Hi! I'm back! And welcome to the six chapter of Reclamation of a Scattered Race!

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(16th December 2569 UNSC Standard - Karthros system - 24.6 light years from Eridanus system)

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The UNSC Silent Dagger had been slowly moving towards the Karthros system for the past three hours in stealth, having dropped out of Slipspace a quarter of an arc from the star for safety.

They had just travelled to a system that, while having terrestrial planets, probes had detected high concentrations of Nullium and the system had been marked prohibited for safety.

That was forty six years ago and was the last system the UNSC had attempted exploration of in this region before the Great War.

Now Commander Hannibal Barcino had been tasked by ONI to investigate the system to determine if there was anything else besides Nullium orbiting the star.

He was aware that he was not the only UNSC prowler searching Nullium rich systems, as a dozen prowlers had been committed to this mission, sent to all corners of UNSC space and beyond the Glasslands to the furtherest known star systems recorded around UNSC space.

Having already spent the last two months confirming the findings of four other systems, with the second having not one but three asteroid belts packed with the hazardous material, Commander Barcino just wanted this mission over and done with. He had more than enough of Nullium to last a life time.

"Lieutenant Hokka, how long until we enter the system?" he asked his helmsman.

"Sir, we are five minutes out and will be in optimal scanning range within six." came the Lieutenant's crisp reply. Let it be known Commander Barcino ran a tight ship in all situations.

The official story behind this expedition to forbidden systems was in order to determine whether or not there were any Forerunner artefacts left behind, waiting to be discovered. The premature exit from Slipspace was to ensure that the ship would not randomly appear within range of Nullium and the active stealth, well that was encase the system had any other visitors at the time.

His crew believed the cover story completely at first until they started to notice the focus on the results for Nullium concentrations. Though curious, they did not question their Commander.

"Commander we have reached the system proper. Stealth systems running within optimal range. No other ships detected. Releasing probes now." spoke Hokka.

Now all Barcino had to do was wait. The probes would pinpoint were the Nullium was in system and make sure that there was no hidden device being powered by the accursed material. He, along with all the commanders on this mission, had been briefed by the director of ONI section I on what to do if such a device was found.

But first he had to make sure there was no device in the system.

"Sir! Data from the probes is coming in. As previously known, there are three terrestrial planets, with the second and third being within the habitable zone, five gas giants, non exceeding Neptune in size and … uh Sir I think you should take a look at this."

Hearing the nervousness in his crewman's voice, Barcino stood from his command chair and looked at the incoming data. The probes had triangulated the source of the high levels of Nullium in this system.

It was fully concentrated in one point just beyond the fifth gas giant, in an area not even twenty kilometres in length. The scans showed that it was not locked away in some lone comet or rogue asteroid but an artificial construct.

A construct that bared a striking resemblance to a tuning fork.

"I think it is safe to say we found what we were looking for Commander."

Barcino frowned, having found the device he had to follow the orders he had been given.

"Comm., patch a direct line through to ONI HQ. They will need to be informed. Ensign Daniels, I need the cargo we have brought in container 4D prepped and ready for deployment."

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(18th December 2569 UNSC Standard - ONI headquarters - Maisriah Mars - Sol system)

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"Come on Veronica, everyone is already here. Surely you of all people can get some time off early just this once?"

The director of Section I of ONI found herself having the same argument she had repeated every year since she had ascended her current position as a Rear Admiral Upper Half and one the commanding officers in ONI. Speaking with more calmness and patience than she was feeling , she responded, "Buck, we talked about this. Once the annual reconstruction report is finished and given for review to President Kinsley, I'll get the next shuttle out to Castillo and we can spend two weeks resting peacefully."

Rear Admiral Veronica Dare watched as the man in the holographic feed slump somewhat dejected with her response, it secretly wanted to make her smile. "Yeah but until then it's just me trying to keep Jessica and Michael under control. Why they listen to you but never take heed of anything I say, I'll never know."

"Well maybe if you hadn't spoiled them when they were younger then you wouldn't be having this problem" she replied in mirth, "Shape up Buck, a Master Gunnery Sergeant, who not only lived throughout the Great War but helped win it, should be more than capable of handling two teenagers." It always brought joy to Veronica's heart when talking about parental woes. Having made it through the Great War, the greatest concern she had for her children was who they would end up dating. It made the future seem so bright.

Just then her personal screen chimed, indicating her next meeting was about to begin. Its topic concerning the recent mission she had given to the prowler core regarding the Nullium rich systems surrounding and within UNSC space made her lose what warmth she gained from talking with Buck.

"Sorry Buck but I have a meeting now. I will call you later today."

Realising the change in her demeanour, Buck replied "Right, right Mrs Rear Admiral, but you should know the kids do miss their mother."

She sighed, she really did miss her children as well but she was here making sure that they would never have to go through anything like the Great War.

"I know Buck, I miss them too. I'll see what I can do. Give them my love okay?"

"Sure Veronica."

"Oh and Buck. If I find out you let Romeo look after them again I will make sure you're dishonourably discharged." she finished with no small amount of threat in her voice.

Buck froze at that though quickly recovered, " Ah of course, wouldn't dream of it."

"Goodbye Buck."

Terminating the holographic feed from Castillo, Admiral Dare turned to face the door to her office, and steeled herself for the following meeting.

"Enter"

The doors parted and three people walked in, the commander of the prowler core, the intelligence liaison with Sangheilios and finally the investigator from ONI section Zero.

Admiral Dare regarded the spook from Section Zero for a moment. Ever since Osman's fall from grace; Section Zero had been expanded in order to prevent such an incident as Kilo five or the attempted assassination of Catherine Halsey from ever happening again.

Though Section Zero was present for all priority meetings of all section heads, Admiral Dare knew they monitored everything done by all ONI staff through an extensive network of AI. Secrecy was there objective above all else. Though she did wonder as to why they had such agents sit in meetings. She along with the other section directors could never forbid them from the meetings but she assumed that it was to give Section Zero a physical presence. To always remind the other sections that Section Zero was always watching.

Though by far the most curious part of Section Zero was its director.

The director of Section Zero was never present at any joint Section or High COM meetings. It was rumoured that the director only ever met with the Fleet Admiral and Director Halsey.

Such thoughts however would not be conductive to the meeting.

"Admiral" all three men said to her.

" Welcome, please be seated."

As the three men took their seats the office doors locked and the electronic shutters for the windows closed, sealing the room. The details regarding the Timeless Storm were still highly classified after all, security measures still had to be taken even when in the Headquarters of ONI section I.

Steeling herself for the meeting, Admiral Dare addressed the men sitting in front of her "Gentlemen, today's meeting is for the purpose of evaluating the immediate threat of the Timeless Storm and preliminary countermeasures against incursion into UNSC space. Rear Admiral Stewart, what is the report from the prowlers scanning the prohibited systems?"

Rear Admiral Stewart nodded to his superior of one rank and began his report, "Admiral, the prowlers dispatched have finished their patrols as of two days ago. We can confirm that there are Mass Relays within six of these systems though thankfully the closest one to Earth is over 500 light years away. Five of the relays are beyond the Glasslands with the sixth being the closest to Earth in the Kedashi system."

Admiral Dare frowned in response to that, though the discovery of multiple relays around UNSC space and even one within it was disconcerting, it was not anywhere as disastrous as it could have been. The UNSC had, since having FTL capabilities, marked 59 systems as having high levels of Nullium with the first being 36 light years from Earth.

"I see, have the packages been deployed at the Relays?" she asked.

"Yes Admiral, all six Relays have been tagged with them and are ready to be activated at anytime. The AI's assigned to each package are fully operational and do not require continuous observation." replied Admiral Stewart.

Admiral Dare nodded at that. The packages had been signed off on by High COMM for their use in these systems considering there was nothing in them bar barren worlds.

She just silently prayed that she would not have to see them activated.

"Thank you Admiral, you may call the ships back, I am sure the crews could use some R and R."

"Of course Admiral."

With his piece said, Admiral Stewart sat back in his chair and attention turned to the Intelligence operative.

"Mr. Daniels, what word is there from Sangheilios?"

Robert Daniels, the only non officer in the room sat straight when the question was asked but did not appear to be at all nervous. Having spent most of the last five years working between the UEG and the former Covenant races at the peace conferences, being asked a question from a high ranking officer in the UNSC hardly compared to that of an angered bond pair of Mgalekgolo.

"Admiral Dare, I have received a report from Ossoona Korlo 'Zamam concerning the Sangheili's investigation of known Covenant territory before the Great Schism. They have so far searched just under 80 percent of their forbidden systems and have found seven relays. So far all are inactive with none close to any former Covenant stronghold however there are still fifteen systems left to investigate. The remaining systems are however at least three thousand light years from the nearest UNSC controlled world."

Admiral Dare nodded at the information. The former Covenant had a similar protocol as to the UNSC with Nullium. Due to Nullium rendering Slipspace travel lethal to say the least, the Hierarchs decreed any system containing the material a cursed system by the Forerunners and therefore banned any and all travel to such systems.

Due to Covenant space spanning over 12,000 light years between its two most distant points, the Sangheili had far more systems to investigate than the UNSC. Though thankfully with only thirteen relays catalogued at the moment, containment and monitoring of such systems should not be too difficult.

As long as no one from the Citadel community tried to travel through them.

"Also Admiral, while the Arbiter has agreed with following similar polices regarding these relays, he has also put forward several proposals regarding some of these systems."

Giving her full attention back to the liaison, Admiral Dare asked him to continue, at which point he handed over the data pad containing several pages of conceptual tactics regarding the use of the systems containing relays. After reading through them Admiral Dare replied.

"No matter my personal preference, it will be up to High COM to make any final decisions, though I believe many would agree with proposal four."

Daniels smirked at that. Proposal four was quite a deceptive plan that could potentially result in a large scale victory in the system, though would be quite costly and require implementation as soon as possible just to be ready within the next ten years.

"Now with that I believe it is time to discuss other matters. How is progress of Naval base Janus progressing."

Daniel's smirk fell at the question.

"Well enough considering what is being asked of everyone but between me and 'Zamam we're getting on average twenty complaints every three hours."

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( 18th December 2569 - UNSC Hyper Carrier Fields of Aaru - Naval Base Janus)

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Vice Admiral Castor Dane felt like sighing for the twelfth time in the last hour. He had been constantly trying to keep the peace ever since he had arrived in this system ten days ago.

The star system he was currently in was situated between the borders of the UNSC and Sangheili controlled space, just under 60 light years away from Harvest. The system had contained six terrestrial worlds rich in heavy metals though only one within the habitable zone of the blue giant star. The system also contained three gas giants rich in deuterium and tritium, making the system an excellent one for ship construction and fuel production.

Vice Admiral Dane had been given command of one of the three active hyper carriers in the UNSC fleet, the Fields of Aaru, along with a fleet containing four retrofitted and upgraded Halcyon class light cruisers, six Reliance class destroyers (currently docked within the hyper carrier) and ten Charon class frigates.

As well as the rather large battle group, four Phoenix class colony ships had been deployed to the system to help start the terraforming of the habitable world.

They also contained a large compliment of Huragok.

They were here in order to set up and deploy the first joint colony and naval base between the UNSC and Sangheilios, in order to prepare for the war with the Timeless Storm. Considering that the system was relatively closer to UNSC controlled space, Vice Admiral Dane's fleet arrived long before the Sangheili fleet and to keep to the terms agreed between both governments, Dane could not begin the terraforming until the Sangheili fleet arrived. Which it did after waiting seven hours. Though fleet would be an inappropriate word to describe the Sangheili's contribution to the first joint colony.

Arbiter Thel' Vadam had sent the CSO - Emerging Penitence, one of the three active super carriers within the Sangheili fleet.

Many onboard the UNSC vessels became nervous due the presence of such a vessel in system. During the entire Great War the UNSC had only successfully destroyed four such vessels either through subterfuge or at great cost in ship and man power.

Though only reason that there were so few left in the galaxy was due to the battle of installation 05 and the War of Scattered Blood.

After the initial panic from the battle group, Fleetmaster Zakra 'Mantakr hailed the Fields of Aaru, explaining that for the purposes of establishing colonies and military bases, his ship could transport and deploy all the resources and troops required without having to pull too many ships away from defensive patrols.

It was also a large show of faith from the Arbiter in Vice Admiral Dane's eye. Placing one of his three super carriers in the open, beyond aid immediate aid, told Dane that the Arbiter was fully committed to this endeavour.

However since the initial meeting, almost every argument imaginable broke out from division of resources from the system, structure placement, orbital and planetary defences to defensive patrols.

He had to also continuously deal with complaints that the terraforming of the habitable world was taking far too long.

The situation showed that while both sides were willing to work together, unless a new command was developed to help naval and civil deployment of resources, this joint effort between races was not going to progress well. He had already sent off his recommendation to Fleet COMM, as had Fleetmaster 'Mantakr to Sangheilios on how to address this issue.

It was times like this that he wished he had been given command of the UNSC Folkvangr, that hyper carrier rarely patrolled beyond Talon.

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(19th December 2569 - UNSC Point of No Return- Location Classified)

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Sitting in the most secure conference room in the galaxy, known to some as the Cage or Odin's Eye, Director Catherine Halsey regarded the man across from her with barely held impatience. She was required to attend such meetings with him though it did take considerable time away from her study of the Absolute Record.

Having barely scratched the surface of the accumulation of all Forerunner knowledge, she had come across mentions of something even greater, referred to as the Domain, though she had nothing more than a name at this time.

"Stare at me all you want Director Halsey but the Forerunner archive has waited for over 100,000 years, it can wait a bit longer until we are finished." he replied with that insufferable knowing smirk of his.

"Get to the reason why we are here. You can skip the security review. If there were any major security breaches within ONI, I am sure you would have already dealt with them and reported it to Lord Hood. Were the prowlers able to confirm my hypothesis?"

His smirk slipped at that as he passed her the data for her to review. "Unfortunately yes, any system containing a relay was devoid of any sign of Forerunner artefacts."

Halsey skimmed over the data but it mere confirmed what her colleague and the record had already told her. The Absolute Record detailed the location and condition of all Forerunner technology within the galaxy. Most were coded showing to be dormant, such as the Halo array, or active like the Sharpened Shield. Some were indicated to have been damaged beyond repair, mostly, she huffed somewhat in defeat but mostly bemusement at thinking it, wherever the Master Chief had set foot.

However several simply show unknown status as if they were being hidden from the record.

Halsey quickly deduced that the most likely culprit would have been the Timeless Storm, having returned to the galaxy and claiming what it could from the Forerunners.

It was a disturbing thought. An enemy having nearly 100,000 years to study and glean as much as it could from Forerunner technology. Though Halsey took some comfort in the fact that the record showed that while Humanity had reclaimer status, the reverse was true for the Timeless Storm. The Forerunners had found a method to ensure the Timeless Strom could not forcefully access their technology. Though she was still nervous.

There was no such thing as the perfect lock, and 100,000 years is a long time to have to unlock it.

Setting the pad down she looked back to the director of Section Zero. "Though worrisome it is not unexpected, have you informed Lord Hood of this yet?"

"No he was my next port of call after speaking to you. However before we finish here I like to bring up a point regarding the mission you have set up for Commander Palmer."

Smirking at the topic, Halsey queried his intrigue of the mission, "And what, pray tell, has caught your attention of her mission enough to question me directly? I hope it is not to do with any augmentations or the approval of the use of an eight generation AI"

"Far from it" he replied looking Halsey directly in the eye, "It is to do with a certain faction in the galactic community she is to infiltrate. A certain group going by the moniker Cerberus."

Halsey frowned at the mention of the rouge shadow group, having read what had happened only last month at a System Alliance world causing the spread of Nullium in the atmosphere. AI monitoring of the Extranet indicated that this rogue group was responsible for the disaster.

"What do you plan to do?"

The director of Section Zero leaned forward to reply, "Well when the time comes I suggest the same course with every dog that has gotten off its leash. Either train it to obey or put it down."

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(28th August 2171 - System Alliance Standard- Alliance recruitment Agency- Elysium)

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Gunnery Chief Glenn Taylor sat in the recruitment office having the air of professionalism and dedication to the task at hand, despite what he was felling inside.

Being stuck at the recruitment agencies were near punishment details, forcing mind numbing boredom and the tediousness of administration duty, Taylor hoped things would change soon and hopefully he would get to see some action.

"Hi, sorry to bother you but this is the place to sign up to the Alliance, isn't it?"

Turning to who asked the question he found himself looking at a woman with shoulder length auburn hair staring at him.

Or more accurately staring down at him. She was rather tall, at least six foot by his guess.

"Yes it is. I take that you are here to join?"

"Yes, my name is Jane Shepard."

"Okay I just need to take some details, won't take too long." replied Gunnery Chief Taylor.

"Of course. Take your time." replied Sarah Palmer.

The mission had begun.

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(Location Unknown)

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Rupture event detected. Relay 729. Index 44020450921. Rupture event detected. Relay 730. Index 44021230921. Rupture event detected. Relay 731. Index 44026732921. Rupture event detected. Relay 732. Index 440358542224. Rupture event detected…

They have been found.