A/N: I do not own ME2, thought I do own a copy of ME 2 Collector's Edition, nor do I own the Halo franchise. Bioware owns ME, and Bungie owns Halo, all rights except OC's belong to them. This contains violence, language, slight OOC, spoilers for both MEs and Halo 3, violence, pop culture references, violence, and more violence. I'm reuploading ch1 and 2, after making several useful edits, that I was inspired to do based on the reviews I've gotten.

Male Shep, Solider, Renegade

Omega Station, Sahrabarik, Omega Nebula

Former Lt. Commander Kurt Shepard was not in a good mood. He had just arrived at Omega to finally hunt down Samara's twisted daughter, when Yeoman Kelly told him that the Illusive Man once again wanted to talk to him. Though it was annoying to speak to him, he was a lot more civil than the Council ever was. He walked into the Comm room, and stepped onto the quantum entanglement equipment. The scanner engaged and scanned over his body, and making a digital copy of him right in front of the Illusive Man, and Sheppard took a good look at him. The Illusive Man's mood was, as usual impossible to discern.

He spoke, his usual nondescript voice sounding almost excited "Shepard, I hate to pull you away from your mission to stop the Collectors, but we've encountered an anomaly that I thought you might like to investigate. One of our survey ships was stopped to make a drive discharge, and made a shocking discovery. There's a derelict ship drifting out in the Grissom system, dating back at least 50,000 years. It could be Prothean, but we can't be certain. The vessel was forced to leave, as it was on a tight schedule to make a delivery to a cell. I want you to examine the vessel, and see what can be salvaged, and if it even is Prothean."

Shepard replied" I understand, but why so urgent? Surely a battered old hulk can wait a couple of days, can't it?"

The Illusive Man said" Not when I've detected a Collector vessel on an intercept path with the hulk. I estimate it will be there within 12 hours. That means you have 10 hours to get there, see what's salvage-worthy, salvage what can be salvaged, and destroy the wreckage before the Collectors can board it."

Shepard nodded, and turned and walked off the board, ending the transmission. He opened the Comm room's door, and walked out, and then he turned to the left and walked through the armory, cutting through there to enter the CIC. He approached the Galaxy map, and laid in a course for the Grissom System, where hopefully he would get some answers to the questions that were flowing through his head.

2 Hours later, Grissom System, Forward Unto Dawn, Cryogenic chamber

Cortana had been monitoring the Dawn's mangled sensor section for the past few years, and had seen nothing that would be of use. However, she had noticed when an unknown space vessel dropped in system, and immediately decided to thaw out John. She knew that if they had hostile intent, she needed someone who could actually fight, and plus she need to talk to him again, at least before she was forced to be shut down. Unfortunately, the cryo-tube was too short on power for a safe defrost, so she was just going to have to rig it for transfer, hopefully the newcomers had a source of power that could be used to bring him back.

She had finally come to the near end of her lifespan, and wanted to talk to him at least before she died. Reading the tube for transfer took a half-hour, during which time the unknown vessel came closer, and Cortana was able to examine it more closely.

It wasn't a big vessel, measuring about 200 meters long and equipped with 4 long engines that used an unknown energy source. She also noticed the odd energy readings from the ship's rear, but the readings suggested that the reactor was located there, or something that generated a lot of power. She was having some difficulty picking up the ship on sensors, but it was easily seen visually. The ship was equipped with shields that were similar to Covenant shielding technology, but seemed more powerful than the Covenant's shields. The ship seemed to be equipped with interesting weapons, but the primary weapon appeared to be a mass accelerator that fired a much smaller slug than the MAC guns the UNSC used.

The unknown vessel was now hanging in place off the rear of the ship, and she noticed a shuttle leaving the unknown vessel's hanger. She heard a hissing emanating from the cryo-tube, and began compressing herself onto her data chip, readying herself for transfer if need be.