AN: Sorry for the long wait readers! Hope you enjoy the newest addition to the story!

**UNKNOWN PLANET** Shepard's Basecamp, 2187

Shepard sighed as Kat, Emile, and Six returned to camp. Agitated with their performance during the recon operation he assigned them, he hoped that their superior SPARTAN Training hadn't failed them and that it was merely a fluke.

"You spooked one of the patrols. Now the colony's gone into a yellow alert," Shepard said, his head tilted with disapproval. Although an honest mistake, he knew the noise reduction systems in the SPI Armor would have been better suited to the operation than a simple tactical cloak. Carter marched into the group from behind Shepard, stopping when he reached the Commander's side.

"With all due respect, sir, I'll handle the scolding of my own team." Carter said, casting a disappointed glance at Emile and Kat.

Shepard quietly looked at Carter with cold eyes before departing to prepare a new phase-2 for the contact operation, listed on paper as OPERATION: CALLBACK. Carter's gaze followed the Commander briefly as he walked to his command tent before shifting back to Noble Team.

"Alright, I assume Shepard gave you the bulk of it, so I'm not even going there," he began, looking at the S-III's in their customized MJOLNIR Power Armor, which was obviously their first mistake.

"Anyone care to tell me what went wrong?" Carter asked, raising an eyebrow beneath his helmet.

Shepard's Command Tent, 2187

Commander Shepard looked over his command center, reviewing the plans for phase-2 of operation: CALLBACK. Dervish had laid out an incredibly clever-yet-difficult plan of infiltration, hoping that getting himself and Shepard into the colony would enable them an easy way to reach the Spirit of Fire's CO, and from there open relations and re-introduction into galactic society.

"All we need is for the Normandy to induce a low level EMP directed at their database facility," Dervish said, gesturing to an image of a large, one-story building with the words "Data Storage" emblazoned on the side in extremely large letters. "Now, there's a storm front approaching the colony, which will provide excellent cover for the Normandy. During that storm you and I will infiltrate the colony and, during the ensuing black-out, insert our covers into the database." Dervish finished, passing the file containing their respective cover IDs across the table.

"Won't the sudden addition of two people look suspicious?" Shepard asked, always taking the role of the skeptic when it came to infiltration ops. Dervish chuckled, obviously having an answer to that question.

"Not at all," Dervish replied, his eyes quickly glancing at his omni-tool. "The colony is big enough that two people could live their entire live unnoticed." Two more overlays of the colony were projected onto Shepard's command table.

"Alright then, let's get this party started." The Commander said, already opening a channel to the Normandy.

**UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM** UNSC Spirit of Fire Command Bridge, 2187

Captain James Gregory Cutter, United Nations Space Command Navy, Colonization Division, looked out at the world below him. Named "Columbus Prime" after the ancient explorer, the crew and colonials had known it as home for the last forty years. The Spirit of Fire had been Cutter's first command, given to him when he was merely a young man of 22. Now, at the age of 63, almost 64, Cutter was beginning to plan his retirement. The only reason he'd even been in command as long as he had was an overall lack of contact with UNSC High Command.

Looking at his comm panel, Cutter opened a frequency to Duncan down in Colonial Command, hoping to warn him of the approaching storm and get a report on the anomalies picked up the other night.

"Duncan, this is Cutter. Status report." The aged Captain said, his voice filled with an air of fatigue.

"Nothing major, sir. One of the patrols got spooked by some wildlife and their comms went down for a while." Lt. Duncan replied rather rapidly, catching the old Captain off-guard.

"As for the anomalies, we found some impact craters with burnt up drag-chutes around them." Duncan concluded, waiting for a response from Cutter.

Drag-chutes? Cutter thought. The old Captain knew what this meant, both for the colony and humanity. "So, we're not alone then?" Cutter asked, his voice just loud enough for the comm picked it up and relayed the question to Lt. Duncan.

"Well sir, that's the odd part. The Marking on the metal, well…They're human." Duncan answered, again catching Cutter off-guard.

"Human? What the hell do you mean, boy?" Cutter asked in intense confusion.

Duncan paused briefly, either due to his own confusion or comm lag. "That's just it sir. The marking are human, complete with English letterings and numerical marks, all ending with the same three letters: HSA." The commander said, deepening the sense of confusion in Captain Cutter.

Cutter switched off the comm with a quiet "Thank You," to the Lieutenant before moving to his proper seat on the bridge. "Human markings," Cutter repeated, still in complete confusion. Forty years since they arrived in the system and now UFOs with human marking show up in the sky? Cutter had too much running through his mind to even notice the small craft cruising through Columbus Prime's upper atmosphere.

"What the hell does this all mean?" He asked himself, massaging his temples in an effort to fight off a developing headache.

Columbus Prime, Unidentified Colony, 2187

Dervish quickly activated his EMP shielding as his VISR showed the outline of the SSV Normandy SR-2 swooping towards the surface of the planet, now identified as Columbus Prime, preparing to deliver the EMP. The storm looming overhead provided the perfect cover for the operation. The blast would temporarily shut down the electrical grid for the colony, causing data corruption inside the central database facility. In the ensuing chaos, Dervish and Shepard would infiltrate the facility and implant the file containing their cover IDs, thus allowing them free movement through the colony.

The only problem: The antiquated UNSC technology. The old tech had the unfortunate property of being an obstacle for Dervish's new, Council era technology. Luckily for him and Shepard, there was always a solution.

"I have a couple of adapters for such a purpose." Dervish announced as they breached the colony's perimeter, careful to avoid the patrols. Shepard was geared in his Terminus Stealth/Assault Armor, fully equipped with an integrated tactical cloak and noise reducer. Dervish, on the other hand, chose a highly customized set of SPI Armor procured from the S-III's supplies. Needless to say, their stealth technologies were near evenly matched.

Meanwhile on Earth...

Two lone human soldiers watch the skies as the colossal machines rain death and destruction upon the sprawling megatroplis of Los Angeles, USA. The first, a tall muscular marine by the name of Stockes, motions toward a bombed out building.

"On three, we move." Stockes whispers, raising three fingers and tilting his head towards the buidling. Mouthing the numbers in a painfully slow count-down, the other marine preps for the move.

Three. Stockes lowers one finger, then disengages the safety mechanism on his Mattock Rifle.

Two. The second marine, Lockehardt, loads new thermal clips into his pistol and Revenant LMG.

One. Both marines spring out from behind their concrete shelter and make a mad dash for the building.

"25 meters!" Stockes yells at Lockhardt, sweeping his gaze left, then right, searching for hostiles.

"Tango spotted!" Lockhardt screams, firing eight round bursts from his Revenant. Stockes turns, crouches, then fires at the target.

The husk's skull splits, spilling a sickly combination of meat and machine oil onto the rubble. Two more stumble around a nearby corner, followed closely by the hulking silhouette of a Scion.

"Scion! Get in the building!" Stockes yells, making an Olympic sprint into the building. Lockhardt sidesteps his way towards the building, keeping his Revenant trained on the approaching horde.

"You want some, you zombified piece of shit!" Lockhardt yells, his machine gun thudding armor piercing rounds at the Scion. Stockes pops out of a window, his rifle ending the misery of another three husks.

"Lockhardt! Get in here!" he screams. The Scion roars as its Mass Accelerator sends a powerful shockwave towards Lockhardt. Seeing the pulse of blue-black energy racing toward him, Lockhardt dives toward the building, continuing to stream bullets at the Scion.

Another angry roar comes from the Scion as its energy generators overload, causing it to erupt into a magnificent show of blue light. Stockes and Lockhardt, upon seeing this, breath a sigh of relief.

"Good job out there, man." Stockes says, clapping Lockhardt on the shoulder. Lockhardt doesn't reply, his eyes locked on the machines ripping the cityscape apart.

Stockes follows his gaze, smiling when he sees an Alliance ship break through the clouds. "There's our secret weapon," he says, gesturing to the old UNSC-designed frigate, complete with an old MAC Gun. "Let 'em have it, boys. Let 'em have it."

Mechanized roars fill the air as MAC rounds tear into the Reaper ships, splitting their hulls like tissue paper. One explodes, the shockwave sending the another careening into the landscape below. Lockhardt sees this and grins. "Well, Lieutenant," he says, his grin now a full blown smile, "Looks like we took back LA."

Council Chambers, Citadel, 2187

Anderson smiled as he saw humanity's slow reclamation of it's homeworld. Not two weeks ago, the Reapers had launched an invasion of Citadel space, taking Earth in the process. Luckily, the reinforcements and re-commissioned UNSC ships managed to punch a good-sized whole in the Reaper blockade. The other councilors stood over their respective terminals, locked in communiques with their own homeworlds. Anderson opened two more files containing reports on the other war being fought. The Covenant seem to have their own problems with the Reapers. Anderson chuckled.

"Only a matter of time before they propose some kind of treaty." he half-whispered, still too quiet for the other councilors to hear.

"Anderson! Any news from Earth?" Velarn asked from across the room. Anderson smiled and began walking over to him. Today was going to be a good day.

Columbus Prime, Unidentified Colony, 2187

Shepard watched patiently as Dervish worked his techno-magic on the colony's database building. The locks were electronic, and they had roughly fifteen seconds before the Normandy would release its EMP, thus disabling the locking mechanism and denying them entry to the facility. Dervish checked his timer as he popped the panel off the door's keypad lock, taking the wires and attaching them to the necessary adapters. Ten seconds. The timer is now flashing red, alerting Dervish of their minimal time. Effortlessly, Dervish applied the code-sequence to bypass the door's security systems.

Five seconds, the timer flashed as the door mechanism whirred to life, slowly opening itself in the dark of night.

Three.

Two.

One.

Lighting struck two radio control towers as the Normandy released the EMP, causing a colony-wide blackout. Dervish smiled and squeezed through the opening in the door, Shepard not far behind.

"This is too easy." He said as they proceeded down the hall. Two more turns and another locked door are all that stand between them and their cover story. Unfortunately for them, no-one had foreseen the security team waiting just outside the server room.

"Freeze!" one of the guards yelled, shining a small spotlight on Dervish and Shepard.

"Shit." Shepard growled as he and Dervish raised their hands. The whole mission just got compromised.

"This is Dat-Guard Five. We have two non-colonial humanoids in the data-facility." the spotlight guard said over his comm. A brief flare of static sounded over his comm unit before his unexpected response.

"Bring them to Cutter for questioning." the voice said over the comm, some static bleeding into his voice.

Shepard cast a look at Dervish in a questioning manner. Dervish replied with a "too low" gesture, referring to the EMP, which had failed to fully disable the colony's systems.

The two were swiftly cuffed and escorted to an old Pelican Drop-Ship, and from there they were delivered to the Spirit of Fire to meet with someone by the name of Cutter.

UNSC Spirit of Fire, Combus Prime Orbit, 2187

Captain Cutter eyed the two humans suspiciously, wondering how and why they breached his colony. The two looked back at him with blank, expressionless faces. He knew they wouldn't talk, but he tried anyway.

"One going in." he called over the intercom, signalling the guard to unlock the door to the detainment room. Cutter sighed as he entered the room, still confused as to how these two managed to get into the system undetected. The taller one, who wore strange looking red and black armor, avoided all eye-contact, a technique typical of men who had nothing to say. The other, a similarly tall man with even stranger almost-invisible armor, sat quietly and awaiting the endless barrage of questions.

"Boys, I'm going to get straight to the point," Cutter said, laying a small data-pad on the table in front of him. "I'm Captain James Cutter, and I want to know what the hell you're doing in my system!"

Shepard and Dervish both jumped when they heard the man's name. Shepard spoke first.

"Captain James Gregory Cutter? Captain of the UNSC Spirit of Fire and CO of the Colombus Expedition?" he asked, a look of shock and awe on his face. Dervish just sat, slack-jawed with amazement.

Now Cutter was really confused. The two men looked at him as though he were a ghost. He blinked hard before giving them an answer.

"Yes. Captain James Gregory Cutter, born August 28, 2123. Why do you ask?" he says, hoping that he can get one good answer out of these men.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander John Shepard, Human Systems Alliance Marines and Officer of Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance," Shepard replies, causing Cutter to raise an eyebrow. "My crew and I were sent here to recover your ship. A lot has changed, Captain Cutter."

Cutter sinks into a chair in the room, confusion tearing at his brain. "Well, Commander, you found us." Cutter says with a brief spell of laughter. "You found us."\

AN: Hi readers! hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Let me know if you like the Meanwhile on Earth segments in the reviews. More to come later, I promise!