A/N: I'M BACK EVERYONE! I FINALLY GOT THIS CHAPTER FINISHED! I'M SO SO SORRY FOR KEEPING YOU ALL WAITING. I'VE BEEN PUTTING THIS OFF FOR TO LONG. I apologize once again. In this chapter I've included the first appearance of a couple of future characters that will play a large role in this story. I shall spill nothing else. You'll just have to read and find out. So here is the new chapter, I hope you all like it.

I don't own Halo, Mass Effect, or any other franchise.

May 30, 2650/2157

Serpent Nebula

Widow System

The Citadel

Turian Councilor's Private Quarters

Sparatus was currently in his private quarters on the Citadel. This was where he usually did all of his work, which included singing documents or talking to officials and diplomats when the Council was not in session. He was trying to get some work done as if it was a normal day. But no matter how hard he tried to get absorbed into this work his mind kept wandering back to Gothis. The Citadel Fleet should have gotten their by now. He was confident he would hear good news soon.

Suddenly a red light started blinking rapidly on his computer screen. Clicking on the flashing light Sparatus saw that it was an emergency message. Sparatus was slightly dreading what the message contained. Before the Citadel Fleet had left Gothis Sparatus had given General Aulus a special transmition comm device. When activated, the device would alert the Turian Councilor should anything happen during the fleet's mission. The message definitely did not contain good news. It was from General Aulus, the mission to retake Gothis had failed.

Sparatus felt shocked, angry and a hole other set of emotions. How could the Citadel Fleet, the mightiest fleet in the known Galaxy have failed to retake Gothis? This enemy must be greater than he or anyone else realized. It would not be long before his fellow Councilors discovered this for themselves.

Looking down on his desk Sparatus' eyes landed upon a data disk. The data inside the disk contained a newly compromised contingency plan. One of his agents had sent it to him saying that it had been intercepted from a Salarian STG scout team. The Salarian's had found a Mass Relay that lead into the enemy's space, if the data they collected was accurate. After eliminating the STG team the agent sent the data directly to Sparatus.

Sparatus checked out the agent that had sent him the data and everything came back fine. The codes were correct as well as the agents identification number. The data did indeed lean towards the Relay leading into the enemy's territory. Sparatus was hopeful that a relatively small fleet could be sent through unnoticed, find an enemy colony and take them by surprise. This would involve activating the dormant Mass Relay, which was breaking the Citadel Conventions, but Sparatus thought that desperate times called for desperate measures. Hopefully if the Hierarchy was able to capture one of the alien's colonies they could force them to surrender and give back Gothis.

His mind made up Sparatus pressed a button on his holo-screen and sent the mission orders to his picked out fleet. In the back of his mind he was still holding out hope that the report was somehow wrong.

Unknown location

Turian 705th Exploration Fleet

General Claudius was the head commanding officer of the 705th Exploration Fleet. The Fleet consisted of 20 Frigates, 19 Cruisers, and 1 Dreadnought. He was currently standing on the bridge of his personal Cruiser the Undying Duty waiting for orders. The fleet was currently in the middle of nowhere holding position next to an inactive Mass Relay. If their information was correct the Relay led into the hostile alien's territory.

Claudius's family, like many Turian's in high positions, came from a long line of military service. His father was a lord who expected great things from him. Hopefully he could continue to live up to the family name through this next mission. Claudius had been handpicked by the Turian Councilor himself. This mission could end a war or erupt it past the point of no return.

He was brought out of his thoughts when his helmsmen informed his that the Turian Councilor had granted him permission to proceed with the mission.

Claudius sighed as he took a deep breath. He had his orders and he would see them through, he then activated the fleet wide comm channels. "This is General Claudius to all fleet personal. Our mission is a go, I repeat, the mission is a go. Send the Relay activation codes and let's find us an alien planet."

Outside the previous inactive Mass relay began to glow, signifying that it was activating. Once the element zero in the Relay was fully glowing blue the fleet headed towards and went through the now active Mass Relay.

OSA Space

UNSC Colony Borealis

The colony Borealis was located deep in the Outer Rim Territories. It was one of three colonies, including Shanxi, that were located just on the border of OSA Space and the verge of Wild Space. The planet was named after the natural electromagnetic storms that plagued the planet from time to time and created colorful lights in the sky. Most of the planet was covered in low grasslands, along with a few mountain ranges and two oceans.

Borealis was a relatively new colony with a population of 100,000. Most people lived in the colony's only city Aurora. A total of about a few thousand lived in small villages that totted the entire planet. Not much had been invested into the colony yet, due to its electromagnetic storms, which would cut off communication and disrupted most instruments. Any ship hoping to enter the planet's atmosphere during a storm needed to be equipped with a disruptor box, allowing the ship to land on the colony unharmed.

A large colony typically had a large defense force. So Borealis being a small colony only had a small defense force. There was no fleet or Orbital Defense Platforms in orbit. The Marine Garrison totaled at one Regiment (3,200). The Regiment was mostly made up of Colonial Militia. A few small armor divisions made up of "Warthogs" and "Scorpion Tanks" were also located on the colony.

Nothing out of the ordinary ever really happened on Borealis. Until now that is.

Turian 705th Exploration Fleet

100,000 kilometers from Borealis

The Turian Fleet exited the Relay in a small blue flash. General Claudius immediately gave the well-practiced order to scan the system they arrived in. If their data was correct they were now in enemy territory.

The navigator spoke up. "Sir, scan dictate that we are in a small four planet system. Two gas giants and two solid planetoids. The first is too close to the system's sun to be habitable, but the other one is in the habitation zone. In fact, I'm detecting lots of radio signals coming from the planet. I think it's a colony, sir."

Claudius smiled; he had already found a colony to attack. If they were lucky it would be in his talons within a week. "Tell all ships to enter attack formation and jump to FLT."

Borealis Orbit

Once the fleet exited FTL over Borealis Claudius got a good look at the planet he was about to attack. Most of the planet was covered in green and was mostly comprised of grassland as far as he could see. That would pose a problem as there would be little to no cover for his men. He would never say it out loud but he thought that the blue of the two oceans gave the planet a very pretty and pleasant look. Lights that could only come from a city were shining like stars, most likely meaning that the side of the planet with the colony's main city was experiencing its night cycle.

This made Claudius smile. This would make his invasion even easier if his shuttles and ground transports were hidden in the dark.

"Helmsman, sound a message throughout the fleet. All soldiers are to report to their shuttles and prepare for immediate departure. "

"Yes sir. General I'm detecting an electrical storm equivalent to lightning coming from the night side of the planet. The shuttles will be in danger of being struck if they fly into it, sir."

"Then just have the shuttles fly around it. Spirits, a rookie trainee could have…"

What a rookie trainee could have told him Claudius never got to say as red lights flashed on and alarms started to ring throughout the ship.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE SPIRITS IS GOING ON," Claudius shouted.

The sensors officer was the one who replied. "Sir, alarms are sounding off through the entire fleet. Some kind of storm appeared out of nowhere. We're caught right in the middle of it."

It was true. One of the very electromagnetic storms that Borealis was famous for had crept up without warning. This was the worst thing that could have happened to the Turian Fleet, as they were in the very heart of the storm.

All around Claudius sparks were flying as numerous instruments failed or shutdown. He could only assume that the same thing was happening to every ship in his fleet.

The helmsman shouted over the increasing level of panic, "Sir, we're trapped in a major electromagnetic storm. All of our systems are failing. I can't keep the ship steady. We're going to crash onto the planet."

No sooner had the helmsman stopped than the ship started to lose altitude. Slowly at first but quickly gaining speed as they entered the atmosphere.

The last thing Claudius saw was the bright red and orange fire outside the ship as they passed through the atmosphere. Another increase in the ships ever accelerating fall threw him hard into an inactive computer screen. The screen broke and Claudius's world went black.

Borealis Groundside

A big thunderstorm was currently taking place planetside. Flashes of thunder and lightning surged through the black sky as rain continued to fall heavily. These were the conditions a squad of UNSC Marines unfortunately found themselves in.

Second Lieutenant's Owen Wells and Jasmine O'Conner along with Lieutenant-Commander Franklin Booms had "drawn the short straw" and were chosen by Command to patrol the ocean line fifty kilometers Southeast of Aurora. While they were nice and dry in their Warthog, given the choice none of them would be out here in this kind of weather.

"Why are they having us patrol all the way out here anyway? No one in their right minds would be out in this weather," complained Jasmine.

"Stow the belly aching princess. Remember, you're a Marine. We've got a job to do and we will do it without complaints, understood," said Franklin.

"Yes Lieutenant-Commander," Jasmine answered.

"Sir, Command just sent word that another electrical storm is erupting. It's going to get difficult to keep up comms with HQ real soon. Should we turn back," reported Second Lieutenant Owen Wells.

Franklin nodded. "Yes Lieutenant, let's get back to base. This rain storm is really getting worse anyway."

Just as they started to turnaround and head back, Jasmine looked out her window and saw something in the sky that wasn't rain or lighting. It was a small red dot of light in a sea of black. The red slowly got bigger and was soon joined by more red dots. By the time there were forty red dots the others in the Warthog had noticed.

The red dots in the skies were ships breaking through the planet's atmosphere. As more lightning flashed across the sky the small Marine squad could finally she the outlines of the falling ships. They were quite small by UNSC standards. The smallest measuring at 200 meters, the largest measuring at 1 kilometer, and they were all shaped like predatory birds. The only difference in their design was their size.

There was a large beach overlooked by the cliff the Marine squad was on. Judging by the trajectory of their fall, the unknown ships would crash on or near the beach. Some of the other ships would either land in the ocean or against the giant rocks of the shoreline.

Deciding not to take any chances with their safety Lieutenant-Commander Franklin ordered Second Lieutenant Wells to back the Warthog up as fast as he could. He needn't have bothered as when the bird-like ships crash landed none hit the cliff the Warthog was stationed on. Most of the small 200 meter ships had landed on the beach line; meaning they landed on the wet sand were the sand met the water. A few of the larger 500-700 meter long ships had landed on the beach line as well. But most of them had crashed into the rocky cliffs and had settled into the water. Half were halfway under water; others had crashed into each other and landed in torn apart junk piles, also in the water. The largest ship fared the best and the worst of all. It had crashed head first into the cliff side above the beach, going halfway through the wall of earth until the back of the ship started to splinter and broke apart so you could see the inside of the ship. With a loud booming crash the damaged vessel crashed right onto the sand below were one of its "wings" broke off.

Despite the state it was in most of the alien ships were surprisingly well intact. Some would most likely sink further into the water until they disappeared forever. It was impossible to tell if any crews had survived just yet. But it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

The Warthog having witnessed and survived the event returned the top of the cliff and the squad inside got out to look upon the crash landed alien ships themselves. Lieutenant-Commander Franklin finished looking at the downed ships and turned to Second Lieutenant Wells, yelling so he could be heard over the roaring storm, "Get on the horn and inform command that we alien ships have crash landed on our shores."

Wells hurried and activated the Warthog's radio. He was mostly getting static as he switched through channels trying to reach command. The storm was getting worse.

"This is Second Lieutenant Owen Well to Command. We have spotted unidentified alien ships crash landed on the beach head 200 meters from our position. I repeat, there are unidentified alien ships on Borealis."

Finally they got a signal and response through all the static. But it was patchy with pieces missing. The storm was really messing with their communications.

"Second *** Well's, ***Borealis Command. Confirm that*** alien shi*** sited."

"Confirmed Command, alien vessels have crash landed on Borealis."

"Head back ***. Debrief personally, Command***out."

The transmition cut out.

"You heard them, let's head back." Franklin said. The Warthog roared to life and speed away from the downed alien ships.

Borealis

Crashed Turian 705th Exploration Fleet

Flagship Indomitable Spirit

The world had been consumed by a sea of red and black darkness. Nothing else existed. Slowly the red and black sea started to part and sound started to reenter the world. As General Claudius continued to regain consciousness he noticed three things. One, his ship had lost all power and the entire deck was bathed in the red emergency lights. Two, the bodies of his crew had been thrown and scattered everywhere, how many where alive or dead he didn't know. Three he was suffering from severe pain on his left side. A quick touch and feel inspection told him that he might have some broken ribs. He'd have to get them looked at later. Right now the crew came first.

Just barely managing to pull himself up he noticed how cold and wet it was. Looking up Claudius saw that there were large gashes missing from the hull letting large amounts of rain into the CIC. The water was ruining any equipment that might still be working. That was the immediate bad news. The good news is that most of the crew lying around the deck were starting to get up after being doused by the falling water.

"All who are not dead sound off." Claudius called out.

A series of moans and groans briefly filled the CIC.

"Alright, can we contact any other part of the ship?"

"No sir, powers off all over the ship, probably the whole fleet.

We might be able to reach them via Omni-tools, but the storm took them out as well. Coordinating with anyone outside this deck is going to be a long difficult process." One of the crewmen said.

Claudius just let out a sigh and buried his head in his hand.

Borealis

Aurora

UNSC HQ

There was a tense level of chaos in the building the housed the main base of UNSC operations on Borealis. Everyone was on edge over the possibility of hostile aliens on the colony. Borealis was only lightly defended with not enough soldiers to fight a full scale invasion.

Rear Admiral Yuki Maehara stood calm and proud in the middle of this organized chaos. She was of Japanese descendant and was born on Earth in Tokyo, Japan. Her hair was light blue, almost black, and she had a heart shaped face with purple eyes. One might have called her a real beauty.

Technically she wasn't really in charge of the garrison on Borealis. Rear Admirals usually lead fleets or did desk work. But she was here on an inspection when the storm hit and was now the highest ranking officer. She was currently waiting for Lieutenant-Commander Franklin and his group to return so she could debrief them in person. Although she didn't show it the possibility of an alien invasion scared her. She of course like the rest of the soldiers on Borealis had heard about what had happened at Shanxi and knew that they weren't equipped for a full scale invasion.

Yuki then felt something cold and hard tap her on her shoulder, trying to get her attention. Turning her head she saw that a large android retracting its hand. The android was about 6'2 was made of a shiny silver metal had had glowing golden eyes. She relaxed recognizing the mobile platform for Robert the main A.I in charge of the base. Advancements in A.I technology now allowed A.I to either present themselves in life sized hard light projection or an android body. In appearance, the only way to really tell the difference between an A.I android body and that of a normal human is the glowing in the eyes. However an android could still look human without a synthetic skin tone, but then anyone would be able to tell it was an android.

"Rear Admiral Maehara, Lieutenant-Commander Franklin's Warthog just returned." Robert spoke in a slightly synthetic voice.

"Send him to the conference room. Have his team on standby. I'll debrief them myself."

Two hours later found Yuki at the communications relay. She had debriefed every member of Lieutenant-Commander Franklin's squad and each of their reports confirmed that an alien fleet had crash landed on the colony, likely with a sizeable force. They needed help. The huge electrical storm in orbit however was going to make that difficult. No ship could safely leave or land on the planet without a disruptor box. Getting a distress signal out would also be difficult. To compensate she had Robert transfer all non-essential power to the relay hub and broadcasted a signal into space hoping someone would hear her call.

Outer Rim Territories

Veragi Sector

Revyia

Revyia was a rather unmentionable garden world in the Outer Rim Territories. No colonies or establishments of any kind. Currently located in a clearing in the woods on the planet sat three hundred Mandalorians. However they weren't just any Mandalorians, they were one of the most dangerous clans you would ever meet, Clan Varde.

Who are they you ask? Clan Varde are a Clan that has been around since the Mandalorian Wars. They are among the most dangerous of the Clans. What made their Clan name so famous is that their first leader, a particularly nasty Crusader by the name Gorn Varde, was the first Mandalorian ever recorded to kill a Spartan during the Mandalorian War, which naturally earned him a fierce name. Gorn personally bagged the most Spartan kills than any other Mandalorian, totaling at fifteen Spartan-IV kills.

Though they are ruthless for some matters, their honorable, follow a code, and always keep their contract. They began to believe that Mandalore the Ultimate was no longer fighting for their people's best interest, after seeing what happen on Cathar. Gorn's second in command, a Kaleesh named Hudo Varde, convinced many of Clan Varde to support Canderous when he slew Mandalore the Ultimate and pledged their loyalty to him. Hudo also personally killed Cassus Fett himself for his actions in the war, and became Clan Varde's new leader. They have now become an elite commando group for the OSA and sometimes trainers for recruits in the OSA.

The most skilled and veteran members that led the clan numbered at three hundred. They were known as the Legion of 300, the most famous of all of Clan Varde's soldiers. These three hundred were known take on armies thirty times their size (that's 9,000) by themselves with no fear. Some even said that they were considered second only to Canderous's own private legion, The Metal Fist. It was the Legion of 300 that sat before Hudo Varde now. They were all enjoying some food after their successful mission. They had been sent to demolish a smuggling operation that had been coming from Revyia. Needless to say the mission had been a walk in the park.

Hudo Varde was a Mandalorian Kaleesh warrior of forty three years of age. Normally that would mean his life was a little more than half over since the average Kaleesh lifespan was eighty years. But thanks to modern medical advancements and Forerunner nanites doubling his lifespan that wasn't the case. He was of average height for his species but he didn't wear a bone mask. He wore blue and white armor of a Neo-Crusader. The rest of his men wore yellow and blue with a bit of orange thrown in. The Clan symbol of a snake found on Mandalore was displayed proudly on each of their right arms and on their chests.

Hudo Varde sighed and took a big bite of some beef jerky he was eating. Although he was somewhat happy that there hadn't been any action that had put his fellow brothers and sisters in any real danger lately; he was starting to get bored. He wished something new would happen. As if some deity was listening, his communicator rang at that exact moment. Holding the disc like device in his hand a blue hologram of his comms officer appeared.

"Colonel, sir, we're receiving a distress transmition from Real Admiral Yuki Maehara on Borealis. Apparently our UNSC boys are in trouble. There's some kind of invasion going on and their undermanned. She's calling for any and all assistance."

That certainly got Hudo's attention. "Patch me through to her."

"Yes sir, I must warn you that the message might not get through. Borealis is experiencing a large electrical storm. "

Hudo waited for a few moments before a new image appeared. An image of a female human of clear Japanese decent if he remembered correctly.

"Colonel Hudo, of Clan Varde. This is Rear Admiral Yuki Maehara. The storm above Borealis is getting worse and I'm having trouble maintaining this connection, so I'll get right down to it. Only about two hours ago a fleet of forty alien ships appeared over the colony. Luckily they were caught in the storm and crash landed onto a beach or into the ocean about fifty kilometers from Aurora. That puts them at about half-a-day to a day's march from the capital. We're estimating their force to be about ten thousand strong. I only have a single Regiment totaling at 3,200. We need help, can your clan give any Colonel Hudo."

Admiral, I pledge to you all the support I can muster. If we leave within the hour we should be able to reach Borealis in two days' time through hyperspace."

"We'll do our best to hold them off until then. Godspeed Colonel Hudo."

The transmition then cut off, and the comms officer reappeared.

"Vlad, get the ship ready for immediate departure. I want us to able to leave within the hour."

"Yes, sir," the comms officer replied, and then cut the transmition.

Hudo turned back to address his men. "Brothers and sisters of Clan Varde. My loyal comrades of the Legion of 300. We have a new job. It appears that some new aliens have landed an army on the UNSC colony of Borealis, and are about to give them some trouble. There best hope is us. I'm going, no doubt about it. So I ask you now my fellow commandos. Will you fight with me? Will you pick up your swords, shields, and guns and charge once more into the heat of battle with me?!"

All three hundred commandos shouted out "YES, SIR!"

"Then come with me. And we will teach these aliens not only to fear us, but to fear the very battle cry of MANDALORE ITSELF, AS WE SEND THEM RUNNING AND SCREAMING BACK INTO THE WOMBS OF THEIR SORRY MOTHERS!"

May 31, 2650/2157

Borealis

Invasion - Day 1

General Claudius was not in a good situation. The storm that his fleet had gotten caught in had completely fried all his ships. By a stroke of luck the whole fleet had landed in the same area, a huge beachhead that stretched for about 2.2 miles. Most of the Cruisers had landed along the edge where the sand met the water, or where half submerged. All of the Frigates had crashed on top of the Cruisers, causing mild levels of damage. As for his Dreadnought, it had crashed into shallow water and continued to skid onto the beach then crashed into the rocky cliff. There wasn't much in the sense of damage, but since Dreadnought's were impossible to operate in atmosphere it wouldn't be able to fly anyway, and half of it was underwater. It would take weeks or even months to get power restored to the remaining Cruisers and Frigates.

To make matters worse was that 5,000 of his 18,000 strong invasion force were dead; having died when their ships crashed, or drowned in the flooded water areas while unconscious. But that was a minor concern. The real concern was that most of his ships were experiencing flooding in their lower areas. Most of the flooding was reported in the storage decks. Crews were able to save as most of the tools, weapons, and armor. But were only able to save half of the food, the rest had been spoiled by sea water. So now they were low on food supplies.

Claudius couldn't retreat or call for help, he was stuck. That meant the mission had to continue as best as possible. As soon as a scout force was assembled they set out. Two hours later the scouts returned after trekking through a forest and up a big hill reporting having found a small village with what looked like local forces performing evacuations.

Claudius left with a force of twelve thousand within the hour; leaving the other one thousand to guard the ships. They tracked to the village finding it abandoned. As they entered the "ghost town" the Turians soon discovered that they weren't as alone as they thought. From two barns sprang two M808B Main Battle Tanks, more commonly known as the Scorpion, from half of the buildings bopped out Marines barring their rifles ready for a fight.

And a fight is what they got. Both sides exchanged fire while getting to whatever cover they could find. The village was divided in half, the UNSC on one side and the Turians on the other. The Turians rate of fire was greater than their human counterparts, this forced them to stay in cover or get killed when their shields overloaded from ridicules amount of fire. The Marines did their best to answer back in kind. Cannon blasts from the Scorpions claimed the lives of a dozen or more Turians each; with their machine guns sending rows more to their graves. The Turians attempted to fire missiles at the tanks but the buildings provided excellent cover, that and they got targeted by a Marine Marksmen instantly when they pocked their heads out to fire. But the Marines were vastly outnumbered. For every Turian they killed, twenty seemed to take its place.

Eventually the Turians started to overwhelm the Marines through sheer numbers and began to push them back. The Marines used the Scorpions as cover and to cover their retreat. The tanks titanium armor combined with its new built in shields made for perfect cover for the Marines. Machine gun and cannon fire from the Scorpions kept the Turians at bay for the most part. Not willing to press the attack on the deadly tanks Claudius let them retreat.

Yells of victory sounded from the Turian soldiers as they saw the last of the Marines disappear over the hill overlooking the village. Claudius gave orders to set up a base of operations but a new sight on the hill stopped him and filled him with a feeling of dread. The two Scorpion tanks had reached the top of hill and were holding their position. What caught Claudius's attention was that they were joined by three more. The now five Scorpions were then joined by two SP42 Main Battle Tanks, or Cobras, and one M12 LRV Warthog on the left and right flanks, accompanied by one M12G1 Gauss Warthog each. They were all lined up and had a perfect line of fire on the village and the Turians clustered inside. "It's a kill zone". Claudius thought to himself.

His insight proved true as each vehicle rained down death upon the Turian forces. 90mm tungsten shells, 25x130mm slugs, 12.7x99mm armor penetrating rounds, and 105mm High Explosive Shells blew Turian soldiers into purple paste by the dozens every 5-15 seconds. Most of the buildings that made up the village were reduced to burning rubble, along with any Turians hiding inside. After about 100-200 of his soldiers were dead and a shot from a Gauss Hog hit near his position, Claudius ordered a full retreat.

As the Turians turned tail and ran the Warthogs gave chase on their flanks. The Turians continued to run as orderly and organized as possible. Even as entire squads and platoons perished and fell under the barrage from the LRV and Gauss Hogs. They continued the pursuit for ten minutes only retreating when the Hogs got swarmed by missiles.

June 1, 2650/2157

Borealis

Invasion - Day 2

Once the sun had risen and the troops had eaten Claudius set to work making a new plan. He received a radioed message on his Omni-tool; he was surprised as it wasn't supposed to be working. It was from the technicians back at the ships. Apparently they had managed to get the Omni-tools working again. That meant that communication via Omni-tools had been restored. No such luck getting the ships themselves back online and the electrical storm showed no signs of letting up. In fact, it was stronger than ever.

A lookout came to Claudius telling him that the enemy had been spotted a few miles out. They numbered at about 200-500 men with possible armor and air support. A hundred men were sent to meet them head on while another hundred were sent to flank them. If his soldiers didn't beat the enemy they would at least delay them. The Turian army headed southeast towards the capital along the coastal cliff side. Claudius could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions even in the distance.

An hour later saw the last of the two hundred Turians fall to his brothers and sister soldiers in death. As the body hit the ground the air was filled with the smell of blood, gunpowder, and death. Despite being outnumbered and facing armor vehicles with no armor or anti-armor support, the Turians had put up a tough fight. The UNSC's armor support came in the form of two Cobras that had managed to drive their way through the narrow paths between the trees of the forest. When they were engaged by the first hundred Turians the Cobra's M66 30mm guns easily tore through the logs and trees they had tried to hide behind, causing them to fall as if they had been cut down by lumbers.

Things were looking good for the humans until the other hundred Turians that had flanked them on their left side and from behind. The surprise of their attack plus the Turians rapid firing weapons ended with about twenty to thirty five marines being cut down, pumped full of bullet holes. There was little to no room for the Cobra's to maneuver, but the weapons platform that made up the vehicles top half rotated ninety degrees and got a clear shot. As the Cobra's powerful cannons once again open fired the Turians fired a volley of missiles, two for each Cobra. One of the Cobra's shields broke from the first missile, its shields having been weakened from the first assault, and was struck by the second. The same Cobra was swiftly struck by two more missiles and went up in flames taking ten marines with it. That was the last same victory for this band of Turians as the marines opened up on them with everything they had, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, DMR's, Rocket Launchers, Grenades, and the last Cobra. When the smoke cleared every Turian was dead or dying.

Meanwhile, Claudius and his army of eleven thousand had been marching for the past two hours down the coast, with the cliffs and mountains to their right and a fifty foot or so drop into the ocean on their left. So far they hadn't met any kind of resistance. So the distraction/delay team must have done its job. Claudius felt a little guilty knowing he had sent those men to basically die to buy the rest of them time. But like any leader he put it out of his mind and focused on the mission.

Except for the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs everything was silent. Then he could hear this soft whirling sound in the air. The sound got louder and louder until two flying vehicles appeared right above their heads from over the cliff. They looked like some sort of miniature helicopters with turbofan engines mounted on gimbals at the ends. What he was seeing was a UNSC AV-14 Attack VTOL, also known as the Hornet. Hornets have mostly been replaced in their role as gunships within the UNSC by the AV-22 Sparrowhawk. Now they were either used in planetary police forces or military reconnaissance. There were even some civilian models used for private owner ship or luxury tours.

Having spotted the Turian army the Hornets immediately open fired with their twin GUA-23/ Heavy Autocannons. The heavy machine gun rounds absolutely shredded and tore apart any unfortunate Turian in their path. The Hornets attack was answered with missile fire. As the missiles got closer the Hornets swerved and dived out of their path. It turned out that the missiles had a limited seeking function. When they got within a six meters of the Hornets they changed direction to follow the Hornets. The pilots were able to avoid most of the missiles; those they couldn't were destroyed by the choppers anti-missile chaff pods. Then the Hornets fired their own missiles at the helpless Turians. At least they seemed helpless until four glowing blue domes, which looked similar to a UNSC Drop Shield, appeared in the missiles path. The missiles struck the blue domes and did no visible damage; they even withstood fire from the autocannons.

If the Hornet pilots could have seen the Turian biotics holding up the shields they would have seen them sweating and panting from the effort and continued their assault until they broke. But they didn't, and they didn't have the time to continue their assault as they were once again set upon by missiles. The Hornets once again managed to destroy and outmaneuver the missiles and shot at the Turians with their guns. About two dozen Turians total were killed but more of the blue barriers appeared providing protection. Suddenly the pilot of Hornet-1 radioed Hornet-2 and said he had an idea.

What happened was that both hornets fired all their missiles on the cliff above the Turians. The result was absolute massacre and chaos. All along the cliffside rockslides occurred with large amounts of rocks falling down on the Turians. Some were crushed and buried, others were hit and fell off the cliffside into the ocean below and either died from crashing against the rocks or drowned. And some of them were the ones creating the blue shields.

Hornet-1's idea had worked. But there was no time to celebrate or take aim with the autocannons as Hornet-2 was finally hit by a missile that had just been fired. Hornets were only equipped with light armor so Hornet-2 went up in a fireball as the remains of the vehicle fell into the sea. Seeing its partner 'bit the dust' Hornet-1 decided to 'get out of Dodge' and return to base.

Claudius had somehow survived both the initial attack and the rockslides. He and the survivors spent the rest of the day clearing rocks off the path and searching for survivors.

June 2, 2650/2157

Borealis

Invasion - Day 3

Rear Admiral Yuki Maehara got up from bed two hours before sunrise. She took a shower before getting dressed and going to the mess hall for a quick bite. On her way to the CIC she reviewed the last two days in her head. The marines had managed to hold off and push back the aliens on the first day and had managed to halt their advance on the second. All and all things were going well.

Then her mind turned to darker thoughts. So far this invasion had cost her the lives of three hundred marines, a SP42 Cobra, and an AV-14 Hornet. If she had to guess she would say that the enemy had lost about one to two thousand troops. But the hard truth was that her enemy could afford and sustain losses more than she could. Especially if the numbers she saw through the Hornet's camera were accurate. By now the enemy will have dug their path clear and continue on their way towards the capital. When that happened she was not sure her forces could holdout.

As she entered the CIC on of her lieutenant's came up to her with a report.

"Admiral, we received a weak signal entering the system five minutes ago."

This caused Yuki to look down at the lieutenant's face with a surprised and somewhat hopeful look.

"A ship?" She asked.

"We think so ma'am. Its signature and power readings definitely match those of a ship. We just can't tell which kind due to the storms interference.

"Can we contact them?"

"We could try but our signal might prove to be too weak. If they have a disruptor box they'll be able to pass through the storm and we'll be able to send a clear message once they've cleared the atmosphere."

"Get the projector warmed up and prepare to send a COMM line. If they crash calculate their point of impact and send some birds to search for survivors."

As her orders were carried out Yuki hoped that this ship was here to help them and not the enemy.

Borealis Orbit

Mandalorian Dagger-class Star Destroyer

Bridge

The Dagger-class Star Destroyer is a Mandalorian warship based on the design of the Venator-class Star Destroyer used by the Twi'leks Navy. For the most part it looked very similarly to the Venator only more dagger like, arguably had more firepower against capital ships, and it had no bridge tower like other star destroyers. The Dagger-class was known for being just as fast if not faster than the Inexpugnable-class tactical command ship. This particular ship was known as the Commandos Pride. It was the personal flagship of Hudo Varde of Clan Varde.

On the bride of the star destroyer Hudo sat in his command chair overlooking all his crewmen going about their jobs. They had been traveling through hyperspace with all available speed for the past two days. Now they had finally dropped back into realspace. He just hoped that the UNSC had held out long enough.

"Colonel Hudo, sir, the ship has come out of lightspeed and we are now nearing the Borealis system."

"Have we received any transmitions from the UNSC?" Hudo asked.

"No, sir, but that could be due to the storm. As you can see it's still going strong."

Hudo looked out of the bridge's window and he could clearly see the large electrical storm that seemed to block out the planets sky.

"Is our disruptor box prepared?" Hudo asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Activate the disruptor box lieutenant. Helmsman, increase power output to 110%. And increase our speed by 12%. Let's get inside that planet."

Borealis

UNSC HQ

Admiral Yuki waited and watched. Her eyes never leaving the radar screen board in front of her. The 'ship' they had detected was on the board represented by a blue blip. She watched as it moved closer and closer to the planet until it entered the storm. There were a few brief seconds were she and everyone else held their breath, then breathed out elated when the ship just passed through atmosphere unhindered. She was about to order one of the comm officers to open a channel when they informed her that they were receiving a message from the ship. She stood in front of the holo projector and was happy to see Hudo Varde's image appeared.

"Admiral Maehara, it's good to see your still around. I trust your still in need of our services?"

"Colonel Hudo, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you. My marines have managed to stall the enemy, but there are still plenty of them left and their getting pretty close to the capital. Any help you can offer will be much appreciated."

"We'll be landing just outside the city. Met us there and we'll discuss how to proceed. Hudo, out."

As the line cut out Yuki couldn't help but be filled with new found hope. "With the Mandalorians on our side, there's almost no way we can lose this fight now." She thought.

She headed out of the CIC calling for someone to get her a Warthog.

Borealis

Aurora

City Outskirts

The sun was just beginning to rise as Admiral Yuki drove past one of the makeshift barricades that had been erected around the city. She was in a M12 LRV Warthog with an escort of two M12G1 Gauss Warthog's on each side. She felt that she didn't need the escort of the commander in charge of security was insistent.

There was a low rumble coming from the clouds and Yuki looked up to see a ship she recognized as a Dagger-class Star Destroyer descending as if from heaven. It landed not far from her convoy. The ships huge loading ramp lowered and out came three hundred Mandalorian Commandos marching in perfect formation. No matter how many times she may have seen in before, Yuki couldn't help but be awed by the sight of the Mandalorian soldiers. Their armor was made out of a special metal called beskar, a near-indestructible iron ore. This allowed them to take all kinds of punishment that would kill a normal soldier. While it looked heavy beskar was actually relatively light weight.

Most of them wore yellow and blue Neo-Crusader armor, there was a little orange thrown in among some of them. Colonel Hudo was the only one wearing armor that was white and blue so she spotted him instantly. It also helped that he was out in front so he wasn't hard to spot. She got out of her Warthog and walked up to the Colonel followed by three marines. The rest had stayed with the Hog's.

Hugo removed his helmet as they approached so they could talk face to face. She hadn't met many Kaleesh in her time, but she knew Hugo was a Kaleesh. It was only through her military discipline that she didn't scrounge up her face when she saw him unmasked in person. He wasn't exactly pretty to look at by human standards.

"Colonel Hugo, it's a pleasure to meet you in person. Thank you for coming so quickly."

"The pleasure is all mine Admiral Maehara. Now I understand that time is of the essence. What's the situation?"

Yuki reached into a bag she had brought along and took out a camera droid. When the droid activated it projected a topography hologram of the capital city, the Turians current position, and the land around them. A yellow dot represented the capital city and a red dot represented the Turians.

"The enemy is camped out along the coastal path. Another path connects to that one that will take them straight to Aurora. There are two towns along that route as well. We've performed evacuations so they should be empty. We can post men in some of the buildings to set up ambushes. Maybe even try to lure some of them into the buildings to further thin them out. From there we can retreat and employ the same tactic. After that we can pull back and wait for them to arrive at the city. They'll have to cross about a half a miles worth of open field with virtually no cover. That will leave them wide open to machine gun fire and other defenses we can set up. That should cut them down to size. If they try to retreat your soldiers Colonel can surround them and cut them off."

Admiral Yuki's plan was pretty well thought out Hugo had to admit. But it was a plan that relied on no unforeseen problems occurring. If the enemy was allowed to get as far as having the capital city in its sights, that would become unlikely. He decided to make his mind known.

"Admiral, this plan of yours isn't too bad as far as plans go. But I fell that we'd be taking to many chances and put lives at risk needlessly. Besides, I believe I've come up with a better more favorable solution."

He pointed at a section of the map about three miles from the Turians current location. Two mountains pinned very close together lit up red on the map. The mountains were surrounded by woods, cliffs, and other smaller mountains.

"There is a narrow pass between these two mountains here. It's opening in only about a hundred meters wide or less. If I placed the Legion of 300 there and we can engage them in that narrow corridor their numbers will count for not. They'll have no room to maneuver and we can pick them off as we please."

Admiral Yuki did not look as convinced. She had heard the stories of the Legion of 300, but still. "Colonel, are you sure?" She asked.

"My men and I can do this, Admiral. Just as you should never underestimate a Spartan, never underestimate a Mandalorian." Hugo said.

Yuki knew that was a true. Actually, it was an established fundamental fact of the Universe.

Very well, Colonel. While you engage the enemy, we'll finish setting up defenses here. I'll have a force of marines sent with you that will be placed under your command. How soon can your men be ready to leave?

Hugo gave a serious smile. "Immediately."

June 4, 2650/2157

Borealis

Mountain Pass "The Gates"

Invasion - Day 4

Noon

Clan Varde had spent the whole day traveling to the mountain pass on Borealis known as "The Gates" and building a wall in the middle of the pass. For it was in the middle were they planned to funnel the Turians. Building the wall out of rock and makeshift metal in one day had been possible with the help of the nine hundred marines Admiral Yuki had given him to command. They worked all night and through a rain storm, by noon the next day they were ready for battle.

Hugo and the Legion of 300 were positioned at the mouth of "The Gates". The name was an abbreviation of the famous Greek pass Thermopylae, which means "Hot Gates". This particular pass was named after Thermopylae because it resembled how it looked in 480 B.C., right down to the last detail. Even the defense wall that was now built in the middle of the pass.

Three UNSC marine squads had been placed at the front of the pass. Hugo's reasoning was that if the Turians saw the Mandalorians first they would not recognize them and be hesitant to attack. The plan was that when the Turians showed up the Marines would run back into the pass behind the wall and take up a rear guard with the rest of the marines. Hopefully the Turians would think they were retreating to give warning of their coming. When the Turians gave chase the Mandoes would be waiting to engage them from behind the wall and block their advance.

This would rely on a style Hugo had adapted from the Ancient Greeks of Earth, the phalanx formation. This would create an overlapping shield wall that would hold the Turians in their tracks once they slammed against it. The shields would be placed in two rows. With the first row tacking the brunt of the push and the second row provided support by pushing back with the first row. Once the Turian advance was stopped Hugo would give the order to counter attack.

For the past few minutes Hugo could hear the Turians getting closer and closer. For his plan to work it would require careful timing on his part and good acting on the marine's part. He turned to his captain and best friend, a fellow Kaleesh named Avraam.

"Is there any way for them to flank us?"

"None, sir. I've checked and double checked myself. Used every method I know. There are no paths that lead behind us except for the one they travel. If they want to get behind us they'll have to go through us." Avraam said.

Hugo was relieved to hear that. "That's one thing off my mind. I noticed you brought your son. Isn't he a new recruit?"

Avraam smiled in pride thinking of his son, Avraham. "Yes, he is. Fresh out of the trials. He is a prodigy."

"But he is young. I don't think he's even ever felt a woman's warmth. What if he falls?" Hugo asked in slight concern. Avraham was only eighteen.

"I have many others that can replace him. Avraham is as brave and as ready as any. No younger than we were the first time we stood next to each other, side by side in battle." Avraam replied.

Hugo smiled remembering old days long gone. "You are a good friend… but a better captain, there is none."

Turning back to face the path Hugo took out his electrobinoculars. Using the zoom in function he could clearly make out the enemy. The looked bird like similar to the Kig-Yar, but they had much more visible muscle, were taller, and had mandibles that almost reminded him of a Sangheili. From the looks of their armor he was guessing that they had their light infantry in front. A standard military move. Still looking straight ahead he addressed the men, who he knew would be hanging on his every word.

"Get ready men. This is where we hold them. This is where we fight! This is where they die!"

The men gave a cheer. "OOARH! OOARH! OOARH!" In the front with Hugo there were fifty seven other Kaleesh lined in two rows. Each one wielding a shoni spear and a shield made of beskar. They also were armed with a Lig sword or a beskad (a Mandalorian shortsword made of beskar).

Avraam yelled out. "Time to earn these shields boys! For Clan Varde! For Mandalore!"

The legion responded with a roar of "For Mandalore!"

Hugo gave one final statement. "Give them nothing… but take from them everything!

Just then the marines at the foot of the pass came running. One of them simply said as she passed, "Their here."

Hugo smiled in anticipation. "Mandoes cloak."

Turian Army

"Claudius's POV"

"3 minutes ago"

Claudius was miserable and angry. He had been miserable and angry since crash landing on this planet. His efforts to carry out his mission had been increasingly delayed at every possible turn. After the fight with those two miniature helicopters he and his men had spent the rest of the day clearing the path and digging through the piles of rocks looking for survivors. They only found a few. Then during the next day it rained and rained on end making the path unsafe to travel on foot. Not willing to risk staring or falling to their death in a mudslide the army was forced to stay put.

At least today it was sunny with no signs of rain. So they continued on their march. The morale of his men was starting to get low. It got even worse when Claudius received a report from the engineers back at the ships that they weren't really making any progress. The rainstorm hadn't helped matters and a lot of ships were experiencing increased flooding.

"Spirits, please let this mission be over soon." Claudius prayed silently.

Almost as if the spirits were listening a soldier who Claudius could see was female and held the rank of private ran up to him holding a pair of binoculars. She quickly saluted and then addressed him.

"General, Private Fabia. We've spotted a small enemy force just a hundred and fifty yards ahead."

Claudius grabbed the binoculars and looked in the direction Private Fabia pointed at. He could see about three squads worth of enemy soldiers just ahead. "Most likely scouts," he thought. He then saw that they had finally seen his forces and they turned tailed and ran through what looked like a mountain pass.

"Private, tell the entire forward guard to advance forward and catch those scouts. Tell them to catch them at all costs. We can't let the enemy known our whereabouts and prepare for us."

"Yes, sir." Private Fabi said.

As the order was received the entire forward guard totaling at about three thousand Turians ran into a full sprint after their targets. Fully unaware that they were running straight into a trap.

Battle Start

-Play: You're Going Down by Sick Puppies

As they heard the Turians get closer and closer Hugo and the rest of his Kaleesh forces jumped over the wall, still cloaked, and got into the phalanx formation. As the Turians ran until the narrow pass the Mandoes held their ground. Once the enemy was almost right on top of them Hugo shouted out, "NOW", all the Mandalorians de-clocked and appeared right in front of the unsuspecting Turians. The first wave smashed against the shields of the phalanx and fell to the ground having not been prepared for the sudden impact. Those that fell were trampled and got tripped over.

The Varde were quick to take advantage of the Turians momentary disorganization and Hugo and his front line thrust their spears into their off-guard foes striking them dead. This was repeated twice more as Clan Varde advanced in the phalanx formation, thrusting their spears into the Turians with strong thrusts striking them dead. Some were even impaled by multiple spears. The Turians tried to gather themselves but had nowhere to turn in the narrow pass.

Taking another strong thrust of his spear and sending yet another life to its end Hugo smiled, overcome with the sound and feeling of battle. Shots bounced off their beskar shields as the Turians started to right themselves slowly. A shotgun Carnage shot was fired at Avraam, but he just blocked it with his shield and then thrust his spear into the Turian ending his life. "Is that the best you can do?" Avraam shouted.

Never before had the soldiers of the Hierarchy faced foes such as these. They just seemed to soak up everything thrown at them. And they had thrown enough to put down a Krogan Battlemaster, maybe even two. The bullets that did get past their seemingly indestructible shields just bounced off their armor.

The shield barring Kaleesh Mandalorians of Clan Varde stood shoulder to shoulder. Taking strength from the man next to them. Letting nothing break their formation. With every thrust of their spears more and more Turians fell. After every thrust the Mandoes retreated behind their shields and continued to step forward. Their feet stepping over the dead Turians and continued pushing against the hoard. Inch by inch the Turians gave up ground until they were being forced out of the pass. The beskar shields continuing to protect there wielders from any gunshots. The front line wasn't even tiring or faulting in the slightest, and those behind the shield line thrust their spears into the bodies of any Turian lying on the ground bleeding, but still breathing. Granting them a merciful death and releasing them from their pain.

Finally the Turians had been pushed back to the mouth of the pass. From here the battle would soon move into the more open coastal ridge path. With another thrust of his spear claiming another life Hugo shouted, "No MERCY! BREAK!" And with that he leapt out of the shield wall and used his shield to bash a couple of Turians out of his way and knocked them to the ground.

The phalanx formation broke and the whole legion ran into the fray with Hugo leading the charge. Hugo bent down low and used his shield in his left hand to knock a Turian over his shoulder, brought it up again to deflect a shot to his side and thrust his shield right through the gut of a Turian in front of him. Pulling his spear out he blocked a downward knife strike with his shield and plunged his spear clean through a Turains chest armor and out his back. Every Turian that he knocked behind them was killed with a sword or spear strike from one of his men. They all did this, killing one and knocking another down or behind them, knowing and trusting the man or woman behind them to finish the Turian off.

The phalanx formation broke and the whole legion ran into the fray with Hugo leading the charge. Hugo bent down low and used his shield in his left hand to knock a Turian over his shoulder, brought it up again to deflect a shot to his side and thrust his shield right through the gut of a Turian in front of him. Pulling his spear out he blocked a downward knife strike with his shield and plunged his spear clean through a Turains chest armor and out his back. Every Turian that he knocked behind himself was killed with a sword or spear strike from one of his men. They all did this, killing one and knocking another down or behind them, knowing and trusting the man or woman behind them to finish the Turian off. The Kaleesh weren't the only ones seeing action anymore either, as the Mandoes not flashing spears or wielding swords fired over the heads of their comrades. The laser bolts from their rifles, pistols, and Light Repeating Blasters totally ignored the Turians Kinetic Barriers and cut down any that got to close to an unsuspecting comrade.

Hugo was unstoppable; the Turians could not seem to harm him. Any that tried died. Once more he used his shield to knock aside opposing soldiers and then thrust his spear into the next Turian in front of him. In a surprise move Hugo changed his grip on his spear, got into a throwing position, and with all the muscle in his arm threw his spear into a Turian ten meters away taking his life. The Turian had been aiming a rocket at him and was just about to fire when she was killed. Her body swerved to her right and in a sudden after death reaction her finger pressed down on the trigger and fired. The missile killed three Turains and injured three others.

Just because he had thrown away his spear didn't mean Hugo was finished or defenseless. He drew his Lig sword and proved to be just as deadly, in not more so. A Turian ran at him trying to blind sight him, but Hugo ducked and lifted the Turian onto his shield and threw him other his back. Not looking back to see his opponent's fate Hugo closed the distance to his next target, whom started to fire on him with a rifle. Blocking the rifle fire with his shield Hugo slashed down upon the Turians neck without breaking his stride. Then brought the blade around with a backhand slash right across right across the jugular of a Turian on his right.

A Turian attempted to bash Hugo with his shotgun, but Hugo hit the gun with the side of his sword and the Turian went into a sprawling fall behind him. Using the motion of the parry Hugo performed a spin move and bashed a Turian on his left side with the edge of his shield. Following up on his momentum he delivered a backhand swing to a Turian on his right side and sliced right through his neck. Then after staggering another Turian with a punch to his head, Hugo executed a vertical lower uppercut and cut one of its legs off. As the Turian hit the ground Hugo brought his sword down on its neck chopping its head clean off.

Trying to surprise Hugo a Turian tried to jump on him and deliver a knife strike. Hugo saw it coming and blocked it with his shield. The same Turian received a laser bolt to the head for his trouble. Spinning, Hugo cut the neck of another Turian. Getting in his blind sight a Turain ran towards Hugo with a shotgun, his intention was to shot him at close range. Preferably in the head. Hugo reactive at the last second spun 180 degrees and bashed the Turian with his shield sending him backwards into the ground.

The Turian saw its end coming like it was in slow motion. Lying on the ground dazed, all he could do was look up at this T-shape faced demon. He tried valiantly to get up but the demon razed its sword into the air and brought it down right through his heart. His last sight before his world went dark forever was looking right into the face of the demon.

Battle End

Hugo Varde's "POV"

Pulling his sword out of the now dead Turian he had just killed Hugo raised himself up. Although you couldn't see it easily, especially if you hadn't known him for a while, he was panting mildly. Gathering his breath he looked back at his foes.

There were less than two hundred Turians left. None of them were attacking. They were just standing there shaking in obvious fear. In fact, they were shaking so much it looked like they would drop their weapons in they tried to raise them. They had also unknowingly backed themselves up against the edge of the path/cliff.

Avraam came up to Hugo huffing and puffing. But still no less excited about the fight he had just been in. He spoke loud enough so that everyone could hear him and gave his suggestion of what to do with the Turians that were still standing.

"They look thirsty." He said in an almost joking manner.

Hugo smiled, catching on to what Avraam had in mind. "Well, let's give them something to drink. To the cliffs."

All of the Kaleesh got there shields up and back into the phalanx formation. Everyone else got behind them and put their hands on the shoulders of the man if front of them. Then they all marched towards the Turians who had nowhere to go. With the intent of the Mandalorians clear the Turians pushed themselves against the shield formation in a desperate attempt to break through. But the phalanx formation held strong. Slowly but surely Clan Varde pushed and pushed until with one final mighty shove all the Turians were pushed off the cliff into the ocean below. Those that didn't die from crashing against rocks drowned.

Hugo saw that the Turians didn't seem to be able to swim. Needless to say, this amused him greatly. Avraam stood beside Hugo still huffing and buffing.

"Hell of a good start." Avraam said. "For Mandalaore!"

"FOR MANDALORE!" Shouted the whole legion.

Hugo turned to his men. "No Mandalorian dies today."

They then went about the battlefield putting and Turian that was still alive out of its misery.

Claudius's "POV"

Claudius was dumbfounded. His mind just blank. He'd seen what had just happened through his binoculars. Yet he still couldn't believe or wrap his mind around what he'd just witnessed. Three thousand of the Hierarchy's best soldiers defeated by three hundred. THEE HUNDRED! It was inconceivable. The majority of the slaughter, for that's exactly what just happened, was accomplished by soldiers wielding spears and swords and hand held shields.

Claudius couldn't understand. Spears, swords, and hand held shields were beyond antique warfare. Basically Stone Age primitive weapons turned obsolete by modern weapons and technology. The only place those weapons belonged now were as family heirlooms or in museums. But the enemy had used them and absolutely massacred three thousand of his men.

Looking back through his binoculars he could see that the armored warriors were gathering the bodies of his dead men and seemed to be piling them up. Claudius didn't really know what they were doing. But he sure as hell didn't like it. "Have they no sense of honor. No respect for the dead. Savages."

It was time to plan.

Hugo Varde's "POV"

Claudius had been right. Clan Varde was piling up the dead bodies of the Turians. They were building a wall out of them. The UNSC marines were helping. Although they sort of sore and grouchy about not getting to join in the action. It was nearing about an hour to sunset, but thanks to the marines help they were almost done.

"Pile up those bodies high boys. Rest, eat, and get whatever sleep you can. For unless I missed my guess… we're in for one wild night."

June 5, 2650/2157

Borealis

Invasion - Day 5

Midnight

Under the cover of darkness seven hundred Turians marched as silently as they could towards the enemy's position to avenge their comrades. These highly skilled Special Ops soldiers were sent on missions that threaten the safety of Palaven itself. Had the highest success rate of any Turian unit in history. The details of their missions are drowning in black ink and red tape. They were the Turian Blackwatch.

Claudius had sent them to get the jump on the enemy while they slept and wouldn't see them coming. There would likely be a few guards, but nothing they couldn't handle. Surprise was on their side.

Oh, if only they knew how wrong they were.

The Blackwatch soon arrived at were the enemy had last been spotted. What they saw lit fires in their stomachs and sent waves of anger throughout their bodies. All of the three thousand Turians that had died had been stacked and piled into a makeshift wall made entirely of their bodies. The sight sickened them beyond words. They'd have to move the bodies at the bottom to bring the wall down and then walk over them to reach the enemy. Their anger levels increased and they promised to make this enemy pay with each one of their lives.

Little do they realize they have betrayed themselves and shown a fatal flaw: Hubris. They've shown themselves to be easy to taunt, easy to trick. Before wounds and weariness can even begin to take their tool. The Turian General sends the best soldiers at his disposal. He's taken the bait.

For just on the other side of the wall of dead bodies lies Hugo and his men waiting for the Turians "surprise attack" to get in perfect position. Hugo's sense of smell can smell a live Turian at the base of the other side of the wall. It's time. "Mandoes, push!" Hugo yells. And they all push the pile over right on top of the unsuspecting Turian Commander. He digs himself out only to be killed by having a spear pierce his heart, compliments of Hugo Varde.

The Mandoes have their spears, swords, shields, and guns ready. They charge into battle bashing Turians aside with their shields and their swords meet flesh while their victims meet deaths embrace. The only problem is that this time everything is disorganized and the fighting is like a free for all. Two Zabrak Mandalorians are tackled to the ground. Another one has an Explosive Omni-Tool shoved in his back, it doesn't pierce his beskar armor but the explosion sends him flying and leaves him bruised. Another is pulled to the ground were he's beaten over and over again. Laser bolts reach their mark. Wounding or killing any Turian they strike, the combatants are so intertwined a clear shot is almost impossible.

Hugo kicks one Turain away then swings his spear like a sword and slashes its pointed tip across the neck of a Turian trying to sneak up on him. Avraam and his son Avraham were fighting back to back. Each was wielding a Lig sword. These Turains were more of a challenge then the ones they faced before. Avraham had just gutted his opponent when he noticed one of the Turians raise his rifle at his father, who did not realize he was in danger. Avraham yelled "Father" and put his shield in front of the burst of mass repelled bullets. He then impaled the Turian on his sword. Avraam looked at his son in silent amazement. Avraham just smiled.

The fighting intensified into the battlefield equivalent of a street brawl. When Hugo noticed that his men were being backed up against the body wall he decided enough was enough. "Marines now!

The marines from the UNSC who had been stuck in the rear guard position all of yesterday emerged came running out from seemingly nowhere. They immediately started firing Assault Rifles, Shotguns, M7 SMG's, M739 Light Machine Guns, Battle Rifles, and DMR's right into the Turians exposed flank. The heavy amounts of fire brook the Turians shields and left dozens dead. Firing back the Turians score their own kills among the marines. As the Turians focus is divided Clan Varde regroups and represses the attack. Blackwatch troops start falling like fly's as spears and swords pierce their armor and flesh.

The two sides regroup, organize, and face each other. Staring each other down. As the Blackwatch begin to charge for another assault the Mandoes revealed their miniature flamethrowers. Some of the Turians were caught by the sudden burst of flames and caught fire. They were put out of their pain with laser bolts to the head. The Mandoes turned off their flamethrowers but kept them pointed at the Turians. Faced with such a weapon in such close quarters with no chance to lengthen the distance the Blackwatch retreated.

Tailing up the dead revealed that about fifty marines have perished. About one hundred and fifty Turians are dead. Even Clan Varde didn't escape without causalities. Three men were concluded dead and twenty more sporting varying injuries. Their armor having saved them from fatal injury.

After sending the dead back to the city and getting the wounded treated and batched up, everyone had a drink or two to celebrate their victories. Toasts were given , "To the Colonel" and "To our honored dead". Then it was off to sleep.

June 5, 2650/2157

Borealis

Invasion - Day 5

Nine hours later

The next day at dawn the Turians are back. Clan Varde walk out confidently to meet them. This time the Mandalorians are faced with a different challenge, the Turian Cabals.

The first few Cabals attempt to go toe to toe with the Varde. Striking them with the venom-infused blades in their gauntlets trying to pierce the Mandoes thick armor. Their blades bounce off the beskar armor, some even outright shatter. Those first few souls are swiftly put out of their shock and have lives ended via spears through the chest. Warp fields and lift grenades are then launched by the Cabals. The Warp's splash harmlessly against the shields, but the lift grenades send a few flying. Of course they right themselves by activating their jetpacks.

The sight of the flying Mandoes shocks the Turians as jetpacks aren't really used in Council Space. The momentary lag in aggression costs the Turians dearly as the Mandoes unveil another weapon in their arsenal, the wrist rocket launcher. At the same time every blaster rifle and pistol is aimed at the Turian forces. Scores of lasers from the ground and swarms of rockets from the air descended upon the Turians. The Cabals try to defend themselves and their comrades but their biotic barriers are unable to defend against the Mandalorians laser weapons. Hundreds die, either from the lasers or the impact of the missiles.

As the late afternoon dawned the battle still raged on. It seemed the young ones were given the chance to show what they can do. Avraham takes the lead in the battle and kicks a Turian to the ground before pinning him there with his foot. A swift slash from his sword silences the Turian forever. Another Turian runs up to Avraham, his pistol raised to fire, only to receive the same fate.

Avraham slices another Turian down the middle, ducks under and passes the next Turian to plunge his sword into the Turian behind it. A shot bounces off his shield and Avraham answers with a sword slash across the Turians face. His next opponent dies from a vertical slash across the throat. Two Turians attack Avraham together. The strike from the first one is blocked by Avraham's sword and is sent away. Number two's attack is deflected by Avraham's shield before meeting his end via a sword strike to the head.

His next opponent has more skill as he ducks under Avraham's wild swing. Only to get his hand cut off when he tries to punch Avraham. The Turian screams in pain at the loss of its limb before he's finished off with a slash to the face. The next Turian to come running at Avraham doges the first strike from his sword but leaves his lower guard right open. His leg is cut off from below the knee as a result. A sneak attack goes wrong when another Turian finds himself with a sword in his gullet.

Avraham feels something bump into his back and turns to strike it down. He stops when he recognizes his father.

"You still here?" Avraham says playfully.

"Somebody's got to watch your back." Replies Avraam.

"Not now, I'm a little busy." Avraham remarks as they're once again set upon.

The father and son become a dance of death. Each covering the other's back. If an attack in happening in one of the two's blind spots the other rushes to the rescue. As the Turians attack them are almost instantly struck down. They are a combination of spins and sword swings of death. Avraam even throws his sword into one Turian before using his shield to bash any others any before retrieving it.

Their field is enemy free as they hear Hugo yell to regroup. As the pair return to the fold Avraham doesn't notice a Turian who's not quite dead yet. The Turian struggles to its feet and activates its Omni-tools Omni-blade. As it raises the blade in the air Avraam who's laughing and beaming with pride notices the threat to late. He yells out, "Avraham", but he is too late. The blade pierces Avraham's neck. The boy makes a grunt in shock but can't repeat it. He gurgles on his own blood then falls never to rise again.

Avraam is in shock. He can't believe his eldest son is dead. After watching him fight these last couple of battles he had truly believed his son would make it through. And now he is dead. His heart filled with pain and anger. Avraam notices that the Turian who killed his precious son is dead, having succumb to its wounds. His rage demands to be satisfied and he precedes to cut down any Turain he sees. He becomes like a Sangheili in a Jiralhanae blood rage. Just simply slaughtering everything in his path. When he lost his sword he took off his helmet and beat the Turians heads in with it.

When there were no more Turians to kill Avraam slunk down next to the body of his son. He screams cries of pain and anguish that are more frightening than a rampaging Rancor. It took three men to restrain him and carry him back.

The day belonged to the Mandalorians of Clan Varde. Victory was theirs. But no songs would be sung this night.

-End: You're Going Down by Sick Puppies

Later that night

The mood is somber around the camp fires tonight for Clan Varde. Although they are victorious there are no songs being sung or laughter to be heard. The silence is in respect of their comrade Avraam, who is not in the mood to celebrate and be merry.

From a distance Hugo could see Avraam siting on his own, mourning and cursing the Gods. Hugo walked up and sat down next to his old friend and captain.

"How are you old friend?" Hugo asks.

Avraam sighs. "I've lived my entire life without regret until now. It's not so much that my eldest son died. Not so much that he gave up his life for others. It's just that I never told him that out of all my sons I loved him the most. I never told him how proud I was that he stood and fought by my side with honor. That he was all that was best in me."

Hugo could hear the pain in his friend's voice. As a Mandalorian all shared each other's pain. He got up and knelt in front of Avraam. "My heart is broken for your loss."

"Heart? I have filled my heart with hate." Avraam responded with fire in his eyes.

Hugo looked to his friend with understanding. "Make sure that hate does not consume you. Save it for those who are deserving of it."

Hugo than got everyone's attention. "Mandoes of Clan Varde, listen up. Our enemy has been beaten to a fracture of its former self. They will be licking their wounds right about now. Before turning tail and fleeing like rabbits before wolves. In honor of our fallen, in honor of Captain Avraam's son, I say we don't give them the chance. I say we show them that like the wolf we are hunters. And we shall catch these rabbits in our net. Are you with me?!"

"FOR MANDALORE." FOR MANDALORE." FOR MANDALORE." That was their answer and it was all the answer Hugo needed.

"Then go get the marines. We must hurry."

Turian Camp

The mood in the camp was dead. Everyone was gathering up supplies and preparing to move out. No one could believe that they had suffered such a thoroughly humiliating defeat. Nine thousand out of ten thousand Turians absolutely slaughtered by a force of three hundred. None of them would ever live this down.

No one was feeling more dark and dead than Claudius. The General had just suffered the greatest, most humiliating defeat of his career. Most likely the worst in the history of the Hierarchy. Once word of this reached the higher ups he'd be laughed and disgraced out of the military for sure.

Some members of the Blackwatch were on lookout duty in case the enemy decided to launch a sneak attack and finish them off. Many doubted them would, saying the enemy would most likely be celebrating their victory. Blackwatch argued the fact that that would mean it was the perfect opportunity to attack, but they were shot down. The fact that no one was in the right kind of spirit to try and attack might have had something to do with that decision.

Little did the lookouts know that they were under attack. Under the cover of their tactical cloaks Clan Varde was approaching the Turians camp. With the blackness of night combined with their cloaks they were almost absolutely invisible.

Hugo had spotted the lookouts and raised his hand to stop the silent advance. Like the UNSC, Mandalorians had utilized hand signs early on in their military history. He raised two fingers signifying two hostiles then laid his arm in a 12'o clock position, meaning straight ahead. Two scouts went forward and fired two Kamino Sabredarts from their dart shooters ingrated into their gauntlets. Each hit their respective Turian target right in their throats. The incredibly lethal poisons in the darts killed them in seconds.

With their way clear the Mandoes snuck into the camp, keeping to the outskirts. Once they had encircled the camp Hugo sent a message from his comm link and the marines started to march forward from their hiding position. Starting at a slow walk they sped up into a full blown run once they could see the camp. The Turians didn't see that they were under attack until the marines were half way to being right on top of them. Claudius called out, "To arms! Prepare for battle!"

A voice that sounded as if it were magnified rang out as soon as he said that. "I don't think that's in your best interest." After the voice had gone silent Hugo and his men de-cloaked and rose into the air on their jetpacks, arranging themselves in a dome like circle around and above the Turians. It was then the Turians noticed that they were surrounded on the ground as well. The marines had taken advantage of the Turians momentary inactiveness and surrounded them. As the marines and Mandoes readied their rifles Hugo flew forward into the center of the dome of floating Mandalorians and spoke. He'd managed to translate their language via decrypting some of the dead Turians Omni-tools. As he spoke Claudius realized that Hugo was the voice he'd heard.

"Turians! I am Colonel Hugo Varde, leader of Clan Varde. For the last three days you have thrown yourselves against me and my men. So you know just how outmatched you are. You know just how easily we can end you hear and now. But, I offer you this chance to live. Surrender and lay down your arms and none of you or your comrades will be harmed. You shall be placed in holding and be treated fairly. The alternative is death. To your leader I say this. As a leader it is our duty is to follow orders, give orders, and to carry out our mission in spite of all we may encounter. But we have another duty, a more important duty. A duty to our men. To protect them and deliver them from harm. Think of them; do not throw their lives away."

Claudius had to admit that he was touched by Hugo's words. As a Turian he was trained to always finish his mission. But now that was impossible. He did not have the man power to do that. And this Hugo was right. He did have a duty to his men. So many had been lost due to his orders, he'd be dammed if he cost what was left of his men theirs.

Claudius dropped his weapons on the ground and raised his hands in the air. His men hesitated at first, but then they copied his move. As the marines moved in to cuff them, Hugo sent a message to Admiral Yuki to send transports to pick up the prisoners.

This campaign had cost him the lives of a dozen of his men. One of them was the eldest son of his oldest friend. But at last, the battle of Borealis was over.

OSA Space

Earth

Unknown Location

In a secret location on Earth there was a secret base the UNSC knew nothing about. In this secret base there was a large room that was half a laboratory and half an office. The room consisted of almost two levels. The first level was about the size of a large balcony with a desk, selves, data terminals, computers, and a holo projector. And that was what only could be seen. The second level was a full blown laboratory. Filled with everything you would think to find, as well as some things you wouldn't. The windows in the room showed schools of fish swimming by, this suggested that the base was located underwater. The walls that weren't covered with notes had a picture of a head of a cobra barring its fangs, and it was painted red.

Who did this base belong to? That was a good question. The answer, a secret terrorist organization called Cobra. There wasn't much information available on Cobra as they were very secretive, and very good at it. It was suspected of almost over two hundred counts of terrorism, espionage, and treason. And those were only the ones the OSA knew about. Their operations took place all over OSA space. The ones mainly responsible with combating and stopping Cobra were the G.I. JOES, or Spec-Ops.

Cobra operated in a different number of cells that maintained almost complete isolation from each other. If news and new orders weren't delivered in person it was delivered via Quantum Entanglement Communicators. While small in size Cobra was powerful, mostly thanks to its seemingly endless funding and extensive R&D Department.

Its members and recruits were mostly humans who had become prey to hard times and disillusioned with the UNSC and OSA. Although there were alien members in Cobra they were mostly mercenaries, forces to be used and thrown away if need be.

Currently sitting in the office of Cobra's main base of operations was its leader, an individual known only as Cobra Commander. Like Cobra itself, Cobra Commander was shrouded in secrecy. No one in Cobra knew his real name or his background. Only a few people high up in the OSA Command structure knew who he was, or were able to guess.

Cobra Commander wore a special containment suit and a masked battle helmet with a reflective visor (think of how he looks in G.I. JOE Retaliation). He ruled over his organization with an iron fist and demanded total loyalty and allegiance. His long term objective is total control of the OSA's people, governments, wealth, and resources, brought about by revolution and chaos. His actions and sinister schemes often drew the attention of and put Cobra in the crosshairs of the G.I. JOES.

Right now he was looking over the reports and videos his agents had sent him over the happenings at Shanxi. Even a copy of the Codex that the aliens that called themselves "Turians" were carrying had been sent to him. He had watched the battles in space and the skirmish on the ground perhaps dozens of times. Yet, he kept watching. Committing every little detail to memory. Tech samples from the Turians ships and weapons had been recovered as well and had been sent to labs for research. He even had a few here in his personal lab. As he finished watching the battle a report came through on his personal comm system.

"Commander sir, our agents on Borealis finally reported in. You're going to want to see their report."

Now that was interesting. Only his top agents or personal ever sent reports directly to him. As far as he knew he had none of those on Borealis. He opened the report and quickly concluded that it was definitely important. The report contained details about everything that had happed at Borealis the past week.

"Things have definitely been intriguing as of late. These Mass Relays definitely lead to new territory that no one from the OSA has ever been to. Lots of territory to explore and hide in according to that Codex. The JOES have been to close in on our operations at a slowly increasing rate. We can set up new shops in any new territory the OSA uncovers. No direct action must be taken just yet. The time is not yet right for the cobra to reveal himself."

Unknown Space

Unknown Location

Far away in the never ending blackness of space a fleet of fifty ships calmly drifted by. These ships barred some resemblance to the Star Destroyers utilized in the Twi'lek Navy, only these were bigger, had a much more dagger/arrowhead design, and were colored grey. Another thing different about these ships were the crews manning them. The entire crew was made up aliens that looked almost exactly like humans, only these aliens all had blue skin and red eyes. These people were known as the Chiss.

Onboard the flagship on the fleet, a ship known as the Chimaera, a person of great importance stood looking out amongst his crew. This person was the captain of the Chimaera and he was waiting for a report. As he was just starting to get impatient, the report finally came.

"Grand Admiral Thrawn, sir. That spy drone we sent out has returned. The techs are going over the data and video recordings now."

"Send the findings to my private terminal in my quarters. I'll be there till further notice. You have the deck, captain."

Thrawn, whose real name in the Chiss language was Mitth'raw'nuruodo, was the head commanding officer of the Chiss military, the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force (CEDF).

Thrawn arrived in his quarters and saw on his terminals screen that the data had already been sent. It contained a detailed account of all the happenings at Borealis for the past week. Including a video of the UNSC and Clan Varde battling the Turians. Thrawn felt a feeler tingling feeling go down his spine. The talents the Humans and Mandalorians possessed for battle had gained Thrawn's respect, but always made him feel slightly afraid as well.

Now, how would Thrawn know who the Mandalorians were and were Borealis was you may ask? Well, here is your answer.

History Lesson Begin

The Chiss hale from the planet Csilla deep in the Unknown Regions. The initial Chiss space-travel era involved their scientists attempting to create hyperfields over vehicles designed to carry passengers. At the same time, automated drones were launched into the Unknown Regions with specialized beacons that led to the creation of a network of navigational anchor-points. As the Chiss began to expand into space, a Syndic by the name of Jer'Jo Cam'Co was responsible for the formation of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force. He proposed the creation of this group after explorations efforts yielded several resource rich worlds.

Much of the Chiss' expansion was governed by the need to gather resources without upsetting their homeworld's ecosystem. Though their territory later managed to suffice for their growing population, the Chiss continued to expand into space. However, this was not out of exploration of the unknown or out of greed like other species. Being isolated from any other life forms the Chiss wished to completely secure the boarders of their territories. The government on Csilla controlled 28 major colony worlds scattered across Chiss space, united in a political federation known as the Chiss Ascendancy. The Ascendancy has since is forming remained completely removed from the various galactic governments of the galaxy. Thus, over the course of thousands of years, the Chiss developed socially and technologically in isolation.

First contact with the outside galaxy did not happen until the year 2579 when a Trade Federation task force of fifteen ships entered the edge of Chiss Space. Thrawn, who was a Commander in the CEDF, was in charge of the fleet that intercepted them. Using superior tactics, the Federation fleet was quickly subdued and all but one ship destroyed. The one surviving ship was captured. Just then a Twi'lek Exploration fleet entered the system, on a mission to look for new planets to colonize. Taking no chances, the Chiss subdued the fleet and took all captured ships back to Csilla.

The Chiss, who were already slightly xenophobic, became more so by leaps and bounds. All surviving life forms aboard the captured ships were detained and studied, the Chiss learning all they could from them. When they gathered as much data as they could the captured people were killed and disposed of. All the technologies the ships possessed was studied and reverse engineered, such as turbolasers and more powerful accurate hyperdrives. The Chiss didn't just copy the technology; they improved upon it and made it better.

Since then, using the star charts recovered, undercover agents and spy drones had been sent out in mess to parts of the galaxy controlled by the OSA. Agents acquired new technology or plans covertly, and spy drones kept an eye on fleet movements and gathered information on the government factions of the OSA. This was also done by hacking into news feeds.

In response to the growing power of the already powerful UNSC and the other factions of the OSA after the Mandalorian War, the budget of the Chiss Exploration Defense Fleet increased a thousand fold and new fleets began to be built, with no signs of stopping. Among the new ships designs were the Imperial I & II-class and Victory I & II-class Star Destroyers. The Acclamator-class Star Destroyer was also incorporated into the Chiss fleet. These were just a few examples. The bottom line is that the Chiss had been securing their boarders and preparing for a fight ever since they discovered they weren't alone in the galaxy.

History Lesson End

Now hopefully your questions have been answered for the time being.

The existence of a new race as well as another galactic government was big life changing news. Thrawn contacted the Chiss Parliament back of Csilla. The ensuing conversation basically resorted with Thrawn being ordered to keep an extra close eye on the situation.

A/N:

I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. Twenty eight pages, I can't believe it. This makes this chapter the longest yet.

I'm sorry if I rambled on about the Chiss, Cobra, or anything else. I just got carried away.

The next chapter will be the OSA arriving on the Citadel and meeting the Council. I make no promises on when it will be posted.

Please leave a review. Tell next time, by.