Chapter 11: Etran Harborage

November 2, 2537; 1204 Hours

UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Bridge

Keyes chewed on the mouthpiece of his pipe, more-so out of habit than nervousness. He still had yet to be briefed on why exactly his small battlegroup had been redirected from the fighting and deep into uncharted space. All he knew was that the resident ONI Agent would be briefing him upon arrival. He certainly didn't mind the ship upgrade, though. The Autumn gave him quite a bit more firepower than his old Halberd-class, even if it was a bit dated by modern standards.

What did concern Keyes regarding the mission was the fact that the six-man SPARTAN Team Omega was assigned to his ship for the operation. Having what amounted to a squad of SPARTAN-IIs on his ship only told him one thing: he would need to be very careful.

Just as the Autumn tore a hole in subspace, emerging in a fringe system alongside the small battlegroup of destroyers, frigates, a light carrier, and a single Phoenix-Class Assault Ship, a comms ping from the single other UNSC asset in the system danced across his command console. With this type of priority channel, it was no wonder the comms station didn't receive it first.

As he accepted the comm, a somewhat familiar voice started ringing from his console. "Captain Keyes, requesting clearance to dock with the Autumn."

"Acknowledged and accepted, Captain Lawson." Keyes nodded.

After a few moments of waiting, he was eventually greeted by the dull thud of a docking clamp attaching reverberating through the ship's superstructure. Keyes nodded to a pair of Marines that were guarding the entrance to the bridge, and they fell into step behind him as he headed for a docking tube. After traversing the low-gravity docking tube, Keyes was rather surprised to find himself standing in the bridge of the Normandy. The entire bridge seemed more akin to a civilian ship's at first, with only a handful of consoles being manned by the ship's crew.

He saw Captain Lawson standing behind a holotable with the system map staring back at her. A SPARTAN was stood beside her, helmet nestled in the crook of her arm. "Captain Keyes, welcome aboard." Lawson nodded, looking up from the holotable for a moment. "Apologies for pulling you away from your ship, but this isn't something that can be discussed over open channels."

"Understandable." Keyes nodded, making his way towards the holotable, the two Marines remaining by the docking tube. Once Keyes saw the ONI badge on Lawson's chest, it all started to fall into place. "Admiral Cole's briefing was a bit sparse, mind filling me in?"

Nodding, Lawson tapped on the fourth planet in the system, causing the projection to zoom in on it. "The fourth body in this system is an artificial construct of Forerunner origin; a shield world." Keyes nodded along. His previous… work with Catherine Halsey gave him quite a bit of insight into these structures. He had only ever seen small examples of this technology, never something as seemingly ridiculous as an artificial planet.

"The primary issue, and the reason for my request for reinforcements, is what potentially lies within this planet." Lawson continued.

"Covenant?" Keyes asked, gesturing to the red blips on the surface.

Lawson gave a somewhat… sad smirk. "If we're lucky." She planted both hands on the holotable, locking eyes with Keyes. "Captain, please understand that what you learn here today does not leave this ship, is that clear?"

"Crystal, ma'am." Keyes nodded. He may have influence in the Navy, but he knew all too well that ONI didn't give a damn about influence. They could make anyone or anything disappear.

"Excellent." Lawson nodded. "Now, we were dispatched here to learn the location of Saren Arterius, a Council Spectre tasked with intercepting Batarian pirates in the Traverse. We managed to trace his transponder to this system, and this planet." She gestured to the shield world on her display. "His transponder system is pinging from within the shield world, which bodes well for his survival."

She sighed heavily, half-glancing over to the SPARTAN that stood beside her. Unbeknownst to Keyes, this information was new even to her. "Our primary issue is the surface, however. There are remnants of Covenant vessels littering the outer shell of the shield installation. That alone isn't the concern, it's more the fact that this was evidently not the Separatists' doing. There is evidence of damage to the outer shell of the structure, suggesting that the Covenant had attempted to breach the installation, but the process was not completed. This suggests that the world's defense systems are still active, and their firing on Covenant vessels attempting to access the shield world suggests a quarantine protocol mentioned in Forerunner data vaults."

"Do we know what they're quarantining?" Keyes asked, looking over the wreckage of the Covenant fleet orbiting the planet. It was a massive formation, at least six-dozen vessels with more than a few of those massive CAS-class Assault Carriers. It almost looked like an invasion fleet.

"The Forerunners made reference to a life form that the Forerunners had catalogued as ' .3273'… Their records on it are surprisingly sparse for a species that has documented entire sectors of space so thoroughly. If that is indeed what we've discovered here, your fleet will be needed to enforce a quarantine of this world. If the Forerunners deemed this… thing enough of a threat to justify a complete quarantine, it cannot be allowed to leave this system."

Keyes nodded, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Well… not exactly what I expected, but we'll do what we can. Admiral Cole mentioned you have some… guests aboard? How do we keep operational security with them aboard?"

"Admiral Parangosky was kind enough to defer to my judgement, Captain." Lawson sighed. "Looks like ONI is acquiring two new assets when this is all said and done. Now, if there's no questions, please return to the Autumn and prepare for a deployment of forces. Mission parameters will be sent to you within the hour."

November 2, 2537; 1310 Hours

Korinth Prior System, Shield 0459 Orbit

Shepard stepped through the bulkhead to the crew deck, pulling her helmet over her head as she walked towards the armory. Inside, she found the team leader of ODST Team Bravo-Eight loading an M90 CAWS shotgun, and the rest of her team grabbing their own equipment. Even Liara was permitted to grab a sidearm from the armory by Miranda, a decision that Shepard was still a bit unsure about, but she wasn't keen on arguing with the Office. Just as Shepard was grabbing her SRS-99AM, Liara spoke up. "Shepard, what's going on? I heard that there were more Human ships in-system."

"Classified." Shepard explained, sliding a magazine of behemoth 14.5x114mm rounds home into her rifle. "The Captain can explain more when we're done down there. For now, just stay with me and keep your head down."

"Are we expecting trouble?" Liara asked.

"Afraid so." Shepard nodded, racking back the slide on an M6 magnum and attaching it to her magnetic holster. A few moments after gathering their gear, Haggard's voice came over the ship's PA system.

"Ground team report to Hangar 1 for deployment. All hands, be advised: outsystem communications blackout is in effect."

"C'mon, lassies, let's get a move on!" Brynna shouted, throwing her helmet over her head and racking the M90's pump action. "We're finishin' what the flyboys started!"

The short walk to the hangar bay was filled mostly with the soft chatter of ODSTs and the clicking of boots against the metal floor. Shepard watched Liara attach some sort of rebreather to her face out of the corner of her eye, followed closely by the sight of her biotic barrier wrapping itself around her. In the hangar, three technicians were just finishing their work attaching a Warthog to the rear of a Pelican, making their way back to the internals of the Normandy for the inevitable depressurization of the hangar bay.

Shepard sat down near the Pelican's rear door, with Liara sitting to her left. After the ODST team finished securing themselves and their gear, the distinct noise of a Pelican's engines firing up filled the inside of the dropship, gravity eventually leaving them as it entered the vacuum of space. Liara was watching the black hull of the Normandy slowly fade into the black backdrop of space, but they eventually passed a UNSC battlegroup that was nearby. She saw the positively massive Halcyon-class Cruiser sitting at the head of the fleet, with UNSC Pillar of Autumn worn on the upper hull. She watched as more and more Pelicans joined them on their path down to the planet, escorted by a few of the sleek UNSC fighters.

The Pelican lurched as it banked to the right. Liara couldn't be sure, but she must have been told to wear a respirator for a reason. As they eventually slowed and the surprisingly little amount of friction heat dissipated, the craft levelled out somewhat. What Liara saw well and truly dumbfounded her. The entire surface of the planet seemed to be coated in a dull grey metal, thin lines of blue lights dancing and weaving across the surface. Stranger yet, there were massive black scorch marks that seemed to have been burned through the metal surface. They were still far too distant to get a good look. What she could see was a strange mass that didn't match the rest of the surface. It was purple in coloration, and looked like a mangled starship hull that had slammed into the metal surface of the planet.

As Liara wracked her brain for just what was going on, her entire world was shaken as they descended towards the surface… then beneath it. From the small viewport in the rear of the Pelican, Liara could see the star-lit backdrop of space being replaced with a dull silver metal with glowing blue accents. "What…" Was all she could manage. The SPARTAN and ODSTs were all eerily silent as they checked their weapons for a final time.

Just as Liara thought it couldn't get any stranger, the metal disappeared, revealing a truly awe-inspiring sight: land. On its own, not exactly the most amazing thing, but when she saw continents, oceans, and mountains seeming to wrap over and under the viewport like an inverted planet, it was truly a sight to behold.

After a few more minutes of flight, the Pelican eventually began setting down in a large clearing beside a hilly region. As the rear door opened and everyone began piling out, Liara found herself to be standing inside a hollow planet, with an artificial star hovering in the very center of the sphere. More of those silvery metal structures were off in the distance, and strange metal constructs of the same silvery substance seemed to be flying off in the distance towards where they had entered the installation from, looking almost like large birds at first glance. For just a moment, Liara felt like she might fall unconscious from sheer sensory overload alone.

Moments later, dozens more Pelicans began setting down. They began offloading Marines, ODSTs, Warthogs, a pair of Scorpion tanks, and even a six-man SPARTAN team. "All this for a Spectre team?" Liara asked, looking up to Shepard.

"Not quite." Shepard responded, nodding for Liara to follow her. "I'll explain on the way, the transponder is about three kilometers that way." She gestured towards one of the metallic spires in the distance. "Not exactly the Prothean artifacts the Council mentioned, but you're still an archeologist, right?" Liara had no real coherent response for that, so she settled on nodding.

"Lieutenant…" One of the SPARTANs that they were approaching spoke up, his voice deep and gravelly. Even this was confusing to Liara. These SPARTANs seemed even taller than Shepard, their armor worn from what looked like years of fighting. Some even had oddly localized scorch marks on their armored plates, looking like a ball of fire had hit them square in the chest.

"Sir." Shepard nodded to the taller SPARTAN.

"Sector's clear, Sentinels have the access point on lockdown.." Omega team's leader nodded to the distant hole in an ocean that they had emerged from. "Comms are gonna be spotty with the fleet, we'll scout for survivors."

"Got it." Shepard nodded. "We'll keep in radio contact."

Just as Shepard was turning to head for the small collection of Warthogs that was being assembled by the ODSTs and Marines, she heard a voice that just had to put a smile on her face. "Well good God damn!" She turned her head, and saw the very recognizable Sergeant Avery Johnson, Battle Rifle held in one hand. Even behind the respirator, the man's voice carried for what felt like miles. "There I was expecting the spooks to give you a commendation or a medal, and they ship your ass off to Reach? Taking the best damn sharpshooter in the Corps from me?"

"Sorry Sergeant, Ackerson didn't exactly give me the chance to say goodbye." Shepard smirked beneath her helmet. "See the old platoon's still around." She nodded to the gaggle of Marines loading a Warthog with equipment.

"Just can't seem to shake 'em." Johnson smirked, knocking a closed fist against Shepard's pauldron. "We'll be ready to roll when you are." Shepard nodded as the older man turned to start barking orders at her old platoon, letting a smirk cross her face again.

"Lieutenant Pembroke!" Shepard barked out, her demeanor switching back to cold professionalism as she watched a mission update blink onto her HUD from the Normandy.

"Aye, SPARTAN?" Brynna shouted out as she slammed a belt of ammunition into the chaingun mounted to the rear of one of the Warthogs.

"I need your Helljumpers to secure the nearby structures." Shepard explained. "I want updates every fifteen minutes!."

"Copy!" Brynna nodded, barking out more orders to her ODSTs.

Shepard made her way towards the Force Recon platoon with Liara a few steps behind her, a few of the Marines stopping to gawk at the super-soldier as she approached, hefting the SRS-99 like it weighed little more than a feather. "Got a spare 'Hog, Marines?"

"Yes, Ma'am." The familiar form of now-corporal Mackenzie nodded, his head cocking to the side slightly a moment later. "Wait… Holy shit, Shepard?!"

"Good to see you again, Luke." Shepard nodded, seeing more familiar faces look over in bewilderment. "Gonna need to borrow the platoon to find the Spectre."

"Shit, I don't think even Sarge would complain." Mackenzie smiled, gesturing to one of the two lead Warthogs with his head. "We'll be ready to move in five."

XXXXX

"Weird enough for 'ya, Doc?" Mackenzie asked, wrenching the wheel to the left to veer out of the way of a large outcropping of rock, the massive twelve-liter hydrogen engine roaring like the beast it was.

"I'm still not sure which is stranger-" Liara grunted as the vehicle rocked to the left, its massive tire effortlessly passing over a few rough patches of ground. "You humans and your vehicles, or this place! It feels like this damned thing is gonna flip over!"

"Hey! That's bad luck!" Mackenzie shouted, his voice just barely overpowering the engine. "Two things you never mention in a 'Hog: flipping and snipers!" Not that Liara could see it, but Shepard was nodding in approval of the Marine's claims.

"He's not wrong, T'Soni." Shepard deadpanned from the chain gun in the back, her voice coming through Liara's comms unit.

"If you don't want to flip, why not slow down?" Liara ducked under a passing treebranch that threatened to smack her in the forehead.

"Because speed is life in the M12!" The Marine barked out a laugh. "The big damn gun don't hurt either!" As Liara nodded in confusion, Mackenzie glanced back to Shepard. "Hey Shep! Did Johnson ever give you the stick pep talk?"

"The what?" Shepard asked, genuinely confused.

"Oh-ho, shit!" Mackenzie laughed. "He gave that talk to some of the boots before a mission about a month ago!" The Marine launched into his rather impressively accurate impersonation of the Sergeant. "When I joined the Corps, we didn't have any fancy-schmanzy tanks! We had sticks! Two sticks and a rock for the whole platoon, and we had to share the rock!" For the first time in months, Shepard managed a smile. That was definitely a Johnson line. "Seriously, Shep… it's a damn shame you got yanked outta the platoon! Our newest marksman is a fuckin' dumbass!"

"Really?" Shepard asked.

"Seriously! I swear to God the moron didn't know how to use the fuckin' range table when his optic got fried! Christ, there oughta be some kinda grammar test before you get shipped out to put holes in motherfuckers!"

"Well Mackenzie if they did that fucking buck-toothed, cross-eyed, sister fuckin' hicks like you wouldn't get in either. And you're a… decent driver." Shepard had a full-on smile beneath her helmet, finally back in her element: talking shit with the other grunts. Shepard couldn't see it, but Liara was doing her utmost to keep from bursting out laughing at the quip.

"Oof, damn… you really are back." Mackenzie gave a hearty laugh.

"Button it up, Marines!" Johnson shouted over the battlenet. "We got smoke!"

Sure enough, as Shepard's warthog cleared the thick forest, she spotted the lead vehicle carrying the platoon's Sergeant. Just ahead of them, about a kilometer out, was a massive column of black smoke. Small glittering specks orbited around the smoke, appearing to be some form of Sentinel, though they were considerably smaller than the others they had seen so far.

The source of the smoke was a small frigate, looking to be of Turian design judging by the small swept wings on the port and starboard. Massive gouges had been taken out of its ablative armor. Larger sentinels seemed to be escorting the smaller ones as they seemed to scan the frigate. As the rest of the convoy approached, one of the smaller sentinels floated towards the two lead warthogs. Liara was dumbstruck by the small metal construct as it sent out the same pale blue scanning array. Mackenzie jumped slightly as the array passed over him, but the sentinel paid him no mind.

As the array passed over Liara, she watched as the machine seemed to… hesitate for a moment. After a moment, it eventually did float back to Shepard, giving her the same treatment. For a reason that Liara couldn't quite fathom, the machine then seemed to begin scanning over the vehicle. As its emitted blue light passed over the scuffed and scratched exterior of the warthog, the damage seemed to be repaired in an instant. "Huh..." was all the Marine driver could manage.

"Get it moving, Marines!" Johnson shouted, jumping from the passenger's seat of his warthog. Shepard jumped from the gunner's station and pulled the M90 shotgun from her back, motioning for Liara and Mackenzie to follow her. Liara watched the sentinels closely as they approached. Much to her surprise, they didn't seem to mind the twenty armed individuals approaching them.

It only took a few moments for the Marines to find an entry in the form of a massive tear in the frigate's armor near the prow of the ship. Shepard took the lead with her shotgun, flicking on the floodlights mounted to her helmet. A few of the smaller sentinels were floating around the corridor they had entered into, and it didn't take long for the Marines to find a body. It was a Turian, crushed under debris from the crash. As they moved through the ship, the bodies of Turians, Salarians, and Asari mounted. Of the ship's crew of thirty, they had managed to find twenty eight bodies before making their way to the bridge.

The bulkhead leading to the bridge was sealed shut, so two of the Marines set to work cutting through. Shepard eyed the door, her finger hovering over the trigger of her shotgun. When the metal bulkhead finally collapsed inward, she was the first through. A slug slammed into her shields, surprising her for a moment before her eyes settled on a wounded Turian pointing a rifle at the door.

Even with her shields down, she crossed the thirty meter distance in mere moments, smacking the now-empty sniper rifle out of the Turian's hands and throwing him to the ground. She planted a boot on the Turian's torso, leveling the shotgun at his exposed head as the Marines filed into the bridge. "Clear!" Came the calls of the Marines as they scanned over the room.

As one of the sergeants grabbed the Turian's sniper rifle, Shepard grabbed him by the armored collar and hoisted him to his feet. The blue-armored Turian looked surprised to see a human that stood nearly at eye-level with him. "LT! Got our Spectre!" Mackenzie shouted from across the room, gesturing to a crumpled corpse that was surrounded by medi-gel packets.

"Sprits… Humans." The single survivor managed, still tense from the Spartan's iron grip on his collar. "S-sorry for shooting. Been stuck in here for days now. Thought those flying things finally found me."

"Captain, orders?" Shepard spoke into her helmet's comms unit.

"Bring him back to the LZ. His debrief will be invaluable." Miranda's voice came over Shepard's comms. "Excellent work, Lieutenant."

Shepard nodded, closing down the comms and releasing the Turian. "Your name?" She asked, slinging the shotgun back over her shoulder.

"Garrus Vakarian." The Turian nodded. He looked battered, but his wounds were light. "Appreciate the rescue."

Shepard simply nodded, gesturing to one of the Marines with a hardcase computer on his back. "Secure the ship's logs. We're moving in ten. Perez, I need shock trauma for our guest."

"Hey, this is a Council vessel!" Garrus barked out, seeing the Marine making his way towards the primary terminal on the bridge.

"Good thing the Council in particular tasked us with recovery and rescue." Shepard deadpanned, nodding to Lance Corporal Perez. "Have a seat, the corpsman will give you a once-over."

November 2, 2537; 1500 Hours

Soell System, Installation 04 (UNSC Say My Name)

"You're certain this place is a weapon?" Admiral Harper asked, glancing back to the Sangheili in white armor that was walking beside him.. Approaching the bridge's forward viewport, the ringworld was center-stage. The constant chatter of bridge personnel directing the Marines on the ring sounded good; they had managed to catch the Covenant's meager ground forces on the ring off-guard.

"Indeed." Rtas nodded. "The Oracle I discovered on its surface was… rather forthcoming. There are six more of these rings scattered across the galaxy."

"Any idea on their locations?"

"Even the Oracle was unsure." Rtas clicked his mandibles together, the Sangheili equivalent to a shrug. "Though an estimation may be possible. According to this Oracle, these rings have an effective radius of twenty five thousand light years." At Rtas' explanation, Admiral Harper nearly choked on his own breath.

"Christ..." Harper muttered. "Godfather..." Harper watched as his ship's onboard AI materialized on the small pedestal beside the viewport, his appearance being a relatively unassuming man in a well-tailored suit. "Start running the numbers, see if you can estimate locations for these rings."

"On it, Admiral." Godfather nodded before fizzling out again.

"Sir, Blue Team has made contact!" An officer called out from his console, drawing Harper's attention.. "Covenant forces at battalion strength on an island strongpoint."

Rtas glanced at the holographic map where Blue Team's ping was, recognizing the location immediately. "The cartographer, Halo's map room. Truth was searching for a sacred icon, a device that would activate the ring."

Harper nodded. "Vector two frigates for a helljumper deployment. We're taking that island."

November 2, 2537; 1637 Hours

Korinth Prior, Shield 0459 (Alpha Site)

Shepard leapt from the rear of the Warthog, giving Mackenzie a quick pat on the shoulder as she rounded the vehicle and waited for Garrus to climb out. Judging by the awkward angle his joints were at, the ride wasn't exactly comfortable for him. As he finally climbed out, Garrus took a moment to actually appreciate the majesty of the world around him. He was dumbstruck as he saw continents and oceans surrounding him, and found himself disoriented by the artificial star at the center of the hollow planet.

"Damn..." Garrus managed, seeing the small camp that the humans had set up. "First a Spartan, now I see all this stuff up close? Not sure if I should be honored or terrified. Sorry for shooting at you, by the way."

"Don't worry about it." Shepard shrugged, nodding for Garrus to follow her towards the Pelican that was waiting near the center of the camp. "I'd have done the same damn thing given the situation."

"You guys staying behind or something?" Garrus asked, seeing the Marines and ODSTs setting up rather permanent-looking defenses.

"Classified, I'm afraid." Shepard deadpanned, giving a nod to Johnson as she walked past. "Best get used to that, you're heading back to the Citadel on an ONI vessel. The bird will take you up to orbit. Once you've had your little chat with Miss Naval Intelligence, I'm sure she'll explain what's happening."

As she parted ways with Garrus with a quick nod, she found her comms pinging with an update from Spartan Team Omega. "057, this is Omega Actual." Leon-011's gruff voice came over her comms.

"Go ahead, Omega."

"We've got eyes on a settlement. Looks like more Council are here." Leon explained. "I count around eighty, mostly Asari." As he explained, Shepard's HUD lit up with the location data for Omega. When Leon said they'd be scouting, he wasn't kidding. They were eighty kilometers to the northeast. "Comms are spotty, mind getting Naval Intelligence's orders?"

"Copy, wait one." Shepard nodded, routing her armor's comms suite through the high-powered comms unit that the engineers had deployed. "Captain, this is 057. Omega has eyes on a settlement eighty klicks to the Northeast, mostly Asari. How should we proceed?"

The audible surprise in Lawson's voice actually managed to surprise Shepard. Here she was thinking ONI knew damn near everything. "Huh… Understood, 057. Gather a team a link up with Omega. Bring T'soni with you."

"Affirmative." Shepard nodded, flipping back over to the shorter-range comms. "Omega, hold position and monitor the settlement. I'm bringing a team to make contact."

At the affirmation from Leon, Shepard made her way over to the collection of Force Recon marines and Liara, who were all stood around the vehicles and topping off the fuel. "Sergeant, new orders. We're to link up with Omega and make contact with a small settlement eighty klicks out."

"Someone lives out here?" Liara asked, confusion visible even beneath the semi-opaque rebreather.

"Looks like Saren's ship wasn't the first to crash here. The settlement's mostly Asari." Liara's eyes widened at that. "We might need you for some translation. We're not sure how long they've been stranded here, but the fact that they've got a settlement doesn't bode well for them having up-to-date translators."

"Goddess… this place just gets stranger and stranger."

"You're tellin' me, Doc." Mackenzie smirked, strapping the fuel canister back onto the rear of the Warthog and climbing into the driver's seat. It came as absolutely no surprise to Shepard that the eighty kilometer drive was filled with the familiar pre-mission banter that Force Recon was famous for. To an outsider, it would've seemed like the marines of the platoon absolutely hated each other judging by the sheer ferocity of the insults being thrown around.

The banter and convoy karaoke didn't quiet down until they were within eyeshot of Omega, perched up on a butte with August-099 staring down the optics of her sniper rifle. Now that the marines had finally arrived, the Spartans stood and began making their way towards the pair of parked gauss 'hogs that were nestled between some trees. "None the wiser, 057." Leon nodded towards the edge of the butte. "You take the lead. The Asari just might keep them from shooting."

At Shepard's nod, Mackenzie led the convoy down a winding path towards a small settlement on the bank of a river. The small wooden structures looked… alien compared to their surroundings. It was like stepping back in time, all while standing inside a marvel of technology. As the convoy approached, Shepard could make out the inhabitants. They were indeed mostly Asari, with the only exceptions being a single Turian and a pair of Krogan. As the locals picked up on the approaching convoy, said Krogan ran towards the rim of the settlement alongside a few Asari, brandishing older-looking weaponry. The defenders hesitated when seven vehicle-mounted weapons swiveled to face them. The hesitation was replaced by relief when they saw an Asari sitting in the passenger's seat of the lead vehicle.

As the convoy rolled to a stop, more and more of the locals filtered out from their homes. They looked… confused by the marines that were climbing out of their vehicles, their faces still obscured by the respirators. Seeing the few guards the town had lower their weapons, Shepard hopped from the rear of the warthog and followed Liara and Mackenzie towards an older-looking Asari. As she spoke, neither Mackenzie or Shepard could make sense of it, despite the woman still having an omni-tool on her wrist. "Goddess..." Liara muttered, drawing the attention of the Marine and the Spartan. "They've been stranded here for ninety years."

Shepard nodded. That certainly explained the surprise they showed at the sight of the Marines and Spartans. It wasn't until Liara shared the updated translation software that they could finally communicate, and their story sounded awfully familiar to Garrus'. They had jumped to avoid a Batarian pirate vessel, emerged in this system, then found themselves drawn into the planet by force. Why that force didn't seem to bother with the Normandy or the Autumn was beyond her.

"Are we finally going home?" The older Asari looked to Liara, Shepard, and Mackenzie.

"We definitely weren't expecting this, but we'll do our best." Liara nodded.

Shepard asked what questions she could about the crash, and whether or not they had noticed Saren's ship crashing. They had certainly noticed it, but had learned to avoid the 'Watchers', as they called them. Seeing little else to glean from them, Shepard keyed back into the comms with the LZ and had her signal routed through their more-powerful equipment. "Captain, this is 057. We've made contact. They're what's left of a transport vessel that was drawn into the installation. They've been stranded here for nearly a century, and are requesting our assistance with evacuating. How should we proceed?"

"Copy, Spartan. Wait one, I'll get clearance from the fleet to transport them on the Autumn. You and your platoon are cleared to remove your hazard gear. The installation's internal atmosphere is clean." Miranda affirmed, leaving Shepard with little to do but wait.

It wasn't until she finished her conversation with Miranda that Shepard realized she was being watched. A small collection of younger Asari, actual teenagers if she had to guess, were staring at her and the other Spartans. None of them had omni-tools, so any english would go straight over their heads. With a mental shrug, she waved to the six Asari and said "Hello", making use of the single word of Asari that she knew.

As the six children looked at her in particular, looking somewhat startled by the gesture and hearing their native language spoken by nearly seven feet of metal, Liara let out a soft chuckle to draw Shepard's attention. "They think you're a robot."

Shepard nodded. She could certainly understand, MJOLNIR wasn't exactly designed to win hearts and minds. She knelt down, reaching up to her helmet and releasing the pressure seal. She happily took in a breath of fresh, unfiltered air, and sent another wave to the six Asari. She couldn't help but smile as they returned the gesture.

XXXXX

"Christ..." Brynna let out a sigh as she saw the Sentinel that had just emerged from some sort of port on the wall begin lazily floating further down the hallway. When she started checking the structures with her team, she didn't expect to be wandering around some underground tunnel network that seemed to go on forever. The whole place just felt… wrong. There was no sound save for the ODST's boots against the metal floor. Even the sentinels were silent as they diligently patrolled the halls.

As she rounded a corner with her platoon, she was greeted by an incredible sight. The end of their journey found them in a massive hexagonal room with a transparent floor. As she looked down, a feeling of vertigo formed in her gut as she stared into a seemingly endless drop. In the center of the room sat a terminal of some sort, looking like a rune-covered holographic sphere suspended in a ring. The walls were decorated with intricate carvings, and she felt a strange feeling of deja vu wash over her as she looked at one carving in particular. She couldn't place it, but the sphere wreathed by four curved lines and a pair of what looked like wings felt oddly familiar.

"Damn… what the hell is this place?" Her sergeant muttered, looking around in amazement.

"Almost looks… religious." Brynna shrugged, tearing her eyes away from the familiar-looking symbol. As she carefully approached the spherical terminal, she nearly jumped as it rotated when she got within about two feet of it. Much to her surprise, five glyphs were highlighted by the terminal, looking to be perfectly placed for the fingers of a flattened human hand to rest on all five at once. It could just be coincidence, but all five of the highlighted symbols were identical to the familiar carving on the far wall.

Something overtook her, a feeling like she just had to press her hand on the terminal. Before she could even register it, she placed her fingers against the glyphs and earned a high-pitched tone from the terminal. All of the ODSTs in the room jumped slightly as the empty room was filled by a holographic projection of the planet they were inside of, with what looked to be labels in a completely alien language over certain locations. "Whoa..." Brynna muttered.

The sheer number of labeled locations was mind boggling, not that the helljumpers could read a single word of it. One set of labels in particular caught their attention, however; seeming to be a few short kilometers from the star at the center of the shield world. There were dozens of smaller labels around the primary one, arranged in perfect lines. Unable to think of anything else to do, Brynna nodded to her sergeant. "Grab some pictures, Captain's gonna want to see this."