Thessia: Athame City

July 28, 2121: 1600 Hours

It was another hot afternoon on Thessia as Doctor Bryce Anders dug through the ruins of the Temple of Athame. It had been about a month since the sacred temple had been destroyed by the orders of Governor Price. It was an unfortunate setback.

"Hey Doc! We got something!" said a distant voice from within the ruins grabbing Anders's attention. The ruins had only just begun to be cleared by his team and plenty of rubble still laid about. But Bryce was a combat veteran, he fought in the cities of Palaven, Ilium, fighting all over Citadel space. He was used to navigating through rubble and he quickly climbed his way over the rubble and towards the voice.

The temple had been picked clean since its destruction, with looters and worshippers taking away the valuables that had survived the demolition. Yesterday they had found the head of the statue of the Goddess Athame but that wasn't what they were looking for. No, they were looking for something far more important, a relic they found out about only after it was too late.

Bryce made his way over to one of his excavators, a young lad named Reiner and gave him a good pat dusting the man off. "What you got?" he asked as he wiped the dust from his own eyes. Reiner pulled out from the rubble with his gloved hands an object that did not fit the scenery of what was once the temple. It looked to have never belonged in it and in a way, that was the truth. For in the man's hands was a black shard of an ancient metal that was both alien and rare.

"This is all we found." said Reiner disappointed handing Bryce the shard then removed the yellow bandanna from his head to wipe his face. They had all been working hard for the past four days and poor Reiner just like Bryce and the rest of the team had been working late into the night to find their desired object.

Bryce gave the lad another pat on the back "Good work, Reiner tell the others to go get some rest." Reiner placed his own hand on the Doctor's shoulder and gave it squeeze. The man stood up and left to gather the rest of the team, leaving Bryce alone with the shard.

Bryce looked down at the shard in his hand and studied it. It was about the size of his hand and showed no signs of functioning. A failed effort, he thought with displeasure. Standing up he began walking behind Reiner towards the excavation team's operations tent.

Inside the tent were Bryce's team of trusted men and women who had been with him since the start of the war in 2117. They were all young and restless and had only just graduated out of college when the war began. And like many others they were all drafted into the UNSC to serve humanity, but they were to be a part of a special group. A special task force set up by ONI for a very important project. A project that had for so long seen nothing but setbacks and bad news. For the team their recent uncovering's were disheartening but Bryce as leader of the team did his best to keep morale up.

"But yeah we're already getting set for the wedding can you believe it!" Reiner laughed out sitting at the table with the other twelve members of the team. Reiner had just gotten engaged and the crew were still celebrating with him, congratulating him. The lad had even invited Bryce to the wedding and to serve as one of the groomsmen. But Bryce was a professional first and foremost so he respectfully declined much to Reiner's disappointment. He was still attending the wedding though so he didn't completely bail out on his colleague's big day.

Upon noticing his presence, the rest of the team quitted down. They all had the same look on their faces, the look of disappointment and worry for what came next. "Clear the room." He ordered and they all left the tent leaving just him and a table where a long-range communications terminal rested. Time to make the call, he breathed. He dialed the number and waited.

His hands began to sweat and so he wiped them off on his pants. Every time he made this type of call he feared for his career and those of his colleagues. Everything was on the line for them as while they were technically no longer in the military they were listed as private contractors under the employment and payroll of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The terminal screen flashed a text reading 'line connected' and the face of an aging woman appeared. Her brunette hair was pulled back into a bun and her green eyes stared out to him. She wore black uniform with the emblem of ONI on the front left side pocket. On her collar were four silver chevrons, the rank of Colonel. Above the right-side chest pocket was a name tag, M. Lubbock. She was his ONI handler and head director of the project. In other words, she was the one who held his leash.

"Dr. Anders good news I hope." Colonel Lubbock spoke with a smile. Her face came in choppy as the video feed connection was weak.

Bryce swallowed before speaking and placed his hands behind his back. "Unfortunately, no Colonel. The beacon was destroyed well before we arrived and we were only able to recover a single shard from it. Non-operable."

Lubbock groaned as she rubbed her face. "That is indeed an unfortunate set back. Hopefully the other teams will have better luck locating other beacons. For now, continue your research on Thessia, I'll assure you that Price won't get in the way anymore. Bastard has caused enough trouble as it is." She wasn't kidding when she said Price had been causing enough trouble, the man was a menace.

"He blew up the beacon and then caused a massive riot which killed hundreds of our soldiers! That bastard will always be trouble. If I am to do research here I need the help of the local Asari, but that's not likely to happen since he's killing them all!" Bryce vented.

"Price won't be a concern. All he cares about is maintaining fear in the populace and that's what he's used too" To Bryce it made sense, before the war Price was the governor of a penal colony out in what were once the outer colonies of the Orion arm. He ran that colony brutally but efficiently. Here on Thessia however without the watchful eye of the Senate keeping him in check Price could conduct his reign of terror without fear of being triad for war crimes. Things were changing however. The governor had a long leash but after the recent riots it was shortened by those in HIGH COMM, it was still quite long however.

"Fine. What about the other teams how's their progress?" Said Bryce trying to change the subject to something more productive.

Lubbock sighed and laid her head back as she rubbed her temples "Their running into the usual hassles. Gamma's observation on Tuchanka has run into a few setbacks. The Navy lost a corvette trying to land there and resupply the base. Apparently one of the local Krogan clans managed to fire an old anti-ship gun on the surface. Blasted thing tore the ship in half killing the crew and destroying the supplies." The Krogan were an annoyance but not worth the UNSC's time in sending a pacification fleet to Tuchanka. The Navy was busy enough trying to secure the new territory won in the war.

"What about Zeta? Is Alex's team doing well?" He asked.

"Zeta's still on Illos but they're still trying to find a beacon. Funny isn't it a planet covered in Prothean ruins yet they can't find a single beacon." It was funny but not crazy for realistically humanity had only explored 10% of the planet and even then, tones of bureaucratic red tape kept them from doing what needed to be done.

"And Alpha? What of the Mars team?" Bryce asked curious about the status of the projects most unfortunate team.

"The Mars beacon and archives are still destroyed if that's what you're asking. Damn Nationalists." The Colonel was referring to the Interplanetary War where the Mars Archives were destroyed by fighting during the Battle of Mars back in 2069. It was a massive setback for the scientific community for that was the only known Prothean site in the Sol System. However, the data from the archives were backed up for a time by the Chinese who ran the site. Unfortunately, when the Unification Wars began in 2068 the Chinese joined the Nationalist forces fighting for their sovereignty from the newly empowered United Nations. When the war ended in 2074 the Chinese nationalist gave one last middle finger to the world by purging the data they had saved from the Mars Archives when they surrendered. Fucking trolls.

"What about the relay? They still trying to activate it?" Now that was something Bryce was really interested in for while the Mars archives may have been destroyed humanity did eventually find the systems mass relay. It was still encased in Charon as It had been for thousands of years. The Charon Relay was one of the governments more closely guarded secrets for It represented a massive security risk.

"No HIGH COMM decided at first to have it dismantled piece by piece. But Alpha convinced them to hold off on that idea after warning them that they could risk blowing up the entire system. But the stubborn fools are too concerned that it leaves Sol open to attack. From who I can't be sure off there really isn't anyone left in this galaxy that can oppose us not since we activated the-" Lubbock stopped herself before speaking the name Star Forge over the line even if it was secure. The Star Forge was their most important secret it was what won them the war, something that they would have surely lost if it hadn't been for that station.

Bryce had the clearance to know what the Star Forge was but never once was he granted permission to visit humanity's greatest possession. He would have loved to have studied the station but another separate task force had the honor of that. The truth was no one had any clue who built the giant space factory. From what they could tell it sure wasn't the Protheans but that just added more to the mystery.

"What about the team on Eden Prime?" Team Kappa was the only team that was having success in finding somewhat intact and mostly functional Prothean tech.

"Yes, let's change the subject to something more positive. The team on Eden Prime is doing well. They just finished digging up another Prothean facility. They still haven't found the beacon yet but from the research documents we secured from the Council everything points to their being a beacon there. But progress is being made and in my books, that's excellent."

Bryce was pleased and his smile showed it. He had worked his ass off for the past four years working on this project and only now had they begun to make progress. Bryce's smile faded when he noticed Lubbock's face darken. "What?" he asked in concern.

"ONI is handing over control of this project to its primary investor. You'll be reporting to them from now on." And there it was stated as simply as she could state it. It hurt him the most, working for ONI's advanced research arm had been his life's dream. Bryce knew what the hand off meant he was a private contractor not ONI he wasn't bound by the same restraints as the Colonel was.

"I…I see, so who's in charge now?" Bryce asked trying to remain professional.

Lubbock did her best to keep strong face but her voice cracked as she spoke "Crytek Industries will be taking over most of our research into the Protheans. Their top dog, you'll be taken care off and paid better than the state could ever pay you and your compatriots. You'll have access to the best equipment and minds the private sector has available."

He shouldn't have been surprised really, ever since the discovery of Ilos civilian research into the Protheans had become a very lucrative area. Big corporations like Crytek paid big credits for Prothean researchers to work for them and study the long dead races ancient tech. Tech that could be reverse engineered and made a profit of off.

"Bryce…." Lubbock began "It has been a pleasure and a dream working with you for these past four years. I wish you good luck and success in your future ventures." This was her dream work being taken away from her. Bryce knew that like him she too studied the Protheans in college. But now for her to have to move on from what she had hoped her life's work would be hit Bryce hard. It was Lubbock's ties to ONI that kept her chained to a wall while he and the others could go on.

"The same to you Marissa, same to you. Don't be a stranger" He said with a warm smile after using Lubbock's first name one that they only used when they were not on the job. As strange as it seemed Bryce had gotten along very well with Lubbock. They rarely had any arguments or disagreements and became what could be called good friends.

"I'll forward you more information about your new boss. Goodbye Bryce." She said with a warm smile.

"Goodbye Marissa".

And with that the connection ended leaving behind a somber man in an empty tent. He now had a whole new host of opportunities awaiting him but he lost a dear friend one he hoped he would see again. All he had to do now was break the news to the others.

PLEASE REVIEW

This is a bit of a longer chapter and I'll try from now on to lengthen them to around 2,500 to 3,500 words. Anyways so I don't know if anyone noticed but the destruction of the Temple of Athame is a big deal since it hosted a Prothean Beacon in Mass Effect 3. Now Price and his occupation soldiers didn't have a clue that there was a beacon hidden there. But this wasn't the first time humanity destroyed a beacon because the first was the Mars Archives Beacon. The information contained in those beacons are gone forever now. Good job humanity, you know not what you've done.

Also I changed my username to RedShirt1453.

Reader Response:

James: I'll do my best to make my chapters longer but sometimes depending on how I write them they may be short. And yeah they are scum aren't they.

Guest: Actually no I really love Halo it's one of my favorite series. But this is an AU crossover and so I am taking liberties with how the Halo aspects are presented.

AyeJimmy123: Noice Review.

aDarkOne: Yeah Humans are a bunch of absolute bastards during the start of their occupation of Thessia. The thing is plenty of Asari just want to be left alone but are forced into confrontations with the Occupation when food runs short, or nothing is being done to help them in rebuilding. However each time they are forced into starting any sort of disobedience the Occupation strikes back hard against them. This is Governor Prices flawed strategy of beating the Asari into submission. Each time they rise up, things get worse for all of them. Eventually Asari will end up disliking those who stand up and view them as the cause of all their problems.