Guest Party Members. He's also on the memorial wall in the Normandy in Mass Effect 3, and he will be mentioned if Kaidan, James, or EDI is brought to the Eden Prime mission. In private moments, Shepard is shown to give him/her-self grief over Jenkins' death since it was his/her orders that caused him to run into the ambush.

1. Eden Prime Mass Effect 3

31 - Citadel: Compelling Evidence

'You're not making my life easy, Shepard,' Ambassador Udina said as Shepard walked in, 'Firefights in the wards, an all-out assault on Chora's Den.. do you know how man-' he trailed off as Garrus and Williams came into the room, their quarian visitor entering just behind them, along with Wrex and Alenko bringing up the rear. Too many new faces to process at once, and not being sure where to start, he started everywhere. 'Who are these people? What are you up to, Shepard?'

'This quarian,' Shepard said as the doors closed behind them, 'Can help us bring down Saren. I would have told you that if you hadn't started bitching as soon as I came through the door.'

'I.. apologize, Commander. This whole thing with Saren has me a bit on edge.. maybe we should start at the beginning. Miss..?'

'My name is Tali'Zorah,' said the quarian, 'Tali'Zorah nar Raya, of the one hundred and forty fifth Flotilla'

'We don't see many quarians on the Citadel,' Udina said, 'Why did you leave the Flotilla?'

'I was on my pilgrimage. My rite of passage into adulthood.'

'Pilgrimage?' Shepard asked, 'Pilgrimage to where?'

'It's nothing that specific.. It's a tradition among quarians. When we reach maturity, we leave the ships of our parents and our people behind. Alone we search the stars, only returning to the Flotilla once we have discovered something of value. In this way, we prove ourselves worthy of adulthood.'

'What kinds of things do you look for?' Udina asked.

'Depends. It could be resources like food or fuel, or some kind of useful technology. Or even knowledge that would make life easier on the flotilla. Through our Pilgrimage we prove that we can contribute to the community, rather than be a burden on our limited resources.'

Context established, Shepard nodded. With a gesture offering her a seat at the Ambassador's desk, she asked gently, 'Tell the Ambassador what you found.'

'Well, I was on my way back to the Terminus Systems and I got sidetracked on Eden Prime. I was trying to book passage off the planet when the Geth battleship attacked Constant.'

Captain Anderson asked, 'You were at Constant during the attack?'

'No, I was at First Landing across the valley from there. I went into the battle zone looking for information I could sell to the Shadow Broker. Maybe make some money to help pay for transport. I hadn't imagined the Geth would have been behind the attack, though.'

'Why not?' Udina asked, 'I understand your people were the ones who created the Geth in the first place.'

'Yes, but ever since they drove us into exile, the Geth have never traveled beyond the Veil. They didn't even follow us after the Morning War. They've been isolationists for centuries. But at Eden Prime, I was able to get close-range scans of them for the first time. I got information about the different unit types, their tactics, weapons, deployments, even about their signals architecture. I was also curious about their flagship.. information about Geth bodies would be important to militaries like yours, but when it comes to their ships, that information could be valuable to the Flotilla. I sent one of my drones to get closer to their landing site, hoping to get close-range data on their propulsion systems,' Tali'Zorah opened her omni-tool and started typing a command onto her keyboard, 'and that's when I recorded this.'

The omni-tool projected a video window in the air between them and high-resolution image solidified into streaming video from the point of view of one well-hidden quarian drone.

'How did this happen, Commander?' asked the tall Asari woman in dark grey robes, 'How did we lose to these humans?'

'Lose?' Saren Arturius wheeled on her, anger and betrayal on his expression, 'We haven't lost, Benezia! This is a major victory! This beacon will bring us one step closer to finding the Conduit!'

'And the return of the Reapers?' asked the Asari, sounding frightened.

'And salvation!' gasped Saren, and stormed off towards what the camera image now showed was the yet-to-be-activated Prothean beacon.

'That turian,' Tali'Zorah went on, 'that was the second time I saw him that day. He seemed important enough that I collected biometric and cybermetric data on him. I didn't know who he was at the time, as I didn't have any reference data to compare the samples to. The first time I saw him, when I collected that data originally, was here,' And she tapped another command on her omni-tool, this time displaying a video window from a much closer and better concealed position.

The video began with the sound of automatic gunfire, and the shifting of the camera angle as the drone tried to locate the source. Chitika's feed eventually centered on four Geth troopers as they were gunned down, one by one, by short, focussed bursts, spilling fluid from their innards. A concussion grenade slammed into a fifth one, shattering it. Then the image became a jumble of disjointed shapes and movement as Chitika moved to get out of sight.

A few moments passed, showing more flashes of violence, more sounds of gunfire. Tali'Zorah remembered that she was trying to find out exactly who was shooting down the Geth troopers and was increasingly amazed at how precise and efficient the mystery gunman was.

Eventually, she found him: a fast-moving, predatory-looking figure vaulting over fallen Geth bodies carrying a Phaeston assault rifle in one arm and a Salarian grenade pistol on his thigh.

'Nihlus,' said Anderson, a note of dread in his voice.

The video window paused for a moment as Tali'Zorah opened a second window next to it, this one showing the biometric data she'd collected. 'This is the comparison from Sergeant Vakarian,' she said, 'It's a positive match for Spectre Nihlus.' The video feed resumed now, with Nihlus leaping up the stairs to the terminal's main entrance, leading with his rifle and watching for threats. At the top of the stairs, he stopped and lowered his rifle as a look of surprise came over his face. His surprise was captured in one word: 'Saren?'

Chitika's video feed shifted over, and there was Saren at the top of the landing, standing in front of the entrance to the terminal. He turned slowly, noticing Nihlus for the first time, a blank expression on his deformed face. 'Nihlus,' he said, almost - but not quite - warmly.

Once again, the video froze, and this time biometric data appeared for Saren. 'This one's more complicated,' Tali'Zorah said, 'The biometric data checks out, but it looks like something's happened to Saren's body. There is evidence of extensive prosthetic reconstruction. And that's not even the weirdest part.. the configuration of the prosthetics and their power signatures are very similar to the Geth constructs that attacked Eden Prime.'

'It's not widely known,' Udina said, 'But Saren was critically injured in a combat action during the First Contact War. He's been operating with prosthetics ever since. These parts are more advanced than the last components he was fitted with, but they're still consistent with his injuries..'

'I didn't know Saren fought in the First Contact War,' Anderson said, amazed, 'That would explain alot.. why didn't you mention that to me before?'

'I assumed you knew. You've worked with Saren before, you must have looked up his service record.'

'I never had access to his service record. Didn't have the clearance. You do, as a diplomat. I'm not even sure you're allowed to share that with me.'

Udina shrugged, 'Well, now you know. Please continue, Tali, my apologies.'

'Tali'Zorah,' she corrected, and continued the video feed.

Nihlus began to relax, collapsing his rifle back to its storage mode. He still looked anxious, though, despite Saren's casual manner. It was plain to see he wasn't sure why the other spectree wasn't more alert than he was with five fresh kills just a few meters from his feet. 'This isn't your mission, Saren,' Nihlus said, 'What are you doing here?'

Saren reached up, patted Nihlus on the shoulder reassuringly as he walked past, 'The Council thought you could use some help on this one.'

Nihlus nodded slowly, almost full agreement. 'My ship must have called for backup. Can't blame them under the circumstances.'

'So they did,' Saren grunted, 'Especially with this..' he gestured with his hand, indicating the gigantic starship resting nearby, glowing with fierce red static around its flanks as if its internal power was only barely contained.

Nihlus looked up at that shape, the feeling of dread it inspired growing by the second. 'I knew the Beacon wasn't as secret as we would have preferred, but I wasn't expecting to find the Geth here.'

Saren nodded, 'Have you had any luck determining their real objective?'

Nihlus stirred at this, 'As opposed to what? You think they did all of this just to capture the Beacon?'

'That would seem to be the obvious conclusion. The data stored in that beacon could be invaluable to them, especially if they're attempting to expand beyond the Veil.'

'But the Beacon itself is worthless to them. It can only be accessed by a biotic, and it can't communicate with synthetics. They could steal it, but they could never use it.'

'Entirely true, Nihlus. But the Geth may not know that.'

'Valid point.' Nihlus looked up at the enormous shape towering over them again. His mandibles clicked in an expression of dread. 'The situation's bad. I don't think we have a choice. We'll have to try and get a signal out and call for reinforcements.'

'Agreed,' Saren said, turning behind him. When he turned this time, an M77 Paladin hand cannon unfolded in his hand, and Chitika recorded the weapon's configuration and electronic serial number. This, too, came back as the personal sidearm of one Saren Aturius.

'In the mean time, we've got to get control of that beacon. We'll have the human squad meet us here and we'll advance on the beacon together.' Nihlus opened his omni-tool and started programming an encrypted data link.

'Don't worry about the beacon,' Saren said, and raised the weapon to the back of Nihlus' head, 'I've everything under control.'

Nihlus began to turn his head, a question just on the tip of his tongue at the exact moment Saren pulled the trigger. The gun fired a single blast, and a fist-sized hole punched through the opposite side of Nihlus' head.

The video window closed, and Tali'Zorah took a small step back.

'This proves it,' Anderson said, clasping his hands, 'The Council can't ignore evidence like this. We've got Saren by the balls now!'

'You have data on the Geth as well?' Shepard asked, 'That could be useful in figuring out how to stop him.'

'As a matter of fact, I do. I pulled some data cores from the Geth troopers Nihlus destroyed. There wasn't a lot to go by, most of the files were corrupted, but I did manage to pull a few strings. It's interesting.. the Geth programming still uses parts of the original keelish source code in relation to things of non-Geth origin.'

'What does you mean by that? Source code?'

'Well, they're a network intelligence. That's their basic architecture. A single Geth unit isn't much more intelligent than a varren, but a group of them together sharing processing power are almost as intelligent and as dynamic as human soldiers. Their internal runtimes use trinary logic and a lot of machine code that doesn't parse into any language I could decompile, but they also have a secondary runtime for things that don't fit into their internal knowledge base. In other words, anything that is external to the Geth consciousness uses a compiler language, while anything they directly interact with uses a trinary language I can't decompile.'

Shepard nodded, 'So that contains information on.. what? Their tactical objectives? Targeting profiles?'

'Yes, among other things. I found out that an unusually large number of their external files deal with Saren's flagship. That suggests it isn't a Geth construct at all, it's something completely alien even to them.'

Anderson squinted, 'That's.. surprising. It had a similar configuration to the Geth assault ships we encountered..'

'The Geth have references to components of their own ships as well. I think they're augmented with alien technology that they don't really understand. I'm guessing Saren provided them with that technology in exchange for their cooperation.'

Udina smiled, 'More evidence of collusion.. anything more on that flagship? A navigational trace or some way to locate it?'

'Nothing that specific. The.. uh.. Geth files have identifiers in Keelish. There are some strings that do not properly translate, and an IFF tag that identifies it 'Reaper Capital Ship.'

Reaper.. something about the word set Shepard's hair on fire. She knew what that word meant.. she'd heard it before..

'It has an extremely high strategic priority for them,' Tali'Zorah went on, 'in fact it seems higher than any other Geth construct or location. It's almost like they worship it..'

Reaper..

A creature that looked like a fusion between a human being and a willow tree, standing in a bunker or a shelter somewhere, reaching for a window flooded with light that was too bright to be the sun..

Machinery - circuitry, wires, power sources - resting in a bed of torn flesh..

'Reapers..' Shepard said, and she could see it as clearly as she could see the Presidium around her. Almost two kilometers tall, black and menacing, enormous and powerful the way one might think of a vengeful god, standing over her, marching past. People fleeing in its path, people dying. Figures, some humanoid and some not, pouncing on people like predators, tearing them down in the streets, mutilating them where they found them. Machinery being drilled into flesh, and more flesh being discarded. The Reaper, massive and powerful, moved over all of it, a force so vast it defied all explanation..

A ball of fire in a ring of smoke..

A moon tumbling through the milky way..

A jet black circle against a bright orange background..

The Reapers, reaching for her..

'It was a warning!'

The conversation died abruptly and suddenly all eyes were on Shepard. Udina looked confused, Anderson looked worried, and all the others just looked puzzled.

'What was a warning?' Udina asked.

'The vision,' Shepard said, 'From the Prothean beacon. That's what it was trying to transmit into my brain. It was a warning about the Reapers.'

Anderson's eyebrows rose, 'Reapers, plural? We got a taste what that ship could do on Eden Prime.. please don't tell me there's more than one of those damn things!'

'There's more than one,' Shepard said, grimly, 'Many more. Thousands, millions maybe. I don't understand much about the warning, but that ship..' she shuddered, hugging herself, 'Whoever built that ship, I know for certain they're the same people that wiped out the Protheans.'

Udina frowned, 'That's impossible. The Protheans have been extinct for thousands of years. What isolated piece of technology could even survive that long?'

Shepard looked up at Udina with a look of pity on her face, 'Other than the giant space station we're currently standing in?'

'Oh.. well.. the Citadel is maintained at all times by the keepers. I'm not sure that counts.'

'What about the mass relays? The one at Charon had fallen out of orbit and crashed and was still perfectly functional after five thousand years. Same for the dormant relays we activated at Arcturus, Zion, Asgard, same for all the-'

'Okay, okay, I take your point,' Udina leaned back on his heels, scratching his chin, 'It does seem far-fetched, but as you point out, hardly unprecedented. So it's possible that Saren's flagship is a relic of whatever civilization destroyed the Protheans. But if that's the case, what could be his true objective in accessing the beacon? Not to steal it, obviously, or he would have taken it with him.'

'The Geth use a keelish word for that that Reaper battleship,' Tali'Zorah chimed in, 'they call it 'The Lord' or 'The Sovereign.' It's an old keelish word for the creator god of the universe. If they worship that ship like a god, what if Saren is helping them find more of them?'

Anderson's eyebrows rose, 'They could be Prothean ships. Maybe a dissident faction of their own empire? That's the leading theory about their extinction, that they destroyed themselves in a huge civil war..'

'That doesn't feel right,' Shepard said, 'Not even a little. The beacon was a warning, not a boast. The only thing I can tell for sure is that the Protheans were dying and ships like Sovereign were part of whatever was killing them.'

'You said you saw synthetics before,' Anderson said, 'You thought maybe they were Geth? What if that's a warning by analogy?'

Tali'Zorah nodded, 'The Reapers could be a race of AIs. Maybe the Protheans created them, and the AIs built some of these starships as part of the rebellion? That would explain why the Geth consider it to be sacred.'

'That would make sense..' Shepard thought it over, breathing deep, 'It would explain why Saren wanted access to the beacon. If he could figure out where the battle lines were drawn, he could probably work out where the Reapers' main bases were. Best places to look to find another one of their ships or even some of their weapons.'

'But why take that information for himself?' Alenko asked, 'The Council could easily do all of that if he shared his information with them..'

'Because he isn't doing this for the Council or for the Citadel,' Udina said, 'You saw what he did to Nihlus. He's gone rogue! Or even farther than that. If he had a fleet of ships like the one at Eden Prime, he could overthrow the Citadel Council in one fell swoop. He could conquer half the galaxy with a fleet like that..'

'Or exterminate anyone who tried to stop him,' Anderson added, a grim look in his eye, 'Imagine a dozen of those things landing in Vancouver. Saren would wade through us like prairie grass.'

'We have motive,' Shepard said, straightening up, even as she realized it, 'That was the missing piece all along. Even if we could implicate Saren with this evidence, the Council will want to know why he's doing all of this.'

'And now we know,' Anderson said, 'Saren is building an army the likes of which the Citadel races have never seen. He's become the warlord the Council always feared he would, and now it's almost too late to stop him.'

Ambassador Udina folded his arms, closed his eyes for a long moment. Doubt rested on his face for a long, tense moment. Then he opened his eyes and reached for his desk terminal, nodding to himself. 'I'll make the call.'

..

..

For the next six hours, Tali'Zorah nar Raya heard variations of the same questions from five other people, each more important than the last. Ambassador Udina would later ask her to recount her tail and describe her evidence to a VI system designed to report to the C-Sec, and an hour later to Executor Pallin himself. A two hour break for lunch then saw Executor Pallin asking her to relay the story to someone named Tela Vasir, who then vanished from the room like a frightened rodent only to reappear an hour later with Commander Shepard, Garrus Vakarian, and two heavily armed salarians with orders to report to the Citadel Council for something called a 'New Hearing.'

Tali'Zorah nar Raya had never been to the Citadel Tower before. In fact, she had never even been to the Presidium before and never imagined in her life she would ever be allowed to do so. But now, seven and a half hours after being nearly murdered by a shifty gangster in the back of a dive bar nobody had ever heard of, she was standing at the presentation platform in the chambers of the Citadel High Council, the three most powerful beings in the known galaxy, one of whom was now asking her that oft-repeated and fateful question, 'Please tell us what you found.'

Tali'Zorah answered.

And for forty five minutes, video records, audio records, biometric data and Geth code samples poured through holographic windows in the Council Chambers, turned over and displayed for all to see. The secondary reports from C-Sec and Spectre VIs gave the data more gravitas, and testimony from C-Sec agents and Spectres put the proverbial cherry on top of it. Executor Pallin even presented sealed records from Garrus Vakarian's independent investigation, citing evidence that Saren - through intermediaries like Fist and a surprisingly cooperative Alexis Tannenbaum - had conspired to have Tali'Zorah assassinated before she could pass her evidence off to anyone else who might care. All told, two hours of testimony and evidence were presented to the Council, all leading to the same conclusion.

And for two hours, the holographic representation of Saren Arturius grunted and growled, clicked his tongue in disdain, or half-heartedly remarked against the evidence as 'irrelevant' or 'circumstantial.' Just from looking at him, you would be tempted to think he was watching a group of school children trying to prove that it really wasn't past their bedtime after all.

The Council's reaction, on the other hand, could not have been more different.

'Then you have established with confidence,' Councilor Valern was saying, 'That this data has not been tampered with or fabricated in any way?'

Spectre Tela Vasir shook her head earnestly, 'Not at this level of detail. There would at least be room for speculation if the video feeds or biometric data were noisy or of low quality. But at this level of definition, a fabrication would be easy to detect. And I'm coming at it with some of the most sophisticated VIs in the business..'

'What is your level of confidence in its authenticity?' Spartus asked, 'Just so I can quantify it.'

'Ninety seven percent,' Vasir answered, 'Ninety nine if you exclude the code samples recovered from the Geth troopers.'

Spartus huffed, 'Which don't actually implicate Saren in and of themselves.' He looked up, now, at Saren's holographic avatar.

From hundreds of light years away, Saren snorted disdainfully. 'All respect to Vasir, but but I would hardly call her Armax Industries VIs 'sophisticated.' They're not designed to specifically search for fabrications, just artifacts and inconsistencies. My own VI systems..'

'Saren,' Councilor Valern cut him off in a surprisingly forceful tone, 'Your counter-claim strains credibility. For the quarian witness to fabricate evidence at this level of detail would require pre-meditation on the part of the Alliance.'

'Of course it would,' said Saren, 'And it did. Their first attempt to frame me wasn't good enough so here they are with more of their antics.'

Spartus clicked his mandibles, 'If they were capable of forging evidence like this, they wouldn't have come to us with such a weak case in the beginning.'

'Arrogant fools assumed their original evidence was strong enough..'

'Then and then fabricated new evidence?' Tevos said, 'At such a level of fidelity that it fools our best experts? Using an individual who we have confirmed actually was present on Eden Prime during the attack? And managing to forge all of that evidence and records in only two days?'

'They're desperate!' shouted Saren. But the tone of voice was more insistent than accusatory.

'Speculation,' Valern said, and shifted his weight, 'In any case, this evidence is strong enough to warrant a more complete inquiry into your recent activities, Saren.'

'Recent activities?' Saren's brow plates twitched.

'Your failure to disclose data on your new flagship was already an unacceptable breach of protocol, as is your inability to account for your movements over the past ten galactic standard years. We have been considering sanctions against you for some time, but with these accusations our hand is now forced.'

Saren snarled, 'I have no time for pointless fishing expeditions by desperate charlatans looking to defame me! I am a Council Spectre, and I have work to do!'

Eden Prime Mass Effect 3

Tevos shook her head, 'Agent Saren, these are very serious accusations, and the implications for the galactic security are deeply troubling. In order to maintain the integrity of the the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Division, we must insist that you return to the Citadel immediately.'

'Don't make this any harder than it has to be, Saren,' Spartus added, 'I'll be perfectly happy to learn that this is all some hideous misunderstanding, but for in order for that to happen, you'll have to come to the Citadel and account for your activities for the pa-'

In the hologram, Saren screamed.

Not that Commander Shepard had any idea what a screaming turian would normally look like, but even she knew that what she was seeing was deeply, terribly wrong. He looked simultaneously in pain and consumed with rage, as if he had just watched a video of someone murdering his firstborn while also having one of his fingers cut off with a rusty blade. It was a howl as inhuman as it was un-turian, like the animal howl of something beyond comprehension roaring in his chest. He looked at the Council once, his visage took on something so malevolent that for a moment Councilor Spartus actually took a step back. Then the hologram vanished, the transmission ended at the source.

'By.. the.. Goddess..' Tevos gasped into the stunned silence that fell on the Council chambers. None of the others spoke after that, an the silence lingered for over a minute.

It was Valern, finally, who broke the shocked quiet of the chamber with the touch of his finger on his console. The interface beeped loudly, and after a moment Tevos and Spartus answered the gesture. 'It is.. it's decided then,' Valern said, 'The Citadel Council has issued a general warrant for the arrest of Commander Saren Arturius. Spectre Status revoked, pending capture and questioning.'

'Thank you, Councilors,' Udina said, still shaking at Saren's display. Shepard saw it beneath his facade for just a moment, how badly it had shaken even him. On some level, even Udina hadn't really believed Saren could have gone that far off the rails.

Jump Chain Gothic - Mass Effect - Part 2

SSV Normandy. Alliance Space.

While it might seem as if she was looking down at the world below, or at her own reflection, her fierce green eyes, partly hidden by her flaming red hair, were in fact focused on a distant point visible only to her as she deep in thought. She could feel that something was wrong, but it wasn't something she had words to describe.

Joan Shepard slowly and came back to reality as the Normandy moved. The N7 marine turned away from the window and began to make her way over to the CIC. The time for reflection was over, she was an officer on board an Alliance frigate, and she had a job to do.

As she walked Shepard glanced at the large holographic Galaxy Map that was kept in the centre of the room and traded nods with a fellow marine as strode past several terminal banks where Alliance personnel tapped away at terminals.

Shepard came to a stop in the cockpit behind the pilot's chair, so that was standing next to a silent Turian and looked on as the pilot's fingers danced across his workstation as he directed the ship. At the same time he was speaking through the PA, proving that men could actually multi-task, or at least this man could.

'All stations, secure for transit' Joker said.

The ship rumbled gently in response and a blue light shone in through the window.

'Board is green, approach run has begun' the pilot announced as they flew ever closer to the Mass Relay 'Hitting the relay in three, two, one'.

A cone of energy wrapped around the ship throwing it across the galaxy. It was an odd experience for Shepard, as while she'd gone through Mass Relays before her feeling of earlier concern had just returned stronger than ever. Something was wrong. The feeling was so strong that Shepard lost track of what was going on around her for a moment or two.

'Fifteen hundred is good,' The Turian was now saying 'Your Captain will be pleased'.

He turned and walked away, and the pilot scoffed quietly.

'I hate that guy' Joker stated.

Shepard glanced at the co-pilot, her squad-mate, Kaidan. He was a biotic and moderately good looking in Joan's view.

'Nihlus gave you a compliment so, you hate him?' the lieutenant asked.

'Hey, you remember to zip up your jumpsuit after going to the bathroom, that's good' Joker complained. 'I just jumped us half-way across the Galaxy and hit a target the size of pin-head, so that's incredible! Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid'.

Kaidan gave Joker a dry look.

'You're paranoid, Joker' he then said 'The Council helped fund this project, they have the right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment'.

Joker tapped a few more keys and sighed.

'Yeah, that is the 'official' story, but only an idiot believes the official story' the man with brittle bones stated.

Shepard chimed in with her thoughts.

'They don't send Spectres on shakedown runs. I think Joker's right; somethings up' she said.

Before more could be spoken on the topic. The terminal in front of Joker blinked and he quickly tapped a key, turning on the internal comm system.

'Joker, send Commander Shepard to the comm room' the Captain of the Normandy, David Anderson, ordered 'I need to talk to her'.

Shepard was already turning to leave.

'Aye, sir' Joker said 'By the way, Captain, you may want to brace yourself, Nihlus is on his way.

The Captain paused before replying.

'He's already here, Joker' Anderson said dryly.

Shepard chuckled at the pilot's minor misfortune and walked back through ship, passing the Galaxy Map once again. When she entered the comm room she found Nihlus alone inside. Joan was a little surprised.

'Ah, Shepard' the alien greeted, 'I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk'.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, not sure what to make of all this. Turian Spectre meanwhile gestured to the screen

'I'm interested in this world we're going to' he said 'Eden Prime. I heard it's a beautiful place'.

Shepard recalled the pictures of a lush garden world with rolling hills and green grass that she'd seen during an earlier briefing.

'They say it's a paradise' she commented.

Nihlus paced a bit. Was he nervous about something? Shepard asked herself. It was hard to tell with aliens, a simple gesture could have a different meaning for a turian than it did a human.

'Yes a paradise' the Turian agreed 'Serene. Tranquil. Eden Prime has become something of a symbol to your people, hasn't it?'.

She nodded, wondering where he was taking the conversation.

'Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it, really?'

The human woman had to wonder if that was some sort of threat.

'Why are asking me this?' Shepard questioned.

The Turian shook his head and turned back to her.

'The galaxy is a dangerous place, Shepard. Is humanity truly ready for this?' the alien enquired

Shepard was now getting worried.

'What is this really about' Joan demanded to know.

Hearing footsteps coming from behind, Shepard turned around to see Captain David Anderson, someone she respected immensely.

'You're right to be concerned, Commander' Anderson said before turning to face the Turian 'Nihlus, I think it's time to tell her what's really going on'.

Nihlus crossed his arms. Again Shepard didn't know what to make of this gesture.

'This is far more than a simple shakedown run' the Captain admitted 'We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational'.

Well she'd known that something troubling was going on.

'What's the payload, Captain?' she asked.

Her mind was racing over possibilities. A VIP perhaps? Someone who need protection? That would explain why a Spectre was required and why a stealth frigate had been sent.

'A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of beacon during an excavation' Anderson told Shepard as he moved to stand next to the Turian Spectre. 'It's Prothean'.

Shepard visibly stiffened

'A Prothean Beacon?' she asked.

She'd understood what the Captain had just told her she simply desired more information.

'Shepard this is big' Anderson was now saying 'The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward hundreds of years. But Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring it back to the Citadel for proper study'.

Nihlus took over the explanation

'Obviously, this goes beyond just human interests, Commander' he told Joan 'This discovery could affect every species in Council space'.

While this was big news it didn't make Shepard feel any better. She was still concerned. Her gut was telling her that something was wrong.

'Are we expecting trouble?' she asked

The Turian gave her an equally serious look.

'I'm always expecting trouble. As a Spectre, I know nothing is ever as simple as it seems' the alien told her.

Anderson nodded in agreement.

'True enough, but that isn't all, Shepard' the captain was now saying 'Nihlus isn't just here for the beacon. He's also here to evaluate you'.

This shocked the commander.

'Why?' she asked.

She was soon told that she was being considered for Spectre status.

'The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time' Anderson informed the marine 'Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council.'

Shepard's eyes flicked between him and the Spectre. She wasn't sure how to process this.

'The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far humanity has come' Anderson went on to say 'Not many could have done what you did on Elysium, Shepard'.

Founded in 2160, Elysium was one humanity's oldest colony in the Skyllian Verge. Since it was strategically placed at the nexus of several primary and secondary mass relays, the colony quickly became a major hub for travel and commerce. The population grew fast as well: in 2165, only five years after its founding, it boasted a population of several million inhabitants, nearly half of them aliens.

In 2176, the colony was attacked by a large force of mercenaries and pirates under the command of Elanos Haliat in what would become known as the Skyllian Blitz.

The Commander had been on shore leave on Elysium when the Blitz occurred. Shepard rallied a resistance force and according to the news stations managed to single-handily repulse the enemy ground force long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

This wasn't totally true, she'd not done anything important in her career without some help, but she was always one people remembered. The curse of being both attractive and talented.

'Protecting an entire colony by yourself from slavers' the turian said, a small tone of respect in his voice 'It shows remarkable strength. That, is why I put your name forward as a candidate to join the Spectres. I hope you understand how important this is for you the Alliance'.

Shepard nodded firmly.

'Just tell me what I have to do' she stated.

She wouldn't let the Alliance down.

'First of all I'll need to see your skills myself' The Turian told the Commander 'Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together'.

The captain took a step forward.

'You'll be in charge of the ground team' Anderson said, 'Secure the beacon and get it to ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission. We should be getting to Eden..'

Joker's voice came over the PA.

'Captain! We've got a problem'

Anderson frowned, he'd been expecting some sort of trouble, but that didn't mean he was happy to hear about it.

'What's wrong, Joker?' he asked

'Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!'

Shepard, Anderson and Nihlus stepped closer to screen to get a better look at the transmission. The picture was barely visible due to static, and the audio was broken, but the sound of gunfire was clear. The view of the transmission was trained on a woman in white and pink armour, who was firing her assault rifle at some unseen enemy. She turned to look at the person transmitting and sprinted over, pushing them to ground.

'Get down!' she yelled.

What they saw next no one could comment over. They weren't sure what they were seeing. Was it a ship? A creature?

Then the transmission simply stopped.

'The mission stays the same, but now we have to deal with an unknown enemy' Anderson said, once he could speak 'Shepard, prepare for drop'.

Shepard saluted and marched off.

(Line Break)

Eden Prime. Mass Effect Verse. 2 years after arrival.

I sighed when I realised that the day was finally here. I'd been on this admittedly rather nice planet for 24 months, yet despite having all that time and an officer rank I'd been able to do very little to prepare Eden Prime for this attack.

This wasn't a military run planet, and even if it had been my superior officers never would have let me turn the place into a fortress. Still I'd been able to make a few changes. Not that the added security was doing any good judging by all the noise I was hearing.

The sound that filled the air I recognised as gunfire. Futuristic, mass accelerated gunfire. This peaceful colony was rapidly turning into a fucking war zone.

Soon it would be time to leave, and while I'd not had much impact here I figured that this could change. But I would have to be careful, I'd have to ensure that events went as I remembered them or my other worldly knowledge would become next to useless.

At least I hadn't wasted my time here. I'd studied everything I got my hands involving tech. I was certain that Shepard would find me useful, and I'd stocked my warehouse with many handy items. All the best stuff was still to come as a peaceful colony world didn't have much in the way of weapons. Soon I'd have plenty of bad guys to loot.

Also I'd gotten promoted to full Lieutenant, that was something to be proud about. Well the extra pay was nice.

'What are those things!?' someone shouted.

The flashlight heads were quite the clue, but only to someone who'd played the game. To most people the geth were more or less a myth. No human had ever seen one until now.

'Those are geth,' I said.

The next thing I knew something exploded and I was left deaf and barely able to see. Yet more things blew up around me so I had to run. By the time my senses, which were way better than they had been due to body mods, were back up and running I had no idea where I was, there was no one around that I could see. Everything looked so different now.

I saw no geth, no colonists, nothing moving. There a few buildings around, and the one I had stopped in front of caught my eye. I stumbled inside with unsteady steps, it was another one of those container-like prefab buildings, only this one was a lot bigger than. And packed with stuff. Several lockers lined up one of the walls, tables, benches, it even had proper rooms, with a shower at the back.

The lockers were locked, ironically enough. All except for one. I don't know what I expected to find, guns and armour maybe. That's what one always finds in the game when looking inside containers.

I mean, you could be exploring a fifty thousand year old prothean ruin on a planet that has been cut off from the rest of the galaxy since the rachni wars, and the next container you open there will have a state of the art shotgun waiting for you. Alas real life was less generous. I found some spare clothes in the one locker that had been left unlocked.

Not that this mattered. It was the door that could lock from the inside which I needed. Because when I used my special key the door didn't open up back outside it led into my cosmic warehouse. This was a trick I'd used before. The door wouldn't shut while I was inside out however right now the door only led to the inside of empty prefab building. So unless someone destroyed the building no one should bother me.

Then I wondered what would happen if the building was destroyed. Would that trap me inside? Or would there be a doorway just standing there out in the open?

Questions for later.

'Well, at least I can get myself some protection,' I said as I took my armour off the shelves.

Laws controlling who could own guns and armour were strict on Earth from what I understood, but here on the frontier any citizen of Eden Prime, which I was since I lived here, had to right to own weapons and armour for self defence. Which made sense as this was a galaxy infested with pirates, slavers and raiders, and other things.

When on duty I used my Alliance issued arms and armour. But I'd also invested in Predator medium armour which was manufactured by Armax Arsenal and came in human, turian, and krogan models. I'd gotten an armoury license for Armax Arsenal from Expat, a volus merchant who worked on the Wards' market district. I'd visited the Citadel just to get this armour in fact.

'Cortana can you access the house's systems from here?' I asked my VI.

'One second' she, well it really, replied.

'Systems accessed. What do you want me to do?' she asked.

That was pretty impressive considering that I was outside of the universe right now. I guess with the door open there was still a connection to ME universe. I'd not been able to figure this all out during the last two years, and I wasn't sure if any mortal could really understand how Jump Chain physics worked.

'Download all the files on my computer that are in the folders marked Mass Effect and then wipe the hard drive'.

Alas my porn collection would not be save. Shame really, the asari did some great girl-on-girl stuff.

'Download commencing' I was told.

I'd not been as lazy as it might seem over the past 24 months. Sure I'd been unable to affect anything in any meaningful way, but I had written down everything I could remember about the threats to come on my computer. I'd also come with ideas on how to defeat the Reapers, but not many as there weren't that many ways to defeat a Reaper. Sure it might be possible to nuke them, but if it was that easy they'd have tried it in the game. Reapers landed within major cities which made nuking them problematic

'Download complete. Erasing hard drive' Cortana reported.

Next I picked up my pistol which was a Armax Arsenal made Brawler Pistol. It had a pretty decent rate of fire and did nice damage. Plus in my view it looked cool.

I didn't need to grab any ammo as in Mass Effect, to generate ammunition a weapon shaves a projectile the size of a sand grain from a dense block of metal contained within the weapon's body. The projectile is launched at supersonic velocities by decreasing its mass in a mass effect field. Thousands of these tiny rounds could be produced from a single ammunition block. Ammunition is never a concern because of this, but managing the weapon's internal heat is; if a weapon is fired too rapidly, heat will build up inside of the weapon and it will overheat, forcing the operator to stop firing long enough for the weapon to disperse that heat buildup.

'Well finally!' said a female voice.

It was Terrella. I'd not seen her in two years. I'd started to forget about her. Yet here she was in a gold and black cheerleader outfit and her hair done in pigtails. She even had those pom-poms that cheerleaders wave about. Also I pretty sure she had the Cerberus symbol on her chest. Cerberus cheerleader, very amusing.

'Now we can get to the adventures, and shooting, and the robots, and the space ships..'.

This went on for a while so I focused on double checking my equipment.

'How was I suppose to know that the Shepard's flock thing wouldn't kick in until after you met Shepard' Terrella was now saying 'Now go and make things explode. I'm bored!'.

With everything that mattered either on my person, or safely stored in this warehouse I headed back outside with the intent of finding Shepard and joining up with her. Assuming she'd let me. Any way out here with the Geth was less scary and then having to see Terrella again.

Then again maybe not. Outside were robots that wanted to kill me. Head people on spikes, a rogue Spectre, and oh yeah a Reaper. Things were pretty grim around here.

This was when hoped passed over head: The Normandy. I probably would have stood there like an idiot watching it until a geth shot me in the head, but it disappeared fast enough that I didn't have time for that.

I'd never seen a space ship quite like that one. Oh I'd seen plenty of shuttles and boxy cargo ships land at the port, I'd even seen warships from a distance, but the Normandy was something else.

Today was also my first time seeing a turian since I'd visited the Citadel, we didn't get many aliens on this planet. Not that I saw him for long, he disappeared just as fast as the Normandy had. Dude was quick on his feet.

That had to be Nihlus. If Nihlus was there, then that meant Shepard's team was probably on their way to the spaceport to get the beacon.

'Oh crap, Saren! He's going to kill him!' I reminded myself.

I started running towards port and as I did so I tried very hard not to look at the dead all scattered around on the ground. When I did look at the way they'd fallen it became clear to me that they'd all been shot in the back while running.

Also there were dragon's teeth with human corpses impaled on them, the whole thing was sickeningly grotesque when you actually see the transformation, then came the zombies. But thankfully Husks didn't move so fast, and they dropped dead, err deader thanks to an unseen shooter.

Oddly I had yet to see a single living geth, but there were quite a few broken ones. Nihlus' handiwork, that or Shepard was close by and she was using a sniper rifle. All were clean head shots, very well done. The Geth taken down by head shots hadn't destroyed themselves like the others.

The Geth were machines, obviously, made from circuitry and this material that looks a lot like grey muscle, they were covered in smooth, curved armour. They had a very organic look (besides the flashlight heads) They even had blood of sorts; this white, oily substance.

Before moving again I picked up a discarded geth rifle which, due to some miracle, still looked intact. Then I turned away from the dead Geth, secured the pulse rifle firmly against my shoulder, aimed at one of the low metal barriers, and gave it a tentative try.

Since I'd not expected it to work I was mildly surprised when it started spitting rounds like crazy, but to my relief the recoil wasn't too bad. I figured was easier to use if I just shot very short bursts. I had done the extra training to use an assault rifle. But right now I'd stick with my pistol and biotic powers. The rifle I would secure for later use and study on the back of my armour.

I didn't delay any further I went to save Nihlus. I soon saw the turian in the distance, talking with a couple of humans. He gestured towards one of the buildings, then took off running in a different direction.

'Nihlus!' I shouted even as I ran towards him.

The two humans had seen me, and while they had gone inside the crappy prefab building Nihlus had pointed them to, they kept the door open, and were gesturing for me to come too. It was two of them, a man and a woman. Not locals, eggheads come to study the dug up beacon I guessed.

'Are you with the garrison?' the woman said as soon as I got to the door.

I nodded.

'Where did the turian go?' I asked.

Alas I'd lost sight of him. He was a sneaky bugger as well as quick.

'He said he was going to find the beacon' the woman said as she gestured for me to come inside 'We should be safe here'

'There is no safe place,' the man declared 'None of us are safe. We will all be judged today'.

I looked at him, and everything clicked. It had been a while since I played Mass Effect one, but those two I remembered. Some guy that had gone crazy, and sounded oddly like a prophet of some sort.

The woman explained that her counterpart was off his meds and not reacting well to all this stress. Which could be the reason, but I had to wonder if he knew more than the others did.

Still it mattered not to me as I knew more than anyone else about what was come. And all that information would be useless if I didn't link up with Shepard. As such it was time to go.

I heard the door swish closed behind me as I legged it towards the tram. This part of the colony was pretty much as it was in game. Downhill from here I saw a weird looking platform and there were two turians talking

Saren, he was easy enough to recognise, that with being taller, grey coloured, evil-looking, and pretty much half machine. They were talking, then when Nihlus looked away as Saren moved behind him. He bad guy slowly drew his pistol.

'Fuck,' I said, and got my pistol out.

I had no time to think, only to act.

'Nihlus!' I shouted 'Behind you!'.

The very first shot I fired hit Saren right on the arm. Not that it made it past his shields, but getting shot at it threw his aim off, and the bullet that was destined for Nihlus skull ended up hitting nothing.

I kept running until I was too close for comfort, and hid behind a crate when the first bullet hit my shields. Saren was now firing wildly keeping his fellow Turian and myself behind cover.

'Saren!' I heard Nihlus shout 'What are you doing!'.

That was the only thing I could understand really, I had no idea what else he was shouting because of all the shooting.

If only Shepard would show up, between his squad and Nihlus, maybe we could take Saren down. Xcom 2 ufo landing. But that would radically alter to flow of events. Maybe I shouldn't have acted. I'd not planned to save Nihlus it had just seemed like a good idea at the time.

'Saren!' Nihlus shouted out again.

There was no answer, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a bright flash of blue light, and then, all hell broke loose. Crates were tossed around like leaves on a stiff breeze and I went with them. It was an impressive display of biotic power. Also it hurt.

'Dammit! He's getting away!' I heard a female voice shout.

'Commander, wait!' I heard Ash yell.

By the time I got up both turians were gone and I had three humans looking at me. One of which is Ashley, who'd I'd slept with a few times but never gotten serious with due to regulations, the man had to be Alenko, and the red head with the striking green eyes had to be femsheppard. She looked as if she was way high up on hot/crazy scale.

Since I was an officer and the Alliance gave biotics a few perks for joining up I had enough influence and contacts within the Systems Alliance channels to gain full access to her dossier and some other records.

Her psychological profile would not led to Paragon, she'd take the Renegade path because the tragedy of Mindoir had left her with a hatred of batarians, which had expressed itself later when she became the Butcher of Torphan. And that was just the non-classified stuff on her file. But she'd also saved a whole colony once.

'Commander' I said, while saluting, not sure what else to do 'Lt Gothic at your service'.

The Gunnery Chief stepped forward, she seemed to almost embrace me only to stop herself.

'I thought everyone from 212 brought it' Ashley said.

The Geth did seem to have done a good job of killing us.

'I was at home when the attack started' I told Williams 'I didn't know it was happening until the fighting started. Lucky for me I time to get my armour and weapons'.

The future saviour of the galaxy spoke next.

'We can talk about that later. Let's get going,' Shepard said 'Alenko you've got point with Williams. Let's find that beacon. Gothic take up the rear'.

I saw that Alenko gave Shepard, and the commander waved him on. Was there some friction between them?

'Stay back and keep your head down' Shepard ordered me 'and switch to my channel in case we get separated'.

Damn she was sexy.

'Yes ma'am' I replied, while using my omni-tool to switch radio channels.

Then Sheppard just took off, running fast enough that I had trouble following despite my body moods, they were no match for Shepard badassness. If that was a word.

As I had been instructed, I stayed at the back while the rest of the team fought the geth on the tram platform. There were a lot of them, far more than I usually found in the game, at least I think. And unlike the games, the flimsy cover of the random metal barriers and crates did not equal not bulletproof. Thankfully there were more solid things to take shelter behind.

Having not actually been in a real battle, I stuck to the back, and hoped nothing came from behind us. Which of course it did.

'Behind us!' I shouted.

I didn't shoot the incoming drones. Instead I use my magical powers, I mean my biotic abilities. I blasted the incoming drones, small flying guns with dark energy. It might have looked impressive, but everyone was too busy to notice.

While the game had limited moves for biotics, the actual range of attacks was large and depending on imagination, talent and willpower as much as it did on the quality of the implants. It wasn't just barriers and tk we could blast objects if we wished with a biotic warp, the only downside was this was more taxing than other using other powers.

'Move it!'I heard Shepard shot.

The squad moved out following her orders, and I had to haul ass to catch up, being in a support role I didn't perform live fire exercises as often as other marines and it was showing.

When they suddenly stopped I bumped on Ashley and nearly knocked her down.

'Watch it!' she complained,

I popped out of cover next to Ashley and went at it. This was what we marines normally refer to as a target-rich environment and those flashlight heads gave me something to aim at.

When I saw the ridiculously large geth destroyer levelling its shotgun at me. I got there first, and fired so fast my gun overheated, that almost never happened during target practice, but real life didn't give you a chance to fire carefully, you just kept shooting until either the enemy was dead or your gun stopped working, or until you died.

That was when a rocket launcher opened up, and my training kicked in. I raised a barrier big enough to cover a squad, just as I had been trained to do.

'Bloody fucking hell!' Ash swore.

From experience I knew that she could have a real mouth on her, but it was rare for her to swear outside the bedroom.

'Keep the barrier up!' Shepard shouted.

Our cover was good enough for small arms but it wouldn't have meant much if we'd been hit by heavy weapons. By the time the Geth with the heavy weapons were done for, I was tired, really, really thirsty, and breathing hard. After Ashley gave the all clear, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and put my pistol back in its proper place after a not so insignificant amount of effort.

'You okay?' Shepard said.

I shook my head.

'The barrier drained me' I said while getting up 'Forgot my energy drink'.

Biotic abilities burned calories and sapped energy from the body. Kaiden knew this as he was also a biotic and passed me his canteen.

'Come on, before Nihlus leaves us to take the next tram' Shepard ordered before I could finish drinking.

I followed as ordered.

'Nihlus!' Shepard shouted. 'Of all the hotheaded turians'.

We found him lying dead near a few destroyed Geth, he must have tried to take on Saren alone and had gotten himself killed. Damn and keeping him alive with Saren getting away might have been enough to convince the council. Now we'd have to go to much more trouble. Oh well at least we'd met Tali.

Next Ashley move ahead, Shepard and Alenko following close. And all three of them stopped when they saw the enormous bomb at the end of the platform. It was hard not to notice.

'Can you disarm it?' Ashley asked me.

I was her units tech support so this was a good question.

'Gothic, come make yourself useful' Shepard ordered.

With my VI's aid disarming the bomb proved to be simple enough. If I'd had more time, and a door I might have taken one into my warehouse, these bombs had a simple on/off which my VI quickly found as such they would be simple to use.

There was actually very light resistance as we went for the rest of the bombs. With Ash at the front, Alenko and Shepard in the middle, and me bringing in the rear, we made through another three groups of troopers with assault rifles that posed little to no challenge. I was starting to think it was too easy, but I knew better than to say anything about it. I've seen way too many films and played way too many games to know you don't tempt fate like that.

We found the beacon and I was very tempted to go up to and get the vision for myself. But I figured that it was best to let Shepard do it just in case my grey matter wasn't compatible. I might go crazy, or my head could explode.

Of course Ash went and touched the beacon, and Shepard saved her, but I ended up getting knocked into the beacon because it was pulling people towards it, then the visions came and my world became down right insane.