For those wondering what the hell I was thinking; I haven't a clue…

For those wondering what the hell is this; here's the basic outline:

Due to some improbable circumstances, an Mgalekgolo has been transported to the ME verse. His journey is rife with danger without his shield brother at his side.

The Hunter was a part of the UNSC-Separatist Alliance and was catapulted across space and time due to the mid-slipspace destruction of the UNSC frigate he travelled on.

For imagery, refer to halo/images/9/9a/HReach_-_ or favourites/39506462#/d1xyemh

The Mgalekgolo that I'll be using looks nearly identical to this one, except for a few key features;

-The headpiece has a horizontal red strip that acts as 'eyes'.

-The nose of the plasma cannon is less bulbous; the cannon nozzle can retract, letting the right arm's 'fingers' be used.

-On the underside of the chest piece are two hidden arms that will act as extra appendages so the Hunter can interface with ME tech and characters. Ex. Use a basic omni-tool, handle small objects, etc.

-Finally, the armor will not have the various icons and insignia. Later in the fic (if I decide to add more chapters), the armor will gain the ability to generate a bubble shield for a small period of time.

And for specifics on potential plot;

-possibility of an amazingly odd romance option…

-for plot purposes, the slipspace anomaly caused the individual 'snakes', or Lekgolo, to morph into one being; a sort of chimera-amalgamation that may be further explained.

-Mgalekgolo have the ability to perceive the 'aura' of everything and are essentially colorblind. The colors they perceive are the colors of the auras of their surroundings and communicate like the Rachni, through 'songs'. Songs are vibrant displays of color and harmonic sounds that can usually be perceived through direct contact with the Mgalekgolo's flesh or the Mgalekgolo focusing upon another's aura. Certain machines can project the 'songs' so more can view their beauty.

-When exposed to significant amounts of refined eezo, the Hunter can gain the ability to create mass effect fields for a limited time.

On to the story…

Forward Unto a New Dawn – a Mgalekgolo's Great Journey

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They held fast against the steady tide of Kig-yar and Jiralhanae; none would pass…

The Mgalekgolo twins finished off one last platoon of the bird-like Kig-yar and their brutish leader using his Assault Cannon's explosive capsule firing-mode. They snorted at the inferiors that lay dead at their feet, squashing many corpses with each heavy step.

The first Mgalekgolo searched idly for his bond-brother, his young offshoot that was a mere month old. There across the battlefield, his other half smashed an unlucky Brute with a powerful swing of their shield. Their foes were pitiful; very few could truly stand against their might.

The battlefield was silent. A sure sign of their effectiveness in battle…

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A deep rumbling shook the cavern where a mighty being rested. It had arrived onto this planet by means unknown. It knew only that the planet was an inhospitable world filled with deceptively quiet forests and ravenous beasts. The predators of the land where easily deterred by the Mgalekgolo's menacing form and its deadly plasma weaponry.

The behemoth rested in a small cave just a few meters away from the site of its arrival. The Mgalekgolo's crash-landing had been an unexpected occurrence; the pod it had inhabited had survived the mid-slipspace destruction of the USS Jericho, the human craft it had travelled upon. They had just survived a battle with a Loyalist Covenant battlecruiser and had attempted to leave via slipspace jump when the frigate had been struck by several plasma torpedoes of the battlecruiser's reinforcements.

Grimlock, as he had come to be known by human warriors he fought alongside, did not know how he had survived or come to be on this strange world; he only knew that it was not part of existence in which he was born. The very aura of the world was more alien than the human's homeworld had been. The Mgalekgolo could no longer feel the songs of his brethren, the very lifeline of his people that extended beyond the perception of other races.

Another deep rumble shook the walls of the cave. Curiosity overcoming himself, Grimlock quietly (for him) made his way to the entrance of the cave.

There in the clearing, he could see a small group of figures with near-identical glass helms stood studying the crater from his pod's impact. Grimlock once again felt the strange aura of this existence radiating more strongly from one of the masked figures. The being was female from what he could sense; she would be considered 'curvaceous' by human standards and stood on legs similar to the Sanghelii, only her feet were clawed and had two toes.

The masked aliens split into two groups: one stayed at the crash site, presumably to examine the area more closely. The second ventured toward Grimlock's shelter, the radiant female with them.

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Tali'Zorah Vas Neema sighed as her team was once again assigned to another task by the Admiralty Board. Sure it had been only three months prior that the SSV Normandy had been destroyed and one of the most influential figures in her short life had died of asphyxiation while she watched helplessly from an escape pod; her loss did not make her incompetent, it made her sorrowful to the point that she often cried herself to sleep…

"Tali'Zorah, the scanners have tracked a large bipedal creature that came from the strange pod in the crater. The retreating footprints indicate that the creature was most likely heavily armored, weighing more than five tons at the least."

Tali had seen the signs earlier. Much of it was obvious to even the most casual of observers. Even so, Tali decided to take a few marines with her to scout the creature's location. Hopefully it would be a non-violent sentient with a very mild disposition. And to be sure of the mission's success, Tali left Prazza under Kal'Reegar's command.

"Dega'Vai, Logri'Artas; both of you come with me. We'll be following those tracks while Prazza and Reegar make sure the crash site remains secure."

Tali's orders were crisp and well-received. Prazza admired Reegar and would follow the older, red-suited Quarian with no complaints. As her small group followed the tracks, Tali contemplated on the possible contact.

Judging by the depressions left and the depth of each print, she believed the being was easily seven feet tall and weighed several tons at least. Also, it probably wore very heavy armor since the footprints were too symmetrical to be entirely organic. Tali's musings were interrupted by Dega'Vai Vas Qwib Qwib, the only other female Quarian with the search party.

"Tali'Zorah, the tracks go into that cave just beyond the tree line. Should we call a few more marines over as a precaution?"

"No. Both you and Logri get behind the trees and cover me while I take a closer look. With any luck, we'll just have rescued a stranded traveler."

Both Quarians did as ordered while Tali crept closer to the cave entrance. Slowly taking out her battered Predator pistol, Tali peered into the dim shelter and could just make out the shape of an enormous figure within. Tali stored away her weapon and kept her hands raised at shoulder height as she approached whoever (or whatever) was hiding in the cave.

"Hello? My name is Tali'Zorah Vas Neema of the Quarian Migrant Fleet. We discovered your crashed pod and came to investigate."

The figure swayed slightly and Tali was able to see the glow of some sort of energy containers on its right arm. Whatever this thing was, it was big and packing some obvious firepower…

Tali mentally gulped as she tried to communicate her intentions.

"Can you please come into the light? It's rather difficult to talk to a bulky shadow…"

The figure apparently understood and walked, or lumbered, into the light. Tali felt lightheaded and amazed at the being before her. Standing at least seven feet tall and clad in strange blue armor, the behemoth cut an imposing figure. She found that the glowing protrusions where actually parts of a large cannon that was the creature's right hand and the bulky black mass was an impossibly thick physical shield on its left arm. The spikes swayed and twitched as the alien examined her carefully.

Trembling, Tali lifted her left hand and held it saying,

"As I said before; I am Tali'Zorah Vas Neema. Pleased to make your acquaintance, ummm…"

Tali paused and prayed that it would understand the gesture. She could feel Dega and Logri taking aim with their rifles; she knew however that their weapons would probably have little effect. Their outdated Avenger rifles were barely held together and lacked the penetrating power needed to take this giant down.

A tense moment passed and Tali was relieved to see that the alien understood her gesture. She watched with fascination as a hidden panel on the underside chestplate opened up. Out came a mechanical, three-fingered arm. It reached out and lightly grasped her hand; Tali was amazed at the dexterity and craftsmanship of the limb. She idly wondered who could have built such a suit. The young engineer was then shocked out of her reverie when the creature spoke with a gravelly, yet modulated voice.

"Greeting accepted. This one greets Tali'Zorah. Designation: Grimlock."

The newly identified Grimlock released her hand and his (as she decided since the voice was clearly male) arm folded back into place under the now-closing chestplate.

"Alright…Grimlock. Do you need any help? My team would be pleased to render their servi-"

"Assistance needed. Audio emitters damaged. External repairs and updated translation software required for full communication capability."

So his fragmented speech was a hardware problem; she could fix that…

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Grimlock sat in the Quarian shuttle as the radiant female, Tali'Zorah, examined the damaged audio emitters on his helmet. Said Quarian was seated on his shoulders, just behind his head, fiddling with the now visible wiring. The Mgalekgolo sighed internally as he watched the other quarians go about their business as the shuttle flew them back to their migrant fleet, or as Tali had called it, the Flotilla. Thanks to the loaned omni-tool on his secondary left arm, Grimlock was easily able to understand the speech of his new allies.

"-such strange technology. It seems almost Prothean in design, yet there are many sections that just scream 'Quarian'. Who built this armor Grimlock?"

Tali had been pestering him a great deal as she quickly corrected the damaged emitters. He merely shrugged; the armor had been gifted to him by the Mgalekgolo elders and had later been modified as he gained more renown as a warrior. He knew everything that was relevant to the repair and maintenance of his armor, nothing more. The technology came from the Forerunners and the Covenant scientists merely reverse engineered what they could decipher from the artifacts they found. Few truly understood the inner workings of the technology.

"Exact makers unknown; the armor comes from the Time of Ascension."

"Time of Ascension?"

Tali's question was silently mirrored by the other quarians in the shuttle. They were curious about their passenger but had quietly let Tali'Zorah finish the repairs to his armor. Tali signaled for all to hold any question until Grimlock finished his explanation.

"In the eras long past, millennia's before the Great Cataclysm and discovery of the Sacred Rings; there came the Forerunners. Ancient and wise, the Forerunner searched the known universe endlessly, seeking aid against a foe of their own making. A great, unstoppable parasite that consumed all life…

"The Forerunner came to our world and found the Lekgolo deep within the great seas. Calling us from the depths, the Forerunner took us into their ships and made us anew.

"Before the Lekgolo swam the seas as prey to all; within a moon, the Forerunner gave us strength of arms and songs in our souls.

"The first comer gave us the gift of potential; we walked in the shadow of the Forerunner. We were but children learning the ways of the world.

The second comer gave us the gift of creation: we walked beside the Forerunner, molding the world to our will. We built magnificent cities and grand vessels to sail the endless stars.

The third comer gave us the gift of conquest: we walked before the Forerunner, hunting the parasite to its source. We became the vanguard of our uplifters.

The fourth come was the last; a parting gift from our dying friends. We were given the mantle of hope: we walked alone and guarded the sacred knowledge of our teachers. We are the vanguard of legacy; the guardians of their last wish…"

Silence filled the shuttle as the quarians processed this information. Tali was the first to speak.

"Keelah, do you mean to tell me that an advanced race uplifted your people to fight a war for them?"

"Correct. The Forerunners were losing ground against a great enemy. The enemy possessed the ability to infect both living organisms and dead tissue, mutating the host into a suitable lifeform. Upon infection, the host dies and becomes part of a greater consciousness."

Tali and the quarians drew frightening parallels between themselves and these Forerunners. Both races created artificial life and were overthrown by their creations. Both the Geth and this 'enemy' had the ability to enhance themselves with the spoils of war and used a network-intelligence. And soon the Quarian race would join the Forerunners in extinction if their paths were the same.

"W-what was this enemy, the parasite called?"

Tali turned and saw that it was Logri who spoke. It was not often that the shy marine spoke up. Grimlock's visor flashed ominously before speaking.

"The parasite… It was an enemy without end, without reason, without fear; it was the endless tide, the eternal Flood."

A chill went up the spines of every quarian on the shuttle. They instinctively feared this 'Flood'. How could they not when it wiped out such an advanced race, even one capable of uplifting a primordial species into a space faring society in a matter of weeks.

"Did the Lekgolo defeat the Flood after the fall of the Forerunner?"

This time it was Dega'Vai. She was wringing her hands, anxious to hear the fate of their spiritual siblings. Grimlock shook his armored head solemnly.

"The Lekgolo were pushed back, along with every our other uplifted comrades. We each retreated to the sanctuaries built by our dying comrades, the Arks. Then the Forerunner activated their greatest weapon, a last resort. It wiped out all organic life in the universe. Any not within the Arks were incinerated by the light of extinction. Even the Forerunner."

"But how did Lekgolo and all the others races survive once organic life was wiped out. There would have been nothing left to survive on."

Tali's question echoed in the quiet shuttle. No one spoke. They were too curious; even Prazza was engrossed in the story.

"The Arks held the uplifted in stasis. Ten millennia trapped between life and death before being released to our homeworlds to start anew."

With that, Grimlock turned away from the quarians and settled into a vacant corner and slept. The quarians shook themselves out of there reverie and returned to their duties. They would arrive at the Flotilla in a matter of hours. But Tali glanced at the now slumbering giant, wondering what else he could tell them; what wonders filled his galaxy and horrors he had faced.