CH26

XXXXX

Into the abyss…

XXXXX

2560/3/23

Location: Cerberus Pinnacle Station: Normandy SR1

Aaron in his recovery state was getting training once more, he had to get to full health once more, considering what was about to come. Shepard's gamble had paid off, the knowledge that Aaron retained was enough to help them get an idea of where to go, but before they did they needed to get some help.

Other UCAF units had been gathering near Omega since Aaron was brought aboard, and now that they were armed with this new knowledge of the next location they knew where to go, Eta Halo, the seventh ring world near the edge of UCAF space and the unexplored regions, this location was deep supposedly in Terminus Space, which wasn't true considering only 1% of the known galaxy had been explored, Eta was located in a dense nebula within range of 4 gas giants, it was by definition the closest Halo to UCAF space.

This meant that this Halo presented a very real threat, if it was to go off it would cover half of UCAF and UNSC space. And wipe out a significant proportion of known life in the areas surrounding the Terminus Systems, meaning that whoever was planning to use this wanted a weakened enemy. Shepard wasn't planning to let this come to play, there was just one issue, they hadn't been able to locate the exact coordinates of Eta's position only the surrounding space near it.

Aaron's memories were still fragmented, which was hard for him to recall all given locations that he had been exposed to so he was lacking something's that would help them find Eta. Shepard had confidence that Aaron would be able to guess the location considering there was only 9 given clusters of nebula like the one he described.

But time wasn't on their side, whoever had accessed the memories of Derek had gained the knowledge of the Halo before they did, and from what Aaron could tell they had planted agents in the ONI to extract the knowledge before the ONI knew. That meant that there was a reaper agent in the ONI and possibly even more.

The UCAF had been alerted to the compromise and had assured Shepard that Admiral Hood and members of the UCAF's Enclave Spec Ops would deal with the ONI soon enough, he and the other members of the Cerberus Legions had their orders and that was to get to Halo and stop the Reapers and whatever else intended to take the ring.

Shepard was happy to hear that the UCAF had gone out of their way to cleanse the ONI out for illegal activities that possibly compromised the UCAF and UNSC. The purge was underway but he felt that this might not be enough to dislodge the ONI, there was another factor, The Foundation, a secret branch of the ONI it was founded to provide special units to help ONI achieve their goals, there was also a possibility that the Foundation had been compromised as well considering what happened to Aaron was done by a member of the Foundation it was a very likely thing.

Now the only problem was the coming battle for Halo, the UCAF could only spare the Independent UCAF recon and support fleets along with a few UCAF assault fleets, but that was a total of 144 ships and the Cerberus Legions had an additional 72 to add which put them at roughly 760,000 personnel with the Cerberus Legionaries having the highest ground forces present when they attacked.

Shepard wasn't going to command his men only the strike team, as much as he wanted to be with them fighting against the armies of reapers and their allies, the commander would be taking the fight to the command centre of the Halo to shut it down using his individual codes that were provided by the Forerunner Advents on Aiden's Light.

He was thankful that the Advent's even though not granted to directly to intervene had the ability to aid in some fashion they had allowed him to take a universal key that was used by the Forerunners to access critical controls of ships and stations. With this he could now access the Halo and shut it off and hopefully save them the trouble of having to locate the index.

But there was something that did worry him the council fleets had been alerted to the concentration of the UCAF and Cerberus on their borders and within the Terminus Systems which meant that they had technically breached the Treaty of Shanxi, the UCAF was forbidden to let their fleets to gather and accumulate larger than one strike force.

Of course there was also the fact that the council had an idea where the Halo was, which meant that someone within the council was also an agent of the reapers, they intended to make the council fight them for control of Forerunner tech, which was a rather petty attempt to challenge the UCAF, but it was a direct challenge and this meant that Shepard had little time to spare.

The UCAF had to get to Eta and shut the ring down and place it under quarantine protocol and stop the Reapers from gaining control of it, when they secure the facility they had to get it to UCAF space which wouldn't take too much effort, the ring's had an internal slip-space drive, as soon as it was secured they'd move it back to UCAF space and deny control to the Council.

Of course that wasn't going to be an easy feat, the council had been informed which meant that whoever had told them of the Halo knew more than just securing it was a priority, the index and possibly the resonance chambers were under threat, meaning that if any were compromised they'd be in serious trouble.

But there was plan B, there's always a plan B, if the Cerberus Legions can't take the ring back or is under threat of being overrun they would use a Infusion Nova Bomb, an inverted version of the Nova that would send the ring into a quantum rift and shred it into oblivion or just blow it up, it was the only way to ensure that it was safely disposed of.

Of course this wasn't the only plan, the flood was still a very real factor in this, Eta held the storage for many of the Warden System's versions of the flood and possibly even more advanced types making this a very dangerous situation that the flood might escape and start infecting the other races that would be busy fighting.

So Shepard took the liberty to call up some help. Three days ago he made contact with a member of the new League of Arbiters, over 9000 new arbiters were now present within the covenant, with the senior being the Grand Magus Arbiter Vadam. Rtas' was also a newly elected arbiter for the sanghelli it was now their order that would ensure that the covenant did go back to its old ways of conquest and genocide.

Vadam had been in contact with Shepard about the rumours of the Cerberus Legions preparing for war with the council and the reapers, Shepard trusted the arbiter as he had saved the UNSC and helped stabilise the covenant in trying for further war with the UCAF. He admitted that war was coming and that the reapers were a very real threat.

Vadam acted accordingly and sent a major force for the commander, Vadam was to be there himself and along with Rtas and 300 newly founded members of the order, they'd provide a massive backing in this fight. But their fleet was going to need to take time to prepare, as the council of the new covenant had been in reformation for over 10 years now it hadn't been easy for them to make faster decisions or decisive ones at that.

The covenant would join the a bit late, but they'd be there nonetheless, Vadam promised to bring out over 450 ships to the coming fight and that meant he intended to dedicate a force of over 15 million into this fight, which was pretty handy to have, and the covenant had a higher output of infantry and resources than the UCAF, but they were outmatched and out skilled by the UCAF veterans during the war, which was why the UCAF held them back so long.

The covenant had the respect of the UCAF and the UCAF respected the dedication of the covenant, they were damned ready to fight to the end. Shepard was busy organising the force commanders in the CIC of the Normandy, he was situated on a command chair overlooking the galaxy map in the middle of the room, of course he wasn't sure why the hell the UCAF would begin implementing such a redundant display system on a ship that already had a tactical display desk.

Of course this was one of the few standards that the council wanted to enact for future UCAF and human vessels. The UCAF corporations were busy debating whether or not to slap them in the face or just punch their corporate chairman. The UCAF standard of naval building was Spartan but it was meant to survive anything that came at them.

The Normandy was blocky but it was strong, the honeycomb structure of the ship made it resistant to heavy damage and even with particle weaponry that they encountered from the collectors it wasn't going to go down so easily. New ablative armour had been emplaced on the ship along with a new weapons, the UCAF had gotten a few new tricks from the covenant's own tech, including plasma torpedoes.

The Normandy was making herself well known for firepower in small packages, and Shepard was proud to have her as his own flagship, Anderson who helped prepare and train the crew of the Normandy was the captain of the ship, and was honoured to be. Anderson was currently just a captain, but a senior at that for his years of service to the UCAF during the war and also knowing more than anyone in the fleet about the tactics used by the council. The captain would surely prove himself capable.

Admiral Howe, Adams, and Hackett were in command of the rest of the fleet, along with a number of other personnel who had gone rogue with Shepard to fight the reapers off of the Halo and ensure that human space was safe and all life was saved from the dangerous menace, along with the damned council which had planned to utilise the halo for themselves.

Shepard felt that there was a lot more at play than just them, but he knew that he didn't have enough time to go through all of his enemies, there were plenty of them including the blue suns and the Shadow Broker. But the priority was the coming battle; Shepard went back to assigning the ground forces to certain locations of Eta.

He had to balance his men to defend the line against the onslaught of the reapers and the collectors, he assigned a strike force to each critical location of the Halo including the resonance chambers and then one force to secure the index which would be headed by his fellow officer, Matthew Bane, he trusted the newly promoted colonel to do his duty and carry out the mission with the best of his skill as Matthew always had.

Then there was the council force, he wasn't sure if the council was going to attack, but their intentions were obvious to take control once everyone else was dead or too weak to fight. That probably wasn't going to be easy for them as the UCAF and Covenant have the heaviest troops available not to mention resources so if they planned to take Eta they'd have trouble.

But then again, the council fleets were probably going to come in numbers so it would probably make up for the lack of heavy infantry concentration. And not to mention the nuclear warheads that they were bringing would also be a rather annoyance that the UCAF would rather avoid. Shepard had a feeling that the admirals would have to go at this coming battle with their gloves off and if it drew the UCAF into war with the council then so be it. It wasn't as if the council had done a damn thing to help the UCAF in the past or try and build proper bridges.

He took his eyes off of the task at hand and began to sift through his personal data pad, he checked his inbox for messages from the colonies, he knew that it had been a while since he had been in contact with Valerie, and he needed to know.

/Secure line-2168- ID: 324443- Haley Valerie- Daniel Shepard/

2560/3/19

Daniel, I've been meaning to tell you, I know you've been looking for answers, but when will you be back? Not only for me, but her, wouldn't she want to know her father? What will I ever tell her if you don't come back? That he was a man of integrity who sought answers and died looking for those answers? I know this must sound selfish, but knowing when to put us with you again, I'd truly wish to see her know of who her father was, or if he ever loved her.

When the time comes, will you be able to come back?

Love Valerie…

/End Message-/

He wrote back his own message, he knew he didn't have much time, the fleet was already preparing to depart for Omega soon, and he knew that a slip-space transmission wasn't as powerful out in the Terminus Systems and would take time to get back home. By the time the message reached her eyes, he knew that the battle for Eta would have already begun. He just hoped if anything did happen, she'd understand, he didn't want to miss out on their child's birth. But time was running against him, and a galaxy she could live in was better. But he did wonder himself, how many months had it been since he last saw Haley?

Before he could ponder in further thought his attention was drawn to a woman materialising. "Commander, the fleet's prepared for immediate departure." Normandy's AI Anya stated with a curt bow.

He nodded.
"Very well Anya, have Anderson hail all vessels to jump alongside us on my mark."

She acknowledged and proceeded to link all vessels to the Normandy as they prepared for the FTL jump to Omega. Pinnacle station began to shift from view as the fleet gathered up around the Normandy's wake and prepared for the jump. Anderson approached the fore deck and held onto the rails as be prepared to call the fleet for the jump.

Shepard watched the map as hundreds of vessels prepared for his command.
"All vessels are synced."

"Very jump in, 3 seconds… 3, 2, 1, jump!"

All vessels were pulled forwards as they headed into the slip-space, their trails wisping around them as they speared into the light of oblivion, it was a sure sight for all who saw such a thing in years, the UCAF hadn't many ships out like Cerberus's. The ships may have been fewer in number, but they had much more powerful ships, as well as a number of nimble vessels used by the Helldiver Forces.

The Helldivers were granted the permission to use other vessels as well as experimental ones, thus why the Cerberus Legions had such an impressive array of ships. The Normandy was similar in the sense that it was to be utilised for scouting and recon, as well as short skirmishes into deep enemy territory.

As slip-space flooded their visions they wait in anticipation for the coming assault.

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2541/4/22

Joseph felt his MKIV plating crack as it impacted the bulkhead of the security vault, he knew that the pain would subside but it still hurt like hell. He didn't take long to pick himself up from the impact, but as he did a taunting voice cackled.
"What's wrong? A little beat up?"

"Uri you fucking bastard, show yourself!" He shouted into the darkness that surrounded him.

"I'll be happy to oblige." The Chimera replied ominously.

A bright glow of light came from in front of Joseph as Uri unleashed a corrosive strike, the tendrils from Uri's mutated arm launched themselves at Joseph who side stepped and jumped from the attack and began a run at the other Chimera. But Uri hadn't let his guard slip; he retracted his tendrils and attempted to strike from behind.

The insane reflexes of the Chimera lashed out and Joseph who expected such a response jumped over the attack and landed on a wall where he catapulted upwards and attempted to crawl on the ceiling.
"Not so fast spider boy."

Uri threw the tendrils upwards to smash Joseph off the ceiling, but he instead played right into Joseph's trap. The ceiling lighting wasn't busted, the Chimera had shut them off, and the power lines were still very active. Joseph had also planted a grenade bayonet to teach Uri a lesson on using his mutations.

As the tendrils slammed upwards the explosion and subsequent electrical surge shocked Uri, no pun intended, his arm began to spasm from the energy and he forced his Chimera part to sever the tendrils. Even doing so the Chimera was weakened by this enough that Joseph used it to his advantage, he closed the distance and brought his fist to bear on Uri's face.

Uri didn't have enough time to respond as Joseph's fist slammed into his jaw and sent him through the wall at the end of the corridor, of course that was unlikely to stop the Chimera he was much more resilient than that, but it gave Joseph an extra amount of time to get distance between him and Uri. He had far more pressing matters, Amanda was waiting for him, she had always been waiting since the day they were augmented and brought here. She knew what to do.

Joseph bolted through 4 security check points before he knew that Uri was trailing behind him with fury, the Chimera was determined to stop him at all costs, their goals were two very different things, and Uri's involved bringing the flood to creation, advancement through forced evolution, unlike what Joseph wanted.

He found himself inside he primary containment core, this was it, he found her, and he just had to keep his promise. The room was one large construct, a single stasis pod in the room with a ton of equipment varying from neural scanners and stabilisers had been left there for her to keep going to provide the support for the flood and the Chimera, all of it was from her.

Uri wanted to use her to his own advantage, but he knew it wouldn't work, if Joseph proved anything it was the fact that the other Chimera units would fight him for control of Amanda, and he would most likely be killed by the collective strength of all of them. But that didn't deter him from trying on a smaller scale.

It had been the same problem ever since their creation, the call of the flood was dangerous, and Uri was the most. Joseph wanted nothing more than to be part of himself, no longer this thing that he had become, but it was difficult for that to happen especially since his past would not be forgotten, everything to him was gone except this, and that's where he found dilemma, there was nothing to go back for.

As he entered the stasis chamber Uri finally caught up with him.
"Let's go again brother!"

Joseph faced the Chimera, he felt the corruption of the flood flowing through his veins, it was time again, the infection was awakening inside him and was taking root, this time he wanted it to do so, and he needed it to do so. He was going to give Uri the fight he wanted.
"You want me? COME AND TAKE ME!"

Joseph's eyes erupted in a greenish gold light, a phosphoric effect that made the darkened chamber glow, Uri smiled and did likewise allowing his corruption to twist his body further to allow him to fight Joseph. They both crouched and then in a moment they jumped at each other. They collided in a force of titanic proportions sending shudders across the facility.

The two locked each other in mid-air and then slammed into the metal grated floor below, Joseph recovered the fastest and jumped over Uri and grabbed his back spines and flung him over his head. Uri smashed through a wall on the other side of the room but recovered quickly and responded with throwing bone like spears out.

Joseph dodged the first 2 and was struck in the abdomen by the 3rd, he leapt back but was shortly slammed into the floor by Uri who menacingly held out an arm and raised it in preparation to decapitate Joseph. But Joseph had no intentions of dying yet, he knocked the hands of Uri away and then grabbed and tossed him overhead.

Uri was stunned for a moment and Joseph got back up and began to send blows at Uri's face, but the Chimera wasn't down or out yet, he used his tendrils and grabbed Joseph and tossed him through the medical equipment nearby. Joseph felt the crunch of his armour and the wall it was a painful feeling, sharp pains ringing through him.

He got back up and got angry.
"This has gone on long ENOUGH!"

He threw himself at Uri and tackled him to the ground but this time he used his own tendrils and began to pummel the Chimera, his arm soon twisted and changed into a lance to which he grabbed Uri by the head and twisted the lance through Uri's body and then slammed him into the wall nearby. Uri howled in pain, but he couldn't remove the lance.

Joseph stumbled away as the Chimera shouted and struggled to remove the lance that had him pinned to the wall. Joseph knew that time was running out, the break out was already being contained he knew that the ONI would soon send a recovery force to take him and the others away again. Amanda was due for a complete bio-recall.

He located the hatch switch and pulled it open, the doors to the chamber hissed as gasses escaped, the sounds of Amanda echoed through the chamber as she awoke, he could see her pale form, like the first time they met, but the problem was that she couldn't be physically changed, she was psychically infused with the flood her control over it was vastly superior to any of the Chimera's.

But her personality is what drove Joseph, her love for him.
"Amanda, how long it's been."

She couldn't move, but her mind could speak through to him.
"I know Joseph I've been waiting here, you kept your promise, but now the time has come, here we will part ways and you and I will be separated once more."

"I know, the ONI is coming for us, just like they always do." He replied sombrely.

"Don't fret, we'll meet again someday, we always do, and Uri as well, we'll all meet again, but for now just be happy we have this last moment's together." She finished as the doors to the room opened.

The emergency doors revealed a dozen shock troopers with impulse rifles used to incapacitate the Chimera's, at the head of their group a man in grey and black uniform.
"Aaron, it's been far too long." Joseph turned and stated.

"Nothing personal Joseph, but you know the ONI doesn't want this anymore than you do, you have an obligation." Aaron stated as he pulled out his M5C and loaded a pulse mag.

"This will never end Aaron I promise you this, this isn't the end." Joseph spat.

"I know." The ONI agent fired a shot at him.

The world vanished in a blinding light and he hit the ground hard.

XXXXX

Slip-space En-route Eta Halo

2560/3/24

Joseph felt the world come back to him; he felt the blood rush through his twisted body, he looked around for the signs of ONI, but found nothing, he was back in his private ship out here in the edges of the Nova Stratus region, near the Coalition sector, he had been trailing the memories of the flood out here in the depths of space.

He had been lost for so long in his own thoughts that he had almost forgotten his own name, the feelings of pain and loss still hurt, his body was nearly destroyed on Noveria during the glassing, but Amanda did something, and then before he knew it he was somewhere else in the galaxy, and found himself on a UCAF backwater world.

He used his remaining strength going into hiding and then looking for answers, or more specifically looking for questions that had to be answered. Amanda had vanished but the trail she left was potent it was telling him something important something that he and Uri only knew there was a place they had to go to.

He sat up from his makeshift bed inside the cargo bay of the jury rigged UCAF Long Lance Bomber, he found himself searching through his cases of whisky, something to dull the morning pains, his physical health had remained the same since his time with some junk dealers on the world of Coris, a scrap world.

He used parts of his armour to fix up the ship he now owned, the slip-space drive aboard wasn't that great though, it was fast enough to get him to his target destination, but it was slower than half the things in the UCAFs military, it would take an extra day to reach a destination, but fast enough to oust a council FTL drive any time of the year.

But still that didn't mean that he himself was any better, his body was scarred all over, suffering all the burn wounds and injuries in the aftermath of his escape. His narrow survival had left him with a very heavy reminder of things to come, the battles were to be costly and he was to fight the coming storm with everything he had.

But that didn't change one fact, his body had mutated, his back now sported a ridge of spines and bone structure turning crystal hard, he knew that his malignant form had become to advance and evolve in him; it was a matter of time now. He'd become like Uri, but his mind would still be stable, he only feared what had become of the former Spartan.

As he drank his whisky he felt that the tides were turning, he would soon be back in action heading to war, towards all that was good and all that was ugly. War was coming again.

XXXXX

Date: 2560/3/24

Location: Terminus Systems- Omega

It didn't take them very long, only half a day to reach the other side of the galaxy, they arrived at Omega and Shepard was surely damn impressed with what he was seeing now. From the Normandy he could see the outline of the station against the hard glare of red coming from a nearby red dwarf. The station had changed in short time, with various reconstructions thanks to the UCAF; Omega was vastly expanded across, enough to house over 3.2 billion thanks to the covenant engineers who worked on planetoids.

Omega was large enough to house a defence fleet as well, he could see a number of vessels marked out with symbols of Omega printed on their hulls, also noted was the sheer number of mercenary forces also present, ever since Aria was granted total control of Omega there had been a sharp increase in getting people moving.

Aria held control over a significant portion of the mercenary guilds in the regions and many who wanted a place on Omega had to contribute or get off, and they all knew that Aria held all the cards especially with the turian Blue Suns and the Eclipse, she had a private military about 3 times their size maybe not as many skilled, but still plenty to defend Omega itself against attacks.

There was also a large increase in the power output of the station, the UCAF had agreed that if Aria gave the UCAF a helping hand when she could and pass on the administration over to her daughter that they agree to help supply a nearly infinite energy source to keep Omega powered till the end of time.

Aria agreed and the UCAF gave her a fusion drive with the power of a small star to boot, of course the only people who knew of the exchange were Aria and her patriarch who agreed that to keep this absolutely quiet from the other factions. There was also a particle dispersion field included to defend against the chance that reapers ever return getting into Omega would be a much greater task.

The UCAF also helped improve the organisation of the internal city as difficult as it was, the station looked a lot better now, still having a rather dismal colouration of course, but dismal mildly. Aria had been doing damn well as the head of Omega and as the first actual leader of Omega in a very long time.

As the Cerberus fleet came into range they were hailed.
"Ah looks like you arrived just in time Shepard, flashy as always?" The figure of Aria asked as she materialised.

"You know it Aria, never late for a dinner date." Daniel replied.

"Good because it looks a lot more than just a dinner date is waiting for you and your boys with the council getting stirred up on the borders. But aside from the air of friendliness, we need to speak as soon as you get aboard." Aria said a little agitated.

He knew how to read Aria, and if she was even showing a mild attitude of uneasiness then there was a problem and one that would need dealing with as soon as he got there.
"Very well, I'll be there in 10 minutes I'll link the fleet first."

Aria nodded and dissipated. Shepard called up his team.
"Zaeed, Reona, and Sargent Eric meet me at the hangar."

The commander proceeded to the hangar bay to link up with his team, it didn't take long before they all gathered, Anya had her orders to take the Cerberus fleet and link them up while Shepard dealt with whatever Aria had on her plate. Of course Zaeed was in his usual air of excitement.
"I smell a fight, it's a good fight, and it seems like Aria's got a lot more going on that she's letting on."

"Which is why I need you Zaeed, keep our flank covered, as for Reona, keep the lines clear for us if there's trouble, and Eric, I know you're a good shooter, heck a damn good thief as well, and damn handy with shotguns, keep our rear covered but let loose when we find this problem." Shepard stated to each member.

"Roger that sir." Eric replied hefting his CQCWS- SAG12.

Shepard had his modified M5Ds, DMR-.45, M7E, and a few grenades, also a couple of combat knives; he was armed as usual along with whatever his suit had attached, and his normal Helldiver Raptor Visor. He looked as lethal as ever. As for his team mates, they had gotten their gear in order, with Zaeed the next heavily armed, having a USAS-12G drum mag, also combat knives and his personal favourite kukri 'double-edge', his other weapons were M7Es strapped to his hips and concussion grenades. Reona had not much aside from a SMG and her tech gear and medical attachments, her hacking tools and a scanner was all she needed.

They got aboard the shuttle in short order and headed towards Omega, they saw the damn dull sight of the centre after a few minutes of entering, and there wasn't much to like about Omega, aside from the amount of chaos it took to get things at least functional. Shepard noted to only come here when he needed to purely because the damn place smelled so bad, some parts were as rancid as stepping into the guts of a flood tank and other times it was as good as stepping on a skunk.

There was nothing that great about Omega, but it had at least been improved. As they arrived at the centre function of the whole station which was the hanging cylindrical structure with domes above and below that coned off, the neon lights flooded through showing the sign of Aria's favourite home, Afterlife.

Landing on the front parking space they got out of the shuttle to face the streets of Omega, and the slightly less rancid smell. They strode towards the neon lit building, the flames were a nice touch, including that it now had a blue flame at the bottom to add to the red contrast above, the sign was still a really bright, heck most people wouldn't bother reading the sign knowing that it'd end up getting them blind.

Upon strolling up the line towards the stairs, the guards spotted them and gave Shepard a wide girth, they knew of how Shepard had destroyed a number of the reapers in their previous engagement. As they got inside they found that there were a number of new Batarians inside the place, they looked at Shepard as if he was death itself and a number of others stumbled trying to get out of the way of the death masked human.

Turians however hated Zaeed, the sheer malice that was being directed at the brutal helldiver was obvious many turian patrons were eyeing the flag that Zaeed had strapped to his shoulder and had been scared and torn and bloodied for Zaeed's use. He smirked under his helmet at the hate and eyed them back.

As they got into the interior they found the noise damn loud, the neon lights and such was a real headache for Shepard he never liked clubs and he doubted that there was anywhere there had much neon and noise as Omega, and most of council space. The ridiculous amounts of lighting and noise and so few good places that just had regular songs and such without the ridiculous amount of lighting were becoming a rather endangered sight in the UCAF.

Ever since opening borders there had been so many new night clubs that people just think that it's ridiculous and there's no actual music just noise constant upbeat noise which goes on an endless cycle. Shepard felt as if he was becoming old, but that might just be his opinion of music now.

As they navigated their way upstairs to the third level where Aria was located Shepard noticed the form of 2 turians with rather bloodied faces and one Batarian who he identified as a member of the blue suns who had his arm shot through and his armour cooked. Aria was sitting on the other side of the room looking at them without a care.

She welcomed him.
"Shepard good to see you back face to face, it's been far too long."

"Agreed, however I don't think sitting in this place longer than I need to as being anti-social." He replied.

"Understandable considering everything, but aside from the normal Omega charm, I've got a problem." She motioned for him to sit nearby.

"What's the problem?" He asked as he sat on the cushion sofa.

"The council has been attempting to intervene here, ever since the movement of your fleet there's been a sharp increase in covert operations including seeding their own personal spies into Omega to monitor the flow of traffic and resources." She motioned to the three beaten men.

"These bastards thought they could cross me and stroll out the front door, of course it didn't take long to get them to sing, it seems that the council has been planning this for a while, ever since the attack on Omega they had seeded additional members into the guilds including the mercenaries, they hoped to topple me with a sharp public and political blow and it's going to come soon." She stated rather aptly as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"How would they pull off a full overthrow?" Shepard asked.

"Simple, make me look incompetent and attempt to stir trouble with the guilds and break it into a civil war and have me take the blame for not intervening fast enough, then force change with members of the asari and turian members in the guilds that have sided with them and get at least one of them into power." She replied nearly seething at the mention of the council.

"Looks like they're really pulling out all the stops for this…" Shepard added.

"Yes, and they can't do this first without eliminating the members of the Omega council and my primary assets and aides." Arai explained.

"You have a council?" He asked.

"More like an advisory which monitors the guilds and a lot of backlogging, they do a lot of the holo work around here, but losing even them can set me back badly, but not as much as their primary targets." She responded.

"Who are the primary targets?" Daniel inquired.

"My primary advisor, I kept him around as a trophy from when I first took Omega and he's the one who's been holding public meetings rather often between him and members of the public a lot of people like his stories and they all think he's done well as a public person amazingly for a male krogan." Aria grinned at the irony.

"I can see, so you think he's the most at threat?" Shepard asked.

"Probably, he's the one who's held my image well next to him, and with my prize out of their way they'd make headway with the guilds and possibly half the lower district leadership, if that happens Omega will be plunged into utter chaos, which is perfect for them to begin a overthrow." She replied dangerously.

"I'll bite; I helped you in the past, and let's just say that this is our repayment for getting the council on your nerves." Shepard offered.

Aria smiled at him.
"That's what I like about you, you don't care about the dangers involved, you don't do it or you do." She handed him a data pad.
"Patriarch is currently located in Underside Plaza, he's got a few guards, but with you to keep him safe, it'll be more than enough."

Shepard took the data pad and took his leave, he got the team back and they headed downstairs.
"So, this going to be worth the time?" Reona asked.

"Needs to be, Aria's been backing us for a while, not to mention the council being on Omega is the last thing we need." Eric voiced.

"It's true, the last thing Omega needs is another council especially out here, they'd be better off with Aria in charge." Shepard stated.

They took the shuttle down to Underside where they found a rather quaint district of heavy urbanisation it was a sure sight, this didn't look like it was part of Omega at all and yet it was, they navigated their way to the plaza where they could see a number of people going about, the library nearby and a number of shops and stalls.

But what stood out was the single building with the sign on the top with the patriarch on it; it was a seminar with members of the local districts meeting with the patriarch. Shepard and the others headed in and were greeted by the sight of a small audience, the guards waved them in when they saw the data pad.

The old krogan was going on about some of his past victories and successes of his career as former leader of Omega, the group nodded at some of his thoughts on the reality of the council's control in the Terminus Systems and a thought on what they should do about the risks of what might come. But he did change through various subjects and his own war stories.

Shepard interrupted.
"Patriarch, Aria sent us."

"A human, UCAF, I've seen your kind, Helldiver, and no less Shepard himself, I'd never imagine that she'd send you along to watch me for a day." He mumbled.

"I'm not here for that, we've received that a possible assassination of you might come from members of council agents and other mercenary guilds that want you out of the way to get to Aria." He replied.

The old krogan grunted in utter surprise and laughed.
"Ha, that's the first time I've ever felt the old war bones kicking back in, a real danger, this time not from a damn bottle of rycnol."

"So you want to stay or get out of here?" Zaeed asked bluntly.

"What and miss out on the chance to finally get killed? Never, I've been waiting for someone to make a damn move longer than I could possibly think!" He laughed boisterously.

"You intend to face them alone?" Shepard asked.

"How else? I can't have these guards fight in my place, they're not blooded in proper fights they're here for keeping their pockets filled and their booze flowing, as for the rest of the guards they're here only for members of the public districts they'll probably be tasked with guarding the escape routes for them." The krogan motioned with his hand.

Zaeed then asked. "Then what about if we fight for you? I recall a lot of the krogan had clans with a group that holds close to them as family, a krantt."

"Krantt? My… that's been damn long time since even a krantt was ever offered in my place, how would I know to trust you aren't just here to simply take my reputation?" He asked.

"Why would the man who brought down the reapers here and slaughtered his way through the Traverse want to do with an already galactic reputation that precedes all corners of known space want to be recognised on Omega for?" Shepard replied.

The old krogan could see the logic in that; Shepard had no interest in Omega aside from Omega backing the UCAF against the threats of the reapers and such, and the council. There was nothing that he needed from Omega aside from that.
"You have my permission Shepard, kill in my name and make them fear the old war hound." The patriarch smiled.

Shepard motioned for his team, Reona scanned for the hit team that was to locate and assassinate the old krogan.
"They're taking the back entrance into the place and a few from the front doors, the guards can handle them, but I think I'll be of more assistance to dealing with them." The lieutenant explained.

"Good, Reona takes front, Zaeed you know what to do, Eric on the top of the place keep the Patriarch safe; I'll deal with the leadership." Shepard ordered.

They scattered, Shepard took the entrance into the lower tunnels of the building while Zaeed went out to the back alley of the place, Reona made contact first with the guards, a few batarians from what she could tell, and Eric had kept his eyes open for infiltrators. Shepard found himself down in the depths of the facility looking for whoever was directing this damn assault.

It didn't take long to hear the sounds of screams as Zaeed began his slaughter; the noise would probably make it rather obvious that they weren't going to have an easy time getting to their target. Shepard didn't take long to find his way to a group heading up to reinforce the attack; Shepard let them pass as he ducked out of sight.

He didn't want to lose his element of surprise, he headed through the depths and didn't need to look far, this attack was being coordinated right under the building, and he could see the garage access for the maintenance. There were 3 vehicles with a dozen armed assailants, and what looked like a turian guiding them.

"Get those damn heavy weapons out, I don't know what the frak is wiping out the teams, but subtlety is out the window, get tactical and wipe out any resistance." The turian ordered angrily.

Shepard noted that the number of armed personnel, he decided to take his fight with a bit of flair, he knew that it wasn't exactly his usual method of engagement but it would spare him the constant shouts that these aliens seem to toss about rather weirdly. He tossed in 2 grenades and blinded them, he jumped from cover and used his DMR and M5 to drop the first 3 and then another as he vaulted down to the turian in charge, at the same time Zaeed seemingly managed to find his way into the same room shredding through his assailants like a berserker.

Shepard closed the distance between him and the turian officer in charge who began wildly attempting to hit him while he rushed forwards. The turian sprayed rapidly across his head; however he seemed rather incapable of striking him, rolling he got back to his feet and rammed his gauntlet into his fist, the gauntlet he had a ton of special upgrades, including shredding talons.

He found his mark around his neck and shredded into soft tissue of the turian's neck, he was rewarded with a gurgle and a spray of blood, his inertia carried the force of his talon down onto the ground. Zaeed was busy mopping up and adding a few new trophies to his collection of skulls. As the turian died Shepard got his rifle out again and began to fire at the nearby hostiles.

It didn't take long for him and Zaeed to mop the rest of the hired assassins out, the assassins were dropped in short order and he received a call over his com.
"Shepard, this is Reona, we've handled the remaining assassins, Eric's got the area secure, and the Patriarch wishes to speak with you."

"Tell him I'll be happy to oblige." He replied over the coms.

Before long he and Zaeed were back up at the seminar, and the dear old krogan cheering.
"Ah fresh blood, it's been far too long." The old krogan he sighed in happiness.

"I see you're enjoying yourself." Shepard stated observantly.

"Shepard, when you've been alive as long as I have you'll understand that the one thing you are good at will always be the one thing you never forget." The krogan replied with a sense of grim satisfaction.

"I could imagine, so you ready to get back to Aria?" He asked.

"I'm good to go, but you've revived my reputation, becoming a krantt of a former warlord of Omega, would make Aria keep her eye on your next intervention." He warned.

"I have no intention to take Omega, in this life or the next patriarch; I doubt that I might have the time with the Helldiver's as it already is." He replied.

They headed up to Afterlife; it didn't take long for Shepard to get back into Aria's lounge where he soon found her looking at him and smiling dangerously.
"How's the fight?"

"Well aside from getting your dear old friend burning." He replied.

"I have to admit, the assassination attempt on his life was something I wanted to avoid, but getting his name renowned again? Last thing I need is further competition." She rolled her eyes.

"Aria, I don't think it's going to be a problem." He replied.

"Fine, you have my thanks, but I want to make it clear on our agreement, don't fuck things up as they already are." She smiled sweetly and then stated.
"The fleet is waiting outside, and I would like to urge that you get on track, the council won't exactly be too happy with what you just did, I'll deal with the remaining forces."

"Glad I could help." Shepard replied as he packed up and got to his team.

XXXXX

It didn't take long before they reached the fleet, Shepard hadn't much time before they received word from Hackett and the others that they had the fleet prepared to move, as for Aaron, he had to meet with him on the CIC of the ship to determine their next move, Aaron had discovered the location although the location was probably the trouble.

Getting into the CIC, he found that Aaron was busy tapping a few of the star clusters that he believed to be the location of Eta. Shepard greeted him.
"So I can assume that you've found what you need?"

Aaron turned to see him and replied.
"Sir, I've found the source of the Eta Halo's location."

"Why do I have a feeling there's a 'but'?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, well the station is located in the grasp of 4 gas giants and a thick asteroid field, it's within the range of multiple constructs, and that alone is going to make the jump dangerous." He replied.

"Let me guess, the constructs are forerunner defence platforms?" He asked.

"No, actually they're mineral and gas vapour harvesters, but they're incredibly volatile, not to mention 100,000 years hasn't left them in good condition." He explained.

Well looks like they were tossing in further problems into an already painful task.
"Aaron, I need to know, can we reach the installation without losing half the fleet?" He asked.

"We can make it, but I doubt that it'll end well in the enclosed amount of space." He replied with a shrug.

"Don't worry then, all of us will do what we can, and I need to get the Normandy down there first, is there anything else?" He asked.

"The covenant has reported that their fleets have left from the Event Horizon, they'll be at the coordinates in 18 hours." Anya appeared.

Zaeed stated in anticipation. "What are we waiting for? Let's get this party started."

"Anya, hail the fleet, we're going ahead." He ordered.

Anya nodded and began to relay messages across the fleet.
"All ships prepare for departure, repeat all ships prepare for departure."

"This is one hell of a risk you're taking Shepard; I can't imagine that if the reapers or their damned collectors have reinforced this'll end badly." Matthew expressed over the coms.

"We have our priority, we know the cost, and we sure as hell know that there's nothing left holding us back, we either do it or we die trying. There's no turning back from here." He explained as the ship began to reach their jump point.

But before they left, he had one last task at hand.
"Anya, please relay this across the fleet."

Anya obliged and began to relay the commander across the fleet. Hundreds of thousands of eyes now watching him as he addressed his followers and friends, those dedicated to the safety of the human race and all life in the galaxy.
"Our time has come, there has never been a moment as critical as this, I won't lie to you, the dangers we face from here are as dangerous as any other the UCAF had ever gone against, and the odds are sharply stacked against us. But I tell you this, we will not fail, we will not back down, for every step forward is a step towards our future. If not for ourselves then our children! We go forwards know this, that what we do is what we must for the human race, against the dangers of the galaxy we will remain vigilant and we will not break. We now enter into the abyss and only we will decide, will we return?"

The speech ended and a silence fell over.
He then motioned and with the gesture of his hand. "All vessels jump on my mark, 3, 2, 1… mark."

The ships were engulfed into the coming whirlpool of light it was to be their last jump until the end, and the end was catching up with them fast, but Shepard, he could feel that this battle was much more than a simple end, this was the beginning, or maybe the end of the beginning. He only knew that he had a future, for a child born. Would he ever see her?

XXXXX

Eta Halo

2560/3/25

The shrouds of multiple vessels appeared from the dark side of the gas giants, their figures darkening the Halo ring as they headed towards it, in the midst of this oncoming fleet, the head ship, the reaper flagship Sovereign headed the attack. Inside he watched, it had been so long, he knew that the end was coming and soon, with the UCAF coming in with an armada it was to become a free for all shortly.

Saren smiled upon his gilded throne of blue and velvet watching aptly as the fleet dispersed, they'd take ground position while they prepared to activate the halo; their little friend was enough for them to begin the end or stall it long enough. Saren however felt something else, nervousness, even though he had so many years in fighting against the UCAF and other battles, he found that Shepard and that fool of the UCAF Anderson were his greatest threats,

And Sovereign agreed that the coming battle was to decide the fate of the galaxy and the UCAF, and Shepard was going to lead it to the end. Saren smiled at the thought of killing the damned human champion and felt bitter as hell for what he did to him.

But aside from the regular bitterness of life, Saren watched in anticipation for the UCAF, this was a battle to be heard of through the ages. Either the UCAF and Shepard set him back once more, or the reapers got a step ahead, Saren had no doubt that the activation of Halo would surely aid him and the reapers, their goal was at hand, but Shepard couldn't be allowed to win.

Saren felt the thrum of the reaper's heart; Sovereign demanded nothing less than absolute victory. There was no failure for the reapers.

XXXXX

Location: Unknown

"The pieces they fall into place, they all fall into place, the time has come, and I shall ascend, again… but this time he's coming, for us all, me and brother, isn't that right mother?" He asked the oblivion of the darkness.

He heard no response, but continued in his psychotic ramble, at least until he could hear of the earth shaking, he knew that they had arrived, and he would be there to see them off, the end of this ring and the rebirth of the flood. All will suffer, all will know fear, not just of the ancient dead machines, but of the dead ones, there would be no end. Only his lasting victory…

XXXXX

Location: Eta Halo

Time: 2560/3/25

Shepard waited patiently at the bridge of the Normandy waiting for the time to finally exit FTL, they'd jump right into the fight with the reapers, Normandy spearheading the fight, with over a hundred ships to boot, and if this wasn't a fight of titans then it would be at least a fight of survival, and only the victor would be the one who succeeds.

Anya appeared.
"Commander, real space transition in 1 minute…"

"Good, tell all personnel to active combat status, expect company, a lot of company." He ordered.

"Very well, all ships have batteries and MACs at ready, fighter screens have prepared for immediate deployment, and drop ships are prepared for combat drop. Emergency teams are at standby and awaiting for deployment." Anya announced.

"Thank you Anya." He stated to the AI.

There was a brief pause as the ships headed onwards to their coming battle, the fleet had been gathered into a spearhead formation prepared for a javelin strike formation, they'd find no resistance as of yet, or be on the receiving end of a lot. The timer went down to the last second.
"Transition to real space now."

Shepard watched as the aura of light passed and they opened out into normal space, and came to face with Halo, it was as magnificent as ever, but something got to him. The fleet of reapers orbiting, and then there was the fleet of ships right in front of them.
"All ships engage!" He ordered.

XXXXX

AN: (Yeah that time again.)

Looks like the battle for Eta has begun, and the coming battle will decide the fate of the galaxy, and the future of the Shepard family, there is also a number of cameos coming along, and with cameos new little tidbits into what is to happen.

Do you guys want Legion to appear?

Do you want the details of the Elites engagement? Including the Order of the Arbiters?

Do you want to have the council's own account?

Also, do you want to know more or less of Joseph and Uri of the Chimera project?

And let's not forget the other vying factions of the galaxy, which ones do you guys want to know or have in the up and coming story arc?

Also Zaeed is still the hardest to kill bastard right next to Master Chief.