Chapter 2: A new World
Shepard and his crew had finally headed through the Mass Relay, heading towards the Armstrong Nebula. He suited up, choosing to take Tali and Kaidan with him into the ship. Shepard had informed them about the situation, and Tali's expertise on Geth would help, and Kaidan was always a good biotic support.
"So Shepard, what do you expect us to find on the ship?" Tali asked as she put her shotgun on her waist.
"Yeah, did Admiral Hackett give us anything else to go on besides a Geth Dreadnaught?"
"No, he has no idea what we're going into, but if the Geth are after it, which means Saren is probably involved. We need to find out whatever it is that would pique their interest." He explained to the two, who nodded.
"Commander, you should come up to the cockpit, something's going on." Joker spoke over the intercom. Shepard arrived a few minutes later.
"What's going on Joker?"
"The ship we were heading for? Yeah, it just blew up." Joker said as he adjusted something on his controls.
"What happened?" Shepard asked more urgently now.
"I think the Geth destroyed it, they probably got what they were looking for."
Shepard held his head in thought. What could they possibly have found? A weapon? Another Prothean beacon? It was too late to know for sure, but they had to try and find out.
"Take us to the site anyway, there maybe something left that will give us a clue."
"Aye aye Commander. Approaching the Grissom System now."
Cortana was now doing her best to sort through the data collected from the Geth unit she had inhabited. She learnt the names of the Geth, about Saren, and about something called Sovereign, which the Geth called the Old Machines.
"It's amazing what I found in this one unit! There wasn't just one AI in this thing, there were over a thousand in here! They reach consensus with each other whenever they need to sort a problem they face. It's just incredible! I mean, they aren't the smartest AI's I've seen, and they have no preferences but-
"Cortana."
"I learned that the alien that we met is named Saren, I dont know why the Geth are following him, they just keep going on about something called the Old Machines, whatever those are"
"Cortana..."
"And whats more, I learned the name of all these unrecorded races! The Turians, Krogans, Quarians, I mean how can so many races have-
"Cortana!" Chief shouted, finally stopping her long rant.
"I need you to slow down... and give me an idea of where we are, and what exactly you have learned." He said slowly, making the AI slump her shoulders.
"Sorry about that, it was just that I haven't learned this kind of information since the first arrival on Halo." She explained.
"Alright, so from what information I've seen so far I have a theory you might not like."
"Which is?"
"We're in a parallel universe."
"..."
He stared at her for awhile, having no way to really express how he felt. if his helmet were off, she would see that his face was as neutral as staring at his helmet. She waited for a response until she lost patiece.
"Ok, so are you going to say something or what?" She said finally.
"I don't really know what to say to that... could you elaborate on how you came to this theory?" He said now.
"There were quite a few things that made it clear to me. First was that there is no records showing of Sangheili (the Elites), Jiralhanae (the Brutes), or any other Covenant race. But I did find humans among the list of known species. "
"Maybe we're in the future, that sounds more likely to me." Chief suggested, but Cortana shook her head.
"I thought that at first too, but there was something else that grabbed my attention; the year we're in."
"What year is it supposed to be?"
"2183. And before you ask, yes, humanity has made contact with the other species, and surprisingly there is supposedly peace between them."
Master Chief was silent in thought now; her theory was starting to look very possible. The Covenant was the only group of alien races that humanity came into contact with.
"Does the UNSC still exist here?"
"No, it seems earths space military is called the Systems Alliance, probably to sound more peaceful to the other races."
"So everything that has existed from our world, the Covenant, the Forerunners, Halo: They're all gone?" Chief asked lastly. Cortana nodded silently, not sure how the Spartan would take it. He was silent as well, thinking of the situation. What was left for him now? He was an in and out UNSC SPARTAN-II. But the UNSC was gone now, leaving him to be… just an old relic of war.
"Chief, I know it's difficult to take in, but we'll figure something out… we always do." Cortana said reassuringly.
"Yeah." He answered doubtfully but nodded. He rose from his seat to look through the front window of the shuttle.
"Where are we?"
"According to the data I recovered, we're in a solar system called Grissom, which is part of the Armstrong Nebula. Right now we're on the moon of a gas giant called Notaban, Solcrum. It's dangerously hot outside though, I wouldn't recommend you moving very much out there. Your suit would keep you safe, but it would fry your shields." Cortana explained, with the Chief nodding in response. Suddenly an alarm went off through the shuttle.
"What's going on?"
"Damn it, I had the alarm set in case it picked up on someone within a three mile radius, we've got company!" Cortana explained, making the Chief jump to action as fast as he could. He grabbed his AR and ran to the exit.
"I'll give your shields a boost so you'll last much longer in the heat. Be careful out there Chief." Cortana said as she seemed to move something around with her hands, which applied the shield boost. He nodded silently and raised his AR with the DMG Cortana had given him on his hip. He was already picking up hostiles on his radar, so he waited for them to come closer. When they were almost 10 meters away he sprung into action.
He rolled quickly out of the shuttle and opened fire. It was the Geth again, although now they had bigger ones with them. Some shot rockets at the Chief, but he easily dodged them before coming into contact. He found cover in a nearby mound, not wanting to risk the ship damage.
He counted 7 enemies, three with rocket launchers, three with plasma rifles and one up in the hills with a sniper rifle. A stray shot grazed his armor, taking a quarter of its secondary shielding away. He couldn't risk going out into the open for too long, and so he switched to his DMG. He quickly twisted out of cover and launched one, taking out one of the rocket troopers and two regular sized ones. He sprinted from the cover to another mound, deeming the previous cover as insufficient when another sniper round nearly hit him.
He had to take the sniper out quickly, or this fight would drag out, and the heat might make things change for worse. He drew his AR, getting ready to fight again. While the sniper was a good distance away, he knew he could get enough shots in to put him down.
Another geth was coming around the corner, but Chief quickly grabbed it and slammed his fist into its optical, which seemed to effectively kill it. He picked up the Geths gun, and shouldered his AR. He rounded the corner and opened fire again, hitting the remaining Geth. He deemed that this gun was weaker than his AR, but it was more accurate, which would make shooting the sniper easier, but he was also going to need a better position.
The remaining Geth were meters away, but he sprinted to new cover once again. They followed with their weapons, firing upon him. A missile was able to land near him, disabling his secondary shielding. Regardless though, he was able to reach the desired spot. He was finally in a good position and unleashed the plasma rounds into the sniper. It died quicker than expected, but this was a pleasant surprise to the Chief.
All that were left now were two rocket troopers to deal with. He was made painfully aware of this as a rocket erupted only two meters away, taking out part of his shield strength. He turned quickly, dispatching of the only one in plain eyes view. He searched around for the other, unable to use his radar because it was being jammed. Finally he heard a buzzing sound from behind and turned quickly. This final Geth towered over the Chief, and quickly swatted away his AR.
Chief reacted fast, landing a strong punch to its optics. It staggered back, giving the SPARTAN-II the opportune moment to capitalize. He moved in quickly, knocking aside the rocket launcher the geth was beginning to aim. The machine swung at him, but its movements were slow. Its strength may or may not have been greater than Chiefs, but the difference was that Chief also had speed and skill alongside his strength. He quickly swept its legs from under it, making it fall over. He quickly jumped on top, reaching what was supposed to be its head and repeatedly punched its optics. It was tougher than the regular geth units, but after three well placed and powerful punches, it died out, the light in it's optics finally dying out.
He raised himself from the machine, relaxing his body. The heat from the moon was starting to make him dizzier by the moment. He began to move back to the shuttle.
"Are you alright Chief?" Cortana asked over the comm.
"I'm fine, the heats just starting to get to me." He explained. He finally took a seat to relax a little as the heat left his body.
"Can you tell if any more are on the way?"
"No, so far I'm not picking up anything on the scanners, but they only extend so far." She explained with him nodding.
"So what do we do now? We can't just stay here forever. More are coming soon, that's for sure." He said now, with her humming in agreement.
"Now this might be risky, but our best chance is activate a beacon. I'll put it on Systems Alliance channels so that they're the most likely to pick it up. I figured that if we have anyone pick us up, that you'd want it to be humans." She explained, but Chief was silent in thought.
"It seems too risky, if those machines are as advanced as you say, they might be able to pick it up anyway."
"Maybe, but right now, this is our only option. Hopefully this Systems Alliance is reliable enough to come and get us soon." She replied. The SPARTAN-II was silent again, but the alarms suddenly rang again. Chief jumped to his feet and grabbed his AR.
"Sensors are picking up a large ship, must be a drop ship coming in, be careful!"
"Activate that beacon, I'll get rid of the Geth." Chief said as he opened the door again, marching out without another word.
The Normandy finally arrived in the Grissom system, now floating closely to the remains to the Forward unto Dawn. The bits that were left were much too damaged to recover. Shepard stood in the cockpit next to Joker, holding his chin in thought.
"Well this was a bust, I hope that whatever the Geth found wasn't too valuable." Joker said as he continued with the controls.
"Something's wrong here, I just can't place it." Shepard said, but Tali grabbed his shoulder.
"Its no use thinking too hard on it, Shepard. Whatever they came for they probably have it now, and whatever is left is blown away." The quarian said.
"Wait Shepard, I'm picking something up. It looks like a distress beacon." Joker said now moving around the controls again.
"Where's it coming from?"
"Solcrum, largest moon on Notaban."
"Alright Joker, head for that distress signal."
"Wait Shepard, this sounds like an obvious trap." Tali said now more worried.
"She's right Commander, I don't think this is a good idea." Kaidan added.
"I understand that, but we can't risk the chance of missing this. If we're lucky it'll have something to do with the derelict ship they destroyed." Shepard said in response. The two remained silent and nodded.
"Alright then, Joker let's do this."
"Aye Aye Commander, approaching Solcrum now." The pilot said. They were now in the atmosphere of the moon.
"Alright team, mount up. We'll approach the signal in the Mako. Be ready for anything." Shepard said as he left the cockpit."
"Yes sir!" They both said, now heading for their weapons lockers.
The Normandy sailed through the skies of the moon. The team was all suited up and ready to go inside of the Mako. Suddenly Jokers voice came on the comm..
"Hey Shepard just wanted to give you a heads up, there's a lot of Geth activity showing up on my scanners. It says they're all at the distress signal."
"I don't get it, the Geth could have disguised themselves easily to hide from our scanners, why are they making it so obvious they are here?" Tali said thinking aloud.
"Maybe they aren't here to ambush us, maybe they're here to get whatever is at that site." Kaidan said now guessing himself.
"Either way, we'll have the drop on them if their distracted. We'll hit them hard before they know whats going on, and find whatever it is they're trying to get." Shepard surmised, with the two nodding in agreement.
"Approaching LZ in one minute, be ready to drop."
Things were not looking good for the Chief now. He was running out of ammo, the heat was taking a turn for bad, and it seemed like more and more of the geth were coming. He had dropped more than twenty already, although he preserved his DMG ammo the best he could. He even took down a drop ship that had come with the rocket launcher one of the machines had dropped. He tried to preserve his AR ammo by picking up enemy weapons from those he already killed.
There were eight enemies left, but all were large rocket troopers. What was worse was that the heat was getting to his shields, forcing him to come out of cover as little as possible. He needed to end this battle quickly, or time would be his death. He held the DMG in one hand, and the AR in the other. He was going to charge in guns blazing, using his speed to his advantage. It was now or nothing.
He sprang into action with blinding speed, not giving the Geth time to react quickly enough. He jumped on top of the closest one, making it stumble over due to his great weight and strength. As it hit the ground, Chief stuck the AR in its optics and shot it until it died out. He quickly turned to the next units, raising his DMG and firing it. Down goes another one, with the shields of another disabled. He opened fire again, but missed as he rolled out of the way of another rocket.
I'm out of ammo. The Chief thought, now throwing the AR to the ground. He had two shots remaining for his DMG, but the remaining geth were too spread out to take them out with both shots. He made his way to a fallen geth, grabbing its plasma rifle and beginning to shoot. Suddenly though, one of the troopers was dropped by another source. He looked to his left and saw a large vehicle approaching; now creating a wall between him and the remaining geth. The turret on top of the vehicle began to unload on the few remaining geth and quickly dispersed them. Not taking any chances, Chief drew his DMG and loaded it, pointing it at the vehicle.
Inside the Mako, Shepard observed the large robotic soldier, trying to get a good look at him. He was tall, at least seven foot.
"That's definitely not a geth." Tali observed looking at him. Shepard decided that it was best to make contact. He opened the hull, but held up his hands as the robot aimed his gun at him.
"Who are you?" Chief spoke now, surprise going over Shepards face as he realized that the large being didn't sound like any type of synthetic.
"We're not your enemy here, me and my team are coming out." Shepard said, with The Chief not breaking his stance.
"Come out slowly." Was all he said in response. Shepard nodded and climbed out of the Mako, with his teammates now following suit.
"I know you want to learn more from us, but it's dangerous out here. We should get somewhere less hot." Shepard suggested. Chief nodded in response and lowered his weapon for the moment. He could tell they were friendly, not to mention they were the first humans he had seen this entire time. He motioned for them to follow him as he made his way towards the shuttle.
After taking refuge in the somewhat small shuttle, Chief stood in front of them.
"Alright, now who are you?" Chief asked again.
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance; these are two of my teammates Tali and Kaidan. We came here because of the distress signal. I'm assuming that was you?" Shepard said, with Chief nodding in response.
"Now you know who we are, but we still don't know you."
"After I find out what she is." Chief said looking at Tali.
"I'm a quarian of course, you've never seen one?" Tali said, with the Chief shaking his head in response.
"Don't be so rude to our guests Chief, after all they came here to help us." Cortana's voice said coming over the comm. The group looked surprised by the new voice, seeing no one else in the shuttle.
"Who was that?" Kaidan said this time.
"That'd be me." Cortana said, her holo form appearing on a nearby terminal.
"My name is Cortana, I'm an AI and Chief's-
"What are you doing with an AI? Those things are dangerous!" Tali said now freaking out. Cortana looked at her with a raised eyebrow… well her equivalent to it.
"Oh right, your quarian. Your race created the geth centuries ago, and I understand you have a bad history with AI's." Cortana said observing her.
"AI's are usually considered dangerous, although I have to say you act differently from any AI I've seen." Kaidan said now observing her.
"I have a lot of preferences, and I was based off the person who made me, giving me a human personality." She explained.
"Your still an AI, that makes you dangerous!" Tali said again, but Chief grabbed a Magnum that was in a near by container.
"She's with me, if you have a problem with that, you can leave." He said pointing his magnum at them, Kaidan and Tali defensively put their guns up, but Shepard put down their guns.
"Both of you, stand down, now!"
"But Shepard-"
"No buts Tali, if he wants to keep the AI, then we let him." He said sternly. Tali looked unsure, but put down her gun. Chief held his gun up a little longer, but finally put it down.
"Well, that was fun." Cortana said awkwardly, with Chief looking at her, his way of silently saying "stop".
"Well since you know who we are, I'd like to know who you are." Shepard said now. Chief looked at him unsure for a moment, but Cortana spoke first.
"How about we take this somewhere else then? I'm sure you have a ship that can take us out of here right?" She said now.
"Can I trust you not to attack us once we get aboard?" Shepard said looking at the robotic giant.
"Yes sir, only if no one attacks me." He ansered, surprising Shepard with the recognition of his rank.
"I'm not sure bringing a large robotic soldier will be very safe Commander." Kaidan said unsure.
"Especially if he's going to carry an AI around with him, we should leave it and-
"She comes, or no deal." Chief said suddenly. Cortana was prepared to say something to the quarian but remained silent instead. Shepard stood in thought for a moment but nodded.
"Alright, you can bring her-it. As long as she stays out of our systems, if she does try to infiltrate, we'll consider it a hostile action, am I understood?" Shepard said sternly, with Chief nodding.
"Yes sir."
"Alright then. Joker, come pick us up, we have a guest coming with us." Shepard said over the comm.
"We're gonna have lots of fun, aren't we?" Cortana said sarcastically, but the Chief said nothing. Hopefully this wouldn't turn sour quickly, but for now this was his only option. To trust someone he's never met before.
TBC…
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