The Next Great Journey: Awakening

A/N: That's right, this is a sequel to my previous story, The Next Great Journey. So, in that note, I recommend reading that one first, otherwise, some things on this story won't make any sense. Also, please read the A/N at the end of the chapter once you finish reading the chapter.

Once again, I'll remind you readers that the year in the Systems Alliance Calendar is 2575, while the year in the Citadel Council Calendar is 2173.

"Normal and holographic communication"

[Radio Communication]

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any Halo or Mass Effect products; they belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 1: Darkness's Mantle

January 10, 2575, Systems Alliance Calendar; Horsehead Nebula, Unknown System, Kronos Station.

A lone giant star sat in the middle of a system devoid of any planets and moons, its surface constantly in a battle for dominance between a passive blue and a furious red color. Currently the red was winning said battle, but not by much. Close to the star, a single station orbited, taking the star's radiation as a power supply while ships of multiple designs and classifications protected the station. Thousands of miles away, dozens of satellites in construction orbited the station, their purpose, once their construction was finished, being that of creating a stealth screen that will make the station invisible to anything but the most powerful of sensors in the galaxy.

Inside the station, a room overlooked the star, its light being reflected by the floor and ceiling of the room, giving an impression of emptiness to anyone who stepped inside. A single man and a floating sphere inhabited the room, both surrounded by multiple holographic screens showing information provided by the man's agents and surveillance drones distributed in the galaxy. Looking at one screen, 216-Redeemer turned to look at The Illusive Man with its single eye.

"It seems that the announcement given by the Citadel Council regarding the Geth has shaken immensely the citizens in Citadel Space" 216-Redeemer said. "There's reports of multiple protests in the inner colonies as well as some riots on the outer colonies within Citadel Space. What surprises me most, is the response by the Quarians to the news. It is interesting but not totally unexpected, considering their history."

After the Flood outbreak was contained on Installation 06 and Kronos station's construction was finished, ONI transferred 216-Redeemer to Kronos station as an extra security measure. Having the ancient AI helping with the systems of Kronos will improve CERBERUS's capabilities to carry on their operations, as well as maintaining the AI's existence a secret from the rest of the galaxy.

"If you are referring to the small pockets of Quarians that want an alliance with the Geth, then I'm more surprised by the fact that they survived these last three-hundred years with those ideals" The Illusive Man responded while taking a smoke. "What I find more interesting is the fact that Jul M'Dama ordered the assassination of the Prophet of Vengeance and their Geth allies during the battle of the Citadel."

"It is a shame really. Millennia ago the San'Shyuum were considered one of the most advanced and wise species, especially with their alliance with humanity. To see a species with great potential being wasted during this new era saddens me."

"Yes, yes, the great galactic empire that the Human-San'Shyuum alliance had during the peak of the Forerunner empire, only for the Flood to destroy all of that" The Illusive Man interrupted. "I read the history lesson that you provided. And before you ask, the Alliance, in its current state, doesn't have the resources nor the time to embark in a search for our legacy as you call it. To do that, we'll have to get rid of this Reaper threat, obtain the Janus Key from the loyalists and find a way to stop the Guardians from causing more chaos on the colonies."

With that said, The Illusive Man changed the holographic screen to project the remains of Argent Moon and the brief recording of the Guardian seen in Palamok. Meanwhile, 216-Redeemer projected the known locations of a Guardian related incident on the galaxy map.

"Any luck finding a pattern on the Guardian incidents?" The Illusive Man asked.

"Sadly, no. Though I have discovered that someone of my kind is trying to stop whoever it is that is behind these incidents. Unfortunately, it appears that she was discovered before being able to send me her location" 216-Redeemer said with what could be considered a frustrated tone.

"Don't you have a record of where every other monitor is currently at?"

"No, that would endanger the other Installations and shield words if we were captured by enemies of the Forerunners and the Reclaimers."

"Understandable" He said while putting his cigarette on the ashtray. "Thankfully, with the information provided by both, Crimson and Osiris, we may be able to discover another Guardian before it activates."

Changing the holographic projections to that of the remains of the Reapers on the Citadel, and of another derelict Reaper orbiting a dwarf star, 216-Redeemer looked at The Illusive Man, who was looking curiously at the AI.

"Seeing as there's nothing we can do, but wait, in regards to the Guardians, I'm curious to know what are your plans regarding the Reapers? Seeing as both, the Alliance and ONI, have given us the authority to dictate how to proceed against this new threat."

"We can't extract the remains on the Citadel, at least not without causing a political disagreement with the Council. Though, that may be to our advantage. We let the Council keep and study those remains, and improve their technology with that of the Reapers. Meanwhile, we'll send a team to study the intact derelict Reaper."

"That way, once the Reapers decide to make their move, the galaxy will be more prepared to deal with them" 216-Redeemer said approvingly before frowning, "Though, that will also improve the possibilities of success of the Citadel Council if they declare war against the Alliance."

"Don't worry too much about that, while it may improve their chances against us, it'll take them decades before they can present a real threat to the Alliance. And, if by some miracle they manage to master that technology, I already have agents within their scientific teams analyzing those remains. I give the order, and all that work will be for nothing" Seeing the inquisitive look directed his way, The Illusive Man elaborated, "All I did was to order them to make sure that we have a countermeasure against any new weapons that may come out of this."

"In that case, I'm happy to inform you that the derelict Reaper is secure for boarding. The Sentinels I sent already neutralized the passive indoctrination signal emanating from the ship. I still recommend a daily psychological test on any organics that board the ship and to not stay inside for more than eight continuous hours."

"Why wasn't I informed of this mission of yours?" The Illusive Man asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It didn't seem important at the time" 216-Redeemer responded merrily before changing the conversation theme, "What about Matriarch Benezia?"

"She's currently obtaining resources and trying to instigate a new training regimen for their commandos. If everything goes according to plan, then the Asari military will be more capable of holding off the Reapers once they commence their attacks."

Nodding at that, 216-Redeemer continued with his duties. Some minutes passed in silence, both sending orders to other CERBERUS cells or, in the case of 216-Redeemer, giving orders to his Sentinels distributed on the galaxy and in Installation 06. Suddenly, a holo-screen appeared in front of them, indicating an incoming transmission form the Citadel.

"Interesting. It seems that Garrus Vakarian is finally contacting you" 216-Redeemer said.

"Has the communication device confirmed his identity and that he is alone?"

"Affirmative, I'll put him on the main line" That was the last thing 216-Redeemer said before exiting the room.

Turning to the holographic projector, The Illusive Man sat in his chair, the giant red-blue star on the background, obscuring his features as a holographic representation of Garrus formed in front of him. Seeing the evident surprise on the Turian's face, The Illusive Man allowed himself a small smile before reassuming his emotionless mask.

"Good to see that you decided to put the communicator on" He said.

"What? Who…who are you?" Garrus responded surprised.

Drinking some wine from the glass on his chair, he responded, "For the moment call me, The Illusive Man. And you and I, Garrus Vakarian, have much to discuss."

The Illusive Man may be many things to the citizens of the galaxy, but to all of those few who knew him, they agreed that the man was a master of dramatic theatrics.

January 8, 2575, Systems Alliance Calendar; Napret Nebula, Close to Napret System, Phantom in route to Argent Moon.

In the darkness of space, a Phantom dropship passed through a small asteroid field, where the derelict ONI ship floated aimlessly. Outside the asteroid field, the UNSC Infinity, alongside the CPV Destroyer Tarq'lin and the CCS Battlecruiser Queen's Wrath, kept over-watch on the system as well as, Argent Moon. Because of the recent Guardian incident on Palamok and the territorial nature of the Yanme'e, the Yanme'e Queen had insisted on two of her defense ships accompanying the Infinity on her mission to recuperate Argent Moon. Stating in the process that this was also in Yanme'e interests to prevent any more Guardian incidents in other Yanme'e colonies. The fact that the operation is taking within inner Yanme'e space also made ONI agree to the request, though with the condition that the ships and its crews followed Infinity's orders and that only those who saw and knew what really happened during the incident were aboard said ships.

Inside the Phantom, Crimson and Halictidae teams readied themselves for the upcoming boarding. The two Spartan IV's of Crimson checked their armor, making sure to have everything in order, meanwhile, the single Sangheili of the team, and the Spartan II revised their weapons and ammunition packages. On the other hand, Halictidae team, a four Yanme'e special forces team, revised that their exo-suits were sealed correctly and that the small jets worked properly in case they were forced to fight in space.

"All right people" Axel, the leader of Crimson team, said as he activated the holographic projector of the Phantom, "seeing as we have more companions than initially expected, I'll go through the debrief again."

Hearing those words, Halictidae team payed close attention to the more detailed briefing than the one they received aboard the Queen's Wrath. Seeing the Yanme'e paying attention, Axel changed the holo-projector to show the schematics of Argent Moon before continuing.

"Our primary objective is to extract Singapore from the bridge of the ship, securing the ship is a secondary objective" At Axel's words, Argent Moon's bridge highlighted in green. "Seeing as the bridge section is in complete lockdown, we'll have to make our way through the cargo bay to access the maintenance corridor to get to the engineering deck. Once there, we cut the power to the bridge's security systems, that will deactivate the lockdown. After that, we make our way to the bridge. Also, according to ONI, the ship was boarded by hostile Promethean forces more advanced than the ones encountered in Requiem, so expect trouble."

Changing the holo-projector to show five variations of the Promethean forces, Axel went into quick detail on each of them, Halictidae team paying close attention all the time. A few minutes passed before the pilot of the Phantom announced that they were about to board Argent Moon.

The Phantom approached one of the observation windows of Argent Moon, the side with the docking tube facing the window. Stopping close the window, the Phantom deployed the docking tube, hitting the window and destroying it completely. Immediately after, the docking tube extended an energy shield, covering the area that the window used to be in before the room decompressed itself.

Inside the Phantom, the lights turned green once the docking tube was properly secured. Both, Crimson and Halictidae teams, coming out of the tube before dispersing through the room; Crimson team securing the first floor while Halictidae team secured the second floor.

[Clear] John-117, Crimson-4, said.

A few seconds later, Halictidae-1 said, [Second floor, we have a body.]

Using their armor jetpacks, Crimson went to the second floor through the small balcony overlooking the room under it. Spotting Halictidae-1 and 3 near the body, Axel and John-117 made their way to them while Sarx and Blackburn helped the other two members of Halictidae guard the room.

"What do we have here?" Axel asked.

"Human, female; she seems to have been killed a few hours ago. The hard-light bullet is still inside her body, slowly disintegrating her from the inside" Halictidae-3 replied after finishing her scan of the remains of the body.

"That's not normal" John-117 said, "besides the Binary rifle, Incineration canon and Scattershot, no other hand wielded Promethean gun disintegrates their target, specially this slowly."

"That's what I thought" Halictidae-3 responded, "so I went further in my scans. It appears that the hard-light bullet was fired from a Lightrifle, tough the composition of the bullet is more unstable than those of your standard lightrifles."

"So we got new Prometheans forces and modified weapons to deal with" Axel said, "Alright people, we are moving. Check your corners and keep an eye open for anything suspicious; Halictidae team, you keep an eye ahead of us from the sky, Sarx, you got point."

Moving towards a panel on the wall, Sarx activated the door control that connected the balcony to a wide corridor. Storm rifle at the ready, Sarx moved on ahead followed by the rest of Crimson, with Halictidae team flying close to the roof of the corridor, Needlers and Needler rifles at the ready. The corridor was filled up with multiple barriers made of boxes, flipped tables and the occasional metal debris of the corridor's walls. Behind the makeshift barriers, multiple M6G Magnums and Plasma Pistols laid on the floor alongside the remains of Argent Moon's crew.

Arriving at the end of the corridor, Sarx activated the elevators that connected the corridor to the cargo bay. Once both elevators arrived, each team took one to go down, not one team noticing the small object attached to the wall that flashed red before turning off. Going down the elevators, both teams saw various containers, alongside some vehicles and small space ships, which were on flames, on the cargo bay and between these, many trench positions filled with a few bodies.

"Seems like the crew put up a fight" Sarx commented.

"I don't like this" Blackburn responded, "since we boarded the ship, there hasn't been any signs of activity. I don't know about you guys, but I smell a trap."

"Just keep your eyes open Blackburn and you'll be fine" Axel responded.

Silence reigned in the elevators after that, and a few seconds later, the elevators arrived at their destination. Exiting the elevators, both teams moved in the same formation as in the corridor. Spotting runways two stories up on each side of the cargo bay, Halictidae team moved up there, two members of their team on each runway.

A few yards in front of Crimson team, the barrel of a rifle could be seen exiting through the window of a small office. The rifle lighted up with red lights, a few seconds later, the shooter opened fire. The rifle shot a beam of concentrated hard-light at its target, the Spartan II taking the shot to his helmet. As soon as the constant beam of hard-light hit his shields, John-117 activated his armor's thrusters, moving quickly to the side to get behind cover. Not soon after, multiple Prometheans started to teleport all around the cargo bay. Unlike the Didact and the Librarian's Promethean forces, these Prometheans were covered in black armor with red highlights made of hard-light, wielding weapons of similar designs.

[We got contacts!] Axel said while taking cover, [Halictidae team, take care of that sniper. Sarx, Blackburn give them some covering fire. Chief, you okay?]

[Just a burn mark in the armor sir, nothing more.] John said as his shields started to recharge.

Halictidae team moved quickly through the runaways, using their armor thrusters to fly quickly towards the direction of their target. Halfway through the runway, a Promethean, classified as Soldier, materialized in front of them with a Boltshot at the ready. Moving quickly to the sides, the two Yanme'e evaded the incoming Boltshot fire, which appeared to have some tracking capabilities like that of their Needlers. Both returned fire with their Needlers and Needle rifle, the Soldier taking a few hits which promptly exploded, taking his shields. The soldier teleported away after quickly throwing a grenade at the two Yanme'e, only to reappear behind them and continue his assault. Though, as soon as the soldier reappeared, he took a direct hit from an SRS99 Anti-Material rifle, also known simply as the Sniper rifle. The shot took a big chunk out of the Soldier's armor, exposing its core to the Yanme'e, who promptly opened fire at the core, killing the Soldier in a Needler explosion, as the grenade exploded behind them.

Downstairs, Blackburn swapped his Sniper rifle for his DMR, firing at a few Crawlers who were trying to flank him and Sarx. Sarx, on the other hand, was using his Storm rifle to keep a few more Soldiers at bay, all the while staying behind cover to not get hit by the enemy sniper fire. Both members of Crimson were soon accompanied by their remaining two members, both Spartans taking cover behind some crates before opening fire with their Assault and Battle rifles. The Soldiers for their part, utilized their teleporting abilities to move around the cargo bay, some of them teleporting directly behind Crimson, while others engaged Halictidae in the runways.

Taking down the last of the Soldiers in the Runways, Halictidae made it to the entrance of the office from which the Promethean sniper was taking cover. Taking positions on the sides and above the door, they opened the door before throwing a fragmentation grenade inside, as soon as the explosion was heard, the four Yanme'e entered the office to finish off the malfunctioning Soldier.

"H-2, take that Binary rifle and open fire on their forces" Halictidae-1 said, "H-3, you cover the entrance."

Downstairs, John took a few more hits from a Soldier before managing to take it down for good, only for another Soldier to teleport behind him, hard-light knife at the ready. Noticing the sudden movement in his motion sensor, John used his Assault rifle to block the incoming knife, only for the rifle to get bisected in two. Not even a second latter, John had his pistol out shooting at the Soldier point blank in the face while holding the Soldier's arm, preventing him from using the knife. Seven shots latter and the Soldier was down, close by, another Soldier trying to flank him, got taken out by the Binary rifle.

[Good shot H-2] John said utilizing his helmet's systems to recognize the Yanme'e using the Binary rifle. [Sir, the sniper has been taken out, Halictidae team is providing sniper fire, over.]

[Understood] Axel responded, [Alright people, lets finish off these bastards.]

The four members of Crimson exited their cover, firing their weapons at the remaining Crawlers and Soldiers. Spotting a Light Rifle, John took it alongside the few ammunition magazines scattered around it. Minutes later and the few Crawlers left on the battle were destroyed, leaving two Soldiers to fight off the Alliance's forces. A few more seconds passed with Crimson advancing on the Soldiers before one of them got taken out, the remaining one, after seeing his partner dematerialize, teleported out of the cargo bay before the Spartans and Yanme'e teams could take him out as well.

"Status report" Axel said as Halictidae team made its way towards Crimson's position.

"Halictidae is good and ready sir" H-1 said.

"Crimson as well sir" Sarx said.

Nodding at them, Axel lead the teams towards the service elevator in the far end of the cargo bay. Once there, he activated said elevator, taking them two decks further down. Back in the cargo bay, the remaining survivor Soldier reappeared on the destroyed office. Connecting himself to one of the few terminals that survived the firefight, the Soldier sent a transmission.

[Enemy forces have taken the bait. Eight hostile contacts confirmed inside Argent Moon. Species number H-32451, designation: Homo Sapiens, three contacts. Species number S-65897, designation: Macto Cognatus, one contact. Species number Y-69112, designation: Turpis Rex, four contacts. Three hostile ships orbiting Argent Moon. Designations: unknown. Requesting reinforcements to eliminate hostiles] The Soldier transmitted in a fraction of a second.

[Confirmed. Sending reinforcements.]

With the exchange done, the AI disconnected itself from the terminal, teleporting soon after towards their secondary ambush position.

January 8, 2575, Systems Alliance Calendar; Napret Nebula, Close to Napret System, UNSC Infinity.

"Admiral, a short transmission just came out of Argent Moon" Hades, the Infinity's AI said.

"Was it from our teams?" Lasky asked.

"Negative, the frequency and code is different from the one used by the Alliance. I assume that it is Forerunner in origin, though the transmission was extremely short for me to properly identify it."

"Understood, keep me informed in any other anomalies that happen" Lasky said before turning to the only Spartan in the command center. "Commander Palmer, what's the status of our teams?"

"Both, Crimson and Halictidae are currently on the service corridor moving towards Engineering. It appears that they had a small firefight on the cargo bay, but besides that, there hasn't been any more hostile contacts" Sara Palmer responded while looking at the holo-projector.

Nodding at her, Lasky moved to another terminal to look at the data of the transmission. Meanwhile, the holo-projector that Sara was looking at showed the schematics of Argent Moon, with both teams being shown as two blue arrows in one of the many corridors of the ship. Further down the corridor, multiple yellow dots with an unknown designation appeared in what was the Engineering deck. Typing some commands into the terminal, Sara changed those yellow contacts to hostiles as well as any other contacts with the same characteristics.

[Crimson be advised, I'm detecting multiple contacts in the Engineering deck] Sara said.

[Understood Commander] Axel responded.

Looking back at the Admiral, Sara saw him looking at some data alongside Hades. Curious to what they were looking at, she approached them, noticing that Lasky frowned the further he looked at the data shown to him.

"…inform the Tarq'lin and Queen's Wrath about this" Sara heard Lasky say, "Also, put the battlegroup in alert. If anything that isn't supposed to be on the system appears, you give me targeting solutions on it."

"Something wrong?" Sara asked.

"Not for certain. What's the status on our teams?"

Sara looked at Lasky, analyzing his expression before replying, "They are currently securing Engineering."

Nodding at her, Lasky moved to the holo-projector, motioning Sara to follow him. Once there, Lasky changed the projection to that of the system. The hologram showing the three Alliance ships alongside the derelict Argent Moon, with the far side of the system showing two anomalies with their time of detection, and between the Alliance's position and the anomalies', another pair appeared with a different time.

"A few minutes ago Hades detected this pair of anomalies" Lasky said while pointing at the pair of anomalies on the far side of the system, "this was detected just after the transmission we detected was sent" at this he pointed at the closer anomalies.

"Do you want me to put Majestic on alert?" Sara asked.

"No, I want you to prepare a quick way out for both our teams in Argent, just in case things get, complicated."

Before Sara could respond, the ship shook, its shields becoming briefly visible. Soon after, two grey ships with red highlights appeared in the visible spectrum, multiple Phaetons and other small crafts leaving them to start their attack on the Alliance's ships.

"Hades! Tell the battlegroup to deploy all the fighters" Lasky said while getting back on his feet, "we need to keep the enemy away from Argent Moon."

Nodding, the AI sent the order to the ships, soon after, MAC rounds and plasma torpedoes were in their way to the two Forerunner ships. Utilizing the information obtained in the Arc, Hades managed to identify one of the ships as a frigate, while the other one as a light destroyer. The two Forerunner ships responded the fire with their particle canons, with most of their fire focusing on the Infinity and the Queen's Wrath.

Between the opposing ships, Phaetons and Despair-class fighters engaged Sabres, Broadswords and Banshees in a fierce dogfight. The Phaetons utilizing their maneuverability to their advantage to evade missiles and situate behind the Alliance's fighters, while the Despair fighters utilized their fast speeds to their full efficiency. The Alliance's ships on the other hand utilized their heavier weaponry to take out the Forerunner ships as quickly as possible. Flying in pairs, they covered each other while Banshees utilized their quick speeds to distract the enemy or support their companions.

A pair of Sabres made their way towards some Despair fighters targeting the decks in Argent Moon. The Despair fighters fired their missiles at the ship's hull, the photon explosions tearing apart parts of the hull, exposing decks and corridors to the vacuum of space. Before the Forerunner fighters could inflict more damage, the two Sabres opened fire with their two 30-mm canons, taking the Despair fighters shields out before following it with four medusa missiles.

Taking notice of their two destroyed companions, the other three Despair fighters quickly turned around to face the two Sabres, opening fire with their energy weaponry. One of the Sabres shields quickly gave out to the onslaught, taking direct damage to its hull and thrusters, the Sabre crashed into Argent Moon's hull. The other Sabre was luckier; utilizing the design of the research ship to its advantage, the pilot managed to evade the incoming fire long enough to position herself behind one of the Despair fighters. Firing a total of eight medusa missiles, followed by the 30-mm canon, one of the Despair fighters was destroyed while another one crashed in the ship's hull while trying to evade the incoming fire and crashing into its companions. The remaining Despair fighter opened a slip-space portal in front of it, only to reappear right behind the Sabre pilot, energy weapons at the ready.

Decelerating the Sabre and performing an aileron roll, she managed to put her fighter behind and to the right side of the Despair fighter. Immediately firing her remaining medusa missiles, the Despair fighter opened another slip-space portal, only for the missiles to follow the fighter into the portal. As the portal closed, an explosion could be seen inside the portal. With the imminent threat dealt with, she returned to the Infinity to refuel the Sabre's ammunition.

Meanwhile, a squadron consisting of six Banshees directed eight of the enemy fighters within the range of the Infinity's defense systems, the ship in turn utilizing its Scythe and Fortress point defense turrets to take out the eight enemy fighters. Multiple Rapier missiles followed soon after towards the Forerunner destroyer, which in turn utilized its own defense guns to take out most of the missiles, though they did nothing to stop the incoming plasma torpedoes from the Tarq'lin. Reorienting itself, the destroyer opened fire on the Tarq'lin, the overwhelming firepower, in combination with the Forerunner's frigate, quickly taking out the ship's shields, and soon after, the Tarq'lin was engulfed in a bright explosion.

The other two Alliance's ships continued their assault on the two Forerunner ships, their intention that of getting vengeance on their fallen ally. Maneuvering their ships, both Alliance's ships managed to get to the flanks of the Forerunner formation for a complete broadside attack.

January 8, 2575, Systems Alliance Calendar; Napret Nebula, Close to Napret System, Argent Moon.

The research ship shook as the bombardment from Phaetons and Despair ships continued, combined with the multiple debris of fighters crashing into the ship. Already multiple decks were exposed to the vacuum of space, while the few remaining bodies of the once crew of Argent Moon where showing signs of initial freezing. With all the chaos that was happening outside, Crimson and Halictidae made their way towards the ship's bridge. Having secured Engineering and cutting the power to the bridge's security systems, both teams had taken one of the nearby elevators, which took them one deck bellow the bridge. All that was left was to arrive at the ship's main elevator and access the bridge.

Taking cover behind one of the mess hall tables, John waited for the frag grenade to explode. Looking behind him, he watched Halictidae team covering Crimson's back, while the opposite was also true. Both teams had entered the mess hall only to spring another Forerunner ambush, though this time the cover was limited. Having set up a quick and hasty barricade using tables, chairs and everything else that they could find, Crimson and Halictidae were pinned down by the Forerunner forces attacking from the front and behind them.

With the Forerunner forces utilizing their teleportation abilities and watchers deploying energy shields for their troops. In response, Crimson and Halictidae alternated their fire, one team firing at the enemy on both sides while the other reloaded their weapons behind cover.

Hearing the grenade explode, Blackburn activated his small drone, sending it into the enemy formation. The drone was a standard issue for any sniper in the Alliance, being equipped with two 20-mm turrets and four small missiles, the drone served more as a surveillance drone than an attack drone. Utilizing both of its rotors, situated on the left and right side of its body, the drone ascended as close to the roof as it could, utilizing the grenade's smoke of the explosion as cover.

[Drone's up and ready] Blackburn said.

[Understood] Axel responded, [Halictidae, once the drone commences its assault, deploy your portable energy shields and then help us take out the Soldiers on our side. Once that's done we focus on the Soldiers on your side.]

[Understood] H-1 said.

Nodding at Blackburn, the Spartan-IV directed the drone to commence its attack. Seconds later, a pair of missiles exploded within the enemies' ranks, followed soon after by the 20-mm canons and both teams' firepower. With the initial missiles disrupting the Soldier's sensors, they didn't had time to respond to the oncoming assault which promptly destroyed them. Noticing the tactic used, the Soldiers on the other side moved back towards the corridor, firing at the teams as they went.

[Sir, they are retreating] H-3 said as she fired her Needlers at the retreating Forerunners.

A few seconds passed with both sides exchanging fire until one of the walls in the mess hall suddenly exploded, destroying the drone in the process. With the wall destroyed, the room was exposed to the vacuum of space, decompression taking place almost immediately. Both teams were pulled out of the room, forcing them to utilize their armor jets to stabilize themselves. With the lack of gravity, the Soldiers entered the remains of the mess hall, utilizing their magnetic boots to stay on the ship while firing at the floating Alliance soldiers.

Taking cover behind the debris of the once wall, both Crimson and Halictidae waited for their energy shields to recharge while keeping an eye out for any enemy fighters. Meanwhile, back in the remains of the mess hall, a Knight entered to room, which the remaining Soldiers were using to fire at the Alliance soldiers. Reading its hard-light knife, the Knight teleported to Crimson's position, forcing the Spartans to quickly move into the Soldier's fire. Halictidae on the other hand, utilized the brief distraction to come out of their cover and take out the remining Soldiers before they took out the Spartans.

Utilizing their armor jets, Halictidae passed above the Soldier's position, leaving behind multiple plasma grenades attached to the enemies' bodies. The plasma explosion being enough to take out most of the Soldiers, though the few remaining ones were quickly taken out by Halictidae's weapons. Back with Crimson, they utilized their armor thrusters to put distance between them and the Scattershot wielding Knight. Aiming at one of the two cores on the Knight's shoulders, H-3 fired her scavenged Binary rifle, taking the core out immediately. The knight in response commanded its armor to protect and cover its secondary core, utilizing the armor that resided behind the destroyed core.

[Halictidae, move to the bridge and extract Singapore. We'll keep the Knights occupied] Axel said as he opened fire on the damaged Knight, while another one materialized close to the wall's debris.

The two Knights, one equipped with the Scattershot while the other one with a Lightrifle, fired at the four Spartans, forcing them to get further away from the ship's hull. Utilizing their teleportation capabilities, the two Knights constantly kept the Spartans moving further into the fighter's firefight. The Spartans in turn fired at the Knights whenever they appeared, two of them focusing on one Knight at a time.

Switching to his Sniper rifle, Blackburn waited for the Knight to reappear, once the Knight appeared, Blackburn shot it on the armor protecting is secondary core. The armor gave apart to the powerful shot. With the core exposed it took another shot from Blackburn to destroy it and expose its final core on the Knight's back. Seeing the opportunity, Sarx utilized his Carbine to finish the Knight. Meanwhile, John and Axel weren't fairing so good against the fully armored Knight, both utilizing their pistols as their ammunition to their primary weapons had ran out a while ago.

Teleporting in front of Axel, the Knight attacked him with its hard-light knife. The hit taking out Axel's energy shields and managing to briefly cut his armor, tough not enough to be exposed to space. Before the Knight could attack again, John slammed his body against the Knight, pushing it into the fighters' firefight. The knight opened its mask in anger at being interrupted, showing its skull like face while aiming its Lightrifle. Suddenly, a missile hit the Knight, destroying two of its cores in the explosion before 30-mm canon fire finished the Knight off.

[Seemed like you could use the assistance Crimson] The pilot said.

[Thanks for the assist] John responded, [remind me to buy you a beer.]

[I'll hold you to that Spartan] with that the pilot moved away from the team, promptly engaging a Phaeton in a dogfight.

Looking at Axel, John saw him nod, indicating that he was fine and ready to move. Both regrouped with their other two team members back in the ship, promptly entering the corridor that connected them to the ship's bridge. The door was already open, with Halictidae team inside securing Singapore, who was still in stasis.

"Any problems?" Axel asked.

"Negative" H-1 said, "the package is secured and ready for extraction."

Nodding at them, the teams were about to exit the bridge until the doors closed themselves and a red light illuminated the bridge. Looking at one of the functioning screens, both teams saw that the security lockdown was active again, as well as the self-destruct function of the ship's reactor, a function utilized by all ships of ONI as a security measure in case the ship is completely lost to enemy hands.

Soon after, Crawlers, Watchers and Soldiers materialized on the bridge; their intention that of preventing both teams from escaping alive from the ship.

[This is Crimson to Infinity command; we need immediate extraction. The security lockdown is active alongside the reactor's self-destruction. We are pinned down by enemy forces on the ship's bridge, over] Axel said as he fired his pistol at some Crawlers.

[Crimson, a Phantom is on its way, T-minus 60 seconds. I suggest to get away from the bridge's door, over]

Looking at both teams, Axel held one finger up before continuing shooting at the Promethean forces. One minute later, the door to the bridge exploded inwards, a bright green explosion covering the back side of the bridge, killing all the Promethean forces unfortunate enough to be within the explosion's radius. Once the smoke cleared, a Phantom awaited on what once was the corridor to the bridge. Turning to the side, an Unggoy in the plasma turret opened fire on the remaining Prometheans, giving Crimson and Halictidae the opportunity to get on the Phantom.

With both teams aboard, the Phantom moved away from Argent Moon, which was already suffering multiple explosions from the inside. Not out of danger yet, Blackburn and John picked up a Spartan Laser from one of the Phantom's compartments. Aiming behind the Phantom, both started to shoot at the Phaetons and Despair fighters that managed to get past the escorts.

A Despair fighter managed to get behind the Phantom, after the two AIs before him were destroyed by the plasma and laser fire. Getting a targeting lock on the Phantom, the Despair fired two missiles before it was destroyed by one of the many Sabres. Deploying many flares in response, the Phantom managed to make one of the missiles impact one of the flares, though the other one managed to impact the Phantom's thrusters. With its thruster damaged, the Phantom barely managed to stabilize itself long enough to make it into the Infinity's hangar, though it crash-landed. Crewmen immediately went to aid the ship's occupants, noticing how they were getting out almost unharmed by the landing.

XXXXX

Back on the Infinity's bridge, Lasky watched in the tactical holo-projector as the Forerunner frigate exploded, soon after, the ship's sensors indicated that the Forerunner Destroyer's shields were down. Seizing the opportunity, both, the Infinity-class ship and the Battlecruiser approached the destroyer, MAC and plasma fire tearing down the ship's armor. Said armor shifted itself around the ship, reinforcing itself were the AIs aboard predicted the enemy shots to hit.

The impacts shook the destroyer, causing several breaches on its hull. With both Alliance ships approaching for a second broadside attack, the Forerunner ship opened a Slip-space portal, exiting the system. With the mothership out of the system, the Phaetons and Despair fighters remaining on the system self-destructed, and in the background, the reactor of Argent Moon exploded as well, destroying the research ship.

"Hades" Lasky said, "give me a status report."

"We have breaches in multiple decks. Also, the archer missiles pods in sector four-seven are damaged alongside two of our MACs, we'll need to repair them. The Queen's Wrath seems to have one of its thrusters inoperable and its slip-space drive was damaged during the fight. We'll have to anchor the ship to us once we enter slip-space."

"Noted. Set a course to Palamok and inform the Yanme'e Queen that we are on our way back for reparations" Sighting, Lasky turned to look at Palmer, who was looking at the report that Crimson gave her a few minutes ago. "Tell Crimson to take Singapore to Dr. Glassman for reactivation."

Nodding, Sara sent the message to Crimson before exiting the bridge to check on the teams once they got back to the Spartan deck. With his orders being acted upon, Lasky looked at the observation window, seeing the familiar blue and black with hints of purple singularity appear in front of the ship. With the Battlecruiser anchored to the Infinity, both ships made their way into the portal.

January 10, 2575, Systems Alliance Calendar; Horsehead Nebula, Unknown System, Kronos Station.

The Illusive Man drank from his glass filled of wine, which had been refilled at least twice in the past half hour. Once the initial shock had worn out of the Turian's face, the suspicious and accusing looks came directed his way. Nothing unexpected and something that he was ready to deal with. Appealing to Garrus' sense of honor and justice, The Illusive Man managed to make Garrus understand that CERBERUS wasn't as bad as he initially thought. Tough it took showing various pieces of evidence from his part.

"So let me get this straight as you Humans say" Garrus said, "you want me to join CERBERUS. Though my, missions, for lack of a better word, will be things that C-Sec already makes me do." He finished with a deadpan expression.

Putting his glass of wine down, The Illusive Man responded, "Not entirely. While CERBERUS will help you in your investigations for C-Sec; we want in exchange for you to be our ears and eyes in the Citadel, especially with the team that is analyzing the remains of the Reapers. Besides that, we will send you to other field missions around the galaxy. Don't worry, it'll be nothing that will clash with your morals, in the contrary, these missions will help the galaxy to be readier once the Reapers decide to attack."

After the explanation, Garrus' face erased all signs of worry that he had at the meaning of those words. Looking at the reflective floor of the station, Garrus frowned, thinking, at the last part said. Finally looking up, he asked.

"What makes you think that they'll come? We already defeated them during the battle of the Citadel."

"While that's partially true, I assure you that they will come. The result of the battle of the Citadel only delayed the Reaper's plans, and don't forget that two Reapers are still around in the galaxy."

Sighting in defeat, Garrus said after a few seconds, "Alright, I'm in. What do you need me to do?"

"We already got you into the security detail of the scientists studying the Reaper's remains. Your job will be to report everything that happens and that you see during the study. Also, find a way to make everyone involved with the research of those remains, be it security or scientist, take daily psychological evaluations. We have suspicions that the Reapers can control and influence the minds of organics" Taking a smoke, The Illusive Man showed Garrus the psychological results of one of the victims of Sovereign's indoctrination. "We aren't sure if that particular skill is passive or not, but unless you want to risk the lives of everyone close to those remains, I recommend you to follow my advice."

Wide eyed at the revelation, Garrus could only nod as he kept looking through the report.

"One more thing; one of my agents will contact you within the next twenty-four hours. He'll give you a packet, inside will be some equipment that you'll need."

With that, The Illusive Man cut the transmission. Putting the remains of his cigar on the ashtray, he looked at the star, thinking of what was to come. Standing from his chair, he walked closer to the observation window, opening a holographic screen in front of him as he went. The information of the screen showed the reports of his agents in the Terminus Systems, telling everything from the daily goings on Omega, to attacks by pirates.

Of all the reports, two things stood out, one being that the two surviving Reapers went through the Omega-4 Relay, which his teams haven't been successful yet in finding where it went. The second thing being of how the Batarians responded at seeing the footage of the Battle of the Citadel. According to his agents' reports, the Batarians referred to the Reapers as Leviathans, further down in the report, it explained that the Leviathans were creatures of legends that resembled the Reapers and wielded unknown power. The report also said that there were rumors of one being found within Batarian territory decades ago. Though the Hegemony dismissed those claims as simple urban rumors.

Sending a message, The Illusive Man waited a few minutes before the holographic forms of Miranda Lawson and Kai Leng appeared in the room. Turning to look at them, he sent them the report about the Leviathan before saying.

"I want you two to look into these rumors, see if there is any truth to them" he ignited another cigar before continuing, "I'll provide you two with a small prowler and the necessary equipment for the operation."

"Understood. What are our orders if the rumors result to be truth?" Kai Leng asked as Miranda looked through the data.

"Determine if this, Leviathan, is a potential ally or an enemy. If the latter is true, then send all available information to ONI, they'll know what to do. If it's a potential ally, then find a way to put it in contact with the Alliance" Seeing them nod, he added before cutting the transmission, "One more thing, don't cause any unnecessary problems within Batarian space. They may not look it, but they already suspect that we are under the Alliance's wing, one mistake and they can become our enemies instead of our allies."

"Understood." Miranda said as both, her and Kai Leng, disconnected the line.

With nothing urgent to do, The Illusive Man was about to retire to his quarters until 216-Redeemer came back into the room. Its single eye flashing red in anger before returning to its calm cyan blue. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, The Illusive Man asked the AI what was wrong.

"I just got multiple reports of small ships detected at the edges of the Alliance's frontier. The scans match those of the Reaper's fighters, though once they are detected, or a ship is on its way to investigate, they enter FTL."

"I see" The Illusive Man said frowning, "It might be time to deploy the Enforcers at the edge of our territory. I'm sure that we can also spare some refueling and observation stations."

"I was thinking the same thing, though I'll also deploy some Watchers alongside the Enforcers."

With that, The Illusive Man sent a final report to the director of ONI and a request to the Alliance for some refueling and observations station to aid the Enforcers and Watchers.

January 7, 2173, Citadel Council Calendar; Galactic Core, Edge of the Accretion Disk, Collector Base.

The massive black hole that made the center of the Milky Way galaxy showed a magnificent display of power on the background. Consuming anything that got close enough to its gravitational field, it was a wonder that a single station, surrounded by the debris of multiple ships from all ages and designs, orbited the black hole without succumbing to its gravitational field. On the far edge of the core, just outside of the ships' debris, a single relay orbited, this one emitting a brilliant red color.

The relay shined brightly for a moment, and then, two ships came out of it. Both ships had a similar design, pitch black armor with an octopus or arachnid like design to them, but that's as far as their similitudes went. One of the ships was a two-kilometer long flagship, while the other one was barely a destroyer, measuring hundred and sixty meters in length. Showing signs of a recent battle, both ships made their way to the base, this one in turn opening one of its docking bays for the two Reapers. Once inside, various Collectors started working on the reparations of the ships' hulls.

With their reparations going smoothly, the Reapers opened a channel to their leader.

[Harbinger, Sovereign's plan has failed alongside the plan to obtain the Loyalist Covenant as our allies. He, alongside four other Reapers were destroyed by the Covenant and the Alliance. If we do not act now, then the Citadel species will manage to reverse engineer our technology.]

[While that will be troublesome] Harbinger responded [it will only delay the inevitable. Help the Collectors increase the rate of their abductions. Also, if the opportunity presents itself, seize any form of military technology from the Alliance or the Covenant. Find a way to incorporate it into our systems. Finally, look for any form of improving the use of energy shields to use them as a secondary layer above our kinetic barriers.] With its orders given, Harbinger disconnected the line.

Passing the given orders to the Collectors, the two Reapers looked at the galactic database of colonized planets that the Collectors had identified through their active time. Finding a single green planet with a mid-sized population and a light defense force at the edge of the Terminus Systems, the two Reaper and the Collectors prepared themselves for the operation.

Approximately twenty kiloparsecs away from the galactic core, lay nothing but dark space and the once dormant Reaper armada. With the Milky Way Galaxy five kiloparsecs away from their position, the Reapers started to make their way towards it. Their purpose that of continuing the cycle so the current species can be preserved, giving place to new species that will flourish on the galaxy once again.

Unknown Calendar; Unknown location.

Inside uncharted space within the Milky Way Galaxy, a small solar system consisting of four planets, three terrestrial and a single Jovian one, laid silently, waiting for its discovery. A small ship could be seen making its way out of the second planet; said planet consisted of a single landmass surrounded by water, though, close to the planet's poles, the water was of a green color instead of blue. The planet had many cities on the landmass and the gigantic ocean, with big skyscrapers and some underwater buildings. One of these cities being the one that the ship came from. The small transport deployed a satellite that resembled a big antenna while two suited beings came out of the transport to help set up the satellite, and make sure that it was working properly.

A/N: PLEASE READ. As you can tell already, this story will focus on the events of Halo 5 Guardians, Mass effect 2, with many twist of my own for both of course, and another arc or two of my own creation. Also, per the results of the poll that I put on the prequel to this story, Cortana WILL stay dead.

Furthermore, I am sure that some of you are wondering why I didn't name the members of Halictidae team, besides calling them by their designations, i.e. H-1. The reason is simple, there are no official known names of any Yanme'e in the Halo universe, and what I investigated suggest that they don't give too much importance to names, thus the lack of names in their part. You will also see this happening throughout the story, with a few exceptions, though those will be because someone else named that Yanme'e.

Another thing, PAY close attention to the dates provided as some events take place before the events of a previous chapter and/or section of the chapter. For example, the opening scene takes place 3 days after the battle of the Citadel, which is when Garrus contacts CERBERUS, while the mission on Argent Moon takes place 1 day after the battle of the Citadel.

Finally, I have two important announcements:

I'm looking for a Beta reader that can check on my grammar and punctuation, as well as the general plot and outline of the story (or what I have planned so far) my objective being that of taking into consideration new ideas for some events of the story. If you are interested, PM me. In the meantime, I'll try to polish the chapters as much as I can before I upload them.

I'm in college now, so my updating schedule will vary, it could take me a few days-months to update this story, though I'll try to update every 3-4 weeks. Also, because of this, I'll try to make every chapter of at least 8+ thousand words, not counting author notes, with a few exceptions. Those exceptions will mostly be "filler" chapters.

Thanks for the support! Please review, criticism, good or bad, helps me in improving the story and polishing it.