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''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11909624/1/Remnants Remnants]]'' is the sequel to ''Fanfic/GuiltySparks'' and the third entry in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[=/=]''Franchise/MassEffect'' crossover series ''Fanfic/TheWormholeChronicles'' by General Rage.

After their [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved harrowing escape from Halo's destruction]], Commander Shepard, Master Chief, and the other survivors from the ''Normandy'' and the ''Pillar of Autumn'' are now lost in space, with only three ships to their name and no certainty of what to do next. Further complicating things is that a non-negligible cadre of [[LateArrivalSpoiler Batarian and Kig-Yar deserters are now stuck with them in a tenuous alliance]], with very few on either side happy about the situation. Shepard tries to [[OnlySaneMan keep the peace]] amongst the [[WeAreStrugglingTogether squabbling factions]], but it's an uphill battle as everyone has a different idea as to what their ultimate goals should be. But they finally get some direction [[Literature/HaloFirstStrike when a Covenant Assault Carrier happens upon them]]...

There are two companion stories, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12019300/1/The-Adventures-of-the-Lucen-The-VykurCorp-Conspiracy The Adventures of the Lucen: The VykurCorp Conspiracy]]'', which covers Dr. Liara T'Soni and her own RagtagBunchOfMisfits as they try to hinder the titular corporation's [[LesCollaborateurs collusion with the Covenant]], and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12159669/1/Buzzard-Buccaneer-Radio Buzzard Buccaneer Radio]]'', a collection of transcripts from the titular pirate radio station set up by the Kig-Yar deserters. Tropes for both side stories are at the bottom of the page.

[[WMG: ''Remnants'' contains the following tropes:]]
* AdaptationExpansion: [[UpToEleven Goes even further]] than the [[Fanfic/WhenThereWasATomorrow last]] [[Fanfic/GuiltySparks two]] stories did. While [[BroadStrokes nominally]] following the events of ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'', it adds on sub-plots about an artifact hunt (expanding the importance of the [[MacGuffin Forerunner Crystal]] from the source material by turning it into one of four PlotCoupons) and a conflict with Kig-Yar pirate leader Snarlbeak, as well as continuing plot threads set up by the previous story.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The [[spoiler:Prometheans]] appear aboard the Forerunner derelict where the team finds the Amplifier. This is five years before the Master Chief and Cortana encounter them in ''VideoGame/Halo4''.
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: The Kig-Yar, and Zek in particular, take a strong fondness to human film and music. They take a special liking to ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' in particular. Jaws because it calls to mind old sea shanties from their native Eayn, and Gremlins, because they find the titular monsters [[AlwaysChaoticEvil highly relatable]]. They also enjoy ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' for [[SpacePirate obvious reasons]]. However, it turns out that Zek and Retz, at least, ''strongly'' dislike Shakespeare's works.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The ActionPrologue focuses mainly on a female Kig-Yar tomb raider named Taq, a never-before-seen OriginalCharacter, to set up the events of the main story.
* BigBadEnsemble: In addition to the Covenant, who, for the moment, lack any sort of of [[TheHeavy focus character]], a third faction enters the fray in the form of a Kig-Yar pirate fleet lead by one of Zek's former business partners, Snarlbeak.
** [[spoiler:Special mention also goes to the "Chronicler", the preserved essence of a Precursor who terrorizes Tali after she inadvertently frees it from a Forerunner artifact it was trapped inside of.]]
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Snarlbeak compared to Thel 'Vadamee in ''Guilty Sparks''. Both are leaders of their own military factions that are menacing the characters in their respective stories, Thel leading the Fleet of Particular Justice and Snarlbeak his pirate army. However, Thel was a character taken from canon who was a ProudWarriorRaceGuy devoted to the Covenant dogma and who never once acted in his own personal interests. He also never directly encountered any of the main characters except for Zek and Varvok. Snarlbeak, by contrast, is a self-serving pirate warlord who shows open contempt for the Covenant but is willing to get on their good graces for his own benefit. He also has multiple in-person confrontations with multiple members of the cast.
* CrapsackWorld: After a mishap with the Amplifier, [[spoiler:Shepard, the Master Chief, and Cortana were all transported a year and half into the future, where everything has gone to literal hell. After the three of them disappeared, Zek and his crew abandoned the group, who rushed to the ''Halo'' Earth to defend it from the Covenant, but without Shepard or the Chief's heroism, the UNSC was utterly curbstomped by an alliance between the Covenant and the Reapers. Shepard's crew attempted to return back to their home universe through the wormhole, but the Covenant and the Reapers followed them back and launched a massive offensive against the galaxy. All of Shepard's companions except for Tali, Miranda, Liara, Wrex, Grunt, and Zaeed were killed in the early stages, and things got worse when the Flood unexpectedly entered the scene. The Quarian Migrant Fleet was wiped out by Flood-controlled Geth, all of the Council homeworlds fell, Tali ended up going insane from both the enormous personal loss and the lingering presence of the Gravemind eroding at her sanity, all of the major space fleets were decimated in an attack against Harbinger, and by the time Shepard and the Chief arrive, Earth is a war torn wasteland caught in the middle of an apocalyptic grudge match between the Flood and the Covenant/Reaper alliance.]]
* DemotedToExtra: Corporal Locklear was a major supporting character in ''Halo: First Strike'', but since he's not the only surviving ODST in this version of the story, he's only mentioned in a single line listing some of the [=ODSTs=] who support [=McKay=].
* DoubleAgent: [[spoiler:Retz is a Syndicate agent and an experienced one, at that, but he's long ago transferred his true loyalties to Zek. Exactly ''when'' he turned isn't clear, but he apparently had a HeelRealization after one too many jobs. The Syndicate at least suspected he was "too close", which is why the team that assembled to kill Taq didn't keep him in the know and kept full details of the mission from him, but clearly they overestimated just how much of a hold they really had on him since they even kept him in the loop at all.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Demonstrated in how Zek and Snarlbeak treat unggoy in similar circumstances. When an unggoy servant screws up Zek's drink order, he is content to give him a tongue-lashing for his failings and simply dismiss him. When another unggoy servant screws up Snarlbeak's order, [[DisproportionateRetribution Snarlbeak has his right-hand man, Lurz, take him out back and kill him]]. The latter event freaks out Zek so badly that he starts to second-guess his own FantasticRacism.
** Zek invokes this further during his [[CharacterFilibuster rant about Shakespeare]]. Upon watching ''Henry IV'', he points out that betrayal is acceptable in Kig-Yar society if it's a spur-of-the-moment decision [[PragmaticVillainy brought on by a change in circumstances]]. Starting a working relationship [[PoisonousFriend with the intent of betraying someone to begin with]], however, is considered [[MoralEventHorizon exceptionally heinous.]]
* FantasticRacism: Zek, a Kig-Yar, cares little for the unggoy aboard his ship and is quick to chew them out for any failings in their service. To Shepard's dismay, his first mate, Retz, who is otherwise the OnlySaneMan in Zek's crew, agrees with him. To be fair, Zek draws the line at brutally murdering them for their screwups, something that [[EvilerThanThou Snarlbeak has no qualms about]] and actually [[EvenEvilHasStandards disturbs]] Zek.
* FieldPromotion: Lieutenant Haverson and Colonel Holland decide to give [=McKay=] a RankUp to Captain to recognize her status as the leader of the [=ODSTs=] and to congratulate her on her success in leading the troops during the battle in the Forerunner cargo ship against the [[spoiler:Promethean Crawlers]]. Haverson notes they can't make it official yet (as he's not allowed to promote someone over his rank and Holland is Army, not Navy), but they ''are'' allowed to deputize her through emergency provisions (which falls under their current circumstances quite well). Getting Vice-Admiral Whitcomb to officially recognize it once they pick him up from Reach helps matters of legitimacy as well.
* GhostShip: The multi-group alliance ends up finding and exploring the wreck of a long-crashed Forerunner cargo ship. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it's not quite vacant; it's filled to the brim with hostile [[VideoGame/{{Halo4}} Promethean]] [[MechaMooks Crawlers]].]]
* GRatedDrug: Sugar has a much stronger effect on Kig-Yar than humans, to the point where Zek and Retz consider marketing it to further finance their pirate operations.
* GroundhogDayLoop: [[spoiler:Grunt and Zek get stuck in one over the course of six hours thanks to a mishap with the Amplifier and the Time Crystal. {{Shout Out}}s to ''Film/GroundhogDay'' abound.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Snarlbeak is very much this. He has been in a position of power for so long that he cannot fathom the idea of not getting what he wants. [[spoiler:When he attempts to broker a deal with the colonists in Chapter 27 so that he can get his hands on the Forerunner artifact they have coveted, he is shot down almost immediately, and promptly loses his shit.]]
* TheMole: The Syndicate ''thrives'' on creating these, seeding various loyal agents in Kig-Yar pirate crews, criminal activities, and even the Covenant forces to watch out for potential threats to the Pirate Queens' power whose jobs are to wait in deep cover for decades if need be to fulfill their objectives of ensuring nobody crosses them (or worse, tries to overthrow them). Retz recounts how many of them [[FalseFriend will build up close relationships with their targets only to stab them in the back when they least expect it]]. [[spoiler:[[DoubleAgent Retz]] is one of the few that decided he actually valued his friendship over whatever power and wealth the queens could offer him, and he makes it clear from his stories he was as ruthless as any Syndicate agent once upon a time.]]
* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler:Chapter 27 reveals that Cerberus agents trapped in the ''Halo'' universe twenty years prior while investigating a Forerunner artifact joined ONI, as the latter agreed heavily with their views. Given the amount of time that has passed since they arrived, Shepards points out that this means said agents could now be very high ranking and might even be in charge of ONI]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Chapter 27 reveals that the aforementioned time loop and subsequent time travel adventure that Shepard's team triggered with the artifact caused a temporary disruption in the timescale discrepancy of the wormhole linking the ''Mass Effect'' universe to the ''Halo'' universe. This happened at the same time Cerberus sent its agents through it, causing them to be sent back more than twenty years prior to when they planned. That being said, Shepard and his crew are inadvertently responsible for Cerberus infiltrating ONI.]]
* NonActionBigBad: Snarlbeak by choice, not because he ''can't'' fight, mind you, but because due to the trauma of his sister's death and the injuries he received avenging her he's now AfraidOfBlood.
* NotSoDifferent: Zek from his father, Dread Feather, whether he likes it or not. Be it both of them leaving their loves behind (Zek's mom and Taq), to being forced into the Covenant, [[spoiler:to even rebelling against them in the name of freedom and refusing to be a slave.]] Snarlbeak takes great pleasure in {{lampshading}} it all to an in-denial Zek.
* TheReveal: A big one gets dropped in [[WhamEpisode Chapter 27]]: [[spoiler:Cerberus Operatives ended up in the ''Halo'' universe ''twenty years prior to the events of the story'' while investigating an anomaly in space. Since then, they've been worming their way into ONI, where they ''thrived'' due to the Human-Covenant war breeding massive xenophobia toward aliens. They intend to use its resources to defeat their enemies when they get back to the ''Mass Effect'' universe]].
* SanitySlippage: Showing she's still not over what happened to her on Halo, [[spoiler:Tali ends up getting the echo of a ''Precursor'' stuck in her head thanks to one of the Forerunner artifacts and the remaining scarring from her Flood spore infection, which [[MindRape slowly starts to drive her insane and against the crews as it manipulates her into helping it while disguising it under her trying to kill it]]. She's barely able to finally root it out and kill it for real once they convince her that she's being tricked.]]
* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:The Chronicler, the living essence of a Precursor that Tali unwittingly releases from a Forerunner artifact. It proceeds to viciously MindRape her, tries to turn her against the crew, and nearly has her reroute the ship to an unknown location.]] [[spoiler:WordOfGod states that it was attempting to send the cast to [[VideoGame/Halo2 Installation 05]], where the Gravemind is waiting.]]
* ShoutOut:
** Snarlbeak's lieutenant, Lurz, is one letter short of Lurtz, the first of the Uruk Hai from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Both act as the right hand of their respective leaders.
** The scene where the [=ODSTs=] are being interrogated [[spoiler:for who gave grenades to the Syndicate Jackals that were used on Taq]] is ''very'' reminiscent of the similar scene in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E16TheHiddenEnemy The Hidden Enemy]]". And just in case you had any doubts, Sergeant Lendon is revealed much like one of the clones in that episode [[spoiler:to be collecting body-part trophies from the enemy, though his are a bit more macabre given they're body parts of Jackals rather than droids (though like said clone he's innocent of the accused crime).]]
** After Taq and Snarlbeak trigger the artifact at New Teteocan, [[spoiler:it generates a dome-like field over the colony that induces illusions derived from a person's memories, thoughts, and turmoils to anyone inside of it.]] This situation is very similar to ''Series/WandaVision''.
* SuddenlySHOUTING: Having an increasingly short temper, Snarlbeak is prone to this.
* TimeTravel: This plays a very large role in the story, thanks to the oddities of the Forerunner artifacts that the characters are hunting for. Multiple categories come up in the story, with chaotic (and sometimes hilarious and/or horrific) results:
** Zek and Grunt's GroundhogDayLoop experience is a mixture of this and MentalTimeTravel as they are repeatedly sent back in time seven hours before Tali and Halsey first tamper with the Amplifier.
** The same Amplifier sends Shepard, the Master Chief, and Cortana ahead one year into an AlternateTimeline where [[spoiler:the Covenant and the Reapers won and both the ''Halo'' and ''Mass Effect'' universes are in ruins. Luckily, they are returned to their own time to set things [[ResetButton straight]]]].
*** We find out later that both of the aforementioned incidents [[spoiler:triggered a timescale shift in the wormhole right at the moment the Illusive Man sent some of his forces through it. This caused Cerberus to be transported to the ''Halo'' universe ''twenty-three years'' before the ''Normandy'' arrives. [[TrappedinthePast Trapped]] with no way of returning, they took advantage of the situation and infiltrated ONI.]]
** The third instance does something weird. After Taq and Snarlbeak tussle over the artifact on New Teteocan, [[spoiler:it generates an anomaly around the colony that traps multiple characters in a series of illusions where they revisit key moments in their past. For some, it has them reexploring happier times. For others, they range from [[FlashbackNightmare Flashback Nightmares]] to [[TroubledBackstoryFlashback Troubled Backstory Flashbacks]].]]
* TowersOfHanoi: Discussed by some of the tech specialists while trying to solve a Forerunner puzzle. When Tali brings up Shepard having to solve this on Noveria, Halsey grimaces and then explains that when she made the various A.I. she's worked with do it, they all stopped speaking to her for ''days'' afterwards. Cortana challenged herself to it once, and got so sick of it that as soon as she finished, she deleted the program from Halsey's computer.
* VisionaryVillain: Snarlbeak is one, as he wants the Forerunner relics that possibly lead to the Astral Cutlass of Kig-Yar legend to forcibly tear control from the ruling Pirate Queen clans and name himself the first Pirate King, [[spoiler:and dragging the entire Kig-Yar race into privateer status with the Covenant, as he intends to take advantage of the power vacuum he recognizes is quickly forming with the destruction of Halo shaking the Prophets' faith in the Sangheili to put his race on top.]]
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Shepard is faced with an ''extremely'' unenviable helping of this. The humans don't trust Zek's pirates or Varvok due to their prior hatred of humans, and for Varvok, the feeling is mutual. Zek has no ill will towards humans, but isn't above leaving out crucial details to further his own hidden agendas, and some of the Jackals are willing to play with tensions if they can profit off the side. Between the humans themselves, the Marines and Army hate the [=ODSTs=] due to the latter's mutiny attempt at the end of the previous fic, while many [=ODSTs=] (i.e. the ones that were more loyal to Silva) see the rest of the UNSC soldiers and Marines as traitors and sellouts for willingly cooperating with aliens. Most of said [=ODSTs=] in turn have a rather frosty relationship with their new CO, Lieutenant [=McKay=], who [[OnlySaneMan tried to reason with Major Silva and then sided with the anti-mutiny Marines when he blew her off]].
** ''Another'' helping of this happens when the Halo survivors try to get the third Forerunner MacGuffin from a planet inhabited by people who fled the UNSC after the Covenant destroyed their world. [[spoiler: Turns out they clashed with and killed a bunch of military personnel and hijacked their cargo transport to do it, and Haverson is legally obligated to take their leadership back to Earth to face prosecution, pushing Shepard's GuileHero cred to its limits]].
* WretchedHive: The Hollow, a hollowed out moon inhabited by all sorts of Kig-Yar pirates, criminals, and similarly disreputable folk.

[[WMG: ''The Adventures of the Lucen: The [=VykurCorp=] Conspiracy'' and ''Buzzard Buccaneer Radio'' contain the following tropes:]]

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:The Singular]] is the end result of [[spoiler:what remains of the heretical Geth (who allied with Sovereign and slaughtered thousands, if not millions of organics) and a Covenant AI (already in late-stage rampancy and just as dedicated to the mission of killing anything that doesn't follow the Covenant, but especially humanity) merging their damaged programming together into a singular being.]] There was little hope of it being anything other than an organic-hating AI out to enact mass genocide across the galaxy.
* BigBad: Spadvius Orukuri, the CEO of [=VykurCorp=].
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:The heretical Geth return in the form of The Singular, which are the [[FusionDance fusion]] of what remained of the heretical Geth after Shepard destroyed them all that managed to escape the virus and merged with a Covenant AI.]]
* CallBack: Remember that Covenant raid on a Salarian lab back in ''Guilty Sparks'' mentioned by Major Kirrahe? Well, Liara and company finally get around to finding out just ''what'' they stole. [[spoiler:It's a biological agent that was originally designed as a pesticide against a special type of invasive insect, but what the creators didn't expect it to do was attack the insect's amino acids. Said amino acids were dextro-based, meaning the salarians inadvertently created a possible bioweapon against turians and quarians that would ''only'' target them.]]
* TheCameo: Though Locklear is DemotedToExtra in the main story, he's one of the first humans to call the titular station in ''Buzzard Buccaneer Radio''.
* ColonelBadass: Nel's father, Colonel Tiveriux Hygilius Catonis, admits that he prefers being a [[BadassBookworm scientist with a test tube]] rather than a soldier with a gun, but he proves he has NervesOfSteel on the battlefield and in the interrogation room and can hold his own in a firefight.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: In regards to Liara's story arc from ''Guilty Sparks'', Orukuri is this to Vorsa 'Judamai; while Liara's arc featured many significant villains, Vorsa was the ''Lucen'' crew's most recurring enemy and the only one they actually fought in person. While Vorsa was a [[FantasticRacism Fantastically Racist]] ProudWarriorRaceGuy and BloodKnight with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, Orukuri is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who's alliance with the Covenant is largely out of dissatisfaction with the Turian Hierarchy's structure and a urge to avenge the death of his son, making him something of a WellIntentionedExtremist.
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: While its really more of a spin-off, ''The [=VykurCorp=] Conspiracy'' shifts its focus away from Shepard's crew completely in favor of Liara's, and they are [[DysfunctionJunction much less organized and more dysfunctional]] than Shepard's crew since Liara is not quite yet TheLeader that Shepard is.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Orukuri is this, albeit a more sympathetic version of the trope.
* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler:Orukuri's big plan. On Unification Day in the city of Ciptrine on Palaven, the Colonial Liberation Coalition will pull off a simultaneous assassination of Primarch Fedorian and unleash the S3 biological bomb. At the same time, the CLC will attack the city alongside the Blood Pack, Eclipse Sisters, and human mercenaries pretending to be Cerberus (thus fulfilling the quota of inciting xenophobia alongside terrorism) while wielding Covenant weaponry. When the chaos hits its peak, VykurCorp PMC Forces will step in to restore order and eliminate the CLC and the fake Cerberus while the Blood Pack and Eclipse Sisters leave their "allies" out to dry, plus providing the vaccine for the plague. Then they'll break the news that the S3 strain was stolen by Cerberus from the salarians who developed it as a weapon to kill turians, who in turn gave it to the CLC that joined forces with krogan and asari-led criminal gangs to spread chaos on the most "sacred and hallowed of days". With this, the turians will be swept up in a race-wide flood of nationalism and xenophobia against the old Hierarchy and Galactic Council that made all this possible with their goals of "integration", while VykurCorp is posed as the heroes that will lead the turians to a brighter future of "turians first".]]
* InsistentTerminology: When Saya volunteers to infiltrate STG Headquarters on Sur'Kesh, Liara reminds him that what he's doing is functionally treason to the Salarian Union. Through his Omni-Tool, [[SilentSnarker Saya clarifies that it's actually sedition]], since the Union isn't at war with the Shadow Broker. [[note]]Which is specifically a requirement to be considered treason under American Law in real life.[[/note]]
* {{Irony}}: As it turns out, the reason Nel's father was so insistent on convincing her not to join the military or turn her off the idea of it was because ''his'' father forced him to join, ignoring his desires to be a scientist rather than a soldier because he had to live up to the family's legacy of military service. He believed that he was doing for her what his father wouldn't do for him, giving her a free choice to be whatever she wanted to be, that she didn't ''have'' to be a soldier because that's what the family had always been. [[MyGreatestFailure As he sorrowfully notes looking back now]], he really was NotSoDifferent forcing what he wanted on her rather than letting her be what she wanted to be after all.
* LowerDeckEpisode: ''Buzzard Buccaneer Radio'' focuses more on how the ordinary UNSC soldiers, Kig-Yar pirates, and batarians feel about the events involving their small joint fleet.
* MegaCorp: The titular [=VykurCorp=], which is a turian conglomerate whose leadership has joined up with the Covenant to overthrow the current turian hierarchy.
* NeverMyFault: Part of Nel's CharacterDevelopment carrying over from the previous fic is coming to terms with how, while plenty of people in her life ''have'' screwed her over whether intentionally or not, she's not blameless in how her life has gone and she freely admits she has been a selfish bitch many times. [[spoiler:During her reconciliation with her father, she tearfully doesn't deny she's played her part in how distant and hostile their relationship has become and wants to be fix things.]]
* ParentsAsPeople: Hearing it from Nel, her father Colonel Catonis sounds like a flat-out AbusiveParent, but when he finally has a chance to explain his side of the story it's shown, while certainly not perfect and freely admitting he ''was'' a much shittier father than she deserved, he genuinely loves her and never wanted to hurt her, but his own baggage regarding his familial issues, his work life, and his personality meant he couldn't show her how he truly felt and he ''does'' want to be better for her and mend the rift between them.
* PoorCommunicationKills: As it turns out, Nel's father has a ''bad'' case of this, unable to get across his actual feelings for Nel due to his own issues and how broken their relationship has gotten. One of the most noticeable points is when Nel recounts how he never showed up to her court-martial, which she believes is because he was ashamed of her and allowed her to get thrown out of the service with a dishonorable discharge. As it turns out, he didn't show up because his colleagues in the War Spirit Blood program wanted him to ''testify against her and throw her under the bus'' so the program could go forward, which he refused to do.
* ShoutOut: Saya's infiltration of STG headquarters is reminiscent of the ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' games.
* SpottingTheThread: Liara and the team receive a transmission from an unknown source concerning a Covenant ship carrying armaments for the Hegemony and CLC terrorists. They board the ship in question and realize the sender was a heavily-damaged Geth forcibly hooked up to the systems that asks to be freed. Vik is instantly suspicious of it, and while Liara shares his concerns learning about Legion makes her willing to give it a chance, especially when it offers to help them further. When she frees it, everything looks fine and dandy and the Geth even thanks her...[[spoiler:and then Liara realizes what it just said.]]
-->'''Liara''': Repeat what you just said.\\
'''Geth''': ''(in monotone)'' We said [[spoiler:we are free]].\\
'''Liara''': No, you said '[[spoiler:I am free]]', you referred [[spoiler:to yourself as an individual]]. I have it on good authority [[spoiler:[[IAmLegion Geth don't see themselves like that]]]].\\
'''Geth''': ''[[spoiler:(drops the montone and takes up a harsh robotic accent)]]'' [[spoiler:I]] really wished you hadn't noticed that.
* VillainHasAPoint: Hanilex and Orukuri bring up very decent points in their {{Freudian Excuse}}s for why they've allied with the Separatists [[spoiler:with the former dealing with the stigmata of being a Turian biotic and having his whole life be a lie due to his father using his money and connections to hide this, while the latter has to deal with how the government lied about the circumstances under which his son died (he died protecting a human colony in the Terminus as part of a joint-Species Taskforce by the Council, and the matter was kept hush-hush since the Council isn't technically allowed to operate there) because they knew there would be backlash]]. Nel, her father, even Liara all note the Hierarchy has problems with how it runs and it's not blameless or flawless. ''However'', it all comes back to how bombing civilians isn't the right way to force change and make things "right".
* WarIsHell: Something that Nel's father believed and tried to force into her head as a child to discourage her from joining the service. It didn't quite take, both because she genuinely loved the adrenaline of combat and because she wanted to spite him.

to:

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11909624/1/Remnants Remnants]]'' is the sequel to ''Fanfic/GuiltySparks'' and the third entry in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[=/=]''Franchise/MassEffect'' crossover series ''Fanfic/TheWormholeChronicles'' by General Rage.

After their [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved harrowing escape from Halo's destruction]], Commander Shepard, Master Chief, and the other survivors from the ''Normandy'' and the ''Pillar of Autumn'' are now lost in space, with only three ships to their name and no certainty of what to do next. Further complicating things is that a non-negligible cadre of [[LateArrivalSpoiler Batarian and Kig-Yar deserters are now stuck with them in a tenuous alliance]], with very few on either side happy about the situation. Shepard tries to [[OnlySaneMan keep the peace]] amongst the [[WeAreStrugglingTogether squabbling factions]], but it's an uphill battle as everyone has a different idea as to what their ultimate goals should be. But they finally get some direction [[Literature/HaloFirstStrike when a Covenant Assault Carrier happens upon them]]...

There are two companion stories, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12019300/1/The-Adventures-of-the-Lucen-The-VykurCorp-Conspiracy The Adventures of the Lucen: The VykurCorp Conspiracy]]'', which covers Dr. Liara T'Soni and her own RagtagBunchOfMisfits as they try to hinder the titular corporation's [[LesCollaborateurs collusion with the Covenant]], and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12159669/1/Buzzard-Buccaneer-Radio Buzzard Buccaneer Radio]]'', a collection of transcripts from the titular pirate radio station set up by the Kig-Yar deserters. Tropes for both side stories are at the bottom of the page.

[[WMG: ''Remnants'' contains the following tropes:]]
* AdaptationExpansion: [[UpToEleven Goes even further]] than the [[Fanfic/WhenThereWasATomorrow last]] [[Fanfic/GuiltySparks two]] stories did. While [[BroadStrokes nominally]] following the events of ''Literature/HaloFirstStrike'', it adds on sub-plots about an artifact hunt (expanding the importance of the [[MacGuffin Forerunner Crystal]] from the source material by turning it into one of four PlotCoupons) and a conflict with Kig-Yar pirate leader Snarlbeak, as well as continuing plot threads set up by the previous story.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The [[spoiler:Prometheans]] appear aboard the Forerunner derelict where the team finds the Amplifier. This is five years before the Master Chief and Cortana encounter them in ''VideoGame/Halo4''.
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: The Kig-Yar, and Zek in particular, take a strong fondness to human film and music. They take a special liking to ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' in particular. Jaws because it calls to mind old sea shanties from their native Eayn, and Gremlins, because they find the titular monsters [[AlwaysChaoticEvil highly relatable]]. They also enjoy ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' for [[SpacePirate obvious reasons]]. However, it turns out that Zek and Retz, at least, ''strongly'' dislike Shakespeare's works.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The ActionPrologue focuses mainly on a female Kig-Yar tomb raider named Taq, a never-before-seen OriginalCharacter, to set up the events of the main story.
* BigBadEnsemble: In addition to the Covenant, who, for the moment, lack any sort of of [[TheHeavy focus character]], a third faction enters the fray in the form of a Kig-Yar pirate fleet lead by one of Zek's former business partners, Snarlbeak.
** [[spoiler:Special mention also goes to the "Chronicler", the preserved essence of a Precursor who terrorizes Tali after she inadvertently frees it from a Forerunner artifact it was trapped inside of.]]
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Snarlbeak compared to Thel 'Vadamee in ''Guilty Sparks''. Both are leaders of their own military factions that are menacing the characters in their respective stories, Thel leading the Fleet of Particular Justice and Snarlbeak his pirate army. However, Thel was a character taken from canon who was a ProudWarriorRaceGuy devoted to the Covenant dogma and who never once acted in his own personal interests. He also never directly encountered any of the main characters except for Zek and Varvok. Snarlbeak, by contrast, is a self-serving pirate warlord who shows open contempt for the Covenant but is willing to get on their good graces for his own benefit. He also has multiple in-person confrontations with multiple members of the cast.
* CrapsackWorld: After a mishap with the Amplifier, [[spoiler:Shepard, the Master Chief, and Cortana were all transported a year and half into the future, where everything has gone to literal hell. After the three of them disappeared, Zek and his crew abandoned the group, who rushed to the ''Halo'' Earth to defend it from the Covenant, but without Shepard or the Chief's heroism, the UNSC was utterly curbstomped by an alliance between the Covenant and the Reapers. Shepard's crew attempted to return back to their home universe through the wormhole, but the Covenant and the Reapers followed them back and launched a massive offensive against the galaxy. All of Shepard's companions except for Tali, Miranda, Liara, Wrex, Grunt, and Zaeed were killed in the early stages, and things got worse when the Flood unexpectedly entered the scene. The Quarian Migrant Fleet was wiped out by Flood-controlled Geth, all of the Council homeworlds fell, Tali ended up going insane from both the enormous personal loss and the lingering presence of the Gravemind eroding at her sanity, all of the major space fleets were decimated in an attack against Harbinger, and by the time Shepard and the Chief arrive, Earth is a war torn wasteland caught in the middle of an apocalyptic grudge match between the Flood and the Covenant/Reaper alliance.]]
* DemotedToExtra: Corporal Locklear was a major supporting character in ''Halo: First Strike'', but since he's not the only surviving ODST in this version of the story, he's only mentioned in a single line listing some of the [=ODSTs=] who support [=McKay=].
* DoubleAgent: [[spoiler:Retz is a Syndicate agent and an experienced one, at that, but he's long ago transferred his true loyalties to Zek. Exactly ''when'' he turned isn't clear, but he apparently had a HeelRealization after one too many jobs. The Syndicate at least suspected he was "too close", which is why the team that assembled to kill Taq didn't keep him in the know and kept full details of the mission from him, but clearly they overestimated just how much of a hold they really had on him since they even kept him in the loop at all.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Demonstrated in how Zek and Snarlbeak treat unggoy in similar circumstances. When an unggoy servant screws up Zek's drink order, he is content to give him a tongue-lashing for his failings and simply dismiss him. When another unggoy servant screws up Snarlbeak's order, [[DisproportionateRetribution Snarlbeak has his right-hand man, Lurz, take him out back and kill him]]. The latter event freaks out Zek so badly that he starts to second-guess his own FantasticRacism.
** Zek invokes this further during his [[CharacterFilibuster rant about Shakespeare]]. Upon watching ''Henry IV'', he points out that betrayal is acceptable in Kig-Yar society if it's a spur-of-the-moment decision [[PragmaticVillainy brought on by a change in circumstances]]. Starting a working relationship [[PoisonousFriend with the intent of betraying someone to begin with]], however, is considered [[MoralEventHorizon exceptionally heinous.]]
* FantasticRacism: Zek, a Kig-Yar, cares little for the unggoy aboard his ship and is quick to chew them out for any failings in their service. To Shepard's dismay, his first mate, Retz, who is otherwise the OnlySaneMan in Zek's crew, agrees with him. To be fair, Zek draws the line at brutally murdering them for their screwups, something that [[EvilerThanThou Snarlbeak has no qualms about]] and actually [[EvenEvilHasStandards disturbs]] Zek.
* FieldPromotion: Lieutenant Haverson and Colonel Holland decide to give [=McKay=] a RankUp to Captain to recognize her status as the leader of the [=ODSTs=] and to congratulate her on her success in leading the troops during the battle in the Forerunner cargo ship against the [[spoiler:Promethean Crawlers]]. Haverson notes they can't make it official yet (as he's not allowed to promote someone over his rank and Holland is Army, not Navy), but they ''are'' allowed to deputize her through emergency provisions (which falls under their current circumstances quite well). Getting Vice-Admiral Whitcomb to officially recognize it once they pick him up from Reach helps matters of legitimacy as well.
* GhostShip: The multi-group alliance ends up finding and exploring the wreck of a long-crashed Forerunner cargo ship. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it's not quite vacant; it's filled to the brim with hostile [[VideoGame/{{Halo4}} Promethean]] [[MechaMooks Crawlers]].]]
* GRatedDrug: Sugar has a much stronger effect on Kig-Yar than humans, to the point where Zek and Retz consider marketing it to further finance their pirate operations.
* GroundhogDayLoop: [[spoiler:Grunt and Zek get stuck in one over the course of six hours thanks to a mishap with the Amplifier and the Time Crystal. {{Shout Out}}s to ''Film/GroundhogDay'' abound.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Snarlbeak is very much this. He has been in a position of power for so long that he cannot fathom the idea of not getting what he wants. [[spoiler:When he attempts to broker a deal with the colonists in Chapter 27 so that he can get his hands on the Forerunner artifact they have coveted, he is shot down almost immediately, and promptly loses his shit.]]
* TheMole: The Syndicate ''thrives'' on creating these, seeding various loyal agents in Kig-Yar pirate crews, criminal activities, and even the Covenant forces to watch out for potential threats to the Pirate Queens' power whose jobs are to wait in deep cover for decades if need be to fulfill their objectives of ensuring nobody crosses them (or worse, tries to overthrow them). Retz recounts how many of them [[FalseFriend will build up close relationships with their targets only to stab them in the back when they least expect it]]. [[spoiler:[[DoubleAgent Retz]] is one of the few that decided he actually valued his friendship over whatever power and wealth the queens could offer him, and he makes it clear from his stories he was as ruthless as any Syndicate agent once upon a time.]]
* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler:Chapter 27 reveals that Cerberus agents trapped in the ''Halo'' universe twenty years prior while investigating a Forerunner artifact joined ONI, as the latter agreed heavily with their views. Given the amount of time that has passed since they arrived, Shepards points out that this means said agents could now be very high ranking and might even be in charge of ONI]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Chapter 27 reveals that the aforementioned time loop and subsequent time travel adventure that Shepard's team triggered with the artifact caused a temporary disruption in the timescale discrepancy of the wormhole linking the ''Mass Effect'' universe to the ''Halo'' universe. This happened at the same time Cerberus sent its agents through it, causing them to be sent back more than twenty years prior to when they planned. That being said, Shepard and his crew are inadvertently responsible for Cerberus infiltrating ONI.]]
* NonActionBigBad: Snarlbeak by choice, not because he ''can't'' fight, mind you, but because due to the trauma of his sister's death and the injuries he received avenging her he's now AfraidOfBlood.
* NotSoDifferent: Zek from his father, Dread Feather, whether he likes it or not. Be it both of them leaving their loves behind (Zek's mom and Taq), to being forced into the Covenant, [[spoiler:to even rebelling against them in the name of freedom and refusing to be a slave.]] Snarlbeak takes great pleasure in {{lampshading}} it all to an in-denial Zek.
* TheReveal: A big one gets dropped in [[WhamEpisode Chapter 27]]: [[spoiler:Cerberus Operatives ended up in the ''Halo'' universe ''twenty years prior to the events of the story'' while investigating an anomaly in space. Since then, they've been worming their way into ONI, where they ''thrived'' due to the Human-Covenant war breeding massive xenophobia toward aliens. They intend to use its resources to defeat their enemies when they get back to the ''Mass Effect'' universe]].
* SanitySlippage: Showing she's still not over what happened to her on Halo, [[spoiler:Tali ends up getting the echo of a ''Precursor'' stuck in her head thanks to one of the Forerunner artifacts and the remaining scarring from her Flood spore infection, which [[MindRape slowly starts to drive her insane and against the crews as it manipulates her into helping it while disguising it under her trying to kill it]]. She's barely able to finally root it out and kill it for real once they convince her that she's being tricked.]]
* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:The Chronicler, the living essence of a Precursor that Tali unwittingly releases from a Forerunner artifact. It proceeds to viciously MindRape her, tries to turn her against the crew, and nearly has her reroute the ship to an unknown location.]] [[spoiler:WordOfGod states that it was attempting to send the cast to [[VideoGame/Halo2 Installation 05]], where the Gravemind is waiting.]]
* ShoutOut:
** Snarlbeak's lieutenant, Lurz, is one letter short of Lurtz, the first of the Uruk Hai from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Both act as the right hand of their respective leaders.
** The scene where the [=ODSTs=] are being interrogated [[spoiler:for who gave grenades to the Syndicate Jackals that were used on Taq]] is ''very'' reminiscent of the similar scene in "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E16TheHiddenEnemy The Hidden Enemy]]". And just in case you had any doubts, Sergeant Lendon is revealed much like one of the clones in that episode [[spoiler:to be collecting body-part trophies from the enemy, though his are a bit more macabre given they're body parts of Jackals rather than droids (though like said clone he's innocent of the accused crime).]]
** After Taq and Snarlbeak trigger the artifact at New Teteocan, [[spoiler:it generates a dome-like field over the colony that induces illusions derived from a person's memories, thoughts, and turmoils to anyone inside of it.]] This situation is very similar to ''Series/WandaVision''.
* SuddenlySHOUTING: Having an increasingly short temper, Snarlbeak is prone to this.
* TimeTravel: This plays a very large role in the story, thanks to the oddities of the Forerunner artifacts that the characters are hunting for. Multiple categories come up in the story, with chaotic (and sometimes hilarious and/or horrific) results:
** Zek and Grunt's GroundhogDayLoop experience is a mixture of this and MentalTimeTravel as they are repeatedly sent back in time seven hours before Tali and Halsey first tamper with the Amplifier.
** The same Amplifier sends Shepard, the Master Chief, and Cortana ahead one year into an AlternateTimeline where [[spoiler:the Covenant and the Reapers won and both the ''Halo'' and ''Mass Effect'' universes are in ruins. Luckily, they are returned to their own time to set things [[ResetButton straight]]]].
*** We find out later that both of the aforementioned incidents [[spoiler:triggered a timescale shift in the wormhole right at the moment the Illusive Man sent some of his forces through it. This caused Cerberus to be transported to the ''Halo'' universe ''twenty-three years'' before the ''Normandy'' arrives. [[TrappedinthePast Trapped]] with no way of returning, they took advantage of the situation and infiltrated ONI.]]
** The third instance does something weird. After Taq and Snarlbeak tussle over the artifact on New Teteocan, [[spoiler:it generates an anomaly around the colony that traps multiple characters in a series of illusions where they revisit key moments in their past. For some, it has them reexploring happier times. For others, they range from [[FlashbackNightmare Flashback Nightmares]] to [[TroubledBackstoryFlashback Troubled Backstory Flashbacks]].]]
* TowersOfHanoi: Discussed by some of the tech specialists while trying to solve a Forerunner puzzle. When Tali brings up Shepard having to solve this on Noveria, Halsey grimaces and then explains that when she made the various A.I. she's worked with do it, they all stopped speaking to her for ''days'' afterwards. Cortana challenged herself to it once, and got so sick of it that as soon as she finished, she deleted the program from Halsey's computer.
* VisionaryVillain: Snarlbeak is one, as he wants the Forerunner relics that possibly lead to the Astral Cutlass of Kig-Yar legend to forcibly tear control from the ruling Pirate Queen clans and name himself the first Pirate King, [[spoiler:and dragging the entire Kig-Yar race into privateer status with the Covenant, as he intends to take advantage of the power vacuum he recognizes is quickly forming with the destruction of Halo shaking the Prophets' faith in the Sangheili to put his race on top.]]
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Shepard is faced with an ''extremely'' unenviable helping of this. The humans don't trust Zek's pirates or Varvok due to their prior hatred of humans, and for Varvok, the feeling is mutual. Zek has no ill will towards humans, but isn't above leaving out crucial details to further his own hidden agendas, and some of the Jackals are willing to play with tensions if they can profit off the side. Between the humans themselves, the Marines and Army hate the [=ODSTs=] due to the latter's mutiny attempt at the end of the previous fic, while many [=ODSTs=] (i.e. the ones that were more loyal to Silva) see the rest of the UNSC soldiers and Marines as traitors and sellouts for willingly cooperating with aliens. Most of said [=ODSTs=] in turn have a rather frosty relationship with their new CO, Lieutenant [=McKay=], who [[OnlySaneMan tried to reason with Major Silva and then sided with the anti-mutiny Marines when he blew her off]].
** ''Another'' helping of this happens when the Halo survivors try to get the third Forerunner MacGuffin from a planet inhabited by people who fled the UNSC after the Covenant destroyed their world. [[spoiler: Turns out they clashed with and killed a bunch of military personnel and hijacked their cargo transport to do it, and Haverson is legally obligated to take their leadership back to Earth to face prosecution, pushing Shepard's GuileHero cred to its limits]].
* WretchedHive: The Hollow, a hollowed out moon inhabited by all sorts of Kig-Yar pirates, criminals, and similarly disreputable folk.

[[WMG: ''The Adventures of the Lucen: The [=VykurCorp=] Conspiracy'' and ''Buzzard Buccaneer Radio'' contain the following tropes:]]

* AIIsACrapshoot: [[spoiler:The Singular]] is the end result of [[spoiler:what remains of the heretical Geth (who allied with Sovereign and slaughtered thousands, if not millions of organics) and a Covenant AI (already in late-stage rampancy and just as dedicated to the mission of killing anything that doesn't follow the Covenant, but especially humanity) merging their damaged programming together into a singular being.]] There was little hope of it being anything other than an organic-hating AI out to enact mass genocide across the galaxy.
* BigBad: Spadvius Orukuri, the CEO of [=VykurCorp=].
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:The heretical Geth return in the form of The Singular, which are the [[FusionDance fusion]] of what remained of the heretical Geth after Shepard destroyed them all that managed to escape the virus and merged with a Covenant AI.]]
* CallBack: Remember that Covenant raid on a Salarian lab back in ''Guilty Sparks'' mentioned by Major Kirrahe? Well, Liara and company finally get around to finding out just ''what'' they stole. [[spoiler:It's a biological agent that was originally designed as a pesticide against a special type of invasive insect, but what the creators didn't expect it to do was attack the insect's amino acids. Said amino acids were dextro-based, meaning the salarians inadvertently created a possible bioweapon against turians and quarians that would ''only'' target them.]]
* TheCameo: Though Locklear is DemotedToExtra in the main story, he's one of the first humans to call the titular station in ''Buzzard Buccaneer Radio''.
* ColonelBadass: Nel's father, Colonel Tiveriux Hygilius Catonis, admits that he prefers being a [[BadassBookworm scientist with a test tube]] rather than a soldier with a gun, but he proves he has NervesOfSteel on the battlefield and in the interrogation room and can hold his own in a firefight.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: In regards to Liara's story arc from ''Guilty Sparks'', Orukuri is this to Vorsa 'Judamai; while Liara's arc featured many significant villains, Vorsa was the ''Lucen'' crew's most recurring enemy and the only one they actually fought in person. While Vorsa was a [[FantasticRacism Fantastically Racist]] ProudWarriorRaceGuy and BloodKnight with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, Orukuri is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who's alliance with the Covenant is largely out of dissatisfaction with the Turian Hierarchy's structure and a urge to avenge the death of his son, making him something of a WellIntentionedExtremist.
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: While its really more of a spin-off, ''The [=VykurCorp=] Conspiracy'' shifts its focus away from Shepard's crew completely in favor of Liara's, and they are [[DysfunctionJunction much less organized and more dysfunctional]] than Shepard's crew since Liara is not quite yet TheLeader that Shepard is.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Orukuri is this, albeit a more sympathetic version of the trope.
* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler:Orukuri's big plan. On Unification Day in the city of Ciptrine on Palaven, the Colonial Liberation Coalition will pull off a simultaneous assassination of Primarch Fedorian and unleash the S3 biological bomb. At the same time, the CLC will attack the city alongside the Blood Pack, Eclipse Sisters, and human mercenaries pretending to be Cerberus (thus fulfilling the quota of inciting xenophobia alongside terrorism) while wielding Covenant weaponry. When the chaos hits its peak, VykurCorp PMC Forces will step in to restore order and eliminate the CLC and the fake Cerberus while the Blood Pack and Eclipse Sisters leave their "allies" out to dry, plus providing the vaccine for the plague. Then they'll break the news that the S3 strain was stolen by Cerberus from the salarians who developed it as a weapon to kill turians, who in turn gave it to the CLC that joined forces with krogan and asari-led criminal gangs to spread chaos on the most "sacred and hallowed of days". With this, the turians will be swept up in a race-wide flood of nationalism and xenophobia against the old Hierarchy and Galactic Council that made all this possible with their goals of "integration", while VykurCorp is posed as the heroes that will lead the turians to a brighter future of "turians first".]]
* InsistentTerminology: When Saya volunteers to infiltrate STG Headquarters on Sur'Kesh, Liara reminds him that what he's doing is functionally treason to the Salarian Union. Through his Omni-Tool, [[SilentSnarker Saya clarifies that it's actually sedition]], since the Union isn't at war with the Shadow Broker. [[note]]Which is specifically a requirement to be considered treason under American Law in real life.[[/note]]
* {{Irony}}: As it turns out, the reason Nel's father was so insistent on convincing her not to join the military or turn her off the idea of it was because ''his'' father forced him to join, ignoring his desires to be a scientist rather than a soldier because he had to live up to the family's legacy of military service. He believed that he was doing for her what his father wouldn't do for him, giving her a free choice to be whatever she wanted to be, that she didn't ''have'' to be a soldier because that's what the family had always been. [[MyGreatestFailure As he sorrowfully notes looking back now]], he really was NotSoDifferent forcing what he wanted on her rather than letting her be what she wanted to be after all.
* LowerDeckEpisode: ''Buzzard Buccaneer Radio'' focuses more on how the ordinary UNSC soldiers, Kig-Yar pirates, and batarians feel about the events involving their small joint fleet.
* MegaCorp: The titular [=VykurCorp=], which is a turian conglomerate whose leadership has joined up with the Covenant to overthrow the current turian hierarchy.
* NeverMyFault: Part of Nel's CharacterDevelopment carrying over from the previous fic is coming to terms with how, while plenty of people in her life ''have'' screwed her over whether intentionally or not, she's not blameless in how her life has gone and she freely admits she has been a selfish bitch many times. [[spoiler:During her reconciliation with her father, she tearfully doesn't deny she's played her part in how distant and hostile their relationship has become and wants to be fix things.]]
* ParentsAsPeople: Hearing it from Nel, her father Colonel Catonis sounds like a flat-out AbusiveParent, but when he finally has a chance to explain his side of the story it's shown, while certainly not perfect and freely admitting he ''was'' a much shittier father than she deserved, he genuinely loves her and never wanted to hurt her, but his own baggage regarding his familial issues, his work life, and his personality meant he couldn't show her how he truly felt and he ''does'' want to be better for her and mend the rift between them.
* PoorCommunicationKills: As it turns out, Nel's father has a ''bad'' case of this, unable to get across his actual feelings for Nel due to his own issues and how broken their relationship has gotten. One of the most noticeable points is when Nel recounts how he never showed up to her court-martial, which she believes is because he was ashamed of her and allowed her to get thrown out of the service with a dishonorable discharge. As it turns out, he didn't show up because his colleagues in the War Spirit Blood program wanted him to ''testify against her and throw her under the bus'' so the program could go forward, which he refused to do.
* ShoutOut: Saya's infiltration of STG headquarters is reminiscent of the ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' games.
* SpottingTheThread: Liara and the team receive a transmission from an unknown source concerning a Covenant ship carrying armaments for the Hegemony and CLC terrorists. They board the ship in question and realize the sender was a heavily-damaged Geth forcibly hooked up to the systems that asks to be freed. Vik is instantly suspicious of it, and while Liara shares his concerns learning about Legion makes her willing to give it a chance, especially when it offers to help them further. When she frees it, everything looks fine and dandy and the Geth even thanks her...[[spoiler:and then Liara realizes what it just said.]]
-->'''Liara''': Repeat what you just said.\\
'''Geth''': ''(in monotone)'' We said [[spoiler:we are free]].\\
'''Liara''': No, you said '[[spoiler:I am free]]', you referred [[spoiler:to yourself as an individual]]. I have it on good authority [[spoiler:[[IAmLegion Geth don't see themselves like that]]]].\\
'''Geth''': ''[[spoiler:(drops the montone and takes up a harsh robotic accent)]]'' [[spoiler:I]] really wished you hadn't noticed that.
* VillainHasAPoint: Hanilex and Orukuri bring up very decent points in their {{Freudian Excuse}}s for why they've allied with the Separatists [[spoiler:with the former dealing with the stigmata of being a Turian biotic and having his whole life be a lie due to his father using his money and connections to hide this, while the latter has to deal with how the government lied about the circumstances under which his son died (he died protecting a human colony in the Terminus as part of a joint-Species Taskforce by the Council, and the matter was kept hush-hush since the Council isn't technically allowed to operate there) because they knew there would be backlash]]. Nel, her father, even Liara all note the Hierarchy has problems with how it runs and it's not blameless or flawless. ''However'', it all comes back to how bombing civilians isn't the right way to force change and make things "right".
* WarIsHell: Something that Nel's father believed and tried to force into her head as a child to discourage her from joining the service. It didn't quite take, both because she genuinely loved the adrenaline of combat and because she wanted to spite him.
[[redirect:Fanfic/RemnantsGeneralRage]]
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* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The Prometheans appear aboard the Forerunner derelict where the team finds the Amplifier. This is five years before the Master Chief and Cortana encounter them in ''VideoGame/Halo4''.

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* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The Prometheans [[spoiler:Prometheans]] appear aboard the Forerunner derelict where the team finds the Amplifier. This is five years before the Master Chief and Cortana encounter them in ''VideoGame/Halo4''.

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* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The Prometheans appear aboard the Forerunner derelict where the team finds the Amplifier. This is five years before the Master Chief and Cortana encounter them in ''VideoGame/Halo4''.



* SuddenlySHOUTING!: Having an increasingly short temper, Snarlbeak is prone to this.

to:

** After Taq and Snarlbeak trigger the artifact at New Teteocan, [[spoiler:it generates a dome-like field over the colony that induces illusions derived from a person's memories, thoughts, and turmoils to anyone inside of it.]] This situation is very similar to ''Series/WandaVision''.
* SuddenlySHOUTING!: SuddenlySHOUTING: Having an increasingly short temper, Snarlbeak is prone to this.this.
* TimeTravel: This plays a very large role in the story, thanks to the oddities of the Forerunner artifacts that the characters are hunting for. Multiple categories come up in the story, with chaotic (and sometimes hilarious and/or horrific) results:
** Zek and Grunt's GroundhogDayLoop experience is a mixture of this and MentalTimeTravel as they are repeatedly sent back in time seven hours before Tali and Halsey first tamper with the Amplifier.
** The same Amplifier sends Shepard, the Master Chief, and Cortana ahead one year into an AlternateTimeline where [[spoiler:the Covenant and the Reapers won and both the ''Halo'' and ''Mass Effect'' universes are in ruins. Luckily, they are returned to their own time to set things [[ResetButton straight]]]].
*** We find out later that both of the aforementioned incidents [[spoiler:triggered a timescale shift in the wormhole right at the moment the Illusive Man sent some of his forces through it. This caused Cerberus to be transported to the ''Halo'' universe ''twenty-three years'' before the ''Normandy'' arrives. [[TrappedinthePast Trapped]] with no way of returning, they took advantage of the situation and infiltrated ONI.]]
** The third instance does something weird. After Taq and Snarlbeak tussle over the artifact on New Teteocan, [[spoiler:it generates an anomaly around the colony that traps multiple characters in a series of illusions where they revisit key moments in their past. For some, it has them reexploring happier times. For others, they range from [[FlashbackNightmare Flashback Nightmares]] to [[TroubledBackstoryFlashback Troubled Backstory Flashbacks]].]]
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''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11909624/1/Remnants Remnants]]'' is the sequel to ''Fanfic/GuiltySparks'' and the third entry in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[=/=]''Franchise/MassEffect'' crossover series ''The Wormhole Chronicles'' by General Rage.

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''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11909624/1/Remnants Remnants]]'' is the sequel to ''Fanfic/GuiltySparks'' and the third entry in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[=/=]''Franchise/MassEffect'' crossover series ''The Wormhole Chronicles'' ''Fanfic/TheWormholeChronicles'' by General Rage.
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* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: In regards to Liara's story arc from ''Guilty Sparks'', Orukuri is this to Vorsa 'Judamai; while Liara's arc featured many significant villains, Vorsa was the ''Lucen'' crew's most recurring enemy and the only one they actually fought in person. While Vorsa was a [[FantasticRacism Fantastically Racist]] ProudWarriorRaceGuy and BloodKnight with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, Orukuri is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who's alliance with the Covenant is largely out of dissatisfaction with the Turian Hierarchy's structure and a urge to avenge the death of his son, making him something of a WellIntentionedExtremist.

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