Author's Notes:

I wish I could write faster. I really do. I wish this was a finished project. I am SO into this story and I have so many moving parts behind the scenes that will tie in later on. I just want to get the damn story out there. Sorry this chapter is a little shorter. Longer meant more time and it felt like the chapter came to a close naturally.

Wish I could get chapters out faster too. The last few were written forever ago. I just pushed different pieces together to make it stick. This chapter had pieces all over the place so I had to write in a BUNCH of stuff plus finish it. The next chapters will take even longer so… Sorry!

Just for fun, here's some of the soundtrack I use to write this crazy thing. Maybe it can inspire you too!

What Comes After Winter theme - Caught in the Fire - Sam Tinnesz (T Profitt) OR Never Surrender - Liv Ash (I can't decide which song!)

It's Got My Name On It - Sarah Reeves

K/DA - POP/STARS

Fearless - Kat Leon

Devil Inside - CRMNL

Reckless - Jackson Gamble

Heroes Never Die - UNSECRET (feat. Krigare)

Sound of War - Fleurie (Prod T. Profitt)

Turns You Into Stone - Fleurie (Prod T. Profitt)

Just a taste. I've got theme songs for every character, both worlds, battles, etc. What music do you all listen to? Send me stuff! I always need new inspiration.

Anyways, I sincerely hope you all enjoy.

-Cheers

Chapter 4 - Hyper-Lethal

Some Time Ago

Arcturus Station

/

Admiral Hackett hated being on hold. He was not an arrogant man, merely observational. There were few problems he couldn't solve simply with the weight of his title but there were always some things every living being had to contend with the same way no matter their position. Being on hold had just made that list.

There was a clicking sound, and a familiar voice came on the line.

"Steven," the voice said.

"Erica," he greeted in return.

The young Captain had come a long way since working for him. She'd twisted and resisted every order and demand he'd given and he'd made her life hell for that. But after a while, she had started to bring solutions and ideas to the table. Hackett hadn't made things any easier on her at first, but she had refused to quit, pulled far more than her own weight, and actively engaged in the project. The Admiral had started giving her additional responsibilities, seeing how she handled a leadership role. In less than a year, Captain Woods had risen to his third in command of their classified operation.

"I'd ask how you were but I'll get straight to the point."

She knew him well these days.

"We've been stalled. Everything the Usual Suspects gave us had been accurate but it turns out one of the plans is incomplete. We have everything built but… We don't know how to run any of it safely."

"And by any of it, you mean," he started, already knowing the answer.

"The slip drive," she finished. "We have working prototypes of the shield, a MAC gun, and the like. But the calculations required for the slip drive to function are far beyond what our systems are capable of processing. There's nothing in the plans about it. We've been trying like hell to fill in the blanks but… This is way beyond us."

He grumbled quietly, suddenly feeling tired. This whole project was too promising to pass up, even with the setbacks. But his gut told him there was something more to this and he hadn't liked any part of this process so far. These setbacks weren't necessarily incidental.

"Admiral… We need to ask them about this."

Hackett scoffed.

"Not a chance. Every time we ask them for something, they ask something in return. And the requests keep getting bigger. Last time they asked for technical specifications of military shielding. As in our Navy. As in I don't like unknown parties being privy to our military capabilities."

A long pause ensued.

"Steven, we don't have a choice here. Without a functioning drive, there's no second stage to this plan."

He clenched his eyes shut, pushing back on the headache this whole situation was giving him. At least he knew how to cure it.

"Fine… I'll see it done. Keep me updated on any changes. I'll be in touch. Hackett, out."

He disconnected the transmission and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't help but feel like this was all planned somehow. Every snag they had run into, every time they'd had to ask for help, their mystery benefactors had asked for more.

Shaking his head, he opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled a bottle and glass out, placing them on the table. He filled the glass with the aged scotch about halfway before returning the bottle to the drawer. Hackett pressed his intercom.

"Yes, Admiral," the voice of his new secretary answered.

"Get me Ensign Roman Boyd," he said.

"At once, sir."

The grizzled veteran took a long pull from his glass, setting it down and twisting the glass on the table, staring at the swirling contents. He only waited a few minutes before he heard another voice.

"Boyd here."

"Ensign, I need you to send another transmission. We've hit a snag."

"Roger that, sir. Is this… Does this have anything to do with needing an advanced computer program of some kind?"

Hackett furrowed his brow.

"And why would you say that?"

"Because, sir… They're already sending it."

For UNSCMID 03669271,

Report: Project SHADOW

Report No.: XXX

Status: Ongoing

Source: XXX (verified)

Everything is on track. We've sent coordinated transmissions to ensure cooperation. The XXX scanning protocol, requiring XXX, to create an XXX was received but XXX are outlawed there. Quadrillions of calculations per second are required to successfully operate a XXX. They'll need to adjust or be motivated.

They're exactly on schedule as far as development. The XXX, XXX, and XXX are all in testing, minus the XXX for the aforementioned reasons. They have a second stage in the works as we speak.

We are also moving forward with our alternate plan. XXX has received our transmission and is responding. Although smaller, they seem far less concerned with the laws or morality of their area. And being able to set the two against each other wouldn't be a bad ace to have.

Agent XXX is now on XXX and ready to execute. Will wait for your order.

I should have told you in the last report. Hell, I almost didn't say anything at all in this one. But I now feel obligated to warn you about a potential snag. I only have my instincts here based on some circumstantial evidence but XXX is up to something. There's an XXX missing for starters. Given what happened on XXX, it's not surprising that things would go missing or be destroyed. The XXX aren't known for anything but glassing planets. But there's also a set of XXX missing, weapons, and a Pelican. XXX is either up to something or it's already done. Don't ask how in the hell XXX could even know about the project but it wouldn't be the first time she pulled something. If I come up with anything else, I'll let you know.

-USUAL SUSPECTS

-ONI report on Project SHADOW (REDACTED)

Horizon

/

The Kodiak door slid open and everyone exited, setting up defensive positions and clearing their immediate area. Six had linked his comms with theirs and now stood on the outskirts of a rather sad looking village. Everything was in tones of brown, yellow, and gold. They all raised their eyes to view the Collector Ship still attached to the surface some distance away.

"That settles it," Garrus said. "We got here in time, at least."

"Maybe," Miranda said. "Could be just as likely they're finishing up. We'd better move quickly."

"Agreed," Shepard responded before hitting her comm with the Normandy. "We're groundside. Mordin, you sure these armor upgrades will protect us from the seeker swarms?"

"Certainty impossible. But in limited numbers, should confuse detection. Make us invisible to swarms... In theory," came the Salarian's reply.

"In theory," Garrus said. "That sounds promising."

"Experimental technology," Mordin continued. "Only test is contact with seeker swarms. Look forward to seeing if you survive. Was unable to integrate with Six's suit. Claims suit will be fine. Also looking forward to seeing if he is correct."

Jane found Six in front of her, taking point. She almost couldn't believe what she had heard.

"Six, did you seriously come here without a seeker swarm defense? Do you know how dangerous they are?"

"No more dangerous than not wearing a helmet," Six countered, catching her off guard.

"Did he just make a joke?" Garrus asked.

"Did you?" Shepard added. She'd have called that more progress until Six held his fist in the air, telling everyone to freeze.

"Movement ahead. Four contacts."

They pushed against the wall for cover. Shepard peering over at their now known enemy. They were ugly creatures, armored and armed.

"Are these our targets?" Six asked.

"I'd say so. We need to move quickly here. We don't know how many more there are."

"I got it," Six said and before anyone else could move, he was around the corner and gone.

"What the hell," Shepard said. "Six, get back here." She peeked over the small wall but he was gone.

"Where is he," Garrus whispered as he too looked over the wall.

"I don't know," Shepard responded. "No way he made it down those stairs already."

"He's fucking quiet for a monster," Jack commented.

From where they were, there was a clearing below them that looked like a courtyard with an industrial sized truck. Directly ahead of them was the plateau they were now standing on. Shepard could see some of the Collectors in the courtyard and one was maybe 30 feet ahead of their cover. They started looking around wildly now for any sign of their wayward pointman.

"Shepard," Miranda said. Her tone drew Jane's attention and she followed the gaze of the Cerberus Agent.

Where there had been a Collector not 30 feet away seconds ago, it had vanished.

"No way," Jack said.

"Three contacts," came Six's voice through their comms.

"Huh..." Garrus stated insightfully.

"Badass," Jack smirked.

"Move up," Shepard said. They moved up along the plateau. Before they made it to the stairway, Six responded again.

"One contact."

They crawled to the edge to look down. They saw a Collector behind the truck, weapon raised, spinning wildly. It was clearly spooked, unaware of where it's enemy lay but all too aware that it's friends had disappeared suddenly. Two more of the Collectors they'd seen when they arrived had also simply vanished.

It turned around to face where Shepard was crouched. She never found out if it saw her or not. From behind the truck, Six appeared, knife in hand, and plunged into the back of the husk's head. It's arms went limp and it's weapon fell. From thin air, Six appeared behind the monster with his blade stabbed into the back of its neck. He pulled it out and the creature fell.

"Clear," came his gravelly baritone.

"I think I like him," Garrus said.

The rest of the team joined him next to the truck.

"I'm all for soldiers acting in their best judgement and within their strengths," Shepard said, stepping right into Six's face. "But try to remember to run us through your plan first. We're here to cover each other. You read me?"

She wasn't angry, just stern. This wasn't the first time a team member had gone a little rogue. Six looked from her to her team. He was a long way from the UNSC's leeway with Spartan actions, even further from Noble Team. Six nodded. These were amateurs playing soldier. He would have been better off doing this alone. It would have at least been faster.

"Good," Shepard said. "Lead on."

It looked like a straight shot toward the Collector ship now. Jane could see Garrus and Miranda a little on edge. She was too. Six was... Well, Six. He walked forward with the Mattock now drawn.

"Co...nder... Get...n...kinds of... Ference... Can't main..." The voice of Joker cut out.

"Collectors are disrupting communications," Garrus said.

"We're on our own now," Jane replied, now fully aware of the gravity of the situation they were in. She was also acutely aware of the fact that Miranda had been largely silent. It was almost as unnerving as the mission itself. Well, that and the fact that Jack was behaving.

The long walk ended in an opening on the wall to their left. Six was posted up and started scanning. It looked like the main portion of the village ahead. Buildings were scattered around almost haphazardly.

"What have you got, Six," Garrus asked.

"Multiple contacts. Roving targets," he said after only a little hesitation. He still wasn't used to addressing aliens.

"You got a plan?"

He hesitated, realizing he was following her order if he responded. He pocketed the thought for later.

"I'm gonna cut through that building," He said, gesturing at the stairs leading up to small building that overlooked the clearing and buildings below. "I can provide cover fire from there while you move forward."

Garrus nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"Alright, team," Shepard said. "Move."

Six positioned himself facing the doorway of the building to the right and pushed off. He went from zero to blur almost instantly. He crossed forty feet in just under two seconds, jumped over a flight of stairs and the guardrail, then entered the building.

And he hadn't made a sound.

"That's fucking weird," Jack whispered.

The four remaining members moved up.

"Contact," Garrus shouted. On the stairs leading downward into the village, there were positions of cover and multiple hostiles. With practiced movements, they moved forward and opened fire. Weapons fire came from the building Six had entered but it lasted seconds. WHatever he had killed in there hadn't put up much of a fight.

"I've got flank," Six said over the comm.

From their position, Shepard was laying down suppressive fire while Garrus picked off the targets of opportunity. Miranda warped a hapless husk as it charged, sending it spinning in place. Garrus caught it midair with one round, then dropped another Collector that was returning fire. It's kinetic barrier flickered then died and the creature took cover. Six hit it in the chest twice and the head once from his flanking position. Jack then leapt, soaring through the air like an angel of mayhem, connecting with the last collector full force and shredding him molecule from molecule.

Six cocked an eyebrow. He'd seen Shepard do something similar, and he had read about biotics before. But seeing it in action was something else. He'd have to watch himself around practitioners. He also wondered what getting hit by biotics actually felt like. He guessed it wouldn't be long before he'd have to face a biotic.

He had underestimated this team a bit. They complimented each other's skill sets and seemed cohesive. Effective, at least, if underdeveloped.

They all met up at the end of the small row of buildings. Shepard was beginning to have second thoughts here. This couldn't be the same Collectors that had killed her. Her ambushers were aggressive and relentless. By comparison, she was now facing children.

"This feels too easy," Miranda said.

"We just make it look that way," Garrus retorted.

"Who cares? Bad guys dead, we win," Jack added.

They rounded a corner and there on the ground was a distorted, twisted humanoid body on the ground.

"Those look like the husks we saw on Eden Prime," Shepard said, looking over the familiar looking abomination.

Garrus closed the distance and crouched to get a closer look. "I thought the Geth got that technology from Sovereign."

"It's obvious then," Miranda said looking at the husk in disgust. "The Illusive Man was right all along. The Collectors work for the Reapers. Could this be one of the colonists?"

"That's one ugly sucker," the biotic blurted.

Six had moved forward, past the crew, and taken position with his weapon up, looking for targets. The three remained behind examining the corpse. Again, amateurish. In the middle of a battlefield and they sit without covering themselves to talk.

"No," Garrus said. "The Geth impaled their victims with giant spikes to turn them into husks."

Six slowly lowered his weapon and turned his head back, not sure what he'd just heard.

"But we haven't seen any," the Turian continued. "The Collectors must have already had the husks. They want the colonists alive for something else."

Six used his optics to zoom in on the husk. The eyes in the face were drained of color, staring into nothing. Wiring and circuitry was protruding from tears in it's flesh, which now hung to what had once been a human like dried leather. He gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the Mattock. Would there always be something to threaten humanity? Too many enemies. Too many dead.

"Well, the Collectors obviously need the colonists for something. Any ideas?" Shepard asked.

Six spoke up, unable to take the stillness. He'd never heard so much talking on an op before. "I say we keep moving. People could be dying while we sit here and speculate."

They all detected the ice in his voice and Shepard looked at the towering soldier but his back was turned to them now. Hey may have been a little terse about it but he wasn't wrong.

"Move out," Shepard said. She'd have to talk to him later.

They rounded another corner and found more buildings. Garrus wanted to comment that this many empty buildings was unsettling but held himself back. Maybe now wasn't the time for obvious comments.

"Multiple contacts," Six said again.

"How do you know that," Shepard asked.

"Moving up," Garrus said and moved into a building. He downed several husks and Collectors with ease but the weapons fire alerted their enemy who now rushed toward the building Garrus had occupied. Six caught Jack's eye and nodded. With another smile that made her teeth look like fangs, she pulled the Covenant concussion rifle off her back, swung it to her hip and unloaded all 8 rounds. Pure destruction tore into the enemy, shredding through barriers, rending flesh from bone, and sending them airborne in separate directions. When the dust cleared, there was nothing left of the contacts but smoldering piles of flesh and bone with scattered craters.

"Uuuuuuuhh... Clear," Garrus said from his perch.

"What IS that?" Miranda asked.

Jack dropped the spent magazine and slapped a fresh on in. "Covenant something or other."

Miranda's eyes went from the weapon to Six. Again, Shepard noticed their strained dynamic but her wonder was short lived and cut by enemy fire. Garrus, still in his flanking position, ducked just as a round struck the wall in front of him. He peered through the freshly smoking, perfectly burned hole in his cover. Must be a hell of a weapon.

"If anyone finds one of their weapons, I call dibs," he said.

"We should move up," Jane said. "Garrus, can you cover?"

"Hold that," Six said. "I have a plan."

"What's that?"

"Hold position until they line up. We have good cover, they haven't moved. They're defensive, holding us here instead of pushing us back."

"And then what," Jane said nervously as she saw more Collectors taking position next to their counterparts. The longer they waited, the worse it would be. After 90 seconds, the number of enemy combatants had only increased.

"Jack," Six said as he returned fire. With four trigger pulls, he downed two Collectors. But he had realized how entrenched they were. Their enemy lay in good cover, roughly 90 meters away. It was time for something unconventional. "Let's try something more direct."

"What's that mean," Shepard asked as she threw a grenade.

"Smash. Lift," Six responded "The rest of us pick targets."

Jack smiled wryly and nodded. She slung her weapon, and sheathed herself with a blue, purple light.

"You got this, right?" She asked.

"I got this," he said.

She picked her target, dead center, and launched with a scream. Six let his adrenaline pump freely and everything slowed around him. He stood and observed his targets; thirteen contacts total, nine clumped together. He raised his weapon and steadied himself. The world around him had now slowed to a crawl. Jack collided with the center Collector, sending it cartwheeling into the air. The shockwave sent the other eight around it staggering, their kinetic barriers overloaded. Six fired once, catching the center target clean in the head before it hit the ground. Jack grunted and the other 12 were thrown into the air. Six exhaled, lined his shots up, and pulled the trigger eight times after accounting for Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda lining up their own targets. Eight corresponding Collector heads jerked and exploded, four of them before they landed. Between the rest of the team, Garrus caught one in the chest twice, Miranda had thrown a singularity at one, shredding it, and Shepard downed two with well placed groupings in their upper torsos. For Six, it felt like a lifetime. The reality of it lasted 11 seconds, with the final eight shots being in less than 5.

Jack cast her gaze around, looking to see if there were any other Collectors or husks feeling brave. She touched her comm when she'd noted it was clear.

"Hell yeah. Not bad, soldier boy," she said, throwing a thumbs up in the air.

"Not bad at all," Jane agreed. "Fall in on Jack."

"For the record, I want it known that I'm still relevant," Garrus said over comms in his dry, deadpan humor.

"Sure you are," Jane said as they began to converge on their favorite convict. "In the same way Mess Sergeant Gardner is essential."

"Harsh."

They formed up, pointing now at the open doors of yet another building. They could see through one side and out the other to an open area.

"Anyone else ever think it's strange that, no matter where we land, there always seems to be only one, convenient and linear path," Garrus commented.

Shepard signalled to move up, Six again taking point. He cleared the building as he entered, pulling a pistol out along with his rifle to cover both sides. He holstered it as soon as he was through.

He took cover behind a chest-high wall and waved them through. Shepard and the team darted through quickly. Collectors began to appear in the open area, flying over walls and taking position. Shepard glanced over the wall. They all did when they heard a loud, gravelly voice yell across the field.

"I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL," it said as one of the Collectors lifted into the air, arms spread wide as it appeared to char and blacken from the inside. Veins of luminescent yellow streaked across it's carapace, flames licking the flesh between the streaks.

"That's fucking ominous," Jack said.

"New plan," Shepard said. "Kill whatever that is."

They were taking fire from multiple vectors. Their chest high wall was being torn apart. Shredder ammo, Shepard thought. Jack had managed to use her Covenant rifle as a mortar and was dealing some damage. Everyone else was simply standing above cover for brief periods of time to return fire. Jane saw their threat. They were more or less in a line but had various sections of cover for themselves. There was a break in the fire and Six motioned for the team to listen.

"Distract them. When I give the signal, hit them with biotics. Garrus, I need you to hit the two snipers while they're distracted."

"Hold on," Shepard said. It was annoying when someone else tried to take charge. That being said, now wasn't the time for a pissing match if the plan was sound. "What are you going to do?"

"Eliminate the threat," he replied cryptically.

Jane glared into his gold faceplate. What in the hell was he going to do? He hadn't even formed a cogent plan, just barked orders. Just like when he disappeared earlier. Taking action without considering anyone else.

"You talked about trust, Commander. Now is the time."

Well, damn. He had her there.

"Do it," she said.

He nodded and disappeared around the wall.

A long 20 seconds passed.

"Mark," Six said over comms.

All four broke cover to see Six charging straight ahead into the line of fire. The level of fire he was taking was...

"Impossible," Miranda breathed.

And yet, their wayward soldier was soaking up round after round. No kinetic barrier, no biotic barrier. He wasn't even returning fire, just sprinting across the field straight at the Collectors. It almost looked like the rounds were passing through him.

But despite their surprise, they didn't hesitate. Garrus had taken out the two snipers with successive, clean shots. Jack was tearing Collectors into multiple pieces, throwing warp after warp in an endless barrage. Miranda was also throwing frighteningly accurate warps and shockwaves then following up with pistol fire when shields depleted. Jane had her own shredder ammo now and was whittling down defensive positions with it to create openings for her team.

"Six, what the hell are you doing," Shepard asked. He was drawing fire, sure, but it was suicide.

"Not what you think," he said.

"THIS BODY DOES NOT MATTER," a voice spoke from the enemy lines. Jane thought it had a similar quality to Harbinger. It emanated from the Collector who appeared to be on fire. Some form of possession? Sounded like a Reaper thing to do.

She had a split second to wonder what all of that meant when Six stopped dead in the middle of the field. The possessed Collector concentrated fire on him. He stood there, unmoving, before his form flickered and disappeared into nothingness. But not before a second Six appeared on the Collectors flank, dropping from the sky.

"MY ATTACKS WILL TEAR YOU..." but he never had the chance to finish as Six slammed into him from above, ending the creature's monologue with a horrifying crunch. The one ton soldier crushed the Collector into the ground. He rolled on impact, grabbed the body while he rolled and threw it at the next Collector with enough force to carry the target off its feet. The plasma grenade he'd attached went off and took another Collector with it.

In a flash he closed the distance to a third target. It attempted to bring it's rifle to bear but Six grabbed the barrel and held the rifle aimed down, yanking up on the arm of the Collector. It shot itself in the foot and Six activated another plasma grenade and stuck it point blank. He snapped a kick into its chest and sent it sailing into a group of its own. One Collector who had been hit with the explosive concussion was attempting to recover mere feet away. Six was now receiving return fire but, Mattock drawn, he fired past the Collector on the ground and into the rest, forcing them to take cover. The grenade blew and took four Collectors with it. The giant disarmed the enemy on the ground as it rose to its shaky feet and put his knife into its throat, holding it up. He spun the body, controlling it with his blade, then used it as cover with it's kinetic barriers still active while he ran to cover of his own. He yanked his knife out and the body dropped. Two more Collectors dropped from his Mattock before he ducked behind a box and disappeared.

"He's his own air support," Jack said.

The team itself had mopped up, clearing out Collector after Collector while Six had drawn fire. They had broken ranks as soon as he'd appeared on their flanks. The explosion only made their lack of organization worse. Only one remained as it tried to retreat. Six, again reappearing from thin air, launched it back to the battlefield with a kick and fired. Kinetic barriers failed before it hit the ground and Shepard slammed into it from behind wrapped in a biotic sheath, launching it back to Six who handily sliced it in half with an energy blade before without breaking his stride.

"Clear," Six said over comms as he replaced the blade to his lower back.

"Was all of that necessary," Miranda asked as she and the rest of the squad formed up.

"Maybe not," Shepard admitted.

"But it was awesome," Jack said with her traditional sadistic smirk.

"Maybe now isn't the time for this," Garrus said. His rifle was up as he scanned the surrounding area.

"I'd like to know exactly what you can do. Was that a hologram? And maybe a jetpack? Seems like you've got a lot of tricks up those metal sleeves," Jane said.

The armored giant just stared her down.

"I'm only asking so I know how best to use you," she added sincerely.

"I bet you'd like to know how best to use him," Jack said under her breath. Garrus swatted the inmate on the shoulder, earning a glare.

"So sorry, Jack. Didn't see you there."

"We're not finished," Six said, nodding to the large door in front of the group.

They dropped the conversation for now, moving to the door. Six saw another holographic display. He took a crack at it but it wouldn't budge.

"Well?" Jane asked.

"It's locked," Six said as he fumbled with the mechanism.

"So?"

He looked back at her and even with his faceplate, Shepard could feel the annoyance brimming off of him.

"Well, well, well... Looks like we found one thing you can't do. Miranda? Show him how it's done."

Miranda's eyes widened just a hair but she recovered quickly. She sidled up next to the giant, feeling his eyes on her as she approached. She activated her omnitool and linked it with the door's display, and began connecting live circuits around each other. She kept herself calm as he stared at her. Even when he leaned in to observe what she was doing, she stayed neutral.

The door opened to reveal what looked like a shop or storage room of some kind. They all hustled inside, closing the door behind them. Garrus covered rear while Six took point.

"Contact," he said over comms. "Likely not hostile."

"Get out here! Now!" Shepard shouted, weapon drawn.

Slowly, a man emerged from around the corner. Shepard lowered her weapon when he came into view. He was middle-aged, dressed as a mechanic, and had an awful moustache. He made his way carefully up to the team.

"You're… You're human. What are you doing out here? You'll lead them right here!"

He was spooked, twitchy. Shepard didn't want to push him any further but a survivor meant she might have answers.

"You had to hear them out there. Seems like it's hard to hide from the collectors," the Commander said.

"Those things are collectors?" he asked, turning away from them to process the information. "You mean… They're real?" His voice dropped to a pensive whisper. "I thought they were just made up. You know… Propaganda. To keep us in Alliance space."

Six watched Shepard tense just a bit. He guessed she wasn't keen on people against the Alliance. Made sense, given her history. The mechanic continued.

"No," he said as the gravity of the situation finally fell on him. "They got Lilith. I saw her go down. Sten, too. They got damn near everybody."

Shepard held up her hand to try and calm him.

"What's your name," she asked. "What do you do here?"

He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to stay calm.

"Name's Delan. Mechanic. I came down to check on the main grid after we lost our comm signals… Then I heard screaming. I looked outside and there were… Swarms of bugs. Everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors."

'Coward,' Six thought.

"Damn it," he continued. "It's the Aliance's fault! They stationed Chief Williams here and built those defense towers. It made us a target!"

The entire team now watched Shepard stiffen at the mention of Ashley. Six figured it was more to do with Delan's attitude toward the Alliance. Jack had no idea what it meant. But Miranda and Garrus both knew what the name Williams had meant to Jane. Still, the Commander kept her cool.

"Tell me more about this Alliance rep," she inquired, feigning ignorance.

"Chief Williams? Heard she was some kind of hero or something. Didn't mean nothing to me though. Would've rather she just stayed back in Council space."

"Any idea what she was doing on Horizon?"

Delan Shrugged. "Supposed to be helping us get the defense towers up and running. I got the feeling she was here for something else. Spying on us, maybe.

Shepard now had her answer to the Collector problem.

"If you have defenses we can use them against the Collector ship."

"You'd need to calibrate the targeting system first," Delan protested. "It's never worked right."

"One of us should be able to figure it out," Garrus interjected. "We just need the location."

Delan hesitated, looking from one crew member to the next as if they were all crazy. He finally sighed, shoulders slumping, giving up on trying to talk sense into strangers.

"Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. Pretty hard to miss. The targeting controls are at the base. I'll let you out, but I'm locking the door behind you. I'm not taking any chances," he said while activating the door with his omnitool. "Good luck. I think you're gonna need it."

Shepard gave the signal to move and they exited the room. Sure enough, they all heard the door slide close and lock behind them.

"He was great," Garrus commented. "Real salt of the earth kind of guy."

"Stow it," Shepard said.

Her abruptness caught the Turian off guard but he realized this probably had to do with Ashley.

"Move out," She finished.

They moved up into a courtyard with multistory buildings just in front of them.

"Contact," Miranda shouted as she dove behind cover. Husks and Collectors began to descend from the higher stories to the ground below.

"Six," Shepard shouted as the rounds started to fly. "Got anything that might help us here?"

"I'm on it."

He broke cover, leaping over the wall and running toward the enemy. Like before, while their enemies were distracted, Shepard and her crew began dropping husks and Collectors with practiced precision. Six, meanwhile, was proving harder to hit than one might have guessed. He dodged, bolted, and rolled until he was in the open. He then jumped, launching himself into the air, throwing rounds down below him as what appeared to be thrusters on his suit spat fire and he flew up. He landed on a roof overlooking an open window in one of the buildings. He swung down and into the structure. The body of a Collector soon flew out of the window and impacted the ground below with a wet slap. Sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard from within as Six cleared one room after another.

Down below, Shepard was lifting opponents into the air to be shredded handily by Garrus. He, in turn, was placing precision shots in the heads of husk and Collector alike. Jack had figured out how to finally aim her new weapon and was destroying multiple husks with a bloodthirsty laugh. Miranda was crushing Collectors with powerful biotic attacks without so much as a hair out of place.

A husk fell backwards out of a building, Six leaping out after it. With a well aimed shot, it was dead before it hit the ground. Six landed with a roll, coming to his feet, spinning, and checking for targets.

"Clear," the behemoth said.

They all stood and regrouped on Six. For his part, he wasn't impressed but he also couldn't deny that Shepard and crew had gotten the job done. Looking at the bodies around him, they were no amateurs. Spartans only ever really trusted Spartans, but if he was going to be part of a team of regulars, he could do a lot worse than this group… He grew quiet as his thoughts turned to Spartans. His home. His war.

"Stay sharp," Miranda said.

"That was surely the last of them," Garrus added sarcastically as he popped in a fresh heat sink.

"Push, Six," Shepard said

He nodded and raised his weapon, moving at a brisk walk through the buildings.

They encountered only a handful of hostiles as they moved. Within minutes they found their destination blocked only by a single door. They all spied the large antenna on the other side of the wall. Shepard held up a hand and her team stopped.

"Six?"

"Multiple contacts," he said tersely.

"You heard the man. I want a V formation. Jack and I on flank, Garrus and Miranda have center. Six, I want you on overwatch if you can. Understood?

They all answered in the affirmative.

"Now comes the easy part," she said under her breath.

She activated the door and they all ran through. They began taking fire immediately. Staying cool, they stayed on task, returning fire as Garrus and Miranda found cover and began suppression. Shepard and Jack found their targets on flank and launched almost at the same time in a biotic charge. They impacted and tore their enemies into pieces before taking cover and returning fire of their own. Six hit his thrusters and took off. He threw two inferno grenades where the enemies were entrenched, killing tthree before he landed on a roof to the side and began picking off enemies with accurate bursts from the Mattock.

The enemy was already sparse in numbers here. It was a clearing of some kind with many boxes, one would assume the Alliance moving in the defense network, that made cover easy. Shepard's well-trained team cut through them like tissue in a short series of bursts, explosions, and biotics.

"Hold position," Shepard said as she ran to the antenna in the center of the clearing.

She hacked it with her Omnitool in a matter of seconds. When she had the connection, she hit her comm.

"Normandy, do you copy?"

"Joker here," came the static-ridden reply. "Signal's weak but I got you."

"EDI, can you get the air defense turrets online?"

"Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified but it will take time to bring the towers to full power. I recommend a defensive posture. I will not be able to mask the increased generator output."

"So what," came Jack over comms.

"So we'll have ugly company trying to shut it down," Garrus answered.

"We'll stop them," Shepard reassured her team. "Easy enough."

"It's never that easy," Six said. "Contacts inbound."

"Six is correct. Enemy reinforcements closing in. I suggest you ready weapons."

Shepard was already halfway to cover before EDI had finished speaking. "Weapons free," she shouted.

"I AM ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM," came a booming voice as Collectors began to pour in from ahead of their position.

At first it seemed like standard engagement until the biotics started flying. Several shockwaves flew simultaneously directly at Six's position. He leapt out of the way of one, rolled under a second, then jumped off of his position to the ground below before the third connected and sent him through one side of an armored box and out the other. He slid to a stop in the dirt. His shield had absorbed the damage, reading at 66%. His head swam just a bit and he felt a small amount of nausea. Apart from that, he felt fine.

'So that's how it feels,' he mused. 'Like getting hit by a Warthog.'

"SIX!" came Shepard's panicked voice.

"I'm alright," he answered.

"Glad to hear it. Now get your ass up! Miranda, Jack, start lifting."

He was on his feet now, assuming cover and scanning for targets not far off from Miranda and Jack. The pair threw lifts at two Collector Drones who rose up, legs flailing. Six and Garrus got their shots off to the heads of their floating nemesis and resumed cover.

"Nice shot, Six," Garrus said approvingly.

Six's comm stayed silent.

Another shockwave flew at Shepard who dove out of the way as her cover exploded. And more were pouring in.

"MY ATTACKS WILL TEAR YOU APART."

"Bypassing failsafes and attempting emergency power up. Please hold the defense tower," EDI's voice crackled through their comms.

"What the fuck does she think we're doing," Jack yelled, throwing warps to try and counteract the warps being thrown at them. She was sweating now, clearly under strain. Her Covenant weapon was out of ammo.

Garrus dropped a husk just as it was closing in on Six. The Spartan ignored the save, throwing an inferno grenade behind the cover of two Collectors. But still more appeared.

"We might be in trouble, Shepard," Miranda yelled through the gunfire.

Several Collectors were now swarming around Garrus, drawing closer. Pulling the plasma pistol off his hip, he fired at the incoming targets as fast as he could pull the trigger. They dropped at two shots each. Garrus looked over the weapon approvingly.

"Sequential power-up initiated. GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 40%," EDI said.

"Hurry the hell up, EDI," Shepard shouted as she prairie dogged around the side of the box she was taking cover behind. Every time she popped out was a biotic attack or suppressing fire.

They were separated now. Miranda and Six occupied one corner while Jack, Garrus, and Jane held their end in another. At this point it was all they could do to stem the tide of never ending Collectors and husks. They were holding their lines, but only just.

Six," Miranda said between trigger pulls.

"YOU WILL KNOW PAIN, SHEPARD."

"What," he queried. They were facing away from each other behind the same box, focusing on their own fields of fire.

"GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 60%. Syncing targeting protocols to Normandy's systems. Continue to protect the tower."

"A little help," the Cerberus agent said.

Husks were bearing down on her position. She kept having to duck behind cover as Collector Assasins kept firing at her and she couldn't clear the husks out even as they closed in. She felt a rough tap on her shoulder and turned. He had handed her a plasma grenade. She looked at him as if upset that this wasn't what she had in mind before activating and hurling it at the incoming husks. It stuck to one's chest, burning into it's dead flesh befor a boom took out five at once, sending pieces in all directions.

With a bit of breathing room, she turned to observe their newest addition to the team. Of course it would be impossible to tell with the armor, but it seemed to her like Six was comfortable here. At the very least he didn't seem disturbed. But after seeing the helmet footage, she wasn't surprised. Frankly, he'd seen much worse than this. He was hitting headshot upon headshot, both to drop shields faster and kill once they were down. He was methodical, surgical. As if acting on reflex.

"Looks like they're breaking," Shepard said. "I'm not seeing any reinforcements."

Six was also thinking, like Miranda, that he was more comfortable here than he was on the Normandy. He also wondered what that said about him. He dropped the thought and instead focused on the few remaining Collectors before them.

Shepard and the remaining two were sweeping up the rest of their targets too.

"Too easy," Shepard said, breathing heavily.

"Commander," came the raspy voice of Six.

She popped another heat sink into her weapon, loading it for the inevitable next wave.

"I know, I know… It's never that easy. Just say it."

"Contact inbound," he said just in time to sour Jane's mood a little further.

"What the fuck is THAT thing!?" Jack shouted.

They all turned.

It was a good question. It looked like a giant crab, not dissimilar to the Collectors before, but larger, floating, with blue trails of biotic energy streaking off of it and what appeared to be dozens of human husk heads in its mouth. It was now charging an attack.

"Take cover!" Shepard yelled and lunged. For the second time in as many days, she wasn't fast enough as she took twin particle cannon beams to the chest. She hit the ground hard on her side but made it to cover. Her barriers had held, if only just.

The monster focused fire on Garrus next who had gotten its attention with an overcharged plasma shot. Jack, to her credit, was whittling it down with powerful biotic attacks but the barrier proved to be too much for any real damage. Whether through slow speed or its plasma base, the pistol round sailed right through the barrier and began burning through one side of the Collector leviathans face. It didn't react, as if it couldn't feel the pain. As it bore down on their position, Six hurled an inferno grenade, taking out a chunk of its back. Garrus now forgotten, it turned toward Six who was pumping round after round into it. Shepard and Garrus followed suit with weapons and biotics. Jack, depleted of rounds for her Covenant toy was unleashing her impressive biotics in an attempt to drop the barrier.

"What's this thing made of," the convict yelled.

"Don't get too close," Garrus shouted. "Just keep shooting."

"EDI," Shepard spoke into her comms. "We need that system online. NOW!"

The monstrosity was effectively keeping Jane and those closest to her pinned with its beam fire while it backed up into the corner where Miranda and Six were. In a flash, it whirled around and rocketed toward the two from above at an angle. Six, his reflexes and speed significantly sharper, got clear of the area. Miranda was not so fortunate. It slammed into her, crushing her into the grass below. She rolled out of the way of a biotic blast that still sent her spinning through the air. She landed in a heap and watched her approaching death as the hideous Collector lined the beam cannons up to her battered form. She held her breath waiting for the inevitable.

Six was in a full sprint from the Collector's flank. Shepard. Garrus, and Jack watched him throw his last plasma grenade and what almost looked like a flashlight before several things happened at once. First, the flashlight object hit the ground underneath the creature and activated. A bright, blue dome of energy appeared, surrounding the enemy. It fired its beams but they were blocked entirely by the surface of the dome. Next, the plasma grenade Six had thrown passed through the dome, hitting the behemoth in its side. Six was still sprinting, plasma sword now in hand. The explosion went off, completely contained within the dome. A hurricane of moleten plasma encompassed the entirety of the monster. The first explosion damaged the shield emitter which caused a secondary explosion into the creature before the dome disappeared. A charred, gory mess emerged from the barrier but was still alive, if only barely. The moment the shield dropped, Six plowed into the Collector's side, pushing his plasma sword through unprotected flesh to the hilt. The momentum took the creature sideways and into the ground with Six rolling off of it. He had the Mattock in his hands by the time the roll finished, on his feet now, aiming at the dead mass of burned carapace and guts. It made no more movements. Six kicked its lifeless form.

"Clear," he said over the comms.

No sooner had he said it then the GARDIAN defense towers activated. As one, they all turned and began firing at the Collector ship. It's engines fired, obliterating nearby buildings and scorching the land in a tidal wave of heat and exhaust.

"They're pulling out," Garrus shouted as the shockwave and heat hit them even from a distance.

They watched their quarry disappear into the sky, staying silent for several moments.

"There's no reason to stay," Garrus said forlornly. "Most of the colonists are on board. They got what they came for."

Delan the mechanic came sprinting up behind them as he watched the bright light of the engines disappear past the atmosphere of the planet.

"NO," he yelled. "Don't let them get away!"

"There's nothing we can do," Shepard said, eyes also on the escaping ship. "They're gone."

"Half the colony is in there!" Delan continued to shout, now shaking his fist at the sky. "They took Egan and Sam and… And Lilith. Do something!"

"I didn't want it to end this way," Jane said, trying to keep the situation calm even as Delan's world fell apart. "I did what I could."

"Contact, Shepard," Six said, using his motion sensor. "Appears non-hostile."

"Shepard," Delan said as if trying the name out. "Wait. I know that name. Sure, I remember you… You're some type of big Alliance hero."

From around the corner of a building, a voice rang out even as the body followed. Female, attractive, brunette hair, and armor with pink accents strolled up surprisingly casually considering the last hour. Six surveyed her with mild distaste.

"Commander Shepard. Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel. You're in the presence of a god, Delan. Back from the dead."

"All the good people we lost, and you get left behind. Figures. Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types," Delan said with a dismissive wave of his hand before departing.

The newcomer strode up to the Commander. Six could tell that they knew each other, but he trusted no one. His grip on the Mattock tightened. The newcomer stuck her hand out to Shepard.

"I thought you were dead, Commander."

Jane returned the shake firmly.

"We all did."

"You don't sound too happy to see me. Something bothering you, Ash?"

Six was at his limit. He turned and walked away, leaving them to their conversation. Too much interaction, too much negligence, too many lives lost. He wandered until he found a spot where he couldn't hear any voices and leaned against a nearby building. What was he even doing here? He should be home, fighting a war that mattered. Not this inane bullshit that Halsey had forced upon him.

'You're on your own, Noble…'

He slapped the side of his helmet with his palm, shaking the thoughts out. But another one tumbled in. The chip! He still had it. He cursed himself for how long it took him to make the realization. The answer to his problems could be that simple, afterall. It had taken him here, it could take him back. No one here had slip drives but there had to be a way.

"You have a lot to learn about working with a team."

He looked to his would be Commander before turning back to stare into nothing.

"And you have a lot to learn about utilizing one," he said.

There was no malice in his tone, merely an observation. He looked back at her to gauge a reaction. To her credit, her face was a stone.

"Sounds like you have something to say. Say it."

He rattled off a list in his head. The amount of talking, the fact that no one wore head protection, that Garrus their supposed marksman was used as standard infantry, that he'd been given overwatch with a Mattock… But what he had the biggest problem with Shepard's fast and loose command style. Her briefings were vague, no discussion of tactics or contingencies, not even a fallback point. She was going to get people killed eventually.

"Nothing to say, Commander," he finally said.

Jane was frustrated with him. It was bad enough, the circumstances around his arrival, and now he seemed to have a problem with her style of command. She hoped in time that he would come around but she wasn't so sure.

"Not much of a team person, are you." It wasn't a question. He stayed silent.

"Look, you're clearly good at what you do. On a different level entirely in some instances. That stunt you pulled with the monster back there… I don't even know how you came up with that, let alone pulled it off. But it saved someone's life, Six."

He didn't know how to feel about that. It had been pure reflex. In the seconds it took to make a decision, he had gone over every piece of equipment he had, the options he had with them, made a plan, and just acted. Plus it was Miranda that he saved and he couldn't help but think things might be more convenient if she hadn't made it. Call it whatever it was, he couldn't stop the thought itself even if he hadn't considered it a real option. But he was a Spartan. He didn't do half-measures, only ever performed at his maximum.

"Don't mention it," he said, meaning it literally.

"Fine, be that way. But know that I'm grateful. And she might not ever say it but Miranda is too. Now, as good as you are, I need you to work with us, not beside us. We got lucky this time. Next time things might be worse. I need to know if I can count on you to be there for the team. We still haven't had that talk about where you're really from but you're here now. With us. And goddammit, we're actually trying to protect people. Can I count on you?"

He considered that. He'd only been with Noble Team for all of two weeks. Before that he was doing missions solo. He worked well enough with Noble but they, like him, were Spartans. Regardless of cohesion or time together, Spartans thought along similar lines, used similar tactics, and came from similar backgrounds. Even if they only just met, Spartans could be expected to work together smoothly from the jump. He'd worked with UNSC Marines before, too. Hardened men and women, sure. Varying skill levels among them of course. But when he was forced into close proximity with them, he tended to work around and in spite of them rather than with them. Shepard's team was a different story entirely. Everyone involved could not have been more different.

"We should head back," he answered, finally.

He leaned off of the wall and walked past her toward the rest of the team. She stared at him as he passed, green eyes trying to pierce that gold visor but to no avail. The man was featureless steel. When he passed, she stared after him for a bit.

Jane hit her comm. "Joker, send the shuttle. "We've all had enough of this colony."

On the shuttle ride back, no one spoke. They barely even looked at each other. The weight of their truth pushing down any elation at the adventure itself; they had been too late.

They landed in the shuttle bay, Kodiak touching down and the door sliding back to allow everyone to exit. They filed out and headed for the elevator. All but Six. He instead made a beeline for his Pelican. He hit the button and the ramp began to descend.

"Six, make sure you check those weapons into the armory."

He didn't respond. He barely even glanced at her before he walked into his craft and the ramp closed. Jane stared after him for a while longer, debating whether to follow him. Instead she turned and headed for the elevator. She stopped short when she realized the rest of the team had left without her. Now she'd have to wait an eternity for the thing to come back down.

"Dammit, she said, hitting the button.

Next was the debriefing with TIM. As if this day wasn't already bad.

Garrus, Jack, and Miranda walked into the armory together directly from the elevator.

"Welcome back," Jacob said. He was still trying to piece Garrus' rifle together.

They began to unhook their weapons and lay them out on the table in front of them.

"How's that coming," Garrus asked as he nodded at his former weapon.

"It's not," Jacob said. "This rifle will never fire again. How's the Widow working for you?"

Garrus took the news hard. He admired the Widow but there was something sentimental about the rifle one of those Covenant aliens had destroyed. It had felt like a part of him with everything he had been through with it.

"It'll do fine," he said as he placed it on the table. "Thanks for trying."

Jacob just nodded. Out of everyone on the team, he knew Miranda the best. They'd worked together the longest and as distant as she had tried to be, they had developed something of a friendship. Enough for him to know that she wasn't nearly as confident as she came across. Also enough to know that she was dealing with something right now as he saw her face, and enough to know better than to ask about it. He saw her, and she saw that he had seen. Instead of saying anything, he just nodded at her. She nodded back after a moment of hesitation. She finished unloading herself and quickly made her exit.

"Fuck's her problem," Jack grumbled.

"Something happen," the technician asked.

"Cheerleader almost got herself killed," the biotic responded. "Was pretty amazing to watch."

Garrus, sensing Jacob's discomfort, tried to smooth over the situation.

"We ran into a bit of a monster. She caught the bad end of it. I thought she might have been a goner too."

"Well, what happened?"

"Six happened," the Turian answered as he began placing grenades on the table now. "Honestly not sure I could even tell you how he did it but one second Miranda was done for, the next second the thing is dead and Six is standing over it. There was some energy shielding, one of those swords, and a couple of explosions between all that but I couldn't say for sure how he pulled it off. It happened fast."

"Well, I'm glad you made it back okay."

Jack dropped her large weapon on the table in front of them. "Whatever," she said. "Here." She walked out and presumably back to her dark hole in the belly of the ship.

The two men watched her make her exit.

"What about Shepard," Jacob asked.

"She's… as fine as usual. We were too late, Jacob. She'll blame herself, as usual, pretend nothing is wrong, and then move on. Like always."

Jacob chuckled but there was no humor in it.

"I don't know her well but I've known plenty of types like that. Works for a while, at least. How'd Six do?"

Garrus paused at the question, not sure how to respond. "He's good at what he does but… I don't know."

They stood there, staring off into space, lost in their thoughts.

Jane closed the briefing room door, forgetting to lock it. Once more, an orange laser grid scanned her before the table disappeared into the floor and she was staring at the holographic projection of the Illusive Man. He took a long drag off of his trademark cigarette before ashing it.

"Shepard," he said unceremoniously. "Good work on Horizon. Hopefully, the Collectors will think twice before attacking another colony."

Shepard scoffed.

"It's not a victory. We interrupted the Collectors, but they still abducted half the colony."

"That's better than an entire colony," was the matter-of-fact response. "And more than we've accomplished since the abductions began. The Collectors will be more careful now, but I think we can find another way to lure them in."

Shepard paused, finally putting the pieces together.

"Ashley said the Alliance got a tip about me and Cerberus… Was that you?"

TIM took another pull from his cigarette, pausing before answering. "I may have let it slip that you were alive. And with Cerberus."

'Son of a bitch,' she thought, barely able to contain ehr anger.

"You risked the lives of my friend, my crew, and that entire colony? Just to lure the Collectors there?"

"A calculated risk," he fired back, getting defensive. "I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain."

The implications here turned Shepard's blood cold.

"I told you I wouldn't sit and wait while the Reapers and Collectors gather strength," he added, voice rising just a hair now. "Besides," he added as he seemed to calm. "They would've hit another colony eventually. And without a way to predict which one, they would've abducted everyone."

Jane was fuming now, fists clenched. Not for the Illusive Man using her the way that he had, but because he was right. And she feared what it meant when men like him started making sense; when the universe needed men like him. When she spoke, she sounded much calmer than she felt.

"We need to make sure they don't abduct anyone else."

"I want the Collectors stopped for that very reason. That's why we're doing this Shepard. I'm devoting all my resources to finding a way through the Omega 4 relay. We have to hit them where they live. Your team will need to be strong… as will their resolve. There's no looking back."

The Commander's thoughts turned to each of her teammates in turn. She paused on Six, unsure if he was really in this fight or not.

"The same goes for you," he continued, catching Shepard's attention. "Can I assume you've put your past relationships behind you?"

"None of your damn business," She said venomously. She may be working with him, for now, but there were limits.

"If it affects the mission," he said, ashing his cigarette once again. "Better you should leave it behind. Shepard, once we find a way through the Omega 4 relay to the Collector homeworld… There's no guarantee you'll return."

He was testing her now, seeing if her resolve was where he wanted it. He needn't have bothered, showing once again how little he actually knew about Jane besides her accomplishments. To him, she was a list and a solution. Nothing more.

"To have any hope of surviving," he again continued. "You, and your entire team, must be fully committed to this."

His emphasis on 'entire' and 'committed' once again drew her thoughts to Six. Was he ready? Would he die for this? She doubted it. She didn't doubt his abilities but his resolve and intentions were as much of a mystery as his background. She stared back at her supposed partner.

"Let me worry about them," she responded. "You just find us a way to the Collector homeworld."

"I just want to be upfront about your odds. You'll need everyone at their best. Keep building your team while I find a way through the relay. And be careful, Shepard. The Collectors will be watching you."

With that, he was gone. With a whir of servos, the table formed in the center of the room once again. She sighed, turning around to see Jacob leaning against the rail, arms crossed.

"I guess we're really gonna do it," he said. "Hit the Omega 4 relay, take the fight to the Collectors in person. Looking forward to the action. After seeing what those bastards did on Horizon, though… makes you think."

'And this is why we lock the briefing room door when taking calls,' Jane thought to herself. "They're powerful," she agreed. "But we've got a few tricks for them. If anyone can stop them, we can."

"No argument there, Commander. Horizon just made it hit home. What we're doing, what we're up against. Gonna go take care of a little unfinished business. I imagine everyone else is too… Getting some closure, you know?"

He stood up from the railing and showed himself the exit. He wasn't wrong. Shepard could feel them all coming up on the end of this journey. And there was little chance they would all make it out alive. All the talk about closure made her uncomfortable. Fact is, the only closure anyone ever really has is the closure they create for themselves.

But she wasn't about to tell her crew that.

Six held both of the orange chips in his hand. One, the chip that got him here. The other, an unknown that looked much more active within the crystal matrix, and also more dangerous. He'd need to read them both to know where to go next.

He yanked open the box marked 1 and hit the security device. It once again warned him about space being unavailable. With a grunt, he put his fingers under the lid and yanked. With the Mk. VI enhancing his movement, the lid came up with a pop and metallic screech. He found the arm that held the monitor and pulled it up into view on its arm. It hung there exactly where he left it. He activated the screen, which gave him warnings and errors. He bypassed all that, instead opening a base software to read and execute. He found the original chip and inserted it.

Even though an armor stand hardly had a slip drive on it, he took a step back in the Pelican as the monitor read the chip, unsure of what might happen next. Data displayed, then mathematical sequences that redundantly ran through themselves with constantly shifting variables. He recognized some of it as the math used in slipspace travel. The formula there, like here, also changed quadrillions of times per second to recalculate. But this was far bigger and more complex than he had ever seen. He found and pulled up the base software that underlay this program and found nothing special. He didn't know what he was expecting but there was no button that said "push to go home" and he didn't know enough about software writing to even begin to dissect the program, let alone engineer it to take him back.

He yanked the chip, ending the program, and held up the other one. It glowed menacingly. Hesitating only for a moment, he shoved it into the monitor and waited. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a computer language completely unlike anything he had ever seen before began to run. But it didn't read left to right, top to bottom. Instead, a sort of core appeared on the screen at the center and programming language emanated from it and outwards, spiraling, twisting and zigzagging, faster and faster until the monitor was first filled with ever-shifting code before going black. He leaned in close. Suddenly there was an orange face on the screen staring back at him. It looked around, or appeared to, before its eyes landed on him.

"Hello," it said.

"What are you?" He already knew the answer.

"I am ALX 2557-4. Who are you?"

"Lieutenant S-B312," he said.

The orange, female face closed her eyes a moment and he saw code begin to cascade down her digital eyelids. She opened them suddenly.

"I have found your records, Lieutenant. You are authorized to… Speak with me. Forgive me. I am… New."

A goddamn AI. Halsey had sent him with a fully-functional, apparently brand new, UNSC smart AI. If she was new, she only had her base programming and UNSC database installed… And, he thought, probably whatever else Halsey had added. He sighed heavily.

"We need to talk," he said, leaning against the wall.

"About what, Lieutenant?"

"Everything."

Edge of Nemean Abyss

/

Accipitor Class Turian Corvette - THS Fraguul

Derret Bragonis sat at his terminal, adroitly working the controls and changing both frequencies and scans. Though not the front lines work he had hoped for, there was no ongoing war except for the pirates in the abyss. The crew of the Fraguul was on a constant reconnaissance mission in the area to report pirate activity. If pirates left the abyss and the Fraguul had tagged them, they would be getting a warm welcome from a Turian heavy cruiser. Again, not his ideal post but he was proud to be serving and he knew his role was needed.

There were three corvettes in this area; the THS Fraguul, THS Brigantus, and the THS Resperia. They were a ways out from each other, interlocking the areas their sensors were set but picking up areas the other ships couldn't reach. It was perfect dispersion creating a dragnet of the area. If there was any activity out there, they'd catch it.

Bragonis sat on the bridge with two other sensor technicians. Their defense officer sat behind them at his own terminal, overlooking their work. Also on the bridge was communications, fire control, and an engineering officer. Captain Lathronix sat at his chair, staring out into space. They were mostly silent, only speaking to each other when required in the execution of their duties. They were a well-oiled and efficient machine of reconnaissance at this point.

The young Turian spied a blip on the thermographic sensor array. He was about to get his shipmate sitting next to him to set the LADAR on it when it disappeared. Curious now, he arranged thermal sensors in that direction and nothing showed up. He reset all systems to wide scan and was about to lean back when the thermographic sensor reported the same blip again but in a slightly different area of space now.

"Cloaked," he whispered to himself. He again set thermographic sensors to that area to try and find what it could possibly be. All sensors again showed nothing. He widened the range just a bit and waited but nothing happened. He then set all sensors to wide and waited again. It wasn't surprising that a cloaked ship could still be picked up with thermal imaging. Heat was difficult to hide in the cold of space. One could secure crew space all they liked but an engine still had to burn something to run. What surprised the young Turian was when another blip appeared in an entirely different region but this time on the radar terminal of his squadmate sitting next to him. The blip stayed in place. They exchanged a look, showing each other their sensor contacts.

Bragonis turned to his immediate superior.

"I had something on thermal and it disappeared, ma'am. Herentim has another contact on radar. Unknown, unidentified."

A second blip appeared, and Bragonis spun to look. It was the same one from before on the thermal imaging in the same sector, same distance.

"Bragonis," the Captain barked. "We have no visual in that area. Confirm sensors are working properly."

"Confirmed, Captain. Calibrated at first shift. I have a second unknown, sending it to your terminal."

A moment passed as Bragonis and his team played with the sensors, trying to find anything that could explain the unknown contacts.

"Negative on visual for second sensor contact," the Captain said. "Re-calibrate the sensors."

"Yes, Captain I…"

Suddenly there were more. Where there had been two, there had been six, then 12, then dozens, then even more. One at a time and in rapid succession, contacts began to appear all over the space around them. He looked at the two terminals on his right and left side as his squadmates began working their controls furiously. They had contacts everywhere, it seemed.

"Bragonis, is there something else?"

"Captain Lathronix." communications Officer Thrustonik bellowed out. "I have multiple unknown transmissions being broadcast from the area Bragonis has highlighted. Unknown language."

He played it over the speakers. A cacophony of bizarre speech flooded their collective ears. But it didn't just sound like one language. There seemed to be multiple and different voices that sounded like they were responding to each other.

An image began to appear on Bragonis' squadmate's display terminal. His friend had set the LADAR on the closest contact to try and get a visual read with laser scanning. It was big, bigger than anything he had ever heard of. Scan had it at approximately 3 kilometers long, and 1.5 kilometers wide. It had a bulbous bow, if that was the bow, a rounded middle, and a trapezoidal back end. But there was nothing that they could see in space when they looked, just blackness and distant stars. Sensors said the closest one was right there but it wasn't. This didn't make any sense.

One of the other corvettes suddenly came over their comms.

"Fraguul, this is the THS Brigantus. We have multiple sensor contacts. Do you have a visual?"

"Negative, Brigantus. We're seeing the same sensor ghosts."

"Captain Lathronix," one of the Turians from fire control spoke up. Bragonis could never remember his name. "We may have an issue with our system. Showing… multiple unknown weapons systems powering up out there."

Again, the Brigantus sent a transmission.

"Be advised, Fraguul. We're showing contacts converging on your position."

"Fire control," Lathronix barked again "Shields at maximum, bring our point defense system online, and charge weapons."

"Yes, Captain."

Brigantis pressed a button on his chair. "All hands, battlestations." He pressed another button. "THS Gavik, this is THS Fraguul. We are at full alert and at battlestations. Unknown sensor contacts are closing in. We have no visual. Assist."

Tha Gavik was their cruiser escort. Bragonis hoped they weren't far off.

"Fraguul, we are enroute to your position."

"Captain," came the voice of fire control. "Torpedoes inbound. High yield."

"Evasive action!"

The ship lurched, rolling before picking a direction and engaging thrusters at maximum. Everyone was thrown in one direction as the corvette rocketed in another, back toward the Gavik.

"Fraguul, this is Resperia. We have a negative on all contacts across all sensors. No sensor ghosts. What's going on out there?"

In the excitement, Bragonis had forgotten to check his terminal. Hearing the Resperia on comms, he checked his terminal, then the terminals of his shipmates.

"Uh… Negative on contacts here, Captain. They've gone. All of them."

Fire control again piped up. "Same here, Captain. Negative on torpedoes."

"Negative on transmissions," came communications.

They stayed at the ready, still at battlestations, still heading for the Gavik at full speed.

"Fraguul, this is the Gavik. Advise on situation."

"I'll debrief you when I get there... Lothranix, out."

It was a quiet ride, even with engines at maximum. All sensors had lit up, fire control reported inbound weapons, and the transmissions… They'd all heard the voices. SOMETHING had been out there. But of course it hadn't actually been there either. Torpedoes don't disappear out of space. Nothing disappears, not the way that all this did.

Bragonis did not envy his commanding officer. He certainly couldn't explain what had just happened.

He doubted anyone in this universe could.