First of all, I realize that there have been a lot of Halo-Mass effect crossovers lately, but I'm aiming for something that's hopefully a bit higher than standard quality. Please let me know if you think so or not. Constructive criticism and fawning adulation are welcome. Chapters will usually be about as long as this one, and updates probably won't happen in sooner than 2 weeks. Enjoy!

(Oh, and I don't own anything, Bioware, Bungie, yadda yadda yadda…)

Chapter 1

Commander Lawrence Caine Shepard crashed onto his bed in the Captain's cabin of the Normandy SR-2 without bothering to take off his clothes. He let his mind go blank as he stared at the empty fish tank sitting in his room. He was turning in unusually early, but considering that he had been running on stims for the past four days, with about 10 hours of sleep between them, it was time for some real rest. He had damn well earned it. His thoughts slowly returned, as memories from the day crept into his consciousness.

It had been yet another exhausting day, as he, Jacob, and Garrus had fought through dozens of mechs and mentally unstable shipwreck survivors, to face down Jacob's father, who had let the power of being the only sane man on the island go to his head. He was momentarily struck by the irony of that previous thought, but was honestly too tired to care. He had briefly considered just leaving him there to face the angry mob that awaited him after hearing the depraved things he had done. Or maybe give him a pistol, fly off, and see what happens. But instead decided to notify the Alliance. As always, he had to make the "right" decision, if such a thing existed in this universe.

If it were possible, things were getting more complicated than ever. His life seemed to be turning into one tense confrontation after another. It was hard, hard work, maintaining a team as diverse and conflict-prone as this one. Some days it was all he could do to keep them from each other's throats. He could almost feel electricity in the air on the rare occasions that Jack and Miranda were in the same room. Sometimes Joker and EDI's bickering could be amusing, but today it was just irritating. And Garrus, well, he just wasn't the same since his team died. It was frustrating, to say the least, and even in his exhausted state he felt the urge to punch something, or someone.

But of course, he couldn't. He was the legendary Commander Shepard, Hero of the Citadel. People always naturally looked to him for leadership, and he always had to be in control of any situation. Anything less, and things go to pieces. Especially now, with a crew like this, and a near suicide mission in unknown territory to boot. People had always told him that he inspired them, the way he could throw himself at any problem with seemingly limitless energy, and his total unwillingness to quit. They called him a natural leader. But he didn't feel like that now. Now he felt tired, strung out, and a little afraid. If he couldn't get this team to work, he would be responsible for all the colonists taken. It would be his fault that he couldn't stop the Collectors.

All of this was slowly pushed from his brain as he drifted inexorably to sleep.

After what he swore couldn't have been more that half an hour, he awoke to the sound of Joker's voice.

"Commander, I think you should come up here. We've found something."

Growling, he painfully rolled out of bed, and found a stim on his nightstand. He looked at it for a moment, sighing, before jamming it into his arm. During his slow, fatigued walk to the bridge of the Normandy II he began to feel better, like 100 kilos were just lifted off his shoulders. But as always, he knew it wouldn't last.

Most of the crew of the Normandy was still awake, some at their stations, others wandering the halls. The ship's clock read 8:48 PM as he made it to the bridge and growled,

"This better be important, Joker."

Joker seemed ready to give one of his classic sarcastic retorts, but upon seeing the look on the commander's face, thought better of it.

"Well, Commander, we seem to have found a distress signal coming from that gas giant on the screen." There was a pause, as Shepard expected him to say more. He then replied impatiently,

"So… who is it? How old is it?"

"Well Sir, I can tell you that it is about six months old, and that it is definitely a distress signal." Another uncomfortable silence.

*Sigh* "Joker can you just tell me what happened?"

"Okay." He said defensively. "We were heading for the mass relay, and just exited FTL when the Micromanager 9000 over there tells me there's a signal. Since it's coming from the gas giant, the magnetosphere garbled it so bad that we can't tell what it's saying. But it's broadcasting on all frequencies, and it's got obvious distress taggings. That's all we know."

Shepard considered this for a moment. Probably not a trap, no one even knew they were here. But then, it could be anybody. Maybe someone he wouldn't want to let onto his ship. But he supposed it couldn't hurt to at least look.

"All right, Joker, take us in. What do you make of this EDI?"

The Normandy's AI responded in her usual flat tone.

"It is unlikely that anyone survived stranded in a ship for 6 months. Especially one that doesn't warrant a missing ship flag on the extranet. If possible, I suggest we ascertain the ship's status and retrieve any useful salvage. It is only 45 minutes out of the way"

That sounded like a fair assessment to Shepard, who made his way to the ship's intercom and broadcast to the crew,

"Attention crew of the Normandy. We are changing course to investigate an unknown distress signal. I don't know how this will affect our timetable, but I will notify as soon as we do. That will be all."

Outside the ship, the thrusters burned for a few minutes, placing the Normandy on a new course as it drifted toward the Gas giant.

In the time it took to reach the gas giant, several of the team had made their way to the bridge, curious about the new development. Garrus, Miranda, and Tali were to his right, Mordin and Jacob to his left. Jacob seemed eager for anything that would get his mind off the day's events, and his father. Joker seemed less than happy about the sudden invasion of his space.

"Look, you guys, it's just an old distress signal. It's not a big deal! The signal was just drifting, the ship might have even sunk into the planet by now."As usual, EDI was there to refute his claim. "Actually, Mr. Moreau, the signal continues to get stronger the closer we get. Unless it crashed into the planet as of thirty seconds minutes ago, it should be quite intact. We should have a good visual… now, as a matter of fact."

On the view screen, an image of something popped up, in front of the glowing backdrop of the gas giant's surface. Just what it was, was difficult to say. A ship, as was expected, but apparently only half of one. And not any kind of ship any of them were familiar with. Shepard was the first to speak.

"Um… just what am I looking at EDI?"

The AI took two seconds to reply, "It would appear to be some type of warship that has been severed in half, originally about the size of an Alliance Cruiser. Profile does not match up with any known starship schematics."

As Shepard took another look at the screen, he saw that it was indeed a warship, and a sizable one at that. Who would just lose half of a warship and not even bother to look for it?

Tali asked the question everyone was thinking, but too confused by the sight to ask. "What could do that to a ship? That looks like a totally clean cut!" It was true. Kinetic accelerators could shatter and hole a ship, but this type of slicing was unheard of. Unheard of, except for what Garrus proceeded to point out.

"Sovereign could. You remember how he sliced Council ships in half like butter. But Sovereign's been dead for two years, why wait eighteen months to activate a distress signal?" Shepard had a grim reply to that.

"Another Reaper, maybe." Everyone was silent as the implications sank in. Jacob was the next to speak.

"That still doesn't explain what this ship is. Look at the defense turrets. Those aren't GARDIAN lasers. They're obviously kinetic. And it's too plain and boxy for any Council warship."

"Some Quarian ships look like that." Tali responded. "The ones we build ourselves. They're designed to use the fewest possible resources, and cut down on luxuries. A very utilitarian look."

Shepard tossed some ideas around in his head before coming to a decision. This find was too bizarre to just leave. There had to be something they could find out from that ship. He voiced his orders to the crew,

"All right, let's prep a boarding party. We need to find out what this thing is. Tali, Mordin, meet me down at the shuttle in full vacuum gear." The two acknowledged him and went to prepare themselves. He would need their expertise to make sense of this, Tali's mechanical, and Mordin's scientific. A thought occurred to him, and he turned back to the AI, "I suppose you've tried hailing the ship, EDI?"

"Yes Commander, there is no reply. But I should tell you that I'm getting some very strange scanner readings…"

The boarding party was talking excitedly as they entered the shuttle. Specifically, Tali and Mordin were discussing the immense unlikelihood of what they'd found.

"Yes, Mordin, but no Element Zero? Not even the slightest trace? Even if it was scavenged for all of it, there would still be detectable traces. The only explanation is that this ship doesn't run on Eezo but, Keelah, I can't fathom how that's possible."

The old salarian seemed to be talking faster than normal.

"Possibly species evolved independent of Prothean technology. Might be a dead zone in mass relays. But why would reapers leave significant area of space empty of mass effect based technology? And how can a ship move at FTL speed without manipulating mass effect? This is very exciting indeed."

As the debate continued, Shepard just listened while the shuttle took off from the Normandy. It headed toward the only obvious openings, the exposed decks where the derelict had been cut clean in half. As the view of the derelict got bigger, the shuttle became silent. There was something about the ruined gray hulk that gave off a powerful sense of foreboding. The shuttle's docking clamp latched onto the torn deck, and the three boarders jumped into the ship, noting the lack of gravity. They turned on their suit's lights and proceeded into the dark hull, totally unaware that they were being watched.

Cortana had thought she was ready for anything when the shuttle opened, but she was entirely unprepared for what had exited the strange craft. She had known that someone was coming, but the ship's loss of 97 percent of it's power and the magnetic interference from the gas giant rendered her vision fuzzy, to say the least. Three vacuum-suited beings leapt from the shuttle into the bottom exposed deck. One was obviously a Human, but the other two… weren't. They were, as of yet, completely undocumented alien species. One appeared female, but six fingers and four toes quite firmly excluded her from homo sapiens. The other one was simply alien altogether. Like something you would find in second-rate pre-war science fiction. And there was no apparent hostility between them. That was interesting.

So, now there are 3 completely unknown individuals in the ship who may be our only way off, but are carrying gear and weapons of unknown capabilities, and seem to be able to handle themselves in a fight, Cortana thought to herself. Obviously the first thing is to wake John, but that'll still be a few more minutes. Immediately popping someone out of cryo could send them into shock, or worse. So, how to stall for time so they don't find John half frozen, but without revealing too much? Play dumb, that's how.

The Trio was unwittingly making their way toward the cryo-chamber when she popped up on the nearest holo-tank interface, and said in her most vapid and artificial voice "Greetings, my name is Cortana."

If Shepard's feet hadn't been magnetically sealed to the floor when the little hologram appeared next to him, he swore he would have jumped out of his combat suit. Tali and Mordin seemed similarly surprised.

"Greetings, my name is Cortana. I am the Command Data Center Interface assigned to the Forward Unto Dawn."

This unexpected turn of events left the team staring for several seconds as the VI stared back. Mordin spoke up first,

"A functional VI, appears human. But obviously not an Alliance vessel. Strange. We should question it. Could be informative."

Shepard hesitated, wondering what to say. He noticed that the hologram did not appear to be wearing any clothes, instead there seemed to be patterns and lines of code running up and down it's "body". Whoever these people were, they sure knew how to boost morale. Well, the most important thing comes first, he supposed.

"What happened to this ship to split it in half?

"Anomaly recorded as of six months, four days, and 58 minutes prior to this time. Massive fluctuations in localized gravity fields. Catastrophic hull failure ensued." The little VI responded. Shepard didn't consider this a satisfactory answer. All it told him was the Reapers might have a new weapon. He decided to press the issue.

"Was it a ship that did this? A large ship?"

"No hostile spacecraft was documented in the area at the time of the anomalous occurrence."

The trio breathed a collective sigh of relief. Whatever the Reapers were doing, they hadn't made it to the Milky Way yet. But that still left more mysteries than it solved. However, with the major question answered, Tali's curiosity got the better of her, cutting in just as the commander started to continue his questions.

"How is it this ship can run without mass effect fields or Element Zero?"

Shepard gave her a look that she could see through his visor.

"Well, think about it Shepard! If it's possible to run ships without Element Zero, think what that could do for the Flotilla! Besides the ships themselves, Eezo is our biggest limiting factor. We could maintain thousands more!"

Despite the irritation of being interrupted, he had to admit that he couldn't stay angry at Tali when she was excited like this. And something that Yeoman Chambers had told him a few weeks ago had been nagging at his mind for some time now…

This time it was his thoughts that were interrupted as the little VI answered Tali's question.

"This ship derives it's power from a deuterium-tritium triple fusion reactor array. I am unfamiliar with the terms 'Mass Effect' and 'Element Zero' as used in context. Please re-phrase or elaborate."

So, it was true then. This wasn't just some secret experimental craft. Whoever built this ship had honestly never heard of element zero. Still more mysteries than answers.

"So, where is the crew? A ship this size should be manned by hundreds. Where are the bodies?"

"Most of this ship's regular crew was evacuated to the Shadow of Intent preceding a high risk mission. They are, to the best of my knowledge, alive."

"Forward Unto Dawn, Shadow of intent. I don't think there are any ships in the Flotilla with such strange names. It would certainly make casual conversation difficult." Tali interjected.

Somehow Shepard felt that this 'Cortana' was being less than helpful. He knew it was a simple VI, but most VI's he'd talk to were a little less sparing with information. Four questions and it failed to even mention who the ship belonged to. Well, time to fix that.

"So, who built this ship?"

"The Forward Unto Dawn was commissioned by the UNSC Defense Force, and constructed at the Harrison Mallory orbital shipyards at Reach."

"So, this 'UNSC'. They're human?"

"That is correct. The UNSC is the military force of the United Earth Government, and as of January 16, 2532 has temporarily taken control in a time of military emergency."

There was a stunned silence among the group as they tried to wrap their minds around what the apparently malfunctioning VI had just said.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 heard a faint hissing noise penetrate the haze that filled his mind. He opened his eyes and tried to move, but found that he could only lie there. Suddenly, the knowledge of where he was returned to him, and he felt his momentary paralysis pass. As he floated out of the cryo-tube, he noticed that he felt surprisingly comfortable. This new model of cryro-stasis pods took a while to thaw a person, but they didn't require technicians to operate, and had few of the painful side effects of the old pods.

That wasn't to say, though, that he didn't feel anything wrong. The cryo-pods were designed to keep you exactly the way you went in, and that's just what they did, injuries and all. He was really feeling where his shoulder had been dislocated twice and forced back into place by his MJOLNIR powered assault armor. First, when inertial forces had thrown that warthog at him and slammed into his arm, and again when he had then caught himself from flying out of the ship along with it, with that very same arm. He felt several second degree burns in various places, where energy attacks had heated the armor enough to burn the skin underneath. The largest one was in the center of his chest. He knew what a third degree burn felt like, and he was certainly feeling one now. It was where the rampant Forerunner construct Guilty Spark had taken him by surprise with his powerful eye-beam.

That memory brought on a sudden, unexpected pang of sorrow for the person who had been hit in the chest with that same eye-beam, and didn't walk away from it. Sergeant Avery Johnson, the very last person killed in the war, and just when they were on the very cusp of victory, no less. He also felt passing anger for that backstabbing little bastard, Spark. It should have known damn well that they couldn't wait to fire Halo, but was apparently too far gone in rampancy to care. John had long ago learned not to fight angry, but he had allowed himself a bit of relish when he saw the glowing orb of Spark's body explode under Johnson's laser.

The pain of his injuries didn't bother him though. He activated the magnetic soles of his boots, and began regaining his mobility, flexing his stiff muscles. The holo-tank in front of the pod lit up, and he heard a familiar, welcome voice.

"Hey Chief." The small blue woman-shaped hologram said. "Sorry we don't have time for the usual banter, but we've got a situation."

John's military readiness instantly kicked in, and he located the MA5C assault rifle that he had stored when he was frozen. He noted that he still had several clips for it in his armor's ammo compartment. As he made a beeline for it, Cortana decided to qualify her statement.

"Of course, not all situations require immediate bullets to the face." The Chief ignored this comment, and proceeded to check the assault rifle for damage. He then spoke,

"How long have we been out here?"

"About six months."

"So we've been found?"

"You could say that. But not exactly by who we'd prefer." John tensed up at this statement, and Cortana noticed.

"No, not Brutes, but they were at least a known quantity. I have no idea who has just boarded our ship, and the same goes for what they're capable of." This secretly upset John more that the fact that they were lost. There were few things Cortana didn't know, and even fewer that she couldn't at least give an educated guess for. And any situation was a hundred times worse if you didn't know what was happening. That's when "snags" occur.

"What are they?"

"Well, one's human, but the other two are two different indeterminate alien species. Both about human-sized. It seems extremely unlikely that humans would have encountered two entirely new space faring species in six months, Chief. Something is definitely off."

John thought about this only for a moment. In a situation like this, one could only take things as they come, instead of speculating. That was Cortana's job.

"Where are they now?"

"They're only a few hallways down from us now. I'm stalling for time by pretending to be a simple database. Like a 'dumb' AI, but more so. They call me a VI, and they seem to be getting more confused the more I talk. Especially when I mentioned Earth. They don't even seem to know what the UNSC is. I suggest you go meet them before they find you first."

The former statement struck John as highly implausible.

"How can a human not know what the UNSC is?"

"I have a few theories, Chief. Get us out of here and I might even simplify them enough for you to understand."

This made John crack a faint smile, but he still felt uncomfortable that Cortana would mention Earth.

"You're telling them things about us?" the Chief asked.

"No more than I need to, to get a reaction. I'm certainly learning a lot more listening to them than they are from me."

It still didn't feel quite right, but the Cole Protocal didn't apply any more, so supposed he could forgive it. He didn't like unknown situations, but he was about as ready as he could possibly be to meet these… whoever they were. He performed a few final systems checks on his armor. It was understandably burned, dinged, and melted in places, especially in the center of his chest piece, but internal damage was surprisingly low. The new Mark 6 really was an improvement on his previous sets of armor.

Cortana gave a few more bits of advice. "They're our only way out of here, chief, so don't act too threatening. We might need to give up something in return, so I think we can bend the rules a bit and trade some of the ship's supplies or technology for a ride. Where to, I don't know, but it's obviously going to be better than here." John grabbed several grenades from the weapons cache near his pod and headed for the door.

"And finally, I'd prefer that you don't reveal that I'm actually an AI until we can trust them. Leave me in the ship for now, so I can keep talking. I can spoon-feed the words to you if you seriously start screwing up, but I think you'll be able to handle it." The Chief looked down at Cortana, giving her a nod as he made for the door. "Good luck, John." She gave him a faint smile as he left the cryo bay. Always a man of few words. Hopefully he could handle first contact.

Meanwhile, Shepard, Tali, and Mordin were discussing the quite frankly insane sounding things that the VI had just told them. Mordin wished to continue questioning it, but Shepard felt that it would just keep saying more nonsense. He voiced this opinion to Mordin.

"Look, do you actually believe that there is another Earth from the future out there, completely devoid of Element Zero, or do you think it's possible that this VI is just malfunctioning in a very strange way? There's nothing more to find out from it." Mordin thought this to be a highly unscientific approach.

"Even if malfunctioning, we haven't even begun to question thoroughly. Perhaps we can find a reason. And still, the fact that there's no Element Zero on this ship, Shepard, how do you explain that?"

"Okay, Mordin, we need to find answers, but not from this thing." He turned back to the VI and asked one more question.

"Is there anything else on this ship that we can get answers from?"

"Records indicate that there is one active crewmember remaining on the Forward Unto Dawn. Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117 is currently being released from cryostasis."

This took the team by surprise. Once again this VI demonstrated it's tight-lipped nature by failing to even mention that there was a survivor on this ship. Before Shepard could ask why it didn't tell them this earlier, it continued speaking.

"The Master Chief has requested that you stay where you are, so that he may meet you in person."

Well, at least the VI had served a purpose, as there was now an officer he could talk to who would likely be a lot more helpful than this thing, but a rank and a code-name wasn't too promising in itself.

Once again, Tali's curiosity got the better of her, as she said to the VI,

"What does this ship use for FTL travel, without any mass effect fields?"

"Again, I am unfamiliar with the term 'mass effect'. Please re-phrase your query." Now it was starting to seem like this VI had been deliberately programmed to withhold information.

"Possible they don't have any means of FTL." Mordin interjected. "Unlikely, but this 'anomaly' might be responsible for how the ship came to be here."

Just as Tali seemed about to ask her question again, a new voice was suddenly heard over their radios. They had all been speaking through the radios until now, due to the lack of atmosphere, but the newcomer had caught them off guard. It was a male voice saying,

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117. Please identify yourselves." It was a deep, scratchy voice that reminded Shepard a little of Thane, but more rough. It sounded like a voice that didn't get used very often.

"This is Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance. You have a name under that rank?

"Not one that I'm willing to disclose for now, no."

Shepard sighed. He sincerely hoped that this wasn't going to be harder than it had to be. Because at least eighty percent of the time it was.

"Shepard, do you feel that?" asked Tali, sounding worried.

Shepard wondered what she was talking about for a moment, when he realized that he did indeed feel that. It was a slight vibration in the floor. He couldn't hear it due to the lack of atmosphere, but he could feel a faint rhythmic pounding in his feet, like… footsteps? Shepard began to ask,

"What the hell is tha-" When the abruptly voice returned. It simply stated,

"I'm at the door, I'm coming in now."

The trio spun around to look at the door at the end of the hallway that promptly slid open vertically. Whatever they had been expecting, much like Cortana, this was not it. Tali let out a quiet exclamation.

"Keelah."

What the door revealed was a human figure, except bigger. Much bigger than Shepard had ever seen before. It was covered entirely in a set of green and black armor, like his own, but bulkier, with an impenetrable orange visor. The armor appeared dented and blackened in places, apparently having seen a lot of action. Attached to its, or his, back was a large outdated looking assault rifle. Appearances could be deceiving, though.

The three instinctively took a step back as the armored behemoth entered the hallway. Shepard felt his arm going for his rifle, but consciously forced it down. Whoever this was, he didn't seem hostile just yet.

The Master Chief as he was called, considered Tali and Mordin for a moment, before speaking to Shepard.

"You're commander Shepard I presume?"

"That's right."

"Well Commander, I've never heard of the Systems Alliance before, but you're human, and you have a way out of here. So, I'm requesting your assistance."

There was a silence as Shepard processed what he just heard. Never heard of the Systems Alliance, didn't trust aliens, and apparently needed a ride to nowhere in particular.

"Is there a problem with non-humans?" asked Shepard, concerned. He had seen a lot of anti-alien prejudice in his day, and didn't want any on his ship.

"Not theses ones, no. I can keep myself under control, if that's what you're asking." So, only a problem with some aliens. This was familiar territory for Shepard, too, but somehow it didn't seem to fit this situation.

"Why would I trust you on my ship? I don't even know who you are." Granted, he did let Jack onto his ship after he knew who she was, but that was something he'd keep to himself for now.

The large human seemed to hesitate a moment, and replied,

"If you let me onto your ship, I'll give you permission to scavenge and study anything on this ship."

Shepard sensed that there was a unspoken addendum to his words, that any attempts to scavenge otherwise would be met with hostility. And this human appeared fully capable of being hostile. It was an enticing offer, though. Half of the resources of a warship was substantial, even if it was outdated as it appeared. And one half of this ship was still about four times larger than the Normandy SR-2. Even if the technology proved to be useless, there would likely be stores of preserved food, water, medical supplies, and basic amenities. Probably enough to serve the Normandy for months, all for free. If he could keep an eye on this guy, it could well be worth it.

"All right, you can come aboard the Normandy, but I need your real name first, and I expect to get some answers later."

The armored human seemed to relax slightly, and said.

"It's John. But just call me Chief. Everyone does. Before we go, I need to retrieve a few things, and the VI has important data that I need to keep safe."