Ignore the uneducated hacks like Zeus501, kahn1992, 1592, or that one Guest. As they lack even the most basic, rudimentary understanding of what it means to be a galactic polity or how conflicts actually work.

From a purely economic perspective, the Citadel Council out gross the UEG/UNSC by an exorbitant quantity - trillions of citizens (CC) vs the worn-down remainders of a nearly extinct species who number in no more then a dozen billion. The Covenant had wiped out over seven hundred planets belonging to humanity, with the UNSC's fleet and military strength annihilated until only a few dozen warships were remaining (Battle of Earth). And two years later, the remaining industrial outposts (and warships) in the Sol System were torn apart by an army of Sentinels. The UNSC has had the crap kicked out of them, in each and every conflict that they dared to throw themselves into.

Any conflict against the Citadel, even with the most optimistic projections and full pre-war fleet numbers would still result in the complete decimation of humanity. They simply cannot wage war on the same scale as the Citadel species.

Technologically? The Citadel Council have a superior technological foundation when compared to the UEG/UNSC achievements - ground and spatial warfare accounts for more then sheer biggatons - mobility, flexibility, recharge rate, fire control, projectile speed, projectile range are just some of the very few factors that you have to account for in a ship-to-ship engagement. The power of your weapons is meaningless if you can't successfully bring it to bear, or achieve the results necessary to successfully engage the opposing force. The UNSC have absolutely nothing to bring to the table in a battle that would change the inevitable outcome - its not debatable.

i agree with you...while in the short run, the UNSC would kick the councils Ass, even with the older ships that they have, in the long run, without shields, then the UNSC ships would be overwhelmed by the council races in a protracted war...though the UNSC ships would kill tons of ships for every one that the council kills, it wouldnt be enough...thats the major flaw that i find with halo/ME fics set not long after halo 3, or halo 4...cuz everyone loves the Chief, they dont take into account that the UNSC was almost wiped out...some people say that only earth survived...which i personally dont believe, it would take centuries to build everything back up if that was the case, but more then half of humanity's worlds were killed, so there is no way that the UNSC would be able to fight a long war with the council right off the back

So when's this guy gonna realize that he's not with Covenant? I think the difference in technology and no sign of any Covenant races should've been enough.
Great to see Garrus again, his story seems to be the more interesting one.

SWAT is a little 21st century and American to be honest. Best going with SRT(Special Response Teams) which I am pretty sure is used by both Halo and ME.

Ohhh. Garrus is going to tattle!

It should be sentient not sapient. Sapient means ape like. Apes are a human thing.

is designation not callsign.
2. Actually it wouldn't be too late to attach a cloned limb. You just have to hack off the damaged bits and tack it on there.

very good new chapter

1. Houdini was a Hungarian Jew.
2. Purple Hearts are awarded for combat operations or injuries sustained in a fight. Not fixing a fuck-up.

Calling them Xenos all the time comes off as a little offensive to me.

Is it just me or did I miss something

Stupid of the humans to even go into alien space until they are back up to their full potential.

Finally no eezo bashing, i hate that. Sure slip space is faster than council ships, however the relays are way, Way faster than nearly anything else. Also i believe there is some sort of limit for slip space, look through the forerunner saga

This is one of the best halo/Mass Effect crossover in fanfiction and one where humanity is not op continue

This isnt a review just for the chapter, but a review for the entire fic so far.

I think its very good, and definitely a different take on a crossover between Halo and ME.

However, the UNSC as others have said would still outnumber the ME races in worlds and possibly population even if three quarters of the UNSC territory was still destroyed from the war with the Covenant.

Also, Insurrectionist forces were reduced to a tiny fraction of what they were pre-war and in the lore they struggled and often failed to get support as everyone saw that the UNSC was the best chance humanity had of surviving. It also helped that the UNSC passed several laws in the lore that alleviated pretty much every grievance the inssurectionists had with the UNSC even if there was lingering distrust in the outer colonies.

I also think it should be worth noting that as stated at the moment, the Halo weapons, armour and shielding as you have stated it are a bit underpowered.

UNSC military material was designed to take a pounding from the UNSC's own weapons and later modified to be able to take a decent beating from Covenant plasma weapons. ME weapons firing sand sized pellets would not do much damage (even at the speeds they are going) to UNSC armour or shielding (especially as, as of the end of the war with the covenant, the shielding used by ODSTs could take several hits before popping and Spartan shields could take a fair beating from plasma weapons before popping).

UNSC armour is also ridiculously durable. Marine full body (possibly semi-powered) armour used as of Halo3/4/5 could take a beating from UNSC ballistic weapons and 2-4 hits from plasma before failing. OSDT armour is obviously much better and could take a damn good beating and Spartan Mjolnir armour is obviously extremely tough.

UNSC weapons are also very pwoerful. In the lore, a single bullet from a DMR could kill in one or two shots anything the covenant had on the ground other than Hunters, Brutes and armoured vehicles. The battle rifle could also evicerate with its 3 round burst any covenant ground forces except brutes and hunters. The assault rifle could also take them down very quickly, although less quickly because it used a much smaller bullet than the Battle Rifle or the DMR. These weapons could chew through the kinetic barriers and armour of the ME races as they pretty easily chewed through the covenant forces.

Also, in space. I know you have already answered this following query by saying that the UNSC is very low on military ships and all its best warships are currently guarding the inner systems, however even out of date UNSC ships would have better armour and shielding than ME race ships. A single MAC cannon fires a round 100 times larger than a round fired by an ME races dreadnought cannon. A single UNSC MAC round hits the the equivalent firepower of a large thermonuclear weapon.

Overall, I am really enjoying the fic. And I believe that, despite the advantages the UNSC has, you will make it work. Also, I like the focus on the more cloak and dagger side of things instead of the usual meet-war-politics path usually taken by crossovers.