Well, sorry this took so long. Life, unfortunately, conspired to keep me away from this. I would like to thank Space Trooper and Spectre Onyx for their help and suggestions. I would also like to apologize to everyone, as I just realized I have been spelling Lasky the wrong way for the entire story. Sorry about that. :(

UNSC Infinity, Unknown Location, Unknown Time

Lasky stepped forward and spoke up. "I'm Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC warship Infinity. Who am I speaking to?"

The unknown voice spoke with confidence. "I'm Commander Luke Skywalker of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, in command of the Alliance cruiser Sibwarra. What in the name of the Force is the UNSC?"

Lasky sighed. "I have a feeling that trying to explain what the UNSC is and what we've done will raise more questions than answers, and I'm sure that me asking about the 'Alliance' and 'Republic' will too. As such, I think it would be more prudent if I just show you. Do you have any shuttles on that ship?"

The voice on the other end of the comm answered much quicker than expected.

"We have a ship that might work. Are you asking us to come aboard?"

Lasky sighed again, telling himself in his head that this was necessary over and over again.

"I am. I have one question before you come, though. I don't think it'll be too hard. Is the small craft off of my ship's port side one of yours?"

The youthful voice at the other end returned, sounding rather confused.

"I thought it was with you..."

Lasky let out a faint smile, both happy to have been proven right and realizing that he would have to go through a similarly awkward conversation again.

"No, it isn't ours. I'll have my ship's AI coordinate with your ship's computer and give you a course for our primary hangar. I'll speak to you again once you get onboard."

He cut the commlink and turned to Roland's avatar, still hovering on the holotable.

"Get all sensitive materiel out of the main port-side hangar bay. Move it to one of the frigates. Then re-establish contact with that smaller ship. I need to talk to the people inside."

SSV Normandy SR-2, Unknown Space, Unknown Time

Shepard watched the motley fleet with a mix of curiosity and concern. EDI's sensor readings indicated that they were equipped with the same weapons and ran on the same power source as the large, wedge-shaped ship that had launched the fighters. They were definitely not as clean-looking or as big, but cleanliness and size were not always good indicators of power. He scanned over the hulls of the ships, noting some had long, thin portions that would serve as a good point to target. He was so absorbed in his analysis that he almost didn't hear Joker calling his name.

"Shepard... Shepard! We have an incoming communication! It's coming from the large ship. Looks like they're asking nicely to talk this time instead of just taking over our comm systems."

Shepard gave a quick nod. "I'll take it in the War Room. Route it through the QEC projector if you can."

Joker nodded and began typing away on his console as Shepard walked briskly to the War Room. He rushed through the scanner, not waiting to be scanned as to not waste valuable time. The women at the scanner didn't bother stopping him. He walked quickly into the large, utilitarian room that acted as one of the main command centers of the galactic war against the Reapers. He walked past a projection of their last hope, the Crucible, and up a set of stairs to the QEC. As he stepped on the rounded pad that signified the picture and sound range for the projection, the QEC communicators cycled through in front of him, before stopping on one and glowing blue. A hologram materialized of a middle aged human male wearing what appeared to be a primitive form of light body armor, with a pauldron on his right arm. Both of his shoulders had identical pieces of armor on them, with a star in the center and four lines along the bottom. A black patch with a wire-mesh globe in the center and a laurel wreath on the bottom rested above his heart. His eyes somehow looked both bright and hopeful, yet pained and burdened at the same time. The man gave a weak smile.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you have no idea what the UNSC is."

Shepard simply nodded.

The man in the strange uniform sighed.

"Ok, well, as you've probably guessed, we're from... somewhere else. I have no idea where it is in relation to here, but as you've also probably guessed, it's definitely not close to the area we're in right now. I've set up a meeting with the person in charge of the nearby fleet, and as you're in the same situation as us, I thought I'd invite you. Do you have a shuttle?"

Shepard nodded again.

"Yes, we have a shuttle. Where do you want us to go?"

The man, who Shepard now guessed was the "Thomas Lasky" he heard over the comm, typed something off-screen.

"I'll have Dragon Flight escort you in. You'll be landing in the main hangar bay, same place as our... other guests. I look forward to meeting you in person..."

Shepard spoke up.

"Shepard. Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance Special Forces, Council Spectre."

Laskey nodded. The hologram de-materialized. Shepard turned around and walked back to the bridge. He walked up next to the galaxy map and keyed the intercom.

"Garrus, Tali, Liara, Ash, Wrex, Javik. Meet me at the shuttle bay. Cortez, warm the shuttle up, we have a meeting to get to."

UNSC Infinity, Unknown Location, Unknown Time

Lasky stood, staring out into space through the containment shield. The two unknown groups' shuttles were coming in, or at least that's what Roland had told him. Their ships were taking a lot longer to enter the bay than he had expected. He looked around the expansive hangar, looking at the large number of troops that lined the hangar in a show of force. He turned back to the hangar doors, and finally noticed growing specs in the distance. As the specs grew, Lasky finally gots a good look at the other groups' ships. One is a round saucer with two prongs jutting out the front end, with a cockpit jutting out the side and a large com dish on the top. The ship was covered with rust. The other ship was much smaller, and looked like a beetle to Lasky. It was blue with white highlights, and didn't appear to have a cockpit that he could see. Both landed within feet of each other, the saucer extending landing pads, and the blue one just landing on the deck. The saucer let down a ramp and a group of people walked out. At the head of the group was a brown-haired woman in a white, flowing gown. She appeared self-assured, yet also burdened by great sadness. Lasky suspected that she was the chief negotiator or ambassador for the group. Following her were two men, one with brown hair, one blonde . The brown-haired one wore a blue vest over a white shirt and blue trousers, with a weapon in a holster on his hip. His eyes were constantly scanning the room, searching for either weaknesses or an escape route, Lasky wasn't sure. The blonde man exuded confidence. He wore a black tunic, with a black set of trousers and one black glove. The only thing that didn't fit with the black motif was a lone silver tube attached to his hip. Lasky thought it might be some sort of status symbol. The remaining three beings in the group were odd.

Two were obviously mechanical. One was a golden humanoid, which held itself like a butler to an important billionaire. The other robot looked to Lasky like a trash can on wheels. The final member of the group looked like a humanoid bear, which let out a low growl. Lasky made a mental note to ask about it.

it was at this point that the door to the other shuttle opened. The man Lasky had talked to earlier, Shepard, was the first one out, followed by a human female in blue body armor. She was followed by a blue, female, human-looking alien in a white... coat-thing with armored boots. The blue alien looked around the hangar with fascination. After this woman came another alien. This one looked a bit like the Sangheili, with two mandibles on the outside of its mouth and backward-bent knees. The similarities ended there, however, as he hands only had three fingers and the skin seemed to be similar to a carapace. The Elite-thing was followed by what appeared to be a dinosaur in armor. The dinosaur gave a short grunt at the massive number of troops around the hangar. The dino was followed by a woman in what appeared to be an environmental suit, with similar hands and feet to the Elite-thing. It was followed by a strange, four eyed creature with natural armor at the top of it's head. Lasky swore he could hear the thing mumble, "look at all the primitives" before being shushed by Shepard. The two groups began walking towards him.

Lasky gestured and two Spartans formed up behind him. He took a deep breath and walked towards the two groups catching them about halfway between their ships and the hatch to the rest of the ship. He stood with his hands behind his back, and spoke up.

"My name is Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC. Welcome aboard the Infinity."

He held out his hand politely to the woman. She took it and shook it lightly, and then spoke.

"I must say it is an impressive ship, Captain."

Lasky smiled.

"She's one of the most powerful ships in our fleet. I'm glad you like her..."

The woman smiled.

"My name is Leia Organa." She turned and gestured to the group behind her, starting with the man with brown hair. "This is Han Solo, Luke Skywalker," the young blond haired man bowed, "C-3P0, R2D2, and Han's co-pilot, Chewbacca." The man-bear let out a soft growl at that.

Lasky smiled and turned to Shepard.

"It's good to see you in person, Commander. May I ask who your companions are?"

Shepard smiled. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Ashley Williams. This is Liara, Garrus, Wrex, Tali, and Javik. They're human, Asari, Turian, Krogan, Quarian, and Prothean, respectively."

Lasky smiled, and waved up Commander Palmer.

"This is the commander of all Sp... special operations troops abroad, Commander Palmer."

Palmer raised her eyebrow and gave a small smirk.

"Well, most of them."

Luke spoke up.

"If you don't mind, I have a question. What do you mean by 'most of them'?"

Lasky smiled.

"I'll tell you about it later."

Lasky directed a smirk at Palmer, who rolled her eyes. Laksy then gestured to the door.

"Ladies, gentlemen, let's get this started, shall we?"

The group followed him down the hallway, and into the bowels of the Infinity.

"UNSC" Ship, Adamantari System, 4ABY

Luke walked down the gray, metal hallway. The insides of the ship looked like an odd blend of a museum exhibit and the most advanced Imperial warships. He noticed several old-fashioned terminals next to circuitry he didn't understand. His guide, apparently the ship's captain, was going back and forth between explaining parts of the ship to the group and talking to the ship's computer. As Luke looked around, he saw a number of burn marks and holes in the wall, suggesting some sort of fight. He decided to ask the captain of the ship, hoping that he would find out what enemy had managed to break through the ship's defenses.

"Excuse me, but what are these burn marks? Looks like there was a fight here."

The captain gave a weary smile. "A group of alien terrorists called the Covenant Remnant or "Storm Covenant" boarded on our last mission. Disabled some of our defences and landed. We fought them off, and just haven't had the time to replace the wall panels yet."

The group continued until the captain suddenly stopped at an intersection, nodded, and then pointed the group down the new hallway.

"Before we go to the Combat Deck and the conference room, Roland wanted me to show you something. This way, please"

Luke and the rest of the group walked down the corridor until they came to a large window. It overlooked a large open space, with a large piece of metal jutting out into the center. The metal, which forked into two prongs towards the bottom, appeared to be held in place by a clamp. The captain of the ship said something quietly, then turned back to the group.

"Do you have contact with your ships?"

Luke nodded, as did the man in the black armor. R2 beeped and moved up closer to Luke, as an orange gauntlet appeared above the armored man's wrist.

The captain smiled. "We're going to be launching a ship to explore the system a bit. Mind letting your vessels know so they don't think we're trying to kill them?"

Luke was confused, but gestured to R2. A series of odd-sounding twitters and whistles came out as he compressed the message into droidspeak and sent it back to the fleet. Suddenly, a massive crash sounded through the deck. Luke looked out the window in amazement as he realized he was looking into a massive hangar. The "pillar" he saw earlier was actually a frigate-sized vessel, which dropped through a now-open door in the floor of the ship. It disappeared out the door and into the inky blackness of space, as the Alliance and Citadel groups looked on in awe. Luke felt a rather strong burst of surprise from all present, save for the captain, who radiated only confidence and smugness. The man spoke up.

"Charon-class light frigate. We find them useful for exploration and evening a fight. They're also useful for more mundane things, like extra power when needed." The captain gestured back down the hallway, with a slight smile on his face.

"If you'll come this way, we can get this exchange started."

The group continued down the hallway that they had been following before, with everyone silently preparing. Luke stretched out with the Force, feeling a lot of tension, especially from the environment-suited alien with the Citadel group. Luke, curious, dug deeper, attempting to discover what was making her so anxious. He discovered knots of both hostility and fear directed at his droids and the ship's "AI". He pulled out, and began trying to access her memories, trying to find why she felt that way. As his mind worked

The group arrived at a door flanked by two heavily-armored soldiers. The door slid apart, revealing a rather minimalist conference room. It looked like the rest of the ship, filled with hard angles and exposed metal. Again, Luke thought of the Imperial ships that he had been inside. As the group walked in, he noticed with surprise that there was a banner with the Alliance's blood-red crest above one end of the table. Another banner, a blue triangle with several stars in the hollow, bottomless center hung over another end of the table, which appeared to surprise the other group. On the other side was a crest showing some sort of bird, its wings outstretched, with a shield and alien writing on the center. It was perched on a circle, with more alien writing on a line below. The captain sat at the head of the table, and gestured with his hands for the groups to sit down. Each group sat down by their respective banners, assuming that they indicated where to sit. The captain took his place at the table as the two soldiers outside walked in, flanking the door. The man leaned forward and spoke.

"Let's get started."

I would like to apologize again for the long period of time between this post and the last one. I'll be trying to get them up quicker soon. We'll be doing quick histories of each universe next chapter, and find out what's going on with the Borealis back in the Halo-verse. Thanks for reading!