Relay 314 Incident

[]

"Is this, correct" Captain Anderson aboard the only Stalwart, UNSC Jolly asked the question to his XO, and a very young man who stationed one of the sensor terminals, barely passing for member of the navy, another grimm reminder of the UNSC's navy deary state which should change in the next 5 years.

"Yes sir, I checked it over with a few other of my colleagues, and they all have pointed out how humanlike these various aerospace craft look along with the behemoth out there, it's all very uncanny and disturbing, sir." Anderson kept quiet for a bit, in silent contemplation on his next move.

All attacking unknowns were put down not too long ago by the third party, like the young man reported before him, the ship and the craft it deployed made short work of those contacts, in a frighteningly quick manner as well.

The wreckage of the unknowns showed a bird of prey like design further cementing that they were dealing with another race which by the actions taken here today were seemingly incredibly hostile.

The size of the force looked to be a patrol force, 18 units, looking at them again the onboard Dumb AI measured them along with other details that the analysts will have to comb through.

From what they know the fleet was small, about a dozen corvettes and 6 frigates, that and they also housed strike craft of their own if not on the small size, but it didn't help them, not at all.

"Status on the Jolly" Anderson asked.

"Fires are all mostly out now, small leak in the Reactor that's being patched up, but engineering says they need dockyard repairs, shield generators are back up and running, and as for crew casualties, round number puts us at 200 dead and many more injured, 50 crew rest are our onboard marine contingent"

Anderson gave a frown, that was a significant loss of fighting personnel, right now his ship and the UNSC Blue Pearl were the only ones on station that were moderately combat effective in the void.

UNSC Miss Dame, the other Paris was in the red on everything and had to leave through the artefact back to UNSC space, for both urgent repair and to inform the UNSC of everything that has happened.

Of course, there was also the matter of the behemoth in front of them, that has yet to do anything after obliterating the unknown hostiles and retrieving its strike craft other than just sit there showing off its impressive broadside.

Other than its dubious nature and actions, Anderson does have to admit, the ship was aesthetically pleasing to the eye, crimson colour was an interesting choice, the gold rims and angelic statues however were questionable at best giving it an almost gothic theme, but the massive weapons on clear display showed its intended purpose other than being an art project.

But looking over the strike craft design profiles was a bit of a headscratcher, the fighters and bombers looked too sleek and seemed to be vessels a human would make as well as operate, there was something about these beings that put Anderson on edge.

He had no doubt the ship before him gave off its own intimidation pressure, but it was the ones who were in charge of such a ship that made him worry, as one way or another they held the life of all here on the Jolly and Blue Pearl in the palm of their figurative hands or claws.

[]

"Why are you all looking at me?" the blond demon lord looking woman said questioningly at us.

"Well, you're the one whose more knowledgeable about this "Crossover" so you must know what might come next" my Mum said towards her youngest child, well she wasn't wrong.

I only played 2nd and 3rd Mass Effect games and I've seen playthroughs about Halo, so while I did know some stuff, it was restrictive and selective.

The other three members didn't even touch the stuff, well (dad) Mother did have a few books from 30k and some 40k miniatures, but other than that they knew nothing about this reality.

Kelly on the other hand was obsessed with both franchises and much more, I've seen the figurines she collects and the constant packages we get addressed in her name back when we were still human, so enamoured with it she would often spout out facts about them in an attempt to get any of us interested.

Now I could have been a total bitch and told her to stop telling useless shit but I'm a good sister and just sit back and let her babble on about what she found so interesting.

And I admit some of things she spouted out was a bit interesting, but other than that I didn't really commit most of what she said to memory.

"Ok, well…seeing that it's the UNSC that's opened the Relay then it must mean they have replaced the Systems Alliance thus being the ones to be a part of the First Contact War, but seeing the UNSC have shields must mean their post Halo 3 and maybe 4 so there's a possibility will have to engage with some"-"Kelly.Stop" my Mother had to interrupt their daughters little rant before it would lose us.

"Just. Just tell us about the beginning of the First Contact War and leave it at that for now" my Mother asked.

Kelly had a blush and bashful look upon her face before she started to compose herself and begin with a more, structured explanation on what may happen.

"Right. Sorry, to begin with, the aliens we blew up were the Turins, the 'Peacekeepers' of the Citadel Races, militaristic and having a strong duty to adhere to the law, they are in charge of the overall safety of their collations space, warding off pirates and slavers alike, and the ones to make contact with humanity in a violent manner."

"That part checks out, but why attack unknowns if they are in essence police officers." I ask.

"I'm not too sure at all really, there's always a bad apple amongst the bunch, anyways, after a few skirmishes between the two which the Turins usually always won, they committed to invading a colony world and forcing it to surrender but not before being expelled back into Council Space by a counter attack from a strong human fleet, and before the two could really get into a total war mode the Council from the Citadel intervened and sent an envoy to cease all hostilities which worked out well which then had humanity join the galactic community. However, seeing as it's the UNSC and not the fledgling Alliance things may go very differently."

Kelly finished talking giving us much to think about.

The Turins don't know what has happened here and will take much longer to react much less send a patrol for their missing fleet, the UNSC on the other hand is a bigger but very wounded beast to deal with seeing how their smallest ships are equipped with energy shields must mean they're past the Human Covenant War.

Plus, those in charge are going to very quickly learn about us and the alien attack on this little exhibition fleet.

"And where should we stand in all of this" my eldest sibling asked bringing a much-needed question to be answered.

"Well, I'd like to side with the UNSC" Charlie then answered back to Kelly's response.

"And why should we, be realistic, do you really think the UNSC is not going to view all of us with suspicion, they might as well see us as freaks of nature, aliens masquerading as beings of myth and legend while possessing likely one of the most powerful ship and pieces of technology they have ever seen, what wont they do to us" that was a loaded counter question which had the room go silent.

Kelly looked as though she wanted to say something given her changing facial expressions, I had to agree somewhat with my eldest but at the same time I felt that the UNSC response to us wouldn't be extreme, sure questions would need to be asked and answered, but we couldn't exactly tell the truth of the matter.

It wouldn't make sense for them to believe us, they maybe could accept us being 'people' from another dimension as that's in the realm of science, our own magical abilities will just have to be accepted but our true origins.

Only a bad fanfiction would even do such thing were everyone just accepts what there being told not matter how stupid and illogical it is.

"Alright, for now we keep our Origins a secret, we will only offer assistance through this First Contact War, this UNSC will definitely keep us at arm's length for now, it'll be up to them to come to us and ask for more detailed matters, are all in agreement" our Mother made her final decision, her Wife nodded and soon the rest of us followed, we didn't have any better ideas, but later I would propose giving the extra dimensional origin story for us to explain where we all come from, the rest would have to be ironed out at a later date.

"Good, now then, Comm, the following is to be sent in Text to the vessels. 'To those we have saved, we request an audience face to face abroad our vessel, you may bring as many guards as you wish, we hope for a response in time' End message and send" with the message being complied and beamed over on possible all channels, our Mother got up from her oversized throne, floating above the ground before looking at us all with her crimson eyes.

"Freshen up and meet within the Grand Throne room, we will soon have guests and I want all three of you on your best behaviours" with that said she floated off with Mum in toe followed by the rest of us siblings on our journey back to our rooms and then towards the stated location.

[]

After reading the message through again one more time, Anderson hit s series of commands on the console in the captain's chair to call up his most trusted subordinate and good friend.

"Spartan Fire Team Normandy to the main hanger deck, you're coming with me on First Contact, get moving Shepherd."

[]

"Admiral, your orders are as follows, move your fleet towards the last known location of the 59th patrol flotillas area of operation and find any leads or the fleet itself about their radio silence, Intelligence suggests you begin your search in the region of space where Relay 314 is located."

"Good luck Admiral, and may the spirits be with you."

[]