turning his head back slightly.

"Contact Red Team."

-Scene Cut-

John Forge grunted in irritation at his warthog rocking about slightly as he steered the vehicle into avoiding Covenant plasma fire.

Sergeant Kitomag sat up slightly and fired back at the Covenant forces, taking out any Forge didn't run over.

"You're missing a few." Forge remarked cheekily, running over a scampering Grunt.

"My skills are about precision." Kitomag shot back. "Yours is brutish and uncultured."

"So why do I have the higher kill count then?" Forge countered with a wide grin.

"Because you're an asshole."

Forge laughed at the comment, gunning his Warthog towards Alpha base with his friend continuing to kill any Covenant they encountered on their path.

The duo were an odd pairing and friendship that started several years back prior to the start of the war.

John Forge came from a family steeped in military tradition to the point that his lineage can be traced directly back to World War 2.

War and combat was literally in his blood for all intents and purposes and he excelled at it when the war between the Covenant broke out.

Kitomag was an odd duck of sorts as his family was that of engineers, artisans and musicians. They were craftsmen and teachers, educating their people throughout the generations while contributing to the cultures of their race and eventually, Humans, Wookiees and some Kaminoans.

Yet he was the outlier of his family, being the first to join in the military at a young age and having met Forge in basic as he had enlisted around the same time.

The two grew to be inseparable and wherever Forge found himself to be in trouble, Kitomag wasn't far behind in pulling him out of the fire.

… Or being dragged into one, courtesy of his human friend who had a bit of a temper and tendency to be insubordinate.

Still, the duo had practically been attached to the hip for over thirteen years now.

The Mon Cala was even there to see the birth of Forge's daughter, Lucy Orion Forge.

Kitomag recalled the excitement Forge had when he realized he was going to be a father and couldn't stop talking about it all the way up to the point of Lucy's birth.

Then the Covenant made their appearance to the galaxy and the notion of being a father who would always be there for his kid was thrown out the window.

The UNSC mobilized in full and every planet soon began getting droves of volunteers and being sent out to engage with the new enemy.

Forge tried his damndest to see or speak with his daughter whenever he was able to and Kitomag always recalled the joy he held whenever he saw her.

She would always ask how he was, how her Uncle Kito was doing and when would be the next time she would see him.

The last time Forge held his baby girl in his arms was almost three months ago.

Now he was back on the frontlines on Harvest, engaging the Covenant once more.

Currently, the duo were scrounging up scattered forces from Alpha Base that was being besieged by the Covenant.

Upon arriving at the entrance to the base, Forge and Kitomag jumped out from their warthog and ran ahead with their guns blazing.

Behind them were a large battalion of Marines and several ODST's they had managed to bring along with them to reinforce the losing UNSC forces that were still fighting in Alpha Base.

"Get on that turret." Kitomag ordered. "We got Wraiths and Ghosts waiting for us on the other side, so I want you three to get ready to blow those bastards to kingdom come, ya hear me."

"SIR, YES SIR." Shouted several marines they had rescued, all sporting rocket launchers.

Forge ran ahead, grabbing a discarded shotgun on his way over to an unsuspecting elite.

The Sangheili turned in time to get the barrel of a shotgun shoved into his mouth before Forge pulled the trigger and splattered the ground with the Elite's brain juice.

"KILL THE HERETICS!" Screamed an Elite from atop a defense tower and the roar of Grunts, Jackal and other Elites were heard from within Alpha Base.

"Well would you look at that, they're trying to keep us out of our own base." Serina idly commented over the comms.

"Typical." Forge remarked with a shake of his head. "And I thought us humans were greedy."

"You still are." Kitomag stated, firing at the Covenant next to him. "You just make it tolerable and comedic, not genocidal and psychotic."

"Have you forgotten my species' history?" Forge asked rhetorically, getting his head lightly bopped by his friend's elbow.

"Shut up and shoot."

John grinned, blasting a fleeing Grunt away.

"All right, let's head in and clear the base of hostiles." Forge ordered aloud and the UNSC forces charged into Alpha base.

Waiting within said base was a large contingent of Covenant hellbent on keeping the base out of their sworn enemy's hands.

Both sides rained lead and plasma upon one another with both sides being unable to get a proper footing against each other.

"We have the numbers but they've got Wraiths and Ghosts up the wazoo." Forge shouted.

"I'll handle that." Kitomag crouched down for cover, placing a hand over his comms. "Captain Cutter, do you copy?"

"Here Sergeant Kit." The Spirit of Fire's Captain responded.

"Requesting air support on Alpha, targets being marked right now." Kitomag said, peeking out of his cover and pulling out a small cylindrical device from his belt that was a laser pointer.

He quickly shined it on all the Covenant tanks within the base, a brief flashing of the laser to signify the tanks had been marked.

"Targets acquired, Captain." Serina spoke up.

"Good to hear." Cutter said. "Air support en-route Sergeant. They'll take out the armor. The rest is yours."

"Copy that, Captain." Kitomag said, putting away his laser marker and returning to fire at the Covenant.

"Well?" Forge asked expectantly.

The sound of thrusters in the air caused Kitomag to chuckle.

"I know you hate it when I sound corny."

"So don't-"

"Here comes the boom."

Forge groaned aloud. "You're such a tool."

Y-wings and D-wings swooped by from above and dropped their payload on the marked Covenant tanks, a fiery display of red and violet coloring the air.

The Covenant that were close to the explosions were either caught in the fire or sent flying back by the small, generated shockwave from their destroyed tanks. This made them easy pickings for the UNSC forces with them being gunned down with extreme prejudice.

A Wookiee marine roared aloud with a Mon Cala by his side chortling.

"You said it."

Once the rest of the enemy forces were killed off, Alpha base was officially secured.

"Well, that was the most fun I had all week." Forge quipped, tossing aside his empty magazine slip from his assault rifle before placing in another full clip.

"We're only getting started." Kitomag stated, contacting their commanding officer. "Spirit of Fire, this is Kitomag. Area clear, situation normal. Orders?"

As he said this, multiple fighters zipped past overhead with a number of pelicans descending to the base itself. Several tanks and additional warthogs were deployed along with a garrison of marines.

"Nice work sergeants, Alpha Base is ours again." Cutter praised. "Forge, Kit, take a squad and scout out the area. Don't want any surprises popping in unannounced."

"Copy that, Captain." Kitomag responded whilst Forge pointed at five nearby marines to follow after them.

The ragtag group of marines guided by the two sergeants grabbed two warthogs and departed from Alpha base towards the site in which the Covenant had taken great interest in.

They eventually parked their warthogs atop a hill that overlooked a dig site being watched by almost exclusively Elites.

Kitomag and Forge crawled to the edge of the cliff, both pulling out binoculars to observe the Covenant activity below.

"Lot of split-lips down there." Forge remarked, seeing few other species of the Covenant. "None of those bugs and savages."

"See some Grunts and Jackals." Kitomag noted. "But not much else of them. This is almost an exclusive Elite base."

"What are they even doing down there?"

Forge's Mon Cala friend was silent as he continued looking over the Covenant forces when he stopped upon a particular Sangheili that stood out from the rest.

"Who's that?" Kitomag asked aloud.

"Huh?"

Kit adjusted his friend's line of sight and pointed ahead. "That one right there. The one in silver armor."

Forge spotted who it was Kit was referring to and squinted at the Sangheili.

"I don't get it, what's so special about this hinge head?" The human sergeant asked. "Just looks like any other Covie bastard but a little bigger and shinier armor. He compensating or some shit?"

Kit snorted. "Possibly but still, I've never seen an Elite with that type of armor. From what we've been able to gather, blue, purple, white, red and gold are the usual colors that those split-lips wear."

"So what, they want the whole rainbow or dumb crap like that?"

The Mon Cala Sergeant took the question in stride. "Maybe… but I dunno. Got a weird gut feelin' bout this one."

Forge looked up at his friend with a raised brow before gazing back at the silver armored Sangheili with narrowed eyes.

"What's your gut telling ya?"

Kitomag stared ahead at the Elite that had caught his attention and sighed.

"Nothing good from this bastard."

His human companion was silent as both stared down at the Elite that appeared to be in charge of whatever it was the Covenant were doing.

They saw a gold plated Sangheili approach the much larger silver armored one and there appeared to be a moment of dispute between them before the gold one bowed his head and stepped away.

The duo watched as several Elites and Grunts together pried a large, metallic door open.

"Looks like that's our way in." Forge commented. "Any ideas what's in there?"

"Something about their religion if I can take a gander." Kit responded. "Come on. Let's get moving."

Both left in time just as the silver armored Elite turned his head back in the direction of where they were just a moment ago.

All the while, back on the Spirit Of Fire…

Captain Cutter let out a bemused sigh as he entered his personal observation deck of the Fire and saw that Professor Anders had turned it into a makeshift lab.

He walked towards the scientist that has been a part of his crew for the past few months with a bemused expression.

"Any reason why my Observation deck is your lab, Professor?" Cutter asked with slight exasperation in stepping around all her scattered equipment.

"I like the view." Anders replied, busy looking through a litany of data that was sent to her from Harvest. "It adds... perspective to my work."

"Does it now?" The Captain said aloud with a musing voice before looking down at the planet of Harvest. "Sergeant Forge doesn't think it's safe for you to go down there yet. He's quite insistent."

"Well then it's a good thing that Sergeant Kitomag is there to knock some sense into him."

Cutter frowned. "Anders-"

"I can take care of myself." The Professor cut him off, turning to face him.

The two locked into a staring contest and upon seeing her resolute expression, Cutter conceded with a tired sigh.

"Alright, alright." He said placatingly. "Any idea what it is we've got down there?"

She shrugged "It's all theories right now"

The scientist stood from her seat and grabbed a case leaning on her chair. "I'll know a lot more once I get down there."

Just as she was about to leave, Cutter stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a stern look.

"I'm approving the mission, but the slightest sign of danger and I'm pulling you out. Is that understood?"

Anders blinked from the tone before nodding yet the Captain didn't remove his hands.

"I want to hear you say it." He said more firmly. "Is that understood?"

"Understood, Captain." Anders said with a nod, Cutter removed his hand for her to depart from the observation deck.

Back down on the Harvest, as the UNSC prepares for their assault on the Covenant, within the location where the conglomerate currently occupied were two high ranking individuals in conversation.

It was the silver armored Elite that Kitomag had spotted speaking with one of the Hierarchs of the Covenant.

The Prophet of Regret.

"What is the status of the operations, Ripa?" The San'Shyuum leader inquired with a slightly restless tone.

"I regret to inform you Hierarch of the loss of our forces." Ripa'Moramee said with a disgruntled growl of pure venom. "The humans and their heretical allies have wiped out the rest of our fleet and are now closing in upon our location and will be attacking us soon."

"Hmmm, it is as I feared." The Prophet murmured, rubbing his chin with a frown. He soon waved his hand dismissively. "No matter, you have done what was asked of you, Arbiter. The information you've gathered here is most appetizing."

Ripa'Moramee held his head up with a smug pride emanating from him.

Which was immediately dashed upon the next statement made by the Prophet of Regret.

"However, we must protect what we have learned here." Regret stated grimly. "Set the charges and destroy this place."

The Arbiter visibly jolted back in shock.

"Destroy this Holy Relic?!" Ripa asked as if not believing what he had just heard. "Surely you jest!"

"The Great Journey requires sacrifice." Regret barked back in aggravation. "More importantly, the UNSC must not desecrate this site with their heretical touch. It was horrible enough to know that they had the audacity to establish a colony near such a sacred relic with their stained existence. Set the charges and return to us at once! Our patience is not infinite!"

The Arbiter stared in stunned silence at his leader for a number of moments before bowing.

"It will be done, Noble Hierarch." He said with clear hesitation in destroying this place.

As the Arbiter went about his orders, back at Alpha Base with Sergeants Forge and Kitomag, the duo preparing to stage an offensive against the relic site where the Covenant were holed up in.

A multitude of pelicans came in to help reestablish the bases defenses with tanks, warthogs, some starfighters landing for the pilots to be replaced with fresh ones and Wookiee flutter craft.

The UNSC forces knew that this was the last bastion of the Covenant on Harvest so they would need to mount a sizable attack force to finally rid the colony of their vicious enemy.

So they were going with everything that was currently being dropped off at Alpha Base before their assault.

Once the base was set up and done, Forge and Kitomag led the charge towards the Covenant.

"So whaddya think?" Forge spoke up as he drove towards the relic site.

"What?" Kit asked in the passenger seat, not looking at his friend as he opted to remain vigilant for any surprise Covenant attacks.

"What are the Covies after in that cave, mountain or whatever?" Forge elaborated.

"Must be something involving their religion or something." Kitomag said with a shrug. "You heard how they call us heathens and dumb crap like that half the time."

"A religious war." The human Sergeant said with a scoff. "You know, in the history of all our species, you would think religion would be an antiquated reason to wage war."

"We may have gotten past that point in our histories but it ain't the same for all in this twisted universe." Kitomag said with a tired sigh.

Before Forge was able to respond, the Spirit of Fires AI chimed in through their comms.

"I'm picking up a lot of Covenant chatter around your position, looks like they're setting up defenses."

Forge grinned. "Time to get to work, people. Moorce?"

From the comms came a warbled roar of a reply.

"Gonna need you to soften up some inbound Covenant forces. Carpet bomb the bastards straight to hell if you would be so kind."

In the skies above the sergeants was a contingent of around two dozen UNSC starfighters composed primarily of D-Wings, X-Wings and Y-wings with several spare A-wings.

Leading this squadron was Wookiee ace pilot Moorce who had been recently assigned as basically the head of the starfighters aboard the Spirit of Fire.

She was younger compared to most Wookiees but she had a natural affinity in piloting ships to the point that she was almost immediately noticed by Captain Cutter and was brought on board his ship.

The young Wookiee of 92 served with pride alongside her human and Mon Cala brethren on the onset of the war and has racked up quite a reputation in a short amount of time.

Moorce guided her ship down towards marked targets sent to her by the two sergeants below with her squadron following after her.

She barked out a number of commands and several X-wings with the A-Wings flew past her ship towards the Covenant forces down below on the ground.

The two more agile and faster starfighters softened up their target before Moorce in her fighter along with the other Y and D wings came into carpet bomb the Covenant ground forces into oblivion.

"Solid hit Moorce." Forge said through the comms and the Wookiee roared back with a smug tone.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, showoff."

"Here we go, people." Kitomag shouted, propping himself up and firing at the remaining Covenant Forces that survived bombardment.

The engagement between the two sides was swift and bloody.

Explosions, plasma and gunfire went off on all sides as the UNSC forces hammered the remaining Covenant army with a vicious onslaught.

"Well, well. Lookie here, the Covenant built themselves a little base." Forge commented.

"Not for long." Kitomag said. "Moorce, marking additional targets for a bombing run. Acknowledge?"

He heard the Wookiee pilot growl in acknowledgment, the Mon Cala silently nodding and quickly tagging the base for their fighters to attack.

"Heat's comin' Forge."

"What, we're just gonna let Moorce have all the fun?" Forge asked good naturedly, looking up with a smirk as he heard the engines of UNSC starfighters fly on by.

He watched as Y-wings and D-wings dropped their payload atop the Covenant base and since there were nearly two dozen starfighters that did this, the explosion that came afterwards was quite a spectacular display.

"Ah~ never get tired of seeing that." The human Sergeant remarked.

"Come on." Kit lightly elbowed his friend. "Moorce now has a higher kill count than us from her cushy seat up in her fighter."

"Hear that Moorce?" Forge said through the comms with a cheeky tone. "You've got it good in your comfy seat in your fighter while us real soldiers toil away down here in the mud."

He received a gruff rebuttal from Moorce, making him chuckle aloud before he refocused on the battle at hand.

"I want some Scorpions up here, stat!" Forge barked out and no sooner did he say this did several tanks roll up on the scene and all fired their cannons at the same time, decimating the Covenant defensive lines.

"We got our entry, right flank!" Kitomag shouted, rapidly gesturing towards the right hand side of the enemy line that had all but collapsed. "Concentrate your fire and sweep in."

The Marines did as they were told, going in for an arching attack that whittled away and killed off the remaining Covenant infantry in their path.

"Move on ahead towards that structure." Kitomag instructed. "We've got a clear shot ahead of us."

The ground rumbled with the sound of the massive force of troops and vehicles led by the two sergeants as they drew closer to the underground relic that the Covenant had been so adamantly defending.

They suffered some losses of their own but remained strong overall upon reaching the entryway to the structure.

A number of Sangheili and Kig-Yar were stationed there and quickly fired upon the oncoming UNSC battalion. From the skies above came a number of bugs AKA Geonosians that fired at them from above.

"Hey Forge." Kitomag said aloud, firing from the passenger's seat.

"Yeah?" The human Sergeant said with a grunt, maneuvering the warthog around so as to not get blasted by the Geonosians from on high.

"Was that there when we did recon?"

Forge looked ahead towards the entrance to the mountain structure with his eyes squinted and saw a strange pylon of some kind with multiple grunts around it. They appeared to be attaching a number of oval-like devices to it.

"What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"Serina." Kitomag said.

"Identifying…" Was the AI's response. "Sergeants, the Covenant appear to be setting up detonation charges in an effort to keep what they have found from falling into our hands."

Not a moment too soon did Captain Cutter's voice come through the comms.

"If the Covenant detonate those explosives our mission here is over! Get to the detonator!"

"Copy that, Captain." Forge said, gritting his teeth as he gunned his warthog forward with Kitomag plopping himself down into his seat properly as he knew what his friend was gonna do.

"Try not to crash." Was all the Mon Cala said before Forge rammed the warthog right into two Elites who were either killed upon impact or being run over.

The rest of their battalion rallied and ran right into the hole the Sergeant had made, quickly brushing aside the Covenant as they were rather thrown off by Forge's brazen attack into their enemy lines.

"Take out those charges." Kitomag yelled out with two Wookiees making a beeline for the large pylon.

The Unggoy surrounding the detonator were killed off in quick succession before the two Wookiee marines instantly got to work disabling the charges whilst the rest of the marines covered them.

A few moments later, several whirring sounds came from the pylon that signified the deactivation of the charges. The Wookiees warbled out their success and a few moments afterwards, the structure's entrance was cleared.

Forge and Kitomag reported their accomplished mission with Cutter telling them to be on standby whilst Professor Anders was transported to them.

Soon enough, the pelican that had the scientist on board arrived and dropped the eager human off with Kitomag and Forge being told to be her personal guards.

"You two sure know how to leave a mess." Was her first comment upon seeing the scene where multiple bodies were strewn about everywhere.

"We try." Forge remarked, pointing at a squad of marines and throwing his arm up lightly as a silent order for them to follow.

They walked deeper into the interior of the relic structure, marines mulling about in disposing of the bodies that had been left behind.

The group arrived at what appeared to be the center of the underground relic.

"So this is what the Covenant were after?" Anders asked aloud, looking back to the two sergeants.

"Seems so, ma'am." Kit responded, rubbing his chin in thought as he inspected the strange, unknown technology before them.

"They sure paid a price trying to defend it, all quiet now." Forge tacked on, holding up a fist for the marines with them to hold position.

Anders only hummed in response, stepped towards the relic, raising her hand to touch a sphere of some kind with multiple segments on it.

There were unidentifiable runes on each of these segments.

Perhaps their controls?

Just as she was about to touch it, Forge's large hand grasped her wrist.

"Whoa now, what do you think you're doing?" He asked in slight alarm.

She gently pried her hand free and gave him a determined look.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Anders stated firmly.

The human sergeant was clearly hesitant but he withdrew his hand with a frown as the Professor reached out and grazed the strange glowing sphere.

Not a moment too soon did the strange, unidentified alien relic react with a flash of light.

"Professor Anders." Kitomag said warily, reaching for his weapon.

She held up a hand for him to wait a moment though her expression conveyed a level of nervousness when there was another flash of light.

A second later, the entire area was illuminated with a display of what appeared to be multiple planets, stars and solar systems.

"Now that's...not what I expected!" Ellen said in clear surprise.

"Wha-what is all this?" Forge asked, eyeing the relic warily.

"It… it looks like some sort of-"

"ARGH!"

Everyone spun around in time to see a Mon Cala marine collapse dead upon the ground with a needler round in his back.

"Heresy!" Shouted a Sangheili that de-cloaked itself before them all with a multitude of other Elite appearing alongside him. "Remove the hedonistic filth from this holy site."

"Oh boy." Forge growled under his breath, catching a shotgun that was thrown towards him. "These bastards just don't know when to quit."

Rather than responding to his friend's comment, Kitomag instead reached out to Cutter.

"Spirit of Fire, this is Kitomag." He said, ducking his head slightly at the sound of a needler round bouncing off his cover. "We're cornered inside the relic and cut off from the outside. It's an ambush."

"Hold tight Sergeants, reinforcements are on their way."

"Make it fast Captain, got our resident egghead here-" Forge paused for a moment to bash the back of his shotgun in the mouth of an elite before shooting it between the eyes. "With us"

"Sergeant, Alpha Base won't be able to respond in time. We've got Grizzlies inbound from Spirit of Fire, hold on down there."

The ship's AI couldn't help but comment on this tidbit. "Ah, Grizzly tanks. Forge's pet project."

"Got a problem with my beauties, Serina?" Forge retorted in a huff.

"You and your tanks." Kit murmured with an amused smirk, popping out of his cover to shoot down an Elite that tried to rush them.

The marines led by Forge and Kitomag bunkered down as a large contingent of Elites, Jackals and Grunts now surrounded their position and fired upon them.

Outside the structure, the UNSC forces that had been brought to the relic site were caught flat footed and were desperately fighting off the enemy soldiers that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

A Wookiee lieutenant was barking out orders left and right for the troops to fall back into more defensible positions yet there were Covenant inside the structure itself. They had them pincered on two sides with them being outnumbered now.

"Where the hell did all these hinge heads come from?"

"Who gives a shit? Just keep firing. Reinforcements should be inbound in five minutes."

"We don't have five minutes!"

"GRAAAWRR!" (Translation: THEN MAKE FIVE MINUTES DAMMIT!)

The fighting intensified as the marines of the UNSC began firing back at the Covenant ambush with a voracious recklessness.

Less than a few moments later did backup arrive in the form of two large tanks being deposited in front of the relic site with only three individuals being seen accompanying the drop.

This trio stood out amongst all others present on the battlefield, distinguished by the heavy set of green armor they wore coupled with red accents and markings on their chest pieces, shoulder pauldrons and helmets.

Upon seeing them, the UNSC battalion stationed at the entrance to the Relic site felt a surge of relief and confidence.

"Holy shit." One of the Mon Cala marines said aloud with a wide grin. "Nice timing!"

The new arrivals hopped down from the tanks and ran straight into the underground structure whilst the Grizzly's began decimating the Covenant forces.

There was a war cry from the reinvigorated UNSC marines of the Spirit of Fire as they began laying down an endless stream of lead upon the Covenant who were now being whittled down bit by bit.

Back with Forge and Kitomag, the duo saw that they only had a handful of marines left and were running low on ammo.

They had kept Anders behind them, making sure she was under proper cover but even then, it would only last for so long.

The Covenant had all but surrounded them and were slowly closing in. It was almost mocking the surviving marines at how deliberately slow paced they were attacking now, knowing they had the humans, Mon Cala and Wookiees surrounded on all sides.

"Sons of bitches are mocking us." Forge said irritably.

"What?" Kit asked, tossing a grenade over his cover and hearing the satisfying sound of it exploding and killing several Sangheili.

"They know they got us cornered." John elaborated, jumping up for a moment to shotgun blast an Elite in the head. "But they wanna take their time."

"Yes, that's not at all terrifying to hear." Anders shouted above all the plasma and gunfire.

"Welcome to our world, Professor." Forge quipped, reloading his shotgun while ignoring the small glare she sent his way.

Their attackers drew in closer as the marines around the sergeants and professor were picked off one at a time.

The Sangheili leading the ambush leered with nothing but unadulterated hatred at the UNSC forces, especially those filthy, hedonistic humans.

All those who follow in their wake will be burnt to ash as they will.

The Elite warbled a sadistic laugh at shooting one of those furbags in the chest. 'Such is the fate of all-'

*SHLICK*

The Elite was unable to finish that last thought as a large combat knife was violently embedded into his head. It was pulled out an instant later, the body it was just in toppling down to the ground, unmoving and dead.

The other Elites spun round and roared at the loss of their leader, rushing forward to attack the one who killed him when two more individuals rushed in to assist their team leader.

It was sudden, quick, bloody and violent.

Three tall and well armored humans descended upon the Sangheili and utterly decimated them in a matter of seconds.

The one who had taken out the lead Elite had a red stripe on the right side of his armored chest with a red Corinthian Helmet emblazoned on his right shoulder pauldron. On the left side of his chest piece was the number 092.

To his immediate left ran by one with the number 042 on his chest piece, wielding two SMGs in hand. He had a red stripe atop his helmet, a red phoenix symbol on his right shoulder pauldron with the image of a Sangheili skull being impaled by two knives on his left.

The last of these three had a M247H Machine gun that mowed down a number of Elites in an instant. This armored warrior had the number 130 on her chest piece and the decorative red symbol on her right shoulder pauldron was that of a jolly roger.

Like 042, she too had the emblem of a Sangheili skull on her left shoulder, only this one was riddled with bullet holes.

Once the Elites had all been cleared out, 092 spoke up, voice echoing off the walls of the relic.

"Area secured, Sergeants."

Forge peaked his head over his cover and upon seeing who had come in to relieve him and his men of the Covenant.

Kitomag looked up a moment later and let out a hearty chuckle, standing up and walked over to the trio of armored giants.

"Nice of you to join us, Red Team." Kit greeted the towering Spartan-II's cheerfully.

"Well shit, you took your sweet time, didn't you?" Forge said in a dry voice. "What? Didn't get enough of a kill count so decided on making sure it was higher than mine?"

"With all due respect Sergeant Forge, Spartan's will always have a higher kill count than you." Spartan-092, leader of fireteam Red, stated in a completely serious manner.

The human sergeant shook his head, a smirk making its way on his face.

"Next time have less of a dramatic entrance."

"At the cost of insubordination, wouldn't that count as hypocrisy, sir?" 042 asked lightly, making the Mon Cala sergeant chortle, nudging Forge who rolled his eyes.

Rather than answering the armored giant, the human sergeant looked back to see Professor Anders coming out from where she was being kept safe.

"Get what ya need, Doc?" Forge asked with Ellen looking back at the device in the center with an analytical gaze.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see when we're back on the Fire."

"Come on." Kitomag said aloud. "Let's not dwell here and wait for another ambush."

His statement brokered no arguments from all still alive and present, the remaining marines being extracted from the relic site.

Soon after, Ellen Anders was back in the observation deck of the Spirit Of Fire, her makeshift lab whirring with noise and activity.

Standing in the middle of it all was Sergeants Forge and Kit with Spartan-092 by their side.

Anders was busy typing away at the newly downloaded data that she had retrieved from the ancient alien structure with Serina internally assisting her work.

She didn't regard Captain Cutter who had entered into the deck moments later, the two Sergeants and Spartan snapping to a salute which he waved off a moment later.

"So I take it your "expedition" down to Harvest was a success?" Cutter inquired.

"Well, I'm still sifting through what we were able to get in our short time there but Serina and I deduced a direction that it was directing us to." Anders revealed.

The Captain tilted his head slightly with a raised brow.

"So, all it did was point you in a direction?"

Ellen nodded rapidly. "In the thirty seconds I had to examine the Artifact? Yes, all it did was point at a second star system."

Serina soon brought up said system and displayed it for all to see.

"Arcadia colony, to be precise." The AI stated. "Population a little under three-million, largely unexplored but apparently quite the vacation resort."

Forge felt a brief instant of movement, glancing over to 092 who had inclined his head up slightly.

"What's the matter, Jerome?" The Sergeant spoke up, causing the others to look to him and the Spartan-II. "Arcadia mean something to you?"

"In a manner of speaking." Jerome-092 said. "Another Spartan fireteam is currently stationed there. Omega."

"Must be important to station another set of Spartans there." Kit noted, making Cutter rub his chin in thought.

"So what seems to be the significance of Arcadia, Professor?" James inquired patiently.

"There's something there Captain, and I think it's important we get to it before the Covenant do." Anders answered straight away.

"Professor, if you recall, our orders are to investigate Harvest." Cutter pointed out. "We still don't know a lot about what's going on down there."

Anders appeared undeterred. "I understand that Captain, but everything I see here tells me that we need to get to Arcadia to figure this out."

There was a moment of silence as all stood in the observation deck, gazing upon the Captain of the Spirit of Fire. The man hadn't responded right away, taking a moment of deliberation.

He looked over to his two sergeants, the human of the two voicing his opinion.

"She's determined, I can tell ya that much." Forge remarked, earning an eye roll out of Anders.

Cutter then glanced over to 092 who took a moment to consider his words before answering.

"If the Covenant are going after Arcadia, we need to go and back them up as soon as we can." Jerome-092 declared. "They're after something on Arcadia and we likely are the only ones who will figure out just what they want."

Upon hearing that, James relented, giving a stern look to his crew.

"Very well, Professor. I'll clear it with Admiral Cole. Serina, set course for Arcadia." Cutter stated, walking out of the Observation Deck.

"Aye, sir." Serina remarked in a drab voice. "Crazy mystery trip to Arcadia plotted in, spinning up FTL drive."

"Where's your sense of adventure and excitement, Serina?" Kit asked in a joking fashion as he, Forge and 092 followed Cutter out of the deck.

"Come on, Serina." Anders spoke up. "We got work to do."

Sorry about making you guys wait for such a long time.

Halo kinda… killed our motivation for the story with how crappy things have been being handled these past six months.

Looking at you Halo tv show, trust me, you'll be getting yours soon enough.

But we're back. So let's get to it.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

The Halo Effect War and Civilization Chapter 13: Burning Fire

-Procyon System-

-Arcadia-

-February 9th, 2531-

"Now exiting Slip-Space." Said the dry voice of Serina, AI to the Spirit of Fire.

The Phoenix-Class carrier sailed towards the colony world of Arcadia with an orbital battle underway.

Captain Cutter walked into the bridge of the Fire, going right over to the holo table in the center of the room.

"Serina? Situation update."

The ship's AI instantly brought up a display of Arcadia with several ships marked with blue for UNSC forces and red for Covenant.

"Arcadia is besieged by five Covenant vessels. Two SDV Corvettes, two CCS-class battlecruisers with the lead ship being an ORS-Class heavy cruiser."

"And our forces?"

"Four Halcyon Cruisers, Two Valor-Class attack Cruisers, two MC75 Star Cruisers being led by one Viscount-class Star Defender." Serina said, magnifying the identified UNSC ships.

"The Belfast, Pillar of Autumn, Texas, Armstrong, Oakwood, and Shyrri engaged immediately and caught a corvette with its shields down. The Viscount Defender Nautical destroyed the other Corvette and is still engaged with the ORS Heavy cruiser. We lost the Texas, Oakwood, and Belfast. The rest of the cruisers are engaging one of the cruisers with the two MC75's backing them. The other CCS Cruiser is engaged in surface activity. Multiple Covenant troops have been deployed with a forward operating base having been established by the cruiser. Currently, upwards of two hundred starfighters have engaged the Covenant ships in orbit."

The Captain turned out to Arcadia proper, eyes squinted as he picked up on the multitude of UNSC starfighters currently engaging the enemy forces.

A-wings, D-wings, Y-Wings, X-wings, V-19s and the Wookiee-designed Owool interceptors, more simply known as the O-wing for short.

"Have Lieutenant Moorce out there with her squadron. Prep all systems for battle." Cutter said straight away. "And what was this of surface activity?"

"I've managed to receive a visual of Arcadia's surface." Serina stated and wordlessly, the Captain looked down at a monitor that flashed on to display the surface of the UNSC colony.

At first, there was nothing but static until a more clear visual was displayed.

And what Cutter saw gave him a degree of hope and relief.

Three large and well-armored humans viciously fighting back against the onslaught of the Covenant forces on Arcadia.

The trio wore familiar Mjolnir armor yet each had a distinct color difference in terms of their chest, arms, and shoulder pieces.

One had a red-colored center with a helmet to match and the number 099 on the left side of the chest piece and in their hands was a large, apparently custom railgun.

The second was primarily blue, accents for the most part, and in this armored being's hands was what could only be described to be a mortar launcher. The number 025 was on this individual's armor.

The last and seemingly leader as this one pointed at a Brute for 099 to shoot at had a goldish-yellow color scheme on the arms and back chest piece of the Mjolnir armor they wore and in their hands was a Sangheili energy sword. This individual's number was 011.

And the unifying symbol that all three of these people had was none other than the Omega Symbol.

"Omega team." Cutter muttered out.

Looks like 092's statement of the Spartan-II fireteam of Omega being on Arcadia was true.

And they were fighting the Covenant whilst the Spirit of Fire was dilly-dallying their way over to the planet.

"Serina, get me Red team, my sergeants, and Sunray on the comm."

"Sir."

"Jerome. Forge. Kitomag. Major Vaughn. Do you copy?"

"Loud and clear, sir." Came the response from Sergeant Forge.

"Prep yourselves for orbital drop." Cutter instructed. "Omega team is leading a direct assault on an established Covenant operating base on Arcadia. We need to remove the Covenant's foothold and alleviate some pressure on our troops below. Major Vaughn?"

"Sir." Was the response from the gruff CO aboard his ship.

"Prep Boomerang Company." The Captain said straight away. "Sunray 1-1 is leading this charge with Red Team. Give them a warm Arcadian welcome."

"Feet first sir!" Vaughn loudly proclaimed on his end, the last thing being heard was barking out orders for a drop.

"Give 'em hell." Cutter said, cutting off the link before turning back to Arcadia. "Serina, launch Pods. Bring the ship to alert. Prepare for battle."

"Understood Captain."

Multiple squares and rectangular parts of the Spirit Of Fire began detaching themselves from the ship and positioned themselves over Arcadia. After a few seconds of tense silence, multiple drop pods were fired out from the detachments from the Phoenix-Class Carrier.

Cutter silently watched on as the pods raced down towards the surface of Arcadia before looking back to the bridge crew.

"Prep all weapon systems, target every Covenant ship and prepare to blow them all to hell."

"SIR!" Was the resounding response from the crew.

Down below on Arcadia, chaos and fear reigned across the planet, specifically around the city of Arcadia itself.

Yes, the name of the capital was named after the planet itself.

Original, right?

But names didn't matter right about now. What did matter was that Covenant forces were continually landing troops upon the ground all while the civilian and UNSC forces fought in desperation to hold them back.

Thankfully, all was not lost as the Spartan-II fireteam of Omega was present in this battle, proving to be vital in holding back the onslaught of the Covenant.

Just as the Spartans finished off an Elite Ultra, they saw the oncoming next wave of Covenant forces.

Leon-011, Robert-025 and August-099 simply rolled their shoulders in a synchronized fashion and readied themselves for the next wave.

Just as they prepared themselves to sprint right at the oncoming horde, reinforcements came in from above.

A number of drop pods slammed into the ground in front of Omega team, their arrival causing the oncoming wave of Covenant forces to stop for the briefest of moments. Hatches then proceeded to fly off the pods and out came three armored humans and a squad of ODSTs the large group charged headfirst into the Covenant forces.

Omega didn't need any prompt as they were quick to join up with the newly arrived fresh batch of troops. They tore into the Covenant forces, the six Spartans and several dozen ODSTs laying waste to them with unbridled efficient fury.

They were joined seconds later by additional UNSC forces, several warthogs, tanks, and infantry all rushing in to beat back the invading Covenant.

"Forge to Fire, we've got an LZ secure." The Sergeant reported in, seeing that the enemy wave had been eliminated.

"Copy that sergeant, pelicans with reinforcements inbound." Cutter's voice came through the comms. "Standby for additional orders once battle group one arrives."

"Loud and clear, Captain." Was Forge's response, the man turning back to the assemblage of Spartans and ODSTs. "Hold position, cavalry's on its way."

He got verbal and silent head gestures of acknowledgment.

Forge proceeded to contact Arcadian Patrol whilst the Spartans and ODSTs readied themselves for further action and orders. During that time, Red and Omega took a moment to catch up.

"Harvest has been reclaimed?" Leon-011 remarked in slight surprise.

"For the most part." Jerome-092 stated, eyes set on the outskirts and skies above Arcadia's capital Pirth. "There is still a sizable battle group there that's been tasked with cleaning up the remainder of the Covenant fleet that didn't come here."

"Why did they come here to begin with?" August-099 inquired. "This feels a bit out of the way for them to go to."

"That's why Captain Cutter came here to find out." Douglas-042 chimed in. "We have a professor of Xeno technology aboard the Spirit of Fire who deduced the Covenant would come here looking for something. We came in pursuit of them and figure out just what they want here."

Before they were able to converse any further, timed with the arrival of fresh troops from the Spirit of Fire, their comms were lit up from the chatter of Arcadia's Patrol.

"Spirit of Fire, this is Arcadian patrol, civilians entering the city are being blocked by hostile forces. We need to clear that area, can you assist?"

"Arcadia Ground Control, this is Sergeant Kitomag." The Mon Cala marine responded. "Where are the civilians being held up? We're at the southwest entrance to the capital."

"The East." Was the response. "There are multiple Covenant drop ships that keep deploying troops and tanks that keep targeting our transport ships. It's turning into a blood bath here. We need support in this sector now!"

"Copy that, we're on our way." Forge replied this time, grunting in satisfaction at the warthog that had just been deposited in front of him.

Jumping up to the gun on the back, one marine took the driver's seat whilst the passenger was occupied by Kitomag. The troops gathered around the Sergeants for further instruction.

"Alright boys and girls, Covies are undergoing target practice on civilians so it is our divine duty to stomp a mudhole in those bastards and walk it dry."

He was met with a resounding "urah" before Major Vaughn walked up to his Warthog.

"Stone Cold? Really?"

"I'm more surprised you know about it, Major." Forge cheekily retorted. "But good shit is timeless, don't ya know?"

The ODST Major only shook his head in amusement, barking out orders for his company a second later.

The contingent of the Phoenix-Class ODSTs, Marines, and Spartans all made a beeline for the eastern quadrant of the capital city. Overhead flew a squadron of starfighters from the carrier being led by its Wookie leader to help alleviate some of the pressure on the civilians.

"Arcadia ground control, this is Forge. We're inbound to aid in evacuation efforts, help is on the way!"

They arrived in time to see Moorce reigning down a heavy payload on the Covies, decimating and scattering their right and center flanks.

Forge and Kitomag's contingent rushed in with guns blazing. Tanks blew away any vehicles that had survived the bombardment and the warthogs tore through or simply ran over any Covie they saw in their path.

In the middle of this battle, additional UNSC reinforcements began pouring in from other ships and bases on and around Arcadia to help in securing the city.

The battle dragged on for far longer than anticipated as Covenant forces kept getting replaced despite such losses.

"Where the hell do these bastards keep swarming in from?" Forge complained, smacking the butt of his shotgun into the face of a Geonosian, shooting its head off a second later.

"They came here before we did." Vaughn spoke up, grabbing a Vorcha by the head and violently jerking its head to snap its neck and kill it. "Maybe they established a ground base nearby."

Hearing this, Kitomag was quick to reach out to the AI of the Fire.

"Serina, did you hear what the Major just said?"

"Running scans upon the surface of Arcadia." Was the AI's immediate response. "Covenant base detected. Sending location to you now."

"Moorce, ya got 'em?" Forge questioned through the comms, hearing the Wookie pilot let out a warbling confirmation. "Good. Hit em hard and fast before we get there. Spartans."

"Sir." 092 was the one who responded.

"You guys move on ahead of us and start whittling them down." Forge instructed. "Still some stragglers we're dealing with here."

The six Spartans simply nodded in acknowledgment and broke off into a sprint as their HUDs received instructions on where to go. They became six blurs, running at full speeds towards the Covenant base a few clicks out from the capital.

"Jesus, that's just overkill." Vaughn murmured with a shake of his head. "You should at least give them a chance."

"What and deny the Spartans a chance to show off?" Forge retorted with a wry grin. "What do you take me for?"

"A glory hound." Kitomag casually, getting his human friend's brow to twitch upwards.

"I don't wanna hear that from you mister "artistic" killer."

"That is a horrible stigma against my people!" Kitomag shot back.

"That admiral Raddus started." Major Vaughn pointed out, making the Mon Cala sergeant stumble over his words.

"What's wrong with being artistic in battle?" Kit defensively asked.

"Nothing, just don't be a hypocrite and own up to it." John remarked, making his close friend scowl in his direction.

"Hark who's talking."

As this went on, Major Vaughn sighed, rolling his eyes at the pair bickering in the middle of a warzone.

"Does this happen often, Major?" Warrant Officer Quinn questioned by his side.

"All the time." Vaughn said, shaking his head, unable to hide his exasperated amusement in his tone. "They've known each other for years so when they're not arguing, either nothing has come up yet or it's serious."

Quinn simply accepted the statement as she wasn't really in a state to dispute such incredulity amid a battle zone.

Say what you will but the effectiveness of the pair was on full display as they managed to direct the flow of Spirt of Fire's and Arcadia's ground forces despite their small argument. The East sector of the city outskirts was secured minutes later, the troops all changing course in the direction of the pinpointed makeshift base that had been established by the Covenant.

They soon came across a large spire with seven extensions of dome-like structures serving as a staging ground for the Covies. It was currently being assailed by Moorce's starfighter squadron, being joined by Arcadian air support and six Spartan-IIs.

Several locations were on fire but it was holding strong in spite of all the damage it was receiving.

That was rectified with the arrival of the battalion being led by the two sergeants. Upon spotting the Covenant base, rockets, grenades, tank shells, gauss cannons and all were unleashed upon the spire.

The remaining Covies were killed off in rapid succession as the sector had been cleared and secured by the UNSC.

One final Elite tried firing at the marines only for Kitomag to tackle him from the side, Forge rushing in after and popping a shotgun shell right in its mouth.

"And that's how it's done." John stated in sadistic satisfaction at his kill.

"Kitomag to Spirit of Fire, we've taken out the enemy base." Kitomag said, holding up his arm to speak into his wrist comm. "Awaiting further orders."

The response from the Phoenix-class ship came a second later. "Sergeants, report back to the bridge ASAP. We've got a new problem."

Kit and Forge shared a look with one another, a gust of winding gaining their attention a moment later. Both looked up at a pelican coming down towards them, spinning about in midair for the back ramp to open up.

Once low enough, Kit and Forge were quick to move and get on the Pelican that took them back up to the Spirit of Fire.

Those that remained were given orders to pick off any Covies that might be around Pirth City whilst securing the city perimeter and await further instructions.

Spartan Teams Omega and Red along with Sunray 1-1 were sent on reconnaissance to see if there were any other Covenant Forces within the area.

Forge and Kit soon found themselves back aboard the Fire and made their way up to the bridge.

There they found Captain Cutter and Professor Anders looking over the central holo-table that was currently displaying a large holographic dome, with red dots floating above and around it. One of the red dots enters the dome.

"Alright, what's the situation this time?" Forge asked as soon as he walked in.

"We found more Covenant and they've established another base of operations on Arcadia." Anders answered, eyes set on several more dots flying in and out of the dome shield.

"So...it's an energy shield that they can deploy on the planet?" Cutter surmised.

"How fast did they pull that off?" Kit asked in astonishment.

"They had a head start on us, remember?" Anders reminded the Mon Cala sergeant, leaning upon the holo-table, staring intently at the dome. "Any luck, Serina?"

"None so far." The ship's AI responded. "Smattering of chatter here and there but nothing concrete. If I were to have a guess as to what they may be doing under there, it can be easy to assume that it has something to do with what they were looking for back on Harvest."

Anders grimaced irritably, her gaze becoming like daggers as she pushed off the table, walking around it now.

"We can't see through it, but the Covenant are up to something."

"That much is a given but what is it?" Kitomag voiced the question he and Forge shared.

"We need to find out what that is." Cutter declared, turning to the Professor. "Can we use the ship's cannons and take it out directly?"

Anders shook her head, rejecting the notion. "We may destroy whatever's under there." She paused, taking a moment to think over several options on how they can approach this. "Covenant shield technology is susceptible to superheated plasma."

On the holo-table, holograms of three boxes appear outside the dome and begin to discharge large beams onto the dome. The dome hologram disintegrates after a few seconds.

"That's one way to do it but where are we supposed to get some plasma that isn't Covenant?" Forge pointed out, arms crossed in a huff.

"Some gauss cannons might work." Kit mused, shaking his head a moment later. "But that would take longer and who knows the effect it can have on the shield. Has the chance of punching right through it and destroying whatever it is the Covenant are doing there."

There was a pause shared between the three humans, Mon Cala and AI until Anders hummed aloud.

"Aren't we field testing some plasma-based Rhinos?" She inquired, looking between Forge and Serina.

"Pillar of Autumn inventory shows they have some prototypes." Came the AI's reply, making the Professor smirk.

"There's our plasma." She faced Cutter now. "It might take some time to get the right power settings. I'll need to be on the ground to do that."

Cutter appeared to be against the idea but he opted to stow it away, looking to his trusted sergeants. "Professor, Sergeants, let's get that shield down!"

John stepped forward with a roll of his eyes though there was no malice or annoyance behind them. "Ugh, babysitting again?"

Anders turns and gives Forge a quick smile.

"Have Boomerang company and Red Team prepped for redeployment on that dome." Cutter added on as the two sergeants and professor exited the bridge. "I don't want them caught flatfooted."

He then turned to back to the holo-table, contacting his starfighter squadron leader.

"Moorce?"

"Reh?"

"Sending coordinates of your next mission objective." Cutter stated. "There is a Covenant fighter presence so you're gonna need to keep those banshees and needles off our boys on the ground."

"GRAAA!" Was the growl of confirmation from the young Wookie pilot.

The Captain simply nodded at that, signing off and walking back over to the window of the bridge and gazing back down at Arcadia. He saw the remnants of the Covenant fleet that first came here, still engaging the UNSC ships around Arcadia.

Thanks to their arrival, they had been able to knock out the two Corvettes and one of the Battlecruisers. All that remained was the other Battlecruiser and the single ORS-Heavy Cruiser.

They had tried several attacks on the two ships yet they displayed particularly exceptional defensive maneuvers and strategies, having destroyed one of their frigates in the middle of it all. To Cutter, it was a clear sign that they may be stalling. But for what remains to be seen.

However, if the Captain was a betting man, it would be easy to deduce that they're still here and playing the defensive game due to their plans down on Arcadia's surface.

All the while…

The Arbiter of the Covenant, Ripa 'Moramee was currently walking alongside one of the three Prophets that dictated the entirety of the Covenant empire.

The Prophet of Regret, the San'Shyuum who personally appointed him to the position of Arbiter, floated alongside him within his specialized throne-like chair. The pair walked upon what appeared to be a floating walkway with Sangheili guards lining the runway.

They all stood rigid and unmoving, ready to move at a moment's notice should danger beseech Regret.

Though this was to be expected among the Elites of the Covenant, the Prophet of Regret has long been regarded as a favorite among the Sangheili. Of the three Prophets dictating the will of the Covenant, Regret has long since admired and been a fierce supporter and advocate for the Sangheili.

He was unlike most other Prophets wherein he preferred to be down on the battlefield or alongside a litany of Elites with their fleets, leading or delivering sermons of the Great journey and their holy crusade against humanity and their sinful compatriots. This in turn has earned a fierce loyalty from the Sangheili who have served under him, such as Ripa.

The duo continued their walk along the runway in the area that has been dubbed the Apex Site, the epicenter of control for the Forerunner world they currently inhabited.

"Arbiter." Regret spoke up after a few moments of silence. "You are unusually quiet. What troubles occupy your thoughts?"

Ripa hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Hierarch, I do not wish to be impudent but you have charged me with the destruction of humanity and their allies-"

"A most noble cause for one with such a troubled past such as yours." Regret reminded, cutting the Arbiter off for a second.

Ripa simply took in stride, humbly nodding his head. "And I am thankful for my task-"

The two reached the end of the runway, leading onto a platform that had a holo-sphere akin to the one on Harvest that allows control of the Forerunner relics upon this world.

"But sire, you have me skulk in ancient ruins and search in empty temples." The frustration was clear to hear for the Prophet. "How does this help me accomplish my task?"

Regret simply hummed, lacing his hands together for a moment of contemplation. He then had his chair float over to the holo-sphere.

"This war with the Humans, Wookies and Mon Cala has proven to be far more arduous than anticipated." The Prophet freely admitted. "Though we have our advantage in our technology and numbers, these heathens have proven to be far more versatile and tenacious than we expected. The loss of an entire system was the loss we needed to realize that it will take more than just mustering what we have to annihilate these sinful creatures."

The Arbiter ignited two plasma swords, proudly proclaiming, "I will take what we have-"

"And leave us defenseless?!" Regret cut him off, with a shake of his head. "No. Like before, in our time of doubt and loss, we must look to the ancients to provide us with clarity. This world shall be the birthplace for an invasion fleet beyond imagining. With it, we can crush our foes with ease."

"But noble hierarch, this world lies dormant." Ripa stated. "It is nothing more than a shell."

"What you speak is blasphemy." Regret forcefully said, turning back to the control sphere. "What we require is patience."

The San'Shyuum paused momentarily, his hand hovering over the controls.

"But perhaps there is a quicker way." He mused, hand placed under his chin now. "That human female from the ice relic… she appears to have some knowledge in this regard. The new planet the relic has led us has also led her."

Regret faced the Arbiter, expression stern. "Capture that human and bring her here."

'Moramee simply nodded his head. "It will be done."

Speaking of the new planet…

The shield dome the Covenant had established soon had a number of grizzly tanks with warthogs, gausshogs, Scorpions, Scorpions, Mongooses, and Starfighters approach its perimeter. From above flew Moorce in her personalized Y-Wing. She let out a battle cry all while speaking to the ground forces.

"We hear ya loud and clear, Lieutenant." Kitomag responded, inclining his head back towards the battalion that they had led. "Get ready for a heatwave boys and girls."

Behind the battle group was a watchtower where its current occupant was Professor Anders and a marine squad to keep her safe as she conducted her work.

"Make sure you keep those Rhino's safe." Ander instructed the two sergeants leading the UNSC forces. "With what my estimations are telling me, we'll need them all firing from coordinated locations to bring down the shield."

"Copy that, Professor." The Mon Cala sergeant responded, slamming a fresh clip into his assault rifle.

Forge saw Red Team standing by next to their Warthog and the Sergeant was unable to help himself.

"You're getting more time to show off, you know."

130 tilted her head slightly and though he could not see it, the human sergeant was quick to detect a coy air around the Spartan-II.

"Don't worry Sergeant, you'll have your time to shine when we're done."

092's shoulders slumped slightly, silently saying "Alice" through their private comms, getting nothing but a huff and laugh from his Spartan sister.

Forge snorted, shaking his head at the Spartan, refocusing just in time to see Moorce and her squadron drop many bombs upon the Covenant shield.

The shield dome rippled and out came a few dozen banshees and Geonosian fighters. Some engaged in an instant dogfight with the UNSC fighters whilst others flew directly at them.

"Looks like we only shook the beehive, we got multiple bogeys inbound!"

"I've got the positions set for where you need to place the Rhinos." Anders abruptly chimed in just as the battle was underway. "Relaying their locations to you now."

"Alright, we have a plan." Forge said, firing at a banshee that flew by. Clipping its wing, he smirked at his accomplishment watching with delight at the sight of the Banshee crashing headfirst into the ground.

"Alight people form up into separate teams." Kit barked out, hopping out of the warthog he and Forge occupied to go take one for himself. "Red team, you lead the northern most team in securing that spot for your Rhino. Vaughn, head west. Forge and I will handle the other two locations."

The groups were quick to divide up amongst themselves per Kit's instructions, the battle escalating moments later upon Covenant ground forces entering into the fray.

Forge was in the heat of the battle, directing his troops from atop his warthog whilst the Wookie driver ran over several Grunts and Jackals.

"Stand your ground until our Rhino gets into the first position." Forge shouted over the chaos, pulling out his pistol to shoot at several Bugs(Geonosians) that attempted a fly-by pick up of him. "Kit, how're things on your end?"

Over with his best friend, the Mon Cala sergeant slammed his boot into a jackal, wrestling its point defense gauntlet out from his arm. He slapped it on in time to deflect several plasma bolts sent his way by several Elites.

"Doin' just peachy, Forge." Kit answered with a growl, ducking for cover behind his warthog that had been blown up. "That makes twenty-seven."

"Why do you keep track of them?" Forge asked in bemusement. "You do know we lose a hundred hogs a battle."

"But I seem to lose them more than anyone else." Kitomag retorted, popping out of his cover to rapidly fire upon an Elite.

Its shields held strong for a few moments until a Wookie corporal charged in and stabbed her Ryyk blade into the side of the Sangheili. The Elite roared in pain, its shields bursting off of him giving Kit the chance to kill it with a clean shot to the head.

Kit nodded at the Wookie who garbled back in response, the two resuming their battle.

"We're holding out and our Rhino is almost in position." Kit said, seeing the tank get closer to its designated spot Anders had assigned for it.

"Red team reporting in." Jerome-092 chimed in. "Rhino is ready and secured in position."

On Forge's end, he only grinned, shaking his head. "Course it is. Damn Spartan glory hogs. Major Vaughn, Status update."

The ODST Major of Boomerang company swung his rocket launcher at full force, cracking a Vorcha right across the face. A moment later, Quinn came in and blasted a good chunk of its chest and shoulder right off, killing it.

The rest of his squadron was covering their backs, leading a hundred ODSTs as their sector were two of the closest to the Covenant shield dome.

"We're just about -FUCK OFF- Ready on our end." Vaughn said, pulling out his combat knife, tackling an annoying Geonosian that had been hounding him for a while now and repeatedly stabbing its face in.

As he finished killing the bug, the Rhino they had been escorting got into its designation location, the Major relaying their success to the rest of the squadrons.

"That's all four Rhino's." Forge yelled through the comms. "Professor, it's your show now."

"Cross your fingers!" Anders said from her post in the watchtower. "Firing all Rhinos in three, two, one..."

The Rhinos fire in sync with each other, their plasma shells impacting a specific point of the shield. Said section of the dome shield falters and dissipates, a large opening for all to see.

"The dome power supply is overloaded, we got it!" Anders exclaimed, raising a fist in victory. "Captain Cutter, we're in."

"Copy that, Professor, good work." Cutter praised. "Sergeant Forge, you have the MAC. Just point where it needs to be fired."

Back down on the ground, Forge had a wide smirk plastered on his face when he heard this.

"You're spoiling me, Captain." The Sergeant remarked, getting handed an Ordnance marker and pointed it at the Covenant bases he saw within the opened shield dome.

"MAC is coming online, single turret available." Serina informed the sergeant.

"Alright, the dome generators and the air defenses are the main targets. Light 'em up!"

A MAC round fired from the Spirit of Fire came down from on high and utterly destroyed the Covenant base.

"Good shooting, Fire." Forge said aloud, the cheer of the marines being heard over the comms.

A few moments later, Serina took command of the MAC.

"MAC fully online, all rounds loaded, I'll take out the remaining structures."

"Happy hunting, Serina." Kit encouraged, standing by as he watched one MAC after the other hammer the multiple Covenant structures, seeing them all get destroyed.

"Nice work." Forge praised. "Now, let's get down there and see what the Covenant found so damn interesting."

With a contingent of Scorpions leading the charge, Forge and Kit instructed their forces to divvy up into three contingents.

The pair of them up the middle, Red team leading the right and Vaughn with Boomerang Company on the left.

They were moving slowly and cautiously. Though the Covenant base and shield dome had been taken down, that's not to say this place was clear of hostiles.

There could be a whole host of other enemies just waiting to spring up and catch them off guard.

Like so…

*BOOM*

"What the hell was that?" Forge said, teeth clenched in anger at the sight of two of his Scorpions being destroyed by a beam of plasma.

"Scarab, sir." 092 said from his end, his flank spotting the source of the plasma beam. "Relaying visual now."

Upon seeing it, the Spirit of Fire's AI was the first to comment on it.

"A Scarab, large one at that." She stated. "It's incomplete it seems but its head is operational."

"But it's stationary from what we're seeing." Major Vaughn now reported in, spotting the scarab with its head moving about.

"Greh?" Was the grunt heard from Lieutenant Moorce who flew overhead with a dozen Y-wings on her tail.

"Don't engage just yet, LT." Kit quickly chimed in. "Looks like the Covies are smarter than they look. Anti-Aircraft cannons surround that Scarab, ain't no way you're dropping your payload without losing most of your squadron."

"Captain Cutter, this Red Leader."

Aboard the bridge of the carrier, Cutter was looking at the holo-table that was displaying the current layout of where his men were.

"Go ahead, 092."

"Requesting danger close archer missiles package." Jerome said, portions of the map now turning red. "Marking targets now."

"Bold plan, Red Leader."

"We're pressed for time, sir." The Spartan reasoned. "The Covenant are looking for something on Arcadia. The sooner we find out what it is, the sooner we can drive them off the planet and maybe even figure out a means to use it against them."

Cutter mulled over the reasoning for a few seconds and nodded.

"Standby for archer missiles."

Back down on Arcadia, the UNSC forces stood back, out of range of the scarab whilst engaging in the Covenant contingent that surrounded the incomplete behemoth.

Seconds later, a few dozen missiles rained down from above, battering the stationary scarab as well as some of the surrounding tanks and cannons of the Covenant. The onslaught of lead and fire decisively destroyed the scarab with the Fire's ground forces now rushing in to sweep up the remaining disoriented Covies.

"Ah, that's beautiful." Forge remarked at the sight of the destroyed scarab.

"Looks like it was built in front of something." Anders noted, having come down from the tower to join the troops on the ground. "It looks similar to that ancient structure back on Harvest."

"Think it's worth investigating?" Kit inquired, the human professor nodding in response.

"Absolutely." She affirmed. "We can maybe even find something the Covenant haven't."

"Well, let's hope things don't go sideways like last time." Forge said beneath his breath. "Alright, secure a perimeter and see if there are any stragglers and take them out. Kit, let's keep the good professor company."

Kit silently nodded, looking over to several marines and gestured for them to follow after them.

They soon arrived at the base of the structure where the remains of the incomplete Scarab littered the area.

"Watch those tree lines." Forge said straight away, the marines dispersing to cover their bases whilst the two sergeants stuck close by Anders.

Seeing a scrapped piece of the scarab, Forge picked it up and held it like it was a trophy just as Anders turned in his direction.

"Hey, how bout one for the scrapbook, Professor?" He cheekily asked, holding the scrap by his face with a cocky smirk.

Ellen held her camera up at the Sergeant for a moment, rolling her eyes at his behavior.

"Forge, if you don't mind, I'm trying to document all of this here for study." She admonished.

"Alright, fine." Forge said with a sigh, tossing the piece aside. "Have nothing to show for your kids that you did awesome shit."

The Professor glanced back at the Marine for a moment before resuming her work.

What she didn't notice up until the last second was in front of her on the ground was a puddle. And on said puddle were two identical shapes side by side.

She then heard a ragged growl with some metallic movement and a moment later, the air from her lungs was caught in her throat. A multi-fingered hand was clenched firmly around her neck, the woman struggling to free herself from its grasp.

Anders was then lifted up into the air, the woman gasping for breath.

In the background, the woman heard multiple guns being pointed in her direction.

After a moment, the figure that held her decloaked, revealing it to be the Arbiter.

"You will be coming with me." Ripa growled menacingly, leaning towards her face, his breath causing further discomfort for the human woman.

"Why don't we put the lady down and talk about this man to freak." Forge challenged, trailing his pistol line-of-sight upon the Elite's head.

The Sangheili glanced around for a moment, counting the number of marines surrounding him and made what looked to be a sneering smirk.

"As you wish."

He tossed Anders aside, whipping out a plasma pistol to shoot at the closest marine to him, killing the soldier.

Ripa then turned invisible just as the marines opened fire upon him. Forge looked around rapidly whilst Kit moved to keep Anders safe.

The marines all looked about, trying to find the Sangheili when one of them was shot down by a plasma bolt from behind. This happened several more times, the marines all being killed off one by one until it was only the two sergeants and professor left.

"Alright you 20th-century knockoff, are ya done being a copycat, or are ya gonna show you- KIT!"

The warning came out just in time as the Mon Cala spun around to see the ground gain several footprints headed straight for him. The sound of a plasma sword was ignited and Kitomag dodged the blade at the last second.

He wasn't so fortunate as to avoid the kick that came to his gut. With the wind knocked out of him, he was open for the kill but Forge was already rushing in, firing at the Elite.

Ripa saw him coming and violently booted Kit to the ground, spinning around to catch Forge's hands and slash his plasma sword across his chest.

The human sergeant fell to the ground, clutching his chest in pain but still able to move.

Just as Ripa moved in for the kill, Anders rushed in with her arms spread out protectively in front of him.

"Stop!" She shouted desperately, actually halting the Sangheili in his tracks.

"Anders, get out of here!" Forge shouted despite being injured.

She ignored the man, facing down the Elite unflinchingly though her voice was shaking.

"I'll come quietly if you let him live." She softly said.

The Elite said nothing but acquiesced as he roughly grabbed her by the neck again, walking past the downed Marine to be picked up via a gravity lift from a Covenant troop transport that swooped in to grab them.

Kit sent out a message for Moorce and her starfighters to not engage as they had taken Anders hostage.

Moments later, Red team came rushing in from a warthog, screeching to a halt in front of Forge and Kit who were getting back up to their feet.

"Sir?" Jerome-092 walked forward though Forge waved him down.

"I'm fine." Forge assured. "Spirit of Fire, this is Forge. We lost Anders."

"What happened?" Cutter's voice asked through their comm links.

"It was an Elite, sir." Kit grunted, nursing his head. "Big bastard came out of nowhere and snagged her right out from under us."

"Captain, I'm tracking her transponder." Serina was now heard. "It's heading away from the planet."

"Forge, Kit, get back up here now."

"Copy that, Captain." Forge said, wincing as he felt a searing pain in his chest.

Moments later, a pelican came down to pick up the five of them and the rest of the men and women of the Spirit of Fire also went back to their ship.

Though Forge was to be sent to the medical bay, the man ignored it as he, Kit and Jerome walked up to the bridge.

"We're all accounted for, sir." Forge said straight away upon entry. "Why haven't we left?"

"Why aren't you in the med-bay, Sergeant?" Cutter asked in return, seeing the large gash he had across his chest.

"He's too stubborn for his own good." Kit commented, looking down at the holo-table. "What's the status of Anders?"

"The Professor's signal has gone to lightspeed, headed for the border." Serina informed the group.

"She's out of any range of weapons we can use to disarm the ship." Jerome noted.

"We have to go after her." Forge emphatically stated.

"Sir, I can only track her transponder for only a few more seconds before it's out of range." Serina stated, making Cutter hang his head in deep thought.

"Captain, Anders is a serious security breach." 092 added. "If the Covenant have her then that means they have the means of gaining valuable information."

"You're not seriously suggesting what I think you are." Forge said accusingly, eyes narrowed at the Spartan-II.

"It's a risk we have to consider." Jerome countered without missing a beat.

"Captain-"

"Serina." Cutter's voice cut through all the bickering, silencing them all. "Get us under away immediately and stay on that signal. Prep the crew for Slip-space."

"Aye Aye sir." Serina said, Forge, Kit and Jerome exiting the bridge.

"So, we're leaving a note behind that we're leaving, yes?" Serina sarcastically asked, Cutter simply looking back at her dryly.

"I think a sudden arrival warrants just as sudden of a departure."